Monday, November 17, 2008

so much STUFF!

i have so much stuff to do this week, it is crazy! i just want an easy week before my break but nooooooooo. so here is a list of stuff i have to do:

paper due today (check!)
2 meetings tonight
AWRA info due @ 8 (check!)
read Bible study chapter for tomorrow
possible meeting tomorrow @ 4:30
FDNS newspaper analysis due Wednesday
PRofessional Connection Wednesday from 1:30-like 8.
FDNS test Friday.
possible ADPR thing due on friday.

AND i have a massive paper due the tuesday after thanksgiving that i haven't started on yet.

sigh. so much work! so little time to sleep!

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

One is the Loneliest Number

I am so lonely. I just hate it here. I have no friends! All I do is go to school, go to meetings, and come back to this apartment where I sit alone again. It is awful. I see pictures of all these people doing things like going out to eat, going to concerts, going to the corn maze, sitting together at games, everything. I don't do anything. I just sit here and I hate it. I wish I was back home with Sara and Josh.

I voted today. It was a lot of fun....there wasn't a line! It was neat.....I went in and got my little card and stuck it in the slot and touched the screen to start voting- it was so neat. I loved it. And I got a sticker! two stickers actually.....the guy gave me one that said "future voter" and i was like huh? i am a current voter! so i asked him to give me the "i'm a georgia voter" one instead. and i got blisters because i had to walk from five points to the place where i voted and then all the way back to catch the bus. but it was cool- i voted for the first time!

i am very lonely here. mom and marie are coming up this weekend, so at least i will have someone for a couple days. but i am still really lonely. i miss caleb and my puppy. i just hate it here.

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

UGA Sucks.....a LOT.

i hate it here. nothing has gone right with anything i have tried to do.

I really wanted one of my top two choices on the PR thing. I didn't really want any of the other ones. why couldn't i have gotten the lacrosse team? seriously, who else would have wanted that? but now i have something that i know nothing about and don't really care about.

i really really wanted to be in the band. i love to sing more than anything else in the world, its all i want to do! but no, i'm not good enough for their band. oh, but i am good enough for the stupid choir that i told them i didn't want to be in when i tried out on wednesday.

i have NO IDEA who this girl is. we basically have to spend a ton of time together for a long time and i didn't even know her name until she asked me to be her friend on facebook. it is ridiculous. i sent in FIVE options, each person someone i had met previously. it doesn't make any sense.

EVERYTHING is going against me. nothing is going right. i just wanted to get involved, meet people, sing, have fun. i wanted lynn or cristina to be my big sister, not some random girl that i've never met. it isn't fair. i'm a junior, i should be at the top of the list. i should get first choice, i'm older! i shouldn't be stuck with someone i've never met who is a year younger than i am. i wanted someone who was at LEAST my age.

i hate this. i hate it here. i miss caleb and i just want out of athens.

Saturday, August 16, 2008

Stuff.....for now.

I feel really disappointed. I never wanted to be in a sorority, but now that everyone else is, I feel left out completely. It's just weird. I don't like it.

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Moving Day Blues

So i'm moving. and i don't want to. In a little over a month i'll be living in athens, starting school. i don't want to go! i don't want to move, i don't want to go to Georgia, i don't want to do any of it. i'll be hours away from home, from my best friend and family, over an hour away from caleb, even more when he is working who-knows-where. there are just so many things that make me feel that it is so wrong!

1. I'm not excited about it.

I think this is a big one, so i put it first. shouldn't i be excited about going off and being on my own? living in my own apartment, doing things for myself, not having to answer to anyone. i should be happy about things like that. being at school, taking classes that will set me up for my career, meeting people who will supposedly be my friends for life. it's a really hard thing to deal with and i don't feel ready. i should be excited, like caleb is about tech. he is so ready to move in and be there and work and be an engineer. i, on the other hand, have no feelings other than complete dread.

2. I still don't feel like i know what i want to do.

I really think the major i have chosen sounds fun- but is it what i am supposed to be doing? i'm just not sure. i'm interested in so many things! i've gone from journalism to history to fashion merchandising and now i'm thinking about some type of religious studies. i am just not feeling what i should do. what if i hate my consumer journalism classes? what if i'm not good at it? what if they all turn out to be like my accounting class? and why doesn't this site have spell check?! it is amazingly annoying.

3. Being far away from caleb.

caleb and i have't had the greatest time lately. it's been pretty hard for us. a lot of fighting, anger, the works. i just don't think that us being over an hour apart will be good for us.

Saturday, May 24, 2008

Post-Teenage Blues

I turned 20 yesterday. A day that should have been happy. A day that should have been great. Instead, I am hurt, tired, and haven't spoken to Caleb in over twenty four hours. i don't know what to do about it. it hurts. he hurts me. i'm tired of being angry, though. i told him a few weeks ago that if things didn't change soon, i couldn't be in the relationship anymore. i feel like i am getting closer and closer to that point.

texting that stupid girl
being rude
not talking
not wanting to come to my house.


i don't like him.

Sunday, April 27, 2008

Finals......

i shouldn't be upset over such a trivial thing, but i really am. it's one thing to get your hair cut, but it's another to just completely steal your best friend's thunder. i was so excited about getting my hair cut and showing everyone, because I'd never done it before. and then she has to go and do the same thing, two days later. close enough to where no one notices mine and everyone notices hers. and i understand that hers is dramatic too, because her hair was so dad gum long, but my is a huge change from anything it has ever been and no one cared. i'm tired of it. she always has cute clothes, shoes, purses, everything. i don't like taking the backseat. i have always been the one with all of that but now everyone is always raving about her. and it upsets me. i just wanted to be it for a few minutes. the one everyone looks at. the one getting the compliments. but no one seemed to notice the amounts of hair that came off my head. sigh.

i also found out that my accounting final is going to be Friday, not Tuesday like i previously thought. stupid accounting. i literally HATE this class. i don't think i've ever hated a class this much. it makes me want to beat my head against the wall. but i guess the bright side is that i don't have as long to wait for it.....just not as long to study for it. which i can't concentrate on right now, because i also have a ton of other things to do: make sure i know my stuff for my presentation tomorrow, finish writing an eight page paper, take a step aerobics final, find the time to write a two page paper for accounting, study for a history final, do my english final sometime between friday and tuesday.......and finish these blogs before monday (i think). i'm not sure when that is actually. so now i have tuesday and wednesday to do this paper and study for an accounting final that is going to span 11 chapters. so yeah. i am not looking forward to this. but i think i am going to drop all of my summer classes so i can actually rest. and not waste anymore hope hours.

