Rearranging my room

One of my best friends, Becky, lived in the dorm building, Gannon, which is pretty close to my building, Olympia Avenue. When we signed up for housing, Becky put Olympia as her first choice, but she didn't get in. The entire semester we both just though of how convenient it would have been if she lived in Olympia, since we wouldn't have to go out in the cold to see each other. Sometime around the end of October, when we log on to our online myWSU account, we see these notices telling the campus that there are spots available in Olympia if you want to move in. Of course this gets becky and me very excited, so she asks her mom only to get a very quick and final response of "No". Olympia is more expensive than Gannon and moving all her stuff up would be a hassle. So we drop it.

Becky has been having issues living with her roommate lately and decides that whether it's olympia or not, she needs to relocate. Personally I love her roommate, and Becky likes her too, but living with her is difficult for becky, since their living styles and sleep schedules were way different. So during thanksgiving she talked to her mother about moving into Olympia or somewhere else, and her mom says she can move to Olympia ONLY if it's the last resort.

After we return to Pullman from break, Becky finds out that there is a waiting list to get into Olympia, she decides she might as well add herself to that list. After a few days Becky finds out there is most certainly room for her if she wants to move into Olympia. She emails her mom back, simply saying that there is room, and without any fight or hesitation her mother simply says "go for it". Next thing we know last friday Becky, her friend Austin, Janie (her now old roommate) and I are all helping her move into Olympia. Becky has a new roommate, who she gets along great with and she was able to move into one of the rooms that has a private bathroom, just like mine. Needless to say the past few days having Becky here has been incredible and has me loving dorm life. It really does make a difference when you have friends in your dorm. Before, the only thing I liked about my dorm was my room and my bathroom. Now that I am starting to really make friends here and now that my best friend is here, I absolutely love living here.

As we were arranging becky's new room, it inspired me to rearrange my own. About two months ago, I bunked my bed and said that most certainly wouldn't be rearranging my room again. False. I loved Becky's set up so much that I had to do it myself. Actually I was the one who came up with Becky's set up to begin with, so I'm not really copying anyone but myself. Anyway, my bed is no longer bunked, which makes getting in and out of it, much easier now, and my desk is pushed up against the wall by the window, so I now have a view while I'm working or playing on my computer. I'll take some photos later but for now I decided just to talk about it.

Yesterday it snowed, and for the first time in years, I was happy about it. It didn't snow like crazy, just enough to turn the campus into a beautiful winter wonderland. I took a photo, but it doesn't look beautiful at all, so I won't be sharing it.

I think I was an explorer in my past life, because recently I've been playing a lot with Google Earth. Now, most of you guys remember my past obsession with maps and atlases, well it's no longer an obsession but I still do enjoy browsing them. I guess I'm more interested in tools such as Google Earth where I can zoom in and see satellite images of the places I'm looking at. But recently I've been on Google Earth way more than usual, just looking for really strange and remote places that maybe most people haven't ever heard of. I just have the biggest desire to go as far North as I can. I want to visit all the remote villages in northern Canada, Alaska, and Greenland. I want to visit Russia, and go to the east coast and see the big cities there that nobody ever talks about such as, Vladivostok. Have you ever heard of that rather large city? I hadn't until just recently. I'm sure it's not the most fun tourist destination, but I just have such a fascination with so many random places, Russia being the one I'm most curious about.

I just hope and pray that when I'm older I'll have the opportunity to travel. I've been saying for a while, that of course I hope I am rich when I'm older, but honestly, the only reason I want money is so I can travel and see this amazing planet. If there were a way where I didn't have to be paid much but I could still travel, I'd be fine. Of course I want a big house and a lexus, but I could live without those things as long as I can see the world!

I think I got my travel bone from Grandma and Grandpa, you guys have been every where and I hope I can do the same in my life! Anywho, I've got a paper to write today, (it's not due until FRIDAY but I'm being a good student and starting today! It's about the cold war, ugh.)

It's been a while

I'm not sure I have anything major to talk about, but I figured I should probably update this anyway. I've been working much harder at school and it's paying off. I feel as though next semester will be much better academically for me since I know what to expect. Senior year I got accustomed to putting in minimal effort and getting away with it. My problem was that coming into my freshman year here at WSU, I kept putting in that minimal effort and this time I did NOT get away with it. I've managed to get my grades up considerably, and feel I've had to work extra hard in order to do so. I'm taking advantage of all kinds of extra credit opportunities out of necessity, which is new to me. I've learned that I am the most productive during the morning, and during my days off (tuesdays and thursdays), when I could sleep in, I wake up around 8:30 and start working on whatever needs to be done for the next day. I accomplish so much and I'm glad that next semester, while I won't have those days off again, I won't have class until 12:30, so I'll still have time to get work done.

Currently, I'm looking at apartments again, and trying to make my final decision as to which ones I want to live in next year. It all boils down to two choices: Churchill Downs and Maple Valley. I'll break it down by apartment.

