The Apartment Hunt

Wednesday, (after getting in at 3 from my birthday celebration) Keegan and I went with our parents to look at apartments in the UCF area. We signed a lease and are officially moving in August 10th!! I don't know who's more excited, Keegan or me (I? I'm bad at grammar). Here's the basic play by play.

Apartment Complex #1 - My friend Meli lives here and recommended it to me. I've stayed at her place before and I have always loved it. It has: a shuttle to campus, full washer/dryer in each apartment, 4 bathrooms and bedrooms, a full kitchen, a gate that closes when the front office does, 2 security guards on site from 10pm-6am, a security camera of the front gate that you can watch on your tv, phone and internet connections, a pool, gym, and sand volleyball court. This is the place I was in love with before we even went on an official tour and I was just waiting to see if Keegan and her parents would love it too.

Apartment #2 - We both know a few people who live here and have gotten mixed reviews. Some friends have re-signed for next year and some couldn't get out fast enough. They have: a shuttle to campus, a choice of 1 bathroom for every 2 bedrooms, or 1 for each, full kitchen, a security guard on call 24/7, a gate, pool, gym, basketball, phone and internet, and mold. Yes, mold. Our tour guide told us that mold has recently become a problem but they are renovating all 34 buildings (eventually). This means that while staying here, each and every tenant will eventually be asked to pick up and move to a new building. The complex will pay movers to pack and deliver your things, but during exam week or any other week for that matter, it's a bit of an inconvenience.

Apartment #3 - Neither of us know anyone who lives here, but we decided to give it a tour and see what they had to offer. They had: a movie theatre, full gym, shuttle to campus, off duty police officers, pool, full kitchen, phone, and internet. My first impression was good (mostly because our guide definitely wasn't an eyesore), but I was sad to learn they were out of 4/4 and the next available size was slightly above what we were willing to pay.

Keegan ended up loving #1 as much as I did so we went back for a second tour and signed our lease. We're already making lists of decorations and other items we need/want (including a 6 piece Disney princess dining set. No, I am not about to be 20.) I'm excited to move out again and I'm also glad I'll only be 30 minutes away from home. I'll still get to see my family whenever I need to/they need me.

Signing the lease lifted a huge weight of my shoulder and I know it did the same for Keegan. We were both stressing about where to live and I know we're both relieved to have found such an amazing place. God definitely loves us.

Mardi Gras HodgePodge

1. The season of Lent begins on March 9th this year...do you participate and if so, in what way?

- I don't usually participate to the extent a normal Catholic does. I was raised in the Catholic church, but as I got older, I realized I associate more with Protestant beliefs. I still try to give something up for Lent, but I don't fast or refrain from eating meat on Fridays. Although recently, I haven't been eating that much meat on any day...

2. Traditionally pancakes are eaten on the day known as Shrove Tuesday which is the last day before Lent (March 8th this year). So....butter and syrup? Blueberry? Chocolate chip? ewww, no thanks!! What's your pleasure when it comes to eating pancakes?

- Pancakes of almost any kind are delicious. Over the summer, I went to Gainesville to visit a friend and we made pancakes with Cadbury chocolate pieces. Talk about delicious food! I don't put too much syrup on my pancakes because it tends to give me a stomach ache, but a little isn't bad.

3. Spring is coming. (It is coming, right?) What's your favorite springtime flower and do you suffer from seasonal allergies? Two questions I know, but they're lightweights.

- Cherry blossoms count, right? I absolutely love the way cherry blossom trees look when they're in bloom. I thankfully, do not suffer from allergies which is good because my car is currently covered in pollen.

4. "Our opinion of people depends less upon what we see in them than upon what they make us see in ourselves." Author unknown. Agree or Disagree? Why?

- I'd have to say I agree with this quote, occasionally. There are some people I don't like hanging out with because they make me see a side of myself I don't particularly like. For example, I have a friend who is a really judgmental. We'll walk around together and she'll constantly be nitpicking everyone she sees. When I'm with her, I tend to join in, but once she leaves I feel terrible.

5. Since it's "March" and also the season of Mardi Gras....have you ever been in a parade? What's the best parade you've seen?

- Oh, marching band. I was a member of marching band for 6 years in middle and high school resulting in being in about 8 parades. I was never a fan of participating in them. My arms and legs always felt like jelly afterwards. I honestly can't remember the last parade I got to see in person.... Always being in them stopped me from actually getting to enjoy the parade itself. But as Daniel Tosh says, "the worst fireworks are always better than the best parades", so I suppose I'm not missing out.

6. You would jump up and down and shout for joy right now if someone told you___________?

- I won the lottery. or cancer was cured.

Generic answers, I know...

