Okay, so it's been so long since I posted on here that I'm not sure what I said last post. Therefore, I apologize if I repeat myself, but I'm too lazy to go back and read the old one. ;p
Anyway, onto the spoils:
I am still volunteering at the Kalamazoo Valley Museum, which is super fun. However, it turns out that the only time I'm available this semester to volunteer there is November 10. This is due to all the other cool stuff I am doing:
I am volunteering at Heritage Community, which a Senior Living center in Kalamazoo. I go to Amber Place, which is an assisted living center in the community, every other Tuesday (I used to go every Tuesday, but with everything else, I had to ask my supervisor Rebecca to cut back :/) and read to a group of residents. Last week, there was a line dancing activity during my reading block, but one of the residents, Dick, didn't want to go, so I had a one-on-one session with him. I read the Wonderful Wizard of Oz, which I had begun to read the week prior. Of course, since most of the assisted living residents are memory care patients, he did not recall this. He asked me to recap the story up to the point I was reading (he thoroughly enjoyed hearing it at the time, but was glad to hear it again--to him, for the first time). As I had hoped, he loved my reading to him once again. He laughed at all the right parts and was actively listening to me and looking at me as I was reading. He's such a sweet man! It made me feel really good to make his day, even if he won't remember it once I'm gone.
Also, doing Bronco Buddies again. I have yet to hear back from her, as I recently sent my first letter. But she seems like a sassy little thing and I hope she's fun! She's very "grown up" for a fourth grader. Near the end of her note, she told me "My best friend is Emma, she's in my class. We hang out (not play) together. And by the way, my picture is not updated." xD
I still email KK, but apparently she's an extremely busy fifth grader and can only email me once a month or so.
And the biggest news, I think: I joined a sorority!
Pi Beta Phi. Our philanthropy is Child Literacy (hi, I wanna be a literacy coach!) and we do some regular ol' literacy on the side. My sisters are super cool, and super sweet. A lot of them are just as geeky as me, they dig Harry Potter and appreciate my dry humor. We always get some good laughs in at sisterhood events. Can't wait to get my big and become initiated!!!
This is Leeann, a friend of Kat's, and now my sister!
This is Dani, or pledge educator. Love her!
We had our first sisterhood event soon after, where we all decorated a puzzle piece. Then, Lidia, our president, put them all together to make the puzzle of Pi Phi, with each piece representing the members. So cute, right!?
The ATO Fraternity boys came by to welcome us new members and give us carnations (or sorority flower)!
My puzzle piece
Some of the other puzzle pieces, drying :)
I'm sworn to secrecy on some things that have to do with Pi Beta Phi and what we do within it, but I CAN tell you that it's already been a wonderful experience and while we have sisterhoods every Tuesday and meetings every Sunday, it's lovely to know that I have people I can turn to and that I can call my sisters. <3 p="p">
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Lately, I've been feeling very burnt out. Between all the cool extra curriculars that I'm doing and my academics, I've got a lot on my plate. While I don't want to give anything up, I feel like I'm not doing anything for myself, even though I'm doing things that are worthwhile.
I hadn't seen Lindsey in ages, but today, we had plans and those plans became a spontaneous explosion of events:
We went to Mongolian for dinner, ate too much, like always. Then, as we're sitting there waiting for the checks, Lindsey goes "I really want my cartilage pierced. Can we go to the mall?" So, of course, we went to the mall. But she didn't want to do it alone and it seemed like the perfect way for me to do something for myself, which coincidentally I had been searching for, and I got to do it with a great friend of mine. In fact, she'd said earlier that day "It's like I never left you, Sam." <3 gee="gee" her.="her." i="i" love="love" p="p">
Anyhow, so then we went shopping a little and maybe spent a bit too much money, but it was a good time and we can't regret that. Plus, there were some awesome deals we just couldn't pass up!
We'd had plans to meet my Pi Pal (one of my Pi Phi sisters), Carmen, at Pinz to go bowling. Ladies night, $1 games, $2 shoes! WHAT WHAT! So we had to hurry over to the alley to meet her on time, but then it turned out she was late too because another of our sisters, Emily, and her Pi Pal, Sam (haha) wanted to come too! So we all played 3 games together, spent only $5 and had a great time together, even though we're all awful at bowling!
Lindsey's lovely (notice the ball is already in the gutter) technique.
She got a strike!
The final score of game 3.
But we weren't done yet! We both needed to go to Meijer, so we scooted on over there and bought some stuff. Then, around eleven, she finally brought me back to my dorm. We learned that she has a good chunk of time between classes on Wednesday, so she's going to come hang out in the dorm with me until her class, instead of the boring ol' library, since I'm right here by both her classes. :) That means we'll see each other at least once a week!! The best end to a not go greatly started day. <3 p="p">
