Yes, you read that correctly: my earliest class is at 2. After a semester of 8 am 3x a week, it's quite a relief. Is it at all like I planned? No. But I don't mind one bit.

MY LIFE NEVER FAILS TO AMUSE ME
My agenda for today: get social security card and go to work. Simple enough, right? I figured the SSC would be the hardest part. Man, was I wrong.
I left the apartment at about 8:45 to walk the .75 mile to the Social Security Office. Because it was supposed to be "65 with light showers in the PM" today (according to trusty ol' yahoo weather), I wore a skirt and open-top shoes and went skipping on my way. People on the street were looking at me like I was crazy for wearing a skirt and I simply smiled and thought, "It's ok, yahoo weather said rain in the PM. You're just jealous I'm wearing a skirt! Thanks, Yahoo!" I figured the hardest part would be the lines at the SSO. As I approached Federal Plaza, there was a huge line coming out of the entrance that the website told me to enter through. One door was marked "FEDERAL EMPLOYEES ONLY" and the other, with the 100 people in line, was marked "LINE FOR IMMIGRATION AND NATURALIZATION SERVICES." I'm not an immigrant, but I'm especially not a federal employee, so I got in the INS line, hoping that I'd get in. There was a security officer explaining to people that they have to empty their pockets and take off their belts, then writing a number on the inside of their wrist. Excuse the comparision, but it was very concentration camp-like. When he got to me I held out my wrist like a good little object, but I first made sure I was in the right line. I wasn't. I went in through the correct door (around the corner, not on B'way at ALL). No belts taken off, no numbers scratched on your wrist, just a mild metal detector and I was off. All in all, the SSC process took about 45 minutes. Now for the hard part.
As I left my apt this morning, I realized I forgot my umbrella, but wasn't too worried, as Yahoo said PM, so PM it must be. Well, as I walked out the doors of Federal Plaza, I noticed it was raining. Torrentially. Buckets and buckets of rain, driven by hurricane force wind. Of course, my shirt was white. But what could I do? I put my amNY over my head and started on my way to the subway. As I waited for the longest stoplight ever, a nice gentleman laughed at my pulp of a newspaper and offered to share his umbrella. I accepted graciously. I crossed the street and found an umbrella vendor, who charged 5 bucks for my new umbrella. Now, I know umbrellas you buy off the street aren't going to be quality, but I got literally two feet away from him and my umbrella turned inside out. I was laughing so hard. I asked him (while getting rained on torrentially) if he had a poncho or some real means of protection. No, no pancho, but he kindly turned my umbrella right side out and scooted me on my way. Meanwhile, the umbrella vendor 5 feet away said something to him in chinese, followed by "5 dolla, 5 dolla" and they laughed a good laugh. So now, the nylon slip under my skirt is clinging to my legs and I am totally soaked. My biggest concerns are my shoes, which have filled up with water, and the trenchfoot I was surely developing. No time to run home, but there was time to go to Payless just 4 blocks away. To make a long story short, Payless is no longer there. Hopefully it doesn't take you 10 extra blocks of trenchfoot walking to realize that. The only options were Nine West (hellllo, cow factory) or Century 21. I chose the latter for obvious reasons. Luckily they had a big boot thing going on and I ended up picking up a pair of (man-made) Rampage boots and getting to work. Someone mentioned that it looked like the rain hadn't got me.... boy did I let loose. They all said it was just another excuse to buy shoes, which is exactly how my mom is going to see it. But I had trenchfoot, honestly.

11.13.03 CATCHIN' UP AIN'T SO HARD TO DO
No, I'm not talking about homework, silly. What a silly thought that I would do homework, much less try to catch up on it. No, I'm talking about my "catch up with people" week, my new effort to be social with beings outside of 12 and 15F Cliff Street. There were quite a few people I had been neglecting and I chose this week (starting on Sunday) to catch up with them. First things first, I called Sandy, the lady I worked with for the last 2 years at P.S. 2. I left a message on her machine before work and she called me back that (Monday) night. It was really great to hear from her, I forgot how much I missed her. She was a huge part of my first 2 years here, a close friend, and an amazing lady. We're having dinner next Thursday; I am SO excited. So there's one check off my "contact" list.

