Yum....Bacon

Well things have definitely flipped around a bit since my last post. I decided to decline the job offer and really looked at community colleges that offered what I was looking for. I refuse to pay an insane amount of money for the same knowledge and experience I'd get at someplace cheaper. 


To my surprise there is a community college in Iowa that looks absolutely amazing. It has everything I want in every aspect and non-residents only pay $10 more per credit hour, which is crazily cheap compared to a lot of the colleges and universities I looked at. It even has on campus housing. There are two other community colleges that I wrote down to keep looking at. One is also in Iowa and the other is in Wyoming. They both appear to be very good, but I really fell in love with the first one. What sucks though is that I'll probably have to wait until next fall to attend due to housing most likely being full. I am definitely going to email them though to make sure and ask whatever other questions I have. 


I am definitely pleased that I have decided to pursue what I love. The main issue is getting to the college and adjusting to not living at home or being near family. It will probably be a major shock, but hopefully I'll be fine. Another problem is paying for it all. The Pell Grant will be able to pay for the classes and books and things like that, but as for housing, that's almost the cost of the classes so I'll have to apply to as many scholarships as I possibly can. 


I've also received two postcards since my last post. This one is from the Netherlands for Postcrossing:





And this one is from Finland for the site Sendsomething.net:





There really isn't much else that has happened. I am actually enjoying Calculus, which blows my mind since all throughout school I absolutely loathed any type of math class. However, I have to take the first test within a week, so we'll see how I'm doing then. I'm in a few postcard swaps right now, so I should have more PC's to post here soon. 


Oh, I've also been playing Pokemon HeartGold and Castlevania for the N64. I am on such a Nintendo kick right now it's ridiculous. Castlevania is surprisingly really fun, but stupidly hard. "HAVE FUN WITH THE INVISIBLE BRIDGE" is pretty much what you can hear the creators saying at one point in the game. With Pokemon I get completely addicted to it and will end up putting way too many hours on it. I just do not know when to put it down, but my lack of a charge cord has already interfered with that. It feels really good to start playing games again.


 Now I just need to start reading all the books I have...

Depressing Post Is Depressing

Since school has started back up I have just felt terrible. I feel like I should just type things out, so I figured I might as well post it here while I'm at it.


The first week of school was pretty much fine. Besides LMC canceling my softball class and forcing me to waste time trying to figure out a new schedule. But forgetting that, you could say that it was normal. Then it was the weekend, which should be nice and relaxing. Well not really for me. I texted my mom on Friday asking about me visiting on Saturday. She usually complains when I don't visit her often, and I didn't have anything planned so I figured I'd head over there. Big mistake.


I don't really remember anything that happened on Friday, so it must have been all good there. I end up going to my moms on Saturday around 2. I couldn't even drive my Oldsmobile since the windshield was foggy and my dad didn't feel like fixing whatever had come loose that prevented the vents from working to defrost it. Ok, that's fine. I took my grandma's car instead, which was probably best for me to take since the wipers work better. 


Well I get to my mom's apartment and walk in. Music is blasting from my brothers room and 3 of his friends are over and they are all (including my mom) playing Monopoly. Oh great, a day that was supposed to be a "family day" has now turned into me dealing with 13-15 year old boys. 


Eventually their game ends and they all go into my brothers room to play video games. That just leaves my mom and I to catch up a bit. Oh boy, that's a bad idea to begin with. Turns out she's still being insanely stupid. I'm definitely not going to go into any detail about what was said to me (or shown to me) but I can guarantee that mothers should not discuss those things with their daughters no matter how old they are or "mature" they are.


I leave after only spending a few hours there since I really don't think I could have handled any more insanity. That day is when things started to turn sour for me. That night I had a terrible time trying to sleep and I kept having major lower back pain. Every night since then has just been me tossing and turning and unable to get a proper nights sleep. Last night I was dead tired and even took a sleeping aid just to make sure I would sleep through the night. That didn't help one bit and that night ended up the same as the rest. Each morning I just feel achy, tired, and depressed. My back hurts constantly and I keep having the worst headaches. It also seems like I'm cursed since everything that can go wrong, has. 


I guess I just don't know what to do. School isn't the problem. I haven't missed a day yet and have been going to my classes and doing the work and so on. It's just the way I feel that I can't tolerate. Another problem is that everything I'm taking at the college is worthless. They have nothing I am interested in and I refuse to just take the "general" requirements classes. I want to do more than that and actually enjoy the classes I'm in. 


