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SOOooo... Classes started yesterday. Whoo hoo... can you sense the enthusiasm in my typing?? Yeah, neither can I.

The first two classes weren't that bad. Counseling psych sounds like fun... although the first day sucked cause all the professor did was talk about his employment history (as usual). Then I had minority relations... I was kind of worried about that class because I've heard horror stories about the guy taht teaches it, but I don't think it will be too bad. I just keep thinking that if I overdo the studying in there I'll be safe. We'll see.

Then I had the worst one hour of my college career - Management Information Systems. A friend of mine and I signed up for that class to take care of the upper level computer requirement for our BS. Yeah, that class was BS. Pinging, IT plans, management flow charts (Andy, I have a feeling you know all about this stuff)... it all went over our heads. We were laughing in the middle of class and the guy teaching it said at the end of his lecture on an assignment, "Did I detect a bit of giggling here? Is this ridiculous to anyone?" Yeah, to us! It was so... business/accounting/CIS babble. So we talked to him after class, talked to the registrar, and finally our advisor. We brought up the idea to take a Graphic Design Topics class that meets at the same time, and it was our only other option for an upper level computer class. She approved it for us to take, just as long as we actually get to use computers in the class (which we will). And two gold stars for this class - 1) it's an *ART* class!!! and 2) there's no text book. So I'm out $40 for the MIS text (I bought it online at half.com, which saved me from buying it for $140 at the bookstore, but if I had bought it at the bookstore I would've gotten a full refund :( So anyways, I'm willing to take the loss. In the words of Jayne, "I'm not sacrificing my GPA for a useless class that is a waste of my time!" So things worked out with that. But I have never felt so out of place in a class before... half of the class was baseball players (which I have concluded are more annoying than the football players), and the other half was computer majors. And there we were... laughing our butts off.

And then my two classes today were good... regular psych classes. Nothing new there. All the psych classes are beginning to mesh into one. It's all the same information, just presented under a different course name. BTW, Personality Theories has like 35 people in it, Ashley... *35*!!!! Definitely a large class by KWC's standards.

Well, off to take a nap... worked midnight til 7:30 this AM, had classes, and I have to go back to work at 5pm. Need to work in some ZZzzzs here :)

Okay, to hell with iTunes. I got online tonight because I had a free iTunes download from the package of pens I bought (which had an antibacterial pen protection... Two *gold* stars for Papermate!). I had a list of about four or five songs in my head I was gonna download. So I get on the internet and find out that the Music Store is temporarily unavailable. WTF is up with that?!?!?!

So anyways, I'm just getting my stuff ready for classes tomorrow. I'm not anywhere near ready to go back. I have my NYC check filled out and ready to go... I finished the paperwork, too. Ashley - I put you down as my roomie... now, I did fail to mention to you that I snore. Really loudly. I hope that's okay with you (ha, ha, just joking).

In other news, I think my sister is moving back here from S. Dakota. She's talking about moving back when my mom and I go out there to visit her in May. I hope so. I hate that things aren't working out for her like she thought they would, but I think she belongs here. If not Owensboro, then somewhere closer by.

Well, let the tanning season begin! I got a jump start to tanning this year by starting today. I went for twelve minutes and fried my skin. :( I was pretty smart, however, about covering up my face and neck for most of that time so I didn't get burned there. My goal is to have a decent tan by March. ??? We'll have to wait and see. I really need to start tanning year-round because otherwise I'm white as a ghost and I'm not liking that anymore.

Work sucked. I was there until midnight last night and went back at 8:00 this morning. I got a total of about four hours of sleep. All of the clients there were like, "Tracy, have you been here all night?!? When do you actually get to go home??" I just smiled and was like, "Oh, never," just to joke with them. This one woman said, "They must be paying you good money for you to be here all the time." Yeah right. Good money - ha ha.

My sis called earlier from S. Dakota... I'm thinking she wants to move back here. I hope so.

I'm officially turning this into my own personal gripe journal. After each time I come home from work, I'm going to write in here how crappy my day was.

I have an idea! Why don't I start tonight?!?!

