You know it's a fun-filled Halloween when you cheer cause a second cop pulled you over.

I'll get there.

So here was my Halloween.

Home branch in the morning. Wore my Nerd Herd t-shirt which the alarm guy recognized and called out.

Go Team Bartowski!

On the desk when who should make a surprise visit but the Space Cadet! After being gone a month - or more - due to injury she hobbled her way in to pick up some holds.

I got a hug, I felt special.

Apparently, due to her injury, we are no longer allowed to use the back door as that whole area is just prone for disaster.

After two hours at the home branch I went over to the work branch for another two, one of which was spent weeding our youth collection, the other was on the front desk with the Queen of the Known Universe. I had like 6 stats total. Rockstar huh? Not so much but not my fault.

Hamburger for lunch from the usual place across the street.

Off to practicum - Practicum CountUp 67:20/90 - where Mr. BossMan Tom had homemade eyeballs for treats.



Frozen grapes rolled in cherry jello powder. The strategy is to freeze the grapes so it creates condensation then roll the grapes in a pack of jello powder - you can pick the flavor - then put them in the fridge. They were awesome. He sent me home with a cup full since he had half a tupperware thing leftover.

Oh the pains of being an intern, leftover food, my life is so rough.

Practicum was good, a lot of more interest in the libraries now that we have the internet computers up and running.

After practicum I headed out to see the boyfriend which is when I checked my email and did a slightly embarrassing jump for joy. Actually it was more of a jump out of shock cause I PASSED MY COMPS!

Of course they don't give you any feedback it's just pass or fail. Which is both bad and good. Bad because I put hours and hours of work into those and I'd like to hear something, but good because if they were crap I don't want to hear, "well, they sucked but we felt bad for you so..."

One of my comrades also passed, I'm still waiting to hear back from the other. If all three of us succeed there will be drinks in our future.

Though that's probably true if the other one fails too.

All I have left is the rest of my 90 hours for Practicum and a few more assignments for Youth Services and then I'll graduate and get my Master's in Library Science at the graduation ceremony in December.

Called my mom, then the Cool Aunt since it's her fault I'm in the program in the first place, then sent out a text to the rest of the family and the Library Goddess. The consensus is good.

Second Sister called me a big stud, I wasn't sure how to respond to that.

After all that calmed down the boyfriend and I got Runza for supper - if you're not from Nebraska Google it - then watched The Skeleton Key.



That was messed up. He was shocked I'd never heard of it. I'm a fan of hers but not diehard so must have slipped by. Scale of Awesome says 5/10. I told him if it gave me nightmares it was his fault. Of course he's at work now so he's preoccupied anyway.

So I left his place and I'm almost to the interstate when suddenly this car speeds up and pulls behind me and then I see the lights turn on. I was totally confused, I had my seatbelt on, I wasn't speeding, I'm not drunk. I pulled over - on the on ramp btw not cool - and he comes up and is like, "your headlight is out."

What?

In my head I'm like "it is not, my mechanic boyfriend has been driving this car around all night he would have noticed something like that."

Apparently not so much.

I'll take it as a compliment actually he must have just been too focused on the awesomeness that was me and missed out on the whole missing line of sight deal part thing.

Or maybe it went out after he stopped driving it.

Either way he gave me a fix-it ticket and said keep it with me in case I get pulled over again.

Me, being the sarcastic person that I am, was like okay, how many cops can I get to pull me over and give me the same ticket?

Now, there are rules to this pursuit.

First rule, don't speed. You don't want to get an additional ticket.

Second rule, remember to use your turn signal. You don't want to get an additional ticket.

Third rule, continue to wear your seatbelt. You don't want to get an additional ticket.

Fourth rule, watch the road. You don't want to get into an accident because of your effort to get a replicate ticket.

I passed tons of cops and I was getting sad cause no one was pulling me over.

Slackers.

There was one a few miles from where I got pulled over initially that had its lights on when I passed him but then they turned off so I think the initial patrolman actually cleared him for me.

Bummer.

So I'm driving and I make it to town and I'm about to turn off of the highway when I see a cop in the median - or the grass thing is it still called a median when there's grass on it and cops park on it? Anyway, I see the brake lights come on and I started to cheer.

Oh come on, you would too.

He walks up, I roll down the window and hold up the ticket. He's like, "oh. so you already know." "yep. had that conversation already tonight."

He was nice enough to let me go without running all of my information again, shortest cop-pull-over ever I'm calling it.