Another thing to add to the mix is that I posted an ad on Craigslist stating that I am looking for a horse farm to work at in exchange for being able to ride horses for free. I've had the ad up for a little while now and I've received a response. A horse farm located about an hour away from me is looking for a full time/live in farm hand. Basically I could do the chores on the farm in exchange for a room, utilities, and being able to ride the horses. Now this is something that I would love to do. The problem though is that I'd have to live there, and full time would mean I most likely wouldn't be able to attend college. So on one hand I can stay here and be miserable, or check out the farm and the owners (the farm has a website that I checked out, but being Craigslist I'm obviously still wary) and if that all checks out possibly move up there and gain experience and references for what I actually want to do with my life. 


Another thing that has popped up is that I might possibly be getting a job at the local Qdoba. I was informed by the employees when I went in there the other day that they were hiring, so I filled out an application. They told my to write down that they referred me and the next day I talked to the manager about the position. She wrote my name down so that she'd remember that I came in and talked to her. If they do decided to do interviews it still won't be for a few weeks. I've had the absolute worse luck with jobs, so my hopes aren't too high, but there's still a possibility.


Basically I am just at a loss as to what I should do right now. I really want to move in a positive direction and work towards my ultimate goal, but I'm not sure if that's the correct decision for this moment. I know I'd be a thousand times happier at the farm, but what about my so called "education"? Would it be worth it to put it on hold? Especially since what I want to do doesn't require a college degree? I would love to have an equine major, and Oklahoma State (I believe it is) has something I'd be highly interested in, but there is no way I could possibly attend there without taking out a loan. Is the best option to just wait, build experience, and try to go when I have some money saved? 


I definitely know what I want to do, but I simply don't know if it's the correct choice. I don't want to just sit by and watch opportunities float by either. I want to take action. 


God help me. 

Oh Boy, It's Been A Little While.

I have a lot of stuff to type about, but since I don't really want a huge mass of text for a post I'll most likely shorten things down. I'm also not going to write about everything, since I don't want some of it to be posted on the internet. 


I honestly don't remember what happened during the last week of August. Trying to think about it now, nothing comes to mind or jumps out at me. Starting on September 1st through the 6th I had to dog sit for my cousins. I suppose I was house sitting as well since I basically lived there during that time. The first couple days were great actually, since I was away from my family and didn't have to deal with anyone. It was like a mini-vacation even though I was only three minutes from home. After those days though I felt really sick and stayed at home for the night. My grandma stayed at the house for the next day after and then I spent the last day or two by myself again. 


Taking care of the animals was fine; there was only two Golden Reteiver's and a bunny. The dogs were kind of fun to play with outside. Jersey (The younger dog) is obsessed with tennis balls and fetches quite well. The second to last day I was there I actually brought my dog, a Chihuahua named Tiny, over since they have a fenced in backyard. At first the other two were very curious about him, but then Abby (the older of the two) lost interest and went on to do her thing. For most of the time Tiny would just follow me around, but he eventually got enough courage to explore the yard on his own. 


Here are two pictures of Abby and Jersey playing:








And here's two pictures of my dog, Tiny:








If the quality seems a little off on them, it's because I took them with my new phone. Oh, yeah, I got a new phone on my cousins birthday. That was the 25th of August. I can't believe I forgot about his birthday. He turned 18 and to celebrate we went to this local restaurant called Gershwin's, I think it is, and he tried to take on the their challenge of eating almost a four pound burger in an hour. He was doing very good at first and was half way done before 30 minutes was up. He really slowed down though and when the time was up he had about 1/4 of the burger left. I really can't believe how huge it was. I wish I had some pictures of it.


That night though I got my new phone. It has a qwerty keyboard and takes pictures, video, and you can put a memory card in it to have MP3's as well. It's a really cool and nice phone, but I was having a lot of issues with it, so I had to take it back and exchange it. Calling the company to keep my phone number was a huge ass hassle though. I was on the phone for an hour and of course I got someone who was from India. No offense to anyone, but I could not understand anything he said since he had a thick accent and talked way too quiet. Half the time I was on hold though since he was relaying information back to another "department". I don't understand why he didn't just transfer me to them so I could talk to them myself, but at least it's done with.


