On this day, 4 years ago, an slighly wierd 18 year old Kim went to a party at Tanya P's house. While there, she met a guy wearing Converse All Stars, and they fell in love and lived happily ever after.

I cannot believe I met Todd when I was 18 years old, and four years later we are still together. Damn, I was so young when we met.

My boss asked me to set up a year-end phone meeting today with his leadership team. Sounds harmless, right? Well, his leadership team consists of people from Cincinnati, Belgium, China, Japan, Venezuala, Switzerland, Thailand and Great Britain. When time zones come into play, it is no longer very easy. In fact, it is very, very hard. Grrr.

On Tuesday and Wednesday of next week I am going to be giving 10 (yes, 10!) presentations to High School classes on Dating Violence and Date Rape. My interview is on Monday, and then the next two days they will be paying me to do they job I might get. Hmmm, I wonder if they want to hire me or not?

I am scared shitless. The last time I was in a high school for an extended amount of time was, well, when I was in High School.

How am I going to teach pukey High School students about a subject I am so passionate about without bursting into tears or getting really defensive when/if they challenge me? Moral support is greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

Does anybody know what causes massive amounts of eye goop? (Besides pink eye) I thought that perhaps my eyes were creating more eye goop when I slept due to an increase in dust in my apartment. However, this problem has recently been extending beyond just when I wake up in the morning. I get eye goop all day long, in big green sticky clumps that gets crusty if I don't wipe it away. Perhaps this is grossing you out, as well it should, because I am at my wits end. This was also a problem at Todd's parents house and I know they don't have a dust problem.

Speaking of Todd's parents, I just got back from spending 5 days with them. (Really it was more like 4 and a half, but I round up when speaking about dealing with parents.) Todd's 'rents really are lovely people. They are so caring and loving and mushy that I shouldn't complain about them. At one point, I was alone in Todd's room with the door open and Barbara came in and gave me a 30 second hug while kissing my cheek and telling me how happy they were that I was there and how they love me sooo much. Nice, yes. Strange, yes. My parents aren't even that happy to see me. The thing is, spending 5 days with the McK's is very intense. You must do everything together. Finally, on Saturday, Todd and I decided to go out for coffee ALONE in the evening and in order to get out of the house we had to tell his parents where we were going, what route we were going to take, what our back-up plan would be if that place had burned down by the time we got there and what we were planning to drink. phew. I suppose interest in your child is supposed to keep them from doing drugs, but after 5 days, I need a drink.

Still, I feel rotten complaining about them. They really are the most generous and loving parents I know.

I found this website, and I immediately thought of Laura S.

http://www.stuffonmycat.com

Laura, if you are out there, I expect to see your cats on this website in a few weeks.

Here are my new shoes! Yay! You can totally tell that I work in a shoe store by the way they are displayed. Aren't they pretty? (They are lavender, not grey)










Do you see what I see in this picture? Yes, my friends, it is the Arby's Oven Mitt, the worst character ever created. He was in Cinci to celebrate the grand opening of an Arby's. Excuse the blurry-ness of the photo, my battery was dying. It was quite nice of the oven mitt to start waving at me while I was taking his picture frim across the street.

Heidi Jury got a marriage proposal in the letters section of BUST magazine. When I showed Todd, he said, yeah, well I'm going to propose on The O'Reilly Factor, so you better be watching.

Todd's never been a very romanitc fellow, but that's okay. He always makes me laugh.

This year, all x-mas shopping will be done on e-bay. In fact, while I am sitting at work, I bought my dad his x-mas gift. There you go, Dad, Leather gloves. You don't like them? Oh, well, I don't have a reciept, bought them on e-bay, sucka!

I got a call from the Rape Crisis and Abuse Center! They want me to come in for a second interview after Thanksgiving! Hurray! Hurray!

Today is a sad day. Today I wrote my first Student loan check back to the goverment. One payment of $126.55 down, only 118 to go. (That is, or course, if I don't go back to school.)

