My Second Plane-Ride Adventure

 

So, if you haven’t read my first adventure on an airplane yet, it might make a little more sense if you read that one first, so if you haven’t, go here.  If you already have read it though, then good for you! You’re ahead of the game!

So, my last plane-ride sucked majorly, if you couldn’t gather that from the previous blog.

This time, things were a lot different because my dad wasn’t there to guide me through the process.  So, you could say I was pretty nervous flying on a plane by myself for the first time.

My friend Chelsie drove me to the airport with Nathan in the back seat, and it was pretty quiet during the whole time.  I mean, it wasn’t dead silent or anything; there was music playing and we did talk occasionally, but there wasn’t a party going down or anything.  And as we got closer to the airport, I got more and more nervous about the whole process, and sad.

Why was I sad? This was going to be the first substantial amount of time that I would be away from Nathan since we first met.  We were apart for 4 days for Thanksgiving, but this was going to be over three weeks apart (which doesn’t seem like that big of a deal, but two a couple that is pretty much inseparable it seems like a lot).
Anyways, I was sad that I’d have to leave him, but extremely happy that I was going home.

So we got to the airport, and I was looking for the place where you can drop off your luggage outside the airport, but I couldn’t find it. So we ended up driving through the airport drop off twice.  Which wasn’t so bad, but it was a lot of confusion.
We loop around back to the beginning place, and Nathan gets out to help me take my bags to the dropoff place.  I was getting more and more sad and when we got to the place, I ended up crying.  And I kept crying after Nathan hugged and kissed me.  I could tell it broke his heart to see me like that, but it was the way it was.  After that I didn’t cry and I got through handling the checked bags.

The guy was really nice and after he checked the bags, he told me where to go and asked if I needed anything else.  I didn’t, so I went into the airport. 

When I got inside, I was very confused.  I didn’t know exactly where I was going, and my mind was blank as to what I did when I went to the airport with my dad.  Then it hit me that I needed to go through security, and so I headed the direction of the security checkpoint.  They were nice, until I was going to go through the detector and they told me I had to go back and take off my flip flops.
…my flip flops? Seriously, what could be hidden in there?  I dealt with it though, took off them, and went through the detector.

I grabbed my stuff on the other side, put my shoes back on, and then began the search for my terminal. 

…it turned out that my terminal was all the way down to the end of one of the places.  So needless to say it was a very, very long walk to get there.  Once I got there though, I felt a little better than I had felt before.  Except for the fact that there was another place to take off at that place before mine, so the area was packed with people.  Once they all got on though I was fine.

I was there like two hours early though and had to sit and wait, getting more and more anxious as time went by.

My first plane ride, I felt as though I was going to throw up the entire time, so this time I was prepared; I had Dramamine with me. (That’s an anti-motion sickness drug)  So I killed like…four seconds during my waiting time taking my pre-dose of that stuff.

The rest of the time I spent calling my parents and telling them I got to the airport and everything okay…
…and playing Sudoku. 
I was extremely bored.

Eventually boarding started and I was the 6th or 7th person on the plane, and when I got to the plane, as soon as I got on I asked for a seatbelt extender, and the lady was extremely nice about it. 
I got to my seat, sat down, and buckled up.

Then it was informed that the plane was only half-full, which meant that I wouldn’t have to sit next to someone.  Which made me feel even better about everything.

So takeoff was fine; I got a window seat and was looking outside the whole time.
I was pretty bored until they told us we could use electronics, and then I got my laptop out and watched Elf.

They went around offering food and drinks (which was very nice) and then I watched It’s a Wonderful Life.
…I only got halfway through that movie though, because I got sleepy and decided to take a nap.

I woke up what felt like minutes later, but was actually a few hours later, and was told that we would be landing soon.

I was thinking ‘okay I slept for a long time but that’s cool’

…and then we hit major turbulence.
I got pretty damn scared after the plane started to shake like crazy. I thought we were going to fall out of the sky.

Eventually that calmed down and we landed, and I got off the plane and went to the bathroom.

Then I made my way to baggage claim, where my dad and younger sister Lizah was waiting for me.

From there, everything was a breeze, and I was just happy to be back on the east coast.

And now I get to make the wonderful trip back to Utah in two days, and I’m not looking forward to it.
Don’t get me wrong—now I don’t mind flying because of my Dramamine (by the way, that stuff worked extremely well. I had a headache the whole planeride, but I didn’t feel sick)—but I just don’t want to go back to Utah.
I’m going to miss being home…and driving…and not having to wear shoes in the shower…

but it’s something that needs to be done, and as I said in my last blog, it won’t last forever, and I’ll be back in Blue Ridge Summit before I know it.

Summary of My First College Semester and the Holidays (…and a random rant)

Merry Christmas, Kwanza, Hanukah, Happy Holidays, etc. etc. etc. You know how it goes.
Yes, I know I’m posting this blog two days after Christmas, but I get distracted, start the blog, and then take forever to finish it. But I knew I’d finish it eventually.

So I’m back home for the holidays (well, one of the holidays, I go back to college on the 30th so I’ll be in Ogden for New Year’s. oh well) And it’s been…interesting.  Well, not interesting, but moreso…stressful.  A lot of things have changed at my parents house…mainly I lost my room…and my TV…and my furniture…but I do have my king-sized bed so it isn’t too bad I guess.  But there’s been a lot of drama that…eh, doesn’t need talked about. It is good to be home though.

It’s settled down a lot though and everyone is getting a long fairly well.  I’m actually extremely happy to be home and really don’t want to go back to Utah.  But, apparently it’s important to get an education, so I feel the need to go back to school.  Plus, I paid for this upcoming semester and I don’t want all that money to go down the toilet.

So, let me talk about my holiday experience before I get to the topic of this blog.

So, as always, on Christmas Eve we went over to my Uncle Jeff’s house for the Coyle family get-together.  I drove me and my younger sister Amanda over, and the plan was for my mom, dad, and youngest sister Lizah to come over later.
I drove our little Chrysler convertible over, and I thought it would be easier to pull into his field and drive up next to the road, so I wouldn’t have to back out into the road at like 11:00 at night.  Logical right?
…it didn’t turn out so well.
I was half-way turned around and going up the field when the car stopped moving.
I was like okay, that’s weird.
I tried pressing the gas and the car didn’t go anywhere.
I put the car in reverse, and it didn’t go anywhere, and flung mud on the windshield.

It was then that I realized that the car was stuck in the mud.  I was mad at myself for getting it stuck like that.

But me and my sister got out of the car anyways…
…but as I got out, my feet landed ankle-deep in mud.
and I was wearing flip flops.
If there was EVER a bad time to wear flip flops, THEN would have been the worst time.

It took me going down the length of the car and losing my flip flops a couple times over to realize that I would not make it the 50 feet to the house wearing those shoes.

So yes, I took off my flip flops in 30-some-degree weather to walk in the mud to my uncle’s house, and my feet were numb by the time I got there.
Even though it only took a minute or so to get there.

