Bye-Bye, Childhood.

Location: Dorm desk
Listening to: By Your Side by Eskobar (on my awesome Ingrid Michaelson-based Pandora station)
Today's Odd Holiday(s): Ask A Stupid Question Day; National Good Neighbor Day

When I picture someone being a good neighbor, I always picture a 50's era, Donna Reed-like woman showing up on someone's doorstep with a batch of fresh baked cookies, just because. This was the closest picture I could find to that. Although, I will admit I did not search very hard. So sue me.

Yesterday was a sad day for me. My mom called me and told me that my dog's cancer was affecting him to the point where he wasn't eating anymore and, because none of us wanted him to suffer, they had made the decision to take him in and get him put to sleep.

We had Buddy (my dog) since I was eight years old. That's over half of my life. He was the noisiest pooch in the entire world. He would bark his head off every time someone came to the door or walked past our house, but he was a huge chicken. He would hide behind my parents when someone came up to talk to them or wanted to pet him.

He was terrified of storms. He would hide under my mom's desk or cower next to my dad at the slightest hint of thunder or lightening.

Pretty much, he was adorable, even when he was being annoying.

Buddy was kind of the last real vestige of my childhood. We grew up together. Now that he's gone, I feel like my childhood is gone, too. Isn't that sad? I mean, I know I could definitely still run around and do childish things and be silly and stupid if I wanted to. But there's so much responsibility I have on my shoulders now. I have to keep up with my grades and make sure I'm eating right and getting enough sleep but not letting myself stress too much and pay for my credit card and random other things I need and more or less taking care of myself.

It's kind of a shock.

I don't think I'm explaining this as well as I want to be, but I really can't think of a better way to say it. So I guess you'll just have to deal with this. Haha.

It's going to be so weird going home in a few weeks and not being greeted by this little guy.

I should be doing things

Location: Dorm desk area
Listening to: Commercials
Today's Odd Holiday(s): National Comic Book Day

If the world had any justice, I would be writing this from Jess's dorm room a few states away. There was a fantastic plan for me, her boyfriend, and two or three of our other friends to drive down and stay with her for the weekend, but there's been a lot of rain in these parts and the guy who was supposed to drive got flooded out, so the trip got cancelled. How sad.

So, instead of spending the weekend doing hilarious and wonderful things with some of my best friends, I'm sitting in my dorm room with the window wide open and enjoying the lovely fall breeze. This is kind of ok, because I spent a lot of time in the car last weekend since I went home. But I definitely wish I had some away time from my dorm. Too small of a space, too close proximity to the same person all day every day. It's wearing on me.

For anyone who ever goes to college, I would definitely suggest dorm life. Even if you live close enough to commute, you miss out on so much if you live at home or off campus. There's this huge social network you develop through the dorms. Imagine living two floors below your best friend or down the hall from some cute guys. You bond with the people on your floor and learn how to deal with the ups and downs of living literally four feet away from another person.

There is always something to do if you're willing to look for it. Someone is always hanging out in the basement or up for a game of pool or willing to walk to the shops with you. You can always track down someone to rant to or gush to or just hang out with. You meet all kind of people you never would have met otherwise, good and bad.

I'm pretty sure living in the dorms is doing a better job of preparing me for real life than any other part of college so far.

I don't really know what else to write about. What do you guys want to hear? Feel free to ask me any questions or suggest any topics or tell me what you want an update on. If you tell me, it will come. :)

Well, that went...well...

Location: Dorm desk
Listening to: Bad singing on TMZ
Today's Odd Holiday(s): Business Woman's Day, Elephant Appreciation Day

Hello, all! Today is elephant appreciation day. Elephants are for sure my favorite animal, so you all better go out and appreciate them. Ok? Ok.

Now that that's settled, on to the good stuff. College has made my love life explode. For anyone who hasn't ready the last few posts (for which I won't blame you, they were all more or less the same thing), let me give you a brief update.

In the past month, I have somehow come to have four suitors. I'm only interested in pursuing one of them, and he's the one who I'm least sure still likes me. Go figure, right? Brief run-down of the characters:

John - My friend from my leadership thing that I moved in early for. On swim team. Bakes lots of yummy foods. Nice guy, but not interested.

Jordan - Met at a dance. After being in each other's presence for about 20 minutes and conversing for about 5, he decided he was in to me. Again, nice guy, but not interested.

