Really Awesome Week

So, life is really good right now :-)
John and I went to the Trans-Siberian Orchestra concert on Tuesday, and it was AMAZING!!!! Our seats were 3rd row, center stage! The show was absolutely incredible! It's so hard to describe, but when I get the photos on my computer, I'm going to upload them to my ofoto account so people can see them :-)
Aaaaannnnnddddd.... After the concert, I was getting into the car, and John PROPOSED TO ME!!! It was amazing and the ring is BEAUTIFUL, I love it so much, I love him so much!!! I can't even begin to talk about how excited I am! I was so surprised, I had NO idea it was coming! It was just incredible. Even just talking about it I can't even find words for it :-)
So, August 20, 2005 is the day, and I am sooooooooo excited! Now we need to start planning it!
I'm so happy!!!!

Day after Christmas

So here we are, the day after Christmas. I am so tired! It was a good Christmas, despite not feeling like Christmas until almost 5 o'clock that night. I got some really great stuff from my family, John's family, and especially John! He got me a ticket to see the Trans-Siberian Orchestra this Tuesday up in Portland!!!! I am so excited! It makes it that much more fun, because he'd been saying he was going to take me since before we were even a couple. I can't wait! :-)
I also gort some Wal-Mart gift cards, an L.L. Bean gift card (which I used to buy a new winter dress coat), cash (yay money!), J.C. Penny gift cards, and the Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban DVD (yay for little sisters!). My parents were awesome this year, they got me way more than I was expecting. They bought me quite a few little things, a new purse, they cut out a picture of a business suit and wrapped it (meaning that I have to go shopping with my mom to get a suit - which I DID ask for this Christmas), and a new printer! They got me a nice HP photo printer, which my dad told me he picked up this past week because he was able to get it on sale. I really was surprised about the last thing, because I had asked for a printer, but really wasn't expecting one.
I got some really nice things from John's mom and Dad, his brother and his brothers girlfriend and his sister and his sisters fiance. I got some scarves, hats, gloves, candles, a birthstone necklace and a pin. I was totally not expecting that much at all, so it was quite a surprise, but a nice one :-) I felt really bad, because I wasn't planning on either of his siblings getting me anything, so I had nothing for them.
Ugh, I'm so not ready for tomorrow to be Monday. I told John in the car on the way back here that I need a few more Sunday's before I go back to work tomorrow. Full day at work tomorrow, then Tuesday it's work till 1:30, Dr.'s appointment at 3, then back to Johns house so we can head up to see TSO that night! YAAAAY!!!!

Vacation, all I ever wanted... Vacation, had to get away

Your Dominant Intelligence is Musical Intelligence

Every part of your life has a beat, and you're often tapping your fingers or toes. You enjoy sounds of all types, but you also find sound can distract you at the wrong time. You are probably a gifted musician of some sort - even if you haven't realized it. Also a music lover, you tend to appreciate artists of all kinds. You would make a great musician, disc jockey, singer, or composer.

What Kind of Intelligence Do You Have?

Yay end of the semester

I love the end of the semester! Especially when, after tonight, I only have 2 classes left (that's right, I said 2 - know why? Because I don't have to go to TWO of my classes tomorrow!! yaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyy!!!!!!!!!) and one of them is an in class final (in a philosophy class - whoo hoo) and the other is essentially a breakfast class, in that we get to drink coffee and eat breakfast and talk about what we liked about the semester. I have 3 out of 4 term papers done, handing in #3 tonight. #4 is due next Monday. I have 2 take home finals, one I already have, the other gets posted on blackboard tomorrow!
Tomorrow will be a good day. 2 classes, then I'm going to go donate blood, then I'm going to work on my paper, then head up to Laconia around 2 or 2:30 for Johns school concert. I'm excited about it, he's worked so hard with those kids this semester.

Oh, so this past weekend was an adventure. I got home from work on Friday and John came up, like normal. We spent the night cleaning and getting ready for both of our parents to come to my apartment for pizza on Saturday. So I was dusting around the living room window, and I put my foot up on Henry's desk to reach behind the hutch that was on it, and CRASH!!! The top of his desk broke! Fortunately, nothing else did, but I felt soooo bad! I cut my leg in 2 places, and my other ankle and hurt it a lot. But his computer was fine and none of his stuff broke, so I gave him my desk, and John gave me one that he had at his house. What a mess! But it's all good now. Henry wasn't mad, surprisingly.
Saturday John and I went up to Sarah and Chad's for their engagement party. We only stayed for a couple hours, but it was good to see her that day, since it had been a while since I'd seen her. That night his and my parents came over for pizza, and got to meet each other for the first time. That went really well! Our parents were like long lost best friends or something. So that was good. Then Johns parents and the two of us went to the Strafford Wind Symphony concert up in Rochester, and it was excellent. John's probably going to start playing with them in January, which will be good... I'm kind of sad, because we'll lose another night together during the week, but I'm excited for him to have a chance to really play with a group again.
Sunday was just a Sunday... worked on homework and that was about it.

Anyway, off to my last SW 705 class! YAY!!!

Stuff

Well, only a few more weeks until Christmas, which means there is only a week left of classes. YAY!!!! I handed in my first 2 term papers this week, and I have two left to write. One is due on the 9th, so I need to really start working on that. The last one is due on the 13th, so I need to start working on it, but not as much. Neither of them really have a page minimum either, so thats going to make it much easier. I'll be SOOOO glad when this semester is over! It's been bordering on nightmarish! Next semester won't be as bad, just internship 2 days a week, work 17 hours or so, plus my seminar, practice 2 and human development 2.

Thanksgiving was good - it was nice to get home for a weekend. John came with me, and that was really nice. I'm glad we didn't have to spend a holiday apart. I'm glad we won't have to spend Christmas apart either! It will be strange not waking up at home on Christmas morning, that's never happened before, but I'm excited about being with his family for the holiday. I love his family, so it will be fun.

This weekend John and I are going up to Sarah Casses for her engagement party, which should be a good time! I haven't seen her house yet, and I haven't seen her in a long time!
Also, we're going to the Strafford Wind Symphony concert with my parents and Kate and his parents! They're meeting for the first time, and I'm kinda nervous! More so because tonight John and I have to clean my apartment since they're all having dinner here!!! So it's massive cleaning night tonight... ugh.

Anyway, I'm just home for my lunch break now, so I've gotta wrap up and head back to work... only 4 hours left there until the weekend!

Peace!

Detroit!

November 4, 2004
Yesterday I arrived in Detroit. It was a long travel day, and I was beat when we got here, but the flights were good, and not too long, which was nice. Amanda and her boyfriend picked me up at my apartment around 6:30am, and we headed to Manchester Airport. Our flight left on time and we got to Chicago at about 12:45, Eastern time (11:45 there). Then we took off about 2 hours later, and the flight from Chicago to Detroit is only about 35 minutes long, which was VERY nice. Then we had to take a terminal to terminal shuttle to our shuttle that would take us to our hotel. We’re staying in the Marriott Renaissance Center. The whole conference is here, and this hotel is HUGE. Like… HUGE. There is a food court, a shopping mall… the lobby is on the 3rd floor of the building! There are 70 floors! Our room is on the 37th, and we’ve got a pretty decent view from here. It’s neat. Last night there was the Opening Plenary Session, with Maryann Mahaffey, ACSW (none of that probably means much to anyone else, but she has had an AMAZING life). She has done all sorts of advocate work, received many academic and achievement awards, oh, it was amazing to hear her speak. She was so funny, too, because she kept getting off on tangents. It was great.
I called my parents and John when I got here, it was good to finally get to talk to them and let them know I made it safe and sound. I was feeling a little homesick last night, but I'm doing much better today. I knew I would when I got going with stuff. Now I’m just looking forward to going to bed! *laughs*

