13 posts tagged “nick”
I rarely do these, but angiek did it and I thought it was cute! I haven't written much about Nick in here. It can easily be changed to "who's your woman" if someone so desires:
1. Who is your man? Nick!
2. How long have you been together? Three years!
3. How long dated? Isn’t that the same as number two? Well, I guess we went on dates for a few months before we finally made our togetherness official.
4. How old is your man? He’s 29! So old!
5. Who eats more? He does.
6. Who said "I love you" first? He did.
7. Who is taller? I am!
8. Who sings better? He sings better, although he claims he can’t sing, which is completely bogus.
9. Who is smarter? We’re both smart but in different ways. He can do foolproof taxes for a nonprofit and I can name all the fricatives.
10. Whose temper is worse? We both have our problems.
11. Who does the laundry? We do our own laundry. We tried to combine it, but it’s hard without an in-house unit.
12. Who takes out the garbage? Usually Nick does it, I think.
13. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? I do, but that’s because that’s where the nightstand is. I have to have a nightstand. If there’s one on both sides, I’ll sleep on the right.
14. Who pays the bills? Nick’s the only one who is making any money right now.
15. Who is better with the computer? We’re both good with computers. Plus I know mac and he knows linux. We both know Windows, so we have it all covered.
16. Who mows the lawn? We live an apartment! We have a patio but it’s all cement. If we had a lawn I wouldn’t mind mowing it. I want to have a little urban porch garden this spring. At least I want to grow herbs.
17. Who cooks dinner? We both do but I’m a far better cook!
18. Who drives when you are together? Neither since we don’t own a car! So it’s usually the metro, a cab, or friends driving. Back in Michigan it was usually him because 1) we took his car, which was technically his parents and they didn’t want anyone else driving it (meaning me), and 2) he thinks I’m a bad driver. Whatever!
19. Who pays when you go out? He does since I don’t make any money!
20. Who is most stubborn? Me, although he can be stubborn, too.
21. Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? Me, just because I hate arguing.
22. Whose parents do you see the most? I’d say his, he’d say mine. (His!)
23. Who kissed who first? He kissed me but I kissed him back!
24. Who asked who out? He asked me out…sort of! It wasn’t “technically” dating. I was confused as to if it was dating or not for a while. It was rather traumatic.
25. Who proposed? He did. At the Art Institute in Chicago. So romantico!
26. Who is more sensitive? Me, but he’s sensitive, too. He's a "sensitive new age guy" except the new age part. Points to anyone who gets that reference.
27. Who has more friends? He does, probably. This is hard to say because we have a lot of mutual friends. I think he has more friends that he’s kept up with over the years than I do.
28. Who has more siblings? It’s the same: he has a younger sister and I have a younger brother.
29. Who wears the pants in the family? I’d say both, but Nick would probably say me. And I hate the expression. Skirt power!
This week hit me like a tidal wave and now the debris are strewn throughout my studio apartment: audiology reports with my professor's chicken scratch all over them, sticker charts and visual schedules for my favorite Friday morning client, and empty glass and open textbook remnants of studying for the strangest and most difficult midterm I have ever taken--scattered.
"Melissa tells me about what you all do in your program and there is no way I could handle it." -law school graduate
Then there is Frances, sitting alone and broken on my desk while I ignore it to type on the nameless media desktop. Yes, I name my computers. It surprised me when my first computer, a desktop Compaq purchassed by my parents as a graduation gift asked me to "name" it when I started it up for the first time. Taking the prompt literally, I tried to think of an appropriate name for a computer, and Alfred came instantly to mind. My first laptop, a black Dell, I named Lucy as a suitable compainion for Alfred, thinking of Adam and Eve when I dumped Alfred's files to a flash drive and placed them in Lucy. Frances was a combination of both--a widescreen laptop had no gender and therefore was honored with a suitably antiquated yet androgynous name. Upon receiving Francis I bestowed Alfred to my brother and Lucy to Nick under the conditions that after doing the factory restore, they would keep the computers' names in tact.
