So, a bunch of stuff has changed since the last entry…

I’m really enjoying living with Gene and Mary.  They came down and moved in with me.  Recently, I had a job at the University at the parking and transportation office, but in September I was laid off due to the lack of work.  Since then I’ve been looking for work, babysitting on the side.

Well, that’s all for the past.  I just got a new toy due to a marketing scheme that was going on at my phone company.  I won’t bore with the details of the event, but now I have an adorably cute Dell Inspiron 910 Mini.  It’s so tiny!  I just love it.  It’s so ultra-portable that it’ll come in really handy when I go back t0 school.

Yes, I’ve  decided to head back to school.  The job market stinks and I’m tired of spinning my wheels, getting no where.  If I can’t get a job, then I’d rather be in school, doing something productive,  as opposed to just sitting here felling useless and frusterated.  I’ve decided to go back to school for my MBA (Master’s in Business Administration).  I found out about a program at the school called the Graduate Assistantship Program which will pay for my tuition and give me a stipend as long as I word 20 hours a week on campus.  I jumped for that, since I was planning on working on campus anyway and really needed money to go back to school.  Also, I have to keep at least a B average to stay in grad school.

I’m excited about going back to school.  I was really burned out when I graduated in December ‘07, but now that I’ve had some time away from it, I feel refreshed and eager to get back to it.  Hopefully with a Master’s degree, it’ll be easier to get a job.  (I’ll keep my fingers crossed cause that’s what I thought about a Bachelor’s degree.)

Another point of interest…

As I’m sure you noticed, the website you are visiting is www.kirastegner.com.  Yes.  I have my very own website now that I’m getting together.  Eventually I will develop it into the center of information about me.  I’ll put my professional and scholastic acheivements up here and have other pages dedicated to my various activities and non-work interests.  I’m still working on how all of it will fit together and how I’m going to lay it out.

Oh yes, I also adopted a new cat (I know, like I needed another!).  Well, I guess you could say the  kitten adopted us.  This 7 month old grey tabby just showed up one day and was really friendly and never left.  Finally, I decided to bring him in as one of us to keep him from going hungry or getting hit on South Main (since we had not been feeding him to try to convince him to go back home).  Well, he was a boy cat, so I took him into the vet and had him fixed and got him his shots.  He also had a rare flatworm that cats get when they eat frogs and lizards.  So he was treated for that.  It has really worked well!  He’s actually getting use of his food now.  Apparently, while he was outside, hanging around the house and scaling my kitchen window’s  screen, he was feasting upon my lizard population.  They were probably the only things he could catch.  But he’s doing so much better now.  He really loves being a safe indoor cat.  The other cats are not too fond of him, but they are adjusting.

I can’t really say I am unemployed, because technically I am employed by the Bulloch County School Board as a licenced substitute teacher.  However, they’ve only called me once and I was terribly sick that day.  So I’ve been trying to make some business cards and take them to the schools to hand out to the teachers, so they’d have my number readily available.

But I need a printer to do that.  I recently perchased a new printer/scanner/copier.  This one takes much cheaper ink than my other one.  My previous printer broke, but the scanner part still worked, so I gave it to Mary to scan her pictures in.  Gene says he’ll look at it and perhaps fix the printing part.  But if he can’t, oh well.  I got my use out of it and the ink was too expensive anyway.  However, my new printer has gone on the fritz and won’t print.  I have had a friend come over to look at it and he contacted HP to see what could be done.  It was only tonight, so he hasn’t heard back yet.

Speaking of electronic devices not liking me, it looks like I need a new hard drive.  My 500 GB hard drive that I bought back in the summer has been giving me trouble too.  Fortunatly, it is still under warranty since it’s not even a year old yet.  I’ll contact the Seagate people on Monday and explain what’s been going on with it.  Hopefully they will have some sort of file recovery cause I don’t want to lose my stuff.

Well, this post has grown quite long, so I’ll end it here and update at a later date.

