Yesterday was my first official Black Friday working in retail. In fact it's my first Black Friday ever. I've never gone shopping on Black Friday; I've always been paranoid about going and being trampled by all the crazy ladies out bargain-shopping. But honestly, it wasn't that bad, and I even learned a few things:
1. When the economy is in recession, you don't have to leave your house an extra half an hour early just so you can get a parking space at the mall. I left way earlier than necessary because I figured it was going to be impossible to find a space at the mall. It wasn't; I got a parking spot within five minutes. So I ended up getting there wicked early for no reason at all. I figured the mall expansion (which cut down a huge portion of the parking!) would have affected it too. But I was wrong.
2. The sales on Black Friday aren't really that great. I know that at Gap we were running the same promotions on Friday that we ran on Wednesday. So what's the big deal? Are you really going to be saving that much money if you get up at 3:00 AM so you can get to the mall and buy stuff that was already on promotion two days prior to the fact.... No, no you won't.
3. Canadian shoppers are ruthless. I don't know why, but all of the Canadians come to Syracuse to shop (which I learned over the summer)! We really aren't that close to the border; we're close enough, but Buffalo is much closer and they have a way better mall. But what I realized yesterday while I was folding down stacks of shirts and sweaters and pants, was that Canadian shoppers are much worse than American shoppers: they love to pick up everything, even if they don't plan on buying it; they'll transport things all over the store and then just randomly decide that they don't want it anymore and just drop it on some random table; they will drag you through the store asking you questions that make no sense whatsoever and, even when the promotions are crystal clear as to what count and what doesn't, will ask you about every single fricken thing in the store. Canadians are just insane. But they love our sales and spend there money here so it doesn't matter too much.
4. The idea of speaking French fluently scares the living daylight out of me. First off, yes I just used the phrase "the living daylight," and second, no, it hasn't been used since 1976. Now then, back to the point. Yesterday, I helped out these three guys from Montreal speaking nothing but French. And to be honest, it was a little weird, and a little scary. I don't know how I managed to pull it off, but I was able to ask them questions and help them out for about 10 minutes. And it made me realize something: the idea of being fluent in another language scares me to death. I don't know why, but thinking about living in France and speaking French on a regular basis scares me. I love everything about France: the food, the language, the people, the art, the museums, the cafes, the fashion, the history, the culture; it's been my dream to live in France for as long as I can remember, but now that there is actually a possibility that I can speak the language, I'm afraid of it. Maybe because I'm actually growing up and that scares the sh*t out of me? I don't know, but the idea of being fluent in French is really starting to creep my out.
I'm sure I learned more than that, but for now that's all I can really think of. I'm really tired, and break is almost over, and it's the first time I've actually blogged in a week. Pretty weird... but I've been super busy with work this week. And not homework work, but work work. Which is pretty lame. So now I have a ton to do tomorrow night when I get back to school. Lame.
Obsession
Saturday, November 21, 2009 at 10:26 PM
It's no secret that I'm completely obsessed with Ingrid Michaelson and Sara Bareilles, so last year when I found out that they released a song together, I was completely thrilled. The sad thing? I'm still completely obsessed with this song, especially every video of them performing it live. But my favorite version (aside from the original recorded version) is the one I'm going to post below from their performance on the Tonight Show. Take a look, it's pretty fantastic:
Sara Bareilles & Ingrid Michaelson "Winter Song" Live on Jay Leno 12/9/08 from m2newyork.com on Vimeo.
Hey, Thanks For Those Directions. They Didn't Help...
Friday, November 20, 2009 at 9:59 PM
Have you ever been driving somewhere and gotten completely lost, so you decided to stop and ask for directions? If you have, did those directions help? Did they just get you even more lost? Have you ever wished that you could go back to that person later and thank them (or yell at them for their shitty, shitty directions) for helping you? Well, that happened today on my way back home.
Now for the long boring background story: today was the start of Thanksgiving break! So I packed up my car after my history exam and started the long trek back home. I never had a chance to eat lunch before I left, so I was starving by the time I made it to Corning.
