A+ for Eavesdropping

Ok so I actually had a very cool assignment to do for my Social Research Methods class today.  Technically it was due Tuesday but he's a pretty lenient professor overall so he said as long as it's in before January it'd be cool.  The assignment was to go to a public place, sit there for an hour, and observe all the people around you and record their interactions.  If you're a people watcher it's the class for you.  I'm extremely nosy so it finally felt like a project I'd invest myself in.  I went to a Starbucks with Genna and grabbed a table towards the back, but not too far in the back.  She was studying o-chem from a notebook and I had my laptop in front of me, hiding the fact that I was secretly taking notes on everyone that came in.  

HOW CREEPY DOES THAT SOUND? It must sound creepy because it is creepy. Honestly, it almost sounds illegal, but I didn't make these people talk close enough to me so I can hear them, they could have muffled their voice if they wanted.  I didn't think I would have as much to write about as I ended up doing either.  I typed non stop for an hour, only taking like 3 one minute breaks because I thought I was going insane due to over stimulation in my brain.  

I had to set up my notes in a table including a column with the time, a column with the action of the person, and then a column with my impressions on it.  Half way through I realized I started writing like I was blogging instead of a research assignment.  It was definitely way too snarky to be legitimate research, but it was fun and my professor is probably so laid back that he shouldn't be teaching.  I wasn't worried.

Here is an excerpt of my assignment.  I'm aiming for an A, but anything over a B- will suffice.

TIME                  ACTION                                                MY IMPRESSION

03:13:00 PM	An employee is wiping down the bar table and the chairs.	I wonder if she's a newer employee because she seems pleased with herself for completing this task.
03:15:00 PM	A man around 25 walked in and was ordering at the counter, while an employee at the other end of the store yelled “hello” to him. They tried having a conversation from their separate locations but the girl couldn't understand what he was saying and did that fake laugh. Hopefully what he said wasn't serious or somber.	Almost seemed like one of those awkward encounters where you pretend like you care about what the other person has to say. She definitely didn't. Although, she did initiate the conversation which means she wanted him to know she was here...maybe she has a little crush?
03:19:00 PM	A girl, probably in high school is leaning against the bar area eating a pastry type item, looking around at her surroundings.	I think she's trying to look mature and classy while eating her over priced croissant but she's putting too much in her mouth at once and just looking like a slob.
03:20:00 PM	A lady and her three kids, all under 10 years old, came in. The kids sat down looking impatient while the lady is ordering.	THIS IS WHY THEY MADE DRIVE THROUGH STARBUCKS SO YOUR KIDS WOULDN'T HAVE TO ENDURE THIS
03:24:00 PM	A girl is leaning against the ordering counter. She's taking forever to order.	I'm wondering if she knows the cashier because they're small talking more than an average customer.
03:26:00 PM	Why does she keep leaning onto the ordering counter?	This seems so dirty because so many people use that ordering counter.
03:27:00 PM	An older couple came in, they look hip for their age. The leaning counter girl finally moved to the bar side of Starbucks. She's eating this cheesy pastry.	Why do people start eating their food while waiting for their drink? Have we no patience when it comes to food anymore
03:29:00 PM	A short middle aged man comes in and quickly orders. Ordered just a pastry but something looked wrong with it because he gave it back and waited for a different one.	He seemed friendly to the cashier even when he returned the original pastry. We need more patient and friendly people like that to come to Starbucks I feel.
03:32:00 PM	A blonde woman came in and started talking to the older hip couple, they're now ordering.	Perhaps she's their daughter, she kind of looks like the old woman. It also looks like the couple is paying for the woman which I hope my parents will still do when they're old.
03:34:00 PM	The three of them came and sat really close to me, they are talking kind of jokingly. The old man is massaging her back.	I'm really hoping it's her father at this point.
03:35:00 PM	They're discussing a gift from Pier 1 Imports. It's a back roller thing. The woman just said “mom”. The fact they are parents to her is now confirmed.	They seem like a close knit family since they're talking to the woman about work and her friends. It's refreshing.

