The other day, I went to a local hotel because the company Emerson was holding mock interviews to teach their HR department how to conduct “behavioral interviews” (whatever that means). It’s always a good idea to practice interviewing. I’m EXTREMELY NERVOUS when asked to talk about myself, let alone when they indirectly or directly ask me to say things that will make them want to hire me. It’s a lot of pressure!

So, of course, they choose a Friday morning, and want everybody there by 9a even though they weren’t going to begin the interviews until 10a. Also, two out of the maybe 10 students there were going to only have one interview instead of two, because of how the scheduling worked out.

Keeping all this in mind, I showed up at 9:15, half asleep, and a woman named Lauren? walked up and said, “You’re ? Great, you’re the last one. Everybody got here on time.” And I said, “Oh. I mean. Well, great. I’m glad I’m on time.” …endless um’s and er’s …I’m so socially awkward. Despite that, she continued to stand there and talk to me, and even asked about my coffee mug. …She clearly works for HR. Very nice, though.

After a bit of chit-chat I walked over and sat down in a row of chairs where all the other students were sitting. I watch a different, older woman turn to an older guy and say, very excitedly, “Everybody is here. Everybody!” And he said, “Good,” in a very cult-leader-like way, that made me instantly think, I’m going to die here, aren’t I?

I was picturing them leading me, unsuspectingly, into a small room with no windows, and only a few chairs. Then, they would turn off the lights, lock the door behind me, and suddenly, I would be very tired and a bit dizzy…

And then of course. I’m one of the two who only had one interview. So not only were we an hour early, me and the other student were TWO hours early. I thought about taking a nap right there on the row of chairs in the hotel lobby. We engaged in what can only be described as about a half-level above small talk. I think the only reason I was talkative at all is because I was so tired that I didn’t feel nearly as awkward as I would have normally. It’s surprising how much you don’t want to share, or how much you don’t really know what to talk about when meeting someone new. You get past the introductions (although I think we never even formally did that part) and the “oh I go to school for ” and …then, what? Sometimes it’s a “I like your shirt” and that provides 30 seconds more if you’re lucky. However, I didn’t even think of that. Also, I didn’t really care for her shirt.

Mostly we talked about how awesome it will be when we aren’t in school anymore, because OH MY GOD I NEED A BREAK FROM THIS IT’S DRIVING ME CRAZY. I really feel that way more when I’m just waking up, too. I wasn’t too dramatic though in the conversation because I was SO TIRED. And I am, so tired.

When I finally did go in for my interview, it was in a room where other people, in opposite corners of the room, were also being interviewed. Weird! They offered me water, and I thought, THIS is how they’re going to get me. However, it turned out to be an okay time. The guy had an accent, kind of British, kind of Russian, so I really couldn’t tell, but it wasn’t an obstacle; I could understand him just fine. He was nice, and gave me time to answer questions fully. It was good practice, probably for both of us.

Hopefully when the time comes and I’m trying to convince people to actually hire me, I can stand out from the crowd in some way.

**this article keeps updating**

This is the beginning of the end of the internet as we know it. So I’m going to tell you all that is wrong with this.

While AT&T has not made any official statement, it seems that they have banned 4chan from their landline users.

If the problems with this are not inherently obvious to you, please continue to read…

-Freedom of speech is being prohibited in the last place where it held true to form. The internet is for the free exchange of information. You, the user, have the freedom to choose which information you want to see, and that which you don’t. It doesn’t even require any extra work – you simply only go where you want. It’s the perfect definition of a true free market. So the act of banning any part of it for any reason is censorship. It limits what information we are allowed to access.

Sure, at first, they’re going to start banning websites that no one in their right mind would visit. Websites like 4chan are the epitome of everything wrong with the world, right? Child pornography, rape, sex, violence, and racism thrive there, right? I’ll start with:
-That’s not entirely true. The parts that people think are CP are not. Also,
-The banning will not stop. This will set a precedence we cannot allow. Before we know it, we won’t be able to view websites that distribute *any* information they don’t want us to see. It’s “for our own good” or “for the good of society” and next we won’t be able to chat with people of communist countries, or know what’s going on in the parts of the world that “don’t concern us.”
-Furthermore, in general, it’s a matter of the *freedom* that’s being taken away. I clearly don’t condone child pornography, but a) that’s not what it is, and b) we should be able to talk about it without being accused of soliciting it.
-A point I can’t stress enough: YOU DO NOT NEED TO VISIT THAT SITE. IT’S A MATTER OF NOT CLICKING THAT LINK, OR TYPING THAT ADDRESS INTO THE SEARCH BAR. NOT. DIFFICULT.