If you know me at all, then you know that I'm not much of a fast-food person (I used to be a few years ago but one day it just clicked that that kind of stuff is disgusting and bad for you so I try to limit how much of it I actually eat), but there are three things that I will eat that's fast-food:
Well, that was a bad idea - going into Corning took me way off from where I was going and I had absolutely no idea how to get back to where I was supposed to go. So I asked one of the workers who was on a smoke-break outside of Burger King if she knew how to get back to 15N. Bad life decision - the directions she gave me sent me into the middle of west-bejesus and so I was going in the wrong direction for about 15 minutes, making me turn back. So I pretty much wasted a half hour for no reason. And now I just want to go back to the Burger King in Corning so I can tell that girl that she sent me in the wrong direction!
Now on a completely different topic: break! I'm really excited to be home for a week, but I don't get to relax the whole time. I have a ton of work to get done and I'm actually working this week at Gap, and I'm scheduled for over 40 hours. Sweet. But money is money, and who wouldn't want that type of paycheck just for one week?
I also brought my sneakers home with me and all of my running clothes so I can go running, but I realized when I was about halfway home that I forgot the Nike+ sensor (the one that you plug into your iPod) back at school on my desk. Rude. Now I'm going to go running and it won't even count on my Nike+ account. That's pretty unfair if you ask me!
Now for the long boring background story: today was the start of Thanksgiving break! So I packed up my car after my history exam and started the long trek back home. I never had a chance to eat lunch before I left, so I was starving by the time I made it to Corning.
If you know me at all, then you know that I'm not much of a fast-food person (I used to be a few years ago but one day it just clicked that that kind of stuff is disgusting and bad for you so I try to limit how much of it I actually eat), but there are three things that I will eat that's fast-food:
- Wendy's chicken nuggets
- Beef and Cheddars from Arby's
- Whoppers from Burger King
Well, that was a bad idea - going into Corning took me way off from where I was going and I had absolutely no idea how to get back to where I was supposed to go. So I asked one of the workers who was on a smoke-break outside of Burger King if she knew how to get back to 15N. Bad life decision - the directions she gave me sent me into the middle of west-bejesus and so I was going in the wrong direction for about 15 minutes, making me turn back. So I pretty much wasted a half hour for no reason. And now I just want to go back to the Burger King in Corning so I can tell that girl that she sent me in the wrong direction!
Now on a completely different topic: break! I'm really excited to be home for a week, but I don't get to relax the whole time. I have a ton of work to get done and I'm actually working this week at Gap, and I'm scheduled for over 40 hours. Sweet. But money is money, and who wouldn't want that type of paycheck just for one week?
I also brought my sneakers home with me and all of my running clothes so I can go running, but I realized when I was about halfway home that I forgot the Nike+ sensor (the one that you plug into your iPod) back at school on my desk. Rude. Now I'm going to go running and it won't even count on my Nike+ account. That's pretty unfair if you ask me!
The Weekend From Hell
Monday, November 16, 2009 at 8:44 AM
Thank god that last weekend is finally over, because it was literally the weekend from Hell. It seemed like nothing I did would work out in my favor and just one thing after another after another just made it worse and worse.
Friday: to start the weekend off on the right foot, my computer got a virus from downloading music and I had to wipe to the entire thing and reinstall all of my programs. It took hours upon hours to restore the thing back to its factory settings and then go through all of my music (that my roommate luckily backed-up for me) and put it back onto iTunes and then download programs and updates and just restore my laptop back to what it used to be. Needless to say, it wasn't a great start.
Saturday: now Saturday actually started off as being somewhat decent, but it took a turn for the worse around 3:30. I woke up a pretty decent hour (for a Saturday) and I went down to the commons to use wireless so I could download programs and music without using up my bandwidth limit. I couldn't get half of what I wanted before I had to leave to get ready for a tailgate, and the day just went completely downhill from there: I put my contacts in the wrong eyes (and discovered that I had been wearing them in the wrong eyes all week, which was why I had been having headaches all day every day) and then after I switched them to the correct eyes, and when I went to put eye drops in to re-wet them I mistakenly put ear drops into my eyes.
