www.calapitter.net

Turns out I didn't have to work this weekend so I went to Bloomington to see Drew, which was really nice. We watched some movies and went to a wedding (a couple of young people from Drew's church were getting married: Ben and Michal, pronounced like Michael but she is the girl, are each a child of a pastor and their fathers conducted the ceremony) and church and mini-golfing (which I suck at but found entertaining -- and I even got a hole-in-one on accident). Among the movies we watched were The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (disappointing) and Suspect Zero (incomprehensible).

Yesterday my family and I went to see Madagascar, Dreamworks' newest animated kids flick, and I loved it. The lemurs and penguins were my favorite part, and to tell the truth, Ben Stiller and Chris Rock (who play main characters Alex the Lion and Marty the Zebra) are irritating and distracting. Don't even get me started on David Schwimmer's portrayal of the neurotic, hypochondriac giraffe named Melman. The only one of the "Giant Freaks" that was tolerable was Gloria the Hippo (Jada Pinkett Smith), if only because she didn't blab s'darn much. It must be repeated that those penguins and lemurs are brilliant, and I will buy this movie, when it is released, simply because of King Julian, Maurice, Mort (the smallest squirrely guy with the one tooth), and those plotting penguins.

Today, however, my brother and I and Tim and Jake saw The Longest Yard. Sad, sad. I had seen Mean Machine, an English remake of the same movie. I liked the latter much better. This was the second time in as many days to be disappointed by Chris Rock (not that my expectations of him were very high). Adam Sandler also was rather pathetic.

Okay. Enough reviewing movies.

Remember how my plan was to redesign? Well, I am still working on it, though what I have going is not exactly what I wanted. It's colorful, which is my goal, but I think I'll get tired of it quickly. I'm actually thinking about breaking out an old layout of mine, revising it, and using it, if/when I tire of the layout I have in the works now.

Don't forget about my eBay auctions, if you didn't go look earlier. There's only a day and a half left on the auctions; I'd like to get these out the door, if possible. I might be selling a few more things in the future -- maybe a hat or two, some books; I'll let you know if that happens.

I've been looking over my pamphlets for some of the B&BW collections and trying to get a little more comfortable with the products, but it is highly confusing -- and don't even get me started on trying to remember the prices of things. I thought it might be good to try to learn some prices before I go in and actually have to know what I'm talking about (hopefully not soon), but it's a lot of information and I have begun to choke.

I do know a few things, however. COBigelow skin tonics at $15.00 each, the Lotio Mentholus is $25.00, the breath mints are $4.00 a tin, and most lip care products are about $7.50. I know COBigelow's color scheme indicating what type of skin the product is for: green = dry, red = normal-to-dry, blue = normal to oily, orange = very oily. I know that in the Le Couvent de Minimes collection, the Acacia and Lavender Soothing Body Milk (which I love) is $16.00, all the Extra Gentle Bath Soaps are $4.50, and the Perfumed Sachets are each $10.00. So that is a start.

That's probably kind of boring for you guys, but it's good review for me. Tomorrow, bright and early at 8:00 AM (before the store even OPENS!), is register training. If I don't have to work this weekend (which I'll find out tomorrow at some point), I want to go to Bloomington to see my Drew. It's been almost 3 weeks, which isn't a very long time, but it's certainly more than I want to spend away from him.

Express (another Limited brand, along with B&BW) called today to offer me an interview. I'll call them back tomorrow.

I have a few things for sale on eBay: please go take a look and please, if you want it and aren't willing to pay the lowest bid price, send me a message on eBay and I'll lower the initial bid if I can. Thanks, guys.

Oh, by the way, after Monday's orientation, I went to the Limited next door to B&BW to get some more work clothes, as I really only had one pair of pants and my shirt was deemed unacceptable (too casual?--a plain black short sleeve scoopneck from the Limited -- WHATEVER), so I went and spent $90 on a pair of "Drew fit" cropped pants (less than 6 inches above the ankle) and a white blouse with a collar and a camisole to go under it.

Hmm. I don't think I'm actually cool enough to be using the verb 'chillax'. Chill .. or relax. Not chillax. Oh well.

I feel like I'm sitting around being a slug and not doing much, even though I know it's not really true. I woke up around 9:30 and dorked around the house (watching ER/Montel/Jerry Springer and having a little breakfast) until 11:00. I spent around half an hour psyching myself up, and then I went to the Y around 11:45. While exercising, I studied one of my product pamphlets so I can be a little more comfortable when I actually have to be selling this stuff. After I came home and ate lunch (McDonalds.. unfortunately cancelling out whatever calories I burned during the workout), and then cleaned the kitchen hardcore until about 4:35. Mom got home to admire my handiwork about 10 minutes later, and then there was pizza, and then I sat around watching Tivo (Law & Order: Criminal Intent, SNL with Lindsey Lohan & Coldplay, most of Identity) until now.