Today I went to the BPD Student Mini Conference, which was really interesting. Our first session went from 8-9am, and it was a round table discussion about what student social work organizations are doing for activities and recruitment ideas. I got some really great ideas about what to do with our organization. Then at 9:15-10:15 we did a session on where the jobs are for BSW students. That was really cool to hear, even though I already am pretty sure I know what I want to do. However, the biggest thing they were talking about is how important it is to get licensed, which is fine, but then they’re like “you HAVE to have an MSW to do anything” and that got me worried. But we’ll see. I’m going to look up requirements for things that I’m interested in when I get back home and have internet access (since it costs $9.95 a DAY here at the hotel). Then they talked about some of the fields of Social Work practice, being: aging, alcohol/substance abuse, child welfare, community/neighborhood work, corrections/criminal justice, disabilities (physical/mental), income maintenance, medical/healthcare, mental health, planning (macro level), statistics/analysis… There are a lot more too, I have them all listed in a hand out I got, along with current (as of 2001) pay rates for social workers.
The next session went from 10:30-12:00. That was on the present social policies. It was interesting, in that there were so many points of view on the panel. The best quote from that panel came from Thelma Gould from Asbury College: “We have to work within the system while we work to change the system.” She talked about the move towards privatization (in prisons, healthcare, etc.) and the emphasis on compassionate conservatism and faith based services. Deneece Ferrales from Our Lady of the Lake talked about TANF policies and policies surrounding Gays and Lesbians. She gave a hand out about TANF, which I’m going to read over again tonight. Sudershan Pasupulti talke about children in foster care, and put together a great handout about some of the negative effects of foster care and parental neglect of children. Gerald Mathews talked about … well… basically his political views on everything. I have to admit, I agreed with a lot of the things he said, but some of the things he said just made my blood boil, such as how if you didn’t support a woman’s right to choose, maybe you shouldn’t be a social worker (me being pro-life). I don’t remember everything he talked about, but he had a couple of handouts about the differences between Bush and Kerry, and basically how mad he was about the outcome of the election.
From 12:15-1:15 we had a luncheon session on Social Work in the Future. That was interesting, because they talked about the use of bilingual social workers, and also about the greater need for technology in our line of work. They talked about how great immersion programs could be in becoming somewhat fluent in another language, and starting to understand other cultures, especially where Caucasians are not ever forced to become “bicultural” like Black Americans, Hispanics and Asian Americans.
From 2:45 – 4:15 we had a panel talk about the disabled, what their needs are and what social workers are doing for them. It was ironic, actually, because one of the Dr. Rebecca Bolinger, the first speaker, is in a wheelchair and she couldn’t access the platform, there were only stairs to get up to it! To sum up what she said, she said that we need to know resources for the disabled, just like for any other part of our practice. Dr. Bonnie Zetick from LaSalle University discussed cognitive disabilities. She explained that the strengths perspective was developed because of cognitive disabilities. She also mentioned Howard Gardner’s multiple learning styles. Dr. Janice Wells from Winthrop University talked about social work students who themselves have a disability of some sort and what sort of resources we should access. The ADA states that an “Individual must have a physical or mental disability that substantially limits major life activies.” She said that students must have proper documentation, but that students are often afraid to seek resources (fear of it being on their record, fear of discrimination, they may not see themselves as having a disability, they don’t see the benefits, and they don’t want to be patronized). Dr. Ike Adams from Asbury College gave a great case study about a woman named Linda, who was of Korean decent (parents immigrated to the US), she was totally blind and had a guide dog named Nacho. It was an amazing case, to say the least.
The last session of the day was on Spirituality and the Code of Ethics. Dr. Bruce Schleider (Union College) basically said that religion is “the horse that gets us to the water,” and that spirituality is our connection with God, as we understand Him. In social work, the code of ethics is the horse. He said that the main principles of the code of ethics are: service, social justice, dignity and worth, importance of human relations, integrity, competence, self determination and responsibility to clients, colleges, agency, profession and society. Deb Daehn Zellmer recommended the book Spirituality Diversity in Social Work. I don’t think I’m going to get it, but it could be interesting. She talked about a study she did that was done with masters level students all over the age of 26, and she found that they were more likely to agree with the statement “I am a spiritual person” than “I am a religious person” and more likely to examine ones on spirituality than be religious when working with others. Sandra Doe said that we have to allow spirituality to become a part of the helping process.
Tonight I bought a book at the exhibitors tables called Days in the Lives of Social Workers, which is one that I’d been wanting to get since January, so that’s cool….
Now I’m just gonna do some homework and crash. Night.

November 6, 2004
Yesterday, the conference went well. I sat in on a session from 8-9 am about learning rural behavior through music. It was an interesting idea, in that if you really take time to listen to the lyrics of songs, that one can learn a lot about what is considered “the norm” in rural communities. I didn’t see how it related to today’s rural communities though, because the songs we were listening to were dated back (at most) 150 years or so. After that, I did my volunteer time, steering people from Brulé A and B to either Nicolet B or DaVinci. For 2 hours. Fortunately, my time doing that was not all bad, because, despite the sign posted in front of Brulé, people were still going in! Go figure. So I was able to steer them in the right direction. And for that, I got a certificate of appreciation! I should frame it. It says my name, the dates and “Baccalaureate Program Directors” on it, so it looks impressive.  After that, I took a little bit of time to vege, then I found Martha, and we grabbed lunch. It was nice to have time to sit and chat with her. We talked about things we had learned at the conference, and we also talked about our program, and how I was doing in it and some of my personal beliefs on things. It was a good lunch with her. After that, I sat in on a session about a study done on corporal punishment, which was really interesting. Nothing found was too much of a shock, but one of the things I did find interesting was she had the definitions of what was considered mild corporal punishment ranging to severe physical abuse. After that session, I skipped out on the next one, because I was tired, so I just wandered around the building and started getting my stuff together for the trip home today. Then I changed before the last session I went to for the day, and that was on an organization called Active Minds. This organization is currently on 14 college campuses, and they work to promote the awareness of mental disorders, and advocate for those who have them. It was a very interesting program to hear about, and if I weren’t graduating at the end of the year, it would have been something I would have pursued getting at UNH. After the last session, Amanda and I went up to the room, did a little more packing, I called Dave T. and John, and then she and I headed out for our “big night out on the town” (a.k.a. going to Hard Rock Café Detroit). We had a good time, the food was excellent (as always), but unfortunately, it didn’t work out to get together with Dave. That was a bummer, but at least he’ll be home for Thanksgiving and Christmas breaks. I am hopefully going to get to see him one of those times, because it’s been quite a while since I saw him. Anyway, Amanda and I took the people mover to the restaurant. The people mover is basically and elevated train, like they have in Chicago (you know, you seem them on E.R. all the time!). Then we walked back from the restaurant to the hotel, and pretty much vegged for the rest of the night. I was passed out by a little after 10, which was good, because we were getting up early today to meet Martha for breakfast at the River Café.
It was nice of Martha to suggest that, she even paid for us to have breakfast, which was awesome. The food was excellent, so I was very grateful. It was the healthiest meal I’d eaten this entire trip, another reason to be grateful! After that, Martha took off for a session, and Amanda and I wandered around Detroit for a while. We walked up to Greektown, took a few more pictures, and then headed off to the hotel again, because I wanted to go to an 11am session on marketing the program, since Martha wanted to go to a different one. That was an interesting session, I got some really good ideas to pass on to her, so I can wait to sit down with her and have a little one on one chat with her about it.
Now I’m on the plane from Chicago to Manchester, and I can’t wait to get home. We left the hotel at noon, got to the hotel at around 12:30, and our flight didn’t take off until 3:10. That was not fun. So I wandered around the terminal for a little while, called John and my parents to tell them I was at the airport, then snacked on some peanut butter crackers and Snapple. The flight was fine, just about an hour long into Chicago. Then we had an hour and a half wait at Midway, so I called my mom and John again to tell them I was in Chicago, then just started working on my book report that I have due on Wednesday on Turning Stones, and got to talking to the people that were waiting to get on the same flight who were originally from Finland! Now they live just north of Bath, ME.
So far, the flight home has been uneventful. I need to get back to work on my book report before my battery runs too low, so I’m gonna get back to that now. Peace!

Lunch Hour Fun

You are Tigger. T-i-double guh-er and you don't let
them forget it. You are energetic, fun-loving,
brash and have a generous nature. People like
you for your enthusiasm and ability to bounce
from situation to situation with ease. You tend
to overwhelm timid people but your eagerness to
please puts them at ease (eventually).


