HAPPY PUMPKIN DAY!

Halloween isn't until Friday, but I'm doing all of my celebrating tonight. Adams RSA is responsible for putting on the Safe Trick-Or-Treat program for the Norman community. Kids from around Norman come and trick-or-treat up and down the dorm towers. There's also a haunted house in the RSA office, a carnival in the Walker-Adams Mall (put on by one of the other centers), and a lounge for the parents whose children are old enough to wander by themselves.

We have put so much time into this event, it's unbelievable. Richard, I know, has been working non-stop. The event is tonight, and I don't think he's slept more than 5 hours over the last three days. It can't be good for him. Or for the rest of us. Way too many late nights going on. Nonetheless, I've never been more excited about Halloween. Safe Trick-Or-Treat has taken over my life for now. That pumpkin has the HCSA logo on it. I think I worked on it for nearly two hours. And it's not that I was distracted. Quite to the contrary, I was incredibly focused and being an insane perfectionist.

I can't imagine life without RSA. There are a few kinks in the system right now regarding hcsa/rsa elections, but I may actually run to be Adams Center President for next year. The biggest detail that makes a difference in that is whether or not Richard decides to run. If he's running for Adams RSA pres, it's his; he deserves it, and he knows what he's doing. Otherwise, I think it will be me vs. Eddie, and that could be a close race.

In the background of all this holiday hustle and bustle, there's been some personal drama. Not "personal" as in "my own," but just... stuff. Stuff to do with Shannon and her roommate. And I may give details out on an individual basis, but it's not entirely my story to tell (though I am involved somewhat). As a result of this drama, Shannon ended up sleeping in my room the other night, and I have decided to semi-permanently convert the other bed in here to a guest bed. I have my extra pair of sheets on it, a blanket Alice left in here one night, and a fleece throw I picked up at Walmart last night for $3.97.

Speaking of insanely cheap things: gas! $1.97 the other day at Walmart. $2.01 at a few other places.

And there's also cool stuff to say about weather and guys, but now is not the time because I think we're doing some more decorating soon!

Guilt

Every time I talk to a guy (or dance with a guy, or whatever), Richard turns his head to smile at me. In a way, it feels mocking. Maybe part of it is. After all, I basically portray myself as being only half a step away from asexual. But I brought it up with Shannon this morning, and she said it's because "He feels bad. We both do." For those interested, Shannon and Richard are now an official couple. So official, in fact, that they've updated their facebooks.

"We just want you to be happy," she said. I've been hearing a lot of that lately. Last night, my drunken friend was praying out loud and she asked God to bring a Caribou Coffee to campus for me so that I could be happy. She has mentioned, sober even, that I tend to be willing to give up my own happiness for the happiness and well-being of my friends. But all of these things she's said I've done have seemed like no-brainers to me. Last night, I slept in a "bathtub" made by pushing two armchairs together so I could take care of her while she was sick: I can survive without catching up on my sleep for one more night. I back off so two of my friends can start dating: other guys will come along, and my friendships with either of them mean more to me than a one-sided attraction that never would have gone anywhere.

Any time Shannon's guilt of nearly Catholic proportions comes up, I remind her (and myself) that neither of them have done anything wrong. We can't help who we are attracted to.

Learning experiences

I swear, I was going to go to bed. I stopped playing video games abruptly at 1:30, but just as I was unplugging the NES from the lobby TV, a friend (remaining unnamed because she does not deserve to be judged by this one incident) came through the west doors of the building with another mutual friend. Both are laughing, and I call out to them by name. "Who is that?!" she shouts across the lobby. It's not long before I realize that this friend is completely and totally wasted. Richard comes over to help (he was playing Halo on the other TV), and he brings the friend to the office, tells her to lie down, and sets a garbage can next to the couch. I finish packing up my games and then go in to check on the friend. Other friends have set her up with a water bottle and a piece of bread, which she is only barely able to eat. Clumsy, entirely candid, she spouts every thought that comes to mind. And then she pukes a little bit, and it smells of "vodkarita." I started to gag but got my mind away from the smell and the mental image fast enough to maintain my composure.

Almost two hours later, she and I are still in the office. She has fallen asleep, so I am staying down here with her for the night to make sure she doesn't end up choking on her vomit or something. I have class at 9. It's "International Talk Like Sarah Palin Day." She doesn't have class until 4, probably a very good thing, since she will, almost without a doubt, have a hangover.

