You know it's going to be a good night when it's 9:00pm and you're hanging out in your closet.

A few lessons

I don't want to get too far ahead of myself because I still have a final and a term paper left, but I thought it was a good time to reflect on what I've learned this semester.

From statistics, I learned that relationships are deceiving.

From intro to journalism, I learned that it's okay to challenge your boss.

From French, I learned that there IS worse rap than American rap.

From creative writing, I learned that ChaCha is completely irrelevant. If I have any question at all, I need only email Professor Schwartz because he is all-knowing.

From religion, I learned that believing in God is kind of like believing in Santa Claus. (And no, that doesn't mean I stopped believing.)

From my athletics work, I learned that nothing gives me a headache like a drive chart. Don't blow the horn unless the ref tells you to. And choose wisely when to wear a pencil skirt.

From watching Marcela, I learned that I have "a giant head like a planet."

From life, I learned to stay on your toes because it's always waiting to blindside you. Cancer messes with the wrong people. And slow goodbyes are the hardest.

From love, I learned that not everyone will match your effort.

From my friends, I learned that I can commit!

From my roommates, I learned that you can never have too much peanut butter. (But you CAN have too much tuna.)

From myself, I learned that I get pretty bored if my life isn't up in flames for a change.

From drunken nights, I learned to stop mixing my alcohol and never go traipsing under a haunted bridge in heels and a skirt.

And from my mom, I learned that you should let your food cool down when it comes out of the microwave because the molecules are still moving around. Wish I'd learned that one ten years ago.

Happy sigh

Do you ever have one of those moments where despite the insane amount of stress and/or sadness in your life at the moment you're just.... happy?

Like when your best friend calls you and you talk for an hour about life and love and the future and what it all has to offer. Or you help your mom pick out an outfit through picture messages. Or a three-year old says something so clever and insightful you can't help but laugh. And then you just think... "Man. Life is good."

I really love those moments.

Magic tree awesomeness

Chebrezie and I went to check out the Magic Tree tonight. It's definitely magical alright. Then we went to Ihop and I laughed until my face hurt, which was a huge improvement over the afternoon I spent studying in my closet.

Quotes of the night:

"I think she's dropping an egg as we speak."

"I'm abrasive. It's not a big deal."

Okay, so it might be a LITTLE cooler than our tree...

The most wonderful time of the year

FINALS! Oh boy.

I planned on a nightful of studying, so of course I'm blogging/Facebooking/Pandora-ing. I'm making up all sorts of words tonight. Seriously though, "nightful" should be a word. I'm going to tweet Webster about that.

Our house is pretty Christmasfied... everyone laughs at our tree because the lights don't match, but it's the best tree I've ever had and I was impressed that we managed to hang lights on it at all. The best feature, however, is that when I'm on my chaise and someone walks down the stairs or in the front door, they can't see me at first. I've scared a total of seven years off of Amanda's life so far and it's only December 6th.

I.

I will not be bitter.

I will not be unhappy.

I will not be pessimistic or discouraged.

I will not be self-centered.

I will not be a product of my generation.

I will not be me-me-me.

...which is ironic, since every sentence of this post began with I.

Oh well. Starting tomorrow, I mean.

Woooo!

I got my first byline on the athletics website!

THIS IS THE BEGINNING OF A CHAPTER OF AWESOMENESS!

:)

In what I hope will be my last change of major (oh please oh please oh please), I officially enrolled in journalism school today. My advisor is one of the sweetest, most helpful people I've met thus far on campus. (Her baby daughter, Olive, and I have the same birthday.) I've come full circle and fulfilled my fifth grade dream of going to one of the best j-schools in the world. Following in my mom's footsteps, I suppose.

...except I don't EVER plan on transferring to KU :)

Woke up bright and early for pear picking with APO this morning. A couple of older gentleman bought the orchard a few years ago just for the lake, but they couldn't stand all the fruit going to waste, so they donate it to the local food bank now. Couple of good samaritans if you ask me.

