Happy Holidays!

Yes, I realize the phrase "happy holidays" drives some people up the wall, but I would like to wish happy holidays to all of my readers.  And give a brief description of what my holidays are like.

My Christmas actually started on Zach's birthday, December 17th.  His Grandmother did not want to compete with anyone who would be celebrating Christmas nearer the holiday, so she scheduled it early.  We usually drive out there, have a gift exchange, eat, and just sit around and enjoy each others company.  The first Christmas I went with them, there was a very conspicuous present beneath the tree; there were holes cut in the box and wrapping paper and occasionally, it would move.  After dinner, the question was finally answered as it was unwrapped to reveal a rooster.  How random is that? 

This year, as Zach and I were fixing our plates, I happened across a bottle titled "The World's Hottest Hot Sauce."  Being a lover of spicy foods, I had to accept this challenge.  Now, I own a bottle of Dave's Insanity Sauce, which two drops in a large recipe of chili is noticeable, so I was prepared to only put a few drops on the chip.  I managed to put three drops on it, dropping one accidentally on the counter.  I ate the chip, and I admit it was pretty hot; it had an odd flavor to it though.  My taste buds were somewhat singed, and I could feel the spice assaulting my stomach for about thirty minutes.  Seeing a rather anticlimactic reaction from me, Zach assumed it did not live up to its name and dipped his finger in the drop that rest on the counter.  The moment it touched his tongue, he turned in to a cliche cartoon character with steam coming from his ears, sweat rolling down his face, and a tongue to his feet.  He grabbed a roll, stuffed it in his mouth, and when that did not relieve the spice, he turned to another roll and broke it in half; one half was dipped in the vinegar slaw, and one was dipped in a jar of mayonnaise that sat on the counter for sandwiches. Neither really seemed to alleviate his pain as he chugged a bottle of Mountain Dew.  Personally, I found this hilarious.  He was feeling it long after I was and his stomach was not too fond of the feeling.

Being around his family is a welcome change for me.  My family thrives on gossip.  As soon as one person leaves the gathering, everyone flocks together to talk about them.  His family doesn't do this.  One unmarried girl was pregnant in his family and he commented on how my family would be saying things like "Oh, did you see her?  She was pregnant! She didn't even get serious with the boyfriend that knocked her up" and so forth.  The baby was quite cute, though.

Today, on Christmas Eve, we went to my paternal grandparents for "dinner."  I put it in quotation marks because we mostly had finger foods.  Memaw had found videos of me as a baby and toddler and wanted to show us parts that she found adorable.  After a few minutes of technical difficulty, she gave up.  Then, the madness began: my cousins Tori and Jillian showed up.  Tori is in sixth grade and it seems as if she cannot do anything right in her parents' eyes, for the most part.  It seems like all the attention she gets is scolding.  Jillian is three and she believes she is the boss.  Bless her little heart, she is pretty much right.  Memaw and Pappaw tell me all the time that they accidentally call her Jessica all the time because we have such similar mannerisms.  She is constantly getting into anything she can.  We finally convinced her that if she ate dinner, she could open her presents.  When the new wore off on her toys, she decided that she was tired of clothes and stripped down to her diaper.  I finally convinced her to put her jacket on, then to go up to Pappaw, open the jacket and yell out "Boobies!"  which she did to all of our amusement.  (Well, maybe not her mother's.)

After leaving there, we spend the night at my maternal grandparents' house.  You would think after all that excitement, that I would be ready to pass out, right?  Wrong.  My family is pretty much nocturnal, save my mother.  My grandparents lay in the recliner and couch, watching television until they pass out.  Last I saw, they were watching Swamp People on the History Channel (how this is related to history, I'll never know).  My uncles love video games as much as I do, so we usually end up staying up and talking about video games or playing them until the wee hours of the morning.  As I type this, they are in their respective rooms playing Star Wars: The Old Republic.  I am sitting on my uncle's bed, taking a break from World of Warcraft to make a blog post while the server is down.

