Today consisted of:
-Waking up earlier than I was supposed to (which was actually a good thing)
-Not having a quiz in English (good because I didn't read the whole section assigned)
-Finding out that Alison decided to take the teaching job (great for her, possibly not so good for me, but I can now say that I am dating/have dated a teacher lol)
-Easy day at work
-Not-so-helpful review session for said Econ class
-Finishing watching Choke (weird movie)
-Seeing a greater-than-expected amount of TKEs at the quarterly beer pong tournament/cigar night (and finding out we're giving bids to five new guys tomorrow which is good)
-Writing this post.
-Realizing that today was fairly simplistic/boring, but oh well.
Well kids, hope you all wanted to know about me and my day- I don't have time for thoughtful provocative posts these days lol. Have a great night and if I miss posting tomorrow- a great weekend!
-M
Got my new PS3 and got it set up- it's definitely nice.
Grabbed some comics- of which the amazing Clone Saga storyline in Amazing Spider-man was ended (and was good).
Still have to read a bunch of my book for English tomorrow and I didn't do any studying for Econ. Whoops-a-daisy. C'est la vie.
Hope everybody had a good hump day! (And again, Happy Birthday Sarah!)
-MCH
I'm realizing how confused I am in my Econ classes, and wondering why I decided to be an Econ major...
Our teacher asked us to fill out a 1040 Tax Form with relatively little information... I'm completely lost. I have numbers here and there... and don't know what to fill in in between. I swear to God if he collects this tomorrow I'm so screwed.
I have a test in my other Econ class Friday that I haven't started studying for, and that I am likely destined to fail. This is not pleasing knowledge.
The good news is...
Ha! Just kidding. No good news today.
Thus ends Reunion Tour Part Three.
Well, not getting on the internet from 9pm until the next day makes it difficult to remember to blog.
Yesterday felt really busy... and I was most definitely grumpy when I had to read 90 pages for ONE CLASS last night.
In addition, TKE is really stressful right now. We have our charter, and we're official, yes, but we still have to recruit, and all the old members (myself included) are disinclined to work towards meeting Freshmen when we're all about to graduate.
At our Bi-Annual Meeting in New Orleans, our Regional Advisor told us we should get 30 people to replace all the graduating men, and to cover for anyone who should choose to drop out.
We only have FIVE towards that goal for this year.
Working as treasurer has never been more stressful either- we have almost no money in the bank because people are failing to pay on time left and right. Right now I am owed like $2500 bucks.
Also: Alison was offered a teaching job in Oxford, NC, which would exponentially increase how busy she is. It's great that she might have a job (if she chooses to take it) but what is that going to mean for us? I don't know.
What's more important than any of this though- I have no idea what to do with my life. I don't have the recommendations I need to apply for the MAC Program, and I haven't even taken the GMAT yet. Now my brain is telling me "Why even try?" That's not a great mindset to have. Should I be looking for jobs instead? I don't know what to do or when to do it. This is a problem.
So, last blog (over a month ago) I noted that I finally had a girlfriend. Here's the elaboration I promised.
Her name is Alison, she's a few months older than me but already graduated (back in May) and is currently looking for a job teaching (interview tomorrow- we'll see how that goes).
She's pretty awesome, very laid back, but likes to go drinking and dancing or just staying in and watching a movie (I'm currently making her watch a bunch of horror movies and it's hilarious cause she FREAKS out). Now that Halloween is over though I guess we'll go back to non-horror movies for a bit.
She's almost two inches taller than me though, which is an interesting proposition. She wore three inch heels to one of my cocktails and THAT was amusing to say the least. Oh well, she doesn't care and I don't either (too much lol) so it works.
So right now, things are great. I'm constantly worried about my future though. Seems like I have so much to do and I'm never going to get around to it. BUT I NEED TO. Oh goodness. Nevertheless, I'm doing pretty well except for a nasty cough, my PS3 having been stolen mid-October (new one arrives this week), and the fact that I need to do laundry today.
On that note, that's a wrap for Post One of the Reunion Tour.
-M
Girlfriend? Yes.
Awesome.
Elaboration later.
And once again, I've been introduced to songs I didn't know existed: If I Needed Someone, Do You Want to Know a Secret, and I'm Looking Through You.
Also reintroduced to Taxman, The End, and Twist and Shout (don't ask me how I didn't have that one).
Can't wait for the DLC to come pouring in!
Well I'm overall more optimistic about a number of things than I have been in months.
There's nothing like enjoying your classes, being told you're one of the new Student Managers, and coming home to your amazing house.