Which Winnie the Pooh character are you?
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Your an ice dragon! Congrats! Out of all the
dragons, you are most powerful but do not like
to show it. A rare and special creture, you
have artistic style and are great at expressing
yourself. You think friends and Familly are the
most important, and are a hopeless romantic.
But of course, as ice goes, you can be a little
cold or harsh at times. But not to worry, you
always apoligize later!


What elemental dragon are you?
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You are a faerie of the flame. You tend to lose
your temper at the littlest thing, hot-headed.
You're a loyal friend to those who can
understand your raging moods. You're social
though claim not to be. You are no one else but
yourself and sometimes you try to hard to be
just that. You're a passionate friend, and
would do almost anything for those you care
for.


What's your inner Faerie?
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You are one of the few out there whose wings are
truly ANGELIC. Selfless, powerful, and
divine, you are one blessed with a certain
cosmic grace. You are unequalled in
peacefulness, love, and beauty. As a Being of
Light your wings are massive and a soft white
or silver. Countless feathers grace them and
radiate the light within you for all the world
to see. You are a defender, protector, and
caretaker. Comforter of the weak and forgiver
of the wrong, chances are you are taken
advantage of once in awhile, maybe quite often.
But your innocence and wisdom sees the good in
everyone and so this mistreatment does not make
you colder. Merciful to the extreme, you will
try to help misguided souls find themselves and
peace. However not all Angelics allow
themselves to be gotten the better of - the
Seraphim for example will be driven to fighting
for the sake of Justice and protection of those
less powerful. Congratulations - and don't ever
change - the world needs more people like you.

Image Copyright Sheila Wolk (prints available
through treefreegreetings.com) - words added by
myself.


*~*~*Claim Your Wings - Pics and Long Answers*~*~*
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New Job - Day 1

Well, I'm not going to say I have the best job ever, but I do really like it. It's paying me really well, and the people are all really helpful and friendly. There was one girl there that I wasn't sure I was going to get along with, but we ended up being cool by the end of the day.
So I'm working in medical records at Seacoast Orthopedics and Sports Medicine (yes, for you UNH freaks out there, the same office that handles the UNH sports teams). It's a lot of filing, which is fine with me, because I like that stuff, and I'm good at it. The only thing about it that I don't like is that it's a lot of up and down and crawling on the floor and stuff, so I came home and my feet didn't hurt at all, but my back is KILLING me. The shelves of records are over 6 feet high, and go all the way to the floor, so it makes for a lot of physical stress as far as that is concerned. But I think it's going to be good. It's nice, because it's one of those jobs where the only people I deal with are the people I work with, and I can leave it all at work when I leave - I don't have to think about it at all once I'm gone, so it's a nice feeling.

As far as everything else goes, things are going well. John and I went to Six Flags on Saturday to celebrate our 6 month anniversary, so that was a TON of fun. We had a great time - well, I know I sure had a great time, and I'm guessing that John had as good a time as I did :-) We went on a bunch of the roller coasters, so that was fun, and I went on that ride, Scream, the one that's the huge tower in the middle of the park. It was soooooo scary, but a lot of fun :-).

Now I'm just getting ready to put away some laundry, and then get ready for bed. My 8 am class was canceled, but I'm going to go over to campus early so I can work on a project either in the mub or at the library. Then I have class, class, study session, class, then over to Johns house :-D

I guess that's all for tonight!
Peace!

Quizzes

Your beauty is plain but you completely make up for
it in a pleasant personality. You may not be
the supermodel in the magazine or the woman
with unusual hair, but you have a great way of
making people feel at home and comfortable.
Because of the normality of your looks, people
feel like they can talk to you easier or ask
for help without feeling as embarassed. Your
personality is easy going and can be
represented by a warm smile. People like how
undemanding you are and your great at keeping
secrets. (If you can't see tje pics, go to my
homepage and look near the bottom and find your
result)


What kind of Beauty should you have? (girl) (PICS)
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Your aura shines Red!


What Color Is Your Aura?
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You're a "Green Angel". You're one person
who is extremely protective of people around
you (especially your friends) and you'd end up
as a gaudian angel. You're stronger than most
and aren't ashamed to show it. People know how
tough you are and don't dare to mess with you
when you get mad. You're real close with your
friends and couldn't live wihout them so even
in heaven, you want to help them. You know
they'd want you as a gaudian angel and you'd
love to be able to ensure safety of your
friends for yourself because you're on of those
"If you want something done right, do it
yourself" kind of person. (If you can't see
the pics, go to my homepage and look near the
bottom and find your result)


You are pure love. Pure and deep. You not only want
to but NEED to find your one true love. You are
not afraid of any challenge for your love, and
it is something to truly treasure.


What kind of love are you?
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You're like a dragon. Dragons where the terrible
creatures that lived in large caves and often
swooped down out of the sky and stole sheep,
cows, and even people from the countryside to
eat. They were gigantic with spikes along the
back and tail. Some had wings, legs, and the
ability to breathe fire. Even in the Bible, the
Levithian resembled something like a dragon so
they may have actually existed. Dragons were
loyal protectors that were more powerful that
any other animal that ever lived. Some where
peaceful and others just wanted to destroy. The
pest control for dragons were Knights who were
appointed the task of killing a dragon. Some
stories tell us that eating the dragon heart
let you claim victory in any battle or eating
the tongue would allow you to win any debate.
(If you cannot see the picture, go to my
userpage and look near the bottom. There should
be the picture and description for all the
results)


What Mystical Creature Are You? (Pictures)
brought to you by Quizilla

HOORAY!!!

So after a very long and somewhat bizarre week, here's what I have to report on: MONDAY - John had the day off due to the holiday, so we spend most of the day chillin' at his house. I did a LOT of homework that day. But that was good, because it got me all prepped for the week. I didn't have to do much of anything for this week after the weekend I put myself through. TUESDAY - Wake up early to find an e-mail from someone wanting me to come in for a job interview at Seacoast Orthopedic & Sports Medicine, to work in their medical records department, e-mailed back to say I could come in on Thursday. Class (really bad presentation on the legalization of drugs), class (fight with the professor about my schedule, got a homework assignment that was due Thursday), class (got back a test that I got around an 80-85 on, when all's said and done - which it's not yet), lunch (yay break!, class (get back a test that I got an A- on... Every once in a while, I kick some serious ass!), come home and grab the mail and see that my present for John for our 6 month anniversary arrived, and also our tickets to 6 Flags that my parents sent us arrived. Then I went over to Johns for the night, laptop in hand, and played around online at his house for a while while finishing a paper. Then we watched some of the Sox/Yankees game (a real disappointment...), I came home, did some stuff around my room, watched the rest of the game and called it a night. WEDNESDAY - Got up at 6:50 to get ready for my new job. Sounds great right? Well, after commuting 35 minutes and 19.4 miles to get there, I found out that they didn't even have enough work for me to stay my whole shift and that she didn't even know if I would have to come in on Friday or next week. Some new job! I was pissed when I left. Good thing I had a job interview on Thursday. Class (handed in 2 papers, chatted a lot, that's about it - I like my child welfare class), dinner/reading in the MUB (You know, the book Turning Stones by Marc Parent will blow you away - READ IT!), seminar for my VI-E grant (sat and listened to people gripe about their internships). I stopped at Johns house on my way home, that was nice, because I didn't think I would get to see him. Came home and watched the Sox/Yankees game... it's getting old guys. THURSDAY - Class (class for Tuesday got canceled so my presentation got pushed back to Thursday!!! YIPPEE!!!), class (nothing exciting - I still wish they hired someone different for this job), class (exam on Tuesday got moved to a take-home that we're getting on Thursday! YIPPEE!!!), SOSW meeting (stuff happened, then we left), trek to the holistic health fair (free reiki session - that is so great!, free spine screening - no wonder I need to crack my back all the time...), Class (okay, I arrived SLIGHTLY late because of my free reiki session, but who cares - it was so great! Other than that, nothing eventful.). Then headed back to Seacoast Orthopedic & Sports Medicine for my interview, at which I was hired and offered hours from 8-5 on Mondays and Fridays with an hour lunch, and hours on Wednesday from 8-2 or 2:30. YAAAAAY!!!! Things are FINALLY starting to come into place.
So my new job (the one I'm quitting) e-mailed tonight and said they definitely don't need me tomorrow, so I'm going to do all the junkloads of homework that I was going to do on Sunday and then I won't have to think about it! Then Saturday comes and (should the weather hold out) it's 6 FLAGS DAY!!! I can't wait! It'll be so much fun, seeing as how the last time I went was in the summer of 2001.
RCIA is going well, and I like it a lot. I got a new Bible tonight. Deacon Bob made a really neat note of what the Bible is on the blackboard in the room:
Basic
Instruction
Before
Leaving
Earth
I think that's kind of neat.
Okay, that's all the news from this end of town. Bedtime for this kid! Happy trails all!