So is this an overreaction? I believe not. It’s important to wake up and fight at the first sign of tyranny, else it will quickly become too late to fight at all.

In conclusion, I ask you to do some reading, for your own good:

Brown Morning by Franck Pavloff

First They Came for the Jews – Pastor Martin Niemoller
First they came for the Jews
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the Communists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for me
and there was no one left
to speak out for me.

Michael Jackson, who was supposed to be alive forever; Farrah Fawcett, who was the “hot one” on some show in the 60s; Ed McMahon, who was old and loud; and Billy Mays, who sold us stuff we totally would have bought were we not old enough to know better than to buy things from the television. How can we live without them?

I know you’re wondering, after the deaths of four (count it, four!) very well-known and important people in American Media in the last 4 days, who’s next? What’s going on? …do I have to worry about dying soon? (No, as you’re unlikely to be an important person in the media AND reading my blog simultaneously.)

Either way, you’ve come to the right place. I have the answers to all of your questions, in our latest segment:

ML’s theory on recent, end-of-the-world-like events:
or, Why is everybody dying?

1. Deathnote. Obviously, somebody’s got it, and they’re going to take out all the celebrities they can. And since I know you won’t click on that link, I’ll just say that it’s a notebook wherein you can write a name and how that person dies and they will die. But it’s like 700 times more awesome than that, and you should read the manga. Doityouwon’tdoit.

2. Scientology. Enough said.

3. Death is far from his quota this month, as he’s been having back pains and the doctor’s told him to try to take it easy, so now he’s getting pressure from the boss (I haven’t decided who that is yet) and so not only is he Death in the first place, but he’s pissed off. We should be cool again by Wednesday.

4. The bees that have been disappearing? They went underground to plan the destruction of the humans, and they’ve already begun the implementation of their elaborate plans…

5. Could just be coincidence. I mean, that’s an incredibly boring answer, but it’s *possible* (but unlikely).

6. They wouldn’t turn to the dark side. All four of them held their ground, and now they are dead. But they died for a good cause, guys.

So I made white pizza for the first time ever. As you may well know, everybody makes their white pizza differently. However, I’ve decided that my white pizza kicks your white pizza’s ass. So here’s what I did…

Ingredients:

-(very little) grease (Crisco)
-1 lb frozen bread dough
-1 8 oz bag of *Kraft* mozzarella cheese (can’t go with cheap cheese – that’s the secret)
-a few tsps of olive oil (i didn’t measure)
-2 cloves of garlic
-several leaves of fresh basil
-several leaves of fresh spinach
-dried oregano
-dried red peppers
-dried rosemary

The Skinny*:

I greased the bread dough and thawed it in the microwave. It’s important to grease the dough, so it doesn’t get hard and gross in there. Takes forever with my microwave because the electric in my apartment is probably not up to code a little finicky. There should be a defrost button, though, that asks for the weight.
I spread the dough out onto a circular cookie sheet. It’s important to grease the cookie sheet too. But I mean, I use as little as possible, because the less lard I ingest, the better I am, I imagine.
I poured a bit of olive oil onto the dough, and spread it over, leaving a bit on the edges for crust.
I chopped up the garlic into (unintentionally large) pieces, and spread them out over the dough.
I put, sparingly, some rosemary on after that.
Then, I used about equal parts of the basil and spinach leaves and just places the whole leaves on, covering the dough, except for the crust.
Then, the cheese (alllll the cheese).
Then, a bit of oregano and peppers on top.

I baked at 425 F for 9 minutes.

Voila! Gorgeous, delectable, and I’m so excited because I can cook well.

What I would have done differently:
or, “some things to try”:

-NOTHING! no, actually…
-maybe (slightly) less olive oil. only slightly.
-make a square pizza. I don’t have the means, but I prefer them square.

Notes:
-it’s important to note (as I’ve made this mistake in the past) that cooking on a cooking stone is TOTALLY EFFING DIFFERENT and I still have yet to figure out how long to cook it and at what temperature that will cook the bottom without burning the cheese.

So have an awesome day, knowing there’s a white pizza out there that kicks everyone’s ass. Everyone.

not the whole thing. i was hungry.

*no this will not make you skinny. actually it will probably make you fat.

I will list for you now (in no particular order) the things that I want, but cannot have because I chose to live the poor life of a student so I can learn more about Computational Theory instead of settling on an 80K/yr job (to start) doing something that isn’t theory.