The moral of the story (one I already knew, actually): vodka takes a while to have its effect. Drink vodka slowly so you know how drunk you are. You'll go from sober to wasted really fast otherwise, with no "slightly buzzed" in between.

The other lesson: the gods of sleep (Hypnos in Greek, Somnus from Roman myth) hate me. I was trying. Really, I was.

I'm calling this a good week

I'm not sure what a normal person's "good week" feels like, but I'm definitely happy with the way this week has gone for me.

I've managed to be awake for German every day. That's good, for obvious reasons. I was also on time every day this week, unlike last week. This morning (I say that, but it's Saturday now, so I mean Friday morning) I woke up 10 minutes before class started, got ready in three, and ran all the way to class. I was feeling pretty pleased with myself, because I had somehow made it on time, but when I walked into class, we had a sub, so it ended up not mattering. Oh, well. The sub was a much better teacher than our normal professor, which is a bit frustrating, in the long run, but I got over it.

In Understanding Music, we had a review day for the test on Monday (we also have a German test on Monday, but I've talked to the Music teacher about the possibility that I will be late to class and he said it's not an issue). I took very careful notes and should be able to study over the weekend, probably primarily Sunday night.

There was no chem today, because we had a test Thursday night on units 3 and 4. I got a combined total of 80%, but the unit 4 grade was only 70%, so I may opt for the retake on that one, depending on what my grade looks like at the time it comes up.

Instead of chem, I went to lunch at Cate, where I ran into some meteorology friends. We ate, talked, and I made plans with Sadi to work on math homework together tonight. Before that, though, we're going to go to Which Wich for supper, because I've never been there, along with Megan, a mutual friend. I think they're going to meet me at my work when I get off (6:00) because Which Wich is on Campus Corner, as is JJ's. Excellent. I've invited a few more people along for the sandwiches because it sounds like fun, but I'm not really sure who's coming and who's not.

After lunch and making all these plans, I came back to the dorm and slept until about 14 minutes before I had to be at work. I quickly gathered my things, hopped on my bike, and made it to the shop, where I was greeted with two lovely deliveries to make. The first was pretty close, and I got a $3 tip. The second was 1.7 miles away, a large stretch of that being on busy roads with no sidewalks, and then I had trouble finding the address, and then there was a suite involved because the address referred to an entire strip of little businesses. But I got another $4.50 in tips, so that definitely made up for it. Also, these two adventures took up almost the first hour of my three-hour shift. I call it a productive day when I earn 33% above my expected wages.

After I came back to the dorm, I had plans to go with Alice to the concert happening on the Walker-Adams Mall at 9, but I was napping again until about 10. Alice never called me, and she said it was no big deal, so I guess I'm alright with that. I went up and visited her at her new job, monitoring the 24-hour quiet study area on the 12th floor of Walker, tonight from 10 pm-6 am. Icky. But we hung out, and then Kate came up, since she lives in Walker anyway. Overall, it was a fun night.

To change tones entirely (sorry, I don't want to be emo, but it happens), I've concluded that hope can hurt a lot. I think that's part of why I've been having so much trouble dealing with this Richard stuff. I really do think that all I need, or really really want, anyway, is a guy. I want someone to cuddle with and someone to hold hands with and someone to kiss (ew... cooties!). And when Alice was telling me she thought he might like me back, I got my hopes up. I thought that could be him. And now I am somewhat jealous because Shannon is getting that instead of me. But it doesn't need to be him. I know that I don't convey this very well, but I am fine just being friends with Richard. He's still a good person, fun to be around, and y'know, it's easier when I don't feel like I need to try to impress him. But I just wish I had someone, and since he was the latest someone on my mind, he's kind of stuck there until I come across someone new.

I really want to say that a few good nights' sleep will help me stop being so weird and emotional, but I'm not sure I'll ever find out at this rate. Ugh. My back hurts. Dorm mattresses=t3h suXx0rz!

