I'm back...

I know I JUST blogged but I really don't want to get going on my other homework yet but I still want to feel like I'm doing something, so I'm gonna go ahead and knock out my last blog for the week.  Also I feel like we don't have to blogs for next week, or at least that's what the syllabus seems to think... So hypothetically this could be my LAST BLOG EVER. Shame it's such a crappy one.  But that's alright.  My sister has kind of taken over one of my families I always babysit for at home just cause she lives in Charlotte still and is real broke and I'm obviously not in Charlotte.  So today she has to watch them and shortly after she got there I showed up to claim my territory.  I love those little kids and miss them so so much! We played a few rounds of a game I used to always play with them that involved me running while giving them a piggy back ride and chasing the other ones around.  That got old REAL fast.  They've just gotten so big.  Okay, this must meet the word requirement.  So so sorry that my blog hasn't been fascinating, but not that sorry. PEACE Y'ALL

Hello Home

This weekend my friend Lacey and I decided we'd come home to my home home.  I never really come home unless there's something I have going on, but never just for the heck of it so when I called my mom to tell her I was coming into town she was like oh do you have to nanny? No, I'm just coming home.  She immediately was like I'LL MAKE A CROCK POT OF TACO SOUP RIGHT NOW! Thanks Mama. So we've been here and we haven't done anything at all which has been SO nice. We live on the lake and the rain let up yesterday so we were able to cruise around on the boat for a good while.  It was chilly though! Ended up coming back to the house mid boat ride for some sweat shirts.  I was really hoping to roll back up in Boone real tan but that's out of the question.  For now, our basement is flooding so my dad and brother are dealing with that and I'm just sitting at the bar working on homework.  Just a real lazy weekend.

Is there really a METHOD to the MADNESS?

Just "finished" my draft of the methods section.  Here's the thing about drafts... I just don't do them.  I never have.  Any time during school that I've had to actually turn in or bring it a draft of some sort I honestly just bullshit some bullet points or something that is actually not at all helpful to my final draft just so that I have something to show.  But this time with this methods section thing I decided I'd go ahead and draft a little bit mainly because I have no idea what I'm doing so if I just jump into it, I'll know exactly what I need to ask.  These teachers actually may be on to something with this whole drafting stuff!  I'm sure so much of what I've written isn't what he's looking for but I know just what to ask about instead of just writing my final paper from scratch the night before it's due when it's too late to ask anything.  I'm amazed!  I think this type of awakening if meant for someone in the tenth grade though, rather than me... sitting here in my 3rd to last week as a junior in COLLEGE.  Oh well better late than never THANKS KLEIN YOU ROCK

Events

So last night I had two events to go to.  I had the silent dinner for ASL club, aka my deaf event for ASL2.  After that I had to go to a reunion get together sort of deal for a study abroad trip I went to.  The idea of both of these sounded like so much fun and things I definitely would be excited about, but it was just such a long day yesterday that by the time evening came around I just really wanted to get in my bed.  But I couldn't.  And I knew I didn't ACTUALLY want that.  Obviously I ended up going to both.  and they were both SO much fun.  It made me feel so bad for having a bad attitude about them beforehand, especially when I knew they would turn out great.  The silent dinner was really really cool and it was so great to see people from my Costa Rica trip all together at one again.  The only bummer is that it made me want to be in Costa Rica right this second.

PRODUCTIVITY

I just want to have a really on top of my shit week with school work and working out and sleep schedule and everything.  I started out this morning by going for a run a 7:30 before class and now I'm shockingly working on this blog before ten minutes prior to its due date so I'm doing all right so far! I'm also going to keep my room spotlessly clean which is generally the hardest part.  By nature I'm pretty messy but I like to my neat so I try really hard at it.  I just stay so so busy that it's hard to keep it up. Plus I live in a dorm room so it's nearly impossible like one thing falls on the ground and it looks so cluttered.  BUT NOT THIS WEEK.  Ask me how that's going come Thursday and I'm sure I'll be singing a different tune.

