CHICAGO!!!

To celebrate the end of finals, and to give myself a much needed break from my family, I am going to Chicago next Thursday. I catch a bus leaving from St. Louis at 4:35 pm, and will get to Chicago around 9:30 that night. Katrina is going to pick me up, and we will head back to her dorm to settle in for the night. Friday, she has to work so I will be spending time with her friends, and making plans with my own. Friday evening we will be heaidng out on the town to party! The will also be some much needed bonding time, as well as shopping. I don't get to see Katrina much, and in January she leaves to go to Washington D.C for an internship at the Capital Building. I am so excited for her! This is a great opportunity for her to see what it's like working with Foreign Relations.  Because she will be come, I won't get to see her again until the end of April when the internship is over and she comes home after Easter. I am so excited for next week and can't wait to spend some time in the Windy City with my best friend!

Drama at the Hut

At Waterloo Pizza hut, we are all kind of like a big family. Dan's our dad, Colleen is mom, and Ryan is the cool gay uncle. I say this because Dan stays out of our business for the most part. He doesn't show us much apprectiation, and doesn't seen to care too much about us. Colleen gets annoyed with everyone, but still will show you that she cares about you. Ryan was trained by some of the people that work on our team still, so it is hard for him to remember he is in charge of us some days, but he still shows his authority. Colleen and Ryan are constantly fighting though. Ryan is our assistant manager, Colleen is assistant manager also, but she is still training. Eventually she will be taking over our store. She already is in charge of the schedule. I went from working a steady 25 hours to 20 hours a week. I asked her about it and she didn't have much to say, just added a 4 hour shift. It's dumb because the new girl that was hired two weeks ago is getting thirty hours a week. I definitely think that I will be looking for another job soon because I will not put up with the new lady coming in and changing everything.

My Birthday!!!

Along with Thanksgiving, I got to celebrate my birthday! My best friend, Katrina, was in town from Chicago for the holiday, and we got to spend a lot of time together. After shopping on friday, I went home to relax, and then went to Denny's with Katrina, my friend Alex, and my friend Jeff. We had an awesome time laughing, and I got to catch up with everyone. We then all went to our seperate homes with plans for me to go to Katrina's after shopping Saturday morning.
Saturday evening I went to Katrina's and we made cookies with her sister and friend Christina. Later on Christina's sister, Jessica, joined us. We all played Apples-to-Apples. That was probably the most fun game I have ever played. We were all extremely loud and obnoxious all evening. Alex came over to play with us and the game got more intense as we neared midnight. I was yelling at Katrina to come over and take her turn while Jessica was yelling that I had a minute left until my birthday. Just as the clock struck twelve, Katrina turned around, presenting me with a half eaten cake left over from Thanksgiving. It had a number two candle as well as ten regular candles. It was probably the most amazing birthday I have had yet. When I finally left, I noticed that Jessica had written all over the frost on my windows telling me "Happy Birthday" and that she loved me. Awesome way to end the night!
Sunday morning, I woke up and got to open presents. I got a fuzzy bathrobe, some pajamas, and a t-shirt. Then we went to chruch, and back home to eat lunch. Mom and I went shopping and to deliever some things her cousins had ordered from my brother's school fundraiser. Then we went shopping for my coat!! That night, my friend Alex came over, and we watched Beauty and the Beast. After he left, I went to meet my friend Shelly to go to Denny's for dinner, then we went back to her house to play checkers. I know, checkers sounds lame, but he turned it into a drinking game. Instead of the checkers pieces, we used shot glasses. If your piece got jumped, you had to do that shot. If you lost the game, which I did, you had to down all of the rest of the other person's shots. My birthday weekend rocked!

Black Friday

After Thanksgiving supper with the Zimmers, I went home and took about an hour nap. At eleven at night, I woke up and got ready to go face the insanity at Wal-Mart. I went outside to start my car, and the door was frozen shut. I got it to open, and then it was frozen open! I moved my car into the drive-way on the back side of the house, and left my dad a note to find in the morning. My aunt came and picked me up, and we went to Wal-Mart. After wandering around and fighting through crowds, we went and picked up a ticket for and 19 inch television my Aunt's friend wanted. I got to sit in line and wait for it until five in the morning. My aunt wandered around trying to find random stuff on sale.
After we got the T.V. my aunt and I then headed to South County to go to K-Mart to pick up the peacoats for my mother and I. We also had to get a recliner for my Grandpa. I went home and realized the coat was just slightly to snug on me. That night, my aunt and I had to go pick up the chair, and I returned my coat and got a pair of tennis shoes instead.
That was the first, and probably last time I will ever go shopping on Black Friday. It was the dumbest thing I think I have ever done.