Churchill Downs:

Pros-

-Closest to campus (compared to maple valley)

-Newest of all DABCO owned properties

-Closer proximity to more friends and amenities (which ties in with my first Pro)

-Nice interiors

Cons-

-The bus stop is the last stop after the bus goes all throughout what is known as "apartment-land", meaning if I take the bus in the morning to get to class, chances are I wont get a seat and will have to stand.

-More expensive (although only by 20 bucks monthly)

Maple Valley

Pros-

-Cheaper

-Right by the first bus stop before the bus hits all the apartments in the area (meaning better choice of seating in the morning on my way to class)

-Quieter (or so I've been told)

Cons-

-Much farther from campus and amenities. I'll have my car, but as far as the social aspect goes, I imagine most of my friends will live closer to campus which means some people may not want to come all the way out to maple valley to visit.

After viewing what I just wrote, I'm thinking I may be learning more towards Churchill Downs. For me the location is everything, and I just don't really like the maple valley location. But I still have a few more weeks before I need to make my decision. Any input from you guys would be greatly appreciated.

So tomorrow I'm coming home and I couldn't be more excited. Today I have felt very independent. I've done a number of things by myself that before leaving for college, I may have been too afraid to do. For instance, right now I'm just sitting in the CUB, among lots of other students, just by myself studying and working on an essay (and writing this entry). Earlier I was at this Café, sipping on a nice Chai tea, registering for classes (which I'll get to in a minute), and working on another essay. Again I did this by myself. I just love feeling independent. Before I could never go anywhere without calling a friend to see if they'd come with me. However now, I've found that I don't need anybody else's help to accomplish things for myself. Recently I went to the gym by myself and workout for about an hour without my friends to make me feel more comfortable. It's good to know that next year when I'm in my apartment I won't need to call a friend every time I go grocery shopping! I'm not sure if I could handle clothes shopping by myself yet, but I'm getting there.

So, let me tell you about the classes I registered for.

On Monday, Wednesday and Friday I have the following classes

9:10 - 10:00 am -Economics 101

10:10-11:00 am - Math 202 (Business Calculus)

11:10-12:00 pm - French 203

12:10-1:00 pm - GenEd 110

On Tuesdays and Thursdays my schedule is like this:

1:25-2:40 pm - Communication Studies (public speaking)

I'm very much looking forward to all my classes and i'm really glad I got my act together and got my grades up. Academically things are looking up and I am so excited about that!

See you all soon!

Tri Citiesss.

How I miss them. First things first, I need to go to some bagels upon my return. Then I'd like to go to PF Changs, go to Becky's to play with her dog, Meeka, and ummmm, see everybody!

I'm so stoked to come home for thanksgiving this friday. I'm excited to go to work, and see everybody there and eat good food!

I'm also excited not to have to share a room with anybody, and to sleep in my wonder bed (it's so comfortable). I'm just dying of excitement.

College is getting easier, that or I'm just adjusting. I'm not really sure. Prioritizing school over everything else has been a challenge, but I'm managing. In fact I think it's time I get off the computer and work on my mountain of homework.

Here's the deal.

My roommate is a very nice guy. But I cannot live with him. It all boils down to when it comes time to go to bed. He likes the window up (which turns the room into an icebox in the morning), all lights off, and he snores. I like the windows closed, which isn't that crazy considering it's below freezing outside. I also like a little bit of light, always have. I used to be able to compromise, because typically he goes to bed way after me, so I fall asleep way before he starts to snore. Lately however he has been going to bed earlier, and he snores SO LOUD. As far as I'm concerned, if you snore, you shouldn't have any say in the window or the light situation. If I have to suffer through his snoring, then I'm closing the window and turning on some lights. It's really frustrating because I've told him that I like the window closed since I hate being cold in the morning, and he doesn't care! He falls asleep so fast I don't know why he's so concerned with temperature.

Apparently no matter who you are, no matter how nice and friendly you are (like my roommate), sharing a room with me, will make me inconsiderate, selfish, and ultimately turn against you. Who am I becoming!? Oh well, he's snoring now, so time to turn on the lights, close the window, and attempt to sleep =) It's only fair.

sick

"She's decided to become an incubus of viral plague," That is my favorite line from The Devil Wears Prada, Meryl Streep is hilarious. But I myself have become that incubus of viral plague and I'm not liking it! Tomorrow I'm going to Cheney with my friend Brenda to visit our friend Ashley who goes to Eastern. I just really hope I'm not too sick. Yesterday was miserable, and yet I went to my classes, because I'm a trooper. However last night was the worst. I had a fever, my body was sore, and I had the chills! But today I feel much better just a bit of plugged up sinuses and a stuffy nose. Nothing major. I'm currently enjoying my breakfast of Diet Coke and ADD pills. Wonderful, truly delightful.

I can't really think of much else to say. Today I have no classes as usual, and then tomorrow school is cancelled for veterans day and then on thursday I don't have class, so basically I have this lovely three day break in the middle of the week. I'm enjoying it.

I'll post more later.

Haha just a little JibJab with some of my friends and me. Also Danny DeVito is in there too.

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Coming hommmee!

I'm coming home this weekend and I'm so excited! Last time I came home, I was looking forward to it, but I wasn't dying to get home, but now it's been like a month and I'm ready to be back!

