College life

I actually want people to read this one.

To be honest, I’m at home right now. I had to come home to go to the Doctor today for my IV, and I’m going to Bumbershoot tomorrow… I think. We were gonna on monday, but it’s gonna rain, and we wouldn’t be able to go until later, like 1. Yeah, it should be fun. I really only wanted to go on monday because it had this music journalism workshop thingy. But that’s okay, the Shins, Gym Class Heroes and Panic! At the Disco are playing tomorrow, and some cool comedians, so we’ll have fun. Hopefully Laura can go, but I don’t know. I don’t mind going with just Libby and her friend.

But college life is…awesome! I love not having my parents there telling me what to do all the time, and I love not having to really do any dishes. We just go eat in the cafeteria all the time. St. Martins actually has really good food. We can get classics, like turkey and mashed potatoes, to cheeseburgers, to omelettes. We have lots of choices. But one thing about school that’s a little weird for me – we went to the Mass of the Holy Spirit the other day, and I felt so awkward. We had to sing and sit and stand and kneel, and repeat after the monks and stuff. I had no idea what to do. But they had this swinging incense thing, and it smelled like old people. I never figured that there was an old people incense.

I’ve met some pretty cool new people, but I still miss my friends. But I really don’t think that I’ve met someone that I didn’t really like. My Journalism teacher is kind of a freak and my math teacher’s a little scatterbrained, but Father G, my history Professor is SO COOL! He talks about himself in third person, and randomly in the middle of sentences, he says “Pregnant pause” and looks at his watch, and starts talking like 5 seconds later. It’s so funny, and I’m quite happy that I took AP World History, because it’s basically the same stuff in Development of Western. Civ.

Hmmm… I don’t really have anything else to say right now. I’ll write back tomorrow for my Official Review of Bumbershoot, Day 1. I obviously am not going to day 2 or 3, because I’m a college student…I’m poor.

❤ Abby

So…I’m here

In college. Wow. It’s sure a new experience.

I’m sitting here, watching West Side Story with my new friends Ada and Kevin, and Shelly and I are both on our computers. Obviously we’re not as in to it as they are. But orientation has been great so far. Honestly. We’ve met some way cool upper classmen, and I’m really excited to meet everyone who’s in my journalism class. I hope that there’s a cute guy, who’s at least a sophomore, because all the cute guys that we’ve seen so far have been juniors or seniors. And that would be kinda weird. But the campus is great. We took a walk around the old track down past where the Monks live. Speaking of Monks…I met my history teacher today, Father Gerard, or Father G. Yeah, G. It’s way cool, because he talks about history like he was there. He and Mekao had quite a long conversation about Dwight Eisenhower.

Well, we have mass in the morning, at 11. And we get to go eat dessert at the President of the college’s house tomorrow. Yeah. We’re that cool.

❤ Abby

I always seem to write these things early in the morning.

Actually, quite late at night for me.

Well. I have a day left of home. One more day and I leave for college. Holy shit. But I had pretty much the best night I could have had the last late night I had at home. Cause tomorrow I’ll be packing…big time. First of all, I got to hang out with my three best friends in one day. It was pretty amazing. My friend Andrea came over and she ate my popsicles and we watched High School Musical 2. Pretty cool. But then my other best friends Caity and Laura, and my friend Gibson, and my sister, all went to Open Mic Night at this sandwich cafe in Tacoma. We actually didn’t watch a lot of it, but the fact that we were all together for the last time before going to college, was what made it awesome. We all shoved into Laura’s car and made our way down Pearl Street. They actually had really good sandwiches there, and they brought us our food, outside even. Laura wrote a song about Gibson and where we were sitting, and then she went off to talk to a cute guy that had been eyeing her all night. Then it got dark. We talked about everything. I mean, everything from DnD to Outlook to streaking. I’ll really miss that. We talked about streaking, we didn’t actually go streaking.

But I don’t want this to end, you know. I want to stay here forever, and not have to go on to adulthood. I wish I was Peter Pan. I’d never have to grow up, and could stay a kid forever. But then again, Peter Pan was a pretty lonely boy. All his childhood friends grew up without him. I guess I don’t want that. But it’s pretty scary thinking about it, going off into life without my friends. I’m not the best at making friends on my own, so I’ve always been the one who someone introduces someone else to. And they introduce me to that person. So it will be interesting, being in a whole new place, with only a few people that I know. I’m scared, but then again, I’m excited.

