The conversation went a little something like this:
ME: How much blood do they take?
Colleague: Two vials.
ME: Do they take it from your finger or your arm?
Colleague (amidst laughter and while looking at me like I am an idiot): Do you really think they could take two vials of blood from your finger??
Well, they settled on the arm. I had my blood profiled today--I don't know what that really means, aside from they take your blood, look at it, and tell you if there is anything wrong with you. And, if you're like someone else I know, you can take the results home with you and tabulate them on I'm-too-organized-for-my-own-good color coded pie graphs to watch for changes from year to year!! :)
Anyway, it was fine. I have a thing about needles and found no comfort in the fact that they put you in a conference room and set the actual blood draw station up next to a window that looks out into the hallway so that in all my horror, every student that had just gotten out of their 8:00 class could walk by and watch me sitting there, pale faced with teeth chattering to make fun of me as I had a needle shoved into my arm and blood sucked out of my vein. Dramatic? Okay, maybe a little.
Now, I'm dragging, because as part of the blood profiling, you have to fast for 12 hours--so, that meant nothing but water. Which also means that I did not wake up to my daily allotment of 32 oz. of the wonderfully sweet and caffeine filled green life nectar, more commonly referred to as Diet Mountain Dew. I'm sure I'll get through it.
Onward and upward dear friends; it is Friday, and that has to count for something.
Friday, August 31, 2007
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Eight Bucks.
Last night I went to see the movie “The Nanny Diaries,” and it was great, but made me miss being in college even more terribly than I already do. You wanna know why? $8.25, that’s why--a gentle, lovely slap in the face welcoming me once again to the real world. It’s the first movie I have seen since I graduated, and Simpson students know one of the glorious things about Campus Activities Board’s Stormy Nights is $2 movies on Friday and Saturday nights at the theatre in town. Anyway, after I passed out from the oh-my-golly-it-costs-eight-dollars-to-go-to-a-movie-now shock, was resuscitated and peeled off the floor, I made my way into the theatre—it was a very cute, funny movie.
$2 movies are only one of the things I miss about being a student. Watching everyone move in this weekend and walking to their first day of classes today made me miss my college friends—a lot! The great majority of my friends graduated too, and aren’t around here anymore. I live with two of my good friends from Simpson, and we often find ourselves in a discussion about how different life is now...good, but very different—we’re usually pretty good at realizing that like it or not, we couldn’t have stayed in college forever. The adjustment into college is difficult for some, but I think that adjusting to being out is much, much harder…alas. Days of $2 movies, you still have my heart.
Anyway, after the movie, my roommate and I decided that the day called for some music-therapy; this meant we needed to roll the windows down, turn the music up, and sing very loudly to our favorite song (Rachel Yamagata’s “Reasons Why”) from our favorite soundtrack (“The Last Kiss”). It was still about 90 degrees and extremely humid, but rather than roll the windows up, we coupled the breeze with the AC on high—because sometimes when life feels crazy, and the moon is full, all a girl really needs is to feel the wind blow through her hair…
$2 movies are only one of the things I miss about being a student. Watching everyone move in this weekend and walking to their first day of classes today made me miss my college friends—a lot! The great majority of my friends graduated too, and aren’t around here anymore. I live with two of my good friends from Simpson, and we often find ourselves in a discussion about how different life is now...good, but very different—we’re usually pretty good at realizing that like it or not, we couldn’t have stayed in college forever. The adjustment into college is difficult for some, but I think that adjusting to being out is much, much harder…alas. Days of $2 movies, you still have my heart.
