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So my job recently took a turn for the AWESOME. I now get to write blog articles, trawl the internet for links, and post stuff to Facebook and Twitter - and get paid for it. That's pretty cool. It also means I have cash (woo!), which means I can do stuff like a pre-order signed copy of The Ocean at the End of the Lane  and freak out over it and see if putting it next to a signed Terry Pratchett novel will spawn a signed Good Omens. Unfortunately, it has not as of yet.

So my life is pretty cool right now. Have a poem:


In days long past, when night was gone
Us children faced the sun;
We'd sing and play, we'd grasp the day,
and enjoy the light we'd won.

From the to now the night is nothing
but the shadow of the world,
Not a terror or a fiend
nor dangerous flag unfurled.

I remember days long past
when daylight was the goal
To survive the night, spread wings, take flight
and escape the darkness whole.

Where did the sense of terror go?
And the joy of fighting through?
Why do only children fear the dark,
What was it that we knew?

I wish that I could feel again
that fear, that fierce desire,
To know the night as children do,
and to know that inner fire.

College and stuff

I'm graduating high school in exactly one week. In one week, an entire chapter of my life will be over. Am I sad? Not really. I'm not really losing anything other than the wonderful daily experience of people not knowing how to properly walk through a hallway and the privilege of having an 'honor card' that displays, in physical form, how far the administration trusts us. (Answer: up to six infraction before you lose privileges like 'wearing jeans occasionally.') Am I happy? Not really. I've enjoyed high school, for all my complaints. Am I scared/excited/nervous? Well.

Hell yes.

I'm about to make one of the biggest changes in my life ever. I'll be moving out of my parents' house. I'll be living with one of my best friends - with someone who I choose to live with, instead of someone I'm obliged to live with. Meanwhile, three of my other best friends are moving to a college three hours away (164 miles away according to Google) and I'll see them at best once a month - less than 5% of what I'm used to. I'm going to lose the security of having 90% of my time scheduled by someone else, and gain the freedom of getting to schedule that time myself. I'm going to have to do things like pay for gas and food for myself all the time. I'm freaking out.

But I'm going to do it. I'm going to rock it. I'm going to send my friends stupid texts once a day. I'm going to enroll in classes that make me happy, that teach me. I'm going to make awesome music. And I'm going to do it on as cheaply as possible, 'cause, you know, poor college student.

Rock on.

Tiny Mini-Post (Now with Extra River Water)

Here's a quick rundown on what's happened in the past twenty-four hours:

• So at some point yesterday, I hit my thousandth view, and I'm pretty sure only about half of those were attributable to spambots. You guys are cool, you know that? 
• Twenty-one hours ago, I went to the reunion party, and spent it singing show tunes whilst being accompanied by an awesome dude I probably won't see again. Also, we watched a taping of the show, which was awesome. 
• Four hours ago, I went out to go picture-hunting for my new job.
• Two hours ago, I found a fountain. 
• An hour and a half ago, I fell in a fountain. 
• Eighty-nine minutes ago, I realized the fountain was basically river water and thus nasty and filled with paper mill gunk. 
• Eighty-eight minutes and fifty-seven seconds ago (give or take a few) I all but levitated out of the fountain and started squishing back to my car.
• An hour ago, I had to explain to my family why I now smelled like nasty river water.
• Fifty-five minutes ago, I was sprayed down with a hose before I was allowed to enter the house.
• Fifty minutes ago, I finally got to the shower so I could stop smelling like the river, much to my relief.

It's been interesting. I'm going out again in a couple minutes to finish grabbing pics, to make up for those that I didn't take because I was overbalancing into a fountain. At least my camera didn't get wet.

Sunburns and Jobs and Absences, Oh My!

So I had orientation for my summer temp job yesterday, and I got to walk around behind the scenes at EAA's Airventure for a good two hours, being orientated and watching the helicopters and biplanes and awesome cars fly and/or drive around. I'm working at the Ford tent, stamping booklets for people, so I'm going to be sitting out of the sun among brand new Mustangs, F-150s, and other cars whose names I don't remember. It was all very interesting, and I might get to meet George Lucas (We were told to always address him as Mr. Lucas should we see him. That was an actual warning they gave us. No lie). However, being the highly intelligent and utterly prepared person that I am, I wore a tank top to the orientation, thinking that we would be given our uniform shirts right away and not wanting to roast. I also did not wear sunscreen, because the bits of me that are visible whilst wearing a t-shirt no longer burn. They have lost that capability in self-defense.

Unfortunately, we did not get our uniforms until the very end, and we did not put them on at any time. So I walked around, outside, in the 90 degree weather, with no shade, for approximately an hour and a half, correcting for the short periods of time I spent under a tent. I am sunburnt beyond belief. I am a shade that, when seen on a human's epidermis, is typically deemed 'lobster' or 'tomato'. Clothing hurts. So do goosebumps. With the interesting tanlines created by my tank top and bra straps, I look like a candy-cane made of flesh. It huuuurts. (I wonder how many hits I'm going to get for 'flesh candy-cane'. Hi, slightly creepy people!)

'Kay, so now that I've finished complaining, the reason for this informative but slightly rambling bit is this: for the next five days, I'm not going to be around, what with working 9 to 5, then rehearsing until 9 again. I'm going to go and rescue poems and rants from my notebook, though, so there shall be posts! Huzzah!

Now I'm going to go put more creme on my shoulders. It huuuurts.