Tis the Season?

This was the oddest Christmas season I have experienced in that I didn't really get into it what-so-ever. I think I always associate Christmas with family time and a nice break from school. The lack of this break and family time allowed Christmas to sneak up on me. I'll definitely need to make some adjustments next year to have a real world esque Christmas season on my own. Now to discuss what little bit of a Christmas I did experience.

Saturday my family took a very short trip over to Vestavia Hills to my cousin Ashley's house for our gift exchange with my mother's side of the family. Ashley made her chicken enchilada stew with rice and black beans that I have come to love. Typing about it is making me hungry. After lunch we opened presents with football ever present in the background. Nanny, as always, was able to find some pretty nice clothes, and Tammy, my aunt, pulled through with getting the whole Hunger Games series to me. Everyone else was driving back to Guin, so we didn't stay around too long after present time was over.

That afternoon my dad made Will and me go take pictures at Ross Bridge for an unknown reason. Christmas Eve is a little late for Christmas cards. Regardless, we took some pretty stellar pictures. My dad is such a doofus and made us do things like this.
 

My parents forgot that our church service was at 5, so we missed that. This is probably another reason I didn't feel too Christmasy. We did, however, have a wonderful dinner of steak, salad, and cheddar cheese soup as imitated from EPCOT's Le Cellier. It was a beautiful Christmas feast after which Will and i opened our joint present. Traditionally, it has been a larger Lego set. This year's selection was the Rebel Base from Hoth. We built that pretty quickly and went to bed because Will set his alarm for 6...

As I tried to go to sleep, I watched some holiday themed episodes of television shows that Netflix recommended and read The Hunger Games. I got within 80 pages of finishing at around 5 but had to go to the bathroom before I got some sleep. My mother heard me leave my room and was under the impression I was going to look downstairs at the gifts, so she woke everyone up to just go ahead and open presents. This was of course fun, and I was grateful for the lack of candy purchased. I didn't need to eat anymore than I already did. My dad chronicled the entire thing if you want to look. Please don't.

Will received Lego Harry Potter years 5-7 on Wii, and I was so excited to play it. I just wanted to finish my book first. Well, I fell asleep and woke up at lunch just in time to pack up and leave to go to Granny's house in Chattanooga. This was our first Christmas there, and it definitely felt different. Luckily, we had all of the same food items: chicken casserole, English peas, field peas, and mashed potatoes. I also got to watch my first Doctor Who Christmas special live. They've been some of my favorite episodes, so i was glad to see one in the context of the season. I definitely shed a tear or two during it.
 
Well, that was my Christmas season. I only got one day off, but I am looking forward to New Year's in Atlanta with Karissa and Jenae. Then it'll be time for the National Championship in New Orleans!

Catching Fire

As the title suggests, I am currently enthralled in the Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins. I was able to finish the first two in under 24 hours, but now that I am back at work I don't think that'll be too easy. Especially with James making me crack up every few minutes by saying something about chitlins, the woman found dead under her Christmas tree, or women becoming pregnant in my New Orleans hotel room. The books are very well written. Collins does a great job with description, and it's interesting how the book is written in present tense. I never noticed until I began reading in Spanish that so much of literature is written in the preterit. An odd thing to notice, but it makes reading the book interesting. If you decide to read them, don't finish one at 4 am when your head is by a ground floor window. I am certain the Capitol was sending out all the Peace Keepers out to get me last night.



Last Wednesday was some of the most fun I've had in Tuscaloosa. Sarah, Eva, and Kevin came to visit since the town is deserted. We went to Brown's Corner, my trivia haunt, and had a wonderful time guessing answers and winning money. We got second place! We were 1 point away from first. If only I could have remembered that Sheryl Crow song... Then I took them to Grey Lady for a few drinks,which was followed by a couple of hours of Apples to Apples in my new apartment. This was a lolfest of a painful nature. It's a beautiful thing when friendships can pick up right from where they left off. Here we are in front of one of our favorite restaurants in Savannah, Georgia.


Also on this day I received a text message from my Secret Santa in Maine. It included a Santa stripping to the song "Bottoms Up." I assume he messed up the area code by a number, but I appreciated the gesture all the same.

Thursday, I went to an extended family Christmas party in Yampertown, Alabama. The town is officially called Twin, which is nearest to Guin, which is next to Gu-win. It's a confusing area nominally. While my immediate family did not go, I still had a great time eating and playing Dirty Santa with them. It was Nanny's first time to play, and she was quite the gift stealer. I ended up with a bag of Fartless Chili and a $25 gift card to Panera Bread.

Friday, some of my high school theatre friends met up at our favorite mediocre Mexican restaurant called Pablo's. Then we went to a few bars downtown. We went out so early that barely anyone was around, but at least one police officer was because I got a ticket for parking in a taxi zone. Since it was only $30, I didn't let it ruin my night even though a few other things tried to do the job.

That's all I'll say for now. I'll make a separate Christmas post tomorrow, but I'm too addicted to Pinterest too much to leave it idle. Thanks, Sarah Beth Langcuster...

D8

Crazy as an Outhouse Rat

The title comes from the fact that my supervisor dared me to utter that phrase while I was being filmed live on the Kip Tyner show. While it is a fun game to play, I had better not try to participate in any other interviews. Luckily, it's only shown in the Tuscaloosa area at noon, so few people watch it. Apparently, it's something that people actually say...

Last week was super not busy in terms of Red Cross work. Mike and I developed a Disaster Action Team folder for all volunteers in that area. If you are unaware or ignorant to Red Cross happenings like I was, you may have not been aware that Red Cross volunteers respond to fires to provide emergency assistance to anyone affected. The DATs, as they are called, have fallen apart in Tuscaloosa, so we're working to build them back up.You should all become a part of one! The training is free, and you put yourself on call only when you're available.

In the colder half of last week, we had a lot of fire cases from people using dangerous methods to heat there homes. Some examples of this include ovens, space heaters, and fires, which can all be dangerous if not used properly.These cases have been a little more heartbreaking than normal because most of these people have finished Christmas shopping that the were barely able to afford as it is.

