The Oh Yeah... Phenomenon

Alright, that was a weak/vague title, but perhaps the ends will justify the means or the means justify the begins or whatever.


But basically what I'm referring to when things seem way better in theory than they do in practicality. Most recently in my life is taking finance. 


Now, when I started thinking about taking this course and went to the first "syllabus and go" lecture, I decided that this course wasn't going to be so bad. I mean, it is interesting and very informative to know how financial markets work and how to best spend/save/use money. Well like in many things in life, the picture is considerably more messy when you try to sort it all out and write it down on paper. Once you start looking at annuities and at the scary look at inflation rates, it is not so hunky dory.


There are definitely other things like this too. 


Like biscuits in a can, it sounds intriguing, but we all know that is implausible and would never be marketed everywhere. Oh wait.


I apologize for that, it was a brief attempt at a few laughs but mostly is a salute to my grandfather. That is one of our favorite sayings, anytime we talk about technological things, we throw that in there, so I guess it just holds a special place in my heart.


But moral of the story, some things are better left on the drawing board. That being said stick your neck out and try something if you believe in it, just don't come back whining to me when you've let it become an obsession which now consumes your finances and life.


-MJM

Broadening My Horizons

So attempting to persevere through the obvious extended hiatus, I apologize for the time that I have been gone and for leaving you with such a dramatic cliffhanger. Spoiler Alert: I'm fine, my CT scan proved normal (though I'm not sure if it means normal for me or the average person, we all know what I am getting at). I could try and blame my concussion for my constant forgetting to update my blog, but it obviously has considerably more to do with my chronic laziness.


But , I digress, you probably don't actually care why I've been gone or much less about this blog post, but its not all about you, unless you are me, if so continue in your narcissistic tendencies.


If you know me very well, you know that I'm not very specialized ("look with your special eyes", thats for you sis), I just sorta get by in all the different aspects of life. Retrospectively, I'm not at all surprised that I ended up in the Liberal Arts College. I chose to continue my endeavor to learn a little about a lot. I seem to always get into something but never really ending up going too far off the deep end.


This has never been too much of a problem, but it gets kinda frustrating when you are middle of the pack at everything, you never really have the chance to excel. I am fully confident in my potential and talent, but for some reason the drive for perfection is not in my skill set. So when do I throw in the towel on an endeavor, I usually just work for a while before giving up? My latest issue is piano, I was working for a while on learning to play but its hard learning to play "more difficult songs" when you have no formal training. Maybe that is the real issue, is that I'm too independent and self reliant. I am too do-it-yourself. Though Dad is probably happy that my hours watching This Old House with him growing up will be potentially helpful.


That brings me to my final point of the evening, I'm really good at two things for sure. Watching TV and talking. but usually not at the same time. Don't you dare talk to me while my one of fifteen religiously-watched TV shows are on. But I think both of these two would be considered my strengths, if only I could make a career out of them...


-MJM

Head Check

So this past week has definitely been an interesting one. It started off normal enough and it was filled with much excitement as my first intramural game of the semester occurred.


I had an indoor soccer scrimmage on Tuesday and I even went out to buy new gloves for the occasion. Spoiler Alert: I play goalie.  The game was going fairly well, until... I took one to the head, the ol' noggin, my coconut. A quick shot and pass had caught my head turning and I took a soccer ball to my left temple area. 


I figured it probably wasn't good when all my vision went blurry for 30ish seconds and I was forced to hold on to he post. But rest assured they did not score at this point.  I pretty much shook it off (I figured that no immediate swelling, so no problem) by halftime and headed back out and finished the game. I made some pretty sweet stops, not that I can really remember any of them now...


To answer your question, yes a defensive breakdown caused another goal to slip by me, resulting in a 1-2 loss for my team. But it was just a scrimmage, so it won't happen again.


After the post-game sportsmanship ceremony, where everyone congratulates each other on good games, I headed over to the sideline to watch my roommates' team play. Spoiler Alert: They didn't win either.


 I got checked out my the medic at the rec after the game at the insistence of some of my friends, they deduced after the very basic concussion test that I was ok(no concussion), but probably should not go to sleep for a couple of hours. Spoiler Alert: They were wrong.


So after a day and a half of headaches and a few memory lapses(forgetting why I went in a room, forgetting which faucet was hot/cold, forgetting words to songs) and at the persuasion of my mother, I contacted my favorite nurse via my mother only to find that I should probably head to a real doctor in the fairly near future.


So I did,  his diagnosis was a mild concussion but apparently my memory loss concerned him, so he suggested a CT scan on my head region. For the record, I am genetically predisposed to a bad memory(from my dad, not my sister).  I went and had the scan done.


I won't know the results until sometime today, but it didn't bode well when the nurse doing the CT scan told me to lay on my back, and I remember her saying the word 'back', but I proceeded to lay on my stomach. Thats another issue I've had, my mental sharpness/processing is not what it typically is. My usually quick wit has been muddled by poor verbal execution, which is usually a particularly strong skill of mine.


