To Kindle or not to Kindle.....?

Ive been so painfully torn about the Kindle reading device from Amazon ever since it came out! On one hand; I love that its easy to carry around, can fit a ton of books, gets new books very quickly, and has a dictionary built in! (I usually have both a book and a dictionary on hand!) Plus this commercial and song are brilliantly charming to me!

On the other hand though; I LOVE books! I love the feel of a book and the pages and mostly the smell! (I sound a bit odd, I know) The one thing that has been tipping me towards the kindle side though is the fact that you can put it on "speak mode." This means that I could read it anywhere and then also listen to it in my car. That is the one thing that books cant do. Side note: I love audio books for my car and I have tried syncing a book that I am actually reading with an audio book while Im driving....didn't work so well, its frustratingly hard to try and find your place every time you switch!

Anyways...my mom knows about my decision struggle and decided to take me out of my misery and just get me one! Awesome right? Yay!! I have ordered a few books and am ready to try it out. Stay tuned.....

I know I have fellow book lovers out there, so does anyone else have one? Thoughts?

Heat wave!

Ahh seattle, it rains for weeks straight, then goes right into 90+ degree days! I know 90 doesn't sound too bad for some of you out there, but the short lived nature of it here in the pacific northwest means that most people don't have a lot of fans and very very few have AC. So, we just do what we can to cool ourselves until it passes....once it does though, summer is quite spectacular here, in my humble opinion!! :)

Seriously mom, this crappy little fan is all we get?!

By the way, they do get more than a fan....they get my homemade gourmet pupsicles!! :)

On a somewhat unrelated note; I think the heat is making them true blue BFFs!!

How cute are we?!

I sure hope everyone else is staying cool through the heat and enjoying your summer!

...but I love the library!

My school shares a building with the Art Institute, which is....interesting! Generally it is not a problem because we have our own floor, but we do share a library. AI students treat this shared space like a coffee shop (at best, a bar at worst); talking, laughing, fighting...basically everything loud you can think of! This has been my biggest complaint about my grad school experience so far, how can a grad school not have an adequate library?!

Anyways, AI is on break so I have been enjoying some blissfuly quiet library time. Today though, they are doing new student tours, which is slightly annoying, but at least they are only in here for about 5 minutes at a time. Just a few minutes ago though, I heard a tour guide make a painfully blasphemous statement! He walked in with all his new students and said, "I can't believe this is still needed in our digital era, but.... (rolling eyes and scoffing) this is the library"Gasp! And he said this, right in front of all these books! How insulting!

As you probably know, I love love love books! So, this hurt me :( Not only do you people ruin the library experience with your gabbing, music listening, and facebook-ing, but now you are insulting the books...to their faces!?! This passionate bibliomaniac is deeply offended...

Happy Pride!

Seattle Pride is always quite an event! This year though, a rainbow flag was placed on top of the space needle...thats right the space needle, only the most iconic structure in Seattle!! Also, it was up there for the entire weekend, not just during the parade. I think this is awesome, it is a huge statement about the support this city gives to the LGBTQ community. So, thank you Seattle :)

I think that celebrating 22 years of classwork is justified!.....right?!

I had my last day of my last class today. Im not sure how I feel about it, its a mixture of loneliness and relief. I have realized that there is this weird thing about grad school; every achievement prior to graduation is depressingly anti-climatic. When I got my master's degree en route, I passed the competency exam and was told "good job, but no MA title yet" then a few months later my diploma was mailed to me with a note that said basically "as of a months ago, you have a masters degree"....great, thanks for the heads up to celebrate!

Also our CCEs, the other big ticket item, it was a huge stressor and an obscene amount of work. But, when we passed it, we received a "you passed"...that was about it. My favorite professor was aware of this minimization and made some confetti to throw at us. The simple fact that she threw shredded up paper at us brought us all to tears!

Now, within the last few weeks most of my cohort has experienced our last day of class. This is a big deal! I have literally be in school for 22 years straight! College for 9 1/2 years! That is a big freakin' deal!  Im not even sure that I know how to function without homework deadlines and the classroom format.

But, yet again it has been sort of a depressingly subdued experience. I am so burnt out, and yet I feel like everyone around me is thinking "yeah well you have been in school forever, whats the big deal, contact me when you actually graduate!!" Its depressing and lonely for me. I know I still have dissertation and internship left. but finishing coursework is a big deal! All I need is a little encouragement!

Am I pouting? Have any other grad students felt the same despair? How do I honor my milestones while still maintaining motivation for the rest of the work I have to do?

Why don't I ever talk about all the pros of grad school!?!!

