Holy Moses

I hope I don't get sued for blog neglect. I'm sure there is no such thing, but if there was, I'm sure I'd be convicted.

So what has happened since March 20, 2010? In two words that people often try to make one: a lot.

I think my neglect was mostly fueled by Choir Tour. I couldn't really update while I was on choir tour, and when I came back, I was up to my eyebrows in make up homework. It hasn't been constant since then, but I just kind of forgot about this. Also, I took a couple internet fasts, and my computer is broken right now. (I'm on Madee's) So to make up for this neglect, let's see if we can break up my life into different components and summarize.

Social:

Well, my social life actually took a hit after choir tour, which made things kind of difficult, but I think things are normal again, or at least close to. Things are actually pretty good in this area of my life right now. I talked to Adelyn on the phone for an hour the other day which was nice cuz I really haven't hardly talked to her since New Years. My friends here at SAU are doing pretty well. I've spent a lot more quality time with the roommates which has really made me happy. I've been busy chipping, pranking, and puddle jumping.

Academic:

It's been sort of bipolar. One week I will be doing homework in just about every spare moment I have and still barely be cutting it, and then the next week I'll have nothing and will end up watching 5 episodes of Bones in one day because I cannot think of anything else to do. You might think that I should mix the two and during the weeks I have nothing, start working on the stuff that makes the other weeks so overwhelming. I wish so greatly my brain worked this way, but I have zero focus and close to zero quality if I have zero pressure. However, my best work occurs under great pressure, usually under the pressure of procrastination. So such is life : ) These next two weeks are gonna be weeks where I'm living in the library because they are the last two. Here comes finals, all the final projects, and final papers, including a 20-25 page paper for Human Rights. The way it looks, mine will be closer to 25 than 20. I have about 13 pages done. So I say bring it on! And then summer : )

Family:

Well everything was fine until about 2 weeks ago? Maybe three now? I'm not sure. My mother's half sister died rather suddenly, so her and her brothers and mother went to the funeral which was in Illinois. As if this wasn't tragic enough, the morning of the funeral as they were preparing to leave the hotel, my Great Uncle Ed landed himself behind the wheel of a car in the parking lot, and being that he is in his 90's and not allowed to drive, ending up hitting both of my uncle's. Uncle Ron was okay besides being a little shaken up, but Uncle Dave's knee was pinned between another car, and was broken in 3 places. They've been debating whether or not he needs surgery, but have finally concluded he doesn't. Next week he starts physical therapy. Thank God, he's okay, but it was a rather traumatic week for the family. In other news, tomorrow I'm running a 5K with my sister, her husband, and step-son, and then heading to my house to celebrate my nephew's ninth birthday with the rest of the family. I'm looking forward to seeing everybody, but not so much the 5K.

Athletics:

Well, we lost the intramural basketball championship by 1 point. We should of had it, but I guess that team hadn't won anything this year so it's okay. Every team deserves a t-shirt I suppose. After that was ultimate frisbee. I like ultimate frisbee, but the information wasn't spread very well, so by time I was ready to play, our team had lost twice and was out of the tournament. After that was futbalito. All of the games were forfeited except for the Delpha vs Apts/K House/ Commuter game, and we won 8-0. They decided to cancel the tournament and declare us the champions, so we got our second shirts of the year after all : ) They are orange. There is a discrepancy of whether it is orange like an orange, or orange like a highlighter. I would say it's a highlighter. Also, I have joined a coed soccer club which I am INCREDIBLY excited about. It's about as close to high school soccer as I'm gonna get. We have practices of which I can make about 2 a week, and then we have games on Friday afternoons. Unfortunately, there are only two teams, so each of our games is against the same team, but it's still so much fun and better than intramurals. I feel like I'm on a real team again, and it's been really fun. Still rocking my beastly defensive skills, against guys even. We won the first game, 4-3, and last night we tied apparently 5-5. Our last game of the year is next week, but it continues next year. Our team name is Tropic Thunder--a great soccer team named after a stupid movie. Oh well.

Music:

Normally, this wouldn't be a category, but because of my extra free time created by various internet and facebook fasts, I've been filling those spaces quite a bit with music. Alas, I have written some songs, which I am crazy pumped about. And I am pleased to say that I have come across the "I Hate Boys" song that every female artist is entitled to. Carrie Underwood has"Before He Cheats," Beyonce has "Irreplaceable," Taylor Swift has "Picture to Burn," and Kelsey Janaye Lehman has "Lies and Lines." I'm hoping to record again either in August or September, and on this cd, I'm going to try and have every instrument I know how to play used in at least one song. I'm also gonna try to use some more styles. I've got a sort of jazzish song with a trumpet part, a folk piece, a couple alternative bits as well as the typical acoustic/piano stuff that I'm used to. I'm pretty excited about this. I just hope I can get it all done with camp and all that stuff. Also, I played in my first ever Open Mic Night at Spring Arbor! Wesley and I played "Your Ex-Lover is Dead" by Stars.

Well I can't think of too many more aspects of my life, and I really need to go pack to go home to get ready for this dang 5K. It starts at 9 in the morning. As if running 3 miles without training for it first wasn't death-like enough. Oh well. I'm back! We'll see if we can get a few posts in during these last two weeks of sophomore year.

-Trash #10

Day 8: Home in Lansing, Michigan

Well, it was as I promised, and 12 hours of today was spent in a car. We left Memphis I think around 10:30 or 11, which was 11:30 or 12 in Michigan time. We got home about a quarter to midnight. The most amazing thing was that we didn't kill each other.

There's not a whole lot to say about today. I slept for the first 3 hours because the fan wasn't too loud in the room last night either, and at one point my dad sounded similar to the Memphis Tigers. After my nap, I rode for another few hours, while keeping tabs on March Madness, and reading some for my classes. I did not even get a quarter done what I was hoping to get done this Spring Break. I'm gonna pay for that too... Oh well. There really wasn't that much time. We stopped at a reststop in Indiana, and they had those crazy hydro-hand driers that pretty much blows your skin off. It sounded like planes were taking off! I was a little tempted to put my face underneath it, but I refrained. I also watched most of Mean Girls before I switched with my mom and drove the rest of the way home. I had a good talk with my mom, so that was nice, and we ate lunch at Sonic in Elizabethtown, which was cool because I've always wanted to eat at Sonic, and I got too see Elizabethtown. Elizabethtown wasn't all that exciting honestly. We would have taken the scenic route they had suggested and seen more, but we did want to get home before midnight, and we barely made it as it was. I did recognize it a little bit, though, from the movie. And Sonic was good. Their little talky box thing was like, impossible to understand. It sounded like the teacher from Charlie Brown. But the burger, slushy, and tots we got from there were pretty good.

As soon as we crossed the Michigan border, there were seriously like, 5 cops withint 30 miles! It was insane. Bumped down the cruise control from 75 to 73, just to be safe. It's not like we're on the Mexican border or anything, and Canada is on the other side. You know we really should tighten up that Canadian border so we don't get all these immigrants like Mr.Kleyn. Totally kidding. I actually really like Canadians. I secretly want to marry one. That or an Asian.... we'll talk about that some other time.

