The Downside of College

What goes up must come down.

Below are some great and not-so-great cons to being a college student...

1. You're on your own.  You rarely have time (or motivation) to enjoy the one thing you could really use: a home cooked meal.  Alternating between campus food, mac n cheese, and ramen gets old fast.
2. Sure, nobody is nagging you to do your work, but the amount of homework you have is nagging enough.  Most nights it feels never ending.  Additionally, each professor assumes their class is the most important class in the universe and assigns everything they possibly can.  Professors also like to have secret meetings to determine which day they'll have everything due.  
3. You meet people who drive you absolutely nuts.  There will always be the know-it-all, probably a few in every major.  Once you meet said person, you will feel as though there's a monkey on your back...or something like that.
4. Getting involved sounds great! IF you enjoy a complete lack of sleep and/or social life. 
5. Opinions are welcomed, but truthfully, nobody gives a s***.  None of your thoughts count because you're a student which somehow got translated into baby.
6. Yay! Discounts! ...that totally SUCK! 5% off my groceries? I'm not a math whiz, hence why I'm a MarComm major, but I can tell you that saving $2 on groceries goes completely unnoticed by your wallet.
7. Changing your mind and your major is fine, as long as you don't expect people to care about whether or not it works out or if you end up being successful.  Again, nobody cares.
8. As if working for a measly paycheck, interning for free, and eating ramen weren't bad enough, everyone assumes you want a crap-ton of experience.  Soon enough you'll find yourself doing side jobs (in relation to your major) for free.  Add that to your schedule. 
9. So you've worked your a$$ off only to realize that entry-level now means you need 5 years of experience, a receptionist practically needs a Ph.D, you'll likely be stocking shelves until you get a "real" job which will result in a $2 pay raise, and you're up to your eyeballs in debt.

Livin' the dream.

The Upside of College

I stumbled across some optimism tonight.  Being a rare occurrence, I figured I should document it via my ultra-super-mega lame blog.

Below are some great and not-so-great pros to being a college student...

1. The fantastical allure of being "on your own" and being an adult.  Fun when you're a freshy, possibly rolls over into your sophomore year.
2. Nobody nags you to do your work.  You do what you want, referring back to number 1 about being an adult.
3. You get to meet new people.  Some will be your best friend(s), others will be less than desirable individuals that help you realize how awesome you truly are.
4. There are clubs, organizations, sports, etc. that you can get involved with.  Not only is this another great way to meet people but it's a chance to stay active (unlike myself), make a difference, and/or discover a new hobby or passion.
5. Parties.  I'm sure some of you may be disappointed that this wasn't number one, but you'll get over it after a few drinks.  Parties are plentiful. 
6. You are entitled to your own opinion, and can express yourself.  
7. Hellooooooooooo?? College students get discounts on some sweet stuff: massages, software, travel, groceries, etc.  Nobody expects you to be able to afford anything.  Except landlords, they'll suck you dry.
8. FREE or cheap events on campus such as concerts, dances, yadda yadda.
9. College is about discovering who you are, where you're going and what you want to do, meaning it's ok if you change your major 12 times...though I don't condone such behavior because you'll end up being the creepy 35 year old on campus.  

Z is for

Zen.  What calms you down?

That all depends.  How worked up am I to begin with?

Typically I take the bitch route: Keep bitching about it until I feel better.  This isn't the recommended route to take as I'm sure it thoroughly annoys plenty of people.  But I honestly feel as though the more I talk about it, the less sense it makes and the less I care.  My mom is always a really good sport about it...even when she's not truly listening, she lets me bitch it out and I'm all better.

Another method I like to use is the sleep method:  Sleep for a few hours and wake up feeling like a grand new woman.  You know the "high" feeling people supposedly get from running? (I wouldn't know because I'm fat, lazy, and wayyyyy out of shape...but I've at least HEARD of it!) That's the same kind of "high" I get from napping.  Don't know what it is...but I sure do love it.

Sincere apologies to those that have endured my bitching.  I swear it's for a good cause.  In the meantime, look at how adorable I am when I'm snoozing with my kitty!  :)

Y is for

Youth.  What memories do you have from your childhood?

Where do I even start? I'm convinced I had the best childhood ever.

My fondest memories come from halfway growing up on my grandparent's farm, which my dad and uncle farmed for many years.  There were, of course, barn cats running rampant and reproducing at a rate that would put most rabbits to shame.  Whenever new kittens were born, my brother, cousin and I would "claim" certain kittens to be ours and we got to name them.  Some were brain dead, some had crusty eyes...I wasn't discriminatory.  If there was a kitten to be seen, you can be sure I was dragging it around the farm much like the child is in the photo below...

Fishing with Dad.  Ohhhh boy did I fish with Dad.  I think he had me in a boat as soon as I was able to walk.

Being excited for school.  Sure grew out of that in a hurry...probably because I'm not required to purchase a ruler, 24 count Crayola crayons, two notebooks, two folders, 1 bottle of Elmer's glue, one glue stick (never understood why.  Wasn't one form of glue good enough??), markers, crayon box, and a box of Kleenex to share (I think that's why I hate sharing).

Let's see, what else...Pretty much anything involving Kayla.  I remember she had a doll that I always wanted to play with, but she was a little b**ch and made me play with the stupid one.  

Playing Super Nintendo with Kyle until our eyes bled is another fond memory.  Ka-Blooey, Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, Super Mario...so...many...hours. 

