"WE'VE LANDED ON THE MOON"...and a rink, and I'm never drinking red wine again.

Well, I realize it is now a week after Thanksgiving, BUT I also realize that it is exactly ONE WEEK after one of the best Thanksgivings I've had. Since I've moved to Wyo, I've made amazing friends, and had wonderful friends visit me. There's nothing really like being around family though--especially when you're from one so tight-knit as mine. I mentioned before that my cousin started playing hockey in Colorado for a bit, so when I got the text asking what I was doing for Thanksgiving, I knew there was nothing I'd rather do then go down and spend time with him.

I went down on a Wednesday. I brought things for the entire weekend because I didn't know what I would end up doing. I had intended to have a super productive weekend doing homework and reports no matter what (I even took my backpack with me to CO). This did not happen. In fact, I did nothing related to school. Actually, I did read a couple pages of a text book, but I was quickly distracted. So, alas, no homework got done.

Okay, I'll start the categories for you guys now.

WEDNESDAY. My cousin had a game on Wednesday night, so I slept in and spent the entire day relaxing and cleaning before heading down there. On the way down, I stopped at the mall in Cheyenne and bought a few things (I NEEDED BOOTS, OKAY!?). I decided that I wanted to wear some of my new purchases about halfway to Loveland, so I pulled over at a gas station to change. I really made an ordeal of the whole thing unintentionally. I walked in went to the bathroom to change. About a second after I got in there, some girls came screaming in and banging on the door that she had to go to the bathroom and wouldn't wait. So I hurriedly put my pants back on, gathered my things, and opened the door. She was gone. I walked around a bit and didn't see anyone. So I went back in to finish changing. Then I remembered that I needed to pick something up in case I went low, so I went to the cooler (clothes in hand) and grabbed an apple juice. I paid for the apple juice, and then realized I had to pee. So I went into the bathroom again with my new purchase. Three trips to the bathroom, one gas station stop. Yea. So after that I drove down to my cousin's game. After the game we went out to eat and there was this band that couldn't figure out what genre of music they wanted to focus on. Some of the guys were lookin' like they jumped out of the 80's and a couple of others looked like they left their tractor outside. There was a MASSIVE American flag in the background though, so... who knows. We went back to the apartment, watched some Planet Earth and caught up a bit. That was that pretty much.

THURSDAY. Thanksgiving morning I slept in for a while. My cousin had practice early, so when he got back we went to brunch. I didn't know, however, that we would be leaving right from brunch to our Thanksgiving dinner location. The night before we both decided that it'd be pretty sick to have Thanksgiving dinner in the mountains. So after lunch, we get in the car and he says, "Have you ever seen Dumb and Dumber?" To which I replied, "HAVE I SEEN IT?! I LOVE THAT MOVIE!" Guess where we were eating our Thanksgiving dinner...... in the hotel that they filmed Dumb and Dumber AND The Shining. SCHWHATCHU SAY?! I was really excited. The restaurant is called The Stanley (for those of you who prefer Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels, it's The Danby). It's beautiful and kind of reminds me of a smaller version of The Grand on Mack Island. The drive up there (to Estes Park, CO) was super windy, but incredibly beautiful. We were literally climbing mountains.

NEVILLE. So, my friends and I have this little Neville character that we take with us when we travel to put in pictures. It's the "Potato Neville" from the "Potter Puppet Pals" videos. My personal favorite moment is in the "Wizard Swears" video when he says that his, "grandmother forbids [him] from using raunchy language." Oh, Neville. Anywho! Neville came with us to Lolla, and then went to NYC (as one of my friends lives there). Then I received him in the most wonderful carepackage EVER (think a homemade book, homemade biscotti, winter in a can, and some Christmas music!). I swear there's a point to this! Okay, so Neville is out here with me now. He is taking in the Western landscape and enjoying every minute of it. He came with me to Colorado over Thanksgiving, and boy did he love it! He took A TON of pictures in the mountains; rather, I took a lot of pictures of him. My cousin and I went into the Rocky Mountain National Park in between visiting The Stanley and dinner at The Stanley. They were seriously some of the most beautiful sights I've ever seen. Some of the pictures (including Neville) are on my Facebook if anyone should want to see them!

TOURISTS, FROM OTHER COUNTRIES. We spent a lot of our time trying to see wildlife in the park. We saw a couple of deer and a ton of birds. As we were leavin the park though, we saw a herd of elk! Some of them were HUGE. It was crazy. They cross over a road to go into some plains during the day, and we were catching them as they were about to do this... or so we thought. We waited, and here is what happened. Has anyone ever seen the picture of the Chinese man RIGHT UP AGAINST A BUFFALO WITH HIS IPAD?! This was pretty much that, but just a bit less extreme. We first met the tourists up on the top of the "Never Summer" mountain range. My cousin was climbing up the rocks to get a good picture, and the group of men (I will not say where they were from) got REALLY excited, pointed at him, and practically chased him up the rock. It was really weird, and I got very nervous. So I followed him. We ended up just getting some pictures (and having to take some pictures for them), and then we left. Immediately after, we discussed how FREAKING WEIRD they were. Cut to seeing the elk. A TON of rental vans carrying individuals of varying nationalities pulled up. Normally, the elk would cross the street and that would be that. BUT NOT TODAY. No way, Jose! The kept going right up to them! With their children, and cameras. People were jumping, skipping, running, giggling, yelling, and being generally dumb. I mean, come on. YOU ARE IN THE WILD. THESE ELK WILL CHARGE YOU. DON'T DO IT. YOU WILL GET CHLAMYDIA AND DIE. JUST, DON'T DO IT. (I'm sorry, I had to. It fit the tone of the sentence). But really. These people were being dumb. Specifically, the one older woman that took her three assumed grandchildren RIGHT UP to the elk whilst one continued to swing his lunchbox... of all things. What possessed this child to take his lunchbox from the car into the field of raving, aggravated elk is beyond me. But he was only four or so, so I'll let it slide. I digress. That rant is now over.

DINNER. Was delicious! The Stanley serves up a mean meal. We drove around a bit trying to figure out where to eat because they were not serving food until later, but we just ended up back there. Their whiskey selection was HUGE also. Alright, that's all about dinner.

FRIDAY (AND WINE). So Friday I got up kind of early and went "Black Friday" shopping. I bought a few shirts and a pair of sunglasses. We didn't get up early enough to catch any of the sales, so I didn't buy all that much. After their morning practice, the guys met us at the mall and we all went to get sushi for lunch. We went back to the apartment to get ready for the game, then a few of us went over to one of the wive's houses for appetizers and wine. Here begins my night. I drank wine there, and I was fine. We went to the game a bit late, and because we were in the upper suite section, we could continue to drink (more than just beer). I drank there. After the game, we went to pick up more drinks and ended up at the apartment. We had some wine, and my cousin and I had some heart to heart and then I got all emotional and girly and blah blah blah..... Well, fast forward to morning and I wake up. My cousin says he'll be back after practice so we can go to lunch, and I think nothing of anything. UNTIL I LOOK AT THE FLOOR. WHERE THERE IS A HUGE RED WINE STAIN. I immediately start freaking out. There are no wine glasses near me, but I am the only one in the room. It's right by the couch I slept on. Obviously, it was my fault. I get up and start cleaning... and cleaning... and cleaning. Then, my cousin's roommate's fiance (bless her heart) was going to the store. She picked me up some carpet cleaner that took the stain RIGHT OUT and all was right with the world. I layed back down to sleep until my cousin got home and despite my killer headache, we had a good day looking at boots, going to hockey games, and having a couple drinks that night. He played great, and I drove home late later that night. All in all, it was an excellent weekend. Also, in short, I am never drinking red wine again. For now.

