so graduation was saturday and it was great seeing family. this graduation meant a whole lot more than my high school graduation, where i went to that school for one year and had no school spirit. i was excited the whole day, but it didn't really hit me until we walked into the auditorium and everybody was cheering. it was just like "wow...this is it". but then again, not really because i'm not done with school haha. lame. it was awesome to graduate with lia and because of my last name i got to sit with mitchell and jen. we bitched about a lot of things.
so i've been thinking about what i'm going to do while in boone (besides study my ass off) and i went ahead and bought a snowboard last night. impulse buy? maybe, but it was only $135. it's been used as a rental board for 1-2 seasons but it's a burton board with salomon bindings. good deal if you ask me. i must've looked at boards for HOURS while talking to brendan about what to get. now i'm super psyched about it and it should be at the house when i come home. i probably won't even use it but once haha.
today i got to shadow a school psychologist that works for mom's school, as well as like 4 other places. i didn't realize how much traveling they do, but then again she wasn't doing much work. it was pretty boring for the most part since i had nothing to do, but the most interesting part was a re-eval meeting with a mom to tell her that her son is mentally retarded. i knew it was coming and the best part was seeing how she would take it. betsy mentioned it casually and as it was a good thing by saying "so we were able to move him from DD to MR" and then the mom said, "what's MR?"..."umm, mental retardation"...then my mom jumped in and explained how they needed the label to provide him with the help he needs. then she was like oh ok whatever.
so that was my day. kansas has been pretty fun considering both parents are at work for most of the day. i've been able to run on the treadmill while watching the price is right, lay out on the deck to get somewhat of a tan, catch up on scrapbooking, and i have yet to play basketball but i'm psyched they have a hoop. this weekend is supposed to be nice so we're taking the boat out. should be fun.
the summer job thing is slowly working out. the 20hr/week lady never called back. whatever. fuck her. i'm babysitting for one woman wednesdays, one woman tuesdays and then holli said she could give me hours. btw, she met up with me on campus because she said ben wanted to give me something. she ended up giving me white and red flowers in an nc state coffee mug and $100. i've only been babysitting for her for about 3 months. pretty effin sweet. oh yeah...i'm also working bud light downtown live this summer so come out to see me! i'm requesting to work the earlier shift on the 2nd since it's my bday and i wanna see everclear and drink lots. hehe.
ahhh graduation in exactly one week! even though i still have 2 more years plus a year internship until i'm actually in the "real world" i'm so excited. at least in grad school i'll actually be studying what i want to and not having to learn shit like weather patterns and lightning facts. gay. two more exams on tuesday then i'm done. so far i have a B+ in soc 304 (steve and i both tried to get it bumped to an A-. steve practically called her out for being an evil bitch who doesn't stick to her word) and an A+ in research. i had my abnormal psych exam thursday then headed to boone for apartment hunting.
boone was...rainy and kinda cold. brendan was in a horrible mood until we popped open the champagne and wine. yay for indoor hotel pools too. the next day i looked at 2 places through a company. i wouldn't mind living in either but they were just either really small or really old. i'm talking wallpaper from the 70s, wooden walls, etc. yuck. then i went to look at brand new apartments that aren't even done yet. of course i fell in love with it, even though rent is steep ($625/month with NO utilities). i've had everyone tell me that since tuition is paid for through my assistantship i might as well splurge a bit and enjoy where i'll be living for the next two years.
the summer job is finally working itself out. i'll still work sundays at the church, 4 hours on wednesday babysitting for a family and then at least 20 hrs a week babysitting for a family in cary. not to mention occasional babysitting from at least 3 other families...and this is all tax free. fuck yeah! i'm excited to stay in raleigh the whole summer. fun times ahead haha.
i was going to see so they say in wilmington tuesday night, but i think i'm going to fayetteville for the night instead. my grandpa had serious surgery last week in which he was high risk for since he has so many medical problems. he's been bleeding internally so this surgery should help that out a bit. i was so nervous last tuesday when i knew the surgery was going on. i didn't want to go to a funeral that week. i've only been to one in my entire life and it was for a high school teacher i knew for about 6 months. i still cried my eyes out. so anyways, i'm glad everything went ok and he'll be in ICU for a while.
brendan's bday is thursday, graduation/end of school party fri night, graduation saturday, kansas sunday until the 31st! can't wait. holler.
