Break and Stuff

After my week "off" from life, I went to church twice on Sunday; once to play piano, and once because a friend of mine was singing with his choral group during mass, and then I only had two days left. Classes went fine the last two days, and I got to go see the Lorie Line concert with my mom on Monday night, which was pretty cool. I sent a bunch of stuff home with my mom, so I only had my toiletries left to pack on Tuesday....

Thanksgiving break was great! I got home around 4 on Tuesday, and shortly after that, everyone else got home and we went out for dinner (to the Hong Kong Buffet) to celebrate our four year anniversary of the date we adopted Nikita, Steven, and Nina. That was fun, and it was great to eat food that wasn't school food :o) We headed home after we ate and just hung out. Wednesday I got up and went to ABC with mom, which was great. I really miss being around there every day, and I really miss my kids and the women I worked with, so it was great to be back for a little while. Mom and I shopped our way home rather early, because Karen wanted to go out with her friends. Wednesday night was more just hanging out, which was perfect, because I didn't want to do anything! Thursday was Thanksgiving, and that was fun of course. It was great seeing the extended part of my family again, and the food was delicious. When we got home Thursday night (with 10 of Rob and Julie's movies in hand...) I changed into my pj's, and didn't get out of them again until Sunday morning. Friday and Saturday I slept late, got up, read some, worked on my Christmas presents, talked to my mom, and was just lazy in general. 

Sunday after church, I packed up, and after a meeting about NCYC at church, we headed up to St. Cloud to go bowling with the Grubers. That was a lot of fun, even though I stayed about two hours longer than I had originally planned on... I got back to school around 5, and finished unloading, parking my car, unpacking, and putting stuff away around 6. I then proceeded to put off homework even longer (I did absolutely none of it over break) and went to chat with Merideth and Heather. We ended up going to get dinner around 8 with a bunch of the guys we know and love. After dinner, us girls watched Raising Helen in Heather's room, and then I went to bed. 

Classes started again at 8:00 am today, and it was rough getting out of bed. I have two weeks left of classes, and a week of finals before I'm off for Winter Break. During that time, I have two papers to write, one to revise (in French), a bunch of math to do, and some more French t.v. to watch and review, as well as a piano jury, which is a performance of the piece that I've been working on for the piano profs. Oh, and a SCSU Wind Ensemble concert this Sunday, and along with that two extra rehearsals... it's going to be a busy few weeks!

Well, I'm just procrastinating on homework now, so I will be done for now. Love to all!

What a Week

This has been a very different week than a normal week in the life of me. I haven't gone over to SJU at all, except for for classes, which hasn't ever happened, since I love the people over there so much :o) I've also been getting to bed pretty early, my homework has been getting done really early, and my room is clean, clean, clean! I have been pretty anti-social, and while the people I've been anti-social towards may not think that's so great, this week has been one of my best so far. It's not that I don't love them all, I just needed a break. I needed some me time, and since my roommate is in Texas for a couple of basketball games, this was the perfect time. 

I worked Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday nights from five until eight, which was a lot of time to be spending on the phone, especially since my boss was gone, and things were getting a little crazy by the end of our work week. However, I got to talk to a lot of prospective students and had some really interesting conversations. I'm getting more and more comfortable around everyone that I work with, which is great because I am the only freshman on the team, and I was a little shy at first. (I know, yeah right, right?) After work, I was pretty tired, so I just came back to my room and hung out. I got a lot of homework done, and studied for my two tests, and I even got to read a little bit before I went to bed (before 11:00) every night. 

Thursday I had two tests, and was done with both of them by 10:30. That was fantastic! I came back to CSB, cleaned my room a little, had an hour and a half long lunch with a friend from HS, talked to my mom (three times!!), talked to a couple of friends that I haven't had a chance to talk to in a while, ate dinner with another friend, and then just watched movies on abcFamily until I went to bed.

Friday was unfortunate, because after my great Thursday I didn't want to do anything, but I managed to get out of bed and go to my classes. I did some math homework with a couple of the guys in my class before we actually had math, and then after class, I was done! I came back, immediately put on my jammies and settled down in my comfy chair to read. I did end up getting dressed again, and I went bowling with Brad, the guy I had lunch with on Thursday, and a bunch of his friends. That was fun, and I bowled my top score ever: 119!!! 

