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methodwriter85

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  1. methodwriter85
    There's this awesome article I just read, written by a 14-year old girl who took part in the protests against the Texas State legislature for the restrictive abortion laws that were passed. She held up a sign with her father saying, "Jesus Isn't A Vagina So Keep Him Out of My Vagina" :
     

     
     
    This is the article she wrote in response to internet trolls who've called her a slut:
     
    I'm The 14-Year-Old Who Wrote The "Jesus Isn't A Dick So Keep Him Out of My Vagina" Sign In Texas And Was Labeled A "Whore" By Strangers Online
    My dad came to my defense online, but for the first time I am outing myself publicly. I'm 14. Please stop calling me a whore.

    Tuesday Cain
     
    I'm a 14-year-old girl who has lived in Austin, Texas, my whole life. I like art, music and talking on the phone with my friends. When I grow up, I'd like to become a science teacher.
     
    I also believe in the right to choose and the separation of church and state. Or to put it another way -- to put it the way I wrote it when I was protesting at the Capitol last week:
    "Jesus isn't a dick so keep him out of my vagina."
     
    Yes, that's my sign.
     
    I came up with it last week when my friend and I were trying to think of ideas for what would get people's attention to protest the scary restrictions that are happening in my state trying to take away a woman's right to safe and accessible abortions.
     
    It worked.
     
    When my friend and I took turns holding the sign, one of the pictures of her went viral.
     
    Then my dad went online to defend the sign on Twitter and other online forums.
     
    That's when people started calling me a "whore."
     
    I'm going to be honest about what it feels like to be called that as a 14-year-old girl who has never had sex and who doesn't plan to have sex anytime soon.
     
    I feel disappointed.
     
    It's hard for me to understand why adults would be calling me this. It's hard for me to understand why anyone would use this term for a 14-year-old girl.
     
    It's not anyone's business, but as I said, I am a virgin, and I don't plan to have sex until I am an adult.
     
    But none of those facts make me feel any less passionate about fighting for a woman's right to choose and the separation of church and state in my home state of Texas.
     
    I also don't think this makes me -- or any other 14-year-old girl who agrees with me -- a whore.
     
    It simply makes us people. People who believe that abortion should be safe, legal and accessible for women. People who believe women should be in control of their bodies and should not ever have to put their lives at risk so that we don't go backwards in women's rights in this country.
     
    I know someone who has had a few abortions. She now says that abortion is bad and she fights against a woman's right to choose.
     
    This makes it all the more important for me to protest, even if I am only 14. In fact, my dad woke me up so that I could watch the Wendy Davis filibuster the night that she tried to prevent this legislation from passing the first time. I remember thinking that I was proud to be from Texas watching her stand up for what is right.
     
    That was when I told my parents that I wanted to join in the protests. I have seen anti-abortion protesters at a clinic near our house, and it makes me upset to see women who are facing this hard decision being told that Jesus condemns them.
     
    I guess I don't think it seems very Christian to me.
     
    Then again, neither does calling a 14-year-old girl a whore.
     
    The first day that we were out protesting at the Capitol, my friend and I took turns holding up the sign I wrote, and an older man came up to us yelling right in our faces. "You two should shave your heads! You should become lesbians! No man will ever want you! You're ugly!"
     
    The police had to ask him to stop yelling at us. It was scary. But more than scaring me, what it did was make me feel even more determined to stand up and protest even louder.
     
    I'm not going to let someone calling me a whore stop me from fighting for what is right for all women. I'm not going to let the bullies win in the fight over women's bodies.
     
    I read some of the comments online that people said about me, and I was so proud of my dad for sticking up for me and for the sign I wrote. After a certain point, I really couldn't believe some of the comments people were writing. One person said that my parents should be arrested for child abuse and in another unbelievable comment, someone suggested that my dad must invite all my friends over to "play abortion clinic."
     
    I'm done feeling disappointed by these attacks. That is why I'm speaking out -- even if I am only 14 years old.
     
    But the way things are playing out everything feels reversed. Adults are not acting like adults.
     
    Normally, I prefer to look up to adults as role models. But what is happening in Texas right now it's hard to find adults who I want to look up to.
     
    I don't look up to an adult who is taking away a woman's right to choose.
     
