Congrats to You, Now What?

I'm  in a bad mood. (Yes, that's what you start a blog post with to get people to read it.) But it's true. Little things have been piling up to bother me, but they shouldn't put me in such a funk. Besides, there have been some pretty positive things in my life lately too, but the the bad outweigh the good. In my mind anyway. Plus, I'm avoiding everything. I distract myself, and I just don't want to face things that are important to focus on. I have two midterms on Wednesday, both that seem like they're going to be tough. I thought I did well on my last midterm, but it turns out I did kind of lousy. (Not failing or anything, but nothing to write home about.) I'm just frustrated with myself. I think part of the reason I'm really avoiding work is because I'm just not interested in any of it. Still, it's crappy and I'm just disappointed with myself.

Good lord, no one needs to read that. I just needed to get it off of my chest.

One of the big things happening in my life right now is actually something that is happening in my sister's life right now. She currently has only seven weeks of college left. By that, I mean that after that she's graduating. I know how crazy that seems to me, I can only imagine how crazy that seems to her.

With that I wonder: What type of advice do you give to someone who's graduating, especially if you have never had experience with something like that yourself?


For one thing, we all know of those hypocritical people who constantly give out advice on a subject they have no experience with. Like the person who has weight problems telling you how to diet, or the eternal bachelor giving relationship advice. No one listens to that advice fully because no one can take it seriously.

I suppose all I truly can say is good luck to her and congrats for finishing. Hell, I'm having trouble and I'm in my second year only. Good on ya.

I have not been appreciating this sun today. Goodness gracious. At least I appreciated the nice weather yesterday.

What advice would you give a family member just graduating college?

Time's up!

Deadlines are both a very good and very bad thing. A deadline is a great way to let you budget your time wisely and prepare, yet impending deadlines are terrifying things that can cause a lot of stress.

I'd like to think I'm usually pretty good with deadlines. I get things done ahead of time, and make sure I'm not pulling all-nighters. I don't wait around until the very end.
Yet currently I've got a few big decisions to make that I'm definitely still deciding on and have been for awhile now. There are also some deadlines that are a bit out of my control.

One of the biggest deadlines approaching is the end of the school year. I've got about 48 days left until the end of the school year, and that's both a good and bad thing. I'm excited to move out of my apartment, and already thinking about when I'm moving things. I'm thinking hopefully by deadweek I'll only have my bed, some clothes and food in the apartment. Plus, I'm excited to not think about assignments or exams.
With summer brings the upcoming need for a job. I've been applying for jobs since January (which is how I got this internship), but I still haven't gotten anything that I could do for the summer. Plus, wherever I get a job is where I'm going to live. If I get a job here, my sister said I could stay at her place during the summer because her lease is full year. If I get a job at home, I won't have to pay rent though. The biggest problem is just having a job.

The current reason for the job search (other than, y'know, being a good thing to have) has to do with studying abroad, where my other big deadlines lay. The two big decisions that have been looming are:

• Where I'm living
• When I'm leaving

I would love to stay in independent housing. You're in the city where you want to explore. With homestay, you're 45-75 minutes out of the city. However, I found out that independent housing is about $6500 more. Yeah.
Yes, my parents are helping me out a bit, but even then I don't think it's enough to cover it. If they weren't helping me, I'd still need $3000 for basic program costs. Use that money for exploring? Or use it to live where I want to live?

That connects with my other issue: when I'm leaving. Some advice that I've been given is to travel around while I'm over there, possibly going early or staying later. If I go earlier, it'll be sunnier, but I feel like I'll have less of a grasp of what I'm doing. If I stay later it'll be cold and wet, but I'll be able to meet up with people more easily/know what I'm doing. Plus, I need money to travel around. Which will be easier with a homestay but... See? It's one big crazy circle.

Luckily, I have a mandatory meeting for the program on Monday, so hopefully that'll clear some stuff up. It's with other people who are going to be there, so maybe I'll get to know what they are doing.

Trying something new today. Going to try running after dinner. Yeah. I don't know how this is going to work. I was just super hungry! Geez, I've been hungry all of the time lately.

Do you have any upcoming deadlines?

Subjects of Interest

Yesterday morning I woke up to a strange man in my kitchen.

Ha, no worries! There was a problem with our water heater, and it was leaking onto the people downstairs. Therefore, the landlord sent up a guy to fix our water heater. It was broken. I had no idea.

Funny things that have happened today: in the past hour, it's been sunny, rainy, sunny, pouring, thunder, and sunny again. Welcome to spring folks!

Recently, I've been in a fairly good mood. No reason, not even the sun. It's a weird thing to me because it seems like I should be feeling the opposite. My bike tire popped, I had a midterm, but... Neh. Not feeling bad. I just don't know. Maybe I'm happy it's almost the weekend? Who knows? I just know that I'm not in the mood to be a Debbie Downer.

