the best part is...

I'll get to write about all of the crazy hijinks that the kids do. yay!!!!

YESYESYES!!!

I am officially employed. I will be an after school program coordinator for a private school in Boulder. And i start tomorrow. HELL YES. The woman who hired me also offered me the opportunity to advance as an assistant teacher for next fall depending on enrollment.

So, i'm staying in Boulder. And i'm stoked.

Tonight: audition with renaissance thing.

EEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!

Neat quote

From The United States Congress's Wilderness Act of 1964- it defines the Wilderness as "An area where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, and man himself is a visitor and does not remain."

I feel torn by this statement. On one hand, I do feel that we as inhabitants of the earth have to respect nature and keep our sprawl to a minimal level. But on the other hand, I think its a gift that we need to nurture and visit, in order to learn about our past and what our land has to offer for our future (considering we are all feeling the energy crisis).

What do you think?

Monday is going to RULE.

Had my phone interview with Kaplan today. I guess it went well- I have a second interview on Monday. After that- I have an interview with Renaissance Adventures, a live-action role-playing day camp for nerdkids. I'm sure my father will have lots of comments regarding this job :). LARPing for a living...Andy K will be proud.

The awesome thing is that I am fully qualified for both. The one is an administrative/public job and the other involves me playing with kids in a theatrical manner all day (in the Boulder foothills!!!!!). I'll be able to get my serious on, and then be able to play. The best of both worlds.

I'm feeling much better. Being able to write about troubles is way more refreshing and therapeutic than complaining about it all day to Erin, Mike and Marylou (and those others who wind up in the mix). I'm sure they are really sick of "woe-is-me-Corrin", too. I know I am...I've also been in contact with a few people regarding acting jobs and other theater stuff. I can honestly say that for the first time since leaving Pittsburgh in October, i'm starting to feel that at-home feeling occasionally again (which is better than never feeling it).

Today Mike is coming up and we are going to head to Oskar Blue's (our friend Tim's brewery, er- the one he works at) to try a coconut-infused chub. I'm pretty excited about this. I like beer and Colorado has a lot of it and it is good. Craft brewer is on my list of dream occupations.

Have a good weekend, everyone!

Still snowing

Its still snowing. And it probably will snow forever. Or until tomorrow morning at 11am (fact courtesy of weather.com).

We are under a blizzard advisory. This should be interesting. I'm just hoping that it doesn't mess up my plans for Friday/the weekend.

You'll have to excuse me- i'm super drowsy. I made homemade vegetable soup in light of the weather and i drank some tension tamer tea. Everything is totally coooooollllllll man.

This weather really makes me miss home and being able to hear the snow falling. Western Pennsylvania forever.

So yeah, long story short: Colorado DOES get snow.

Blizzard

I am trapped. In my house. I had an interview at 2:00 today and a volunteer opportunity after that. Both called me and canceled. When the volunteer dude called, i said "i can't believe you guys think this is a lot of snow..." I laughed to save myself from looking like a jerk afterward, though. But seriously. People in Colorado have no idea how to handle snow. Which is odd, considering 99% of them ski or board....

So, yeah. There is about 8 inches out there right now. Its still going, and plans on going until tomorrow (Friday) morning at about 6am.

Its good to see some precipitation, though. Its so dry out here and Boulder/surrounding areas are prone to brush fires. Brush fires that like, burn houses down. Fires that mean serious business. There have been two (that i know of) since I got out here.

Hopefully everyone has bread and milk. And heat. Its 21 degrees outside and I can't help but think of the homeless people. There's a lot here for some reason (i guess it isn't any different than the rest of the world...).

Oh, Dear God.

http://www.weather.com/outlook/recreation/ski/local/80303?lswe=80303&lwsa=Weather36HourSkiCommand&from=searchbox_localwx


We are expecting 18 inches of snow. Boulder is super-close to the front range, so we may get more.


BUT.

The weekend is going to be in the 50's.

The weather is more wacky here than PGH. 50 degrees, blizzard, 50's. Sigh.

Almost at my wit's end.

So. Its 9:45 pm MST. I woke up at 10:00 today, began job searching around 10:15 am (as soon as i had my first up of coffee in my hands). I've been at it for 12 1/2 hours (sans food and bathroom breaks). I am seriously about to go crazy. Today, I talked to one dude who tried to convince me to become a realtor (have an appointment with him at 1 on Monday to discuss it further) and one phone interview date with Kaplan on Friday.

