two points for honesty

one of the more brilliant moves by my professors was deciding to incorporate peer evaluations into their grading of group projects. what this means is that everyone in the group rates / grades each other and turns them in to the teacher, who takes the scores and comments that your group members gave you into account when giving grades. i had two group members in two separate projects who were totally not with the program. one of them was a single mom with two kids, so i kind of understood why she wasn't as involved as she should have been. but the other one...

i've worked with this girl before and she was a bit of a handful. her priorities lay with her boyfriend's wishes (who was also in that group) and not with what the rest of the group wanted to do. i had pretty much an a+ in the class before we turned in the group project. when they turned in their portion (it was a three-part project) my grade in the class almost went to a b because they got a c- on it. needless to say, i was peeved. i didn't want to work with her again, but she pretty much got in my face and asked to be in the group this time around. i thought i would give her a chance because she was no longer with the boyfriend, and she might do better work. and i was wrong! it figures. this is my comment section on the peer evaluation form for this project. it's exactly what and how she did, i am making nothing up.

"I really feel as though (name here) did not contribute as much to the project as she could have. Her work, on the whole, was really terrible and incomplete when she turned it in, and the rest of the group would have to turn around and do research that she should have done to fix it. Her writing was also atrocious and she would claim that she “didn’t know if her writing was crap” and so we would have to help her fix everything. She also was very resistant to putting in time and effort in this project. She did not pay attention to the things we discussed in group meetings and was much more focused on getting out of the meeting or watching a Colts game. She also had her boyfriend (who is not in the class, nor has he ever taken it) do the research for her. So when she brought it to the meeting, she didn’t know the significance of it. When we asked her to do more she said she would just “have her boyfriend do it later.” In conclusion, I did not find her to be a productive group member, she leeched off the other members, and I will never work with her again."

i know that i'm pretty much posting this for the world to see, but i felt the need to let it out in a big way. i also want to say that i have been reluctant to give bad reviews to group members in the past, but i'm not afraid anymore to say how i really feel. i gave this girl a lot of chances to fix her work and i even told her how i felt, but she continued to play games about not knowing the quality of what she did. so, i'm calling her bluff. if she has any issues with me doing this, i'm all up for talking it out. i'm just not going to be taken advantage of anymore!

ugh. seriously.

deep breath...aaaaand....i'm over it.

in other news, finals are almost over. just two on monday, then a semester and a summer class until i'm done! i'm going to do some research on advertising agencies in my area, as well as in chicago, nyc, florida, south carolina...i'm pretty open at this point, and i think it would be neat to move out on my own for a while. plus, it would teach me some more self reliance, which goodness knows i could use a dose of. speaking of which, i need to go make myself some dinner. popcorn, anyone?

hammer time

1. Where were you 3 hours ago?

in my house, cleaning

2. Who are you in love with?

he knows who he is

3. Have you ever eaten a crayon?

uh... not that i can recall

4. Is there anything pink within 10 feet of you?

yes. a tiny little sweater on a tiny teddy bear that reminds me of someone i used to be very close with, and i miss him. damn you question 4!

5. When is the last time you went to the mall?

a week ago

6. Are you wearing socks right now?

nope

7. Do you have a car worth over $2,000?

it was when i bought it...but now? depends who you ask.

8. When was the last time you drove out of town?

couple of weeks ago

9. Have you been to the movies in the last 5 days?

nope, no time

10. Are you hot?

no i'm actually quite comfortable, thank you. i'll turn on the fan if i am.

11. What was the last thing you had to drink?

pomegranite bluberry juice

12. What are you wearing right now?

fleece, sweatpants...a.k.a. my boyfriend's least favorite outfit :)

13. Do you wash your car or let the car wash do it?

depends on if i'm home or not. last time i washed my car, i got to see someone very special, so i might do it again in the spring and see if it works.

14. Last food that you ate?

rice krispie treat! yum.

15. Where were you last week at this time?

some place

16. Have you bought any clothing items in the last week?

a sweater for $10 and gloves for $1

17. When is the last time you ran?

in the fall

18. What's the last sporting event you watched?

a pickup football game

19. What is your favorite animal?

human being

20. Your dream vacation?

hm, toughie. i love going to greece, but since i've already done that, i would love to stay in a very private luxury hotel in the fuji islands.

