Highlands Field Trip

 I want to blog again so that I don't forget my life. Twitter, Instagram, & Facebook are all fun, but there's something comforting about a good ol' blog. Here I am again!

hello from Satulah Mountain! (you can't see it, but I'm standing on some GNEISS)

This weekend I got to go visit the Smoky Mountains west of Asheville. I have actually not spent much (or any?) time that far west in our great state, and it was wonderful. I am a part of a program called the NC Climate Fellows, where science teachers learn how to teach high school kids about climate change. It is funded by NASA, and I mainly did it for the field trips! Science is only fun if you get to be inside of it. Geology really doesn't make as much sense inside a room as it does standing on some granite. 

(because I'm a teacher and I like to give previews...) 

In this post, I will talk a lot about SCIENCE and then a little about ME and then give you some PICS

(so if you don't want to learn, skip to the end!)

SCIENCE:

The main thing we focused on was the impact of the Hemlock woolly adelgid that is wreaking havoc on the Eastern Hemlock trees that make up a lot of western NC's forests. It's basically a tiny bug (the size of this period "." !) that attaches to trees and sucks out the sap. The trees die of physiological drought from the bottom up. This adds more sunlight to the forest floor, increases stream temperature, takes away the habitat for 3 specific birds (the names of which, forgive me, I cannot remember), and alters the future water availability for all the streams in the watershed. Crazy stuff!! It's what happens when a little bug goes bad... so many problems. We got to witness it firsthand, and let me tell you... it's crazy!

We also got to check how climate change is changing the phenology of many plants and animals. Basically the change in climate can throw off the bloom times of plants, which throws off feeding times and hatching times and basically just makes it hard to be a baby bird.

More highlights: 

• the forests past 6500 feet are basically like Canadian forests and smell like Christmas!!!
• the Appalachian mountains used to be higher than the Himalayas but it was all made of sedimentary rock (which eroded... DUH) and now all that's left is the granite which took its time and cooled inside old volcano chambers (called a pluton!) ... so basically Rocky Mountain snobs can back off b/c igneous and metamorphic rocks ROCK!
• hiking is fun

ME:

Aside from all the science (if you're even still with me), I just loved being in the mountains. There is something about waking up in 50 degree weather, immediately putting a braid in your hair and a fleece on your back and walking to get breakfast in your hiking boots across gravel. I could wake up that way every day for the rest of my life. In our mountains in NC, the forest crowds around you in a non-claustrophobic way and it's like it's trying to give you a hug.. When it's cool and rainy, it's just gorgeous. Then you get a fire involved and the contest is OVER. I'm in.  If the Rockies are like young love, then the Appalachians are like that old couple that has been married for 60 years and is still madly in love. I'll take that any day! Take me back!!!!!!!

PICS!!!

infected Hemlock tree (blocked by the rest of the forest)

unidentified small wiggly, flying, fuzzy bugs!

highest place we hiked this weekend (christmas tree hike!)

the Climate Fellows at Satulah Mountain

xoxo,

refvemma

The art of living out of your car

 There comes a time in every newly grown woman's life when she has to look at her wallet and decide whether she has enough money to pay rent for the summer months in which she is technically unemployed. Being the (wannabe) vagabond that I am, I decided to rely on the good graces of my friends in the area to allow me to, shall we say, float about for the summer. I have come up with some obstacles in the terminology I use to describe myself during these wandering months, so I have explored the various connotations of using each term.