In the realm of happier events, James is hilarious as ever. I asked him at the Christmas party if he would catch me if I fell, and he told me the floor would. He also wants me to dress up like Santa and climb down a chimney with a fire in it. I can honestly say that I've never had a friend who can wish harm on me in a way I find this amusing.

Mike, James, and I also decorated the office for Christmas. Wynease, our new front desk worker, was very skeptical of our decoration skillz. This was mostly due to the poor storage of the tree I put in the lobby. It has a lot of holes in the branches and a collection of kitschy wooden ornaments. The four of us had a great time at the holiday party. I work with some really great people, which makes it easier to get through the more difficult days.

Outside the realm of work, Sarah and I spent an enormous amount of time together this week since she was graduating on Saturday. We watched all of our shows and ate cookies as per usual. I've gotten her into a bunch of crazy shows, and she's done the same for me. I wish I had photo shop skills so that I could make a picture of her like she was a cast member on 1Girl 5 Gays. It would look like this:



Thursday night I had a class to teach at work, but quickly afterward I took Casey and Sarah to Nick's in the Sticks for their first time. It's one of those restaurants that you have to hear about because you aren't going to accidentally drive by it. I suppose they named it well. They have nice cheap steak, a beautiful ranch dressing with blue cheese, and an alcoholic beverage called a Nickademus that had me asleep by 10 o'clock.


The weekend was filled with parties and moving. All of which was enjoyable. Michael Wilson had a very cold but entertaining birthday party on his porch, a common Birmingham theatre hangout, and he had a lunch a Rojo the next day. I love that restaurant too much that it could be labeled as unhealthy. My friend Amanda suggested the Berkley's Tacos to me when I was there last week. They were amazing grilled chicken with buffalo sauce and feta. I was in food heaven.


My family saw the new Sherlock Holmes movie before the lunch, and I really enjoyed it. They did a great job not only in the writing and acting but also in the cinematography. I would definitely recommend seeing in theatres as these effect may not be as entertaining on a smaller screen. I went to a Christmas Party at Charla and Chris Cochran's house Sunday night, and it was too cool. I was just so happy to see all of the people this weekend like Amanda, JJ, Chuck(s), Hal, Chris, Lee, Michael, Jonathan, etc. This made me really excited about starting Hamlet soonish and for the auditions for Normal Heart in March.

It's been a long week already with class, jailed roommates, and taking over the responsibilities of leading the Hispanic Service Providers for the next six months. I'm looking forward to Christmas events this weekend as well as Sarah Rogers and Kevin coming down for trivia tomorrow night!

Mud Puddle Days

This one is going to be a little more on the emotional end compared to my commenting on Red Cross happenings and terrible reality television. This weekend brought full closure to my undergraduate experience at the University of Alabama. From the time that I was a freshman, I have been looking forward to that moment when I would get my Senior Goodbye and Guerrilla with the rest of my class. It is by far one of the best things that Alpha Psi Omega does each year. I was prepared for that very emotional weekend. I was writing letters for everyone in the organization. I had picked and practised my material for my performance, but I never got to do it. Instead on 27 April 2011, tornadoes tore across the state of Alabama, and as the majority of us huddled together in Rowand Johnson, our theatre building, we had no clue that it was the last time all of us would be together.

School was cancelled, and we all went home eventually. I was in Hoover for a short time and spent of few days helping my grandparents move out of their mostly destroyed home in Phil Campbell. I got offered a job on my first day there, which would have been during our senior roast time. This job at the Red Cross has provided me with so much when it comes to moving on from the tornado, but the one thing it couldn't do was give me closure to my senior year.

I had hoped graduation would serve this purpose, but it still seemed incomplete. A few people came back to town for it, but that experience wasn't personal enough. Being in Tuscaloosa this semester made it all the weirder. Everyone I came into contact with was able to put last year behind them. Some even felt like the tornado had no effect on them. The only people who could understand were scattered across the country, and I didn't even think I needed them until now.

Saturday morning we met to plan our roasts of one another. Only five other seniors were able to come back, so it still wasn't complete. It was exactly what I needed. We had a great time laughing at ourselves and one another and sharing with each other what our friendships meant. So much can happen in four years, and it was so much fun to share some of those memories. More and more have surfaced since then, and I hate I didn't remember to share them.

That night we all gave our final performances joined by two seniors graduating this weekend, and it was by far my favorite guerrilla of all four years. I don't know if it was actually the best one I saw, but it's emotional value will always make it stand out. None of us took the opportunity just to showcase our talent for others to see. Instead, we picked things that were meaningful to us that we wanted others to experience so that people can learn the importance of family, taking advantage of every little moment, words, humor, accepting yourself regardless of others, following your dreams, and never forgetting those people that truly matter to you.

I was happy to share the song my dad wrote for me when I was four-years-old and the scene from Torch Song Trilogy. I owe so much to Eryn and my dad for being a part of that with me. One day as a young child, my mother was trying to get me out the door on a rainy day so that she could get to work. I was so sleepy until I saw the rain. Then I ran outside declaring it a "Mud Puddle Day." My dad thought it was cute and wrote an equally cute folk song about the experience. I don't know how many people know this, but my mother was diagnosed with Lupus while I was in college. It has since caused her to stop working. I often remember this song and use it to remind me not to get down. That was a message I thought everyone could use including my mother. Things get tough, but if you try to view things from a positive light it's amazing what you can get yourself through.

It may be a while before I see those seniors again. We may never all be in the same place at the same time in our lives. That's why I somehow managed to stay up until 3AM. I thought Saturday would be a goodbye, but it wasn't. It was more of an assurance than anything that I will stay in touch with these people for the rest of my life. It may not be constant or always in person, but I will stay in touch. The odd thing is that if the tornado didn't happen I don't know if that would still be true. It pulled us together more than any class, show, or party ever could. I guess tragedy does that to people. That's just the "Mud Puddle" side of things. Now we can move on to better things, and I am excited to see what those things are. Thanks University of Alabama, Wesley Foundation, and Alpha Psi Omega for everything. It was a beautiful four years, and not even a tornado can take that away from me.