I GOT A JOB

I've been on the prowl for a new job for a while now.  I'm done RAing in a few weeks, but I'm staying here this summer and I want something I can do into next school year also.  I'm kind of a brat with jobs because I've always been spoiled with good ones at home.  I submitted a cover letter resume yadda yadda the whole schpeel for a job at the Westglow Resort and Spa in blowing rock as a hiking guide.  I went in for an interview a few days later.  They were only looking for one person and the guy said he was doing a lot of interviews so I was pretty much certain that I wouldn't get it.  On Tuesday when I was driving back up the mountain a random 828 number called me and it was the little guy that interviewed me saying I got it! So really all summer I'm going to be getting paid to take a bunch of rich people out into the woods hiking around.  I'm SO EXCITED

BEEPING!

Though I have been in probably a few too many beepers during my time, I have never actually beeped myself.  My friend Kelsey and I decided on Saturday that we would give it a go.  SO MUCH FUN! She drove and I was the secretary.  We posted both of our numbers so I managed those for the most part.  I brought a notebook so we could keep track of what order people were going in, who was what number, where they were etc.  We were pretty slammed the whole night.  Our first ride was at 10:30 and they called about 2 minutes after we posted and we decided to quit at almost 3.  It was such a blast though!  I have NO clue how anyone could ever do that by themselves though.  We made almost 100 bucks too! I think I'm more of a beep-ee rather than a beeper but I'll definitely do it again!

Miss Meagan

My sister is graduating from UNC Charlotte in May with an Elementary Ed degree and just the other day SHE GOT A JOB!  I'm so excited for her! The school where she has been student teaching all semester loves her and offered her a full position for next school year.  The grade she will have is still kind of up in the air.  It's a Title 1 school so it's definitely been an interesting and taxing experience for her but she has really fallen in love with the school and the kids still.  She was my arch nemesis for the majority of my life.  She's only 14 months older than I am and we shared a room for years.  We're very different people so growing up in the same room and being so close in age was a struggle.  People would always tell us how one day we would be best friends and I never believed that but here we are.  She is definitely one of my very best friends and I am so thankful to have her in my life, especially as my sister.  I was her very first student ever when we were just tiny kids in our playroom and now so many other little kids will get the honor of having Meagan as their teacher.

Focused... But on all the wrong things.

Do y'all ever get really super motivated, but for things that are going to be of NO help? Right now I am feeling so ambitious.  I want to figure out my summer job, I want to work on a final project that I don't need to touch until late April.  I want make all these very future-oriented life decisions and feel so on top of life BUT could I possibly force myself to do the two slides I need to do for tonight for a group project? Hell no I can't.  This happens to be constantly.  I'll want to get so on top of things and run all around and do everything OTHER than what needs to be done immediately.  While researching grad schools in very important, is that even going to matter/be an option if I can't even force myself to do this week's homework?!

HOT FLASH

I don't know what wrong with me but I'm sweating my life away right now.  Its not THAT hot outside.  Its really nice actually.  But I'm burning the hell up and don't know why.  Menopause? I don't know.  I have my ice water bottle up against my neck in the middle of central and my hair on top of my head and I'm sure people are wondering what on earth is up with this crazy person.  Oh well, see you all in about 15 and maybe I"ll be back to a normal temperature.

Uh

I have no idea how I'm going to move all of my stuff out of my current little palace in Justice hall to home and then BACK here three weeks later to my new house up.  I have so much junk and I have no idea how it has all accumulated.  And majority of it all is just useless crap that I'll never use and also never get rid of.  As I'm writing this I'm realizing how completely bratty and horrible I'm sounding.  I need to clean.  When I am super clean and organized I have a much better week.  Also I think the reason my life if flying by is because I refer to time in sections and whether I mean to or not, it's sections that I'm just trying to get to the end of.  Rather it be "this day" "this week" "this semester" "this year." One of my goals really needs to be to stop looking at time in such a context because it's already flying by on its own, I really don't need to push it any faster.  Life is good!

