Hey every one, guess what?? I got the job! Yay! You know what that means?? Sierra's not broke! Soooo...now I can buy shit. Yep yep. Definitely gonna buy shit.

*Doing the "I got some money" dance*

And you know what that means?? The IRS isn't going to kill my parents, rape my sister, burn my village to the ground and eat my soul when it comes time to pay taxes...or something like that. It also means that I can fly home to South Carolina this Spring Break. Don't worry, Grandpa! I'll rescue you from that gold digging, old bitch that you married after Grandma passed!


-Sierra

As of now, it seems like I may have a new job, but things are still up in the air.  In a previous post, I had mentioned an "interesting" phone call that I received.  The phone call was from an upscale spa-salon just outside of town asking me to come in for an interview.  Well, I made it past the first two interviews.  For a massage therapist, the first interview is always your standard, "What are your strengths and weaknesses, and why do you want to work here?" b.s., and the second interview is the "practical."   The practical always involves giving a massage to either your prospective employer or to their head message therapist.  The lady that I worked on for my practical is going to recommend me to her boss-lady, as it is ultimately the boss's call as to whether I get hired or not.

I've worked it out, and it seems that after taxes and such, my wages would be the same (or at least incredibly similar) at both places.  However, I think that I would actually be making more money if I took the new job because I'd be getting more clients.  Yes, I can handle more clients.  I can comfortably do 15-20 hours of massage per week (25 if I'm pushing it because I need to make extra money to fly out to L.A. to go to JRock Revolution ^_-), and I don't think that 15-20 hours/week is too demanding while I'm in school.  I think that the most clients that I ever worked on in one week at my current job is eleven.

Feel the Fiesta!

So I was making tacos last night, and as I was reaching for my Taco Bell brand taco sauce, I caught a glimpse of an interesting slogan on the lid. It read: "Feel the fiesta!" Hmmmmm...no thanks. I tried to ponder the different meanings of "Feel the fiesta!" but ultimately that that sounds like something that will involve a lot of peptobismal, a lot of toilet paper, and a visit to the doctor's office.

So then I was flipping through The Onion when I caught an add that should please all y'all JRockers in and around town. Melt Banana will be playing at the High Noon Saloon (located at 701A E. Washington Ave., Madison) at 9:00PM on Wednesday, October 24th. It will be $10-$12 to get in, and it's an 18+ show. That's the second JRock band that I know of who has come through Wisconsin in the past month. The other band was Peelander Z. I didn't go to that show; Peelander Z is a little too ridiculous for me. More JRock, Pleeeease!

You know, ever since I came back from California, I've had so-Cal fever. I just want to run away to California, all though I hate to admit it given that those people are already self righteous bastards, haha. It's only gonna get worse this winter. I keep listening to the song, "Heinrich Manuever" by Interpol.

"...How are things on the west coast?
Yeah, but you're an actress and I don't identify.
Today my heart swings
Yeah, today my heart swings..."

Ahhhh, one day. Come, friends! Let's all run away to California together! Just kidding. I really want to go for an extended visit though.

I am going to meet my language exchange partners today. YaY!

So my foot feels a lot better today.  The swelling has gone down, but I still can't put weight on my heel.  I went to the podiatrist today and had some X-Rays taken.  The heel isn't broken, so the doctor thinks that three things could have happened:<ol>
<li>I might have bruised a ligament.
<li>I might have bruised my calcaneus [the calcaneus is the fancy medical term for the heel bone]. 
<li>I might have a stress fracture.  </ol>

I didn't know that you could bruise a bone, but you can.  Apparently this is a precursor to a stress fracture.  The doctor says that it is too soon for a stress fracture to show up on an x-ray, so I have to go back in a few weeks for a check up.  In the meantime, he gave me some gel insoles for my shoes to relieve the stress of walking.  Also, he said that if I wanted to, I could get an ankle splint, but that seems like more of a hinderance.

Enough of my old lady whining.  Any one here listen to Bif Naked?  Jooooohn?  She's getting married!  Wow - go check out her myspace profile.


