Busy Once More

Ebb and Flow, Up an Down, Circle and Cycle around! Life back at college-land has begun, and boy am I busy.

I guess I could start by listing all of my classes, all of the organizations I am either a part of or an officer in, or even how many hours of work-study I complete in any given week, but I feel that you lovely people already understand the point. I am busy.

I'm currently at the point when you are so busy you don't want to do anything. I don't like to do any second level homework when I'm stressed out. I can do math, vocab, or a simple worksheet when stressed, but it sometimes seems beyond me to write a decent essay or form a long presentation. Hmm.. that doesn't seem good. It sounds to me like I'm claiming to be too stressed to think. Have no fears, as I am currently blogging it must mean that my mind is starting to get into gear again. Hopefully it means that I will be able to crank out four essays and a presentation yet today while still having time to go to my Spanish (language not country of origin) church service, the soccer game, and both my lunch and dinner dates. ^_^ Sometimes I think I get myself into more than I can handle, but for some reason today I am very optimistic.

I've been going a little socially crazy lately, and I can't decide how much of my normal college life stress is carrying over into my interactions with people. I can't decide if I'm stressing out because I'm around people or if I'm just stressed because I'm not doing what I probably should be. I think it's the latter so i've decided that I just need to relax more. I think it will come to me (at least a little) when I finish these essays that have been looming over my head for a while now. So that is my serious aim for the day. (I doubt it will actually happen as I've been procrastinating for a month now, but hey we'll see. Don't be surprised if you see me talking about them still when I post again a month from now.)

I actually think I may be in the mood to write those essays now, so I'm going to leave you hopefully to make some progress.

Have a fun and eventful day!

Get some work done for me.

~Cola

Books Read: 50

Miles Run: Don't Ask

Other Category that I Can't Remember: ?

May

Hello All!!

I had every intention of making this last blog post of my attempts to blog every day in April a fantastic one, but I do believe it is too far past my bed time for that.

Instead I will bid you a good night!

~Cola

P.S. The Internet is amazing.

News!

Hello All!!

This morning I had a brilliant idea of what I was going to tell you today!! It was some real news about what was going on in my life, but now I simply cannot remember what it was. But don't worry. I will find some sort of newsworthy value in my life to talk about! ^_^

Let's see... School is going alright. I've got a lot of work to cram into this last week or so here. We'll see what I can manage. I only have one more day of regular classes before finals, and that just feels really weird. It only feels like it should be about halfway- three quarters of a semester right now, but I guess that is just how it is going to have to be.

I guess I could tell you that I've discovered that next year I get to live in the campus apartments. That'll be exciting. It means we'll get a kitchen (we meaning my three roomies). In other news, I've been officially promoted to Box Office manager next year. So that'll be nice. I'm also the co-president of the Communication Honor Society for next year and press secretary of the International Students Organization. I'll also be the president of our environmental organization again. So... that should tell you how busy I'll be next year. It will be good fun though. I look forward to the challenge. This networking aspect of school is really one of my favorite parts. I think the hardest part will be planning meetings around my already filled schedule. ^_^ I think that may have been the news I was trying to mention.

Okay, so that is all I have to say for now.

Buenas dias a todos!

~Cola

Books Read: 27

Movies Watched: 31

Miles Run: 20

Look! Real Numbers!! I so win. :P

High School

Hello All!!

So I've recently read a great number of blog posts about high school. Many people talking about the pain, drama, and torture that they suffered through in high school. A lot of these stories mentioned the general level of judgmental people that they had to face on a daily basis and the stores of depressive tendencies that they had to put up with and struggle through. I've always been pretty good at empathy and I dealt with my own fair share of "drama" during high school and junior high so I feel like I understand what they are saying and what they experienced, but in all honesty, my high school experience was just so different.

Yes, there was some drama. I won't claim to remember all of the separate incidents of my high school career (because frankly I have a terrible memory), but I just don't remember feeling the same amount of hardship that they admit to feeling. Don't get me wrong. High School was definitely rough, sophomore was just terrible for me (because really what person especially as a teen reacts to drama without jumping to a thousand conclusions). And maybe, if junior hadn't been so fantastic, I would understand exactly what these other people went through.

I have a natural reaction to just avoid things and ignore things that will cause me conflict. I may have ignored a lot of what was going on around me, subconsciously as some sort of self preservation. Either way I don't really remember much. A lot of the blogs I've been reading have been talking about how much they felt persecuted and hated by their peers. I really only remember one incident like this, and largely it just makes me proud of humanity. It was the whacky dress day of homecoming, and this kid in my class was picking on me because I looked ridiculous (I have a bit of school pride and had gone all decked out), when really that was the entire point. I just ignored him as he went on. He hadn't been talking long before one of the "popular" girls had chewed him out. I don't remember what she said, but he stopped, and the moment has not and will not ever leave me. It meant a lot to me. It also made me realize how much I underestimate people. I've never had much of a problem with any group of people, but I definitely admit to thinking that other groups of people were a different class of human. I think that that's one reason I love reading so much. You get to know a person of a different background (even if they are fictitious) on a deeper level than you would get to know someone in reality without spending vast amounts of time with them. It really does help to imagine people complexly.*

