MissManderz

How I react to "celebrities."

2012-02-02T22:00:00.000-08:00

(In order to appreciate this post to its fullest, you should know who the vlogbrothers are: http://www.youtube.com/user/vlogbrothers. I only say "celebrities" with quotes because these guys are only fairly popular if you know who they are (and regularly raid the time-waster-of-awesome known as YouTube), so calling them celebrities doesn't seem to do their awesomeness justice. That is all.)

Five hours of waiting in line to sign my copy of "The Fault in Our Stars" by John Green on the TFiOS Tour later, I finally get to the table with my book in John's hands.

John: "Hi, Mandy." (He only said that because the handlers ripped my book away from me and put my name on a sticky note so the whole signing process would go a smidge faster.)

Me: "Hey, John. I'm so sorry you're still here." (Checks watch.) "It's kind of... tomorrow now."

John: "Oh no, it's quite alright." (Cocks head slightly at the realization. Turns to Hank next to him.) "Hank, welcome to tomorrow."

(Hank and John laugh.)

John signs my book and pushes it towards me. I take a step to my left and I'm standing right in front of Hank, John's brother who's part of the tour. He's been mostly signing his CD's but also books. But at this point, my book was in my hands and not pushed over to him.

One awkward second goes by and we're just staring at each other.

Me: "Are you allowed to sign my book?" (Insert internal face-palm here. STUPID, STUPID, STUPID.)

Hank (nonchalant): "Pff, I so AM allowed to sign your book. In fact..." I'm tuning out now, probably just saying he's signing the book with a cartoon fish because that's what I watched him do and then he hands the book back to me and I'm on my way, grabbing a free poster and completely forgetting to say hi to Hank's wife who was sitting right next to him.

How sad is it that I become more bumbling of an idiot to the brother of the author than the actual author?

Being donezo: 4 months later...

2012-01-05T02:00:00.000-08:00

It feels like I'm retired.

I am not ashamed to admit that I've been exceptionally incompitent to the things I promised to do with my "I have # days left of college" series. I've even been forgetful enough that I had to reread all of my college days posts in order to completely officially apologize for those listed things I ended up not doing or mentioning, so I AM SORRY. It's been exactly 105 days since I have been officially done with college excluding the actual graduation ceremony. Speaking of which I'll just make a little list of what has actually happened in those 105 days in a nutshell (and looking back at what I just typed below is going to be impossible to summarize any further unless I wanna sound not-so-witty and more robotically boring, so... sorry in advance and so much for nutshell?):

1. Future Boss's Random call. I neglected to mention that a lovely lady named Heddi called me 3 days before the portfolio show to basically hold me hostage as a Lead Designer for her company because she needed a designer to redesign her entire website "months ago" and I was the perfect candidate for this. As hard to believe as the following statement is, this lady talks more than I do. If babbling was an art form, this overly-hyped British lady would be the headmistress of a college of babbling with her own PHD in babbling so she could create an entire school of babbling for those who want to be good at babbling by leaning from the MASTER of babbling known as herself. I'll admit she kind of turned me off at first with her 45 minute ear rampage known as her first impression. Throughout, I'm thinking "WOAH lady, let me tread the water first, my show hasn't even happened yet!" but then I think "anyone at that show would kill to know they have somebody begging to work for them before the show even begins" so I think about her offer and keep blogging and creating and blah blah blah.

2. The Monumental Success known as my Portfolio Show! Oh what fun it is to collect dozens of professional's business cards and know for sure that your future is SET for the moment while otherwise standing in a pair of broken heels in a slightly wrinkled gray dress that was hard to de-wrinkle without an iron (spoiler alert I wore the gray one not the green one) while still slightly feeling miserably sick due to a slight migraine. Reguardless of the ill-feeling-ness, I seemed professional in my boothness and my speakingness and huzZA I won the Best Portfolio prize for the Web Design major of the night like I cockily thought I would but still thought everybody else had a chance but MINE B*TCHES I got me a PLAQUE! Ms. Babble herself of myTab came to the show, too and wanted an answer from me about that Lead Designer position even wanting to meet up after the show to discuss more but I otherwise couldn't make it and I'll talk more about her and myTab later. Meanwhile one of my at-the-time bosses and a coworker from my job-I-was-probably-leaving were there and looked hesitantly over my large stack of accepted business cards compared to the small amount of personal business cards left. They thought I may be leaving them after my show but it was obvious later that I in fact would leave soon. Which leads me to...

