This has been abandoned...

Friends -

This site has been abandoned...

To keep up with my current events and on what I'm doing now - go to my Xanga site!

http://www.xanga.com/parkenuj (I think this should be correct)

See you over theree!!!!!

-j

Holiday Party from December 2006

Hey... I know I'm awful at putting things off - as my roommate pointed out. She was picking on me to get the pictures from the Holiday Party that we hosted last December out to the people who were there. And since there were a LOT of pictures, I figured that if I sent them as attachments, for sure, it would exceed a lot of people's limits and make your emails run a lot slower, so I told Katie that I'd post it on my blog and just simply send the attendees the link to this blog, that way everyone's happy. *grins*

That party was a blast! And here we go with all of the pictures, we're going to start with the group picture (even though it was taken LATER in the night - *smiles*)

Here is an "attempt" at a group picture with the timers on Heidi and Sonny's cameras! You can see that this one we weren't exactly ready - with Heidi's hair flying through the left part of the picture and we're all looking at her husband, Jeff, talking, well, most of us!

Ahh, now here we're all set! Front, from L-R: Heidi, Jeff, Katie, moi, Jenna, Angela, Sonny. Back, from L-R: Willie, Tom, Lori, Tony, Megan, Amy, Samantha and Curt. (I had a choice between two pictures, Heidi's and Sonny's) This one is Sonny's - as for some strange reason, when I scanned Heidi's picture, a white spot appeared where Jenna was - hmm... have to take a look at Katie's scanner to make sure it's not dirty!

This is a bunch of us sitting around the dining table, just talking, and eating, and enjoying our drinks, of course! (Willie, Amy, Megan and me) at the beginning of the night. See the little tree in the middle of the table - that was our christmas tree! Seriously...

Here's a bird's eye view of the living room - through the back sliding doors, therefore you see the flash in the top part of the picture! Here's people hanging out in the living room. Looks warm and cozy doesn't it? (It sure did to the person taking this picture - *raising hand* which was, umm, me. Why would I be outside? Of course, having a cigarette!)

Curt and Jeff watching TV - of course, what were they watching? SPORTS! (It was Football I believe, college football) Men, they will never cease to surprise us will they? *grins*

Tony and me in the kitchen, I was showing him Amy's pager that she left behind when she went to visit another party going on the same night. Of course she came back, she missed us too much! *winks*

Those above were just the candids - now you can really get a close up of who were there at the party with those good pictures!

Lori, Angela, Katie & Jenna

Megan, Heidi, me & Amy.

Lori & Tom

Willie & Jenna

Jeff & Heidi

Sonny & Angela

Curt & Samantha

Amy & June

Willie & Megan

Amy & Heidi

June & Megan

Jenna & June

Hope you enjoyed these pictures as much as we all enjoyed the party itself!

Now Katie can stop picking on me *winks*

'Til next time!

-j

Me good girl...

Now I'm being a good girl - posting in here a little more often than I did between October 2006 and January 2007!

Right now my roommate's out of town until Sunday, and I have to make sure the house stays clean because there's an open house tomorrow from 3 to 4. Yes my roommate put the condo up for sale, she's in grad school and she finishes in May. It's her desire to move after she finishes her MBA. She's been in Sioux Falls for 4 years, and ever since she was laid off last April, she's been restless, anxious to leave Sioux Falls, but the only things holding her back were this house and the MBA program.

As for me, I've been in Sioux Falls for 4 1/2 years, however, I won't be in Sioux Falls for much longer. Nothing official yet, so I want to make one big announcement soon, with an exact location of where I'm moving to and why! Look out for that email from me y'all! Hint: Will be so much warmer than South Dakota, that's for sure! But will be moving about 2 months shy of my 5 year anniversary of living in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

Don't get me wrong, Sioux Falls has been wonderful to me, it was my first real home after high school, after college, and it was where I found my happiness, where I found myself. It will be strange not living here anymore after I leave, but it's a life-altering change, brought upon by my career, which has good potential where I'm going.

If you had told me a few years ago that I would be leaving Sioux Falls, I would have stood my ground and told you that you were crazy! Because a few years ago, I absolutely refused to leave Sioux Falls even though I was going through a lot of situations with my tendonitis and my job at that time, but I stuck it out with the support of my circle of friends, and look at where I am today, the support of my friends here in Sioux Falls enabled me to be along for the ride for this move and this career broadening opportunity. A few years ago I said this, "Leaving Sioux Falls would make me feel like I left my heart and my soul here." I stood by this strongly a few years ago, but now as my move out of state approaches, I don't feel as strongly about this anymore. My roommate and I have both agreed that Sioux Falls was merely a "stepping-stone" in our lives, where we established ourselves, got a lot of experience, and started our careers, steering ourselves into the direction of where we want to go in our careers. Hers into the education field where she is working towards her MBA, and mine into the direction of warmer weather. Change is terrifying, yes, and admittedly, I'm nervous, who wouldn't be? But knowing that I will still have my circle of friends who will continue to support me, makes everything a whole lot easier.

