Well, a $ to be specific. I made my first bet ever this sports season, and apparently the Lakers won last night, which means I won ... $1. Woot!

I am not what you would call a sports enthusiast. I enjoy attending games live occasionally with friends or family. I do understand how all the major sports are played and scored, enough to follow along without feeling like an idiot at least. And I have name recognition for a lot of major teams. But that's where it stops. I don't care enough to follow any specific teams or pay attention to any championships.

Several months ago I was talking to a big sports fan I work with at Job #2. He had a couple of real bets going with some of our other co-workers that the Lakers would not win ... something. The championship I guess; I didn't really pay attention. Anyway, just to be contrary I told him I would bet him $0.20 that they would win. I figured why not.

He took my bet and we ended up settling on $0.25. A couple of weeks later I asked him if they'd won yet. He said it would be awhile because they weren't even in the championships (or whatever) yet, so it would be awhile. He was so confident they would lose that he offered me 4:1 odds. So if the Lakers won he owed me a $1, and if they lost I owed him $0.25. Score.

So pretty much every time I saw him after that I asked him if they'd won yet, because I truly didn't know. He just kept laughing at me and telling me not yet. But my dad told me this morning that they won the big ... thing. So it was my first sports bet, and I won! I am going to see this guy tonight, and he had better pay up because I took this as a serious bet. I would have coughed up my $0.25 if they lost.

I have been back in Omaha for about a year and a half now. I have been living with my parents that entire time. When I first moved back here from Pennsylvania, this was going to be a very temporary situation. I came home to pause and figure out what I was doing and where I was going next. And to save some money while I did that.

A year and a half later, I have figured out exactly what I am doing next. And I am making great steps toward that. I have a job in a library, and I just submitted my grad school application a few days ago. I am hoping to get started on my master's degree in the fall.

Since I still have to work full time, I can only go to school part time, which means it could take me awhile to get my degree. So the goal I have set for myself is to get my degree before I turn 30. I turn 26 at the end of the summer, so that gives me four years to "git 'er done." I don't think this will be particularly hard or anything, I just wanted to verbalize that as a goal so I don't dilly dally. By 29 would be lovely, but NO LATER THAN 30.

This has brought me to the unfortunate realization that I am stuck in Omaha for at least the next three to four years. This doesn't thrill me, but it is what it is and it could be worse. However, it makes continuing to live with my parents not so ideal. I love my parents, and I get along pretty well with both of them. But anyone who has experience independent living will tell you that living with your parents after that is much harder. Even my mom agrees with me on that.

That being said, my most pressing goal now is to get my own little place in Omaha by the end of the summer. Half of my belongings are still in a storage unit in Gettysburg. They were only supposed to be there for a few months, but I haven't had a chance to get back there and get them.

Once I decided to move out, I was in an all-fired hurry to see it through. I was going to try to plan a trip out there in the next few weeks and get into a place by June. I have realized this is very unrealistic for many reasons. Summer is very busy at the library. We have the summer reading program starting soon and getting time off could prove interesting. I know my EEB back in PA is in the same situation. So, I am going to wait until August to go get my stuff, which is why my new plan is to be moved out and on my own by the end of the summer.

So to sum up: move out my end of summer, master's degree by 30. Good night (afternoon) and good luck.

Well, I feel really lame because this makes 19 days I blogged in April. That's of a possible 30. Yikes. Talk about massive failure.

I do feel guilty, but in my defense April turned out nothing like I expected it to. It was craziness. Between studying for and taking the GRE, finishing the rest of my grad school application and then getting my wonderful promotion at the library and training for that, my Internet time has been way down.

Even so, my BEDA buddies were wonderful as always. They were very supportive and very helpful as I went through all that. I am still behind on reading your blogs ladies, but like Becky said, that is what May is for!

My other plan in May, which should be a much calmer month than April was, is to hit all the BEDA topics I missed in April. Well not all, but most. So you'll be hearing from me again soon.

BEDA 3.0 will see Autumn blogging much more faithfully.

I feel like I already did Things I Love this week while covering my favorites yesterday. So even though I am too lazy to change the title, I am going to go more with a Things I'm Thinking Thursday. Please don't expect there to be order or logic in residence for the rest of this post.

It's crazy stormy here in Omaha tonight. The good stuff is out to play. The good stuff being the thunder and the lightning. I love it. I mostly love it sitting protected under a porch awning where I can just watch and listen. And I do love the rain. Not all the consequences of the rain mind you, but the rain itself I love.

My favorite thing about rain, is when you're driving in it at night. There is something about the reflection of the stoplights in the water that I have always found so beautiful. I don't know why. But I love it. Though I did have a hell of a time trying to find a decent picture of what I mean.