We pulled into the driveway around 11:45 and drug all our stuff in. I whipped up some guacamole, and watched the last minute and a half of the Kansas-Northern Iowa game online. And that, my friends, is the end of the Epic Lehman Excursion across Southern United States. And what a roadtrip it was. At first I thought it might be irritating driving every day and not staying in one place very long, but I really quite enjoyed it. There were lots of laughs, and I saw a whole lot that I've never seen before. Definitely one of my favorite trips I've been on, as I said last night. I think it means a little more after having driving 12 hours on the last day. My favorite city would probably be a tie between New Orleans and San Antonio. Both were very unique. I liked the flavor and feel of New Orleans, but I loved the scenery of San Antonio. Memphis was the city I was most surprised by, as well as Biloxi. Favorite food probably was the tacos from the Guadalahara Grill in San Antonio. Favorite state would be Texas. Most terrifying state to drive in would also be Texas, specifically Houston. Drunkest city was Nashville : ) I can't think of any other awards to give, but we'll see if I come up with any others.

We graced 10 states with our presence, crossed 14 borders, slept in 6 beds over a span of 8 days with a remainder of 4 pictures left on the SD card in my camera. People told my mother our trip was rather ambitious, but I think it was really quite a great trip. I don't regret a second of it, or a single decision my mother made : ) It opened up my eyes, and, as cheesy as it sounds, refreshed my heart a little bit. What a great Spring Break 2010. Sad to see it go, but it does feel nice to have my own bed without my parents snoring it up, and to be able to use the bathroom and not smell like that distinct hotel soap smell. Lansing may not have a river walk, or jazz bands playing everywhere, or any important historical landmarks or big tourist attractions, but it's home.

Tomorrow, I've got to do some laundry, and the whole family (hopefully) is coming around 2 to celebrate Kris and my birthdays, as well as watch the Michigan State Spartans compete with the Maryland Terrapins in a (hopefully) good game of basketball. After that, I am headed back to the Arbor to get in the swing of things for a few days until I'm back on the road again for choir tour. That tour won't be quite as exciting though.... Oh well.

Well I am going to bed, and I have the feeling I am going to sleep GREAT and late : )

Thanks to my readers. Hope it was interesting enough : )

Stay sweet (sideways peace sign)

Day 7: Memphis, Tennessee

Happy birthday to me, I'm in Memphis, Tennessee, I'm no longer a teenager, I am freaking twenty

Guess twenty doesn't make me any more creative or less cheesy. Oh well. SOOOOOOOOOOO

Last night was even worse than I thought. I could not sleep for the life of me. Through headphones and earplugs, and television, I could still hear my parents snoring. AHHH!!! I FINALLY fell asleep, after I asked my mom if I could sleep in the lobby or the car. She then stayed awake and poked my dad long enough until I fell asleep. I think my dad was bothered by that, because apparently after one time, he said, "I'm just breathing!" We had to get up earlier today, which kinda sucked. My mom got me a waffle in the shape of Texas. See unlike Michigan, the people that live in Texas actually like their state. They even make waffles shaped out of their state. Imagine that. Well we left around 10:30 or 11:00. Needless to say, I slept for a bit of the stretch, considering winkin and blinkin made it hard for me to nod off last night. That was cheesy. I apologize.

We drove through the rest of Texas, and came to Arkansas. The city at the border is called Texarkana. Kinda weird. Arkansas is where Angie should live cuz they're kinda corny. One of their other cities is called Arkadelphia, Hope, and Friendship. Weird city names. We stopped at a gas station in the middle of nowhere. They only managed to confirm my stereotype that Arkansas is kinda weird. We drove past Little Rock. That was about as exciting as it got. Otherwise, it was mostly grass and trees. Which was pretty I guess. But they are hicks out there. I asked my parents if Kennedy was a liked president, and my dad proceeded to tell me everything he knew about Kennedy, including his similarities to Obama, for like, 10 minutes. He also lectured me later about the health care plan. Oh father. About 100 miles west of Memphis, I switched with my momma and drove the rest of the way to Memphis. I was kind of scared after the whole Houston experience, but Memphis was much easier to navigate than friggen Houston. So that was good. However, I didn't know where my sunglasses were, so I spent the whole time trying to balance my parents "sunglasses" on my nose. They both have glasses, so they have these sunglasses that slide behind their glasses, but they have no ear things. So that was pretty cool...

Memphis is the shiz. I liked the city quite a bit. It was kind of like a mix of Old Town in Lansing during JazzFest, and Times Square. They had lots of neon lights and stuff, and they had a bunch of jazz musicians just on the street. Although I'm getting ahead of myself here. First we stopped at the welcome center. It was really quite pretty. It was on the Mississippi River, which is the border of Arkansas and Tennessee. They had some cool displays and a statue of BB King and Elvis. But the river was really pretty looking with the big bridge from I-40, and they also had the most beautiful tulip trees. We hopped back in the car, and headed to Beal street, which is what reminded me of Old Town and Times Square. I got a couple keychains, one that said Memphis on it and such, and then a guitar shaped one. There were a ton of people there tonight. I guess it was a Friday night, but there was also a John Mayer concert going on. We went in another store, which was one part sketchy but another part cool. It was cool because the ceiling was lined with drumheads from different bands and their signatures, and there were also a bunch of guitars on the walls signed by famous guitarists, including Justin Timberlake : ) It was sketchy cuz it smelled like pot. We kind of just walked down and saw what there was to see. We also discovered the headquarters of Gibson. Kelsey drooled. For those of you who don't know, Gibson is a brand of really nice guitars. Unfortunately, they were closed so I couldn't go in, but I looked in the windows : ) It was pretty cool.

We walked down to the end of the exciting part of the street, and there were two jazz bands just playing outside. Full band, just on the sidewalk. They were good too. We walked back up, and there was a band inside by a pavillion. They were amazing. They sounded really good together, and were really enjoyable. We stayed and listened to them for a bit. There were also these kids doing like, 10 straight backflips down the street. It was CRAZY!!! I got a video. We explored around Memphis for probably about two hours, and then headed back to the car and attempted to find our motel. We followed where the parking guy told us to go, but screwed it up somehow. We whipped out the phone gps, which, as my mother described it, led us halfway across the country before we finally found the highway we were looking for. It was hilarious. I thought maybe it was like the time when I was trying to find Good Will, and ended up at someone's house who apparently had their own private business called Good Will Printing. We went all over the place. We did, however, finally find our motel. Memphis is a little ghetto though. We got to our room, which was literally the farthest room from the front desk (which is a little scary in and of itself,) and then discovered a parole notice on the door. Needless to say, this freaked my mom out a little bit, so we got a different room. It's still a ways from the front desk, but at least there's no ex-con, parole violators living in it. My parents will just have to drive to get breakfast tomorrow.

We got in our room in time to let the Spartans scare us half to death, but pull off a win. That was about 9:00, and then we went to find a place to eat. We ended up at Perkins. I got birthday steak, which was very good, as well as a piece of peanut butter cream pie, which was delicious as well. We came back to the motel, watched a little more basketball, and then my parents went to sleep and I talked to Livia on the phone. And now I am certainly ready to head to bed, especially considering the day we have tomorrow....

We've got about 12 hours of driving tomorrow, and we lose an hour. It might very well be 11 or 12 by time we get home. That's a crapload of driving. I'm guessing I'll be watching some movies. We won't be sightseeing in any cities, but some of the funnier moments occur in the car anyway, so I'm sure it will still be entertaining.

I overall, had a very good birthday, and this trip was definitely up there in my favorites. Not that I've really had a trip I didn't like, but this one was really pretty cool. Visited lots of cool places, and I wasn't bored to death being alone with my parents like I was afraid I might be. So cool beans : ) I'm a lucky girl. I got some really nice wallposts, texts, and inbox messages from my friends on my birthday, including some from some of those I haven't heard from in awhile, and it reminded me that I am loved and appreciated. And what on earth more could you ask for on your birthday?!? It's good to be reminded of that now and then. That really made my birthday what it was. Memphis being a cool city certainly didn't hurt either : )

-Concensus: Arkansas is pretty hick-ish, and Memphis is a little ghetto, but Memphis really is a pretty neat city. My mom said she'd never want to live here, but I don't think I'd mind it a whole lot. I'm really just a sucker for jazz. There's something beautiful about it. There's really something beautiful about live music anyway, but seeing some blues in it's "birthplace" is something special.

