Journaling

What a month this has been! I got my apartment, which I have already written about. I got my sofa bed, which is pictured in a previous post. I have a new computer, not exactly the one pictured, but pretty close. I am learning a ton this semester in school, and I'm surprised because I am so behind right now. I haven't gotten to do much gta work, but they say that will pick up. I hope so. I expect to earn my pay, you know. I am even working on coming up with good questions for my upcoming dissertation.

The apartment thing is working out ok. I did have to clean it to move into it, and there was only one light bulb in the whole place. It stinks to high heaven, and I think it's because the refrigerator doesn't work right. I plan to tell the manager, but I really doubt she will do anything about it - she hasn't done much of anything she said she was going to do yet (like replace the light bulbs, and the shower curtain rod). It's on the 3rd floor, so I get a little exercise.

My sofa couch isn't the most comfortable thing in the world, but then, hey, $99.99! I have an air mattress that I put on top of it for bed, and it is really comfortable like that. The night I got the sofa bed was the first night I actually slept since getting my apartment.

Getting this computer was an ordeal. The one I wanted from Staples was $50 less than this one, but none of the Staples here or in Boise had one in stock. I bought one on Friday from Office Max in Twin Falls, took it home, turned it on, and ---nothing---. I called the HP service line, and she suggested I send it in and they would send me another one in 5 days. Yeah, right. I just bought the think, I wasn't going to wait 5 days for it. I took it back to the store to get another one, and they didn't have one. So the manager suggested I go to one of the stores in Pocatello or Boise Saturday (the last day of the sale). I thought, hey! I'll visit Megan. I went to Boise, and Megan was busy all day. I bout this computer at the office max there. Guess what? The charge for both computer purchases came in on Monday, but the credit didn't come in until Tuesday. I got a $102 insufficient charge fee. I went to the bank, they said they couldn't help me (but gave me a claims dispute number). They told me it was office max's fault. So I drove to office max, and he was understanding, but said I would have to call their corporate office. So I went home and called the dispute number, The service rep immediately refunded my account the $102.

So I have my computer and my couch/bed and my apartment.

What I don't have is time enough to catch up on school work for all the searching for apartments, sofa/couches and computers. But I do think that is about to change. I did get to run last night. It felt really good. I don't have to go anywhere to do laundry, because there is a laundry room here in the apartment complex. And now, I only drive home on the weekends - and that might change as soon as I get all my stuff moved into my new house. I will get caught up, It just wouldn't be me if I didn't.

I can't believe how much I am learning. I thought I wasn't learning anything. But I am. I can't believe how cool our brains are. The way it processes the things we perceive. I am not going divulge all secrets here, so you will just have to take my word for it. Or take classes in physiological psychology, sensation and perception and cognition. I find myself becoming more and more convinced that we are just "machines" reacting to and with out environment. The debate between mind and body is all but resolved for me. It is really quite liberating. My destiny is what I make it. I don't have to be perfect, just good. That doesn't mean it isn't fun to speculate, just like it's fun to watch romantic comedies. They're entertaining, but not especially true to life.

I'm going to quit writing for tonight. Eventually I will write something worth reading. Something about a new acquisition of knowledge! And maybe I will have new pictures of Pocatello to post (yet another think I haven't had time for).

How well do you know Cheri? Flowers

Facebook can be fun sometimes. There is an application with which you can create a quiz about yourself, and invited friends to take it. I did just that, and the highest score was 50%. I thought I would use that quiz to create some posts about me. I mean, why not. If you want to take the quiz first before reading about why the answer was what it was go here.

As you recall, I am not addressing these questions in order. Last time I talked about my favorite food which just happens to be lobster. This post will address what my favorite flower is, which is question #5.

My favorite flower is:

a) rose
b) lilac
c) iris
d) daisy
e) carnation

My ex husband bought a e) carnation for me when I was mad that he hadn't come home for Valentines day. Needless to say, they don't rank up there as a favorite flower at all. He bought it thinking it was a a) rose. I do love roses, they smell so good and are so sophisticated. But they aren't my favorite. I have a picture of a type of d) daisy on my blog. This particular daisy is quite unexpected. The colors contrast with gusto. It is a cute little daisy. But daisies have never been my favorite. I love c) irises. My grandma used to grow them in her yard. I used to grow them in my flower garden, and my neighbor thinks they are to die for. I reallly like the ones that smell like root beer. They really come in a cool variety of color combinations and styles. Some look like they have ruffles, some are plain, some have really cool beards. As much as I like them, they are not my favorite. My favorite flower blooms in the spring. Their aroma permeates the whole world it seems. They are a soft purple, pink or white. Nothing rocks my world like sticking my nose into a b) lilac bush.