I'll need a few things though. I need a chair for my room, any kind of chair will do. Just something I can lounge on while I study. I don't regret lofting my bed, but I do miss being able to just jump onto bed and lounge around. Now if I want to do homework on my bed, I have to prepare myself, and make sure I've put everything up there that I'll need so I don't have to come back down for a while. It's all very laborious. So just a basic circle chair or fold up lounge chair will be fine. I'm not talking about a lazy boy or anything fancy. Of course I'll need a lamp to go next to my chair, but I'm pretty sure I have just the lamp already at home in my room.

Well I need to go do some reading for my genEd class! See you all soon hopefully!!

No bake cookies.

This weekend when I come home, I must make some no-bake cookies. I just remembered how much I love them.

I also need to get a costume for a halloween party, but I don't know what to get. I don't want to spend a lot, but I don't want to have a lame costume. We'll see!

This has been a short update but I have to go do some laundry now!

A thought.

I know they say that after midnight it becomes the next day but I am going to go out on a limb here and say I respectfully disagree. It may be 2:33 am right now, but it's still friday. It's not saturday until I wake up.

Just some late night thoughts that I chose to share. Tomorrow will be a healthy day, going to the rec with Becky to work on our fitness! TOMORROW is saturday (not right now, it's still friday), so it'll probably be busy, but we need it. We went off our diets today, oops.

Paranormal Activity

Tonight Becky and I are going to see Paranormal activity, which is probably going to be the scariest movie I will have ever seen. I can just tell!

So yesterday was my last day at pilates and I'm really going to miss it. There's still room to sign up for the second session of it, but I really need to focus on my studies and my homework. For some reason just two classes a week really threw me off a bunch. However I've lost weight, and it's easy to see! I just hope that through weekly visits to the rec if I cannot continue to lose weight, I can at least maintain where I'm at now. Because I've come so far and my biggest fear is gaining it all back. What really has me worried is this summer. First off, I'm not eating fast food, I haven't in like three months and I feel better than ever, I'm not going back. Secondly, I simply must join a gym this summer, because I'm not going to just use our treadmill, or just some crunches and push ups on the floor. I need to use the stair climber, the elliptical and lift some weights as well to really burn them fats!

I quit the HBM club because it was insane. You weren't allowed to skip any meetings, and if you had to skip one you were required to fill out an absence form. Well that freaked me out, so I said "SEE YA!" And now my wednesday evenings are open and wonderful, as they should be.

Next weekend I'm coming hoooome! I'm very excited, it's been like a month. What I miss most about home is my bed. Of course I miss my family too, but it's just different with my bed. My relationship with my bed you see, is very personal. It's so much more comfortable than I remember and every time I come home it's like a nice little surprise!

By the way, I've decided that upon graduation, Becky and I and whoever else is lucky enough to become best friends with us by that time, are going to go to VEGAS. It's been decided. Also I plan on purchasing two dogs, a pomeranian and a chihuahua named Harvey Wallbanger, and Stoli, respectively. Eventually I'll get a cat named Lady Belvedere (Bells for short), and then when I'm older, I'll get a big dog, like a retriever or a lab, or a husky. I like huskies because they are in the same family as pomeranians, they are both Spitz, so basically a Husky is like a giant pomeranian. I'm too tired to function properly, I'm just glad that I actually finished my math and I'm going to class. We got our midterm grades and mine were DISMAL, at least I'm passing everything. But my one and only goal for the rest of the semester is to get those grades up!

I must leave, I apologize for my absence, I'll try to post more often!

I dropped a class! Well, actually I didn't drop, I withdrew from a class. I feel relieved but also like a bit of a failure. Oops. The class was economics, which shouldn't be that hard, but the class really is. I've never taken such an abstract class. The topic doesn't sound weird, but the class made no sense. I looked at the study guide the night before the midterm and realized I'd basically have to teach myself the entire class just to pass the midterm. Any class that basically requires you to do all the teaching yourself is a bad thing. So I withdrew from it! Now next semester I'll have to take it again but I'll be taking it online so I can look at my notes during tests. Today I wasn't feeling well so I stayed home from class, I got all my assignments from people so I know what I'm missing and I'm on top of it! Classes are stressing me out and I can't stand it. Also there is some drama happening and that is an additional stress that I DO NOT NEED!

But I'm still happy I'm here at WSU, the thought of going elsewhere makes me shudder. Amy's coming up this weekend and I'm soooooo excited! It's homecoming week and the school is all a buzz with school spirit! I love it.

North vs South. I'm all about the South. No not southern USA, but southside of campus up here at WSU. This school has three dining facilities, Southside, Northside and Hillside. Northside and Hillside are both in the north side of campus, obviously. The north side of campus is where one can find greek row, the jock dorms, and all the gyms. It's a different breed of people up there. Southside is basically everyone else, which in this case isn't a bad thing. I live in the southside of campus and I love it. Everyone down here (which really is quite far away from the north part) is chill and laid back. There are people from all stereotypes, even the jocks, and sorority sisters, etc. But we also got the regular partiers, the nerds, the sexy silent types, you know. It's all so diverse down here and everyone is very friendly.

