The Scantron Situation

Have you ever had that nightmare where you get to a test, and even though you got everything you needed, something big is missing? Well let me tell you a little story...

As I mentioned yesterday, I was anticipating an exam today. I knew everything that was needed. I made sure I had my number 2 pencil. I even made sure that I had the right type of scan tron sheet.

I arrive early to the exam, and get ready Pencil... wait. Where's my folder with my scan trons? That I always have in my backpack, and never take out? Not here, apparently.

This leads me to dash over to the bookstore, where I know they have some. As I tear through my bag, I discover my wallet's not in there. I had just taken it out to write down my payment for rent. And not put it back. For some reason.

I ended up having to run back to my apartment, grabbing the folder, and dashing off. But not before having the key get stuck in the lock (this is a usual thing) and having to yank it out, causing the key ring to slingshot back at me. This comes back later.

I finally managed to get back with everything for the exam, and even before they had handed out the exams to a third of the hall. All is well. Alas, to add to the bizarre-ness of nightmare situations, I look over and my right hand is covered in blood. Apparently the key-ring sliced open the knuckle on my finger.


A bit of the blood was still there after I wiped it off. Ew.

 Thankfully, everything turned out. I did look like I was going to pass out at one point though. I think I did pretty well on the exam, oddly enough. We'll see.

I told this tale to my sister to which she sneered, "That's why you check your bag again. God."

The thing is, I am that person who checks over everything a million times. I had that folder in my backpack all morning, and have no idea why it was out. I never take it out. I check my school email multiple times for events, just to make sure. I always know how much money I have in my bank account, and write down every purchase I make including ones with cash. I even have a list of things to have in my backpack. I'm not an irresponsible person! I swear! Hell, my sister has even been the one to tell me to loosen up of my Type A ways.

I think I'm just losing it. Plain and simple. I'm getting to the point where I'm stressed out so I'll just shut down. It's not a good thing. I shouldn't be so stressed, but I am! I hate this unorganized mind I have going on. I just want to be my usual self.

For now, I need to get on some homework, but I'll see y'all later.

Have you ever had a "nightmare" situation in real life?

Life Unsettled

Day two of school! Which included Economics. And it's already got me stressing. We've already started going through the information super fast, although at the same time, I'm pretty sure I understand the information. It's just when you have a class that's graded only on exams and quizzes, you start to worry.

Really, I can't think right now. Nothing in my life is settled. My room isn't settled. My apartment isn't settled. My classes aren't settled. Nothing is completed right now, and it's stressing me out. I just want one thing to be done, that's all. One little thing checked off of my list. But the list keeps growing, and I can't keep up. I'll be more interesting tomorrow.

Big Goals, Future Goals

So Spanish. We've been meeting for five weeks now, and it's been going pretty well hasn't it? Actually, it's been draining. I'm glad that after this summer fling, we'll part on our own paths. Because four hours of Spanish? It's not a great deal.

Thursdays are quite crazy for me. Waking up at 7:00 A.M., then getting home at 7:00 P.M? What is this, the real world? From that, you might be able to realize that I don't have many exciting stories from the day.

That does get me thinking about the real world though. I seem to have a new idea about how I should live my life every second. Should I go? Should I stay? What would be the best plan for the future? Who knows if I should worry about the future, and instead worry about the now?
Then I have a new idea on what to do with my life when I see my English muffin pop up from the toaster, making me think of some metaphor for life.
Not really, but almost.

I want to do a lot of things in life. Who doesn't? For now, I have one main goal, and that's to run the marathon in October. After that, we'll see what big goal I make next.

I'd worry about weight and such, but for now... Ugh. This training is screwing with my appetite and body weight. I think I'm getting bigger, which feels like a disappointment but then I think, "Who else other than myself cares that much about my weight?" It feels like I'm disappointing someone, but I shouldn't be stressed about it.
I'd rather stress about figuring out things I need for living next year, driving arrangements, and my race.

Long run tomorrow... Hoo boy.

What are your big goals right now?

Leaving Early, Coming Back Late

Left the house at 7:45 AM. Returned home at 9:30 PM. Yeah, it's been one of those days.

One of the reasons I didn't make it home until so late was because my mom and I visited a family member in the hospital. He had surgery on his back which has been giving him problems for a long time.
When we got to the hospital, we saw my cousin (his wife) with tears welling up in her eyes. Before, I hadn't really been too freaked out about his surgery (don't worry, it went fine. It was just really long.), but when I saw her face like that, I was spooked. It wasn't really because she was teary, but because she's the family member I've always seen be strong. She's always been tough. I know it's just because she was worried and stressed, but when you see someone you've always known as tough at a weak moment... It's scary.

Brain fried, and it all starts again tomorrow. Woo.

Who's one of the toughest people in your life? Have you ever seen them at a weak moment?