-a Macbook Pro
-an iPhone
-new jeans
-a tanning package
-a haircut
-christmas presents for anybody this year
-to buy food at a restaurant (even just once) so I don’t have to cook
-to buy groceries more often than once a month
-a mini standing mixer (i like to bake)
-to pay off my credit card
-to be able to buy my boyfriend new socks
…

I’m not complaining. I never have lived comfortably, so I wouldn’t even know what to do with myself if I had the kind of money to live like that. It’s just annoying that when you grow up, the toys you want are $1400 a piece (re: the Macbook).

So ya know. Go ahead. Pity me.

THIS.

That link is the subject of today’s rant, and since I know you probably won’t click on it, I’ll summarize. Basically, gay people are upset because Obama only did like one thing that they wanted instead of all of them. So allow me to complain a little…

I should preface this with stating clearly that I was and still am against Prop 8. I think that gay people deserve the same rights as anybody else, and that all they are doing is fighting over syntax. The word “marriage” is not something that is reserved for Christian-based unions.

Also, I will say that they have a valid argument about the military thing. The military is discharging soldiers solely based on their sexual preference … and well, that’s ridiculous.

A friend of mine in the military made a good point. He said that having homosexual males in the military poses problems because they would have to be treated differently. Why? Well, let’s look at it from the perspective of women in the military. They have separate quarters, because the social dynamic changes DRASTICALLY when males and females who are attracted to one another are in the same room together: changing, sleeping, etc. So if men who are attracted to one another are doing these things in the same quarters, the social dynamic STILL changes drastically. It makes them, gay or straight, uncomfortable (to say the least). I’m not saying that this would lead to relationships (which are not allowed, so that’s not even a valid argument), but the dynamic is important. These people absolutely have to work together and trust each other and if there is an ounce of discomfort for whatever reason (even hormonally) there is a problem. They’re putting their lives on the line everyday, and hormones can’t get in the way of that.

HENCE, the “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” policy. In theory, it makes sense. You can’t have relationships anyway (for reasons stated above) so just … don’t talk about it. I see sexual preferences as a private subject that you probably wouldn’t talk about anyway, so why would you need to make that known, LOUD AND CLEAR?

The problem of course is that Don’t Ask Don’t Tell doesn’t work. It hasn’t worked. I don’t know why, it’s fairly logically sound, but it just …doesn’t.

So they have a good point there.

THAT BEING SAID…

I think it’s pretty ridiculous to expect the president, no matter what he’s said in the past, to change all of the problems in the world and in the country in the first few years, let alone the first few months. The only way he could do that is if he took over the government and made all the laws. And well, I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty happy he’s not doing that.

He says, according to the article, that he wants Congress to act on certain issues that the gay population wants accomplished. And well. Yeah. Congress is the body of government which makes the laws. And guess what … WE ELECT THEM!! So if you want something done, (here’s a novel idea) WRITE YOUR CONGRESSMAN. I know that this “doesn’t work” but it’s fascinating to me that a) people don’t understand basic Civics and b) people really don’t see how powerful a group of like-minded people can be. It’s mostly used for evil, but we can come together and use it for good. But I digress… the point is, the president is doing what he can to NOT completely take over the government. That’s GOOD!

On the other side, some people think the president IS taking over the government. He asked the president of GM to step down. He’s putting through a lot of new financial regulations. The republicans are up in arms. Except this isn’t actually a leader-takeover. They make it sound like that, but what actually happened (in essence) is…
For years, the government was all “okay, GM, we’re going to give you money, but the deal is you have to, oh ya know, fix your shit.” Then, GM didn’t fix anything. So the government was all, “okay. you fail. we’re taking the keys. You’re not allowed to drive the car anymore.” The president of GM steps down, and 2/3 of GM now belongs to the citizens of the United States of America. The other 1/3 belongs to some regulation board or something.
…so in other words, he punished them for being stupid, and did away with a monopoly.

Why is that bad?

Basically it seems that nobody is happy with what President Obama is doing lately. But remember the last administration where half of the people were bitching, and the other half of the people were calling the bitching half terrorists? Yeah … it could be worse, people.

For the past few months, Boyfriend has been introducing me to the wonderful world of Star Trek. I mean, I was always a fan of the Next Generation series (because Patrick Stewart is a bad ass) but I wasn’t anywhere near what you could call a true fan. I’m a huge nerd in a lot of ways, but a trekkie I was never. Until just recently.

So I’ve seen all the movies that really mean anything. Also, I saw Nemesis here and there because it’s been on TV lately. It wasn’t bad. But 1, 2, 4, and 6 are the ones that count, and I’ve seen all of them. I’ve seen some good classic episodes of the original series, but nowhere close to all of them. Past Captain Picard, though, I never watched the newer series’.

