My 15 Minutes of Fame Are Up

So, the other day I'm at the neighborhood nail salon getting a much much MUCH needed pedi, and along comes a reporter from the Star Tribune. He's doing an article on spas and how we are fitting in our beloved mani/pedi's into our budgets now that it costs nine dollars a gallon at the gas pump. I chatted with the very polite reporter and he went on his merry way.

Turns out, just hours before, the same reporter had been interviewing management at the Minnesota School of Cosmetology. As it happens, my lovely sister-in-law is the Campus Director there, which means she was the management in which the reporter had been speaking to. Neither Jill or I had talked about this prior to this chance encounter with the same reporter.

Later that week, I was enjoying a beer and a smoke at my brother's Beer League Softball game, joined by my lovely sis-in-law. I was showing off my new pedi, which I have to say still looks fantastic after 2 weeks thankyouverymuch, and I mentioned the reporter. I was pumped that I might get my name in the paper since I'm such an attention-whore (yeah I said it). Jill about fell off the rusty bleacher. Then she told me about her experience with the nice reporter man because she was pumped about getting some press on her school (and deep down, she was excited about getting her name in the paper too because she's got a little attention-whore in her too...yeah, I said it).

Long story short (or longer, given you just read all that crap above), my sister and I are quoted in the same article without even knowing we were both interviewed for the same article. What are the freakin' odds on that, my friends? Here's our beloved 15 minutes of fame (which I'm quite sure are officially up):

http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/yourmoney/20657714.html

I just have to point out who's name is in the first paragraph....that'd be me. I win at Attention-Whore Olympics. I'd like to thank Yang, who gave me that now infamous pedi. I'd like to thank Red Nails for allowing me to walk in off the street with no appointment and for the expansive selection of polish. And finally, I'd like to thank my mom for always supporting me and my need to be beautiful no matter the cost of gas.

Xoxo,
Pedi-Girl

My Pretend Boyfriend

Since I have nothing of substance to contribute to my blog, here's a photo of my favorite Wild player, Mikko Koivu. Enjoy. I do.

California Dreamin'

It's official. I am getting off my ass and back into blogging, people! I'm not sure why I took so much time away from St. Pauly Girl. I think I've been sort of censoring myself, which is weird because I wasn't aware that I came equipped with a censor device. I've never used it before which is probably why I didn't know how to turn it off once I accidentally tripped it on.

Quick life update for you. I'm still in school for radio. I still love it. Radio, that is. What I don't love is the 99% moron/loser quota of students that go to my school. I don't want to come off like a total megalomanic but every day I'm amazed at the level of low-life that is enrolled in my program. And this is a program full of people who actually think they deserve to speak to the masses through the radiowaves. I am truly frightened by this, every single day.

For example, and this is coming from an older gentleman in my class, when doing an assignment in class which involved writing a commercial for an insurance company (or something...I can't remember the exact details of the class...you'll understand why in a minute) a classmate said "I just have a problem with obese people. They should be required to have their stomach's stapled. Then they can stop costing the insurance companies so much money."*

Um, I can't bring myself to discuss it further. Let's just say, I no longer even pretend to be nice to this person. I've eliminated him from the list of people I acknowledge as existing on this earth.

That's just one example of the population. The rest of them, in general terms, are busy contributing to the air pollution epidemic just opening their mouths at all. Not a single class goes by without hearing at least one comment from the following categories: A) racism, B) sexism, C) sexual harrassment, D) illegal drugs, E) miscellaneous offensive statements. At this point I struggle to allow this verbal diarrhea go in one ear and out the other without leaving a stain on the muscle in my skull and have allowed myself to play the role of Stuck Up Bitch. I've resolved to the fact that being looked down upon by this sort of person should be viewed as a compliment. Stuck Up Bitch I am, then.

With that said, I do still LOVE my classes. I just got down with Digial Audio Production and Radio Commercial Writing which were awesome. I no longer listen to radio for music and/or ramblings of various on-air personailities, but I tune in for the commercials which I critique harshly because I think I can produce a much more superior product for the radio commercial waves. Next quarter I'm back in the studio where we'll focus on news broadcasting, along with a news writing class with my favorite insructor, Radio Dale. The best thing so far is that every quarter I feel more and more confident that I'm in the right business. I'm starting to really be able to see myself doing these things, like, for real, outside the walls of the BC dungeon (location of the radio program at the school).

Outside of school, there's a lot going on. St. Pauly Boy is finally home after a five-week stint flying between the West Coast, home on weekends, and the East Coast. He was home for a total of 9 days in March. This takes a toll on both of us. Between him being gone so much and the shitty ass fucking weather we have in Minnesota, we have decided that a Big Move would be beneficial when I'm finished with school. Before you freak out, it's not a final decision, but is something that makes a lot of sense for both of us and quite frankly, we both want it at this point. The Big Move would of course be to Southern California. Let's go through the Pro/Con list, shall we?