Around 3 in the morning, we will probably start heading to bed and four hours later, my youngest uncle, Brent, will wake us up to open presents.  Why open presents at 7 a.m.?  I don't know...  He was always so excited to open them as a child that we continued to open them at the same time year after year.  This works well for me because I go back to sleep once they have been opened.  Then perhaps half an hour later, I am awakened to Christmas breakfast.  Nana always makes pancakes, hashbrowns, biscuts, eggs, and sausage.  Of course, I am not in the least interested with the latter two, but I usually partake of the pancakes and hashbrowns.  Zach will wander in probably around ten, when mass lets out, and open the presents my family has for him.

This year is a bit different because I haven't celebrated Christmas with Zach's immediate family yet.  His other grandparents were thinking that they would be out of town, so his mother offered to do Christmas dinner/lunch.  So, after the proverbial party has wound down here, I will throw on some clothes, whip up a squash casserole, and wander over there to see him and his siblings open their presents and spend time with them.

The day after Christmas, we generally go up to my great-aunt's for a celebration with my maternal side of the family.  As previously mentioned, it is filled quite a bit with gossip, but we also have food and presents for the children; unfortunately, I no longer fit this demographic.

All that being said, happy holidays from Distracted Design. <3

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Adventures in Crochet // Other Random Notes

It's 2 a.m. and I feel the random need to make a blog update. Possibly because it is 2 a.m. and my brain simply will not shut off.

For starters, I am going to shamelessly plug Zach's new blog: Let Me Tell You Why This is Bullshit.  He hasn't quite gotten started yet, but he is brainstorming.  It's been his new thing to say lately, and I really hope he starts posting soon!  I'm excited for him!  (And yes, I am a dork.)

On another note, I have been considering starting a separate blog to house my writings, but wouldn't you know it? I'm having a hard time developing a suiting name for it.  I'm open to suggestions.

School has let out for the semester and I am officially one year away from my degree.  I have no words for how weird that feels.  I mean, I don't feel like I should be a twenty-two year old college student starting on the last leg of my education.  Well, is that really an accurate statement, since I am going in to education?  UAH always tells about "lifelong learning" and the like.

That paragraph actually was intended to be about my latest hobby, but as soon as I started typing, my fingers decided to say their own thoughts.  Or my subconscious -- whichever.  In my last month of the semester, I decided that I was going to learn how to crochet.  Last year, I had decided that I wanted to learn.  I bought a kit from Walmart with hooks and an instruction book and some yarn, and Zach got me two books of stitches and projects for Christmas. 

Why I chose that specific book to buy was because it said that it included a special left-handed section.  When I looked to the left-handed section, pretty much all I saw was "If you are left-handed, try holding this book up to a mirror."  Let's think about this, writers of the book.  Crochet is a craft that generally uses both hands -- especially while learning.  Holding books up to a mirror, while effective for the photographs, is not effective for the print, unless it was printed in such a manner to where if held up to a mirror, was readable.  Does this make sense to anyone?  Because it didn't make sense to me.

Instead, I decided to turn to the place where you can learn to do or make pretty much anything... The internet.  This was infinitely more effective than holding that book up to a mirror.  I found more than one YouTube channel that was intended for lefties.  It was hardly any time before I was making flowers and stitches other than just a straight stitch.

While searching through tutorial videos, I stumbled across a "How to Crochet an Earwarmer/Headband."  I checked it out and thought, "Huh, that looks easy enough..."  Unfortunately, it hardly ever gets cold enough in Alabama to warrant such an accessory.  Then it hit me.  My best friend Ashlie was going to visit her family in Pennsylvania around Christmas.  While it wasn't much further north, I didn't know about their usual snowfall, but I knew Ashlie would love it regardless.  I picked up some blue baby yarn that I had gotten on sale for $1.50 and got to stitching.

After I finished it, it looked rather plain, except for the iridescent button that fastened it around the head.  I knew it needed something and that the video had suggested possibly a flower.  I looked through the channel for a flower and decided on a type of rose that looked amazingly easy.  Mine didn't look as good as the video.  It was almost hard to tell what it was, so I started looking through our miscellaneous button stash and found a pretty plastic pearl that I affixed to the middle of the flower.  It added just the amount of detail that it needed.  Unfortunately, I don't have a suitable picture of the finished project, but I'm going to start taking pictures of my projects, if nothing else but to see my growth.  (God, I am such a teacher.)

