Fire, Spades, and Starry Nights

A cold front blew in and I am loving it! Sunday was Ben's birthday so we went to Chili's to celebrate...where else? After dinner we walked outside and it felt like it was at least 15 degrees cooler than when we walked in and the sun was setting. Gorgeous. We stayed out in the parking lot for a good while then made our way over to my house. After watching all that Laguna Beach I really wanted to have a bonfire, I had to sacrifice the beach, but my backyard sufficed. I think I was way more into the spontaneous cool weather and bonfire more than anyone else, but it just put me in the best mood I had been in in a while. It wasn't too different from any other night hangin out with the guys at my house only instead of playing spades in the sunroom, we played outside on my back deck. After a while we headed inside and watched the Marx Brother's Duck Soup, so funny. Comedy just isn't the same as it used to be by any means.

After the guys left, I took my medicine and expected to go to sleep, wrong. A crazy case of insomnia kicked in instead. Instead of laying in bed and starring at the ceiling, I decided to go out in my backyard and lay and stare at the stars. I could not get over how wonderful it felt outside. It was 79 degrees and breezy. I must have had a lot on my mind because I was out there for about 2 1/2 hours just sorting all my thoughts into neat folders in my head and listening to music I hadn't listened to in over a year. Ya know those songs you listened to a lot during one specific time in you life? I listened to the playlists of all of those specific time eras. Some songs were songs that I listened to on bus rides from band trips, football games, or airplane rides. Other songs were sad songs I listened to over and over again when I was feeling sad about certain people, and some songs were from tv shows that I used to watch a lot. I guess when I'm home for the summer, my life is at a  bit of a stand still towards the future so all I can do is be nostalgic. So crazy how music can bring back such explicit memories. Some songs can just bring me right back to a specific moment in time, it's almost like a time machine. Sometimes it's a little too much to handle listening to old music, but last night I was in the perfect to dig up all of those old emotions again. I stayed outside until about 4:45am. After laying in the itchy grass I had to take a shower before I finally went to bed.

Tonight I am actually sleepy and ready for bed, so goodnight all. Until next time...

Liquid Diet, Chubby Cheeks, and Laguna Beach

ednesday I got my bottom two wisdom teeth removed. Recovery hasn't been too bad aside from  having a face shaped like a squash. I spent days on the couch with an ice pack plastered to my face and the remote control glued to my hand. During the day I hung out at home by myself and the evenings were the usual, the boys came over to watch a movie with me but they also took care of me. I am so thankful to have such good friends checking on me, keeping me company, mashing bananas for me, and making sure I take my medication. 

I have spent so much time on the couch in front of the tv, I have watched just about everything on my DVR and Netflix Instant Queue. After my options got slim I started browsing through the newly added stuff on Netflix. Guess what I found...Laguna Beach. Now I wasn't a super big fan of the show while it was on. I watched it, but I wasn't proud of the fact. I watched the entire first season in one sitting, it was ridiculous. It was actually pretty fun and nostalgic. It is obvious that there is some manipulation of situations to make a story line, but the majority of it is deliciously real. I know that it is real because the dialogue is oh so teenage-esque.  The last time I watched the show I was in the 8th and 9th grade. It's crazy how watching their drama brought me back to the drama in my life at that time. It's also fun to watched because in the show, all of the characters are either juniors and seniors in high school. It was definitely more relevant to my life now that I have gone through pretty much the same thing they did in the show. The students at Laguna Beach High School are really not too different from here, the only difference is that there homes over look the beach and they have an obscene amount of money. The kids and emotions are the same regardless. Bad relationships are everywhere, mean girls are everywhere, and the weird sadness/happiness/excitement/fear of graduating high school and going to college is exactly the same. They even experience the same weirdness of being reunited with your old high school friends when you come home for Christmas and summer. I could relate 100% when it came to that. I guess this could be title Trashy Television pt.2 if you read my blog entry about The Real Housewives of New Jersey. 

The swelling in my cheeks has started to go down and I'm pretty much back in the usual routine. I get my stitches out Wednesday so maybe I will be able to eat solid food next week if not earlier. Yay! Until next time...

Retail Therapy...check.

