Oh good. I wrote another thoughtful blog.

Last night, a friend had a revelation which led to my own revelation:
Everything in life happens for a reason. If not everything, then most things. I really, truly believe that. I believe that really wonderful things can come from the things in life that were unlucky, bad, or painful. This is why:
Well, I know it's cliche and very, very overused but you do learn a lot when you go off on your own and this is something that I've learned through leaving the people I grew up with and becoming a part of the lives of the people here. I've learned it from the sequence of events in my own life, even though I wasn't paying attention. But looking back, I see how everything in life has managed to give me something to put to use.
I don't really want to use any examples from my life or from the lives of people I know, because I don't want to be melodramatic and I don't feel comfortable posting stuff that's too personal on here. But I think that some good examples are the movies Pulp Fiction and Love Actually. Anyone's own individual story can affect anyone else's, whether they know it or not. And I think that even though every story doesn't have a "happy" ending, people ultimately get what they want. Because maybe you don't end up with the person you always thought you would, maybe you don't end up at your dream school, maybe you have to let something go in order to deal with the bigger things in your life.
But maybe having those experiences makes you smarter, stronger, wiser. And, better yet, maybe they led to something much better than you ever could have had with what you wanted or thought you wanted or had in the first place.
Sometimes, you just have to be patient and the good will show itself eventually. When things are bad they can only get better and they always do. Something else I have learned, is that if you think it's bad, concentrate on getting through right now, and worry about later when it gets here. (This does not work for exams, but it works for most other things.) It's about the greater good, I think. And not being selfish.
So anyway, I don't think I have everything figured out yet. I'm sure I don't. But I do know that you need patience, and faith: faith that God is up there making sure things are going well, faith that eventually he'll get around to giving you what you want an need. So, I'm pretty sure I'm not going to be bitter about the way things go, or whine about it or anything. I'm just going to make it work, and count it all joy--I think that''s what my grandma would say. Like the hot Brazilian guy says in Love Actually, "Life is full of interruptions and complications." It is, but then you make life work around it. And everything turns out right.

Sea Monkeys: A Science Lesson

I was sitting in my bmz lab taking my final the other day. As I waited for the TA to give the next question, I was distracted by the aquarium near the window. It was full of what I am assuming were fairy shrimp, which are basically the same thing as brine shrimp, which are commonly known as Sea Monkeys.
this is what a fairy shrimp looks like.


this what a brine shrimp looks like.


this is what you're supposed to think a sea monkey looks like.



As I watched a little fairy shrimp eat some algae I decided that I wanted some sea monkeys as a pet. What could be better for my dorm room? I told my dad what I wanted for my birthday:





and he said this:
me: i want some sea monkeys for my birthday
dad: do you know what they really are?
me: yes
me: brine shrimp. we learned about them in zoology last year
dad:ok...you are naive sometimes...

thanks dad. this post is for you.

a vital part of the college student's morning

I'm going to write this hoping that my internet stays working long enough for it to post. Yesterday afternoon, after Cassie and I went and bought Love Actually on DVD (how exciting!), we came back to have our computers not working right. I could talk on AIM, but I couldn't get to any internet website except the Miami ones. So we kind of forgot about it. Then this morning, when I woke up, it wasn't working again. Okay, you're thinking, what's the big deal? Well, it isn't that big of a deal, except for we really kind of depend on the internet here. For instance, I needed to check my e-mail to see what I was going to need for my lifeguarding class this morning. (By the way, I am now a recertified lifeguard. Passed my test with flying colors.) I also needed to know what the weather was going to be like. Every single day, I check weather.com to see what it's like outside. Since I had no weather.com this morning, I was seriously distressed. What was I going to wear to the class I had to leave for in five minutes? I assumed it was nice out (I was right) and went to class. On my way out the door, I overheard two guys having this conversation:

"I didn't know if I'd be able to wear shorts today."
"Yeah, I know. All I wanted to do was check the weather."
"Yeah! I was so mad."

I had to smile to myself. I thought I was the only one who had been worried about it.