The next day, I took the finished project to Ashlie who promptly freaked out.  She thought it was amazing, but I had a feeling it was a bit of humoring her friend.  Despite it being probably fifty or sixty degrees outside, she wanted to wear it.  Another friend saw it and thought it was amazing and, embarrassingly, asked if I could make a panda hat for her.  She said she would pay me, buy the supplies, or anything else.  Little did she know that I had been searching for panda patterns for the past week. 

I thought it would be an adorable and easy project to make, and I knew Amanda would love it.  A nickname of hers is "Amanda Panda," her sorority is AOII whose mascot is a panda, and she just loves pandas.  This is the pattern that I decided on -- no this is not my finished project.  I decided to not use the fuzzy yarn because I thought it made it look a little more childish (and because the fuzzy stuff would have made it cost more to make).  I had almost finished the hat when I realized that there are more than double the amount of stitches on the hat body than there are supposed to be, so I am going to suck it up and unravel it to start over.  I hate doing that, but I wouldn't want to give her something that I know is as flawed as it is now.

I'm also working on a gray necktie for Zach.  He had asked a while back if I could make one and now I feel confident enough in my stitches that I can make a wearable one.  I had attempted one before the ear warmers and he told me "It was a good start for a first project."  I could tell he was trying to say nicely that he didn't like it.  I admit it was terrible -- especially compared to the one I am working on now.  The stitches were loose and varied and the edges reminded me of the curls on bacon.  The gray tie has tight, even stitches with very few visible gaps (that are supposed to be there!) and the edges are nice and straight.  Well, for yarn, that is.

I have decided that  I am a yarnoholic.  I made a trip to Walmart specifically for yarn and ended up spending $8 on three skeins of different colors.  I got the white baby yarn for Amanda's hat, the gray for Zach's tie, and a khaki color for a hat that I am planning on making for myself, though I am not a hat person.

With that, I believe I will retire to bed.  I feel a bit of a yawn coming on and I hope that will soon develop into a full-blown case of the sleepies.  I had a note about my WoW armor and something education related, but I will save them for a separate time because I feel that they would be a bit more image based or more reading.  I feel like I write too much as it is.  Thank you, blog, for being the outlet I need to be able to fall asleep.  Goodnight.

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WoW Armor: Marrowgar's Scratching Choker Concept

Just as a forewarning, there are probably going to be several posts like this.  These are pretty much just going to be design/materials ideas.  I will try to follow the same format on each of these (in case anyone actually reads these) for clarity's sake.  I believe that I'm going to link all of these back to the original page and link all of the concepts on the original page as a kind of table of contents of sorts.

Marrowgar's Scratching Choker Concept

I wanted to start thinking about this one relatively early because necklaces aren't really shown on avatars.  The icon for Marrowgar's Scratching Choker is similar to many of the Icecrown Citadel boss necklaces.  For those of you who have not played World of Warcraft, or may be unfamiliar with Icecrown Citadel bosses, I have a few pictures of Lord Marrowgar.

This is very similar to how he looks in-game (click for a larger image).  I also found something that looks a little more like concept art, that is quite pretty, but not how he looks in-game.  

So, what would you focus on in making a necklace?  Obviously, he is a four-headed, winged skeleton (missing his lower half, mind you) and wielding a giant axe made out of bone with blue flames (and/or magic) surrounding him.  That being said, I could always take the route as obvious as his appearance and do something similar to a few bones and some blue gem or the like, but I felt that would almost be a little too obvious and I would feel like I was cheating myself out of something with the potential to be completely awesome.

Now, the picture that I found on Google that was my favorite even though there is no doubt that it is fan art, is a chibi version of Marrowgar.

I think this version is so super cute and I actually got a little bit of inspiration from it.  I kind of want to replicate the chest area for a necklace.  I really like the shape of the flame (which is just an upside down flame, so that should be easy enough to do).  So, as of right now, I would like to make a small spine out of clay, as well as maybe the rib cage, and make a blue-tinted resin flame with the spine inside of it.  I don't know how practical the rib cage surrounding it would be.  

