A note on returning the favor

Dear Spanish Professor,

I know it's only been two days since we started this new class, but I wanted to share a little something with you. Now, keep in mind this may not be true for all of your students, however it is very true for me. I really just have one question for you...so here goes.

Why do you think it's acceptable to ask me to fill out a ridiculous form at the beginning of the semester telling you random tidbits about myself (i.e. my job, how many years I've taken Spanish, what I plan to do with my life, etc) and then not do the same in return???

I find you very interesting. You ran for U.S. Senate and have already talked in depth about your world travels (including Africa, Europe, and Latin America), yet when I asked you what you do you simply replied "soy un professor" (I am a professor).

I find it a little ridiculous that you get to know about me, but I don't get to know about you. Yea, yea...I know what you're thinking "I'm the professor and can do what I want." I don't disagree with that. I just think it's only fair to return the favor to your students and let them know a little bit about yourself.

Keep in mind that if you didn't require me to fill out your questionnaire, you certainly would not be reading this right now.

Whatever, I'll just google you, Mr. I-Ran-For-US-Senate-Man.


Signed,

Su estudiante

Spring 2011

Today is the last day of winter break. It's bittersweet, as it usually tends to be. This has been a great break. I've been surrounded by both my and Lindsay's families. We've had a lot of good times, eaten way too much food, and relaxed way too much. Now, back to reality.

I'm happy to start the semester. My brain feels like it turns to a big bowl of oatmeal when it isn't being engaged and when my ideals and thoughts aren't being challenged one a daily basis. As always, the beginning of the semester always makes me feel inspired, excited to learn, and proud to be a college student who can bring a new twist to pretty much any topic.

Here's the lineup for this semester and a few thoughts about them individually:

• Introduction to Women's Studies-This is a no brainer. I love women, especially one's that stand up for themselves. As an added bonus, Mercy (one of the docs I work for) will be presenting to my class. I know celebrities. Duh.
  

• Introduction to Religious Studies-I don't know jack shit about religion, so I figured this would be a good way to dabble in the many different world religions.
  

• Intensive Spanish 2-I love learning Spanish. Spanish kicks ass. The first semester of this class was pretty easy, and I'm told the second half is more difficult. I say bring it.

In my blood

Music just seems to be one thing I am always current with. I'm not a movie person (at all) and until recently (a year-ish) I didn't read much either. However, music is something I am always exploring. It inspires, motivates, and moves me.

There really isn't any genre I despise, but I'm not big on country, head-banging metal/screamer rock, or anything that is completely foul-mouthed (some cursing is fine, but every other word is ridiculous).

My favorite genres: pretty much anything that was not mentioned above. No, really. Gimme a good beat I'm ready to rock/sway/dance/hold up my lighter and sing. ;)


I wanted to share a few of my favorite artist/groups and a few new discoveries I have made. First and foremost, my favorites, ones I consider classic to me:

1. Girlyman: best music discovery of the 21st century. These guys opened for The Indigo Girls at a show I went to in Bloomington in 2003. I immediately fell in love with them and have introduced many other fortunate souls since. #Alltimefavorite#
   
2. Ray Lamontagne: give him to me solo or with The Pariah Dogs, IDC. #smoothsound#
   
3. Tori Amos: my friend Joanie introduced me to Tori when I was 12. Her lyrics are sometimes dangerous, her piano skills amazing, and her voice is chilling. Love her. Big thanks to Joanie for that. #realbigtalent#
   
4. Indigo Girls: another introduction complimentary of Joanie. Seriously some kick ass tunes. #feelgoodmusic#
   
5. Scissor Sisters: raunchy, dancey, and electronic. #YUM#
6. Led Zeppelin: I don't even have to say anything else. #Classicrock#
   
7. Train: some of the best beats and lyrics I've ever heard. #favoritemalegroup#
8. Janet Jackson: a great artist with so much diversity in her music. Hello, Velvet Rope?!?! #rocksmyfaceoff#
9. Coldplay: captured me with "Yellow" in 2000. Loved them since. #foralloccassions#
10. Madonna: the queen. Edgy. Daring. Hot. #shesthebeesknees#

Artists that I have recently discovered that I adore:

1. Awolnation: a weird mix of electronics and rock. Sounds great to me.
2. Elisa: thanks to SYTYCD I found her a couple years ago.
   
