So Yeah.

Another week come and gone with little to report.  Actually, now that I think about it, I'm not sure what I even have to say!  Hmm, let me think for a second...

Oh right! (PS, that "Oh right!" was not me being dramatic or building the tension so you would be dying to hear about my super interesting life.  I actually took a couple minutes to check Facebook and look at the pictures on my phone to see what I've done the past few days.)

Wednesday was blahh, and I'm pretty sure I fell asleep in my linguistics class at least twice.  Whoops.  We also had our first real PSEA meeting, in which we played Education Jeopardy.  It was quite comical actually.

Thursday was my day off, except that from now on I will be going to the Lafayette Adult Resource Academy to tutor native Spanish speakers from 9:00 am to 11:00 am (this is like when I went to the jr. high last semester to work with the Spanish students there).  So much for my sleep in day... :/

However, last Thursday was "Adventure Day."  Christian and I took the bus to Wal-Mart; it was the first time since August (see August 26, 2012 post, "I Made It Through The Week").  And guess what?  It still took 3 hours.  Rough.

But we got everything we needed (because we were both in desperate need of Nutella) and it was a fun trip, so it was worth it I suppose.

Friday night was pretty chill; I just watched "Crazy, Stupid Love" with Jess and lusted after the ever-attractive Ryan Gosling.  Don't hate.

Saturday was a trip to down to Chauncy to look for birthday presents for Annie's birthday which was on the 24th and for Brooke's birthday on Feb. 3.  Christian and I spent some time down there getting some legit stuff.  This included a magnetic poetry kit from Von's for Annie.  It's probably the most perfect gift for her.  All it was is over 200 magnetic words that you can make sentences with on your fridge or whatever.  The catch: the theme of the words was "The Lover."  Why ever would we pick that out for Annie?  Let me just give you a quick background on this girl: she's crazy and eccentric and fun and is insanely inappropriate, making her that much more hilarious.  It's all in good fun.  So we gave her the present (wrapped in the latest issue of the Exponent and covered in some inappropriate birthday themed some-ecards (www.someecards.com)).  She immediately began placing the words on her fridge, categorized by nouns, verbs, and adjectives, and we had a contest to see who could make the most crude sentences.  For the sake of the young eyes potentially viewing this post (Tyler, cough cough), I will spare you the specifics. Use your imagination.  Or don't, actually.

That night I went bowling in the basement of the Union with Laura, Kristen, and Sydney.  It was really nifty 'cause they turn the lights off and everything glows in the dark.  We played two games, both of which I surpassed the low expectations I had of my bowling skills by getting 118 and 116.  Perhaps I got some bowling skills transferred to me before I was born considering my mama was in a bowling league when she was younger...or maybe not.

Glowing balls!

I continued my Sunday School teaching on Sunday with my wonderful students and feasted at Hilly for weekly brunch with Lilly. (Seriously though, make your own pancakes.)  Annie, Christian and I went to the Iowa game too, which we won in overtime.  Take that, Hawkeyes.  Dinner time after that, and guess what?  Moe's Southwest Grill delivers here.  Chips and queso, whaddup?  We all cuddled in my bed before dinner and Annie accidentally fell out of my bed, banging her ribs on my futon and scraping her shin.  Hahhhh.

 I got good news from my mama: she's probably coming to visit me this weekend!  Yayyyy!!

In other news:

I sent in my application to be a BGR Team Leader for next year!  They're the people who are the group guide for the incoming freshmen during orientation week.  I'll have a couple of interviews and such, so wish me luck!  Over 1000 applicants, and only 430 accepted...yikes.

More later...dinner time :)

What's Up, Buttercup?

Here's a list of common words that people are too lazy to say without abbreviating (I don't know why I'm doing this, but I am):

Adorbs = Adorable.  Such a cray abbreviation.
Cray = Crazy.  Congrats, Kanye West.  You made that word famous in your song.
Congrats = Congratulations.  Granted, that is a long word, so it's a pretty legit shortening.
Legit = Legitimate.  Sometimes people say "Legitly," which totes defeats the purpose of abbreviating.  Why would you lengthen a shortened word?
Totes = Totally.  This is totes gonna be an interesting post.
Gonna = Going to.  Probs one of the most common abbreviations.
Probs = Probably. This post is probs gonna be really rando.
Rando = Random. One letter short does not an abbreviation make.  But be prepared for this "rando" post.