Friday, April 25, 2008

The Heart Knows What It Wants

I was officially accepted by UGA today. I got my letter in the mail this afternoon, around 3:00. The problem is that I still have no idea what to do with the rest of my life. I love history, but I am starting to second-guess my choice of it as a major. I missed a day of history class last week, and I now I feel horribly behind. I am having trouble remembering the stuff we have gone over, which is bad because I SHOULD be able to remember and I have an exam in just a little over a week and I NEED to remember!

If I can't remember little pieces of history, like which Chinese Dynasty invented gunpowder, how in the world am I supposed to remember the bigger and more in depth things I'll be learning at the upper division levels of history courses?

I just don't know where my head is right now. I've been questioning everything about my life for the past few months. Where to go to college, what to do with my life, why I'm not trying to do what I really love, if I really do love Caleb, if I'm just fooling myself with everything I've been doing.

I think that is really the heart of my problem. My heart is confused. We have been fighting so much lately and I just can't figure out if I still believe we should be together. I get down, and he doesn't understand and I don't want to hurt him. I love him, but I feel so disconnected from him. Maybe it's because we never spend time together. Maybe I want to be wanted back. I feel so down though. I can't get back to how happy I was. We used to be so good together. Now, I am amazed when we get through a day without fighting. Love shouldn't be like that! I should be willing to give my heart over but something has been holding me back lately. Maybe it's the fact that we're heading off to different schools, possibly hours away from each other. We already see so little of each other, though. My heart hurts. I miss who I used to be, who WE used to be. And I don't know if I'll ever get those people back. I know people change as they grow, but I guess I'm just afraid as we have both grown, we have grown so far apart that we might not ever get each other back.

Where Shopping Is A Pleasure.....

There's something I love about buying clothes. I'm not sure what the draw is for me, but when I walk into some of my favorite stores I always tend to find something I want.

Today, for example, I went to the mall. I wasn't really planning on buying anything, but I walked into a store to browse, and ended up with six items in the dressing room: three dresses and three skirts. Of course, I loved three out of the six.....but I had to make a decision! I knew I didn't want all of them, because two were the same color. I made a fairly quick decision, and went on my way. Because it was a favorite store of mine, I had a discount card for 10% off my purchase. I ended up spending almost 30 dollars- not too much, but definitely more than I planned on beforehand.

What is it about a cute new outfit? I love buying clothes. It may seem shallow, but I'm very much into fashion. Working at a scrub store and having a P.E. class every day doesn't leave much room for wearing real clothes, so I have to squeeze whatever I can into my weekends; also, incidentally, the only time I have to actually go shopping.

I've thought many times about parlaying my interest in clothing into a career. We have sales reps that come to our store every season, selling new collections. They travel all over their area of the country, going from store to store, showing samples and taking orders. Some of them also have a hand in naming some of the prints.

I haven't really gotten far in this train of thought. I think it would be an interesting career, but I guess I'm not quite sure if I'm ready to give up the choices that will ensure me a job. People always need writers and historians! Not so sure about these kinds of sales reps.

I entertain this idea every once in a while, never coming to an actually decision. I guess for now I'll stick with just being a consumer in the market, as opposed to some executive who sells instead of buys.

Sunday, April 20, 2008

Paper Stresses

I have been stressing all day over this upcoming paper. It is so much easier, in my opinion, to have a topic given to me, rather than come up with one myself. So, after we were given the assignment, I began to obsess about a topic. I wanted to have to paper done by tonight so I could email it for comments. It hasn't worked well for me.

I have started exactly five different papers, all on different subjects. The first one was actually a really deep, very personal essay, mainly about decisions that have to made by myself and others. It also dealt with things about college that I consider myths, and my truths about them.

The next one was about my job. Basically, it is about how much I love it. I talk about how I got the job, why I took it, and how it has changed my life and my future.

The third one was about this horribly embarrassing moment I had a couple years ago, on a date with Caleb. Not the greatest topic, but I thought it might be funny. It wasn't to me at the time, of course, but now......no, it's still not funny to me. He, on the other hand, thought it was hilarious. I was mortified beyond belief. And I ruined a perfectly good shirt in the process.

The next one was about myself and my schoolwork. It centers around my accounting class, and how badly I want to have an 'A'. How much difficulty I am having accomplishing that (if anyone is awesome at accounting, let me know ASAP).

I finally settled on my fifth and final topic, which I won't reveal because we are probably going to have to read each other's later and I don't want to spoil it. I find it to be a very interesting story, and I hope other people think so. It covers a major span of the past two years, but I'm glad that the experience is finally over. AND I'm glad that I actually found something to write about.

I've been writing on this paper ALL day. Well, not all day. I didn't actually start on it until after five. I was having terrible writer's block. As of right now, a little before ten, I have almost 1500 words. Maybe a little too long, but it's almost done. I'm so close to the end, I can taste it! I probably won't finish it tonight, because I would like to sleep considering we have an 8AM class tomorrow, but at least I am very close. And that is a huge relief to me. Now I can relax a little bit, and it's a wonderful thing.

Now the only thing I have to stress about is my accounting class.

4/20/08

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Sick as a Dog, But Not as Rested as One

I have been sick for four days. It all culminated yesterday morning when I woke up early for work. My throat HURT. Badly. I couldn't do anything about it though- I had to go to work. Obviously, working in a retail shop means that I have to talk to people. So, from nine to five, I was talking to customers and coworkers with my sore throat.