Not really feeling like myself today

I went to bed at about 5 am this morning. By 8:30, I was awake, dressed, spreading cream cheese on my bagel, and in a relatively good mood. By 9:30, I was in German, scaring my classmates a little bit. I think it's about the second time they've seen me fully awake in that class, so it came as a bit of a shock to them. My best guess as to the cause of my good mood is that I dressed up. Yesterday I went shopping with Shannon and Kate. I bought some cute new T-shirts and a pair of grey Converse Hi-tops that I didn't take off from BEFORE I bought them until about 1 in the morning. Today I wore the new shoes, a new shirt, and, for maybe the second time since I've been on campus, earrings (not new). I was awake in class and it impressed the teacher and it scared my classmates and it kind of surprised me. Of course, I'm exhausted now, but that's not a big deal, because I'm just in chem.

Between Understanding Music (10:30-11:20) and now, I stopped in the library for a break and a snooze and a drink from the cafe. After checking all the staples of my internet diet, I decided it would be a good time to just relax on one of the giant, fluffy, cozy leather chairs. I pulled out the third book in the Twilight series, which I've borrowed from Alicia (fictional men make a great distraction from real ones), and settled down. 12:40, and I was half-asleep reading. I had planned for this; my cell phone alarm was set to wake me up before chem at 1:30. But before that even had a chance to go off, I was awoken from my near slumber by a tap on my shoulder. I turned my head to find... some guy. I don't remember his name, and for that I feel like an idiot. I actually met him about two weeks ago on the way back from a general council meeting. Apparently, we passed each other near the dorms several times a week, so he decided one day to say hi. I decided we should introduce ourselves properly so we would be ready next time we saw each other (although I actually hadn't noticed him before). I think he said his name was Andrew, but I'm not sure at all. But anyway, he woke me up from my half-nap to say hi and comment on the fact that he hadn't seen me since the time we introduced ourselves, at least two weeks ago. And then he continued to the coffee shop and I continued with my nap.

That was fast...

"Shannon isn't interested, though. She's really not."

My bad. And I will explain that from the very beginning.

I slept Monday night, as planned. I woke up at an okay hour on Tuesday, went to my math class, was exhausted by the time chem discussion rolled around. Tuesday night I tried to do homework. I actually stopped myself from going to the RSA office, until about 10, because at that point I needed Eddie's help for chem, and he helped me, and I got my chem mostly done. And then, naturally, I stayed in the office and didn't do much more homework. I still had German and Understanding Music to do, so I worked on it for a while in the office, then in my room, and Alice came up to my room. And we ended up swinging on the swingset at 2 in the morning because it hit 50 degrees (actually, 48 by the time we got back in the room!). And then I worked on homework some more, and I think Alice did, too, and then Alice, Shannon, Alicia, and I went on a 4 am photo shoot. Brilliant. There are lots of awesome pictures, and I will e-mail them to those interested. Many (but not all) of them will also show up on facebook in the near future. Well, we finished the night by talking. Shannon explained to me that she does like Richard, but she pushed him away because she didn't want to hurt our friendship, which she values more than some guy. I appreciate that, and I also feel like a bitch for making her choose to do that. The discussion continued and it turns out that... he knows I like him.

And that was the first step to recovery. My infatuation has faded faster than some Joe Six-Pack's beer playing the "maverick" drinking game during the VP debate. But the last few drops are still at the bottom of the can. Honestly, I'm over him. I mean, he's still a good person, fun to be around, and I'm still impressed by him on a regular basis, but I realize that, well, I was being ridiculous, and I'm done with that. Right now it's the little things that get me. There's a silly little game where you tie a straw wrapper in a knot and think of someone. Then, when you pull on the ends of the wrapper, if the knot is gone, they're thinking of you, too. I don't have anyone else to think of. I default back to him.

Tonight (Friday night, that is) we went dancing again. I'm not much of a dancer, so I was standing around feeling awkward. Jay danced with his girlfriend, Richard danced with Shannon, Sarah... wiggled her knees leaning against a wall. Shannon and I talked in the bathroom. She told me to dance with her. I told her she had my blessing to dance or do whatever she wanted with Richard. At this point in the night, Shannon and I also decided to keep count of who more guys tried to dance with: her, me, or Jay's hot girlfriend Cari. When I tried to dance with Shannon, though, Richard kept pulling her back to him. So... awkward Sarah resumes her little wall dance.