So Lethargic

So today is a day that I have the whole day off... no work, no class (and I can say no work because I got hired at a new job on Wednesday!!!!!!!) and all I should be doing is homework. So I'm trying to write a reaction paper about a 10 minute video clip that I saw in my SW 622 class yesterday, and it's like my head is in a fog. My paper is coming out so bad! So it's a good thing is a rough draft that I can e-mail the professor and get back and re-write before it's due. Have you ever had to do that? Write a 2-4 page reaction paper to a 10 minute movie? I mean come on! I didn't get enough out of that movie to write a 1 page reaction paper, let alone 2-4 pages.
So anyway, there's that being worked on right now... The other stuff I have to do today? Read the rest of a chapter in one book, read a chapter in 2 other books, read 2 articles and write another reaction paper. And that's just the stuff I told myself I had to be done with today! That's not including the 2 chapters I blocked out to read on Sunday or the 5 page report on Monday or the 2 chapters I have to read Monday or the NY Times reaction paper I have to write at some point too... Thank God that's the easy one!
Anyway, other than being busy with homework this weekend, things are good. John has a 3 day weekend, which is nice, so I'll get to see him on Monday too. That makes me happy :-D Umm... Oh! Hopefully he and I are going to Six Flags New England next Saturday, but I don't know if that is going to happen, since the tickets my mom had my dad mail haven't made it to me yet... My poor mom is convinced they got lost in the mail. She told me to call my dad and find out when and from where he mailed them, but he's not home. Go figure.
RCIA is going well. I'm still really enjoying the classes, and it's nice because I'm thinking about a lot of things that I either don't give enough time to or hadn't even thought of before. Last night I was handed a picture of a police officer in mourning at a memorial somewhere, and I was told to find God in that picture. Not exactly something I do every day, but it was surprising how fast I was able to find Him when I really thought about it.
Anyway, if I really want to get any of this work done, I need to stop updating my journal and get back to work.
Peace!

Stuff and stuff

I found these on a friend of a friends LJ, and thought they might be kind of fun... and they are. Eerily accurate too... hmm...
Anywho, things are pretty blah right now. I'm still looking for a new job, but I have an interview on Wednesday at a records management company. I wouldn't have to work weekends, which would be cool, I'd just have to work my butt off during the weekend to get all situated for the week as far as homework goes. It wouldn't be bad, I could do it. I spent all day today doing homework, but I had a lot of homework this weekend anyway, so it just made it a pain in the neck. I'm getting stressed again and I don't like that... oh well. Once I get a new job it'll be better, I'm sure.
Anyway, I need to finish getting ready to go to Johns house. People need to send me e-mails and stuff, because I miss everyone.
Shalom, Y'all.



You are the color pink. As a beautiful and sweet
human, you are everybody's favorite person.
Healthy and energetic, you're often seen
spreading the happines. As an unusually
charming and sweet person, you're always ready
to comfort people who are down. You sympathize
with everyone, but not always yourself. Aside
from that, you are light-hearted and cheery.
And you make it your duty to make every cloud
have


What color are you? (Amazingly detailed & accurate--with pics!)
brought to you by Quizilla




You're a Spring. You usually are very close-knit
with your friends and value everyone freidnship
you have. You're a real people person and
everyone loves how friendly you are. You're
good with encouraging people but usually don't
like to be the center of attention. You are a
social butterfly and probably are in several
circles of friends but it's just because you're
well liked and you make people comfortable.
You're both fun and wise but you are very
realistic about life.(If you can't see tje
pics, go to my homepage and look near the
bottom and find your result)


What season are you? (pics)
brought to you by Quizilla

Work was overrated anyway

So Rite Aid sucked... Now Brooks sucks... Yep, you guessed it. Because of my history with Rite Aid, I lost my job at Brooks. It's been a sucky week. Last night my car lost a windshield wiper. It just flew off my car.
So I had to replace it. Fortunately, Johns parents were super helpful. I need to remember to get them a card. Then today I went to work - I was already dreading going because I was scheduled for 9.5 hours. I get there and the manager was like "Melissa! I need to talk to you." and I was like "Oh shit..." I was afraid Rite Aid would come up somewhere. I didn't think I'd be able to hide it from them.... I shouldn't have even tried. Now I've got to find a job where I'm making the same kind of money, because I won't be able to pay the stuff/people I need to pay if I don't. I'm so screwed....

Yay weekends

Yay for awesome weekends! This weekend was so great! I spend the entire weekend with John (yeah, the WHOLE weekend - Friday through tonight at 9:19pm), and it was so nice. It was one of the most relaxing weekends I can remember! Friday we just vegged, went to Café on the Corner down in Dover, then just hung out at my apartment the whole night. Saturday morning we had pancakes for breakfast! Yum! I haven't made pancakes in over a year! Then we vegged for most of the morning (note: vegging will be a common occurrence in this update), then went to look for a wedding gift for a friend of mine who's getting married a week from today (yeah, I know, I should have started looking like a month ago), then we went to his house and vegged. That night we went out to Olive Garden with Mr. and Mrs. Graichen (aka Dave and Alison) and it was a ton of fun! It was great to see Dave and Alison, and catch up with the two of them. It's amazing though, how quiet I felt I was through most of the dinner though, when they were all talking about music and teaching music and stuff... and I'm like "okay... I should have been a music major..." It was funny, we (John and I) got there at about 5:30, and ran into his friend Nick and Nicks girlfriend. So we got to catch up with them for a little bit, then Dave and Alison got there, and Nick got seated. We still had to wait an hour. Fortunately the food was good. The service left something to be desired, but oh well. Anyway, we got back to my apartment, and John and I were both exhausted... we pretty much fell over dead by 10:30. Then this morning, John had to teach a lesson, so I did homework (or, pretended to, is more like it). Then at 10 I went to his house so we could go to mass together. It was okay, but the priest used the whole sermon to plug the RCIA classes which are starting on Thursday. That wasn't too exciting. The rest of the day we spent at Johns house, I did a bunch of homework and he worked on outlining the new 6th-8th grade general music curriculums. Then he updated some of his RK websites while I finished reading the chapter I needed to read in the most boring textbook ever. We didn't do too much for the rest of the day. His mom made soup for dinner, then we taught her how to play Roll Dem Bones, so that was fun. Then we just chatted in his room about a ton of stuff tonight.
Thi weekend was kind of interesting though... I talked to John on Thursday about this, and now I'm putting it out there for all to know. I'm going to be doing the RCIA classes and Johns mom is going to be my sponsor. She was so excited when I told her/asked her! I am looking forward to them too. It will be a lot to learn between now and the Easter Vigil, but I believe this is something I'm ready to take on now, and will be good for me. I need to ground myself in my faith during this time in my life, and I wasn't getting the "grounding" I needed from the UCC/Protestant church. I've noticed, though, that each week I get a little more comfortable at mass, and I feel like I am getting so much more out of it... I'm not sure why, but it feels like it fits.
Anyway, it's getting late... (I know, 10:30's wicked late!) I'm pretty tired (don't ask why, I didn't do much this weekend), so I need to get some sleep.
Peace and love, all!





580!