Unfortunately, last night was also the night my family went out to eat for my father's and uncle's birthdays. The entire two hours were spent with me agonizing over my throat and swollen nodes. We finally got done eating, but I couldn't go home yet. I had to take Caleb home first. He lives in Lee County, and I live in Worth County. His car is a little under the weather, so I had to go pick him up, then take him home after we finished eating.

I finally got home about 9:45 last night, happy to be able to crash on my couch. I went to sleep less than an hour later, realizing just a few minutes ago that I went to bed so early that I completely missed Saturday Night Live. I took some medicine, so I was completely out of it until about 11:30 this morning.

I absolutely hate being sick. I took a nap this afternoon- not a very restful one. Now I'm sitting here on my couch (watching Monk) and looking at my dog, who was sound asleep until a few seconds ago. He can fall asleep easily, and stay asleep a long time. I wish I could be like that! It must be nice to just be able to sleep all day. Even though I've been home all day, "resting," my sleeping has been nothing like that. I've had all of the things I need to do on my mind- make sure my paper is finished, do this blog, a writing assignment for my history class, read for British Lit....some of which I still haven't finished. But I think I'm done with all of it for now. I may have things to do, but, after all, I am still sick.

4/16/08

Friday, April 11, 2008

The Art of Present-Buying

Today is my dad's birthday. It comes exactly one week and one day after my parent's anniversary, which was last Thursday. I decided to be a good daughter and try to buy them a present last week. After running around for two days, I ended up with a candle for my mom, a movie for my dad, and chocolate covered strawberries for me- I mean, for the two of them to share.

My dad is an extremely hard person to buy things for. He doesn't need anything. He doesn't wear ties, the normal go-to present for a dad. He wears suits to work, doesn't own a pair of jeans, only wears three different pairs of shoes, and has a trusty old wallet. We have nice TVs, a DVD recorded that we got him for Father's Day, and countless other presents that you buy for the people who have everything.

I didn't really have time to go shop for him a present this week, so my mom and I decided to get something a little bigger and just go in it together. At first, she was looking at a Blackberry Pearl. He works at the Marine Base, and he goes on trips a lot. The only laptop we have is mine, and, since I need it for school, he usually doesn't have a computer with him. She thought it would be useful on his trips and just good to have. She changed her mind, though, after going to the Alltel store and finding out that it cost $45 a month to be able to get on the internet. As of now, she has decided to go back to MY first suggestion in this category: an Ipod Touch. It can get on WiFi, you can listen to music.....it's basically the next best thing to having an Iphone (only the coolest thing ever).

So here it is, after 8 pm on his birthday, and I assume she is on her way home after purchasing this very expensive gift. I'm not sure if he'll actually like it or not. He's not the biggest gadget-geek I know! I did, however, make a deal with my mom: if HE doesn't like it, I'LL take it. And my dad and I are just sitting here, waiting. Maybe she'll be here soon! In the meantime, I believe I will work on my poker paper and think about all the fun things I can do with the Ipod touch if it ends up being mine!

4/11/08

Friday, April 4, 2008

Sleep is Coming

It's only a little after nine and I'm already planning on going to sleep soon. I'm not sure why I'm so tired, but there it is.

I didn't go to sleep until about one thirty on Wednesday night. Last night, I went for my weekly poker game. I planned on staying until around 10 so I'd get home at about 10:30 and could study for my history test until 11:30. That plan didn't work out too well. My friend, Sara, was one of the final two people left in the game, and it was only her second week of playing. I stayed as long as I could to see if she would win. I ended up leaving at 10:40, and found out this morning that she eventually lost the game around 11. When I got home, I still had to study, so I ended up going to sleep after midnight, again. Then I had to get up early, study some more for my test, and then go to work.

So here I sit, exhausted and practically falling asleep on my couch. I know, though, when I do get into bed, I will stay awake for much longer than I want to. I began to wonder earlier today if I have a sleeping disorder. I read an article about this guy that has a type of disorder where, even when his body is tired, his mind won't stop for him to sleep. I DO THAT ALL THE TIME! Maybe I'm just being a hypochondriac, which is nothing new, but it's possible! We'll see later tonight- although I might be so exhausted by that time that my mind just shuts off completely. Lucky for me, I don't have to work tomorrow and it is supposed to rain....perfect sleep conditions! Cause after I actually get to sleep, I stay asleep!

Saturday, March 29, 2008

The Confusion of Growing Older

I'm sitting her, trying to finish writing my rough draft and not having a lot of luck with it. I thought it would be a little easier than the last ones....try something new and write about it sounds so easy! It's turning out not to be so easy.

I've been thinking a lot about the future lately. After my college visits, I've been thinking about where I should go and what I should do. I've even been questioning my choice of major, what I should do with the rest of my life..even if I should even continue going or just take some time to figure out what I want to do.

My mind is just not on my schoolwork lately. It isn't on anything that has to do with school, except for the panicky thought that I'm probably going graduate with less than the 4.0 that I have held onto for my entire life......because I currently have two classes that I have B's in instead of A's. I don't even want to think about studying for the two tests I have in the middle of this week.

I guess this is the junior college version seniors' being distracted by graduation's approach. I am counting the days until May 7th. Then it will just start all over at whatever school I choose. I know people say that you should stay in school, because you'll have to work all your life when you're done, but I just don't know how much more of it I can take. Hurry up summer......I need another break!

Friday, March 28, 2008

One Month, One Week, and a Few Days!

Spring break is slowly ending, and I just don't think it was long enough. We should definitely get TWO weeks off, that would be way better. The only thing keeping me going, however, is that once we get back to school, I will have just a little over a month until i graduate! Yes, that's right- someone is actually getting out of Darton in only TWO YEARS! YAY!

Needless to say (but I will say it anyways), I am very excited about graduating. I am so close, I can already feel the weight lifting off my shoulders, only to slam back down when the realization that I still have a lot of work to do before that day. This coming up week alone, I have our rough draft due and two tests that I am not yet prepared to take.