So now on a lighter note I am going to give you another moment of my high school career, that probably should have bothered me a bit more than it did (in a weird way). So once upon a time my junior year of high school, I was very relaxed. I'm almost always uptight around other people, even people I know pretty well, but there is something very relaxing about dealing with and overcoming a great deal of drama that just makes you relax. It was nice, but I admit to acting a little crazy and almost childish that year. It was such a reprieve after keeping myself in check (even around my friends) for all of those years. I was so thankful to be spending a great deal of time with a friend that I thought I'd lost, that I just relaxed and let myself have fun. It was a great time, even if we were a bit disrespectful to our teachers by passing notes during lectures and talking relentlessly during work time. I will definitely remember this as one of my happiest years even if it was definitely the start of a lot of stresses as well.

Anyway... to get back to my story. My friend and I were sitting in our math class. I don't really remember which... I feel like it was trigonometry, but that may simply be because of the vast amount of inside jokes pertaining to the subject. :) Like I hinted at earlier we were talking one day in class, like we normally did, and then my friend notices that the kid that sits in front of us in class is literally taking notes about our conversation. He had written that she had a boyfriend and his name, as well as what our typical plans we had probably talked about that day, but couldn't be certain about. It was really weird. I still don't think I understand why he had done that, and to be fair I never really saw this sheet, but my friend did, and somewhere in my possession I have a copy of what was written. I still can't get over how weird it really was.

So I hope you enjoyed random story time with Cola. It's been jolly good. I don't plan on rereading this (not that I ever do), because I'm sure I would censor it out for you. ^_^ I hope that you have as many happy memories of high school as I had, and that even if you didn't, than I hope that they have helped you to grow.

I also hope that you are having an amazing day, whatever you are doing.

~Cola

I'm pretty terrible at keeping up with these numbers. I haven't done any more reading outside of schoolwork (It's a bummer that we never read an entire textbook for classes). I've only ran about a mile more than I last listed (I'm pretty sure). I think I've seen about 3 new movies, but I'm too tired/busy to figure it out right now. ^_^ Next blog will have a proper reiteration of these numbers.... probably.

*Imagining people complexly is something that I learned from the author and nerdfighter John Green. It's a way of saying that even though we can never know for certain what a person is thinking and the motive behind their actions, that we should do our best to imagine who they are without selling them short or assuming we are correct. (simply put... he explains it much much better)

P.S. If you made it through this I commend you.

YAY

Three Words:

Doctor Who Marathon.

~Cola

More

Hello Everyone!!

I feel so relaxed right now. It would be quite nice if I did not have as many tasks yet to complete. Unfortunately it does not look like I'll get my relaxation day until Friday. Oh how I look forward to Friday. Tonight I get to finish that major essay I've been telling you about, it is due at Midnight. So that is pretty exciting. I've already made and presented an entire power point on the matter so it should be really interesting. I've become fascinated with the subject once more, which bids both positively and negatively. Let's just hope that I manage to refrain from doing extra research on the matter.

I'm starting to realize that I probably should not be openly discussing just how much I procrastinate here. Have no fears random reader! I have been managing quite well, and after a nice long nap on Friday I won't even be feeling the after effects of very little sleep. Speaking of sleep I may be able to take a nap this afternoon. It depends on how long it takes me to change the spring in my trumpet. Which, by the way, is currently not functioning very well. I'm really excited though, because I think the school is paying for the replacement spring. I can't wait to play on a fully functioning horn. It's been really weird this past week, playing on my semi-broken one. It wasn't too bad, except the days when I was the only trumpet there and no one could hear me properly. This spring came just in time for my concert this weekend.

Speaking of springs, I spent a good deal of the day yesterday singing "Springtime for Hitler". It was the perfect day for singing the Producers. It was a beautiful and warm day, and it was Hitler's birthday (as my boss pointed out to me).

Have a fabulous day!!

~Cola

Again: Too tired to care.

Cram-Time

Hello All!

I've developed a new mantra. It's entitled, "Sleep is overrated." I plan to recite it over and over again to myself tonight, when I try to create my research essay this evening. Let's hope that I believe myself. I can tell you one thing, I am definitely starting to feel the negative effects of staying up all of last night. Tonight, I feel, will be much less interesting. I don't get to use my creativity and create a display board, but instead I will simply be writing an essay. If I was in proper sleep mode it would only take about three hours. We'll see what it looks like when I am in sleep deprivation mode. Speaking of sleep deprivation, I hope that this message makes some sense to all of you fine folk.

In case you were doubting my abilities I did manage to finish my Spanish Essay, my ECOS display board, and my poster. So I'd say that all went fairly effectively in that regard. I even go some sleep! Let's just see if I can finish my essay AND my other homework for tomorrow. I have great faith in my abilities in that regard. I'm much more concerned about the movie we are going to watch in my night class tonight. Wish me luck!!

