Hillary Clinton, 5:30 AM fire alarms, and swearing psychology professors

Not surprisingly, my old friend insomnia has come to visit tonight... [PS: Yes, there is some not so friendly language in this post. But those who know me know I swear like a sailor. Pardon the French. Moving on...]

So, tonight/this morning's entry is sort of a recollection of the past school year. There have been ups, downs, twists, turns, and more direction and misdirection than I ever imagined possible. I've loved and I've hated. I've yearned for quiet nights and lived for the ones that weren't so quiet. I've discovered who I really care about and who really cares about me. There were nights I wanted to scream and nights I wanted to cry and give up. Hell, somewhere along the way, I even matured.

I've experienced things I never thought possible... or things that I didn't think I could handle. Of course, I can't go into some details of various stories, but it's those things that happened that made me realize that I really do love my job, my friends, and yes, even my small, two traffic light college town. After my first official floor meeting of the year (way back in September) in my first week of my job as a CA, a resident approached me and after I heard what he told me, my brain went into overdrive and my heart rate went from normal, calm Cary to "Holy shit, what the fuck do I do NOW?!" Cary. It was one of the most terrifying moments of my life. Fortunately, my residence hall director helped me (and my resident) through the situation.

Of course, part of the job always entails dealing with the campus cops somehow. I think I've met most (if not all) of the Public Safety officers this year. Not that that's a bad thing, mind you. And one of their security officers/dispatchers is one of the sweetest ladies I've ever met. I have had to call them on more than one occasion, and they're always happy to help (which was good for newbie CA, yours truly). Even when an incident actually didn't occur (again, limited details, I know, but it's confidentiality stuff), they said call back if anything else should occur.

There's also the funny side of the job. One night, around 11:20 or so, I heard knocking on the outside of the first floor windows (I happen to live on the first floor). As luck would have it, the knocker reaches my window around 11:25. My thought process at this point is that hey, maybe I'll recognize this goon and scare him off... Fast-forward to me opening my blinds and looking back at me is someone wearing a Hillary Clinton mask. Yes, you read that right, Hillary Clinton. And then they ran off. I texted my residence hall director, because I'm still the clueless, what should I do CA. She advised me to call PS, which I did. I got a call back from them about half an hour after I gave them all of the details, and they said they found the individual who was responsible, and asked if I needed to talk to anyone about what happened (I politely declined).

Through all of this, learning who those people are that I can go to at any time without fear of being judged, laughed at, or completely ignored, has really helped me become the person I am. The advice, love, and friendship they've given me is more than I could ever ask from such an awesome group of people. They have had so much of an amazing impact on my life... I can't even begin to describe how much they mean to me. They're the ones I know I'll remember for the rest of my life, and look back on the memories we've made and laugh just as much as we did when those memories were being made. (Damn, why do I sound so nostalgic? That wasn't where I thought that paragraph was going.)

I could go on and on with ridiculous stories about how an overflowing toilet caused the fire alarm to go off twice in the same week, including once at 5:30 AM (true story. Ask me about it sometime!); the mad dash to find condom-filled Easter eggs; being easily entertained by the fact that my psych professor both swore and taught a group of us the Electric Slide in the same night; and much more... But, honestly, this year has been one hell of an adventure. And I can't wait for it to continue!

Book Reviews?

Still trying to figure out the whole "what else should I blog about?" decision... It seems like I talk about life and awards shows. I promise that's not all that goes on in my head.

I've considered doing book reviews because I'm always trying to branch out in the genres I read. I'm hooked on thriller/murder mystery/political intrigue sort of stuff, but also whatever you might consider Malcolm Gladwell's genre to be (though he's a mutt when it comes to genre: there's sociology, psychology, pop culture, history... all thrown into his different books. I've read - and recommend - them all).

Perhaps I will start doing book reviews. I just have to find the time. Considering my to-do list is currently 74 (yes, 74) items long, I need to start crossing things off of it before I focus on anything else. I'd like to branch into some of the classics, such as James Joyce's Ulysses, Joseph Heller's Catch-22, and others.

I'd also like to start Fast Food Nation, by Eric Schlosser. It's been sitting on my bookshelf for about two months now, untouched. If that's any indication of how busy I am, I don't know what is.

Once summer vacation starts, I'm hoping to have secured an internship and read a lot more. Reading, for as long as I can remember, has been a part of who I am. My parents started reading to me when I was really, really young (probably when I was not even one yet). My mother enjoys telling the story of how my kindergarden teacher sent me to the principal's office because I was reading while the rest of the class was learning about a, an, and the. I also still razz my dad (jokingly, of course) that he would try to skip pages when reading to me before bed. (Is Wacky Wednesday really that long?)

So, this is where you come in, readers: What books are your go-to books? What are your favorites? I know I have a few that I can read time and time again and never get bored of. John Grisham's The Firm is just one of mine.

Now to start that to-do list...

[Cartoon from XKCD]