Stuff

It's so strange what a difference a couple of days can make. I feel so much better today compared to how I felt on the 7th when I wrote. I just had to make it through another week of classes I think, and get my schedule figured out, and now I've got the other stuff I was worried about figured out too, so that ALSO makes me feel good. And now I'm just waiting to hear back from Brooks to find out about that Rx Tech job they might offer me, hopefully I'll know sometime today. So now I just need to eat some lunch and go to the laundromat, otherwise I won't have any pijamas to wear to bed tonight! I can't have that. So I'm going to bring my 622 book with me since I have like 40 pages of reading to do this weekend in that book alone, I'll do that at the laundromat so I don't get (overly) sidetracked. Seeing as how there is a CSI marathon on Spike TV right now, it would be very tempting to stay inside and watch that all day, but I don't think that would be a wise idea. Fortunately I have gone out once today, and it's BEAUTIFUL out. I was able to get my add/drop form signed and handed in, so I'm officially in every class I should be in now. That is a big relief. One of the classes doesn't even have a textbook! How cool is that?!
Anyway, it's time for lunch. I just wanted to update everyone to let you all know that I'm not as much of a wreck as I was on Tuesday!
Shalom!

Crazy Weeks

I started my classes last week, and holy craziness batman! I'm taking 4 classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and one on Wednesdays. One of the classes I was trying to get into on Tuesdays and Thursdays I had to add, and so did 15 other seniors, when there was already 50 people in the class. We all needed it to graduate, so she can't give any of us priority. So after finally hunting things down and getting stuff situated, I was able to add the "same" class, only through a different department. So I had to start that one today. It was weird, I've never had to do that before. Now I'm working on trying to swich one of my classes from Tuesdays and Thursday nights from 7-8:30 to the morning from 8-9:30. I know, it's crazy right? Well, its either that, and have all of my classes back to back, or have this 4 hour window of time which drives me CRAZY because I don't want to bring 8,000 textbooks to campus with me every time. So I e-mailed the department, and I'm trying to get THAT squared away. But since I've already highlited the textbook for the section I'm in now, I can't actually return it, they'll do a buy back, so I'll get less money, which sucks. But I can't find the textbook for the other class either, so I don't know how much it is! Ugh. I want to swich sections though, because then I can have my nights to do homework and spend time with John - which is something I've already really started to miss this semester, and I KNOW it will get worse as the time goes on, since I'm taking classes that confuse the hell out of me. Seriously, I don't think anyone knows how much of a headache I leave these classes with because I don't understand them! Well, I mean, I understand them, but for some reason, nothing is registering with me right now. I have a feeling I know why, and John would probably know too, but I'm not going into details about that on here. It's a little too personal. Sorry guys.
I'm also looking for a new job. Yes, I have a job at Bath and Body Works, which is great, BUT, I'm not getting the hours or the pay I need to... well, get myself out of the debt that I am in right now and still maintain all of my rent and utilities and car payments and such. So if anyone out there knows of anything that's paying well and I can get decent hours at, please let me know!
I miss John. I know he's going to read this, and I know a lot of other people are going to be like "eewww, I don't want to read that," but sorry guys, I don't care right now. I miss getting to spend the time together that we got at the end of the summer. I'm not sure how we made it through all the weeks I was at the camp, but we did, and for some reason, now, just going one day is hard. I don't know how you all do these long distance relationships... I guess it's that I know he lives so close to me, or I live so close to him, whichever, and I can't see him as often as I'd like. I feel so much better when I'm with him, like everything is okay, and all of my problems will have an answer, and it will all work out okay. I hope I never lose that feeling with him. I'm afraid it could happen, and he knows why, but I'm going to work my hardest to not let it, as long as he promises to do the same.
Anyway, I'm going to go eat "dinner" before class (dinner consisting of a granola bar and a yogurt).
Shalom y'all.

Happy Birthday To Me!

Today is my birthday, and I've hit the ripe old age of 23. Yay! I celebrated with my parents and grandparents last night, they both gave me money for my birthday (well, seeing as how all I asked for was money for textbooks - kind of sad, huh?). But now I'm at home with just Katie. John should be getting here in a few hours, so I'm busy doing a bunch of stuff around the house. Actually, I'm packing to go back to my apartment on Monday. Then, if I have time, I'll mow the back yard, or at least part of it. We're having a ginormous family reunion this weekend, so my parents want the place to look all spiffy (woah - I used a Kerry word!). Tonight, John and I are going over to my friend Theresas house to see her and her fiancé Chris and their dogs and stuff. Tomorrow John and I may go kayaking on Willard Pond, and Saturday is Old Home Days. I can't wait! That afternoon we have our family reunion/clam/lobster bake in the back yard. Then Saturday night it's off to the Jaffrey fireworks! YAY! I can't wait for those, it's been so long since I've been to them.

I'm still having a little bit of a hard time getting used to being back in the real world after living at Horton Center all summer. It's just strange to walk into a room and have the TV on, or to not have to worry about making sure everyone is quiet when the bell rings in the lodge and all that good stuff. Although, a very welcome change is not having to either walk to a different building or pee in the woods when you wake up in the middle of the night because you have do to such.

Anyway, that's about all I have time for now. I'll be back in Somersworth on Monday the 23rd, so look me up after that. I want to hang out with people!
Shalom!

Off the mountain

Well gang, it's been a long and highly eventful summer, but I am now officially off Pine Mountain! I came to the realization this morning that it's been a good summer, even though I did pretty much nothing but complain about it for most of it. I got to go up to Chapel Rock today before I left, and that's when I really decided that it was a good summer... like, I wouldn't have traded it for anything type of summer. I mean, come on, how many of you can say you dressed up like a ringwraith and got to scare the crap out of little kids?! I also went on 7 hikes, which is more than I've done in the last... umm.... yeah. I got to have water spit at me by about 8 different people, I got hosed down playing kickball, I did a junkload of arts and crafts stuff and I am now the queen of tie dye!
So, hindsight being 20/20, it was definitely a good summer. I hope everyone else had a good summer as well. I'll talk to MOST of you soon!

Last Week!

Well, here it is, Wednesday night, 10:04pm of my last week on the mountain, and the week ends on Friday, and I might be out of here as early as Saturday afternoon! It's been a very trying week and I am ready for the summer to be over. I'm just overtired and everything is getting to me. I got into a huge fight with John today about stupid stuff that I shouldn't have even panicked over, and I feel like I've done nothing but yell at kids all week.
Tomorrow I am hiking with my cabin (Cabin Bethany, again) up the Rattle River trail. Supposedly it's very easy, but neither Lynda or I have done it before. Fortunately, it is only a half day hike and we should be back during siesta. Then during the second activity block I'm doing the "HC Hair Salon" for an activity - basically doing kids hair for the Agape meal. It should be fun, and if we have time, I'm going to see if I can get one of the other staffers to do something to my hair. I got yelled at today by someone who told me they wouldn't put braids in my hair because I washed it to much so they wouldn't stay in. Whatever. I am too tired to deal with stupid stuff like that.
Today I lead a pet rock activity with Alissa, we let kids paint rocks they found today, so it was pretty cool. Yesterday I did prayer flags and Monday I did Kickball. That was the best activity I've done all week. I found out a girl here knows John, and will actually be one of his band kids in the fall. It's pretty funny. Of course, now she's become my cling-on, so that's been interesting to deal with.
Anyway, now I'm just trying to kill time between now and the time I can call John, probably in another 1/2 an hour. He sent me an e-mail this afternoon talking about how he figured something out that I didn't really want to work on today because I just couldn't deal with it today, but of course, now I need to know what he came up with, so I have to find out. Anyway... I'm just glad I'll get to talk to him tonight. I feel bad for jumping down his throat about everything today, but I was just in one of those moods where I needed to be mad... Oh well...
Okay, I'm going to go update my ACTUAL journal and work on my present for Johns birthday for a little bit...
Shalom all.

Awesome summer!

