A Night Out On The Town

Today I was hanging out with one of my friends and we decided that we wanted to do something together tonight, but weren't really sure what we wanted to do. So, we decided to ask another mutual friend of ours if he wanted to do anything with us, since he usually has some sort of sense of what's going on around Rochester. We decided that the three of us would hit up one of the coffee hot spots downtown and then head over to a show at RIT for a bit.
Around 9ish, we all met up and headed over to Java's for a bit. Java's is literally my favourite coffee shop in Rochester. Well, there might be a better one, but I haven't been to it yet if there is! The three of us hung out there for a while, talking and hanging out, laughing and just kind of having a blast until it was time to head over to RIT for the show.

Katie and I at the Lovin' Cup for Revision's show

The band Revision was playing at this little bar on RIT's campus called the Lovin' Cup. The band was pretty sweet, and the three of us were having a blast listening to music, jamming out in our own little way. There was a group of people up towards the front of the stage dancing like crazy, and obviously drunk, and we couldn't help but laugh at them. That was until one girl decided the single me out. I became her "project" for the night. She noticed that I really wasn't dancing, and neither was my friend Katie, so she came over and dragged the two of us up to the front to get us to dance, all the while Sen sat back and laughed. Now, I really don't dance, and when I try, I just end up looking stiff and awkward. This girl had obviously noticed this and was trying to make my dancing not quite as awkward. I found this to be hysterical. She kept grabbing my hips and trying to get me to sway them more, grabbing my arms and trying to get me to move them, grabbing my shoulders to get me to loosen up. She would yell into my ear, "When I went to my first concert, I barely danced! I used to be JUST LIKE you!" All I could think to myself was, "Just like me? You mean sober?" and I would laugh. She would go off and dance like a maniac, but if she looked over at me and noticed I wasn't dancing, she would come over to try and get me to dance more. Eventually, I got tired of it and headed back to stand with Sen in the back in hopes of escaping. This worked for me, but unluckily not for Katie. When she decided to come back and join Sen and I again, this girl came back and dragged her back up to the front. Luckily Katie wanted to dance more than I ever did and was a good sport about the whole thing. All in all though, this girl had us laughing pretty hard for most of the night.
Once the concert was over, Katie and I were sitting at a table together waiting for Sen who was talking to one of the guys in the band. As we were sitting there, the drummer from Revision came up and started talking to us. Now, I hate to say it, but long ago I discovered something about being a girl who goes to concerts. I discovered that if you get the chance to talk with either one of the merch guys or a band member, if you flirt a little bit, you can often get some sort of free-be. So, being slightly savvy on this, I admit, I flirted a little bit with the drummer while talking about the concert and such. The pay off for this? About half way through the conversation he stopped and said, "Hold on, lemme go grab you a cd." Score. He came back with the cd and Sen came over and joined us, and the four of us talked for a little bit. Needless to say, we're going to be trying to get these guys up to Roberts at some point for a show and we got a free cd out of it!
By this point it was close to 1:30 in the morning and we decided that it was about time to head back to school. So, we climbed back in the car and talked and laughed about all the fun and craziness that had gone down. And I still can't dance.

Graffitied Watertowers

I know, I know, it's been quite a while since my last post, but things have been quite crazy around here. Since we are nearing the end of the semester, I have projects to complete, papers to write, and exams to study for. It's all in the life of a college student, but you know what? I'm thankful for it all. I'm one of the few people who get to go to college to better their education. I have three hot meals a day and a warm room to stay in. And a great group of friends.
As I've mentioned before, I've been going to a small group on Sunday afternoons and I've become pretty good friends with a couple of the people in the group. Yesterday when we met, we all decided to go on a walk together. The house that we meet at every Sunday isn't too far from Highland park and the reservoir that's up there, so we headed up to take a stroll around the reservoir and check out the legal graffiti that is on these water towers up there. It turned out to be a crazy time hanging out with these people. All of us are quite artistic in some form (probably one of the reasons we all get along) so looking at the graffiti turned into quite an interesting experience. Since one of the girls in the group works in a photo studio, half of the walk turned into a photo shoot.

Me, Erica, Paul and Sen

The one who's actually climbing is Jon, who is a member of Push Physical Theater, hence the ability to climb the wall. The rest of us are wannabe's.

One thing I've learned about college is that somehow everything ends in snuggle/nap time. It's the natural way things go. Being all tuckered out after the walk, we all crashed on the couch. What you can't see is that I'm on the other side of this pile. Like I said, it's the natural course of things.

So, life's been good. I'm glad to be back at college after break, and I'm so glad that God's given me a wonderful (and crazy) group of friends to spend time with.

