Snow: -Please Uninsert Here-

I hate snow.

There, I've said it. And all of you that don't get snow and think it's such a blessing that I have it and that I shouldn't be complaining... well, obviously you don't get snow.

In theory, having snow is great. It's so pretty, fun to play in, and gives you those oh-so-welcomed 2 hour delays and snow days during grade school. Well once you hit life after high school graduation, snow is anything but great.

Life Rule #3
Snow is Satan.

Have you ever had a lot of snow during finals week? If not, let me just throw out there how stressful it is knowing that a snow storm is coming and not being sure if your finals the following day will be canceled. Our Monday morning 8am finals were canceled and moved to Saturday, luckily for me, my professor allowed us to come in at 10am (when the school opens on a 2 hour delay schedule, which is what we had) to take the final. To be honest, there was no way that I was staying Saturday. My best friend of the past 17 years graduated from college on Saturday, and I was not going to miss that. PS. Can I just say, holy crap, my best friend just graduated COLLEGE. her schooling career is over. what? when did we get so old?

You see, as Luke Danes says, "snow is just annoying wet stuff that falls from the sky". I couldn't agree more. It ruins plans, and it ruins days. You wouldn't like it much if your plans to go hang out with your boyfriend on your 7 month anniversary got ruined because the roads near his house were snow covered and it took you over a hour to scrape off all of the 4 inches of ice and snow from your car.

Now I don't mean to complain (oh who are we kidding, we all know how much I love to complain) but I just find snow very aggravating. It's a pain to shovel, it's a pain to drive in, I'm a bitter old woman now who has lost all of her youth and childhood and won't play in the snow anymore, it's cold, it's slippery (don't know the number of times I've fallen on my ass because of it), it sucks to scrape off your car, it's wet... It's just pretty much lost all of the magic for me.

I miss the days when I loved that it was snowing; when the lyrics, "I'm dreaming of a white Christmas" were actually true. But the truth of the matter is that I'm now a 22 year old who has places to go and people to see and doesn't take kindly to precipitation getting in the way of that. Need I mention the horrible snow storm we got the weekend of my 20th birthday that caused us to lose power and ruined my birthday plans? And my birthday is in October - Pennsylvania isn't supposed to get snow storms in October.

To top it all off, I have had a cold for the past week (yes, during finals week). I've lost my voice and keep being awoken in the middle of the night by my inability to cease coughing. It's been rough. Winter sucks. But at least finals week is over, and I don't have all of that stress weighing down on me, too. I did well on all of my finals, thanks for asking. Let's just hope that my psycho art teacher doesn't give me a C in her class. I'm not sure how well I'll be able to handle having anything under a B on my transcript. (yes. i'm one of those people.)

So here's my warning to you now: BEWARE THE SNOW. It'll mess you up. Anyway, I hope you all are having or about to have a nice needed break from school and a happy holiday season.

Peace. Love. I Hate Snow.

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Insert Guide To College Relationships Here

How does one even go about making a guide to relationships? I'm certainly not in the business of analyzing other people's relationships (or even my own). I suppose there are a few things you should keep in mind when entering the wild world of college dating.

For starters, college isn't about dating. This isn't your last chance to find your soul mate. It is perfectly fine no matter what point of life you're in to be single. Just make sure that when you're dating someone, it's because you actually want to be with him or her, and not because you just don't want to be single.

Life Rule #2
There's nothing wrong with being single. Never force yourself to be in a relationship just because you don't want to be alone.

That being said, it's alright to explore your options. If you need a cuddle buddy, you don't need to go steady. I guess the term, Friend With Benefits (FWB), is often looked down upon, but it's a completely viable option. The most important part is that you set boundaries before you get into it. Make sure you and your friend both know how far the other is willing to go, and be up front with your feelings. I did the whole FWB thing with one of my best friends and it worked out great because we were up front about not wanting a relationship, and we were open with what we were and weren't comfortable with. It was similar to being in a relationship without the commitment or lovey-dovey feelings. If anything, it just made our friendship stronger, I think. So if you're feeling lonely, don't just throw yourself into a relationship. There are less serious ways to go about it... so long as you're careful.

But please, if you are in a relationship with someone from home, don't give into the temptation to find someone at school to be all cuddly with. You can skype, visit, text, call (etc) your special someone from back home, or you can decide the long distance isn't working and break up with him or her for someone you met at college... just don't do both at the same time. It's easier to cheat when you're away at college... but it's wrong, and you've got to make up your mind.

