holiday!

i made it! last night was quite an adventure. between the crying baby, the guy sitting next to me that liked to touch my arm a little too much, the wild 2 hour impromptu tour of SF and kaitlin "i'm a super map reader and direction giver" metzler's incredibly bad directions, i had quite a lovely evening (no sarcasm!)

today was quite lazy... took my time this morning waking up, reading, yada yada... and now i'm in SF, supposed to be hanging out with my partner in crime, however her phone isn't working so i come to the nearest internet cafe to catch her while she's online... no such luck. so ahmed is coming to pick me up to hang out...

i love vacations!

i am a moron. i'm leaving on a trip tomorrow and need to know which and where to buy a good digital camera

i'm missing you.

i feel cut off from all of my friends. msn has been the sole communication between myself and some of my bestest friends in the whole world. since school has been out, i've been online 1 day (school was done a week and a half ago). missing my brits terribly... i think tomorrow i'll get to campus, take a break from packing just to catch up with my homies .... )c:

i'll be as high as that ivory tower that you'll never know

i have 2 more nights at my current residence. i can honestly say that i'm going to miss the washer and dryer...and the balcony, but that's about it. was thinking this morning that i'm feeling a bit guilty...i'm letting these poor little girls handle this person by themselves, they don't know what they're getting into.

i'll be packing until i leave for the airport on wednesday.

my townie home town never ceases to amaze me. for growning up there, the whole town knowing my first, middle and last name, i was almost hurt when they carded me at the bar saturday night. this is unheard of. i guess when you're gone so long, some forget who you are. but then again, some don't.

we are family

another trip home. weddings, dance recitles, the whole kit and caboodle. my aunt's husband (from australia) is here and so is another aunt.. staying with the 7 of us... like we don't have a house-full already?! but, we're a crazy bunch.. and alas, i'm back to sharing a bed with the little sister.

we have early morning chats... this time it was about boys. informed her about one dude i know has a minor (i think its minor) crush on her. she laughed and told me to tell him that she's taken... and we moved on to that girl who has a crush on our brother. she wanted to know why anyone would ever have a crush on that one. the jury is still out.

so family stuff this weekend.. drinking in as much as i can while i'm here, enough to hold me over for the long times i'm planning on being gone.

dad said something to his eldest sister last night... "it says something about you that 3/4 of your children live within yelling distance of you.. means family really means something to them." i didn't like that he said that right in front of me, and he could tell so he said "i know we mean a lot to you.. you just go and do whatever you have to." mom's still against that completely, but at least dad's got my back...

the cookies call.

helpin white people dance

i am a country music fan... although its not the only kind of music that i listen to. i've been searching for these lyrics for weeks. even if you aren't a country music fan, i know you can relate to these words (either personally, or watching others personally relate)... maybe you've never put a lampshade on your head (then again maybe you have).. but i have seen pictures of people with baskets, pirate hats, crowns.....

so, for your entertainment:


Brad Paisley's: ALCOHOL

I can make anybody pretty
I can make you believe any lie
I can make you pick a fight
with somebody twice
your size. . .

Well I've been known to cause a few breakups
and I've been known to cause a few births
I can make you new friends
Or get you fired from work.

(Chorus)
And since the day I left Milwaukee
Lyncheburg Bordeaux, France
Been makin the bars
With lots of big money
and helpin white people dance
I got you in trouble in high school
and college now that was a ball
you had some of the best times
you'll never remember with me
Alcohol, Alcohol

I got blamed at your wedding reception
for your best man's emberrasing speech
and also for those naked pictures of you at the beach
I've influenced kings and world leaders
I helped Hemingway write like he did
and I`ll bet you a drink or two that I can make you
put that lampshade on your head . .

And since the day I left Milwaukee
Lyncheburg Bordeaux, France
Been makin a fool out of folks
just like you
and helpin white people dance
I am medicine and I am poison
I can help you up or make you fall
you had some of the best times
you'll never remember with me
Alcohol

And since the day I left Milwaukee
Lyncheburg Bordeaux, France
Been makin the bars
With lots of big money
(crowd:) and helpin white people dance
I got you in trouble in high school
and college now that was a ball
you had some of the best times
you'll never remember with me
Alcohol, Alcohol

lovely day

i am working on designing ads for work... been doing it for the last 2 hours. i'm so glad that i chose the major i did..its perfect for me!!

i don't like this packing thing.

