Clarification

I guess in my last blog, I made it seem like Josh was the root of my unhappiness. But, I would like to make it known, that he isn't. He doesn't make me unhappy in life, he makes it better. Our relationship isn't perfect and sometimes it overwhelms me.

What I believe to be the core of my problems is where I live. Kenosha, the third largest city in Wisconsin with the views of a small hick town. The population is 100,000, I believe. It even beats Green Bay, but not Milwaukee and Madison.

A couple years ago, I went to the Twin Cities with my "mentor", Michelle Marschel. Being there, I realized how lame Kenosha really is. Piercings and tatoos are tabooed here, whereas in Minnesota, we could go into a fancy restaurant and the manager would be tattoed from head to toe and have a piercing in every single orface (sp?) of his body. It felt good being there. Like, I could look totally outrageous and not have people look at me like I was crazy. That's what I need in my life--to be in a place where I feel like I'm not being boxed in. My boyfriend agrees with me so we have come up with a solution to my problem, which I will get to in a moment.

There are two things that my boyfriend and I need to be doing in our lives right now. Those things are going to school and working. I want to be an English teacher, so I do have to go get a degree for those who are thinking that I don't have to go and he wants to major in Spanish and Education to either teach the Spanish-speaking or English, which I believe is nifty. I have been going to the local University here in Kenosha and he will be joining me this upcoming semester. It's not that I don't like my school, the professors are great and I enjoy my classes. The problem is that outside of class (and sometimes during) it feels like an extension of high school. I was over the high school scene before I even hit my junior year. I was even planning on graduating a year early to get out of there, but complications arose in my life and my counselor and I decided it would be best to wait. So to fix staying in Kenosha and going to UW-Parkside, Josh and I have to decided that we are going to apply to transfer to three other univiersities: Madison, Milwaukee, and the Twin Cities! Ever since I went there, I have always wanted to go to school in the cities, but it was out of my budget and if I have my boy with me, it'll be easier. Madison is actually the one we are hoping for because it's still in Wisconsin and I get free schooling here because of the GI Bill (my daddy is a veteran). But, seeing as Madison is kind of hard to get into, we are also going to apply to Milwaukee. Even though we don't plan on going anywhere until after this year is over, knowing that I'm actually going to be doing something to get out of Kenosha helps unwound me.

As for work, I just got a new job last month which pays nicely and the hours are great. I have been working since the summer after my freshman year of high school and it's kind of a relief to not have to work so much to get the money I need to support myself. It's definitely going to help when school starts since I'm taking on 18 credits! Also, I can easily transfer to another store in a different area.

Sorry for this blog being so long! I hope you enjoyed reading it if you could even make it through the whole thing.