This is basically how every day goes, sans the ones where I am hanging out with Mike (but the nagging feeling of not being alright is always in the back of my mind).

I have so many plans, and such a strong desire to move on with my life, but I can't. I really don't want to move back to Pittsburgh (as much as I love the place), but the 31st is still my deadline and that's one week to go, between now and then (at which time i will buy a plane ticket). I really don't want to leave.

I can't handle the feeling of not having a hold on my life. I know i've been a really irresponsible person in the past, but I was always able to support myself. I want to go back to school, i want to have my own apartment, i want to have a cat again. I want to have a plan. I want to stop worrying. I haven't slept well in months, I haven't enjoyed food in a very long time, and all i do is worry. I live in a gorgeous place and I can't even really see everything for what it is because of this fog of worry constantly hanging over my head. I'm afraid that if this sticks around much longer, i'm going to become terrified of everything. Constantly worrying about taking risks.

Sure, moving to Colorado was definitely the stupidest thing i've ever done. But I don't understand why I can't make anything work when I am trying so hard to actually make "it" (being life, happiness, etc) happen.

I could really use all of the advice, prayers and positive energy any of you might be able to spare. I really want to get my life back together. So i can stop complaining about it so much and use my energy for better things. Like saving Africa.

Why can't baby koalas and their perpetual cuteness be the thing that occupies my mind the most?

My blog, its personality:

ESTP - The Doers

The active and playful type. They are especially attuned to people and things around them and often full of energy, talking, joking and engaging in physical out-door activities.

The Doers are happiest with action-filled work which craves their full attention and focus. They might be very impulsive and more keen on starting something new than following it through. They might have a problem with sitting still or remaining inactive for any period of time.

courtesy of www.typealyzer.com

Boulder.

So, there is a coffee shop (that isn't Starbucks), a Vietnamese restaurant, TWO thrift shops (both of which the entire proceeds benefit non-profits) and a yoga studio all within 3 blocks of my front door.

I sure love Boulder, guys.

Here's to 9am yoga classes and organic, fair-trade coffee.

(Mis)adventures of life.

What the crap, Obama. You were supposed to be all superman-like, omnipotent. Mr. Band-aid. Dude, i moved to Colorado to help get you into office. I worked 50+hours a week for you.

Where's my job?

Party foul, Obama. Party foul.

I need a job, folks. Mike spoiled me with snowboarding gear for my birthday and you can bet your pretty little faces that I'm going to use it- which means i want to stay in Colorado (east coast slopes suck, apparently. Too much icy snow. Icy snow= hurty falls).

So, come on. Cut a sister a break here.

birthday!!

Yeah, he's adorable.



Mike, Mackenzie, Tim and Oscar @ Oskar Blues

I must smell funny in this one....

Again- with the cuteness.

Birthdays.

That photo? Yeah, those are the birthday cupcakes my roommate made me! I'm lucky! The really sprinkly one is my Special birthday cupcake- just because it has a crap-ton more "jimmies" as my Dad would call them. They are funfetti cake, too. I'm a lucky girl.

Ah, birthdays.

This year I'll be 26. 25 was ok, i guess. I did some cool stuff. Hung out with some kids in Lawrenceville, helped win a presidential election, moved to Colorado, did a lot of theater projects...yeah, its been a busy year.

Its 9:48 here and I always get a little freaked out as midnight draws near. Technically, i won't be 26 until noonish tomorrow, but i don't know. I always get freaked out. I think it has something to do with an episode of Sesame Street that portrayed the characters celebrating the New Year, and of course, Elmo being the idiot that he is was all freaked out because he "had no idea where the old year goes" when the new year arrives at midnight. Whatever man, i expect that kind of behavior from Cookie Monster, but come on, Elmo....it's amazing how what you do/see as a child affects you when you are in your mid-twenties....

Aaaaaanyways. So yeah, birthdays. I'm really missing being home right now. And my grandfather. This will probably be the saddest birthday just because I am so far from home and my grandfather's birthday falls on the 10Th, so we always celebrated together. I'm still going to celebrate my life, because life is a great gift, but i won't be able to help myself from wandering back to the good ol' days.

Here's to another year of trying to get "it" right!

slideshow bob

The photos in the slideshow below are of Wyoming, Great Sand Dunes National Park and Garden of the Gods. I uploaded these on Photobucket, which kind of sucks as a photosharing website. I'm going to upload them on a different site, in order of what i saw and the date, and write captions so you know what everything is. Check back soon!

<3

Photos i've taken so far.