Anything Goes

While this week wasn't as exciting as a vacation, there were some high points including major life decisions, a great movie, and a formal on a boat. The last item being the loose connection to the post title and an even looser connection to this picture.

While on the way back from Disney World, the bus on the way to the airport played a slew of videos. One of which was for the Disney Adventure tours around the world. As I was watching the commercial, I thought to myself that I would love doing a job like that. Upon researching I discovered that their application process begins in August, and it was the only travel website I found that even had job listings. Eventually I came across an article that mentioned going to a travel guide institute. It listed one in particular, The International Tour Management Institute in San Francisco. I applied on Sunday and after a 45 minute phone interview on Tuesday I was accepted to fill a slot in their July course. You can read more about IMTI by clicking here. I'm so excited about this opportunity, but it's seven months away. My excitement will have to be contained. The best thing about this job is that I still get to do what I love to do at the Red Cross in my spare time, and I can live anywhere that I want.

Other than that exciting news, work was filled with fire cases and a great community day in Sawyerville on Friday. Mike and I went to a restaurant called D-Ray's to get people interested in becoming Red Cross volunteers and to sign holiday cards for American servicemen overseas. This place had great hamburgers, so if for some reason you find yourself in Sawyerville, AL, you need to check it out.

Wednesday was trivia night again. Even though we didn't win anymore money, we still had the best team name. We were Chico's Red Trivia Newton Klondike Bar Pary. It's a mixture of all the names of the teams that regularly attended during league play. We also got our last free pizza off of out winnings, so it looks like we'll have to pay for Old Mexico next time. It's a great pizza with a refied bean base and covered with all of the toppings you would associate with nachos. Brown's Corner is dying for business, and Wednesday night is half priced pizza and wine night!

 Friday night Alpha Psi Omega rented the Bama Belle Riverboat for their formal. It was a really cool experience, but I hate that it had to be so early. It gave people too much time to drink that night, which was evident in some later behaviors. The boat was decorated for Christmas, which was a nice touch, and it was just great to see all of my school friends that I don't get to see too often.


Saturday Lexi and I went to Bento and to see The Muppet Movie. I have always enjoyed the Muppets, so I thought the movie was the right level of silly and cute. It made me want to watch all of the old ones again. Sadly, none of them are instant watch on Netflix not even the one in which they go to outer space.

All week Sarah and I watched our usual television shows including the premiere of Virgin Diaries, Ringer, Glee, and All American Muslim. Besides all of the awkward virgin talk, our favorite thing to see was the choice of sweaters for Kurt. I wish I could find a picture to show you.

Now I need to continue to try to find a place to live in January. Let me know if you hear of anything that has a lease ending in June or July!      

Iron Bowl 2011: Never Again

For some reason that is the title of this year's Iron Bowl on Wikipedia. I would love if this began a long streak of Alabama wins like in the 70s. After this year, Alabama has officially won as many Iron Bowls in my lifetime as they have lost.

The weekend was amazing. I got to stay with my friend Sarah at her family's house down there, so luckily my car was in a place unlikely to be vandalized. Here's the portion of the blog in which I post a great picture of Sarah to remind you of who she is.


Sarah pulled a Total Huff Move and decided to not go try delicious homemade soups at our friend Michelle's house. Her mom made chili, potato soup, and a corn chowder, and they were all so good. After that Michelle, Nina, Jake, and I took a night time tour of downtown Auburn. This was by far my most pleasant adventure in the town that has caused me so much pain like sleeping in my car and being stung by a colony of something late one night in Hickory Dickory park. The downtown area by the campus can be really pretty when not covered with toilet paper. Our favorite addition was what we like to call the sniper tower watching over the trees on Toomer's Corner.


The next morning was Iron Bowl time. The game is at 2:30, so you have to get to campus pretty early if you want to do any kind of tailgating. Since Sarah actually had a ticket, I met up with Michelle, Nina, and Jake again to stroll around the campus, and along the way we ran into almost everyone I know in Auburn and other places. Here we are at a brief stopping point before settling down to watch the game.


The four of us went to Little Italy to get lunch and save a place for viewing the game. There were a slew of Alabama fans, so we were in good company. For the most part... We came across someone we loving refer to as Doormat Sarah and her more assertive friend. Someone dropped $10 on the ground, and these drunk girls were asking anyone if they dropped it, so Michelle suggested that one of us pretend it was ours. Nina took the bait. Twice they came back to our table acting as if they had dropped the money and we took it when they knowingly handed it to Nina.

This provided us with hours of enjoyment afterward as we developed an entire back story and constantly feared further retaliation. It should also be noted that both times they confronted us. No one talked except Nina, and for that we are all sorry.

After watching the glorious victory of the Crimson Tide. We went to a celebratory dinner at Niffer's, a taste of the town in Auburn. We had great food and an awesome appetizer that was paid for with the $10. If you ever visit Auburn, this restaurant is worth a try. There are so many more things I want to order and taste.

The rest of my stay was a blur of running into old friends, making jokes about doormat Sarah, and driving in darkness and rain. When I got back to Tuscaloosa, Sarah and I watched the season finale of Sisterwives and the new episode of All American Muslim. In between we saw a commercial for the new show Virgin Diaries. It included the most beautiful kiss of all time. You can watch it here!

Year with the Yeti

Gilderoy Lockhart stole the story from someone, so I figure I can steal the title of his book. This might also work since he isn't actually a person.

Tuesday was one of my favorite days because we went to Animal Kingdom. It is one of my favorite parks because it has the best rides, and you can do everything in the park at least once in less than a day. The first thing we did was get in line for the Kilimanjaro Safari on the Harambe Wild Life Reserve. It's important to do it pretty early in the day because the animals like to go back into the shade and take naps during the hot afternoon. Also, they feed them around 9, so they come running out to the savanna area quite literally. 