• Homeless: this draws up images of some sort of a permanent state of living, making it look like I have fallen victim to bad economic planning. It also makes me look like I don't know how to live in a house and have maybe been evicted or something. Homelessness is a serious issue that people spend lots of time trying to rectify and/or justify why they're not rectifying it, so I think it would probably be very "first -world-problems" of me to pretend to be homeless, because I definitely am not.
• Couch surfing: surfs up, dude! Surfing is, like, the favorite American pastime. Couches are, like, the favorite lazy person pastime. So what better term to have to make my lack of a domicile sound like something everybody wants to do right now. So chill, so hip, so early-to-mid-twenties of me. An internalized requirement for this term is a vast array of friends on whose couch you are able to surf. Or you could just go to this website ?!
• Living out of my car: this makes it sound like all of my belongings are strategically placed throughout my car for easy access without removing them, and that I have a hammock behind the drivers seat in case I need to sleep outside. Which is true... but it also makes it sound like I can live without a bed or running water. This is not true. I have found that one cannot entirely live out of ones car without supplementing it with plumbing, and I have found that I personally can't live without that supplementation being from someone I'm close to. 
• Urban backpacking: I love this one, and I want to say I just made it up, but I've probably heard it somewhere before. It's like the phenomenon of buying a Nalgene but never planning to use it camping, or owning all Patagonia but having no desire to leave the comfort of the city. I have a tent in my backseat and lots of outdoorsy gear, but I haven't really used it in the woods as of yet this summer. I do plan on finding some campsites to sleep in later on, capitalizing on the outdoorsy possibilities that not having a permanent home can afford me. I am also thinking that "urban backpacking" is like the American version of "backpacking around Europe," which I've never done. Until now.

Well, I am going to go back to my current existence as a vagrant. I leave you with an image that you can go ahead and ingrain in your head in place of whatever picture of me is currently in there. It's what showed up when I googled "living out of your car."

(Best Week Ever)

Catching the Bouquet

 Here is the deal. If you are a single woman attending a wedding, there will come a moment when everybody else in the room decides it would be a grand idea to make you and your fellow "not-with-it-enough-to-have-a-man" counterparts gather in the middle of the room so they can taunt and jeer at you while you act like a fool to get your hands on a superstitious get-out-of-singlehood-free card. It's this point in the wedding when Beyonce's "All The Single Ladies" starts running through your head much like a haunting circus theme that only comes on in the types of movies I'm too wussy to watch.

Now I, for one, tend to come alive when I feel like I'm on stage, so I pretend like it is a game or performance as some sort of a coping mechanism. I have come back with my fair share of bouquets, so I decided to share with you some steps to catching the bouquet.

1. You have to want it. This is the most influential piece to your acquisition of the flowers. Nobody really thinks about it or cares about it that much, so if you decide you want it, the bouquet is as good as yours.
2. Don't be afraid to look crazy. Most girls, when forced to stand in a clump of their peers with a huge blinking arrow sign above that says "HEY YOU BOYS, I'M SINGLE AND READY TO MINGLE", will try to maintain some sort of poise. The dedication to sacrifice that femininity so that you can get your hands on the prize will get you pretty far.*
3. Stand in the front and make a lot of noise. These girls are trying to look innocent and cute, so if you stand in front of everybody and push them out of the way, they will be so confused that they will back away.
4. Also, wear heels. Add height, can be used as a weapon... crucial tool.
5. Feel out the wedding/group of girls. Are they all deathly afraid of the flowers? Do they want it as much as you? Are they a bunch of wimps? Will they literally eat you alive if you take away their one chance to dance with a single man (the garter catcher)? This will help you to gauge your necessary level of intensity.
6. Don't just stare at the thing, grab it. I've caught my fair share of bouquets, and most of them were times when I literally just picked it up off the ground. One time the bride's toss was too short, and we all stared at the thing like it contained the Ebola virus. It suddendly donned on me that this bouquet would lie there infinitely if I didn't grab it, so I took charge. Another bouquet was acquired when it somehow managed to make it past the initial barrage of man-hungry hands and fall to the floor. Without having to be involved in the mess, I simply reached down and claimed my prize.
7. Don't be too obvious. Yes, my friends have purposefully held down my hands just so I wouldn't catch the bouquet. I was so confused that I just let it happen, but I will from this point on be on my guard.
8. Never give up. Fight to the bitter end. This applies to all areas of your life as well.

I hope these tips will prove useful to you single ladies out there who might have to face the music one day. For your entertainment, I have included a few pictures of past bouquet tosses at weddings I've attended.