Dear Exercise Machine.

I JUST DESTROYED YOU. YOU CAN NOT BEAT ME.

Exercising is awesome, America. It makes you feel good.


also: cats and laser pointers= better than television. pics to follow.

not an adventure, but an update.

So i tried exercising for the first time since i got out here in October (minus the painful travesty that was my first lesson in snowboarding and hiking at Bear Lake). I failed. I mean, i persisted, but ultimately failed. I'm a fattie, y'all. Erin has an exercising thingie in my room, and its awesome. I can lift approximately 20 pounds, without over-exerting myself. I suffered through 40 reps, minus the 20 "sit ups" before i planned to conquer the exercise machine.

....i think it laughed at me a little this morning.

I've started to exercise because i want to climb a fourteener this summer and that's something that you really can't just wake up on a Sunday morning and decide to do. http://www.14ers.com/. the ones listed under "The Front Range" are the ones closest to me. Apparently you can hike one in a day, but I don't know man...

In other notes, I scored a job as a gymnastics camp counselor. Itr starts in May, but its also another reason to get into shape. My birthday is also this friday (!!!!) and i'll be 26. I guess my friend Mackenzie was put in charge of activity planning- this scares me a little, haha.

Alright, enough of an update. I should go get owned by the Exercise Machine.

Seriously.

SWEET BERRY WINE!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6J1BXOdNWoM

yeah, this is pretty hilarious. you should watch it. my dream is to one day act ridiculously in front of a camera and get paid for it...

ADDENDUM: The link above is a new and working link. The other one was taken off of Youtube, and well, not having that visual masterpiece on my blog is unacceptable.

Home for now...

The United States is a very big place, and before you all say "the beach is the most beautiful place in the country", I highly recommend you think again.

I moved to Colorado in October of 2008 to work on the Obama campaign. It was probably the best decision I’ve ever made, albeit rash. The summer was hard. I had a pretty good job working with the City of Pittsburgh's Department of Parks and Recreation as a program coordinator and recreational leader. It was a very stressful job that required me to work 40+ hours a week, but I really felt like I was making a huge difference in kid's lives within my neighborhood so it was ok. Also, my grandfather (one of the most important people in my life) died after a third, but pretty short battle with lung cancer and this required me to leave my job. When I found out he only had a very short time left, I went to my grandparent's house to stay for a while and help out while the most (forgive the dramatic language) devastating thing to ever happen in my life unfolded before me, and my family.

After resigning from the job, and after finally returning to a "normal" life after Pap's death, I had to find another job. I was hired by Moveon.org to help boost voter registration in the western Pennsylvanian region for the 2008 election. After the registration deadline, I was promoted to "volunteer coordinator" and moved to Denver, to educate voters on Barack Obama's political platform (with Progressive Future). Within the past 10 presidential election cycles, Colorado has only gone blue twice, 1992 and 2008- needless to say, I’m pretty proud of our efforts.

While here, and when able to look up from some useless paperwork, I noticed that Colorado was a ridiculously gorgeous place: constant sunshine, beautiful scenery and full of adventure. I decided to stay. While here, I’ve seen some things that I never dreamed that I’d ever get to witness. If I walk outside of my house right now, I am literally 4 miles from the foot of the Flatirons (http://www.vavid-galleria.co.uk/resources/_wsb_656x319_Chautaga+Park$2C+Boulder+The+Flatirons+4+re+editted+small.jpg). That’s just one of the many natural resources that God, or whatever, has created in this state. This past weekend for instance, I saw sand dunes, the largest in North America, at the foot of a mountain range (I’ve got pictures!). Not just that, I found a guy named Mike, who oddly enough, went to Latrobe High School and we met out here. We’ve been dating for about 3 months now, and I can’t begin to tell anyone how great he is. Meeting him is probably the craziest thing to ever happen to me.

The only downfall to being here is that i'm approximately 1,500 miles from home. Needless to say, I miss my family and friends. As Marylou put it earlier to me while on an instant message conversation, it’s Spring Break! I should be at home doing something entertaining, but unlawful. Although the worst thing she and I have ever done was drive her car over a parking median and partake in some accidental public drunkenness, the point is that I’d still rather be home right now hanging out with all of you. I honestly can’t believe I ever strayed this far away. I’ll come home someday. I promise.

Anyways…..

I’ve opened this blog so I can share with you the (mis)/adventures of my time while here.


And I swear this’ll be the most serious post I have. I’m here to have fun, people!