Currently, I'm writing a paper and listening to some vintage Lady GaGa, and doing laundry. Can you think of a better way to start the day? I can, but the Lady GaGa is making this much easier on me. I have such a horrible problem with procrastination. I have a huge paper due tomorrow, and I'm only just now getting into it. For the past three days I've been typing down thoughts and doing lots of research, but I haven't quite written anything in the form of a paragraph until late last night. It seems I get so much more motivated to finish things like this when the deadline is near. What's my problem?

Anywho, today Becky and I are going to Dabco management to apply for an apartment, which is really exciting. The two of us decided to live together since we're good friends and well because we can't imagine who else we'd live with. It's going to be a blast next year and I just cannot wait. I may be dying for this school year to be over, but that's only because I can't wait for this fall! We were discussing all the food we'll be cooking next year in our own kitchen, and it's just put me into such a good mood. She's going off to Spokane in a year for nursing school so next year will be our only year together in an apartment, but if my good friend Amanda transfers to WSU, then she'll be moving in with me at that point. Anyway, I need to finish my paper, so I'm going to end this now. I just needed to update this.

Happy anniversary mom and dad!

I'm coming hooome!

I'm stoked to come home this friday, but I'll miss my sweet pullman! I cannot believe how close the end of the year is. I cannot be more excited. Mostly because I can't wait to move out of the dorms... again I love my building, but I'm dying to live on my own. Independence is so close I can almost taste it!

I don't have much to say except for I got my midterms back and my grades are superb so that's fantaaastic!

See you soon hopefully!

Bonjour! MY own personal housing crisis? Nearly solved. It is now completely certain that I will be living in an APARTMENT and not a house next year. The girls with whom I almost got a house, decided that they'd rather do the apartments just for ease of living. So three of them are getting a townhouse probably in Churchill Downs which is exactly where I'll be living! The reason I say nearly solved is because I still don't know if I'll be getting a one-bedroom or living with Becky, but before long we'll know!

I have my car up here and I love it so much. However, as expected I am spending money faster this way! Although, as far as shopping goes, yesterday I really tested my will power, by going into TWO stores that I like and not buying a single thing. A few months ago that seriously would have been impossible. Is my spending problem cured? Not quite, but I'm getting there!

This weekend has been lots of fun, and this past Friday was definitely one of the better nights of my college experience! Just good friends, lots of laughs and meeting some exciting new people. Also I tried Pizza Perfection (a local pizza place), and it was as if I was trying pizza for the first time. I've never loved a slice of pizza more in my life. I had to pay for it since my friend's bank account was too low to cover it, but It was worth it. Next time you find yourself in the palouse craving a pizza, forget, pizza hut, round table, papa murhpys, or even pizza pipeline, it's all about pizza perfection. Obviously you can tell I'm pretty emotional about the pizza, and I've never been a huge fan of pizza.

Friday afternoon I gave some tours of my residence hall. I was nervous at first because there were only two tourguides (myself included) and it was a big preview day for prospective students, meaning lots of people to give tours to. Fortunately the tours went great, and I even got some help from another resident on my floor, which was super helpful, especially when one of my groups (which consisted easily of about 60 people) were all jam packed onto the floor. Definitely appreciated the help! It got me excited about the possibility of being a real campus tour guide, aka a "cougar connecter" next year, when I'll actually get paid!

Well I'm done for now, I have some math homework to take care of. I had to skip the lecture in order to give tours, so hopefully the subject matter isn't too complex!

February

It's been a few weeks since the first day of my new classes and I'm really getting into the swing of things. For a while I was feeling quite overwhelmed. I'm the kind of person who doesn't get stressed when I know EXACTLY what it is I have to do, even if it's a lot. But when I'm not completely certain, or have no idea what I need to accomplish, and I know there is tons to do, then I lose my mind. This is exactly how I felt.

