The nose piercing should count for something!

Sometimes I like to think I am more bad ass than I am. I can be slightly bitchy sometimes. I mean well, generally stick up for myself, expect a LOT from my friends and myself, and am slowly learning how to be more assertive without being offensive. (My advisor provides ample opportunities to hone that last skill.) Anyway, I feel adequately self-assured to accept this award from Spark. Do you?

A shout out to Carolyn, with whom I remained friends despite the nose piercing senior year in college. I sometimes forget that I even have it now. I think it makes me seem a little more crazy (in a risky way, not psycho way) than I really am.

Steamy

I had been on a roll making soup on Sundays. I have a bunch of tutoring todo this afternoon, so I don't know whether I will get to it. Plus I have s bunch of stuff in the freezer and I'm trying to be good about not leaving food in there indefinitely. I also made these pancakes this morning.Can you see the steam? I was a little nervous of a recipe with 100% wheat flour, but they were fluffy and the raspberries gave them that little extra...in addition to the real maple syrup.

I may just make that peanut soup again tonight if I make the time.

Oh, yes. That was take with my new camera. Not very exciting, except that I think that image stabilization feature actually works. A picture this close would have taken me a little while with my old one. Yay!

This was actually the first picture I took with my camera yesterday at the aquarium. I like to think these penguins were having a private moment.Then there were other penguin photos.The fish are obviously all behind glass, and the seals too, so that makes for bad picture taking.

Unfortunately, my friends were not able to drive down to visit yesterday because we had a crappy storm. I had a library aquarium pass though and headed in to town to wander around for a few hours.

I like old buildings amidst skyscrapers. I think this is either the old statehouse or the old courthouse. Either way, it is older than the buildings around it. P.S. I think if you click on the pictures, they will open up bigger in the browser. Maybe I will even start using flickr a bit more. I think I uploaded a bunch of pictures to flickr when I first started my account and have not done anything since!

Just call me Jen Hussein Ski

I saw this over at Ern's. Here is the explanation from MOMocrats. It's the Just Call Me Hussein meme.

Why all the fuss? Some ig'nant fools apparently think it's helpful to their cause to liken Barack Obama to a "terrorist" because his middle name is "Hussein." And we ain't havin' none of that. Why? Because "bitch is the new black," and we? Are bitches.

We've decided to extend the reach of this important blog action by making "Just Call Me Hussein" a meme. If you are reading this and haven't posted, consider yourself tagged. All you have to do is post your "Hussein name" in the title of your blog and share a story about how someone tried to make you feel bad about your name. (See examples below.) Help put childish bullies like Bill Cunningham in his place by declaring yourself a "Hussein!"

When you post—whenever you post—be sure to link us so we can find you. Now, go! Spread that meme far and wide, sistahs (and brahs)! Bitches get shit done!

My primary here is done. I voted for who I voted for. Regardless of who that was or was not, I find it incredible that someone would use a person's name to try to link them to something they are not. There are a lot of Husseins out there, for crying out loud, who are not even close to being remotely bad people?!

I still distinctly remember walking up to elementary school in about fourth grade. There were sixth-grade boys hanging out in front who, as I approached, emphasized the middle of my last name...which just happens to be a very large farm animal. Now, do not get me wrong. Unlike the whole Hussein thing, I actually was a little chunky at the time. It was still mean though, and obviously affected me if I still remember it after all of these years.

I'm just too excited

This came yesterday:I think technically I can take today off from the whole Blog 365 thing, but why get out of the habit? I needed to post about having a new camera.

I am hopefully going to have my godson and his parents tomorrow to Sunday. We are supposed to get snow and they are coming down from north of here, so we are playing it by ear. If they come, there will be pictures taken with the new camera.

I should give the camera a name.

I was wondering how one would take a picture of a new camera to share? The above is borrowed from Canon. I could just use my old camera to take a picture of my new one, but I do not want to use the old one ever again. I am going to return it to its original [second] owner.

Why am I so excited about a new camera? It is my first very own digital camera that I really, REALLY should not have spent the money on. But it was on sale and I have a crap load of weddings this year and friends having babies and it was time to get rid of the old one. The story of my digital cameras (good luck following)...