-Movies Watched: none, but I'll have plenty of time tomorrow

-States Covered: add Arkansas to the mix. And the final states list will read: Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, and Arkansas. That's 10 freaking states. Holy cow. And add Little Rock and Memphis to the list of cities. Maybe I'll cover that sucker of a list tomorrow.

And that concludes my 20th birthday. What a day.

Day 6: Dallas, Texas

Last day of Texas, and last day of twenty. Holy Moly

I don't remember exactly what time we left. I think I woke up just a little before 11, and then I went and laid out on my other side for about half an hour. I don't think I got any color though. I just can't win. 30 minutes means no color, but 1 hour means burned out of my mind. Grr. Anyway, we packed up, and headed out. We stopped at walmart and got some groceries, but more specifically, I got some aloe vera and vitamin E lotion. I've pretty much been bathing in it all day. It's supposed to keep my tan, which is nice, but it's not particularly soothing. Doesn't really smell all that great either. We'll see if I actually keep the tan. I'm hoping this burn will be tan by tomorrow. It really looks kinda dumb, and it's worse on my left side for some reason. Oh well. I'm hoping I don't peel. My mom doesn't seem to think it looks too bad, so we'll have to see. All this from one hour in the sun. Gee whiz. Sun must be hotter here. And, better than the aloe vera, is the, *drum roll please* avacados!!!!! They were 50 cents a piece! I couldn't believe it! So cheap. So we got a couple, and tomorrow, I'm gonna make me some birthday guacamole. Marvelousssssssss

So after walmart, we made our way over to Dallas. I think it was about 6 hours? I actually didn't sleep at all this trip. I tell you what. I like Texas and all, but I don't think I'd ever move here solely for the reason that the traffic and roads and driving here is just nuts! It was a Thursday afternoon, and there was so much traffic! I watched a couple movies to pass the time. We stopped at a "picnic area" off the side of the road. What a joke! Ha I guess if the only parameters for a picnic area is a picnic table, it fit. It was pretty ridiculous. We had a nice view of the highway congested with crazy Texan drivers, and a haunted hay ride park. Oh we also got to watch a guy pull off and go pee behind a bush. That was nice with my sandwich. Shortly after that, we stopped for gas. I went to go use the bathroom.... it smelled horrible. I think it really might have been the worst smelling bathroom I've ever smelled. Like someone crapped all over the floor or something. So I passed, cuz I thought we were supposed to get to our hotel in like, an hour and a half. That was false. But I made it, lol. Despite the fact that some crazy chick decided to almost kill is by coming into our line exactly where our car was. Little terrifying. Pretty much stopped my heart for a second. But I will live to see 20 : )

We stopped in downtown Dallas, and checked the Kennedy Assassination scene. We looked at the memorial, which was kind of weird, but solemn and quiet at the same time, and then checked out where it actually happened. I learned a lot. It was really sad. I guess it was a lot the same for my mom as Ground zero would be for me. She remembered where she was when she found out, and they actually went out and bought a television when it happened so they could hear what was going on. It was pretty crazy. It made me feel so bad for Jackie Kennedy. That would just be horrible. It was very interesting to see all of that stuff and learn some stuff. After seeing the memorial and the actual place where it happened, we headed to our hotel. We got a little lost, but not past what my phone gps could handle. I really don't know what we would have done this trip without it. I was like map from Dora the Explorer this trip. Except I didn't deliver the directions in threes, or in song. Thank God. I may have punched myself. "Dad, to get to the hotel we need to look for the tree, the rock, and big green fence. Tree, rock, big green fence. Tree, rock, big green fence! Yeah!!!"

We found our hotel, and I guess while my parents were carrying stuff to the room, the guy asked them if we wanted a handicapped room... my mom wasn't sure how to take that. We watched a little basketball, and then went to Cheddars. The elevator here is pretty crazy. It's very abrupt whenever it stops. I felt like I might die. I said that it was like dad's driving. He proceeded to "stick em up" like he wanted to box me in the elevator. It was pretty funny. I guess that's where I get it from : ) So anyways... Cheddars... I don't mean to sound horrible, but there were a ton of black people there. More black than white. It was interesting. We got tortilla chips and artichoke dip for an appetizer and that was wonderful, and then I got chicken tenders. I didn't eat a whole lot of them cuz I had so much artichoke dip, but I think I'll eat it for lunch tomorrow.

We came back to the hotel, and watched a bunch of March Madness. There have been so many upsets this year! My bracket is already a huge mess. Friggen Marquette and Georgetown screwed me over! I should probably just use it as toilet paper. There were some really good games though. I love my family, haha. All of us just laying in our beds, watching basketball, screaming at the TV, and looking sorrowfully at our brackets.

I've gotten a bed back in this room, but the heater/air conditioner here doesn't work, so I don't have the fun noise to drown their snoring out... : ( that and there is no A&E so I can't watch CSI or shows like that. I'm super sad too because they had a Criminal Minds marathon, and I like that show a lot. This could be a rough night. And I think the sink just hissed at me. Now I'm kind of scared...

Tomorrow is a big driving day. About 8 hours it what my mom guesses. Nothing better for your birthday than 8+ hours of driving. However, it does mean I'll get to spend my 20th birthday dinner in downtown Memphis, probably listening to some sweet jazz bands, so that should be pretty cool. Man I really get around for my birthdays. Last year, NYC, this year, Texas, Arkansas, and Memphis, Tennessee. And hopefully MSU will give me a nice birthday present of a win tomorrow. Please, boys, please.

I've already gotten two phonecalls saying happy birthday : ) so that's been nice. I've got some good friends. I'm happy to see 19 go. Teenagerdom, though, not neessarily. I might miss that a little.

Well I'm going to get some shut eye cuz mom wants to head off a little earlier tomorrow.

-Concensus: Texas driving is crazy, and when I first heard we were checking out the JFK assassination memorial, I wasn't like, super excited about it or anything, but it ended up being quite interesting. Also, my bracket is destroyed, and I love March Madness : )

-Movies Watched: How to Lose A Guy in 10 Days, and Superstar. Both HILARIOUS

-States Covered: still the same list, but add Austin, Waco, and Dallas, Texas to the mix of cities. Cool beans.

I am sad that this trip is nearing its end. It's been pretty fun getting a taste of American cities, and what they have to offer. It's like a chili cookoff, and I'm the judge. Except I like traveling. I don't like chili much. Well. Happy birthday to me : ) see you from Tennessee. Oh my gosh. I am the freaking map. I just rhymed...

Day 5: San Antonio Part 2

This day started out pretty nice because I slept in today. It was marvelous. Like seriously wonderful. I totally would have kept sleeping, but my mom woke me up to catch some sun. So I did. I laid out for about an hour by the pool. It was so nice, being in the sunshine outside in a swimsuit, and not being cold. Actually, I got a little warm. The pool was too cold, so I cooled off by getting in the hot tub(?) which at first just felt way too hot, but then it felt pretty good. I cooled off when I got out though. Haha unfortunately, I got myself a nice sunburn on my cheeks, my chest, and my shoulders. Guess that's what I get for being white. Not that I can help it. Still, FIRST SKIN PIGMINTATION CHANGE OF 2010 : )

After that, we headed back towards downtown. Well sort of. First we headed a little south of downtown to a mission. I'm pretty sure it was the San Jose mission. It was pretty cool. It was like a big rectangle, and I think three of the sides were a bunch of little houses, or something like that. Then there was a big church, and the church was really beautiful. They still hold services there. It was pretty neat though. After that, we headed into downtown and went back to the Alamo, except today we actually got to go inside of it. It would have been a little cooler if it weren't for the elementary school's worth of kids running around in it. There were so many people, especially kids, who I don't think quite understood where they were. Oh well. The inside kind of reminded me of the secret garden, except it wasn't must of a secret. It was really beautiful though. Oh, and just so everyone knows, I saw lots of cactus today, up close and personal and I got some pictures : ) YAY cactus! haha I'm a dork.

