I Read It In A Book Somewhere

Different Opinions on Giving Information

2012-03-15T14:03:00.000-07:00

I'm both excited for the weekend and nervous. Excited for fun times with both friends and family; Not so excited for upcoming finals.

Here's a recent moment I had with my mother. I got a call from her, asking about a reference that was for my job working for her. As you know now, I got the internship that I applied for. (I'm actually going in to talk to them today) In my mind, I was going to tell her the next time I saw her, which I knew would be very soon. In my mind, when family members get together, that's when they announce new and exciting things in their life. Think of any movie where a family is having a type of reunion. In that situation, they'll say, "I got the promotion!" or "I found a new guy." Since she was asking about it though, I thought I'd say "Yeah, I got the internship" casually.
Next thing I know my mom is breaking down over the phone.

"You girls never tell me anything! It's like you don't want me in your lives!"

WHOA. Calm down! It was a storm of emotion being throw at me over the speaker. You see how I explained my vision of telling people things above? Apparently she didn't see it that way.

I find it a little bizarre that I got this reaction the more I think about it. My mom will casually throw around big news in conversation like it's no thing all of the time. She does it especially to my dad.

I also thought about how I usually tell people big information. Honestly, it takes me twenty minutes to figure out a good way to throw in the fact it's my birthday into the conversation. (Not for another seven months) Throwing out information like that casually is normal for me.

Personally, I don't think I've done anything wrong. That's my opinion.
I tried to make this sound the least amount of teen-angsty as possible, but it still sounds pretty much like that. I tried.

I had an excellent pi day yesterday, did you? I ended up worrying over nothing schedule wise, I enjoyed the company of delightful people, and discussed serious topics. For example, why cheesecake should be called cheese pie. It's made with a graham crust. Actually makes sense.

Next big thing on my to do list is Human Physiology Exam Studying! Don't know why that's all capitalized. Hm. If I do well enough on this exam tomorrow, I won't have to take the final. That will be nice, because then the only Tuesday final I'll have to worry about is economics.

On a last note, Community returns tonight! I feel like a bad fan for not watching it tonight, but I just can't. I need to keep my brain on the HPHY, but instead I'll reward myself with it after my test. Plus, I don't have a TV. So there's that.

How do you usually talk to other people about big news?

Sinuses and Scheduling Conflicts

2012-03-13T20:00:00.001-07:00

A part of my body ached during the first few minutes of my run today. Can you guess what it is?
If you guessed my tooth, you're right! If you didn't, I'm not surprised.

In my current state, I don't feel sickly. However, I've been blowing my nose constantly and I've had plenty come out. Also, according to the Internet I might have a sinus infection. I say this because right now it looks like I snorted a highlighter, and the Internet believes that it could be caused by a sinus infection. Nasty, I know.

Back to the tooth thing. As you may know, sinuses feel pressure or sensitive when you've got a lot of junk mussing up there. Right near my sinuses obviously are my teeth. Well, one of my upper teeth sometimes feels like it's going to be yanked out if I'm bouncing around, and I blame it on the fact that it's a baby tooth. Yeah, I've got two baby teeth in place of adult teeth that never grew. I'm actually missing four of my adult teeth, but I only kept two of my baby teeth to keep my mouth slightly normal. I doubt that's a real thing, but it's the only reason I can give for my tooth hurting so bad. Hm.

I'm hoping that's also the reason my pace has been awful lately. Seriously, just... ugh. I hope that my pace is worse just due to the fact that I can't breathe through my nose.

In other news, I'm a bit... peeved right now. Is that the right word? Perhaps.
For you see, yesterday my plans were aligned nicely. From 6:00-7:00 tomorrow, I have chapter. Right after that, I was going to enjoy the company of people and pie. Yes, it's Pi Day. I get excited about it every year. After that, I was going to go to the final screening for Duck TV at 8:00. The mandatory screening.
Then this morning I get an email:

"The screening will be at 7:00 pm."

Yes. Of course. The only time to hang out with people I actually want to hang out with, you have to change the schedule.

This wouldn't annoy me so much if it weren't for the fact that the rest of my evenings are free this week. I don't know what it is about Wednesdays, but apparently all of my activities think they should happen on Wednesday.
I know. This is totally a First World Problem. (And if you hate that phrase, I'm sorry) But honestly, I'm really disappointed. I was really looking forward to the Pi Day festivities, it sounded like fun. I'm closer to the APO peeps than any of the Duck TV people. I'm hoping I can show up a little late to the screening, and pop by the Pi party for a little bit. Besides, they always start the screenings something like fifteen minutes late.

I was planning on talking about a reaction I got yesterday in today's post, but I suppose that will have to wait for tomorrow. Hopefully that last sentence wasn't confusing. It just deserves a whole post.

When was the last time you had two things you wanted to go to scheduled at the same time? What's a weird thing that happens to you when you're sick?

Choosing Coffee

2012-03-12T20:55:00.000-07:00

Proving my weather/mood hypothesis wrong, I've been in a good mood despite the weather. There's only one word I think describes this weather perfectly, and that word is blustery. Honestly, it would probably be pretty warm if it weren't for the wind. Hmm.

Currently I am pulling a delightfully hipster move. (Or at least when I was writing this earlier) I am typing this up in a Starbucks cafe, sipping on tea. Alright, it's ice tea but it's still tea.

This isn't a usual thing for me. The buying coffee drinks thing that is. I don't care very much about coffee or tea, but I do have a gift card I received for Christmas. $25 will buy you a lot of Passion Iced teas.
I find the addiction to coffee drinks so bizarre. My reasons are because it's another college kid habit that I'm somehow not a part of, and how it affects people so drastically.

I remember hearing about a study that explained coffee addiction. The way that coffee's caffeine effected people with energy is strange. After someone has been drinking coffee as a way to wake up consistently, they're no longer able to get to that level of energy in the morning without it. Before, they were able to get to a higher alertness if allowed (like getting enough sleep), but once caffeine is regular you can't get up to that same energy point again. Well, without coffee that is. Don't quote me on that.

I also find it so crazy how financially responsible people can falter with money when it comes to coffee drinks. Then again, I used to sort of be like that with diet soda. Even then, I bought soda maybe once or twice a week. I know people who buy it everyday. Say you buy a coffee everyday of the work week for $2. That's $10 a week. That's $40 a month. On coffee. Too much for me!
I suppose the argument against money is a lot of people have their own coffee machines. Coffee shops are still thriving though, so I think a lot of people continue to get their fix from them.

I suppose I don't do coffee because I don't like the taste, but I also don't want to get dependent on it. Why start an expensive habit if you don't even like the taste? I don't know.

I've been told sophomore year is when the coffee craving kicks in, but it hasn't... yet. We'll see.

I'm ready for spring break. I'm ready for a new term. I tire of this term, it's boring. I know, I'm going to hate that statement when I'm busy, but for now... yeah. Boring.

Are you a coffee drink addict?

Libraries and Future Reading Material

2012-03-11T22:30:00.000-07:00

I adore libraries. Yes, I've talked about this before. I could spend an entire day in a library if you let me. I think I just like libraries because it's an endless supply of new information for free. Plus, the information can be about anything. It can come in the form of new stories, both fictional and not; It can be learning how to perform a new task. Sure, you could say that the Internet has all of this "for free" as well, but the Internet and books are two very different things. I'm not saying I don't like reading blogs (I do, and have wasted many hours doing such), but even a book written by a blogger is a whole different experience.

Usually, the other positive that goes with checking out books from a library is convenience, but as I've gone on, I've found libraries to be lacking in the convenience department.

Libraries on colleges are not as convenient as you would think. For one thing, all of their books are academic. I know right? Who thought of that ridiculous idea? Pish. Because of that, for awhile now I've been trying to get a library card for the public library here. It seems that they don't want me to get a library card here.
The first time I went in, they told me that I needed some proof that I was living in the town. So as was suggested, I brought in my lease as proof. Today, that didn't work. Not recent enough. Bah.

Therefore I've given up on trying to get a library card in this town. Sigh. I just wanted to be like the adorable little girl who was enjoying a book at a cafe table, a pile of books stacked past her head. Truthfully, the reason I wanted a library card was for books to read for spring break. 'Tis coming up, and I want to have some good reads.

For the time being, I'm going to get some books from my hometown library for spring break. This works fine, the only issue is getting them back home afterwards. We'll worry about that later.
Right now I'd like to give you a little peek at the books I'm planning on reading in the future.

52 Loaves by William Alexander

The Butcher and the Vegetarian : One Woman's Romp Through a World of Men, Meat, and Moral Crisis by Tara Austen Weaver

French Women Don't Get Fat by Mireille Guiliano

The China Study

The Sorcerer's Apprentices by Lisa Abend

Wow. They're all food books. That's odd.
These are all books that have caught my eye or I've heard about somehow. I've heard both good and bad things about some of them, but that hasn't stopped me from wanting to read them myself. I'd like to form my own opinion. Currently I have them all on hold, but we'll see if I get to all of them. Some of them might not be checked back in by the time it's spring break. As of now, they're just desired future readings.

Sleeping in yesterday? Probably not a great move for my sleep schedule. I was wide awake late into the night, and I sort of dozed off for a few minutes at eight tonight. Maybe I just can't sleep normally. Or maybe my body gets angry when I try that crap. I dunno.

What books are next on your to read list?

Good Things Come To Those Who Wait

2012-03-10T23:38:00.000-08:00

My motto for the day seems to be "Good things come to those who wait."

Well, I'm not sure if it fits for everything today, but it's a start.

One of the good things that came from waiting? Well, I applied for a paid internship recently and... I got it! I just found out last night, hooray! I suppose you could say that waiting to tell the world was good on my part, just because what if I didn't get it? Right? That's how I think anyways.

My main "Good things come to those who wait" point for the day is from my run today. For my runs, I tend to cut it into sections. On average, songs usually about 3-4 minutes. When three songs have passed, I assume I've gone a little bit around a mile in distance. (9-10 minute miles) I told myself that I would run for at least 60 minutes, and I would check my time at the end of the 9th song (about a half hour in). As my run went on, that was pushed back to the 12th song. Then to the 15th song. By the time I looked at it, I had only three minutes left! The more you check something, the longer it seems to take to get to the ending point. If I had checked it at the 9th song mark, I would still have about a half hour to go. I would have wanted to check constantly after the initial check, and that would have been annoying. "I still have so much left!" I would exclaim. Instead, when I didn't check my time I didn't think about it as much.

The last "Good things come to those who wait" idea for the day comes from just cooking, really. Sure, sometimes it's easy to throw some food together and call it good. On the other hand, when you actually take time to make something, it usually tastes a lot better. True story.

I'm a bit concerned with the coherency of this post. I've written more coherent posts while affected by other sources, but there is currently nothing affecting me. That is a bit concerning. Still, I wanted to get my thoughts out.

In other life news, my cold is disappearing quickly! Nice. I'm kind of surprised by it really. I pulled a college kid move and slept in until 11. Well, after waking up at 7 for an hour. Then falling back asleep at 8 because I thought it would make me feel better. And it did. What a concept.

What examples do you have of "Good things come to those who wait?"

Sunny Day, Sunny Mood

2012-03-09T10:23:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, I had a moment of pure bliss. I was biking over to another building and the sun was brightly shining. After climbing up the hill, I started to roll down. The warm breeze passed by, turning my earrings into miniature wind chimes. People everywhere were enjoying the sunshine, hanging out and playing outside. Happiness was flowing through the air.

Simply bliss.

It's amazing how connected our emotions are to the weather, or how we relate emotions to certain times. I suppose it makes sense, seeing as there's an actual medical condition called SAD, or seasonal affective disorder. We even say things like, "A case of the Mondays" or "Thank God it's Friday".

I know I shouldn't connect emotions to the weather that much, but sometimes it just works out that way. I've been feeling unusually happy for awhile now, and I think it's because the sun has been peeking its head out.

The only downside to yesterday happened when the cold hit. No, not cold weather. I'm sick. Ick. Hot weather+Snot filled dizzy head= Not a good run. Just think 10-20 seconds slower than my usual pace. I'm glad I did it though. Today however is a rest day. No theatre, and it's Friday. Ahh...

I hope the sun is here to stay.

How do environmental elements affect your mood?

Purchases I Need, Yet...

2012-03-08T07:57:00.000-08:00

There are two things that I have had on my "to buy" list for quite awhile now:

Running Shoes
Brake pads for my bike

As you might have guessed, these are pretty important purchases. There is only one reason that I haven't bought these things: I am frugal.

Alright, the shoes is more of a "I haven't had a chance to drive two hours to my regular shoe place and drive two hours back" situation. So it's frugal and lazy. Oh, what a great combination.

The logic of this whole situation is flawed. This is the type of logic of a person who doesn't want insurance "because they'll be careful". Fool, there are unplanned situations that happen in the future! When you get sick without the insurance, it's going to cost a hell of a lot more. Or you can't control what other drivers do.

My shoes are currently right under 600 miles. They say you should get new shoes every 300-500 miles. Ayup.
I'll get new shoes soon, I promise.

Other than that, I've been having a pretty swell day. Positive all around. So there's that.

What have you avoided purchasing that you really need?

Trends and Trading

2012-03-06T19:29:00.000-08:00

I love clothing, and I love fashion. I like seeing all of the new trends, yet I never usually dress accordingly. Give me a dress, cardigan, and cool tights and I'm good to go. I've been told I over-dress for the everyday style, but I like my style. I believe it's better to be overdressed than under dressed. Besides, you never know who you'll run into.
I'm getting distracted, but the point is that I usually don't dress for the fashion trends. Recently though, there's one fashion trend that I've adored: Colored pants.

I love the big bold colored pants that I've seen, and almost every pair I see has made me envious. I know that this trend has been going on for quite some time now, but I still see it going strong. Even if the trend dies down soon, I still dig those pants.

On a different subject, when I was in high school, my friends always participated in one activity that I could never get behind. No, not that activity. They would always trade clothes/accessories/etc. This activity wasn't necessarily like the type that you always see in movies though. The clothes were usually something that another person left at their house, or in their car. Finders keepers? Apparently.
I don't know why I never got involved with this practice, but it might have been the fact that I didn't want to lose any of my clothes. I liked my clothes a lot more than any of the clothes of my friends. Might sound a bit mean, but they shopped thrift stores for fun. Not because of no money, just because they thought the hobo pants looked cooler. You might find that under a definition of a hipster (or a stoner). I tend to like Ross a bit better and plaid isn't my thing. Remember the Oregon uniform? Not my thing. Therefore, even if I didn't trade clothes it didn't bother me much.

You might be wondering why I suddenly changed topics on you, but I have my reasons. I may have not traded clothing in high school, but for the first time in my life I got clothes from a party. I did what all of my high school friends did. And they are red pants. Fantastic.
Alright, during normal situations I would not have gone home with a random pair of red pants, but the party that I went to included trading articles of clothing. I came with one pair of pants. I went home with two.

When I'm in my thirties, or even sooner, there's no way I'm going to wear an article of clothing around that I got from a party. Matter of fact, it'll be pretty ridiculous if I go to a party and end up taking clothing in the first place. But for now, when in Rome... I'll do as the Romans do. And end up with some red pants.

In other news, I'm spending less time in my room while in the apartment, and actually spending time in the dining area. I've been fine in the kitchen spending time cooking, but never much in the dining area. I think what has happened is that the smell in that area is bearble now. (When I first moved in, my sister came in for five minutes and wanted to hurl. It was awful.) I mean, I brought the table in! I should be using it! Goodness.
Have you ever traded clothing with someone for a long time/ indefinitely?

Making Decisions

2012-03-05T20:25:00.000-08:00

I am a very indecisive person. I don't know how, but I think I've gotten more indecisive as I've gotten older.
You might think that being indecisive means that I don't like planning things out. Obviously, this isn't true as I've talked about the many ways I like to organize my life. I don't know how these two things work together, but they do. It happens. Although I'm indecisive, I'll usually speak up if no one can make up their mind for what to do. "I dunno, what do you want to do?" only gets you so far. I dealt with that crap for far too long in high school.

This indecisiveness comes more with choices than actually taking action. Take restaurants for example. I almost always want to try something new, but I can never decide just what I want. What taste is my tongue craving for the evening? What if I make the wrong decision? Common sense would tell my brain that this is not a life or death situation, but common sense does not exist when it comes to a restaurant menu.

I have gotten many death glares from my sister because of this trait. On the opposite side of the spectrum, my sister is extremely decisive. She knows what she wants. She knows what she likes. And she wants the meal as soon as possible, which doesn't work with my indecisive ass.
I hate to make a waiter wait. It's rude. That's why I always say, "Come to me last." Because I base my choice on what others get. I choose something different, so we can trade tastes. Usually, the people I eat with are on the same sharing page as I am, which is always nice.

The point is if I only get once chance to try something, it takes time for me to make a decision. Because I've got a bad case of the "What ifs?".

This all brings me to a notebook. A notebook? Yes, a notebook.

Remember that little notebook that I write things to do with my life in? Well, I have one. Or I should say had one, because that little sucker got filled up. I needed a new notebook, but what kind to get? The notebook would be with me for awhile, so it has to be just right.
You know how I talked about indecisiveness? I went to the bookstore at least five times comparing different notebooks. The size, the writing space, the prices, the looks... Ridiculous, I know. However in the end I got my notebook and it's quite lovely.

Yup. It looks a bit yellow because of the light, but it's a nice shade of blue. May I take on many adventures.

Are you indecisive or very decisive?

It's All in the Equations

2012-03-04T21:27:00.000-08:00

As someone who plans on studying journalism, I think it's safe to say that I've never been a numbers person.
Simple calculations in my head? No problem I will do long division in my head, multiply the hell out of double digits, and if you give me a second I can calculate that tip. I may be able to do that, although I usually end up being lazy and just taking out my phone for a calculator. However, when it comes to equations and calculations that mean something? Please. No.
The trouble is more with science than math really. Memorizing what chemicals react with what always sent my brain into a tizzy. I digress.

The point is you'll never hear me talking about math or things in the math family with a sense of security. No, I will always be talking about it in a worried tone of voice, or teary.
Probably one of the smartest moves I've ever mad has been taking my math requirement in a community college when I was still in high school. I haven't had to do math since junior year of high school, and I'm not looking to put it back into my life.
The closest thing I have taken to math in recent times? Economics.

I don't hate math, economics, or science. I just have a hard time with them. I can't glance at an equation and think, "Oh, this is this." I have to spend time thinking about it. A lot of time.

This comes into play with my economics homework I've been getting. The assignments are all online, and you get two chances to answer them correctly. If you get it wrong the first time, it might help you out and give you some hints. If you get it wrong twice... no points for you.

Here's my process of working on economics homework:

Log onto website, click homework.
Read first question.
Don't know the answer to first question, read rest of questions searching for key words that I might remember.
Find a question to answer. Flip through notes, trying to find the exact answer.
Find some information, but doesn't tell me what I need to know specifically.
Look up question online.
Compare notes online to notes in notebook, trying to smash together a coherent answer. Click answer.
Get first attempt wrong. Have a mild breakdown, exclaiming how I'm going to fail economics because of this one question.
Re-read everything that I can possibly find for the answer. Even when 99% sure of the right answer, hesitate to answer it for at least twenty minutes.
Finally click check answer again.
Get question right. Weakly move onto the next one. Repeat nineteen times.

As you probably got from that, it takes me a long time to get my economics homework done. A lack of confidence in my economic skills is a big part of it, but whatever.
This is my last term of economics. I have three more weeks. Bring it.
Despite having difficulties with math, I've somehow successfully tutored someone in geometry in order to pass a test. Have no idea how that happened. Perhaps I'm a lot better than I think I am, it just takes me a lot of work to get there?
...Nah.

How are you with math or science? Is it difficult, or simply boring in your opinion? (Or is it fun and easy?)

Running Free

2012-03-04T02:18:00.000-08:00

Let me start this off with sports make people into idiots. Bold statement, perhaps? Sure. I still fully believe it though. I'm not saying that there can't be smart athletes, oh no. However, when participating in a sport, your brain can go dumb while in the process. I'm just starting this post off with that thought.

As I've mentioned before, spring is here in Oregon. I'm not sure if the rest of the state has agreed with this statement, but once you've had three different types of weather in ten minutes, I think spring has officially begun in Oregon.

With that thought, I wasn't sure what weather to expect for my run today. The sky in the morning has said rain was heading in for the afternoon. Sure, it wasn't said by the forecaster, but you can't really trust the news report. That was rain sky.

Or so I thought.

Y'see, because of a change in the scheduling for the day, I ended up having quite a bit of time to run during. I definitely pulled a college kid and napped. As I awoke from my nap, I decided it was time to get my rear into gear. I had a long sleeve shirt on with running capris. I was ready for "just in case" rain. Imagine my surprise to see the sun shining like a June day.

As the run went on, I started to get really hot. It was certainly slowing me down, that's for sure.
Remember how I said sports make you stupid? Well, here's where my stupid moment went down.

I exposed myself to the world.

Alright, I didn't really expose myself, I simply took off my shirt and ran in sports bra only. For me thought? That's like exposing myself.

Now I'm not toned. I currently don't weigh more than usual, but I know that it's all fat and no muscle right now. I don't have that perfect body, but you know what? I think I'm allowed to run in a sports bra.