Oh, it’s not over yet.

I get inside and everyone’s greeting me, and my little sister keeps speaking up and telling everyone that I had issues with the mud.  So everyone is either staring at me, or telling me it’s okay. 
My cousin gets a towel and tells me to walk on it to the bathroom, where I end up washing off my feet.  It was not the highlight of my night.

The car is now unstuck, but everyone kept joking about it getting stuck in the mud the WHOLE night.  It was still fun though.

The next day was Christmas, and the only thing I have to say about that is that I got a black and red snuggie, and it is the most amazing present EVER! It’s so soft and warm and comfy, and it’s everything that I’ve ever wanted.

 

Okay, now, onto our topic.
So my first semester of college was pretty awesome; I met a lot of awesome people, but a lot of not-so-awesome people as well.  That’s how it goes.  I’m not going to lie; I feel like a third wheel a lot of the time when I’m hanging out with my friends, but that’s how it’s always been with me.
At least when I hang out with Nathan he treats me like an equal…but then again, it’s usually just the two of us.

Things between Nathan and I are still going amazingly well; meeting him was…wonderful (I should write a blog about all that) and everything since then has just felt like…a dream.  We had our 1-year Anniversary on November 29th, and that was a lot of fun.  He’s back in Idaho Falls for the holidays while I’m in Pennsylvania, but we’ll see each other soon enough.

As for classes…eh.  I hates my Intro to Anthro class and am so glad it’s over.  The professor was completely horrible and didn’t know what she was doing.  She always went off topic and never gave us any indication as to what would be on her tests.  I ended up getting a C in her class—which is passing—but I was still extremely mad about.  My American Civilizations class was okay as well; I love history, but doing essay exams are killer. I ended up with a B+ in that class.  I got an A- in my Intro to Criminal Justice class, which I thought was a little low, but still fairly reasonable, and I got an A in my Human Biology class.  So, overall, my first semester of college landed me with a 3.25 GPA.

If I can do better next semester and bring that GPA up to a 3.5, I can qualify for an academic scholarship, and we won’t have to borrow as much money.  Which would really help me out.

Wow, that summary took a lot less space up than I thought it would.  Now, let me rant about a few things.

 

The first thing involves giving the proper credit to those who deserve it.
I don’t give a shit if it’s on facebook or twitter or face-to-face or in an essay, book, whatever.  Proper credit needs to be given to the right source.  It’s only fair.
I mean, if I wrote something and someone else took the credit for it, I would be super effin’ pissed.  And I’m sure other people would too!
I don’t care if it was lyrics and they were sung better by another musician; if the other musician didn’t write the lyrics, they shouldn’t get credited for them. 
For example, the song I Won’t Back Down was written by Tom Petty, but Johnny Cash did a cover for it.
Yes, Johnny Cash’s version was good, but he didn’t write the lyrics, and therefore shouldn’t be credited if you use the lyrics in a status or whatever.  Why? Because Tom Petty was the one who actually wrote the lyrics.  And it’s the same no matter who wrote what song.  If THEY are not the songwriter, than THEY don’t deserve to get the credit for the lyrics.
And it pisses me off to no end; especially when you get the asshole douchebags who think they’re right and can justify crediting lyrics to other artists.  Because there is no way to justify it.  And even attempting to makes you a bigger asshole than you already were.

Can you tell this situation happened in person and set me off?  Haha, I thought so.  It did happen, and even when I put the person in their place, they came back at me with a lame comeback, and I just blocked them from my life.  But I still think it’s good knowledge for everyone to have.  For future reference to quoting things on social networks.

Well, I don’t really have anything else to say.

I leave to go back to Utah on Friday, and I’m not excited to go back.  I love being home.  But I’ll be right back here in mid-April, so I think time will just fly right by.

I’ll try not to be so…spastic about when I write my next blog. I know it’s been a long time, but sometimes college just gets the better of you.  Anyways, until next time, Happy holidays!

Opinions of Games

So, I don’t know why, but I got the randomest urge to make a list of a buttload of games…and all kinds of games…and tell you what I honestly think of them.  So, I’ll keep the intro short and sweet, and here we go!

Tag

Description:  The game where someone is ‘it’, and they run around and try to tag someone else so they are now ‘it’.

When I was little: I loved it…to a degree

Now: I think it’s too much work running around, and I prefer a slower game that doesn’t involve so much physical exertion…unless you change the rules so you can only walk or something haha

Hide-and-Seek

Description:  Everyone hides, and the person who is ‘it’ counts to whatever, and has to go find the people who are it.  It varies, depending on the game and who makes the rules, sometimes there’s a base, other times, there isn’t.

When I was little: Thought it was amazing

Now:  Still think it is pretty amazing

Making a Fort

Description:  Although not a game, still fun.  You take blankets and a few chairs/table or whatever, and lay the blankets over the chairs or table so there is a huge open area in the middle.  What you do in the fort is up to you.

When I was little: Loved it.

Now: LOVE IT!  And now, since I’m older, forts seem even more fun!  If that’s even possible.

Truth or Dare

Description:  Someone asks another person “Truth or Dare”, the person picks, then the person who asks gives them either a truth or a dare to complete.

When I was little:  Thought it was stupid.

Now:  I think it’s even more stupid.  Especially since I’m in college now.  Like, okay that’s a game you play when you’re like 13.  Not when you’re 18 and up.  I mean, come on, seriously?  It’s stupid and pointless and even though some people may think it’s fun, it’s a good way to catch mono or herpes or other diseases…depending on the dare.  Ugh.  Probably my least favorite game in existence.

Monopoly

Description:  A board game where the goal is to get all the properties and money you can, stay out of jail, and build your heart out.  I think it’s supposed to represent life or something

When I was little:  It confused me

Now: …I’ll play it occasionally, but again, not one of my favorites.

Rummy

Description:  A card game where everyone starts out with 7 cards, and you try to get groups of 3 of a kind, or a suit of at least 3 cards…and…there’s a lot more…but…it’s awesome.

When I was little:  Mom taught me, and I loved it

Now:  I still love it, and it’s my favorite card game.

Poker

Description:  A card game where there’s stuff…and like…betting…and…I don’t even know.

Variation:  Strip Poker

When I was little:  Didn’t understand it

Now:  …still don’t understand it.

War

Description:  A card game where two people each get the same number of cards to begin with.  You each place a card face up and whoever’s card is the higher one gets both the cards.  If both are the same card, then you go ‘I declare war’ and then whoever’s card is higher gets all the cards.

When I was little:  Thought it was cool, but never played it much

Now:  I’ll play it…but it takes forever to finish!

Chess

Description:  A game of strategy where the goal is to put the king in checkmate.  It’s more complicated than that, but you get the gist.

When I was little:  I could play it…but I never knew how to finish the game

Now:  I can play it…but I still don’t really know how to finish a game.