"what?! she's throwing the bouquet from the balcony?!?!?" 

Nancy & Jonathan, 5/28/11

My dedication was outdone by my own flesh and blood.

Kelly & Jimmy, 12/19/10

Those are faces of determination and desire. (Lisa's [center] own wedding is this summer, so she will be out of the running in the future)

Chris & Missy, 10/9/09

*It occurs to me that catching the bouquet is supposed to mean that you are the next to get married, but the girls who maintain their dignity in front of this crowd are probably 10x more likely to actually get a boyfie. Ironic. (Right? Thanks to Alanis, I'm fuzzy as to when to use the word)

Taking a Breather

 *there are pics at the end of this post if you wanna just skip the words and see pics*

(as a blog reader myself, i'm just lookin out for you. also i get kinda philosophical towards the end if that sounds interesting to you)

update: Since all I ever want to do is post e.e. cummings poems on this blog, I resist the urge to even post. All other creative juices are sucked out by my lack of time to even eat a proper meal, and I am left with no motivation to write a blog. But the idea is so enticing! Musing is one of my very favorite pastimes. I think without an outlet like this, I just end up boring and/or weirding out my friends.  With that, I would like to gladly announce that I am on spring break, and what a break it is. With time to breathe, the likelihood of this blog being something worth reading has shot through the roof, not unlike the amount of sleep I am gifted with this week.

preview: Things to look forward to this summer: musings about weddings, perhaps the evolution of this blog into a wedding blog unlike any other... from the perspective of the attendant, since I will be a professional wedding guest this summer. Let's just say I should probably learn the dance to Beyonce's "Single Ladies" so that I might entertain all those watching the spectacle that is the bouquet toss, while also using some ninja moves to procure all 8 bouquets.

the real post: This week I've been helping out at Union Independent School here in Durham. They are a year-round school, so they are currently "tracked out" (i think that's what they call it... sounds a little like cracked out, which could be just as likely here in durham... is that bad to say?). This week they are putting on a camp for the lil chillins so they aren't bored to tears. We've had a ball so far, partaking in all that the Bull City can offer. We walked/took a city bus to the Durham Bulls game, where our time was filled with "dance breaks" and home runs, which are especially exciting because smoke comes out of the bull's nose! (You kinda have to already know what I'm talking about to picture it.) Today was probably my favorite, because we got to go to the Scrap Exchange and hang out in the Durham Central Park. And that brings me to the thought I wanted to muse on that brought this whole post into being: Imagination.

Being in the Scrap Exchange was like a magical transportation into the inner workings of an imagination. You walk into a room that is lined with barrels full of delightfully organized scraps of what originally looks like well-sorted trash. You are a little overwhelmed and skeptical. But with Devandra Banhart on in the background and projects hanging from any and all wall space, you start to sink into the core of your imagination and sit there for a while to see what comes out. It is stressful at first-- the free reign to create legitimately anything your heart desires. But then, you settle in and it blossoms. I found my niche as a frilly accessory maker, coming out with headbands made from plastic flowers and what I can only assume were discarded elastics for underwear from some clothing factory. By the end, the girls were fairy princesses and the boys were civil war soldiers, waging an epic battle complete with shields and helmets. The time flew as all of us... both the 6-year-olds and the 28-year-olds threw off the shackles of standards/objectives/rules and just created. It was glorious.

But there is something about imaginative creations that seem so silly out of context. Inside that room, we were princesses, good guys, and bad guys. An old CD was an axe, a flava-flav necklace, a shield. All that junk serves a purpose and is necessary to exist inside of those four walls. But then you leave, and eat lunch or something, then look down at your pile of stuff and a little bit of the magic is gone. What was a ferocious shield is now just 4 CD jewel cases barely held together by masking tape. You're not a princess, you just have a bunch of plastic flowers taped to a cup. By the time you walk it all home, you are left with a less-shiny version of something that just doesn't make sense in the "real" world. I think the beauty of childhood is that that magic veneer doesn't really wear off as quickly as when you're an adult. Everything's a little more enchanting, all parts of the world are a little bit mixed in with imagination. I like to think of it as part of my job as an educator/future-mom to create those spaces so that kids don't have to take off the rose-colored imagination glasses and can live in the blissful oblivious world of imagination for as long as they want. Really, I think I'm probably still there in a lot of ways.

