It’s been a while, guys.

Hey, guys!  I know, it’s been a long time.  I’ve written maybe three things in the past six months, and that’s pretty not cool.  But if you were wondering how I’ve been doing, I feel that this picture pretty much sums it up:

Basically, I have traded in my blood for coffee.

This past semester has been the most difficult that I’ve had yet, and I find myself missing the relatively light workload that I had my freshman and sophomore years.  Junior year is tough!  I basically haven’t been sleeping, and I’ve completely lost motivation to actually get work done and study.  Because of this, I definitely am seeing lower grades than normal.  Granted, low grades for me means that I’m getting more Bs than As, but it’s still two more Bs than normal in a semester.

I’ve just felt like I’ve been rushing with no breaks.  The moment one exam or paper or print is finished, I’m starting another because I’m already behind.  Plus, all of my classes have been more labour intensive than usual, which adds an extra element that I hadn’t really been expecting.

I also moved off of campus for this semester, so I’ve been adjusting to living in a house with Noah and Jess.  Not that it’s a major adjustment, though.  We get along marvellously, I love having a room to myself to decorate and be introverted in, and I’ve enjoyed doing my own cooking.  Sure, I miss the conveniences of living on campus, but all-in-all, I’m satisfied with the change.

This is where I spend the majority of my time not sleeping and instead studying, reading, and wasting my life on tumblr.

Meanwhile, I’ve been having a lot of trouble keeping level-headed and maintaining my weight since August.  I’ve been under a lot of stress because of complications with getting my fake tooth, where everything that could have gone wrong did go wrong, and it put me into a mini depression that ended up rearing its ugly head once course work got rolling.  I spent a lot of August, September, and October absolutely hating myself, and it only started to get better last month.  With every wrong move I’d make, a little voice in my head would just whisper I hate myself. or I hate everything.  I’ve never been the type of person to put myself down in this kind of way.  Sure, I’m hard on myself, but I’ve never felt such a hatred for myself.  It was getting absolutely unbearable, and I’d begin to beat myself for beating myself up.

In the end, I probably needed some sleep.  I needed time to find a sense of self that was healthy.  I needed Thanksgiving break.  Things improved over that time.  I didn’t get ahead on coursework, and I didn’t get a long list done that I needed to in Saint Charles.  But I did get my tooth (finally!), and I picked up a few more articles of clothing that would fit me better, and I finally had time to just sleep and day-dream.  It was such a relief.

I’m feeling a lot better now, but, coming back for the end of the semester is still difficult.  Last week contained most of my finals and papers/projects due, and there were some nights where I literally didn’t go to bed and had to squeeze in an hour around midnight so that I could work during the early morning hours when I feel most mentally awake.

Sunday night: 4 hours
Monday night:  3 hours
Tuesday night:  6 hours
Wednesday night: 2.5 hours
Thursday night: 1 hour

It’s been a bit rough, but I’ve found that I can get a lot done even on very little, if no, sleep.  I know that it’s not healthy.  I know, I know, I know.  It’s just how I operate as a procrastinator and some-what perfectionist.  They go hand in hand, really.  You procrastinate because of the fear that you won’t reach perfection.  But when you don’t have enough time to reach perfection, you self-handicap and say that it’s all right that you didn’t reach the point you had wanted.  After all, you’d had so little sleep last night, how could you have gotten higher than a B on that exam?  (Oh, poor baby.  Bleh.)

I mentioned earlier that I’ve been having a lot of trouble keeping my weight at a stable level.  For the entirety of my life, this would mean that I’ve gained a bunch of weight and am feeling all self-conscious about it… until now.  I don’t know how, but I’ve lost twenty pounds in only three months.  I went from being near 160 to 142.  Everyone I’ve told gives me some type of congratulation as though I’ve been working so hard or something, but I just stand there thinking, But this is not what I wanted!  I haven’t tried to lose weight.  I don’t like that I can’t fit into any of my clothing; I figured I’d be a size twelve for years, so I’d started buying my clothes to last and cost more.  Suddenly, I don’t fit into any of my skirts or pants or bras.  My shirts aren’t tugging in the same ways (hell, I can now wear shirts that I haven’t been able to fit into since I was fourteen).  I look at photos of my face from earlier this year, and I literally can’t recognise myself (okay, this may be because of the prosopagnosia, but disregard that) because I’ve lost so much weight from my face.  My arms look different, my collar bones show more, my cheek bones seem a bit  higher, my legs more defined, my stomach flat.

