DO NOT ACCEPT WHAT YOU CANNOT CHANGE. CHANGE WHAT YOU CANNOT ACCEPT.

Oh the Cities

Tue, 11 Mar 2008 00:07:56 GMT

Thank God for Minneapolis! I got the summer assistant position I applied for, so I'll get to stay here for the entire summer, completely rent free and food's paid for too. Sure, working forty hours a week won't be a joy, but it beats going back to La Crosse. That just isn't my home anymore. My home is in Minneapolis, in the city; it's where I belong. My mom doesn't understand, but I feel at ease here, like everything is right with the world, and I love it. I love skyscrapers, brick buildings, traffic, buses, all of it. I'll miss getting to see Ethan (my little brother) though. He's so much fun, and I feel bad that I don't see him as much, but the Cities are so much better for my mental sanity. I really can't stand being in La Crosse for more than a week, or I go insane. Between my mom and the mundane everything about there, I just can't do it. And now, I won't have to, thank God.

Music: Responsible for Terrible Acts?

Sun, 09 Mar 2008 05:13:03 GMT

I wrote this a few days ago, after a discussion with my rock history professor.

I'm sitting on the bus, waiting to go to my Anthropology of Hip-Hop class. While talking to my professor this morning, we ended up in a discussion about music being blamed for horrible things that happen in the world, including suicides, school shootings, etc. It seems he and I share similar views on the subject, believing music to be no more harmful than any other medium in which "objectionable" material is shared. To me, music, less tasteful kinds included, have a place in society. Even the more angry kinds serve a purpose for people. If someone is going through a tough time, his/her aggression can be released while listening to music. That pissed off music speaks to them in that moment; it reaches them in ways that someone or something else cannot. Music speaks to our souls, and it gets to the deepest regions of our being. My professor and I agreed that as much as we may dislike what a musician has to say, it must be allowed to be heard. On the other hand, he noted that as a parent, he still as reservations about some music. I also understand that point, but my view remains that the people who commit horrible crimes already had issues, and what type of music they listen to did not influence them heavily enough to murder classmates. The beautiful thing we call music has been violated and corrupted by people blaming it for acts it had nothing to do with. As someone who loves music nearly more than life itself, and as someone who once used those angry types of music as an outlet for my anger, it deeply saddens me to hear others speak of some music as if it should not exist and like it has no valuable place in the world. Especially when it is obvious to those who are paying attention the benefits music has and brings to the table.

Trying this again...

Mon, 03 Mar 2008 21:51:09 GMT

It's been far too long since I last posted here, so I'm going to give it another try. I saw phillyfan26's journal and renewed attempt at blogging/using Live Journal, and I thought I should probably do the same. Thanks for the inspiration, phillyfan26.

A lot has happened since my last post in August; here's the short version:
College is great. First semester didn't go as well as I'd hoped, but it was still a good experience, and I now know that I'm really cut out for a political science career, not medicine. See, all bad things (like having to withdraw from chemistry) have a positive light. I took an amazing class called "Listening to Rock and Pop Music," where I met a fabulous professor and generally good guy. Luckily, this professor was there to talk with me as I was doubting myself and my move from pre-med to political science. Huge thanks to him, I owe him a great deal. This semester is much, much better. I'm taking a bunch of classes I love, etc.

In regards to the I-35W bridge, it's currently being rebuilt. It was fairly surreal for me to ride the bus, look out the window, and see the cranes taking down the remnants of the bridge. The pieces of twisted metal supports still lie on the side of the river. Now, the cranes are working, not to tear down the remainder of the bridge, but to have a new bridge rise out of the ruins.

That's all I have for now, and I'm really going to try to keep up on this journaling thing.