Anyway, after the movie, my roommate and I decided that the day called for some music-therapy; this meant we needed to roll the windows down, turn the music up, and sing very loudly to our favorite song (Rachel Yamagata’s “Reasons Why”) from our favorite soundtrack (“The Last Kiss”). It was still about 90 degrees and extremely humid, but rather than roll the windows up, we coupled the breeze with the AC on high—because sometimes when life feels crazy, and the moon is full, all a girl really needs is to feel the wind blow through her hair…
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Traveling
The other night, after I got home and settled in for the evening, I was reading a book and was struck by the following quote:
“Still, despite all this, traveling is the great true love of my life. I have always felt, ever since I was sixteen years old and first went to Russia with my saved-up babysitting money, that to travel is worth any cost or sacrifice. I am loyal and constant in my love for travel, as I have not always been loyal and constant in my other loves. I feel about travel the way a happy new mother feels about her impossible, colicky, restless newborn baby—I just don’t care what it puts me through. Because I adore it. Because it’s mine. Because it looks exactly like me. It can barf all over me if it wants to—I just don’t care.”
The book is called Eat Pray Love: One Woman’s Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia by Elizabeth Gilbert—awesome read, and I agree with the quote above wholeheartedly. While I was a student at Simpson I had the opportunity to travel to several different countries around the world, and what she says about being barfed on by traveling, in my experience, is completely true…
I remember, for example, getting to our hotel in Florence and trying to check in. The manager told us that they no longer had a room for us, but they had booked us a new one “right down the street” (which was basically across town). Or, flying into Rome late and spending wayyyyy too much on a cab (because the subway was closed) to stay in a creepy bed-bug infested hostel--so gross; riding with a cab driver in Thailand who didn’t know where he was taking us and we couldn’t express where we wanted to go, so he decided to kick us out of his cab in the middle of nowhere; not knowing about the 10 euro port tax to get into Turkey from Greece—our boat had already pulled away from port and they wouldn’t let us through, and no one had any money to speak of--we had to essentially smuggle a member of our group through to get to an ATM to get enough money out for everyone. And of course, there was the time in Venice when we were locked out of our hostel in the cold pouring down rain. Traveling can barf all over you, but the “Omigosh-this-is-so-amazing” moments totally made up for it…
Like the time I saw the Pope and the Sistine Chapel on the same day while staying in Rome; watching dolphins while on a boat tour in Istanbul, Turkey. Or, for you Harry Potter fans, seeing Platform 9 ¾ (yes, it actually exists!) at Kings Cross Station in London. I lit a candle in Notre Dame, prayed at the Blue Mosque; I watched a Shakespeare play in a park and ice skated in front of the British Museum in London; I rode elephants and played with children at an AIDS orphanage in Thailand, swam in the bays and went dancing in Vietnam, and sipped hot cider in the mist on the fairy tale streets of Prague. I hung out at the top of the Eifel Tower, saw the real Moulin Rouge and the only white McDonalds arches in the world while in Paris. And, I cannot leave out good old Dorothy Spence. A seventy-ish year old woman who picked me and my two friends up at a train stop on our way to St. Andrews Scotland—she let us all pile in to her little green Volkswagen Golf and dropped us right at our hotel (she was great, but I don’t usually think riding with strangers is the best idea!).
I've had blisters, bruises, food poisoning, bug bites, sunburns and the like; I've missed planes, trains, and busses; I've hated the food, been freezing cold, lost and miserable--but it doesn't really bother me. In fact, I think it becomes part of the adventure. Traveling, all I have to say to you is: vomit on, I'll love you anyway.
“Still, despite all this, traveling is the great true love of my life. I have always felt, ever since I was sixteen years old and first went to Russia with my saved-up babysitting money, that to travel is worth any cost or sacrifice. I am loyal and constant in my love for travel, as I have not always been loyal and constant in my other loves. I feel about travel the way a happy new mother feels about her impossible, colicky, restless newborn baby—I just don’t care what it puts me through. Because I adore it. Because it’s mine. Because it looks exactly like me. It can barf all over me if it wants to—I just don’t care.”