College started back up on September 7th, which was a Tuesday. The classes I were going to take was originally Sculpture 1, Intro to Softball, and Calculus 1. From 12:40 P.M. - 4:00 P.M. I have sculpture on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so that was the first class I attended. That was fine and only lasted about an hour and a half since we just went over the syllabus. From 5 P.M. - 6 P.M. is supposed to be Softball on Mon, Tues, Wed, and Thurs. I go to the room where we are supposed to meet at and no one is there. Class is supposed to have started and still, no one is there. I go to the front desk and the lady there says that this happens every year. She calls up the teacher and she's in her office. Somehow she knew who was asking about the class and told me to go meet her in her office. I go down there and she informs me that the class has been cancelled since only six people signed up for it. For some reason they didn't even have the courtesy to email me to tell me that it was cancelled. Each student has a college email address that is available to every teacher, so there was no excuse to not use that. This, of course, screws up my whole schedule since I only wanted to be a 3/4 time student and with that class now gone I was considered a 1/2 time student. 


When I got home I looked through all the one credit courses offered and they were all full since school had already started. I eventually checked out a class called "Total Fitness" which is basically an open gym type thing. I ended up adding that and am now a 3/4 time student again. I actually added a movie class that is only once a week, which would bump me up to a full time student. But since the class is three hours and on a day I have sculpture class, it would greatly interfere with my homework for Calculus. I ended up dropping it the next day. 


It's now the weekend and the first week of classes was pretty alright. Calculus goes by a lot faster than what I expected and sculpture is way too long for my tastes. I have yet to do the Pre-assesment for the fitness class since I have papers to fill out beforehand, but I'm scheduled to attend that on Monday. I just hope that my exercise routine fits in well with everything else I'm doing. So far everything is looking good, and I really hope that it continues in that direction. 


I've received a few things from Postcrossing and Swap-bot as well. Here are the new postcards from Postcrossing:



This one's from a nurse in Germany. 



From an older man in California.



This is my favorite card so far. Those are Dugongs and they are so adorable and derp. 


And here's what I've gotten from Swap-bot. They're all PC's as well:






A German lake. 





I'm definitely going to try to update more frequently, even with school and whatnot. I just don't want to get behind on updating and then have to write an insane amount like this. I'm pretty sure I included everything I wanted, but who knows...I am quite the forgetful person. 

Demo Derby, Postcrossing, and More

Wow, I've received quite a lot of stuff since I've last updated. I think I'll write about what's come in the mail first, although the Demo Derby was absolutely awesome!


Today I received a package for the Love My Cat # 2 swap from Swap-bot. They did an amazing job and it makes me feel bad about what I sent. Now what I sent surpasses the requirements, but it's nowhere near as fancy or neat as what this person accomplished. This is the picture they sent me of their lovely cat:





In what she wrote, she told me that he's a Snowshoe Siamese named KoKo and that he likes to sing while in the bathtub early in the morning. Haha. I wish the pictures I had sent had come out as nice as hers did!


A few days ago I received my first foreign postcard in the mail. It's from Germany and the person who sent it only speaks German, so that's the language the message is in. I could kinda guess what it said, but I used a translator from online to really figure it out. I love foreign languages, so these cards really are special to me. Here's the first one:





My scanner, for some reason, put purple and yellow lines all through the picture so it looks kinda funky. I've also received three other cards from the past few days. One of them is from today even. The first one is from Portugal, the second from the Netherlands, and the last one is the what came in today from Malaysia:











I am definitely enjoying Postcrossing so far and will continue to use it. I actually have four cards that I need to send out still. I was going to do it today, but just had too much to mail out and it was nearing closing time at the post office, so I had to leave with what I had.


The post office is crazy. I need to mail four hardcovers to the same person, but I don't have a box big enough for them all. I figured I would just get a box at the PO and mail them Media Mail that way. NOPE! They wanted me to pay $10.70 for a priority mail box. There is no way I am paying that much for just a box. I'm better off just finding something at home to mail the books in if I can't find a cheaper box. I never realized before today that they didn't have normal boxes to sell.


Saturday was the Demolition Derby at the fair grounds. I haven't seen it in a few years so it was really nice to be able to finally watch it with my dad again. They started a little after 7 P.M. and ended just a bit before 10 P.M. They were going through everything pretty fast, so I actually thought that they were going to end way early, but it turned out lasting till it was supposed to.


I think the first, third, and last matches were the best. At one point there was even a match with trucks and vans and one with garden tractors. People of any age could enter that last one.


There were some pretty cool moments during the derby though. The cars were so loud that my ears hurt for the whole night afterword. There were a few cars that I really thought were going to explode, but the people running the show weren't too worried about it. Twice an engine caught on fire and flames flew straight up into the air from it. Firefighters had to jump in to put it out and the people in the cars would jump out the windows really fast. One time two cars hit head on and sparks flew straight up to the top of the grandstand and back down. In the last match, when there were two cars left, the back end of one of the cars went up onto the hood of the other so the trunk ended up catching on fire that way as well.


