RSS Feedno more austin – part one
i have so much to talk about that i imagine i won’t be able to get through it all in one sitting. at the moment i’m waiting to leave for my sister’s high school graduation so i think i will only have time for a few random items.
this last week was beyond crazy. let’s start with graduation …
graduation was amazing. the ceremony on friday was incredibly boring and exhausting but the main commencement ceremony on saturday made it all worthwhile. it was nice to just relax and take it all in while realizing that i was finally done with college and no longer had to worry about homework or papers or final exams. what a relief.
it was my last week in austin so i spent a great deal of the week saying good-byes and what not. originally i was supposed to spend the week packing and cleaning the apartment ready so i’d be ready to go by saturday at the latest. well that just didn’t work out like i had planned. so wednesday evening i went out and had my [or what i thought] my last meal at trudy’s. i had two mexican martinis and by the time i got home i wasn’t motivated to do that much. i just ended up falling asleep. on thursday i had a horrible attack of allergies, or at least what i thought was allergies at that time. i ended up having to take a bunch of medicine and didn’t get much done but sleep.
friday was the big 22. i have to say that it was hands down one of my best birthday’s ever. i seriously had such a great day. it was also my last day of work in the austin office so it was a good combo. my team at work made me my favorite kind of cupcakes (strawberry with cream cheese icing). they were freaking amazing. those were seriously enough to make the day great. since it was the last day before the holiday weekend we got to leave work early which also was quite nice.
i had dinner with a bunch of friends [tom, michelle, joe, javi, dustin, doug, eric]. had such a great evening. after dinner we went out for “a bit”. we were out until nearly 2 in the morning. i had A LOT to drink but was surprisingly sober. the whole evening definitley made it a great birthday.
to be continued … [have to go to sister's graduation]
yay
i just realized that i haven’t used a credit card all month. having a real job is so nice. :)
it’s finally here!
i’m so far behind on the packing it’s not funny. it will be a busy weekend. i really just want to get to chicago already. that’s what i’m most excited about at the moment.
in other news … so it’s finally here. graduation weekend.
today is the college of communication commencement and then tomorrow evening is the main graduation ceremony. yipee! it’s still a bit hard to believe that it’s finally here. what a long four years. hooray! :)
cutting out the clutter
in an attempt to simply my move i decided to get rid of some of the stuff i really don’t need. of course the first to go is all the class notes and junk mail that i have in random boxes. i’ve gone through maybe one or two file boxes and i have a HUGE pile of paper that needs to be recycled. it’s seriously out of control. it’s like credit card offers exploded everywhere. see for yourself:
a giant pile of recycling
less than two weeks worth of credit card offers :(
crazy huh? and i’ve barely scratched the surface. i figure i can get rid a lot of my crap and then that will make the move much easier. i still have so much to go through.
so i’m taking a bit of heat over my choice of desk lamp at work:
okay i need some sleep. gnight.
grey’s anatomy
on a sidenote …
how amazing was the finale of grey’s anatomy? i cried like i haven’t cried in ages. seriously, wow. that was one amazing season. i can’t wait until it’s on dvd (9/12/06). that’s what i need to start collecting … tv shows on dvd.
seriously though, one shock after another. the only thing that scares me is that it’s really setting the bar high. when you have such a good season and it’s only the second and the first season was only a mid-season pickup, it’s tough to continue the high quality. i’m looking forward to season three though.
time for sleep.
all set
so i’ve officially got a place to live now. i’m renting a room up in north chicago and am incredibly excited. it will be nice to have roommates to hang out with and show me the city. the new roommates seem like awesome guys so it looks like this is going to be quite nice. the condo is incredibly nice. so spacious, such a quiet neighborhood, near the el, just a great choice. i’m just happy to have that all set. so now i just need to worry about getting ready to move. so much packing to still have to do. i really need to step it up a notch and try to get things done.
