ok, i really am stupid, i guess the dementia comes with the old age... i turn 22 and it all goes down hill from there...

i have been trying to log onto this site since last night around 11:45 when i got home from our state championships (which i don't want to talk about... it didn't go well) and we were all too tired to go out for my birthday, sad eh??? but the day was ove,r so too late to celebrate anyways...

but here's where my stupidity comes in... my name is JULIE we all know that... it's been my name since i was born. i learned how to spell it when i was like 3 years old... that's 19 years of spelling it... yet somehow i was typing my name into the "login box" as "JUILE" but it wasn't working... of course it wasn't working... it's not my name, i'm soo stupid!!!! what's wrong with me?? ahhh

but off the track of my stupidity, i finally got a call back from a company about a job for this summer... it's the company i would die to work for!!! they design stadiums and big things like that... that's what i got into architectural engineering to do!!! ever since i started seeing the HSBC arena going up on my way to school every morning... (it wasnt called that then though was it?) well anyways, i sent them my resume and stuff the other day and got a call back on Friday... unfortunately, we were driving and then at the race course all day Friday and i didn't get the message till late Friday night, but i can't wait till Monday to call em back (i called on Saturday, but the guy i needed to talk to wasnt in tht office) but i'm soo excited!!!

and i met my landlord for this summer and next year... i never had a landlord before... i'm soo excited!!! although she is known to be a psycho bitch... it's still an apt!!!

but for now i have to get back to work... i have to finish my senior design project by monday, eeeek, while i have my FE (fundamentals of engineering) exam this saturday, oh, i'm soo not ready for that :( and it's an entire 8 hours of multiple choice questions about everything i've learned since freshman year... i didn't know i had to remember that stuff...

and i only have about a month left of the semester... that means only 1 more month with all my friends i have been in classes with since freshman year... school just wont be the same at all with out them... we were all talking the other day... about them all leaving, they were sad, i think i was upset the most... i'm still gonna be stuck here next year, but they're not gonna be here anymore :(

ahhh, and that means my time is running out to make my move on a certain gentlemen in my class... i really want to do it, but at the same time, there's only 1 month left and he's going away to grad school next aug :( oh well... a month will have to be long enough... ;)

wow, i'm so glad i finally learned how to spell my name right again!!!!

WOW, i had such a great time in San Diego this past weekend!!! unfortunatley have not yet settled back into the east coast time zone yet though...

but we had a BLAST!!! racing went soo well!!! much better than we could have imagined it to be... we had been warned of these terrible wind conditions, but it was beautiful, a little wind yes, but nothing too dramatic.

And hanging out in CA was great!!! a bunch of us had never been to the west coast before (the farthest west i think i had ever been was to Indiana, that's not west at all) but it was soo nice and we had such a good time!!!

and of course i have pictures for ya... lovely digital camera!!!

first off is a pretty little shot of san diego on our drive to the hotel from the race course


then here's a shot from the hotel... soo hilly, we never see hills here, they seem crazy to me!!!


and then a group of us at the hotel waiting for everyone else so we could go to dinner!!!


then sat morning at the race coursem such a pretty course, eh? (it's a shot of our other boat)


then i couldn't go without a shot from inside the van. we spent so much "quality time" in those vans... belting otu some good old "all for one" and "boys 2 men" (sorry i didn't get any pictures of that, but i know someone got video!!)


and then a shot from on top of a big bridge on our way to the beach


and another one with a shot of san diego


then at the beach, here are some sand dunes... i've never seen anything like this before... i don't think


and then some frolicking on the beach


then sarah, karen, laura and jacks in the pacific ocean!!!


and then jacks and I... wow, the pacific is a lot colder than the atlantic, especially when it splashes up on your legs...


and some pretty flowers we saw... named after some bird, oh, i forgot what it's called


then a bunch of people riding this "bike"???


and of course, what better way to end it than with a picture of everyone sprawled all over in the (LAX) airport heading back to miami on our lovely red eye flight



so there ya go, a view of my trip, kinda ;)

ahhh, not even 22 yet and i already have white hairs!!!

my friend sitting behind me in class today tapped me on the shoulder to tell me i had a white hair, so of course, my instinct was "get it out" so i asked her to, she did, and she handed it to me...

it was soo white!!! at first i thought it might just be a blond one, i have a bunch of those from the sun, but nope, it was a white one!!!

and after we got that one taken care of and half the class was laughing at me since i had her pull out the evidence, she started noticing a bunch more white ones...

where did they come from???? why do i have em??? they were telling me i must have been thinking too much, that that causes them, what kind of explanation is that???

