Filed under: journalicious, perfectly impossible | Tags: grad school, learning, procrastination, who wants to scream with me
and i am the princess of procrastination.
in my pursuit of becoming a better person (and because of my lifelong habits of throwing money i don’t have in the garbage), i applied to grad school. within four weeks, i was accepted and registered for masters-level courses.
i don’t know what i was thinking. i’ve forgotten how to be a student. and i’ve quickly remembered how to get by on extremely tight deadlines. i’m surprisingly good at half-assing my way to an A. i’m three classes in, and doing pretty well on five-hour-energy-fueled, last-minute writing sessions — which is so not the point of getting a higher education.
i wish i could turn off the internet and just focus. oh, look! best video ever!
Filed under: bestest friends, family first, fear and loathing, journalicious, party star, perfectly impossible, sporty spice, the cat's meow, work and play | Tags: ch-ch-changes, flippy through the years
i wasn’t going to post a 2009 wrap-up (because i’m an original, yo), but then i read phampants post from yesterday, and i figured i’d give it a whirl.
so here she is, flippy 2000-2009*:
2000: a junior in high school, and a bit of a disaster. i smashed my first car into a million pieces, got grounded for the first and only time (circumstances? not important — but it started with adult beverages and culminated with a list that my father forced me to write detailing everything bad i’d ever done. EVER.), hated my brother a little less, loved an impossible and unavailable boy a little more and visited a therapist who made me feel like a spoiled little princess who shouldn’t have felt as awful as she did.
2001: graduated high school and moved on to college. originally intended to move to california for school, but chickened out last minute and stayed in state. regretted the decision almost immediately. thank god for a kickass roommate and a bestie from home. i went from an outgoing honor student to a shy, uncomfortable freshman who napped all the time. (god, i miss napping all the time.)
2002: i met who i thought was the “love of my life” — and proceeded to cut everyone else out of it. five months later, he dumped me. then came crawling back. i took him back and began the cycle again. moved off campus with kickass roomie and bestie from home. worst experience ever. alienated both of them and rarely went home. got my groove back with school, but only because i took a bunch of classes with the boyfriend. (i was clearly a winner.)
2003: continued an abusive pattern of clinging to my boyfriend even as he was breaking my heart. moved into an apartment with kickass roomie even though i was still an asshole. got a job at the mall and slowly started making friends who lived in a world outside of my boyfriend’s. discovered the journalism program. hated it and many of the people in it. created an amazing idea as to how to get my BA in journalism with the least amount of effort possible.
2004: promptly crushed my amazing cheat-the-journa-system idea by joining the school paper’s editorial staff. loved the soul-crushing thrill of spending 50 hours a week in a dirty, cramped newsroom. stayed in a rapidly deteriorating relationship with a boy who continued to prove he wasn’t good enough for me. may or may not have fallen in love with someone else. realized something had to give and finally broke off the longest relationship of my life. the someone else moved away and the love that could’ve been never was. hated commitment and turned my back on it forever. turned 21 and drowned sorrows in too many vodka tonics. took too many classes and pushed myself to the limit in an effort to be my own person.
2005: interned with a local nonprofit. finished college a quarter early. hopped a flight to europe and discovered the not-so-cheap thrill of living out of a backpack and speaking broken italian. quit my mall job and tried to stay abroad as long as possible. ran out of money after a month. begged mall job to take me back. let journa-friend convince me to apply for better job. received an offer for promotion at mall job and position at better job on the same day. went with better job, became a grown-up and began a crazy night-shift schedule that would continue for much longer than anticipated.
2006: continued living in college town. college friends moved on. rain, gloom and night surrounded my world and tempted me back into the arms of depression. considered options. decided to move to san diego on a whim. better job offered me a promotion and relocation package. moving somewhere new with a job appealed to me more than moving somewhere new without one. visited the d.c. area to make the final decision.
