I had anger management issues today. The target of my anger was a vending machine. With no time to make coffee before work I attempted to buy a diet coke from one of the new vending machines in the building. First I went for a can, because they were cheaper and I like the taste of canned soda over bottled soda. Diet coke was sold out. SO I went for the bottle machine. Put in my $2.00, pressed the button, heard a diet coke falling, recieved my 75 cents in change, reached under for my diet coke.
No died coke. Felt around some more. I even tried to open the little door I felt under there that it seemed like it would fall out of. Mad, I kicked the machine hoping it would dislodge somehow. What was this, the soda version of those stuffed animal claw machines?
I am sorry I have neglected you, my voxy blog! I have been very busy, you see, still contracting for the gov't and moving recently, to Arlington (Pentagon City). And moving to Arlington makes me feel like a traitor to the District lifestyle. Even though over half the population who claims to live "in DC" actually lives in Virginia or Maryland.
But Nick keeps saying things to me like, "Celebrate Robert E. Lee day for me!" Since even though DC is technically in the south, Virginia is really in the south. I can't believe the Au Bon Pain in the Pentagon City fasion centre actually has unsweetened iced tea. Although, they are even serving sweet tea up in Michigan at McDonalds. I wonder how well it will actually go over there.
Oh no. I just had a very bad thought. What if everyone likes the sweet tea so much and my beloved, unsweetened iced tea drinking state becomes corrupted?!
It would be an excuse not to move back. More and more I am feeling like DC is actually my home. It must be working on the Hill--Potomic Fever, alright.
Enter real adult.
My job search has finally come to fruition. I'm going to be working for _ at _ fixing computers. (They're having me sign nondisclosure agreements on Wednesday so I don't want to spill anything that might have legal ramifications. This is DC, after all.)
It's midnight and I have to be there at nine, so I know I should be getting myself to bed instead of staying up typing.
(Photos are from my visit to the Folklife Fest here in DC.)
I'll still be posting personal things here, but visit my handmade shopping/lifestyle blog at: www.allirense.com/handmadewonderful
1) What was I doing 10 years ago?
I was fourteen and I'd just got out of a special form of hell known as "middle school." I'd also just taken a long trip out west with my parents, which was my first time on a plane.
2) What are 5 things on my to-do list for today?
ONE: Print shipping labels for textbooks sold on Amazon.
TWO: Make appointments to see apartments.
THREE: Apply for jobs.
FOUR: List cards in my Etsy Shop.
FIVE: Look for anything worth doing on Etsy's alchemy.
I finished everything! Although, I'm only going to see one apartment tomorrow and I only applied for five jobs. And I didn't see anything on Alchemy to do.
3) Snacks I enjoy:
Ice cream, breadsticks, and gummy candy.
4) Things I would do if I were a billionaire:
Pay off college debt.
Buy a house or condo.
Buy my parents their ideal house or condo.
Invest.
Donate towards Autism research.
Start crafty business.
5) Places I have lived:
Cedar Springs, MI
Grand Rapids, MI
Washington, DC
6) Jobs I have had:
Cashier, phone survey person, web designer, web developer, student tech, help desk technician
7) Bloggers I am tagging who I will enjoy getting to know better:
Skittlefish, AngieK, Lostdwarf, you, and you.
I updated my banner, so here are a few others I'm sharing. All the ones to share are from my own photography (source images are below the banner). Please credit me if you use one!
Hi, I'm back. Some things are changing and I want to write about them. This seems as good a place as any. I've missed writing here. I've missed my neighbors, reading new things, and discovering new people. I'm cleaning up a bit by deleting useless posts.
I'm done with grad school. No, I didn't graduate, I just know now that Speech-Language Pathology is not for me. This happened on Wednesday, and I've been having a hard time letting it all sink in. It still doesn't feel exactly real yet. I am going back to my love of tech support and web design. I do want to stay in DC. I had a job interview at a small tech support firm today that went very well.
I really want to work there. The atmosphere is so relaxed, yet it's obvious that they work hard. Since it's so small it's very team oriented and close-knit, which I like. They've also made the interview process surprisingly fun. The ad I responded to requested a personal cover letter and to avoid a stock resume. I saw it Tuesday night and had to apply right away. Writing the cover letter was very refreshing just to get everything out about why I wasn't interested in speech anymore and why I wanted to get back into tech support. I put a few humorous bits into my resume which the person doing the hiring commented that he enjoyed. It sounds like they are interviewing a lot of people and from what I could deduce hiring only one. I tried my best to make myself stand out but it's hard. I don't think I've ever wanted a job quite this much. The interviewer said they were doing interviews until Wednesday and then if I was hired, he'd call. And if not...no call.
Here's hoping.
Now I just have to get Nick up so we can head over to Georgia Brown's before it's too late!
After a week in Michigan seeing family and lots of friends, I'm back in Washington. What's going on:
1) My flight to Detroit was upgraded to first class! It was very exciting. I got my soda* served in a real glass, plus a snack, not to mention more legroom than anyone would ever need!
2) I saw the whole in Eastown where the explosion hit! My friend said that it smelled horrible for a while. I can imagine.
3) My little brother is so old now.
4) No cell phones were stolen during my trip.
5) I read two books: One was The curious incident of the Dog in the Night Time which I loved. The other one I did not like and I cannot remember the title.
6) On the way home, I got to sit in the exit row, which has slightly more leg room. I'm telling you: I'm never going to assign myself a seat ahead of time on a Northwest flight ever again.
7) Nick is here, yay!
*Switching from pop to soda was easy.
A building in the neighborhood where I hung out back in Grand Rapids, Eastown, exploded yesterday. Thankfully, there were no casualties. Makes me wish I could have been there to see it.
It took a while for me to spend it. In the end, we really needed more eating utensils. With most of the money spent on that bit of practicality, I had a little left over for a book. Every two months the column Mother Superior in Bust magazine leaves me yearning for more, so I picked up The Big Rumpus, a whole book of Ayun Halliday writing about her kids, Inky and Milo.
The book was great. It was a little scattered. I was thinking it was going to be in order of events, but it was all over the place. And the prologue was about a quarter of the book. This all gave it a stream-of-consciousness, undedited feel, which I liked and didn't like at the same time.
It was the perfect thing for me to read at this point in my life. It made me laugh and smile and reminded me how one day it will be my turn to deal with stinky poop, bratty talk, and having all my time managed by humans who are over twenty years younger than me.
Honestly, though, I can't wait.
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Never fear....my husband and I will be the hold outs from the sweet tea. We'll never go for that nasty... read more
on I've moved to the Dark Side (Arlington)