❤ Abby

The Second Music-Filled Adolescent Education Place

I felt like being witty. Shut up.

Okay, so I knew that this day would inevitably come, and to be honest with you, I was kind of looking forward to it. I Tivo’d High School Musical 2, and sat down and watched the entire thing when I got home from the Mariners game at oh…11:30. So I watched it. And I enjoyed it. And anyone who doesn’t, seriously has a heart of stone. I mean, come on. How could you not feel all warm and fuzzy inside afterwards? I, for one, don’t feel like eating anything sugary for days. I’ve had enough sweet in 2 hours than I have in a long while.

Okay, the music. I downloaded the soundtrack illegally a few days ago, and much to my surprise, I burnt it to a CD and have been listening to it in my car for the last three days. My favorites are “Bet on it,” Troy’s empowerment anthem, and “I Don’t Dance,” Ryan and Chad’s baseball vs. dancing arguement. They’re the best to listen to on soundtrack, and “I don’t dance” was one of the best scenes in the movie. Well choreographed, good singing, and a completely new setting for the whole cast. I liked that. “Bet on it” on the other hand…wait a second.

I have to stop laughing. It makes a great soundtrack song, and I can stand listening to it all day, but watching Troy skip and twirl and try to discover himself was a little embarrassing, even for me. It got a little bit “Staying Alive” for me (and those movie buffs out there know that Staying Alive was the horrible sequel to Saturday Night Fever). I am thankful though that the producers gave Zac Efron a chance to sing. I much prefer his voice to the one they used in the last movie. He can sing, and now we all know that. His acting surprised me as well. I thought it would have just been the same old same old as the last movie, but he was much more diverse in this sequel. He was funny, sweet, and sad. And adorable. But that doesn’t really matter.

But Vanessa…oh I hate Vanessa. Not just because she’s dating Zac, but unlike Zac, she was the same old, same old. And they did mess with her voice at some points. There’s just something about their chemistry that doesn’t click with me, and Gabriella is just too goody two shoes for me. But that’s Disney for you. I’m quite glad that she actually pursued a singing career, because I would not like to see her in alot more movies. And I’m glad that Zac didn’t pursue a singing career, not because he’s a bad singer, but because he’s a better actor and him singing would ruin his whole image. He doesn’t want to sing because he knows that the producers would just be using him to sell records. He wouldn’t be able to make music, he’d be selling it. And that’s quite cool.

So, I’ll have to be honest, the movie was really over-the-top, super sugary, and quite predictable, but what does it matter anyway? Isn’t the point of watching movies to enjoy ourselves? Why would we sit down and watch a movie at 11:30 at night, to make ourselves ponder life’s purpose? No, we watch movies to be entertained; to be happy, and even as cheesy and unrealistic as High School Musical 2 may be, to make ourselves believe that things will always work out in the end, one for all, and all for one. And you can bet on that.

❤ Abby

This is so weird.

The weirdest thing happened to me the other day. I forgot to mention it. I went to an Open Mic Night at a little cafe in town on tuesday with my friends. They were playing with their little trio. Well, as I was sitting on the steps with my friend Ian, someone walks past us up the stairs. I looked at my friend Laura and tried to get her attention, but she couldn’t hear me, so I texted her. I swore that the guy that just walked up the stairs was our camp counselor from christian camp in 6th grade. I knew it. I knew I was right. Well, we saw him later too, and Laura agreed with me that it was him, and she went and asked him if he’d worked out our camp years back, and he did. I knew it! And all the people at him table were all like “That’s so cool!” And the really funny thing was that he was the one that I had a crush on at camp. Yeah, weird huh? He was really good too. He made interesting faces while he played guitar, but he was really good. And Laura’s bandmate told her to stay for that guy (our camp counselor Tim) without even knowing that we’d met him before.

Laura, John and Hanna

My camp counselor, Tim.