My GenEd, class which I was so looking forward to taking since the professor had received rave reviews on ratemyprofessor.com, turned out to be not as I had hoped. Professor Gerber is a sweetheart and she's really inspiring for a number of reasons. She is German and has spent many years living in China, and just has a lot of knowledge under her belt. However the class is tougher than I had imagined. Because of her passion for ancient world civilization she seems to believe that all of her students are just as passionate. This is quite false, in fact I really hate the subject of the class. I don't like studying things that happened so long ago because I feel we can't know for sure exactly what happened, and I don't like being certain. The work load at first seemed outrageous but I'm adjusting and finding it to be not so difficult after all. The first three weeks were kind of nerve racking for me, I wasn't sure how I'd fair in the class, it just seemed so difficult, but I'm figuring it all out and now am really on top of things.

Math which you guys may know I am retaking this semester. Last semester I took this math 201 class, which the entire time wasn't really the most difficult, it was challenging but never too hard. My professor was terrible, and I had a hard time focusing in class, and it was the class that I skipped the most. Despite having a fairly decent grasp on the subject matter, it was my worst grade after finals. I passed, but I need my GPA to be higher so I'm retaking it. This semester, I have the best math lecturer that i've ever had, but his quizzes are a bit tricky and the course load a bit rough. It's nice though when he goes over difficult concepts, and most of the people in the class don't get it (not because he's a bad lecturer but because the subject is hard), and I'm sitting there understanding every word he says. I'm really excited for the midterms because they're standardized for all math 201 classes, so I know what they're like since I took the same ones last semester. I'm ready to rock this class.

Economics, which I dropped last semester has been great so far as well. My previous econs professor seemed to take economics too seriously, in that he compared to a philosophy or psychology class. Some economists might agree with that stance, but honestly it threw me off so much. With my current professor, he's a grad student and sometimes makes mistakes, but I'm learning so much more from him. Also I've been using the study guide (which is good since I paid about 117 bucks for it), and I find myself really learning all the concepts with its help. Also we have a lot of online assignments. He gives us like three to five and they're all due on one day, and the next batch of assignments isn't due until valentines weekend, but being the good student that I am finished them all yesterday.

French is great. The professor continues to amaze me. She is so funny, so understanding and just awesome. This class also has a lot of online homework, which I'm loving. It's easier for me to get homework done online than if I have to write it out, i've found.

Public speaking is interesting. My professor is hilarious, but there are some really annoying people in there. The kinds that actually are funny, but since they keep getting laughs from the prof, they start acting like they can get away with anything. There's another guy in there who is older than the rest of the class, and he is a really nice guy, but he seems to think he's better and cooler than everyone else. He talks like he's the teaching assistant sometimes, and other times I think he just talks to hear his own voice.

I could go on for ages about my classes, but I think I've hit the basics. I really want to come home next weekend, I'm a bit stressed out from this semester and need to relax the best way I know how, with my familllyy!

Last night, Becky, Chrissy and I went to Dissmores (grocery store) and purchased the fixins for pasta, with salad and garlic bread and we prepared quite a feast. Of course we just used Prego spaghetti sauce but still, it was like the first "home-cooked" meal any of us had had in a while and it was wonderful. We cooked our meal in the first floor lounge of my building (where Becky lives, I'm on the third), and we watched Role Models which happened to be on HBO at the time.

In my GenEd class, the entire class was split up into teams of 14 people. Each team had to come up with a team leader, and being the power hungry control freak that I am, ended up being the leader. When my team was choosing the leader, no body wanted to do it, and so I lied and said "I guess if no body else will do it, I can do it", the truth is "I don't want anybody else to do it, I want to be the leader!", haha but I didn't want my love of leadership positions to be apparent.

Today my plans are fairly simple, at noon, Becky and I are going to hit up the states largest university recreation center here at WSU, and put in a good hour-long work out, because I desperately need it. I haven't worked out in over a month, so hopefully my stamina is as good as it was circa December 2009.

After our grueling work out, I'm sure I'll be heading back to Becky's room where I will begin doing my homework for the weekend. Come to think of it, I'm pretty sure all of my homework this semester, has been done in Becky's dorm room. She keeps me focused, because she doesn't get distracted easily at all, so she stays focused on her work and it inspires me to do the same. I've got my math to take care of, and being the team leader for my GenEd team I have to organize the team paper that's due tomorrow. Lucky for me, the only part I'm writing is the summary. Not that I didn't want to do more, but it just turned out that way. However I still have to assemble the entire paper based on the different parts people are emailing me so this should be interesting.

