The Christmas Tree Debacle

Based on a true story.

Once there was a girl. She was very beautiful and creative and worked at a place that involved a lot of down time. It was a happy little store, full of caring and smiles. Oftentimes, the girl would amuse herself and her co-workers with various crafts and song parodies. One day, she made a lovely Christmas tree out of some bubble wrap and a paper clip. She decorated it with stickers and showed it to her co-workers, who were amused and inspired. The next time she worked, she added a tree skirt made of athletic tape (which she colored with a red pen) and various gifts made out of staples and business cards. All who beheld the tree were truly in wonder at the tree's beauty and the girl's great talent. It seemed that for once, all was right in the world, and the workplace was at peace.

One day, from out of the darkness, came a force of mediocrity that had the potential to ruin the peace that all the workers had worked so hard for. The beautiful Christmas tree had remained safely hidden within its little nook, still giving happiness to those who came upon it, when someone decided to bring the dark force down upon it. The innocent tree was taken from its home and placed in the cold, unfeeling cave of the dark force. Since the figure of darkness had no appreciation for the arts and crafts made with love by the workers, it reacted in anger and punished the poor people. New restrictions were placed on the unfortunate souls who made their living under the dark force. Suddenly, the little store was no longer a happy place to work and the beautiful, creative girl found herself seeking new employment.

To be continued.....

Sweet Beans

Today I turned in my graduation application. I walked to the Registrar's office, paid my ten dollars, and became the next student to enter the home stretch of her undergraduate education. When I first realized that I would be applying for graduation this semester I freaked out. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my degree, and made myself sick over what I was going to do after graduation until something occurred to me. I think this quote about sums it up:

"How many cares one loses when one decides not to be something but to be someone."
~Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel

I did not go to college to become something. I went to college to become someone - an educated person. I have received an excellent education over the years. I have learned a lot and gained a lot of valuable skills. In the end, I really don't care as long as I get some sort of job that I can enjoy.

My most imminent concern is writing my final paper for ENGL 2600, Literary Analysis. Being a freshman class that I finally got around to taking, I've been sailing through my previous papers. I write them the day of and get good grades, but they probably haven't been my best work. My professor informed me last week that I will need to turn in an extra copy of this paper for "assessment". I'm a little nervous about making this last paper count, but I think it will be ok in the end.

All in all, I'm pretty excited to graduate, especially since it took me so long. At least I'll be getting my bachelor's a year before my little brother gets his law degree.

Dancin' in the Streets

I love music. A lot. I take any opportunity I can get to listen to some great music. Right now, for example, I'm sitting in a computer lab listening to what might be my current favorite song and resisting the urge to get up and dance. I used to listen to show tunes on Pandora while in the lab, but it proved incredibly difficult to not sing along out loud, so show tunes had to be outlawed. I can't even get ready for school or whatever without music playing. If there's no music, I just sing to myself because I love to sing anyway.

The radio in my car stopped working a while back (surprise, surprise), and I found myself going through music withdrawals. Now I have to provide the music myself, either by singing to myself or playing music on my phone. I used to think that downloading music on my phone was a waste of money. "When will I ever listen to this?" I would ask myself. It turns out that music on my phone is a welcome addition to the silence (if you can call the frightening roaring of the engine silence) of the Deathcab.

One more example of my love of music: musical tourettes. Anything you say can and will remind me of a song that needs to be sung. That's probably how a lot of the songs that I've written got started. I'll start thinking of a song and start changing the words to fit the situation.

It seems like everything means more when it's set to music.

I Feel Pretty

My super awesome friend, Julianne, is a photographer and she took some super awesome pictures of me. I was a little nervous at first, but it turned out to be really fun. Plus, I hadn't seen Julianne forever, so it was great to hang out again. Here are the ones she posted on her blog, in case anyone is interested.

http://jhowesphotography.blogspot.com/