The Calm Before the Storm

Wow. It's been one hell of a week, and guess what? It's only Tuesday at 8:02 PM as I type this.

So far this week, I've been on-call, had 5 classes, had a 2 hour meeting, and gotten about 12 hours of sleep (if that). Looking forward to the week ahead, I have 8 more classes, 2 tests (5 if you count the online ones), 5 office hours, an internship meeting, a floor meeting (tonight), student convocation, family weekend, and a concert to attend. Whew. I do not know what I'd do without my calendar. Probably scream, cry, punch a pillow, and scream some more. And more than likely, swear like a sailor (not that I don't do that anyway).

But you think that sounds busy? Oh, dear readers, you have no idea. Starting tomorrow and ending November 1, I have something to do every day (apart from three sporadic days during which I'm sure something will come up). These things include tests, quizzes, meetings, office hours, a handful of Open Houses/Discovery Days, Family Weekend, and oodles more. Including a luncheon with the university president.

What gets me through this craziness? Besides copious amounts of caffeine of course, seeing my wonderful friends in classes and outside of class, a nice little thing called 2 paychecks every two weeks, and the fact I'm getting off of campus for a while on Thursday night. (I won tickets to a jazz show, and my dad and I are going to it together. I'm so excited.)

I also have a bulletin board due near the end of next month, but I'm already planning that one out. My bulletin board theme ideas for the coming months are (this is how I stay awake during business class)...
- Creepy Creatures and Ghastly Ghouls
- Who Do You Share a Birthday With? [Celebrity birthdays and pics]
- AFI's 100 Years, 100 Quotes [The top movie quotes from various flicks]
- Alice in Wonderland
- Rolling Stone Magazine's Top 100 Albums of All Time [Complete with album art]
- Unique Spring Break Trips
- Piecing it all Together [Asking residents what their favorite part of the school year was... finally an excuse to use my puzzle piece border. Get it? Piecing it together? Lame, yes; but should be a fun interactive board]

But that's the calm before the storm that is the month of October. Whew.

Comments are always welcome.

Getting out of the rut

Well, it's been a whirlwind these past few days... I survived my first on-call weekend (somehow), and have been hanging out with some really awesome friends lately. Last year, it felt like I hung out with the same crowd all the time, but now I'm realizing who my real friends are. I couldn't be happier. It's the little things like that make me really glad that I'm doing so. I've purged a lot (between 30 and 35) of people on Facebook, cut contact with the negative people in my life, and have begun to focus on what it is that makes me happy.

I love helping people, don't get me wrong. Sometimes, though, I think that I expected too much of people. I may lose contact with some people, but those who I really care about, I want them to know it. So many people have changed my life, and they might not even realize it.

Before college, most of high school seemed like a rut. Get up, get ready, go to school, sit through classes, eat lunch, sit through more classes, and then go home. For 2 years, I was involved in Journalism, but senior year I quit that. Admittedly, senior year was pretty good, but I really didn't feel like it was any different.

Flash-forward to freshman year of college. I was a graphic design major. I had the freedom to do what I wanted, where I wanted, etc. I didn't have to go to every class (and I sure as hell know I didn't), I could stay up late and get up late, and there wasn't anybody to stop me... Except the exhaustion and complete disregard for what I was doing, of course. But then, I realized, I hate this major. Graphic design is not for me. I couldn't handle the pressure of 16 and 18 credit course loads. And homework, tests, quizzes, projects, art projects, essays... the list goes on.

Finally, towards the end of my freshman year, I decided I needed to do a complete turn-around. Granted, by this point it was April, and I really couldn't do anything about the turn-around then. However, I dropped my Graphic Design major, and decided that Industrial Organizational Psychology was my calling. (Eventually, I also added a Women's Studies minor, and also one in Management).

After working the summer at Chuck E. Cheese's (an adventure in and of itself), I started my sophomore year with a new major, a new set of classes, and a point to prove: this year is going to be different. I had a work study, and only 15 credits... Perfect!

I had Intro to Anthropology, Descriptive Statistics, Interviewing Skills, Intro to Earth Science, and Principles of Management. 2 major classes, 1 minor class, and 2 general education courses. Little did I know what was going to happen that first semester: I met one of my now best friends, met some other incredible people, and got really involved. A complete 360 of the previous school year.

I only missed one or two classes TOTAL that entire semester. My GPA, which had been at a lowly 2.6 (average of freshman year), boosted to a 3.13. I was ecstatic. I had gotten involved, I learned so much about myself, and I was proud of what I'd accomplished. My second semester was pretty awesome, too. Again, I got above a 3.0 GPA, took some upper level classes (2 300-levels for the second semester in a row) and did really well in them, and decided to apply to be a Community Assistant.