3. Leaving my not-as-satisfying job for the more tantalizing world of LEAD DESIGNERRRR. (I'm adding the extra R's to make it even fancier but I realize it sounds pirate-like and I'm ok with that.) To sum up, I dove right into myTab with a humongous deadline of 30 days to redesign the entire site from SCRATCH with me as the mockup wizard and 2 offsite developers in the PHILIPPINES as the ones who actually recode it for the most part. Everything was GREAT in October, tons of mockups and such, a largely hyped travel conference that Heddi presentated through in the slowest I've ever heard her speak that myTab favored fairly well, and hey there I was the only designer. LEAD DESIGNER! MY DREAM JOB (excluding the whole working from home thing because the ultimate dream would be in a brick building with fancy colorful office furniture and happy humerous co-workers which I had none office-wise in my apartment but had some humerous co-workers at the touch of a dial or however this expression goes now with fancy smart phones). As of today it's been slower because the 30 day deadline has passed (it launched LOOKIE!: https://mytab.co) and funding to be more than part time let alone finding somewhere that is NOT working from home has yet to surface so as the first sentence of this post states... it feels like I'm retired. Not much work if any but I still have money and I can do anything all day but end up doing mostly nothing. The good life... if I'm over 60 BUT I'm 21 so I'm getting ancy.

4. I am now a proud owner of an iPhone. Life as I know it seems amazingly hard to imagine living without one now that I have my grubby little future-forward-thinking hands on it. I had been stubborn with getting one for a while but once I got one it was like my former phone known as the crackberry was a string with two cups at the end of it compared to the amazingness of everything my iPhone can do. Look at me being all hip!

5. Graduation Ceremony of AWESOME. In December right before Christmas I finally had my graduation ceremony in the same theater my orientation to the same college I am now an alumni of was back in June of 2008 when I was just a wee noob with aimlessly wandering eyes wondering what I was doing there and if this really was the best path for me. Nonetheless, my eyes were switched from aimless to focus and three years of schooling, 5 total employers and a dozen or so hopefully-life-long-friends-I-made-in-college later, I get up on stage with a black gown (a 180 contrast to my high school gown color of white which is fancifully symbolic in a way), pump my fists in the air almost over my head in a grad walk / happy dance as I take my "diploma" or case that will house my diploma that I received in the mail weeks earlier, shake the hands of the top-ranking officials of school, and almost pile-drive my teacher of 90% of my classes in the department because I'm so happy I'm done and also saw another girl do it to her director so I thought I'd copy that because it looked cool. (And the award for the longest run-on sentence goes to...)

6. My realization that life without homework is more of a miracle than I ever thought possible. And the real world isn't so bad. Even though both of my roommates are still in school for at least six months from now to a year from that, I still feel that separation of the "forced to learn in school because that's just what you do too bad you have to" state of life to the "now you can learn anything you want anytime you want and it doesn't matter when or if you get it done as long as you feel your life has purpose" state of life. Real life for me now equals spending more time with my cat in 4 months than all the hours spent in class combined (or at least it feels that way and I'm not complaining), being able to do nothing and everything at once (though it's been mostly nothing WHICH almost feels like a deserved vacation from the 16 or so years of schooling), and the idea/motto of life not being based on what I can get done but rather what I can I do to better what can be done before I die.

7. My sickness during my last quarter of school turned out to be my body's way of telling me "YOU'RE F*#&ING STRESSED." I was not allergic to my cat (thank the LORD), there turned out to not be anything weird I ate or some sort of infection or disease I contracted from who knows where. Literally the day after my portfolio show I was completely feeling 100% back to normal not-sick-at-all amazing. Yay saving money on a doctor's appointment for being stubborn? Or yay for self-exploration and life-lessoning over how stress can come in all forms whether you know you have it or not it can still STRIKE? *Shrug* I'm just glad I can keep the cat. <3

8. Oh yeah, I'm 22 now. Happy Belated Birthday to myself via this post because my birthday was 6 days ago and it was nice and low-key with a beach trip and watching movies with one of my besties. I was even able to spend that night and wake up to the new 2012 year known as my first year without forced schooling in my amazing full-size "adult bed" that my parents swapped with my twin so I can feel less like a college kid and more of the adult 22 year old me I wanted to be. (Insert "Mandy's Adult Life" song here that I have yet to compose.)