21. Last person's house you were in?

mine

22. Worst injury you've ever had?

i'm pretty lucky on this, so i'd have to say when i broke my arm in 5th grade

23. Have you been in love?

well i used to think i had been, but now i really starting to know what love is, so i can say that i am now, for sure

24. Do you miss anyone right now?

i always miss someone

25. Last play you saw?

inherit the wind

26. What is your secret weapon to lure in the opposite sex?

i don't need one, i'm a girl...that pretty much solves the problem of attracting the opposite sex

27. What are your plans for tonight?

go to bed

28. Who is the last person you sent a MySpace message or comment?

ew myspace is for stalkers

29. Next trip you are going to take?

home for christmas

30. Ever go to camp?

not really

31. Were you an honor roll student in school?

uh yeah, still am...i don't mess around

32. What do you want to know about the future?

will i be happy with my life?

33. Are you wearing any perfume or cologne?

never do

34. Are you due sometime this year for a doctor's visit?

yeah, just a checkup to stock on more meds, though

35. Where is your best friend?

at his house

36. How is your best friend?

stressed, but other than that, he is wonderful

37. Do you have a tan?

goodness no, and i refuse to fake it

38. What are you listening to right now?

cucurrucucu paloma. one of the most beautiful songs i have ever heard.

39. Do you collect anything?

music

40. Who is the biggest gossiper you know?

well, everyone talks, so...

41. Last time you got stopped by a cop or pulled over?

about a year ago when i had my brights on by accident and blinded a cop, he oulled around real quick, pulled me over, looked at me and my i.d., then let me go. what a weirdo

42. Have you ever drank your soda from a straw?

no, it takes away from the experience

43. What does your last text message say?

nunya bizness

44. Do you like hot sauce?

when it's called for, sure

45. Last time you took a shower?

this morning

46. Do you need to do laundry?

yep, doesn't everyone?

47. What is your heritage?

50% greek, about 15% irish, the rest american

48. Are you someone's best friend?

i think so, but you'll have to ask them to make sure

49. Are you rich?

oh if only

50. What were you doing at 12AM last night?

sleeping. gloriously sleeping.

hm. what now?

i've decided on something. i want to make films. unfortunately, i need a lot of time, and money....so this dream will have to wait for a couple of years. but it won't die. i've wanted to do this for a while. now i just need to figure out what to make a little film on.

i find your lack of faith disturbing

this is pretty much what my brain looks like right now.

it's crunch time, people. with three-ish weeks left until i'm done with this semester, i'm definitely flipping out a little. okay, maybe i'm flipping out A LOT. i know that all the work will get done, but damn. there's just so much of it to do.

i'm fine with taking finals. individual tests are no problem because i control them and i know exactly what to do to do well. but group projects are a totally different story. coordinating schedules? nightmare. splitting up the work and getting everyone to do a decent job on their parts? don't even get me started. it sucks because we've all got three or more group projects to do at once (thanks, business school!) and we all have a hard time fitting our lives around everything. most groups are pretty good, but i've had a few nightmare members...they don't do their work or don't show up to meetings or don't communicate with the group or do terrible work. sometimes it's a combination of all of the above! i hate dealing with those people. i used to be more timid and just correct their mistakes or do the work for them, but i've turned into more of a meanie now and i make them fix it themselves. i know it sucks, but they had ample opportunity to do a better job, and i refuse to turn in somebody else's bad work and have it reflect negatively on me or on any other member of the group that worked hard. plus, somebody's got to have a backbone, or else those members will just walk all over you again in the next project.

but off the soapbox for a while. i probably won't be sleeping much over the next week. that's okay though! what has to be done will get done. and then i can spend my vacation researching jobs and what warm city i want to move to.

switching subjects: winter is cold. i don't like it. so, i wear running tights underneath my jeans. i know i probably look silly and crazy when i show people, but i don't care. i am warm and cozy in them. when the wind blows, i can't feel it. it makes me happy. at least that way, i can pretend that i live in a warmer city.

also, random note: i wrote a ten page term paper in 3.5 hours last night. holler! hopefully i get a good grade on it, fingers crossed...because it's worth 30% (!) of my grade.

ugh. now back to work.

gah

i have a big test tomorrow. and my kitchen is flooding underneath the floorboards due to a leak in the dishwasher. awesome.