A Little Too Much Drama

I love myself a good theater production. It's one of the main things I spent my time doing in high school. At certain times of the year, theater, or rather drama club, became my life. And I loved this. So, naturally I thought that I would absolutely love theater in college, and when the drama club auditions came around I eagerly signed up for the One Act Festival and got the role in the two person act of The Ferris Wheel. I was ecstatic.
We started practicing and I found myself getting picked on by my fellow actor. A couple practices in, he began calling me things such as "heartless," and "evil" and saying things to me such as "your poor husband! He's going to HATE living with you!" No matter how many times I told him to stop picking on me or leave me alone, he would not stop. I began to dread going to practice for the mere reason that I would inevitably end up getting picked on at some point. Finally, I snapped. I began responding to everything he said negatively and making negative comments directed towards him. I know that this was not the right thing to do, but I just could not handle his comments any more. That night after practice, he proceeded to follow me, ranting about how I made him forget all his lines with my negativity and how I had made him feel worthless. I just kept my mouth shut. There was nothing I could say to this kid to make him realize how big of a jerk he had been to me all along. The next day, after calming myself to a reasonable place, I sent him an email explaining that if he wants people to be nice to him, he cannot walk around calling people heartless and evil or they will snap at him. Needless to say, I have not spoken two words to him since. Although, I do have a back up plan if he begins to pick on me again.
You see, I have a friend on campus, Sen, who is like an older brother to me. If I need someone to walk with me in the wee hours of the morning from the library to my dorm, Sen's the one I'll call. If a guy is bothering me and won't stop, Sen's good for that too. Lucky for me this guy in drama club is apparently terrified of Sen. So, Sen advised me to tell this kid that if he doesn't stop annoying me, Sen'll come after him. Good plan... good plan.
But this isn't even all of the drama.
I received a text the other night, the same night I snapped at him, that we had practice. I had not realized this, and I had a test first thing in the morning the next day. Considering the fact that I just ended up sitting on the stage and not doing any thing for most of the night, I began asking if I could leave so that I could study for my exam in the morning. People began questioning my loyalty to drama club. I gave them the rational answer that I give anyone who questions why I care so much about my grades. "To even be looked at for a good doctoral program for psychology you have to have minimally a 3.5 average. A 3.5 for them to even LOOK at your application!" Considering the whole reason that I am at Roberts is to get into a good doctoral program, getting around a 3.75 is my main goal. One girl who was helping us that night then replied to me, "Well, if you care about your grades that much, maybe you shouldn't be in drama club!" So, apparently to be in drama club you can't care about your grades. That kind of attitude sets me off a little bit. Isn't the whole reason we're all in college to get good grades and get a good job? I guess I'm just weird in that aspect....
So, as you can see, drama club is not going too well for me. There seems to be a little to much, well, drama involved. I can honestly say that if everything continues on like this, I may be done with theater at Roberts. I am not going to spend time with people who are willing to pick on other people nonstop no matter what, and I am not willing to spend time with people who are not coming to college for good grades, who are not coming to college to take advantage of every opportunity to further their education.
One Act Festival is in two weeks, and if things start looking up by that point, I will still participate in theater at Roberts. If things continue on the same course as now, I will be done with theater, and done with all the drama that goes along with it.

Your Love Never Fails

Things happen in life. Family members die. Friends move on. Life changes. People get mad at each other. It's all part of this big messy thing that we call life. It can be hard. It can be kind of sucky sometimes. But it's all because we live in a broken, fallen, messed up world. This world is not perfect, and it never will be.
And yet, we don't have to live broken, messed up lives.
I was sitting alone in my dorm last night and I just started talking with God. So much has been happening in my life. So much crap. I just started telling Him what was going on and He began to speak things to my heart. Whisper quietly and calm me. There is truly nothing on this earth like hearing the voice of God soothe you and tell you what your heart and your soul needs to hear. One thing that He began to speak to me was a song. He was speaking lines of a song to my heart and it wasn't until tonight that it finally clicked with me what song He was singing to my soul.


The lyrics go:

You stay the same through the ages

Your love never fails

There may be pain in the night

But joy comes in the morning

Put that in first person, and you have God's words to my heart last night. His love never fails. I think that's just what I'm going to have to tell my heart every time I start to feel my soul getting weary, feeling like I just want to give in.

God's love never fails.

Just a Good Day

Today seemed to go by in a blink of an eye. I feel like I did so much and it's leaving me with a content, satisfied feeling that just makes me smile.
It started off with me having to go on a service project for my First Year Seminar class, which every freshman in college is required to take. My FYS class worked with Pastor Louis Colon of Heart and Soul Church in the inner city. We helped the church with their monthly food distribution to the needy families who live on the streets surrounding the church. It's always interesting to see how different from you live, and it was definitely different to be invited into some of these homes to deliver groceries. Many of these people weren't horribly impoverished, but they definitely were grateful for the assistance. Single mothers living in a house full of children, a family living off of unemployment, I know I will be praying for these people in the weeks, and months, to come.

After I returned to Roberts from the FYS project, I had to get ready to go out with a couple friends to Waterstreet Music Hall downtown. One of my friends, Paul Rankin, was performing some acoustic songs and a bunch of us went to go support him. Paul played a great show, and I really had a blast hanging out at Waterstreet for the night.