Now I'm back with my big fat cat about to watch some more Blacklist. It's amusing to rewatch them and then count the times you yell "Run Lizzy Run" at the screen. I'm at 5.

So there, that was my Halloween. It made up for the semi-boring days that preceded it.

And now I give you the Spell Block Tango cause I think it's amusing.


Disney plus Chicago, two of my favorite things.

and yes that is Amber Riley.

i'm out!

"You should be getting flowers, not giving them."

I decided against posting this week as most of them would have been me rambling about my apartment, cat, or staring at a computer screen for 10 hours. So here is your mega post.

It's official. Comps are done.



Celebratory paper throw.

I can now officially leave my apartment and not freak out about it.

Unlike how I felt all week.

Comps were not fun. And a lot harder than I expected them to be. Though I wasn't really sure what to expect.

I went into it thinking the lowest grade I've got on a project is a B and the lowest grade I've got for a class is an A-  (*cough*Library Goddess*cough*...threw off my 4.0) so I can handle this it'll be fine.

Questions were posted at 8, I woke up at 9 and went oh god I'm screwed.

The Cool Aunt and I had this baking analogy where we tied the difficulty level of the question to the difficulty level of a baked good - it ranged from cupcakes to flanby - and the plan was to start with the easy cupcake one and finish with the flanby one.

I emailed her and was like...they're all flanby.

Sketch is secretly laughing right now because she knows that I can't bake so the difficulty level for both of those desserts is actually the same. 

Ironically, I ended up doing it in reverse starting with flanby and ending with cupcake.

If you can call it a cupcake, it was still harder than any of my previous assignments.

There's a discussion board tied to each question where we can ask stuff. I'm pretty sure I asked about triple the amount of questions everyone else did because I was just so lost on the first 2 but then once they were explained I had an idea of what I was gonna write about and did it before I lost the motivation.

This was after meeting with my comrades over lunch. Well breakfast. But it was at lunch time.

Is that brunch? My brain has nothing left in it.

We joked about the questions giving one of us a heart attack. I believe the direct quote was "yeah, take one for the team. then they'll make them easier...would you like more butter for those pancakes?"

We were gonna meet later in the week for drinks but it didn't work out schedule-wise. Now the plan is to go out for drinks after we learn we've all passed.

If anything is worth a drink it was this week.

The longest took me 10 hours - that was 10 pages - another took me 7 and I lost count with the other two cause I spread them out over a couple of days while I made changes on my "final" drafts of the others.

I won't post the questions in case they want to re-use them at some point but one was on technology, another was on group development, another was on collaboration and then the monster 10 hour one was on continuing education.

The funny part about that one is that BossLady (to make sure they made sense) and Oldest Sister (to check for grammar and to make sure they made sense) looked them over for me and after I sent the first one BossLady tracked me down at work and said that I made more CE plans in a day than she had in the years she's been there so she will now delegate that all to me.

I went, um, no...but thanks?

The only breaks I gave myself were to do something else productive.

I've never been so caught up on laundry and my closet has never been this clean.

Amazing what you can accomplish when you're avoiding something else.

I kept second guessing myself and changing stuff so I finally just ended up posting them on Saturday a day early before I could talk myself out of it.

Now they're out of my hands.

Got the confirmation email saying they should be graded by Friday so now I wait.

In limbo.

I hate limbo.

If I pass all I have left are practicum and youth services which both end in December. If I fail even one I have to retake next semester.

No pressure.

But, being done Saturday meant I got to watch the Husker game...ugh...and then go out to the farm to help Mom.

Oh, did I mention that Mom decided we needed yet another experience with white walls and sterilized equipment so she fell out of a tractor and busted her knee?

I bought her flowers, that's where the title comes from, some random dude said it and walked away.

I spent the day cleaning and mowing. My cousin or second cousin or once removed or something like that is coming to help farm.

Kind of random and out of the blue as I haven't seen him in years, but welcome nonetheless.

After that I stopped by to see the boyfriend. We watched No Country for Old Men.



He had to explain a lot of it to me, but it was pretty good.

Same with Donnie Brasco which we watched yesterday.



I'm giving them both a 6/10 on the Scale of Awesome.

That was basically the only time I saw him all week. Except for the one night I took off, we got dinner and watched some TV. I think it was Office Space and something else, I can't remember this week was all a blur.

Oh and we saw Bad Grandpa also yesterday.



Scarred for life but he seemed to like it.

What is it with boys and Jackass humor?

Anyway, so now I'm done and it's back to work tomorrow.

Here's my music rec before I crash.