Anyway, I am going to hurry up and publish this before I head to my last English and Music classes for the semseter. I'll be home a week from tomorrow!

some new stuff

new color scheme. I think playing with html is fun; also, Chad decided to pick the same layout as me so I decided to change it up a little. I like it.

not much left

I wrote a good paper last night. Even Chad the English major thinks so:

Greenlantern: that is a great paper
LorenAnn: does it makes sense
Greenlantern: yeah
Greenlantern: i feel like i know more now that i read it

One down, one to touch up. Actually, that is a lie. One more to add a page to. I also have a BMZ lab final and my lifeguarding recertification test this week. This is all very unfortunate because tomorrow my broomball team has a play-off game AND Love Actually comes out on DVD. So there are all these things that I would really, really, REALLY rather be doing than studying this week. I would also rather be packing up my stuff for the trip home.

I'll leave you with a few countdowns:
days till classes are done: 4
days till my last final: 10
days till I go to Colorado: 12
days till my birthday: 60 ...just thought I'd throw that out there.

What? I'm leaving in two weeks?

I'm torn. I don't want to close this browser and return to the Beethoven paper that is due on Tuesday, and I don't want to have anymore classes, so I really really want to leave this place. But on the other hand...
I had such a fun night last night at Candlewood. While we got there and left before it got too crowded, but that's okay with me. I had a great time. I played my first game of cornhole, which resulted in Angie and I winning because it was taking us all so long to score points. While everyone else played Halo, I sat and talked with everyone, mostly Psi people who I haven't talked to forever. It was just a really great way to spend my last free weekend at school, and it makes me not want to go home. I wish we could all just stay here and not have classes.

In other news, Kennapalooza won our first playoff game, and we play again tomorrow night. I smashed my finger and it's turning purple right now...it's not very fun to type but I have about 8 pages worth of papers left to type tonight so I'm going to have to just suck it up. And get back to typing now...procrastination time is over...

Soccer Moms Have Taken Over

Campus is crazy today. Not only is there some concert uptown, but also a soccer tournament taking place on every single field Miami has to offer. This also means that there are mini vans taking over the already too-small number of available parking spots around Oxford.
First of all, they are kicking all the cars out of Ditmer until Monday night at 5, and allowing yellow pass cars (the lowest pass color) to park on campus where they regularly aren't allowed. This presents a problem for me, as my car has no pass whatsoever. Guess I'm going to the Parking office on Monday. Grr...
Second of all, everywhere in Oxford is really really busy. Christina and I tried to go out for breakfast but unfortunately due to time constraints had to settle for McDonald's drive-thru instead of Bob Evans or Uptown Cafe. On our way there, we almost hit several soccer dads and passed multiple mini vans with "We're no. 1" written on them with that glass chalk stuff. So if you like to watch little kids play soccer, Oxford's where it's at.

Happy (early) Birthday to Me and Megan!

Tonight my wonderful friends surprised Megan and me with an early birthday celebration, since we'll all be home soon and won't be able to spend one of the year's most important dates together. (June 27, in case you didn't know.) Anyway, Christina brought me over to my room to find a birthday banner and Chad, Malia, and Cassie all in party hats waiting for the guests of honor. We waited a little longer for Andy to bring Megan, and then we enjoyed opening some presents and an ice cream cake which Cassie dropped on her bed and her purse, staining them bright blue. Sorry Cassie. Thanks for the surprises, everyone!

Scary realization!

I just realized how close summer is. I don't know if I'm really ready to leave yet!

Insomnia

Ever since Christmas break, I have suffered from insomnia. I cannot manage to fall asleep before 2. No matter how early I get up, no matter what I do, I can't get into bed until I am so tired I can't think.
I don't know why, but I lie there just thinking about everything possible. Things that are depressing, regrets, things that I worry about, plans for the next day, the next week, things I need to get done...I just think and think about all these unnecessary things until I make myself wide awake again.
So that's why I'm writing this boring blog, because I can't sleep. So if you're ever bored, and you think you're probably the only one awake, give me a call or send me an IM. It would be wonderful to have some late night company.

How I spent the last hour

Oh yes. I almost beat the system. What system, you ask? The scheduling system at MU that thinks it's fun to be mean to Loren, and close her out of Communication 135 because of a "major restriction," which is funny because my major is Technical and Scientific Communications. Hm. Also Journalism 201, which is a requirement for me. Whatever. I have 18 credit hours: Environmental Biology, Intro to Technical Writing, Beginners Italian, Philosophy 103 (intro course), and Art History (with Christina! should be fun). And of course Marching Band. Oh and I think I should go add Hockey band as well. I want to force-add Desktop Publishing or HTML because they are for my major, but I'm not sure if I'll be able to. I also want to take some classes over the summer, either at the OSU-Mans. branch or Ashland, but I couldn't find any info online. What am I thinking--should I really be taking classes in the summer?