Nutshell is impossible for me and now I know (and knowing is half the battle as the camo hunk of plastic says - google GI Joe, kids). It has taken me almost an hour to write all of this, and my wrists against this not-so-ergonomic-office-space-setup at home is leading to arthritic-like pain in my wrists that only reassures the fact that this must be a glimpse of retirement. If only now I can forgo my crazy-busy-single-college-kid-life and get me a man to pass the time (because I can sense my roommates are feeling the annoyance of "when I get home you're ALWAYS THERE" and the occasional seeing friends time has drastically been reduced due to the fact that I no longer see them in class on a daily basis). Of course I've gotta get around to those hobbies (reading / writing / painting / crafting / selling said writing, painting, and crafting if I have the guts and/or motivation / selling myself as a freelancer because my web design portfolio show only grow from here / working more because feeling like you're retired at 22 isn't exactly the life I expected to have when I finished college and became super successful full-time purpose-driven working member of society but am not even close to that just yet. So now that it's way over 2am and I'm needing that real-world-less-sugared-up beauty sleep, I guess I'll stop blogging and never stop creating. After all, I'm done with college and life has just begun (4 months ago).

I have 0 days left of college.

2011-09-25T22:58:00.001-07:00

I... am... done.

I have 1 day left of college.

2011-09-21T19:00:00.000-07:00

I HAVE ONE FREAKING DAY LEFT OF COLLEGE!!! WHAT?!

My look has come together thanks to some shopping and some makeup lessons with my roommate. I won't say too many details because I want to be able to post a picture tomorrow sometime. All I'll say is I know what shoes I'm wearing (though I may have broken one of them slightly on accident BUT still wearable), I know what dress I'm wearing (the votes are in and my decision has been made), my hair style has been practiced so bringing extra hair products will be good to bring just in case it falls out, and I know what accessories to use and makeup to apply. My storage bin is mostly full of everything and I will put the rest in a backpack. I hope to God nothing gets bent or broken or messed up in any way, so let's hope the Portfolio Gods will smile down on me tomorrow! Uh it's tomorrow.

TOMORROW! At 1pm. Which is 18 hours away. 18!!! That's 1080 minutes. (Phew, using a large number like that makes it seem a little more far away than such a small number as 18. I feel a tad better now haha.)

This whole thing is more real today than it was yesterday but what has been helping my nerves is constantly trying on what I'm going to wear and listening to my self-proclaimed graduation song: September by Earth Wind & Fire (though technically the song is about Sept 21 - today - and the show is tomorrow, I just don't care about this menial detail).

Portfolio Update: Working on my last few tweaks right now and the extra giveaway magnets are printing as we SPEAK! Those will be cut and then I will add the leaves to my seed packet giveaways (I totally bought bay leaves at the store instead of going to a park because I am lazy and the leaves are the perfect shape so TOO BAD). Then it will be getting to bed earlier than usual (before 11 or midnight hopefully), getting up around 8am hopefully to get all pretty, and ta... freakin... DA.

Donezo after 14 hours technically because then the show will be over. DONE... ZO. I'm officially taking down the countdown app on my Google desktop sidebar thing. I'm well aware that you will expire tomorrow.

I don't have much to do anymore so I'd better stop blogging and finish creating. (For portfolio show, I will never stop creating when it comes to LIFE!) After all, I only have 1 FREAKING DAY.

I have 2 days left of college.

2011-09-20T20:30:00.000-07:00

... and I still don't know what shoes to wear.

*Swivels in chair once more in excitement*

Portfolio Update: The prints are done and my money has been repaid!! Thank goodness that stress is finally over. Now its all about my look and a few tweaks on some of the pieces and ta-freakin-DA! I need to figure out how to transport everything but that won't be too hard I can only hope.

AND one of my bestest friends in the whole wide world ever is having a celebratory breakfast with me the morning after because we are both graduating! I can't wait to see my booth all set up and everybody else's booths set up, it's gonna be surreal. It still doesn't feel like it's happening yet but AH less than 48 hours away its kinda right around the corner.