As for my heart, I've been taking it easy for the most part, today's really the first time that I haven't rested a ton since last Saturday. I haven't had any caffeine in a week, I've been getting lots of sleep and drinking lots of water, I've held myself back for the most part when I've wanted to be crazy. It's just going to be a long, steady build up back to normal. Please keep me in your prayers as I'm still walking through this mess, I really appreciate it.
Now! I do believe that it is time for me to head off to bed! Goodnight!

Night in the ER

The strangest thing happened to me last night. I had gone to ballroom dancing club at 8pm, and we were sitting and talking about different scheduling things that were going on when suddenly I felt my heart rate speed to an extremely fast pace. I started taking deep, even breaths, not completely sure of what was going on. When it didn't calm down after a couple minutes, I decided to step outside for some fresh air. When it still didn't calm down, I went back in, grabbed my roommate and my stuff and we headed back to our dorm. What I was thinking was that I wanted to talk with my RA. You see, Laurie, my RA, is a third year nursing student. I figured that she would let me know if I was overreacting or if it was something a little more serious.

My heart rate had slowed some over the course of my walk back to my dorm, but it was still rather fast when I got back. I can honestly say that I hadn't been that scared in a long time. I was so scared that when I walked into Laurie's room and started to talk to her about what was going on, I started to cry. I don't remember the last time I cried before that. She had me lay on her bed as she checked my blood pressure and heart rate. She confirmed that it was rather fast and that she wanted to call my doctor. When she didn't get a hold of my doctor, she made the decision that she wanted me to go to the hospital. We called my mother and told her what was going on and she told us to go to Highland Hospital because of how calm an emergency it usually is. We decided that it would be the best place to go, and mom told us that she'd meet us there. I got up and we started walking to my friend Jen's car, but I barely made it half way there when my heart rate started sky rocketing again. We walked back to Laurie's room and she called the ambulance. I hated the fact that I was making such a scene, knowing full well that people on campus would be talking about the girl that got taken to the hospital in the ambulance, but I really didn't have any other choice. The ambulance came and hooked me up to an EKG and a heart rate monitor, and we headed off to Highland Hospital.

When I got there, they hooked me up to another EKG monitor, heart rate monitor and blood pressure monitor. My heart rate was still rather high ranging somewhere between 100 and 130-something. They decided to do some blood work, taking a bunch of different sized vials of blood and then sticking an iv in my arm, thinking that they might give me fluids in case of dehydration.

They ended up flooding my system with 2 liters of fluids, which seemed to drop my heart rate some. When my blood work came back, it was all normal. There seemed to be no apparent reason for it to have happened, so at 2:30am they decided to release me with instructions to follow up with my primary care doctor in order to get a holter monitor. I'm not sure how long I'll have to wear it or if it'll even get me more answers than I have now.

As for right now, I'd appreciate your prayers and support. I don't know what's going on, and, as you can clearly understand, this slightly unnerves me. I can tell that there's something that's still not right with my heart beat, and I'm hoping that this eventually calms down.

A Myriad of a Night

Thursday night, I ventured to Water Street Music Hall for a concert. It was Tyrone Wells and The Myriad with Matt Hires. Now, the real reason that I went to the show was to see The Myriad. I have been following their music for a while now, and when I heard that they were coming to the area, I was ecstatic. You see, for the past year they haven't been touring at all, so the fact that they came to Rochester this tour was amazing in my mind. So, when I heard they were coming, I found a friend, Jen, who would go with me and we bought tickets for the All Creatures Tour.

When we arrived at Water Street, we found it to be a smaller venue, which was nice. There were cute little tables set up near the stage and Jen and I grabbed one to sit at during the concert. We were literally five feet from the stage. It was amazing.

The thing about The Myriad at this concert was the fact that it was a stripped down acoustic version of most of their songs. Their bassist and lead guitarist are no longer with the band, so they are left with just a handful of their original guys.

Although they didn't have all the original members of the band up there, I felt as if they did a great job. I loved watching them play and listening to their music.

After the concert, Jen and I went back to the merch table and ended up talking with the merch guy for a while. I had purchased a couple of their cd's earlier, considering the fact that they were selling a cd bundle of all of their cd's for $15 (and the merch guy threw in a Myriad poster too!), I couldn't pass it up! So, I had already been acquainted with the merch guy, AKA Foster. Yes ladies and gentlemen, Foster is this kid's real name. The thing about Foster was that he was obviously hitting on my friend and I, but hey, the kid gave me a poster, so I can't really complain. The other perk about this was the fact that when we went back to the merch table and the band members weren't out there, we asked Foster if and when the guys were coming out and he called them. Couple minutes later the guys come out and introduce themselves to Jen and I. The only thing that I was really bummed about was the fact that I didn't get to meet Jeremy Edwardson, the lead singer. You see, I have a friend who REALLY looks like Jeremy, and I wanted to get a picture with him so I could show my friend. But, you can see for yourself..... Which one's in the Myriad???

