Wow!

I can't even believe how long it's been since I posted an entry on this thing. Lots has happened. I've moved a few times, become an aunt, switched vehicles, gotten a job... Very nearly in that order.

So to expound a little on some of those things... I think I may have moved (twice? maybe?) since my last post. I was "living" in Parowan for a while. Which was code for "my stuff is in Parowan, but I house-sat up on Cedar Mountain all summer." Man... there are few better ways to make someone feel homeless and adrift than bousesitting in different places for long periods of time. It got to the point where people would ask me where I lived, and I'd go, "uhhhh... I don't know?" Confusing. Anyway... done with that, thank goodness! I'm now living out by Three Peaks, which is probably about seven miles from Cedar City, as opposed to my previous seventeen or so. The place where I live has about six or seven goats, a zillion cats, five chickens (roosters the lot of them) and two horses. For the past month or so, I've been working on-and-off on a mural on my closet doors. It's a fictitious representation of the Temple in the Old City of Jerusalem. Completely inaccurate, but it's the idea in which I'm interested. I'm also getting a kitty of my own. He's a rescue - someone's dropoff - mostly black but with some white. A tuxedo kitty, if you will. I have named him Toulouse after one of the kittens from The Aristocats.

My new job, of which I have just completed week two of training, is with a company called Convergys. It's a call center, and I'll be providing customer care for AT&T Mobility customers. As in, they call in with their problems and I fix them. Fun stuff! It pays well for this area, so even though the hours leave me exhausted, I'm not complaining. I get my first paycheck at the end of next week. The first paycheck I'll have had since the beginning of May! Hallelujah! I look forward to paying mom back what she lent me for my last job fiasco... Plus all the gas money I've had to borrow... My mom has definitely been a blessing.

The first use of my available funds, which will occur after I've paid off my horrendous medical bills, will be to buy my motorcycle. I'm buying it from my roommate, Astra. It runs beautifully and is a gorgeous machine. A 1996 Yamaha Virago. Just my size, just my style and just my price. I obviously won't be riding it during the winter. But I can't wait to get my helmet and start getting a little bit of practice on it. I've named it "Vinnie." Funny trait with me... I name all my cars. My first car was an Isuzu Trooper which I named "Izzy" (actually short for "Icarus," not for "Isuzu") and my current truck is a little blue Nissan named "Nessie." My mom's brown Dodge was nicknamed "Bertha" while I used it.

Anyway... the most important part! Nephew! Wyatt James Cole is the most beautiful baby in the world, and it is so cool to be an aunt! I can't wait to meet him. Lauren and Wyatt will be coming to visit for a day or two in December (or so the tentative plan goes...). It will be the first time anyone but my dad has met either one of them. I can tell from the photos that he has my brother's hands. :) I so want to be one of those aunts who sends birthday cards and checks every year... If I lived closer, I would want to take my nephew to baseball games... to play in the park... to give gifts and candy for just no reason at all. I have to admit that one of my big fears is to be so disconnected from family that my nieces and nephews barely know I exist. I have two or three aunts I've never even met, and I hate that. Disruptions in family affect everyone. Anyway, enough about that.

So... Now that we're all caught up... Stay that way! :P I'm on Facebook more often than I am here, and anyone (like... all two people) that is interested in keeping up a little more often than I post here can look there.
More in about a decade or so! :P

Love,
Anna Grace

Operation Get-A-Life

It has recently come to my attention that I have no life. Okay. Maybe not so recently. I've had no life for a long time. Not that I don't like sitting at home, cleaning and Facebooking and waiting for job callbacks... Okay. So I don't like it. I don't like it at all. It's really hard to get out of the house for a few years, have your life and your freedom and then come back and try to pretend everything is as it was, when it just isn't. Pretty much this whole past semester, I've been thinking about direction, and about the fact that in reality, I pretty much don't have any. I don't know what degree I want to get, or what I'd want to do with that degree if I did get it. Something that might be good to know halfway through college.