    I don't look up to an adult who is calling a 14-year-old girl a whore.
     
    I don't look up to an adult who is screaming in my face and saying I am ugly.
     
    And I certainly don't look up to anyone who says they are Christian but treats women the way I've been treated these past few days as a teenage girl.
     
    ***
     
    What an incredibly well-spoken young lady. This is someone who's parents did their jobs right- I know college kids who couldn't articulate their thoughts as well.
     
    One thing that she's learning from this is that "age" doesn't really equal wisdom, and that hypocrisy is always around you. I've met old people that were dumb little fools, and I've met kids her age who have impressed me with their profound wisdom.
     
    I wish I could be stunned that people who claim to love children so much that they want to save every unborn child from being killed could turn around and act so hateful towards a child, but I'm really not.
  2. methodwriter85
    I came across
    , which focuses on the Just Checking Cheerios commercial that featured an interracial couple . I thought it was really interesting to watch- the kids just did not see what the big deal was. I had to admit that I didn't see why it was a big deal. 
    I remember when I was in 8th grade, I knew a black girl and a white guy were dating each other and there were some raised eyebrows, but by the time I was in high school I really didn't notice any kind of qualms about interracial dating. I got that there would be qualms about same-sex couples, but I really thought interacial couples were old hat to people.
     
    It just feels though that over the past year there's been a rise in racial tensions in the U.S. There's this, the Voting Rights Act controversy, the George Zimmerman trial, the Paula Deen scandal, and the Big Brother 15 racist comments. It's been pretty eye-opening to watch and read about.
     
    I wonder what's going on with this- some are saying that Obama's re-election has been a charge to renewed racial tensions in this country. I feel nervous about it, like something big might happen soon, like the L.A. riots of 1992.
     
    Does anyone else feel this way?
  3. methodwriter85
    From Delaware Online:
    ***
     
    Tuition and fees for in-state undergraduate students at the University of Delaware will increase by about $430 next school year – the lowest percent increase in about a decade, university officials said today.
    The 3.7 percent increase brings UD’s in-state tuition and mandatory fees to $12,112 for the 2013-2014 school year. Out-of-state students will pay $1,160 more, bringing tuition and fees to about $29,932 – an increase of 4 percent. Graduate students at UD will pay $1,578 per credit hour, an increase of 4.25 percent, which is $65 more per credit hour.
     
    The tuition rates for in-state and out-of-state students were announced this afternoon. The university waits each year until after the state’s budget is approved to announce tuition rates. Those costs were approved by the university board of trustees earlier this summer, but they only announced dorm and dining hall costs at that meeting. The cost of living in campus housing and eating in dining halls varies based on why type of dorm or meal plan a student selects. The costs for “standard” housing and dining is about $11,200.
     
    ****
    It does boggle my mind though- when I went to University of Delaware, tuition ranged between 7k to 9k a year...pretty crazy that just four years later it's now 12k for in-state, 29k for out-of-state. It's still not quite as ridiculous as what it costs to go to Penn State, but still.
     
    University of Delaware has been on this decades-long building binge, which to me explains why the tuition is going up so high...I did notice that this year's increase was smaller than in year's past, so hopefuly it'll stay steady. I do think that if/when college enrollments in the country start to decrease, UD is sooo screwed.
  4. methodwriter85
    So on Day 5 of volunteering, I finished going through my box and started on another one. On Day 6, which was this past Tuesday, I started on a new box- in this case, a good chunk of what I saw in the box was actually pretty new, like posters from the 2009 parade and the like, as well as a DVD rip. Which was interesting, because on one hand, it's good to have them, but on the other hand, it doesn't really feel like history.
     
    In main news...Newark, Delaware flooded out. Not like, Mississipppi River flooding or anything, but I've never seen flooding like this on Main Street before:
     

     
    Flooding is usually mitigated by the significant amount of creeks around the Newark area, so it's rare you see flooding like this in the downtown area. Pretty crazy.
  5. methodwriter85

    Firefly 2013

    By methodwriter85,

    So the second year of Firefly came and went. It was a pretty good experience, despite how bad my feet are aching right now from all that working.
     
