Small Town Survival

Yeah, I don't know what got into me. The hot weather and the inability to sleep mixed with an overdose of caffeine maybe. I'll try not to leave it up too long... only because I'm afraid to scare someone away. Also, I might be a little girly right now. Glitter, nail polish, new shoes. What can I say? If you really can't stand it let me know and if you love it let me know.

Don't see this layout? check it out

So to speak. What I'm really talking about is the pending release of the September/October issue of All Things Girl. Word on the street is that it'll be out a few days early (like.. oh.. say tomorrow?!). You should check it out and of course look out for a little something by yours truly. With all the fantastic submissions it should keep you busy while I continue to formulate my thoughts on Michigan summers or August in Michigan or whatever it is out there. Anyway, get over to ATG and check out the issue on our favourite things: Friends, Enemies and Lovers.

The image that inspired this layout. If you don't see indie and leaves check it out.
(may be slow to load)

Hello Everybody! I added a little link up at the top called "state" which is the state of me. You can click on it and get a nice popup to tell you what I'm reading, listening to, etc. I'll try to keep it updated and you know, write here too. I've been to a reunion and a wedding in the last couple weeks so I'll post those little stories soon. In the meantime I'm working a lot so I'll be doing more of that and eventually get back to you. Enjoy!

I'm totally laughing at myself right now because it's Friday Night and I'm sitting here writing this. No, wait. That's not the reason. I'm laughing because I was alll proud that I made a mess of trying to do a javascript popup and all I did was sneak a peek at someone else's code and make up the rest myself. And it worked. Oh wait, that's not it. It worked in Opera. It has, however, failed to work in IE. So. That means if you know anything about javascript, popups, or you just want to be my hero you should CONTACT ME AND LET ME KNOW HOW IT'S DONE. Er... thanks. I mean really, I could use some help. Even if you only know someone that can help me and you let them know you can still hold a spot in my personal Hero Hall of Fame. Thanks. That is all, carry on.

That's right, the world must be coming to an end because the girl that hates cell phones finally owns one. Like my mom's friend said I joined the 21st century. I'm not sure about that ? since I'm already pretty technologically savvy. And it's not really cell phones that annoy me (I figured I should say that before I got a lot of hate mail ? send it anyway). So it's not the phones themselves that annoy me, it's the people that use them or the way they use them. You could be a perfectly nice, reasonable person but when I have to listen to your conversation while I'm eating my dinner and you're not even part of my group you're being rude. So shut it. Right, this isn't about my annoyance with mobile phones. Sorry.

I spent about two weeks checking out different stores to find out who had coverage in my area. I guess that's the thing about surviving in a small town, very few companies have coverage here. I always suggest to them that maybe we're a hole in the ground. It could be so. What do I know? I also tried to talk my mom into putting a tower in the back yard, but somehow I don't see that going over very well or very quickly even if it goes over well. In the meantime I found two companies that had definite coverage, a company that said I could try it for 15 days (that's average) and see how it worked in my area and a company that said they couldn't promise anything because they were paying to use another company's towers to get coverage in my area and the other week it was down and there was no coverage at all. Are you confused yet?

Either way I decided to go with VerizonWireless. They're the one company that has the most coverage across my area and across the nation really. Plus they offered me a good deal.

After that I started looking for phones I might like to have. Me? Like to have a phone? I know, I know. According my past preferences I would probably like the more expensive phones. I always seem to like the most expensive model, issue, etc. It was true this time too although I didn't get quite to the high end seeing as I don't need a camera phone among other things. When I arrived at the store I asked a lot of questions about the phone I liked (Samsung a310 ? apparently very popular as I've seen several since). I wanted to know if it would break and what sorts of breaks were common and if they were phone issues or I'm-an-idiot issues. The sales lady warned me of a few problems that people have that they cause themselves that can be prevented. These are the things that weren't covered under the warranty. She also tried to sell me a more expensive phone. It was about $70 more actually ? until the rebate and then it was $30 more. I decided I couldn't wait for 12 weeks while they sent the rebate check and went with the original phone of my choice.