Slap-Silly-Ola

Description:  It’s a game I played at day camp and girl scouts where you sit in a circle and slap the next person’s hand and you go around the circle like that, singing the song, and when you get to the end of the song, if the person whose hand is going to be slapped doesn’t move their hand, they lose. 

When I was little:  Loved it

Now:  I love it, but either people have never heard of it, or you can’t find many people willing to play it. 

Checkers

Description:  One group is red, one black, and the goal is to jump the other person’s pieces, make their pieces kings, and get the opponent’s pieces off the board.

When I was little:  I was beast at it

Now:  I’m still beast at it

Slapjack

Description:  A card game where 2 people each get half a deck of cards, and you keep laying down cards, alternating, until someone puts down a Jack.  When they do, whoever slaps their hand on the pile first gets the whole pile.  And the game continues

When I was little:  Sooooo fun

Now: People don’t like to play little-kid card games.  They’re all about poker or whatever.

Battleship

Description:  Two people each have a board where they place naval ship pieces in any way they want, and the goal is to try and guess where all the other player’s pieces are.

When I was little:  One of my favorite games

Now:  I really want to play it…

Crossword Puzzles

Description:  Using clues to try to guess what the right words are

When I was little: Bored me to death.

Now:  They’re pretty awesome.

Minesweeper

Description:  A computer game where the goal is to find (and not blow up) a certain number of mines on the field of…I don’t know how many squares

When I was little: It frustrated me

Now:  I love it.  I get addicted to it sometimes when I’m bored

Solitaire

Description:  A card game played on the computer or with a deck of cards where the goal is to get all the cards in their suits in ascending order.

When I was little:  Meh, I had my days

Now:  Meh, I have my days

Free Cell

Description:  A card game where the goal is to do the same as in Solitaire, but all the cards are in front of you…and it’s a lot more complicated and frustrating

When I was little:  Damn that game sucked!

Now:  Meh, I have my days, but I rarely win…

World of Warcraft

Description:  A computer game where you do a bunch of mission and stuff to level up and act awesome.  Played alone or with a group of other people.

When I was little:  Never even heard of it

Now:  …I played a free trial once, and got frustrated because my best friend played it a lot and was awesome (and I wasn’t)…and I haven’t played it since.  Probably a good thing, since I might’ve gotten addicted to it.

New Super Mario Bros (for Nintendo DS)

Description:  Super awesome game, and like any other Mario game, you have to try and save Peach by going through hell in 8 different kingdoms/castles just for the stupid bitch.

When I was little:  I got the game in 7th grade and loved it

Now:  I still love it.  Mario is one of my all-time favorite games/ways to waste time.

Zelda

Description:  …I honestly don’t know, but I figured I’d include it.  Kinda like Mario, but not

When I was little:  Didn’t get it; I thought Link was actually Zelda, and that confused me

Now:  I still don’t really know; we had a Zelda game for the Wii, but my little sister Lizah played it all the time and I just watched…so…I don’t play it.

Reader Rabbit

Description:  A series of computer games ranging from like…Toddler to 8th grade (or maybe higher) where you learn math and reading skills and such.  Most kids nowadays have never heard of this game.

When I was little:  They were all I played.  I played them ALL THE TIME! And LOVED them!  Honestly, I think that’s what helped make me as smart as I am.  I was playing Kindergarten Reader Rabbit when I was like…a toddler. I was beast.  I think my favorite one was like Math Journey or something…maybe…I don’t know.

Now: …I wish I knew where all our Reader Rabbit games are.  They’d either be boring to me now, or I’d get easily amused and fall in love with them all over again.

Jump Rope

Description:  Using a jump rope to be awesome.

Variations:  Jumping in and out, doing double dutch, etc.

When I was little:  I did it a lot, on my own, and with other people.  I couldn’t jump in and out very much, but I was able to do double dutch…once in a blue moon.

Now:  …I can’t remember the last time I jumped rope (besides gym class)  I haven’t done it for fun in forever.  I’d probably fail horribly at it.

Sorry

Description:  A board game where the goal is…man…I haven’t played this game in so long I can’t even remember!

When I was little: Played it some, not very much though

Now: …I don’t even remember what the damn thing is about!

Parcheesi

Description:  A game where the goal is to get all your pieces from the starting point to your home point.

When I was little: Never heard of it

Now:  I play it occasionally, but I don’t think I do it right haha

Scrabble

Description:  A game where you build words off of each other and try to get more points than the other people

When I was little:  I played it on the computer and loved to cheat.

Now:  I still love to play it…and cheat.

Jigsaw Puzzles

Description:  You take a bunch of puzzle pieces, and put them together.

When I was little: LOVED

Now: LOVE THEM EVEN MORE!  I wish I had one right now to do

Coloring

Description:  Taking crayons, markers, colored pencils, etc. and using them to fill in a blank picture with a lot of color.

When I was little:  I was beast.

Now:  I still LOVE to color and am an even better beast!

 

Okay, I’m tired now and have listed probably 25 or so games, so hopefully you know my opinions and stuff of them.  If I missed any, let me know, and I’ll make a sequel to this one. (=

The College Laundry Experience

So, before I start off…I must tell you all…that I am indeed in college.

I know it’s a shocker (…not really.  It shouldn’t be a shocker anyways; some of my more recent blogs were all about college…and the plane ride to college…)

Anyways, I’m attending Weber State University now in Ogden, Utah.

Because I lived in Pennsylvania….and Utah is 238,343,642,556 miles away, I can’t go home every time I need to do laundry…or pick up something I forgot at the house…or cook food…

…I really miss home-cooked meals…

Anyways!  Because of this, as we speak right now, I’m down in my dorm’s basement doing laundry.

Now, this isn’t THAT big of a deal, because I’ve done laundry a lot over the course of my lifetime… from the time I was little up until the day before I left I had done laundry…now the methods and stuff changed over the years…but still, the basics remain.

So, why would I be writing a blog about doing laundry then?  Well…I just have a few complaints I would like to make evident.  I’ll make my list pretty…and might even add a picture to it!

#1: There are only 6 washing machines; 2 3 of them are out of order

(As I write this, the one machine that DID have my clothes in it now says that IT is out of order as well…so…yeah. Only two used to be out of order, but in the course of a few minutes, another one becomes inaccessible.  And actually, this little fact pissed me off.  Why? Because the clothes that were in the washer that now says Out of Order aren’t dry…they’re soaking wet…and not clean.  So what do I have to do? I have to put them in another washer and run the load again.)

#2:  The washers don’t hold very many clothing  items

(This means that if you wait to do your laundry for even like…a week…and you have a lot of clothing…you’re looking at using at LEAST 2 washers.  And, if there are 6 of them, and 3 are out of order, the chance of you being able to do all your laundry at once…well, the odds aren’t good.)

