Day #7428 - Silent Night

I literally haven't left my house today. Down at school this past week during finals, me and my roommates would make sure we at least went outside once a day. The closest I got today was answering the door for the mail lady because someone had to sign for a package. That doesn't mean I haven't been in total awe of it's beauty. It's been snowing pretty consistently all day. Like I said the other day, though, I know it can be dangerous and I know that so many people find it annoying and a pain to deal with. Pardon me if I start to sound like Charlie Brown, but this season is supposed to be all about Love and family and hope, with peace on earth and goodwill toward all men. However, all of that, no matter how hard we may try, becomes secondary to the commercialism that consumes us. People genuinely don't believe me when I say I don't care so much about Christmas presents. Sure I want things, but I'd rather have a few days with my family and friends with no drama or fighting than any material things. So even though scraping the ice off the windshield of your car in the sub-zero windchill is never fun, take a moment to just appreciate what we do have. And come on, it's hard to deny that the power of weather is pretty awesome. All of this snow fell from the sky. It was just evaporated water, turned into a cloud, and now our landscape has been completely transformed. Come on, it's a little bit cool =)

Another thing I just want to take the time to comment on is surprises. I love it when things in this world can surprise me. People, places, things. For example, I'm not sure if I can remember the last time a movie made me cry. It rarely happens and I think the first time it did was when I first saw Finding Neverland. Tonight I watched Dan in Real Life with my brother and dad. Now for most of the movie, I just felt awkward and uncomfortable (probably because I could identify with the protagonist more than I wanted to). However at the end when Dan was talking to his daughters, I felt a tear on my face. I never watched this movie before because I thought it looked awful, and I ended up really enjoying it.

And I love it when books can surprise me. I'm currently re-reading Pride and Prejudice for the first time in a few years and wow, I forgot so much of the story. Usually I'll just pop in the dvd if I want a bit of Lizzy and Mr. Darcy, but the book, wow. Austen really knew how to tell a story. I never really appreciated Mr. Darcy's side of the story before - the movie just makes him seem like a jerk because you're only seeing her side of the story. In the book, you really get to see how tormented he is and we can all relate to the idea of falling for someone that our friends don't approve of. I never fully saw that Darcy starts falling in love with her the night they meet. It's like I'm reading a whole new book - what a great surprise.

And with this night being the eve of Christmas Eve, I now close this post while wishing you a very Merry Christmas and a happy holiday. Travel safely and just try to remember the real reason for the season =)

Day #7426 - Yarn and Yultide

Well final exams are finally over for everyone, so I'm back in Schaumburg for a month of rest and hopefully letting my brain recover from the massive assault it's been subject to for the past semester. I already went to Michael's today and got started on a new sweater that I hope to finish knitting by the time we head back to school.

The neighborhood is beautiful right now. I know that snow can be really unsafe to drive in and completely annoying when it comes to shoveling, but especially at night, it just makes everything look so at peace. Not going to lie, one of my main motivations for blogging tonight was going to be so I could rant about the fact that I've only been home a day and already, some people who I have always considered good friends are already not returning my calls and ignoring my texts and how much it sucks when I try to take an initiative like people are always telling me to do, but at the end of the day I'm still alone. It's a horrible feeling. But when I look out at the streetlights and snow covering my currently quiet street, it's just nice. Sure it'd be nice to have anyone to share these kinds of moments with, but it's so pretty that I don't mind. Patience is a virtue that I have always struggled with, and I also just try to remember that those kinds of things just might not be in the cards for me. So yeah. Sometimes, life is just a pain. Sometimes the people you need to listen, won't. But then other times, it'll snow in the days before Christmas and put a blanket over the world in a way that makes you wish that things like magic and Santa Claus were real to you all over again.

Day #7363 - A Change in the Air

The weather here finally feels like fall. Especially in the past week, it's been all over the place ranging from the 40s to the 80s. Today was nice because it was in the mid to low 60s - threw on a long sleeve shirt and a baseball hat with my jeans and I was good to go. One thing that I kind of hate is that there's not time in my schedule right now for me to sit out and enjoy it. I would love nothing more than to just sit out on the quad with a book and my ipod and read in the afternoon. Unfortunately, the soonest I could do that is Wednesday afternoon and even then, not for very long due to meetings and whatnot. But when I finally get to, it'll be sweet.

In life outside of the classroom, things are okay. There are things especially in the social realm that I wish I had more control over, but since I don't, I'm just accepting it and counting my blessings. As the saying goes, "God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to accept the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference." But I'm confident that things will eventually turn around - it's just got to be a matter of time, right? In the meantime, duty to my homework calls...

Day #7351 - I Now Pronounce this Season, Autumn!

Today has been one of those days that I have been waiting for since the weather started to cool off. The air has been crisp and clear, the days are cloudless, the nights have a breeze that, frankly, is freezing. It's even been October for over a week already, yet I have not truly felt like it was Fall yet. And then today, it finally happened.

