7 posts tagged “thunderbird”
Mike: "I'm so busy today!"
Me: "I can tell, seeing as how you're on IM talking to me."
Mike: "I DO have priorities you know."
Me: "I get the sense you're starting to understand me"
On a conference call last night with classmates *Names changed to protect the guilty*:
Joe: "...and I'll work with Lenni on that."
Me: "Thats because Joe is totally in love with me"
Bob: "But really, Lenni - who isn't?"
Alex: "I was just about to say the same thing!"
Joe: "Yeah, I know I'm in the triple-digits for my membership in that club."
Me: "I just let you THINK you're only in the triple digits. I'm clearly into the quads by now."
I can't believe I'm one exam from finishing my first trimester at Thunderbird. I get one week off and then its time to start the dreaded second trimester. And I do mean dreaded. It has only half a credit more, but we have no less than 4 assignments due every week - plus midterms, projects, and finals oh my! I've got a great group I joined for 'competitive strategy' - how's that for strategy, making our team three weeks before the class starts? But before I get to any of that I have still my Global Political Economy exam left. I just finished my Accounting final exam, and it was such a beast of a class I'm contemplating what exactly I should do with my text book - burn it? drown it? shred it? Not sure yet.
Speaking of horribly difficult things...this year has sucked miserably so far - but it looks like things might be starting to turn around soon. My California travel is concluding after one more week out there in mid-May. For those of you at home counting, thats 8 weeks in just under 5 months. I have no idea how I planned 1/2 my wedding and took 4 classes but I know that there's no way I could pull that off again, and so thankfully I was able to work something out.
Normally when I'm backed into a corner like I have been recently I get feisty. The best way to silence critics is to give them nothing to critique you about. But what do you do, when you HAVE given your best and now you are being critiqued about who you are as person? Its a really negative place to be, and I just have been agonizing over what I can do to try to make it better. I know I can't change people's minds, but I'm not good at just accepting that some people are assholes and that its not me - its them. I was listening to "Gunpowder & Lead" by Miranda Lambert after my exam and I was like "Hey wait! Where'd my feisty go?!" I think I need a little more feisty in me on these issues, enough to be able to just "Whatever" the assholes, and keep my own confidence and feistiness about everything else. So I'm going to make this song my mantra for the next few months until I can close out some things. Because Miranda's right: they ain't seen me crazy yet.
Chorus:
"I'm going home gonna load my shotgun, wait by the door light a cigarette.
He wants a fight, well now he's got one and he ain't seen me crazy yet
Slapped my face and shook me like a ragdoll, don't that sound like a real man?
I'm going to show him what a little girl's made of: Gunpowder and Lead.
His fist is big, but my gun's bigger - he'll find out when I pull the trigger."
I was talking to Mike again today because he's awesome and everyone should talk to Mike everyday. But you can't because he doesn't have that much time. Also, I've called dibs. I was telling him about how he can convince people of anything because he's sexy like that, and then launched into some solid reasoning for why my wedding should include a dramatic dance to "Always" by Bon Jovi because when I say his name? I understand. He's made mistakes. He's just a man. And Mike said to me:
"PS, nice touch on flirting with me and talking about your wedding in almost the same sentence"
And while I'm telling you about funny conversations I've had with Mike, I should share with you another story. I'm going to Geneva in August for more Thunderbird deliciousness, and I was talking to Mike about how I really wanted to be roomates with Cameron in Geneva. But what if she doesn't like me? Or thinks I smell funny? Maybe I should just pass her a note in study hall saying "Will you be my roomate? Check a box: Yes, No, Maybe?"
When we found out we do indeed get to pick our roomates in Geneva I got a message from Cameron that said "You + Me = Roomates in Geneva? Yes? No? Maybe?"
Awww. Its like we have ESPN or something. We're totally soul mates. Or Mike told on me. Either way, our room is totally going to be the "Room of Hotness" while we're there.
My new bff, Mike from my class at Thunderbird mentioned that I should put a funny picture of me and Boo on my blog. And I went, "Oh yeah. My blog. Bwahahaha, I still have that, don't I?" And explained that I'd been slacking on my blogging because of all the traveling to the West Coast (4 of the last 6 weeks) and you know, that MBA thing I started. And Mike responded with this gem:
"I have a lot of sentences that start that way. I used to _____, _____times per ____ but then I started Thunderbird. That applies to pretty much everything. Except coffee."
And then he told me I could blog that for free but this time only. And then compared his witty banter to dealing coke - the first one's on the house to get me addicted. See why I *heart* him? Now if you'll excuse me I must return the vortex of accounting that is trying to drown our entire class.
I will post that picture of Boo soon. Along with wedding planning adventures. And congrats to Jon & Ericka on their engagement - we love you guys!
My week at Thunderbird was one of the best week's of my life. It was exhausting, and exhilarating, and tons and tons of work - but I loved it. I have always liked school, but I am FASCINATED by this kind of school, the kind where I get to learn all those things I have always wanted to know more about.
Our opening lecture for the week consisted of a professor who had been doing extensive research about Thunderbird students, and why people are drawn to this quiet school in Arizona. He started out by describing "A Thunderbird Student." Imagine sitting in a room of 23 people where a professor stands in front of you and proceeds to describe your life ambition. We're not talking about "Oh, I always wanted to be a teacher because I love to see children learn." We're talking about "You have something in you that gives you this drive that makes you want to see and know everything about the world around you. You are fascinated by a variety of cultures and love the experience of being somewhere totally new. The worst thing anyone could do to you is allow you to be bored and to put you in any one place for too long." All those things that no one else has ever understood about me. So many people responded to this with, "Oh yeah, I like to travel." No. This is not that. This is more than that. This is something I HAVE to do with my life, this is what makes my life whole. This man spoke to my heart, to the very core of my being. It wasn't about 'what I want to be when I grow up' - it was what challenges me, what makes me love, what makes me happy, what I find interesting - all that stuff thats more than a job. That stuff that everyone else feels about their job but have never understood about what I want from my job. And 23 other people sat around me nodding, feeling the same way that I did.
That was the moment I knew I'd made one of the best decisions in my life.
And yes, during all of that I planned almost my entire wedding. Six weeks from getting engaged I have a date, place, photographer, DJ, and invitations. And I've been working about 50 hours a week. I'm feeling pretty badass these days.
And, I'm also leaving for San Francisco again on Sunday, for two weeks. I get to be home for one week, and then they ship me off again for two more. I'm invincible. Please check back in two weeks for the inevitable collapse.
My orientation leader put the lanyard with my name tag on it over my neck, saying "Welcome to Thunderbird."
I cried.
She hugged me.
I realized strangers were touching me, and stopped crying.
At least I got some rocking gear out of it - and ohhh yeah. That giant textbook.
