Update

I just thought I would update since I haven't written anything for a while. Not too much is going on though. Well, no, a lot is going on but it's a lot of the same stuff and none of it is exciting. I go to school 4 days a week, work 3 or 4 days a week and that's about it. I don't have a lot of time to do much of anything else.

One of my classes is called digital media essentials and basically we're just getting a quick look at a lot of different programs, like photoshop, premiere, flash, illustrator and what not. It's a lot of fun. So far we've done a lot of stuff and the thing I'm most proud of would probably be my ecard that I made. Not that it's hallmark quality but it's pretty good for never animating anything before. I like it. It's actually my favorite class which is weird because I have a photography class and that's what I'm getting my associates in but I don't like my teacher so that puts a damper on things.

Other than that, school and work I mean, I'm going camping in a few weeks with some friends. We're going up right next to Yellowstone, literally about 10 or so miles from the border of the park. It's going to be so much fun. For sure I'm taking my new camera up with me (Nikon D60) so I'll be putting up pictures from that trip up when we get back. It's going to rock. I'm so excited.

I Got Tagged

Rules:

A. Post the rules
B. Answer all the questions about yourself
C. After you are done posting, tag 5 people

1. What were you doing 10 years ago?
In 1998 I was 11 years old, enjoying the summer off of school before I started at the big scary middle school. No really, it was scary. The thing was about 100 years old and I swear it could have collapsed at any minute when we were all in there.

2. 5 things on your to do list today:
1. Go to class
2. Deep clean my bathroom
3. Clean my room
4. Visiting teaching
5. Concert in the Park

3. 5 snacks you enjoy:
1. Ice cream
2. Gold fish
3. Popcorn
4. Chips and salsa
5. Fresh peaches during the summer

4. What would you do if you suddenly became a millionaire?
I would pay off my debt first, put half to three quarters in savings, buy a car and then travel!

5. 3 bad habits:
1. Procrastinating homework, although I'm getting better.
2. Not keeping my room clean
3. Impulse shopping

6. 5 places I've lived:
1. Canvas, WV
2. Gillette, WY
3. Ely, NV
4. Parker, CO
5. Rexburg, ID (but there's more...Katy, TX, Springfield, IL, and Salt Lake City, UT and Heide, Germany. Thanks for filling most of that out for me, Jeanne!)

7. 5 jobs I've had:
1. Dan Jones and Associates
2. Dollar Zone
3. Western Wats
4. Tagge's Famous Fruit
5. Teacher's Assistant (And there are a few more jobs I could throw in there...)

8. 5 things people don't know about me:
1. One of my goals is to drive all of Route 66
2. I'll only drink vitamin D milk if it's chocolate
3. Deep water terrifies me
4. I'm afraid of the dark
5. I have to have noise when I'm falling asleep, music or a fan or something.

Well that's it, that was quick and painless. I guess I tag whoever reads this, I don't think many people really get on here any more...

Worked Out

Just a little update to my last blog of frustration about school. After going in to talk to advisors Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday (being frustrated, then calm, then frustrated to tears) we finally got things worked out. The advisor I talked to Tuesday and Wednesday was very helpful and actually went in to talk to the Visual Art and Design (VAD) department head for me since I was always at work. Then on Thursday he called me up and said after talking to the department head that everything was going to work out, the teacher would let me in to the earlier class and all I had to do was show up to the end of the class and talk to the teacher. So that's what I did.
I went to the school right after we let the kids go and got there for the last 15 minutes or so of the class. After the lecture ended I talked to the teacher and she put my name on the roll, gave me the syllabus and told me to see about registering over the weekend. I then asked her if her email address was on the syllabus and she said "No. I guess I should think about adding that some time. Here, let me look it up for you, I'll give you my address through the school." She then started typing on the computer.... I waited.... She typed some more.... I still waited.... Finally she gave in and gave me her person email address. I couldn't believe it, this is the teacher that is teaching a digital media essentials class and she doesn't even know her own email address. Wow! No wonder I had problems getting into the class! But I'm in now and that's all that matters.
Oh yeah and around 3:45 that same afternoon, the VAD department head gave me a call to see if I had gotten things straightened out. How nice of him to call me two days later. Sheesh!

Before It All

Summer semester starts Wednesday. If you had asked me a week ago I would have told you I was way excited for the term to start. Ask me now and I'll tell you how frustrating things have gotten with SLCC. I registered within days of the opening day, it may have even been the day registration opened for me, and I have been ready for this for the past month. Now, in the final days I am so mad at SLCC it's not even funny.
I got online earlier today to check I had written down the right times in all three places that I put my schedule down and to get the class room numbers written down. As I did this I realized that my photography and digital media essentials classes were no longer at the times I had originally signed up for. Not only were they not the right time but not even the right day! They switched from Tuesday and Thursday to Monday and Wednesday, not that it's really that big of a deal but the real kicker is that they are now both at the very same exact time as well. How the heck do they expect me to be in two places at once?!
There is another digital media essentials class I could potentially sign up for because it says there is still one spot left but there is no check box by the class. I don't get it. And if I can't sign up for that class I don't know what to do, I'll have to drop one of the two and find a different class that is offered at this start point seeing as how the semester actually started May 12th. The problem with that is most of the classes will be full by now since it's so close to the start of the term.
This begs me to ask, WHY WAS I NOT INFORMED?! Who decided to switch people's schedules and not tell the students that signed up for them? Why are all the professors listed for this one class not listed in the employee directory making it near impossible to contact them? I don't think I would be quite as frustrated if I had just been told that my classes were going to change. When my German class was changed my professor called me personally and left a voice mail informing of the time change, giving me her phone number and email address if there was any problem and also telling me which text book to get and which chapters we would be using throughout the semester. It was a long message, but I'm sure she called all the students enrolled in the class and told them of the change. Now granted that was a while ago and there probably weren't as many people but how hard would it be to get all of our email addresses and send out a mass email saying, "By the way your class has been changed from TR 2-4:30pm to MW 5-10pm. If that is a problem please contact ______. Sorry for any inconvenience." Or, "By the way your class has been changed from TR 5-9pm to MW 5-10:15pm. If that is a problem please contact _______. Sorry for any inconvenience." Would that really be so hard? Apparently, it is. And how both classes were extended so long I don't know. I hope it's just a glitch in the computer and everything will be fixed in the morning.