Let's get to my favorite part of this conversation, though. That would be mostly because it involves my boyfriend that I've been dating for 4 and a half months now. The hardest part about relationships at college is that you get so used to seeing him or her every day, and then when the semester's over, you go back home and barely get to see him or her at all. I have a hard enough time not seeing him for a day - I'm not looking forward to when summer rolls around. Of course, if you're lucky, he or she won't live too far away from your hometown.

Going to college with your significant other is about half way between being in the real world and living in the Big Brother house. What I mean by that is living on a college campus with your boyfriend is living on your own within walking distance of your boyfriend with your biggest responsibilities being going to class and doing homework. This leaves a lot of free time for you to be with your significant other. All this free time really gives you the chance to spend time with him or her and really get to know what he/she is like. Perhaps that's why my first college relationship lasted a month. It's such an intense level to get to know someone, though.

Of course, you have to be careful that you don't spend all of your time with your special someone. You need to have your own life and friends away from that, because if you don't, you could end up alone when you break up (or sitting around waiting for him while he's at, oh, i don't know, say soccer practice or something). As much as you will want to spend time with him or her (if you're like me anyway), it's important to spend time with other people, too.

It's funny that 3 of the 4 and a half months that my boyfriend and I have been dating has been during the summer. We started dating the week after school ended, so a majority of our relationship, I haven't been with him. Of course, ever since school started, there has not been more than a day that I go without seeing him. See how much college changes relationships? Anyway, I'd like to take this short moment to gush (even though I don't do this often... refer to rules about Jayy #5) about how wonderful my boyfriend is and how much he makes me smile. I'm sure you don't want to hear all about our relationship, but it's the best one I've been in thus far.

And that's the most important thing about relationships - it should feel like the best relationship you've ever been in. You should want to see the person. He/she should make you happy, smile, and feel good about life. Don't settle for anything less.

One last thing, always use protection when engaging in sexual activity. Whether you agree with premarital sex or not, anything can happen at any time. Shit happens, people change their minds, values and opinions change... college changes people in so many ways... just make sure you're prepared (mentally and physically) to handle all the repercussions of your actions.

USE YOUR MIND, NOT YOUR DICK/VAJAYJAY!

So yes. College relationships are a wonderful thing to experience. Just make sure you go about it in a responsible way. Although, let's be real... you're in college now, you're going to be irresponsible at least once in a while.

Peace. Love. Wrap it before you tap it.

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Insert School Interrupting Disease Here

That sounds like a knock knock joke, doesn't it?

knock knock.
who's there?
school interrupting disease.
school interrupting dis-
HA HA SUCKA YOU HAVE MONO!

Apparently it's also a joke interrupting disease. But I guess that would be part of the joke.

Have you ever missed mass amounts of school due to your immune system not doing a decent enough job and getting some kind of contagious disease that makes your whole body hurt, your temperature sky rocket, your stomach want to explode, your throat hurt because of all of the drainage, your body wanting to sleep all the time, and gives you an inability to drink water - the one thing you're supposed to do to get better? Oh, let's add in having your period on top of that. This, my friends, has been my past 2 and a half weeks.

The first week I wasn't really sure why I was constantly hurting. Headaches and sore muscles for days. I still went out and did things, like finishing my summer classes or hanging out with my boyfriend and his friend at the mall. Of course, I was slightly miserable and dying the whole time. But these were important things. That Tuesday was the last day I would get to see one of my best friends who is moving 12 hours away for college this year. Those are the things you can't miss, no matter how achy you're feeling. So I pretty much ignored the fact that there was something wrong with me until my fever was super noticeable, and I was sweating bullets.

The second week was when the dehydration hit. Once the dehydration happens, you're screwed. For three days straight, I was throwing up, feeling awful, and barely able to move. I wasn't sore anymore, but every time I tried to eat or drink, I just wanted to throw it all back up. It took me all last week to get back to a point where I could eat and be somewhat active again. And do you know how awful it is to see food, want food, love food, but every time you try to actually eat it, you want to vomit? Horrible, horrible punishment.

This week has been mostly just me dealing with crazy drainage and allergy problems mixed in with the need to sleep about 5 hours more a day than normal... I feel like a cat. I'll be doing fine and then all of a sudden I'm crazy tired and need a nap.

