LorenAnn03: i am so homesick right now
LorenAnn03: i don't know why
pantlesselephant: well....lol...we'll bring home to you
LorenAnn03: :) i can't wait
pantlesselephant: we'll have a great weekend

I just got back from one of the weirdest Biology (BMZ here at Miami) labs I've ever had. It's right up there with the time we made this pickled cabbage stuff or maybe the time we threw frisbees and counted clover populations. I love college. They make you feel like you're really doing something intelligent with your life.

Today we studied homeostasis, which is a process the body uses to regulate stuff like temperature, blood sugar levels, etc. Part of homeostasis is peeing. So that's what we did. Every 20 minutes, my class (all 17 of us) would get up and go pee in these cups and bring it back to the lab. Mind you, there are about four labs doing this experiment at the exact same time as my class, so imagine a hallway with about 80 people carrying cups of pee around. Oh so fun. And the worst part was, we had to put drops of it on this little meter to test it, and I'm sure that wasn't sanitary, because all we did to clean it off (not wearing gloves, because they didn't give us any) was wipe it with lens paper. No disinfectant, nothing. Eww. Luckily for me, I managed to be part of the control group and only ended up using that yucky little meter once. But still, not such a great experience overall. Some states have passed regulations on experimenting with pee in un-sterile environments; however, the great state of Ohio isn't one of them and horrible Dr. Steinly apparently has no qualms about the quality of our labs. We're talking, let's buy squid at Kroger for our dissections. I promise he will have a nice letter from me in May. Unless I have him scheduled as a prof next fall.

Resistentialism

So, I signed up for this word-a-day e-mail a long time ago and I just happened to look at this one. It's pretty weird and so is the study they did in the link at the end of the entry.

resistentialism (ri-zis-TEN-shul-iz-um). noun. The theory that inanimate objects demonstrate hostile behavior against us.

From the AWAD email: "If you ever get a feeling that the photocopy machine can sense when you're tense, short of time, need a document copied before an important meeting,
and right then it decides to take a break, you're not alone. Now you know
the word for it."

The word was coined by a humorist, but there are people who really believe it is true. Here's a report of scientific experiments confirming the validity of this theory.

Spring came to Miami University last week and I have to admit that while I tend to prefer cold weather to hot and humid, I am definitely happy about it. Flowers are blooming, trees are budding and will have their leaves soon, and I can go outside without being mad at myself for leaving my Columbia jacket in Loudonville after spring break. Also, the girls on campus have broken out the flip-flops and sandals, and someone in the dorm across the street keeps his (or her) window open and plays the radio perpetually throughout the day. It's like that stereotypical college picture, and it even has a soundtrack. It makes me happy to walk to and from class, soaking in the atmosphere. So life is good.

I had an interesting weekend. I was suddenly faced with the realization that my family has had to undergo just as many adjustments as I did when I left. And I think some of theirs were just as hard as mine were. I'm not really sure what I'm supposed to do to make these changes easier for all of us, but I'm trying to figure it all out. It just brings to mind all of those instances as a little kid when my brother and I would be yelling and screaming and hitting each other and my mom would pull out the "your friends are going to come and go but you are family so you should be nice to each other and care about each other." She was right again.
Otherwise, it was just a run-of-the-mill weekend. Friday night was fun, Cassie's boyfriend Justin came to visit and we went out to dinner and went to the broomball game (tie, 1-1). Saturday Chad and I went out for dinner, found our way to Centerville (emphasis on the found), watched Anne's drum line show, and came back to Oxford. Although I know nothing about percussion, I thought it was good. Later that night, I ended up over at Peabody, talking to Christina till she fell asleep and then hanging out with Steve. I made my very first Miami waffle with the waffle machine today at brunch. That was interesting.

This week is looking to be busy, with my last BMZ exam before the final and a debate in my music class (What do you think--does gender affect music composition?). Then Friday, my parents are coming down and bringing my brother and his friends(it's their spring break) and my sister (for little sibs weekend). They are also bringing my poor car, whose shifter-handle-thingy broke on one of my last days of spring break.