But back to spring break. I think it has worn me out, as opposed to rejuvenating me. All I want to do is go to sleep, but no, I have too much homework to do before I can. This blog, work on my paper, English writing, find an essay. Keep looking at colleges, make a decision, find the CRN #'s of the two classes I'm taking over the summer, pay my GAP bill....the list just goes on and on for days. You'd think I would have accomplished SOMETHING over this break.

It's not as bad as I make it out to be. I actually did do homework before today. In fact, I read Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night" yesterday afternoon- not an easy feat. And not my choice to do so, but I had put it off accidentally by forgetting my Brit Lit book when we went out of town on Sunday. Since we didn't get back until Wednesday, the reading fell to Thursday. Now everything else has fallen to today, tomorrow, and Sunday. I decided that reading seventy plus pages of Shakespeare was enough for one day.

I also did some more "research," if you will, on my poker-paper. I went to play last night, and it was probably the most fun I'd had during the break. I have a great idea to buy a green visor and get my name put on it so I can be a 'serious-looking' player.

Thinking about it, I guess I did get SOME things done. Not nearly enough, but some. Hopefully I can accomplish some more things before I collapse from the exhaustion that is spring break.

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Oh, To Be Creative!

I've been thinking about our next paper. I always begin writing them in my head before I put anything down on paper. This one is no different.

As you might already know from discussions in class, I am writing about learning how to play poker. The problem is my creativity!

I'm trying to do as much as I can to have information about poker-playing. I've been taught HOW to play. I've practiced playing online a lot, on yahoo.com. This week I am taking it up a notch- I am going to play a REAL poker game with people- in PERSON!

Oddly enough, my Sunday school teacher and her husband (also a Sunday school teacher) have a weekly poker night at their house. They both teach college students, so they have basically just opened up their house to their classes every Thursday night. I've never been, but I'm going this week!

My best friend, Sara, goes every week. She never plays poker......mainly because she doesn't know how. She and a few other girls watch the boys play while they talk and eat. This week will be different- I will be playing! It won't be just a 'guy game' this time. And maybe, just maybe, I'll win!

It's an addicting thing, this game of poker. I'm definitely trying to not get addicted to betting fake money on the internet. So, until our paper is due, I will be a poker machine. After that, I'm quitting cold turkey! Just keep me away from those slot machines......

3/18/08

Sunday, March 16, 2008

The Smithsonian

I just got home from dropping my dad off at the airport. He will shortly be on his way to Kansas City, for a week of meetings and conferences. He works at the base, and has to travel constantly. He usually goes by himself, but one time our entire family got to go along for the ride.

That particular time we went to Washington, DC. We took our light blue Honda Odyssey on the sixteen hour drive from our house to the nation's capital. I was seven at the time, my sister eleven. Of course, with two young children it's almost impossible to travel that far in one sitting, so we drove to North Carolina and stayed with family for a night. We got up early the next morning and drove the rest of the way to DC.

We got to our hotel later than night, and I was awed at how big it was. Sixteen floors, the top one being a huge pool and a five-star restaurant that cost about $40 per person (we didn't go there).

My dad had meetings all week, so my mom, sister, and I were the sight-seers. We went to the Smithsonian, one of the greatest things I have ever seen in my life. We actually got lost in the middle of everything and spent about an hour just wandering around by the treasury.

My favorite part of the trip was going to the Woodley Park Zoo, the biggest zoo I had ever seen. We went all around that zoo, ending up at the gift shop, where my sister and I each came out with our own monkey. Mine was a spider monkey that I named Woodley after the zoo!

Twelve years can take a lot away from a memory. I think it's a sad thing that I don't remember much about what we saw other than how it made me feel. We have pictures to help, but it has still faded away over time. I've tried to talk people into taking another trip there.....I even tried to get our senior class to go there (that didn't work). I really hope I can go back there one day- maybe I'll remember it a little better the second time around!

3/16/08

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Spring Break is Coming.....

My spring break is currently being planned- not only by me, but by my parents and sister. I am using that week of no classes to go college-hopping, as I call it. Because I have classes every day and can't miss a day, I have to go visit colleges during my only break off of school. And that is what I have planned my week around.

We (my parents and I) are leaving Sunday afternoon, after church and all of our Easter festivities (which are a complete other blog within themselves). We are driving up to Kennesaw that night and staying in a hotel, then getting up bright and early Monday morning. We have a meeting at 10 or so with the department people and then we'll take a tour of the campus and everything fun like that!

That afternoon we'll head to Athens, where my sister resides, to watch her news show live (as opposed to feed from the internet like we usually watch it). We'll spend the night with her and her roommate, Lindsey, in their apartment about 10 minutes away from the UGA campus. The next morning we'll go visit UGA, mostly to appease my sister because she wants me to follow her up there...although she'll be gone in the fall!

And that will be the end of my college road trip (my real-life one, not the new movie with Raven and Martin Lawrence). Two days out of my spring break going to college. Two more working. Two traveling back and forth from north Georgia to/from Sylvester. Yes, that leaves me one day of spring break- Friday. Believe me, I will be sleeping late and doing absolutely no schoolwork that day.

At least it isn't like last year....I spent THAT break writing a paper on genetically modified foods and how bad they are the humans. Yep, this one will be way better- even if I am spending two of the days college-hopping instead of sleeping late, staying up late, and going to the beach!

Saturday, March 8, 2008

Daylight Savings?!

I have always hated it when the time changed. I never understood it when I was younger, and it doesn't make a lot of sense to me still. Twice a year, when the time was changing, I'd ask my mom "So what time is it REALLY?"

I've just never really gotten the point of it. I usually like it in the fall, though. It's GREAT to have that extra hour of sleep. I get to stay out a little later, and I love getting extra time to dream.

This weekend, though, it is obviously the other way around. All day yesterday I was thinking, "It's really 9:00 instead of 8:00. I'm going to lose that hour while I'm sleeping!" I just couldn't shake it!