And what all of this and the blood work that I've had done (not to mention my clever knock knock joke) is alluding to is that I have mono. Which, you know, isn't the WORST thing that could happen to a person, but it's certainly down there. Besides the fact that I can't do any contact sports (let's be real. i don't do sports at all - contact or not. so not an issue) I have missed (or am in the process of missing) my first week of classes. On top of that, my blood work that I had taken THIS week (and I absolutely loathe needles) shows that my strain is still active, and therefore means I'm still contagious, and I just really want to kiss my boyfriend. So how long do I have to wait before it's ok to do that again? Because, that's quite possibly the worst part of this whole thing. Like come on, I have been single for 21 years of my life (all of my relationships collectively have lasted 11 months-ish), and I have to get mono NOW? I know, I know, first world problems, I should be more concerned with the DISEASE and missing school. But whatever.

Rule #11 About Jayy
She is terrified of needles. Hates them with a passion. But she has 6 piercings, and wants 3 more and a tattoo.

While I'm complaining (it's what I do best), I just want to throw out there that I have no idea how I even got mono in the first place. My boyfriend doesn't have it. I haven't been kissing anyone else. And I'm the type of person who won't share drinks or food or anything like that cuz it freaks me out. My whole life I would actually get made fun of for being a "germaphobe" because I wouldn't share drinks. It's not that I'm a germaphobe. Just the thought of it freaks me out. But when everyone in marching band started getting mono my junior year, I thought to myself, hey. at least I know I won't get it because I don't put my mouth on stuff that other people have. WHY HAS THIS LOGIC FAILED ME NOW?! Oh well, I guess we'll never know.

So now that I've sufficiently talked about myself (because it's another thing that I do best) let's throw back all that we've just learned to help you. Firstly, if you're showing any symptoms like I was, keep an eye on it. It's unlikely that it's mono, but you could just be super lucky like me. Secondly, if you do end up having mono, make sure you get in contact with your school and let them know. I'm pretty sure my mom just dialed the schools number and told them the problem until they connected her to someone who could help, because how does one even know who to inform in a situation like that? Keep in contact with your professors. Email them. Ask them to send you anything you missed, or what they suggest for staying caught up with class. Don't drop off the face of the planet just because you have some mystery disease (it's french! - gilmore girls quote of the day) School is important, so try to stay on top of it as best you can.

If you so happen to get it right at the end of summer and you miss move in day, because what are the odds, make sure your housing director knows about it, too. That way she won't call you up 2 days later asking if you're still planning on moving in, because you never checked in, and she's starting to fill in spots with people on the waiting list.

Most importantly, just get plenty of rest and drink plenty of fluids. It's so cliche, and I've heard it so many times these past 2 and a half weeks, but it's true. The sooner you're better, the sooner you can get back to doing things normally. Plus, no one likes to feel sick anyway.

One last thing. If you're IGNORING the fact that you're sick because you just really want to go hang out with your friends or your boyfriend or something like that, please make sure you're ok to drive. If you're slightly feverish and not all there, you might accidentally hit a recycling bin not even a mile away from your house and take off your mirror and scratch the side of your car. I know driving isn't necessarily college related, but it's still something you should definitely take seriously and into consideration when you're sick. Sometimes driving while being sick is just as bad as driving while under the influence.

Oh, and because you might be wondering. The picture is from when I went to the lake 3 or so weeks ago with part of CIRCLE team. It was a super fun day, and I totally miss Alyssa and wish she were coming back. Of course I miss Sam, too, but I'm seeing him in 4 days. Anyway, just some photographic proof of how awesome I am. We just hung out at the lake all day - laid on the beach, went swimming, and went kayaking. We went to Sonic for dinner, and then I drove Sam home and we watched Percy Jackson and it was just a nice day.

So have a lovely first week of classes if you're back this week. If not, have a lovely week anyway. I'll try to write more about other college-y things soon, seeing as college is actually starting now.

Peace. Love. Mono.

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Insert FAQ Here

How is your first semester of college going? What college are you going to? Where is that at? I bet you don't miss it here too much. What are you majoring in? What classes are you taking? Have you made any friends? How're you liking the dorms? What about the food?

SHUT UP!
Please.
And Thank You.

Once you graduate high school, you start to notice a pattern. It's like the only thing people suddenly know how to make small talk about is your post mandatory schooling life decisions. It doesn't matter if you go away to college, stay home for college, take a year off, go straight into the work force, or spend all of your time sitting on that musty old couch in the basement playing video games 24/7 with no plans for the foreseeable future. People will always want to know what you're doing with your life, and 9 times out of 10 it'll make you feel like shit. Oh, you're going to college? How are you making any money? Oh, you're just going to start working for the rest of your life? You should really consider continuing your education. It'll help you get a better job, and they'll be some of the best years of your life. It's really a lose lose situation.