Well, that's enough for me...I'm off to read and study before heading to bed...

Quote of the Day:That's embarassing! A salt shaker?

A random fact:
Taxi drivers in London, England, are required to pass a training test based upon "The Blue Book." Preparation for this test takes between two to four years. Of ten who start, eight or nine drop out before completion.

Just got done taking some on-line personality quizzes. The results are in:
classic novel: Watership Down
classic movie: Sunset Boulevard
world leader: Mother Theresa
country: Thailand
Myers-Briggs: INTJ (Introverted, Intuitive, Thinking, Judging)

I used to think this stuff was really interesting. I read this book once about the nine different enneagram personalities, and tonight I came across the test for it online. I took it, read the descriptions, analyzed myself, and came to the conclusion that I lost interest in this stuff so long ago for one huge reason: we are all hopelessly flawed. there's no helping it, we're all screwed up.

By the way, my personality is somewhere between being a helper and a loyalist. Those words sound good, but the reality is that we all have our down sides. Personality tests are a waste of time and they just make me feel bad about my shortcomings.

okay...I changed my blog look again. I promise I'll get rid of the red font as soon as I figure out how, and I'll also fill in the "about me" section. I just don't feel like it right now. :)

I got up today ready to read an e-mail telling me the details of a fun trip to see the hockey team in Colorado Springs. Instead, I woke up and waited all day to hear that we aren't going to be able to go. The athletic department just didn't have the money to send us out there. (It was something like $1400 per person, with 25 people.) :( very, very sad. I had a pretty good day though, otherwise.
First I went to lifeguarding, where the pool was about ten degrees colder than usual which means it was about 70 degrees which was amazingly cold. The two highlights were a ten person game of marco polo contained in one lane while our instructors weren't paying attention and the annual trip to the hot tub afterwards. Let me tell you, from 73 to 103 is a big difference. It was a good difference though and I felt a lot better after chatting with all of my guarding class friends for a few minutes before heading back to the dorm to finish up some work.
After that, I went to music class and she was going to let me go (since it was a performance), and she even let me switch debate groups so I can be in the one at the end of April instead of the one on Tuesday. That works out nicely anyway, even though I'm not leaving.
So now I'm going to go watch Cassie play video games and maybe do some reading or clean my room. I got a swiffer duster the other day and I highly recommend them.

Congrats to the Loudonville boys basketball team...Good luck in Columbus on Thursday! (Hopefully, I'll be getting ready to head out of state to support my hockey team in the NCAA tourneys!!!)

The mess that is my room has improved although not drastically. Oh well. I have a few days left. I guess I have been too busy lately doing other things, like driving my sister to the high school for after-school french horn lessons. I had forgotten what it is like to drive in the parking lot of LHS at the end of the day, and I definitely lost my finesse. Needless to say, I had a bunch of juniors and seniors staring at me like I was a complete idiot as I yelled at Erin to just get out of the car. Once I got to the stoplight, though, I knew what I was doing and my abilities as a crazy afternoon teenage driver returned. I made it home in record time, I bet.

I also went to the boys basketball regional tournament game. Jon, Kristen and I drove my car up to Canton and watched the game, which they won in OT (fun game to watch) and then, amidst more snow storms (you know, because it's spring break) we drove to Mount Union and spent the night with Kurtis. We had lots of fun. Kristen and I realized how much we think alike...and I also had some interesting conversations with Jon and Kurtis after Kristen fell asleep. All in all, not a bad way to spend spring break. It kind of makes me look forward to this summer. How many weeks of school left?