Pros:

• Opportunity for growth for SPB's career
• Lots of radio jobs for SPG
• THE WEATHER
• Relief on SPG's Seasonal Affective Disorder
• Living together full-time (what a concept)
• The weather
• We already have friends in the area
• The weather

Cons:

• Missing family
• Missing friends
• Cost of living
• Anaheim Ducks

The first three on the list of cons can be taken care of through travel and upgrades in salary due to the availabiliy of good jobs for both of us. So that leaves only one con, being the Anaheim Ducks, which we will handle by going to the Wild/Ducks games in full Wild gear each time. This is our last season with season tickets for the Wild, at least for a while. The family as a whole decided to save some money and take a few years off. So I'll already miss my Wild if we move to CA but at least I won't be sitting under a palm tree or laying on the beach being jealous of my dad and brother braving the frozen tundra from the parking ramp to the front door of the Xcel Energy Center. They won't be going to the games either! This helps. So, basically, we have a plan for the con list.

The only other con I would add, which I'm hesitant to do at this point, is starting a family. Oh lord, can you believe it? We've been talking about having a baby. I know, it's crazy. The Big Move would probably put that on hold for a while, which is ok with me. I'm ready, but it would probably be smarter to wait till I'm done with school, have a job, stuff like that. But as everyone says, you can always wait until you're "really ready" but the longer that lasts, the more excuses you will find to just keep waiting. So, we're resolved to the fact that if it happens it happens. We'd be ecstatic if it did but if it doesn't, it doesn't. I guess you could say we're not NOT trying. Yes, that does so make sense. I do have to say, it would be harder to have a baby once we make the Big Move. If we stayed in Frozen Hell, at least I'd have my two moms around (who are freaking out with anticipation of becoming Grandmoms) to help out. But then again, it's not like they can't come stay for a while. And what the fuck, am I not strong enough to handle a baby on my own? I think I could kick Motherhood's ass. I mean, I always have Squab as a virtual guide to kicking Motherhood's ass. Along with South St. Pauly Girl and Jen who are the best mom's I know :) In other words, yes, it would be difficult, but it'll be difficult no matter where I live, so I can't use it as an excuse to stay just because I'm scared.

So, there it is. My status in a nutshell (i.e. long-winded blog post). Thoughts? Comments? Think I'm crazy? Tell me about it.

Xoxo,

Gossip Girl, I mean, St. Pauly Girl

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*This is actually a little paraphrased but the concept true. The statement in it's entirety lacked any form of gramatic substance, it was hard to pick out the exact sentiment he was trying to make. But I got it.

Bonjour, Mes Amies!

I'm alive, I swear. I just suck at the blogging thing these days. Shout outs to Squab, I miss you and your damn daughter looks so stinking cute with pigtails, I could just barf. Also to C. Kerns. I miss my big brother. Keep on keepin' on. Salut to Tad and Lisa on the birth of Baby S.! Damn girl, you survived a 9 pound baby. I owe you a beer for that one. Can't wait to meet that lil' guy! Big Ups to M & P & Fi! Can't wait for baseball season, maybe I'll then I'll see you again. KC, you're still my cookie. X's and O's. Kyle, I still need that playlist, dammit. Still heart you though. I really don't think anyone else reads this thing or has read this thing in the past, I don't really know, but if I missed a shout out, then comment to your hearts content and I'll pay the dues where the dues should be paid.

Life = fab. Stinky Pete = sleeping at my feet right now. Snowblower usage = once and quite successful so far. Radio = rocks my world and hopefully someday I'll rock it's.

Peace and Love!
St. Pauly Girl

You Are Cordially Invited.....

...to my Re-Entry Pity-Party. Japan was AMAZING, trust me, I'll tell you all about it, just as soon as I get past this curse of re-entry into normal life. It all started at Narita Airport in Tokyo. As we were checking in for our flight home, my bags failed the security check-point thus had to proceed to formal inspection. Luckily I'm a total spaz about the organization of my luggage so it was rather easy to dig through my stuff, even if it were mostly dirty laundry. After 20 minutes we finally found the problem: a lighter in the front pocket of my suitcase. You see, in the U.S. if you want to travel with a lighter, you have to keep it in your checked luggage. Apparently it's the opposite in Japan, so the Nice Inspection Lady took the lighter from my checked luggage and put it into my carryon. Wha? Ok, you're the boss, lady. Keep in mind that there is not a whole heck of a lot of English being spoken during this process and I'm operating on not so much sleep.

