The Biological Clock Conundrum

In case you were wondering I was totally going for a "Big Bang Theory"-esque title.  If you're not familiar with the show just go look at a title for one of the episodes and you'll find the title of this blog mildly humorous.

Any who, let's talk about the biological clock.

Toothpastefordinner.com is always funny.

For a long time I didn't believe that I would one day feel my biological clock "ticking".  To be honest I didn't think it was real but after the past few days I'm now a firm believer.  

In the last week I've seen a million engagement ring ads and a ton of recent-ish Alumni and their babies walking around downtown and at my place of work.  I'm DEFINITELY NOT saying I'm ready for a baby but I'm thinking my body is thinking about it.  I've always kind of thought to myself that I'd like to be married and have children (well maybe just one child) by the time I'm like 30 and if you think about it I'm 22 and yeah it's 8 years away but 8 years can go by kind of quick.  

Example: In 3 days it will be 8 years since my dad passed away and it feels like that just happened yesterday.  

I guess what I'm trying to say is the biological clock is real and you should never doubt that.  I know some of you out there might be younger and you're thinking this chick is crazy there's no way I'm actually going to feel pressure from my own being to get the ball rolling in life but seriously it's real.  And then I know some of you that are my age and older are probably like "I feel ya girl" and for that I thank you.

On another note I just wanted to let y'all know I had a totally awesome weekend celebrating my boyfriend's parents' 40th wedding anniversary.  (Congrats Bobby and Dan!) 

Happy Sunday!

Cliques

I’m in college now, so cliques shouldn't be a problem right? Wrong!

The best picture illustrating cliques that I've ever seen.

I’ll be honest I wasn't all that worried about cliques or being part of the popular crowd in school.  I jumped around from friend circle to friend circle up until about sophomore year of high school and then I kicked it pretty regularly with my band friends.  I was way into marching band and I loved it and I loved my friends (I still love my friends that I've kept).  Somehow I made it from kindergarten all the way to senior year with friends and as I look back on it I’m not sure how it happened, making friends was just easy when you’re young.

But now I’m getting ready to graduate college and I don’t have friends like I did in high school. It’s a lot harder to make adult friends.  Don’t get me wrong.  I've met some great people and I talk to them on almost a daily basis.  I've made work friends and class friends and one or two friends in my major.  But I don’t have a group.  If I did have to designate my group it would be a two person group of me and Kyle, but sometimes I think he doesn't even want to be in my group (and yes that’s okay).

I have tried to be parts of groups.  At my current place of work (and I apologize if this offends anyone) it’s pretty clique-y.  There’s a distinct group of “Seasonal Hires” and another of “We've been here awhile”.  I guess I’d say I’m right in the middle of the two and that’s why I don’t really belong in either of those groups.  Last year there was a distinct “popular group” which is kind of sad to think about but it was there.  I was basically given the opportunity to be in it but I honestly can’t help talking to the people that aren't in the “popular group” and that’s when I got the message that said “Hey we (the popular group) like you but you can’t technically be in the group because you’re talking to the people we don’t like”. 

That’s not really fair and it’s actually really rude.  I believe that you should treat everyone kindly even if you don’t like them.  I was kind of a bitch in high school and I didn't do this but I've done it for as long as I can think of after high school and I plan on keeping it that way. No one should feel left out ever.  And I’m all for abolishing cliques even though I’m pretty sure that’s impossible.

Down with the cliques! 

       and Happy Wednesday!

It's not Monday but here's a Military post.

As we all know it is not Monday and I haven't posted about the military in a long time but today seems like a fitting day for a military post.  Today this post will serve two purposes.

#1: Today is the 12 year anniversary of 9/11

I don't dwell a lot on tragedies well, I try not to.  I was in 5th grade when the terrorist attacks happened and I'll tell you exactly how I felt when I found out what was going on in Mrs. Ratica's English class, confused.  It took me awhile to figure it out.  Kids kept being picked up and I was hearing buzz words like bombs, airplanes, and Al Qaeda but no one was telling us 5th graders the whole story.

English class was eighth period for me and that's when Mrs. Ratica finally turned on the TV and showed us what was happening.  I was still confused though, I had no idea what it all meant.  I had so many questions like, what is a terrorist, who's Osama Bin Laden, why would they want to hurt us.  I think I vaguely remember my mom trying to explain it to me and it was probably the first time in my life that I actually watched the news.  Of course now I know what it was all about and I personally will never be able to forgive the people that did this to us.  I will always remember the innocent people killed and everyone that tried to help.  For all of those that were lost that day and any other day you may be gone but you are not forgotten.

#2: Kyle heard back from the Navy

This topic is a little more personal to me and I haven't wrote about it in a long time.  The reason for that is because nothing was happening.  However, he met with his recruiter on Monday and something has finally happened he's been accepted into the Naval Flight Officer program.  I'm happy/proud and upset all at the same time.  I guess nothing is really official yet, he hasn't signed anything, but we're getting closer.  I'll keep you updated but in the meantime,

Happy Wednesday!

I miss my cat.

If you know me you know I love animals and if you don't know me well then now you know that I love animals.

At home I have two dogs, okay only one is actually mine but it's very rude to not claim Coal plus I love him so yeah he's mine.  Here at school we have some fish, they're not very exciting but they glow in the dark so that's pretty cool.  We used to have a hamster but sadly he isn't with us anymore (R.I.P. Sonic) and we also had a cat but he stayed back home so that he didn't go through kitty depression.  He has many "friends" at Kyle's house that he reigns supreme over because he thinks he's king of the cats, at least that's the attitude he had when we left him.