I decided that this week I am going to get my room cleaned out. Because, let's face it, I'm not really going to be living there a lot anymore. I've been working for about 2 hours so far, and here are some things I hope I never have to see again:
1. candles of any shape, fragrance, color, nature, etc.
2. empty photo albums that I probably got as a gift but never had a perfect use for.
3. pictures of me and any ex-boyfriend.
4. pens, pencils, markers, and anything that I probably used to write with once and then decided to leave in my room.
5. any more photographs. Thank God for my digital camera...now they're just all on the computer.
6. Beanie Babies. I never realized that when I was younger, I was ridiculously obsessed with those stupid stuffed toys.
7. notes from classes I took in high school. It was a nice thought in theory...but the reality is that I'm never going to take the time to look at them again.

I did find a total of $80 in a couple of graduation cards on my desk, which was nice. I could do with finding some more of those

After I stayed out with Kurtis and Scott till 1 on Saturday night watching a movie and taking fun pictures at elementary school playgrounds (I love you boys!) and then was incredibly lazy all day Sunday, I decided that I would go find a job today. Well...I got an application for the pool at the campground swimming pool, where you sit by yourself from 11-8 watching campers float around in a pool with no lifeguard chair or PA system to play the radio. There isn't even a clock. But the pay is great-- $8.78 an hour. What's a girl to do? Sacrifice socialization for a few dollars an hour? I'm afraid that's what it may come to...tomorrow I'll have to go talk to my Loudonville Pool boss and see what my options are there...

So, I'm finally home for Spring Break. Yesterday was fun--packing, going to my BMZ lecture with about 25% of the class, and then hunting down an RA to check out. Yeah. So then I picked up Christina and we went to Skipper's with some other people and then to the hockey game, which we won. Christina got to ride on the Zamboni, and that was exciting. Then we headed for Joe's house to spend the night. Well, we had some confusion on which road was which, but luckily Christina has good navigational skills. We got there and looked at some really great scrapbooks for Joe made by his awesome mom, and then we went to sleep for about four hours. We got up, drove to the airport, and...Christina missed her flight. It sucked, but I guess she's now in Georgia, so it's okay. I made it home at 7:30--bright and early! I had breakfast with my sister, visited Kurt's house, and then left for Canton for my high school's Div. III boys basketball Division Championship game. They won that too, and I was excited for them. Hopefully they make it to state this year.

So now I'm getting ready to go out with my two favorite Loudonville boys, Scott and Kurtis. Who knows what we're going to end up doing...

Well. Green Beer Day just ended. It was so much fun to see Miami plastered (no pun intended) all over the news, have every single MU buddy on AOL have the same away message, and also see about 90% of the student body wearing some sort of GBD apparell. How did I spend Miami's greenest day of the year, you ask?

I'll give you two possibilities:
I either:

a) went to Candlewood and got smashed on green beer and green jello shots, loving Miami for its creative holidays and also my upper-classmen friends. Then about five hours later, I walked back to my dorm all the way across town because Christina didn't want to wait for the bus. When I got back, I wrote this blog.

-or-

2) went to all of my classes like the responsible person I am, completely ignoring the day's festivities and sort of feeling like a loser. Then I watched The Apprentice, did some reading, and wrote this blog.

Oh, college...

Coming from Loudonville, I grew up knowing what a Carhartt product looks like--The canvas, usually in tan or black, overalls and especially jackets were a common sight. Everyone had one, it seemed. My friends wore them, and even my dad had a Carhartt for doing yardwork. It was just another brand of jacket. Maybe I could equate it to the North Face jacket popularity here at Miami. It's the same idea. So Megan and Cassie and I were talking the other day, and they had never even heard of Carhartts! I was shocked. Obviously, it's not going to be a very popular brand in the city or anything, but I thought that coming from Ohio or something, they would have at least been familiar with the name.

So this one's for you girls, and all of you who don't know what I'm talking about: www.carhartt.com
(sorry it's not a hyperlink--you'll just have to copy and paste it.)

Oh great. Two more reasons why I'm glad I'm going home on Friday: I'm watching the news, and not only are cicadas about to arrive in the "tri-state," but there's also a serial rapist lurking around the area. Like I need that kind of stress when I'm trying to be a good college student, anyway.

