On Awesome Tax Rebates, Dating, And Midterms
I'm going to save the awesome, positive stuff for last, because I always save the best for last. The train wreck that is my dating life continues in spectacular fashion. Sometime in early January, after making a recovery from The Clown. I met another gal via the internet. She lived in Rochester, NY, which, for those not from these parts, is about three hours north west. She does roller derby and works at a day program for people with disabilities like the one I used to. It was fun in the beginning. We really seemed to connect. But, there were a lot of reasons Roller Girl and I were probably not going to work in the long term. After a few weeks of communicating, we decided to meet up, so I borrowed my coworker's GPS* and headed up to Rochester. She was not at all what I'd expected. Her humor does not translate well to text conversation. She had a 16 year old kid.** She's not at all what I was looking for, and yet I found myself drawn to her anyway. We had a wonderful weekend, for the most part. I had a PTSD moment, unfortunately, which initially freaked her out, but we talked it out and everything seemed ok. She understood, as she has similar issues. I returned to Erie a very happy person.
We continued steady communication for a couple of weeks before she just dropped off of the face of the earth. She wouldn't return my calls or my texts. So, I gave up on her and moved on to look for someone else. Then, Tuesday, I got a text with basic greetings and asking me if she could "ask me a question." I replied in the affirmative, and again, no answer. Finally, exasperated, I sent her a last ditch email basically asking what was going on. No reply. So, I accepted that she was gone. When I got home from work, I checked my Facebook and found out, via relationship status, that she'd met someone else. Brilliant. That stung. Not because she and I were super-serious, but because she was too tactless to actually tell me what was going on. Instead, she let silence and FACEBOOK do that for her. I've said this before and I'll say it again. I have no real problem with people I date meeting someone else that rocks their world. It sucks, but I understand. People date. They stop dating. They fall in and out of love. This happens. What I take serious issue with is that people treat me like crap when they do find someone else instead of just being straightforward. I can handle being broken up with. That's ok. What I can't handle are stupid games designed to either make me break up with them or, well, I have no idea Roller Girl's objective was. Whatever. I'll find someone else awesome. For now, I'll just scrape my dignity off of the ground and maintain forward momentum.
Midterms were yesterday, and they sucked. I think my group presentation went alright. At least I hope so. Due to the drama with Jesus Lady, I did a last minute group switch, and thus didn't really get a chance to contribute a lot to the project. We had self/group evals, so I'm a little nervous on that front. The midterm exam for Human Behavior in the Social Environment was literally the worst test I have ever seen in my life. Granted, this was designed by a professor who felt the need to create a "Build-A-Theory" powerpoint so that her GRADUATE CLASS would believe theory to be "less scary." And we wonder why the other academic disciplines don't take us seriously... But still, I never actually expected the "Build A Theory"/Build A Bear to make its way into the multiple choice section OF THE EXAM! The rest of the exam was just as ridiculous. She had a 12 question essay section, which is great, but she only gave us like three inches to cram our answer into and expected us to get this done in an hour and a half. The first essay question was ridiculous. "What is critical thinking and how do you use it?" I'm sorry. It should not be possible to make it through undergrad without at least a basic idea of what critical thinking is. WHY is it on a masters level second semester midterm. Then, for the rest of the questions, she took the critical thinking questions directly out of the book. This is all well and good, but the majority of them had no right answer. She asked things like "what is your world view? discuss," and "How has your supervisor utilized power when dealing with you? How did you respond?" HOW THE FUCK DOES SHE PLAN TO GRADE THIS?! If I get anything less than an A on this piece of shit, I will pitch an unholy fit.
Now, on to the happy goodness. My tax rebate was awesome. So, I decided to get myself a couple of expensive toys that I've been wanting for awhile. As you all may or may not know, I gave up the guitar awhile ago, believing my hands to be too small to play. But, I really missed having that outlet and the drama with Jesus Lady only reinforced this. So, I made the decision to try it again. I figured that, if an actual guitar wouldn't work, I could pick up a 3/4 size used by elementary school students. I walked into the local music store, held up my hands and said, "This is what you've got to work with. Please find me something." And they did. Two very awesome somethings. One is a Yamaha accoustic. This one's pretty cool. It has a lovely sound and a thin enough neck that I can actually play bar chords now. Woo! The other, which is just friggin's sweet, is a used Fender Strat. Not a Squier. An actual Strat. It's amazing. I shelled out about $350 for it, but that's a fraction of the full price. I believe it to be about fifteen years old and it's in wonderful condition. Makes me wonder if the owner ever played it. Anyway, without further ado, here they are:
Playing's coming back quickly. The years of music theory helped. This was exactly what I needed. Life really is beautiful.
