#7: A kind of crabby update... better than no update?

A lot of time has passed since my last substantial update about life.  Unfortunately, not much has happened.

My life pretty much consists of work.  Now its work plus coming home to mom who just had knee surgery.  I don't like to see her in pain so being home makes me really uncomfortable.  Its not that I don't want to help her, its just that it scares me so I'm trying to make plans to get out of the house.  Luckily, my friend Allison's wedding is in 40 days and I'm kind of helping plan and I haven't done much to help lately so that will hopefully keep me busy.

This past weekend I made the four-hour trek to the Wisconsin Dells to see my dear friend Tyler.  Tyler lived across the hall from me my last year in Lourdes/at WSU and he is my favorite.  We said good night to each other every night before retreating to our own rooms to sleep so I was happy to sleep over at his house and say good night in person (its just not the same in text message form).  He showed me the town (I can't recall ever visiting the Dells before) and now I never really need to go back, except to see Tyler.  I was happy to see him though it made me really homesick for Winona.

Everyone is going back for RA training in about a week and a half.  I'm happy not to be going back from training but it does feel abnormal that I won't be there with them.  I knew this would be the time that it hits me that I'm done and staying here and not going back so maybe that's adding to my not wanting to be at home and my getting in fights with my sister.  I just posted on my Facebook that summer break is just the right amount of time before Liz and I typically started really fighting and we've hit that time but I have no refuge to seek.  Instead, I'm stuck here and have to watch what I say.  It's adding to my frustration.

I need to remember how lucky I am to have parents that let me come home after graduation and a full time job to help me start paying off loans in a couple months.  I am truly blessed.  But that doesn't make me any less stressed, especially with our super cute puppy who STILL barks at my dad and is beginning to drive me up the wall.  On the upside, his hyperactivity (he's a border collie puppy, I should expect no less) has gotten me up every morning to take him for a walk before work.  On the downside, it doesn't seem to effect his energy level come 10 p.m. when I want to sleep and he wants to play. 

Anyway, I suppose I'm happy but for the most part, I just feel like I'm in limbo.  School seems more and more like what I should be doing with my life and not being at school just feels wrong.  So right now I'm waiting for the next big thing.  While I wait, I'm trying to fill my life with activities.  On the weekend dates that aren't full of wedding business during the last weeks in August, I'm hoping to be working at the WCCO booth at the State Fair (two of my favorite things = WCCO news and the State Fair).  After that and the wedding is over, I need to either find another job (I keep applying at Archiver's and failing- I'M PERFECT FOR A JOB THERE) or start volunteering.  I suppose volunteering would be the right thing to do.  We'll see what happens there.

I hope everyone is enjoying their July.  I'm off to bed before another early morning of walking the dog (and by early, I mean 7:30) and a long day at work (that I enjoy, for the most part). 
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I'm reading: I have two books sitting in my room but they're both autobiographical short story compilations that I have to really be in the right mood to read.  Lately has not been the right mood so those may be going back to the library sometime soon...
Picture of the week: Here's a picture of Nina, Liz and me at Nina's fancy 19th birthday dinner.  Peter left that morning to head back to the Air Force while their parents went to a wedding so I felt the need to fill in as family and celebrate her birthday in a big time way.  We went to Salut on Grand where we tried escargot in addition to 2 other appetizers, dinner and 2 desserts (creme brulee at Salut then ice cream at Izzy's).  Even though we were under a tornado warning pretty much the whole time, it was worth it and a night to remember.  

Post Grad Book #3

How I Paid for College: A Novel of Sex, Theft, Friendship & Musical Theater by Marc Acito
Finished: July 15, 2010
Page Count: 288
Why I read it:
I think I saw the book in Barnes and Noble and took a picture of it on my phone.  Months later, I finally looked it up at the library and boy was I pleased with the result.

Publisher's Weekly review:
Portland humor columnist Acito debuts with dazzling comic panache in this story of a teenage would-be swindler and budding drama queen. Edward Zanni is dying to escape boring Wallingford, N.J., for the hallowed halls of Juilliard, and he's got a pretty good chance at it. It's summer, and he's palling around with his fellow Play People, who include his gorgeous girlfriend, Kelly, and his hot jock pal, Doug, and dreaming of stardom. The fly in the ointment is Zanni's money-obsessed father, Al, who pulls the financial plug on Edward's Juilliard dream after marrying a trophy babe, a beautiful, icy Teutonic model named Dagmar. Edward counters dad's penny-pinching by moving in with Kelly's family to establish financial independence for a scholarship, but bombs at several minimum-wage jobs. How will he pay for college now that his audition—really a public mental breakdown—got him in? His devious buddy, Nathan, concocts a plan to steal from gold-digging Dagmar, who's been siphoning Al's cash into a secret account. Edward and pals set up a fake nonprofit designed to award a Juilliard scholarship to someone born in Hoboken (Edward)—but there's a problem. Acito nails his scenes one after another, from Edward's shifting (but always enthusiastic) sexuality to the silly messes he gets himself into. The result is a thumbs-up winner from a storyteller whose future looks as bright as that of his young hero.

What I thought:
This was such an intriguing book about a boy in his senior year of high school, trying to navigate life in musical theater, his father remarrying, his mother's absence, and figuring out his sexuality.  It was really funny and interesting, though hard to believe at times (there was a lot of criminal activity that I can't imagine ever doing, though 1984 was a different time in this country).  I liked it because I could relate to being in high school even though this book was set in 1984.  It wasn't too far in the past but wasn't like the crap I've read lately like Gossip Girl and other such "current" high school stories.  I guess I liked it mostly because it was so offbeat- Edward Zanni's life is so totally different from mine yet I understood and could feel for him and his strange life.  I think connecting to a character is one of the best responses to get when reading a book and that's how I felt with this.

Dream #1: Opening a restaurant or bakery... or both

Here are some tasty treats I've made so far this summer.  Be prepared for your mouth to water.

1. Cilantro battered onion rings

2. Summer corn chowder pasta

3. "Star spangled" tart

4. Grilled beef braciole with tomato basil relish

5. Donna's strawberry shortcake (with California strawberries)

6. Poppyseed chicken salad (a collaboration with Dad)

Let me know if you'd like any of these recipes!