oh puh puh

this weekend wasn't too bad. i had a meeting at work on friday that i thought would either be really good (as in, we like you and we want you to stay) or really bad (as in, well now that your boss is back from maternity leave, we don't need you anymore). luckily, it went well and i get to keep my job for a while! i went to a few bars and saw a few shows on friday night, and even ran into someone that i work with pretty closely. it was fun to get to know her on a bit more of a personal level.

on saturday and sunday, my parents visited, so it was nice to get to see them. i went shopping with my mom and picked up a few christmas present ideas. this is good because it's pretty hard to shop for her normally.

i held a focus group last wednesday for one of my class projects, and i brought someone that was only there for the food and was not helpful in the least. i let him have it a little today before class, and he even apologized for being untalkative. but i wasn't in the best of moods anyway, so i might have taken some of that out on him.

speaking of which, i'm finding myself growing irritable at a lot of random things lately. i'm kind of attributing it to stress...i know i only have a few weeks of school left, but dang. i have so much work to do, it's stressing me the eff out. and did i mention how much i loathe group projects? because i do. a lot.

gar.

this school business is cramping my style

booooo. i'm pretty over college right now. i'm so close to being done (just the end of this year) and i'm really ready to not go to school for a few years. i do plan on going back and getting my master's degree, but i don't think that my parents believe me...they were asking me the other day about if i was gonna go back right away and get a secondary degree. my dad even suggested environmental engineering. i have no idea where that came from. i hate math and he knows it. the weirdest (but not really) thing is that he was pushing for a secondary degree so that i could make a lot of money. which he's never talked about before. it kinda freaked me out a little bit, actually :(

anyway. i know i'll be fine. i'm gonna get a good job, have them help me pay for my mba, then move up in the world until i get to baller status. no big deal. and besides, i don't think that i could settle for less. and it'll all work out in the end.

now back to studying!

wait. what's updoc? oh. i get it.

so. i went home for a little visit with the family this weekend. it was nice to see everyone. however, i'm pretty sure that my hometown is like a black hole of never getting things done as i got no homework finished. eep! however, i did get some delicious candy, a wig for halloween, and i made some white chocolate covered pretzels, which brings me to my next point.

i know that most people consider chocolate a candy, but i can't bring myself to think that way. i know this sounds weird, but most of my thinking is weird, so bear with me here. i don't see a chocolate bar, or pieces of solid chocolate, or box chocolates as being "candy." chocolate candy bars are different, ad they have other things added to them so they're more candy-like. but if you hand me a hunk of chocolate, i see it more as a baking ingredient. it's kind of in a class of it's own...in that, there's candy (which can include but is not limited to: jelly beans, sour gummy things, regular gummy things, skittles, starburst, juju beans, dots, chocolate candy bars, etc) and then there's chocolate. i know that i'm strange. i would make a chart to help you understand this concept better, but i have no time for that nonsense.

and in the candy spirit, and since it is halloween, i give you...

MY FAVORITE CANDY / CHOCOLATE SWEETS: a lesson in yum

5. twix.
cookie bar, caramel, and chocolate. sold. i love this candy bar. it may be the only one that i truly love, as i've never really been a huge candy bar person.this breaks the rules, thoug. it's not too big, not too full, and doesn't dry out like reese's does. perfecto.

4. bubbilicious strawberry splash gum.
huge, sweet, juicy, and never too sticky, this gum is the perfect gum for bubble blowing. i can get some as big as my head. which is huge. and delicious.

3. fannie may trinidads.
these amazing little chocolates give new meaning to the word decadence. i adore these white chocolate covered chocolate cremes all the way through, and they always bring back great memories of getting chocolates from my mom and dad on valentine's day. they are so good! not so good for you, but hey, what can you do? that's life. eat more trinidads.

2. strawberry sour belts.
a close second to my favorite. we have a love hate relationship...i love them, but they hate the roof of my mouth. thus, i can only have a few at a time. but as they say, distance makes the heart grow fonder, an i am indeed fond of these delicious treats. i guess i could go ahead and throw sour patch kids in on here too since they're practically the same thing and i love them as well.

