NYC & Other Places

This weekend, like Veteran's Day weekends the last few years, HTM Students (and alumni) head to NYC for the American Hotel & Lodging Association's annual Hotel Show. I never got to go on one of those trips, and while I could have bought a plane ticket with what little money I have to get to New York, I wouldn't be able to eat, pay to get into the show, pay for transportation...room probably would have been okay because I would have split one with friends, but all those other things are kind of important. I've never been to New York City. I have always wanted to go there though. That's just one of the many places I want to go. Here's a few other places I'd like to see and spend time in (in no particular order):

-Chicago
-Seattle
-San Francisco (I went the for a choir trip and we spent an hour at Pier 39, and it was pouring rain so it was like the longest hour ever and then we got back on the bus and headed for our hotel next to Great America theme park in Santa Clara...so seeing more other sites in better weather would be nice)
-Boston
-Disney World (I realize that's not a city, but it may as well be. And that's really the only thing I would ever want to see in Florida)
-Colorado
-Washington D.C.
-Mall of America
-Back to Hawaii because it was beautiful and relaxing and I can finally have the non-virgin versions of the drinks I had haha

These are all just U.S. locations. There are so many international places I want to go and see, but need to save up a lot before that can happen. But at least some of the U.S. ones are possibilities. So if any of you want to go to any of those places, let's plan a trip! Traveling with people is much nicer than alone. I know, I've flown, taken the train, and driven places by myself and while it gives me time to think and let my mind wander, it's nice to have someone to talk to.

Simple & Quick

I realized I was running out of time to blog, so I'm going to have to make it a semi-slacker easy way out post today with a song....ok 2 songs actually. I can't choose which of his songs I like more so, going to post my 2 faves. I was going to have more to talk about today, but I got caught up finishing my book and watching the Country Music Awards, so my time ran out.

So I've discovered Andrew Belle recently. His songs were in episodes of "Grey's Anatomy" last season, including one in the season 6 finale. This first one, "Make it Without You" was in one of the later episodes of the season:



The second one, "Replace Me" I just found when I was on YouTube, listening to other songs of his.



Hope you like these songs. Check out some of his other songs. I like him a lot. Jamie said he sounds like a cross between The Fray and John Legend. Hopefully you like him too.

Just One of Those Days

That I, yet again, lack inspiration for posting. Kind of sad that only 9 days into this and I can't come up with things to say. Well, ok, I can, I just have to sort out my thoughts more first. I like to kind of have an idea of what I want to say before I post, although I'm sure sometimes it seems I am rambling on and going off on all sorts of tangents...which is exactly what I'll be doing tonight.

-Watching "Conan" right now. So glad to see him back on tv. He's awesome and was wronged by NBC. Trying to get tickets to see a taping of his show again. I went last year and will return with 2 of the people I went with last time. I can't get any til January's are posted, but that's fine with me. He's hilarious and it's well worth the wait.

-I'm almost done with my book. I'm debating staying up tonight to finish it, though I will more likely fall asleep and finish it tomorrow. All through reading it, I've been trying to picture who I'd put in it as a movie. Still debating on that, but I can kind of see them. I sometimes wish that I was in a position to pick people for movie roles. One of my favorite books, "Something Borrowed" by Emily Giffin, has been made into a movie and will be out next year. This is one, where the casting I'm iffy on. Ginnifer Goodwin is playing the main character, Rachel, which I can see and I'm good with that casting. However, her best friend is being played by Kate Hudson, which I definitely don't see. The character in the book is described as being tall, dark hair, green eyes...I know that things change for movies, but it's just not who I would have put in the role. Same with Cameron Diaz being cast as the mother in "My Sister's Keeper" last year. She just is not the motherly figure I was picturing when I read the book. I guess I'll just have to see the movie next year and find out. I hope it's close to how I imagined it in my head. I always do that, picture it as a movie, casting, where it could be filmed...even certain scenes I can even pick a song that would fit that moment. Sometimes I wish I had money and connections to get into finding authors of books I've loved and approach them about a movie and let it be made the way I picture it.