Other thoughts:

• I don't understand how shoes end up in the middle of the road or on the median. Hats and gloves I can kinda sorta picture, but shoes? H-how? Wh-why? It makes no sense to me.
• When I see people driving really fast or really stupidly in extremely bad weather, part of me hopes they crash. Not into me of course, but into something. Just to prove their idiocy to themselves.
• I watch a lot of movies. I love movies, but sometimes it feels more like I am working my way down a checklist than actually watching them for the movies themselves. I feel that way with books too. There are so many I want to read, or have from the library, that I feel like I have to just get through them so I can get them all done. I don't always feel like that, but sometimes.
• Sometimes I wonder if my OCD/AR tendencies will become debilitating one day. I get pickier and pickier about certain minutiae as I get older. There are so many little things that drive me crazy. So many things where I can't stand it if they aren't in the order I think they should be in. My dad will deliberately put crumbs on the table when we go out to eat because he knows I can't leave them there. He thinks it's hilarious, and I put the crumbs back on the plate every single time.
• That's the first time I have ever had to spell minutiae before, and I got it right first try. To me, that's exciting.
  
• I love breakfast food, but not for breakfast. It's much too early in the day for all that heavy stuff. I love waffles and eggs and bacon, but for dinner. That is why restaurants that serve breakfast food all day are awesome.
• I love knowing the answers to questions. One of the things that draws me to being a librarian is that when someone asks me a question, nothing is more thrilling than knowing the right answer. Or being able to show them how to find the right answer. It's kind of show off-y I guess, but there you go.
• When other people chew gum, it makes me want to vomit. Each and every time. At least close your mouth. PLEASE!
• Don't spread this around, but there are musicals out there that I do not like. And up until recently, I hated My Fair Lady. But it's grown on me.
• Also, I hate Sleepless in Seattle and it feels like I am the only female in existence who feels that way.
  
• I'm very vain about my name. I love all three of them. But I am so used to being called everything but Autumn, that I will answer to anything that starts with an 'A' and any season. I'm just resigned to it.
  

And I think that's enough thoughts for today. My goodness, I had way more thoughts rumbling through my head than I thought. A lot of them were negative too, which is dumb because I am in a good mood right now. Oh well. Good night.

I am really not good at picking favorites. As far as I can remember (which isn't all that far back) I never have been. I don't have a favorite movie, actor, musical, food, book, author or anything like that. I could make a list of things I love for each category. But ask me to narrow it down and I am stumped.

I can maintain temporary favorites, like what is my current favorite musical (Next to Normal), but never ask me my favorite musical of all time. Who knows? Too many to choose from. I prefer to spread my love around, not focus it in on one thing. But here is a stream of consciousness list of my recent favorite things.

My favorite things of the last five minutes: knowing I am finally blogging again (however belatedly in the month), milk and a chocolate chip muffin at midnight, downloading Glee Madonna music, getting comfortable in my pajamas.

My favorite things of the day: take away from Famous Dave's, catching up on Glee and Project Runway, reading Maureen Johnson, Google chatting with BEDA buddies, finding a new Broadway-related album I know I'll want that comes out next week, knowing the answers to patron's questions

My favorite things of the week: finally getting my GRE scores, playing with the puppy, margaritas with one of my favorite Chili heads, starting my new job as a clerk, buying tickets to see Beauty and the Beast this summer with my dad, buying new jeans, finding a great deal on one of the seasons of Veronica Mars, catching a glimpse of Piz from Veronica Mars in Up in the Air.

My favorite things of 2010 thus far: Los Angeles/Camp Pendleton vacation and spending time with my amazing and loving grandparents, coming to a firm decision on what I want to be when I grow up, watching things come together for me after that decision, reconnecting with old friends in Omaha, winter ending and no more snow coming down, ooh and the amazing apple glazed pork tenderloin I had at Claim Jumper.

My future favorites looking forward: getting into grad school, starting grad school, getting my pre-ordered copies of Mockingjay, The Clockwork Angel and Linger this summer, moving out of my parents house and once again into my own space, seeing my EEB again, seeing old college friends, going to sleep after I write this.

OK, I've got to make this fairly quick. Not a ton going on this week, I've been a bit busy. But here are the highlights:

Yesterday I finished reading Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver. YA of course, but not the typical kind of YA fare I indulge in. Usually, even though I read a lot about teenagers, I avoid books that actually take place solely in a high school environment. At least not unless there is some sort of fantastical twist involved.

This book is about a girl plucked straight from a Mean Girls-style pack who dies, and then relives her last day seven times. So Mean Girls meets Groundhog Day. I wasn't quite sure what to expect, but I ended up really liking it. I would definitely recommend it. It makes you think, and it was more touching than I thought it would be. I couldn't put it down really.

I managed to avoid spending any money on music this week, yay! I have been listening to the My Fair Lady Broadway soundtrack I bought last week a lot. It blows my mind that Julie Andrews was only 20 when she recorded it. Her voice was already so mature and amazing even then.

I've also been listening to a lot of Lucy Schwartz this week. She is a Portuguese singer I discovered a month or so ago. I heard this song, "Turn Back Around", while watching some stupid movie. But though the movie was dumb, the song stuck with me. So I looked it up and found her. I started to listen to some of her other stuff and I really like her. So that's what's been on my iPod this week, with a little Glee thrown in.