So far my summer has been super! I've hit the halfway point (well, now just past it) of my summer living on top of the mountain, and it's been going really well up there. I miss all of my friends and especially my family, but it's amazing how much I miss the mountain now that I'm not there for the weekend. This past week (starting on the 11th) we had really little kids, 3rd through 5th graders, up as campers, so they left on Thursday morning, and I get off until tomorrow at 10 am. Fortunately though, I will be a unit leader this coming week, so I am not absolutely obligated to offer activities in the afternoon, AAAANNNNNDDDD I get an extra 1/2 hour of sleep every day! I don't have to be at my first meeting until 7:30 instead of 7 on Monday morning.
Anywho, it's been a blast working up there. It's amazing how fast the summer is going by, especially since I function on "mountain time" and have no idea what's happening in the surrounding world. We don't have TV there, so my only link is the internet, which I never think to check for news, so I've been getting all caught up this weekend. The junior high kids we had the week before this one that just ended were really awesome, but these little kids absolutely take the cake! They were soooooo adorable! Monday I lead an activity with them making spirit sticks. That was in the afternoon block. Monday morning, Joel, Ashley and I worked with them on unit challenges, name games and stuff like that. That was fun. Tuesday we did a 1/2 day hike on a trail called Lost Pond trail, which was only a little over a mile, something like 1.1 miles or close to that. That afternoon, Nick and I lead a game called Golden Child, which is a kickball variation, but you can score like 80 runs in a single "inning." It's craziness I tell you. I also did some tie dying with Ashley, and made a couple of shirts while in the process of helping out. Wednesday we did some more unit challenges with the cabin we worked with, and they went really, really well. That afternoon I lead decorating for the Agape meal (our last dinner together), which was great, because half way through, Nick and all the kids that were playing with the parachutes for an activity came running into the Spirit Lodge and started "making jello" with the parachutes, trapping myself and all 10 of my kids under the parachutes with them... it was hysterically fun!!!
So, now I'm at Johns house, I got a long weekend, which was much needed, and I think, well deserved for the whole staff. I got off the mountain at 1 on Thursday afternoon and was in Laconia to meet John at 3:30. We went from there to my parents house, so it was great to spend time with all of them. I was feeling really homesick, so I'm glad I got to be home for a couple of days. Now I am getting some quality "me and John time," which was also much needed, and also well deserved. I'll be kind of sad to go back to the mountain tomorrow, but at the same time, I do kind of miss it when I'm not there. Plus, we'll have campers coming up tomorrow, so I won't have time to breath, let alone think about other places I could be or would want to be.
Okay, I'm done now... Hopefully I'll see a bunch of you next weekend at the big wedding (finally!!! We've only been watching this evolve for HOW long?!?!?) and if not then, then hopefully when I come off the mountain at the end of the summer. If you want to see some photos of what I've been up to this summer, drop me an e-mail and I'll send you the link to my online photo album!
Peace!!!

Yep, still a crazy summer

So this is the first time I've had to update in forever, and I've been crazy busy!!! It's been a lot of fun working up here, and I've learned a lot. We have a group of campers up here this week (they leave on Saturday, actually), all 7th through 9th graders. It's made for an interesting mix of campers, but it's been pretty cool seeing them interact. I'd forgotten how mean this age group of kids can be, especially since last week we had high school kids. Monday, Nick and I lead an 8 mile hike which covered part of the trail up Mt. Washington, and part of the A.T. which is kinda fun to say. We took the campers down to Gorham, which made for a long for John and his cabin, since they had just gone hiking that day... Oh well! We had fun, it was a good night.
This past weekend, between groups of campers, John and I drove down to see my parents and surprise them. We got to see the fireworks and stuff in Hancock, so that was really nice. We left early Sunday morning, so that was kind of a sucky morning, but it was still nice to see them. It was great to get away from the mountain for a night too, because it's been very stressful. I don't feel like I've been getting the opportunity to live up to my full potential, but I haven't really found my stride yet either.
I'm going to post some photos of camp online, so if you would like to see them, please send me an e-mail, and I'll e-mail you the link! Hope all is well with everyone, drop me a line!

Busy, busy summer

Wow, I've totally not had the time to even think about updating this journal, let alone actually do it! I've been crazy busy up here at the mountain. Our first bunch of campers arrived on Sunday, and so I've been spending the past week playing with them... Okay, not really playing, seeing as how they're high school kids, but you get the general idea. John came up to the mountain on Saturday, which was great, because it gave us an opportunity to hang out before the campers actually arrived. The campers started arriving around 2 or and I handed out teeshirts. John hung out with me doing that for a while until his campers in his unit arrived, then he went back to meet them... he's in a unit it with 8 female campers and 1 other female unit leader!!! Poor guy... But at least they're all good kids. That night I helped lead the campfire, which was a lot of fun. I think I needed that to help get comfortable around the campfire. Monday I lead a beadmaking activity on Monday, Tuesday I lead a hike through Great Gulf with Rob and Kate B. Yesterday I did dreamcatcher making and today I lead a prayer flag activity where we made new flags for the spirit lodge. Tomorrow I'm decorating the sploge for the Agape meal (I know, all this terminology that most people don't know, confusing as all heck, huh?!) and then Saturday the week is over and, lucky for me, John is staying here another week!
I feel kinda bad for him though, because I've been acting like a complete jerk this week... Well, I am overtired, which doesn't help, and so I have to be all happy all the time in front of the campers that as soon as I get two seconds with him I take his head off... I really don't mean too, I just finally feel like I can let out the feelings I've had to bottle up all day and it comes out in one big, rather mean pile of words that I have often regretted as soon as I said it... I'm sorry honey!
Anyway, I'm going to go work on some stuff for the SOSW now, since I've got another 30 minutes to myself... yay!
Peace all!

Camp and Stuff

I'm now living on top of a mountain for about the next 63 days. We're on day 2 of staff orientation, and it's going pretty well. I'm kind of home sick and I miss John and my family a lot.
I guess I'll back track a little bit: Thursday night John came down to stay until Saturday, which is when I left to come up to Horton Center. Friday morning we had to get up early and chaperone a trip to Canobie Lake Park with some of his sixth graders. Two of them walked around with us for most of the day, and they were hysterical. They were convinced my name is Sally, and that John and I were married. Well... he and I TOTALLY missed something if we are! Anyway, that night we got home, Janelle came over for a little bit, then my parents left to go to my aunts cottage in Alstead and John and I took my grandparents back to their apartment, and we visited with them there for a little bit. Saturday we spent the day getting me ready for camp. I was going to try and leave between 3 and 4 and I got out the door at about 5:30 or so. I got here Saturday night, unpacked and crashed, pretty much. Sunday I called my dad to wish him a happy fathers day, then we had a bunch of orientation stuff and what not. Today it's been pretty much the same. I'm on duty for Vespers tonight, I get to help plan the 1/2 hour worship service for the evening. That should be good. I'm working on that with Sadie and Kate. I'm hoping that will help me with my homesickness and the feeling of needing to cry every 10 minutes.
Anyway, that's about it for the day. I've got to get off the computer so the next person can use it. Everyone drop me LOTS of e-mails!!!
Peace!

Okay, I'm FINALLY getting around to updating this thing now! :-) Sorry to those who have been waiting DAYS for this ;-)
So this past weekend was great - John came down on Friday and stayed until Monday morning. We played my dad in tennis on Friday evening, and I STILL got my butt kicked! We played Canadian Doubles, and my dad still managed to beat us both, even though he is older than John and my ages combined! Oh well... one of these days I'll get a winning set under my belt. Saturday I took John over to Keene and we just bopped around the city for a little while, then had a late lunch at Margaritas. Then Sunday we went to church that morning - Katie got confirmed, YAY! That afternoon we played tennis again (yes, I STILL lost!) and then got together with Theresa and Chris to go to Kimballs for ice cream! YUM! :-) It was so fun! We sat on the hill across the street from Kimballs while we ate our ice creams. Then Chris kept stealing Theresas shoes and she kept chasing him all over the hill to get them back - it was so funny! They are so cute together. Monday morning John had to leave to go to work, and then he went home from there. It was sad to have him leave, but I get to see him again tomorrow! Yay! I can't believe he and I have been dating for 2 months already... It's gone by so fast! Not that I'm complaining ;-) It's been a great 2 months!
So I've spent most of today getting ready for heading up to Horton Center on Saturday. If I didn't give you my summer info and you want it, drop me an e-mail or an IM or something. If you don't have either of those... oh well, you don't get to talk to me until the fall! :-) I had to get some stuff in Keene today, but I think I'm just about set. I just need to dig out my duffle bags so I can start packing... I should be able to get everything that's going into two large duffle bags, and a small one, or maybe a backpack. I just can't seem to get myself motivated to pack though... I started packing today, but I just can't seem to get myself going. I'm kinda nervous about being up there for the summer, I'm just afraid I'm going to be a sucky staff member. And I will be if I don't go and re-read the curriculum, so I should be heading out. Happy trails all!