Whenever there was a family dinner, everyone would rush to pile up their plates before Gramps got to the food.  Good god that man could eat.  

Playing in the sandbox and riding my bike all over hell.  Do kids even do that anymore? Probably not.  Sand is probably "too dirty" and "dangerous" and bikes are never seen without training wheels and a helmet.  Things were so much easier in the 90's.

Snooping for Christmas presents...finding out what we got...getting yelled at for snooping.  

Hiding in the clothing racks with Kayla when our moms would take us shopping with them.  They only freaked out every time we did it.

Getting doll cakes for my birthday until I was about...10? That was always the best. They were similar to the one pictured below...

There are so many more memories from my childhood but I'll try to save your retinas.  :)

X is for

X-rated!

Pshhh, yeah, just like V was for Vagina.

X is for X-treme, because the person that made the alphabet blog challenge couldn't think of anything better.  This is where I'm supposed to talk about something extreme that I have done.

I'm not a huge thrill seeker.  You won't catch me jumping out of planes or swimming with sharks.

I used to be deathly afraid of heights and maybe I still am but only under certain circumstances.  I have been on the 86th floor of the Empire State Building which was amazing.  I also explored the 103rd floor Willis Tower Skydeck which blew my mind. Below are stupendous (slash, gross) photos of me out on one of the ledges.  Loooooved it.

There you have it.  I'm not "X-treme".  

W is for

Wearing.  What are you wearing right now, and what is your favorite outfit?

Kind of a lame question, but here it goes.

Right now I'm wearing a very large t-shirt that reads, "World's Greatest Grandpa", some capri yoga pant things, and one sock (I do typically wear two like the average person but one came off while I was rustling around in my blanket trying to stay warm).  I promise there is a reason why I'm wearing a World's Greatest Grandpa t-shirt.

A few years ago my gramps came to visit, and was wearing this shirt.  Upon entering our house, I took the opportunity to be a complete smartass and ask, "Why are you wearing Richard's shirt??" (Richard is my grandpa).  Everyone laughed.  I thought it was the funniest thing I had said in ages.  Gramps wore the shirt a few more times after that, and we made sure we joked around about it being my other grandpa's t-shirt.  Not only am I currently wearing this outfit, but it is also my favorite because I'm comfy and because it brings back great memories.

I never pictured myself blogging about an outfit and crying while relating it to my grandfathers.  Course, I never pictured losing both of them within a year either.  Love and miss you both terribly.  <3

V is for

Vagina!

Kidding! V is for Vacation.

Well let me tell you...I did not get to go on any extravagant vacations growing up.  I can say that I have visited the fine states of WY, ND, SD, TX, NY, IL and I don't count MN...just because.  And when I say "fine", I'm excluding WY, ND, and SD...just because.  New York City was probably my favorite mini-vacay, minus the lame leadership conference I was forced to attend.  Also minus me not having batteries in my camera when I hopped in a taxi and headed for the Statue of Liberty at 5:00 am.  Pizza was great, people were interesting, almost ended up in the Bronx because I was unfamiliar with the subway...memories.

Eventually I would like to be able to take my family on a cruise.  Come to think of it, it doesn't even have to be a cruise, just something fun and tropical because quite frankly, I loathe WI winters.

I suppose it would be cool to visit Poland and get in touch with my roots.  I'm Polish and damn proud.

U is for

Underdog.  What is one underdog you can't help but stand up for?

I actually find myself standing up for any and every underdog I can.  I like to think it's because I'm open minded, but it's likely because I grew up in a town of 353 people in the middle of nowhere which automatically made me the underdog in every social situation, for whatever reason.  Somehow, graduating with 16 kids (get the laughs out...go ahead...) made me inferior to everyone else who graduated with 400 kids.

Although my tiny school closed a few years after I graduated, my heart still belongs to that tiny town.  Bigger is not always better.  That's not to say I have some kind of life grudge against people who were raised in the city.  That is to say that, no matter how much of an "underdog" you are, you can accomplish anything you put your mind to.

Pick it up

Once upon a time I started an alphabet blog challenge.  I didn't finish it.  Why?

I started the alphabet challenge that took up some of my summer, just for fun.  Then one day I just kind of forgot I even had a blog, which is weird because I actually enjoyed writing about seemingly pointless things.  Last night at work I, for whatever reason, remembered I was once a blogging fool and logged in.  To my surprise (yes, it only took me two months to forget what I had written) I realized I left off on the letter S--Smile.  IRONIC! Or maybe just creepy--to me at least.  I've been having a hard time smiling lately, which is just as weird as forgetting I had a blog because I also love smiling.  (awwwww)

I have reason to believe that, no matter how trivial it seems, I left off on "Smile" for a reason:  I would need a reminder later on.  There's no reason why I shouldn't be smiling, but sometimes I allow others to dictate my feelings.  Bad, bad, bad.

T is for Thought.  I have a gazillion thoughts in one day, it'd be hard to talk about just one or even a few.  The one thought that has been looming over me for a while now, is that nobody wants you to succeed.  Graduating in May is proving to be quite challenging because it's a huge yard game involving a series of flaming hoops, while faculty and staff sit around with a cold one in hand, watching, amused, as you struggle to make it through the hoops, and soon enough you're on fire...but nobody puts you out.  So there.

Here's to smiling, blogging, and graduating in May.