Home is where the cat is

Back to blogging. Mostly because I refuse to leave the house until the temperature goes below 100 degrees, which keeps me confined until dark.

Is it a little sad that I was excited to pick up my textbooks today? That was until I got back home and started leafing through my TEN lit books, none of which seem even remotely interesting. I instantly got on the Internet and started perusing other possible majors. But if I'd like to graduate at some point in the near future, it looks as if I better stick with English. Let's just hope my professors are awe-inducing and balance out the blah-ness of the reading material. Don't get me wrong, I'd read all day everyday if I could... but Renaissance poetry and dear old Shakespeare just aren't my cup of tea.

I'm (almost) moved in to my new duplex. I'm cleverly finding dozens of other things to do besides unpacking those last few boxes. This is my third address in a year, so I'm very adamantly putting down roots so I can avoid repeating this process any time soon. The place definitely has its quirks... we're down the road from a fire station, so sirens are an everyday occurrence. Our back-door neighbors have had a party every night this week. The downstairs toilet has a mind of its own. But home is where the heart is, right? And where the cat is, of course.

Greta - my overlap between Home #1 and Home #2 :)

C's get degrees!

I am no longer a 4.0 student. This is cause for celebration..... I think.

This semester, I forced myself to be bold. It was terrifying and exhilarating all at once.

I made new friends, and re-connected with old ones.

I took a leadership role in APO.

I learned to survive on instant pasta and chicken nuggets.

I tested my limits.

I tried new things.

I pulled my first all-nighter.

I had a few lightbulb moments.

I learned what hard work feels like, and how to stretch a buck.

I got homesick... but then I went home, and got homesick again. I have two homes.

I got a better grip on who I am and who I want to be.

So yeah, I'll take a 3.35. Because I sure didn't accomplish that much with my 4.0's.

Humanitarian: one who possesses traits of compassion for other humans by their acts of kindness.

I want to be a humanitarian when I grow up.

You know you're a poor college student when...

You buy a pack of 98-cent notecards, and cut them in half.

You eat a burrito before you go out to a Mexican restaurant, so all you need is the free chips and salsa.

It ruins your day to come back to the parking meter and discover that you still had fifteen minutes... could have saved a dime.

You lose two pounds from sweating because you refuse to turn on the air conditioner.

You can make a $20 gift card to Hyvee last for months.

You actually fill out every university survey that comes your way, because they put your name (along with 20,000 others) in a raffle for ten bucks.

Your closest Walmart carries everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, in Great Value brand.

You refuse to wash off the enormous amount of pollen accumulating on your car because you can't spare the quarters. That greenish tint is hip anyway.

Stopping by the gas station for an apple juice on Monday morning is considered splurging.

You leave your finance class in a fit of despair, and decide to move in with your sister after graduation.

"It's never too late to be who you might have been."

-George Eliot

Viking funerals, leg waxing, and pie wars

My roomie's mouse, Bill Wordsworth, passed away, and she decided that he deserved a true Viking funeral. With the help of a couple friends, we made him a sailboat out of a styrofoam cup... doused it in wine (he needed one last drink)... lit it on fire and set him to sea (or creek - we improvised). It was a very peaceful ceremony, minus the few seconds that his boat got a little caught up in some brush and almost started a forest fire.

Yesterday was Relay for Life with Alpha Phi Omega. We, as a college, raised over $100,000 to fight cancer and set a personal record for number of participants. When we weren't walking the track, we were getting our faces painted, waxing the boys' legs (and chests) for donations to the American Cancer Society, and having epic pie wars.

He didn't even put up a fight... but you better believe I did.

When I told my mom I got pied in the face, she said it sounded like free breakfast for college kids. Very true. I'm a little delirious from lack of sleep, and I think my pneumonia is relapsing. But it was well worth it.