This question was really a hard one for people who know me because I really do love irises and roses too. But lilacs, for some unexplainable reason, are my favorite.

It's time for a new post

I have a lot to say. Really. Unfortunately, I don't have time to say it all. Well, maybe not unfortunately for you :)

So, I am back in school. Grad school. I feel like I have been moving non stop for three weeks now with stopping to breath for short moments. I finally got an apartment in Pocatello, and have spent two nights in it. It's not much of an apartment, it was dirty and I had to clean it. It is an old building and I climb three flights of stairs to get to it (something that hit home when I brought stuff from home this weekend and made multiple trips up carrying heavy loads). I am in classes with some of the brightest, articulate kids I have ever seen! So far, I am behind in all of my work, and I look at these kids and wonder how I got lucky enough to be in the same program they are in. Hopefully, I'll catch up and not feel so inadequate. The new apartment will help.

I was moving stuff out of my old home and taking some to my new house and some to my new apartment. I got to a place where it finally looks like I really don't live there anymore. I burst into tears. This is the house my grandma and grandpa bought when I was 4 years old. When I was a tween, they moved into it, and I spent the best years of my youth in this house. I raised my two children in this house. It has always been my home. Until this weekend.

I cried half way to Pocatello. I finally managed to stop by reminding myself that the house is falling apart and really isn't any fun to live in. Eventually, the bathroom floor will cave in. My new house is amazing. My dad built it. It has lots of room for my art, for exercise, for visiting kids (grandkids someday) and it will definitely outlive me. It's pretty too. My dad built all of the kitchen cabinets by hand with recycled wood. It is so pretty! I know I am going to be building a lot of really happy memories in that house. Nothing to be sad about there. The truth is, it isn't the house that makes a home. It's the people who live in it who make it warm and wonderful.

I think Zach might actually have a real friend now. That is really wonderful. They seem to get along really well, and seem to be on the same level. I hope this really lasts for him.

I'm getting a new computer this week. It's a HP Pavilion dv4-1430us Entertainment Laptop. It's not a macbook. I seriously considered one because a fellow grad student told me they are wonderful. Unfortunately, they are hard to come by around here, which I think is a bit of a problem. They are also about three times as much as what I will be paying for this new hp. I have had really good luck with hp so far. It has a lot more memory and capability than my current computer. And its battery should last long enough to take notes in class. This computer dies after about 18 minutes now. I am going to give this one to Zach. He is so excited about it too.

I am also planning to get this sofa/bed. If I buy it from Target online it's $159.99. It was on sale this weekend at Target in Twin, but they didn't have any left, so they gave me a rain check that is good until 9/22. It also says it is good at all Target stores for $99.99, but not online. I am going to drive to Idaho Falls to see if they have one this week. It will be nice because I am sleeping on an air mattress, which is comfortable, but it's hard to get up from it. Being that it is on the floor and all. I am getting old, and standing up from the floor is getting more difficult all the time.

My sister friended me on myspace. I knew she had a myspace page, and was keeping tabs on her. But after she friended me she was bragging about having a date night with Dale and how excited she was. Then, the day after, she wrote about how awful the date went because she and Dale got so drunk. Apparently he hasn't been treating her very well. Who could have guessed that? I really wanted to comment on her date by saying I am so glad he isn't my headache any more, but I didn't. I thought that might be too mean. Funny, but mean. Truthful, but mean.

I only get a few tv channels here in my new apartment. I only get ABC. No PBS, no CBS, and no NBC. Jimmy Kimmel is on now. I am so not laughing. I am so not amused.

Did you read about the president's speech. I thought it was great. I wish someone had told me those things when I was a kid. This country is in trouble, though. There were parents who actually pulled their kids out of school today so they wouldn't see it. How sad is it that people have been so brainwashed by the right wing pundits that they won't trust the president of the United States of America to address our kids. We elected this person. He is trying to do the things we asked him to do. No one is happy with him because he is doing the job his way. Liberals don't think he is going far enough, conservatives think he is going to far. Is Democracy doomed to fail? I think we will see the answer to that in my lifetime.

Hmm. I guess I did have time to write about it all.