Jacquelyn's Space

I am packing to go up to Mackinaw City and Mackinac Island for the week-end. I hate packing because I always want to bring too much and stress over what I leave behind. I do love going places though, especially in my home state of Michigan.

Today I am thankful for many things. I am thankful that My husband and I get to go up north this week-end for some much-needed relaxation and we get to visit one of my most favorite places in the world – Mackinac Island. I am also thankful that the place I love is so close to home and I can enjoy it without too much expense. Plus we are staying at the Grand Hotel – so thankful that we can enjoy a stay there because it was always a dream of mine since I was a little girl and the Grand is one of the most celebrated hotels on the world.

In addition to being thankful for all that, I am always thankful that my parents took my brother and I all around Michigan when we were little kids. This gave me a deep appreciation for my home state and also let me see all the beauty and wonder Michigan has to offer. I, in turn, have tried to share that with my husband and stepson.

It is so sad that many people who live in Michigan do not know what the state has to offer, have never left the metro Detroit area or the (small) place where they grew up (which they seem to find unappealing a lot of times) so they think Michigan is ugly and boring. I have had many people say to me “I hate Michigan. It’s boring.” or they are surprised at the beauty of the north country (especially the west side or the U.P.) when I show them my pictures. They can’t believe that is Michigan! There is great beauty in this state and wonderful things to do and see. I am so thankful I was born here despite the crappy economy right now.

Today I am feeling thankful for great sales, awesome coupons and especially JCPenney, a store that usually has both. I am also thankful for the kind words of strangers – some old man kept calling me young lady today so I let him and his wife use my coupon, haha.

I am usually not much of a shopper but there were a few things that I needed so I took advantage of sales and coupons I was sent in the mail. I found a great leather purse (I am not a big fan of leather but I do like to have a leather purse) on clearance plus I got to use my coupon. I also found a really unique and beautiful necklace that will go with my dress (it was also on clearance and not as expensive as the one I passed up last night) as well as something for my mom for Mother’s Day.

Today was a good day all in all. I slept in, went and got my hair cut, followed by shopping. I am unsure of my new haircut. It is really short – shorter than I really wanted but I really didn’t know what I wanted when I went to the salon so I got what I got. Oh well, my hair should grow back and it will be nice having short hair for the summer. The stylist was nice and I had a good time talking to her about school – she is going to school for social work and child development. I just love talking to people about school =) She is attending my old alma mater, Mott Community College. She is currently taking a class I wish I would have taken when I was there – Human Sexuality. We a great conversation about the class and a few annoying classmates she has. Apparently one of her classmates is a dude who just got out of prison after 20 years and thinks he knows it all. She says he informed the class that 65% of inmates are incarcerated because of some type of sex offense so she was wondering what he was in prison for. Scary! Damn I wish I could sit in on that class.

I worked this evening. Eh, that was okay, ha. It was busy (I work at McD’s). I just couldn’t wait to get out of there because I am off for the next three days and my husband and I are going up north tomorrow, wahoo. Now I just have to pack…ugh!

Oh, another thing I am thankful for is such a hardworking and thoughtful husband who did the dishes and some other cleaning while I was at work. Less I have to worry about.

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As I am sitting here writing this sort of ho-hum blog post, it really isn’t about much, but I am thinking about my interactions with people today. The good, the bad, and how contradictory I am . I love people though I am not really all that social or outgoing. I am more of an introvert though I am always curious about what makes people tick. I love having good conversations with kind people and finding all about them though when I am at work I just want to get people out of my face and go home, LOL. I generally don’t mind waiting on people, I actually kind of love it, but the pace of fast food is not an environment that fosters satisfying human interaction. I enjoy pleasant interactions yet I am fine being by myself most – not all, though – of the time. I am an enigma!

I am thinking about writing about some small thing I am thankful for everyday just to help raise my spirits and keep them raised. Lord knows I have a lot to be thankful for but I have this damn low-grade depression doggin’ me. It is always there no matter how good of a day I am having (God forbid it is a bad day ooooh that damn depression just overwhelms then, ugh!) or how much I accomplish. I am always thankful for my husband, my family and friends – those are the big things (for lack of a better expression) I am thankful for, that sort of goes without saying. Mostly I am going to touch on the small things that often go unnoticed.

