making mistakes.

You know what we all have in common?

We're all human.  

My point?

We all make mistakes.

At nearly 22, I've probably not lived long enough to give very deep life advice.  But as a girl, and a student, and a human being... I've made plenty of mistakes that have turned me into the person I am today and that have affected where I am right now in life in general.  This all sounds cheesy, and believe me when I say that I don't like sounding cheesy when I write this kind of stuff... but I've just recently been reminded of mistakes that I've made in the past. 

I don't know why I want to talk about it, however vague it all may be... maybe just to get it all out of my head.  

I love my boyfriend more than I can explain.  Actually, it's because I can't explain it that lets me know how much I love him.  :)  I mean, of course I could give you a list of things that make him amazing, but overall.. it's just the feeling I get when I'm with him that lets me know that I'm in the right place.  A big thing that's important?  Lust isn't the first thing I feel... and that's good, at least to me.  Now don't get me wrong... my boyfriend is sexy and I know it (and he knows it! ha!), but for me, and knowing the mistakes I've made, I feel like that says a lot for our relationship.  

I went through a time, over a year ago now, where I didn't know what I wanted. I knew I didn't want to lose my boyfriend, Adam, but I also knew, or thought I knew, that I wanted something different.  So.. I talked to people I shouldn't have and I put myself in situations that I could have easily avoided.  I made it to where I didn't know who I was anymore, because the things that I was doing my old self would never have done.  I actually put myself into a pretty severe depression because of it.  Just to keep it vague and short, I messed up the trust between Adam and I, and as a result, I don't know if he believes things that I say to this day.  

The reason I'm bringing this up is just because I'm thinking about it.  I had a hard night last night; Adam made me realize last night how much he really doesn't trust me, and it was hard because I really couldn't blame him.  I was reminded of mistakes that I'd made well over a year ago, and I couldn't be mad at Adam; I had caused all of our problems in the first place. 

Now, just to clarify, I didn't cheat - I did things I shouldn't have, but I never cheated.  I don't want anyone to be getting the wrong impression..

I guess I just wanted to say that we all make mistakes, and we'll be reminded of them every once in a while.  But in making the mistakes that I made, I learned so much.  I learned what I didn't like, and what I didn't want.  I learned about myself and Adam learned a lot about me that he didn't know.  Adam learned more about what I like, and has changed to try and make us even better than we already are.  In telling Adam everything that I've done, and in talking about my mistakes, we've become closer.  He calls me honest, and it's true.  I don't like having secrets from the person I love, especially when my mistakes had the potential to break us up, which actually happened a few times. 

Accepting our mistakes, and learning from them, make us better people.  Making mistakes sucks - but we're human, and it's to be expected.  

Making mistakes makes us who we are. 

And that's okay with me. 

here's to having a job!

Ok.

So, I know it's been like.. a zillion years since I've posted.  But this job of mine has been keeping me busy.  I work for a small hotel chain close to where I live, and my job title (Guest Services Representative) includes me having to take phone calls and make reservations, check people in and out of three different properties (I work at 3 different hotels depending on what day of the week it is), and obviously, I have to clean up and make the lobby and dining areas look pretty.

So...

Here's to having a job!  And also, having absolutely no free time because of it.  Haha, and the funny thing is..  I got a job to help alleviate my financial stress; turns out, because I'm not getting as many hours as I'd hoped, I'm actually spending more than I'm earning on each paycheck, 'cause I get paid bi-weekly, or every two weeks.  I'll manage until school starts and I get my refund check, but it just sucks that I really can't afford to actually have any kind of substantial break any time in the near future.

It's funny though.  I guess this is what is to be expected for the rest of my life?  Haha, I mean hopefully I won't be working as a front desk receptionist once I graduate with a degree in Art History.. but you never know.  Having a job like this makes me feel very grown up, though. :)  Haha

So yea.  Work has been my life for the past two months.  It's fine; I like my job.  I'm just very tired.. and very sad that I don't even have the free time to write an interesting blog!  'Cause you guys don't care that I'm working all the time.  Haha..

My computers blew up, as well.. so the only computers I have access to are the computers at work, which is fine for now.. but once school starts, I'll have to figure something out there. 

Ugh.

If you can help it, try not to grow up.

It's kind of a pain in the ass.

i hate it when sisters are annoyingly cute.

I really have had, like, NO free-time lately.  

None. 

My freaking job is occupying 99.9% of all of my time, and we're getting close to finals week here at school. 

Don't get me wrong.. Knowing that I'll be getting money is nice.  But I have no time for myself anymore.  I don't even have time to think about anything else but work.  

This includes trying to think of interesting things to blog about.

My sister posts interesting shit... It's making me kinda jealous.

(Yes, Sarah, you're blog is freaking adorable and I hate you for it.  Your welcome for the idea.)