After the Alamo, we went to a souvenier shop, and my mom got Kacie and JD some blankets, and I got a texas orange texas shirt, and an Alamo Bowl Michigan State shirt. The guy saw my mom's shirt, (she was wearing her Michigan State shirt for St. Patty's day) and gave it to us for like, half price. So that was kinda cool. Yay for shirts! Haha. My dad went to bring that stuff back to the car at the parking ramp, and I went in a shop and got some gifts for some friends : ) can't tell what they are though... has to be a surprise! The funniest item in the store was this pair of whitey tighty briefs with handles on them that said "Hillbilly Brief Case." Made me lol a little. So I purchased the stuff, and we headed to the riverwalk.

Today we actually took the boat ride through, and that was pretty neat. We waited in line forever to get our tickets, and then waited in line forever to get on the boat. It was a little disappointing cuz we were in the middle, near the back, so we couldn't see as well, but it was still pretty sweet. Our tour guide's name was Rusty. He was pretty cool. Typical tour guide: cheesy jokes, overly enthusiastic, but informative. I learned some pretty cool stuff on the tour. He did tell one funny joke. What do you call bear's without teeth? Gummy bears. There's a knee slapper, in case you needed one. The riverwalk seriously is a pretty neat idea though. I've said it like, a thousand times, but it's really quite beautiful. I think I drove the passangers next to us crazy, trying to take pictures and stuff. Oh well. Had to be as much of a tourist as possible.

The tour ride lasted about 35 minutes, and after we got off, we walked by the river for a bit, and then found a mexican place on the street. Once again, marvelous food. I got two tacos with EXQUISITE guacamole. Nothing like good guacamole. Our poor waiter was running all over the place. I guess they were short-staffed, and it didn't seem like his coworkers cared for him much. Oh well. Food was good : )

We walked around the river a little more, and found a mall that was off of it. We explored the mall a bit, and then found an ice cream place. Got me some cake batter ice cream with chocolate chip cookie dough and oreos. Mmmm tasty : ) Don't ask Fergie how to spell tasty. She spells it wrong. She's better at spelling glamorous though. And Fergalicious, though I don't know when you'd ever use that in a sentence. We walked around downtown and little more, bade our farewells to the beautiful riverwalk and beautiful downtown San Antonio, and drove back to our hotel. And of course, I've watched some more t.v. I'll see how comfortable I can get sleeping tonight, with my sunburn and all. I'm gonna get up at 11, lay out in the sun (this time, on my other side, see if we can even things out a lil) and then we're off to Dallas. I guess it's about 4 hours, so hopefully we'll get to check out Dallas a little too. There's isn't really any new concensus, any new cities or states, so we can just skip all that stuff. No new movies either.

I'm going to fill out my March Madness bracket, and call it a day.

Goodnight San Antonio. I greatly enjoyed your city : )

Oh, and Happy Opening Day of March Madness!!!!

Day 4: San Antonio, Texas

Well today was another good day. Each day I realize more and more how lame my state is. Haha jk. But seriously.

We left I think around 11 or 11:30. I'm pretty sure it was 11:30. We drove for about 3 and a half hours, and I slept most of it. San Antonio's highways are just about as dicey and confusing as Houston's, but at least this time I wasn't driving. My mother did manage to pick the least accessible hotel in San Antonio. We had the hardest time figuring out how to get to it. We could see it, and see that the parking lot was off of a one way street, but we could not figure out how to get on the one way street! It was pretty crazy. But we eventually figured it out.

We got to the hotel, and it's kind of a let down. First of all, I was expecting my own room. Well, it's basically just one big room with an arch over my parents side. No way to actually separate them. There are two tv's, literally within 10 feet of each other, without a wall. So basically, not only do I still have to share a room with my parents, but I have to sleep on a couch instead of a bed. Oh well. Such is life.

I took a long shower, and then we headed off for downtown San Antonio. We drove around for a bit until we found a parking garage. We walked around, and once again, it's a pretty cool city. One street was pretty funny. There was a mirror maze and a Riply's believe it or not, a Guinness World Records museum, and a wax museum, which had a statue of Predator right in the window. I texted Dustyn to let him know. Haha oh my. We walked over to the Alamo. It was kind of weird because this big historical thing was just in the middle of downtown, but the Alamo was actually cooler than I was expecting. I guess I always do find historical stuff to be more interesting than I give credit. I learned that David Crockett died there. I didn't even know he was a real person. We did a musical called Tall Tales and Heroes in elementary school, and he was in it, so I just assumed he was a tall tale. Turns out he was a realy life hero. Learn something every day.

So I never realized that the stereotype that Texans wear cowboy hats is true! I guess not everyone was wearing one, but there were a lot. Also, I saw cactus today! I never saw one that I could take a picture of cuz they were mostly on the side of the road, zooming past at 70 mph, which was pretty sad, but nonetheless, Kelsey saw cactus. This is cool, okay? I don't think I've ever seen wildlife cactus before. Also, how sweet is this, there was a guy on a street corner doing tricks with his lasso. Never seen that before either.

I'm getting off topic here. After checking out the Alamo, we went and walked down the Riverwalk. I didn't exactly know what to expect for this. I figured it was some boardwalk or something like that. This riverwalk is AWESOME! It's like a mini Venice right in the middle of downtown San Antonio. It's super pretty at night too, with the pretty water and the lights. Basically just amazing. I wish I could do a better job of describing it, but it really is pretty cool. And there's a bunch of Tex-Mex restaurants and other shops lining the river. I wish I could have taken pictures of how beautiful it was, but some things just can't be captured with a camera. We saw a couple mariachi bands too, and that was pretty neat. I've never seen a live mariachi band before. We walked for awhile, and then found a Texican place on the river. We put in our reservation, and my dad waited nearby to hear our name get called, and my mom and I checked out a couple shops. Then we sat down to eat. We got a seat outside by(ish) the river. I got some chicken enchiladas and refried beans and spanish rice. SOOO good! Authentic tex mex. Seriously great.

After dinner, we walked back down to the shop, and bought me an authentic cowgirl hat, purchased right in San Antonio, Texas. Haha my momma says it's cute. I like it, though I don't think I'll ever wear it in Michigan. I think Texas has brought out my inner redneck woman. I might even let out a "hell yeah." : ) I also another keychain with a picture of the Alamo and the riverwalk on it, which was pretty perfect. Then we walked down the riverwalk a little further, and miraculously stumbled on the street our parking ramp was on. So we got in the car, and drove back to our hotel. And I watched a couple episodes of Criminal Minds and Now what will be two episodes of CSI Miami. Good day. Another cool city. Really cool city. Very unique.

This roadtrip has made me appreciate my country. There are a TON of really cool cities, and each one has their own flavor, their own point of pride, their own specialty. I may not agree with the politics, all the policies, or all the goals and values of my country, but I do agree with and appreciate the beauty and the capability of the people in this country.