I discussed this with the people I work it on Friday. One of the men said that some states don't observe daylight savings and never change the time. THAT was exciting to me. I definitely agree with that- Georgia should take that route!

Because of my great dislike for the time change, I retaliate by NOT changing any of my clocks. I just leave them however they are set, making myself constantly remember that my clock is an hour fast or an hour behind (depending on when the clock was set in the first place!)

So anyways, the things I suppose that could be taken away from this blog are "time change: bad" and "more sleep:good!" At least now I'm passed the point where I lose the hour of sleep- from now on I'll get all my hours in.....until fall: then I'll get one more!

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

I HATE Trains!

I was running a little late this morning. I have actually worked out a system of getting ready that allows me to sleep as late as possible and still be on time. Today, however, the plan didn't work for me.

I opened my house door about twenty minutes before I left to see what the temperature was. When I started to leave, it began pouring down rain, forcing me to switch purses to one that was NOT white.

I was driving to school, going along on my merry way, the same route I travel on every single day. This was when the plan went awry: there was a train in my path. Not just A train, but THE BIGGEST TRAIN EVER! I pulled up to the tracks at 9:12, approximately. It wasn't just starting, though. It looked like it had already been going for a while, and traffic was starting to back up around the corner. I continued to sit at the track until 9:24! Twelve minutes, sitting there because of a train. That's not all though. I happened to be in the turn lane, and we were NOT given a turn signal! This forced everyone in our lane to wait until the cycle of lights was to us again.

I walked into my accounting class ten minutes late. There are two doors, one right next to the row I sit on, and the other across the room. Not so luckily for me, the door close to my desk was locked, forcing me to walk in front of the entire class in order to sit down. My teacher stopped talking to the class and said "What color was the caboose?" I retorted, "It wasn't red!" The class began to laugh and my teacher seemed surprised that I was actually going along with him. "Were you really behind the train?" he asked. I proceed to tell him and the class this entire story, causing him to simply laugh some more. Apparently a few others had walked in late, claiming the train as their excuse. Luckily, he believed me because I "knew the caboose wasn't red!"

3/4/08

Friday, February 29, 2008

I'm a Big Girl Now!

Have you ever had something happens that makes you feel childish or more adult? I had one of these moments on Wednesday.

I went shopping on Wednesday. I needed new jeans. Being short, it's hard to find jeans that are the right length- usually they are way too long and I have to do a great amount of cuff-making. I decided to try GAP first, and I found this great pair of jeans. I know GAP is pretty pricey (at least in my opinion) but these were desperately needed and I had just deposited my paycheck.

I got up to the register, prepared to hand over my debit card to the cashier. She asked me if I wanted to fill out the application for a GAP card. "I guess I can, but I always get denied," I responded. She coaxed me into trying by telling me I got 10% off my purchase just for filling out the application. That was all I needed to hear! Discounts are great!

I filled out the application while she was ringing me up and putting my information into the computer. She laughed and exclaimed, "You were accepted!" "What?! I've NEVER been accepted before!" I could not believe the luck. Not only did I get 15% off my purchase, but I now have a GAP card (that can also be used at Old Navy and Banana Republic) with a limit of $300 dollars.

I feel all grown up now. I am enjoying it....at least until the bill comes.

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

A Weekend to Remember

I spent the weekend with 15 seventh grade girls, all under one roof, sharing two and a half bathrooms. Now I am completely exhausted, wanting only to sleep through the entire week.

Disciple Now is an annual even at my church. I attended it for years when I was in middle and high school. We would pack up our things, stay in someone else's house for Friday and Saturday nights, and have Bible studies and a competition for first place in our recreational games. It was something I always looked forward to.

DNOW 2008 was no exception. I was asked to help out this year as the college student for the seventh grade girls. My job was basically to keep the girls in line and help out the adults with cleaning and organizing. It was the first time I had helped out with DNOW, as opposed to being a part of it. I really didn't know what to expect.

After staying up until after 1:30AM on Friday night because of the girls begging to do a pajama fashion show, I was completely exhausted when I got up at 8:30 Saturday morning. Our next task was getting everyone ready for recreation. It wasn't until 1:00pm, but we had 15 girls to deck out in yellow! Each grade has a color, and, obviously, seventh grade was yellow....BRIGHT yellow. Not the greatest color on me, but bright enough to tell where all of my girls were at all times!

The disastrous recreation time included games with a lot of running and a scavenger hunt all over town with a lot of reckless college drivers (I wasn't one of them!).

Everything cumulated on Sunday morning. We had to be up even earlier on Sunday morning to head to church because everyone had to pack their bags into our van and trunks. I could barely stay awake during church and our Sunday school rally. I crashed into bed the moment I possibly could, very happy to be back in my own bed.

If there is one thing I learned this weekend, it's that I am definitely not a girl who can stay up all night any more. Dealing with girls who CAN taught me that. So now I think I'll go curl up in my bed while it's dark outside, and take a good long nap.

2/26/08

Friday, February 22, 2008

Rain, Rain GO AWAY!

Yesterday started off badly. I had an accounting test at 9:30 that I just wasn't looking forward to taking. As it turned out, that awful test was not the low point of the day.

I work every Thursday. I leave school, grab some lunch, and eat it in the kitchen in the back of the store. My plan for yesterday was no different. I decided to get a sandwich from the Philly Connection, next to Honeybaked Ham in front of Walmart. It had started raining by then, so I grabbed my stuff and ran to the door of the restaurant.
Instead of taking my purse with me, I elected to simply carry my phone and wallet. After all, the purse is mostly white and the love of my life- why risk it getting soaking wet? It was perfectly logical to me.

As I sat at a little two person table waiting for my food, I had an awful realization: I had locked my keys in my car! Instead of putting them in my pocket, I had slipped them into my purse, like I always do, before I decided to leave it in the car- meanwhile, neglecting to take the key OUT of it.

To some people it may not be a big deal. I could call my parents and have one of them bring me another key, right? WRONG. That key is the ONLY key to the car. I knew that was going to come back to bite me, seeing as I lock my keys in the car too many times for comfort.