This is how much my mom hates my blog. A text I received from her at 10:50am today... "Uncle tim told joz (my aunt Josie) to read ur blog now she wants to read it i said NO! ugh"

Thanks for being my #1 fan, madre.  Love you forever.
xxxx
A

"Are You Sick?" "No." *cough*sniff*spits*

I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving break and is ready to screw up a whole semester worth of work and time because we have no energy left for the last 2 weeks of classes and and 1 week of finals. Or is that just me?  Thank God I don't have many assignments left because I can tell you right now they would not be my best work.  I brought home a book I was supposed to read over break and I didn't even open it.  The other book I was supposed to read I left at school.  Did I leave it subconsciously? Probably.  These last few weeks aren't off to a fabulous start, but the repercussions of that won't be shown until my final grades are released which is so far away that it makes it less important.  Is that not how it works?
 I should really start focusing on my finals since a few of them will be challenging and preparing now would pay off.  But, I'm not going to start focusing on my finals.  That's why we have evenings before finals.
 I'm already anticipating Christmas break which is sad because we have a few weeks; December 14th cannot come soon enough.  I want to look for a job that I can have over break because I know I'm going to get very bored very quickly when I realize my family and friends at home can't be excited for that long about my arrival and long term stay (a month) in Erie.  Seriously I think it wears off after a couple hours.  When I came home for Thanksgiving, Mack came home from school that day and went to a friend's house.  Instantly.  That sums up, mainly everyone.
 
I'm also sick which may be a result from not sleeping much lately, but I slept like a lazy cat last night and woke up feeling the sickest I've been yet.  CUZ THAT MAKES SENSE? ISN'T SLEEP SUPPOSED TO BE VITAL TO REGAIN MAXIMUM STRENGTH? My throat was throbbing  every time I woke up in the night and the Chloraseptic spray was in the linen closet in the hall.  Far, far away.  As a result by morning it felt awful and I've been clearing my throat and holding/spitting nasty phlegm, depending on my situation and whether spitting is even an option.  I started feeling sick on Friday/Saturday but I guess I just ignored that getting-sick feeling and pretended I had the post-Thanksgiving blues.  Until Connor questioned me of being sick because he realizes instantly if he is under the weather I guess.   When I timidly said no with big doe-eyes and a shrinking stature he basically accused me instead of questioned me.  I hope he overcomes his illness quicker with me back at school and spitting up phlegm by myself because The Romantic Era's new cd release show is Saturday and if it's my fault his throat is scratchy than I don't think I could live with myself.

xxxx
A

I Didn't Talk to You in H.S. but "HEY WHAT'S UP!?"

Wow wow wow.  Thanksgiving break is flying by which is so unfortunate because it has been lovely thus far.  I'm trying to look at it like if it was the start of a weekend I'd be pumped because it's only Friday night and I still have Saturday and Sunday.  Very upset that we have classes on Monday because in PA a lot of schools get off for the start of hunting season.  I'm not sure if that's the exact reasoning behind it, that's just what father used to tell me.  It's actually snowing though which I thought I wanted until I had to walk outside in my oxfords and small leather jacket because I was completely unprepared.  Furthermore, driving with Connor is his car was not good because he only has one working windshield wiper.  And the working one is on the passenger side.  Don't worry though guys, my dad would still prefer me with him driving in a car like that than having me drive my car with two working wipers.  Although he's treating his daughters equally which is refreshing because I received this text message from Mack about an hour after it started to snow.

"The fact that dad is picking up my friend and taking us to my other friends house is ridic[ulous] am I in 6th grade?"

No, she is not in 6th grade.  Dad just likes males behind the wheel; we must not take it personally.  I just find it funny because he is so adamant about this and nothing else.  Like, is this really the same man who quotes Sheldon from "The Big Bang Theory"?  The same man who tried to convince me to set free all of my pets at Presque Isle, despite it being most definitely illegal?  Could have fooled me.

The festivities of Wednesday night down town were a success, if you call seeing every high school peer you've ever known a success.  Seriously though, it felt like it was the unofficial reunion.  The peers of my graduation class are either all on their way to being raging alcoholics or we just went a little crazy because it was the first Thanksgiving we can drink our way to the feast.  It's just funny because I said hi to so many people I probably would try to avoid in any other public setting despite a bar.  Not because  I don't like them, just because it's easier sometimes.  It's easier than throwing around a bunch of formalities and pretending we can fit in talking about our last four years into a three minute conversation standing in the cereal aisle.  That may sound rude but I know everyone feels the same, thus we will all quickly veer into a different aisle at Wegman's when we see each other.  The bars are a free for all.  It was awesome.  There are loads of formalities but everyone is so much more enthusiastic about the answers.

xxxx
A

Defining Unproductiveness

I hate to admit this but my last two days have been the least productive that I can remember in a long time.  It's so bad that when people call me and ask what's up I say nothing.  Then a couple minutes later they ask what I'm doing and again, I say, no really, I'm doing nothing.  I'm not even sure how I managed to pass the time.  I really was just itching to come home.  That sounds sad but, in my defense, I enjoy home and it had been a few weeks.  Nearly a month, which is a lot for me this year.  Freshman/sophomore year it would have been nothing, especially considering I was out of the country for a decent portion.  I thought about banning myself from blogging anything today because literally nothing has happened of importance.  I just felt like writing.  I act like my life is usually seeping with excitement.  Genna and I fell asleep on the couch yesterday watching Dr. Phil and woke up towards the end of the world news.  That sounds weird.  We fell asleep on different couches.  If you pay attention to tv listings, that's about an hour and a half.  She fell asleep first and in my head I justified a nap for myself since she looked like she was having a good slumber.

