Go Time

End of the third week of school which means that I have homework in all classes now and the load will only increase. Thankfully, the bookstore finally got my on-line book in (the class is Human and Cultural Geography) and my loan finally came in! Nice to have a few less things to worry about, but it seems like my list just gets longer and longer.....

I've been really excited about this weekend for a while because I have some pretty sweet things happening (or already happened in one case!). A few weeks ago my friend C invited me to the World's Toughest Rodeo which I was sooooo excited for! I love the sport of riding and who doesn't like to see cute cowboys?! C and I are in the same program at school and she rides English Saddle (hunter) with her Arabian, Bode (pronounced BO-dee, love that name). We've gotten to be really good friends so I was pretty pumped to go with her and her family - we had a great time! They also knew one of the barrell racers so it was exciting to actually know someone to cheer for. Thanks to the J family for letting me join them last night!

Today I work from 8 to 4:30 (like every Saturday) and then it's off to my counsin S's place to put on a party with her! Taco bar, puppy chow, pickle roll-ups.....it's gonna be gooood! :)
I'm hoping a lot of girls come that I haven't seen in a long time so we can catch up, but I'm sure it will be a good time no matter what! I didn't have time yesterday to make the puppy chow so I had to get up extra early this morning to make it before work. I was considering pulling an all-nighter buuuut......I'm partial to sleeping :D

Homework is due tonight but I only have a few questions left to finish....now that I have the book and cds I'll for sure be able to complete it!

Then tomorrow my dad and I are hoping to go to Eau Claire to see my Grandpa and some aunts and uncles! I love seeing them and spending time with them, plus one of my aunts said that she'll go over my new sewing machine with me, answer any questions, and help get me started sewing! I am soooooo excited!

If we can't go, that's okay too because I can finish applying to schools and do some homework.....plenty still to do. I'm hoping to maybe take next Sunday and just do a bunch of my on-line homework ahead of time, so I can try and get ahead in that class. Still have to do the on-line discussions every week (which I keep forgetting about! ugghh), but one less thing to think about is always good!

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

And They're Gone

I've been really spoiled lately in the fact that I have been able to see PB and AJ twice in a months' span.

P and I talk probably at least every other day for about a half hour, just catching up and lamenting about things (what else are sisters for??!) and while I do try to make her feel guilty about living so far away sometimes (because I'm selfish and want her to live in MN again, near me!) I know it's not what she wants.

She has lived in MO for eight years now. EIGHT. It's where she's gone to college, graduated, held jobs, got married, and now had her first baby. She's putting down her own roots for herself and her family, establishing herself in the world.

I am so proud of her :)

It does suck to not be able to interact with my niece and watch her grow up right in front of me, sucks that I don't have my big sis to stand next to me and help me when I'm having issues (I have a lot!), sucks that she can't always come "home" to celebrate things. But she is able to get away from family issues (jealous!) that pop up from time to time.

Plus the fact that because she chose to live in MO for school and now for the rest of her life has allowed my family and I to travel (mainly just to MO!) more so than if she didn't live there.

It makes me feel not as guilty when I look at out-of-state schools.

But I do always feel guilty when it's time to say good-bye to her and she cries.

I don't.

I want to. But instead, I just detach myself and pretend like the visit never existed. We go back to phone and skype and me wishing I could be a bigger part in her life (and her in mine).

I need to remind myself constantly how lucky I am. Yes, P lives far away. Yes, I don't get to see her whenever I want. But she's here, on earth. I get to talk to her, hear her voice, ask her questions, get her help. One day that won't be possible. So I need to squeeze whatever time we do have and get the most out of it.

I love you P, so so much! You are the best big sis ever, even if you do cause me grief from time to time :)
Stay true to yourself and know that I love you no matter what. Forever and ever.

Having Issues

This past year of school has been quite....upsetting.
I didn't have nearly as many problems with my private loan last year as I do this year. Because I go to a community college, I do not receive any help from the government as they believe my parents should fund my way through college, so I have always had to get a private loan and I go through Wells Fargo. This past year I did not complete my FAFSA because I just planned on getting a private loan anyways and last year, my FAFSA ended up taking something like 8 months to complete so I didn't want to deal with that again.
So, I just did the private loan application and had it sent to my school except that unknown to me, my school had moved the tuition due date up to almost a month before school started.....what??! So I had been dropped from all of my classes. All of which were full so if I wanted to be enrolled in the same courses, I would need special permission. Long story short, everything ended up fine and dandy, and I was able to get back into my ASL classes.