Now, it you've never had problems with your ears, you probably have no idea what I mean by ear drops, but there are these drops that you can buy if your ear is feeling really clogged up and it will loosen up the build-up (yeah, it's pretty disgusting, I know, but if you're sick they help a lot) and then you can flush it out.
Well, those drops are meant for ears, not for your eyes. So you can only imagine the pain I felt when my eye felt like it was on fire, even after rinsing it out for a good five minutes. The pain in my eye than transferred to being a headache, which then escalated into a full-blown migraine, the first one I've had since the end of last semester. Needless to say, Saturday was one of the worst days I've had in quite some time.
Sunday: yesterday, on the other hand, was not that bad. It was only bad because I had to read all day. I had to read documents for Western Civ and take a quiz on them; I had to read two more short stories for English; I had to read a 120 page play for Western Lit and then take a quiz on it. So yeah, you can imagine how boring yesterday was.
But now it's Monday, and a new week is starting. And not just any week, but the last week before Thanksgiving break! Plus, since I did all of my readings yesterday, I was able to get all caught up (and I'm actually a little ahead now) on my work so now all I have to worry about is studying for my French and history exams that I have on Thursday and Friday, respectively. That means less stress for the week, which means I can go home and relax. And by relax I mean work hours on end at Gap and do more homework. What a great way to spend break....
Friday: to start the weekend off on the right foot, my computer got a virus from downloading music and I had to wipe to the entire thing and reinstall all of my programs. It took hours upon hours to restore the thing back to its factory settings and then go through all of my music (that my roommate luckily backed-up for me) and put it back onto iTunes and then download programs and updates and just restore my laptop back to what it used to be. Needless to say, it wasn't a great start.
Saturday: now Saturday actually started off as being somewhat decent, but it took a turn for the worse around 3:30. I woke up a pretty decent hour (for a Saturday) and I went down to the commons to use wireless so I could download programs and music without using up my bandwidth limit. I couldn't get half of what I wanted before I had to leave to get ready for a tailgate, and the day just went completely downhill from there: I put my contacts in the wrong eyes (and discovered that I had been wearing them in the wrong eyes all week, which was why I had been having headaches all day every day) and then after I switched them to the correct eyes, and when I went to put eye drops in to re-wet them I mistakenly put ear drops into my eyes.
Now, it you've never had problems with your ears, you probably have no idea what I mean by ear drops, but there are these drops that you can buy if your ear is feeling really clogged up and it will loosen up the build-up (yeah, it's pretty disgusting, I know, but if you're sick they help a lot) and then you can flush it out.
Well, those drops are meant for ears, not for your eyes. So you can only imagine the pain I felt when my eye felt like it was on fire, even after rinsing it out for a good five minutes. The pain in my eye than transferred to being a headache, which then escalated into a full-blown migraine, the first one I've had since the end of last semester. Needless to say, Saturday was one of the worst days I've had in quite some time.
Sunday: yesterday, on the other hand, was not that bad. It was only bad because I had to read all day. I had to read documents for Western Civ and take a quiz on them; I had to read two more short stories for English; I had to read a 120 page play for Western Lit and then take a quiz on it. So yeah, you can imagine how boring yesterday was.
But now it's Monday, and a new week is starting. And not just any week, but the last week before Thanksgiving break! Plus, since I did all of my readings yesterday, I was able to get all caught up (and I'm actually a little ahead now) on my work so now all I have to worry about is studying for my French and history exams that I have on Thursday and Friday, respectively. That means less stress for the week, which means I can go home and relax. And by relax I mean work hours on end at Gap and do more homework. What a great way to spend break....