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I will be having my own Thanksgiving dinner:

Turkey sandwiches

Scalloped Potatoes

Green Bean Casserole

Croissant rolls

Sparkling Apple-Pomegranate Cider

Fruit Salad (or ambrosia, as some call it, with the marshmallows)

Pumpkin Pie

I’d like to take this time to be thankful, since I always get too caught up throughout the year.  I am thankful that I have a safe place to live, money enough to live comfortably, and can work for my own dreams.  I’m thankful that I have a kitchen big enough to prepare my foods.  I’m thankful that I have a loving family that would drive the 9-hour round trip to pick me up if I wanted to spend the holidays with them.  I’m thankful for my friends that have always been by my side and thankful for the friends that I have who have been parted from me.  Thank you for your love and compassion while you were with me.   I’m thankful for my situation in life.  That I can aspire to be just about anything I want.  I have very progressive thinking parents and family.  I live in a rich country with the frame of mind that I should be vocal about how it is run.  I am indeed a very, very fortunate person.

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I dedicate this comic to Paul, I guy I know: http://www.xkcd.com/

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Now, I know some of you don’t read into this sort of thing, but bear with me, and read The Scorpio Woman. Okay, it’s a little lengthy, but it’s good. Read it, please. This is one of the most dead-on explanations of me, as a Scorpio, I have ever read (and believe me, I’ve read a bunch). Work with me, read this: http://mizian.com.ne.kr/englishwiz/library/names/zodiac/scorpio.htm#_Toc6672026

I’d like to hear the comments from those who actually know me. Do you think it’s accurate? Some of you may be surprised at some of the things it says. I was. There were several times I thought, “Wow, I just did that!” or “Yes! I was thinking that at the time.” The critical readers will have something to say, I’m sure. But do try to set that aside for a minute and see this as description of me.

Thank you.

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I just finished the most recent book in Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series.  The book is entitled Eclipse,  and I have been waiting for it since I finished the previous two, Twilight and New Moon, in December.  The books are geared for teenager/young adult readers, but I absolutely love them.  I must say that I am so glad that I read  New Moon before I came back down to Statesboro, because the book dealt with very emotionally charged situations between the characters.  My life began to to turn alarmingly like the life of the main character, Bella, in the months following New Year’s.  If I had to have read the book later, I could not have gotten through.

Don’t get me wrong.  It shouldn’t hinder anyone else from reading it, it’s just that my life is chaotic and dramatized.  I would have not been able to get through the book without recognizing the similarities and realizing the character’s pain is my own.  Very truly so.

I encourage everyone to read the books, although I am sad that I have read the final one… and the story continues.  I want more!  It does revolve around Vampires and Werewolves and it is a… not a “romance” but it does have romantic undertones.  What young adult novel with vampires doesn’t?!  But I like it!

Twilight

New Moon

Eclipse

Go read them!

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I have a choice I have to make before tomorrow.

I can either graduate in December OR be in Marching Band for my fourth year.  I can either take a three-hour music class OR drop my music minor altogether.

I have some problems with my scheduling.  Marching Band and Concert Band both conflict with two of my must-haves for my major.  The conflict is so large that it cannot be overridden, I would end up being 45 minutes late to the Band Classes (unacceptable, say the Band Directors) or leave early from the Writing classes (unacceptable, says one professor).  So I can’t drop these writing classes, as I need them, they are not offered more that once this semester. One of them is offered next semester, but I wanted to be done by that time.

So, I could take Marching Band this semester and put off the class until Spring. Not wise, seeing as they like cancelling classes out from under students.

I’m having the same problem with my Concert Band, either 45 minutes late (Director won’t have it) or leave early from writing (I have the meeting with him tomorrow, he is likely to say the same thing).  And the Concert Band director is the sticky one.  He doesn’t like having people coming in even a little bit late, so he’s bound to be unmoving.