#3:  The washers are HE (High Efficiency) washers

(Okay, this doesn’t seem like THAT big of an issue…but look at it this way… I assumed that I would need regular laundry detergent to do my laundry…and the regular laundry detergent requires you more detergent for fewer loads.  If I would’ve known that the washers were HE, I could’ve invested in HE detergent, which you can get more loads out of with less…or so they advertise..  Plus…I really don’t know how well HE washers work with regular detergent…I don’t want to make it explode! Mainly the last point is my only concern..

*Honestly, I don’t know THAT much about HE products…so don’t tear me apart on this point; I’m just naïve and know what I’ve been told)

#4: It costs $1.00 per load to wash, and $1.00 per load to dry

(Let’s flash back to points number 1 and 2.  Specifically, in point number 1, the fact that while my clothes were IN the machine in the process of being washed, the machine went Out of Order.  And in the second point, let’s look at the fact that the machines don’t hold very many clothes.  These two points mean that #A: If the machine goes out of order on you in the middle of your load, you have to pay ANOTHER dollar to finish the load, and #B, If you have to use more than one machine, it means that you’ll be paying at least $2.00 just to wash them.  And then if you dry them…you have to dish out another dollar AT LEAST

*I know it sounds stupid to complain about a dollar…but a dollar here and a dollar there…plus if you do laundry weekly or even bi-weekly…you’re looking at a lot of money JUST to get your clothes clean!)

#5:  The washers are small, but the dryers are HUGE

(This isn’t really a complaint…but it doesn’t make sense!  I mean, that basically means the amount of clothing you can take up for 2 washers you can use to dry with just one dryer…which can cut down on costs.  But seriously…the washers should be bigger! That way instead of having to use 2 washers to do clothes, you only need to do one, which means you can free up a washer for another person who needs to use it…and seriously…this dorm has a lot of people who tend to want clean clothes)

#6:  Lots of people, few options

(In a building this big, there are going to be people constantly funneling in and out of the laundry room looking to wash and dry their clothes.  This is going to be really, really hard to do, especially if it takes 1 or 2 people to occupy all the available washing machines.  I mean, they’re freed up when the washing people go to dry their clothing items…but still.  It’s just..stupid.)

Okay that’s my rant.  Any opinions? Let me know.

Note: I’m glad that they do have facilities to help students get their clothes clean—I really am grateful—but the facilities they DO have need to be 5 million times more accessible to the students who paid good money to go to this school.

My Plane-Ride Adventure

 

As you guys know, I’m pretty ADD.  Which does not bode well when it comes to going new places.  The whole way from our house to Baltimore, MD I was sped looking out the window at things (and helping my dad with directions).  Then when we got to the airport and parked, dad made us haul ass to get to the shuttle bus station, which was about to leave.

Our driver was such a funny black lady, saying things like “Yo betta sit down ‘less you wanna get hurt!’  And stuff like that…She was amusing.  And it was fun just riding in the bus…I was smiling and my dad was just looking at me like I was crazy.

And then we got to the airport and had to go through security…which was easy…but the lady who was telling us to go through the metal detector was impatient which wasn’t cool.  Oh well.

Then we had to wait.  We were there 3 hours early…and we sat in the terminal that whole time.

Me being ADD made that part really fun! I kept looking out the window and watched the planes take off and was like ‘omg that’s so cool!!!’ and then I randomly decided I wanted to be a pilot… until my dad told me you have to go to school for a longgggg time. And I don’t want to fly a plane that much.

I started taking pictures of things with a camera that my parents got me for my birthday…nothing too exciting.  But at the time I thought my pictures were awesome because I had never been in an airport terminal…well, I was when I was like 5, but I can’t remember that! 

Here are some pictures I had taken

Yeah. At the time, I thought these pictures were the greatest thing ever and they’d end up in a magazine…

Now….I know that dream is NOT going to come true.  Except the sky picture is pretty shindiggy.

So after that my dad kept getting up to go get food or go potty or whatever…personally, I think he was just making excuses to leave me.  I was acting really goofy and totally like I had a mental issue, so I can’t say I didn’t blame him.

He came back one time with a puzzle book and a pencil…he paid $5 for a pencil that came with one extra piece of lead.  Haha he got ripped off.  It was fun.

Then the time came to board the plane.

My dad was put in group B…and I was put in group C.

Which means that my dad got to board before me.

And considering I had never been on a plane before…Uhm…I didn’t like the thought of boarding without him, and potentially not being able to sit near him.

So he left me and I had to wait another 5 minutes…and was freaking out the whole time…

And then it was my turn to board.

I got onto the plane and started looking in the seats frantically to try and find my dad…and as I was getting closer to the back…I was freaking out more, thinking that I was on the wrong plane or that I had missed my dad!

But then right before the last seat…I saw him. And relaxed a little.

And then…my friends…I tried to put the seatbelt on.

That was the worst experience of my life!  Oh my god it wouldn’t fit! I kept trying to connect the two parts and I was freaking out and my heart was beating faster and I kept worrying that the plane was gonna take off and I was going to die.  And even worse…it made me feel fat.

Yes, I know I’m a bigger girl to begin with…but instead of me feeling like I was a healthier chubby girl…I felt like I was 900 pounds.  And it was a horrible feeling.

It was like THIS versus THAT

It really frustrated me because the seatbelt was just a LITTLE too small.  Like…I could almost get it…but not quite.

So this little old Asian man was in the aisle beside me and saw me struggling…so he came over and helped me…I don’t know how someone who looked like he weighed only 100 pounds got this seatbelt to click…but somehow he did.  And my dad made sure it was clicked… so that was a little bit of relief. 

But then…I couldn’t feel my legs. It was so tight like…the circulation was being cut off!  Which wasn’t good…but I dealt with it.  For the rest of that leg of my journey I tried to forget all about the stupid seatbelt…but yeah.

So then the plane took off…and I got all ADD again.  I was looking out the window and being all like omg! a plane! I’m in a plane! the plane is taking off! and my dad was sitting beside me looking like he was going to die!  He didn’t, which is good, but still.

Then the plane was in the air…and I started to feel sick.  I think I started to feel sick after I was trying to get the seatbelt on.  Because like…too much blood was in my head…and then we took off…but I felt miserable the whole ride.  Like I kept feeling sick.  But it wasn’t all bad.  We got free food!  Well, first they went around asking what you wanted to drink…and since I was feeling sick I kept getting ginger ale.  And then they came around with this big tray of snacks and were like ‘take as many as you like!’ which I basically took to mean ‘if you take more than two things, I am going to judge you forever.’ 

But the snacks were cool!  I got some animal crackers that were shaped like airplanes.  And I was all excited.  I told my dad, “Dad! These are airplanes! I’m going to play with them!”  So I made one fly around in the air and kept saying vrooom vroom!!   ….suffice to say, my dad couldn’t stop laughing as he told me planes don’t go vroom. 