Zach just reminded me that because it is named "Marrowgar's Scratching Choker" that it needs to be a choker.  How that slipped my mind is beyond me.  He suggested making small bones to line the choker, which is more practical, in my opinion.

Predicted materials needed: 

• Clay for the bones and spine
• Possibly paint/finish to make the clay a little more white and possibly add a touch of shine
• Resin and blue dye to make the flame
• Ribbon or cloth for the choker
• Snaps to close the choker

Predicted cost: $10 or less.  (I already have some resin and white clay.)

There is my original concept for Marrowgar's Scratching Choker.  Now, it'll probably change (hopefully for the better), and I'll keep you posted on it as new ideas arise.  As always, feel free to make suggestions!

Back to the Armor List

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Next Adventure

I know that I have yet to upload pictures of my finished project from the prior post, but around the same time that we were getting costumes for that convention, we had a brilliant idea.  We should make our World of Warcraft characters.  Now, because of the impracticality of creating plate mail in a week's time, we decided to put it off until next year.  I, however, know my procrastinating self and know that I will more than likely put it off until the last minute and it would look very crappy.  This would make me sad.  So, I'm going ahead and planning now.

I plan on doing this as a bit more detailed record of the hard work and effort that I put in to Asynlynn and posting pictures and instructions on every step. I'm not saying it's going to be something anyone would want to replicate, but I really hope it turns out so epic that every WoW player will want to make a Blood Elf paladin costume. (Well, maybe not everyone, but you get the picture.)

Step one would be conceptualizing, though I'm not quite taking that into consideration as an official step in instructions or anything.  I mean, the concept is already there in coding and wonderful cartoony glory.  I plan on creating the gear that I actually have instead of going for the top tier set, PvP gear, or anything like that.  And I'll go ahead and say that my friends and I play on a private server and haven't upgraded to Cataclysm yet, so we're still on Wrath of the Lich King gear.

That being said, here is a picture of my avatar.  I didn't bother to edit out my character list or anything.  Click on the picture for a larger image.  I do have pictures from all angles, but I just uploaded one for the big picture.

This is a list of all the gear that I have.  (Armory page here) Because I didn't want to make an image-heavy post, I'm linking them to Wowhead, which has a picture of it, a 3D model, and everything you need to know about it.

• Head:  Headplate of the Honorbound  I'm not going to bother with making this because I never display the helm.
• Neck:  Marrowgar's Scratching Choker :: Concept Design
• Shoulders:  Shoulderguards of Enduring Order
• Back: Titanskin Cloak
• Chest: Icebound Bronze Curiass which I am a little embarrassed of
• Shirt: Precious' Ribbon
• Tabard:  Guild Tabard, which is clearly seen
• Wrists: Bracers of Dark Reckoning
• Hands: Festering Fingerguards
• Belt:  Verdigris Chain Belt
• Legs: Legguards of Lost Hope
• Feet: Sollerets of Suffering
• Ring:  Ring of Rotting Sinew
• Ring:  Ashen Band of Endless Courage
• Trinket: Glyph of Indomitability
• Trinket: Corroded Skeleton Key
• Weapon:  Bonebreaker Scepter
• Shield:  Forlorn Barrier
• Libram:  Libram of Defiance

Out of these, the neck, rings, trinkets, and libram aren't really shown on the character.  I never have my helm displayed, so that is one less thing for me to worry about.  I would, however, like to make a neck and rings, but since they aren't shown, it is completely up to my imagination.  (The icons used for them are used for many different items of the same level.)

I have several ideas for my items, like my shield.  I'm super excited about the shield.  I do hope to make the eyes on the skull glow as they do in-game.  I know there used to be Nerf axes and maces at my local Walmart, but I wasn't able to find them last time.  I thought that would be easily modified and light.  The hard part is going to be the armor.  We are trying to figure out what to use to make it; we had thought about paper mache, but at the same time, we don't want it to be all lumpy.  Zach suggested Bondo, but I don't want to spend a fortune making armor.  The next issue is the ears... I know you can buy them online for like $60, but I really don't want to spend that much... Maybe there is a way to make them?