On a side note, I am watching the news. They just did a 10-minute piece on talk about the possibility of a draft for Iraq. They interviewed all these people--mothers, high school guys, etc. and then--this is great, this is why the news makes me so mad--they ended it with, "the government has issued a statement saying that there are no plans for a draft, and the president has repeatedly stated that he sees no need for a draft anywhere in the future." Holy crap! Why did they say that then? However, they did have a plug about these 2 Bengals players who are looking for dates, you can enter and win one. Sounds like fun. I wonder if 19 is too young for a big hunky pro football player...maybe they wouldn't appreciate that I am more of a Browns fan, anyway. Oh well. I can dream, can't I? Yes...I should just change the channel.

Procrastination and Blogging go hand in hand

I'm sitting here pretending to work on my final English paper. What I'm really doing is looking for a new buddy icon, reading other people's blogs, and writing my own. This is much more fun.

I just got back from Shriver, where I spent half an hour trying to find a birthday card for my brother. Half an hour! And I still don't really like the one I got him. Whatever happened to a good old-fashioned, Happy Birthday, Brother! card? Maybe I'm just stuck in the college bubble, where beer and bikini-clad girls are the norm for guys. I just don't think that would be appropriate to send home.

At 5 I get to schedule, which is another reason why I'm writing this and killing time. There are about 7 spots left in all the classes I need, so hopefully I get everythig scheduled fast enough to get into everything. I've already been closed out of Public Speaking, but maybe I can force add it. I'll update you later on how that goes.

my sister experienced spring this morning:

littlelink: now here is the scene:
littlelink: it was just the right temp; and i could hear many birds chirping
littlelink: then i saw a black squirrell scurry up a tree
littlelink: then i saw a bunny!
littlelink: it was brown with a little white cotton tail
littlelink: but i could hear a motorcycle revving in the distance
littlelink: that sort of destroyed the serenity

In a few weeks, and for the next few years

Recently, I was introduced to these two websites. If you're in college, they might be worth a read (although they are corny and the first one has some serious grammar issues): In a few weeks and No title, by Matt Brochu.

Here's what I think about these:
First of all, when I place them in juxtaposition, I feel like they are a little bit contradictory. The first makes me feel anxious about going home, and the second makes me feel guilty for this anxiety. The first tells me that I have learned my greatest lessons with my new friends, but the second says that my true friends will be those that I grew up with. So now I am going to attempt to write about how I feel at this time of year.

I went home to Loudonville twice in the first month I was at school, both times because my sister was getting married. After the second time, I ranted and raved about how much I didn't want to go back anymore. I was happy at school, I didn't miss home. In retrospect, I realize that I was still learning, and that it wasn't home that was causing my problems, it was some of the people there.
So during the fall, as I struggled through my very first less-than-perfect grades, experienced marching band, and did all those "firsts" Matt Brochu talked about, I hated to go home. Yet, something always made me look for an opportunity to hop in the car and find myself back in the place where I'd grown up, where, inevitably, sometime during the visit I would wish desperately that I was back on campus, watching movies with my roommate or going to a party with my best friend. What was wrong with me?
Then came winter break, the time of year I had been dreading all fall. What was I going to do with myself for three weeks in that place that drove me crazy? It was going to be miserable, I knew it.
But I was wrong. I had such a wonderful break from school. As soon as I got home (and I'm talking, 10:30 at night), my friends were there, visiting me and sharing stories about the past few months over the cut-out cookies I was baking with my sister. It continued over the next few weeks: Mario Kart, movies, shopping, basketball games, with everyone from my closest high school friends to people I'd met over the previous summer to friends of friends I'd just met that night. It was some of the best memories of my freshman year! Home--how could I have hated this place?
But when it came time to head back to Oxford in January, I was ready to pack up my bags and move back in to my tiny room, head to Tuffy's with some friends to catch up, and start my new semester of classes. And this spring, I've gone home a lot less--only three times, including Spring Break--but I've enjoyed every minute of it. I don't fret about going home and when I'm there, I don't fret about going back.

