Sleepy? Not.

You ever have one of those mornings where you wake up even though you still have time to sleep? Yeah, it's been happening to me a lot lately. Anyway, it meant that I couldn't enjoy my last half-hour of peaceful bliss/sleep because I kept thinking: "Did I oversleep? Is my alarm clock working? What if I don't wake up in time for class?"

What happened to me? I used to be the girl who would literally hit the snooze button at least three times in the morning and then drag myself out of bed with fifteen minutes to go to class. Now I'm just...different. Not in a bad way (I never miss class anymore), but I'm still dazed by the radical changes I'm going through.

So today was the big day, my day to shine. Well, it wasn't really a big deal. It was my first exam of the semester and I really wanted to do well so I could impress the guy I liked. That meant I spent most of the weekend studying and as always, most of what I study does not show up on the exam at all. I counted up my mistakes and I got at least six. That means that the highest grade I will get is an 88. GREAT...I study all weekend and this is what I get. Why doesn't the teacher just fail me already?

It was funny because I was talking to my friend John about that today and he replied in appropriate sarcastic tones: "OH...an 88 is just SO BAD. I can't believe I FAILED." Raven commented with her experiences that Asians are always acting like it's life or death with grades. She told us the story about how her former roommates (all Chinese) would cry and wail if they got A minuses.

John said that if he got an 88, he'd be: "That's great." That's easy for him to say. He doesn't have anyone he needs to impress. I can't impress my crush with a fricking 88.

On the bright side, I got to hear John's life story today. He came over to visit everyone and when I asked him about his life, he launched into his life story. I love listening to people's life stories. Sometimes, I wish I could write them down but I guess I would miss the spontaneity of it.

Lastly, Johnathon took me weight-lifting today and all I have to say is: my arms feel like they are made out of flimsy rubber. I didn't know I had atrophied this much. I used to be so much stronger.

Hopefully I'll do better soon,

jumira-wings

I can't stand it. I just can't stand it. ~Lucy from Peanuts

I can't stand it that if I take my car...I'm late for class.
If I take the bus...I'm STILL late for class. SO...I have three choices:

1) I can continue taking the bus. And being late for class.
2) I can drive my car and deal with the headache of finding parking.
3) I can shell out $37.50 for a carpool permit and get a parking space behind Sikes.

From what I've experienced, I think I will take the third option.

2 a.m.

So my brother called me at 2 a.m. today. This is how the conversation went:

"Hey, are you coming home today?"

"No..."

"Why not?"

(I'm confused)

"I'm coming home Sunday," I say, trying to compensate.

"Sunday?! Oh...okay. I'll poke an airhole for the stripper I got you."

Yeah. And then I went back to sleep. Or tried to, anyway. (You must admit, things like that don't happen every day).

I just want to fly

I just want to fly
Baby, put your arms around me
~Sugar Ray

Today is a new beginning. I think I'll eat healthier, work more, get enough sleep, and just generally be a happier person.

Wish me luck.

Homework and Hamburgers

Oh, kill me. My homework just keeps piling up and the more I stress out about it, the slower I read. Wow, that's a bad inverse relationship.

I ate a home-made cheeseburger today and it was surprisingly very good. From this, I also found out that I have an extremely small appetite since one burger and a half was enough to fill me up for the whole day. Well, that and the one slice of pizza I had at the Peace Congregational Church.

Movies with my father

I am never watching movies with my father again. At least not movies that HE picks out. I just finished watching a documentary about death and you could imagine how uplifting THAT was...The movie even said that whenever someone is forced to think about their own death, they become hostile and aggressive.

And the last movie I watched with him was some horror film called "Incubus." Worst movie I've ever seen. It wasn't even scary!

What happened, dad? You used to pick out great movies, the real winners, the real classics.

Now whenever I watch a movie with him, I just keep counting down the minutes until it ends. I wanted to fall asleep during the movie too, but this comes more from the habit I developed from waking up early on the weekdays. Now, I wake up early EVERY day. Sure, it means that I can get a lot of work done in the morning and not feel like I wasted half the day sleeping, but there is the downside of always feeling drowsy in the afternoon. Not good when you have to drive.

