Am I There Yet?

FIRE!!!

2006-01-26T22:41:00.000-05:00

We had quite an exciting night here on campus!

To update you on some recent history, yesterday the hot water heater that supplies my sorority house as well as our next door neighbor's house busted. We were left all last night and all day today with no hot water. If anyone wanted to shower (and most people do) we had to go across campus to the dorms.

When I returned home tonight after a trip to Atlanta, I was happy to see that the hot water was back on. Knowing that when I turned the faucet on there would be some nasty crap and air in the pipes, I cranked it on and let it run. A few minutes later, one of my sisters who lives down the hall came barreling through my door screaming, "Kelly come quick! The fire department is here!"

I, being the curious cat that I am, threw on some slippers and ran out the door. I was greeted by several of our next door neighbors wearing pajamas and a few only in towels. Apparently, I wasn't the only one to be excited to have hot water again. Our next door neighbors had also discovered this wonderful news and ran their faucets to clean them out and began to make up for the showers they had missed lastnight and today. With all the activity, our new hot water heater couldn't keep up. It decided to over heat which set the fire alarm off at our neighbor's house!

It was quite a sight... firemen everywhere... 5 or 6 fire trucks with their lights flashing... girls pouring out from all the surrounding dorms to see what all the comotion was about. Thankfully, there was no real danger. In a short amount of time, the firemen decked out in full gear came out of the house letting us know that the coast was clear.

In normal fashion, many of the girls (myself included) waited around while the firemen took off their gear and got ready to go. "Hey, can I get a picture with you?" I asked one of them. It's not frequent that we get some good looking men around here on our small women's college campus.

"Sure!" He was super nice... one of his buddies gave one of my friends his helmet and I got to wear his. So now I have a souvinere of the night!

Been a while, eh?

2006-01-24T13:10:00.001-05:00

I'm back... at least for today.
It's been a while, eh? Sorry 'bout that. I'll try to do better.

Life has been a little strange lately. The reality of graduating from college and becoming an "adult" is starting to settle in. I know that I won't be completely done with school after this year, I still have one more year of grad school, but I will have moved on from undergrad life of living in my sorority house, going to bed whenever I feel like it and always having someone to take random trips around town (or to another town) whenever we feel like it. In a way it's really sad to think about, but at the same time it's so exciting to think that I'll be that much closer to being independent.
I guess the other strange event in my life is that I recently got engaged. I really couldn't be any more excited about it and don't thing that I could have found a better man to spend the rest of my life with than Nick. It's just all very strange to think that I won't have the same lastname anymore. I know I could keep mine, but I think that makes so many things extremely confusing. I didn't realize how all-consuming planning a wedding can be when my friends who were already engaged told me about it. It's like you think about it 24 hours a day, everyday. It's a good think I'm exicted about it! Days have already been filled with guest lists, ceramony sites, reception sites, band vs. DJ conversations, menu selections, alcohol discussions, etc, etc, etc. There is so much to do!!! Good think I have a while to get everything together. When's the big day, you ask? 7-7-07. Who could ask for a luckier day?! So needless to say, I've got a while to let everything settle in and to plan my perfect day! (If there really is such a thing).

Wish me luck, we're certainly going to need it!

2006-01-24T13:10:00.000-05:00

Next Topic, PLEASE!

2005-09-29T13:41:00.000-04:00

Alex Trebek: 'It's been a long day's night, I should be sleeping like a this.' ding Burt Reynolds.
Burt: Chinese whore.
Alex: No. ding John Travolta.
John: Chinese whore doesn't rhyme with dog.
Alex: I know that's why it was a wrong answer.

Do days ever feel like this to you? Like all you want to do is just move on to the next topic or event but some idiot prevents you from doing so?

