Crossgates Mall Shooting

It is 4:30 now. Jeremy and I are home. We are safe. But I can't say we are totally ok. You see these shootings happen on tv all the time and your heart goes out to everyone involved but never do you really think that you will have to witness it.

Jeremy and I went to this mall for the first time today. Every weekend we tell each other that we need to get out and do something and experience the new area we live in. The mall seemed like a good place to go. Do some shopping, each some junk food, go see Dr. Strange finally. When we arrived at the mall at around 1:30 we decided to start in Dick's Sporting Goods. We almost immediately went to the upper level of the store. Very quickly we found we were disinterested in anything in that store so we left it. Our next stop, and what turned out to be the only other store we would really be in was the Payless Shoe Store. I was joking around with Jeremy about trying on boots when we heard people rushing past the store. We saw people running and heard shouts of "he has a gun."

About half the people looked scared but mostly people just looked confused. Jeremy and I followed the crowd into the Macy's where mostly people were standing around confused about what to do next. Finally we heard more shouting. One of the Macy's employees was yelling for everyone to exit the building, "customers and employees, everyone exit the mall NOW." Jeremy grabbed for my arm and we just ran. We had no idea where we were exactly going or where people were running from in the first place. It was so surreal, seemed so unreal. We just ran.

When we got out into the Macy's parking lot it was chaos. People were running to their cars, trying to drive off and get away from the mall. Of course there was a traffic jam almost immediately. It was only a matter of seconds before we were surrounded by the sound of sirens. Jeremy and I were completely turned around but we just knew that we wanted to get tot the car. We knew there was no way were leaving any time soon but we just wanted to be in our car. Luckily despite the obvious fear everyone was feeling in this situation everyone we came across was polite and helpful. One woman even let us follow her as she navigated the parking lot, as we were so turned around we had no idea where we were in relation to our vehicle.

While we walked we came across a few people that we stopped and talked to. Tried to get some information. We learned from one man who worked at the Dave and Buster's that there was more than one shooter. And that he was seen with a gun only a store or two down from where Jeremy and I were. Near the Dick's Sporting Goods. Another man told us he had even seen us as we were leaving Dick's. I recognized him and his son as well, we stayed and talked to him for a few minutes. His son was crying and shivering. I offered him my spare sweatshirt but he was so scared he could only look up at his dad and repeat that he wanted to leave, that he never wanted to come back there. He couldn't have been any older than 8. There were so many kids running with their parents, crying as they tried to find their car. Those poor confused children. They should not have had to experience this today.

Finally Jeremy and I could see our car. We offered to let the boy and his dad sit in the car with us but the boy was too scared to move, so the dad thanked us and we left for our car. I immediately called my dad when I was in the car and felt safe. Jeremy called his mom and dad and then we waited. Unfortunately it was only minutes after getting into the car when we saw police running in our direction. Only a cars distance from us we saw police with guns drawn approach a vehicle and make a man exit the car, place his hands behind his head and, walk backwards toward the officers. One office was yelling at people to back away. Jeremy and I had to leave our car and ran with many others to another part of the parking lot. You might see a video online of Jeremy and I as people were all over the place with their phones out recording what was happening. Jeremy and I were too concerned with not getting shot to have our phones out at this time.

Things again started to calm down. Jeremy and I were with a group of people by the mall building just waiting for anyone to tell us what was happening. The calm didn't last long as another officer ran along the building yelling at people to move out further into the parking lot. There was another shooter. We had at least one on either side of us now.

People were panicked but there was nothing more we could do than wait. It was cold, and I still feel so cold as I'm writing this. We are safe. We kept repeating it to each other. Cops were everywhere, we could hear more sirens coming. Probably 30 minutes passed where all we could do was wait in the cold. Slowly we started walking in the direction of our car again. Nothing had happened for a while, no police were telling us to stay away or in any one spot anymore. When we could see the car again we still saw police almost right next to it, with the cop car parked close by with one of the shooters in the backseat. But people were walking around there too, it seemed it was at least safe enough that we could get into our car again. When we noticed other people starting to drive away we took our chance and drove off ourselves. But not before I finally took my phone out and took a picture for myself. So I could remember just how close I was to an active shooter today. Something I am going to repeat again and again, I never thought I would be witness to. I think I am really going to like online shopping from now on.

Beer, Beer and more Beer... Happy Labor Day!!