Minneapolis Bridge Collapse

Thu, 02 Aug 2007 16:24:07 GMT

This entire event is so shocking and horrifying to me. I'm moving to Minneapolis in less than a month to go to the University of Minnesota, and this bridge is only a few blocks from my dorm. I've driven over the bridge on many occasions, as it is a major road into downtown Minneapolis. My thoughts go out to any and all who were directly affected by the tragedy.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/08/02/bridge.collapse/index.html

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2007/08/02/vosli.mn.i35w.bridge.collapse.side.view.cnn

Surgery on August 17th

Wed, 01 Aug 2007 23:33:34 GMT

I found out today that I have to have a laproscopic surgery done on the 17th to remove a few ovarian cysts. I'm pretty nervous about the whole thing...I know that I'll be up and moving in a day or so, but still, it's surgery. So many things can go wrong that it scares the shit out of me. *sigh*

The Birth and Death of the Day

Tue, 24 Apr 2007 21:42:38 GMT

My senior year in high school is coming to an end, and although I spent the year at a local college instead of the high school, I still have a small connection to the school. A select few of my friends go there, and I am honored to graduate with them. On the other hand, I will not miss the majority of the people from my school.
As completely cheesy as it sounds, I am truly entering a new phase in my life. Going to college, moving away from home for the first time, these events are part of me entering the adult world. College is going to be a new experience for me. I come from a town of 5,000 people, and I am moving to a city with a huge amount of people…I honestly don’t know exact numbers, but I believe the metro area to be well over 1,000,000 people. That is so exciting and refreshing to get out of my hometown, where everything revolves around who is having the kegger this weekend. I know that these kinds of people will exist no matter where I live, but I take comfort in knowing that for all of the people who are into the party scene, there are just as many people who are content enough with themselves to not get so drunk out of their minds every chance they get that they have no idea what they did the night before.
But, these advantages are also disadvantages to me. Moving to a large city is frightening to me because I’ve never lived in one. The sheer size of cities is a little scary to me. And, I will probably look like a fish out of water for the first couple months or so until I can adjust. It’s also terrifying to move away from home for the first time. The aspect that is scary to me is I will be out of my comfort zone.
I don’t think that I will miss my mom that much…I’ve never had a true relationship with her. I will miss my dad somewhat, but like any parent, at times, he drives me nuts. He doesn’t agree with anyone who doesn’t see the world exactly as he does. This makes for interesting discussions/arguments at my house. The person I will probably miss the most is my little brother, who is turning two at the end of next month. He makes me smile when I don’t want to, and just watching him makes me crack up. I have two younger sisters, one I will miss, one I will not. The one I will not miss drives me insane all the time. She is much like the stupid kids from my town I want to get away from…
The other thing that worries me is my health. My Crohn’s disease is currently in remission, but I know that could change at any moment. I can only hope that I stay healthy throughout my college years, but unfortunately, the odds are against me in that regard. I am waiting for my insurance to approve a new medication for me; it’s a self-injectable that will allow me to be more independent, and make my life a bit easier, so I don’t have to go to the hospital every six weeks to get my infusions. Once I get that approval, I think I’ll breathe a little easier. As long as I stay healthy, I think my college years will be happy and productive.

I am a mere four months away from my new life, and I can’t wait. I will probably fall on my face numerous times, but with any luck, I will also succeed.

New medications for me

Thu, 19 Apr 2007 18:25:32 GMT

I saw my doctor on Monday and will (hopefully) be switching from Remicade to Humira. This way, I can go to the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities and not worry about coming home every 6 weeks to get my infusions. I can just give myself a shot every other week instead. I'm just waiting for insurance now. I don't think they would deny the request, since Humira is significantly less expensive than Remicade, but you never know with insurance companies.

Bomb threat at University of Minnesota-Twin Cities

Wed, 18 Apr 2007 22:10:04 GMT

A bomb threat caused the evacuation of eight buildings at the U of M today. I can't believe that people think this is funny or some kind of joke. It's so sick and twisted.

My thoughts are with all the friends and family of those affected at Virginia Tech

Wed, 18 Apr 2007 14:08:50 GMT

I turned on CNN Monday morning, only to find the tragedy on the television. My friend and I were fixated on the news for the next hour, until we had to go to our next class. As the day continued, the mayhem got worse and worse.

I can honestly say that I still have no words to express the amount of anger and sadness I have felt in the last couple days. This could have happened on any campus, in any town. I'm sorry that I can't express my emotions more eloquently, but all I know is...

Now, we are all Hokies.