I read my buddy Laura's post about how sentimental she's been feeling, and I regret how dry and uninteresting my posts have been lately. I'll try to get my juices flowing again soon. I'm just dry lately. :-\

Yesterday my family went to witness my brother get baptized and voted into his new church. It was really nice to see how he felt at home, and how much these people liked him and really accepted him. He certainly has the reputation of being an uber-intelligent and inquisitive young man, but also of being super sweet and just a good boy. Of course, they're right to think that.

Then I worked out.

I figured out how to make Drew's picture the background on my phone!

I am in love with him and I am happy to get to look at him when I open my phone.

Yesterday was absolute busy-ness insanity: after going to the license office on Wednesday to try to renew my license plates and discovering that I couldn't because of some bureaucratic crap about odd and even years and needing safety and emissions papers, I decide to dedicate part of my Thursday to taking care of that. Unfortunately, it ended up being most of my Thursday.

I started off with emissions test, which went off easily, without a hitch. $24, check. The safety inspection was more tedious: around 11:30, I dropped off my car at the store where they were going to do it and walked to a nearby McDonalds for lunch. Thankfully I had brought my Lorca book, so I ate and read. And then it turned 1:00 and I was a little tired of Lorca, so I bought a newspaper and sat outside the safety inspection place, because it was a nice day--a little warm, but a great breeze. Eventually I went inside to ask how much longer it would be but decided to just sit down and watch As the World Turns, which I've never seen before, in the little waiting lounge area. There was an older lady there too, reading a part of the newspaper, but I didn't pay much attention to her (being so engrossed in the plot of As the World Turns) until she spoke up and started a conversation with me about the outdoors.

She first told me how she was tired because she had spent most of the morning watering and weeding her garden, and I asked her what kind of a garden she had, and she said that it was just a few peppers and tomatoes, because she wanted to make pepper relish later on. Somehow the conversation turned to hummingbirds and how she put out sugar-water (but it has to be in the shade or it'll sour) (and it can't get ants in it because ants give off a certain smell and hummingbirds will have nothing to do with ant-smell). She got started telling me about squirrels but by then it was 2:00 and my car was ready, so I got up and told her to have a nice day. $12, check.

I went to the license bureau again, and this time I had everything in order, but I was 20th in line so it did take a little more than an hour to get my two-year renewal on my license plates. $49.50, check.

After that my brother called, and we went to see Star Wars Episode III, which was good. He was very excited to be seeing it; when we found out that there were tickets available for the 4:15 show, he actually hissed a "YESSSS!" and started humming the theme song until I shushed him into silent reverence and made him buy the concessions: for $14, we got a jumbo tub of popcorn, two drinks (with plastic Star Wars Episode III cups--I got Yoda, Ty got Anikin/Vader), and a bag of M&Ms. The concessions guy said, "Enjoy your movie and may the Force be with you." I enjoyed the movie, but I think I'll need to see it again to really savor it. Maybe I'll make my family take me again tonight. After the movie, I dropped my brother off at his car and he drove home and I drove to the Y.

During the workout, the serious weight-lifter guys were all about giving me tips. "Lower the seat on that bicep machine so you can actually get the action in your bicep muscle, rather than straining your elbows" (which I was actually struggling with, I guess he saw that). Another guy gave me kind of a hard time while I was doing leg curls, asking me how much weight I had on there and why I was doing so many: "You should only be doing 20 reps". I'm less willing to take his advice, since he is a guy. Men get fit differently than women do. They want muscle (lots of weight, small # of reps), whereas I just want to burn fat (less weight, more reps). Plus it's my fitness routine, what does he care?

After the workout, I was pooped, but I went home and my mom made me waffles for dinner, which was great. Then I took a nice long bath with Moonlight Path Shower Gel from Bath & Body Works; that was actually a Mother's Day gift from my brother but she said it was okay. And I felt much better afterward.

Today, I basically sat around until 1:00, when I decided to go work out.

I might have done too much today, I can feel a little twinge in my left elbow, extending up toward that bicep. I'll be taking it easy. I learned my lesson. I soaked in a hot bath, and now I'm just relaxing, because I have earned it. I have no evening plans, except maybe that Star Wars thing possibly with the family, though it is a Friday night and everyone and their mom will be at the theaters tonight. I guess that doesn't matter so much, if you get there early enough. I kind of like the feeling of a full audience.