It's been like that all week for me. All week.
Seems like I've been in nothing but meetings for the last few days. Class, then meetings. Class really isn't an exeption of this phenomenon either. In fact, I think it's almost a worse situation. Here's about how it goes:

Professor lectures for a full two hours on something irrelevant (i.e. the neurological process of cats pooping - I'm not kidding, one of my professors talked about this for two hours one day). A full two hours! And in this two hours, not one person raises their hand or asks a question. Just when the prof. wraps up the discussion to move on to a new topic, some moron will raise their hand and comment on something like, "My cat poops sometimes... is that like what we're talking about right now?"

No, your cat poops differently than any other cat. Your cat is a special cat.

Sometimes it just makes me want to stand up and throw my pistachio shells across the room.
Why can't we just MOVE ON?!

Morning routine

2005-09-07T13:48:00.000-04:00

It's 5:30 in the morning. The sun is still sleeping, as I should be. But alas, it's Wednesday morning. Time for crew practice.
I stumble out of my too tall, too small college bed and brush my teeth. Throw a light jacket on and grab my keys. Granola bar and water bottle in hand, I make my way outside to join a growing group of sleepy-eyed fellow rowers.
After a hazy recolection of getting to the boathouse, I make my way over to the oar racks, walk them down to the dock and head back for my boat.
It's not heavy. Weighing in at only 33 pounds, I carefully pick it up off the racks and with the help of my coach I balance it on my head like an African woman carrying a basket and slowly walk my boat back to the dock.
Going in on the right hand side.... feet to the edge... onto my shoulder and roll it in.
My coach holds the riggers so the boat doesn't float away and goes over what I need to work on while I get my oars placed into the oarlocks.
"You need to work on getting your hands away at the release. Try pausing at the catch to get an idea of where your handle height should be and then start pausing at the release to get a feel for the handle height there. Don't pull hard strokes, Kelly. You need to get your technique perfected first. A boat with strong technique will run much faster than a boat with poor technique."
"Alright, Jack. Thanks... I think I got it."
He lets go of the boat and puts the bow light on so he can see me in the dark.
Oars across... one foot in... and down.
My hips barely fit within the peramiters of the boat. It's a mens lightweight boat, and weighing only 135 I still barely fit. Jack grabs ahold of the blade of my port oar and pushes me off the dock.
"Stay in the bay, alright?" He says to me, " I have to keep an eye on the novice boats, too."
"Alright, Jack. I'll stay close."
This is my favorite part. Just starting to row. Only using my arms and body, watching to boathouse get smaller and smaller as I row away from it. There is no way to describe the feeling you get being out there all alone with nothing surrounding you but water. The air is cool and dry above the water, but when I'm down that close to it, it's warm and humid. When I start to pick up speed, the different temperatures mix together like fresh warm sweet tea on ice.
I spend a good hour working on my technique. Keeping my handle heights even, making sure I'm catching both blades at the same time, releasing at the same time, maintaining the correct lay-back. The sun starts to come up and streaks shades of orange, yellow, red, and pink across the sky. There's nothing I'd rather be doing at 6 o'clock in the morning.
Alas, my time is up. Back to the dock I go... pull my oars in and place them on the dock. Pick my boat back up and balance it on my head as I head back to the boat house. Back to campus I go... keys and waterbottle in hand... make my way to my room and crawl back into my too tall, too small college bed for a short nap before class.

Don't Funk With My Heart

2005-08-31T20:49:00.000-04:00

Oh man... apparently no one at my school uses blogspot.com, so I had to get another blog to keep up with them. Check out the link for it "My other blog". There's more pics and stuff because they're easier to download there.

>>Random thought: You know that Black Eyed Peas song "Don't Funk With My Heart"? Alright, I'm really liking that song lately, but I'm pretty mad at a local radio station because they insist on playing "Don't Mess With My Heart".

Come on, people. It's already "funk"! Sheesh!

Don't be a prostitue

2005-08-30T13:44:00.000-04:00

>>At a meeting last night for my sorority, we were discusing ways for us to look more "positive" on campus before Rush starts... one of the suggestions was for us to look in the dictionary or thesaurus for more appropriate words to substitue our use of three and four letter words.

