I Need a Vacation

Obviously I have been terrible at blogging and I feel like this is the time where I should be doing it the most. I've been in Charleston for a little over a month and in school for 3 weeks. Before I say anything else about school, let me just say I love it. I really do. I have never enjoyed learning as much as I do right now. I think it has to do with the fact that I know I will be utilizing all of this information in my career - as opposed to the mindless work I feel like I have been exposed to for... oh I don't know, the past 14 years of my educational experience. I get so excited when the things I'm learning come together and make sense! So yes, I am positive that I love what I am doing. With that being said, I have never felt so drained as I do right now. Let me describe a typical day.

My alarm goes off at the offensive hour of 6 AM. (The first two weeks of school, you better believe I got up right then too! Now, it's more like 6:30...) I'm out the door by 7:20 and get to school at 7:45 (if not earlier). Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays I have lecture. That means I sit in class until 3 PM taking notes, with a 30 minute lunch break at 11:15 (I am 98.7% positive I will have developed carpal tunnel by next May). Tuesdays and Thursdays I have lab until 2:15. I might stay late if my teachers are able to stay as well so that we can study a little more with the equipment and models. Typically I get home at about 3:45. I take a some time to check email and just relax with a blank mind and then it's back to work. I study and do homework until it's time to go to sleep. And that ranges anywhere from 11 PM - 4:30 AM (Yes. I stayed up studying until 4:30 one morning. Not the most pleasant of days, I assure you.) . And then I'm back at it all over again.

But I really do love it! It's just SO much information and SO much work and SO much studying. I'm doing well though. So far. I have room for improvement, but I'm realizing what adjustments I need to make in my prioritizing and such. It's kind of crazy that I've been at it for 3 weeks already... luckily, the time goes by relatively fast. It will be May 2011 before I know it and I'll stop and say, whoa, where did that time go? (That's my hope anyway, ha.) Hopefully the same will ring true for the next 2 weeks. They are crazy busy, packed with all sorts of major things- exams, papers, lab practicals... But then I have a week off! Still, it will be full of assignments due that following week, but at least I will have a chance to sit, breathe and SLEEP.

That's all for now.. off to start a paper, finish a PowerPoint, and study for a quiz.

p.s. I know I am neglecting all of my relationships and I promise I'm sorry for that. Talk to you in a year?

Home Sweet Home

I'm officially in Charleston for good. Or at least for the next year. I love it here, always have. I know this is where I belong, it makes me happy and I feel at home. But it still hasn't quite hit me that I'm not just visiting. I guess that realization will smack me in the face as soon as school starts (aka- Monday. yikes!). So I'm living with my BFFL for the next month until my other friend's lease runs up and I move in with her. It'll be so much better once I get situated and am not living out of bags. But as for now, I'm living the life I wish I always had- waking up without an alarm, laying by the pool or going to the beach and finally getting ready for the day around 5pm. Why can't I get paid for that? I think I do it pretty well...

oh, p.s.

lemme give a shout out to all you people out west. I'm so sorry it's snowing. That's the grossest thing I've ever heard. Just another reason why the South is where it's at!! haha :)

I Love My Mom

Happy Mother's Day to the best mom ever! She is one of my closest friends and confidants and I am so lucky to have her in my life. Her humor is tops, she motivates and inspires me daily, and I appreciate her unwavering love and understanding of me. It has been so fun working so close to her (even though I live with her)- when I move, I will definitely miss stopping by when bored and going to lunch together when we can. Thanks so much, Mom, for all that you do and all the sacrifices you make for me. I love you!!

SEG Update

A few weeks ago I got on the elevator and SEG was there. He smiled and said hi and I actually spoke clear English to him! I was very happy with myself. But today, I am sitting up front at the reception desk with a clear view of the elevators and I see a back of a head that is unfamiliar to me. GASP. I know that hot man swagger. NO. HE. DID. NOT. I immediately had the following gmail chat with MaryEllen:

me: SEG got a hair cut and i'm not so sure i'm diggin it......
MaryEllen: bahaha
now he's NSSEG (not so sexy elevator guy)
me: aww.... you're right :( :(
hahah
i liked it a little shaggy and now it's all business.
MaryEllen: he just needs a mullet ;)
me: bahah GROSS
MaryEllen: i just ate a really gross apple.....

hahah she is my friend because she is SO good with transitions. Anyway. I think that little hair cut might have killed it for me. Sad. Our fake future was shaping up so nicely....

