On Bicycle Helmets, Dorm Rooms, and the Problem with Social Networking September 17, 2010

Okay everyone,

I know I haven’t posted anything in a couple weeks. (Sorry! Sorry! Sorry!) But College settling in…excuses excuses blah blah blah.

First order of business: bicycle helmets.

I may have mentioned this in a previous post, but other than the on-campus cops on bikes, I’m the only person on campus who wears a helmet. This includes skateboarders. My suitemate in the rooms adjoined by our common bathroom (let’s call her…Mel) says she’s seen one other person with a helmet on, but I just haven’t seen him/her. (We really need to come up with a general-neutral pronoun other than ‘it’.) Obviously you’re in college, you can do what you want, but TWO PEOPLE out of what…lets say 6,000. I’m pretty sure there are more people on campus than that but I needed a relatively big number to make my point, and some of them don’t have skateboards/bikes/scooters. Two out of six thousand is one in every three thousand people. One person out of three thousand people wears a helmet. Maybe they don’t want to look dumb. Maybe they don’t care about safety. Maybe head trauma and brain damage aren’t frightening enough to scare them into safety. Who knows. It just irked me a little. A couple people have said, “Yeah, my mom would want me wearing one, but she’s not here so…*shrug*” Glad to know us mature college students have good common sense still. And we’re the near-future of your country. Fun, huh?

Okay, I live in a co-ed dorm. On one side of the hall are guys and on the other side are girls. This is an interesting set-up. And just a few hours ago, my suitemates left and locked me out while I was down the hall hanging out with a few girls, just chilling.  After discovering that I couldn’t get into my room (where my cell phone, keys, and laundry basket were. (I was doing laundry.)) I decided to wait around. Maybe they went to grab Taco Bell or something. After maybe half an hour, I found some of the guys across(ish) from our room to see if any of them had one of their cell numbers. One of them did, and he texted my roomate for me. They left their common room and bedroom doors open so maybe 5 minutes later, I wandered past and the dude who had texted my roomate for me was in boxers, wandering about in his room. So I wandered the hall and went back to my friends, figuring he’d get dressed. So I waited, then went back. Still in his room in his boxers, just kinda walking around. So I wandered the hall a bit more and then came back.

“Hey,” I said.

He turned around, looked really awkward/uncomfortable and put both his hands over his crotch. Equally uncomfortable, I moved out of the doorway so I would be unable to see him anymore. He said something I couldn’t understand.

“What?”

He said it again. Nothing.

“What?”

He said it again. Still nothing.

I stuck my head in the doorway, facing away so I couldn’t see him.

“What?”

“She didn’t text back.”

” ‘Kay.”