    I wasn't a volunteer this year, so I wound up camping with my friend Mike and his buddy Freddy. It was an entirely different feeling than last year, because the crowd was twice the size that last year had. It took a really long time to get to our campground, and we wound up parked at a spot pretty far away from the festival, which was a shock from last year, as the volunteers get camping pretty close.
     
    I had a somewhat downer of a Saturday when I thought my wallet was stolen, but it turned out to have been lost in the Home Depot where I used the bathroom, by a friend of a friend of my sister's. Only in Delaware.
     
    In terms of humor, apparently my friend Mike got lost while tripping on a hash cookie that he took in full. We also had a rather funny conversation Sunday night with an 18-year old guy who was tripping on acid, and took an incredibly round-about way time of telling us about how his life was over because his girlfriend thinks he hit on her friend. I've always found people who were tripping pretty funny. It was also a reminder of just how shitty being 18 can be- everything is soooo life and death when you're that age. It made me glad that I have some years on me now.
     
    Overall, the event was pretty awesome. I saw Wild Belle, The Avett Brothers, Calvin Harris, The Red Hot Chilli Peppers, The Alabama Shakes, Edward Sharpe and the Maginficent Zeroes, MGMT, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Matt and Kim, Dispatch, Passion Pit, Vampire Weekend, and Foster the People. I'd say I enjoyed RHCP, The Alabama Shakes, Matt and Kim, and Foster the People most.
  6. methodwriter85
    I feel like re-living the 80's right now...some songs to get me started...
     
    1. You Can Call Me Al- Paul Simon
     

     

     

     

     

     

     
    8. Just Like Heaven - The Cure
     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     
    It kind of pisses me off to think that such a great song was denied being number 1 by that horrid George Michael tune, "I Knew You Were Waiting For Me." Ugh. On the other hand, this song has remained far more relevant than the latter, so yay!
  7. methodwriter85
    On Day 3, I continued going through my box of Memorial Day photos. I found a couple of pictures of Governor Tom Carper (D, 1993-2001), which made it far easier to nail down a date for that set.
     
    For Day 4 (this past Friday), the volunteer manager had myself and another volunteer go through cataloging basics. Even though I've already done cataloging, I appreciated the refresher. Plus, as I've learned, every museum does things different- a true universial standard for cataloging doesn't really exist.
     
    I really like the collection we went through yesterday- the donater had brought memorabilia pertaining to his mother's, father's, and his own days at the University of Delaware (the late 1930's/early 1940's and the 1960's, respectively). It was really cool to see the mother's dance cards from all these dances from circa 1939-1941, complete with little pencils. That was back when University of Delaware had a men's college on the North Green, with the women's college on the South Green, and back then there wasn't as much interaction between the men and the women of the school. It was also interesting to realize that this was just a few years before most of the male students would drop out of Delaware to go fight in WWII.
     
    As for the 60's, I found a 1962-1963 student code of conduct book, as well as a lot of student athletic schedules. There was also a sideline pass for a UD/Rutgers game, which was interesting, because I don't think Rutgers and UD play football against each other anymore. There was also an interesting UD magazine that talked about the plans for building Morris Library- I cannot tell you how much time I spent in that library when I was in high school and college. It made me think about how UD seems to be on a constant building spree- since the 1950's, the only period where there wasn't constant building would be the 1980's, when the number of college-aged people contracted sharply. Right now UD's on a major building mission, but it makes me wonder what'll happen when the baby bust of the late 1990's and 2000's starts to hit colleges.
     
    The memorabilia made me wish I could've gone to school in the 1960's, though- we found a booklet that listed tution for the entire academic year as being $1,120. You can't even go to community college for that anymore! LOL.
     
    All in all, it's really nice using my skills again, even if I'm not getting paid for it.
  8. methodwriter85
    So, in my life I've realized that there are two major personality flaws about me- I can be incredibly self-absorbed to the point where I say things without really thinking about how other people will take it, and I'm quick to assume things.
     
    I try to be on guard for those traits, especially the self-absorption bit. When I was a teenager and early twentysomething, I got constantly called on the fact that I talk too much and that I'd "hijack" every conversation and bring it back to myself. I get that I'm an pretty annoying person in that regard, but I've felt like when I'm having personal, one-on-one interactions with people, I try hard to listen to and react to what the other person is saying. I once got told that I'm "too quiet" by someone, and that's honestly because I feel like when I start talking, it's almost impossible for me to shut up.
     