The other part of this was that I was waiting for the holiday deals, or at least I was thinking about waiting. As I'm now the owner of a phone you know I didn't wait. I still think I got a good deal. Then again who knows?? Especially considering the first thing I said to myself when I walked out of the store, phone in had, was "I'm not sure I'm ready for this commitment."

And this from the girl who's in a long distance relationship.

Once again I decided to change the layout. This is based on a photo I took out in Grand Haven, Michigan just about a year ago. Luckily the weather was better then although you can see the waves coming up on the walkway in the photo. In the meantime I've written some entries I just haven't posted them yet. Subbing is keeping me pretty busy and when I'm not doing that I'm still working at the range. At least I'll be able to afford some things at this rate. Keep smiling and sign up for the notify. I'll post more soon.

If you don't see the layout I'm talking about check it out.

Some of you may or may not know that I'm involved in the webzine All Things Girl. It's a pretty rockin' thing to be involved in and if you are so inclined (and you're missing out if you're not) you should check it out. The latest issue is on Tranquility & Pandemonium and features a lot of fantastic work from a lot of really cool and talented women.

Behind the scenes the editors are getting to know each other with the following questionaire. Some of it we probably know about the others, some of it we don't. Here's your chance to peek into the background and get to know a little bit more about me if you really want to.

1. Your name:
Jennifer M

2. Your nicknames:
Jenn, Jenny (rarely) and online: silentlove, oshaberi, and occasionally crazy coffee girl

3. Your birthday:
April 18th

4. Location:
small town*, Michigan
* a little dinky place near Ann Arbor

5. Maritial status:
Not. However, long-distance-long-term relationship participant here.

6. If you had to choose only one CD to listen to for a month, what would it be?
19 Wheels - Sugareen (Michigan band)

7. If you had to choose only one movie to watch for a month, what would it be?
Lor said Moulin Rouge, which I'd be inclined to agree with. Otherwise it's probably something like Practical Magic.

8. What about a book? (Same question as 6 and 7)
Does the book have to take me a month? How about Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman or possibly Good Omens.

9. If you could move and live anywhere in the world, where would you go?
Denmark comes to mind. I really like what I've seen of London or maybe Chicago.

10. What's your current occupation?
Substitute Teacher and student.

11. What is your ideal occupation?
Teacher, english, drama and communication. I also think event planning would suit me. Or maybe one of thoes people that takes care of clients at hotels in places like Las Vegas. Neat.

12. If you could instantly be fluent in another language, what would you choose?
Danish.

13. Tea or coffee?
Coffee first, but tea has it's soothing place in my life.

14. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would that be?
More dicipline to follow through with things.

15. Why are you a part of All Things Girl?
There is sometime a striking lack of unity among women and any chance to bring women together and celebrate their work and art is realyl fantastic to me. I also think it's a nice change from the please everyone else, change yourself routine that we see in a lot of publications. Instead it's about being who you are, expressing yourself and seeing what others are all about. I'm also female and an artist that is constantly seeking a community. What more could you want?

We finished watching Season Two of Alias tonight. I'd really like to check out the commentary and some of the extras on the DVD but they're due back tomorrow by noon and seeing as I have to work tomorrow I don't really have time. We did get through the bloopers, the "look" feature on the disguises of Sydney and the first few minutes of the making of "The Telling" which if I'm not mistaken is the season finale.

My dad, who doesn't watch Alias and will be happy to tell you what's wrong with the show even if you don't ask, mentioned one more opinion tonight. He expressed that he didn't know who to be more concerned with, Gordon, who wasn't sure what was going on or me for being able to explain it all. On my side, Gordon pointed out that I read about it online, etc. so of course I know more. Plus he wasn't sure if he hadn't heard something. He got it all right, it's just that I've been reading. The Television Without Pity recaps really help me keep up and catch up. There are also the forums and if you think Vaughn is hot you'll want to check out this site. Not that I think he's hot or anything. It's all about Sark. Okay. Shut up.

