Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade thoughts

-TV on (which is is pretty crazy for me), NBC found...  and I'm early.  oops.

-Apparently the balloons almost didn't fly due to wind.  I wonder if that's ever happened before.

-That first marching band.  WOW.  That drummer was going upside down.  Ok, those drummerS.

-Dear news anchor lady, looking at your cohost is annoying for the rest of us who have to see the side of your face.

-Holy moly that poor girl must be FREEZING!  But that green dress is pretty cute.  I'm not sure I could perform in those conditions.  I'd be like, well glad we got this far, sorry its too cold for this girl, I'll be in my hotel room.

-Wow Matilda has LOTS of small children that are power singers... and dancers.

-Dear news anchor, please don't have a heart attack on TV trying to keep up with balloon runners.

-I really hope these dancers were kept in a hot room prior to having to take the stage with how minimal of clothes they are wearing.

-Dear Kinky Boots, WTF?  Also, British flag person.. nice butt bow.  Woah, fat dudes.. are they supposed to represent American rednecks?

-Dear poor dancers in barely any clothes.  I'm sorry.  I hope you're staying warm with all your dancing, but seriously, better you than me.  I hope you don't end up with pneumonia next week.

-Need more marching band.  That's the best part.

-Oooh, history.  1924.  6 miles.  I'm so learned.

-Gobble gobble gobble!

-Dude, my arms would be so tired of waving.

-Wow, that poor marching band looks like its actually running!  Oh they stopped. "My Favorite Things"!  I love this song!  No one cares about the dancers, lets see the band!

-Oh, a new Snoopy.  Snoopy is apparently the most frequent character in the parade.

-Wow, creepy clowns.

-Dear Gavin DeGraw, it definitely looks like you're lip syncing.  Also, when you put the microphone on your chin, it looks weird.  Nice try, but no.

-Holy neon.

-Whatever happened to the The Big Comfy Couch, that show seem so much cooler than whatever I'm watching with a squeaky chicken.

-To the poor girl who is carrying the flag and the big box, sucks to be you.  YAY more marching band!

-Wow, good job someone doing the Aflac quack over the anchor.

-Awww its the NHL float.

-Dear Kelly Pickler, your head jerks are weird.  Do they add to your singing?  Also, I saw somewhere that you said you wanted to like Dolly Parton.  While you are missing the boobs, you definitely got enough bleach in that hair to cover the blonde part.  (also, why does Chrome not recognize Parton as a properly spelled word?)

-Aww an advertisement for Frozen, which I kinda wanna see but not only because the moose reminds me of Phil on slippery floors.

-WOOOT! Sesame Street float!  And Jimmy Fallon is on the float.  WIN!  OMG and The Count did the count down!  Be still my heart.  Awww and Big Bird is wearing a tacky tie.  Aww and Oscar the Grouch.  Bahahah he had plastic clappy hands.  Aww I love Sesame Street!

-And that high was killed by Hello Kitty following Sesame Street.  I'm not really sure about Hello Kitty.  I mean, she's cute, but what has she done?  She doesn't even have a mouth.  How can I take her seriously?

-YAY another high school with feather hats.  I'm sad I can barely hear them.  Woah those dancers are wearing some weird tights.  They were so unintersting that the switched back to the anchors.

-Umm... goldfish float is weird.  Apparently they should have coordinated their singers a bit better for the camera man.

-Creepy = "Big Hugs Elmo"

-Unrelated to the parade, if you are buying a cell phone with a 40+ megapixel camera, you are doing photography wrong.

-I'm so fing tired of Katy Perry's - Roar.  It's overplayed, so freakin' over played.  I know its all motivational and crap, but OMG, there are OTHER SONGS WORLD!

-All That! the only all male clogging team in the world.  Huh, wonder why.  Only these 9 guys think that clogging is cool.  Imagine that.

-Cher Lloyd, I'm sorry, you automatically lose in my mind because your name is Cher and that immediately makes me think of the Cher that sounds like a man.  Also, you are surrounded by people with road signs on their heads, which I know isn't your fault, but still.  You lose.

-I wonder if its getting any warmer?

