A Two-Year Old Post.

So I was going through my old blog and I found this from two years ago...it made me laugh, so I thought I'd share it :-)

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Do you ever have a moment so magical the time just flies by? Do you ever have such a grand time that you are consumed with the moment? Are you ever so filled with joy and excitement for what you are doing that you never want it to end? Yeah, I'm not talking about that. Today, I'm talking about the absolute worst two hours of my life, where I literally was counting the seconds until it was over.

Today, I had my first Comparative Studies class. God was I in for torture. The class is called "Love in World Literature" and we turned in our first assignment, which was a paper on the meanings and manifestations of love (assigned via e-mail since we did not have class last week). Talk about a 9th grade orientation project. I have never in my life considered getting up and leaving a class because I thought I was actually losing knowledge. God was it a waste of time. For nearly two hours we went around the room and everyone chimed in on what they felt love was. I felt like I was in Self-loathers Anonymous. Everyone was like, "Love is a feeling" to which others would literally reply, "That's so deep." I had no idea I had signed up for a special ed circus of hippies, feminists and socialists discussing the "immense power" of four letter words. One girl literally said, "I am a Women's Studies Major, and I think love and girl should be interchangeable words, since love comes from the mother..." Can someone somehow hurt me so I have a medical excuse to NOT to attend this class?

The most mind-stabbing part of the session was when the Professor was discussing the semantics of the "profound statement" that "God is love". Some kid who is studying international studies (read: future Starbucks Barista), was like, "I consider love to be a prayer", to which the Professor squealed with delight at the inspiring revelation. They continued on for five minutes with a conversation similar to this:

"So, prayer is love?"
"Yes, and God is love."
"So then, would that mean that...prayer is God?"
"No, Prayer is communion with God, since a person who loves God will pray."
"I see! So those who love God will pray, since prayer is love and God is love?"
"Ah yes! However, love is an action, and God is a thing. Hence why prayer is not God."
"So then, love is both an action and a thing--but that would mean prayer is both a love and thing!"
"Ah, very true! So prayer is love, God is love, but love are both! Wonderful!"

FIVE FUCKING MINUTES OF THAT SPEWED DRIVEL. I cannot believe I have ten more weeks of this. I seriously have never been less challenged in my life. I think I'd find more challenge in old copy of Highlights Magazine. (Remember that shit? THE BEST). And, since I always sit in the front row, it's not like I could pull out some homework and just ignore the silly words that were being exchanged. "Love is the fuel to propel the world", that is a literal quote. We talked about it for ten minutes.

*pulls hair out in utmost agony*

Excuses, Excuses!

Ok, so major fail on the "I promise to write a story by the end of the week" resolution...argh...

I'm just incredibly busy, so I guess I can write about that instead. :-P

I'm still cranking out a full-time, 35-hour per week work schedule at the restaurant. I'm a full-time student taking 4 classes. Today I ran a 5k and next Saturday I'm running a half-marathon. In addition to all of this, I'm pledging with a fraternity this quarter--which is a TON of work. I'm not upset by it, it's actually rather fun, but the time commitment is immense.

On top of all that, I'm still practicing piano an hour a day (I've been playing for 16 years, this is like clockwork to me). I've interviewed with a ton of companies and I have been selected for a fantastic internship in Minneapolis over the summer. I was selected to be a part of OSU's "Dean's Leadership Conference" next week, which is kind of big deal and requires a bit of work as well. To make the workload even worse, I'm the VP social for the pledge class, meaning that I plan our largest social event with over 100 people showing up. Fun.

So I'm stressed. And I never have time for this blog anymore. But I miss it! Maybe over the summer you'll get more love from me? I'll periodically update (as I have been), and hopefully in the next few days I'll find time to write a story...sigh...

I miss being able to sleep. :-(

Madison, Wisconsin.

I found this incredible photo of Madison on Wikipedia. I seriously think Madison, Wisconsin is one of the most unique cities in the United States. Wedged between two enormous lakes, Madison is a densly populated yet very-small city that seems to balance an eclectic amount of culture within a conservative farming state (even if they went for Obama!). The people there are so diverse, and the University is one of the highest performers in the amount of research in this country. (UW-Madison is my second pick for grad school). State Street is a long pedestrian-only street packed with restaurants, shops and bars. It's so strange to me that a metro area with around half-a-million people can still function so well and be so peculiar!


Madison was designed by the legendary Urban Planner John Nolen. The man seemed to be everywhere in his life, and I can't think of a single planning class I have taken where his name has not come up.


Anyway, enjoy the photo.

Resolution.

Remember how I used to write short stories? Well it's been awhile. And today, I resolve to write and post a new one...within a week!

However, I still have plenty on the right side bar if you ever want to read them. They're funny (usually).

CHICKEN TETRAZINI!!!

This made my weekend.

