Feel the Rain on your Skin

Today I had to give a 15 minute presentation in my Management of Nonprofits class.

At about minute 9 I felt like I had been saying "um" a lot, so I went ahead and told the class, "I feel like I've been saying 'um' a lot, I'm going to stop that."

I soon could concentrate on nothing else besides the "Ums" and I ended up saying (quietly-ish) "Dammit." But my professor heard me so I said dammit again in response to her hearing me.

Whoops. What not to do while you're public speaking.

On the break I told her sorry for saying dammit in her class, haha. She told me it was okay because one time she said "shit." She also told me that I wasn't saying "um" that much at all, and she didn't notice anything until I pointed it out. Excelllllllent.

In other news, yesterday was my last official class for the History of Consumerism, so our professor gave us a little half hour presentation on life advice and things he's learned along the way. It was cute, and totally something I would do. However, it was quite hard to hold in my laugh as he closed it out with this song (mouthing the words, tapping his pencil, and everything):

youtube Rick Roll if you want to watch

This glorious individual sent me this:




Brings back good memories...that was a damn good dance :)

I love Colombian people

It hasn't failed yet that I always meet Colombian people while sitting at my Colombia table in AIESEC's global village (ok, in fall and today it happened).

Today 3 men who looked like they were in their mid-30's sped walk over to my table the minute they spotted the Colombian flag as they were passing through Library Mall. They immediately greeted me in Spanish and we swapped stories as their director tried to hurry them along. They would not be rushed as they told me they were from Medellin and they'd been here for about a year taking English classes in Milwaukee, and they were on a field trip to Madison for the day. They told me they liked my Spanish and that I should just come back to Colombia with them, but that if I didn't I was always welcome. Their director (who doesn't speak Spanish) walked up to me and was like "Gracias, Adios!" after about five minutes, and they all turned and were like "NO!!!" So before they left, one man had a camera in his bag and had someone quickly snap a photo of all of us together with the Colombia table.

There's a warmness to Colombian people that I haven't been able to find anywhere else; I miss it. As I watched them walk away I sat in my Colombian poncho making small crying noises to myself to make myself feel better (and to be dramatic). Colombia, te extrano.

Forward Under 40

Tonight I went to an awesome panel discussion with 4 recipients of the University's "Forward Under 40" Award.

I got to eat dinner beforehand with 2 of the recipients: Josh Bycel, a comedy writer who founded OneKid OneWorld, and James Kass, who founded Youth Speaks. As they were talking they referenced Dave Eggers, a "mutual friend," who wrote the book "A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius." I tried to read this book but I had to put it down after about 15 pages because I found it annoyingly self-indulgent (Which is funny because I remember thinking that his inner commentary, in th book, at points resembled my own). However, my love for him was renewed when I saw his TED talk about how he started the education nonprofit 826 Valencia, which has done amazing work.

I asked the entire panel, as they were all involved in nonprofit work, the question that I pondered here. All of them (although a little biased) answered with a resounding "Yes, efforts for the social good belong and have the ability to be successful and sustainable in the nonprofit sector."

I thought that since I knew all of the things the panelists were referencing meant that I was well read or something like that...then I realized it's just that I spend WAY too much time on the internet.

Then I won a 1GB flash drive at the event raffle.

I spent today before I went to class laying on bascom hill in the sun.

...it was a good day.

good kind of tired

Finally finished up the youth conference at about 6:30pm...we didn't have as good of a turnout as we hoped for, but still more than 60 people showed up (according to the students it was the fact that it was a sunday, it was beautiful outside, and it was 4/20) But we had some really solid workshops (A graffiti workshop on Library Mall, anyone see that as they walked past?).

Near the end of the day a man and woman were walking through Grainger and asked me where the "Cuba Libre" movie showing was. The man said "Cuba Libre" in what I was first going to describe as a "thick" Spanish accent, but more accurately would be called a "correct" Spanish accent. But before I could even answer he looked at me and said "Oh," and then re-pronounced "Cuba Libre" in an extreme over consonant-ed, over pronounced, over americanized accent. I was tempted to respond in Spanish, but never really know if people will think I'm being an ass for that action, when all it really is is that I love the Spanish language, and that I wish the way I looked told people I understood them the first time they pronounced it.

Now it's 10:15, and I think I'm going to hit the hay, setting the record for the earliest time this school year.

For my little sister

Because she's so fecking money and she doesn't even know it.



kill the bunny.

[YOU]th Change

y'all should think about coming out to the conference I've been working on organizing the past few months...or tell all of your high school friends to come!

For more info visit: www.myspace.com/youthchangeconference
or www.facebook.com/group.PHP?GID=24349933784

and to register or for questions email: youthchange08@gmail.com

Just bought myself a birthday present

Envirotex Lite, really high quality lacquer...has a major leg up on Mod Podge.



I can't explain to you the amount of cool crafts I'm going to make with this, get excited.

I feel fabulous

After about 3-4 weeks of mysterious ailments, a virus, and strep throat, I can safely say today that I feel fabulous.

However, I've also realized that, like clockwork, my sickness popped up at a point when I was so stressed I had about run myself into the ground. Last year, right around exam time I got a terrible case of stress-induced hives (we're talking hives in my mouth, if they got worse they could have closed my throat hives). Something I need to work on is taking time for myself to actually sleep, eat well, and relax. I know it's a bad sign when I have free time and it makes me feel physically uncomfortable, "Oh my god, I don't have anything to do, what am I supposed to do?"

But I'm feeling pretty damn good today...Saw a taping of jeopardy on campus yesterday, Alex Trebek is hilarious! Slept for 12 hours last night. I'm half-way done with my paper, and my birthday is tomorrow!

I also finally got offered a job where they will pay me, and call it an internship--so it can be approved by my UW internship coordinator (because I need a 300 hour internship with a community agency before I graduate) Which, I already did one last summer, but they don't do retroactive credit, and I know I will do more, but they're strict about what they award credit to.

I'm going to be working at MSCR's Safety Town. It's a summer day camp for students in kindergarten to learn about things like the fire and police department, calling 911, personal hygiene, etc. I told my brother about it and I was like, "Yeah, I think I'm just going to tell people that I work at a summer day camp." And he said, "No, it is required that you say you work at Safety Town, always."

I'm beginning to realize that there are a lot of naming things I have aversions to in my prospective profession...as I don't even tell people that I am a "Family, Community, and Consumer Education-Community Leadership and Development major," when I say it I just skip right over the beginning to the end part. That's because family and consumer education immediately draws up images of my 7th grade FACE teacher Miss Windquist who was no less than 70 years old, had a Guiness record breaking arm hair length, and taught us how to cook and sew.

In actuality I'm entirely intrigued by community education, and although I don't want to spend the rest of my days teaching people how to cook and sew, I think things like parenting classes are extremely important.

So, I'm going to start being more honest about the name of my major and Safety Town, haha, because I'm feeling fabulous.

Just a Bad Dream

What if someone thinks they're living the dream, but their dream actually sucks? Are you supposed to tell them?

And I don't mean a different dream, I mean a legitimately bad dream, what's the policy there?