-Ironic to anyone else that Florida-Georgia Line is singing Cruise while their float is stopped?  Obvioiusly someone didn't tell this guy that performing is more important than being warm.  BAhAHAHAHAH and as the float started moving again he almost fell.

-Ok, Richard Simmons apparently isn't dead yet.

-Awww pretty horses.

-Ok, while I may not get Hello Kitty, Julius from Paul Frank is awesome.

-Shamu, idk who your singers are, but they sound pretty good.  Bahahah and the random fishies on poles were pretty awesome.

-Yay another fuzzy hat marching band.  Wow, they actually had a dude on their dance/flag team... who almost just busted his ass when he stepped on a flag.  Apparently he is their STAR!

-OHH YEAH!  It's the Kool-Aid man.  Who has a 9 foot smile and it would take 11,000 gallons of koolaid to fill up the flat.

-Oh rah, Duck Dynasty made it.  Meh.

-Mr Peanut and the "nutmobile" bahahahahaha.

-WHAHHHHTTTTTT MINIONS ARE IN THE PARADE!?!?!?!?  MUST NOT BLINK!

-Miss America looks like she coming out of a cake.  Fitting?

-I'll support a Marine Corps band.  They need to do some pinwheels or something so I can be fulfilled rather than just moving in weird lines.

-Seeing the Mount Rushmore float kinda makes me want to visit there.  Why wasn't I interested when I went with Teh Granny to Montana?  Oh yeah, I was tired of driving.

-Wow, a circus wagon that was built in 1902.

-Ronald McDonald balloon is creepy, but the actual Ronald riding in the shoe car is even creepier.  And Ronald looking clowns following the balloon?  Woah.

-Seriously.. a jump rope team?  I can't even believe the amount of coordination there.

-what the hell is a Zu Zhu?  Children's show are just creepy, which I see more and more as an adult.

-Spongebob is stupid.  Period.

-Apparently only fuzzy hat bands get to perform in the parade.  These people have mirrors on their uniforms.  And those high schoolers actually kissed.

-Oh yeah, lip syncing.. that music definitely started WELL before she did.  Way to go broadway queen.  Even if she is singing, that mic is definitely not on because I feel like her bouncing would have been heard.

-Ok, now I see what the big deal is with Christmas being on TV earlier and earlier with the marketing aimed at children.  I just wanted to cry a bit.

-Aww a dog show is next and while they didn't show a greyhound, they did show a dalmatian.  YAY.

-Cirque de Soleil  makes me sad because I didn't see them when they were in DC and tickets were on Groupon because they were "too expensive"... dumbest thing ever.

-Awww Toothless from How to Train Your Dragon.  Although, I feel like he's incorrect since the point of the movie was that Hiccup helped him fly.

-LINDT CHOCOLATE!  NOMNOMNOM.  WITH THE GOO GOO DOLLS SINGING COME TO ME!!!!  /swoon.

-Well this marching band has Wizard of Oz costumes, which is pretty awesome.  Bahahha.. oops that blue band definitely wasn't coming unrolled.  Dorthy got to wear sleeves, but they didn't put a coat on Toto?  Booo.  Big headed costumes with normal human sized bodies are creepy.

-Dear Havertys, adopting a dog is NOT about matching your couch or the color of the dog.  Not impressed.

-Bleh cheerleaders don't even impress me.  There's too many of them to actually be awesome.  That's like 100 cheerleaders in the same team.  Oh rah, a pep rally with Joan Jett.  It's like high school is replaying in my living room, except we didn't have Joan Jett or nearly as many cheerleaders.

-Spiderman has arrived, although you'd think he'd be hanging off buildings rather than be tethered to the ground.

-Dear Big Apple Man, the leaf hands are awkward.

-I figured the NFL float would be way more interesting.  At least the NHL had singers.

-The NYPD has a band?  Well that's cool I guess.

-Hobbit 2 advertisement:  I'm kinda excited about seeing it.

-Edible Arrangements ad:  definitely reaching on that one.

-Monopoly ad: A cat is the new piece?  Fine, we've had a dog for years though, just keep that in mind.

