i am not 5'3"

i finally got a real id card. not a driver's license, mind you, just an id, but now i can actually positively identify myself without looking like a creeper or a schmuck. ^_^ the card, lying little thing that it is, says that i am five three.. now, we all know that i am not that tall. or that matt is that short: it says he is five three, as well. *grin* i guess they just don't care that much. ::shrug::
also, i got back my grades from last semester (well, a little while ago, now). a's in all my english courses (yessss!) and a b in italian. i'm pretty disappointed about that b, but i know i'll be able to bring it up in the fall. it was a really hard semester and i'm still pretty displeased with the professor. in any case, though, i am pretty excited about upcoming semester. tons of fun/difficult english courses (three: one is peer editing, one is 20th c. american poetry, and the other is american modernist writing). these will all be pretty tough courses, i think, but i'm really looking forward to them. you can look at my schedule here.

once again, i'm making this update while at work. it's pretty dull since i haven't done enough training to actually handle money. seeing as this is a bank and money is all you can really do here.. well, there's nothing except dull regulations and uninteresting documentation for me to work with. blugh.

so, because i need to get more dull reading done, i'll leave off here. hope everyone had a great memorial day weekend!

p.s. our three year anniversary is this friday. congratulate us!
p.p.s. my birthday is next monday. bring me presents!

"we're building you a better bank!"

so, here i am.. sitting at work. a real office type job, the likes of which i won't see again for some time, i'm sure. instead of boring toil at wawa (or lion line, for that matter), sore feet and coffee smells included, i sit comfortably in front of an internet-accessing computer with only minimal restrictions placed on my web surfing (provided it doesn't interfere with my work). right now, i can't really do anything. i haven't even started training because i haven't finished up all my compliance testing (i'm putting the remainder of those off as i type this very entry), but the work seems as though it will be easy and pleasant with few customers and even fewer coffee smells. *gringrin*
i was officially offered the job over the phone by one of the human resources ladies.. while standing in boston. in the coop at harvard square. it was a good day. *grin* and from there i finished up touring boston with matt and had a lovely time spending the remainder of that weekend with him and partly with his family. it was nice to have the agency to visit him with really minimal parental involvement -- i felt like a real person.
while i'm not going to bother to post a full analysis (as if you'd want to read that) on my boston excursion, i will encourage you to check out my c(r)avedrawing based on the flight and also encourage you to bug me for any details in which you're interested.
for now, i'm happily employed (this branch closes on july 14th.. got any jobs for me for after that?) and happily enjoying matt's temporary unemployment (he gets to spend the time during my workday doing the things that he wants to do.. meaning that i get to spend non-WoW time with him after i get off). we've been throwing together graduation gifts and birthday gifts and certain house-warming gifts (!!) and immensely enjoying Lost (which christine and zach are demanding we watch) and just, in general, settling in for what appears to be shaping up into a very pleasant summer.

my normal approach..

after staying up last night (this morning) until around 4am (only 3.15 or so on purpose.. curse you, computer induced insomnia!), i'm pretty tired, but looking forward to a rousing day of working ridiculously hard on two papers and turning in at least one of them.
ideally, i would like to be able to hand in my english 456 paper to kelly at the final today at 2.30.
also ideally, i would like to be able to finish my english 497C paper by tonight so that i don't have to rush to finish it tomorrow morning before the deadline of 12pm. wish me luck!

my room smells wonderfully of tulips, but i can't wait to get home. seeing friends and relaxing without having to go to bloody classes.. ah! and i'll get to see gramma and all that family that i love so much. yay! family = heart!

and just as a general update: gramma has been in a nursing home for a few days now. it's actually working out well. she's being taken care of as if she were a person, not a dishrag, and she doesn't hate it. mom visits her frequently and a physical therapist is helping to get her legs into better shape.
also: my cousin brian ships out for marine corps training may 14th (holy crap that's soon!). good luck and God bless to him!
also also: my cousin michael ships out for coast guard training on may 29th (also soon!). similar well wishings to him.
and now: back to my own version of a paperchase. hopefully i don't get blisters!

"lift you up over everything..."

"...to light up my room."

i just got off the phone with my aunt gina. she and my dad were pretty close -- he lived at the house that she shares with my uncle and her three boys. she told me about a dream she had: my dad, wreathed in flaming sparkles and smiling (she likened it to a cartoon character "powering up" ...like popeye with spinach. but with sparkles). accompanying this vision, she had an "indescribable" feeling. the sum of the vision/dream: dad's doing ok. and we all should too.

now, i'm a little skeptical about visions and whatnot and i'm one of those pessimistic people that usually thinks "oh, you had a vision ...got it." but.. i honestly believe that my dad reached out to my aunt to relieve her cares, to let her know that we don't have to be sad anymore.

on a similarly bright note: matt's parents sent me a beautiful vase of flowers. they're beautiful and i'm so appreciative. his parents are so supportive.


on an academic note: i did my english 221 final (maybe a B.. it was tougher than expected). i did the last italian exam for the semester (probably about a B for that one.. probably about a B for the whole class). i still have an english 456 exam tomorrow (should be.. hard, but manageable) and a paper due for english 497C and one for english 456 (they're both ten pages or so and should be easy enough). so, i should be ok.. stressed but, ok.

enough of this.. i'm going to qdoba!! yum, burrito!

"if i could..."

"...sleep forever"

today is the (aftermath of) cinco de mayo and it is obscenely early in the morning - i have not yet been to bed.
and, while i am quite inebriated, i am sober enough to say ...


i still miss you daddy.

it's only been a week, but i feel like you're a million years away.
nonetheless, i still miss you and love you every day. and i know you're doing the same.

"i'm haunted"

to those of you who don't know yet (because you've been living in a facebook deprived rock, i see).. my father died early saturday morning, between 6 and 7 am. he died at peace and at home and that's all he really wanted.
his funeral was earlier today (tuesday) and it was beautiful, though as painful as anything. it was wonderful to see my family and to again see aunt julie's precious new baby (born only a day after dad died), but awful to see them under such sad consequences.
i don't feel like going into detail right now. just know the baby is beautiful and fat -- 9lbs 15oz at birth and named ryan stephen (stephen was my father's middle name and also akin to my gramma stephanie's first name. she died in january).

so, sad stuff aside -- i love my family and i'm so glad and grateful that i got to know my dad before he passed. it hurts so much worse than it would have had i never known him, but.. i helped him to know he was loved.