Thanksgiving

This year Thanksgiving was very much like it has been every year. Waking up fairly early(before 9) my entire family struggles to use one bathroom to get ready to leave for Grandma Wilhelm's for dinner. Always way more than what we need. My aunt Michelle and uncle Craig are foster parents now. Through a Christian organization they get kids that are in unsafe homes and take care of them until they can return home or find a new place to live. They are currently gaurdians of a two year old named Jerrica and her four year old sister, Aubrey. Jerrica and Aubrey have been in and out of foster care their entire lives. They were a welcome addition to our family, even if it is just for a short while. All of the family sat around the table playing Uno until Mom, my brothers, and I had to leave. Then we went to my Grandma and Grandpa Zimmer's for supper. Like always, Grandpa tried to force feed me apple and pumpkin pie until I was ready to burst. I will never leave that house hungry. Different from previous years, Aunt Kim didn't ask me about my love life or school life. Also, my sister was not there this year. It was strange not getting to spend the day with her. It made me realize how thankful I am to have had her in my life. It also told me just how much I want her back home.

"Quality Time"

Yesterday, all of my family members that live in my house were actually home to eat dinner together. Should have been a good time with everyone sitting around the table enjoying a nice meal. Wrong! It all started with Dad told my brother Andrew that he should start riding the bus to school since football season is over and he doesn't need to use the truck to drive home. He starting flipping out, especially when Mom agreed. I stupidly pointed out that I had to ride the bus when I didn't have my own car unless I had to work after school. Now, Andrew has his own truck, that mom and dad bought for him. They also pay for his gas. This means it is their decision when he can and can not use the truck. He threated to drop out of school and mom reminded him that the girl he likes won't want to date a high school drop-out. He threw a rag at her and slammed the basement door into the wall, then stormed out of the house. Dad said nothing. Yes, it was only a rag that he threw at her, but had there been something heavier nearby, I have no doubts he would have thrown that instead. Then, Dad jumped on my case about butting into other's conversations. That always turns into a lovely screaming match. When he finally all sat down at the table, Andrew had at least called down slightly. Until everyone started eating. Then I heard, "The potatoes aren't lumpy! The potatoes are too lumpy! This steak is still pink. I think it's still alive." There are the same things I hear everytime I cook. I take the time to prepare a nice meal for my entire family, and everyone has a complaint. Mom never complains though, because she's happy she doesn't have to make it. The screaming continued until dad finally blamed everything on me, and I decided it was time to leave for class. I sure love spending time with my family. Not.

Money Issues

So, I am really tight on cash lately. I work twenty to thirty hours a week, making  minimum wage plus tips, but it still doesn't make ends meet. I pay the water bill for my family plus some, I buy groceries and put gas in my parents cars. I now have to pay $320 a month until I pay off one bill. Plus, I am trying to pay for school here at SWIC without any financial aid. My friends don't seem to understand that I can't go out to eat whenever I want, and I can't go shopping all the time. My family has never had much money to spare, we always get by, but sometimes just barely. I should be used to this, but I'm not. My paycheck is already gone, and I just got payed today. It sucks, because I feel like all my hard work is for nothing somedays. I guess I'm just feeling sorry for myself. I just needed this to be a vent session.

Pregnancy Pacts

Today I was informed that there are girls from my old school taking part in a “pregnancy pact.”  For those who don’t know what that means, it is when a group of girls get together and promise to all get pregnant if one of them gets pregnant. Now, don’t get me wrong, I have no problem with teenage parents, what they do is amazing, and I could never do it myself. I just think that these teenage girls would be a better support system for their teenage friend if they were just there to offer what help they could than by intentionally getting pregnant. These girls are changing their lives forever. I highly doubt that they thought through their decision when they made their promise. Do they know how much more difficult college will be with a baby?  Do they know how much harder it is to make a relationship work, either with the baby’s father or with another guy they meet? Do they fully understand what they are doing to the father of the baby? He may have great plans to be a doctor, or teacher, or a lawyer that will have to be put on hold if there is a baby in the picture. Like I said, I am by no means judging teen parents. I’m not going to try to pass judgment on these girls who plan their pregnancies. I am just voicing how crazy  I think what they’re doing is. These girls should seriously think about the choices they make before they do anything drastic.

