Alleluia!

Springtime has finally arrived!!

I do not think it is possible for me to adequately describe how happy I am right now and how much I love this time of the year. So much is happening for me right now and it is resulting in the culmination of years of hard work finally paying off in ways that still seem to good to be true. God has always blessed me and I have always been a happy person, but right now I just have so much to be thankful for and so much to be happy about!! Ok...so you get it...I'm happy. :)
A few of the myriad of amazing things in my life right now include the fact that I received admission into the University of Washington's School of Nursing - the #1 School of Nursing in the nation. Out of 475 applicants this year, only 96 were admitted. You are reading the blog of one of those 96. :) My aunt gave me a nursing school regulation stethoscope at Easter along with a really beautiful card and those little things are what make this seem so real and exciting!! I just cannot believe after literally almost 6 years of hard work, careful planning, dedication, tough decisions and often times the neglect of more age-appropriate pasttimes, I finally am able to follow my dream. I realize the hard work has only just begun - nursing schools grueling and I don't forsee having much of a life outside of academia for the next two years, but I am so prepared to work hard at this. :)
The downside of receiving admittance on March 30th is that this quarter is basically BS for me. I'm only taking one class (and one summer quarter) and all I need is a 2.0 to retain my offer of admissions. Obviously I'll try for something higher than that, but I don't need to because my gpa is now irrelevant. Even for grad school - I've been told that graduating from UW SON is prestigious enough by itself that grades aren't really that important. I'll still try to get decent grades, but it's nice knowing that the school on my diploma will speak for itself. :)
On the heels of my nursing school admittance came my first layout in my ultimate-playing history. Technically speaking, a layout is when a player dives headfirst for the disc and it's pretty damn epic. However, the thought of diving headfirst for anything, especially when I know people who have broken bones, sustained concussions, or at the very least received BA turf burns, turned me off for years. However, I kept telling myself I would layout, and that conviction finally paid off at OnionFest 2012 in Walla Walla. I actually laid out twice and in full disclosure did not catch the disc either time, but now that I have overcome the mental block associated with laying out, I am confident that this summer will be a summer for the layout books. :)
In addition to laying out, I am really jelling with my UW team and can feel myself improving, even though the process is very gradual. It's the little things - like reaching out to catch something behind my back just out of instinct, or throwing a disc with exactly the right amount of spin exactly where I wanted it to go, or reading someone's hip positioning and poaching the hell out of their shoddy d. I even threw a hammer yesterday during scrimmage! (Again full disclosure: it was uncatchable. But I had the presence of mind and confidence to at least try it!)

I have always considered myself a confident person, and never really had an issue with self-image or insecurity or caring too much about other people judging me. When I started at UW, I got kind of a reality check because being 1 in 40,000 students leads to a very public sort of isolation. People kind of put on this hard, impersonal exterior and basically pretend like no one else exists. It's really weird, but I felt myself being sucked into that mindsent a little. I think part of it was my crippling insecurity and doubt about nursing school and what I would do with my life if I didn't get in. However, now that I'm in, and that it's Spring and that I am so happy, I just feel my self-confidence bubbling back and I am surprised at how contagious a good mood is! I know I won't be this happy forever, but I am loving life right now and damn well want to make the most of it.


Well, I think this post has gone on quite long enough. As always, I could write for pages more, but I will refrain out of respect for the time of anyone who chances to read this, although, let's be honest, probably no one does. :)

Alleluia! He is risen! He is risen indeed!!

You know you're a frisbee player when...

Places I have found turf:

• Shoes (all pairs, regardless of whether I wear them to practice or not)
  
• Backpack
• Car
• Bedroom floor
• Hair
  
• Lip balm
• Under fingernails
• Eye

I'm quite sure there are more, but I've lost track. I'm sure I've ingested it as well multiple times. Point being: turf and I are tight.

Life and Other Oddities

I realize I maybe give the impression that I no longer use this blog. This is incorrect. Like any child of the 21st century, I feel obligated to maintain, at least sporadically, each social media outlet I have begun. Consider this, then, my sporadic update.