I get a plaque if I saty in Marching Band for 4 years.  Since I didn’t join band until my second year, I only just completed my third year marching.  I really wanted that plaque, presented by Dr. Fallin at the end-of-semester banquet.  I’ll also miss, if I opt to not do band, the opportunity to be recognized out on the field on the last home game.   Also, I’ll never be able to be in a Marching Band for the rest of my life… you don’t have flutes or piccolos in a drum corp.
But I do really want to be finished by December.  I still have the house rented through the year, but I want to be a little jump ahead of everyone else who will be graduating in Spring.  And I’m eager to be done with school.

I don’t know.  I am thinking I’ll just drop my music minor, since the only three-hour course I can take is Music History and it’s at 9:30 in the morning.  And I’ll not be in Marching (and most likely, Concert) Band.  It makes me sad, but Meghan isn’t going to be in either Band either, and she’s the main person that keeps me going on.  And there are a couple people that I’d like to rather not share band with.  Besides, some good things can come from this… I’ll be freed up to go to both AWA and DragonCon this year.  Also, life will be much simpler, not so hassled, so I could work on that Honors Capstone disaster.

Anticipating this decision, I registered for a Theatre class.  It looks interesting.  I know it sounds crazy, but I want to be an actress, preferably in Wicked as Elphaba, if not that, some other musical, or just on stage.  I let that dream cool among my efforts to get a degree for “the real world” but I would love to act.  With the free time, I could audition for plays.

So I guess I’ve made my choice, but it’s not easy.  I’m being forced to choose one thing or another, picking which one I want more.  I’m having a premonition that my personal life is going to be like this soon too.  I’ll start having to make tough choices that I don’t want to make, just so I can continue to go forward.  There is a lot of stuff, and people, that I am hanging on to, either for my feelings or theirs, that I may have to choose them or choose living without them.  But that thought is too painful and encourages tears, so I’ll deal with it when I come to that fork.

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I just got back from seeing Wicked in the Apollo-Victoria theatre. It is so awesome. I just can’t get over it. The storyline is great, the seating, though I was in the back, was excellent, and the company was spectacular. Kelly Ellis played Elphaba. She had a voice that just filled up the place. I can’t get the song “Defying Gravity” out of my mind. I’m listening to the Soundtrack of the Original Cast (I’d rather have Kerry Ellis, but this is good too. The voices are just as good). I bought a program too. I don’t know how I lived my life without seeing this!

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I’m back in Statesboro after my 3-week visit to Mom and the Dallas people. I have about one week in order to get everything together and packed for my trip to London. I’m excited.

Today I was very bad, I bought The Sims 2. I shouldn’t have, but with my friend talking about the characters that she designed, her and all her friends, and them interacting and having kids and such… (I’m a grandparent now to twins)… I just really wanted it, unlike I have ever wanted something so trivial and costly. On my way back, I stopped by the water department to pay my water bill for this month and next, since I’ll be gone. And heading back home, I noticed a new bakery. Of course I had to pay my respects. Mmmm, sweet respects. I bought two cheese danishes and two little apple turnovers. They were selling fresh baguettes for a dollar-some and French rolls nearly the size of my head for 40 cents. (I just had a thorough cleaning and am recovering from severe Gingivitis, so my gums are too tender to take on a hard French roll, so I left it for the time being.) I’m going to give Meghan one of the danishes and turnovers tonight.

After the bakery, I was biking on the bike trail with no one around and I saw a train engine, blaring it’s horn, chugging down the tracks next to me… backward. That’s a common sight around here, so I just watched it. Then I had the overwhelming childish urge to wave at the conductor, which I did. So there was me, flying down this bike path, wind sweeping through my, now very short, hair, waving like a child at this backward-moving engine. It must have looked silly, but it was so much fun.

So now I’m going to start up my Sims game and have a grand ole time. Tah-tah!

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I was doing a little spring cleaning today, trying to get my life and house in order before I head to London.  I cleaned out the little foyer room by my front door and stacked in it a bunch of plastic stacking crates to store my plants on.

Well, I had two kinds of crates.  All of them have a bottom and three sides.  There are two removable tops.  All of the crates are white except for two, a blue one and a yellow one (Georgia Southern’s colors, of course).  Of the two styles of crates there are 6 that have a solid bottom and and wide, rectangular holes in the sides and 6 that have equal-spaced, square holes in the sides and bottom.  The two colored ones are of the second type.  There is one top for each type.

