Ode to Valentine's Day

I've never been particularly fond of Valentine's Day, not because I've never had a significant other to celebrate with, but because I think the idea is slightly ridiculous. Why do couples/families/friends need a special day to show each other how much they are in love? I, for one, would rather be surprised with flowers/chocolates on a random, insignificant day than be given a gift on a day when my love feels obligated to give me something. But alas, I don't make the rules for holidays, so I just had to bear with the rest of the world as they shared their love yesterday.

My Valentine's Day was really just another Monday. I rung in the holiday by taking (and probably failing) an Astronomy exams. Exams usually take me 20 minutes, this one took the entire class period and half the questions completely stumped me. After the exam, I ate lunch with Elise, Gabe, Chrissy, and Mark. Funny story: Burger King was out of burgers. How does that happen?

Anyway, after lunch Chrissy and I went outside the Student Union and got a romantical picture taken by the photographer the school hired. They were doing caricatures too, but the line was wayy too long, so Chrissy and I left campus and went to Waterford to get Valentines for her friends. We visited Nicole, got delicious cupcakes, and then I went home to study/watch Pretty Little Liars.

Not the most excited V-day, I know, but I still had a good time. People tend to expect too much out of Valentine's Day. They expect to find their true love, have the perfect day, etc. etc. I just expected to have a normal day with a little extra chocolate thrown in. And that's exactly what I got.

Things I Learned Today

I spent most of my day running around town doing random tasks, but I still managed to learn a few things. Some things are more useful than others... but I thought I'd still share.

1) Spending 12 hours cramming for 4 Child Care test may be stressful, but it can also be satisfying and have a good end result. (I passed the 4 tests I needed to take.)

2) I can hold my breath for 45 seconds. Nichole can only hold hers for 25. Having breath-holding contests on a gloomy day at snack time is a great way to laugh.

3) When a boy owes you money, never ever tell them they don't have to pay a portion of it back. They will not understand your sarcasm and will refuse to give you the rest of the owed amount.

4) Online assignments are becoming increasingly hard to complete. There are a million more interesting things that have nothing to do with astronomy out there.

5) I have 5 of the cutest "chosen" cousins in the whole world. And I'm blessed to have this time with them. I can't believe how fast they're all growing! (I already knew that though.)

6) Spending less than 5 minutes talking to my best friend makes me happy after not seeing each other for 2 weeks.

I Heart Wednesday Hodgepodge

I've finally decided to join the Wednesday Hodgepodge my good friend at Proverbs 31 does each week. It's written by Joyce if you want to join in too. Here goes nothing...

1. What is more important - doing what you love or loving what you do?

- This is hard to answer in a coherent statement.... Basically, if you are able to do what you love, then do it. But if you can't (maybe you can't afford to live off the job you love) then you need to love what you do. It's impossible to be happy if you're not doing one or the other.

2. Do you like Bleu Cheese?

- I actually love it. Maybe not as much as other do, but I still find it delicious. I remember the day my friend, Bethany, told me how it's made. I was grossed out for about 10 minutes, but then decided it was too delicious to stop eating and proceeded to make a salad drenched in the stuff.

3. What is the most difficult emotion for you to handle?

- Probably fear. Fear of the unknown, fear of death, fear of bees. They're all paralyzing for me. I can handle grief and sadness just fine. But the second something scares me, I go into a vegetable-like state. I think I'm learning to cope with it, but it's still difficult.

4. Fresh flowers or a box of chocolate.

- Flowers. I've been trying to give up chocolate, but it's been hard. The box of Kinder from my German friends has been calling my name.

5. What's a song you love that has the word 'love' in its title? It doesn't have to be a 'love song'.

- "I Love College" by Asher Roth. Okay, kidding. Don't listen to that song, seriously, don't. I'll have to go with "Elephant Love Melody" from Moulin Rouge. Listening to it brings back fond memories of sitting on one of my best friend's bed or riding in the car serenading each other.

6. Are you the person you wanted to be when you grew up?

- Considering I'm not grown up all the way yet, this is a bit hard to answer. But I can tell you that if present me went back and told middle school me I'd be hanging out with the people I'm hanging out with, I wouldn't have believed myself. In some regards, I'm exactly who I wanted to be, but in others, I've strayed from the path. There are still several things I want to accomplish in my life, so you'll have to get back to me in a few years for a real answer to this question.

7. Any special Valentines Day plans?

- My plans haven't been 100% verified yet, but I believe the plan is to get together with a couple of my friends and have dinner. Or make Chris cook dinner for us. We're still in the process of planning.

8. Insert your own random thought here.

- Life has a great sense of humor. A couple weeks ago, I was complaining about how easy this semester was and how I never have any work to do. Life decided that it wanted to be funny (or not so funny) so I now have to create a website, read two 60 pages chapters for one class, do 2 assignments and read two 30 page chapters for another, and study for a HUGE astronomy test. For some odd reason, I don't appreciate this type of humor.