After thinking all summer that I was broke, I realized that I wasn't. It pays off to pretend that you are poor because you end up with a nice surplus of money, at least more than you though you had. Since it was my Dad's birthday Saturday and Tax Free Weekend I took a solo trip to Tulsa. I never really think about if my dad wishes I was a bigger part of his life. I haven't been the best daughter but he hasn't been that great of a dad, I think that's how I prefer it. I decided to do something out of the ordinary and go see him on his birthday and I think it made him so, so happy. I gave him a gift card for his birthday and then he gave me a Promenade gift card for my birthday from a month ago, so it was pretty much an even trade. 

After I had lunch with my dad and stepmom I was off to do some shopping. I went to Old Navy and finally found some workout attire that I have been searching all summer for then I went to Woodland Hills mall. It was packed. So many people. I spent the minimum amount of time needed in there, but it happened. I got sucked into Teavana with their delicious samples and before I knew it I bought $85 worth of tea. So instead of waiting in the ridiculous lines at the American Eagle at Woodland Hills, I decided to spend my gift card and shop in peace at the Promenade. I've never done too much shopping at the Promenade, I never think to go anywhere else but Woodland Hills. Apparently I am not the only one that thinks that way. I got to the Promenade and it was pretty much empty compared to the other mall. After that was one, I stopped in Academy and went home. 

I really love going on shopping trips by myself, especially if I am on a mission or ready to do some serious shopping. I enjoy it because I can go where ever I want, when I want, and stay however long. Some people like to take a buddy so they can get a second opinion, but I usually never take their advice anyways. I also like going by myself so I can eat where ever I want, whenever I want, and drive completely out of the way if I want. Unfortunately I was pretty full from having lunch with my dad that I didn't fully utilize that. I had big plans of getting frozen yogurt, eating dinner at Chipotle, and getting a Jamba Juice before heading home but I was just not hungry enough to go back to 71st street to do all of that. 

Along side all of that shopping I did in Tulsa, I bought a new duvet set to match Rae's for our room in the fall (yes we're those roommates that have coordinating bedding) and Misty had a Premier Jewelry party tonight. I hadn't planned on buying much at the party, I don't wear much jewelry at all. But there were these 3 necklaces I just loved! I could not decide which to buy so of course I bought all 3. All 3 are just so "me". I'm predicting that I will actually have occasions to look nice once I'm back at school, unlike here, so I figured it would be a worthwhile purchase. I also haven't bought any jewelry in years, literally. I guess the money I spent makes of for all the years I hadn't made any jewelry purchases. 

Besides playing cards with the guys on a regular basis, buying new things is the most exciting thing that has been happening lately. I've got a big week coming up sort of. I am getting the exterior of my car fixed up hopefully tomorrow and then getting my wisdom teeth pulled Wednesday. I have put it off for about a year now so I better do it now before it gets more complicated and I will have it done before I head back to Providence. 

Until next time...

Moving On...in a month.

Today I received an email from the Resident Director for The Cove saying that my move in date has been pushed forward to Thursday Sept. 2 instead of Sunday the 4th. I requested that the date be moved earlier because I have already committed to helping with Freshman move-in that Saturday and Sunday. Deep down I was anticipating that the request wouldn't be processed and I would have as long of a summer as possible, but it is just now dawning on me that I just get to see Rae even sooner then planned.

Alright, I admit it openly here on my blog that I really miss Rae. Today I was talking to a few of my guy friends and I was asked if I were to get married tomorrow, who would be my maid of honor? I answered Rae without a doubt. Interesting how I have known her the least amount of time out of all of my friends, but I feel like she is going to be my close friend for a very long time. We are those sickingly close roommate/best friends. We are almost on the same level as those couples that just make you sick because they're such a good match. We motivate each other to be better, harder working people in every aspect. 

I decided to blog this right after I made the gushiest comment on her blog just now. I was slightly embarrassed about it after I posted it, but now I'm wondering shouldn't all friends be this way? Real friendships should be encouraging and supportive and be able to subject yourself to a little vulnerability. Do I have these same friendships here at home anymore? No one really needs me here anymore, they've adjusted to me being gone.  Most everyone else has obligations here because they live here full time. I have none. They have full time jobs, significant others, and even families of their own. This may very well be the last summer I spend at home. I think I needed this last summer to solidify that I will probably never live here for this extended bit of time again. It's been a pretty fantastic summer, I have been able to relax and do whatever I wanted to. It'll be good since my schedule will be CRAZY once school starts. I'm going to be a busy busy girl, I should take full advantage of this month of nothing to do.