Sorry for yet another short post tonight. I'll try and have a deeper meaning one tomorrow, when I've had more time to think it through.

Favorite Kind of Day...

Was a day like today. Not in what I did, because that was a lot of nothing, but the weather. It was sunny but the air was cool and it was windy. The only thing missing in the sky was big, white, puffy clouds. I went outside for a while and just let the wind blow through my hair and I embraced the cold and let the leaves blow around me. This kind of weather, just narrowly beats out gray, either cloudy or rainy, cold weather. That just is really nice, cozy weather.

But as for why I like the weather like today, I just have some really nice memories that I look back on and that was the kind of weather it was that day. Sunny, cool, windy.

Anyway, I hope you had a nice day. I'm off to go watch the season premire of "Conan" on TBS. So stoked he's back on!

The Eternal Post-Grad Question

Here it is, 5 months after graduation. I have had the opportunity to see friends a lot during this span of time, both from college and high school/elementary school. It seems to me, that we all have the exact same question that has come up in EVERY SINGLE MEETING I have had with friends from all areas of my life. And that is this:

If you are no longer in school, where do you meet people?

Now this question is posed both romantically and even just for friends, though primarily it is posed in the romantic context. We wonder, if we aren't in a school environment anymore, and we don't want to date someone at work (or, depending on where they work, might not even be an option) or pick up people in bars (because we all know that most people in bars are not usually looking for a long term soul mate, but instead searching for a one night stand), then where are you supposed to meet people to date?

The answer that everyone always says?

"Coffee shops/cafes"

That really is the first, and usually the only, thing that people can come up with. Okay, this isn't like Central Perk on "Friends" where people randomly come up and start talking to you. I have never seen anyone go up to a random person in a coffee house and start chatting them up and engage them in long conversations. The closest I've come to that is a guy that had been sitting at the table by my friend and I and as he was leaving, told us that our conversation was interesting, and he picked up his coffee and belongs and walked out. You might be thinking, "Amy, you've just contradicted yourself by saying it never happens that people go up to strangers and talk to them and it's happened to you!" But I'm talking about like someone going up to you and start hitting on you and asking for your number at such. Most people I see in coffee shops are with other people, or are studying, or are on their laptops/iPods/mp3 players/phones, etc. and don't look like they want to be interrupted because they are plugged into their electronics.

So I'm asking you world, other than coffee shops, where do you meet people? I know a lot of people that are curious, so share your knowledge people! Drop a comment with suggestions, who knows, maybe your suggestion will lead someone to their soul mate.

Fall Back

Yay for it being time for fall back on the clocks! Tonight is the night that we get to turn our clocks back an hour, thus gaining an extra hour of sleep. I love this time of year when it gets darker earlier in the day. Most people I know hate it. They don't like driving at night, they feel the day ends too soon so they can't do anything, whatever their complaint is, they just don't like it. I love it. I like it being dark earlier. I think it's cozy. I just have memories of it being dark, Dad coming home from work to dinner then he and brothers watching Monday Night Football...just very home-y things. And this happens during fall and winter, and those are my favorite seasons. Rich colors, cooler weather (well, in theory, being So-Cal, it's iffy but generally it's cooler), cute clothes, BOOTS, fall food, holidays. Yes, this is the best time of the year.

Enjoy your extra hour of sleep tonight! =)

200th Post!

200 posts. Amazing I've had that much to talk about really. I'm going to take this post to say thanks to those that keep this blog going.

~Thanks to family and friends for reading this blog, first of all. Without people in my life caring what's going around in my head, this blog would be rather pointless.

~Thanks to the media for providing me topics to rant or comment on, depending on my mood and the topic at hand.

~Thanks to Google, which allowed my public blog to come up in people's searches for key words or terms.

