once a nerd, always a nerd.

So we're nearing the end of October. That means that I have been home and working for almost 3 months. Unbelievable.

Anyway, I have found myself becoming more and more frustrated at work. Obviously, this is not the job that I had in mind when I decided to take on several thousands of dollars in student loans. My job is rather non-challenging, and I think that too many people take it way too seriously. And all of this now has me thinking more seriously about what steps I need to take in order to move on to the next big adventure in my life.

After spending the weekend with Kim and Amanda, I am thinking that grad school sounds awesome. And I am thinking seriously now about taking the GRE by the end of the year, and applying to some schools for next year.

The two options that sound the most appealing to me right now are:
-MA in Spanish, which could provide for an academic year in Spain. Tempting. Or.....
-MA in Sociolinguistics, which would not provide a year in Spain, but it sounds like something that is just so.... me. I am, however, wondering if I am at a disadvantage for only having had one sociology course and zero linguistics courses in undergrad. But seriously... I read through the course lists for these programs, and I seriously want to take every single course they offer. This might be some sort of clue.

I am just in the research phase right now. Researching the GRE, because I'll be honest, I know nothing about it. Researching schools, and programs, and admissions requirements, etc. There's a lot to figure out. And now I feel like I am kind of on my own, without professors to counsel me when I get stuck. haha.

But I have to admit, this is all kind of exciting to think about. Deep down, I know I am just a nerd. But it's nice to be thinking about the future, and to start formulating some general ideas about where I'm headed.

We'll see how this all pans out.

tears in my heart!!!

Right now, there are 4 girls from Geneva at Acento in Sevilla. I look at their pictures every now and then and get a little bit jealous. Ok, a lot jealous.

But this weekend (or last, I'm not sure), they went to Toledo. And when I saw that, I wanted to cry. haha. Seriously, I think I could have. What is wrong with me? haha

Or, better yet.... why does this "place" have such a place in my heart?! I need to get back there. But how?

I am about 95% sure that I am going to go back around Easter time. Just to visit. I miss it so.

It's official. I am a Star.

Ok. I would like to officially add my movie-extra experience to my life's top 10. I am so glad I did it. haha. I hope that I can effectively convey the awesomeness of that day in this blog post.

To start it off, I am going to have to provide a little bit of background.
As I have mentioned before, the movie was being filmed at the jail... my very own place of employment. This in itself is awesome. I mean, coming to work and seeing Russell Crowe smoking a cigarette outside of the lunch room window is kind of crazy. But when I had the opportunity to be in the movie, I couldn't really pass it up! After a few weeks of joking around about it, I decided to actually call.

Originally, the guy had told me that they would need me on Friday, and that they would call Thursday night to let me know when to be there and everything. But I never got the call. So on Friday, instead of hanging out with Russell, I went to work so that I could actually get paid. I was a little disappointed, but I decided that even if I wasn't in the movie, it was still awesome that I randomly saw Russell Crowe walking the halls of the jail.

Fast forward to Sunday evening.
I get a call around 5:00 asking if I want to be an extra on Monday. Absolutely. So I called my boss to get the "go ahead", but in fact, never actually got it. I just got her machine. I decided that either way, I was going to call off to be in this movie. So that's what I did.

On Monday morning, I got to the "set", (aka my usual parking lot) around 8:00am. I filled out my "time card" or whatever, went to wardrobe (haha), and got instruction about what I'd be doing. They wanted me to just take my car to the front of the jail, and sit in it. That was all. Not bad. I was getting paid to sit in my warm car and listen to the radio. However, after a few minutes, one of the PA's knocked on my window. He told me that they called from up on the hill and wanted "the tan car". That was mine!! haha. So they told me to drive up to Duquesne's campus. When I got up there, it was like another world! It was everything I ever imagined when I thought about movie sets. Just tons of people, in little director's chairs, and cameras and headphones and walkie talkies galore. It was exciting.