    I'm not sure why I am this way, but it's been that way for as long as I can remember. I think my self-absorption comes from not having any real friends while I was growing up. That's my guess, in any event.
     
    So I'm bringing this up because a poster at a discussion board I post at basically got at me about how I make all these self-absorbed postings, hijack every damn thread, etc etc. I was shocked, because I felt like I hadn't been nearly as bad about this as I have been in the past, though I suppose I must have been oblivious in that regard. (That's another flaw that feeds into my self-absorption.) I remember when I was contantly battling with the group's owner, to the point where he kicked me out several times while I left the group several times, and I got what the problem was- I wrote a lot of antagonistic posts and the like. But now, I'm not trying in any way to piss people off, and it seems like I still do it.
     
    I don't plan on leaving the group, but I do feel much more self-cautious about posting there, and I want to take at least a few days off from posting there. When I got called on shitty behavior there, that was one thing, but it felt like I was getting called on behavior that I honestly can't help, and honestly wasn't trying to antagonize peope with.
     
    I do feel pretty down about it, though. I feel like I've been getting this criticism for 15 years, and as much as I've tried to change that about myself, it doesn't seem like something that I can change. I guess all I can do is channel it into posts either here or at my Twitter/Facebook instead.
  9. methodwriter85
    So, I was at dinner tonight with my family, and we were talking about my 18-year old niece's senior prom. They then talked about a schoolmate named Regina Reynolds who took a calculator to the prom. Apparently, the guy who was going to ask this girl decided to ask my niece instead. So Regina decided to say, "What the hell", and went to prom with a calculator that she dressed up in a little tux while drawing a flower on the screen. Her Tumblr post about the whole deal went viral, to the point where she skyped with Jimmy Kimmel on his show to talk about it.
     
    It was funny to hear about, because this took place at Charter School of Wilmington. CSW is the math/science school that was upstairs from my own performing arts high school, so it's not my alma mater, but I was there pretty much every day. The school was/is incredibly intense, and the school mascot is a calculator. Seriously, I'm not kidding. Students there are incredibly dependent on TI-80something calculators because of massive amount of math they do there.
     
    I think what's awesome about the story is that this girl could have easily felt sorry for herself and not shown up to prom, but this girl clearly had a great sense of humor and must have been pretty comfortable in her skin. I think back to when I was in high school and early college when I wanted so badly to be "cool", and I don't think I could have done that. I really wish more teenagers would be okay with letting their "dork" flag fly, and not so concerned about fitting in and wanting to be seen as cool.
     
    Seriously though, if any of you are still in that phase of your life, just remember this- boring, shallow, cookie-cutter "cool kids" are sheep, and their "coolness" means jack shit in terms of life beyond their big weekend rager. Embrace being diffent and embrace those who are different without being afraid of getting called a "dork"- you'll have much more fun in life than if you tried to conform to what the Abercrombie clones think is cool.
  10. methodwriter85
    Safety Board: Legally Drunk Should be .05 instead of .08
     
    I'm pretty against this. When I was in college, I had a system of having four drinks within an hour, which created a nice little buzz, and then waiting two hours while eating before driving myself home, and I never at any time felt like I was impaired. Four drinks + two hours of waiting around was perfectly responsible and safe.
     
    I think the recomendation as written would mean that a typical male could only have 3 drinks before being legally drunk, and a typical woman couldn't have more than two drinks. This would really affect the casual drinker- people who show up for Happy Hour after work and have just a few drinks, who now face being criminals.
     
    In my case, I don't really have more than two or three drinks when I go out now because I just drink to take the edge off as opposed to getting a real buzz like I used to, so I should still be fine if the new rules are implemented, but I'm still worried that this could criminalize perfectly responsible behavior. I'm fine the idea of stiffer penalities for people driving at .08 and higher, and the BAC ignition locks for repeat DUI offenders.
     