Alright Loren, cut to the chase: What's the moral? You learn. You don't learn all at once; you didn't know how to react when you walked in the door for the very first time in the fall and you won't know what to do with yourself for certain those first few days at home this summer. But it won't be hard or scary, and you won't neccessarily be closest with those people you always thought would be there for you from high school. You've changed--living on your own in a new place is certainly going to change you--and maybe some of your childhood friends have changed too, so that you're just not meant to be friends anymore. But maybe some of those people you weren't so close to have changed as well, and you're going to be able to find a true friend in them. Better yet, maybe you and someone else have changed and learned together, and you really will always be best friends.
So my advice to you is, go home and be realistic. Cut your losses if you have to, and look to new friendships as a blessing, not a curse from having been gone for so long. There's that Girl Scout song that goes, "Make new friends, but keep the old..." and that's what is going to happen as you head out on your own, into the rest of your college years and beyond. That's normal. Don't let yourself get hung up on the location of the people who love you, because they're there. All you have to do is love them back and everything will turn out just fine. No matter where life takes you.

I stole it...

Well, actually, I'm the one who noticed it but Cassie wrote it so nicely in her blog that I had to steal it. Sorry Cass.

a sign posted on every surface in my hall reads:

Making Sense out of Disorders
with guest speakers Dr. Rose Ward

now the question is, was speakers a typo or was it put in there because Dr. Rose Ward is really a schizo.... kind of the like the blind leading the blind, eh?

The Disney Princess I am is...

Which Disney Princess are you?

New (Old) Look, with titles

I learned how to use the title function (thanks Jen) and since my last html template didn't support it, I decided to go back to something more basic. Plus, the pink was getting a little annoying.

I knew when I woke up this morning that I should stay home and skip lifeguarding. All I technically have to do, anyway, is pass the Red Cross test in two weeks, which theoretically I should pass because I've already taken the class. And, may I remind you, I was supposed to miss a class when the hockey team went to Colorado but didn't get to and ended up attending the worst class ever, which included a full two hours in the coldest pool (78 degrees!) doing active and passive drowner saves.

So anyway, I drag myself out of bed and throw on my bathing suit, check the weather--38 degrees and raining--and pull on appropriate clothing while searching for my umbrella. I navigated my way around mud and huge puddles over to the rec, and when I got there, I realized that to get into the rec, you need your i.d. card. Therefore, if I "lost" it, I wouldn't be able to go to class. I toyed with the idea but went in anyway.

Our instructor, Claudia couldn't figure out the t.v., so instead of watching a movie instructing us on backboarding, we just went and did it in the pool. Being a recert, I got to do the first demonstration. Then we were sent over to the warmer leisure pool so we wouldn't freeze. As more groups finished, we began to play a rousing game of marco polo...then Claudia came in, and we got screamed at for not going back to the lap pool. We're "worse than 15-year-olds" when it comes to practicing our skills. I felt bad, but she never told us to come back. We all thought she was going to let us do shallow saves where we were.

So then we had to go swim a whole bunch of laps and practice some saves, all the while trying to avoid making Claudia any more angry with us. Yeah....why didn't I stay in bed or lose my i.d. this morning?

Something I have learned over the past few weeks is that at home, life is much more high-energy than here at school. Everyone in my family is always doing something, and as Chad's girlfriend put it, our house is "like a revolving door" with people constantly coming in and out: Jimmy's friends, my friends, extended family...there is never a dull moment. I hope it's like that for me when I have a house/family. But for now, I am extremely exhausted from the early mornings and late nights I filled up with my social life and all the time in-between that I tried to fill with as much enjoyment as I could. Which I think I did. Because all I want to do is crawl into my bed and finish the nap I started on the car ride down here today.

I heart you, my Loudonville boys. You know who you are, and you are wonderful! : )

So on my way to lifeguarding class, I decided to stop and pick up the mail. Both Cassie and I received letters from the Biology department. Then want us to fill out a questionnaire and give our opinions about BMZ 115 lab experiments. Oh, wonderful. I cannot wait to fill that thing out.

And guess what. Christina and I will be embarking on a 1300 mile trip across the midwest the weekend after finals, straight from Loudonville to Colorado Springs. Then I'm going to visit for a week and fly back home to start working at the state park. I'm excited, it should be lots of fun and pretty interesting...can you see us driving for 20 hours?