If you guessed the one on the left.... you are correct! I am friends with the guy on the right and the one on the left is in the Myriad. I have to tell you, it's a little freaky how much they look alike. But, I didn't get to meet Jeremy (the one on the left) and I was sad about that. I did, however end up talking with the drummer, Randy, for quite some time. One of the reasons that they haven't been on tour as of lately is the fact that Randy was diagnosed about a year ago with bone cancer.

He's been on chemotherapy for almost a year now, and the doctor cleared him to tour. They were saying that Randy had gone through a session of chemotherapy the day before they left for the tour. When I was talking with him, I found him to be the most positive, thankful person I have ever meant. He was so happy to be on tour again and able to drum again. He seemed to love getting to meet new people again, and seemed to truly enjoy talking with me. I loved talking with him for the simple reason that he encouraged me to be more thankful for what I have in my life. I guess I can only hope to be as thankful for life as he is.

Crazy Life

I know it's been a while since I posted, and for that I apologize. Although, I do not apologize for the fact that my life is insane. I had 3 exams over the course of last week and spent most of my days (and nights) studying for them. I feel as if I did fairly well on them, but you never know until you get the test back.
At Robets we have this thing called the One Act festival. About a week ago I auditioned for the One Act festival and auditioned for a couple different parts in different one act's, including The Devil and Daniel Webster, and The Ferris Wheel. The Devil and Daniel Webster is a big company play whereas The Ferris Wheel is just two characters, a boy and a girl. When the cast list went up for all the different one act's, I was pleased to see that I had gotten the role of Dorie in The Ferris Wheel. Being a one act that consisted of only two characters, I have a fairly big role in it. ;)

It has been raining a lot on campus lately. With that big front that came through, it was basically raining constantly for days. I got sick of this very quickly. My feet and the bottoms of my pants were wet all the time and I, like most somewhat sane people, do not enjoy this at all. I, being the somewhat rational person that I am, thought of several different ways to solve this problem. I could wrap my feet and legs in plastic wrap. I could waterproof my sneakers and pants. I could drench my entire body so my legs and feet feel no different. No matter how hard I thought about any of these solutions, none of them completely felt right to me. While walking to class in the rain one morning, I saw something that set a light bulb off in my head. Rain boots! What an ingenious idea! So, I bought myself a pair of rain boots.

I love my rain boots. I really do. If you know me at all, you know I've been loving patterns lately, especially plaid. My backpack is plaid. I usually wear a plaid shirt. My jacket is plaid. It's a LOT of plaid. And now I have hounds tooth patterned rain boots too. I've decided to call myself the patterned mess when it rains for the simple fact that I walk around in my plaid jacket with my plaid backpack and my hounds tooth rain boots. But, you know what? I'm happy just the way I am, patterns and all.

In fact, when I got my rain boots, I was so ecstatic about A) being able to walk around outside without getting soaked, and B) being able to be a patterned mess, that I ran around outside as much as I possibly could. I found a ginormous puddle, or a shallow pond depending on where you're from, and ran through it full speed laughing. I ended up soaked. Apparently even rain boots do not have the power to keep you entirely dry when you run full speed through three inches of water. *Shrug*

Oh, and meet Megan, AKA Toby. I hang with her a bit considering she is in two of my classes and lives on my floor. A little bit crazy, but she keeps me entertained.

That's life for now!

The Stapler and The Tape Dispenser

Every college student needs a good stapler. It’s essential for surviving college. If you don’t have a stapler, how are you supposed to hang things on your bulletin board? How are you supposed to keep your papers together? How are you supposed to do arts and crafts projects? Fix your clothes? Clean your teeth?

I have a stapler. He is a good friend of mine. I have decided that I shall call my stapler Moby. He looks like a Moby too. He’s a little lime green stapler and he enjoys traveling in my backpack every once in a while.

Moby’s a good friend of mine. He sits contently on my desk smiling at me as I do my work, knowing sooner or later that he will get to do his job and fasten my papers together. And, if I do say so myself, Moby does an excellent job. He hasn’t failed me yet.

The other day, Moby and I were having an interesting heart to heart about an issue he’s been having. You see, Moby and my tape dispenser, Henry, don’t get along very well. Henry just seems to irritate Moby in every possible way that he can. Henry gets hair caught in his tape, which disgusts Moby to the point where he will have to retreat to the desk drawer.

Moby also feels extremely threatened by the fact that Henry has sharp teeth that he constantly has barred. Moby told me the other day, “It just seems as if Henry’s always ready to bite me or something!”

I’m not too thrilled that the two of them can’t seem to get along, but what am I supposed to do?

This post has been dedicated to my creative writing teacher from senior year, Mrs. K, who is no longer with us..... 

Us being my stapler, my tape dispenser, and I..... 