Aside from that, today went well. I got some homework done, had a delectable lunch (I miss the food from home), and my brother stopped by the house before going off to work. He said he had bought me a pack of cards. Woo-hoo.

Well, more tomorrow. I have writing to finish.

Peaches and cream,

jumira-wings

Perfect Friday morning

I had the perfect Friday morning. Got up to go to the new Moe Joe's with Melissa. Ordered a caramel macchiato (that I enjoyed at the time, but ended up regretting later), and stared at clouds while Melissa sang me the Decembrists' butt song.

And then class started and everything went downhill. I printed out something for psychology class that I was supposed to post on an online portfolio instead. In Anthropology, I was quizzed on an article I didn't know I had to read. My last class just had me really depressed. AND since I skipped breakfast, I was starving by the time classes were through. Luckily, Melissa was nice enough to drive me home. She told me that she had just gotten back from lunch with Khoa. "It wasn't awkward," she said. At least that much is good.

Then I got home and we celebrated John's birthday, complete with balloons and a turtle cheesecake that Johnathon had bought. Raven, thankfully, made shrimp stir-fry and potatoes with me in mind.

The rest of the day was gorgeous. We all (plus a new friend) went to Anderson and hung out all night and sang 90s songs on John's iPod. I haven't had one of those "in-the-moment" moments in a long time. It was a night to remember.

And then we went home where everyone else went swimming while I opted to stay behind and do the dishes instead.

Ooh, and when everyone came back to the apartment, they brought a new friend--Vince. Things just keep getting better and better.

Procrastination and observations

I sliced my ankle open today. (That's a great opening line, isn't it?). Of course it hurt like crazy, but then I bandaged it up and it didn't hurt anymore. Well, until later. Sadly, it got worse as the day went on and by nightfall, I had trouble driving back to my apartment (it was my right ankle that was sliced). I had to use my left foot for the brake since it hurt to use my right one. The good news is that no one noticed the giant, makeshift band-aid I put over it. Or maybe they did notice but just didn't care (or were too polite to say anything).

I spent psychology class scribbling down Powerpoint notes and then making lists when I was supposed to be listening to my teacher. I decided to quiz myself on how well I remembered things so I listed all the states of the US (I got up to 46. What were the last 4?!). Then, since I'm a fan of anime, I tried listing all 52 Clow Cards and all 150 Pokemon. I got up to 30 Clow Cards (yeah, I didn't follow the show as closely as I should have), and 130 Pokemon (woo-hoo! That's a record!).

Then I was distracted during English class (how am I going to pay my electric bill on time?!) when my teacher asked me what "struck dumb" meant. Well, guess what? I was struck dumb. In the end, I just told him that I didn't know what it meant (I DO know what it means, but I thought he had said "struck down" and I didn't know if he wanted a literal translation or a more figurative one relating to the text). Then I went on to say that I thought I had understood the reading assignment when I read it alone, but I kept getting more and more confused as we discussed it in class (which was true). Luckily, that saved me, and he didn't call on me the rest of class. As a matter of fact, he took what I said and turned it into a positive thing. "You should be confused," he said. "If you're confused, then it means that you don't understand the material as much as you think you do." I understood what he meant. In some weird way.

I rode the bus today and the guy with the shy eyes was on the bus ride. YES! Now that I know his routine, I can get on the 11:28 bus every Tuesday and Thursday and stalk him. Mwahahaha. No really, though. I was happy to see him. I was even happier when I saw him sit next to this pretty girl and then he got off the bus with her too. There might be something there. Oooh, I love watching real-life, "potential" romances.

While I was waiting for the bus ride home, I called my friend Jenny. She's 14 and acts very much like an American teenager. "My friend keeps complaining. She goes on and on and on and ON. All of my other friends are like, 'We get it.' UGH! It's SO annoying!" She says to me. Well, guess what, Jenny? You're complaining too. But then again, I understand her. Everyone needs someone to blow off steam to...unfortunately, the person they always go to is me. And then the bus came so I said I would call her back later.

