Honestly

I have a tendency to be overly optimistic. I don't like to dwell on the negative. I look on the bright side. I don't really know why I do this. I'm going to give it to you straight here. It's not that I don't want people to feel sorry for me because sometimes I do. (It's no secret that I enjoy the attention.) I really don't want people to think that I am looking for sympathy because really I'm not. I'll take it, but I'm not asking for it. Anyway, I'm not feeling particularly sunny today so I'm telling you like it is. I've fallen on hard times. That's my line at least, but it's not so far from the truth. In the last two weeks, I have lost two things that were very important to me: my grandmother and my job. I don't particularly like clumping them together like that because my grandmother was far more important to me than my job, but the fact that I lost them both at the same time puts them in the same sentence.

Sidenote: I was a psychology major in college. The day I learned about repression, it was like a light bulb went off. Repressing things is my coping mechanism. (If you google this, I am talking about memory repression not Freud's creepier pleasure repression.) I didn't know what it was until then, and I literally remember the classroom I was in when I first heard the term. That is something I did not repress. At that point in life, I was thinking of childhood memories I'd repressed for who knows why. But generally in my life I have found that I ignore all the bad things going on...like just pretend they don't exist. That's how I maintain my sunny disposition, but unfortunately, that's not real and eventually the bad stuff creeps up. Anyway...

I have nothing bad to say about my grandmother. She was a saint. We will all miss her, but I know that she is in a better place. I have strong faith in God and heaven and am at peace with her passing, but it is still sad. It all happened really fast so it was hard to process. There was a really nice article in The Star Press.

The main source of my edginess is my current state of semi-unemployment. I don't like to think about this, let alone talk or write about it so I am just going to write really fast and not worry too much about how it sounds. Cool? Cool. So most of you know that I was in the Indianapolis Teaching Fellows which is a transition to teaching program that puts you through six weeks of training in the summer then throws you in the classroom in the fall. It is a good program designed to get good people in high needs schools in a hurry. It's honestly not designed to create amazing teachers in six weeks, but give good people the tools they need in six weeks so they can figure it out in the following two years and eventually become amazing teachers. Since most people are placed in inner city schools where they are thrilled to have somebody who cares. The teaching fellows have programs in a lot of cities in greater need than Indianapolis as well. Well, IPS didn't have enough jobs for all of the people in my cohort so we applied at charters and township schools. I was lucky enough to get a job in Wayne Township. I was thrilled, and still feel fortunate to have been given that opportunity. I quickly found out that teaching was a lot harder than it looks. My parents were both teachers (my mom still teaches) and I had no idea how hard it was. So right away it was a shock and an incredible amount of work. On top of that, I did coach the volleyball team, which a lot of people like to put a lot of blame on for my current situation - I'm not sure how much of that blame it deserves, but it is certainly worth mentioning. I am not going to tell the whole story (If you want to hear it, give me a call. I don't feel like I was given a fair shot, but I really don't want to get into it here.) By the end of my first semester, my administration didn't feel like I had made enough progress to allow me in the classroom a second semester. In order to avoid a long drawn out ordeal, I resigned. So I will not be a teacher. That's the abbreviated version, but you get the idea and honestly I'm relieved to have it out there. The worst part of losing my job, for me, right now, is the embarrassment. It's humiliating. I am not really used to failing at things. I'm sure we could argue that as well. So here I am 28 1/2 years old with no clue as to what I'm going to do with my life. That's the other worst part. I suppose there are a few.

So while I've been pretending that everything is fine and enjoying the holiday with my family, the truth is that I'm freaking out. Honestly, I have no clue what's next for Karli and I feel like a complete failure. Honestly, I'm sick of watching good things happen to people all around me while bad things are happening to me. Honestly, I thought I'd be a lot better off at this point in my life and I honestly don't know what to do about it. I know I sound whiny and I hate that (and my mom will really hate it if she reads this), and I'm sorry. But honestly, throw me a bone. I will try and elaborate on some of the things mentioned here in coming blog posts, but I had to get this one out of the way before I could say anything else. That's all for now.

Shondell Out.

A Series of Unfortunate Events

According to my mother, who is wrapping up her fall break and therefore was home today to watch Taylor Swift on Ellen, Taylor said that any time she had a bad day instead of feeling sorry for herself she'd just think about how she could write a song about it. Well, I'm no singer/songwriter, not that I don't have the voice for it. I don't, but I don't need you people making assumptions about my lack of talent. So anyway, my mom told me about Taylor after I told her about my afternoon. Last week I finally made a doctor's appointment because the anaphylaxis has yet to fade. I'm still taking 5 benadryls a day. Well, my doctor only stays late one night a week so I had to wait until Monday (today). My appointment was at 5:00 in Noblesville and Noblesville is far away. I thought I had time to run by home and change because I left school at 4. Well long story, short, with stupid traffic and my poor sense of direction, I didn't get there until 5:20. At 5:20, after driving over an hour, to stupid Noblesville no less, I arrived to find the doors locked. Why didn't I call when I knew I was late, you might be wondering? I didn't have the number saved in my phone and 411 couldn't find the listing. There's $1.25 I'll never see again. So after resisting the urge to throw a rock through the non-sliding glass doors of the doctor's office (they weren't sliding because they were locked), I got back in my car and hit the road. After releasing some aggression, which included accidentally clobbering myself with the visor, I decided to make the best of the situation. I was brainstorming what I could do being way up north and flipped through my mental roladex and didn't come up with much. I looked at the clock and it was like 5:40 so I decided to run by the Wood and see if Joey was there. Well, Joey was not there so I didn't stop. I don't really miss Riverwood that much so I needed another stop to keep my trip from being completely worthless. Being in Castleton, I thought I'd stop by Half-priced Books because I had a gift card and had been meaning to stop in. When I got to Half-Priced Books, it was a wood-working store. Half-priced books disappeared. So I hit the road again, and by this time I was getting hungry. Since I was a little bummed, I called Applebee's, but when I ordered my beloved cheddar-jack mac and cheese with chicken, the guy on the phone told me they didn't have that anymore. They took it off the menu a month ago. I was devastated and told him so. It was like everything I wanted was vanishing right before my eyes. Totally bizarre.

After that I gave up, came home and ordered a personal pizza and breadsticks from Donatos. I've been hanging with Tilly and trying to stay out of harm's way ever since...Just in case this streak of bad luck tries to strike again.

Don't worry Linz, I haven't forgotten about the Philly post. Shondell out.

Terminal

It's funny how the act of putting my ipod headphones in can change an annoying experience into a movie montage. All of a sudden I don't hear the chattering children sitting right behind me (wasting a perfectly good television on Scooby Doo when it could be used to watch football) or the men complaining because their flight has been delayed again. Now it's just me watching planes take off...and land and writing about it while my ipod randomly chooses the soundtrack.