However, after visiting the two dining locations on the other side of campus, Becky and I have come to the conclusion that we just don't like those Northsiders. The people at Hillside, were rather rude. The employees were just fine, but everyone else was giving us attitude. It was full of frat guys and sorority girls and jocks of both genders. Overhearing everyone's conversations, the girls were catty, and the guys were airheads as you could expect. Then the next day dining at Southside, we felt comfortable, everyone just doing their thing being real. The fakeness level at Hillside was off the charts.

Wow I love stereotyping an entire geographic area of my school. I do it because I can.

Today was very cold. I looked outside and I just knew. So fall has officially arrived in Pullman as of today. Yesterday was almost hot, but today, freezing.

This summer I have another potential expense to look forward to. Depending on my money situation, I hope to go to Wyoming with some friends to visit our friend Janie. She goes here, and she's awesome, and a few of us want to go visit her in her hometown since we plan on dragging her to the tri cities at some point. I'm looking at airline prices on expedia, and so far not so bad. She lives in south western Wyoming in a town only an hour and a half from salt lake, and since we can fly directly to salt lake from pasco, it all works out effortlessly. Right?

350 bucks for a roundtrip ticket, doesn't sound outrageous, and I can save that up pretty quickly with my job. However, I still have other things to save up for. Being in college has made me a somewhat frugal person and I think now more than ever I know how to survive off not spending money every single day. Considering the fact that we'll have a place to stay, (Janie's house), really all I could see myself needing to save up for this trip would be 500 at the most. 150 for spending money, which will most likely be used just for food. I think it would be a fun trip.

I have a research paper due tomorrow and I am severely underprepared. But I'm a master at whipping out papers so hopefully I can get this one done in time. I'm in the library but I'm confused by it, so I'm leaving and coming back in about an hour with Becky for some guidance.

I wrote an outline for this paper and I have some very good points, but can I stretch out to 4 pages while keeping focused and incorporating 4 outside sources? We'll see.

My bed.

So I bunked my bed again. It looks really quite impressive if I may be so bold.

Also because of the placement of my desk underneath, it makes it quite easy to up and down from it. Yesterday I went to shopko with my friend Janie and I bought some christmas lights. I bought some regular white ones and then some icicle ones. I put up the lights underneath my bed where my desk is and now I just love it.

Before any changes:

Then I lofted it

Then I added the lights:

I love my room now. It just never felt right. But I still have more plans to make it even better!

Things are getting better.

I have homework tonight... correction, I HAD homework. Yeah that's right, it's still only 6:30 and I've finished my homework. It's as if something clicked inside me and now doing homework isn't so tedious. I finally seem to have my act together and this is a good thing. Currently I'm sitting outside of the CUE waiting for Becky to be done with her midterm. The sun is setting and the temperature is nice and cool. Warm but cool.

Earlier I had to skip my pilates which is always a hard thing for me to do, but I'll make it up since Becky and I are planning on working out later tonight. I feel as though college isn't as hard as I was making it seem, I was just too lazy to take responsibility. But now, things are looking good, I'm doing my work and not being lazy. It feels good and I'm in good spirits now.

My only stress is money. I have two expensive things that I hope to do in my future and I can afford both of them if I'm smart. If I save up, and keep my grades up I'll retain my grants, maybe get more, and maybe get some new scholarships. If these things happen I should be able to accomplish the things I want to do. These things include the trip to Italy, and getting a one-bedroom apartment. This summer if I work my butt off and don't spend all my money, I'm looking at getting a few thousand dollars to add to the pool. Unfortunately, I still need money to help pay for my apartment. I'm not sure what kind of loan situation I'll be in next year, but chances are my loans won't cover the amount of my apartment. So I need to save up for Italy but I also need to save up for my apartment.

Here's my plan. I'll work real hard this summer and make lots of money. Then hopefully I will have saved up at least 3,000. I'll move up to Pullman in august, and try to get a job. If I can't get a job then my 3,000 will go towards paying the rest of my rent until I can get a job. If I do get a job then I'll just leave the 3,000 alone, and continue to save more money. Chances are I'll be broke again next year. My paychecks will mostly be going to probably covering the rest of my rent, gas, and savings for italy. At least I'll be living in an apartment.

Honestly, I have not a single clue how things are going to work financially next year, I guess we'll just have to wait and see. Technically living in an apartment, even a one-bedroom at the end of 12 months will be over 5,000 cheaper than where I live now. But I don't know if the loans I get from the school can be used to pay for off-campus housing. If they can, then I should be fine. And also I'll be able to enjoy some of the money I make next year working up here.

I guess I should try to prioritize what means more to me. Living in a one-bedroom or going to Italy. Honestly if I had to choose one, I'd choose the Italy trip. I can always save up and live alone the next year. Problem is, I need to find people to live with. Ughhh, the stresses of college life!

This was probably the most whiney post I've ever written. I just kept rambling on and on. Apologies.

I'm baaaack!

Sorry for the absence. It's been stressful.

