First Semester

I am now one final from the end of my first semester of college (anatomy and physiology on Thursday). I just returned from driving around the city viewing Christmas lights with my closest friend here- Jessie. My apartment is quiet. The Christmas lights tastefully strung across our living room and my bedroom are shining merrily. All is peaceful and calm. It is now time for me to reflect on my first semester of college.

I must say, it's been pretty wonderful. Sure there have been some really crapy parts but mostly it's been amazing. I've learned a lot. I've learned a lot of things in class, of course- a lot of things that I need for my major (like where the sternocleidomastoid muscle is)- but I think more important are the things I've learned that have absolutely nothing to do with my major and the new friends I've made (man am i flirting with corny! I'm sorry all, I will try to avoid corny-ness).

I've learned how to be civil to someone I don't like and don't respect and how best to try to solve problems with them -even though in the end it hasn't actually worked out, nonetheless I tried and was as respectful as I could be so I have no regrets that my roommate and I don't get along at all. I've learned how to and pray blessings for someone I don't like or respect and who I feel is nothing but rude to me (once again the roommate). I've learned the importance of budgeting time- though it is an art form I fear I shall never master. I've learned the necessity of budgeting money. I've always thought of myself as smart with how I use my money- I always carefully evaluate my purchases to make absolutely sure that I don't waste money- but it turns out that an actual budget allotting me so much money for each thing is an excellent idea. I've learned (at least to some degree) how to handle boys who are interested in me without me sharing the feeling. I've learned that it is not the end of the world if I have to eat a meal alone. I've learned how to create acceptable dishes with limited ingredients, no recipe and very little time from scratch. I've learned that, though I hate it and fight it, I do judge people unfairly- for instance, jsut because someone likes to party doesn't mean that she can't be oh, say, a good RA (there are after all worse things someone can do than go to a party). I've learned that my worries are insignificant- God is more than big enough to take care of things and He's put people in my life who take care of me. I've learned that perhaps I can sing and write well- two things that I've long since decided I'm horrible at- and I shouldn't discredit myself. I've learned how extremely important it is to take opportunities and try things and not make lame excuses. I am now on the swing dance performance team here and I go swing dancing at least three days a week. I have great friends that I've met other places but my closest friends and the ones I hang out with most (like Jessie) are in swing. Had I made lame excuses why I shouldn't go to swing that first night I never would have met these amazing people and my life here would be lame- at best. One should not waste life with lame excuses.

I have learned just how blessed I am! I have such a wonderful family and such wonderful friends! Since this is a reflection on college, I will write about the new ones. God has given me so many wonderful friends here. They are people I trust completely, people who I can rely on completely, people who are always there for me when I need them. I don't know what I would do without them (nicely illustrated by the fact that Jessie and I have to work together in order to find our way anywhere). I've met a lot of guys who are honorable and trustworthy; they are worthy of the term "young men"- a term I don't apply lightly. I've met some guys who are, well, less than respectable, but they only make me more grateful for the wonderful young men God has put in my life. I love all of my new friends and I'm so, so grateful for them.

I think that just about covers my reflections on this semester. Overall, it's been wonderful.

"Play and Feed a Hungry Person"

Has anyone else noticed the button to the side of the blog that says "play and feed a hungry person"? How....? I'm flabergasted. Really. How does my playing some online game provide food to another person? It makes no sense! Now, thanks to technology, we are able to save the world and end social ills without being bothered by the inconvenience of even raising our butts from our chairs.

The excitement of the past (and coming) week

The past week has been rather eventful- and the source of all this excitement?- boys. Aaaagh! Stupid boys. In one week I ended up with 3 new boys liking me (all of them at swing dancing to give you some context).
Boy number one is desperate. First he liked my friend, but upon finding out that I and not she was single, he latched on to me. He is highly unattractive- short, gangly, sparkly earings that would work well on a girl. He is socially awkward- within the first 3 hours of knowing me and my freind he divulged his entire life story to us. Slightly creepy. When I saw him for the second time the other night he was less clingy, but I felt like if he wasn't talking or dancing with me he wasn't talking or dancing with anyone he was just sort of in the background. I had planned on talking to him about it- gently telling him that I wasn't interested and that he needed to dance with other girls- but he wasn't clingy and didn't give me a reason to do so.
Boy number two is a step up- probably several steps up. He's a christian and he's certainly nice enough. But he's somewhat short, and overweight and his oral hygiene is, well, questionable.
Boy number three tops the others. I know very little about him, I have no idea if he's a christian, but he was very gentlemanly about the way he asked for my phone number- he actually asked my permission to call me! I definitely appreciate such manners.