It's overcast in Chicago, the Bears just lost and I still have another hour in Terminal B before I board my flight home. I am just soaking up the final hours of my fall break before I'm faced with reality tomorrow. Before you start to feel sorry for me, know that I am feeling refreshed and motivated. I've been in complete survival mode over the last month or so and I've decided to take control. My first step was skipping Elton John's "Sad Songs". The next steps will be to get my life in order so I can stay ahead of the storm instead of struggling to keep my head above water.

Anyway, Southwest is trying to get somebody to volunteer to take a later flight (later meaning tomorrow morning) to Indy...from Chicago. My two hour layover is annoying enough because I could have driven to Indianapolis from here by the time I'll get there on my airplane...spending a night here would be ludicrous. Now, if I didn't have to teach in the morning I would consider taking it get a ride home. I'm holding out for more cash, though. They offer a $500 voucher and I'll consider it. Now the old couple sitting across from me are arguing about it while Norah Jones sings to me. The guy next to me just updated his facebook status...something about sitting in the airport. Very original. I wonder how many people sat down and the first thing they did was update their status. Like their friends really need to know that they're waiting on a plane. At least they could put some thought into it and write a blog. You all are so lucky that I'm your friend. Sounds like we're still overbooked....I hope I'm not the last one on.

I think that's all I have for now, but look for a Philly blog soon.

Autumn

We're fast-forwarding quite a bit here so pretend that the screen cut from August heat to falling leaves with AUTUMN in all caps floating across the bottom. The last nine weeks have passed by in a blur. A blur of early mornings and late nights. Imagine a New York City skyline replaced with morning joggers' headlights on Kessler and Arby's drive-thru's on Keystone. Throw in bus rides and concession stands and don't leave out the crazy kids and you have a decent picture of my life. So anyway, I already feel like I'm being too dramatic. I've been struggling a little bit with the dramatic changes my life has taken in the last 6 months. So much is different and in a lot of ways I miss my old life, but I don't want to sound ungrateful because I'm not. I have been given some amazing opportunities and only hope I don't let people down. That might be my biggest fear. I'm a salesman. I can sell myself, but I don't always deliver. For example, Ball State admitted me with distinction in 2000 and gave me a computer because they had high hopes for me. Well, I hate to publish my graduating GPA and shatter the illusion that some of you may still have, but I'm thinking BSU would have taken that cute, red iMac back if they had the chance. Back to now...For the first time in my life, I have a job that's not just a job. Which is exactly what I wanted, but it's more work than I thought it would be and I am selfishly missing all of my free time. I'm behind on everything, and my body has been in a constant state of anaphylaxis (I thought I might have made that word up, but I just looked it up and I didn't). I'm allergic to everything so I can't seem to pinpoint what's causing this. I've just been eating Benadryl like candy and hoping that once I get a break (this week is Fall Break!!) I will be able to recover.

The objective of this post was not to make you all feel sorry for me. Not that I think it worked if that was the goal. A little bit I need to give myself a slap in the face so I can get back out there tomorrow and do it again, but do it better. And I miss writing (I miss having time to write) and I have plenty of stories to tell so I need to make time. I know you all are just dying to hear my annoying teacher stories. Maybe I'll write tomorrow to let you know how successful we were at kicking out half of our students for not having their immunization records up to date. It should be exciting. Get excited.

They're letting me do what??

It's Sunday night and tomorrow morning is my official first day as a teacher. The reality of the situation is beginning to set in and my general level of anxiety is rising rapidly. It's taken me this long to get over the shock that somebody gave me a job. But this is not just any job, no, this is my dream job. As of tomorrow, I am the newest 7th grade math teacher at Chapel Hill 7th and 8th Grade Center (next to Ben Davis). Thinking long-term, I am ecstatic! Immediately however, I am terrified. In two days, I will be teaching actual children (students first day of school is Wednesday). In a big picture sense, I know I will be an amazing teacher. I know this is what I am supposed to be doing. I know that I will make a difference in the lives of these kids. I really do know this, but I also know that I've never done this before and in a lot of ways don't have a clue what I'm doing. That's the scary part.

So far this personal pep talk isn't going so great. I feel so blessed to have been given this opportunity...like miraculously blessed, and I don't want to screw it up. I've been known to talk big game from time to time and in this case I really need to be able to back it up. A lot of people are trusting me to educate their children. I'm gonna need all the help I can get! I'll keep you posted. Thanks for all of your thoughts and prayers!

Improv Writing: Pickles...

I was just given the topic Pickles because I thought I should write something, but didn't know what to write about. I'm writing about pickles.

I usually take the pickles off my hamburger, but I think that is mostly because it's what I've always done. A lot of people don't like pickles, and yet every restaurant in the country still puts them on every hamburger you order. What's that about??

I don't really like pickles, but I occasionally crave them. Any time that I see a great big pickle wrapped in some kind of pickle wrapping or wax paper or paper towel, I want it. Then when I get the pickle and take a bite it's not really as good as I thought it would be. That's always disappointing.

To end this randomness, let me talk about one way that you can never go wrong with a pickle. Fry it. This is true of most things, actually, but when you fry a pickle it turns into something amazing. Also, pickles are funny looking.

Shondell Out.

Encore

This is one of the things I rant about at every concert I go to. I hate encores, and I really don't get how I am the only one. I don't hate the idea behind the encore. In the rare instance that a truly spontaneous encore still occurs, I have no issue with that. I guess I should clarify then and say that I hate the planned encore, which has become the norm in popular music today. Here's why I hate it. I am usually tired by the end of a concert and have no patience for the BS of it. The screaming while we wait for the artist to come back out when everybody knows they're coming. Just keep playing! We know you're coming back out. It doesn't make me any more excited. It just makes me mad. It's an ego thing. Get over it. We all paid money to be here and watch you play, okay? You're good. There is no need to pretend to quit playing just so we'll all yell for more. Really, at this point, it doesn't even mean that people like you because it is expected of us just like it's expected of you. I cheer, but not because I need more music, but because there's nothing else to do for those 3-5 minutes, standing in the dark. The whole thing is false. Now I have been at shows where you feel like you've seen a full show and the fans still really do want more (and not just because the artist saved their most popular song for the encore so you'd stay) so I will go out on a limb here and say that I am OK with the second encore. People don't usually plan a second encore so if after the first encore, the fans are still screaming for more and the artist comes back and plays then that seems legit. I just want my live music experience to be authentic, and the encore ruins that for me.

The Outsiders

I have three things to say about this.