I'm tired of typing, but I have been listening to a lot of NPR lately and they've been saying interesting things: why Star Wars and similar stories provoke such cult audiences and so much fan participation (and what philosophies are contained in the stories)... comments about the Luis Posada terrorist case (I'm not very sure on this one because the host kept trying to rush his guests and callers to get to their point--I had to turn it off because the host was so irritating) ... questions as to whether South Koreans' improved hand dexterity owing to chopstick use has aided their lab skills in their advancement of cloning technology. It's all very interesting.

Rosco likes grapes. So do I, but only Rosco makes a precious face when he eats them.

I hit a lizard in the road today. I felt sorry for it.

More importantly than either of those tidbits, I got hired at the Crestwood Bath and Body Works. Woot. At $6.70 an hour, I won't be rakin' in the big bucks (or what I have been spoiled into thinking big bucks are.. *cough*..Ameren), but it's employment. There's always wishful thinking: maybe I'll get a two-month internship offered me at the end of June and I can take that on, and adjust my Bath and Body Works hours accordingly. That'd be neat.

Yesterday I had my Bath and Body Works interview, which was weird because it was in a group of 5--all of us being interviewed at the same time, taking turns answering questions. Sitting in the last chair, I got to go last for each question, which gave me time to think about my answers and how to make it sound really good. It felt like cheating.

What felt even more like cheating was doing my other Bath and Body Works interview today at 3:00 (at South County), though I did get to meet a nice girl named Kathleen who goes to Mizzou. She's basically in the same situation I am in: home from college, have car payments, must work. She even knew a girl who goes to Rhodes.

To make myself not cheat too much for the first interview, I volunteered to do the first 'demo': where you offer a 'customer' (in my case, Sandy, the Indian woman and fellow applicant for the job) a product to try out. It was a little awkward, but they weren't checking sales technique--just making sure we wouldn't spazz if we had to physically touch another human being. And it's all right because I'm down with that.

I also sort of froze on a question on the interview today: What do you do if a customer becomes upset because, say, their coupon is expired, and they cannot be satisfied with anything I offer or am permitted to do? *Shrug* Apologize and point their attention toward other sales? It seems so obvious now. "Well, you would get a manager, so that they don't try to get away with anything tricky with a more inexperienced sales associate, and so you don't get in trouble", Jenn (the interview-giver and manager) said. And Kathleen had such a good answer, too: "I would just attempt to stay calm, and keep it like a conversation; make sure the customer didn't feel threatened or accused of anything." Sigh. Brilliant.

I'm supposed to hear from both of the South County stores by next Tuesday at the latest, and I also have a Gap interview tomorrow at 2:00. I hope I get one of these three jobs, though I think I would enjoy the Bath and Body Works experience more than the Gap. I guess we'll see what happens.

I just started my new summer workout program. As I left the Y, I noticed that I had a voicemail; I called and it was Bath and Body Works, wanting an interview, so I set one up for 5:00 tonight. I hope I get the job. Either there or the Gap. Or both.

Money money money money! Money!

Also, I have a new layout in the works, but I don't want to rush it, because it is summer, and I want it to be really good.

UPDATE AT 3:50PM: Thank goodness for the other Bath and Body Works (the one from South County) calling to ask me for an interview tomorrow, much to my confusion, thinking that I already had an interview booked there for tonight.. But eventually realizing that it was the Crestwood one that wanted me, and many thanks to the graciousness of the manager from South County, saying that if it didn't work out at Crestwood, I could get in touch with her. And the Gap still hasn't called. I expect them to, tomorrow.

I stole this thing from Kalen's LiveJournal. Movies that I have seen in their entirety are bold, and movies that I have seen part of are italicized.