I am beautiful.  And I am completely frightened.

I can’t stop losing weight, and I don’t know what to do.  I don’t know if I believe the people who have told me that it’s from walking more with living off campus or because I’m cold all of the time and using more energy to keep warm.  I feel bad every time I look in the mirror and think I look good, because this can’t be healthy.  And then I argue with myself because I shouldn’t feel bad about being happy with the way I look.  It’s just an odd situation that I’ve never been in before, and I don’t know how to deal with it.

I don’t really know how to deal with anything, actually.  But… that’s okay.  It’s been okay for about a week now.  Between panicking and extreme euphoria and an excessive amount of work, this past week has been interesting, but I wouldn’t trade it for the world.  I wish I could tell you more at this point, but I’m still trying to find my footing.  Just suffice it to say that something is going really, really well, and I can’t remember the last time that I was this happy.

So, while I leave you on a note of mystery, I hope it was positive.  Because I’m feeling positive, even with all of the stress that I’ve carried for the past few months.  Sometimes, life is pretty good, and there are blue skies, and you can’t help but smile.

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Christmas on Main Street

Well, I finally have my new camera, which meant a picture taking frenzy began while shopping around Main Street with friends.  Enjoy some photos!  It was an awesome day, and I’m excited to work down there in my 1820s clothing over the next couple of days.

I met the Irish Santa!

I caught up with Nicole, Jen, Lindsay, and later Noah for a little while.  And while people watching on Main Street, I bumped into Katie and my ‘third’ grandparents’ son, his wife, and their two adorable kids.

I also kind of bumped into a giant Christmas parade, full of characters dressed from the 1800s, the Fife and Drum Corps, faeries and angels, international Santas, horses, carriages, and all kinds of fun things.

“They don’t want a picture of your, darling.  I’m a star.”

Also, if my Lord of the Rings themed wedding falls through, can this be choice number two?  Come on.  Celtic/Irish wedding!  I need to meet a guy willing to wear a kilt…  Maybe I’ll just stalk Thistle and Clover more often.

Meanwhile, I bought an awesome sarong from The Enchanted Attic and a beautiful hat from The English Shoppe.  Pictures will be sure to come eventually.

It was a pretty awesome time down in Main Street, though, and I got to get dressed up and attend a kick ass bluegrass concert last evening in the upper floor of the First State Capitol.  I was probably only one of two people under fifty, but it was a hell of a time.  Of course, I’m biased being a major blue grass fan, but how can you go wrong with mandolin-led Christmas tunes?  You can’t.

Well, there you have it.  A lovely day full of parades, friends, historical dressing up, and shopping.  Have a great time before Christmas scaddadles, and if you’re thinking about visiting Main Street in Saint Charles, Missouri, DO IT!

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Spoilers and Links!

And now I’m right back at school and with so many interesting, challenging, fun things to do before now and when I go back home in two and a half weeks.  Wow.  Such a short amount of time before I’m heading right back, yet everyone makes it out to be such a long time.  But really, that’s two weeks of classes (and, oh you know, five exams), six chapters of psych to read, one stats assignment, three art projects, and Mrs Dalloway to finish up.  And then four/five finals!  I can do it, I can do it!

This weekend, I’m taking two days out on Friday and Saturday in order to make a (spoilers) for my mum for her joint birthday and Christmas present.  I’ll tell you what it is after I give her the gift, and I’ll be sure to put up pictures (with my new Nikon Coolpix that needs to be removed from its box).  Rest assured that it is something both artsy and never previously done by me.  My art professor is giving a class to a few of us about how to make unsaid object, so it will be pretty exciting to learn a new skill (even if I will be probably horrible at it).  I’ll give you a hint if you promise not to tell my mum, though.