The leaves turned! It's one of those things that you can just sense Nature is just taking her time with. Any time soon, the trees would finally surrender. Baseball season is over (at least for any Chicago fans), football weather is upon us, and the Greek system is in the middle of barndance shennanigans. Everything has been leading up to this moment, suggesting that the time has come. I love seeing the green quad covered in the yellow and maroon leaves, everyone dressed in hoodies and jeans. It's a good feeling indeed.

In other news, life is keeping me busy (but mostly in a good way). My current cause of some frustration is my CI 335 class aka Education Technology. Long story short, technology hates me when I actually NEED to use it and right now, I'm not such a huge fan of it either. But I'm trying and the instructors were really understanding at class tonight when I explained to them why I had nothing done. I keep reminding myself that things could be worse and that in the grand scheme of things, I'm really doing okay. So good deal.

Side note that I meant to write about a couple days ago: I love it/get freaked out slightly when the music I might be listening to perfectly fits the situation at hand or the mood I'm in. It's like for however brief a moment in time, my ife has it's own soundtrack :o)

Day #7304 - End of a Teenage Era

So in just under two hours, I leave my teenage years behind and move into my twenties. While the past 6 years have been eventful to say the least, I'm actually much more nervous about this new chapter. From 8th grade until now, changes have obviously happened in me - junior high, all of high school, and half of my college career all done. But as they say, the more things change, the more they stay the same. I still love The West Wing and government, music, books, art, crafts, am incredibly shy even with people I do know, want to make friends that will last a lifetime, and find a place in this world where I truly and absolutely belong. So I guess this is a sort of toast by me for me - here's to everything that brought me to today and to everything that is to come. Who thought it would ever happen? Certainly not me :o)

Day #7292 - The Great 08-08-08

So even though this particular date was a few days ago (my 7,290th to be exact), I still feel as if I should document the occasion in some way.

The biggest deal for me was the fact that two days ago, the games of the 29th Olympiad started. Now for those of you who may not know this about me, I LOVE the Olympics. I love watching the opening ceremonies and seeing what the host country's culture is like and especially the march of nations when all the athletes come together in the spirit of competition. To me, it is progress toward a greater good, however small a step it may be. Plus, there are some really unique things to watch on tv now for the next two weeks, sports that no one ever really notices except for these once every 4 years. So good deal! I love the Olympics.

Earlier in the day I met with Amanda and Elissa about final detals for the apartment - fun times were had and the discussion was lively.

Last night was a mini-Verona reunion bbq. Again, fun times were had and it was nice to hang out with new friends and talk about old times. Plus everyone seems to have liked my lemon jello.

Other than that, I've just been gearing up for this last week before heading back down to school. Today I think I'm going to start tackling the decision of what clothes to bring (which for a girl can be quite a dilemma). I'm really hoping to start the year off on a positive note and stay that way for the semester. I'd really love to make Dean's List again and just remember to stay focused on the things that really matter. And if I'm able to have anything resembling a social or love life, that'd be nice too haha.

Day #7286 - They Built It, So I Came

So I know I haven't written here in a while, but I have two reasons for that: I've either been incredibly busy and therefore haven't had time OR things have been so boring that there's nothing to say. However, the past few days have been pretty memorable.

The week itself was pretty standard - Mom finished up school on Thursday, I worked more on getting stuff for the apartment and finishing up my shopping for recruitment. The other night we watched Sweeney Todd as a family, which none of us had ever seen before - wow. Quite, quite bloody and incredibly sad, but really interesting and well done. Oh theatre! I also had a shopping and baseball day with Michele which was nice - the two of us haven't really gotten to hang out just the two of us much this summer.

Yesterday, Mom, Dad, Steven and I went on a mini-roadtrip. On our way to Iowa, we stopped in Freeport, IL (Home of the Freeport High School Fighting Pretzels) and saw Little Cubs Field. Basically it's a miniature-Wrigley Field, complete with ivy and a scoreboard. It was pretty cool. We continued on to Galena where we walked around the town and saw President Grant's home. After spending the night in Iowa, we woke up bright and early to go play some baseball on the Field of Dreams in Dyersville. Wow. That was just plain cool. I'm not the brainest girl in the world especially when it comes to sports. I rarely understand all the rules, but I can appreciate and enjoy watching the game. I actually made some decent contact with the ball when I was up to bat, roamed around in the corn, and saw the big white farm house. It was such simple fun and I couldn't have been happier just to PLAY. We drove home after that, stopping in Dickeyville to see a fake grotto and then Pitosi to a micro-brewery. All in all, a very nice little trip.

Oh, and most people know that I'm a lover of storms. However I'm not going to lie, tonight's storms freaked me out. I don't like it when it's quite this close haha. However, rain usually means I'll sleep well tonight, and I'm all for that :o)