Lack of Updates

Sorry I kind of neglected this. I will admit I forgot a little until Sarah reminded me. She's such a good roommate. I did have one other post, the one on Outliers posted on another blog that I was experimenting with. I decided I didn't like it... so I moved it over here so y'all can read my wonderful thoughts on that subject.

Maybe someday I'll update this frequently... we'll see.

Bri is a Nerd

I decided today that I’m probably the biggest nerd I’ve ever met. I have this odd obsession with always learning and feel pretty terrible and bored if I just sit around and let my brain rot for too long. Don’t get me wrong... I’m all for occasional Family Guy and Gilmore Girls gushy brain relaxers. But, that can only go on for a few hours before I’m bored again.

So, I’ll share what makes Bri an ubernerd.

• I stumbled upon this a few weeks ago and got super excited. I don’t actually watch the videos, but you can download the audio on iTunes (its a podcast, you have to search a wee bit, but its there) and I’ve been putting it on my iPod as I take walks and make the drive down to Glen Ellyn for church. I just finished the Intro Psych (I haven’t taken a psych class since high school... I figured this was a sad thing) and am moving onto the Game Theory. I’m pretty sure this is something that I did learn at Taylor... but the class it would have been covered in (Principles of Macroeconomics) blended in really well with A Man for All Seasons. There are other interesting ones on there that I’m going to download and listen to in order to fill in the gaps in my education.
• Aparently, it is amusing to have checked out The Canterbury Tales, Critique of Pure Reason, Nicomachean Ethics, and The Wealth of Nations and have them sitting in your bedroom waiting to be read (Lord of the Rings still needs to be finished). I actually have reasons for all of these. I feel like Canterbury Tales is referenced in a lot of things... but I’ve never read any part of it, so the references are completely lost. Sometimes, I swear, I grew up in a box... or a cornfield. The Kant reading goes back to my favorite answer I’ve ever given on a test. I took a class in business ethics and about five minutes before I left my apartment to take an exam, I was asked what Kant’s categorical imperative was. I did the fastest skim of everything I had because I had no idea and gave a really crappy answer to this person. Also, a few minutes before that, I was in my freezer to get a popsicle and I saw my roommate’s frozen Reese’s cups. Now, being allergic to peanuts and loving those little candies... I wanted them. It was definitely on my mind. When I get to class and start looking at that exam, guess what question was on there? You guessed it, Kant’s categorical imperative. So, I wrote some paragraph saying how it was good for my roommate to eat Reese’s, but not me. Basically, the whole point was “I want Reese’s cups.” We get the exam back, guess who got higher points: me with Reese’s cups or my boyfriend who had actually kind of explained what it was? Yup, score one for peanut butter cravings. My reason for Aristotle is... well... he’s Aristotle. Kind of an important guy. Same for Smith. All I know of him is his “Invisible Hand” concept. I feel like I should know a lot more about that. Also, I must admit where some of the ideas for books to read are coming from. There is this college in Santa Fe and Annapolis that doesn’t do the whole “pick your major and take classes in that area”, but rather they read books and its supposed to really just work on your thinking skills and stuff like that. I was actually a wee bit tempted by that one when I was looking at colleges... probably just because it was so unique. But, they have their reading lists up online... and I figure that is one starting place of finding books to read. I also just learned they have a joint JD program with the University of Maryland... get a Masters of Liberal Arts and a J.D... interesting.
• I follow more blogs and random people on Twitter than anyone I know. Granted, I don’t ask people about their habits, but still. I enjoy reading a lot of articles posted and various things people are saying. I kind of like to gain more information from these sources than what my friends are currently doing... although that is good too. I feel like I should start posting more important things on there... to contribute to the conversation rather than just being a free-rider. Ohhh... and I also have a love of subscribing to newspapers... I think my total is five. Yeah, that seems right.