NOW. I spent the ENTIRE week doing reports, reading, projects, etc. I have one week left of class, two exams, and a few wind-down days before I'm back home in the Yoop! I'm excited. We start studying for finals tomorrow (at an ugly sweater Christmas party). Wish me luck! Sorry it was so wordy, I'm avoiding homework ;).

Love, y'all!

Wizards, Wine, and Waldo.

WANT TO HEAR SOMETHING FUNNY?!

So... I have been having brief periods of reminiscence, but now I have an actual life-in-the-Wild-West-update.

I told you on Sunday I was headed off to have an excellent home-made dinner with a friend and the woman she rents from right? Right. Well, first off: IT WAS EXCELLENT. Yum. I even was sent home with leftovers, but that is beside the point (meaning, I'll get to that part soon enough). So I have been eating turkey and cranberry sauce for two days now. Anywho, here is how dinner went:

I had been in the grad room doing reports/paperwork/heavensknowswhat and was really tired and not pretty looking. I stopped at a liquor store near my apartment (and my friend's house) to get some wine. I picked a lovely bottle (this is an overexaggeration) and headed over. I walk in and the woman--who is truly lovely--gave me a huge hug and said she was "so glad that [I] could make it." I immediately felt right at home. Dinner wasn't ready yet, so we jumped into one of the bottles of wine. After watching some Wizard of Oz and being introduced to port wine--a cheese apparently--we sat down at the table to eat. We talked about hockey (which her family played), Canada (where her family was from), fishing (which her family loved), and growing up. Dinner was DELICIOUS. Before we ate dessert, we took a break and watched some more TV. We all kept laughing about the AMA's that were on and the performers that were winning and such. Her son made some funny comments and we all drank wine and laughed (OH! I forgot to mention she had an attractive son? Maybe you'll want to keep that in mind.). Throughout the evening the woman kept telling me how wonderful it would be if I could join them in Montana for Thanksgiving (witwas incredibly sweet of her to invite me, and it would have been fun to go to).

So I, my friend, and the woman's son are all sitting at the table talking and joking around. There is a new kitty in the house, and it was playing in a paper bag; this was amusing to my friend. For anyone who knows me, you know I don't like cats. For some reason though, I became comfortable with this one. So my friend is cracking up and telling me I HAVE to get up and look around the corner at this cat. So I do. It stops moving. When I go back to sit down I feel something briefly caress my hand. Not long enough to be something sturdy, but not light enough to be air. I look, and in slow motion I see the red wine I was drinking careen across the table. Onto the woman's car papers, car manual, and her son's phone. The papers will forever be tainted with the purple stain of holiday joviality. I run to the kitchen to grab paper towels and quickly clean it up. Her son helped. That was picked up and it seemed as if there was no love lost. Commence end of the evening. Please keep in mind that I was NOT drunk... or even buzzed for that matter. I was being me, which apparently just necessitates frivolous and unnecessary occurrences.

We eat some awesome pumpkin pie (now, I don't normally like pumpkin pie, BUT THIS WAS SO GOOD. It had coconut in it so it wasn't the normal texture that I don't care for). My friend and I were getting ready to leave and started to walk down the stairs. I had pie and leftovers in hand. I turn to thank the woman hosting the dinner and true to form WOOSH. Down I went. BUMP BUMP BUMP down the stairs. Now, the house is not big, and I hit a broom, so it made an almighty clatter... that everyone in the house could definitely hear. The woman--in her adorable high pitched motherly voice--said, "Oh, my goodness, dear! Are you alright!" To which I popped back up (pie and leftovers in-tact and in-hand, mind you) and said, "Yep! I'm good. Just clumsy!" These people probably think I'm a drunk or something. C'est la vie. The best part of the evening, despite my graceful Beyonce style wipeout, was my friend's comment when we finally got down to her apartment. I was embarassed. She looked me dead in the eyes and said, "Well, I mean, you are wearing fluffy Waldo socks... so you kinda had it coming." With that, I learned my lesson. DO NOT wear fluffy white and red (or any color, for that matter) striped shea butter microfleece Bath and Body Works socks to occasions where you may be trying to make an impression or meet cute strangers. Lesson learned.

Well, Thanksgiving. I am not going to Montana. My cousin and I talked and he has hockey games on Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday. I am going down there on Wednesday for the game and will come back if I need for reports/paperwork/and such. By down there I mean Colorado (Fort Collins/Denver area). Who would have thought a year ago that I would be spending my Thanksgiving in the Wild West, let alone with a close family member. Cool stuff, eh? I'm excited. For hockey, for cousin time, for everything. 3 more weeks until I'm home. :)

Love y'all. I'll try and keep this more updated.

OH PS) If you are in the area,and are in need of automotive care, go to Plains Tires. Seriously. They are incredibly nice and only charged me $20 for a new spare tire (with good treads), a change of rims, and an all around tire check. Now THAT is the out-West hospitality I've grown used to :).

Rushed: quotes, philosophy, scoreboard.

“One's philosophy is not best expressed in words; it is expressed in the choices one makes. In the long run, we shape our lives, and we shape ourselves. The process never ends until we die. And the choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility” 
-Eleanor Roosevelt.

This is a difficult time of the year. For everyone. I think the best part about it though is that everyone just refuses to let the fact that a lot of bad things, a lot of bad feelings, a lot of longing, a lot of missing, a lot of intense emotions dictate how their holiday season will be. On top of the things I've just listed, I've been thinking a lot about my life lately... and it comes down to two different things.

One: WHAT THE HELL AM I DOING?!
Two: There's nothing else I'd rather be doing.

These are conflicting thoughts. I was SO excited to move out here because it was something new (and it's definitely something new). I love it. I love the friends I've made, I love the program I'm in, I love the clients I have, I love the experiences I'm living. I'm at that point now though where I miss home. I miss my friends all being in one place. I miss my dog. I miss Blackrocks' beer and Zorba's gyros. I miss not having those people around that make me feel like no matter what stupid crap I say, they still love being around me (and that most of these ramblings are just me talking out loud to no one in particular). I miss feeling like a kid. NOW, that was a Debbie Downer (WAH WAHHHH) statement, but hear me out.

What makes me realize I'm growing up (and terrifies me at the same time) is that I'm okay with all of these things. Yea, it hurts. Missing places/people is never fun, but it isn't a constant. It's more of a wave--the ebb and flow of typical emotions people experience all the time. This makes me feel better. Another thing I've truly realized, and this has perhaps been the most difficult thing I've learned, is that a lot of times IT DOESN'T MATTER. I'm not saying people don't matter, or things don't matter, or lessons don't matter. I'm saying that there are certain things that we hold on to and run round and round in our head with and then we often come to the point where we throw our hands up and say, "It really doesn't matter does it? This doesn't matter." There are things we can change, and things we cannot. Growing up I've realized is a lot like leaning over a bridge and taking a picture of the water below you. It keeps moving, rushing. You are trying to capture it. Grab it in a moment you enjoy and keep it there forever. But you drop your camera. As you reach out to catch it you realize that it's either let the camera fall, or fall yourself. So you stay put, with your feet firmly planted on the bridge, and you watch your camera--your moments stopped in time--rush by in the current beneath you. You made your choice, you stayed put and chose to deal with the repercussions of not chasing after the past. But isn't that beautiful? That you recognized your choice: jump or let it go. I believe it was Robert Frost (that famous guy who wrote about the fork in the road and choosing your path, coincidentally) that said, "In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: It goes on." Growing up is about letting go. Not of everything obviously, but of those things that need not be held onto. This is my current battle. Letting go. But I'm doing it, and it's a good feeling. And I can't wait to see what's on the other side of that bridge :).