7. How clean is your car on the outside? Inside? Is there junk in your trunk?

- As I said before, my car is currently covered in pollen. I see no point in washing it until spring has finally settled in, because it'll all just accumulate back in a couple days. My brother washed my car last Saturday and it's already just as bad as it was before. The inside is also not so clean. Dog hair all over the seats, random trash in my glovebox, a sweater, jumper cables, and boots in the trunk. Going to school 30 minutes away means I live in my car on Mon., Wed., and Fri.

8. Insert your own random thought here.

- I'm going apartment hunting today, which I'm extremely excited about. I already know where I'd like to live, I just have to make sure my roommate loves the complex as much as I do. Moving back out is both an exciting and scary experience. I'm much more established at UCF than I was at Flagler. I have different groups of friends and different things I can do each night, so I'm sure I'll be okay. But there's always that voice inside my head telling me I'll just slip back into the funk I was in last year. and I REALLY don't want that to happen.

Marching into Wednesday HodgePodge

1. March 2nd is Dr. Seuss's birthday so I'm wondering...do you like green eggs and ham? Okay-how about this...how do you like your eggs? Or don't you?

I am not a fan of oddly colored foods. When I was younger, colored ketchup (as in green and purple) was really in, but I couldn't stand to eat it. I also couldn't eat colored apple sauce or pizza sauce that came in Lunchables.

But I do love eggs. Sunny side up is delicious. In fact, I may make them for dinner.


2. Is March coming in like a lion or something less ferocious where you live?

March is coming in a little less ferocious. Midterms are this week, but mine have been extremely easy.

3. Do you work better or worse under pressure.

I do work pretty well under pressure. I tend to procrastinate when it comes to assignments, but I never get below a B.

4. March Madness-are you a fan? It's college basketball in case you're wondering. And if you're outside the USA tell us, is there any sort of 'madness' taking place during March in your part of the world?

I do love college basketball, but I haven't really been keeping up with it this season. March is always mad in my house. My mom and I both have a birthday. Midterms and spring breaks. A lot of running around really.

5. Under what circumstances do you do your best thinking?

Listening to music, in the shower, or lying in bed. I always come up with great ideas in the shower, but I forget them by the time I have paper.

6. What item of clothing from your wardrobe do you wear most often?

Definitely my jeans. I rarely ever wear anything other than jeans to school or work. I'm trying to expand my wardrobe, but it's difficult.

7. Do you use sarcasm?

It depends on who I'm talking to. With certain friends, I use it all the time. I'm rarely ever serious when I'm with Gemini Blvd. or Chrissy. But some of my friends don't understand sarcasm...

8. Insert your own random thought here.

Midterms are officially over and my spring break has basically begun. I welcome the break, the time I get to spend with friends, and the opportunity to sleep in. Everyone needs a break once in a while.

Fire is a scary thing

I've always been fascinated by fire. When I was younger, I'd sneak a lighter into my room just so I could set paper on fire. As I got older, my fascination became less like pyromania. I satisfied my fascination by lighting candles or sitting by the fireplace instead of destroying old papers and plastic hangers. I was never afraid of burning myself or setting something ablaze, at least not until this past weekend.

I spent the majority of my weekend in Orlando hanging out with friends who live over there. Saturday afternoon, I got a call from my mom telling me to be careful because there were brush fires all over the Titusville area. I kind of blew off her warning and assumed the firefighters would have the fire controlled in no time. Boy was I wrong. Late Saturday night, I was driving home with Chris when I thought I saw something orange shooting up over the trees on Highway 50. He must have seen it too because he looked over at me with this look of fear, confusion, and curiosity. As we got closer to town, we saw the wetlands burning uncontrollably, trees covered in black soot, and firefighters trying to get into the woods to put the fires out. Witnessing this terrifying scene definitely changed my fascination of fire into complete fear.

The original blaze has been put out (after burning 6000+ acres), but another has popped up a town over. This new fire has already burned 16,000+ acres and is barely 25% contained. I'm worried about my friends who live over that way as well as the firefighters trying to contain the flames. One brave firefighter, Matt Wescott, has already been sent to the hospital with burns to his face. If you're the praying type, pray for rain. Pray for the safety of the firefighters and for protection and comfort over those affected. I don't even live in harms way and I was too scared to go to sleep until nearly 2 last night. Here's a picture from Florida Today of the flames I saw.

Aca-day

Yesterday, I had the privilege of going to a free concert in Lake Eola Park. Two of the best Contemporary A Cappella groups in the nation sang, an all-female group from BYU called Noteworthy and an all-male group from Tufts University called the Beelzebubs. The Bubs are actually on Glee right now, as the voices of the Dalton Warblers. The weather was beautiful, although hot, and the groups did amazing.