3. Muse: always a good beat. Easy to listen to.
   
4. Eric Hutchinson: reminds me of Train and Coldplay, except solo.
   
5. Imogen Heap: a crazy mix of vocals and electronics to keep me interested.
6. The Avett Brothers: mellow sounds.
7. Tiesto: electronic inspiration.
8. Matt Natanson: unmistakable voice that I love.
9. Kings of Leon: who doesn't like these guys? Srsly.
10. Florence+The Machine: this lady can sing like whoa!

Last, but certainly not least, I feel that pop, R&B, and rap deserve their own category. I do love a lot of this music, but ultimately as you can see my favorites are the mellow, folky, and electronic types. However, I didn't want to contaminate my other favs with this nonsense, so they get their own little piece of my bloggy-blog-blog:

1. Lady GaGa
2. T.I.
   
3. Drake
4. Akon
5. Nicki Minaj
6. Sean Kingston
7. Eminem
8. Ludacris
9. Jamie Foxx
10. Katy Perry
11. Waka Flocka Fame
12. Iyaz
13. Taio Cruz
14. Rihanna
15. Beyonce
16. Trey Songz
17. P!nk
18. Nelly
19. Septemeber
20. Cascada

Alright, so basically if you ever ride in my truck with me, expect to hear a wide variety of music!!

Just a quick note on being surrounded by FFA teens from Utah. I just overheard "he's never had a bagel, I've never had eggplant." I thought I was sheltered as a teen. Geesh.

Enlightenment and encouragement...and no I don't mean spiritual

I've been incredibly busy recently, not to mention I had some sort of disgusting flu/sickness for almost a week, but I'm still around and better than ever.

This week marks the midterm point for the semester. Anyone who's ever attended college, has a kid in college, or doesn't live in a cave knows what that means: exams. Woopety-poopety. :) Thus far this semester, I'm doing really well. It feels great to be successful not only academically, but also on a personal level. Asked if I could do this a year or two ago, I would have laughed in your face. Go me for getting my shit together. I'll also give credit where it's due. Without Lindsay I would not be here. She's the one who ultimately inspired me to go back to school. She's the one who for the first time in my life, gave me the confidence to do this and do it WELL. So, thanks babe.

Anyhow, so enlightenment. I still have to remind myself sometimes what the hell I am doing with this whole I'm-going-to-become-an-academic-at-thirty-years-old thing. Now that I am in it, am doing well, and am completely committed to it the number of kicks in the ass I have to give myself are shrinking, mostly because I'm good at being a student so my confidence is pretty much at an all time high.

However, that doesn't mean I don't like to be reminded by others. Everyone likes a nice ego stroke every once in a while. I got mine tonight. BONUS! Reward.

I finished rocking the socks off of my archaeology exam and decided to mention a few things to my professor. He's a graduate student studying archaeology (duh) AND cultural anthropology, which if you don't know by now is my obsession. My few comments turned into us talking for an hour and a half. I addressed a few of my concerns with him about "taking a different path", not having an extensive volunteer/study abroad history(many anthro majors claim this), what the hell am I going to do with an anthro degree, and any recommendations he may have for me. These are the issues that I debate in my head pretty much everyday, so this was a perfect opportunity for me to talk with someone in my intended field of study.

After talking with him, I've realized quite a few things. Number one is that everyone makes their own path in life. I'm always (still) so concerned that I'm doing this the wrong way or that I should have taken a more traditional path, right out of high school and off to college route.
Lindsay is constantly reassuring me about this, and after talking with my professor it is sinking in a little more. I think this will all just take time to adjust to, but I'm on my way.