Bri+Malcom Gladwell=Much enjoyment

I’m a pretty big fan of Malcolm Gladwell. I’ve bought both The Tipping Point and Blink and found them both really interesting. I was walking through the library while returning some books and saw they had Outliers his most recent one. So, I picked it up on the way out... expecting to finish it in about a week or so, since I’m also reading The Lord of the Rings (my boyfriend is a huge fan, I feel like I’m missing something by not having read or seen the movies). I finished it that evening. I was completely hooked from beginning to end. If you haven’t read it yet, what he does is he looks at people who have been amazingly successful and studied what made them successful. He found that it wasn’t necessarily intelligence or insane amounts of hard work (although both are key ingredients), but rather it was simply a matter of being in the right place at the right time. Like Bill Gates for example. He was extraordinarily fortunate to be in the school where he was, with the friends that he had and the connections formed there.

Now, I’m in the opinion that everyone has opportunities presented to them. Every generation and ever individual has something in his or her life that really opens doors. The key is just realizing that opening when it comes. So that has started me thinking... what big opportunities have opened up for me? What has happened in my life that I haven’t taken full advantage of or realize was important?

All in all... very interesting book. I highly recommend at least getting to a library and finding a copy... if not supporting Mr. Gladwell by buying it.

Wheel in the sky keeps on turning...

So, I know I haven't updated this in a while... a combination of being crazy busy and an extreme fail from AT&T have kind of kept me from doing such. Updates on the life of Bri:

1. I moved to Streamwood. I'm now residing in the Old Man house and enjoying the benefits of living five minutes from a grocery store, a Target and a Wal*Mart. Can a girl ask for anything else? I think not. Ohhh... and did I mention that I also live across the street from a pretty nice forest preserve? Yeah, thank you Cook County.

2. I quit my job. Yeah, me, being the idiot I am, quit a job that I was hella lucky to even get. I'm not a complete idiot though... I do have a reason. It was essentially to the point where I had a conversation with my boss (who drove up to meet me...) and it was a "You are failing and need to get your act straight. You have two days before we drop you to commission only" conversation. In which it came out, that I really couldn't care less about telephone directories and this form of print advertising and... passion about the product is really important in sales. The best I could hope for with that was mediocre performance, which by my standards is unacceptable. So, I quit while I was still ahead. I'm now spending my time looking for a new job, which I had already started doing about a week before the first. Luckily, I'm finding things that aren't sales positions. I think I'm probably the worst salesperson ever. And I'm pretty okay with that. I have many other strengths that can counter that. There are people out there who absolutely love that. I'm not one of those people. But, all in all, that month was a good learning experience. Learned more about what I want, learned a bit about things just from talking to people. Learned more about what I'm willing to do. Yeah... Now lets just keep praying that I find something else soon. At least I'm somewhere where there are places to work besides McDonalds. I haven't stooped that low yet.

3. AT&T has the worst customer service ever. I was supposed to have internet about three weeks ago... They screwed up the first order and when I talked to them and they realized it, they canceled it without my knowing. I placed a second order, for some odd reason that didn't go through and yet again, no one told me. There was a third order placed in my name by my roommate. They had a problem, so rather than getting it fixed and getting me service on the date they said they would, they lollygag, don't keep me updated and after a few hours on the phone with customer service, I learn what the problem is and that it might not get fixed until Thursday... about a full month from when I was supposed to have service to begin with. Seriously people. I swear, if I had ever failed that badly at any job I've ever had... I would be fired. This is ridiculous. In the meantime, I've become good friends with the local library and Panera.

4. I've started running again. Its amazing how much of a difference having an iPod can make. So much easier... I have my music... I have a trail where I can run without cars and intersections every block... its great. Now if I can only avoid the snakes...

No Reason

So, I've been hanging out in Glen Ellyn for the past few days... and for some reason, it still doesn't seem quite real that I'm actually going to be living up here. Granted... it might be because I'm staying in the house that I have when I've just visited and am not yet in my actual permanent residence (I don't even know the address... that might be a good start), but still. Maybe once I move up to "The Old Man" house that will change. Thats just been striking me as really odd lately... Maybe it always take a little while for a place to actually become "home". But then again... in someways, when I was living with my parents, it didn't feel like it was home all the time. I don't know... the whole concept of "home" is a very odd one to me. I don't really know why... since I haven't really had the opportunity to make anywhere besides Grant County home until recently. I don't really know where I'm going with this... but yeah.

I need to figure out some way of making this blog interesting... because right now its kind of boring and... I'm not a fan of boring. It sucks. Maybe that is what I can do while I wait for my job to start... figure out how to make this interesting. That and continue to make sure I remember that script. I have a new respect for the memorization actors do now... that is for sure.