the chillins outside the scrap exchange gettin ready to create! 

dj headphones... definitely one of my favorite creations 

lil chica sporting fairy wings, headband, fairy wand, and flava-flav style necklace/medal 

the epic battle for which there was so much preparation and so little actual battling. i think this captures some of the magic, but it really can't be captured.

Spring

 e.e. cummings knows spring, by golly. and spring has certainly sprung here in Durham. here's another poem.  (it is best read when sitting in a field with the sun shining on your face):

now winging selves sing sweetly,while ghosts(there

and here)of snow cringe;dazed an earth shakes sleep

out of her brightening mind:now everywhere

space tastes of the amazement which is hope

gone are those hugest hours of dark and cold

when blood and flesh to inexistence bow

(all that was doubtful's certain,timid's bold;

old's youthful and reluctant's eager now)

anywhere upward somethings yearn and stir

piercing a tangled wrack of wishless known:

nothing is like this keen(who breathes us)air

immortal with the fragrance of begin

winter is over--now(for me and you,

darling!)life's star prances the blinding blue

-e.e. cummings

Board Tweets

 Twitter is sweeping the RHS nation. Well, let me re-phrase that. Twitter has already swept the RHS nation, but now it is seeping into the teacher world. I have had a regular twitter (@refvemma) for a while, but I decided that my teacher alter-ego needed one to keep up with the kiddies (@msrefvem). Really, it's for the kiddies to keep up with me. I can tweet interesting stuff from the web or reminders about homework or announcements about how many fish have died (i'm working on a post about the epic saga of animals that call room 222 home, stay tuned...).

All that to say, we tend to talk in twitter lingo sometimes in class. I had a kid answer a question on a test something to the effect of "We need to save biodiversity so that it can provide ecosystem services and the environment can last for future generations. #swag"... For those of you who are less up to twitter speed, that is a hash tag. And a student wrote a hash tag at the end of a test answer. I gave him some "lol points" for that one.

On Friday, we had some green pancakes and bacon in Ms. Hunter's AP Bio class, about which some tweet-ers in the class tried to start a trending topic: #apbiobaconswag. Much discussion of hataz (those who hate) also came up during breakfast.

Ms. Hunter (@mikajhunter) gettin her green pancake/sunglass/rollpiratesroll swag on


Since Ms. Hunter and I have so much fun talkin bout hataz, I googled "hater quotes." (side note: i HIGHLY recommend googling hater quotes. it will entertain you. clearly there are a lot of drama queens trying to fill up their facebook profile "about me" sections, and someone has found and filled in that internet niche). I came up with some great ones, enough to inspire my "quote of the day/week/whenever-i-feel-like-changing-the-quote." While writing it, I was encouraged by my 4th period to write it in ghetto twitter/txt lingo. Here is the result:

Some more "board tweets" for your enjoyment:

(this next one is not necessarily a tweet, but a reaction to Food, Inc. which we were watching in APES. Born out of a sad joke about making baby chicks straight into nuggets.)

It will be interesting to see how this whole twitter thing evolves... follow me if you dare! @msrefvem

Spring Fever

Today I really felt like myself, and I'm not sure why, or if that even makes sense since technically I am myself every day, but I liked it!! I got a little sassy with my students, and by that I mean that I am getting more assertive as the days go on and it's a good thing. Part of my wonderful day had to be the weather, while the other part of it was that I got to chill in my favs outfit. I wore chacos, carhartts, and a light thermal shirt, set off by my default earrings, a headband, and a low bun. If that's not a typical spring Emma outfit, then I don't know what is. I also did laundry at the laundromat while jamming out to some new songs, squeezing in some grading during the wait times. So productive and college of me! By the time I got to community group, I was so hopped up on caffeine and spring that I couldn't contain myself! I can't get over this weather. I just wish every day could be like today. I'm drinking it in and it's only February. I surely hope I won't retreat back into my winter hole once it gets cold again, because I simply cannot deal with that!