Speaking of that midterm...

Today I did indeed have a midterm, and you know what? I just didn't care. Alright, that's not 100% true. I always care about tests, but...
I kind of have a confession: This Human Physiology class I'm taking is pretty much the same class I took last term, and the term before that. There's just a little more information added each time. Plus, the test was open book.
True, there was some information I couldn't figure out 100%, but I think it was okay.

I wish I loved science. I think how things work is fascinating. The human body is incredible. The universe is incredible. However, I just don't seem to care. I get terribly distracted, I start doing something else, it doesn't matter what. I'm glad I have no more science requirements after this term.

On the other side of that, I starting thinking about my English midterm in a couple a weeks. The causal thought crossed my mind: "That midterm actually might be fun..."
Um, WHAT? Who is saying these things? I don't know what the hell I was I was thinking. Right?

The thing is, I actually understand this class. I get involved with discussion, I do the readings, and the class doesn't seem to drag like all of my science classes.
Okay, probably won't be FUN. Perhaps more interesting? I dunno.

I'm so glad it's Thursday. Thursdays after class are a good thing for me because I don't have class until noon on Friday. Oh yes.

Have you ever been interested in taking a test?

Looking the Part

Currently, I am not in the position to be looking for a career. I am still looking for just jobs. After I graduate though, I'm going to go into the delightful process of looking for careers. All I have to say about that is I feel sorry for my sister who is about to graduate, but that's not what I'm going to talk about. The whole point of this is that because of this, I don't need many outfits that you would call "professional". My closet consists of sundresses, sundresses, and more sundresses. Sundresses are not what you would call work attire.
As I went to a thing that I needed "business attire" for today, I got to thinking about in the future. When I do (hopefully) get a career started, I'm going to need business clothes for more than just one day. I wondered, "Well how's that going to work?"

Seriously, how does it work? Am I just going to go shopping one day and buy all of my outfits for a week? Then, repeat said outfits everyday for the rest of my life? I don't know. I haven't gotten to the real world yet.

Sure, I know that there are jobs that don't require you to dress in business attire, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to dress that way. What's proper business attire anyways these days? What's proper to wear to work?

I was also thinking about what I'll wear the rest of the time when I have a career. Will I wear the type of clothes I wear now? They might look a bit young. Or will I go into the comfy clothes phase? I really don't like wearing "comfy" clothes out in public. I feel sloppy, and that makes me feel gross. I dunno.

Speaking of my "business" attire, here's my business-y dress. Yup.

How did your clothes change once you got a career/job? What do you wear the rest of the time?

Summer Weather and Pushing Yourself

Oregonians have been freaking out for the past few days. Y'see, it's been sunny. Really sunny. The last few days have felt like days that are usually reserved for the month of July.

Though it's shocking, it's a fantastic thing. Everyone is loving the gorgeous weather, including me. I'm extremely tempted to clear my closet out of all of my winter clothes, but there's that possibility of being hit with terrible weather again.

For now, we enjoy the sun.

I did a boot camp class today and it kicked my ass. Wooh. It was focused on strength, one of my biggest weaknesses. I have no idea how anyone is able to do push ups  then lift a dumbbell to their chest. Even doing the pansy push ups on my knees it was difficult for me to lift them up.

One thing that stuck out to me during the workout was something the instructor said. She exclaimed, "You're doing this for you! Push yourself because you know you can do it!"

How true, huh? No one else is going to care how much you push yourself. The only one who cares about what you do for your body is you. Sure, if you have health problems others might care about what you do to your body because they don't want to lose you, but as far as getting toned? You have to push yourself.

Oh man, I need to clean. I have a pile of clean laundry that needs to be put away, but it has not happened. Once I do that, maybe I'll start on packing away the winter clothes.

What kind of weather have you been experiencing lately? Happy about it, or grumpy?

Bodies and Such

Well Friday certainly was an interesting day. You know how I said that four hours of sleep would bite me in the butt? I'm not sure if it was necessarily due to the lack of sleep, but I'd like to think that affected me much earlier than I expected it to.

The day started quite differently than usual, but it wasn't because of the lack of sleep. On Friday I had a human physiology lab to attend to in the cadaver lab. Definitely not the usual.

When I heard that we would be touring a cadaver lab, it spooked me a little bit. Were we going to see people who looked like they had just died? I didn't want to see that. Seeing someone that looks like they could have been living recently with their stomach cut open sounds terrifying.
Luckily for me, the cadavers looked like the ones from the Body Works display. Have you ever gone to Body Works? It's fascinating. My favorite ones were the bodies with all of the nerves and the obese profile. Anywho, I digress.
The point is, I wasn't freaked out when I was in the lab. I looked at the bodies. I felt a pair of lungs. Everything was fine. Until my head started spinning. And started to burn up. And my vision started blurring, which soon became the inability to see, or at least barely see.
As you can probably guess, I'm fine now. I made sure I left the room before I passed out or anything, because who knows?