Glee!

The new season of Glee started last night. Oh what a fabulous birthday present to me! haha. My fave song of the night was definitely Finn's version of The Doors' "Hello, I Love You".

Past all time favorites:

Puck singing "Sweet Caroline".

Rachel singing "Don't Rain On My Parade". I think I favor this simply because it brings back childhood memories of watching Barbara Streisand belting it out in Funny Girl.

Mr. Schuster rockin out to The Police.

Smile, Charlie Chaplin cover because I just love that song.

Rachel and Kurt belting out "Defying Gravity" because, well, obviously.

And I could just go on but then I'd probably just end up with the track list of season one's soundtrack! I'm a huge GLEEK.

Children.........................

Let me preface this by saying I love my nephew.

It's a beautiful day today AND I got to leave work at 2, so basically that's an equation for perfection. I decided to take advantage of this and go to the park and get my jog on. I was rounding the corner, nearing the end (not to mention wanting to keel over, but thats not important) when i noticed some bikes entangled right in the middle of the path. I thought, well awesome, I'm going to either have to stop running and lose momentum or run around them and into the grass (which i'm not really sure why the creators of this park thought this was a good idea, but its dangerously close to a hill. One wrong step and I'd be taking a pretty sweet tumble and sounding a little something like this.) So anyway, I got closer and all of a sudden two or three little punk kids jumped out of the tall grass screaming "RAAAWWWRRRR!!!" Really kids? REALLY. Obviously it startled me as I shouted some sort of scared/ surprised/ annoyed gasp and gave them the look of death. Seriously, I think one dropped dead. It took all I had to keep moving and not release the series of choice words running through my mind. Anyway the point of this is that today I do not like children very much. Those little jerks need to be tased. And if their parents were in the park as well, I would have loved very much to grab the brats by the collars and drop them in their laps. Seriously though, what if I had been a little old lady? I could have had a heart attack. And died. Then they would have had that on their little rotten consciences. Ha okay I'm done. This is just getting ridiculous.

SEG

Today is the most boring day at work. I guess after having crazy busy days the past few weeks, I'm not used to all this down time. Not to mention the fact that it is a beautiful 79 degrees today. Nobody should be forced to be indoors on a day like this, especially after what I think has been the longest winter in the history of my life. ANYWAY. Earlier I had an experience that had the potential of being the highlight of my day. But no, sadly I am a coward and gave it up. Here's the story:

Pretty much since I've started working here at F&P, I have admired this ridiculously attractive guy that works on my same floor. I call him Sexy Elevator Guy, but we'll shorten it to SEG for blogging purposes. I see him pretty often, a few times a day, about 3 or 4 days a week. Usually just in passing but more often at the elevators (hence the name). Then there are the very few occurances that we hitch the same elevator to our perspective floors (the office he works for is on two floors, the other (not mine) is where he goes most often. I assume.) When passing each other in the lobby it is pretty easy to advert my eyes and not have to give an awkward hello. Which is what I do. But when stuck in an elevator together, well thats just a whole new level of awkward. Not saying anything is rude and trying to squeak out a hi is embarassing. So I more often than not choose the rude path. BUT today I get on and tah-dah! SEG is already on it going down to the first floor as well. He looks at me and gives a smile and says "hey". What do I do? Oh, I say hey back while looking down and then quickly look up to the screen that rolls news clips and pretend like I'm very interested in what happened in hockey this week. I don't care about hockey!! What was I doing?! I realized I was being dumb. Just two days ago I rode the elevator with SEG's coworker (we'll call him LAEG- less attractive elevator guy) and had looked right at him and said, "Hey, I feel like I should know your name since I see you all the time." LAEG tells me his name, shakes my hand as I tell him mine. He then asks me about a guy that used to work with me, I proceeded to tell him a humorous story of how the door man thought that he (my old coworker) and I were dating, made him laugh, then proceeded to be on our separate ways. So tell me people. Why can I be normal with one person and not the other? Obviously attraction turns me into a nervous bumbling idiot. Not. Cool. And the funny thing is, SEG isn't even really all THAT hot. The receptionist and I decided he's more like a Monet. Pretty from far away and then once you get close, you're just like eh, okay thats a little messy. But much like Water Lilies, I still find that SEG peaks my interest. No clue why. I most definitely do not expect to ever know him as anything but SEG, but I guess when you're this bored with your life, you take what you can get to spice up your day. Maybe I'll get another chance to be a normal human being with SEG before my last day. I'll let you know how that goes..