Okay, so here's the first bomb-to-be-dropped, for those of you who don't already know. I will not be returning to SUU next semester. While it may come as a surprise to some of you, it did not particularly come as a surprise to me, as I rather bombed the last semester. Five weeks late for starting classes, go figure. So to reiterate what I said before, I have no life. At least, it's not my own life. I'm far too dependent on my parents and on friends, which limits my options as far as direction goes.

So. I'm taking the first steps to autonomy. I spoke with an Air Force recruiter today about joining the service. This isn't a fly-by-the-way idea, either. It's been knocking around in my skull for quite some time. And now more than ever, it seems like an excellent idea. Furthermore, my mind is made up. If the Air Force will take me, I will sign the papers and join. The major worries were medical until I spoke with the recruiter today. The only medical problems that can be proved, I can get the doctor's release to say that yes, it happened, but it is no longer a problem. Now the only worry is a credit check. They don't like bad credit, and I have medical bills up the wazoo that are overdue because I have no money and no job. Some of that they can waive, as it doesn't look like they're going to have to waive much else. Especially if I get as good a score on my ASVAB as I did last time.

Furthermore, if my credit denies me entrance to the Air Force, I've been assured that the Navy doesn't do that same check, and nothing would keep me out of the Navy. So one way or the other, I'm not going to stop until I get in.

Anyway. Operation Get-A-Life is rolling. And now I've got to go help Laura make cookies.

Muchlove,
Anna Grace

Taking a break...

So. Two big-ish developments since my last post. Firstly, I will be taking a break from school. Due to financial aid - a lack of it, actually - I will not be attending SUU in the fall. Which means no copy chief job. Oddly enough, that's really the only part of not going back that saddens me. Heaven knows I could use a break... But I'll definitely miss all of my fellow Journalites.

Instead, I get to find a job. Yeah. Good luck with that. Convergys doesn't even seem to be hiring right now. That's my last last choice, anyway. Convergys - though it pays fairly well and has insurance benefits - is kind of a soul-sucker. I'd rather work at Taco Bell than Convergys. Anyway. Still looking for a job.

The second thing is that I am no longer dating Michael, for several reasons. However, the important thing is that we are still friends, and we're both okay with that. Not saying we couldn't try again sometime in the future (distant future...) but there have got to be some prerquisite conditions.

Anyway. I'm headed back home on Sunday, and as far as I know, I'll be over there a whole week.
I'm looking forward to a bit of stability. Looking forward to Sunday, too. Soundboard is pretty much awesome - if a bit scary, as I'll be flying solo. Everyone else who knows how to run the soundboard will be gone on Sunday. My first solo test. I think I can handle it... :P We shall see.

More as it comes!
Ciao!
--Anna Grace

Busybusybusy!

Okay, so as you may have guessed from the decreasing frequency of these blogs, I've got a lot on my plate. Summer hasn't done a thing to slow me down. So I've got a lot on which to update you. If I can remember it all. :P

I think last time I told you all that I have been hired as the Journal's copy chief for next semester - catching and correcting other people's errors. My dream job. Anyway. Since then, I've moved back home - if you can call being here two days a week "home." I've been house-sitting so much that it keeps me quite on the run. People seem to leave in droves. All at once, you know. And they all seem to call me.

Another cool thing is that I now run the sound-board for my church. It's pretty awesome, since I have figured out how to work it. Most people are utterly bamboozled by all those buttons and knobs. But I love it. So I have to be in church early Sundays and on Wednesday evenings for youth group. Michael tags along on these outings.

I should probably explain Michael, too. Michael is my boyfriend. He's utterly sweet and considerate. However, he's not a Christian, and this is a huge point of contention for me.

The last few weeks I've been helping my friend Becky clean out a foreclosed house. It was pretty nasty in there... And I ended up getting a second degree burn on my left wrist from a combination of a watch allergy and a sunburn. Then yesterday, the same house, I accidentally dropped a stove on that same hand. Sort of crunched it in between the stove and the dolly on which we were carrying the stove. So... my left hand is sort of maimed. Oh. And we found remnants of a meth lab in the basement, today, so the whole house has been sealed off and we're not cleaning it anymore. Can't say I totally mind that.