I thought for a minute... looked at one of my sisters who frequently and lovingly calls people "hoes", and said, "You prostitute!"

Back to the Books

2005-08-23T16:48:00.000-04:00

So I'm back in the 'ol sorority house. It's good to be back. I enjoyed my summer at home, but there's nothing quite like living in a house with 20 other girls. Spent Sunday moving in and unpacking. Got my own room too! Ah, the benefits of being a senior! Didn't go to bed until 3am, though. Couldn't go to bed before I had everything in it's place. No classes today or yesterday, so I've been busy shopping and hanging out. Lastnight I really got back into the swing of things. Had a meeting, hung out, made a random trip to Wendy's, pulled a few harmless pranks... the usual.

Anyone know any good pranks? I'd like to cause some mayhem around here as much as possible this year.

Gives Me The Heebie-Geebies

2005-08-18T23:54:00.000-04:00

Cockroaches.

I'm always afraid that after I flush one, it's going to swim back up and seek revenge.

They have been around since the dinosaurs, you know... It's not that far fetched to be afraid they'll figure out how to survive plumming.

There's Really No Point Here

2005-08-18T23:38:00.000-04:00

I am:

a stack of blank CD-R discs

The most cost-effective way to store and deliver large amounts of data.

Which office supply are you?

Ah... mindless internet surfing. It's amazing what you can find. Even scary sometimes.

I guess it's getting to be that time again. Back to school. Back to living in a house with 20-something other girls. Pretty fun most of the time, but there are always those moments where you feel like giving someone a good punch in the ovary.

I'll be moving back in on Sunday. Tomorrow's the day for packing. Did all my laundry yesterday and ran errands today. Thanks Mom, for all the back-to-school supplies. I've got this down to a science... I think I know exactly what I need and don't. I guess after three years you start to realize that Linens 'N Things is ripping you off with all those plastic storage bins. And the crazy lamps. And the desk organizer. And the 8 pillows you'll never have room for. And the CD rack. And the fancy hanging shoe rack. And the laundry basket that's divided for your "darks 'n lights". And and the CD/Radio/Tape/Alarm Clock that is duck shaped. And the shower caddy. And... and... and... and.
Here's what you need for college: Pencils. Paper. Computer. Books (optional). Sheets/comforter. Two pillows. Clothes (hang them like a normal person). Shoes (no hanging thingy. Throw them on the floor of the closet, I promise you'll find the ones you need). Soap. Shampoo. Toothbrush/paste. Done. Simple. You're ready for college.

Ah... Senior year.

A Bone to Pick

2005-08-17T18:30:00.000-04:00

Alright, listen up you liberal whinnies:

I'm tired of hearing all of you complain about my boyfriend (W. Bush) sending your little children off to some forgein land to fight his battle. First of all, you're "children" are legal adults. They're old enough to vote, smoke, get married, pay taxes, make their own medical decisions, own a house or apartment, etc. Here's the other shocker for ya.... THEY VOLUNTEERED!!! What? You mean they joined the military on their own? No one forced them? That's unthinkable! Well think again. This is The United States of America. Land of the Free.... we don't live in a country where everyone is required to serve at least one year in the military. That's what's so great about America... everyone in our military wants to be there. They chose to serve a country that let's them make their own decisions. Thank God we were never told what our occupations would be. Thank God.
And remind me please on how this is "Bush's" war. Do you really think that Bush is trying to hoard barrels of oil in his back yard? That he has his own oil refinery with cheap gas? Maybe if you stoped making out with trees and polar bears you'd realize that the price of oil isn't the problem. It's the fact that due to you're little fight to save the world in the 70's it became illegal to build new oil refineries or even keep them up to standard. No wonder gas is so expensive... we don't have the capability to process it fast enough to keep up with our needs. Get out of your SUV and think about it.
This war isn't only about oil. It's about treating other people with the respect they deserve. Think of it this way: I would hope that everyone reading this would help a neighbor in need. If you were in your house and could hear your neighbor beating his wife, I would hope that you would not be the kind of person that turn up your TV louder so you couldn't hear the abuse. Out of sight, out of mind, right?
Wrong.
When are you going to realize that doing the right thing is not always the easiest thing?