The book is called Eat Pray Love: One Woman’s Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia by Elizabeth Gilbert—awesome read, and I agree with the quote above wholeheartedly. While I was a student at Simpson I had the opportunity to travel to several different countries around the world, and what she says about being barfed on by traveling, in my experience, is completely true…
I remember, for example, getting to our hotel in Florence and trying to check in. The manager told us that they no longer had a room for us, but they had booked us a new one “right down the street” (which was basically across town). Or, flying into Rome late and spending wayyyyy too much on a cab (because the subway was closed) to stay in a creepy bed-bug infested hostel--so gross; riding with a cab driver in Thailand who didn’t know where he was taking us and we couldn’t express where we wanted to go, so he decided to kick us out of his cab in the middle of nowhere; not knowing about the 10 euro port tax to get into Turkey from Greece—our boat had already pulled away from port and they wouldn’t let us through, and no one had any money to speak of--we had to essentially smuggle a member of our group through to get to an ATM to get enough money out for everyone. And of course, there was the time in Venice when we were locked out of our hostel in the cold pouring down rain. Traveling can barf all over you, but the “Omigosh-this-is-so-amazing” moments totally made up for it…
Like the time I saw the Pope and the Sistine Chapel on the same day while staying in Rome; watching dolphins while on a boat tour in Istanbul, Turkey. Or, for you Harry Potter fans, seeing Platform 9 ¾ (yes, it actually exists!) at Kings Cross Station in London. I lit a candle in Notre Dame, prayed at the Blue Mosque; I watched a Shakespeare play in a park and ice skated in front of the British Museum in London; I rode elephants and played with children at an AIDS orphanage in Thailand, swam in the bays and went dancing in Vietnam, and sipped hot cider in the mist on the fairy tale streets of Prague. I hung out at the top of the Eifel Tower, saw the real Moulin Rouge and the only white McDonalds arches in the world while in Paris. And, I cannot leave out good old Dorothy Spence. A seventy-ish year old woman who picked me and my two friends up at a train stop on our way to St. Andrews Scotland—she let us all pile in to her little green Volkswagen Golf and dropped us right at our hotel (she was great, but I don’t usually think riding with strangers is the best idea!).
I've had blisters, bruises, food poisoning, bug bites, sunburns and the like; I've missed planes, trains, and busses; I've hated the food, been freezing cold, lost and miserable--but it doesn't really bother me. In fact, I think it becomes part of the adventure. Traveling, all I have to say to you is: vomit on, I'll love you anyway.
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Memory Lane...
With all the moving in on campus that has already occurred, and the anticipation for the rest, I find myself becoming a little nostalgic--all the way back to the day I moved into Kresge 210 four short years ago...
My hometown is nearly 4 hours away from Simpson, and most families with a drive like that would come down the night before, stay in a hotel, and get up Saturday morning at a normal hour to move their student into the dorms. Ohhhh no, not us, it was a 'morning-of' adventure. And, I am obsessed with being on time, so I insisted that we leave before the sun came up. After lots of whining, stomping around, and stubbornness, my dad finally gave in. Only 30 minutes into our drive, I realized this might not have been the best idea, but of course I wasn't going to admit that! I just kept drinking Mountain Dew and trying to stay on the road.
Finally, we arrived without any major drama. It was like eleventy-billion degrees and so humid I could have swam across campus. Like the smarty I am, I forgot all of the registration information, hadn't read anything, was totally clueless and had to try to figure out who to talk to to get my combination to my room--which doesn't seem like a big deal, but I was pretty shy and the thought of asking for help ALREADY was terrifying. Yeah, off to a really great start. Eventually, I sucked it up, was pointed in the right direction by some nice people, and within minutes was through the door to my new room--Ahhhh Heaven! It was a nice big room with larger than usual windows--even if it were falling apart at the seams I probably wouldn't have cared, I was just really excited to be out of the house, doing my own thing!!
Then the unloading began. Again, like the smarty I am, I thought flip flops would be a practical choice to move the life I had spent 18 years acquiring from my car to the room up two flights of stairs and at the farthest end of the building. Whatever, again, I can handle it because I am stubborn and know that my tennis shoes are buried under most everything and refuse to admit I made a mistake and need help--there's a theme here. (**A little hint: don't wear flip flops on move in day or you, too, will have stubbed toes and be cursing yourself all day long!)
Long story short, the stuff finally made it from the cars to the room, my roomate showed up, we arranged our room, had it all figured out, and it was pretty uneventful, until....