What else exciting has happened this week? Snow! It snowed friday evening and sunday. I was at a freind's house and we kept rushing outside to play in the snow. We made a giant snow man who must have been near ten feet tall! It took a ladder, and five people to make that snowman! I beleive pictures are on facebook.

We are nearing finals! only three weeks till break begins! I only have one more chem lab, which is thoroughly awesome since I hate that class. My final test in A&P is not a cumulative test, hallelujah! Unfotunately I have a final paper due on the 14th- but atleast I have two weeks to work on it.

I have now made business cards to give out so I can start trying to sell art.

I feel this post has been poorly composed and jumped around too much but you all should be grateful that I updated at all- and never fear! I would not have been using this time on that paper anyway, my mind gave out while trying to work on it before I switched to this mindless blogging. love you all!

On Swing Dancing

So many new posts for you all to read! Aren't you excited?!

As some of you may know I have been getting into swing dancing since starting school. It's a truly wonderful thing. Allow me to expound upon one aspect that I love about dancing: the relationship between the guy and the girl. The guy, or 'young man' I ought to say, comes over to the young lady and offers his hand to her. The young lady accepts and follows him to the dance floor. The young man gently leads the young lady where he wants her to move. The young lady could, of course, simply not do as her partner leads her but there are so many lovely moves that are rendered impossible when she doesn't wait and follow. The young man is respectful in all he does; in the way he touches her, in the way he leads her. At the end of the song he dips the young lady. He holds her gently and makes sure she doesn't fall. I think it's beautiful the way this works. It seems to go against a lot of what our culture dictates about the way men and women should relate to each other. I've also noticed that the worst guys to dance with are the ones that think their good; they never are, and they're terrible at leading, the humble ones are the ones you can enjoy dancing with even if they're not that good. Swing dancing is so refreshing and I think it has helped (at least a little) to mature in the way that I relate to guys, I'm very glad I got into doing it.

A Week of Epic-ness

First, I have blessed you all with more pictures on picasa!

This week has been a week filled with epic adventures.
1) Epic adventure #1: I had a bunch of freinds over to my apartment and made pumpkin pie and spaghetti. First Brooke and I went to Safeway (which in itself is a thrilling adventure- at least the way I shop). We scoured the whole store for the pre-made pie crusts before finally being directed to the only aisle we had not been down. The pies turned out beautifully although we (being impatient college kids) didn't give them the required two hours to cool. Instead we put them in front of windows opened to the cold night air. it took two of us working together (one holding plate and knife, the other holding spoon and fork) to get each sloppy piece out. I neglected to buy whipped cream but we had a tiny amount of heavy whipping cream left after making the pies so we added some sugar to it and whipped it using a fork (Jenna and I did the actual whipping, Stephanie and Devon watched). Aparently, as the internet informed us, it is indeed possible to over-whip whipped cream, when this happens you end up with butter. I think we were nearing the butter faze when we decided we had thoroughly whipped it.

2) Epic adventure #2: Some friends and I went to Target after dinner and before the Navigator's meeting. We had a pretty fun time. We descovered a lovely children's book entitled "Barack" with an animated picture of Obama on the front. Next to it was a similar McCain book.

3) Epic adventure #3: Brooke and I saw Quantum of Solace at midnight on Thursday. We got there really early expecting lots of people and for a long time were the only poeple in the theater. We felt very lame. But more people showed up.

I hope you all enjoyed hearing about the epic-ness of my week.

Ahhhhh!

I am so overwhelmed right now. There's so much that I have to do. I have a psychology exam on Monday, and the hardest English paper of my life to write by Thursday. I have to work on memorizing the muscles in the arms and legs and reviewing everything we've covered in anatomy so far. It's getting time for thinking about Christmas presents but I have no money and I'm going to have to make all of them so I need to figure out what on earth I can make for everyone. I need to look into holiday jobs so I can try to make a little money. I'm praying about going on another mission trip next summer (should I go?, where should I go?, what about going on a road trip with Shannon?, do either of us have the money for a road trip anyway?). So many things to think about! And I thought (briefly) about the possibility of joining ROTC, but it seems hasty and, well, insane, to agree to being in the army for four years after graduation, regardless of what the benefits are, so I will certainly not be doing that (baring the audible voice of God commanding me to do so which I think is unlikely).