Yeah, work (at the shelter) was great. I worked with one other girl and all she did was talk on the phone all night long... and I mean *ALL* night long. Like four hours long. I wonder if they check the phone logs because her boyfriend called long distance on the crisis line. Anyways, it was crazy because I was pretty much doing the work of two people. I had a crisis call come in and I was talking to the caller and the other lines would ring... but would she answer them? Of course not. She left it all up to me. I think beaten up women take precedence over boyfriends - I could be wrong, but that's just my take on it. :) At one point, I kept getting calls for her and I was feeling like her own personal secretary or something - she even had three calls going on at one time (she had two on hold and was talking to the other one). I'm sick of being the only one who shows up and actually does my job. It's getting real ridiculous. When the other two girls came in at midnight to relieve us, I didn't even stick around and wait for her like I usually do... I just left.

On another note, I feel bad because I made a remark to a caller tonight that I probably shouldn't have made. This woman was talking about how her husband abuses her, is controlling, etc. and how she let it go on for so long. So I said something about how it's normal to learn to accept the abuse in a relationship, but that it's good that she's realizing it now, etc. and then I said, "Don't beat yourself up over it. It wasn't your fault that this happened." And right after I said that I thought, F***... I just told a battered woman not to beat herself up over this. BAD choice of words. So yeah, most decidedly tonight was a bad night. :(

Well, here's a continuation of last night's gripe session...

I was thinking about our new supervisor. She took over the position last May and ever since she has been making lots of changes - some for the better, some for the worst. One thing that is making me rather angry is that she informs us at each meeting we have that we were hired into our positions to have open availability... to be able to work ANYTIME. Actually, she was not the one that hired any of us - our former supervisor hired us into our positions and hired us uniquely for our shifts (either second or third shift). So now this new supervisor is mixing us all around, asking everyone if they can work third shift, etc.

When I got to work yesterday, she called me into her office to ask about my schedule. I told her when I could work and she asked, "And what about third shift?" I can't say no, but I was like, "Well, it would be real difficult to work third shift and then go to school in the morning." I told her I could cover every now and then, but absoultely not on a regular basis. She said okay. Then later that night, she called me at work after she went home to ask if I could work next Tuesday on a third shift. I wanted to say, "Hell no, bitch." But did I say that? Of course not. I agreed. But if I had told her I couldn't, then she would have thrown the lecture at me about being available at all times and then probably would have written me up or something. I should be okay to work that third shift next Tuesday, though I'm not sure what kind of shape I'll be in. I have class Tuesday afternoon until 2:30 p.m., I'll come home and (try to) sleep until 11:00, work 12am - 8am Wednesday morning, go to class from 9am-11am, then work at the store from 5pm-close. My entire sleep schedule is going to be thrown off.

Don't get me wrong - I like my job at the shelter, generally speaking. But here lately, I've been getting ideas in my head of quitting. I've been there for two years and I make the same hourly pay as this girl who started one month ago (pay raises for part-time employees are not included in their $5 million budget). So I feel that while I'm the one training people, I have added work duties, and I'm in charge of every shift I work, I'm not appreciated. In the two years I've been there, I've never called in sick, never been as much as one minute late, and I've always been willing to do extra work. And what do I get in return? Nothing. Maybe a great letter of recommendation when I leave, but what's that? I'm getting to the point where I'm ready to say to hell with it all.

But then again, I'm just complaining. I used to love both my jobs (yes, believe it or not there was a time when I liked working at the store). And now I loathe them both. Speaking of the store, there's a girl I work with at the shelter who lives in Ohio county and saw Kathy B. at her clothing store in Beaver Dam! It was so funny because this girl did an impression of Kathy and she hit it perfectly! I miss Kathy... I think it was after she left that I started hating my job at the store. But I digress... Back to the point.

I hate my jobs.

So, I'm watching Black Hawk Down instead of going to bed early - which is what I was going to do tonight. I slept in... way in... this morning. I had a dream that I got shot in the back of the head and I woke up with the worst headache I've ever had. And the worst part was that it lasted all day long. :( So anyways, like I said, instead of going to bed early I'm watching one of my most favoritist movies.

