Well I think I'm going places.

So, one of my good friends just found out today that she got into Greenville Tech's nursing program. She's been  on a waiting list for like a year now. I'm really happy for her, truly I am. But at the same time, I'm slightly jealous. Now she gets to live the dream. She already has her brand new Jeep Liberty (a really badass Liberty at that, it's the Jet Sport edition), she has a full-time job at the hospital in patient transport making over $10/hr. plus she gets benefits, and now she's into one of the best nursing programs in the upstate. Granted, I've got a pretty good life too. It's my first year at Clemson, I have an amazing boyfriend (and we're closer than ever), and I have a steady job too. But I'm not exactly where I want to be. I see Civic Si's and Lexus IS250's and Mini Coopers everywhere and wish I were driving them. I want to make more money and have a good job. And I want to be in a nursing program too. I'm applying to Clemson's nursing program next year. I want to get my GPA in tip-top shape first though. This semester has been such an adjustment, and I want to be on track before I do anything major. Anyway, I guess I'm just more determined than ever to make my future start happening.

On another note, John came to Clemson to visit me today. It was a surprise, a very appreciated one at that. He and I had lunch at El Jimador, a little Mexican restaurant near campus, then we grabbed smoothies (half price!) at the '55 Exchange, and then we headed over to the Botanical Gardens for a brief study break. I took a couple of pictures while I was there. The place is just so beautiful, especially this time of year. I'm hoping John and I can go back next week on Black Friday and take some pictures together.

Come to think of it, the whole campus is pretty beautiful this time of year. Definitely my favorite season. The leaves are all orange and yellow, and the air is nice and cool. The best part is that it's almost time for the holidays. Thanksgiving is just over a week away. I'm actually looking forward to the break from school though. And work is going to be fun. I'm working from 4pm to 1am the night before Thanksgiving, and my best friend Jamie will be there with me. It's going to be a fun shift. And Thanksgiving Day will be nice too, as I'm spending the day with John and his family at his grandmother's house. I can't wait to see the leaves up around her house. I bet it's absolutely beautiful right now. And speaking of, John and I have actually thought about planning a wedding there. A fall wedding. It would be so pretty, and I could encorporate my school's color (and hopefully John's too!) into the theme. No formal plans have been made, but it's a nice idea.

Christmas break is just around the corner too. I'm really looking forward to it. I'm looking forward to going to the mall with John and feeling the holiday spirit (okay, that sounded a little cheesy, my bad). And date nights. He and I haven't been able to have a legit date night in forever. You know, one of those where we actually ride together to a restaurant and have a nice, relaxing dinner and have one of those fun couple talks and just spend the evening together? Yeah we never get to do that. School and work and time and money are always problems. But hopefully we'll be able to find the time and money over break. And *crosses fingers* I really, really hope we get to have one of those days where we spend the morning in his room and get to watch Up All Night or a movie and snuggle and have macaroni for lunch. But the weather has to be perfect. It has to be cold and rainy. And it would be best if it were a day when neither of us had to work, but the last day we had like that was so therapeutic that it didn't even bother me that I had to work. So, once again I'm hoping time is on our side. Oh! And I forgot! John and I are going to the Biltmore House again this year! Only this time we're going with a real couple, our good friends Heather and Matt. I'm so excited. Christmas at Biltmore is absolutely stunning! And the hot chocolate is a bonus, hehe! 

Anyway, it's taken me forever to write this blog - and I realize how short it is - but I'm going to end it now. I just hope that John and I can get through these next few stressful weeks. I know what's waiting on the other side will be well worth it. 

Goodnight all!

Good fucking morning.

I'm in math. The way our class is set up, we have a website where we do all of our work, and then the teacher has "mini-lectures" set up that are 15-20 minutes long. Some students are assigned to the mini-lectures, while those who aren't have "independent work time" on the website. Well, the website is down this morning. The people who were assigned a comprehensive assessment got to leave. The teacher said that if we have a worksheet printed out to work on that, but I don't have mine with me. Then she said we could do work from another class, but all my stuff is in the car, which is on the other side of campus. Well, class is half way over and she said if we didn't have a worksheet to do we could leave....unless our name is down for a mini-lecture. And of course, mine is. But not just any one - the very last one of the class, from 8:50 to 9:10. So I'm just sitting here wasting time until then. It wouldn't be such a big deal if I hadn't woken up at 6:30 and drove all the way from Easley to get here (when I don't have much gas left). Oh well. Just another "If I lived on campus...." moment.