Anyway, Thanksgiving holidays went well, though I saw less of my friends than I had anticipated.  I had two delicious meals with my mum’s side of the family and also with my dad’s/sister’s, was able to visit my work and chat with the managers, went to a bonfire with friends, and I even went Black Friday shopping to get money off of some boots I had bought a few days before ($100 off of the original price is incentive enough for me to brave the hordes of shoppers).  Somehow, Noah and I found a spot at the very, very front of where we wanted to be at the mall.  And thank God, because otherwise, it meant parking at least a half mile away, which would require us to cross seven lanes of very busy traffic.

But I spent a lot of time reading comics (such as Questionable Content and xkcd) and watching old episodes of Cowboy Bebop, which sort of felt like me from eighth grade coming to punch me in the face.  After six years of travelling, it’s built up some momentum.  My brother also gave me all of Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law before he set out to move in with my dad, which, yes, happened on Sunday.  Hopefully he will be getting along a lot better down in Florida than here in Missouri where it’s just constant bickering.

The rain is coming in now, though, with chilly winds and so little light that it should be criminal.  I’ll set off to listen to more Natacha Atlas songs on Youtube so that I can decide which of her albums to buy today since I have a coupon from Amazon.  Oh, decisions, decisions.  Halim or Gedida?  Both are awesome albums of Egyptian/Arabic/French songs blended with electronic, hip hop beats.  She’s like listening to a young generation from the Gaza Strip.  So I’ll leave you to go decide on an album, though there’s really no wrong choice; both that I’ve previewed are amazing.

PS: If there were any more links in this post, I’m pretty sure WordPress would explode.  I just thought it would be fun to give some examples and references to you folks for all of the crazy things I chat about.

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An Update

I need something a little more new and… well, not of Teddy when I happen across my own blog, so this is the obligatory “How are things going?” kind of blog, I guess.  I’ll keep it short (or as short as I’m known for keeping things).

Halloween: Dressed up as Helena Ravenclaw and passed out candy in the lounge–which was decorated at Howarts.  Awesome?  I think yes.

Uni: Stressful, as always.  The amount of reading is what’s really been getting me lately.  Five chapters for an exam in a week.  One novel for this class.  One book about psychology for another.  Statistics exams and psych presentations and art projects.  It’s not that I don’t enjoy them–I do, they’re interesting.  But it’s just a little much, and I’m really at that point in the semester where I just want to sleep for a week straight.

Friends: I got to see Laura and Katie D this weekend when they came into town for the Relient K and Jack’s Mannequin concert.  I’ve also been spending a lot of time with Katie, James, Ann, Jess, Abby, Jenn, Julia, et cetera.  Our house really does feel like a house and not like a bunch of rooms in a dorm.  I’m anticipating seeing some of my friends from back home for Thanksgiving, though.  It will be great to see all of your lovely faces soon!

Family: I’m doing okay with Teddy.  Really.  I mourned a lot for him over the summer when I knew that he was very sick and going to pass away soon, so I was very prepared for his death.  It just didn’t keep it from being completely painless, of course.  Meanwhile, though, my oldest sister is now engaged!  (And it is very exciting, as I approve very, very much.)  This means that both of my sisters are getting married some time in the not so distant future, like maybe both within the next year or something.  I’m looking forward to seeing them and our family!  My brother is currently in the process of moving out and into my dad’s in Florida because of continuous disagreements between Marshall and my mum.  It’s not the best of situations, but that’s another topic of conversation.

Relient K and Jack’s Mannequin concert: It was fun, and I enjoyed hanging out with lots of friends in line and at the show (even if the blistery cold outside did make some joints go out of socket).  Laura, Noah, and I watched most of Jack’s Mannequin perform from the very top of the seating and very far away, but they were excellent seats (much better than the floor) because you could really see everything.  They’re very energetic performers, and I enjoyed watching them, even if I really don’t know all of their music.