1. This is one of my favorite songs right now. It's a song by Needtobreathe (I don't know why they don't believe in spaces, but I'm sure they had their reasons). Here this is a good version:

Now, what's cool about this, aside from the fact that the music's good, is that Jes and I saw them at the Vogue like 6 months ago (OK, maybe it was more like 4 months ago) and had no idea who they were and now they're at least semi-famous. That's fun. On somewhat of a side-note although not really that off topic, I would like to state for the record that randomly going to that show when we knew none of the bands really - on a week night, no less - was one of the more fun things I've done this year and was something of a turning point in my life. The old Karli would never go out on a weeknight unless it had been planned for months, and even then, I'd probably have a miserable time and go home early. So thank you, Jessica, for that. You rock.

2. I'm feeling a little bit like an outsider right now in my life. I have a lot going on right now most of which has been really awesome, but I'm feeling a little lost socially. My need to date every nice guy in my life has made it difficult for me to hang on to a group of friends so I find myself drifting. I am grateful for my new ITF friends and of course my old, and semi-old friends who are still my friends, but I'm still drifting between you all, and I still sometimes wish I had a solid group of friends to hang out with all the time.....HIMYM-style. (HIMYM=How I Met Your Mother). I'd like to find that, and ideally marrying Ted isn't the only way to get this, but given my history and the way things are going now it looks like I might have to marry into such an arrangement. So wish me luck with that.

3. Finally, what you've all been waiting for, The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton (confession: I totally had to look up the author). I read this book in 8th grade English class and loved it of course. Who didn't love this coming of age tale? If you somehow managed to make it to this point in your life without reading this book, go ahead and rent the movie. It was good and featured something of a star-studded cast. I highly recommend it. OK, that's all I have to say about that.

Engaged

Reading that title aloud, I realize that it sounds like I mean it differently than I actually meant it. I was told last night that my recent posts are boring so I am trying to make this more engaging. Jeff felt that he would be more interested if I were talking about him so I have decided to randomly drop people's names just to see if you're paying attention. I can see the merit in that so keep your eyes out for your name!

I will also try to write about more interesting topics. Personally, I felt that lightening bugs were pretty interesting and am a little offended that anybody disagreed. I am still waiting on Rachel to comment on that one and share her Texas perspective on lightening bugs. I am actually usually pretty careful to not include names in here most of the time. I'm so worried about offending people all the time that I leave out all the good stories. That doesn't help the interest level so much. I am going to work on that. I will apologize now for offending anybody in the future.

Unfortunately (of fortunately, depending on how you want to look at it) nothing too scandalous has been going on in my life. I finished institute last week which was exciting. This has left me with more free time than I know what to do with. Tilly and I hung out in West Lafayette all weekend because that is her favorite place and I didn't have much to do here. I have just been applying for jobs and trying to get an interview. This is a part of the program. I'll briefly explain the hiring process for those of you who are confused by my "job searching" facebook status updates. The program helps us find openings and has walked us through the process, but we are not placed in jobs. I believe that at one point in time ITF did place teachers in jobs, but they do not do that anymore. My guess is that principals and schools wanted more of a say in who was working in their building or something. It makes sense that we interview like everybody else so that everybody is happy and it is a "good fit". So what I am doing right now is applying to jobs in Indianapolis. I am looking for a middle school math position. Our program tries to focus on IPS as much as possible, but we are now also looking at charter schools and townships. That being said, if anybody works in a school district with any openings or knows anybody who could help me, let me know because I could use all the help I can get.

OK, I know this is getting boring and that is not what I wanted so I'm going to wrap up with some shout outs. First props to the people who are still reading despite the fact that I'm not writing....Jessica, Leslie, Lindsay, Ashlee, Aaron, Robby, Jared, Jeff, Merindy, Grandma Pate.....and the opposite of props to the people who stopped reading (or never started) Rachel, Katherine, Tyler, Floyd, Anne, and my mom. If you feel you were left off of either of these lists and would like to be added - or would like to switch lists just let me know and I'll print a retraction. Or addition or something. EDITOR'S NOTE: I have added a few faithful readers that I originally left off the shout out list. My sincere apologies. I love you all and appreciate your dedication! OK, that's all I've got for now. How'd I do? Are you still engaged??

Shondell Out.

Lightening Bugs

You know the bugs that light up in the summer? As children, we caught them and put them in jars (or those of us with violent tendencies squashed them on the pavement to see the glowy residue). As an adult, I still find myself chasing one occasionally if it's not too challenging. What do you call them? Well, my point here is that we live in Indiana...They're lightening bugs. Nobody who grew up in Indiana calls them fireflies so I know if you mention fireflies in your facebook status, blog or tweet, you're just doing it to sound fancy. Yeah, Ash, I'm talking to you, but I'm afraid you're not alone. I'm starting to become concerned that we are going to push the down-home term lightening bug right out to make room for the Hollywood version. I would just like to ask that we all make a conscience effort to stick to our roots and teach our children the region appropriate term which in case you weren't reading is Lightening Bug.

Let me know if you disagree...I'm curious to know if anybody who grew up here was taught firefly, not lightening bug. My mom actually brought this debate to my attention when my sister used the word firefly in casual conversation - much to my mother's dismay. I had never really thought much about it until then. I'm not sure what parts of the country use which term, but according to my mother, Reese Witherspoon's character in Sweet Home Alabama talks about lightening bugs. I'm not sure if it's a midwestern thing, a southern thing, or just a small town or rural thing. That's all I have to say about it, but I felt that it was my duty to bring this very important issue to light.

Quantity Over Quality

So this happens every couple of months....the posts start to slow and then eventually stop altogether. This is obviously a problem for all of my devoted readers who check in occasionally looking for my wit and wisdom. Well, when I stop posting, they stop checking and the system breaks down. On top of all of my long-time readers, I have been really plugging the blog at school to all of my fellow fellows (we like to say that), but if they ever do get on they are going to be terribly disappointed to see that I have been doing a lot more marketing than writing. So the best remedy that I have found for this is to just write about nothing. The longer I wait to write, the more pressure builds and the task becomes too daunting so I just skip it. So it's quantity over quality for now. I'll just write whenever I think of anything to write about. It might just be a paragraph or a sentence and it might be stupid, but it takes the pressure off and eventually I'll get back in my groove. I've been busy, but things are starting to slow down (at least for a minute) so hopefully I will be able to get back on it.

Weekend Update: Tilly and I enjoyed a long holiday weekend, although I think she was a little over all the quality time we were spending together by this afternoon when she willingly, for the first time ever, went to her crate and shut the door behind her. She only stayed for about 15 minutes before coming back out...maybe that's all the time she needed. Anyway, I didn't do too much celebrating. We went to Lafayette Saturday and hung out with Lindsay then went to Uncle Mike and Aunt Kathy's on Sunday for the Fourth where Tilly learned to swim. It was very exciting for everyone. Currently, I am sitting here drinking sparkling wine out of a Stella Artois glass while Tilly barks at nothing outside. I'll write tomorrow about more nothingness.