So, I guess I'll just sit here and figure out what I'm gonna do today. Jamie will probably want me to come by today, or come see her at work. I'd love to, but I don't really have the gas to go to Greenville, and I have homework. But I may end up going to Greenville anyway. I just have to get some school work done first. Gotta  read for English, the first two chapters of Haroun and the Sea of Stories. Gotta read a story in Spanish and answer some questions for it. Actually I think that's all I need to do today. Goody.

Well, time for my mini-lecture. Love you all.

Ya snooze ya looze.

Okay, so I just had my third biology test. I wasn't fully prepared, but I will be for the next one.
I bombed my English essay. The teacher hated it. Ripped it apart. Pulled out its insides. And stomped on them. So, I've gotta stay ahead with all of my reading from now on so I can get participation points.

I have to do math. Dear god. I'm going to have to spend an entire weekend doing nothing but math. I have no choice.

And Spanish. I'm doing okay in Spanish. I just have to remember all the extra fucking online homework my teacher loves to give.

Whatever. I'll be okay. I have like a month left of school. Can't just let it go by without trying. No sir. I'm gonna be a good student these last few weeks and make it count. Hereee we gooooo!

Ready or not.

So I'm in math right now. I left my notebook in the car so I don't have any scratch paper to do work. But I'm making use of the spare campus bus route map I had in my laptop bag.

I'm going to talk to my advisor when I get out of class this morning. I have an appointment with him to go over my transcript and my current class schedule so I can figure out what I'll be taking in the spring. I'm really excited, but I'm a little scared at the same time. I'm barely making it through this semester, so what in the world is spring going to be like? If it's anything like this semester has been, it's gonna be one hectic rollercoaster. But it's coming, whether I'm ready or not.

I hope we get out of class a few minutes early. I really have to pee.

On a different note, I talked to my best friend Jamie this morning. She told me that she'll be back to work next week, which is awesome. I've missed her. (She's been on maternity leave since September 15. She now has a month-old baby boy named Evan who is absolutely precious.) I hope her family stops giving her trouble though.  Right now, it's Jamie, her husband Brad, her four children (Lexi, Bailey, Callaway, and Evan), and Brad's mom Charlene, living together in a very small house. It's cramped, and with a newborn and the girls being in school, things are kinda tense for them right now. It stresses Jamie out, for sure. I wish she and I could have a girls' day and go get pedicures or something, but neither one of us seems to have time or money for that. Maybe soon though. Or maybe over Christmas break!

Oy, Christmas. It's less than two months away. Walmart has all their Christmas decorations out already. I love the holidays, really. It's a beautiful time of year, even though the weather turns freezing and all the trees lose their orange and red leaves. Still, it makes me all warm and fuzzy and I can't wait. Problem is, I really don't have any money to buy gifts this year. This past summer wiped out all my money, and I haven't been able to work much since school started. But it'll still be a good holiday season.

In fact, it may be the best one yet. Of course, I don't want to jinx anything. But I feel like things are in a better place than they've ever been. I'm in a new school, and John and I have different, better people in our lives now. No immature drama, no bitches, no douchebags. Only the people that matter. People like Heather and Matt, who are getting married in April. Heather asked me to be her bridesmaid! We spent Halloween with them at their apartment, and it was a blast. I imagine we'll have a Christmas get-together there as well. And John's friend Myles. I don't really know him that well, but he doesn't seem like a prick. And another one of John's friends, Aaron. I go to school with him (even though I didn't know it until recently), but we're in the process of making plans to hang out with him and his girlfriend, who is 20 weeks pregnant!

I just think things are falling into place. School is crazy, work is busy, but John and I are closer than we've ever been, and this is the way things are supposed to be right now. And that just makes the holidays even more exciting. I can't wait.

But now class is over and it's time to meet with my advisor. Toodles!

Gotta get it together.

So, school has been a hectic journey from the very beginning. Transferring schools and figuring out where I stand as far as class year and course credits was stressful enough, but now I'm up to my eyeballs in things to do. Now, don't get me wrong - I fucking love my school. I'm the first person in my family to go to college, and I'm going to Clemson. One of the best schools in the south. In the country, maybe. (Hey, our football team is #5 nationally, thanks.)