Last Friday: Between three hours of sleep, a week of studying and working, the stats exam at 7.30 am directly followed by the social pysch presentation that I had to run to get to in time, and then seeing a kid playing HvZ drop into a massive seizure after falling and hitting his head, I spent a good deal of it crying and then crying some more and then finally giving up and taking a nap.  I felt like a woman possessed.

Anyway, I’m now working on some projects and reading and chilling to a new Arcade Fire album, which is this post’s musical gift.  I hope that you enjoy.

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Everyone is a potential lunatic.

Including me.  Or so Natalie Tran has taught me.

Jess, Noah, and I have been looking around town lately for houses.

Wait, I just started this blog out bluntly.  Let’s start again:

Two weeks ago, it dawned on me that leases for houses and apartments are signed around October, and I suddenly found myself in panic mode to start looking for off campus housing for next year.  Cue crazy plans and drama and hours of searching and falling from plan A to B to A again to C to D.

Now, before you ask me why I’d want to live off campus even though I absolutely love it here in 1 North, I’ll tell you.  First, it’s cheaper.  About four thousand dollars per year cheaper.  Second, I will no longer have to take out student loans, which means I could possibly graduate with only 12,000 dollars of debt.  Freaking spectacular, really.  Third, ResLife really messed around with my dorm house over this summer, switching rooms, suddenly adding room mates, turning our dorms into offices and then placing us in the Romance Language house (when literally 90% of the house is in German), et cetera.  So, all of us in 1 North have been looking into moving out for the next school year.

After a lot of my plans fell through, it ended up being Jess, Noah, and me looking for an apartment or house together, and Jess ended up getting in touch with this really nice guy who rents out houses three blocks from campus.  We found out that he had three three-bedroom houses for rent next school year, and next thing we know, a group of nine of us from 1 North was on its way to tour through these houses.  And you know what?  They were nice.

Sure, not the greatest houses in the history of mankind, but definitely nice.  The price, around 700 dollars per month (then split three ways) is a good place to start, the landlord is incredibly nice and quick to fix any problems (we talked to the tenants about this), and the house has lots of perks.  A brand new washer and dryer, the option to paint any room whichever colour you’d like, a basement with plenty of storage space, two bathrooms, a kitchen with stove and fridge, dining room, living room, and hard-wood floors!  We even have parking in the back of the house so that we won’t have to parallel park on the street, though admittedly, I’ve gotten pretty boss at parallel parking over the past year.

But we all three really liked it both times that we toured one of the houses, and after some talking with parents…

We’re ready to sign the lease!!

That’s right, kids.  I very may be signing a lease soon (if no one beats me to it) for my very first house!  It’s beyond exciting, and Jess, Noah, and I have already started talking about furnishings and paint colours.  I’m fairly sure that I want to paint my room this pumpkin/rust/brown colour that I found on Apartment Therapy.  It looks so rich and beautiful, which will be great with my all brown, violet, rust, and green décor.  Noah’s room has wood panelling that he would end up covering with posters, and Jess is perusing the different colours of purples to decide what she wants.

But we’re extremely excited, and I thought I’d share some of the fun news.  I’ll keep all of you posted as new developments come our way!

“Come away with me in the night,

Come away with me

And I will write you a song.”

–Norah Jones, Come Away With Me

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A moment of spite

All right, I caused a lot of hurt with my last post to more than one person.  What I’d like to say is that you probably saw me at a bad moment: one where I was sharp-tongued and let out a lot of hurt in a moment of spite.  Yes, I was very immature.  How did I explain it to myself earlier?  Oh, that I was like a fourteen year-old who had just gotten a Live Journal and had started to write everything about my oh-so-dramatic life.  So, to those I did hurt (and there is more than one of you), let’s talk it out in person, because I’m not going to keep up being a bitch via internet.  It’s just something I shouldn’t do.  If talking in person won’t work, we can have a telephone call, but I will not do this via internet or text message.  You know that’s not my style for working things out effectively.