Anyway. More updates later. I'm pretty tired and need to go to bed.
Ciao, gente!

--Anna Grace

Oops.

I realized today (thanks to an email from my grandma) that it has been a very long time since I posted here. So therefore, I think it's probably time for an update.
To make a long story short, I'm up to my eyeballs in busy. I'm still working at the paper as opinion editor and taking classes. Church is also getting pretty busy, too. I've got mini-church on Thursdays, sound-board practice on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Saturdays are a bit hard, as it lands smack-dab in the middle of my paper layout. And then some ladies from my mini-church finagled me into starting a knitting group every other Sunday. So that's fun.

Speaking of knitting, that's something else I've been doing a ton of. My friend Angie is having a baby. And very soon, so I've been working on a baby blanket for "little Joe." We don't know his first name yet. And when I'm done with that one, I'm starting on one for my new niece or nephew. I am sooooo excited to be an aunt, by the way... :) I want to be the kind of aunt who always sends birthday cards with $5 in them, or candy in a box. If I lived closer, I'd take him or her to a ball game (or a rodeo!) or go play in the park. Babysit. Teach him or her Spanish. Send big Christmas packages to stuff in stockings.

Anyway. I may be moving home for the summer. I look forward to gardening... and sunshine... and cleaning, actually, which is a big change. And then I've been hired back to the Journal next semester as the copy chief. For those of you who may not know what that is, that's the person who reads and re-reads every single article and page to find all the mistakes and fix them. Nothing gets published without the copy chief's say-so. I was sooo born for that job...

Anyway... I had better get back to work. It's layout day and I have knitting to do... :P
Love,
Anna Grace

Throwdown: Social networking sites vie for users' affections

(By Anna Cole: Originally published in the University Journal, January 26, 2009.)

Like any self-respecting Internet addict, I spend a ridiculous amount of time surfing those delightful places that are fondly known as "social networking sites" - namely, Facebook and MySpace.

As the first trend on social Web sites, MySpace has the advantage of experience. It enjoyed its overwhelming fame long before Facebook entered the scene.

However, fresh ideas bring fresh faces, and Facebook, in its relatively short heyday, has far surpassed MySpace's value as a cyber social gathering.

While MySpace does have its uses, they seem primarily centered on blogging and self-expression. Great if you want to document your life, not as useful if you're trying to keep up with someone else's - which is what socialization is all about.

MySpace's flashy layouts, bulletins and page comments simply aren't as conducive to an active social site. Having to search through one's friends just to find an update on how he or she is doing or who said what to whom is far too much effort.

Facebook's neatly centralized social center puts all the updates in one place, so all I have to do is scroll down to see that Mike is eating some chocolate chip cookies and that Jane commented on Max's photos. Not specific friends - although you can specify some if you like - but just friends. All together like friends should be.

Comments and wall-writing are a few more aspects of the social scene that Facebook has perfected to outperform MySpace, specifically in the areas of status comments and wall-to-wall function.

MySpace has friend statuses, of course, but no area for public comment on them, and I love that I can comment on statuses with Facebook.

For instance, my cousin and I (nerds that we are) love to have lyric and quote wars on our statuses. If she posts a song lyric as her status, the challenge is for me to complete the lyrics in the comments without looking it up.

Besides the obvious advantages of social interaction, photos and statuses - as if we needed more - Facebook also provides variety from everyday boring life by means of pirate talk.

It's easy to get tired of plain old English. One might get tired of "writing on the wall," and might instead get the urge to "scrawl on the plank." You can visit your Bottle o' Messages instead of your Inbox.

The wall-to-wall function for posting is also excellent. MySpace comments are all well and dandy, but I'm oftentimes rather hampered by the format, simply because all it shows is the comment box. I'm fairly scatter-brained at times and don't always remember what I wrote before. So when Pinky-Girl25 leaves me a comment that says, "That's so funny! I think so too," I don't want to have to scroll all the way down her page to figure out what I said that she agrees with.

