Office Space

A message for Adam
Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birth-day dear Ad-am...Happy birthday to you!
Happy 21! Wish I could have been there to celebrate it with you! We'll just have to make it up later!

Intern-ity
I started my internship at CURE yesterday (www.curetoday.com). It is a free magazine for cancer patients, survivors, doctors offices, and family. It only publishes four times a year, but it has to be doing well. They keep expanding and their offices are *nice.* I mean, there's a tv in the elevators. And they have lots of security, as if they are terrified that someone is going to get their 12th floor office. (no one is going to get their office). They even have a doorman.

So now I've started as an editorial assistant intern. The first day, I thought I'd been in "Office Space." I seriously fought with a printer for three or so hours. It just wouldn't work! It was such a pain. I literally played tug o' war with the printer for the paper, which it just kept eating. Writing this, I sound like a complete idiot, but goodness it was a pain.

Today I got to do some actual work; I edited the other intern's story and have started on my own. I'm assigned a story on the ethics of animal testing for drugs. Lots of icky online reading.

Bigger in Texas
Apparently the "bigger in Texas" rule isn't applying in my office. Everyone is tiny. If they happen to be tall, they are supermodel thin. If they aren't supermodel thin, they are short. In Mo. I end up the smallest in the group. Here, I'm mid-to-high pack. Isn't that bizarre? They are all so petite. I'm hoping I can fit in.

Kittens!
Still cute. Getting a bit irritating though. They attack feet while you sleep. I have kitten scratches. I'll get photos when I can. :)

Stuff Happened

Okay, quick recap of the week:
— Anniversary — Moving out — Summer — Internships —

Anniversary
This week marked the two year anniversary of the more or less official relationship of Adam and me. I say more or less official because there is a bit of a disagreement on when Adam and I became “official,” both in terms of the actual date/time we crossed that line between friends and dating people formerly known as friends and, just to complicate things a bit more, there was some (more) disagreement about whether what happened on that day (the one we haven’t ever properly deduced) actually constituted us being an ‘us.’ Later, just to get rid of some of the insanity, we retcon’d it and decided that we did indeed become a proper couple on the day that we still never pinned down.
So Adam and I celebrated our two-year coupleyness last Sunday, and it was fantastic. Hm. That sounds cliché and a little ridiculous, but it was. It was simple, but it was great. We went to Addisons, where they tricked me into eating the overpriced but absolutely mindblowing special and Adam managed to outsmart them by getting a burger that was apparently also delicious. Then we meandered back to the dorm and cuddled and watched a movie. Sounds boring now that it is written, but it was just what I needed.
So then I forced Adam to sit with me and reminisce/flashback end-of-tv-show style, reliving blips of the past two years of our lives. Charming. And it made me think: I am *so* happy with him. He makes me purr like a kitten and feel warm and fuzzy, even when I am just thinking of him. …And I’m going to miss him this summer.

Moving Out
Yesterday was hellish with a side of stress and ouch. Moving out is a lot of work and very tiring. I woke up accidentally at 9:30ish because the sun invaded my room and proceeded to force me to start packing. Packing is a grueling process that makes it feel like the life is just being drained out of you. So I packed, forever, and then I desperately called Matt and Katie and begged for help. Thankfully, they were okay for volunteering for the job. Thanks so much! A lot of teamwork, hauling of stuff, driving about, sweeping and dusting. 95% of my belongings are in a box, hopefully in a storage unit. And I am semi-officially homeless. Hurrah! Footloose and fancyfreeish!

Summer
And because I am now semi-officially homeless, summer has begun! Summer so far is me on Katie’s couch fairly nonstop, generally watching Gilmore Girls. And it is so great. I have nothing to do. Nothing. There is no schedule in my life right now. It’s fantastic. And making me a tad bit anxious. I don’t even have a plane ticket home yet. Not even sure we decided when I’m going home. I’ve got a few days of TAing at the Mo’ian soon, which I’m a bit looking forward to. And then there is a lot of blank space that I’m hoping to fill with friends and maybe a little more than sitting around and watching Gilmore Girls.