    This is lurdicrous, however. I totally figured this was coming- has anyone noticed those "Buzzed Driving Is Still Drunk Driving" PSA's? I did remember my professor, back in '08, saying that he thinks the Nanny Police will try and get the BAC lowered again, and lo and behold...
  11. methodwriter85
    Delaware to Become 11th State with Gay Marriage
     
    Pretty cool. I honestly thought that this wouldn't have happened until I was at least in my mid-30's.
     
    I remember back around 2004, I was a camp counselor visiting the Delaware Legislative Hall with my middle school charges. We brought up gay marriage, and one of our tour guides said that with the gay marriage ban in our state it'd take a long time for that to happen here. Pretty incredible how fast things changed.
     
    I am in no way thinking about marriage for myself, but I'm glad that it's an option on the table now, without even having to leave the sate. In practical terms, it'lll be really good for the gay tourism segment at Rehoboth Beach.
     
    Anyway, I've met more than a few gay couples with families, so I'm excited for them.
  12. methodwriter85
    So, since Adam Phillips just loves to get on me for my reading habits, I thought I'd try and read something that wasn't written for 12-year olds, and looked around for something a little different. I've had this fascination for the past couple of years with the city of Detroit, and how it's accelerating depopulation has been depicted in pictures and videos. Detroit, in the course of one decade, has seen its population plunge from about 950k to just 714k- that's approximately equal to if the city of Norfolk, Virginia completely emptied out in one decade.
     
    The trend of depicting Detroit's emptying city landscape has been referred to as "ruin porn." I found this pretty interesting article that discusses the phenonmenon, and what it says about both the city and about the people that buy into "ruin porn" aspect of Detroit.
     
    Detroitism by John Patrick Leary
     
    Detroit is a histroy lesson and a cautionary tale, I think. One day I hope to explore the ruins of Detroit. For me, I find the ruins of Detroit fascinating to look at, because it was a city that was built on America's utter faith and confidence in their cars (a time before I was born), and it just never recovered from the upheaval and strife of the 1960's and 1970's and could not come up with an alternative industry to at least stabilize the city. (Pittsburgh has a simliar story, although its education/hospital sector has slowed down the population bleed. ) The story seen through these pictures suggest the massive dreams that American's industrial might were able to muscle into being...as well as the massive downfall of said American industry. We're a country that used to make things that last, and we became a country that buys goods and provides services, but doesn't really make.
  13. methodwriter85
    Damn, I'm excited.
     

     

     
    The second video is the video intro that they're going to play before the Jurors come in, so it looks like us 12 were just in the jury box before coming into the deliberation room. Pretty cool, right? (Although they really need to photoshop over the Delaware state seal, as this is supposed to be in New York.)
     
    This has probably been the most intense theater experience I've ever had so far...but in a really good way. From having every line and movement scrutinized to having our director throw a fit and buy a new water cooler because some of the actors refused to drink from the old water cooler, it's been one great learning experience. It's been such a stark contrast to the student one-act play showcase I was in last year.
     
    I'm used to the experience of being able to say a line, and then leave the stage when I'm not in a scene. With 12 Angry Jurors, you have to stay in the scene the whole time, even when you don't have lines. I had the Guard part back in a 2006 college production, so I pretty much had a few lines and wasn't on stage much. This time around, I'm Juror 12, so it's been a completely different experience. I'm forced to stay into character during the length of the entire play, which has been pretty stimulating as an actor.
     
    Anyway, we open for a preview on Thursday, so wow...this is going to be a pretty exciting week for me.
  14. methodwriter85
    On March 20th, 2003, the United States began their combat operations in Iraq, as part of Bush Junior's "Operation Iraqi Freedom." Today marks the 10th anniversary of the Iraq War. I would like to take a moment and dedicate this song to all the people who were personally effected by this war.
     

     
    I still remember the start of the Iraq War like it was yesterday. I was in 10th grade. Sometime before, I took part in a student walk-out that protested the upcoming war. At 9:11 a.m., during my French class, I walked out of class and met the protesters. We stood at the corner of DuPont Road and Lancaster, holding up signs that said things such as "Drop Bush, not Bombs" and while chanting slogans such as "To Hell With This Oil War Shit!" It wasn't a lot of people...maybe 20-30 people at most, and in the long run it didn't mean much...we didn't even get media coverage. But there was just something about being a teenager who was absolutely convinced they held all the answers to the world's problems. It was a great moment...one that got broken up when our dean came out and threatened to expel us from the school if we didn't go back in by lunch.
     