I've also been figuring out my bills... things are so screwed up because I had three paychecks from the shelter last month and that threw me off track. Also, it seems like my bills aren't coming in when they're supposed to. *Plus*, I received my first bill from Dell for my camera today, and they expect their payment in one week. Yes, that's seven days for me to write a check, drop it in the mail, and get it to their sorry asses by the due date. That shit pisses me off. My mom's gas bill was like that, too... they only give her a week to get it paid, but at least that's here in town. Dell goes up to Illinois (which could be worse... it could be Seattle or something). But yeah... I've just been trying to figure everything out. Fun, fun.

Received one of my text books in the mail today. It's an International edition, but I don't think that will matter.

Aww, Orlando Bloom just fell out of his helicopter in BHD. :*( So sad. And even sadder is that Jeremy Piven's chopper is gonna crash soon. Why do I watch movies like this???

Who knew tornado season was really from November through January???  You know, I'm getting pretty sick and tired of waking up at 2 in the morning to find out there's a tornado watch.  We're supposed to be having SNOW this time of year, not THUNDERSTORMS!

 

Anyways... Got my hair cut a 'lil... colored it yesterday, too.  This time it's permanent.  I'm not sure if I like it or not... It's not the color I thought it would be, but it still works.  I think I just need to get used to it.

 

Went to Walmart earlier and bought all kinds of organizing stuff for my drawers and closet.  I bought a set of two nesting baskets from Rubbermaid for $5.00, a trash can for my room for $1.00, two plastic tote containers with handles for $1.89 a piece, and drawer organizers for $1.50 each (set of two big ones or set of three small ones).  So I was pretty happy.  I started organizing my room yesterday and I'm hoping to finish either today or tomorrow. 

 

I went to the bookstore this morning... they opened back up today after the break, but they have NO BOOKS.  They had the book for one of my classes, and then one out of three books I need for another class.  Then another class, they didn't even have the books in yet.  One week left, people... let's get on the ball here, shall we?  Then I just looked to see about two other classes that I ordered books for online, and they didn't have those in at the bookstore, either.  Anyways, I bought the book I need for Counseling Psychology and one out of three books I need for Minority Relations.  I still need the other two books for that and one book for Personality Theories.  The two books I bought today totaled $100... ouch.  :(

 

In the meantime, I can't stop thinking about the NYC trip in March!!!  I don't know why, but I just keep looking through all my travel books, internet sites, etc.  I can't wait until the class starts up and we get more information, like our ITENERARY!!  I wanna know what we're going to be able to see!  :)  Something I noticed, however, is that I have a piece of paper that has the information on it (that we got at the informational meeting) that says the trip is from the 3rd to the 13th... (Ashley... do you know if we're getting back the 12th or the 13th?  They returned last year on the Sunday before classes start after Spring Break, but the 13th this year falls on that Monday.  I wonder if it's a typo...?)  :)

I had a very happy New Year's Eve... at the shelter. It's becoming a yearly tradition for me to work New Year's Eve there because I'm one of the only ones who doesn't have a life and doesn't party, but it was actually fun this year. They threw a party last year, but everyone was in bed and asleep by 10PM... there was only one person who was creeping around at the stroke of midnight. But this year was nicer... they still threw the big party, but this year quite a few ladies stayed up to ring in the new year. It was a pretty hectic night with all kinds of things going on, but it was nice because a few of them came up at midnight to wish me and the other girl I was working with a happy new year and they all gave us a hug. So many people (the ones there for the drug and alcohol treatment program) don't appreciate the chance that they've been given to enter rehab and get clean, so it's nice to see those who actually realize that they have the opportunity to start a new life by being there. But like I said, it was a hectic night and I'm glad I have tomorrow off... From both jobs! :D

On a happy note... Now that it's 2006, here are a list of things that will happen this year for me!!

