we are vagabonds. we travel without seatbelts on. we live this close to death

Hey kids. Today was a doozy of a day. Here's what went down...


First off I slept in AND got to watch Tyra. Always a good start to the day. Her insanity makes me feel good about my insanity. After that I decided it's time I finally sell back my books. So, this is when shit got weird. When I sold back the books my cashier was mildly hitting on me. No big deal I ignored it. I had to show him my ID when I actually got the cash. My ID is from when I had longer platinum blond hair. Here is what blond (and super drunk) Claire looks like for you those who forgot:

Anyways, THE DUDE FLIPPED OUT! He started rambling about how that wasn't a good look for me and how the new cut and color showed off my "gorgeous features". Whoa. Then he proceeded to pull other cashiers over and show them my ID. Seriously. This happened. I'm pretty sure I've never been more uncomfortable in my life. Just when I thought it was over, the guy grabs my arm, looks me dead in the eyes and says "Seriously, you are beautiful." Whoa. Note to self, wear fake engagement ring to bookstore. Fake engagement is usually saved for nights bartending but I guess its now a necessary item at DuBois. Ugh.

After that weird run-in I had my first class of the day. Women and Religion. Women's Studies. It's pretty much just how you are picturing it in your head. Everyone is a raging liberal and a hyper conservative. Half the class is there because they hate men, the other half cause they love Jesus. I don't really know why I landed on this elective. I guess 12 years of catholic school really makes me hate religion so I wanted a new point of view on religion. We will see. I'm sure some good stories will come out of it. I wore fake engagement ring to the class (after said bookstore incident) and some girl in my "small circle" flipped out on me for "Getting married". I just smiled and nodded. Women are nuts!

Audiology was canceled for the week. Good old, DM. He's in Texas that ass. Jealous.

Then I went to work. There was an accident on 71 and I almost ran out of gas. I was about 45 minutes late. Ooops. Luckily everyone is pretty cool there so it wasn't too big of a deal. Then I bought this hat:



Yes, I bought a cloche. It sort of looks like something you should wear if you are in a garden picking daisies but whatever. Maybe I'll be in a meadow some day soon. You never know....

Annie from NSSLHA was supposed to call me today to tell me if I got RC. She called when I was at work. She won't answer now. Ugh. I guess I have to wait another day. I swear, if I get this, I am going to march into DM's office and give him a big old high five. Then I'm skipping over to Carney's office and we're gonna high five too. Then I'm going to the dean's office and laughing in her face. COME ON UC!


Sorry. Had to be done.

Just another girl that would like to rule the world at any time or place.

Hiya babies. It's been quite a while since I wrote a legit update on what I've been up to these days. So here goes....

I had my interview for the NSSLHA Region IV position. It went well and considering I've met Annie (the current RC for IV) I think I have a decent shot. Also the fact that CS is pushing for me means I have a good shot. I'm one of the final two so I'm at least the alternate. That's pretty crazy. I think the fact that I am one of very few involved audiology students helps as well. Oh, and I'm a badass smoozer.

Thursday night I hung out with my two dudes, Chris and JD. JD bought some ridiculous beer at stop and go as he always does. It was called "White Hawk" and had some insane bald eagle on the logo. ONLY JORDAN WOULD BUY THIS. It was not good. But still, he since he wasted his money on it, he insisted it was good. I drank my beer instead. We mourned JD's rejection from Julliard (even though he knew it was a long shot) and watched some scrubs. My ability to recite every line from every season really cheers him up. Oh, wait thats just me. Anyways, JD was pretty mopey and sad which is not like him so it kind of bummed me out to see him that way. I guess rejection does that. Anyways, we got pretty drunk and had one of those future talks. I hate those. Nothing ever really gets said with us. For some reason we both struggle to admit how much its going to suck to be that far away from each other. So we just drank and laughed at Kelso's tropical shirt and bit our tongues when anything of significance threatened to be said.