Some of the cars would really smoke. When the derby was about half way over there was a car that was almost right in front of us that was smoking like crazy. It was stuck between two other cars that were stalled and so the driver was flooring it to try to push his way out. It smoked up the grandstand so badly that you couldn't see anything. It wasn't fun to breath in either, so a bunch of people left at that point.


There were only two female drivers through the whole thing. I hate that and would love to drive a derby car and smash cars up. Maybe I could ask my neighbors if I can borrow one of their race cars. Haha. The people who put on the event also allowed there to be passengers. The rules were a bit different from the huge derby's as well in that both passenger and driver side doors could be hit. It was basically an "anything goes" type of thing.


During the last match, when there were two cars left, the one that could still steer and stuff backed up into the other one so hard the the back end up it went up onto the drivers side and one of the tires went through the window. The driver of the car that had been hit was fine, but both cars were now kinda stuck. The car on the bottom had lost its steering a while ago and so it hadn't been able to hit any cars. Multiple times the announcer guy said that he would give the drive 10 seconds to hit something or he'd lose. Well...he'd count to two or three and then stop. The crowd got tired of this, so when the disabled car was stuck under the other car and the guy counted down again the crowd continued when he stopped. The announcer didn't really acknowledge this, but shortly after ended the match. Everyone immediately got up the leave and as we were pilling out the announcer declared the guy that should have gotten second, the winner, and the guy that should have won, second. The guy that should have won was so mad that he threw the trophy at the announcer. There were cash prizes, so it was a pretty big deal that he wasn't given first place.


Overall it was really exciting and LOUD. The last match was the loudest and biggest since there were 16 cars crammed into the small space. At some points it was so loud that it was like you weren't even hearing anything anymore.


I'll definitely be trying to attend the Demo Derby each time the Fair rolls around.

Terrible Day

Today has been an absolutely awful day. I spent at least 4 hours this morning trying to figure out classes and stuff for college. I'm really trying not to overload myself, but I'm also going out on a limb by taking Calculus 1. I actually shouldn't be able to take the class since I haven't taken the ones that come before it, but apparently my ACT scores in math were high enough to allow me to skip the other math classes and head straight into Calculus. I'm not a fan of math at all, but I'd eventually need to take it since it's a basic requirement and I would like to challenge myself a little bit. If I hate it within the first few days I can always drop it and take a lower course.

After I finally registered and what not for college I then did an online application for a job at the hospital here. That was the WORST application I have ever had to fill out. It had my put in just about everything, including my drivers license number and the license plate number on my car. It then had me put a cover letter and my resume on it as well even though I had already filled in the exact same information. After I submitted it, it had me answer even more questions before it finally freed me from its clutches.

I actually got to relax a little bit after that. Made a run to the post office to mail off a book and a DVD. Then I headed over to the college to pick up the Calculus textbook I need. Turns out they are currently out of stock, so I'll have to call the bookstore in a few days to see if they have any. I really don't understand why they wouldn't have any books considering the class is only about half full at the moment.

After that annoyance I headed over to a little fast food restaurant by my house called Mr. Goody's to get a smoothie. I was told by the cashier that they don't have them today...I have no idea how that is possible.

I finally get home and see that I have some books from Paperbackswap. One of the packages was ripped, but luckily the books inside were fine. Can't say the same for the other book. The wrapping on the hardcover book was completely fine, but when I opened it there was clearly water damage, and the inside of the dust jacket had obvious water stains and looked like it had mold growing on it. This is definitely against the rules of PBS, so I'll have to mark the book as "received with a problem."

Hopefully things will turn out ok in the sense that I'll finally have a job again. I swear it's nearly impossible to find a job in this town. Even Burger King isn't hiring; trust me, I've tried.

First Swaps

I have completed and received a few swaps in the past few days. Two have been electronic swaps, and two have been a mail swap. One was a coloring swap where we had to color one page and send it with an uncolored page to our partner. Each person had two partners. I also received a postcard today from my Basic Postcard Swap partner. Since today was cooled off enough I was able to scan the pictures. 



This is the colored picture I received from a member of the Character Coloring Swap.



This is another colored picture I received from the same swap as above. 



This is the uncolored picture I received from the same person that colored the one above. 



This is the PC I received for the Basic Postcard Swap.


Since I have completed five swaps and have a good rating I was able to host my first swap. It's called What's Your Favorite Animal? and in it you draw your favorite animal with whatever you want, however you like. You also write a note/letter about why you like that animal so much. I also made an optional thing where you can include some information about the animal as well. I figured I could make it a little educational...especially since I'm allowing people's children to be involved. So far 6 people have joined the swap and 18 people are watching it, which is more than I thought already. 