I guess I just feel disconnected right now. I'm living at home and commuting to campus, which is about a 45 minute trip each way. By the time I get to school, I don't really feel like going to class, and by the time I get home, I don't really feel like doing homework for the next three or four hours. I feel more like taking a nap. Plus, it limits the social interaction I get. I only talk to the people in my classes, and I rarely see them outside of class. It's not that big of a deal though.

My main issue is the workload. We're getting ready to register for the spring semester, but I'm sitting here trying to figure out how to get through the fall. Just this week, I have a shitload of homework:
- read 133 pages of Oryx and Crake by Friday.
- start my second English essay (1000 words)
- study for a Spanish test

- complete 10 online Spanish activities on the supersite
- complete another 3 assignments on a different Spanish website
- make an outline for my Spanish presentation
- make some attempt at doing my LearnSmart assignments for biology
- play catch-up on my math class

It doesn't look like too much when I write it out like that, but it's just time-consuming. (And I know, you're probably thinking, "What a whiny little thing she is," but I'm really not whining. I'm just trying to put everything in perspective for myself.

Alas, I'll get it all done. I just have to hold a job, a home life, and a boyfriend together at the same time. Of course, all those are easy. John is always understanding (even though it's easy to pick spending time with him over schoolwork. What can I say? He's easy on the eyes :P ) It would be nice though, to have some sort of life without the stress of knowing school work awaits me whenever I return. But hey, that's life. And Clemson's not a bad place to be when you're stressed.

Now that I mention it, Clemson is the best place to be. I know a lot of people probably take it for granted, but this place is gorgeous. Especially now that it's fall. AND our football team is kicking ass this year. Right now we're 8-0 and ranked 5th in the whole country! That kind of stuff doesn't normally happen wherever I go to school (my high school team lost almost every game my junior and senior year, and Greenville Tech is so lame it doesn't have sports), so yeah I'm pretty fucking excited.

While all this is going on though, John's stuck in a rut with college. His "dream" school, Coastal Carolina, completely failed to meet his expectations, and now his parents are only concerned with the fact that he's "indecisive". So basically, he now has to start all over and find a really good school that's right for him. And in the midst of all this stress, I'm trying to be as supportive as I can. Really. He needs it. He has nobody else. I just hope it all works out for him because I can't stand seeing him get shot down at every turn.

Anyway, it's taken me long enough to post this, and whoever's reading it is probably bored by now. So I'm going to go enjoy the rest of my lunch here at Cooper Library and talk to my handsome boyfriend. Bye y'all!

The Road: pages 1-51.

This blog was originally going to be an extra credit site for my English class, but I never really followed through with it. However, I thought I'd leave the first post I ever made, in case my English teacher ever comes across it :)

We just started reading The Road by Cormac McCarthy. Already the book is different than most all the books I've read. McCarthy's style is unique, but it's making the reading a little more difficult to follow. He uses very little punctuation, and no quotation marks. There are no chapters - this is one long, continuous story, much like the journey this man and his son seem to be on. The very vivid descriptions of this post-apocalypse world remind me a great deal of the movie 2012, which is also about the end of the world and features natural disasters, and a cloud of ash that covers the entire United States. It's not the same exact story idea, but it gives me a really good image to consider while I'm reading. Also, I'm really curious about The Road movie. It seems to me like the movie would have some pretty big shoes to fill considering the compelling and dramatic nature of the novel.

On the first few pages of the novel, the narrator describes a dream of a creature in a cave. I feel like the dream symbolizes the dark things to come in the novel. On page 5, the man refers to his child as "his warrant" and "the word of God", perhaps hinting that he's lost all faith in this cold world, but this boy is the only thing he is able to have faith in. I've also noticed that McCarthy uses the word "plastic" a lot in the first scene of the novel. Perhaps he is trying to convey a sense safety in the dangerous world they're in, since plastic is usually thought of as a "safe" material.

Further into the novel, the man begins having flashbacks to the previous world. On page 18, he dreams of his "bride". The dream portrays her as beautiful, and it seems as though they were once happy, but the next sentence after the description of the dream talks about the snow that's falling. I think this is a symbolic way of saying that their marriage had a cold end. On page 36, the boy's dream about the wind-up penguin strikes me as very creepy. The boy seems to be afraid and it symbolizes the zombie-like state of the other survivors who are wandering around this desolate world. On the last page of today's reading, the man take a picture of his wife out of his wallet and lays it in the middle of the road and leaves it there. This is odd to me because in his flashbacks, he seems to have such warm, vivid memories of her, so why would he want to leave her memory behind?