-Power Rangers?  Seriously?  I thought they went out years ago.  I don't understand Super Megaforce Power Rangers.  So now there's 8 rangers?  or these rangers replace the crappy old ones?

-Wow, that marching band is actually RUNNING.  The end of the parade must be dragging and they are trying to catch up.  These fuzzy hats have chin straps.  So awkward.

-Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are back.  From my assessment, they are the "new" turtles based on their eye shapes.  TMNT with Fall Out Boy?  Way less badass.  TMNT need to kick Fall Out Boy off the damn float.  TAKE BACK THE STREETS!  Did they really make the marching band have a short performance so we could get more Fall Out Boy?  DUMB.

-I'm so old.  I don't even appreciate Pokeman being in the parade.  I'd rather know what was in parades years and years ago.  Pikachu's cheeks are flashing.  I'm going to have a seizure.

-A drill team from Chicago might be just as cool as a marching band.  Again with the neon.  It's like the 80s have infected the 21st century.

-Discover ad: because I always talk to my credit card company in a public place on speaker phone.  Right.

-Hellman's ad:  Who the hell adds mayo to cranberries?

-Sprint Ad: "YOU MADE ME THIS WAY"  yes.

-WOOOOO MINIONS!!!  Gru in real life is creepy.  sads.

-Pillsbury Dough boy looks pretty wrinkly.  Maybe he's getting old?  Also, the sound effects over the anchors?  Obnoxious.  Pillsbury giggles unnecessary.

-Red, white, and blue fuzzy hat band.  At least there are no chin straps.  One of these damn bands needs to do some pinwheels to validate all the pinwheels I had to do in high school.  Maybe that just makes me more of a badass than them?

-Dear Build-a-Bear, I wish you weren't so expensive so I could have built a bear.  Dear Austin Mahoy?  or whatever your name is.  If you have to say your name as the beginning of your song, you're not as awesome as you think you are.  Did he just say he wants to bang her, bang her, bang her then promise to make her laugh before the night is over?  No.

-Finn and Jake?  Mmkay.  If you say so.

-Buzz Lightyear, you carry on man.  And the human toting him are dressed up in galactic uniforms too.  Pretty cool.  How does one get the job of being a balloon grounder?

-Yay for a Christmas music marching band

-Cherokee Singers singing in Cherokee.  Cool, I think, although I'm sure they are singing curses at me, except for the hallelujah part.

-Dear headache, you are not welcome here today.  Please go away.

-Dora doesn't have a balloon, she has a float.  Interesting.  Probably because balloon Dora would be as creepy as those clowns that started the parade.  I'm sure that the people on the floats wish they were in the character suits which are considerably warmer.

-Idk who this girl is with a letter.  Am I supposed to?  Nonetheless, she makes me want to cut my hair short and dye it red because its adorable.

-Too bad Delta doesn't have a balloon of a big plane?  Too soon, NYC?    Bahaha watching the singers react when the float starts moving again is awesome.

-Elf on the Shelf is the largest balloon in the parade.  Teh Bear thinks that Elf on the Shelf is stupid, which does make me a bit sad because I think that its kinda cute in a I'd-put-forth-the-effort-for-a-week-then-stop-because-I'm'-lazy way.

-Little People ad:  holy crap they have a princess palace.  Kids have too many toys.  Seriously.

-Macy's ad: donating $1 to the make-a-wish foundation for every letter to santa they receive.. that's pretty cool.

-Happy Hanukkah on Thanksgiving, which is a rarity!

-Smurf history makes Papa Smurf sound like a pedophile.

-Why was the Duck Dynasty cast not on the duck float for Homewood Suites?  That would have made so much more sense.

-And the parade is ending with the marching band that started the parade.  I'll take it.  YAY Christmas tunes!  With the crowd singing?  WIN.

-Macy's has elves.  And Santa has arrived and his float is 3.5 stories tall.  Wouldn't wanna fall from that.

And that is the end of the parade.  Now its time to finish that intel paper.  Seriously.  Doing it.