John (JJ) - Met through Jordan. I talked to him for quite a while over text messages and Facebook chat, but he's not someone I'm interested in either. He got really clingy really fast. As in, he would text me the moment he woke up and try to make plans with me for every second of every day even though I gave him no indication that I was interested in him.

David - Met in History Through Film. Super nice and cool and musical. Pretty much all of the good things a guy can be. He parties, but he respects that I don't. Flirts heavily with me and lets me know he's interested, but I don't know him well enough to know whether or not I should take it seriously.

Pretty much this is almost more attention than I got through boys for my entire high school experience. It's insane.

Obviously, my current choice is David. We hang out sometimes and talk a lot during class. He also offers me rides to and from class, which is nice because it's at night and walking across campus at 9 is sketchy. He's in a band and today while we were hanging out he asked me if I'd like to do some vocals with them because their vocalist moved to a different town for school. Obviously I said yes. It's one of my dreams to be in a band. I'm kind of the most excited person ever.

Plus it will give me more chances to hang out with him and discover what he's really like/more opportunities to try and charm him. I'm trying to be more laid back around him and talkative, because I tend to clam up around guys I like. We'll see if he actually follows through on the band thing.

I hope so.

Other than that, college is pretty awesome. I've met a lot of cool people and made some pretty good friends. Classes are easy enough and I have enough time to myself that I don't go crazy. There's a piano in our basement, so I still play which makes me happier than you will ever know. I love playing the piano. I don't do it well, but I love it so much.

Well, Top Model is coming on. Which means I have to go so I can devote my full attention to it. See you later!

Home, Sweet Home

Saturday, September 18, 2010 - 4:00ish p.m.
Location: The couch (back at home!)
Listening to: How I Met Your Mother
Todays Odd Holiday(s): National Cheeseburger Day


Well, this seems familiar. Haha. Yes, I'm back home for the weekend. I made a promise to some of my friends to come see a show they are in, so I made the journey back. Plus there is a family birthday party going on this weekend. And I need to do laundry and I don't want to pay $10 again.

I'm still loving college. I've met even more people since the last time I wrote. Two of them are really great guys who I could potentially see myself developing interest in. But I've known them both for less than a week, so I'm not making any decisions yet. One is named David. He was in show choir in high school, sings amazingly and plays all kinds of instruments, is hilarious, and is easy to be around. Downside: he parties and seems to be kind of cocky. I'm not into that. But he does seem pretty cool, and he respects that I don't party or drink or any of that. The other is John. He was in choir in high school, sings and plays guitar, is hilarious and easy to talk to. I haven't hung out with him yet one-on-one, so I'm not sure how easy he is to be around. He's straightedge, like me.


Sunday, September 19, 2010 - 11:00 a.m.
Location: Bed (at home)
Listening to: Shankhill Butchers by The Decemberists
Today's Odd Holiday(s): International Talk Like A Pirate Day; National Butterscotch Pudding Day; National Women's Friendship Day


Ok. I had to leave in the middle of my post yesterday to go do family things. But. I'm back now. I actually have better stories now. Which is awesome.

A bunch of my friends were in a local production of Pirates of Penzance, which is half of the reason I came home this weekend. To see them. The show was hilarious! There was not a dull moment in the entire thing. And the talent was incredible. There were so many incredible voices. The girl who played Mabel gave me chills when she sang. And my friend John is pretty much destined to be the next Josh Groban, and he played Frederic. So that was fun.

Afterwards, I went out with my friends Dillon, Bobby, and Chee to get caught up on life. I told them about the two guys who have kind of caught my attention to get their opinions. Once I mentioned that David parties, they immediately disliked him. They're pretty sure he just wants to get in my pants. I don't know him well enough to judge for sure, but he does seem a bit too good to be true. We played Truth to get to know each other (pretty much Truth or Dare without dares) and all of his answers seemed like they were designed to try and appeal to my preferences. It makes me wonder if he just looked at my Facebook or something and formulated his answers accordingly. It seemed more like he wanted to talk about himself than get to know me.

He does seem like a genuinely nice guy, though. I'll definitely be friends with him no matter what. He helped me jump my car Friday night, because I accidentially slammed the belt in the door, so the light stayed on all night and the battery was dead. So he tracked down a friend that had jumper cables and helped me out. Of course, they'd both been drinking by the time they got over to help me. Which was amusing except for when they got in a car and started driving.