Also, I am currently sans bedroom. Due to some juggling around of belongings, the bedroom count between my siblings and I stands as such: Jimmy, 1. Erin, 2. Loren, 0. My sister has decided that my bedroom is the choiciest and therefore should belong to her. That's fine. Her room is a lot smaller and on the back of the house where there are fewer windows and way less noise. The problem is, I have no where to just...be. Last night when I got home, I didn't even have a bed to sleep in. I had to sleep on the couch. It's a nice couch and everything, but I have nowhere to leave the pile of stuff I brought home with me to leave here for summer. And since I won't be home again till the day between finals and the Colorado trip, it looks like there might be some big messes waiting for me when I get home. On the upside, I have moved in and out of my room & dorm room enough this year that moving down the hall should be a piece of cake.

Let's see...thoroughly enjoyed skipping BMZ to come home early last night. I got up and went birding (I'm not afraid to admit it, although Monica thinks I should deny the fact AND hide my bird book and binoculars) with Damon after meeting for breakfast at McDonald's. It was lots of fun to walk around the park trails I know so well. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with the rest of my day but it will hopefully be fun. Maybe I could go tackle one of my sister's rooms? Or maybe I'll just leave that to her...

Since I know you all like it so much, here's another fun list of the upcoming holidays this month:

7 No Housework Day
14 National Pecan Day
16 Stress Awareness day
Eggs Benedict Day
18 Juggler's day
19 Garlic Day
22 Earth Day
Take your daughter to work day
Jelly Bean Day
23 Shakespeare's Birthday (1564)
Secretaries Day
26 Pretzel Day

Little Sibs Weekend:
Jimmy, Scott, David, Krystle, and my little sister Erin came down to stay on campus, while my parents stayed in a hotel. We did some fun things:
1. Have you ever heard of geocache.com? You hide stuff somewhere--anywhere on earth--and then post its GPS coordinates on this website. There happen to be several on this very campus. We went searching for them on Friday night, and found one. It was fun.

2. Have you ever taken high school students to a dining hall? It is so much fun to see them, in awe, looking at the massive amounts of food. Also, if everyone in college ate like they do, the world would shortly run out of food and it wouldn't be the freshman 15, it would be the freshman 50.

3. Cook Field's field day was fun. They had a velcro wall, and this dad took his little girl (probably about 4 years old) and threw her up to the top of it. She was nicely stuck. It was pretty funny. It was also funny when the boys put on the velcro suits and tried their hand at it.

4. We played the most vicious game of water basketball ever with Cassie and her brother. I have several bruises; I believe these stem from the fact that it was boys vs. girls and probably their combined heights tripled that of my team's.

5. We went to Jungle Jim's grocery store on Sunday. How can you not have fun at a place that sells International soda brands and has a giant, singing Elvis-impersonating monkey animatronic?

Needless to say, I am exhausted from this weekend. But it was lots of fun, and I'm so glad everyone came to vist. Also, a big thanks to Christina, Anne, and Steve for letting people crash in their rooms. I have wonderful friends!

Well. This week, I have definitely taken advantage of the things MU offers. First, on Tuesday, Anne invited me to go hear Carroll Spinney, a.k.a the voice of Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch, give a lecture at Hall Auditoruim. It was really interesting; I never realized that Big Bird's head is controlled by Mr. Spinney's right hand held above his head. He told some good stories about life as a puppeteer, Jim Henson, and being "the most unknown famous person in the world." I was glad I went.
On Thursday night, Cassie and I went to see the national tour of Grease. It was good. I mean, no one compares to John Travolta or Olivia Newton-John, so...what can you do. I'll tell you one thing though, the choreography was BAD because there was about none. Oh well. An enjoyable experience nonetheless.
Tonight I dragged Chad to the MU Steel Band concert. The MUSB is comprised of about 45 people playing steel drums, a drum set, and bongos. It was really really really good. I was so impressed. And one of the guys who helped invent steel drums was there, he talked for a little bit, and that was cool. So maybe next year I'll try my hand at steel drumming. It looked like so much fun.
My family and some friends are on their way here right now, so Little Sibs weekend looks like it is going to be lots of fun. Hopefully the weather clears up...I'm tired of having to walk around a wet, gloomy campus and I don't want them to either.

I knew I should have been born fifty years earlier and just lived the June Cleaver life...



what decade does your personality live in?


quiz brought to you by lady interference, ltd