Apparently, these crates are prejudiced against each other because no matter how much I wanted them to work together, they just would not inter-stack.  But I had to give in and make two separate stacks because if I forced them against their apparent will, they would snap, and I would be out a perfectly useful crate.  However, it would have been so much nicer and oodles more efficient if they would stack together and save me the hassle.

Is there a life lesson in this?

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I did poorer than I expected.  I made a B in the Astronomy Lab.  I thought there were 10 labs we had to do, not 14.  I had done 12.  I considered myself ahead of the game, but not so much.  And the thing is, I did ask the professor and he said I was good.  *sigh* I could have known had I double-checked.  So it’s really all my fault.  I got 3 points instead of 4… not too bad.

The other class that I was worried about was Physiological Psychology.  When I checked two or three weeks before Finals, I had a C.  I did lots of extra credit studies and studied for the Final and hoped that I could bring it up to an A.  But my Research Paper, being low on the objective scale, took a very low grade.  That almost assured me that I would get no higher than a B.  And that’s what my final grade was, B.  Not bad, but I still wanted that A.

Now my GPA’s at 3.44. SUCKY!  Especially since at one time I had a 3.74!!  My GPA plummeted after I failed that Cognitive Psychology class.  I’ve been suffering ever since.  I wanted to make a 4.0 this semester to boost the GPA, but I messed up.
All in all, my grades were mostly A’s.

ASTR 1010 - A  (Astronomy of the Solar System)

ASTR LAB - B

PSYC 5330 - A  (Psychology of Aging)

PSYC 5430 - B  (Physiological Psychology)

LING 3032 - A  (Syntax)

MUSE 3211 - A  (Concert Band)

WRIT 2131 - A  (Everyday Creative Writing)

That’s it.  I still wanted straight A’s though.  It’s so much easier to say, I made straight A’s than I made 4 A’s and 2 B’s.  Cause then people say, “What were the 2 B’s in?”  every time!

But it’s done.  I have to turn in a Children’s Book to Dr. Welford then do an overdue, not needing grade, paper for Dr. Weigand, for LAST semester.  Then I’m off nearly scott free until Summer in London.  When I come back to school, I only have 12 hours to complete!  And an Honor’s Capstone Project to do… and I graduate!!  Hurray for me.

Next Fall Semester I’m going to take

Foundations

Frameworks of Business and Technical Writing (I think that’s the name)

Writing and Gender (which for some bizarre reason substitutes for Semantics, which was cancelled out from under me and isn’t going to be offered again until after I leave)

Concert Band (which for once is going to be offered in the Fall too)

Marching Band (of course)

And hopefully, Guitar Class for Non-Majors (but the class is full, I have to see if the instructor can squeeze me in)

If not the guitar, I’ll be in the Woodwind Ensemble (doesn’t look too fun, but I MUST have one more credit hour and it has to be a music class)

In London, I’m taking

Criminal London and Writing London

Both with Dr. Welford.

Then I should graduate Fall of 2007, so my class ring will still be accurate.  I want all my friends there!  But after I graduate, I’m going to stay down in Statesboro, cause the rent’s cheap and because I plan to go on the Band’s Concert Tour again.  This time they’re touring England and Ireland and doing the residency in Germany again.  I really REALLY want to go back to Germany.  I wanted to take Paul, but since I can’t get a hold of him, I couldn’t discuss it with him.  I’d have to take classes as a non-degree seeking student, because I’m NOT waiting that long to graduate (This happens, Summer ‘08)  But that should be fun.  I can see more and not have to stress as much.  And it would be nice to know that I outrank everyone except the faculty. :D  And Meghan’s going to try and go and that’s fun!

After I get done with all of that, then I might consider growing up and getting a “real job” somewhere where they make you work in suits and sit in a cubicle and breathe recycled air and swap gossip at the water fountain. bleh XP

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