4 Things 10 Thing Challenge: Day 4

Day 4:

1. The Hobbit. Let me explain before you scoff at me. The Hobbit was hilarious to me. Granted, I went into it thinking it was going to be a movie with an ending (which was a dumb assumption considering it is a Peter Jackson film), but still, there was laughter and good graphics. Also, the troll scene is hilarious, I don’t care who you are.

2. Despicable Me 1/2. Gru’s accent = best villain accent ever. Minions = Navy members in the PT uniform. Animated, applicable, and hilarious. How can you fight that?

3. Wall-E. Pixar animation. No babble. Just genuine, heartfelt, kindness.. in space.

4. 10 Things I Hate About You. Heath Ledger (alive), Julia Stiles, a rendition of Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew.

Julia Stiles in this movie was everything I wanted to be in high school... and that hair.
Please, Hair Gods, may I have that hair?

  

A concluding rant... about one of my classes.. of course

I have officially finished my HR class.  I've submitted my weekly forum post, responded to enough people, and turned in my final project.  YAY!

Except that I still have 8 more pages to write for my intel class and I'm angry and my writing this post is to vent those frustrations so I can hopefully move past them and get to doing the actual assignment, which I did actually start, but anger distracted me.

So much anger, in fact, I did the dishes.

My intel class has been a HUGE disappointment.  As this was my first class I wanted to learn all the exciting things I didn't already know.  I wanted the non-military perspective.  I got over 300-500 pages of reading per week, in addition to hours of research and reading journal articles to help clarify the things I wasn't understand from the readings.  I understand that by taking online classes, I'm pretty much "self-teaching" all the things.  I get that.  What I don't get is how cookie cutter classes are difficult for instructors.  I don't understand why its so hard to review the syllabus, assignments, and weekly lessons and forums before they are posted, ensuring accuracy and that they reflect the desires of the instructor.

For instance (because you knew that was coming)...
My intel class is INTL 501 Strategic Intelligence.  The syllabus contained the title INTL 305 as the class.  The syllabus also stated that we had a weekly forum post to do except for during week 7, which was inaccurate, as we did have a forum post required that week.  During week 1, the instructor posted an extra forum that wasn't listed on the syllabus that contained a link to a video and asked if we had any comments.  I didn't have any comments after watching the hour long video, so I was not given full credit (at first) that week because I did not complete all the assignments.  I messaged the (Nobel Prize winning) instructor and explained that the video forum wasn't listed as required on the syllabus and it also didn't state it was required.  The instructor "gave [me] an extension" so I could do the assignment.  I later found that particular forum listed under the week one lesson as an assignment.. and by later I mean, several weeks later when looking for a reading that had been assigned.

Additionally, grades were received at least 2 weeks after the week had ended.  Example:  Week 2's grades were finally posted during week 5.  While week 6 grades haven't been posted yet, and we are in the final week of the class.  The first assignment that was due was a research proposal.  The syllabus stated it was due on 19OCT, his assignment page listed it as due on 26OCT.  It was finally returned with comments 6/7/8NOV (I don't remember the actual date, but around those days).  Originally, the research paper was due 16NOV, but on the 14th, the instructor sent out an email telling the class that the research paper due date was pushed back a week, which I had already assumed since that was the due date on the assignments area, ya know, since I'd already deduced that the syllabus was a waste of my time.

The real issue with this massive delay in grading of assignments is that the syllabus stated the papers for the class were to be done in Turabian format... except that the instructor wanted in-text citations.  It took me 5 weeks to figure out that he didn't actually want Turabian format in the paper (or forums, which I was being deducted points for, and the feedback was coming so late that the feedback was useless because new forums postings had already been done), only the references, because Turabian format doesn't use in-text citations, it uses footnotes/end notes, which I can totally do.