Running Worries and Favorite Classes

Tomorrow is scary. Events are occurring, I need to do my long run tomorrow... Gah. But that's tomorrow, let's think about today, shall we?

Actually, speaking of running, I am oddly sore. Really, I'm all off on my running mojo. This may be the reason I'm a little spooked on my long run tomorrow. However, what really worried me is what happened after my run this morning. Apparently, I was a lot hungrier than I thought I was after my run, because I got really light headed. Usually, I have some fruit before my run, and that's enough until after my run then later eat something else. While waiting for my food to cook today after my run though, I started to get dizzy. It wasn't until I was over at the dining hall that this started to happen, which makes it even weirder. Luckily, I got some juice in me for a quick fix until my food was ready. Still... worrisome.

A question that I've been asked, as I'm sure many of you have been asked has been, "What's been your favorite class in college?"
Before recently, I had no answer to this. I also understand that my opinions on what my favorite class has been will most likely change because I'll have taken many more classes. Alas, I believe that I've come up with an answer to this:
History of Fashion.
I'm not even sure if the time spent during the class has counted as my favorite class time. It's not necessarily about that though. I love the knowledge that I'm getting from the class. There are so many different types of clothing, and so many things look quite similar. On the other hand, there are so many things that I'd seen before and did not have a name for.
Plus, if you've never heard me say it before, I'll say it again. I love spouting out facts. This class has been perfect for that.

"Did you know the only women who wore togas were prostitutes or fallen women?"
"That shoe is called a Chopine, and it looks like a hoof. It's from the Elizabethan period. Also, during the Restoration period red shoes meant you were of nobility."
"People have worn some weird outfits. Do you want to see pictures of them, and see what they're called? Because I totally have pictures."
"Geez I want to wear an Ionic Chiton. Also a Fontage. They are so ridiculous, it's amazing."

I feel like I've become such a costume nerd, and I love it. For instance, when watching POTC, I was seriously thinking (and muttering, 'cause I'm a little crazy and I feel like it's necessary I speak my thoughts), these things:
"Hmm, he's wearing a Waistcoat and a Cassock coat. Oh, there's a Tricorne. Wigs! Ha, no wonder we call the Restoration period the Pirates of the Caribbean period. Dangit, what are the women's dresses called again? (It was a Manteau gown. I keep on forgetting those.) I think that's a Great coat..."

See? Costume nerd. Now, I don't know if this fasination with naming off costume parts will continue on after this class is over. Will I care after I no longer require the knowledge? I hope so.

Oh, and in case you're wondering, this is a Fontage:



It's the hat. Yeah.

It's a hat that so ridiculous it was made fun of even when it was in fashion. I think an example of that today would be Uggs. Or better yet, pants with writing on the rear.

That's what has been on my mind for the day. I've got a packed next two days! Goodness. Starting to get super nervous about tomorrow... We'll see how that turns out.

What was your favorite class in college?

Strugglebus and Being The President

Having a day off really messes with your mind. I keep thinking that it's Tuesday, and clearly it's not.

Speaking of that, I've been a strugglebus for this whole week. I realize you may not know what strugglebus means. It's a phrase created by my sister and one of my aunts to express that you are... well, struggling. Such as things that shouldn't take much effort are extremely difficult. The phrase is based on buses and cars that you see that look like they're barely able to putt along the road. This week has definitely been a strugglebus week. I stayed up late on Monday night to finish an assignment, and I haven't really gotten that sleep back. Also, I may be getting sick. Not a good thing.

Today I've been thinking about politics and such, mainly because we talked about it in one of my classes. There was another reason why, but I don't quite remember. Now, I'm not here to talk about political views, arguments, and all of that. I'm not really in the mood for argument or debate. What I do want to talk about is the President. I'm not just talking about the current president, I'm talking about the job of being a president.

When I was younger, I thought that being president would be an extremely amazing job. I remember reading So You Want To Be a President?, thinking, "Yes! Yes I do want to be president!" However, as I've gotten older, I've realized that being president would be a terrible job. I have two main reasons why.

Reason one? No matter how hard you try, no matter how many things you do, there will always be a group of people who hate you. I don't think I can ever think of a president who is an exception to this rule, and I don't expect to. You see, any party you are a part of is against another party. Well, duh but this leads to the point that there's always a group from the opposing side that doesn't like your face. Actually, they might like your face, but not what you stand for.

Reason two? First of all, you know that new POTC movie that's out? (which I saw last weekend). Anyway, the story is about the Fountain of Youth. Presidency is the complete opposite of that.
Perhaps you've heard the stories of terrible stress that many of the presidents have gone through. I want to say it's Eisenhower that was photographed in the war room with his head hanging low (I could be wrong, I'm not very good at remembering presidents), due to the stress caused by the war. Along with at least one group of people hating you, the president has a lot of stress to deal with. War, money, laws, all of that jazz. Much of the population might believe that the president has a lot more power than he actually has. Really, there are a lot of people all around him that make decisions about what's going down.
Anywho, about the aging thing? If you look at Obama at the beginning of his term, and where he is now... it's really depressing. I'd show pictures, but I can't find any good examples.