My french class is amazing. For some reason I was scared of my french professor (before I met her). I guess I'm just scared of french people, I don't want them to hate my french speaking abilities or lack thereof. Lucky for me, my amazing french professor, who is a native of France, is an amazing woman. She is so funny, and so nice, and has the most beautiful accent. Despite my love for the language, I've found that the French accent isn't always a pretty one, but hers is wonderful. Every day she surprises me more and more and it's great. She is incredibly patient and understanding, and is just an amazing teacher. When mastering a language I think it's equally important to know all the slang and colloquialisms of the language as well, and she certainly has that accomplished. I never have to worry about if she'll understand what I'm saying or if I should speak more formally, because she gets it all. She speaks a lot of english too which I find really helpful because if I have a question, I don't have to worry about always putting it into perfect french (which in turn gets screwed up in translation anyway), I can ask the question and precisely as I want it, and get the best answer from her. Oh I could go on forever about how much I love her and the class (which I have about 5 friends in).

So next year, oh boy. So this past week I was just sitting in my dorm, wasting time, and I get a text from my good friend Janie that says "we want you to live with us next year" I'm flattered and yet torn. I always thought it'd be fun to live with Janie and my friends Meagan and Alisha, but they had all planned on living together in a house, and I'm more of an apartment person (at least in Pullman). The thought of living with those girls had crossed my mind, but I was pretty set on living in a one-bedroom apartment next year (which I'd love, trust me I love my privacy). So initially when she said that, my thought was "no I don't want to live in a house, they're gross here", but the more I thought about it, the more the idea started growing on me.

First off, I would save a lot of money, probably, by the end of one year, I'd save maybe over 1500-2000 bucks by not living in a one-bedroom apartment. Also, there are a few really nice homes in the area, despite the numerous dumps that also exist. The houses are all much closer to campus than any of the apartments are, plus I'd be living with some really cool girls. I know I'd be the only guy, but I think I'd manage. The problem is, even this isn't completely certain. The three girls are still on the lookout for three bedroom homes, so if they find one, then it'll just be them, which I'll be fine with. Also, Becky and I might live together, but that depends on a number of things, that I do not care to get into right now.

Back to the whole living in a house thing. I know my parents don't really want me to do the house thing because of the nightmare Amy went through in her house. I too was certain that I'd never deal with a house and just go straight to the apartments, but I'm kind of changing my mind. I know many of the houses aren't nearly as nice as the apartments, but I think it could be a lot of fun living in a house. Closer to campus, closer to nightlife, the situation is really ideal. Plus I'd be living with some people that I really like, who I know I can trust and have a good time with. So we'll see, chances are Becky and I won't live together, and the girls might find a nice three bedroom, and I'll be back to my original plan of living in a one-bedroom apartment.

I may have not a single iota of an idea as to where I'm living next year, but I do know for certain that I'll be extremely happy wherever I'm at.

I'm baaack! It's been about a month, but it feels good to be back. I have an hour break between my first and second classes so I'm just sitting here in the Compton Union Building on my laptop and waiting. Last semester I had a similar break, and I'd usually go back to my room because I'd have it to myself, but this semester it's different, and my roommate doesn't have class until noon, so I don't have the room to myself anymore.

I was getting excited to sign a lease for an apartment, but after emailing Dabco Management (the company that owns the apartments I'll be living in next year), I discovered that I can't sign a lease until march, so that's just wonderful.

I really don't have much to talk about right now since my time back here in Pullman has only just begun. I'm stoked for this semester to be back in full swing and for my social life to resume to normal. Last night was miserably boring, Becky and I just sat around and talked for hours, ate some food, watched some shows on TV, then I went to my room and slept like a baby. Again, I really have nothing of substance to talk about right now so I'll just end this little post right here and I'll post again as soon as I have something adequately entertaining to tell you.

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.