okay i have to go watch the season finale of grey’s anatomy. last night’s episode was insane. there’s no telling how great tonight’s episode will be. ooo that reminds me, in chicago i’m not going to have cable which i’m actually kind of looking forward to. i have a feeling that without tv i’ll actually be able to get on a normal sleeping schedule. plus several of the shows that i do watch i can download via itunes or watch online somehow. now only if they would put the rest of the shows i want online. and at the rate they’ve been sticking shows on dvd lately i won’t really fall behind too much, i think i might actually be able to handle it. :P
i’m going to get advantage of the situation and try to really catch up on my reading. this is the perfect opportunity to go crazy on the reading. between the train rides to and from work and the free time at home i should be able to go through a book or two each week. i think that might be my new thing, to see how many books i can read before the end of the year.
i’m finally getting excited about the whole graduation and move thing. most of the stress has finally passed. other than packing everything up and getting there i don’t have much left :)
okay i’m really going to go watch grey’s anatomy now.
back in austin
so this is the homestretch.
i have to say that it feels a bit weird not having homework that needs to get done on the back of my head. this is going to be weird to adjust to.
chicago was wonderful. i can’t wait until i finally get to make the move.
i can’t freaking believe i graduate this week. incredibly hard to believe. wow it’s really here.
i have so much packing to do this week. i am going to have to work diligently these next few days in order to get everything ready to go.
okay i need to get some sleep. gnight.
hooray
i’m in chicago for the weekend. it’s beautiful.
in other EXCELLENT news. i scored the minimum 28 that i needed on the final exam for international advertising. i be graduating college next weekend :) what a freaking relief.
okay i’m going to read for a bit and then get to bed because i have to be up early to make it to north chicago early.
talk to you all when i get back. or when my plane gets delayed at o’hare and i have nothing better to do.
week one: done
first and foremost: i’m freaking out about the exam tomorrow. i just don’t feel prepared. i went over the exam reviews but after doing that i read some sample exam questions from the first exam review and i was confused on two of them (there were only 5). i NEED a 70 at the very least. that means i need to get AT LEAST 28 of the 40 questions on the exam correct. the average for the past three exams has only been 2-4% above a 70 (exam 1 average: 73.4, exam 2 average: 74.3, exam 3 average: 72.4). that scares me. i have little room for error here. he said that 10 questions would come from previous exam questions that were missed by a large percent of the class. luckily he gave us those but he did warn us he would reformulate the questions. so out of those 10 say i miss 2 (theoretically since i have all the answers you would think i’d get all 10 but i’m using lower numbers to be on the safe side in planning this scenario). after missing those two out of 10 that still leaves me with 10 questions that i can get wrong and still get a satisfactory grade. so outside of those previous exam questions i need to get 2/3 of the remaining 30 questions correct. that’s 67% of those. that’s my average on my previous exams and i never did study for any of those exams. so i’m studying a great deal this time so my chances are decent, aren’t they? yeah, this is how my mind thinks. it’s just a garble of running numbers through my head.
okay … in other news …
i LOVE my new job. it’s been a rough week and i haven’t really gotten into the full swing of things but i’m getting there. i imagine things won’t start to feel normal until a week or two after i get to our chicago office. it’s been a bit slow trying to pick everything up but i can tell i’m going to love it. my team is awesome which makes it that much better.
i have more to say but i really need to get back to studying.
until later.