I talked to a few of the PA's, and they told me that I would be DRIVING through Russell's scene. Oh My Gosh. Instead of merely sitting in the background, I got an action scene! They even gave me my very own walkie talkie! And I had to follow cues! It was awesome. I felt like the whole movie was depending on my ability to drive in a straight line at less than 10 miles per hour. And I am not sure, but I felt like every time they had to do another take it was my fault. haha.... despite the fact that the PA's told me I was "doing great". haha. What a relief.

Anyway, having a walkie talkie was definitely the most exciting part. I heard everything. "What's the status on Russell?" "He's 100%." ..."Russell is on the move!" (YES! JUST LIKE ASLAN!) ... I got really excited when I heard that. I just felt like I was supposed to be excited.

I was sitting in my car, pulled over next to a stop sign. And shortly after hearing that "Russell was on the move", I see an Escalade approach in my rear view mirror. Sure enough, it was him! As his car pulled up next to mine, I was literally less than 3 feet away from him. Except that there were 2 glass windows between us. Oh snap. If we had both decided to roll down our windows, I could have touched him. omg. haha.

Anyway, I was kind of nervous when I had to drive. I was following the direction of this guy who was standing next to my car. And then after that, they started telling me over the walkie talkie when to go. That was better. One of the PA's also told me to turn my car around after the scene, rather than reversing. Except... after the scene, everybody on the walkie talkie was like, "Why doesn't she just reverse?" haha. They were making fun of me. They said "Have you ever seen a Pittsburgher reverse down a street?" At that moment, not only was the quality of the scene and possibly the whole movie resting on my driving abilities.... but the reputation of Pittsburghers' reversing abilities as well! I did end up reversing down the street. It was way easier.. And I had to repeat it about 10 times... I hope they were blown away by my reversing skillz. I was also really nervous because my brakes were/are extremely squeaky. I felt like I was going to ruin the scene by braking!! Or maybe, I would rupture Russell's eardrums with the horrible sound. Luckily, nobody mentioned my horrible brakes.

Anyway, I am pretty sure that this is going to be the best scene of the whole movie. Just wait for it!

So after about 10 takes, they started packing up. I had no idea what to do. So I just sat around for a few minutes, until one of the PA's asked if I could give him a ride back down to "base camp" (yes, they actually call it that! haha). So I did. Not only him, but 2 others as well. They even had the nerve to ask me to open the trunk for their equipment! haha. I found the whole situation slightly hilarious.

So I got back to "base camp" a little after 9. And then we sat there for the rest of the day. Seriously. Until 5:45. We did nothing else! haha. But it was a lot of fun, and I think it definitely made the experience. I went into this thing hoping that at the most, I would only be visible in the movie for 2 milliseconds. I was expecting to be a nobody on set, etc. But wow. I don't think everybody else had the same expectations. haha. The other extras were so serious about it! One lady had "been in" so many movies, and was sharing all of her veteran advice. Another girl was there for her first time, but I am pretty sure she was bound and determined to sleep with any man on set.. I am not sure if she was just that desperate or if she really wanted to be in a movie that badly. haha. There were two slightly creepy guys. One more so than the other. And there was an older lady who was so annoyed by the prototypical "Extras" that she was constantly leaving the tent to smoke. And then there were a few CO's (jail gaurds... correctional officers) there as well. I think they were the coolest people there. Maybe it's because they are legit people with legit jobs. The rest were questionable. haha. But they were really cool, and now I'm excited to see them around the jail. Their scene actually got cut from the movie, so they were there all day with us, and never even got to do anything. What a bummer! haha, They were so excited for it, too.

Anyway, it was just a long day of waiting, and not being allowed to eat lunch until everybody else had eaten... even the actors' dogs ate before we did. haha. And the whole time we were thinking that we could make our own movie, tv show, or snl sketch about being an extra. It is definitely it's own interesting world. And I am so glad I had a chance to see it. haha.

Would I do it again? hmmm. Not sure. Probably, just because it was so hilarious. But I don't think I am cut out for that world. I am far too laid back and uninterested in "drama" to care. haha. I definitely don't want to become the "veteran" who gives advice to the newcomers, but I would probably do it one or two more times. haha. I am now receiving emails from the "veteran" offering tips on open casting calls and how to be an extra in other films. haha. This of her own accord, of course.