My guy friends all think John is a winner. You have no idea how miraculous this is. I have never dated a guy that all of my guy friends approved him, and there they were, giving him the green flag. I was texting John while we were discussing him, and the guys decided they wanted to get to know him personally. So they asked me to see if he would submit to a Skype interview. So I asked. Thankfully, none of us were by computers, or it might have happened. Then they stole my phone and took his number and started texting him. I was mortified. Like, I was turning bright read and dying in the middle of a booth at Applebee's while my guy friends potentially scared off a potentially awesome guy.

But John was pretty cool about it. He just laughed it off and teased me for being so embarrassed. We ended up talking until 4:30 this morning. We played Truth, too, kind of. Only it wasn't officially a game. He just kept asking me questions and then I would ask him questions. He seemed like he truly wanted to get to know me.

So I'm not really sure where I stand right now on either of them. I'm hanging out with John when I get back to campus tonight. I'll see David again in class on Tuesday. I think I might keep hanging out with both of them as friends until/unless I seriously develop feelings for one. I don't want to feel like I have to date one of them, because I don't. I want to keep my options open, and right now they're both pretty good options. It's probably going to be kind of tough, because they're both pretty flirty. They both give off strong vibes of liking me, so I have to find a way to hang out and be encouraging but not be like, "Heyyyy, I for sure like you and this is more than a friendship." But we'll see. Who knows if someone else will come along? I mean, Hunky RA is still out there...haha.

The Secret to Charming Boys (Especially The Kind You're Not Interested In)

Location: Dorm desk
Listening to: Nothing...
Today's Odd Holiday(s): National Cream-Filled Doughnut Day


I think I must give off some kind of pheromone that attracts perfectly nice guys, but the type I'm not interested in dating. If you're interested in attracting these kinds of boys (hell, you can have mine) just follow these easy tips!

1.) Be excruciatingly awkward. This is the key to attracting any worthwhile man. The more uncomfortable you can make social situations, the more endearing they will find you. This includes saying every thing that crosses your mind, no matter who is around you or what you're thinking; pointing out the obvious; telling embarrassing stories from your past/childhood; talking about your friends as if everyone else knows them (or over explaining who they are after you've mentioned them in the past);  or simply standing quietly in the background and looking around uncomfortably as if you wish you could leave without being rude.

2.) Have crazy hair 70% of the time. Boys get intimidated by how gorgeous you are. Tone this down by piling your hair on top of your head in a sloppy, messy bun as often as appropriate. Braid your hair when it's wet so you end up with a crazy, wild jungle on your head. Try variations or hybrids of other hairstyles (pigtails, half-up, side pony tail, etc.) and then make it look like you just went for a four mile jog through the rain forest during monsoon season. It will help them feel more comfortable around you.

3.) Be overly confident. You know you're perfect. Make sure they do, too. When they begin to tease you about something, go, "Well, of course I do that. I have to have some flaw." And prance about. Make sure you hold yourself as if you are above everyone else. Keep your chin up. Make constant, unnerving eye-contact. Flip your hair and giggle. Above all, make sure they know how awesome you think you are. It will only help them see it more.

4.) Be terrible at something. The other day I was playing pool against some guys. I'm terrible at pool. One of the guys is pretty much a pro. He found my suckitude endearing and ended up asking for my number (true story). If you are terrible at something, guys will just want to help you learn how to do it right. So make sure you suck at something when you're around them. It could be a sport, dancing, playing a game, understanding something, or even simply walking.

5.) Talk to them about the other guys who like you. If you tell them that other guys are interested in you, they will see that you are a hot commodity. Think the laws of supply and demand. Because there is only one of you, demand will go up once the boys find out how awesome other guys find you. If you tell them that you're not interested in the other guys who like you, they will feel like you need them to protect you from the unwanted suitors. So make sure to tell them about every single crush you have and that you find someone has on you.

Ok, just kidding. Although I'm sure some of that would work in certain situations. Like, a lot of guys really do like teaching a girl how to do something. It's a really good ice breaker. But most of the other advice I just gave is crap. Please don't follow it (or don't blame me for any negative results if you do).

