OK...so...damn. All the travel finally caught up to me, and just in the nick of time it ended! Don't get me wrong--I'm very glad I did all the stuff I've done over the last couple of months; spending time with all these friends has been invaluable, knowing that next year I will be living very much elsewhere, very broke, and very busy. But, at the end it just got to be a wee bit much.
Anyhow, I haven't posted about the last month or so worth of travels, mainly because OF the travel. The in between times, I've just been trying to keep my head above water between work, staying abreast with old and new friends, kitty pimpin', and the emotion of life's impending rapids. Something had to go, and that something was blogging.
So, I'll try to catch up, but as the rapids around here get more rapid-y, I don't make many promises. All I can say is, I am so glad to be home, in my little apartment in this little neighborhood, and this morning is rainy and gray (and, I'm trying to remind myself, peaceful).
For those of you who I haven't had a chance to talk to personally, here's what's up. In a pretty shocking move that defies almost anyone's explanation, I got put on the waitlist at Loyola in LA. This was kind of stunning because I'm well above average for their GPA and LSAT, and universities ranked much higher than them admitted me and/or waitlisted me.
That in itself, though irritating, is not a huge issue, because of the aforementioned more highly ranked schools. The issue is that none of my options out west have panned out so far. The most likely scenario right now is that I'll be going to Temple in Philly, which again would not be a big deal...except LT is moving to California.
So.
I'm on the waitlist at UCLA, which is actually my top choice if you don't consider the factor of money and what I had thought would be a decent scholarship offer from Loyola. And, I'm busting my tail to do whatever I can to convince UCLA that I would be an awesome addition to their student body and they should let me in. However, failing that magical phone call from the Dean of Admissions...
Temple is a really good school. They gave me a partial scholarship and I'm already a PA resident, so they would be really cheap for me to go to. It had been lower on my list, primarily because I just hadn't taken much time to look at them--looking now at their offerings and options, I do get excited. Philly is a great city, a center of GLBTQ activity both culturally and legally. Career-wise, this is a fantastic option.
Except...
Except.
LT is headed out of Pittsburgh in about three weeks. Three. Weeks.
Monday, April 28, 2008
Monday, April 14, 2008
Send It
You have the birthday card but you're not sure how it would be received. Would it be welcomed, and hopefully help a foundered friendship? Would it be an object of ridicule? Would it be a source of hurt for one or both of you? Are you sending a thoughtful message, or being an idealistic fool?
There are two questions that only you can answer: 1) Are your intentions genuine? 2) Are you in a position to protect yourself but still be fair? Yes? Then send it. Send the card. SEND THE FUCKING CARD.
I did. And today I'm glad of it.
Holy shit I need to get some sleep.
There are two questions that only you can answer: 1) Are your intentions genuine? 2) Are you in a position to protect yourself but still be fair? Yes? Then send it. Send the card. SEND THE FUCKING CARD.
I did. And today I'm glad of it.
Holy shit I need to get some sleep.
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Grrrrrrrrrr
The entire four and a half hours in the car, driving through crappy half piss rain, all I've been thinking about is getting my ice packs for my sore and aching knees. I'm tired and drained from an emotional weekend. I get through the door and two staring cats remind me that I was supposed to get cat food before I came home. Back into the car.
I get home again, and see that a little more water has come into the bathroom from the upstairs apartment while I was gone (the night before my last weekend gauntlet, which I haven't had time to post about, my upstairs neighbor's toilet cracked, flooding my bathroom). Irritating, but not a big problem.
Finally, blessedly finally, I get to ice my knees. Ace bandages at the ready, I open the freezer to grab the cold gel packs...and am greeted by a waft of warm air.
The new used fridge that the apartment people just gave me last week (replacing the ancient non-self defrosting one that was here previously) has decided to shit the bed over the weekend. The fridge that I had just filled with food because I had gotten a nice new fridge is dead. Goodbye new bag of chicken. Goodbye cheese. Goodbye yogurt. Goodbye mayo and cottage cheese and frozen corn and microwave dinners.