I realized something yesterday. I'm incredibly lazy. I thought it was just senioritis last year, but no, it's just who I am. I really need to crack down and get things done in my classes. I have horrible grades. Thank god I'm at a school on a semester system, which means I have more time to fix this. Anywho, I spend a great deal of my time up here with my friend Becky. Pretty much once we are done with classes we text each other and make plans. For the past two weeks its been a given that once I'm done with classes I head to Becky's dorm. My homework situation has been dismal. I haven't been doing everything. If it's not a huge paper, it won't get done. Could I blame this on the fact that I'm constantly hanging out with Becky? No, because Becky has been doing ALL of her homework and still is maintaining excellent grades, despite being in some very difficult classes.

So I'm cracking down on my homework situation. I'm getting stuff done before it's due, taking care of business and making sure I have a good percentage of my homework done before I hang out. Later I will probably be with Becky no doubt, but I'll bring any remaining homework just as I did last night.

Today I forgot my medicine and you would have thought I take tranquilizers or something like that. I thought my concerta was only for ADD but aparently it cures anxiety as well. I lost my mind in math. It was a bit complicated, and I reacted as though someone just broke up with me. I was so emotional and upset. We had a quiz that I couldn't do, which is always devastating. Afterwords I went to the library to work on the new math assignment and I forgot my laptop which just made me angry. I don't need my laptop for math but without it I am nothing and therefore couldn't tackle my math. I left, went to subway to discover that the line was outrageously long. I was hungry and discovered that my phone had died. I lose my mind when my phone is dead because I just keep thinking "I bet someone's trying to get ahold of me with a really great opportunity and I'll miss it because my phone is deadd!!!". These are the things I think about. Clearly concerta helps not only with my inability to focus, but also my many neuroses.

I had to skip my HBM class to recollect. I rested, which consisted of listening to some Jay-Z ("empire state of mind" thank you Janie!) and surfing the web. By the time I left for my next class, I was in better spirits and accomplished a great deal thereafter. Now I'm just sitting on my bed, about to start my GenEd homework. In a few hours I have an Eta Sigma Delta chapter meeting. No, I'm not in a fraternity, it's the HBM club here on campus. It's the strictest club I've ever been to. If you have to miss a meeting, you have to pre-arrange it and fill out an absence form. But It'll be great and will provide me with many opportunities in the future.

Okay time for that gened homework!

Economics. I slept through you.

Last night I thought, maybe I should skip econ tomorrow since there isn't anything to turn in and since he always posts the notes online... I decided no, because it's better to hear the information from him, it always makes more sense that way. Apparently my subconscious didn't hear my reasoning for wanting to go because I didn't wake up until 10:20. My econ class ends at 10:25 oops.

Well right now I'm just waiting on some laundry then I'm going to hit up the library with my econ book and econ study guide and look at what I missed. My professor puts his notes up on the class website so I should be fine, but damn I wish I hadn't have skipped.

Mom and Dad, to be nice, I'm going to pay for the gas home with my own money. Aren't I nice?

I'm going to miss my car dearly. But I understand that gas is expensive so I won't complain.

Yesterday I went to dissmores and bought some peach sorbet (no ice cream, Becky and I are on diets) and some raspberry flavored tea. I brewed some tea last night (it's caffeine free), and it was good at first but got bitter as it got colder. I think I should add some lemonade to it, or maybe some honey or sugar or milk? I don't know but I want to drink it AND enjoy it, but I'm not sure how at this point...

I am so stoked to go back to work this weekend. I miss my co-workers. Although sadly, some of them aren't still working there since I've left. It'll be interesting to see some new people. Aside from the people who I miss, I also really miss the chicken caesar salad from there. It has the best chicken you've ever tasted. Most chicken caesar salads at restaurants use cold chicken, well not at the cafe. We bake it and bread it and it's incredible. It tastes so much better to have hot chicken with caesar salad than cold chicken.

Wow, I'm too tired to write well. I'm going to go.

Oops, I guess it's been a while since my last post. So on friday I turned in THREE papers. Two of them were four pages long, and the other was just a short one. I am tired of writing stuff. I have homework to do today but I don't feel like it, I better get on that soon. I'm a little bit too tired to be typing but I need to update this!

Today I'm going to go to shopko to buy new underwear because I'm too lazy to do laundry. The machines here are super nice but it's always such a hassle. I swear every time I do laundry it seems my entire floor gets the same idea and then I can't do my laundry!

This weekend was eventful, I met lots of cool new people, and experienced some cool new things (no I'm not talking about hard drugs don't worry, I'm a good kid). And I'm starting to enjoy pullman more and more. Honestly for a while I was starting to ponder the idea of whether or not WSU-Pullman was the best idea for me, but after this weekend, I know for certain I made the best choice. I love it here! And by the way, mother and father, I WANT TO KEEP MY CAR UP HEERRREEEE!!! =] Little trips like this to shopko won't be so easy anymore!

College, I love hate you.

I love being in college, I love the independence. I love my HBM class.

But I hate all my other classes. Actually, I enjoy being in my classes, as most of my professors are interesting to listen to, I just hate the work. Nothing I've been assigned has been all that difficult, but I hate it and requires time. Three papers due on friday, and I'm only halfway through one of them. If I didn't have a stupid Econ homework assignment due tomorrow, I'd skip class to work on my essays, but that's just not an option for me right now. I can't wait until I feel interested, because until then I know I'll really be struggling.