Weekends are so great!

I just got in from a weekend with my favorite person, and I had so much fun! Friday late afternoon I got to Johns house and we pretty much just hung out for the night. He bought LOTR:ROTK so we watched that (even though we both saw it in the theater). Then Saturday he had to teach a lesson (or so we THOUGHT) and I had to go pick up a song book from Brian. It was nice to see him and Hannah and their baby Ethan over the weekend. I can't believe Ethan is going to be 6 months old this week! Anyway, when I got to the PCAC, John was just out wandering in the hallway, because, apparently, the person he was supposed to give the lesson to went on a camping trip for the weekend. Oops! Oh well. After that, we played tennis, and I totally got my butt kicked (as usual!), 6-1, 6-1. I wasn't playing my best that day anyway. We went back to his house and had lunch, then that night we went to see the 3rd Harry Potter movie. It was awesome! I loved it, and they did a great job with the story... I still think I like the book better in that one though. The 3rd is very complex towards the end, so it got a little confusing in the end of the movie. Anywho, Sunday we slept in, and then went to mass in Durham (Yes, I went to a Catholic mass AGAIN, and I STILL am alive to tell about it!!!), so that was good. That afternoon we were going to play tennis with his friend Aaron, but the weather was kind of iffy so we all opted out. Then he and I were going to go to the playground and let loose our inner children, but by the time we got out to go to the car, it was raining... so much for that idea! So then we just layed around on the couch and talked about all sorts of stuff, then we played video games on his computer. I'm still not much good at video games... I need to get a new controller for my computer so I can practice up! Anyone have a gamepad that connects to a USB port they would like to donate to the less fortunate? :-)
I stayed again Sunday night because I had a doctors appointment in Bedford this morning, and I could go right by it on my way home, so it made life a little easier. Plus it was nice to get to have the extra time together. Things are going wonderfully and my parents think very highly of John. Theresa says that my mom won't stop talking about him at work, so I think that's a good sign :-)
Okay, it's time for lunch. I semi-bailed on breakfast this morning so I am starving!!
Peace!!

Vacation

Okay, so I am a week into my summer vacation, and all I can say is.... booooorrrrrriiiiiinnnnnngggggg!
Okay, not really. I've been painting my parents house for the last few days, and as soon as I get my butt into gear, I'll start on some more of it today. I'm transforming a white room into one that is "fireball orange." Sounds pretty scary, but believe it or not, it looks really cool. Put on 3 coats and it's more red than orange. My parents love it and I think it looks great.
Last night was also not boring. I went up to Laconia to see Johns bands perform in their spring concert. I was so totally blown away at how good they were (and no, I'm not just writing that because I know he's going to read this)! Seriously though, the jazz band which has a drumset, piano, 2 bones, 3 trumpets and an alto sax sounds way way bigger than they actually are. The 7th/8th grade band sounds awesome - like a high school band pretty much. The 6th graders were a little rough around the edges, but they'll come along nicely, I'm sure, when they hit 7th grade.
Today I printed out a bulk of the curriculum for Horton Center this summer. I had printed off 66 pages at home, and the other 132 of them at UNH today. I needed to print all that stuff, so I just loaded up my copy card and went nuts at the library. But now I am back home and SHOULD be painting. But I'm not.... no, I'm procrastinating by updating this thing and madly IMing my boyfriend, just to drive him nuts when he comes back to his computer ;-)
Tomorrow it's up to the mountain for 2 nights for staff meetings and a work weekend to get stuff done. I'll be home Sunday!
Ciao peoples!

Yay summer vacation!

Yay Summer Vacation!!! I finished up my finals on Tuesday, and I've just been vegging the last couple of days. Tomorrow John and I are headed to my parents house to see some family. My Aunt Donna and her husband Jeff are in town from Irving, Texas, and it should be a good time. My grandparents will be there too, and we're going to have a cook out with them tomorrow afternoon.
Other than that, I'm just chillin' today. My dad is in the area, so he'll be dropping by between 1 and 2 this afternoon. So I'm going to get some of my stuff packed, since I'll be going home for the next 2 weeks before I start up at Horton Center. I'll pop online while I'm at home, and check in with everyone, so that will be good. I'll be painting my parents house to make some extra money before the summer at H.C. starts, so if you want to call me or whatever, drop me a note via IM or e-mail and I'll give you my home number. So this is my last post from Somersworth until the fall... but I will definitely post while at the mountain!!!

Stuff 'n' stuff

I had such an awesome weekend!!! First off, the weather was B-E-A-UTIFUL on Saturday, so that in and of itself was great. But like, Friday night John took me out for a very nice dinner (Chinese!!!), then came over and stayed like... all night. Then Saturday I studied for one of my finals, before being whisked away to the beach for a picnic. Okay, so I was the one doing the whisking away, as I was the one who actually drove to the beach, but John packed all the food so we could have a picnic lunch. Too bad the water was FREEZING!!!!!!!!!! Well, okay, I could stand in it, but if I had actually wanted to swim there, it would have taken me at least 45 minutes just to get completely submerged :-) Then that night, John took me out to see Troy. It was a pretty decent movie, though very long. Then Sunday, believe it or not, I went to a Catholic Mass - and SURVIVED :-) Nahh, there was nothing wrong with going at all, I was just nervous out of my mind... Actually (and don't tell John, although I know he's going to read this), after much thought, I think I may have actually enjoyed it ;-) Just a little toooooo structured for me... Then I went to Johns for lunch and to kick his butt at video games :-) Okay, not really, but he was playing Super Mario, the one that came with the SNES, and I had to show him all of the liddle hidden secrets, so that was fun. Then I came home to study some more for todays final (which is all over now!), and he came over last night to watch Harry Potter - can you believe he's NEVER seen HP before??? I think it was far to advanced for him :-)
I'm just still in a state of shock about the fact that he and I have now been dating for a month (yesterday!). I can't tell if it feels way longer or way shorter, but at any rate, it's going very well.
And today, I'm already done with my final for the day, so that's good... I'm going to start studying for History soon, but I'll have to run to Wal-Mart later to get some more printer paper... Tomorrow it's all over and I'm on summer break! YAY!!! Too bad it's a 6-8 pm final :-(
Okay, that's enough for today. Stay happy all!

Misc. Stuff

What do people really think about you? by Raven319
Name
Age
favorite song
Parents think	You're too sensitive
Strangers think	You need a makeover
Friends think	You're wonderful
Created with the ORIGINAL MemeGen!

Who were you in a past life? by Kat007
Name:
Birthdate:
Favorite Color:
Country:
You were most probably:	A farmer named Ted
If not then you were:	Nefertari
Created with the ORIGINAL MemeGen!

Your True Nature by llScorpiusll
Username
The quality that most appeals to you:	Intelligence
In a survival situation, you:	Run like hell
Your hidden talent is:	Seeing the best in others
Your gift is:	Fearlessness
In groups, you:	Are the entertainment
Your best quality is:	Your generosity
Your weakness is:	Your furious temper
Created with the ORIGINAL MemeGen!

What would your Anime life be like? by hearthlight
Name:
Gender:
Your looks:	Ethereal beauty.
Your best friend:	A human looking robot.
Your powers:	None, you're utterly normal.
Your beloved:	A villain.
Your occupation:	Bounty hunter.
Your ending:	You sacrifice yourself.
Created with the ORIGINAL MemeGen!

Yeah Summer!

Okay, I'm soooooo happy classes are over! Now I just have to stay alive for 4 finals, and I'll be golden. I should probably start studying for those at some point, huh? :-) Oh well.
Anyway, for people that want to get a hold of me this summer while I'm trekking around in the mountains this summer, you can reach me at this address:
Melissa Streeter
PO Box J
Gorham, NH 03581
Anyway, everyone needs to send me their contact information, so I can keep my address book updated and stay in touch with everyone this summer.
I am sooooo looking forward to being at Horton Center this summer! It will be great! And if anyone is interested in being a unit leader, let me know, I'll send you info, because we're super short on UL's this summer! It's only a week long commitment!
Okay, I need to go try and get rid of my headache and start studying for my first final! Peace!

