Lies

We went to Newport News tonight to have dinner with some of our college friends. Among them was Crazy Dan who is one if my very favorite people and he had some great insight into education & our generation:

"Going to college, getting a degree and having a career was a lie sold to our generation."

And we bought it, we all bought it.

Three Day

I'm writing this at 6:00 in the morning, from bed, and I haven't even been to sleep yet. I've always had trouble sleeping, but my inner clock is messed up from the last few days of my life, which have been an amazing enough experience that I thought I'd update my essentially inactive blog.


A friend of mine told me about this crazy contest where you have 72 hours to write a novel. You can visit the website here: www.3daynovel.com (it'll give you more information about the rules, which I won't really get into.) the main idea is this: start a novel at midnight on Saturday, finish it by 11:59 Monday night. The judges pick a winner and it gets published.

Somehow I let this girl I hardly know talk me into entering.

It was an amazing experience. I wasn't really sure what to expect but I can tell you this: I know how I'm spending my Labor Day weekend from now on.

You're allowed to prepare an outline. After several days of going back and forth about a new idea, I finally caved in to writing a story that has been in my head since 2007. I began at exactly midnight, and finished sometime late Monday afternoon, with several hours left to edit.

I worked crazy hours, I made significant plot changes, I cried a little. But I learned a lot about writing and quite a bit about my capabilities as a writer. If I put my mind to it, I can totally write a novel in three days. I felt like Jack Kerouac.

Ultimately, I produced a story that I'm really proud of. I would like to think it keeps readers on the edge of their seats and that the plot twist is hard to see coming. It's a draft, you know, but it's the first real story of any substantial length that I've ever finished. There is something in that thought - that I finally brought those characters to life - that made the whole weekend worthwhile.

I don't expect my story to win the contest and get published - but I feel like it could. I don't know how many entries they get every year, I don't know the standards they use to pick the winners. But I feel like I wrote something worth reading, something worth sharing.

In a month I'll allow myself to pick it up again, to read it, edit, revise. I'm sure I'll find things to change. And hopefully I will find places to expand, because outside the world of this contest, it would make a very short novel indeed. But I wrote the first draft in three days, and it was an experience I will never forget.

Safety

There is so much wrong with this picture that I don't even know where to start - don't try this at home, kids.

Real World, Week Whatever

I'm sort of vaguely aware of the fact that it is summer, because it is so freaking hot outside, but otherwise all of my days and nights string together in a way that I never really know what day of the week it is. Ah,  the post-grad, unemployed life.

Spent all of last week at a horse show with Patrick - he was a total rockstar. Couldn't be more proud of him. He got really good ribbons in Baby Greens with Amy against way fancier competitors. He was great for me - I made some mistakes though. Sadly I went off course in the only over fences class we stood a chance of pinning in. But he was absolutely wonderful.

I had a phone interview on Tuesday. This is my first hint at anyone wanting to hire me for a position. I think it went pretty well, and it was one of the jobs I applied for that I actually thought would be fun. Fingers crossed.

The biggest thing going on in my life right now, however, is a mystery back injury. It's muscular, we know that much. But the slightest movement sends shooting pains down my back. It started Sunday and it is now 3am on Thursday morning and I'm awake because of it - frankly, it's getting a little old & I'm over it. I am not allowed to ride for 3 weeks and I have to spend most of my time on some sort of strong medication - muscle relaxers or pain killers. I went to the ER Sunday and the PA I met with was dreadful, she hardly examined me and just gave me a prescription. Went to AOC Tuesday and met with someone who was a lot better - but they can't help me with physical therapy or anything until I am a little more comfortable. So I have a doctor's appointment next Tuesday morning and hopefully I'll be on the mend soon.

Anyway - I've decided to be productive with my unemployment. We've cleaned my room & closet and sent like 3 truckloads of stuff to Goodwill already, but I think I am going to start writing again. I didn't have the time when I was in school and right now I have nothing BUT time. I've watched more Netflix in the last month than I thought possible. And I'm ready for something a little more entertaining - I think writing could be a really nice way to unwind and relax.

Oh, and I'll try to blog more.

Princess

I will never love another dog as much as I love Phoebe.

Bored

I guess eventually I will yearn for the carefree days post-grad before I entered the workforce and while my parents still paid for everything. And being able to spend time with my fiancé for hours on end.