Hilarious. All of it.

I kind of want to go so over the top when this movie comes out. Like, rent a theater and have everybody I know come watch it together. haha. I think it would be hilarious. And awesome.

p.s. I hope that others can tell I am being a little facetious about this whole experience. I mean... sure, it's awesome... but the best part is making a huge deal about non-significant events. I think this is the key difference between myself and real "extras". haha. I am just doing it for some good stories, not to be discovered!

And now, for a post from atop my soapbox.

Being that I am only 22 years old, and have only had my own health insurance for less than 2 full months, I sometimes question the legitimacy of my own arguments here... But nonetheless, what good is a college-trained mind, if not for making arguments without all the proper background knowledge? And what is a blog good for, if not to throw your opinions into the world for all to read (even though nobody might read it...)?

This argument is about health care. And I warn you, it may be long.

I am not sure why, but this topic has really been interesting to me lately. Amid all of the talks of health care reform and "socialized medicine", I couldn't help but feel the need to form my own opinion about the topic. I recently read a book called "The Healing of America: A Quest for Better, Cheaper, and Fairer Health Care". The book was great. Somewhat dry at times, but mostly intriguing. The premise of the book is that the author (T.R. Reid) travels to various countries around the world to look at their health care systems... and in the process, tries to get help with his "bum shoulder". In each country, he talks to various doctors and other health care professionals, and tries to find out what does and does not work about their system. I don't feel like the book pushed for any particular model. It was kind of just "here's how it is!".. But nonetheless, I have thought a lot about what changes I would make to the American health care system.... That is, if Barack Obama should ask for my opinion. This is a little difficult to articulate, but here goes:

First off, I am pretty sure that morally, we have the responsibility to provide health care to EVERYBODY. The fact that we are one of the wealthiest nations in the world, and that some 65 million people (the numbers are debatable, and that's not my point anyway) can't afford to get basic health care is just ridiculous. We already have programs to provide health care to the poorest people, and to the elderly, and to children, and geeze Louise, even to inmates. And yet it's the middle class, those who make "too much", and at the same time, not quite enough, who get screwed. It's the minimum wage workers whose employers don't offer benefits, and yet their salary is far too low to pay for the outrageous premiums. And even if they can pay for the premiums, coverage isn't guaranteed, because the insurance companies can still turn them down on account of a preexisting condition! This is ludacris! And it brings me to my next point.

I think that it is totally immoral that insurance companies in the United States are FOR PROFIT companies! Every other country with a modern health care system has decided to make it illegal for a company to make a profit. When you think about it, these companies are weighing finances against human life. In order for their balances to increase, lives may have to be lost, and for some reason, that's ok! It's no secret that Americans love money. But it's totally disgusting that we love money more than we love each other.

Also, I am pretty sure it should be illegal for insurance companies to turn people down for coverage and deny claims. How can we be worried about government "death panels" when we let insurance companies play this role every day? Oh, now I see. It's because the insurance companies are doing it for profit while the government does it as yet another way to control our lives. Clearly.

I think that these are the most pertinent issues that we have to solve. The rest can be debated forever, but we need to agree that the business of health care shouldn't really be a business. Unfortunately, I know that economics tends to weigh more in this debate than our social responsibility to take care of each other.

I guess, in my opinion, what it comes down to is the power to choose.

• Are the premiums of private insurance companies too expensive? Then we should have the choice of a public option, which offers basic care for a more affordable price. I think this would definitely encourage competition. A public option is not saying that the government will completely takeover the system. It's just adding another option. It's allowing the government to act as another insurance company, to offer more basic services for a cheaper price (at least this is my interpretation of it). I believe that private insurance companies should still exist, to allow people to have more choices when it comes to coverage. In the true capitalist spirit, if you have more money, you can pay for more coverage. But we have to at least be responsible and make sure that nobody dies on as a result of limited access to coverage.
  