SICK

I've been feeling bad since about Friday of spring break but it was nothing major so I didn't think anything of it.  It continued into this past week and I'd go back and forth between feeling fine and feeling miserable.  My body slapped me across the face on Saturday when it came in full force and I've felt AWFUL ever since.  I'm currently sitting in the health services waiting room.  If these people tell me I have the flu or something other than the common cold I'll get my ass straight in my car and go home.  Not really... But being sick at home is SO MUCH BETTER than being sick at school.  My mom keeps texting me and texting me saying she'll come up here and take care of me and I'm just like no mama you don't need to do that but I'm secretly like hm you could show up and i certainly wouldn't be pissed...

Saint Patrick's Day?

Wow you know you're somewhere thats not 7 and also not 21 when you have no idea its st. patrick's day until noon.  My friend texted me and was like "wait it's st. patricks day? ...I had no idea" and really until then I hadn't even thought of it either.  Nothing fun happens at school like when you're in 1st grade and I also am not old enough to hit the bars soooo today is just another day in the life.  Next year I'm sure I'll be quite aware of the fact that it's St. Patrick's day.  Somehow I thought I'd have enough to day about this topic for a full blog post but that is proving to be false.  Switching topics I have no desire to go to my abnormal psychology class today.  She just talks at us and I sit front and center and still have such a hard time staying focused.  OH WELL

NashVEGAS

Over break I went to Nashville.  It was so so so cool.  I had never been to Nashville before.  It was Kelsey's 21st birthday so me, her, her mom, her aunts, her brother and sister, and Lucas all went.  Her family is so crazy and so much fun as is she but it was like having a whole army of her.  We toured the Grand Ole Opry and the Ryman and the Country Music Hall of Fame.  I love country music so this was super cool for me.  Every bar or restaurant we went in had life music which was awesome.  GO NASHVILLE

Abby Duffy

Sitting here contemplating what to blog about and my friend Abby jumps into my bed and says "Blog about me please!" Oh, okay.  Abby Duffy is my friend.  She dated one of my good friends last year but I didn't really know her and then they broke up over the summer but then in the fall I found out that we live in the same building.  We started out just running together because we both like to run but we weren't real friends.  It was actually kind of awkward because I knew that her and my friend had broken up, and she knew that me and that guy were close friends so we just never really spoke of it for a while.  But now we're BFFs.  I'm going to end this now that I realize how bizarro it sounds. Goodbye.

My dog Max

When I'm at school and not at home I miss my dog Max more than all else.  He's 14 and a golden lab and is just perfect.  I know I'm his favorite too.  He's massive and all growing up I had a bunk bed and I would always sleep on the top and he would sleep on the bottom, unless I had a pile of clothes on my top bunk which was frequent... in which case we would just both sleep on the bottom twin sized bunk.  Last summer he had surgery where they basically stapled his epiglottis back because it kept getting stuck down and he wouldn't be able to breathe.  During the whole process I felt so cool cause the only things the vet would talk about is the stuff we talked about in anatomy and the stuff we talk about every day.  If I had a dime for every time my mom said "lair-nex" during all of  his issues.  I correct her constantly and she still only says that.

How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days

How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days is one of my FAVORITE movies.  I watched it last night for probably the 183rd time ever. I love it.  I love Matthew McConaughey and genuinely believe he is my soulmate... Sure he has a wife and what not but whatever.  We were destined to be.  And if he weren't, him and Kate Hudson were.  The movie is just so ridiculous and the humor of it is right up my alley.  I think it would be SO fun to do what Kate Hudson does in the movie even though that's so mean and would never work out like that in real life.  Matthew is perfect though he belongs on a big beautiful sailboat somewhere tropical with his long curly hair flowing.  Love him

High School

Last night I went to a Watauga High School basketball game.  It was so strange to be back in a high school gym.  Part of me feels like high school was yesterday but another part of me feels like it was ages ago.  It made me feel really old because even though I'm not too much older than a high schooler, they all looked SO young! It was so much though because it was a big game and the family I was with has a senior on the team and he's really good and if they lost it would be his last game so it was kind of a big deal.  My senior year my highschool has an AWESOME basketball team.  We were kind of jerks though just because the student section was insane.  We would all cheer and go crazy when they introduced our team and then when they introduced the other team we would all pull newspaper out from our back pockets and sit down and pretend to be reading and paying no attention.  Looking back that's actually pretty mean.

