*Sigh*

Two in one day, I’m on a roll. Although, this post wasn’t planned.

I ate lunch with my sister today, and mid-bite through my slice of pizza, she informed me that she’s going to have a baby. Now, I’m pretty sure that there exists a rule book somewhere in which it states that as a female, you’re supposed to react to such news with something like “OH MY GOSH! I’m so happy for you!! I’m going to spoil that baby! Eeeeeee!!!!” …but I didn’t. Instead, I mustered an “Oh, are you and Jon happy?” and a “congrats.” In my head, I was thinking “Have fun with nine months of hell and eighteen years of no freedom after that. Yippee.”

I feel a little guilty, though. Mostly because I’m sure she feels bad that she doesn’t have a biological sister that can be as excited about it as she can (I’m her only sister by blood, but she’s got two step sisters that she’s close to). And, more selfishly, I’m worried that I’m going to be expected to play the normal aunt role, and call Misty up with propositions like, “Let’s go to the mall and get Generic Baby Name some cute clothes!” and “Oh! I just bought the cutest thing for Generic Baby Name.” My worries were confirmed by the “You’re going to have to learn to like kids enough to want to hang out with me and my baby. You have to be its favorite aunt!” comment.

A Slightly Calmer After-School Post

I’m realizing now, as I stare at a massive list of grad schools, that I’ve never done this before. Choose a college, I mean. SCSU was by default; it was close, and it was the easiest PSEO option at the time. After PSEO ended, there didn’t seem to be much of a point in transferring. It would have just kept me in school longer. So really, I’ve never had the experience of choosing a few colleges, visiting the campuses, and making a well-informed decision on where I’d like to go.

I’m not 100% sure yet if I’ll be going to grad school, but I’m going to search as diligently as if I was absolutely decided on going. I’ll at least apply, and that way if I do indeed feel like shipping off to go get my master’s when I’m done here, I’ll have the option. I’ve decided that if I do go, it needs to seem adventure-like enough to keep me in one place for two years. Therefore, I want either mountains or tropics. If I leave for school, it won’t be to any place that could pass as Minnesota… hence the elimination of any school in Ohio, Idaho, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin, and Iowa. That cut my list back from 200 to somewhere around 150. Now I’m slowly picking off the rest by visiting the websites, taking a look at some campus snapshots, and reading about their research opportunities and offered classes.

I’m surprised that I’m not more attracted to schools in New York. That used to be one of my dreams… moving to New York and living in the city. Now, though, I seem more inclined to move somewhere where I can spend my time outdoors. Dreary cities don’t really call to me anymore. Not that I wouldn’t want to visit New York one day; I just probably wouldn’t want to live there. It’s absolutely imperative that I love the area the school is in. I in no way intend to spend my time in a place that will cause me to wish that years would pass more quickly. It can’t seem like just an annoying pit stop on the way to the rest of my life. I have to be able to enjoy the time there fully, instead of just tolerating it. If I get the feeling that grad school would be merely tolerated by me, I won’t be going.

Mystery Solved (Sort of)

I wrote a post a while ago about the mystery red streaks on my face that like to pop up and disappear at random. The first doctor had no idea, but referred me to a dermatologist, as she assumed it as some sort of skin condition she wasn’t aware of. I had to take in my camera with all of the photos loaded on it… I’ve been taking pictures of it whenever it happened since early March. Earlier on, the pictures are weeks, even a month, apart. More recent photos are every other day or so.

The dermatologist looked at a few, and then stated that the red streaks were occurring along the lymph pathways in my face. He said that there’s an infection in my eyes or sinus or something (gross, I know), and that the lymph system is trying to get rid of it, hence the angry red streaks. Whatever isn’t feeling so hot in my head must be especially bad off lately, considering the frequency and intensity of the red marks.

First Somali Post

My first attempt at a post in Somali… this might be rough (and a little non-sequential, since it’s pretty much going to be a random collection of things I know how to say…). Here goes:

Waan ku salamay! Iksa waran?

Waan ku hadli karaa wax yar af Soomali.

Magacaygu waa Desiree. Waxaan ku dhashay Milwaukee, WI. Waxaan jirad toban iyo sagaal sano. Waxaan dhigtaa jamacada St. Cloud. Waxaan qalin jabinayaa hal sano kadib. Waxaan noqon doonaa injineer. Waxaan degganahay St. Cloud, lakiin waxaan rabaa inaan degganahay Minneapolis. Waxaan ka shaqeeyaa ka jamacada. Xaas ma lihin, lakiin saxiib ban leeyahay. Waxa ila dhashay laba wiil iyo laba ghabdood. Walaalshay waxay dhigataa jamacada St. Cloud. Walaalkay wuxuu ghursandoonaa taariikhduu markaytahay bisha sagaalad ee sanadkan. Aad ban ugu faraxsanahay arintas.

Waxaan rabaa inaan af Somalia barto waayo St. Cloud waa jooga dad badan Somalia ah (toban kun). Waxaanan rabaa inaan ushaqeeyo ama aan caawiya.

Waan dhamee hada. Waan qoridoonaa wax badan goorma waxyaale kale oo xiisabadanna waan idiin hayaa (mahadsanid, Jidhidhico). Nabad gelyo!

(Firefox spell-checker just exploded)

DEA Foolishness

Being that it’s summer and I’m gifted with free time, I’ve been taking the opportunity to do more research on the War on Drugs. I’m more and more shocked with every piece of information I get. At this point, I’m left to wonder: are they crooks or idiots? I’m not sure which I’d prefer, but it has to be one or the other. How could anyone who’s bothered to examine facts and figures still be behind the War on Drugs? Realizing that our current method of “drug control” is failing doesn’t make one pro drug use. Quite the opposite; what we’re doing right now to keep drugs out of the hands of children is failing. Recognizing that and making the appropriate changes would make things safer rather than turn us into a nation of heroin addicts, as some would like you to believe.

First of all, I think some assume that we’ve always been this harsh on drugs. Nope, not really. The “War on Drugs” as we know it was started by Nixon in the early 1970’s. Since then, what good has it done? The DEA Domestic Monitor Program provides a table (created in 2001) of the price and purity of heroin. In 1980, the price of heroin (average cost to get high once) was $3.90. The purity? 3.6%. As of 1999, the price of heroin fell to $0.80, while the purity increased to 38.2%. Wow, how successful!