Hooray for new toys!

The Shiny has arrived! Further details later… when I’m done fiddling with it… which could be years.

Cheers,

~A

PS– Picture of The Shiny:

Money mysteries

Well, I am no longer clueless. Now I’m just confused.

So apparently my Perkins and Stafford loans are different. I guess I don’t want to consolidate those? But maybe I want to consolidate all my Stafford loans. But I guess I want to wait until I’m closer to when the grace period ends?

And then there are my private loans. My grace period did a magical disappearing act on one of them, so I have to start paying for the big one next month. I can’t seem to find out when the grace period ends on the others. I guess I should maybe consolidate those. But… they gave me *options*. Those scare me.

And I guess it’s not cool to consolidate federal and private loans together or something?

This is one of those times when it sucks to be the first one in your family to graduate from college.

Cheers,

~A

Movies! and stuff…

I’m excited about the new Narnia movie, and the new Indiana Jones movie. I’m tempted to go to the latter on opening night… or at least I would be if I actually had someone to go with. :p If I end up having to wait to see both on DVD, I’m going to be one sad Gel.

Meanwhile, the roomie and I are on Season 4 of 24. So exciting! Season 3 ended so unsatisfactorily that we had to rush out and get the next disc… which is sad because we have been borrowing them from my parents for free.

We had a housewarming shindig at our place on Saturday, which consisted mostly of not my friends, a couple sorta my friends, and one close friend… but we had a surprisingly fun time. Beer, blokus, and Bang! is a hard combo to beat. Also, fruit. I swear, almost everyone brought different fruit. It was, like, a fruit smörgåsbord. (thank you spell check…) Everyone seemed to really like the fruit dip I made, which just goes to show that tastiness makes up for laziness.

Along those same lines, I’d like to note that I’m totally in favor of the existence of some term to describe people who are better than acquaintances, but not really close friends. It is a significant need within the English language.

In other news, work is getting kind of frustrating. I’m pretty sure working tech support significantly increases ones chance of suffering a heart attack. The search for permanent employment continues, but I now know one area I’m pursuing a little less fervently…

Tomorrow is more of the usual, plus a break to go deal with financial issues surrounding my loans. I am amazingly clueless considering the amount of money I had to borrow for college. Clueless is not good. Tomorrow we go to the office of financial aid and fix the clueless.

Anyhoo, cheers!

~Ariadne

Spending is an American tradition…

Just thought I’d give a quick plug for a site with cute things for purchasing:

Bambootique.

If I were you, I’d buy lots of things from Diana and the B’Hive Sistas in particular.

Cheers,

~Ariadne

Life!

– I have just gotten over being quite sick (missed 3 days of work and a weekend… blargh!)

– I am currently contemplating whether or not to vote in the primaries. I have my B. county ballot in hand already (amazing, I just re-registered maybe a week ago!), but those bubbles just don’t look too inviting.

I was also surprised to discover a certain Liberty editor on the ballot, running for representative of this district. Crazy.

– We have cable, but still no internet. My knowledge of current events is steadily increasing now, but my ability to communicate with friends still remains frustratingly awkward. Hey you… yeah you! Let’s hang out.

– I am dying to find out who the last Cylon is.

– The job hunt continues, and I’m now finding myself wishing that I had the money to go back to LB and go through the 2 year Drafting program. Seriously, that stuff looks cool.

– Garbage day is an exciting day. Especially when you have a tiny little trash can like ours.

– Since I’m no longer sick or busy moving, I finally sat down and figured out how to use my sweet coffee/espresso maker. It’s kind of strange compared to the one at the Blakes, but I definitely like it. To commemorate this feat, I bought a Starbucks travel mug (which might mean that I will have to have coffee instead of dinner sometime this week…). I should have bought a tamper instead though, come to think of it. And maybe dish towels.

– Along those same lines, I should note that I’ve discovered a strange phenomenon: regardless of how infrequently I go to Starbucks in A-town, Caleb is always there when I arrive. Crazy crazy.

– I’m seriously enjoying how long I can go without filling my gas tank now. Seriously. It’s a very magical feeling.

I have run out of things to say, so I’m opening up for the floor for a Q&A time. Anyone?

~A

Job fair today

I’m totally freaked out.

More exciting adventures!

Ok not so much. Unless you consider unpacking many boxes, forwarding ones mail, and cleaning to be exciting adventures. Although, I did just wrap up an epic struggle against some familiar tiny black pests. Who knows why, but the other day a bajillion tiny ants spawned on my desk and on the bathroom counter. We haven’t been able to figure out where they came from, or why they completely bypassed the ground floor of the house (you know, where the kitchen and the very few items of food we possess are), but there they were. I invested in some ant trap thingies, and the they appear to be mostly gone now. Raid, you are my new best friend.

Thus far our landlords have been nicely attentive. We turned in our little move-in inventory sheet the other day and they’re already asking when they can have the maintenance guy drop by to fix the problems we listed. They also helped us with the lost garbage can issue. They aren’t the most personable folks, but they get the job done.

I also discovered that we live next door to someone I once knew from College Republicans. Fun times.

Anyhoo, I suppose I should get going. Lots of things to do today, as re-watching old seasons of 24 has been seriously eating into my free time (it’s so good! I forgot how much I loved season 2!!).

Say hi sometime! Cheers,

~Ariadne

Less than newsy news.

So, the move thus far has been successful. I now have a higher percentage of my junk in a single location than I ever have in the past couple of years. It may not be put away per se, but it is there nonetheless. I am now officially a Corvallian once more. Yay!