My first one was given to me by my ex. He found a digital camera on the ground in a parking lot with no car nearby, no memory card, and generally no way to figure out who it belonged to. It was a PowerShot Elph SD450. SO, he gave me the one he already had and kept the one he found. The one he had was an older PowerShot Elph. Okay, fine. I was just excited to have a digital an this was only about four years ago.

Then he 'lost' the SD450 that he had found on the ground. I was really disturbed by this because he had last seen it in his house. He said he searched everywhere. He was heading out on a vacation though, so he bought a new PowerShot Elph (I do not remember which model).

[As an aside, my ex is actually a very good photographer and used to do all of his own developing. He has a small camera, an Elph, and a very nice bigger Canon digital. He's also Asian. I find endless delightment in this. He was never as amused as I.]

Okay. Back to my story. He loses his camera (I repeat, IN HIS HOUSE); buys a new one; goes on vacation. A while later, he FINDS HIS CAMERA BECAUSE IT WAS IN HIS HOME OFFICE. Apparently under some papers he failed to move when he was searching everywhere. I gave him a lot of grief about this, partially because this was also when we were in the process of breaking up and it really exemplified some of what I could not deal with anymore.

Fast forward ~5 months to my birthday last spring, and even though we had broken up several months earlier, he "got" me a present. I use this term extremely loosely, as he actually just "wrapped" up the camera that he found on the ground, lost, replaced, and refound. It was a newer model than the previous used camera he gave me, but seriously? I had just bought a big memory card and he was acting like he was doing me such a HUGE favor by wrapping up a twice-used camera and giving it to me for my birthday. I got mad and said all of this to him and he did not get it.

"Give your nephew the other camera," he said. I ended up giving him the older camera for him to give to his niece and I kept the newer used one.

Part of me started feeling ungrateful and bad that I had made him upset by being upset about getting another used camera from him. I appreciate the gesture, but as a gift? To someone he claims he still wanted to be with and have children and misses and cares about? A used camera? Again? Is that really all that thoughtful? He could have just given it to me without trying to make it a birthday present if he really just wanted me to have it. My friends assured me I was not being ridiculous.

Now I have my own NEW camera. My Mom said she was glad I could "do that for myself". My response was that it was not really that I "could" do it, but that I "just did" do it, as I was really tired of my hand-me-down that the battery did not quite work in anymore (among other quirks).

I am going to return the twice-used one the next chance I have.

OOOoooo...speaking of which. The ex, who should also be known as an endless supply of fodder, asked if I wanted to go to Rio de Janeiro with him in the next few months. If I could buy my plane ticket, he would take care of the rest. I don't know where he thinks I would get money for a plane ticket to Rio. Here is the email conversation:

Me: Um. No.
Him: but it would be fun!
Me: No, it wouldn't. Do you run these ideas by your friends before you email me? I think you should. At least one of them would tell you not to email me. Listen to that friend.
Him: We don't have to sleep in the same bed. Geez!! I know you want to get to South America... :)

EXACTLY. If I am going to South America, it better be with someone I do want to sleep with?! Geez is right.

Thoughts on a time gone by

I do not have anything very insightful coming to mind. I had paid for the online dating service through the end of January and did not realize it would auto-renew. But it did. So I had it through today.

When I went through the process of canceling the membership, I was brought through several screens asking about my experience. I made sure to put in there that I felt like I was paying for a service I could not fully utilize. All of the men I met in person had initiated communication; all of the men with whom I initiated communication closed the match. Why would I pay to let men have the opportunity to meet me? The whole point was to put in an effort to get out there. I do not, by any means, think I am God's gift to the opposite sex. But I do think that I am pretty, down to earth, intelligent, motivated, etc. Plus I like beer, sports, and cooking. Therefore, I also think that I am just as capable of deciding if a match would work as any guy up with whom I am matched. [I love not ending sentences with prepositions.]

One thing I considered was joining a different site. One of the dates I went on (Restaurant-Owner Guy) commented on the women on the site where he and I met, saying they were a little more nutty. He also said something implying he used three sites. THREE! Who has the kind of time to search around three sites? He owns three restaurants, for crying out loud. Would spending time on three sites really save you the time of going out and meeting people? This is one reason I will not join another site. I have been there, done that, and now need to put in an effort to actually do things. Like grab a drink with friends. Or find something to do outside of school.