One Sad and Crappy Day

2005-08-16T00:15:00.000-04:00

It's been an overall sad and crappy day.
Quite the opening line, eh?

>> It was my last day at the golf course. I have to admit, I thought I'd be doing cartwheels out the door come closing time, but alas, I was a little sad to clock out for the last time. Even the head-hauncho Roger wanted to have a little meeting with me before I left. Good 'ol Rogey wanted to know what I thought of the place. What I would change and if I'd ever consider coming back to River Pines... that kinda stuff. I told him that all the "security" cameras kinda freaked me out sometimes (you can't go anywhere in the grill area and not be seen). I know they're mostly for our protection from the creepy old guys, but they only seemed to be used to point out the littlest mistakes that the employees make. Odd. Overall I was glad to have worked there. Everyone was really nice there and it was a pretty fun experience. I even said my extra good-byes to the cranky golf pros.

>> Here's the kicker. My dog ran away today. She's pretty old... almost 16 now. We got her when I was in 2nd grade. There's nothing like loosing a dog. It really is like loosing a family member. We realized she was missing around 5ish. She's so old. We're afraid that she got confused and now she's lost. Usually she doesn't leave the yard, so when my parents couldn't find her they put up signs in the neighborhood. I sat on our back deck tonight for a while trying to listen for her bark, but then decided to take our other dog for a walk to find her. We went all over the neighborhood and didn't find anything. I don't know what to do. I feel so helpless. We can't call her because she's deaf, so we pretty much just have to keep looking for her. It just feals sureal.

Grab Life By The Horns

2005-08-10T22:28:00.000-04:00

It's amazing sometimes how two different people balance eachother out. It's like my friend, Tansill said, "If you were to have two patient people dating, nothing would ever happen. But if you had two impatient people... they'd both be dead".

It's kinda like that for me sometimes. I think most of the time I would be considered the "impatient" one. I don't like to think of it that way, though... I like to consider myself an "opportunist". When I see something I want or need, I take a few minutes to weigh the pro's and con's of the situation and then I go with my instinct.
Some people in my life are not like that. One particular person likes to take his time with things... weigh the pro's and con's for a few DAYS... research the possible outcomes... weigh the pro's and con's again... imagine every possible outcome and THEN make a decision.

It's hard for both of us sometimes. 9 times out of 10 we come to the same conclusion, but it takes a while for us to get on the same page.

It's not always easy but when you WANT to make it work, you can. You just gotta do it.

Oh, no... I just posted a serious blog. Ick.

Conversation, anyone?

2005-08-09T22:37:00.000-04:00

It was one of those moments you typically see on TV. Two strangers are in the same room together accompanied only by the awkwardness of silence. Of course there is the barely audible crappy music playing in the background.
There's one stranger (me) who doesn't mind silence, but not awkward silence, and the other stranger (the cashier) who this happens to frequently.

... ... ... ... ... ... ... We look at eachother... ... ... ... ... I try to look around the room for something to occupy myself with... ... ... ... ... ... ... Can't find anything... ... ... ... ... ... "So how late are you guys open 'til?"

"About 11 o'clock."

"Oh."... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... Conversation over... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... Look around again for something to pretend to be interested in... ... ... ... find a moose shaped golf club cover... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ADD kicks in and I'm no longer interested in the moose head... ... ... ... ... look at eachother again... ... ... smile and nod... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

Whew! My friend came back from the bathroom. Now I can escape from this Seinfeld episode.

