Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Time rushes on

I have been in Ann Arbor for 7 weeks and 6 days. School starts two weeks from yesterday. In some ways the time has gone by interminably slowly. I've been waiting for school to start. It seems so strange to be without school and it's been a long time since I've been in school. This summer I've done a lot of things...I went on vacation to the Grand Canyon, I went to Pagosa Springs, I was home, I moved, and I've been settling in here. It's been almost surreal how time has just continued to go past. It hasn't been that long but it really has been that long...because it's all been completely new. Time takes so much longer when you're doing things you've never done before. Routine is what makes time take on little meaning. Then, on the other hand, I have only two short weeks until school starts. I am really aprehensive about classes so the time when I have to face school is coming quickly. It was so far away last week and then this week it is so much closer! School, I am fairly sure I can handle, I have before, and even if it's hard, I think I'll be okay, but there's still that small part of me that is apprehensive... Time has gone by so slowly and so quickly at the same time. I suppose my entire point of all of this was just to vent my frustration at being apprehensive and feeling unready for what is coming. I am however pleased with how much I have done this summer and how much I have learned. I love learning new things but I'll be happy to go back to the somewhat structure that school gives me to learn new things!

Gigglies

I feel I must explain something about myself. I laugh. A lot. I laugh when something about the situation is funny, I laugh when I think back on some situation that was funny, I laugh when something about the situation reminds me of something else that was funny, I laugh at sarcasm, I laugh at my own thoughts that I don't share with other people, I laugh at people's conversations I may be eavesdropping on. I laugh a lot. I almost never laugh AT people. Well people I know at least. I respect them far too much for that. I also have the horrible tendency to laugh uncontrollably when I get nervous. And I do mean uncontrollably. I try to stop because it's awkward and I laugh even harder. I can't stop it. It just has to run its sidesplitting course. (any doubts on this ask Abbey because we share the same sickness, and an example would be when there was a cat in Abbey's garage and Ben went to get it out and Ab and I are almost on the ground laughing so hard) And if I feel like my laughing is being taken the wrong way, I get nervous and laugh even harder. This presents me the awesome opportunity of having many really fun times and lots of laughter.... with people that I know. People that I don't know however, I fear tend to think that I'm either crazy or mean. I honestly don't laugh at people, I laugh at the situation.... and then when someone mentions that I'm being mean, and I'm surrounded by people I don't know, I try to choke out the words that I'm not laughing at them, but can hardly do it because I'm crying I'm laughing so hard. I really love to laugh but I'm thinking I should just consider wearing something on my forehead that states that I just love to laugh and I would never be mean to these people. I like these people that I hardly know and I just wish they knew me a little better so I didn't have to worry that they just think I'm a total beast or something like that... Ah how I love to laugh, but it does get me in trouble sometimes.

Recycling and the goodies

First recycling. I now live in a city that is somewhat hippie-ish. Not saying that it's a bad thing but it's definitely something different than what I'm used to. And they recycle everything. There are cans all over the place and seperate trash cans for paper, cardboard, and bottles just in the halls and on the sidewalk. The organization is really quite amazing. I'm just not used to it. I haven't gotten to that point where I just remember what I'm supposed to do. But I'm getting there. Here's the problem though. Here in Michigan, if you return an aluminum can to the right place you get 10 cents for it. Sweet right?! Except it's a complete pain in my arse to do it. I have two bags full of cans that I could get money for if I just took them. But I have to take them to the grocery store that I don't go to, and frankly scares me, and I just haven't done it. And to be honest probably won't I don't even care about the ten cents. I just want to put them in my recycling and be done with it because the cans are cluttering my life! So the dilemma...do I go completely out of my way to get the money for the cans, which my cheap self tells me to do, or do I just put them in the recycling....?

Second point. The phrase 'goodie two shoes' or 'goodie too shoes' I'm not really sure. Here's my thought. Why two shoes? Are you a goodie because you wear two shoes? Or are you a goodie-too shoes because you also have shoes? I just don't understand the origin of the statement I guess and it makes no sense.... These are the things I think about when someone says a well known statement like this to me.... Call me an over-analyst or something.

Thursday, August 20, 2009

I'm a Peanut Butter Brat

You heard me. A peanut butter brat. Aside from just being fun to say, it's also true. There are actually very few things that I must have name brand on. The only other thing I can think of is soda, which is a whole other post/rant. However, peanut butter is definitely one of them. I think because it was bred into me since I was a small child. My mom has tried all kinds of peanut butter... but she's the only one who eats them. All my dad eats is Skippy Extra Crunchy, and for some reason that's all I eat too. I had a brief but intense affair with chocolate peanut butter (anyone remember that stuff?!), but that ended somewhat violently. I can no longer look at it unfortunately. Sadly that's how many of my love affairs end. But back to skippy. It's the only kind of peanut butter I can and will buy. I am reminded here of Brian Regan talking about his mom buying peanut butter. BUY SMOOTH! Haha except I'm opposite. Still a funny man though. So there you go, another look inside my crazy mind. My yummy peanut butter brat mind.