Ice skating was super fun/cold. There weren't that many people from the floor there, and the buses weren't running as late as we thought so we had to walk the 25 minutes back to Shreve, but overall it was a good experience.  I got to skate and hold hands wiff my friends.  Sooo adorbs.

Me and Dana

The Fantastic Delta Fourth!

Me and Julia...scarf twins!

The girls, pre-ice skating

Becky and Annie!

Jess was sick for most of the weekend so I was her "pseudo mom" as she called me.  I took care of her because that's what friends are for.  She was in bed basically all day for 3 days straight, but she's feeling better now!  I missed my buddy!

3 day weekend = late Sunday nights.  I did homework most of the day and hung out with Christian that night.  I don't know why, but it turned out to be a blast.  Here's the run-down of that night's events in my new favorite format of relaying information: the shortened sentences method:

Headed over to the guys' side.
Christian and I perused the Netflix horror movie section. (It's sort of a tradition to watch stupid horror movies).
Ahh, here's one that doesn't look completely horrible/stupid.
Start watching.
Pause.
Here comes Michael, a kid on Christian's floor.
With a nerf gun.
Cue scary music.
Dun. Dun. Dunnnnn.
Get shot.
You can't shoot defenseless women!
Grab the bullet.
Can I have that back?
Uhh, let me think about that....no.
Fake some Turbo-Kick moves on him.
Suddenly get lifted off the ground.
Squirm frantically.
Cue impromptu wrestling match.
Wow, I'm weak.
Pinned to the ground in seconds.
Ouch, my neck hurts.
Definitely need to start lifting again for the future rematch.
Actually begin movie.
Watch it.
Rating? Mediocre at best.
Christian pulls out his computer.
What's fun to do on the internet?
Have you ever heard of Omegle?
No.
There's your answer.  
Start video-chatting some strangers.
Get told we look like a cute couple.
Milk it a little and pretend to be fake in-love.
Meet a kid from Michigan.
Get Michael again because he's from there.
They talk. They hang up.
Little Asian kid pops up on the screen.
Michael begins talking to him in a very...not straight voice.
(For those confused parties who viewed this video on Facebook, here's your explanation.)
Really funny.
Other kids on the floor come in and talk to some people.
Seriously, engineers, shouldn't you be doing homework?
But it was such a fun night, albeit totes rando.
Went to bed around 3:30 or so.

Christian and I finally had another baking sesh (sesh=session. I forgot to put that in the top list) tonight.  We made cupcakes for my PSEA meeting tomorrow night (or I guess tonight considering it's 1:00 am) and also cookie bars for Annie's birthday on Thursday.  We also had music going of course, so we danced like maniacs and went cray while baking our desserts.  It was a much better use of my time than homework would be.

Such pros.

Nighty night!

Spicing Up This Mundane Life.

What's up, everyone?

Another week come and gone with a plethora of activities to report on.  Brace yourself.

Last Friday was our floor's Secret Santa gift exchange.  We had pizza and gave our gifts to each other and had to guess who gave who what.  I don't think anybody got it right.  But the cool thing was, everyone got something interesting and unique.  People didn't just give gift cards or something like that-each of the gifts were personalized.  Props to you, 4E girls.

Guess what I did after that?  Laundry.  It doesn't get crazier for me than that on a Friday night apparently.  But that's okay, because guess what I did on Saturday night?  Yep, you got it: RAVE! Shreve put on a rave/dance for its residents.  It was simple; just some blacklights and some good, loud music.  Annie, Jess, Laura, Brooke, Dana, and I went cray and had a blast.  Annie and I had originally gotten all dolled up, but within 10 minutes we had both changed into running shorts.  I was wearing alllll white and shone bright like a diamond (it will be a miracle if that song isn't stuck in my head for the rest of the day) under the blacklights.  We didn't plan on staying long, but by golly, the music was pumpin', and so was the adrenaline, so stay the whole time we did.  Some guy even asked Laura for her number!  All in all, it was a grand ole' time.