I'm up to three college suitors. On Sunday, a bunch of people were watching the football game in a dorm basement, and me and this other girl got bored, so we asked if anyone wanted to play pool. So we started playing against some guys and losing miserably. I have a tendency to kind of laugh at myself when I suck really bad at something, so even though my lack of skill was totally embarrassing, it was still fun.

Eventually some other guys came and played us. And we were losing for a while, but suddenly we were winning (because we kept challenging the guys to do impossible shots), so we made a bet. Losers had to make winners cookies. Of course, we ended up losing. And then the guys decided they wanted to play on co-ed teams, so we mixed it up. I was with a guy named Jordan (not the previous Jordan. This Jordan will be J2 to distinguish). He's kind of a pro at pool. He can do all of these trick shots.

Anyway, the girl I had been playing with and I decided to trade numbers so we could figure out the cookie baking thing. So I told her my number and after she put it in her phone, J2 sidled over and was like, "What did you say your number was?"

I don't know how this keeps happening. Or how it's always boys I'm not interested in. If only a certain Hunky RA would fall under my spell!

OH! That reminds me. I've enacted kind of a social experiment. We can send mail to anyone on campus, postage-free. So I printed up a few letters that said, "Your challenge: Get out of your comfort zone. Make plans with someone you don't know very well. Get to know them better." And I sent them to various people I know around campus. I didn't include a return address and I didn't address them to a specific person. I just sent them to the room number, so either they or their roommate could get it.

Hunky RA was one of them. And, since he's an RA, he has a room to himself. Part of the experiment was to try to get people to meet/befriend new people. The other part was to see if he would pick me as his person (if he ever does anything about it). I included a note in his that had a quote from one of my favorite PostSecret postcards. "If you're waiting for a sign, this is it. Take a chance. It will be amazing."

We'll see how that goes.

In the mean time, go enjoy a cream-filled doughnut today. :)

Eventful Weekend

Location: Dorm desk
Listening to: TV commercials
Today's Odd Holiday(s): Make Your Bed Day; No News Is Good News Day


So, as everyone knows, college weekends start on Thursday because most people work their schedules so they don't have class Friday. Unfortunately for me, I have class Friday mornings from 9-10, but then I'm done.

Anyway, our Student Entertainment club thing organizes events for every Thursday night in attempt to get people to go the non-Thirsty-Thursday route (even though the ones who want to go out and get trashed still do it, and then come to the events). This Thursday, they had a night club in the student union. I went with some of my friends from the other building.

The music was pretty terrible. I still had a good time, though. I hung out with my friends (Ashna, Ashley, Cole and John) and their friends and pretty much danced like an idiot.* It did get a bit awkward, because John has a little crush on me according to Ashna. And he kept trying to dance with me. And I kept edging my way around the circle to put people between us. I ended up dancing by some of my friends' friends who I didn't know. Including this guy, Jordan.

Now, apparently in the 20 minutes I was in Jordan's presence last night and through the brief conversation we had, I managed to charm him. Which is ridiculous because I'm hardly a charming person. Anyway, so I ran into Ashna the next day and she told me that he's crushing on me and wanted to know what I think of him and he wanted my phone number and stuff. So I told her to tell him I don't really know him so I don't know how I feel (which I felt was very diplomatic) and to go ahead and give him my number.

Anyway, so he texted me and invited me and my roommate to come play frisbee with him and his friends, so we went. And it was really fun. I'm not attracted to him, but he and his friends seem like cool guys and will give us lots of opportunities to hang out with people. Plus one of his friends is cute and might prove a nice distraction from Hunky RA.

Speaking of Hunky RA, last night our school also had a concert by Quietdrive, who is one of my favorite bands. So I went with a bunch of people. It was super awesome. Afterwards we were trying to find something to do so we were wandering around the dorms and we ran into Hunky RA and he invited us to go to a movie at the campus theater with him and his friends. Except Jordan wanted to wait for people who we ended up ditching anyway, so we ended up just with the small group of people we went to the concert with.

Mostly, things here are really eventful. Today I'm going to my first college football game. John is having a party in his room, but my roommate are planning on sitting in our room and watching his window to see him get busted. Because he's also 18. Personally I don't get the appeal of drinking, so I just don't do it. And I'm not interested in getting in trouble.

But I'll probably find other things to do tonight. So expect more crazyness in the future.

Also, today is September 11th, the 9th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centers, Pentagon, and other places. Please keep the men and women who died in these attacks and attempting to save victims of these attacks and their friends and family in your thoughts.

