A Routine Has Been Established. Well, OK, Sorta...

Things have settled down here at school, and there's now some degree of normalcy (as much as one can expect to find on a college campus anyway). Don't get me wrong - it's still hectic, and we're certainly nowhere close to resembling a communal rut. But at least everything doesn't feel so new, and neither do we.

I've been enjoying myself a great deal on campus. There is always something slightly insane going on or being done, whether it be a religious extremist condemning us all to Hell, a random and unplanned dance-off next to the UC late at night, someone wearing a full-body gorilla suit on the elevator (totally not kidding!), or Dr. Thomas doing something in class that no one else in the WORLD would ever think about doing (especially in public).

I love those moments. They add a much-needed flair to my day. Maybe it makes me really happy, or maybe being around them just makes me feel extremely normal. At any rate, I like it. :D





Day 22 → Something you wish you hadn’t done in your life.

There have been several instances in my life where I trusted the wrong people. I certainly wish I hadn't.

It's Day 21, Y'all...

Yesterday, as you may know, I didn't blog. It was Labor Day, and, as much as I love blogging, it gets on my nerves sometimes. So I took a little holiday off. It was a good day. I had movie night with my friend Amy, and then I hung out with my roommate, Brooke.

Today was pretty nice, too. It was also a little hectic - I think all my Tuesdays and Thursdays are going to be, and that's cool. I can take it.

Brooke, Amy, and I had dinner at The Fresh Food Company here on campus. I ended up going to Spin Street (I ran into Brooke and one of her friends while I was there, haha!) and buying a large, framed canvas print of Audrey Hepburn. I love it! It's so awesome, and it looks fabulous by my bed. It ended up finishing off my side of our walls beautifully.

Now, I just need that Lil Wayne poster (they were sold out) to put on the ceiling above my bed. ;)




Day 21 → (scenario) Your best friend is in a car accident and you two got into a fight an hour before. What do you do?

Well, my best friend died over two years ago. But I'll go along with it and pretend like this has happened. Umm, I guess I'd cry and apologize after immediately realizing that life is too short to waste it being angry? What? You didn't say he/she died in the scenario. :)

Today Was Just Pure Insanity - Day 20

Wow! So today was random and crazy!

I was thrilled because my article was in the paper, obviously. Outside of that, I shot an engagement session with my friends, Lorie and Michael. We had a LOT of fun, and I can't wait to let them see their pictures!

On the way to the park where I met up with L & M, I passed a car accident and saw EMTs putting someone into a body bag.

After the shoot, I stopped to get gas at a gas station right by campus. While I was inside paying for my gas, a lady robbed the place and got away with a bunch of beer.

Crazy, right?

In the midst of all this, I was dealing with the one major setback of putting yourself out there - horrible, rude, ugly criticism. Not surprisingly, the only person who said anything bad about my article that I am personally aware of is someone from my biological family.

To be honest with y'all, I'm just a little bit glad that she decided to make a total ass out of herself. I've been wanting to write her off completely for a little while now, but I was trying to be nice and give her another chance, even after she has said terrible things to me, about me, and about other innocent people both in person and on facebook many times. [I think I really need to stop giving SO many chances after the second and definitely the third because this is getting ridiculous.] Anyway, she doesn't know me at all - I MIGHT see her once a year for a couple of hours - so losing her is not a problem for me. It's ESPECIALLY fine when you consider that she's a rude/close-minded/bigoted/racist JERK of a human being. And I would have said that even before today. Like I said, this event has been a long time coming.

I'm happy with the way things are going. Every single time I eliminate another hateful person from my life, it gets so much better!

Also, I'm planning on taking some much-needed advice I received from one of my favorite people - my girl, Wendi. She told me I needed to chill and stop stressing out over everything, and she's totally right, y'all. I'm ALWAYS worried about something or afraid something won't go well or whatever. I need to take a breath and just let whatever happens happen.

Did I mention that, every single time I add someone like her to my life, it gets even better than when I subtract the crazies? Shout out to you, Wendi - you're a wonderful friend and person in general. Girl, I hope you know I love you. Thanks for always helping a sister out!




Day 20 → Your views on drugs and alcohol.

I am pro-lowering the drinking age back down to 18. To be honest, I'm not sure where I stand completely on drugs. I'm pro-medicinal use, and undecided otherwise. If I ever decide to make up my mind, it'll be a while from now.

Day 19 Brings Yet Another Blog Post... Shocking, I Know!

Let's get the blog program out of the way, shall we?

Day 19 → What do you think of religion? Or what do you think of politics?

I believe in God and in all paths to God. I'm not really religious. I was raised a Christian, and every once in a while I enjoy going to visit a random church. I think my facebook section for religious views is a great description in the form of a quote: "I'm not religious, but I like God and he likes me." [Tony Kushner]

Politically, you can call me Liberal.



I feel like people expect more from me than other people my age - always have and always will. I know I'm different. Honestly, how could I not? People have been shoving it in my face for 18 years. I couldn't for the life of me tell you HOW I'm different - all I know is that people seem to think I am, and they end up expecting more of me and from me because of it.

Sometimes it's nice to know that people see me as competent, smart... whatever, but other times, it just sucks. I get pointed out in situations where I am [according to rules put in place FOR THIS VERY REASON] supposed to simply fit in and be one of the youth.