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

We're just so much better than you...

I recently realized that I may or may not be an elitist brat....but that aside, my family is just so much better than other peoples'. I was thinking about my family, as I do a lot lately, and realized we are just awesome. Don't get me wrong I know a lot of families of my friends, really really well, and they are really awesome as well. But my family. My family is just amazing. And here's why:

*My favorite thing ever is staying up late playing games and laughing my a** off. We play all kinds of games, card games, skill games, wii, everything. We trade insults and just laugh all the time. I think my favorite game is when we have to adopt different personas. Take for example the game curses. Here we are sitting around making up stories about how we went to prison while Ben is a pirate, Ab has a french accent, Mom is irish talking about her lucky charms, Daddy is women school teacher with a high pitched voice, Megan has to talk without moving her teeth, and I'm Mr. T. Recipe for hilarity basically. I love it. And every time we are together that's what we do. We play games.

*Second thing, we people watch. Haha some might call it judging or making fun. I think those are strong terms...haha we people watch. It's fantastic. Best times of my life.

*We talk, about all kinds of things. We usually end up all intense into our random discussions. And as long as we're not at Olive Garden it's all good. Example. We're playing yahtzee one night in Pagosa Springs, and my mom makes the (mistake) decision to ask what the odds are that you roll a large straight on the first roll. Hahaha three engineers TAKE OFF on this subject and for the next hour argue about what the odds really are. Hahah about this time Abbey jumps in and says "mom, don't ever bring this up again." Ha it was fantastic!

*We love to vacation together. We just love to be together. The best thing is the world is knowing that the people you love want to be around you just as much as you want to be around them. The feeling of knowing that you're going to hang out with these people and have fun and just laugh together. I love it and wouldn't trade it for anything.

So there you go. That's why we're better than you. Haha there are some people I can name that I know are just as good as us but I don't want to be rude...

Monday, August 17, 2009

Industrious...

Today's post is about how proud of myself I feel.

Today I came home from work and proceeded to chop the following items:






One Vidalia Onion
Three Potatoes
Three Red Bell Peppers
Two Orange Bell Peppers
Two Yellow Bell Peppers
One Green Bell Pepper
Two Celery stalks
One Bag of Baby Carrots


These items were chopped to make the following dishes:
*Vegetable Soup for a soup diet
*Vegetable Beef Stew
*Meatloaf
*And other random dishes I will make with the tons of celery and bell pepper that I have left over.



Just the two dishes I made tonight (the two stews) will feed me for many days lunch and dinner. And I'm making the meatloaf on Thursday for my roommate and I. All in all I'm pretty proud of myself because one they look good, all the colorful vegetables, and two they actually taste good. Which is awesome because I basically made it all up....Well I had a recipe for the soup but pretty much completely changed it. I'm doing the soup diet one with Abbey so I tested it first and let her know that it really does taste pretty good. And I guess it's only like 80 calories a cup so... sweetness. So this is totally random but I just had to share my cooking urge. I'll probably make cookies some time this week as well because they just sound amazing.



Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Age is a tricky thing...

It sometimes seems like time just passes but nothing really changes. And then little moments happen that seriously jolt you into the present and round-a-boutly make you look at how far you've come and how much, or not, you've actually grown up. I was slapped in the face with this just the other day. And I apologize if I sound mean in the upcoming paragraphs....it's just my view of the situation. Haha I guess that might make me mean but we'll just gloss over that part.

So I went on a date and realized that the distance between 18 and 22 is much farther than I had previously thought. When I look back on how I was all through college and all the things I did, stupid and otherwise, it amazes me that I am here now. Four years went by really quickly and most of the time I didn't feel like there was anything different about me. Time went by but I didn't change. Ha but then I think about how I dealt with things then, like for instance, dating, and not only do I feel completely ashamed of how I acted, but I also realize how differently I deal with things now. (haha maybe I intentially blocked those things from my mind) Now for instance, if I was on a date with someone and could just tell that things were going down hill, you have this sense that things just aren't going your way. Say you even asked, many times, if things were going your way and the reply was no....then now I would stop trying to make it like a date and just salvage any sort of dignity from the night at all. Then....I might have made my date want to cry from frustration and pity by not accepting the fact that some dates just don't work out. I have also learned that not all people are compatible and I can accept that fact much more graciously. I do though still have my moments of pure embarressment when I like someone....but again, only a few people know about them and I love keeping it that way. I guess my main thought here was just how differently I view the world in just four years. I've seen a lot pain and I've seen a lot of joy (haha unintentional quotation of Michael Franti), and the things that were important when I was 18....almost have no bearing now. And the things I took for granted, like my family and the times we spend together and my friends and how amazing they are. That's all so much more important then whether one date went well.

I have heard before that the four years between 18 and 22 you grow more than any other four years in your life. Maybe not intellectually or physically, because lets face it the years from 0 to 4 are pretty amazing, I have 3 little kids I love to watch grow and it's way more fascinating than any other time. But, I think emotionally that is definitely true. You really figure out who you are. And I have just turned into an Oprah show, so I'm going to be done here...