The other major point I really took from our conversation, is that being an anthropologist will open so many doors for me. It's such a broad spectrum of life to study, so the possibilities really are endless, it's all up to me where I want to take it from here.

I guess it all boils down to the lack of outside AND personal motivation that I had for the first 28 years of my life. No one in my immediate family, and only one person from my extended family has ever graduated from college. No one ever encouraged me as a child or pressured me to go to college. I didn't really have much of a support system growing up. It really was all about surviving and working to pay the bills. Don't get me wrong, I think if that's what people want to do then by all means, go for it. It takes all kinds to make the world operate. However, I think that people, parents especially need to take the initiative to support their children and teach them that there are many options in the world.

Anyhow, just feeling enlightened and encouraged and thought I would share. It was really great to talk to someone in my own field about their experiences.

All at once...

I like swimming, but not in my house. Too bad for me, cause that's what's been going on over here at casa de Ange and Lindsay for the past few days. It all started just a few days ago when I came home from work and Brian had mentioned that the rug in the kitchen was soaking wet when he came home. We assumed it was one of the dogs and maybe they had an accident during the day. We cleaned it up and I went on a cleaning spree vacuuming, mopping, doing dishes, and laundry. Just about the time I get everything all nice and clean, disaster strikes again: the kitchen is soaked again.

S O A K E D

I didn't know what the hell was going on so I pulled everything out from underneath the sink (which was like 764, 091, 259 containers of cleaning stuff with about .2 ounces in each one) to investigate. Keep in mind, I'm no plumber. All I know is that there was about two inches of water standing under the sink so I soaked it up, cleaned up the floor again (since whatever was leaking made another huge mess) and called it a night. What the heck else was I to do?

Fast forward to tonight. There was some laundry going when I noticed that once again the floor in the kitchen was soaked. UGH, welcome to frustration central. I soaked it all up and decided to get to the bottom of the situation at hand. Brain had one more load of clothes to wash so I of course encouraged him to do so (he clearly knows about this ongoing dilemma) and I also thought that maybe it was linked to either the dishwasher, washing machine, shower, or toilet. So pretty much any plumbing in the house could be the culprit, but I had an inkling about the washer.

Big surprise!! Who was right?? ME.

Something goes terribly wrong when the washer drains. It (obviously) makes a mess in the kitchen, water backs up in the tub, and the toilet makes a gurgling sound. Eww. The first thing I can think of to do (other than freak the eff out) is to call my dad. He has an extensive history in fixing houses/maintenance since he owns fifteen of them. All I hear is something about if I can't find the sewer line outside the house, it's going to cost eight skamillion dollars to dig up our yard in order to find said pipe and install something or another. About this point, panic sets in. Like real panic. Next, I call Laurie and Dale (Lindsay's mom and step-dad) to ask if they know any plumbers. Yes, they live in California but also they have owned at least two homes in the Indianapolis area and also have a lot of home repair experience.

Thank God, Dale knows where the sewer line is outside of the house, so I can calm down about a backhoe showing up sometime in the near future. Whew! Anyhow, they rack their brains and end up recommending that I call Roto Rooter or some other company. I looked up RR online and they have great reviews, so I gave them a call. The lady I spoke with was super friendly. They could have gotten out here tonight between 830p-1130 but since I have to work tomorrow I decided to pass on that. She helped me make an appointment for Tuesday and mentioned that it "sounds like" there is a main pipe clogged. Let's hope this is the case.


I imagine this is something similar to how our pipes will look. GROSS.
Keep your fingers crossed that this is not nearly as disastrous as it could be.

Ouch!

Guitar classes should come with a disclaimer to the student:

WARNING: your fingertips may bleed from practicing with this instrument, therefore hindering your ability (and willingness) to actually play this amazing piece of art. Hang in there though, cause it's gonna happen. Until then though, this is what your fingers may feel like:

And when you finally do achieve some awesome calluses, people are going to notice (or at least they better):


"He noticed my fingers, and he asked me if I would play."-Ani Difranco