    So after the protest ended, I ran through my school courtyard for one lap, while yelling something along the lines of "Peace in Iraq!" or something. Then when I got back to class, my English teacher Mrs. Swann, who was involved in protests back in the 1960's, berated the total lack of organization and media coverage in our protest.
     
    It really disapointed me that the Iraq War didn't lead to a major hippie movement like in the 1960's...I was really hoping for that. But my peers cared more about downloading "My Humps" ringtones on their phones than whether or not people were getting slaughtered over in Iraq.
  15. methodwriter85
    Well, I turned the offer down. I thought very long and hard about it, and it came to this...
     
    I would be driving 30 miles each way for the commute, with a roundtrip 1:30 to 2 hour commute, for about 4 to 5 hours of work at 9 dollars an hour. With gas incredibly likely to hit close to 5 dollars a gallon this summer (and at best, 4 dollars), plus the wear and tear this would do to my 8-year old car, it just didn't seem worth it for what would amount to maybe 40 dollars a day. I might as well just volunteer at a local museum. There are quite a few of them in Delaware, especially in Chateau Country. (Thank you, du Ponts.)
     
    It was definitely one of the hardest decisions I've made in a long while, but sometimes you really just have to go with your gut. And my gut was screaming at me that this isn't a good fit.
     
    I did get something out of this interview, though. I realized that I'm not comfortable with driving more than 30 minutes for a commute to a job that isn't full-time, unless I could take a rail or bus ride to it. I also realized that I'm more interested in doing archival work than I am in doing historically intrepretive work. And that's pretty valuable information to realize, I think.
     
    I think one of the important things about adulthood is figuring out what your limits are and learning to work within them. The director of the plantation seemed to understand when I leveled with him about how I was not comfortable with the commute, and I did ask to keep him as a contact, with he agreed with.
     
    I do feel like I learned a lot from this experience.
  16. methodwriter85
    I got a job offer as a seasonal intrepreter at a historical plantation in Pennsylvania.
     
    I'm not really jumping up and down about it. I had mis-givings about the job when I drove up there...the plantation is pretty out of the way and wasn't easy to find even with GPS, and it's about a roundtrip 90 minute to 2 hour commute. The job only offers 9 dollars an hour, and it's based on when school groups tour. On one hand, this is good experience, and I haven't had a job in a three months. On the other hand, I'm not sure the wear and tear the commute would take on my car would be worth it, as well as just the stress of the commute. Finally, I think that I'm more interested in archival work, as opposed to intrepretive living history. At 17, living history is what I thought I wanted to do, but after three internships of archive work...I think I really think I'm leaning towards that.
     
    I'm more inclined to work some job within the area and then volunteer at a historical society on weekends while I wait for the right opportunity to open up than to take this job.
     
     
    I'm leaning towards saying no (I wanna say 80 percent of me is thinking no), but there's this fear...what if I don't get a job offer again?
     
    I don't know, it's confusing. If I do go through with turning down the job offer on the phone(the guy gave me his personal number to call for when I reach my decision), do any of you have any advice about how to do it respectfully and without alienating them? I mean, if I lived closer, or these was a reliable transit route, or this was more of a full-time job I'd probably had said yes without hestitation, but I'm not so sure.
  17. methodwriter85

    Firefly 2013!

    By methodwriter85,

    I just bought my tickets. It was a total bitch of a moment, and I had to drop 238 on my card instead of 198 or 218 because all those tickets sold out at an suspiciously fast rate, but yeah. I got my tickets! In celebration, I'm going to post one of my favorite songs from MGMT, who is on the lineup...
     

     
    I'm now looking forward to seeing Tom Petty, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Foster the People, Vampire Weekend, MGMT, Calvin Harris, Passion Pit, The Lumineers and Matt and Kim. I'm also looking forward to getting introduced to all these great new music acts that I hadn't heard before, like when GroupLove played at the 2012 festival.
     
    I haven't decided yet if I want to camp there like I did last year. I only live about an hour north of the site, and I don't know...the campsite wasn't really a campsite. I actually wound up walking at nights to the nearby Dover Downs casino so I could use their bathroom instead of the porta potties, which got pretty gross. It also rained a lot, so there weren't a lot of great night ragers there, either. It all depends on whether or not I find someone who wants to camp with me. If not, I could probably just hold back on the drinking and drive home every night.
     