so i guess at the ripe old age of almost 22 i have a few options...
1) start dying my hair to hide those white little strands
2) live in denial that they exist by wearing my hair in a ponytail so noone can see em, unlike wearing it down as i had it today
3) except that im getting old, going white and grey, then balding, then before i know it, menapause will side swipe me on some random tuesday...

ahhh, so stressful!!!

but on a side note, i finally went after my poor little easter bunny... he's been hanging out on my desk for over a week now, it had to happen, just as I'm going "white," he had to go deaf eventually ;)

OK... so last night i finally found out that i made the boat that is going to san diego!!! I MADE IT!!! the lineup is set and I'm going!!! I'm sooo excited!!! I've been killing myself the past 4 years to make it and finally i got it!!! YEAH!!!!

and I finally talked to (e:amanda) last night... hehehehe sounds like she's having soo much fun!!! no, not really... but SHE WILL TONIGHT!!! why? how? you may ask... CUZ IM GONNA GO VISIT HER!!!! really late tonight though... eeek, but we have tomorrow off, go figure, it's Easter... but I'm soo excited to finally get to see her!!!

herm... but the past few days have been soo stressful with stuff, here is a view of what i have been doing to get my mind off all of it ;)

these are little "mini jenga blocks" as i call em, or the actual name is "mini timber tumble" i like the name i gave em better... but i got em at target the other day for a dollar... i really like that $1 section they have in the front... you can get some good crap there... for real cheap!!! so this is how they start out:

and then i start to play:

but then i go a little too far, and :( :

but it's ok, cuz i can just start over again, and make any design i like:

but i have to say it is a risky thing leaving it set up on my desk... i already bumped it the other day with a book and... they all fall down, it's a sad sight, but just more time to waste rebuilding it!!!

ahhh, i really gotta do my work, I'm sooo behind and have hardly studdied for that 8 hour test i have coming up in april, ahhhhhh!!!! oh well, forget about that now, I'm back to playing with the blocks till (e:amanda) calls and i head to the keys!!!

oh, and happy easter bunny day ;) (tomorrow)!!!

herm...

I like this place. I really don't know anyone, well i can't really say that... I met (e:mike) a few times through (e:amanda) and of course i know (e:amanda) but she signed on even after i did. ahh, whatever, i really like this though. im away at school but i still kinda get to hear about what's going on back in buffalo, and all the other places people have ventured to for that matter. but what's great about the buffalo part is that when it snows, i get to play with it!!! and if i get sick of it, all i have to do is "shovel" and it's all gone!!! that is sooo cool, that's the buffalo i would love!!! ;) but this is definitly a fun thing to do. I get to tell my stupid stories, and it relieves the people here from having to hear em all, instead you guys get most of em ;) well some of em... but what i like about it is i feel like i can write about anything, even about more than i would tell most people here, embarrassing things (I know of at least one thing in particular that still to this day, i only think like 2 people here even know about, hehehehe but it's open for anyone here to read about) and that's ok with me. so i don't think anyone should have to censor themselves, especially (e:paul) if you wanna put up a picture of yourself, go for it! there's no shame in it...

ok, but now onto a totally different topic... (or 2) so i didn't go to see (e:amanda) the other night when she got in :( but i guess it's a good thing cuz she said she didn't get in till like 2:30 am, and if i would have waited up for that, that would have been BAD!!! but i have been trying to get a hold of her to see if i should drive down to where she is for like a few hours (she's only about 2 hours away... how can i not go?) but she has been telling me NO! :( she's soo close and i have sunday (Easter) totally off, and saturday, i am free after practice. but ahhh, i still don't know what's going on with the rowing thing. am i in the boat, or am i out??? i keep asking the coach but he refuses to answer me... NOT COOL!!! i know he knows... i just wanna know if I'm going to san diego or not. but if I'm not, I'm gonna be pissed that i got knocked out, cuz i know i shouldn't get knocked out... ahhhh, i hate not knowing...

ahhh, i don't have any pictures for ya this time. I had a cool (funny) picture idea, but it didn't come out well... here, try to picture it... it was of me standing in my swimsuit on the beach (probably too bright which is why it didn't come out) ok, but it looked like i was really tan, except i wasn't just wearing my swimsuit, it looks like im wearing a pair of white shorts and a white wife beater with my swimsuit on top(oh, and a pair of white socks too) ... ahhh, i prolly didn't explain it well at all... but it really is funny looking. stupid tan lines... all from 1 week... oh well... i love my tan lines :)

ah ha!!! i finally got some time in my room today which gave me a chance to set up my computer in there on my desk (not propped on my lap out in the living room, like it has been)

lets see how long this lasts...




oh, by the way, i have a moral dilemma:
(e:amanda) is arriving here in Miami tomorrow night at 11:09pm... heading to her hotel in Homestead FL, about 35 minutes south of my place, and that is where i am supposed to meet her (around midnight) and then she leaves early wed morning to go down south more...
however, i have a killer practice on wed morning (have to be up by 5:00am) and by killer, i mean killer... and by killer i mean i need sleep...