But for some reason, if you are completely unfazed by the questions people ask or the way they ask them, you will shortly grow to resent the questions. The number of times that I have heard What college are you going to? or some similar mind-numbingly dull question is enough to make me want to bash my head through a wall. And of course it's never the same person asking it, so you basically end up having an automatic answer saved in the back of your mind that you have to deliver politely with sincerity and kindness. (even if all you want to do is shout go the fuck away and stop asking me about school)

So as a new comer to the wonderful ways of post secondary schooling, I thought I would heed you all a grave warning,

College Rule #11
Be prepared to get asked about school time and time again. You will get asked so much, that you will actually prefer being at school where at least the only thing people ask you there is what major are you or what dorm are you in (although, that get's pretty old pretty fast, too).

In other news, I haven't written in the past 2 weeks because I was on VAY-KAY visiting THE FAM. Down in the sunny south, I didn't have much time for blogging or coding or artwork or anything of the sort. The lovely picture up there you are viewing is from the family photoshoot. The picture was too long to fit everyone in there, so you're only seeing me and 2 of my cousins. Sucks to be you, baby sister. I'm also becoming more and more addicted to reality shows like The Bachelorette, Big Brother, Project Runway, etc etc. Never do anything ironically, or you'll end up watching TV shows obsessively that you once mocked, or saying things like Yolo, Totes, Probs or making duck faces.

Hope you're all having a lovely summer (or winter). Only a month left for me til I go back to college. So tell me, what are you majoring in? Where are you going to school? What year of schooling are you in? What is your living situation like? See, I'm just helping you get ready for the steady flow of questions that are sure to be headed your way. Don't believe me? Give it a couple of months and then let me know.

Peace. Love. The Third Degree.

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Skype Convos With -Insert Person Here-

One of the worst parts about graduating high school is that all of your friends that you've grown accustomed to seeing every day suddenly go off and do all these marvelous things and you don't really see them much anymore. One day, you and your friends are sitting around talking about the future, and the next it IS the future and you're away at college missing your friends and family. Or how about now that your first year of college is over, all of your college friends are scattered near and far - hardly close enough for you to visit them. How do you keep in touch with people?

Video Chats. And no, I don't mean like Omegle or Chat Roulette. Skype, Oovoo, FaceTime, Facebook... they're all ways to video chat with your friends that you can't otherwise see. HARNESS THIS POWER and wield it with care. The first semester that I was away at college, I Skyped with someone at least once a week. Usually it was my best friend, Stephanie, or my sister (which then included my mother, and sometimes even my father). It was a way to talk to them even without being there, and it also gave me something to fill the time with that would have otherwise been spent hiding in my room from my awful ex-roommates or doing absolutely nothing while my ex-boyfriend sat at his computers playing video games and ignoring me. (yes, computers as in plural. gotta love web design majors.)

College Rule #9
Don't underestimate the powers of Skype. It really helps emotionally and entertaining-wise to make you feel better, and it keeps you connected with people back home and friends away at other colleges.

Rule #10 About Jayy
She has 3 ex-boyfriends, although the first one doesn't really count. The first was a football player, the second, a theater kid, and the third is in her web design major. They're all vastly different, but they've all been gamers at some point or another. Hell, the second one is at college for video game design.

Likewise, once you've made friends at school and you all go home, you start to realize how near to impossible it will be to see most of them outside of school. Sometimes you get lucky and live close to them, or close enough to drive (like how I only live an hour from my boyfriend). More than likely, however, you will live to far to make a day trip 3 hours away to visit them (like every other single friend I made at college this past year). The worst part about that for me is that 2 of my best friends from school aren't coming back - so the amount of times I will see them in the foreseeable future are few and far between. This is why we Skype.

I Skype with Paul usually a few times a week, which would be excessive except that it's always web design related. 9 times out of 10 he needs my help with something, although he's also been known to Skype me because he's bored. I don't get to Skype Casshole so much because we both kinda suck at sitting down and being like, let's skype right now. But when we do Skype, it goes on for hours - just like all of our conversations. I'll even Skype my boyfriend a few times during the week, even though we usually see each other once a week. It's just really hard from going to talking to these people all the time, to never seeing them, so Skype helps.

Of course, there are numerous ways to use this tool. One of my favorites was the time I used it to Skype Paul into class. He was "sick" or something, I don't remember, but he jokingly asked me to Skype him in. So I did. Dr. Moon Master D is real chill, so he didn't mind. It DID bring a lot of unwanted attention to Paul and I, though.