-Sierra

Ps...do you all realize that Boston Creme Pie is possibly the most orgasmic dessert ever baked by man?  Do you??

Before I continue to the main story, I will get you up to date on where I currently am in life as I have not posted for a very long time. Currently, I am living in a studio in Madison, WI. I attend UW-Madison where I am studying Chinese and International Relations. I hold a job at a spa where I work part time, and I am trying to learn Parkour, but the following information might make that difficult.

So I think I fractured my heel. I thought I broke it at first, but two days later I don't think that my injury is that bad. You see, I was leaving my friend Amanda's apartment the other night, and as I stepped out into the hallway, I noticed that there were two different exits, but I couldn't remember which door I came in through. Amanda told me that either door would get me outside, so I picked an exit and left. When I got outside, I realized that I had chosen the wrong exit as had I ended up in the apartment complex's backyard which was entirely fenced in. Momentarily, I thought about going back inside and using the other exit, but ultimately I decided that it would just be faster to hop the fence.

I am no fence-hopping amateur, I have been hopping fences since I was a wee lass. If I hopped the fence in my father's back yard, I could get into the forest which I frequented. If I hopped my neighbor's fence, I could get into their vegetable garden. This fence would be no different, or so I thought. Well, this fence was a little taller than the rest, maybe 10 or 15 feet, but it was doable, so I climbed up and over. Everything was going as usual, and on the way down, I decided that I would just drop to the bottom. I figured that I was only a few feet (at most) from the ground anyways. I think I miscalculated.

You know how when you're not paying attention to where you're walking, and you walk off of a step or a curb and you stumble because you were expecting there to be ground where there wasn't any? It was kind of like that. I was expecting the ground to be closer, and it wasn't, so I stumbled when I fell. I remember landing on my ass (which is also sore), but I don't remember landing on the heel of my foot, yet I couldn't put pressure on my right heel after that.

I thought that maybe it was just traumatized, and I could sleep it off. I should have probably soaked my foot in ice water, but I didn't for some reason. Hey, I never said that I was competent. If you had previously thought that, you are either very nice, or I am very deceptive. Yesterday morning I woke up, and my foot was incredibly tender. I couldn't rest my foot on the bed because the pressure was so intense. In short it was too tender to touch so I had been walking on the ball of my foot all day. It got a little better towards the evening. As of today, I can set my foot down and walk on it, but I still can't walk heel to toe because 130 lbs of Sierra is a lot Sierra to put on my heel right now. If it's not considerably better tomorrow, I might make an appointment to give some lucky doctor a new boat or a vacation package, but as of now I'm still hopeful or at least in denial.

I'm not sure what's more embarrasing - the fact that I hurt myself climbing a simple fence or the fact that I could not properly judge my distance from the ground because my big hair was in the way. Sometimes that happens if I don't straighten it. Shit!

- Sierra

Take a moment to clear your mind, and imagine the next line you read:

Mime knife fighting.

Ok, continuing, I'm out on my own now. Things are going questionably. I am chronically short on money, but that's expected. The problem is that I have to find yet another new job. There are a lot of new procedural changes underway that will be very costly to me - about $1000 costly after I apply for all of the new insurances and licensing that are now required to keep my job, plus the equiptment that I will have to buy. I could take out a small business loan to cover these expenses, but given my ultra part time status (less than 15 hours/week) and my obligations as a student, this would not be a very good move on my behalf.

So far, I am short on leads. One place is not hiring, another place is hiring, but they're looking for a massage therapist with a background in skin care (which I don't have). I haven't heard back from the third place, but I'm sure that they're not hiring either. There is one place that I have left to apply at, so good luck?? Now I just wait and bide my time. It's a waiting game now.

School is time consuming. I am in class 13 hours/week not to mention all of the studying that I have to do. I'm not sure if I am where I should be for some of my classes...I think I am, but I'm not sure. We'll see come first midterm, but I don't want to wait till then to find out that I've been doing something wrong, so I wrote my professor to see what's up.

Otherwise, everything is doing good.