It's just going to be so damn hard. I realize it most when he does the stupid little stuff that only he does. And while I hate it now, I don't think I will know what to do with myself when I don't have left over "White Hawk" in my fridge or folded beer caps on my desk. It just makes me so damn sad.

Friday I worked. It was lame, as the mall always is.
Saturday I worked. It was lame, as the mall always is.

I was going to go to see my buddy Neal (HI NEAL! I think you read this?) and a show Saturday night but was feeling a bit to bummed out to be heading out on my own to hang with people I didn't really know. Tim called me up saying Molly was allowing him out of the house so I instantly agreed. My brother rules. I tried to get him to head to KY to see Neal and said show, but Tim wasn't down. Instead we headed to Northside Tavern, drank lots of whiskey and PBR and mocked hipsters. Ironically, I was wearing a dress, boots and a scarf. Yet, Tim still likes me. Wierd. Anyways, I got to talk to him about everything that's getting me down and it really helped. Tim's such a smartass but a really good big brother anyways.

Sunday morning I worked at the zoo. The zoo rules. I wore an orange monkey all day. After work I bought a baby orangutan stuffed animal for my niece who's hair looks eriely similar to the stuffed animal. I headed over to my sister's after and AJ seemed to like it. My cousins and their kids were all over too. We ate tacos (veggie for me, thanks Mol & Tim!) and played with the babies. Ella is getting so grown up and asking questions about everything. Chris still walks like a little drunk man and slams his head into just about everything and still manages to be the sweetest little guy I've ever met. Oh, and now he does the ET finger touch thing. It's hilarious. Alice is crawling like a speed demon and finally starting to warm up to me again. For a while I didn't see her and she was super wierded out by me (and my constantly changing hair color). Anyways, it was a good day. I always love days with my family. It was something I needed.

I got home after the grandkid day and laid on the couch and caught up on netflix. For months JD has been telling me that one night we drunkenly watched a curb your enthusiam episode about a slow toaster. I have sworn up and down this never happened. Guess what? One of the episodes was about a slow toaster. I texted him an apology. Then the next episode included John Legend. I called him to flip out. JD's love for JL is unhealthy. If JD were ever to go gay, he'd be all over that.

Today I worked at the zoo. I think having mondays off from class will be really nice. Plus, the zoo is such a calming environment. I ate lunch outside and watched the peacocks freak out the adults. Children want to go hug em, parents bolt. Someone even asked me if the store had a back exit he was so scared. I love it. Greatest job ever. After work Bun and I got some chip. YUM. Then we hit up CVS where I bought some hair dye to get rid of my blonde roots (I know, typically blondes have black roots not the opposite....). Tomorrow is my start of my last quarter as an undergrad. Good old DM already canceled class. I love that man more than I can ever explain. Especially after he fought the Audiology Grad board and cursed several times in our secret meeting. If I haven't told you this story, please ask. It rules.

Wednesday night is slumber party at Molly's. Tim is out of town so I'm going to go help out with the baby. Expect some photobooth pictures of AJ. She loves that shit. Such a ham already.

got to get you into my life.

I know I haven't written in here in a while. Life has been crazy (grad school situations, potential nsslha regional positions, three jobs etc etc).


Today it finally hit me that next year, my life is going to be dramatically different. And I am really not sure how I feel about that.

Caroline is definitely moving to D.C.
JD is moving to Cleveland or Manhattan.