    In any event, this will be a lot of fun. And this time around, I'm not spending 6 hours a day picking up trash. All the bitches that I had about that weekend last year were completely balanced out as soon as I saw The Killers launch into one great, rocking show that I'll never forget.
  18. methodwriter85
    How incredibly awesome was that moment? Let me tell you, I have been breaking out in smiles randomly since yesterday.
     
    I started the night watching the game at Grotto's Pizza, during that first amazing half by the Ravens. People there were just going wild. I even got photograped by an area magazine- I was wearing my Flacco Delaware 5 jersey, and I was standing next to a guy wearing a Flacco 5 shirt, and it was pretty cool. They took a photo of us reacting to one of the touchdowns.
     
    At half-time, I walked over to this Super Bowl gathering being thrown by a friend of a friend. Because this is Delaware, almost everyone was rooting for the Ravens, save for one guy who wanted to root for an underdog. Then the outage happened, and I started freaking out because I figured that the 49ers were going to get time to re-group and the mojo was going to change. When the game re-started, I felt like I was being proven right, as the 49ers steadily eroded the Ravens lead. One of the guys told me I was being a downer, and that I needed to have faith.
     
    And it happened. With that fake punt return, we realized the game was done, and we all cheered accordingly. Great, great night.
     
    I've been an Eagles fan since 2004 and a Ravens fan since 2008, so I've never gotten to see a team I follow win a Super Bowl. It was a great, great feeling. I am so proud of Joe Flacco and the Ravens.
  19. methodwriter85

    Decluttering

    By methodwriter85,

    So every once in awhile, I get into a mode of getting rid of stuff that I have, whether it's old clothes I never wear anymore, books I no longer want to read, or newspaper articles that I once saved but decided to get rid of.
     
    I'm in that mode right now...I'm selling off my old books from college(Don't worry, I saved the books I really love), and I went through my old newspaper collection(stuff saved from 1998 all the way up to 2008)...I'm probably going to look at my clothes at some point, as well as old papers I saved from high school.
     
    I think everyone in my family has somewhat of the pack rat mentality(my middle sister has it the worst), so we tend to save things. But every once in awhile, I get this urge and this itch to go through my things and criqitue whether or not I really want or need to keep this. I think there's something about lessening the amount of possessions I have that makes me feel more free and less tied down, like I become more portable with the less I'd need to pack if I ever decided to just pick up and go.
     
    It's a good feeling. I remember when I was a kid, I read this book about a guy who only allowed himself to have 99 possessions, and therefore if he got something, he'd give away something. I don't think I've been quite that strict, but sometimes I feel like acquring material objects just to have them, or keeping far too many items for sentimental reasons can be like piling on emotional baggage. It's great to pare things down once in a while, don't you think? It also makes you reassess why something had value to you, and if it still does, and when you do that...I think it makes you realize how your viewpoint and priorities change as you get older.
  20. methodwriter85
    Last Friday, I turned 27 and officially entered the land of the late 20-something, starting off my countdown to the 30 club. If this were Logan's Run, I would be a red now. It was a pretty quiet birthday weekend- just an Olive Garden famly dinner, a drink or two with a friend and a late-night Saturday trip to Waffle House.
     
    It's gotten me into relfective mood over the age stage I've just left, my mid-20's. When I turned 24, I was a senior in college and I was convinced that my best days were behind me- that there would never be a time as a free and as crazy as being in your early 20's, and I'd never have as much fun as I did the spring/summer I was 23 when I really went for broke with the college partying. 24 was just old, man, and it was all supposed to be downhill from there.
     
    And I couldn't have been more wrong. The ages of 24, 25, 26 were pretty damn good for me. I finished college after 5 years and having some major close calls with failing/flunking out. Through some miracle, I got into grad school on the absolute minimum GPA I needed to get in. And when I decided to can my original choice of Millersville to go to this school in the middle of bumblefuck Western Pennsylvania called IUP, I wound up making one of the best choices in my life.
     
