MSNBC and Fox

Fox is obviously the most right-winged news channel to ever exist.
MSNBC is obviously the most left-winged news channel to ever exist.

I freaking love MSNBC. And I will support it till the day I die. I don't care that it's biased. They never claimed to be "fair and balanced." As biased as MSNBC is, Fox is simply corrupt.

I have the flu

I guess I have the flu. I'm not quite sure that's true. I mean, I have the symptoms. But when I went to the doctor on Wednesday, I tested negative for influenza A and B. I was told because I only had symptoms for 24 hours they couldn't rule out flu, and so they're treating me for it anyway. Freaking Tamiflu costs $50...WITH insurance!!! It doesn't even do much! Anyway, here comes the dilemma...

Brendan's first birthday party is Sunday. There will be babies (!!!) and pregnant women. If I go, I was told I have to wear a mask. Quite frankly, I'm a vain person. So I decided...I will bedazzle my mask. I will post awesome pictures of my mask when the time comes. =)

Soo...the Domino's guy hit on me....

Domino's guy: Do you gamble?
Me: Um, no? I mean not with money?
Domino's guy?: Well wanna place a bet?
Me: **confused look**
Domino's guy: Is this your name on the tab here?
Me: Yes...
Domino's guy: I bet you a cheesy bread that I will remember your name next time you come in.
Me: Um, ok...


The name prints out on the thing, so of course he'll remember my name.

Then I told Adrian (who was so nice to drive me to Domino's) how awkward it was.

Adrian: You know he was hitting on you, right?
Me: Yeah.
Adrian: It's a good pick-up line, but this is why guys keep pursuing, cause you say ok.
Me: But I'd turn him down for a date. I figure it's free cheesy bread!

Texas

This is random, but I do not know why Texas is a state. I would be quite content to give it back to Mexico. They would make better use of it.

"But what about the flag?!" you ask....


Puerto Rico.

50 stars for 50 states! Without the useless Texas! (Who else remembers the debate to make Puerto Rico a state?!)

A feminist rant.

I was flipping through channels and came across a show on Spike TV. I have no idea what made me stop, but the question was posed, "How do I make my woman less bitchy?" The answer? Have sex with her. Not only that, but they said that women who have sex without a condom are generally 30% happier, unless they get pregnant, so you should keep it on so you don't have to deal with THAT bitchiness. Yes, they did say that.

This ignorance is what keeps men sexually objectifying women, creating hostile environments which lead to degradation, harassment, and even rape. Saying that sex is what "fixes" women leads men to believe they have power over women, because men provide women sex, of course. This is a TV network dedicated to men. If men watch this, although I'm assuming only a certain demographic of less educated men would be watching to begin with, they will believe and follow the ideas presented to them.

What I find is that women are so desperate to please men (we are socialized to do so) that they put up with this garbage and treat other women, and themselves, as objects. To quote Mean Girls (yes, I went there), "If you call each other sluts and whores it only makes it ok for guys to call you sluts and whores." It is so true. Women truly need to come together in order to make a serious effort. That being said, while men still hold the majority of the power, they need to be educated as well. Let's start with removing the name calling of women, and thinking they need sex to solve their "bitchy" problems, on male-geared TV. Although it's not much better on female-geared TV either. In those shows women fall head over heels for the jerk too. The only difference is that these shows lead women to believe that men will change for you. How about a show that promotes the nice guy that doesn't have to change so you can live happily-ever-after with him?

If I were treated in an objectified way, I'd be a bitch too. Actually, I'm probably considered a bitch for writing this. How do we solve this bitchiness of mine? Not sex.

Butterflies

As I was walking to Shilling so I can fulfill my job as "data enterer" (which apparently isn't working out so well, as I cannot get into Dr. Collinsworth's office...), there were butterflies flying around the sidewalk. One landed a few steps in front of me. I walked past, and the butterfly didn't move.

I was reminded of my kid days, when all I wanted to do was catch butterflies. I never did catch one. Then I thought this was probably a good thing since that'd be like getting kidnapped to a human. It doesn't make it ok if you release the kidnapped after you scare the living hell out of them. Those people go through serious counseling, I'm sure!

But then I think that this isn't like kidnapping at all. Me capturing a butterfly would be parallel to getting abducted by aliens (the different species thing). Now I've never been one to care about aliens to gather an opinion of whether they exist or not, but now, my experience of contemplating the butterfly is telling me it's totally plausible. We don't believe these people, and I bet the friends and families of the captured butterflies think it's an insane notion that humans kidnapped them.

I think I'm sleep deprived.

Going back to school

I generally try to keep my posts positive since positivity and optimism are a way of life for me, although I understand if you don't get that impression, but I have never dreaded going back to school more. This being my senior year is the only thing that is keeping me going.