Because I have spring fever and I love my outfit so much, I will leave you with a picture of daffodils and some poetry from e.e. cummings. Nothing says spring like poems and DAFFODILS!!!

in Just-

spring      when the world is mud-

luscious the little

lame balloonman

whistles       far       and wee

and eddieandbill come

running from marbles and

piracies and it's

spring

when the world is puddle-wonderful

the queer

old balloonman whistles

far          and         wee

and bettyandisbel come dancing

from hop-scotch and jump-rope and

it's

spring

and

       the

             goat-footed

balloonMan         whistles

far

and

wee 

LOL Points: N-Cycle Edition

 In APES (AP Environmental Science), you have to learn about the nitrogen cycle. Really, you just have to learn that nitrogen cycles through the ecosystem. It is vaguely important to know how nitrogen switches forms so that we humans can get it into our lovely tissues to make DNA and survive and all that, but the test writers really really want you to know how to identify all the steps.

Last semester, I did a particularly horrible job of imparting this knowledge to my students. This semester, with the help of some good ol' fashioned arts and crafts, topped off with the ever-present motivation of earning lol points for making me chuckle, those kids learned them some N-cycle. These two particularly exemplary students went above and beyond to impress me, and now hopefully you as well, with their wit. Maybe you will learn something about how nitrogen gets from being an inert gas in the air to making up the base of your genetic code!

artist one: will h.

artist 2: josh a.

I had a blog in high school...

 And now I teach high school. It's only fair.

I am trying this out again, for reals this time. I promise it won't be too mushy. That's about all I can promise.

And now, to add some bittersweet to your Monday, some Neutral Milk Hotel.

"And one day we will die

And our ashes will fly 

from the aeroplane over the sea

But for now we are young

Let us lay in the sun

And count every beautiful thing we can see

Love to be

In the arms of all I'm keeping here with me, me"

change

There's nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered.

-Nelson Mandela, A Long Walk to Freedom

Looking back on this blog, it is really pronounced how much I have changed. I no longer need this blog to process my life. I guess it comes along with getting older, but I've found that I am not as dependent on what other people think as before. Don't get me wrong, I am still definitely aware of other people's opinions on my life, but I am becoming who I am, and I'm doing it by myself.

It is hard to look back on this blog. It is hard to look back and see where I was when I wrote those posts. I want to go back and tell younger Emma how to live and how to act and what to write! I have not noticed specific changes, but now I can see that they are there. I can't articulate these changes... that hasn't changed! I have a problem pinning down exactly what I feel, because I think it's too much for words. It's hard to know that while I am different, I am still everything that I was before. I'm still these words. I'm still that annoying high schooler. It is a part of me, but it doesn't define everything that I am. 

My goal (make it a mid-year's resolution) is to live life. Live fully, live richly, and take it all in. I don't want to let my life pass me by. I'm almost 21! I'm entering this new phase of my life where I've been given all kinds of instructions on how to live this life and now I get to go out and live it. Crazy!

So I thought when I started this blog that I wanted to keep doing it, but I almost want to stop it here and let it live on as what it was. I need some sort of closure, so I feel like this is as good a time as any. It's really the end for this blog.

Au revoir!

no more black dot!

Instead of a black dot, I know have an incision scab and 3 stitches! That's right, Dad took it out last Sunday in his office. After some numbing shots and realizations that he wasn't cutting muscle, the thing is out. Maybe it's pencil lead? Maybe it's something else? Only pathology will tell.