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Animosity, Wow!

(Note: I originally tried to hide this from third parties, but because of the drama and hurt I caused with it, I’m putting it fully into the open.  I better ready myself for deleting the spam comments.  There will be a follow up blog or two to explain some actions.  But you won’t see the full repercussions.)

Woah.  Just woah.  Where the hell have I been?  Has it really been more than two weeks since I updated?  Have I really said ‘ef it’ to everything online?  Yeah, turns out.  Somehow, I’ve ended up with only two public posts so far in May, which is a major turn around from my average of twelve, post-non-depression.  Oh wait, I’m sorry, let me put that in layman terms: I posted a shit tonne when I was depressed and stressed with school.  Now, I just sit in my room and internet around, or I’m flitting off with friends, having adventures and catching shit on fire.

Should I say that?  Adventures and fire?  Will that go against me?  We’ll pretend it won’t.

All right, making a mad dash to fill in crap.  Feel privileged–I haven’t even been writing in my diary because I’ve either been doing too much or just haven’t cared.  I guess that’s what summer does to you.  So, where do I begin?  Well, I’m still unpacking (my room looks ganky as fack; I can’t wait for everything to be put in its rightful place), I’ve hung out with my friends literally every day for nearly two weeks, and I don’t have a job.

Let’s start with the friends department.  We’ve been hanging out, catching up, blah blah blah: enjoyable.  Some friends and I meandered to the Renaissance Faire today (kick ass, let me tell you), have made far too many trips to Main Street, and have had a few get togethers that have all either ended in a bonfire or watching a movie or both.  Somehow, we end up adding gossiping like bitches and throwing dance parties into that mix, which then leads to trips to Steak and Shake in the dead of night.  I don’t know how this happens.

Something I do know that happens, and will most likely happen until the end of time, is that our friends will find gossip and drama to parade around.  Whether it be talking too much about the girls who are preggers or getting pissed off about not being invited to watch a television show that you don’t even like watching, we manage to claw at each other when backs are turned.

Now, I realise that this is just girl life (though how that ever became a standard, I’m unsure of), but damn it!  Can’t some people just hide their bitch-card once in a while?  For heaven’s sakes; I have a friend mad about not being invited to a small get together and another mad at me for eating a slice of pizza that I paid for.  And then the smart Facebook statuses full of complaints about it?  Really girls: get over it.  We’re all bitches to each other, so don’t feel so hurt.

I sound really negative, maybe on the edge of upset, but I’m not.  My mum even commented that I take social drama more maturely than anyone she’s ever met.  I don’t let my emotions get involved, and it’s why I am rarely disappointed or upset or angered over things that happen.  Not to mention that I accept the fact that I’m not everyone’s best friend and thus will not be invited to every little get-together.  I accept that I make other people uncomfortable at dance parties and that you’re afraid to touch me (unless you’re Alex, who decided to-hell-with-it and gave me a four second-long lap dance at a party because everyone else was too intimidated by me.  You win, Alex!).  I’m fully aware that people say mean things behind others’ backs then smile at them ten minutes later.  It’s kind of life, so I don’t get upset by this petty drama or how people treat me.  Getting bothered seems like a waste of time.

I guess I’m just trying to say that I wish others didn’t feel the need to be so upset by such small things.  No wonder heart-failure is so prevalent in this country: everyone is constantly moving fast and getting angry.  We all need to chill; have a Meditation With Missi day.  It will be glorious.  I promise.

Meanwhile, no job.  Not surprising, actually.  With this economy, even my friend who has applied for seventeen jobs can’t manage to grab one (and she’s one of the workers people should fight over).  You could say that I’ve given up without trying all that much.  After all, the Historical Society must need me in order to bring me in, and without the need, you might as well sit back and think of other things.  That ‘other thing’  for me has been painting.  I recently decided to start a miniature painting business (as in, I paint you a crappy picture for twenty bucks that you’ll probably hang in your dorm room).  It’s part hobby, part that I need the practise, and part summer job.  Maybe I can paint enough to have a little spending money for the summer (like, an extra fifty dollars, yo).  Nothing high-roller; I think of it more as bartering anyway.  You get a painting, I get a full tank of gas.  That sort of thing.