But I miss him.  He liked to cuddle sometimes and also be up in my grill whenever I was trying to do something important.  It was also nice having him here when Kyle would get home late.  I'm not much of a people person so I don't go out with or invite over friends all that often but I sure do like animals so I wish little (well not so little anymore) Link was here.  However, I'm sure he's very happy at home lounging on his cat tower and doing other awesome cat things.

"This is my chair"

Happy Friday!

I skip classes and so can you!

Okay, so I probably shouldn't advocate skipping classes and I'm sure my mom like most moms enjoys telling herself that I would never do such a thing but sometimes I do because I just have to. It's what college is all about right?

No, I know college is for learning and making friends and all that good stuff.  But college also gives you a little freedom, especially when you don't live at home.  I'm pretty sure that every semester of college so far I've taken at least one full out "sick" day and sometimes Kyle does too and usually it's a good time.  One year we went furniture shopping which sounds dumb but it really wasn't and last year we sat in bed literally all day and watched the full season of "Face-Off" on SyFy. I think I got up once to answer the door for the food we ordered it was the epitome of a lazy day.

This semester I haven't skipped any classes and that's probably because we're only a week and a half in.  Watch out for a post next week about how I've started skipping class.  But today in both of my classes so far my professors have chosen to point out that we don't have another "break" until Thanksgiving so that means that I will have class everyday until November 23.  That's 11 full weeks of classes folks.  Usually when I take my "sick" day it's unplanned but the prospect of 11 weeks of classes and the fact that I'm a super-senior is making it really hard for me to not plan one or two or ten.  This semester feels like it's going to last a really long time.  Maybe if I just shut up and enjoy my last two semesters it won't seem that way anymore and I'll be crying in May because college is over and I have to join the "real world".

Happy Wednesday!

Group Projects

Today is going to be a lovely little rant about group projects.

This comes about because this year I have a class that is one big group project. That's right, for 15 weeks 5 people and myself get to work together and in the end we will be graded on our ability to do so.  It sounds awesome doesn't it?  No, not really.  So far, mind you we're only a week into the semester, all but one of my fellow group members has responded to my efforts to get together and start our project.  How cool is that?

Pretty much my favorite info-graphic EVER.

So in the spirit of "loving" group projects here's a list of things I love (hate) about them.

1. We get to work in a group!

As a self-proclaimed introvert working in a group is tiring.  One of the trademarks of being an introvert is that we thrive on doing things alone, group activities tire us out. So therefore, I don't necessarily like group projects unless I get a really good group which has yet to happen.

2.  I get to do all of the work!

Trust me, I love busting my butt so that other people can benefit from my efforts. Okay, so if I'm volunteering and I'm helping people because I want to then it's okay but if you're in my group and you expect to get credit for doing nothing you better check yourself before you wreck yourself (or grade).  I'll add that sometimes if you're lucky you might have one other person like you in the group so you catch a little bit of a break.

3. I have to confront the teacher about your poor efforts.

I hate confrontations and in an ideal world where group projects worked out well this would never happen. However, my group project experience so far has led me to believe that I will always have to tell my instructor (face-to-face or in some kind of peer review form) that my fellow group members suck.

4. I end up despising people that I could have or was already friends with.

If we're in a group and you do nothing and then get pissed when you don't get credit I will end up disliking you.

That's all I think I have to say about "group" projects.  As you can tell so far my experiences haven't been great.  Sometimes (and this is especially true for grade school teachers who stuck me with the "below average" students) it is the teachers fault because they intentionally assign you a group that is doomed to fail but most times it's because most people are lazy and I (in terms of my education) am not.

I hope everyone else can say better things about they're group project experiences.
Happy Monday!

Disclaimer:  To future employers that may see this for whatever reason just because I'm pessimistic about group projects it does not mean I will not participate in a meaningful way if assigned to one.

Blue-Eyed Baker: I made a Napoleon

I made a Napoleon and it turned out really well.

When we went to Carlo's over the summer Kyle bought a Napoleon, ate it, and instantly fell in love with it.  Then when we came back to State College he asked me to make him one.  I was really iffy at first because pastries scare me but I conquered my fear.  I made everything from scratch and from what I hear it was really delicious.  (I didn't actually have any.)

So in case you didn't know a Napoleon is a pastry that is made up of three components, pastry cream, puff pastry dough and fondant.  I was, in all honesty, really afraid to attempt making any of these things.  I'd tried pastry cream before and it was an epic fail, boiling sugar (for the fondant) scares the crap out of me and puff pastry is just a chore.  BUT at the insistence of my significant other I cut no corners, okay one corner with the dough, and made everything from scratch and it was all a success.  I did use a "quick" puff pastry recipe because I didn't have 4 million hours to make classic puff pastry.

So here was my result,

Not perfect but still pretty awesome.

The only thing that didn't turn out perfectly was the design on top because A.) I wasn't working fast enough and B.) the chocolate fondant decided it was the boss for the day.

The recipes I used were mainly from JoePastry but I did, like I said, I used a quick puff pastry recipe from another site.  Today I'm not going to type out the recipes because it's a lot of stuff and I think most people would probably use store bought puff pastry anyways but Kyle got his way this time.

Happy Baking!