I have been part of AmeriCorps now for close to 3.5 months. It has been an interesting experience thus far, although being an Individual Placement (IP) member has drawbacks. Exhibit A - networking activities for 20-somethings planned by 50-somethings. Think crosswords about AmeriCorps history and Karaoke and you'd be about on target. I did the crossword for lack of anything more substantive or pertinent to do and avoided the Karaoke like the plague. I also learned Yakima has the 6th highest automotive crash fatality rate in the nation - down from 3rd highest last year! What improvement!
My AmeriCorps presence at my actual service site has been much less...unproductive. In all honesty, I absolutely love my job. We provide nursing and rehabilitation services and social programs to vulnerable adults through adult day health. It is one of the most worthwhile things I have ever done and, as the baby boomers age, it is an area of expertise that will only come in more handy as time goes on.
My age, though, is the one thing that I felt surprisingly tender about and I have only recently began to be more comfortable with it in this setting. First of all - all of our clients are at least 30, with the average age being 74 (or is it 76?) Then, all of my co-workers are far, far older than I. The closest co-worker just turned 23 but even she has already gone to college and is probably going to be getting married next year. I feel very misfit at times, which is why I avoided telling anyone my age for a few months. Gradually, however, it leaked out and I had to endure people gasping and saying, "I had no idea! You act SO much older."
I'm getting used to that now, I think, so I just shrug it off, laugh at their surprise, or make a joke about it. Still, it is awkward when my co-workers talking about their kids in front of me and I realize that they are my age and the encounter begins to feel very much like I'm talking to my mother's friends. c'est la vie.
But enough about work! It takes up enough of my time as it is. Besides work, I am now judging high school debate - a position I happen to like very much. I also had a brief stint in the UW-Bothell's Ultimate team and will be playing mixed winter league which I am very much looking forward to. (I ended my sentence with a preposition. Sue me.) I am also a lector and EM at Church and play the piano, cook, etc. This is starting to feel like a mini bio. Which it is not.

Well, I think Louie is finally awake. Time to rot our brains out playing WiiSports. Viva the Weekend!!

A whole lot can change in six days

It's June! So why is it raining, cloudy, and cold?
At times I feel like I'm fighting a losing battle against the lethargic northwest weather. It can't be bothered enough to get really hot or really cold so it just kind of clouds over and leaks.
Thanks a lot.

However, in brighter news I just finished my final English research paper which incidentally happens to be the final English paper to the final undergraduate English class I'll ever have to take. Good riddance. I am celebrating this joyous occasion with a momentary break which I'm using to post on my blog. Now all I have left in the quarter is my oral defense of paper, possible psych final, golf paper, and my STUPID HATEFUL SPANISH ORAL FINAL. 7-14 minute presentation on (for me) Bolivian wind instruments as well as Bolivian history and geography all in Spanish and all memorized. My teacher changed my assignment at the last minute which is why I'm presenting on something as boring as Bolivian wind instruments. I was going to talk about Spanish card games (did you know there is a separate Spanish set of playing cards?) and board games but...whatever. I'm done complaining.

This week is a big week for me. Although one stalker commented on my apparently distasteful use of lists, I resent those implications and present another list:

Michelle's Final Week of High School:

Monday -
- English
- Golf
- Research Spanish like Hell
- Spanish class with Final preparations
- Frisbee practice?

Tuesday -
- English
- Research Spanish like Hell
- Debate in which I research like Hell and begin memorizing my expos

Wednesday -
- English Oral Defense of Paper
- Golf (turn in paper)
- Research & Prep Spanish Oral like Hell
- Give Spanish Oral Presentation (like Hell?)
- YFL?

Thursday -
- Turn in English Research Paper
- Debate which includes any final, frantic research and expos memorization
- First Frisbee Game
- Pack for Nationals

Friday -
- Continue packing for Nationals
- Finish up any last minute school assignments that teachers random assign
- Graduation preparation
- Graduation
- No party

Saturday -
- 5am at airport
- 7am LEAVE
- 4:30 arrive in Kansas City
- 7 Jazz Club Reservations!!

