sunrays and saturdays

I'm feeling in a listy mood tonight.

( Movies I own... )

( Music I Own... )

I believe I've listed my video games before, so I'm not going to do it again any time soon. There are about 40 NES games, 10 N64 games, and 3 Playstation Games.

I guess you could scoff and say..."Well Heather, that's why you have no money." However, not counting replacing them all once due to the fire, my CD and tape collection has been about the same for about six years now. Most of these were even purchased at pawn shops for a buck or two apiece. As for my DVD and video tapes, most of them were purchased used at Hastings during their Buy 1 Get 1 Free, 4 for $5 or whatever promotions they had. I'm a thrifty shopper when it comes to electronics and media, and I'm a huge movie and music fan.

*smacks forehead*

A radio station in Des Moines is running a contest where some randomly selected person from a group of call-ins is going to win a million dollars. Everytime someone is the right number caller and gets their name on the list, the DJ asks them what they will do with the million. Here's the one I just heard:

DJ: "So what will you do with the money if you win?"
Caller: "I'm going to buy jewelry!"
DJ: "Nice. What kind of jewelry? You going for the diamonds?"
Caller: "Oh yeah, lots of diamonds!"

Ahem, if bling is the first thing you think of buying when you're offered a million dollars, you sure as hell do not deserve that money. What would I do with the money you may ask? I would:

a) Pay off my education that already has me almost $20,000 in debt with graduation still two and a half years away.
b) Buy a car that doesn't constantly break down, pollute the environment, and guzzle gas like there's no tomorrow.
c) Buy clothes that don't have holes and stains in them.
d) Invest the rest so I will never again have to wonder if I can afford to eat the next day or pay the rent next month.

(I also might give some money to select members of my family who are in as bad or worse a financial situation than I am right now.)

I could add a few charitable donations to that list, but given the state of human nature in this world/country, I wonder how many people actually would donate money once they had the opportunity. I also wonder if I would be criticized for the pure insignificance on the global scale of the organizations I would contribute to. I.E., who gives a rat's ass about a few dogs and cats in cages when there are people starving to death and dying of curable diseases in the world? I may burn in hell for this if there is a God, but I do not place the life of a human above the life of anything else. We are not superior to much of anything on this planet.

Whew, I don't rant like that very much anymore.

I got this much sleep last night, if that even counts as sleep at all. It was so fucking hot in my room, and there was not even a breath of breeze outside to blow the cooler air in through the window, so I tossed. And I turned. And I tossed again. Somehow last fall, my roommate and I managed to break BOTH of our fans, so we sit and suffer. This is really terrible timing, too, because I have probably my hardest final of the semester in less than two hours. FUCK. If this happens again tonight, I'm getting my ass to Wal-Mart to get a fan. I don't care how little money I have.

I should try to get a nap when my test is over, but I really need to get my ass to work and make some money. I just can't afford to take anymore days off like this. So, here's the plan for today:

1. Study for test (lost cause, but eh well)
2. Take test
3. Work for at LEAST 3 hours
4. Come home and sleep if at all possible
5. Study for tomorrow's test
6. Swimming?
7. GET SOME REAL FUCKING SLEEP!

Photography is an expensive hobby. I'm getting about $50 worth of filters off Ebay today, and I'll probably get a decent light meter before long, too. I want a macro lens, but those things are fucking expensive. I'd like to get to the point where I take decent enough pictures to be able to sell them as prints. I was thinking of taking some shots of severe weather events like tornadoes, lightning, and thunderstorms since I'll be storm chasing anyway. It would be a nice source of pocket change in the future. Film's costing me an arm and a leg, though, so as soon as I can afford it, I'm getting a digital camera. How much are digital SLRs running right now? I imagine they're well into the hundreds.

Ok, damn it, where's that site that will bid for you on Ebay at the last second? I know it's a sneaky way to do things, but I was just outbid on something I really wanted with about 10 seconds to go in the auction. This is like the third time it's happened to me. GRRRRR, I gotta play dirty now if I'm going to fucking get anything at all.

I have to drive to Moline, IL today to get my sister on a plane so she can go back to Connecticut. It's three hours from here. The things I do for discount airfare...