This may seem stupid but these two are such a big deal to me and they are just two that are for sure moving. There are still many that are deciding. It terrifies me to not be just a few minutes from these two. Last night JD made it clear that he was not staying in Cincy and I almost felt the tears well up in my eyes then. But, I kept it together and had a really really great time just seeing him for the first time in a few days. It just makes me feel really shitty to know that eventually I may not get to see him for weeks at a time. Or that not only may I get to see him less but that we even drift apart. It's been a solid 2 years of off-on dating, friendship whatever-ship and I'm really not too thrilled about losing this kid. As much as I fought getting to know him in the begining, I love that kid to death. Caroline told me earlier this week she had decided on D.C. and I just straight up cried. This girl has been such an amazing friend and support system for me this year. To think, we've gone to school together for three years and never even knew each other. Thank god for UC and for NSSLHA. I have never met someone so determined and talented. It kills me to know she'll be all the way in DC. Hopefully, I'll be able to end up in DC with her.





Sorry this is lame but I'm just not digging this right now.

Love is all, love is new.

Hiya kids. I typically chose my titles on whatever song is playing in the background of my room. Today, our title has a story. And the story is about how girls in my major fail.

A girl in my class told me she got a Beatles tattoo. Naturally, I freaked. I fucking ADORE the beatles. I can't help it. I just do. Well, she tried to get a line from "Because" tattooed on her. Butttt....she got it wrong. She got "love is old is new is you is me". The lyric is actually "love is all, love is new. love is all, love is you." This flub irks me more than most things these girls do because its a tattoo (that's permanent baby!) and its Beatles related! Plus, "Because" is such a pretty song when sung accapella (youtube it!). Anyways, if I get a tattoo of a lyric or poem, I'm gonna get that shit right.

UC sent out their AuD acceptance letters. Haven't gotten mine yet. No fretting here. Oh wait, that's all I am doing. FRICK!

She's such a charmer.

Hiya babies, how are ya? I am pretty tired but comfy (I'm still in my pj's in my bed, with the window open and a breeze a-blowin').


So this weekend was the Ohio Speech Language Hearing Conference in Columbus. As a UC officer of the student version of the national association, I was pretty much expected to attend. This year's president also wrote me a letter of recommendation so I felt the need to go even more. Plus, she's adorable and tiny. And I got out of class. All good reasons.

So Thursday night Christina, Kim, Kathryn and I drove up to Columbus around 2, got there around 4. We checked into the Howard Johnson hotel. If you don't know what a Howie J is, its a shithole. And there were 6 of us there (the other two came later). It was quite a stay, but more on that later....

At 5, Christina, Kim and I drove to the Legislative Council meeting and Kathryn stayed in the room to finish online quizes and projects. At the LC meeting they discuss all kinds of issues:insurance coverage for speech therapy, audiological testing etc, advocating our profession to graduating 8th graders, how to reach out to the next generation of SLPs/AuDs. and all that. While discussing how to reach out to the soon-to-be professionals, facebook came up. These people decided to make a COMMITTEE for a fb page. Christina and I were terrified that our professor would nominate us to be on the committee since she nominated us for just about every other student position/committee/leader. Still, at the end of the meeting I was very happy I came. Pretty much everytime a university in Ohio was mentioned it was UC. We pretty much OWN in the Communication Sciences and Disorders program. It was really nice to be reminded how lucky I am to be in this program and have these people as my professors and mentors. I know, its cheesey but I really walked out feeling pretty fucking awesome.

Oh, and through out the entire meeting, the head of our undergrad program (I'll just call her CS)
would NOT stop texting. That woman is insane and I absolutely adore her for it. In between her texts she'd nominate Christina and I to do anything else that may make UC look good. HA!

After the dinner was the President's reception. And since we know the president and love her, we went. And drank wine. And watched CS get drunk and do the cha cha slide. Like I said, I love this woman.

So going back to the room, full of 6 people, we realized this may be a rough trip. We had Christina and I on the floor, Jill and Kara in one bed, and Kath and Kim in the other. Whoa. Lots of women. Lots of clothes and makeup. It was rough. I am surprised none of us killed each other.