Monday September 5

   Happy Labor Day everyone!! Shout out to the men and women who fought so hard to ensure the safety of employees in the workplace and giving us the 8 hour work day. This is a nice weekend that we get to spend extra time with our loved ones (shout out to those still working today, seriously so sorry if you don't have today off) so let's remember why we have this extra day to spend with family and drink loads of beer. This is not a perfunctory holiday, it means something!! 

   Sorry to those of you who expected constant updates from me as well out here. Not posting on here for the last few days have been more for you than laziness on my part. Not a whole lot has been going down in the Falk/Borzick/Cat household. Jeremy has been hard at work with his classes and his TA-ing but I have been doing basically nothing. Well it feels that way. Though our apartment does finally look more like an apartment than an empty space. So I guess I have that going for me.

   Going to be completely open here, I have not been doing so well on the emotional level. Not having a job has made me feel pretty worthless and kept me down. I have been applying for a lot of jobs since I got out here and the constant stream of rejection from many of them were a major blow to my self worth. But fear not, dear readers, I could not be kept down for long!! A silver lining glowed before me and I took it while it was still shown to me. And that is the story of how I am starting work tomorrow. 

   Yes!! I get to leave the apartment once again for reasons other than finding food. It will be a long arduous trek, uphill for 45 minutes to get to the State Farm office where I will be working, but I shall persevere and before long I will have beautifully sculpted leg muscles that will make that trip to work effortless. Ok, it might actually take a little while for that to happen but hopefully that long walk will pay off and my cute clothes will fit comfortably once again. 

   Keep me in your thoughts, loved ones, pray that I do well at this new job, because the boss seems awesome, my coworkers are fun, and if I am a good enough saleswoman I could make some serious bank. 

   In closing here are some pictures of the few high moments you have missed during my blogging hiatus: 

Jeremy and I finally went to check out the bars. Amongst the many other drinks I had here is my favorite of the night, the black and tan.

The epic game of jenga going on in the back of the bar (not pictured the games of uno that I most gracelessly lost)

Going home from the bars meant climbing the endless stairs to get to campus. I would complain further but it was the safest route for us to take to get home.

Look at the cute lil baby

LOOK AT THE CUTE!!!! 

Shameless Exploitation of My Feline Cutie

 Wednesday August 24

Basically just a bunch of pictures of my purrfect cat.

She thought she heard something out the window

Such a perfect face

Bored of mommy already

She pretended to help me pack so she could get high on packing tape

ughdksalkjewhoi so cute!!

Is this mattress mine?

Yupp its mine now

Soft kitty, warm kitty, little ball of fur...

Happy kitty, sleepy kitty, purr purr purr

Daddy, look at how cute I am!!

Is this for me? Yes its for me!

Purrito

Purrito.0

OH the sun is so warn

So warm and so nice!

This blanket is mine too now

Did you hear that? Attack mode!!

Oh these towels smell so nice

And they are so soft

Mine now too

And I'm so cute you ain't even mad

   We have the darn cutest cat ever.

   My interview went well today... I think. Jeremy was super sweet and came along, then I went with him to his department orientation. He got free pizza!!

Wisconsin Night!!

August 18-19

   I am sad to report that we had a few days of not too much happening. Jeremy and I have been enjoying touring the city. We found the important places, Jeremy's school, the local grocery store, the liquor store. While I have been enjoying all the walking and exploring unfortunately my feet have not been. At this point I would usually post a picture to explain my predicament but, seriously guys, my feet are nasty and nobody wants to see those. They were initially covered in blisters, and I mean covered, from toes to heal. Those blisters made it very difficult to even move around my apartment so they had to go. I will spare the details because I'm pretty sure you all know the quickest way to get rid of blisters. Ouch. My feet were red and raw after that, so I had to rest, hence not a whole lot going on these days. 

   The one exciting tidbit I can report is that Jeremy finally started his TA training!! Yay!! This meant another long walk to campus (yuck) and Jeremy seemed very excited to finally meet people in the same position as him, some even in the same department as him.

August 20

   I woke this morning to a strange sight. I wish I had taken a picture of it because, yea. It was something. As many of you know I love love love my sleep. Way too much. Jeremy on the other hand could take it or leave it. Because of our differences in opinion when it comes to sleep we have very different sleeping patterns. Usually I end up going to sleep after Jeremy, and I end up waking up to an apartment left in whatever state Jeremy had left it before he finally caved and came to bed. Usually this isn't too bad. On very long nights the kitchen might be in a bit of disarray or there might be some half empty coffee mugs on the table, nothing I can't leave alone for him to take care of when he wakes up. This morning was different.