If you’re interested in purchasing a painting, let me know.  I’m best at abstracts and landscapes.  Give me the information, I’ll tell you size possibilities and prices.  We’ll work this old school.

Anyway, I can’t find much else to say.  This was more of a ‘let me fill you in and be a bitch along the way’ kind of blog.  And to anyone who would be upset by anything said: please take some time to chill and not let little things ruin your life.  You owe it to yourself.

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HvZ, Spring 2010

As some of you know, I blogged quite frequently last semester during Humans vs Zombies, a giant game of tag where the risks include death (by zombie hordes).  If you would like more information about the game, I recommend you check my intro post about it here.

Unfortunately, I have to tell you that I am not participating this semester, even though I’d like to.  My stress level is through the roof because of exams, getting my Quidditch team together (shit you not), and general university things.  So I ended up deciding to bow out.

Trust me, I wish I was playing (even though I’d be kicking myself).  Every time I see a human running around, I feel a surge of hope for them.  Of course, it’s dashed when I see a zombie running behind him, but nonetheless.  I ended up walking to the student union building (SUB) today, and a group of three guys were walking across the campus.  One had the arm band of a human, and I quietly walked beside his group to shelter him from the eyes of a nearby zombie.  We ended up talking afterwards, and it made me feel like I was playing a little bit.  Truthfully, I always feel like I’m playing; I get nervous when I see girls with big headbands, thinking they’ll be zombies, and every time I see my friend Blaine (who wears a bandana each day to keep back his hair), I inform him that he is a zombie.  It’s honestly something I’ll probably do for the rest of my life.

This game has made me overly paranoid and stressed at the sight of cloth.  Erg…

Speaking of some of the stressors that kept me from playing, I had a physics exam today that I spent the entire morning studying for (I even missed my sensation and perception class so that I could study physics and German).  When my physics teacher gave out the exam, he said two things:

“If you don’t put your name on the paper, I’ll take three points away instead of two.  INFLATION!”

Then he walked across the room to start handing out each exam, and before giving it to the first person, he said:

“RELEASE THE KRACKEN!”

Okay, okay, fine.  Maybe I don’t regret taking this class, if only for that.  But I will regret the B grade that I will get, which will lower my GPA.  Oh well, such is life.

– – –

The following selection from this post has been deleted.  Sorry.

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Something Substantial

I realise that I have put nothing of any substance onto this blog in well over three months.  Actually, let me rephrase, aside from my many posts about depression, I have not posted anything substantial.  And I usually don’t like that.  Trivial matters don’t make a good blog.  Not to say that my blog is any good; I think it’s rubbish.  But for those who do read this, it’s a burden to read something that is not actually interesting in any way.

Let me introduce you to a short summary of my year at university; it seems a good place to start.

I entered Truman State University back in August as a freshmen, completely clueless and maturing far too quickly.  I made no effort to make friends but allowed friends to find me.  In a matter of a month, I knew almost everyone in my dorm house and could call many of them friends.  Today, I count four of them amongst some of my closest friends.

I started studying psychology, which was enjoyable.  I can’t say the same for right now, but it’s because I’m getting my general education classes finished up and that includes the generals of psych.  Experimental designs and biological psychology do not interest me, but they will be gone in two months, and for that I’m grateful.  I also signed up for a studio art minor which I will be starting next semester.

During September, I started cutting down on meat in my diet and became a vegetarian by November.  I’ve been slowly losing weight and gaining muscle ever since and physically feel the best that I ever have, even with EDS catching at my feet and hands everyday, trying to trip me up.  My family has been surprisingly receptive to this.