As I write these things out they seem much less important. Really, I suppose they're all pretty small things. I find it interesting, and quite timely, that on Wednesday at Navigator's our speakers talked about trusting God. Something I need to work on doing perhaps?

I feel like I havn't posted for a while so I'll give you all a short message (since I know al of you are eagerlt awaiting word from me). I went to a regional conference for the Navigators (a christian college group) up in Estes Park. It was freakin awesome! It was exactly what I needed. God did awesome stuff with lots of people and really touched everyone. And hanging out with all my Navs friends was a lot of fun.

Sorry for not writing in more detail but I'm exhausted.

Love you all!

P.S. Pictures hopefully soon to come.

:)

bumper sticker

I saw the most amazing bumper sticker today! it said "cleverly disguised as a mature adult". I don't feel like writing a real post today but I thought you all needed to know that.

Revolting- and amusing (but really mostly revolting)

In Anatomy Lab today we started on the cadavers. Yippee! The part that really gets you is the smell. It enters you and you feel it in your whole being, or perhaps it would be more true to simply say, you taste it. Yes, TASTE it. And you keep tasting it. After you leave you continue to taste it, though you try not to think of it. Hours later, you remember that taste and it seems to return bringing an triggering the gag reflex.

Honestly it wasn't as bad as all that, though all that is true. I had no trouble with standing there and watching our lab instructor point things out or touching them myself (though that was kinda weird). They are definitely interesting. One of them (we have two) has a particularly obnoxious odor. Her smell is far more potent than that of the man, and she doesn't really smell like formaldehyde; her stench is somehow fruity. Hmm. Not right.

There is far more that I could expound upon but for your sakes, I will not. I will simply leave you with these final thoughts: I am not sure that I will ever be able to eat roast beef again and I probably won't think of jerky the same way anymore (but that won't stop me eating it).

The Heater

I'm very pleased you like the new format. So do I. (Mommy, I don't know what you should call your blog).

I just joined facebook. It's truly overwhelming. When I was finding freinds while setting up the account I began to feel like the Facebook was somehow alive and looking into my soul to discover all the people I've ever known. It's going to take a lot of getting used to.


Now for the title story: The heat in my apartment (or lack thereof).

It's starting to get quite cold here. I really love this weather and I'm happy it's finally getting cold but I would like to be warm once I get inside my apartment. Sadly, this is not so; our apartment's heater doesn't seem to work. My room in particular is very cold. More of an igloo than anything. My roommate, Marissa, discovered that the vent in my room was not open. So she opened it. She also thought that there were controls for each bedroom in on the vent. We looked for the controls on one side of the vent (the vent stretches along the floor from wall to wall on the outside wall) and they weren't there so we thought they must be on the other side-the corner behind the bed. So I crawled behind my bed. This was no easy feat. There's a shelf and a dresser under my 3-or-so-foot-high bed and there is a space slightly wider than my shoulders between the dresser and the foot of the bed so a had to crawl through there. I had to turn the corner so I was up against the wall where I could crawl through the slightly-less-than-shoulder-wide corridor between said wall and the dresser/shelf. It was considerably darker in there than in the rest of my room. I am somewhat claustrophobic and a little afraid of getting stuck but I was courageous and crawled to the back to the vent. Despite my claustrophobia I had a wonderful time crawling back there (anything that gives me an excuse to pretend to be a secret agent or some such thing is lovely). And guess what! No control panel! Hopefully opening the vent will help, but judging from the temperature of the rest of the apartment and my bedroom's position at the corner of the building I'm doubtful that the improvement will be great.

My Frog Prince

I should say "my fish prince" really, for he is, in fact, Theta the Beta (who, for any of you who may have missed it, is my beta fish). I have come to the conclusion that dear Theta is in love with me. Each time he sees me he swims toward me and pushes against the glass (he's obviously desperate to get to me). We will reason this through, well, reasonably, and scientifically; a fish cannot be in love with me (for obvious reasons), so Theta (who so obviously IS in love with me) cannot be a fish, therefore he MUST be a prince who was turned into a fish by some turn of remarkably ill luck.