Wall-to-wall is the antidote to this problem. I can click "wall-to-wall" and see our entire conversation to find out that Pinky-Girl25 also thinks that mustard would be an excellent topping on chocolate ice cream.

There are other excellent recommendations for Facebook as well. Advertisements, the ever-present plague, can be tailored to fit one's interests more closely. If I'm tired of weight-loss advertisements (which I most certainly am) I can mark the ads as "misleading," "uninteresting," or "offensive," depending on my level of dislike for the ad.

MySpace ads, mostly sporting obviously doctored weight-loss and beauty photos, are there to stay. Need a girlfriend? A boyfriend? Perhaps both? MySpace knows just where you can get them, and they've all got a crush on you. It gets annoying after a while.

Finally, even MySpace recognizes Facebook's superiority in the Internet world. Not that they say it in so many words, of course. I did notice, however, that every single innovation that made Facebook unique and desirable has been shamelessly copied by MySpace.

Applications - those cute little quizzes that tell you which of the Jonas Brothers you should marry, or show how many countries you've been to, or let you keep a cute little virtual pet - showed up on MySpace long after Facebook had begun using them.

The "People You May Know" function that analyzes friends that people may have in common also appeared on MySpace within the last few months. I notice far less accuracy in the matches on MySpace than on Facebook.

While Facebook analyzed not only my friends, but my college and area networks to cross-reference and find possible matches, MySpace matches seemed to consist of suggestions based on one or two other friends. While Facebook found friends of mine from as far back as elementary school, MySpace found people I'd never heard of in New York and Jamaica.

I could cite hundreds of other examples why Facebook is better than MySpace, but I suspect I've rambled long enough.

Suffice to say, Facebook's advantages are overwhelming. You can poke me if you think I'm wrong, but beware, I might just poke you back.

Anna Cole is the University Journal Opinion Editor. She can be reached at acole@suujournal.com.

A month later...

So, I just realized that I haven't posted on this blog for about a month. Mucho apologies. So... a lot has happened in the last month. I'm pretty sure everybody knows, because my mother is very good about informing people, but just in case someone doesn't (out of the three people who read this blog...), here goes.

My last post took place around Christmas. I was pretty sick. About a week before the semester ended, I started getting sick. I spent the week of Christmas in bed. And the week after that. Then I suppose it must have become evident to Derek and Eryn that something really wasn't good. Maybe the fact that I couldn't eat or drink anything... Anyway. They hauled my sorry carcass into the E.R., and it turns out that was probably a good idea. So... to make a long story short, I got stuck in the hospital for a week.

I hate hospitals. But I did have some interesting adventures with morphine... that stuff messes with your head, I tell you. I'm sure it would have been interesting to watch. So... drugs, tests, needles and vampires (because doctors are secretly vampires. Really.) and Crohn's disease. Yep. So Crohn's disease... means more drugs - steroids, which I have decided are the death of sleep (not the sleep of death) and the enemy of steady hands. Surgeons on steroids - bad idea.

So basically, when I did manage to get back to school (after regaining the strength to stand up and walk on my own) I'd missed three weeks of classes. Lucky for me, Journal folks are awesome, and since they knew what was going on, they covered me for the paper. And my professors are working with me to help me make up what I've missed. Some of them anyway...

I'm doing better now. I'm walking great. I can't run yet, and I still have a little trouble with stairs, but it's a lot smoother sailing now. I've got an appointment with a specialist up in Provo tomorrow, where they're going to knock me out and shove tubes down my throat. Just the sort of thing to look forward to... Ugh. But oh well. Oh - and I'm on a new diet. Which I hate. Because it eliminates all my favorite foods. Like... all of them. No pasta, bread, corn, potatoes, dairy or sugar. It's painful. Oh well.

School is going well, for having missed so much. I've got my own radio show on Power 91 this semester, and that's cool. I love my radio broadcast class... I would love my news editing class a lot more if it wasn't at 8:30 in the morning. Anyway. Speaking of news editing, I've got an editorial to write before my radio hour, so I'd better get crackin'.

More updates as they come along!
--Anna Grace

Home again...