In the past I would rush to get back to school. I loved being on my own. I had a life there. But now my life is back home. I have an awesome group of friends, an amazing boyfriend, a great family, and my Brendan. School has...homework, work, and people who don't get it. My best friend there graduated (thank goodness she's in that awesome group of friends I have back home!), and I've changed so much since my freshman year that the friends I originally had just aren't compatible with me anymore. And since Amy isn't there, carpooling to get home and back is not an option. Steve also picked me up a lot, but with his ticket that's not going to be happening all too often either.

The plan for survival:
1) Try at my homework. Usually I do quite well with lackluster efforts. School just comes naturally to me. Maybe if I try it'll waste time.
2) Go to bartending school over winter break. Then I can get a second job bartending while I'm at school. That way I make money AND waste time.
3) Use that Netflix account Steve and I got.
4) Work out. Then I can be hot, and you guessed it...WASTE TIME!
5) Make new friends that are more like me, and less like me when I was 18. This should be doable in Hessler, as it is a learning community.
6) Read more. I have so many books I would like to read, I should just go to Amazon and get them.
7) Actually get myself pretty and prepare myself for the next day. Straightening my hair takes time. If I do that at night, I'll look good in the morning and get to sleep longer. Sleeping wastes time in a wonderful way. I'll also pick out my clothes at night.
8) Take up a new hobby. I'm thinking learning to sew and fashion stuff. Or photography.
9) The grad school process should take up fair amounts of time the first few months.
10) Even though I'm the shoe-in anyway, I'll head up research group. Especially for data collection and Celebration of Scholarship in the spring.

You know it's bad when...

You have no money (or have to save it for school, like me) and WITH coupons and discounts buy $78 worth of clothes. Not even clothes. Dress and Belt. Here's the look (I'm the one on the right, if you're creeping my blog and don't know which one I am):



Now is my time to profess my love for The Limited. I would seriously wear EVERYTHING in that store. If only I could afford it. One day... Also, I love being 21. Not even for the alcohol. I just love that lifestyle of going out! I didn't think I would. I love getting dressed up. I love socializing. I love dancing, even though I lack talent at it.

Now it's time for a story that made my night on Saturday. We went to Barleycorn and Heat. Courtney's friends joined us. While we were leaving Courtney came up to me and said her friend in the black shirt thought I was cute and wanted to dance with me. Courtney told him I had a boyfriend, and I looked over and saw a man in a black shirt. I told her he wasn't my type anyway. She was shocked. Then I saw the other man in a black shirt. Totally cute. And he thought I was cute and wanted to dance! Despite being a complete sap when it comes to Steve, I like people thinking I'm cute. It's part of my girly genes.

On Sunday I went to Steve's family picnic. It was alright. Different from the family events I'm used to, but I suppose this is something I should get comfortable with. Steve lost the bags tournament but we totally got second place in the egg toss. We won a $15 giftcard to Chile's. Not much, but it's an appetizer and drink (non-alcoholic). We haven't been on a "date-date" in months, so I'm excited.

And, 2 weeks left of summer =( I'm not going to handle it well.

I did not go as a confused bee...

I suffered for the only decent pair of shoes I could find. They were from Payless and hurt immensely. I did look cute though, if I do say so myself!



In other news, I had a blast on my 21st! It wasn't a messy, sloppy drunk birthday at all, but still quite fun. My wonderful mother got me a blue box...with a bracelet inside of it!



We started at midnight, and after a failed attempt at Realtime (apparently midnight is still the same day for them), we went to Ballpark. It was fun. They let me have a free drink! Then for real festivities we went to Tapalpa for $1.50 margaritas, followed by dollar drinks at Alumni. At Alumni, I learned I can't dance. I was NEVER into that sort of music though. Growing up I was more into the rock "I jump to dance" music. I will have to work on my abilities, or lackthereof.

The next day we went to see RJ in the majors! He didn't get to pitch, but we got to see him for about an hour. It was nice. He should really get traded to the Cubs so we can see him all the time.

This is the story of a girl...

There once was this girl who was in love with a beautiful skirt from The Limited. It was yellow with white polka-dots, pleated, A-line skirt. The skirt was definitely out of her price range though. Then after the price, along with a coupon, dropped, the skirt was in reach. However, the only time she could find the skirt, the store did not have it in the yellow she dreamed of. The dress continued to be knocked down in price, but she could only find it online, which did not carry her size. Then, on a miraculous day in June, she was in The Limited, and saw the skirt in her size and everything. There was a slight problem, however. The seam at the zipper was ripped. She didn't buy it, and moped and cried because it seemed as if God did not want her to have this skirt. The next day, her wonderful mother bought her the skirt saying it could get fixed.

