Friend Love

I'm a big believer in telling the people you appreciate that you appreciate them. The fact is though, that I'm terrible at it. I often think to myself how awesome someone in my life is and how much I love them, or I'll tell someone else that I know how awesome they are, but I rarely tell them. So this is a baby step in that direction. I also happen to be much better at writing my feelings than talking them. And this will also tell everyone else what awesome friends I have. So I'm hoping to gradually work up to an honorary post for everyone that I love, but it may take me a while because there's a lot to add! That's a lie. It's going to take me a while. I am loving it already though because I get to walk through my memories and laugh and cry and miss and love! So here is the first of many to come.

*Sarah*

The year was 2007.

The month was August.

The day was irrelevant.

Sarah moved into the same house and into my life.

Was it love at first sight? No. But only because Sarah went home every weekend and I went to my sisters a lot. It took a few weeks for us to get around to real conversations. But then Halloween came around. It was our first big outing together. And it was fun. The first of many to come.

Some might say it was all downhill from there. A typical day for us would be this:
Sarah goes to class.
Heidi goes to class.
They meet for lunch then go home to watch Hannah Montana.
Sarah and Heidi go back to class.
They come home.
Watch more Hannah.
Various evening activities.
Late at night, both are doing homework and Heidi calls to Sarah (or vice versa) "Sarah, I hate homework. Sonic run."
They go to Sonic.
The day ends and begins again.
Most memorable sonic trip occurred late one night, after midnight because we barely made it to sonic before they closed. On the way home we get pulled over. Sarah is driving and we are both in pajamas. I had no shoes and only the $1.25 to get my drink. Cop comes to the window and asks if we know why he pulled us over. We have no idea. Turns out our lights were off. Oops! Then the cop says (verbatim), "Did you guys rob anyone tonight?" Uh.....no. Well look at us. We do look like the epitome of shady.
After we said no he asked if we had any weapons in the car. This is my favorite part of the story because S looks around her car....... and then answers no. HA! We haven't to this day figured out why she looked around her car.

We've had so many times like this I can't even count them. We've had vent sessions where we're just yelled! We talk about everything, especially the boys and always have fun with whatever we do.

We have had lots of other fun adventures. Snowboarding in New Mexico, trips to sunny Mexico by the beach, Jerome, concerts, and other random excursions that we go on whenever the mood strikes. I love that Sarah will go out and do things with me, and even more that she loves to take pictures with me! And opportunity we have, we're taking pictures.

Things I love about my Sawah:

*She always makes me laugh

*She always tells me I look pretty.....ugly!

*Always up for a sonic run, and boy we need them all the time!

*She is always introducing me to new wonderful kinds of music.

*Our Hannah Montana/Panic! screaming sessions/car riding/drinking Monster times were the best times of my college experience.

*Our musical playlists are the definition of awesome.

I miss S soooooooooo much I always think of times we had and see pictures of us and miss the days we lived together. She is my favorite and one of the smartest girls I know! Not only is she smart, about to graduate, going to be an amazing doctor, my bestest friend, but she's also gorgeouso!!! Just look at that shot -

Sawah, S, Sarah, many names to me but I absolutely love her. And she better come see me soon!

Ah good times

Here's a couple of reasons I like being an engineer. Because I like to listen to their insane conversations. Granted I have had weird engineering discussions, just ask my friends or my sister even. But these two just made me laugh today.

*Number one. Walk past this kid as he proclaims the he doesn't have to pay for water in his apartment. Awesome! So he's considering putting a waterwheel in his bathtub. Sadly, this is the only part of the conversation that I heard. Haha so it is pure conjecture that his waterwheel is actually for electrical generation. Haha Oh man I would love to see it though.

*Number two. Kids I am fairly sure were freshmen were discussing how long it would take them to get to their dorm. Valid question. Then they proceed to say that how long it will take will depend on only the length of your stride. Then they were both trying to *totally naturally* figure out how long their stride was. They came up with some number and then were completely stumped as to why they couldn't get it. It was HIlarious. ***Insert my own engineeringism that I can't not put in*** You can't figure it out without the rate at which you're taking strides, no matter what the stride length is....Ha better luck next time boys.

This is why I love it. And whenever I talk randomly start laughing because I realize people could be listening to me too.

I have a problem.