Weirdly enough, I was more worried about everyone thinking I was a pansy. "Oh, she had to leave because the bodies creeped her out." No! I swear it wasn't from that!

I don't know what exactly happened, but I think I was inhaling the embalming fluid fumes too much. As soon as I left the room, I felt better. Therefore, I think it was that.

What the heck is that? I used to be the girl who never got sick from the usual suspects and nothing could stop me in my tracks (health-wise, that is). Now, I'm being affected by fumes, I'm allergic to new things including possibly weather, and I've never had these problems before. Is it getting older? I didn't think you were supposed to have these problems in your early twenties. (Jeez, when did that become a thing anyways? Technically 20 is early twenties, but still.)

As for this weekend, I've totally had some ups and downs. I've had some fun with people, but I've also dealt with unneeded stress that I caused myself. Obviously I didn't do it on purpose, but it happens. Also, when you take a step back to look at everything happening in your life recently (instead of just the bad things), you realize that life isn't as awful as you imagined it to be. "Suck it up buttercup," you say to yourself. (Yeah, I should probably stop having an internal monologue here.)

I've been so happy about the beautiful weather lately. Have y'all been having gorgeous weather? Seriously, I'm loving it.

Does anyone out there use Blogger? How do you feel about the change? I'm not a fan, but maybe it'll grow on me. That's all from me.

Have you ever seen a dead body? Where was it, and how did you feel about it?

Thoughts on Unexpected Visitors

Woo! Glad it's the weekend. Well, after I get some stuff done. Like class, running, appointment, stuff. Yup.

The other day while trying to escape the reality that is homework, I purused the internet for videos. (I really didn't want to start that reading.) On my quest to escape the impending reading, I came across a 16 and Pregnant: Where Are They Now episode. Like I said, I really didn't want to start that reading.

I think shows like this might exist to let us know that our lives are actually not that bad, and we're not that stupid. Because many of these girls? They make terrible mistakes, and I'm not even talking about getting pregnant. No, they get back together with guys who abuse them, argue points that they're completely wrong about, and just don't use common sense. Now I know that the relationship thing might be a tad more psychological than that, but... oye.

Whenever I see things about this show, it makes me think about if I ever got pregnant at that time, or even now. As much as I hate to admit it, I would probably put my child up for adoption. I would feel devastated, yes, but I know I wouldn't be able to provide for a child. I can hardly provide for myself! Heck, I get a lot of help from my parents, and I wouldn't want to put this responsibility on them. It wouldn't be fair.

There's one person in my life that I would be most concerned about their opinion about adoption, and it's neither of my parents. It's actually my cousin, who is adopted herself. Would she think adoption is a good idea? A lot of those kids don't get homes right away, and the system can suck sometimes. She's from Korea, so I don't know how the system works in comparison to the U.S., but from what I've heard it's a bit scary.

Then again, thinking about all of this I'd never practice unprotected sex. Why even risk it? Just my personal thoughts.

Woke up at 4 today, couldn't fall back asleep. I'm going to crash tonight, aren't I? Yup.

If you got pregnant right now, would you be able to handle it? What would you do?

Leftovers and Living

'Ello! Got my haircut. Nothing fancy, just a few inches off. Doesn't even look like that much to me, but I can feel it. I'm glad.

Yesterday I went out to eat at a southern restaurant in town. I had heard a lot about it, and since there was a fellowship to that restaurant I knew I had to go. One reason it was necessary was because they had chicken and waffles. I have never tried this bizarre concoction, and so I needed to try it. It's simply necessary if the offer is given.

There are two factors that make going out to dinner even better, or two factors that I look out for when going out to eat. Is that right? Not sure. Anywho, they are:

1. Someone else is paying for it
2. I can take leftovers home

I try to make leftovers out of EVERYTHING. Unfortunately, chicken and waffles do not make  leftover material. "You know that's not going to keep..." I know. I just like to live in denial and say that they will.
In conclusion, I'm not feasting on leftovers. Sad.

On that topic, there is the strangest phenomenon that I've been hearing about recently. I've been talking to people who don't like having leftovers. WHAT. What is this?
They complain it tastes funny. Then again, most of the people I've heard this from are kind of picky. I simply find it sad. Sure, some food doesn't taste as good the next day but having extra food for another day is fantastic! Just me I suppose.