But fear not, general public, I'm still breathing and my other organs seem to be functioning, so I'll probably live. I'll know for sure after I get my CT scan results.


-MJM

Some Things Never Change

I've returned to school, and it has basically taken me until now to get back settled. I apologize for this who came back and checked my blog only to see few, if any, updates. Hopefully things will soon return to normalcy and my desired routine will kick in.


But as I return for this home stretch, I've realized that some things are just set in stone. One of those is tech support.


It is and always seems to be a pain. I learned from my sophomore year, when I had a major issue with my laptop that proved very difficult. I've learned that there is a two tiered method of dealing with these people.


The first level is very cordial, appreciative and overall, just nice. If its a simple fix, they can take care of you. 


The next is when the first level fails, when your "tech" proves incompetent or stupid. (Assuming you know exactly what you want) Begin to be aggressive, speaking precisely so the "tech" can understand what changes need to occur. Also, remember their name and prepare, should you not have success with your primary helper, to ask for their supervisor  and/or where you can file complaints. 


If the latter must occur, you probably need to go in guns a-blazing, aka with your demands prepared. From my way too extensive experience, I've learned that when this technique is employed, rarely will you go away empty handed, the companies make the supervisors fairly powerful so they can appease us clients so that we won't badmouth the company.


The biggest problem with all this is obviously the all-to-common language barrier between American English and Indian English, not hating just stating a fact. Try to overcome that, but seriously outsourcing is killing me. Here is my promise to all of you:


I will not outsource any company or part of a company that I control.


Pretty good deal?, it just makes me frustrated when I have to talk to people about my problems and they are thousands of miles away, so I vow not to make the public suffer as I have.


If you have any additions or need troubleshooting help or a "negotiator", let me know.


-MJM

Chapter Next

So my "existential" blog posts continue with my chapter ending post today, about my last day of work and preparing for my presumably last year in college.

NOT!

I'm not in the mood to be all reflecting today.  I mean its just a return to different norm. No big deal.

However, I am thinking about my food consumption, my mother usually makes considerably more and better food. But, this year I am resolved to cook better and more often.

In light of such, I've electronically recorded several of mother's most delicious-iest[sic] recipes. So far, I've only got dessert recipes, but that besides the point. I've also done a little kitchen training, making a layered chocolate cake with homemade frosting this weekend. I will admit, it was quite delicious.

So hopefully, a little personal cooking will be a nice addition to my routine this year. Plus I may eat healthier and cheaper, probably not either, but theoretically both. It would definitely be both except I eat a lot.

-MJM

The Aftermath

So that one thing that I had to do, you know what I'm talking about right? The thing I had to do for those one people, you forgot already? Read my last blog post.

But seriously now, I had my big-ish presentation today.

Rest assured, it went very well. I was able to incorporate humor into my professional presentation.

Do you know what that means? I have two days left at work and almost if not literally nothing to do. Like I didn't have much to do before, but now the few things that I do have left to do are not even on the horizon.  This gives me mucho(look Mom, I'm bilingual) time just to relax and that likely means just sitting at my desk and cruising the internets[sic]. Thats assuming the internet doesn't fail like it did yesterday, hence the lack of a blog post. It was difficult to live  without internet, can anybody even imagine me without internet? Me either. So does anybody have any good recommendations of things for me to do at work for the 17 hours I have left to work?

I'll probably spend the time thinking about packing and dreaming of my ideal electronics.

But, oh yeah, the presentation went well, a fact which I'm very glad. Could've (theoretically)gone better if I would've practiced or done more than 24 hours before, but honestly I doubt whether it would've gone much better. I've been blessed with the gifts of improvisation, confidence and a tad bit of entertainment value.

-MJM

Oops?

If you're a slacker and you know it raise your hand.

(Raises hand)

So I've had a "rough" week, well that may not be the best descriptor. Perhaps busy would be better. Its mostly because I've actually been working in the mornings, that results in me not being able to blog till the afternoon, like today, and sometimes I decide its too late because most people read my blog in the morning. But apparently that is not the case, I believe that most, if not all of my readers, read in the second half of the day, and with this information, I'll try to appropriately post future blogs.

But you'll be glad to know that after Thursday, my life will be drastically easier.  Thursday, I have a presentation on my activities of the summer as essentially an intern.  I wasn't too worried about it until yesterday, when my boss invited all the division directors aka "head honchos", to come hear it and my findings on a specific project. I'm not really worried, I just now have to prepare more.

I mean, I got an 'A' in my community college online version of public speaking this summer,but that was mostly because I speak well.  I didn't actually prepare for any of my speechs, I improvised all three and averaged a 91ish. Yeah, be jealous, cause yeah I took public speaking through a community college and it was online, I never stepped foot on campus.

So, its not the speaking, its the fact that I need to prepare so as to have a substantial presentation that justifies the attendance of the above listed head honchos.

So hopefully that justifies my preparation.

-MJM