    My two years in grad school were the most difficult, but ultimately rewarding periods in my life. I had the first and only 4.0 semester I've ever had, and met some great professors. I also had two great internships- one at a natural history museum; the other at a local heritage society. I had the eye-opening experience of living in a different region with different mindsets than the one I had grown up in- I mean, really, I took it for granted that if you started shouting E-A-G-L-E-S, people would join in. That's what life is like in the Greater Philly region. It's a totally different mindset in the Greater Pittsburgh area, and I was glad to have experienced that. I had a job for two years- a crappy job, of course, but beggars can't be choosers in this economy and that was the longest time I've ever held a job. And having that job enabled me to pay for Alternative Spring Breaks in Florida (2011) and Tennessee(2012), the latter of which holds some of the best memories I've made in my life. Nothing will ever beat the feeling of standing in the Tennessee air on a beautiful mountain. (Okay, big hill.)
     
    I made some real friends at this age rather than my mainstay of just having "party buddies", and I even found my "grad school" bar- this place called Spaghetti Benders. It wasn't Deer Park Tavern but that was kind of the point- it was a quiet bar with good people from all ages and walks of life who were great people to get to know, and were very different from the typical University of Delaware kids that I grew up with.
     
    I think I was probably the most "open" and eager for new experiences than I had been since I was 19/20...at 22 and 23 I was filled with such cynicism that I really felt like I had been there, done that. These past coupe of years showed me just how wrong I was, and just how much more I have left to experience.
     
    So bring on my late 20's! My mid-20's were awesome...let's hope these next three years are just as awesome.
  21. methodwriter85
    The bad news is that my student loans are due on December 18th. The good news is that according to the longer 25-year repayment plan I picked, I don't have to pay any money because of how little money I made in 2011. The plan I'm doing bases how much you have to pay on how much money you made.
     
    I mean, obviously I'm going to still put money in rather than just let the interest run wild, but if I had gone with the standard 10-year plan I'd be looking at 700 dollars a month in payments. The bad thing about this is that I'll see much higher interest back dollars in this and take longer to pay, but the good news is that if I get a job and start making decent money I'll be able to start making more than the minimum payment. Also, you're allowed to switch repayment plans, so that helps.
     
    I've got a pretty frugal life planned ahead for me- no house, no kids- so I should be able to swing that. I would like to be paid off by the time I'm 50. Then I'll work for 5 more years until I hit the retirement age of 55. When that happens, I'll retire, buy a trailer, and travel the North American continent. I'll start by visiting a 78-year old Mark Arbour in St. Louis, who can regale me with tales of greed in the corporate world in Reagan-era America, to research my future 1980's history book. I want to become the Ken Burns of 1980's Americana by my late 50's.
  22. methodwriter85

    Weezer

    By methodwriter85,

    Weezer was giving a free concert at the Christiana Mall today, which was pretty cool. They were there to celebrate the opening of the new Microsoft store at the mall.
     
    They closed it with Say It Ain't So, which was awesome.
  23. methodwriter85

    Job Fail

    By methodwriter85,

    I've got only about three months until my student loans are due, and I still haven't found a job. God, this sucks.
     
    I just got a rejection email today for a tour guide job I interviewed for, so I'm feeling a bit crappy. I'm getting to the point where I'm just going to try and go for any job that I can get, instead of one related to my major.
  24. methodwriter85
    I was over at the mall tonight, trying to cool down as the central air in my house is broken.
     
    After giggling my ass off through the opening chapters of 50 Shades of Grey at Barnes and Nobles, I was in the food and noticed through the skylights that fireworks were going off. I walked out, and people were gathered outside to watch this very good and very expensive impromptou fireworks show- it went on for a good 10 to 15 minutes. Someone close to Christiana Mall must have had a lot of money to drop on fireworks, 'cause these fireworks were pretty big and it was like a mini-professional fireworks show. There was something really cool about unexpectedly seeing a fireworks show in a place that you wouldn't expect to.
     
    Those random awesome, unplanned moments...gotta love them.
  25. methodwriter85
    Ha, I came across the internship promotion video that I made last summer when I worked with the Delaware Museum of Natural History.
     

     
    It was a lot of fun, really, of all the internships I've done. I think it helped that interns were really allowed to interact with one another.
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