Alright, well that's a basic summary of today's events. No interesting stories, really. Just a good day in a neat city. You know. Well, tomorrow, we're probably gonna do just about the same thing, except in greater detail. We're gonna go INSIDE the Alamo, and take a boat tour down the Riverwalk. So that'll be pretty cool. I'm guessing we'll figure out some other stuff to do too.

Goodnight from San Antonio.

-Concensus: San Antonio is another city that is like none other I've been to. It has this Mexican , western vibe, but at the same time, this beautiful and elegant Italian feel, almost even tropical by the riverwalk. Beautiful, clean city. And I will remember the Alamo : )

-Movies Watched: none. had no time.

-States Covered: same list as yesterday, but San Antonio was added to the list of visited cities.

Happy Saint Patty's Day tomorrow!!! Night, ya'll

Day 3: Houston, Texas

Ooo de lolly ooo de lolly, golly what a day.

Today was definitely my favorite day so far. We covered a lot of awesome places today, and I think I might have even gotten a little sun : )

We left closer to 10:30 this morning, and this time we actually brought all of our belongings with us. We drove probably for about an hour, and then stopped in Biloxi on the beach. It was really pretty out, and a decent temperature, though the water was pretty cold. I walked on the beach a little bit, snapped some pictures, and then we went to a souvenier shop. I got a keychain, and a stuffed animal dog that looks a whole lot like Shelby and has ears like her. That was a good find : ) We drove around the city a little bit to see the effects of Hurricane Katrina, and then made our way to New Orleans. We tried quite a few times to get my dad to say it right. We never succeeded. It kind of reminded me of the scene in My Big Fat Greek Wedding where Ian's parents try to get the Greeks to pronounce bundt cake correctly.

New Orleans was AWESOME! We drove around for a little bit and finally parked on a random street and got out of the car. We walked around and it was so cool. The weather was PERFECT, about 70-75 degrees and sunny. There was lots of people, and a bunch of random street musicians, mostly jazz and a little bluegrass. There was also a guy who was one of those human statues. He was the best one I have ever seen. He was midway up a ladder that was just standing in the middle of the street, not propped against anything, balancing a board on his shoulder. I had no idea he was a real person at first! I am so mad because my camera decided to stop working at that point so I never got a good picture. It was so amazing. We stopped in a few shops, and I got another keychain (if you haven't figured out yet, I'm collecting keychains from the places we've been.) Saw some of the crazy sweet mardi gras masks and beads. We then walked down to Jackson Square.

Jackson Square was amazing. I really just liked the overall flavor of New Orleans. Jazz music, people, art, palm trees. It was similar to New York but at the same time just not the same. There was palm trees : ) No subway though. We also went to Cafe Du Monde and got beignet's and coffee. Magnificent! I can't imagine working there though. It's sort of like a pavilion, because it's outside but it has a roof. You seat yourself, but it was absolutely packed. There was a line all the way down the block. (My dad and I actually went up these stairs and looked at the Mississippi River while my mom stood in line.) But the way it works is you stand in line and wait for awhile until you see an open table, whether it's been cleared off or not, and go sit at it. Then someone comes and asks you what you want. You order and it's there. I have no idea how they keep track of what tables they have, how much it costs or anything. It's so chill and relaxed but chaotic at the same time. The beignet's were marvelous. After that, we walked down to Bourbon street and walked a couple blocks. We stopped in one of the shops and I bought a T-shirt. It's pretty sweet : ) Bourbon street wasn't really all that exciting. Guess you have to be there for Mardis Gras. We walked back to our car, got in, and figured our way out. We were in New Orleans for a little over three hours. It is definitely up there in my favorite cities. There's just no place quite like it. And I am now pretty happy that the Saints won : ) There's saints stuff EVERYWHERE! But their hometown seems pretty proud of em. Who Dat?

By this point, I think it was about 4:00 and we hadn't made it that far. We drove for quite some time, and then stopped for a bathroom, dinner at McDonalds, and WalMart for flip flops. We got back on the road and drove through the swampy mess of Louisiana. There was a bunch of rice fields which was kind of cool. Way better than Farmville, haha. The trip tic said to watch for Aligators. I didn't really want to see one up close, but I wouldn't have minded seeing one from the car, but we didn't. We crossed the Mississippi River. I told Olivia that I saw Jim and Huck floating down on a raft, naked. She said it would be a story to tell the grandkids. There was a beautiful sunset over the Lousiana horizon. We stopped for gas about 25 miles shy of the Texas border, and I drove. This was of course after my dad somehow managed to spray my mother with gasoline. She wasn't happy, and he was flabberghasted, swearing he didn't touch anything. I thought it was funny, except for the fact that our car then kinda smelled bad.

Anyways, I drove. We crossed the Texas border, and Texas has some pretty weird roads, I tell ya what. We must have been on a couple bridges or something, but the bridges don't have paint to mark the lanes they have like ridges sort of, and the lanes literally had two inches of shoulder before there was a cement barrier between our side of the road and the highway going the other direction. It was terrifying and the most claustrophobic I have ever felt driving. It was also kind of weird because the speed limit changed a lot, but whenever there was a sign that said 70 mph, there was a sign beneath it that said 65 mph Night Speed. I've never heard of a different night driving speed. There were also lots of refineries, which are really pretty at night. So here's where the story gets fun...

We were approaching Houston, and goodness sakes does the highway driving get dicey around here! We were on a four-lane highway that split off into 3 different highways, and the first time, it said that to be on the highway we wanted to stay in the middle lane. Well I did, and then at the last second discovered I had to be one farther right. I was able to make that one, but it happened again. Once again, we thought I was in the correct lane, but at the last second (this time too late of a second) we discovered we were in the wrong one. So I took the wrong highway, and got off at the next available exit, which pretty much put us in the heart of downtown Houston. We were trying to find some place to park to figure out where we were and how to get back. So I get in a left turn lane. There were two left turn lanes. So silly me, figured that since there were two left turn lanes and 4 lanes of traffic, that meant the one I was in was supposed to turn into the FALL lanes, as they described it in driver's ed (First Available Legal Lanes.) Well I turned into a FAIL lane (first available illegal lane) but neither I nor my family realized that we were going the wrong way down a one way until we saw a car coming at us. I then let out an expletive, though it was muffled because, really I hardly ever swear, especially not in front of my parents, but for heaven's sakes, I was in the downtown of a big city in a state that I had never been in going the wrong way down a one way. Holy (you fill in the blank.) I was able to stop literally like, 2 feet before the divide between the two sides started and floored it over to get so I was at least driving in the right direction. We found a parking lot. My dad offerred to switch. I took the offer pretty quickly. Afterall, my heart was racing like a percussionist's beat in a New Orlean's band (yeah that was cheesy, deal with it) and I had nearly shat my pants. My mom and I then whipped out our phones, figured out the address of where we were and where we wanted to go, and phone GPS'd our way to our hotel. It was no easy task, let me tell you. And my father does not have much patience for reading cell phone digital maps. We accidentally toured downtown Houston for quite awhile. At the time, it was kind of crazy, but afterwards was pretty funny. Seems to be a theme here...

Well now we're in the motel. We ate a little bit, and my parents have been sleeping for a couple hours now. I watched two episodes of King of the Hill. In Texas. How sweet can it get? Although I was pretty sad to find out today that Arlen, Texas, is not real. I was gonna go visit Hank and his buddies, and say "yup" with them next to the trash cans. Oh well. Guess I'll talk to Langston Hughes about when dreams die.

I tell you what, though, this motel is freaking hot! I swear it's like 95 degrees in here. Tonight is gonna be a shorts and sports bra sleeping night. Hope my dad doesn't mind.