I do love Christmas time. I've fought long and hard with the weather and with my health to be able to make it home this Christmas. So here I am - a week late and sick as a dog - but I'm here. Uncle Tim and Aunt Hyang are supposed to be here soon... It will be so good to see them! I don't know how long they're staying... but it should be nice. Provided I don't have to leave in the middle to go get surgery. Stupid stomach stuff. I am soooooooo tired of being sick. All the time sick. And even though I'm grateful, it makes me feel horrible and helpless when people have to play nursemaid to me. It sort of makes me wonder why I can't quite handle human hospitality.

Either way, I'll be going into town Wednesday (weather permitting). There's a Christmas Eve service at the church, and I need to give Laura and Joy their gifts. Since I wasn't at church this morning. I've still got to finish that drawing for Pete, and I want to make a fish for Derek and a guitar for Eryn from clay.

Eryn finally got her horse on Friday. She is so excited... the horse is beautiful. A huge mustang mare named Roxy. Eryn says she wants me to ride her sometimes. That will be great. She's huge! I haven't been on such a tall horse in years...

Anyway... More happenings as they occur.
--Anna Grace

Moved!

I figure I'd better give closure to my last post so that people don't worry too much. (As if anyone who reads this blog doesn't already know...)
I'm moved out of my other apartment and now living in Enoch. I've only been there a few nights now, but I love it. It is sooooo much more peaceful, safe, and with plenty of food. :P Anyway. Not much more to report, really. I've got finals to study for and a portfolio to work on. So I'd better get back to them. :P
ttyl!
--Anna Grace

The end is near!

Sort of near. The end of the semester, anyway. And the very thought rather makes me want to hyperventilate a little bid, because I totally realize how much I haven't done. In fact, if I pass some of those classes, it will be nothing short of miraculous. There are a lot of reasons for that... none of which would I like to go into at this time.

Anyway. More updates. I'm moving out of my apartment today/tomorrow. I don't know where I'm going yet... I'm just gonna have to figure that out. But whatever.

Also, something cool happened. I have been made an editor for next semester. This, of course is contingent upon continued financial aid to attend next semester... But hopefully things will pull up a little bit.

So... yeah. I gotta get back to work now. More updates later.

--Anna Grace

So...

...Evidently, I'm really good at pissing people off today. Sorry... I really don't mean to... I suppose I just don't get why someone has to be angry that I have a differing opinion, instead of trying to understand it. They spend no time trying to figure out why I might have the opinion I do, and immediately launch into a tirade about why my opinion is wrong, useless, and invalid. I've spent the majority of my life being a timid little throw-rug, asking no questions, giving no answers. I am reeeeally tired of that. I'm done with it. Yes, you have an opinion, and I can respect that. But it does not mean I have to change mine. And ranting and raving is much less likely to get me to change my opinion than a calm, reasoned discussion. Blah. Enough. The people who need to hear this don't even read this blog...

Anyway... Tonight is Christiana's birthday dinner. I feel really bad that I won't be there (am choosing not to be there...) but Kim (roomie's creepy boyfriend) will be there, and I flat out refuse to voluntarily be in the same house with that man, much less the same room at the same dinner table. Furthermore, I have concluded that I am moving out at the end of the semester - which is three weeks - whether I have any place to go or not. If I must, I will re-instate my original plan and pile on extra sleeping bags. Is there such a thing as a battery-operated space heater...?

In further news... I haven't really got any further news. So, updates as updates come, assuming I recognize an update when I see one...
--Anna Grace

A glossary of completely natural words.

This is something that Captain shared with us that I found amusing, interesting, and generally fitting to what I think about the jargon we hear around us every day. I wish I could insert all the conversation in there too (and I may provide some commentary that was said) as we all had a wonderful laugh at some of these things. It's a bit long, but completely worth the read, I assure you. Enjoy!

A Glossary of Completely Natural Words
by Mark Patinkin, published in the Providence Journal (of Providence, Rhode Island)

I noticed that a "truth-in-menu" bill has been introduced at the Rhode Island General Assembly. It's to force restaurants to be honest when they describe their dishes. Many, for example, try to sneak around the red-flag words like "frozen." They insert "fresh" instead.