:-D

my cousin is getting married this weekend in my hometown. he, his future wife and future son live in alaska. giving a present means i'm a pain in the ass 'cuz they have to fly it home with them. so two of my brothers and i are are shipping them a present. of course i'm buying it from the place i work..taking full advantage of employee discounts.

this is one of my favorite things to do... send stuff to people, or just give it to them. i like getting things in the mail and just assume that everyone else does too.

i would really like to get my tax refund check in the mail....

yay for wrapping presents!

how do i get there from here?

i'm spineless... i can't make a decision for the life of me. i always need eightymillion people's opinions first, or someone just telling me to do it. for example.. kaitlin took my credit card out of my hand and bought me my ticket to san francisco..otherwise, i probably still wouln't have bought it. in high school..my homegirl and i would always drive 15 minutes, stop in that town and try to make the other decide if we were going to go to the mall directly east, west or south of that exact point... i can't decide on shit. its one of the things that i hate about myself.

i'm at another one of those decisions. i've officially decided that i DON'T want to live in my current apartment for the summer...already subleased it out. but, where to go from there? two current options... a cabin an hour and 15 minutes away from work (lake comes included) or across town, closer to work sans a lake. lake free, no lake not free. lake no reception, no lake reception. lake drive to work, no lake drive to work (but MUCH shorter drive), lake if owner gets job i am homeless, no lake if owner of lake gets job my weekend trips will be less frequent.

so, this i ask, what should i do..?

no one can change your life except for you

i have a 10.5 hour day at work today... the bosses are at a gift show buying exciting new products for this fabulous little store. so, its all me all day. to curb the laziness of the day, i stopped at target on the way to work this morning. holly told me that they have books in the dollar section, and i wanted to pick up some cheap entertainment. unfortunately, by the time i got there, the only books left were ones on american history, alien sci-fi shit, and a book about three easy ways to get men to propose to you. although i'm a hopeless romantic, i'm not that hopeless... this is the kind of books that i find on my roommate's bookshelves.

so i opted for the real book section. i can handle $6 for a read. i grabbed THE NOTEBOOK.. i've been wanting a good sappy book for a while. but then i saw this other book... IN HER SHOES. i got it mainly because it said shoes...and because the shoes on the cover looked like some that i would purchase. how shallow is that? buying literature because of the cover illustration!? ... my other option was CHICKEN SOUP FOR THE MILITARY WIFE'S SOUL. didn't really pertain to me.

this weekend... what's there to say? we went out on friday night... and then on saturday, to not put shame to graduation weekend, we and they had yet another night out, although quite a bit milder than the previous night, returning "home" to have a dance party in the kitchen and food by a master chef.

yesterday was such a lazy day for me.. i was supposed to continue packing. but alas, it was spent in PJs in front of the television, frequent naps... a whole lot of nothingness. my brother came over to escape his roommate. its funny for me to be a spectator when my roommate and my brother get into conversations.... especially when it comes to sports (like it did last night). she starts talking about the rules and situations of sports she thinks she knows. last night it was baseball. patrick is a baseball player, and so natasha goes off on a tangent about something and patrick and i just look at each other and roll our eyes.. a source of entertainment to say the least.

why do i write so much nothingness? i'm not quite sure. because i have nothing else to do at the moment, mumken? yes, i'll just leave it at that.

you make me wanna, you make me wanna scream

summer starts for me in about 5 hours. somehow, it doesn't feel that way, though. could be the weather (a fridgid 42f and not looking up for the next week)... could be that my finals have been so spread out that i haven't had that crunch period of taking 3 tests in one day, 2 hours between each and not starting to study for the next until the present is over. perhaps its the fact that nothing is really going to change in my life... i don't have to be out of my apartment for a few weeks yet, so no rush there... not moving to some exotic place (unless you think crossing the mississipi river is exotic).. jobs staying the same... no graduation for me... huh...