I went back to my friends. After a while longer, I went back to my common room to find the door locked. (I had unlocked it; it was my room that was locked.) So confused, I knocked, saying, ‘seriously?’ to no one in particular. Inside the common room, one of my suitemates’ friends repeated my question. Someone opened the door for me. Awesome. No longer locked out.

~~~~~~

On another dorm-related note, roomates/suitemates can do things that bug you, but probably aren’t a big enough deal to them to raise a fuss about it. For instance:

I like watching TV in the common room/my room (or doing whatever) with the door closed usually because it cuts out distractions and (in the TV’s case or when I’m listening to music) sound pollution. But for some reason, when people go in and out, the door stays open. I also lock the common room door when I’m sitting there alone watching TV. Even if someone is in one of the bedrooms. My suitemate’s friend, let’s call him L, (he’s not her boyfriend or anything; actually, he’s gay) finds this annoying because he is here pretty much EVERY DAY. Often more than once a day. And he knocks insistently and seems to be ticked by the fact that he can’t just walk in. Nothing against him, but some people you just don’t like. And he’s one of those people. He swears and has drawn genitals/written lewd things on our whiteboard. He’s more than a little crass and he doesn’t seem to like me much either. Something about him just rubs me the wrong way. I think its his attitude.

Also, L and my suitemates address each other with casual degratory remarks for females. (You know them. Don’t deny it. So I’m not writing them.) Which is another thing I dislike.

Remember the swearing thing I tried? Failure. Complete and total failure. And later that night, my roomate was again talking with me about how she got that I didn’t like it and stuff, but she still felt like she had a right to say what she wanted in her own room.  I guess I may be asking a little much, or we somehow came to agree that I was, (on my part mostly because I don’t like conflict. I’d like everyone to peacefully coexist.) but can you see my point of view, readers? If there was something that offended you was happening daily in your house, (apartment, dorm room, trailer, cardboard box, yellow submarine, Ikea) wouldn’t you want it to stop? While I get that free speech is the first amendment and such, but in a LOT of states, saying obscenities is classified under disorderly conduct and you can actually get arrested/fined for it. Because it’s so common, it doesn’t happen much, but the point it, it’s still in the law. Ughhhhhhh!!!! I’m just really frustrated by this and there’s really nothing I can do about the situation. Mostly I don’t get into conversations with them, which isn’t too bad seeing as we have very little in common.

I really don’t mean to sound like I’m slamming my suitemates, but…(see the social networking bit for explanation.)

FACEBOOK.

We all know it. Most of us have one. And I had my blog as an accessible link on mine until very recently. Here’s the biggest reason why I took it off: people I know here can see it. People that I’m venting about. People who know the people I’m venting about. And frankly, a blog is more about sharing with the world than sharing with people you know. That, friends, is called conversation.

Just like all of you, I get frustrated. I need to vent. So I write about it. It’s like going home to your spouse/mom/significant other, or calling your best friend, and talking out a bad day/frustrating experience. Except when you talk to a friend, they generally keep it to themselves. You get rid of your frustrations and no one gets hurt. With this, it’s different. People talk and eventually your frustration gets back to whoever it is that was bugging you, and by then it’s generally blown out of proportion. And when the person aforementioned reads what you’ve written, they’re probably not in a calm and rational frame of mind. So they get offended by something that was never intended for them in the first place. So I removed the link.

On this blog, I do not name names. Unless you know me personally, you don’t know where I go to school. You don’t know who my suitemates are. I can share things without hurting anyone, because of the anonymity.

And here’s another thing: I found myself thinking about NOT blogging something because of what the people that followed my blog (that I knew in person) thought of it. I know for a fact that at least one relative, a teacher aide in one of my classes, and I think one of my professors, reads this blog. Which means there are things that I automatically wouldn’t say. I couldn’t complain about how awful the family reunion was, how the class was possibly the most useless waste of time I have ever had. (NEITHER OF THESE THINGS IS TRUE. THIS IS AN EXAMPLE. DO NOT FREAK OUT.) (In my opinion, a good bit of my freshman orientation was a significant time waster. It can be summarized pretty easily:

1. Get involved!!!!! (Shouted at you several times a day.) We have SUPER on-campus resources!!!

2. Don’t drink…but if you do, here’s a chart so you don’t get too drunk. Also, we give out free condoms.

3. Don’t get raped. (If you do, we have somewhere on campus for that too!)

4. This is college. Things are different here.

There you go.

So I’m going to have to be careful what I say sometimes, because this isn’t total anonymity. People who know me follow me. And like the roomate issue, I don’t want to say something to hurt them/get them upset.

FINALLY…

Just checking in after all the above drama/frustration…