I answered an online ad looking for a babysitter (because kids are so damn cute and I just can't control myself). Because it is scary to answer online ads, and I am worried that I am going to be kidnapped and sold into a Venezuelan brothel (I don't know if that is a big industry or not, but it might be) I wanted to meet the person who would be hiring me in a public place before going to their house. We exchanged e-mails, talked on the phone, and then planned to meet for lunch. (Just like a real internet relationship.) Today was the day we were planning on meeting, and I let her choose the place. Of course, she chose none other than SKYLINE CHILI to meet. If you recall about a month ago I had a somewhat bad experience at a Skyline Chili, the experience being that it sucked. Trying to be the positive future babysitter, I foolishly agreed to eat lunch there. I have been mentally preparing for it all week, thinking about what I would order and how to gracefully not eat all my food. However, I have been saved today. She called to cancel our lunch meeting and re-scheduled for Sunday. I do not have to eat at Skyline Chili again!

Still no word on the job front. I have terrible butterflies in my stomach when I think about it.

I went back to high school today, and I remember why I hated it so much. Why did I go to a high school you ask? Well, I was observing the Hamilton County Rape, Crisis and Abuse Center put on a presentation. One of the jobs I am interviewing for is the Community education team leader, (the other is volunteer coordinator) so they wanted me to see the current education team leader in action.

Afterward, the assistant director told me that she would call me later that day to talk about it...but she didn't. I'm actually glad that she didn't because I wouldn't have had much of a chance to think about what I observed and mull it over. I honestly think they are pretty desprate for somebody to take this position, as this guy is leaving, like tomorrow. I hate to talk about it too much, because I feel like I am jinxing myself, but I think I am going to get a job with them.

I hope she calls tomorrow! The waiting is the worst part! Although, I think she is going to talk to me about the presentation and then call me later with a job offer...that is, if I get a job offer. I'm just so anxious to hear one way or the other, but I know I will be seriously depressed if I don't get one of these jobs.

Today, I hit the postcard jackpot.

This is the day I've been waiting for for a month.

I came home from a long, sweaty day at the shoe store, (You may think I am exaggerating by making it sound like it's a steel plant or something, but it really can be that bad sometimes) to find my tiny mailbox filled with nothing but goodies! I got: 7 postcards, a small package, a Gap catalog and two notices saying that the credit card company was increasing my credit limit. (It only took me 4 years of paying my bills on time pretty much every month, but now I have a credit limit of $550 instead of $300 in each of my cards...isn't that pathetic)

Now, in order to bore you all to tears, I will describe my mail.

1) The best postcard ever! It is a picture of MEAT. Raw meat. From Barcelona, Spain.
2) Picture of Brno Castle from Brno, Czech Republic.
3) Picture of the Olunpi Lighthhouse in Kenting National Park from Taiwan.
4) A picture of a roadrunner (the real bird, not the cartoon) from Tulsa, Oklahoma
5) Steamboat Road, pretty scenery, from Edisto Island, South Carolina
6) Old man of the mountain from Manchester, NH
7) Kind words on an Elvis record postcard from British Columbia, Canada.
8) Package of magnets I forgot I bought on ebay. Now I can hang my new postcards on my fridge!

Today's jackpot increased my postcard collection by about 50%. Hurray!

I just got a call from the Rape Crisis and Abuse center and they asked if I would be able to go with them to a High School to watch the presentation that they give and to see if I would be interested in doing what they do. Hurray! Why would they want me to come if they didn't want me to work for them? EEEK! Excited! Oh no, what do I wear? Should I go shopping?

In other news, Todd was on a conference call earlier this week with John Ashcroft's Wife. Yes, THE John Asscroft. They (John and John's wife...can't remember the name, what kind of feminist am I?) wrote a textbook for the company Todd works for, and since they are the authors of the book Todd has access to their real phone number and home address. I'm not saying anything... This entry will be edited in a while in order to throw off the Feds. (Paranoia, what?) In other news, what would YOU do if you had to read a college textbook written by JOHN ASSCROFT?

I am also, officially the 2006 Vice President of the Cincinnati chapter of NOW. (For those of you non-feminists out there, that's the National Organization for Women) Seems I am destined to be a feminist forever...and I suppose one step closer to my dream of being paid to work for NOW in Washington DC.