Also at Animal Kingdom, there are some of the better thrill rides in the Disney parks. They have both Dinosaur, originally known as Countdown to Extinction, and Expedition Everest. The former is a time travel themed adventure in which you are sent to retrieve a dinosaur from the very end of the Cretaceous Period minutes before the meteor shower hits. During the adventure, a Carnotaurus chases you. I guess if the world were ending, I'd want one last good meal too.

The latter is a roller coaster that is themed around an expedition to find the yeti in the snow covered caps of the Himalayas. It is by far one of the best roller coasters I have ever been on and is definitely the best one that Disney has to offer in Orlando.

That night Will, my dad, and I went to meet my friend Mallory who has been working in the Disney College Program since the summer. I was so jealous to hear how much fun she was having. If you get a good placement, Disney is a great place to work. She's a face painter/ pirate person ate the Pirate League in Magic Kingdom. I would love to do something with Disney, which actually sparked my most recent employment idea for post VISTAship, which will be discussed at a later date.

The next day we went to Magic Kingdom because we had lunch reservations at the Liberty Tree Tavern in Liberty Square. In general this restaurant has been a family style Americana place, but at lunch it's unforuntately not. My mother was also sad to see that they no longer have a sponsorship from Stouffer's. I just had to spend some time crying into my chicken mushroom alfredo because the Hall of Presidents attraction made me lose control of my emotions. I don't consider myself overly patriotic, but watching that show inspired some nationalistic feelings. From Abraham Lincoln talking about equality through JFK's assassination, Clinton crying over the Oklahoma City bombing vigil, and even Dubya speaking out of a megaphone at Ground Zero, I could not keep it together. Then it ended with Barack Obama speaking, and it just reinforced my love of him.

If you don't know, the Hall of Presidents is an attraction featuring animatronic representations of each President of the United States, but only the good ones get to say anything. My condolences to James Pierce and his fellow forgotten presidents for not getting lines in the show.

After lunch, Will and I rode the triumvirate of Mountains at Magic Kingdom, and our dad joined us just in time to ride the Carousel of Progress. This attraction was originally featured at the World's Fair to show the progression of the American family of the course of the 20th century. Now you can watch a version of that show in a rotating theatre featuring more animatronic actors. The best or maybe worst part of the show is that as the theatre rotates from scene to scene a terribly catchy tune is played. Since my family only goes to Disney World for vacationing, we have learned all the words to this song and choose to sing it during the show regardless of audience size.  

Our last day was Thanksgiving. We had to switch hotels for our last night, so that led to a pretty uneventful day. We went back to MGM to ride Star Tours again and Toy Story Mania. Then we had our final sit down lunch/dinner at the Rose and Crown Pub in the United Kingdom pavilion in EPCOT. I had a great shepherd's pie and a funny exchange with our waitress. I asked if they had sweet tea, and she said no because it's freshly brewed...

This is just even more proof that, save the panhandle, Florida is not a Southern state if someone living there doesn't even know how sweet tea is made. Disney didn't even have it as an option in the parks until about three years ago. I am so glad that has changed.

Part three about the Iron Bowl will be out soon!

There's a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow

This is part one of a three part blog about my Thanksgiving week. The post would be so long that no one would read it if I condensed it into one.

The week started with an early afternoon flight from the crazily busy Birmingham International Airport. The person checking us in at the Southwest desk asked me if I was old enough to have an idea. Do I really look fourteen? If he saw what I actually looked like at that age, I don't think he would question it.

I wish more than anything that I had a working camera because I would have taken a picture of everything I ate in order to display it here. After I passed a certain age, our trips to Disney have become more about the food than the attractions. The first night we had my favorite meal of the entire week at the restaurant in the Mexican pavilion. I had a great steak, tostadas, black beans, rice, and a caramel crepe. Also my Spanish accent was complimented. She was just asking for a good tip. Here's a picture of the restaurant. It's inside, but they give it an evening ambiance.  

That was all we did the first night because Sunday was the Magical World of Harry Potter day. We LOVED it. My mom had obviously been doing some research and knew we needed to get in line for The Forbidden Journey ride as soon as possible. The line was almost as good as the ride itself. They have great property designers. One of my friend's dad actually made the desk in Dumbledore's office. The ride was amazing. I was screaming the entire time just out of giddiness. We even got to see the Triwizard Tournament Pep Rally. It was a great nerdy experience, and I was so happy that I was wearing my Quidditch on the Quad shirt.

Monday was another food filled day. My brother and I walked over to MGM, now known as Hollywood Studios, and spent the early morning doing the new Star Tours and the classic Great Movie Ride. We also ate at the ABC Commissary where I had a great chicken curry. It probably wasn't too legit, though. Then we met up with my parents to eat at their favorite restaurant: Le Cellier. It's the restaurant in the Canadian pavilion at EPCOT. The two things I love there are the Cheddar Cheese Soup and the literal chocolate moose.

That night Will and I continued our nightly activity of riding Mission Space and Test Track before having a friendly foot race back to the room at The Beach Club. This concludes part one of my Disney travels. Please listen to the song featured in Disney's Carousel of Progress that provided this instalment's title.

Listen to me

I Owe Ioway All I Owe, And I Know Why

I think the State Fair song sums it up nicely. We needed Oklahoma State or LSU to lose, and Iowa State delivered last night. Now my beautiful Crimson Tide has a chance to get back into the National Championship game. Even if we don't, it still looks like I'll be going to New Orleans in January.

This week was super busy with work. I taught five classes in five days. Some went better than others. Monday night was a quick second half of client casework with some great volunteers. Then I had a great dinner while getting to know our newest VISTA Cody followed by a string of reality television shows with Sarah.

Tuesday I taught the most fun class of any I have so far. It was a little disappointing that no one but Sarah and my two coworkers came, but we still had a great time. The class was a Shelter Simulation that involved talking through different scenarios and making decisions as if we were running a real Red Cross Shelter. There were some great one liners from this activity including "I'll make you a sandwich and tell you a joke." Then Sarah and I got home just in time for Ringer. If you guys aren't watching it, you should definitely catch up!