i just wish there was more of a relief that was quickly approaching...

tonight and tomorrow will be good time with good friends. i really wish i spent more time with more of them. but, i have those few solid one, who truly know me and don't judge me... its hard to not spend the most time with those, when the alternative, although fresh and different from the daily routine, is probably going to be questionable. i know aiesec is all about "trying something outside the comfort zone" but to be honest, you really can't beat stovetop popcorn and a good shisha. (by the way, does anyone know of any traineeships in shisha packing and maintaining?...hooka would be ok too.)

so, back to the monotony of every day. my life is boring.

you're a loser baby, so why don't i kill you?

was searching through nomadlife blogs.. came upon one that i 1) wish was posted on more and 2)wish i read more religiously. Kasia has this on the top of her page:


"For mine is a generation that circles the globe in search of something we haven't tried before. So never refuse an invitation, never resist the unfamiliar, never fail to be polite, and never outstay your welcome. Just keep your mind open and suck in the experience, and if it hurts, you know what? It was probably worth it."


i really need to save some money this summer so that i can start making more of this happen for me.

i was talking to my usedtobe-soontobeagain roommate the other day. we were talking about money and traveling.. she and her boyfriend are debating whether to move to california or the UK after she graduates in december. and all of a sudden i was rattling off a list of places i want to go in the next 5 years... the UK, france, egypt, kenya, singapore, brazil, thailand, australia, new zealand, china, germany, panama, morocco, italy, greece.... i could keep going with the list for an hour. she gave me a blank stare for a minute or two... and then i was like.. well, maybe the next ten years. not to mention all the places in my own country that i have yet to explore. .... i have a lot of living to be getting to.

on one final note of the day, as i'm re-editing the changes that the imbeciles i have for groupmates made on our final paper, i'm going to go ahead and make the generalization that -- human beings are stupid.

dream of californication

its "see your breath" cold out today. my feet are frozen. wtf? i thought it was mid-may. california doesn't seem to be coming soon enough.

finals week rant

my job for my final group project is to make the paper flow and the slideshow look pretty (thanks to colleen, i finally know how to properly work powerpoint). judging by this paper that they've given me, i am questioning the credibility of st. cloud state. these people can't write a complete sentence.... how the hell are they graduating?! they got through that freaking finance class that keeps kicking my ass, that's how. but is finance as relevant to a marketing major as having the ability to write a complete sentence?... i think not.

i'm slowly losing my mind because of all of this.

oh happy day

its a bit colder outside today than i dressed for. i always have extra clothes in my backseat, though. grabbed a sweatshirt for my walk to school. just so happens that the last time i wore this one was in michigan for the leadership team meeting... and it still has the sticker Lauren made me pastered across the front pocket. i'm looking forward to the weird looks all day when people try to figure out if i really do have the "smile of the century"

curious

i was just poking around on my profile... clicked on "aiesec" under my interests.. got the first 40 profiles of others interested in aiesec. found it interesting that of those 40, over half had aiesec as their first interest.

sorry, i have a lot of time on my hands at work, so this is what i do.

High heels or sneakers he don't give a damn

fell asleep last night to happy thoughts...of the californian vacation in two weeks. recieved a birthday card from four lovely british gents who are hosting Get Golden 2005. a bunch of unexpected sweetness.

i've never been to cabrew in the three years i've been in aiesec, and it won't be happening again this year. kinda sad 'cuz my rowdies peeps will be partying without me, but kaitlin and i will be showing the west coast how the midwest puts it down.

i love randomness of life. messages written in dust on my car... raining while the sun is shining. tumbleweeds in minnesota, you get the point.

i'm really looking forward to holly's grad party this weekend. one last hurrah for holly, kait and i while we're all still officially in our college years. get to meet shady beshr (finally!), eric and naub are supposidly going to be there.... yay, i'm excited. anyone else planning on coming? totally townie reunion?

that's the light at the end of my tunnel right now. yay for being able to see it.

hold on for one more day

its rainy out. usually days like these make me super tired, but the tempterature it is today and the heaviness of the air makes me feel ready to go.

one final tonight... the dreaded one. once this is over, my life will be all song and dance..