So there I am, sitting in Philly Connection, with no key and no one to bring me another one. And I still didn't have food yet! In somewhat of a panic, I called my father, the one who always rescues me (usually by helping me out after locking my keys in my old car- a car that we had 4 sets of keys for!). I got his voicemail. I left him a semi-rushed message telling him to call me as soon as he got back to his desk. Then I tried my boyfriend, Caleb. I got HIS voicemail too, and left him a similar panicked message. I finally got a hold of my mother, who reassured me by telling me she would call Fairway Toyota and see if there was anything they could do to help me.

By the time we had this conversation, I had received my food. My dad then called me back, informing me that, in order for the Toyota people to help me, I had to get the VIN # of my car. I had to go out, in the rain, and stand there, writing down the number that took me forever to find.

Next, I had to walk from the Philly Connection to the Toyota place, in the rain. I was wearing black flats and teal workout pants, intent on changing once I got to work. The pants happened to be about two inches too long; in other words, the bottoms were completely soaked. I attempted to roll the up, but one side refused to cooperate as I began my trek across the street.

After walking in the rain and having the front desk lady laugh at my distraught appearance and predicament, I finally reached the parts-and-services department, where I received my long-awaited key. Then began my trip back to my still-locked car and long-lost key.

As I drove myself to work, with my hair plastered against my face from the rain, I chuckled to myself thinking "What a hard way to get an extra key! It would have been so much easier just to have one made BEFORE I locked them in my car!"

2/22/08

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Coming to You Live from Pitts, GA

I am sitting on the couch in my Uncle Robert's house, using the computer that kept my Aunt Jan occupied for hours as she sat in the seat next to where I currently reside. We came up here to write thank-you-notes for my Uncle Robert. My mother, my grandmother, and two of my aunts have taken over the kitchen table, so here I am in the living room.

Trips to Pitts are always entertaining, to say the least. Being on of the youngest in the family, I have no idea who half of the people talked about are. Most of the people referenced are at least 60 years old, and no doubt would remember who I am, but I can't say the same for me. Personally, I think it takes enough memory space to remember all of the names of my family members and what aunt or uncle they belong to.

My mother, on the other hand, has a spectacular knack for remembering these people we haven't seen in twenty years and live an hour away from us. The family across the street from my uncle's house? She remembers the family and can probably tell at least one story about the children. Same for all of the other people mentioned in conversation. I have absolutely no idea who any of the people are or where in the world or the past would I have met them.

What I DO remember has nothing to do with other people. I can see a younger version of myself outside, climbing the tree that my Uncle Robert cut down years ago because it was rotting on the branches I climbed. I see myself walking along the railroads tracks that are about 100 yards away from the front door- the only railroads tracks in the world that i'm not deathly scared of (a story for another time...). I see my sister and I swinging on the front porch swing, watching people walk by the house on their way to church, the one gas station in town, or a friend's house- because in Pitts, you can walk anywhere.

Nothing ever stays the same. Just looking around this house shows me that. Looking at the place where my tree used to be, the run-down railroad tracks, the worn porch swing, shows me that. I know twenty years from now, this house and its surroundings will have changed again. However, I'm sure I'll still be sitting in the living room, listening to my family discuss people I can't remember ever meeting!

Friday, February 15, 2008

Missing You.

My Aunt Jan died on Tuesday. Right now my parents are in Pitts, GA, at her house with my Uncle Robert, getting ready to go to the funeral home. I couldn't bring myself to go with them. She has always been at the house, and I just didn't want to attempt to be there around everyone, crying and hugging and remembering.

My Aunt Jan is my Granny's youngest sibling. My Granny is the oldest, and there are six in between them. Jan was born after my Granny had already moved out of the house and gotten married. In fact, my Uncle Ronnie, my Granny's oldest child, is older than Jan by about six months.

Jan and Robert live in Pitts, their (and my Granny's) hometown. They used to live in a tiny little trailer across from my great-grandma. When she died about ten years ago, Jan and Robert moved into her house.

Jan was not well, physically. I'm not exactly sure what was wrong with her, but it was something that caused her to not be able to walk well on her own, lately not at all. She was very swollen and couldn't move around. Her day consisted of sitting on the couch, watching tv and playing with her dog, Odie. My Uncle Robert would come home from lunch, help her do things she needed to do and get her lunch, then head back to work.

My mom, my granny, my sister, and I used to go up there all the time, especially when my great-grandma was alive. We would watch tv, climb up the tree outside the living room window, and play dress-up with my great-grandma's scarves. After she died, we went up there to keep my Aunt Jan company. We would bring lunch to fix for her and Robert, watch tv, play with the dog, and talk about the things that were happening in their town.

The last time we went up there was right after Christmas. We did all of the normal things I've already mentioned. As we left, I kissed her on the cheek and told her I loved her. I never even suspected that it would be the last time I saw her.

So here I sit, writing my blog instead of spending hours with my family, talking about her and her death and the arrangements. I know people have their own way to deal with things, and I guess this is part of mine.

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

To Sleep or Not to Sleep

I am exhausted. We've been back in school for a little over a month, and I am just ready to have a break again. I have way too much to do on very little sleep.

Mondays are like a slow torture. Getting up at 6:15 has never been a strong suit of mine, which probably explains why I am frequently two minutes late for class. I school until one, after which I have to rush through lunch to get to work by around two. This last until about 6:30, when I finally go home. I get home at 7, eat supper, and do homework until I finally can't keep my eyes open.

Tuesdays are less busy, but with more work, it seems. I have accounting at 9:30, a class that takes an enormous amount of brain power to sit through. Pilates is next, and it is a little relaxing, but not enough! I usually don't work on Tuesdays, so this is my day to go home and do homework. Usually I have accounting that takes about two hours to complete (sometimes more) and reading for my lit class. I watch some tv shows later, my way of relaxing.

Wednesday is a repeat of Monday, just without working. I have a free afternoon here too, which I try to take advantage of by taking a nice little nap. Naps are a college girl's best friend!