Wednesday, James and I took a little field trip to a Holiday Mail for Heroes card making party at the state office in Hoover. Every holiday season the Red Cross collects holiday cards to be sent to active American troops and those in Veterans hospitals around the world. We were the first two there and had five cards made before many more people showed up. After a quick lunch we picked up some dessert a McDonald's  and came back to town just in time for Mike and I to head to Panola, Alabama, for a Disaster Services: an Overview course.

This was an odd experience. I've never felt like I've been in a more rural part of Alabama, and this includes Guin and many other small towns. We got there thirty minutes early and had to sit in a grass parking area in the dark for twenty of those minutes. I thought it was great to be able to teach this course to a volunteer fire department, but I had heard that there were complaints from them about the Red Cross response during the tornado. My half of the class went very well, so I assumed the other half would. I apparently assumed incorrectly. I guess every class can't go as well as others.

This was evident in the class I taught Thursday morning. I somehow ended up with incorrectly made participant manuals and a classroom without a proper computer to show the powerpoint on. The class was filled with great people, but they were unimpressed with my preparedness. It made me look bad even though it wasn't my directly my fault that either thing occurred.

After I returned to Tuscaloosa, I went to check out an apartment possibility in town. The price was great, but the experience of looking at it was not. One of the roommates is leaving because he doesn't like the other. This was red flag number one. If they can't live with each other, how can I live with one of them? Then on my way home from seeing it, one of them texted me asking if I was seeing anyone. This was red flag number three because red flag number two was the fact that the first message he sent me was "I have a question????"

That night I taught Disaster Services: an Overview to the Shelton State Corps. They were all great even if one of them asked me "Who the f*** are you?"before we began. All the classes this week were obviously very unique. After class I went to watch the remake of The Parent Trap with Georgia and Sarah. It's always nice to see Lindsey Lohan before the fall. We also spent a good amount of time loling over Harry Potter pictures on the internet.

Friday was a pretty slow day at work. The nurses that were supposed to take to our class didn't show up at the office out of confusion or apathy. It has not been proven which. Natalie and I had a great lunch and catchup at Buffalo Phil's, which was beyond tasty. I am so glad that we've gotten this extra year to spend time with each other.

As soon as I reached work post lunch and voice lesson, I had to start a fire case with a client whose home at burned down the night before. Everyone who could do casework had left the office, so it was just Cody and me handling everything. It really proves how far we've come that we often run the office on our own now. I couldn't even imagine doing that months ago. I even got my fire case into the computer system with just a minor malfunction that was easily corrected.

Now I'm in Disney World, but I want to save that for another blog post. I may do two to encompass the whole trip. I also want to include pictures which never works out when I do it from my Mac. Until then I hope you are all enjoying how the football stars have aligned to get Alabama back in the number 2 slot in the BCS rankings. I've never watched the end of so many non Alabama football games in my life. Roll Tide.

Wisdom Pulled

Any witty pun involving Kirstie Alley and/or the Rock escaped me in trying to title this blog, so I went for an Ayn Rand esque configuration of words.


Before we get to the climax of my wisdom teeth getting pulled, we'll start with the rising action of the rest of the week. it really wasn't a very busy week with work after the craziness of Monday. Tuesday, Sarah and I watched Glee and Ringer. Wednesday, I taught Disaster Services: an Overview to my friend Lee and the rest of the fundraising department at the Hoover office. Only three of them worked at the office suring the tornado and wanted all of the newly hired members to understand how disaster services works and what their specific role would be in an operation. It was interesting to see how all the departments of an office come together during a disaster because I had not really thought of that since our office is too small to really even have departments.

After a quick lunch at the Hoover office, I came back to Tuscaloosa for my voice lesson and to teach a one on one Client Casework class before going to our next to last Community Emergency Response Team training course at the mall. Luckily this class was shorter than normal, and I was able to go help Mean Girls, the former Donner Party, start the off season with a bang getting 2nd place at trivia. We have now gone over a month without paying for dinner on Wednesdays because of our trivia winnings.  During trivia the Joe Paterno decision was announced on ESPN. I can't imagine how I would react if someone I knew and respected for years was caught up in that kind of scandal. Poor Penn State could not catch a break this week especially when you include their loss to Nebraska on Saturday.

Due to Veterans Day the Alabama region of the Red Cross had a half day Thursday, so the VISTAs had lunch with our supervisor Holli in order to learn about what we were supposed to be doing this entire time whilst supervisor-less. After a long nap, Casey, Sarah, and I went to eat at Los Calientes. I didn't know when I would be able to eat solid foods again, so I made sure to eat as much as possible that day. Casey and I proceeded to fail to get into City of Angels on the standby list, so I spent the rest of my evening before sleeping watching Being Human and doing Wii Fit.


I'm obsessed. Luckily, there are only thirteen episodes, so it didn't take up too much of my time. It's one of those shows that if you try to explain it no one would ever watch it, which is common among fantasy. Thus I will not try to explain my love for it, but I think it handles the popular werewolf vampire conflict better than both True Blood and Twilight.

After a night of dreams involving eating before surgery and IV complications, I was at the oral surgeon at 7:40. As I sat with my IV sticking out of my arm, the nurses in the hallway discussed their favorite desserts while I thought about how I hadn't been allowed to eat or drink anything since midnight.

Once the doctor finally came in the next thing I remember after a drug induced journey was walking to the recovery chair and texting a bunch of people and twitter. My dad then drove me back to Hoover, and I had to communicate with him via the American Sign Language alphabet.

The rest of the weekend was spent drinking broth, eating foods I wasn't ready for, and spending time with my family in Chattanooga. They're still not settled in from moving there after the tornado destroyed their homes in Phil Campbell, AL. If you're ever in Chattanooga, I did get a great chicken sandwich and fries at Nikki's Drive-In.
 

Yesterday was Alabama's second annual Quidditch on the Quad. Thanks to the American Red Cross I was unable to participate. I did get to pick up my t-shirt and see Alpha Psi Omega's excellent opening skit. The Quidditch World Cup was held in New York this weekend. I have to find a way to get in on that. I think I may be going to grad school for the sole purpose of playing Quidditch and getting football tickets. I'm not kidding. Quidditch on the Quad is one of the Top 5 best days of my life.