Smooth Criminal - Glee cast Santana and Sebastian


apparently i'm way behind cause i have no idea who the guy is.

out!

They're not here to fish.

So, this is my last post before I go off the radar for a week.

You may hear from me at some point but there are no guarantees.

Today was crazy, I started at the home branch where I got to work with the Queen of Awesome. We had fun as always, but it was the calm before the storm cause once I got to the work branch I was running all over the place trying to do supplies stuff, volunteer stuff, TAB stuff, and regular circ stuff just so that it was all done and set for the next week. The New Guy's got my back for supplies, Bosslady is good with the volunteers, I can check my email for TAB stuff if needed and they can handle the rest.

I'm really not looking forward to tomorrow, aka the beginning of Comprehensive Exams. I have a week to write 24 pages, if I fail I have to wait to retake them next semester.

Joy.

I think I'm psyching myself out. It's the not knowing what the questions will be that makes me nervous. I'm hoping that once I get them I'll be able to gauge how long they're going to take me.

But! I have my comrades who I'm meeting up with Sunday afternoon. We found a place with wifi and coffee and breakfast all day, huzzah! oh and pie too which is always good. So we may be camped out there for a while. That calms my nerves a bit, especially since we'll be meeting later in the week as well to make sure no one is flailing.

Here's my plan for the week:
Saturday - questions arrive in the AM, plan on coming up with outlines and finding resources
Sunday - church then meet with comrades to brainstorm
Monday - write all day
Tuesday - work/practicum/write more
Wednesday - write all day
Thursday - work/practicum/write more
Friday - write all day
Saturday - write all day
Sunday - church then final edits then submit them then family pictures

That's the rough draft schedule. I'm hoping to see my boyfriend at some point before Sunday. Girlscout says I'll need to take breaks just to keep functioning so that sounds promising. I'm thinking I'll send what I have to Bosslady and Oldest Sister by Friday - they have graciously said they would look them over just to make sure they make sense. It would be nice to be done early and then I'd have time to go back and edit them without all the deadline pressure BUT without knowing what the questions are I have no way of knowing how long they will take me.

See where the stress comes in?

But that's okay, as stressful as today was at work and as stressful as tomorrow will be tonight was really nice.

Went out to eat with the boyfriend then went to see Captain Phillips.



You get used to the accent.

While Gravity bored me - I know, you're still booing me - this one was totally opposite. Was on the edge of my seat the whole movie. Scale of Awesome says 8/10. Similar to Zero Dark Thirty it's not something I'd watch again but it was definitely worth it the first time.

The boyfriend is really sweet, tonight especially. He told me to focus on my school stuff and that if I had time we would hang out. He does have plenty of projects to work on - maybe both of us will actually finish something this week. But he has a point if I pass these, finish my practicum by December 1st and get at least a B in Youth Services I will graduate in December and be done with homework eternally.

Then we'll have all the time in the world. Unless he gets switched to second, then that's a different story.

Song of the Day: Flashback Friday

Bitter Sweet Symphony - The Verve


Alright, I'm zenned out now. Came home to a nice card and coffee giftcard from the Cool Aunt. She rocks and she knows how much coffee I'll be drinking this week.

So to sum up, I like you all, I think you are all awesome rockstar people, however if you try to get in a touch with me this week and I don't respond don't be offended, I just want to be able to turn off my phone and get this over with.

Hope you all have rockstar weeks.

She's choppin' broccoli.

So apparently I'm uncultured because I didn't know Dana Carvey enjoyed watching women chop broccoli.

Fortunately, I have siblings who teach me these things.

Here's what I learned today.



We frequently text random things back and forth and the majority of them between the sisters are lyrics.

Mostly Troll Doll ones, but others are included as well.

And then you've got my brother who is overloaded by all this randomness and says something to the effect of "stop making my phone beep."

To which Oldest Sister replied "beep" about 10 times in 2 minutes.

It was rather amusing.

It was just a really random day. Got that text. Then there's this patron who decided to throw a huge temper tantrum when she got caught breaking the rules, but then again I threw my own when my favorite aide decided today was her last day and fist bumped me on the way out the door.

We're losing all the good ones.

Then, I get home and check my email to find a message from one of my college professors checking in on me. I haven't heard from her in years.

As much as I hated that place the teachers did actually care.

They should put that on a business card. 

I'm sorry, that's awful. 

But anyway, she wrote me a recommendation letter along with three others there and she still cares to check in. It's nice. Speaking of, I should write a letter to the one I correspond with regularly, I'm way behind on that.