The Futon. My roomate brought the futon, and our dads were trying to figure out how to put it together. I stole my dad to help me with something, and all of the sudden, her dad is bleeding and somehow had put a screw or something in his hand (my memory is a little fuzzy, this was a long time ago) and needed a bandaid or six like, now!
After that, though, things calmed down. We made at least two or three trips to Walmart, went to the events that were scheduled for the afternoon, and finally the family took off for home. It was, at the very least, a pretty exciting day--which is why I am looking forward to this Saturday when the rest of our first year students move in. Certainly there will be stories to tell... :)
Good luck packing!
My hometown is nearly 4 hours away from Simpson, and most families with a drive like that would come down the night before, stay in a hotel, and get up Saturday morning at a normal hour to move their student into the dorms. Ohhhh no, not us, it was a 'morning-of' adventure. And, I am obsessed with being on time, so I insisted that we leave before the sun came up. After lots of whining, stomping around, and stubbornness, my dad finally gave in. Only 30 minutes into our drive, I realized this might not have been the best idea, but of course I wasn't going to admit that! I just kept drinking Mountain Dew and trying to stay on the road.
Finally, we arrived without any major drama. It was like eleventy-billion degrees and so humid I could have swam across campus. Like the smarty I am, I forgot all of the registration information, hadn't read anything, was totally clueless and had to try to figure out who to talk to to get my combination to my room--which doesn't seem like a big deal, but I was pretty shy and the thought of asking for help ALREADY was terrifying. Yeah, off to a really great start. Eventually, I sucked it up, was pointed in the right direction by some nice people, and within minutes was through the door to my new room--Ahhhh Heaven! It was a nice big room with larger than usual windows--even if it were falling apart at the seams I probably wouldn't have cared, I was just really excited to be out of the house, doing my own thing!!
Then the unloading began. Again, like the smarty I am, I thought flip flops would be a practical choice to move the life I had spent 18 years acquiring from my car to the room up two flights of stairs and at the farthest end of the building. Whatever, again, I can handle it because I am stubborn and know that my tennis shoes are buried under most everything and refuse to admit I made a mistake and need help--there's a theme here. (**A little hint: don't wear flip flops on move in day or you, too, will have stubbed toes and be cursing yourself all day long!)
Long story short, the stuff finally made it from the cars to the room, my roomate showed up, we arranged our room, had it all figured out, and it was pretty uneventful, until....
The Futon. My roomate brought the futon, and our dads were trying to figure out how to put it together. I stole my dad to help me with something, and all of the sudden, her dad is bleeding and somehow had put a screw or something in his hand (my memory is a little fuzzy, this was a long time ago) and needed a bandaid or six like, now!
After that, though, things calmed down. We made at least two or three trips to Walmart, went to the events that were scheduled for the afternoon, and finally the family took off for home. It was, at the very least, a pretty exciting day--which is why I am looking forward to this Saturday when the rest of our first year students move in. Certainly there will be stories to tell... :)
Good luck packing!
Friday, August 17, 2007
State Fair Time!
Greetings!
I said in my last post that I was going to wait until it cooled down to go to the fair, and as my luck would have it, I have my chance. It's only going to be a sort of comfortable-yet-warm-and-balmy 80-something today, which is quite a relief from the can't-lift-a-finger-without-sweating-like-a-pig high nineties we've been experiencing. This is only the second time I have been to the Iowa State Fair, as I grew up in northwest Iowa, and we didn't spend a lot of time in the Des Moines area. I have to say, though, I do enjoy spending time at the fair, and think that within a couple of years, I might become a die-hard fair-goer. I mean, really, how many other places can you find a full sized cow made out of butter? ... That's what I thought. That being said, if any of you need to find me this evening, you know where I'll be! Aside from the Butter Cow, I am mostly excited because of the food--and, as you can likely tell by now, everyone gets excited about fair food!
Then, tomorrow, I am heading to the twin cities for the Minnesota Send-Off. I am really excited to get out of town for the weekend and hang out with Tiff (another admissions counselor), Drew (a current student), and all the Minnesota families! I am sure we will have a blast! ... I am trying to figure out at which point I am going to be able to do my laundry before the weekend slips away from me!