I have to give credit to my first little in Alpha Psi Omega and wonderful friend Alexandra Tucci. She was one of the major components in planning this event both years, and even though she hasn't been active in APO she still cheers for us and only us. Last night she, Sarah, and I shared a bottle of wine, some food, and religion based reality television shows. This is Alexandra and Casey.


As always we watched Sisterwives as they ventured to Boston for a college tour and question and answer forum. I know that they're kind of trashy, but I find these shows really eye opening. I have to admit that I would be naturally close minded to the thought of multiple spouses, so I think the Brown family has been able to persuade people into seeing a different view point. Last night was also the premiere of All American Muslim. We loved it. It shows a wide spectrum of how people practice Islam. I think it'll be a great show worth watching. In this week's episode a man converted to Islam so that he could marry his fiance. It looks like that will be causing some tension later on.

Now I'm just waiting for the day to end so that I can teach, watch RHOBH and A List Dallas, and have Wii Fit tell me that I am the only person in the world that gained weight after having their wisdom teeth pulled.

Here's a picture of Stanford's mascot. Mike just informed me that it is the mascot's responsibility to make his or her own costume.

Losing Bleauxes

This post won't be entirely about the LSU Alabama game, but it was sad that a wonderful day was blemished with a terrible "interception" and an insufficient offensive effort. Luckily, we are still #3 in the BCS, so all is not lost. Sorry, Stanford and Boise State. Here's a picture of our recception ruled an interception after Reid stripped it on the ground.
 

Before Saturday, work was a blur of taking and teaching classes. Holly was out of the office all week, which made some things difficult. It was mostly just a stressful week of attempting (an failing) to buy a ticket to the game. I suppose now that it's a good thing I didn't get one. I would have been much more upset to watch it in person.

Tuesday, Natalie, Jake, Thaddeus, and I had an excellent dinner at Ichiban by the Bama Bowl on 15th Street. It was really good food, but the service was not the best. The conversation helped alleviate the long wait between Thaddeus and Natalie's sushi being delivered and Jake's and my bento boxes arriving. Thadd didn't bring his wallet in, so Natalie had to pay for him, which brought a nice irony to the evening since most of our conversation had been about moochers.

Wednesday, after I snuck out of CERT training, I went to the Donner Party's last ride. We had to deliver an impressive performance to get back into the top five teams. Unfortunately, we got into the swing of things a little too late and ended up missing the cut off by 4 points. We're picking a new name for next time, but I have loved these months with the Donner Party.



Sarah Voluntary Service Langcuster and I had a great week of television watching Glee, A List Dallas, 1 Girl 5 Gays, Ringer, and RHOBH. We love a good catch phrase, and our current one is Chase saying "I have taken a lover, and his name is Levi." I am so glad to have someone with which to watch trashy television. I'll miss her greatly next semester. I wish I was cool enough to be able to photoshop a picture of her and Chase together.


Friday night was the return of the BPPFL. This was after staying at the office until 6 helping Holli with the very frustrating proccess of filling out a quartetly report. We probably enjoyed ourselves too much for how annoying the situation was. After finally getting it worked out, I went to Los Calientes aka Los Shoneys with Amanda and her friend Shannon. Tuscaloosa was PACKED this weekend. We weren't even allowed to go into Waffle House because there were so many people.

The game was a big enough deal that so many Alpha Psi Omega almuni came into town. I went to see them all Friday night, but the largest group of random people were at the Pink House resulting in all of the older people leaving. This left me with a bunch of the freshmen but in particular my beer pong partner for life, Kaitlin O'Bradavich. We have played eight games together and are still undefeated. I can only hope we can continue our hegemony. Here we are with out substitute player, Motell. This is also my Doctor Who Halloween costume.
  

Saturday was beautiful. Kaitlin, Lexi, Ameen, and I got free Moe's burritos and more importantly sweet tea. There was also some great Jambalaya at the APO tailgate. Since I never founda a ticket, I watched the first half of the game at The Houndstooth and the latter half at a graduate student's apartment with the APO alumni in town. Even though we lost, it was great to spend time with old friends.

That night Natalie got me to yet again take her to get late night food with three others. We went to IHOP this time, and it was a pretty big let down after our last late night eating experience. The lack of hot chocolate would be the main factor in this.

After a day of rest and CERT training on Sunday, I taught class at the Birmingham office downtown Monday morning. The class went well, but I was sad to discover that their office had been broken into over the weekend. They had a flat screen television in the lobby for people to watch while they waited.  guess it wasn't the best idea to have almost floor to ceiling windows through which anyone could see this TV.

When I got back to Tuscaloosa, Holli, Cody, and I helped Sarah and some other commuinity service volunteers move everything out of our mall store and set it up in a new store two doors down. We also took a quick break for lunch at Los Shoneys. Cody is our new VISTA that started Monday, but he's been around for a few weeks.

Last night I taught client casework in our new mall space, which is really nice. It was a pain that we had to move everything yesterday, but if we can stay there it'll be a great asset for teaching. I had two great volunteers in my class, and they put up with me speaking to quickly at least to quickly for a Southerner, as one of them pointed out.

Once class was done, I drove over to Sarah's for our daily dose of television and ordered what I thought would be a simple dinner from Hungry Howie's. It wasn't simple. Not only did he bring the wrong drink, he didn't have change! I had to give him close to a $5 tip. Before I even took a bite of my dinner, I went online and filed a complaint. My fingers are crossed for some store credit.

    

Now I am just letting Tuesday slowly drag on before going home for television with two of my favorite Sarahs and hopefully an early night's sleep. Tomorrow monring I'm teaching Disaster Services an Overview for the financial department at the Hoover office! I'm so excited to get to hang out with Lee and everyone.

Doctor Who?