I wanted to close with this quote - it's my favorite and it's one I created, but I know it has absolutely nothing to do with the post above... but I just had to share... With Valentine's Day coming upon us this might be quite fitting...

To tell someone they can't love is to deny them the right to be human. ~me

I'm in the basement of the house with a dysfunctional heater, and my fingers are just about ready to FALL off! Plus I'm supposed to go and get ready for work!

'Til next time!

-j

*cough cough* *clearing throat*

I truly MUST apologize for this serious delay in posting on my blog!

Of course, first before I even continue, Happy New Year! I hoep you all had a happy and safe New Year!

There's so much I need to catch you all up on. But first things first, my label for 2006!!! *grins* I know it's 30 days into 2007... *ahem* The label I decided to give to 2006 is this: Emergence of my Individuality.

At the beginning of 2006, I was still this same girl that a lot of you all knew from either high school or college, but in the last half of 2006, I became someone who decided to do things in her own best interest, and not for other people. I became someone who was able to stand up for herself and to say what I really thought. A lot of you knew I had it in me, it was just a matter of time before that part of me would come out and announce to the world that the real June has arrived! In the last 4 months, I have never been happier. I would imagine the next time I'll say "I've never been happier" is when I'm in love or in a relationship - but yet, that still hasn't happened, mind y'all! :)

Just today one of my co-workers and I were talking about the weather, South Dakota is having its worst winter in 50 years. The wind chill is wayyyyyyy below! Just two days ago, the wind chill got as bad as -20 to -30! And Thursday is looking to be worse, -20 at night (BEFORE the wind chill factor) - and he was saying "Global Warming? What Global Warming? Just come to South Dakota and take a look at our weather!" (something like that) Oddly enough, in terms of snow, this is the lightest, but in terms of wind chill - now we're talking about the worst in the last 50 years.

I've been a resident of South Dakota for the last 4 1/2 years, and this is the first severe, coldest winter I've experienced! I thought I'd experience it my first winter here, and when that didn't happen, I thought it would be the next winter, then the one after that, then the one after that, you get the idea, until *pow* now it's here. Seriously - when I'm in the car while it's warming up, I shake from the cold because it really does get into your bones! It's weather like this that makes me want to MOVE out of South Dakota for a much warmer climate! *smiles* But I'll ride this out one and I'm sure the weather will look up in a few months *sigh*

Let's see, what else do I have to fill you all in with?

I spent Christmas here in South Dakota, as I had already flown home twice in the last 8 months, with two dear friends of mine, their daughter, their roommate and another guest. New Years was spent at Camp Lakodia. That's pretty much it - I've been dog sitting most of the month of January for a friend's adorable boxer. This weekend I'm going to be looking after my roommate's two brats. Oh yeah, my roommate put the house up for sale last Tuesday. We've had a few showings and an open house already, and a good number of people have been looking at the house. My roommate hopes to sell the house FAST. We'll see how the market is.

I'm typing this right before I pick up a friend from the airport, but first, I need to post this, zoom down to warm up my car, and then wrap up some things before I leave for the airport.

Have a wonderful night, week, month y'all!

'Til next time!

-j

Catching Up...

I know the last post I made was more than a month ago (when I was STILL in Canada), but there's been so much that has happened since I got back to Sioux Falls. I was thinking about how to put it all in one post, but I tell you, that's impossible. With the kind of train of thought that I'm on right now, it would make a lot of stops and take a lot of detours, so I think I will narrow it down to a few things for today and add more as we go along - hopefully I'll be able to catch you all up!

I saw a Blue Jay/Yankee game at Skydome, er... Rogers Centre (they just changed the name of the stadium last year, so old habits die hard!) My Blue Jays lost to the Yankees! And of course, I never heard the end of it from my Yankee friend. The next day, I flew back home and my trip back from Canada went smoothly except for a delay in Detroit which made me LATE to Omaha. I had a friend of mine pick me up and she had to wait for a while before I could finally arrive and pick up my bag before we could take off for home. I didn't get home until around midnight. I spent the rest of the week catching up and settling back INTO my routine. Soon after I returned, my roommate went out of town to California, so she left me to care for her two little (but yet adorable) brats. I barely had a weekend to myself before I went to this small town in western Nebraska with a friend to help her mother pack up part of her house for the move to Montana. That weekend in Nebraska was CHAMP - it was an escape that I so deserved, I told the mother that the weekend was like staying at a cabin with all of the plumbing and electricity. She had to laugh at that because in fact, she owns a cabin in Montana that has NO plumbing and electricity! My pager wasn't in range, and I didn't even bother to look at the computer for any emails - so it was a weekend away from modern civilization. I describe modern civilization as that with pagers, cell phones, computers, etc. And I was away from all that for the weekend. My friend said to me on Saturday: "I don't think I've ever seen you so content."