I know that three of my guildmates (several of us are friends in real life, as you may have gathered from above) were planning on doing this, too.  Zach is a Blood Elf rogue, but isn't quire sure if he is going with his Forsaken rogue (can you tell he likes rogues?).  I'm not entirely sure which character Ben is going to go as -- I think he is using his Blood Elf paladin.  Caleb is a troll priest; his is probably going to be the easiest costume to make since he is a cloth wearer.

If anyone has any material suggestions, feel free to make them.  I would be more than happy to get ideas. I'm considering joining Cosplay.com to get some ideas from there.

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Anime Weekend Atlanta; Absence//EDIT 9/3/11

For starters, I cannot believe how lazy I have been on this blog. I wanted to do a post a week, but I obviously failed on that part. I have a journal from the April tornadoes, but have not gotten around to typing them up. (They are all handwritten because the power was out for four days.) Funny how my next post was delayed by nature... It isn't meant for me to have a consistent blog, apparently. Regardless, I am alive and well.

In current news, we are preparing for Anime Weekend Atlanta once more. I have less than a month to compile two or (possibly/hopefully) three outfits and accessories. I plan on dressing almost entirely in steampunk attire, minus one outfit that I am trying to design in a steampunk lolita fashion.  Personally, I like to come up with names and back stories for these girls, so I am toying around with that as well.  I have a lot to do, and not much time to do it. I am by no means an expert seamstress, nor designer, so this is going to be a lot of stitching, seam-ripping, and restitching.

I want to create a steampunk lolita outfit.  For that I plan on doing a pleated style skirt similar to this one, with a waistband of this one.  Of course, the fabric I have picked out is quite different from the one in either video.  My fabric is a cream color with brown butterflies and swirls on it; I feel like it has just enough of a girlish touch to make it seem loli with a color scheme suited for steampunk.  On the waist, I may do something similar to the video with the large buttons, but I had also considered attaching the buttons with a small chain; also, I don't want to bother with a hidden zipper when the brassy zippers would add such a great touch to it.  I have yet to truly decide on a shirt to pair with it.  Probably something solid and puffy shouldered sleeves or barmaid with an off the shoulder neckline.  The most impressive part of this outfit will be Lord Bearington -- the steampunk teddy bear I am sewing.  Hopefully, it will work out where he can be a backpack with a zippered pocket in his back so that I don't have to carry a purse.  I am toying around with makeup trying to find the great combination between steampunk and lolita... I also have purple contacts purchased for this outfit and am considering making curly hair extensions to play with.  Unfortunately, this girl has yet to be named, but I am toying around with L names.  I have considered both Loraleigh and Lyra (spelling has yet to be determined) strongly. 

EDIT: So, I actually think I will do the skirt in the fashion of this dress. I want to have the same ruffled skirt as before, with the waistband of the Suckerpunch skirt, but on the inside hem of the skirt, put button holes for straps that are a kind of suspender/halter strap.  This way, the straps are detachable for if I want to wear it for everyday.  Also, I am considering a shirt similar to the one in the picture, just with some steampunk embellishments. I would love to make this dress and plan on doing it sometime, just not trying to rush myself for AWA.  I have even found some corset patterns, so maybe this will work out wonderfully! End Edit

My main character is Lady Juliette Alderton, the Captain of the HMS Pandora.  Photos from our last excursion can be found on my DeviantArt, though that is not all of them (Zach/Rook has more here).  While I still have that dress in my closet, I would like something a little more...flattering?  That one is poorly tailored simply because of the fact that I waited until the absolute last minute to even begin working on it, unfortunately.  My other outfits are hardly put together, though I know I would like to make a corset and spats.  Knowing how hard a corset is to make properly, I am not even going to attempt a real one this year, but I had seen several on ThreadBanger before that I had thought about attempting.

Along with these, I had thought about making a small feathered headdress for my lolita costume, but didn't quite know how it would work with my curly extensions...  I also wanted to make an owl pendant based off of the clockwork owl from the original (and only, in my opinion) Clash of the Titans.

If I have any readers and you would like to make suggestions for me, please feel free to do so. Until then, I am off to research how to accomplish many of these things! (And acquire an Emilie Autumn CD. I recently discovered her and would definitely recommend her.)