P.S
Just needed to share this tid bit- At dinner the other day, my dad's friend asked me how the love life was. As always, my answer was "non-existant". He said he figured and then said that once I move to Charleston, if I can't find a boyfriend there, maybe I'd have better luck finding a girlfriend. WHAT! Who says that... And why is everyone always so concerned with people being single? I promise it's not so bad.

Oh Sweet Carolina

Alright, so my hatred might have been a little irrational earlier this week. Today is a beautiful day! I ditched my car at work and decided to walk my Main Street errands. I snapped this pic:

and sent it to Stephanie. She's in Idaho right now and she sent me one in return with the caption "the beautiful state of Idaho". Here it is:

Hahahah. Oh man. I'll take fickle weather ANY day over that. But she did make up for it by sending this one:

No matter the state, a temple is a gorgeous sight. I'd just prefer it to be in the south:) Speaking of the south... I just had some boiled peanuts. Perfection!

Good Times in Utah

For the past week I've been visiting my lovely best friend Stephanie in Utah. It was so nice to get away for a bit and have a nice break from work. It wasn't nearly as cold as I expected- when i got home it definitely felt colder here! I had a great time catching up with friends and getting to know a few new people. I felt a little guilty being there though because my grandma died last Friday so Mom, Heather & Nathan were in Wisconsin for her memorial service. I took that kind of hard because I feel like I haven't made much effort to stay in contact with her lately. I guess I felt like I knew she was coming back here soon so it wasn't a big deal. Finding out she passed away was a bit of a reminder that you never know when your or any one else's time is to go. Anyway, I started to really like being in Utah. I've always liked it there but never like this. I seriously considered staying! I never thought I'd find myself saying this but.. well, I like mountains. (Of course not more than beaches!) But I did find myself looking out the window of the plane and thinking, hmm I'm really going to miss those. Insanity. AND walking in the door from visiting with Heather for a bit, the first thing I said was "I hate South Carolina right now." NEVER have those words come out of my mouth. But really, it's snowing right now! It didn't even snow while I was in Utah. There is something very wrong with this. I'm so ready for this cold weather to be gone so I can be a happy person again haha.. Seriously cold just sucks the life out of me! But even with this crazy confused weather, there is just no place like Carolina and I wouldn't trade it for anything!

new year, new life

i went into this year with the utmost optimism. so many exciting things are ahead and i was absolutely positive that everything was going to be fantastic and work out flawlessly. we're only a month into the year and i feel like i've already had more opposition than i can take. the only things that are holding me together are my family, some of the best friends that a person could have and knowing that Heavenly Father will not give me more than I can handle. obviously He knows i'm a lot stronger than i think am. i've always been a strong believer that EVERY thing happens for a reason. while i might not like the way some things have turned out, i know that it is all for the best and in the end i will be such a stronger and happier person. it is definitely going to take a long time before i am completely ok but it hasn't even been a week and i can already see a huge improvement from where i was. all i can say is that when you have the faith to turn to the Lord for strength and comfort, even at the times where you think you deserve His help the least, He will bless you. but i know for a fact that through this experience, after a few life changes and some healing i will be an improved person.

on the bright side, i got to spend SO much time with my terrific sister and nephew this week. it is amazing what a child's spirit can do for you.