Additionally, feedback on the forum posts was originally done by editing the original post and later it was by responding to the post.  The responses and feedback didn't take into account the replies to the original posting, replying to other's posts was only a check in the box.  This guy should definitely win the "most involved professor of the year" award. /eyeroll

Often in the lessons, links were incorrect and it was difficult to get to the readings or videos that were required, which directly correlates with an issue I'm currently having doing the final project (which by the way, wasn't opened up until 17NOV and it's due 01DEC).  For the final paper, you are only allowed to use required readings that were used throughout the course.  When I go back through the lessons, some of the reading files are no longer available, which makes doing this final assignment even more difficult than it needs to be.  Additionally, rather that using bibliographies to assign readings (which would only make sense to me so students can actually go and fetch these readings that were assigned that are no longer linked) only web addresses were given for some items.  Those readings often are missing vital information that is needed to do a required reference page for the final project.

The final assignment reads like this: "This assignment is a Take Home Essay assignment to test knowledge and assimilation of the course learning objectives."  I'm just going to state that almost all online class requirements are "take home"...  /facepalm
And my favorite part of the final assignment: "The assignment should be no more and no fewer than eight pages."  Because you know, that's not very specific or anything.  What happens if its over (which I have a tendency to do)?

Grading for the class is.. on another realm of education.  90+ grades (A- to A+) are only given if you are performing "above class standards", while a B+ is above standards.  Why would I be taking the class if I could perform above class standards?  What would be the point, since I obviously already know the material.  Teh Bear and I have often discussed this class because it frustrates me so, and he claimed that the instructor was trying to challenge the students.  Ok, fine.  I've been academically challenged, but when your feedback is consistently too late to be applicable, your comments include "errors" that can be considered preferences and the rest of the feedback is mostly the same as from previous weeks (a copy/paste portion of the grading rubric for A standards, as well as a disclaimer explaining that he writes/speaks in short clipped sentences due to "an old military habit"), I have fierce struggles.

A final stressor of this class for me is that due to late feedback, I know that I won't receive my research paper comments or grade from the professor before the final project is due (ya know, 7 days after the research paper was due).  The research paper was 35% of our final grade while the final project is 30% (forums were 20% and the research proposal is 15%).  Not having feedback is especially scary since I know that this instructor is extremely particular about all the things and I'll have no idea what I've done wrong, so I'm sure to repeat all my mistakes in the final project, which I'm sure to be marked down for.

The first week of the class, there were 21 people enrolled.  At week 8, there are 10 students left.  I struggle to comprehend why with such few students, grades are returned so late.

One of the feedback items that I gave to my INTL 500 instructor was that I didn't feel like grading was strict enough because I would later find errors in my papers that the instructor didn't catch or didn't care.  Well, that might have bit me in the ass.

Is it December yet?

PS.  I'm taking an education break for at least one month (if not two) after this semester.  I feel like I've been through the ringer, for sure.  I'm tired of only ever talking about homework.  I feel like I mommy-jack conversations, except that its not mom or baby things, it's homework related issues and no one like a conversation-jacker.

Fashion doesn't agree with me... #33

What's the point?

4 Things 10 Thing Challenge: Day 3

Day 3:

1. I believe that while your beliefs and convictions are important to you, they are probably not as important to me, so please don't try to shove them down my throat.

2. I believe that if you don't have a sense of humor, your life is probably pretty miserable.

3. I believe it is rude to ask someone when they are going to have kids.

4. I believe if you have a ball sack on the back of your vehicle, you are a douche canoe.

Fashion doesn't agree with me... #32

Teh Megan in yellow.

Teh Sister in yellow.

Our glasses matched our shirts.

Maybe I just have a goofy face?

4 Things 10 Thing Challenge: Day 2

Day 2:

1. Megra from Hercules.
When I think of fictional characters, I think animated for some reason. But Meg, oh Meg. It’s ok that it’s cliché, you can say you’re in love… because I’m in love with you. We share the same name, mostly-ish, you have a sarcastic wit, you’re beautiful (omg that HAIR!), and you let that column fall on you to save Hunk-ules.

2. Christina from Grey’s Anatomy
Word on the street is that Christina is leaving the show and if you can envision that person who let someone else in front of them in the lottery ticket line and they won when it would have been you that is my reaction to this announcement. Christina is my absolute favorite. She’s a machine. She’s mostly heart-less. She’s methodical. She’s a thinker. She controls her emotions to the max. She doesn’t fall easy. She’s Christina-mother-f-in-Yang. Meredith is whiny and keeps doing dumb shit and almost gets killed so many times that even the script writers are writing in jokes about how awful their lives are that they almost get killed so much. I think that would be the point at which the show should end, but that’s just me. My heart broke a little when George and Burke left the show. I loved watching Burke and Christina. I loved watching George be a surprising badass. I’ve never missed Izzy. But Christina.. I’ll miss the most and I’m not sure if the show will even be worth watching after she’s gone.