~Thanks to all the strangers out there who have come across my blog. No one knows this unless they've scrolled all the way to the bottom of the page, but there's a site meter I added on here to see who's reading the blog. No, I can't tell specifically who, so if anyone is stalking me out there, I don't know who you are, I just see areas where people are reading this and how they came across it, whether it was a Google search result, link from Facebook, link from siblings' blogs, or if you just straight out typed my address into the search engine. Some, I can guess, like if it came from San Diego and is from Facebook, well I know lots of people that could fit, but it's like 'Okay, college friends.' Or Norwalk is my brother & sis-in-law. But I'd like to take this moment to mention some of the more obscure places that I've come across.

-London, UK
-New Delhi, India
-Islamabad, Pakistan
-Pune, Maharashtra, India
-San Fernando, Pampanga, the Philippines
-Philippine, Benguet, the Philippines
-Chur, Graubunden, Switzerland
-Doha, Ad Dawhah, Qatar

Whoever you all are, very cool that you are reading this. Hope whatever it was you searched for and my blog came up was helpful or interesting.

Thanks again to all you readers. Please keep coming back and reading and giving me a reason to keep this going!

Blanking Out

So it's barely day 4 of this challenge and I already lack inspiration for a post. As a result, you are just going to get random thoughts running through my head right now.

~Commercial for the new movie "Burlesque" with Cher and Christina Aguilera...it just doesn't look good, but McSteamy (aka Eric Dane) is in it...I don't get why he has attached himself to the movie...I could help him make better movie choices. Eric Dane, if you are reading this, I'll be your agent....and let Patrick Dempsey know that I would represent him as well.

~The book I'm reading now has some interesting parallels to my own life....well, the character is like me at least, not the plot. Unless I unknowingly was an 'on the side' girl to a guy that ended up getting his girlfriend pregnant and am now dating a marquis that I met on a tour of an old mansion house in England, much like when Elizabeth Bennett encounters Mr. Darcy in her tour of Pemberley in "Pride & Prejudice." No, that's not me. What is me, is how the character is personality wise. She's a head in the clouds kind of girl, wanting the great romance of her life, wondering if the next guy she encounters is "The One" for her, desiring love letters, songs written for her, flowers, songs, etc. She even says that she has a "Mr. Darcy/Prince Charming complex," basing her expectations of guys on them. Even more striking was the point of the book where she is on vacation with her parents and grandmother after losing everything else in her life. The book said:

"....because as much as she loved her parents and grandmother, constant exposure to them at a time when her reserves were low was not ideal. It put her in a kind of limbo-she didn't know whether she was a grown-up with a responsible place in society or a child, a total screwup with no job, no boyfriend, and no morals, who should just stop trying and give up."

Well, ok, so I still have morals, but I've said it before, I feel like I'm in limbo. I'm 22, yet I feel 12. I have a degree, but since I have no job, I feel like a screwup. It's bound to get better, I know. It has to. It's just all the time that's passed since graduation...I can't believe the year is already ending. I feel like it was just...I don't know...February and I was working and going to school and having wonderful (since you can't tell via print, I'm being sarcastic on the wonderful) 490 projects to consume my time. And now, here we are, it's November, nearing the end of the year, I don't have a busy work & social life, and instead of never seeing family, I never see friends. What a difference 5 months makes, huh?

~Take 5 candy bars are the best thing ever. If only they weren't so hard to find when it isn't Halloween time.

~Pulling out old family movies makes me miss the family dinners we used to have where we'd go to someone's house and open gifts, cake & ice cream, etc. Note to siblings, maybe something we can aim to bring back in the future.

~Songs from choir practice tonight are rolling around my head. One has a very Christmas-y grand ending. Another, just these two lines are replaying: "Take my will and make it Thine/it is no longer mine/Take my life and let it be for Thee." I really like the one we are singing this week. It's the grand ending one. Most of the song is fast, but in the middle and end, it's a legato, rich sound, the harmony sounding like old classic hymns.

~Oprah commercial for the episode as a re-run tonight is of teen heartthrobs. And she's reuniting all 5 members of Backstreet Boys. For those of you unaware, Kevin Richardson, the oldest member left the group a while ago. The tween inside me is excited to watch this because I forgot to earlier.

