22 January 2012

Finally...

Been FOREVER since I've blogged, but before moving out to CA I was working 7 days a week and as many hours as possible.


My first semester in grad school was awesome. Learned a ton and got to know some of the people in my program...which I may describe some of them. Then I got to have one of the longest breaks I can remember having and went back to Kansas to spend a lot of time with family and friends.

School: studying, class, interacting with new people. And finding out that there are some who obviously slipped through the cracks into the program and maybe should not have (mostly due to their total lack of social skills)...I won't use their real names, like Christina (crap, I used it)...everyone, just look away and pretend you didn't see that. I meant to change her name to Xtina, to be somewhat mysterious and to make you think she has blond hair, not red, is a famous singer, not an annoying overly talkative know-it-all. She is a very smart person, but has no self-awareness or ability to interact with others.

One thing Xtina said at our orientation is that she is someone who professors don't like because she will go out of her way to try and prove them wrong and argue with them. I was sitting across from her when she said this and she looked at me and laughed like I was going to laugh with her. I sat and looked at her stone-faced and then shoved a cupcake in my mouth. I was obviously more interested in the food at orientation than listening to Xtina talk about herself.

Xtina and another guy, who I'll refer to as Goober, always like talking back and forth during Stats class. Now, Goober, he showed up to campus one time after one of his workouts and drove in making at a show that he had not yet put his shirt on. What he failed to realize was that I didn't take a picture of him as admiration of his body but more to enter his tiny nipples into the Guinness Book of World Records.

Now, Xtina and Goober like talking in class and being obnoxious about how much they know and doing their best to make others think they are less than worthy. As a typically quieter and focused student, they will be soooo surprised when I present them both with a gift certificate to a nearby hotel where they can go and consummate their love for each other. It's a gift that I'll most likely present to them in front of class prior to the start of lecture.

For those people who have never been to Fresno, it's not a bad place to live and has a small town feel to it. I appreciate it because, while some people here say Fresno is about 10-15 years behind the rest of CA, people are really laid back and down-to-earth. They are courteous and polite and you can actually have a conversation at the grocery store with a stranger. But I don't take their candy.

Moose.............................um, this little guy makes friends as easily as breathing oxygen. Everyone in my complex who has met him loves him and he's always so sweet to greet them. Even little kids love him, but sometimes Moose forgets that if he jumps up to give kisses he can knock the kids down. Fortunately, the parents have only laughed and said that Moose is sweet. Moose is particularly fond of my neighbor, Doug, who I also refer to as Mater. Also, our neighbors across the way, Pride and his wife Saray, are very fond of Moose--especially Pride. He and Saray always make time to give attention to Moose no matter what.

I have another neighbor who is in the military and he drives a mustang to work...that thing revs like nobody's business and I always know when he's going work. Sometimes he takes his motorcycle to work and it's cool to see him in his uniform speeding away. He and his wife have a cute little boy, too.......I think one of the kids that Moose has tackled.

The ladies in the rental office...they suck at communicating with each other. But they are all nice. Maria wears reading glasses and whenever I go in there she likes to tilt her head down and look at me over the top of them. I kinda wanna just tell her to take them off and not do that. Michelle, she always seems to be struggling to get all the information and seems nervous. When my apartment flooded along with 2-3 others, they were both working really hard to get everything under control.

That's just a tiny bit about life in Fresno...we'll see what this next semester has to offer.