Annie and I, pre-rave and pre-running shorts.

Sunday was my first day as a Life Guide teaching Sunday School to 5th graders at St. Thomas Aquinas!  We didn't do much-just play some get to know you games-but it was a lot of fun.  The kids are hilarious!  There's one boy who is the epitome of a nerd, big glasses and all.  There's another who was wearing a Robbie Hummel Purdue basketball jersey, so he pretended he was the star basketball player the whole time.  And yes, we had to address him as "Robbie."  Then there was a girl who doesn't like Purdue but rather IU, so all the kids booed her.  She seemed to enjoy the attention :)

I also went to the basketball game after that...we won! Yayy!

Classes resumed on Monday.  Not much to report on that front.  Let's get real: college isn't about the academics, right?  Ha ha ha...

Alyssa and I figured out a bus route that goes right to our classroom buildings on Mondays.  So we tried it out.  Buses are freakin' awesome.  Instant drop off at our classes, and a shield from the cold.  Woot woot!  Probably not a good idea...I'm gonna get lazy as all heck.

Wednesday night was my debut as VP of the Purdue Student Education Association.  We had our spring call-out (meetings to tell people about the club and let them join) and managed to recruit about 9 new members, which was pretty cool!  Everything went without a hitch, but boy is there a lot of work we have to do for the rest of the semester!

Thursday is where the real action starts, because this is when I order Macklemore tickets for me and my friends online for the March concert.  If you don't know who Macklemore is, their song "Thrift Shop" and all its ridiculousness has been sweeping the country and making GoodWill the new Gucci.

Fair warning, this video contains a lot of profanity and stupid stuff.

Let me set up the scene (now remember, I don't have class on Thursday):

It's 9:45 am.  I wake up, sit up in my bed, and contemplate life for a few minutes.  

Finally convince myself to climb down the mountain--I mean my bed.

It's 9:55.  The tickets go on sale at 10:00 online.  It's a special discounted presale to Purdue students: the first pick on seats, and only $29.

I log on to my account. 9:59.  Deep breaths.  Heart racing.  T-minus 1 minute.  Refresh the page.  Refresh. Refresh.  Watch the clock on my computer screen with bated breath.  Refresh, refresh, refresh. 10:00!!!! 

Okay, so where's the "Buy Tickets" button?  Why isn't it showing up?!  What the heck?!?

Refresh, refresh, refresh.

10:01.  Still not there.

Logout, log back in.

Refresh, refresh, refresh.  10:05.

HUH?!?!?!

Frantically dial the box office's number on my cell, all the while breaking the refresh button on my computer.  Maybe they forgot to make them available online?  I don't know, but I had to figure this out.

Busy tone.  Of course!  Everyone's ordering their tickets over the phone!  Crap!  Hang up.  Redial. Refresh.  Busy.  No button. 

Redial.

Busy. 

Refresh.

Hang up.

Repeat.

I'm going to have to run across campus to the box office!  Nooo!  I still have my pajamas on and bed-head!

Finally, 10:10 rolls around, and upon a final refresh, the button comes up online.  Gahh!!!!

Search through the available seats in Elliot.  5th row?!  I'll take it!  Click 6 seats (for me, Annie, Brooke, Christian, and his friends Anna and Stephanie).  Click buy tickets.

Sorry, these seats were already taken.  Please try again.

NOOOO!  Go back, pick the next best seats.  Click buy tickets.  Nothing happens.  Click it again.  And again.  Nothing.

Click refresh.

Due to to the unusually high activity on this site, we have placed you in a line and you will be able to purchase tickets when it's your turn.

Freakin' no, computer!  I'm not playing these games with you!

Grab some pretzels and start nervous-eating, staring at the screen, willing it to pop up to allow me to purchase the tickets.  Crunch, crunch, crunch.  My eyes start watering.  I haven't blinked in minutes.  I can't miss my opportunity.  (Total exaggeration).  The tension begins to build up inside of me.  I'm going to have to face it: the only available seats will be in the 2nd balcony in the very back.  Feel my shoulders slump in disappointment.  Until...