DNA

So I've been wanting to have Tilly's DNA tested forever....well, at least since Jes told me she had Peyton's done (which I guess was just in January, but it seems like forever ago). Anyway, I never got around to it. It isn't super expensive, but I could never justify spending $60 I really didn't have on my dog's DNA so it didn't get done...Until my birthday this year. For my birthday, I told my family the only thing I wanted was this DNA testing kit. You can buy the kits at PetSmart, you do a cheek swab at home, mail it in and wait for the results. It's a very simple system. Back to my story...my fabulous siblings gave me this DNA kit for my birthday and I of course immediately performed a series of cheek swabs on Tilly (you have to do two for accuracy) and mailed it in. Then the waiting began. They say it takes two weeks to process. I put it in the mail the day after my birthday and waited. I gave them a day or two to get it and a day or two to get it back to me, but by this week, I was anxious. Plus people kept asking me if I had it yet. Like I wasn't going to tell everyone the second I got it?!? I was starting to worry I wrote my address wrong, or they couldn't read my handwriting, plus there was no real way to track it or verify that they'd received it. The simplicity of the system left some holes in the "what if something goes wrong" area of this product. Well, fear not because the results did in fact arrive on Thursday.As I opened that big white envelope, I was more excited than the day I received my acceptance letter into Ball State University so many years ago. OK, that was a joke. I mean I'm sure I was excited, but I don't think I was surprised. I didn't apply anywhere else and assumed I would get in with no problem. I was mostly looking forward to my dorm assignment, but I digress. I was very excited. I don't know what I wanted it to say. The shelter told me they thought she was a Beagle/Golden Retriever mix so we've been operating on that assumption to some degree ever since. I had created a story in which Tilly's mother was a beagle/golden mix and her owners gave Tilly and her siblings away to their friends, one of whom was Tilly's original owner. These people quickly realized they could not handle Tilly because they had small children and as we all know, Tilly's a bit of a handful. Nobody ever really knew what her dad was, but ever since I've had her (she was about 3 1/2 months old when I brought her home) we have been speculating. We have gone through the full gamut of possibilities....from Weimaraner to Greyhound to random breeds we've only seen in dog books. Tilly weighs about 40 pounds and stands about 2 1/2 feet tall. She's a very pretty dog, but has a small head and a bigger body. She is blond, which we credited the Golden Retriever with. She is a super sweet puppy, and doesn't know a stranger. She's good with kids and other dogs. She's also ridiculously energetic, which garnered her the nickname Crazy Dog from my dad. She never wears out, and she's insanely fast. She has a long tail and medium sized floppy ears. She has speckled white front legs and white accents on her chest, face, feet, tail and belly, and he has light colored eyes. I like to joke (especially when my hair is really blond) that she looks like me. Sorry for the overly-detailed description. I know most of you have met her, and those that haven't can see her in the picture right there, but these are the qualities that we have used to decide what she is. OK, moving on. You know I have the results and I haven't shared them yet. I know you are just dying to hear what from what bloodline it is that Tilly descends. Will she be a Slytherin or a Hufflepuff or could she be a Gryffindor?? (Sorry, I'm just really excited to see Hogwarts at Universal in Florida)

The results already, right? They categorize their findings in five different levels. Each level represents a range in percents that each breed composes in your dog. For example a level 4 is 10-19% and a level 1 is 75% or more. Well it turns out that Tilly had a level 1 breed in her. This means that she must have had one purebred parent. Who knew? I thought she was mutt to the core and we might find 10 different breeds. She then had a second breed come in at a level 4 (which in her case I'm calling 15% so the numbers add up right) and a level 5 come in at 10%. Miss Tilly Jane is 75% Brittany Spaniel. That surprised be because it is not a breed we talk about often, but one my mom and I had thrown around at one point. If you look at these pictures (http://www.google.com/images?um=1&hl=en&rlz=1C1CHMZ_enUS372US379&tbs=isch:1&sa=1&q=brittany+spaniel&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai==), you can see she looks a lot like a Brittany Spaniel especially in the face. The next most prominent breed was Golden Retriever. This one was much less surprising since we'd thought it all along and she's blond like a golden. Brittany Spaniels are almost always brown and white. (maybe always, but I don't want to start making statements I can't back up). And finally, Tilly is about 10% Labrador Retriever. That's not a breed we've ever really mentioned, but it's not shocking...a little boring maybe, but definitely not shocking. Now probably the most interesting thing about these results is the fact that my beagle mix dog doesn't have any beagle in her at all! Regardless of the results, I am very happy to finally know where my sweet pup came from.

Just Sayin'

I know...I know. Way too long. It won't happen again. Well, I can't really promise that, but I'll do my best. I'm super exhausted so don't look for any underlying theme here or any fancy literary tricks. I'm writing until I can't think of anything else to write about. I've been ridiculously busy - which is why I haven't been writing - not that I'm making excuses. Just saying. :-) This week I started my summer training institute for the Indianapolis Teaching Fellows. Oh speaking of that, I need to make quick announcement. While I am now a part of the Indianapolis Teaching Fellows and I may at some point make mention of the program or things I'm doing with the program, all of my thoughts and opinions are mine alone and in no way represent ITF. OK, moving on....(yes, I really had to do that!) It's been a busy week so far and I have five weeks of this to go so wish me luck making it through. If you have questions about the Indianapolis Teaching Fellows, check out our website http://www.indianapolisteachingfellows.org/ or just ask me. It's a great program and I'm excited to be a part of it. Anyway, with the beginning of this came the end of my old career. I quit my job at Riverwood. I'll give you a minute to take that in. It's been a long time coming, but I couldn't be happier. That led to me moving which involved a lot of purging and cleaning and lots of other exhausting, not so fun stuff. So last week I was "in between jobs" and used that time to move to my new apartment, help Ashton pull out all the bushes in front of his house (giant bushes - that's a story in its self, but I don't have time to tell it right now), and celebrated my birthday. I'm another year older, however if you've been reading you know I've been pretending to be 28 for six months so I'm completely unfazed. Amidst all that, I have had concerts and open houses and movie premieres (when I say premiere I am referring to the opening of Sex and the City 2 - We didn't even go the first night so I'm using that term loosely). Bottom line is that I've been busy - Good busy, but busy just the same. And I haven't been sitting in front of a computer all day at work so that has considerably cut into my social networking.

I recently took a look back at some of my entries from last year and couldn't believe the difference in my calendar looking from then to now. I believe I even mentioned that it was inspirational because last spring I was sitting at home every night praying that somebody would call me to do something, but now I feel like I don't have a free second. I wouldn't change my life right now for anything - I am so blessed and happy - but, I'm not gonna lie, I'm missing last year's boredom a little bit right now.