*Screams at the World*

The Columbus DMV is out of control. Is there a citizen group against them? Seriously. My car was towed yesterday. What did I do? I parked on my street on Monday. There were NO signs saying the street needed to be clear. The entire block was filled. I go to my car on Tuesday--and it's gone. Water pipe repair. How much did it cost me...?

$273!!!!!!!!!!!

I want to scream. Well, I actually did. I got out of the office and pulled a HULK SMASH kind of scream. I did nothing wrong. I parked on my street where I have lived for two years. I would have seen the signs if they were there because I even checked to make sure my tires were close to the curb. I am a Logistics and Transportation major minoring in City & Regional Planning--I am obsessed with transportation, and I am frickin' paranoid as hell about getting my car towed so I ALWAYS look for these kind of signs.

What's most frustrating is that I biked to my friends house that night. Yes it was cold and I could have driven, but I am one of those crazy liberals who likes to work out and not harm my environment every time I want to move location. Had I driven my car I would not have had this happen because I would have come back and the signs would have been there. (Or the street would have been full and I would have gone somewhere else, or I would have noticed an empty block and thought maybe I shouldn't park here). I feel like I was penalized for 'going green'. I decided to bike and I had to pay $273 for it.

So, what am I supposed to do? Run to my car every 6 hours and make sure there aren't signs posted 4 hours prior til they tow the street? I am so angry. I didn't have this money. I am a student, I pay my own tuition and buy my own textbooks. $273 for NOTHING.

Angry. Angry. ANGRY.

Seriously, anyone know of a citizen group against the DMV? They are completely out of control! A few months ago my sticker fell off my car. I was registered, but my birthday is in December. It's cold in December. The new sticker didn't stay on my plate. I requested a new one, and while waiting for it I could a ticket for $40. I repealed it, and they never got back to me. I got a letter, eventually, saying I now owed $80. I fought and fought and fought, but they said there was nothing they could do. So I paid $80 even though my car was registered, even though I had already informed them of my sticker falling off. WHAT ELSE WAS I SUPPOSED TO DO?!?!? Park my car in a ditch? Hide it in a cave?

About 6 months ago they gave me a ticket for not showing my permit--but it was there. It was hanging in my mirror as it ALWAYS has. I e-mailed them, gave them my permit #, showed them when I bought the permit and when it expired...and they still upheld the ticket! In fact, the $30 doubled while I was waiting to hear back from them! That turned into $60!!!

In ALL three cases I did nothing wrong. I showed my permit yet they missed it (no lie, it was really there, I even took a picture), I was a legal registered driver yet they ticketed me because their stickers are defective and I parked my car in a normal parking zone yet I got towed. It all adds up to over $400--WHEN I DID NOTHING WRONG.

I am so angry. I am not exaggerating--if there isn't a group about it already, I'm starting it. Right now. Citizens Against DMV Abuse! They are making criminals out of legal, law-abiding citizens. They do it to all of us and it simply isn't fair, it isn't right and goddamnit as an American citizen I will not stand for it!

Because I'm The Biggest Dork EVER.

So I thought it'd be fun to play around with the US Census Bureau's Excel spreadsheets they make available to the public. I made some Excel Functions that showed which parts of the country are growing fastest, which are on the decline and which are in the top ten. Surprisingly, Wilmington and Raleigh in North Carolina are growing* at a very fast rate, while San Francisco, although still growing, has seen less growth than St. Cloud, Minnesota.

Anyway, I have no idea how to load this spreadsheet onto this blog. (Anyone have a clue?) There are over 14,000 cells, so I don't want to try and copy/paste the whole thing on here...that would be cruel. And torturous. I just want to make it available to anyone who is curious about growth levels throughout the country.

So you can e-mail me if you want the spreadsheet and I'll reply with it, or someone can instruct me on how to make it available for download. Either way, I had fun :-).

Random Facts:

*Growth is defined as the change in population from the Census in 2000 to the projections of the Census Bureau in 2008.

-Columbus and Minneapolis share very similar growth (about 10%).
-Orlando has about 20% growth. (yikes!)
-Las Vegas was at the top of growth of any major metropolitan--over 27%!
- In 8 years, the Detroit Metro area did not see any growth. The decline of the total area was over 111,000 which is enormous...but by percentage, since the metro area has over 4.5 million people, the change is not that large.
- Denver's Metro has 800,000 less people than Minneapolis/St. Paul!
- Palm Coast, Florida has the highest percentage of growth in people--over 45%!
- Youngstown, Ohio had the 6th largest number of population loss. And this is not by percentage--this is by total loss. They lost 37,000 people! Dayton ranked 8th with a loss of 11,000 people.
- Dallas, Texas has the largest growth by population number--they increased their population by 1,138,000 million people in just 8 years!

Ok. That was fun. And probably a waste of time. :-P

Actual Christian Comments from Online Forums.

And people wonder why I think Christianity is a breeding ground for continued stupidity?

(Via Joe.My.God reader Mike)