Friends

I freak out on a daily... no, hourly basis about graduating and getting old and being a real person and just all of these things because while I'm sure that will be great... life is just really fun right now.  I could stand for it to be summer and then time could freeze for a while.  But in my freak outs I always end up thinking about my friends, because just like me they too will soon be moving on with life and doing all sorts of things.  Either way, it always makes me realize how lucky I am and how great of friends I've found up here in Boone... not to get sappy.  It's just sad watching people gradually start to graduate and move to different places but it's also really exciting.  I've just  been so fortunate to find such a kind-hearted, fun, goofy group of people to make awesome friendships with up here.  Y'all our school rocks.

Kayla... dun dun DUN

Kayla is the name of my new arch nemesis and also my new best friend.  Okay, I don't actual know this human but I really might as well.  Her name is Kayla Itsines and she has this workout program out and it's KILLER.  You guys should google people's before and after pictures.  They're insane.  It's basically circuit training and the edition I have is 12 weeks long but there's an addition guide once you finish that that takes you to week 24.  She also has a meal plan but I'm not on that.  As I sit here and eat my chocolate covered pretzels.  But.  I really like fitness and I like trying different things with it and this is the first thing that I've really fallen in love with.  It's not even like I've lost a ton of weight or something, I just feel awesome.  And the circuits have gotten harder and harder but I can actually feel myself getting in shape and getting stronger which is what I'm more concerned with.  Even though after every single one I just want to fall of the floor.  Seriously y'all should look her up on instagram she's the devil but also an angel.

DISORIENTED

The snow week has been fun... but I am SO disoriented.  I feel so behind on everything and like there's no way to catch up because I don't even know what's what anymore.  So many of my psych classes give a pop quiz every week or even twice a week on reading and class material and at this point I don't even know what would be considered fair game and what wouldn't.  And I want to say "oh, they wouldn't give a quiz the first day back after all of this" but this thing is they TOTALLY would.  One reason being that they're jerks and the other being that they quizzes are a huge part of our grade and we have to have a certain amount so I know they'll have them.  On top of school my room is just such a mess and it will never be clean.  I try so hard to keep in clean and it just won't happen and right now its so far gone that there's no turning back.  I want to go work on a cruise ship or something.

Pancakes and Coffee

I'm really annoyed because supposedly we have classes after 2 and I have a 3:30.  Abnormal psychology for my minor.  Well, here's the thing.... Today was supposed to be test corrections for an exam we took last week but if you're happy with your grade you don't have to come.  She said she would post exam grades over the weekend.  Hasn't happened... I feel good about the test and obviously don't want to go but I might have to.  Last night I spent that night at my friends' house.  We woke up this morning and made pancakes.  All I ever want in the morning though is a cup of coffee and THEY WERE OUT OF COFFEE.  Like what house full of college kids could ever run out of coffee.  This was a very depressing moment for me.  We're in a cozy house, it's so beautiful outside, pancakes are being made but there is no coffee.  Mind blowing.  Repulsive honestly.  The parents of one of the guys in the house live 5 minutes up the road.  We all rode over there to get some sleds.  And a miracle happened.  Their mom gave us coffee.  We're back at the house and a pot is on the burner. Bliss.

The Echotans

Obviously today we got a LOT of snow.  I am very thrilled because I've been wanting a big snow for a long time now.  After this week though it can be summer.  But during the time being, SO MUCH FUN!  My friend Kelsey and I came out to come of our other friends' house to play games and enjoy the snow day.  So far I have creamed everyone in catch phrase.  Catch phrase is my absolute favorite game.  I got it for Christmas two years ago and it has been my most used Christmas gift EVER.  Second favorite to my dog Max who was also a present. (Obviously from Santa...) I am upset for one reason.  Tonight I missed the Bachelor.  This is my guilty pleasure.  I think just because my mom always watched it, I can't help it.  I know how stupid it is but its just so amusing.  Speaking of shows, Grey's Anatomy and New Girl are the bomb.