Even though it upsets me on occasion, I know good and well that I better get used to it. For the rest of my life, people will expect more from me. I want to become a columnist for the newspaper. I'm sacrificing every single one of my I-don't-feel-goods and my just-treat-me-like-everyone-elses for something I care about so much more than that - educating people about what's going on in the world around them.



In other news, I am SO excited to finally announce this piece of news on my blog: I'm the guest columnist in The Commercial Appeal tomorrow!!! Dream = coming true, y'all... really! I cannot wait to see it. :) GO BUY A FREAKIN' PAPER!!

Day 18 = My Favorite Blog Program Day So Far

Day 18 → Your views on gay marriage.

HAHA. I'm pretty sure anyone who really knows me could tell you my answer on this one! I am incredibly pro-gay marriage - to the point where I don't even understand why this is on the list. Everyone should be in favor of it. Seriously. The degrading of the minorities ish is EXTREMELY old. I could very easily make any type of argument in favor of it (moral, religious, philosophical, secular-based, etc). Test my mad skills sometime.



Today was decent. Not a TON of information to report.

I did laundry for the first time in the basement of the building. It's not a creepy as it sounds... promise! I made some new friends while I was there - go figure.

I hung out with one of my previously mentioned new friends tonight. Amy's really fun! We're thinking of having movie night on Fridays from now on. :)

This is going to be an exciting weekend! Stay tuned!

Lord, Give Me Strength: The Experience of Dating on Campus

There is not going to be a section in this blog post designated for my blogging program today. My mind is turning over and over like nobody's business. People say I don't talk about my dating life all that much, and really, it's true - I keep it private. But this just made too good of a story to keep to myself.

I recently started emailing back and forth with this guy who lives on campus in the building next door to mine. He seemed really nice and like he had it together, and I agreed to meet up with him - tomorrow night.

Earlier I got back to my room and checked my email only to find a reply from him asking if we could hang out around campus tonight instead because his anticipation was killing him and he really wanted to see me. I'm like - okay, some people might see this as being desperate, but I'll give dude a chance, maybe he's just anxious or whatever.

So we meet up at the newly agreed-upon time, and things get off to a great start. We walk around campus [the long way] talking and finally reach the UC. We go inside and sit down in the lounge area. At this point, he starts telling me all about his financial and family-related issues. Oh, and all of his ex-girlfriends.

I could deal with a little bit of it - college life is full of freedom that leads some people to rebel against their families, and, of course, it's a time when being completely broke is completely normal.

I think telling me about the intimate details of his brother's two divorces and his sister's relationship problems crosses that line. It gets to the point where it is repetitive and predictable. Apparently, his mother has also had back surgery recently that didn't go so well for her - the doctors didn't close up the incision properly, and in his mind, it is important that I know exactly how and why.

At some point during the middle of all of this, he says something that strikes me as being a little off in the numbers when it comes to his age (I'm a future journalist - I pick up on these things). He told me he was 23 - he confesses to being older, but he never gives me a specific number. He tells me - oh, it's no big deal, I'm around 31, 32, 33... something like that. I'm like - WTF, are you serious? why would you lie to me when you don't even know me?

I start to feel quite uncomfortable, but again, I'm being nice and trying to give him a break. Maybe he thought I wouldn't give him a chance if he told me how old he was - I don't know. But a lie is a lie, and I can't shake the thought of it being a pretty ridiculous one. Alas, we carry on.

He continues to talk about previous girlfriends incessantly, until the point at which he says - and I kid you not - that there is nothing to do where we are, and he wishes his roommate wasn't in their room so that he could take me up there and I could visit with him EXTRA cozily.

I suppose he sees the expression on my face, because he quickly laughs it off as a joke. Unfortunately, after a couple of minutes, he makes the same suggestion to me again. I ignore it and end up listening to him chatter on about his family drama, his low self-esteem, and how he wished he hadn't wasted his 20s rocking back and forth on his mother's spare bedroom floor like an amoeba.

By now, I'm pretty much done with the freaky ish, but I'm thirsty and he wants to buy me a drink - fine; it's not like I was getting anything productive done now tonight anyway.

We take our drinks outside where a giant beetle crawls on me. He laughs. I do not laugh. I do not like beetles - or most other bug-like things, especially when they are CRAWLING ON ME.

Somewhere in the midst of this beetle incident, his student ID falls out of his pocket, and I see that he has also lied about his name. um... NEXT!

Everything Seemed So Quiet Today [Day 17]

The hypocritical extremists did not return to campus today, and there wasn't a whole lot of noise around here - except for several thousand exasperated sighs of relief.

Classes are settling in, and I have learned something about myself: I take good notes. The problem is, my notes are a little ADHD, and they jump around here and there and here again. I'm going to spend some time this weekend getting a little more organized.

I'm still freezing in my room, and I've decided that I should set a few temperature-related goals: 1) Live through the bitter cold during the school year. 2) Sleep naked outside in the snow on a mountain in another hemisphere over summer break. In case y'all were wondering, goal 1 is a prerequisite for goal 2. But I'm pretty sure it could work the other way around, too.



Day 17 → A book you’ve read that changed your views on something.

I always knew our government was heavily-flawed, but after reading Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird in middle school, I guess I came to understand that lack of support for minority groups from elected officials has always been a problem and most likely always will be. The only difference is, it's a different minority group each time.