There is something exciting about leaving everything behind

Something deep and pulling leaving everything behind
Something about having everything you think you'll ever need
Sitting in the seat next to you.

-- Butterfly Boucher, "Another White Dash"

That is how I feel right now. Like I want to leave everything behind. All the papers, all the finals, all the obligations, all the drama, all the stress. I just need to go home and not have any cares in the world. I need to wake up late and read fun books and bake cookies and decorate my tree.

I just realized that my last paragraph had anaphora, repetition AND polysyndeton. Thank you rhetoric handbook. Just goes to show you how badly I need a major brain-rotting session.

Here's what I've been up to the past few days:

• Friday: Worked in the library for 20928975 hours on my Rhetoric take-home final. Turned in my Rhetoric final and then went to the library to read for a while. Watched What Not to Wear and then hung out with Daniella.
  


• Saturday: Cleaned my room in the morning, grabbed some lunch, read, took a nap, made Spongebob Squarepants macaroni and cheese, hung out with Kathryn, watched The Baby-Sitters Club with Daniella (she'd never seen the show, which is a TRAGEDY), had a popsicle party with the girls in the hall, took a bath and went to Bill and Frank's for the second time this week. That was fun; I wore a pretty new dress and saw a TON of my friends out.
  
• Yesterday: Worked on Ethics journals for the better part of the day, had dinner with Matty, froze my ass off on the way to my dorm from the dining hall, made myself a thermosful of hot cocoa and then froze my ass off on the way to the library to my dorm (even though I wrapped myself in a blanket AND had on a knit cap), reviewed for my PR final this morning, and went to bed bundled up under three blankets in a hat, shirt, pajama pants, and socks.
  

I am reaching the sad conclusion that I do not mix well with the cold weather. It makes me cranky. This could, however, be attributed to the fact that you lose something like 90% of your body heat through your head. Great.

On a more positive note, though, I think I got an A on my Public Relations final this morning. It was really easy. But what was an even better feeling than doing so well was throwing alllllll of my materials into the recycle bin in the library. It was extremely cathartic.

A fun night out and a productive day in

I cannot get over how much I love Bill and Frank's. Kira and I went last night (it had been forever and a day since we hung out last) and it was wonderful. I had two of my signature strawberry daiquiris and a bunch of laughs. It was nice to go out and not think about the library or finals or rhetoric for a change.

Today, however, was devoted to staying in. In the library, that is.

I arrived at 10:00 and worked on my rhetoric paper until 12:45. Stapling the papers together, all nice and hot from the laser printer, was absolutely amazing. I sighed a monstrous sigh of relief and then went back to my room to grab some books that I needed. While I was in my room, I grabbed a styrafoam cup and filled it to the tippy-top with cappucino fudge blitz ice cream from Publix. Yum.

Back at the library, I worked on my journalism final and my rhetoric final until it was time to turn in the paper at 2:45. From there, Kim and I went to the bookstore so I could buy back one of my textbooks; I got a measly $8.00. Hmph. Oh well, I guess I can't sneeze at cash, whether it is a lot or a little. I am, after all, a poor college student.

I went back to the library then, and realized that I needed to pick up a binder from my room. So I came back to Gordis, re-filled my ice cream cup and went back to the library to work on those take-home exams.

I threw in the towel at 5:30 so I could go wait on line to get free food at SGA's Reading Day Dinner. As of now, the only things I have to do are three questions on the rhetoric final, one question on the journalism final, five ethics journals, and three questions of the ethics final. Easy breezy beautiful.

Once I was back at my room for the night, I watched Jeopardy, hung out with Daniella (and found out that we are both ESFJs on the personality test thing), and watched Grey's Anatomy with Ashley, Linh, Allison, Katie, and Lina. Good episode, minus the Callie-weird-British-girl-lesbian-flirtation thing, and the Izzy-sleeping-with-the-image-of-dead-Denny thing.

In other news:

• Where did this semester go?
  
• I've been extremely tense lately, so I asked my mom for a massage gift certificate for Christmas. I really hope she follows through with that; my neck, back, and shoulders are tighter than Spandex. (Bad joke, I know).

• It bugs me that the one thing I really want for Christmas (hair), I cannot have. It is impossible to have shoulder-length locks by December 25th. Damn it.

Carpal tunnel and frozen ears

People have been asking me what I'd like for Christmas. I've finally figured out what I need.

A pup tent.

"But you don't go camping!" you say.