AND NO ICE FOR MY KNEES! FUCKER!
I get home again, and see that a little more water has come into the bathroom from the upstairs apartment while I was gone (the night before my last weekend gauntlet, which I haven't had time to post about, my upstairs neighbor's toilet cracked, flooding my bathroom). Irritating, but not a big problem.
Finally, blessedly finally, I get to ice my knees. Ace bandages at the ready, I open the freezer to grab the cold gel packs...and am greeted by a waft of warm air.
The new used fridge that the apartment people just gave me last week (replacing the ancient non-self defrosting one that was here previously) has decided to shit the bed over the weekend. The fridge that I had just filled with food because I had gotten a nice new fridge is dead. Goodbye new bag of chicken. Goodbye cheese. Goodbye yogurt. Goodbye mayo and cottage cheese and frozen corn and microwave dinners.
AND NO ICE FOR MY KNEES! FUCKER!
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
The First Acceptance
I'll be posting about my trip to Lesbo Land as soon as I get a chance, but time is short and I wanted to at least pass this along. It finally happened - I got my first acceptance letter! So, I don't know where I'm going just yet, but at least I know I'm going somewhere. It was from Temple, which is pretty far down my list of places I applied to, but it's a start!
It was a bit surreal in terms of how it came. Thursday went like this: No sleep Wednesday night (long story involving a watery mess from the apartment above, combined with trying to pack), arriving at the airport at 4:30 AM, 11 hours negotiating planes and airports and four different time zones catching naps where I could, two or three hours in the sun in the middle of the desert, dinner, and an evening comedy show with a couple thousand lesbians.
At the end of all this, I checked my email in the hotel room before my exhausted body called it quits, and got the email from Temple (I had only been expecting snail mail notifications). I completely forgot about it for I think two days, then partway through Saturday asked GJ, "Hey, did I dream that I got accepted to law school, or did that actually happen?"
It was a bit surreal in terms of how it came. Thursday went like this: No sleep Wednesday night (long story involving a watery mess from the apartment above, combined with trying to pack), arriving at the airport at 4:30 AM, 11 hours negotiating planes and airports and four different time zones catching naps where I could, two or three hours in the sun in the middle of the desert, dinner, and an evening comedy show with a couple thousand lesbians.
At the end of all this, I checked my email in the hotel room before my exhausted body called it quits, and got the email from Temple (I had only been expecting snail mail notifications). I completely forgot about it for I think two days, then partway through Saturday asked GJ, "Hey, did I dream that I got accepted to law school, or did that actually happen?"
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
It's a Great Day for Hockey
Tonight I went to the last home game of the Pens' regular season. Since I don't know what's going on next year, I can't afford playoff tickets this year, and they're building the new arena, I realized it might be the last game I ever see at Mellon Arena (Civic Arena, thank you very much).
If it ends up being the last one I see there, it will have been a fitting farewell. The boys beat the Flyers 4-2, with a sick goal by Crosby to put it away, reaching back with his stick and deflecting a shot that was going behind him through his legs into the net. I got all the classic fittings of a home Pens game - the ages-old "Are you ready?" penguin picture to start the game, human bowling, some good fights, good goals and good saves, TC the vendor, the skinny high-pitched vendor who sells cotton candy at Pens games and beer and peanuts at Pirate games, 17,000 people booing Carey Fraser (Pittsburgh's 2nd favorite ref behind Mick McGough), and the Pens clinched the Atlantic Division title. Thanks to MT for sharing it with me! (Thank goodness it wasn't a Devils game.)
I really can't ask for a better ending than to close out my last game chanting, "Go home, Flyers!" So if it was my last game at the arena, it was a good one.