Rainfall

I love the scent of rain. The way it permeates everything and the way it leaves a clean smell that you can only get from nature. It surrounds you every time you step outsides and clings to you when you come inside. The smell of rain is like the scent of God to me.

I love the sound of rain. It ebbs and flows. Gradually becomes louder, while still remaining calm and peaceful. It reminds me of a song. Something that is constantly making music, but is unable to be expressed through any form of music known to us. It's God's song.

There's a romantic aspect to rain that you don't get from anywhere else. It's like when you're standing in the rain, you're exposed. Everything seems to melt away and you're seen for what you really are. But, the One that is the Great Romantic, the God of the Universe only loves you more when everything is stripped away. I feel so close to God when I'm in the rain, and nothing can seem to distract me from His love when I'm standing there.

And now.... I'm going to venture back out into the rain.....

A New Church?

I think I've made my decision on the church that I want to start going to on a regular basis. It's called Mosaic and it meets at MCC every week.

I went last week for the first time, and thought I liked it, so I decided to go again today. I liked the service again, but what really seems to draw me back is the fact that people there made me feel welcome. I ended up talking with a group of girls who were really nice and I'm thinking about joining the young adults group there. It seemed like a really great group of people. I think it's nice that it's a smaller church too. I almost felt like I fell between the cracks in some of the bigger churches that I ventured to and I enjoyed the fact that at Mosaic the pastor noticed I was new and introduced himself. It was nice. Another kicker for me is that they need someone to play bass every once and a while. I love playing bass on worship teams. I'm definitely going to be praying about all of this, but for now, I'm pretty happy with this new church!

Update on Life

I know it's been a while since I've posted. The whole idea of college life seems to get in the way sometimes. Homework is overrunning my life. I spend anywhere between 2 and 8 hours a day working on homework. Whether it be reading a textbook, doing problems for my statistics class or writing an essay of some sort, it all keeps me busy for a relatively long amount of time. I guess the good thing is that I truly am enjoying myself. I seem to thrive in this thing called college. I find myself more able to balance my school work and my social life than I was ever able to do in high school and I like the feeling of accomplishment that I get here. It's like by making the tiny steps in education that I'm making now, I'm moving closer and closer to my ultimate goal of a doctorate.
One of the things that I find interesting is the fact that my First Year Seminar professor is a lady by the name of Dr. Grimm. Now, first of all, if you don't know what First Year Seminar is, it is a class that helps freshman get through the shock of being thrown into a college environment and deal with all the stresses that come with it. Your First Year professor is basically your guide through your first year of college. The interesting thing about Dr. Grimm is the fact that she's the head of the psychology department and has her doctorate in psychology. Oh, yes. I have ultimate access to the head of the psychology department because of being placed in her First Year class. What I really love about this is how she encourages me in little ways. For every class we have to have a journal entry of some sort that she can grade and when we get them back, they always have little notes on them of some sort. Some of my favourite comments have been:
"Good for you! I absolutely will be cheering for you from the sidelines! Glad you're a psych major!"
"Aha! Your psychologist instincts are already kicking in!"
I love having a person like Dr. Grimm in my life, and I'm sure I'll appreciate her more and more as my years at Roberts increase.

Pins, Needles and Piercings

Last time I wrote about how I had been taking Benadryl, and I think it's time to explain. You see, I normally don't take Benadryl unless it seems completely necessary. Benadryl is some potent stuff. Knocks you for a loop like nobody else's business. I don't like that. So, I normally limit my Benadryl consumption to when I get stung by a bee or something along that line.

Benadryl..... The evil little pink pill......

So, I realized recently that I hadn't gotten some shots that I needed for college. On Wednesday my mom picked me up after my classes and we headed down to my doctor's office in Honeoye Falls. I got three shots that night, and wasn't too happy with it, but I survived. The next day it seemed as if one of the injection sites was a little bit itchy, almost like a mosquito bite, but I didn't think too much of it until my roommate saw it and freaked out. It was bright red around the injection site and looked like I had gotten attacked by a horsefly. Since it was late, there was nothing I could really do about it until the next day. So, Friday I headed down to the health and wellness center to see the nurse practitioner that they have on duty here and she gave me a bunch of Benadryl for it. Needless to say, I spent the next 24 hours in the constant state of drowsy delirium and confusion that Benadryl brings on. In retrospect though, my arm is all better!
After that experience this week, you would think that I would have had enough of pins and needles for a while, but apparently it was just the week to do it all! This weekend has been a very strange weekend in my dorm to say the least. It seems as if no one is actually here. I think there were maybe 10 girls on my flat all weekend, so, for the most part, we all went to lunch and dinner together. On Saturday we were all at lunch together when one of the girls suggested that we all do something together. When questioned what she thought we should do, she commented, "Let's go get tattoos!" and laughed. This started a conversation on tattoos and piercings. Well, wouldn't you know it, that little comment she made became the igniter for what we would spend the rest of the day doing. We ran back to our dorm after lunch and researched different tattoo and piercing parlors in Rochester, and decided on one on West Henrietta Road, The Ultimate, who's piercer had been a nurse for over 20 years before going into the piercing business..... and they give discounts to college students. We got directions to the place and piled into two cars.
The result:

Good news is, it really doesn't hurt at all. That is, unless someone decides to hit you in the ear. Then it really hurts. But! I like it a lot. I'm quite pleased with the result!