For the past few years, I've been collecting examples of how people sneak around red-flag words. It seems to be an increasing problem. One way to stop it, perhaps, is to publicize the abusers. So today, I offer a sampling from the collection.

Autoyards these days believe it's beneath them to stock junk radiators. They're now called "pre-dismantled, previously owned parts."

The next time you buy a bathroom plunger, you might get a blank stare if you ask for the bathroom plunger section. Certain manufacturers have taken to calling them "hydroforce blast cups."

Then there's the cemetery business. Some are no longer advertising the availability of burial plots. Instead, they now offer "pre-need arrangements."

And in Canada, nannies don't simply nanny anymore. A firm up there said its nannies "interface with children in an habitual way."

Government is particularly good at this. The Food and Drug Administration, for example, found "serious adverse effects" in the use of a certain chemical. The adverse effect was 38 deaths. Pretty adverse.

And if you get a call from your just-convicted husband telling you not to worry about it, they're only going to put him in the "capital sentences unit," maybe you should worry about it after all. That's the new phrase for death row.

One of my favorite examples comes from the Army War College instructor who told his class that when you're surrounded, you should never look upon the enemy as a superior force that's about to crush you. Consider them a "target-rich environment."

The insurance business sometimes refers to death as a "mortality experience." Actually, they do even better. The way it usually comes out is that groups that don't smoke have "a more favorable mortality experience" than those who do.

School systems are avoiding the term "budget cut." It's more popular to refer to that as "institutional self-help."

In the same vein, AT&T was recently asked to explain why a few hundred of its employees were fired. They weren't fired, AT&T said. "They were involuntarily separated." (When SUU fires a faculty member, it's not a firing, it's just that the faculty member's contract was not renewed.)

Similarly, a Rolls spokesman refused to say his cars break down. Occasionally, he allowed, they "fail to proceed."

A college student was recently asked by a reporter whether his friends were into drugs. The denied it, but did concede that one or two have "pharmaceutical preferences."

Meanwhile, the U.S. Army has begun to refer to civilian casualties as "collateral damage."

Social workers are getting better at this, too. They rarely use the word "murderer." Instead, their clients have shown "anti-social behavior patterns." A "slum" in their lexicon, is a "culturally deprived area." Poor people are "deprived elements."

I decided to take an assortment of these examples and try stringing them together. Here's how it came out:

"A deprived element showed anti-social behavior yesterday, causing collateral damage to four passers-by. His attorney asked the judge for leniency, explaining his client has pharmaceutical preferences. But he was sent nevertheless to the capital sentences unit where, in two weeks, he will suffer adverse effects. Pre-need arrangements are already being planned."

Most of these examples are amusing, I suppose, but there's a serious side to the truth-in-language issue. Bill Moyers once spoke of it eloquently.

"The great enemy of understanding," he said, "is imprecise language. Yet the pollution of our language spreads everywhere, like great globs of sludge crowding the shores of public thought."

May we all find ever more direct ways to say what we mean.

Love,
Anna Grace

Snow...

Okay, so we all know that driving up Cedar Mountain in a snowstorm without four-wheel-drive is a reeeally stupid idea, yes? Well... in my defense, it didn't look that bad when I started out... Anyway. You know that nice, narrow, windy road that leads up to the "C," and which hugs the side of the mountain so closely that if you look over the edge, you might fall off?

It is also a very bad idea to drive up that road in a snowstorm without four-wheel-drive. I don't really have an excuse for that one...

Anyway. Suffice to say, my happy little pickup started slipping all over the road when the snow started to stick. And you know how once you pass the bridge at the bottom, there isn't any place to turn around until you reach the top?

I made one. And since my pickup was slipping really nicely, it took me several tries to get it to turn enough to turn around and get the heck out of there, during which time, I was completely blocking off the narrow, windy road, and almost backed off the edge of a very... very long drop.