Tomorrow, we're off for San Antonio. I'm pretty pumped cuz it sounds like there's some pretty sweet stuff out there, and the hotel my mom booked for us sounds pretty sweet. I FINALLY GET MY OWN ROOM, SNORING FREE!!! That and we're staying for TWO nights! Plus it only takes about 3 hours to get there. So short drive tomorrow, and no drive on Wednesday.

Well I'm out. Talk to you tomorrow from San Antonio : )

-Concensus: Biloxi is a pretty beach town. New Orleans surprised me and is one of my new favorite cities. And Texas has got some crazy roads.

-Movies Watched: didn't watch a thing today. There wasn't enough time between Mobile and Biloxi, or Biloxi and New Orleans, and there certainly was enough time between New Orleans and Houston, but I actually did some homework while I could still see, and when it got dark, I was driving. So. Movies tomorrow maybe : ) I did catch the end of Slumdog Millionaire today though. I want to watch the whole thing sometime.

-States covered: Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas. That's 9. Holy cow. There will only be one more added to the list, and that's not for a few days now. Today, we went through Biloxi, New Orleans, Baton Rouge, and now Houston. I don't think I forgot any...

The Ides of March were actually pretty sweet. Favorite day of the trip so far, despite almost being killed in downtown Houston. Darn FALL lanes...

Day 2: Mobile, Alabama

I confess I was a little disappointed yesterday that our journey didn't start out as I had forcasted, and we actually made it out of the driveway and out of the state without much fuss. This morning was much more Lehman-vacation typical...

I was first awoken because my dad was messing with his phone, trying to figure out what time it was because of the time change and everything. I got up and showered, and then we pulled out of the parking lot around 11. About 11:20, my dad received a phonecall from, well, my phone, at which point I realized I had left my phone in the hotel room. This is when mass chaos erupted. My mom was trying to figure out how to answer my dad's phone and my dad was trying to figure out where to exit and how to turn around and I was trying to explain the technological age to my parents. I'm pretty sure my mom did answer the phone, and the person on the other line only heard my mother yelling about not knowing how to answer the phone and yelling at me for forgetting my phone. They probably thought we were taking someone to the hospital by they way she was panicking. At this point I told my mother to calm down, and everyone got a grip. It was pretty hilarious, after the fact of course. Is that all one word? Afterthefact? After the fact? I don't believe I've ever used that expression before. Hmm...

We went back to the hotel, got my phone, and headed off for Alabama. Once again I slept the first leg of the trip til around 1:40, and we had already crossed the Alabama border. I actually ended up driving for a good stretch of the trip. There was a ton of traffic for most of the time I was driving, which was pretty crazy, but it kept things interesting I guess. I think my favorite thing I saw was a water tower that was shaped and painted like a peach. I wanted a picture of it, but I was unfortunately driving, and getting my parents to successfully take a picture of anything when I am driving is near impossible. By time they get the camera out, on, and facing the right direction, the photo op is no longer an op. That or my dad can't even figure out how to push the button. Haha. Long day... Anyways...

We finally found the sun and the sixty+ degree weather about 7:00 tonight. We were a little over an hour away from Mobile when my mother discovered our route was literally 6 miles from the Florida border, so we decided to dip into Florida just so we could say that we did. We spent about 90 seconds in Florida, most of which consisted of us squabbling at each other and me getting out of the car to snap a picture of the "Welcome to Florida"sign. It was a pretty sunset anyway. We then headed back on our way to Mobile. We got to Mobile I think around 8:30, checked into the hotel, and decided to find some food. We decided we wanted to eat somewhere Alabaman(?) so we settled on IHOP. Adventurous, I know. It was good though. Just not sure how they make their pancakes so good.

We went to find some sort of souvenier shop so my mom could send Kacie and JD a postcard and I could get a keychain. We finally found a gas station that had some stuff, after the fourth try. We didn't find anything that said Mobile, mostly coastal stuff. We found one post card that said "Alabama" on it, and had a dolphin on it, which is kind of funny because I don't really think dolphin when I think Alabama. All their stuff dealt with the coast, even though only like, 10 miles of Alabama is actually coastal... I got a big red keychain that says "BAMA" and has a mirror on the other side. Now I have fingernail clippers and a mirror. Nifty.

Well, I am in the room watching That 70's Show. I was hoping there would be another CSI Miami marathon on, but instead, the channel that I watched last night has a marathon of a show where people get parking tickets... why on earth that sounded like a good idea to anyone, I'm not sure. Also, imperative information here, in the bathroom, there's this nifty little heat bulb or something. I think it should be law to have those in every home/dorm room in Michigan. It's like the sun. It's warm and bright, so in the winter, when we've forgotten what the sun is like, we just go in the bathroom and remember... Ha. I suppose they thought that maybe someone who is so fascinated with a heat bulb would be just as fascinated with watching people get parking tickets.

Tomorrow, we're hoping to leave a little earlier and spend some time in 'Nawlins.' My dad is still pronouncing it very North, New "Or-lee-ins." We're driving through there, after we cross the Mississippi River, and then spending the evening in Houston, Texas. I'm pretty psyched for tomorrow. Hope it's a little more interesting today. Maybe I'll even get some dirty south sweet tea. Mmmm

-Concensus: Alabama's pretty, sunnier and warmer than yesterday, but we pretty much sat in a car from 11:30 til 8:30 and ate at IHOP. And I still haven't seen "Sweet Home Alabama."

-Movies Watched: No movies watched today, but I did watch 3 episodes of The Office, 4 if you count the 5 minutes I caught on TV tonight.

After day 2, we have covered Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, and Florida. That's 6 states in 48 hours, and by tomorrow, it'll be 9. Today we drove through Birmingham, Montgommery, and the outskirts of Pensecola. I think those are the only major cities we went through anyway.

P.S. Hope everyone had a good Pi Day!
P.P.S. Beware the Ides of March!

Happy trails to you...

Day 1: Nashville, Tennessee

Are you from Tennessee? Cuz you're the only ten I see.

Today, my parents loaded up the car, and we set sail for the south around 10:30 this morning. I slept off and on until around 1:30, long enough to pass across the Indiana border. I finished all the playlists and burned the cd's in the car, and sat along for the ride. We had planned on taking the scenic route through Elizabethtown, which I wanted to check out because it is one of my favorite movies, but we caught a pretty significant traffic jam in Louisville, Kentucky, so we had to scratch that plan. I popped in a movie, and we decided to go straight to downtown Nashville to get a feel for the flavor. It was pretty crazy.

My sister told us to eat at a place called Wild Horse Saloon, so we figured out how to get there and parked. The first thing I can think of to describe Nashville is loud. It wasn't how I had assumed it would be. I guess I thought it'd be a bunch of Keith Urban's and Taylor Swift's lining the street, but mostly it was drunk Kentucky fans. I guess UK had played in the SEC Tournament and won, right there on Broadway (there's a Broadway street in Nashville, though it's WAY different than NYC's Broadway,) so there was a bunch of people dressed in blue slurrishly yelling "WHOAAA C-A-T, C-A-T, CATS CATS CATS!!!!" Anyway. We walked to the restaurant only to find that there was a 2-and-a-half to 3-hour wait, so we decided to pass. We walked up and down Broadway with my old horse, Leroy. Not really. I'm doing a horrible job explaining this...