The girl now has an occasion to wear it, but cannot find shoes to go with it. White sandals would go the best. The girl and her sister went shopping for these shoes and have noticed something horrendous. Ucky fabric attached to wood, cork, or a basket. These are the sandals that exist. The girl went shopping at least at the following list of locations:

Target
Ann Taylor Loft
Ann Taylor
Aerosoles
Easy Spirit
Bakers
Steve Madden
Aldo
Lord and Taylor
JcPenneys
DSW
Nordstrom Rack
Famous Footwear
Franco Sarto
Nine West
Payless
(and even) Sears

This girl has enjoyed what the recession has done to the fashion industry, as foundation and simpler pieces are more available, leading to a much larger wardrobe because everything goes with each other, but has the recession come to a point where simplicity has turned into cave-man style? Patent leather on a piece of cork? The girl has basically one day left to find a pair of shoes, otherwise she's going to have to go to this event as a confused bee (black cardigan, white tee, yellow skirt with white polka-dots, not stripes).

To see what happens in this dramatic story, keep tuned...

In other news, my haircut does not look like Julia Roberts. It is cute though.

Billie Joe, you sexy beast, you

Monday was the Green Day concert. In true GD concert tradition, I got general admission seats and showed up psycho early. Steve and I found $20 parking, which really isn't bad! Then we ate at the Billy Goat. My mom used to take us to the one on Wacker when we were babies so she wanted us to eat there really bad (although this wasn't the same one) and even printed out a menu and gave us money to eat there. It was good!

Then we waited in line for hours. I've never seen more children at a show- with their mothers- in my life. At the last concert, Colleen was the oldest person there. Not including moms, Steve and I were. This Verizon guy took our picture and supposedly it will be uploaded to their site, but I have yet to find it. I hope soon though because I didn't bring my camera inside and would like pictures from the event.

The people at the concert were...interesting. There was the family that brought a 7 year old into the general admission seating. If I were a parent, I wouldn't bring my 7 year old to that concert, let alone into a violent setting at the concert. Then the people we were surrounded by at the show were strange. There were of course kids who have never been to a concert so they didn't understand why people pushed and shoved. One of them started beating up Steve! All we were doing was switching places with someone. We were doing a nice deed and we still got hurt! I had about 4 very tall men in front of me. They really had no care for human life. One of them conked me in the head and didn't even notice. I saw my fate flashing in front of me: I'd get knocked unconscious and fall to the ground and get stepped on and die. Luckily this was not the case. I was in the armpit of another guy. It came to the point that Steve got violent and punched the armpit guy.

After much fighting with tall men, and short little girls I got front row again! SCORE! Nothing is better than front row at your favorite band's show. The show was absolutely amazing. They did tons of old school songs along with their new stuff. You can tell that they love performing. They still laugh and smile on stage. You don't get that with other artists.

There were so many great moments, like the epic fail of a stage dive, a 12 year old rocking out to Jesus of Suburbia, and some girl giving Billie Joe her phone. But the coolest moment of all is when I got Billie Joe's tie. Or the tie someone threw at him. I think the latter. But yes, I, Meghann Elizabeth Cherie, have a tie that Mr. Billie Joe Armstrong wore (in some way)! Here's the story. Billie threw it off, but it landed between the stage and the crowd by the security guys. Steve tried to get it from one of the security guards, but he ignored us. After the show, he talked to another one. He seemed to ignore us too, but then he nonchalantly went over and brought us the tie. It is my most prized possession! This is probably the greatest thing a boyfriend has done for me! Thanks, Steve!

Here is a picture of me and the tie.

Random summer moments that Colleen will get mad if I don't post...

1. This sign is funny. It was by the expressway and made us laugh.



2. The same night Colleen committed one of the worst sins one could commit. She lost a DVD of SVU in the DVD player. We made her unscrew the whole thing to get it out.


SUCCESS!!!



Today will be a day of haircutting and hopefully shopping (unless they are terrified by my color and I have to spend my money fixing it). I'm thinking Julia Roberts in Stepmom?

Steve told me my blog is like a fifth grader writing about his day =(

But I'm happy that my life has been somewhat entertaining lately so I don't bore the two people who read it, even though the two people who read it are prominent in my life so they don't really need the blog...

Anyway, yesterday Elysia, her boyfriend Andrew, Steve, and I went downtown. Andrew is from St. Louis so he hasn't really had the Chicago experience, Susan doesn't let Elysia go downtown, and Steve just never paid attention to Chicago, so I was like their tour guide yesterday. Elysia and Andrew were too busy cuddling and stuff to really pay attention to me (Susan would flip if they held hands, so I understand) but one of the best moments of the day is when Steve told me he could finally see the champagne bottle in the Carbide and Carbon Building. I was so excited someone listened!

We started our day at the Picasso statue by the courthouse. Steve had never seen it so we took a visit. We all slid down it, except Elysia who refused because she was wearing a skirt. She used the fact that she was on time and Steve was not (by three hours!) as justification.





