Is it just me, or have "holidays" like Halloween blown up in the commercialism since we were young? I can't tell if it's because we were indeed younger, or if the atmosphere has actually changed. For example: I can't remember Halloween decorations going up in late August back when I was a kid (not to mention Christmas decorations going up in malls and carols being played on the radio in October). If it really has changed, then I feel sorry for the younger generations. It's like they don't get to enjoy anything fully before they have to start thinking about the what's coming next. What do you think? Am I just idolizing my childhood?

Just when I thought I was finally reaping the benefits of global warming, it goes and turns freakin freezing cold. I am sooo moving to a place with no winter (to be read "Hawaii")...eventually.

Also, I am not a fan of daylight savings time ending. I like having more light in the evening. Poor people who have to be at work at 8 and get home at 6; They won't get to see any daylight.

In other news, I'm currently addicted to (new) Dark Rasinets and Maroon 5's video/song "Wake Up Call." Adam Levine actually looks hot in it, and he's not even my "type". I like the scene where he comes bursting in with the gun, and the small glimpse of when he hits the wall. Hot, angry boy.

Ok, so what's up with JLo not admitting she's preggers? She's just begging for more attention by keeping mum.

This weekend, I was supposed to be in New York for Rosie's birthday. Why am I still in Columbus? Well, first the plane was delayed getting in to Columbus; we were supposed to leave at 4:10, but didn't get on the plane until 4:45. Then, right after we had pulled from the gate and gotten on the runway, the pilot announces that we can't leave before 5:55 because of some weather in between Columbus and NYC. At 5:55, he comes on and tells us that we have to wait 30 more minutes to hear back from NY...30 minutes later, we have to wait another hour, an hour later, he said 30 more minutes and then if we still don't have clearance, we'll go back to the gate. So after sitting on the runway for 2 hour, we were finally off the plane. Since there weren't any flights going into NY Friday, and the earliest I could leave today would be around 5 pm (so I would have already missed Mama Mia), I decided to just cancel for a refund.

So I'm stuck in Columbus, with horrible humid weather. We haven't done anything today and therefore I'm grouchy.

It's times like these I wish I had friends here.

Last week I started working at JPMorgan Chase in the Corporate Technology sector, specifically in the User Experience group. I love it! It's so fun (and easy). I get to criticize designs all day. I can't think of what would be much better than getting paid to give your opinion (other than teaching, of course).

At the beginning of last quarter, teaching was a little frustrating for me. My advisor said that my concept of what an undergraduate student is like needs to change, and he was right. I was expecting them to be much more responsible-they were juniors and seniors, mind you. So I'd come home every Friday, exhausted and angry. But as the quarter went on, I got used to their behavior and finally adjusted. All in all, I enjoyed teaching and I am looking forward to doing it again. Next time it will be easier because I've already prepared all the course material for this time around, and I'll have more experience under my belt.

Given that even juniors and seniors in college are pretty irresponsible, I don't know if I could really teach high school, where I'd have to discipline probably over 50% of the time. But I don't think I can stick it out through PhD, only because I'm already a bit bored of the subject. Maybe I can just get a job being a lecturer at a college (that only requires a MD).

I wish I didn't always worry about the future.

One of my friends announced on Facebook that she's pregnant, and has gotten a lot of posts along the lines of "Congrats." I'm just wondering: Why do people congratulate people for getting pregnant? It's not like it's that hard of an accomplishment. I think people should get congratulations for each time they have sex and DON'T get pregnant.

I don't remember, did we have to pay dues for National Honor Society? The reason I ask is because I was invited into this engineering honor thing and I find it totally preposterous that I would have to pay $70 to join. After all, they're inviting me! "You're such a good student, please join our society...oh, and pay us some money, too."

...begins Monday. This quarter I'm teaching a lab. I have to teach them to make a website using Dreamweaver, and also touch upon Photoshop and Flash. I'm just a little scared. I had to make the syllabus and everything by myself, so who knows how it will go. I feel like it's a bit of a big undertaking since I've had no real training in how to create a course.

I still haven't heard from Microsoft, and tomorrow it will be 3 weeks. So I guess that's a bad sign. They said that if I don't hear by 3 weeks, I should e-mail the recruiter, so I guess I'll do that on Tuesday.

I had a short spring break in VA. I was supposed to fly in on Friday the 16th, but all flights to DC and north were canceled because of the weather (which actually turned out to not be very bad), so Tyrus was incredibly nice and decided that we'd drive down (he was supposed to stay here to study for the quals). So we drove, and the next day I went down to UVA and had an amazingly fun time. The rest of the time I just spent with my parents. It was too short!

Oh, and I also got my hair cut. I'm pretty upset about the job the stylist did. I showed her how much to cut, and she cut like 3 times as much. My hair, which used to be halfway down my back, is now just a little past my shoulders. I didn't give a good tip, just like 12%.

For some reason, it took me a lot of tries to even get results:

I got an iPod nano today, just the 2 GB one...We had money left over on the gift card that the bank surprised us with, so we went ahead and did it. I'm still waiting for the battery to charge. Now I will need to buy an arm band so that I can wear it to work out.

Yesterday after school we went to the car show. I wasn't very impressed. I can't say that there's any car out there that I'd really consider buying. I was quite disappointed by the BMW Z4; the line of sight was terrible! I don't know how anyone could drive that. Sitting down, the dash went all the way to just under my eyes. Ok, I know I'm short, but that's still very tall. Even Tyrus said he was uncomfortable in it. The coolest thing was on an Acura that had electric tilting/telescoping steering wheel. I haven't seen that on any other car before. Naturally, we didn't sit in any SUV's, even though there were a lot there, which makes me sad.

Last week, we got to test drive the Honda Fit. It's a nice little car, but it rattles, and it's not worth $17,000.

We found out that our rent will increase by 2%, which means like $13 if we decide to renew, so just for fun we went and looked at some other apartments, still Edwards Communities (because I think they have really nice designs and nice perks for members, like the free DVD rentals and the movie theater). Anyway, if we decide to move, it will probably be in an apartment that's the same floor plan, except with a little bigger bedroom and with a balcony. It would also be about $30 more, but it's brand new and so we'd be the first people to live there.

So, the pluses are:
-balcony
-bigger bedroom
-completely new
-nicer hardware (on the kitchen cabinets and doors throughout)
-closer to the Barn (the fitness center, so maybe I'll actually go more often)

Minuses:
-3rd floor, so more climbing (I'm fine with this, but Tyrus isn't a huge fan)
-more expensive
-having to move, even though it's just down the street
-having to pay the membership and applications fees again (total of $125)

I got over the hurdle: I had my first interview ever, with Microsoft. I think it went really well. The whole day, I was really nervous. I hardly got any sleep last night. It's like when you're dreaming, but you're very conscious of the dream, as if you're watching a movie. Anyway, I thought the questions were pretty easy. Nothing I couldn't handle. I hope I'm not wrong about my evaluation. I'll find out in 2-3 weeks! By then, the whole excitement will have blown over and it won't be a big deal anymore.