Therefore, as I've grown up I've had my political dreams crushed. In all actuality, the president can do some pretty great things. The president can bring hope, can affect the people emotionally... There's more that presidents can do obviously, but as I have very little knowledge in politics, I can't think of any good specifics.

That's what I've been thinking about today! Also, another fort was made in the hall. This time it was for a contest. We were the honorable mention. Meh. Hope everyone has a lovely evening!

Would you ever want to be President? Why or why not?

Orientation and Feeling Sickly

So here's what you missed last time on Glee! what happened yesterday and caused me to basically not be able to write any coherent thoughts.

It all started yesterday at Orientation. I woke up at about 7, believing that the orientation started at 10. You see, they told me that I would be receiving a letter with all of the information for the day. I never received said letter, but when I called the office they told me that it would start at ten. I was still nervous that the time wouldn't be correct, so I checked online... Online it said 7:30. Rushing out the door and hitching a ride, I was terrified that I would miss something.
I arrived at 7:50. Time of actual start? 10. Just... like she told me. Geez. So, ended up waiting for a couple hours just for things to start.

It was weird going around campus by myself. My lack of sense of direction helped me get a lot of walking in. I never realized it before, but the campus is quite pretty.

Not sure if it's as pretty as WOU though.

Speaking of WOU, weird thing happened. At my freshman orientation at WOU, there were PLUS team members that showed us around. I saw my PLUS team member at transfer orientation. Kind of awkward, kind of hilarious.

I had lunch, and that's when I started to get sick.

All I can say is that I felt awful. Even though my sister is sick herself, she helped me out while I was hardcore strugglebusing. I'm thinking that I may have gotten food poisoning, because I got sick. I could hardly move, and the only reason that I managed to type out what I typed out yesterday was because I had just hurled, making me feel slightly better for the moment. (TMI, yes.)

The weird thing that pissed me off the most was that today I was supposed to run my long run today. I ended up running a mile around the local track just so I wouldn't pass out in the middle of nowhere. It just- ARG.

Pretty much all I did today was sleep. I woke up, drove home, slept, woke up, slept again, ran a bit and showered. And here we are.

One of the worst things about getting sick? You feel like you've had the crap kicked out of you.

Probably going to bed soon? I think so. Oh, and huzzah! We all survived the rapture. Pish.

When was the last time you got sick? How did it affect the rest of your life?

The Whirlpool Effect and Easing Stress

Well Tuesday, it seems I have been able to conquer you for another day I guess.

Last night I played Just Dance with the hall. It is seriously really fun, and I suggest playing it. The funny thing is, even if you dance badly with this game, you can blame your lack of skills on the game.

Today was just... not pleasant. It was one of those day where something I would like to call the Whirlpool Effect happened.

I received one comment today that let's just say was displeasing to me. This question sparked worry and pessimism. Ideas began to sprout out like, "Well, if A is like this, than this must mean I'm bad at B, C, D, etc." Then all of those ideas sprout all of these issues that you have with those other problems, so all of these negative thoughts start swirling around. All of the problems are based around that main problem though, and they all swirl like a whirlpool. Here's a chart of it all:

Truthfully, I've been really down and stressed. The thing is, I don't remember myself being this blue as much as I have been lately. I think it might be really because I am stressed. I think there's a lot of things triggering it too such as:

• I am taking 18 credits this term, and that includes Spanish.
• I still have no idea what I'm doing for school next year, and I'm starting to think I really don't want to be stuck at this school.
• Something else that triggered the Whirlpool Effect that didn't even depress me until I was reminded of it. However, I'd rather not mention what.
• I want close friends, and I'm not getting the super-close-best-friends-forever vibe from anyone. Sure, that takes time for most people such as myself. Or maybe I'm just not good at it. My family likes to remind me of this, because pretty much at least one family member hates any one of my friends.

These feelings of feeling blue just make me feel worse because I think, "Did I used to be this gloomy all of the time?" I don't think I was. Something needs to change, or I need to get something to de-stress me.

Even running has been causing me some tension, but you know what? Once I ran today, I felt a lot better. There were things that made me feel stressed still, but I wasn't as angry about them as before I ran.
I hate to be so pissy, and I apologize. Let's look forward to a better tomorrow!

So, what things help you deal with stress?

Just a Little Thing to Boost Your Spirits

Who out there is excited that the week is halfway over? Other than me? I'm quite pumped indeed. (I'm not sure if those words all work in the same sentence.)