So I tried to zone out and listen to music to keep me from being sick.  Which worked some…

Then we descended into Denver airport…but we weren’t going to get off there.  I had to unbuckle though and I was freaking out about having to buckle again…and feeling sick again.  So I had my dad ask for a seatbelt extender and the attendant was like ‘wasn’t she on the plane already with a seatbelt on?’ and my dad had to tell her that I couldn’t breathe with it on…which made me feel bad, but oh well.  So I got an extender.  And me and my dad moved seats.  So I got a true window seat!  And then I felt sick even before we  got off the ground.  So I closed my eyes and tried to not throw up.

And then the plane started to leave again and I opened my eyes and watched it…

And when we were up in the air…it was…amazing to say the least.

It looked like we were floating on a sea made out of clouds…it was incredible…one of those experiences you really want to remember…

and then I got that weird taste in my mouth that told me I was going to puke…and I almost did!  But then I fell asleep for the rest of the time and then we landed and I didn’t get sick.  But I kept the bag just in case.

And the rest of the night I felt soooo sick.

Well, that was the short version of my plane-ride adventure.  Overall, it sucked.  If I hadn’t’ve felt sick, then it would’ve been fun.  But I felt sick.

Ugh, it’s my own fault for going to college so far away from home.

Anyways, if I never have to fly in a plane again, I’ll be happy…

…but I know I’m going to end up experiencing all that again; the good and the bad.

Lessons I learned for next time:

1) Ask for a seatbelt extender the second I get on the plane

2) Hope there’s more free food to make me feel better

3) Take lots of motion sickness meds before I go.

4) Try to take a train or drive instead.

When College Finally Hits You

 

I know 2 or so months ago, I made a blog about college hitting me…

But that…that was a lie.

At the time, I THOUGHT I had made the realization that high school is over and I’m starting college…but honestly, this feeling didn’t hit me for real until a few weeks ago.

You see, it didn’t really hit me until I signed up for college classes.  Once I was figuring out what classes I was going to take, my mind said “Wow, Sarah, you’re actually going to college.” It was a crazy revelation.

I realized it even more when I noticed it was the end of July (now the beginning of August) and I thought about the fact that I hadn’t seen any of my friends really during the summer.

It’s funny; the end of your senior year at graduation, you hug people and tell them that you’re going to hang out this summer. But I haven’t really hung out with anyone…well, except one of my best friends in the whole entire world, which was awesome of course…but still there are other people as well.  I only have 6 days left until I leave for college…and there are so many people I want to see and haven’t gotten to see yet.  I just…I hope I get to see them before it’s too late.

It’s not like the previous years where I can just wait for school to start to see them.  It’s not like I’ll be walking into the same building, waiting in the cafeteria every morning like I had before…going to my FBLA advisory in the morning on the first day and then to my classes and seeing my friends and teachers.  It’s odd to think that the people I grew up with…I won’t be seeing them for a long time.  I mean, I’ve lived here for 8 years.  And people I got used to seeing on a daily basis…I won’t be able to see them anymore.  If I don’t see these people now…I won’t see them until April.  If then. 

I feel as though if I don’t see some of these people now, we’ll just continue to drift apart until I never hear from them at all anymore.  And that scares me.  I started to realize this when I was writing yearbook entries.

I spend a lot of time on each entry I write; especially since it was my senior year, I wrote down as much as I could.  And I didn’t care how much space I took up…I put my heart and soul into each individual entry.  And for some of them I got pretty long responses…but for others…they barely wrote anything.  That made me realize that a lot of people meant more to me than I meant to them. And even though I really cared about seeing them this summer, they most likely didn’t feel the same for me.

It’s odd to think that I’m almost eighteen years old. Legally an adult.  I mean, where did that time go?  And I don’t feel any different…

I think that’s how life gets you; it sneaks up on you a little at a time so you don’t notice.  And then one day it hits you and you realize just how far you’ve come, and you see just how much further you have left to go.

It hit me further when I started to clean my room.  It’s a mess and I really need it to be organized so I can figure out what I want to take with me to college and what I won’t mind leaving here.  And when I was going through my papers…I decided to throw away all my papers from high school I didn’t need anymore..

 

This picture…this was high school.

This was a majority of the papers…you can’t really tell how much is there, but there is a lot…it’s just all piled underneath.  There are papers from elementary school in there too…and middle school…this is basically what my schooling as I knew it consisted of.

Chemistry. AP European History. Physics. AP American History (I and II). Latin (I and II). Sociology. Psychology, PreCalculus. Earth Systems Science. Civics. Algebra II. Lab after lab after lab. Scantrons. Tests. Quizzes. Studying aids…There are even fliers for prom and other social events in there.  And my finger splint I used when I hurt my pinky in dodgeball Junior year.

It’s hard to come to terms with all this.  I mean, I know high school was only 4 years, but it was a huge part of my life.  And it’s going to take me awhile to get used to the fact that I won’t be going back to that school anymore.  I’m going to have to get used to saying “Yeah, I graduated with him/her”.  I’ll have to get used to doing all the college work on my own without much assistance.  It’s a scary thought.

It feels as though my life is actually starting now.  Like, honestly and truly starting.  And I don’t think I’m ready for it…

And even if I’m not ready, I’m going to have to face it anyways.  And learn as I go. 

It’s at least a little comforting to know that if everything goes wrong, there will still be people out there I can turn to for some help…and even when I graduate college and am on my own, there are some people I will be able to go to for help for the rest of my life.  And that gives me comfort.  It makes me feel lucky.

I’m also lucky I got the loan..

Yes, I did get it, but I am seriously getting screwed over for it. I borrowed $11,098 and am going to probably pay back $27,000 which…really sucks. But I’m glad I got the loan.

Anyways, yeah. That just about sums up everything.

You know, I’ve been working on cleaning my room a good 3 weeks now, and it doesn’t look like I’ve done anything.  It sucks! Especially since it’s getting down to a crucial time where I need to get done as much as I possibly can.  I have today and tomorrow to come up with a list of things I need for college, Saturday to go shopping for those things, and Sunday/Monday to finish cleaning. By Tuesday I need to have all my stuff packed, and then Wednesday me and my dad are leaving for Utah.  Then Thursday me and my dad are going to drive around and check out the area.  Friday, I move into my dorm…and then I’m on my own.  My dad’s flying back home on Saturday and I won’t see him until April probably.

And sadly, I know April will be here before I know it.

That only scares me because April is 8 months from now…and that’s a long time to have fly past you.

I just hope I can get everything done in time.  I’m crossing my fingers.

I really want everything to go well too with college.  I really hope it does.  I want to have an amazing college experience, and hopefully I will.

Okay, I’ll stop talking now.  I hope you guys didn’t mind my ranting about how sad it is to be going away…but you know, it’s kind of a big deal. At least to me.

Drama Llamas are Evil

 

Drama is just one of those things in life that seem to be unavoidable at times.  No matter what a person does, no matter how far a person may go to avoid it, there is always going to be at least one instance in life when you can’t escape it.

The trick I guess is how you handle yourself in those situations, and what part you play in the situation at hand.