He has been trying very hard to get to me so that I might kiss him and turn him back into a prince. He seems to have all but given up on the pushing-on-the-glass method and is now trying a new method of escaping his glass prison- digging. Almost every time I have arrived home the past couple days I have been alarmed to see him with his head buried in the marbles at the bottom of his bowl. Poor Theta. This method has failed him too, and as I will not be kissing his little fishy face anyway, he might as well give up his hopes of being a prince again. Poor prince Theta.


And now... reality!

I got a 99% on my anatomy lab test! Yay!

On Sunday night I went swing dancing (including lindy hop lessons!) and saw one of my teachers there! It was during the lesson before the dance began (and after the lindy lessons) and during that part we rotate partners, so we had dance together. Very awkward- for both of us I think. (In other swing dancing news- I signed up to be on the new swing dancing team at school)

I joined a Bible study. That should be really good.

I have no new campus oddities to report, but I do have one old one- the mysterious noises from the new engineering building. Strange animal noises (I think they sound vaguely like amazon rain forest noises) have proceeded from the new engineering building since I started classes. Now the noises emanate from the clock tower in the building next to the engineering building. I haven't the slightest clue what to make of it.

Love you all!

I have another campus oddity to report- the mysterious appearance of hay bales. There are small stacks of them all about campus, and in completely random places (though I'm not sure what locations would be normal or sensible for hay bales on a college campus). There are also small bits of hay all over the ground.

I have three pieces of information for you all:

1) I have no job! According to Panera I am "un-re-hireable". Why, I don't know. At any rate the Panera I was going to work for decided that there must be a reason for it (even though I was to be transfered down there so I cannot possibly be un-re-hireable). Yay! I'm broke! So please all pray for a job for me.

2) I got a 94% on my first Chem exam last week!

3) I got an A- on my first Psych exam!


On Thursday during my English class I discovered, much to my chagrin, that the 4 page essay which I had thought was due the following Thursday was, in fact due the next day. I had a poor thesis and pathetic outline. So on Friday I wrote the entire essay. That was fun, not. I think I did well enough on it. I think. I hope. I'm not sure I could have done much better if I had spent more time on it anyway.

Last night a friend (Jessie) and I went swing dancing down town. We had to U-turn a couple times, drive through a neighborhood and explore several different one-way streets to actually get to the parking lot only to find out that we were a half hour early. So (hmm random sound of large quantities of trash falling all over the place from the night outside my window) we explored the surrounding area a bit, which was not too interesting. We had a great time (once inside the building). There was one middle aged man we both danced with who smelled rather like Play-Do. He had a heavy accent and was chewing something. He was a good dancer but I have to say the combination of chewing a mysterious substance, and smelling like Play-Do was rather gross. Most of the guys there are pleasant, though (really all of them except that one), and a lot of them I met at the dance class at school.

Oh! Apparently mountain lions go up on the bluff behind my school sometimes. Jessie and her friends saw a paw print up there a while ago. Guess who's not going on walks up the bluff by her self any more! (My dad suggests I carry a large "kitty whopping stick". Maybe I'll do that.)

:)

Butter

Before I forget, I must tell you all of some wonderful signs that have appeared in my building. They have a picture of a shower and say "Save Water- Shower Together". Did nobody think things through before hanging that poster all over the building?

On Wednesday I ate a spoon full of butter. Why you may ask. I went to Village in with Navigators after the meeting and a cup of butter came with my waffle. One of my friends, Josh, said that he would eat half of the butter if I ate half and naturally I agreed (why wouldn't I?). So we each ate a spoonful all at once. It was so gross! I could feel my arteries clogging as the butter slithered down my throat. We tried to wash it down with chunks of ham from another girls meal, then some else's leftover cheesecake. "Just a spoonful of butter helps the ham and cheesecake go down?"

I'm not really sure where to start right now. I'll start with the random happenings around here or I'll forget them. The German exchange students who live in my building currently have a German flag gracing the outside of their window. It is the sole decoration on the outside of any of the buildings, and, come to think of it, the only flag I can think of anywhere nearby. The school for some unknown reason has torn out a beautiful green, lush, patch of grass near the dorms and is in the process of replacing it with astroterf! The fiends! On my way back from class today (after passing the abominable astroterf) I saw a couple signs tapped to lamp posts pointing off to the left towards some bushes and a parking lot bearing only the single word "event". Huh. So many unanswered questions. What event? When is said event? Where are they fitting this event? In the bushes? I think that does it for random happenings.