Have an awesome weekend!

*This is obviously the only fun way to dance.

How To Befriend A Stranger

Location: Dorm desk
Listening to: Some kind of beautiful song by The Postal Service
Today's Odd Holiday(s): Teddy Bear Day


I am determined to make Hunky RA my friend. This is the reason I came to college. Not to learn things and gain knowledge and experience that will help me in the workforce. I am paying thousands of dollars a year in order to meet cute guys and either date them or turn them into my new best friends.*

The one problem is, I'm not really sure how to go about this. Probably because I have a huge and awkward crush on him. He's a really nice guy, and he's been nothing but sweet and friendly and helpful to me. I just want to be his friend.** His girlfriend, as far as I know, is justs as pleasant of a person as he is. She goes to college a couple of states away and, by some weird quirk of fate, is Facebook friends with one of my best friend's exboyfriends. So don't go making assumptions about her character. I don't want to break them up.

But, as I was saying, I have no clue how to go about this situation. I want to talk to him, but I don't want to seem like I'm hitting on him or coming on to him. I want to hang out with him, but I don't want to throw myself at him. I texted him once to try and figure out if this guy who there was a chance he might have known who has been trying to talk to me and stuff is a creep.

I don't know. We don't live in the same building, but he does live in my sister building where all of my friends are. But none of them live on his floor.

Aggghh. So complicated!! What do you guys think? How should I go about this? He told me I could text him if I was ever looking for something to do, so I could try that this weekend. See if anyone is doing anything (like a movie night or something). Or I could just bank on running into him again (it happens a lot) and trying not to choke on my own tongue if/when that happens. I don't think he checks Facebook that often, so that's out.

I know what I want to do. In an ideal situation, we would turn into workout buddies and start playing a game of truth.*** And through the course of the game we would get to know each other really well and eventually be best friends and maybe one day realize that we have deeper feelings for each other. Which sounds like of like the plot of a chick flick or book (maybe because it kind of is). But it would be really nice.

Anyway, give me your thoughts. Do I approach him and seek his company (in a just-as-friends way), or wait until he invites me to hang out with people again? Do I try and start a conversation with him first to get to know him, or just jump out and try to work into his social life? Do I directly ask him to hang out or challenge him to a game of Truth or just sit and bide my time until an obvious answer appears?

I would love your advice. And in the meantime, here is a picture of how my roommate and I are attempting to gain friends.

The illegible bit on the right side was someone else's comment. We have no clue what it says.

*Not really. I really do want to learn and I love my classes. But I have to admit, the presence of so many cute (and often shirtless) guys is pretty distracting.
**Ok, admittedly, I would love to date him, but I'm not a bitch/homewrecker. Usually.
***Truth is a game my friends and I like to play. It was partly a result of games of Truth or Dare in which no one picked Dare and partly because of the Sarah Dessen book The Truth About Forever, in which the game plays a significant role. It's pretty much Truth or Dare, but without dares. And you can ask anything, as long as you don't repeat questions. It's a great way to get to know someone, especially someone you're interested in. Especially because it seems totally innocent, which is good for hiding ulterior motives.

I'm always awkward

Location: Dorm desk area
Listening to: The Office + the guys across the hall playing video games + the guys down the hall listening to rap + someone carrying crinkly plastic bags up the steps
Today's Odd Holiday(s): Neither Rain Nor Snow day


I am convinced that I am the most awkward person ever. Always. It doesn't matter if I'm by myself or with other people or asleep or awake or trying to do something or not. I am 100% awkward 100% of the time. Let me give you some examples from today.

One of the glories of dorm life is the constant presence of drunk-people-who-think-yelling-makes-them-easier-to-understand. Our dorm happens to be right behind the apartments near campus, so we get a lot of party traffic out our window. I kept getting woken up by yelling drunkards last night (which is funny after you've gotten sleep, but really annoying in the moment). At one point, I woke up and knocked some pillows off of my loft and on to our TV stand, which knocked a bunch of crap over. My roommate was dead asleep, but I still felt the need to groggily say, "I think I knocked over Abe..." (we have a tiny bust of Abe Lincoln on top of our DVD player, courtesy of my awesome friends' awesome garage sale cruising skills).