I REALLY WANNA SEE HER!!! BUT... BUT... I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO!!! everyone on my team has been telling me not to go, i can't let them down... but, ahhhhh, i don't know what to do...

i wish the manatees were here right now to tell me what to do...

wow, the past few days have absolutely been HELL!!! our coach is working on boat selection for the second varsity 8, but in the process, he has been killing us, two practices each day, from Tuesday on until tomorrow... Monday is off!!!

but it has been ridiculous. just utterly tiring like no other... the other boats have consistently been having an hour and a half to 2 hour practices in the morning and then and hour to an hour and a half for the second practice... and they have been dying.

Mike, our coach, has had us out for 3 hours every morning, giving us only a half hour break before the second practice, and then another 2 hours.

and i have to admit, a lot of it hasn't been pretty rowing. mostly just frustrating painful strokes that people are trying to pass off as rowing... grrrr

I was sooo frustrated the other day, about 2 and a half hours into the morning practice, i was about to cry. it was sooo bad, there was no reason for it to be so bad, not at all!!! our 8 was split into 2 4's and although the lineups werent exactly equal lineups, they should have been relatively close... but NO, the boat i was in was soooo far behind, and it just wasn't moving. and watching the puddles of the 2 girls behind me, i could tell they weren't pulling.... OMG, that is the absolute WORST FEELING IN THE WORLD to know you are pulling your ass off to keep up while there are ass holes in your boat who aren't even pulling their own weight.

yeah, well that day i know i did have tears in my eyes at points and i even blew up at the girls in the boat, which I'm totally against doing, but it had to be done... i don't think i have ever been so upset about rowing in all 8 years i have been doing it, and i've had some moments... but that really hit me. it hit me to the point of actually thinking about jumping out of the boat and swimming back, about never talking to either of the 2 i was pissed off at EVER AGAIN, about quitting the FUCKING TEAM, and even about killing myself or someone in the boat as a way of getting out of there. don't worry, the most i did was told everyone to stop and yelled for a minute and insisted it get better... it didn't but it was over at that point so i didn't even care anymore. i chose to leave that one on the water... sometimes you really have to just leave em on the water to never be repeated again, and that was one of em...

then the next day, in our 3 hours of switching around repeatedly doing 3-5 minute pieces i got switched into a boat with one of the girls from the day before... and at this point, i guess she wanted it to look like she was trying... the first 10 fucking strokes she screams out "LEGS" (what the hell, if you are rowing, i think you know to use your fucking legs!!! its not like you are gonna think to yourself at the beginning of the piece, "no, i think I'm just gonna use my arms and body this piece") and throughout the rest of this 3min45sec piece she was screaming shit, even though i kept turning ever so slightly getting some breath to scream and telling her to shut up... she did this for 3 pieces, then finally i turned around and as nicely as i could muster, "if you don't mind, could you please not talk during the pieces? i mean if you want to tall a power 10 or something ok, but anything else, please don't" and she responded with an "ok" i was shocked... but what shocked me ever more was what followed that. anna, my co-captain, the girl who always keeps her cool and is always "positive attitude anna" turned around to them and said (kinda under her breath) "yeah, cuz if you are able to talk that much it's because you must not be pulling" WOW!!! she made my day right there... GO anna, i would never be able to actually say that, i have thought it soooo many times, but to actually say it... god no!!!

but it has just been hell, but today it all turned around for me!!! not that l rowed in a magical boat where everything went well, but i actually got stuck on shore this morning to erg because people are out and there were 2 extra people (me being one of them, grrr) well grr was what i thought when i first found out i was stuck on land, but then....

so mack and I did the little erg workout we had to do, we were pissed but we did it... finished in like 45 minutes and "now what?" we already had our sneakers on, so we decided to go for a run... we are down in miami beach, why not go for a run, its a beautiful day out. so we go running... nice slow pace, ran about 2 miles down the creek when this little old man stops us and asks if we have ever see a manatee... I of course say "yeah, they are soo cool" (referring to my swim with the manatee's this summer with (e:amanda)) but he was referring to the manatee what was not even 4 feet below us, OMG, I dropped down to the ground reaching out at it!!! he was too far to reach, but he was the most precious thing i have seen in forever. he was a young guy, but his tail was sooo chopped up, soo sad.