Procrastination is the key

The key to failure that is.... When I made my schedule for this semester I got really excited about all the free time I was going to have to study and relax. Five(?) weeks into the semester, I've realized that studying has been thrown out the window and relaxing/napping have taken over my life. I'm currently 3 chapters behind in Intro to Education and 1.5 chapters behind in Astronomy. I have a group project due in my online technology class that half my group hasn't bothered to start. Two of my education classes require 30 hours of observation; I've done none. (But I'll probably just end up using the preschool since it qualifies as diverse.) I'm taking 4 tests for my DCF Child Care certification tomorrow and I just now finished the modules. Oh, and I totally just bologna-sandwiched my Music tests (but I got an 88 on one and a 94 on the other) because they're due Sunday night.

I didn't realize how much I've been procrastinating until today in Astronomy. I was sitting there thoroughly confused (partially due to my having not read the chapters and partially due to the fact that my professor spends 45 minutes speaking gibberish) and I realized I don't know what my test (on Valentine's Day) covers. Yikes! I need to nip this problem in the bud before I seriously do start failing my classes. Maybe I should make a list of goals everyday and reward myself for accomplishing them. Or maybe I should deactivate my facebook until I get caught up (haha, yeah right). I'm not sure what I'll end up doing but something needs to change fast!!!!!

A couple side notes before I get back to studying....

+ Good luck to my Gemini Blvd friends tomorrow! Kick some ICCA butt!

+ The one accomplishment I made this week was deciding where I'm living next year. It's basically been confirmed (pending a tour with Keegan).

+ Glee comes back Sunday!!!! (yet another thing to distract me from studying)

(Not so) Shocking Statistics

Every year, UCLA does a survey of over 200,000 college freshman from 290 colleges and universities. The survey asks about emotional health, financial worries, political stances, and reasons for entering college. While this survey has been conducted for several years, I didn't hear about it until now. Apparently its results are making national news because of one area: emotional well-being. A record low number of students reported their emotional well-being as above average and a record high number of incoming students reported feeling overwhelmed before even entering college. Stress levels are up and so is depression. While the news is making these statistics out to be shocking and out of the blue, I personally can't see how anyone didn't see this coming.

Nowadays, high school graduates are expected to go to college. Anyone who decides to take a different path is often viewed as lazy or stupid. Movies paint college as a 4-year long party. No stress, no worries, just lots of alcohol and plenty of sex. Classes are optional, tests are easy, and studying is for nerds. No wonder college freshman are stressed and depressed! They get to college and try to live it like the movies but they soon find themselves failing classes, on academic probation, pregnant, or burnt out. I'm not speaking from inexperience here, I've seen all of these things happen. I know college freshman that have flunked out or had babies. I know what it's like to be miserable, but that's a completely different story.

Instead of dwelling on the terrible statistics, shouldn't we be trying to fix them? High schools need to do a better job at preparing their students for college. Teachers need to stop babying high school seniors and make them realize that a college professor is going to give you one due date. They don't care who ate your homework, what game was on last night, or who got broken up with. They just want your paper. The media needs to stop showing as much of the fun part of college and get real. Sure, going to parties is fun. But parties last five hours or so, leaving plenty of extra time that should be used for studying. Nerds aren't the only ones who study. I've seen basketball players in the library. I have to fight for a table every day just so I can put my stuff down in our crowded 5 floor library!

And if you're struggling with your emotional well-being right now, please remember that it will get better. It may not seem like it now, but I promise it will. It was only a year ago that I was sitting in my dorm room wondering when I'd be able to genuinely smile again. Now I'm happier than I've ever been. Isolate the cause of your stress and remove it.

I really don't know why I wrote all of this, I just felt like it needed to be said. /end rant.

Paranoia

I've been told multiple times in my life that it's a good thing I don't do drugs because if I did, I'd probably end up hurting myself due to my excessive paranoia. Ever since I was small, I've had irrational fears and odd mannerisms and as I've grown older, those mannerisms have grown ever more strange.

Take Friday for example. I was walking to the parking garage with my friend Gabe, and we were talking about gas stations and cars. I suddenly remembered a story I heard from one of my high school friends. Here's how the story goes.... There was a group of friends in Tallahassee who all contracted AIDS. These men were angry and decided to take their anger out on innocent citizens of Tally. They got syringes, drew some of their infected blood, and rigged the needles up to random gas pumps. When innocent citizens would come to pump gas, they would get stabbed with the needles and roughly 20 more people contracted AIDS. I told Gabe this story and then told him that I'm deathly afraid of getting stabbed when I go to pump gas. So now, instead of just pulling the pump out and putting it straight into my car, I grab the pump from the top, flip it over, and inspect it for needles before letting it anywhere near my car. I also told him about how I inspect the card reader for those identity theft devices before swiping my debit card.