On my novel: Just yesterday morning, I hit fifty pages. YEAH! Fifty pages of little snippets and excerpts, but since frshman year, this is the longest thing I’ve written and worked on. Seeing as novels are around 200+ pages, I’m 1/4 way done!!! WHOOOO!!!

Allrighty then those of you still tagging along for the ride…hope your days are sunny!!!

Yours,

Sunnylunatic

Unsure Whether to Joke or Be Heartfelt June 12, 2010

Funfact from the brain of Sunny: I’m graduating tomorrow.

Well kiddies, this blog was originally going to be about my adventures at college student and as of tomorrow morning, I’m going to be one step closer. I’ll be officially an incoming college freshman. Not sure how to write this one; I could go with quirky and offhand or heartfelt with a good chance of corny.  I would say, “you choose” but the poll thing never really worked out and now it’s a bit too late. In twelve hours, give or take, I’ll file to my seat and get ready to graduate high school once and for all.

It’s been a great time. Freshman year being timid, but not afraid to show I wasn’t afraid to be pushed around. Sophmore year, feeling around, getting a sense of my new environment, new school. Junior year confidence with a little hesitancy, and this year just trying to give it my all (except in the cases of a few assignments.)

I could get very reminiscient and talk about how much I’ve changed and how these are the years I’ll never get back and how I’m going to cherish these memories, but you guys are only just meeting me, so I’m not going to fill you in on my past four years of life. I think instead I’ll say something about the real reason I get up in the morning and fight my battles–my friends and my family.

Mom and Dad–you guys are amazing. A tad strict, but for good reason. You’ve loved me, dealt with me, and occasionally laughed at the absolutely terrible jokes I tell.

Siblings–despite the fighting and the war-zone that can be our home, I do love you guys. No doubt I’ll miss you when I head off to college. You’ve no idea how good you’ve got it, and I promise life is going to throw a million adventures your way too. You just have to stop looking at them as ‘crises’ and start looking at them as ‘adventures.’ Love you and I know you’ll all turn out great.

Friends–if you’re reading this, you get a hint (don’t tell.) I plan to send pretty much everyone who’s been a big part of my life a letter to tell you how much you mean to me and how much I love you all. (This is a PLAN. Whether it happens or not depends on multiple factors.) But even if I don’t send them, I want you all to know how much I value your support, your affection, and the fact that you aren’t afraid to be yourselves with me, which is a compliment in and of itself. Thank you so much.

Teachers–Dunno how you got ahold of me on this thing, but thank you for guiding me and occasionally taking late papers. Teachers are huge role models for me because I want to join your ranks someday. Most of you have been great (if you think of me and smile, chances are, you aren’t one of the teachers who I didn’t get much from.) Thank you for educating us all, whether we wanted it or not.

I didn’t say I wouldn’t get a little mushy. This is feeling-stuff, people!

Onwards and upwards, then. Tomorrow I shall look forward to:

1. Sitting in the hot sun for AT LEAST 2 hours, likely 3 or 4.

2. Sweating in those nasty polyester robes and smelling awful by the end of the ceremony.

3. Contemplating whether or not it would be worth it to make a scene just so I could be escorted out.

4. Feeling dizzy from the heat.

5. Waving at my family and friends who attend.

6. Praying desperately for rain.

7. Possibly crying when I watch my friends recieve their diplomas.

8. Walking across the stage.

9. Blinking during the photo of me and the principal and my diploma.

10. Looking victorious and throwing my arms in the air as soon as I get past the guy who’ll take my diploma if I try anything silly on my way out.

11. Tossing my hat in the air.

12. Going to grad parties.

13. Taking another step on the road of life.

So, first I’m going to give you an amusing quote that is also a pieve of advice, then an absolutely beyond-corny joke, then close it all off and say farewell to you all as a high school senior.

Gary Bolding
Your families are extremely proud of you. You can’t imagine the sense of relief they are experiencing. This would be a most opportune time to ask for money.
–the man knows what he’s talking about. Chances are you’ve been receiving checks from relatives for getting through high school. It makes you wonder about they’re confidence in you if they only paid you AFTER you finished.

Corny joke:

Why was the principal worried?

There were too many rulers in school.

And finally, let me bid you all a fond farewell. I have to go to bed, and tomorrow I have grad robes…which apparently need ironing…to put on. Wish me the best of luck!

Sunny

”

I’m over my head, and I know it, I know it
I’m doing my best not to show it, to show it
Whatever it takes to be what I was meant to be, I’m going to try
Cause I’m living the dream and I know it, I know it
I’m trying my best not to blow it, to blow it
And I know everything will be fine
With me, myself and time.”
–Me, Myself, and Time. Demi Lovato.

This song is really how I’m feeling right now; a mixture of thrill and nervousness.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4qMKkk-NTg

My Favorite Season is Winter, but I LOVE Summer Break June 4, 2010

Well in the roomie situation, I called the school (during work hours this time) and found that I haven’t been assigned a roomie or a dorm yet. They expect to get me in there ‘in the next few weeks’ and reminded me that it was ‘first come first serve’ sort of thing. Well I signed up for a room a while back, so I’m a tad annoyed.

