Sorry it's been so long...

Hey, sorry it's been so long since I've last posted. This week has just been one big blur between homework assignments, so not much too fun has been going on. I had three assignments due yesterday, one paper, one portfolio, and one presentation, and then a cumulative examination today. But I am feeling very happy now because they are all over! I only have two weeks of school left for this semester, and boy, am I counting the days. At least tonight I can go out and let down my hair (where did that expression come from, anyways? Like, the 1800's???) It's one of my friends from my social work program's birthday, so another friend and I are taking her out for some drinks and dessert, and then to see a movie. It should be fun and mindless. I really need that right now. I have been so productive, I need to just stop working for awhile. Pretty much the only fun think I have done recently is taken this on-line test, at www.findyourspot.com, which tells you your top 20 or so spots you should live in. My number one was actually Atlanta, Georgia, which I keep saying with my sister that we want to move there. So, maybe it will happen one day. But for now it is more school.

Entertainment News

Brad Pitt is amazing, and no, I am not just saying this because he is amazingly good-looking. He has recently joined up with this organization called One, along with U2, to help end poverty and hunger in the world. He is being pretty involved, too, which I think is to take his mind off of his recent divorce. Speculation, speculation. Anyways, how in the world did Ryan Seacrest get a star in Hollywood? Who is he, anyway? What has he done that is so special? I want to know how they decide who gets a star and who doesn't, because there should be a lot better actors on the waiting list to get a star way before Ryan Seacrest.

Procrastination Proclamation

I have been finding many creative new ways to avoid my homework, such as cleaning, shopping, reading, looking at magazines, surfing the internet, the list goes on and on. I even had two of my four classes cancelled for this week, one today and one tomorrow, giving me a 5 day weekend, but each day, as the weather gets nicer outside, my will to do anything productive gets inversely smaller. I had such a great weekend, too, I went to Indianapolis to visit a friend, and we spent the weekend just hanging out, shopping, we saw the cutest film called Dear Frankie, and we played on her old-school, 8-bit nintendo. It was great. We also got to catch up on her life, since she recently broke off an engagement. She was explaining to me about how it had nothing to do with their feelings towards each other, since they both loved each other very much, but how she was realizing more and more that it takes more than just love and commitment to make a marriage work. One needs compatibility as well. That kind of screwed with all of my notions about love and marriage, since I always thought that love should be all one needs, but I guess sometimes, love just isn't enough.

Spring Fever

I think I'm getting a mild case of Spring Fever. The sun has been out a lot more lately, and the weather is turning nice, and I keep noticing couples everywhere. It's making me want to date someone, but right now, I only have two options, but I keep thinking about them more lately. There's this one guy in my dorm who I went on a date with earlier this semester, but I didn't think I wanted to continue seeing him, so I started avoiding him. Well, lately I've been running into him again, and he keeps flirting with me, making it pretty clear he still likes me. Today, I was heading out to go exercising, and I saw him working the front desk, and we talked a bit about school work and stuff, and he knows that I'm going to be leaving Champaign after this semester, so he said he would "catch up with me later before I go, if that was all right with me." Does that mean he's going to ask me out again before school's over? And I know, the only reason I'm considering it is because this semester is almost over, so I can go out with him and whatever and then never have to see him again.

The other guy is one I would maybe be more interested in. I'm starting to wonder if maybe I was being too picky at the beginning of the year. He's a guy in my small group, and has been kind of interested in me, but I never felt that attracted to him. But with all the Spring Fever getting into me, I feel like I've been looking at him with more interest lately. Like, we had small group this past Wednesday, and we just had a prayer and praise session, and he brought about three instruments to play, a viola, an African drum, and a piano (well, the piano was already there, he didn't bring it). He played the viola so beautifully(and the other instruments, too), and he was being so funny that I wondered if I wasn't being too harsh and not being willing to get to know him better. But once again, I only have about four weeks left, so is it even worth it to get something going, when I don't know if I really like him or if it's just the longing for somebody, and being flattered that he likes me? I don't know. I feel like relationships are so confusing. I'm so picky, but am I being the right amount of pickiness in that I just know what I like, or am I being too picky in that very few people can match up to the standards I want? I think I need some advice here.