However, I finally managed to get my pickup to slide in the right direction (pointed DOWN the mountain) and made a bid for the bottom. :P No sooner was I NOT blocking off the road, then did some huge, four-wheel-drive Dodge Ram pickup go barreling by me. Nice...

Anyway. I'm alive and slightly wiser for the experience, although it definitely scared the crap out of me.

In other news, I'm back at the office. Bored out of my skull, restless as all get out. I want to GO somewhere. Get in the car and drive... (not up a mountain, obviously). Somewhere. Anywhere. Far away. But I don't know where to go...

Oh well.
Love, Anna Grace

Election... and other things.

Might I just say that I am completely disgusted with politics at this point. On both sides. Or maybe all sides. I should have written in Chuck Norris or something like that. So we have a new president. Woohoo. Not who I would have picked to be certain. But to be honest, if Obama's president, it's because God put him there. I have no doubt. I think he's here to cut down on our complacency. America made the choice, now America must live with it.

I am seeing everywhere the impact of our economy. Several of my favorite restaurants in town have closed down (Mama Chu's... Lupita's...) and the Sunshine Truck Stop, which boasted the lowest priced gasoline in Iron County. The Cedar City Review (newspaper) folded last week, as well. It's sad to see everything changing so much... Businesses closing, and instead of a new one opening up, the building remains dark and empty. I guess that's just how things go.

Today/tomorrow, I go back to my own apartment (which means I will be spending much more time in the office, and at Angie's when I can...). Needless to say, I am not excited about this prospect. I returned last Tuesday night, and within ten minutes of arriving there, was ready to tear my hair out. I left food there. I returned Saturday to find no food there. Nice. Whatever, though. I just need to get a fridge in my room. Except... they go in my room. Open the shades and the window and the door... and the cats parade in and out. My bed is covered in cat hair. Yuck. And it's so abrasive! They're always fighting with somebody, or each other, and the music is always full blast. Hip-hop, rap, and at night it's some discordant wanna-be classical (the same song over and over, every night) that generally involves the same random piano notes over and over. Ugh. I'm done thinking about it. It's my last day, I want to escape for a while.

Anyway. I gotta get back to work.
More later.
--Anna Grace

Fun things...

I don't quite get how a communication professor can be so untutored in the art of communication... So when she told us that she wasn't worried about the format of our midterm papers because she wasn't "OCDC," we thought she was joking or had a slip of tongue. Except she kept saying it. Over and over. "I'm more 'loosey-goosey,' but I know Prof. Husselbee is pretty 'OCDC.'" She assured us again and again that she was not OCDC. We figured she must know what she was talking about. She proably knows something we don't. She's a professor, right?
So we looked it up and we agreed. She definitely is not the Oregon Child Development Coalition. I have decided that I'm going to start going to that class more often, because although it's incredibly boring, her malapropisms are absolutely priceless. This one has had me laughing nearly all day...

Furthermore, none of my contacts for either of my stories have called me back, which means I had a long day of waiting. I couldn't talk to Laura, 'cause she was working on papers and I didn't want to distract her. So I found another method of killing time. It's called "grafitti." Now before you all worry that I may have become a horrible vandal, no fear. It's a computer application on Facebook. People do all these really awesome, incredible drawings on it. And every once in a while, I look at those and think, "dang! I wish I could do that!" And today, I thought... "well... why can't I?" So I did.



I dunno if you can see it really well... But it's the cover-art from a movie called "August Rush," which is all about music, and is absolutely fantastic. You can't see the detail really well... but if you go on Facebook, you can get a stroke-by-stroke replay of its creation. It took forever. But now that it's done, I wanna go do something else... :) But on paper or canvas. 'Cause using a mouse to draw all that stuff reeeeally sucks. :P

More to come!
--Anna Grace

Snow!