I still have a lot to do so I'd better stop blogging and continue creating After all, I only have 2 days.

I have 3 days left of college.

2011-09-19T17:45:00.000-07:00

So I may or may not get my money back for prints that may or may not be recycled because they were so utterly crappy due to incompetience that may or may not be the fault of an employee or a printer company.

That's where I'm at thus far.

Three whole days and its all over. Just a week or so of break back home in NV, then full time work and paying off student loans - which will take the rest of my life to pay off I'm sure but WORTH IT I can only hope. College aint free.

Portfolio Update: My first sentence summed up my last prints that I had to redo on my own on my cheep home printer. Now after hopefully getting my money back and getting my redo process book bound, all this will be behind me (and the money I could use for thrift store money back in my pocket). Just code tweaks and the extra giveaways left and I'm FREEEEEEEE!!

I have the urge to do some sort of happy dance, but that could be an accidental curse on the Portfolio Show gods for celebrating too early. I'll hold it in for a little while. *swivells back and forth in the chair to show at least some excitement*

After my celebratory swivels are over, I still have a lot to do so I'd better stop blogging (and swiveling) and continue creating. After all, I only have 3 days.

I have 4 days left of college.

2011-09-18T00:05:00.000-07:00

And of course the UPS store is closed when I get there so I can't chew-out the incompetent establishment in person until TUESDAY due to their closure on weekends and I will be at work all day Monday.

*Insert curse word here.*

Portfolio Update: After another trip to Office Depot to buy more fancy paper to replace the crappy versions of my prints (I've bought 5 boxes now at $15 each, curse you environmentally friendly paper), I printed out all the pages I needed that replace the $70 job that went down the drain. Should have done that in the first place but I thought "hey, a professional business who has printing and binding would make less mistakes than my $80 printer I bought at Wal-Mart 3 years ago, yes?" Apparently not. BUT at least I have everything ready but the process book. I printed it at home, but once I have the time to get to the UPS Store (I no doubt will chew them out over the phone on Monday during my lunch break at work) I'll negotiate getting my money back and make them bind the process book for free because I can't easily duplicate the holes in the crappy version to bind it myself. That just sets me up for another disaster.

And the screensaver! At least this file hasn't gone awry yet. I'm mostly done with it at this point so once I'm done with it tonight I'll email it to my awesome teacher and hope she can approve it before the show (though I don't think I officially need her approval I still want it because she was the one who planted this idea in my head in the first place). Until then I still have a lot to do so I'd better stop blogging and continue creating. After all, I only have 4 days.

I have 5 days left of college.

2011-09-17T00:30:00.000-07:00

The title of this blog is misleading since today - a.k.a. the day I just had - was my LAST OFFICIAL CLASS DAY of college... ever. Or at least Ai.

Bittersweet? Yes, but as my friend Jackie says I'm more "sad-cited" - sad + excited - than anything. Besides the thumping almost-migrane I had most of the day, it's been a great last-day-of-classes day. The presentation for class went well - besides my obvious nerves I pushed through it yay me - and then we watched a comedy (finally a comedy, the entire Film & Society class was watching depressing movies until today) and da da-da DAHHHH I'm done.

DONEZO... with classes.

Portfolio Update: I don't exactly feel donezo yet because I have still enough to prepare for the portfolio show. AND not to mention the prints that I picked up today were utter CRAP (don't go to the UPS store for anything more than pages with black ink or you're gonna get an incopitent high-school-aged punk messing up and throwing $70 of paper out the window). Can't wait to stomp over there tomorrow to give 'em a piece of my MIND uhh. Don't want to have to print all of this at home on my printer that may explode over the workload.

Also, I had 2 dresses I bought for the show that I didn't know which one to wear, so I put up a little poll on my Facebook page to see what my friends thought I should wear (a gray dress thats a little fancy w/ a red bow or a green dress that's a little more conservative) so after days of debate between my friends and family I have come to a consensus! I won't say which I'm going to wear yet, I'll wait until the day of to reveal my choice. =D

Now I WOULD be working on my screensaver file right now but I've got friends over so I'll get to that tomorrow after my chew-out over the prints. I still have a lot to do so I'd better stop blogging and continue creating (after my friends leave). After all, I only have 5 days.