College Rule #10
If you can't make it to class, you can always try to Skype in. Just make sure it's ok with your professor! (and that you have a friend with a computer in that class)

Skype Sessions are good for the soul. I've had my fair share that last hours on end. I've fallen asleep during them before. I've used them to do homework. I've used them catch up with friends. I've used them to entertain me when I'm bored. I've watched Catfish on Paul's TV. I've practiced songs. I've had dance parties. The possibilities are almost limitless.... the connection just cuts in and out, and you can't do anything physically... so, they are pretty limited... but get creative with it. Utilize the power of video chats!

In other news, Happy 4th of July to all of my fellow Americans out there! (a day early) Anybody doing anything fun for that? Well I hope everyone has a fun drunken holiday with explosives and good times.

Do you video chat with people? What's your favorite program to do it with?

Peace. Love. Skype Sesh.

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Insert Summer Classes Here

It's summer and those warm, crazy nights with your friends, and sunny, free days at the beach are calling your name. It's a care free 3 months of doing everything you want and forgetting all about school. Right? Wrong. Especially if you live in Australia and it is in fact WINTER right now... basically, if you live in Australia, this blog is pretty much only good for a time killer and a few chuckles here and there. Anyway, some of us who want to graduate early (or are just making up for the year they took off) are enrolled in summer classes.

College Rule #7
Unless you have a good reason and every intention of going back (like you don't have the funds, or you aren't sure where to continue your schooling) don't take a year off from college. Just stick it out the couple of years and don't waste the time and effort you already put into it. If you stop going because you don't feel like going, you most likely will never go back.

So as you may have gathered, I am taking college classes during the summer. The plan is to take classes every semester so that I can graduate in Fall of 2014 (where normally people in my grade that do 4 year degrees will graduate in Spring of 2014). May I just say, it is so crazy to me that a lot of my friends that I graduated high school with either graduated early this past spring or are graduating this coming spring. When did I get so old? In order for me to graduate by next fall, I have to take classes over this summer and the next.

This summer I was to take my last math credit and my last PE credit. Why colleges require PE credits, I'll never know, and that's a rant for a different day. That was the plan anyway. Of course, leave it to Jordyn to eff things up. I signed up for the PE class with my best friend, Stephanie (which is awesome because I met her through that school and never have I been able to purposely schedule a class with a friend). My math class was a virtual online one. I've never taken a virtual online class before... and I can still honestly say that I haven't.

Essentially, my super awesome community college's system is that they only send emails to the email account they provide you, but once you stop going to school there, they shut off your account and you have to call in to reenact it. Well, you can bet your bottom dollar that they shut off my email account after the year I was away from them. Did I know that? Nope, of course not. So, I'm sitting here expecting to get an email or SOMETHING from them about my virtual class. And nothing. Eventually, June 17th rolls around and my PE class is scheduled to start the next day. I'm thinking, This is odd. Math definitely should have started by now. Let me check my schedule again.

Well, I checked my schedule and low and behold it said that I was dropped from my math class on June 4th. After a ridiculously huge ..erm.. mild panic attack full of nauseousness, bawling, and massive spazzed out texts to my boyfriend, I told my mother where more panic attacks and fits of bawling pursued. You see, I'm definitely not the type of person to skip class, or just not show up. Not even in high school. The fact that so much money rides on a single class, not to mention my goal of graduating by the end of 2014, is not something you just throw away. We only got a 50% refund. The whole situation was just a giant misunderstanding and really lame. I honestly don't ever want to go back there (not like I did after I finished my Spring 2012 semester), but I don't really have a choice. The credits are cheaper there.

College Rule #8
Make sure that you have constant contact with your school. If they only send emails to you through the email account they gave you, than make sure you're checking it regularly and that it's still available to you.

So besides that unfortunate happening, my PE class has gone alright. I've only had one class so far, and already my arms feel like they're going to fall off... and that was 3 days ago. On the plus side, I did 22 "push ups" in a minute... you know, 22 of my girly only go half way down push ups because I have no upper body strength or any strength at all. I won't lie to you, I may be skinny, but I am far from physically fit. I'm surprised I even did 22. Even worse, though, is that this gym class has homework. Yippee skippee The only good part about it is that I'm taking it with Steph. I got to hang out with her after class on Thursday. We went and got food and I sang "I Want It That Way" loudly at the gas station because it was playing, I'm still living in the 90's, and the Backstreet Boys will forever be cooler than One Direction.

Rule #9 About Jayy
She doesn't exercise. She doesn't eat healthy. So don't assume she's fit or in shape just because she's skinny. And ESPECIALLY don't argue with her about it. I think she knows her body a little better than you do.