This situation actually reminded me of a funny occurrence a long time ago. I was driving with my cousin when I heard her exclaim, "EW! That old guy is so creepy!" She was talking about an old guy without his shirt on going on a run. He wasn't the most pleasant thing to look at, but at least he was running. He was keeping his body healthy, but he couldn't really help the extra skin that was there due to age. At the time, I too decided it was gross. But now I think, "Hey! It's hot out. I'd like to be as cool as possible while running.

Which brings me back to today. This isn't a normal occurrence, nor is it going to become one in the future. Would I have taken my shirt off to run normally? No. But my caveman mind kicked in, saying "Hannah HOT!" so stupidly I listened to it. I just happened to be over-heated during my run today, and it was too much. I suppose it's nicer when the super fit get hot too, but you know what? We all deserve to be able to adapt to the heat.

Once I finished running, I challenged myself to walk home shirtless still. You can bet your ass I was sucking my gut in the entire time, but it was all about the confidence I portrayed. Imagine that.

Welp, that certain was an interesting experience for the day. Remember: Never trust Orgeon weather.

How do you feel about running shirtless?

The Purpose of Blogging

2012-03-01T21:18:00.000-08:00

We've had three different types of weather in ten minutes. Folks, it looks like it's officially springtime in Oregon.

The other day, I was thinking about blogging. Specifically, why I blog.

Wait.

Why DO I blog?

Hmm. Let's start at the beginning of my blogging journey.
When I started this blog, it was to follow my adventures of being a college student. Man, if only I had signed up to be one of Seventeen's freshman fifteen bloggers when I had the chance! Aw well. Starting the blog, I had a few main goals: 1. Get a Degree 2. Not Gain the Dreaded Freshmen Fifteen 3. Study Abroad 4. Stay out of Debt 5. Get Good Grades 6. Make Friends. The last goal was to blog everyday.

Originally I think I had thoughts of: "Maybe this will get me somewhere. Maybe I'll get a lot of readers. Maybe this will be something I could show to show my writing skills."
But then I didn't get many readers. It didn't help me get to anything bigger. Plus, as I mentioned before, I wouldn't dare show this blog to anyone for a job.

At the same time, the blog was supposed to be a place to throw my thoughts out. Blogs tend to be kind of like online journals. A fine and dandy idea at first, but then... the thoughts felt forced. Like I had to write them. For who? My mom, sister, and a few other people who have a million other blog possibilities?

Soon I told myself that I didn't need to blog everyday. Why write dribble if it's not worth any one's time (including my own)? At least that's what I told myself. Yet, I still felt obligated to write everyday.

Why is that? Why do I feel like it's somehow my JOB to write about what I'm thinking about every day? Is it because of consistency? Or maybe it's because there are so many other bloggers that write everyday. That gave me a funny thought though: Y'see, some of my favorite bloggers don't write everyday. (Don't get me wrong, I like plenty of bloggers that do) For the bloggers that don't write everyday, I get so excited when I see one of their posts in my blogroll. It's like a treat! Now, I'm not sure if my blog would ever be like that, but my point is that interesting blogging doesn't have to be an everyday thing. Especially if you have nothing to say everyday.

I had one last reason to blog, and that's for fun. However, that brings me back to the commitment side of it. After awhile, blogging sometimes isn't fun. Just forced.

I know that I'll probably stop blogging here when I'm done with college. It's not a for sure thing, but I'm pretty sure I'll stop. For now, I'll keep blogging until I reach my college goals. Doesn't mean I'll blog everyday though. If I have nothing to write, I simply won't write. Even if I have to force myself not to. (Sounds weird, but true.)

Perhaps a new chapter in my blogging ventures has occurred? Well, we'll see.

Other than that, my registration for classes was today. Registering for classes sucks. I have a really weird schedule, and I'm not sure how it's going to work with my college plans. Crap. I'm hoping things will get fixed up.

Why do you blog?

The Talk of Goals- Present and Future

2012-02-29T17:55:00.000-08:00

So I deleted my post from yesterday. Why? Because it was stupid. Especially since I told myself I wouldn't write up posts if I didn't have anything to write about. I think it's just because I'm scared that if I don't write one night, I'll eventually stop writing altogether. Funny thing is, whenever I write about something that I do think is a thought-provoking post, it usually has no views. Then my stupid posts get views. Timing? I dunno. That's life.
On that same note, in so many of my journalism classes they've said, "Create something! Like a blog!" Fact: I would NEVER show this blog to a potential employer. This is just me rambling on about whatever comes to my mind. It's a good way to keep me writing just to write, but my grammar and writing structure is awful here. I've written posts that are so stupid. So, no professional world for you bloggie.
Now, let's move onto today.

I like to set goals. As for the following through with them, I'm not sure how great I am. I'm working on it, just like everyone else. The thing is, I think I tend to have more trouble with them once I've told people about it. Weird, right? With more people knowing about those goals, you'd think that I wouldn't want to disappoint people. I think what happens can be seen in Daniel O'Brien's article about 4 Bizarrely Specific Stereotypes You Can't Help But Notice in point #1: The more you talk about the book you're writing, the less you've written. In my situation, it's obviously not a book but it has the same idea. Sure you're talking about it, but have you actually sat down and got the work done? No? Then stop talking about it, or at least start doing it so you have something to talk about. I'm a bit like this for tryouts/interviews as well. I get a bit superstitious and wait to say anything. That way, if I don't get it I don't have to tell everyone. If I do get it, it's just icing on the cake. Cream cheese icing.
I'm not sure how much I agree with #3 though. I love my cousins, and spend time hanging out with them quite a bit... does that make me hickish? I never thought that before now. Actually, I'm pretty sure I'm not hickish. You can hush, Dan O'Brien.

On that note, it's time to review my goals for February.
So February? Not so great on the goals. Hoo boy. Well maybe 50/50.

1.Eating out
-This? This I did not do well with. Sometimes it feels like whenever you make a very specific plan, life throws the complete opposite at you to deal with. I had one specific date where I was going to eat out but then unplanned situations landed in my lap. However, I think I'm getting better at eating out financially, despite achieving my goal the way I wanted to. For instance, when my only choice was to eat out with the Duck TV peeps, we went to Chipotle. Normally, I would get guacamole since guac is delicious. But when the cashier said it would cost $1.50 more, I said no way. Might seem like a small amount, but those little amounts add up over time.
2. Calcium
-I took calcium everyday except once. Nice! Let's keep at it.
3. Computer time
- Alright, I probably spent way more time on the computer than I should have. Seriously, it's like an addiction. Not good. I'm going to keep working on using the computer less and less.
4.Punch Card
- I used my punch cards a few times! Yeah! I have about 3 months to finish about 16 punches. Let's go to the gym!
5. I didn't buy any gum or soda. Nice.

As you can see, there were some ups and some downs. That's life.
Returning to the earlier mentioned article, I'm going to try something different this month. I'm not going to tell y'all my goals. No, I will only tell you that I have two big main goals, with some specific details but enough wiggle room to not break at one little slip. Of course, I'm going to work on general things (like some of the above things), but there are two goals. I will tell you what they were at the end of the month, and how I did. Hopefully better than recently.

I bid you adieu for the evening, and I hope to not run out of things to say. (Which is how I've been feeling lately.)

Do you tell people about your goals before you go through with them? What's your view on this type of goal-getting?

It's All About Perception

2012-02-27T20:34:00.000-08:00

Feelin' pretty fresh right now. Just sayin'. Then again, I did just take a shower.

Yeah, still need to work on those introductory sentences. Anywho, hello to y'all out there who happen to be reading. Are you ready for this week? We've already finished Monday, so we're that much closer to another weekend. Oh yes.
I have something specific on my mind for today's post, but first a few daily thoughts:

Twitter certainly is a good way to get informed as I now know. Today's news? The author of the Berenstain Bears books died today. Those books were a part of my childhood! How sad.
I agree Kat with wanting Viola Davis to win. Yes, Meryl Streep is a delight actress, but I still would have rather Viola took that win. Nothing you can do.
Oregon has decided it didn't get winter-y enough earlier, so it's been making up for it. Saturday and Sunday it snowed, and today it was pretty cold. Sure it hasn't gotten Midwest cold, but that's why I would never be able to live in the Midwest.

For the last few days, I've been thinking a lot about perception. It all started a few days ago. I felt big and icky. As I was changing, I looked at myself from the side and thought, "Geez, I've gotten fat."
A millisecond later my brain slapped my subconcious silly.
Fact: I am no where near fat, or what would be considered overweight. My BMI is in the normal range, and I have a healthy body size. Yet, I was displeased with how I looked at that moment. This got me to thinking about women losing weight, or women who just have different body types. What I see as "looking big" could be "I've never looked better!" to someone else. How we perceive this is crazy.

I've been think about writing about this for awhile now, but today seemed like the perfect day to write about it. Mainly because of this video, starting at 4:40 (don't mind the Kate Upton. He's a dude, he talks about dude stuff sometimes.)-

If you don't watch it, the story is about studies on body image. Men see themselves as skinner than they are, but women perceive themselves as fatter. Okay, that's not that surprising. What's terrifying is because of this mindset that has been drilled into our skulls, the rest of the world perceives us as fatter too. Our insecurities about our bodies have made the other gender think, "Oh, she IS that big", when really she's not.

That sucks. Girls, what made us imagine ourselves as so much bigger than we actually are? Don't answer that, there are too many reasons. All I know is that I don't like it.

I'll try to look at myself more positively. Because hey, however I perceive myself is going to affect how others perceive me and I quite like being perceived as looking good. We're not even going to get into beauty here. That's a whole other deal.

That's all from me. I need to put clothes away... she said for the millionth time. Oh dear.

What are your thoughts on body image?

The Oscars- A Recap, and Why I Ate Dinner At Nine

2012-02-26T23:28:00.000-08:00

Thus ends another weekend. Honestly, I need to get more creative with these introductory sentences. I'm working on it. Perhaps journalism classes will help with that. I digress.

If you've been reading my blog the past few days, you'll know that tonight were the 84th Annual Academy Awards! How delightful. Many of the wins made me happy, others annoyed, and some I didn't care either way. Here are some of the highlights and lowlights, in my opinion:

Christopher Plummer winning Best Supporting Actor was fantastic. He totally deserved it, gave a great speech and c'mon! It's Christopher Plummer. He's just a super cool actor. Plus, it was cool that he is now the oldest Oscar winner of all time.
Octavia Spencer for Best Supporting Actress was wonderful as well, if only for the fact that her acceptance speech was filled with so much disbelief. You just wanted that award to go to her even more after that because it felt so right.
Um, the Dean getting an Oscar? I'm certainly excited about it. Oh, you didn't know? Dean Pelton (sp?) from Community was one of the writers for The Descendents screenplay. I didn't know that until Twitter talked about it. Awesome.
I haven't even seen Hugo, and I'm so over it. I think the fact that it took awards for 1. A bajillion things and 2. away from movies I wanted to win made me dislike it. I bet it's probably a good movie though... *grumblegrumble* ...Midnight in Paris should have gotten Cinematography.
The Artist getting Best Picture. Yay!
Harry Potter was hella snubbed. NOTHING? Not even makeup, or visual effects? You make me cry, academy.
The Bridesmaids gals were all dressed fantastically. The super preppy one? (I forget her name) Her dress reminded me of the dress Katniss wears when presented to the Capitol. Y'know, the "fire" one. And I'm gonna stop with the Hunger Games references there.
Right after the winner of the Best Actress was announced, the girl next to me and I both saw Meryl Streep and Viola Davis stand up at the same time. It looked like a Zoolander moment (think going to the front when someone else has been called), but it turned out she was just going to hug Streep. For a moment, it was pretty scary.

Hopefully I didn't spoil the Oscars for anyone, but then why would you be on the internet in the first place?
Earlier in the afternoon, I got a text from my mom that simply said "Call me". When I did?
"The Oscar Pre Show is on."
"...Is that all?"
"Yup." *click*

I love my mom.
I went to an Oscar party, and at that party was faced with the first time I've ever had to decline something because I couldn't eat it.
I was going to have dinner there, but I couldn't. If you've read my blog before, you might know why.

Dinner was shrimp pasta.

I wanted to cry. And no, there wasn't any non-shrimp pasta either. I saw the host take the pasta and just dump it into the shrimp. None for Hannah.
At one point I even saw someone who had eaten all of their pasta, but pushed the shrimp to the side. What madness! I was extremely tempted to grab those shrimp with my bare hand and jam it in my mouth. Allergies be damned. Obviously, I didn't though or an epi-pen would probably be jammed into the side of my leg right now.

Another year of Oscars come and gone. May this year bring us many more wonderful Oscar-worthy movies.

Did you watch the Oscars? Were you happy with the winners? Sad about some of the losers?

Movie Night and Other Thoughts

2012-02-26T01:48:00.000-08:00

I am quite tired, but I have things to talk about.

Mainly The Artist. Or, how much I want you to go see The Artist. Seriously, it's fantastic.
I hate to sound pretentious, but the use of sound was simply AMAZING. It certainly was a silent film, but at the same time... it wasn't. Hard to explain, which is why you should go see it. The characters were expressed perfectly, and every element was done brilliantly. Y'know when a movie just makes you feel good? This was one of those movies.
There's also something about Jean Dujardin that is simply delightful. His smile is so... charming. I don't know what it is, but it's just charming.
As a random note, John Goodman pops up in there too. I feel like John Goodman just seems to pop up wherever he likes. Not a diss, just an observation. I mean, he's Sulley and I adore that movie. (Props if you know what I'm talking about.)

As for the rest of life, it's been a relaxing day. A lot of huddling next to the heater. Today I've been feeling freezing all day, and I've been told that means I'm on the way to a cold. I've been fighting off a cold already! Bah. Oh well. Thank goodness no tests are coming up.

This evening I was compared to the actress from Beginners. Hm. I've never gotten that before. I suppose I could look like Melanie Laurent. Yes, I had to look up the name. She was the girl from Inglorious Basterds as well.

After a phone call from me mum, I realized I shouldn't be bothered about the Hao moving out without telling me thing. If he's paying still, it should be fine. Still, I just tend to take it personally. I can't help it! What can you do?

Oscars are tomorrow! Whatever shall I wear? We'll think of something.

What was the last movie you watched that made you feel good/you really liked?

Let's Have a Bit of Warning, Shall We?

2012-02-24T23:42:00.000-08:00

Today has certainly been an... interesting day. Not one of the greatest, but I'd rather not complain. Here are just a few things of my day.
The theme of the day seemed to revolve around my need to know things ahead of time. In some situations, that was a good thing. In others... Not so much.

Like for the fact that one of my roommates is moving out for a month. Apparently he's going to pay rent, but... c'mon. We all live in this apartment together. You have to tell me these things! I'd say something if I was moving out for a month! I try with the communication, but that is just too much to not mention. I even asked the other day, "Oh, are you packing up for a trip?", and Hao just said no. Nothing about moving out. It just pisses me off. I'm going to confront them tomorrow about it, but I just didn't have time to talk today. (I was off to class as I found this out, so I didn't have much time to react.)

Okay, NOW I don't want to complain. I'm sorry! It was just something stressful that needed to be removed from my chest. Yes, I worded that as awkwardly as possible.

With liking to be as ahead of schedule as possible, I made sure to make an appointment with the study abroad advisers to ask questions. I've been worried about how my financial aid is going to work, and why I haven't gotten information.
Turns out, I'm WAY ahead of the game. The school doesn't even have all of their financial information figured out. The advisor I talked to today even told me that I was way ahead of the game.
I like it like that. Really, I'd rather know I'm ahead than last minute finding out about something I missed.

In other news, I've already got new goals for next month coming into play. Oh yes. I try to get a bit of a head start on them, but they become official at the beginning of the month. Like dipping your toes into the lake before cannon-balling in. Is today only the 24th? I've been thinking it's the 25th all day. I think I'm ready for March to be here.
Shameful fact: I get excited for the end of the month to come sometimes just so I can reach the end without spending more money for that month. Like if I need to grocery shop, I think, "Just a few more days... I've already spent X amount on groceries this month." Flawed logic? Completely. Let me have this though.

Welp, I'm going to bed and going to try to sleep in as long as possible before going on a run. I have no idea how far to run tomorrow, just because I'm not training for anything. What does my long run become? Perhaps I'll ask my sister to run with me.

Do you need a lot of warning, or are you more of a "on the whim" type person?

Spring, Change of Plans and Running After School Specials

2012-02-23T19:45:00.001-08:00

I go outside to see the sun shining and I think that spring is just around the corner! Then I look at the weather report and see that it's going to pour this weekend. One can dream, right? Anyways hello everyone, how are ya doin'?

Okay, I didn't go to The Artist like I planned today. I was thinking I'd go at four, but then it would end at about six, when I was supposed to meet with people for dinner... I just didn't want to deal with people stressing out at me for not being there at said time I just... No. Don't want to deal with that crap if I don't have to. I wrote my blog early instead (just posting it later). Saturday it is then. Funny thing is, I actually just got an email from University Film Organization, and there's someone else who wants to go see it. Opportunity!

Today during my run I had a very "after school special" moment. It all started with forgetting my ipod in the car. The one time someone else needed to use it. The one time that I left it on the seat of the car, when I NEVER leave stuff like that on the seat of my car. Anywho, the point is that I had no music to run to.
A strange thing for me to worry about. Honestly, I ran 26.2 miles with only a cellphone and a water bottle in hand. So why am I in such desperate need of music now?

It makes me go faster if I'm running to the tempo of an up-beat song
It distracts from things like the tired legs that are pushing me
It makes the run go faster

How slow was I going to go? Would I want to stop after a minute of running? These were the things that worried me.
You know what though? I ran the four miles. I didn't suffer. I was fine. As for the pace? I had the same pace that I ran my last four miles in, which was a good pace.

That led me to think, "So the power was in me all along?"
That's when the wise parent/guardian/teacher would say, "Why yes little Susie. Yes it was."
Hannah just doesn't fit in that situation, so I'm using the name Susie instead. You get the point.

I still like music though. If the ear buds will stay in my ears and not bother me, I'm fine.

Other than that, not much to say about today. Baked some bread, did classes, did some homework... Yup. Now it's time to clean. My room is getting ridiculous.

I feel like I've asked the music when running question before, so I'll ask this even though it's only Thursday:
Any fun plans for the weekend?

Community and Getting to the End

2012-02-22T22:52:00.000-08:00

Before I say anything else: Yes, Community is coming back. And yes, I was super excited when I heard that news yesterday. I stopped myself from mentioning it though just because I talk about it too much already. But yes. Six seasons and a movie!The Morning After explained its return in what sadly might be the best way possible: "Die hard fans say they are so excited to have it back on TV... They can't wait to watch it online the next day."
So true. So very sadly true.
The one thing that I like about it is that it's like a weird inside joke that I'm somehow a part of. That's how that whole show feels to me.

Shoot. I got distracted talking about Community, and now I don't know what else to write about. One of those days I suppose.

I'm glad it's Wednesday. Surprised it's already the seventh week of the term.
Now, this term hasn't been that difficult necessarily, but I always like getting to the end of terms. For some parts, it's because I'd like to keep the grade that I have. For other parts, it's because I'd like to use those final tests for some grade boosting. I think the biggest reason is because I just like getting things done.
Yes I know "it's the journey, not the destination", but I can't help it! I'm the type that loves checking things off of lists. Getting to the end of the term is just another thing off of the checklist.

Then again, I'm going to hate getting to the end of college in 2014. I can feel it. For now, I'm chugging as fast as possible to that finish line.

Huh. I suppose I did have a bit more to talk about than Community. That's nice.

What do you tend to prefer, the destination or the journey?

The Oscars are Coming

2012-02-21T21:43:00.000-08:00

Kat, do you mean these? Oh yes, the internet has them. Think of any baked good, and the internet seems to have it. Or a version of any food with bacon incorporated into it.

The Oscars are coming up, and I am ashamed to say that I've hardly seen any of the movies.
Let's see... out of the nine nominated films, I have seen... three. Three freakin' picks. Are you kidding me?

I suppose part of the reason I haven't seen many of them is due to the fact that I've been cutting down on my entertainment budget. Trading movies for groceries, aw yeah.

The only reason it disappoints me is because I claim to love movies. Someone who claims to love movies should actually be going to see movies. Whadda fraud.

There is one movie that I vow to see before the Oscars, and that's The Artist. From all of the talk to the crazy concept of it (A silent movie made in 2011?), I've wanted to see this movie so bad. It just looks fun! It also helps that SNL did a spoof on it, and the star of the movie actually made a cameo. I dig actors who pop up on SNL, or anyone for that matter.

So I've made a vow: I will go see The Artist on Thursday. My problem is that I always wait to go see movies with other people. Yeah, I guess that's not really a problem but if you want to see something sometimes you just have to go by yourself. My mom and sister both live by this rule, and because of it my sis has seen six of the nominated films. At least that I know of anyways.

There are other movies that I'd like to see, like Albert Nobbs and Drive. Glenn Close looks like she does a really good job in Albert Nobbs. As for Drive, I just like to watch Ryan Gosling be awesome.