New screen.  

Please choose your seats.

Toss my pretzel bag to the side and sit up straight.  My hand instantly finds the mouse and clicks 6 seats in the middle section, about mid-way back from the stage.  Buy tickets.  Click.

Pay. 

Thank you for ordering.

I do a little happy dance in my mind, then go down to the lobby to print off the tickets.

Wait impatiently for the computer to log me in.  Click print tickets.

Sorry, you can not print all these tickets at the same time.

Are. You. Serious?!  Could this process be any more difficult?

So began the process of me downloading each ticket individually and printing each off.

But finally, after what should have been a 15 minute-long process, I had my tickets.  It was 11:00 am.

The sad thing I just realized is that this was the major event of the week up until that point.  I live a sad life if the majority of this post thus far is my struggle to buy tickets online.  This is tragic.  Shakespeare should write a tragedy about me because my life is that sad.

But don't worry, it gets better.

Because...

My dad came and visited me last night!!

When I came back after break, I was dismayed to find that the TV we brought up didn't function correctly.  We tried everything: plugging it in to different outlets, pressing every conceivable button, dragging it into Jess and Alyssa's room to see if it was just my room...but to no avail.  So my dad came up and brought me a new TV and took me out to dinner!  It was the best part of my week by far.  We got to have some solid father-daughter bonding time, eating and talking and watching a little Tosh.0 on my new TV!  Needless to say, I couldn't contain the tears from falling as soon as I had to say goodbye.  Even now, sitting here in the laundry room with fellow residents surrounding me in various stages of their laundry cycles, my eyes are getting a little watery.  Boo.

So, shout-out to my dad for being the best and making the trip up here after work to spend a couple hours with me!  And shout-out to my awesome mom for sending up a bunch of goodies, including but not limited to frosted animal crackers, some Valentine's Day goodies, and my very own loaf of pumpkin bread!  Good luck getting any of that, girls on my floor.

As for the rest of the weekend, we get Monday off, (MLK Day) so I'll report to you all my crazy escapades later.  For example, tonight is a floor event: both the 4E girls and the 4W boys are going ice skating at the outdoor rink!  Huzzah!

Later, gators.

Back to Reality.

There's certainly a lot I need to catch up on!

In regards to Mexico:

We began our journey on Sunday, December 31st with a drive down to St. Louis in the form of a caravan.  But only after everyone was stressed out to the max and we had to stop to make sure we had all our passports.

The gang right before we left

We stayed the night at a hotel and ate at Denny's that night, where we encountered the slowest service possible at a restaurant.

Monday morning, rise and shine, gotta leave at 5:30 am for our 8:00 am flight! 

Dark,

Cold,

Tired,

Nobody got a good nights' sleep.

Drive,

Arrive,

Check-in,

My suitcase is over 50 pounds.

Starbucks,

Sit,

Wait,

Wait,

Wait...

Take some pictures in the airport.

Play some Catch-Phrase.

Boarding at last!

3 hour flight,

Watch some Dark Knight Rises,

Gotta use the bathroom,

Why does everyone have to pee at the same time?!

Guess I'll wait until we land.

Landed!

I did not dress for the weather...

Warm.

Humid.

Check in.

Stamp my passport.

Need to get on a bus to our resort...

Get sidetracked...

"Hola, Señores, come check out our excursions!"

"No, we really have to go, sorry!"

"Look at this great deal we can give you!"

"No, really, we have a bus to catch..."

Unwillingly look at some brochures.

Try to be polite but direct.

Thanks, but no thanks.

Adios.

Get on the bus.

Sing the Spanish alphabet over the bus's microphone.

Total Spanish pros.

Tired.

Really, really tired.

Arrive.

We're in Paradise.