Midland. The Midland (please don't confuse with "Midwest") itself is the neutral zone between the North and South. But just because you have a Midland accent doesn't mean you're from there. Since it is considered a neutral, default, "non-regional" accent you could easily be from someplace without its own accent, like Florida, or a big city in the South like Dallas, Houston, or Atlanta.
so i was accepted into florida international university but i'm pretty sure i'm not going there. it's in miami and i'm sure cost of living is insane, plus i don't speak spanish haha. i don't think i can afford anything out of state anyway. i think i may just accept to appalachian state. their assistantship is something that would be really hard to turn down. it covers all my tuition. the director at ECU finally got back to me tonight and said they've already had first round interviews, so i'm thinking since i wasn't even picked for the first round i doubt even if i do get accepted i won't get a good assistantship. and unc...well, fuck unc. i've heard nothing good about their school psych program, even from dr. erchul. dad really wants me to go there because it's an "A" school compared to app state and ecu ("B" schools). he said i'll probably regret it in 30 years that i didn't go to an "A" school, but i haven't even been accepted. in fact, i've been predicting rejection even when i paid the $70 application fee. the thing he doesn't understand is that no matter what school i go to, i have an internship in the 3rd year, which may lead to a permanent job. it doesn't matter (to an extent) what school i go to as long as i get certified by the state. he called from afghanistan today and told me he'll back me up 100% with whatever choice i make, even if i accept to app state tomorrow, so that's good news.
in other news, my grandpa is still in the hospital going through PT. i called him yesterday and he sounded really weak. i told him i would see him this weekend. i'm in fayetteville right now watching tyra. isn't that horrible? it's really interesting though. it's about racism and religious discrimination, then they get put in the shoes of those they discriminate. i have a dentist appointment tomorrow. boo. then i'm going shopping. yay.
so a couple thursdays ago i drove to hickory to stay with my grandparents since they live closer to boone than i do and i had to be there at 8:30am for my interview. woke up around 5:50 and was gone by 6:45. i arrived fairly early (i was 3rd in the room) and chit chatted with the other girls. everyone was really nice. the professors gave us an intro on the program then we had assigned 15 min interviews with all 3 professors. my schedule sucked because it had my last interview at the latest time possible. one professor was even one full hour behind on schedule because he liked to talk too much. anyway, i felt the interviews went really well and i headed back to raleigh. packed for florida, couldn't nap but slept a bit in the car. i woke up around 7 and brian said he had done his share of driving (which turned out to be 2.5 hours). i, on the other hand had the last shift and ended up driving 5 hours. i was pissed, especially since if you know me, you know i despise driving.
we got into town and had to kill some time before check in. we found this amazing chinese buffet for $5.50. we hit up walmart for the necessities (beer and mixers) then checked in.
our hotel wasn't five star, but it was a lot better than i was imagining. everyone staying there was college kids. our neighbors would wake up at 8:30 and start drinking. by 9am the pool stereo woke everyone up. it also never closed so music was blasting until the early hours. we had a free keg monday, wednesday and friday and poolside bbq tuesday and thursday. we missed it tuesday because we paid $25 to go to this mtv bash with all you can drink beer and pj, free subway sandwiches and domino's pizza from 12-5. it was also hosted by mtv "celebrities", like brad from the real world. not too sure it was worth it. the place was packed. it took us over an hour to get in the door. getting a refill was a lot easier than i thought but the food situation was out of control, but we managed to get quite a bit. i think it would've been more fun if i was single and wanting to "whore" it up, but we took advantage of the drinks.
we also managed to eat at some great restaurants and find a karaoke bar with 2 for $1 mich ultra drafts. we were in heaven. we sang lots of songs and met some cool people. lots of michigan folks. we also had a liquor store/karaoke bar right next to our hotel which was pretty fun. on the other side was a christian store called noah's ark. the best part was probably just laying on the beach. it was relaxing. the national guard set up dodgeball and volleyball tournaments. they also had free internet out on the beach. speaking of free stuff, we got hooked up like crazy from different companies. i think i managed to get 3 or 4 venus breeze razors and 3 or so gillette women's razors. not the cheap shit either. we also got free tampons in our little spring break goodie bags. yay tampons. so spring break 07 was a huge success.
as far as grad schools go, i received an email when i checked it on the beach and i was accepted into app state and offered a 10hr/week assistantship, which pays $5000. i had my phone interview with winthrop on thursday when we were in florida. i felt it went ok but i hate talking on the phone and i had to talk to like 4 or 5 professors on speaker phone. it was a bit awkward. they asked how i ranked winthrop on my list and i told them they were top on my list haha. the professor called me yesterday so i returned his call today and he wanted to let me know i was accepted. he said it was the first time in about 5 years that they have accepted someone based on a phone interview. i feel bad because they seem like really nice people but their assistantships are hard to get the first year and i'm not sure i like their program as much as app's. still waiting to hear from ecu (my top choice, i think), unc (an expected rejection), and florida international (who knows).
i'm only writing because i don't feel like writing my paper even though i'm 3/4 done with it. as much as i enjoy reading about men acting out pregnancy by taking a shit, then treating the turd as a stillborn baby and mourning it...i don't feel like typing it out.