For once I drove home to Erie in nice weather.  The drive was so much smoother than it usually is, however no one was home to greet me.  Well, Vincent was home but he was asleep and he doesn't care about me.  That's the cat.  I think if I didn't point that out some people may think he's like a weird half brother who we keep in the basement.  That's what I would think.  Mack got home from school and like five minutes later she left to go to a friend's house.  Thanks.  Do I mean anything to you?!  She came home an hour later though and paid attention to me so I forgave her.

I hope everyone reaches their Thanksgiving destinations safely, and if anyone goes out tomorrow night party hard enough so you aren't able to wake up early Thursday and help with the cooking.  Yes, I guess tomorrow night college students are supposed to go out.  I just learned this a few days ago when Jenna asked me if I was going out and I was like, "Why?  It's Thanksgiving Eve..."  And she said that's exactly why.  I suppose that's a good enough reason for me.  And Gina probably.

xxxx
A

"No homo." Dude, she's a girl.

One day I will probably be on "What Would You Do".  When this day comes, I will be angry if I don't realize it during the situation.  If you're unfamiliar with the show, it's where they set up these ridiculous situations where something moral is on the line and they see if 'average people' in a day to day environment would comment or intervene.  Really I would enjoy being the actress on this show who has to do something ridiculous, but just being on the show in general would suffice.  I'd like to think I will be the person who intervenes and stops the boyfriend from slapping his girlfriend in the crowded public park, or telling the husband that buying a diamond ring for both his wife and his lover at the same time is a bit extreme.

However, after today's incident who knows what we'll do in a time of crisis.  Ok, the term crisis is over the top, but in a time of question perhaps.  I was at Target and I had already cashed out and my bill was like, 7 dollars or something.  It didn't hit me until I was in the restroom on my way out (who uses the bathroom at a store like Target besides myself and pregnant women?  I swear whenever I'm in there  that's the only other company) that my bill seemed a little low.  UGH, of course I check my receipt and I wasn't charged for my 6 dollar face wash.  The agony of deciding whether or not to stop at customer service and wait in line, only to have more money taken out of my account.  Plus, it's not like the lady didn't scan the face wash because it showed up on my receipt...there was just no charge next to it.  Maybe she accidentally hit a button that voided the price.  Then I was thinking if I do go back to customer service to get myself further charged I could potentially be getting the woman who rang me out in trouble.  Why would I want to do a thing like that?  If I didn't charge someone for an item I would hope they would just take it and run.  The last thing I'd want to do is have them go to my manager, right?

So I'm not going to say what I did, but if you know me well enough you could probably take a good guess.

I went to dinner with my lovely friend Megan tonight.  She's one of my dearest friends here at college and is from Erie so it's a double bonus.  We don't get together nearly enough and when we do it's always me who inititates.  One of those friendships.  No... she's a great friend and more sarcastic than me so it's a great time.  Most people tell stories about their life to make it seem more exciting or more interesting than it actually is, but Meg tells her stories to reiterate how pathetic her life seemingly is.  It's not at all, which makes it more funny.  She's a gem.
She had a story about this dude she was conversing with who was, I guess, tryin' to shoot a compliment her way.  This boy was trying to tell her that she had these beautiful blue eyes, which she does, they're like a majestic fresh water lake...but then after his comment he adds, "...no homo."
Uh, really?  Like you could have stopped after the compliment.  Megan's a girl, and you're a boy.  So what exactly are you trying to say?
*Sigh* boys.
xxxx
A

It's a Miracle I Get to Sleep At All

Sometimes I am shocked with how lazy I can be when it comes to doing things for myself.  I suppose this is better than if I was lazy when it came to other people, but still you'd think you'd want to treat yourself better than anyone else.  At least, that's a little glimpse into the mind of a conceited person.  So  I have some weird habits when it comes to my bedtime routine, or just how I sleep in general.  First off, if I don't wash my face before I get into bed I will immediately sleep more restlessly.  My subconscious must remind me constantly throughout my slumber how dirty my face is, which is then getting onto my pillow, and staying on my pillow for a long time because Lord knows I don't wash my pillowcase as often as I should.  My concerns for becoming germaphobic someday are justified, I'm telling you.  Furthermore, if I don't use my Neutrogena face wash to wash my face I feel less than adequate with my wash job.  This has got to do more with me being weird and "not liking to change a good thing" than it does with the actual product.  I've used it since middle school, which is a time when washing your face was actually considered a cool thing to do.  I remember seeing the pretty, popular girls washing their face with a bright bottle of soap after gym class, which is weird because those were the girls who would just stand there with the hand on hip (this does not cause any sweating on your face) making fun of the girls who were far too competitive and involved in every activity (aka. Me and my two best friends).

