Best seat in the house.

I am a movie buff. I like to rent movies, go to the movies, buy movies. Whatever, it all comes down to the fact that I enjoy movies. And I don't think the fact that I no longer have a movie companion in Minnesota that I should no longer enjoy a movie on its opening day.

I will admit, I was never very fond of the idea of going to a movie theatre by myself. When I first moved I tried to recruit a friend to see the newest Harry Potter on opening day with me (Yes, I am a nerd). My friend came and brought her niece, nephew, and brother with as well. I was so excited to have a movie buddy, that excitement faded shortly. None of my companions had seen the other movies or read the books and did not enjoy the movie and talked over it almost the whole time. (I guess they don't have a nerdy side.)

From this experience I decided if I wanted the full experience for a movie I would just go by myself. And I did that. I had to see District 9 because there was so much buzz about it. I managed to find someone else who went by them self and sat in the same area lol. I then saw Where The Wild Things Are on opening day. And just this last weekend I saw New Moon by myself. (as I said, I can be nerdy :))

I honestly, have no problem going to movies by myself, and I will continue to do it until I find someone with similar movie taste as me. At least I can sit in the best seat without having to worry about anyone else. I think I exude confidence when I go and that in itself is more motivation for me to keep going.

Tangent real quick while I mention confidence: I looked in the mirror the other day wearing an outfit some might feel is questionable and said "I can pull this off" for some reason that feels like the epitome of confidence.

Anyways, I am going to remain confident and watch movies. Now accepting movie recommendations :)

I hear my smoke alarm...

....that must mean my food is done cooking. Sigh.

This whole being an independent adult thing is all good and fun until it comes to the kitchen. For starters... I was never really taught to cook except on the occasional Thanksgiving, I can make some mean red cabbage, or in Home-EC classes in middle and high school. Second, this being the first time having my own kitchen I don't really have the supplies to cook. But since I don't know how to cook I don't even know what to have in my kitchen.

Then it comes to my motivation to cook... I really don't have any. I live by myself...why do I want to spend hours on a meal I will eat by myself in 30 min when I can throw some cheese and lettuce on a tortilla and call it a taco in minutes??

Occasionally, I will get the inspiration to cook real food and that is when I have to freak out and start fanning my smoke alarm while I open the window and screen door before my neighbors think the building is burning down.

Reason one and two to get married: Someone to cook for and/or to cook for me and I can get kitchen supplies as wedding gifts :) Juuuuust kidding.

Want to come over for dinner? I'm making tacos.

Home for the Holidays

It is November. That means the holidays (Thanksgiving, Birthday, Christmas, New Years) are RIGHT around the corner.

At age 12- 17 I always had mixed feelings about the holidays. I always love time with my family but when my parents divorced in 2000 there was extra emotions put into the family time. I now had to choose who I wanted to be with and no matter the choice one person always got the shorter end of the deal. So after that I really started to hate the holidays.

But then as I got older (18 - 21)I became more understanding of the situation as did my parents, but now there was a different pressure. Money. This time of the year became focused on spending money and hoping to find the perfect gift or receiving what you asked for, but what was really important was the time spent with the family, but that seems to get looked over with all the stress.

And now, as I am about to enter my 23rd year of life I have come upon a new problem but also an understanding. I live 350+ miles from my home. Now I don't have the convenience of just being there for the holidays. I have to wait to hear about my work schedule, I have to make sure I have a place to stay when I go back home (never really a problem but still something to think about), and it is not always guaranteed I will be home for them either. My birthday isn't a holiday but it has always been included because it is right after Thanksgiving. This is the first time I won't be able to see my family on my birthday. I guess that is part of growing up. Birthdays aren't special and it becomes just a number.

BUT, something I am looking forward to was an idea my mom proposed to her family. This year extra money for presents is hard to come by so we have decided that gifts should be home made or, if bought, not more than $10. She said that the important part is the time we spend together not what we get for each other. I love this and I already have a head start!

I am crocheting gifts for everyone this year! My goal is two things for each person and then for my mom, sister, and grandma I will actually buy them something extra. I still have a long way to go (I only have three things done) but I know what I am going to make for everyone and it should get done pretty quick. Something I had forgotten about, because I haven't done large amounts of crocheting in a long time, is the muscle I use constantly. I am not sure what the muscle is called but because of the motion of the hook I am feeling the crocheting in my arm! lol I will get used to it. I can't wait until after Christmas so I can post pictures!

I hope everyone remembers the importance of seeing your family because as you get older it becomes harder to see them. Appreciate them while you can.

Kermit, you are an inspiration.

Oh the joys of working in a start up company!

It's a slow time in the medical device building business. With the slowness and the me not really having a title combined, I really have nothing to do at work. Siiigh. I was originally hired to do inventory management here but that somehow fell through, but they still kept me. So now I am the girl that learns every job and just waits for people to need her. There are pros and cons to this...

I LOVE learning new things, I try to absorb as much as possible, and honestly I sometimes like it to be slow so I can have time to write blogs like this one...I actually think all of my blogs so far were written while I was at work...wait not my flooding disaster one. lol Anyways, I also hate it because I am someone who likes to be busy. Time goes faster when I am busy and I feel more accomplished when I actually have stuff to do. And I really don't feel like my co workers take me as seriously as I would like them to. I have an education and I have dedication I just don't have an outlet right now. It is a waiting game I guess until the industry picks up. I should just be happy I have a job!

The reason I wanted to write this blog was I was trying to think of ways to be productive with my time at work and this is really all I could do with out obviously looking like I wasn't working. I would LOVE it if I could just sit here and spin but then the guys here would make fun of me even more (out of fun), or if I could crochet up some Christmas presents, or even read a book! But no, I have to surf the web which I like, but its gets REALLY boring after an hour or so.