~Cola

** Place random numbers here **

Failure Once More

I really am terrible at this game. I did not notice that I hadn't posted yesterday until I signed on today. Something is clearly wrong with my memory. I hope that all is forgivable, I just really did fail BEDA. I may have to attempt again come August, when the other half plan to participate. I guess that would work. Maybe then I will have a high enough memory capacity to remember to blog. We'll really have to wait and see.

Remember when I said that I had a lot to accomplish this weekend. Yeah, that. I didn't do any of it. So... I've pretty much broken my first deadline. I had a display that I had wanted to finish for today and technically I still have 40 minutes to finish it, but I am in class, and I don't have the board with me. So yes. Mission One: Fail. Mission two and three have had fairly limited progress as well. I worked quite dilligently on Saturday, but come Sunday I just could not be bothered. I think that on a sub-councious level I really enjoy the stress of procrastination. The stress gives me an adrenaline rush that I quite appreciate. I do not even remember even accomplishing or doing anything yesterday. I think that I spent most of the day staring at my computer not wanting to work on my project. So yes, today and tomorrow I get to spend some mad time cramming as much in as is humanly possible. It should be fun, and yes I do mean that quite literally and not sarcasitcally as most others would mean it.

Wish me luck and only a healthy level of stress!

~Cola

**Numbers have not changed, because though I did not do my homework, I also did nothing else. Weird. **

Harvey

Good Afternoon Everyone!!!

I hope that all of you are doing fantastically this morning!!! I am taking a short break from my homework in order to write you this blog post and eat lunch. You should all feel incredibly special and pleased, mainly because I was not planning to post anything this weekend. Last night after I worked at the Box Office, my friends managed to convince me to go to the play with them. We'll pretend that they had a hard time convincing me. ;p It was Harvey. I had heard of the movie and was excited to see the play, but a little nervous because it is a long play and I had a lot of work today. I'll tell you one thing; it was definitely worth the extra stress of procrastination (not that this stress has set in yet... we'll have to wait and see). The play was hilarious. At some points my friends and I were the only people laughing (as is usual), but I'd say the audience caught on to the innuendo and humor during the second and third parts at least.

I'm going to leave you all for a 20 page essay.

Have a fabulous day.

Happy Birthday Friends!!

~Cola

P.S. If I ever claim to see a six foot rabbit just let me be; I'm probably just rejoicing in my inner crazy.

Productivity

Hello All!

I've decided that I am going to have to give you an update a lot sooner than I normally would. I hope to be super productive and busy this evening, so I simply will not have time to write a post. We'll have to see how everything goes. This weekend will be a busy one as I have a lot of major projects due early next week. These all involve both essays (Four pages and 20 pages) and 20 minute presentations. I also have a lot of things to do with my environmental organization. So I plan to keep myself busy busy busy this weekend.

It should be fun, and yes I do mean literally. I tend to procrastinate on purpose. I like to do things all at once, and I haven't really had time to do so for either of these projects. I don't really have time this weekend either, but I'll have to make time. ^_^ I really am excited, even if it seems irrational. A little stress is good for me. You may not want to talk to me come Monday. By then I'll probably have a better understanding of just how much time a project like this actually needs. In the mean time I bid you an excellent day.

~Cola

**Let's hope that I don't spend too much time increasing these values this weekend.

oops

Hello All!

So apparently I missed a few days of posting a blog. All of this without even noticing. So I failed in BEDA, for absolutely no reason what-so-ever. So that's a pretty interesting tid-bit for any and all of you that have been reading this.

I can't decide if this is some sort of sign that I should really be spending more time focusing on that heaping load of homework I've managed to develop or if it means nothing more than I should really start paying more attention to what I'm doing. We'll have to see. At least I'm still posting today for you.

It looks like I have a super busy weekend ahead of me because not only do I have two major projects due next week, but I also have quite a few organizational things to work on. We'll see if my cramming abilities are as profound as I've always claimed them to be, or will I just get really sleep deprived really quickly.

That's all I have for tonight, but I hope that all is going well for you!

~Cola

Musicals

Hello Everyone!!

Everything is going spectacularly right now for me here at school. I feel like some serious stress is going to set in tomorrow, but as of today all seems like it is going well. Especially since I've spent the last hour dancer-sizing with my roomies. We watched some good old musicals (Guys and Dolls and Singing in the Rain) as well as some Bollywood films for our beautiful dancing times. It was a lot of fun, even if it did distract me from my homework. ^_^ The main problem with the situation is that now I have an even stronger desire to ignore my homework and just sit down and watch some musicals. For now though, I do believe it is time that I got some sleep. Well after I email a few people.

Stay on the Sunny Side!

~Cola

Books: 22

New Movies: 26

Miles Run: 17 (I think... I never remember)

Proper Apologies

Greetings All!

Today is the day where I finally return with some substance to this blog. It's been a pretty interesting day. We had assessment day at school today, which for some means an entire day off, for others it means no classes, but major presentations. For me it meant doing my exact same work schedule and class schedule with the exception of Spanish. I had no spanish class today, which to be honest is probably more exciting than it should be (especially considering it's one of my majors). It was pretty exciting. I spent the morning, when I'd normally be in class, at the library. It's always startling to me how little can be accomplished when there is nothing to distract you. I spent three hours doing an essay that normally would have taken me around 40 minutes. I did listen to some good music and start at a table a lot though. That was nice even if it was unproductive.