In other news, I've found that I try to find satisfaction in other people and it leaves me empty and overanalizing everything like I always do. I find satisfaction when people like me and so I get nervous when I do something that people may think is "awkward" and think I'm weird. So if I recognize that I'm being awkward, maybe it won't be as bad. I dunno. And also, I think I can find satisfaction in my family whom I love, but I can only see them every once in a while and that's not enough to fill me. The only thing that works well enough to fill me is Jesus. I can't fill myself with anything else that will be worth my time. And it is a good realization. He has plans for me so I don't have to worry about filling those plans myself. Like, I don't have to worry about boys because it will happen! I don't have to worry about what people think because that's not what ultimately matters. Also, I can be honest because the truth is true and I'm not making anybody love me more by bending it or trying to hide things.

I know that's weird and the audience of this blog basically doesn't exist, but I just wanted to process it on here. There's a lot of my personality in this blog and it kindof makes me happy. So I added one more story to look back on in the future. Hmm.

college

About that black dot on my arm-- I cancelled the appointment because Dad said he could get it out for free. Yay for connections at the hospital! Except I will have to remain in suspense as to the identity of this dot for a while longer.

So here I sit, done with my allotted homework for the day (which I so meticulously planned out yesterday so as to not get ridiculously stressed out), thinking about how this week is like the precurser to the hell that will be next week. I have a lab to do, some physics and chinese homework, a Chinese vocab quiz and test all this week. That's like mini hell week because I can at least give myself some free time between homework sessions. I also have random appointments which make me annoyed because I don't have as much time to sit around and do the work, and I have to walk extra places. Next week, however, I have three tests, two homeworks and a lab due. What? It doesn't hurt that the 3 tests are in subjects in which I feel ridiculously lost. Physics is okay except the problems are really hard and I can't get my mind to wrap around them. Math is hard because the teacher is french and talks really fast and doesn't really give thorough examples. So when it comes to problem solving (in both classes), I'm lost. Also, speaking of problem solving, I don't pay attention in Geomorphology. I mean, I do, but the teacher has a boring voice and I find myself doing the Sudoku from the newspaper (because the crossword just makes me mad usually). So I have a worksheet due and a test on Monday in that. Hopefully I'll be able to get somewhere with studying over the weekend. Basically, next week will be a lot of work. But hopefully I'll get to go home afterwards and deal with the fact that I might not be as good at College as I was at High School and in the grand scheme of things it doesn't really matter at all. I'm going to be a High School teacher and love life and be an environmentally conscious parent and citizen. And, who are we kidding, I'm going to graduate college. Duh. I'm not that bad at school.

So, yeah. That's what life is looking like right now. In other news, I'm getting a haircut on Wednesday. My hair all of a sudden got really long. I don't know how it happened. But it is gross on the ends and needs to be taken care of. So I'm getting it cut at Aveda by a student I think, because it's a school... hopefully they won't try to do something crazy trendy because I just can't handle that. I just want my side bangs to make a comeback and for my hair not to do weird curly things at the end. We'll see. Right now I have my hair in pigtail french braids and they look like the best I've ever given myself. I used bobby pins for the first time in my french braiding career, and what a difference they make! I don't have crazy bumps hanging out... they look very together. Not too tight, not too lose, juuuuuust right. So I think I'm gonna chill out and watch TV while looking over some Chinese stuff. Sounds like a plan!

the saga of the black spot

Ok. So I have this thing on my right arm, located in the skin near the elbow on the anterior side. I don't know what it is, exactly, so i just call it a black dot. I've had it for years and years. Just recently, people have convinced me to fiddle with it and try and see if I can scratch it out, but I just can't and now it looks different. I decided to go to the doctor to see what it actually is. He didn't know. What he did know whas that "Due to the size and color, it needs to come out." Yay! They will send it off to figure out what it is, exactly, after a small biopsy. "Biopsy?" you say? Yes, Biopsy. Under some sort of anesthesia, they will do a "puncy biopsy" where they punch a razor into my skin and dig out the black dot. Sounds... delightful? Maybe not.

I've grown to love this black dot. It is quite the conversation starter. "What is that black spot on your arm, did you get stabbed by a pencil?" It works in all situations. Also, I just love it. It's like a little mystery on my body. Too bad it's the kind of mystery that is a potential health threat. I am excited, however, to finally figure out what it is. I kinda hope it's bad so that I'll feel better about having had it taken out.