I feel like I complain a lot about the stress, work, and general difficulty of grad school. I'm sorry. In my defense though, I am finishing up my 4th year (8.5 years total of college coursework...but who is counting?!) and am a bit burnt out. As I was walking along the waterfront though today, I thought to myself "I never would be here if it wasn't for grad school!" and I really truly love Seattle. That got me thinking about all of the other things I have gained from this experience. It really is a wonderful thing and I feel so lucky to be able to go through the process, so I thought I would share what I love about grad school...

• I moved out of the Midwest and into Seattle; a city that really fits me better. I love the atmosphere, the beauty of the pacific northwest, the people, the experiences that are literally everywhere just waiting to be found! I really love this city :)
• I love intellectual discussion! And I don't mean talking about textbooks or theory, but having good intense discussions about topics that I am passionate about, with people who feel the same way.
• Networking and finding my niche, plus people who are passionate about that area.
• Being able to say, "well I'm a grad student" when people ask what I do. There is just something gratifying about that answer, particularly to judgemental people who formed immediate stereotypes about me when I was a server/bartender!
• Therapy, I really love doing therapy!! (good thing, huh?)
• Learning about the mind and emotions and human behavior. We are such an amazing species and it is so exciting to learn about all the capabilities that we have and the ways that suffering can be understood and alleviated.
• The friends I have made, both in and out of school. Ive met some great people here in Seattle and I have a wonderful cohort at school Its great to be surrounded by compassionate, albeit stressed out, colleagues!
• Learning to take the bus, I have actually became quite an expert on public transportation. That's quite an accomplishment considering I moved here having never used any form of public transportation and learned all by myself through good old "trial and error" (and there were some hilarious errors!!)
• Rachel, who I obviously never would have met without moving here and being forced to work at the crappy Outback!
• Hospice volunteering, its a great experience and a wonderful reminder of why I wanted to go into the field of helping people through their struggles.
• I even think being pathetically poor is a good thing. Although I am definitely sick of it, I do think it is good to be poor for a while. It makes you appreciate things so much more (I wrote an entire ecstatic blog about finding a $5 bill!!!) Plus, its nice to do it with a bunch of friends who are poor at the same time, who else could I complain about the bitch Sallie Mae to?!

There are so many more wonderful things about this experience, but I just wanted to share a few. Its a reminder to myself that I really really love what I am doing. I'm going to love my career, but I also need to remember the joy in the journey of getting there.

pictures?

Is anyone else having problems posting pictures lately? Its annoying! Oh and what are your thoughts on that rating thing you can put on the bottom of a post now? Im undecided.....

Ahh, the life of a server!

I am kicking myself for not finding blogging until after I finally left the hell hole world of the restaurant business!! Damn, that would have been the epitome of cathartic! Maybe I would have been able to keep the horrible thoughts from seeping out in my facial expressions and the ever so mature "leaving table mumbles" if I had an outlet to vent. But alas, I did not think of blogging until later *sigh*.

Recently though, I found a few blogs of servers who did discover the wonders of cathartic blogging while still stuck in the job from hell. They are all a wonderful reminder of why I am choosing to be painfully poor during my last leg of school rather than go back to.....well, there really is not better label than hell!! (can you tell I hated serving?!)

This blog, Girl and a Guitar, is about a Hooters server....and I thought Outback was a hotbed of cheap pickup lines; yikes!

The Bitchy Waiter says everything that continually goes through your mind as a server, think of that the next time you ask your server for a different kind of condiment every time they pass your table, or want separate tickets after the meal is over, or...well you get the idea!

And the good old classic, Waiter Rant :)

Oh boy, I do not miss it!!!

Zindle

We have been looking for a playmate for Domino for a few months now. Here is what we had in mind; a dog his age but half the size! One who would play well with him and be indifferent to cats. A dog who would do as well as Domino does at the dog park since trips to the park are such a big part of our lives. One who is not a barker and kennel trained.

We have driven around to the shelters and rescue organizations in the area and have looked at a few different dogs. None of them worked out for one reason or another; not well with cats, health problems that we were not ready to take on, or they were just not a good match for Domino. Well finally we met Lucy, she seemed about perfect based on the little that they knew about her plus she played great with Domino right away! So, we agreed to adopt her, set her up to be spayed, and drove out to get her last friday.

Well we got home and...different dog! She is fear aggressive in the house, possessive of everything; food, treats, toys, us even! She has very little interest in Domino or playing. She is showing signs of separation anxiety and barks loudly when she is in her kennel. (by the way, I have worked with a lot of dogs and these problems are among the few that I have never dealt with personally...of course!) Aahhh, what do we do?!