I won't go on. I can keep my obsession to myself. Besides, I just saw a news clip that enlightened me to the fact that there's a sports drink named by a rapper (I have no idea who) and it's called "pimpyjuice". I wish I was kidding. The hell?

Can someone get me a TiVo so I can stop with the constant TV. Please save me from these random weirdnesses. I can't help it if I'm waiting for the Simpsons to come on. Okay, okay, I need to get out. No more TV this week. Except? well, what about?? No? No. Okay.

So the part of my life that doesn?t take place in front of the TV takes place in front of the computer. No, that's not right. I subbed today at the high school. It was only a half of a day and the call came in at 5:44. That's in the morning. The only thing that means is that I'll be tired enough tonight that I'll go to bed early. Considering tomorrow's looking a little busy that will be a good thing. I was going to go to the teacher's party that I think I mentioned earlier but I haven't really heard much about it and I have backup plans.

My mom's boss is having a gathering for thirty of his closest friends. I think that translates into wealthy, older gentlemen. I think that sounded way shadier than I meant it to. Anyway, up and coming jazz singer will be there to entertain us and hopefully someone will offer me a job. I can always hope. If I'm not to tired from subbing it could be pretty fun.

Speaking of subbing tomorrow, if I have computer access it's my intention to tell a little bit about my town tomorrow. I've been thinking about how? quaint it is and it might be interesting to read about it. Every once in awhile I try and see it the way someone new would see it instead of the way I see it. You know, the girl who grew up in this funny little Midwestern town. We'll see.

Brought to you by:

New seasons and new layouts. I miss the autumn waves look, but I was feeling a little festive. Indie and I traveled out back with my parents and Gordon to cut down our Christmas tree. This event has become a tradition around here. I'm not sure indie liked the wagon ride, but he did enjoy the adventure in the woods. He also made sure I did a good job cutting down the tree.

If you don't see the layout I'm talking about check it out

Shannon linked to this googlism thing and since I'm practically a stay at home mom (more on that later) I found it hard to resist. So here are some funny - and contradictory - things about me according to google. I'm sure some of these are true, some of them.. well, they just aren't. )comments on them by me are in [])

jenn is an atheist
jenn is awesome dot com
jenn is not here yet
jenn is awesome
jenn is cooler
jenn is an egg [not only am I cool, awesome and nice, I'm also an EGG!]
jenn is getting to be the pro at chemistry
jenn is my ex
jenn is
jenn is so great
jenn is the best
jenn is a nice
jenn is the daughter of the mayor of spring sun [spring sun? where's that?]
jenn is evol"
jenn is currently attending college at columbia school of broadcasting
jenn is a person who loves jesus deeply ? it's very apparent [along with being an athiest, neat?]
jenn is singing
jenn is listening to
jenn is not working with clients
jenn is not a doctor or nurse
jenn is featured on the stanford university cd compilation of best campus bands [and no one told me? what kind of money am I missing out on?]
jenn is interested in piano
jenn is a student and has worked for campus bus service since the summer of 1999 [again, where are the paychecks?]
jenn is unashamedly flirting with bill [yeah, credit card, medical and insurance]
jenn is a very gifted artist
jenn is the vocalist
jenn is the founder of auroramud [uh?]
jenn is a happy little homemaker
jenn is a graduate of the university of colorado school of law [and I still can't get a well paying full time job!]
jenn is older then glen they apparently didn't have colour photography at that point [man, I am old!]
jenn is still pregnant
jenn is continuing to recuperate
jenn is the greatest
jenn is in the college of arts & sciences and is leaning towards a computer science major [at this point I'm holding a lot of degrees and enrolled at so many schools, I don't even know how I manage my schedule]
jenn is the best thing
jenn is pregnant [and still from before, no one told me...]
jenn is back in the band and jim dispirito is out
jenn is responsible for the project finances
jenn is a fulltime stylist [apparently I do have a job]
jenn is a wonderful person
jenn is about to enter her junior year at ucla as a theatre studies major
jenn is adopted [mom? dad? is there something you want to tell me?]
jenn is a washington dc native who earned her bachelor of science degree in from pffeiffer university in misenheimer
jenn is doing all of the hard work
jenn is waiting for a response
jenn is no help
jenn is soft
jenn is concerned that jack is slipping away from her
jenn is a recent graduate of eugene lang college
jenn is also a very cool kid
jenn is the glue of the operation
jenn is shy and contemplative
jenn is over n' jenn sez it's okay so because jenn sez its okay it is
jenn is 5 years old [or at least she acts like it]
jenn is still filming
jenn is born weighing 7 lbs [actually 4lbs 4oz]
jenn is a nerd [geek, thanks]
jenn is going to become a film director [fun!]
jenn is not responsible for any injury
jenn is a member of the american dental association
jenn is the heart & soul of illusionaire
jenn is a dual citizen [of what? america and sun spring land?]
jenn is a laid back easy going person
jenn is a new york girl [I wish]
jenn is a woman named rosario [double identity!]
jenn is a great friend
jenn is my favorite source for casual baby doll clothing
jenn is available in portable form? [really....?]
jenn is officially *not* returning to microsoft for the summer term
jenn is grateful for the opportunity to teach and share her practice with the jai ma community
jenn is artistic director