Like yesterday I was thankful for a great cheap spaghetti sauce, LOL. Over a year ago now a classmate and I had to do a video project for spanish. We decided to spoof a cooking show and made a weird kind of pizza. My classmate stopped at a dollar store on the way to my house and picked up some ingredients – one item was a big dollar can of spaghetti sauce with mushrooms. We didn’t end up using it and she left it at my house. I decided to use it because I felt bad about just wasting such a big can although spaghetti sauce with mushrooms didn’t really appeal to me…or so I thought. I added the sauce to some seasoned ground beef and the spaghetti sauce turned out to be delicious – my husband and I both liked it. I hightailed to that dollar store and bought some more cans and I have been buying it ever since. I have not been able to find that sauce anywhere else, though it is a name brand. The last few times I went to the store supplies were getting low. My husband and I went yesterday to see if we could get some more, fingers crossed, and thankfully the shelves have been replenished!! I was/am so happy.

Let me see, what am I thankful for today? I am thankful I found a great dress that actually fits me well to wear to dinner at the Grand Hotel (Mackinac Island, Michigan) on Saturday (and perhaps to a June wedding). I am also thankful I get to go shopping today to try to find some shoes to complete the outfit. I will be even more thankful if I find the perfect shoes =)

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Yay! I did find some shoes though they are not really what I had in mind. They will do,  I am thankful. I also found a necklace I really wanted (it would be almost perfect with my dress) but it was almost $200. As beautiful as it was it was only gold over silver and it had a lab-created gem – I am thankful I was able to walk away, LOL. My husband and I had a good day shopping.

I am up on the third floor of the library at school – my favorite perch for blogging. I came up to school to talk to an advisor again to make sure I was all set to apply for a dual degree. Everything checks out,  I only need 7 more classes and I will have all the requirements and enough credits to get a BS in Psychology and a BA in English. I just need to work my ass off next school year and make sure everything goes well.

I was sort of upset this past Sunday when I realized it was graduation day and I could have been graduating! I wasn’t in symphony band this semester so I didn’t even get to play for graduation. I missed it though it would have been pretty strenuous playing for two ceremonies. But today I was thinking how good it is going to feel walking across that stage to receive 2 degrees. It is going to feel pretty awesome!! I just need to lay the groundwork this summer for a successful school year next.

I am soo silly — I didn’t realize I took 17 credits winter semester! LOL, final grades (which I am proud to say I earned 5 A’s and 1 B — that’s right, six classes!)  are finally up today and it took looking over my final grades to make me realize exactly how much I took on. Thank God it was a good semester for me. Thank God it was not another semester like in the fall when I was sick and run down all the time. It was an awesome semester too.

So the semester is over. My last exam was last Tuesday (Wahoo, I got an A in cognitive psych!!) and I have been trying to de-stress ever since. I am almost relaxed. I miss my classes and fellow students already though. Plus I keep thinking of all the things I want and need to do still. I am not taking spring and summer classes but I do want to practice my writing to gear up for next school year. I still need get more research experience and become comfortable with research design, statistics, and PASW/SPSS software. Ugh, not to mention studying for the GRE. I also have other things besides school work and studying I want to work on like getting my house in order, getting in shape, and looking for a new job.

Wow, so much to do so little time. I guess I don’t really have the time to relax.

Yay.

Excuse me for not being overly excited. Does this mean the United States troops are coming home? Probably not.

Plus it only took 10 years or more – really how many years was this asshole out in the world terrorizing people before 9/11? Yeah…

How many more are like him out there, ready to jump in his place? I read a headline somewhere that killing bin Laden was like chopping the head off a snake – the snake still moves. I could not help but to think of the mythical Hydra – every time Hercules cut one of his snake heads off, two grew back in its place.

Don’t get me wrong I am glad he is dead, glad ‘we’ finally got him but its not rockin’ my world and you aren’t going to see me partying it up today. Sorry to be such a negative Nancy.

My thanks to all the troops and intelligence agents involved in his capture and I hope they are getting a well deserved celebration and commendations.

I am glad the United States is having a happy day today but for me I can’t help but to think of all the lives lost because of this nut job, chasing this nut job plus all the dollars spent chasing after him or the so called ‘weapons of mass destruction’ not to mention rebuilding infrastructure in other countries while our own crumbles. As I write now I find myself asking the question “What has chasing after bin Laden and finally killing him really gotten us?”

Then I see my local newspaper running a story about tenuous connections to 9/11 and fighting bin Laden. So is that it? We finally earned some relief and perhaps the right to feel pride and pat ourselves on the back because we were moved by that day or because of some small connection to that day, to people who actually served, some giving up their very lives… This all makes me kind of angry and sad.

Sure its great he is gone but there is much work still to be done and many more lessons to be learned that perhaps should have been learned a long time past.