Lady Gaga = Love
Wednesday, November 11, 2009 at 10:54 PM
So technically Lady Gaga released the video for her new song Bad Romance yesterday on the tenth, but it took me about a day to process the awesomeness that is her new video. I'm not going to say much about it, I think it speaks for itself:
Just a Bunch of Randomness
Tuesday, November 10, 2009 at 2:37 PM
So if you're looking for something enlightening or smart or witty, you should probably go somewhere else because there is going to be no intelligence exuding from this post. Especially the first thing I have to say:
Last night, instead of reading for a mid-term (because who honestly studies anymore? That was so Fall 2008) I was sitting in front of my laptop watching videos of Chelsea Lately on Eonline, and came across this little gem right here:
Honestly, who is that stupid? I could understand a little weight gain, but there is a fricken human being inside of you! You gain like 100 pounds! How could you not know you were pregnant!? AND by the off-chance that you couldn't figure it out on your own, wouldn't you want to go to the doctors just to check out why you were having ridiculous cravings and were gaining weight so rapidly that it's like you gained a small person? Oh wait, you did just gain a small person. It's called a baby!
Next point: I'm lazy and need to stop it right now! I went running last night for the first time in like a month (and I mean running outdoors on sidewalks and up hills and through people smoking cigarettes, not inside of a gym on a treadmill watching CNN or MTVU) and I only made it a mile before I felt like I was going to pass out. The worst part? I wasn't even running that fast - it was only like an 8:50 mile. That's terrible. So I'm going again tonight, and hopefully I don't die this time.
And lastly, I'm beginning to question why I even have this blog. I barely update it, and when I do finally decide to update it I don't really have much to say (case in point, this entire post). I think I just wanted to write my thoughts and ideas down somewhere, which I had done last semester with my old blog, and I missed the outlet of having a blog but I think there is another underlying reason: I want people to actually read this and know me. I've always tried to be reserved and never really divulged any personal information, save to a few people. Granted, the things I talk about aren't always personal, but putting anything out there is more than I used to do over a year ago. Plus, I read other people's blogs, blogs that have been out there for a few years now and that people actually follow, and I want that! I want to have people think I'm cooler than I actually am (because I think I'm one of the weirdest, most awkward people to have ever lived but my friends tell me otherwise)! I want people to read what I say and think about it and comment on my posts and just interact with my blog. I don't know how well that would work with most of the crap I put out there, but here's hoping!
And now that I've probably confused everyone severely, I should probably get back to studying. Rome wasn't built in a day, and I'm definitely not going to learn all of this pointless United States history in a day too. Wrong application of that saying? I thought so....
Last night, instead of reading for a mid-term (because who honestly studies anymore? That was so Fall 2008) I was sitting in front of my laptop watching videos of Chelsea Lately on Eonline, and came across this little gem right here:
Honestly, who is that stupid? I could understand a little weight gain, but there is a fricken human being inside of you! You gain like 100 pounds! How could you not know you were pregnant!? AND by the off-chance that you couldn't figure it out on your own, wouldn't you want to go to the doctors just to check out why you were having ridiculous cravings and were gaining weight so rapidly that it's like you gained a small person? Oh wait, you did just gain a small person. It's called a baby!
Next point: I'm lazy and need to stop it right now! I went running last night for the first time in like a month (and I mean running outdoors on sidewalks and up hills and through people smoking cigarettes, not inside of a gym on a treadmill watching CNN or MTVU) and I only made it a mile before I felt like I was going to pass out. The worst part? I wasn't even running that fast - it was only like an 8:50 mile. That's terrible. So I'm going again tonight, and hopefully I don't die this time.
And lastly, I'm beginning to question why I even have this blog. I barely update it, and when I do finally decide to update it I don't really have much to say (case in point, this entire post). I think I just wanted to write my thoughts and ideas down somewhere, which I had done last semester with my old blog, and I missed the outlet of having a blog but I think there is another underlying reason: I want people to actually read this and know me. I've always tried to be reserved and never really divulged any personal information, save to a few people. Granted, the things I talk about aren't always personal, but putting anything out there is more than I used to do over a year ago. Plus, I read other people's blogs, blogs that have been out there for a few years now and that people actually follow, and I want that! I want to have people think I'm cooler than I actually am (because I think I'm one of the weirdest, most awkward people to have ever lived but my friends tell me otherwise)! I want people to read what I say and think about it and comment on my posts and just interact with my blog. I don't know how well that would work with most of the crap I put out there, but here's hoping!