and jenn is surprised if you read through all of those. so weird. I have a very full and interesting life apparently. no kidding.

In honor of Valentine's Day I thought I'd spruce things up a little. Besides that how long can you look at a holiday layout? Isn't that a little like leaving up your Christmas tree until April? Yeah, I thought so. So love the hearts, love your friends, and family and that special someone. Try not to complain. Instead celebrate yourself for a little while. Oh, yeah, and smile.

Don't see the layout I'm talking about? Check it out.

So, we all fill out lots of forms through out time. You know, the ones where you sign up for a nice little membership and they ask you for a username and a password and somewhere near there they tend to ask you for a clue. Luckily for most people they only let you select from a set of prepicked questions. What's your mother's maiden name? Where were you born? What's your dog's name? That sort of thing. Well, maybe the problem isn't so much with the question as it is with the answer. I mean, they leave a blank and you can put in anything you want. Yeah, I'm so clever. I'll let the below email speak for itself. Shut up, you know you've done it.

From: tickets@amtrak.com
To: jenn
Subject: Amtrak Login Information

Dear Jenn,

This email contains the user name and password clue information you requested.
(Note that for security reasons, we cannot send your password.)

Your user name is: USER_03

Your password clue is: shut up?

If you do not recall your password, please create a new profile. To do so, access our site at
http://www.amtrak.com

Thank you for choosing Amtrak.

Thank you for being so clever.

If you've talked to me in the last month you've probably heard me talk about the Polynesian Chicken. If I promised you the recipe, you no longer have to wait. If you're just tired of hearing me talk about it, try it out for yourself and see if you don't do the same thing.

So I mentioned that Andreas started up his weblog over at Solitude. As I was reading through it I realized that I had an opinion on a few of the things he had to say. Instead of simply talking about them with him over IM like I'd normally do, or sending an email like I said I would, I decided to put my thoughts out here for you in case you get interested in any of these topics. Or just because I feel a wee bit guilty for neglecting you lovely people.

So onward and inward or something.

From Orkut — I'm not impressed.

It's true, I'm a joiner of Orkut and at first I found it fun and exciting and I checked in several times a day or week or frequently at any rate. Then I started to forget about it. Time would pass and I wouldn't check in unless I got a message from someone who was adding me as a friend. I started to wonder who was adding me and if I should add them. There were people I hardly knew and the only real thing we had in common (that I know about) is the fact that we're all on the same message board with a few thousand others. Huh.

