Things I've learned since my last post.

Last Wednesday, I learned that biometrics appointments are nowhere near as intimidating as they really sound. You take a number, wait in a short line, have them spray water on your hands, watch as they digitally capture palm and fingerprints, smile for them as they take your picture, and get a piece of paper stamped. I'm going to mail it in tomorrow and it should get back in time for me to leave... right?

On Friday, I learned that the LG enV 3 is an amazing phone. I went with Justin to his family's wireless carrier, which is also the one my family uses. He decided to get the blue enV 3 as his new phone, and I'm completely... well, envious. It's got an amazing camera and a QWERTY keyboard on the inside. I really want the red one, but I'm getting a new phone when I go abroad (I think) and so I won't really need a new mobile phone in the States until my senior year or so. Might not even need one then, because my phone now can download ringtones and send picture messages just fine, and that's the most advanced things I do on it, besides set a friggin' alarm.

(Coincidentally, I also learned that I'm really not cool enough to use any kind of Blackberry. At least, for right now. We'll see if I learn any more about good cell phone deals while abroad.)

At work, I finally learned how to iron. This was kind of a literal trial by fire, because these clothes were supposed to be nicely pressed for a mannequin/model setup, and it had to be perfect anyways, but my boss (head honcho lady who is an absolute perfectionist) was actually teaching me how and in the room right next door. And two days later, I had to do it again. Oh well. At least $22.50 of my paycheck (before the freakin' government gets its grubby hands all up in there) was spent doing a basic household chore.

Again at work, I learned that ladders are bleeping heavy. Seriously. I'm kind of a small person, and I was trying to move a ladder that was three times as tall as myself and probably three times as heavy... just so I could reach two pairs of boxers for a customer. And they weren't even the right size.

Yesterday, I learned a lot. One of the things I learned is that migraines are actually rather incapacitating. I woke up with one and just felt like crying. So I called in sick, but no one believed me. What the crap? I couldn't work eight hours during the back to school rush with a migraine.

Then, when I went to run errands, I learned the hard way that it's kind of a bad idea to go into work to pick up my paycheck and held clothes when I called in because of my migraine. In hindsight, it seemed like a 'well, duh' moment, but it was supposed to be my 'birthday' and those clothes were for my birthday.

Again yesterday, while going out to dinner for my birthday, I kind of wanted to go out to Chili's, because it's affordable and I haven't been there for a while. And I learned that there is not a Chili's probably within 50 miles of me. However, I also learned that TGI Friday's is definitely one of my favorite restaurants. There's so much variety and everything is delicious. You could just point to something and say "I'll have this" and you'd enjoy it.

Yesterday, I also learned that Pop Rocks are just as delicious when you're nineteen as when you're nine. There's a candy store in downtown Dublin called MJ's, and it was voted the Columbus Monthly Candy Shop of 2009 or something like that, so Justin and I decided to check it out. Not so big, but they had a few specialty things... like Pop Rocks. And they were just as good as I remembered. Still looking like the Shock Tarts I used to eat constantly in middle school, though; they might not make them any more.

Again yesterday, I was watching Watchmen, which Justin got me for my 'birthday', and I learned that Doctor Manhattan is kind of a dick. (Partly literally; my nickname for him is the Giant Blue Schlong.) But really, he's just... not that cool. Doesn't know how to relate to people, can't handle emotional pain at all, doing quantum mechanical calculations while he's trying to seduce his girlfriend. What a loser. I don't even care that he can teleport or prevent nuclear war or whatever. Kind of a dick.

The last thing I learned yesterday, more like realized, is that I put way too much effort into work. I could scale it down a little bit. Like, a lot. I stress myself way too much about whether I'm doing a good job, and I should actually probably bust my butt less. Other people are there to pick up any slack I leave, after all, and they can actually live without me for a little while.

And finally, this morning, I relearned a terrible fact: I hate, really hate, being in a long-distance relationship. I love the relationship I have with Justin, and being away from him? Really sucks. We get all crankypants and cynical without one another.

This is the last bona fide summer that I may get with Justin. Next summer, he'll probably have an internship in Cleveland and I'm shooting for one in London. The summer after that, I'll have graduated and by that time will probably have moved out because I'll have found a job. Maybe I'll be preparing for law school, but then that means that I'll still be in school for another three years. I really can't win, no matter how I slice it. It's not going to be over any time soon. I'm just surprised, every year, when I find that I have the emotional strength to do it.

Too much learning for summer, and I don't even get to go back to school yet. Something is wrong. Something is w-r-o-n-g wrong.

- Jen -