Out of the noms, I've seen The Help, Moneyball and Midnight in Paris. The Help was good, but not oscar worthy in my opinion. Sure, it was entertaining, but not that amazing to get the gold. Moneyball definitely was an excellent movie, it just wasn't my kind of movie. Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill were great, but... just not my movie. Midnight in Paris was candy for the soul. Oh, the sights were so pretty, the fantasy of it all was magical... You hated to go back to the reality where Rachel McAdams was a bitch, but then you'd go back to the Roarin' Twenties and everything was wonderful again. Is it Best Picture worthy? Probaly not, but I throughly enjoyed it. So much eye candy.

Oh Oscars, how I enjoy you. Now I just have to figure out where I'm going to watch them. Hm.

Do you watch the Oscars? Have you watched any of the nominated movies? What ones have you enjoyed?

They Come With Cookies...

2012-02-20T21:23:00.000-08:00

It's the season. You may not realize what the season is, but you do know it. Once you see them, you realize what season it is, which may cause happiness or terror.

Folks, it's Girl Scout Cookie season.

Let's be honest: Girl Scout Cookies are not a culinary masterpiece. However, I think it's the rarity of them that makes them so special. Only one time a year. You best not forget it. Then again, there's always someone around who knows someone selling them.

Yeah, I've seen all of those fancy-smancy homemade versions of Girl Scout Cookies. Oh yes, I bet they are delicious. Still, there's something about that boxed version you just can't get out of a homemade cookie. There are times for homemade, and then there are times where you just can't replicate. Another example would be those god-awful sugar cookies from the store that have an inch thick of neon frosting on them. So awful, but I adore them. No idea why.

I've always been a Tagalong girl. Give me the peanut butter and chocolate, and we're good. My family has always loved Samoas, but I just don't dig them. Coconut tastes good, but I hate that texture. Sure, they are tasty, but... Eh. And Thin mints? Give me any other dessert than minty, please. Mint is not dessert, it's a breath freshener.

I think I'll call my dad and ask him if he'll get some for me. Someone at his work is always selling them. Well, I should just call my dad to say hello anyways. Be a good kid or something, right?

Do you like Girl Scout Cookies? What's your favorite kind?

Runnin' Races and Goin' Places

2012-02-19T22:21:00.000-08:00

Sometimes, it can be difficult to do something if you don't have a goal you're working towards. Many runners including myself need races to work towards, to motivate them to keep going. Want to make sure you train through the winter holidays? Schedule a January or February race. Want to make sure you get out there even if the summers are hot? Schedule a fall race. I've talked about the other reason why you should sign up for races, which is because they're so fun!

Right now, I'm stuck. Indeed, I do want to sign up for another race, but I'm not sure what.
I did have a race I was going to do with a team, but the team kind of fell apart. Thinking I would sign up solo, I found that the race was already filled up.
Too bad. I wanted a bottle opener medal. Darn.

So now I'm stuck without a race. I'm also $30 richer from not paying a racing fee, but still it's no fun.

The next race I'm looking for would be something either or the obstacle course variety, themed variety, or both. Preferably mid to long distance. ...No more marathons for awhile though. I have to do another before I turn 30, but I've got awhile. Remember my personal goal of doing a marathon for each decade of my life? Yeah, that's a thing.

One of the biggest things that sticks out to me for races is registration price. If it's a 5k, I don't want to be spending as much on that as a half marathon. I don't think it's worth it. I suppose I could have looked for a cheaper marathon, but the Portland marathon is THE marathon of Oregon in my humble opinion. Plus, it was the 40th year. I think it would be awesome to run the 50th anniversary marathon... We've got awhile.
For instance, I was looking at this race that looked pretty cool. It's called "Run for your Lives", and it's a zombie obstacle course 5k. How awesome does that sound? Then I saw that registration was $77 bucks and thought "No way." It may be themed, but I'm not paying that much for a 5K.

The other race thing I've been thinking about lately is running while abroad. I really want to sign up for a race while I'm abroad, because I think it would be cool to run a race in another country. Spreading my running around the world. I've run while in Canada, and ran in Mexico, why not in another continent?
I won't register for one yet, because I need to learn more about how my schedule is going to work while studying abroad. But it's still a thought.

For now, I'll just keep running. We'll see where it takes me next.

What's your favorite type of race to run?

Can I Ask You A Favor?...

2012-02-18T21:13:00.000-08:00

I can't stand asking for favors. I hate it.

Strangely enough, I don't mind doing favors. Well, I suppose sometimes I don't want to do them, but I'll do them. It's a nice thing to do, and it makes people be more trusting of you. But asking for favors? Not something I enjoy. I don't like to owe people, and I don't like to be needy. I try to be as independent as possible, and when I have to ask favors it kills me.

However, sometimes you just have to ask favors. It might be due to the fact that there's no way you can achieve whatever is it yourself, or just that you need a hand. Owing people isn't something I like. I don't like it hanging over my head, but it happens.

So that's a personal thought for the day! Other than that, not much going on in my life. We did some filming for Duck TV today, but ended up not filming much... It's nice because we didn't have to spend very long on it, but at the same time stinks because we have so much more to get done. C'est la vie.

One thing that's been on my mind is study abroad stuff. I got a new batch of information last night, and went crazy reading forms. Learning more is giving me more questions! For instance, do I want to do a homestay or be in a residence? The website says that homestay is cheaper, but residence is a lot closer to the city. Plus, it seems like it would be easier to get to know people that way. I don't know. Maybe a homestay would be an awesome way to get to know people too, I dunno. I have an appointment with one of the study abroad advisers this Friday, and I already can't wait to talk to him! Anticipation=killing me.

Well, I'm off for the night. Ta.

How do you feel about favors?

Sweet Treats and Things to Eat

2012-02-17T21:17:00.000-08:00

I didn't mean to talk about that so much, but it happens. What can you do?

If there's one thing the Internet loves more than cats, it's ridiculous baked goods. Along with reading a cooking blog or two, I have seen treats upon treats all over the web that make me drool. Pinterest is basically food porn. Like chocolate chip cookie dough truffles:

or maybe Reese's cheesecake brownies:

Or perhaps chocolate chip cookie dough cheesecake bars?

Guh. I die. Can you tell I love cookie dough/cheesecake/peanut butter? Because those are my favorite desserts.

Along with the Pinterest food deliciousness, I've been reading all about Cake Week. It happened this week, and what happened was a group of bloggers each made a different type of cake. Honestly, I'm not a cake person. Sure, there are some delicious cakes, but it's not at the top of my dessert list. I will chow down on the batter like a madman however. Any type of batter? I will lick the bowl clean. That's probably the reason I love cookie dough so much.

So I don't like baked goods, I like un-baked goods? Oh dear. Probably not good for my health.

On the actual baking side of things, I'm not much of the cake or brownie maker. I can make a pretty swell chocolate chip cookie, or more likely dough. There is one baked good that I do love, and it's baking bread.
As you may recall, I bought a bread baking book earlier this summer that I lovingly call the Bread Bible. Since then, I've baked 21 different loaves of bread from the book, not including the ones that I've repeated. I've had some ups and downs with my breads, like not baking long enough or baking too long. I've had many that didn't rise very well. Actually, the breads I've tried baking in my oven here have been having the most issues... Then again, I think my oven turns off in the middle of baking. I'm not sure if I can confirm this, but the little light turns off on the outside that says, "Oven on". So that might be happening.
Anyways, one of the breads that I've been baking that I find delight in are sweet breads, or quick breads. Alright, these don't really count as real breads. It's like when you justify having a muffin for breakfast. Stop lying to yourself, that's cake without the frosting.

I baked some strawberry bread this week because I though UFO was having another bake sale. Turns out they're not until next week. Perhaps I'll make the strawberry bread into breakfast bread instead. Strawberry and peanut butter? Odd but good combo.
So here's some of what I can bake:

Eat your heart out Pinterest.

Oh, what am I saying? My bread looks sad. However, it does taste like fresh strawberries, even though they were frozen. Perhaps I need a better place to model my food? My kitchen is very sad and has icky lighting.

Well, I'll keep working on the bread baking thing. I do have more than 300 recipes left in that book.

What's your favorite dessert? What's your dessert making specialty?

Advising Advice

2012-02-16T20:03:00.000-08:00

We're already at Thursday for the week, aren't we? Wow, winter term is flying by.

I had two different things to talk about today, but I ended up writing a lot more than expected about one of them. We'll talk about the other one tomorrow.

From my time that I've spent in college I've learned that no matter what, you will get screwed with advising. At the same time though, it's a really good idea to go to advising.

Once upon a time, I was a transfer student coming to a school that had all sorts of different requirements. I knew that I would like to do Journalism as my major, so I planned out my first term with all of the prereqs needed before applying to the J school.When I went to an advisor during orientation however, she exclaimed, "No, don't do all of those J classes in one term! Spread them out to two terms. You need 35 credits from the UO before you apply anyways."

So I listened to her. I was skeptical, but she knew more than I did. Before I started my first term, I went to a J school advisor as well. She said it wasn't necessary, but a decent plan for my first term.
Later, I wanted to study abroad. I had the term all figured out, and was ready to get into the Gateway program as soon as possible. I discussed with an advisor again at the end of the fall term.
"NO." she snapped. This was in reply to starting the Gateway program spring term. It wasn't offered then, but I didn't know. At least I knew now, before I tried applying for the class then.

Coming back to today, I talked to an advisor again. I decided to get on the ball before everyone else was rushing in during the end of the term. The lady I talked to today was a lot nicer than the jerk during fall term. I found that I was screwed over with the spreading out of the pre-reqs (as I kind of knew), but I also found out I could take certain classes earlier that I didn't know I could before. Classes that will help make graduating on time a lot more realistic. (If I get into them. We'll work on that.)

Sure, I've been screwed by the advisers. I tried as hard as I could to not be, but I think it's something you can't escape. On the other hand, I've also learned many useful things from going to advising. Overall, for any kid in college or about to go to college, I say go to advising. It may help you graduate on time. Try to get a few opinions though.

Like I said, didn't realize how much I'd talk about that. It's an interesting thing to think about though. I know plenty of people who have been screwed by advising. The only ones I know who haven't have their entire college careers planned out as soon as they move into their first dorm.

Now it's time for me to make like a bee and buzz off. Oh, I'm so witty.

Did you ever have problems with advising? Or did advising help you a lot in school?

It's In My Genes

2012-02-15T21:49:00.000-08:00

I should not be given large chunks of free time. It isn't good for my health.

In other news, I know I bitch about my room mates a lot... but I have just one more little thing to add. You know how I've mentioned they apparently forget things in the kitchen? Well, that goes for cooking things too. I talked before how an egg exploded in a pan before (that I actually forgot about until just now), but today was another little adventure into the almost burning down the apartment game. I walked into the kitchen to see some chicken in the oven. Okay, they're probably waiting to get it out after a little I think to myself. Later, I'm off to my last midterm but decided to check the oven. It's STILL IN THERE. Now it's black, and I knock on Lu's door for an answer. Turns out HaoChen (who's gone) put it in there for Lu. She knew it was in there. And she decided to TAKE A NAP.
You do not take naps if you're cooking something! If I hadn't checked before I'd left... good lord.

Okay, enough with the rant. Time to talk about other things!

It's always a funny thing to think about the traits you've picked up from your parents. No, I'm not talking about the way you say okay in that weird tone of voice like your mother. I'm talking about biology, specifically genes. On the outside, it appears that I've picked up more features from my mother's side than my father's side. Take a picture of my mom and me; you'll see the similarities. There's one other trait that comes from my mom's side that you usually wouldn't think about:
The hips.
As a fellow classmate said to me in high school, I've got some birthin' hips. (Should I take that as an insult?) Every woman on my mom's side of the family has them. This doesn't mean we've got booties though. No, we've got flat rears but the hips? Made for kids, apparently.

Even though I have a lot of my mom's traits, I have quite a few things from my dad's side. For one thing, I supposedly look identical to one of my aunts when she was a kid... Which I don't really want. There are many personal reasons why.
I also have acquired my dad's eye color, and apparently his bad teeth. Or so he tells me. I let it be an excuse as to why I've had three cavities in my life while my sister didn't even need to take her wisdom teeth out.

So from mom, we've got birthin' hips and face. From dad we've got eyes, teeth, and my shrimp allergy. Yeah, some great great uncle has a shellfish allergy. No idea until I had it.

That sounds about even. All in all, I think I've got some pretty swell genes.

Oh dear, I think I'm getting sick. It's what happens when you put your hands on your face all of the time. Terrible habit, should stop it. Night to you all!

What features/traits from your parents are the most recognizable for you?

Happy Valentine's Day

2012-02-14T21:43:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentine's Day everyone. I hope your day was lovely. Mine involved eating fondue of the cheese and chocolate varieties. Last midterm for awhile tomorrow, which I should be a lot more worried for... but I'm not. We'll see how that goes. For now, I leave you with some HP Valentines that I would love to give out.

I think Ron's is the best.

Do anything fun today?

Valentine's Day

2012-02-13T22:36:00.000-08:00

As we all know, tomorrow is Valentine's Day. As a single gal, I'm kind of stuck. It's not because I hate Valentine's Day, oh no. But that's the problem: Most anything I say about it comes off as a pathetic whine about the greed of the corporations being the only reason for the holiday. Honestly? I love a holiday. Of any kind. I love any excuse to:

Make/enjoy treats
Get together with people
Dress up

Especially the dress up part. I do love a good dressing up!
Usually I want to do something for the holiday like have a party, but I never do. I think my excuse is more valid this year, seeing as I'm still figuring out social circles in this town. (Friendship takes time!) I am going out to din with some folks though! Cheese fondue? Yes please.

It's funny because lately the complaints about Valentine's Day have been coming from couples more often than single people. "Romance shouldn't be a set date." True, but then again should giving to others take place at only one time of the year? No. It happens in December though, whether it's Christmas, Hanukkah or both. Yeah romance should be sporadic, but it's fun to have an excuse for something maybe a little special.

Actually, you know what makes me sad? Not giving Valentines out in class anymore like in Elementary school. That shit was awesome.

Are you doing anything fun for Valentine's Day? What are your opinions on the day?

Family Online

2012-02-12T22:17:00.000-08:00

Midterm #2 is tomorrow. I don't think I know all of the material very well. Or, if I even know the material at all. Hoo boy. Thankfully, we have another midterm and the final, and whichever one we get the lowest grade in we can drop.
That doesn't mean I want to get a crappy grade though. That would be ridiculous.

Due to the fact that the world is getting digitalized, everyone seems to have some online identity. I certainly do, with the blog and things like Facebook. The Internet was made for my generation, or at least we have adapted to the Internet the best.
Then there are the parents. Oh, the parents. Once upon a time, Facebook was a place for college alum, and slowly it moved out to the rest of the world. Slowly the adults joined in.

I'm not the first to make this observation, but people tend to act differently on the Internet. I certainly try to censor myself, and there are others that have complete personality flips with the Internet. This can affect adults on the Internet.
For instance, I have an aunt who I adore in real life. She's fun to talk to, and always interesting. Online though? She's like a 14 year old girl who just learned how the Internet works. She'll post things like "LOL ohemgee!" She comments on statuses with the most awkward comments. It's like a completely different person, and it's not fun.

Then there's the instance with my mom. Oh mom, don't take this the wrong way. I love you, but you don't have to follow me on every Internet resource available. This is a conversation that occurred recently:
"So... you got a Twitter? ...Why?"
"To follow you!"
"Oh."
"I hate it."

Then why get it? Seems ridiculous to me. The point of making accounts online is for the purpose of using the for entertainment/business. That's why I didn't go up to her and say, "Hey I got a Twitter follow me" like I did for my blog. Because it wasn't really a thing I wanted her to follow. (Not like I say anything terrible, but still). I knew she wouldn't like a Twitter, so I didn't think she would get one. I suppose she found it from the blog, but I didn't even think she read this anymore.

My point is the Internet exaggerates things. So the embarrassing thing that your relative says at Thanksgiving will quadruple online. Oh dear.

Do your parents/relatives follow you on any Internet sites? Is it embarrassing or okay?

Running Inspirations (and Enemies)

2012-02-12T00:16:00.000-08:00

Man I need water. It's one of those days, y'know? Just did not start off with enough, and continuously didn't have enough.
This morning I went on an excellent run. (Yes, this is going to be another running post.) Not sure what pace I had, but probably went about 7 miles. Explored a bit, and was one of those people who runs to their next appointment, in the literal sense. I always think those people are cool, like, "Oh I ran to work, and I'm running home." They just seem so cool.

Throughout my running career, I've had the haters. Sure, they're not actually hating to me, but they're a general hater. The vibe of what they're saying is "Oh. You think you're doing well? Ha, what a loser." These are the people that make me feel like I'm not a runner. These people are what I like to call my running enemies.

One of these people? My director for Duck TV.
There have been many instances in the short time that I've known her that she's made my running feel inadequate. The first instance came when I mentioned the running club, and how I found out my pace wasn't fast enough. Sure, she told me it was B.S., but she also said "We could always use SLOWER runners." Do I really need the slower label? I suppose it's true, but it just sounded like it was filled with attitude.
The other instance was when I asked her about her mileage. She said six to seven miles a day.
"Every day?"
"Well, I AM a runner."

This comment kind of irked me. I run about 4 to 5 miles four days a week. Do I still think of myself as a runner? Yes! Do my friends and family think of me as a runner? Totally! And I believe that the people who run 3 miles four times a week are runners. Or, if you continuously run any distance. If running is part of your regular schedule, you are a runner.

Then again, she also gave me sass about running my marathon "too young". You know what? I already ran it. And I kicked ass. So you can shut yo mouth.

I do have one other running enemy, and that's anything that calls my pace "jogging". I'm running, dang it! I think 9 minute miles count as running! I'm putting a valid effort into it! Arg. Curse you online meters...

On the other hand, I have plenty of running inspirations. Amazing people who make me want to keep going. A lot of those people are bloggers. Reading about Kat's, Ann's, or Kate's running makes me want to impress them. I want to be running too! Pretty much any blogger that I see talking about running makes me want to run. I think "I can do that. I will do that."

However, as much as you ladies inspire me, I have one person that inspires me the most to run.

Ashley from Healthy Ashley

This girl is crazy amazing. She's run half marathons, marathons, ultras, triathlons, and Ironmans. That in itself is amazing. What makes her truly incredible though has to do with an event that happened about five months ago. She got into a terrible bike accident. Even as a reader of her blog, it was horrible to hear what happened. Would she race again? She had to get surgery on her hip, including screws being put in. But you know what happened?
She ran again. And she ran a marathon in January. THAT is incredible.

The funny thing is, I have very different views from her, or at least from what I've read in her blog. I'm not even sure if we'd get along in real life, we're so different. But the way she strives forward in running just makes me want to push myself even more.
It's good to have inspiration. For every hater, you should find someone that pushes you forward. Or at least someone who puts out that much inspiration for many haters.

Goodness. My body is not used to caffeine, because I am wide awake and I shouldn't be. I should be very tired. Hoo boy.

Who is your running inspiration? Do you have running enemies?

Sugar Intake

2012-02-11T00:38:00.000-08:00

Happiness is getting an A- on a midterm that you were convinced you were going to barely pass. YES.

Anywho, hello! How is everyone doin'? As you can probably figure out, I'm in a fairly good mood.

Lately I've been having trouble with my no soda/no gum buying situation. The reason I like both of these is because I get a sweet flavor to taste, without actually eating anything. And that's usually just what I crave.

However, recently I've been munchy just because I want the sweet taste. Not good.

I've always had a huge sweet tooth. I could care less about the potato chips, but give me a plate of cookies? I can't contain myself. This obviously leads to a problem with sugar.
I know for a fact that I eat way too much sugar, and that's even on a pretty healthy day. The thing that probably causes the biggest impact? My beloved craisins.

I've looked at a package of them for sugar content, and it's about half a day's worth! Ridiculous.
Still, I love my craisins. It's a lazy way to get some fruit in, and it's so delicious.

On the other hand, that sugar consumption needs to go down. Maybe I'll have to wean myself off the craisins. At least not have them as often as I do now. Sigh.

Do you have a big sweet tooth? Or do you crave salty snacks more often?

11 Things

2012-02-09T21:05:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was just not going to be a posting day. I had a new post open, ready to go but then came to the conclusions that nothing was going to get written. I had a midterm to study for.

An exciting thing that happened though is that I was tagged by Kat! I've never been tagged. Probably because I don't read/comment on enough blogs. Hmm.
Anywho, here are my 11 Things:

1.Are you a shoe person or a purse person?
Hmm. I tend to stick to one type of thing if I really love it when it comes to both shoes and purses. I think I'm more of a shoe person though, because I like to have creative shoes. They can make an outfit.

2.What’s your favorite scent?
Baked goods in the oven probably. Or my Green Apple perfume, it's quite nice.

3. Cloth napkins or paper towels?
I know it's not Eco friendly, but I like paper towels.

4. Your house is burning down. What three non-living things do you grab and why?
Tough. I think my computer, my panda blanket (I like my panda blanket, lay off), and my purse (it tends to have a lot of stuff in it). I might switch running shoes in there somewhere, but I feel like those would be easier to replace. Especially since I'm already past the 500 mile mark for my current shoes.

5. Would you ever admit to having road rage?
Yes. I'll admit at times I can have road rage, but it's usually muted if there are other people in the car. If I'm by myself? "*#@!*!" Then again, I also sing at the top of my lungs when I'm in the car alone.