If it ends up being the last one I see there, it will have been a fitting farewell. The boys beat the Flyers 4-2, with a sick goal by Crosby to put it away, reaching back with his stick and deflecting a shot that was going behind him through his legs into the net. I got all the classic fittings of a home Pens game - the ages-old "Are you ready?" penguin picture to start the game, human bowling, some good fights, good goals and good saves, TC the vendor, the skinny high-pitched vendor who sells cotton candy at Pens games and beer and peanuts at Pirate games, 17,000 people booing Carey Fraser (Pittsburgh's 2nd favorite ref behind Mick McGough), and the Pens clinched the Atlantic Division title. Thanks to MT for sharing it with me! (Thank goodness it wasn't a Devils game.)
I really can't ask for a better ending than to close out my last game chanting, "Go home, Flyers!" So if it was my last game at the arena, it was a good one.
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Here Kitty, Kitty
So, I woke up the other day and decided I had too much free time on my hands, and got a second job.
Right.
No, really.
Last night was my first day, helping out with adoptions at the Waterfront PetCo through the Animal Rescue League, which I've been volunteering at. It's fairly simple, a few hours a few times a week; take the guys out, play a bit, clean their cages, try to whore them out to shoppers. Like 'em young? Old? Long-haired? Short-haired? Chubby? Skinny? Declawed? I'm a kitty pimp, really.
Actually, there is a whole list of reasons we can deny an adoption if we think someone is shady or the cat won't be in a good home. There is certainly an optimum environment that we would like to see the cats go to, and I've heard stories of adoption counselors who are supremely picky about approving adoptions. But here's the deal: Right now, THEY ARE LIVING IN A CAGE. They're not happy there. They don't get the attention or exercise they need. Even the sweetest cats get cranky being stuck in a small metal box, with strange people and animals passing by all day long.
So, it's really a big judgment call. Does everyone care for their pets the way I would? No. But also, do I care for my pets the same way others do? No. I have declawed cats. Growing up, we let our cats outside. One of my cats doesn't have a chip implant. When I was little, I distinctly remember constantly harassing the cat and dog we had; it was endless fun. I've worked on farms with tons of cats living outside fending for themselves, and I've known lots of dogs who were poorly trained, ate everything in sight, or rarely came in the house.
These situations are far from optimal when you think of a house pet. But do I think any one of these animals would have been better off in a cage? No. Not to say that I'll be there giving out cats to any slack-jawed or adopting-on-a-whim twit that crosses my path, but it's a huge judgment call, and...ah, I'm a bit nervous about making it!
Right.
No, really.
Last night was my first day, helping out with adoptions at the Waterfront PetCo through the Animal Rescue League, which I've been volunteering at. It's fairly simple, a few hours a few times a week; take the guys out, play a bit, clean their cages, try to whore them out to shoppers. Like 'em young? Old? Long-haired? Short-haired? Chubby? Skinny? Declawed? I'm a kitty pimp, really.
Actually, there is a whole list of reasons we can deny an adoption if we think someone is shady or the cat won't be in a good home. There is certainly an optimum environment that we would like to see the cats go to, and I've heard stories of adoption counselors who are supremely picky about approving adoptions. But here's the deal: Right now, THEY ARE LIVING IN A CAGE. They're not happy there. They don't get the attention or exercise they need. Even the sweetest cats get cranky being stuck in a small metal box, with strange people and animals passing by all day long.
So, it's really a big judgment call. Does everyone care for their pets the way I would? No. But also, do I care for my pets the same way others do? No. I have declawed cats. Growing up, we let our cats outside. One of my cats doesn't have a chip implant. When I was little, I distinctly remember constantly harassing the cat and dog we had; it was endless fun. I've worked on farms with tons of cats living outside fending for themselves, and I've known lots of dogs who were poorly trained, ate everything in sight, or rarely came in the house.
These situations are far from optimal when you think of a house pet. But do I think any one of these animals would have been better off in a cage? No. Not to say that I'll be there giving out cats to any slack-jawed or adopting-on-a-whim twit that crosses my path, but it's a huge judgment call, and...ah, I'm a bit nervous about making it!
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