Thanks for reading my random thoughts. I'll do better tomorrow.

How About a Song?

Before I give you the first of what will probably be many song suggestions, I have to share something. So yesterday's post was kind of a Debbie Downer one for me, full of doubt and putting down my own abilities and the decisions I've made about school, major, etc. Today I made a mental list of places to go to tomorrow to see if they are hiring for the holidays and plans with a friend to go to these places. Then another friend texted me and suggested I try and see about getting a job at the spa she just got hired at because she knows they want to hire for the holiday season.

But the biggest sign from I got, came in the form of a horoscope from TV Guide Magazine. I know, I know, a horoscope? Something I should take with a grain of salt, however I have found that sometimes my horoscope hits right on with whatever is going on with my life, and this was definitely one of those times. This is what it said:

"Don't worry if you've fallen short of your dreams. At least you're still working toward them, which is more than most can say. Keep striving, every day, and you'll eventually get there. Yes, it will happen."

Wow. How incredibly needed was that for me to hear after yesterday's post? So I'm going to keep trying, even if I get a job elsewhere. And maybe the spa is where I should be, because at least it's still hospitality related. Or heck, maybe I am supposed to go and work in retail for a bit. I don't know. But I have to have faith that I'll get where I want to be eventually.

Ok, on to the song. With over 1200 songs (I know, that's not a lot to many people with larger iPods, which allow for more songs to be held on them, but for a nano like mine, it's a lot...a little over 5gb, if you were wondering) plus ones that I don't yet have but hear on the radio, I have a lot to choose from.

For my first suggestion, I am going to recommend the newest from Sara Evans, called "A Little Bit Stronger." Don't dismiss country music people! There is some good music you are missing out on if you do. Anyway, yes it's about getting over someone after a breakup, which while I have not experienced, but it can work with guys I've liked (gosh that sounds so middle school...more so if I said 'had a crush on' but there's no other way to put it I guess), or just getting over a tough situation you've faced. It's just saying that with everyday, you become a stronger person than you were before and that you'll be ok when you come out of it.



Hope you like it, and if it's not your style of music, keep checking back, because there's plenty more songs for me to share with you.

Decision Time

You'd probably think with that title I'm going to talk about the election or something. Wrong! It's about job stuff.

So I need money, as the holidays are fast approaching, and jobs in my industry are few and not giving me a shot. While I continue to keep trying, it's definitely becoming trying. So I'm feeling that I have no other choice than to seek employment elsewhere. Be Christmas help somewhere, or a temp, but it's a hard decision to make.

How is that a hard decision? It's just that it's really hard as is trying to get into this industry, so going away from it might make it even harder. It just makes me wonder how much fighting am I going to have to do to even get a start in it and only perpetuates the nagging feeling that comes over me as to whether or not I made the right choice of major and such. And if I made the wrong choice, then what am I cut out to do?

I have this fear of never being good at anything. It's irrational, because there's bound to be something I'm good at. I just haven't had a chance to figure it out yet. And then comes the same question, will I ever? So what if I'm no good at my field? Other than having thousands in loans to pay off for a degree I don't get to use, it's like what am I supposed to do with my life? It's apparently a rule that if you already have a Bachelor's degree you can't go get another one. But if that's the case, then what if I'm trying to do something completely unrelated to my degree? I can't go get a Master's in a whole other field.

So again, it's time to decide what to do. I don't know what the future holds for me, who does? I know things that I would want to do and am interested in doing, but will I get the chance to do it? Only time will tell I suppose. Unless a billionaire comes and sweeps me off my feet and then I won't be under such pressure to get a job and can continue new hobbies I have picked up, and do volunteer work, and support non-profits and charities, because really, I want to feel good about what I do, and non-profits/charities would be just that. It's why I have been looking at hospitals to see if they have special events departments for fundraising and such.

Keep your fingers crossed, readers. If you have any advice, please comment and let me know. Leave me a suggestion for something I could do different maybe for job applications and such.