6.Have you ever purchased something off of Etsy? If so, what? And was it fabulous? Or was it a Regretsy?
I bought a puzzle piece necklace off of Etsy, and I still like it.

7. If you could take one news station off of the air, what would it be?
See, I don't know if I can say just because I don't watch the news often. I know, bad of me. Still, I have no biases.

8. How would you rate yourself on a scale of one to crafty? We assume that rickrack is somewhere in the middle.
I used to be so crafty. I did ceramics, and I was an avid drawer. What happened? I still think I'm fairly creative. I think I'm going to start drawing again. I saw there was this session happening next month on travel journaling, and I've always liked travel journals (the art kind, that is!).

9. What’s your standard drink order at a restaurant?
Water, Diet Pepsi if I'm getting treated. Remember the soda thing?

10. Share your definition of the perfect home-cooked meal. Bonus points if you share recipes too.
I don't do a lot of "home-cooked meals", or anything fancy. Whenever I think of a nice home cooked meal, I think something Italian. Simple spaghetti, perhaps covered in cheese? Meals like that.

11. Plaid: Do you wear it ironically, because it’s comfortable or never?
Funny thing: Plaid is the unofficial color of Oregon. I have one or two plaid items. I'm not much of a plaid gal.

Due to the fact that I don't read enough blogs to have this tagged, I'm just going to let whoever wants to do it do it. I think I'm supposed to think of questions too? Well, I'll give you one.

If you could meet any person dead or alive, who would you meet and what would you do with them? I ask this question, yet I have no idea how I'd answer it. What a hypocrite.

The Pet Problem

2012-02-07T19:36:00.000-08:00

I already miss the weekend.
Something I've noticed about myself is that I get a lot more distracted when I have looming deadlines. I would say that I'm alone in this, but I'm not. It's a fun little thing called procrastination. And it's stupid. You worry about the upcoming thing that's due, and yet you spend even more time away from said thing. It's like when people talk about losing weight. It'll be so hard! So I'd better gain more weight. Or my favorite situation, "Ugh, I'm so bad at this sport/activity/other! I should put it off, because I don't want to subject myself to that again." The logic of that argument is ridiculous, but we all do it.

So that's my current situation. Ugh, I'm slapping myself mentally because I know how stupid it is.

On an unrelated note, let's talk about pets.

When I was younger, my sister and I had two cats. George and Daisy. I had no idea they were named after Curious George and Daisy Duck until years after they were gone, but they supposedly were. George was one of the best cats ever. All of my friends adored him, and he loved everyone else. Daisy was a bitch cat who wouldn't let any of us touch her. Only the neighbors. Even after I'd been so nice.
The whole point is that I happen to like pets, despite having a devil cat (Daisy). However, I'm not sure if I'll ever have a pet again.

I know, I know. Pets are wonderful! There have been studies showing that owning a pet can increase happiness and your lifespan. So why no pet?

Well, obviously now is a terrible time. Then again, I say that and I know plenty of college kids who own pets. One the other hand, that's part of the reason why I know it would be a bad idea to have a pet now.
One of my sister's friends just got a puppy with her fiance. They got it now because they'd like to raise the puppy before they raise a child. That's the big thing: Puppies are a lot of hard work. So are kittens. A lot of people don't realize that. Heck, when I had a pet, my mom did all of the work (I know, bad kids). You have to feed them, make sure they go to the bathroom in the right places, take them out to exercise, make sure they stay healthy, get a sitter when you're going out... Sound familiar? Like a kid with fur, and we all know kids are a ton of work.

My other big reason for the lack of pet in my life (besides no pets in the building) is money. Things that consume require food. Which requires money. Plus vaccinations. Plus unexpected health issues. Or, expected issues like asthma if you've got a pug, or back problems in wiener dogs. It's a lot of money. And as someone who's saving for other things, those are not things I'd like to spend my money on. Someone I know who says they're broke has a cat, and I'm guessing that doesn't help the money situation.

Pets are fun! They require a ton of work though. I'm not sure if I'll ever get one again, just because you have so many restrictions with them. That's just me. I'm partial to cats, just because they do what they want, but having a medium-sized dog would be a great running buddy/motivator. Never a little dog for running, it's too much for their little legs to handle!
For now, my ipod will keep me company during runs.

Do you own a pet? What are some challenges you face with owning a pet?
Are you more of a cat person or a dog person?

Workout Day and Grammar

2012-02-06T22:21:00.000-08:00

Do you ever have those days where it seems like it just disappeared? Mine certainly felt that way.

Today was exercise day apparently. Hey, it was probably necessary due to the consumption of cheese and chocolate that happened yesterday. In any case, it was a workout day to me. Ran, did Zumba, did some lifting... Not a usual thing for me. Another punch card work out completed! Eighteen to go.

Once upon a time, I thought that I knew grammar. I knew the common words, I knew it's was it is, and I knew how sentences should work. Apparently I do not. There are many sentences that I believed sounded correct, when they were in fact not right at all. I've probably made some grammatical mistakes in this post already! My mother is convinced that I do know all of this stuff, but I highly doubt it.
For instance, I use the word actually all of the time. That is a word you should avoid, according to grammar class.

As long as I get a good grade, I'm happy.

For my goals, because I like to keep updated:

Calcium+Vitamin D has been regular. Huzzah.
Not sure how much time I spent on the computer in the last few days, but it certainly has been less. I spent a long time reading a magazine today, instead of turning on the computer. I thought the computer lack was supposed to make me more productive though... Whoops.
One punch used!
No money spent on soda or gum, nice.

It's a kind of random day, isn't it? Hm. I need to get ready for bed, or what's up ahead. There's a midterm in my future, and I'd like to get a head start on that know how.

Do you have good grammar? Do bad grammar habits annoy you? (I know I can't stand when people use the wrong your or there.)

Let's Calm Down

2012-02-06T00:15:00.000-08:00

I have a confession.

I seem to have a 40 year old brain trapped in a 20 year old body. No I'm not talking about intelligence, I'm talking about neurosis. I'm extremely neurotic, and constantly stressing out about things that frankly, shouldn't worry me as much as they do. I don't know why I'm so neurotic, because no one else in my family is. I do though.

The last few days all of my stressors have been affecting the others, building up inside. School, finances, social life, healthy habits... Unfortunately, everything has been feeling like I'm bombing it, causing a collapse. It always feels like as soon as I make one goal, five things pop up against that goal. Like the money thing.

I pretty much just broke down in front of my mom earlier this evening, and she basically replied with this:
"For crying out loud, you're twenty years old. Live in the moment!"

That got me thinking: I seriously don't act like a twenty year old. I constantly am looking to get eight hours of sleep. I monitor my diet, trying to get my fruits and veggies in. I hoard money like it's going out of style. It's a bit ridiculous.
Now, there's nothing wrong with being responsible. I'm just over-thinking everything. Per usual.

Time to calm the freak down.
Speaking of things popping up to block my goals, my cousin and aunt have decided that I should have a Pinterest today. That's... not good for someone trying to spend LESS time on the computer. Goodness.

Are you a worrywart? Or do you go with the flow?

Cold is The Word and Slipping Up on Goals

2012-02-04T22:33:00.000-08:00

If there was a word for the day, today's word would be cold. I was seriously freezing all day long! Alright, it wasn't that cold today. I simply get cold very easily.

Oregon is a tricky devil when it comes to sunny days. You'll look out the window and think, "Golly! What a gorgeous sunny day! It must be so nice and warm out there." This is never the case. There have been many times where I'll look outside, get excited about the sun then check the temperature to see that it's 34 degrees out there. Not the warm I was looking for. Then there are the other times where it's 52 degrees and pouring, but who wants to go out then?

Whenever I think about places to live, I always imagine living somewhere that's warm all of the time. I wouldn't want to live on the beach though. Sand gets into everything, so I'd never want to get anything done! My mentality seems to be if it gets sandy=it gets messy. Messy is not a good environment to work in, at least in my case. Anyway, the point is I'd like to live in a warm climate that's not a beach.
What about the seasons, you ask? That is one thing that I do love about living in the state I live in. I adore seeing the beautiful golden leaves in the fall. I love the blossoms in the spring. Snow can always be fun, when it comes around. Perhaps I'd hate the warm area, but I'd at least like to try it out.

For now, I'll make like a gecko and attach myself to the walls where a heater is.

Now. My goals. I'm sad to say that I've already broken my eating out goal. The fact is that I gave myself a budget for the one meal: $15. I figured that would get me a little meal and maybe some beverage. Today, I ate out twice and exceeded that amount. Dangit.
The first instance was during DuckTv filming. We were pausing during filming, and everyone needed food. What can you say to this? No, I'll just sit in my car alone while everyone else goes into a food place? I don't know! Seriously, I don't. I could I suppose wait it out, but I'm thinking that waiting eight hours to eat isn't a good idea. I don't function well without food.
The second was because I wanted to be social. I could eat food in my house sadly alone, or I could enjoy time with others out. I chose the latter. I'm already lacking social interaction as it is, I don't want to skip out on any I have offered.

Which brings me to this issue: What things can you do to be social that don't involve money? I've been scanning my mind, and I can't think of anything. At least in the "starting out" phase of friendship. The only thing I've thought of was watching movies at an apartment, but I don't have a functioning TV. So I'm stuck.
The thing that stinks about it the most is that I was planning to save my eating out for V-Day with some APO folks. I still want to go, but... Argh, money is stressful.

My other goals have been okay though. I've been taking calcium. I'm spending less time on the computer, even if I'm not always perfect.

That's all from me. I seem to have so many questions.

Would you rather live with seasons or live somewhere with only one type of weather?

What social activities can you do that don't involve money?

Economics and Superbowl

2012-02-03T20:40:00.000-08:00

I suppose I’m glad that it’s Friday, but really I’d rather it be Saturday evening. Today was just not great.

Okay, only one thing was really that terrible, but it’s put me in quite a bad mood. Let’s just say that I’m terrified of getting a bad grade in Economics because of a quiz today. Old school test anxiety? It has come back with vengeance. Lately none of the information seems to be clicking with me no matter how much I study. I’m just going to have to get a 100% on the midterm, which is multiple choice. I’m better with those I think.

Alright, I’m sorry for the downer! I just had to get that off of my chest.

So Superbowl is coming up this weekend, and I'll be watching it along with my family like many others. For me, Superbowl is all about the commercials. Yes, this is another one of those, "It was better back in the day" things, but who cares? There are still plenty of funny/cute commercials that are shown during the Superbowl, and I adore them.

As for the teams, I don't really care either way. I think I'm more partial towards the Giants, but if they don't win I won't be heartbroken. Plus, the only reason I care about them a tad more is because a guy who went to my high school played for them. I had to check to see if he still was, but now he's playing for the Raiders. Eh. I just remember a few years ago when the Giants were in the Superbowl again, and I was yelling, "That guy went to my high school! That guy went to my high school!" Yup.

Funny thing- when I first found out about a professional football player being from my home town I thought, "Nooo... Now there's even less of a chance of getting famous." Because famous people coming from the same small town is very rare. Because I was very concerned with that at the time. Oh dear.

Tomorrow brings more Duck TV filming. I don't know when I'm getting my run in... but I'll get it in there somewhere.

Are you watching the Superbowl? Who are you rooting for?

Running, Duck TV, and Time

2012-02-02T22:20:00.000-08:00

Hello hello! Is it seriously already Thursday? Wow, didn’t even think about that. It’s also Groundhog’s Day! I always want to throw a little party for the heck of it for Groundhog’s Day, but I always forget about it. Ah well.

Lately I’ve been talking about waking up just a little earlier for my Tuesday/Thursdays and getting my run done in the morning. Well today was the day for that! It certainly was refreshing. The air was crisp and delightful. I started the run in the dark and ended it in the light. Now that’s a nice feeling. The only thing that really bothered me about it was my pace. For my last few runs, I haven’t been looking at my pace until the very end. This technique had actually been working out quite nicely, but today was a slower day. That’s always frustrating to me. I do think that I was listening to slower tempo music, so that could have added to it. Dunno.

Anywho, the new episode of Duck TV aired last night. I thought I was going to be terrified of seeing myself on screen, but surprisingly, I was fine with it. The part that was mortifying? The sound during the viewing last night. It was SO BAD. Luckily, the sound is okay online (I checked, ha) but the filming seems a little weird. Eh. Man, I have a weird sounding voice.

As for my goals, I believe the first and the second have been successes. Yesterday, I did spend more than 2 hours on the computer… but less than 2 playing around! I don’t know if I said this before, but my goal was to spend 2 hours or less on the computer that didn’t relate to homework. My economics homework is online, so I spent a good chunk of time on that but only that. No surfing of any kind. Even then, my ECON homework took an embarrassingly long time to do. Tomorrow there’s a quiz as well. Hoo boy. Why must we do things with graphs? I’m terrible with them!

Welp, that’s currently what’s up with my life at the moment. I’m certainly wasting less time with less computer usage but there still seems to be so little time left. Hm.

For a bit of a random question, Do you ever keep track of Groundhog's Day?

Tennis Turmoil

2012-02-01T19:30:00.000-08:00

When I was in high school, I was the bomb at tennis. I kicked ASS. I even managed to get to state. I would have been #1 in my district if it weren't for those two pesky exchange students. (Seriously, exchange students in high school seem to come over just so they can wipe the floor with everyone else. I digress.)

The point is, tennis used to be my sport. Yesterday, I ended up playing for the first time since last May.

How ridiculous is that?

When we started playing, I started to get really depressed. It was because I was so weak. Part of the reason that I used to enjoy tennis so much was because I was powerful. I could control the ball. I could make my opponent run.

Now? I can hardly keep it in the court. This must be the same type of feeling for someone who stops running and tries to start it up again. It used to be so simple, so easy to go 5 miles. Now they're struggling with one. They don't want to try again. They don't like seeing how far they've fallen.

And oh, how the mighty have fallen. The worst part of it was my shoes. I have tennis shoes, yes... but apparently not at school. I left them at home. I wore running shoes on the court. That's as bad as the guy running on the treadmill in jeans. Maybe worse.

I don't want to be that sad person who stops doing something, tries to pick it up again and toss it after it's difficult. I need to get back into the swing of it.
...Not before I get some real tennis shoes back though. Heh.

Have you ever tried to go back to something that you hadn't done in a long time? What happened when you tried it again?

From Starting Goals to Next Month Goals

2012-01-31T18:30:00.000-08:00

To me, the last week of January has seemed to take forever to get here. Ever since the 20th, the days have been dragging on to me. Now we're finally to the last day, and I'm pretty excited! New month, new start. Sure, everyday should be a new start, but it just seems more official at the beginning of a month. Truth be told, I've started to work on some of my goals already.
What about my other goals you ask? Well of course I've been thinking about them! I've noticed that I've been making a lot of them... so I'll talk about that. First of all, let's start with my overall college goals or what I like to call them: The List.

1. Get a Degree.Just seven and a half more terms to go! Ha. I think I'm on the right track though. I've pretty much figured out what my schedule is going to be for the rest of my college days, which means my Senior year is going to be crammed full of journalism. We'll see how that goes.

2. Not Gain the Dreaded Freshman Fifteen.
The more I've read about college weight gain, the more I've seen about Sophomore year being the year of the gains. Okay, maybe I'm making that up. The point is, weight gain is a big thing that can happen any year. Luckily for me, that hasn't happened. During vacation it creeped up a bit, and shot back down. Eh, that's kind of what happens when you get back to eating smart.

3. Study Abroad.
We all know how that's working out. I just want the person in charge to send me the financial info...

4. Stay Out of Debt.
The amount I've spent this school year... Yikes. Unfortunately, a lot of the things I've spent money on are necessary. Fortunately, there are a lot of things that aren't necessary and I can work on cutting them out. (Funny thing is, I calculated my spending without groceries/books and got a figure very similar to last year's spending.)

5. Get Good Grades
The funny thing is, I was looking at the last time I talked about this and was nervous how my grades would be affected in the upcoming year. My grades slipped a touch from As to A-s last term, but I think my grades have stayed alright. Still need to strive towards the good one though!

6. Make Friends.
I've been getting to know people. I've been getting involved. Friends? I don't know if I can officially say that yet. It's a process.We'll see how it works out.

7. Blog Every Day.
I said that this would change, and it did. I don't blog every day, but I do most days. However, if a blog isn't in the cards for the day, so be it. I'm not going to stress out about it. I think the goal now is to try blogging better. A year into it, and I'm still rough.

I think my goals are doing okay for now. Now, my December/January Goals: Spend less time on the computer and Don't spend money on gum/soda. For the first goal... Hm. Not so good. I have got to seriously back away, but it's even harder this term when so many of my assignments are online! The second one I managed to do pretty well with. No spending during Dec. because it wasn't necessary, but two little slips during January. One soda, one water bottle because I couldn't find mine. What a dumb excuse.

As for my New Year's goals, I'm doing alright. Room for improvement, but we'll work on that.
Here are my February goals:

You probably can't read them, but they are 1.Only eat out once 2.Use up my punch card for the REC center 3.Only 2 hours on the computer a day that isn't homework 4. See January goal.
The fifth one isn't on there, but it's to take Calcium and Vitamin D daily. I'm really low on both of them, so it would be good to get used to taking them.

I'd talk about them more, but I've already rambled for quite awhile. I'll just leave it at that for now.

What are your goals for February?

Weight Loss Blogs, and Why We Read Them (Or at Least Why I Read Them)

2012-01-30T22:19:00.000-08:00

I forgot to say anything yesterday, but thanks for the studying abroad support! Y'all rock.

When I first starting blogging, one of the types of blogs that seemed to catch my eye was weight loss blogs. The typical story for these blogs goes like this: They start a blog in hopes of tracking their weight countdown and having some emotional support. They go through their struggles, they go through incredible losses. Many times, they plateau, other times they finally reach maintenance. They open up about why they got to be that size, why it's taken so long, and eventually stat to open up themselves.
I know that I'm not the only one who fancies these blogs, they receive hundreds if not thousands of hits. Why are these blogs so popular?

For one thing, they seem to be the majority of blogs. I know many blogs that have transitioned from weight loss to healthy living, and a lot of them I've forgotten were even about weight loss in the first place. Really, the biggest reason why (scuse the pun) is because it affects so many people. If you're not overweight yourself, you know someone who is. Or a lot of people who are.

However, I think the main reason for the appeal of these blogs are the feel-good movie feelings around them. They've struggled, and as you learn more about them their story becomes something you're involved in. You want them to do better. You want them to reach their goals. It's part of the appeal in the blogging world: You don't actually know the people online, yet you feel some sort of connection to them. It helps if their writing is intriguing.

In my own case, I've never had a big problem with weight. I've mentioned it before, but for most of my life I've been average. I lost 15 lbs my senior year of high school, and then made a goal to not gain the Freshman Fifteen during my college career. Heck, that means even my blog has hints of weight related to its origin. I'll talk more about that goal tomorrow, with all of my other goals I've made. Still, food affects me. One of the weird things that has changed as I've gotten older are my tastes. Some foods I used to think were disgusting actually sound pleasant now, and that includes both healthy and unhealthy food. I now think potato salad tastes decent, but I also think broccoli isn't that bad.

I make sure to eat healthily and eat fruits and veggies. Funny thing is, my diet has VASTLY improved since I've started college, despite the unhealthy tendencies a college education may bring. Honestly, part of this makes me a little sad. I used to be able to make a meal out of junk food, now I just can't do it without feeling a haze. One summer, I would make a meal out of Ben and Jerry's. Yeah, ridiculous. Teenagers can do that, and not have to eat anything else for hours. At least that happened for me. (Don't worry, this wasn't a daily occurrence. It happened like, three times during one summer.)
I've even gotten a lot less structured. I eat when I'm hungry, and I don't if I'm not. I used to stuff myself just if things tasted good. Why waste a morsel? Not so much now.

As for my cooking skills? Well.... we'll get into that later.

Do you read weight loss blogs? Why? Or, are you a weight loss blogger yourself?

Being Studious

2012-01-29T21:55:00.000-08:00

Last year in the dorms, I lived in a very... academic setting.

Oh, who am I kidding? We were nerds. Due to the fact that there wasn't a lot to do, Sundays would be full on study days. The common room usually had everyone sitting around doing their homework, and many of us were getting a lot done. We pretty much had competitions to see who could get the most homework for the week done. Many of these times we would finish a whole week's worth of homework. Like I said, nerds.

Lately, I've been a lot less studious it seems. It's not to say I'm not getting my homework done- believe me, I am- but it's almost like my high school mentality wants to kick in again.

I suppose there are other reasons to my mentality change. Having to grocery shop, being away from a common study area, more social events in my life... Still, they're just excuses.

Another thing that might be affecting me is the lack of a support group. In the dorms, I could go out and study with others. Now, it's different. I'm in HUGE classes where I don't even see people I might know, and you have to actually make plans to meet for studying. I'll admit it- Even now into the second term, I still feel like I don't have a lot of friends. Sure I know people, but I don't know where I stand with people. I'm socially awkward to a fault, but that's a post for another day. The whole point is just another excuse.