But really - I'm bored.

The good news is, I've been cleaning and riding and working out. So that it'll be easy to move into my own place and also, so I can be thin and fit again. But I would really like to be making money, you know. A little less time to do those things would be okay with me.

So - any day now I will start getting interviews, right? Positive thinking?

2012 Cubs

In a nutshell.

Real World Week 4

LIFE UPDATES
1. Looking for a job
2. I'm qualified for NOTHING
3. My fiancé is pretty awesome


LIFE GOALS
1. Get a job
2. Get an apartment
3. Start planning my wedding??

Not So Ordinary Day

Yesterday, after moving a bunch of our crap back from Newport News, and running a bunch of errands, Woody and I took a walk with our dogs out to Calais field on a gorgeous afternoon. Calais is a beautiful place - you've seen a handful of pictures of it trough the last few years if you've been following this blog for long or if you're my friend on Facebook. It is property that belongs to the barn where I grew up riding and is right down the street from where my parents live. It is one of my favorite places in the world.

Anyway- I donned my new glasses and and a tie-dye t shirt and we went off- Phoebe without a leash and Rusty kept closely tethered because we just don't trust him. It was hot so we stopped at a coop for a minute.

You should know that when Woody and I started dating, he didn't make plans in advance. He didn't think about the future and refused to commit to anything that happened more than 2 weeks away.

So I was sitting there, watching Rusty dig a hole to sit in, and Woody said, "Remember when I couldn't plan for anything more than 2 weeks ahead?" and then he got down on one knee and told me how now he couldn't stop planning a future with me. And he pulled out this ring and asked me to marry him and we both were crying and of course I said yes.

So I'm engaged. :)

Alarm Clock for Men

I'm very sensitive to alarm clocks. After I use the same one a couple times, my body will actually wake up to the pre-alarm "pop" or "click" that a lot of alarms make; if I'm using my phone's alarm like a normal modern person and not some cave dweller who still uses a clock radio, my body just becomes sort of half awake around the time my alarm usually goes off.

Woody can sleep through the first thirty seconds of any alarm. Actually, I'm pretty sure he could sleep through longer periods, it's just that after thirty seconds I have either turned it off myself or failed to find it and thus begin throwing pillows at him until he wakes up and turns it off.

I've been experiencing a lot of what I call Sleep Envy since the end of the semester. Woody falls asleep about two hours before I do every night and usually, although not always, sleeps in later. This is just wrong, all wrong. I love sleep more than any normal person should and I consider it a universal injustice if anyone I know gets to sleep when I cannot.

So this morning when Woody's alarm woke me up because we have to move the rest of our stuff back to Richmond - and I'd like to point out that he is currently sleeping right now- I thought I would pretend not to hear it and let him wake up and turn it off. After like 15 seconds of buzzing he hit the snooze button so just as I had gotten back to sleep - alright, alright - I'm up!

Rusty is a vampire

1. Fangs
2. He is definitely evil
3. He only comes inside if he has been invited.

Real World, Week 1

So I graduated, right?

As it turns out, a degree in history qualifies me for absolutely nothing. Except nannying and sales.

Ugh!

Graduation, or "Now what?"

I spent senior week in Key West with my family & boyfriend and my graduation at his sisters' dance event, but the fact of the matter is: I'm done. It's over.

With an A in senior seminar and Chinese history, and a C in African history, I have officially graduated from college.

I had a job offer to spend a year working on a breeding farm in PA, but ultimately turned it down. So now I have no prospects & no interviews and have to figure out what to do with my life. But the good news is that I can probably do it all from Richmond. And I will be okay as long as I am with him which is really all I care about.

Oh and our families live here, too. Hi, Mom. Hi, Kathy. Love you both.

Anyway, I have no idea what I'm going to do with myself now. 12 years of school followed by 8 years of college means the only thing I am really qualified to be is a professional student. Thank god that's no longer an option.

But really. Now what?

Love

I'll never need more than this <3

Crying So Hard: A Memoir

I just got my grades back for my semester. I didn't think that it was ever going to happen, that things would ever work out for me in the college years. I had gone from being one of the smartest and most motivated students in high school to a chronic under-achiever. I hated talking to my friends from high school because they all got out and started their lives and several of them are married now and starting families. I had never felt worse about myself and my (lack of) accomplishments than when I turned 25 and was still in undergrad with no foreseeable end in sight.