Now that it is time for Francis to change hands (Nick and I have decided that I need a new computer, and he will have the task of fixing Francis so that he may keep Francis) I am trying to think of a suitable name for my soon-to-be-arriving macbook. I don't know if macs have the same naming processes these days (my parents' second-gen imac did not) but I insist the tradition continue, at least in spirit. The white macbook is female, and deserving of a name you would picture on the tiniest, sweetest little old ladies with cheery hats and rosy cheeks and a never ending supply of fresh baked cookies. Nothing with the "voiceless alveolar fricative" (the soft "th" as in "teeth") since I hate that sound. "Gretchen" sounds too trendy. "Doris" and "Gurtrude" are relatives. I'm considering "Mae". I am open to suggestions.
Have you ever given a name to a computer, or another inanimate object like a car? (Dolls and plush animals don't count.)
This is what my life is like right now, just to give you a little glimpse of how things are going to be for me until December 5 when clinic ends.
Monday - Usually get to sleep in but that hasn't happened yet. Either there's a group project to do or I have to meet with someone about a client or take tomorrow where I have to give hearing screenings to preschoolers in Arlington. At 3:00 I have my first client along with my friend Megan. We usually spend quite a bit of time setting up beforehand. Then there's two ours to wrap that up before my next client at 6:00, and that ends at 7 (although I have to say that this client hasn't shown up for a Monday appointment yet). Then I have to go home and prepare for Tuesday's class.
Tuesday - I have Voice Disorders class and that's about it. The class is two and a half hours long and starts at 8am (always a bad time for me). Then I'm technically free, but I usually meet with classmates or professors to discuss clients or do group projects.
Wednesday - I start with Audiology clinic at 12:45, but I usually have meetings in the morning so sleeping in doesn't usually happen. I have a client a couple hours after Audiology and that ends at 7pm.
Thursday - My day begins with Neurological Disorders at 8am, which is my favorite class (with the professor that reminds me if Paula Poundstone - "Prof. Poundstone"). After the class I have my PASL (Pediatric Autism and Social Language) track meeting and then there's some time for me to prepare for my client at 5. I'm "done" at six, but wrapping up after the client usually leaves me coming home around 7pm.
Friday - I have a client at 9:30am, so I usually try to get to the clinic at 8:45 so I have time to prepare everything. After that is Prosem ("Professional Seminar") where we hear different speakers (eventually we'll be speaking there ourselves) and then there's a short time for lunch and to get everything ready for my final class, Child Language Disorders. That ends at about 3:30, and unless I have more meetings, I'm done for the week.
I usually end up with way more things I have to do on a given day than I have time for. Last Thursday I realized I'd gotten the time wrong and I had an extra hour to prepare for a client and I was completely elated. I couldn't think of anything better than another hour!
My evenings are usually spent trying to de-stress and I Nick often ends up helping me calm down. He tells me to stop threatening to quit, and that I'm strong and I can make it through this!
When Nick was in Grad School he had a couple of classes to go to each week and that was basically it. He even worked full time. Speech-Language Pathologists deserve more credit, I'm telling you. Being a full-time undergrad and working 39 hours a week in retail is nothing compared to how hard I'm working right now!
Show us where you write most often.
The picture to the left is a printmaking experiment by my friend Ashley. She used random objects like a fork and alphabet blocks. It's of a sheep which is my favorite animal. The picture makes me happy, which is why I wanted it by my desk. I also get to be by the window and the air conditioning and heating unit! It's the little things.
I finally made some cards and put them up on the etsy shop that I made a long time ago, Purple Octopus Press:
After three weeks of being in Las Vegas and Germany promoting The Hacker Foundation, and hopefully raiding oodles of money for the cause, my fiance Nick is returning tomorrow morning. Here is a photo of the man:
Sometimes I tickle him in hopes that he will smile and then quickly take a picture. It must not work that often, because my flickr account is void of any photos of him smiling with his teeth. It's too bad, because he looks so beautiful when he smiles big.
I think everyone looks better when they're smiling. Make this be a lesson to all: Smile big for photos!
Things I have done recently:
1. I observed about 15 hours of speech therapy. I have to have 25 done before I get to DC so I can work at the clinic at school. What's amazing is that I'm actually doing this, instead of finding ways to cut corners! Maybe because there seems to be a real reason for doing all this observation. This is what I want to do. However, it feels like I'm working a job with strange hours and no pay.
2. I emailed Kathleen again, finally. I told her what I was feeling and said that I really wanted to put it aside now. She called and left a message saying she wanted to talk to me in person. I'm nervous.