Discovering America

Alright, so maybe I didn't "discover America", but I did discover Rochester! ..... Maybe not..... But! I did go on an adventure tonight to downtown Rochester. Four other girls and I decided to pile into a car tonight and venture downtown in search of a movie theater that one of the girls had heard about.

Needless to say, our directions got us so mixed up and turned around that we ended up at the WRONG movie theater, which didn't have the movie we were planning on seeing.

I guess in a way it was better that we didn't end up seeing a movie because we ended up having some great bonding time instead. We walked to The Spot instead and each got a cup of coffee and a snack.

We got to sit and talk, get to know each other a little bit better than we did before, and we all in all had a good time. Plus, I think if we had ended up in a movie theater, I would have ended up sleeping through the majority of the movie. I normally do not sleep through movies, but I had taken Benadryl for my arm before we had left. You might be wondering to yourself, Paige, why did you take Benadryl before going to a movie? That is a very good question, but, it won't be answered till another time! Goodnight and good luck.

Laundry Day!

I have been cursed with my grandmother's evil gene of spilling food on me constantly. Inevitably I will spill something on myself almost every day, usually on my unsuspecting jeans. I go through pants faster than just about anything else here. Even though I washed my clothes when I made a quick stop home this weekend, I am already out of pants! You may be thinking to yourself, how does this happen? Let me tell you, it's easier than you would think. Spilled coffee, dripping ice cream, and eggs are all very good possibilities. I guess the good thing is that I really don't mind doing laundry here all that much.

Therein lies my joy of laundry day......

Wegmans - The Most Wonderful Place on the Earth

If you've never made the journey to your local Wegmans.... shame on you. Wegmans is the most amazing grocery store on the face of the earth. I love Wegmans.

Tonight we took our first trip of the semester to Wegmans. I was so excited. And, to make it even better, I got a pint of some amazing ice cream. Starbucks Java Chip ice cream. MMMMMmmmmm....... 

 

This is certainly a lovely treat for me that I know will last me a very long time. This ice cream is heaven in the form of ice cream and it needs to be savored as such. Wonderful coffee flavored ice cream with chunks of chocolate in it, but it's got that wonderful flavor to it that only Starbucks can produce. It's creamy and amazing and I promise you that if anyone steals any of it, they will surely die. It's like the fruit from the tree of Good and Evil. If anyone eats the forbidden fruit, they will surely die. Only in this case, I'm not God, and it's not fruit. It's Starbucks Java Chip Frappuccino ice cream. And it's amazing.

We Were a Little Board

Before you go off and start ranting about my bad spelling, let me tell you about how we were board. Better yet, let me show you.

This is the white (or in my case, green) board that is on my door. As you can clearly observe, it is a picture of a shark breaching out of the ocean and eating a person. There is a jellyfish in the water, a bird flying above the shark and a flower falling from the sky. I have a fetish with drawing sharks. They're so much fun to draw coming out of the water, especially when you draw them eating people. As you can see, some of the girls took the liberty of labeling my lovely picture. The shark has been labeled "Paige (the savage blue shark)" and in my mouth the person has been labeled "Laurie". As it happens, "Laurie" is my RA. Yes. I ate my RA. As I am consuming my RA, I just happen to be saying, "People so much fun to eat! I wish more would come in the ocean!"
And Laurie is saying, "I knew I shouldn't have gone in the ocean!"
This is what happens to the white boards in the dorm.

Now, this white board is located on the side of my closet that faces the door. I think this board takes a little bit more explaining. That duck that is flying was originally a turkey, you know, the kind that everyone makes in kindergarten where you trace your hand and then add some legs, a wing, a gobbler and a beak. Yeah. Those. But, the turkey looked, well, bad. So, the girl that drew it decided to turn the turkey into a duck, erasing everything except the head of the turkey. Again, girls in the dorm decided to take liberty and wrote "Freedom from sharks!" in a thought bubble above the du-rkey. The second part that I think needs explaining about this board is the note on the bottom. I have to keep my coffee maker in the dorm kitchen because if you keep your coffee maker in your room, it's apparently a fire hazard. Oh, well. So, the first couple days I would have my coffee automatically make itself and I would forget about it. I would make it all the way to Garlock dining commons for breakfast before I would remember that I had coffee all ready for me in the kitchen. My roommate decided to take matters into her own hands and wrote me a note on the white board to remind me to get my coffee every morning. It's worked.
So, there's your tour of our "board"om.... ;)

A Bagel a Day Keeps the Doctor Away

I bought a bagel today.

And I ate it.