1. My 21st birthday!!!
2. Going to NYC in March
3. Going back to S. Dakota in May
4. Will graduate from college
5. I'm hoping I won't still be working at the store at the end of the year (ha ha)

My plan is to be done with school in December and by the end of the year have a full-time job where I'm actually using my degree. Not sure if it will happen, but we'll see. I have a feeling this is going to be a great year because of all that will happen, and I'm happy and sad for that. I'm happy for the obvious reasons - it's all good stuff! But then again, I'm sad because I will be an entirely different person by this time next year... I'll be a 21-year old college graduate, for starters!! And my father won't be there to see it all happen, and my sister is in S. Dakota so she won't be here for most of it, either. I should be happy enough that I have my mom here, and I am. But it's still sad. Oh, well... I'll just stay thinking positive! :)

I feel awful. I got off of work after being there from 4pm to 12mn and I hadn't eaten practically all day. So what do I do? Go to Wendy's! I blame the girl I worked with - she had her somewhat boyfriend drop her off Wendys right after she got off work. She offered me some, but I was like, "Oh, no... I have my scrumptious Chex Mix right here and it's really filling my tummy up!" ha ha... But it made me crave a hamburger. It was soo good, but I hate it because now I'm getting ready to go to bed after ingesting all of that fat and grease :(

Work at the shelter is crazy - EVERYONE is getting pregnant. It's ridiculous. Well, you can certainly count me out of that mess. Not to say that having a baby is a "mess," but when you are in a bad personal situation and you make it worse by bringing an unplanned baby into that situation, that is a mess. I just feel for those kiddos because they will probably follow in their mom's footsteps.

Had a crisis call today from Florida... That's right, Florida. He was calling to report child abuse. And this is so weird because I have taken quite a few calls from police officers, detectives, and doctors in Floria that think we're a child abuse hotline, and they're always in Broward and Dade counties. I think someone has posted our 1-800 number incorrectly or something. This was an ER doctor who had a child's parents leave with him AMA, and the doctor wanted to contact DCF to report it because the child was in danger. We only really have numbers for other nationwide spouse abuse shelters and drug/alcohol treatment centers, so I ended up having to give him the number for a national Child Abuse hotline - hopefully they were able to connect him to the Florida agency. But I think I'm going to go find a couple of Florida child abuse numbers to call... this guy tonight was really nice, but I've had a cop or two talk to me like shit because they're like, "You're number is 1-800-88abuse... I'm reporting abuse, so why won't you take my report??" To which I say, "We are in KENTUCKY, not Florida (for starters). Also, we are for SPOUSE abuse, not CHILD abuse." They still didn't understand, and continued to tell me the nature of the abuse. I had to say, "Hey - you have the wrong number. Here's another number to try. Good luck." Those calls drive me crazy.

Well, gotta be back up at 6:30 in the morning, so I'm off to bed. Night =)

No more updates for Jasper... but I'm feeling a little better about it all. I've done more research and have heard from other people with yorkies that have Jasper's conditions and their little guys are doing okay. Haven't heard back about his EKG or this AM's bloodwork results. So I'm crossing my fingers...

Onto other news... to hell with Starbucks. Yes, for once, I'm saying to hell with a place other than the store. I went for an interview today for the new Starbucks they're opening. The guy I spoke with was real nice, said I had excellent experience and he really liked me. But he couldn't hire me because they were planning on training everyone as a group, and I wasn't available during those initial training hours. And get this - he said the training was going to be in the opening hours, first thing in the morning. The reason I can't make that is because I have class. So is that automatically going to exclude any high school and college applicants? He did say to wait until after the store opens and go back and speak with the manager and they could then work something out for training, and he would keep my application and resume for that purpose. I don't know... I really want to work somewhere else, but I'm not sure if I want to go through that again (getting my hopes up and then getting knocked down). But I guess if things don't turn around at the store, I won't really have any choice.

Well, seeing how I was up until 1:30 am filling out the application and was back up at 6am this morning, I'm taking a nap.

Okay so here I am, back again. Now I know I have no life - I've been updating this way too much.

So I my coping skills kicked into high gear and I've been researching the internet on collapsing tracheas and heart disease. At least now I'll know what's going on when Jasper and I go back to the vet, and I can ask her some quasi-intelligent questions. My number 1 concern is going to be about how far everything's progressed. As it turns out, as long as it's been caught early on, his outlook will be fairly good. The only bad thing is that one way to control heart disease is through weight reduction (exercise), but with a collapsing trachea you don't want to exercise them too much. So poor Jasper will have to undergo weight reduction through solely a diet change.