Today, (Saturday) I got up, showered, ate some cereal, and met up with my mom and dad! :o) We shopped Kohl's, got lunch at Chipotle, and then shopped the mall. It was great to see them both again, especially since I haven't really gotten to see them whenever I have been home. It was also great to get off campus for a while and just be with my family. When I got back around five, I put my stuff away (I got juice!! I am so excited about that :o) ) and putzed around in my room until about six, when I went and got dinner. I am currently wearing my pajamas, and am wrapped up in a blanket, sitting on my chair, and watching more abcFamily. 

Although I adore all of my friends here, and wouldn't trade them for anything, I've really appreciated this break from everything. I have been forgetting to add variety to my life by doing lots of different thing with lots of different people, and this week has been a fantastic reminder. I've also been forgetting to take some time to just slow down and have some me time. I am really enjoying being able to do absolutely nothing right now, and I hope that I can remember to make some room in my crazy busy life for me time. 

Remember everyone, take some time for yourself, do what makes a happier you, and don't forget to add variety in your life! I love you all, and I hope that today is a fantastic one :o)

(haha, I just re-read this post and realized how many exclamation points I used.... it was obviously a great week!)

Home Away From Home

Since I have two tests, a quiz, and a paper to write this week, I'm a little stressed out. Today was long, and it was only the beginning, which is a bummer. I left my room around nine this morning to get breakfast, go to a class that I don't particularly like, practice piano (which didn't go well, making me even more frustrated), drive over to SJU in the crazy wind for another class, which isn't bad, but it's tough, so I don't really enjoy going, then headed straight over to SCSU for WE rehearsal (in which we practiced music that I won't even be playing, since I won't be there in the Spring), and then headed back to my dorm. The day was not that great, so when I walked up the stairs to my floor and smelled cookies baking, I was so happy. A lot of the girls on my floor cook, and coming "home" to the smell of freshly baked cookies just made me smile. I walked into the lounge and thanked the girl for baking. Yes, I know it was weird, and she did give me an odd look, but I was freezing from the long walk back from my car, and I just wanted to say thank you to her for making my dorm a little bit happier to come back to. I explained all that, and she even gave me a cookie, which was delicious! (And warm!)

Well, that turned my day around, and I proceeded to rearrange my room a little bit, getting the food and dishes out of plain sight and putting my books up by my bed, where I actually use them, and then went to work. I've been missing work a lot lately, since we didn't call on Election Day, and I had a concert the following Tuesday, and I'm trying to make up my hours. That means I have a nine-hour work week this week, instead of a six-hour one like usual. Luckily, I like my job more and more as time goes on, so this shouldn't be a hardship for me :o)

Anyway, nothing really all that exciting is going on, I just wanted to remind everyone to take the time to enjoy the little pleasures, such as coming home to the smell of freshly baked cookies! I love you all :o)

Busy, Busy, Busy

I swear, just because Thanksgiving break is coming up, all of my professors decided to pile on the homework! The past couple of weeks have been insane! I've had or will have a test in three of my four classes, and in the other one I gave a ten minute speech. I've also had quizzes, whole books to read, and a concert. The good thing is I'm in the home stretch now. Only seven more class days until Thanksgiving break starts, and I will be out of here as fast as I possibly can after my last class on the 25th. My mom and (I think) my dad are both coming up for the Lorie Line concert on the 24th, and I am going to send home as much of my stuff as I can with them, so it's easier to get out of here on Tuesday.

My concert on the 11th was stressful, and it helped me make a pretty big decision about my life for the rest of my freshman year. SCSU Wind Ensemble is becoming too big of a commitment for me to handle. I am getting frustrated with all the time commitments I have, and it's not something that I am passionate about anymore, so I've decided to take a semester off. I plan on re-joining next fall so that I can go to Italy with all of my friends in the summer of 2010, and I think that having taken a semester off, I will be much more excited about what we are doing. I will miss my friends there, and I know that I will eventually miss being part of an ensemble, but right now I feel like this is the best decision I can make. I will play with them one more time, on December 7th, and then I will be done. Since I've made the decision, I am even more frustrated every time we have to do something for WE, but I think I can make it until the end of the semester :o)

On a happier note, it was Merideth's birthday on Friday, and we managed to put on an almost complete surprise party for her Friday night. Someone accidentally spilled the beans Friday afternoon, but Merdy did a great job acting like she knew nothing about it until after the party, when she finally told me. There were 18 of us that helped her celebrate, and Heather and Brittany cooked an amazing dinner. We all had a lot of fun, and it was totally worth all the secrecy and troubles :o) Saturday morning we celebrated again, this time with the Collegebound girls. We made breakfast and hung out for close to two hours, which was a lot of fun, because we haven't seen each other in a long time. 

