It's Been a Long Lonely Time

Zeppelin got  it right -- it has been a long time.  I have not had a personal blog in quite a while now, and it's high time I got back to it.  While I do keep a blog related to my work life on tumblr, and frequently update my Facebook page (if you can even count that as a blog), my life is completely lacking in a typical public journal type of blog.  Of course, my aim here is not solely to entertain you with bits of my life -- though if you find yourself entertained, I am all the more satisfied with my "work."  Instead, my plan is to get into the habit of writing daily, whether it be about how I miss my cats, what it's like going to a college entirely devoid of Y-chromosomes (at least in the traditional sense), or how my latest writing endeavor is turning out, I will write about it.

I am also, to the best of my ability, going to try to avoid gimmicks.  I will be flattered if I attain and retain readers, but the presence of others in this cyberspace is not a main motivation.  The world has more important things going on than the life of a twenty-one-year-old who is still figuring everything out.  That said, if you happen to be reading these words and care to participate in a dialogue, I encourage you to make use of the comment button.  I am always up for a good discussion.

Now that I've gotten some introductions out of the way, I'll tell you a bit about my day, which was tolerably dull and typical.  Today began, for me, at 8:00 this morning when my alarm beeped at me.  I hit the snooze.  This pattern continued until 8:36, at which time I decided it was necessary to get up and get ready for work which, in my case, consists of three hours in the Housing and Residence Life office at my university.  The time I spend in the office for my "HRA (Head Resident Assistant) hours" are intended as time for RAs to come and talk to me, but most of the time, I use the hours to create new door decorations (door decs) for RAs, plan programs for first year students, and figure out the best ways to make my boyfriend laugh.  It's highly productive.

For my office hours this morning, which go from nine until noon, I spent my time creating advertising for some programs in the upcoming months.  I've done a lot of thinking about advertising methods throughout my career as a resident assistant.  It only occurred to me recently to use color palettes to make my advertising more eye-catching.  I have the wedding tags on Pinterest to thank for this particular inspiration.  For much of my grammar school years, I considered going into marketing as a career.  Instead, I did the smart thing and became an English major, for which there is no job market.  More on that later.

Anyway, after my three hours in the office, I went to lunch.  The food was sub-par and unsatisfying as usual.  Consistently, at my dining hall, I eat until I am full to the brim yet I remain unsatisfied.  I constantly feel as if my body is lacking in something, but I can never determine what.  I'm beginning to believe it's protein, but I can't be sure.  During lunch, I had my now-daily cup of chai tea.  Until recently, I was a firm believer that tea tasted like dirt.  I am no longer of this opinion.

Following lunch was the first day of the last week of J-Term classes for me.  In my class, which is titled On the Next Episode: TV as a Narrative Text, we discussed cartoons (specifically, Rugrats) and reality television (specifically, Survivor) before watching the final two episodes of Freaks and Geeks.  Tomorrow we will be presenting on assigned scenes.  I have already prepared two spiderweb plots (as in graphic organizers) in order to assist my presentation.  Yes, they are color-coded.  No, I am not ashamed to say so.  Thursday, our group-created pilot scripts are due.  I am not overly concerned about either of these projects given that J-Term classes are pass/fail.

For those of you who do not know, J-Term classes are essentially classes which run through the month of January and end.  Spring semester begins in February.  J-Terms typically consist of one class for each student, rather than a "full" schedule.  However, these classes meet more frequently than a typical schedule.  At my university, these classes tend to be on more trivial and "fun" subjects than regular-semester classes.  Hence my class on television, during which we spent the most time watching television.

After class, I waited half-an-hour before the dining hall opened.  I called my mother to check in on her as she has a particularly nasty cold.  Dinner was about as good as lunch -- edible, but only just.  (This is not to say that I don't appreciate the work the people who provide food for me daily -- I do, really.  I understand that they do not necessarily have control over what food they make.)

This is the journal I use regularly and
brought with me to my meet up.

I planned to go to a meet up for writers downtown after dinner and a friend came along.  We got somewhat lost on the way there and drove past the place three times, but she was amused by my one-sided conversations with other drivers. I was glad to be entertaining, if nothing else.

The meet up itself was organized and, well, meeting by 6:40 or so, after we had all found each other staring awkwardly and waiting for the first person to make a move.  Conversation wasn't bad, though because of a raging headache that's been plaguing me almost all day, I found I wasn't quite as able to assert my place in conversation as I wanted.  Next time will be better.

Speaking of the headache, I had thought it might be either a caffeine headache or a dehydration headache.  I had plenty of water and caffeine, today, however.  After taking some ibuprofen (among the other medication I take daily, which I'm sure I'll talk more about in the future) and relaxing in bed while writing, I'm feeling better, if a little tired.

That said, I am off to do other things for the rest of my evening, which may or may not consist of the homework I have been assigned.