College and exercise and cars.

Hi blogosphere.

I'm still not sure how I'll begin these posts. I'm sure I'll eventually get an introduction thinger figured out, but for now "Hi blogosphere" should work.

I spent at least five minutes settling on music to blog to. iTunes started off with a Jimmy Eat World/Something Corporate mashup, but that just didn't work. Eventually, I settled on Adam Dubberly, and now I'm happily listening to the sweet voice of Alex Carpenter. Ahh, the joys of iTunes Shuffle...

I have no attention span. 10 minutes and 3 songs later, I've stalked old conversations I've had on twitter with people and come to the conclusion that Avery should start using twitter again. Seriously. Her twitter is hilarious. Unfortunately, she is adamant against using it. Silly Swedish and German in her making her be super stubborn. Tsk tsk.

I can't believe I go back to school in three weeks. I'm pretty sure 100% of me is excited to go back. I am ridiculously excited to be back at Knox. I just really love that campus and the English department especially. I'm so sad that I won't be taking an English class until Spring term. I miss my English classes!

I also really can't wait to see my friends and especially to be more adventurous. Last year, I didn't do anything. I never went to a party, I never got ridiculously drunk, I never did anything. I didn't even hang out with anybody really. I was the loser who sat in their dorm room all year on the internet. I didn't even spend that much time on my homework.

This year, I'm going to be the opposite of how I was last year. I'm not saying I'm going to get completely trashed every night - I would never forgive myself, and I would lose my standing as one of Amy's bridesmaids - but I'm going to try stuff. Do new things. Stay up all night just to see a sunrise with a friend. Go on adventures. Maybe even roadtrip to Chicago? Stuff like that.

I also want to spend more time on my schoolwork. Last year, my grades definitely suffered, and I'm a better student than that. I know I can do well in Latin if I put my mind to it. I just have to apply myself and I will be fine. I think having a job and being determined to get in better shape will help with that, because I won't be able to spend all my free time in my dorm room. I'll be in class and in the gym and at work. And then once I finish with work and my homework, then I'll go on the internet. I should be able to be more disciplined this year. I know I can do this. It won't be too hard, I think.

In addition to focusing more on schoolwork and less on procrastination, I actually really want to spend more time at the gym. I'm terribly out of shape and unhealthy, and considering I gain weight really easily at Knox - I gained 10 pounds fall term last year, I believe - I need to be active regularly to keep it off. Especially considering Knox has the really nice gym, I'll have an easier time of getting exercise, in comparison to where at home I pretty much can only go for runs. I'll be able to use the treadmill and the stair climber - god, I love the stair climbers - and just in general work on toning my body. Ideally, I'd like to lose around 15-20 pounds by Thanksgiving. I'm up around 168 right now, and I would love to be down at 150 by the time I come back home for Christmas break. I know I only have three months, but that's about 6 pounds/month, which should be doable, right? It doesn't seem too difficult. We'll see what happens.

In non school related goals, I am so ready to be done with work in a couple weeks. I am just so tired of working at the Market. I used to like it because it was new and I got to work with all my favorite coworkers. But they've all left now, and my interest in working there quickly decreased once they were gone. I'm really tired of all the bullshit moves management pulls, and how they don't consult the employees about anything before they make a change. The customers are also really annoying and it's just the same thing every night, with the same customers, the same conversations, the same work, the same closing...just, the same EVERYTHING. And I'm tired of it. I can't wait to be done September 2nd. I haven't decided yet if I'll return to the market once I get home for Christmas break in November, or if I'll move on to a better and more exciting summer job. We'll just have to see. I'm definitely going to keep my transcribing job I have, though. It's 8.50/hr which makes me happy, and I don't have to be in Fairfield to do it! I'm keeping it on as long as I can. Between that job, saving up my paychecks from the Market and from my work study job, I should hopefully have enough to visit Amy during Christmas break. I know I should probably save the money to help pay for my tuition next term, but I'm selfish and want it to be used for something else.

I've finally gotten my permit, also, at 19 years old. It only took me 5.5 years to get it. I mean, I could have gotten it when I turned 14, but I just didn't feel ready. I kind of started feeling ready around this time last year, but I kept putting it off. I finally got tired of not knowing how to drive, and spent an afternoon studying the driving manual and then took the test Wednesday afternoon. I was very pleased that I passed, though my picture is pretty terrible. In Iowa DMVs, we're not allowed smile with our lips parted, wear glasses, or have our hair covering our eyebrows - that I know of - so in my picture, I'm totally grimacing. And my eyes look as small as a troll's eyes because I was supposed to look at the Garfield cartoon underneath the camera. Next time, I'm just going to look at the camera. I at last want to be looking at the camera for my license picture. My terrible picture just made me even more determined to get my license as quickly as possible. I also went out driving on Wednesday, in the old WalMart's abandoned parking lot. In the WalMart parking lot, I went in figure 8s around the lightposts, and drove in a semi-straight path. I also drove all the way up to 8 mph!! I accidentally put too much pressure on the gas at one point and I went up to 12 mph. It was kind of terrifying. I found it crazy how with me behind the wheel, 12mph feels ridiculously fast and scary, but with my parents or one of my sisters driving, that seems really slow.

I think this is all. The Braves lost today to the Dodgers - a 3 hit shutout - and I'm disappointed with the Braves. We play the Nationals next and I'm worried. I have a gut feeling we're starting another downhill slide, and I don't want this to be true.

I miss California. And a certain musician friend. And that certain musician friend's hugs. Sigh.

Countdown to Knox: 20 days! Less than 3 weeks! Yesss