And now that I've probably confused everyone severely, I should probably get back to studying. Rome wasn't built in a day, and I'm definitely not going to learn all of this pointless United States history in a day too. Wrong application of that saying? I thought so....
Lack of Motivation? Definitely.
Sunday, November 8, 2009 at 11:36 PM
Since November started on a Sunday, I concocted this big plan at the end of October to start working out again on the 1st of the month, and then continue workout hardcore until Christmas break.
Somewhere along the way I lost that motivation, and I actually haven't been to the gym in weeks. Probably somewhere close to a month ago. Hopefully it hasn't been that long, but I honestly can't remember the last time I went to the gym! That's really sad....
So right now I'm sitting at my desk in my room, staring at my computer screen waiting for god knows what to pop up, with my United States history textbook open to a page about the Adams Administration and the XYZ Affair getting absolutely nothing done even though I have my second midterm in the class next Friday (and yes, that is the Friday right before Thanksgiving break) and I've learned absolutely nothing in that class this semester considering I never go to lecture! But I started reading the chapters that are going to be covered on the exam and I'm even taking notes on it. Hopefully it all pays off but I'm not too sure it actually will. But for once I would actually like to go to the gym because anything would be better than reading this but there is nothing on TV and surprise, surprise: the gym closes at midnight and it's already 11:35.
Cool. Glad I have everything going for me right now.
On top of that I need to start writing my papers for finals but have absolutely no idea what I'm going to write about. Looks like I'll be going to office hours this week!
So moral of the story: I need to stop being lazy (even though I got a ton of work done today) and need to keep studying slash I need to start going to the gym (or go running) again. Hopefully I'll accomplish both this week. Cross your fingers!!
Somewhere along the way I lost that motivation, and I actually haven't been to the gym in weeks. Probably somewhere close to a month ago. Hopefully it hasn't been that long, but I honestly can't remember the last time I went to the gym! That's really sad....
So right now I'm sitting at my desk in my room, staring at my computer screen waiting for god knows what to pop up, with my United States history textbook open to a page about the Adams Administration and the XYZ Affair getting absolutely nothing done even though I have my second midterm in the class next Friday (and yes, that is the Friday right before Thanksgiving break) and I've learned absolutely nothing in that class this semester considering I never go to lecture! But I started reading the chapters that are going to be covered on the exam and I'm even taking notes on it. Hopefully it all pays off but I'm not too sure it actually will. But for once I would actually like to go to the gym because anything would be better than reading this but there is nothing on TV and surprise, surprise: the gym closes at midnight and it's already 11:35.
Cool. Glad I have everything going for me right now.
On top of that I need to start writing my papers for finals but have absolutely no idea what I'm going to write about. Looks like I'll be going to office hours this week!
So moral of the story: I need to stop being lazy (even though I got a ton of work done today) and need to keep studying slash I need to start going to the gym (or go running) again. Hopefully I'll accomplish both this week. Cross your fingers!!
Ingrid Michaelson Makes Life Happy
Friday, November 6, 2009 at 6:56 PM
Luckily my camera decided it was going to stay alive, unlike when we went to go see The Fray, so I actually got some awesome videos:
So now that I actually uploaded some videos onto YouTube, I'll finally add a link to the right of the posts for my YouTube channel. This way, if you want to watch the videos again later, you can just go onto the channel and not have to search for this post!
I know I barely said anything about the show, but words can't describe how amazing she was. My favorite part about Ingrid is that she sounds exactly the same live as she does on her records. I was lucky enough to find someone who did a review of the show (which is weird, considering it was such a small show?) and they had a set list of the performance:
Soldier
Die Alone
Once Was Love
The Hat
Be O.K.
You and I
The Chain
New Song (Untitled)
Duet with Greg Laswell (Untitled)
Giving Up
Mountain And The Sea
Maybe
Keep Breathing
Locked Up
The Way I Am
Maybe (Mexican Food Mix) – Encore 1
Far Away – Encore 2
And by Maybe (Mexican Food Mix) that's what they mean - Ingrid announced that they were going to be doing a song about how much they love Mexican food, and they literally sang a song all about Mexican food to the tune of "Maybe." It was hilarious.