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Belated Post!

First, let me just say how disappointed I am in myself. I couldn’t even do something simple like keep up with a blog? Seriously? If anyone actually does read this (other than my beloved), I apologize. I started the blog before the semester, and, frankly, there has been a ton of work related to my classes. That being said, here is an extremely belated (and relatively boring) blog post (because it's mostly school related).

Despite the course-load for my classes this semester, my campus is pretty awesome. Last semester, there was an inflatable play area randomly one day, along with free shaved ices and kettle corn. As if I thought they could not top that, the other day, they had a fund raiser for a scholarship; normally, this would be pretty boring, but no. This was different because when you donated money – literally, any money – you were handed safety glasses and a sledge hammer. There was a car set up close that had been donated… That’s right. If you donated money, you got to hit the car with a sledge hammer. I donated $.60 and walked away with a door handle and grape shaved ice. Best. Fundraiser. Ever.

There are plenty of reasons why I love my campus, though. For instance, we have guests come and speak or perform. Last semester, I got tickets to see Gabriel Iglesias. This semester, we have had 3OH!3 and Grant Imahara come. Unfortunately, because of work, I had to miss both of these. Apparently, before I transferred, Jeff Dunham and Daniel Tosh were guests. I wish I had known…

What really sucks, though, is the parking situation. I think it’s funny that our school places such an emphasis on drawing in more students, yet they don’t increase parking. There are occasions that, if you don’t manage to get to the parking lot right at class changes, you have to park at a different building and walk. While I do enjoy a good stroll, the time to do it is not when you have five minutes to get to class.

There have been times throughout the semester where I have to stop and laugh at my block. It’s not that they are dumb or anything of the sort, but just some of the things we do makes me think, “And we are going to be teaching our future kids…” I wouldn’t trade it for the world.

Today was a perfect example of those days. We have one more week of classes before final exams, so most of us have mentally checked out. It doesn’t help that it’s toward the end of April and it is already a sweltering eighty degrees outside. We all had to present our interpretation of a very boring meeting that refers students to special education in our 9:30 class. Our theme? Why, Disney, of course. We had Mary Poppins, Daisy Duck, Minnie Mouse, Dori, Prince Erik, and Sharpay. The next group did a soap opera theme. The third and final group did just a normal meeting.

During our last class, my partner and I had to teach the class using direct instruction. Our lesson was made for first grade students, so we had upwards of twenty twenty-somethings (with the exception of Kacy) acting like seven-year-olds. Because direct instruction is so boring, we wanted to do something to make it fun. We had four centers set up: finger painting, a word search, shaving cream, and writing/drawing. You have never seen so many young adults been excited about playing in shaving cream. They were putting it on their noses, the only boy in our class made a beard out of it, and they were making huge shaving cream balls like it was snow. Our presentation went off without a hitch, though, so I’m pretty proud.

Now, it seems like the only hurdles left in the semester are a few remaining papers and finals. This is both good and bad. Why bad? Because I have a 14 page paper due on Thursday that I haven’t even looked at the rubric for and a five page paper on a two-hundred-something page book that has been sitting in my car for the past month. If you think majoring in education is easy, you are sorely mistaken.

Even knowing that I have an 8 a.m. class next semester, I’m excited about it. I can only imagine what crazy things we will think of to do next.

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Fated Friendships

It is strange to see the hand that fate will deal you. In this case, I’m referencing friends that seem as if they wouldn’t have a single thing in common, yet they prove the old saying of opposites attract. When our first semester of the education program drew to a close, my close circle of likeminded friends were all reflecting on how we met. I’m sure it’s of little to no interest to the reader, but indulge me, if you will.

I had been told that the people that were in our class were going to be in all our classes until we graduated. (That is, of course, with the exception of elementary and secondary education majors going their separate ways for the methods courses.) Going in to class, it is great to have someone that you already know. I was fortunate to have a long-time friend starting the Teacher Education Program at the exact same time.