It's funny because I specifically recall conversations with girls at sleepovers discussing which face wash they use.

"Oh, you use Clean & Clear?  Doesn't that dry out your skin?" 

"Clearasil?  What, do you get blackheads or something?  Ew..." 

"Oh my God, I just love Neutrogena. It's perfect for my skin type." 

"You struggle with acne?  You should totally get Pro-Activ.  Jessica Simpson uses it!"

One year I even put Pro-Activ on my Christmas list.  I didn't even have acne...  I just thought it would be cool to use it and I JUST WANTED IT, MOM.
Anyways, I got Neutrogena in my stocking instead and I've been using it ever since.  Granted, I've had pretty healthy looking skin since then so it must be working well for my skin type.  So not only do I need that to sleep better I also can't have socks on, which is so difficult to deal with on a cold night.  If I fall asleep in socks I wake up two hours later, massively overheating.  Then it takes another 30 minutes, at least, to fall back asleep.  Thus, I try to just fall asleep with cold feet.  Couldn't do it last night, but my laziness kicked in because my dresser is not in reaching distance and God forbid I get up so I just laid there deciding my next move.  I pulled off my pajama pants and wrapped them around my feet.  I'm not kidding.  This presents my issue with not being able to fall asleep with my bare legs touching each other.  When I sleep in my underwear I have to either A) spread my legs apart or B) stick something between them.  USUALLY MY SHEET OR BLANKET PEOPLE, RELAX.  It's just a weird issue I have, it's fine if someone elses leg is touching mine, but it can't be my own.  Actually, the only person whose leg I hope is ever grazing me in my sleep is Connor.  Otherwise everything is just getting strange.
Oh my God I did wake up with someone else in a bed with me this year who I didn't know once.  That story will be saved for a later time and it's not nearly as wild as it sounds, only as unsettling as it sounds.

xxxx
A

We've Got a Bleeder

Girls bleed.  This shouldn't be a surprise to anyone, unless you completely ignored every health class since third grade.  We bleed, some of us sooner than others and some of us more than others (depending on the time of the week).  If you're a late bloomer *raising hand* like myself, you're in a way fortunate.  It can be a hassle having your period depending on the circumstances and the environment, but it's also something important in terms of being a female and being able to have children someday.  It's like a special bond all women have with each other.  I find it perfectly acceptable for a girl stranger to come up to me and ask if I have a tampon, isn't it an unspoken rule to be generous about that?  The real issue arises when we don't have these options available; when you're surrounded by a group of dudes.  One of the most mortifying experiences of my life, and probably one of the reasons I'm so nonchalant when talking about my period now, was when I first started mine.  Like I said, I was pretty late and it was the summer before 10th grade year.  I'd tell all you jealous ladies  to envy my late start, but I'd much rather have an earlier start than have to experience what I went through my first time:  I was on a camping trip.  I was the oldest girl.  The only adults were my dad, and his three brothers, and my older male cousins and brothers.  We camp in seclusion; not a trailer park with rest rooms, not an area with other families, not somewhere with gentle older women searching for young girls who are FREAKING out about what their vagina is doing.  And did I mention we spend our days camping usually by going somewhere to swim?  If you're not expressing empathy you're not human, not a girl, or no longer my friend.

Exhibit A: The Camping Toilet

Upon initial discovery of what I like to call the Red Stream of Womanhood, I resorted to the only thing I could think of which I know some of us girls are still forced to do; stick a wad of toilet paper down there and face the day with confidence that the toilet paper is the double-strength sturdy brand.  UM, I could tell what I had wasn't.  I may have been better off putting leaves in my underwear.  So here I am waddling to my father, wide-eyed and mortified telling him I can't go swimming today.

Dad: "What do you mean you can't go swimming?  You love it and we're all going.  You have to."
Me:   "I can't.  I can't.  I can't.  Dad.  No."

I think father intuition kicked, if there is such a thing (which I now believe in).  Or maybe the awkward waddle paired with the paralyzed look of fear on my face gave it away.

Dad:  "Oh...Um...Do you need to go somewhere...Um..To get things?"

So Dad and I drove, in the most silent of fashions, to the tiniest neighborhood corner store that ever existed and I hopped out the car, ran in, and bought my first box of tampons.  Thank God for the included diagrams in the box because all memories of health class lessons were non-existant in my mind.