Let's see, what else. I finally saw An Education this week. It was one I was looking forward to seeing, but by the time I got to it I couldn't remember why I'd wanted to see it. So I wasn't quite sure what to expect. But I actually quite enjoyed it. It was interesting, and while it wasn't fast-paced by any means, it didn't drag like it could easily have done.

I've decided after seeing her in this and some other film I can't remember right now, that I like Carey Mulligan. She's one to watch I think. The rest of the cast was quite good as well. Including Rosamund Pike, who played Jane in the most recent version of Pride and Prejudice (wherein Carey played Kitty).

And that's about it. Here's to a new week of beautiful music and wonderful books.

I was going to write this Thursday night when I got home from work, but I was NOT in the best of moods after leaving Job #2, and I was not in the right mind frame to focus on things I love. So I waited to write it. I am in a much better mood now. But I won't be after going to Job #2 again tonight, so now is the time.

I spent this week downtown at the main branch of the library, training with the circulation manager for my new position as a clerk. I start back at my own branch Tuesday. Training was a lot of fun, and I think this new role will suit me very well.

I bitch and moan about people a lot, about how stupid and self-entitled they can be. And that is still true, anyone who waits tables or works customer service will tell you that. But I still enjoy helping people and I am still good at it. People on a case-by-case basis can still be pretty wonderful. I am really looking forward to all the customer interaction I will have as a clerk. Shocking isn't it?

In addition to LOVING just training and anticipating my new role, I am in LOVE with this new feeling of contentment and home that I have. I just finally feel like I've found where I fit in. Each job has its downsides, but every shift I have at the library is overall a good one. I enjoy what I am doing and who I am working with it. I am reaching the point where I can't imagine ever doing anything else. And I can't believe I finally found that.

Even with journalism, I mostly enjoyed what I was doing, and I loved who I was working with, but I never had that feeling of home. That sense of truly belonging there and knowing this is where I could fully make use of my unique talents. Libraries give me that. And I am just so happy to finally have that.

So that is mostly what I loved this week. That and making fun plans. I am going to go see Legally Blonde (the musical) next weekend with a couple of wonderful girlfriends. And I have plans to enjoy dinner and margaritas Monday night with a couple of other wonderful girlfriends. I've set a goal to get a place of my own here in Omaha by the end of the summer, and life is good. (At least as long as I don't think about Job #2).

First things first, I can't stop gushing about the CD I bought this week. A collection of 12 songs I've been listening to over and over again. I am a huge fan of Ella Fitzgerald. I love her voice and her music. Purely by accident, while I was searching for something else , I found an album of hers called Ella Sings Broadway.

It's perfect because it combines my love of Ella with my obsession for all things Broadway. The whole album is great, but some standouts are "Whatever Lola Wants" from Damn Yankees and "Almost Like Being in Love" from Brigadoon. Amazing. Can you tell how enamored I am? It's not too obvious is it? I could gush more. It's just so great. I'm listening to it again now.

That purchase led to another purchase. She does two songs from My Fair Lady: "I Could Have Danced All Night" and "Show Me". I then realized I don't own a cast album of that show, so I bought the original Broadway album starring Julie Andrews and Rex Harrison. This has never been my favorite show, but I can't deny that there is some great Lerner and Loewe music in it. In fact I requested the Audrey Hepburn DVD from the library to watch it again and give it another chance. It's been long enough and my tastes have evolved enough that I might like it now.

This is one of the pitfalls of mp3s and iTunes/Amazon. I am way too impulsive about buying this stuff and those sites make it way too easy to be. Oh well. I can't regret either purchase.

Glee is back! I haven't actually been able to watch the newest episode yet. I sat down to watch it on Hulu this afternoon, but I decided I wanted to watch the previous episode, "Sectionals" again before I did so. Then I ran out of time because I have to go to work shortly. But I enjoyed seeing that last episode again. It was a great one. And I can't believe it, but I got a little emotional at the end with Matthew Morrison's character tearing down the hallway and the inevitable events that followed. I am such a nerd!

Now that the GRE is done I have gotten back in the swing of pleasure reading again. I just finished Magic Under Glass by Jaclyn Dolamore. It was a shorter read, and I was left with very mixed feelings when it was over. On the one hand, I very much liked the premise. But I thought the author did so much less with it than she could have. The relationship between the two main characters felt too rushed and under-explored. And the ending left what I felt were too many unanswered questions, with no indication of a sequel. I don't know, mixed feelings like I said. Sti, you read it first. What were your thoughts?

Now I am reading When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead, which is even shorter than that other book, so it shouldn't take me long. It won the 2010 Newbery Award, and I just finished a project involving Newbery winners at the library, so it caught my attention. It's interesting so far. We'll see how it goes.

Have a very happy week. Hopefully mine will be cheaper and less stressful than this past one. I start my clerk training Tuesday. Woot!