Other me-related stuff:

I’m exempt from most of my exams. All I have left are my math project, my creative writing exam, and I have to be present for my first period exam period because we’re presenting end-of-year projects (but I’ve already done mine.) So it’s a little weird, having this all come to an end. One small step, one giant leap blah blah blah. They say that high school friends don’t really stay friends after high school…well that can’t happen. Sorry guys, you’re stuck with me for life. If you think dressing up in polyester (?) robes and walking across a stage will get rid of me, you are so wrong. Haha!

Heard a good poem today and watched my friend Ben present his project. Ben is a theater kid and he did a dialogue (tri-alogue really) between three characters. He played all three. Impressive and funny. And THEN I find out that he wrote the whole script himself. Super job, Ben. You were awesome out there.

Speaking of fabulous things my friends did, last night was the senior showcase for creative writing. My friends Steph, J, and Deziree all were there. Didn’t see the readings but saw the setup and it looked really good. I am blessed with really amazing and talented friends and they really showed that last night. So J, Stephy, Deziree, (and Alexandra, Justin, Katrina, and all you other writer folk) great job. It looked amazing and I wish I could have stayed to watch you all.

Graduation is coming up…it’s next Saturday. I personally expect to pass out from heat exhaution at either grad practice or at the actual graduation. I only hope the administration has the sense to let me sit down when I need to and to let me have water. Believe it or not people, seniors are humans and require water and shade. WHY we need to practice from 8 until 12:30 for THREE DAYS so we can walk across a stage is beyond me. After about seventeen years of walking, you’d think I’d have the hang of it by now, wouldn’t you?

And my absolute best friend Bri is graduating this Thursday so I’ll be at her graduation, cheering and making a big deal over her (as a true best friend does.) Her grad present is in my room, ready to be packed up.

Our senior picnic was today and it was a good time. Hot, but a good time.

Hoping this weekend is as incredible as last weekend was,

Sunny

PS: Here’s what I’m listening to right now. Darn thing is stuck in my head. Hope you all enjoy it as well. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufFAMyrqqEk

Not the “About the Author” May 16, 2010

Okay guys, remember how I was going to take this post to let you know a little about me? I WAS gonna do that….until I had this awesome day which I wanted to share.

“What was so awesome about it?” Well thanks for asking.

I attended my friend Kat’s 18th birthday party. I made her a jar of faerie dust. (I’m queene of the faeries in case you guys are wondering where I got the faerie dust. For those of you who are wondering how it is I became queene of the faeries (also spelled queen of the fairies), you’ll either have to ask and hope for a response, or wait until I explain it to you.) Anywho, I helped set up, sang while hanging streamers, and got to use a shiny, sharp, fun knife to cut veggies. We talked and laughed a lot, played apples to apples, ate pizza, then headed outside.

Outside we threw a bunch of frisbees around, laid in the grass and stared at the sky (and got waaaaay too excited over seeing planes in the sky), and I fenced with sticks with another of Kat’s friends, Katie. I’ve fenced once before other than this (with foils) and I stank then, but today I got in a few hits. Of course, it was with sticks and I’m unable to move in a straight line on a hill, so I probably broke  the rules, but the point was all the fresh air and the running about and the clear sky released a sort of euphoria and I was just so HAPPY to be there and to be playing around like I was 8 instead of 18. I even got scratched from the fencing several times and one drew blood. Instead of being worried, I was delighted that I had fenced and ‘drawn blood’. Yeah, technically Katie drew blood, but that isn’t the point, is it?

Cake, ice cream, present-opening followed, but that freedom of running around barefoot in the grass playing catch and laughing at random jokes and playing apples-to-apples just brought on an almost giddy feeling that I haven’t had recently. Yeah, I have joyful moments, but this was just a great day. And as I drove my friend home, we saw the crescent moon, a soft golden yellow in the sky. You could barely see the outline of the rest of the moon against the night and the stars were so bright that they seemed closer than usual. It was a fabulous day, a fabulous night.

Random note, as I was walking to my house with the friend I was driving, this group of guys were riding their bikes and skateboarding by and mocking us, because we were talking and laughing. So I asked them if they had anything better to do and my friend yelled, “freaks!” after we had turned the corner. I laughed almost the rest of the way home.

Okay, well I dunno what you all classify as “adventures,” but today was awesome. And maybe next time, I’ll start talking about me. I’ve never done a blog before, so I’m not sure what it is people are here to read. Oooh, maybe I should make a poll….yeah….maybe that’ll be my next blog-related project.

Okay, so next time I think I’ll try a list of fun facts about me or something. Or maybe I can start each post with a fun fact…that’d be fun. Who knows? (…not me…)

Until then!

Sunny