That's true. However, if conditions do not improve at school (translation: if my professors don't start letting up on the papers and take home essay exams), I am going to need to sleep over in the library at school.

I've already decided that the government documents section (the "gov docs" for us library nerds) is the perfect place to pitch a tent (insert sexual joke here) because nobody ever goes there.

I'd need to do this because I get my best work done at duPont-ball. Last night I was at the library for two hours (9:30-11:30); today I was there on my lunch hour and then for nearly five hours (6:15 to 11:00) in the evening to work on the dreaded Rhetoric paper (which isn't so dreaded after all; it's coming out pretty well. I am a little over halfway done). It's a wonder my fingers haven't fallen off from typing so much in such a short amount of time, though!

In other news, the weather here is close to frigid. I wore my "library outfit" tonight (jeans, a sweatshirt, and a baseball cap), but on the walk back to the dorm, my ears were so cold they were actually numb. It's times like these I wish I had hair. I also wish that earmuffs would be in style because let's face it, as much as I long for warm ears during these chilly December nights, I wouldn't be caught dead in a pair of earmuffs, the dorkiest accessory ever, unless everyone else was wearing them.

I realize that the last statement makes me the dictionary definition of a conformist, but that's the way the cookie crumbles.

Other thoughts:

• Doing dishes is easily the most deplorable chore ever. I need one of these:
  
  
  


• Today was the last Ethics class I will ever have to take, and that fills me with oodles of joy
  
• I am actually looking forward to Stress-Free zone this year, mainly because I do not have to serve food to ungrateful students


• PET PEEVE: There is a boy at school who always rubs my head without asking. Nothing pisses me off more. Seriously. I am not a freaking Buddha for Christ's sake. Really, what is the point of that?


• Speaking of hair, I am excited the the stuff on my head is growing in, but I wish my legs would stay bare. I'd forgotten how much I don't like shaving. Luckily, though, this is prime long-pant-wearing weather, so maybe I can go another month sans razors.
  
• I'm majorly jazzed about the 97 that I got on my Public Relations final.
  
• Today there were Evangelists on campus passing out miniature Bibles. I got asked by TWO of them if I wanted one. I declined, of course, as Eminem was blasting on my iPod. The irony astounds me.
  

[My other] Home Sweet Home

Ahhhh. Break was good, but it is VERY nice to be back at my Stetson home.

I got back here today at around 2:00. The morning was devoted to putting the chocolate on the top of my rainbow cookies, cutting them into little squares while watching Sex and the City, packing up my belongings, and washing the dishes.

No idea where the torrential downpour came from today, but it was raining cats and dogs when Mom, Dad, and I left to go back to Deland. That didn't make me too happy; I don't like getting my head wet.

Once I got back to school, I assembled my cookie platters and delivered them to Don, Danielle, and Keri. I also uploaded pictures from this weekend to Facebook and downloaded some new songs onto my iPod. (Which, by the way, did you know that Apple does not make a charging dock station that plugs into the wall for iPod shuffles?! They really ought to because I am in dire need of one.)

Then, at ten to four, I left the apartment and headed to the library. I got there before it opened at five and waited outside for the librarian to unlock the doors because I am a self-admitted nerd and wanted to do the work that I put off all weekend. Plus, there is one computer that is my all-time favorite (it has been for over a year now. Who says I am afraid of commitment?) and I really wanted to use it; it upsets me when I see other people working at MY favorite work station.

You know, it's a wonder my butt hasn't fallen off of my body from sheer exhaustion from being sat on for four and a half hours in that frigid library. Seriously. The only times I got up were when I needed to get my papers from the printer, staple them, or three-hole punch them. I did five Ethics journals, found a handful of sources for my Rhetoric paper (thank God), and did my entire Rhetoric powerpoint. I think I did it right. If not, c'est la vie. I am OVER this class.

Now it is time to go to Keri's for our weekly Talk Sex with Sue Sunday. Hopefully I will learn something good or come away with a fun quote, like my personal favorite: "If you're looking for summer fun, wrap your hot dog in a bun!"

Simply having a wonderful Thanksgiving break

Today was good. I...