Tufts Bubs

BYU Noteworthy

I'm grateful for the opportunity to see both groups as well as the time to hang out with my aca-friends from UCF. It seems like it had been forever since I had seen them. It's days like yesterday that I wish I could sing well enough to join Gemini Blvd. But alas, I can't so I suppose I'll have to be okay with just being a fan and a friend.

Sleep Deprivation

I haven't slept as much this past week as I usually do and I think that sleep deprivation has finally begun to catch up with me. I found it extremely hard to concentrate during class today and the post I wrote for Wednesday HodgePodge is full of grammar mistakes and just plain nonsense. I blame this deprivation on my weekend vacation. I usually have a pretty regular sleep pattern. I go to bed around 12 on Monday and Wednesday nights because I wake up early for work on Tuesdays and Thursdays. On Tuesday and Thursday nights, I usually stay up later because I get to sleep in before I have to rush off to school. Weekends are when I catch up on extra sleep, going to be late and sleeping in as long as I possibly can. During my Alabama vacation, I went to bed late and woke up early so I could get to Mary's for brunch. (Mary and her sisters have always been fabulous cooks.) I still haven't caught up on that lost sleep. Last night, I stayed up til nearly three playing the question game with a friend. In case you don't know, the question game is basically like truth or dare (with only truth). Someone asks you a question and you have to answer truthfully. While the game is fun, I regretted playing the second I woke up this morning. I'm amazed I made it through the day without falling over.

Anyway, this post was basically just a reminder to myself that I need sleep and I'm trying to go to bed at 9 tonight. (I doubt it'll actually happen)

Wednesday HodgePodge

1. Did you know there is a National Day of pretty much everything in the universe? February 23 happens to be National Inconvenience Yourself Day...when was the last time you were inconvenienced?

My straightener inconvenienced me today, if that counts. The temperature setter wouldn't stay at 410, which is the only temperature my hair will actually straighten so it took longer than normal to get ready, making me late leaving, which makes it harder to find parking. I ended up parking somewhere completely new and getting lost on my way back to my car this afternoon. Other than that, I can't remember the last time I was inconvenienced by someone else.

2. When a room in your house needs painting who does the job?

Haha, well in 11th grade I decide my room needed a new paint job so I called up Zach, went to Lowe's to buy paint and we painted it together. We didn't really do a good job. I can still see white spots and bubbles we never managed to fix, so next time, I'll call a professional.

3. Are you friends with your cousins?

I am. Elise and I have a class together this semester so we get to see each other every day we're on campus. Growing up, I wasn't super close with my other cousins, we'd see each other one a year or so and not talk between meetings. I regret that terribly now that Evan is gone. I wish I could have spent more time with him when he was alive.

4. Do you use an alarm clock? If yes-is it an actual alarm, music, or something else?

I do. While I have an internal alarm clock that wakes me up at least 5 minutes before my real clock, I still set my radio every day. It's a regular alarm.

5. What do you put ketchup on?

I'm not a huge fan of ketchup. It's just too acidic for my taste buds. I'll put in on my hamburger, but that's it. Ranch, however, goes on everything.

6. What smells make you nostalgic?

Haha... the smell of bus fumes mixed with sweat brings back memories of band trips and camps. While the smell may not be pleasant, the memories are. I don't encounter those smells very often, unless I'm taking a trip back to the band room but when I do I'm automatically taken back to high school days.

7. Have you heard about the high school English teacher recently suspended as a result of some things she wrote in her personal blog? You can read the story here but in a nutshell she vented a lot of frustration onto her blog. She didn't mention individual students by name but she did make some harsh comments about kids in general and their parents. What are your thoughts-If you're a parent is your child's teacher online and are you 'friend' or 'follower' there? If you're a teacher are you on facebook and do you accept or friend students on fb? How about their parents? If you're a student are you friends with your current or former teachers online? Do any of them have blogs you read? If you're a teacher or a parent do you ever use your blog as a place to vent your frustrations with our educational system? So much to discuss...

I honestly don't think she did anything wrong. She was as careful as she could be. She never mentioned her school, location, or the names of students or colleagues. I would never create a blog like that though. I'm studying to be a teacher right now and we're constantly given lectures on the dangers of facebook and blogging. We've been advised not to accept our students to our personal accounts, but to instead create a special teacher account that does nothing but focus on assignments and school life. I don't think I'd accept parents to my personal account either, unless they were a good friend. The internet really just opens up a lot of problems for future teachers...

8. Insert your own random thought here.

This week has been a lot better than the past weeks. The weather is gorgeous and I got to enjoy it with Mayet on Monday. I haven't had as much course work to complete and life has been fun.