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.