Stress

Stress, defined by dictionary.com, is the physical pressure, pull or other force exerted on one thing by another; strain. I am definitely stressing right now. Let me explain.
I have several countdowns on my computer so I know how many days are left until a particular event. One of these countdowns is to Graduation as I graduate from University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 37 days on May 20th so a little over a month. Seems like a lot of time, but now when you have so much going on. First of all, there is no break in homework. Readings for classes are getting longer, having to watch movies in order to respond to them in German seem to never end and the homework in general is piling up. Second is finals. I have one 'traditional' final this year for one of my criminal justice classes. By that I mean, go to class after studying, sit down, and take the final in class and then forget about it until grades are posted. In my other classes, I have one exam on the 24th of April which I can't really study for as it is just transliterating the text that he will give us in class. For that class I also have a presentation that I need to work on and a paper which together is 50% of the grade and is considered the final. For my online German class I have another presentation and a final paper (all in German) that together consists of 30% of my grade (which I'm not doing too hot in that class at the moment). My other criminal justice class I am actually looking forward to the final (how weird does that sound?). That final is basically a 20 page paper on 5 of the countries we studied talking about their criminal justice systems and how they differ from US's system and what I like about them. I might actually have more than 20 pages for that. Third thing that is getting at me is work. I don't have to prepare for work or anything like that, it is just that work hours always pick up at the end of the semester and the amount of homework one can complete during work is very little. To top it all off, I still need to finish applying for Grad School for Fall. Basically meaning that I need to remind the people that are writing my references to do so and take this MAT test which is an hour long test on next Wednesday (which I probably should study for). 
Then there are the few things in this next month that will make my stress decrease. One is kick boxing. It is 3 hours a week where I concentrate on nothing else but punching and kicking the pads and not worrying about anything else. Then there is family and friends. Whether it is calling someone up on the phone, to playing Gears or watching a movie, it all helps relax me (only if I finished stuff due in the near future). 
With all that being said, I should probably go do some more homework and hopefully not go crazy. 
37 days and counting down!

Baking

This one goes out to my sister, Christina, or @xtinaluvspink on twitter. 
Yesterday she saw this recipe for Salted Dark Chocolate Nutella Cookies so we decided to make them when we came home and were going to have them for Easter dessert. We got followed the instructions and got the ingredients out and started mixing stuff together. Christina lined the baking pans with wax paper and we threw them in the oven. Dad, Christina and I were standing in the kitchen talking when not even 2 minutes go by and we smell something funny. Christina opens the oven door and out comes this blue cloud of smoke. She quickly takes them out of the oven, Dad and I open windows and turn fans on and then we realized Christina's mistake. The instructions said to use parchment paper. Christina used WAX paper.
Dad and I flipped the cookies onto parchment paper and saved them and threw them back in to finish baking. Later we frosted the middle with Nutella (we were going to do a whipped Nutella and Hazelnut Liquor but we didn't have the latter so we opted just for the Nutella). After dinner, which was full of laughs, almost to the point were soda nearly came out of my mom's nose, we tried the cookies. Skeptical at first because of the possibility of it tasting like wax, we all looked at each other and bit in. They tasted amazing. The cookies were crunchy enough to add texture without being dry. The salt on top was the perfect compliment to the Nutella on the inside. A big glass of cold milk was definitely needed but man were those good!

Moral of the story is: follow the directions. When it says parchment paper, don't think that you can substitute it for wax paper, especially when going in the oven. 


Here is the recipe for those interested: Salted Dark Chocolate Nutella Cookies

Flip of the Calendar

At midnight tonight we can officially flip our calendar over to April. The real first month of Spring. Rain showers will be expected and I plan on jumping in lots of puddles with my red rain boots. Next month is also National Humor Month which is fitting that April Fool's Day is the first day of this month. It is a fun day to get unsuspecting victims and be cautious of people around you for you never know what they are hiding up their sleeve. 

The origin of this wonderful day is from the Roman festival Hilaria, which was held on March 25th and the Medieval Festival of Fools held on December 28th, where pranks are still played in Spanish-speaking countries. 