So if you're having as crappy a summer as me with all of that school nonsense, it's important to remember that it IS still summer, and you should still be having all of your summer adventures and fun. Last Wednesday, I went to the lake with my friend Brittany, and we had a marvelous time. The weather was so nice out. It was a perfect day. We went walking on the docks, trying to catch fish with our bare hands in the lake, and then making flower crowns up on the grassy hill. It's little moments like those that add up to make your summer amazing. Make sure you take as many of those moments that seem like nothing instead of just sitting in your room all day watching TV. There's always something to do other than just school, work, and TV. Make the most of your summer.

Oh, and good news. I'm that much closer to getting my portfolio up and running. I just want a few people to look over it first to make sure it's good enough, and then I'll put it online. I've also gotten a new twitter account to go along with it here. Follow if you'd life. If not, definitely follow Insert Here on twitter. I'll love you for forever.

What are you doing this summer/winter? Ever take virtual classes before?

Peace. Love. Winter in Australia.

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Late Night -Insert Restaurant Name Here- Runs

You're in college. You are most likely broke. You are most likely hungry. If not, you might possibly be the luckiest college student I've ever met (relatively speaking, of course). You always have that super delicious school food that they like to force freshmen to add to their already ridiculously high bill. But as much as we all love the variety (yet still feels like we're eating the same thing every. single. damn. day.) of the food they serve in the cafeteria, sometimes we just need a break from that - even if it's fast food.

College Rule #5
It is perfectly ok, and even encouraged, to get food AWAY from the school cafeteria every once in a while.

I am aware that not everyone is as lucky as I am to have a Wendy's within walking distance of my dorm, along with quite a few other restaurants within 5 minutes driving distance. I suppose that would ease the temptation of eating out all of the time to avoid school food. I'm still trying to decide if that's a fortunate or unfortunate thing for you.... I'll get back to you on that one.

One of the food places around my lovely place of schooling is Denny's. Super classy, I know. Denny's happens to be the hang out place for college students after midnight though, apparently. This could be because college students' sophisticated palates can truly appreciate the delicacy that is Denny's breakfast foods... or more likely it's pretty much the only place with an open dining room that late. Either way, I have made a couple of late night food runs to Denny's in my time.

The best part about my late night Denny's runs was that I went with my friends Paul and Chris. We're all in the same major, so we've ended up working on homework until the wee hours of the night, and then going to get some breakfast at 12 in the morning. I quite enjoy my chocolate chip pancakes.

The first time we went, I got an Oreo milkshake instead of actual food. While Chris and Paul were Vining their weird ass video clips (ok, not gonna lie, they were pretty good as far as Vine videos go), I was using my milkshake as ink to do the kiddie maze on my placemat (I had no writing utensils, you see... and using my own blood seemed a little out of the question). As the night went on, they started making fun of me for not finishing my milkshake, and Paul kept pretending to pour salt into it. Just as he was about to actually dump salt into it (or so I thought), I swatted his hand away. Well I suppose he wasn't expecting it or something, because he ended up dropping it straight into my milkshake. Normal people would have reached in and pulled it out before it had totally submerged and sunk to the bottom, but we're not normal. We spent approximately the next 2 minutes straight laughing. I had to scoop it out with a spoon and try not to laugh when Paul asked the waitress for more napkins and explain what happened. He did a very nice job cleaning it out, though.

That also was the night that when the waitress asked for our orders, Paul asked if he could order off the senior menu. The waitress said yes he could, and then Paul ordered something that wasn't off the senior menu. She said, "You know that's not on the senior menu, right?" to which Paul replied, "Yeah, I know. I just wanted to see if I could order off of it." Chris and I couldn't stop laughing because we didn't think that he would actually ask that.

We were probably such a pain in the waitress's ass that it made me feel a little bit better about the lady we gave our money to totally gyp-ing me. My milkshake was $4, so I was just going to pay $5 total and give a $1 tip. When the lady asked how much I wanted to pay (after listening to that whole conversation about $5 total and a $1 tip) and I said $5, she still put on a $5 tip. So I ended up paying $9 for a stupid milkshake. I should have said something, but I didn't. Still didn't stop me from bitching about it for the rest of the night and most of the next day.

Life Rule #1
If someone cheats you out of money or hears you incorrectly, speak up and say something. If you sit back and let it happen to you, you really forfeit all rights to complain.

