The One with The Updates

SPRING BREAK 2007!!! Wooooooo! Show us your boobs!


Okay....now that we have THAT out of our system. It's true, here at Tiny Christian University it is OFFICIALLY Spring Break 2007. What am I doing you ask? I'm spending it on a bus with 52 other people DRIVING to Staten Island and back. WOOOOOOOOOOO!!! (Uh huh.)

Along with it being Spring Break, it is also Concert Choir Spring Tour 2007. This year we are traveling to Staten Island, NY with performances along the way in Indiana, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. (We headed your way Mrs. Chili....I'll wave from New York!) We perform at churches and stay with members of the congregation every night. Essentially, every night I have no idea where exactly I'm going to be laying my head, I just have faith that it will be somewhere warm and safe.

This element is only one of many that makes Tour so intense. (Wait till next year when we tour Europe and do it the EXACT same way!!! YIKES!!) Not only are we performing everyday (sometimes twice), but we are making the entire trip on hope and some prayers. (Granted the churches are arranged ahead of time so it's not like we just show up at some random church expecting food and a place to stay....that's just insanity!)

Last year I was lucky enough to stay with wonderful families in BEAUTIFUL houses every night. One of my Florida families hosted four of us girls for two nights and let us use their car, go to the movies, take naps in the afternoon, sunbathe on their patio, and each of us had her own rooms. NICE!!! (Everyone is praying to be placed with that type of family.)

What am I trying to say in all of this? YAY!!! Tour!!! I'm excited!!! (Okay moving on.)
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Ummmm...since the last time we chatted, I have been placed on the ADD drug Adderall XR. My therapist and I decided to try a new tactic since EVERYTHING else we had tried failed to help my poor GPA. Of course, besides cutting WAAAAAAAAAAY down on the amount of time I spend at Special Man Friend's Bachelor Pad. That helped quite a bit actually! (Go figure.)

I had noticed I was having a problem staying focused back in middle school, but my Mother Figure was pretty adamant that I was just lazy. So I put my nose to the grindstone to achieve the GPA expected by my parents. I graduated with a 3.85 and nearly killed myself in the process. Now at college, I'm finding it almost impossible to keep focused on one thing for too long. My GPA currently?? A 2.0. Uhhh....yeah, clearly there's a problem, so I'm going to see how this med stuff works for a while. (At LEAST a year.)

I'm pretty happy with my decision to go on meds. Thus far I have been able to cope with the side effects. Minor headaches and nausea after my first meal of the day seem to be the two that hit on a consistent basis. My Psychiatrist/Neurologist (we'll call him Dr. Brain) promises that these things will lessen in time.

What am I trying to say in all of this? YAY!!! Drugs!!! I'm excited!!! (Okay moving on.)
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And last but not least, I STILL don't have the solo in choir. What has Dr. Director decided? The freshman and I are going to share it!!!!!! Alright....fine. All I have to say about it is,

WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU THINKING ASSHOLE?!?

(Shhhhh....don't tell SMF that I just swore.)

It's not that I'm a Super Diva (I'm a recovering one actually)! The fact is that I have logged a total of 15 hours working on this stupid solo!!! Snot-nose Freshman?? She'll openly admit she hasn't worked on it at all!!! WTF?!? I mean really! Even the Choir thinks this is more than a little shitty.

*sigh* Fine, dearest Dr. Director. Be that way! I just want to you to know that I am agreeing to this arrangement only under extreme duress.

What am I trying to say in all of this? DAMN YOU DR. DIRECTOR!!!!! DAMN YOU TO HELL!




Ugh....YAY for Tour. :-/

The Sass is Back!

HI!!! Remember me?!? Yeah...I'm still here. I was throttled with some big life changes lately and have been recovering ever since. In short, I was in a whirlwind, now I'm out and HERE I AM...ready to blog. So! Let's get started.


If you want a good test for a possible life partner, travel together. Ummmm....yeah. Wow! It can be wonderfully eye-opening. (I don't mean for this to sound so negatively foreshadowing! Special Man Friend and I are still going strong and quite happy.)

This Christmas he and I spent the holidays with his family in Georgia. It was my first experience with his extended family and also my first EXTENDED stay in The ATL! Let me tell ya'll...I wanna live in the south. Except for the fact that my Midwest Farmer's Daughter accent was quite the novelty and if I had to say the words "pajamas", "Georgia", "soda", and "syrup" one more time I was going to throw grits at someone!