Rain is a good thing

It's been raining a lot, which I know is good for the flowers, but it doesn't help my mood. I've been sick, and stressed and generally grumpier than normal. This is silly because I have a lot of potentially exciting things going on right now. I'm moving and starting a new job, but with these exciting things come stress. I typically use a regression method of coping where I just ignore anything that could potentially cause anxiety. I'm trying to stop doing that because it usually causes more problems down the road. So I'm dealing with stuff. Here's what I'm stressed about: I just quit my job. That's scary. Many of you know that I've been accepted into the Indianapolis Teaching Fellows, which I am extremely excited about, but even you will be scared after I tell you this next tidbit...There's a test you have to pass (two tests really, but I already passed the first one) before you can start the program June 1. I took this test April 24 which was both the first and last available date for me to take it and be eligible and I don't find out if I passed until next Tuesday. I consider myself a fairly competent test-taker, but this test was hard! I don't know calculus! I debated publicizing this for fear of public humiliation if I failed, but I figure I might as well get it out there. On top of that I have a bunch of work to do before June 1 for this program that I may not even be accepted into, have to worry about moving while finishing out my final two weeks with people who aren't exactly 100% supportive of my decision to leave.

So that was me venting. I'm usually a pretty optimistic person so each time I start to dwell on one of these stressors, I repeat this quote that I read on a "Things I've Learned" poster in my doctor's office: I've learned that most of the things I worry about never happen - age 64. I love that quote because it's so true, and it's helped me quite a bit. So I'm back to my optimistic self and seeing the glass half full. There's nothing I can do abuot that test now so I shouldn't waste time worrying and chances are that I passed it, I'll get everything done that I need to because I always do, and the moving and starting over thing is more exciting than it is scary. It's all a matter of perspective. There's a country song out right now that says it better than me.

It clouds up in the city, the weather man complains
But where I come from, rain is a good thing.

Denny's Ditty

If you listen to WFMS in the morning, you may have heard of Denny's Ditty. It's a segment on the ACM Large Market Personality of the Year-nominated* morning show, Jim Denny & Friends. (Sidenote: Jim Denny is actually a lot better looking in person than you'd think listening to his ditties) So anyway, Denny's ditty is a song that he makes up on the spot, and every day people e-mail suggestions which are then read to Jim Denny live on the air, he has like 2 minutes to write a song and he then plays/sings it for us. Well, I've been thinking about this blog, and it seems like when I sit down to write, I can't think of anything to write about and when I think of something that would be fun to write about, I am no where near my computer and have lost interest by the time I am. This brings me to the point of this entry. I think I could do my own version of Denny's Ditty (No, I will not be singing, but if I did, it would be amazing). My version would be more of an improv writing exercise and it would have a clever name - probably an alliteration a la Denny. Somebody gives me a topic (I envision utilizing twitter or facebook for this), I then take 20 minutes or so and write something clever. I could see myself doing this once a week or every other week. So that's my idea, however it does require reader participation so I need your help. Before you tell me if you're down or not, let me tell you why you should be. 1) You get to participate in what I write - that's like telling Bob Dylan what to sing about. 2) I'll write more so you'll have more to read to pass the time and 3) It'd be fun for me, so do it!

OK, let me know what you think! I can't do this without you!

*http://www.cmt.com/acm-awards/nominees.jhtml

Really Oprah, Really?

Let me preface this by saying that I have always been an Oprah fan. I watched religiously through the 90's and even through college I was pretty dedicated. With the introduction of the DVR and my introduction into the working world, I've drifted away from Oprah's circle of influence. That brings me to my issue with Oprah right now. Her newest gift to America....Oprah's No Phone Zone (http://http://www.oprah.com/packages/no-phone-zone.html). Don't get me wrong...this is not a terrible idea. I can't say that I'm pro-distracted driving because that's like saying I'm pro murder or something, but what I am saying is that Oprah is not the person to push this on me. She has zero credibility on the subject. Do you really think the woman has driven herself anywhere in the last 20 years?!? No way. I doubt she still holds a valid license. She's just sitting in the back seat of her fancy town car texting Gayle about what suckers the American people are - driving themselves around not talking on their phones. Aside from having no credibility, she doesn't have a viable solution. The no-phone zone is the abstinence method of distracted driving. There's no way everybody is just going to stop using their phones. Now if somebody with a 45 minute commute came out and met me halfway, I might be able to get on board, but this is just Oprah seeing what kind of ridiculous stuff she can get us to do.

The One About My New Favorite Show

It's no secret that I watch a lot of TV. There's a lot of crap on TV, but every once in a while a new show comes along that changes that. A new show is like a new relationship. It's fresh and new and mesmerizing. My favorite show of all time is Friends, and at this point in my life I don't think that's going to change. Friends made me who I am today. It will always be a part of me. (I know you love my dramatics.) I remember when Grey's Anatomy first started I loved it. I thought I loved it more than Friends. I think I even wrote about it on my Xanga site (yeah, I had a Xanga site - you can probably find it if you google me, but I will not be including a link). I have since realized that nothing could take that top spot away from Friends. Grey's wasn't the only show I've been enamored with over the years. Dawson's Creek, Scrubs, How I Met Your Mother, Big Love and many others have been short-lived obsessions turned long term loves (none can hold a candle to Friends of course) This brings us to my current obsession, Parenthood. If you haven't watched it yet, do it now! That's an order. It is amazing. I am, at this moment, head over heels in love with Parenthood.

Under Pressure

So much pressure. I'm feeling pressure about a lot of things, but most importantly, to write more. This pressure is mostly brought on by myself, but still... And now I'm finding more and more friends with blogs that just really adds to the pressure to not only write more but to write better. I feel like I write better when I live by the quantity over quality mantra.....If I'm just firing out short little blogs, they tend to be more entertaining. Probably just because there is less room for it to suck.

Anyway, I think if I get this filler entry out of the way I'll be able to write something worthwhile without all the pressure. In the meantime, check these out....http://hersaturdayshoes.blogspot.com, http://ashtoneller.blogspot.com, http://ashleeshondell.blogspot.com, http://http://leslieannpaul.blogspot.com, http://clubtrillion.blogspot.com. Some are more public than others. I'm pretty sure I'm the only person who has ever read Ashlee's so sorry for that. Time to step it up! :-)

I'll have more to report in a few weeks. So many secrets! :-)

Karli Shondell is...

...In a Relationship.