This story came to my head today because we were talking about Toxic Shock Syndrome in class, which can occur with the improper usage of tampons.  And some girl made a comment about how uncomfortable the boys probably were with the discussion.  I think it's hilarious/very stupid that boys don't like it when girls talk about their periods or think it's gross.  It happens to all of us, and you should love it, because that lovely stream means your girl is fertile and healthy, and you're actually more attracted to us anyways during that time of the month because of the hormones we release.  So I kind of make a point to talk about it, not obnoxiously, but just as a conversation and it's interesting to see who accepts it.  Go with the flow.

xxxx

A

Challenge Accepted

Everyday, sometimes twice a day, I am faced with a decision that could potentially be life threatening.  To me possibly, but probably more for the man.  If you go to my university you know what I'll be talking about but if not I'll try and explain the situation logically.  In order to get onto campus we have to drive through this rather tight gate and the man in the parking booth has to verify you have your parking pass hanging in the window.  Mind you, this has got to be the easiest job of all time.  No offense to those men, but they sit in a booth and wave at people all day.  Maybe give directions or give a guest pass to every 23 cars that pass through.  Usually you'll just get a quick wave if you have your pass hanging and that means you can just drive right through.  After the first couple weeks I stopped slowing down when I drive through because even if they don't have time to see my pass hanging I still have it and therefore won't get ticketed when campus police has nothing better to do but search for illegally parked cars.  This happens surprisingly more often than not or else I definitely would not have paid the plus 100 dollars per semester for a parking pass.  If I was economically smart and financially set I would have paid the 175 dollar deal that was offered in the early summer which gets you a pass for the whole year, but what young adult thinks that way?  Not this one.  I wanted the pay the least amount of money as late as possible, I just couldn't justify spending that much in June just to be able to park my car somewhere.  I'm a dumb shit sometimes.
Now I have to muster up another plus 100 dollars to park for spring semester in the midst of holiday shopping season.  Sorry fam, you're about to get slighted.  It may even be worse than the year I wrote you all letters on notebook paper because I couldn't afford presents.

As I stated earlier about the life threatening situation when it comes to the parking thing, this happens when I drive past the booth.  The men wave, but I've found when I try to wave back sometimes while maneuvering the curve in the road that surrounds the parking booth at the same time I don't always feel  completely in control.  Yesterday I thought I was going to crash right into the booth.  I'm not driving as fast as you may be picturing, but when you're driving on a turn and you decide to wave WITH EYE CONTACT (because a wave without eye contact would be like I'm summoning him to come with me or something and these are pretty old men who stand in the booth so that's creepy.  Ok it'd be creepy no matter their age) with one hand there's no way you can 100% maintain TOTAL control of the vehicle.
I suppose I could just do a slight roll through the parking gate and I wouldn't have to worry about it.  Or just not wave and come off as a cold hearted snobby bitch.
But I'd rather face these difficult encounters daily because they make my days more challenging.

If it's not that I'm basically limited to the challenge of trying to wash my face without soaking my entire bathroom countertop.  Or trying to cut tomatoes without having every seed come out of the middle.  These are the types of things I have on my bucket list to be able to do.

xxxx
A

Martha Stewart Home Life and Chile Rellenos

I saw on the news that a national survey was taken last week whether or not early November is too early for Christmas decorations.  Over 70% of the population said yes.  I think it might be a tad early for mass amounts of stores to go all out for Christmas but for home life it's never too early.  I want to be able to enjoy my apartment as a winter wonderland since we get a whole month off from school to go home.  Thus, Genna and I decorated this weekend.  We're certainly not finished Christmas-izing our apartment, but we're on our way.  I'm kicking myself because I should have purchased all those little Christmas knick knacks from the thrift store last weekend for like a quarter a piece, but I didn't.  Instead I had my dad deliver it yesterday morning.  There was some confusion with getting my bc pills this week at the pharmacy I usually go to, so my mom did it for me.  God bless that woman.  However, they were in Erie and I am not in Erie so father delivered them on his way to visit my uncle.  Along with my pills I was brought coffee filters, Christmas decorations, apples, Goldfish crackers (which I don't even like), and business casual pants.  A smorgasbord of kind of lame, but necessary items.  Granted, I did ask for most of those things to be sent, it would just be very strange if my mom just thought I needed them in general.  My dad said he wasn't going to be here before 10am to drop everything off so I could sleep in.  He called me at 9:15am and said he was one street away from my apartment.  Dirty liar.

Did Martha Stewart come over?