I won. I won the game. Cari only had one guy try to dance with her, not counting Richard, because, while Jay can't dance, he was being very... possessive/protective/whatever. It was cute. It made us all laugh a little bit, and laughing at Jay was a large part of the reason I paid $10 to get in. Seriously. Shannon's magic number was 2, and one of them was really really drunk and on his way out, so I'm not sure if he counts. Mine... Mine was 4. FOUR GUYS. I'm not sure how old the first one was, 'cause I couldn't see his face that well. It kind of creeper me out. The second one was really tall, actually talked to me. He's a former meteorology major, named Jonathan. He taught me the Cuban Shuffle. The next one was pushed over to me by his friends. Reasonably good looking. The fourth... was dancing with me at the same time. Damn straight, Sarah was in a Sarah sandwich! And I'm okay with that. Shocked, certainly, but okay. I had fun. I danced. I danced with strangers. I danced with strangers in a club. I danced with strangers in a club while sober.

We came back around 1:15. We went to the RSA office and put in a movie. I fell asleep with my head on Shannon's lap right away, and woke up 15 minutes into the movie. I didn't figure I would make it through the movie, so I wished everyone a good night and left. I was actually in bed, sleeping, by 2:30 am. That's progress, sadly enough. Around 4:30, I got a drunk phone call from a friend. Not going into details on that, because it's not important and they're not necessarily my details to give out. And I couldn't fall back to sleep because, as dicussed... fucked up sleep schedule. Around 5, I heard the doors to my hall open. I figured that meant Shannon was back and I was going to ask her if she had a good night or whatever. Well, the answer went without saying. I looked through my peep hole and saw Shannon and Richard kissing. Nay, making out. Well, alright then. She has my blessing.

However, this being the weekend that it is, all of that takes a backseat to my final message:
BOOMER SOONER! sɐxǝʇ SUCKS!

Parli Pro!

"I move for strippers!"
"Second!"
"I move to lay the motion on the table."
"I move to take the motion from the table."
"I move for further investigation of the motion."

This is the kind of thing we accomplish in Bylaws Committee meetings. Yay for parliamentary procedure.

Intense

This week has been kind of intense. Several times I have considered posting with a bunch of day-to-day details, but I'm not sure what would get me in trouble and what would just be stupid and mundane. I've probably told most of you everything that's been going on anyway, and if you want some more details, you can call me sometime or send me an e-mail.

Here is the short version:
My sleep schedule is ruined. I'm trying to reset it tonight, which is why I'm up right now, typing this. I went to the Health Center on Friday and got some meds, but I haven't taken any of them yet. My cold seems to be getting better. But I swear I'll take the meds tomorrow night. As a matter of fact, I'll take the antibiotic later this morning. Umm... I've been contemplating dropping my calc class while I could still get a "W" for withdrawing instead of an F or whatever, but my math teacher talked me out of it. Apparently 53/100 was actually a relatively high score on that test, and I'd rather stay as far ahead as possible. I think I'll still be able to maintain my scholarships, but I guess it's not a sure thing until the end of the semester, because he said he'll put it on a curve then. Other classes are going fine.

The social side of college life is actually the part that's made the last week so intense. I've spent a lot of time with all of my friends--Shannon, Richard, and Alice especially. But on Tuesday Richard and Shannon started getting to know each other and Richard very obviously started liking Shannon. Shannon, Richard, Jay, and I all went to a club on Friday night; Richard danced only with her. There's more, but I'm not going to bitch about that now because I've been bitching all weekend to everyone already. Shannon isn't interested, though. She's really not. She was kind of enjoying the attention, just because it's attention, and it's from a guy. I can understand that. I'd probably do the same thing. But she's apologized to me a lot and she's talked to him and told him that she just wants to be friends, so I think it's all good. The unfortunate thing in all this is that I haven't learned my lesson. I'm a fool and I'm still infatuated. As a drunken Alicia said earlier tonight, "Being a girl sucks, because we have emotions." Yeah, we all had fun laughing at Alicia. That's mean, but it's true. She's a kind of silly drunk. She's not the only one (and with that I apologize for all my previous rantings against drunk people).

And the winner is...!

If there were an award for the most desperate form of procrastination, I would have won it last night. It was 1:30 am, I had about an hour of German homework left to do, and I was scrubbing the bathtub. I mean... I guess it was productive procrastination in any case. Time spent scrubbing the tub is better than time spent perusing facebook.