BOOTS

Once upon a time, a long long time ago, (approximately one month)... I had to go to Wilkesboro.  While there, I decided I'd buzz into Khol's.  Here's the thing about Khol's... They always put stuff on ridiculous sale and I ALWAYS find something good.  Well when I was there I found a pair of ankle boots that were SO cute and I have high boot standards so that really says something.  But of course, they're the only boots in the whole dang store not on sale.  They were 85 bucks.  Now I'm pretty frugal, and I have a job.  So I sat there and went back and forth a bit but ended deciding to make the adult decision and instead save my pennies for I don't know, groceries or something stupid like that.  Well, I keep thinking about the boots.  Last night I looked online and now their 44.99! AND there was a promo code for Valentine's Day so did discount for that added up to free shipping.  I ordered the boots this morning and they should be here between Thursday and Tuesday.  Hopefully Thursday cause these bad boys are ready for the weekend.

Meta-Blogging

As CSD majors we're always talking about meta-linguistics, meta-cognition, meta-this, meta-that, all of the meta things.  Well I think meta-blogging should be a thing and many of us are guilty of it alright. Blogging about blogging.  For many of us this is our first experience blogging.  Some of you seem like pros and actually have really interesting things to say and you present them in a very witty, enjoyable to read fashion.  Not I.  I'm still in the boat of just trying to get my three for the week and I often sit here before blogging thinking to myself what am I going to blog about.  Usually I can come up with some topic relatively interesting; my life isn't THAT thrilling but it's certainly not boring.  But right now I've got nothing.  So I've come up with meta-blogging.  Does it say something about my development or neurological function that I'm able to blog about blogging?  Probably not.

"What if I just explode at midnight?"

One of my very best friends Lucas turns 21 in an hour.  We're sitting in the library at the moment but here shortly we're going to go up to Macado's for a beer.  He has a big exam tomorrow and it's a Monday so it's looking like it's going to be a pretty lay low birthday.  Tonight at least.  But the reason I decided to blog about this is because we're sitting here at the table in the library, Kelsey, Lucas and I, and it's dead silent when out of no where he very seriously says, "What if I just explode at midnight?" Sorry, what? I'm sure this is one of those things that's funnier when you're there, or if you know the person.  But still... What?! Then he continued on, "No I'm serious... Picture me sitting in the booth about to hand the waiter my ID and suddenly... BOOM I just burst into a million pieces." On second thought, maybe we won't take him for that beer tonight after all.

DISCLAIMER

Disclaimer: Indestructible phones are not resistant to being ran over by a car.

I've had the same flip phone for years now.  It's the kind that is water proof and fall proof and everything proof.  I've tossed it in the pool, its fallen in the lake, its been dropped countless times and always survived.  Last night I was getting into my friend's car.  A lot of you probably know Kelsee Cheek.  She's in our program.  But I was carrying a pair of boots and I set my phone in one of the shoes.  As I sat in the car the boots slammed against the side of it.  As Kelsee reversed I reached for my phone and it was gone.  I told her to stop so I could hop out and see if I had dropped it.  Well, I did.  And then it was ran over.  The screen was so cracked and even though it was still on, the screen was purple and black and static looking.  I was SO bummed.  I love that phone and it's so hard to find them anymore.  Luckily I have my crappy little touch screen phone from high school up here so I was able to activate that in the meantime.  My new indestructible (unless ran over by a car) flip phone will be going out in the mail tomorrow.  All of my friends are like "Oh! What a great time to upgrade to a smart phone!" No way no how will that ever happen.

I don't get paid enough.