As for the pranks; one can do the simple rubber band around the sprayer of the kitchen sink to soak a victim or put saran wrap over the toilet bowl to create a peeing barrier or even empty of packet of kool-aid into a shower head so the victim would turn a funny color or at the least get sticky. Other common pranks include fart bombs, telling your boyfriend or family that you are pregnant, and setting multiple alarms around the victims bedroom at different times so they continue to wake up. To me, all of these jokes are funny, but they lack the creativity and the planing of a really good prank. 

Some really well thought out pranks from history include: The Swiss Spaghetti Harvest and The Wisconsin State Capitol Collapse. 

The Swiss Spaghetti Harvest in 1957 was where Swiss farmers were experiencing a highly successful 'spaghetti crop' where a woman is seen pulling spaghetti off a tree. It aired on a show called Panorama (which was well respected) and hundreds of people phoned int to ask how spaghetti grew on trees, to which they answered "Place a sprig of spaghetti in a tin of tomato sauce and hope for the best."

Back in 1933 the Madison Capitol-Times proclaimed on the front page that the "Dome Topples Off Statehouse: Officials Say Legislature Generated Too Much Hot Air," which was the Wisconsin State Capitol Collapse prank. The article continues to say that mysterious explosions that were attributed to weeks of fierce debate generated the "large quantities of gas" that spontaneously ignited. To make the story even better, they added a photo of the collapsed building, which is pretty great as Photoshop didn't exist in 1933.

If you are planning on 'getting' someone tomorrow, at the flip of the calendar, whether it be a small prank like the rubber band around the kitchen sprayer or a bigger one such as the Spaghetti Crop, be sure of two things: you get the intended person instead of a bystander (which is still funny) and you don't get caught.

On My Honor

On my honor, I will try:To serve God and my country,
To help people at all times,
And to live by the Girl Scout Law.


Today is the 100th Birthday of Girl Scouts. Back in 1912, Juliette Gordon Low started the first Girl Scout group in Savannah, Georgia with only 18 girls based off of the ideas put together by Lord Baden-Powell (who created the Boy Scouts) and his wife, Lady Olave Baden-Powell who founded Girl Guides in England. Girl Scouts became a national organization and was finally chartered by the U.S. Congress in 1950, 38 years and 4 days after originally founded. Today, the organization grew drastically from the first 18 to millions of Girl Scouts. 
The Girl Scout Cookie, what Girl Scouts is most known for is only a small part of Girl Scouts. There are patches and badges, all with different activities that range from horses to cars to electrics, not to mention cooking and camping. 
One can become a Girl Scout when one is 5, called a Daisy, and rise up through the levels finally coming to the adult stage where one can choose to be a life time Girl Scout Member like I am. I am thankful for Girl Scouts as without it, I would not be as confident, courageous and have the character that I have today. Girl Scouts truly helped make me become the strong, independent, leader-oriented woman that I am today.
I have meet some of my best friends (my sisterhood) through Girl Scouts and even though we are all different, we share a common bond and no matter how far we are from each other (literally as one is in Japan right now) we will always be close in heart. 
Since today is Girl Scout day, I will leave you with the motto: Be Prepared. If that means studying a little harder for that test coming up or just setting your mind so you have the confidence to do anything, be prepared.


I will do my best to be: Honest and Fair, Friendly and Helpful, Considerate and Caring, Courageous and Strong, and, Responsible for what I say and do, And to: respect myself and others, respect authority, use resources wisely, make the world a better place, and be a sister to every Girl Scout

Middle Name Pride Day

When we were little, you always knew if you were in real trouble if your parents (typically your mom) called you by your full name. That is when you hung your head low, trying to look apologetic and wishing you weren't caught for whatever fun, naughty thing you did, all the while trying not to smile as you remember how fun it was at the time and dreading whatever punishment was to come your way. If you have siblings (like I have my sister) and passed them on the way to your imminent doom, there was silent communication between the two of you, with  the one not in trouble saying stay strong, and don't you DARE rat me out! 
Middle names are also something to be proud of, they are as unique as you are. Many people know several John Smiths or Mary Jones, but how many of them have the same middle name. Your middle name is often selected to honor a friend or relative, typically with certain characteristics that your parents found admirable and want you to inherit. 
My middle name is one for the record books. My real name is Sonja Andrea Bauer. My first name was either going to be Sonja (which my dad wanted) or Sara Lee (which my mom wanted). They played one hand of poker and the winner got their choice of name, obviously my dad won and my mom insisted on the spelling to be with a 'j' instead of 'i' or 'y' which is more common. My middle name is Andrea after (I believe) my mother's uncle or grandpa (someone on her side of the family tree at least) who was named Andreas, so they just modified the name to make it a girls name by chopping off the 's'. 
Normally, people only have one middle name, with the rare exception of two middle names. This is not the case for me. While Sonja Andrea Bauer is my legal name, my sister would always yell at me for doing something when I was younger (sometimes still today) and use my full name. She would often yell this and it got rather boring, so one day she decided to add more names and finally came up with 'Sonja Elizabeth Victoria Sophia Maria Andrea Curtina Bauer'. So, whenever I'm in trouble with my sister or if she just really wants to get my attention, she will yell me full name and my family and I get a real laugh out of it. 
I hope you are proud of your middle name and hope it is after someone that your parents loved and found  admirable.