To celebrate the day off, I did allow myself some reading time this evening. I managed to finish my third Maureen Johnson book in the last three weeks. It was called Scarlett Fever. I was enjoying it until the end. Okay to be fair, I even enjoyed the end. I just don't like the fact that it ended. It's one of those cliff hanger endings that just plan to taunt you until the next book comes out. So yes, it is a good book, but I can't recommend it to you without a warning. I suppose I should probably mention that I'm not very tolerant of not ended series. I like my literature to have an end, a sense of finality. I don't mind depressing ends or cheestastic ends, just enough that my brain will let me sleep without feeling that awkward urge to just write an end. Alas, I will be subconsciously plotting an end in my dreams tonight, and wait until Maureen Johnson comes along and writes a better continuation than I ever could. ^_^

So my stress level has decreased immensely, which is good. I'm now closer to focus mode, which means I'll be much more productive. Speaking of productivity, I still have some homework I'd like to get accomplished this evening.

I hope you are all celebrating in style.*

~Cola

Miles Run: 17

Books Read: 21

Movies Watched: 26

* Do not look confused about what you are supposed to be celebrating, just celebrate!

Attempts

Hello All!

So once upon a time I have been giving you terrible and generally bland posts recently. I apologize and though I want to remedy the situation I feel that the best apology will be to simply improve the quality of my blogs. Unfortunately I am, once again, simply not in the mood to write. At this moment all I really want to do is sleep, as yesterday I got very little. But I will do my best.

Today I finished a book called Suite Scarlett, which is a book by Maureen Johnson. As I expected, I really enjoyed the book. It was well written and kept me entertained, which was nice. I had something inspirational to say about it, but I've misplaced it in my sleepiness and stress.

Alright, so tomorrow's entry will have to be brilliant, as today's will most definitely fall short.

~Cola

Hello

Hello-

I just thought I'd say hello (seeing as this is BEDA and all), and even though I don't have much to say I've decided that you all deserve a lovely hello. So hello. I haven't really done much beside read today, so I don't really have much to contribute.

In fact I may just leave you with just this message for the day. So I hope you don't mind too much. I'll come up with something longer/more interesting tomorrow.

Have a fabulous day!

~Cola

Books Read: 17 (I think)

Movies Watched: +2

Helping

Hello All!

I did not wear shoes today. I participated in one day without shoes to raise awareness of the people all over the world (especially in Ethiopia) who cannot afford shoes. I talked to a variety of people on campus and even managed to convince a few of them to check out Toms shoes the company who sponsored the event.

I had forgotten how much I enjoy finding ways to help. I was in a brighter mood today even though I was overly busy and still in a little bit of excess pain. Even if it is just a little thing, I still enjoy to help.

Have a fabulous day!

~Cola

P.S. I may elaborate if/when my pain fades.

Life

Hello All!

I've decided that I love Wednesday nights. Maybe because they are the only weeknight where I don't have class. I sometimes have meetings still, but it is rather nice to actually be in the dorm when my roomies are all still awake and not preparing for bed. I mean, most Wednesday's I still have ECOS meetings or what-not, but I still get at least an hour or two in the room. This Wednesday was especially brilliant, although I think a lot of the added excitement is simply because I was not expecting to have an interesting night.

I was expecting to have a continuation of my mopey pain filled homework that had followed me through the day. But luckily for me my roomie intervened. She limited the homework aspect of the night, and definitely eliminated the mopey aspect. We ended up going to a staff member's presentation on Kenya. It was really interesting. The professor had spent 3 weeks helping in the slums of Nairobi. I really enjoyed listening to his experiences. I did a bit of reading after the presentation until my roomie kidnapped me to "How train your dragon". It was a really cute film. We were the only three in the theater, so we felt free to laugh rather raucously and generally gush our way through it. I love letting myself get excited about things, that I'm supposedly too old for. After that we went on a Wal-Mart run to find some stuffed animals for my friends (we did not succeed). Now I am here. And as soon as I finish this, I'm off to do some more reading.

That's all I have for now. Have a wonderful day!

~Cola

New Movies: 21

Books Read: 19 (I think this number has been off for a while, sorry)

Miles Run: Let's not talk about this. :)

Choices

Hello All!!

I've come to a point in time, where I feel like I have to start making more decisions. I'm a junior in college, and I still haven't any idea what I want to do when I graduate. I have to decide what type of internship I want to take on, and when I can fit it in over the next year and a half. I'm also being faced with a variety of different project ideas, that I would like to participate in, but I have to acknowledge that I really do not have time for much of anything extra at the moment. I should be satisfied with my seven classes.

Hopefully tomorrow I will have the wrist capacity to explain some of my options to you lovely people. But for now, I must go sulk and rest my wrists.

~Cola

Books Finished: 17

Movies Watched: 20

Guests

Hello All!!

I feel stumped. I really don't have much to say today.