In other news, I'm basically screwed for living arrangements next year. Oh, I asked earlier, "What should I do about housing?" to the "experts". They told me to wait, it'll all turn out. Then yesterday, I mentioned my housing and heard words that have been burning in my ears since:

"You're probably jumping on that too late."

GAH! This always happens! I listen to the people who "know" what they're talking about, and they tell me to take my time. By the time I get a second opinion, it's too late. So... yeah. I'm thinking next year is going to be another freakin' craigslist year. I vow to myself no exchange students though. I used to like the language Chinese... until I heard it screamed through the walls, leaving me awkwardly sitting in my room.

So, that's life right now. I really have to start this reading. I had a busy day, alright?
Oh, last news: my pace is getting slower and slower, and it's pissing me off like crazy. What have I been doing wrong?

Do you like taking leftovers home? What's your favorite leftover? I think I like burritos the best, or any Mexican food really.

Off to a Hair Cut

Question: How on earth does my room get messy after only a few days? Honestly.

In about a half hour, I'm going to get myself a hair cut. Yes! Finally. I confess that I wish I could get my hair chopped off really short, but what's probably going to happen is that I'm going to get a few inches and then thin it out. Why not the short hair? I couldn't pull off short hair. I would like like a boy. I know it's true. Also, I've heard so many people against me getting short hair that it's rubbed off on me a bit.

One thing I am doing is getting rid of the bangs. No, I'm not cutting them obviously, because that would make them stay. It's simply time to let these suckers grow out.

Since I'm so lazy with my hair, how much I have usually doesn't matter. Whenever I see the makeovers on America's Next Top Model, I roll my eyes at the girls that start sobbing because of a hair cut. It's HAIR. It will grow back. By the way they're crying, you'd think that they had an arm chopped off instead.

If I was ever on ANTM in an alternate reality, I'd be a little disappointed if my hair was colored. I've never dyed my hair because I have a fantastic natural color. Well, in my opinion. Dirty blond hair with golden streaks? Yes, I do like it. I wouldn't cry though.

All that aside, I'm off to my haircut. And I vow to not be this person:

Yeah.

What type of hair cut would you love to have but could never pull off?

New Shoes

Well this weekend was certainly on the opposite side of the spectrum from last weekend. Simply put, my weekend wasn't very good. The reason why was pretty much a lot of little stupid things, and they all just started to add up. Plus throw some personal emotional stressors in there and... yeah. However! I despise reveling in the crappy things in the past, so we move on! One thing that did occur this weekend that was pretty good? I got new running shoes! FINALLY.

Oh, aren't they pretty? I think so. They're the upgrade of my old shoes because I just can't leave my Mizunos. I had the poor girl bring me so many different shoes, but I kept on drifting back to the Mizunos. Usually, if the shoes were fine as soon as I tried them I would just go with them. Alas, when I first tried the upgrade on, something wasn't right. They were a bit tight on the sides. Everything else felt fine, but I knew that would bother me. Finally, she offered to grab the next half size up which apparently was my glass slipper.

Good thing too, because the half size smaller was a hideous orange/blue combo. No good. Plus, the shoes I have seem to be 15th anniversary edition. Aw, I'm older than Mizunos. Hmm. That's weird. I'm so used to companies being older than I am.

I tried them out today, and they worked just fine. It was a treadmill run though, so we'll have to see how these babies test outside.

As for the mileage on my old Mizunos? Barely under 700 miles. Yeah. Truth be told, I wasn't that worried about the old guys. When I went to the orthopedics place, she was surprised by how many miles my shoes had due to the fact that they were in pretty good shape. However, I finally started to feel the mileage this week. Soo... new shoes.

I'll miss those old shoes. They were my marathon shoes! I'm just a sentimental fool.

Anywho, I'm excited for this week. Finally going to have a lot of appointments I've been waiting to have for a long time, like a hair cut. Weirdly enough now that I'm in college I tend to like appointments. Also, tomorrow I find out if I got hired for a job for the summer. Doubtful, but I'm still hoping. Just a lot of little things to keep me busy this week. I like keeping busy.

What brand of running shoes do you love? Have you switched, or stayed the same?

Figuring Out Food

I have a confession.

I'm fake.
Okay, okay I guess it's not me that's fake, it's what I eat sometimes that's fake.

I'll admit it. I don't eat perfectly natural foods all of the time. If it's offered to me, I'll take a diet soda. I like sugar free versions of things. I'll eat things that aren't "natural", and I don't buy organic. I am what many health food bloggers despise.

However, at the same time I eat a lot of good for you foods. I eat fruits and veggies, I tend to eat things fairly close to their natural state as well, with a few things that are definitely not.

If you're thinking I was recently influenced by some health related study thing, you'd be right! Today I actually finished both a book and a movie based on dietary habits. I read The Butcher and the Vegetarian, and then watched Forks Over Knives.