We walked to the saloon, and there were a bunch of scantily clad early-to-mid twenties girls sticking their heads out the sun roofs of cars and yelling, and all the Kentucky fans, plus super loud country music playing. It was overwhelming, but exciting, especially after 9 hours in a car. After deciding the bar was a bust, we walked up and down Broadway just to see what we could see, which consisted of several bars, each with drummers in the windows accompanying their country bands, entertaining all the drunk people. I'm not even kidding, I feel like me and my parents were the only people in that city with a BAC less than .2. The streets were also peppered with Elvis statues and street musicians, my favorite probably being this lady who played the spoons. It was amazing. Oh and my mom and I took a picture with Elvis : ) We also walked to the pedestrian bridge and walked about halfway across. It was really pretty, and a ferry went under the bridge, which was pretty cool. After exploring, we went to find our hotel, and ate dinner at Cracker Barrel. We're now in our hotel, and I'm watching my third straight episode of CSI Miami. Pretty exciting if I do say so myself.

Oh, also, in our exploration, I got some guitar-shaped fingernail clippers. I'm gonna try to collect key chains from all the major places we go and put them on a ring. That should be a cool souvenier, right?

I always forget about the accents they have down here. It's so weird. Everything is "ya'll" and drawwn ouuut. The waitress tonight called my dad baby. I don't think my mom was too happy about that.

Well I'm going to finish this episode of CSI, and go to bed to get ready for the 6 hour drive to Alabama tomorrow.

-Overall Concensus: Nashville's pretty cool. I wonder what it looks like sober...

-Movies Watched: Up

God Bless, Ya'll

Spring is Coming

I find it interesting how in the fall, when the temperature drops to about 55 degrees, us Michiganders start wearing coats and putting on tennis shoes and packing away the shorts, but after winter, as soon as it hits 40, I see people all over campus in flip flops and shorts. It's really pretty great actually. I wore flip flops for the first time Monday, but my qualifications were that it had to at least be 45. I did wear shorts today too. It seemed warm enough.

I like the time of year when you can taste a little spring in the air. The snow is melting, and only the big piles are left, though they're much smaller. I'd almost forgotten how wonderful the sun was. I think it's been at least a week since I have shivered while walking to class or to dinner. I really think winter should be illegal. About 5 in 100 people actually like it, and 4 of those 5 are under the age of 12, which is the age before you have to shovel it, clean it off your car, or drive through it. And the other one is Marissa. That's just my take anyway. All in favor say "aye."

I am at home now for SPRING BREAK!!! I'm pretty sure this is the first spring break in a long time that it hasn't been snowing, or least considerably colder. Last year this time, I was in New York City doing street ministry. I'm pretty sure it was like 12 degrees most of the time. Right now, in New York City, it's about 40, which isn't exactly a huge heat wave, but it's WAY warmer than when we were there. I wonder what New York City is like when you can actually feel your extremities. I miss New York City.

Today I packed up my room and drove home. I watched Michigan State lose, which was pretty sad. But it's okay, because I'm too excited about the next coming days to let it bother me too much. For tomorrow I leave for (da da da da) TEX-AS!!!

I'm roadtripping with my parents. Quite literally road tripping. We're not driving straight there and straight back. We're stopping quite a bit, but I'm excited to see more of the country. A lot of my Spring Break will be spent in a car, either watching movies on the newly purchased Lehman Portable DVD Player, reading and highlighting a 45-page source on prostitution in Thailand, or skimming through a Philosophy or Popular Culture textbook. Probably some sleeping too, I would imagine. But my backpack is bursting at the seams with books and papers and such that need to be read, written, or graded. A little different than the days when I would bring play-doh and crayons, but that's life. Actually, I need to burn a couple CD's to listen to for my driving shifts, and I need to charge my camera battery so I can take some pictures.

By this time tomorrow, I will have made my way through Ohio and minimally explored Nashville, Tennessee. We're leaving at about 10 a.m., give or take a few trips down and up the driveway. I'm not sure my family has successfully made it out of the driveway without remembering something we had forgotten and turning back. I kind of like it that way. What's life without some quirks that you can count on?

Well I will certainly try to blog on the Lehman journey to Texas. I used to feel bad calling our vacations "Lehman" excursions because my sister was technically a Lehman too, (and we haven't gone on a full-family vacation since I was in fourth grade.) However, Kathy is a Smith now, as of May, and Kris has been a Breidenstein for quite awhile. I am the only Lehman girl left. So it truly is a Lehman journey : )

I am going to watch new office episodes, mainly Pam having her baby, and perhaps an episode of King of the Hill to get me ready for Texas, and then I will call it a day. Peace and blessins.

Happy Trails to you.....

Boring Blog.... it's titled, happy bri?

Oh mylanta am I behind...

Well let's see here... quick catch up:

-Thursday; i don't remember much. oh. well, i went swimming, found out about the writing assessment test. i passed but i was NOT happy with the score i got. jerks. jammed with wes, and then stayed up until the sun rose and then went to bed. at 7:30 am. and slept til like 3. that was interesting. latest ive ever stayed up in my life i'm pretty sure.

-Friday: Bri and Rae came over. we ate squash soup. and watched julie and julia. well bri and i did anyway. rae was in and out.

-Saturday: went to Kacie and JD's bball games. they're ballers. went to kris's. ate pizza, played the wii with JD, came back. stalked a spider for 45 minutes b/c rae and i were too scared to kill it til livia got there. wrestled rae, haha, made an AMAZING orio pudding pie (as well as omelettes,) and watched dodgeball.

-Sunday: ate more soup, hung out at home with rae and bri, came back to school, and did up some hw. well sparknotes anyway : ) also bought a bikini.

-Monday: GOT A SWEET GRADE ON MY PHILOSOPHY PAPER!!! SUCK IT WRITING ASSESSMENT GRADERS!!!! ummm yeah. read about some genocide. that was interesting actually. scorekept for 2 hours, watched someone blow chunks everywhere, got out of reffing, picked on heidi and the natural peanut butter, watched someone juggle fire, and watched bri's nose bleed everywhere. went to bed wayyy too late. mmhmm

-Tuesday: i went to international human rights, then to HPR, then to lunch. took a super long and needed nap. went to choir (we're screwed) and pulled notes out of my butt and laughed at livesay making up meanings to words that don't even exist within the song. oh those evening tides. ate some dinner with the Jessica Clarke who sacrificially fit us into her schedule. haha. went to night class and the played some basketball. now working on studying for my philosophy exam. sooooooo boring blog. bummer yo. lo siento. peace out

Ooh da lolly ooh da lolly golly what a day....

I couldn't think of any other way to start this, so that seemed sufficient.

Today was the Focus series, which was nice because I did get to sleep in until 10:30, but I still only got about 7 hours of sleep and then had to sit through 3 hour long speakers today. They were interesting, though there didn't seem to be a whole lot of disagreement, like there was last year, which disappointed me a little bit. I think what I'd really like to see would be a panel with the social work/sociology department versus Gary Britten and other dudes like that. Anyway. The one guy was Tomas something-or-others, some economic guru from the Czech Republic who helped them transition from communism to capitalism. He was really smart and interesting. I was expected a Latino guy when I heard Tomas, but he was very much white and had red, course hair, almost like dreads. He also really liked to talk about the Matrix. There some other dude who was the grandson of Oscar Mayer who gave away like a million dollars or something. And that about sums it up.

After the Focus stuff got over, Rae, Bri and I went to the gym to shoot around but it was kind of awkward because we were in the middle of a track practice. We went to dinner, but as soon as we got to the DC, my stomach started hurting and I felt dizzy and light headed with an increased heartrate. I called my mom and she calmed me down and talked me through two saltines and a bagel (which is a lot, and a long time when my acid reflux kicks up like it did.) I then proceeded to sleep for 2 and a half hours. Wowee. (I sound like my roommate, Madeline.) I woke up from my nap, ate two pb&j sandwiches that my roommate Bri generously made me, and went to basketball.