Since I'm transferred here, I haven't done that much worse. I have done worse though, now that I look at it. At WOU, I got two A-s, three B+s, and one B. (I'm not including the summer classes) The rest were all As. Fall term, I got two As, and two B+s. Honestly though, if "worse" is a 3.5 GPA, I definitely think I'm okay.

Still, I don't want to slide. Being studious is what got me into this school. Being studious will help me get into the Journalism program (Though if is the GPA is 2.9 to get in, I still think I'm okay) Being studious can help me get scholarships. Hopefully.

And that's what I have to say about that! Another week begins. Let's make it a good one! Not sayin' this last week wasn't good, I just want another good week.

Were you studious in college? If you were, was it at the very beginning or near the end?

The Exciting News Covered in Worry

2012-01-29T02:40:00.000-08:00

You know how I've been constantly talking about studying abroad? Well, I guess that and running. Anyway...

I got into the program that I applied for. Hooray? Yes, of course, but there are things in the process that have made me nervous.

Truthfully, I was accepted on Monday into the program. I didn't tell anyone until Wednesday when I told my sister. I waited until Friday to tell my mom. Why have I been so hesitant to say so?
Of course for me, it's been because of finances.
I constantly worry about money, even if I shouldn't worry as much. And studying abroad takes a big chunk of money. Recently, I've had other reasons to think more about how I spend money. Those recent worries have made me reconsider if I should even go. I always worry, "Will I have enough?" Sure, I would most likely be able to get help from my parents. However, I'd like to get as little help as possible from my parents, simply because I hate to ask them for money. I feel guilty. They've already supported me so much, it would be unfair to ask them for help on a trip that I alone would go on.

Now, I've looked at it a bit more. More than my obsessive analysis of it before. It seems that I'll be able to pay for it myself, but there are a few details to work out including trying to get money other ways.

Therefore for February on, I'm going to work on spending as little as possible. On average, I've gone out for dinner 4-5 times a month for food. Now I'm going to allow myself to eat out once. Even fewer movies than usual, and I didn't even watch that many before. Keep searching for jobs, find other ways to earn cash. Every little bit counts.

The moment where I had a bit of a revelation came while I was talking to my sister the other day. I don't remember exactly what she said, but she said something along the lines of, "You should be thankful for the experience. You worked really hard to get the application together, and you should be excited about it."
She's right. I should be excited that I was accepted. I shouldn't let the worry of finances shadow the excitement of traveling abroad (though I still need to worry about it). Sometimes, I just need to calm the freak down.

That's that. If all goes according to plan, I'm studying abroad next fall in London. Yup. Besides, I'm getting more financial information emailed to me next week. I can start re-worrying about it then.

Have you ever learned exciting news that was blanketed by another fear?

The Obsession with Writing Things Down

2012-01-27T23:29:00.000-08:00

Welp, it's the weekend. Yuppers. I always get so excited, and then don't know what to do with myself. ...Then, by the time it's over I'm wondering where the time went.

I have a confession. I obsessively write things down. I think the whole thing started out with writing down my spending habits. I decided when starting college I would write down every item I would spend money on. Alright, maybe it started out with getting my debit card earlier that summer because I wanted to make sure I always knew how much I had in my account. I've heard the horror stories. Okay, I'm getting a bit distracted but know that it all started out with finances.

This thing has fallen into a river, and I still use it.

At this point, I was starting to become much more neurotic. I was (or at least student loans were) paying for this education, so I had to make sure I knew when things were due and when to get them done. Thankfully, that was taken care of with the new free planner that my school gave me. (Nice thing about smaller schools? They give you free planners. Yeah, not so much here.) If you're counting, there's currently two places where I'm writing things down.

My next planning resource came to me from Christmas. I had received a little notebook from my cousin for a Secret Santa gift. I mentioned it a bit here. I thought like most of the notebooks I have, I would start filling it out and forget about it in ten pages. I now have about ten pages left in it. I've written a lot of things in that little notebook, including:

Information about transferring, studying abroad, and requirements for them.
Class schedules, percentages, big assignments
To do lists of all kinds, including some grocery lists
Spending habits, overall money situations
Meal planning
Outfits I wore
Running schedules
Potential dream jobs, dream travel destinations, dream whatevers.

Yeah, I've used it a lot.

Recently, I've grabbed another little composition book (similar to my spending one) for scheduling the hours of the day. As in,writing down times when I have things going on so I can figure out things around it. Not like I don't have a planner, but it gives me more of a visual of the hours.

Finally, there's the OCD pages. This habit started in fall of 2010, and it involves notebook paper. Y'see, sometimes I like to add random things up. Multiple times. Like the estimated cost of studying abroad. Or scheduling classes for my college career. Be warned, you are about to see some A Beautiful Mind type craziness out of me:

Yeah. I've written on dozens of papers like this. Looking at it yourself, you probably wouldn't know what all of the calculations were. Hell, I hardly do. That's why I've written some of them over and over, because I forget which is which.
I'll admit, this is probably a bit insane. Whatever, it's how I do.

If you were counting, that's five separate things that I write in/on. I'm starting to see a little more crazy in me. Concerning.

"Wouldn't you be more organized if you wrote everything down in one area?" You'd think, but I don't believe so. Each thing has its own meaning, its own reason. The rest of my random thoughts go in the big notebook, and I carry all of these around with me 90% of the time. It may be a bit crazy, but I like it.

That's all from me tonight. Hopefully I haven't scared anyone off.

Are you an obsessive list maker? Do you write a lot of things down?

Running Funk

2012-01-26T20:46:00.000-08:00

Hello! The week is almost over, and I have a surprisingly free weekend! Huzzah! (Well, compared to last weekend.)

Recently, running has not been clicking with me. Sure, I've been running. However it hasn't been as nice as before. As usual (as of late), I wasn't in the mood to run. Still I knew that afterwards I would be happy I did it. During my runs though, I've been feeling iffy. Iffy because I'm pushing myself and I don't seem to be getting faster. Iffy because I think I'm actually starting to go slower. Iffy because I'm getting flashbacks to cross country during high school where I was slower than everyone else, and the same thing is happening here in Track Town.

I like being known as a runner. Not the slower runner, but just a runner. Pretty much everyone I talk to runs way faster than me, and it's bringing me down. Maybe that's why running has been feeling so icky lately. I know pace shouldn't matter, but it does. Especially since I've been slowing down. I'm pushing and pushing, but nothing seems to be working.

The thing is, I love how running makes me feel after I run. I love races. Then why has running sucked so much? Why am I running slowly? I'm not over training, so I don't know what's wrong. I just want to get my groove back.
The other thing is, I want to be a runner. I read a thing that said a good percentage of people who start running regularly quit in about a year. I've been running continuously for a year and three month. I want to have as many running anniversaries as I can.

Besides that, not much else to say. I seriously need to do my laundry but I'm making excuses like 1. My soap is over at my aunt's house (I hope) 2. I don't want to pay for it now that I can't do it at my aunt's anymore and 3.I don't want to hang around in a laundry room for a few hours. Yet, I now have no clean running clothes, and I need some before Saturday. Pish. Excuses.

I hate to be a downer! May happier posts be in the future. If it means anything, I had a good day. A few bumps, but nothing awful. Heck, that's life!

My cousin is going to be playing down here tomorrow, so that should be fun!

What do you do when you're in a running funk?

The Gum Situation

2012-01-25T22:34:00.000-08:00

You ever have one of those days where it just disappears from you? Whew! I know today was certainly one of those days.

As of today, I am officially out of gum.

I know, this isn't terrifying to you. Eh, it's gum you say. However for me, it's a big deal.
I'm constantly chewing gum, and it's because I'm constantly in a munchy state. I like having a sweet taste in my mouth to occupy it.

For Christmas, I received a giant pack o' gum. That pack is empty. Yes, I realize I have a problem. Will I buy more? No. I'm going to try to not spend any more money on gum. It's like cigarettes. Useless, and a waste of money. For me at least.

Hmm, this is sort of like my goal not to buy anymore soda. Which I did not forget about, but as I said before was a two-month goal. So... in a few days, we'll see how that turned out.

I'm gonna miss gum. Sigh.

Are you a gum chewer? Fruity or minty? I prefer fruity myself, but it loses its flavor so fast.

The World of Breakfast

2012-01-24T22:31:00.000-08:00

Tonight I went to a restaurant called Off the Waffle with some APO people. Breakfast for dinner? Completely acceptable.

They serve pretty much just waffles, all with different toppings. Some are sweet, some are savory, some are a mix of both. All of the waffles are probably quite tasty, but for my first "Off the Waffle" waffle, I decided to go for a sweet treat.

Another reason for the sweet instead of savory was because of how I view waffles. Waffles are something that have to be sweet. Drizzled with syrup, topped with melting chocolate chips... That's just how they have to be eaten! Chicken and waffles simply sounds crazy to me. Syrup covered chicken just seems weird.

Now, I'm all for some combos of savory and sweet. I love bacon and maple doughnuts. French fries dipped in shakes are scrumptious. So why can't I get on board with the savory waffle? The same goes for pancakes. Actually, I'm more of a pancakes girl myself.

As for breakfast in general, I tend to go towards a more savory side. If I don't have protein, I usually get hungry. Strangely enough, I was pretty satisfied after my waffle though. Hm. Anywho, I digress. Truthfully I would always order a sweet breakfast when the event arises. Alas, I tend to go with some protein instead. Maybe next time I'm in C-town at the Broken Yolk, I'll try that giant cinnamon roll.

Almost every morning I have toast/English muffin with peanut butter and jam. Tomorrow, I'm trying something different. I'm trying a protein smoothie. We'll see how that turns out. Seeing as I bought English muffins, I'm not sure how well this will turn out.

What type of breakfast do you usually crave?

Time to Run?

2012-01-23T22:06:00.000-08:00

It's another one of those "Let's talk about running!" days. Sorry if that's not your vibe.

Being a student, it seems to be easier to schedule in workouts. There tend to be random chunks of time that are in between classes, so you don't have to do it before work/after work. Due to how my schedule works, I usually run in the afternoons during the week.
Sometimes though, you run into a day like today, where you don't have the time to run until 5:00PM. When it's dark. And you tend to not run during said time.

Mainly, I was freaked out about the fact that it was dark, and someone could attack me. But you know what? It was FINE. Worrying over nothing, as usual. Especially since there were quite a few lights outside, so I never was truly in the dark.
Really, the biggest concern I had with this run was if it was going to be as crappy as my Saturday run. Saturday was AWFUL. I left too soon after I ate because of time constraints, and I wanted to hurl for the majority of the run. The overwhelming smell of bacon from restaurants did not help. However, today's run was delightful.

I'm considering doing early morning runs soon. On Tuesday/Thursdays, I don't have class until 8:30 (HA) so I have an extra half hour in the morning. I would get up a little earlier (Perhaps a half hour, 15 minutes) and wait to take a shower, but I think it would be a good idea. If you're an early morning runner, can you give me any tips?

Other than that, not much else to say. It's one of those days.

Do you ever run early in the morning/late at night? What time is your favorite time to run at?

Scheduled Eating Times

2012-01-22T22:32:00.000-08:00

One thing that has made me believe I am not a college kid is my need for food. Perhaps it sounds a little strange, but many college kids I know tend to be able to go without food for quite some time. I've had conversations where college kids have said, "Oh. I guess I forgot to eat today. Huh."

HOW DOES THAT HAPPEN?

I don't know. I just don't. When I get hungry, it affects everything. Now I don't get hangry like my sister, but here are a few things that happen to me:

Become very cold.
Shakey
Lack of concentration

Pretty much I can hardly think. Imagine my surprise when today I:
Ate breakfast at 9:00 AM
Ate lunch at 1:30 PM
Ate dinner at 9:00 PM

Can you figure out where I was emotionally at 9:00 PM? Just a touch irritable.

I used to be very structured on what times I ate. Thankfully I've worked past that, but not until 9:00 PM. Goodness.

One of the reasons why it's bad to get to an extremely hungry point is because you'll over-eat. Honestly today though, I didn't freak out. I ate normally. Nice.

So, who's not ready for the week to start? Just me? Alright then.

Can you go for long stretches of time without eating? Do you eat at designated times?

First Day of Filming

2012-01-22T01:26:00.000-08:00

It's not you being old. Actually working through work is an extremely helpful tool in the learning process, I agree.

Anywho, hello! What an interesting day it's been.

Today we had our first day of filming on Duck TV! How exciting. It felt quite professional, even though it was just a few college kids. Still, I thought it was exciting.

One of the things I learned today was why I happened to get the lead role. I was told, "Most of the people trying out were theatre kids, with over the top actions. Your performance was more subdued, and more suitable for the television. Well, that certainly got me excited, especially since I've been critiqued for being too over-the-top. Perhaps I'm learning? I'm not sure.

I've learned I like being on a set. I like hearing critiques about what I can do better for a scene. It's fun. Especially if you're in your pajamas.

The truth is though that I'd still like to get more experience in production, simply because I find it fascinating. Still, I have no experience in it. I should get on that.

Another thing I discovered today? No one really knows about Duck TV. Actually, this wasn't much of a discovery, since I hardly knew what it was before I jumped into it. Sure, it's not that well known. But it's an interesting experience, and simply experience in general. Experience in something useful? We'll see.

That's pretty much it. Tomorrow we're filming again, and hopefully we get everything done then. We have until the 29th, but still. It's nice to have a feeling of completion.

In other news, I'm getting a lot better at names. Remembering them, but prononciation? Not so much. Oh dear.

What's an interesting experience you had in college that wasn't necessarily school-related, yet was only available in the college setting?

School Online

2012-01-20T21:54:00.000-08:00

We're living in a technological age. There's no denying that. Because of this, the whole world is adjusting to this fact to fit in. That includes school.

A lot of my classes are making the move towards doing homework online. Personally, I hate this because of a lot of reasons. For one thing, I can hardly concentrate once I've moved to the computer. I frantically search the web in order to distract myself.

The other reason is... well, I kind of hate the instant gratification. Here, let me explain:

For many of my classes, we find out how we did on a test or assignment online as soon as we complete it. A lot of the time though we end up having to wait for WHY we got so-and-so answer wrong. However, there's also another element to it. Remember when you took a class, and you desperately wanted to find out what you got? You hated waiting, but it almost made it worth more when you did. That's me at least.

All I know is that I would rather have a printed out assignment than a computer one. I just have such a difficult time concentrating. There are so many places online where you can waste your time!

Do you like having schoolwork online, or would you rather have it the old-fashioned way?

Natural Disasters

2012-01-19T22:26:00.000-08:00

It's nice to see we're mostly all on the big unknown side of life, or at least not 100% sure of what to do. It's reassuring.

Some random notes in my life:

Busy day number 2! It's going to be like this a lot now. Tonight I had the meeting with my group for Duck TV, and the show I'm in? I'm the main character. WHAT. How did that happen?!? Obviously, I'm excited. It's not sketch comedy like I thought, it's a story. It's a bit odd to explain, but I'll be sure to talk about it in the future. Filming is happening this weekend!
Tomorrow? Tomorrow I am gonna pass out. I haven't been sleeping well, and I finally figured out why. Way too much light floods into my room. The roommates have been leaving the hall light on, and it shines through my door. I just didn't realize that it could be messing with me.
The next step of my Study Abroad Application is happening! I can't say much, but I'm excited! Also, I need to find odd jobs. My hours are wacko now.
I was going to go grocery shopping on Tuesday, and I'm kind of glad I didn't now. Apparently a couple was held up at gunpoint the day at my store that day. Perhaps I'll go to the other one... Eek.

Where I come from, there aren't a whole lot of natural disasters to worry about. We don't have hurricanes, tornadoes, crazy blizzards... usually we're pretty chill. We're supposed to have a giant earthquake, but they've been saying that for decades. The only problem we've really dealt with has to do with what type of weather we're known for: rain. Most of the time rain doesn't cause that much of a problem, it's just obnoxious. There comes a time when the rain can cause some big stuff though.

Enter: The Flooding.

That's not where I am right now. My town is surprisingly okay, despite being lower elevation. The scary thing is, that's my home town. The last time Oregon had a flooding like this was about 6 years ago, and it was no where near this bad.
I was envious of them earlier when they had snow and we had rain, but now I am not.
At the same time, I kind of wish I could go canoeing in it.

Okay, I have got to get to bed. Just have to wait until 5 to be completely free tomorrow... Huzzah.

What natural disasters do you have to deal with in your town?

Following Your Dreams

2012-01-18T22:33:00.000-08:00

Wednesday. OH man. They are a busy one. Three meetings in a row? Yup yup. (That's not the only reason, but still.)

Earlier today I was reading another one of those "inspirational follow your dreams" stories. You may have heard of them. It's where after years of being miserable in a job, the person quits and does what they've always dreamed of. I've read about it in at least three blogs. The whole point of the story is that you shouldn't have to suffer through a job you hate for the rest of your life, because you could be gone the next day. Follow your dreams. Open that shop you always dreamed of. Become a full time blogger.

People see stories like this all of the time, and sometimes they go for it. I respect it. I also know that you have to be smart about it though.
Maybe it's realistic, maybe it's pessimistic. Still, a lot of the times when I think about things like this I think of Kirsten Wiig's bakery in Bridesmaids. You know, her dream that went out of business. I've heard of the same thing happening in real life. However, at the same time I don't think that people plan enough ahead for their dreams sometimes. You have to save. You have to have a good chunk of money just in case things don't pan out.

I fully intend to follow my dreams. There's only one problem: I'm not really sure what that is. Sure, there are jobs that I dream of, but I don't have a lot of skills in the field. I'd love to be on SNL, or be a writer for comedy but... I can't write, and I'm an okay actor. The whole Duck TV thing was taken down a peg when at the meeting we were told that they didn't have enough actors... so yeah.
I'd also just like to work with producing a show. I like planning out my days too.
However, my dreams are always changing. Heck, two years ago I wanted to be a cartoonist. Hence the iffiness on dreams.

Is it weird to say I'm still deciding on my dreams? Because I still am. Well, I guess that's why I'm trying things.

'Scuse me, I have to go pass out now.

What's your dream job?

First Impressions, and How To Fail at Them

2012-01-17T20:30:00.000-08:00

First Impressions. They can make or break you, can't they? Well, that's pretty much what we've been told all of our lives. Yet, I have had experiences where my first impression wasn't good but changed for the better. Still for the most part? First impressions affect you and your judgement.
I constantly think about first impressions, because I'm currently at a point in my life where I have to make a lot of first impressions. Trying out for something is a first impression. Job interviews are a first impression. Making friends is an obvious one. One which I still suck at.

I tend to over think the first impression, but sometimes my first impression can be a hilarious blunder. Really, 9 out of 10 times my first impression is awkward or just plain ridiculous.

Let me tell you a little tale of a first impression I made today that I happen to find ridiculous, even at the cost of my own pride.

The story starts with the fact that rest of The Valley (the general area of Oregon where I live) has snow. My town? Does not.
What we are greeted with is the delightful presence of rain. Yup. Just how Oregon winters usually are.
Frankly, I did not want to go running in the rain. It was cold, grey, and unpleasant no matter which way you looked at it. However, I got my butt out there and ran 4 miles. (and messed up my phone for awhile. It happens)

Coming back to the apartment I see one of my room mates leaving the apartment. I ask her what's up, and she says she's off to hang out with a friend. I bid her adieu and toss on a dry shirt with no bra. Hey, there's no one else in the apartment, and I'll go back to my room in a bit.

As I walk back to the kitchen, I hear my room mate come back in.
"Hello! This is my friend!"
"Uh...Hello."
"Hi, I'm so and so."

When she was looking for an umbrella, I assumed she was going over somewhere else to hang out. Apparently not before she and her friend needed to stop back in. Oh, the shirt I was wearing was one of those sports materials shirts, that happens to show lines of anything that's close to the fabric. Yup. Doing an awkward model hunch to hide the surprise under the shirt was necessary.

Chalk one up for another successful first impression.
Speaking of, I need to write a cover letter for a job. Hm. Not something I'd like to do.

What's one of the weirdest first impressions you've ever made?

An Off Day Surprise

2012-01-16T22:13:00.000-08:00

Life is getting good, and life is gonna get busy soon. I'm happy about it.

Seeing as it was MLK day and we had no school, I stumbled towards the vacation mode again. Thankfully, I think I'm fading out of it. Club meetings are starting up again, events and such are getting set up... we're starting to get into schedule mode. Aw yeah.

One of the things that I've added onto my plate? Which I've kind of been hinting at?

Well, there's this thing called Duck TV here where they produced 30 minute shows. The shows include news, sports, and sketches. Guess who tried out last week? And guess who is now a cast member of the comedy sketch part?

Yep! I'm so excited! It'll be a great experience seeing a show put together, and I bet it'll be fun!
Honestly, when I saw the email this morning I wasn't sure if it was real. (I didn't sleep very well, so I was in a haze). But it was, and so... we'll see how this turns out!

Any exciting updates in your lives?

2012 Cascade Half Marathon

2012-01-16T00:24:00.000-08:00

Well, today was certainly interesting.

Today was the 13th Annual Cascade Half Marathon, and it started off with a bang.
Y'see, this whole winter, it hasn't snowed. Guess what day it decided to start snowing?

Yup. The day of the race. In which neither my sister nor I had any training in snow. The last time I ran in snow was last year (think way before December), so... snow was an interesting greeting.