One thing that worries me is that one symptom of heart disease is an enlarged abdomen... And the vet mentioned that the x-rays showed he had a large abdomen - so large that said, "You probably fed him right before he came in here for his appointment, didn't you?" And I was like, "Uh, no... he hasn't eaten since 5:30 this morning," and this was at 4:00 p.m. He usually eats between 2:30 and 3:00 pm, but that's when his appointment was so I was going to wait until after we got back home. So his belly was pretty well empty, yet his abdoment was apparently prouncely large. So I'm going to bring that up tomorrow morning.

Anyways, I've been crying all afternoon so I'm worn out. I tried to drink a "bahama mama" from the fridge, but I'm not liking it too much. Is it possible to just not like the taste of alcohol? Anyways, I'm for real now - good night.

Okay, so I know not many people pray anymore, and those who do likely do not pray for dogs. But if, by chance, you pray and you pray for dogs, keep Jasper in mind.

I took him to the vet earlier because he's been snoring rather loudly at night and my mom wanted to make sure something wasn't going on with him. So she had me take him to the vet. Well, turns out his snoring is a result of allergies and they gave him a Rx of antihistamines. No big deal.

But while the vet was looking him over, she listened to his heart and said she heard a heart murmur. Completely took me by surprise and scared me. She wanted to do a chest X-ray to see what was going on, and said a murmur is usually a tell-tale sign of heart disease. Well, sure enough, the x-ray shows that one side of his heart is larger than the other and she diagnosed him with heart disease. Also, the chest x-ray captured a glimpse of his trachea which was in the process of collapsing as the images were being taken. See, whenever Jasper gets excited or anxious or is at the park and has been running too much, he makes a gagging noise in his throat. That gagging noise is his trachea collapsing. The x-ray showed his trachea and it was pretty scary because it shows it on each end as it is normal, but the middle of it was almost completely closed shut. It's not always like that- just when he's excited, etc. But between those two issues, I am worried to death about him.

She put him on a diet for his heart - along with some pills. And they gave him some more pills for his trachea. If those pills don't work and his trachea worsens, they'll have to surgically place a stint in his throat to prevent it from collapsing completely. Shee also had an EKG done on him - results won't be back until tomorrow - and he had some bloodwork done. His blood, however, had too much fat in it so their machines wouldn't read it. So he went without dinner tonight and will go without breakfast tomorrow, and then he goes back in for more bloodwork... the fasting will make the results come through.

So anyways, I'm so upset about this - I was practically still in tears when I got to work. I know people were looking at me like, "What an idiot... crying in public over a dog." But he is a member of my family. No one should have a pet unless they're going to consider it a part of the family and that's exactly what Jasper is. But on the other hand, I'm kind of in awe at how everything came together and I hope that we caught this early and the medicine slows or stops the progression of both things. The thing is that he has not shown any symptoms of heart disease/failure, and he's only 5 1/2 years old. And if he hadn't gone to the vet over his snoring issues, this probably wouldn't have been noticed until his yearly checkup in May and by then things could have been real bad. So I'm hoping things are going to be okay for him.

My mom was at work when I took him to the vet, and I'm glad for that. See, I was teary-eyed at the appointment, of course, but I know if my mom went she would have been hysterical because Jasper is her baby. Also, she would have had a fit if she was there to see how much the total cost of hte visit was - $360. But that included three Rx's, an EKG, Chest x-ray, blood work, mild sedation, the office visit, a 10 lb bag of diet food, and some other things. If she had been there at the clinic, she would have rolled her eyes, breathed real heavy, and said, "Holy cow, how am I gonna pay for this?" We split all of Jasper's costs, so I paid for it in full and she'll just pay me back. She had fit when I told her at the house, but oh well. At least it wasn't in public. See, she's willing to pay whatever it takes for Jasper, but she would've still made a scene in public. So I'm glad that was avoided.

Anyways, I could go on and on about this but I'm sure no one cares - so I'll end here. I talked to my sister tonight and she really doesn't care too much, but talking to her and not hearing, "Oh my gosh he's gonna die," really helps. So, like I said, some prayers for this little guy would be great :) Good night.

So... Christmas was okay. I worked Christmas Eve at the shelter from 6pm-12mn, and then was back Christmas day from 8am-2pm.

