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.

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?

Trends and Trading

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?

Drawn to the Warmth

I like where I live. I've always liked this state, but there's one thing that makes me wonder how I live well here.That thing is cold weather.

Sure, I know that it doesn't get anywhere near as cold here as it does in many Eastern states. Then again, you'd have to pay me a great deal to live over there for those nasty winters. But as soon as the cold rainy days start to come, you can find me next to a heater.

I love heaters. It's a problem. When it comes to heaters, I'm like a cat to sunlight, clinging to every bit of heat available.

When I lived at home, heating wasn't a big deal. When I lived in a dorm, heating wasn't a big deal. Now that I'm going to have to pay for it, it's kind of a big deal.

Before I moved into my apartment, I told myself I wasn't going to turn the heat on at all. That sucker was on in about a week.

I have a problem. A toasty, cozy problem.

Do you like being overly warm, or cold?

Icky Weather and Odd Room Mate Habits

I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks such a pace is ridiculous. Anywho, let's talk about today.

Good lord. There has been music playing really loudly for the past hour and a half. Is this for sorority? Those girls be crazy.

The rain has officially arrived here in Oregon. It's not like the sun didn't try to peak out from the clouds, it was successful for an hour or two. Alas, the sky has turned to grey and the rain has started to come down.

Rain can be nice, sure. That's why Oregon is so green, and can be quite a beautiful place. On the other hand, rain can usually be classified as mrr weather. Weather in which you don't want to do anything. You just want to snuggle in your covers and waste time.

Thankfully, I actually ended up getting a decent amount done. Almost caught up on all of my Journalism readings, printed out some things that needed to be printed, work done for tomorrow... and it's not even 8:30 yet! Man, I love that feeling.

Lastly, ever since I moved into this apartment the only place I spend my time in is my room. I have a couch in the living room, but never hang out in there. I moved the kitchen table into the kitchen, but I never eat there. I think it's mainly because it still smells weird around most of the apartment (excluding my room). Thankfully, it's slowly fading away. I think. I don't spend that much time out there. I'm hoping to move myself out there more often, because now my room is starting to give me the same feeling as a dorm... except bigger.

As for the room mates, they seem to be talking louder and louder. Lu is on edge all of the time, because whenever I pass by even with warning, she jumps. All she or Hao Chen ever says to me is "hi", "bye", or "thank you". And yes, I am trying to start up conversations. That's not working. And this is something that has happened a couple of times already:
I come home. I go to the kitchen, probably for some water or something. Lu scurries out of her room in her bathrobe (all she ever seems to wear if she doesn't have to go outside), and looks at Hao's door. I say "Hi", which she replies, "Oh, I thought it was him who was home", and then scurries back to her room to watch Friends.
She really likes Friends. I think Hao watches 24. They never turn on the lights in their rooms, I only see a bluish glow ever coming from their rooms. It's... a weird living situation.

I think that's enough rambling from me for tonight, time to either A)Work on more Homework or B)Waste time surfing the web. You know which one is probably going to happen.

How do you inspire yourself to get things done when all you want to do is be lazy because of the weather?

Changing Expectations and Roommates

It looks like it's going to be just a tad bit later of a night for me. Yes, I'm very dependent on a sleep schedule, sue me.

The week is coming to a close, and I'm glad. As you might realize, I am so ready for the weekend. For now, I just need to finish up this assignment that's due tomorrow.

It's funny how things sometimes just don't turn out the way we think they will. I say this because I am surprisingly understanding Economics quite well. Then again, we'll see when it comes time to the first test. Hoo boy.
The one class that I thought would be fantastic for me, but isn't turning out so great is my Human Physiology class. The thing is, I work really well with textbooks. Now I'm not bashing on the fact that I was able to save money by not getting a textbook, but here's the thing. Our homework is pretty much "look up the information. I'm not really going to talk about anything useful in class, except how exercise=good." Well, that's how the first few classes have been. I am not amused. Plus, I'm very type A. I like to have structure, and this is not it. Welp, what can you do?