The race started off with the snow coming down, and we weren't sure if it was going to stop. Funny thing is, it stopped about 15 minutes in. Plus, it actually got kind of warm. Therefore the layers got pretty hot for a bit.

Overall, it was a decent race... for the most part. There was just one thing that made me very angry, and it affected my whole race.
My shoelace came untied in the first mile.

This might have been a minor annoyance. Just like, "Oh, that's bothersome." But the reason I'm so ticked about it? My time was 2 hours, 20 seconds. If I didn't have to stop, I would have probably had a sub two hour race. Like last year. FFFFFFFFFFFFF-

Okay okay, I shouldn't be that irked about it. But it does irk me. Nothing I can do now. Besides, I think the weather affected my run a bit as well. I had to take little steps to make sure I didn't slip. Still a decent time.

Still, the day was more about my sister running her first half marathon! Hurrah! She finished about a minute after I did, and she felt pretty good afterwards! Weird. My legs were dead when I finished last year. They're fine now, and were fine after the race.

I then proceeded to have sweets for dinner. I really have to learn some self control around the sweets though.

As for other stuff, it's been a very award-show induced weekend. Last night watched Miss America get crowned, tonight watched The Golden Globes. Yup.

Glad I have tomorrow off though. Ah, the joys of school.

What's something annoying that's happened to you in a race?

The Reason For Music

2012-01-13T23:56:00.001-08:00

It's the weekend! Huzzah! ...Now what?

Lately, I've been running with headphones again. I know I can run without them, but they've helped me discover something delightful: I tend to run faster with music. It's because of the beat. Trying to keep to the beat of the upbeat song, I start going faster. It can be exciting.
Music with running is a good thing for another reason, and that is distraction.

That's the reason I listen to music usually. I like having it for a distraction, like in the car or walking to class. It's for that same reason why I can't listen to music with words while reading. If music is playing, I think about the words in the songs, not on the page.

I wish I could be more passionate about music, but that's not the case. Once, I saw a guy at a concert who was simply listening. No dancing, no chatting to a neighbor. Just listening. I think that's a little cool.

For now, I'll stick with the running music.

What do you listen to music for?

Bigger Place, Less of a Safety Net

2012-01-12T21:59:00.000-08:00

Ah man, I can't wait for it to be the weekend. I'm excited, but I don't know why. Possibly because of the half marathon, but also just because there's something about weekends that seems... exciting.

Lately, I've been thinking about small areas versus large areas. Mainly the movement from small towns to bigger areas.

For most of my life, I've been from a small area. My hometown was a town where every person knew everyone else's name. It was easy to get recognition for things you did, easy to get to know others. You're surrounded by these people all of the time, so it's quite easy to become friends. That was the same with the sports and other activities. Even if you weren't amazing at a certain activity, it was still kind of easy to get a part in things or be on the Varsity Team. (Well, except for cross country. I suck at speed.)

The point is, you were in a safe zone. You had a safety net of friends, activities, and such just because there was nothing else to do. It wasn't hard work to get these things, they just fell into your lap.

Moving to Monmouth, it was harder to get things you wanted. The dorms helped with friends (took me a little too long to realize that), but other activities were showing me that I wasn't as amazing as I thought. Have you seen other people act? They're better than you. Have you looked at other people's art? It's incredible.
Still, the dorms constantly had activities going on so it was easy to get involved.

There's the story of someone being on top of the world while in a small town. They get every role, every top position, everybody loves them. Then, they move to a big city and get lost in the fray. They become a loser. A stereotype of this that you see in movies is the jock whose glory days were in high school.

Now I'm in an even bigger town, and I don't have a built-in house of potential friends. I have to compete to get noticed. I have to work to get to know people. However, I'm not saying I'm the jock in that small town story. Like I was near jock status. Instead, moving to a bigger town is giving me a much needed kick in the pants. It's humbling, sure, but it's humbling that is needed. Honestly, because I'm gradually coming to this realization it's going to help me after school. The rejections hurt, but they help me grow. The first meetings might be awkward, but they're helping me be... less awkward.

Anyone can move to the big city. It's how you let it affect you is what matters. You can wimp out after a few tries, or you can push forward. Work harder. Be a better you than you had to be when it took less effort. It's your choice.

However, there's nothing wrong with the small town. There are a ton of people who live in small towns because they love it. On the other hand, I know that if I went back now... I'd be regretful every minute. Like the sad jock.

Hopefully I don't sound preachy, but it's just how I'm feeling as of late. Also, I wrote way too much. Eh.

What about you? Do you like the bigger cities or the smaller towns?

Dear Diary

2012-01-11T23:33:00.001-08:00

One of the classes that I'm looking forward to this term is Theatre. Part of the reason is to get back into acting, which at the same time terrifies me. For this class, we are to write in a journal. It's mostly for class things, but it's also a personal journal to write in. She's explained that she's not going to read certain things intimently, she's only really going to skim. Therefore, we can write to our heart's desire.

Blogging is very different from writing in a journal.When I first started, I didn't know that. Well, I sort of did but I didn't know how different.

The biggest difference is the obvious one, and that is that you're writing for an audience in a blog. Even if you have no readers, even if you write just to write... you still have that idea in the back of your mind that someone else might be reading it. That means you have to censor yourself, and your thoughts have to be at least slightly coherent.

I know I'm not the best writer, and I'm practicing at it. Still, when it comes to blogging I at least try to write something that has pleasent sounding sentences. At least in my mind. How you write can make people want to read what you say. Or, make people want to stop reading. I stopped reading a blog once because she wrote LOL! all throughout her posts. Personally, I don't have the patience to read, "Then I went to the store to buy grapefruit LOL!"

The other thing that the audience does? It makes the writer censor themselves. Like I said before, anyone could read your blog. I have family members that read my blog. Would certain things be bad to say? Of course. Sometimes your audience is like that too. It's okay to know small details in a person's life, but some facts the whole world doesn't need to know about you.

I'm kind of excited about this little journal. I don't keep a journal currently, so it'll be nice to ramble and rant somewhere. (More than I do here.) The last few times I've kept journals were only because I started to have stupid crushes, and they died along with the crushes. They're also very embarrassing.

After I talk about how I should write coherently in posts, I write a rambly one? Good gosh, when will I learn?

Do you keep a journal? When was the last time you did?

Returning From Far Away Lands

2012-01-10T21:45:00.000-08:00

So we can agree that schedules are good, irregular sleeping habits are bad? Alright then.

The most recent update in my life is that my other room mate is back. I haven't had a chance to talk to him (not that it would really matter) due to the fact that when I saw him, he had passed out on his bed with the door open. I bet I would have been like that too.

You see, my other room mate informed me that Hao Chen was having some difficulties with his visa when trying to get back to America. Apparently, his transcript printed out wrong so that what appeared were only 4 credits, not 12. 4 credits does not equal a full-time student, thus causing concern. Now it seems that everything has turned out fine. Which is good, because that would not be fun to deal with if he wasn't able to get back to Oregon.

I'm glad he was able to get back, but at the same time I'm not too enthralled with having the two back together again. When only one of the room mates is around, they'll actually (possibly) take notice of my existence. When they're both back? I'm just a shadow in the house. Get what you paid for I suppose, but it's just a bit lonely.

Travelling in the same country can have its own problems, I can't imagine what issues international travel would have. Yes, I've travelled internationally, but it's only either been with an organized group or in the country right next door. The biggest mishap I've had with travel is being stuck in Arizona for a couple of days because our flight was cancelled.

Still adjusting to the schedule, but making progress. ...I still have some homework to do though. It's due at 4:00pm at least, so there's that.

What's the worst travel mishap you've ever had?

Getting Back To The Schedule

2012-01-09T22:10:00.000-08:00

I keep on thinking that it's Tuesday. That's not a good way to start off the week.

Today there are a few little things I learned.

I am terrible with grammar. I use the word anywho which isn't an actual word, but I acknowledge it. I shame myself.
Apparently my body understands when I'm starting classes again, so it decides to wake me up every half hour after 3:00 AM until I finally decide to get up 20 minutes before my alarm.
Hannah seems to be the only name my Theatre professor can't remember out of sixteen people. How insulting.
Currently I'm still on vacation mentality, where being productive only happens later in the evening.
I enjoy watching listening to people prepare food while cleaning. Hmm.
The room in my apartment looks like a shrine to myself and running. I need pictures of other people.

One day down, four to go. It's not a bad thing, it's actually good. I mean, I'm not going to work eight hours a day. It's just strange getting on a schedule again. Not bad, just weird.

How do you feel when you get back on a schedule?

Everybody's Cooking for the Weekend

2012-01-08T22:19:00.000-08:00

Once again, the weekend comes to a close. And once again, I'm mentioning that it's coming to a close.

Not a whole lot to say tonight, only thinking about how I spent the weekend. A lot of time wasted, but at the same time a lot of preparing completed!

Case in point? I now have five servings of soup made up, veggies chopped, and chicken cooked up for at least 4 meals. Although at the same time, I've come to realize that I have no supplies ready to make really anything else. Still trying to plan out meals. It's difficult for someone who isn't used to cooking.
I went over to my sister's house to help her make something called beanoa. (Like quinoa) It was basically veggies, quinoa and peanut sauce, but it was delicious. Funny thing is, our batch didn't have beans in it. The thing about the beanoa was that she had bought most of the ingredients specifically for that recipe. Before college, I did that a few times to practice cooking for school.

Now, I'm trying to find multiple meals with the same ingredients, so it's cheaper. It's hard. Perhaps there's a system to it? For now, I'm hoping that chicken I cooked is versatile. Next time I go grocery shopping, I need to find some stuff so I'm in charge of the next sibling-meal-time. It's a new concept from my sister. All I know is that I have to make something she wants to eat, and I don't think my soup or chicken are going to cut it. (Besides, the soup? Not that amazing. It's okay.)

The soup. I told you, it's hideous.

Speaking of food, a funny thing happened to me today. I ate completely vegetarian. Weird. For me at least.

Hmm. Seems I ended up rambling for a bit of there. Didn't mean to sound so journal-y. Ah well, it happens.

How was your weekend?
How do you plan weekly meals?

Making Hideous Foods

2012-01-08T00:45:00.000-08:00

So... school. Yeah. I'm not ready for you yet. Even though I had a long break. I'm ready for routine, but homework and studying? Not fun.

Ha, but it is about time to get off my lazy arse and get back to the swing of things.

Speaking of swinging, I swung back by my house (or parent's house) to get a few more of my things. It's one of the nice things about living not-so-far away from college. After college though? Hoping to go a bit away... at least for a little while.
Truthfully? I wanted to get in one last normal shower before I had to take one in my apartment. Eugh.

While I was home for a few hours, there was one thing I was able to get done:

Brew some coffee! Just kidding. I made soup! It's called curried lentil soup, and I'm excited to try it! I have yet to do so, simply because I've heard that things made with lentils are usually better after at least a day. As for how it looks? Well, not very appetizing. The color is a brownish green, and it's sort of sludgy. I've saved you the visual... for now.
Still, I know some of the most unappealing looking meals have been some of the most delicious. I think this works for many Indian dishes. For instance, Chicken Saag is hideous, but I love it.

Also bought books today. Ouch. Most of the books were only available at this school, so online was not an option. I think it's the most I've spent on books yet.

Tomorrow is a cleaning day, and making more food day! I think I'm going to freeze half of the soups, so I'll still have three to eat. Have to have some variety though!

What hideous looking food do you love?

Back to the Apartment and Popular Posts

2012-01-06T20:52:00.000-08:00

So I'm back in the ol' apartment. Yup. Might go back home before the start of classes, not really sure yet. Anywho...

One of my room mates is back, but the other one is still away. I suppose it's alright coming back to a not empty apartment, but at the same time it usually feels empty anyways. Good lord, that's depressing. (but true.)

Alright, my room mate is nice, just a little... lazy? I suppose that word works. She's paranoid like crazy though, thinking everyone is an intruder. Most of the time, we're on a pretty good level. She even texted me (and my mom!) happy new year. There's just one little thing that has irked me.

She happened to get the mail, and decided to separate it. I had ordered a book, and it came in the mail while I was gone. The thing is, the package that the book was in was already opened. My room mate replied, "Sorry! I thought it was mine..."
Honest mistake, right? Except this is the second time she's done this. I know it's not a big deal, but I can't help but feel a little irritated. Hannah H. does not look like Lu C. Did she even consider reading who it was sent to?

Oh, and it's nothing devious that I ordered, if that's what you're wondering. It's a book called The Fault in Our Stars, and it's a young adult novel. More on that later.

Alright, in news other than ranting, my most popular post has finally changed! For this week anyway. Y'see, my most popular post has been Fat Squirrels and Apples to Apples. Ever since it's been posted, that's what's been the most popular. Odd? Yes. The reason why? People searching the term fat squirrels. I wish I was kidding.

That post has 2,477 views for all time. The next most viewed post has 188. People really like fat animals apparently.

Well, I honestly need to get away from the computer. This post has taken a long time to write, just because I keep on getting distracted.

Bloggers, What's your most popular post?
How do you feel about other people opening your mail?

Eating Your Veggies

2012-01-05T23:00:00.000-08:00

As school creeps closer, the planning for how I'm going to eat when I'm back to the apartment.

I spent part of today cutting up fruit and veggies, as to have them ready when I need them. One of the easiest ways to eat healthy? Cut up things in advanced. Obvious information, right? Still, we tend to forget.

One healthy habit that I want to try this term? Eating more vegetarian meals. I used to not eat very many vegetarian meals simply due to the fact that many I found didn't have very good sources of protein. For me, I need protein. If I don't, I tend to get hungry again quickly. The types of meals I saw were just a lot of cheese, or maybe only some veggies as substitutes. Not good.
However, during this last term I happened to make some veggie-only curry and you know what? It kept me satisfied. Another time vegetarian food filled me up was last year when I had a tofu wrap from WOU's cafeteria. It tasted good because it had different flavors, and more texture than mushy tofu. I just need to make vegetarian food with proteins like beans and tofu. I mean, I've already been having vegetarian meals for breakfast almost every morning.

At the same time, I don't ever want to go full on vegetarian. For one, I like meat far too much. Pulled pork? Yumm... The other reason is that I don't want to be limited on what I can eat.
I know. I KNOW. The whole vegetarian community shouts out at that comment, "You're never limited! There are plenty of ways to eat vegetarian, and you actually get a chance to be more creative!" And I agree, many vegetarians I've seen are a lot more creative with food. Still, I hate the idea of going somewhere I having to say, "Oh, I can't eat that because..." I mean, you'd never be able to be a judge on Iron Chef America!
Actually, I'd probably never be able to do that now that I'm allergic to shrimp and crab. Yes, I will bitch about that until the day I die. (Then again, what would my chances of being a judge be in the first place? I can dream, can't I?)

Anywho. Back to the whole vegetarian meals thing. I'd like to make a few more meals veggie for two reasons: Cost and health. Meat is always what adds up in my grocery list. That... and veggies. But things like lentils and garbanzo beans? Cheap cheap. At the same time, I've been seeing a lot of things talking about how it's good to incorporate vegetarian meals to improve your health.

More vegetarian meals. That's the plan.

Although in all reality, I'm probably going to end up making scrambled eggs for most meals again like last term. 'Cause I'm like a sad bachelor who happens to bake bread.

How often do you eat vegetarian/Are you vegetarian? What influences you to eat vegetarian or meat?

Winning Things and Home Alone

2012-01-04T22:46:00.000-08:00

We've gone into the zombie state of this vacation. That's right: The concept of getting anything done is covered in a haze of laziness. I know, I have a problem.

What I don't have a problem with is winning stuff! Recently I won a giveaway over at Gingersnaps, and the prize came today.

It came with a nice little written note, some coffee samplers, coupons, and an apron, which I was planning to wear right after I opened it. ...Then five seconds later while I was baking some bread, I realized I had forgotten to put it on. I'll get it, I swear.

Recently, I was hanging in the house all by myself. No parents, no sister, just me. (I'm saying this now due to the fact that I'm no longer alone in the house. I'm not that dumb to say when I'm currently in the house alone.) Something odd happens when you're in a house by yourself. You tend to act... differently? Or maybe that's just me.

For y'see, when I've got a house all to myself I happen to walk around in the nude. Well, maybe not all of the time. It's more of an after-shower thing. Still, it's not something I'd do if there were others around. I'll nonchalantly wander the halls and just feel comfortable in the nude. If anyone else was around? I'd be covering up.

Now that I've terrified all y'all, I have to ask: What do you do differently when you're home alone? Perhaps listen to music on full blast? I'm guessing people aren't as weird as I am.

Need To See Entertainment

2012-01-04T00:12:00.000-08:00

On the quest to becoming someone who actually knows what movies are being quoted in situations, I've been renting/checking out movies like a storm.

The thing is, I like to add to my pretentious movie cred. However, there are also many movies that aren't "critically acclaimed", but that all of my life I've heard I must see. Maybe it's quoted constantly, or maybe it's a movie that touched a lot of people. The bottom line is, it's a movie that, "I can't believe you haven't seen!"

For me, some of the movies included Moulin Rogue and Donnie Darko. There are still a lot of movies that I need to see just because, "You've got to see it!"

Here are a few of my "Need to See" movies:
Schindler's List- Okay, this is another pretentious movie cred one but my cousin shunned me for not seeing it.
Milk: I've had multiple chances, but I've almost stayed away just because I know it ends sadly. Still, a lot of people I know say it's great.
Top Gun: It's a classic!
Spaceballs: It seems to be mentioned so much, I feel a little guilty for not seeing it.
Most of the Earlier Star Wars: I've seen most of the "first" one, but I hadn't until my senior year in class. (End of the school year, mostly seniors who the teacher had nothing else to do with us.) This is shocking for me just because I've had so many friends OBSESSED with Star Wars, quoting it constantly. I played along for years... It's a bit shameful.

There are a million more, but they're in the back of my head. Soon, someone will mention another, and I'll guiltily play along with knowing what they're talking about. For now, I'll see what I can.

I checked out West Side Story, so perhaps now I can sing "I Feel Pretty", and know what it actually comes from.

What movies are ones that you "need to see"?

Having Seasons

2012-01-02T23:54:00.000-08:00

Since it's January, it's winter time. Obviously. (Well, I suppose if you were in the southern hemisphere... I digress.) For most people, winter means cold weather and snow. It's been kind of cold over here, but there is one big thing that we've been lacking: Snow.

Usually, I don't care that much about snow. Sure snow is nice, but I tend to be apathetic to the weather. However lately, I've been wishing for some snow. Seeing other people playing in the snow is making it very tempting to frolic up to the hills.
I want to go sledding! Or perhaps snowboarding. I've only snowboarded once, but it was quite fun. I also slammed into the ground every five seconds, but I still had a good time.

Funny thing is, when I see people talking about being in warm weather during winter, I'm usually envious. I mean, I know I'll live somewhere warm for at least a little part of my life. Still, recently the idea of warm winters doesn't sound incredible.

On the other hand, hearing about the 80 degree weather at the Rose Bowl today? Definitely made me envious.

Oof. I can already tell this last week of freedom is going to go by way too fast.

Do you enjoy seasons? Or would you rather have only one type of weather?

A New Day, A New Year

2012-01-02T00:29:00.000-08:00

Welp. It's a new year. Time to restart, refresh, and go on slightly better than usual for at least a few days.

Can my new view on life start on the second? Because I definitely didn't detoxify from all of the junk from winter break today. Some places you go, and there simply isn't any healthy food. At least not that you know of, or it's not your type of healthy food.

Already went on a run for the new year, which was nice. I'm glad I didn't do my first run of the new year on a treadmill like I'd originally planned.
I tend to try to take meaning out of the things that happen on the first day of the new year. I know the little things don't matter, but I start to thinking that they do. Does spending it with family members mean I'm going to spend a lot of time with them this year? The opposite? Does a good first run of the year mean good running for the rest of the year? Who knows.

I know I already posted a few things to work on this year. The thing is, some of those goals were a bit short term, and resolutions are supposed to be about the long run right? Right. However, I don't think these are resolutions so much as goals. This is what I want to achieve this year:

Continue being a runner.
Earn enough money for studying abroad.
Stop picking at blackheads on my nose.

The last one sounds a little odd, but it's a horrible habit I have. Y'see, I have terrible blackheads on my nose, but I seem to be the only one who notices them. Granted, they just look like little black dots, but I hate them. However, I know my nose looks a lot worse when I scratch at those things. You would think this wouldn't take a lot of work, but for me it's tough.

I suppose I have one main goal for the whole year:

Live Well. Live well in the sense of health, in social life, in experiences. Simply, I'd like to live as well as possible.

Anywho, that's all from me for the eve. I best be workin' on that goal of getting back to a normal sleep schedule, eh?

Do you ever analyze the events on the first day of the new year for the whole year? Or is that just me? What did you do on the first day of the new year?

Another Day, Another Year

2011-12-31T19:20:00.000-08:00

It's the last day of 2011 and all I really want to talk about are books. Mainly, how both impressed and envious I am of writers. Also, seeing as I'm not a writer like the type of writers I'm going to mention, I know I won't say this with as much eloquence as I'd like.

