Lets go see the Killers and make out in the bleachers

Last minute this is how I roll! Character flaw? That’s debatable. The way it is? Factual.

The time has come, the Walrus said, to talk of many things! Like, how I’m starting school on Monday to become a High School English Teacher! Mwah ha ha ha ha ha! It’s in Billings, which isn’t the IDEAL place to be, but I’m not there because its beautiful, I’m there because they’re letting me start the semester two and half weeks late! Whoop, whoop! I’m off gang. Moving tomorrow! So what am I doing typing on here? Wasting time, CLEARLY. My mind is in a million places right now. Time to motivate. Ciao ya’ll! I’m going to be LIVING IN MONTANA! Where the buffalo roam, where the deer and antelope play, where you can ski and stare into miles and miles of beautiful country, where you live near friends and FAMILY, where friendly conversations are the norm… it’s a beautiful place to be. :) I'm going to rock these classes. Bring it on.

awesome!!!!!!!

I figured it out! How to post music that is :) SO, this song has definitely become one of my all time favorites. I had a great idea with it the other day too - make signs and use props and act it out and record yourself and use it for a cute Valentines Day gift. Anyway I came up with the idea driving to the Tri-Cities the other day - four hours of travel to change a TIRE. Yet another reason to sell the beloved Red Rocket (single tear). Who are we kidding - multiple tears. This player is a bit obnoxious but it'll get the job done :)

piiiiiiiiiiiiink

You guys diggin the pink? Thought I'd change it up a little, the white was getting to me. Sometimes I poke around and look at those cute little backgrounds someone sits around and creates and while I admire them on other people's blogs, as a full time thing on my own turf it screams TOOOOO MUCH!!!!!

Well dudes, I'm off to Billings. Plan B. Going to start taking classes again. In English. In Education. As soon as I get excited I panic. And then I calm myself down and I get excited all over again. Then my mind wanders and I panic. :) Welcome to my world. Hey, had to make a move in some direction and while this has always been a goal/desire of mine and nothing else seems to be coming together or working, we'll go with this! It's time! Holy SHIT.

north of helena yesterday with mum and dad. just a fab day for a drive.

sheep.

Just poking around online this morning and I spotted a headline on CNN that caught my attention:

Don't let Twitter, Facebook, Google be the only game in town

Sometimes, I think about or see mainstream and I walk the other way; when LOST was first all the rage I refused to watch (now I'm one of their biggest fans), the more I see Facebook at the bottom of the screen on a TV commercial, the more I want to close my account, as soon as I started to feel like I was supposed to be taking cool pictures I put my camera under my bed. This last point makes me wonder if I have a huge character malfunction... that's another debate, we're not here to psychoanalyze this morning.

I totally related to this article because of his fresh point of view. As a whole, human beings are pretty unintelligent. As individuals we're great! In the masses, we go where we're told - unfortunately. I think that's a losing battle, but that's why God made some of us leaders. And we hope that those who have been given the gift/talent don't go sour on us and use it for all the wrong reasons. This said, Facebook and Twitter I applaud you for being leaders. The rest of the world - I (and Anil Dash) would like to remind you not to be sheep. These are great tools but as soon as we start to rely on them, to depend on them, to freeze in their absence, we've lost our independence - as suggested here a couple of days ago...

"...it was big news when Twitter was offline for 90 minutes Wednesday morning. Technology pundits promptly began hand-wringing -- the weaknesses of having a single point of failure to critical communications had been revealed again! Could we trust Twitter? Did this mean the Web couldn't help us fulfill our most basic obligations to those in need?

Not at all.

There's no reason that organizations or individuals who want to use the Web to relay critical information have to rely on Twitter or Facebook or Google or any other giant of the technology industry in the first place. We've just forgotten a bit about how the Internet was supposed to work."

The author goes on to talk about how the internet is there to provide us with a way to communicate, to share information, in such a way that cannot be destroyed. In other words, a mad man couldn't find the building which houses the WWW, bomb it, and shut us all down. But by using and depending on these couple of specific venues, we are subjecting ourselves to such a catastrophe, the very horror the internet was designed to avoid!

