More fun

Saturday, November 12: I volunteered at the Kalamazoo Valley Museum. There were kids everywhere! There isn't much to say about it except that I had fun helping the kids and talking to parents. Everyone was really nice. To me at least...a couple kids got yelled at. What can you do? My station was a MESS after it was over. The kids had thrown streamers and scissors and glue and paper and boxes all over the floor! I was very tired after that.

Sunday and Monday, November 13 and 14: Emily came and visited! It was so awesome to see her! I can't wait until she's back for good in January! We basically just sat around and watched movies. Sunday night we went to go see Footloose (the third time for Lindsey and I), because Em hadn't seen it yet. She liked it and we danced all the way out to the car. :) The only downfall of her visit was that I got next to no sleep for a couple days, but it was so worth it!

Thursday November 17: Lindsey, Brandy, Rachel, and I all went to go see Breaking Dawn at midnight! Brandy and Rachel wanted to get there at 10:30 to wait, but Linds and I were like 'no way' and went at 7:30 to save spots. We were the second people in line and the first for our theater. By 8:45, the line was all the way to the door and Lindsey and I got to say "told you so" (we didn't really, of course). But we got the best seats in the theater, even though Lindsey was so excited when they seated us (at 10:10, ahem Brandy and Rach) that she ran right past the door to our theater. Ahahaha. But anyway, it was a much better movie than I thought it would be and Lindsey and I were super pumped all the way home. Brandy didn't like it very much, but she never said why. I agree there were some things that should have been done differently, but hey-I would probably make mistakes if I was remaking a book into a movie too, you know? Poor Rachel got a migraine a little over half way through the movie, but she didn't want to leave, so she just kind of sat there with her eyes closed. She said she would have to go back to see how it ended. I felt bad that she had just sat there, but she seemed to be okay with it.

I know this is really short, but that's all the exciting stuff that has happened since last blog. So, yeah.

I have a test on Tuesday in Precalc...not excited. I can't wait for this semester to be over so that I can be done with that class. I'll miss French a little (mostly Philip and Mary) and I wish my Writing and Literature class wasn't ending! Other than that, I'm ready for a new semester.

Oh! Something cool: I'm taking Psychology next semester and, as an honors student in the class, I have the opportunity to take a lab where we teach behaviors to rats and research the results. Even though it will not be anything breakthrough, I get to go into the fancy research building that students aren't allowed in unless they're doing research (:D), and it will be really helpful for applying what I learn in class. Plus, how many people can say they've done research with rats?

At first I was like "not mandatory? It's at 11 in the morning, when I don't have any classes until 4? Rats? No, thanks." But then I thought about it and I decided it would be a really neat thing to have done.

So, THAT's it.

Love you guys!

A Break from Work

Recently, I've had time to stop working non-stop and spend time with my friends.

For one, the last weekend of October I went to Kalahari with Shawn for our anniversary.

It was nice to get away from Western for a bit and not think about working hard. I couldn't even look at homework because I didn't bring any with me. I left my laptop behind too, so I could completely enjoy my time away and the time I had with Shawn.

We spend quite a while at the waterpark on Saturday. It was a good time. We rode the waterslides, some of which are not for the fainthearted! We also got pictures with a little tiger cub named Jada. She was only ten weeks old and so cute! I have to scan the picture in. We made pottery and spent nearly all night in the arcade. It was great and I needed it.

Yesterday was Brandy's birthday! I spent most of the day with her, except for when we were in class. Her parents invited me and our friend Jenni (Rachel too, but she had class) to dinner with them at Red Robin and then they wouldn't even let us pay for our own meals! It was very kind of them. They invited us again to dinner tonight with Brandy's grandparents at Texas Roadhouse, but I declined, thinking that Brandy should have some strictly family time for her birthday weekend.

After that, we came back to my dorm and picked up Lindsey and Celeste and went over to Burnham hall, where we made Sugar Scrub. It's an organic exfoliant. Brown sugar, honey, olive oil. I haven't used it yet, but I'll let you know.

Then, we went back to Brandy's dorm because she wanted to watch Vampire Diaries and I was going to get ready over there, because we were going to Wild Bull. Wild Bull is a saloon, more or less, which becomes a club at night. Since Brandy was turning 18 and could never get into clubs before, Jenni and I agreed that she should go for her birthday. Jenni's friend Jessica came too. Again, Rachel was supposed to come, but she said something came up so she ended up not coming with us. As far as clubs go, this one was pretty mellow. Thursdays are college night, so it was mostly people our age there. Still, I wouldn't have gone with anyone else I know here at college. They played loud music- the Top 40 hits, pretty much. It's funny because it's pretty country in the saloon and restaurant area. It is near Western after all. Oh well. Either way we had a good time just dancing together and getting some time to enjoy life outside of school.

Brandy told me it was her best birthday to date. I could tell she had a really good time.

I'm so glad I was part of her birthday and such an important one too.

I really hope she and I are friends forever. She's great.

So, Tip # 9-Get away for a little while, so you don't go crazy.

Also, Tip #10-Don't go do things, especially clubbing, without people you trust.

Even if nothing happens, you have that support, because if something WERE to happen that made you uncomfortable, you want someone who can help you escape the situation.

That doesn't just go for the club. No matter where you go, scary things can happen.

I don't even walk to The Den Party Store for a Den Pop after it gets dark unless someone else is with me.

That's all for now. I've got one last midterm paper to write.

Oh yeah, my midterm for Gender and Communication is 5 papers! 4 of which are 2-3 page papers analyzing articles Dr. Wong gave us. The 5th is a reflection on how the class and the papers I wrote have changed the way I view and react to gender. Sound fun?

Not really, but I have been careful to not procrastinate. That's why I only have one left.

I can't say the same for some of my classmates. The midterm is due Tuesday and everyone was saying yesterday in class that they haven't even started writing any of their papers.

It's a wonder to me how people can truly wait until the last minute. Do you want to write 5 papers in a day or two? I finished my first paper on October 25th. I promise you I'm not as stressed as the other people in my class. :)