The rooming situation... it's weird. My original idea was that I could become friends with my room mates. Have connections. Um... yeah, probably not going to happen. I can barely get a word out of either of them, let alone a conversation. And that's not just because they hardly know English, it's because it's just awkward talking to them.
I'm also pretty much positive that they're in a relationship. Why? Well, for one thing, last night he went into her room and didn't come out again until the next day. Just sayin'. I'm just glad I haven't heard noises.
But tonight? Tonight was weird. I think they were having a fight. I had no idea what they were saying of course, but I heard Lu's tone of voice... Not sounding very happy. So it's just weird.

What's a weird rooming situation you've had? When have things changed from your original expectations? Was it for the better, or worse?

The Truth About the Apartment

"You can only go up. You can only go up from here."

That's what I keep telling myself. Because I've been denying it, and blocking out the negative thoughts. The truth is, my apartment isn't that great. As soon as someone else said how bad it was, I realized that they were saying all of the things I was saying in the back of my mind. I just didn't want it to be true.

There are some good things, like I have a lot of closet space and my own bathroom. On the flip side, the apartment reeks. The main reason for that is that my room mates are slobs, and bigger than my last one. They leave food out, they stink up the apartment... I'm Febreezin' that junk up.

Why did I choose such a bad apartment? Mainly I was scared of not having a place to live for school. It had taken me so long to find out if I was actually accepted, I wasn't sure if there would be any places available. Honestly, I don't know what the hell I'm doing.

So my room is clean. I just need to decorate it. I'm just stressed and tired. And gosh darnit, I've been trying so hard not to complain here, but I'm just letting my thoughts fly.

Have you ever had a crappy living arrangement? What did you do about it?

The Clean Up Experience

Well, I'm here. Here as in sitting on the floor of the room of my apartment, trying not to get distracted by all of the things that still need to be done.

The transformation of becoming my mother is happening once again. I've become a crazed cleaning machine.

Since the last time I came up to the apartment, the pile of  "do I actually need this?" grew and grew. Currently I have a couple of multiples of things that aren't that necessary while I'm missing things I use everyday. My organization skills were not up to par on this whole moving experience.

That leads to coming in to my apartment today, still not having anything organized, and having more random crap to bring in.

The bottom line is I've been cleaning for about 7 hours. It's not just organizing my stuff either. It's cleaning the bathroom floor, scrubbing the toilet, cleaning the kitchen counters... Goodness. I haven't even finished my room, nor decorated, nor gotten the kitchen supplies put away. Then again, I probably should have started before three...

People tend to not believe me when I say that I like to be organized. However, as you can probably tell by now, I do. I don't like to stop until everything's set up the way I like... but I'm about to pass out.

The organizing spree will continue tomorrow! And hopefully by then, I'll have everything done so pics can occur.

Do you like to be organized, or messy?

Prepping for School

I move into my first apartment in a couple of days. That thought is bizarre to me.

The difference between how packed and ready I am this year as compared to last year is wild. I remember that I started packing up for college as soon as that graduation cap flew off my head last year, and was all done by the end of the month. This year, I've hardly got anything done. I packed a few things earlier, but the majority of my packing just started this evening. Preparation at its finest, eh?

It's weird because it feels like it should be a new start since it's a new school, but... at the same time, it's like I've already done this before. There are just a few tweaks. Like a much bigger school. Plus not in a dorm. Plus I won't know anyone. Honestly, I'm not sure how to feel about the whole situation.

Other than that, my room looks like my closet threw up everywhere. (classy) That's what happens when you're in the process of organization. Still, I feel gross being in a gross room. Ah well.

Did your college prep change each year? How did it change?

Hairdos and Apartments

I keep on thinking it's Sunday. Hm.

One thing I forgot to mention yesterday?

I have bangs now!

I pretty much did the complete opposite of what I was planning to do, and got more hair to mess with. However, I ran with the bangs today and they didn't really bother me. I just look like a goof with my hair all pulled back.

In today's news, I did quite a bit of driving. Oof, I do not enjoy driving. Still, I like the convenience.
Also, I have a place to live next year! I signed the renter's agreement, and I think it's just time to plan how I'm going to decorate.

That's all I've got for the evening! Have a nice night!
Do you, or have you ever had bangs? What are your tips for working with bangs?