But I got my grades back today from my last semester. Everyone told me that I was going to be fine but I did not believe them. I had missed a lot of classes in China class and I had the worst professor in the school for my African history class. For most of the semester I thought he was going to fail me just because he didn't like me. I started running scenarios in my head about what next fall would be like if I had to stick around because I failed Africa class. At least my favorite professor wouldn't be on sabbatical and I would have had him to talk to. And they are offering some neat classes.

And I can't forget senior seminar. I was in tears this whole semeseter it seems due to the stress of this class. I got an A on my paper. An A in Senior Sem. I don't even know how that happened. It was so stressful, this whole semester was so stressful.


For most people - they say that college are the best years of their life. They are inbetween being in high school and under your parents' control, but you're not in the real world yet - so no real obligations other than class. So many people I know just loved their time at college. Maybe they were lucky and figured out what they wanted to do early on. Maybe they ended up at a school they really loved and made great friends.

I feel like most people who cry at graduation ceremonies are a mixture of excitement and sadness to leave behind their friends and the school that gave them such great memories.


But I have hated every single moment of college. Every day was a struggle. Going to college has been the absolute worst decision of my life and I wish I could tell my 18 year old self - no. Do not put yourself through 8 years of hell. Just keep working with horses, keep riding, and get a job in the equine world. Because otherwise you are going to hate your life for the next 8 years and then, when you're finally finished... you're going to go work with horses. It was not worth it. Not for me. Absolutely the only good thing that came out of college for me was meeting Woody.

So when I cry now - which I have been off an on since I got my grades back: it is relief. it is freedom. it is a joy i have never felt before in knowing that it is OVER. The worst 8 years of my life have finally ended.

And now I can finally start living
I am going to marry the man that I love
And I am going to work with horses like I have always dreamed of.

The End

I took my last final today.

I'm a little hesitant to believe that this is really the end; that after 8 years of college I am finally done. But the grades I got back before my finals indicate that this would be the case.

• Africa class: 89 on midterm, B- on paper, B on presentation - and the final felt alright. I couldn't do the identification questions, but whatever.
• China class: 85 on midterm, 95 on paper, and all of my in class presentations went really well. I took this final today and it was really exactly what I expected - I felt really well prepared for it. I'm sure it won't be a perfect score but I am super happy with it, I know I did the best I could have possibly done.
• Senior seminar: A on my presentation, A- on my paper, and A on my critique of another student's paper mean I ended up with an A in the class. PSYCHED. This class was awful, all semester - just so much work and so exhausting. But I did it, and ended up by far with the best grade of all my classes this semester.

I was originally in a literature class that I dropped before spring break because of the workload, it was making me fall behind in my other classes and it was just an elective anyway.


This weekend I am going to PA about a job.
A week from tomorrow I fly to Florida with Woody and my parents for a graduation celebration in Key West and Key Largo! This is what I asked for as a graduation present - part of me is sort of wishing I had something tangible that I could hold on to, especially since I am skipping the graduation ceremony, but what I am in need of most of all is FUN. This has been by far the most stressful semester of my college career and I feel like I haven't had a good time since spring break. I'm ready for it!

Princess

Saint Patrick

Really missing my boy today!

Walking

We went on a really nice walk after class today. I used a walking app on my phone and we went about 2 miles, just around our neighborhood and down to the river. Rusty went in to swim and that was cute!

I'm going to go for a run in the morning, this app is really cool. It tracks how far you go and your pace, shows your route on a map, and will even design a running work out for you. I really need to get back in shape and this makes it more fun, at least for now.

Anyway here are some pictures from today!

Spring

This is my problem...

Regardless of how much I slept the night before...

If I go to bed at 10:00 PM, I wake up before 2 AM. 4 hours of sleep, max. Then I can't get back to sleep.

If I go to bed at 2 AM, I sleep for 8 hours. Lovely. The trouble is always falling asleep though.

The last few nights I have not been able to fall asleep, laying awake in bed all night. Hate it. So tonight I took nyquil around 8:30 to help sleep. I figured that since I was exhausted from not sleeping for two nights it would knock me out and I would be able to rest, finally, and finish my paper and just be done with this semester. Woke up at like 1:00. FML. This sucks.