Internet Guys

Like many other young adults, I use social networking sites to keep in touch with friends and to try to reconnect with old friends. Occasionally, I use them to meet new people. I was signed on to MyYearbook.com to see who commented on any of my stuff recently, and to just keep the account active and I had six new messages, all from random guys I did not know. I responded, to be nice, and to possibly try to make some new friends, and a couple of them responded back. Immediately one used a cheesy line when I asked him how he was doing. His response was "Amazing now that I met you." GAG! So I responded, "Nice line. Does that one work on all of the girls?" He tried to save himself by saying that he doesn't normally use lines, and that he genuinely meant it. Then he tried saying that he didn't know what he was saying because he was half asleep. I call shenanigans! He was hoping I would be like all the other desperate little girls he talks to and would immediately throw myself at him and send him nude pics. 1. I don't do that stuff at all, so he didn't stand a chance. 2. I'm not one of those desperate little girls just looking for attention. So, first you get the guy that tries way too hard to get a girl to talk to him, then you have the guy that is uber creepy and tries to get you to send nude photos or to have cyber-sex with him. What is the world coming to that we have to worry about 18 year old guys sending you pictures of their genital region instead of a picture of their face? I am tired of meeting creeps that think I am looking for a guy to shower me with the same attention he pays to every other girl that talks to him just because I joined a site. I appreciate the compliment, Buddy, but I'm not your babe, sweetie, or hunny. I am not going to fall all over you because you try to tell me you think I have a hot body. I've seen my body, and you are full of bull-poopie if you try to say that it's that great. Don't get me wrong, I don't hate my body or anything, but I'm not the type to get a compliment about my figure from someone who isn't just trying to get something from me.

A Little About Miss Katie-Bug

Since many people in this class don’t know each other, and therefore, don’t know me, I figured I could tell a little about myself.  My name is Kathryn Renae Zimmer. Most people call me me Katie, some Kate, and a few have their own names for me. I don’t care what you call me, as long as it isn’t offensive. Katieball Z is one of those nicknames. One of my friends had me saved in his phone as “Katie Z”, and he is a HUGE!! Dragonball Z fan, so it just turned into Katieball Z. Like I said, I don’t care what you call me. I am blessed with 19 wonderful years on this planet, with hopefully many more to come.

I live in Ruma with my mom, dad, two brothers, and four dogs. My sister just moved out in the beginning of July. She’s 21, and decided Mom didn’t have a right to hit her even though she was screaming in Mom’s face. She’s staying with some friends now.

I work at Waterloo Pizza Hut, and I have been there for three years and nine months on the 21^st. I was originally hired as a cook, but I also am now a customer service representative, driver, and I was trained as a server. I will never become a shift manager unless I have a guarantee of promotion to assistant manager. Shift leaders don’t make enough to put up with what they do.

This is my second year of college, but I am still a freshman. I went to SIU-C for a year, but didn’t like the atmosphere and didn’t learn well there. I did not party too much. That is everyone’s reaction when I tell them I didn’t learn well there.  Simply put, I failed pretty miserably and would have only had like 6 credits transfer, plus I couldn’t get my transcripts from them, so I took last year as a loss and started over with a clean slate here at good ole SWIC.

I love being outdoors. When I get a chance I love to go fishing, although I do get discouraged easily and tend to quit very early in. I don’t like not catching anything, and my dad finds the worst spots ever to fish at. I catch more “big moss bass” than actual fish. I love reading and writing, but for some reason these journal topics don’t come very easily. I’m better at writing poetry and cute little sayings than I am at actually writing about someone in a more organized manner.

Well I guess that is all I can think of to say for now. If you want to know any more about me, just ask. I promise, I don’t bite, well, often. Haha.