Saturday Snapshot

To participate in the Saturday Snapshot meme post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken then leave a direct link to your post on Alyce's blog At Home With Books. Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. how much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don't post random photos that you find online.

These pictures come from a while back. After a week of super heavy rainfall up at school, we finally had a nice sunny, rainless day the second to last week we were there. Even though it was April, it was warm and some friends and I decided to make use of the canoes the school has to explore the river. This is a tree that is normally up on dry ground when it hasn't been raining buckets.

Along the way we came across four little ducklings who had escaped from their owners, freshmen who had decided that ducklings were good dorm pets. The other kids had brought them out on the water, but the pull of their natural habitat was too much for the babies and so they jumped ship. We rounded them up and took them back to shore to the worried parents, one of them was my co-captain and sat next to me quacking happily along the whole way back.

This is my little duckling  buddy. We called him Billy after a duckling character  from the musical HONK!

Summer catch up

Hello once again!

Yes it's been ages since I've blogged, and yes plenty of interesting things have happened since that I'll probably promise to write about but then never do. I don't really feel bad about not writing frequently because the only folks who seem to read this are my mother and her friends, and really they're always the first to hear about my life anyway so what's the point.

Well it's a good exercise for me, in memory and emotion and seeing how I've grown as both a person and a writer, and it can be cathartic in a way. So instead of putting myself under deadlines and doing this and that and swearing to write every day or what not, I'm just going to write when I feel it and hopefully not feeling like I have a deadline will get me out of procrastination mode and get me to just really enjoy it.

This summer so many firsts have happened for me. I got fired from my first job that I ever had, five years as a lifeguard at a pool every summer (ironically it was on the same day I planned to go in and quit, but I guess that just proves things work out in the end). It had been stressing me out to work two jobs, and so I'd planned to leave this one in favor of the new one. Speaking of the new one, I got my first job working as a barista in a coffee shop and I'm loving every minute of it. The atmosphere and the people are great. It's so nice not to have to yell at people or make sure they're obeying the rules. Instead I get to inhale the scent of coffee and fresh baked goods and sample a little bit of everything. Plus it's close enough for me to walk or bike from home.

I'm also in a musical this summer, maybe the last one I'll get to do for a while which makes me sad. But hey, life goes on and we all have to grow up. I'll have my day on Broadway or the West End, I'm sure that will come, but for now I have to be satisfied with the opportunities I get for community theatre. So this summer I'll be playing Constance Bonacieux in the Three Musketeers as we try to pull together an original show and I learn music with two weeks left to go. Wish me luck.

Starting tomorrow I'll put up my Saturday Snapshot, and then hopefully things will fall into place. Until then!

Too busy or too lazy?

I come and look at my blog almost every day. I'll stare at it for a few minutes and then remember something that I had to do and so nothing gets written. Lately I have gotten very busy with life, school, and work, and joining a sorority and all, but I always have plenty of free time as well.

So this leads me to the big question in my title. Am I too busy to have a blog that I post regularly in? Or just too lazy? I know I certainly have plenty of things to say, in fact just writing this I thought of an amusing story that I'll probably share right after I post this. If I post this, and if I don't realize I'm late for another Chi O event (whoops!).

When summer comes around, even though I'll likely be working two jobs, I'm going to make it my summer goal to post at least once a week.

Wish me luck!

To tattoo or not to tattoo

It's a feeling of rebellion, of freedom. Everyone experiences it at some point once they've left the nest, the need to express yourself and show the world that you are an adult, but you aren't done having fun yet. This crisis usually manifests itself in a piercing, a tattoo, that one night you get really drunk for the first time, you name it. My rebellious phase has been slow and cautious in showing up, calculating things and making sure the time is right for said phase to show, and I have to say I'm quite grateful because lately, all of my friends seem to be going through this and not all of their decisions are great.

She won't be thrilled with me for writing about this, but one friend of mine who broke up with her boyfriend of a year called me for advice a day or two after the break up. I don't know why, I have no idea what to do when it comes to handling significant others especially ones whom have been part of a life for so long. Anyway, I managed to talk her into remaining calm. She wanted to go out and party and do all of the things she hadn't when she and her ex were together, simply because it was one of the reasons he broke up with her. I thought I'd given very sage words of advice until I checked back in with her on Sunday. The result of her first weekend as a single woman: a tattoo.