College is the worst, don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

How I am Doing

If you're curious about how I'm handling the stress of my (hopefully) last semester of college, I have spent all of today in bed, most of it crying because I'm so exhausted and frustrated from not sleeping and from the workload of professors who seem to be conducting an experiment about whether or not it is possible to kill students via assigning everything with the same due date.

I believe the answer to that hypothesis is no, but you'll make them all wish you could!

So yeah. If I can get it together long enough to write this eight page paper by 2;00 tomorrow - I haven't started, though I've finished all of my other assignments, finally - I might actually make it out of college alive. Or as a sleep-deprived zombie, but as long as I get out of here, who cares!!!

Quotes from real life

"You're a good real boyfriend but you're a horrible virtual boyfriend."

He never responds to anything on Facebook, ever, from me or anyone else, haha.

Texts From Dog

If you aren't following this Tumblr, you should be:

http://textfromdog.tumblr.com/

Proof, or Disc Golf: a Review

I have proof that Woody is my true love, in case there were any non-believers left in the audience: I was asked to go disc-golfing with some of his friends. And I did it.

Disc-golfing, if you're curious, is like a cross between frisbee and golf. Not as much mini-golf, like I was hoping. I really had no interest in playing but as I spent most of Woody's birthday in bed with a migraine, I felt obligated.

I regretted this decision immediately. You could start by calling it a walk in the woods and also across open fields, and I immediately wished I had my horse with me. It was a nice day, a little chilly, but we were walking through trails that wove in and out of the woods. It was like taking a trail ride, on foot. I believe non-horse people call this "hiking."

Anyway, the game. So you have a frisbee disc and you throw it around a golf course, but there is a basket/net/goal apparatus instead of a hole in the ground. There are 18 "holes" and the objective is to get around the course with the fewest tosses. Like golf, sort of. And there are no golf carts, this is an active game for active people. Did your frisbee accidentally go the opposite direction? Into the creek? Down a hill? Well you better start walking.

It has its potential as a group activity. We had a group of six and although you are each supposed to have your own disc, we only had three so we split into teams. Woody and I were the worst team. It's not a very intense game, you just sort of throw a frisbee around and then walk after it. But it gets you moving and works your upper body. My shoulder is KILLING me today. Also, it will provoke a group of twenty-something males to start doing cartwheels in public. Well, that might have been the beer, but it was amusing nevertheless.

So, there you have it: if you have ever felt the desire to take a trail ride, without a horse, while throwing a frisbee around, then disc golf is for you.

This Commercial

Every time.

Draw Something

I am getting really proud of my Draw Something skills.

(This is a Koopa from the Mario series of video games)

College, Post-Grad

I have a lot of important decisions to make re: what I'm going to do with my life.

Of course, none of them are going to matter when I fail everything and have to repeat my last semester of college.

Life these days

All I do, ever.

Pizza overdose. Please pray.

Hunger Games

Woody and I were supposed to go see Hunger Games tonight, but we bought tickets for tomorrow night instead. So now we have to entertain ourselves with regular games.

Libby: What is this?
Woody: (shrugs) Scrabble?

He teases me and gets away with it, that's how you can tell I love him.

New Rules for College

1. If a professor doesn't allow you to use technology in class, they shouldn't be allowed to use it either. (No computer for me = no computer for you.)

2. If you are a crazy lunatic, don't expect us to take you seriously.

3. Understand that we don't hate you because you are making us do work; we hate you because you're an asshole.

4. Now I understand why people in college drink all the time.

Running Totals

This trip:

Woody:
Virginia
Delaware

Libby:
Virginia
Iowa
Louisiana

Total score:
Woody: 27
Libby: 34

And just in case you think he isn't getting a fair shot, I drove more than half of the trip yesterday, although clearly he is driving this morning which allows me to write today.

Have we been over the rules?

1. No parked cars
2. Both of us have to be present
3. Each car only counts once
4. First person to find all 50 states wins dinner and a movie of their choice as well as the trophy sitting on our mantle right now
5. When crossing a state border, it doesn't count as a new state until you turn off the car, get out and then get back on the road

We started January 17 and clearly I am going to win any day now ;)

Adventures in GPSing

I cannot say this strongly enough: Never underestimate my ability to get myself, and everyone in my vehicle, completely and hopelessly lost.