I didn't really have any reason for writing this, so I'm going to just let it rest before I start really rambling. I guess I felt like I should update this for some reason.

Observations

• It doesn't take long in a new place for me to get lost. Within an hour of being in Streamwood... yup, I get lost on an IKEA hunt.
• I have finally been to an IKEA. I think it will be a bad thing for my income that I will be living really close to one. One of my girly little things is that I love to decorate... I can get excited about a shower curtain. No joke.
• Ignorance works great. I was pulled over in some random little town on 26 on my way up here... Pulled the "I didn't see the sign" deal... totally worked. And, I wasn't lying. I'm usually really super careful about slowing down for these little speedtrap towns... *sigh*. At least I wasn't ticketed... I really can't afford that one right now. Unfortunately... I have ruined my over a year of clean driving (or at least the record says clean... hehehe... I'm still super proud of my 3h20 minutes from Glen Ellyn to Gas City... with about a 20 minute stop at a Meijer in Lafayette for gas, thank you notes, Coke and contact solution. Something about doing that drive at night just makes stuff build up on my contacts.
• Something that drives me crazy about Illinois driving. They have these slightly raised dividers, where a lot of places (or maybe just Indiana) it is either a left turn lane or a big cement divider. These little things look a lot like the former (second?). But yet... people drive on them! I can't stand it! I would swear not to myself... but I'm usually in too big of a hurry to have scruples when it comes to driving. I think we all know this.

Alright, time for me to start heading to Glen Ellyn. Have fun :).

Clarification

I feel as though there is one thing about me that always gets misunderstood: my views on relationships. This has always bothered me and driven me absolutely crazy, but for some reason... I haven't been able to really change people's mind. I think people did finally figure out that I must not be entirely against them when I started dating Erik, but still. Here for all the world to see is Bri's views on relationships.

I think I should start this out by saying that I'm just not a huge fan of "casual relationships". What do I mean by that? Relationships that emulate the behaviors of more committed couples, without the commitment (eg. sleeping together, kissing, the whole romantic thing), without the commitment. It is the causal flings without the thought of the future or any sort of a long-term commitment. This does not include platonic friendships... those are an entirely separate subject and I'm a huge supporter of those.

Now, how do you enter into a relationship planning for the long-term, but still getting to know the person? I know its unreasonable to think that the first serious relationship you're in will end with a walk down the aisle and happily ever after. While yes, that does happen and I'm a sucker for a cute story like that, most likely that isn't going to be the case. I know that. But, there is a difference between going into a relationship knowing it isn't serious and going into one being intentional. I'll use Erik and I as an example. We met during Night Watch our sophomore year. He remembered me as the girl who frequently sat on Sexy's lap and seemed pretty hard to get to know and I remembered him because he was the "Cute Cop" (according to Michelle) and he had read the book I was reading (The World is Flat) and he wasn't a communications/education major... his was somewhat more related to mine. We had a couple conversations... nothing that I distinctly remember besides the book. So, the show ends... he doesn't do the next one, I really wasn't greatly concerned. But, somehow I still remembered him (how I remember anything from that show... I have no idea...) and think I might have even mentioned him or asked about him somehow in a conversation with someone else... Anyways... Next semester comes around and I'm taking Developmental Economics for my major (and I love Hadley... lets just face it) and lo and behold, who is in there but Erik. Ditto for Business Ethics. So, since we have some sort of familiarity with each other and for some odd reason I slightly fascinated (what is it with wanting what seems like a challenge?) and he was determined to get to know me. I had recently resigned my soul-selling to the theatre and was living off campus and wanting to regain some semblance of a social life again, so I was receptive to him. I will admit though, he creeped me out at first. So, after a few weeks of this... it winds up with me agreeing to watch Fight Club with him. And, for whatever reason, my roommate wasn't there, and it was slightly awkward, but we got over it. Okay, fast forward a few other things (including kisses I later regretted and still have no idea why I did). It eventually started getting to the point where... platonic friendship was debatable. So, I stopped... thought... prayed... and really a lot of my concern was... "Is this really feasible". I stopped and thought about what we both wanted to do with our lives. As far as either one of us knows (granted, not very far)... check. Could I ever see myself loving this person? Hard one, but check. I had known him for a while in a non-romantic context and yeah... I liked him as a person and valued his friendship regardless of what happened. Did he fit my list of criteria? Mostly... he can't sing, but thats not his fault. So... after a lovely at least seven hour conversation... I started a relationship. I have no idea how it will end... I don't want to know. I definitely had no idea at the start. But, I went into it intentionally... I went into it trying and wanting to make it work and doing what it would take to make that happen. I had to intentionally open up to him and knew that just using him as a make-out partner wasn't going to be good for either one of us. That just gets a lot of mixed up emotions and misunderstandings. And from what I've seen of relationships like that, thats exactly what happens. I thought we had a firm basis of friendship and a good understanding of where the other person was coming from, so we went for it. And about fourteen months later... I have absolutely no regrets from that choice.