I heart inciting riots on Facebook

Mon, 26 Feb 2007 03:07:41 GMT

A friend of mine and I decided to write "notes" about some kids from our high school who wanted to complain that they were busted drinking underage and all got minors for it. It turned into an intelligent discussion about lowering the drinking age in the United States (which I'm not for BTW), but I guess there's always people who will come in and shit all over it. One kid decided first to tell me that I hate the military. Um, no, I hate the war in Iraq, but I do support the troops, enough to want them to come home safely and get the hell out of a country where we shouldn't be. Then, he attacked another kid, telling him to "go cry about how depressing your life or make faggish music about killing things...thats what u do right....wtf...get a different picture and stop being depressed about shit that doesnt matter." So, I said to stop and that we don't need immature people making comments while the rest of us are trying to have an intelligent discussion/debate. To which he responded, "that is the funniest statement i have ever read. cassie why dont u just say "jared, stop being immature." its funny how you have to say this elaborate sentence about intelligence and maturity just because u think that going to winona makes u smart."

Ah, yes, well, at least I can spell out a three letter word...it's Y-O-U. Seriously, how hard is that?

I just did the coolest (read: nerdiest) thing to my MacBook

Wed, 21 Feb 2007 04:15:25 GMT

I modded my MacBook so that when I hit the side of it (lightly, like a tap) it switches between different desktops. Yes, I know, I=supernerd, but it's amusing, fairly useful, and looks awesome. I even have it set up so that it turns like a cube when switching.

If anyone wants to try it out, google smackbook and there are several tutorials on how to get your Mac to be smacked :-)

Knowledge Bowl!

Thu, 01 Feb 2007 20:49:19 GMT

So, because I'm a super nerd, I'm on my school's Knowledge Bowl team. We go to competitions and answer random questions in all kinds of different categories. Today, the toughest team in our area was at the round robin tournament. They had three teams, while we have five, but really we have one awesome team, which I'm on, of course :-) So, we had to try to hold our own against Rochester Mayo. We got beat pretty bad the first round by their best team, but did really well our last two rounds. In our last round, we got 21 questions right out of 30.

And, we ended up getting third place behind two of the Mayo teams. It was an excellent way to go into the sub-regionals in March. If our team stays consistent, we should make it to the regionals, and possibly to the state tournament.

I love hot showers

Mon, 29 Jan 2007 05:38:40 GMT

There is seriously nothing better when it's 10˚F or -12˚C in Minnesota than getting into the shower at 10pm and just standing in the wonderful warmth of the water.

sigh

Thu, 28 Dec 2006 00:06:03 GMT

I'm so tired. (A bit of background: I have Crohn's Disease, it's a chronic inflammatory disease of the intestines.) I've been to the doctor more times than I care to think about this year. Between follow ups with my GI, blood work, tests, etc. it's a lot. So, for the Nth time this year, my medications are starting to wear off before they are supposed to. I have a feeling that my GI is at the end of his rope with trying to treat me. I have to do more blood tests tomorrow that will come back just like all the ones before with no inflammation blah blah blah. Either way, I feel awful. I just want to feel like someone is up to bat for me with this disease because I don't think I'm up to it right now. I've got other things to worry about. I mean, don't get me wrong, my GI has been great through this with me, I know that I'm not a textbook easy case of Crohn's, but if my doctor isn't behind me, who will be?

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Mon, 25 Dec 2006 03:36:53 GMT

I hope everyone is having a beautiful Christmas Eve :-) We had a large dinner, then opened up presents at my mom's house. I'm super excited since I got seasons 2 and 3 of ER, along with gift cards to Barnes and Noble and amazon.com (I've already spent the Amazon one on a U2 book and season 5 of ER). Otherwise, it's a fairly uneventful Christmas for us, and that's definitely not a bad thing.

So Relieved

Mon, 11 Dec 2006 17:28:29 GMT

I feel much better today...my biology final was this morning at 8am, so that's finished. Now, I have two more finals, both on Thursday. And, I register for next semester's classes a bit later today, so we'll see how that goes...I think I'll be able to find enough classes to get a full load. Plus, people always end up dropping during the first week of classes anyway.

Illegal Working Hours

Sun, 10 Dec 2006 06:11:34 GMT

I was scheduled to work until midnight tonight at Sears, but it turns out that since I'm under 18, I can't work past 11pm on weekends. So, I got off work early, yay! And, it was hilarious because nearly everyone that was scheduled to be there till midnight was under 18 and had to leave. Not that ANYONE is shopping at midnight anyway.