Studying abroad.

I'm in such a quandary. Well I guess I'm not. I know for certain that I intend on going on the annual faculty led trip to Italy. At least I know for certain that IF I do end up studying abroad, this is what I'll do. My issue is that I really would love to study abroad in Denmark. It would be amazing to experience my heritage first hand, but on the other hand, I wouldn't know anyone there, plus it would be quite expensive. The trip to italy is only a month and a half and is during the summer, so it wouldn't interfere with my actual school year. The trip is dedicated to food and wine, in fact one of the classes I'd be taking is called "Wine Appreciation" How bomb does that sound? Basically, there is very little information on what one can expect whilst studying abroad in Denmark through WSU, so I don't really know what to expect. On this trip to Italy I'd be with fellow HBM students and I'd be with a WSU professor. It just sounds so amazing.

I actually think it would be a fun idea to just vacation to Denmark when I'm older, maybe spend a long period of time there, maybe even move there for a year. Who knows. My plans are constantly changing.

I am also excited for next year. Yesterday my friend Becky and I were looking at apartments online and just got us both so pumped for when we have our own apartments next year. No question, I fully intend on getting a one bedroom, so I can have complete privacy. I've wanted to live by myself for so long, and I don't think it'd be lonely. How can it be? I'll still be at WSU, where I have many friends. I love my privacy, and I wish I had it right now. Even though the apartments were like 530 a month for a one bedroom, at the end of the year it's still cheaper (about 6000), than what we pay for me to live in this new dorm (11,000). That's like 5000 in savings! No matter what I do, next year will be cheaper.

I'm sacrificing so much to live in this dorm, sometimes I question if it's worth it, then other times (usually when I'm enjoying the luxury of my own bathroom, or looking at my amazing view), I realize, I have it so good. Also visiting friends at other dorms, I realize how good I have it. This post has been pretty random, I guess I'm just letting out my feelings of today. How cheesy, I know.

I have three papers due by friday, I better get started.

I did it.

So this morning, I woke up at 6:40, then got dressed and walked to my car. My word, it's freezing. Apparently this morning it was 38 degrees outside. I know its september, but it's still technically summer until the 21st, and today did NOT feel like that. Anywho, I drove my car to the visitors center which opened right at 7 then bought my 2 week temporary parking permit which only cost 10 bucks! I thought I had to get a month long permit, but I guess you can get one for whatever duration of time you wish. I got mine to last until the 18th when I come home again.

I am really going to miss having my car, but we'll see. I think I should keep it until thanksgiving. Then take it back up after spring break. Great idea, no?

Well now I'm just going to hang out in my dorm for another 30 minutes or so then it's off to my Economics class. After economics, I'm going to go to the library and begin working on my math homework that's due tomorrow. Then I have THREE papers due on friday, two of them are a minimum of 4 pages. Clearly it's time to start working on those. Also I mustn't forget that I have an economics assignment due on thursday. Oh what a joy college is.

Tonight

Tonight I went to dissmores with Becky and Brenda, bought some poptarts and orange hi-C. Then we went to Becky's dorm, and in the basement they have this big lounge with a big screen tv and we watched Mean Girls. I love that movie, it's so hilarious, in so many ways. The bad thing about this evening is that I have to go to bed right now. Tomorrow I need to be up by 6:40 so I can go move my car and drive to the visitors center to purchase a parking permit. Parking in most places is free between 5 pm and 7 am, and since neither the visitors center or the parking offices were closed for labor day I couldn't buy a permit. Now I have to wake up extra early to get there as it opens, and to prevent my car from getting a ticket.

This was very poorly written, but I'm tired, and I have to pee. That's my reason.

I'm back in Pullman after a nice quick trip home for labor day weekend. I didn't even plan on going home, but when Becky suggested I catch a ride from our friend Alisha who was going home, I figured "why not?"

The best part of the trip was the fact that my parents let me take my car up to school until I come home again in two weeks. The way I see it, since now I've driving to pullman and know my way around, I might as well keep it the rest of the year, hint hint mother and father. I might just pay for the parking permit with my own money that I get from working when I come home next.

I'm a great driver and I could really use a car up here. I just really really could =]

Well I got my camera up here finally, and in a few minutes I might go around campus and take some photos. The lighting was best about an hour ago, but I don't car I can still take photos.

Today I visited the "Zen Staircase" with Becky. Strangely not many people up here know about it, and I'm kind of glad that's the case. Anywho, the Zen Staircase is this 7 story stairway in the Fine Arts parking garage with walls covered in years of graffiti paintings. It's hidden from view, so it's not an eye sore from the street or anything.

Honestly, it's one of the most impressive things I've ever seen. Some of the stuff is crude and offensive, other sweet and perhaps inspirational. I took photos. I'll be sure to take better photos with my real camera once I get it up here!

This first one is for Amy.

Since I have no real inspiration to write anything, I recorded a video. A task which I find to be much simpler. I can always speak my mind, but sometimes writing my thoughts doesn't interest me.