NOW AFTER ALL THAT ANNOYING BLUNDERING ABOUT LIFE AND YADDA YADDA, HERE IS WHAT'S GOING ON IN MY LIFE (abridged):

I have pretty much only had four days of courses in the last two weeks. (SCORE).
I have not seen any more hockey since I went to watch my cousin in Loveland (UNSCORE).
My cousin and I are doing Thanksgiving dinner together, and I am going to his hockey games this coming weekend. (SCORE).
I have been learning new moves in country swing. Think, Dirty Dancing (the movie, obviously) dip. (SCORE).
I am rushing to type this because I am going to have a pre-Thanksgiving dinner with my friend and the lady she rents from. The lady felt badly that I didn't have family here for Thanksgiving. She is so sweet. Everyone in Wyoming is incredibly sweet. (SCORE).
I have a RIDICULOUS amount of school reading to catch up on (UNSCORE).
I am still in love with spaghetti squash (SCORE).
I have a lot of reports and projects due in the upcoming weeks (UNSCORE).
I haven't been hit by a bunny or brushweed lately (SCORE).
My neighbor keeps forgetting to take out her trash before she leaves for days at a time (UNSCORE).
I only have 14 days left of school. (SCOOOOORRRREEE).
I will be home in less than a month. (SCORE).
I am about to go enjoy some wine and food (SCORE).
I have to be up at 6:30 to begin my week tomorrow (UNSCORE).

So, what's the score?

Mia: 9. Life: 5.
Ha. I win.
Love y'all. :)

 

Roundabouts, zombies, home, and H-E-Doublehockeysticks.

Sooo... let's just get right to the topics.

HELL WEEK. This next week of school is going to SUUUCCCKKK. I have two midterms, theses to input data for, three reports, oral mech and audiology examinations, a supervisor meeting for my clinical abilities (which also requires analyzing tape of myself in a session and filling out self-evaluations), five sessions, and another exam to study for for the next week. Wahhhhh. Oh, well. After this week, it will calm down a ton.

SIDE NOTE: I'm listening to How I Met Your Mother and Marshall just mentioned the Upper Peninsula. SCORE. Also, last night I was in Fort Collins, CO and in this TINY dive bar (a little bit funny that I made the word "tiny" larger than the rest, eh? Oh, the irony.) there was a "Say 'Yah' to da UP, eh?" sticker on the bar. Cool, eh? I'm going to stop saying "eh?" now. I digress.

So this week for school is pretty much going to suck. But I FINALLY have a child (younger than 10) client and I am so excited!

POKES AND PROFESSORS. Last weekend was our homecoming, and Mark Farney came to visit! He is a friend from home that I grew up with and it was GREAT to have him here. He showed up at the game (right before it started pouring rain) with his suitcase and backpack. We went to where my friends were sitting, watched the game for a bit, and then decided to take off. Partly because the game was boring (and we ended up losing despite our 17 point lead), and mostly because the sheets of rain were pelting us in the face. We went back to my friend Rebecca's house and ate some elk stew. Then, it was out for the night. We went to the Buck first (which I KNOW I've talked about before), and saw the professor I'm a GA for there. I talked to him for a bit, and then went back to my friends. I did not realize he was there for a while though, and I continued to dance like a maniac (think getting up on chairs and everything). C'est la vie. It was fun. So then we took Marky to The Cowboy. He picked up on the country swing really quickly and we had lots of fun! All in all, I drank a little too much, but it was a SUPER fun homecoming. The next day, I drove Marky to Denver. First, we grabbed dinner at a brewery. It was delicious. Then, I took him to the airport where he flew back to the land of the rich and famous. :)

PUBLISHHHHH. So. I am a graduate assistant at the university for a totally awesome professor. I think I've mentioned him before. He's the one where, when you're in class he'll say, "ARE YOU GUYS FREAKIN' EXCITED ABOUT THIS LECTURE? 'CAUSE I'M FREAKING PUMPED ABOUT THIS LECTURE!!". It's very entertaining. Anywho, he is in the process of publishing a test (and this test has a few versions). I have been helping out with editing stuff for my GA and guess what?! My name is in the manual! I didn't really do anything substantial other than help them edit, but it will be the first time my name will be published IN PRINT for something related to my degree. I was uber excited about it, and it reinstated my enthusiasm for doing a thesis and trying to publish my other paper. If you want to check it out, go to the following link and scroll to page 2: http://languagedynamicsgroup.com/downloads/TNR%20P%20Manual%20v2.pdf

HOMETOWN HOCKEY. So. I got a very pleasant surprise earlier this week. My cousin texted me and said he would be playing for the Colorado Eagles for a bit (which is only an hour and a half from me!!!). I have been very fortunate to see a few people from home since I've moved here, but no family. So this was extra special. I rounded up two of my closest friends here and we headed to Loveland for a few hours for the game. The rink was awesome, actually. They had these mini donuts (like the ones at the Chippewa County Far that I love, and was coincidentally talking about earlier this week) and beer. We watched the game while enjoying some cinnamon-sugary goodness and Bud Light (we were at the Budweiser Events Center, after all). My cousin played great and after the game we decided we would goo get some food before heading back to Laramie.

ROUNDABOUTS. Are now my enemy. So. We were going to a restaurant in downtown Fort Collins to eat. I was driving. It was dark, but that is no excuse for what happened next. My friend asked me if I had ever done a roundabout before. I said, "Psht. I live in Michigan. We have roundabouts and Michigan turnarounds on every road pretty much." Well, my overconfidence in my driving abilities did NOTHING for me on this occasion. We came up to the roundabout. I was going far too fast. As I took the corner, my cousin said something along the lines of, "Woah! Curb!" and I nailed it. I said, "Whoops!" and kept driving.... for about 300 feet. When I realized (or my cousin realized) my tire was flat. We pulled over and luckily I had a spare and a tire changing kit. We threw on the flashers and my poor cousin (who was hit in the face earlier in the night and wearing a suit) had to change the tire for me. A lady cop showed up, and did nothing. So her presence was pointless other than the fact that her cop car was behind mine, and therefore making us feel a TON safer that we wouldn't get peeled by another car. My cousin got the tire changed (thank God he was there) and we were on our way. I let him drive until we dropped him off later that night.

ZOMBIES. Downtown Fort Collins apparently had a "Zombie Walk" last night. Translation: the entire downtown was crawling with people in various torn/dirty/bloody bits of clothing and horrific theatrical makeup. COOL. The restaurant we were trying to eat at was closed, so we ended up at Jimmy Johns. After eating, we walked back out on the street. There were SO MANY PEOPLE. For the first time, I felt out of place being dressed normally. Oh, well. After all my cousin put up with yesterday, I felt that I owed him a drink. We ended up at that little dive bar (the one with the UP sticker) and had a shot and a beer. Then, we took him back to his apartment and left for Laramie. It was SO wonderful to see him, and I can't wait to go to another game!

I'll try and post again after this week is done. I ask you all to pray for three things: my grades, my health (I don't want another cold!), and my sanity. Shanks :). 

Dippies, flippies, and chippies.

SO. It's Sunday night and once again the weekend has flown by MUCH too quickly. As I have been sick lately, I tried to kind of take it easy this weekend. (Also, it's only three days later and I'm updating already!! So far so good with the being more diligent in posting). In the words of Kel Mitchell, "Ahhhh it goes!"