I'm an RA in Justice and a lot of my residents are upperclassmen.  Initially I thought that this would be a great thing and that they'd all have their lives together and all the petty things I had to deal with last year working in a freshman dorm would be no longer. Wrong.  Tomorrow we'll be having a floor meeting because there is a note war taking place in the bathroom.  I have my own bathroom attached to my room, so I only know about this problem based on several residents coming to me about it and our male housekeeper who thinks they're all insane telling me what obnoxious notes he finds each morning.  Apparently there is a clash of clans.  Some people on the floor support the idea of "if it's yellow let it mellow" in effort to save some water here and there while others believe that it is repulsive for them to walk into a stall and find that.  So each day one party will make one note, and let me tell you these things are elaborate and thought out.  And in response, the opposing team will rip the note down and make a different one.  I'm just so confused because I rarely have spare time, but when I do you can bet I spend it watching Grey's Anatomy on Netflix rather than passive aggressively writing notes to people that live on my hall.  As the RA I'm taking a neutral stand point.  I don't use that bathroom and it doesn't affect me, however it is my job to get everyone to come to some sort of agreement. So tomorrow night at the meeting I'll ask what people think about the situation, and give them an opportunity to identify themselves as the note writers.  I'll ask if they like the note system.  Because if that's how they want to communicate and if they find it constructive then go for it.  I'd rather them do that then not say anything at all.  But I'll also suggest some alternative communication styles.  I'm sure neither side will want to back down but I have a few compromises in mind.  Back to the title, I DON'T GET PAID ENOUGH.

Mr. Bill

The house I've grown up in sits at the very end of a gravel road.  The road is small and doesn't have many houses, and all of the neighbors are old people.  I love this charming essence of my little road.  You would think that since we didn't live in the middle of a suburban neighborhood, there were never other kids for my siblings and I to go outside and play with like most people had.  My childhood was actually quite the opposite.  We were so spoiled by the elderly couples that lived around us.  At the top of the hill lived Miss Betty and Mr. Bill.  It was just the two of them, as their children had grown and moved, so they took my siblings and I on as their next project.  Miss Betty had an especially soft spot in her heart for us kids because her dad had actually built our house and she had grown up there.  Any time that it snowed they would call the house and ask my mom if they could take us sledding.  Any time they went out of the boat (we all lived on the lake) they would swing by our dock and offer us a ride because they knew we'd be out there.  They had the best driveway for bike riding and I'm sure we made ourselves a little bit too welcome to it, not to mention the diving board and water slide too... Miss Betty would make invitations and deliver them to our house for tea parties for my sister and I.  We would ride our bikes up the hill and she would dress us up in her old dresses and jewelry even though they swallowed us whole and then we would play games and try to act fancy as Mr. Bill served us something delicious that was definitely not tea.  Aside from how good they were to us, they we even better to the community.  Mr. Bill was the second volunteer ever in Charlotte for Habitat for Humanity.  At least once a week you could look out the window and see Miss Betty swimming around the cover holding a bag of tomatoes in the air to deliver to the people who lived across the way.  (Mind you, she was AT LEAST 70 at this point.)  Years ago they moved out of their home on our little road and into a house in a retirement community because Mr. Bill hadn't been doing so well.  Their great nephew and his wife moved into the house where they have started a family.  Last week I got a call from my mom who had the news of Mr. Bill's passing.  On Saturday I went home to go to his funeral.  It was a beautiful service and the family seemed in as good of spirits as possible.  At the end, Miss Betty and her two sons lined up for everyone to walk past and hug or give words of encouragement.  When we walked by she still gave us the biggest hugs and we briefly reminisced how much fun we had and I made sure to remind her just how huge she and Mr. Bill had been to my childhood.  I can't imagine being married to someone for 65 years and then losing them, but somehow this incredible woman still managed to do it in the most elegant and precious way.

Home

This upcoming week is the week I sign the lease for the house I'll be living in this summer and during my senior year!  I'm super excited because my roommates and I have been on the hunt for the perfect place to live for a while now, and this option just last minute came into the picture and has worked out perfectly.  I'll be living with two of my best friends Kelsey and Lucas.  After being an RA for two years I'm more than ready to be in a house.  Totally skipping over the apartment step and going straight for an actual house.  We have a huge front and back yard and there's a small creek on the side of the property with a fire pit and picnic table set up.  It's the perfect little Boone college house.