Excited for the show?

When are we leaving?

What's the whole plan anyway?

done!

I just finished my last final EVER!
You may now officially refer to me as Master Sara

Finding Forever

Anyone heard Common's '07 album, Finding Forever? I heard the song, "The People," off of it yesterday and loved it. I was hoping the rest of the album was as good.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vqn5f2ISnvo

I feel overdue to do something crazy

I was reminded today when an old friend facebook'd me, how long its been since I've done anything interesting. I don't mean like "gone to a baseball game" or "seen an interesting movie".

I mean like "going to the nevada desert for a week at Burning Man with two girls i've never met in person before" or "spending a weekend with a bunch of strangers in Pennsylvania at some meet that turned out to be at a secret Swingers Lodge in the hills".

This guy was my best friend for ages. We grew up together, spent all our time together. Right now he's in Norway, after living for a while in Argentina. He races hot air balloons. There's a picture of him on facebook of him hanging out with a tiger that's bigger than he is. Every time I talk to him he's either in a new country, starting a new business (that always fails, but that's another matter), or planting his flag on some other odd new conquest.

Me? The highlights of my days are still when I manage to get through traffic without waiting for 15 minutes at Schaumburg road.

I've been feeling listless. Restless. Like I need to do something, and if I don't do something soon it's all going to explode into a spontaneous trip to Siberia where I try my hand at being a miner for a while.

Surely I'm not the only person who gets like this? Or are you all content with your stations in life?



Does anyone want to go skydiving? Seriously.

This is funny shit.

Click on the title of this blog entry to check it out.

I went on a date.

I went on a date with a friend of one of my students.

That's the short version of the story. The longer, more truthful version explains that it is a 22-year-old co-worker of hers, sort of. The student sometimes works for her dad and this girl is her dad's secretary. It was all set up because of this girl through facebook. She sent me a message and we talked back and forth briefly and decided to meet up last Friday. Despite me seeing her picture on facebook, it was basically a blind date. I wasn't nervous, but the whole idea of it was not very appealing to me at first: being set up by one of my students. Either way, it was a fun night even though I had a really bad cold (that didn't seem to matter to her wink wink BOING). We got dinner, had some drinks, and then hung out afterward. Her name is Karen.

In other more exciting news, I was really happy to get an email from this guy who is the executive director of the Chicago Improv Festival last week. It's a festival that happens once a year and I've been really lucky to help out the last couple years, but last year I was not chosen to help out much, thinking I just didn't have the theater background they were looking for or something. Well, the email came out of the blue asking if I wanted to help out. I didn't even know he had my address even though I'd emailed him before. So I'm going to get to help out during the week of June 2-8 (if anyone wants to come to some good shows, I can probably recommend a couple). Tix are usually around $25 for mainstage shows and cheaper for sideshows, which can still be really good. I'm also going to be helping out for the previews which are this coming weekend at the Second City. I'm really excited to be able to help out and rub shoulders with some people I really admire. There are usually some rather famous people there in the comedy world, and the cool thing is that they're all usually really friendly and excited to talk to someone who looks up to them. Quite a few SNL people are there every year and you can go and get drinks with everyone afterward and lots of other big names in Chicago improv are there, too.

Also, Mike and I are contemplating moving to Amsterdam. Anyone know anything about living in Europe?

Obama-Clinton debate last night

It wasn't bad enough that the moderators kept focusing on the "elitist" remarks that Obama made within the last week or the preacher with the controversial ideas... the Pennsylvanians had some pretty ridiculous questions themselves, such as, "Why don't you believe in the flag?" Huh? If you don't wear a flag lapel, you're unpatriotic? It was ridiculous when it first was brought up last year, and now it's just pathetic to address in a public debate. I wish the American public cared about what matters.

English grad students are hot

So, I met a bunch of fellow English grad students today and some other people from the department. The secretary made a point to inquire about my relationship status, and she said there are plenty of singles in the department - and plenty of married people who like to have fun outside of marriage (*wink wink*) - and that many of them have couches if I ever need to crash instead of commuting.

Then I remembered why I loved being an English major in college... there's such a high percentage of women in the field and they're all obsessed with sexuality, sensuality, romanticism, and eroticism. This is going to be hot.

Collins reunion!

I'm going... are you?

Rob's show

To those of you going to Rob's show May 3rd, I was just talking to Kelly and she's going, too. I had thrown out the idea of possibly carpooling half way and it looks like we'll (us and Kelly) both cross right by Michigan City. In this day and age of gas prices and global warming, it might be nice to take one car. I know we didn't talk at all yet about who's driving, so we can figure that out soon if you want. But maybe we'd also be able to grab lunch there since I think we'll be there maybe around lunch time and leave the car wherever we eat. It'll only be there about a day anyway cause it's such a short trip. Let me know.

I'm no fun at parties

I just shouldn't drink anymore. I can't keep my liquor down. I'm gonna go back to drinking cokes at parties, I think. It's cheaper, and we know how much I love cheap.

Lolla official

It's official...

the following acts will be at Lollapalooza 2008:


-Radiohead
-Nine Inch Nails
-Kanye West
-Rage Against the Machine
-Gnarls Barkley
-Broken Social Scene
and countless others...

About interviews

The most important thing I've learned about interviewing for jobs as a result of my recent experiences with employment and graduate school applications is this:

If the position doesn't suit you well, then your likelihood of getting hired is slim to none and, even if you do get hired, your ability to do that job or your quality of life may suffer simply because the job isn't appropriate for you. The best way to gauge just how fitting you are to a particular position is honesty. When you're being interviewed, how often does it feel like you're lying? And not just embellishing your enthusiasm; I mean truly lying to the potential employer. For instance, a potential employer asked me a general question during an interview the other day that would've been easy for me had I not already planned my graduate school career. He asked, "Are you here for a job or a career?" I knew the answer he was looking for, but I hate lying. Therein lies the cognitive dissonance that caused me to pause long enough for him to assume my answer was "job" even if I said "career." In essence, when you lie to a potential employer for the sake of getting a job, you're not just lying to them; you're lying to yourself. After that interview, I realized I'm not that interested in getting another job, but I am interested in starting a new career, one which I am pursuing through grad school this summer.

I realize this information doesn't help in all circumstances, especially with an economic recession bearing down on us, but it's still important to consider when you're interviewing. Do you want the job desperately enough that you're willing to blatantly lie? Do you realize that such blatant lies in the initial hiring process are representative of your possible, eventual, exponential disdain for the job? And do you know this dishonest attitude hurts not just you but also everyone with whom you'd be working?

Just some thoughts worth pondering...