My Favorite Memories

I have been feeling a bit nostalgic lately...well among other things but nostalgic is the least annoying. not having a real job gives one a lot of time (too much obviously) to sit around and reflect on way too much. but something the other day sparked me to think about one of my favorite memories...which in turn sparked an idea for a new blog...b/c apparently blogging has just about taken over what's left of my life. is there any kind of rehab center in the desert of Arizona somewhere that I can go to rehab and beat this blogging thing?
anyway, without further ado..and without much actual interest from anyone I'm sure, here is a list of my top 4 favorite memories (with 4 honorable mentions)....because sadly, I tried for 10 but couldn't come up with more than 8...
in no particular order:

-My Graduation Day from Eastern Michigan University
pretty self-explanatory, graduating from college should be a favorite memory and proud accomplishment for everyone...even from a school like Eastern, with a useless degree like mine. but it was a great day. my parents and our family's best friends all came up to go to the ceremony and out to Mongolian BBQ afterward. and the best part was I actually had a gf (Jill) that I could share it with b/c she came all the way up from Ohio U for it. this is by far my proudest memory...obviously prouder than high school graduation (which they made me do) and even getting my MA (which was more sheer relief). I'm not sure I'd trade this memory for anything.

-The San Francisco 49ers win Super Bowl 29
this came at the height of my 49ers mania, after some many close calls, and on my Mom's birthday. slightly anti-climatic after winning a very close NFC title game against Dallas and b/c the Niners crushed the San Diego Chargers pretty easily. but that being said, one if the great days of my life (I know, stupid guys...but anyone who sees their team win a championship knows how this goes). and I got to see my favorite athlete ever, Steve Young, finally win and get out from Joe Montana's shadow. luckily that memory has kept me going in years of awful football...and every Cubs season

-The first time I went to see Jill at Ohio U
at the risk of being sappy or sounding like a loser (since the girl involved is now married to someone else) this is one of those magic memories that doesn't end just b/c the relationship does. and the kind of memory that you may only get a few of in your entire life...if even that many times. I drove the 5 hours from Ypsilanti, MI to Athens, OH in the middle of my senior year to see my gf's school and visit for a long weekend. when I got close to Athens it was snowing pretty good and it was at night...which was so pretty and cool (especially in SE Ohio which is very pretty), even though I teased her that I almost died trying to come see her. when I got there though we went for a walk around campus...at night and covered with a new layer of snow. it was so very beautiful...exploring a new campus at night in the snow with a girl that I was very much in love with and had that awesome new relationship stage with. plus the fact that I fell in love with OU and Athens that night. that night might be my most perfect memory. words don't really capture it, and it probably sounds lame or even creepy to anyone still actually reading this...so sorry.

even prettier when it was dark and snowing


-the peak of Cadillac Mountain
I know this sounds like it should be an amusement park just outside Detroit but it is actually maybe my favorite place on Earth. its a mountain (not a huge one) in Acadia National Park just outside Bar Harbor, Maine. Acadia is a beautiful park on the Atlantic full of all the natural beauty that is Maine and New England. it is perhaps my favorite spot on Earth...which is odd b/c I have been to more beautiful places (Yosemite) than the top of Cadillac Mountain...but I just remember the first time I was there. sitting alone, looking down at the trees and the ocean. a way-to-rare feeling of absolute peace and calmness that I've only had a few times. I was young the first time I was there..and the second time I went back it was not quite the same feeling. I need to go back there again soon, to try for that feeling again...anyone want to go to Maine with me?

any takers?

honorable mention:

-My first 49er game in San Francisco
for a senior trip, Pop took me out to San Fran to see my very first 49er game at Candlestick Park (back before it had idiot corporate names). stayed with family friends outside the city, got to see alot of the city and the Muir redwood forest. and of course anyone who knows me knows my favorite city by far is San Francisco (yes, Joe, J or Corey, insert gay joke here) think the Niners played and beat Atlanta but the only part of the game that stuck in my mind (forever!) was posing for a picture with some Niners cheerleaders! god, I wonder what happened to that pic? be right back...gonna go find it!
hmm...no dice. sure hope I didn't lose that

-Chicago trip with Jenny K
back when JK and I were dating (before I invariably screwed it up) she took me on a trip to Chicago (my 2nd favorite city) for my birthday...because, well let's face it, she's awesome. we hit all the cool Chi-town places: the Shedd, the Museum of Science and Industry, Michigan Ave, and the Art Institute which I had never seen. ate at the very good Berghoff and the very mediocre Harry Caray's. but the best part of the trip was the SWEET room at the expensive new, modernish hotel she booked. and the amazing view of the Chicago River, the Wrigley building and the Tribune Tower. no one would believe the view we had in this amazing room...