Dork-o-Meter
Username
Dorkage - 56%
This QuickKwiz by pixielust - Taken 835 Times.

If I were a Dead Russian Composer, I would be Sergei Rakhmaninov. I lived in the early Twentieth Century and was well known for my compositional, conducting, and piano skills, yet I am melancholy despite this talent. My famous works include my nearly-impossible piano concerti. Who would you be? Dead Russian Composer Personality Test

Almost There!

So, after all the hassle of having to register for my classes, and having a scheduling conflict with Child Welfare Policy and Social Work Research Methods, I had to try to get into Sociology Research Methods since I had been given permission from the Social Work department to do that, and I got permission from the SOC 601 professor to do that, I get all the paperwork filled out... and the class is booked up solid. So now I'm waiting to find out if I can get an override again from the same professor so that I can get a seat in the class, or see if I should just wait until the add/drop period to get it. Ugh... why does everything have to be a process?!?!?!?!

Pain in the butt!!!

So, after all the hassle of having to register for my classes, and having a scheduling conflict with Child Welfare Policy and Social Work Research Methods, I had to try to get into Sociology Research Methods since I had been given permission from the Social Work department to do that, and I got permission from the SOC 601 professor to do that, I get all the paperwork filled out... and the class is booked up solid. So now I'm waiting to find out if I can get an override again from the same professor so that I can get a seat in the class, or see if I should just wait until the add/drop period to get it. Ugh... why does everything have to be a process?!?!?!?!

Okay, so I've been a slug and haven't updated this in a almost a week. But, things have been crazy busy, so I just haven't had the time. Sunday I got back from a weekend in Maryland for a cousins wedding. Friday I flew from Manchester to Baltimore and got in there around noon. I flew with an aunt, uncle, cousin and boyfriend of another aunt, and we met up with my grandad and his wife at the rental car place in Baltimore. We drove 40 minutes to our hotel, and met up with a bunch of the family (my parents and Katie included). We took over the back deck of the hotel and had snacks and stuff, and just vegged. I got a bit of sun that afternoon. Then at 5:30 or so we got to the wedding site, this place called Tavern on the Bay, which overlooks the water, and it was beautiful. It was an outdoor wedding, with an indoor reception. Good thing too, because it POURED about an hour after the ceremony started.
Saturday we spend the day touring around Annapolis, which was nice. There are some beautiful buildings there... and that would probably be a city I wouldn't mind living in... if I had that kind of money! Saturday night we went out sailing on The Woodwind II, a 74 foot schooner. SO MUCH FUN!!! :-)
Then Sunday I had to come home, which was kind of a bummer, but it was good I got home when I did because I had so much work to get done.
So yeah, that's stuff in a nut shell right now... The semester is almost over, YAY! But unfortunately I still have TONS of stuff to get done. I'm making some headway, but next week will be brutal, working on a research paper thats due next Friday, mostly.
AND... for anyone who hasn't either been told or figured it out (because I know there are some of you out there who are thinking it but haven't actually asked either one of us) - yes, John and I are a couple :-)
Hasta luego!

Happy Day

So I applied for this grant through the DCYF and the UNH Social Work department. I had to have 3 letters of reccomendation, an essay I wrote about why I wanted go go into child welfare, and have an interview with the grant committee. I would get my full tuition paid for the 04-05 school year, plus all fees, plus a $2500 stipend, access to child welfare training and resources, and access to travel for child welfare conference. I would also be required to work for DCYF for however many years I recieve the grant for (so if I go into the field after this year, I work for DCYF for one year). I totally got the grant! :-) It's like... all the pieces have fallen into place, FINALLY! :-) I called my parents and they were all excited, so we're going to party it up in Virginia this weekend while I'm away for my cousins wedding, and John is taking me out to dinner tonight to celebrate. Olive Garden, yum :-)

Stressed!

I hate this part of the semester. Someone remind me why I came back to school? Oh yeah, because it's better than what I was doing. Oh well. I've got this research paper for one of my classes that has been taking forever and a day to get decent resources on. Fortunately, I just got back an e-mail from a different professor who was able to give me a couple ideas of where to look. So now I have a 12 page research paper, a paper about 2 AA meetings that I'm supposed to go to that I haven't been to yet, 2 novels to finish, 2 more reaction papers, a paper about one of the novels, not to mention all of the reading to keep me up todate with the lectures. I guess I shouldn't be complaining... just wait until I get into my field study and will still have 3 or 4 classes along with that!

On the up side, I get to register for next semester tomorrow. Yay! Since I came back to school as a senior, I'm pretty much guarenteed to get into the classes I want, which is a good thing, since one of them is Elementary Sign Language/Intermediate Sign Language. I also have to sign up for Human Behavior and Social Environment 1, Research Methods in Social Work and Social Work Practice 1 (which is the pre-req for my field study) and Society and Morals. So I'm pretty psyched because almost all of those are for my major, which is always a nice thing to take classes in.

I was so sad that I didn't get to go to the beach yesterday. It was SOOOO warm out, like 87 or something like that, but I just had too many errands to run and stuff, so I was sad. I'll get over it though. It's not like it will never be warm again.

Okay, I need to go be productive now, since I just finished complaining about all the work I had to do!

Busy day

So today is my busy day of the week. I had my Introductory Criminology class this morning. Then I came home and took a shower. Now it's time for lunch, then its off to an SOSW meeting, and THEN I have an interview for the grant I'm trying to get for the next school year. AAAAHHHH!!! So everyone, at 2:30 today, there will be a national minute of prayer... okay, not really a national one, but if you think of it, say one for me :-)
I should probably finish getting ready. I gotta head back out the door in less than an hour and I haven't eaten lunch or changed my clothes or anything!
Happy Trails!

So... it's totally pouring outside right now. It sucks. I think I look like a drowned rat or something. Oh well.
It's been a decent week so far. It was nice to go home for the weekend and see my family over Easter. I will be so happy when this semester is over though. Not that I don't thoroughly enjoy being back at school, I'm kicking butt this semester, I'm just tired of school work, and I've got a list of books I want to read for fun and I can't start them because I don't have time to read anything if it isn't on a sylabus!
So I just found out last night my sisters boyfriend is a junior and she's going to the prom with him this year. AAAAAHHHHH!!!!! My mom is thrilled, she gets to take Kate shopping for a dress, and I'm thrilled because the prom happens to fall on a weekend that I'll be home! Kate was like, "Ahh! No!!!" She knows that I'm the photo happy one in the family.
Speaking of which - I wonder if my mom found my high school scrap book when she cleaned out the attic a couple weeks ago. I can't find it anywhere, and all of my high school photos are in it, my prom portraits, articles from when I was on the tennis team... all that good stuff...
Okay, I need to start doing some research for my research paper due at the end of the semester (I should be catching up on a bunch of other stuff though... guess who's not sleeping tonight!)
Happy trails!

Ick

I feel like dirt today, so I am glad I'm going home this weekend. It will be super to have a weekend where I have permission to lay on the couch and watch TV all weekend (Yes, I was GIVEN PERMISSION by my mom to do that!!). I've caught a cold, and so I just feel very blah. But on the upside, it's Friday, so that means I get to go home after classes today! YAY! It must be this time of the year, I've noticed a lot of people putting "I miss you, so-and-so" in their journals, and I know I've been feeling like I miss a lot of people right now. Kerry, Dave and Sarah especially, because they're the people I see the least. I miss you guys! Anyway, I've gotta finish up. I need to pay a visit to my dear friends at the health services pharmacy and pick up some sudafed and a cough supressant. Have a happy and safe Easter weekend everyone!

Stuff 'n' stuff

So I switched to Live journal, just like everyone else! Oh well, everyone else was using it, and then Kerry switched, so it works for me. Plus, I liked how you can put your current mood and stuff like that.
Anyway, I'm so glad this weekend I get to go home. I'm coming down with a cold, and I don't feel good, so it will be nice to be able to vege at home. And Sunday is Easter, so it's all good :-)
Okay, I don't have enough to write, so I'll catch y'all later!