I will try to post more videos soon. Also once I get my real camera up here, I will post my photography quite frequently.

Classes.

Monday was my first day of class, and left me far from excited for this semester. However after today and going to my Monday Wednesday Friday classes for the second time, I now have a second opinion. It was much more enjoyable today since we didn't talk just about syllabi but we actually delved into real classwork. I'm liking my professors even more now, and my HBM teacher continued to crack me up today.

Yesterday I went to a free Pilates class at the rec center, and fell in love. Tomorrow I'm going to another free class of it, and if I still love it, then I'm signing up for the class. It's 38 bucks, but still Pilates is a great way to lose weight and tone your body. I might just do it all year long if I can. Today i've been eating lighter and drinking only water. At breakfast I did have some soy chocolate milk, but other than that it's just been water. Right now I really need to get to doing my homework. I have an online thing I have to get done by midnight and I may be going to a movie night with some friends. I must go!

Sitting in the CUB

Right now I'm sitting in the cub. I have class in thirty minutes. My first class was good. I already have homework, but the teacher seems reasonable. He doesn't accept late work no matter what the situation is. But, he does knock off your lowest 4 homework grades at the end of the semester. So really you can miss up to 4 assignments. But he seemed pretty easy going.

Something funny did happen though. Right after class officially began at 10:10, my professor starting talking about how he doesn't understand why some people seem to think that the first day of class is optional and how he only sees 60 people in a class of 105. I looked around and noticed a lot of empty seats. Right as he said that though, the door opened and this guy asked if the class was math 201 and when it started. Dr. Allen said yes and that class started five minutes earlier. So the guy came in the classroom, followed by about 40 other students who had been waiting outside the door. Apparently the closed door really confused people, but it was funny seeing all the people pile in five minutes late. The class is 105 students, but it didn't really feel like it. It wasn't in an auditorium and the chairs were kind of close to each other so it just really didn't look like 105 people. I can't explain it. Okay well I think it's time for me to go class. It doesn't start still for another 20 minutes but I'd like to head in it's direction right now so I'm not late. People seem to be arriving to class extra early today.

First day of classes!

Today I have the following classes.

Math 201

HBM 131 (hospitality)

GenEd 111 (yay for freshman year)

English 101

I'm also so incredibly upset because at noon the president, Elson Floyd, is coming to MY dorm building to take a photograph with the residents. This photograph will go on press releases and essentially go down in history. Also there will be plenty of news reporters and it will be a huge blowout. As someone who actively seeks out news cameras to appear on, it kills me to say that I have class at noon. Last night my dorm had an all hall meeting and it was discovered that probably only about 15 people don't have class at noon. The president is awesome, I saw him speak at Convocation last friday and he was just so cool. I want to meet him! That is one of my goals in the next four years. Needless to say I am crushed that I won't be able to attend this event. But I'll live. And the class I have at that time is my HBM class which is the only one I'm truly looking forward to. Ah, so bittersweet.

Right now I'm going to write a to-do list for things I need to do and purchase when I come home for Labor Day. I'll post again later with a detailed report on how my first day of classes went!

Stevens is Haunted.

I'm sure of it. Last night I went and visited the oldest dorm on campus. In fact it's the oldest dorm still in use for its original purpose in the western united states. It's called stevens hall, it was built in 1895 and it's scary as hell. It's supposed to be all cute and old, but the fact that a murder took place in it, doesn't help. Yes, I said murder. This part of the story isn't legend, but actual fact. In the 70's a girl used to illegally hang out in the basement during the summer, for who knows why. Anyway, she eventually was murdered. The story is that when cleaning crews came to clean out the place before the school year started, they noticed a patch of carpet missing from the living room area which they assumed was just vandalism. Anyway, when they went down to the basement to clean, they opened the door to one of the rooms to discover blood all over the walls. Some nine months later, the body of this missing girl was found wrapped in the carpet that was stolen from Stevens. That part is true, whether or not all the stories of ghostly encounters are true as well, I don't know. But I visited that dorm last night and it was scarrrry. I'd love to visit it again when I bring up my camera, perhaps then I'll venture into the basement where most of the activity actually occurs. Scarrrrry.

Right now, I've got some friends coming up to my dorm, so I'd better clean up!!

Sorry I haven't updated this as often as I used to, but the last two days have been really busy for me. I had a lot of time on my hands the first two days with no one here and nothing to do, but now I'm constantly hanging out with friends, which is what I'm about to do. So later tonight when I get back, I'll update it with my recent goings on as promised.

Exploring.

Yesterday evening, Shea and I walked around campus a bit, and we explored the craziness that is her dorm. Wilmer-Davis. It's one of the really old ones, but underneath it is Hillside dining center which is pretty good and nicely renovated. Anywho, while looking for the laundry room, we descovered this creepy room, that probably isn't so creepy while in use, but at the time it was completely empty and looked to be straight from the set of a horror film.

It was far underground, and there was one door on the side that scared the crap out of Shea when she opened it. It was really dark and scary, but I was too scared to investigate myself.