• made the ultimate decision to hold off starting my paper until tomorrow afternoon when the school library opens and I can take advantage of their incredible fluorescent lighting, free printing, and resources


• finished reading Pledged, a wonderful book about the secret life of sororities


• baked a TON of Christmas cookies to give to my staffers and friends at school


• watched "The Preacher's Wife" and "You've Got Mail" and recited all of the dialogue, which made me very happy because I am one accomplished chick-flick-dialogue-reciter


• went to Target with Monika and bought a new purse and Arthur's birthday gift


• also went to Marble Slab with Monika and had the most incredible cheesecake flavored ice cream ever. And there were raspberries mixed in, which made it delicious and healthy (fruit = good for the body)

But there was a teeny bit of bad mixed in with my good. I had a bit of a meltdown (makeup streaming, shoulders shaking, incoherent babbling) because it hit me that next winter break will probably be the last time I will be around to stay home and bake cookies and watch my favorite movies with my mommy, as I plan on moving up to New York :( She assured me that she would find me wherever and bake with me, which made me feel a little better.

Gee whiz, though. I am getting soft in my old age. Just this week alone, I cried over that, twice over J.K. Rowling's commencement speech, and once over a sappy Hallmark card.

Mental note: Invest in some good waterproof mascara.

I am going to make rainbow cookies right now. That's what they look like. They are deeeeelicious. (Photo taken New Year's Eve, ringing in 2006).

Junioritis at its finest.

<-- This is how I feel right now. I have the worst case of junior burn-out ever in the history of the world, I think. Part of it is just because it's the end of the semester, part of it is because Rhetoric simply sucks, and the other part is because I have a slight mentality of "My goodness. I just beat cancer and now you want me to write an eleven page paper?! Haven't I been through ENOUGH?!"

Needless to say, that paper isn't coming along well. I had emailed my professor on Wednesday night with a list of questions that I needed answered or else I couldn't really proceed. I figured I would get a response that evening. Nope.

I had an inkling that I wouldn't get a response yesterday, as it was Thanksgiving, but when 5:00 this afternoon rolled around and I STILL hadn't heard from her, I was a little infuriated. That's a whole day wasted!

Well, not wasted, per se. I DID end up watching some of the "What Not to Wear" marathon after all. In my defense though, I only watched three episodes because they were ones I hadn't seen before; I refused to watch repeats. During the time that re-runs WERE on television, I tried to do research online for the paper, which turned out to be a fruitless effort. By the afternoon's end, all I had done for the paper was listen to my three speeches (I thought this would be a good idea because it would help me determine the tone, as reading a transcript can only get an aspiring rhetorician like myself so far), and come up with a list of characteristics common in at least two of them. A schema, if you will. (Sidenote: I LOVE the word 'schema.' I always feel smart when I use it).

Anyway, the other part of my day (well, my evening) was spent at the Olive Garden with Heather, Julie, Lauren, and Sarah. It was absolutely wonderful to see all of them; we all got the new chicken and gnocchi soup that they have there (it's out of this world) and I got the chicken con broccoli, too. We gabbed for over an hour and a half about boys and school and family and boys. :)

Now I am home sweet home. I finally received an email back from my professor, so tomorrow morning I will really start cracking on that paper, now that I know what the hell I am doing. But now I must go throw in a load of laundry and write out some Christmas cards. And, as I have done for the past five nights in a row, I am going to read until I fall asleep. It is going to be blissful <3

Giving thanks, getting fat.

Happy Thanksgiving! Finally, finally, finally. I have been waiting for this meal since mid-February. "Mid-February?" you think.

Yes, mid-February. That's when the last bit of leftovers exited the fridge, and Commons food was working its magic on my intestinal system. And when I say "working its magic," I mean, of course, that it was making me hurl and question the motives of the people who work at Sodexho, our food supplier.

Anyway, the day was pretty close to perfect. Mom and I started out by watching the parade. It was a good one; I liked the Broadway stuff and the fact that David Archuleta was there. Plus, Rick Astley was an unexpected (but extremely welcome!) surprise. I always feel slightly inferior after watching the Radio City Rockettes, though. There I was, sitting on the sofa in an oversized t-shirt and underwear, eating Cranberry Morning cereal straight from the box, while these women are freezing their butts off, kicking up their legs like there's no tomorrow. If I were to try those maneuvers, I would end up pulling something or breaking something (either a bone or a nearby lamp).

After stuffing my face with handfuls of dry cereal, it was time to get cooking. Literally. I made the most incredible fruit salad. I know it was incredible because I kept sneaking tastes every 30 minutes. The first taste was to make sure it wasn't poisonous. The second one was because I "forgot" what it tasted like the first time (or, that's what I told my mom when she saw me standing over the bowl holding an enormous slotted spoon). All the others were because I needed to make sure it was fermenting properly.

The rest of the menu consisted of ham, turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole (a new recipe that featured a pecan and coconut crumble topping), green beans, carrots, rolls, stuffing (ew), asparagus polenta (double ew), and stuffed mushrooms (infinity ew).