Thank God for Old Friends

2005-08-09T00:04:00.000-04:00

It's the 18th hole. I'm on the green, ready for the putt. This is for the win... well, actually, James is beating me by 2 strokes. I pull back slightly and make contact with the ball. Wait for it... wait for it... I miss. Maybe, just maybe it was because my eyes were closed, I was putting left-handed, on one foot and using the tip of the putter to hit the ball with. In other words, James and I decided to challenge each other to a friendly game of mini-golf. It was fun the normal way, but then we decided to spice things up a bit and create crazy ways to hit the ball. Final scores: 56 (me) and 52 (James) on a Par 36 putt-putt course.

It was a good night. There's nothing like spending an evening with your bestfriend since 9th grade. Sitting in a sports bar having a beer, talking about whatever comes to mind. Then of course comes the random pit stops on the way home. James needed to buy some nasty tuna helper for tomorrow's dinner at Kroger. I stumbled across the most recent Harry Potter book that was 40% off with my Kroger Plus card. How could I resist. I've said it before: I love sales.

On a side note... have you ever caught the middle of a conversation between two people and had no way to respond or know what was going on? At Kroger, one of the stockers yelled across the store to another stocker, "I'll put them in your panty hose, JT!"
I wonder what they were talking about... Any ideas?

Some Assembly Required

2005-08-07T23:51:00.000-04:00

Update on the last couple days:

1. IKEA is both wonderful and annoying at the same time.
2. Hooray for Blockbuster! and
3. Dukes of Hazzard

>> I went to IKEA with my boyfriend, Nick, and another couple that we always hang out with, Charlie and Lucy. The catalog came in the mail a week or so ago and while I was flipping through it I found a small computer desk and a chair to go in my room. Previous to my purchase, my computer was sitting on some wire shelving on my floor and well, there was no chair. I sat on the floor to use the comp. Pretty annoying. While attempting to assemble the desk, I came across a slight problem. They forgot to pre-drill two holes on the desk that are of course the last two screws to put in. I thought about not putting them in, but then realized that I would have waisted the best feature of the desk by doing so: The retractable keyboard tray. After an hour of trying to hand tighten the screws and getting no where, I resorted to scrounging through my dad's workshop in the basement to find the power drill (mind you this is about 2:30am and my parent's are trying to sleep down the hall and here I am power drilling a desk together). Needless to say, after switching to power tools, the assembly job went a lot faster and I'm now sitting in a chair and at a real desk instead of on the floor! Hence, IKEA is both wonderful and a pain in my rear.

>> Nick and I went to Blockbuster tonight to rent a movie and they were having a sale on movies! Yay! I love sales! I got three movies for $25: Anchor Man, Troy, and The Incredibles. I was pretty excited. Apparently, Blockbuster is being sued for all those late fees and people are getting credited back for them, too, so I got like $30 in coupons for rentals and such as well. I guess it paid to return all those movies weeks late, eh Mom?

>> And on my last note, everyone should go see Dukes of Hazzard. It was extremely entertaining. Wasn't exactly like the TV show, but it was still pretty awesome. I really felt like getting in my car on the way home and driving like a maniac. Peeling around corners and pulling up on the E-brake. Too bad I just got new brakes... my dad would probably be pissed if I messed them up. Not to mention I don't feel like spending another afternoon with the guys at Tires Plus.

>> I guess that's enough for tonight. Hope everyone has a good one, take it easy.

I feel like an old fat man

2005-08-04T23:18:00.000-04:00

So my boyfriend has these couches. Actually, their his roommate's couches, but that's beside the point. Anyway, these couches... their awful. It's like, have you ever sat on something that was so comfortable that it was uncomfortable? That's how it is with these. It's like they used to have a hide-a-bed under it, but someone took it out and ever so carefully placed the cushions back in a bad attempt at a practical joke. So whenever you sit on these couches, you fall down into the used-to-be-hide-a-bed gaping hole. At first you're like, "Whoah... I wasn't expecting that."
Then you're like, "Is this even comfortable? I think... maybe?"
Then you sit for a few minutes and feel like a little kid trapped in an adult world realize that they really aren't comfortable at all.
Here comes the attempt to get out.
You have to create the world's most awkward stance to prepare for couch launching. Assume the possition: Legs appart on the floor to create a wide base of support, one arm reached around you to the back of the couch for take off and the other swinging out in front for momentum. One! Two! Three! HOIST!!!
Ahh... Just makes ya feel like an old fat man.