001. Godfather, The (1972)
002. Shawshank Redemption, The (1994)
003. Godfather: Part II, The (1974)
004. Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, The (2001)
005. Schindler's List (1993)
006. Citizen Kane (1941)
007. Casablanca (1942)
008. Seven Samurai (1954)
009. Star Wars (1977)
010. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
011. Memento (2000)
012. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
013. Rear Window (1954)
014. Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, The (2002)
015. Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
016. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
017. Usual Suspects, The (1995)
018. Amelie (2001)
019. Pulp Fiction (1994)
020. North by Northwest (1959)
021. Psycho (1960)
022. Silence of the Lambs, The (1991)
023. 12 Angry Men (1957)
024. Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
025. It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
026. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)
027. Goodfellas (1990)
028. American Beauty (1999)
029. Vertigo (1958)
030. Pianist, The (2002)
031. Sunset Blvd. (1950)
032. Apocalypse Now (1979)
033. Some Like It Hot (1959)
034. Matrix, The (1999)
035. To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
036. Taxi Driver (1976)
037. Third Man, The (1949)
038. Paths of Glory (1957)
039. Fight Club (1999)
040. Boot, Das (1981)
041. L.A. Confidential (1997)
042. Double Indemnity (1944)
043. Chinatown (1974)
044. Requiem for a Dream (2000)
045. Maltese Falcon, The (1941)
046. Singin' in the Rain (1952)
047. Bridge on the River Kwai, The (1957)
048. Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi (2001)
049. Saving Private Ryan (1998)
050. All About Eve (1950)
051. M (1931)
052. Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)
053. Raging Bull (1980)
054. Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)
055. Se7en (1995)
056. Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon (2000)
057. Wizard of Oz, The (1939)
058. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
059. Vita e bella, La (1997)
060. American History X (1998)
061. Sting, The (1973)
062. Touch of Evil (1958)
063. Manchurian Candidate, The (1962)
064. Alien (1979)
065. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
066. Rashemon (1950)
067. Leon (1994)
068. Annie Hall (1977)
069. Great Escape, The (1963)
070. Clockwork Orange, A (1971)
071. Treasure of the Sierra Madre, The (1948)
072. Reservoir Dogs (1992)
073. Sixth Sense, The (1999)
074. Jaws (1975)
075. Amadeus (1984)
076. On the Waterfront (1954)
077. Ran (1985)
078. Braveheart (1995)
079. High Noon (1952)
080. Fargo (1996)
081. Blade Runner (1982)
082. Apartment, The (1960)
083. Aliens (1986)
084. Toy Story 2 (1999)
085. Strangers on a Train (1951)
086. Modern Times (1936)
087. Shining, The (1980)
088. Donnie Darko (2001)
089. Duck Soup (1933)
090. Princess Bride, The (1987)
091. Lola rennt (1998)
092. City Lights (1931)
093. General, The (1927)
094. Metropolis (1927)
095. Searchers, The (1956)
096. Full Metal Jacket (1987)
097. Notorious (1946)
098. Manhattan (1979)
099. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
100. Graduate, The (1967)

The beginning of summer. That means that I am looking for a job. So far.. I've applied to Ameren UE (my awesome job from last year--which is turning out to be a disappointing dead-end this summer), Enterprise Rent-a-car for an internship, two other internships with business connections of my mom, Borders, Victoria's Secret, American Eagle, Aeropostale, Bath and Body Works, Express, Charlotte Russe, the Gap, and probably a couple others I am forgetting. I had an interview with the Gap today but one of the managers left from work sick so they didn't have enough managers to do interviews today so they'll be getting back to me.

I considered briefly today going waaaay downtown (33.3 miles) to Metro One Telecommunications because they would pay $10/hr for me to be a 411 operator, but considering the high gas prices (making my daily gas expense a little more than $5.00), it'd hardly be advantageous, putting all those extra miles on my car. If push comes to shove, though, I might be tempted to go there.

For now, I'm going to make myself presentable and go to the other mall (Crestwood) to see if I can't stir up some prospects there; possibly I will buy a newspaper for the Help Wanted section.

UPDATE: I went to Crestwood today, but I was sort of a chicken. I only picked up six applications from stores there today (Victoria's Secret, The Limited, Buckle, Aeropostale, Waldenbooks, and Bath and Body Works), for whatever reason. I completed those tonight and I'll be taking them back tomorrow. Hopefully the Gap people (Emily or Bryan) will call and set up an interview. Hopefully lots of people will call to set up interviews, offering me lots of money.

Intro to Econ ................ A
Search Philosophy ........ A-
Music of Latin America .. A
Astronomy ................... A
Astronomy Lab ............ A
Intro to Spanish Lit ....... A

In case you're wondering, that means a semester GPA of 3.94, with a happy little GPA of 3.74.

I'll tell you who. Here's an email from my Econ professor, Marshall Gramm.

--------------------------------------------------------

Becky,

Great work on the 101 final exam. You got a 94.5 which translated to a
110.5 after the big curve. In fact no one else scored above 100. Not that it means anything but that excellent performance pushed you all the way to class salutatorian (100.3 average for the course). Have a good summer and see you next fall in 102.