Well, at least I'm getting away this weekend. I'm going to visit a friend in Indiana, so that will be fun. I think it'll be pretty low key, but I kind of want that right now. I'm feeling so tired from this semester. A bientot.

Blonde Moment of the Day

In class yesterday, we got into groups and had to make these posters about different interventions, and we got those wonderful markers that smell like fruit to write on the posters with. Well, I was having a bright moment, and, reaching for the orange marker, I ask, "What does the orange marker smell like?"

Duh.

Shopaholic

So, I had mounds of homework to do yesterday, but what did I spend my day doing? I read the next Shopaholic book, Shopaholic and Sister. It took me a couple of chapters to get into it, but once I did, I couldn't put it down. I find so much similarity between myself and the main character (although, I have more control when it comes to shopping). But I can totally relate with her obsession with all things new, and also how she always has this idealistic version of how things should be in her mind, and then gets disappointed with the way real life plays out. I feel like I do that a lot. It's kind of gives one some perspective reading a version of yourself, however exaggerated.

A Treatise on Skirts

Okay, so I'm a fan of skirts as much as anyone (and probably more than a lot), but there have to be some limits. Today, I was walking around on campus, and I saw this girl ahead of me with a super short skirt that just barely covered her behind. I was a little worried for her because it was pretty windy out, and sure enough, as soon as that thought had flitted through my brain, a gust of wind came along, blew up her skirt, and I got totally flashed. I was pretty grossed out. So, in the future for all you out there, if you're gonna wear a short skirt, you better make sure you are wearing something underneath.

Jimmy Rocks

I had a great weekend. On Friday night, I went to see Fever Pitch with some friends, and it was really cute. I liked it a lot. On Saturday, a friend from home came to visit, so we went out to dinner, and then went out to some bars with another girl he's friends with who's here at Law school and some of her friends. It was fun because the last time I saw this girl was in high school, and I'd lost a lot of weight since I've last seen her, so about three times last night she kept telling me how good I was looking. Who doesn't like that? I can see why guys would want to take girls out to a bar on a first date (besides the obvious reason of getting them drunk). They turn the music up so loud there you can barely hear the person you're sitting next to, let alone someone across the table from you, so for all those guys who are not good conversationalists, this is the perfect place where you can bring a date and end up staring at each other across the table without feeling too bad about it.

On Sunday, he came over and we watched I heart Huckabees, a very interesting film that I'm still mulling over. I feel like I need to watch it again to get the stuff that I missed. Then, we went to dinner and to the Jimmy Eat World concert! It was amazing. Taking Back Sunday opened for them, but they were just blown away when Jimmy came on stage. They are so much better live, I think, then on a CD. They played quite a bit of their old stuff, so now I want to go and get one of their older CDs before Bleed American. I'm still singing their songs this morning. Now, it is Monday and back to the grindstone. But I have the memory of a perfect weekend filled with friends, good movies, nintendo games, and concerts.

The Laws of the Universe

Ah, I feel so good. I've been working on this mid-term take home test, and I just sent it in to my professor. It feels good to have it done with, but now, of course, I have about 3 things to do for next week. Only 4 weeks of classes left, and then finals. But I'm not counting down or anything. I have a pretty fun weekend planned, too. I'm going to see the movie Fever Pitch tonight with some friends (that kind of sounds like a porn title, doesn't it?), and tomorrow, some of my friends from high school are coming to visit, and we'll go to a Jimmy Eat World concert together on Sunday night, plus Taking Back Sunday is opening for them. So, I'm pretty stoked about that.

Why is it that whenever you meet a cute guy, you're usually dressed in some bummy old outfit? Or at least I feel like that's what happens to me. Last night, I went over to my friend Chris's room to play some Nintendo 64, and I was feeling all bummy yesterday, because I was feeling kind of crampy, so I was wearing my fat jeans and an old t-shirt and my hair up in a ponytail, thinking it's just Chris, it doesn't matter what I look like. Well, one of his friends called up to come over and play this video game, so he came over, and he was super hot, and really nice. And I felt so unattractive. I think it's the laws of the universe that state you must meet cute guys only when looking your worst.