Moving along, everything is fine, we're on the plane, the majority of our flight attendants spoke English which was a total relief by this time, but I get seated next to I Need Both Armwrests Guy for the 10 hour flight home. I'm on the aisle, so using that armwrest is out of the question unless I want broken bones from the beverage carts going up and down the isle slamming into my arm. I drugged myself into slumber, so luckily I didn't have enough wake time to be pissed off about the situation.

We land at MSP and all 4 of us are so excited to be home where we understand the language (8 days of a foreign language can really wear on you mentally) and we're relieved to see that our flight is the only arrival at Immigration so the line was only 400 some people long. We get to the Immigration Officer who askes me the strangest question: "Do you have any issues with high blood pressure?" Ummmmm, no sir, I'm just fine, thank you. "Well, don't freak out but I have to keep your passport." Ummmmmm, why exactly??? "It's not valid. How much did you pay for this thing?" [Blood pressure immediately sky-rockets, I almost have to ask for a crash cart, stat.] Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, this is a government issued passport, sir, I don't understand the problem. "Do you have a credit card?" [Self-dialog: what in the FUCK is going on with this guy?????] Yes. "What do you have to do to activate a credit card?" [Self-dialog: I don't know, call that little number or something???] The officer slides my passport over to me, open to the page with my picture and my signature…..signature being the absent item there. I had never updated my last name on my passport after I got married but for this trip I finally got a new one and apparently forgot to sign it before we left. So I signed it in front of the officer and he goes, "Ok, now you're legal to go to Japan, have a good trip." Sarcasm was not appreciated at that moment, but I let it go and went to go find my luggage. ..:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

Next up, cab ride home from the airport. Reasonably uneventful minus the fact that I slammed my head on the door of the minivan, causing a rather large bump to form.

We're finally home! All I want is a shower and a nap, but alas, that was not to be. Greg and Jill had left their truck at our house while we were gone and now it wasn't starting. This didn't suck for me nearly as much as for G & J, obviously, who were equally excited to get home and relax. 2 hours later, Nate finally just drove them home. My dad and Greg just finally towed the truck up to a shop in Highland, yesterday.

Saturday (the day we got home, around noon) I took like a 5 hour nap, got up for pizza for dinner, then went right back to bed and slept till 4am. I was totally done sleeping by this point so I got up to watch some TV. After a little while, I got up to open some windows, in the process I fell down the back stairs and sprained my knee. We just found out officially yesterday when we spent 3 hours in the ER at United. I have a big huge immobilizer on my leg. The pain is pretty well contained as long as I don't move it. Oh, and have 800mg of Ibuprofen in my system.

Nate had to travel to California this week. He left shortly after we got home from the ER yesterday. I hate when he leaves at night. It totally throws off the routine. I went to bed pretty early, exhausted from hopping on one leg all day, but after only a couple hours of sleep, I woke up. My throat was sore and my nose was runny, I just thought it was dry in the house and my allergies were acting up. 5 hours later, still unable to get back to sleep, I realize that it's not allergies, it's a full blown cold. So now not only am I a gimp, but I'm an Ailing Gimp.

Tomorrow is the first day of school for Fall quarter. I'm going to hobble into class, with my medicine head and clouded voice, which is going to sound so awesome on the radio….not, and everyone is going to be like, what the fuck happened to you in Japan?! Luckily I was fine while I was in Japan. It was re-entry that kicked my ass.

Easy Peasy Japanesey

I have officially finished my first quarter as a broadcasting student. I know you're all on pins and needles wondering how I did. Well, I'm here to tell you that you are looking at a 4.0 student with "a natural ability for radio". There you have it. I did the right thing when I quit my job 9 months ago (well, I never really debated that decision) and chose a completely different career path. It's amazing to be doing something that actually energizes you. That's how I feel now, at least, but check with me in a year when I'm at some po-dunk town working at a country radio station.

How better to celebrate a successful first term than to take a trip somewhere? In a few hours St. Pauly Boy and I, along with my brother and his wife, will be taking off on a 12 hour flight to Japan! I'll check in when we get back, but right now, I gotta go pack! Woot woot!!!

If Found, Please Return To....

Sorry folks, I've been spending too much time on MySpace to post here ;)

I'm 2 weeks away from the end of my first quarter as a radio student and then I'm off to Japan for my version of "Spring Break" which is more like "St. Pauly Boy Needs A Lot Of Miles To Stay Platinum and I Have A Week Off Before I Go Back To School So Let's Head To Japan For A Week, Sure, Why Not". I can proudly report that I believe I'll be landing a 4.0 on my report card before I head East. I'll let you all know for sure since I'm sure you're sitting on the edge of your Lazy Boy RIGHT NOW in anticipation of the results of my first term back in school.

If only Farva would flunk out.