Luckily I have a wicked sweet roommate, Jocelyn, who is awesome. Thats all there really is to say about that and it really doesn't have anything to do with anything. Everyone came back from Easter break. Good news is that we all brought Easter candy back so now there is a buffet of candy in the living room - leading to the potential of a week long sugar high. Good news for me, bad news for my roommates. I also forgot to mention that I was super excited to return back to school today. Not so much for classes that will inevitably start again tomorrow but to see my favoritest roommate, Lydia. I can't explain to you how excited I was to walk into our room and to see her sitting there on the couch doing her homework. That plus the candy was really the highlight of my week. This week I will probably read a book or two. I really have no ambition to do homework reading, so I end up reading fun books instead. I'm trying to read 100 books this year. If you have any suggestions of books I should read, please comment and let me know!

As you may or may not have noticed that last paragraph was written by each of my roomies in turn. The first by my roomie Jocelyn. The second part by my roomie Lydia. And the last section, the practical section about reading, was written by my dear friend Niffer, and the comment question still applies. So yes, I do hope that you enjoyed their lovely interpretations of my character. I believe they somehow think I have a candy fetish. ^_^ What can you do?

Alrightee. Well I hope that you all are having fantastic days filled with much candy and excessive sugar highs!

~Cola

New Movies: 20

New Books: 16

Miles Run: 11 (This is a guess. I forgot to look it up before I started here)

Happy Easter

Happy Easter All!

I hope that you all are having fantastic days. I had an amazing day today. We went down and visited both of my grandmothers. It was nice, and I hadn't seen either of them in a really long time. I also got to spend all day with my family. When we got home we had a nice family dinner and sat down to watch some of the two-dollar movies we picked up this weekend at a close-out sale.

Though for me my favorite part of the day was the easter egg hunt this morning, and the spontaneous dance party that ensued. It's not everyday that my entire family can be coaxed into jamming out. I guess "renegade" is just a catchy enough song that it inspires a certain amount of rocking out. ^_^

I know this post is a little late, but I've decided that the date doesn't change until I go to bed, which I most certainly have not.

~Cola

New Movies: 20

Miles Run: +1

Books Read: More of the Same

BEDA Day Three

Hello All!!

I'm really beginning to think that I have nothing interesting to say. I know that'll I have to post something now though, as I probably won't have the opportunity later. It's my sister's birthday today and we're going to celebrate in style. We plan on going to a movie and then have a bollywood marathon, but still. It should be a good time.

Other than that I feel like I should probably start that massive mound of homework I've been procrastinating. I'm really in the mood to actually do more research, but what I REALLY want to do is write. I've been in the mood to write for a while now, and I'm hoping to find some time today. I really do love sitting down with a notebook and listening to good tunes, and just thinking. We'll see. If I like what I write I may even post it for you.

That' all I've got.

I hope you are having a wonderful day!

~Cola

Home Again

Hello All!!!

I am at home, spending the break from school with my family. I've been reminded just how lovely passing the time with them is. And my little sister has an amazing bonus. She fed me pie. Yum.

I had a good day. I spent a lovely four hours in the car with my father where we sang along to some of his awesome music. It was jolly good fun, and I got some good thinking in. This evening I got to spend some lovely time with my little sister and friend. We played bananagrams for a really long time. It was fun. I love playing board games. Although the game doesn't have a board, but it's about as close as I can come up with. The spanish translation works better. Table game, because bananagrams is a table game. ^_^

We also did some talking about social justice and peace. It was nice and very inspiring. We talked about forgiveness as well. My friend had heard this story about an amish family, that had suffered through some brutal killings (the children had been murdered). The parents still lived to forgive the murderers and even went as far as helping the families of the culprits. It was an interesting story to hear, and I wish I had more facts to share, but either way forgiveness truly is an amazing thing.

I hope you give it.

~Cola

Miles Run: 9

Books Read: 16

Movies Watched: 17

BEDA?

Hello All!!

We're going to pretend that I'm not a few hours late on the April the First train, because I am hoping to participate in BEDA (Blog every day April). So yes. Today is the first of April, and I am blogging for you.

At this point I am a little too tired to really remember anything much to say. I can tell you that today was a bit of a lazy day, and by lazy I mean pretty busy. I was mostly just in class, working, or recycling all day. I did sleep in a bit, and read instead of doing my homework at work study, but largely I still kept myself busy.

After I was done with classes today I had a good time watching youtube with my roomie. She introduced me to some of her subscriptions and then we had a nice long chat. It was nice. I love having long and deep conversations with people. It makes me happy, even if I sometimes feel like I'm spouting off nonsense. :)

That's really all I have today. I hope that none of you fell for any April Fool's Day jokes!

~Cola

P.S. Happy Birthday Gred and Forge!!!!!!

Books Read: 16

Miles Run: 8 (too lazy to look up my previous total, just add two)

New Movies: 16

P.P.S. I just realized how little it's going to look like I'm accomplishing now that I'm blogging all of the time. Maybe I should work on that. ^_^

Motivation

Hello All!!