I had an interview today at the local Rape, Crisis and Abuse center. I tried not to think about it too much, perhaps subconciously trying to not get my hopes up only to be smashed into the ground.

Well, about an hour before the interview I began to panic and thought about all the questions they might ask and how I would respond and I was getting flustered thinking about how I would word my responces, you know, typical pre-interview panic mode.

I arrived with plenty of time to spare and filled out the obligatory application. The woman interviewing seemed very impressed and familiar with my resume and a few times asked me a question, only to say, "Oh, I didn't even need to ask that, I see you've done things like that before!" She even asked the Director of the organization to come in and meet me for about 15 minutes. Then they asked me to stand up and pretend I was doing a presentation in front of a group of college freshman. (Which I subsequently bombed, but they didn't seem to care.) They kept commenting on my experiences and how I knew my stuff and they wouldn't need to spend too much time training me. They even asked if I could "hypothetically, start on Friday." EEEEK! I asked some good questions and then at the end, I got a tour.

I really thought that I would never find such a fitting job right out of college, and who knows if I will get the offer, but I am completely excited about this organization and I know I would be a great fit there.

There will be a very happy post tomorrow if I hear back from them. I am also happy that I can go back to Michigan for the holidays with a real job to brag about. Take that ass-hole uncles who scoff at me and tell me I am living in an ivory tower, take that!

Now I am getting ahead of myself.

Oooooo! (Moan) I ate too many gummi bears and now my tummy hurts! Do you suppose I can call my mom to pick me up before gym class.

I'm 22 years old. I need to learn some self control when it comes to gummified candy.

It's about time.

I think it is safe to say that I have officially bitten off more than I can chew. This whole "freedom from school" thing has caught me off guard. Now that I only work 48 hours a week (55 if you include travel time and lunch breaks) I feel this sense that I can do all the things I have always wanted to do but never had the time to do.

My Projects:
-Make X-Mas stockings for me and Todd (like sew snowmen and reindeer onto actual giant felt stockings...I am so very Martha Stewart)
-Knit scarf for secret santa buddy I know through one of the online message boards I regularly post in. (This is creepy on many levels.)
-Send postcards to half the people in the world. (This postcard obsession is out of control. I have sent out 12 postcards in the last 5 days, and have not received any. Yet, like a compulsive gambler I check my mail everyday thinking, today I'll hit the jackpot. Reciprocity my ass.)
-Organize the few postcards I have received into boxes purchased at Michaels.
-Create special x-mas surprise I cannot mention here because it is a surprise for Todd and he reads this all the time.
-Laundry (I have one load done and about 8 to go.)
-Write article for NOW newsletter. (Rough draft completed)
-Research organization I am interviewing with on Tuesday.

I guess you can't say that I am not making the most of my time.

Today at the shoe store I sold $2,450 worth of shoes! It makes me wish I earned more of a commission. I am flabbergasted. I think my previous record from the Cobbler's Bench was about $1200. I sold two individual people over $600 each, it was amazing. One of those ladies was a 73 year old lady who was telling me that she was going to visit her 50 year old daughter who recently got married. You see, she disapproved because they were "living in sin," for six years. She was worried because if they got into a car accident and died "there's no question they would go to hell." I kept my mouth firmly shut in order to stop myself from gasping at the audacity of this lady. People in Cincinnati can be very nice at times and yet, so offensively candid at other times.

I want to give a big, resounding THANKS to the gay rights movement. Todd and I officially qualify as Domestic Partners and so beginning January 1st, I have HEALTH INSURANCE!

The downside to this is that I can no longer use health insurance as a reason to convince Todd to marry me. Now we will have to get married for all the right reasons, like love and gifts from Bed Bath and Beyond. We do really need some new plates and matching flatware....

Do you remember when I said that Hooters would have been a classier place for my sister to be working. Well.... she quit her job at Longshots and now she works at...wait for it....Hooters. Tight orange shorts and white athletic socks and all. My sister works at Hooters. Gross. This is so ultimately gross.

I cannot believe that I and very closely related to a Hooters girl. I pretty much cannot get over it.

Ew.