Now that we've seen that I clearly am not against relationship per say... Why am I pretty much exclusively tell people not to do it? Easy: relationships take time. Its a conscious effort that does demand something from you. And the person you're in one with should not be chosen lightly. Part of why I started one with Erik was because I knew he wasn't going to treat this as something trivial. He had already demonstrated that he was willing to put forth effort and work at a relationship. He wasn't just in this for a free hug or cookies (I actually make quite poor cookies...). Plus, both of us were at places where we could handle it personally. We knew who we were as individuals and knew as much as any college student (maybe more... not sure on that one) where we were heading. We were solid people who were not dependent on a relationship of any sort for any part of our identities. I still think we maintain very separate identities. As much as I love Erik, I hate being referred to only as "Hatcher's girl" or other things like that... and I don't like it when people refer to him as "my boy" or anything like that. That right there is a huge reason I advise people against relationships: I think you need to have a firm understanding of who you are and where you're going before you can bring someone else into the picture. That just ends up messy... or you end up going in an entirely wrong direction because you allow yourself to be too influenced. Or... you're like some people I know and are simply too busy for one. I think you need to let things grow when you aren't so busy. Going back to Erik and I. When we started really getting to know each other... we didn't have that much on our plate and I think a good deal of the "getting to know you" happened when we did the first distance thing during the summer. We both had evenings to just talk... and we did... and it was wonderful and I'm grateful we had it.

Another thing that I think catches people is that I'm not sold on getting married. Would I? Most definitely. If I met the right person I would in a heartbeat. As soon as it was practically and financially possible... you betcha I'll wear a dress for a day and suck it up. But do I have to? No. I don't feel any great need to. Why? Because I know I can go through whatever is given to me without someone else. If that is what God wants... I have no problem with it. He's made me to be a pretty strong person who is able to function on her own, and I'm totally down with that. I've never felt the need to have someone else to complete me in any way and have a hard time understanding those who do. Also on the marriage subject: when I mention that I don't know if I would change my name some people give me funny looks. I don't get the logic in it. A girl goes through the first... twenty-someodd years of her life under one name... doing everything, having all the records and everything in that name... only to one day change it to something else. A guy, on the other hand, has he same name throughout his life. Why? I understand that it is a part of the whole "joining together" thing... but can't you be joined and still have your name? I'm really thinking of John Proctor's whole name thing from The Crucible here. I see no correlation between the two and am reluctant to change what I've been known for my whole life just because of a commitment to someone. If I get married, that vow will mean exactly the same thing, I will mean it exactly as much, I will love the person exactly as much regardless of what my last name may be.

I could bore y'all with my thoughts on love, but I'll save that for another day. Basically, I think relationships ought to be taken seriously, with thoughts to the future in mind. People get tangled up, emotions get involved, things get messy and if you start with a clear focus, a strong individual identity and a commitment to the other person that you're able to honor, then great! By all means go for it! If you're just screwing around and you're one of those people who has to have someone to feel complete... then please, save yourself the pain and get your act together first.

Sell-Out

Yup... I'm abandoning all of my principles... I have a twitter (missbrinicole)... I'm considering blogging... I feel like I'm on facebook too much... My phone pretty much has next to no money on it largely because I've taken up texting... I'm pretty much convinced my life is contained on Galinda... Yup, thats about it.

Next thing you know I'm going to start drinking Starbucks every day (wait... haven't I done this?) and loving Wal*Mart.