Unrelatedly, I'm really glad the Starbucks in the Union has opened. The lines are much shorter now in the library's cafe while I'm waiting between Understanding Music and Chem.

Lovely side effects of being sick

Sunday, Richard took me to Walmart so I could find some cold medicine. The cold is his fault anyway, but he seemed happy to take me. He was a perfect gentleman, holding open doors and waiting patiently while I made my selections. And then we went to GameStop, because it's right across the parking lot from Walmart. He mentioned that he had a $5 gift card to a local frozen custard place and I thought he said "we should go" but he drove back to the dorms after GameStop, so I'm not sure if I misheard, or if he meant "another time" or what.

The drugs helped a lot, but just when I thought my cold was starting to go away, it seems to be getting worse again. I've been absolutely hacking all day, and it's gross and it hurts and I'm sick of being sick. I meant to go to Goddard (Health Center) this afternoon, but I fell asleep, and then when I woke up I had places to be, things to be fashionably late for (is there such thing as being fashionably late to a meeting of a by-laws committee?). But my day was otherwise fun. I went to my meeting, then I met Alice at her office hours and we chilled out for a while. Richard wasn't around most of the time, because he was taking a test, but he arrived later and we all chatted for a while before closing up the office. I think he was impressed by the fact that I can write in elvish (I had mentioned in the other night, but tonight I was actually writing something), but he tried to downplay it by telling us his father was fluent in Klingon. We closed up just about on time tonight, and I got teased again for the fact that I'm supposedly only in there once a week. Tomorrow is my actual night for office hours, though, so I've got an excuse for the next time.

Speaking of tomorrow: ugh. I have a big math test that I'm not looking forward to at all. Also, speaking of tomorrow: Go Twins! I am so excited! Some kid gave me his password to watch the game online, too, so I guess I know what I'll be doing during office hours (besides ogling).

Oh, and one more thing... Alice suspects he likes me back! (Wow, I feel so... middle school...)

Schedule Change!

Yay, I'm no longer working 21 hours/week! I've dropped my Sunday shift, so now I work Saturday 11-6, Tuesday 1-6, and Friday 3-6. However, I don't think they'll keep me at work the whole time tomorrow. First off, it's not a game day, so there won't be all that many people around that would go all the way up to Campus Corner. Second, I've got a kind of bad cold--lots of sniffling and a hacking cough. I don't imagine that will be very appetizing to customers.

Yeah, not working Sundays might be a good thing. Last weekend (after I chilled out in the RSA office until 3) I woke up at noon. I was supposed to start at 11. Whoops. Actually, I was the first person in other than the manager. It seems everyone overslept.

Yesterday was my day for RSA office hours. I've concluded that I spend way too much time in that office. After hours ended (11 p.m.) I stuck around for another hour and a half to help Richard reorganize everything. Well, almost everything. The office is split into three parts--the social area, the study office, and the... other room, which is basically storage right now. We completely cleaned out those first two rooms; rearranged furniture; emptied, sorted, and refilled shelves; DUSTED. Yeah... I spent an hour and a half (possibly more) cleaning a room I'm only supposed to see once per week. But the truth is that I go down there pretty much every time they're open. Usually there's someone there to hang out with, whether or not that includes Richard. On that topic, I got mentioned BY NAME in his facebook status afterwords (He [is stoked about how good his office looks now. Thanks [me]!"), and he also commented on my status (I "just spent an hour and a half cleaning a room [I] only see once a week." "You so see it more than once a week.") I think I need a new hobby. I also think I should work on keeping my own room that nice (both my room and home and my dorm here).

A word on work

I realized that I've been weird and mopey and lovey-dovey and just generally annoying for the past several posts, and I apologize for that. For a quick change of pace, I'm going to write about work instead.

