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hep_kitten
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Name: Melissa
Country: United States
State: Missouri
Metro: St. Charles
Birthday: 5/19/1986
Gender: Female
Interests: morality and ethics, ska, music in general, sewing, concerts, dancing around randomly, video games such as mario kart (64), ddr, and katamari damacy, cooking, watching house, traveling, singing, dancing around randomly, pictionary, thumbtacks, and phone book mapsanime, (bleach, rahxephon, full metal)
Expertise: loving
Occupation: teaching (soon), waitress (cur
Industry: fac.e
Message: message me
AIM:  Fiveironrocks
MSN: hep_kitten@hotmail.com
ICQ: 
Member Since:
3/3/2005
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| Where to begin?
This was a good year. I think i spent far too much time wishing it would end so that i could be closer to being a teacher. I now have 2 semesters of college left, and it's starting to be a little intimidating because many of the public schools are now on hiring freezes because of lacking funding.
We began this year with one car, and are ending it with one working car and one in need of repair.
Our plights:
We relied mostly on student loans for survival this year, at the beginning Cory was still looking for a job and I still worked at the Maplewood olive garden. Now Cory works in the philosophy department at UMSL and I work at the Saint Peters Olive Garden. We had many terrifying moments financially this year. Due to the length of time i have been in school and the amount of student loans i have taken out we became slowly less able to obtain student loans. In July, we visited my parents house for my brother's wedding and found out simultaneously that we were no longer eligible for loans through our previous company. Neither set of parents would co-sign for us. We ended up getting a loan through another bank that a friend suggested, but when it came time to renew it for 2009 they were no longer servicing our school. No one would give us loans, so we applied to receive "in state " fees at our university. After much stress and lots of prayer, we were awarded in state fees and no longer needed to receive outside help.
We still sleep on a mattress on the floor. A good mattress, but without a box spring. I suppose we would rather wait than buy something poor quality. My parents had promised us a bedroom set when we got married, but have yet to follow through on that, over 18 months later. At least we don't sleep on the crappy futon anymore, which we now use as a couch.
Our Travels:
We spent this year in 20 states:
Missouri, Arkansas, Kansas, Texas, Oklahoma, Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, and Kentucky.
We took a variety of trips. The first was at the beginning of the year, we finished out last year in texas visiting and traveled back through Oklahoma.
Our second trip was also to texas and that was in March for Brandon and Esmi's wedding. We spent only a short time, but it was nice to see them and help them move. On the way back we stopped at a hotel that had a garden bathtub and now we desperately want one because they are SO relaxing. On the way back we also stopped in Harrison Arkansas to see cory's folks new home. They were also in the process of moving in.
Our third trip was to Kansas City in June. We were feeling quite anxious in Saint Louis and I had a few days off work in a row, which never happens. We visited Cory's Grandma Pat. We also went to the train station (amazing!) and explored around the crown plaza and country club plaza for the day. I found a wonderful cheese at a cheese shop there( called "better cheddar" ), it's called Mimoletta and it's sharper and saltier and harder than cheddar. It looks like a cantaloupe and it's one of my favorites now. I like cheese.
Our fourth trip was to my brother's wedding. He married at only 18, on the 4th of July. This trip was more work than we expected, but it was good to see my family atleast once this year. I would feel terrible if i didn't have that opportunity.
Our last trip was much more extensive and i regrettably don't remember all the details. It was in late July. We decided that it would be important to go on an official honeymoon, since we never really got to. We decided to go to soulfest, upon hearing that the man whose band we met because of would be playing a show there, and we hadn't had the opportunity to thank him yet. The festival was held at Gunstock Mountain Resort in Gilford New Hampshire. I had never been to New Hampshire.
We bought scooters and we went. it was a real hassle getting the scooters there, and upon arrival we found we could not use them in the festival.
