Power I didn't know I had

I'm still getting used to experiencing situations from a new perspective now that I no longer identify myself as a student or a dependent. Recently I've noticed myself looking at families (at church, the grocery store, wherever) and identifying more with the mom than the kids. How freaking crazy is that?

This morning I had a surreal adult experience of another kind.

I went to the bank to try to get three $20 service fees removed from my old checking account before closing the account for good.

After trying to explain my situation to a goober of a personal banker for about 10 minutes and being noncommittally told that he only has the authority to refund me $5, I was calm but a little annoyed. I knew these fees could and should be removed; I just wished I wasn't stuck dealing with this man who seemed inept and none too eager to straighten out my finances.

He called over the manager and determined the problem was because it was an Illinois account, a joint account with my parents, one of my several remaining legal ties to my youth.

Honestly, I just wanted the fees removed so I could get to work on time. I explained that I thought the fees were an error, or at the very least unfair, hoping there would be some legitimate banking reason to back me up.

"Well, let's take a look at the accounts," the manager said.

The goober told me it would be inappropriate to discuss my parents' accounts with me, but he and the banker pulled them up on the computer next to my accounts.

"Here is their account..." Goober said with an exaggerated sideways glance to the manager. My parents' account apparently flicking on a light bulb in her head, she now nodded in enthusiastic approval, "Oh yeah, yeah, we'll definitely remove these fees."

The goober murmured in agreement and they both assured me everything would be taken care of.

I was in slight disbelief as I watched the situation unfold. Now, I definitely think those fees should have been removed regardless, but I was just shocked by how easy it suddenly became once the bankers feasted their eyes upon the undoubtedly large dollar sign that is my parents' account. The money they saw in my parents gave me a new power -- one you see in the movies but never think little old you could actually wield. 

I think all customers should be treated well if a company intends to keep their business, and it makes perfect sense to bend over backwards (not that they did in this situation) to keep their more invested clientele happy, but it just made me feel a little uncomfortable. I'm grateful to be treated well, but I wish it were because they cared about me and not just my money.

Welcome to the real world, I suppose.

Goals: A look back and a look forward

New Year's Eve 2008 was begun with wine and apps at D.O.C. wine bar in Lombard, Ill. It was our first New Year's Eve as legal, 21-year-old adults so of course we wanted to whip out our IDs and order a few bottles (but not too much, as we were driving to Matt's afterwards).

In typical friendship style, someone proposed that we go around the table and share our top three New Year's resolutions. Fresh out of college and just a month away from beginning my first real job and 9 months away from wedding my sweetheart, here were my three 2008 goals:

1) Stay on top of wedding planning deadlines.

2) Run a 10K.

3) Eliminate the words, "like," "um" and "whatever" from my vocabulary.

Reasonable and useful goals. Did I succeed?

1) Meh, I guess all that matters now is that we had the most amazingly perfect wedding and now are blissfully married. I felt perpetually behind on bridal magazine-imposed "deadlines" and had countless wedding nightmares (literally, like bad wedding-related dreams) but in the end everything was just wonderful, and the photos and memories from the entire wedding weekend bring me joy every time I look at, think of or talk about them. :)

2) I did, indeed, run a 10K. Not only did I complete it (in the freezing, windy, freezing cold of April in Milwaukee) but I achieved my time goal of circa 50 minutes AND I won the gold medal for my age/sex group. Even better, I went on to complete a half-marathon in May. I ran the Madison Half Marathon and then promptly fell off the running wagon and have yet to regain any semblance of a fitness level (see this year's goals...)

3) Those words are still, like, totally in my vocabulary, but, um, whatever.

So that brings me to 2009. I didn't officially set resolutions this year (no one asked at our New Year's party, which was more of a debauchery than ever before) but I have one measurable goal that I would like to officially set.

Run a half marathon.

Okay, yeah, uh, like, I know already did that last year. But it was hard. And fun. And right now I can barely run 2 miles, so I don't think setting any higher of a running goal would be wise. I do not think this will be easy, but I would like to run the South Shore Half Marathon on April 11.

Then, if all goes well, I hope to continue training for either the Chicago Marathon or the Lakefront Marathon (preferably Chicago). Yeah, I said it.