I knew Heath since we were in elementary school; we were supposed to graduate the same year, but I skipped second grade. We weren’t really close until community college, surprisingly, since we were in band together. At our school, the band was more important than the football team, it seemed, and we were a huge family of two hundred. In community college, we bonded over general nerd activities (Magic: The Gathering, Dungeons and Dragons, anime, etc.). By the time we reached UAH, we were carpooling and discussing deep topics on our, almost hour long, expedition to school.

As we were introducing ourselves in class, we were paired up. Knowing one another already, Heath and I naturally paired up. We were told to find out about the other person and introduce them to the class and they would do the same for you. I remember rolling my eyes at three girls in the class in particular:

One of the girls seemed to be a Jesus freak. Being agnostic, I try to steer away from religious discussions, especially when I am afraid of offending someone’s views. She mentioned going on retreats and mentoring, or something of the sort. (I admit I had a hard time remembering everything about everyone; this was heightened by the fact that it was an 8 a.m. class.) That seemed to be the biggest point of the presentation, other than the fact that she was a mother.

Two girls presented together and I automatically had a feeling that I would not get along with either of them. Both these girls were involved in beauty pageants and modeling; one was in a Lifetime movie, even (and the first Hannah Montana movie, even though she hates to admit that one). One girl graduated at the age of 16 and got her associates degree in psychology by 18. The other girl was in the army; because of a few family members of mine that are in the military, I’m wary of those in service. Not only that, but she is Catholic; however, the Catholic aspect doesn’t deter me as much as would be thought, since my boyfriend is of the same faith.

What followed rang true with the other old phrase of “don’t judge a book by its cover”.

Heath and I were in the student center, discussing Lord of the Rings for some odd reason. Out of my peripheral vision, I noticed a girl that was in our class sitting near us. I do not remember who initiated conversation first, but Jennifer – the girl who I identified as the Jesus freak girl – was soon sitting with us discussing Lord of the Rings, and, more impressively to me, Dragonlance.

After possibly fifteen minutes of conversation, the other two girls approached us. They were asking something about our next class, I hardly remember by this point. While Jennifer and Ashlie – the Catholic-Army-Beauty Queen – discussed their children, I told Kacy – the model/actress that graduated at 16 – that I was impressed by her achievements. Kacy promptly told me not to be, since she was homeschooled. Somehow, the conversation shifted to a television show called “Toddlers and Tiaras” and the estrogen level began to spike. Never exactly being a girly girl, I was just as lost as Heath was and we proceeded to discuss World of Warcraft.

The odd part about our relationship is that we all felt like loners – or at least three of us.

Ashlie, after being discharged on medical reasoning and recovering from her amnesia, felt as if she needed to make the shift to civilian life. Sometimes, it is awkward because she’ll be discussing openly how to kill people, rip their ears off, or make bombs out of everyday objects, but we quickly got used to it. She’s still pretty rough around the edges at times, being very blunt and hardly afraid to hurt anyone’s feelings. We joke that she has her lawyer on speed dial and will call him in a heartbeat to sue, but it’s true. Ashlie is like a momma bear, and not only with her baby, but with us, too.

Kacy is only 18 and a junior in college. I hate to fall fate to the classic stereotype of homeschooled students being “socially retarded” (which I will save that for a later blog), and Kacy was far from socially retarded. Regardless, there is always an odd transitional period. Being from Tennessee, she was out of her element in unfamiliar territory minus a few friends and her boyfriend. Kacy is often the responsible one; she keeps everything from class and knows when everything is due – often, she has it done in advance.

These three girls are some of my best friends. I don’t know how I would have made it through my first block of education classes if it weren’t for Heath, Jennifer, Ashlie, and Kacy. It’s weird how fate matches you up, but I guess they needed me just as much as I needed them.

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Growing Up

“We’re adults now. When did that happen? And how do we make it stop?” – Grey’s Anatomy

I’m not a huge Grey’s Anatomy fan, but I was watching Desperate Housewives on Lifetime (which is several seasons behind, might I add), and really didn’t care to find the remote and change the channels when it went off. Knowing it wasn’t a terrible show, and able to tell from the opening that it was one of the first few episodes, I decided to leave it on. I believe an episode into it, I heard this quote, which really resounded with me.

