Love is in the air

Well, okay, so I'm back from my trip to Michigan where I attended, sang at, and coordinated my sister's wedding festivities and now she is Christine Weidner Marshall Bier. It was nice, but exhausting. All my fam and friends were pretty much there, but it was rough cause the time I saw them was so short. I meant to tag along to Traverse City, but ended up having too much work to get done on the minority report, which is kicking my ass.

I also presented a paper on my thesis topic at Brock University near Niagara and it went very well; generated some interest, etc. The highlight of my presentation was when my mother, who was supposed to subtly sneak in and hear my presentation instead decided to announce to the symposium that she was my Mom and she just wanted to hear her daughter speak and then she was leaving. Ahh professional highlights of my career. Just when you think that maybe you're old enough and have enough experience to actually be taken seriously, you're quickly grounded by your family I find :)


Anyway, now I'm back in Denver and housesitting, after spending Monday night in the Minneapolis airport. Apparently all the hotels in Minneapolis were booked. So, that experience gave me a better feel for what it's like to be homeless. I slept on a bench with my bags entangled with my person, got too cold in the night too sleep, but woke up the next morning with a stranger sitting across from me watching me sleep. - good times!

Although, I haven't seen many of my peeps since I've been back, I have been updated on the Denver gossip. I won't mention any names, but apparently most of the people in my extended group of friends have paired off with others in the group. And it occurred to me that I never would have put any of the now-couples together. I've been genuinely shocked with each new relationship, including my own - it's all very twilight zoney. But everyone seems happy with it, so I guess it's good. Anyway, that's my briefing.

Keep it real, people! - Naomi

PS: to get a much better and longer description of the wedding festivities see Alison's (of my posse) blog http://alisonsperspective.blogspot.com

Highlighting my hair

So, I highlighted my hair yesterday. In the morning, I talked with my Mom and told her what I was gonna do, and she was like "Don't overdo it or you'll look stupid in all the wedding pictures." Anyway, with that threat duly noted, I headed to the salon. And there my hairdresser gave me a nice subtle platinum blonde look. Okay, not quite, but it's always amazing to me the difference between my definition of subtle and my hair dresser's. I thought it looked really light, but when i got home one of my roomates didn't notice, so it must not be too bad; time and the wedding family pictures will tell.

Last night was the-guy-I'm-seeing's birthday (I call him that instead of his name). Anyway, being that he now has the karaoke-fever, he rented a karaoke room for a bunch of us and we went. It really adds a new dimension to karaoke when you're not in front of strangers but instead in a little, hot, and stuffy room with people you mostly know. For instance, any singing that ever happens in regular karaoke is right out the window. It is then instead about singing every song (even if it's not yours) at the top of your lungs with your mouth all over the mic and throwing in hilarious jokes. With that in mind, some of me and my posse's choices were Spice Girls, Barbie Girl, It's Raining Men, etc. Mark, one of the guy-I'm-seeing's friends gave him a birthday shout-out along with the chorus of each song he sang. At about 1:30 am, I started anticipating the fun day of work I would have today and that's when the fun hilarious karaoke room began to turn into my personal version of hell, where you just hear screaming in a cramped, unventilated room. I'm just kidding, but those are my worthless observations from yesterday. KC arms! - Naomi

Mountain Trip to DC

Well, I figure I better update everyone, and when I say everyone I mean my Dad, since this is now his preferred mode of communication with me :)

So, I got back from DC on Sunday. It was quite a trip! I had meetings on Thursday and Friday and got briefed on my project for GMAC (www.gmac.com) - The Minority Report. Yes, that's the real name of the project. People kept saying it and I'd look at them to laugh, but they wouldn't even flinch, so I had a good chuckle in my head and told all my friends later on. They had a limo service pick me up at the airport and I stayed at the Ritz. It felt very weird. I was like "Uh, I'm just the Research Assistant. I'm already amazed that you're paying me." So, on the Minority Report (heh heh), I'm going though all the data from these surveys from mba.com and creating a report and executive summaries on the motivations and deterrents of minorities going to graduate business school. Of course, in my head, I'm thinking "Why would anyone want to go to graduate business school in the first place? - except for Jeff :)" But, the report is supposed to be 100 pages and the first draft is due in 2 weeks! What the heck did I get myself into? So much for writing my thesis (just kidding Dad).

Anyway, for the rest of the weekend, my friend Kevin flew out to visit some friends he had in DC and to show me around. We went to the Smithsonian - American History, saw the monument, the white house (just from a ways), Vietnam memorial, Korean memorial, the big Lincoln, etc. I of course did a critical analysis of everything we saw, which I'm sure Kevin enjoyed. But, basically, I just found it sad that all of the major attractions in DC that are supposed to represent America are tributes to white men. We went though the First Ladies section of the Smithsonian, and it was all dishes and clothes with one little plaque that mentioned that Hillary Clinton is a Senator. I was like "Senator Schmenator! Just show me her dishes!" And I also found it sad that in all the war memorials, no victims from Vietnam or Korea, etc. are represented, many of which were innocent people who never got to choose whether or not they were in the war. And I thought about how difficult it might be for US Americans whose relatives were from Vietnam or wherever - they and their family are simply not represented. I just feel that these monuments and memorials misrepresent war. They allow people to believe that war happens between men on a battlefield, when really, it happens in people's homes and women and children make up the majority of the victims. Anyway, that's just a snippet of the lecture that Kevin got, I'm sure you all wish you could have been there to hear it.

In all fairness, the Smithsonian does have a Native American section, but a DC native told us it wasn't very good, so we didn't go see it since we were short on time.

Okay, if you're still reading, I'll wrap it up, cause I should be doing more productive things. Catchya on the flip side! - Naomi

To the heart of America

Hello! Sorry it's been so long since I've written. I know that my loyal blog fans have been disappointed that there have been no new messages. My research trip went well; kindergartners are hilarious. Tomorrow I leave on trip 2 of my June trip trilogy. This time to DC to get briefed on my research assistantship that I'll be working on this summer, along with working for DMS, for IIC, and writing my thesis. Ahhhh, summer vacation!

Last night, a crew of us, including 3 of the 4 members of our urban tribe (Sunday Night Porn Club) went to karaoke. My selections included hits from Ashley Simpson (I did more singing than she does during her song, heh heh), Madonna, Gloria Gaynor, and Alicia Keys.