I might be in need of therapy...

I recently quit playing games at bridal/baby showers. Its not because I don't like games, or because I've been to LITERALLY 932 of them. I've realized that I am entirely too competitive. Its actually quite scary. People started fearing me during gametime because I always won, and was very serious about achieving this goal. I think I might need to quit cometitive times all together after this past weekend....

I planned a party for a group of high school students from our student ministry at church who won "Game night" (a huge fun game-show type night that I also planned that took about 2 weeks and plenty of time to put together for about 200 kids). The party was a photo scavenger hunt. If you're not familiar, its where your team runs all over town taking pictures of one or all of the member completing a specific task. For example: Your whole team on a fire engine, Someone from your team riding a horse, your entire team in a fountain, in a shopping cart, in costume...you get the gist. I decided that it would be unfair for me to take out a team since I wrote the list, so I rode along with my friend David's team. WE LOST. No, I'm not kidding. We L-O-S-T lost.

Now i'm a phenomenal actress, so I was able to put on a front like I was ok with losing, but I TOTALLY wasn't. It also took A LOT of effort and persuasion to be lenient on giving credit to "creative photo submissions" (aka- cheap cheaters).

So last night we had another scavenger hunt, this one for adults. It was one of the ones where you have a list and have to bring back certian items (a live crawling spider, map from a mall that was 3o minutes away, someone in my team wearing one of my old ballet costumes, video of your team reenacting a scene from Texas Chainsaw Massacre with a real chainsaw, etc.). When I tell you that I take competition seriously, its a severe understatement. Within minutes of recieveing the list, we marked out our plan of action based on where we would find certian things that we needed. We did a fantastic job, and got so many things done, but we still came in SECOND. I know, out of like 8 teams thats pretty good, but in the words of Ricky Bobby- "IF YOU AIN'T FIRST, YOU'RE LAST." I actually threw my keys across the room when the results were announced. I KNOW! WHO DOES THAT! (SIDENOTE- it was partially joking and no one was injured) Granted the winning team totally cheated, they had one of their brothers meet up at the meeting place wearing a costume and with maps printed off the internet in hand. Still, I realize that It might be time for therapy....

An Aquatic Adventure

This is the first time since I was 15 that I don't have a job because my school schedule does not allow it. I occasionally skip classes to Substitute at the school at my church (shameless plug: www.churchbytheglades.com) and spend about five days a week volunteering there with the Student Ministry and the 20-somethings ministry. I am taking five classes that are very intense. I tutor my cousin twice a week, and clean house from top to bottom every Thursday. In conclusion- even though I don't have a real job, I am not a bum.

My friend Nick and I recently realized that neither of us has anything we are obligated to do on Monday. after my classes are over at 10:50, i'm free till about 4:30. We decided that on Mondays we'll have fun dates. This past Monday, we made plans to go out to lunch and then to the new IKEA store that was opening about 15 minutes away. Long story short, IKEA doesn't actually open until Tomorrow, so we had to find an alternative plan. We decided on Petsmart, because Nick decided he wanted a pet. We spend about 15 minutes walking around looking at the various animals....everything from gerbils and hamsters (too creepy) to turtles (smell too much like turtles), and finally to the fish. We pick out a fantastic bowl, some awesome rocks for the bottom, and a really fun treasure chest decoration. Then we mosey on over to the fish wall where we find THE coolest fish ever. We decided that the species should be called fish balls because they basically looked like a bouncy ball with fins and a tail. Comfortable with the decision, we call over the fish girl who worked in that department. She wouldn't sell him a fish! She said she could not sell him that goldfish unless he purchased a 20 gallon tank. SERIOUSLY?!?!?! Thats like the size of my backseat in my car. She had a bit of a bad attitude, so we decided that it would be best to thank her for her help and find a different fish girl. We did, and this fish girl said the same thing! HOW RIDICULOUS IS THAT! Now i'm not exactly Jacques Cousteau, but I know enough about fish to know that if my sister could keep a carnival fish for NINE YEARS and I could keep fish for three years who lived in this decorative setting:

then I THINK it would be OK for a tiny little fish ball to live in a bowl that holds easily 1 1/2- 2 gallons of water. We settled on picking out a killer Beta fish that he appropriately named Killer. It was a fun day, good times had by all. Next Monday we're ACTUALLY going to IKEA. I'm excited!!!! And I'm totally going to buy Nick a fish ball and pretend that I have an imaginary 20 gallon tank at home.....