If someone had told me that I was going to have this job now as a Community Assistant, I probably would have scoffed. Now, I can't even imagine doing anything else, even despite what I've dealt with thus far. It has made me realize who I am, and taught me that while there's no way I can be the best, I'm going to sure as hell try.

So far, my junior year has been filled with love, hate, resentment, happiness, and so many more emotions. I've been back at school for 1 month and 13 days. I've only gone home once. But in this short amount of time, I've grown and realized who I am, what some of my goals for the future are, etc. I really don't know where I'm going still (and frankly, the future post-graduation terrifies me), but I have a better idea of what I want to do, and I've got the support system of some awesome friends, professors, and others to help me get there.

The song "Welcome to Wherever You Are," by Bon Jovi, perfectly sums up how I feel about this whole life journey (or at least that which I've come to realize in college so far):

Welcome to wherever you are
This is your life, you made it this far
Welcome, you gotta believe
That right here, right now
You're exactly where you're supposed to be
Welcome to wherever you are

Fire Drills and Friends

Well, I figured it was time for another update.

I only had one class today, but it was still an incredibly busy day (not that every other day isn't, but today's was especially). I got up, yada yada yada, had breakfast, sat in the office for 2 hours (though I was actually quite productive for those 2 hours. I got all of the information done for my next bulletin board done!)...

Because I didn't have class, and all the other CAs were around, we had a mini staff meeting. It was pretty amusing. Our GA got two strikes, and a fellow CA got one. I got two pluses. Of course, these strikes and pluses don't really mean anything (we don't get fired if we get three strikes and stuff like that), but it was all in good fun.

So, after our mini meeting, I printed off my paper for my psych class, and then went off to class. I walked in with my friend, and we sat down. Our professor walked in a few minutes before class started... And I started laughing. Our prof's hair looked like she'd stuck a fork in an electrical outlet. Now, generally, I'm a very nice person. I get along with just about everyone (students, profs, staff, etc.), but it was all I could do to not laugh. I felt bad... But it was kinda hilarious.

But after class, I signed up to be a notetaker for one of my classes... Yes, getting paid to take notes? Could it be any easier? I think not! :D

>>Fast forward to 8:00>>

So, it's about 5 til 8. As always, Pandora is open in one tab, my email in another, and I'm flipping back and forth between an Intro to Business powerpoint and the outline I'm creating from it. (Of course, I'm also texting a few people while doing this. Being a CA teaches you great time management skills and balancing multiple things at once.)

All is going well, the music is great, and then all of a sudden, I hear this deafening squawk... the dreaded fire alarm. Okay, sure fire alarms in high school were loud, but in college... they are just so much louder. Accompany that with strobelight-like lights flashing everywhere. Yup, college fire drills are a madhouse.

Also, keep in mind, usually my res hall director and/or Public Safety (our campus police officers) will let us know a day or two in advance that we're having a fire drill. This one...? Definitely not announced.

Good thing I already had my shoes still on. I grabbed my keys and cell phone, and skurried out the front door. My res hall director was already out there, as were 2 of my fellow CAs. A Public Safety officer and our fire safety guy (I don't remember his exact title) were also there.

After I got out there, my RD handed me a key, and told me to go check the 3rd floor for any residents who didn't get out yet (it was just a drill). I go back into the building, push through a ton of people on the stairs going out (who were wondering what the hell I was doing), and then finally got to the third floor. I took about 7 seconds a room (3 of which were getting the door open. The master key was a little persnickety.

I didn't find any residents or items of interest in my quick peek in... except for a blow up doll in one room that made me of Quagmire from Family Guy.

But anywho... After my fire drill, I got a text from a friend asking if he could print stuff in my res hall, so I said sure. I always love catching up with friends. We BS'd for a while, cracked some jokes about the most random of topics, discussed some cherry flavored alcohol that I think sounds repulsive, and the nastiness that is Chef Boyardee. Haha.

So, that was my Wednesday. It's now 12:56 AM on Thursday. Sad to say, this is the latest I think I've stayed up all week. I crashed around 11 last night.

But now, in the words of John Lennon (whose killer was denied parole AGAIN the other day ... yay!),

Now it's time to say good night/Good night Sleep tight/Now the sun turns out his light/Good night Sleep tight/Dream sweet dreams for me/Dream sweet dreams for you.

Close your eyes and I'll close mine/Good night Sleep tight/Now the moon begins to shine/Good night Sleep tight/Dream sweet dreams for me/Dream sweet dreams for you.

Close your eyes and I'll close mine/Good night Sleep tight/Now the sun turns out his light/Good night Sleep tight/Dream sweet dreams for me/Dream sweet dreams for you.

Good night Good night Everybody/Everybody everywhere/Good night.