Tonight we played Muffitt, which was the team that I really had a vengance for after yesterday. We'll just put it this way: their ego is probably a sixteenth of the size that it was last night. It was a mighty Muffitt masacre. I think we beat them by something like 40 points, and we really didn't even try the second half. One of their two best players wasn't there tonight, but I'm still pretty confident that one player won't be able to make up a 30 point deficit. There was one girl in particular that t'd me off last night. She's their best player, and she scored probably just about all her points. She had it out for me too, which kind of made me laugh. I had some good moves tonight, but I also missed some two-footers, which is always very frustrating. I can just hear JT saying "You gotta finish! Ya gotta finish!" It was fun though, and we didn't try to run up the score or anything. I hardly even played defense the second half.

I've felt a sore throat coming on. I hope it decides to leave. Normally I wouldn't mind getting a cold cuz then I could skip classes, sleep, and watch movies, but this one happens to be coming closer to the weekend, and I'd much rather be sick during the week than on the weekend, especially because Rae and Bri are coming this weekend and we're going to watch Kacie and JD's final basketball games of the year. So hopefully it will be like Muffitt's pride, a one day sort of thing. Bri and I just watched a couple of episodes of Bones, and I once again made it on the highscorer page of bubbleshooter. Oh my pathetic life. I'm off to bed now! So long

It's a Wonder Jesus Didn't Weep More

Today was an interesting day to say the least. I'm going to be brief, and actually start with the middle of my day. After HPR and lunch, Rae came into the room when I was studying for Marriage and Family probably about 1 or 2. We chit-chatted a bit, and she happened to mention she only got 3 hours of sleep. I told her she was going to die of sleep deprivation, to which she replied, "But I'm not even tired." I gave her "the glance," to which she replied, "Fine. I'll take an hour nap," as if she was doing me a favor. She then fell asleep, within 5 minutes, pretty much in a sitting-up position. She slept from then until sometime after 4, after I had left for choir. Silly goose.

Once again, choir made me quite sad. We ran over some of the old songs, and those sounded pretty good. Well, accurate anyway. But the new songs aren't even accurate, let along memorized and expressionate. I feel that we could possibly be humiliated on choir tour. I miss high school choir oh so much...

I think the Marriage and Family test went alright. I pretty much wrote a novel for the essays. I hate tests with more than like, 2 essays. I guess this one only had 3, but I thought I was gonna write my poor little hand right off. Afterwards, I went to one of the opening Focus series workshops. It was pretty interesting, despite the people near me being quite obnoxious, but we won't get into that for fear that I could get in trouble.... I just wish a certain friend of mine would wisen up. We'll put it at that. It kind of makes me scared to fall in love, because love is capable of blinding.

I scorekept for basketball tonight, Gainey South against Muffitt. Muffitt killed them, poor things, and of course Muffitt thinks they're all hot to trot. I can't WAIT to play them and show them what's up. I suppose I shouldn't get ahead of myself, but I'm really not too concerned. They're on top of the world, too, after winning both hockey and volleyball. I feel like it is the stark opposite of last year. But I am quite excited to play them in basketball.

So now to the beginning of my day. I woke up, pretty groggy because I was maybe lucky to have caught five hours of sleep last night. I knew we would have a sub today, so I was just hoping I wouldn't fall asleep during the movie. I had no idea what to expect.

We watched Schindler's List. It was possibly the most horrific thing that I have ever watched. I couldn't watch. I couldn't even listen. I was shaking. I couldn't fathom such a thing as being a reality. Not only years ago during World War II, but still occurring in countries today. I cannot fathom it. I couldn't even watch a movie that portrayed it. I'm not sure how men can actually take part in it, and not feel anything. Evil is a terrifying thing. I just wanted to cry. All I could think was "God, make it stop make it stop!" The worst thing was that I could not find any source of redemption, and source of light. Sure, the war ended, but it ended far too late. I'm still pretty shaken up by it. This is what I wrote in my HPR notebook afterward:

"There may be a million reasons to smile, but there are also a million reasons to weep. It is easy, perhaps essential, for humanity to bury beneath the lies that depravity does not exist. Once you allowed to see the truth, you cannot be the same, at least not for awhile. Though truth does set free, It's not necessarily the kind of freedom you hope for. We rise, we sleep, we work, we eat, we turn oxygen into carbon dioxide. But we also kill and cheat and lie and steal and tear each other apart, limb from limb. Worst of all, we justify. We justify the way we destroy each other, the way we destroy those with whom we share humanity. We bury beneath the lie that we could never do such a thing and that we are not involved in the problem. Each of us is capable of and active int he evils that scar this world. That is the cold, hard, earth-shattering truth. It is the truth of original sin, the innate human instinct of evil. It is not healthy to hide so deep beneath the lies, and the longer we do, the worse it gets at the surface, the worse it gets in reality. However, just as it is unhealthy to live under the lies that everything is okay, it is unhealthy to live beneath the lie that nothing can be done. Thanks be to God, there is grace. There is grace that pulls us out of the bottom of the well. There is grace as a gasp of air just before we drown in the fallen state of the world we created. For every evil, there is a chance for good. And only by the grace of God may we take it."

That's all I got down. Perhaps I'll expand at some point. But that is what I got out of today. There's still so much question I have in my mind. Hopefully I can sleep tonight.

Today was the first day of March, and I'm feeling pretty optomistic. The saying goes that March comes in like a lion and leaves like a lamb. Today wasn't too ferocious of a lion, so I'm pretty pumped to see the lamb. First of all, it was beautiful out today. The sun was out and it was warmer, which was very nice.

Today was my tech fast. I didn't feel too much "withdrawl symptoms" today like I have the other times, but I guess today was the worst for Bri. It started with chapel because they sat in a different location than usual, and it was dark when I walked in. I found a spot, and Jessie Hughey found me, so I survived. Chapel was alright. I'm pretty sure what the preacher said was pretty sweet, but I was somewhat distracted by my scribblings after the worship. Mostly negative. *Sigh* the weight of cynacism. I suppose I was already a little bothered because I was only two rows behind the "cute couple" row, and had perfect sight of another couple that I would rather prefer NOT to see. Such is life.

I went to class and lunch, played some guitarra which is always good, as well as some keys. Went to Popular Culture, which dragged on today, and then to choir, which was actually one of the worst classes in awhile. We ran sectionals on a song Livesay just introduced I believe last week. We have three weeks, 7 rehearsals until choir tour, one of those weeks being Spring Break, and he decided to introduce one of the hardest songs just last week, and expects it to be learned, polished, and memorized in 7 rehearsals. Good luck with that Livesay. It sounded basically horrible today. Oh the pain....

After that, we went to dinner, and then I took an hour nap. We went to open mic night for a bit, and then to basketball. I would say it safe to say (though it was only the first game) that Delpha is very likely a contender for the championship. We swept the floor with the Apartments/K Houses/Commuters, and won 60-28 (and either 4 or 6 of those 28 were given to them. Literally. In the last minute, Kip handed them the ball to go make layups.) There is no other team I would rather humiliate than them. I don't know if that's mean, but that is definitely how I feel. I had some good boards and good moves down below, and it felt so good to play again : )

I heard that tonight was a repeat of my senior year for Lansing Christian Girls Varsity. I feel for them, but it also makes me feel that I was not a failure as a captain. Perhaps this is terrible. Oh well.

Both Angie and Bri have had sore throats within the last week. I am hoping to not be the third...

Well I have to finish a little homework, but then I am OFF TO BED! : ) only to rise for my 9:20 class = / chances for a nap are slim tomorrow afternoon as well, but wednesday is Focus series, so I should be able to find some quality nap time that day. Here's hoping.

Peace