On the other hand...Green Beer Day just made the news, and who wants to be away from Oxford during that holiday? They're going to "teach the students a lesson" for making "locals complain about drunkenness and noise" by promising community service (scheduled for next week during break) to anyone violating alcohol laws.

I'm sure that's going to stop everyone I know from partying all day and night tomorrow...

Yes! I am finally finished. Well, that's not completely true. I still have some lifeguarding reading to do (it's such a waste of time to read about lifesaving...) and some stuff to write up for English, but lucky me! my prof decided that our paper was due after break, not before, so I don't have to worry about that until I'm sitting at home by myself next week, bored out of my mind. So other than that, let's talk about the other good things that happened this week:

I got to meet some accepted seniors from high school and answer their questions. It was a lot of fun to help them out, and it was a good reminder of how far I've come since last spring when I was making the same choices they are. I'm looking forward to doing it again in the next few weeks.

Because I am getting recertified and have done all of this stuff before, I didn't have to practice the saves over and over again in lifeguarding, I just got to be a victim for everyone. I didn't have to do the crappy thing where you sit at the bottom of the pool, I got to be an active drowner and splash around a bunch. Fun.

My English teacher gave me an A+ on my last paper and specifically asked me to help a girl in my class structure hers. It makes me feel like I've definitely made a good choice in switching majors, no matter how much of a problem having to make up for so few credit hours this semester turns out to be.

Only three more days and I won't be stressing about classes! I don't think I have ever been so distracted by the thought of a break. Except for maybe at the end of high school, but you know...that's different.

When I was in high school, I read this in one of those Chicken Soup for the Soul books. I thought it was really good, and I took a lot of the advice...of course, I'd forgotten all of it until Cassie found it tonight on the internet. I thought it was worth sharing:

After a while, you learn the subtle difference between holding a hand and chaining a soul,
And you learn that love doesn't mean leaning
And company doesn't mean securtiy,
And you begin to learn that kisses aren't promises.
You begin to accept your defeats
With your head up and your eyes open
With the grace of an adult, not the grief of a child,
And you learn to build all your roads on today
Because tomorrow's ground is too uncertain for plans,
and futures have a way of falling down in mid-flight.
After a while you learn
That even the sunshine burns if you get too much.
So you can plant your own garden and decorate your own soul,
Instead of waiting for someone else to bring you flowers.
And youlearn that you really can endure...That you really are strong.
And you really do have worth.
You learn and learn...With every goodbye you learn.

This is just to say...Happy Birthday Christina!

Had so much fun last night celebrating Christina's birthday early. Started off the night with some Mario Kart, then Justin joined us, then Chad took us Uptown for Bagel and Deli and a quick stop at the TBS bake sale at the gates. Then he brought us back and even though I wasn't tired, they made me go to bed. That's okay, I was pretty glad of it this morning. Definitely one of the best nights of this semester so far.

Friday was a really great day. I woke up to a warm sunny day with only one class, after which I decided to waste away the afternoon watching soaps and playing Mario Kart. Then I went to the hockey game, where Miami beat OSU 4-3 in overtime, and we got to have our picture taken on the ice with the team afterwards. Oh my gosh, hockey players smell so bad. After that I went to Dorsey for a little bit to visit Chad and those guys, and then I went to Peabody to get Christina and Mike. We went to the party at 708 and then went to Kroger and Taco Bell, where they proceeded to forget some of our food, so Christina had to walk through the drive-thru to get it, facing a mean drive-thru worker and heckling college boys. After that we stopped back at 708 to find that the entire party had moved to a new location. We found it, and after a while decided to head back to Peabody where we dyed my hair. Just in time for spring break! I like it a lot. I was worried at first, especially since the dye stuff is purple. Not that I thought my hair would be purple...just, you know, those second thoughts about the idea in general.

Today I drove everyone around to various places/meetings/etc., then Justin and I headed for the mall at Colerain to get his girlfriend's birthday presents. I also got a book with a gift card left over from Christmas. Now I am getting ready to go celebrate Christina's birthday! :) Yay for weekends!