I’ve been thinking a lot about responsibility, adulthood, leaving the nest, and starting my life as most of my peers have done. Being an only child, and sharing a house with my pretty lax mother, I am having trouble with the concept of moving out – even at the age of 21 and knowing that I will soon be graduating from college. She is not trying to get me to move out; actually, it’s quite the opposite. I have to admit, it’s a pretty sweet deal in that all I have to do is go to school (I would assume make good grades, but I am driven to do that regardless) and she provides a house, my car, food, and everything else I may need.

Of course, going to school twice a week and laying around the house for the rest of the time began to make me feel a bit like a bum, so I decided I would finally get a job (not that I wanted a job, mind you, but because I felt like it was time for me to do something with my time). I’ve been reluctantly at Walmart for nearing a year now. In that time, the only big purchase I have made is that I completely upgraded my computer, costing $800. I still need to replace the monitor and speakers, but that would be at maximum, $300. The rest of the money, I save. For what? I’m not entirely sure. (Though, I am considering getting an e-reader.)

Perhaps the real reasoning why this quote struck me as it did was because I was lying on the couch, at one in the afternoon, still in my pajamas, playing Pokémon Platinum. Granted, I was still recovering from my wisdom teeth removal.

It’s just a striking realization to know that I will soon be graduating. After graduation, I will be eligible for a career (believe me, cashier is not a career). I would feel odd being an elementary school teacher and still living at home with my mother, too, so I would need to move out. If I moved out, I would have to have someone with me, because I get severely depressed when left alone for vastly extended periods of time. What would that mean for me and Zach? Would we get married after graduation or would we end up waiting? This is an inevitable chain of events which I am highly reluctant to set off. I know it’s just a matter of time before it happens, though.

When did I become an adult? Is adulthood something brought upon by age, by the feeling of responsibility, or is it something else? How do I make it stop? If I could stop it, would I really want to?

All of that being said, I am still reminded of a quote from Dr. Who (which I haven’t ever really watched, I just happened upon the quote years ago and fell in love):

“What’s the point of growing up if we can’t act childish sometimes?”

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Together We Will Ring in the New Year

It seems strange that I am welcoming myself back to the world of blogging after a nearly four year hiatus from it. What could it be that would draw me back to the seemingly pointless activity such as blogging? Well, I’d like to think that it is because my boyfriend told me a lot of my old tweets were hilarious and that inspired me to do something without such a strict character limit. I’d like to think that is the reasoning, at least.

I know what the world may be thinking “Oh joy. Here is another blogger to waste more of my bandwidth. I hope they’re not going to cry about how their boyfriend/girlfriend didn’t call them last night or how someone at school started a new rumor.” There are very few things I will limit myself to writing, but there are a few things I would like to promise you that I will not do, blog-related.

I will try to reserve this space as an “angst-free” environment to spare everyone from another seemingly teenage blog used to chronicle everyday life and gossip that is unimportant to – well, let’s be honest – everyone. I do not promise, however, to keep my posts emotion-free. In fact, I plan on posting writings whenever I find myself in the mood to do so, and to me, there is hardly anything more emotional than writing. I will refrain from posting about work, since my job is rather boring. The only time I will post about work would be if something exceptional happened there which may or may not be related to my job directly. I will try to keep this from turning in to a journal-type blog. I know you readers do not care about my day-to-day life (and if you do, you probably need a life, too).

Edit 1/14/2011: I have decided that I will try to do a blog post at least once a week, though if life intervenes, so be it. Due to the fact that my posts are generally one single-spaced, 11 pt font, typed page, I will try to keep a fixed maximum limit of three posts per week. These times will be very rare and reserved for times where we have had a particularly interesting class discussion/project, or that I have done a lot of thinking. I just wanted to inform you that there won't be twenty posts a week with seven of them being in the same day. Rest assured.End of Edit

At the time, I cannot think of anything extraordinary to inform you all about. After all, I did just have my wisdom teeth removed and am still a bit groggy from the entire ordeal. Even that was quite uneventful; I didn’t talk out of my head, I didn’t have anything strange happen after surgery… Nothing. That must be a sign.

However, I’d like to welcome the New Year in with a blog, allowing myself to chronicle anything that I would like to remember. I would like to welcome you in taking this adventure with me.

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