My phone warps pictures if you're moving too fast whilst taking one. But this is the Bryan clock tower. It glows red at night.

Right now I'm just waiting for my friend to finish showering so I can go to her dorm and we can hang out, and then spend the rest of the day checking out campus, walking our schedules and so on. It'll be a fun day!

Well one of the guys with whom I'll be sharing a bathroom this year is currently moving in. Finally I am hearing ruckus coming from the other dorm room. I wish I hadn't shut the door to the bathroom. I seriously closed it no more than five minutes before he and his family showed up. If it were open, surely they would have peeked in and I could have introduced myself. Oh well. Time for pictures!

My iPhone sometimes makes my pictures look all warped. But still, you can see the stairs that I'll have to climb everyday after class. Ugh.

Stadium Way

The bridge over stadium way

I is so bored.

So today I've got some friends finally moving up, but they won't be here for another few hours. I'm just not sure what I should do until then... I'm thinking I might just walk to the cub again, get some subway, and then walk back. I am pretty hungry. I'll take some photos on my walk, then when I get back, I'll post them pictures.

Changes

Okay so two of those aren't of the dorm, but more of my view, which is especially beautiful at this time of night!
My roommate and I lowered our beds and it was a wonderful decision. Here are some photos of the new set up.

Camera

Why didn't I bring my camera? Today could have been spent taking some beautiful photos of the campus, but no I'm just sitting here doing nothing. It's beautiful here in Pullman today, the campus is just glowing! Oh well, I'll bring it up after labor day.

I guess right now I'll take a look through all my textbooks then after that I'll start reading the Omnivore's Dilemma which the whole school is supposed to have read by now. Oops.

Just chillin in the cub.

This is where I am right now. Well actually I'm about to leave to go get some subway. But yeah, I had to get away from my dorm. I felt so secluded. When I go back though I'm going to try and see if I can't prop my door open some how, and if I can't, well then I'll just keep it shut and become a recluse for the rest of the year.

I'm finally settled.

Well no not really. I've unpacked, but my room needs to be decorated more. I left a lot of things at home/ never bothered to purchase them because I thought my room would have been tiny. Actually, it's quite large, and I have room for all kinds of things I never would have thought one could fit in a dorm room. I EASILY could fit a big sofa, not that I planning to do so. But I would like to get another chair, and a lamp, and definitely a little bookshelf.

Here are some photos of my room.

My bed, which doesn't look that tall in the picture, but believe me, it is.

My INCREDIBLE view! It's going to be amazing when it snows!

My view from my already very messy desk. Hello Macbook.

Blurry picture of my sink.

So as some of you may know I've been without internet for a while (to me half a day is a long time without internet). The problem seemed to be that the building is having a difficult time getting wifi to everyone, so the issue was not with my computer. I ultimately realized that the only way to remedy this aside from just waiting for the wifi to be fixed, was to walk to the bookie to buy an ethernet cord, so now I'm wired to the wall on my laptop, but the internet is working just wonderfully! Also in order to watch TV on your laptop (a feature only found in my dorm, which is brand new and very tech savvy), you need an ethernet cord, so regardless of whether or not the wifi is working, I needed this cord. I didn't bring a tv, which for now seems fine, but I may want to bring one back up this winter. After walking back from the bookie where I got my ethernet cord, I discovered a much shorter route to and from my dorm, which I'm so glad I discovered now, and not in the middle of the year. I had been taking a rather circuitous route that added at least another 5 minutes to the journey. When you're walking, five minutes is a big deal.

Yesterday evening, I went mad without my internet so I walked with my macbook in my backpack all the way to the cub (keep in mind folks, WSU is a very large campus), and alas the wifi was working wonderfully there, confirming my belief that my laptop is flawless. Later that evening I walked to Dissmores with some friends, which was horrifically long and exhausting. It's not a hop, skip and a jump from my location, and really it's not a place one should walk to, but we did it nevertheless. I bought some Hi-C, and some cheeze its. Despite the long walk, it was a fun night and it was good to hang out with people. My roommate is doing his orientation so he's gone all day. I was without much social interaction since my family left earlier in the afternoon. I probably won't see my friend Brenda tonight since she's rushing, excuse me, she's at "recruitment" (the greek folks here at WSU now prefer the latter term instead of the former, don't ask why), but that's okay. I've got my internet, so I'm entertained.

Today is the last hard day really, since some of my friends start moving up tomorrow. It'll be a good day, I'm excited for it. Tomorrow is also the day where all the Week Of Welcome activities begin.

I'm moving up today.

Today I am moving up to WSU and I'm excited/nervous. I have a lot to do so really I shouldn't be on here but I can't stop myself once I get a great idea in my head.

First I need to shower, then I need to run to my work for a final goodbye to my co-workers and to drop off a senior picture to my boss and pick up her letter of recommendation she wrote for me in case I want to get a job up at campus. My job is pretty sweet because I'll be working there during christmas and next summer, in fact when I come back down in a few weeks for labor day I'm already scheduled for saturday and sunday that weekend!

But yeah I still have to get all my stuff together and ready to go, so I must leave. Once I move up and am settled in, I'll take pictures of my room and post them here for you all to see!