nose to the grindstone today. i'm going to find a corner in some random building where no one can find me.

i believe that love is the answer

i balanced my checkbook the other day... i keep having slight anxiety attacks. and then i remember that this week i get to sell books back (getting completely raped by the bookstore, but its cash none the less), i'm still waiting for my tax return and a reimbursement from the university, rent is going to be cheaper this summer... things could turn out, but holy shit. this is what being a college student is about though, right?

not according to mom. i'm not sure how i did it, but i told her i was going to california at the end of the month. she gave me a rather large guilt trip... about the money aspect. for christmas, she gave me an italian charm form bracelet that says "broke but happy (c:" and although this is true most of the time, man how i wish some long lost rich aunt would pass me her fortune.

so, may be re-evaluating the trip overseas this summer... may have to postpone it until next spring. we'll see how working my ass off this summer goes. Plasma may be an option too.. anyone else got some good ways of making easy cash. i'm trying to wean myself out of the drug trafficking business, so if that's your suggestion, please hold your comment.

exactly 365 days after the true legal age

i feel like i was slipped a roofie last night... holly? kait? 2.5 glasses of wine and at midnight: 3 shots. after the 3rd.. no telling what happend, at least not from me. woah. i need an explaination of the texts i found on my phone this morning... coming from california.

semi-dissappointed in the family today. expected the 7:30 am call from all of them just about ready to head to school.. everyone in the house gathering around the phone and singing to me. )c:

its a fabulous day out, as every may 6th should be. free mexican food at 8:30 tonight. if anyone's in the minnesota area (naub, kristi) let me know 'cuz tonight is a night of going out... and probably drunk dials (warning you!).

hydrate... HYDRATE.

welcome to the jungle

i've started packing up my room this morning. piles of clothes that need to be trashed completely and some that i'm going to take to the salvation army. and then a whole bunch of shit that i'm just tossing 'cuz i need to start downsizing my life.

in going through all my stuff, i found my copy of a book that my parents bought for me and all my siblings. its a compilation of things that mark twain wrote and said. its called "mark twain's book for bad boys and girls" and is quite fitting, especially 'cuz there are 3 boys and 2 girls on the cover, just like the gelhaus clan. here are a few of my favorites:

"be good and you will be lonesome."

"all good things arrive unto them that wait -- and don't die in the meantime."

"work and play are words used to describe the same thing under different conditions"

"always acknowledge a fault frankly. this will throw those in authority off their guard and give you and opportunity to commit more"

"never tell the truth to people who are not worthy of it"

"it is not best to use our morals weekdays, it gets them out of repair for sunday"

"each person is born to one possession which outvalues all his others -- his last breath"

" we can't reach old age by another man's road. my habits protect my life but they would assassinate you."

"it is a wise child that knows its own father, and an unusual one that unreservedly approves of him"

"always do right. this will gratify some and astonish the rest"

"be respectful to your superiors, if you have any"

"we think boys are rude, insensitive animals but it is not so in all cases. each boy has one or two sensitive spots and if you can find out where they are located you have only to touch them and you can scorch him as with fire"

my favorite of all... one that anyone who knows me would swear i live by:

"let us swear while we may, for in heaven it will not be allowed"


----

happy cinco de mayo... although i've always liked six de mayo better.

@ st. cloud is having a quite fabulous day.

vanjah just informed me that a local grocery store wants to fully fund our spring banquet..."fifty people you say?. sure, just come in and take whatever you need." (key when getting sponsorship: ALWAYS overestimate. if you have 5 people, you say you have 30, if you have 20 people attending "ice fishing", you tell them that you are having 150-200 peeps attending an "international trivia contest", if you have 15-20 people attending a banquet, you tell them at least 50).

also vanjah's roommate got us a sponsorship at a resort north of the twin cities... they want us to come up for the weekend or so, maybe bring our support network, and just have fun without footing the bill. yee haww..