Work is interesting. Actually, no. it's not. It's incredibly boring. In my previous job, you were expected to be busy at all times. The only times you could be sitting around were when you had just gone to get subway and needed to stop to eat it. Otherwise, there were make-lines to wipe, floors to sweep, dishes to clean, tiles to scrub, whatever. We don't really do those things at my new job. I know they mop the floors at some point, though I've never seen them doing it. Same goes with the bathrooms. But basically all we do is make sandwiches and slice sandwich toppings. I guess that's fine, but it means I have a lot of down time. Down time isn't always good. It makes me sleepy. But whatever. We sit around and eat sandwiches, and I study for classes I don't want to waste actual free time on. It's all good. Today, we were sitting around in the back office and someone else who was working asked me "Do you smoke pot?" And he meant it, too. Because that's what people normally have conversations about at my work--places they have purchased, smoked, and in some cases grown marijuana. After I told him I didn't, he said "Okay. Just checking, because I realized I hadn't actually asked you that. You're about the only one here who doesn't." That's right. I work with a bunch of potheads. The thing is, I relate to them better than I related to 90% of my high school graduating class, and better than at least 75% of the girls on my floor. They're all really nice people, and fun to talk to. And, no, it's not like they come into work stoned or anything. It's just something they all have in common.

As for the actual working part of work, it's going fine. Bicycle deliveries are great fun, and I'm learning the layout of the town a little bit more, which is kind of nice. Obviously it's still not downtown Norman or anything, but I'm getting an idea for the major local roads and things. The tips are nice. Basically I'm considering them spending money and I'm going to put everything else away in savings, for now anyway.

Plans for Wednesday:
9:30-German
10:30-Understanding Music TEST (Middle Ages and Renaissance)
Whenever I get out of the test-Study abroad informational session (counts as "cultural event" for German)
1:30-Chem lecture (test Thursday night, 7:00 pm)
5:30-Office hours for Calc Prof. That class is getting nasty, and I'm not sure why, especially since I'm pretty sure I've learned the material before.

I'm going to miss part of my RSA office hours on Thursday, and this makes me sad. Not just because of the president, but because all the people who work Thursday nights are really fun people. We bond over funny music (primarily risque showtunes) and procrastination.

I could have danced all night!

But I didn't. As a matter of fact, I never really started dancing.

Last night there was a watch party for the football game. At halftime there was a dance party, hosted by the Adams Center RSA, primarily Richard. So, naturally, I volunteered to come help. Well, there wasn't much helping for me to do. Actually, I ended up leaving the watch party and then coming back for halftime just to go to the dance party. I realized how stupid that was almost immediately, so instead of dancing, I played pool with some other guy who I don't really know. Our skill levels were about equal, as far as I could tell (but I would never recognize it if someone was letting me win). Well, we each had one ball left on the table, when Richard came over and literally pulled me away from the pool table by the arm and onto the dance floor. And then he went and danced with the group of people he was friends with, leaving me standing awkwardly on the dance floor. After maybe 20 minutes of trying to convince myself to let loose--and failing miserably--I sat down on a couch while everyone else danced or watched the football game. Another promise of the party, was video games. Video games I can do. Video games I can, at the very least, watch without feeling totally awkward.

So that's exaclty what I did. I watched video games, then I played video games. And when the party was over I helped Richard and the other RSA presidents clean up and we carried some equipment back to the RSA office in Adams. After that, we just hung out in the office for several hours. It was a lot of fun actually, and I think we bonded rather effectively. We even had a discussion about how neither of us was ever nerdy enough for the nerds or cool enough for the normal people. Now, if that's not meant to be, I don't know what is. Moreover, I found out the he occasionally DM's for D&D (his friends ask him to because apparently he's a dick about it and it's fun), and he doesn't like Macintosh at all, not even the iPod. Squee!

And then today I overslept and was an hour late to work. I came in the door, said "I overslept. Do I still have a job?" and the manager who was in at the time said it was no big deal; everyone who was supposed to come in had overslept. I was actually the first non-manager to make it into the store. But seriously... whoops!

Farmers' Market

Today OU hosted a great little farmers' market in honor of Green Week. It was supposed to be out in the Walker-Adams Mall, but it was moved inside because of, you guessed it, the rain. Nonetheless, it was quite lovely. A whole lot of locally grown foods. Delicious whole wheat cookies, gourmet cheeses, fresh cucumbers and pumpkins, and gallon jugs of honey. In the end the event was rather pointless, and I can't imagine it was too profitable for the sellers who set up booths. We are college students. We have meal plans, not kitchens. We aren't even allowed toasters, so we the honey was nearly made useless. I bought some anyway. Not a gallon, but a little bottle, though, trust me, I would have gone for the gallon instantly if I had $30 to just throw away. It would all be crystalized before I could use a quarter of it. Oh, and the cheese! They didnt' have anything extremely sharp, but it was still very tasty. I wanted to get some but I really don't have a good excuse to spend $8 for "about a pound." Maybe I'll get some tasty cheese on my next Target run.