MG

--------------------------------------------------------

Class salutatorian as in I got the second-best grade out of everyone that took the class. Not as in, the class of 2007. Nevertheless, I am quite pleased with that performance, because if you remember, I was in the depths of an upper respiratory viral infection and self-medicating with large amounts of Dayquil. Consider me proud of myself.

It's pretty weird in here right now. Most of the stuff is packed away. My heels hurt from not wearing shoes as I walked around the room and stood up for hours. This reminds me of my post from January 9th, when I had just moved back in after Christmas vacation--but this is a very melancholy quiet. I know it's because the people that I love are going away--some for only 3 months (with visits), and some for a year plus.

It's going to be difficult. But I have goals for this summer (which will have to commence AFTER I unwind for a couple days): work out like nobody's business, earn money and save it, buy some new underwear, learn some Portuguese, and see Drew as many times as I can. Hopefully I'll keep busy enough to stay out of trouble.

I've taken four of my five exams: Econ, Search Philosophy, Astronomy, and Spanish. All that is left is my Music of Latin America final, and I want to stress two things: 1.) I am SO nervous about that one.. and 2.) I BETTER FEEL BETTER BY THEN OR HEADS ARE GONNA ROLL because I cannot emphasize how much it sucks to try and take exams with an Upper Respiratory Viral Infection*.

The sooner I can get over this the better; I miss being able to kiss my boyfriend. :(

*Since it's viral, they can't treat the infection, only the symptoms. And for some strange reason, all the medicines they gave me taste SO BAD. I have Liquibid-D in oral form, and it tastes and smells like somebody's nasty feet. I also got an Albuterol inhaler for some reason--it doesn't appear to be helping anything, but I don't know how much worse I'd be if I hadn't been using it. But the inhaler stuff tastes nnnnaasty and it makes your heartbeat accelerate and your hands shake. This whole experience just sucks.

While organizing my Search Philosophy notes, I found that I had written down the things that some people had said the second day we were studying the Danish philosopher, Søren Kierkegaard.

"Asa has to get in touch with his feminine side." -Duvall

"Hey, Scott, do you feel like an androgynous abyss today?" -Prof. Reed

"You have to keep your metabolism up because it's freakin' cold! Possibly eat some Danish pastries?" -Prof. Reed

"What are you talking about, you crazy man?" -Duvall

And a few others, from later on:

"It's called middle school, not junior high!" -Kaveh

"You are totally not a veg!" -Caitlyn

I'm the kind of person that doctors go "Huh" at, when I go see them. For one thing, my blood pressure is abnormally low: something like 100/75 or a little lower. I also almost never reach the normal human temperature of 98.6 degrees: I usually hover around 96.5 degrees.

But I woke up this morning, feeling like my feet were baking, and the ring of my t-shirt drenched in sweat, I decided to take my temperature. It read 100.2 degrees. I was sort of shocked. So I got up and brushed my teeth and stuff and took it again: 99.8 degrees.

So I have spent this morning loading on up Dayquil and trying to sleep, all the while generating massive amounts of sweat and wondering if I REALLY have to take this Econ exam today. :( I guess I do.

Today was supposed to be the day of working: studying for the Econ exam (tomorrow at 1:00) and preparing for the Search study session (tomorrow at 9:45 pm). Unfortunately, I woke up at 11:00 this morning, thinking, "Whoa. My head weighs about 15 pounds more than it used to.. oh, hey. What a delight, that I can no longer breathe, since my nose and throat are cloggged up with whatever concrete like mucus has decided to move in." It's been great, I promise. I took some Contac Cold/Sinus, but it didn't work, and even though it said Non-Drowsy, about an hour after I took it, I slept for an hour. That could have been the Sartre I was attempting to read (since I neglected it while I was writing that 10-page paper), but it has induced the cloudy semi-awakeness that only medicine does.

Happily (sort of), there will be an Econ study meeting tonight at 10, led by Prof. Gramm, so I am glad I don't have to do all the Econ reviewing on my own (especially the material covered around that weird transition time between Prof. Peters and Prof. Gramm). I look back at the test that Prof. Peters gave us and I realize that really none of it makes much sense to me. Tremendously difficult, for that early in the semester. I wonder how this semester would've turned out if she had stayed: whether I would've ended up learning so much more in depth than the lessons that Prof. Gramm has taught, or whether I would've spazzed out and learned like nothing. I'm leaning toward the second one. I think I'll get back to work now.

UPDATE: I wish my mom were here to bring me food to my bed, and to feel my forehead and tell me that I don't feel warm (because running a temperature for me is hitting 98.6 degrees.) And I wish my dad were here to kick the butts of those smokers outside who make my room smell bad.