accomplished Music: She Drives Me Crazy - Fine Young Cannibals Reading: Yeah, you already know ;)This has been a great week. Three amazing things have happened. So far. 
1. I GOT THE JOB! Now that I’ve been able to sleep on it, I am a little nervous about how my co-workers will treat me when they hear the news. A lot of them are petty about things like this. But I don’t care. They know how I work. I know that they know I won’t let them walk over me. I don’t expect to be there forever, but I do want to make some moves while I can. If opportunity knocks, are you going to stay in your little corner and pout? Hell no. Get up and git it! My mommy left the sweetest comment on my wall:
“All the best in the world daughter #2. You have the P blood in you, aggressive. Love you. See you Sunday.”
That meant a lot to me. She and my dad are two of the most important people in my life, and to have them – and everyone else who commented on my status when I announced it on FB – in my corner makes me feel like I can take on the world. I need that to live. I need to know that there is someone out there who is thinking of me. Even if we don’t show it any other way than through FB status updates, comments, tweets, emails, texts… if I know you’re with me in spirit, nothing can stop me. 
2. EPIC GRADUATION PARTY!! My best friends in Nor Cal are itching to come to Vegas. They need a reason though ’cause none of us are flush with cash like some people are. That’s the same with me. I wouldn’t visit Nor Cal unless I had a reason, lol. What better reason to come to Vegas than to party with me when I get my bachelor’s degree? It’s also the weekend of A’s birthday so it’s even more of a reason to party! The second weekend of May, Vegas won’t know nothing about this, lol. I’m probably going to take a long weekend, since my vacation restarts in February. I plan on putting them up in hotels with my employee discount. The weather is still really nice in May so they have no cause to complain. They’re all afraid they’re gonna melt if they come here in the summer. I keep trying to tell them otherwise but ehhh. They’re hard-headed.
Friday, everyone should arrive early enough. Friday will be a chill day too. No point in getting shitfaced the day before the big celebration, lol. We’ll probably do some walking around the Strip, show them my ‘hood, my work, take them to CityCenter, the Bellagio, maybe the Shark Reef.
Saturday we’ll have my commencement ceremony to attend during the day, and then a potluck at my house immediately after. It’ll also be a family thing so I hope my immediate and extended family can come. I’ll probably invite some people from work too. We decided on girls’ night out on Saturday too. One of my co-workers is a bouncer at his second job, so I hope he can put us on the guest list for his club. Even if we don’t stay the whole night, it’s all good. I want to boogie a little bit on my special day. Sunday will be family day. Some of the girls will be bringing their families down so I suggested the Hoover Dam. Still haven’t been, lol. Besides we’ll prolly all be sleeping in after all the running around we’ll have done the night before.
I am already worried because of my girl E. She has a boyfriend and babies that need to be attended to before any epic Vegas trip happens. She’s going to discuss with her boyfriend S before anything is set in stone. I respect that. It’d be sucky for her to come without them if you ask me. I don’t know how other mothers can do that, up and leave their young kids behind, even if it’s a girls’ only thing. I hope they can save up enough money in these next few months so they can all come down. *crosses fingers* Usually T has problems with money, but as far as I can tell, she’ll be good to go. And A is definitely looking forward to ditching her boyfriend for the weekend, lol.
I can’t wait to have them here! Just thinking about it is making me excited. It’s also making me want to fight for these good grades. It’d suck ass if I failed and then celebrating would have been for nothing. 
I mean, I’d still be happy they were here and we’d still have A’s birthday to celebrate with, but I wouldn’t be able to get my little event of pomp and circumstance. This is a milestone in my life and I want to enjoy it with my favourite people.
And speaking of school, I got a B+ in my Historical Investigation class. *Snoopy dance* It’s amazing how close I am to a 3.0 with that grade. I had a 2.81 and now I’ve got a 2.94. Suck on that, grad school! Two of the classes I’m taking next semester are lower division lit classes, and I KNOW I’ll ace ‘em. I’ve done so much upper division work that taking lower division at this stage in my schooling will be a cakewalk. I might even pull off a 3.5 so I could get an honors distinction at graduation!
Cum Laude: 3.5-3.69
Magna Cum Laude: 3.70-3.89
Summa Cum Laude: 3.90-4.00
There was one semester where I got a 3.7. I mean, I won’t die if I don’t get it, but it’d be nice to have a honors degree to show off.