"We'll naturally make great use of Twitter and Facebook and all the other services, but it'd be unforgivable to pick only one of them as a platform for civic engagement. Telling people the only way to talk to the White House is on Facebook is like saying you can only call your senator by using a particular phone company."

Mainstream! Don't think mainstream people! Yes, it is convenient and it has its place, there is a reason many people follow, but that does not go to say it requires or begs our dependence.

That's a choice.

Don't be a sheep. Join the herd, follow if you will as long as we're all heading to greener pasture, but don't forget to look up now and again, wander to the edge and make sure you're still heading in the right direction. Call to action.

good to see, good to read; don't forget to think outside the box.

dies dias

i spent ten days here once. on that beach. playing frisbee, volleyball, and a many many card games. that was a solid ten days. Got in late at night, watched fireworks explode up and down the beach from the roof of our hostel, climbed down to enjoy fresh shrimp kebobs from wrinkly grinning old men who donned us with "la nota rosa" t-shirts and many cheers of wine :) awesome.

rimini = nostalgia

up dizzle my lizzle's

well, its been over a week and haven't heard back from the Stone Cold Ice Creamery. Little on edge, yes, yes I am. Got word from Qdoba that yes, they are excited about the Montana market, but unfortunately someone else already has stake on it. I'm not that person. Chipotle it turns out isn't a franchise company, SO while they have not yet looked into coming to Montana they'll "be happy to forward your request to our Regional Real Estate Contact for consideration." And these guys were actually pretty energetic! That's always nice to see eh? The taco ideas were SOLID, great suggestions from M&M, but dang it they aren't exactly going to work out. Not right now at least. BRAVERY.

So now comes the pressure from the parental units. Basically I've (apparently) got a mad crush on my ex boyfriend whom I thought I was doing fine without until he shows up at my birthday bash and we TALK. Why do people talk? Anyway, neither of us know what we want blah blah blah and Mom and Dad say, no one is going to want to be with someone that doesn't have anything going for themselves. GET IT TOGETHER AMY. Thanks dudes. Get a job they say. Do what you need to do. Its not like I don't APPLY FOR JOBS. I don't know - they call it tough love because I haven't gotten very far on my own, and well, thats pretty freakin fair. I just eat myself alive because right now I could be sitting in Spokane nose in the books working on a Law Degree if I wouldn't have decided to opt out this summer. Or in Denver, working on a Masters in Marketing allowing me to go work at Nike conducting consumer research ie: hanging out at basketball camps with 11-17 year olds getting an idea of what they want. Or, I could be in New Zealand working as a glacier guide four days of the week. Further still, I could be in Billings working at MSU in some office job making pretty nil and dragging my butt up in the morning asking myself, WHY.

The worst part is I had like four funny things to say on here but I've gone and just made this a piss pot of complaining. Super fun for all of you's! Aye, such is life I guess. If I get out of this funk alive its going to be an epic comeback tour. Dudes, I have been ill as a pill these last couple of days and then about this time at night, it comes back... stomach starts a churning and dinner says it would feel a lot better about going in the toilet now, the way it came in, while it still can. Is it nerves? Probably. I took a test tonight on Trig - FAIL. Tried one on Physics... FAIL. Hard to believe at one point I knew that stuff. I could teach it. Now? I couldn't save my life to tell you the velocity of what not next to the ish of a mass of business. Becoming a tutor is harder than it used to be.

Good lord I can't wait to get my hair cut. Did I tell you guys that I considered going bald? I know right. The guy that cuts my hair was suggesting it - at first I scoffed, jaw dropped and laughed out loud, but as the session went on, and the more I thought about it, it would or may be kind of fun. For like a week. Then come the tears. I feel like if I were in a different country I probably would do it in a heartbeat. Maybe not. Something sexy about a chick who rocks a shaved head. But she has to be one beautiful lady. A beautiful that I do not posses. Hey, we just talked about it! I can't blame Britney.