The Smart Ass

Two weeks or so ago I posted my opinion on smart asses and how a  thesaurus is never a good idea, I remain true to my earlier opinion, here's why. Today Mike (the other CJSA Officer) and myself had two of the interviews, having had one yesterday. I get there about 20 minutes before the scheduled interview time just in case the guy is really early and it was a good thing I actually got up on time because Mike still hadn't shown at 9 when the interview was so I proceeded to do it by myself. The guy (smart ass) showed up a few minutes early which is always a good thing and we made that awkward small talk and he seemed like a decent guy. He didn't use any 'big' words and still seemed smart. I asked him the questions and that got us talking like any good interview well. It just goes to show that "Any word you have to hunt for in a thesaurus is the wrong word. There are no exceptions to this rule." (Stephen King)
If we based the job solely on his application, we would not have picked him, but since he was a 'normal' human during the interview, he got the spot.

Co Workers

Everyone has that one co-worker that is a pain in the ass. Last night, I had to work with that person, lucky me. First, let me explain what I do. I'm a House Manager at school and basically what I do is tear tickets to theater and musical performances and help the patrons (people coming to see the show) with any problems and at times keep the directors calms, and open doors and what not. Typically things go smoothly and there are no crazy things that happen, every once in a while though, when you are least expecting it, shit blows up. Last night was one of those nights.
I was supposed to work with, let's call him Thomas. Thomas is great to work with: I can trust him to do whatever I ask of him and in a reasonable amount of time. Instead, I got to work with, let's call her Sarah (the pain in the ass). We are scheduled to get there an hour and a half before the show starts, so for this particular night, 6pm. I get there a little early (cause I'm German) and wait around for my partner. She didn't show up for ten minutes which is the grace period to be late so I call her and she finally answers. Apparently she was in the wrong building. She was on the main campus when we were supposed to work about a mile away in a different building still owned by the campus. She gets there at 6:30 and by this time (being opening night) things are already going crazy, and to top it all off, I'm still sick and could barely talk. When she did finally come, she was useless, less than useless really. She didn't help train the ushers, she didn't know anything about the play or who the director and Stage Manager were or anything. To top it all off, she is one of those people that talk really quietly so you have to say 'what' a hundred times just to hear what she says. 7pm comes around and we open the house to let people sit down and we are tearing tickets and everything (finally) is going smoothly (still losing the voice that I barely had). At 7:30 when we were supposed to start the show, the director decided to hold it for 10 minutes because of a snow/rain storm and the roads were slippery, so that's fine. At 7:35 we were supposed to make an announcement to have people move together so latecomers wouldn't have to crawl on top of people and possibly step on their toes. Normally I would and it would be fine but since I could barely talk as it was and my volume was barely there, I told Sarah to do it. She constantly said no and I finally told her she had to because I couldn't talk loud enough. I went downstairs to check to see if anyone else was coming up the walk while she was supposed to make the announcement, which I later learned that she made the director do (which he wasn't happy about because it isn't his job). 
The play started and it was hilarious. We laughed, we clapped and luckily Sarah sat outside of the hall to deal with late comers. After the show we fill out the report and talked with the Stage Manager to make sure everything went well and then we were free to go. We go downstairs to the office and sign out and I was finally free of her. 
I'm sure all of you have at least one co-worker that you can't stand no matter how nice you try to be to them. My advice to you, try not to be sick when you have to work with them, it will only make it that much more worse.