Then after the semester ended (Dec. 18th) I received an e-mail stating that our tuition was due Dec. 28th. If I did not pay on time, I would be dropped. I looked up my loan information and saw my tuition disbursement was not supposed to happen until Jan. 22nd, almost a month after it was supposed to be due. So I thought, no biggy, I'll just call Wells Fargo and see if I can get the date moved up. And when I called they were very nice and said they could definitely change it, not to worry....except then they realized that my school, Saint Paul College, had told them to disburse my loan on Jan. 22nd. And since SPC had told them that specific date, SPC would have to call them and tell them to change it.

So my school told my loan company not to send my money until almost a month after tuition was due. What the heck!!??

I then had to go to school and talk to tuition, who had their head guy look over my stuff and deferred my tuition for me. It was either defer my tuition or call Wells Fargo and have them move up my disbursement date.....which probably would have just been easier. Since I was assured I was deferred until my loan came in, I now had to worry about purchasing books. I talked with a few people and for my in-school classes, I decided I would be fine for a few weeks. My on-line class was a different story.

My teacher has a homework assignment due every week that involves our textbook, cds that only come with a new book, and a lecture that we have to use powerpoint to view. Dang. So I managed to come up with the $100+ that it would cost me to purchase a new book for that class except the bookstore was out of the books and they are on back-order. My teacher has been extremely patient and understanding because a lot of people in the class don't have the book yet, but it's still frustrating because I'm now behind in that class and I was really hoping to get off on a great start to this semester. So I still do not have a book and probably won't have one until sometime next week.

Then to top it off, I showed up for my two classes Thursday night to find out I had been dropped. So back down to the familiar faces in enrollment and tuition to find out what happened and to get re-enrolled. They couldn't do anything and the gentleman I needed to speak with wasn't there until Friday. So yesterday my dad, P, A, and I went back to SPC and we were finally able to straighten it out. Turns out the guy had been dong some stuff on his computer and I was accidentally "unflagged" from getting dropped.....wow. So he was very apologetic and assured me he would let enrollment know and have them re-enroll me. Which he now has.

It's just frustrating and stressful. If it were not for the teachers, I would not be attending this school.

A lot more little things happened along the way, but it's just too much to write and you guys would be sick of reading :)

Last year I was consistent both semesters with all A's and one B, but then fall semester of '09 that didn't happen since I didn't have my books for any of my classes (since I didn't have my loan money) so I ended up with the opposite - all B's with one A. B's are great, but I was really liking the A thing, and my gpa liked it too! :)

So here's to hoping that although I am already behind in my on-line class, I'll still be able to pull through and get an A in it! As well as my other classes!

Busy Busy!

Even though school started up again last Monday (at least for me!), we had this Monday off due to Martin Luther King Day. So S and I were granted permission to use his family's villa in Duluth - with GI along as a chaperone of course! We left Sunday and the boys dropped me off for work Tuesday night and it was really nice to just get away for a few days. We were also allowed to bring the dogs, Lady and Piper :)

Lady is a golden retriever and Piper is a mutt - poodle/dachshund mix (we think). Lady loves going up there so she had a blast. This was only Piper's second time, but if she's with S and Lady, she's completely content. She worships S. No joke.
But it is pretty adorable :D

I'd put up pictures except that I'm not on my laptop - one day when I'm more organized I'll get everything up that I want up.....one day....

So now PB and A are up from MO (yayyyy!!!!!) but they already leave again on Friday, then it's unknown when we will see them next :(

S and I are still trying to figure out spring break, so there is a chance we'll go down and visit them since Sun Country is having that great deal on flights, but we'll see. Just another thing to figure out!

With homework already exploding everywhere, plus applying to more schools, requesting transcripts, filling out the FAFSA, and working the two jobs, I'm not sure how I'm going to deal with everything but I have faith knowing everything will work itself out.

Haiti

It's hard to understand and comprehend what exactly has happened and is going on in Haiti right now - at least for me.

Hundreds of thousands are thought to be dead.