Thursday are like Tuesday, but WITH work. Again, I work until 6, and I am always tired when I come home.

With our Friday class being canceled, I enjoy the extra time I get to stay awake, but I am usually still doing homework. Friday is more or less the same, depending on whether I work or not. However, if I don't work on Friday, I have to work on Saturday. This means getting up early to be at work by nine. Living thirty minutes away from my job means getting up in time to leave by 8:15. I get off at five, which leaves me a few hours before I have to sleep to do something of my choosing.

Sundays are church days. We all get up early, and get home late. I try to sneak a nap in the afternoons, but I usually have too much homework or reading to do for the next day. I try to go to sleep early, and then it starts all over again.

I simply cannot find the time to get enough sleep to keep me going. I guess that is the plight of a college student: broke, tired, stretched thin. I'd say that it would get better after I graduate, but we all know that's not the case. Work will consume me just as much as college does. I guess it's time to face it: I will never again be a well-rested individual!

2/12/08

Friday, February 8, 2008

I Love Clothes!

There's something I love about buying clothes. I'm not sure what the draw is for me, but when I walk into some of my favorite stores I always tend to find something I want.

Today, for example, I went to the mall. I wasn't really planning on buying anything, but I walked into a store to browse, and ended up with six items in the dressing room: three dresses and three skirts. Of course, I loved three out of the six.....but I had to make a decision! I knew I didn't want all of them, because two were the same color. I made a fairly quick decision, and went on my way. Because it was a favorite store of mine, I had a discount card for 10% off my purchase. I ended up spending almost 30 dollars- not too much, but definitely more than I planned on beforehand.

What is it about a cute new outfit? I love buying clothes. It may seem shallow, but I'm very much into fashion. Working at a scrub store and having a P.E. class every day doesn't leave much room for wearing real clothes, so I have to squeeze whatever I can into my weekends; also, incidentally, the only time I have to actually go shopping.

I've thought many times about parlaying my interest in clothing into a career. We have sales reps that come to our store every season, selling new collections. They travel all over their area of the country, going from store to store, showing samples and taking orders. Some of them also have a hand in naming some of the prints.

I haven't really gotten far in this train of thought. I think it would be an interesting career, but I guess I'm not quite sure if I'm ready to give up the choices that will ensure me a job. People always need writers and historians! Not so sure about these kinds of sales reps.

I entertain this idea every once in a while, never coming to an actually decision. I guess for now I'll stick with just being a consumer in the market, as opposed to some executive who sells instead of buys.

2/8/08

Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Turning Things Around

There are some days when all I want to do is go home and sleep. Today was one of those days. I have a 9:30 Accounting I class on TR and I just could not get there on time today. I left my house fifteen minutes late, finally got to school, ran up the stairs to my class, only to find that the back door to the classroom was locked! I had to walk to the other door and then in front of the entire class because my desk is on the far side of the room.

My day just started off wrong. After school, I called my former youth pastor's wife and was asked to help with the Disciple Now weekend that is put on every year. It's a big deal in the youth group and I attended it for five years. I loved every minute of it! I met one of my good friends through it, and it was always a great time to grow closer to friends and God. The inquiry made me feel extremely special. This is the first time I've ever been asked to do anything like that!

My day started to turn around after this request. I ate lunch at Chilis with my mom and went to work. The store-front manager filled me in on the things that had been going on earlier in the day. She told me that our boss had read about this neat thing that could be done using our computer system- somehow, we could type in a style and get a picture of the item. None of us had ever heard of that before, much less knew how to do it. I started to play with the system and it took me about five minutes to figure it out. I was so excited- it was so cool! I showed it to the other workers and finally to the boss. I was very proud of myself for actually figuring it out before anyone else.

My day was so much better after that. It made me be excited again about my job. After being there for almost a year, I've been kind of bored lately. It made me want to work on the displays more and hang up new clothes to get steamed and a lot of other nominal tasks that I don't like to do most of the time. I helped our intern do a few sales and special orders. I even didn't mind when two ladies stayed for about ten minutes after we closed because they were trying to order some new uniforms.

After starting the day off badly, I was pretty surprised when it got better. Usually that doesn't happen for me. It really taught me to not write off a day before it's done!

Friday, February 1, 2008

An Ode to Big Red

I came home yesterday to see a new car in our yard. A white Chevy Malibu is the newest addition to our cars. Not because my parents just decided to go out and buy a new car; this is because our beloved Buick park avenue, Big Red, is still in the shop, where it has been for over a month. As I stated in a previous blog, I got a new car in November. I had been driving the buick, which I inherited from my grandmother when she decided to buy a new one, since I got my license. She and I had bonded, but she is ten years old with a lot of miles on her.

I'm not quite sure what was wrong with the car when we took it into the shop. My dad took it after my mom got out of school (she's a teacher) for Christmas break. This was the week before Christmas, and we figured they would be finished within a couple weeks. Obviously this wasn't the case.

If you watched the news over the holidays, you might have seen some coverage of the break-ins at David Smith Autoland. They had two, the second about three days after the first. It just so happened that during the first break in, my beloved Buick was the only car stolen from the lot where they keep cars they are fixing. This happened right around Christmas, either the day or two before, when the shop was closed. We found out my car (I still refer to it as mine) was stolen, it was almost a week later. The mechanic who does all of our car work didn't even know it was our car that was stolen until my grandfather went to check on it.

I was devastated. I loved that car! I was at my boyfriend's house when my mom called to let me know, and I couldn't stop myself from crying. Silly, maybe, but you have to understand that I also hadn't cleaned the car out yet, so a lot of my stuff was still in the backseat and trunk.

Two days later, New Year's Eve and my Mom's birthday, we got a call saying that the police had found her. The car was sitting in some lady's yard, and she claimed she knew nothing about it. They had it towed away; towed because the people who took it drove it until it completely ran out of gas.