Basically the novelty has worn out and I agree with the changes that Rebecca Blood suggests. I'm sure there are more, but it's certainly a good start. And do we really want to mix business with pleasure?

From No reply necessary:

I've read so many different articles about managing time and email and computer time and grocery lists that you'd think we'd all have it down by now. I, too, rarely get back to people through email. I might cover the short stuff and I might send quick replies on occasion, but usually I feel people deserve more thought and time than that so instead they don't get any reply and emails sit in my inbox asking for my attention day after day after week after month until I wonder if it would be more embarrassing to ignore them or reply.

I like Andreas's idea about the 'no reply necessary' flag on email. I think about the emails that I've sent to people saying I enjoyed something they wrote and I simply get back a "Glad you liked it." Sometimes I think it would be neat if I could get more back, but I understand these people are busy and probably get quite a few emails that are exactly like mine. I did get a reply though and that was nice. Or was it? How much of their time did I take up just because I liked something? And if I didn't say I liked it would they keep writing or just give up because no one ever spoke up? Okay, tangent. Sorry.

Anyway, I think that the "thanks for reading" or the "glad you liked it" are fine replies and probably easy to get to. At the same time, it's the thought provoking ones that probably deserve the best reply and the timeliest because .. well, those people put in effort.

Will I only check my email in the future when I know I have time to reply? Probably not. Would I use a flag that let people know I wasn't expecting anything back? You got it. Do I send a lot of pointless email? Not as much as you'd expect. Will I ever get better at getting back to people. I bet you're counting on it.

Are you still with me? I'm not so sure...

I have no idea why this is so entertaining to me, but there was a nice kangaroo that rescued a man. According to the article the kangaroo was basically returning the favor since the family had rescued her from her mother's pouch some years earlier. Cute.

Way to go, Denmark.

Alias - rock. Did I mention I might sorta kinda want this?

How many can they make before we get tired of it? And are they all that different?

Education might be taking on a new face at Harvard. If they do it right it just might work. Plus I think everyone should be encouraged to study abroad. It changes your perspective and gives you a greater spring board for the rest of your life.

Also, you'll have to read it to believe it. Why didn't I think of this....?

In other news, I'll be posting photos of the deck in the next few days. Not only is it done, it's HUGE. No joke.

The new ATG is out as of today. If you want to know what I've been up to it's a good place to find out.

The easy way to catch up:

I've been working a ton. Nothing new there.

I scheduled a hair appointment and was sorry to hear that my favourite stylist has graduated and is moving on. I'm not sure what to expect when I go in, but I hope it comes out good in the end.

I may have a slight crush on Owen Wilson. Don't even ask. Just weird.

My desktop looks a lot like this:

Tea is the new favourite. I think it has to do with the weather getting cooler. The funny part is that I'm using a mug that says "coffee from hell" which is apparently tea. hee.

Oh, and I moved my bed time up a few hours. It hasn't actually worked out that way yet though. I'm not quite so tired though and it's showing up through the fact that I have a few creative ideas here and there.

I'm strangely excited about thanksgiving already.
I'm less excited about the new TV season starting this week. I'll still be setting my VCR if I remember. I won't refuse anyone who wants to buy me a tivo. Seriously.

I'm trying to decide what book to read next so if you have a suggestion let me know.

Garden State is the next movie on my to see list. Possibly this weekend or a middle of the day sometime this week if I'm lucky. Wanna go? Let me know about that too.

I'd like to take this space to reannounce a project that has been reborn. Andreas has joined me over at scatter joy where we're both posting photos.

The new issue, Falling, is up over at All Things Girl You should find something that will inspire you of you take some time to look through the different sections. There's a lot of great work in this issue. Also, don't forget to check out the submission page if you want a peek at future themes or want to submit something. The only rule is that you have to be a girl.