3. Mr. Darcy from (the 2005) Pride and Prejudice
Hello, could that end scene have been any more swoon-worthy? I wanted to knock Kiera Knightly off that platform and be her non-look-alike-stunt-double. He was relentless, despite Lizzy’s stubborn, obliviousness. That breathless “I love, love you.” Is there anything better than that?

4. Belle from Beauty and the Beast
She was my hero growing up. She looked good in yellow, she loved to read, and she had to endure a horrible situation with a cranky animal who was obsessed with a magical fading rose. She may have been a bit crazy because all the dishes were her friends, but Chip was cute, so she gets a pass. She shunned the “good looking guy” who was definitely NOT good looking, what was with that Jay Leno chin? Not sexy. Also, she could sing. Definite girl-crush.

Fashion doesn't agree with me... #31

I'm sure, at some point, some of these are repeats.
Sadly, they are still ridiculous each time I put them on my face... thus they will still continue to get posted.

Yeah. no.

I'm obviously a badass.

Making my face longer so the glasses weren't swallowing my face.

My sweet little old lady face.

Ridin' the wave.

I've noticed something about myself that irritates me.  When it comes to decisions that are permanently life altering, I struggle substantially at making a decision.  One day I love it, one day I hate it, and it's about 50/50.  This relates to the Navy, this relates to my (poor) workout/eating choices, about marriage, about babies...  and the fact that I'm irritated over the fact that I can't make a decision is obnoxious.  And when I irritate myself, that's infinitely worse!

The decision on my mind right now?  The kids thing.  It's mostly because 50% of my friends just had babies or already have them and the other 50% just found out they are pregnant.*

*those statistics might be slightly skewed.

More and more lately, I've been on the meh-kids-ever mindset.  Mostly because when Teh Bear and I are laying in bed, crying from laughing so hard at each other or when we're able to just randomly change plans, I enjoy that freedom.  But, as more and more friends post their sonogram pictures on FB and more blogs that I read announce "ALL.THE.BABIES!" I question that mindset.  

Rather than just accept that I'm a pendulum, I get irritated at myself for being wishy-washy and unable to make up my mind.  I get irritated that I never let anything go, that I over-analyze all.the.things.  (Definitely a Teh Mom trait)  And when I decide to be all cool about it, someone else posts that they finally had their baby or found out they are pregnant, and the cycle starts again.  

I stopped feeling jealous a while ago and now I can't accurately describe the feeling anymore.  I want to be happy for these people, because, (maybe?) this is something they are excited about.  Yet, there's a part of me that can't respond to these posts (on FB or blogs) because I would leak out some of the things in this post, and these are inappropriate things to say on the photo of a newborn or a "uterus squid".

Maybe the lack of desire to have kids right now is frustrating because society feeds us a pretty picture of a significant other, 2.5 kids and a dog and a picket fence and perfection.  It's going against the grain to fight that.

Maybe part of the irritation at myself is because I want someone to be just as happy for my childless life as they are for someone who procreates.  

But I know that most of the irritation comes from the selfishness that is my whole dilemma with procreating in general is an ebb and flow situation like all the other things in my life.  I don't like the required patience that it takes to get to the end.  I hate the inability to know the answer.  I hate the feelings of resentment and confusion and even bitterness towards others, and even towards myself.

The person I never let off the hook is myself, and I have no one to blame but myself, thus continuing this spiral of whatever-this-is.  Life is hard.

PS.  That title had nothing to do with the state of my uterus.  I realized what I said afterward.  My bad.