Genna saw a picture of those hanging balls (haha) on Pinterest and we decided to do it to our windows in the living room and kitchen because my mom actually sent with the decorations a large box of balls.  They turned out great except I was reminded that I suck at crafts.  I have no problem starting a project but I get bored and leave it half way or almost done, leaving Genna to finish it.  At least I try.  I like the idea of doing crafts far more than I like the action of it.  Meh.

Last night was awesome because I had my first girl's night in a super long time.  I miss hanging out with girls because they're always on the same page when it comes to talking about boys.  Leah and her friend Taylor (who I will now call my friend too) came up and we went and got Mexican food with G.  I don't know what I ordered, this pepper thing (a chile relleno), but I enjoyed playing with it and talking about the shape.  And when I cut a piece off the end white goo came seeping out.  I think it was liquidy cheese, but between that and the large consumption of margaritas we consumed I'm really now not quite sure. 

How could anyone expect me to receive this on a plate and be mature about it.

Mom read my blog again and told me to stop being rude.  I told her not to read it if she didn't like it and I asked why she even keeps reading it. 

Her response:  

"Idk its like a bad accident.  U dont want to look but u do.  yikes."

Thanks for comparing my blogs to catastrophic-could-be-life-altering-events, madre.

xxxx

A

Give That Back. It's Not Candy.

Sometimes I am swamped with so much reading to do for class that I think I would rather have busy work as assignments.  Busy work I can complete.  There is a definite end to worksheets.  Reading I will never finish.  There is always more reading for any class I can do.  I will never be caught up.  Even if I do catch up, I could always read ahead so I have less to do the following week.  I never get this opportunity of course because I'm always behind.  Even when I try to complete readings I can't get through a whole chapter without reading 7 consecutive pages and not knowing what happened for at least 2 of those pages.  Thus, I have to go back and re-read or accept the fact that the plot is going to become very much filled with holes later on.  It's a never ending cycle of torture, which is dramatic because it's not like what I have to read about is terrible it's just not readings I get to choose.  And the second I'm forced to read something I didn't pick it becomes instantly that more dreadful.  I would list all the readings I have to do but no one wants to read that list, especially me.  It would only highlight all the work I won't complete this weekend.

Instead, I will start off my weekend hanging out with my two little friends.  They are 4 and 2.  I call them my friends because I can say I honestly enjoy spending time with them.  These feelings may be partially influenced because I get paid very well to do it, I have access to a very beautiful kitchen with a wide variety of healthy food choices and this bangin' homemade trail mix, and it never fails that I get to watch a legit good Disney movie.  No, that definitely fails sometimes.  For a while they were on this kick with watching Hop consecutively, which is that computer graphic/reality movie about the Easter bunny named E.B. with the voice of Russell Brand and I had to watch it 5 times the same night, but that was only a phase.  Because it was Russell Brand I watched the movie pretending the bunny was on the side practically a male prostitute who doesn't get paid for his work.  It was a little more entertaining in my mind.

Here's your real rabbit, kids.

The movie was mildly decent the first time, and got progressively more awful as the night went on.  Last time we watched Toy Story 2 which was AWESOME.  Of course, I would still love these children and care for them even if they wanted to watch Hop tonight, I would just probably hide the DVD because if it's out of sight it's out of their mind.  I'm kidding.  I will do anything for these kids mainly because they think I'm funny.  And I can tell they think I'm smart because I know how to read and I also pulled the "Oh when you're older like me you'll know what that's for" (this occurred when the girl pulled a tampon out of my bag and questioned whether it was candy under the wrapper).  No, not candy and please give that back before mom comes home...

  Moral:  If you think I'm funny and smart I will do nice things for you.  See how simple that is if you want good things from me?  Start throwing compliments my way and I'll throw back kindness.  Fair trade...and my friends wonder why I'm a bitch to them.  Kidding.  Maybe?

I hung out with Leah yesterday and Genna and I were pumped that another person got to see our awesome apartment.  Hopefully she will come back since she saw how accommodating our place is.  We accept visitors and sleepovers.  This is limited to if we know you or not, and if we feel safe and clean with you sleeping on our couch.  Bring gifts and maybe you can share one of our beds.  You don't have to be like, super clean though, because showering to us, is a chore, and no one is perfect when it comes to maintaining chores.

xxxx
A

Rashida! What a Pleasant Surprise

What the hell.  I think college professors have this backwards.  I just spent three hours on a take home test.  This is the second take home exam for the class and the first test took just as long.  I learned more from doing these exams than I have all semester long and I actually had to learn it myself by reading, comprehending and applying it to these never ending multiple choice possibilities that differ by one word each.  It's ironic because this class is the biggest "in-class" blowoff.  People skip class with no immediate or recognizable repercussion, and even when we're in class some students are doing schoolwork for other classes.  I'm guilty of this.  I often bring reading material I need to do from my other classes because simply half the time what the professor is lecturing on isn't even relevant to the material.  He goes off on tangents and tries to relate to us by talking about sex and how horny we probably are.  Um, this is a research methods class.  Not exactly the most orgasmic subject.  Regardless, my final grade will still be good because I worked my ass off on these take home exams.  The real question is, why don't all my teachers do this?!  I'm much more likely to read the material if I have it in front of me when taking my exam.  If I'm told to study for the in class exam, I find it a lot harder to self-discipline myself into reading.  If teachers claim students will skip classes if they allow take home exams than make your lectures worthwhile and noteworthy.  Plus, I was never taught how to study.

