Alright school, you win.

Every semester I sign up for my classes and imagine what they will be like. I picture myself going to lectures, making friends, participating in discussions and group study and most of all, getting straight A's. I think every student does the same thing. At least I hope they do or I just admitted that I am very, very lame.

Despite my attempts to conserve paper wherever possible, I get really excited about each new semester when I get to buy a new notebook, even if the last one isn't even half full, and all sorts of folders and organizational tools. Here's the thing about me that few people know. I love getting organized. I absolutely love it. I don't however, love staying organized. I'm terrible at that. So about two weeks into each semester, I lose that drive. Now I'm gonna try and blame it on the fact that my classes start at 7:30 in the morning and I have to cram in two classes and be to work by 10. My second class of each "school day" is called A History of Rock n' Roll. At the beginning of the semester I had to buy a $70 book. Now, keep in mind, I have actually taken this class before. Two years ago I was registered for four classes when I decided I was too cool for school. Well now I am paying for it by having to actually pay for the class again to replace the obvious F that I got in the class.

Because I had already taken the class, I knew how it worked. The $70 book is actually a compilation of the professors notes for the entire semester. In perfect, organized, outlined order. After a few weeks of going to the class, and falling asleep each and every time, I made a discovery. I'm a college student, therefore, I'm an intellectual. That's how it works, right? Sure. Well this intellectual realized that after yoga, I could just go home and skip my history class and read the notes when I get home. Great plan! In theory. I didn't read the notes. So two weeks before the test, I go through the review sheets. I figure, take a few days to get the review sheets filled out, then I have a week to make sure I have them memorized. Again, great back up plan. In theory. Well it took me a little longer to get the review sheets filled. Then a little longer to get around to memorizing them.

So here I am, night before the test and still one more chapter to memorize. I've filled my head with two full chapters of music history and my brain honestly can't do it anymore. Why do I know the 5 musical influences of the Sex Pistols? Why do I know the foundation of commercial failure or success of the proto-punk bands of the 1970's? Who cares. All I can say is I can't do it anymore. There's no more room. I think the stylistic elements of Bob Marley have actually started pushing precious childhood memories out of my brain.

So I'm going to go to bed now. And wake up early enough to finish memorizing the last chapter before heading to campus. It's a flawless plan. In theory.

Waste of Space..

So there's a lot of things I don't understand in life. The meaning of life itself, the plot of Ocean's 11, and how people can think it's okay to vandalize and steal my property. My car isn't the nicest car in the world but it gets me from point A to point B. Everything generally works in it and I can enjoy pleasant rides around while listening to music. Well I don't have that luxury anymore. 

On Thursday while at work, I decided to walk John out to his car so I could get my history book and do some studying. Well when I got to just a couple cars away from my precious little Plymouth, I noticed something was missing. My window. 

Some waste of space decided that he or she had the right to smash in my driver-side window and have at my CD player. Here's the thing: I work my 40 hours a week, every week. I do this so I can pay my bills and afford simple luxuries like CD players and car windows. The 

best part about this was while I was standing, staring at the shards of glass that I used to call a window, it started to rain. Good job, Utah, you haven't rained in a week. Let's rain the day Stevie doesn't have a window. I go back inside, not wanting to deal with the situation and finish out my shift. I left about an hour later and head home. John called me when I was on my way and asked if it was raining. There was a really light drizzle, nothing I was too concerned about, but John then informed me that he was heading home from the East side of the valley and there was a huge storm headed towards me. Sweet. 

So I get home and run in to grab some garbage bags and duct tape. Little known fact: some forms of duct tape don't stick to cars and really don't stick to wet cars. So I had to grab some towels and just shut them in the door and hope they held. I was quite concerned about the safety of my car in that situation. Not so much because the seats would get wet but because it was parked on the street and had no window. I was almost preparing myself to wake up and find an empty spot where my car used to be. 

Luckily, I woke and my car was in the same spot I left it and, to my surprise, the seats were still completely dry. I got in my car and started heading to the glass place. Guess what? It started snowing. I started wondering if the jackass that broke into my car realized what hell I was going through just so that he/she could get MAYBE 20 bucks for my stereo. So I kept on my snowy drive on over to see Guadalupe Valdez of Guadalupe Glass in Glendale. It seems like a shady place when you first pull up, it's built on the wrong side of the tracks but I'm telling ya, the guy is awesome. He has replaced my windshield when I had a crack, he replaced my back passenger window when it got smashed in on Christmas, and he was happy to see me when I now needed a new driver window. He went to the pick n' pull to see if he could find a match for my car and I was happy when his search, labor and parts only came to $100. You just have to pay him in cash and probably leave the INS out of it. 

So now I have a new window and a gapping hole where my stereo once was. I have no intentions on replacing my stereo anytime soon though. With 4 break-ins in two months, I'm not giving those *expletives* another reason to smash my shiny new window. 

A-holes.