My Professor Ate His Dad...

In the Spring of 2006, I took intro to world religions because FSU makes you take a cross cultural course so you are more tolerant of the cultures of others. My professor for this course, was bizzare. I'm talking this guy came from planet Crazypants of which he is most certainly the Emperor.

Example: On the 2nd day of class, he holds up a banner that is made up of different flags which represent the different major religions of the world, and then this other weird flag that has the Star of David (Jewish star) with a Yin-Yang in the middle of it. He offers extra credit to whoever can identify all of the religions represented. People call out the obvious ones like Judiasm, Muslim, Christianity, and so on. Of course no one recognizes the final symbol, because it represents "Professor-ism" (where "Professor" was really his last name, I took it out for privacy reasons) which is his own religion that he made up. he also has it tattooed on his arm, I'm talking huge. Oh- it gets weirder.

So one morning I get to my class. This guy decided today that instead of teaching us what hes supposed to be teaching us, he'd read his essays he wrote on people and why they believe what they do. They made no sense. I was totally lost, as was the rest of my class. People started to walk out. They missed ALL the fun!

He talks about how he hasn't turned on or watched a TV in 35 years- which is weird in itself. No movies, news, nothing. I mean come on, even people in jail watch TV.

Then he starts talking about this book stranger in a strange land (its evidently a well known science fiction book). For those of you (like me) who have never read this book, I'll give you the background. its the story of this guy who was born to human parents on mars and lived there till he was 21 and then moved to earth, not understanding whats going on.

So hes going on and on about how on Mars the Martians ate their loved ones when they died so they would be a part of their body forever. So then he starts talking about how that makes sense (WHAT?!), and how its the circle of life and blah blah blah.....

Then the guy goes (and here's the kicker)
"This is a very rational custom. It makes sense. That's why when my Father died and he was cremated, I ate some of his ashes so he would be a part of me forever"

I swear to you everyones jaw dropped for about 10 minutes. From that point on I don't remember anything that this guy said....I pretty much just sat there making a mental list of all of the drugs this guy must have done in his hippie days. I left class that day knowing i could never take anything he said seriously ever again- I mean come on, the dude ate his dad....

Politics, Schmolotics

I'm what some would call a "professional student." I graduated high school in 2002, and have been trying to find my way out of college ever since. By the time I graduate- God willing- this coming Summer, I will have been in school for 6 years. I will have attended both FSU and FAU. I will have spent two years undeclared, and four bouncing around between majors. I will not be a doctor, CPA, layer, etc. I will have a degree in Public Communication, and will be halfway done with degrees in Education and Recreation and Leisure Services Administration.

Point of the story is, I am trying my darnedest to get the heck out of school. This leaves me taking 5 or 6 classes a semester, and adding classes i would otherwise NEVER think about taking. The class that is the inspiration behind this blog would be POS4235, AKA Media In Politics.

Now if you know me, you know that I hate politics. If you don't know me, then I feel its only fair that I fill you in. Straight up, no filler, I HATE politics. So you can imagine the amount of joy I experience when I drive to Davie every Tuesday to sit in a room for three hours and listen to debates about the declining value of the US Dollar in comparison to the Euro or Yen, and how Structured Investment Vehicles are a form of derivatives that are collaterialized debt obligations and they are successful because they spread their financial investment risk by diversifying it. Kill. Me. Now. For me, this class is an "Interdisciplinary Elective." (I love how they use the term "elective" like its something you choose to take, instead of something you're forced to take in order to graduate on time.)

Recently, my professor (who is a dead ringer for Jeff Daniels in both resemblance and voice) was talking about how sad it is that so much of the world is ignorant to the real issues due to the approach media vehicles take to covering issues such as war, politics, finance, etc.. He said that he thinks its sad that you can't turn on CSPAN or CNN or the news anymore without hearing at least a tidbit or update on Britney or Paris Hilton or who's having whose baby. Because i'm one to speak my mind, I raised my hand to defend and voice my love for channels like E! and magazines like US Weekly, and how I'd much rather stay on top of those events because they don't depress me so badly. I'd MUCH rather read about the type of flowers Eva Longoria chose for her wedding to her Baskeball hunk, or how Halle Barry's baby daddy feels about being a baby daddy. He told me to hold that thought because it comes into play with a topic he was going to discuss later. He said don't forget what you're train of thought is, and raise your hand again when I start talking about rational ignorance.