The second time we went to Denny's wasn't nearly as eventful. As we pulled in and parked, we noticed how the front of the parking lot was ridiculously brightly lit, while there were no lights in the back. We decided that's where people hid dead bodies. Once inside, we were waiting to be seated, and two slightly older guys came up and started talking to me. They were pretty much hitting on me, and Chris, funny kid that he is, basically butted into the conversation and answered all the questions they were asking me. Meanwhile, Paul was completely oblivious to the whole thing. When the server came to seat us, she asked if it was a party of 5. The guys said "No, unless you guys all want to sit together." It was funny, but Paul basically said "Nooo wayyy" (in his normal Paul-speak). A little bit later, the guys ended up skipping out on their meal and paying and all that wrought. Paul said, "See, they probably would have taken us out back...."

College Rule #6
If someone asks you to go out and do something, go with them. You make experiences everywhere, everyday. Even something as little as going to Denny's at midnight can produce some funny stories and great memories.

Unfortunately, as Paul's not coming back next semester, the Denny's runs were kind of short lived. Paul, Chris, and I over twitter just had a conversation about how much we needed another late night trip, though. Too bad we all live so far away from each other. *sigh* College Life. Moral of the story is, getting food away from college isn't just a quick moment of heaven and break from college food, but also a good time. I definitely recommend getting a group of friends and just going out somewhere to eat. It doesn't have to be somewhere expensive... just somewhere away from campus.

Peace. Love. Denny's.

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Insert Guide To College Roommates Here

If you're going to college, you're going to have roommates - whether you are on campus or off campus, whether it's 5 other people or just your fish, Skippy - you will 9 times out of 10 be living with someone else. If it's your first year moving away from home and living with complete strangers, the thought can be pretty daunting.

Every roommate that you have will be different (unless you request to have the same one every year), every situation will be different. This being said, there really is no exact guide one can give to surviving your college roommates. I think the biggest thing is to be flexible, but keep your ground. I'm the type of person that is non-confrontational, so I will try to stay out of other peoples' ways and be a decent roommate - you know, thoughtful, clean, polite, etc. I keep to myself. That still didn't stop my roommates from first semester from automatically hating me. For some reason I had a target on my back from the moment we all started facebook messaging at the beginning of the summer. Maybe they thought I was weird, maybe it was because I'm older than them, maybe it's just cuz catty bitches gon' be catty bitches... I don't really know. All I know is that out of my 3 roommates, only one liked me.

At the end of the semester, she moved out. At that point I was like, eff no am I staying here. So I ended up moving to another place across campus for the second semester. I think know it was mutually appreciated among all of us. One of them tweeted "that just made my day 10 times better. #thankgod #goodbye" So yes, needless to say, we didn't get along. I pretty much went the whole semester without exchanging words with them - only when necessary.

College Rule #2
It's normal not to get along with your roommates. Just try to be civil with each other, and if it really makes you uncomfortable to be in your own room, talk to your RA or Housing Director. You shouldn't have to live somewhere where you don't feel welcomed. Remember, it's your room, too.

So for all of you first years who were a little shaky about the idea of moving in with strangers that I just scared, don't worry. The second semester, I moved in with people my own age. They were all nice and we all got along just fine the first few months. I ended up sharing a bedroom with one other girl - Casshole - and we became best friends. We started doing everything together, and talking all the time, and basically found out that we are so similar, yet different enough that as roommates and friends we really worked. Unfortunately, by the end of the semester, there were disagreements and arguments and guerrilla warfare going on, that I tried my best to stay out of. Once again, I'm non-confrontational, and I didn't have a problem with any of my roommates. I thought they all had valid points, and I certainly liked all of them well enough.

College Rule #3
Communication between roommates is super important. If you have a problem, talk to your roommates about it and try to work it out... don't be manipulative.

The last day of the semester, I was a little hungover (only slightly...). I was wearing a dress to my final as "business casual" for a presentation and whatnot. This happens to be my favorite white dress, the one whose zipper always gets stuck. I had each of my roommates try to zip it up for me, but it kept getting stuck half way. There I am standing in the bathroom, the temperature getting warmer and warmer, my stomach constantly being pulled at each time the zipper hit its sticking spot, all the while feeling more and more hungover. It got to the point where I had to say "I need you to stop." She asked if I was hurting her and I said, "No, I think I gotta throw up." and then proceeded to run into the bathroom and puke. She left for her final while I was puking, and I never saw her again.

College Rule #4
There is nothing classier than saying bye to a roommate by throwing up. Drink responsibly, kids.