Done with most classes now...

Wed, 06 Dec 2006 23:48:32 GMT

I'm so relieved. I just did my English presentation, which kind of was horrible, but it's done. So, my Biology is done and English is done. I'm pretty much finished with classes besides finals...and I'm not going to stress about those just yet. I'm enjoying the relief of being done.

Side note: In my Mass Media class, I'm 2nd out of 400 students gradewise, yay!

Way too stressed out right now!!!!

Wed, 06 Dec 2006 16:34:53 GMT

I'm freaking out...this is the last week before finals and today I have two presentations and a test in Critical Thinking, the dumbest class ever imagined. I'm honestly shooting for a C in that class...that's so horrible for me. At least I'm doing well in everything else.

Wait, I'm busy, why am I posting in my LJ??!!??

Motorola (RED) Razr

Fri, 10 Nov 2006 17:39:40 GMT

I just ordered my RED Razr from Sprint. Now, I have to wait for up to 4 days before I get it...I'm not a patient person.

(RED)

Sat, 14 Oct 2006 01:13:43 GMT

I'm super excited! I got back from the Gap and bought the green men's Desi(RED) shirt, the red leather bracelet, and the Gap pin. It's all for a great cause, I spent $40 and half of all the profits go to the Global Fund to help fight AIDS. If you've got a Gap around you, go out and buy something from the (RED) line, or go to gap.com.

It's my birthday!!

Fri, 06 Oct 2006 19:27:01 GMT

Whoo! That's all.

A few Anderson Cooper icons...

Tue, 26 Sep 2006 19:28:13 GMT

Nothing special, just a few icons I made while I was bored. Please comment if you like and credit when used.

As promised...

Mon, 25 Sep 2006 16:39:42 GMT

Here's the links for the Vertigo Minneapolis show from 9/23/05. It was my first U2 concert and I love to listen to this bootleg fairly often, although it's not the best quality.

Vertigo Minneapolis Disc 1
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=8QO8WKFD

Vertigo Minneapolis Disc 2
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=8Q1GZ6O6

Exactly one year ago today...

Sat, 23 Sep 2006 16:00:26 GMT

On September 23, 2005, I experienced the best day of my life. It was my first U2 concert in Minneapolis at the Target Center. So, in rememberance of this most wonderful day, I'm going to post a recap of the day along with pictures!

The day began with me and my friend Jessica driving up to Minneapolis with my stepmom and grandma. We got to skip school...I mean, we were both very sick with the flu (cough, cough). On the way up to pick up my grandma, my stepmom hit a deer. It was only a baby and we think it died later, but I guess we really don't know. It didn't do too much damage to the van, so we drove on.

Jessica and I got dropped off at the Target Center around 10:00am and were lucky enough to be around 100th in line. And, so began the long day of waiting until the concert.

Later in the day, Jessica's brother, Tim, came to visit us in line because he goes to the University of Minnesota. They went off to get Subway for lunch. When they came back, they saw U2 getting off of buses to sign autographs and meet the fans. Jessica ran back to tell me and I sprinted off to the gated area where the band was. I climbed on a fence that was up for security and was hanging off of the tour bus to get good pictures. (I'm only 5'2" and I had to get pictures somehow...)

Then, I jumped the fence thing because I saw Adam and Bono going over to the other side. Somehow, I ended up near the front of the crowd and met Adam! He was such a sweetheart and signed my War shirt.

Needless to say, I was running on some serious adrenaline at this point. I couldn't even eat when I got back in line and was shaking from all the excitement. People kept asking about my newly signed shirt and I was just in another world.

When it came time to scan our tickets, we were both waiting for the Vertigo screen to pop up, letting us into the ellipse. It didn't happen. But, we ran to the front of the outside of the ellipse and got very, very, very good spots, right at the tip in the middle.

Bono came up right in front of us for City of Blinding Lights!!

I think the rest of the story is best told through pictures, so on to the rest of the pics!

I think on Monday, I'll upload the bootleg of this concert. It's not the best quality, but good enough for me and it's a great way to remember the concert.