Anyway, the family was supposed to arrive at three. Alexis, Aunt Anne, Uncle Walter, and Miss Terry got there on time; the others came at 4:15. Apparently Oma was having a baking fiasco that consisted of several failed efforts to turn out a proper blueberry pie. Heck, after one burnt crust, I would have thrown in the towel and just brought a bag of Oreos or something. But that's just me. At first I was kind of annoyed at the lack of punctuality, but the free hour gave me time to hang out with Aunt Anne to figure out the "Don't Forget the Lyrics!" board game that Mom bought. In that time, Aunt Anne sang a very interesting rendition of Rick James' "Superfreak," so I think that it was well worth the other people being late.

Dinner was good because the food was spectacular and nobody mentioned the election results. I was reading an article online last night about a psychological movement from the 1960s that is called radical honesty, and the whole idea behind said movement is that you should never lie. Ever. Additionally, you should just say what's on your mind all the time. Yes, it may be offensive, but you will probably open lines of communication between yourself and the person you are offending, and thus, it is a positive thing. I told Mom that I wanted to try radical honesty for a day and that I planned on declaring at dinner today that I am thankful that Obama won the election.

She let out an exasperated "ERICA!" (which sounded more like "Eh-rick-KUHHHHHHHH!") and told me that I would be in big trouble if I did that. (My grandpa is a hardcore Republican and loves to debate. Bad combination).

Towards the end of the meal, Daniel (my brother), Michelle (his fiance), and Yasmine (her daughter) stopped in. We cleared the table and then a bunch of us played the lyrics game. My team won, of course, since I am a rockstar and pretty much a human jukebox. It's a special talent of mine :)

Dessert was fine, and then Evan and I watched Jeopardy and people started leaving. It had been an excellent day. Tomorrow won't be as good, since I have to write that freaking paper, but the evening will be filled with Olive Garden and high school friends. I'll give thanks to that!

If she wants to rock, she rocks. And if she wants to roll, she rolls.

Today I wanted to rock, which is why I spent the better part of the morning listening to "Rock and Roll" by Eric Hutchinson (he is a vh1 "You Oughta Know" artist) and my new favorite (and possibly catchiest ever recorded) song, "Womanizer" by Britney Spears.

Then I went to the bank and to the oncologist's office for bloodwork. Ick. Luckily, though, it came back amazing (I expected nothing less). I don't have to go back until the second week in January, which makes me extremely happy.

Barnes and Noble was next on my list of places to go, and even though I didn't really NEED to buy myself a book, I couldn't resist picking up "The Know-it-All" by A.J. Jacobs. I finished his "The Year of Living Biblically" last night and it was incredible. I highly recommend it.

On another note, I started doing my analysis for my third rhetoric paper today. Before I go on about my amazing findings, I just have to take a brief moment to say how disgusted I am that we (we = the students in CN. 312) are forced to sacrifice our Thanksgiving breaks because we are obligated to write 10-12 pages on speech analyses. There are seriously so many other things I'd like to be doing instead of this paper. I mean, there is a "What Not to Wear" marathon on Friday beginning at 9 a.m. that I would have loved to watch, but no. I have to sit here at the computer, surrounded by papers and printouts and books because Dr. Watts hates us and never wants us to have free time or fun or frivolity in our lives.

Anyway, I am analyzing celebrity college commencement speeches, and I found some freaking amazing quotes in some of them that I just had to share.

• "Success is defined in myriad ways, and you will find it, and people will no longer be grading you, but it will come from your own internal sense of decency which I imagine...is quite strong. Love what you do. Get good at it. Competence is a rare commodity in this day and age. And let the chips fall where they may." - John Stewart.
  
  
• "Life outside of college is just like life in it: one nutty thing after another, some of them horrible, but all interspersed with enough beauty and goodness to keep you going." - Tom Hanks. (Notice how I got my blog title from this quote :) )
  
  
• "Some failure in life is inevitable. It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all -- in which case, you fail by default." - J.K. Rowling.
  

Woah, right? I wish I could come up with some mind-bogglingly good quote like those. One day. Not today, though, since I am not feeling too smart (let's face it: listening to Britney Spears' over-synthesized voice for over three hours doesn't exactly lend itself to brilliance). And tomorrow I will be thinking about how I can possibly arrange to eat my body weight in turkey and cranberry sauce. The next day, though, Friday, could be promising. I will keep you posted.