I hummed "Bridge Over Troubled Water" on the ride home. Quietly, of course, I didn't want anyone to hear me. Well, not that they could hear me anyway over the loud, lazy vroom-vroom of the CATbus.

Well, when I got home, I saw the cheesecake Johnathon baked for John's birthday and I forgot all about calling Jenny back. Raven was inspired and said that she wanted to make chocolate chip cookies so she sent the two "Jon's" out to the grocery store for flour, butter, and ice cream (the ice cream was for sundaes, not cookies). Well, they go. And we wait. For an HOUR. And then Jonathan calls and says that they went to Bojangles to go eat and he forgot we were waiting for him to come back with the flour and butter. Way to go, buddy.

Truthfully, it didn't bother me. Raven even foretold that they were going to go somewhere and forget about us. And she was right. I just went back to campus to do homework and talk to Melissa.

Anyway, Melissa hit it off with Neha, my interviewee. They went shopping together. I SHOULD say that I'm very jealous but then again, I don't like to go shopping so...eh. I am glad that they are becoming friends. That's the second time I've successfully put two friends together. Woot! Score one for me.

Time for me to fait dos-dos,

jumira-wings

This is just great....

So far today, I have had trouble finding commuter parking, was late for class, lost my purse, wore my shirt backwards for three whole hours, AND...none of the pianos work in the Brooks Center. Go me. This has just been...great.

Bad Day by Daniel Powter

I got up this morning and decided to drive my car to campus instead of taking the bus. Definitely not the brightest idea I've ever had. After dropping off my friend Raven, I drove through three different parking lots trying to find a parking space. Finally, I decided to try the parallel parking spots near the Stadium and lo and behold...there was one! I was so excited that I didn't just drive right past it. So I tried backing up into it. You know, parallel parking. Well...I stink at it. After multiples tries (and even bumping into the car behind me!) I make something that resembles a weak success.

The funny thing was that as I was trying to park my car, the radio churned out the song, "Bad Day" by Daniel Powter. "So fitting!" I eject. After I park, I sit there and contemplate just listening out the rest of the song (since I'm late for class anyway). So I'm sitting there jamming along to Daniel Powter when I suddenly remembered that I had a quiz in my first class. Hole. Lee. Crap.

Imagine my panicky little legs speeding up the giant hill I had to climb to get to class. Yeah. Not fun.

Luckily, I was only five minutes late and had enough time left over to take the quiz anyway. Whew. Disaster averted.

Stay tuned, folks. There's something about my luck that always means that bad mornings make good days.

Catch you later,

jumira-wings

Cute guys

Everyone has a cute guy they've taken passing notice of so here's mine.

Actually, it started out of the fact that my dad called me and was miffed when he found out that I was taking the bus instead of my car to campus (obviously, he doesn't know about the stresses of commuter parking), but boy, was I glad I took the bus anyway.

It was a Tuesday (just yesterday, actually) and I had taken the 11:28 p.m. bus to get to campus. On the stop right after mine, a large group of people boarded the bus, including THIS GUY. The thing about him, the defining feature that captured my attention, were his eyes. He had these shy eyes that I just loved. It was very exciting. It got even more exciting when more people got on the bus and he had to move to the back (where I was sitting!). At one point, he was standing RIGHT beside me. I was in heaven. I noticed that he had strong hands when I saw them grip the seat in front of me. Wow. Many times during that 20 minute bus ride, I was tempted to tap him on the shoulder, ask his name, and then tell him he was amazing. I didn't of course. Then he got off near the Hendrix Student Center and most likely, I'll never see him again.

I also talked to my friend Melissa about this and she told me about the red shirt guy she was admiring in Java City. Then, when she was driving me home, I contemplated about how there might be a book somewhere in which all these small occurences are recorded. The occurences that, were we in a movie, would have turned into something grander, but in real life, are just little events that may never come again but that make life worthwhile anyway.