I'm famous!

2005-08-03T23:18:00.000-04:00

Wow. It's been two days and I'm alreay into the blogger drama. Apparently, my brother "That's life in the 125", picked up my blog and put it on the top of his links list. I, of course, am flattered, but apparently there were some toes that got stepped on. I bumped "The Kaos Blog" into the number two spot after being number one for who knows how long. After some words were exchanged between my brother and Kaos, my brother's reasoning for placing me at the top of the list was simple, "She's my blood". And that's what it's all about.

Continuation of last night's post:
Example 4 of things people do.
I guess this one doesn't really fall into the catagory, but I thought I'd bring it up. At work today I was cleaning the little itty bitty parts of the Coke fountain dispenser thingy. I had my back turned to the counter and no one, I mean no one was around. I got lost in my own silly mind and all of the sudden one of the ProShop guys says, "Hey. Can I get a drink?" I must have jumped a mile. Scared the poop out of me! I felt so dumb. There wasn't anything I could have done differently... he just spoke and I about came out of my skin. Arg.

So to wrap up tonight's little discussion, I appoligize to The Kaos Blog for stealing his number one spot and encourage everyone to read his blog. I would also like to thank my brother for placing me at the top of his list (big brothers are awesome)... and my parents, all my teachers, my friends, God, and the creators of blogs for making this night possible. Good night, everybody! Thanks!

Sunglasses for 59 cents.

2005-08-03T13:15:00.000-04:00

Want to know what I do for summer money? I flirt with old men. That's right. I drive the beer cart at a golf course. Pretty easy job, and the money is good. Tip wise, at least. I'm about to leave for work right now, actually. Thought I'd give my 2 cents before I leave.

... ... ... uh... ... crap. I don't have two cents. I must have spent them at the dollar store with Lucy. They were having a sale. Can you believe that!? A dollar store having a sale. Apparently a whole dollar is too expensive. Now everything is 59 cents. Amazing. We went crazy in there! Well, not really... I bought three things and didn't even spend $2. We got a couple of kick-ass pairs of sunglasses, though! They're ugly. But whatever. We got a kick out of them. Alright, gotta go to work now.

Out.

Testing 1...2...3...

2005-08-02T22:56:00.000-04:00

Test test. Is this thing on?

So I think I'll join the world of bloggers for a while. See how things shake out.

Arg. Don't know what to talk about. I guess I'll let you in on a little conversation that took place earlier this evening with a few friends.

Topic: Interesting Human activity. Basically, the the subject matter contained weird things everyone does but doesn't realize that other people do as well.
For instance: when you're having an inner dialogue with yourself, have you ever caught yourself making the facial expresseions to match the silent conversation? Or even worse, have you ever been caught by another person?
Example two: The air freshener dance? You know, that little arm waving thing everyone does after they spray the bathroom when they're done? You know you do it. If you don't then the spray is just falling to the floor instead of keeping the air fresh smelling. Help it do it's job!
Example three: When you yawn sometimes you get that weird little sucking air in sound. You're not quite sure if anyone else heard it, but you definately know what it is when you hear someone else do it.

I'm really not quite sure why we think we're the only ones that do this stuff. It happens to everyone. Kind of like my brother's point: everyone thinks fart jokes are funny. Even women.

On that note, I'll leave you with a joke that I over heard at work the other day:
A man walks into a psychiatrist's office wearing nothing but cellophane. The psychiatrist takes one look at the man and says, "I can clearly see you're nuts."

Thank you. I'll be here all week.