OK, not really(ish). I'm talking about facebook relationships so don't get too excited, but I'm wondering what the protocol is for becoming "facebook official". There was no Facebook, when I was dating in high school and college...OK, who are we kidding, I didn't really date in high school. Honestly I didn't date much in college either...Hmm, scratch that. It is accurate that there was no facebook, but apparently not extremely relevant because I still may not have had a need to change my relationship status. Anyway, when the facebook came out I was already in a serious relationship so under relationship status I put in a relationship. I did change it to engaged and then married, but those are kind of no-brainers (we don't really need to dig all that up, anyway). I'm getting off-topic. What I want to know is how do you go from single to in a relationship. I have asked people about this before, but have never gotten a straight answer. I would think there would have to be a conversation at some point. Really, the facebook relationship status update could be a good icebreaker for this kind of sometimes-awkward discussion of "what are we?". On the flip-side, facebook could help you avoid this question. Instead of having the conversation, you just update your status and hope that your boyfriend accepts your request. However, I see how this type of avoidance could really come back to kick you if your in a relationship person doesn't accept your request. Then your mind starts spinning...did they do that on purpose? should I send it again, just in case?, now he's going to think I'm crazy, what if he never mentions it, should I mention it?, now what? Really, a rejected relationship update is just as good as a break-up. I don't see you recovering from that very easily.

I also think it depends a lot on how old you are. I imagine there's a lot of facebook game playing going on in college....probably even more in high school, but if you're as old as me you just want people you never see to know if they should be offering to set you up or not. Now, if you get much older than me I don't really think you need to be messing too much with that part of your profile. Say you're married, if you're married so your high school sweetheart doesn't think they still have a chance, but then leave it alone. Oh, and one other thing, I don't think it is ever appropriate to go from married to it's complicated. Even if it is complicated! You just need to keep that to yourself. I'm really not a real big fan of the it's complicated status in any context, but can see how it might be fun to play with if you're in the 15-19 year-old range.

All in all, facebook relationship waters seem kind of tough to navigate. I think I'm an advocate of a simultaneous, possibly drunken update. Short and sweet. Just rip it off nice and quick, like a band-aid. Please let me know if you have any insight, and I'll update you if I come up with any on my own.

I Heart Aldi....and some other stuff

I've recently become fairly obsessed with Aldi...the grocery store. (1. I'm constantly tempted to call it Aldi's, but I think that's just the Hoosier in me and 2. one of my favorite things about Aldi is the fact that it is a grocery store and nothing else). Let me back up just a minute...I've always been a bit of a shopping snob. I don't like digging through clearance bins, I don't like generic canned goods, I like things to look nice and new when I purchase them. That being said, you can imagine why I had never stepped foot in an Aldi until recently. It gets a bad rep as a low-end grocery store...shockingly, I've even heard some refer to it as WT shopping. Well, the facts are that it's not WT at all. It's brilliant! They only have groceries so it's quick and easy to find what you need. They have great produce and cheap wine. The best part is that when I walk out of there I typically spend HALF of what I would spend at Wal-mart...not to mention what I'd spend at Marsh. I'd like to give a quick shout out to Aaron for introducing me to this amazing environmentally and economically friendly shopping center. :-)

OK, I'm getting bored with this entry already, but I want to also mention how impressed I am with Bluebell ice cream. Well, more specifically Bluebell's marketing team. The ice cream is good, but not necessarily the best ice cream ever. But this marketing campaign I love. Bluebell Ice Cream - Now available in Indianapolis. They are rolling it out like it's a car or cd or something cooler that I can't think of right now....and believe it or not, it's totally working. There is a definite buzz around Bluebell Ice Cream in Indianapolis right now. So much so, that I witnessed a women at Meijer visibly distraught....practically throwing a fit because the Bluebell was so picked over. If it hadn't been after 10 pm, I might have thought she was planted there by Bluebell. So Kudos to Bluebell.

And I have one more prop to give out today....indyspectator.com. Brand new newsletter dedicated to cool stuff going on in Indy. Love it. :-) OK, that's all for now. Yay for it being Friday!

Bandwagon

I understand when Bengals, Bears or Browns fans get mad at people during football season for jumping on the Colts bandwagon. I don't agree with it, but I understand. If you've stuck by your team through more downs than ups, you're bound to be a little bitter. Well, the NCAA men's basketball Final Four starts tonight, right here in town, and Indiana's got a team playing. And it's Butler. Not a lot of people saw that coming. Probably because we weren't watching. So the city is excited. It's all over the news, bars are now full of new Butler fans, they're selling t-shirts at CVS, the list goes on. Well, I just saw on facebook (yeah, Lent's over so I'm back on facebook) a Butler grad complaining because everybody is jumping on the Butler Bandwagon. I have a couple of issues with this...1)It's your team...don't you want people to cheer for them?? and 2) When did it become wrong to root for the home team? Everybody else's teams lost so we're cheering for yours. You're welcome! I've never claimed to be a die-hard Butler Bulldog fan, but I'm excited that they made it this far and would love to see them win the thing. The home team thing relates to Colt's fans too, but I'll save that for fall.

Go Bulldogs!

What if...

I always do this. The times when I have the most to say, I say none of it. At least not publicly. That's the problem. I like writing about what's going on in my life, but sometimes I feel like it affects too many other people to make it public without having them all sign a waiver. Maybe I should just have everyone sign a waiver now so if at any point I feel like using their likeness, I can do so without guilt or legal implications. So what if I wrote everything I was thinking? You would all think I was crazy, for one. For another, nobody really needs to know everything that anybody is thinking. That can't be healthy. This is what anybody who can read minds would tell you. There are some things you really don't want to know. On that note, I won't delve too deep into my psyche, but I am feeling a little overwhelmed by life at the moment. This is fairly uncharacteristic for me. I'm usually pretty easy going and take things as they come, one day at a time. I can't quite put my finger on the source of this stress, but I am feeling pressure from a lot of different directions and all I really want to do is hide. Daylight Savings Time is keeping me from going home and going to bed at 7.  (Don't get me wrong, I could still do it, but I feel bad when the sun is still shining.) Long story short, I'm just trying to figure out what the future's going to look like, what it's supposed to look like, what I want it to look like and how to get there. I'll keep ya posted.

Tilly's Graduation

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Washington, DC

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In Like A Lamb...

Well, it's March already. We're almost halfway through March, really, if you can believe it. So far March has been pretty awesome and my drug of choice is sunshine. How great has all this sunshine been?!? I love it. I even love it when the sunshine leaves and the rain comes because it's spring rain not winter rain. Yes, there is definitely a difference and it's big. Obviously it's warmer now which makes the rain more tolerable, but it also smells different. What is that? Everyone knows what spring smells like, but what exactly is it. Ordinarily I would respond to that question by saying that it's all the new things growing and being born and all that, but I don't really think we're there yet. Under the sunshine and spring rain, it still looks pretty dead, however we still get that springy smell after the rain. One of God's mysteries, I suppose. If somebody knows the actual source of this springtime smell, don't tell me. I don't really want to know. I'm a man of faith. (Note the not-so-subtle Lost reference.)