Alpha Phi Omega awesomeness

I was officially initiated into Alpha Phi Omega today. They blindfolded us and we had to walk across campus holding on to the person in front of us....I lost my leader at one point and had a minor panic attack. (Kidding. She reached back for me.) I'll be honest, I don't remember my pledge by heart...but the gist of it was to give up my own selfish needs in order to serve others. And really, that's what it's all about.

Miss twenty-something

I am officially a twenty-something. I feel like everything happens in this decade of life.... graduate college, start your career, get married, buy your first house, start a family. Or maybe move to Africa with only what you can fit in your carry on. It's a toss up.

My mommy came to visit the weekend before my birthday. She took me to Sam's and bought me enough groceries to (hopefully) last for the rest of the semester, plus a very cute birthday cake that we dug into at 11:58 pm on the 16th -- Christine gave up sweets for Lent.

Our stove is a little messy. So is the rest of our apartment.

Andrea came in town the next weekend. It was so nice having her around. The second she left, I called a friend to come keep me company. One of our excursions was to the tattoo parlor, which started off with a proposal.

I felt like a creeper taking a picture, but I thought they might want it. I got her email address.

It's Hebrew for "life." Because Jesus gave me one, and I don't plan on wasting it.

A lesson in closing doors

I may have learned a lot of things thus far in college, but apparently I have not learned how to close the front door.

I bolted out the door--late, as usual--yesterday afternoon to meet a friend at Starbucks. The second the barista handed me my hot chocolate (my taste buds are not sophisticated enough for coffee), I got a panicked message from my roommate that she had come downstairs to find the front door open and all of the cats gone. She had managed to catch four out of five (yes, we're up to five cats at the moment, I'm as horrified as you are), but my baby girl Greta was nowhere to be found.

One Chinese firedrill and a spilled hot chocolate later, my friend and I made it back to my apartment building and joined in on the epic search. We questioned neighbors and trekked through snow for half an hour, me all the while trying not to have a breakdown. I finally thought to ask Christine if she had checked under my bed, Greta's favorite hiding place... but she wasn't there either.

She was lying on the floor in front of the heating vent. That's my girl.

Happy Valentine's Day. :)

Yawn...

I survived my first all-nighter. I didn't even cheat! It's 12:01 AM on Thursday morning, and I have not slept since Monday night. Not even a nap. And it doesn't look like I'll be getting one anytime soon, because I have an ad to make for work and a very long chapter to read for class. My textbook is eluding me at the moment, and I'm not sure if I should take that as a sign that a) sleep is more important than a possible pop quiz or that b) I desperately need to clean my room.

The good news is, I'm 95% sure I got an A on my first exam, so it's all worth it. (I'll be telling myself that tomorrow when I'm nodding off during choir rehearsal.)

I should probably take up caffeine.

Who needs GPS?

I get the biggest feeling of satisfaction when I find my way somewhere. This evening I parked in a random parking garage, emerged with no idea which direction I was facing, but managed to make my way to my meeting just on time (without getting lost!) Maybe this campus isn't so daunting after all. Knock on wood.

I just left my first Alpha Phi Omega meeting, and I'm EXCITED. It's a non-Greek co-ed service fraternity full of really cool people, and I can't wait to meet all of them. I'll be initiated next month.

Tomorrow I'm signing a lease at my new house, and I'm very excited about that, too. Isn't it beautiful?

Only half of it is mine, no worries. Three bedrooms, two bath, big garage, and I can have my cat. (Did I mention that it's cheaper than my ghetto townhouse?) I'll miss my nutty, nice, crazy awesome roommate... but now I'll have two to keep me company. :)

What a wonderful day. And now on to studying for my first exam of the semester........

Change of address

I'm considering taking up residency in the library. I just wrote down all the readings/assignments/studying I have to do in the next couple of weeks, and I'm not sure I'll have time for a silly little thing like sleep.

(I'll have time for eating, though. I always have time for that.)