Brother is back from Iraq! Going to give him a proper Homecoming on Sunday in Helena. Should be a good time :) Wish I were a little more fired up about it, but for some reason I'm being a poop. Ever feel like you want to run away? I used to. Like three days ago. That feeling is sort of gone right now. I like it. God bless my good friend Liz and Trav for letting me stay with them. It feels good to be here. I feel pretty relaxed. You know, its not necessarily the STATE of Montana that's so addicting, its the people. You can't replace the people. Its family here. When I was last in Helena, standing in line at the Post Office, I ended up having a five minute whatever exchange of words with the lady behind me, but you know what, you can't do that everywhere. It was enjoyable! Friendly exchange of conversation! Hot damn I love me some of that. That's my style. I enjoy people and I believe before knowing anything, that people are good people. I leave my keys in my car dammit and don't think twice.

I really gotta write more often, that much is seriously clear no? Hah, and actually write about the stuff I find humorous/enjoyable throughout the day. Cross your fingers mates that I get a job at Great Divide as a ski instructor. I'm banking on it. Horrible thing to do. Time for some C.S. Lewis - Mere Christianity! I should throw some of his stuff up on here, its pretty rad. Lay-tro!

write it out. see how it feels.

Okay; here it goes. New idea, not really, been there a while but first time I've written about it.

HOME IMPROVEMENT.

Best job ever.

I am so freaking stressed out. I'm trying to pursue this Cold Stone thing in Helena but everyday is a stressful day and I don't know, don't have, ANY CLUE as to exactly what it is I'm doing and all the while never knowing if its actually going to work out. So, do you apply for other jobs and just see? Wait to find out if they go through? What other jobs do you even WANT? I mean, frick, are we just going to go down the same path AGAIN? And in a year be pissed that we did it or thankful because it led to something else and has at least given us something to do? Probably. But then what about volunteering abroad and HELPING people? That sounds like too much fun to ignore but can you believe it, I've applied to several and no dice. I am tired of asking for letters of recommendation; writing that email every time or making that phone call just STRESSES ME OUT, makes me feel guilty. I mean how MANY am I going to have to do until something actually happens? That doesn't cost 33k? Denver grad school bitches. 33k. For what? Hmmmmm. For that much more of a bad ass degree from a great school. Well, then you can apply for more jobs and have another credential? Because its admirable? What about learning how to climb glaciers for two years? Well the end product of that isn't exactly what I'm going for. At least I'm not Tiger Woods.

I feel like everyone else has somewhere to be. There is a reason they are where they are. They've got family. They like it there. They grew up there. Their friends are there. I've got friends all over the GD place, I can't go live in one area and be with them. My parents live in a place I CAN NOT see myself living, my brother lives in Montana... that's a bonus!

Mike says its not about your job, its about living a fulfilling life. Well shoot, all that is for me is to see change. To make a difference. To progress. To talk. To travel. To grow. Again, stressed out. :( I want to be a coach. I LIKE coaching. But I'm not a college athlete, so I'm just like everyone else. EXCEPT I LOVE WHAT SPORTS/TEAMWORK DOES FOR KIDS! EFFING A.

Every job I've ever gotten hasn't come from the internet. Why do I spend all this time looking online for a job? And how come I wanted so bad to be a glacier guide but I don't think its a good idea anymore? Because I don't really want to live up in Juneau all alone that's why. I miss my friends. I had it in my head that Zach and I would go up there and do that together. Well, its clear that isn't going to happen :( At any rate, I applied for the franchise. Lets say that one more time.... I APPLIED FOR THE FRANCHISE!!!!!!!!!

What did you do?

I APPLIED TO OWN A COLD STONE CREAMERY IN HELENA MONTANA!!!!!!!!

Whew.

today....

Father, God bless all my friends in whatever it is that You know they may need this day! And may their life be full of your peace, prosperity, and power as he/she seeks to have a closer relationship with you.
Amen.

.... that came in an email today from my mom. I really liked it :) Its nice to have something to read instead of blabbing your own stuff about how you wish the best for all those you know. And those you don't. :) hope ya'll are having a great day. much love.