Something I forgot about but definitely made me smile as I sat in Chad's room after the car incident last weekend:
Chris: (coughs) damn robitussin, can't take it with alcohol.
Ben: so you're not drinking?
Chris:no, I'm not taking anymore robitussin.

I had my first lifeguarding class today. There are 19 people in my class and 8 of us are getting recertified. We started out by going over the class expectations, etc. and then we went to the pool. Fun. We swam our 500 meters (breaststroke and freestyle, 250 each), did some surface dives, and timed some 50 meter sprints. Okay, no big deal. You want to make sure I know how to swim and stuff. Then she proceeds to make us dive for a 10 lb brick, tread water holding that brick with both hands, learn two rescue dives and active saves. I'm not sure how much else is left to learn, but I'm sure we'll find some way to drag it out.

Another thing is, I have a bone to pick with the Red Cross. When I wanted to get CPR recertified last year, I had to buy a new $20 book. Then this year, I have to buy a new lifeguarding book, for $25! Red Cross, I know you save lives and everything, and that's great. But seriously...what's with the expensive books. Geeze. Nobody's going to want to save anyone if they have to pay $45 bucks everytime you say they need to be recertified. At least I'm allowed to use my recusitation mask from my last class--those cost $13. Good grief.

Quote of the Day:
"I know what kind of person I am...I'm the kind of person who likes to have good friends, damnit!"

I have a BMZ lab mid-term in the morning, and one in my Music class on Thursday. So you can bet that the only reason I'm writing this is because I am procrastinating and also because my roommate is asleep so I can't bug her. My room has been exceptionally noisy today. First it started out with this Robin outside my window waking me up at 6:30 this morning. (I know it was a Robin because I woke up thinking, "what bird song goes, 'cheer up, spring is here, cheer up, spring is here'" --so thanks, Mr. Spreng, for giving me that opportunity in Ornithology last year.) Then there was a rehearsal over at the CPA...something with lots of loud drums....and the cops were pretty busy as well, busting people up and down Patterson Avenue all night. Or at least, that's what it sounded like. Then, for some odd reason, since Sunday night the people who live above us have been dropping stuff constantly that sounds like ping-pong balls. We're not sure what that's all about but hopefully it stops soon. The occasional chair scraping is alright, you know, we can't blame them for living there...but the ping-pong ball sounds are a little weird and almost constant.

So much more I want to write....but so much more to study. Besides, it's all serious stuff and from reading the wide variety of my friends' blogs, I'm not really sure that I could write a very good serious-and-thought-provoking entry. Maybe I'll try sometime when I don't have anything to do. By the way, are those even fun to read? Or only fun to write? I can't decide...let me know what you think.

Here are March's not-so-famous holidays:

1 Peanut Butter Lovers Day
2 Old Stuff Day
3 National Mulled Wine Day
8 International Women's day
11 Miami University Green Beer Day
12 Alfred Hitchcock Day
14 National Potato Chip Day
15 Ides of March
16 Bock Beer Day
17 St. Patrick's Day
19 National Poultry Day (who celebrates this, and how?)
20 Vernal Equinox/First day of Spring/Earth Day
22 National Goof-Off Day
National Sing Out Day
25 Waffle Day
Pecan Day

I added a comment feature. I don't know how it works, so if you would leave me a comment that would be really helpful. Thanks :)

Well, I finally made it home at about 9:30 on Saturday night, and Christina came with me. Chad took us to pick up the car which was supposed to be done at 5, and then could I be there at 6? and then, at 6:15, "we're just putting the tires back on." (Okay, because it makes perfect sense to take the tires off to get to the clutch...) As the three of us stood around waiting for my car, we noticed that Hershel, the owner of the shop (I found his name out Saturday), was just wandering around, three guys were spraying a tire with something (how many mechanics does it take to spray sealant on a tire?) and that lead us to believe that it was Jimbo back with my car. And it was. oh, those moments in life when you think you're in a situation comedy...