Why do they sell Halloween candy 1) for cheaper than normal and 2) at the beginning of September and 3) at all?

Mini Snickers. Okay I don't like snickers. The full size ones, I can't eat an entire one, they make me sick and wish I'd never see another one. The mini snickers however are an entirely different story. I think it's because of more chocolate. But really, they are my curse. I can down them all day faster than should be allowed. They shouldn't sell these things in the regular store. They should only sell halloween candy at a special store that you have to seek out, not randomly run across on your normal shopping trip.

I just can't contain it!

I apparently have too much time on my hands.... Or just too many things to say to contain them all in one space. We'll go with the second one, it makes me sound less lame. BUT because of that reason, I just had to go and start two more blogs.

The first one is making me so excited I almost can't stand it. If you remember my post from a couple weeks ago on obsessions this should come as no surprise. I, along with my beautiful friends Kara and Cory, and my sis Abbey, have started a blog where we get to review whatever we want. Movies, tv, music, books,...whatever we see. And since I'm a nerd, I used our initials to spell HACK. So we're hack-y critics and we're just around to have fun. I am SO excited about this not just because I get to share my opinions, which let's face it, are pure gold, but I also get to listen to my friends who are some of the funniest people I've met. So if you want to hack it up with us, check it out hither!

The second one really speaks more to my nerdness and OCD tendencies regarding list making. My lovely friend Cory (same as from above) thought it would be fun to start a blog where we just list things that we love; current obsessions, things to do in Albuquerque, study tips, whatever. So she's way more awesome at it then I am, but I get to enjoy basking in her shared light and pretending I'm just as smart! That blog can be found here! Both those links are also on the side of my blog under my blogs of interest.

So partly this is just fun because I get to write more, and I love writing! Yes I know I ramble sometimes, but it's just because I'm excited. Also, have someone tell me that they read what I wrote and then tell me their opinion or that they thought it was funny or I'm stupid or whatever, pretty much makes my year. So if you want to see more of my thoughts, or even better read the thoughts of my famously funny friends check it out! Anything to avoid homework right?! Here's the real reason I am so excited though. I LOVE talking to my friends and anyone about entertainment things like this. I love feeling that connection and critiqueing and laughing. But most of all, I love talking to the people that I love who are so far away and feeling like they're still near me because we all watched Glee today.

New Purchase

I've decided the next thing I want to buy. First though would probably be a purse. And normally, that would be exactly the correct thought. But my attention has totally been diverted. So come the end of October, I know what I'm going to buy.


Maybe not this exact camera, but one like it. I want a real camera that I can take amazing pictures with. And I'm going to read the entire owners manual so that I can try everything out. I'm so set on it. I can't wait. Now I just need to do the research to find the right one to buy and the best place to buy it!

Best Things of Today

Today was the first day of my classes. Which means that there were all kinds of new things going on! And since I love to people watch it also gave me excellent opportunities to do that. Like the undergrads who are blissfully unaware of the horror and discouragement that will come upon them if they realize that a bachelor's degree isn't where they want to stop....oh wait, that's me who heard how brutally hard everything is going to be. Yet again. But good things is why we're here right now :).

*First I love having a standard. So when I'm driving home from target and am super tired and just want to be home, I can rev my engine to 5000 rpms before shifting gears and just feel the wonderful sensation of going fast and shifting my own car.

*Second I love getting to class on time which translates into being 15 minutes early because of some phenomena called "Michigan Time", and on the way listening to poor little freshmen who don't know about it freak out because they can't run to class because they'll look like weirdos but they're going to be late! And Michigan time is weird. It's totally against all I've been taught to think that things really start 15 minutes after they say, except there are a lot of exceptions that you need to keep track of!

*And last my ABSOLUTE FAVORITE thing of the day happened while sitting outside my first class waiting for the previous class to end to go in. This kid was talking to another grad student and he asked her if we have lockers. Hahahahahahahahahaha I was so hard pressed to not burst out laughing. The poor kid was serious! Granted I have not been to every college, but I don't know of ANY that has lockers. Not one. Ha I laugh just thinking about it. That kid has an even longer way to go than I do.

And so ends my day.