On to the real news!

I'm starting to wonder if this work thing is going to work out after all. I keep hitting complications with it. We'll see what God works out with it. I definitely need to pray about it (something I perhaps should have done in the first place). I'm thinking I'll put together a portfolio and make a business card and try to start selling my art.

Yesterday evening I went to swing dancing here at school. It was so much fun, and I already have freinds there! Everyone there is so cool! I love it! I'm going to start going to it regularly. It started with lessons and after that we just had fun dancing. Very relaxed atmosphere. And it was nice to just sit there and have the guys come up and ask us to dance and be so gentlemanly- it feels so right, it's so different from the way we normally do dances. I'm going with a new friend, Jessie, to a swing dancing place downtown this weekend. I'm so excited!

Today, after calling every friend I have around here and failing to find anyone available to eat dinner with me, I bought a delicious burrito at Chipotle and ate it sitting on my car in a parking lot at Garden of the Gods (in case you think I was just hanging out in an abandoned parking lot alone at night, not so. It was still light out and there were a lot of people around). I took a wrong turn while driving back and ended up driving through downtown rather than simply getting back to Garden of the Gods road (which would have been faster). Oh well, I had fun.

One last cool note: Last Thursday my hip was really hurting (I don't know why), and got worse as the day progressed. When I got in bad with it still hurting I decided that I didn't have to deal with it any more so I quickly and sleepily ordered the pain to go away in Jesus' name. After maybe 30 seconds I thought I should see if it was better so I moved my leg around and it didn't hurt, so I jumped out of bed and walked around and then started jumping around and it didn't hurt at all! Yay!

:)

Craptastic!

Craptastic!
It has been the theme of the past week.
My week hasn't been ALL bad, just mostly.
Monday morning I got back a chemistry quiz. My performance on said quiz: craptastic. I missed a lot of points because of some really stupid errors. Craptastic! (But at least I know exactly what to fix).
Monday evening I was supposed to have my first game of flag football (I joined a team). It had sounded like fun till I found out that my team had 50 people on it (craptastic!). I don't know ANYTHING about football and all these guys were practicing for it outside our building. I freaked out. I got invited to a Bible study that night so I decided I would go to that instead. I never found out were the Bible study was or when, I spent the evening at home alone and I quit the flag football team. My team captain (who lives just down the hall from me) didn't seem to like me much to begin with; she probably hates me now. I think my roommates were all mad at me too. it was a stupid thing to do. I should have at least gone to the first game before quiting. Craptastic!
On Wednesday I had to go to orientation for my new job. It took three hours. Craptastic! (Before leaving for orientation I walked in on my roommate in the bathroom; she hadn't closed the door! Awkward, embarrassing, crap?)
Wednesday evening I tried to go to Navigators but the meeting had been moved and I didn't know where it was. Craptastic!
Thursday actually sort of rocked. I went on a field trip (yay!) to a prosthetics clinic for freshman seminar. We got out early so four of my friends and I went to Taco Bell for lunch and then to the mall. We had a lot of fun, and I got two really cute shirts from my new favorite store for only $7.00! Go 75% off rack!
Today I was supposed to work for 9 hours but last night I had such a sore throat that I could barely get to sleep (craptastic!) and I was sniffling all morning so I called in sick. I really wanted to get the first stressful day over with and I could certainly use the money but I decided it just wouldn't be a good thing to go and get everyone else sick. A mix of "craptastic!" and "cool, I get to go home a day early".
I have two exams on Monday. Craptastic!

Funny funny

I just have to share these two amazingly hilarious charts from graph jam.

Campus Republicans

Today at my college's club fair I was accosted twice by overzealous members of the Campus Republicans. This large young man was standing in front of the booth (with a few of his comrades) holding a clipboard and asked me if I would sign up with them. I politely refused. He asked again. Upon receiving my second refusal he asked if I support Obama in a mocking sort of voice. I am in fact registered as a Republican and I don't much care for Obama (I have not done much research on him though) but even so I was highly offended that he talked to me like that. I wish that I had told him all the rude things that were in my mind to say, but I, prefering to be nice and avoid confrontation merely appeased him by writing my email address on his clipboard and then threw away the pamphlet he'd given me. Later on I was asked by a different member of the club to sign up with them. I politely refused and just kept walking- the girl didn't press the issue. I'm now somewhat afraid of the Campus Republicans and I can't say that my opinion of them is very high.
On a more positive note, I found several interesting groups that I signed up with. And I had a very successful grocery shopping trip at my non-ghetto Safeway- I got al the cheapest brands and spent less than $100.