HOCKEY. It doesn't really exist out here. I mean, it does. But not really. But kind of. But not at all. I was like a little child walking into the rink. My friend was laughing at me because I was so RIDICULOUSLY EXCITED to just be in an ice rink. The hockey was terrible, and we had to pay to get in ($3 for club?!) but then we met a few of the players out later that night and found out it was for rink fees (which I figured), so I was more okay with paying after that. Gotta support the dream right?? Anyways, I think the final score of the game was 18-3 us. We beat Colorado State's club team--they had 11 players, and one got kicked out for "fighting". Shiiiit shoooowww. NONETHELESS, it was hockey and I was in an ice rink with a great group of girls and that was good enough for me. Just the sound of skates on the ice was enough to make paying worthwhile :). I'm assuming the games will be better once we get some competition; at least, that's what I'm told. Also, my cousin TBo--who is currently living in the greater Boston area, was at a BC game. So I was getting constant updates and picture highlights of that :).

DANCING. So, Friday night after the game the girls and I went out (go figure). It was SO much fun. We have to blow off steam somehow with how ridiculously demanding and time consuming this program is--spending even more time together out and about is our escape of choice :). Anywho, we started out at the Buck, which is like Laramie's equivalent of the Sav/Back Door (Soo) and Vera ('quette). The dancing was a ton of fun, but our group likes the Cowboy the most, so when the creepers decended (and our belongings were decidedly molested by a long-haired man in shorts and Kanye sunglasses) we took off to do some country dancin'. One of my friends knows EVERYONE. Like, for real; that includes incredible cowboy dancers. I have been steadily learning some moves, but I was able to dance with a guy that was REALLY good this weekend. I did a couple new dippy and flippy things, and it was awesome.

DOWN TIME. For some reason--despite being in awesome company and doing awesome things--I was feeling pretty down on Friday. I don't really know what it was. Probably a combination of a lot of things. But anyways, I got over it by watching "Hey Arnold" and going to sleep. If that's not success, I don't know what is.

TERROR. I hate scary movies. I am a baby. If a scary movie involves a ghost or anything paranormal (excluding aliens) it will freak the ever-livin' out of me. The majority of my friends out here love them though, so we had a scary movie night. This was complete with cookie dough, brownies, ice cream, chips, and drinks. I have been eating pretty vegetarian lately, so all this junk food DID NOT do wonders for my stomach. Bleh. But that is beside the point. First, we watched The Crazies. It was weird, and there were a few jumpy parts that got to me, but for the most part I enjoyed the movie. I wasn't scared. Then, we watched The Descent in which the characters pissed me off. There was a moment I was not expecting in this movie, though. It scared me so bad I literally teared up. On-par with paranormal shit is jumpy shit. BLAH. This was a jumpy moment. Alas, we finished the evening with the Ryan Reynolds edition of The Amityville Horror. I maintain that this is one of the most terrifying movies ever made. It is both jumpy and paranormal. I verified this notion with myself by realizing last night that I had never watched the movie in its entirety. I closed my eyes through most of it this time, and was super nervous to go home (as I now live alone). Normally, I'd cuddle with my dog and watch Disney channel until I felt better. I was pleasantly surprised to find that after being home for ten minutes last night, I wasn't scared. I watched Drive Me Crazy (Melissa Joan Hart/Adrian Grenier) and fell asleep easily. Progress, my friends. I am growing up.

CHURCH. Ever get the feeling that God is speaking directly to you? Yea, that happened today. It was interesting, and now I don't know what to do. But that's okay. To quote one of my favorite authors of all time "My life has no purpose, no direction, no aim, no meaning, and yet I'm happy. I can't figure it out. What am I doing right?" (Charles Schulz). Okay, so not all of those are true. I have direction and aim, but at the moment I am still searching for my purpose and meaning, yet I'm happy. Truly happy. That's a wonderful feeling. Think about it. I'll leave you all with that for now.

:)

Tumbles and the whirlwind.

Woah, guys. I don't even know how long it has been since my last post. I intended to keep up with this, but grad school, friends, and sickness have decided otherwise. Alas, here I am. FINALLY updating. I'll try and keep it brief, but it has been a while (and you know how wordy I get).

FIRST, I am going to start with something that happened to me yesterday and made me laugh and laugh and realize that God is truly trying to make me anecdotal proof of his ironic humor. After that, I'll follow the established format of breaking my life up into categories (which really won't be that hard considering my life is all-consumed by only a couple of areas lately). Pick and choose what you'd like to read.

TUMBLED 'ORE. That title was more of a joke for my friend Alex. (In one of our text rants my phone autocorrected "Dumbledore" to "Fumbled 'Ore". It makes sense for this post). So anyways, I had a shitty day yesterday. I mean, it takes a lot for me to say that my day has been shitty (and it definitely could have been far worse) but let's just suffice it to say that I didn't like yesterday. This is why: I woke up late, didn't get ready in time for school, and felt sick. I got to school early to turn in a report before 7:30 am to a clinical supervisor, and was studying for a HUGE exam later that day. Then, I had an audiology review (which was kind of unnecessary) which took out of studying time for the exam. Then I went to the exam and it was WAY harder than I thought it was going to be. Feeling pretty down after that, I decided to go check my mailbox. I was told my supervisor was waiting to see me, so I went to see her. Aparently, I can't read and did not format the final report correctly (she was EXTREMELY nice about this though). I was feeling overwhelmed about life in general and almost broke down in front of her, though. Thankfully, I didn't. SHOW NO WEAKNESS. I digress. So, I went and had my session, which was the high point of my day, BECAUSE my client was incredible! He/she used a brand new AAC device WITHOUT A PROMPT. I was in Seventh Clinician Heaven. I'm pretty sure Jessica Biel waltzed in and congratulated me at one point. Anyways (again), after this I was working on reports and GA stuff and feeling pretty sick. I went to the Student Health Center (for the third time in a week) and signed up as a walk-in. I waited, and waited, and waited for 45 minutes and a large number of people coming and going in front of me before I went up to the desk to see why I had been waiting so long. Apparently, I wasn't in their system. So they readmitted me and I waited some more (another 20 minutes). Normally, I'm a very patient person. But I fell asleep at one point and finally a girl came out and asked if I'd been helped yet, to which I said, "nope." So she went in back and got me in right away. Long story made a wee bit shorter, I was screened and diagnosed with strepp throat AGAIN. I had to go home immediately and was treated like I had the plague, understandably in my field. I am SO lucky to have such supportive classmates and friends here, they all reassured me they would take notes and grab handouts for me. They are great. So I was just feeling shitty and upset and everything and I went to get out of my car. When I did, I went around back of my car and felt something hard and scratchy hit my leg, roll up my body, and pick at my hair. WHAT DO YOU THINK IT WAS???
Tumbleweed. Yes, my friends. There really are rolling tumbleweeds out here, and I was nearly impaled by one. THIS IS MY LIFE. Bunnies, sidwalk cracks, tumbleweed, hay bales: Wyo wants me to experience everything, I think. Even in the middle of the city. When that happened, I couldn't help but laugh out loud (to the amusement of the tenant below me), and go upstairs. I promptly turned on Breaking Bad and took a nap. That was my day.

SCHOOL. Is crazy. Nuts. Busy. Informative. Overwhelming. It's just all so different. I mean, I feel like I'm learning a lot of the same stuff as undergrad, just WAY more in-depth. When I feel like I understand a concept, I'm tested on it and the world is like, "PSYCH. NICE TRY, MIA." And then just skips away to the tune of "Another One Bites the Dust". Gah! I truly love my professors and all of the classes. I feel I'm much better suited to the grad school environment. High school was okay, college was great, grad school is even better. I'm finding my niche, and Wyoming is definitely the place I'm supposed to be. I'm looking into doing a thesis (instead of oral comprehensives for graduation). I'm going back and forth with it right now, just because it will be SUPER time consuming, and I want to have some free time (HA!) to hang out with friends. We will see. I'll keep you updated on that one. All I can say is, what I would be doing my thesis on is MEGA interesting and awesome and cool. :)

FRIENDS. I have met some truly incredible people out here. There's a couple other girls from the Midwest in my program, so that has been great. Also, there are some people who went to undergrad here that I have become close with. One of them introduced us to this guy, who introduced us to his friends, and now we have a pretty good base of awesome people to be around out here. It's weird how things work out like that, eh? Generally, we are never apart from each other. We are on campus from 7:30 to 6 pm most days and spend all of our time studying, doing reports, and trying to keep each other sane. On the weekends, we go to football games and out on the town. The Cowboy Bar here seems to be our location of choice (we all love our country swing dancing!). Honestly though, I couldn't have asked for a better group of people to go through this experience with. I'm very lucky.