There was a running joke in my archeology class last spring that I was always in the last car to arrive at a new location because they either let me drive or navigate. No really, I was there one time when they made it, which made the joke even funnier to them at the time because I was finally in on it.

My parents gave me a GPS for Christmas, which I had long sense put off because people become dependent on these things and can't get anywhere without them, and I didn't want that to be me. I'm already so directionally challenged. But anyway we have the GPS on this trip and for the most part it has come in handy.

In my excitement yesterday when finding a Virginia plate while out of state, I tapped Woody's leg, upon which sat the GPS, and I touched the screen instead of his leg by accident, unknowingly adding a detour to our trip, which took us significantly out of our way and made us circle back on our trip.

I WISH I was kidding.

Thankfully Woody noticed before too much damage was done, but I think we have learned a valuable lesson here: I'm a lost cause. Literally.

Road Trip

Passing a cop car in Lacrosse County...

Woody: Lacrosse Police.
Libby: Aren't they just called referees?
Woody: You guys are taking your job much too seriously.

High brow

Got my eyebrows done today, finally. But I went to a new girl and she didn't make them even.

My left eyebrow is permanently surprised; my right is normal. I look seriously comical. Like a cartoon or something.

#firstworldproblems

I would not give up falling asleep next to him for anything in the world. He gives me a love and happiness I've never known.

Sleepless

I'm not even a little tired, so here is what's been going on with me:
1. Rusty was vomiting what seems to be, essentially, poop for about 12 hours
2. I got smacked on the head with a chair by some moving company guy, and if you have never had a head injury I do NOT recommend it.
3. I spent Sunday night with Woody's family and it was so much fun, I love them all. I always wanted to be a part of a real family - nothing against my own of course but I hate being an only child and i have always wanted a big family; I finally feel like I have that now.
4. There was a fire in the apartment complex where Woody & I were hoping to move this summer and all I can think about is how that sucks for me because they will have less available units.
5. I am done with midterms but tomorrow I am meeting with my senior sem advisor (who has now addressed me as "Mr. Montgomery" in multiple emails) so he can tell me what a crappy job I've done on my paper do far.
6. Speaking of tomorrow, I am also going to the chiropractor which is glorious and gives me something to look forward to.
7. I've never, ever been happier than I am right now.

Love of my life

Me: Whatcha doing?
W: Nothing. Just taking a nap until bed time. And then I will go to sleep.

Do not do a balk please

My dad emailed me this last summer, and in honor of the approach of spring training and more importantly, baseball season, I wanted to share it:

Balks are so complicated. If you sat me down and asked me to write out, to the best of my understanding, the Major League Baseball rule book, the section for "balks" would look something like this.

BALK RULES! IMPORTANT!
1. You can't just be up there and just doin' a balk like that.
1a. A balk is when you
1b. Okay well listen. A balk is when you balk the
1c. Let me start over
1c-a. The pitcher is not allowed to do a motion to the, uh, batter, that prohibits the batter from doing, you know, just trying to hit the ball. You can't do that.
1c-b. Once the pitcher is in the stretch, he can't be over here and say to the runner, like, "I'm gonna get ya! I'm gonna tag you out! You better watch your butt!" and then just be like he didn't even do that.
1c-b(1). Like, if you're about to pitch and then don't pitch, you have to still pitch. You cannot not pitch. Does that make any sense?
1c-b(2). You gotta be, throwing motion of the ball, and then, until you just throw it.
1c-b(2)-a. Okay, well, you can have the ball up here, like this, but then there's the balk you gotta think about.
1c-b(2)-b. Fairuza Balk hasn't been in any movies in forever. I hope she wasn't typecast as that racist lady in American History X.
1c-b(2)-b(i). Oh wait, she was in The Waterboy too! That would be even worse.
1c-b(2)-b(ii). "get in mah bellah" -- Adam Water, "The Waterboy." Haha, classic...
1c-b(3). Okay seriously though. A balk is when the pitcher makes a movement that, as determined by, when you do a move involving the baseball and field of
2. Do not do a balk please.

Ping Pong & Baseball

So on Friday, Woody came home with a tournament sized ping pong table. Oh hell yes. We spent the rest of the night constructing it, it folds and stores, we can't wait to have people over to play, but we've already played some ourselves. Super fun.