The next week will be completely and utterly full of debate. Sunday is registration/service project/site seeing then basically from 6am Monday morning to about 6 or 7pm Thursday night or sometime Friday afternoon if I make finals, non-stop competition. When I'm not competing I'm preparing and when I'm neither competing nor preparing I'm catching a precious few hours of sleep. Although Ali and I have concocted an ambitious plan to watch a classic horror movie each night we're at Nationals so the sleep part might not actually happen.

My schedule for this coming week also fails to mention my necessary trip to the mall to get my ears pierced and get some last minute clothes for graduation and nationals as well as setting up my interview for ElderHouse NW (local Americorps site...fingers crossed)

However, in the midst of the craziness I still find time to enjoy the simple pleasures of life, as should you: http://xkcd.com/64/

One more minute...

I, like my co-blogger Erin, deflect to my blog in a vain attempt to stave off or forestall the all but inevitable paper (which happens to be due tomorrow.) However, I, unlike Erin, am writing but a paragraph, a precis note on an article about addiction. Should be simple. But here I am, sitting in my room on what could have been a nice Sunday afternoon staring at my computer avoiding my work.

The only reasonable conclusion I can draw from this recess of lethargy is that Erin is obviously a bad influence on me.

On the bright side, I realized today marks the beginning of week 7 so 4 more weeks until the end of school, I graduate, and Nationals - which I am severely under prepared for.

Also, I recently discovered an interesting button which, when pressed, tabulates all the past visits to a particular website. Visits to my blog on this computer? 52. Visits to facebook on this computer? I'd rather not say. Needless to say, it's better than our family computer which has combined facebook hits for the three of us at over 23000. That's a loooooot of time wasted. If each facebook hit was just one minute (which they never are) that's 23000 minutes or about 383 hours or almost 16 days. Damn.



I'm going to get back to my paper now.

Life on a Planet Named Me

...or something like that. At any rate, here we are, another month older, wiser, richer (not), more heavily entrenched in school etc.

Let's give a quick run-down of my upcoming week, because I'm still having trouble dealing with how busy it is:

Monday:
- English, Golf (skipped - hey, I had to honor senior skip day somehow right? Plus I had a ton of homework)
- Senior Pictures @ EHRC
- Spanish in PM

Tuesday:
- English with 2 papers due
- 1-5pm work on graduation dress down in Seattle
- Debate (skip - no other option)

Wednesday:
- English (midterm part #1), Golf (can't skip)
- Spanish
- YFL (arrive late because of Spanish)

Thursday:
- English (midterm part #2, Annotated Bib due)
- Possible meet to finish graduation dress
- Debate 2-3pm
- Senior Speech Meeting 3-4pm

Friday:
- Psych test
- Senior party @ beach in PM

Saturday:
- Debate funraiser

Sunday:
- Mass
- Debate fundraiser
- Dinner at fancy restaurant down by the water with dad's side of the family to celebrate my birthday

Writing it all out makes it sound like a bit less, but it still sucks. My idyllic week would go something like this:

S-S:
- Get up at 11am (or whenever I wake up)
- Read in bed
- Read during breakfast
- Read outside (and tan :))
- Make vegetable-laden lunch
- Read during lunch
- Do something nice outside, e.g. garden, play frisbee, play tennis, take long walk,
- Have nice dinner
-Read or watch a movie
- Sleep, sweet sleep.

Something like that. I guess I'm just really getting worn down with all this school and crap. Plus I really need to start putting the heat on researching for nationals and fundraising for nationals and I have to get my graduation invitations sent out and figure out what I'm doing in August and decide if I can get a job this summer and do all this stuff. Plus my back still hurts from when it got burned on Saturday.

So...summer plans! I'm in a list sort of mood today I guess!