SICK. Well, I already told you I've had strep twice now. So that's fun. It takes away from productivity time (which is NECESSARY) in grad school. That sucks. It takes away from class time. I just don't like it. That's all you need to know.

HOCKEY. I AM SO SICK OF THIS LOCKOUT. And there is no college hockey here. I mean, there is a club team (which my friends are I are checking out this weekend), but no legit hockey. Bleh.

HOME. Fall has been a lot different this year. I know it's only the beginning of October, but there are really no Fall colors here. Thankfully, my mum has been sending some pictures, and friends have been posting some. So that's nice. I've been missing my friends from home lately. So if you're one of them, YOU'RE MISSED. Terribly. Also, Maggs. Because, I mean, who wouldn't miss that tub of brown love?

POKE PRIDE. I love my Wildcats, but I am REALLY loving my Pokes. The whole city is based around the university here, and it's awesome. The night before home football games, the marching band does a pub crawl and plays fight songs and other classics at all of the local watering holes. IT'S WONDERFUL. Also, the football games are fun. The university is about the size of NMU, but it feels a lot bigger. Campus is beautiful. A lot of the chants they do here are the same as back home; they even do the Tech "Beer Song"! Go Pokes!

COWBOYS. There are so many. Like, for real. I hate to say that you get used to it, but you get used to it. That doesn't make it any less wonderful when you remember that the rest of the country isn't like this, though. At the Cowboy Bar, most of the real ones come up and put out their hand and do this bowing thing and say something like, "Would ya care to dance, ma'am?" It's phenomenal. Also, those tight jeans, boots, button up shirts, and hats.... MMM MMMM. It's a different world out here, and I love it.

QUOTES. I've been obsessed lately. Mainly Winnie the Pooh, Calvin and Hobbes, and Peanuts. But really, any quote or song lyric that is even remotely applicable to my life lately I have been gravitating towards. I did this last year, as well. Hmm... maybe it's the time of year.


I can't think of anything else to say. I'll try to provide more specific stories in the next posts, but it's been so long since the last time, I forget a lot of things, and the rest just doesn't really seem relevant.

Tout mon amour!

Cowboys and cottontails.

I'm just going to stick to the bolded title format.

Bookstores and Computers. Well, Thursday was a productive day. I woke up early to be at the university for 8:30 so that I could get my lockey key for our grad room. After that was done, I decided to go pick up my textbooks. Walking ALL THE WAY ACROSS CAMPUS (which really isn't far at all), I get into the Union where the bookstore is. The Union is great. There's a foodcourt and everything. The woman at the door says that the cash registers are down, but I could look around until they came back up. I start to walk toward the back of the store and another woman comes tearing up to the front yelling to shut the doors and not let anyone else in. I laughed and looked right at her and said, "DON'T WORRY. I'll leave." I sat down in one of the chairs right outside of the bookstore and waited until the doors opened--it was about an hour. The doors were opened back up and I went in; problem being, the computers were still down. They told me I could get my books together and leave them to pay and pick up later, so that's what I did. I walked back to the Health Sciences (HS) building and grabbed my clients' files to go over for a while. A few hours later I returned to the bookstore to pick up my books and to meet the professor I will be a graduate assistant for. He is from Alaska originally, a fisherman, and is doing research in one of my favorite areas: narratives. WOO WOO. After this meeting I rushed back to my apartment because my dishwasher was being replaced. So that it's for the boring productive stuff.

Walking adventures. So I was bored Thursday evening and decide I would see how long it took to walk from my apartment to my building on campus. (For the record, it is about 25 minutes). Parking on campus (or even near it) is ridiculously impossible, unless you're there super early. I have been trying out alternate forms of transportation to get there, so it looks like I'll be walking until it's cold, and then taking the shuttle that's like, a block from my apartment. Anywho, I decided to go for this walk. I'm walking along, and it's beautiful. I love it here. Everything was great until I got outside of my building. Well, I shouldn't say anything went BAD, but I do believe I have a knack for putting myself in odd sitauations. So my mum calls me on the phone. I talk to her while walking for a bit. Easy right? Then I was texting my friend Colleen because I miss her like crazy. I wasn't thinking much of anything, which is the problem. When I text, I zone, and zoning and walking at the same time are not good things.

     As a side note, a few months ago I was visiting my friends Cushman and Ashley down in Ann Arbor. We were at Blockbuster looking at movies, and I was texting. When walking back out to the car, I quite literally ran SMACK into a sign. Like, bonked my head on it and everything. All because I was texting and walking. That is the prelude to the story I am about to tell you.

So I'm zoning and walking and texting and moseying and all those sorts of good things. I come to a stoplight and I've got the "not a good time to cross" signal, so I wait. It's finally my turn to walk, but wait, what is this? I'm texting. So I see there are no cars coming and decide to continue my thumb frenzy while crossing the street. DISCLAIMER: the curbs here, well there's really no down slope into the roads because there are bike lanes on every street. SO there was quite a large gap between the curb and the street. Not looking down at my feet, but rather my phone, I did not see this cliff I was about to jump off of. I step, stagger, trip on my other foot and almost go face-down into the street. Thankfully, I was able to do that awkward catch-yourself jog people do to make it look like they didn't just trip. True to form, I laughed at myself. This was no ordinary laugh, though. I was listening to music REALLY loudly (which automatically amplified my voice from what it normally would have been) and it was like this, hysterical gun-shot one chuckle that was high pitched and startled even me. That was a really long run-on sentence. Oh, well. I must have sounded like I was barking or something, I don't know. Anyone who has been around me and heard this laugh knows what I'm talking about. So I played it cool and took the neighboorhood roads instead of the main roads back to my apartment. If you're wondering, the answer is yes. I did continue texting and almost tripped a couple more times, but there were far less (meaning no) people around to witness those ones.

The demon bunny. Any of you that have seen my Facebook recently may have seen a picture of a bunny that I posted. Here is his story. I was walking back to my apartment and texting Colleen. In the middle of a neighboorhood I was just strolling and minding my own when this hellion of a rabbit darts out and nearly buries himself under my foot! It's a good thing I saw him out of the corner of my eye and stopped walking because despite the velocity he was travelling at, the timing was just right for my shoe and his head to meet. This obviously startled me. I'm not used to seeing rampant rabbits, but I got over it. I continued walking and about a block later the menace darted at me AGAIN from another direction. It was a full on attack: Peter Crazytail vs. me. This time, however, he had the audacity to turn around and look at my from the street like I was in his way (which is where/when I snapped that picture). He had this "come at me" smug expression on his scrunched little face (that's an overexaggeration maybe). I expected him to come flying out of a tree next. Needless to say, after that encounter I went on high alert and stopped texting until I arrived safely back at my apartment.