Emergency Starbucks Trip

Today was a Starbucks kind of day. I love Starbucks with everything in me. Coffee alone is amazing, but Starbucks... mmm... Now that's a treat! So, me and a couple friends loaded up and headed off to the nearest Starbucks for a nice little coffee treat. For me that coffee treat happened to be their seasonal pumpkin spice latte. If you've never had a Starbucks pumpkin spice latte, you have never lived.

While sipping my wondrous pumpkin spice latte, (I actually got a frappuccino since it was warm out) I was reminded of my first pumpkin spice of the season.
September first was a day like any other day, that was until I checked my email. I love Starbucks so much that I get Starbucks updates on my email. So, that day when I checked my email, I received a Starbucks update. I opened it as always to see if anything was new or exciting at Starbucks or if they had even sent me a coupon. They never do, but a girl can always dream. Well, this email was extra special. It was the notifications of the start of pumpkin spice season!!!

I was so excited. I jumped for joy. I cried out in happiness. I screamed from my room. No, literally, I screamed. I even remember my exact words. "JULIA!!!!" I cried to my friend who has a car. My friend who was sitting in her room. Her room is all the way on the other side of the dorm room. "JULIA!!!! WE'RE GOING TO STARBUCKS!!!"
Julia, knowing my obsession, did not question my need for Starbucks. I ran through the bathroom, since that is after all the quickest way to Julia's room from mine, and stuck my head in her door. "Okay," she said, knowing that no matter what she said, we were going to Starbucks.
"PUMPKIN SPICE LATTE IS BACK AT STARBUCKS!!!" I cried out.
And we went to Starbucks.
And we got pumpkin spice lattes.
And I was happy.

Spastic Squirrels

There are a lot of squirrels on campus. A LOT of squirrels. I'm not used to this many squirrels! None of the trees around my house are the kind of trees that squirrels like. I don't see squirrels at home at all. No squirrels. But, now I've been thrown into this world where the squirrels reign as king. That's right, you heard me, squirrels are the ultimate power on this campus.

Everywhere you go on campus, you run into a squirrel, and they know they have the ultimate power. They'll sit and stare at you with the most intimidating glare that a squirrel can muster. It's quite nerve racking to be stared down by a small furry rat that has more authority than you.

One of the first days I was here, I was sitting under a tree with a group of people, talking and laughing, the whole college experience. It was a great time, that was until the squirrel decided to attack. Suddenly he came bounding out of the tree we were under, it's cheeks stuffed with ammunition. Acorns. A human's worst fear. He took off leaving us with the fear of another attack, knowing that it had only been a warning.

The other day, I was innocently walking to my next class when all of the sudden I came across the enemy, a squirrel. This squirrel was obviously a mighty warrior in the squirrel army. He only had one eye and he had in his mouth an acorn grenade. He glared at me and dared me to step on his precious grass. I made no such move and headed down the paved path in relative safety, barely escaping the encounter alive.

With that, I leave you with one word of advice, when you see a squirrel, flee as fast as possible. These creatures are armed and dangerous and ultimately control the world.

New Church Adventure

Today I ventured out to find a church to begin going to while at Roberts. A friend and I went over to a church near here called The Father's House for their service. It was definitely an interesting service. Today was their annual service about nothing. Definitely an interesting concept. The whole service was a worship service, focusing on the movement of the Spirit and what God wants us to hear. The music was more along the lines of the kind of music that I like, but it was definitely anointed. The pastor seemed like he was a great guy and was a great speaker. (That is what little I heard him speak since the service was primarily a worship service.) Over all, it truly was a powerful service.
I guess you could say that there was only one problem that I had with the church. They didn't really make new people feel all that welcome. They had new people fill out a little information sheet so that they could get in touch with them, but then when I went to give guest services the sheet, they basically just took the sheet and did nothing more to make me feel welcome. No one really approached me to see if I enjoyed the service, no one asked me where I was from or what made me come to Father's House that Sunday, no one seemed to care if I came back or not. I can honestly say that that would not fly at my home church.
Next Sunday I'll probably be trying out a different church again. Hopefully this next one will welcome guests a little bit better.

Strange Occurrences at Midnight

I was in the library last night for a long time reading my psychology book. A LONG time. By the time I left, the actual library part had closed and only the 24 hour cafe area was still open and it was well into the morning hours. I blame my RA Laurie for planning a floor activity that lasted until close to 10. (Just kidding Laurie!)
As I exited the library, tired and weary from my psych studies, I came across something strange in the middle of the campus.

It appeared to be some sort of game that they were all playing. Standing in a circle, they would take turns making a singular move and then freezing. The look of it was quite strange. I didn't understand it!

The resulting look of all the movements and such was comical to say the least, but I still don't understand. If they are out there again tonight, I might be joining them if for no other reason except to figure out this strange occurrence at midnight.

Spending Time in the Library

I've been spending a lot of time in the library lately. I find that I get more work done in the library than in my dorm. In my dorm, I get distracted by things on my desk like crayons or by the girls in the hall. So, I go to study in the library.