My relationship with my family steadily grew worse from August to January, and I fought almost constantly with my mum.  A lot of the reasons behind this were about neither of us understanding each other and becoming very different people.  But none of those mattered as much as the fact that I was falling back into a depression.

After analysing my mental health over the past few years, here’s what I can say: I was depressed, possibly with dysthymia from the age of nine until twelve (which was caused by my parents’ divorce, moving across town, et cetera).  I ‘woke up’ from the depression in the middle of seventh grade and barely even knew where I was or what I was doing.  Imagine the fright of suddenly finding yourself in a classroom and realising that you were awake for the first time in four years.  I spent the next two years figuring out a whole lot about myself, dropping habits, picking up new ones.  A large part in getting back to the person I had been lied in making friends–the best of which I am still close to.  I did a lot of maturing in the next few years, and that’s still going on today.

But the thing is, my depression came back every now and then.  It was back for four months when I was fifteen, and it’s back again.  In the middle of December was where I first started to notice that something was going wrong.  By January, I was in completely chaos, and it only grew worse into February.  In the middle of last month, I started making some honest efforts to get well.  I started cutting back on junk food, which had become my diet since late December; I started dressing myself better; and I began to do anything in my power to think positively.  There have been set backs, but I’m getting well again and have been increasing in mood for almost a month now.  Be proud.

During the time that I was depressed, I stopped caring about class and friendships and all kinds of things.  I stopped reading for class, stopped studying until the last moment, and put myself behind.  Now, I’m playing a mad game of catch up over my spring break.  I fought with my mum and became annoyed at anything she did, or my room mate did, or other people would do.  But I’d only take it out on her, and for that I’m sorry.  I’d like you to know, though, that things have been getting better for us over the past month.  We haven’t fought a single time, and I’ve started to talk to her more often and think of it as less of a chore.  Maybe it’s part growing up and maybe it’s part feeling better, but I’m happy.  I love my mum dearly, and I don’t want to hurt her again.

But, luckily, I have gotten to see my best friends over the past two weeks.  I visited Laura down in Springfield, visited with Molly back home, and will visit yet another bestie in a few days at Rolla.  I’ve also gotten to see Erica, Daniel, and Brooke; and though I see Rebecca and Noah quite often, it’s still nice to spend time with them too.  It has really helped to see them.

On the Thursday and Friday before I left for spring break, I was feeling completely down.  It was one of those times where, even though you’ve been doing really well, you completely fall down and crumble to pieces.  For a generally unemotional person, there was a lot of crying–mostly over a falling out with a friend whom I had considered close.  I’d had to leave the living room with my friends just to go cry for ten minutes.  I found myself crying while walking from class.  I even found myself crying while studying.  Terrible two days.  But, on Friday, as I was finishing up a rather lengthy complaint to my diary, I heard a pounding at the door.  So fierce was the pounding, that I leaped from my loft bed in order to answer it, yelling, “Coming!” all the way.  When I opened the door, I was not surprised to see Rebecca (she’s the only one who will pound down my door).  But I was surprised that she, Cat, and Ramina were there simply to say goodbye to me because they were leaving at 13.00 for home while Noah and I were leaving at 16.00.  I told her that it brightened my mood considerably that she had stopped by.  And maybe that’s the point of friends; that, when you’re feeling your lowest, they are there to show you the sun again.

Speaking of the sun, it’s out.  And it’s beautiful.  I can’t tell you how much that I have missed any weather that was not white and grey.  Seeing bright blue skies with temperatures reaching into the sixties and falling rain and the dead grass.  Well, it’s more than I can bare because it’s so beautiful.  When I realised that it was raining last night, I sneaked away from my room, rolled up my pants, and just stood there, letting the rain seep into my hair and sweater and roll down my face.  It was like being washed clean, and it would be impossible for me to describe how much I had missed it.  A fresh start was so necessary; thank God for it.