Thank God I'm a decent writer and most soc classes have more paper requirements than exams because I would be failing out, hard core.  Example: the bio class I'm required to take this semester only has exams, one being this morning.  Not only did I fail to dedicate a proper amount of time studying for it last night, I also forgot my calculator.  I honestly did try preparing last night but I was too distracted by the election.  Lies.  I started watching season 3 of The Office.  Which makes less sense than if I was being distracted by the election because I just finished watching season 6 of The Office.  I'm skipping around quite a bit and it's making the characters persona's all jumbled.  AND I DIDN'T KNOW RASHIDA JONES WAS IN THAT SHOW.  However, it's slightly easier than skipping around seasons like I tried doing with LOST the second time through.

I'm counting down the days for Thanksgiving break, as I'm sure most students are.  It's funny though because my classes were cancelled tomorrow and Friday.  I thought I was getting a little pre-Thanksgiving vacation as of last weekend, but as the week went on I slowly realized not having class isn't changing much of my work load.  I still have to work tomorrow night, baby sit all night Friday, write a paper, and seriously begin reading two long books for classes.  Plus, a teacher who is going out of town for over a week whom I have for two classes with on MWF's is actually making us go to class on Friday just to watch a movie.  This is college, woman.  If you're not there, we shouldn't be expected to be there either.  I love ranting to a computer screen because it can't tell me to stop whining.

The only thing keeping me motivated right now is the fact that is my last fall semester as a college student.  Unless I fail.  Choose to dropout.  Or contract an illness that postpones my graduation for another year.  Just bein' real.

xxxx
A

P.s. I get to see Leah tomorrow! *excitement*

So I Remembered About Genitalia

One of the benefits of a small university is that teachers make an effort to get to know you, at least the good ones who care about you as in individual.  Which unfortunately isn't that many of them.  I do have one professor and this is the fourth class I've had with her, so she was sort of forced to know me by name and face.  This isn't Rate My Prof so I'm not going to get into whether I enjoy her particular teaching tactics or not (they don't overjoy me) but I do like the information in the classes she teaches.  Her main expertise is anthropology, and since we don't have that as a distinct individual major *SIGH* it's just overlapped in the sociology department.  I would love to be an anthropologist and at my school being a sociology and public health student is the next best thing.  That's what I tell myself and don'tyoudarecrushmydreams.

So this teacher of mine finally caught a glimpse into the way my mind really works and what I remember based on my last exam she graded.  I didn't think much of how I answered one of the questions but her remarks made me giggle.  The class is Medicine and Culture and I had to define a 'culture-bound syndrome' and give an example from one of our text book readings.  Spoiler:  I don't always read for class.  A few days before a test I thoroughly skim the pages for bolded words or important looking theories and concepts and try to grasp what the professor will think is vital for an exam question.  I don't know how this happened but I ended up reading one of those side bar boxes with the darker background that most students always ignore.  Like, the case-study or just a long example of a concept.  Whatever, if you've ever seen a text book you know what I'm talking about.  The shaded background a different font basically screams "I'm less important, feel free to skip".  Anyways I can't believe it either but I read one and somehow remembered it for the exam, at a time of complete necessity.  So this was my answer for culture-bound syndrome:

"A culture bound syndrome is a perceived sickness related and pertaining to a specific cultural group.  An example is Koro which occurs amongst groups in Southeast Asia.  Men believe or have a fear that their penis will retract inside of them.  This is significant because it's an example of a health issue limited to a specific population that is directly inhibiting their bodily functions."

Legit.   And I was awarded full credit.  I don't think many of my peers used that example.  She left a note in the margin that said,
"interesting what some students take away from class..."

