Wednesday, June 21, 2006

Boost your vocabulary

THAUMATURGY
n : the performance of miracles; specifically : magic


NIDUS
n 1: a nest or breeding place 2: a place where something originates or develops


PULCHRITUDE
n : physical comeliness : beauty


APPOSITE
adj : highly pertinent or appropriate : apt

Dry cleaning doldrums

Today I went to the dry cleaner and that is something I just hate doing! It seems like such a waste of money to me and, to make it worse, I never have any idea how much it will cost until the bill is given to me. Is it too much to ask for a dry cleaner to have a price list hanging near the register so I have some idea what to expect? I picture a price board like one that is found at a fast-food restaurant as ideal for a dry cleaning establishment also. I brought a coupon for 25% off but the order still totaled like $26. This was for five items: 1 skirt, 1 blouse, 1 pant, 1 shirt and 1 sweater. In the past, I have tried to call to gauge the costs but it never seems to be what they tell me over the phone. I guess it all depends on the material of the item? Since I know nothing about the dry cleaning process, I feel like I'm at an extreme disadvantage. I'm not even sure what questions to ask. I'm not even convinced that dry cleaning is all that essential for most of the items that say 'Dry Clean Only' but I'm too chicken to test it on most of my clothing!

Anyway, just a rant...

Monday, June 19, 2006

Ten things I do not miss about Syracuse

In no particular order...

1.) The weather
2.) My apparently hard-of-hearing downstairs neighbor who took to talking on the phone so loudly that I could hear her through the floor and also played music and watched television at similarly loud decibels
3.) Taking online courses with professors/instructors whose classes are approximately 450th on their list of priorities (although technically I have two more classes to take and that might not be over for me)
4.) All the plumbing in my apartment, from the leaky kitchen faucet to the corroded bathtub faucet to the occasionally running toilet
5.) The Library & Information Science program in the School of Information Studies at Syracuse University
6.) The Library & Information Science program faculty (save a select couple of professors)
7.) The job market
8.) Bad drivers, as my car was hit three times in two years (in other words, three times more than it had ever been hit before moving to Syracuse)
9.) The stress and tension of having to write papers, read all the assignments and keep up with classes as a full-time student
10.) Paying a deposit on bottles and cans and then ultimately trying to get the deposit back via recycling

It was much easier to come up with things I don't miss, although I still struggled coming up with ten. Plus, I'll admit that some of them are definitely not unique to Syracuse and could happen anywhere. They were, however, reminiscent of my Syracuse experience!

Ten things I miss about Syracuse

1.) Brian
2.) Catherine
3.) Curtis
4.) John
5.) Mark
6.) Hanging out at Taps with my friends (many of the above-mentioned ones)
7.) The fact that you can pretty much drive anywhere in the city in less than twenty minutes
8.) The I-Lab (well, I spent a LOT of time there and I suspect I will never have two monitor screens at once like that ever again)
9.) Carousel Center (even though I rarely went there, it is a NICE mall!)
10.) How you can get $5 pizzas just about everywhere

Yep, that's about it. Not even three weeks removed and these are the things that come to mind. It's not a particularly compelling list, is it? Two years of my life and that's the best I can come up with? I tried to think of something regarding S.U. and the school, but the best I could do was #8, which is on campus. I also had 'My friends' as an item grouped together at first and then realized that I needed to give each of them a number in order to get to ten items. Yikes. And, not to say that I only had five friends there, but I would say that those five were definitely my closest friends. Plus Dan, but since he told me he was only my friend and only hung out with me (just the two of us alone sometimes) due to "social obligation," I would pretty much say that he successfully extracted himself from the list of things I miss as well as put himself at the top of the list of "Ass Holes I Know" during one five-minute conversation.

Besides them, Megan gets an honorable mention because although she was my good friend and I do miss her a lot, she's been gone since December so at this time, I am more used to missing her. If that makes sense.

Words-of-the-day

Yes, I'm still collecting words-of-the-day, despite not posting them on here. I'll post some as I get around to it. Today, here are a few:

BIBELOT
(pronounced like: bee-bi-low)
n : a small household ornament or decorative object : trinket


PASQUINADE
n : 1: a lampoon posted in a public place 2: satirical writing : satire


MEGILLAH
n, slang : a long involved story or account


Perhaps when I am on vacation, I will write a short story or novella, turning one of my many megillahs into a pasquinade?

With my parents, I get lazy

So I've moved back to Cleveland temporarily while I job search, to save money and to see my family and friends, who I haven't really seen much of the last two years. It's been nice staying with my parents, although it's also kind of difficult because I miss having my own space and my doing things the way I want to do them. Not to mention that my Internet access is kind of limited. I am getting fairly laptop-proficient, however, which is a plus, I guess. Although it just makes me want one more and well, that's just one other thing I can't afford right now.

Anyway, my plan for now is to go on vacation to Hilton Head, SC, with my mom, dad, brother, sister-in-law and nephew next week and when I get back, go full-steam ahead with the plan to move to Washington, DC.

I think.

I REALLY need to send out some more resumes/cover letters because I've pretty much burned the bridge at IPS, where I'd already had a couple of interviews and where they seemed to really want me. Call me crazy but I get really turned off by my future employer constantly calling me 'Cindy,' even when I correct her. But that was just a small problem among the many reasons why I feel less than confident that it is the place for me.