So things seem to be falling into place in my life, which makes me happy. I don't want to jinx anything, but I'll fill you in later. I'm definitely excited about the next couple months, etc. :-) Oh! And one other thing I want to talk about which is really off topic so sorry. Google Calendar. So cool. OK, so it's just a calendar...not like a magic calendar, but I can sync it up with my friends and family's calendars so I know what everybody is doing at all times. And if I had any sort of smart phone, I'd probably be able to sync it up with that, too, but I still have a phone that limits me to talking to people and sending the occasional text message. If anyone is currently using google calendar or wants to start one and wants to sync up with me, let me know. I'd be happy to share all of my happenings.

So this brings me to the ominous part of my post. It's been said that March comes in and goes out like a Lion and a Lamb. For example, I remember last year we had a big storm the first week of March and by the end of the month it was nice. So we (at least me) said that March came in like a Lion and out like a Lamb. I wasn't going to explain all that, and I feel like it might take away from the integrity of the post, but I'm not sure everybody is as familiar with the saying as I am. So anyway, this March has been really great, which leads me to assume we've got something bad coming. Since March came in like a Lamb, it has no choice to go out like a Lion. I suggest you prepare yourselves....But maybe it'll just be like a baby lion and we can breeze right through it into our April Showers and May Flowers.

Disconnected

It's day two of Lent, for which I gave up Facebook. I deactivated my account the night before last and will not reactivate it until after Easter. It's not so bad, but I'm having a hard time finding things to do at work. I've actually been working, which is completely out of character for me. Even with all of the working I've been doing, I still end up with hours of nothing which has led me to online shopping. I'm afraid I'm going to spend all my money. I bought a vacuum cleaner on woot today for $40 that I feel pretty good about. Retails for like $80, and Tilly and I just killed the last one with all of our hair. Our bad. I definitely think that I spent too much time on the facebook and some time off will do me good. What I hated was that I would just stare at the screen. After having read everyone's status and looked at all the pictures I cared to see, I was still staring just waiting on something new to appear....which eventually did happen...but still that's too much. It's been a bit of a struggle, but I assume it will get easier with time. Breaking a habit takes a little bit of time. What I'm afraid won't go away is how disconnected I feel. I'm not sure that the connectedness I get from Facebook is valid, but that false connection is something compared to the darkness I'm experiencing now. I have no idea what hundreds of people I don't talk to in real life are doing right now. Can you even imagine?!? My only hope is that this disconnection from the virtual world will somehow help me connect to the real world... I don't know that that makes sense or is possible, but I'll keep you all abreast on my progress.

...The More I Love My Dog!

Valentine's Day, Schmalentine's Day... OK, I'm not going to be grumpy about it. It's a made up holiday, yada, yada. No, I'm not just saying that because I'm alone on Valentine's Day. Of course not. I really do think it's a commercial holiday (not that I don't enjoy flowers and chocolate because I do), but for me, it has yet to get better than decorating paper bags with doilies and exchanging cards in elementary school.

Many of you know my dog, Tilly. She's my Valentine this year, and she's the sweetest thing ever. We have been taking an obedience class, and it has been going really well. There are about 20 dogs in our weekly class, and none come close to the perfection that is Tilly. There are dogs in this class that have major behavioral issues (my dad would argue that Tilly aka 'Crazy Dog' is one of these dogs). Her problem isn't her, it's clearly me. She does exactly what she is supposed to in that class, it's me who can't figure out how to give an about turn command. I was beaming with pride when she stayed down after the trainer dropped a huge, meaty treat right in front of her. I was terrified as this woman approached with said treat. We were the last in the line to receive a distraction and the training lady couldn't even look at darling Tilly because she was looking up with angelic anticipation, waiting on her treat. I look around the room, knowing that I absolutely must to be bias, but having no control over my emotions (as usual..), and I know that she is the cutest and sweetest dog in this class. I actually feel sorry for these other dog owners because they are clearly stuck with their full bred German Shepherds (with papers, of course), while I get to go home with my dear Tilly. I am not an animal person at all, but I am so head over heels in love with this dog, it is insane. Even when I want to kill her, which is becoming less frequent thank goodness, I love her so much that I just want to squeeze her.

The moral of this story is that I could do a heck of a lot worse than Tilly, as my valentine. Thanks to C. Underwood for her inspiration for the title. Good song...I am feeling you on that one this year.

Is nakedness itself the problem?

I know I'm a little behind on this story, but I had some time at work today and just wanted to say that I agree with this guy...

http://http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/sex-dawn/201001/greg-oden-apologizes-naked-pictures-why


Go Colts!!

Not Another Teen Movie

I watched "Don't You Forget About Me" the other day, which is a documentary about John Hughes and the impact he had on teen movies...well, how he basically created the genre. It was good. And it inspired me to come up with a list of my favorite teen movies. In no particular order (besides the one I thought of them in), here they are...

Can't Hardly Wait - "The beer has gone bad! Nobody drink the beer!" I love this movie. Anytime I watch it, I am instantly transported straight back to high school. We had a graduation party that was eerily similar to this, minus Melissa Joan Hart running around with a yearbook...and the pool...and the live band and the police.

The Breakfast Club - LOVE. There really are no words.

Clueless - "Whatever" This one is iconic. I saw it twice in the theater.

American Pie - My dad rented this one and I came in to watch with him, but he was embarrassed watching it with me so he left the room.

10 Things I Hate About You - "And I'm back in the game" I still use that quote quite a bit. Also, my introduction to Heath Ledger. And I had a purple t-shirt that I thought looked just like one that Julia Stiles wore in this movie that I loved.

Almost Famous - This is one of my favorite movies, period. Top 10 for sure, probably top 5. I couldn't imagine anything more glamorous than being a Band Aide.

Sixteen Candles - Molly Ringwald. This one was just always there. One of those movies that shows you what being a teenager is supposed to be all about. Like a guide book to make sure you're doing it right.

Grease - My uncle got me this movie for Christmas when I was in like 5th grade. At the time, I thought I was too young to watch it (I watched a lot of Disney until I turned about 14), but I watched it anyway and while I didn't get a lot of the jokes until I was older, I watched it over and over. I was terribly disappointed when my high school didn't have a dance off with the hand jive.

Mean Girls - I was in college when this came out and we watched it like 10 times the week somebody got the DVD. Hilarious.

Wayne's World - "Party on, Wayne. Party on, Garth"I fell in love with this movie in middle school and I still love it dearly. It totally takes me back.

Empire Records - This movie is just so cool. Just makes me want to work in a record store and buy a bunch of records. People who have records are cool.

She's All That - A bit of a cliche and the inspiration for some spoof movies, but I was in high school and a sucker for a happy ending.....and a makeover.

Dazed and Confused - This is why I've always wanted to be a hippy. And why I've always wanted to haze people. "Fry little piggies!"

High Fidelity - Jack Black at his finest.

Juno - Oh, teen pregnancy...