The top is dented in from when they drove it through the hole they cut in the fence. Everything is gone except for the case to my Vera Bradley umbrella: school books, earrings, and old Gameboy, everything! In the place of my belongings, they had left chicken bones.

Back to the shop it went. It had to be fixed mechanically and bodily: new paint, detailing, the works. And there it has stayed since December 31st.

My mom had inherited the Buick from me when I got a new car. She had given HER new car, an 06 Altima, to my sister, whose Jeep Cherokee was traded in for my car. When school started back, my mom needed a car to get back and forth. Her first was a white Ford Focus- tiny compared to the huge beast of a car we were used to driving. The next one was a red Impala with gray interior. And now we have the Malibu. I just can't wait for the day when my Buick is back in the yard, welcoming me home as I drive into our driveway.

2/1/08

Worries on My Mind

The verse I have adopted as my personal favorite is Matthew 6:34. It states "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Having said this, I must confess that I am probably this biggest worry-wart of anyone I know- except maybe my mother!

I'm a nineteen year old who lives at home, has an awesome part-time job, and a wonderful boyfriend. What could I possibly be worried about? In an word: college. This is my last semester at Darton. I graduate in May, and have to decide where I am going to transfer. This is proving to be impossible for me.

I spend most of my free time on collegeboard.com, looking up the colleges on my list, checking deadlines, filling out applications, and researching the classes I would have to take. At Darton, I am a journalism major, but, when I transfer, I will become a history major. History: a subject that has always had my undivided attention, whether it has been American, World, or Ancient. I soak it up like a sponge that never reaches its saturation point. I should be majoring in it now, but that just goes to show my indecision.

I've always been an indecisive person. I really have tried to work on it. This is just one decision that definitely is not coming easily to me. Then again, this is coming from the person who was supposed to get a car for her high school graduation in 2006 and finally decided on a car in November of last year. There are just too many things to consider. Where will I live? Will I have someone to live with when I get there? Will I make any friends? Will the classes I choose compliment what I want to do with my life? Will it be difficult for me and ruin my perfect GPA? How far do I want to be away from my parents, my sister, my boyfriend, and my beloved dog? Will I be able to get another part-time job that is as great as the one I have now, with the same flexible hours to accommodate my classes? And what in the world will I do with all of the scrubs I've accumulated by working in a scrub shop for the past year?

I have been told I over think things. Some people might say that's what I am doing with this decision. "You can always transfer," they might tell me. But I disagree. I don't WANT to have to transfer if the college I choose doesn't work out right. I want to go to the place I need to be, and stay there. I want to meet new friends to replace the old ones who I've realized aren't the greatest people to be around. I want to be close enough to come home when I want to, but far enough away to be on my own. Most of all, I want to make the decision that will stop this constant worrying that doesn't leave, no matter how hard I try to put it behind me. I've equated it to feeling like a huge burden is just constantly on my shoulders, and the only way to get it off is to make "the decision."

Until then, I continue to tell myself to not worry about tomorrow; I will be taken care of, no question about it. Whether or not I listen myself is a completely different topic.

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

A Day at Julie's

I work at a little scrub shop here in town. I really like what I do. It may not seem important to other people, but I take pride in my work. I am technically, but not officially, in charge of the entire display of the store. Basically, I've been given free run of all of the clothes and racks, and can do whatever I want to with them. I also double as a sales clerk, with my own station, which includes a computer, printer, display cases, two phones, and my own book of vendors.

The problem with this is that not many customers even realize that my station is there. I am required to greet every person that walks into our front door, and I usually get ignored. Also, people think I am completely incompetent when they call and ask questions. Our computer system is very easy. We allow people to special order scrubs, and their orders are all documented in our system. The only thing you need to know to see if their order has arrived is their NAME! I've been working at this store for almost a year now, and these customers still refuse to believe I am able to do more than smile at them when they enter the store and answer the phone with "Good afternoon, Julie's, this is April!"

In my opinion, the reason for this is because I am young. I am nineteen, almost twenty, but I am still treated like a high-schooler with a part time job who has no idea how to actually do things. Most of these customers don't have any idea that I am the one who put together the outfits on the walls that they rave over every time the come in the store. Because of this, I spend most of my time at work sitting at my station, reading the latest news on MSNBC, working on homework, and looking up things about college.

The good thing about my job is definitely the discount I get. Fifty percent off is not too shabby! Yes, I know they are scrubs, but have you ever worn any? They are the most comfortable clothes you will ever put on your body. And they are so cute! Since I have to either dress up or wear them to work, I usually choose the scrubs and good standing shoes to work on the concrete floor that is under our carpet.

I don't usually- or ever- work on Tuesdays. Today, though, I went in to allow the bosses to go to their son's basketball game. I was there for about four and a half hours. Now, we close the store at six, and I clocked in at around two. Doesn't add up, does it? This is because people tend to take advantage of small businesses. Our last customer didn't leave until about ten after six. I had already locked the doors (which I can do with no help, thank you very much) when the lady started looking for another scrub top to match red pants. I quickly found her a cute new top, and rang up her other items in record time.

Usually nothing very exciting happens at the store. Occasionally we have irate customers who berate me or another worker for something we have no control over, and at other times we have people who are upset because we refuse to take back their already worn merchandise. Today, though, we had a different kind of excitement. One thing we always have are children running around, trying to entertain themselves while their mommies are shopping. We have toys, but to seven-year-olds they can get pretty boring. The little boy in the store today decided it would be funny to stuff all of the remaining toilet paper into the toilet and then flush it. He opened the door and his younger brother said "Look at the water!" Yes, the toilet was overflowing, and already covering the floor. It was beginning to seep through on the carpet to the other rooms next to the bathroom. It took a lot of work (none that I did) to get the water stopped and get the floor dry and clean.

It's not always fun or exciting, but it's a job I love. If only the customers would realize the fact that I'm young doesn't mean that I can't do anything, but that I can spot colors and matching tops and shirts better than anyone else in the store. So if you ever need a cute scrub outfit, come by my store- and PLEASE don't ignore me!

1/29/08