Christmas Eve was funny, though. We have these two devils that live there with their mom... I swear, they both need an exorcism because when they get into their little tantrums I can visualize their heads spinning. They're brother and sister, and the brother was lying on the floor screaming. I said something to him to the effect of, "You must have forgotten that Santa is coming tonight because you're not being veyr good right now." To which he screamed at me, "Nuh-uh, Santa ain't coming cause men aren't allowed in here!!!!!" Well, he is right... it's a man-hating... er, spouse abuse shelter. I almost busted out laughing at him, and was like, "Uh, um... Santa can come in because he's Santa!" Yeah, stupid reply, but oh well. Kid caught me off guard.

But like I said, Christmas was okay. I thought it would be hard without my sister here, but it really wasn't. I got some cute things between her and my mom. The best thing my sister got me was this picture frame that holds a 5x7 in the middle, and then it has a border that's about 4 inches around it that holds pictures. So she put all kinds of pictures of her and I through the years as we grew up, and then in the middle I have a picture of the two of us we had taken professionally a few years ago to put in there. And then all around that pic, there are pics of her holding me as a newborn up to last Christmas. If you knew anything about her you'd know she is a rather selfish, self-centered person, so this gift meant all that much more.

My mom actually got me some decent stuff. Leather gloves, socks (which I really did need), perfume/lotion, makeup, clothes, a book... Practical stuff, but stuff I really needed and wanted. Then she got me two $50 gift certificates... one for Christmas and one for my birthday. She was going to hold back the one for my bday, but she thought I could find more sales today than next month. Which she was right... I got a Fossil wallet and Fossil coin purse at the mall, both for $20 together. So I was in 7th heaven (I've been wanting a Fossil wallet so bad). Another gift she got for me was a travel purse. I *LOVE* purses, and this one is *Perfect* for my New York trip. It sounds like it would be dumb, but it has a cell phone holder, all kinds of pockets, places for passports, documents, cameras, your credit cards and money, etc. And it goes across the front so that people can't steal your purse or its contents. It's just regular brown leather, so it will go with anything.

Starbucks is having interviews at the Executive Inn on Thursday... I'm *SO* tempted to go and just see what happens. We'll see... I'm almost tempted to give up my job at the shelter instead of the store. I'm sick to death of all the drama that goes on there, and the sad part of it is that most of it is with my co-workers and not the clients. Also, I was at Walmart today and almost ran into a former client. I had to dodge her left and right so that she wouldn't see me. She came up to the shelter the other day (she doesn't live there anymore) and staked the place out for four hours. She was waiting for another client that does live there to get back and then she pretty much attacked her in her car... all over a fucking handicap stick for her van?! I think there's more to it than that. But anyways, I called the police on her and they came out and escorted her off the property and told her she would be arrested if she returned. The thing is, she was standing out in the lot when I got to work and she talked to me for a minute, and so she knew I was working. So yeah, it probably wouldn't have been pretty if she had seen me...

I'm sick of having no life. Boo hoo.

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You Know You're From South Dakota When...</font></td></tr>
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<font face="Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif" style='color:black; font-size: 10pt;'>
During a storm you check the cattle before you check the kids.

The local gas station sells live bait.

You don't buy all your vegetables at the grocery store.

You know the code names for everyone on the CB.

You'll skip your cousin's funeral for the first day of deer season.

You don't clean up the dog's mess because it's just fertilizer.

It takes 30 seconds to reach your destination and it's clear across town.

You can tell the smell of a skunk and the smell of a feed lot apart.

You consider a building a mall if it's bigger than the local Wal-Mart

The first, and perhaps only celebrity you've ever met is Captain 11.

Your idea of a traffic jam is ten cars waiting on I-90 for the "follow me" car to come back during road construction.

"Vacation" means stopping off at Wall Drug for Friday night dinner and a drive through the Badlands early Saturday morning, with the rest of the weekend driving through the Black Hills before heading home for Sunday night chores.

Your school classes were canceled because of cold. And cold means 10 below zero.

You know not only 'what' but 'where' Sturgis is. And, your first big trip in life was to see Mt. Rushmore and visit the Flintstone's Bedrock City in Custer.

A big shopping trip is going to Sioux Falls - Empire Mall. Minneapolis, if you are really living.

You know all 4 seasons: Almost winter, winter, HOT HOT HOT, and winter again.