After that randomness it was time for online class where we talked about getting library jobs - which I already have so... but it was a good review and there was other stuff too - then I finished my practicum stuff and uploaded that, oh the correct Practicum Count-Up is actually 51:30/90 cause that includes the after hours stuff, looked over Comps sources and made plans with my comrades to meet up.

We're all freaked cause this is a make or break exam so we're gonna meet up and go over sources and ideas on Sunday and then again later in the week to make sure everything makes sense.

The goal is to stop the flailing.

I guess in this circumstance you can't stop all the flailing but our goal is to limit the flailage so that we're able to focus and pass these damn tests and be done with homework eternally!

You know, after we finish the semester.

We haven't picked a spot yet but we've decided that coffee is essential.

Any suggestions on the south side of town?

That's all I got for today. Tomorrow's a staff meeting so I should probably crash soon.

On to the music:

Domino - Grey vs. Nic Hawk


Grey is one of my favorites but I'm glad Nic got saved. He was number 21 on my top 20.

Legitimate pre-midnight post, holy crap tag in use.





with a little bit of luck i can find me a girl with a truck, yeah!

dangit, it's back in my head again.

Might be the equivalent of you falling on your ass and landing in a pile of Christmas.

I'm sorry, but that's the best line ever.

Go Blacklist! Really loving this show, definitely my favorite of the new lineup and I'm glad the ratings agree.

The rest can die, except the Crazy Ones which has its moments, and Back in the Game cause it's entertaining. Think Trophy Wife is already on its way out, but really it had no chance.

So today was dead.

Literally, I don't know if it was the holiday or the weather but I was on the front desk by myself for two hours in a row and I think I helped maybe 5 people total. The majority of my stuff came over the phone or people running in right before we closed. Which makes the rest of the day really boring. Especially when there's nothing TAB-related to do cause I've done it all already.

But at least tonight was fun. Watched The Voice battles, some pretty good ones so far I only lost one of my top 20, then Blacklist obviously, then it was on to Castle - glad she's back, and 2 Broke Girls - "This thing hates women so much we should call it Texas!"

See what happens when my boyfriend's away?

I go back to being boring.

Which actually is okay at the moment because next week is really gonna suck so I should enjoy the laziness while I can.

It's Comps.

I'm freaked.

Everyone is all like, you'll pass don't worry about it, but see they're not your average papers. If I fail even one out of four I don't graduate, I have to retake it next semester.

So Superwoman and Oldest Sister have agreed to proofread them. I'm hoping because I'm taking basically the whole week off that I will finish early and then they'll have time to look them over and I'll have time to edit them without it feeling all crammed for time.

I get them Saturday morning and they're due the next Sunday at 6PM. I'm meeting my classmates the first Sunday to brainstorm which makes me have less anxiety knowing that they're going through the same thing and we can figure out what the questions actually mean instead of worrying about misinterpretation.

I'm going to have to figure out a schedule and stick to it.

That's my weakness, time management, but this is basically a life or death thing so I'll attempt to sort out my priorities.

That's all I got for today. Boring, I know, but it was relaxing and tomorrow I only go in from 10-1 so I even get to sleep in!

Gotta finish up some practicum stuff and then I'm off to bed.

One of the good ones from tonight and one of my favorite songs of all time.

House of the Rising Sun - Briana vs. Jacquie


yes that is who you think it is. i love that adam sides with cee-lo to the point of yelling. i'm so excited.

Here's the updated top 20.

Tessanne Chin – Adam DEFEATED DONNA IN BATTLES

Matthew Schuler - Xtina

Holly Henry – Blake

Kat Robichaud – CeeLo

Grey – Adam DEFEATED NIC HAWK IN BATTLES

Brandon Chase - Blake 

Michael Lynch - Xtina

Timyra Joi - Xtina - ELIMINATED in battles

Briana Cuoco - LOST IN BATTLES, STOLEN BY BLAKE 

Jacquie Lee – Xtina DEFEATED BRIANA IN BATTLES

Tamara Chauniece – CeeLo

Ashley Dubose - Adam

Monika Leigh - Blake

Shelbie Z – Blake DEFEATED JUSTIN IN BATTLES

James Wolpert – Adam

Josh Logan – Xtina

Caroline Pennel – CeeLo DEFEATED ANTHONY IN BATTLES

Johnny Gray – CeeLo

Olivia Henken - Xtina

Ray Bourdeaux – Blake

and i'm out, barely before midnight, holy crap tag in use.