We arrived on the 27th and stayed till the 1st. (We were supposed to leave on the 31st but more on that later.) It didn't take either of us long to figure out that we traveled well together. He schlepped and I walked along looking pretty...it was a wonderful arrangement. ;-)

It was also quickly established that I was "Hold This" girl. Baggage claim tickets, state id's, boarding passes, snacks for the plane, reading materials and other miscellaneous travel necessities were silently handed over his right shoulder with the implication that I was to "Hold This". (Which is fine because I was the one with the newly purchased, oh-so-adorable carry-on bag.)

Anyway....we finally reached ATL and I quickly fell in love. The weather, the houses, the history, the fact that every freaking street is called Peachtree...it was all so wonderful.

Our first stop was the home of SMF's grandparents. They come from old Southern ("properly" pronounced it sound like Suh-thuhn rather than my tendency to say Su-thERRRRn...I come from a city that LOOOOOVES to chew its consonants.)

Mr. and Mrs. Special Man Friend were the ones I was actually most worried about meeting. SMF is their first grandson and by far their favorite. The list of girls deemed worthy of SMF is notoriously short and entries include, Mrs. Special Man Friend herself, SMF's first girlfriend Closet Psycho Bitch, and the Virgin Mary. So I knew going in I was being held to some pretty unrealistic standards. The family joke is that the only reason Mother Theresa is not on the list is because she's Catholic. So...yeah, I was more than a little intimidated.

But after a few rounds of questions that made the Spanish Inquisition look like a friendly chat while drinking tea and eating finger sandwhiches, I was given the "Silent Nod". If an answer to a question was 'correct' there was a tandem Silent Nod from the Grandparents. I received a grand total of 13 Silent Nods!! According to SMF's sister, this is unheard of and I was lucky to escape the house without a ring on my finger. The Grandparents even called SMF to let him know how impressed with me they were. SMF was thrilled and I think secretly I made it through a VERY important hoop.

The day before we left, The Grandparents hosted a Christmas get-together with SMF's paternal cousins in attendance. This group was much more laid back and easy to get along with. They seemed happy to see us together and I was excited to finally meet some of the people SMF grew up with.

Our next stop on The ATL tour was SMF's Older Sis's house. She was thrilled to meet me and admitted that she checked my MySpace page frequently to get a better idea of "that girl SMF is seeing". She and her family are loud, out going and just generally fun people. I had a blast hanging out with SMF's nieces and Younger Sis. He treated all us girls to a showing of Happy Feet where the girls got to share goofy stories of SMF's childhood and he and I found out what's happening on the High School Girl's social scene.

And last but not least, I met SMF's mother. She is a very sweet, good-hearted person. Her book knowledge is lacking but her genuine caring for others is evident. She'll be the first to admit that she wasn't the best mother but she's changing some ways.

SMF is thoroughly pleased with how much his family liked me. For months he had been assuring me that they would love me, but I think even he was unsure. When we were on the plane on the way back, he told me some of the favorite things they asked him about me.

"Is she always so sweet?" (No...I just smell that way! ;-))
"Does she always dress so nice?" (Yeah I try to but there are definitely days I spend in sweats.)
"How does she get her hair so straight and shiny?" (It's called Matrix sleek look Sealing Serum!)
"Does she have sisters?" (Hahaha!! Yes, but we couldn't be MORE different if we tried.)
"Will she let me be a bridesmaid?" (Ummm....we'll see.)
"Has she REALLY never committed a crime?" (Apparently I look TOO innocent...I told you his Grandparents were a little unrealistic!)


All in all it was a success. I'm glad to be back. I've moved back to Tiny Christian University and we had our first day of classes today. On my plate I have:
Cognitive Behavioral Psychology
Concert Choir
Understanding the New Testament
Intro to Health and Wellness (affectionately termed Wealth and Hellness)
Critical Thinking and Writing (please stick bamboo shoots under my nails...it would be waaaay more appealing than taking this class!!!)
Research Methods and Design
1-hr Private Voice Lessons

As you can see, I have more than enough to keep me out of trouble. I should tell SMF to let The Grandparents know that I don't even have TIME to commit a felony and they can rest easy...for now!