Finally, our drunk advisor gave us a name and number of a dude that called her today looking for an intern. so i immediately called him. dude used to be an @ member in colombia, did a traineeship in switzerland and is now working for a money transfer company in the twin cities. he wants and aiesec trainee..and soon. i'm fucking stoked!

cloud nine is a lovely place to visit every now and then. !!

step-by-step, oo baby

its my birthday month and the other birthday month girl punked out on me. birtday month equals wednesday night fun... one bar has free fishbowls and free pizza for all the birthday month people. mine started 4 days ago so i want to go... but you see, you need 4 people otherwise they don't let you have one of those huge things of alcohol. bit of sadness has just come over me. i mean, c'mon.. there are only so many wednesdays in each month. must take advantage!

i'm all about free stuff.

ooo the mexican place gives out free meals on your birthday.. mental note.

closing time

TWO DOWN! (c:

three to go )c:

you put the lime in the coke and then you drink 'em both together

i have an extreme love-hate relationship with finals week. i of course wait until the last week or two before i actually do anything for the semester. so, in two weeks, i must complete the semester's work for 5 three-credit classes.

i work well under pressure, though. 3 hours of sleep because i'm not only writing a 12 page paper, but i had to start/finish/cite all research as well.. in 24 hours. and somehow, doing that pulls me some pretty highly graded term-papers.

only set back this semester compared to all the rest?.. all the profs that i have want a presentation on coursework. so, in the past, i was working with 3 hours of sleep, beanie caps/baseball caps/bandanas, jeans and hoodies... and not caring what i look like 'cuz i'm not really here to impress anyone (plus its MN, and there's no one to impress). this semester, i actually have to make an effort. get less sleep 'cuz i have to get up in the morning, shower, do the whole "i'm a girl and i have to look nice" routine. blech... i want old finals week back.

i also want my old discount at the coffee shoppe... or at least a few of my old employees who would give me cheap/free shit. perhaps that's why they're not there anymore..

Whispered goodbye and she got on a plane

NAILED our presentation yesterday. our prof just stared in awe at all the stuff that we presented to our client. ... somehow, though, i ended up being the one that told the client that he -relies too much on the fact that he's a quadriplegic to sell his health care business-. i felt like an UBER bitch, but it had to be said.. and i ended up standing in that place in line.

last gmm was last night. only the true troopers attended. M.I.A.

skipped the final finance class of my life. i do have to show up for the final next week, but i'm glad that i never will be forced to look at that complete shit ever again in my life. i hire someone to do my taxes for a reason...

decided that holly's cabin sounds like a nice place to reside for the summer. a nice summer on a lake with some fantabulous friends!... strict orders to not allow any aussies to come, though.

somehow, my travel agent talked me out of my credit card and into a plane ticket last night. msp-sfo may 25-31. get golden here i come! miss agent herself will be there and we'll be travel buddies for the trip home. it amazes me how prices increase by $200+ just by going one day later.

angelina is going away. she leaves on thursday for south america, for about a year. i want to go to south america. have wanted to for a few years now. we had a night at the olive garden last night...and then SHISHA. i will be searching later today for traineeships whose job description is: master shisha goddess.

been pondering the point of research papers. write about stuff that someone's already wrote about and then give a paragraph or two at the end that is your opinion. seems like quite a stupid idea to me.

speaking of stupid ideas... i must be getting back to writing a "script" for my sales presentation. pick a product, script out exactly what you and the person you are selling to will say and then "perform" in front of a camera. ...............whatever.

words of wisdom

conclusion of today's "adventures in story-telling land":

don't step outside without looking or your family will have to go through therapy for the rest of their lives

i'm 21 and invincible... can't wait to fuck this up.

one down! (c:

four to go )c:

ooooo, barracuda

its may first... and it snowed all day. this is officially RIDICULOUS!

i loved the fact that two of my long lost friends found out that i was in town this weekend and called me up to beg me to come out with them last night. it was mainly because the last time i was home and went out, i lost my mug at the bar and the thing that most closely resembled my mug was the pitcher... and it just happened to be one of those boys' pitchers of Pabst that i sucked down by myself that night. therefore, i owed him. the debt still is unpaid. just another excuse to meet up in a few weeks!

towniest moment of the weekend:
my brothers feasted on roadkill... inquire within.

after a splendid weekend, two weeks of complete hell are staring me in the face. better get to demolishing the beast, eh?