Internships
Wednesday of this week was supposed to be my day of free emptiness working on packing and getting things done. But that was not the case at all. Instead it was a day of phone tag with two different internships that I both desperately wanted to get, and a two-hour intensive, terrifying copyediting test online that I’m still worried that they didn’t get and that I’m now doomed for. But, on the upside of all this crazyiness and phone tag, I got an internship! Yes, a real deal internship! It’s at this magazine based in Dallas called CURE, that is distributed for free to cancer patients and their families. A little depressing-sounding, I know, but I’ll take anything. I have been accepted as an “editorial assistant” (or do whatever the hell we want you to) and I will start as soon as I show up (plane tickets, need plane tickets). It’s full time, but pays less than the camp job, but I hated that job anyway and so am not so sad about leaving it. I am nervous about transportation to and from said amazing internship, as it is close to downtown, I don’t have a car, and my parents are worried about me driving in downtown Dallas anyway. I may be forced into the bus systems, meaning at least an hour-long drive for a trip mapquest claims will take two minutes. It may just have to be an hour each way that I have to sacrifice.
The other internship I was looking into was one for DayPost, an online company that is a branch of the New York Times that writes copy for websites like About.com. And it pays ridiculously well and is freelance copyediting, meaning I can copyedit in my underwear from home if I so desire and no one will care. I’m really hoping I get it, but Scott the recruiter guy said “our further conversations are dependent on how you do on this test.” No pressure, right? I REALLY want it. I mean, the guy asked me, in all seriousness, if I know about Word…Microsoft Word. I could do that job blindfolded — and did I mention it pays REALLY well, which would make up for the lower pay at the other internship. I’m fantastically excited and had to pack all my fancy/business clothes to go home, instead of my shlummy t-shirts.

Ah, the Gilmore Girls disc has ended. I am forced to get up from the couch of loveliness.

Winter of Discontent

I was walking back from the Mo'ian after turning in my design project (to the wire! Oh the adrenaline rush/stress of a hard news deadline!), when I noticed this couple in front of me walking. They were about the same height, both slim, both white, both wearing comfortable tailored shirts; his blue, hers pink. She had long loose blonde pigtails, and both of their appearances just said "I'm both comfortable AND cool."
And I thought: that's what I expected college relationships to be.

And then I found myself thinking: what does that say about MY college relationships? What does that mean?

I had the impression was both hard and easy. (not sure where I got this idea, but go with me here). I thought the classes were acceptably hard, intellectually stimulating and interesting all/most of the time. People had plenty of time to hang out and have fun, which was abundant. I'd either have one steady boyfriend that I was more likely than not to marry or would flit contentedly from captivating boyfriend to captivating boyfriend. I'd get to live wherever I want, no big deal. I'd have a car, reasonably fashionable. I'd always be cute, even when I wasn't spending particular attention to how I looked. Getting a job would be a bit of work, but nothing overwhelming. I'd study abroad, somewhere fabulous. And getting a degree would be no big deal.

And I had to draw a picture of my version of Adam and I to try to help myself understand how my life really is. (too bad I can't show you; it isn't worth it. just a pen sketch in the back of my ancient novel spiral). Adam is over a foot taller than me, and black (sometimes a point of contention...not his blackness, but his blackness in relation to me). We have been dating two years and its great, but neither of us has marriage anywhere on our minds. I could not honestly describe myself as 'slim' and neither of us could be called 'tailored.' Today I was out wearing ratty old tennis shoes, jeans, an old FARC t-shirt (free stuff!), my hair in an incredibly haphazard ponytail, out by myself after stressing over another Mo'ian assignment and picking up another, more stressful, assignment. My hair is continually haphazard, and I am hardly ever presentably cute. I have no idea where I'm going to live next year: It is easily described, as Becky put it, as the Great Apartment War of '07. I have a silent, hateful relationship with The Roommate. No way in hell I'm getting a car. Studying abroad is highly unlikely. Classes are either excruciatingly demanding or a yawn. One teacher today actually said, "so, when you're god is an erect phallus, what are you going to do?" Classic literature. Getting a degree/job makes me exceptionally nervous.

But what does all of this mean? I don't know. I've been restless lately; imagining myself as someone who doesn't care about responsibility, flits from party to party or at the very least entertainment to entertainment. Imagining myself up and leaving for ...somewhere. Spending money on books, DVDs, games, a new wardrobe that is always irrestistably fashionable. Of shedding all elements that lead to discontentment with body image and life in general.

I have no conclusion. You tell me, I guess.


...I had to look up the title quote to make sure I got it right. In my fantasy of college, I would just know that it was Shakespeare, Henry III. I disappoint myself.

Sometimes I'm afraid...

This makes me scared:

http://archive.columbiatribune.com/2007/mar/20070302news007.asp

They're coming to protest the j-school, but indications are that they are coming looking to fight. I'm afraid on several levels here: a) I'm a student of the j-school, which is their named target, b) I'm dating Adam, which makes me a 'race traitor', c) I'm afraid for Adam, their historic enemy by his race, d) I have several gay friends, who also aren't high on the 'friends to Nazis' list, and e) someone isn't going to listen to the police chief's pleas to stay away from the march and someone is going to get hurt.

I'm not just afraid about the parade; they'll be massing (well, maybe) here, so that means it might be dangerous for Adam and I to even go out together, or Adam alone... and I have an appointment in that area from 9 to 4.

They have every right to march; I support their freedom of speech. I just wish it wasn't so close...and that they weren't so militant. I'm sure it'll be mostly okay...the city is already voicing a very strong "we don't want your kind here" response to the marchers, but, like I said, I have several reasons to be nervous.

Pray for rain on their parade.