Murphy's Law. So I decided to try out the shuttle (again for timing) that runs from right by my apartment to the Wyoming Union on campus. I had to be at an orientation around 8:15, so I wanted to give myself plenty of time; I arrived at the bus stop around 7:45. Immediately, a bus pulls up. I get in and we sit and wait for a bit. A couple minutes into this sitting, the bus driver contacts his garage and says that his bus is overheating. He is told to wait for further instruction. I get a little bit nervous, but am happy that I came early because we have been sitting for a few minutes now. The garage comes back on the intercom and says to park the bus and have all of the passengers exit and wait for the next one. JUST MY LUCK. We exit the bus and I am most likely visibly distressed. I ask a nearby (foreign) man when the next bus comes and he said, "I sink a couple minutes?" Sure enough, another bus pulls up about five minutes later. I was on-time to the orienation that I didn't need to be at until 9 am anyways. So, that's good. Also, I didn't realize a bus left from that station every 5-7 minutes depending on construction. I was a bit worked up over nothing. C'est la vie.

Graduate Assistant Orientation. Was boring. We talked about sex more than the last orientation. You don't need to know anything more than that.

The Cowboy Bar. A group of people from my department decided to go out because a) it is our last week before grad school starts and b) it was somebody in our program's birthday. So we went to a restaurant/bar to begin the night and moved around from there. The first place was like an Applebees kind of. Compare it to Stuckos maybe. The next place was a hippie-ish thing attached to a vegetarian restaurant--think Blackrocks, I guess. After that we went to a place that was, well, I don't know. I guess I would say it's like Flannigan's without the karaoke. Then we went to a place that was their dance club--think any dance club in the UP. Finally, we went to The Cowboy Bar (that is both what it's called and what it is). I HAVE NEVER SEEN DANCING LIKE THIS. It's a mix of swing/line dancing/square dancing/club dancing all rolled into one and it is SO MUCH FUN. Oh, my goodness. There were some real cowboys in there, and boy can those boys move. Half of my time was spent in mesmorization of the people that knew how to do the dances. The other half was spent subjecting the people I was with that knew how to do it to teaching me. We liked it so much (meaning me and two other girls from the Midwest) that we are going back tonight. In flats. Heels were a bad decision.

In the words of our favorite little orphan Annie, "I THINK I'M GONNA LIKE IT HERE!"

:)

To Don't List in Grad School: Get a puppy, get married, get pregnant.

Another post done on my computer (I won’t have internet until Friday). Nothing very funny has happened to me lately.

Let’s sum this up quickly. I have stayed pretty busy since my move out here. First, my brother was with me. Then, my friend Josh came to visit. It was great to have the company, but it’s nice to have a few days to myself now to wind down and prep for school; after orientation today, I’m not quite sure what to make of it. But anywho, let’s catch up with what I’ve been doing. I’ll do the same thing as last time with the bolding of the topics so you can pick and choose what you’d like to read.

The Chuckwagon. So, there’s this restaurant in Laramie called The Chuckwagon. Jord and I decided to go there during one of his last nights here. When we went inside it look very Western. Like, dark wood dividers, longhorns all over, paintings of mountains and waterfalls with wild horses gallivanting in front of them, cowboy hats and spurs hung haphazardly from the walls and ceiling, you get the picture.  So we go and sit down. Looking at the menu, everything was so cheap! Like, seriously. I ordered the barbecue rib dinner ($9!) and JJ got the barbecue chicken sandwich dinner ($7!) The first course was soup or salad. We both chose salad after we found out the soup was clam chowder (growing up on the lakes, I don’t trust any seafood this far inland). The salad bar was fine enough. There was broccoli, which I was thrilled about, and some carrots and such. Our waitress would drop by intermittently (meaning, every five minutes or so) to see if we needed anything. She was the most attentive waitress I have ever had the experience of being waited on by; this may be due in part to us being the only patrons in the restaurant until fifteen minutes before we were done. Anyways, I digress (like usual). So, the waitress brings us our food after about ten minutes. I was pleased with how quickly my ribs and his chicken were delivered—I should have been more logical. Our waitress painted an exuberant smile on her face and bounded away. First, I reached for my bread. I could make a meal out of bread. This bread, however, was rock hard. I’m not saying it was old, but you know when you try and reheat a sandwich in the microwave and the bread turns into some crumbly rock type of thing? That’s what this was. I tried to break it apart in hopes that there would be some soft bread inside, but it was just a quarter-sized portion of raw dough. What was this? I give up and look to the “vegetable” on my plate. Peas. SERIOUSLY!? Who even eats peas anymore?? I don’t mean yummyfreshstillinthepod peas, I mean blackenedmicrowaveduntiltheyhavecavedinonthemselves peas. After this I try a piece of my ribs (which is only two ribs, so now I know why it was so cheap) and they are cold. I guess 1/3 of it was warm enough to eat, but they were legitimately cold. Jordy said his chicken was fine, but he was also in the same boat as me with the nuclear peas and granite sweet roll. Our baked potatoes were the only thing good on the plate and they were scalding.  I burnt my tongue, but inhaled it anyways. I love me a good potato. This entire time the waitress kept coming up to us. The service was so prompt and friendly there that Jord and I didn’t have the heart to send any of the food back or tell her about it. So, the moral of the story here is that good service really can outweigh a lack-luster product. I’m going to give The Chuckwagon the benefit of the doubt.

Denver 2.0. So on Sunday morning I had to drive Jord to Denver, CO for his series of flights home that day. His flight was at 8:30ish, so I was instructed by one of my professors to make sure I was at least two hours early bringing him there because apparently their security is crazy. That puts his arrival at roughly 6:30 am. I was also told that I needed to make sure I allowed for traffic, so to add on an extra half hour—6:00 am. I live in Laramie, which is either two hours or two hours and fifteen minutes, so that put us leaving at 4:00 am. The prior evening, Jord and I walked around downtown and looked at some of the local shops: boots, hats, university apparel, etc. That night, we ate at a Chinese buffet. We were up til about 1:30 am watching movies. So let’s review: walking around, Chinese food, two hours of sleep = exhausted. So I woke up and drove to Denver that morning. DIA was under construction, so I ended up taking the loop to the drop-off lane rather than the short-term parking structure accidentally, and had to look back around the entire airport. Thanks heavens we left some time to spare. Once inside, it was pretty smooth sailing. We got Jord’s tickets at a Kiosk and I made sure he made it through security. Then, I was on my way back to Laramie. On the way home I got a text from Josh saying he’d be there around the time I was getting back. I thought about taking a nap, and then decided not to. Josh arrives and we hmm and ha about what we should do while he is here. The only thing we know for sure is that he wants to go to Colorado. We decide to go to the Anheuser-Busch factory in Fort Collins for a free tour and tasting. Then, we figure that because Josh wants to see Denver, we might as well just go down there while we’re already in Colorado. Two Denvers, one day. So we get to Denver, and no one can decide what they want to do once we are there. I take the opportunity to go to Bed, Bath, and Beyond and Ikea; my apartment needs to be a bit more homey. These were successful trips. Josh finally decides he wants to go to a brewery, so we check out the “Great Divide Brewery” in downtown Denver. It was awesome. For anyone in Marquette, it had the look/feel of the Ore Dock, but the beer of Blackrocks. It was a good experience. I especially liked the yeti artwork all over the brewery. Driving back, we had the sun setting to our left over the Rocky Mountains; I am convinced the most beautiful sunsets in the world are out here. I don’t know if it is being this high up in the sky or what, but it’s seriously dangerous to drive during one. It’s incredible.