Then I went to my classes this morning and all was fine. My schedule doesn't really mesh with any of my friends, so I eat lunch alone a lot of the time. I don't mind it. A lot of people eat alone and there are TVs and stuff, or I bring a book sometimes. So today I'm sitting there munching on this delicious herb chicken with roasted veggies (yuuummm) when Hunky RA comes over and playfully punches my shoulder and begins talking to me. My mouth was full of food. There were probably flecks of herbs on my teeth. And he starts asking me about classes and my food and what I'm up to and how things are going and genuinely being a nice guy. And I'm taken completely off guard by the fact that he spotted me and started talking to me, so I can't think of things that make sense to say so I jumble everything together and babble. And then he starts asking me about eating alone which just makes me self conscious and embarrassed.

And then I went to my last class and decided to skip the second half. So I'm sitting her blogging and eating cheesecake and hoping that a certain Hunky RA might stop by to visit. He did last night. Well, not necissarily to visit. But he stopped by. So he knows where I live now. And...um....I'm overly optimistic about this budding friendship. I need to hang out with him so it can turn into more of a friendship and less of a me-wishing-we-were-friends.

Awesome.

See what I mean about the awkward? Hah.

Real Trinidadians

Location: Dorm desk area
Listening to: Our neighbors rap music and some angry women yelling at each other on the Real Housewives of New Jersey reunion (Part 2)
Today's Odd Holiday(s): Flight Procrastination Day/Read A Book Day/Labor Day


Swooooooooon.

Why do wonderful boys have to have girlfriends? I know that's kind of a rhetorical question. They have girlfriends because the girls realize that they are wonderful boys. Obvious. But why can't I find them when they're single?

I had a run-in with my hunky RA crush. He was wandering the halls of my dorm and stopped by to say hi. I really hope we get to be good friends. The fact that I now have his cell number makes me more confident that this will happen. He seems like a really freaking awesome guy. He has awesome taste in music and seems genuinely awesome. Plus he's adorable. Oh my gosh. His girlfriend is a lucky, lucky girl.

I'm writing this as I wait for one of my friends to come on Skype so my roomie and I can chat with her. She went to college in the next state over, so she's even further from home than I am. Also, as we wait for the hunky RA and his friend to make another appearance. We were interrupted from our chat (they asked what my plans were for the night and if I was staring at the wall because you can't see/hear our tiny TV from the hallway) by my actual RA, Eric. Eric came over and told them to stop harassing me because I'm cooler than they are, and then they scooted off to wherever they were going and told Eric they'd see him at 10. Which makes me hopeful that they will stop by and visit again.

Oh geeze, I'm pathetic.

Anyway, I have more classes tomorrow. I have my night class (History Through Film) which I'm really excited about. I think we just get to watch movies like Gone With The Wind and stuff and talk about them. I also have my Theater Appreciation class (which seems like it's going to be really cool) and my Intro to Mass Communication class (which I love so far).

I'm really loving the whole college experience. I've met so many cool people and I feel like my classes are going to be really fun. My roomie and I have had several dorm room dance parties as well as played baseball in our room. (We have a tiny baseball bat in case of intruders and I got a stress ball shaped like a baseball...you do the math). I'm still getting used to stuff like sharing a tiny space with another person who has different hobbies/quirks than I do. And seeing guys wearing nothing but towels walking down the hall. And remembering to bring my key with me whenever I go anywhere (like running or to the dining hall).

Other than that, though, I'm adjusting pretty damn well. I hope all of you had a lovely Labor Day weekend in the States, and a fantastic regular weekend everywhere else.

Cure for Boredom

Location: Dorm Desk
Listening to: TV Commercials


Today was a great day. Like, a magnificently wonderful day. Yesterday afternoon I found out that I for sure scored the job I was hoping for. I get to spend my work study time hanging out in the arts building, helping prepare things for events and helping work events. I'm so pumped. I love stuff like that. And I get paid for it. Yesss!!

Because I got this job, I needed some supplies from home so I could fill out all the proper documentation. So I met my parents halfway between college and home for some lunch and item swapping (my luggage set for a better guardrail for my bed, mattress pad, fridge shelves, and needed work documents). It was nice. We ate at this little cafe and got all caught up about life back home and things here. It's weird how distanced you feel after spending just a week away from your family.