4 Things 10 Thing Challenge: Day 1

So I'm doin' this thing I saw... I've been feelin' guilty for not being able to post (due to an extensive amount of homework because some idiot signed me up for 2 classes this semester.. oh that was my choice.  IDIOT!)... so when I saw DAB do this, I was like, oooooo I could do that too! So I'm gonna, cause I do what I wawnt.

Likes:
1.  Dessert. That should actually be more like, I LOVE DESSERTS, but for the purpose of this, we'll leave it with an underwhelming "like".
2.  When Phil comes up to me for pettins. It's almost like he just needs lub from his mommy.
3.  Seeing Teh Bear's car (aka Lionel Richie) in the driveway.
4.  Watching the photos on my screensaver.

Dislikes:
1. Stupidity/Ignorance
2. When I go to drink out of my cup/water bottle and it's empty.
3. When technology doesn't do what I want it to.
4. When I'm not in control of ALL.THE.THINGS. (but I'm working on this one)

Fashion doesn't agree with me... #30

I am a robot.  I come to you wearing these glasses because someone thought they were cool.

Very interesting side pattern.

Instead of black and white, it's white and clear

Homework break.

I feel like I've not written a real blog post in a mabillion years and it hurts.  I have this guilt that I should post blogs, except that I literally don't have time.  Teh Bear keeps asking me what's wrong based on facial expressions that I seem to consistently have, and I have to admit that I'm stressed about the mountain of homework that I have from taking 2 classes...  which I'll never do again.  8 week courses aren't the same as 16 week courses.  Online school isn't the same as brick and mortar school.  Being a student isn't the same as working full-time and being a student.

I will walk away from this "semester" (it's still hard to call 8 weeks a semester) with some marks, but I will walk away.  My HR class is going splendid, but my Strategic Intel class is kicking my bootay and the instructor is... well, not my cup of tea, which is ironic, because I'm pretty sure he's British.  While I understand he's trying to challenge me, I feel like his minimal interaction with the class as a whole is bringing the class down.  If it were a go-to-class-class, he would be the instructor that stands at the front of the class and talks for the entire time then tells you to go home and read 400 pages and come back next week with your 2 page paper in hand.  Granted, the guy is extremely knowledgable, but I don't feel like he's trying to share that knowledge, so much as show the class he knows the knowledge, which makes him come across as a prick.

See how so far this has only been about school, well, that's how my life feels.  I feel an extreme amount of guilt for sitting down and watching TV with Teh Bear in the evening while eating dinner.  I loathe the feeling that I should be doing homework at all times.  I feel like its school work or my life and that's just not the right balance for me, which is why I've decided that I'm definitely not taking more than 1 class at a time anymore (because I know that if I had just the intel class alone, I'd be able to manage the load a bit better, although I'd still complain about it just as much), and I'm probably taking off the month after these classes end to focus on non-school things (like Christmas and that stupid EAWS pin that the Navy says I should have).

In non-school things, Teh Bear is still in MD and it's still amazing for him to be here.  I've finally gotten over my OCD with the kitchen lights (there's 2 switches and I liked for one switch to always be down), I'm used to reloading the dishwasher to fit more stuff or to make sure the plastic bowls don't flip over, I'm coming to terms with the extra laundry, I'm relieved that I don't have to be Betty Crocker every night and that Teh Bear cooks dinner on days that he's off, I'm slack-jawed at the fact that Teh Bear has used the new (yet-to-be-named) vacuum more than I have, I'm loving the fact that Teh Bear gets self-motivated and cleans and I don't even have to ask him to, and I really just love being able to get hugs whenever I want.  All the crazy stuff in my head from pre-move-in seems silly and I knew that my worries were unfounded then, but it's nice to be proven wrong.