Vedauwoo (Vee-dah-voo). I am still getting used to the change in atmosphere out here. My professor keeps reiterating that we who are not from the area (me, Wisconsin, and Illinois) need to make sure we keep hydrated and not hike too strenuosly. She wasn’t kidding. Earlier last week she suggested that I check out Vedauwoo National Park while I still have time before classes start; aparently, we won’t have much free time until May 5. Josh and I decided to go. The moutain range and rock formations were breathtaking. Josh must be a bit of an adventurer (which I am not most of the time. Being diabetic, going too far off of trails where I’m not comfortable scares me). He wandered off once, but was nice enough to get back on the trail that we had been travelling, after I refused to take the other trail that is. I’m such a baby. Anywho, Vedauwoo was incredible, but the altitude was not. My professor asked me today at orientation if I did the hike. I said yes, but I wouldn’t recommend it for people that weren’t used to being at this elevation. I finished the hike, and I felt good once we were on level groung again, but the high points of the trail were definitely difficult. We were probably up to 8500 ft or so. The air was so dry and the elevation so high, your muscles just get tired. It’s nuts. My professor made a good comment today in saying, “picture where you’re from. Do you like beaches? Picture yourself on a beach at home. You’re what? 500 ft above sea level? Now look up into the sky, 7300 ft up directly into the sky. Passed where the airplanes are flying, passed most of the clouds; that’s where you are. All the time. You live up there now.” It made me not feel so bad about being one of the winded people after climbing five stories to our orientation room. On the even brighter side, I posted some pics of Vedauwoo on my FB if you’re interested.

Desert. YOU GUYS. It is so dry out here. I am pretty much living with a bottle of water, bottle of lotion, and chapstick permanently glued to me. Until today, I thought I was the only one experiencing this, but aparently all of us Midwesterners are having this issue. There is less oxygen in the air up here, so your body works harder. I’m not feeling the effects of it too much (only when hiking mountains and stairs), but I am ALWAYS thirsty. That might be a good thing; I never did drink enough water before.

Orientation. So today was the orientation for my program (I have my Graduate Assistant orientation on Friday). It was long, but informative. People keep saying how hard grad school is and everything, but it seemed like the scheduling was much like my last semester last year just without working on the side. I know the coursework will be much more difficult, but still. I am anxious to see how it all is. We were given our clinic assignments today. YAY! As of right now I have three clients.  SO EXCITED. After all of today’s information and overload and such, these are the things I memorized from my professor:

Three things not to do while in grad school:

1.       Get a puppy (kitties are okay).

2.       Get married. Do it before, or do it after. You’ll either do terrible in a class, or forget to order your wedding cake (they had it happen).

3.       Get pregnant. (They’ve also had that happen).

All I could think about during the last one was, “Don’t have sex, because you will get Chlamydia, and you will die. Don’t have sex in the missionary position, just….don’t do it. K, everybody grab a rubber.” I didn’t know if anyone would know what I was talking about, though. Oh, how applicable Mean Girls is in everyday life. I’m convinced it’s the most quotable movie for related situations.

Okay, well that’s definitely enough for now. Hopefully I have more exciting things to share soon. If not, I guess you will have to decide whether or not keeping up with my life is worth the mundane entries I’m providing. For the record, here is the roll addressed in the “Chuckwagon” paragraph. I’m truly impressed with its stand-alone ability.

Love y’all (also for the record—they do say that here.)

Apparently I'm a two-year old... and a long-winded update.

So, I am prewriting this post on my computer until I have internet because it has been two days and ALREADY I have forgotten what some of the prompts are that I made for myself. I am going to bold and caps lock the contents of each post so you can decide if you want to read it or not. This will be a very long post.

TIRES AND IOWA. On Thursday morning we woke up and decided to check my tires. They were a bit low when we checked, so we decided to find a tire and lube place to make sure they were filled up correctly; I am extremely incompetent in the matters of vehicles, but I am getting better. So on the way to the place my GPS prompted us to take (again with the stupid GPS stuff), we passed a Sears Auto Center, but kept going. When we got to “Chuck’s Flashy Lube”—or whatever it was called—it was packed. We called Sears to see if they would check my tires and fill them; the man said he would, “for $99.95”. I laughed and he said, “come on in, we’ll get you set up.” So I pull in. The man servicing the tires was very nice, and even moved the car he was working on to get me in so we could get on the road. Before that, I went inside the office to let the man I spoke with on the phone know we were there. He looked at me completely stone-faced and said, “Okay, do you have the $100 we talked about?” It was silent for legitimately 15 seconds, then I stammered a bit and said, “Um, no? Do I really need it?” Then he and the toothless woman at the counter started cracking up and he said, “NAHT UNLESS YA WANNA PAYYY IT.” I said, “No, not at all. Thanks.” And we proceeded outside to get my car taken care of. I thanked them, tipped the service man $5, and we were gone.

DISCLAIMER: The following story is ridiculously embarrassing, but I am sharing it because I want to keep this blog semi-interesting and I also unintentionally foreshadowed it yesterday. You’ll see what I mean if you choose to read it. If you don’t, skip to two paragraphs down.

MOST EMBARASSING STORY I’LL EVER TELL. Remember when I mentioned that there were virtually no gas stations that sold premium in Iowa? Also, that I almost peed my pants with excitement when we found one? Well, the same is true and then some in Nebraska. Nebraska is beautiful, but it’s even more vast and rolling than Iowa (I’ll get to that later). Anyways, virtually the entire state was under construction. There were a ton of rest stops, problem being, they were all closed. Well, I kind of had to go to the bathroom. Not bad, but a bit. So we FINALLY get to a decent sized city with a few gas stations and pull into a Shell—that was PACKED. I get out to start pumping gas, and Jordan decides to go inside. Well, the gas is flowing and I’m leaning against the car when suddenly, I REALLY have to pee. Like, bad. Remember when Billy Madison said, “Peeing your pants is the coolest!”? Well, I was about to become the coolest person in the state of Nebraska. I start pacing around the car. Then I start silently praying, “Please, Jordan. Please come back outside. Please. Please gas, be full so I can go in. Please stop pumping.” I couldn’t take it any longer, so I started moving around the car some more. Why was JJ taking so long inside!? Why was my gas tank so empty? I couldn’t just half fill it up, leave my car there, come back out and fill it some more. There were people waiting to get to the pumps. Eventually, I was at the point where I couldn’t even walk. I waddled to the front of my car, and I kind of peed my pants. Not like, FULL ON or visible, but enough to where I was like, “Thank goodness I’m in Nebraska.” BUT HERE IS THE BEST PART: There was a little old Asian woman that had been watching me do the pee dance for a couple of minutes, and was staring me in the eyes as I was doing this. When it happened, she started looking to others for support like, “IS ANYONE ELSE WATCHING THIS 22 YEAR OLD GIRL DO THIS!?” I stared right back at her, daring her to react, to say something. Her eyes got very wide and when all was said and done, I died laughing. I laughed right in her face. I laughed in the woman’s face who should have been laughing in my face. Thank goodness I have an awesome sense of humor. So a bit later Jordy comes back outside, the gas is still pumping. I say, “I’m going to run inside quick” and haul butt to the bathroom. I had to stop at the counter to ask the worker if my card had been charged (the pump buttons were kind of broken) and she said, “Wellll, IIII don’ know ma’am. Didja pay fo it?” I responded with, “I tried, but the buttons weren’t working.” She said, “Well I have noooo idea if it worked fo ya thennn. I can’t see nuthin’ but what’s awn this screen. Did ya get a receipt? If it didn’t print no receipt then ya didn’ pay fo it.” I said, “okay, thanks.” As I was walking away, she kept talking to me. Useless things, obviously. So I was doing the single-head nod as I was scooting back to my car. CLEARLY, this woman did not realize I had just peed my pants and was in no mood for her snootiness. With that, we left. (I told Jordy the story at our next restaurant stop. Right after he took a bite of his food. He then gagged and said, “SERIOUSLY!? I just took a bite of food. Sick, Mia.” Also, I’m sure all of you have peed your pants in adulthood at some point. That’s why I decided to share it. Whether it be a drunken accident, or just an “I didn’t make it” accident. Mine was an “I didn’t know I had to pee until I had to pee” accident. So if you’re judging a) I don’t care and b) you must be one of the 1%ers that has never experienced this humbling event. Try it. You’re human, after all.

