Rainy Day

It's the first day in a while that it hasn't been really warm. It's nice to be able to wear warmer clothes, but I don't really want the rain right now. I'm already sick again. Or just sleep deprived, I never know.

Yesterday we had our first model in Basic Drawing. We haven't gotten to nude models yet, but that is coming eventually, which will be interesting. It was really fun to do the drawings of the model because I've never really done it before. I really liked drawing those shapes, they weren't so angular like what we've been doing.

I have to finish my 5 hr drawing today. I also need to shower, take a nap and practice my speech for tonight. So much to do.

Shhh...

I stayed at my friend's condo last night after the game, so of course my roommate's boyfriend stayed here. I came back today and they're still sleeping, so I'm doing my best to be quiet and find things to do that don't involve noise. I need to get going on a 5 hr drawing that's due Wednesday, but I don't have a paper bag, and I need one to do the drawing! Right now I'm just being lazy and worthless. Enjoying sitting around doing nothing.

I am such a procrastinator.

Sticky.

I'm stuck.

I have my whole speech written out, but I can't seem to put the final statement on it. I don't know how to conclude all these ideas, and I 'm pretty sure we're supposed to end with a theoretical/rhetorical statement.

I think, since I have class at six, I'm going to relax, watch some Smallville, eat some dinner (eventually) and come back after I clear my mind. Too much thinking has been done already.

Solitary Slavitude

I'm not really sure if Slavitude is a word. It seemed right, but now I'm not completely sure. What I'm trying to say is that I'm holed up in my room (door open in hopes of a convenient interruption) trying to work on a speech that I'm supposed to give tomorrow night. I really can't stand the assignment, though. I hate that my teacher gave us an assignment in which we have to convincingly feel strongly about an issue I don't know anything about! So in other words, I shold be working on it right now. It's ok, I have all night.

I've been taking some pictures of the campus that I will eventually be posting in an album on facebook. I wanted some of my friends from home to be able to see where I'm living. I thought I'd put a sneak preview up tonight though, because some of the pictures are really great.



Stanley Hall, which is where I live.



The amazing Art Building, where I have one of my 2 art classses.

So those are a few pics of where I live these days. I love it!

I'm On Call

Last night I went with Lindsey to the Kings of Leon concert on campus. I haven't listened to them very much, but I thought it would be fun. And it was! I came back and bought their cd on iTunes, it's a lot of fun. I also bought the cd of the opening band, The Features, and had it signed by them. I also aquired a guitar pick. All in all, a successful concert-going experience.

Now I have to go and make my way around campus and Iowa City on a scavenger hunt for Art Visual Culture. I'm meeting up with my partner at Burge and we're leaving from there. I'm really not happy about doing this because I have some homework to get done for my 6:00 class and I'm really hoping this hunt doesn't take too long!

(L)Ames

I am very sad to report that the Hawkeyes did not, in fact, kick the Cyclones' red behinds. It was a sad day for Hawkeye fans everywhere. I cannot believe the end of that game! Anyone who watched it knows exactly what I'm talking about. Oh, and for the record... the 'clones did not score a single touchdown in that game!

On the other hand, my weekend in Ames was amazingly fun. We headed out there on Friday night and stayed with Lauren's brother. We were going to stay at Adam's cousin's house Saturday night but it turned out to be a big house party and we really wanted to sleep in the amazingly nice apartment we had the night before. So I DD'd and we went back there for the night, which was SO much better than sleeping at a random (dirty) house.

On the way home today we stopped in Coralville and ate at Chile's, which is the best meal I've had in about a month. It was excellent. I had so much fun this weekend (my favorite one so far) but I am really happy to be back in Hawkeye territory. Home sweet home.

Almost a Month

It's been about 3 and a half weeks that I've been living in Iowa City now, and in that time there are many things that I have managed to do, proving that time is warped in college. Somehow in this short amount of time I have...

-contracted "tonsilitis", over my birthday, no less
-explored the iowa city night life
-attended my first ever hawkeye game
-met tons of great people
-had a "we're sort of dating" experience
-skipped a lecture
-made new friends
-watched many hours of smallville on dvd
-cried over a boy
-had my first burrito

So it's been a pretty crazy up and down time. But fun. Very fun.

Schedule

In order to move away from my angry, pessimistic venting from yesterday, I'd like to point out how AMAZING my Monday/Wednesday schedule is. I have 2 classes... one at 9:30 and one at 10:30. This means that my day is done at 12:20! So now all I have to worry about is when to eat. And possibly when to work on a little homework.

I love Wednesday!

The Story

Brandi Carlile is currently my listening favorite. Her music is soulful and emotional; angry and sad at the same time. It's an appropriate characterization of what's going on in my head right now. I'm not going to try to play my fiddle or claim that the world is out to get me.

I'm just having a tough time right now with someone and it's confusing and trying. When I put Brandi Carlile on, the sound seems to bring to life exactly what kind of noise my thoughts are making right now. I don't really know how to describe what's going on without saying it outright, because that's exactly what I don't want to do. I've been thinking about it for about 4 days now and finally decided I needed to let the feelings out in a blog.