There are 4 kinds of parts when it comes to drama (as far as I’m concerned. Feel free to argue about it amongst yourselves…)

1: The Direct Opponents

So, the first kind of people are simply known as the ‘direct opponents’.  In terms of drama, these are the people who are directly involved in the situation; usually involving the person (or people) who do something to cause dissatisfaction or disagreement (we’ll call this the objector), versus the person (or people) who don’t agree with the dissatisfaction at hand (we’ll call these the conjector*).  It sounds complicated, but for it to sound more official, it needs to be worded as such.  Let me give you an example.  The objector decides that the way the conjector dresses is slutty and suggestive.  The conjector finds out about it (either directly or indirectly) and they argue back about the matter, defending themself, or saying that the objector personally dresses a certain way.  And thereon, drama starts.  Usually it goes back and forth between the people; each try to one up the other.

Now, this comes to make the objector seem like the bad guy, but that’s not always the case.  The objector isn’t always calling someone a bad name or something; sometimes they are just trying to say how they feel about something and it gets taken out of term and yaddy-yadda blah blah it spirals out of control.

*I just made up the word conjector, because everything else was too long: objector challenger, object opponent…and unobjector sounded kinda stupid…so I made up my own word for it.

2: The Indirect Adversary

The Indirect Adversary are kind of like ‘seconds’ in dueling.  They are the backups for each side of the argument.  Not really like minions or anything like that…they just simply agree one way or another on the matter.  These are also the people who are indirectly involved IN the matter; they are not the main focal point of the matter, but let’s say it was the conjector’s boyfriend, and they don’t necessarily HAVE to be involve, but they personally decide to go and get involved anyways. Ugh, I hate these people sometimes….most of the time.  Depending on what side I’m on.

3: The In-Betweeners

These are the people I feel fairly bad for.  These are the people that don’t want to be in the middle of the fight/drama, but find themselves in the middle of it regardless.  Easiest example is in a divorce settlement; the children in this case are the in-betweeners.  Or, when two best friends are fighting, the third friend who is friends with both people find themselves in the middle of the argument, sometimes having to choose sides and whatnot.

4: The Innocent By-standers

These people are the ones who usually are friends of friends of the objector and the conjector…they hear about the drama but have nothing to do with it and want nothing to do with it.  Simple enough to understand.  But these people sometimes become Indirect Adversaries when they start to spread rumors about the drama at hand and decide that they agree one way or the other on the matter.  And once you go from innocent by-stander to indirect adversary, there’s no going back.

Haha, I love this picture I edited.  It looks awesome. 

So this blog is actually pretty short.  I have a specific reason for writing it, but I’ll post that as another blog since this one might get more views if I don’t include a whole side-story to it.

I hope you like my take on drama.  Any suggestions or anything, please let me know.  It means a lot to me to have your input.

College Worries (and I’m not even officially IN college yet!)

 

I haven’t told you guys about all my college troubles yet, have I?  Guess what this means:  Yes, it’s time for another one of my serious blogs.  One of which I haven’t really done in awhile, unless you count my ADD-admittance blog a serious one.  Anyways, if you guys have been actually following my blogs, you’d know that I graduate early last month from high school.  Which is a good thing, but it’s also a bad thing if you think about it.  Because that means I’ll be going to college (hopefully).  I say hopefully because I’m not even sure if I’ll be able to attend it next month, but we’ll get to that later.

Let’s start from the beginning:

Part 1a: How I Came To Decide On My Major

This part was somewhat easy, but difficult at the same time.  You see, as most kids are in elementary school, they think they want to do one thing, and end up doing something else completely. Especially when it comes to careers.  Let me give you a comprehensive list of all the careers I wanted to be a part of since I was little:

• Veterinarian
• Doctor
• Teacher
  • Elementary
  • Middle / High School
  • Professor
  • Math Teacher
• Dolphin Trainer
• The –ologists
  • Paleontologist
  • Archaeologist
  • Anthropologist
  • Marine Biologist
• Lawyer
• Mythbuster
• President
• Actress
• Model
• Writer
• ETC….There are lots of others

As you can see, I never really made up my mind as to what I wanted to be.  Then I got to high school.  In 9th grade at my high school, they didn’t bother with college stuff yet.  They made us all take a CareerScope test to see what would be the best careers for us.  I have my opinions on this, and it’s that I don’t like it.  I see why taking those tests would be good for some people, because some people don’t know where the hell they’re gonna be in 5 years or what they want to do, and they like to take a test to see which direction they could go in.  Then there are the people who know exactly where they want to be and what they want to do.  And then, there are people like me.  People who kind of want to see a list of all the possible careers out there, and narrow it down from there.  I never got that opportunity, but it’s okay.  So they made us take this test.  And I have the scores somewhere, but I think my high points were in like communication.  Which kind of sucks since I’m not a huge fan of talking to people.  Not one-on-one at least. 

And then in 10th grade, they guidance counselor called me into her office (we were good pals throughout high school…I should tell you all about it sometime) and she asked me one simple question:

What do you want to major in?

Now, it would have been too easy to say “I don’t know”, but thinking back, maybe I should have said I don’t know.  She might have guided me to something I would love.  Or, maybe she would have just looked at my CareerScope results and told me go to on a radio talk-show or something. Who knows? It doesn’t matter because I didn’t say “I don’t know” when she asked me about my major.  I had said “Forensic Science”.  Ever since then, I have been driven to want to pursue this profession.  When I had said this to my guidance counselor, it was then that I realized what I was truly passionate about.

Now I look back on it, and realize just how interested I’ve been in Forensic Science from the beginning.

In elementary school, I was in the gifted program and got to participate in a summer thing at Gettysburg College (you guys probably know Gettysburg if you paid attention in history class…or know anything about the Civil War…or live in Pennsylvania….or just know basic knowledge about the geographics of the US).  My first choice for a program was chemistry, and my second was forensic science.  I had never watched CSI and I didn’t know what forensic science was, but my dad told me it should be my second choice.  So, I ended up in the forensic science class in 4th or 5th grade at college.  And I had a blast.  It was all so fascinating to me!

Then a few years later I watched CSI and fell in love even more with the idea of the profession.

I also had thought off-and-on that it would be a good career because I’m so logical about everything.

And unlike being a doctor, you’re not the one who is dealing with making sure a person lives…you deal with people who are (98% of the time) already dead!

So when push came to shove, it turns out that the dream career of mine was Forensic Science.

 

Part 1b: SAT’s

Let me start by saying this…TAKE YOUR SAT’S YOUR JUNIOR YEAR!!!  I waited until December of my senior year to take my first SAT test.  And I mean I’m smart so my scores were decent, but I still wish I would have done them sooner.  So take it from someone who is a procrastinator and get them out of the way.

My scores were this thought:  Math: 610, Reading: 540,  Writing: 620

And honestly…my SAT scores are what pushed me to apply for colleges.  Because I was waiting to see what they were before I even started to apply…I don’t know why but as soon as I got my scores back, I was like “Hey! Now apply!” And so I did.