.ryan
interesting article
this is an amazing article: Leaving the Wild, and Rather Liking the Change
in other news … i swear i’ll make a first day post, i’ve just been so busy.
crisis temporarily averted.
it’s weird how things can go from bad to good in a matter of hours.
so after e-mailing the professor about taking the exam early i got an e-mail that basically said hell no. i called the airline to change my ticket and i have to say that American Airlines has found a customer for life in me. the lady in their AAdvantage department changed my ticket no questions asked and no fees added. It couldn’t have been simpler. so now it’s just a matter of getting a 70 on the final which will make everything better again. i’m quite certain i’ll be able to handle this. i just have to answer 2 more questions correctly than i did on the last exam and i should be able to do that considering i haven’t really studied for an exam in that class yet. so studying for this one should give the ability to get the score i need.
i also have found a potential place to live. i’m going to meet the potential roommates next sunday when i’m up there for the weekend.
so for now my little crisis has been averted and i’m starting to finally relax enough to start to get really excited about my move to Chicago.
friday was my last day of my internship. i didn’t accomplish nearly as much as i had wanted to get finished yesterday, i just had way too much to do.
monday starts my first day as a full-time member of the agency. SO EXCITED. i landed a pretty sweet gig. i get to stay with the agency that i’ve already invested 8 months in AND i get to move to chicago. i don’t like to say that i believe in fate but for some reason this time around things just happened to fall into place perfectly. the team i’m working with now seems really great and it seems like i’ll fit in well.
i started packing today but it was more just going through crap and trying to get rid of stuff i don’t need anymore. i have only gone through one box and i have three huge piles of trash and recycling. i’m trying to get rid of as much as possible.
other than that nothing too exciting has been going on.
until later.
crisis!
so i’m having a HUGE crisis at a time when i really don’t need anything else to stress out about.
this story starts back when i went to get advised for the spring semester way back in november 2005. i was told i needed 14 more hours to graduate so i’d have to take a 15 hour course load. four of those courses were degree requirements so couldn’t be taken pass/fail. so i was going to be able to take one class fail. of course the advisor said i could take a class pass/fail BUT i couldn’t. my elective was in the college of communication and it’s impossible to take a class pass/fail in the college of communication unless it’s only offered pass/fail.
fast forward a few months … so i found out that i couldn’t take it pass/fail back in march. oh well i figured, if i just made a D and got the credit i needed (since it was just elective and i just needed the hours) then i would be fine. so after some thought i began worrying that if a D doesn’t count towards degree requirements would it still count for the number of credit hours i need towards a diploma. of course my worst fears were confirmed when i found a disclaimer hidden in some degree requirement sheets that they don’t count towards total degree credit hours. so if i get a D in this class i end up with 142 credit hours, 2 hours short of the 144 i need to graduate with both degrees. i still have enough for one of my degrees and i have all the requirements completed for both degrees, it’s just the fact that i need 144 total hours to get both degrees.
okay so here’s the big problem: so i didn’t do as well as i had hoped on the last exam in that class and i’m 5 points short of a C in that class. now i’m not so much concerned about that, if i studied hard enough i’m sure i could do well enough on the final. if i took the exam and scored a 70 then it would replace my exam grade and i’d get my C in the class. the problem: the optional final is scheduled for friday may 12 @ 2pm, the day i’m supposed to be in chicago looking for an apartment. i am so screwed. how do i get myself into these situations? i know i have no one to blame but myself but wow, i really didn’t need this right now. now i’m really regretting not doing the extra credit research participation assignments.
so now i’m freaking out. i e-mailed the professor and the TA, maybe he’ll be nice enough to let me take the final early.
i took a shot of tequila and half an anxiety pill. there’s no way i’d be able to sleep without something to stop this panic attack i feel coming on.
here’s hoping everything turns out alright.
damn and i thought my last day of college was going to be exciting, now i’m just going to be stressed out over this.
until later.
A New Beginning
so i thought i’d take advantage of the situation and launch a new blog for this big milestone in my life.
other than one small self-evaluation i believe i’m done with college. i’m going to classes the next two days but they’re just course wrap-up stuff. it hasn’t really set in yet.
i’ve started the packing, or rather the sorting that comes before the packing. i’m going to try and only take half of what i own at the moment. i figure i don’t need half of this stuff and i could use a fresh start anyway.
so friday is my last day of classes. monday i start the new job. which reminds me that i need to try and remember where i put my passport and social security card.
more to follow as things progress.