So I've ended up going a bit of a different direction with this post. There's a little thoughts out of my head for the moment. Until next time...

Lessons Learned: College Freshman Edition

1. Time management is key to success.
2. The difference between an ordinary student and an extraordinary student is that while they both procrastinate, the extraordinary student will not only get in done in time, they will get an A on it too.
3. The key to happiness is refusing to be unhappy.
4. You get nowhere in life by staying in your room and feeling sorry for yourself.
5. When you are employed as an adult you are no longer reprimanded for not doing your job well, you will just be judged silently...which is worse.
6. There should be a logical reason why a certain class in found in your degree plan, make sure you know what that is. If you learn that, there is no reason to fail.
7. Check your email and respond to them. You will forget about it later.
8. It's harder to keep up with your friends or become better friends when you are guaranteed by law to see them at school everyday.
9. Just because no one is telling you to go to bed doesn't mean you can stay up all night and not face the consequences.
10. Read you syllabus, good professors won't remind you about your midterm.
11. Network, network, network. How else will you get a job in this economy?
12. Learn to ask questions.
13. If you want something, ask for it. The worst thing they'll say in "no"
14. Volunteering is the best way to get experience, network, and a good reputation. (and you get free stuff)
15. The best way to adjust to new surroundings is to get involved.
16. With great power comes great responsibility.
17. A friendly email to a superior can open many doors.
18. Go to class. You paid for it.
19. There's nothing worse than being responsible and buying your textbook for class and finding out that you will never use it.
20. Always have a No. 2 pencil on you, you never know when you need one...and it comes in handy for when you have that surprise midterm you didn't know about because you didn't read the syllabus.
21. Get a real alarm clock. It's embarrassing to oversleep and be late.

I hope those might be of use to you. Stay posted for next year's edition of Lessons Learned. It's officially a tradition. Until next time...

Nostalgic

I had every opportunity to be in bed early tonight, but of course I got sidetracked and ended up staying up as usual. I finally got my room clean to where I can actually stand to be in here. Since there was nothing on tv, I decided to dig through all of my cabinets in my room. For those of you who haven't known me forever or been to my house, my mom went through a period in time where she was obsessed with built in cabinets...I have a lot of cabinets. The last time I had gone through them was prior to leaving for college last year. I haven't opened them since then until tonight. There is still a lot of junk to deal with. While I was digging, I came across my old journal...

My big plans to journal have always failed until I started to blog instead. This journal was from winter of senior year. At that point I would've told you that that was a very trying time in my life. That was when I was dealing with my first real heartbreak and my stage when I decided to act like a teenager for once in my life. It was humorous/embarrassing to read. I picked out a really beautiful deep red snake skin cover journal to write in and I don't mean that sarcastically, I really do think it is a beautiful journal. I had big plans of this being a really inspiring journal where people would find it after I died and they would publish it because it was so brilliant. Not quite so brilliant after re-reading it, I actually find myself to be quite arrogant and narcissistic.  Maybe it's because it was me expressing everything that I didn't want to burden others with or it's the only child complex spilling out on paper.  Since those events in my journal it's amazing how some things have changed tremendously and others have stayed pretty much the same in my life. After reading the journal, I remembered that I went through a stage where I would post notes on Facebook that I thought was quite brilliant at the time. Remember the time when we all went through and wrote 25 things about ourselves, then tagged 25 friends, those 25 friends would have to do the same thing. It was quite a big deal at Tahlequah High School at the time. I decided to name mine 25 Love Affairs. I still think it's a fabulous title, I went through and read it and I am pretty much the same person according to that. I remember being really proud of that post as well as one I posted almost a year ago my Lessons Learned note. 