She is such a sweetheart and already attached to us, but not at all what we were looking for. Do we try expensive in-home training and hope that she is able to get along with Domino and go on park trips? Or, do we try to find her a more suitable home; specifically one with no other dogs and a person she can have sole attachment to? This would be easier if it wasn't for Domino, we really were looking for a playmate for him and it feels unfair to try to make her work when we could find her a better home and find a better match for him. But, what if the home we find her isn't better, what if she grows into this home and they become BFF? I don't know what to do.....help!

ps: we renamed her Zindle and I love the name, it fits her for some reason :)

"Do not pity a shelter dog, adopt one"

I love this commercial! I am such a strong proponent of adopting pets. Buying from a breeder, pet store, puppy mill, or whatever only results in a shelter dog spending more time in a sad kennel. Plus, who wants to spend hundreds or thousands on a purebred dog (who by the way, is likely inbred and a just crawling with health problems!) when mutts have so much more character. So, to anyone looking for a new family member...please check your local shelters and rescue organizations! I can guarantee that there is an adorable lovable mutt just waiting to shower you with unconditional love!

I want to be a Vespa girl!!!

Im done with my car! It has treated me really well all though my college years, but it is on it's last leg. I want to say, no more wasting money on gas, no more fear of a car overheating in traffic, no more paying ridiculous amounts of money just to park...I want a scooter!!!!

I am absolutely in love with this one!! Tell me it isn't the most adorable little vehicle you have ever seen?!?!!

Sigh, I just thought I would share my new obsession :) Someday this will be me.....

Chely Wright

Im so excited! We needed somebody in country music to come out and be true to themselves! Im proud and amazed at her ability to find the courage to be true to herself and finally go against the society and community that was stifling her and causing her so much pain. I also think her father is the epitome of someone from that generation who moved from ignorance to acceptance on the basis of love for family. She is beautiful and strong and I am so happy that she is a part of my "family!!!"

(sorry, its in 2 parts! the 2nd part has the part with her dad though...)

..... I dont know what to think though about the publicity ploy. She has been basically out of the spotlight for years and comes out publicly right before a new book and cd. Im pretty sure it was her agent's idea to time it this way, and it was obviously a smart idea because she is on Oprah! Is that weird? Should that be seen as a ploy? I don't know. And honestly, I dont even know if it would be a bad thing if it was a publicity ploy!? As I said, struggling with my stance here (or if it even warrants a stance!). I feel bad even typing this because I really am so very happy for her and so proud of her bravery, Im just trying to get other's ideas here...
What are your thoughts?

Lee or Crystal?!

I just cant decide!!!

Lee has the sexy raspy voice down and is just so damn humble, I love that!!



Oh but Crystal, Im such a sucker for quirky!



Lets just take them both :)


Thoughts?! Are you rooting for either?

Whatever lifts your luggage!!

I read a piece in the Stranger today that discussed this article. Apparently this douche (classy dig, I know, but whatever..I just like that the link to the story about him is to click on the word douche!) who is an anti-gay activist, going as far to be a member of NARTH (not worth a link, sorry), which is a group that does "research" surrounding the evils of homosexuality and how to "cure" it (gag!). Anyways, it was recently discovered that he had a "luggage boy" (hehe) travel with him on his publicity tour because he "couldnt lift his own luggage"....right, because the first place I look for someone to carry my luggage is a male escort site too! Back to the Stranger article, the author was proposing that the term "whatever floats your boat" be changed to "whatever lifts your luggage" as a way to pay ironic homage to this guy's hypocracy. I think it is hilarious!!

On a somewhat side note, Newbo shared a story about the Pope's rant against the new gay marriage in Portugal. Which I also was enraged by. Shouldnt the Catholic faith be more concerned with their own internal problems than waste their time on something as benign as gay marriage?!

Come on people, loosen up! If it doesn't affect you...it shouldnt affect you!!! Live and let live, even when you don't agree or understand something, thats ok but don't judge and ridicule, just say, "whatever lifts your luggage" :)

Roller Derby!!!

We finally made it to see the Rat City Roller Girls last night and it was awesome!!!

Its just such a fun crowd, plus a really fun sport to watch! 
Those girls are tough! 
As I have mentioned before, I loved Whip It, and seeing it in person was even better. 
It looks like so much fun, what a great way to get out some pent up anger! 
"You win some, you bruise some!"....

Oh and my new roller derby name is "Read em and Weep!" 
Yup, Im pretty proud of that :)

This last video is for Lynn and her "Single Ladies" obsession. 
The half time show was a local group called Dance Belt, they were hilarious! 
Sorry the video sucks and is incomplete but it is all I could find. 
If you cant tell, the middle one is a bald guy, 
complete with heels, leg warmers, and a bow taped to his head!! 
(check out the link above for pictures!)