We ate our first all-you-can-eat buffet meal that day.  We checked in to our rooms.  We explored and went to the beach and pool for awhile, both of which are absolutely GORGEOUS.  We got all fancy...New Years' Eve!  Ate some dinner.  Found the Teen Disco.  The girls danced around there for awhile to some obscure techno-ish music...by ourselves.  There was nobody there.  Checked out the adult club.  The younger ones got kicked out. McCade wasn't feeling well, so he and Kim stayed in the room. Meryl, my mom, me, Kourt, Kyleigh, and Tyler sat around outside for awhile until we saw one of the workers and asked where the New Year's party was.  He directed us to the golf course, so we went and sat at a table.  There was a big DJ stand and a dance platform set up, but only some weird jazz music was playing.  To entertain ourselves, we set our eyes on a younger girl in a mint-green dress and watched her sway back and forth on the dance floor by herself.  Maybe sway wasn't the right word.  It was more like spazzing out.  We took to imitating her "dance moves," and every time we saw her at the resort later in the week, we couldn't contain ourselves from laughing.

Meryl and I made our way to the bathroom in the club after awhile, and the next thing you knew, we were out on the dance floor dancing to "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun." Can't get crazier than that...But then we headed back to the golf course to be with everyone else.

Finally, some good dance music started playing, so we hit the dance floor and went crazy.  But not as crazy as mint green dress girl.  It was a blast!  Except the DJ failed to recognize the countdown for the new year until about 12:05, which is when he stopped the music and as a collective group, we counted from 10 down to 1 and yelled "Happy New Year!"

After that, all the lights that illuminated the golf course disappeared and fireworks lit up the sky while "Chariots of Fire" played in the background, giving me awful memories of my 7th grade Language Arts class with Ms. Ryan when she played that song daily during our Greek Unit.  They threw out long, skinny balloons that we danced around with too.  It was crazy and fun and AMAZING!!  What a way to ring in the New Year!  Happy 2013!!  

Tuesday and Wednesday and Friday were spent at the beach and the pool, just chilling and relaxing and tanning and reading and playing sand volleyball and getting sand EVERYWHERE.  We played some catch in the pool, and even took a water aerobics class from one of the entertainment people (his name was Paul, he was 19, and we became besties with him).

On Thursday, my family went on an excursion to zipline, repel off a 70 ft. tower, and swim in an underground cave called a cenote.  It was incredible.  We had to get up at the butt crack of dawn so our tour guide, who can only be compared to a Mexican hippie for the number of times he preached about the importance of a good environment and getting along and all that jazz, could pick us up in a van.  We were in a group with some British people too (who definitely used the word, "rubbish").  First, we snorkeled in the underground cave.  It was so cool.  The water was so clear that it didn't seem like we were even in the water.  Apparently there are at least 800 (or maybe it was 8,000...what's a zero anyway?) of these caves, and they are all connected.  We then repelled off the tower.  We climbed up the stairs of doom and got all strapped and roped in and then...we lowered ourselves to the ground like pros.  It was pretty neat, despite the rope burn on our hands through our gloves.  Ziplining was last.  We got to do 3 different lines, equaling over a mile zipping over the Mexican wilderness.  It was pretty awesome.  We were pretty exhausted after that, but such a blast!

At nights, we all got all dressed up to go to dinner together.  We went to a Japanese restaurant one night, and an Italian one, and a steak one.  At the Japanese one, we sat next to an older Mexican couple who didn't speak English, so I tried my hand at conversing with them.  It actually surprised me how well I was able to understand them and talk to them!  It was a fun experience.

After dinner one night, we played some group Catch-Phrase.  Another night we went and saw the show the people at the resort put on.  It was neat because it was a bunch of dancing to movie-themed music, like Austin Powers, Rocky, and even a really ridiculous version of Titanic's "My Heart Will Go On."  That same night, we made our way to the Melody Bar at our resort for karaoke night!!  All the kids stood up and sang (very poorly) our rendition of Barbie Girl.  Kourtney and I were going to sing again, but unfortunately they said we couldn't do any more songs. Until...

The next night, we attended the show again.  This time it was like a game show, called, "The Perfect Couple" or "La Pareja Ideal."  3 couples from the audience participated and we got to watch them re-enact their first kiss, do their version of the famous dance from Dirty Dancing, and pop some balloons in some compromising positions.  It was pretty funny, but also inappropriate. 