It was the first real weekend that I actually had a break and it was over this weekend that I was finally able to fully recover (finally) from MAAD in July! I came back home refreshed! Then the following weekend we went up to Camp Lakodia (a camp in Madison, South Dakota - less than an hour northwest of Sioux Falls) for their Harvest Fest event, and we also spent the night there (again in a cabin with all of the plumbing and electricity!).

And in the last few weeks I have been catching up on all of the events happening at Gallaudet. Reading all of the blogs, the articles written and hearing to all of the stories of people who went to Gallaudet during the protests there. I know a few people (mostly co-workers) that have gone to Gallaudet, and are due back anytime this week, and I look forward to hearing more from them, from their observations, their perspectives, and their experiences with all of the happenings at Gallaudet. I was 10 years old when the first protests happened in 1988. I barely remember hearing or talking about it, but this time around, it is a whole new experience, due, mainly in part, to the blogs that have popped up, and blogs is a new feature of our current technology and this was not around 18 years ago! Even though I never attended Gallaudet, but I consider myself a friend of Gallaudet as I grew up wanting to attend Gallaudet, and never did because RIT (the one I went to and graduated from) finally opened its doors to international students in 1992.

I was re-reading some of my older posts, and I came across one in regards with all of the years that has gone by, and I had given a "label" to each one of them. I quote myself: "2002 was the year of "moving on", 2003 AND 2004 were the years of "overcoming challenges", 2005 was the year of "learning and growing"." This year, with 2 1/2 months left to 2007 (I can't believe I'm mentioning this! Time sure does fly!) I have a few options on how to categorize 2006. But I'm going to wait for the next 2 1/2 months before I decide on a category on how to identify with 2006. Several that come to mind now is: Broadening my horizons; life-altering; self-focusing; the emergence of my individuality. But again, like I said, I'm going to wait for the next 2 1/2 months before I decide. However on top of what I categorized 2005, the one that fits most now is "emergence of my individuality" because it has to do with 2005 - the year of learning and growing, and that is always on-going, but then again I'll wait until January 2007 before I decide. What if something major happens in the next 2 1/2 months that could have an impact on how I would categorize 2006? :)

I guess my train of thought is making all of those stops and detours even though I mentioned I would try to limit them, you can't stop a speeding bullet, much less a speeding train!

Back to my favorite subject - baseball! *smiles* Yes, the Toronto Blue Jays played a good season, and they placed second in the AL East Division, which they were never able to do for the 13 years following their second World Series title! I'm proud of my Jays - and this gives them momentum for next year, as I always say to the friend who's the Yankee fan - "Next year?" He keeps saying, "No way." Of course, we'll never be able to agree on anything when it comes to the Yankees or Blue Jays, at least on this, we can agree to disagree, which is a good thing! :) However, the season's still not over, at least not for the Detroit Tigers and St. Louis Cardinals who are now battling for the World Series title. Personally, am rooting for the Detroit Tigers, I can't help it with them coming back from having the *worst* record in baseball, which was just three years ago, to being in the World Series! Any sane person would have to admit that it's admirable, impressive even! Tonight is game three of the Series, which will be played in St. Louis, as Detroit has home field advantage. The teams split the first two games with St. Louis coming out of the gates hard, winning 7-2 in the first game, and the Tigers countered with a win in the second game by a score of 3-0 behind Kenny Rogers, who is 41 years old! Yes, 41!

While we're still on the baseball track - I am still waiting for my pizza - the one that I won! I have incredible patience, however we're still all working out the complications - I mean, like I explained before, two of our other people who are involved in this bet are in different states now, leaving me and the Yankee fan behind in Sioux Falls. We're still working on how the other two can still be a part of it - the one in Nebraska, who teamed up with the Yankee fan, suggested that he could send the one in Minnesota a gift certificate for a pizza while the Yankee fan, who is here in Sioux Falls could buy me a pizza. I think this would probably work out for the best, but we just haven't discussed it and decided on anything, we're getting there, hence, I think this is the reason why I'm still waiting for my steaming hot pizza! :)

I'm going to wrap this up now, because only I can stop my speeding train. Even though I don't want to, but I don't want you all to have to read such a LONG post if I wasn't finished. And only I can stop my own speeding train of thought! Actually I'm not stopping it, I'm slowing it down to a snail's pace so that you can catch up with me! Then we'll pick up speed!