Also - I'm running a fantasy baseball league with a bunch of my friends and I set everything up today and I am sosososososo excited.


Also, there's been Graduation-related drama, will update later. Right now I'm playing video games with my man :)

Out of State Update

Out of State LPG: I'm ahead 17-16.

The real difference here is that I have Alaska and I think it'll be awhile until he finds another one.

Although we have realized the game can't end until we go out of state - together - and one of us finds Virginia.

Sanity

These decapitated bear toys have me really starting to question the sanity and possible anger issues of our favorite little black dog, Rusty.

6.97

Tell me Kristin Bell is not the cutest thing you have ever seen. I love her as an actress - I watch all of her movies (and Veronica Mars is Phoebe's favorite TV show!) and this just makes me love her more. I'm sure by now you've all seen this clip but I don't even care, I adore her.

Mr. Montgomery

My senior seminar professor just sent me an email addressed to "Mr. Montgomery" and there are only three conclusions I can draw from this:

1. He doesn't remember who I am and guessed I was a man
2. He thinks I look like a man
3. Typo

While I understand that the third choice is most likely the answer, am I completely irrational for assuming it is still one of the first two options?

New or Current Obsessions

Twix bars
70 degree weather in the middle of winter
The HBO series "Oz"
Videos about "shit people say"
Thursday
My horse
Losing weight
Living in the moment

Out of State

I've been unnaturally quiet this month - on the internet, at least. In real life I am as loud as ever - always the loudest person in my class, or at least my group of friends is. I am sure everyone finds us obnoxious but laughing gets me through classes about Africa (so over it.) My workload this semester is already worse than I was hoping for just 12 credits; I gave one class presentation on Friday and I have another one on Tuesday, not to mention all of the reading.

I'm writing my senior thesis on Mikhail Gorbachev - uhh. I'm not thrilled with this topic but out of the possibilities, it was the one I felt the most comfortable with, since I studied him last year in Communism's Collapse and I feel like I can write a decent paper on him. I'd much rather be writing about something in pop culture, or 20th C America, or maybe Ancient Rome - a topic I actually find interesting enough to want to spend at least 25 pages on and months and months of research - which is pretty much my biggest complaint about CNU's history department. The faculty are amazing but there's really no specialization.

So... At one point - I think it was freshman year - my roommates Melissa and Alanna taught us a game about license plates from out of state. Basically - the first one to see an out of state license plate can punch someone else in the car (Montana! PUNCH) and then the other person just has to deal with it and hope that they find the next one. I taught Woody this game - although the punching is replaced by any sort of physical contact like tapping- and we had gotten pretty competitive about it. So naturally we decided to turn this into a real game. I made little score cards with the 50 states listed - and we keep them in my car. And any time we go out the game is ON. Today I found Texas, Tennessee and Michigan - and I'm currently winning. Being able to keep score makes this game so much more fun. The first one of us to find all 50 states gets dinner and a movie from the other, so the stakes are high. It's intense, let me tell you.

What I love about our relationship is that it is so fun - he keeps me laughing every day, even when I'd rather not, and he always knows just what to do to make me smile. It's a pretty amazing talent because when I've just had my presentation torn to shreds by the professor or done poorly on a quiz I can be really hard on myself, but he gets me to take things less seriously. And somehow I think I get him to take things more seriously. We definitely bring out the best in each other.


Also - do NOT challenge us to a game of Scramble with Friends because you will lose. This game is super addictive and super fun, and we are an unbeatable team of word-finding awesomeness.

Super-super-super-Senioritis?

Woody just made me breakfast before I have to go to class today. Delicious and sweet!

I don't want to go to class today. I don't want to go to class, ever. W has a last minute semester off from school and despite the circumstances under which this has happened, I am so jealous. I know everyone says that once they've graduated and they're in the real world all they want to do is go back to college - but I am so over it. 8 years, guys. It is TIME for me to be out of here - and I don't really do the typical college thing, anyway, with the parties and the socializing and the drinking until I vomit.