I have 6 days left of college.

2011-09-16T02:35:00.000-07:00

I just finished my last homework assignment of my Ai college experience... basically.

Just studying for the final in the morning, class in the afternoon to present and take the final, and I'm donezo.

DONEZO. You'd think a soon-to-be college student would come up with a more educated word but it just feels right to add ZO at the end of DONE. It just does.

Portfolio Update: UPS's toner still needs to be replaced so my last few files BETTER be done tomorrow after class or I will cancel the job and go somewhere else that can get it done in a few minutes and not three days (not exactly in a hurry yet, I just picked UPS because they're close to my house). I got my signage printed at school and it's close to fantastic (the tan color never prints right but that's my fault for picking such an awkward tan color as a primary background of most of my portfolio). The No Hastle for the Tastle event went well and now I have an Alumni ID. AN ALUMNI ID! I might have felt slightly grown up today thanks to the word ALUMNI slapped across the bar that used to stay STUDENT. Even though I still have to go to class tomorrow as a student... my growth as an alumni have been stunted for only 4 hours, though. Have no fear. =p

I may want to keep working on my screensaver file while I'm still awake enough to function my computer mouse, so I'd better stop blogging and continue creating. After all, I only have 6 days.

I have 7 days left of college.

2011-09-15T03:10:00.000-07:00

Panicing NOW?! Not really. Yay?

Process of My Portfolio Update: Today was the day I turned in my process book and media kit files to the UPS store to get them printed and bound and all fancy-schmany because my printer at home can't handle 129 pages of color ink without blowing up. The pages should be ready tomorrow after I get to school and print out my signage (and then the cutting board mechanism my dad gave me continues to save my life as I will cut the stair-step effect into 100 of those pages). Website-wise, I just have a few code changes, checking spelling LIKE A BOSS on all of my portfolio pieces because my content is more intern level than boss level, eliminating dummy comments on the database sites I made so I don't sound like a total noob, and probably do some tiny design tweaks to a few pieces if I have time because nothing is ever done in my eyes. Also, as I'm typing this I am tinkering around in Photoshop for a screen saver idea for the show! So when my screen hasn't been touched in a while at my booth, I'll have pictures in a (for lack of a better word) fancy-schmancy slideshow looking interface, it's EXQUISITE TRUST ME. From this point on, I have my last Web Design class ever at Ai done and my graduation form is only a few signatures away from turning into a DIPLOMA (woo)! Tomorrow is the "No Hastle for the Tastle" event where I get the rest of the signatures done and then my last class is Friday and then SHA-ZAM I'm an alumni!

Sickness Update: Never got around to making a doctor's appointment - due to being busy, lazy and quite frankly stubborn - but I'm feeling loads better because all the cold and flu symptums I had previously are gonzo. Still a little puffy in general, so my consensus is I'm allergic to Jimmy =( Have no fear, allergy medicine is in vast supply! One variety works as well as dirt, and another has given me horrid migraines (so much for feeling better between the hours of 3pm and 7pm =/) but the latest variety has yet to kick in so cross your fingers I don't pass out tomorrow from drowsiness or bounce off the walls with hyperness. One of these is bound to happen.

And not getting enough sleep probably won't help. (Hi there 3am, wazzaaaaaaaaaaa...)

=/

Sleep-schmeep, I still have a lot to do so I'd better stop blogging and continue creating. (This screensaver interface keeps getting more and more exquisite by the MINUTE hallelujah!) After all, I only have 7 days.

I have 14 days left of college.

2011-09-08T00:30:00.001-07:00

Panicing? More like panicing because I am not panicing... though that sounds unnessecary.

I'll make this one shorter because I'm realizing my sickness has some sort of connection to how much sleep I'm getting (um that's a big fat DUH).

In class I was told several things about my problematic process book and unfinished media kit to the point where I was snapping at my teacher (it was another all-nighter and she's picky for a reason hello one more class left and everything's DONE next week). GAH I had to finish up the media kit as close as I could tonight and emailed it to her so I hope it's not as bad as I think it is. Printing should be done in literally days.

