Monday, November 29, 2010

on finals

Well, now that it's the week after Thanksgiving break and a week and a half before my first round of finals exams I'm pretty much freaking out.

Hey, high school kids this one is for you:

1. Theres a reason it's called dead week. And it's not meant to just party party party because we have no classes. 85% of the people (the smart ones who will return in the Spring) are holing themselves up in the library, the annex (a study building with hundreds of study rooms that is 24 hours, with many quiet floors), in their dorm or apartment. I have currently been holing up with my future roommate's (whom I will be sharing my first apartment with!) apartment for the past two nights. I had my bio lab final today, and have two finals next week, then three the week after.

2. If you weren't going to class before, get with someone who has been going. That is, assuming the class was large and you're absent wasn't noticed. If you skipped a small class, those kids probably won't help you out... you don't deserve it.

3. If you don't study now, LEARN HOW before you get here. There is NO WAY around having to study. The smartest kids have to study, especially for the harder classes. You may have been the numero uno big shot smarty pants in high school, but all those kids now attend school with you and the courses are meant to challenge the egg heads, leaving the slackers in the dust.

Now back to writing my final Anthropology paper for the semester....

Monday, November 22, 2010

on Thanksgiving Break

Not that mine has started yet or anything (because my profs suck), but I am quite excited.
So, as I sit here not paying attention to my Psych prof, I will be talking about my plans and why I am excited...

1. It starts tomorrow (Tuesday) night. And not only does it start tomorrow night, it starts with the burn of the bonfire I've been working on with the rest of the students at A&M who are involved in Student Bonfire. That also means me coming out as a Green Pot (Administrative and Financial Management) which is also the highest leadership position a female can have. I feel pretty honored I was picked up and I love my three sisters as well. :)

2. Once I get back on Wednesday, I get to bake. And not only all of the things that I posted in my baking post last week, but a few other things came to mind... So I'll be baking all day and late into Wednesday/Early into Thursday, and maybe Thursday morning. I love baking.

3. Thursday will be my three and a half year anniversary with my boyfriend. Which needs no explaining. :)

4. We will BTHO t.u. Considering we're 8-3 and they are 5-2, we are ranked (17th) and they are not, and just the fact that they are t.u. we will beat the hell outta them on Thursday.

And then I come back to campus for a week for finals, then back home until January!

Friday, November 19, 2010

on Fightin' Texas Aggie Student Bonfire

To begin I'm going to attach a picture of the stack as of 6 o'clock this morning:


If you don't know, bonfire at Texas A&M University hold a very special place in the hearts of Aggies new and old, not excluding myself. And considering that yesterday was November 18th, and the 11th anniversary of the Bonfire Stack that fell, I felt this was appropriate. :o)

If you don't know, Texas A&M set the world record for the tallest bonfire in the work in 1969 with a stack that topped at just under 110 ft. Since the tragic collapse, the stack is no longer taller than 55 ft in height, but is still an astounding sight to see. Although 70,000 people don't travel from everywhere to see it burn, we still top out at multiple thousands.

The process and leadership breakdown is located here and a timeline of bonfire from it's very beginnings in 1907 hereAggie Bonfire on Modern Marvels,

One particularly awesome story is of Tim Kerlee, the twelfth student to pass away. He was the most visible of anyone trapped within stack and refused to be pulled from beneath the logs until every man and woman trapped was taken out. His ability to see those stuck under stack coupled with his ability to communicate with everyone outside of stack saved multiple lives. He passed away two days following the fall. A tribute can be seen here.

The final link I would like you to follow is to a fellow blogger's page to here. And finally, the last omitted stanzas from the reading that is carved in the Bonfire memorial on campus.




Then heaven's pearly portals opened.
Hosts of Angels showed the way
For that Fighting Texas Aggie group 
On that final Judgment Day.

When more Aggies came in view,
Twelve dressed in Bonfire gear,
Walking arm and arm, and singing 
Of the School they hold so dear. 

Twelve Aggie voices said "Howdy" 
To the keepers of the Gate. 
"Working hard we just lost track of time, 
We hope we're not too late." 

"It's the Fighting Aggie Bonfire Crew," 
St. Peter said, "Behold,
They're ready to light up Heaven, 
With their courage and faith so bold." 

I would often watch them building
That Stack so large and high
And surely knew the time would come 
They would build it in the sky.

And so the twelve came through the Gates.
St. Peter said, "Don't fear, 
You are just in time for Roll Call" 
One by one, they answered... "Here."