Otherwise, things are just getting back to normal around here. They are finishing up a few renovations on campus, and the students are slowly starting to trickle back in. Official move in weekend is just around the corner!! It's nice to see campus coming back to life--it gets quiet around here during the summer!
I said in my last post that I was going to wait until it cooled down to go to the fair, and as my luck would have it, I have my chance. It's only going to be a sort of comfortable-yet-warm-and-balmy 80-something today, which is quite a relief from the can't-lift-a-finger-without-sweating-like-a-pig high nineties we've been experiencing. This is only the second time I have been to the Iowa State Fair, as I grew up in northwest Iowa, and we didn't spend a lot of time in the Des Moines area. I have to say, though, I do enjoy spending time at the fair, and think that within a couple of years, I might become a die-hard fair-goer. I mean, really, how many other places can you find a full sized cow made out of butter? ... That's what I thought. That being said, if any of you need to find me this evening, you know where I'll be! Aside from the Butter Cow, I am mostly excited because of the food--and, as you can likely tell by now, everyone gets excited about fair food!
Then, tomorrow, I am heading to the twin cities for the Minnesota Send-Off. I am really excited to get out of town for the weekend and hang out with Tiff (another admissions counselor), Drew (a current student), and all the Minnesota families! I am sure we will have a blast! ... I am trying to figure out at which point I am going to be able to do my laundry before the weekend slips away from me!
Otherwise, things are just getting back to normal around here. They are finishing up a few renovations on campus, and the students are slowly starting to trickle back in. Official move in weekend is just around the corner!! It's nice to see campus coming back to life--it gets quiet around here during the summer!
Monday, August 13, 2007
Feelin' hot hot hot
I have decided that summer in Iowa can often times be best described as "gross," at least in my world. The heat was nearly a thousand degrees today and the humidity was close to a billion percent. That being said, you should know that one of my biggest pet peeves in life is sweating without the intention of doing so. I mean, really, if I am running, or doing something athletic (which is rare), I can accept sweating, in fact, I embrace it. But, if I simply walk out of the door at a usual pace and start dripping with sweat...nothing irritates me more, and my friends get really sick of hearing my disgruntled mumblings.
This weekend I was in the wedding of two of my friends who are both Simpson grads... it was an outdoor wedding. They had it at this forest preserve and there were lots of wild flowers in the background--it was absolutely gorgeous! I walked up the aisle without tripping, lined myself up with the other bridesmaids and felt confident in my ability to make the bride proud of her decision to include me on her day. All of the sudden, a sweat bead formed on the tip of my nose as I was standing at the front of all of their guests... I was silently pleading with the little bugger to not drip off my nose because I feared the guests would judge me, and I would forever be known as that nasty sweat-dripping-off-her-nose smelly bridesmaid. Imagine my dismay when the sweat bead took the plunge, let go of my nose and landed right on my dress... Alas, my bridesmaidship was forever tainted.... Sweat aside, the wedding was fantastic.
The heat index continues to climb this week, and lucky us, we are under a heat advisory through Wednesday. Awesome. It is also time for the Iowa State Fair this week; I think I will wait until it cools down to go...
Be Well,
j.o.
This weekend I was in the wedding of two of my friends who are both Simpson grads... it was an outdoor wedding. They had it at this forest preserve and there were lots of wild flowers in the background--it was absolutely gorgeous! I walked up the aisle without tripping, lined myself up with the other bridesmaids and felt confident in my ability to make the bride proud of her decision to include me on her day. All of the sudden, a sweat bead formed on the tip of my nose as I was standing at the front of all of their guests... I was silently pleading with the little bugger to not drip off my nose because I feared the guests would judge me, and I would forever be known as that nasty sweat-dripping-off-her-nose smelly bridesmaid. Imagine my dismay when the sweat bead took the plunge, let go of my nose and landed right on my dress... Alas, my bridesmaidship was forever tainted.... Sweat aside, the wedding was fantastic.
The heat index continues to climb this week, and lucky us, we are under a heat advisory through Wednesday. Awesome. It is also time for the Iowa State Fair this week; I think I will wait until it cools down to go...