• I also think that our employers should give us more of an option of what health care provider we want to use. This would encourage people to stick with their insurance companies for longer periods of time (despite job changes and layoffs), thus encouraging the insurance companies to be more proactive with preventative health care... which, we all know does help to keep people healthy, and also lowers long-term costs. If people get laid off, the current premiums should be covered by unemployment benefits. I pretty much think that all people should be insured at all times. (Mandated, I suppose.. Kind of like car insurance? In order to enforce this, there should be a tax incentive..aka, no insurance = higher taxes.(I suppose this does not support my claim of "power to choose". ;) haha))
• We should be able to choose our level of care as well. I think there should be a mandatory, basic level of coverage for everybody, which of course would be the lowest premium available. The higher level of care that you want covered, the more you would pay for premiums. But I think I already stated this in my first point.
  
• Everybody should have the right to choose which doctors and hospitals they want to use, with no exceptions and limitations placed by the insurance companies. Even now, under this current system that we have, my choice of doctors is limited to my "network".
  

Other improvements/maintence to the system:

• Electronic Medical Records. I do realize that this would eliminate my current job (Which may be a good thing. I don't want to become complacent!). Anyway, this would be so much more cost efficient, aside from being a much more efficient system to begin with. And trust me, I know about the inefficiencies of the medical records world. I deal with this conundrum daily.
  
• Co-pays. I am still in favor of co-pays. Unlike the British, who believe that nobody should ever have to pay for health care, ever, I think it is still a good practice to have co-pays. This would help to keep premiums lower for everybody, especially for those who use the system less. There should, however, be a co-pay cap. As in, if you have a serious problem, and have to return to the doctor's several times in a month, you shouldn't have to pay more than a certain maximum amount in a given span of time.

I am not sure if this rant made any sense. It's kind of scattered, I guess. But there are a lot of ideas to cover, and I don't even think I covered everything I wanted to. If something us unclear, I'd be glad to try to rephrase it. I think I'm up for debating this topic with anybody.

Nonetheless, it's definitely going to take some serious work to fix the system we have. We always hear about how the United States has great doctors, superior medical technology, and innovative research, and I definitely agree with that. But unfortunately, we are very bad at allocating those resources. We have more uninsured people than any other wealthy nation, and we also pay more for health care than any other nation. It seems that with all of the resources we have, we should be able to figure out a better system. I'm not sure if Barack will be calling me for my input any time soon. But I hope that somebody out there is able to articulate a better plan. Because we definitely need a "change".

celebrity.

This post will be dedicated to my recent brushes with fame.

Last night, I was peacefully eating dinner at PF Changs with family and friends when Kate Gosselin, of Jon and Kate plus 8, and her two oldest daughters walked in. This threw everyone at our table into quite a stir, considering Betty and I, one of the ladies who was with us, talk about the show all the time. haha. Betty was really upset because she had forgotten her camera at a different restaraunt earlier that day, and was sad she couldn't take a picture. When I went to the restroom, I ran into them, but was kind of intimidated/didn't know what to say except "hi". And, bathrooms make everything more awkward anyway. But how exciting? Maybe. haha
(Speaking of Jon and Kate plus 8... last week, prior to the name change of the tv show, I suggested to Betty that they should change the name to "Jon; Kate plus 8", in order for the grammar of the title to better reflect the situation. Considering TLC just cut Jon completely out of the picture (making it just "Kate plus 8"), I am beginning to wonder if they have me bugged. Now would be a really awkward time to find out that I'm the star of my own reality tv show. ...Truman show, anyone?)

My second recent brush with fame hasn't actually happened yet. It will happen next week, when the movie "The Next Three Days" is filmed at the jail. More specifically, it will happen on Friday, when I am an extra in a "visitors scene". Oh man. This has potential to be hilarious. I have to take the day off of work, technically. But I will be getting paid minimum wage for the day. It's a fair trade off, right? The experience is definitely worth it. haha.

In other exciting news: I am going to the Steelers game on Sunday!! It's only my second ever!! I am pumped!