As much as I hate the fact that I have one year left here, I'm going to try to make the most of it. I want to put in some hard work, some hard play, and come out on top of all of my problems I've had in the past two years.
I've learned a lot about myself and the rest of the world in that time, and I'm ready to sync the two up.
Here's hoping I can pull this off! Wish me luck~
-MCH
Hmm. I'm really good at torturing myself late at night. And apparently equally as good at looking stupid.
...But I had a pretty good day today.
So, I started this on my trip and didn’t finish it, but it gives a good story of my trip.
"In medias res…
Day two of the Montana/Wyoming trip and I am amazed at just how beautiful this place really is. Pictures don’t do justice the majesty of the snow capped peaks looming in the near distance. I’m looking out over McDonald Lake and wishing that all of my friends could be here to see it too. What a time we could have together.
Yesterday began at approximately 5:30am (following 5 hours of sleep because of staying up to watch the LOST season finale on ABC.com, which btw was amazing and terrible all at once). After getting ready and eating breakfast we hit the road to Charlotte, which was both drawn out and nerve racking because of the tedious and dangerous I-77 corridor, particularly through Huntersville. At one point we almost got run into. C’est la vie.
Upon finally reaching the airport we gave USAir our bags and went on our merry way to Denver at 9:30. On the plane we all read books and magazines and debated the time we would finally arrive. I ofcourse, was right, considering our three hour journey would move us two time zones back, we arrived roughly “an hour” after departing in Denver, CO, The “Mile High City.” To my amusement, the city didn’t look high at all. There were only a few mountains in sight. I was then informed that the Plains gradually rise to make Denver a mile above sea level. Oh well.
Because our flight was somewhat early to arrive (and due to my mother’s miscalculations on flight time (haha love you Mom) we had over an hour layover. We made our way slowly to the departure gate for Helena, MT, the state’s capital, and stopped by a New Belgium restaurant on our way. The sandwich I had was pretty good, as was the Sunshine Wheat beer that I ordered, which ended up not only being much more than a pint, but also almost 8 bucks. Oops. Something I found funny was the fact that as I ate I noticed two fairly attractive girls sitting a few tables away, one of which was wearing a cowboy hat. I remarked to myself that these must be some good ol’ Montana girls as a joke. I noticed one of them staring at me for a time but I was like, well I’ll never see them again, whatever. Upon reaching our boarding gate however, these two girls were already sitting in the seats closest to the gate itself. I then chuckled to myself since they were indeed heading to Montana.
We then boarded the plane to Helena, “The Queen of the Rockies.” Let me just say, this plane was tiny as hell. It seated maybe 50 people. And the turbulence on the way to our destination was KILLER. I thought more than once that we might fall out of the sky. However, we reached Montana without any problem and walked down the steps onto the tarmac. Boy was it HOT… and WINDY. Dang it was windy. We grabbed our rental car and I marveled at the beauty of the nearby Rockies. Having never been out here I was pretty stoked.
We then began our drive that took what seemed like forever to arrive at Bigfork, MT. On the way there, I started snapping pictures left and right to give you guys somewhat of an idea of how awesome this place is. Wide open spaces with simply beautiful mountain backgrounds. If it weren’t for the high winds (which may be uncommon hopefully) this would be one of the best places in the world to have a game of Ultimate Frisbee or Football. Seriously sweet. Eventually we reached Big Fork. Now this place was going to go on my “Most Beautiful” category, but it has already been beaten on day two lol. Don’t let that confuse you… it is STILL extremely gorgeous to see, and the “town” itself is a quaint little place, with a pretty lake and delicious restaurants - many of which are located on “Electric Avenue” (And yes… I did rock on down to it). We ate at La Provence, a French restaurant, and I had the Halibut special and finally had Escargot. This was actually pretty good, mainly, my dad said, because the chef actually knew how to cook it and therefore it wasn’t chewy. After dessert and a food baby in its third trimester, we went back to Mountain Lake Lodge to settle in. I was lucky enough to have internet for like the third or fourth time that day lol.