Most of the time I do not enjoy being a student. I feel like going to class, taking exams, and completing the busy work my professors assign is just a waste of time. Most of the time I feel like I'm not accomplishing anything, and that I am just dawdling and killing time, until I can join the "real world". This elusive "real world" is where I actually get to start truly interacting, meeting people, and helping make a difference in the world. I felt school was interfering with any of the small projects I was working on to "actually" make a difference. I know I'm not the only one who feels this way. I had a conversation with a friend a few weeks ago about how they are waiting to graduate because they were waiting for their life to start. Even when we were talking, I did not like the idea that they were waiting for graduation. I had known that life had already started. We ARE living, even if we are not directly involved in the fields we choose to serve in. Looking back now, I suppose that I am half guilty of the same thought process. Sometimes I struggle to understand just how important the education system is to both my future profession and the development of myself.

This morning, for the first time in a long time, I've decided that I like school. Normally I feel like I could just as decently get an education by reading and perusing the internet (largely just doing my own research), but I've really enjoyed my assignments this week. Even my professors have seemed mildly more interesting. They add a perspective and a broader range of ideas than I know I would probably have developed online with any efficiency. I'm currently swamped with homework, but I am enjoying my assignments. I have a huge research essay that I've started, and for one reason or another it's really sparked my interest for learning once more. This love for learning has been coming in cycles all semester, maybe because I'm learning to appreciate my classes or professors, maybe because these upper division classes are finally sparking my interest, or maybe just because I'm paying attention. For any reason, I'm glad that this extra motivation has decided to entered my life, for without it I don't think I would be able to plow through all of this homework without it.

As for what I've been up to lately. I don't really have much that's new. As you can see by my numbers below I've been reading a lot more in the last two-three weeks, but other than that I don't have too much going on. We had a jazz band concert this past weekend, that actually proved to be a lot of fun as well. We were playing with a professional ensemble, which also inspired me to continue playing with the jazz band. With all honesty I'm still not sure whether or not I plan to continue band next year, but I'm definitely considering it a lot more. In other news I've discovered that next year is going to be a hectic one, but I'll more than likely still be able to graduate on time. So that's exciting. And lastly, I've started to really dream again. It's been a long time since I consistently dreamed, so it has been a rather welcome change.

~Cola

Books Read: 16

Miles Run: 10

New Movies: 16

( I swear I did not try this on purpose... apparently six is just the number of the week.)

Other Blog Post

Hey all. This is a blog post from my other blog. I've decided that I like it just enough to save it while I delete the blog itself. I hope you find it at least mildly entertaining.

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Seriously

Warning!! What follows is a sleep deprived rant:

I am president of my college's environmental organization.

Which is exciting and good, you get to meet new people and plan all sorts of crazy events.

We also do recycling.

And that is where it all goes down hill.

People are disgusting.

No you can't recycle that brownie, stop putting it into the bin I have to sort through. And that ice cream cone... no, you can't recycle that either. Stop creating a sticky mess of my recycling bags. The pop-spillage is more than enough for me thanks.

... If only it stopped there...

That band-aid that you just peeled off... it doesn't go in the recycling bin. It goes in the garbage bin two feet over. That condom you just used... don't even think of putting that in my recycling bin... once is more than enough.

I mean at least some people try... I guess.

I mean that used kleenex was a type of paper, so I understand the confusion, kinda. And the chew was spat into a nice water bottle... and bottle caps aren't recyclable so I can understand why you wouldn't put them on.

And for those of you who just want to add an extra incentive... just don't. Peeing on the bins, does not make them any more appealing. In fact it makes finding the motivation to recycle, rather difficult.

But really? Is it so hard to understand the difference between a trash can and a recycling bin. The recycling bins are blue, and labeled with a giant recycling symbol! They also happen to use giant plastic bags that I have to dig through once a week. Garbage bins, are not labeled, and thankfully do not typically need to be rummaged through. Thankfully!

So now that I've had my good rant I really just want to know how hard it is to understand. And why so many people have so little respect. It's disheartening. I spent two hours of my time today sorting through this trash to recycle it. It took so long disposing of the garbage and getting everything sorted, that I showed up late to work, and one of my fellow officers ended up missing a class. That should not happen.

I wish it was easier to make people understand what we were doing for them. To understand what respect is, and how much better you feel about yourself if you exercise it. I wish that people took that extra two minutes to do something right, instead of helping only themselves. And they aren't even helping themselves. Recycling is an effort that will help to keep this world a little cleaner a little longer, and if you think your funny trying to stop the effort that is helping your future self and family, think again.

~Cola

Sorry. I needed to rant. People make me sad... and frustrated. I just wish they knew what I was trying to do for them. I hope they learn, and we can work together to make our world sustainable. If only I could envision it as a possibility in the foreseeable future. I can only hope.

Toodles!

--> Current update: Recycling is still disgusting at times, but its actually been improving a bit. I just hope that it continues to do so. Now I'm much more concerned with the amount of recyclables that I see in the trash cans. Something for me to attempt to fix. ^_^ I can't wait until we get our new bins!

Seeing is Believing?

Hello All,


Wow. So once upon today my mind was blown by a newish musical instrument. This musical instrument, the theremin, does not require any form of touch and is played using electronic waves. It is crazy weird. I've seen videos of people playing it. I've read various descriptions of it, and yet I am still struggling to believe that it exists. You should definitely check it out.