The trip began at 7am, though we planned on 6. We traveled as far as possible in one day, which ended up being from Saint Louis, Mo to Carlisle, PA. We drove until 10 or 11 pm. We would have gotten to harrisburg at about 8, except that there was a wreck on the turnpike and we spent about 3 or 4 hours on about 3 or 4 miles of highway. We stayed at the first hotel we could find. We rose early in the morning and we were both feeling a little ill, so we traveled to a grocery store to get some sinus medication. Cory was having ear popping problems and I had a runny nose. It was strange to be back in the area of Messiah College. It has been almost 3 years since I went to school there. We traveled on that day to Oakland New Jersey, where we met liz sharber for lunch at a little diner. It was great to see her. I miss her now. After this we traveled to boston, Ma where we stayed at the most reasonably priced hotel we could find without going out of the city. We walked around the markets the next day, followed the midnight ride of paul revere and went to the old north church. We also took a water taxi. It was neat. We left that afternoon for new hampshire, with just enough time to set up camp. If i remember correctly, the bridges in Connecticut are truly beautiful. We should go there someday for a longer stay. New York should be avoided at all costs. Not much happened at the actual festival, other than getting stuck on top of a mountain in an electrical storm with Reese Roper, and having to walk down the mountain. We were sore for days on end. We also bought about 30 Roper T-shirts with the aspiration of turning them into quilts. Hopefully that goes over well, eventually. It rained a lot at our campsite. The last evening we slept in the car because everything was wet. During one of the days when we had some free time, we drove up to Bath, Maine. We saw the Portland Head Light and went to kenibeck tavern in bath for some legendary amazing tomato soup. It was wonderful and totally worth the 4 hour drive, even though our directions were sketchy. upon leaving we drove as far as we could to arrive as close to Richmond, Virginia to see Robbie and his parents. We stopped in Delaware for the night and had to get up at 3 or 4 am so that we could beat the Washington DC traffic on the outerbelt. We stayed one full day at robbie's house and it was great to see them again. That day they took us out on their boat. It was a little scary at first, but the wind was perfect, so it turned out pretty well. They tell the best stories ever. We left the following morning pretty early and were determined to get to charleston before we stopped. As we passed a town called Tamarack, West Virginia we encountered some non moving traffic. We waited a few hours and after much attempting to continue on we decided to turn around and find the nearest hotel. We stayed at a holiday inn and got the second to last room. Apparently everyone else had the same idea. The Wreck was not cleared from the highway until 2 am ( one lane open, 7am for the second lane ). Upon hearing this, we were very glad we stopped. We drove the rest of the way back the next day, stopping in Louisville to eat and finally arriving home in the evening. It was probably the best trip i have ever taken. I was so glad we took it.
We put up our first Christmas tree this year because we could not afford to visit parents over the holidays. Cory's parents visited us a few days before christmas. It was good to see them.
Regrets:
Sleeping too much, not getting enough exercise, eating bad food ( too much ice cream!!), spending too much time focused on school work, rather than my husband, not seeing my family more, Taking out too many student loans.
Things I'm thankful for:
Student loans, getting in state fees, having a warm house, having a second car for most of the year, getting a better job, not moving yet even though we wanted to, friends, netflix, sleep.
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| So, i just found out a few days ago that I have been assigned to my internship for next semester. I could not be happier. I will be Interning ( and hopefully/ probably student teaching) at Francis Howell Central High School. Not only is it located about 5 minutes from my work, it's pretty much the most progressive district in the entire Saint Louis area. I even had to fill out a gallup survey in order to be considered for my internship. It's the same survey they give to teachers who apply there, as well as subs. I am quite excited. Of course all of this means that i will be completing my last 2 "real" classes next semester. I still have a whole semester of student teaching, but it doesn't even meet on campus more than about 2 times. It's sort of shocking to realize that a year from now i will be searching for a job in the teaching profession. Shocking and a little intimidating. Cory will be graduating close behind, too. To see beyond where we will go from there, i'd have to be the Quisaat Hadarac.
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| So i heard today, as you all probably have, that there was a worker trampled to death this morning as the crowd pressed through the doors of a walmart, breaking even the metal frame of the door. This is truly upsetting to me. While i realize that Corperate America causes the death and injury of many more masses every year, rarely do we get a glimpse of the general public acting in such a disgusting way.
This could have been any walmart. Any walmart employee who dare get in the way of people and their "deals". This is a sick picturesque example of human greed. Why is it that we desire to live above our means so powerfully that we would get up at 3 am to be at a store at 4 in order to save 20 bucks on an item. If you really need to save money that badly you probably shouldn't be going shopping.
Personally, i find myself becoming infureated by the mass produced products that these stores are creating. The clothing they create are made from poor quality fabrics, sewn together with second rate thread. The producs in general are of the cheepest quality they can possibly convince people to buy. It took me quite a while to realize that having multiple low quality items that will fall apart is much less efficent than buying one exquisitely made, and more expensive item.