2007: made final decision. accepted promotion and moved 3,000 miles away. went through strange growing pains within new position, which ultimately led to a better position within the same company. pined and missed certain people more than i expected. adopted a cat. fell in love with the cat. became crazy cat lady. kept my distance from making new friends and invited old friends to visit whenever possible.
2008: moved into a new home with new people and began feeling comfortable for the first time. went out A LOT and discovered, “wow, i’m not 21 anymore.” went out anyway. continued to miss certain people and made several trips home. filled the void of missing by joining a gym. began running again. liked it. kept doing it. cat needed surgery. did not like that.
2009: a rough year. dealt with several issues that i left off this blog for a reason — hence my mid-year blogging hiatus. as the year comes to a close, i can’t think of any significant events to differentiate it from years past. at least, not yet. i’ve learned many things about myself through these hardships, though, and i’ve learned that i need to start looking out for myself first. and most of all, i’m realizing that my love of certain people, friends and family is more important than status or money. i just want to be happy.
*this post is so emo. my apologies.
Filed under: a few of my favorite things, bestest friends, family first, journalicious, party star | Tags: bestest friends, california knows how to party, chelsea lately, conan o'brien, drink drank drunkity drunk drunk, los angeles, mac and cheese should be its own food group, post vacation blues, san diego, vacation mode
the grass is greener in california. the sky is bluer, the sun is brighter, the mac and cheese is cheesier, the people are happier, the activities are morer (copyright: me*). all i really need to say is — my vacation was fabulous, and i want to go back.
in no particular order, this is what i did:
spent time with some of my favorite college friends.
reminisced a LOT with said college friends.
ate sushi.
almost got kicked out of a bar for taking my shoes off.
went to conan and chelsea.
rewatched and tried to find myself on both conan and chelsea.
drank beer.
drank wine.
drank sake.
drank champagne.
drank tequila. at disneyland.
got lost looking for an entrance to a secret in-n-out.
finally ate in-n-out (animal style, with a neopolitan shake**)
drove in tons of LA traffic.
navigated LA traffic without a map.
almost left my mom on the side of an LA freeway because she was driving me crazy.
took a ferry to coronodo island.
saw the grey’s anatomy set.
went to a 21-and-older movie theater and drank blue moon.
didn’t exercise.
didn’t think about work.
there’s more.
but i think this list is too long.
and no one even reads lists.
*actually, copyright urban dictionary. who knew?
** you are welcome.
Filed under: geek chic, journalicious, perfectly impossible | Tags: awesome, learn a lil bit more about me, more bloggy goodies, sloshed in seattle
… but i did make time to write on two of my college friends’ blogs last week.
Feel free to mozey on over to the homes of two of my favorite bloggers, Jeanna and Paolo, and read these totally awesome posts about ME!, which they both coincidentally posted on my 26th birthday (one of the best i’ve ever had, which I fully intend to update ya’ll about soon-ish):
also, make sure to peruse through their archives, particularly if you love reading crazy drunken stories (Je) or seeing some amazing photography (P).
Filed under: 24 words, bestest friends, journalicious, party star | Tags: friends, journalism, margaritas, party
if only you were “closer than you think” so we could make margaritas, pick on Hiro and create a million more random inside jokes.
Filed under: 24 words, bestest friends, journalicious | Tags: entertainment, journalism, memoirs, novel, writing
you’ve always managed to spin your never-ending misfortunes into entertainment for others. i know i’ll be reading your hilarious and heartfelt memoirs someday soon.
you are a little too nice and I’m a little too loud, but i’ve always had fun getting obnoxiously drunk at journa-gatherings with you.
Filed under: 24 words, journalicious, my melody, party star, work and play | Tags: adidas, beer bong, friends, rock band, shoes, Western Washington University
better friends now than at Western. Your wacky shoes and crazy beer-bonging talents continue to impress. Can’t wait for another round of Rock Band!
Filed under: 24 words, family first, journalicious | Tags: baby, family, happiness, marriage
you and joemack remind me how happy two people can truly be. Can’t wait to meet the baby boy you’re bringing into this world!