Last year my goal was a 10K. I did it, and then moved on to the next challenge.

This year my goal is a half marathon. I hope to both do it and move on to the next challenge in 2009, but I will be quite satisfied if I only (ha, "only") run the half and don't quite make it to the full.

So, in conclusion, tonight I was one of those schmucks who went to the gym for the first time in two months because of some silly New Year's resolution they will probably forget in two weeks. Except I fully intend to keep mine.

Day 264: Plus or minus one

So, unless I use quotation marks around my name, my efforts to Google myself are thwarted by the fact that there is an H-list celebrity with my name. That's right, I'm referring to Allison Fonte of the 1977 Mickey Mouse Club revival. Thanks to Wikipedia, I have learned that we share more than just a first and last name. Her birthday is June 6 (1964). Mine is June 5 (1986). So we have the same name, plus or minus one letter, AND the same birthday, plus or minus one day (and 22 years - but hey, that means this year she is twice as old as me, and that's kind of neat).

Day 35: Bright lights

I've been back for a week now, but let me backtrack and write about Vegas.

O.
M.
G.
It was unreal. I didn't really have a clear picture of what I expected it to be like, but Vegas definitely exceeded whatever smoky image was in my head. Mom, Amanda, Mrs. Jacobs and I stayed at the Paris, where the inside feels like outside on a partly cloudy French day and the outside feels like you're at the Eiffel Tower except in the middle of the desert (yes, 100+ degree heat).

Speaking of Eiffel Tower, I ate probably one of the nicest meals of my life in the Eiffel Tower restaurant, which is about a quarter of the way up in the tower. A host in a cocktail dress greeted us at the elevator and after we told her we'd never been there before she said, "Oh. Well, you're in for a treat!" Truer words have never been spoken by a restaurant hostess. We sat in a horseshoe shaped booth with a view of the Bellagio water show out the window. The waiter put my napkin in my lap for me and recommended a glass of the best wine I've ever tasted (note to self: Pino Noir).

We saw Cirque de Solei: LOVE. Wow. Just, wow. It was set to remixed, insane Beatles music and it blew my mind. Humans can do THAT with their bodies?? Preposterous! They were like human jumping beans popping up and down on stage, throwing themselves against walls and climbing, twisting, flying, flipping, skating, gyrating.... just doing the most unimaginable things. So funky and fresh.

Overall Amanda and I got carded about 294,930 times. It's okay though. I'm legal and proud.

Our first day in Vegay we were wandering around the Bellagio feeling thoroughly amazed, yet out of place, and I decided, what the heck, I'm shootin' some craps. I had just learned how on the plane ride there thanks to a handy tutorial Mom printed out before we left. While I was losing $5 chip after $5 chip, behind me Mom, Mrs. Jacobs and Amanda could not contain their giggles and whispers. "WHAT?!" I hissed. "We'll tell you later, just keep playing." I couldn't wait till later. I ditched my game.

There was a $100 chip - yes, a single chip worth one hundred dollars - laying on the floor about two feet away from them. What a terrible, wonderful situation to be in. What do you do? Do you pick it up? Do you ask the person standing next to it (a 7-foot tall black guy with crazy white pants and a golf hat on) if it's theirs? Do you ignore it? Tell a casino worker? Step on it then sneakily pick it up? Drop a $5 chip next to it and "accidentally" grab them both? What a conondrum!

In the end, Mrs. Jacobs was honest. She tapped the basketball-player-like guy on the back and informed him he must have dropped it. "Oh," he said nonchalantly. "You can have it?" he offered, holding the chip out to Mrs. J. Was this some sort of joke? She just stared at him, and he said, "Well if I this wins, it's yours," and proceeds to place it as a bet on the 12. The TWELVE! Practically the worst odds on the whole table. Jeez! Less than two seconds later our $100 chip was gone. Lost. In an instant. He shrugged.

Rich bastard. She should've taken it when he offered.

Day 21: Sweat

I have a new lead on what my illness is, although I hope it's not right: lactose intolerance. I seem to feel worse after eating cereal, cheese, ice cream (probably too much ice cream) and yogurt. Just now I ate some yogurt and immediately had a little surge of a sick feeling. Maybe I should lay off the dairy for a bit and see what happens? I seriously doubt I'm lactose intolerant, but, eh, you never know.