So, anyway, I'll keep you updated once the results come back as to what exactly this thingy really is.

what? a post?

Guess what I haven't done in a while? Blogged. I took a respite. It seems that this is the way I've processed things that have happened in my life for the past 3 or so years. When things happened, I wrote them in here so that the thoughts would be somewhere. When I was bored, I excercised my brain and wrote silly stories or used creative language to tella bout goings on in my life. Now it seems that I either don't have time or have so many people in my life that I tell things to that I don't need this blog anymore. But I love it! I love the feeling of writing to an ambiguous audience that may or may not exist. I like telling stories and being silly and writing. I think that this blog has affected my writing style significantly. I write freely and informally, which may or may not be a good thing. Either way, I think it might be high time to bring this puppy back into high gear. I have extra time these days, what with a mere 14 hour schedule with everything done by 2. Also, the curse of Chem Lab is over and now I've made the step down to Physics Lab (which may or may not be a step down... that has yet to be decided). So hows about an update in my life? Nah, that's boring. I am in college, being a YL leader at northwood, and doing homework a lot. C'est La Vie! I love life right about now, with all of it's awkward, depressing, joyful, hilarious, and random moments. Right now, I'm about to watch some more Law and Order SVU and then get things on track. I'll be back!

make new friends, but keep the old...

...one is silver and the other gold! and they're both amazing!!!

I just got back from a meeting with YL at Rasberry Ridge where we sent off our seniors with much ado and many repetitions of Philipians 1:3-6. At the end of it all, we took a picture of the freshman and a comment by one Greg Salazar summed up my adoration for all of them: "You guys roll so deep. You're obsessed!" It's true. I'm obsessed with these kids. I don't want to go places without them. I don't know what my freshman year would've been like without them. I remember being so awkward at the beginning of college, trying out all the different clubs just to see where I would fit. I always prayed that I would find a close knit group of friends who shared my beliefs and with whom I could have a ton of fun. Little did I know that soon enough I would have those wonderful people in my life to such an amazing degree. I have to admit, when it didn't happen almost instantly, I got depressed and thought I'd never find friends. But then College Life happened. And Windy Gap Work Crew happened. And when WG happened again, I knew I'd found them. My loves for life! I was thinking about how I wonder what it will be like when we graduate, and then I started thinking that we have 3 whole entire more years to spend with each other! I have (at least) 3 more years to get established at this High School and spend my time loving high schoolers and having a lot of fun. I have 3 more years to have amazing experiences with these people who I know will be my friends forever.

I really wanted a close group of girl friends. I had Nan and Ash and Audra in high school (and oh how i still love them!), but I knew I wanted a solid group of girls that I can be friends with forever and about whom I can say "I met them in college and we knew we would be friends for life!" And now they're here. And I love them. All of them. It is better than I even imagined when I asked for it.

And not to mention my surrogate suite. I love to hang out with them and they have been way better than my actual suite. (who i never talk to... ever) They are tons of fun!

I also have all of my Cheerio friends. Liles and I have grown so close, mainly because we live so close. It's amazing and I love her and we will be on the same porch this summer at Cheerio and we will LOVE it! And I've gotten to chill with Shmimmy in Chinese and bond about how much we regret the fact that we took such a ridiculous language just to fill our requirement. We may laugh about it later, and we even laugh about it now, but that's mainly to distract ourselves from the fact that we are not that great at Chinese. But at least it's fun!

And then there's the MA crowd. I've grown so close to them. There are 4 of us who became leaders, and we're infamous around the YL crowd. "I'm from Mt. Airy" "Oh, you're one of those..." hahaha. But I really do love them. We love each other and have fun together and love the same things and can hang out when we're in MA as well as when we're at college. It's going to be a fun future with those guys and girls too.

Yay! I just love my friends. I thought I'd share that with my blogging audience. It's been quite a good year! mmmm yay.