My family has been a huge help in the moneys area, as I ended up moving while technically too poor to do so. Lots of neat things have been donated, like garbage cans and vacuums. My grandma also helped me with the transpotting of the Green Friend, though thus far this hasn’t seemed to help too much. Poor green friend. Apparently I can’t even keep ivy alive. It may be time to move on to Cacti. :\

Along the theme of moving thoughts… I’d also like to note that I am so incredibly happy to have all my books out once more. However, I’m also pretty sure that I never want to move again, as said books are as heavy as they are awesome.

In other news, I picked up my cap and gown today. After signing up for $100 worth of announcements last night (which was, unfortunately, not many), I have to say I’m pretty happy that the actual graduation gear was as cheap as it was. And speaking of announcements — I would like to note that, though it took every ounce of self-control I possess, I did NOT put “Bachelor of Arts in English with a Minor in Writing and an emphasis in Extra Curricular Activities” as my degree. I totally could have.

Anyhoo, life is currently about job hunting and attempting to reconstruct my social life (I think I had one once). Unfortunately, I have no internet in the new digs, which makes both a lot more difficult. I’m trying really hard not to spend all my limited snatches of internet time looking for a router… or all my evenings playing Smash Bros and watching old seasons of 24. We’ll see how it goes.

Cheers,

Ariadne

State of the Me

It’s April, a month of so many new and exciting things in the life of Ariadne! For instance, Season 3 of Battlestar Galactica: So. Intense. Somehow I am completely drawn in despite the fact that I dislike several of the characters even more than before. Go figure.

I would also like to note that life feels totally EPIC right now, as I’m listening to the Transformers soundtrack. Epic like a robot.

In other news, my green friend is dying… alas, poor green friend! I’m actually watering it plenty, but for whatever reason the soil does not, in fact, like water. I could pour in 2 tablespoons of water, and it will drip right out the bottom. I like nature, but nature continues to hate me.

My birthday came and went with surprising little alcohol involved. However, I did receive a coffee/espresso machine, grinder, and bag o’ coffee goodness. Not only did this make me incredibly happy, it coincided with a couple important revelations. 1. Sleep is not an effective replacement for coffee. Seriously, I’ve been trying, and now I’ve decided to just come to grips with my addiction. Yay for finally feeling awake! And 2. I have about 5 dollars for food next month. After April 30, I will be surviving on coffee and stewed grass clippings. Mmm mmm good.

Along those same lines, thanks to everyone for all the well wishes on my birthday! I know Facebook and Myspace reminders helped, but still… personally, I’m pretty flaky about it even with those reminders, so I appreciate people who take the time to send me a message. I even got a few phone calls! Plus, the guys at work bought me a cake. (This may have been due to their desire to eat cake at work, but hey, I appreciate the sentiment!)

Tonight is filled with BBQ goodness shared with the rest of the BHive gang (including the honorary B, Aaron… are we calling him Baaron now?), and much cleaning and packing. Sadly, I am moving from the Bhive. As much as I love my roomies, my car does not love being in “far away from everything” Sweet Home (well, can’t say I do too much either). This friday I will be moving in to a sweet townhouse/fourplex thing in C-Town. I’m pretty stoked. I’m hoping this will help me with the whole social life and church going aspects of life, as well as that whole job searching thing. I’m pretty excited about having a place of my own again. I really was quite happy at all the apartments I’ve lived in. While every living situation has its problems, I suppose I’m just better suited for noisy neighbors, annoying landlords and the occasional creepy stranger roaming around the neighborhood. Oh yes, I also distinctly remember there not being tarantula sized spider creatures while living in town (those suckers have started reemerging in the BHive recently… darn warm weather).

Nick and Hanna mentioned that wanting a kitty was one of the reasons I was moving out… while that was certainly a factor in me deciding to start looking for places, we ended up having to settle for a place that doesn’t allow kitties. As disappointing as this is, the reality is I probably won’t have money for pets in the near future. Once a “real” job has been secured, my first priority is paying loans and replacing the ol’ junker. So… we’ll wait on kitty. At least until I am a little more financially secure and able to live by myself.

And, finally, we have the whole job search thing. My coworkers recently chewed me out for not applying at enough places. The gist of it was “Hey idiot, grow a little self-confidence”. I suppose the actual content of the conversation was a little more helpful than that, and it was good to hear. I’ve been so concerned with hyping myself up too much and landing a job I end up sucking at, that I forgot what it was like when I first started at Wah Chang — which was more than sufficient evidence that you don’t have to start out at a job being perfect at it. I’ve learned a lot as an English major working tech support. Wherever I end up working, it’s unlikely that it’ll be worse than that was.

Finally, we watched the new episode of Doctor Who last week. Talk about exciting things… wow!!

Anyhoo, hope ya’ll are having a lovely day! Towards that end, here’s more flower goodness:

Cheers,

~Ariadne

Ratings slump

I’ve been ridiculously tired lately, which is responsible for the lack of postings. I know I need to post *something* to keep ya’ll coming back, so I guess it’s about time I make a critical personal announcement:

There is a scorpion in my car. I’m totally not kidding.

Anyhoo, in other news… work is good. I’m looking for a more permanent job, which is no fun. I will be moving in a few weeks, which is only fun after it’s over. And here is a picture of a flower:

I really like Asiatic lilies. A lot. Basically, if I were forced to write down a list of my favorite flowers on a piece of paper, these would be near the top.

That’s all I got for tonight. I have pictures on my hard drive, edited and waiting to be posted beside words. But right now my brain is kind of addled. Thus, I shall be going to bed a few minutes, despite the fact that it is seriously pre-midnight.

Nighty nite.

~Ariadne