My life lately (besides when I've been planning Merideth's birthday and rehearsing for our concert) has been filled with homework, work, hanging out with the girls (and guys), and trying to get some sleep. I've been spending more and more time at St. Ben's instead of going to St. John's, and I'm finding that it's good. Sometimes I just need a break from everyone, and spending time over here helps me keep my room clean, get my homework done earlier, and see other people that I don't usually see. Plus, I've turned into somewhat of a t.v. junkie. I discovered abcfamily, and I am in love with this channel, so I watch a lot of that now, especially when Sami's gone. I really like having the background noise to "keep me company". I also watch it when I go running in the gym. Otherwise, I'm just looking forward to Thanksgiving break and Christmas! I can't wait to get our tree and start decorating our house, and to have a month off, and curl up in front of the fire with a good book, and do absolutely nothing!!!

Love to all of you that actually read this :o)

Lovin' Life

So a lot has been going on over the past couple of weeks. Annette's death really hit me hard, but I think it was less to do with her and more to do with everything else that was going on in my life. Not that I don't wish she was still alive; I just wasn't close enough to her to have had her death make as big of an impact as it seemed to. Thank you to all of you who responded to my stressed out ramblings; every single reply meant a lot to me.

However, things have been looking up. I am still exceedingly busy, but I can manage that. I took a test in one class yesterday, and to have that done is a huge weight off my chest. I was really worried about it, but I got to study for a good two hours beforehand, and I think that most of it went okay. All of my other classes are about normal right now, other than the presentation that I have to give on Friday during my FYS class, and I got to sign up for spring semester classes on Monday. I am taking Mass Communications and Society, Combinatorics/Graph Theory (math), FYS, and Peace Studies. I will have three classes every other day, and one on the ones in between. My three class days start at 8:00 at SJU, so that should be very interesting.... I am, however, looking forward to only having one class two or three times a week. And it will be worth it to take the 8:00 class, because when I took Comm. last year, I loved it!

Let's see, what else? I still pretty much live on Mary 2, in one of the men's dorms, but we've branched out a bit. Merideth and I are there most nights of the week, and we've gotten to know almost everyone on the floor. We now spend more time on the opposite end of where we used to, Steve and Geo's room, down by Jon and Jared. These four are our main guys, and we love them dearly. Steve and Jared are on the same volleyball team we are, and Geo and Jon are just great. We hang out with these guys a lot, and although three of the four don't know it yet, Merdy, Steve, Jared, and I are taking a road trip out to California this summer to visit Jon and Geo. We're really excited about it, and hopefully everything goes as planned. 

As a side note, this reminds me: a new friends list :o) 

The "new" guys include: 

Geo/Jovany, Steve Beattie's roommate: This guy is honestly one of my favorite people in the world! He is always happy, and he's so laid-back. He also offers great advice when I'm just stuck on what to do, and he's always happy to see me.

Jon: I just love him. That pretty much sums it up. No but seriously, he's a great guy to hang out with, and something I really appreciate about him is that he can manage to have a real conversation about stuff that matters. He's our "Mr. California" and I cannot wait to see how he reacts to the cold this winter. 

Jared Smith: A fellow Safe Sets member and really cool. He's pretty chill, and he's great to have around in an emergency, as we found out this week. Jared's just really easy to be around, and I don't think there's a single person that I know of that doesn't like him. 

There're many more, but these are the three most important additions to our group. More on my "new" girls later; I don't want this to get too long.

Anyway, another thing that I would love to do this summer is to be a counselor at the 3G camp; Girls, God, and Good Times. I would work with 4th and 5th graders for one session and 6th-8th graders in the other. The dates may be a bit tough to work with, but I am really excited about it, so hopefully it works for me to do that. 

Not much else going on, I guess. I'm keeping up in all of my classes, my room is (currently) clean, the laundry basket's pretty empty, I eat and sleep fairly well, I try to exercise, I have friends, my roommate and I get along, and I get to go home this weekend. That's all for now.

Love to all!

Why?