Well today I sweat more than I think I ever have before. I ran my usual 30 minute route, although I must have had a quicker pace today than Saturday becuase it got me a bit farther. Anyway, it was so hot and muggy out, I was literally soaked in sweat. My shirt was dripping, my face was dripping, even my legs - like, shins - had sweat pouring off them. This was even worse than Saturday's high noon run. I was happy, however, that I saw one person sweating more than I was.

Well, it's my 21st day of being 21. Kind of monumentous. Not. But still worth mentioning. I leave for the bright lights of Vegas in four days and I am not sure what to expect, but I've heard it's unlike anything else. Should be a good time to bond with Madre too. A good time to win big too - cha ching!

Day 14: ID scanners, organs and street signs

It's a damn good thing I'm finally 21, because this weekend at the Lake (The Horny Toad to be exact) I got carded four times in one bar! Two of those times my ID was scanned and one of the bouncers scanning scanned my ID three times. Crap on a stick- I know I look young, but come on. I would have either been swimming home or escorted by a water cop had I tried my fake there in my pre-21 days. Oh the joys of legality. I already feel like a good samaritan after passing on my 21-year-old curly brown hair and distict smile to a 20-year-old head of curly brown hair and disturbingly identical distinct smile. She acted like I gave her my kidney when I passed it along to her. 'Twas cute.

Speaking of kidneys, I regretfully did not sign up to be an organ donor when I got my license renewed. I wanted to, but the DMV man suggested I check with my parents first, and the easily-persuaded me agreed. Let's just hope my organs stay working inside me until I officially register myself.

Speaking of the DMV - in Granite City, Ill., that is (had to cross the river into Illinois to renew my license) - all the street signs in that freakin' town are torn down! I had to drive around for quite a few minutes using my dog-like sense of perception to sniff out the DMV. Mapquest does not help if there are no signs.

Ha ha da xiao. Not.

Day 9: "Days are getting shorter..."

I have spent exactly four weeks in the full-time working world now. I was so ready for it before I began. I was ready for meetings, lunch out with coworkers and intellectual conversation about "where journalism is heading." I was ready for cutting-edge technology, deadlines and breaking news. A few of those expectations were correct, but what I wasn't prepared for was how long the days are, how much time is spent sitting at a computer and how lost in menial tasks I become each day. Did I mention how long the days are? Wow, they seem like eternities.

Today was better though. It seemed slightly shorter than usual. It's already 4:30. I have one hour left. Maybe it was the nourishment of my chai latte (delicious) this morning or my fascination with research on the Hill Italian neighborhood this afternoon that kept me busy. Maybe my audio editing late morning gave me enough variety to keep my eyes off the clock. Maybe the absence of my boss and his daily, "So... what'rya working on?" drill made me more at ease. Or maybe, just maybe, I'm getting used to the working world.

Do I want to get used to this 9-5:30 computer-sitting routine? I mean, yeah, it will make the summer a lot easier. But do I want my life to be this? Heck no! Maybe I should have gone into physical therapy or teaching or basket-weaving. Or just something more interactive and creative. I guess this is supposed to be creative. Maybe I'm just in the wrong department. I bet that's it.

On a more fun note, tonight is my official fourth 21st birthday celebration. Yes, that means I've had three celebrations in the past week and I'm still going strong. First was on my birthday (last Tues., June 5) in Columbia with school friends. Second was on Saturday in Naperville with friends friends. Third was on Sunday in Naperville with family. And tonight is in St. Louis with coworkers. I have one more celebration with my mom in Las Vegas at the end of June. I really know how to keep the party going (for a whole month) apparently.

Day 8: Exploring

Well, I am jumping into this blog a week late, meaning a week after I turned 21. Is it good blog etiquette to introduce yourself in the first post? Or is that a sign of a "n00b" (as my little brother would say)? I'm exploring in the world of adulthood. That's about all there is to know about me right now. And I'm attempting a picture-a-day project this year of my life (simply taking a photo of myself every day) but I already missed a few. Whoops. Once I get that up and running I'll post a link to the project. It's pretty narcissistic, I know. I'm intending it to be more like a journal though.