NEBRASKA. YOU CAN READ AGAIN NOW. Nebraska was HUGE. ATTENTION: if you are missing land, I’m pretty sure Nebraska stole it. It was crazy. I took so many pictures. Something I’ve realized about cameras, there is no way to capture the vastness or beauty of something on film. I kept telling Jordy, “Just wait until we get to Wyo. Just wait. You’re going to be blown away.”  And he was. I really don’t think there is a place equivocal to this state. There are so many different land/rock formations it is mind-blowing.

NOT VERY WELL-FORMED THEORY ON ANNOYING MUSIC. So, I spent 20+ hours in the car; I listened to a lot of music. I would switch between my ipod, Pandora, and the actual radio. Anyone that knows me knows I have ridiculous music ADD. I think the only song I listened to start to finish on the WHOLE trip were the ones my broseph played when he had radio command, and “Beezelboss”, because it’s freakin’ sweet. So anyways, this trip has given me a new theory on music. There are those songs that aren’t QUITE old enough that you would want to hear them, like: Britney Spears – Til the World Ends, Usher – Without You, anything P!nk, Weezer – Beverly Hills, etc. Then there’s those songs that you hated, but now will listen to because they’ve passed the time period to make them not so annoying anymore: Chad Kroeger/Santana – You and I, anything Daughtry, some 80’s music, Len – Steal my Sunshine, etc. There’s the songs that are new enough that you still get excited when you hear them on the radio: Nicki Minaj – Pound the Alarm, Run ‘Em – whoever sings that song, I don’t know, etc. Then there’s those songs that are just old enough but are still played ALL THE TIME to be annoying: Usher – Ooo Baby (or whatever that’s called), Everybody Talks (whoever sings that), and most other songs you’ll hear on the radio. Then there are songs that just DO NOT get old. Ever: Nicki Minaj – Superbass, Foo Fighters – DOA, U2 – Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For, Skrillex – Right In/Bangarang, Operator – Jim Croche, etc. So, that’s my theory. Maybe I’ll elaborate more later.

WAL-MART, CREDIT CARD PROBLEMS, AND SHOPPING WITH JORDAN. So Jordy and I decided to go to Wal-Mart after we got everything unloaded into the apartment. I am a pretty quick shopper, I don’t really hang around. I get in and get out and that’s it. My brother is the absolute opposite of me. He wanders, asks a million questions, get’s sidetracked; I actually admire it; I think he truly enjoys the shopping experience. Which I do as well, but not when I’ve been in a car for two days straight and I just want to eat and relax. Anyways, I decided to get a TV. So Jordy (thankfully) asked a million questions and we got a GREAT deal on one. Going to check out, however, my credit card was declined. I couldn’t believe it, then I realized what I didn’t do. I didn’t change the address on the card for the bank that I worked at for two years. After I called and got that taken care of, the automated machine said I had FIVE MINUTES to make the purchase before it locked my card for good. I sprinted to the Customer Service counter and just made it in time. We left with our purchases and enjoyed a night of pizza, beer, and movies.  As a digression, the girl who rented this apartment prior to me left me a TON of stuff. We agreed on two couches, two end-tables, two lamps, and a queen-sized bed. She left me an additional TV stand, bookshelf, desk, computer chair, extra chair, ice-cube trays, muffin tin, and some cleaning supplies. Amen for awesome previous renters!

That’s all I’m going to write. Sorry it’s been such a long entry, but I’ll post about mine and Jordy’s “Chuckwagon” dining adventure and getting around Laramie next time. Love y’all!

Via points and the usual suspects.

I have been in the car all day and am tired, so this will be a very lack-luster post.

Well, this was my first day of travel. It started out well (Jord was up and ready to go when I was!). Around Green Bay we heard a weird clicky noise and realized that the clip that secures the luggage rack on the front passenger side had come loose. I pulled over in a frenzy and made sure it was EXTRA secure, and then we started to move again. I had been told by a family friend from Iowa that I need to be sure to take the Milwaukee route and not Madison. WELL, I set Milwaukee as a "Via Point" on my GPS to make sure we were routed in that direction and the GPS actually took me through the heart of the city. The weirdest thing about it all was that there was virtually no traffic in downtown Milwaukee--this was right at lunch hour, too. Odd. Anyways, getting back on the highway was not much of a problem and we continued on our way.

In Illinois I follwed my GPS's directions TO A T and wound up skipping a toll both. Needless to say, I will be online paying that fee later. Apart from that, Illinois was extremely uneventful. I would like to say Iowa was uneventful as well, but that would not be the case.

Coming into Iowa, Jord and I were busy looking at the scenery. I think we are both a bit paranoid about running out of gas (and if you saw the route we were on, you would be too). Iowa is beautiful, but the majority of its beauty is in its rolling hills and virtually endless horizons; translation, FARMS, CATTLE, AND CROPS. A gas station sign would come up and as soon as I would ready myself to take the exit a semi would cut me off.

SIDEBAR: the semis out here are crazy. This is no overexaggerization when I say there are more semis than actual cars on the highway. So far, they've all driven well. Let's hope this holds true tomorrow. I've got a cartopper and a car chockFULL of things that would not do well to need immediate braking.

SO BACK TO IOWA. We were nervous about gas. 78 miles left to empty, and 68 to Council Bluffs, IA where we are staying. My GPS located a gas station in a town called... Anica? Maybe. Cue, "Via Point".  Anways, we drove the five miles out of the way to get gas there and could not find the station. After driving around we found someone on the road and asked them. She directed us and we thankfully found it; however, they did not have premium. Now, Houdini (my Benz) cannot digest anything BUT premium. Obviously, this was a problem. So, back on the road we go. 60 miles to empty, 68 miles to go. Driving down the highway some more, I type another gas station into my GPS; a BP (another Via Point set), they HAVE to have premium, right? Well, en route to this gas station, I see a not-so-well-lit sign on the right side of the road almost immediately off of the exit. I whip in and low-and-behold, PREMIUM GAS. I almost peed my pants I was so excited. It's a good thing we found it, too; the gas station I was headed to did not, in fact, have premium. Jordy called.

Despite a phantom moth that appeared in my car and ruthlessly attacked my face in the dark--this might be an overexaggeration (to which Jordy warned me with, "Oh, there's a moth in here by the way.")--after that it was smooth sailing to the hotel in Council Bluffs. It is 10:30 pm here, 90 degrees, and humid. We are safely in our room that smells like a horse stable, awaiting a pizza delivery. There's about eight hours left in the journey tomorrow, and it's starting to all feel real. I'll try to update again when we get to my apartment (if I can bum someone's internet, that is). Until then, keep it wet (Great Lakes) and wild (West). Too punny? I DON'T CARE. :)

Ps) The entire ride through Iowa I had that song from The Music Man stuck in my head. You know: "Dubuque, Des Moines, Davenport (don't stop there), Marshalltown, Mason City, Keokuke, Ames, Clear Lake. Ought to give Iowa a TRYYYYYYY!". And then all I could think about was Michelle Kudrow's nasally voice singing "Oh, the Wells Fargo Wagon is a-comin' down the street (inset snort laugh)" from Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion. Sigh. I digress.

Prelims.

I haven't thought of a clever name for this blog yet, but I'll begin writing it the day I begin my treck to Wyoming. Until then... :)