Lessons Learned

I have grown as a person tremendously my senior year of high school. So much has happened. But fortunetely I've been able to take the bad things and turned them into a lesson learned.
1. No one can truly mature until they have been hurt by someone they care for and thought they cared for you too.
2. The nice guy won't win until the end.
3. There are always two sides of a story, and I can never seem to get the two to match up.
4. It is nearly impossible to just to get the facts.
5. Once you develope feelings for a person, the tendency is to stop being honest with that person.
6. All through school we are taught that there are consequences to our mistakes and carelessness, but in the real world, there are government programs to "fix" any of those mishaps.
7. Is life always going to be a popularity contest?
8. Everyone can benefit from taking a psychology class.
9. Bad timing has been a reaccuring relationship set-back.
10. You get from it what you put into it.
11. Life is what you make it.
12. Does it really matter if God exists? It is comforting to just have faith in something that is greater than life itself. Why does it really have to be proven as fact?
13. Most restrictions in life that come from religion are usually done for ones own good.
14. Nobility usually goes unnoticed.
15. Life is a balancing act.
16. Troubles come from doubting your own instincts.
17. Has anything ever gotten accomplished without drive and passion?
18. Too bad it is a bad thing to love blindly.
19. Less is more.
20. No one ever got anywhere by blending into the crowd.
I don't know if these are even true, I'm sure some people will disagree with me. This is just what I've gathered from my short 18 years of life.

I love this to this day, I can't believe a forgot all about it. There might be a few to add to the list now that I have finished my first year of college away from home. I'll have to think about it and get back to you next time. So unitl then...

It's not a hobby, it's a privilege.

Here I go on another rant. Lately I have been seeing a few campaign signs popping up around town. The signs around town are all the same people who have been running for the same office practically every term. Lots of them are running for re-election or currently in an office but are running for another office. Most of them don't really seem like they make too much impact on our daily like. Inez Peace has been our county treasurer for as long as I can remember. I'm not even sure what all of the county offices are, I suppose that's something we didn't cover in civics or at Girls State. What really astounds me is that I have only seen several Re-elect Dan Boren signs up and one Jim Wilson sign (both Dems) for US Congress. Not really a huge deal except primaries are in a week. I had no idea who was even running as a republican. Once I realized this, I went on Google and searched who all was actually going to be on the ballot next Tuesday. For one, I had no idea primaries were next Tuesday, if I didn't Google it I would have never known. So that means that your average Tahlequah citizen neither knows or cares that there is an election going on. What average citizen even takes the time to Googles their candidates? More Americans vote for American Idol and Dancing With the Stars than they do for the President, let alone smaller elections. Ridiculous.

Our founding fathers did not come over here to passively end up with a leader. They fought hard for the power of the people to chose their leaders. Does anyone really understand when they mean when they tell us to thank the troops for  fighting for our freedoms? No one cares if their freedoms are slowly being taken away. No one really understands that they can chose who their leaders are, no one really understands that if they don't like the leader that is currently in power, they can work to change it. As long as their food stamps are renewed every month, the unemployment check is directly deposited in their bank accounts, Cherokee Nation gives them a place to live, and they can go to Hastings to pop out their babies for free, Cherokee county is happy.

My interest in politics is by no means entertainment for myself, it's actually quite frustrating. It's not a hobby, it's a privilege. Unlike many other countries, we are not designed to have some power hungry monster just take over power without anyone's say in it. Power hungry monsters are put in power in our country by the small percentage of people who do get out to vote. Now lets think about how many people actually vote for someone because they themselves believe in them. How many people go out and just do a straight ticket to whatever party they are registered under. How many people vote for whoever is more attractive, has more money, appears on MTV, is endorsed by your favorite celebrity, the list goes on and on. I'm blaming the entire system for this one. We're are not educated in school about our country anymore, history books twist the events of the past, civics classes seem irrelevant when they are actually very relevant, it is not being stressed to vote, and there is no encouragement to establish your own personal values, ethics, morals, and opinions. Think about it, what do you believe in?

I know this isn't a fun topic or one that anyone cares to discuss, but I think Americans would be happier with their country and their leaders if they actually played a role in it like it is designed. At this point, I don't even care if you have different political views than I do, I just urge you to have a view on it. Ignorance is what gets societies into trouble, stop being ignorant. I don't believe that I have any more resources than any of you out there. Take advantage of the free resources around you. Go expand your mind on something.

That is all for now, until next time..