Monday, January 11, 2010

Cool things that happened to me this week.

School has started and I am back at work, so naturally, stress levels are a little bit high. However, I feel like life has already chosen to be kind to me in 2010. I feel like 2010 has opened it arms to me and said "Kristina, sometimes life can be kind of hard. So here are some pretty cool things that are going to happen to you in the first 2 weeks to make it all feel a little easier."

1. Magic textbook
I was kind of annoyed at the fact that on top of a $2400 tuition raise this year, my books seemed to be costing me loads more than usual. Perhaps it was just my class selections, but usually in a quarter I can get by spending only $100 or so for all of the books I need. This quarter, my bill was $400. *mouth drop*
However, due to some fancy planning and luck, I was able to bring that cost down to about $200. And the main reason being that one of the bigger textbooks I needed just APPEARED at my house. We have this shelf in our entryway where we put everyone's mail, and randomly, suddenly, my Human Sexuality textbook (albeit a very used copy, but I don't mind) was just sitting on the bottom shelf. And no one in my house knew who it belonged to. So I am now using it. Merry Christmas to me!

2. Book rebate
On top of being crafty about finding books, my Journalism and Lit teacher did something that was almost unheard of. So our main course book for his class is one that he himself wrote, and since it was published in the UK, the list price (with shipping) was ridiculous. He was upset at how much we were charged, so he told us if we brought in the new edition of his book, he would give each of us a $10 rebate. From his pocket. From the money he made off book royalties. Amazing?

3. Ice Cream at Work
I worked an insane weekend (because we were doing a kidstage production of High School Musical and they needed me all weekend for will call). However, there were some parts of the weekend that were very slow (in contrast with the crazy and hectic hour or so before the show began at 2 and 7:30). Instead of just sitting around the box office, my manager suggested ditching work for about a half hour. So we did. And got ice cream. Yum.

4. Being recognized at work
It's just fun. And it happened last night. It always makes me blush. Hello, if you read my blog! I hope you enjoyed the show!

5. Free phone
I got home from school on Friday and saw I had a package waiting for me on the aforementioned mail shelf. I wasn't expecting a package, so bewildered, I began to pry at the packing tape with one of my keys. My roommates watched as I opened the box, and out fell a Nexus One. Google's brand new phone that was only released on January 6th. Google said there were no strings attached and they were just thanking me for being a YouTube partner. With a phone! Um… you're freaking welcome?

6. (Different) Free phone
Turns out you pretty much have to have t-Mobile to use the Nexus One, which sucks because I really, really like it and would love for it to be my phone. But I already have a contract for the next year and a half with Sprint, so I just can't. So I decided to try and trade it for another Google phone, so I can do Google a solid and still test out one of their phones with the Google interface and Android operating system. So I asked on twitter if anyone knows anything about the HTC Hero with Google; Sprint's equivalent. I was NOT expecting someone from Seattle to not only want to buy my Nexus from me, but to have a Hero she was willing to trade me for. And teach me how to use it. So we're meeting at Chipotle today, and sorting that out. Could it have worked out any better?

So, things are pretty great in Kristina land. I have to read 150 pages of Foucault by later tonight and write a paper on it, and it's Monday so I have a video to make, but all things considered, I'm having a pretty great week.

31 comments:

Paul Carroll said...

Oh cool! Yay Kristina! ^_^ Glad there's some good things happening in between all the madness in your schedule ^_^

Anonymous said...

Wow. That's freaking awesome!

Dave said...

They GAVE you a phone?!
They've never given me anything! What a bunch of slags!

Caitlin said...

Free phone? I've had my phone for a little over a year...but I love her xD She's clean and white and gold and has loads of memory and if I top up £10 during the week, she gives me free texts all weekend (okay, so, Virgin gives me free texts...but I like to think they're from Phoney).

Hope Thompson said...

Yay! I'm happy that things are good in the land of Kristina. <3

J O D I E said...

Three cheers for smiles!

Anonymous said...

$400 is cheap for textbooks. The least I spent was $150, the most $700 and on average $500.

Yeah, like I wrote on your wall awhile ago, had I known you were working where you were went to the Brewhouse down the street, I would have said hi.

Olivia said...

Glad you're having a good month!

Text book prices SUCK. Mine were almost $500 this semester, and most of them were used.

Hope you like the new Google phone!

Anonymous said...

With a phone?! Wow! I'm glad things are going awesome in Kristina Land. Can I come and live there?!

seurat2 said...

Glad Kristina world continues to make a happy place. Free phones are awesome, as is ice cream and cheapish textbooks. No music recommendations?

Kat said...

Oh gawd, Foucault. Have fun. I took Queer Theory last semester and we read most of the intro to The History of Sexuality, and our professor gave us this lecture about how she may have assigned only fifteen pages of reading but fifteen pages of Foucault should be equivalent to a novel in terms of how long it takes us to read.

Despite being super confusing, Foucault is fascinating and often creepily and depressingly accurate. Enjoy writing that paper, haha.

janitorbud said...

Personally, I love that you guys decided to meet at Chipotle

Cat said...

It's Santa!
He's been late this year so he's making up for it.
It's Santa. I'm positive.

to_thine_own_self said...

That's so awesome about the magic textbook!
And I can't wait to see your Monday video =D

Rad :D said...

You're so incredibly lucky! *jealous face* :P

appletrain said...

:D all this just made me smile, a lot.

Marissa said...

I love happy blog post Kristina :)

Kristi said...

My friend was in that production of HSM! I think she was a cheerleader. Was it good?

Kkthenerdfighter said...

I almost forgot you have to make a 5AG video. That makes me happy :)
I am glad you have been having a pretty awesome 2010 so far!

Emily said...

I'm fascinated by this magic book idea. Think that would work for me if I wished really hard?
It's so awesome that so many cool things are happening to you!

Anonymous said...

sounds like your 2010 is going awesomely! yay!

Primrose Marie said...

Change this blog to "Oh, YAY Kristina." I'm so glad your week has been so great.

CRUNKRacoon said...

I keep having this picture of a silver doe leaving the magic textbook in your house. This is what happens when you re-read Harry Potter before bed. X]

Bitten Usagi said...

Well if you have the same text for Human Sexuality and we do that was a dang good find. We're (a friend and I are both taking the class) renting it for the semester and it was still $70!

Crystal said...

Yay free phones! Also, due to your and Luke's parody of Fireflies, I'm now obsessed with Owl City. xD

This may sound weird, but when you I read that you had a good day, it makes my day better. (I swear, that wasn't supposed to sound creepy.)

usernamessuckfully said...

maybe u should charge admission to enter kristina land lol it might help pay for ur book fees :-)too bad about the phone would've been sweet if couldve used it

Elisabeth said...

After an average day, this post just cheered me up and put a smile on my face. You're the best :)

Lee Farnell said...

That's so cool! You must be having the best 2010 ever! You're so lucky!

inkstainedpages said...

Sounds like you had a great week!

The cheapest my textbooks have ever been is about $250. You are lucky you can find them so cheap usually! Two semseters ago, mine cost $800! :)

ObsidianVormund said...

Glad things are so good! :)

Justin Bieber said...

SUck me hard kristi