Priceless

Overpriced Mizzou hoodie: $40

Fancy new laptop with webcam: $1200

Messy room in ghetto townhouse: $350/month

Ignoring a mountainous pile of schoolwork: Priceless

Hi. My name's Eliza.

Why don't we talk to each other!? I am dying of curiosity. There are people everywhere here. I sit by someone new in class everyday. I bump into people on the sidewalk, in the restroom, at the rec center. But we never say hi. I know I'm feeling particularly alone on this campus, but I can't be the only one. There are 25,000 people here. Odds are, most people are surrounded by strangers for a majority of the day. So why don't we introduce ourselves? Maybe I should.

(I am feeling especially cut off from civilization right now because I am without a cell phone and will continue to be so until tomorrow afternoon. It's sort of relaxing in a way. In other ways it makes me want to pull my hair out.)

In other news, I've decided that since I'm particularly excited about my 20th birthday, why not celebrate the entire week? I'm compiling a list of 20 things that I want to do. They're all pretty simplistic (and by simplistic I mean cheap). But I'm up to 17 tentative ideas so far and I can already tell it's going to be one heck of a week.

Here's a sampler:
1. Shoot a gun. (Not AT anyone. I'm still brainstorming on the target...)
2. Go to iHop at midnight. Tradition.
3. Go bowling in Fulton. They have the coolest bowling alley EVER.
4. Make a chocolate cake.
5. Have an old-fashioned, junior high-esque slumber party.

Conversations of college students

Me: I'm going to be homeless after college. Thank you, student loans.
Tabitha: Sounds frighteningly familiar.
Me: At least you'll be homeless in France. You can sleep on a bench by the Eiffel Tower.
Tabitha: Maybe. A bench in France is probably better than a bench here.
Me: Definitely. I'll be living in a box by the Missouri River.


Me on the phone at Walmart: "They have EVERYTHING in Great Value! Granola bars... chicken nuggets... poptarts..."


Kyle: "I'm on my way to a party."
Me: "It's Monday night!"
Kyle: "A study party."


Brooks: "I work out everyday."
Me: "Everyday? Grief."
Brooks: "I have to work off the beer somehow."
Me: "So THAT'S why the Rec Center is always full!"

World's best bumper sticker

"The only constant is change."

That says it all.

Carbohydrates, please

I came home from class today, ate a bowl of pasta, and passed out. Then I woke up, ate more pasta, and passed out again. Carbs and naps are the only reason I'm not in hibernation right now. I think my body is putting so much energy into staying warm that I have none left for anything else.

The most interesting part of having a roommate is awkward interaction with their significant other. Christine was still at work tonight when her boyfriend showed up "sloshed" and yakked my ear off for an hour. On the other hand... as adamant as I was about living by myself, I think I'll stick with the roommate scenario. It gets lonely when she's not around.

My buddy Andrew is coming up from Joplin tomorrow! It's going to be nice to see a familiar face. We're going line dancing with a friend of mine. Trepidation is a good word to describe my feelings. Andrew is a "social butterfly" (his words, not mine) so I'm hoping to triple the amount of people I know by the end of the weekend.

It's a small world after all

The other day in sociology, a girl sat next to me and I stepped out of my comfort zone and said hi. Well, I actually complimented her purse. That's always a good ice breaker. We had the typical "Where are you from? What's your major?" conversation, and I was shocked that she actually knew what a child life specialist is--my future career--because she's worked with one for the last sixteen years. She has a blood disorder and is at the children's hospital every three weeks for transfusions. She instantly struck me as genuine, which is just about the best quality a person can possess in my book.

We met up for coffee yesterday, and I started to tell her about my childhood friend Aiyah, who I lost touch with years ago when she moved to Libya. Lo and behold, my new friend Afnon KNOWS Aiyah! Then we started noticing how familiar we looked to each other, and realized: Aiyah introduced us to each other ten years ago.