- NATIONALS (I qualified in Domestic Extemp and am doing Extemp Commentary and Expos as my supplementals)
- Club Rust
- Yosemite with the Bernhofts
- Summer League Mixed Ultimate - I'm a little nervous about playing ultimate with/against adults but I think it will be really fun and needless to say I'm psyched
- MOVE TO CHICAGO!!!!!!! (Or Ohio, but probably Chicago.)

I am SO ready to move out! I can't wait. But first Americorps needs to process my application and finalize details. There are two really awesome programs in Chicago and I hope I get into at least one of them. I am so blessed to have the opportunity to take a year off of school and still graduate on time and I definitely want to make the most of it. I feel like I've been laden down so much with school for the past 12 years and had blinders on to stay focused and alert and academically-minded so now that I'm nearing the metaphorical end of the tunnel suddenly I see all these new, exciting opportunities and I want to live a little. I'm thrilled to get the chance to move out and be independent on my own and just live for a year in a completely new place. I'll come back and go to UW after, but for now that independence is just so tantalizing I can hardly wait. But lest I get ahead of myself, I still need to get accepted to a program, and I still need to finish another 4.5 weeks of college and jump through a bunch of other hurdles. All right - enough about myself! I'd post my movie reviews but I'm too lazy right now. I doubt anyone actually cares about them so it's all good in the end anyway.

February

February makes me very happy. Somehow just the month changing makes me believe winter is almost over and spring is in sight. With spring comes Sheila, nice weather, a quarter change, my birthday, then SUMMER.

I don't really have a whole lot to say. School is cool. I'm probably 65% towards Gonzaga at the moment, but it comes down to Honors program and $$$. I was looking at housing/meal plans today and they have cool themed dorms so I'm thinking either the outdoors dorm (they go on hikes together and cool stuff) or the substance free. I'm going out to visit over President's Day weekend and I'm excited for that. Hopefully it'll make my decision a little easier. Sometime when I have more time and more desire I'll outline all the plusses and minuses of each choice (Gonzaga vs. UW)

In the mean time, I'm also excited for Spring because over spring break I'm going to finish sewing my graduation dress!!! I'm super excited about it - it's going to be beautiful, absolutely beautiful. I also have to have my senior pictures done by the 25th so one of my friends is taking them but he needs to email me back or maybe I'll email him or something to get a time set up. Maybe doing outdoor senior portraits in February in Seattle is a bit optimistic. I certainly hope not.

Other than that I have a tournament this weekend - my last invitational EVER. Sad day. Then State quals, Nat quals, State speech, State debate (I decided to go in LD and get my ass kicked) then hopefully Nats then...no more debate for Meechy. Unless I join Gonzaga's nationally ranked debate team (they ranked 12th in the nation last year - NOT BAD.)

Basically I just want life to hurry up because it's going to get really interesting but not for a while. The interesting parts have way too much filler in between. I'm so done with filler. Yup. That's that. Chao.

One more week...

I am so ready for school to be over. And by school I mean high school, no, school in general. I'm supremely grateful for the opportunities, but lately I've been feeling like I'm pushing myself too hard.
I'm just trying to make it to the summer, because I have epicness in store. #1 - Two epic graduations, one the night before I leave for nationals, the other the night I get back, #2 - Nationals: the most epic thing in the world, #3 - Club Rust!! #4 - Sheila's and my Senior camping trip in Yosemite and a possible #5 - go visit relatives on the east coast.
I sent in the last of my college applications a few days ago so now it's just time to wait. I already got accepted to PLU and Tulane - each offering me sizable amounts of money each year. Actually, I'm going to give it a pretty good chance I'll get a free ride to PLU. Then I have Gonzaga and UW which I haven't heard back from. Gonzaga I should hear from next month, UW could definitely take a while.
At any rate, life is pretty good. My mother bought Organic Valley Egg Nog today, and if you have never had that it is the best type of eggnog around. Yup.

Well I'm feeling a little out of it today, so I think I might just wind this up prematurely, with my regrets and promises for a longer post after finals. That is, if finals don't kill me first.