Tay Ray Pony came to visit this weekend, and it made me happy! I like to hang out with my high school friends because they are just the coolest. Next weekend I am going home, and it will be a much needed break. I've just been so tired lately, so I will be happy to just chill at home and do nothing.

I am in such a good mood this weekend! I think it's because YL things are finally starting. Tonight is the banquet where we find out where we are placed... and that's just plain exciting. I think another contributor to the good mood is that I've gotten to just hang out and chill this weekend and get some work done and do some laundry and just get settled in. My room is finally cleared of the clothes that have been lying around since getting back from spring break.

Well, there's nothing I really wanted to say, I'm still getting back in the habit of writing in here. I'll keep you posted on where I get placed and what we do with all that later.

told you i'd be back!

I've obtained some recent addictions, and I just thought I'd share them with you, as the audience of this blog.

First: The Daily Tar Heel (DTH) crossword puzzle. I started off being horribly bad at them, but am improving quite well. Apparently that might have something to do with a new source for the puzzles, but still. I like to think it is because my vocabulary is expanding and I am training that side of my brain to work well. It gives me something to do during boring parts of classes... time that used to be spent writing my name in as many different styles as possible. Now I direct my bored energy to the small square boxes, and end up either feeling really good about myself or ridiculously stupid. Most of the time stupid, but what can you do.

Second: Sudoku puzzles. They are along the lines of crossword puzzles, but they require no vocabulary knowledge, only logical reasoning. I kind of like that, when I want to work a little different part of my brain. They are great for airplane travel, as I found out during my 15 (or so) hours spent either in an airplane or airport this spring break.

Third: Fruit snacks. Gushers are number one on my list of favorite fruit snacks, Wal*Mart generic brand "Fruit Smiles" are second, closely followed by Disney themed snacks, which could be tied with Fruit Roll-Ups and Fruit by the Foots. I got some Spongebob snacks hoping they would be as good, but they aren't. They're actually the grossest things I've ever tasted. But you win some you lose some, I say. The only drawback of Fruit Snacks is that they are packaged for little kids, and therefore come in smaller portions. I would appreciate a slightly larger portion, but not double or anything. That's way too much for me. I don't want to get sick of them or anything, I just want to partake of their fruity goodness to a somewhat greater degree.

drinking rum punch and riding on open air taxis and having donkeys watch your presentation for class is a fun experience.

Oh boy. Life is too complicated for me to have time to sit down and externally process it as I've been doing with this blog for 3 years now. I like it when I get the chance, but I forget to give myself the chance. Here is a summary of my life:

I just got back from a spring break in St. John with my Enst 57: Coral Reef Ecology class. Snorkelling and (night) SCUBA was amazing. I saw things such as an eagle ray, a brown octopus, a green and purple (color changing!) octopus at night, a sting ray, a turtle... and much more. Now I am close to 52 (or so) new wonderful people and I can't wait to go to class with them all on Thursday! We keep having mini reunions around the pit area of campus, random sightings that turn into mini reunions as more people realize what is going on. It makes my heart happy.

I interviewed to be a YL leader on Tuesday morning, and they tell me on Friday whether I will be a leader, and if I make it past there, they tell me where I am placed on Sunday. It is going to be a ridiculously awesome and crazy time as a YL leader, and I am so excited. YL has been such a blessing this year-- the fellowship, the best friends, the fun times... college wouldn't have been the same without it.

Chem Lab is almost done FOR GOOD and that makes me so happy. Just 2 more reports until I can DELETE data studio from my computer forever.

Hmm... I guess that's all the main stuff. I'm off to go do some chinese translation homework. I really want to start updating this thing more... I'm making it somewhat of a resolution. So you might want to start checking more often!

Zai Jian!

i can't believe i missed it.

HAPPY (belated) 3RD BIRTHDAY, BLOG!!!

3 years of amazingness. :)

i know i've let this blog get slack, but i'd just like to say that

CAROLINA

BEAT

DOOK

the end.