but we looked at him for a few minutes then continued on our run. i just wished i had my camera with me, but who would think to bring their camera on a run??? well i will now ;) so we ran about another mile down the creek, i yelled out to some of our boats to be stupid and try to annoy them ;) (don't think it really worked though) then we turned around to head back...

but of course on the way back i couldn't really run, i had to look out for more little manatees!!! and what do you know, we spotted 2 more!!! it was a mommy and her baby... damn, that baby was as long as me, but much bigger, but sooo cute!!! mack jumped out onto this old broken dock, reached down and touched the snout of the momma, they were too low by the time i got down there, but we watched em for like 20 minutes... who would think the "sea cows" would be sooo exciting to see??? (well i know (e:amanda) would, but... ;) ) i mean i had my shoes and socks off at one point to go swim with them, and i really would have if it wasn't for the fact that that water is sooo nasty and our boats were going by, i would have really felt stupid if i was swimming in there as the boats went by....

yeah so after a while they swam away from us, we waited a bit for their return.... but no such luck. (our other friend from earlier with the chopped up tail resurfaced for a bit, but not that long) so we headed back to the boathouse. we ended getting back right around the time when the boats did so it was perfect...

now through all of today's events... and more went on, i rowed a bit, went to the beach, did some stuff... i realized how even though i may be sooo frustrated and angry and annoyed and want everyone to just DIE, there really is so much to look for and to just be HAPPY about!!! i can't even express in words how good i feel right now. like i can hardly think of anything that could upset me right now! do you have any idea how that feels??

and although i wasn't able to get any pictures of my little (big) new friends from today, here is another picture that still makes me happy every time i see it ;)






and i know anna had another rough day today, sounds like worse than my day the other day :( she screamed out at 3 boats of girls that she hates them all, poor anna, but hopefully soon, very soon, she will experience some of the "happy little things" that i got a glimpse of today ;)

HAVE A GOOD DAY EVERYBODY!!!!

oh, i liked that article of (e:jessbob)

kinda in relation to it... so my parents just got a new mealthcare plan or whatever, and before, with the old plan, filling my "birth control" was like $15, still a little expensive i think to have to pay each month, but now, this stupid new health insurance WILL NOT PAY FOR IT!!! so i have to pay the whole thing!!!! while my parents are getting their stuff filled for much less than before....

well i am pissed, and the reason is, (im almost positive this is the reason) is because the insurance company doesn't support birth control. and i know a lot of people who's insurance doesn't cover it either... how messed up is that???

I see how they don't want girls going around and sleeping around and using birth control to prevent getting knocked up, or even that "birth control is just wrong!" ya-di-ya-da... yeah yeah...

stupid insurance companies, a goal for them would be to realize that "birth control" is not only used by slutty girls as a preventitive way to not get knocked up... and even if it were... well let em use it... better that then having to insure the little kids they will be popping out, regardless of who they go to, (adoption or kept by the mother, or father... whatever that guy (e:ajay) knows is talking about) or they will go and have an abortion, but isn't that what we are trying to avoid in the frist place???

blah... im just annoyed i have to pay more now because people are being all "PRO-LIFE" and shit. hell I'm pro-life, and im not even sleeping with anyone... stupid stupid insurance companies

oh, and i do like the color change... don't really understand what the brown is for, but it's nice not being gloomy grey snow anymore... it's more bright and lively now!!! even if it is brown...;)

oh my god... i am a moron, our first day of spring break training, practice at 7 and 11, and everyone else knew to use sun screen (or as (e:amanda) calls it, "sun tan lotion"), but me??? NOPE, i forgot!!! how does one forget??? i don't know... but i forgot... i have the sock tan, shorts tan, tee shirt tan, ahhh, i take my clothes off and it looks like i am still wearing a tee shirt, shorts, and socks... well the body shots didn't work out too well, but the face... look at that red face



there ya go...

oh, and i did that little "dumb political test" this is me...

On Non-Fiscal Issues, you rank as a Moderate Liberal (38).
On Fiscal Issues, you rank as a Strong Liberal (12).

ok, its really small, maybe there is some other way i can do this, but i tried the thing (e:ajay) posted and this is what i came up with... i think if i play with it a little more i will figure something else out.

(its a pic of my dad and i sitting at one of the fountains on campus during the little tour)



or maybe this...



oh wow, i think i got it...



thanks ajay ;)