Guess who's got the whole weekend planned with homework and football? THIS KID! (I can only call myself "kid" for so long, mind you.) So in between the pigskin on the TV and sleeping and eating, I will be hopefully finishing up files and printing and binding! I still have a lot to do so I'd better stop blogging and continue creating (and sleeping). After all, I only have 14 days.

I have 21 days left of college.

2011-09-01T00:30:00.000-07:00

THREE WEEKS?! Seriously?

That seemingly unattainable reality known as "the real world" begins in 21 days... not sure if I should restrain from a fetal position or create a celebritory jingle in relation to my accomplishments in life up until now and my excitement for the next steps in my life (I'd probably title it the "Mandy's Adult Life" song). Either way, life is going to get easy and hard and fun and scary but probably feel the exact same as the life I had before and currently have now but with both less and more stress. If that makes any sense at all.

In my defense, it's 12-something AM. Deal.

Process of My Portfolio Update: Check it out it's GORGEOUS: http://missmanderz.com! All the projects I want are up and absolutely fabulous (no matter how much more time I want to put in them they're as fabulous as I can get them thus far). All my copy has been approved (thank you Sharon and Stover for murdering my ditsy/unprofessional copy and turning it into something worthy of professionals and the like to read - a.k.a. I need to stop using so many commas and utilize a thesaurus). Ooh, and my "artist statement" header on the home page will be TRANSFORMED into a gorgeous call-to-action-like statement of what my "beyond the pixels" phrase means (suggested by my lovely academic director Celeste, she's basically awesome), but I have yet to create the exact definition and I'm really excited to create it! Hopefully I'll have it ready by my next blog post. Print-wise, I still have a chunk to do after having an all-nighter two nights ago that left my loopy and distraught for... probably until now. I have 2 main things for the print: the process book, and the media kit that need to be printed in a few weeks. Not knowing for sure what the media kit is or does during my said all-nighter, I was still able to show something for critique this week and after reviewing it they told me to redo it. The process book is halfway done but after the review it's more like 35% done. Another all-nighter ahead? I'd say a few more.

My parents and grandma and supervisor at work and boss-man of work are all coming to my portfolio show so that's gonna be awesome. Waiting for packages in the mail and the immanent 4-and-1/2-day weekend coming up (score!) to work on EVERYTHING so by then I should have (*crossing fingers*) 75% of the print files done and 99% of the website done? (And by website, I mean it's probably at 96% now if I wanna break it down as percisely as possible in relation to my goal.)

Sickness Update: So I've been some form of sick for the past few weeks (and by few I mean this is the 7th week of a cold or flu or maybe-ear-infection to maybe-bacterial-thing to maybe-swollen-glands/taste buds thing; my amune system is out of whack), so I'd better force myself to make a doctor's appointment on Friday because as the "7th week" tidbit portrays I am sick of this being sick thing and need to get better for the show so I don't sound like a man, spread my germs over very important people, and feel like crud on top of my general nerves for the show itself which should be enough, hello! Though at this point if I want to use percentages to rate my wellness level, I'd say I'm at a 90% at this very moment (though the rest of the day felt like 75% and the rest of the last week felt like 87%).

AND as I sign off tonight I'll mention that my so-cute-it-kills-me cat Jimmy is being ridiculously adorable right now and distracting me from literally everything (all he's doing is cat-napping and my love for him grows exponentially) so getting sidetracked by my kitty is something I should practice avoidance with because 1) I need to sleep right now hello the time, and 2) I still have a lot to do so I'd better stop blogging and continue creating. After all, I only have 21 days.

I have 30 days left of college.

2011-08-22T16:30:00.000-07:00

Incoming cliche's: I can't believe I'm already almost done, it's bittersweet finding myself here, I'm gonna miss college because it's been the best years of my life, I'm excited for the future, I've really learned a lot, etc, etc, blah blah blah.

Everybody thinks I'm ready, I've been ready for a while now, and I'll be fine once portfolio show is over and the real world begins. But the more it's said, the less ready I feel. It's like I have a standard for myself that everybody else gets that I have, but I don't feel has been matched yet. I've been going through everything I want and need for my portfolio website, media kit, print book, giveaways, and booth setup, and it keeps trying to overwhelm me. "No matter how perfect I want it to be, it will never be perfect," I tell myself knowing everything will be fine. I'm either not overwhelmed yet because I've desensitized myself over the years from over-anxiety, or I've been overwhelmed for a while now and just haven't had something go wrong yet to bring that anxiety out.