Now, the idea has been planted in my mind ever since the summer between high school and college when I went to the state fair with two of my best friends. We got henna done, Emily picked out a geometric pattern, Sarah got a swirl of flowers. I chose a sea turtle swimming through some bubbles and flowers. Ever since that day, I've been hooked on the idea of actually getting a real turtle tattoo.

People always ask me "what's the significance of the turtle?" and my answer is: I really like turtles. When I went to the Bahamas with my science club, I got to see a real live sea turtle up close and personal. I've always had compassion for the endangered species types, and I mean really, who doesn't love turtles? Sure, some of you might think my reasons are a bit immature, but I've been thinking about it for almost two years now, and I keep coming back to that little design.

This is a bad picture of a prototype that my friend Sam hennaed on me earlier this evening. It's just a cute little representation of a turtle, but that would be the general location I would choose. It would be much smaller, maybe only the total size of the shell on this one.

So now I have to decide, do I want to get a tattoo when I go home for spring break? There aren't any tattoo shops anywhere near me, so it's really my only option. Here comes my rebellious streak, peaking slowly around the corner to make sure there aren't any dangers ahead. Do I just go with my gut and spring for it? Or should I take another two years to decide?

Saturday Snapshot

To participate in the Saturday Snapshot meme post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken then leave a direct link to your post on Alyce's blog At Home With Books. Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. how much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don't post random photos that you find online.

When I was over in Europe, I took a trip to Rome for Thanksgiving. I met up with two friends who were studying abroad in Budapest, Hungary and we took over the Eternal City for five days. On day two, we went to the old Roman forum as the sun was setting. The temple below and winged chariots on top were stunning in the fading light, and I just thought of how many sunsets had touched those columns and winged steeds. Rome is beautiful, in a slightly grittier, louder, and more Italian way than Paris. Well worth the trip

I want a hedgehog

As some of you probably know by now, I am an animal adorer. If it's got a face, two to four legs, and especially if it makes some sort of squeaking or chirping noise, I'm going to love it. And yes, that includes lizards and excludes snakes. Snakes are the stuff of my nightmares, and I'm also not a fan of worms, hence the two to four leg requirement. Fish are different so don't start that argument with me.

Anyway, my roommate decided that college wasn't for her about two weeks into the semester and left me with a room to myself. While I enjoy it most of the time, it can get a bit lonely, especially since I've been sick and confined to my bed for much of the past three weeks. Naturally, my first choice for some company of the non-human variety would be a cat, but those aren't allowed at school. Other people suggest fish, but once again, fish are a completely different story. With the exception of Maurice the dancing fish, owned and much adored by Delana @http://delana-dujour.blogspot.com, you can't really pet or play with a fish.

So I started scrolling the internet for small creatures that the school couldn't protest, especially since I will be moving into my new sorority house next fall where it might actually possible to have a real pet.

Hamster. No, too much like that car commercial.

Guinea pig. Too big, too noisy.

Lizard. Awesome, but not cuddly.

Then it hit me....

Can you get much cuter than those little noses, fuzzy tummies, and little chirpy sounds? Yeah, I'm sure some of you think the spines poking out of their back might be an issue. Actually, they really aren't. When I worked at the local zoo, taking care of and playing with the hedgehogs were part of my job. Once they get used to you and come out of their ball-like defense mechanism, they're playful, snuggly, and shockingly soft. My co-worker and I could sit with our two little charges, Gidget and Gadget, for ages just petting them and feeding them little bits of fruits and veggies.

So, now I want a hedgehog. I would name it Hamish, because how could a hedgehog not be called something like that. They are British for the most part. My mother does not approve, but I'm an adult now and I can do adult things! Like buy a hedgehog after I get enough money.

So who knows, maybe next fall there will be a new addition to my party of one. I'll keep you posted.

Return to the blogosphere

I know, I know. Your reactions are likely the same as my mother's "I'll believe it when I see it."

Well here you are seeing it.

When I last left off I was still in Paris, living the dream despite the last post I left you with was a down one. Now I'm back in the States at university for the second half of sophomore year and I've started working out what I'm going to do with my future.

Classes are planned for the next two years, depending on what my minor is going to turn out to be; the three languages required for my Multi-language/Modern languages major have been selected. French, Italian, and German!

Now all I have to do is decide on my minor. Communications? Economics? European Studies? It's going to be a tough choice. The really good news is either way I get to go back to Europe next year! Back to France in the fall, or off to Austria in the spring.

It all depends on the decisions I make in the coming week, so wish me luck!