At RSA we had a nice, long discussion about dialect. A few actual Oklahomans were with us, and one realized for the first time the ridiculousness of the phrase "fixin' to," as in "We're fixin' to go get supper." I picked on my own accent. It was all good fun. Oh, and we had an oddball music contest by hooking our computers up to the surround sound system in the office. It started out with mostly sex-related songs, but moved on to 90's pop and "Life's Gonna Suck" fast enough. And then right back to sex songs. Ah, what a great group.

Yay, new friends, though. Alice, who hurt her hip and will be in a wheelchair for "a week or two" has dabbled in D&D, so it sounds like she and I are going to seek out a group so we have someone to play with. The new group of friends I was with also joined the crusade to get me on WoW. I just don't know if I have the free time for it to be worth $15/mo. We'll see.

Wet

I chose a good time to take the pictures off my cell phone, because now, just a few days later, it doesn't work. At all. It turned itself off without telling me and it won't turn on again. Therefore, please refrain from calling and especially texting until further notice (calls don't really matter, but I'd hate to pay for texts I'm never going to receive). My only suspicion as to what happened is that it might have gotten wet in the rain yesterday. Actually, I know it got wet in the rain yesterday, but it was working just fine while I was actually out in the rain, and for a few hours after that. Everything inside (well, the SIM card and the battery) seems dry, but who knows?

As I mentioned, though, rain. It's been really wet here the last few days. It's not bad. It's actually nice, warm rain. It's was pouring yesterday, but it still never got below 70. You know me: I dance in the rain, I walk in the rain. I love it. What I don't love is the way it affects the air inside buildings. It is so humid in my dorm that I put on a fresh pair of pants this morning and they were already cling-to-your-legs wet. It's so humid in the classrooms that the perforated edges on the notebook pages serve no purpose--the rest of the page rips just as easily. I don't mind rain outside, but inside, it's a bit of a nuisance.

Also, I took the pictures off my phone today, because I have way too many. Here's one that's kind of neat:




Those are the actresses from the TV Show Greek who play Rebecca Logan and Ashleigh [whatever her last name is]. They were here to get people registered to vote. They were also signing autographs, but I didn't have time to wait in line, because that was Tuesday, and I was working. Instead, I took a picture and left.



There is also, for those interested, a picture of me with a Barack Obama cardboard cutout. it's totally nerdy and I look like and idiot, but that's okay. E-mail me if you want to see that (I'm refraining from putting pictures of actual non-celebrity people in this blog, for privacy's sake)

A moment of regret

So far, I can name two regrets of college:
1) that I wasn't in Minnesota at the time of the RNC. Not that I care about the convention itself, but rather the protests that were happening at the time, which I would have participated in.
2) I didn't go to that party tonight. Richard was going to a friend's 21st birthday party. It was at a pub & grill and I got invited by Richard, as did the other girl who was hanging out at RSA tonight. But I didn't go because I was being responsible and doing my math homework and she did and he wrote on her wall on facebook about how much fun the party was. And then, on top of it all, we got an extension on the math homework, so I didn't need to do it anyway. I find this whole mess really frustrating. I think I've reached a point of desperateness (real word) at which I need to be slapped. Seriously, who needs guys? ... Oh, right. Me.

Well, I did most of my math homework anyway. I work tomorrow from 2-6. Then from 7-9 I'm going to the Academic Team practice to see what that's all about. I think tomorrow I'm going to ask at work about knocking off a few of my shifts, because, while the schedule is manageable and even maintainable, I just don't want to work that much. I want a social life. I want to have fun. But if you're wondering, no, I don't want to go to bed before 2:30.

Earlier today I had the required Alcohol Education course. It only took about half an hour. It was lame and most of it was stuff I already knew. My opinion on the matter is that alcohol typically tastes gross, so what's the point? I'd be happier with a Coke or a coffee. Plus, I don't know that I could trust myself drunk. I've done some pretty stupid stuff sober, and I don't think my judgment would improve under the influence. And that, ladies and gentlemen, makes me the 1 in 5 University students (at OU, but the national numbers are supposedly comparable) who does not drink. What a loser.