There is a McDonald's in every town with a population of 1,000 or more. Over 1,000, there is a McDonald's on each end of town.

Eight-foot tall snow piles divide the lane down the middle of Main Street from November through March.

Pop is a Coke and soda involves ice cream and root beer.

You plug your car in at night, but it's not to charge the batteries.

You could always count on the local truck stop or The Happy

Chef for the best breakfast in town.

Aside from pheasants, mosquitos are the state bird.

Menards on any weekend is busier than the toy stores at Christmas

Praire dogs outnumber people 10 to 1

You actually get these jokes and pass them on to other friends from South Dakota.
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Okay, so today has had some serious ups and downs...

My mom has been getting on my damn nerves. She thinks that because I'm on break means that I turn into the little maid of the house. Nevermind that I just want to relax, go shopping for presents, or just catch up on things I never get to do during the school year... she just blows up when there's a hamper of laundry that didn't get cleaned. Just a lot of little stuff has been pissing me off.

But the good news... my grades came in the mail today and I actually made the dean's list. I was pretty surprised because I was expecting one A, three Bs, and one class was either going to be a B or C (environmental science). But I must have kicked ass on finals or something because I ended up with three As and two Bs. And it means so much more because I've been taking 18 hours this semester (three of which were at OCC), working two part-time jobs averaging 30-40 hours per week, dealing with being made assistant manager at the store (adding on to the stress, responsibility, and hours I've been working), and just personal issues like my sister moving back to South Dakota. So that makes it all the more meaningful. I about cried when I told my mom cause I was so thrilled. Now let's just see if I can do this for the spring semester...

Work was okay tonight... ha ha. I was at the store working with three girls and this one new guy who started recently. The guy is the only male we have working at the store, so the girls thought we should "initiate" him. (And I was totally not encouraging them to do this because that would be extremely unprofessional for an asst. manager to do. ha ha) :) Well, one of them got her boyfriend to come into the store and start questioning the new guy about his sexuality, and when the new guy was like, "Nah, man... I don't know what you're talking about," the boyfriend said, "Are you sure? Cause when I walked in, my gaydar just went off!" Oh, it was so funny. Guess you had to be there to hear it all. But the new guy got pretty pissed off, even after the boyfriend told him he was just playing with him and it was all good. I don't know... if he quits over it, that's fine by me. He's pretty useless when it comes to work because all he does is stand around and flirt with the girls. He doesn't like me too much already cause he called me "boss lady" earlier, and I said, "Uh, I have a name," to which he said, "But you are the boss, so I'm just calling you what you are." I just showed him my nametag and was like, "It's Tracy." Jerk.

Tomorrow's the Christmas party at my other job (the shelter). It should be fun. It's a meeting and party in one, but I don't think we'll be doing too much business with it. :) I have two gifts - one secret santa gift and then one dirty santa gift. The dirty santa was hard to do because we have one 80 year old woman working there and then another 20 year old besides me. So I had to find something that would be suitable for all. I hope I did okay with it, but I bought a picture calendar at Pier One. It's pretty cute - it stands up on a desk and each month has a slot where you can insert a picture into it. I absolutely LOVE Pier One! They have all kinds of cute gifts there. I also got a little lipstick holder for the dirty santa and put it all in one bag. Even if someone doesn't wear lipstick, they can still put their chapstick or tube of gloss in it.


I'm so ready for the holidays to be over and done with. I'm sick of the long lines at Walmart when I just want to buy a bottle of Tylenol, the packed parking lots with people driving down the middle of the aisles, the crabby people that are rude as hell to everyone else (I'm crabby, but at least I don't go around spreading the holiday cheer to others), and I'm sick of all the spending I've done. I've spent way too much money this year and I'm not even kidding. I had a student loan check come through at the beginning of the month for my NYC trip and I've taken a small "loan" out on my loan. In other words, I've spent part of it already :(. I can still pay for the trip, of course, but I need to seriously start putting back spending money so I can go shopping at the stores there. And Ashley, if you're reading this, I am so looking forward to shopping more than the clubs/bars, so you're going to have to go into at least a couple of shops with me!!! :)