I leave you with my newest source of entertainment and laughs: LolZombie

how tall was the trojan horse

First of all....excuse me? I seriously find the best titles for blog posts just going through past subjects. I'll give you a few runners-up:

- back to those raw foods
- Cats Rule! Dogs, well you know the rest...
- daddeeeeeeeeeeeeee, i waaaaaaaaaant one!
- Had an odd experience at the garden nursery yesterday
- eatin' stuff rocks

...And these are just a FEW of the myriad which grace the screen and save me from writers block. Which I never have. Because I can always talk about myself.

Anyways...life! Well, I had a great time in Mexico. Everyone was amazing and Erika's cousins are AWESOME. There were 7 of us 13-17 yr. old girls in one corner of the girl's bunkhouse and I had hence to thought that I had finally outgrown giggly teenage girl slumber parties. Nooooooot so. They follow me like a curse. On a diamond. The. size. of. my. HEAD.
Quite the contrast to debate-laden Birmingham.

Speaking of debate, (my 2nd favorite past time, my first being debate itself) I finished the first rough cut of my Duo for next year and am fairly happy with it. It's running 12 minutes or so so I'm going to need to shave off another 3-4 minutes but I'm excited about it. It's a really theatrical piece, so it has lots of potential for really cool effects. I'm also excited to see how my duo partner will like the piece. He's agreed to do it with me but hasn't actually seen the script yet. He's a great actor - he's been in productions everywhere from 5th Avenue to Seattle Opera but he's a really reluctant sort of person so I'm looking forward to pushing him with this piece. It's dramatic (YES.) and I am sure he can do it, he just needs to be confident in his abilities. That is the unsurity.
I've decided for next year for Pattern A I'll do Duo and when my partner can't make it I'll do extemp (God save us all) and B will be Imp, and possibly an IR to shake things up. It would be on bubble gum, btw. As for debate, I'm going to do LD but definitely keep in the congress circuit. I would really like to effect some permanent, competitive changes in WA congress before I graduate, but it's a daunting task. I hear Brandi Spani (My congress hero) tried it and failed. But we'll see, I know most of the major congressmen in the state and I think if we all work together along with our coaches and parli's and judges from our respective schools that would be a good start. (One of them, Jon Mount, goes to TJ and if we could get Turnner on board I think we would have a VERY good chance.)
I don't know, though, because part of me likes the way Congress is a great entry event for all the newbies who just want to see what debate is like. They might get overwhelmed if we make it too like National-style congress, but on the other hand we more experienced congressmen need the experience. Gah, what to do, what to do.
Well...damn I like talking about debate. :D
On the home front, I'm reading some really interesting books this summer:

- Gaspipe *finished* - non-fiction account of American Mofia. Really exciting!
- War of Nerves *in progress* - non-fiction history of international chemical warfare. HIGHLY interesting.
- Zeno's Conscience *in progress* - fictional Italian classic, apparently, of man called upon by psychiatrist to remember & recount life's story. It was great until he started cheating on his wife. :( The book translated beautifully though, the language is incredibly humorous and the story is witty and imaginative.
And as always, these are balanced out by liberal amounts of Pearls Before Swine, my personal favorite comic book. :D

The rest of my summer consists of A&P2 and incredibly odd talks with my lab partner. I kind of got all my socializing in two huge doses in Birmingham and Mexico so right now I'm loving being largely on my own but I'll probably start being social more by the end of summer. Perfect timing, I know.

Until then, have a happy and safe summer! I'd love to hear from you - correspondence is always welcome (although I think I owe most of you emails/letters. Sikes...)


(And to answer the title "over two stories." and I used quotation marks because I am automatically skeptical of wikipedia due to my forensics background.)

Happy Valentine's Day!

Your boyfriend has something to say:
You're not in his network and it's costing him a fortune and he wants to break up today
oh
he wants to break up today.

Because I can

I'm at school right now - and I have nothing to do.

And I missed the bus.

Three times.

Because I was to lazy to get up and go out in the cold and rain.

It makes sense.

Except I need to get home.

And I'm still sitting here.

So I'll catch the next bus.

Right?