Tonight I found out that one of the girls I was good friends with in preschool passed away. She's been in the ICU since MEA weekend, when she got in a severe four-wheeler accident. They had her in a medically induced coma for a while, but took her out. She was also on a ventilator, but they took her off that a couple of days ago, so that she could die on her own. I don't know much about Annette, other than the great memories I have from preschool with her, but her death has hit me really hard. I found out an hour ago, and I can't do anything but just sit. I can't sleep, that's for sure. Unfortunately, I have an eight am class tomorrow, and I have to get up early enough to shower and eat before it. I also have a test, in the class right after that, that I no longer feel prepared for. I just don't understand what God is thinking right now. In playing with the two girls, and hearing about the family from my mom, as they continued to bring their youngest two children to ABC, I know they are just a great family. They are very faith-filled, and this is such a huge blow. Annette was a beautiful high school senior, with the world in front of her. I just don't understand. If this could happen to her, it could happen to anyone. What about the next time my friend Jon goes surfing? What if he falls and cracks his head open and dies? What if Merideth goes home and takes a bad spill off her horse, and no one knows until it's too late? What if my brother gets in a car accident on his way to school, and I'm not there to take care of him? I have lost so many people already in my 18 short years of life, and I'm paranoid enough about losing more of them; then this has to go and happen. I'm so scared. I'm scared to let my friends out of my sight. I want to be with them all the time to make sure they're safe. Halloween is coming up, and with it lots of parties. What happens if my friends never make it home from those parties? What if I never get things straightened out with someone I care a lot about, but am having troubles communicating with right now, and I never see him again? Never hug him, look into his eyes, and tell him how much I care? I just don't know. I believe in God, and I trust Him, but things like this really confuse me....

College? What?

I was thinking the other day about how weird it is that I am a college student now. I know it's been over a month already, and you would think that by this time I would have gotten used to the fact, but I think it really hit me for the first time this week. It's a good thing, but so different from what I have always known life to be.

I live in a room that is maybe a little more than half the size of my room at home, and I share it with another person. We have two bed, two chairs, a t.v., two desks, two closets, a sink, a refrigerator, and all of the stuff we need to survive here. And we're roommates. We don't talk that much, but we actually live together! I see her almost every day, unless one of us is gone, and I will continue to see her every day and sleep in the same room as her, and just live with her for the next seven months. I never see my family, and she doesn't see hers. We don't have to answer to each other, but at the same time, we have to respect each other. I was really nervous about the whole roommate experience when I started college, and now it's something that I take for granted. In fact, when I went home the other weekend, it was weird to not have her there. (And to have so much room!)

Another thing that's weird to think about is the fact that I live at the same place that I go to school. If I didn't play in the SCSU wind ensemble, there would be no reason for me to ever leave campus. I do my laundry here, I eat here, I go to class here, I go to church here, I sleep here, and all of my friends are here, so I always have someone to hang out with without going very far at all. 

I have had to become so comfortable here that it's comical. I walk around dressed in the weirdest things, and I just don't care. I wear my slippers out to the BAC to practice piano or to Gorecki to eat, I wear my sweats anywhere and everywhere, I go barefoot pretty much anywhere (just not to the shower, outside, or to SJU), my hair never looks good, and sometimes I even go to class without showering, which is something I would have never considered back at home. 

I feel like have met so many new people, and at the same time I know that I haven't even met a fraction of the people that attend school here. There's always someone new to meet and even the people that I do know surprise me sometimes with information that I did not know about them. I love meeting new people, so this is a good thing for me, but I feel like I don't get a chance to hang out with all of them, and that kind of sucks. 

I answer to no one here. All of the decisions I make, I make on my own. I can eat when and what I want, stay up as late as I want, (and sleep as late as I want), go to St. John's or stay at CSB, basically whatever. Of course, I still have to follow the laws, and the rules of the school, but the rules aren't hard to abide by, and I've never had a problem with the law. I don't even have to go to class if I don't want. And if I do go, I don't have to stay awake, nor do I have to do homework for them. Of course, if I don't go, or don't do the work, I won't pass it, but I guess I don't really even have to pass the class if I don't want to. 

I guess that's all for now. I just kind of rambled there, but I still don't know if I even conveyed the awe that I feel at the fact that I am here for the next four years, nine months a year, essentially by myself. I can't wait to see where I go from here!