Sigh. It was a long week. Thankfully it's over and a new one has begun.

Highlights of last week:
*Became an official volunteer with Citizens for JBT (am currently applying for employment if and when she decides to announce candidacy for Governor of Illinois)
*Consolidated my few student loans (I'll be paying a lot less thanks to the kick-butt interest rate that is currently offered)
*Talked to Diller for the first time since he came to visit me in Springfield 2 weeks ago (we had an evening of buddy actitivies, the usual: Dinner, drinks, him lecturing me on the fine art of cigar smoking...lol)-he's in D.C. now, interning for Senator Lugar (Indiana) and seems to be having a great time. I'm happy for him. And hopefully I'll actually get out there to visit him at some point before the summer is over!
*Started with a Personal Trainer at Gold's Gym...the work out routine is going smashingly well.
*Started Week 2 with my summer job...woohoo...
*Made an impromptu, 36-hour trip to Memphis for the weekend to visit my grandparents. It actually felt a lot longer, and we had a lot of fun. I love, love, LOVE Millington, my grandparents, and their house, and the puppies. It's nice to get away from the midwest, even for a short time.
*Had a 3 1/2 hour phone conversation with Krissa on the way down which helped me stay awake during the 6 hour drive. (which actually wasn't that bad) That, and liberal amounts of Coke Zero. And a package of my favorite, gummi worms. :D
*Ended something that has grown to be very near and dear to me. It hurt, but I'd like to think that this isn't necessarily permanent, although it IS the right thing to do for now. I'm proud of myself for biting the bullet and being mature about it. It needed to be done, in order to avoid irreparable damage. Despite this, it doesn't make it hurt any less, but I've got a lot of summer left ahead of me and I'm going to have fun. And I have the best friends in the world. That's what they're here for. To provide fun! (If I ever get a day off work ;o) )

So that's what is going on, chicas & chicos. More later...

YAWN. It's 1:50 a.m. and I'm winding down after another (long) night at work. I don't LOVE my job, but I do appreciate the hours (as it frees up my daytime for REAL job hunting) and the fact that I'm not cleaning up after dirty old ladies at Famous Barr (you haven't lived till you've cleaned out dressing rooms during the early bird sales...they rival my sister Jami's room in terms of messiness-and yeah, that's messy). Anyhoo, it looks like there is a good chance I'll have a job that I love by the end of the summer. I'm officially a volunteer for Citizens for JBT, and her campaign office requested a copy of my resume & references, which I am sending their way tomorrow. I'm keeping my fingers crossed, but I'm hoping between my political connections, my education, and my downright passion for both political campaigns AND ousting Blago, I'll be a shoo-in. The only annoying thing is having to wait until early August, which is likely the time when JBT will announce her plans to run or not. According to her office, she is "very seriously considering" a run for governor. The only real thing that has to fall in place (according to them) is, you guessed it, the $.

At least I've found people to argue with at work. :D One of my co-workers is a fellow ILLINI (home from school for the summer), so I find plenty of things to chat about with him, in addition to my favorite hobby, arguing about politics. I like harassing hard core conservatives almost as much as I like bashing liberals, so it's proved to be an entertaining pastime thus far. I even pretended to be anti-chief (for all of five seconds) just to get a rise out of him. I love arguing politics. And I love the fact that I can somehow find people to talk politics with wherever I go (even if it's my job at FV!). Most of all, I love it when people who PRETEND they are smart and think they know more than me ask me questions intending to trip me up, and I end up turning the tables on them-HA! Don't question my knowledge of Illinois politics...you will be sorry. Case in point:

"Amy, tell me who the LAST downstate governor from Illinois was, besides Edgar! He's too easy..."

Before the question was finished, I chimed in, "Well, that's ridiculously easy. That was none other than Democrat Dan Walker, who achieved an unprecedented victory in a hotly contested democratic primary versus the very popular Senator Paul Simon. People were SHOCKED! Unfortunately, in his bid to overtake downstate, over the next four years he ended up pissing off the city of Chicago in addition to Mayor Daley, which some might say is the kiss of death for Illinois politicians. That, and the fact that he was tainted with scandal, he lost in his own democratic primary in 1976. Jim Thompson (the republican nominee) went on to beat the democratic candidate and hold the governor for the next 14 years-yes, 14, thanks to the shift to midterm elections in the 1970's. Other than that, some could say the most recent downstate governor (besides Edgar) was George Ryan, who was from Kankakee, which many suburbanites consider to be 'downstate'."

