buy one get one free?

I realized on Wednesday that I hadn't yet turned in my application for graduation (and the due date was Friday). I had already filled out the application and there was a copy in my file, but I never took the original to my adviser (the final step in the process). So I picked up a copy and took it to the advising office. I have about 150 credits which is not surprising after almost six years and 3 different majors. The lady asked me "is this the only degree you're applying for?" and sarcastically I answered "yes, unless you can dig through my transcript and find a minor in something." So she starts digging.... and a couple minutes later she tells me I didn't earn any minors, but I did actually complete TWO DEGREES- Communications AND Arts and Humanities. All this time I was double majoring and didn't even know it!! So now I will be graduating at the end of June with TWO degrees!! WOO HOO!!! I called my parents to tell them- My dad's response "Thats funny, because it felt like I was paying for two degrees...." oh goodness.

Anyone seen Peter Pan?

Tuesday is my last REAL day of college. I have to take Spanish 2 over the summer but for some reason I don't count that. Probably because at this point its like the last 10 minutes of a yoga class where you just lay there and become one with the floor or whatever. I really am having a hard time figuring out if I'm excited or sad. I SOOOOO don't want to be a grown up, but I've had about enough of higher education for the time being....

After 6 years of college, Two schools, 3 majors, good friends, sucky roomates, suckeir roomates, about 90 trips back and forth to Tallahassee, countless pointless classes, some that have been awesome, weird professors, rude professors, and a few that I would LOVE to keep learning from forever, I will be done with College.

WHAT NOW?!?! I will have a degree in Public Communication. I know, sounds like a cop out. Totally wasn't. My brain was feeling a little dead for a while when I was majoring in "Recreation and Leisure Services Administration" (aka event coordination and planning) and Elementary Ed, but I've actually felt it growing over the last 2 years-ish. I've take classes that have required everything from research papers and essays to weekend 23 mile kayaking trips around Cumberland Island, GA and Political rallies. If you were to look at my transcript you would probably have a good laugh. As a matter of fact, I think i'll give you some of the highlights:

Race and Ethnicity in US History- Prof looked EXACTLY like Rob Thomas
Survey of Special Events- seriously? how did I get a B in this?
Outdoor Adventure Education- How to pitch a tent, cook on a campfire, etc. not kidding.
Intro to New Testament- One of my favorites by far, bc of the awesome teacher, not just the fact that i loves me some Jesus.
World Religions- see blog "My Teacher Ate His Dad"
Astronomy- NOTE: NOT ASTROLOGY LIKE I ANTICIPATED.
Rock & Roll in American Society- Crazy Russian Teacher "You like Beatles? ya?"
Environmental Issues in the Atmosphere- Can we say TREE HUGGING 101?
Education in a Multicultural Soceity- Prof had a son who was a Greek Rastafarian- her stories were awesome. "STAVROS, you're Greek. If a real rasta saw your pathetic excuse for dread locks they would smoke YOU instead of their ganga."
Music for Elementary Educators- Kid you not- most of our grade depended on our ability to play the recorder

So yea. No idea what to do with my life starting June. Will probably get a Florida Teaching Certificate and try that route if all else fails. I would LOVE to do event planning for fund raising for a non-profit or get into ad/marketing. Any ideas? Suggestions? Job Leads? Anyone wanna pay me to just hang out and watch FRIENDS dvd's all day?

Oh- and ALSO!

Me and a couple of friends are starting a business that you will DEFINITELY want to check out! More on that later... :)

It's Been a While!

Wow. I literally have been so busy over the last 6 months that I haven't blogged since NOVEMBER?! Hard to believe I used to be bored all the time. Lots has changed since last time I wrote, so i'll fill you in. I am WEEKS away from being done with my last full semester of college. I have to take Spanish 2 over the summer for 6 weeks and then I am D-O-N-E DONE!!

Heres where it gets incredibly ironic. I am in a class called Communication, Democracy, and Civic Engagement and am actually becoming what some might call- dare I say it...- a Political Activist. Yep. Me. Ms. I hate politics. I am one of the main organizers of the "SOS Project" at FAU. We found out there might not be summer classes offered to FAU students because of the cuts that are facing the state in all areas of the budget, including funding to the State University system. We did something about it and were wildly successful. We hosted the largest student Initiated rally in our schools history, and helped save our summer classes. More than anything else, we stirred up conversation, got students informed and interested, and offered a platform for administration, legislators, faculty, students, and the Board of Trustees to communicate openly to avoid confusion.

I am on a first name basis with Staff members from Legislators offices, some of the Legislators themselves, and members of the media. Twice a week I am organizing (with the help of my classmates....some more than others!) "Town Hall Meetings." Our first rally made the front page of the local newspaper, had hundreds of attendees, and was reported in newspapers and on news stations in the area.

We have a Blog- too (Written mostly by Yours Truly and a couple members of the class). If you want to check it out, the address is http://sosproject.blogspot.com. Pass it on to anyone you know who is a University Student in the state of Florida!

learning has made me lame.

I was on my way to a concert on Thursday and I came to a disturbing realization. School has offically made my brain less fun. This past week was filled with midterms, papers, takehome tests, essays, etc. Five classes, all of them with ridiculous amounts of work, all decided to have everything due at once. I studied, wrote, crammed, and just plain guessed my booty off.

We were in the car listening to John Mayer (does his music make anyone else as calm/happy as it does me?) and there's a line in the song that says "cause when they own the information they can bend it all they want." No lie, I bust out with "what he's talking about actually happens, its a phenomenon called asymmetric information and its very serious when it comes to the media portrayal of political and news issues." HOW LAME AM I?!?! A song that I usually sing along and smile to, now i'm lecturing people about media influence on politics (and we all know how I feel about politics....)

I think i'm going to quit school. Sike! I'm so close to finishing I can TASTE IT! I guess i'll just have to have more fun to balance out the scales....

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.....