*It's entertaining how invested my coworkers are in my love life. I'm so glad I can be out with them.
**Which wasn't really an issue, because she had zero custody. Stupid Arkansas and it's denying any and all custody rights to gay people.
We continued steady communication for a couple of weeks before she just dropped off of the face of the earth. She wouldn't return my calls or my texts. So, I gave up on her and moved on to look for someone else. Then, Tuesday, I got a text with basic greetings and asking me if she could "ask me a question." I replied in the affirmative, and again, no answer. Finally, exasperated, I sent her a last ditch email basically asking what was going on. No reply. So, I accepted that she was gone. When I got home from work, I checked my Facebook and found out, via relationship status, that she'd met someone else. Brilliant. That stung. Not because she and I were super-serious, but because she was too tactless to actually tell me what was going on. Instead, she let silence and FACEBOOK do that for her. I've said this before and I'll say it again. I have no real problem with people I date meeting someone else that rocks their world. It sucks, but I understand. People date. They stop dating. They fall in and out of love. This happens. What I take serious issue with is that people treat me like crap when they do find someone else instead of just being straightforward. I can handle being broken up with. That's ok. What I can't handle are stupid games designed to either make me break up with them or, well, I have no idea Roller Girl's objective was. Whatever. I'll find someone else awesome. For now, I'll just scrape my dignity off of the ground and maintain forward momentum.
Midterms were yesterday, and they sucked. I think my group presentation went alright. At least I hope so. Due to the drama with Jesus Lady, I did a last minute group switch, and thus didn't really get a chance to contribute a lot to the project. We had self/group evals, so I'm a little nervous on that front. The midterm exam for Human Behavior in the Social Environment was literally the worst test I have ever seen in my life. Granted, this was designed by a professor who felt the need to create a "Build-A-Theory" powerpoint so that her GRADUATE CLASS would believe theory to be "less scary." And we wonder why the other academic disciplines don't take us seriously... But still, I never actually expected the "Build A Theory"/Build A Bear to make its way into the multiple choice section OF THE EXAM! The rest of the exam was just as ridiculous. She had a 12 question essay section, which is great, but she only gave us like three inches to cram our answer into and expected us to get this done in an hour and a half. The first essay question was ridiculous. "What is critical thinking and how do you use it?" I'm sorry. It should not be possible to make it through undergrad without at least a basic idea of what critical thinking is. WHY is it on a masters level second semester midterm. Then, for the rest of the questions, she took the critical thinking questions directly out of the book. This is all well and good, but the majority of them had no right answer. She asked things like "what is your world view? discuss," and "How has your supervisor utilized power when dealing with you? How did you respond?" HOW THE FUCK DOES SHE PLAN TO GRADE THIS?! If I get anything less than an A on this piece of shit, I will pitch an unholy fit.
Now, on to the happy goodness. My tax rebate was awesome. So, I decided to get myself a couple of expensive toys that I've been wanting for awhile. As you all may or may not know, I gave up the guitar awhile ago, believing my hands to be too small to play. But, I really missed having that outlet and the drama with Jesus Lady only reinforced this. So, I made the decision to try it again. I figured that, if an actual guitar wouldn't work, I could pick up a 3/4 size used by elementary school students. I walked into the local music store, held up my hands and said, "This is what you've got to work with. Please find me something." And they did. Two very awesome somethings. One is a Yamaha accoustic. This one's pretty cool. It has a lovely sound and a thin enough neck that I can actually play bar chords now. Woo! The other, which is just friggin's sweet, is a used Fender Strat. Not a Squier. An actual Strat. It's amazing. I shelled out about $350 for it, but that's a fraction of the full price. I believe it to be about fifteen years old and it's in wonderful condition. Makes me wonder if the owner ever played it. Anyway, without further ado, here they are:
Playing's coming back quickly. The years of music theory helped. This was exactly what I needed. Life really is beautiful.
*It's entertaining how invested my coworkers are in my love life. I'm so glad I can be out with them.
**Which wasn't really an issue, because she had zero custody. Stupid Arkansas and it's denying any and all custody rights to gay people.