The reason why I'm envious of writers is due to their ability to create emotion. Create whatever worlds you wish, what creatures you prefer. Yes, these things are valuable skills. However, I only mostly care about when... well, I suppose when writers make me care. Perhaps I get too involved with the characters in stories, but maybe it's just good writing. When a certain character is tortured, if the writer does their thing right readers will care. This goes for television as well. The humorous quips, the intellectual speeches. True, it's helped a great deal by good actors, but a lot of it comes down to good writing.

Yeah. I wish I was able to create fictional characters that people I don't even know would come to care about. Sounds crazy? Probably is, but think about how people like J.K. Rowling must feel about hoards of strangers caring about the moves of fictional people from her head.

Anyways, a new year is coming up, huh? I've hardly registered it. Honestly, it's starting to feel like just another day. Due to the fact that one of my friends just flaked out on me, it seems I'm going to go spend the New Year with some family. I really wanted to go out on the town, but I'm not going out alone. What can you do?

Resolutions... still working on solid ones. Hmm. Welp, I'll see all y'all new year! Unless you're already reading this in 2012. Whateve.

What are your thoughts for the new year?

An Addicted Personality

2011-12-31T06:06:00.001-08:00

So I have an addictive personality. When I start something, I must finish it no matter what. The reason I can't have junk food in the house? I will eat it as quickly as possible. A blog I find interesting? I will read every post.

What I'm trying to say is that I stayed up until an hour before my normal school time wake up to finish a book, because I started the third in the series at 11:00pm. I'm not proud.

So much for getting my schedule back to normal. Thank god I have another week.

Anywho... have you read The Hunger Games series? Because it's quite good.

...I need to go to bed.

Acting My Age

2011-12-29T22:19:00.001-08:00

Today, my cousin who is two months younger than me turned 20. All she could say when I saw her is how old she felt. Yes, 20 is old. A bit ridiculous, but that's how I felt the first few days of it. I often think about my age. As in, do I really fit my age? I like young adult novels. I love dress up. How adult do I really sound?
Then again, young adult novels have all of the fun. They go on incredible adventures and such, so it seems that not all young adult novels are meant simply for the YA audience.

As for dressing up? Why don't we do dress up more often? It's fun. I guess that's what getting all dolled up for a night on the town is for.

On the subject of growing up, it's hard to try to prove I'm maturing to my parents. Whenever I try to explain, it sounds more like a whining teenager to them. Not very good for convincing my maturity, but I'm working on figuring something out. I think part of the problem stems from the fact that I'm still their youngest, and maybe it's harder to see me growing up. I dunno.

So, I'm not sure I feel my age. Do you feel your age?

Let's Restart

2011-12-29T00:10:00.000-08:00

Earlier, I had ideas on what to write about. However now as I sit at the computer, nothing comes to mind. Perhaps because I started The Hunger Games a couple of hours ago, and it's sucked me in like every other person that has read it. Hell, I'm already halfway done.

Seeing as the holidays are over, it's time for a restart. I honestly think that if New Year's wasn't right after Christmas, a lot of people would be a lot heavier even though most resolutions don't end up being followed through with. Wow, that's a long sentence.

Still, I think I'd like to get a move on with at least a few certain goals now. Waiting is just wasting time for getting things done. Therefore, here are some little goals that I would like to work on. They're not quite concrete yet, but I'd like to have a basic idea.

Get back to my "before the holidays" weight. I'll admit it: I was not good this holiday season in accordance to food. Funny thing is, that I didn't have any problems until the week and a half before Christmas. Another thing is when you're smaller, it takes less food to help you gain weight. That's why people who originally start losing weight can eat so much, but y'all probably already knew that. And running? Only gets you so far. I have been running this entire break, and it doesn't do as much as you'd think sometimes.
Get my sleeping pattern back to normal. This break, I've been mean to my normal schedule and been waking up late. True, I'm not over-sleeping, (I'm getting eight hours) but nine? Is too late for me. I want my 7:00AM back please!
Use my punch card at the rec center to take exercise classes. I've been bad about using it, and I spent money on it! I don't want to end the year with any classes left.

I'm sure I'll think of more things I'd like to work on, but for now those are the basics. Now it's time for me to get back to The Hunger Games. Starting it in the evening was a bad idea.

What are your main goals for the future?

Time for Recuperation

2011-12-27T02:14:00.001-08:00

And we're back.

I thought a post would be in the works for yesterday (or two days ago technically), but honestly? It wasn't going to be able to happen. It was just busy.

Did everyone have a good Christmas? I certainly did. I'm also still trying to recuperate. Not sure if I'm truly in that phase yet. The day started out on a bit of an odd note, due to the fact that I woke up in the middle of the night before waking up again at 7:00 AM to start baking some rolls. Usually every year before, my family has gone straight to the presents on Christmas morning, but we didn't get to them until about an hour later. Ah, we're getting old in this house. Sort of.

The haul was good, the food was aplenty, and there was much family time to be had. We had Christmas "dinner" at our house, so a lot of family came over. (I say "dinner", because when it's at 2:00 PM, it doesn't really seem to be dinner.)

As for the gifts, I think all of our family members did well on getting things for each other. My sister got me some of the coolest things, making me feel like a foodie type. That includes some bacon chocolate, and adorable tablespoon/teaspoon measuring spoons.

Now, I have no idea why I'm up so late, but it's time for me to go to bed. We can chat more later.

How were your holidays?

Last Minute Prep

2011-12-24T23:47:00.000-08:00

The presents have been wrapped.

The Indian food has been consumed.

The pajamas have been opened and put on.

It's Christmas Eve. This has been quite the successful Christmas season, with what I think are pretty good gifts to be had by the people I got them for. Well, we'll see by the reactions tomorrow. My only regret? Not watching my favorite Christmas special, The Year Without A Santa Claus. It's not because of the story, it's because I love the Heat miser song. Which is also the Snow miser song, pretty much but the heat miser is so much cooler. Or less cool? Whatever.

Tomorrow, more baking is to be had, as I'm apparently baking rolls this year. This should be interesting...

What were your last minute holiday preparations this year?

Time for Some Holiday Cooking

2011-12-23T22:58:00.001-08:00

Christmas eve Eve? I can dig it.

For the holidays, it always seems like there are a million things to do the day before. Then you wonder to yourself: why didn't we do this all before?

And it's a valid point. The only problem with that tends to be the fact that usually it's food prep that needs to be done. Food prep sometimes can't be done much sooner than the day before though.

Despite being stressful, making food for the holidays is some of the most fun food to make. Why is that? Here are my reasons:

All of the food is food you wouldn't usually make, so it's fun to cook with a lot of butter/ fun desserts.

Sure, it's stressful, but you also don't have to worry about work in the moment.

Busy kitchens full of family and friends =fun.

Then again, I'm typically only in the dessert area when it comes to holiday cooking. Stick to what you know I suppose.

Anywho, busy day tomorrow! Getting excited but nervous about getting everything done.

What's your favorite time to cook and why?

On the Hunt

2011-12-21T22:15:00.000-08:00

Ah man, I just want to have it be Christmas already! Then again, I'm surprised that it's already Wednesday.

Despite what people say sometimes, jobs are a good thing. When people have them, they complain about everything that's wrong about them. Take away that job? They'll be wishing they still had it.

Currently, I'm still job hunting. Can you tell? What I can say about jobs is that having a job isn't a bad thing, it's trying to get one that's the worst. Then again, maybe that's just how it is for the socially awkward. Think about it: it takes elements from every one of a socially awkward person's nightmares.

Making them speak in public, almost like a presentation.
Trying to impress someone you don't know, like trying to make new friends.

All I know is that the more I've been applying it seems, the worse I get at it. I totally play head games with myself.Too bad I can't ask for a job for Christmas.

Good lord I'm depressing. Ah well. I think I'm just a tad too cynical. This is what happens when I have nothing else interesting to write about! I blame winter break.

Now it's time for your interview question! What's your best skill in regard to a job?

Cringe-Worthy

2011-12-20T22:40:00.000-08:00

Blaugh. For quite some time, I was excited to be on break. Now that I've been on it for about a week and a half, I'm going stir crazy. Pretty much I've been feeling like this:

Source

Yup.

Yesterday I picked up my epi pen prescription. It came with a little practice pen, so I can practice stabbing myself. Hooray. When I showed my sister the practice pen, she instantly asked, "Can I stab you?" Because an older sibling's goals in life include terrifying/annoying their younger sibling. (Yes, I know you can read this Chloe. I say this to you in real life anyway.) Besides, the doctor told me I should have other people around me know how to do it just in case. When she went to stab it... I recoiled in horror. There's no way I'm going to be able to have someone stab that thing into my leg, let alone stab it in myself.

Usually I've been fine around needles. If I don't see the needle itself, I'm alright with it. Show me that needle going into skin though? Euegh. I'm like that for most things involving harm to the body. Show me a person with their bone jutting out of their skin? I feel that pain.This is one of the many reasons why I could never be a doctor... besides being terrible at science.

A clever conclusion to this post is lost on me, so I suppose I'll abruptly end it. It happens. (Geez I've been saying that a lot.)

Do grotesque injuries freak you out? Or are you calm and collected when it comes to that stuff?

Eating Like a European

2011-12-19T23:50:00.000-08:00

Before I say anything else, I'll just say this. To add to my "Pretentious Movie Buff Know-How", I watched the movie A Clockwork Orange today. I'm not sure if I really liked it. Can you like a movie where you don't like any of the characters? Because that movie? Does not give you any characters to root for.

Being the holiday season and all, I've been thinking about food. Such as, having different food around for Christmas break, and baking treats, things like that.

Pumpkin bread muffins! Not for me though.

One thing that I've found interesting about food is how people eat. As for the basics like proper etiquette, I'm a freak about it. I hate when people smack, I worry when I accidentally clang my fork against a plate. I like etiquette, but that's mainly because I was raised to be a freak about manners. My mother collects etiquette books. However, people's manners in regards to eating isn't what I've been thinking about recently. I've been thinking about the speed of eating.

I just have to ask: Do people actually chew food thirty times before chewing? I highly doubt it. I've tried, it takes about a minute if you do. Still, eating slowly in general is a good thing. It makes you eat less, and helps you realize when you're full. Still, a lot of people don't enjoy their food like they should. Think of the "Eat like a European" concept. I haven't read the many books about it, but apparently Europeans really enjoy their food. Not like those ridiculous commercials where people are basically having orgasms, but simply without distractions. We Americans just scarf our food down, while doing something else at the same time.

I know I tend to eat my food quickly if I'm not thinking about it. It happens. Recently while eating something, I thought, "When (if) I get to go to Europe, I'll eat like a European." I instantly realized how silly that was, and decided I should do that now.
Sure, I suck at it. I still have things to distract me while I eat sometimes, it's a force of habit. Still, I'm working on it.

Other things I need to work on? Eating only until content, listening to my body more, and all that jazz. Ah, the joys of trying to be smart about food.

Other than that, just trying to be more productive that I have been. Today? Not the greatest in that sense. Let's try again tomorrow, by trying to get to bed earlier!

Do you "Eat Like a European?" Do you care about food etiquette?

On a random note, the whole a versus an thing is bothering me. It's an E before European, but it's not an, right? I don't know.

Upcoming Holidays and Scattered Productivity

2011-12-18T23:58:00.000-08:00

So, when did it become the 18th? Seriously? I have one more present to buy, but this week certainly is going to be a holiday preparation week. The thing is, it doesn't seem like there's really that much left to do. Perhaps my mother is simply making me worried.

Anywho. Today began as a lazy day, but became a bit productive as the day went on. Cleaned my room, cleaned out a random closet in the parents' house. Little projects, all that jazz.

I just was ready for a rest day. Which, I pretty much got, but still got some stuff done. Also found some websites to waste time. Not a great thing for productivity.

On a random note (besides this post being super random), I'm in a mood to bake. It seems that there's much more motivation to bake when it isn't necessary. Thankfully, there are some bananas that are ready for mushing, and I'm somewhere where there are people to take food with them to work.

Hm. Thoughts are scattered for the evening. It happens. Hopefully with the new week, my thoughts will be coherent.

How did you spend your weekend?

The Road Trip Experience: A Recap

2011-12-18T01:16:00.000-08:00

After the slightly spazzy post, it's time to tell the tale of my adventures of road tripping. It's kind of hard to blog from a phone, ya know? Still, I had to say something with that little tease. Let's start with a little background.

For all of my life, I've been a very follow the rules type of gal. I don't usually do anything daring, or super adventurous. Let's be honest, every actions I take comes with five thousand thoughts about it beforehand. I am not one who makes rash decisions. So what decision occurred a week ago was a bit out of the ordinary.

I don't know how it came about, but my sister and I were talking about me seeing one of my friend's school. She goes to school on semesters, so our schedules have always clashed. This term, I ended up getting done a week before she did. That's when my sister offered this suggestion:

"Why don't you offer to give her a ride back to Oregon?"

And then I thought, why not? Although it wasn't really for her. It was for me. I've never driven a road trip myself before. It would be something interesting to do. I'd be able to something that wasn't simply "safe".

Teenage rebellion? Sounds like it, but I don't think it was. Besides, don't you have to be a teen for teenage rebellion? The whole thing was more of a being able to do new things like driving far distances. Sure, that sounds like an odd thing to get experience with, but from what I've experience already in my life I think it's a good skill to have.

My mother was convinced I was going to die. She told my sister and dad to say goodbye "Perhaps for the last time." A tad over-dramatic, don't you think? It could have been bad because it was over the pass. Sometime, the pass is pretty snowy. However, on my trip it was completely clear. It was fine.

Total driving time in two days? 14 hours-ish. What was supposed to be apparently a 8 hour and 22 minute trip back home turned out to be cut down by a whole hour. Nice. The trip back was also supposed to commence at 9:00 AM, but that certainly changed when I was wide awake at 5:00 AM. Ended up getting home at 1:15, which was very nice.

As for my short amount of time in Moscow, it was nice. I met my friend's friends from over there, who were all very nice. Saw a very large, very soft dog named Zola. Ate dinner at 9:30 PM (OH GOD SO LATE). Saw the largest collection of the VHS movie Speed. One of her friends had about 250 copies of said movie. Why? Who knows. But it was just a wall of orange. Bizarre.

I didn't see a lot of U of I, but what I saw seemed very nice. My friend suggested that we stay a day, but honestly? I wanted to just get home. Plus, I wanted to get done driving.

Issues arose during the experience, stemming from paying for gas. As in, at first she didn't want to help. For such a long distance, it's going to take gas. I personally think that with offering a ride, I should get help with said gas. From this came the complaint that she didn't have money, despite not having to buy a ticket for the bus. Um, I saw the prices for a bus ticket. Plus, my car gets really good mileage. I only had to fill up twice. My total gas cost was slightly less than half of what a bus ticket was, but after the whole debacle she helped pay for half. If that. She mumbled how "she could have just taken the bus". The thing is, she thinks that I'm rolling in the dough, but I'm not. I'm extremely frugal is all. I didn't offer to give her a ride just because I wanted to do something out of the blue, I thought it would be a nice gesture. You can probably sense that I feel a bit insulted and disrespected.

The thing is, I'm beginning to see more and more of the bad qualities of this friend. And our relationship is beginning to be strained. Honestly, it's beginning to be hard to actually see the friendship. But that's an issue for another day.

'Scuse the little rant, but other than that it was a cool deal. Plus, I came home to find out that I won a blog giveaway from Gingersnaps! I've never won one before, how exciting! I need to email her. It's funny: when I read the name of the winner, because I though, "That blog sounds so familiar... Wait! That's me!"

Welp, I seriously need to go to bed. I am le tired.

What's the last road trip experience you've had?

Riding to Idaho

2011-12-16T19:13:00.001-08:00

Today was certainly a day of firsts. First time driving seven hours in a day. First time driving that far by myself. First time filling up my own gas. (I'm from Oregon. We don't fill our own gas.)

Currently, I'm in Idaho. I decided to pick up one of my high school friends at her school. Honestly, I'm quite tired right now. Tomorrow I'll return back home. Yes, I'm telling the internet where I am. I think since it's to a very vague area, I'll be okay.

So there will be more details when I get back home. For now... I'll leave you with that.

What's the farthest you've ever driven?

Running on Treadmills

2011-12-15T19:16:00.000-08:00

Today, I did something that I may dare to call... daring. At least for me.

I ran 10 miles today. No, that's not daring for me, I've run that before.

I ran 10 miles on a treadmill. What witchcraft is this? Alright, I know for a lot of people, doing distances like that on a treadmill aren't crazy. For me? Insane. I'm the type of person that by mile 3, I'm bored out of my mind. Today though? I was able to go pretty well for ten.

The funny thing is, it wasn't even very cold outside. The weather actually has been pretty nice the last few days. I just didn't want to go outside. Eh.

I suppose America's Next Top Model is a pretty good distraction.

Actually, I'll have much more daring experiences coming up this weekend. But that's a story for next time.

What's the farthest you've ever run on a treadmill? Are you more of an outside runner or a treadmill-er?

Baking Cookies

2011-12-15T00:39:00.000-08:00

Today I had some people over, and you know what we did? If you said baked cookies while Hannah ate far too many, you'd be right!
And I forgot to take the camera out again. It happens. With me, anyways.

During this baking session, we happened to make one of my favorite holiday cookies of all time: Treasure Cookies.

What are treasure cookies you ask? Here's a look:

Simple, eh. But then split it open:

And that's where the magic happens. To make it, you pretty much just take a piece of candy. Then wrap it in cookie dough. Then bake it. Amazingness.
Really, it's just an excuse for me to be able to eat more peanut butter cups.

I think my favorite overall cookie is chocolate chip though. When I was younger, I adored snicker doodle. Don't know why I don't love them as much anymore. Perhaps it's because of the lack of chocolate.

This is my favorite seasonal cookie. This doesn't seem like it's very festive, but this is the only time that we usually make them. Probably because if we made them at any other time of the year, we'd all gain twenty pounds every week.

Cookies. Just one of the best desserts ever in my opinion.

What's your favorite type of cookie? Do you have a special occasion cookie?

Text Savvy

2011-12-14T00:06:00.000-08:00

Goodness, every time I start writing something, I instantly delete it. Guess I'm not in the writing mindset? Well, let's try this anyway.

I am part of what's called a "technological generation". Apparently, our generation is supposed to know all about tech, be using it constantly, and be up to date on everything every second. As I've said before, I am not tech savvy. Sure, there are things that I find to be simple knowledge with tech that trouble older generations, but for many things I'm not sure I fit the mold quite well.

Part of my lack of tech savvy-ness? Texting.

One of the things that we're supposed to know how to do and be doing it constantly is texting. Of course I know how to text, but I don't do it as often as the rest of my age group seems to. A habit I have is to read a text and forget it.
Maybe this isn't just me. Maybe a lot of people are like this. However, from everyone else my age I've seen they're texting ten times as much as me.

Oh, also I don't abbreviate on texts. I write full sentences 90% of the time. What, am I trying to send an email? I don't know. Eh.

Yup. I really am having some writer's block, can't you tell? Well, tomorrow I'll have stuff to talk about. We're baking cookies! (Meaning me and some friends.)

Are you text savvy?

Wrapping Gifts

2011-12-13T00:58:00.000-08:00

Do you ever have those days where you simply take forever just to get going? No? Just me? Ah well.

The funny thing is, I didn't even get up at a terribly late hour. I just couldn't get moving! The winter haze is starting to creep up on me, and it's not a good thing. Still, I am sticking to my guns and trying to be productive.

Today's productive task? Wrapping Christmas presents.

Actually probably some of my better work.

I told my mom that I'd be happy to wrap the Christmas presents this year, saving her the work. Honestly it doesn't take much effort, but it's just time-consuming. I'm happy to wrap Christmas presents, but there's just one little problem I have: I'm terrible at it.

Will your gift get covered in festive paper? Yes indeed. Will it also have huge chunks of paper sticking messily out the side? Yup.

I can still get a gift wrapped though. I think that's all that really matters because in the end, we just want to rip some paper off of a box.

Are you good at wrapping?

Shopping for Christmas

2011-12-12T00:13:00.000-08:00

The day after I talk about being frugal with money, what do I do? I help my mom go on a shopping spree. Ha I kid, but I helped her buy Christmas gifts today. Including my Christmas gifts. Yeah, it's a little odd.

There are pros and cons to knowing what gifts you're going to get for Christmas/Birthdays/etc. The obvious pro is that you'll get what you want. The con? The surprise is gone.

I think the thing with surprise is that it's a little like magic. Sound goofy? What's the biggest thing needed for magic tricks? The element of surprise. You don't know how they pulled that rabbit out of the hat, and once you do it's not exciting. Personally, I love surprises. One of the coolest birthdays I had was getting a surprise party. (It would have been awesome, if not for the fact that I was feeling super sick right before getting surprise. Ew.)
Still, despite the surprise being gone I'm okay with it. Sure surprise is nice, but my mom needed help with her shopping. I just don't want to wrap my own Christmas presents is all I'm saying.

Truth is, there are things that I'd like. The thing is I'm always thinking, "I don't really need it." It kind of goes in a terrible circle though. I feel guilty about having money spent on me, but by explaining this, I make my mother feel guilty about spending money. I'm not trying to make her feel guilty, I'm the one who feels guilty. Oy. I just have psychological issues with money I suppose.