Let's see...not much else is going on. Natalie and Krissa visited this weekend which was awesome! We went to see Montgomery Gentry at the Sangamon County fair, and then hung out downtown for awhile. (This was Friday night) The next day we went shopping, where Krissa bought an insane amount of Vera Bradley at Hallmark, followed by D'Arcy's Pint, where we all had horsehoess (if you don't know what one of these are, you are SERIOUSLY missing out.)

More details later, but not till tomorrow...it is finally time for bed!

I swear, if ONE MORE person at my new job tells me, "It's ok-I don't have a career in my area of study, either!" I swear to God, I will fly off the handle. Let's get a few things straight:

NUMBER ONE: I AM OBSESSED WITH POLITICS. Rest assured, a minor setback such as not finding a job right out of college is NOT going to deter my long-term career goals. I WILL be the next Mary Matalin and I will make all of the democrats my bitches someday. The name Amy Lynnette Hodges will strike fear in the souls of any opposing politicos.

NUMBER TWO: My current job is not my "CAREER". It may be to some people, but it is CERTAINLY not to me, I understand and appreciate that some people need to make their living in that manner, but FV never is and never WILL BE MY CAREER! How in the hell can you be passionate about renting out MOVIES?!?

That's the extent of my rant for now. Expect more soon.

Well, it's been awhile, so I'll provide everyone with details as to what has been going on in my life lately.

Current Status of the JOB HUNT: Lost and Searching. Well, perhaps the "Lost" is a bit dramatic, but most certainly "Searching". I've had 3 interviews (all in the last couple of weeks). No job yet-and unfortunately, I'm growing very impatient. I know these things take time, but I'm definitely not a patient person. I know that most people have several unsuccessful interviews before finding THE job, but...grrrrrrr. Everyone keeps telling me things are going to be fine (and I'm sure they will be, eventually), but for now I'm quite content with being freaked out. I'm trying to keep to myself, because I don't want to annoy my friends with all the job talk (all I seem to care about lately), and I don't want to be told for the millionth time that things are going to be "fine", "everything will work out", and "everything happens for a reason!"

In the meantime, I'm working a summer job & volunteering for JBT. My sincere hope (and expectation) is to be picked up by JBT's campaign once she announces her candidacy for governor. However, if something better comes along sooner, I'd be crazy not to accept it. Sigh. The stress of it all. I really want to find a job that I can stay at for at least a couple of years, so it's difficult to choose between potentially working somewhere just "ok" and holding out for something better (even if it means making less $ for a few months).

So enough ranting and raving about the job. I'm only succeeding in annoying myself and those around me, so I should really just...chill. I know. I'm doing everything in my power to find a job, and I'll just have to be content with that for now. To my friends who have been putting up with me lately: thank you-your support means everything to me. Even if I don't always act like it, it does.

On to another thing that is annoying me: Finding an apartment. I've gotten very spoiled this year, as I have an exceptionally nice apartment in southern part of Springfield. However, I'm dying to have a W/D in my apartment, so I've started searching elsewhere. Despite my searching, I have failed to find anything in the $400-$500 range that is 1) liveable, 2) in a good area of town and 3) meets the rest of my ridiculous standards. I'm going to check a couple of places downtown, but most of the (nice) downtown apartments are not in my price range. As such, I might end up staying right where I'm at (although I might choose to get a single), and learn to live with the laundry situation. We shall see...I really do love my apartment, it's not only huge, but there is TONS of storage space, in addition to our nice outdoor deck, and then there's my enormous walk-in closet that I have grown to love SOOOOOO much....sigh. Like I said, I've become very spoiled.

Ok. Enough bitching. I'm going to find a great job, and I'll have an equally fabulous apartment, whether I choose to move or stay where I'm at.

Changing the subject-I spent the latter part of last week at home in Centralia sorting and packing stuff in my room, in addition to visiting with my family and some of my friends from home.

On Friday I met Dan, Peter, and Maggie over in South County (STL) to hang out. We first went to Best Buy, where Dan and I watched Maggie and Peter buy some appliances, and then we went back to their apartment to watch TV and just chill out. Maggie showed me her wedding dress, which is very pretty, although I'll admit to being a little freaked by all that fru-fru wedding business. That's always been more my sister's thing, most definitely. I suppose I'll have to deal with it next summer, or whenever her and Mitch decide to get married (wow-it sounds so weird to say that, mainly because they both seem so young, but whatever). Anyway, I digress. It was great to see them, as well as Suraj, who stopped by to say hi to us towards the end of the night.

As for me, I must get going, as I have places to go, people to see, and much to do today. I promise I'll have more interesting posts in the weeks to come, but for now, this is all I'm able to muster. I need a place to rant (about the job, and everything else), and this is my outlet.