I love the library. 

I love studying in the library.

I love discovering all the different features of my webcam while in the library.

Especially all of those special filters that distort your face.

I love finding the best possible way to distort yourself.

I love doing this with a friend.

I call this one the transvestite picture......

I'm loving college and everything I've been learning here... along with the good times that come with it. :)

Good Times.....

Okay... not really.... but! if you consider taking classes "good times".... I think you get my point. Today was my first official day of classes, and I must say, I did have a good time. The fact that I don't have a class until 10 o'clock in the morning is an added bonus. A very nice added bonus. I wasn't even out of bed until 8 this morning. If I was still in high school, I would have been up at 6am, ridden the bus for 45 minutes, and would have already been at school by the time I was out of bed today.
My first class of the day consisted of Elementary Statistics. Now, with Elementary Statistics, I... well... I must say, I haven't taken a math class in almost a year and a half. I feel as if I'm so out of the swing of things with this math concept. It'll come to me eventually, I know, but I'm still slightly nervous about taking a math class again. Lucky for me the stat professor is a complete nut. She had most of the class laughing at her and themselves by the end of the class, so it was fun.
The second class that I moved onto today was my Developemental Psychology class. I must say, I was looking forward to this class very much since it is after all the area that I'm looking to major in and further on get a doctorate in. So, I was looking forward to the class, that was until Dr. Stevenson gave us assigned seating and then proceeded to pass out a quiz..... on the very first day of class. All I can say is at least it wasn't graded. The idea of the quiz was to get to know where exactly in psychology each of us in the class stood and exactly how much each of us had to learn. But, even with all of that, the whole concept of a quiz on the first day of classes really set me off. Don't get me wrong, I'm still looking forward to the information that I will be learning in that class, but I did not enjoy the quiz..... at all.
My last class of the day was Old Testament Literature and Theology. I really don't think anything eventful happened in that class today. The basis of the day was Dr. Divine talk about why he chose the version of the Bible that he's having us read.
It was a good day, and I'm definitely looking forward to the classes I'm taking tomorrow.

The Room

As of now, I'm all settled in and set up in my dorm room. It's quite comfy in here if you don't mind me saying so, and I'm enjoying it a lot. So, I thought I'd share a little bit of my dorm room with you. 

Here's a picture of my closet. Haven't really gotten around to getting a curtain for it yet, but it'll be there at some point. I actually don't mind the closet that much, it's bigger than the one that I have at home, so I'm actually quite thankful for it! 

Moving to the left, you get a lovely view of my desk. I've been spending plenty of time here, messing around on the internet, organizing and reorganizing the drawer, sticking all of the pictures on the back of my desk, etc. It's not too small of a desk, but small enough to get cluttered quickly. I'm doing my best to stay as organized as possible here.

If you keep turning to your left, you come across my bed. I'm absolutely in love with this bedspread/sheet set. It's so comfortable and quite cute if I do say so myself! I have a couple posters above my bed to break up the monotony of taupe that the room is bathed in. I also have a painting that I bought in Mexico hanging up. I love that painting with all of it's eccentricities and I thought it would bring a little bit more color to my room. 

I start classes tomorrow morning at 10. I'm quite excited about officially starting. I know, I know, I'm a nerd. Oh, well. I guess I just understand that by starting my classes I'm getting that much closer to achieving my dream of a doctorate, and that's what truly makes me excited.

Sushi and Other Adventures

One thing that I really enjoy about Roberts campus is the fact that in addition to the typical campus cafeteria food, they have this specialty bar of sorts. The other day they had panini's there. Today was something pretty special. Sushi. You heard me right. Sushi.

Who would have ever thought that I would go to college and end up eating sushi? I can honestly tell you that this was one of the last things I expected to encounter at Roberts! But, I, being the adventurous kind of girl that I am, went up to the specialty bar and inquired about the sushi. The man that was working the bar at that time explained to me what each type of sushi was and which ones he liked best. There were all different types and different kinds of sauces and I was pretty excited to try it to tell you the truth. In the end, I ended up trying a couple different types, a vegetarian sushi roll, a spicy shrimp sushi roll (that one was my favourite), a California sushi roll with caviar on the outside, and a smoked salmon sushi roll. I really enjoyed all of them and I think that this is something that I'll definitely keep with me throughout my life.
Earlier today, each dorm was supposed to go on a service project around the city to "show Rochester who we are". My dorm was scheduled to go and pick up garbage on the side of the road. Too bad for us it was going to rain right in the middle of our garbage picking. So, instead of letting us get soaked on the side of some road, we were sent on a tour of Rochester. Darn. I was so looking forward to gathering trash. From the safety of our bus my dorm mates and I gazed out as the city of Rochester passed before us.

Rochester really is a great city to live near. So many little coffee shops that I'm looking forward to studying in, places where bands play for free, art galleries and museums. Although I'm not directly in the city, I'm definitely looking forward to exploring it more!