The book was about a vegetarian girl trying to eat some meat in her diet for dietary reasons. She had been raised vegetarian, so it certainly was an adventure. It was alright, kept me entertained. She jumps around a lot with her thoughts though.

With Forks Over Knives, it talked about how a plant based diet is a better plan than a diet consisting of meat products. Funny thing is, I checked out the book The China Study before I saw this, and I couldn't finish it. It was too much of a research paper for me. This documentary? Pretty much the movie version of the book.

Both the book and the movie discussed the points of if we really need meat. Obviously there was talk about the humanity of slaughtering animals for our food, and how certain risks for diseases go do if we don't eat meat based proteins.
Ironically, during both the documentary and the book there were times when I was craving a burger.

See, I think that's one of the problems I've always had with people telling me that eating meat is wrong. Usually, it comes off as a "I'm better than you, so you should do this" type of vibe. It's the same type of thought that comes with telling a smoker that smoking is killing them. Yes, they know that, same with how I know that many plant based diets are a lot better than ones that include meat. But you know what? I like my meat. I hate being limited on what I can try, and that's a big part of vegetarianism. Oh I know that there's plenty you can eat. I've read the stories, "you're not limited at all". Can you try that venison burger? No, you cannot. I'm fine with vegetarian meals, but I like trying meat too. Having limits on what you can eat is what made me so mad about being allergic to shrimp and crab. I mean, during Spring Break my mom was terrified of me trying a sea bass and corn chowder because she thought it was shrimp. (it was delicious by the way).

One of the bigger pictures to get is to cut down on the processed foods and eat more veggies. I at least try to do that I suppose. And I have to admit, part of the appeal of baking bread is feeling like it's "fresher" and "healthier" even if it's not as healthy as I think. At least I know what is in it then. (I also like it because I can slice my slices any way I want, but that's a different story).

Oh I thought I was doing alright since I eat eggs so much, but apparently that's bad too. Any animal based thing. I guess their ideas in Forks Over Knives were more vegan than vegetarian.

I said that the reason why I like being an omnivore is because I don't want to miss out on things, right? So why not veggie it up at home? Some people go vegetarian because it's cheaper, and I know that meat tends to be my priciest grocery. I like to argue that meat makes me feel fuller. I dunno, maybe that's just a mind game I play with myself. Eh.

Do I have a point to all of this? Hmm. Maybe eat what you like, but try to eat as natural as possible? Then again, it's okay to have some unnatural things? Ah, I dunno. All I know is that I want to be able to eat anything, and that includes meat. So I will.
Oh, as for the non-organic? I don't eat organic only because it's cheaper not to. I would if it wasn't, but I'm a frugal college kid.

Guh... I don't want to work on my Annotated Bibliography. Bah. Lazy lazy.

What affects the way you eat? What's one thing about your diet that isn't up to par with the "perfect" diet?

Fitting Things into the Day

A few things about today:

It seems that Thursdays have become my cleaning days. Last Thursday I ended up cleaning up my room because I felt ashamed of how messy it was when my mother saw it. I know. Ridiculous. Then again, I think I cleaned it just for myself because I always feel so much better in a neat environment.
Honestly, I don't understand how it can get so messy so fast. Just a few articles of clothing on the floor make it look like a train wreck.

You know what's more awkward than being in the other room while an argument is going on? Having that argument be in another language. Oy. I rushed out of there as soon as I could, which isn't fun when it's your own apartment.

Speaking of the apartment, I have no idea what I'm doing for a living situation next year. With study abroad, I'm going to be gone a term. I've been told that they have great ways to get roommates (like rooming with someone else who was in the program, for example), but now I'm nervous. Gaah.

My schedule is getting busier. Yah know what? I'm glad. I like to keep busy. It makes me prioritize my time a lot better. Still have a bit of trouble with that at times, but slowly getting better.
As far as my schedule went today, I had a lot of little chunks of time in between everything, and not one big long one. I think I like having a longer break better than a shorter break now that I think of it. You don't feel like you're rushing, and you can fit more things in during the long break.
 On that note, let's talk about a moment I had today. I was talking to someone else who also happened to have a pretty hectic day. I mentioned that I had gone on a run and she replied, "Wow, I wish I had time to go on a run today."

That led me to this thought: I don't see if I have time for runs, I make time for runs. Running is a priority. I make sure I run at least every other day. If I take off anymore than that, I feel wrong somehow. I'm not quite sure, but I believe the last time I took two days off from running was December 2010. Yeah. I plan for runs. I make sure I have time to do them. I will go somewhere sweaty and gross if I have to, but I'll get that run in. If I know I'm not going to have anytime to run on a certain day, I change up the day I do that run. Can't run Thursday, and my last run was Tuesday? Run Wednesday. Just make sure you do it.