As for me, I've been fighting headaches for most of the weekend, but seem to be doing better today. I can't update weekly because whenever I try to put a time limit on myself it serves no other purpose than to keep me from writing. I will attempt however.

The driving range is closing in less than two weeks. Wow.

I still really like coffee and it's a good thing because it's the only thing that keeps me going some days. Other days it's simply the momentum. Busy. Also, if you have a birthday this week, Happy Birthday. I'm thinking of you and this isn't where the fun stops.

And lastly, a quote: "What looks like crazy on an ordinairy day looks a lot like love if you catch it in the moonlight."

So I mentioned my common place journal. And because I'm weird, and I really like this project, I've decided to share mine. It might grow slowly, but it will grow in time.

I've moved this entry and all other knitting ones, etc.

Or London for that matter. It's one of those rainy, grey, and enclosing days. The sort that are perfect for shuffling around the house in pjs. I spent almost two hours in the coffee shop knitting in front of the fireplace which strikes me as funny for a variety of reasons. I'm not that domestic in the first place. Then I wrote in my little black book about my knitting and some future plans. I also looked through the little black book to see what I'd written in the past and found some funny information about tea, class schedules, orginizations to volunteer with and something about joining the CIA.

In other news, there is a new issue of All Things Girl and it's quite fun. I especially like my reviews and the piece by Lorissa about photography tips. I've been trying to get my camera out more, but the other day I lost it for awhile so that put a halt to photo taking. I also would sorta like to get a new one, but that's not going to happen any time soon.

PS I will be traveling to Chicago in the near future and I'm pretty damn excited about it. Also, finals are in a week? Or I'll be done two weeks from today. If that's true it's kinda scary. And exciting. Yay.

Just a quick update.. I removed the locals and attractions pages and combined them with the state of jenn concept into one big thing called "guide." Hopefully this won't be too confusing and maybe I will stop feeling guilty for not updating the state of my life more than once a month. If you feel like you're freaking out and can't remember who people are and really miss using those pages (I doubt you ever did) let me know and maybe I'll put them back. Otherwise a I found out in my assessment class that a little stress is good for us. So deal. :)

• You must tell 5 people about this game.
• Mr. One is the one that you love.
• Mr. Two is one you like but can't work out.
• You care most about Erika.
• Elizabeth is the one who knows you very well.
• Ryan is your lucky star.
• Another First Kiss is the song that matches with the person in number 3 (Mr. One).
• Fair is the song for the person in 7 (Mr. Two).
• Breathe, 2AM is the song that tells you most about YOUR mind.
• and Blue Eyes is the song telling you how you feel about life
Take this quiz

Due to an annoying number of spam comments... comments on this site will be open for a week only. (Unless I get lazy). So if you really had something to say and the comments are closed.. well, you are always welcome to contact me. Email is cool too: jennem AT the domain. or at scatterjoy.net. Just so you know, cause I'm not trying to keep you out. Just the spammers. Maybe if they'd get a clue and realize that I'm not in need of cialis.

Also new layout.. I thought if I celebrate the snow it'll get out and the warm weather can come in. If you've seen this website at the right time today, you might notice that it's changing about a million times. Sorry about that. Okay, no I'm not.. it's kinda fun. But I should be done now.

So.. I've been playing World of Warcraft.. known as WoW and er.. it's taking up a lot of my time. I'm a geek. The kids at school found out I play and they're all excited about it. Apparently it makes me the coolest teacher ever.

I'm also helping out with the school play and doing my pre-student teaching and writing lesson plans for curriculum and Andreas arrive a week or so ago.. Two weeks? I h ave no idea at this point how long it's been. I'm having trouble keeping track of time actually. Must be just over a week because there have been two episodes of Alias. Keeping track of time by number of Alias episodes makes me the geekiest girl ever, right?

Oh, and talking geek? Hot.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get back to my WoW.

• Skunk
  I like skunks!
• Pet skunks
  In case you ever wanted one of your own...