I also learned in epi class that an average hamburger has pieces from about 400 different cows.  And botox injections are basically from Botulism which is a common toxin in food borne illnesses and when injected into your body paralyzes your muscles aka. no wrinkles.  Do what you will in life with that information.

xxxx
A

An Extra Hour of Buddhas and Boyfriends

Wow this weekend flew by, even with that time change.  I expected it to feel like it would make the weekend so much longer and it's really not.  It's just going to get darker earlier which will be somewhat depressing.  Meh.  Who cares, though.  It's winter time and November<3 and I'm pleased with that.  My beautiful boyfriend visited me last night with his brother Bryant and Rakim.  They arrived here before I was done babysitting so they stopped by to get my keys where I was babysitting and just made themselves at home.  I felt very inferior when I had to request they let me into my own apartment complex since I had earlier relinquished my keys.  These waiting in my bedroom made up for that feeling.

I think he prides himself on the element of surprise because I wasn't expecting them at all and I was pissed they weren't my favorite flower, daisies.  Once I read the note I was less pissed because at least he tried.  Joking joking joking.  SERIOUSLY JOKING.  I would have been ecstatic (and confused) if the boy had put even weeds in a vase for me.  Although I feel like he'd be trying to tell me something not so good if that were the case.

Ty, a mutual friend of both Bryant and myself, also came over because he hadn't seen Bryant in years.  For a while we thought Bry was just trying to silently terminate the friendship with Ty because he consistently avoided texts that Ty would send, but he's a resistant boy.  And alas, I finally remembered to give Ty his Buddha figurine which Genna and I bought for him in Australia to add to his collection.  We got back from Australia in June of 2011, and I gave him his gift last night.  Nice.  Oh, and did I mention Ty forgot it last night in the living room when he left?  I'll try and give it to him next year I guess.

Patiently waiting for his true owner.

Genna and I went thrift shopping (a favorite bonding activity of ours) yesterday and we were both successful with a few buys, but I got the good end of the deal this time.  The lady waiting on us at the cashier was getting frustrated (I think she was new) and ended up only charging me for my first item...when I had four total.  She told me with her mouth that my total was $3.88 while she told me with her eyes that if I shouldn't question her because I'll be saving myself $15.  Then Gen gets her two items rung up for $13.  We win some we lose some.  It's ok though because I paid her in cold hard cash for this months utility bills which is a huge deal.

I wish everyone a happy and fulfilling extra hour today.

xxxx

A

20 Seconds Can Get You a lot of Twitter Scrolling

Being a public health student I have the tendency to pay pretty good attention to my own health.  Weird, right?  I also have been forced to pay attention to the health awareness that surrounds us.  I literally wash my hands probably 25 times a day.  I think that's still not enough from the perspective of the health people in power(?) but to me I'm surprised I still have skin on my hands.  I'm not germaphobic, yet, but give it time.  That's not a funny joke though because I know there are people who are actually like that and constantly wear gloves and freak when they go in public.  I don't know those people personally but they exist the TLC channel.  I don't want to be like that.  BUT I am a believer in the idea (and obvious knowledge) that washing our hands is one of the best ways to combat sicknesses.  That, and eating healthy, but that's something I could talk fiercely about for blogs on end.  Today I was washing my hands after one of my bathroom visits (I act like I visit them for fun) and I actually read the public ad about hand sanitation that is posted right on the mirror and still no one probably notices is even there.

TWENTY SECONDS?  Do these people think we have time to spare in our days?  I can't be bothered with that!  I need to effing check my Twitter!  I've never actually considered this 20 second washing before.  Or tried it.  Twenty seconds is a long freaking time, in the grand scheme of a bathroom visit.  I tried it and three people had washed their hands in the time period where I was still lathering up.  They were looking at me like I had some type of fetish going on with massaging my hands together.  I just smiled at them through the mirror and basically said this with my eyes.  UM, NO BITCHES THIS IS WHAT I CALL PROPER HAND CLEANSING THAT IS GONNA KEEP ME FROM GETTIN THE DAMN FLU YOU'LL HAVE NEXT WEEK.    But seriously...

Sidetracking...but sort of public announcement related?

And then this afternoon I see a notice by my apartment elevator that signifies wet paint.  I'm not going to disclose the maker of the advertisement/notice because for some reason it feels wrong and like a form of defacement towards the company?  So I cut out part of the company when I took a pic of the paper so you couldn't tell who made it.

I have a big problem with this ad.  I'm not even a full throttle environmentalist, but I'm aware of environmental issues and I care about the Earth in general.  Shouldn't we all?  This picture is awful.  Why would we want to cover up the Earth with paint?  Why don't they just say  "Help us mask nature with our smelly acrylic!  Screw natural greenery, we have green from a can.  Mmmm."  As if that's not bad enough, what if I was illiterate!?  The picture would look like a higher power is pouring a can of red (obviously one would assume blood) over the world.  Dear Sherwin, is that the type of message you want to send to illiterate America?  Any color pick would have been better than red.  Yellow, just pour down the sunshine.  Or orange, pour cheese on us.  Americans would love that.

xxxx

A