And then there was Caribou!

And it was amazing.

The other day Kate was walking around in Xcetera (the convenience store located on the first floor of Walker residence hall) and she found Caribou Coffee Iced Coffees. You know, the ones that come in the adorable metal bottles. I'm pretty sure I'm in heaven now, except for the fact that I probably don't have enough money to be buying a whole lot of those. Or do I? Today I made $17 in tips from deliveries. More than two hours' wages' worth. I'm awesome! Of course, that's probably going directly into my Sooner Sense card so I have laundry money, because the stupid machines here cost $1.25 and don't take quarters. Seriously, what kind of washing machines don't take quarters? Lame.

In other work-related news, I wiped out on my bike today. I'm kind of an idiot. As far as I know, I'm just fine. Basically I was trying to get onto a driveway so I could get from the road to the sidewalk, but the driveway I chose wasn't even with the road at all, so my tire wasn't able to make the jump and I skidded and fell. For the most part, I caught myself on my hands, but I also banged my chin kind of hard. That's the only injury I'm worried about, because my jaw is still kind of sore and one cheek is a little bit swollen(this happened at about 11:30 this morning). My plan is to wait and see if it gets better. If it is not better by Tuesday, or if it gets worse by tomorrow, I will go have it checked out. In the meantime, I'll try to talk it off.

Last night I had a laundry party with Alice from RSA. She's sweet. We sat around and waited for my laundry, drank some Coca-Cola, and bonded over the fact that both of our homes are hundreds of miles away and everything is weird here.

This week (evenings/extracurriculars):
Monday: METR 1111, Alcohol Education with my dorm floor, possibly Academic Team practice, RSA meeting
Tuesday: Work, Academic Team
Wednesday: Hmm... Do I not have anything going on Wednesday?
Thursday: RSA
Friday: Work
Saturday: Work
Sunday: Work

T.G.I.F.

I won't lie: it's been a kind of long week. At the same time, it's unbelievable to think that it's already September 5. I've gone through fully two weeks of classes and I'm starting to get used to it. That's nice.

However, I am beginning to worry that I'm overloading myself.
I am in or hope to be in the following:
-a job
-academic team
-debate
-RSA
-good academic standing
-a state of consciousness during daylight hours.
-young democrats/students for Obama
-Honors College
-various meteorology-related groups

And the job will probably be the first one I drop. Honestly, the only thing I'm worried about is that it will look good on future job applications. But... I am, first and foremost, a student, right? I was laughing at that the other day. Supposedly, one should study three hours outside of class each week for every credit hour the class is worth. This semester, that means I should be studying 45 hours a week, plus about 15 hours of actual classes. Way more than full time. Definitely not happening. So the job actually seems like a good thing to put away, at least for now. Honestly, just by making it through the next two weeks I'll earn over 200 dollars, if I work as scheduled. Mind, I'm already giving up 5 hours or so tomorrow, whether they like it or not. Who knows, it might be the shortest employment ever... (Not my fault. Football game is a required attendance event for National Merit Scholars and I talked to the manager who said "don't worry, we'll work it out"--very vaguely).

I will post more later tonight, probably, but I have to go to a movie now (Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull--not to be confused with the beginning of "The Librarian II", which specifically mentions said skull, two years before this Indiana Jones came out), and I'm posting this now so that the title doesn't become irrelevant.

Things are getting better.
I'm giving my roommate another shot. Obviously I was upset at first and I'm willing to admit that I probably was being a bit... hasty to judge. She's been extremely friendly since she got back, and so I'm going to let that happen and try to return the gesture. My suitemates... well, I'll deal with them another day if necessary.
First day on the job wasn't bad. During a five-hour shift, I made one delivery and earned precisely $1.50 in tips. Yay, me! I got tips! My coworkers tell me I'm learning fast, but as with my last job, the first few days are kind of spent not having a clue what to do. As for the schedule, I've figured out that I can make it to the park where the School of Meteorology picnic is being held reasonably quickly from work on my bike. And for Saturday and the football game I should either be able to find a sub by the time I need to be at the game or I won't need to come in, because apparently game days are slow for business anyway.
And now I'm working on German. This is important. That is all. Bye!