'Til next time!

-j

Things do come in threes...

Just thought I'd share this story with you today. Things definitely come in threes... (so far - *knocking on wood*)

Friday night when I finally set foot on Canadian soil, I was picked up in St. Catharines by my father and my aunt n uncle. When I got my suitcase out of the van that I was riding in from Rochester, my aunt has a Hyundai Elantra and I hit my head on the corner of the trunk, which wasn't so bad. It was just a "bump". Then we traveled home to Mississauga from St. Catharines. Once we got to my parents' apartment, I went to get my suitcase OUT of the trunk, and that catch "thingie" that holds your trunk door to the rest of the car? Well, yes it decided it was attracted to my head, *ahem* or is it the other way around, was it my head that decided that it was attracted to the trunk? *shrugs* oh well, but I hit my head a second time in less than 2 hours on the SAME location caused by the SAME object. *grr* Now that one hurt like bloody hell.

Of course, once two things happen to you, there's bound to be a third one... this didn't occur to me until the next day when we were cleaning up the apartment for Dad's surprise 65th birthday party, I was moving some things, and one of them fell behind the shelf and I knelt down to try to retrieve it. (If you're thinking to yourself that this is a forewarning for something to come, you couldn't be more right!) my head bumped the shelf, rocking it. Mom has a kerosene lamp on the top shelf (for decoration purposes), that toppled and the glass top of the lamp separated from the base and decided to make my head its target.

*glass top tumbling over edge*
*glass top thinking to itself 'No!!! I don't want to break!'*
*glass top looking down for a target - spotting my brown curls, thinking: 'perfect cushion!'*
*bam!*

Now, that one hurt, worse than the second one.

The first words that Mom said when I looked up: "Glass broke?"

Nice mother I have eh? She probably thinks that I have protection in thanks to my thick curly hair! *smiles* But the rest of the afternoon went by in a blink, along with an aching head.

More details to come soon - but I had to share that story.

'Til next time!

-j

Yo!

Hey people!

Am still in Rochester. The wedding for my uncle last Saturday was beautiful! Simple yet beautiful - got the opportunity to meet my new aunt and her son, my step cousin. It rained the day of the wedding, but to think that a rainy wedding is bad luck is pure myth. It rained on the morning of my parents' wedding, and they're still together, 29 years and still going strong!

Tonight am heading up north to Canada to spend the weekend with my family and to actually go to the Blue Jay game on Monday against the Yankees. Dad paged me the other day and said that he got the tickets on the first base side (BEHIND the visiting Yankees' dugout!) Remember that Yankee fan back home who wanted to wait until the end of the season to buy me my pizza that I won? Now I can taunt him by telling him that I'll be a lot closer to the Yankees than he has been in a long time! *winks* Me terrible eh? *grinning* Anyways, now it's September 15, 16 more days until the end of the season and before I get my pizza! *licking lips in anticipation* After I won that bet, he wanted to see if I would be willing to "wipe" that bet if the Yankees had the best record in baseball! Fat chance. Then secondly, he asked "If the Yankees win the World Series, can you 'forget' that bet?" Ha ha, again, fat chance.

RIT has changed a LOT! Some things were here when I was here as a student, Ben & Jerry's, Java Wally (coffee shop at the Wallace Library) but now they've added ESPN Sportszone, where students can record themselves commenting on sporting events and I just learned from a friend who's now a faculty member at RIT that students who are recorded will have the opportunity of having their clip being aired throughout the campus network and on local television!!! COOL! RIT was the first college to get the ESPN Sportszone because one of the employees at ESPN is an alumni of RIT and then other colleges started following and they now have ESPN Sportzones located at their campuses. Anyways, other new additions: the Field House (I haven't seen this yet, but seen it from the outside), which houses three pools, compared to the one that we had when I was a student here (graduated four years ago).

Now that I have a hour and a half to kill, am waitingg for a friend to finish with work before joining her home before heading up north, I'm heading back to the bookstore - was just there! And am gonna buy a book to help me kill the time. I forgot what it's like to do a lot of walking here at RIT! All that walking is going to offset all of the food that I've been eating here in Rochester - I've been eating like crazy, eating at my fave places (Cosimo's Pizza @ the mall, STILL THERE! - and DiBella's - this family owned sub shop - delicious!!!!) Pricey, yes but well worth it!

I'm going to get off and head to the bookstore - and my stomach's growling - might as well stop by somewhere to pick up something to eat - somewhere that accepts a DEBIT card not the RIT flex card! *mutters*

'Til next time folks!

-j