Last week was almost too busy.
Red Cross wise, we began CERT training, which is an acronym for Community Emergency Response Team. These classes are long and involve a lot of reliving the tornado, which is what my job entails anyway. It's also become a running joke that all I care about is my sandwich because I sent a singular text message asking someone from work to bring it to me for dinner. Thanks, Holli... In times like these, I have to think, "What would Jared do?"


Thursday and Friday Mike, Dawn, Cody, David Sams, and I all went to Disaster Instructor Specialty Training in Hoover. If I had not already had the Health and Safety Instructor's Course, this training would have been more helpful. We met some great people from all over the state, but it was a long two days. Luckily, my friend Lee works in that office, so I was able to randomly hang out with her/ go on bathroom breaks.

Mike and I also taught our first ERV course on Wednesday only to realize that much like our own time taking the class our ERV was completely out of coolant due to a leak. #irony We at least checked our levels before the class unlike our teacher.

I'm going backwards in this, but Monday night Mike taught Logistics to the rest of us since no one had taken it yet. It is the most useless of all courses. You learn approximately three things, but there is a hilarious exercise involved. In trying to teach you the steps of a logistical operation, the participant's manual gives you the example of a coffee pot. We were supposed to fill in the blanks in these sentences about the coffee pot with words like acquire, store, deliver, etc. The funny part was that in all of the sentences it was referred to as "the pot." Thus all of our sentences were about acquiring, storing, and delivering "the pot."

Thursday and Friday were the days of Alpha Psi Omega's second Pledge Retreat at Camp Sumatanga. If you mix both one of my favorite places with one of my groups of favorite people, how can it not be a success? Jake and Allison did a wonderful job of getting everything organized and improving the snags in last year's trip. I loved every minute I was there. I got to eat some awesome camp food and spend more time with this year's pledge class and my pledges from last year as well.

I am so proud of my pledges for how involved they've stayed after getting initiated. There were only four members on the retreat that were not from last year's pledge class. They all did a great job of spending time with everyone and helping make sure things ran smoothly. I felt like everyone had a great time and bonded as an organization.

In more detail, we did the Pledge Retreat Olympics the first night, which involved a team name contest, a choreography contest, and the puzzle scavenger hunt. Collin and I were in charge of the blind maze room. This was equally dangerous and fun as blindfolded pledges tried to walk across platforms and not fall. The only minor mess up was us not thinking to check the time that the sun rose. This resulted in me leading a mountain hike at 6 in the morning in the darkness.  It was worth it.

Here are some picture's from last year's retreat followed by this year's group picture. Look how many more people came this time!




After going on the retreat, I was exhausted during class Friday but still managed to get my costume on for a party at Bates's that night. I thought that the theatre crowd would be more likely to have seen Doctor Who. Sadly, I was mistaken. There were a blessed few who recognized my costume, but the majority were clueless. This led to the question "Doctor who?" I'm going to try the costume again tonight at another party and hope it's more successful.

Last night, Sarah and I were at it again in the kitchen. We cooked Parmesan asparagus and spaghetti and meat sauce while watching Once Upon a Time and Sisterwives. I was able to sneak out before Long Island Medium started.

A Series of Fortunately Crazy Events

This week was one for the record books. So much happened that I can't wait a full week to write about it. This blog will discuss the following events: work, Paranormal Activity 3, APO's Big Little Night, Alabama versus Tennessee, the Waffle House fight, and Sunday dinner and television with Sarah.

Work will only cover a brief portion because not too much happened since Wednesday night. Thursday night a bunch of volunteers came from the University of South Carolina's Wesley Foundation, and they were able to completely empty and reorganize the three pods sitting in the old building's parking lot. They were so much fun to work with, and their campus minister actually knew my campus minister, Ken! That night I taught Disaster Assessment to a small group and talked to another group at the Bama Red Cross Club. Friday, solely consisted of teaching a Shelter Operations course to a group of nurses in school in Birmingham and a lot of sitting around waiting for it to be 4:30.

Now on to the far more interesting portions of the weekend.

Thursday night I went with a group of theatre people to see Paranormal Activity 3 at midnight. It was too good. I love the community mentality of seeing a scary movie in the theatre. Everyone is in the fear together, which was very applicable in this movie. The last fifteen minutes were heart attack inducing.


Friday was Alpha Psi Omega's Big Little Night. Finally, I was lucky enough to have a little of mine yield grandlittles. Drew got Katie and Sam as the newest members to our APO family. We aren't as flashy or boastful as some of the other families, but I think we're plenty fun and all oddly similar. For example, my two grandlittles and I were able to sit in my car and listen toHarry Potter and the Deathly Hallows on CD. I had a good bit of fun helping littles solve their clues and watching them with their completed outfits on. Drew had his dress as pokemon. I'll post a picture when they get on facebook. Here is an example of a dressing up pair from the first year we did it.


Friday night I stayed with Natalie on campus so that I wouldn't have to drive and park for the game Saturday. We woke up around lunch and watched Halloweentown on television before going out to the quad for tailgating. There was so much free food! It was wonderful. After that I went to the game with a bunch of theatre people. Before the game ever started, we witnessed a young man throw up onto our seating area and then he fell backwards into it as he tried to leave. Things became a little less eventful after that until the second half at least. I'm so excited for the LSU game. It should be pretty intense just like two years ago. I'm so glad I was able to see Tennessee lose again. Just four games left unil post season!
 

Well after a short bit of post game celebration at the Jungle, an apartment handed down through the theatre department, Natlie decided it would be a good idea for a group of us to go to Waffle House, so we did. We had fun eating and talking, and then things took a turn for the violent. I'll let the video explain it all. Here's a picture of our pre incident happiness followed by the video link.


http://www.youtube.com/verify_age?next_url=http%3A//www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3D2YKrw-2njeI%26feature%3Dshare

Due to violent content, you'll have to sign in on youtube to prove your age, or you can view it on my wall. Look for me between 1:30 and 1:45. I'm trying to save my friend in the Houndstooth coat from getting beat up. Luckily, Kaitlin was able to climb over the counter into the kitchen area.