Since my sister and her annoyingly cute blog is the ONLY thing I can think about right now, how about a little plug for our YouTube channel?

Go watch this video:

http://www.youtube.com/user/DwaSiostry#p/a/u/0/IrH6h2vZZTU

We're pretty hilarious. :)

And now.. off to sleep... 'cause I have work at 7:30 in the morning.

Until 5...in the afternoon.

For those bad at math... that's nine and a half hours.

That's entirely TOO long for one to be at work.

Ugh.

A.

let's take a deep breath.

Hey guys.

:)

Just wanted to put up a quick post before I go to bed here to apologize for my obvious pessimistic-ness in my previous post.  I'm not sure what happened yesterday, but I got very overwhelmed by things that were very small in the grand scheme of things. 

Like my photo up top?  This is what I drink when I know I'm stressed and I need to relax.  Now, I hated tea before I drank this stuff.  This is an herbal tea.  This tea relaxes my entire body, and when I put it in my don't-mess-with-me-I-can-do-anything coffee mug, it just makes me feel so much better.

That, and I turn on Mythbusters and everything feels better.

:)

I guess I just have to remember that life is full of challenges, and it doesn't matter how many times you feel like you fall down - what matters is whether or not you choose to stand back up.  I know that sounds cheesy, like it's from a Disney movie, or something, but it's true.  

When you feel overwhelmed and like the whole world is just trying to knock you down, find something that relaxes you, sit down, and escape into your own world where you can calmly figure out your thoughts.

Life is only as hard as you make it.

Let's be strong!  

And just fyi, the skeleton coffee mug really does make me feel like a bad-ass - life is better when I'm drinking from it. 

:)

A.

life sucks.

You know...

It doesn't matter how many times I try my hardest to do something that'll make my life a little easier for me.  Seems like there's always something that's just waiting for me to stand up a little straighter so it can knock me down a little lower than I was in the first place.  

I just got a job. That's good, right?  ESPECIALLY considering how long I've been looking.  Well, I don't like my job.  Not that much right now, anyways.  It could just be because I'm still in training and that I don't know all the things I need to know yet, but still.  Part of me was expecting it to be a little different.

A few days ago, as I was leaving for work, my car wouldn't start.  Lovely.  Thankfully my sister parks her car at my apartment, so I was able to get to work, LATE I might add, but now I don't have a car.  And, I really don't have to money to be replacing a bad starter or a bad battery right now.  

My grades are horrible.  I mean, really.... the worst they've ever been.  I've been forgetting to turn shit in, not remembering to study for tests, not giving myself enough time to study even a little for tests, not being prepared for class... etc.  I hate my major, it's not relevant to anything I'm interested in.  I'm only here in school still so that I can get a degree, 'cause that's what I'm spending all this money to be here to get. 

My computer just cut out.  I'm on a campus computer right now.  So, I switched over to and old one my sister gave me a while back... but that just crapped out too.  So now, I'm without a computer  - I have no way of checking my email, my work schedule, my bank account, my facebook, this blog, do online homework or readings.. unless I come to campus.  I don't live on campus.  This is so retarded.

I'm so tired of trying so hard and not seeing any payoff.  What's it gonna take to start seeing some GOOD come out of the hard work I've been doing?  

Ugh.

Welcome to the life of a college student.

I hope your night is better than mine.

something new.

Hey guys.

:)

Look:

Snow in APRIL!!  Isn't it beautiful?  :)  This was just after 7 yesterday morning.  The high was like, 39..  Today the high was almost 70!!  I love where I live. :)  Haha...

So this is just a small post to let everyone know that my sister, Sarah, and I have a channel on YouTube that we've just started.  Here's the link:

http://www.youtube.com/user/DwaSiostry

It's just gonna be a random assortment of personality-driven spontaneity, haha, so it should be a good time!  We want to let people see who we are, especially as we interact with each other.  So you should go check us out!  

-- ~ --

So, if anyone follows my personal YouTube Channel [ http://www.youtube.com/user/MsAllisonElizabeth ], you would know that I just recently got a job!  Yay!  Or, if you read a few posts back here on my blog, you'd have also found out.  The job's been good so far; it's a front desk reception job at a hotel chain close to where I live. I'm responsible for making reservations, checking people in, and checking people out, setting up the continental breakfast and a wine/snack reception.  I wasn't actually expecting this job to be quite so tedious in terms of the number of tasks and responsibilities I would have to be solely responsible for.  I'm new the to whole atmosphere yet, but I think once I get the whole routine under my belt, it should be an awesome job.

But just as a heads up, my free-time is quite limited these days.  School only has about 4 weeks until it's out, AND having just started a job, I'm also working 30 hour weeks right now.  So, I'll try and keep posts as frequent as I can!  Just bear with me.

:)

A.

the flavian amphitheater.