Anyway, it's got me wondering just how bad this semester will be for me. Not only do I not care at all about college anymore, I am not looking forward to a single one of my classes - 20th C Africa, Society and Culture in China, Senior Seminar, and some Children's lit class - these are the sort of history classes that make students want to major in absolutely anything except history. I hate that at this school you can't specialize. If I had really understood that it was going to be an important thing about being a history major - or that I would have been a history major at all - I would have gone to another school.

So essentially, my prediction for this semester is that I am going to hate my classes. And I just hope I can manage to make it to them and that they aren't as bad as I am expecting but if I have learned anything from my college experience it is don't put off the "other regions of the world" history credits until your last semester. At least I only have to take 12 credits. But I'm wondering how badly senioritis will kick in because I am faced with classes that seem so dull I fall asleep just considering them, and combining that with an 8 year relationship with college that I am definitely ready to end.. let's just say I'm a little concerned with my ability to keep my focus.

Thankfully the rest of my life is amazing - Woody and my friends and my dogs and my horse, and I am counting on all of them to keep me sane through the end of this semester.

Zelda

I'm currently curled up in bed with Phoebe, while Woody is sitting next to me playing Zelda and Rusty, fresh from the groomer's, is running around the room chasing his tail like some sort of mental patient. I just need to say - I love my life. Even though I've been so sick for the last 3 days that I have hardly left bed.

Right before Christmas we finished play Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. This was a game I bought in 2008 right after I got the Wii for my birthday - and I got dreadfully stuck trying to play it. I picked it up again last fall and could not get past the water temple and asked Woody to help me. We spent a lot of hours solving puzzles and beating baddies together - it was fun. And for Christmas he got me Zelda: Skyward Sword. We've been playing it ever since, and we are about to beat it. Which has been a lot of fun but I'm sort of sad. The good thing about this is that we finish it before the semester starts - so I can focus more. Except that he also got me Paper Mario... but let's not focus on that, haha. Anyway the point is that I love just hanging out and playing video games with him - and Zelda has all the best puzzles.

I can't believe that classes start Wednesday. If all goes well this should be my last semester of undergrad. Cross your fingers for me! Woody's, too. Then we can graduate and move on to the next chapter of our lives. If I can get through this - I am super worried about senior sem since 390 kicked my ass so hard, and I really should get a job but my schedule is kind of weird for that and it stresses me out so much to work and go to school at the same time, I never get enough time off to keep my sanity. But I am so broke - so, so broke. Ugh. Everything we'll be okay, right? Right?

Thirst quenching

I just woke up from a dream in which I was REALLY thirsty, so I drank a bottle of water. In real life. In the dream this solution was somehow just out of my grasp.

What? I've been sick for three days, sorry my life isn't more glamorous for you.

June Bug Skippin!

I am so thrilled! My favorite Youtube star and Twitter friend Flula made me a video shout out today! This is cooler than any other celebrity talking to me because I watch his video every week and have shared him with so many of my friends - he brings so much laughter to so many people! YAY Flula!



His video description is this: "I hope you are great June Bug! You are dope and danke! Someone interrupting the vid at end, oh yes! At all a rate Danke JBS!!"

SO COOL!

2012

Holy shit it's 2012! Sorry, language, but there isn't really another way to express the fact that last year is over and a new one has started. I mean holy shit, you guys, it's 2012.

My resolution is to lose weight and keep it off. I've gained about 10 lbs since Woody and I started dating, why does that always happen?? Anyway. He also wants to lose weight so that's something we can do together.

Other resolutions include getting this house cleaned up, fixed up, and ready to sell. The kitchen is still a disaster area but we also need to work on the little bedroom and the porch- and a ton of little projects in other rooms.

Other, more big things could happen this year. Like hey, I am supposed to graduate in May, if I can keep my sanity that long. Woody and I are planning an early summer trip for post-graduation. I'm looking forward to that more than any of you know. And then, you know, real world. All that.

2011 was a year of really high ups and crazy lows. I am so glad that year is finally over- it was stressful for everyone in my life, including my parents. But it definitely ended on a high note, I got to ring in the new year with an amazing man and could not be happier with our relationship or the direction it's headed. (Psst, its headed to serious town - serious, serious town.) My horse, my amazing horse has come so far in his training and overcome an injury and is the most perfect animal. And Rusty and Phoebe have become best friends- they are inseparable!

Right now I'm laying in bed helping the boyfriend solve puzzles on Zelda before bed - and I could not be happier.