Also, I'm officially friends with the hunky RA from the building next door. The one who tried to get my internet working for two hours before he even knew my name. He invited me to hang out with him and some friends last night, but I didn't know where they would be. So I messaged him with my number, and he messaged me back with his number and compliments on my taste in music.

Siiggghh. He has a girlfriend. I refuse to be a homewrecker, but I totally wish he was single. I guess I'll just buddy up to him and maybe someday if he ever gets single, I'll be there?

God, I'm lame.

Anyway, no class tomorrow due to Labor Day. So I'll probably spend it hanging around with my roommate. I'm still getting used to sharing space with someone. It's weird. I'm not sure how I feel about it.

Well, that's it for now. More later.

College is nice

Location: Library
Listening to: Hopeless by KT Tunstall

I have found myself the perfect study spot in the library. Some day when I bring a camera, I will take a picture of it for you. But it's in this cozy little corner situated against a window with a pretty view of some trees. The seating is standard library loveseats. They're squishy and comfy and there's a nice little table that goes with them. It's all the way in the back of the library by some archaic teaching materials and if I look down the aisle along the wall, I can see the childrens' area. There's a nice little bank of computers right next to it and a higher table that I can use if my back starts hurting or something. I like it.

I still haven't found a replacement for my countdown, but I'm kind of getting used to the smaller opening thing. It's not too bad. I might keep it unless I can think of something really good and creative to put there. I keep forgetting your ideas and I'm too lazy to go back and look.

As for the comment about 50-year-old-creepsters, as long as none of you out there (and that includes people of all ages and genders) start stalking me or being scary, I don't care who reads this. I like all of the support and input you guys give me. My roomie was just teasing me. She likes to do that.

I'm still not used to living in such close quarters with someone. I haven't shared a room since I was 5 and decided I was too grown up to be sleeping in the same room as my big sister and my parents converted a giant storage space into my room. (It wasn't anything like Harry Potter being crammed under the stairs. It was big enough for my bed and dresser and toys, and there was a window and ventilation. And I think I only lived in there for a year or two before we added on to our house and I got a real room).

But my roommate likes to talk and listen to music as she does homework. I like silence. So I'm really glad I found this cozy little space, because it's nice and relaxing and studious feeling in here.

College suits me.

So far all of my classes are really cool. They all seem incredibly interesting and like things I'm going to enjoy a lot. I've only had 3 of my 6 classes so far, but I'm thinking the rest should be just as fun. I am taking a break from some Intro to Mass Communications reading I've been working on, and after that I'm going to try and make a dent in my newest article for our school paper (a profile on a professor who is kicking off a year long concert series).

I think that's it for now. I'm going to have a lot of free time this weekend (it being Labor Day here in the States meaning that we get Monday off of school and work). So I'm sure you'll hear from me again. I'm in the process of editing my first vlog from my dorm room, so that should go up sometime this weekend as well. :)

Oh, college.

Location: Dorm desk
Listening to: My roommate talk to me about how all of you are probably 50 year old creepster men.
Followers: 23


Welcome to Nicola and OhSoPrettyThings (or something similar to that, I'm kinda rushed and I don't have time to stop and check). Thanks for thinking my rambling is nice enough to listen to.

My roommate and I are discussing how Jesus was a rebel Jew because some church type people just came to visit us because of some survey things we filled out. They gave us cookies and drew us a picture. It was kind of nice.

Today was kind of hectic. So was yesterday. We did all kinds of orientation type things. Yesterday we ran around with our 'clubs' and painted a road purple and ran onto a football field and getting free things. Today we finished our orientation type things and one of my friends helped me lower my loft so I'm no longer scraping my head on the ceiling. Which is awesome.

Then we rearranged our room and stuff. And went to a rootbeer social in the basement of our sister dorm. Well, I went and hung out with some friends from my leadership thing. And stared longingly at the RA I'm minorly crushing on. Shhhh. Don't tell.

Then my friend Ashna and I helped our friend John name some fish he got. (If you were curious, they ended up being Sushi, Cook, Swimmy, Nemo, and Popcorn). And helped him set up his giant tank that hardly fits on his desk. I have no clue how that's going to work for him. Whatever.

Anyway, I should get going. I have to go shower and stuff. Classes start tomorrow, so that should be interesting. A lot of schools are starting lately, so I want to hear some of your back-to-school stories. I don't care if they're recent or not. Just tell me something about your school experience.

And also, ideas for what should replace my countdown.