Before I go any further, let me set the stage by describing my surroundings in this class. Its all Political Science majors who looooooove to debate and talk about all the subjects that make me want to pull out my hair strand by strand just so i'll have something to do. There are two freshmen guys in my class who are what some would call brown-nosers. To be more clear, i'm not sure where they end and the professor begins. They've taken classes with him before, and think its AWESOME to reminisce on the old times when they learned crap that is completely irrelevant to our class. If anyone asks a question or makes a statement, they look at each other, shake their heads in disgust at that person's stupidity, and laugh. I'll also disclose that my professor thinks I'm hilarious because I speak my mind and don't pretend I want to be in class, but still think its important to understand what we're learning.

So an hour or so goes by and we get back to talking about "rational ignorance." He asks me to explain why I don't like politics. I told him I don't like politics because I think its depressing. Any news coverage about political issues is nothing but negative. You never hear anything positive about anything Political. Its pissed off people being pissed off at each other, and ultimately pissing each other off more and more as time goes by. I don't like to read about it, I don't like to watch it, I don't like to talk about it. Any time i've ever had a political question or a topic that I don't understand and ask someone to explain it to me, they laugh like THOSE two over there, and I think its rude. (directed to the two:) I don't know you personally. I'm not saying you're mean, and maybe you don't realize you do it, but you laugh at EVERYONE when they speak up and its just not nice. (they since have stopped- yay!) Unless I were to spend every waking hour investigating foreign policy, campaign trail techniques, currency exchange, interest rates, stocks, bonds, hedge funds, etc, there's no way that I would have enough information to discuss anything political with anyone who knows anything about politics. I don't have a passion for it, so I choose to stay away from it all together. If its something that affects me or those around me directly, then i'm all for learning about it, but if its a situation that I can do NOTHING about, such as the National Debt, or the rise of oil prices based on the decline of the value of the US Dollar, NO THANKS! Does this make me ignorant, ABSOLUTELY, but its an ignorance that I find blissful. WONDERFULLY Blissfull. I'm all for staying up on current events in People Magazine, US Weekly, AOL.com, and so on. Wall Street Journal? Not so much. Could this opinion change in the future? Who knows. For now, I'm not a fan.

His response? (with a wow-ed look on his face and a bit of a giggle) "You really thought about that for the whole hour, didn't you?" He said it was a perfect example of rational ignorance which basically indicates that if the cost of knowing certain things is not outweighed by the benefits of knowing said information, then we choose to remain ignorant. I'm a rational person, and I'm totally politically ignorant. I love it. If you don't agree, that's fine! I will love you no less. Agree to disagree. In the meantime, we've come to an agreement in my Media In Politics class. When the professor looks over and sees me making a "what the heck are you talking about" face (which I evidently do involuntarily), he breaks it down into terms that the rationally ignorant can understand. I've been thanked by a few other girls in my class. My professor gets a funny smile on his face when I raise my hand now. Its sort of like his face is saying "oh goodness, here we go." I fully intend to learn in this class. Maybe it will teach me something awesome, maybe it will teach me to look at things more objectively, or from a different perspective. In the meantime, I'll continue to spend 1-4pm on Tuesdays texting friends, daydreaming, and doodling in the margins of my notebook as I fill it with terms that make my brain hurt (and that I'm undoubtedly misspelling while taking notes!)

here goes!

Recently a wonderful friend and I have become quite the blog connoisseurs. We read them, we judge them, we talk about them. More often than not I find our conversations containing the phrase "OOH! you should totally blog about that!" So, here I am. I have random, goofy stuff happen to me all the time. I'm blessed to have hilarious moments occur pretty much every single day. Why not share the joy? Why not write (type?) them down! Blog through the frustrating times! If for no other reason than to document them for myself. Friends are always asking me to tell them stories that I've told them before, and half the time its things I have completely forgotten about. Even if no one ever reads this thing, at least it will be here for ME to laugh at! Maybe I'll have some deep thoughts. Maybe something will inspire me to act like I'm some brilliant philosopher, theologian, or scholar. One thing's for sure- as long as I'm supplied with random/funny/touching/moving/frustrating/loving/deep/thoughtful moments, I'll have something to share! Here we go!