Post-AmeriCorps
Holiday Blog
I'm back from my weekend in New York City. It was ab-fab, as you might imagine, and I wish I could go back tomorrow! Kelly's landlord's little studio in NYC is a work in progress, but we came up with some fabulous ideas for maximizing space and turning the run-down room into an urban paradise. OK, that might be a bit of an exaggeration, but in my head it's really beautiful. Oh for the artistic skills needed to render my vision into reality!
The studio is located in the East Village, near the Christopher Street subway stop. We spent most of Saturday walking around the village, starting at the South street Port and making our way through China Town, Little Italy, etc. Fun but tiring. That night we went to Broadway(!) and saw Andrew Lloyd Weber's Bombay Dreams which was everything a musical about Bollywood should be: great songs, great dancing, great costumes, and overblown drama with little plot or substance. Excellent entertainment!
Saw the tree at Rockefeller Center on Sunday, but skipped skating because of the uber-long lines. Instead we window-shopped, and gawked at Christmas displays, all the way back to the Village. Yes, I walked my feet off, as the blister on my foot attests.
Forget my dream of Beacon Hill in Boston. I want to live in the village!
It's official: winter is here. There's snow on the ground and plenty of cold air! Of course, in true New England fashion, tomorrow it will be 50. How am I supposed to go ice skating if we can't get some consistantly cold weather?
But, I didn't log on to complain. I just read in the Tatnuck Booksellers' Newsletter that the sixth Harry Potter Book (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince) is scheduled to be released July 16, 2005. Not even Amazon.com has posted this information yet (as of 12:03pm EST). You're hearing it here first!
I received my Christmas money from Grandma and Grandpa Hibbard (thank you!), and bought the Sims Hot Date expansion pack yesterday. A very bad move on my part, as there are so many other things I should be doing (finishing up Christmas presents--knitting--wrapping presents, reading books before I wrap them up and give them away--not cheap, just sensible!).
I'm so excited about the holidays. I love Christmas!!!!!!!
Job Update:
3:46pm EST: I just got a call from City Year! Ta da! I have an interview on January 4th at 1:00pm for the position of Special Projects Assistant to the Senior Vice President of External Affairs (or SPAS V PEA, as I like to say). WAHOO!
I arrived at work a little late this morning due to a knitting emergency. Yes, that's right, an emergency. I'm trying to finish up a hat so I can get it wrapped up. However, after almost finishing it last night, I woke up this morning to discover a major mistake (catastrophic consequences: The eventual unraveling of the hat while upon someone's head!) I spent an hour undoing all of my work in order to fix the problem.
Ugh.
Now, here I am, at work trying to put together "procedure" sheets detailing how (and why) to perform certain tasks. But while I do this I'm listening to one of my favorite shows, The Connection. The second hour of today's show is discussing animal rights in China, specifically the cruel practice of Moon Bear farming. It's horrible! However, one woman began campaining to save the bears and end the cruelty. To read about the increasingly successful campaign of saving the bears and see pictures of the bears caged on farms and also free at the sanctuary, click here.
3:23 pm
Listening to Talk of the Nation this afternoon about Iraq, scandel, etc. One caller made the point that all of this abuse doesn't really differentiate us from Saddam. The government spokesperson (sorry, I was doing work at that time, if you want the real thing, listen to it yourself!) repeated his statement (The Bush administration is more of a broken/scratched record than a living entity) that torture was public policy for Saddam, but it's not for the U.S. I, like the caller, find that difference is hardly a solid argument. At least with Saddam you knew where you stood.
Watching the Kennedy Honors last night (hey, I was furiously knitting and House was over, and Law and Order was a repeat I had seen twice already) I wondered what Bush's Christian Conservatives thought of his apparent enjoyment of the honoring of Elton John. Oddly enough, I haven't heard any complaints. Three cheers to Billy Joel for singing "The Bitch Is Back." I'm sure somewhere there's a conservative coalition of family values screaming for censorship.
All of this rambling is the result of me not having a good solid project to work on. I've written up "How To" sheets for everything from thank you letters (far more complicated than you would think) to cash disbursement requests (far easier than you would think). And while what I should be doing is writing proposals and bugging people for sponorships for the 2005 Hike-a-Thon, I could really care less. I'm in the mind set this is not supposed to be my job anymore, and while I appreciate GWHFH paying me to stay on and help out while they find the next Jenny (the "new black" of AmeriCorps), I don't really want to be here! But, to put in in perspective: I'd rather be here than a waitress at Hooters.
I have so much free time that I've been worrying over such things as "my voice" a.k.a. my writing style on this blog. I don't really like it that much. You see, as I write very stream-of-consciously, I identify very closely with how I write. I feel very dumb-downed lately. Is it TV? Not being in school? Too much knitting? I don't know. Am I worrying for nothing?
Probably.
And as I look forward to a week back in Wisconsin, I can't help but contemplate the "Peter Situation," that is, should I contact him? What if I run into him? Can we be friends at all, or am I doomed to guilt (of causing a very bitchy permenant break-off of any communication) with this as my past-relationship closet skeleton? I kind of miss all the random information, his perspective on current events, old/new obscure movies that are "must see." Or do I let sleeping dogs lie? After all, I have Jon who--in a very cute Bridigt Jones's Diary way, loves me just the way I am. :-)
Merry Christmas Eve, Eve! I am decked out in green and red with a Santa hat upon my head.
A flurry of Christmas donations came in the mail today. One well-meaning donator sent a fifty dollar check, but forgot to sign it! I typed up a nice letter (I don't want her to feel bad) kindly asking her to sign the check and resent it to Habitat.
I woke up early, finshed off a scarf, and spent the morning in a flurry of wrapping paper and tape. I believe I have all the presents wrapped.
I think....
I used the brand new washer and dryer in the basement of my apartment last night. It was free! I didn't have to put any quarters in (indeed, there was no place to put them)! How excited am I?
American Airlines has this cool service where you can request a customer service call to your cell phone to receive flight information. Very handy for those of us with limited internet access. Fingers crossed for good weather (it looks like I should be OK), but I'll get an update on my flight status two hours before depature just to double-check that everything is A-OK.
I made it! I'm back at home in good ol' De Pere, Wisconsin. A line at check-in roughly equal to the circumfrence of the entire state of Massachusetts caused me to miss my flight out to Chicago. But miracuously I made it on a stand-by ticket on the very next flight. A big shout out to the couple in the security line with me! If it wasn't for that whiny woman who managed to wheedle us to the head of the line, I could still be stuck in Boston or Chicago.
As we landed in Chicago, they announced all the gates for connecting flights. I had already given up on catching the flight to Green Bay, but lo and behold, they announced it! "Gate G2B." I had about ten minutes to catch a flight that I wasn't "confirmed" on. I sprinted through the airport, visions of me losing my pants (apparently, they've become a little to big!), or stumbling in my boots and falling on my face, dancing before me. Hot and out of breath, I arrived at the gate, which read "Omaha." "Did I miss the flight to Green Bay?" I asked, out of breath and near tears. The guy behind the counter looked at me askance. "Green Bay? There was no flight to Green Bay at this gate. Gate H4," he answered my unasked question.
I took off running back to a gate I had already ran past. I huffed and puffed my way back to the gate. People were still boarding! Through some sort of bureaucracy, I had to be placed on stand-by before they could issue me a ticket (in a sense I took my own place on the flight).
So here I am, at home, with the football game blaring from more than one room, below zero weather, and snow all around.
It's good to be home.