But like I said, this paranoia isn't new to me. When I was younger, I slept with a little bat under my pillow. You know, the free ones you use to get for being one of the first thousand people at a ball game. I couldn't fall asleep unless my hand was under my pillow, gripping the back so I'd be prepared to bludgeon anyone who tried to kill me in my sleep.

If that's not paranoia, I don't know what is.

Interesting....

The English language really is the hardest to learn. Just try reading this poem.

Dearest creature in creation,
Study English pronunciation.
I will teach you in my verse
Sounds like corpse, corps, horse, and worse.
I will keep you, Suzy, busy,
Make your head with heat grow dizzy.
Tear in eye, your dress will tear.
So shall I! Oh hear my prayer.
Just compare heart, beard, and heard,
Dies and diet, lord and word,
Sword and sward, retain and Britain.
(Mind the latter, how it’s written.)
Now I surely will not plague you
With such words as plaque and ague.
But be careful how you speak:
Say break and steak, but bleak and streak;
Cloven, oven, how and low,
Script, receipt, show, poem, and toe.
Hear me say, devoid of trickery,
Daughter, laughter, and Terpsichore,
Typhoid, measles, topsails, aisles,
Exiles, similes, and reviles;
Scholar, vicar, and cigar,
Solar, mica, war and far;
One, anemone, Balmoral,
Kitchen, lichen, laundry, laurel;
Gertrude, German, wind and mind,
Scene, Melpomene, mankind.
Billet does not rhyme with ballet,
Bouquet, wallet, mallet, chalet.
Blood and flood are not like food,
Nor is mould like should and would.
Viscous, viscount, load and broad,
Toward, to forward, to reward.
And your pronunciation’s OK
When you correctly say croquet,
Rounded, wounded, grieve and sieve,
Friend and fiend, alive and live.
Ivy, privy, famous; clamour
And enamour rhyme with hammer.
River, rival, tomb, bomb, comb,
Doll and roll and some and home.
Stranger does not rhyme with anger,
Neither does devour with clangour.
Souls but foul, haunt but aunt,
Font, front, wont, want, grand, and grant,
Shoes, goes, does. Now first say finger,
And then singer, ginger, linger,
Real, zeal, mauve, gauze, gouge and gauge,
Marriage, foliage, mirage, and age.
Query does not rhyme with very,
Nor does fury sound like bury.
Dost, lost, post and doth, cloth, loth.
Job, nob, bosom, transom, oath.
Though the differences seem little,
We say actual but victual.
Refer does not rhyme with deafer.
Foeffer does, and zephyr, heifer.
Mint, pint, senate and sedate;
Dull, bull, and George ate late.
Scenic, Arabic, Pacific,
Science, conscience, scientific.
Liberty, library, heave and heaven,
Rachel, ache, moustache, eleven.
We say hallowed, but allowed,
People, leopard, towed, but vowed.
Mark the differences, moreover,
Between mover, cover, clover;
Leeches, breeches, wise, precise,
Chalice, but police and lice;
Camel, constable, unstable,
Principle, disciple, label.
Petal, panel, and canal,
Wait, surprise, plait, promise, pal.
Worm and storm, chaise, chaos, chair,
Senator, spectator, mayor.
Tour, but our and succour, four.
Gas, alas, and Arkansas.
Sea, idea, Korea, area,
Psalm, Maria, but malaria.
Youth, south, southern, cleanse and clean.
Doctrine, turpentine, marine.
Compare alien with Italian,
Dandelion and battalion.
Sally with ally, yea, ye,
Eye, I, ay, aye, whey, and key.
Say aver, but ever, fever,
Neither, leisure, skein, deceiver.
Heron, granary, canary.
Crevice and device and aerie.
Face, but preface, not efface.
Phlegm, phlegmatic, ass, glass, bass.
Large, but target, gin, give, verging,
Ought, out, joust and scour, scourging.
Ear, but earn and wear and tear
Do not rhyme with here but ere.
Seven is right, but so is even,
Hyphen, roughen, nephew Stephen,
Monkey, donkey, Turk and jerk,
Ask, grasp, wasp, and cork and work.
Pronunciation (think of Psyche!)
Is a paling stout and spikey?
Won’t it make you lose your wits,
Writing groats and saying grits?
It’s a dark abyss or tunnel:
Strewn with stones, stowed, solace, gunwale,
Islington and Isle of Wight,
Housewife, verdict and indict.
Finally, which rhymes with enough,
Though, through, plough, or dough, or cough?
Hiccough has the sound of cup.
My advice is to give up!!!