So moving on... this week has been intellectually stimulating. I like that.


I think that I've learned quite a bit about perspective. I've always been one of those people that thought that we (meaning humanity) were all inherently similar and that there were certain things that were true to everyone. Now I still believe that this is true, but I've come to realize that we aren't as inherently similar as I had anticipated. There were some things, that I thought everyone contained, that they don't. Every person has their own individual perspective on life. It was odd to me. Every time I had looked at humanity, I had always focused on their similarities rather than their differences. For the first time, I was actually looking at these differences. It makes me feel more well rounded. I read a book that used ameras as a symbol for perspective. I really liked that analogy, in all of the different facets that they used.



I've been doing a lot of reading lately. It's been making me feel realy happy. It's been a long time since I've been able to read consistently. I've decided to make it a priority. It really helps to grant me perspective, and is also an excellent destressor.



Sorry for the Crazy mess of this entry. I wrote part of it today, and part of it two weeks ago, but can't be bothered to change anything. ^_^

~Cola

Books Read: 12
Miles Run: 8
New Movies: 14

Bzzz...

Hello All!!!

Busy Busy Busy

That is me.

It definitely has its perks.

Outside of my regular class schedule this past week I did tech work for a play which was a lot of fun. It was also international week. Meaning that with one of my organization we were hosting an event every night. Though largely I didn't get to attend any of these events. :(

This week I've been going to a lot of random meetings to help out my environmental organization. We're starting to get more involved with the other groups on campus and in the community. It's pretty exciting if you ask me. It keeps me pretty busy though.

Today is Friday. I'm excited.

In really exciting news this week I got a package in the mail from my parents! I was very happy. I also got a card from my Grandma. It was amazing. I haven't gotten the chance to irritate my roomies with it yet (it talks), but I will soon enough.

Welcome to the life of a busy bee.

~Cola

Books Read: 2.5

Miles Run: 1

New Movies: 9

Time...

Keeps Marching On.

Hello Everyone!!

Back into the swing of things here in college land. I've been doing a lot of thinking lately. Thinking about how I can best help people and what I should do with my life. Today I've come to realize that just thinking about things isn't making anything happen. I need to actually get out there and do something. I need to be as active in helping people as I possibly can, while still dedicating myself to my studies and the organizations that I'm a part of here on campus. I've also realized how much time I waste thinking about what I should be doing, or killing time because I feel like I have nothing to do.

For this I've decided to make myself some new easy resolutions...So It's a little late... and I've never really appreciated resolutions. I've decided that I'm going to spend as much time as possible in the betterment of myself as I see fit. And Self Improvement is one of the most important aspects of college as I am here to learn. I am actually going to capitalize on my learning and helping others to learn this semester. Whether it be learning how to master an awesome game. Learning about pop culture through youtube and movies. Or learning about perspective by reading new books. That is my plan for the next few weeks. We'll see how this goes. As you may have noticed I've added a bit of a new tag below. This tag is going to tell you how far I've come in reaching my resolutions. I'm hoping to complete the 100 book challenge this year. I'm planning to run 365 miles and watch as many new movies as possible (I've been told countless times lately how I haven't seen any movies. I hope to remedy that.)

I hope that wherever you're at you're finding ways to motivate yourself as well!



~Cola

Books Read: 1.5
Miles Run: 0
New Movies Watched: 6

Back in the USA

Hello All!!

As the title may suggest, I am back in the United States. Which definitely has it's pros and cons. I'll tell you one thing, the cold definitely agrivates my arthritis. I'm back to living my life grandmother style. Yesterday in band, we all had to do a stretch to warm up. The two "mature" ladies and I all made some fun popping noises. I was glad to be in such fine company. I've decided that when I grow up I'll have to be a "snowbird" and fly south every winter.

In other news life here in College-land is back to full swing. I'm slowly acclimating to less sleep and longer class hours. I was going to tell you that my class list looked to be fairly interesting. so far that looks to be a lie. Half of them will definitely help me to learn. The other half might be just plain boring. I'll have to help make them interesting. ^_^

I'll have a lot to do with my environmental organization, which will keep me sane. I also intend to do a lot more reading and blogging this semester. So that will keep me thinking creatively. Maybe eventually, I'll write more in this blog then a list of what I'm doing with my time. Maybe then I can entertain ya'll properly. As for now I should get going. (I'm in class ^_^)

May the Force Be with You!!

~Cola

Costa Rica--Pura Vida

So once up a time I'm studying abroad in Costa Rica. Now, I've been here for almost three weeks and I'm just now blogging. For that I apologize, but I guess I'll just have more to say. ^_^

So... in order to keep my scattered thoughts at least somewhat organized I've decided to make a list of firsts. Some will be exciting, others significantly less so. I'm going to try to put them in the order they transpired. Enjoy!

Costa Rica '09-'10

1) My first time skipping finals... Okay, so maybe I just took them early, but close enough. Right?

2) My first car accident. I'm still not really up for talking about it, but no fears everyone is fine.