   I woke this morning to a barricaded bedroom door. There wasn't any heavy furniture in front of the door or anything but there were a bunch of Jeremy's socks stuffed under the door. I giggled and went off to the bathroom without thinking about it. Before moving the socks and opening the door, however, I was struck with a slight worry. Why would Jeremy take the time to do this before going to bed? I had to wake him. Holy crap did he have a good reason to block off the door. 

   THERE WAS A GIANT SPIDER IN OUR APARTMENT 

  

   Yea, Jeremy and I didn't handle the whole spider thing well. I think we will be okay though. We sprayed the crap out of the creepy storage space that is creepy, and have placed glue traps throughout the apartment (all in places where the cat cannot get stuck). Through this whole spider thing we have actually been very protective of the cat. Overly so, probably. I didn't actually see the spider, Jeremy did, and he freaked out that it might be poisonous and that freaked me out so we actually kept the cat locked in rooms that we had already deemed safe of spiders for a while. I'm not even ashamed. 

August 21-23

   

   There have been some pretty boring days in the last week. I haven't even really done much around the apartment so my feet could heal. I feel very lucky that I haven't gained any weight from being so stationary and most of my food intake being from delivery. Very unhealthy delivery. But we need to figure out all of the good places to order from early on. It's for science!! 

Yes we did order food today too. To be honest that one wasn't so much for science as it was we had walked around a lot for the day and I just wanted a pizza. It was a good one though, very cheesy. Jeremy was pretty disappointed because he had ordered chili fries and when the food came he got only chili. It's ok though, I took pity on him and gave him some of my pizza. I'm such a good girlfriend.

   Dinner tonight was not delivered though!! We had a Wisconsin night. It was good!! Mama and Papa O gifted us with a lovely WI Basket before we left and it included WI crackers, WI beef sticks, and WI cheeses. OOOOHHHHH it was good!! And now it is gone. We are from Wisconsin, we eat, you get it. 

Even Amelia liked it. A true WI kitty!!

Hopefully these next couple weeks will be full of more fun and adventure to keep y'all entertained. Tomorrow is a job interview for me, so hopefully some posts about a new job coming up... 

One Martini, Two Martini, Three Martini, more!!

Wednesday August 17

   Welp, I'm 5 martinis and in and they just keep coming. Jeremy and I took a lovely trip to the lovely discount liquor store with all the lovely bottles of booze to choose from. I got a blueberry beer at this store, which turned out to be not so lovely. Jeremy described it wonderfully as seltzer water flavored with beer and a hint of blueberry. It is drinkable but I will stick to my martinis for the time being. Jeremy was kind enough to mix me a giant shaker full of 'em so I think I am set for the night. After moving around as we have today I feel like the drinks are quite deserved. 

   Today was not by any means a stressful day, though this morning was full of nervous anticipation. While Jeremy had already accepted his offer to go to school here long ago there was still paperwork that needed processing. As we have both had past experience with the bureaucracy of universities we were not expecting to have an easy go at it. We were pleasantly surprised, however, when the longest meeting that Jeremy had, at the four offices we stopped into today, took no longer than 20 minutes. Not only was the meeting so short but they covered every topic that Jeremy still had questions about and even fit in time to discuss the extent and any success in my job hunt (spoiler alert no luck has yet to be had). During this short but informational meeting I was even able to start a book I have been dying to read since I bought it months ago, on the Goddess Reawakening in modern society. After this it was a short bing bang boom from the Student Union, to the Health Services, ending in the Financial Aid Office and poof, we were done. 

During his meeting I even got to enjoy this gorgeous view. This school is so beautiful. 

   It sounds like we had such a short day but to be clear we didn't leave the apartment until 1 this afternoon. While Jeremy was preparing for his meeting early today I was researching further into open employment in the area. There haven't been a whole lot of leads but I have been getting applications in where I can. Unfortunately applying for jobs isn't like it was even just back when I was in high school. My first couple jobs I went into a business establishment that had posted "for hire" signs, spoke to a manager and was able to fill out an application then and there. The few places that have physically posted open positions here that I have inquired about in person left me with an employee staring at me blankly until they push me to fill out an online application, saying everything except to leave them the hell alone. I miss calling places without being scolded to remain patient and that they would call me when a decision has been made (spoiler alert #2 they never call back even when a decision has been made, I'm lucky to receive a rejection email). Oh well, I remain optimistic. I am hard working and determined to a fault, I will find something. 