Classes start up again on Monday. I'm really very excited about the courses I'm signed up for. No more physics and chemistry for me. No way. Now it's the fun stuff.

Mteor 301 - General Meteorology I (this is the first actually in-depth class I'm taking for my major. I've heard it's hard, but I can't wait to get into it. Maybe it'll give me some kind of direction as far as what area of meteorology to go into.)

Geol 102 and Lab - History of the Earth (this class goes over the history of the planet, from Pangaea theories to dinosaurs to ice ages to present. This kind of stuff absolutely fascinates me for some reason. Aside from the lab being at the heather's-brain-doesn't-work-this-late time of 3-5 pm every week, I'm sure I'm going to love it.)

Geol 324 - Energy and the Environment (I don't have the textbook for this class yet, but I'm assuming it has to do with how our current energy practices affect the planet and atmosphere. It also probably goes into how other more environment-friendly energy resources exist.)

Math 266 - Differential Equations (It's the last math requirement for me, but I've heard that it's relatively simple if you took Calc III first, so I'm not clawing at the walls with anxiety over it.)

Anthr 321 - World Prehistory (This class talks about ancient cultures and discoveries about them through archaeological digs and artifacts. I think it also talks about migration patterns and evolution. I believe in evolution and am not exactly a Christian, so I'm not going to be grinding my teeth over how Creationism isn't mentioned or even considered. I even wrote a persuasion paper in English Comp II over Creationism vs. Evolution.)

I was going to take Symphonic Band this semester, but I have had absolutely no time to practice the audition music, and I wasn't able to get a better horn like I planned. Plus, I suck anyway.

DVDs on my to-buy list when I get some cash:
Pirates of the Caribbean
24 Seasons 1 & 2
Dances With Wolves
Pulp Fiction
Bram Stoker's Dracula
something with Steve Buscemi. I love that guy.

That's about it so far.

CDs on my to-buy list when I get some cash (or maybe I'll just burn them):
Matchbox 20's new one
Staind's new one
Fuel's new one

I'm trying out for Symphonic Band again next semester, so I need to start practicing now and getting my embouchure in shape. I just played different little fragments of songs on the sax for about an hour, and it feels like I damn near chewed through my lip. My tone has been sounding very bad lately, and I'm not sure if it's the horn or me...or maybe both. That poor thing hasn't had a tune-up in at least two years, and me being out of practice and out of shape doesn't help much. I'm debating on whether to use a rental horn for the semester. The model I have is a Yamaha YAS-23, which is the most basic student model. It lacks one key that professional models have, and that was a problem last year since one or two of the songs we performed had that note in my part. I also don't get the greatest tone in the world with it, and the fingerings are starting to get a little clumsy. I hope that's a sign that I'm improving musically past my horn's ability instead of me just sucking. It'll cost me around $30 for the semester, which isn't bad at all. I think I'll do it as long as I get a quality horn. If it's a piece of shit, I'll just use my sax. You wouldn't expect a University to have shitty horns, but a friend of mine got a doozy for her rental bass clarinet last year.

FUCK. I reached my arms back to stretch just now, and I felt something shift in my back where it was arching over the back of the chair. That hurt like a bitch. The pain's kind of going away now, though, so I don't think it's quack-practor worthy. Thank God.

I need to go to the grocery store today and pick up some egg nog and other holiday yummies to munch on. Actually, I'm doing it for the pure motivation of getting change from this $20 bill so that I can finish my laundry. I hate coin operated machines.

I must say, it is totally worth it to pay the 13 bucks to view your credit report online. It's just one of those peace of mind things where you feel better by knowing what everyone else is looking at when they see your credit score. It also feels good to read this:

"More than 75% of the applications for credit in the U.S. last year were decided with the help of a FICO score. Lenders consider many factors in addition to your credit score when making credit decisions. Looking solely at your FICO score, however, most lenders would consider this score as very good.

This means:

It is very unlikely your applications for credit cards or other loans will be turned down, based on your score alone.
Most lenders will consider offering you very attractive and competitive rates and terms on loan products.
Many lenders will be able to provide you with an instant approval status based on your score."

For a college student who has a terrible time with money-burning-holes-in-pocket syndrome, I'm pretty damn proud of myself.