Okay this section made more sense in my head.  On paper it sounds really dumb and spastic. But, what would a blog of mine be defined as if it didn’t have at least ONE section that was a little off-kilter, right?

 

Part 2: How I Picked My College(s)

Let me start off Part 2 by saying this: If you’re a senior and haven’t started looking at colleges…you’re setting yourself up for a lot of trouble (I know from experience).  If you’re a junior and haven’t started looking at colleges yet…GET ON IT!!! You’ve probably been harassed enough by your teachers about this matter, but it really is one of importance.  That is, if you’re attending college. If you’ve decided to go into the workforce or military then you can just ignore this little paragraph.

So I started looking at college officially Christmas break of my senior year.  Dumb. Move.  I was told loooooonnnnngggg before that to look at colleges but I’m a procrastinator and don’t pay attention (and have that ADD problem) so I didn’t really listen.  Earlier in my senior school year, my guidance counselor had me go to a woman once a week and talk about what was going on with me and my college goals and such…and she kind of got me a bit motivated to start looking at colleges…but then she left mid-October and I just blew off college searches thereafter.  Come to think of it though, I really miss that woman.  I enjoyed talking to her so much…

Anyways, when Christmas vacation rolled around, something inside me snapped and said “Fuck, Sarah, most college application deadlines are the beginning of January! You HAVE to start looking at colleges NOW!” So, I listened to that part of me.  Honestly, that part of me only existed because I got my SAT scores back on Christmas Eve.  I started off by going to some website, and they have you list your major, and it shows you all the schools in your country that have a program for your major.  So, naturally, I ended up checking out schools with forensic science programs.  There were a lot of schools out there.  And I made it even more difficult on myself because I didn’t have any other specifications.  I didn’t care WHERE in the USA my school was, or how big the school was, or anything like that, so I was literally opening myself up to every possible college out there with a forensic science program.

I believe what I did next was copy and paste all the colleges from every state into Microsoft Word to get organized.  You know, you figure every state would have at least ONE school with a forensics program, but that’s not so.  Maine isn’t cool enough for it unfortunately…but that would have been my top-priority school.  Because I love Maine. And not just because the love of my life Stephen King lives there (although that IS a good point…) but the location and atmosphere is nice. Even if I hate snow I still love Maine. Don’t judge me.

So after I had all the colleges down on paper, I went through each school’s website and checked them out.  The first to go were all the schools associated with certain religions.  Mainly because, as you all may or may not know by now, I am not at all a fan of religion.  And I wanted absolutely no religion affiliation to any of the schools I was applying to.  And it did cut down a bit of the schools.

Then I went through and looked at the websites of the schools, looking at what kind of forensic programs the schools had.  Acutally, I think the next step was to see which schools just had Forensic Science as a graduate program/ Master’s degree and not a bachelor’s degree. Then I went through and looked at their websites.  This took a long time…and I started on Christmas Eve! Crazy…

Anyways, I looked and tried to delete all the schools from the list that had little or no information on the forensics major…or just looked a little sketchy.  All the rest of the schools I bookmarked.  Or at some point I bookmarked a lot of the schools and still haven’t gotten around to deleting all of them, so I’ll show ya just how comprehensive my college-school-choice list was..

I was very serious! And I really took all schools into consideration. Including one near the bottom simply listed as “CONSIDER SARAH!!”  If your eyes can’t read that, it’s not that important anyways, just thought I’d point it out.

…I honestly don’t know what the school is right now…

Anyways, I kept going through and comparing the colleges.  Location in the country didn’t matter to me.  Although, I had been dating Nathan for a little while and slightly did take his location into consideration.  But never choose a college solely because of a boy you’re dating. Unless you’re engaged to the guy…but even then.  You need to do what’s best for you!

I kept narrowing down the list based on the forensic programs on each of the colleges pages.  The more information they had on the program, the better.  I also looked at colleges with different FOCUSES in forensics.  Some had focuses in anthropology (which I kinda really want to do now..), chemistry, and biology.  But I tried to find schools that had other options besides bio and chem as the intended focus..

So…somehow I had it narrowed down to like 10 colleges. I only applied to like…5 of them:

• Weber State University  (In Utah)
• University of Nebraska-Lincoln 
• Wichita State University    (In Kansas)
• Trine University  (In Indiana)
• University of New Haven   (In Connecticut)
• Arkansas State? (I don’t really count this one in the mix because I decided I didn’t want to go there after they wanted all my shots records and stuff)

I officially had completed this by the 30th of December.  It took me a solid week to narrow down all the schools.

 

Part 3: The Chosen Ones: The Applications, and the Weakest Link(s)

So to end my Christmas Vacation, I started to fill out all the online applications to my schools.  Most of them had a small application fee…which I think is ridiculous. I mean you really want me to pay to just LOOK at my application and possibly reject it? Psh… I think the most I paid for that was like $35 which was okay.  And the good news was I only needed a recommendation for one of my schools (UNH).  So, after I had all the applications done, I was pretty much set to go.  At least I thought.

Then I realized some schools required SAT Scores…Soooo I went and submitted those scores to the schools that required it.

I also had to send my transcripts, which were easy enough.

Then all I had to do was wait to see which schools I’d get into.

Now, I’m not going to brag or anything but I’m a pretty smart girl and would get accepted into any school I’d apply to…and I did.

But, while I was waiting the few weeks between sending out my applications and getting replies, I had looked more into the colleges I wanted to go to.

I had decided that I didn’t really care about UNL and Wichita..and not even really Trine (until I got a shitload of stuff from them…but more into that later).  You see, you pick a few schools you THINK you might be interested in going to, but when push comes to shove, you want to go where you want to go.  And in this case, I decided that UNL and Wichita were my weakest links…and all the mail I got from them, I just was like ‘Whatever’ to.

 

Part 4:  The Indecision Of My Top 3 Schools…

When I had first applied for my schools, I was already extremely biased towards Weber State University.  Mainly because of Nathan.  I mean, not only was this school in the same proximity of him, but he GOES there.  I was so happy when it turned out that they had a good forensic science program.  And when I got accepted he was really happy for me too (I mean, he was supporting me no matter which college I decided I wanted to go to, but I could still tell he was biased and wanted me to go there).  So I had my heart somewhat set on that school from the beginning.

But then there was UNH.  I had looked at New Haven’s website and slowly but surely started to fall in love with the school…everything about it.  And it’s only 7 hours away from my house…whereas Weber is a good 35 at least.. That school seemed to have everything.  And when I got a $30,000 scholarship to attend, I had cried because I was so happy.  I had become convinced I was going to attend that school.

Finally, there’s Trine.  Trine was a little…weird for me at first.  They wanted a school picture of me for one thing, and went a little too over-killy on emails.  But other than that, they were pretty cool.  Oh, and the mail sent to my house was a lot. But I enjoyed getting mail.  They offered me a scholarship too. Which was good.  My dad wanted me to go there a good bit at one point because he thought they sounded best.

