Oh, Valentine's Day

Valentine’s day can be oh so very anticlimactic when you don’t have that special someone to share it with.  As this day was approaching I started to dread it more and more.  Not only was it Valentine’s, it was a Monday, and I had school and work.  I was thankful that I at least would be busy and not have to worry about sitting at home feeling sorry for myself.

The day turned out much better than I had anticipated.  School was school, but I enjoyed spending time with the wonderful people in my class (some aren’t so wonderful, but I love all my dearies that constantly make me laugh).  After school I headed home to relax before work.  On my bed was a pretty wrapped present and card from my parents.  I got a cute little frame and a wonderful card reading:

“A parent’s heart is always filled with wishes for a daughter, and I keep many special hopes within my heart for you.  I want you to be happy with the woman you’ve become—your gentleness, compassion, and warmth set you apart.  I want you to be just as proud as I am of your talents—the world today can really use your wisdom and your gifts.  And I want you to be true both to yourself and to your dreams and to feel fulfilled in any work or role that you might choose.  But more than anything in life, I want you to feel loved. 

Yes, every parent’s heart is filled with wishes for a daughter, especially when that daughter is as wonderful as you.”

As sappy as that may sound, it sure made my day a whole lot better.  After relaxing at home with my puppy, I was off to work.  To the surprise of all the girls at work, one of the guys went and bought a red rose for all the girls in our store.  We also all got a valentine and candy.  After work I went home and watched The Bachelor (THANK GOODNESS MICHELLE IS FINALLY GONE!!!) 

I have been in a bit of a funk lately, but am so glad that I have such wonderful people in my life.

I'm Baaaack

Is there anyone still there?  I can’t believe that I haven’t written anything since September!!  So much has happened in the last 4ish months.  I started Court Reporting school, still working at Best Buy, successfully surprised my dad with a visit from my brother, made a visit down to Providence, my Aunt Kristina and adorable cousins visited from South Carolina, and celebrated Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Don’t worry, I don’t plan to go into detail about each of these events...I will further explain a few things though.

First off, I know most of you probably know what a court reporter (CR) does, but your knowledge doesn’t go much further than, they write down everything in court.  Yes, you are correct, they do write everything that is said in court, but it goes on much further than that.  Most people think that a CR types on a regular qwerty keyboard.  It would be pretty impossible to produce a verbatim transcript by using a qwerty.  A CR uses a Steno machine made especially for shorthand writers.  An example of a Steno writer looks like this…

I know it looks rather confusing, and it was at first, but not anymore!  The average speed that a person talks is 180 words per minute, I have to be able to write at over 200 words to graduate.  We learn to type in combinations…this is what allows us to type so quickly.  Most of the time I am hitting multiple keys to create words and phrases.  Learning shorthand is like learning a different language.  Along with learning shorthand and trying to build up my speed, I also have other requirement classes I have to take.  I am currently in legal terminology.  I was really worried that I would hate this class.  Come to find out, I really like it.  My teacher is awesome and really down to earth.  Learning about the ins and outs of the legal system is so interesting.  Love the class, but I am still really worried about my midterm next week.

Well, that’s all for now…I promise I won’t wait four months before I write again.