Regardless, I just want these 30 days to go by very... very... slowly. I had a chance to graduate a quarter early (*cough* ON TIME *cough*), but that realization felt like going 120 miles an hour down to 0 in an instant. After lots of tears at the financial aid office, three weeks of a break, and this extra stressful six weeks of an extra quarter to prepare, I feel I'm way more prepared and set for the portfolio show than ever. And adding this extra quarter has me sharing my graduation with some of my best friends from school and sharing the same ceremony with them. High school was 4 years, college was 3 yet college has seemed twice as long for how much I've changed and grown as a person. I finally get to be the "grown-up" I've always wanted to be, living in a place I've falling in love with, surrounded with friends that will hopefully last a lifetime, and this sentence is full of cliche's so I'll just leave it at that. I still have a lot to do so I'd better stop blogging and continue creating. After all, I only have 30 days.

My first week with Jimmy.

2011-06-25T00:32:00.000-07:00

Several cat scratches, bunches of accumulating cat hair, and late nights of being woken up at 3am by having a cat sitting on my face later, I'm head over heels for Jimmy the cat. He's literally the sweetest cat ever, the best start-out cat for me, he bounces off my personality so well. =D

Here's what I've learned from Jimmy (a.k.a. Jimmy Cat, Jimmy Kitty, Slim Jim, Shimmy Jimmy, Jimmothy):

- He's such a "dog cat". He follows you around almost everywhere, uses his nose to investigate everything, and no joke lets you scratch his belly. He'll just plop down in front of you and show you his white belly and you can just scratch away unless he thinks its a game where he swats/bites at your hands after a few minutes.

- He's gotta have a few hours of play throughout the day or he'll wake you up at 3am by sitting your face. He'll just cat nap the whole day if he won't get attention so he'll force attention by waking you up.

- He's extremely curious. Even though he's 7 or 8, I think he's suppressed his "kittenhood" living in a great-granny house, and now he's realized how loud and wacky my parents and I are so he's just being a little stinker. Getting into trouble for sure.

- He's more of a chirper than a meower. He has little moans and cackles but he rarely does those true "meows." My sister says though that when he was in her car in his cat carrier he wouldn't stop meowing, so at least there's proof that he CAN meow.

- He lets it all hang out. When he's grooming himself he'll just flash you, lean on his back with all his legs spread-eagle. And what's cute is if he sees you looking, he's got one of those faces that says "If you don't like it, don't look" =p

- He eats/chews/swallows/mangals rubber bands, rubbery bracelets like those Live Strong bracelets, and hair ties. He's found rubber bands around the house that we didn't know were around.

So now I'm anxious to get back home to DC so I can set him loose in the apartment to see what he'll do/get into first.

Jimmy

2011-06-03T10:39:00.000-07:00

I have a feeling I will be posting a lot about my cat...

Jimmy's coming! 24 days and counting until he comes to his new home, but I get to see him in 14 days. The parents back home (NV home) are holding him for me until I go visit in 2 weeks so I can bring him home (DC apartment). BEYOND excited, I've already basically cat-proofed the house with all the knick-knacks and other junk I stubbornly hold on to in more defined places that a cat would hopefully not want to get into. My roommates and I even stayed up until 2am watching shows about cats on TV. We're all kind of excited =p

The best part about Jimmy is he's the perfect first-time-ownership cat for me (first on-my-own cat at least, grew up with a long haired black Manx named Stubby until I was 15). Jimmy used to be my sister's boyfriend's grandma's cat, or something like that, maybe great-grandma? Anywho, he's a Domestic Shorthair, 7 or 8 years old, gray in color, fixed and has all his shots (apparently), and he's free because the grandma needs to move in to a nursing home and can't take the cat with her, i.e. that's where I come in =D Oh geez, she moves out TODAY, meaning my parents could have Jimmy anytime today! Can't wait to call my mom and ask about him. He's supposed to be a real sweetheart, the cutest cuddly kitty who's got independence because he's lived with an old lady for so long.

For all of our sakes, I hope this blog does not turn out to be a blog about Jimmy, but you know I will be updating it when I get him, how he's like around me and all that.

=D