Sunday, Sarah and I made some enchiladas that we found on pinterest. They weren't too hard to make and tasted great. It was the perfect compliment to Once Upon a Time, RHONJ, and Sisterwives. Of course, we also made some cookies to go along with it. Hopefully she'll be posting some pictures on her blog.
http://thesimplysarahblog.blogspot.com/

Now that I'm pimping her blog, hopefully she'll return the favor. Sometimes it just takes two.

A State of Disaster

This can apply to a lot of things: the Red Cross in general, our specific office, the state of Alabama, etc. All of this will be covered later.

We last left off on Wednesday of last week. Since that point work has been a blur of business and miscommunication and everyone helping everyone do everything. In Tuscaloosa, we are just trying our best to get things organized, which would be easy if we didn't have to keep functioning as a nonprofit. We had a statewide meeting yesterday of the Emergency Services A List in the Hoover office. This meeting was both educational and frustrating, but I do think that things will be improving as a result. This time of transition just came at a terrible time with our old building destroyed and our resources spread out all over the county. We're doing pretty well for missing most of our server and having very few paid staff members.

I've tried to keep myself busy personally as well. Wednesday night the Donner Party was able to score another point for the trivia league. Hopefully tonight we'll be able to get another solid victory. We really do hate Chico's Bail Bonds. Thursday Sarah and I spoiled ourselves to dinner and Project Runway. Being at Buffalo Phil's made me miss my dining dollars so much. The fingers of fire are just too good.



Saturday, I went to see the University of Alabama's production of Animal Crackers. It was much more entertaining than I was expecting it to be. A lot of that was thanks to Caroline Schmidt and her wonderful portrayal of Harpo as The Doctor. She only said one word the entire show and was still the best part. Following the production, I drove quickly home to spend sometime with Rachel Folsom. We caught up while simultaneously watching The A List Dallas, going to McDonalds for sweet tea and cookies, and renting Something Borrowed from the Red Box. Then we went to see Bridesmaids at the dollar theatre Sunday afternoon, which was wonderfully funny. Here's Rachel:

Monday was perfection. I taught a Disaster Assessment course at the Birmingham office downtown. My friend Lee took the course and was a wonderful student. There were a couple of questions I wasn't prepared for, and she was able to help out. I also want to say that Ruthie "I can make a joint out of a pipe cleaner" Coleman was also there. After class Lee and I had lunch at Urban Standard. IT WAS AMAZING. I thought I had been to all the major Birmingham restaurants, but I had not ventured to this Northside eatery. If they had sweet tea, I'd eat there everyday. I had so much fun just relaxing and chatting with someone who understands the Red Cross things I talk about.

Last night, Sarah and I fed ourselves and our television addictions. After a fun filled RHOBH on Monday, I was glad that Sarah Michelle Gellar's The Ringer didn't disappoint. Corey joined us but didn't enjoy people getting killed by their friends. I'll talk about this show as long as it's on the air, so you better hope it gets cancelled. The more important part of the evening was our dinner. We went to Taco Casa on 15th Street. It just reopened after the tornado in April damaged it. Now I know that there are seven other area locations, but this one meant a lot to me because it was the one I frequented from birth until now.





Today, the Red Cross has its own fire in the form of over microwaved muffins. James, who is one of my favorite employees other than Tree at the Hoover office, normally asks me to cook things in the microwave for him, but today he took a brave but unsuccessful step toward Independence. The two muffins he put in the microwave came out as hard bricks that caused the smoke detector to go off, which prompted the fire department to call (ten minutes later). The only way to disarm the detector was to unplug it, and that took us a good 15 minutes to accomplish. Holli is a little upset that we didn't inform her of the mini fire because she was unable to hear the alarm in her office, meaning were it real she would have burned up. #irony

I am sitting at the office waiting to activate a Client Assistance Card because the IT department has not given us the ability to do it ourselves... Thus I will give you a list of some great reality television quotes.

"Werewolf balls."

"My party went from flash mob to splash mob, and I was not happy about it."

That's all for now.

And I Know Things Now

I started this a while ago to be about Costa Rica, but I never finished. Here it is a year and a few months later!


I thought it would be interesting to compile a list of things I learned in Costa Rica now that I am looking back of the entire experience. I am so glad to be back in the land of sweet tea, but I will always miss my time with the Ticos.

1. Cell phones are not necessary. It's a lot more fun to just hope someone will find you at the right location at the right time without any complications.

2. Punctuality is frowned upon and discouraged.

3. Protein is not the focus of a meal. In fact, you may have to dig under all of the rice to find it.

4. It will rain between 2 and 5 PM everyday, and cheap Tico umbrellas will rust and break after about a week of enduring this.
5. Vented windows and an intelligent floor plan work just as well as air conditioning. 
6. It's difficult to make study abroad friends more than just that.



7. Every country has it's own cheap beer. I'm talking about you, Imperial!

8. Chinese Restaurants can easily transform into bars and have some of the best names like Fung Sheng and Wong Kok.

9. Costa Rica was the third country in the world with electricity. They need something to be proud of besides not being Nicaragua.

10. There is definitely a West versus East Coast rivalry, and the West Coast wins by far.

11. I will never be mistook for a Tico unless I get really tan and ginger.

12. My host family showed me more unconditional love than I could possibly imagine, and I miss them, their cooking, attractive cousin, and David's cakes everyday.

13. Costa Rica doesn't have a lot of history because explorers overlooked it for better territories.

14. Costarican children learn three languages in school. People here don't even have to learn one well.

15. The beaches are beautiful tourist traps.

16. I will never be a surfer.

17. If you were shorts or a raincoat, you look like a total n00b even if it is 80 degrees and pouring outside.

18. "Winter" means rain in 80 degree weather, but Ticos wear heavy coats for fun anyway.

19. I have never been in a place with more natural beauty.

20. Hooters are everywhere.

21. Costa Rica will always have a part of my heart, and it taught me so much about myself and my love of travel and nature.

22. Teachers will not let you give up even if you tell them there is no way you can pronounce that town in Colombia.  

23. There's no reason to worry about anything. All you have to say is "¡Pura Vida!"
24. All men are born marvelously different.