Will this nightmare never end?

So much for that...

Well apparently I didn't get any better about writing in this blog, so just get over it. I'll post when I feel like it. Actually I think a big reason as to why I don't write on this too often is because I hardly get on the computer, I have my phone to check my email and facebook and myspace and google things and yeah... computers are kinda old fashioned. Desktops any way. There are plenty of times when I've been down in my room and wanted to get on the computer but didn't because that would require me to go upstairs and sit in the office which is right next to my parents bedroom and have to be quiet so as not to wake them up. Some day though I will have my own laptop and then maybe I will be better about it because I can stay in my bedroom and still be online.

Life is great! I just want everyone to know that. Don't ask me why though, there is no real explination. Life is just grand and that's all there is to it. I like my job, which I will terribly miss during the summer even though I already have another great job lined up. I have plenty of time to relax and hang out with friends, but that may change once school starts in about two weeks. My life is just great and I'm happier than I think I've ever been, usually I would just describe myself as being content but now I'm actually happy. It's the best feeling in the world!

So yesterday my friend bought a brand new car, all on her very own, and it made me realize something; if I want something I just need to keep with it and I will be able to achieve anything. She had been saving for this car for quite a while and yesterday she bit the bullet, took her dad with her to the dealership and now she has a brand spankin' new car all to herself. How cool is that? I'm struggling to make it paycheck to paycheck right now (granted I've only really had one "normal" paycheck so far with this new job), there's no way I could think about a car. I'm just working on having enough for a nice DSLR (camera) and a laptop. But like I said, I just need to keep my eye on the prize and soon enough I'll have both.

Speaking of cameras now, I've decided to go to school and get my associates degree in photography. I do have a slight problem with that though, I don't have a camera and so while all my friends are out there with their cool cameras having random photoshoots I do nothing but stand by and watch (sometimes model) and wish I had my own camera to do things with. Well ok so I have a camera but it's some cheap little thing from Walmart that cost about $100 two or three years ago. I don't feel much like a photographer. Sometimes it even makes me wonder, as I look at all the cool pictures the people around me are taking, if I have chosen the right line of work to go into. My experience level is nowhere near theirs because they get to practice whenever they want.

Life is great

Wow, I have sucked at this for the past month. Woops! Now that I have a set schedule and I'm not quite so busy I'm going to be better. Or try at least. First we'll do a job update. I quit Dan Jones for good, I'm never going back! It's official. I've done it twice and I don't ever want to do it again. Not that it was a bad job but two years is more than enough phone bank work for me. Right now I work for Granite School District as a teacher's assistant which basically means I make copies, answer the phone, help keep the class in order and occasionally take over the class (like today when the teacher isn't here and there's no sub). It's not at an actual school, we take kids that are 7th-12th grade who mostly are in the state's custody for whatever reason and can't go to their own school. We usually have around 8-10 kids, some times more and some times less. Today most of the kids got to go on a therapy related field trip and there are only 3 kids that I have to worry about. Fridays are nice though because we only have a half day of class and most of the time other people come in to teach lessons, like life skills and effects and things of drugs and alcohol. I will only have an hour to take the class. I really like my job though. It's the best thing since sliced bread. Okay, maybe not that cool but I really do think it's a great job. It's the first job I've had that I actually enjoy going to every day.

Other than work life is great. Just hang out and try to keep myself busy in the afternoons. I play ultimate frisbee every Monday night with a group of people which I love! It's so nice to be able to play again. So great! Any way, I need to get to work. The lady "teaching" life skills is about to leave so it's time for me to get these kids to work. I'll be better about writing.

Employed, not excited

So I need to do a slight update from my last blog. I am only working at Dan Jones and Associates doing telephone surverys. The job up at the U didn't pull through because of some differences I guess you could say. Basically we played phone tag but I didn't really feel like they were trying hard enough and didn't really want me to work there. I need managment that will take action and not call every few days even though I call every day. Not so cool.

There is another perspective job however working for my school district as an instructors assistant in schools mainly on the west side in classrooms where the students have hard lives, aka foster care or maybe druggie parents and things like that. I really want the job, I think it would be cool to help those kids. I love helping other people learn new things and seeing the moment where it clicks in their head and you just know that now they understand what's going on. It's a great moment. So we'll see how that all works out, hopefully for the best!