Next up was Leisel, Dee Dee Cutler's longtime friend that happens to live in NYC. Dee Dee emailed me about meeting her in early September, but I was too embarrassed to call her because I didn't know how to say her name (Leee-sel, "Lie"-sel, Lay-sel.... who knows). And because I didn't want to look like a loser, I avoided talking to Dee Dee online, even though I missed talking to her and knowing what was going on. Last night I put Leisel's digits in my cell and swore I was going to call her today as a part of "contact" week. Unfortunately, I was running late and didn't have time to call her today. Coincidentally, tonight Dee Dee immed me and was like (and I quote) "Are you mad at me? I have not heard from you since I emailed you about my friend Leisel in NYC" Well, yes Dee Dee, that is precisely when you stopped hearing from me. So I explained why I had been such a jerk. So everything is fine now on the Cutler front.

Next up is Sharon. I hadn't heard from her in a while, so I emailed her a simple "what's up, how's it going?" Six days later, she's signed off and signed on a hundred times and she's usually really good about imming or emailing me, but I got nothin. So I thought she was dropping me and I began to come to terms with it. After Dee Dee immed me tonight, I was going to do the same to Sharon, an "Are you mad at me?" type of thing. But before I could, she emailed me and apologized for the delay, her friend's husband died, she wasn't ignoring me. Totally understandable.

I also emailed Kim and talked to Jenni online after like 5 days of her not signing on. All in all, Catch Up week has been quite a success. The final activity will be me calling Liesel (pronounced like "diesel," go figure) tomorrow. After which, we (me and Ellen, not Liesel) will go see Radio.

I think part of my non-socialness is that Ellen is enough entertainment for me. For example:

me: the other night i was going crazy and i told jenni she should have a baby
ellen: yeah, and then jf could sing the "candyman" song
ellen, in response to my hysterical laughter: what? why are you laughing so hard?
me: ellen, you just can't let it go, can you?
e: well, jf should sing that to his kids.
m: elle, his "kids" are 23 and 25, why would he sing to them?
e: well, i'm one of his kids, too. he should sing to me....

We just had a disposable camera fight. It was all fun and games till Cow was brought into it. That was just low. Slide show coming soon.

Ta-ta for now!

Sidenote to the applicable: You decided to stop talking to me, I am just trying to keep up my half of what I think you want. If you search for "Ronnie's Ghetto Website" on yahoo and google to see what's going on with me, why don't you just ask me yourself? My email address is located on this page. If you're just reading it for entertainment, that's really crappy because I'm not here to entertain you after you drop me like you did. Yeah, I took you off my buddy list, but I never talked to you and vice versa, so I had to clean up my list to make room for people that I DO talk to.

BB.

11.8.03 THIS IS WHAT IT'S LIKE WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE
I tend to have 3 worlds which remain pretty distinct from each other. I have my Nevada life-- family, old friends, and sloooooooow internet. In New York, I have my school life-- neverending reading, FAST internet, and personal commentary on my website. At work, I have work buddies and try to appear as adult as possible. Now, my 3 worlds are totally colliding and it's making me nervous. Fernley is catching up to the 21st century, its normal 3 years behind everyone else, and getting DSL. Now, my mom is an educated woman, pretty in touch to the modern world-- she's owned a cell phone and knows the words to Ludacris songs ("Move" being one of her specialties), but she was so excited when she learned about DSL because "you can talk on the phone and be online at the same time!!" Yes, it was a happy day in Ferndale. Meanwhile in New York, someone at work said something about not showing anyone in Nevada Wig Day pics and I casually mentioned that I already had, on my website. Fatal words. Nancy and Catherine asked to see it and I nervously let them peep. Then Hattie asked about it on Wednesday and I gave her the address. I noticed on my site meter that someone at worked looked at it on Thursday, but didn't give it a second thought. Then today at work, I was innocently walking past the girls studying Stephanie's new coat to the kitchen to refridgerate my Diet Coke when Stephanie says "Hi, Veronica," to which I reply, "Morning, Stephanie," and without missing a beat she says, "Loved the website!" and goes back to her coat. I thought I was going to die. Later, I once again was innocently walking around the office when Stephanie says, "I hope Veronica didn't hear that!" as I walked past her office. Turns out they read all the way to the bottom of the page, where I have a quote from Stephanie. So, disregarding this posting, I have to post on more intellectual matters.

But we'll save that for next time. For now, check out the Littlest Ghost at University of Arizona. Look for Keith and Liz, I had no luck.

Ta-ta for now, babies.