since i could hold my head up high.

so it's been awhile since i last updated. mostly because, well, there hasn't been much to update. but here goes:

what's the same.
i'm still unemployed and actively job-searching. it's still eating away at my soul and will to keep doing it. i'm still playing ultimate. i still have a bunny who poops like a maniac on crazy pellet-inducing laxatives. i still want a kitty but am in no financially-sensible state to adopt one.

job searching.
economy has been messing with the job search, which makes it super unfortunate, but i'm doing as much volunteering as i can i guess. i'm volunteering coordinating winter workshops for the madison trust for historic preservation, while also building with habitat for humanity dane county/habitat young professionals every other weekend. i've also been in contact with nps lowell to discuss potentially doing some work for them remotely, but so far they're still working out their budget so see if that's even going to be a possibility. fingers crossed.

hot yoga.
i restarted doing hot yoga at the studio on willy st. there happened to be a groupon around the time i was trying to find a place to do some restorative, low-impact workout nearby so i jumped on the chance. its been great. i really love it there. the instructors are awesome. and its actually gotten me into practicing at home every morning too. unfortunately, my groupon deal is running out and, while they're offering a deal for groupon users for their first month of membership, i still can't afford it because a) i'm unemployed and can barely make rent anyway and b) the deal is only for the first month out of a three-month obligatory contract/commitment. boo. so i'm doing what i can for now and am crossing my fingers real hard that i'll find a job soon that a) i'll really like, b) will be able to support me financially and c) allow me to afford the things on my to-do list, ie. adopt a kitty, keep doing yoga and pay for my ultimate expenses.

fall league!
so since i last updated, summer league and the club season ended and fall league has both started and finished. aaron and i both played in two back-to-back leagues because we both realized that one game per night twice a week wasn't really enough, especially considering the club series had ended already. our early co-ed team, why did it have to be snakes, finished the season going 7-8 and trailing off at the end due to multiple injuries on the team, including myself. our night owl team, snake eyes, fared a little better by finished the season with a 9-9 record. we started out strong, hit a huge slump in the middle, but then locked it up and finished strong again by winning through playoffs to win the championship. :) we then went on to play the other division champions and won on universe to be big boy finals champions. and this was when we were missing toby and sarah, two significant assets to the team, and only having 3.5 women, as i was still coming off a sprained ankle and could only run at about 65%. all in all, a decent season. apparently it became snake eye's thing to only win close games. all of our playoff games went to universe. so our final plus-minus came out to a whopping +3. whoops.

visits!
aaron and i got to have a fun visit from corey + gail this past weekend. it was definitely good to see them an take them around madison. although, as we soon realized, there isn't all that much to take them around to, especially since their trip was under 48 hours long. :P turns out, the shorter the trip, the less we really want to spend  significant chunk of it sitting in a car to get places. saturday night was a lot of fun. dinner at graze with andy, jake, melissa, shultz, sarah and brando. then hanging out and wandering down state st to the chocolate shoppe. this probably wasn't the healthiest weekend, but it was a good one. :) can't wait for more visitors.

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so going through old posts, i realized i actually could post videos. and this one is too good to miss. the video is only really the first seconds, but i don't really have the capabilities to trim it right now.

andy decided to give aaron a ride. what would possibly go wrong?

smile and wave for the camera!

oh right. that. that's...bad...?

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etc.
other than that stuff, life has pretty much been the same. hanging out with mad udderburn folks. job searching. hanging out with B. more job searching. figuring out christmas vacation. figuring out a possible trip to ny to visit jess and anna. more job searching. preparing for my first madison winter. planning for my first madison thanksgiving (weird.).

just a little extra something.

from thisisindexed.com by jessica hagy

one more time WHOA!

so this post originally was supposed to be about how i finally got my madison public library card and borrowed my first book as a resident of madison, wi.

but no.

the madison public library system has got to be one of the most inefficient and uncooperative library systems i've ever encountered. seriously.

so i've been here for almost two and a half weeks now. but unfortunately, i can't actually apply for an official state id/license until i have proof of residency that goes back at least 30 days. that said, the public library will let you apply for a card, but they'll just have it mailed to your residence instead of just handing it to you over the counter then and there. i was okay with that, so i applied, gave them my address and went on my merry way to wait until that little piece of plastic would show up in my mailbox.

never happened.

two weeks later, still no library card.

"what's up with that?"

turns out, for some unknown reason, the card couldn't be delivered to my place. my name is on the mailbox, the address on the envelope is correct. how do i know this? it had gotten returned to the library in the mail and the man i was talking to at the counter was currently holding it and waving it in front of my face.

"can i have it?" (can i? can i have it? can i?...can i?)

nope. they still needed proof of residency. remember the part where i haven't been here for 30 days yet? yea. i explained as such and further explained that this is why i applied to have it mailed to me in the first place. i also walked out specifically to check on the damn card situation. library dude's solution. "we'll just hold on to it here until you bring in your proof of residency, 'kay?"...um...excuse me? you're holding it in your hand. so the usps screwed up and apparently don't know how to read a mailbox. my bad? not really. and seriously, i came back in person to ask where my damn library card was. okay, i get that its not proof, but it means i haven't bailed from the city. and as much as i want my library card to borrow books for free, i really can't picture any scenario where i would camp out in madison, wi (outside a library that isn't all that nice to begin with) for two weeks, just to pretend i live here, get a library card and then steal then shit and peace out of town with my vanload of stolen books. if that's your idea of plotting to steal shit to sell and get money to live on, i hate to tell you this, but you're doing it wrong. very, very wrong.

moral of the story: GIVE ME MY GODDAMN LIBRARY CARD.

let's just say that, at this moment in time, i'm not in any mood to head out yet again to wave my proof of residency in front of library dude's face to finally get handed my mail.