It's a very small world. Or maybe Missouri is just a small state.

Either way, kudos to God for putting us next to each other. And as we'll both be spending a lot of time in the children's hospital over the next few years, I think we'll make great friends.

In other news... I dragged myself out of bed at 6 a.m. to go to a fancy shmancy Chamber of Commerce breakfast with my bosses. We were the only people in jeans, and we sat on the outskirts eating our scrambled eggs and nodding off during all the presentations before skipping out early. (I of course left my cell phone at the table and ruined our smooth exit. Typical.)

I am absolutely, 100% exhausted.

One week down, a billion to go

Today wraps up the first week of my adventure. It seems like much more time has passed... I'm trying to decide if that's a good sign. I feel so at home that it's like I've been here all along? Sure. Sounds good.

I've only been lost on campus once. I've met dozens of new people, two of which I had an instant connection with, and credit God with putting right beside me. I've had lots of laughs with my roommate. Our clan of cats are officially best friends. I recovered from my shin splints. I made history by going a week of classes without dropping one. And I don't think I've gained any weight (yet), despite my college student diet, consisting of frozen burritos, cheese pizza, mac and cheese, and ramen noodles. I even faced my fears and used the meat slicer of death at work. Look at that thing... it's pretty intense.


No breakdowns, no crying. (Although if I'm being honest I have to admit to venting my frustration at my mom a time or two. Sorry about that.)

One week down and I'm starting to feel a little invinceable.

The last first day

Today was the epic first day of school. I was a little disappointed that I didn't have my mom around to take my traditional first day of school picture, which has been carried through since kindergarten. Then I had the sudden realization that this could very well be my LAST first day at a new school. (Although it's more likely that I'll be that 70 year-old lady going to college just for the fun of it.)

Thanks to the tour my roommate gave me on Monday, I managed to make it to my building unscathed and with time to spare. (I did have a mishap crossing the street because there aren't any crosswalk lights so you just run across when you see fit, and hope no one runs over you). I only had the one class, and I sat in the third row and thought, "Hey, this isn't so bad." Then I stood up afterwards and had to wait for 150-plus people to file out, and felt a little queasy.

From there it was straight to work, and when I dragged myself home in the evening, my roommate was waiting in her gym clothes to whip me into shape. She's on her third knee surgery and still bikes faster than me. Impressive.

Hawaiian punch + UFO's

Just made my third trip to Walmart in three days. Is this normal? The good news is that my new Walmart does not make me want to scream and rip out my hair (not yet, at least). I think it's because the aisles are three times wider, so I can stay in my bubble undisturbed.

Today's run was for those miscellaneous things I'm always making mental notes of--hair spray, an alarm clock (because mine is not nearly persistent enough), Hawaiian punch, etc. As it's the Sunday before a new semester, there were several groups of friends perusing the notebook and energy drink aisles together, and I had my first "Crap, I'm lonely" moment. So what do I do? The obvious: call my mother.

I'm still on the phone with her while I'm lugging my loot to the check-out aisle, discussing how much weight I'm going to gain because Hawaiian Punch is so cheap. ($1.87 for that huge jug!! I'm still in shock.) A nice older gentleman is ringing me up, and I start to feel rude for being on the phone while he's trying to wait on me, so I put my mom on hold and launch into a very heartfelt, very long winded explanation/apology about how I've just moved away from home so I've been on the phone with my mother a lot, so on and so forth. I guess I got a little carried away with the details because the look he gave me clearly said, "I preferred you when you were on the phone." My mistake.

I was still feeling a little melancholy when I got home, but then my roommate stopped by between outings and we constructed the cat tower (it looks a little bit like the Leaning Tower of Pisa)... and then I went out with my new friend whom I serendipitously met on New Year's, and spotted what I am convinced to be a UFO.

So all in all, I think I survived my first "Crap, I'm lonely" moment quite well. Cheers.