Sometimes, you'll get really lucky, and move into a room or hall where everybody all hangs out and becomes friends. This happened with my boyfriend - his whole hall became friends and did everything together. They would keep their doors unlocked and just walk into each others' rooms. It was cool, and I was always jealous of that. If you make good friends with your roommates your first year, then by all means, room with them again. Even consider moving off campus, because it's nice not having people breathe down your neck 24/7.

Some of you are thinking, Well Jayy, I'm not going away to college. So this doesn't apply. Well sure, but I hope my fun little anecdotes put a smile on your face for even just a second. In actual reality though, you still will be living with people, most likely. Just because you've lived with your family for the first 17 or 18 years of your life, doesn't mean that things won't change once you start going to college. For example, your parents will start yelling at you not just because of your grades, but because if you fail out by skipping classes or not getting good enough grades, then you just flushed a bunch of money right down the toilet. It's super great. Be excited for those arguments.

Essentially, being a roommate is a responsibility. Be respectful. Be clean. Be conscious of others. Be open to communication. And definitely don't be that catty bitch you were in high school. You're in college now - grow up - people don't want to deal with that shit, and they certainly don't want to live with it.

Peace. Love. Roommates.

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Insert Introduction Here

I'm not really sure why I'm writing an introduction post - if you want to know more about me, "Know Me"; if you want to know more about this blog, "Back Story". If you are a creep and want to see my face or find me elsewhere on the internet "Find Me" and "Stalk Me". It's all good.

I guess one of the biggest reasons that I wanted to start this blog was because I didn't renew my domain name this year, and I just HAVE to have somewhere to blog. My aim for this specific blog is to be a little more organized than all that I've previously owned. It'll be quite a struggle for me because I tend to go off on tangents, and jump all over the place, and talk about seemingly random things. You'll learn very quickly this to be true of me.

So what then, do I talk about if this isn't REALLY an introduction post? she ponders as she listens to her Mayday Parade playlist on Spotify. (she has also previously been pondering why she HASN'T started listening to Mayday Parade sooner.) I suppose I'll specifically talk about all of my college and job endeavors. That has to be interesting on some level... right...?

I have been out of school for a month now, pretty much. I can't believe it's been that long since I've seen my old roommate, and one of my best friends, whom I have started affectionately referring to as Casshole. It's a tough thing going from seeing someone every day and talking to him or her about everything, to never seeing and barely talking to him or her at all. I'm going through the same thing with my friend, Paul. The worst part is that neither of them are coming back to my school next semester... so I really won't see them much anymore.

College Rule #1
People leave. They transfer. They drop out. They graduate. It sucks. If you have my luck, half of your closest friends will all leave at the same time.

In the past month, I haven't really thought about school much - other than when I reminisce about stuff with my boyfriend or talk about all the ways I'm going to be able annoy my boyfriend next semester because I will actually live close enough to do so. I ended up checking my school email yesterday though and found out that one of my classes was canceled because not enough people were enrolled. This means I got switched into an 8am class.

Rule #8 About Jayy
She does not do morning. 11am classes are borderline early. She will undoubtedly be late to and sleep through any 8am class she has frequently.

My advisor/favorite professor, Dr. Mooney (from here on out referred to as Moon Master D), also emailed me about classes that I need to take. You see, as one of the few people in my major who actually enjoys and excels at the design part of web design (and one of the only girls), I'm pretty much the only one concerned at the lack of graphic design classes that are required of us. So Moon Master D is helping me fill up all of the open elective spaces with the best possible graphic design classes that I can take. The whole business is tricky though because there aren't really any graphic design courses that'll be beneficial to me that I can take without taking the whole graphic design first year schedule... and ain't nobody got time or money fo dat.

I'm still jobless. I'm still broke. I'm still wondering how I'm going to be paying for my car insurance. Being an adult is super awesome. Dad says there might be a job for me where he works - taking pictures of used cars and putting them up on the site - which would be a pretty awesome gig for me, I think. I do that kind of thing normally anyway.

Other than that, the biggest things happening in my life aren't even happening in MY life. My baby sister just graduated high school last Friday. I can't believe she's so old! I can't believe that respectively that makes ME so old! Although, I'm old enough to legally consume alcohol, so being old has its perks. The other thing is that baby sister has published her first book, which is pretty awesome. I'm in the process of reading it. If you guys are interested, you can check it out here - BUY THIS BOOK RIGHT MEOW. And while you're there (at Amazon that is) feel free to order your good pal, best friend, favorite blogger, Jayy, season 1, 2, or 4 of The Vampire Diaries. She just might have to love you for forever.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY LITTLE COUSIN!!!

Peace. Love. Collide.

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