Be Well,
j.o.
Thursday, August 9, 2007
Iowa Private College Week
There are a lot of things in my life that I am new to at this very moment in time. For one, blogging. I’ve always thought that blogging was, like, pretty cool, but never thought that I would have anything meaningful or exciting to say that would entice people to continue reading—we’ll see how this works out! Another: my job. I just graduated from Simpson this past May, and was very excited to accept a position as an admissions counselor at my beloved alma mater. So, during the course of this blog, please remember, I am new to this terrain; I have questions, I make mistakes, and sometimes I’m just downright awkward…be kind.
Anyway, enough with the disclaimer. We are in the midst of Iowa Private College Week right now, and it is my first event at my new post as an admissions counselor. I'd say I'm keeping up pretty well, however, this morning, I was eating a Starburst, and driving a golf cart as I was almost attacked by a Cicada Killer; subsequently, I almost crashed the golf cart, choked on the starburst, and flailed my arms wildly as Cassie, another admissions counselor, sat and watched in disbelief. This week has been nothing less than exciting! At the same time, it is very interesting to be on the “other side” of things now. Things actually work quite differently than I had imagined them to. It has been an adjustment, and I find myself experiencing a little bit of envy as I watch incoming students stopping at the bookstore throughout the summer to pick up their books, or looking at all the cool May Term trips and realizing that I am no longer a student, and so won’t be going to the international fair to sign up for any of them. Alas.
On the upside, I am really pleased with my job thus far! There actually are positive things about life after graduation!! I am getting really excited for the fall when I start traveling and meeting more students! I have already met a bunch of really great families, and I work with really fantastic people. Some of my coworkers have been talking about how great this new game Guitar Hero is; I had never played, and neither had a few of the other admissions counselors, so last night, Beth (you’ll also notice that she has a blog!) had some of us over to have a little game night. I tell ya, that’s a great game! I finally made it up to the medium level by the time we were done, but I have really terrible hand-eye coordination, so I was only passing with like a 54%. Beth, Andy, and Tiff, on the other hand, smoked pretty much everyone. Sara and I couldn’t pass a song together no matter how hard we tried! Today, I think I have carpel-tunnel from over-indulging on the plastic guitar, and it hurts my fingers to type, so I shall sign off for now…
Be Well,
j.o.
Anyway, enough with the disclaimer. We are in the midst of Iowa Private College Week right now, and it is my first event at my new post as an admissions counselor. I'd say I'm keeping up pretty well, however, this morning, I was eating a Starburst, and driving a golf cart as I was almost attacked by a Cicada Killer; subsequently, I almost crashed the golf cart, choked on the starburst, and flailed my arms wildly as Cassie, another admissions counselor, sat and watched in disbelief. This week has been nothing less than exciting! At the same time, it is very interesting to be on the “other side” of things now. Things actually work quite differently than I had imagined them to. It has been an adjustment, and I find myself experiencing a little bit of envy as I watch incoming students stopping at the bookstore throughout the summer to pick up their books, or looking at all the cool May Term trips and realizing that I am no longer a student, and so won’t be going to the international fair to sign up for any of them. Alas.
On the upside, I am really pleased with my job thus far! There actually are positive things about life after graduation!! I am getting really excited for the fall when I start traveling and meeting more students! I have already met a bunch of really great families, and I work with really fantastic people. Some of my coworkers have been talking about how great this new game Guitar Hero is; I had never played, and neither had a few of the other admissions counselors, so last night, Beth (you’ll also notice that she has a blog!) had some of us over to have a little game night. I tell ya, that’s a great game! I finally made it up to the medium level by the time we were done, but I have really terrible hand-eye coordination, so I was only passing with like a 54%. Beth, Andy, and Tiff, on the other hand, smoked pretty much everyone. Sara and I couldn’t pass a song together no matter how hard we tried! Today, I think I have carpel-tunnel from over-indulging on the plastic guitar, and it hurts my fingers to type, so I shall sign off for now…
Be Well,
j.o.
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