-Sierra

I decided something crazy last night. I decided to double major in both Chinese and Japanese, and to get a certificate, UW-Madison's equivalent of a minor, in International Relations. I know that this can be accomplished, but I'm not sure how. You see, the Chinese classes are held at the same time as the Japanese classes. I will sort this out with the head of the Japanese department who bares a freakish resemblance to my late maternal grandmother, by the way. In the meanwhile, I have signed up for the "Elementary Japanese" course. I like to call it "Japanese for retards." Just kidding, "Elementary Japanese" is probably the equivalent of one semester of high school Japanese where as a semester of the regular "Japanese 101" would be equivalent to a year of high school Japanese.

A lot of you have read through my really boring and whiny posts of uncertainty about my chosen major and my future. The truth is, every time that I thought about my major: Chinese and International Relations, I would think: What the fuck?? What the fuck am I doing? My new plan of action makes much happier. Furthermore, I dropped my Economics class to save time. I like that part of my plan too. I feel much better now. I'm not sure how everything will work itself out, so we'll see where things go.

-Sierra

Today my car lost its breaks! Luckily, I live in between some low-traffic, rich people subdivisions, a few tiny villages with populations of 5 (just kidding), and cow pastures. It wasn't like losing your breaks in the middle of a city or anything. Anyhow, the car's in the shop now. They'll take alook at it tomorrow. Special!

In other news, in a freak occurence, my mother discovered that she liked sushi. Wow...if I had a list of impossible things that would never happen, my mom willingly eating and then further more liking sushi would be up there...

Once again, I have neglected my livejournal account!

Let me start by covering the loose ends of my last blog: JRock Revolution was fabulous.  Although it would be best if I wrote a report on the event from my point of view for my own memory's sake, a lot of people have already covered the event far better than me, so I won't bother. Anyhow, at the event, I "discovered" a really kick ass new band called Girugamesh.  If you like Dir en grey, you will probably like Girugamesh.  Speaking of Diru, my friends and I went to see Dir en grey in concert with the Deftones the other night.  That was also good...no - it was excellent as I was in the third row of people. 

It seems like there is a giant JRock explosion occuring right now, and I'm glad that I can be a part of it.  I've been listening to a lot of music of lately.  I've actually become somewhat obsessive, haha.  That's ok, music is my drug of choice, and if I had more financial freedom, I'd proabbly O.D.

Back in the real world, I will be testing for my black belt soon.  Ah!  Can't wait.  As far as martial arts go, a belt is not really important to me.  A belt signifies that you have reached a certain level in ability, skill sets and experience, but a belt doesn't make you skilled, talented or qualified any more than wearing skater brand clothing will make you Tony Hawk  It's the fact that my instructor is making the non-verbal statement that I am competent that makes me happy.  It's (almost) been eight years since I began, and despite the set backs, I've (almost) made it!

In two months, I'll be out on my own.  I'm so excited.  I pretty much can do as I please right now, buuuut my Mom *is* a mom, so I still have to answer to her...a lot.  Living on my own, I wouldn't have to make up lies and excuses for why I was out so late, who I was with, what we were doing or answer to anybody.  I'm not sure that I am financially ready, but that isn't important: I already signed a lease, and I have already signed up for courses at the college.  Truthfully, my apartment (with all utilities included) is the same price of a dorm, only it's nicer, it's bigger, I don't have to share it with any one, the walls are sound proofed, and I get my own kitchen and bathroom.  If worse comes to worse, I might have to take out some extra student loans to cover my living expenses, but it does't really matter any ways, now does it?  Because if I lived in a dorm, I'd have to do the same thing any way.  Commuting is NOT an option either.  Right now, I am commuting to work, and it is a killer financially and time wise.

When I move to my apartment before school begins, I'm going to party every Tuesday night at Club 5...and it will be amazing.  I am also going to relish every moment of my new surroundings and explore my little city, finding all of the head shops and fetish shops, and if I can, I'm going to eat at all the ethnic restaurants that we don't have where I live.  There's a Hamaican retsaurant, Indian, Arabic, African food....excellent.  I want to try it all.

Ah, it's getting late.  Later!

-Sierra