Then we just walked down Michigan Ave. I showed them the Tribune Tower and all the other stones in it. I think I was the most excited and I hope everyone else think it's as cool as I do. While walking I found out that Andrew did not know what Tiffany's is, and had to show him. We went in, and I found my engagement ring (FYI, three stone, oval cut, will gladly accept it in .0004 carats!). Then I went upstairs to the Elsa Peretti Collection and found my bracelet and earrings that I'm currently trying to save up for so I can be a pretty bride. And I'm aware I'm not getting married, thanks. Speaking of which, I'm so mad at the L because the prices raised. I had to go into my Tiffany's fund to pay!

After that we just walked around some more (we're too poor to do anything else). We went into Water Tower, which I had never actually been inside of. It was awesome. I asked if there were any times I could go up the tower, but the guy said no. We took a trip into Victoria's Secret, too. They discriminated against Steve and that makes me sad. What if a male wanted to try something on?! That's just not fair in any possible way! I support transgendered people! We had dinner at Ed Debevic's. It was disappointing. The server started funny, but she just wasn't as mean as she could have been. The guy server was an awesome dancer though!



After we decided Susan wouldn't care if Elysia was out, we headed all the way back to Millenium Park. Steve had never seen the bean. He was most excited about the stage though... There were weird sculptures there though. One was a monster car thing that was eating peope. One of the statues had a distinct vajayjay. I'm not sure how I felt about that. The eyes of the monster also had cameras, although Steve tried to convince me they were lightbulbs. We tried to go into the garden too, but it was closed.





We went home afterward. We found cards at the L station, and it was an odd deck. It had four 9 of hearts cards, so we each took one. It was a really good day, despite Steve waking up psycho late! Susan didn't even flip out! But next time...I'm taking a couple that has been together for awhile so I don't have to see mushiness! ;)

Fourth of July

Fourth of July was awesome this year! First Steve and I went to Richy's for the tradition of blowing up dry ice bombs. I'm not going to lie, I was kind of nervous about going because the past few Richy events I had been to was with a bunch of people I did not know. But yesterday was fine!

After Richy's we went to Katherine's, who I just met yesterday, house. It was raining so we didn't get to swim, but it was really fun. We let balloons go in the rain so we could find them when they came back down. Tommy and Becky went on that adventure and found 2 balloons. Later we saw one on the roof and another in someone's driveway. Unfortunately, Steve locked us out of his car so we had to drive back to his house and get tools to get us back in. Luckily Steve got us back in quickly.

We went back to Steve's to nap and then went to Itasca for fireworks and Smash Mouth. Smash Mouth rocked. It was tons of fun. We had confetti, balloons, and glow bracelets. The fireworks were pretty good too. Way better than Elk Grove's. There were fireworks that went in the water and we thought they were just duds, but then the lake lit up! It was soooo cool!

















Afterwards, Steve and I, and his friend Joe, went to a party. It was filled of gamers and Steve ditched me. However, I befriended the dogs and a man who refers to himself as Skittles. His real name is Mike, so that's what I will call him... While Steve socialized I spent my time watching some horrible Quentin Tarantino movie. It had Rosario Dawson and Tracie Thoms though, so that was cool. Later Steve apologized for ditching me. =)


Sadie and Moose kept me company =)

I look good today if I do say so myself!

It has been a good week! Earlier this week I got my shoes that are named after me (Meghann!). They go with my dress that Colleen got me perfectly! I got them a half a size too small, but I couldn't resist. You never see my name with my spelling! I will post pictures when I find a place to wear these things!

A couple of nights ago my cousin Jess had a softball game in our area so practically the entire family came to watch. Uncle Dan taught me to drive stick shift! It definitely takes practice. My cousin Rachel, her boyfriend Ray, Steve, and I went to Steak N Shake after so everyone could officially meet. It was awesome! We had such a good time! Rachel and I rekindled our cousin/best friend bond!

Today Colleen and I went to Target and I rocked the dollar aisle! I got two camis, a terry skirt for swimming, a tote, a belt, headbands, and flip flops! I might have forgotten things, but it was awesome! Then a bunch of us went to the beach for Courtney's birthday. The water was freezing, but it was a fun time. We stopped at DQ on the way back. I got the Brownie Batter Blizzard. It was good for the first few bites, but then it was just far too rich.

Later tonight I got all pretty for Bahama Breeze for a continuation of the birthday festivities. I looked hot! I got lots of compliments. See pictures below =) Anyway, I got a virgin bahamarita and a tropical fruit salad, without chicken of course. I just love fruit salads in the summer!



Keep in mind that pictures taken from below are not flattering =)

















My shoes are from my senior prom, but they're so pretty! These jeans require a heel anyway...