a quick update

Most recent guilty pleasure (no judgment please): Perez Hilton...some of his comments are just hilarious.

This past week was perhaps one of the busiest yet. I guess you can say that life here in Philadelphia is in full-swing, and I've established a good routine. As of today at exactly 4:15 p.m. I am a registered, inspected Pennsylvania driver...and let me tell, what a process the transfer was! For the past two weeks, my Wednesdays and Thursdays off from work have been spent on waiting in a tag agency (for the paperwork), a dealership (to fix my power window) and an inspection station (to take my money). The thought of possibly have to do this again in two years is tiring :P

Graduate classes continue to go very well, and on Thursday as I rushed to finish a short research paper I remembered just how cumbersome citations and MLA/APA formats are. LaSalle also requires all papers to be submitted to TurnItIn.com in order to detect plagiarism, so that whole process was new to me. I literally bit my nails as I waited for my results, and luckily only 2% of my paper was recognizable: a quote and my references! Apparently someone was once asked to leave the program because of plagiarism....crazy cakes, the things people do.

In other news, I find it amazing that Britney Spears and Jena 6 share practically equal spots in the headlines...does that seem strange to anyone else? (If you're a Mac user, I highly recommend the MSNBC gadget for your dashboard...oh, and the Chuck Norris quotes gadget too).

Before I sign off for the evening, I just want to congratulate the one and only Rachel M. on her new endeavor. Rachel, if you're reading this, click here to celebrate properly. You deserve it :)

the people i have found

Two-year old moment of the day: Snipping my finger with scissors while cutting open a bag. I think I need to regress to safety scissors.

Driving home from class the other night, I heard Elton John's "Mona Lisa and Mad Hatters" on the radio. Although I'd heard it many times, that was the first time I ever listened to the words. It's one of those songs that immediately makes you feel sentimental and nostalgic...I thought, "You know what, life is good and I'm blessed by amazing people." Cruising home on a surprisingly calm Roosevelt Boulevard, I had a beautiful little moment.

This evening I had a similar moment when I received a card in the mail from dearly-missed friends. I doubt they knew this, but the timing was perfect. Today I was (finally!) officially certified as a teller. What does this mean? Well friends, it means I can have my own drawer/window to run transactions out of, instead of observing others and working out of their drawer. Now I have to work for realsies.

For a moment there I seriously doubted myself and wondered if I was cut out to be a teller, mainly because I was intimidated by the certification process. I got over it, did the best I could and apparently that was enough. I got high fives all around from my coworkers, and great feedback. Coming home to this Flashdance themed card (pictured above), which says "You've got the will. You've got the skill" and sings "What A Feelin'" when opened, brought quite a smile to my face (and warm fuzzies in general). I'm so lucky to have "just because" thoughtful friends.

whatta shame

Movie I can't wait to see: Beowulf...finally, a classic!

I'm currently watching the MTV video music awards, and so far it's just plain terrible. And I'm pretty sure no one knows what's going on, especially the presenters. What have we done to music? And television? I have a running joke with some of my friends that we should pray for celebrities. It all started with the song "4 in the morning" by Gwen Stefani and my comment that the lyrics painted quite a sad picture of unrequited affection....a trend in many of her songs. The conversation then moved on to the big celebrity disappointments (people who started off strong and sadly trashed themselves): Whitney Houston, R. Kelly, Mariah Carey, and the infamous Britney. Don't they all need prayer? I thought so.

summer's end

great moment in nerdom: "The church needs to be like the Jedi Order" - Jon, in response to a conversation about the book "The Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical"

So as I do with most things I don't fully understand, I consult Wikipedia. As Michael from The Office says, "Wikipedia is the best thing ever. Anyone in the world can write anything they want about any subject. So you know you are getting the best possible information.” Well, according to the reliable Wiki, Labor Day is a day of rest for the working man and symbolizes the end of summer. I'm not sure if that first part is true for everyone (especially my dear friends working in higher education) but thankfully it was true for me.

After a very long Friday at the bank, a three-day weekend was certainly welcomed by all. Jon and I made a B line for the Jersey shore to enjoy what was left of our summer since both of our schedules will soon accelerate. We finally saw Superbad (definitely not one for the kids), and hit up Borders for some new books. In the typical English-major fashion, I couldn't resist my affinity for the classics so I purchased an attractive copy of Wuthering Heights. Currently, I'm reading the book mentioned in the above quote, and so far I'm tearing through it. Shane Claiborne is a captivating communicator with a contagious heart for true discipleship; please do yourself a favor and read "The Irresistible Revolution" when you get the chance.

Although lazier days have come to an end, I'm anxious for the full swing of fall. Sometimes I think I'm crazy for signing up for more school and all the work that comes with it, but I secretly love being a student. Ok, not so secretly. Now that I'm a student again, I promise I'll look to more reliable sources than Wikipedia for information ;)