The Triumph of the Coffee Maker

Upon typing in that title an image popped into my head of a coffee maker marching down the street after a triumphant battle. I can't say that I'm too fond of the image, so perhaps I should clarify that it is my triumph over the coffee maker.
Wednesday morning I was up and doing some english homework before going to my first class. I had read one paragraph of my reading assignment when I realized that I still felt rather sleepy and I thought "I want some coffee". Then, with great glee, I realized that we had coffee! I promptly threw down my homework, leaped off my bed and ran into the kitchen to begin. I have never actually made coffee before and really didn't know what I was doing so I poured 3 cups of water into the machine, and a pile of ground coffee into a filter (I didn't know how many oz are in a cup so i didn't know how much coffee to use) and it worked!
and the coffee wasn't disgusting! Sweet success! I marched around my apartment valiantly until my roommate got up. It was the perfect beginning to my day. (of course my english homework sat there on my bed barely touched for several hours).

Rachel has tagged me.
The rules are:

Post the rules on your blog
Write 6 random things about yourself
Tag 6 people at the end of your post
If you're tagged, DO IT and pass on the tag

1) I can't stand to have my toe nails unpainted but I can't stand to have my fingernails painted. On the rare occasions when I do paint my finger nails I usually end up removing the paint within the hour regardless of what color I use.

2) My handwritten notes always have to look nice. It irritates me when a word doesn't look nice or match the look of the rest of what I've written so I often erase the offending word and rewrite it. It gets very irritating in classes where I have to write fast to keep up with what's being said.

3) When I'm painting or coloring a large swath of space one color I can't merely work from one side to the other. I have to color other random spots in between and then color in the rest by enlarging those spots to meet each other. I feel like that makes it faster and less boring.

4) When I'm off running mundane errands (like grocery shopping) I like to sing the Indiana Jones theme song (or other adventurous tunes) to make it seem less boring. When I do this I almost always end up inadvertantly making weird faces and pretending to battle unseen foes around every corner. Somehow I manage to not run into many other shoppers while doing this.

5) I'm mildly afraid of toilets. I'm fine with ones that flush quietly but I hate the explosive flushers- they always startle me even when I've just pushed the toggle (aka "lever") and am expecting the loud flush and I have to escape stall as quickly as possible.

6) I can't stand to wear shoes inside. THis is a habit that has carried over from my trip to Thailand two years ago. I feel rude wearing shoes inside anyone else's home and I just feel uncomfortable wearing shoes in my own home. I also don't like to let people see the bottoms of my old dirty shoes- for example, if I'm wearing a well used pair of flip flops I have to take them off if I'm going to lift my foot up high enough for people to see the bottom of it because I feels rude making them see nasty shoe soles.

Unfortunately I don't think anyone accept Rachel reads this blog so I guess I can't tag anyone. Sad day.

A Plethora of Thoughts

Real classes have started! Woohoo! So far it's nothing to get too excited about. My psychology teacher is hilarious, my chemistry teacher seems nice, I might die in chemistry lab (as I determined during the safety instructions), and I might fall asleep in anatomy and physiology (which is the one course I looked forward to but the teacher just has that monotonous voice).
Today my roommate and I noticed a lovely little place- the Bone Deep tattoo parlour. I wonder what made them think that that would be a good name. When I think of sharp objects penetrating my flesh right down the bone my first reaction is not, "hmm, I think I'd like to do that". I suppose that to some disturbed people that might be appealing though. Sometime after that I saw a car which I think defines a "contradiction in terms"- a Ford Explorer decorated with three sculls on the back (on of which had glowing red eyes) boasting a "respect life" bumper sticker. How exactly do these people think that they are respecting life in their oversized gas-guzzling death car? I will leave you to ponder that oh so important question.
Good night.
and by the way, new pictures of my dorm will be up, hopefully,by tomorow.