One of the funny things about shopping is how tired it makes you feel. I suppose it's because you're on your feet all day, but it simply doesn't register.

That was my shopping day. Yup.

Do you like knowing your gifts? Or would you rather be surprised by a gift you might not want?

Saturday Night and Such

2011-12-10T21:04:00.000-08:00

Whenever I have trouble starting out a blog, I start surfing the web. It happens. I suppose it's because my thoughts are a tad scattered tonight.

Good news on the book selling front: I already sold a book! Granted, it was probably for a lot cheaper than it should have been, but I think I made a decent buck. Well, once I get paid.

On another note, new SNL tonight! Huzzah! I keep forgetting what day it is, and it's barely been two days. It may seem like I've been watching a lot of television, but I'm really not. One thing I had to watch? My Theatre professor from last year being on a television show. WHAT. That's the craziest thing ever! So nicely done Ted. Sorry you had to be eaten by rats. (Grimm is a pretty morbid show.)

My aunt was thinking about me when she saw these adorable little loaf pans!

I can't wait to use them! Also, can you tell my family members like to shop? They just buy things... even if it's not for a holiday gift or anything. Just because it's there. I it's a very nice trait, but I'm glad I don't have a weakness for buying things "just because they're there". I'm surprised the members of my family haven't gone broke.
I simply never buy things on a whim, really. That includes for myself. The last thing I bought "on a whim" for myself was in October, when I bought a Portland Marathon Mug, a headband, and a sticker for my car. Unless you count half marathon registration in November? I dunno.

I really thought I would have a lot more to say today, but honestly I do not. It's just one of those days I suppose.

What was the last thing you bought "on a whim?"

A Start on Winter Break

2011-12-09T23:55:00.001-08:00

Winter Break is here! Huzzah!

Okay, I'll stop talking about finals now. I'm just glad that I don't have to study anymore. Funny thing is, when I was actually able to waste my time on the computer, I really didn't want to.

Last winter break? I wasted lots of time. This winter break, I have only two goals: Accomplish as many things as possible. Always keep busy.

Currently, still trying to figure out what all of that is that I'm going to apparently accomplish. However, I've totally gotten a good start on it.

After dozing off, I started to get to work. (Chlo, when you called me I was barely awake. Driving did not sound like a fun idea at that time.)

Selling text books has always been something that I've never really wanted to deal with. Figuring out selling things online? Obnoxious. Selling them to the bookstore though? Talk about getting nothing for your books. The thing is, they're not getting me any money by just sitting on the shelf of my closet. That's why tonight I put up quite a few books for sale on Amazon. Exciting! It also includes a few of my old manga. Now, let's just hope that people buy them.

Other than selling books, I'm hoping to do a lot more this winter break. Think earning money with odd jobs and finding ways to see friends. Trying to job search. Perhaps some reading? Running is in there too, but that's a given.
What are your plans for the holiday season?

Do Over

2011-12-08T21:37:00.000-08:00

I don't have a lot of time tonight, so we're going to make this quick.

Fact: If I were able to do this week over, I would in a heartbeat. Because this week? Not my best show.

I wasted so much time this week, and it wasn't pretty. Not even in good ways, except for running. It's obnoxious.

This is the problem I have with a lot of free time. When I do have a lot of free time, I waste it. When I'm busy, I actually use my time wisely. And yes, I know that I've talked about this before. I'm not very original tonight, I happen to have an 8:00 AM final tomorrow that is zapping my desire to be witty.

Will I get bad grades this term? Probably not. I did all of my homework, and I actually concentrated in class. I... well, I guess you can say I learned. I'm assuming it'll be between an A- and a B for almost all of my classes. Except for maybe EC, but I'm hoping the curve will help me out. Good lord I hope so.

I know, I know. This is the whole, "I only got 98%!?" argument, but I'm being kind of positive on this one.

As for fall term? Not my shining moment. I know that they always say, "Live life to your fullest!", but that totally did not occur this term.

Funny thing is, I ran a marathon this term. It was early on though, so it felt different. And I'm glad I got involved. Still you know how they ask, "If you could do anything over, what would it be?" November to the end of this term. Totally would push redo.

Now, I have to go back to studying. Really, I just want to be done with tests. I think the reason I'm being so bad with procrastination is the knowing that tests are what should be taking up my time. I dunno.

If you could do a chunk of time over, what time would it be?

Birthday Association

2011-12-07T23:57:00.000-08:00

Yes, it's totally acceptable to have "One of those weeks." Mine would have been like that if it weren't for the break I have tomorrow.

Today I looked at my calendar and realized, "Hey, it's my grandma's birthday! I need to call her!"
Did I have her birthday written down on the calendar? Oh no. Instead, the words on said calendar were "National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day".

Needless to say, this is a horrible way of remembering your grandmother's birthday. However, it's how I've always remembered it because of the story we were told. Yes, one year on grandma's birthday they were listening to the radio... AND THE BOMBS HIT. While she was happily opening her presents seconds before.
No one wants to associate terrible things with happy occasions, like your grandmother being alive for another year. Yet, I'm always able to remember her birthday. I also don't this I would remember the day of Pearl Harbor, unless I needed to for some history class. That sound terrible? You know that's the only reason you remember dates like that.

Back then, I would assume it would be similar to having your birthday on the same day as 9/11.

Actually, I know someone who has his birthday on said day. He has some swell muttonchops.

I don't mean to be morbid, I'm simply stating facts. It makes me think of my birthday. I don't have any major events that occurred on my birthday other than it's National Peanut Day. (Well, except for one site saying apparently the universe was created on my birthday. But that's another story.) It would only be a tragedy if I had a nut allergy.

I've always remembered birthdays because of holidays too. Both one of my cousins and one of my best friends have birthdays the day after Valentine's Day. My dad has the same birthday as Mickey Mouse. Okay, that's not why I know my dad's birthday, but I think that's the coolest fact.

I guess what I'm saying is that I'm terrible at remembering birthdays and the only way I'm able to do it is by date association. Sounds about right.

Other than that, only have one final left! Friday at 8:00 AM. Economics. Hoo boy. But that does mean I have pretty much all of tomorrow free. Except for another part of my HPHY final I have to finish online, which is basically the same test, but we get to do it on the computer and have all of the answers. Hmm. Those are disgustingly awful sentances, please ignore their structures. Honestly, I should stop talking while I'm behind.

Do you know anyone with a birthday on a holiday/significant day?

One of those days

2011-12-06T21:23:00.000-08:00

Can we say it's been one of those days? Because it's been one of those days.

One of those days where you end up falling asleep in the fetal position on the floor of your apartment for 15 minutes.

One of those days you try to find anything to distract you from your flashcards that you've looked at multiple times at yet still don't feel prepared.

One of those days where you study, but the information simply doesn't click.

One of those days where you wish you had everything you needed to function how you usually do in your apartment. Like being able to run in your apartment. Or take tests. Because who really needs fresh air?

There's never really a true definition of "one of those days", but sometimes certain days are just one of those days.
I think that taste of vacation wasn't good for me. Especially since when there are finals, there aren't classes. It's like it's teasing me.
Can you tell logical, coherent posts are not on the schedule for this week? I assumed it would not continue this way, but here we are.

Well, I must be off to look at more information that I will most likely forget in a few weeks. Tally ho!

When was the last time you had "One of those days"?

Feeling Finals

2011-12-05T23:19:00.000-08:00

Let's just move on from yesterday's post, shall we? Because that junk was ridiculous.

Currently, I'm in study zone for my first final that is happening tomorrow at 3:15 PM. Personally, I like morning tests the best. That way, you're not thinking about it all day, and you're fresh. If you get sleep that is.

Although for tomorrow? Sort of glad it's in the afternoon. The fact is, I'm nervous about this test. I've been able to answer all of my flashcards, but still... I don't feel that great about it.

I thought I did pretty well on the midterm for this class, but then I did less than great. Well, not as well as I thought I could have gotten. Meh.

Funny how our perception of how we did on a test can be completely different from how we actually do. For myself, when I feel good about my test I do badly. When I feel terrible about a test... I do even worse. Or surprisingly good.
Yeah, this isn't true all of the time, but this is how I instantly think about these things now.

Test... I am not excited for you. That's all I have to say.

How does your perception of how you did on a test actually affect the outcome?

Getting Your Zzzzs

2011-12-04T20:22:00.000-08:00

Holiday parties I have gone to since this month started: 2
Times I have worn my ugly sweater meant for such events: 4 times.

You can see how this is a problem. It's so warm though! Don't worry, I'm not wearing it in public.

Due to the fact that sleep is currently the main thing on my mind, let's talk about it now shall we?

In high school, I was never that kid who could stay up until 2 every night and function like a normal person. Oh no. I needed my sleep. If I had anything under 6 hours, I pretty much became brain dead.

Guess what? I'm still like that, although now I need to go to bed early as well. Aw yeah, I am the cool kid.

Hmm. I thought I would have a lot more to say about that, but apparently I do not. Last night's total hours of sleep? 3.5. Yeah.

I think I'm going to bed right now.

How many hours of sleep do you need to function?

An All Black Kind of Day

2011-12-03T18:07:00.000-08:00

Two early day posts in a row? What is this? That's just how we're gonna roll, I suppose.

This has been an all black day, for clothes at least. I wore my all black running outfit for most of the day, and tonight is initiation which is all black required.

Been taking a lot of pictures of myself lately. Huh.

Being slightly nerdy I instantly thought, "I look like a ninja!" in my running outfit.Which is always makes you feel cool, because ninjas are awesome. Fun fact though, ninjas actually didn't look like what we think they look like. They didn't wear things like this:

Instead, they really wore normal clothes as to blend in with the crowds. A true way to be undectected, rather than jumping around in black pajamas.

The whole black outfit did make me think of an occasional outfit that I do end up wearing, depending on the situation. That outfit is something I call The Lazy Ninja.

The Lazy Ninja: When you realize that you're wearing both a black sweatshirt and black sweatpants. I discovered the lazy ninja last winter break while sittin' cozy watching movies. I saw my reflection on the mirror, a little shocked to see what could be a ninja that had let herself go. Thus, the lazy ninja was born.
I believe the only other person who knows of this is my sister, and she only knows about it because I mentioned it causually on the phone or something.

I think this should be a thing. Because who hasn't had a moment where they realized on their lazy day they were wearing all black sweats. Right?

Welp, I need to head off. Hopefully, tonight will be an exciting night!

What's an all black outfit that you like?

The Allergy Test

2011-12-02T16:23:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone.

What is that paper that I'm holding, you ask? Well, it's a paper that I received yesterday after a little doctor's appointment I had. A paper letting me know that I can't eat a food that I adore.

It's official. I'm allergic to shrimp. And crab, apparently. Funny thing is, I'm not allergic to lobster, so there's that buttery goodness still on the menu.

It's kind of obvious, but I wasn't always allergic to shrimp. I used to love shrimp. It's also featured in a lot of healthy recipes. All was fine until one day I ate some, and something was off. My throat felt a little itchy, and my face got a bit of a rash. I thought, "Oh maybe it's cooked weird since we're in Mexico." At least that's what I hoped.
A few months later, I had some shrimp again at a family shrimp cookout. A few pieces and the weird itchy throat feeling was back. Oh no.

I tried to deny it, thinking that only two little times shouldn't be a big deal. On the other hand, I had that fear in the back of my mind. My mother was freaked out I was going to die, so she told me to make an allergy test appointment.

Have you ever gotten an allergy test done? It's a little weird. They poke your arm with samples of the potential allergens, then see which ones itch. They also have a control, which is meant to itch. So even if you're not allergic to anything, you'll still end up itching.

You can't really tell, but the one that's more pink and it second left one closest to me is shrimp. Boohoo.

Also, you know the prescription up there? That's for an epi-pen. I have to get a freakin' epi-pen. Just in case. I never thought I would need anything like that!

Well, I suppose I can be thankful that I'm not allergic to peanuts which is what I eat for breakfast almost everyday. (Peanut butter on toast with a hint of jam... delicious.) And I don't really care about the crab, because I've never liked crab anyway.

Oh shrimp. We'll always have that delicious garlic-y pasta dish from that restaurant a few years ago.

Have you ever had an allergy test? What's a weird allergy you have?

Ugly Sweaters and White Elephant Gifts

2011-12-02T00:22:00.000-08:00

As usual, December 1st is when I finally start getting into the Christmas spirit. Play your Christmas music to me now, because then it won't get old too early. Christmas movies? I shall get into watching you now. Well once finals are over. Whatever.
Anywho, as the holiday celebrations have begun, that mean holiday parties are happening too! I happened to go to my first of the season, the Chrismahanakwanzakah party help by the APO fellowship chair. Pretty much ugly sweaters and white elephant.

I didn't win ugliest sweater, but I think I had a pretty spiffy one.

Sadly enough, this is one of my mom's old sweaters. It's just... the colors. No.

I've never really done a White Elephant before, but I've heard that you're supposed to get simply ridiculous gifts. That meant perusing the RV Garage. Where junk goes to live. I managed to grab a Harlequin romance novel courtesy of my mom, and an old beanie baby shark. It was bizarre, and delightful. Hell, I didn't even read what the book was about but when the person who got it did... it was ridiculous.

My gift? A reversible sweatshirt thing. Huh. All I know is that I have to wash it, but it actually could be nice to wear for lazy day wear. Maybe.

Oh goodness, I need to go to bed. Excited that tomorrow is Friday, but that means finals are that much closer. Ew.

Have you ever been to a White Elephant? What's a ridiculous gift that you've received?

Random Thoughts and Goals for December

2011-11-30T23:57:00.000-08:00

Before we get started, I'm just gonna toss out a few things on my mind.

I'm getting an allergy test tomorrow, to see if it's true that I can't have shrimp. I hope it's not. I love shrimp, I don't want it to hurt me.
For the last two days, I've had the lyrics "An elephant never forgets, so my dick remembers everything" stuck in my head. Yeah. I like the song "Freaks and Geeks" by Childish Gambino, although all I can think is, "Silly Troy, why are you rapping?"
I got accepted to be a member of APO! Yah! I did all of the stuff, so it was kind of expected but still. Huzzah!
Why is it that I can't bake small things? I always burn the bottoms. I never have this problem with loaves. Sure, the rest of it is fine but burnt bottoms are never fun. I ended up scraping off the bottoms of some Chocolate chip scones so they're acceptable to give away.
It's my mother's birthday! Happy birthday mom, love ya! Thanks for raising me to be mostly normal.
This week has been Dead Week, and it's actually been surprisingly dead for me. I have a paper to edit for Friday but other than that... classes have been reviewing stuff. I know that a lot of the people are doing projects this week, but I also think that they have less to do during finals week. I do have three finals...

Are we good? We're good. Anywho, what I wanted to talk about today are goals. I see bloggers always posting their goals, and it seems like a good way to stay on track. They say that it takes 21 days to form a habit. Or is it 28? Whatever. All I'm saying is that it's time I make monthly goals.
I'll admit, I actually did have a goal for November, and I stuck to it pretty well. It was:

Eat 2 servings of fruits and 2.5 servings of veggies
Only one serving of cooked veggies a day
Only one dried fruit for a fruit serving per day

Other than Thanksgiving where everyone has plates of tan and white, I did quite well on this! I ate salad, and I even got back into grapes! I used to not like grapes because I'd always grab the bunch with the gross squishy ones. It tainted my memory of grapes.

Now that we're starting December (!) it's time to work on a new goal. I actually have two things to work on this month. First, is to track my computer time and cut way back. I've talked about my obsession with the computer, and it's horrendous. The thing is, I never actually see how much time I spend on it. I think if I track computer use, it'll make me want to spend less time on it because of all of the shame I will feel.

My other goal is to not spend money on soda or gum. Now, this is kind of cheap since I'm going to probably spend a good chunk of time at my parents' house (which is always stocked with some sort of diet soda). However, I'll push this through January as well. Gum and soda? I should not waste money on you. Even if you are delicious. The biggest problem I have with this though is that I like having some sort of flavor in my mouth at all times. Yeah, that sounds dirty. Due to this, I tend to munch more when I don't have something occupying my taste buds with zero calories. Guh.

I think it'll be good just to have two goals per month, because it's easier to work your way up. At least that's what I'm hoping will happen.

I don't want to go to classes anymore. I want it to be winter break now. Can we arrange that, with me still getting good grades in my classes? No? Boo.

Do you have any goals for December?

Wish Lists are Boring

2011-11-29T21:43:00.000-08:00

I'm procrastinating getting in the shower. What is going on? I used to love showers. I suppose that's what happens when you have to fight against the clock for a warm shower. Goodness.

As we are getting closer and closer to the holiday season, it's around this time that we start asking the people around us, "What do you want for Christmas/Hanukkah/WhateverDecemberholidayyoucelebratethatyouhavetoshopfor?" Let's face it, you're getting/giving gifts in December no matter what you celebrate. It's just how the world works now.

The thing is, there are phases of gift-receiving that we all go through. The biggest and main one comes when we're kids. When we're kids, we want EVERYTHING. Our lists are a mile long, or really expensive. Either way, the more gifts mean the more exciting your morning is going to be. Then there's the phase that I'm currently in. It's called, "I don't really want any gifts, because I would rather have money so I'm not broke." This phase isn't fun for anyone. This phase may also mix with the "practical gift phase", because at this point that's what we need. Toys are a waste of money and space. We adults do not need trinkets, they are useless. (I keep on wanting to call myself a teenager lately. Good lord, I'm twenty. How did that happen?)

I admit, there's nothing I really need but that's not the main reason I've said, "I don't need anything for Christmas just money." The biggest reason I've been asking for money is because of the (hopefully) studying abroad. The last few days all I've done is apply for scholarships and jobs, but I like ~~easy~~ gift money.
On the other hand, I've been thinking about gifts lately. I realized that yes, there are a few things that I actually would like. I'm only reluctant to ask, because I'd rather have cash. Eh. Yes, I know that wish lists make for obnoxious posts, but I'm going to do it anyways. Anywho, I present to you my Christmas Wish List.

Source

1. Microsoft Office
Did I say fun gifts? Because I meant gifts that I need. Yes, my computer doesn't have Microsoft Word. It's got some default program that comes on the computer. Did you know that Microsoft Office doesn't come with all computers? I certainly did not when I got my computer as a graduation gift. I've been able to handle documents just fine without it, but it's annoying, and files don't send right. I just would like to be with modern times.

Source

2. Cellphone GPS holder
Don't worry, I have some fun holiday wishes but in reality I want this. I get lost all of the time, so I use the GPS on my phone. It's useful, but I have to look at the phone in my lap for directions. Not so useful. I saw that my aunt has one of these, and they seem really awesome.

3. Community Season 1
For all of my Community praise, I have to admit I haven't seen all of the first season. This was at a time when I didn't know what a Hulu was (Now my terrible addiction), so I always missed it when it was on. I only started watching it online when I saw the 1st paintball episode.Usually, I'm a watch an episode only once type of girl and then I'm done, but Community is one of those shows where I can watch certain ones a few times. Like the zombie Halloween episode. Arrested Development falls into this category as well.

4.Itunes
Itunes are boring. But I want music. Mainly The Lonely Island. Apparently all I listen to is fake rap.

That's my list. Like I said, older kids? Boring lists. I've always sucked to shop for, in case you're wondering.

What's on your Holiday Wish List?

The Power of a Petition

2011-11-28T20:18:00.000-08:00

Shit's going down here at the U of O.

Y'see, drama started right before Thanksgiving break when the current president of the school received word that his contract was not reinstated for the upcoming year. This has caused an uproar from many of the faculty and students at the school because many of them think that he is doing a good job. Apparently, the problem comes from his ideas about changing the school from being funded by the state to funding itself after taking out a big loan. His ideas might also change the school to be similar to a private school in a way. The whole thing is that the state (or the people in charge) don't like this idea, so they think it's time he left. Overall, I don't really know a lot about it. What I've learned about the situation is what I've talked to others about or have been told about. All I know is that people are not happy, and they're letting the world hear them.

For instance, quite a few people have donned the picture of "the hat" as their profile picture. "The hat" is apparently a symbol of the president because he wears a certain hat all of the time. Other ways that people are participating are by making petitions.

Here's the thing. I love the effort that people make for something they really care about. I'm all for it. However, I don't think that petitions work. No matter how much love is put behind something, when the top dogs have made a decision, they've made a decision.

There's an alternative reason that I've brought this up, and it has to do with one of my favorite television shows: Community.
If you're a fan of Community, you've heard about the fact that it's not on the mid-season list of shows. Meaning it's probably going to be cancelled. Now, Community fans are a bit eccentric, but they love their show. One of the things that sucks about the whole thing is that a lot of Community's fanbase resides online. I can't watch Community when it's on air, I can only watch it on Hulu. I think this is how it is for a lot of the fans.
Due to the fact that the Internet includes a huge Community fan base, there are a ton of protests/petitions/etc for Community online. ...Can you see where I'm going with this?

I love Community, but I'm not so sure on how well the petitions are actually going to work. Not like I don't have hope (I'm very very very hopeful), but for every "Betty White to Host SNL!" petitions, there are a hundred other petitions with arguments from hopeful fans.

Still, I did sign the online Save Community petition. Because I still hope that it's not done for good.

#Sixseasonsandamovie.

Do you believe in the power of a petition? Or do you think it's unrealistic?