Teh BFF came to MD to visit while she was on vacation.  It was awesome to be able to hang out with her for an extended period of time without having to deal with work schedules (I was able to get Thursday off and Friday was a family day at the hangar).  Teh Bear was cool with hanging out with us or giving us girl-time, which was awesome.  We visited the National Zoo in DC on Thursday (maybe one day when I'm school-free I'll post the pics) and one of the pandas was out!  WIN!  After the Zoo, we tried to go get pics of the White House, but due to trick-or-treating, access was blocked off, so it meant far away photos.  We did also go across the street and check out the Washington and Lincoln Monuments.  Teh BFF's favorite part was driving around DC, I think.  She was glad we didn't make her drive, and I'm not sure why she thought she'd be doing the DC driving, but that's just silly after she'd already driven 8 hours to come visit (in addition to her limited big city driving experience).  Thursday night, we had a handful of trick-or-treaters and the best part was when they would ring the doorbell and Phil would be the first at the door.  Most of the kids were like, Wow, check out that big dog, while some of them, literally, screamed and ran away.  LOLZ.  We had so much candy left over.  Le sigh.

Friday, we took Teh BFF on a tour around base and she got a full show with all the air traffic that was going on.  Even I was impressed, except at the jet flying overhead... NOT impressed by the noise on that sucker.  At. ALL.  After the base tour, where I learned that my favorite tree had lost most of it's leaves before I could get photos, we went on a 5 hour shopping spree, which was awesome and wore us both out.  We were happy being lazy for the rest of the evening.  Sadly, she left on Saturday and Teh Bear had to work, so I did homework (of course) and laundry and took Phil on a walk with Teh Greyhound Neighbor, who purchased Phil's mustache coat (and he was in very dire need of a new coat).

And I returned $20 in stuff that didn't fit properly...
This is how you win at shopping.

Love my Philbo

Can I just say that I have awesome friends?  I mean, not like, YAY presents for me!  But literally, awesome friends who I can just hang out with and talk to and who take care of me and let me attempt to take care of them and there's really no way to repay that.

What other big news have we missed out on?
Hrm.. some big news coming down the pipeline potentially on the "stay in or get out of the Navy" front.  I'm not purposely trying to be vague, but I am, as I don't want to jinx myself or anything and I'd rather not get a huge hype going about this particular item and then it not happen, but I will tell you that it's a big deal and something I've considered since I was a baby in GTMO and it's currently got the Command Master Chief and Skipper involved.  I have no idea what the actual timeline is on this entire ordeal, so feel free to inquire if I fail to mention it, which I probably won't, but just in case.

I volunteered to sing with the praise band at church Sunday since 2 of the 3 singers were away for the weekend.  Many people gave their compliments, which I really appreciated.  I can't really say if it was good or bad, I was there, I had been praying about it for a long time, I just sang.  The lady who leads the praise team gave me a very long hug after it was over.  I'm not sure if it was relief that it was over (since working with me wasn't as easy as working with her normal team, I'm sure (in addition to my lack of choral education)) or that I had done well.  I'm always doubtful of myself in regards to performance, and this isn't me fishing for compliments.  I even had a dream on Saturday night that the leader had decided that we weren't going to perform as we had practiced on the Tuesday prior, I wasn't going to sing with her, and that she was just going to take requests from the audience.  When I told her about it, she laughed and said, I'd never do that!  But that's just how worried I was that I was going to bring down the quality of the service.  Although, since I was on stage, I dressed it up a bit to include heels and dress pants (the ones I wore for my NCSU graduation actually).  I even got a compliment on my shoes, which credit really goes to Teh Worldwide Jesus Lover for picking those torture-devices babies out in 2007.

I finished the last season of How I Met Your Mother on Netflix.  1.  FINALLY.  2.  MORE!  I say more, in a I-wish-I-had-more-time-in-my-life-for-fun-activities-that-aren't-homework-or-homework-guilt type way.  I have a significant amount of photos to edit from the zoo trip and from a walk Teh Bear and I took at one of the local state parks, so maybe one day I'll get to those.

In the meantime, I've started a blog series called 4 Things that I found on Brit's blog forever ago.  Maybe doing that post with the weekly sunglasses will make me feel slightly less guilty about neglecting Teh Blog, but probably not.

And just FYI, it has been an absolutely delightful feeling to be able to sit here and type and ignore the homework-guilt.  I miss blogging so, so much.  Academic writing makes me want to dig my eyes out of their sockets.  Writing in my voice and in my improper, non-formal style is just so much more satisfying than meeting all the rules of a Turabian or APA paper.

Happy Fall/November/impending Christmas season, Gentle Readers!



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