When the show was over, we had assumed we'd go back to our room or something.  After all, my family was leaving the next day and we still had a lot of packing to do!  But, lo and behold, the karaoke gods were smiling upon us, and the announcer told us that they'd be doing karaoke again...on the big stage!  Kourt and I looked at each other, but couldn't make up our minds about whether or not we wanted to participate.  But we did.  We got up on that stage and "sang" the Spice Girls' "Wannabe" like it was our job.  We tried to make a performance out of it to distract everyone from our awful singing, but it was so much fun!  We got some cheers and claps, and before we knew it, we were back on stage with the rest of the kids, and Paul from the resort, singing, "Don't Stop Believing."  It was a great way to end the night.  

We got home late Saturday night, where laundry began immediately so I didn't have to take dirty clothes back to school. (Thanks, mom and dad!)

I left for school around 3:15 on Sunday.  I started crying a little.  It's not that I didn't want to come back to school; it was just that I didn't want to leave my family.  Even as I sit here, I feel more homesick than I felt all first semester.  I don't even know why!  I'm a mess!

Pictures (in no particular order):

Midnight at the beach

The ocean! Or maybe it's the sea...

The group

Airport

Sisters!

The kids

The fam

The fam (again)

A real-life Mariachi band!

Awkward family photo

Pyramid at the airport!

The gang again.

Underwater camera

Teen disco

Kiddie-poos

In regards to school:

It was so nice to see everyone back at school again and catch up.  It took me forever to unpack everything.  I have no idea how I'm getting all this crap home for the summer...

I met my new roomie, and she's pretty cool!  So far, so good!

I've been to all my classes by now.  I like my professors (so far), and we'll see how the classes themselves go.  The good news is that I don't have classes at all on Thursdays! Yayyy!  Unfortunately, that means I have 5 on Mondays... but I think it'll be worth it.

In regards to the research project I told you about awhile ago:

Through my DeVito class, I get to work with a professor to work on a project.  My professor, Dr. Servaty-Seib, does work with grief and how it affects people, so I get to work with her and a graduate student to read through narratives of college students and grief and help organize them for a book prospectus!  I'm so excited for it because that type of thing is right up my alley.  (For those of you who didn't know, I was thisssss close to majoring in English in order to be an editor...I'm glad I decided not to, even though I still enjoy that type of thing!)  We'll see how it develops!

In regards to a new opportunity:

I joined the Life Guides at St. Toms, the church I go to.  I get to teach Sunday School to 5th graders every Sunday at 10:30!  Yayyy!

Hope everyone is enjoying the New Year and what it's had to offer so far!

A Hiatus of Greatness

Before I begin, let me apologize for my slight break from blogging.  It's been quite a busy time, but I've heard several requests that people would like me to update them. Honestly, I don't even remember what I last told you. But here's what you need to know to tide you over until I'm actually able to sit down and get into the nitty gritty details:

1. Finals and everything went well! I got As  in all my classes which was a lovely Christmas present. We'll see how long that streak continues...

2. It feels so good to be home. It's weird: when I'm at school, I absolutely love it. But when I'm at home, it just feels...right. I guess one semester does not a home make. It's just nice knowing everyone and everything and all that jazz.

3. Christmas was wonderful. Family time is always great. Food is always great. My friends and I had a Christmas party at Chloe's where we wore ugly sweaters and exchanged t-shirts from our schools. And my friend Jenna came back too! It was the first time we'd seen her since June! It was such a great reunion. And just getting to catch up with everyone was wonderful. I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and enjoyed time with family and friends.

4. HAPPY NEW YEAR! How did I spend my new year's eve?  Well....in Mexico!!! Yep, we arrived in Mexico yesterday afternoon, and this is where I will be for the next 4 days, spending time with my family and my neighbors and former neighbors. There's nobody I'd rather be here with! I'll get into specifics (and hopefully pictures) later, but right now we agree limited with our internet usage because WiFi is only available in the lobby of the hotel :( 

Okay, it's best if I go get ready for dinner. (As nice and awesome as our hotel room is, there are limited numbers of electrical outlets and mirrors, and 3 girls getting ready = disaster.) Gotta claim my space! For those on break, enjoy the rest of your time off!