Finally, I have one more running thing to talk about. I know, I know. Lately my sister and I have been talking about how expensive races are, yet we still want to train for something. So with that, she has decided to map out a half marathon race for us both, and whoever wants to join us in about two months. I'm excited to have something new to train for. I have to admit though, the farthest I've ran in the past few weeks is five miles. Man, that kills me. Hey, but the whole point is that I've been running, and it's never less than three.

Welp, time for a new day. Friday is going to be the complete opposite of today. Only one class. Ah.

Do you prefer a lot of mini breaks or one long break?

A Lack of Common Sense

Yesterday seemed to be kind of a day where I lacked common sense. It happens sometimes.

For instance, instead of eating real food for meals yesterday, I instead ate Easter candy for my meals. Yes, both lunch and dinner. There were a few slices of ham thrown in there at one point, but still. See, my thought process for this was, "Well you're going to eat a boat-load of candy anyway today. I know that. So might as well skip the middle man." And skip that middle man I did. Oof. I don't regret it though. I used to be able to eat junk instead of real meals all of the time, and now... not so much. Am I getting old? I didn't think 20 was old, but who knows.
Then again, I also weighed 15 lbs more when I was able to eat junk as meals more often. It could be that my body actually understands that healthy food is what my body needs. What a concept.

The other thing that was blocked from common sense yesterday was the fact that after finishing my reading for class just in time to get eight hours of sleep, I then proceeded to stay up for another half hour. Goodness.

There are so many moments where I throw common sense to the wind, and it's ridiculous. Mainly, this comes with procrastination. Common sense and procrastination seem to be complete opposites, eh? That's why I'm trying to get better with it. Hence the goal of spending time on the computer only when I'm done with work.
Side note: this is a hard goal to keep when your reading is on the computer. Also when it comes to blogging. There's just so many ways to waste my time on the Internet! Ah well.

Now it's time to more onto my next thing I've been procrastinating on, and that's going to the grocery store. I need bread products and fruit. And yes, I said bread products. Long story.

When does your common sense fly out the window?

Wearing Rings and Things

Lately, I've been trying to start up a new habit. I'm trying to start wearing rings more often.

Personally, I can't wear rings very often. I always end up screwing around with them, taking them off, losing them... Same goes for bracelets. However, I think it would be a good habit to at least try and wear a ring. My only reason for that is marriage.
Pfft, when am I ever going to get married? It's a nice thought. The thing is, when I do get married I'm going to have a ring, and I can't be taking that thing off. You don't want to lose a diamond. Obviously.

As far as jewelry goes in general, I tend to only wear earring. I occasionally wear necklaces too, if I'm thinking about it/ it works with my outfit.
There's one thing I almost always have with me, perhaps even more than earrings. What is it? A hair tie on my wrist. Besides the time during exercise and sleep, I usually have a hair tie on my wrist. It's become so natural now that when I don't have one I feel naked.

I've succeeded with my ring-wearing for maybe 2.5 days. We'll see how long I can remember to do it.

It appears I didn't have a lot to say today. Really, I'm just super distracted today. Ayup.

Do you wear jewelry often? What kind do you wear the most?

Easter and Mondays

Oh, what a delightful weekend. I love a weekend where I can do social things with friends and do holiday things with family. Best of both worlds.

How was every one's Easter? Mine was quite nice. It wasn't due to a huge event or anything, it was just relaxing. The weather got to the low 70s and everyone kind of napped. Sometimes lazy day are the best.

...Until you realize your homework is going to take a lot longer than you thought, and you're not getting back to your apartment until the evening.
Eh, still worth it.

For this term I've realized that Mondays are going to be my busiest days. I have class from 10-4, with a couple little breaks in between.
I know. All of you working folk out there are laughing at me or scowling at me. I'm just not used to it though. Like I said, I have to get back into the flow of getting work down before anything else. And I'm actually getting better at it! Better, but not 100% perfect. Eh.

The point is I like starting out the week busier. The slowing down as the week progresses is nice, and makes the weekend that much more exciting. Last term, I had Fridays as my busy days, and I know I didn't like it. I wouldn't be anticipating the weekend, I'd be thinking, "Crap I have two quizzes coming!" Now? Big things done at the beginning. I like it.

It's time to either go to the gym or get started on my 125 English pages for tomorrow. Hmm... No matter what, they're both happening tonight.

How was your Easter?
Do you like having the week start out busy and then slow down, or do you like starting off slow then build up?

Age is in the Eye of the Beholder

Ah, I enjoy a good weekend. If I have even one social event going on, I'm happy. Usually multiple things happen during one weekend, then nothing for awhile. Hm.