Don't you love how I just refer to her as Ingrid, and not Ingrid Michaelson, like we're long lost best friends (I WISH!) and we're on a first-name basis? If only....
I also put a bunch of photos up on my facebook account, but I'm thinking of finally starting up a Flickr account, so I'll upload them onto Flickr as well and then finally add a link to that on the side too.
Two More Days!
Tuesday, November 3, 2009 at 8:43 PM
So first off, Ingrid Michaelson is in two days. Just two. That's bananas! Or, in the phrasing of Rachel Zoe "That's ba, nanas." But seriously, I'm way too excited, I need to calm down or I'll kill Jess and I on the way to Pittsburgh. And that wouldn't be good....
But honestly I don't have much else to say.... I was going to try and move my blog to another site so I could use WordPress but it didn't work out to well. If you've never heard of WordPress, it's a free "software" that you download and then upload onto a site so you can use it to manage blog themes and posts, and it just makes everything more streamline and you can make some stuff that looks awesome. I put software in quotes because it isn't really software but I didn't know what else to say... maybe platform? I don't know. But if you haven't heard of it or have never seen any examples of it, look it up (wordpress.org), I think you'll be impressed.
Just a random thought for the day: have you ever gone to make tea, and looked at the water as the flavor of the tea begins to seep into it? If you pour the hot water over the teabag, the tea starts to activate and the color of the tea swirls into the clear water and it's really fascinating. The way the colors move reminds me of how smoke moves through the air. It's fluid and random and beautiful to watch. So try it: make tea and sit there and watch the tea steep (it works best with a white mug!) it might surprise you!
But honestly I don't have much else to say.... I was going to try and move my blog to another site so I could use WordPress but it didn't work out to well. If you've never heard of WordPress, it's a free "software" that you download and then upload onto a site so you can use it to manage blog themes and posts, and it just makes everything more streamline and you can make some stuff that looks awesome. I put software in quotes because it isn't really software but I didn't know what else to say... maybe platform? I don't know. But if you haven't heard of it or have never seen any examples of it, look it up (wordpress.org), I think you'll be impressed.
Just a random thought for the day: have you ever gone to make tea, and looked at the water as the flavor of the tea begins to seep into it? If you pour the hot water over the teabag, the tea starts to activate and the color of the tea swirls into the clear water and it's really fascinating. The way the colors move reminds me of how smoke moves through the air. It's fluid and random and beautiful to watch. So try it: make tea and sit there and watch the tea steep (it works best with a white mug!) it might surprise you!
The Final Countdown Has Begun
Monday, November 2, 2009 at 1:30 PM
3 More Days Until Ingrid Michaelson
That's right, only three more days until I get to see Ingrid Michaelson in Pittsburgh! And I'm so excited, it's ridiculous!
But I still have to wait until Thursday... no matter how much that sucks.
This past weekend was fun though. I went home to Allentown,PA with Brandi for the weekend, and all I really have to say is that Allentown reminds me a lot of Syracuse. It's a really nice city, and we had a really relaxing weekend, which was highly needed after my two exams last week and then the one exam I had this morning.
And in honor of Ingrid being on Thursday I'm going to add some more Ingrid songs to the playlist. Hopefully if my camera decides it likes me Thursday night I can take a bunch of pictures and some videos and put them up in a post? Cross your fingers, I know I will be!
That's right, only three more days until I get to see Ingrid Michaelson in Pittsburgh! And I'm so excited, it's ridiculous!
But I still have to wait until Thursday... no matter how much that sucks.
This past weekend was fun though. I went home to Allentown,PA with Brandi for the weekend, and all I really have to say is that Allentown reminds me a lot of Syracuse. It's a really nice city, and we had a really relaxing weekend, which was highly needed after my two exams last week and then the one exam I had this morning.
And in honor of Ingrid being on Thursday I'm going to add some more Ingrid songs to the playlist. Hopefully if my camera decides it likes me Thursday night I can take a bunch of pictures and some videos and put them up in a post? Cross your fingers, I know I will be!
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