Thursday, November 18, 2010

on baking

I have become quite the adventurous baker in the last few weeks. I began with cookies that weren't so adventurous, but they were a hit with the guys that live in my boyfriends dorm. :)
I've worked my way up through brownies and what-not, then last weekend I baked meringue cookies for the first time. They're a little tough to make because they require a lot of time to set and rise, and tampering with them can make the fluffy meringue fall in on itself. But these were a hit too.
I spent most of the day today checking out recipes for my Thanksgiving contributions and I've narrowed it down to a couple. I have to make quite a bit because I'm baking for my family Thanksgiving and Austin (my boyfriend whom you will hear quite a bit about).

1. Pillow Cookies
photo
2. Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie
photo
3. Brookies
photo
4. Cupcake Stuffed Cupcakes
Cakespy: Cupcake-Stuffed Cupcakes
5. Homemade Thin Mints
Cakespy: Homemade Thin Mints

All of which look delicious... if I have the time between driving home to Katy from College Station and if I can somehow convince my mother to buy me what I need before I get home will depend on if I manage to make all of these things for my favorite two families... I will be reporting back with pictures sometime after next Thursday. :-)

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

on clothes

This post is inspired by the fact that after I got out of the shower today, it took me thirty minutes to decide on what I was wearing. Guess what I chose: nike running shorts and a t-shirt, adorned by my dork glasses.
There are a couple things I've come to realize over the years of actually caring about how I look.

1. I really do care about how I look. I spend quite a bit of thinking time choosing out my outfits each day. This is totally unintentional, which leads me to my next point...
2. Clothes/Getting Cute/Feeling well dressed makes me happy! I'm sure this is the same, but feeling like I look cute and knowing I've gone out of my way to look nice raises my self esteem quite a bit. What kind of girl would pass up an ego boost like that?
3. My style changes by season. In the winter, I'm all about wearing sweaters and being super bundled up, but with gobs of accessories (scarves, vests, etc.) and I wear my makeup pretty dark. In the spring I'm a sun dress wearer, not many accessories and pretty natural makeup. In the summer I'm all about the bohemian look with literally only foundation and one swipe of mascara. In the fall, I'm back to school so that means I'm too lazy to do anything other than shorts (jean or nike running) and one of my millions of A&M t-shirts. :)

This is a very special aspect of my life that I feel most girls relate to.
I mean, who doesn't want to be told that they look cute?

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

on staying up late

I know it's only 10:00 PM and not all that late, especially for a college student, but I will be awake all the way through my classes tomorrow (assuming I don't sleep in them). The reason I will be up late tonight, and many other nights, will be explained in a later blog. Possibly tomorrow's.
But I digress; I do have a few questions to ask to anyone about staying up late:

1. Why does everything happen at night? And when I say everything I mean everything. All of the crazy shenanigans and going-ons of my dorm and other dorms happen at night. All of the crazy running around and creating mischief...  
2. Why is everything more fun at night? Dancing, for one, is infinitely more fun at night; whether it be at the club, in a country bar, or in the car dancing is way more fun at night. Being loud and annoying also seems to be more fun at night as well, which would explain the noise violation I got last weekend...
3. Why are more people out at night? This probably has to do with the elaborations of my first two questions...

The most inconvenient factor regarding staying up late, for me anyway, would be my morning classes. FYI: Morning classes SUCK and don't ever take them. Ever. Staying up late, which is almost inevitable, makes it almost impossible to stay awake for these classes. Not that I have any experience with this. :-) 

on blogging

I have recently felt the urge to take up blogging. I have no idea why, but the idea has seemed pretty appealing.

Being the lame nerd I am, I googled some beginner blogger's tips on blogging etiquette. Here's what I've found.
1. Write for a global audience. Jeez. That's a lot of pressure.
2. Write for a specific topic. Like I'm doing now?
3. Return credit where possible. Oh! I can do that. I am currently taking these tips from this website!
4. Don't steal bandwidth. If I knew what this meant I would try extra hard not to steal it...
5. Don't post anything too emotional. Are you saying that because I am a teenage girl?

A couple of things that I can assure anyone who happens to stumble on (also a great website!) my blog: I can almost guarantee some kind of humor in what I'm posting. I'm a very optimistic individual and try pretty hard to come off that way. So just as an FYI, if I sound angry or mad don't take it seriously. I rarely get that way and as step number 5 says don't post anything too emotional. I promise not to let the teenage girl in me show too much. ;)