Friday we went to the conference all day. I saw some lectures on auditory processing disorders (fun!) and multi-cultural language disorders/speech evals given by my UC professor. He is one of 3 bilingual SLPs in Ohio. Again, go UC. He did a really good job and everyone in the room was really impressed and interested in learning how to be a better SLP to bilingual kids. Again, sounds stupid but I am so happy I have access to someone like this at UC. Next was the awards luncheon where Christina got the student award for her part in Sponsored Silence. Again, go UC. I am so happy that we were the first Ohio school to be part of a sponsored silence event. (Side note, for those of you not farmiliar with what a Sponsored Silence event is its when a school's CSD program/local association for SLPs and AuDs teams up with a sports team to hold an event raising awareness about communication disorders and the professionals that treat them. At a UC bball game we had the a girl with a communication disorder use an augmentative alternative communication device sing the national anthem, announcers used AACs to commentate, the half time show was a video of UC's president explaining the importance of CSD professionals and AACs and testimonies of two individuals who use AACs to communicate). Again, so cheesey, but I was really proud and happy to have been a part of something this big. Plus, it reminded me of how funny it was that I was on the floor of the 53rd court throwing t-shirts to fans. When else would that ever happen?!

Friday night after all the conferencing we decided to go out. I really don't want to talk about that because people acted really shitty and I am still not too pleased that I had to babysit everyone, ay for a cab ride home and sit around waiting for someone to get her keys that never showed (even though I had the most to drink?). Basically, Friday night started amazing and ended up going extra sour.

Saturday, Christina was still feeling like she had the flu bug (she was sick all weekend, poor thing)and I was feeling like I caught it. So, all 5 of us (kara left friday night for god knows what reason) piled into my civic for the 2 hr ride home. Christina slept, Kim and I rocked out to the Beatles and told backstories behind each song while the backseat kept quiet. I am genuinely surprised that we didn't all kill each other. Or maybe, that I didn't scream or hit anyone. hahah.

Saturday night I got home and found the two netflix dvds had arrived: Curb Your Enthusiasm season 5 disc 2 (!!!!) and Six Feet Under Season 4 disc 1 (!!!!!!!!!!!!!). I threw on jammies, ordered a pizza, and did nothing. Earlier in the day I had called JD because I needed someone to talk to after what went down Friday (like I said, I was upset) and he finally called me back while he was driving home from Cbus and I was home. I vented to him and he made me feel much better. He told me about his weekend home in Columbus (yes, we were both in Columbus but he didn't want to be around all the those women so we didn't hang out...haha) and his lesson with the Cleveland professor. We talked for about 45 mintues until he finally told me he was now im clifton. I told him I was halfway through a pizza solo. It was awkard. He made sure to make fun of me for my high pitch phone voice before the call was over though.

And before you ask, yes, we're pseudo-dating again. Let's not make a big deal about that. thanks.

Anyways, after that call, I went back to my DVDs and found out what happened to Nate's wife and got really angry when Nate banged Brenda again. SERIOUSLY SFU?!?!?! WHY?! I hate Brenda and love Nate. So it's 8 and my bro-tastic roommate brings in a troupe of people to play beer pong. Fail. I am in my living room in my pjs with my hair standing all up, looking gross and a pack of dudebros and hoebags was not what I needed. I slipped into my room only to find that they have started to blast Dave Mathews Band. I really started to wonder what I did wrong to desvere this weekend.

Around 10 pm I get a phone call from my sister. My sister never calls me unless she needs a babysitter or she's drunk. She was drunk. At 10 pm. And drunk dialing. Mo is 28. She is amazing. So I told her about the weekend, in detail, and he response was "OH CLAIRE! SCREW THOSE GIRLS!" I asked her who had the baby and she responded, "What baby? OH! My baby! " My sister was so drunk she forgot she had a child. A+. Anyways, Mo and I talked for about 25 minutes and it made me really happy. Mo never really gets drunk unless its summer (she's a teacher) and she hasn't really partied much since AJ was born. We call drunk Molly "Summer Molly". Summer Molly rules.