Reciently i have been noticing that even high end stores like macys and dillards are choosing poorer quality fabrics in order to keep their prices down. Years ago one could go into hot topic and buy shoes that would last through the apocolypse, but now all they sell are shoes that are of no better quality than a 5 dollar pair of keds. These shoes will last through 2 or 3 weeks of wearing, yet still cost slightly more (due to inflation) than the shoes that i still have and wear often, yet bought around 5 or 6 years ago. We are truly seeing a crisis of accontability. The consumers have told producers that tehy will still buy poor quality products if they believe they are getting a deal, or so that they can have 3 t-shirts of low quality instead of one that will last much longer. In return, producers now charge what they used to for quality products for sub-par products that give them huge profit margins.
It is truly, in my opinion, the fault of the middle class that the middle class is fading out of existance. We do not hold companies accountable. For convinenece and variety's sake we have chosen to let ourselves live undiciplned lives and companies have seized the oportunity to give us exactly what we wanted: Low quality products at mediocre prices. We failed to ralize that their greed and our own lust would only make companies feel as thoguh they have the right to exploit us and make us so materialistic that we don't even care that we are buying products that are simply going to fall apart mere weeks after buying them.
When my grandparents were young they bought tools and utincils that could last so long they could be left down to children. Now, we're lucky if our pots and pans make it 6 months. We use them less often and less rigorously, yet we are so ready to throw them away.
I belive that the reason we are so willing to buy poor quality items comes from the idea of buying on credit. If it's not our money we tend to be less frugal about spending it, even if it means our money later. It's instant gratification. Rather than searching around and checking quality, we simply grab and go. The second part of our ease of spending comes about on our own beliefs that we have engenedered into our culture: we believe that we are capable of getting something for nothing. It happens when we clip coupons, when we search out sales, when we drive the extra mile to find gas that is 3 cents cheeper, AND we believe that all of this running about and trying hard to pay the least for things will actually get us ahead.
It's time to realize that we have made the bed taht we sleep in. It's time for the coorperations of america to pay the rent. We've given you our very souls, now get out of our fucking house.
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| i haven't had nearly as much time as i would have liked this semester to work on this thing. I took it out yesterday for the first time since summer. BUT i am almost done cutting pieces. All i have left is deciding some of the brown pieces into 1/4ths anyhow....this is a photo of what the very center will look like.. There will be 5 stars total, like the one in the middle, the others will be in the corner and a smaller green flannel boarder will fill in the gaps in between. i may upload more photos tomorrow.
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| I have a dilemma.
I have to have money to live, yet every time i get money someone shows up on the scene with their hands out ready to take it away.
I have one thing in my life that i regret. I regret taking out student loans. I should have merely joined the work force and tried to make it with no debt. I never though that i would regret taking them out, but being 4.5 years into a bachelors degree and teacher certification with 1 year left before graduation and over 100 thousand dollars in debt. I suppose there are two reasons i am frustrated at this debt; first, i feel that i am being wrongly charged for my education. My government should be taking care of this because i do not have rich parents and am not independently wealthy. My job is quite needed, especially in my area, and other civilized societies pay for their students to become educated. Secondly, i feel frustrated because i am buried. I have been stripped of my freedom because of this large amount of debt. I am dependent on the government to help me get by day to day because the loan markets will not longer lend to me, not because of my credit score, but because of my debt numbers. I am fairly certain that my last semester will be all on me. I don't even think that i can get government loans after this year. When i graduate i can look forward to making 32- 40 thousand a year, an ample income for two young people triyng to make it, BUT in order to pay my debt off in 8 years or less i have to make payments of atleast 1500 a month. That's half of what i will be making, leaving me with slightly more than i make as a part time waitress to live on.
I am okay with paying off my debts, but i am truly afraid that i will not be able to finish school and have to settle for making 18k a year, and paying all of it to loans, while trying to find some way to get by. I just want out of the system. I don't want money, i want to live in a log cabin in the woods and farm, have a windmill for power and not depend on this abomination called the dollar. a lot more goes into being free of it than one might think, but if you produce extra crops and maybe quilt a little you can barter and never have to use money when you need things like soap or nails or a new toothbrush.
i just want out.
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