1. skittles.
my fail safe, my life force, my absolute favorite. i could eat skittles for the rest of my life and be happy. i probably will. the original red package is the best, no matter what anyone says. i even have a special method of eating them. that's love.


other loves: kit kat, shocktarts, pop rocks, hershey's milk chocolate bar, mounds, starburst, candy buttons (!)


some of my least favorites include: smarties, peppermints, bottle caps, wax candy, pixie stix chocolate and mint combinations, cherry and chocolate combinations (ewwwww), peanut brittle, butterscotches, after dinner mints (most older candies, as you can see)


all this candy blogging makes me wish that i was little again so i could run around the neighborhood, pillowcase in tow, racing from house to house to get as much candy as possible before we had to go home and count the stash.

which reminds me of the best pete and pete episode ever: halloweenie.

watch and enjoy.

screw this

i know that living downtown has its perks...right next to school, close to the 'action' (or lack thereof in this city) but i swear, i am so fricking tired of getting stuff stolen from my house by the thieves of this city...i could just scream. two years ago, my very nice bike was stolen out of the garage. then, someone broke into my car, but took nothing because the alarm went off when they shattered the window. then, we got nice cushions for the front porch swing and put a plastic cover over them to protect them from the weather. two weeks later, the plastic cover disappears. and last night, someone stole one of the cushions. i flipping hate the stupid thieves in this city. learn to be a decent human being. it's not that hard. i realize that you might need it more than i do, but come on!

joining the mathletes in social suicide

the hellish midterm is over. and to that i say hells yes.

i had this idea the other day for a band to make an album, but to use lines (or related content) from a movie as their song titles. they don't need to have anything to do with the song content. i just thought it would be kinda funny. like an inside joke.

in that spirit, here's my first one, with all titles coming from the movie "Mean Girls."

1. Oh My God, Shut Up!

2. Don't Have Sex, Because You Will Get Pregnant and Die

3. You Smell Like a Baby Prostitute

4. You Can't Just Ask People Why They're White

5. I Know, Right?

6. I Did NOT Leave Harlem for This!

7. Trang Pak Made out With Coach Carr

8. That is the Ugliest Effing Skirt I Have Ever Seen

9. That Is So Fetch

10. He's Almost Too Gay To Function

11. We Should Totally Just Stab Caesar

12. I've Got A Big Lesbian Crush On You

13. Boo, You Whore


Album Title And My Favorite Line:

And On the Third Day, God Created the Remington Bolt-Action Rifle, So That Man Could Fight the Dinosaurs. And The Homosexuals.

guh

ok so i should be studying for my hinduism midterm right now. but guess what? i'm not. surprise surprise. i'm actually pretty over this class right now. i really dislike the professor, mainly because he doesn't really teach anything and i think it's a waste of my time to even go to class. he just rambles incoherently about whatever subject springs to his mind.

the only saving grace in this whole deal is that he gave us a little study guide type thing. he calls it "topics to think about for the midterm." it should be called "topics you're probably confused about because i spent maybe 15 minutes total in giving you pertinent information to answering these questions properly."

i did deduct (via his ringtone) that he's (most likely) a potsmoker. however, this is just a theory, since his ringtone was dylan's 'everybody must get stoned.' i could be wrong though...he could just be naturally scatterbrained. although, if he was on some sort of drugs, his ramblings might make more sense. or maybe i'm the one that's supposed to be on drugs. i don't know how it works, really, as i'm not familiar with the subculture's habits.


as i mentioned in my previous post, i had dinner with my boss and her husband and new baby on friday. we brought over wine, but it wasn't even opened as they already had an open bottle that they were working on. oh well...the gesture was nice. anyway, the baby was wearing the outfit that i got for it (so cute, if i may say so) and didn't like me very much. if only for the fact that said baby was hungry and i was not providing it with food. i'll wait till the baby gets a tad older to visit again. then it'll be more fun and, hopefully, less crying.

the halloween party wasn't too bad...i was just so flipping tired, i felt like i couldn't shake it off and get more into the party. oh well. there's always more parties. next time will be better.

i suppose i should stop procrastinating now and at least attempt to kick this tests ass. that would be a good idea, considering it's worth 30% of my entire grade. gross.

whoa dudes

i forgot that i had this thing. that happens a lot.

rather than going through the whole "this is what has happened in my life" schpeil, we'll just start at now and go from here.

so i'm at work right now, trying to get through a large stack of work. but let's not kid ourselves, it's not gonna get done today. no biggie, i'll just come in tomorrow. it'll be the first time that i go into work on a weekend (not counting serving and lifeguarding jobs) but i'm about 82.3% sure it won't be the last.