-my 2 trips to Yosemite
been to Yosemite twice and these memories are just awesome because of how unbelievably beautiful the place is. its hard to believe that this can even be the same planet that Toledo, OH and Ypsilanti, MI exist on. if you are ever able...go to Yosemite! I promise you will be in absolute awe of the place.

-winning Freedom Shrine and beating Stephanie Day
completely silly and incredibly dorky memory...from junior high no less (my least favorite 2 years on the planet). the Freedom Shrine was a test based on some of the more important documents in American history that student could study for and take if they wanted to...so obviously not many did. but of course I did and I got a PERFECT SCORE on the damn thing!!!! I was honored at a Shriners dinner and given a plaque (that is 5 feet away even now, wanna see it?!) and a $50 savings bond (which I foolishly lost at some point). but the BEST part was that I beat out the girl who would be first in our graduating class to win it!!!! yeah!
of course...that also might have been the turning point in my life where I decided, instead of being a successful and productive member of society as a surgeon, that I would instead study history...
fucking Freedom Shrine..

The (not so) Great American Job Search

could I soon be working in the House that Washington built?


or this bastion of higher educat...sorry couldn't get that out w/o laughing


quick! think of the one complaint that you have about me..........got it yet?......if you answered that I am a spoiled, whiny jackass who think's he is way smarter and funnier than he really is...well then guess again.
isn't more that I am a lazy, unmotivated drifter (yes, I said drifter) who needs to leave his crappy part-time job and find a real career and move out of his parents' house?
well, maybe it was the first one, but I'm writing about the second one tonight.

I know I have been on a job search for what seems like forever...and that's basically b/c there just aren't a lot of jobs for people with 2 degrees in history that don't involve punk kids and not being able to smack them with rulers. in between cursing the Republicans for the godawful economy and cursing myself for majoring in uselessness, I keep having the same daydream...
it usually involves me talking to Jenny M (who works as a student advisor at the U of Glass City)...I ask her if she advises Arts and Sciences students
JM: "Yes, I get alot of them."
ACT: "Next time you have a student considering a major in history can I come in and talk to them?"
JM: "Umm...why? What would you tell them?"
ACT: (makes smacking gesture with hand repeatedly) "What the HELL are you thinking?!! Don't you ever want a career?!"
then JM usually tells me how much more awesome and hotter I am than her bf, my brother....jk, Chief (just seeing if you are paying attention)

anyway...yeah, not sure what the point of that whole paragraph was, but I thought it was funny when I thought of it.
so I am applying for some jobs that have some real possibility...jobs actually in my field, that I am hopefully qualified for, and that are INFINITELY better than shilling books at for a greedy empire.

there are 3 jobs that would take me to Virginia...one of my favorite states. and I would LOVE to live on the East coast, where history actually matters to the people who live there. one job is for the Virginia Historical Society in Richmond, another is working at Colonial Williamsburg...and the other one would be for GW's crib, Mount Vernon just outside D.C. (and did I just say GW's crib?!)
there are two jobs I also applied for at the Henry Ford Museum outside Detroit but I'm not sure I have the experience for them...and honestly, the VA jobs have much more appeal to me and fit more in my area.
then I applied for a job as an Arts and Sciences recruiter at UT, though not sure I have the recruiter personality. :-)

so at least for the first time in a long time, I have some hope that I might find an actual career that might take me out of my parents' house and maybe even out of the Midwest....but we shall see. I'll let you know as soon as I get those rejection postcards in the mail...as soon as I come home from my closing shift at the bookstore.