monday night was the red hot chili peppers concert. we met dad and stewart at rock-ola then headed to the show. gnarls barkley was alright. i couldn't figure out if it was just the acoustics in the RBC center (which i hate) or just because of his voice. rhcp came out and opened with "can't stop". they played a lot of their new stuff, which i didn't know too much. flea wore this old school yellow LA lakers warm up top with matching shorts, matching headband and wristbands and matching yellow shoes. i love him. they came back with an encore of "under the bridge". i turned to stewart and was like "they have to play give it away" and then like 3 seconds later they started playing it. amazing. good show despite crappy seats. dad spent $300 on tshirts. insane.
i'm going to fayetteville again tomorrow night. once i do 5 more hours at united way i'll be done with my volunteering part for STS class. caroline is getting married this saturday instead of october. it's just going to be a small ceremony for family and close friends. good news is that there's a chance they can get rid of the tumor permanently. she'll just have to go through really rough radiation/chemo for about 6 weeks and miss work for 6 months.
so i got back to raleigh on saturday in order to work on sunday. sunday night dad called to tell me caroline (my cousin) is in the hospital after they discovered a brain tumor. i drove back to fayetteville on monday to see her and also saw her on tuesday. she underwent surgery today so i drove back to raleigh today since i had to work anyway. as soon as i got to work dad called to tell me the procedure went fine; however, the tumor is malignant. i did some googling and found out the average life span is less than one year, even with chemotherapy. i feel awful. she's 25 and planning to get married in october. her twin sister is getting married next month. she was also recently voted as one of 20 of the most influencial people under 40 in the area. it just sucks that bad things happen to good people. so, i don't know if anyone will read this, but please keep her in your thoughts and prayers.
ENG 219 A PHI 332 A PSY 491J A+ SOC 401 A SOC 430 A
i woke up at 8 to babysit morgan alllllll day long. it's my parent's anniversary so they're also going out tonight. we're going to the library at 11 for some christmas program then i'm dragging her around to do errands with me and shop a bit. bahamas cruise in 5 days. woot. i think i'm babysitting tomorrow too. i need the money for these stupid grad school applications and transcripts. i'm going to fayetteville tech today and their transcripts are actually free to send. i spent $45 monday at state sending out transcripts and $21 to murray state to send out a transcript for freakin 3 credits last summer. ridiculous. unc's application fee is $70 and i know i won't even get in but i already had my professors send out the letters of rec. oh well. such is life. later haters.
chris burney from bfs wrote on my myspace and it makes me feel like a 13 year old teenybopper.
in other news, i wrote my personal statement for grad school last night and also applied to ECC and AEON to teach in japan. today i'm going to do laundry, look over grad school applications, possibly study for the GRE, go out to dinner with dad, and go watch the app state football game at my grandparent's house. fun times.
so trevor, brendan, and brian came over to pregame and play the wii for a bit then trevor and i headed out to the show. we got there just as meg and dia were playing their last song. i don't think we missed too much. melee was next and they weren't too bad. pretty chill. i took one picture of them then my batteries died. luckily trevor had his. i went to put my camera in his car and almost got ran over by a car and had a mini conversation with a bum.
bfs took the stage and i seriously can't remember what they opened up with. i wanna say "girl all the bad guys want". they played more new songs than i expected. i requested "dance with you" and they actually played it this time (last show they ran out of time). it was amazing. i told them it made my night. they ended with "1985" where i proceeded to crowd surf and basically go maybe 2 feet and landed in the second row. i wasn't expecting much since the majority of the crowd was young little girls but this guy told me it was awesome haha. everyone shouted "one more song!" and they came out. i yelled at jaret to play "koolaid" and he was like ooh that's a good one, then they played "almost" haha. trevor ran into a problem with some girl who wanted a pick. she ended up calling him a douchebag among other things because he actually picked it up instead of her. eh whatever.
we hung out at the bar talking to the bartender for a bit then went to the merch tables, expecting bfs to come out but they were actually outside around their bus talking with some fans. i got them along with melee and meg and dia to sign a poster the bartender gave me. it's sweet.
afterwards we headed to dive bar to do some more drinking with all the bands. it was awesome. chris sat next to me at the bar and showed me a picture of his french bulldog on his phone. it's badass. we also talked about school, which was totally random but he has a degree in sociology and something else. jaret also talked to me about psychology. turns out he was a psych major too. trevor did a jager bomb with eric and we didn't see much of gary. we stayed until last call then headed out. everyone wished me luck on my final haha.
so i was a lot drunker than i thought. we pregamed, drank all the way through the show, and drank until last call. i woke up at 7 today with a pillow as my covers, took tylenol, laid back down and it felt like i never went back to sleep. got up at 11, puked a bit, took aleve, showered, tried to eat, and did some last minute studying. i'm so fucking hungover.
the exam was kinda blah. i did a lot more guessing than i thought i would do and at some point i ended up with 6 As in a row and thought something had to be wrong but i didn't change any answers. i also felt like complete shit through the whole thing and was just hoping i didn't have to run out during the exam to throw up. oh well, fuck it. it's over. i'm done with exams. now it's on to grad school and gre shit. boo.