The fates seemed to be trying to test me today, trying to bring my mood down. At times, they were pretty good at it too. They happened to start my day off right, with my Clinique clarifying bottle falling to the ground and breaking even before the clock hit seven.

My poor bottle!

I managed to salvage some of it, but it was not a happy thing.

It appeared to be one of those days where the key phrases were, "Well what else can happen today?" and "Oh, there's another thing that needs to be fixed/printed again." Pretty much a lot of things that didn't need to happen to make me busier.

However! As I started to prepare things for tomorrow, a song came on to my ipod that made me light up. I couldn't stop myself. I started to dance like a buffoon around my room, a big goofy grin on my face. After my jam session, I thought about all of the little good things happening in life. I got a lot of work done today. After classes tomorrow, I'll have no more homework for the rest of the week. I have only one class on Friday that starts at 11:00. My weekend is going to be amazing!

Take it from Calvin and Hobbes, they know what they're doing.

Thinking about all of the little bad things is draining. Thinking about the little things that are good is energizing! I'd rather have energy than be a lifeless shell of myself.

If you're wondering what song made me jump up and dance, I was jamming to Love Like Woe by The Ready Set. I don't know what is about that song, but pretty much every time I listen to it, I want to dance! Fun fact about me: I enjoy a lot of music that some may call seriously bad music. Like, music that is extremely ridiculous. Although, I do like tasteful music as well.

Speaking of which, I really like the free song of the week Marathon by Tennis. It's very old fashioned, but in a good way in my opinion.

That's all I think I have for you today. Get ready for the weekend!

What song just makes you want to dance?

Care Packages and Studying Stress

Ugh. Just... Ugh. Well, let's look at something else than ugh, shall we?

Today was my first final! One down, two to go! Truthfully I'd like them all do be done, but there's still much studying to be done! For the last one there is at least.

I received a Finals survival care package from my mom today. She had registered for it with the parent's club before school even started, so she's been talking about it for awhile, wondering why I hadn't gotten it yet. Well, I got it today!

How cute! The note next to it was the personal note that my mom wrote to me. She tends to think I don't eat enough. Honestly, the opposite came into effect today. There were just some fun little treats in there and all that jazz.

Another thing that I receive today was this little card attached to my door.

It's a letter from our RA. She posted them on everyone's doors and wrote little personalized messages in them. How sweet! I was surprised when I read mine though. She said I should really consider becoming an RA!
...Seriously? Wow. Do I seem like the RA type? I didn't think I seemed the leader-y type. Maybe one year I should think about it. Free housing right?

Our fire alarm in the building went off this morning. I now know how LOUD it is. Geezo. I was smart enough not to be wearing cold clothes before leaving the building.

I need it to be winter break, if only for being able to sleep. I ended up waking up at 6 this morning with going to bed around 12, and I don't run well on lack of sleep. I also didn't sleep well this weekend. I may have napped for about an hour this weekend, but it doesn't make up for extra hours loss.
(Also, I've kind of gotten to the breaking point of something  else, and it's beginning to make me pissy. No it's not my time of the month.)

Sorry to be a downer, but I tried to make it a bit light... Right?
The computer will be shut off after this, so some real work can be done for history! Tally ho!

Who usually sends you care packages?

Pedometers and Food Issues

For a second I thought it was Thursday... and that is not the case! I'm a bit glad, actually because I'm running 9 miles on Friday and I'm freaked out. It's only 2 miles more than I ran last Friday, but still! That's a huge number! Let's not think about that now, shall we?

For health class, we have started today wearing pedometers. These pedometers will stay on us for 2 weeks. It's a bit obnoxious, but what are you gonna do? They are extremely sensitive though, so I'm trying not to bounce around. Currently I've got 10,302 steps. Not too shabby!

Now let's change to a more serious subject partially because I have nothing else to write about today and also because I've been thinking about a lot recently. If you don't want to hear me blather on about stress and food, just skip over this, 'kay?
While creating a dietary analysis, I began noticing a pattern that deep down I knew I had been doing. Basically during the week I'd try to eat a lot fewer calories than I needed. By the time the weekend came around, I felt so deprivied that I ate pretty much whatever food was in front of me. You always read about people doing things like this and think, "How ridiculous are these people? Don't they realize what they are doing?" I do realize it, but I haven't wanted to admit it. I need to admit it. My biggest problem is that when I have a treat in front of me, I eat as much of it as possible. So many people have this problem. So much of my own family has this problem. Pretty much I need to learn to have a happy medium. It's easier said then done. Surprisingly, I did this quite well last Thanksgiving. I ate only until I was content, not overstuffed like the once stuffed turkey. I need to retrain my mind, and not worry as much.
I weighed 128.5 on Monday. See? The weight fluctuates. I'm a college student. It needs to be the least of my worries.

I hope you guys don't mind the wordy post from me. It's time for me now to get ahead in my studies! Have a lovely evening!

How do you deal with your food issues?