   On a lighter note Jeremy and I ordered from grubhub.com again. It is so nice to order food and not have to talk to anyone. I swear it is not that Jeremy and I are completely antisocial people, it is just that we have had bad experiences of ordering over the phone and the person on the other end mishearing us leaving us with an order of something nasty that neither of us would ever touch. Ordering online is so neat and simple and we [almost] always end up with what we actually ordered.

Can even order from the comfort of your exercise ball that you have to use until the chair you ordered arrives

   The plan for tomorrow is to continue the unpacking process. So get ready for an exciting entry tomorrow night as I find items that I had forgotten I packed. I am super excited to find those pesky thank you cards so I can finally properly express my gratitude to all who helped Jeremy and I get to where we are through this stressful move. Don't think that I have forgotten about any of you! I just lost my stationary temporarily!! Stay classy everyone, and if you have the chance enjoy a martini, you deserve it!! 

Life From the Top of a Hill

August 15-16

   Life has settled a bit after the move and just before Jeremy has to start school. I've been trying to remain semi-productive but also to enjoy the down time just a bit. That means some time set aside each day to relax. So with all this relaxing I'm amazing that my feet hurt. My calves hurt. My thighs all the way to my butt hurt. Oi. Life at the top of a hill is tiring. 

   Jeremy and I knew when we moved here that we would be doing a lot of walking. That was actually a plus for us. Walking more and driving less is not only good for the environment but will hopefully in time turn us into the sexy fishes that are laying in wait deep down under all the Taco Bell and Pizza Hut we have consumed in the last two years. We chose the apartment we are currently in because, while it is a bit of a walk from campus, it isn't a two hour hike like some of the others we had looked into. 

   Half hour. That is the time it takes to walk from our apartment's driveway entrance to the building that Jeremy will enter tomorrow for a meeting from whence I shall never see him again. A half hour doesn't seem like much. For the last 6 months I've been walking a half hour to work every single weekday. You would think I'd be use to this by now. But now, now. I live on a hill. A lovely hill. At certain spots there are beautiful views of the city. At sunset, forget 'bout it. So gorgeous to live on a hill. My feet have been cursing me, though, for these last two days. I even have it easy. Jeremy just bought new sandals. Half because they were gross and the other half because I talked him into it (Jeremy doesn't like throwing things away, including nasty old shoes). These new shoes seemed comfy enough, except that they hug his feet in just the right way that after going for a 1 1/2 hour walk for two consecutive days there was blood basically streaming off his feet. Very nasty. Very painful.

   We are in a bit of pain but we loved seeing the campus again. Every time I step foot on that campus and see the academic buildings and other graduate students I am just filled with such pride for my Jeremy. He has worked so hard and is so intelligent, he truly deserves to be here. And of course Jeremy loved being on campus today because, ya know, Pokemon. 

He posed nicely for me for about a minute

Then I took too many pics and he got all sassy

When I got to be too much for him he just walked away :)

   These last two days haven't been filled with only relaxation and blood. We got some more of the apartment set up. The kitchen is finally starting to look like a kitchen where I can do kitchen-y things. I'm loving it!! I even got to make another meal in it today. I made breakfast for lunch. Eggs over medium (MJMB would've approved!!) over toast. It wasn't an exciting or overly elaborate meal but delicious none the less.

I put avocado on mine because, duh!!

Besides the kitchen Jeremy was over the moon when his new desk arrived. He was finally able to set up his baby and now all is right in the world. He was planning on staying up til goddess knows when but by the looks of it he will be crashing at about the same time as me tonight. And what else... Ah! Yes, the job hunt continues. I found a number of open positions. Part time and full. I was able to apply to five full time jobs yesterday and already received an email back from one. It was only the standard automated "here's what's next" email but I was excited anyway. Keep sending those positive thoughts my way people!! I think they are starting to work!!