When we woke up the next day, we grabbed all our stuff and left the lodge to drive up to West Glacier, in Glacier National Park, MT. Now, I was highly ecstatic about this because after my trip to Alaska, there are few things I love more than a good glacier. However, upon reaching this place, I found that Logan’s Pass, the road that connects the two halves of the park, was closed 16 miles in because of snow. I was at first surprised, but upon seeing the landscape, I understood. All the mountain tops here are covered in snow. The nearby river and lake are filled with crystal clear melt water. The river itself was raging because of the warming temperatures, but it was still about 50 degrees at the height of the day. We spent hours riding around and taking pictures of the mountains, river and lake before coming back and getting lunch at the West Glacier Restaurant. After that we sauntered over to the Alberta Information Center (?). The question mark is there because I was confused. Why would there be this station in Montana? Well, part of the park is actually IN Alberta, so I was like, oh okay, but then after going through and seeing the stuff that is there I thought, OH OKAY LET’SFREAKINGGOTOALBERTANOW. Without being able to show you the recreational video, its hard to understand why I was so excited. But in addition to the video, my parents stood there going, “Oh yeah we remember that. And that. AND THAT!” They went to British Columbia and Alberta for their Honeymoon. Their memories make me jealous. Haha I want to have a Honeymoon with all the awesome stuff they did. But I digress. After exiting, my dad brought up the idea, “Let’s just go now and stay in Canada tonight.” And I was instantly like… HELL YES (in my head). Sadly, because of 9/11, we would have had to present our passports, which they didn’t have with them and I didn’t own. So, no Canada.
We then went and cancelled our reservation at West Glacier Motel because my mom wanted to put us IN the park instead, so we relocated to the Apgar Motel, which was mostly empty. Because of this, we could have almost anything we wanted. My mom asked for something with a view, and the nice lady was like, “Come with me.” So we proceeded to head outside and towards McDonald Lake, which could not be more enormous or amazing. We walked around the corner of one of the cabins and OhMyGod… we were pretty much ON the Lake. Cabin 22. If you walked out of the front door for 30 paces, you would be standing in the river running away from the lake and about 200-300 feet up from the lake itself. The water was a deep turquoise/green, the likes of which I have seen perhaps one time in Australia. You could literally see the bottom of the river from standing over it. It was like paradise.
We spent the rest of the afternoon skipping stones across the river. After my shoulder couldn’t twist anymore, we retired to get something to eat, ending up at West Glacier Restaurant again because everything is closed since the “Season” hasn’t started yet. This is when I experienced Huckleberry. Now, I consider myself somewhat of a Berry Man. I enjoy some Berries. While not a connoisseur, I do like them. Well… Huckleberries take the cake. Or pie in this case. I was enraptured by the sweetness and the flavor of this pie filling moreso than I have been by a dessert in a long time. This pie could perhaps be the number 2 dessert on my Top 10 list next to Chocolate Chess Pie. That is no easy feat. So, on the way out, I grabbed some Huckleberry Jam and we returned to Cabin 22. To let the evening settle in, I headed out here to watch the sun go down and talk about my travels. I can’t help but be inspired by the view. I’ll take one last picture just for you guys J
I wish I had someone my own age sitting in the empty lawn chair next to mine. One day I’ll come back here with someone special and pray that they enjoy it as much as I have.
On to Day Three! Today we got up early, packed our stuff, and checked out of Cabin 22. We ate breakfast at a restaurant right outside the park, where we sat and watched what we thought were Marmots ( that ended up being ground squirrels) shake their tails and scurry around the hillside. This was very amusing. From there we began our two hour trek through insane winding roads into Blackfeet Indian Territory and to East Glacier and beyond to St. Marys and Babb. From Babb we turned into the National Park again (since Logan’s Pass was closed and this was the only way to the other side) and made our way to Many Glacier. The view… was… out of the world. Like movie quality Rocky Mountains. I snapped so many pictures. Once we arrived we noticed everything was closed because THERE WAS STILL SNOW ON THE GROUND. Haha. So my parents were like oh well we’ll look around then leave. And I was like nah uh we’re HIKING. So finally they agreed and we began our hike. My dad kept griping that they “weren’t equipped” for snow on the ground and I just kept chugging along because it really wasn’t a big deal. Well, because of the hike, we saw some of the most beautiful things on the trip so far. A gorgeous green lake with red rock bottom, an awesome waterfall and got some great vantage points for mountain pictures. One of the mountains has to be the one they use for Paramount Pictures. Seriously. After our epic hike, we returned to the car for the long drive back to civilization. The winding roads near St. Marys reminded me of our perilous mesa Jeep ride in Arizona. There were no guard rails and we were on the cliff side of the road on the way back, two or three feet from falling nearly 500-1000 feet or more into the ravine below. We made it safe and sound to Kalispell late in the evening, staying at the Holiday Inn Express and re-granting me internet connection. We then grabbed a bite to eat at the understaffed but delicious Winchester Steak House/Bar/Casino haha. After that I drove, speeding over to Best Buy to get a 6-1 Card Reader so we could go ahead and upload photos to my computer and free up space on the memory card. After spending some time uploading the photos to the laptop, then Facebook, and chatting with friends back home, I finally went to sleep.