Shortly after that I went to bed exhausted. I got up at 11am today. This is really a big deal for me since I never get to sleep past 9am. I am currently laying in bed watching scrubs. Today is looking up.



As for pictures of this weekend, I deleted a few accidentally. Some are on Fb. I am too lazy to put em here.

too many heartaches in my lifetime ain't good for me. it's the love that keeps you in.

Hiya kids. How are ya? I am tired and a bit anxious. But more on that later. So here's whats been going on...


Thursday I worked at Forever. blah. Stupid stupid stupid. Still, money money money and I am Poor. Capital P.

After forever I worked at Topcats. We had a greek week event where teams kareoked for make a wish. Basically a bunch of bros and hoes at TC. It was surprisingly fun. Best part of the night had to be when a random girl asked me if I worked as a tattoo artist. Keep in mind, I am not covered in tattoos nor piercings. I said no. She then asked if I worked at Urban. I again said no. She sat there perplexed and then walked away. I guess short black hair means I must be a tattoo artist or work at urban. I mean, I was wearing a plaid dress and eye makeup. At least she didn't ask if I was in DAAP. Everyone asks me that.

So after working 12-8 at XXI, 8:30-2 at TC, I collapsed in my bed. I got up Friday morn at 7:45 and got ready and headed to audio. After that was my SLP observation at Moeller HS. Moeller is an all boys school so I was a bit anxious thinking it'd be just a bunch of boys running around being...well, boys. Plus, I had to dress up. I hate dressing up. I always feel super old and frumpy. Anyways, I surprisingly enjoyed shadowing the SLP there. She was very upbeat and had a great repetoire with her clients. They really liked her and seemed to depend on her. The boys I met were all so sweet and willing to talk to me about their language issues and how it affected their school. They were all surprisingly mature and open. But they still stared at my chest. Boys will be boys, right?

After that I headed home to nap before the NSSLHA social. We had a social at Stones Lane, a bowling alley with a bar because our social chair loves booze. She really does. Girl is in love with beer. Swear to god. Every social is booze related. It's actually funny. So I get to the alley at 7:30 as planned and find that only the most socially awkward members of NSSLHA and a handful of officers have showed. It made for an interesting night. I had a sierra nevada and bowled a modest 42. Yeah, I have skills. I went back to my place to kick back and lay low for the night. JD came over, trashed I might add, and we watched Curb Your Enthusiasm. I can always tell when JD is drunk because he sings the theme. LOUDLY. And tells me how much he likes the Suzie Green character. 40 times. And he falls asleep on me. That's always a give away too. He had been at Christie's Bar all night and swore up and down all night that the bartender overcharged him. I think I explained that yes, 3 Irish Car Bombs just may have cost him $18 ten or more times. I love him but bitch is crazzzzy.

After staying up til about 3 am discussing why Suzie Green is such a great character, I had to work at 12 on Saturday. It was lame as always, but the other head cashier finally got axed so pay raise is a comin'! Hooray! Anyways, otherwise the day was quite uneventful. Just the normal chaos and bullshit of working in retail. I worked TC after. SO FUN! We had 3 shitty cover bands playing for free and lots of people showed up. Including a ton of my old friends from high school and previous jobs. Gabe and Lou from HPT came which was really nice since I never get to see them both at once. PLUS, Josh and Adam came. Josh is just about the greatest guy on earth. I love that kid. Others like Dougie and Jonny came out which was also really cool. I felt like all night I had someone to hug or talk to and catch up with. It was also a good night for money. Mass tips! Hooray!

Today I worked 11-8. I am sooooo tired from this weekend. Luckily, I only have class 9-2 tomorrow. I feel a nap coming on.


I think tonight I am going to try to write. It's been so so long since I've been able to have time to write anything for myself. Plus, there's some stuff going on that I haven't really been able to talk to anyone else about. Its not bad and its not good but its starting to swirl around in my head and I need to get it out. Was that emo enough? hope so.