All to open tabs to all the jobs I tirelessly apply to

   Amelia sends her most purrfect regards to all you readers. She is cute as ever and finally walking around like she owns the place. Things are starting to normalize around here! To all my friends and family, I miss you dearly. This is the most difficult things I have ever done being so far away from all of you but I think Jeremy and I are going to have a lot of fun here. This is a very exciting place to live and we have walked around enough to get a good feel of the place. We don't think any of you have to worry, we are in a very safe part of the city. My love to all of you! <3

   OOOhhhh, forgot the most exciting thing we did these last two days!! We ordered our first New York Chinese food!! We got to order it off grubhub.com so we didn't even have to fight over who would call in the order! It was magical! And some very good food. We will be trying the food from many other restaurants before we choose our new regular place but it was a nice start!! 

A Catty Disposition

Sunday August 14

   I got to sleep in today. Like sleep in, sleep in. Like it was 6:00 am and I was still asleep. It was 7:00 am and I was still asleep. You won't even believe it but it was 8:00 am and I was still asleep!! Y'all, I didn't open my eyes until the cat meowed right in my face at 8:30 this morning!! Holy sweet baby Jesus, Mary, and Joseph did that feel great!! For about 10 minutes. 

   There were plans today to get the apartment more set up. We were going to move boxes to proper rooms for subsequent unpacking. Now for a person who actually did very little today I am pooped like none other. Part of that might just be because I have had nothing else to drink today but beer. In my defense I was missing WI again and the beer was Miller High Life, so get off my back. The other reason I feel so overworked after doing so little is because, of course, of Amelia. 

   Now when Jeremy and I got here and we did our initial shopping for the necessities, we were super excited to get Amelia a new litter box and this time to actually use litter box liners, because, ya know, cat poop is gross. This morning though, major backfire. With a capital M. Oi. Lemme tell ya. As I said I didn't have to wake up until the beautiful hour of 8:30. And I woke up to the cat. Once kitty saw I was awake and her mission was fulfilled she moved on to her next task. Apparently this was breaking in the new litter box (with the new litter liner). 

   The scratching noises came from the bathroom at about 8:33. I had just woken and didn't pay it much mind. When the clock struck 8:45, however, and still a frantic scratching noise was being emitted from said bathroom I (sent Jeremy) went to investigate. As it turns out Amelia did in fact go to use her new litter box for the first time but the litter liner did her little good. Somehow we assume she either kicked up some litter or the bag bounced back some litter into one of her eyes. Our poor girl.

   Amelia is our precious little girl, and a delicate flower at that. So when something is bothering her she likes to put on quite a show. Even though we know that sometimes she lays it on thick we kind of started to freak out. Research immediately commenced on veterinarians in the area (all closed on Sundays), products were tracked down and researched, until finally we found a pet supply store in the area. We found the right eye wash made for cats, and off we went to purchase our only hope to save our kitty from mild to severe discomfort. Little did we know that these efforts would create a mild discomfort of our own.

   So you know how cats stereo-typically have a dislike for water? Well they like it even less when it is being squirted into their eyes. Of course, I don't like eye drops either, but I don't scratch the living hell outta the person helping me when I need to flush out my eyes. Wowza did she freak out. And I'm not blaming Jeremy, but it is Jeremy's fault. Here's how it happened. I was holding Amelia, which also included holding open her bad eye. Jeremy poised the bottle of eye drops toward her eye, and totally missed. As soon as Miss Amelia figured out what was going to happen with that bottle she flipped. Literally, as it so happens. She flipped around in my arms and attempted to bolt. I was able to calm her down and we got some drops in, but she made sure to fuss about it when it was all done. 

   I don't want any of you to worry too much about our precious and pretty pretty princess. She will be okay. Later tonight we cornered her one more time and I was able to flush out some more gunk with the eye solution. She is opening it a little more, but if we don't see enough improvement we found a vet in the area that we are planning to take her to.

    When Jeremy and I finally realized that Amelia was in no mortal peril we did finally get some things around the apartment accomplished. For instance we moved around some bookshelves, vacuumed the living room floor, got some food stored in cupboards, and Jeremy drank a big ol beer.

Big ol beer was a LAGER

Along with all the beer we drank today we also discovered something amazing about New York pizza.

My side is the one with yummy yummy mushrooms

 A New York personal pizza is a WI small, a NY small is a WI medium, a NY medium is a WI Larger, and a NY large is leftovers for 4 days. Here's hoping we don't get fat over here! Cheers, all!