There's a line in one of Brandi's songs that talks about razors in her head (she is not punk or emo, I promise) and that seemed to be an excellent analogy to me. The razors in my head are all the little things that keep cutting into my thoughts and making me worry constantly. However, being the person that I am, I am afraid to act on these feelings and find out what's going on. Even though that very act would shine the light directly on the situation and give me a solid answer. I would stop worrying.

But instead I worry on.

Routine

I'm starting to get used to my daily routine here. It's still a little surreal; like a prolonged camp year with no little girls to be responsible for, but I've pretty much accepted the way things are now. I had a brief time today where I wished my mom was around, which was really foreign to me, since I don't do the homesick thing. It wasn't a homesickness though because I still have no desire to leave here and go home. When I was home for my birthday I had many moments which reaffirmed my happiness to be out of the house. Still, it's a little lonely sometimes. Not often, since there are people everywhere, but once in a while.

I am proud to say that I have my rhetoric homework done for tomorrow, even though I don't have the class until 6. That means that from 10:30 to 6 tomorrow I don't have any pressing work to get done, so I can focus on other things. And believe me, there are other things to focus on.

I'm going to the Study Abroad Fair tomorrow I think. I want to go to Italy at some point. I don't know when though, because I don't want to be gone for a whole semester and summers are pretty much off limits. I'll figure something out, though.

I'm going to try to go to sleep at a decent hour tonight, which seems to be a difficult concept for me. I really like to use my evening hours to do things like facebook and watch Smallville on DVD. Tonight though, I'm going to take my Media Effects Research book up into my loft bed, read what I can, and go to sleep.

Mmmmm.... sleep.

Last Day of Birthday Week

Since we have declared that my birthday was a week long event that started last Thursday, today is the final day. I will have to eat more of my birthday cake and have more fun to commemorate the event.

I had my follow up appointment at student health services today. The doctor was amazed that the antibiotics had totally wiped away my "tonsilitis" and made me totally healthy again. In the span of 48 hours. Since my allergies appear to have decided to keep tormenting me (I think they want to make sure I'm miserable even though I'm no longer sick), she perscribed Allegra to try to make it go away. Hopefully it will solve all my problems. I'll be heavily medicated, but if it makes me feel better, I'm not complaining.

I wish I would have known I'd be going straight from the appointment to the art building where I am now. I have a 1:30 class and since the student health services and the art buildings are both on the west side (I live on the east) I decided it was against my good health to attempt running back to Stanley to get my notebook and textbook. The last time I had this discussion class (last thursday) I only needed the notebook, and I have one with me I can tear out of. Or I could try taking notes on this, although no on else in the class is using laptops for notes. I think I would feel a little silly.

I wish I had my iPod and a good cup of something to drink right now. Then I would feel very artsy.

Waiting

Today is the day all my family and family friends are coming over to celebrate my birthday. I am very excited to see everyone, especially my cousin and my brother's baby.

This morning I told my dad I knew that they had wrapped up my computer as a present, but that I had a lot of things to do with it while I'm home and I don't want to be antisocial at my party. So I unwrapped it this morning and am now blogging on the family computer while Mac OS X is being installed on my laptop. I have a lot to do with it... I need to upload music for my new iPod, upload pictures, and play around with it to get more familiar with the features.

I am also attempting to get well... I have been feeling sick for a week, and it got worse yesterday. My throat is very sore. I think it's because of a combination of my runny nose and lack of sleep. I'm making myself sick, and it's no good. I've been doing the salt water thing in an attempt to ease my sore throat.

I don't want to be sick, I'm leaving to go back to school tomorrow morning!

Rockin' Robin

The funniest things have happened the last two days.

First of all, Thursday night was SO much fun. Lauren, Kate, Adam and I went around town everywhere from a friend's house to the Mayflower dorm (which is really far away from main campus). When we got back to Stanley, Lauren went into the bathroom. She came out with the funniest look on her face. When we asked what was wrong, she told us she had FLUSHED HER KEYS DOWN THE TOILET. Apparently, when she reached to flush the toilet, the powerful flush sucked her lanyard down. So now she has to pay money and get her locks changed. Yuck. But it was one of the funniest things to happen since I've moved out here.

The second thing happened last night. The four of us were hanging out again, and after a night of walking downtown and everything, we were back in the dorms. Adam and I eventually decided to walk outside because we saw my roommate and this guy we know walk out there. Another one of our friends was playing guitar, and a security guard approached us. Instead of asking us not to play guitar so close to the building at 3:45 a.m., he started talking about playing guitar and music and how he used to be in some different bands. So Tim handed the guard his guitar, and he proceeded to sing amazing versions of both Rockin' Robin and Folsom Prison! It was one of the most amusing things I have ever seen! He wasn't just good, he was an excellent guitar player and singer!

So I now can honestly say that I have been serenaded by a security guard at 3:45 a.m.