Hey guys!  

So I had a Roman Art exam today, but while studying for it, I learned a very interesting bit of information about the Roman Colosseum that I thought I'd share with you. 

Do you know why the Roman Colosseum is called the Colosseum?  To understand why... you need a bit of history...

In 54 AD, a Roman emperor by the name of Nero took power.

Different accounts tell different stories about how well liked he was by the Roman people of his time, but for the most part, the average consensus seems to be that he was relatively well liked.  He was emperor during the Great Fire of Rome, in 64 AD, which destroyed a better part of the city.  Nero went to great lengths to help rebuild the city, including funding some of the rebuilding himself.  New homes were built from strong, fire-proof materials like brick or concrete (which the Romans invented, by the way).  He also built a palace on a large plot of burnt land right in the center of the city.  This move on Nero's part was not well liked by the people of Rome, but nonetheless, a great palace was built for Nero called the Domus Aurea, or 'Golden House'.  This was a huge, private palace for Nero that included a lake!  He'd actually tapped into the aqueducts that led into Rome and was able to create his own lake within the Domus Aurea.  

(I went to Spain this past December, and got to see a Roman aqueduct in Segovia!!)

Also included in the layout of the palace was an enormous statue of Nero as the sun god, called the Colossus of Nero.  It stood some 30 meters tall and was made from bronze; it probably looked something like this:

(Notice the building on the left side of this image?)

It's important to note here, just on the side, that Roman emperors could not, and did not, ever call themselves 'gods', as it looked bad to their people.  Instead, a very common thing for them to do was have themselves depicted in the guise of a well known god (or goddess if you were an empress).  This means that they would be shown wearing the same clothing or having the same hairstyle, or something, as a god that they were associating themselves with, as if to say that they share the same 'god-like' qualities of the god without actually being a god themselves.

 The thing about building this palace that made everyone kinda upset was that the land that it was built on was originally public domain; Nero took it from the people to build his own palace, and at a time of instability during Rome's history, I'd have to say that pissing off the people within your ruling domain was probably not a good thing. 

Now...

Nero committed suicide in 68 AD.  

One year and about five, or so, unimportant emperors later, Vespasian comes to power.

Vespasian came to power in 69 AD, and was the first emperor of the Flavian Dynasty (or as my sister would say, the "Flauian, pronounced 'fla-wee-an', Dynasty", since the Romans didn't have v's in their vocabulary.).  Nero had been the last important emperor, for the most part, of the Julio-Claudian Dynasty, which had started way back in 27 BC with Augustus as emperor.  So, the point is to say that Vespasian came at a pretty important shift in Rome's history.  He had a lot of things to clean up after several bad emperors had power before him.  One of the things he did was take down most of Nero's Domus Aurea, and he filled in the lake.  In it's place, Vespasian began building a great amphitheater for the people of Rome, as if to give the land back to them that Nero had taken.  

Begun in 72 AD, this amphitheater, called the Flavian Amphitheater at the time, was built right ontop of the original lake to the Domus Aurea, and consequently was located very near to the Colossus of Nero.  Now, during Vespasians' reign and the construction of this new amphitheater, the face of Nero was removed from the Colossus and was replaced with the face of the sun god that was represented, perhaps because the statue was just too grand, and too big, to tear down.  Because of the Flavian Amphitheater's close proximity to the Colossus of Nero, it earned the nickname 'the Colosseum'.  

(Again, this is just an artist's interpretation of what it may have looked like, but the proximity of the Colosseum to the Colossus of Nero in this reconstruction is accurate.)

The Colosseum's construction was finished after Vespasian died, during emperor Titus's reign in 80 AD.   I'm sure the fact that it could seat 50,000 people was another reason it's 'colossal' nickname stuck so well. 

:)

A few interesting facts about the Colosseum:

1.  It had retractable awnings.

2.  Because it was built on the old site of the lake of Nero's Domus Aurea, it was connected to the aqueducts that came into Rome.  Because of this, some say that the bottom of the amphitheater could be flooded to have mock naval battles for entertainment.

3. While there were other amphitheaters built all throughout the Roman Empire, the Colosseum was the largest ever constructed.

4.  The Colosseum was used for many things including mock naval battles, gladitorial events, wild animal hunts, dramas, and executions.

5.  The Colosseum hosted gladitorial events in its arena.  The term 'arena' is Latin, and means 'sand'.  Sand was used to soak up the blood of the dead in the different events hosted at these types of amphitheaters.  It's how the term 'arena' came to be used. :)

6.  Even though I kind of mentioned this before, the Colosseum was known as the Flavian Amphitheater to the ancient Romans during it's time.  Later peoples and historians gave the structure it's famous nickname.

***

So there ya go, your art history lesson for the day! 

You see... it pays off to study every once in a while.. 

;)  

Allison