As any fan of the show, I’ve always been partial to the original series. So the new movie coming out was an exciting thing for a number of reasons. Partly because most movies suck anymore, so it’s nice to see one that probably won’t suck. Also, I like science fiction. What can I say?

Needless to say, the movie was pretty awesome. The plot was interesting – deviating from canon so as not to damage what already exists. However, pulling from canon all the things we wanted to see. Very good acting – they really did a good job at playing the characters. Not doing impressions either – they really acted well.

All in all, you know, I liked it.

By the way, I am completely comfortable with my nerd factor. I don’t understand the negative connotation that goes with the word “nerd”. I don’t like to identify myself with too much, so as to keep a level head when someone attacks that particular aspect of my personality. They probably aren’t doing it knowingly, but either way, at least I can argue rationally. However, “nerd” is something with which I don’t mind being identified. It’s something I’ve taken to lightly and in good humour, but with a bit of a sense of pride as well. If nothing else, I like being smart and having interests in things like science. So shut up.

I believe that we underestimate how many people have nothing better to do than surf the internet on Sunday. So I’m testing the waters. Just in case anyone still bothers to read this thing.

This past semester ended on such a hectic and disappointing note (see: any Stephen King novel) that I promptly forgot everything existed except for sleeping, eating, and playing FFX. And then I got to the part with the dragon in the sky and I died 3 times so I was discouraged and motivated to do other things. Like ride my bike. And learn something. Anything.

So today I rode my bike for the longest thus far, mostly because I finally found where the one trail connects to the other trail (it is NOT that obvious, and the sign is misleading). So I made about a 4-mile circle. Except for those times when I walked up hills I couldn’t ride. My bike doesn’t always listen to me when I tell it to move into a lower gear so I can continue to peddle. It just makes loud noises, and I tell it that I hate it, try again, and by then I am stuck. Nevertheless, I’m proud of my journey. I also feel AWFUL. But it’s for a good cause. Last semester, I really put on some weight. By that I mean 4 pounds, but loss of all muscle tone and the addition of some baby-making hips. However, I am not ready for the baby-making, so my goal is to be able to wear a bathing suit by the time Sean comes back from doing his first show, where he will make no money boatloads of cash, and we’ll run off to Sandcastle the beach for an hour, that’s all we can afford a few days.

A semi-sweet bright side to all of this is that I received a research scholarship for this summer. This means I can spend my entire summer working at my own pace, making my own schedule, and doing supercoolawesome things. It also means it will be the largest test of self-discipline I’ve ever encountered. Unfortunately, this means I will be just scraping by for cash, and I have no idea when I’ll be paid that money. So far, only one bill is late this month and as of today, I believe I was charged a late fee. Tomorrow will, in theory, provide an answer as to, at the very least, when I can catch up on bills…

Moral of the story: being poor is fun, but at least I’m not fat and I have food in my fridge. And I have this gorgeous piece of literature to guide me through lazy days.

I would like to comment on the recent events off the coast of Somalia.

For Serious

a) I’m glad to see people using the word “piracy” in the correct context.

b) PIRATES! Seriously! Real pirates! My only disappointment is that they don’t wear cool hats and fancy shirts. And hooks. But I think it’s just a matter of time.

c) I’m also glad to see that these pirates are causing a genuine threat. You’d think in these days, our answer would be to nuke ‘em and be done with it. But no – these guys are able to cause a real fuss. I’m proud of them.

d) No, I’m not upset they had to shoot at the pirates to get the captain back. It was necessary. It’s cool, man.

e) I really hope this stuff keeps happening. It’s so much more interesting than people complaining about taxes.

That is all.

I’ve noticed a lot of planes going down lately. The “flying is safer than driving” statistics are worsening daily. Within the last month, there have been, I think, five. That isn’t good at all. I wouldn’t risk being a statistic if it meant doing nothing and living on a vineyard in France for the remainder of my days. Call me boring, I have simply vowed not to fly anywhere until the economy stops failing (if that happens). So if I go anywhere, I will be driving there. That leaves Europe out, though. We need a bridge. Well, actually I hate bridges too.

For instance, I was planning on visiting my friend Corn in Colorado this summer, but it’s going to be a cross-country road trip in stead of a 4-hr flight. …but I won’t be going alone. I’ve seen that episode of the Twilight Zone.

So Obama, while I have as of late seen nothing proving your good intentions, you had better bring this economy back up to the standards of the American People. I’m depending on you to stop the planes from crashing. No pressure.

…come to think of it, I’ve seen the episode of the Twilight Zone about the plane that went through a time warp, too. Yeah, fuck that noise. Flying is not worth it.