after work today, i'm going over to my boss' house for dinner to catch up and meet the new baby. i love babies. i'm excited to be a mom someday. not today though. or tomorrow, or this year even. sorry, mom, but being a grandma will have to wait for a while. anyway, what i'm really torn on is what to bring over there. wine, or dessert? or do i take nothing at all? this is hard. i'll just stop by a store and see what looks good.

also. i am wearing a vest today. i like vests, for the most part. they're nice accessory pieces. however. i can't decide if it looks cute or if i'm just having a superbad moment...

"take it off. you look like aladdin."

halloween party tonight! i know we're early, but whatever. we need an excuse to dress up and get silly.

story time

i don't always have the best stories. they usually just kinda...end. and don't really have a point. or are funny. but this one is good.

so after working on my icore project all day, i'm ready to get out of the library and relax for a bit. i find out my good friend jon is in town, so we make plans to go out to eat with two other friends, amy and jon s. we all drive downtown in two separate cars and jon s. and i decide to park in the mall garage. "don't worry about it," jon s. says, "i'll pick up the $1.50." we walk over to the restaurant and on the way, we pass a homeless dude and he's singing along with his walkman, so i smile at him because it's a pretty cute little sales pitch. we go to rock bottom brewery, and we're sitting outside, eating, telling stories, etc. when this homeless lady comes over and just sits down on the patio. the waitress comes out to tell her that she has to go through the restaurant to be sat on the patio, and the lady immediately gets hostile with her. another witress has to come out to ask her to leave, and the homeless lady starts spouting off with "i've lived in indy for 18 years, i'm 28 years old, i have five children, one died, i'm going crazy, blah blah..." i can't make out everything she's saying because it's a little jumbled. she finally leaves and on her way down the street starts screaming, "praise jeeeeesus! hallelujah! jesus is the loooooord and i love him! praaaaaiiiise jeeeesuuuuuussss!!!!!" getting louder and louder as she walks away, even including some getting on her knees and hands raised high theatrics to boot. it was a very strange moment in my life.

so we're getting ready to leave, and our waitress informs us that if we put everything on one bill we get a family discount because jon's "cousin" (actually just a friend) works there so we get a family discount. jon says, "sweet! i'll pick it up." this causes me to think, "sweet! i just got a $5 salad for free!"

we leave the restaurant, and as i'm heading home, jon s. decides to go with jon and amy in the other car. so i'm walking back to my car and i pass the same homeless dancing and singing walkman dude as earlier. but this time, he's got two friends. one looks like a typical homeless guy, but the other one looks like a regular(ish) person. he's pretty tattoed up, even on his neck, has gauged ears, black hair...so a cross between emo and punk. emopunk says to me, "hey, would you happen to have a dollar? and i'm not gonna lie to you, i'm gonna go myself a pint across the street." i appreciated his honesty and since i was in a charitable mood, decided to give him one. "sure," i said, "i appreciate the honesty, and really, i don't blame you for wanting a beer." so i opened up my wallet and gave him one of my two dollars. as i walked away, the walkman dude yelled at me, "since we're being honest, you're a dime piece!" for those not in the know, a dime piece means you're a ten. as in a 10 on a scale of 1 to 10. moving on.

i laughed and the emopunk yells, "he thinks you're beautiful!" to which i reply, "thanks!" and keep going on to the parking garage. so i get to my car and look in my ashtray, thinking i've got enough to cover the rest of the money i need to pay for parking. not so. i have about 14 cents in my ashtray. so i begin the search of my car for change and fine none. giving up, i go up four flights of stairs into the mall and find an atm, which charges me 2 dollars extra for taking out $20. rape!

i leave the parking garage (finally) after getting the money and start driving down the street. at my first stoplight, another homeless lady on the corner looks over and says, "do you have any change you could spare?" i have 50 cents from the parking garage (it cost $1.50 to get out) so i told her yeah and handed over the change. that's when it dawned on me.


+ $5.00 : free salad for dinner
- $1.00 : emopunk's beer
- $2.00 : atm rapage
- $1.50 : parking garage expenses
- $0.50 : homeless lady's beer (most likely)
_______________________________
$0 : sometimes, life evens itself out.