There was lots of it today. And I have to say, coming off the pass on the way home from Milford... The snow just made my day (until I went for FREE pizza with Laura and Erika and Jessica and Pearl, 'cause then that made my day again). But we were coming off the pass, and the sun was kind of filtering through the snow, so it was this light haze, and the trees were just sort of appearing as these ghost-like shadows. Everything was close and comfy, surrounded by the snow. Some people would probably have thought it looked dismal (other than the sunlight) but it was really peaceful and calming. This whole day has been making me wish desperately for a camera, because the sun and the snow and the dark clouds and the mist all mixed together just spoke so much about the nature of things, I just couldn't help but want to snap a photo to remember. Even if I'm not crazy about the cold, I do enjoy the snow. Firstly, that snowball in Troy's face was awesome this afternoon... *fond, remembering smile...* Secondly, it's a reminder about how things change, unpredictability in life, and plus it's just plain beautiful.

Anyway. That's my random blab for the moment. :)
More random blabs later.
--Anna Grace

The coming of cold...

It was cold this morning. Really cold. I am still sitting in the newsroom, wearing a thick sweater, my heavy winter coat and a pair of gloves as I type. These nasty little icy reminders that winter is on the way have stolen my normal mode of temporary stress relief. If I'm having a rotten day in the newsroom, I'm pretty good at sneaking out the back door to go sit on the grass and soak up the sun for a few minutes. I kinda didn't think about how much I'd miss that simple little pleasure once the cold set in. I guess now I just have to take more naps underneath my desk...

As much as I dislike winter, and absolutely hate being cold, I am quite looking forward to the first snowfall. Especially lately, the beauty in nature has become extremely important to me. There's nothing like a good snowfall, glittering in the morning sun and gleaming on the mountains to put a sparkle back in someone's eye - however temporary it may be.

So if you see me around, don't be surprised if you stop seeing my actual face... It will be covered in layers. Oh, and it's only October... To think it won't warm up again until April at the soonest! *sigh* As long as I get some good photography out of it, I suppose I can handle it...

Besides, it gives me an excuse to curl up with a blanket and a hot cup of tea to read. And that's a good stress reliever, too...

Urg.

I don't really feel very good tonight. Definitely not helped by having to watch Christiana. Not helped by dad grilling me about his blog. Which is... of course, politics. I hate politics. Hate them. It might have been fine had they not been shoved down my throat with increasing consistency since the beginning of this rotten election. Yeah, leftist-press... Obama's a socialist... whatever. We all know... dirty campaigns... so what else is new? This is politics. Whether anybody wants to admit it or not, both sides play dirty, and it's all just a bunch of power-plays and manueverings to get in the right place at the right time.

I know this election is important, and I do intend to vote. But all the hype surrounding both parties, the accusations that fly on both sides and the mindsets of those so fanatically involved does nothing but increase my indifference and apathy toward our government and politics. That's probably not a good thing, I know. But I am sooooooo sick of all the stupid hype - on both sides.

Feelin' grumpy... :<
--Anna Grace

Monday...

Oh, how I despise Mondays... But the next one shouldn't be too bad. Except for a test in my CSIS class (which I'm not worried about in the slightest), I'm packing up my junk and moving into Joe and Karen's while they're gone. Then, the moment they get back, Laura asked me to go stay at their place while they're gone for a week. I realize I'm fortunate to have a place to stay, but even so, it'll be good to get away for a while.

Anyway. Busy life... school, work... what else is there? I'm going to Off the Cuff (an improv comedy show) tonight for a bit of a break. Ay. And Christiana and her flood of small, loud friends have just invaded the apartment. Fun. I can't wait until bedtime.

More later.
--Anna Grace

I want my invisibility back...

So... what is with the male population of Cedar City today that I'm suddenly interesting to them? It's not like I did anything different, or even looked nice... And did I lose the ever-present "Buzz Off" that's stamped across my forehead or something? Really. I think I need to put that back on...

It's not like I mind or anything, but it's just odd that it should happen from so many people all in one day. Is it International Pull Anna's Leg Day, or what? And really, it's cool. That's fine. But I reeeeeally don't want or need the added aggravation of having a guy hanging around me, especially right now. I totally cannot handle any more drama. Really.

So... thanks, but no thanks. I'd like to become invisible again, if ya'll don't mind. I was so good at it, too...

So... yeah. Go away for about three more years.
--Anna Grace