Inadequacy

Inadequacy. I had to say it twice because that's just how I feel today. It's been a long day, locking my keys in my car, treking to sonic only to have my drink dump all over my car, going to get a spare key to find out they can't make me one.... But anyway, every once in a while you start talking to people and just get the overwhelming feeling that you could be doing more with your life. That's sort of how I feel today. So I'm looking for ideas to do more with my life. I wish wish wish that I could take more classes, in all the things that interest me. But since my big beautiful school apparently doesn't do online classes.... or trust me I'd be taking many.... I just don't know what to do. I am thinking about volunteering at the Humane Society, but they aren't taking more volunteers until October, can I wait that long? I am also a little worried I will get insanely attached, so I'm going to try to not do that. I just feel like I need to do more. That's I'm somehow not doing enough with my potential. And I know this sounds way stupid, but getting a phd in engineering just isn't that impressive or something like that.... Any other ideas I am definitely open to! And in the mean time perhaps I'll find my self confidence somewhere. I am not as down as this sounds, it's more like there is a hole that I need to fill, or I can do more to enrich myself than I am...

EXCITEMENT

With a capital X!!! Well capital everything. I'm that excited. And once I explain you'll think I'm nerdy to get this excited, but whatev I am. So here's the deal, my life plan if you will. I am in school now to get my Ph.D. *insert short divertion here* Today I officially became a graduate student. What I was before this point in time, I have no idea, so we'll skip that part. But today. Today was orientation, and while the information contained was completely useless to one who has been her for two months, I got a free honey baked ham sandwich out of the deal. The result however is the same, I am now a grad student. I am now free to make fun of undergrads! Now, back to the part about my life plan. After getting my Ph.D. I would really love to become a teacher. That's my goal and I've sort of set things up to make that happen. I went to a school that puts out a lot of teachers, and I told my former teachers at ASU that it was their job to give me a job when I graduated. We'll see how that last part works out. But because of that I have also planned many fun things to help me be a teacher, such as classes on teaching. Now to the EXCITING part. Yesterday I was called by my professor asking to meet with me urgently. So, fearing for my life, I went to his office where he told me that I was going to be considered for a fellowship if I wanted. Today I was told by the director of the fellowship program that it was almost guaranteed that I got the fellowship. This fellowship is called the GAANN (graduate assistance in areas of national need) and is from the Department of Education. So it is only for Ph.D. students who plan on becoming faculty members (Me!). Here are the requirements of the award:
*I have to get good grades and progress towards graduation (great, great plan, already on my list of things to do)
*I have to take ENGR 580 - Teaching Engineering (already listed on my plan of study as a class I wanted to take, listed 6 weeks ago actually)
*Be a Graduate Student Instructor (awesome, I'd actually get to teach and wanted to do this)
*Take teaching workshops at least once a semester (didn't know these existed but awesome!)
*Create a teaching portfolio (would have needed to do this for any job application anyway...so now it will just be better because I'll have help.)

So basically, I get a really prestigious award that I can put on my resume proving that I wanted to be a teacher long before I graduated and had little other options. I get to not only do the things I was planning to do, they are now mandatory and will be facilitated greatly because of it. And I get help achieving those things. Honestly I couldn't have worked this out more perfectly if I had tried and I'm really so excited! Plus I get to save my prof a year's worth of money which puts me in his good graces at least for a little while :)! So there we go, haha I'm excited because my life plan is actually working out really well so far. I knew there was a reason I loved it here!


***UPDATE: two seconds after posting this I checked my email and there was the official letter saying I have been awarded this fellowship!***

Obsessions

We all have our own little niche in this world right. The things that make us tick. The things that we can't live without. The things that no matter how hard we fight against, our better judgement screaming the entire way, we give into everytime. Mine are usually in the area of good books, movies or tv shows. If I happen upon one I almost quite literally can't put it down, and lose a vast amount of sleep as a result. Things this has happened with lately: The Tudors, American Psycho, and a book called Still Alice. Thinking about these things, and the vast number of other movies, books, and shows I watch make me want to create an addition to my blog detailing reviews of these things. But I'm afraid I'll reveal myself to be even more of a nerd than I already am. But I've almost talked myself into it. Any advice either direction would be wonderful!

And if you are in the mood for an obsession, my most recent yet unfinished one is a blog about a city girl falling in love with a cowboy and it's the best love story ever. Except it's true which makes me somewhat depressed about my love life.... but THAT is another story for a never day. The blog is here.