I also figure I would just come across the same people. The other big site gives you the option to search for available people in your area. I did this, curious, one day. I came across Mr. Chef, as I mentioned a while back. Life got in the way for he and I. He became closed match #301. On this other site, it said he was active though. I suppose active only means that you have been online. It still makes me not want to go search through a bunch of guys who decided on a different site that it would not work out. Waste of time and money.

So for now I will keep busy with multiple jobs and trying to finish grad school. The multiple jobs are great because they help me almost afford being able to go to the weddings of all of my friends who are getting married. Being in a wedding is expensive. Driving to and staying in a hotel for a wedding are also expensive. So I will work. And maybe meet boys that way.

Anyone curious about the final tally?

3 at some stage of communication (I haven't heard from 2 in long enough that I don't feel I should offer them an explanation. The third, I sent a message saying I was taking a break from the site, but here is my phone number if you would like to meet up.)
26 matches with no activity (but they were too cute to close!)
593 closed matches
Total: 622

Me! Me! Me! (& Lyrics #16)

Alright, I had started another post, but then American Idol is on in the background and Brooke just sang 'You're so vain' and I love that song! And that sorta plays into what I had started writing about, which was the fact that it is really hard to come up with something to write about when you feel crappy. So I apologize for writing about coughing and fevers and being lame for so long. But really, a blog is about its writer. So it is okay if I feel vain for writing about me, myself, and I. That is why I am doing it. Why I am trying to post something every day is still beyond me (I don't know the last time I logged in to the actual Blog365 page), but if I have to force a post, you readers are the ones who suffer.

How 'bout something about someone else (sorta)?

Saturday I went to a baby shower of a friend who is due in less than 3 weeks. I do not work with her any more, so this was the first time she looked pregnant to me. She claimed that it was not until last week that she felt like she got big. I have a hard time believing that. She is so pregnant that she wore a skirt and she NEVER does that.

Now back to me.

This tutoring gig is great - a little extra cash for a grad student. For the next week I am helping with a tutoring program that undergrads do and am supposed to meet with 12 students. I think I vented about this somewhere else earlier this week. I was assigned 12 grad students. Perfect. I am a grad student in a related field so we can connect. EXCEPT, who knew that grad students were such a GIANT PAIN IN THE ASS TO WORK WITH??? They should be logging in to reserve appointments I have posted for when I AM FREE. Not them. Me. Meeting with me is a requirement for their class. I don't care if they work full time and are only available evenings. I like to be home by 7:30. Me. One student addressed me in an email by writing: "Aloha Jenski." Um, what? Aloha? I better find out that he just got back from a Hawaiian vacation. Only half of them handed in their (assigned) draft on time that I am supposed to review before meeting with them. HALF. They are grad students. Why wouldn't you hand in something that is due? To me? ME!

Luckily, all three I met with today were very glad to meet with someone and participated in the session. It is a bioethics assignment to present two sides of an ethical topic objectively, and I think they benefited more from just talking about their ideas out loud. I only met with one guy for 15 minutes, but he seemed genuinely relieved to have talked about it.

The last guy and I talked about his paper for about 40 minutes and then just chatted for the last 20 of the session. The L.D. on him? During our chat, I found out that we are from about an hour apart in VT among other things. He likes coffee (now); I like coffee. I said I was out of the habit of drinking coffee because I had been sick, but I miss the taste and I feel a little guilty for wanting to pick the habit back up. He said that is like him and beer. I said beer is good for you though. Then I stalked him on Facebook and found out a bunch more. Like he brews beer. This is my reward for complaining so much about helping out with this class. I get paid to flirt. My roommate says I have to wait a couple of days if I want to email him. Really? That sounds very stereotypically male.

So that put me in a good mood at the end of the day. ME! Happy! No more talk of the plague.

Stay tuned for reflections on internet dating tomorrow (if I can come up with any good reflections that is).

You walked in to the party, like you were walking on to a yacht.
Your hat strategically dipped below one eye; your scarf it was apricot.
You had one eye in the mirror as you watched yourself gavotte.
And all the girls dreamed that they'd be your partner....