But I was pretty torn.  I didn’t really care about Trine, it was easy to forget about…but Weber versus New Haven... it was tough.

I took one last look at UNH’s website, and found out that their forensic programs dealt with chemistry versus biology. 

And then I looked at Weber’s, and even though their forensic’s major was more of a Criminal Justice degree with a concentration in forenscis, they had two tracks: one for labs, and one for the investigation part of forensics.  And I didn’t want to have to do labwork. So it was cool that they offer an investigation concentration.

That was what really had me.  I thought “New Haven has a forensics program that looks amazing, but I’d have to go for my Masters if I wanted to do fieldwork, and at Weber, I could get my investigative forensics degree in 4 years instead of 8”  Plus, if I didn’t like forensics, I could decide in less schooling, which would mean saving more money!

So when I finally told Nathan that I was going to Weber instead of UNH, he was extremely excited.  Like, really, really excited.  Like, you know how when dogs get excited they piddle on the floor? That’s how excited Nathan was.  He was really convinced I was going to New Haven, so when he found out I was coming to his school, he could barely contain himself.

And I was happy with myself, knowing that even though Nathan was certainly a perk for my college, I wanted to go there for the right reasons; not just a boyfriend, but my career goals as well.

 

Part 5: The Downside to Being An Incoming Freshman (And 1st-born)

My parents have gone through HELL with me when it comes to college.  I think a good part of that has to do with the fact that they’ve never had to deal with this before.  And even though I had Nathan to help me….let’s face it. He’s old and he hasn’t been a freshman in a long time, so he wasn’t really much help to me.  I kind of had to do everything on my own.

So I set up orientation, and that (hopefully) will be on the 19th of August.  This is right before classes start, which is good because we won’t have to waste money flying out to Utah and back.

The downside to this is registering for classes.  Normally at orientation they show you what you can take and all that, but because my orientation is so close to classes, I can’t wait until then to register for them.  And I don’t know who to talk to so I have to email the school late today and find out what I can do about all that.  I just sent the email actually to make sure I wouldn’t forget about it.

I also had to sign up for housing on my own and was late at doing that.  I wanted my own room but that didn’t happen and I’m going to end up having a roommate (if I can go next month)  I hope she’s cool.

I don’t really know what else there is I’m supposed to do, and I think I’m forgetting to tell you all something that should be included here… I don’t know.  If I think of it I’ll add it later on.

 

Part 6:  Financial Issues

…May I rant to you all for a few paragraphs?  I’ll make it up to you by including a funny gif following my rant (chances are you won’t even read the rant and skip right down to giggling at the gif, but it’s okay.)  Either way you’ll at least know when I’m done ranting.

-Takes a deep breath-

-Lets it out-

Okay! I’m done ranting!

..Just kidding! Did you really think it’d be that easy? Hahhhhh I wish.

Okay, so let me just ask you guys this…I’m smart, right? Well, maybe you guys don’t really know this.  Or wouldn’t believe that I have any sort of intelligence considering how spastic and ADD I am in my blogs.  So that was a dumb question to ask.

Okay, here’s a good question…shouldn’t everyone be able to go to college?

I hope your answers are yes, otherwise, I kind of want to know the reasoning behind it.

Anyways, look at it this way.  All my life I’ve been considered ‘gifted’.  My parents have always seen me as smart and it’s always just been a given that I would attend college after I graduated high school.  And that’s what I always thought.  I figured I was smart enough that I could easily go to college. 

But as it turns out, that’s not all that goes on when it comes to college. 

They make you fill out a FAFSA form to see if you qualify for any financial aid.  And if your family makes too much money, you’re looking at paying thousands of dollars out of pocket to get an education.

And it just so happens that this was the situation I came across.  And the problem with these financial aid institutions is that they are based on GROSS income and not NET.  They see how much a person makes a year, but don’t see the mortgages or car payments or bills or anything of that nature that a family needs to pay each month. 

Just because my family makes a certain amount, I don’t qualify for much money.  And that just isn’t fair.  If I can’t get loans, I can’t attend college. Even though I have known all my life I was going to go to college…and it isn’t fair.  I should be able to go to college despite everything.  I should be able to get financial help when I request it.  I shouldn’t have to stay at home and work for a fucking year after I’m done high school until I can qualify for a fucking loan myself. It just isn’t fair! Goddammit it pisses me off that I can’t attend college just because of money! It’s ridiculous! I am the one who wants to attend a college and they should be more willing to help me and not just say “maybe you should rethink going to college if you can’t come up with the money to pay for it”.  I shouldn’t have to listen to that shit.  I should be able to say “hey! I want to come to your college. Is there anything I can do financially to attend?” And the college should be able to say “Sure! Look at loans for this bank and this organization to help you!” But fuck! It’s like they don’t give a damn whether you go or not.

I’m sorry it just really pisses me off. Because it’s what I want more than anything. I just want to be able to go to college…

Okay. Here are the gifs I promised you (=

 

 

 

Okay so when it comes to college, you have a cost of attendance and financial assistance.  My cost of attendance per year is about $26,000.  IN financial assistance I have gotten about $15,000 a year.  Which is good, but I still have to pay $11,000 a year out of pocket myself, and my family can’t handle that.  My parents tell me not to say stuff like that out on the web but it’s true.  As much as I SHOULD be going to college, it might not be possible for me simply because my parents make too much.  Even though we don’t have any money hardly left after all the payments we have to make..

Me and my dad applied for a loan 2 weeks ago and are still waiting to hear back. And guys, it scares the shit out of me.  Knowing that the difference between a yes and a no is the difference between me going to college now, or possibly never going.

If I can’t get this loan, my dad already told me to start looking for a job.  And I don’t want to have to do that. I just want to go off to college and live my happy little life.  I don’t think it’s too much to ask.

 

So there you have it. My college experience.  Even though I’m not in college yet…we’ll call it my PRE-college experience. I’m trying to be optimistic, but it’s hard.  It’s really, really hard. Especially when you’re a huge pessimist like I am.

I really hope I get this loan you guys.  Or possibly this whole blog was written in vain.

So let’s not let that happen, okay?

Update:  Look, I’m not looking to seem ‘smug’ about being gifted or anything, but I think it should be a factor when looking at colleges and such. I’m not looking for a pity party. I’m not looking for anything really. I just thought I should be able to get my feelings out on paper. And I’m not complaining about how much money I got; I think it’s fantastic. But unlike MOST high schoolers and college student who are actually able to get loans to pay for fucking college, chances are I won’t be able to do the same. Which means despite the financial aid I AM getting, I STILL won’t be able to go. I’m not afraid of paying off my fucking loans for the rest of my life. I just want to be able to GET a fucking loan.  Just thought I’d straighten that part out.  ‘Kay?