So far four of the five postcards I sent out about two weeks ago have made it to their destinations. The ones that have been received so far went to: Taiwan, Netherlands, Germany, and Finland. The one to Australia has yet to arrive, but I bet it will within the next few days. Four more people have been assigned to me from: USA, Taiwan, Netherlands, and Spain. Hopefully the next country I'm assigned will be Italy. Since my cards have been received I was put into the system to be sent a card. So hopefully I'll be getting a few in the mail within the next few weeks. 


I mailed out a few things today as well. I had to wrap five books, which took forever. Three of them are going to the same person so I was able to wrap them as a group instead of individually. I ended up not having an envelope big enough for them though so I had to wrap them in the brown wrapping paper type stuff. I also mailed two envelopes; one was for Swap-bot, while the other is to a personal friend. 


I also received several things today. Three were books; two from the same person. There was also a letter swap and then the postcard. The two books were wrapped in a plastic bag and then printer paper. The paper was half ripped and just hanging there when I got the package. Good thing they had used the plastic or else the books probably would have been damaged. 


Updated on 8/15/10 with pictures. 

Sites That I've Been a Part Of

These are several of the sites that I have been a part of longer than the ones in my last post. The first two sites I have been a part of for around a year and a half, while the last one I have only been a part of for three and a half months. 


Paperbackswap.com





This is definitely the site that I have used the most. Basically you post the books that you would like to get rid off onto your "Bookshelf." Members of the site are then able to order your books. If your book has been wishlisted by someone it will be put on hold so that the member can accept it. They have a certain amount of time to accept before it either goes to the next person in line or back to your "bookshelf." 


When someone requests one or more of your books you are then prompted to accept or reject the order. The normal amount of time given to mail a book is two days, but there is an option to extend that date. If you accept the order you are then able print off a label with the recipients address on it. After you mail the book you then have to click a button indicating that you have done so. It is your responsibility to pay postage for the books you send. Most books are mailed media mail, which costs $2.38 unless the package weighs past a pound; then it will cost $2.77 and so on and so forth. 


When your book is received the member will mark it as such and one credit will be added to your account. With that credit you are able to order any book you like. If it is on someone's shelf you may order it immediately, if not you can then wishlist it. There is also a "reminder list" for books that are in the system that you want to keep track off, but do not currently wish to order. 


So far, I have received 97 books and have mailed out 73. There are also forums and a chat on this site so that you can interact with other members. This site is only available to people in the United States.

Swaptree.com





On this site you can trade more than just books. You are also able to trade movies, video games, and music CD's. Just like with the other site, you list what you would like to get rid off. However, with this site you must create a "wishlist" of things that you would like to own. If a person posts something that you would like to have and they have something that you posted on their wishlist, then you may swap with them. When you receive your item you must then rate the other member either as "postitive," "neutral," or "negative." You are also able to leave a comment at this point. 


The system also sets up three-way trades where the person you are sending to is not the same person you are receiving from. Also, all parties involved in the swap must accept it before addresses are visible. If everyone accepts then you may print out a label. Once you accept a swap you CAN NOT cancel it, so make sure that you have the item. 


When you first join you are limited to the number of swaps that you can become involved in, but the more you swap, the higher that number climbs. I have completed 38 swaps using this site.


King.com





This site is all about playing games. Currently there are 119 games, with more being added frequently. When you first join you create an avatar and have a mini-profile type page. You can play whatever game you wish; some are single player, while others include multiple members. Each game gives you "jewels" which are basically experience points. If you are playing a multi-player game the winner is usually awarded the most jewels. Whenever your jewels reach a certain number you basically level up. This unlocks avatar items, website functions, and profile items. 


With your profile you are able to build a "castle" with stars that you acquire from getting certain scores in single player games. The rest you have to unlock, but when you do you are given a guestbook that people can leave comments in, able to send "gifts" and challenges (basically a bunch of people that play a single player game trying to get the highest score), send messages to members, and register yourself with a town. 


My top three games that I play are Dice King, Quiz Queen, and Pool. The first is Yahtzee, but with a different name that can have up to four players. The second is a quiz game where your score is based on how fast you answer a question correctly. This game also goes up to four players. The last one can only have two players and is self explanatory. 


Some games you can not play based on the laws of your state. For example: I live in Michigan and am not allowed to play any of the card games.  


Here are my usernames for each site:


PBS = Apollyn
Swaptree = Caligistic
King = Aryce_72