3. I said goodbye to Nick as he's off to Las Vegas + Germany for three weeks, and I become one of those people I used to hate: the one that mopes around missing her significant other. (He's doing this. I think he's nuts.)
Things I will be doing:
1. Going camping from tomorrow through Thursday, so don't expect me to write.
Being an adult is hard. I think I learned that this weekend more than anything.
Friday:
Nick and I went to DC to look for apartments. The first one we visited we fell in love with right away. It was a long but not too long walk from the Dupont Circle metro area. It was a huge one-bedroom with a view like nothing else: a giant fountain. It was like stepping back in time. Plus it had laundry and trash disposal on ever floor and you could see various landmarks and monuments from the rooftop deck. We wanted it! The only problem was it wouldn't be available for a month after we needed to move in. So we didn't apply for it then and kept thinking how we could make it work. I was silently hoping that my friend Betty (who also happened to just move from Michigan to the District) would offer to let me stay at her place, or even better, that we could find a sublet for September.
The next place we saw was horrible, which shocked me because when looking online this one had been my favorite. The person we were supposed to meet wasn't even there, so the receptionist gave us keys. We saw two tiny studios that were dirty--one had packing peanuts and other sorts of things on the floor. I gave the receptionist back the keys and said "we're not interested."
Our third visit was to an apartment I'd just spotted on Cragislist the day before we left. It was a studio and it was even tinier than the ones at the dirty place. The manager, although late, was very nice and helpful. We thought we could live there if we had to.
We spent the evening with a friend of Nick's from Baltimore and some of their mutual acquaintances from the area. It was at the cheesecake factory, where I devoured my appetizer, ate about two bites of my sandwich, and then polished off a piece of cheesecake.
Saturday:
Nick and I had two appointments but upon calling the first one they told us that all their apartments had been rented out. So we just went to the last one, which was in Foggy Bottom. The building had the nicest entrance area and was a block away from my department office and the clinic. It was a studio which was larger than the other two studios but of course not as big as the one bedroom. It was more expensive, too, but it was very clean and there were actually two studios available around our move-in date.
Nick and I realized that the last one we saw was the most practical, and nicknamed it "close." We nicknamed the first one we saw "pretty." We finally decided that it would be worth it to get pretty and wait the month for something that we would like much more, even if it was further from school and therefore less practical. That decided, I posted a craigslist ad for a sublet.
With our appointments for Saturday finished, we met Betty for lunch. Nick departed after eating and Betty and I walked around and she did agree to let us stay in her apartment. But I knew I would really hate living in someone else's living room. Later we all met up with my cousin (who had also coincidently moved to the area much to the delight of our parents) for supper at an interesting little cafe.
Back at the hotel I received a call from a woman looking for a house sitter and someone to take care of her cat. This was so much better than subletting or being a burden to Betty that it seemed like fate or providence was on our side.
Sunday:
We flew home with plans for renting pretty.
Monday:
It was impossible to finish the application for pretty without my driver's license number, which had gotten lost in DC. Also, they refused to hold the apartment for us until our application and checks arrived in the mail. Tuesday I would be getting a new license, so we planned on mailing it in then.
Tuesday:
I had my new license and the application was ready accept for the apartment number. I called up the apartment, and was informed that the one we wanted (the only one left) was already taken! I was heartbroken. After everything was going so well, now this! My belief in the non-existence of fate or providence was reaffirmed. I had to tell Nick the bad news.
We had to go for close. I reminded myself that it was more practical, and I would like having my classes closer than they were as an undergrad in the dorms. I drove to Nick's that night and we began filling out the online application for close. The apartment we'd seen was gone, but another similar studio on the first floor with a patio was available. We finished most of the application when the computer crashed! I couldn't get back to our application and it was late in the evening, so I couldn't find anyone on the phone to help us out. We had to wait until morning, and the apartment we wanted was no longer showing up as available.
Today:
I called the place right away at nine. The person seemed to only want me to speak with the person who gave us the tour, so I had to wait for her to call back. Finally she called back, and explained that the apartment wasn't showing up as available because, since we'd started applying for it, it was being held for us! I was so happy, but still I was worried that we wouldn't have enough credit. I finished the application and at the "congratulations" screen, called her back. She said that the credit and criminal background checks had gone through right away and came back fine! (Of course, I wasn't worried about criminal background.) The apartment is ours!
(Finally.)
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