Oh, well... here's another reason I hate the holidays - I eat too much. My mom and I made a bunch of sweets to mail to my sis and to take into our jobs, but I always end up eating some of it. I'm taking some into our party tomorrow, but there's still some left over. I'm munching on orange creamsicle fudge as we speak... it's good, but it's so fattening :(

 

NINE LASTS
Last Alcoholic Drink: Strawberry Daiquiri
Last Vehicle Ride: Just came home from work about 20 minutes ago
Last CD Played: One I burned off of iTunes with a mix of songs on it
Last Bubble Bath: um... a little while ago... haven't had much time for leisurely things like that :) Maybe I will after this week!
Last Time You Cried: It's been a while.
Last Hug: The other day when I saw an old coworker/friend

Last time you really got upset: The other night when I was working at the shelter... this coworker of mine who wants to be friends with the clients wanted to do things we weren't supposed to do, and when I called her out on it she didn't back me up. She just wants to be buddies with everyone, and she has sucky boundaries. Damn that bitch.
Last time you watched TV: Yesterday afternoon
Last thing you ate: A chocolate covered cherry :) Yummy!

EIGHT HAVE YOU EVERS
Have you ever dated your best friend: No- not a good idea.
Have you ever been arrested: Of course not
Have you ever skinny dipped: I've always lived up north... skinny dipping is like asking to become a giant icicle!
Have you ever been on TV: Maybe once when I was real little...

Have you ever kissed someone and then regretted it: Nope

Have you ever had a dream about someone you knew: Of course, I think everyone has
Have you ever felt like your parents favor one sibling over another? Yeah... right now, my dad favors my sis cause she's uses him for his money, and my mom favors me cause her and I get along.

SEVEN THINGS YOU'RE WEARING
1. Fleece pullover
2. Old Navy "Alaska" shirt
3. Black Pants
4. Underwear

6. My beloved Fossil watch
7. Umm... earrings!

SIX THINGS YOU'VE DONE TODAY
1. Took a cognitive psych exam (and totally rocked it!)

2. Went to work
3. Shopped at Target and bought $20 worth of stuff I really didn't need
4. Caught up on emails
5. Called the shelter to see what I was working next week, and then hung up when the bitch... I mean, coworker... I talked about earlier answered. Why the **** would I want to talk to her?!
6. Took lots 'o pics of Jasper!

FIVE TV SHOWS YOU LOVE TO WATCH
1. Gilmore Girls
2. Yes, Dear reruns on TBS at 3pm!
3. Judging Amy reruns on TBS!
4. ER reruns on TBS... no, wait... that's TNT :)
5. umm... let's see... CNN?

FOUR PEOPLE YOU CAN TELL EVERYTHING TO
1. My mom
2. Kati (my sis)
3.
4. Yeah, I have trust issues... so that's it.

THREE CHOICES
1. eat or drink: Drink!
2. skittles or starburst? Starburst
3. Ohio State or Michigan? Neither

TWO THINGS YOU WANT TO DO BEFORE YOU DIE
1. Hmm, there are obvious ones, of course... but... Let's go with... Have a family
2. Go to Paris and the Loire Valley of France... and in the same trip, visit my birthplace in England

ONE THING YOU REGRET
1. I wish I was more outgoing in high school... and (let's make this two things), I wish I had a relationship with my dad.

I'm ready to start shouting out expletives in a moment...............

 

First, I tried to sell my books back today.  I paid $450 for them... and I got $8.00 back.

Yep, that's right... A whole eight bucks.  I'm so mad right now... Emily at the bookstore just kept saying, "Nothing for this one... Nope, nothing for this one either."  Then the other girl in there said, "You just got screwed this semester, didn't you?"  Hell, yeah, I got screwed.  Pisses me off.  So EBay, here I come... Though I haven't used ebay before.  I haven't used Amazon or half.com either.  But I need to learn.  Like, right now!

 

Two finals today - they went surprisingly well.  Abnormal psych was a breeze... the Statistics one was a little harder, though.  Well, it wasn't so much hard as it was long.  It took me an hour and a half.  He made the exam so it would take an average of two hours, and he was going to give us two and a half hours to do it.  That's just flippin' crazy, if you ask me.

 

So now I have two finals left and a writing journal.  I cannot wait until Friday at 10am.  That's when I'll be ALL DONE! :)