She works hard for the money....

...or at least she wants to! I need a job, dammit! I finally finished up all the classroom work for my paralegal degree, and now I need to land an internship. It's the final requirement for me to be able to graduate. 180 hours of substantive legal work is all it'll take. But I also need to have a job that will actually pay my bills and keep me from having to depend on my dad all the damn time! So far I've had 2 interviews, 1 rejection, and a ton of leads from people who are a lot cooler than I thought they were. I love my chorus! I even have a lead to call today from one of our altos -- who used to be a professor at the law school in my lovely town. How sweet is that?!

Anyway, I have to jam for now, so that I can get home to my kiddo and pick up my contact lenses from the doctor and go work out and feel all spiffy. :)

Only a week left...

That's how long I have in school, academically speaking. By the start of February I need to have an internship. EEEEEEK!

Okay, so I'm trying hard not to freak out too much, but it's a bit difficult. My main concern is that once I'm done with the internship, then I have to go out and pound the pavement again for a job. And my dad wants to quit supporting my sorry ass as soon as possible. Not that I blame him, mind you. I have a 9-year-old. I know now what it is to be a parent and not want somebody to be continually draining you of resources. Oh well, at least I now have interview and work clothes, so I'm ready for a job dangit!

A really cool site to visit...

It's devoted to my favorite band in the whole wide world, Rush, and it's hosted by a really super neato-keen guy -- Music in The Abstract. His site is full of obscure, yummy Rush goodness. He has a blog of his own, and some videos and other trippendicular stuff. Anyway, here's the URL, for those visitors who aren't already part of the Rush family:

http://home.earthlink.net/~cmilmerstadt/rush/rush-oddities.htm

I've been there and haven't begun to explore it all yet. But it kicks all manner of ass. *grin* Love ya, MiTA!

Fear and Loathing in Oregon...

I am so beyond freaked out right now, it's not even funny. I have been trying like crazy for the past week to get in contact with the internship coordinator for my school, and she's nowhere to be found! I need to have an internship next term, or else I've been doing all this work for nothing! Oh well, I have to print out my resume and give it to a really sweet guy in Shannon and Vanesa's office today, so I may have a glimmer of hope here. I also need to send out an SOS to my chorus friends, in hopes of finding a position with a gay or gay-friendly family attorney or firm. That would so rock. Anyway, class coming into this lab, so I gotta scram.

The circle of life...

I don't normally quote songs from Disney movies, especially when they've been pounded into our collective heads by middle-of-the-road FM radio stations, but I have a decent reason this time. My little mousie Joey passed away quietly in her sleep Thursday. She was a sweet, spry little old lady and I will miss her. My final memory of her is her running up my arm and onto the back of my neck and sniffing in my hair and ears.

So what's with the circle bit, you may ask? I went to the pet store today and bought two new little girls so that Katie (Joey's cagemate) wouldn't feel too lonely. They're a couple of tiny little girls only a couple of months old, and so small next to Katie! I have named them Pip and Squeak. After I got them home, I cleaned out the cages and put in fresh food and water and litter, and then Allen and I gave everybody a bath so that they'd all smell alike. Boy if that wasn't fun! Mice can damn sure jump a long ways if they feel the need! Anyway, everybody is happy and healthy and nobody has bitten anybody else so far. Oh yeah, we also came home with a couple of beta fishes that Allen named with Greek letters. (Cuz beta's a Greek letter, ya know....) So Alpha and Omega are part of our family now too. :D

And then there's the newest development between Michael and me. He's decided that he wants to try to make a go of it in a relationship...but on an ongoing trial basis. I am decidedly confused. It pisses me off to an extent that he came and told me before the holidays that he was gonna completely break things off between us, based on what some people in his family wanted. I like his mom, but she isn't the be-all and end-all that he often thinks she is. I have to be honest and admit that this is something I have wanted for a long time. But I also have to remind myself to be honest with him and with myself about who I am and what I like. And about how I raise my kid. If I can be honest, and be tough-minded without being mean, then I think I may have a good start at a decent life for both me and Allen. We shall see.

Happy Gnu Year!

As Gary Gnu (Great Space Coaster) always used to say, "No gnus is good gnus!" What can I say? The holiday season was hectic and wonderful and packed and too short and lots of fun. My dad was here for about 4 days, and got to hear Confluence sing at Mission Mill in Salem. It was pretty cool, as he got to hear my one and only tiny little solo. He would have eaten dinner with us that night too, but he's not really that comfortable in big crowds, so he just laid low after the performance and let me have my time with my friends. All in all it was pretty cool.

Anton showed up a couple of days earlier than he had anticipated, so we had him on Christmas Day in the morning, and he got to watch Allen unwrap all of his presents. Then we played a game of Risk with Allen's brand new game, and I beat the pants off both of them after holding nothing more than Europe! I rule! :D Anton also came bearing gifts of music, in the form of his old 60-CD changer (or "jukebox", as he calls it) and a couple of CDs that he just let me have outright. So I now have a copy of In Utero by Nirvana, and a 2-disc set that he bought while he was here, turned into MP3s with my computer, and just left with me! Whee!

And where did he get these new discs, I hear you ask? Why, in Seattle, of course! We went to the Space Needle (only Allen and I went all the way up) and Seattle Center on a day trip. It was all about a couple of cool museums that day: The Experience Music Project and the Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame. They were both amazing and gnarly and wicked and totally cool! After all, how rockin' is a day that you can see both a life-sized model of Gort and the guitars used by Eddie Van Halen ("Hot for Teacher") and Jimi Hendrix (Woodstock)? So back to the new CDs...we all got some souvenirs, and the discs were his. He was just nice enough to let me keep them on an extended loan.

So that takes care of Christmas 2005...here's to a happy 2006 and left-leaning midterm elections and all of that jazz. I will likely post again tomorrow with news about how the week after Christmas turned out. Suffice to say that I am now officially no longer surprised at anything life throws at me. Oh yeah, I need to give a shout-out to Juicy Fruiter, who also uses Blogger, and posted the first-ever comment to my humble li'l blog! The link above will take you to his blog as well. Go, read, pester him to write some more! :D