They are running out of diesel - one of their main supplies of power.

People are still stuck in the rubble - over two days later.

I have never experienced an earthquake. At the Science Center in MO, they have a earthquake simulator that you can stand on and it (obviously) stimulates what an earthquake feels like. But to actually feel/experience a 7.0 earthquake and all of the damage........for me it's incomprehensible.

Haitians are so strong. They're fighters. From what I read, it sounds like they fight almost every day of their lives, whether for food to satisfy their hunger, clean drinking water, medical care, ect.....and now this.

I've been reading another blog and I'm going to share the link with you. It's about a family from MN who have been living and working in Haiti for four years. They have posted what items they desperately need and how to help, please read their blog and if you are able to give money, please don't hesitate.

The Gun Range

Last Tuesday I was given the opportunity to go to the gun range with two of my best friends (they're twins) KM and AM. Their brother-in-law works at one of the Bill's Gun Shop and Range stores so he took us on his day off to teach us how to shoot. I had an awesome time! He started us out with a 22 revolver and another 22 handgun (maybe a Sig Sauer?) which we each took turns shooting and trying out. Then AM and I tried out a 9 mil Glock and 9 mil Sig Sauer (KM stuck with her 22 handgun - she really loved it!). I decided to buy some 9mm ammo and continue to shoot a 9 mil and AM went back to her revolver - which she was very fond of. I was pretty nervous about going but M is a great guy and made sure we knew what we were doing (he was a Marine for four years). I'm really hoping that maybe one day I can find the time to take some gun classes and eventually get my conceal and carry. But my schedule is so crazy that that's probably a ways off....

Many people dislike guns and for good reason - they're scary. People die when guns are used. But I'm a big believer that if you are properly taught how to use a gun then less accidents will occur with the gun as the weapon used. Guns often-times get a bad rap, but if you have proper knowledge about them and can use them safely or if need be, effectively, accidents are much less likely to happen. So learn how to use one properly and be smart about your choices. Anddd after that little spiel, a picture of my target :)

9 mil Sig Sauer

And today classes started again, which I was very nervous about. I've finished and done pretty well in my ASL 1 through 4 classes, so now this semester I am allowed to take ASL Linguistics and ASL Fingerspelling and Numbers. My teachers for the program I am in are all Deaf, so sometimes communicating is hard and that's what I was nervous about, being able to understand what was going on. But tonight actually went really well ( I just had Linguistics, FS and Numbers isn't until Thursday) and although it's a 4-hour class, it was really interesting to me and I hope the rest of the semester classes flow just as easily! After these two classes, I only need two more to complete my ASL certification so hopefully I'll pass the classes and be able to advance onto my last ones, eeeeek! Can't believe I'm already that close! Of course, I still have at least two more years of school in order to become an Interpreter/Translator, but it will be nice to have a milestone complete :)

A New Year: 2010

A new beginning.
A new chapter in life.
A new you.

I can't say that I was prepared for this new year. Didn't really make any plans for celebrating, didn't really reflect on 2009 and how I wanted (needed) to change. These were items on my list, don't get me wrong. I just didn't take the time to think it over and "get'r done".

I worked at both jobs New Years Eve, New Years Day just at one. And today I'm at the other. So I've been busy (so much for all the free time I thought I would have during winter break from school!) but this next week should not be as crazy. Hopefully.

I wanted to go out for New Years Eve, go dancing, see a bunch of friends I haven't been able to for a while. Or else be with my papa and S, just having a quiet night talking and laughing, relaxing. Neither of those happened as my dad decided he was going to go to bed at 9 (he's an early riser) and S was strongly opposed to going out. So we simply played the game of Life with his parents and friend K, watched Dick Clark, then went to bed. Pretty low-key, except that the game took three hours, and with 10 seconds to go before it was 2010, K reached for some of the pink champagne GI had poured and ended up knocking two of the glasses over, haha. Poor boy, what a start to the new year! GI finally won the game (he became a millionaire tycoon!) which he was pretty pumped about and we all headed off to bed shortly after. And although it wasn't something that I particularly wanted to do, looking back I realize that it was.

I was able to spend time with my dad for a little bit before he went to bed. I played a game that I love, with people that I love. And I got to be with S to ring in another year.

I'm a lucky girl.