Superbad - Completely inappropriate inaccurate portrayal of high school, but hilarious just the same.

Dirty Dancing - "I carried a watermelon" This has been on my favorite movie list since I was 9. It is also one of two "grown-up movies" that my mom had on tape. She would fast-forward to the very end so we could see the dancing scene. Oh, and Patrick Swayze was hot. Dirty dancing is hot.

Pretty in Pink - Molly Ringwald again.

Varsity Blues - My dad wouldn't let me see this movie in the theater even though I was a senior in high school and 17 years old. I saw it anyway though. And loved it.

Save the Last Dance - I'd have to call this one a guilty pleasure. I almost left it off the list, but then I remembered that I listened to the soundtrack on repeat for 2 months freshman year and decided I had to include it. Ahh, young, interracial love...so romantic.

Bottom Line: I love a teenage movie!

Blonde Wins by a Hair!

Sorry I couldn't resist. Thanks for your opinions, even though I'm pretty sure it was just my mom voting for blonde every day and Soups voting for brunette to keep it tied. So basically I'm just going to do whatever I want. I don't think anybody cares enough for it to matter.

High School Reunion

I've been watching High School Reunion on TV Land because I'm on a constant quest to fill my DVR. After the first episode, I couldn't believe how catty the girls were and how everybody seemed to result back to their high school selves. Initially, I blamed the people they choose to be on these shows. Obviously, if they're still single and willing to be on a 3rd rate reality show at 40, they have issues.

After ten years, I've have had a change of heart. Here's the deal...we all know that I played volleyball in high school, and that I use the word played loosely. Our volleyball team won State three of the four years I was in high school. I was on the JV squad two of those years, but I still felt like as much a part of the team as anybody else, and I was never worried about playing or not playing. Things changed a couple years ago when the school decided to recognize the first state championship at a basketball game for the 10 year anniversary. I, of course, wasn't technically a part of that team. So now it matters. FF to now, they're recognizing the team that I was on so I'm invited. Now that I'm going, it's like I'm back in high school all over again. All the good players are getting together before the game and I wasn't invited. I don't necessarily want to go, but I don't like them having the power to decide that I'm not worth inviting. I completely happy with who I am, but somehow now feel inadequate because I wasn't a starter for the best volleyball team in the state 10 years ago. How stupid is that? So there's something about being thrown back to high school that makes you feel like you're in high school. I'm going to cut the Summer Girls on High School Reunion a little slack, and hopefully I get over this before my actual reunion this summer.

ADD Post

I keep thinking of things I want to write about, but I never make it all the way over here to write. For example, the day that it snowed so much I had this great snow day post all thought out, but when I got on to write it, I discovered Bri's Snow Day post which was a video of Abe and Sam. How am I supposed to compete with babies?!? I can't do it. So that was hardly fair. But even though I had to work and everybody was overly stressed for no valid reason, I had a pretty good day. The highlight was definitely the couple who braved the elements to come in to look for an apartment that they need in July! What made this great and not as obnoxious as it should have been was the fact that every year we get that one really bad snowy day when nobody's out, but somehow that one couple who didn't have to work because the roads were too bad manages to make it to your front door (maybe they had snow shoes) to start their summer apartment search. You should know that due to the way we operate our business, it is at least a little annoying any time somebody comes in looking for an apartment more than 2 months in advance because we don't know what's available that far ahead therefore can't make the sale and the best we can really do is tell them to come back later. That morning I was talking to a guy I used to work with at Scandia, on facebook, about how happy we were to be at work and how we were sure nobody would come in. And we joked about how we knew somebody would come in looking for an apartment in July because it always happens and it's so funny, but honestly, I didn't think it would happen that day because the roads were just too bad. Nobody was out at all, but sure enough come 1:00, there they were. I couldn't help but laugh out loud when they told me they weren't moving until July. I will admit that it got less funny when I actually had to walk out in the snow to show them the apartment, but it kinda made my day just the same. So I wanted to write about that and then I wanted to write about Tilly's obedience school because she's officially registered and starts class in 2 weeks. Now when I wanted to write about this, she was behaving much better than normal because of the new "pincher collar"(it's perfectly safe and doesn't hurt her too much so don't feel sorry for her - she's bad) that I purchased for class. But unfortunately, since then she's reverted back to her old ways a little bit after apparently realizing that the collar doesn't magically punish her when she misbehaves and I actually have to get up off the couch to yank the lead and she can typically outrun me and avoid that. So I'm hoping to learn something in obedience school. I'm still thoroughly enjoying my X-Box and rewatching all of Lost. My anticipation for the final season is growing by the day.

Dream a little dream...

I dream a lot. Well, I guess they say that everybody dreams, but not everybody remembers their dreams. I do. Vividly. I have these crazy, realistic, vivid dreams every night. I don't know what that's about. Or what they mean. My dream last night starred this guy I knew in high school, briefly, and haven't seen in 10 years. He's not even on the facebook so where did that come from?? My subconscious is so random! So, in the dream, I was picking Josh up from jail. But it wasn't real jail...I mean it was, but I guess I don't know what real jail looks like so I made up some dumbed down version on some random college campus that doesn't exist. We carried all of his stuff (the stuff he apparently had on him when he got taken to jail - details are starting to get fuzzy) across campus to the dorm room we were staying in. A dorm room that looked like no dorm room I've ever been in, by the way. That's really all I remember. I remembered more when I first woke up, but it's been a couple hours now and like I said, things start to get really fuzzy. But how random is that. First, if you knew this Josh, you would know he was so not the type to ever go to jail. And how weird is it that my brain pulled him of all people out to play the male lead in this movie. I always remember things like they are real when I first wake up. When it's a good dream, I sometimes wake up and feel like i can go back. Sometimes I can, but usually when it's over, it's over. I think I've always dreamed like this. I remember having these real dreams as a little girl. I wonder what that means about me. And what could I learn about myself from these dreams. But these dreams that I have don't seem to be symbolic like dreams you hear about people analyzing. They are just movies, starring me, that I watch while I sleep.

Is this weird? Does anybody else dream like this? Most people who don't dream a lot (or at least don't remember their dreams like I do) think it's weird. To me, it's normal and I rather enjoy it.

My Tangerine Wall: Part II

I did it again. I painted my room orange, again. (See: http://karlishondell.blogspot.com/2008/07/my-tangerine-wall.html) It makes me happy. Be, Do, Have. That's a philosophy on how to get what you want by being happy with what you have....sort of. Anyway, I'm being and doing so someday, I'll have what I want. The tangerine wall was something I could do today (I already had the paint so it didn't cost me anything) and it makes a huge difference in my overall well-being.

OK, I know. I'm not super funny today, but my room's looking more like a real room. It was so white before. I hated it. It's much brighter now. You'll have to read the original Tangerine post to see why I chose the color in the first place, but here's my room!