Running and Life

Some days, all I want to do is run, and other days, I have to force myself with a cosmic shove to go to the gym. On Monday, I had one of the best running days I have had in a while. It helps that I had all this excess nervous/excited energy because of the Illinois game that night, so I ended up running 5 miles. I was so proud of myself. Then, the next day, it was like all the energy had been sucked out of me, and I was panting trying to do the stairmaster for 40 minutes. I had to go down a level more than I usually do. It's like I can't think about whether or not I want to do it. I just have to, as much as I have to do homework and pay my bills. But sometimes, when my energy is right, I can have the most amazing workout, better than eating chocolate. It's the times when my feet feel as if they could run forever, and my mind feels amazingly clear, and I can feel this deep communion with God and the whole of nature around me, and I just get this sense that everything is going to be all right. And the weird thing is, I can never predict when those days will be, I just have to start running and see what happens. I guess that's kind of like life, you don't know what days will be good and what days will be bad, you just have to go out there and see what happens.

Life Goes On

I confess to being disappointed that Illinois lost last night, but I am still just happy that they made it to the final two. This is the first time ever in the history of our school that they have made it this far. So, that is definitely something to be proud of. And we still have a better overall record than North Carolina! My sister came up yesterday to watch the game with me because her husband had tickets for the game down in St. Louis. It was fun, we went over to Assembly Hall (the basketball stadium) to watch it, they had it on the jumbo-tron screen, and over 12,000 people had shown up to watch it there. So, it was pretty crazy, and kind of hard to hear what was going on at times. So, now this chapter is over. I can concentrate on my schoolwork again and everything. : ) It was so exciting here on campus yesterday. About 92% of the people were wearing Illinois shirts. It was so nice out yesterday, I took a blanket over to the quad and laid out and studied for a test today, and everyone was talking about the basketball game. But hey, life goes on. And so does my homework.

Cheering

GO ILLINOIS!!!!!!!!

These Dreams...

Do you think that dreams have any meanings? I've always been kind of fascinated with dreams, and if nothing else, I think that they can tell us about our subconscious, and things we might be feeling that we don't realize. I had the weirdest dream last night. I dreamt that I was in Paris, France, with two of my best friends from college, and we were travelling around there, but I decided I wanted to live there and get a job. However, the way you could apply for a certain position was to swim in this pool with a shark in it. There were different types of jobs you could get depending on how many laps you did. Well, the first one I did had a lot of other people in the tank with me and the shark, and you had to swim underwater from one side to another a certain number of times, and I was able to do that one no problem by staying to the bottom of the pool, and putting as many people as possible between me and the shark, since the shark was at the top of the pool. I did my laps and earned the right to be a secretary in France. I decided I wanted to be more, however, and so I went to the second pool, where it was just one person at a time swimming with the shark, and I was so scared. (I have always been scared of sharks, I used to have all these nightmares about them as a little girl, and when my sisters and I would be swimming in a pool together, I wouldn't ever swim alone, because I thought when I swam alone, the shark would come and eat me, but if other people were in the pool with me, I would be okay.) Well, I shared this story with my two friends, and they told me I didn't have to do it, that the shark would probably eat me, but I decided to do it anyway. I had to do ten laps, and I managed two and a half before the shark cornered me on the side of the pool, and didn't eat me, but was suffocating me underwater. The judges got me out of the pool, telling me that the shark had never hurt anyone before, and saying I still had to finish the 10 laps if I wanted to get another job. I couldn't decide what to do, because I knew if I got back in the pool, the shark would kill me, but if I didn't, I couldn't get a good job. So, I decided to get back in the pool, and that's when I woke up.

So, dream experts, tell me what this means? Of course, I was also feeling kind of tipsy after drinking in a friend's room and playing some nintendo 64, so maybe I was just having weird, disorganized dreams.

Also, everyone root on Illinois tomorrow! They play Louisville at 5:07, and will win!!!!!!! So, watch it.