3. EPIC CHRISTMAS SHOPPING!!! My paycheck went through last night. When I told my dad that I had gotten paid and was going to run errands, he chased after me like I was a little kid. You know how you do that to kids and they run screaming from you? But it’s all in good fun? Yeah. My dad’s weird. I’m absolutely positive that’s where I get it from, lol. Anyways, I bought my goddaughter 3 presents off her list: an Elmo Aqua Doodle Set, the Crayola Beginnings Color Me a Song, and Mega Bloks.
Something my teacher noted to us in class last semester was how gendered kids’ toys are. Everything is split, boys vs. girls. It’s like we’re subversively telling our kids that only girls are expected to play with pink frilly dolls and Hannah Montana mics, and boys are only allowed to play with dark, menacing dinosaurs and lightsabers. I was kinda disturbed that the Mega Bloks I got for her were clearly geared towards girls. The blocks were pink, purple, and baby blue. I’m sure M would’ve been satisfied with whatever I give her, because she’s a baby and doesn’t know any better. But just thinking about that made me stop and think how hard it is to raise a child with the right values system today.
I got my Ate a bartender kit that she had her eye on that I said was from me and the girls, with an additional gift from only me. That damn thing was hard to wrap! I made it look like Lawrence of Arabia. I bought C the Disney Monopoly set. N’s present came in the mail the other day: Super Mario Bros for her DS. I also need to get them an Origami and lanyard kit respectively. I hope they don’t read this lol. I don’t think they know about this blog. I hope I hope I hope. I also bought stuff for everyone’s stocking. The dollar aisle at Target baby, that’s how I do. I even bought little Christmas ball ornaments for my tree. It looks way more Christmas-y which is hard to do since it’s so damn festive already.
I’m giving my parents gambling money this year. Last year, I got them sensible clothes and books. It’s hard to shop for them sometimes. I know they’ll appreciate it though. They LOVE to go out for a few hours and enjoy themselves, playing the slots, and not worry about us.
I bought the Hangover on DVD and I got a free Monopoly card game with the Disney Monopoly game. So I wrapped ‘em up, and stuck it under my tree for myself from “Santa,” haha. I like doing that. Why shouldn’t I wrap presents for myself to put under the tree? If I don’t, I’m not gonna get anything. I’m too old to get presents, and like my mom says, “Everyday is Christmas.” But there’s a BIG box that N pointed out to me today that was mine. I’m excited.
?: “Do you think children’s toys are gendered? Have you ever thought of them that way before?“
The less that can be said about me, the better.
Congrats hun! That’s fab news about the job!
Wishing you the best with graduation!
I haven’t honestly thought about presents for kids being gendered, but I did love me some Barbies when I was younger. Even if I did rip their heads off
!
Thank you thank you.
I’m excited, nervous and dreading it all at the same time.
I hope I can make it until then! These next 5 months are gonna be longgg.
I buried one of my Barbies in the backyard! I think I was outgrowing them so I ceremoniously buried her and some of my childhood along with her.
Of course it was all for naught since I’m still a big kid sometimes!
Gender studies is something that is incredibly fascinating to me. I’ve touched on it in my other classes but we did a whole unit on it this past term. I love that it’s a valid historical theory, which is right up my alley. It really makes you look at yourself as a human being.
Once again, congratulations on getting the job! And it’s great that it doesn’t conflict with the school schedule so that you can have your epic graduation plans! Hope all goes as planned
?: I never really thought about the toys but I did notice that when I went shopping before for baby clothes. It was either pink and purple for girls, and blue and green for boys. I thought that was pretty boring.
Thank you! When they asked me what shift I wanted I told them the one I absolutely needed and they’re like, “Are you surrrrreeee?” I know they wanted me to take the other shift which is better ’cause it has opening shifts. But if I want to continue with school I had to take this other one. I too hope everything happens like I want it to! But I don’t want to flirt with fate haha!
I remember reading that pink was considered a boys’ color wayyy back in the day. It’s only a recent thing that pink is a girls’ color. We can dress girls in blue and green and no one would say a thing, but if we did that for boys, you get all sorts of comments from the peanut gallery.
We can masculinize (sp?) our ladyfolk but we can’t feminize our menfolk. Which is ridiculous because why should colors be gendered? They’re COLORS. I think it’s changing but it will take awhile for it to stick and for people to stand up and make a difference and not care what people think.