3) My first airplane ride... that didn't end with me jumping out with a parachute. ^_^ It was actually three back to back flights. Between the second and the third I had time to work on my cardiovascular system. And by time to work-out, I mean we literally had to run from one flight to the next in order to make our flight. It was rather exhilarating.

4) My first time leaving North America... I was in an airplane, and I was probably watching the Orphan at the time. It's kind of a creepy movie, but I liked it never the less.

5) My first taxi ride... My host mother picked me up in a taxi... it would have been much more fun if a) I hadn't been insanely motion sick from the flight and b) Ticos weren't crazy drivers.

6) My first time staying with a host family... I love my Tica Mother. She's super nice, and even though she worries about me excessively, I always enjoy spending time with her.

6.5) My first time taking public transportation (consistently) For 90 cents a day I ride the public bus to and from school. Sometimes it gets pretty crowded and I get to stand. Other days I get to sprawl out and have a seat to myself.

7) My first time attending class in a foreign country. I have one class and two different professors here. They are both insanely nice. I'm learning quite a bit from them, but it's largely just a review of things that I should already know. ^_^ Oops.

7.5) My first party where I knew nobody... my second night in Costa Rica my mom was holding a going away party for her other exchange student. She had lots of people over. I hadn't even really gotten to talk to her yet. It was a bit overwhelming. I don't think I understood a word of what they were saying. Oh well.

8) My first time being hit on... consistently... Men in Costa Rica are a little interesting sometimes. They consistently shout comments out of car windows at "pretty women" and will honk at those they find interesting. They also tend to openly stare. I've received my fair share of compliments, but luckily the worst of it has fallen to some of the others.

8.5) My first time "really" experiencing illegal street vendors... They sell movies while they are still in theatres! It's so funny. When the police were coming, one on the end would whistle and they would all pack up quickly and scatter. Five minutes later they were in the same spots. It was hilarious.

9) My first foreign concert... The band was called malpais and they were amazing. They are a Costa Rican band, and are apparently they are the only famous band from Costa Rica. Everyone in the audience was singing along. It was fantastical. (--I love how prominent music is in this country. It's common to have people asking you if you dance. The other day I went to the supermarket just as it was opening. As I was walking down the aisles I kept encountering workers and they were all singing along with the radio. All of them. It made me happy.--)

9.5) My first sunset over the ocean--- Gorgeous. Jaco Beach on the Pacific ocean.

10) My first time staying in a hostel-- It was amazing. The people were super nice and I had some really good conversations with a wide variety of people.

10.5) My first holiday away from home-- I didn't really mind too much. Largely because it did not feel at all like a holiday. I still feel like it's June.

11) My first time hiking through a real rainforest-- Monkeys and Sloths and Toucans, Oh my!

12) My first time swimming in the ocean-- Tide is stronger than I thought. A lot of fun. I need to practice not accidentally inhaling water as I swim.

12.5) My first time napping in a hammock... in a public place. At the hostel. It was super cozy.

13) My first time having a stray dog nuzzle my leg... in a fancy-ish restaurant. There are stray dogs everywhere in this country. A nice restaurant in Manuel Antonio even had stray animals walking through. Nobody even seemed to notice.

14) My first time in an official Discotheque... The music was amazing. They had a live band. The disco itself wasn't very well off. Most of the people in attendance were older and the dance floor was almost a stage. Us newbies didn't want to give it a try.

15) My first time seeing a Volcano-- One day after it erupted!! Not lava... just ash.

16) My first sip of beer... My host mother gave me a sip of her beer. She wanted me to try it because it's Costa Rica's legacy. To be honest I didn't like it at all.

17) My first movie entirely in Spanish, without subtitles... Gestación. Es más o menos, pero me gusta porque puedo comprender que dice la gente.

17.5) My first time buying tickets from a scalper. Soccer tickets for only two bucks more.

18) My first professional soccer match. Amazing!! It was a national championship. ole ole ole ole brujas brujas!!

18.5) My first "real-life" discussion in Spanish-- Yay for conversation!

19) My first time learning to Salsa... don't ask me to recreate. I was literally taught a step.

20) My first time haggling-- I'm not very good

21) My first time repelling-- Yikes. Rope Burn.

21.5) My first time eating rotten berries-- I only ate 2. A friend of mine ate quite a few and they think the berries actually effected his mental state.

22) My first time visiting hot springs-- It was at night though... so I didn't get to see anything.

23) My first time trotting on a horse-- Bouncy bouncy bouncy. It was kinda fun.

24) My first time manually changing the time of my bus ticket-- The ticket man said it was fine!!

25) My first time experiencing life PURA VIDA. To me pura vida means living the life.

26) My first time writing a blog in a foreign country. Yay!!

There you have it! I hope you don't mind all of the spelling/grammatical errors. I've become a bit accustomed to thinking/writing/speaking in spanglish. It ruins the order of words and tones of sentences. I did my best to retain an utilize proper english. I'm sorry if I failed you. And by the way, I meant for the list to have scattered and crazy numbers... I just wanted to end on my favorite number(note sarcasm if desired).

I hope you are having a fantastic winter!!!

~Cola

P.S. You should be glad that I got sleep deprived or this blog would have been 4 times as long.