I just wanted to express my frustration at work and my desires to be crafty and productive. I have about 2 more ounces of some awesome green BFL that needs to be spun up. It kind of reminds me of Dr. Seuss's the Grinch or Kermit the Frog, I am going to stick with Kermit because it is Sesame Street's 40th Anniversary today!

Who needs friends? Me!

I have always been known as a "social butterfly" or as someone who "has no problems making friends" or whatever else people say and honestly I thought this was always true.

Now I might not have been totally wrong but I have come to find it is not as true as I thought. The reason I was able to make friends so easily is because I had an outlet to meet these people. No matter what you always had something in common with these people such as school or activities or whatever else. Now that I have moved to a place where I know NO ONE it has become more of a challenge.

I was told that I would have work as an outlet to meet people but everyone is quite a bit older than me or I don't mesh with them culturally (refer to last post). It really had me down the first couple of months here. I had never experienced an inability to make friends. The truth is I can be making friends but it takes more work and more vulnerability than I am used to.

This past weekend I forced myself to branch out a bit. I went out to a salsa night at a bar with a girl from work, but again I was faced with a language barrier, but it wasn't too bad. Sunday I took an even bigger step. I have begun spinning fiber into yarn and a local fiber shop has monthly get together's and last time I stopped in the store she told me I should check it out, and I did!

It was a great experience, very friendly people full of information. They are a bit older than me so maybe not friends I could go out to the bars or anything but still people to brainstorm with and whatnot, which I always appreciate. I feel like I took a step in the right direction and I can't wait to keep trying new things.

It's just one step at a time in the life after college.

What? Que?

Something I love about America, we are a melting pot full of diversity and culture. I even went to a University that was "known" for their diversity! With that being said I don't think I ever really experienced the kind of culture that is really out there. I now live in Minnesota, the state with the largest Somalian population. My workplace has 12 different languages represented and 10 different countries. Luckily for me, everyone knows English along with their home language. I have actually even been taught some phrases in other languages! I can now say "hi, how are you" in English, Spanish, French, Somali, Swahili, and Asanti. Neat right?

Anyways, I have become friends with a girl who was born in Puerto Rico and I occasionally get together with her to go shopping and what not. Well, Saturday we went shopping and she brought her cousin with. He had just moved here from Puerto Rico and has not totally learned English yet. Back home, on my dead end road everyone spoke English, I guess I always just assumed I wouldn't have a problem communicating with people, you know, having a degree in Communication and all. Well, boy was I wrong! I even took two years of Spanish in high school, but I don't remember enough to hold on a conversation. Now I do believe that if you choose to live in a different country other than your own you should learn the home language, but it wouldn't hurt Americans to learn more than one language too. Most countries everyone speaks at least two languages anyways!

This was just another experience to live and learn by. Do you think if I watch TV with Spanish subtitles it would help? Haha. I think it is time I go and refresh my Spanish. Adios!

Water, water, everywhere!

Even though the rain was outside it was pretty damp in my apartment.

I had an extreme flooding issue. I was sitting in my living room and I suddenly hear water spilling, I looked in my kitchen and water was flooding my kitchen floor. I was in shock! I wasn't sure what I should do...or should I say do first.

I immediately ran to my closet and grabbed towels and threw them in the puddles trying to prevent the water from spreading and since I will still in my bathrobe I changed into some clothes in a rush and called my landlord. There was no answer so I left a panicked/confused/ helpless voicemail. Next I wasn't sure if I should run to my landlords door or upstairs to tell the people to stop running water, I just knew I couldn't stand there and do nothing. Luckily as I was leaving my apartment to get help I ran into my landlord who was rushing to my aid. We spent the next hour cleaning up with mass amounts of towels and then it was a waiting game for the plumber. Turns out the people above me had just finished doing their dishes and I got their dirty dishwater in my kitchen...ew.

The plumber showed up a couple hours later. He was a little old man with tools. I really do not enjoy having people in my apartment because it is a studio apartment, meaning you can see everything with one look around. I like privacy, and I wasn't expecting guests so my bed wasn't made! haha I am sure my fish enjoyed seeing new people.

The plumber was quite a character. You could see him struggle as he got to his knees to look under my sink, I wonder how long he will be able to remain in the plumbing business. He sure did have a lot to see and a lot of "advice" to give me. To begin, he said I was sheltered because I didn't know there was a reset button on the in-sink-irater and that mom "mom should have taught me this stuff". He then said I should have a man to do this stuff for me and it is time to find mister right because I "aint gettin' any younger". Then told me to go to all those young people places and have fun and meet men. Really?? Like I need another person to tell me to get married...I am only 22!

It is my first apartment, I guess it is only appropriate that I have one disaster, let's just hope that this is the last of it! It was just another day of me learning one day at a time. Life after college, who would have thought?!

you could call this an introduction.

Hello.

My name is Madelyn. I live in Bloomington, MN. I am 22 years old. The rest will come with time.

An explanation...

I have made this blog because I have decided the things I am experiencing in life right now are interesting, to say the least. I am at an in between point in my life with little direction and I have a feeling I am not the only one in this predicament.

And elaboration...

I graduated from college 5 months ago. I received my Bachelor of Arts in Communication with a minor in English and a certificate in Conflict Analysis and Resolution. What I have come to realize is, what does all of that add up to? My answer, I have no idea. Luckily, I do have a job. I work in a medical device company doing nothing that involves my degree.

I moved to MN from WI for this job, and I have had a back and forth internal conflict about whether to stay here or go back home, the war of the head and heart. Head has won for now and I am staying.

I never saw the movie Post Grad but I wonder if it was anything like this.