I've never been good at judging people's ages. Maybe I used to, but now I never guess the age of anyone correctly. I think college-aged people are in a point in time where the looks of ages could be mixed up quite easily. Or that could just be me, I dunno.

My mistake tends to be thinking people are older than they are. I don't think it's because of their physical appearance though. Sometimes, yes people look older, but I think a lot of the time it's personality. They seem wise, or know what they're doing. I've been shocked to find someone I know in a leadership position is actually my age or younger. How on earth could they be my age? They seem so mature.

It may also be due to the fact that many people I meet tend to be older than me. One thing that's been a little sad is how many people I've just started to get to know who are going to be leaving in a couple of months. Sad. It's like last year. Sure, Facebook works but it's not the same.
I simply have no gauge on time. Fortunately, I'm not the only one. Many times when meeting friends of my sister, I ask "Who's older?" Quite a bit of the time, they guess me. I think it's because they've seen Chloe's goofy side, so she seems younger (in spirit at least).

I think college is the last time where age really matters. Well, besides being considered a cougar, but that's a different story.

Tomorrow is Easter! Are you excited? I'm happy. I just like holidays. Ayup.

Do you guess ages right? Or are you usually way off?

April Goals and Last Month's Recap

When thinking of an introductory sentence, I had one of those, "Holy crumbcake, where has the time gone moments." I say this because it's already April, and I've almost completed another year of college. Granted, I have 2.5 months left, but it almost feels like I've been here for a couple of months, not six. Wild.

Seeing as it's the beginning of the month, or five day into it, it's time to look over the goals of last month, and try for new goals. As you know, I didn't say what my goals were last month. I was trying a thing where if I don't talk about them, it won't get as hyped up. You know what happened? Nothing different from my usual goals. I didn't do fantastic, but I did work a little on them. They were:

• Only one treat a day
• Spend 8 hours out of my apartment every day
• Work it out

Yeah. Pretty ridiculous. The middle goal may seem strange to all you normal people out there, but this winter I had a hard time leaving my apartment. Honestly, I think it was winter talking. With that, I did... better than usual. I made an effort.
For sweets, I did average too. Surprisingly, when I was on vacation I didn't eat as many desserts as I thought I would. Finals week was not a good week for this though, but... what are you going to do. The past is the past.
I think the goal I did the best with was the Work it out! goal. True, that's the vaguest goal and goals shouldn't be vague. However, I had a base plan: Do more than just run, lift weights, do punch card workouts. And I did that! I've been getting my guns back into shape, and only this week back I haven't done a punch card workout. It feels good.

For April, I'm going to tell you my goals. Why? Because it made no difference in how I faced them. Besides, if I have them written down here, I'll remember them better. Maybe.

My goals this month are:

• Keep the computer off until all homework is complete for the next two days.

Did I say goals? I meant one goal, because that's all that's really concerning me right now. Last term I had a lot of really simple classes. This term? Not so much. I have two 300-level classes and two science classes. That's not so easy for me. My mind has wanted to be in the "Oh, we can chill out for awhile" mindset due to the fact that I didn't have much to do during the winter. That's not gonna cut it when I have 100 pages of reading to do in one day. First quiz of theatre history certainly was a wake up call. (It doesn't help that my book for that class is still shipping.) When it came time to read my 100 pages for English, I needed to get my stuff together. I did, but I stayed up later than I'd like to reading, especially since I had time to not have to do that. Truth be told, most of my computer time is just me procrastinating on what I need to do next. Therefore, it's time to cut it off. I'll check my email in the morning with my breakfast as usual, but as soon as that's done it's time to turn off the computer. Until I finish my homework that is.

Other than that, no other solid big goals. Just trying to do things the best I can every day.

Do you have any goals for this month?

Fueling the Body

Alright. I've got a few things to talk about today, but many of the topics all mix together. So... you're gonna have to try and follow me here.

Despite all of the times that I've tried to be pro-body/all of that stuff, I still have body issues. I still feel fat sometimes, and I still feel like my body isn't up to par with the people around me. I don't think I can really escape the though process easily, the idea is so ingrained in my mind. I know I'm not the only one who thinks about this stuff though.
I bring this up because I was thinking about this during spring break. On one of the later days of the trip, I was feel less than confident about the way I looked. To me, I was the only one who seemed to be eating on this trip. I'd look around, and it felt like I had eaten double what everyone else had eaten. Funny thing- I have this habit of getting hungry. Apparently everyone else could drink their meals instead, and that didn't cut it for me.
I told my mom this, and she was surprised. It seemed that everyone else thought I wasn't eating, which is why they encouraged me to eat so much. I didn't see it.
There were two people in my group who did actually fit this not eating group, and one of them I discovered was because she... well, she might have an eating disorder. Or so I was told. She had actually been about 30 lbs heavier, and recently slimmed down again. Watching her eat, she would have a bite of something and be done. Normal people see this and think, "Oh, she needs to eat more." I see this and think, "Why on earth is she not hungry anymore? Why am I still hungry?" Ridiculous, I know.
The other person I saw eat hardly anything was my aunt, but I don't even want to talk about it. She ate a tad more than the other person, but not much. Guh, I don't even want to think about it, it stresses me out.
One comment I've learned I hate? "Oh, you must have been hungry." That's never a compliment. If someone says this who ate less than you, it feels like an insult. Like you can't control yourself around food or something. I don't need that comment. Personal thought.