First Week of College

Well, I sit here on the couch at home after my first week in my dorm. My room is totally awesome! I've still got some decorating to do but it's already looking, as I said, awesome. Unfortunately, I failed to take pictures of my dorm as it was when I left it yesterday, so the only pictures I have to post at the moment are from a couple days ago when it looked much less cool.
I went to Safeway on Wednesday and was surprised by the ease with which I got there. I felt completely comfortable and confident driving there, as though I had been doing it all my life. I felt slightly less confident upon entering the Safeway, however. It's sort of ghetto. They appear to be in the midst of reconstructing it, half the floor has had the linoleum peeled off, the permanent "Safeway" sign on the outside is gone leaving clean spots in the shapes of the letters, and above the door there's the skeleton of a new entrance. The floors are by far the most disturbing to me. It was somewhat of an adventure purchasing a gallon of milk. I had no idea what color lid I was to buy and I couldn't find "2%" on any of the labels. In the, though, I had success.
I must also mention someone who has very quickly become very important to me. Theta the beta, my dear fish. I am very fond of him. He's a curious but somewhat timid little fish, he gets very excited when I feed him, and he loves to swim around with his beautiful red fins all spread out. He makes me happy.
I suppose I should also say something of my roommates. They're nice and very querky (however you spell that). We've got some similar interests but we're very different.
I start classes on Monday and I'm sure I'll have plenty to write about that.
There are more pictures on my picasa.

Oh My Gosh!

So, in case there's anyone other than my sister reading this blog I will be begin be saying that the backpacking trip was awesome! Such a fun time. Secondly, my sister (Rachel) and my brother-in-law (Stephen) were out here visiting for a week. That was so great! We went to Crested Butte and it was, to say the least, cool. They left yesterday, so sad.
Now that we've got those important pieces of news settled, on to the "oh my gosh" part. I'm moving to college tomorow! Ahhhh! Honestly, I'm not feeling at all nervous (at the moment), but that's only because I really don't realize what's going on. I'm all packed up and my bags take up half the floor space in my room, which stresses my out, but I wont realize that I'm moving until my parents leave me at my dorm tomorow. I have become increasingly more glad that I'm not going out of state because that would make this whole moving in thing so much more complicated. As it is I can feel pretty chill about the whole thing becuase if I forget anything, it (and my parents) is only an hour away.

My New Camera! (and other ramblings)

On Saturday I made a purchase I have been waiting several months to make: a digital camera! I love my digital camera! It's small and sleek, has 5x zoom, good picture quality and is easy to use (and fit the camera budget I set for myself). I'm so excited! My bank account is now sadly depleated (not like there was much there to begin with) but I am free from even the slightest twinge of regret. This wonderful little camera is going to accompany me on the backpacking trip that I eagerly await next weekend.
On that note, yay backpacking! i can't wait! Unfortunately my dad is unable to join us this weekend. For the first time I'm going to be carrying ALL my own stuff up (normally he takes the tent, water filter, and cooking equipment) and sleeping in my own tent. I'm not sure how I feel about this. There's something exciting in the prospect but sad and intimidating as well. And I don't particularly want to sleep all alone in my tent. I've never been fond of tents (I'm somewhat closterfobic, and it's very unpleasant if you have to get up in the middle of the night and venture out into the cold, dark world) and I'm not sure if being alone will help by giving me a bit more room to move around in, or be worse because I'll be lonely. Perhaps my friend Shannon and I can share. I'll have to find out.
I've just tried to put some pictures from my new camera on here, but it didn't work. I have no idea how to do it. Aha! the add image button! Success is within my grasp! Or maybe not. huh. Now I'm at a loss. Well maybe after a publsh this my picture will be there. If not all those random letters and slashes and stuff at the top are my picture. So much for success within my grasp.
Well, I think I'll leave it at that for now.
:)

Impersonator

Hello all! So I'm not actually sure if "impersonator" is spelled correctly because I don't feel like getting a dictionary and looking it up. My profuse apologies if it is incorrectly spelled.
Anyway, of late my life seems to be consumed by attempting to be "adult"- setting up my own computer, working (on the rare a occasions I actually get scheduled), managing my bank account (including a credit card which I have yet to use),registering to vote and procuring a mail-in ballot, and trying to prepare for college. It all feels very strange. Whenever I use my new college ID, or my debit card, or make any sort of decision that I could not have made a year ago, I feel like someone is suddenly going to see through my maturity and demand that I cease trying to fool them into thinking that I'm an adult. Don't get me wrong, I am very much enjoying all my new freedoms, they just feel really weird.