Here, I wanted to write something substantial for you, and I started talking about depression again, but maybe it was necessary.  Perhaps that’s what I needed to talk about to sum some things up before trying to move on and read psychology and go outside to enjoy this day.  I’m maturing, and quickly.  Welcome to the ride.

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“Damn the Louisiana Purchase!”

The above title is a nice little quote from my friend Laura, while discussing the plagues of bad urban planning.  You see, we were chilling in the Springfield library after a full twenty-four hours of roaming town and falling dead on our feet in her dorm (which looks slightly more like an apartment than a dorm room), and I ended up getting my hands on a lovely little home decor book.  Laura is an architecture major and was instantly interested in not only the chic decor that kept coming up but also by the sections on utilising a small space.

“See,” she said, “If everyone lived in houses this small and right on top of each other, we wouldn’t have to worry about driving all around town and getting fat because of it.”

“Agreed,” I said, “It’s why I want a big city.  I can walk anywhere or take public transportation because everything is compressed together.  It’s why I also hate suburbs.”

“Suburbs are the worst idea ever.  You see, architects have control of everything.  We’re in charge of urban planning.”

I scoffed a little, “Well, you guys didn’t do much back in the fifties and sixties when suburbs became the big new thing.  But we just had so much land in the US that we could afford to spread out.  And now look where it has gotten us.”

“We wouldn’t have this problem if we were tiny like in Europe…  Damn the Louisiana Purchase!”  Rebecca and I laughed at Laura.  “It’s true!  If we hadn’t bought all of that land, then we’d be able to live in cities still!”  The three of us laughed, still flipping through pages of apartments.  But, you know, she was right.  Urban planning needs to be done to enable Americans to walk and move around rather than drive ten miles to the store each day.  That’s inefficient and spells out obesity in a heartbeat.  We need less land.  Damn the Louisiana Purchase.

– – –

This weekend, Rebecca, Noah, and I went to Springfield, Missouri to visit our friends Laura and Kevin.  We ended up spending the weekend walking around town and going to interesting places.  In fact, I can now scratch many things onto my “Things I Have Done” list, even though I’m sure that list doesn’t exist anywhere but in my mind.

Some of the things that I can add include:

• Having fondue for the first time.
• Going to a gay bar. (Interesting to say the least.)
• Watching a drag show.  (Ditto.)
• Being hit on by some guy driving around in circles around the Springfield square, obviously drunk.
• Walked on live train tracks with friends.
• Didn’t wear a coat outside for the first time this year.
• Buying a shirt that was too expensive and that I didn’t even like because of some kind of weird mind-pressure.  (Trust that I have learned my lesson and will not be buying any type of clothing or accessories until summer break starts.  Oh how difficult this will be.)
• Watched ‘New Moon’.  (Please, stay clear of this.)
• Rewatched ‘Spice World’.  (Okay, I have done this one before, but it’s so epic that it must be mentioned again.)

All in all, great weekend.  And, while we chilled in the library for two hours, I was able to thumb through three decorating books and get inspiration for my room next year with Katie (not to mention that Laura’s room is adorable, so I took some inspiration from that).  It will be interesting to see how my dorm will look next year.  There are so many ideas running rabid in my head that I can’t shuffle through them fast enough.  The ideas that I do have solidified include that I’m bringing up less clothing and junk next year, bringing a trunk that will double as a coffee table and seating, buying more bookends, making a basket out of wood and fabric, making about six or seven new paintings over this summer (and one over spring break, hopefully!), and creating a wall hanging out of German postcards to decorate the under side of my bed.  So, basically, watch out for Missi’s kick ass creative projects, yo.

– – –

My spring break is in about four days, and I can’t explain to you how excited I am.  During break, I plan on hitting up Main Street a few times to both chill and start searching for a summer job.  That way, I can hopefully work somewhere that I will enjoy–Main Street is honestly my favourite place in the world.  I also plan on painting, seeing that new Alice in Wonderland film with my friends, and getting caught up with my psych reading (nine chapters of reading between two classes?  Yeah!  Bring it on!).

And, hopefully, I’ll be seeing you.  : )

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