Looking back, it's crazy. I have a good body. Sure, there were some girls on spring break that looked way better then I did, but there were PLENTY of girls with worse bodies. Honestly though, I really shouldn't care that much. Like I said, issues.

Another thought I was thinking of was exercise and the body. One of the best comments I've ever received was, "You should do underwear/nude pictures, you have a killer body for it." Before you say anything about how creepy that comment sounds, it was in context. My friend was talking about some pictures like that she and another friend took recently (yes, I know people like this), and it came up. Now, I would never do nude pics EVER. Too risky. You never know who could get access to stuff like that. Once it's in picture form... anywho, the point is looking good naked. Can you see how I'm hopping around today?

The comment actually reminds me of a quote I've read recently. I don't know the exact wording, but it goes something like, "You lose weight to look good in clothes. You exercise to look good naked." Um, how true is that? Well, there are plenty of other reasons to work out, but I think this is a very good reason. Fat and muscle look very different on a body for the same weight. Heck, I've weighed more yet looked more toned, or better. That's why sometimes NSV are better than what you read on the scale.

Which brings me back to spring break. And the no eating. I need food because I need fuel. My body is a machine that needs to be re-energized. Therefore, I need to eat. I like having a body that can push me farther. I like having muscles pop out in my calves. That means I'll fuel my body, so I can keep going. Besides, I'd rather eat my calories than drink them.

Oh, and random note: Yeah, I didn't take pictures. I'm that college kid who goes on vacation and doesn't take pictures of myself in a bikini. Not because of no self-confidence, it's just we've tried before and no one really remembers. However, there are some pictures of me from the fishing trip that a family friend took, so perhaps I'll get those in a bit.

Man I need to shower. Oh dear.

Do the eating habits of others ever affect you? And this could be anything, like you eat more when you're with someone.

And We're Back

Well I'm back.

It feels a little weird that I haven't posted in more than a week. I did have a computer available during my vacation, but what was I going to write about? "Today I sat in the sun again. It was nice"? Yeah, no.

As for my vacation, it was lovely. I got a sunburn per usual, the same place I always get it. Every time. I don't really have a whole lot to say other than it was a lot of laying out in the sun. Did some reading. Drank some mimosas. I wish mimosas were acceptable during the rest of the day. Funny... an alcoholic beverage that's only supposed to be had in the morning. Bizarre. Only on vacation, eh?

I did happen to go fishing one of the days, and that was entertaining. I had heard all of these horror stories about getting sick on the boat. "Oh, when all of the girls went that one year, they were all sick the whole day." Ack! However, I didn't get sick, I got sleepy. The choppy water rocks you to sleep, along with the nice warm sun.

Running-wise, I ran every day I was over there except the day we left (No time). I ran WAY shorter distances though, and ran every run on the treadmill except one on the beach. The only reason I didn't run outside was due to safety worries my group had. Eh.
Even though the beach run was probably less than a mile, I felt powerful. Sand+Running at a diagonal= extremely difficult. It was a "Yeah, I'm a runner" moment. Even for less than a mile.

Only one crappy thing really happened, and that was my ipod getting ruined. A wave came really high on the shore and we tried to save everything... Nope. It didn't get swept out to sea like my mom's expensive sunscreen (it's a good kind for sensitive skin), but it got some of that salt water. Now it won't turn on. Bah. No more music for me then.
My flight home was meant to leave Mexico by 3:00pm on Saturday, but that never seems to happen. The actual departure time? 8:30pm. We got home at 3:30am. Yeah. Oof.
I'll be honest, I didn't have a lot of veggies on vacation. The most I probably got were from guacamole and salsa. The fruit I got was maybe from juice in drinks. Goodness.

What do we do when we get back? We recoup. Even though today was more like a lazy day before vacation ends, I still had the first day of classes today for spring term. Geology- terrifying. The professor basically told us every possible form of failure, and how you're probably going to do awful. Theatre History- Should be interesting. The project for the class sounds cool.

You may be able to tell, but I'm still adjusting back to normal. I hope that I'll be in productive swing by tomorrow!

How was your last week? Was it delightful?