Day four of the trip found me waking up 7 hrs later at 8:30 am in order to get on the road south to Butte. We had two planned stops on the way: National Bison Range and St. Ignatius Mission. After what seemed like an eternity, and passing RIGHT BY St. Ignatius because the building looked so new, we ended up at the National Bison Range. Driving around on the trails, my first impressions were of Jurassic Park. Here we were driving around in a wildlife preserve and I could see no animals. After going through one small but entire loop in the park, I was not confident. Driving down the second longest loop of the three resulted in viewing some LIVE BISON! But they were quite a distance off and I could not get a good picture. Deciding that we didn’t want to waste our $5 we took the longest loop, which was said to be about a two hour drive. For awhile we still didn’t see many animals. After over an hour, we finally saw antelope. One of them seemed very sick as he was panting desperately but his buddy seemed content. We continued on for a few minutes and then BAM. BUFFALO F****** CENTRAL! There were more bison than we could shake a stick at and they were all up on the car. I got some amazing photos. Finally satisfied that our $5 was well spent, we continued on, finding St. Ignatius Mission (which we had passed thinking that it looked too new) and went inside. It was nothing really special, but the paintings on the walls and ceiling were very good, and surprisingly, done by the Mission cook. After leaving the Mission, we headed on to Butte, finally arriving in the odd town. I say odd because most of the people living in Butte seemed very poor, but the town was medium sized (for Montana) and they had most modern amenities. After getting settled in we went exploring, going to Wal-Mart to see if they had 1 hr photo (they didn’t) and then grabbing Chinese food (an interesting choice for Montana to be sure) at Four Seasons Hong Kong Chinese which was delicious! We then drove up to Historic Downtown Butte, passing by, of all things, a traveling carnival! While I didn’t partake, it was fun to see all the lit up rides near the Butte Civic Center. Historic Butte at night was somewhat depressing because of the ghetto-style homes nearby. In all honesty, most of the outskirts of Butte were trailer homes. I wasn’t sure what to think about that. We finally drove back to the hotel and went to sleep.
Another early morning commute ensued after a hearty Holiday Inn breakfast. We stopped again at the Butte Wal-Mart to grab some cheap film, then went to the airport to trade our rental car for another. Something I left out of my narrative thus far is the fact that our Toyota Camry felt like it was falling apart. Either the alignment was screwy or it was straight up about to lose a wheel, but we were worried the entire time driving it. So, since Butte had a Hertz rental place, we picked up a dark blue Nissan Murano in its place, a much more expensive rental at no extra cost. Awesome. After that we began our trek to West Yellowstone. Upon advice from the lady working at the Harley Davidson shop that my dad felt the need to stop at, we took a different route down to West Yellowstone. We drove through the ancient towns of Nevada and Virginia Cities, seeing a cowboy caravan in the latter. We then went to Earthquake Lake, the site of a 1959 7.5 earthquake that killed 28 people camping in and around the area. It was a sight to behold. Half of a mountain had shrugged off because of the shift in the tectonic block. The wind created from the mountain side collapsing was over 100 mph and ripped the clothes off of some people nearby. Rocks and boulders crushed cars and one couple sleeping in their tent, their kids and picnic table 5 feet away left completely unharmed. And the nearby river was completely shifted, creating Earthquake Lake and carrying away countless cabins. Scary to think about. In the end, the lady’s advice was totally worth it. Something else I failed to mention earlier on in my narrative is the absolute kindness of Montana folk. Numerous times on our journey a citizen of Montana has gone out of their way to suggest advice or help out. Something I wish happened more often in NC. After leaving Earthquake Lake, we backtracked a smidge and dove down into IDAHO. Yes, I added ANOTHER state to my list of visited states. We drove for about 20 or 30 minutes through Idaho before heading back into Montana and West Yellowstone. After grabbing a very late lunch, exploring town and grabbing some dessert, we went back and passed out for awhile. We decided upon waking that we would just grab drinks instead of eating dinner at 9pm, so we headed down to the bar next door (connected through the first floor hallway hahaha) and I had an LIT and my parents had margaritas. We then went to bed to start our Yellowstone adventure bright and early the next morning."
PART II Soon...
November 10th
TheGreatKatsby
November 7th
Smurfy
November 6th
goldengal
electricdiamond
sweetheartbeat
November 5th
electricdiamond
nomad
beccasays
sgotanewface
sweetheartbeat