❤ Abby

8 days… wait, I have a week

Why yes I do. Not counting today, I have one week before I leave for school. I just went turbo shopping. I love Old Navy, because I really only like shopping when I can find clothes that are too big for me. It makes me feel normal. Whenever I shop at say… Target, I normally feel fat. But not Old Navy. I don’t have to wear their biggest size. And I never have even tried Abercrombie. But trust me, even if I could fit into their clothes, I’d choose not to wear them anyway. They suck. But I actually fit into a pair of American Eagle jeans. I didn’t think that that would ever happen. But I don’t mind American Eagle. They have quality clothes. Not my style really, but you can’t go wrong with well-fitting jeans. You see, Abercrombie has terrible marketing tactics. That’s the big reason that I don’t shop from there, besides the fact that they’re too expensive, but they don’t have nice people working there, they have basically naked models selling their clothes, and the stores always have really dim lighting and really loud music. Not a friendly, invited store if you ask me. American Eagle at least has satisfactory lighting. And nice clerks. But Hot Topic has by far the nicest clerks, and some of them are pretty cute. All the other stores have girls working. I’d rather buy a Doors t-shirt from a cute emo boy than buy some shoes from a skinny girl at Forever 21. Oh, that drives me nuts. I ❤ most of the clothes at Forever 21, but let me tell you, the numbers should be inverted to be Forever 12, because that’s mostly who can fit in their clothes. At least average people.

Okay, that’s enough ranting about clothing stores.

What else have I got for ya? Hmmmm.

I have an hour left of downloading my InDesign. Yeah, I’m still downloading it. And the last couple of days, I’ve tried Firefox, but I didn’t like it. I don’t know why everyone likes it so much. But it could be because they don’t have Safari. I guess Firefox is better than IE, but Safari is way faster. I guess I shouldn’t question the power of my Mac and it’s many wonderful built-in features. But I need my Photoshop and InDesign. Nothing can beat Adobe at Design. Apple kicks ass at MP3 players, computers, Internet, music makers…yadda yadda. But the one thing that PCs have on Macs is their gaming capabilities. But then again, I am not a gamer. So it doesn’t matter to me.

❤ Abby

Oh, how I’ve dreamt of taps

That probably doesn’t make any sense, but it’s pretty funny once you get it. Google it. You’ll understand.

I’ve been trying to download Adobe InDesign all day. I’ve downloaded the trial and torrented a keygen, but that didn’t work. Now I’m trying to download the full version CS2. Shh. Don’t tell. Yeah, that’s about as illegal as I’m willing to get. Photoshop, DivX, iDefrag, and hundreds of songs. I’m bad.

I got my books in the mail for school. I might have already said that, but I got my math book today. Excursions in Modern Mathematics. I’m excited. I have a week and a half before school, and I’m so freaking excited. Three of my four books, all my sheets, I just need to get an iron, some more clothes, and a mattress pad. I’m not sure if I’m going to by a comforter, because I never really sleep with anything but a comforter anyway. I’ll probably just take one from home. We have enough blankets to sink a ship. But it sucks that we can’t nail things to the wall. We’ll have to tape everything up. No pictures, just posters… which is fine, because I wasn’t really planning on framing anything anyway.

I’m trying to stay active and healthy. For the last few days, I’ve walked around the block at least four times, yesterday 6 times. I forgot today, really because mother had me go to the store to get her Diet Coke. But then I bought ice cream. Damnit. But it was on sale! $2.50 a pint of B&J’s! I must control myself. I have to make a pint last at least four days.

You know what movie’s really good? Disturbia. Yeah, I watched it yesterday, and I really liked it. And it doesn’t hurt that Shia LaBeouf’s turned into one sexy beast. Who would have thought that Louis Stevens would grow up to be hott? I know I didn’t. I guess that’s all I have to talk about at the moment. Wait…nope.

❤ Abby

First the good news, then the bad news

I just had to start this one off on a good note. I mean…wow.

It’s just enough to offset the ultimate frustration that I have in America right now. BB8, absolutely maddening. Dick is such a Dick. He’s digging himself into a hole, and dragging Daniele down with him. So Dick, Daniele, Kail and Jen are working together, and Zach is pretty much with Daniele now, because of their stupid Nick connection. All Daniele is trying to do is take revenge for Nick. He’s gone, get over it. He has. I mean, the only thing that Eric did was vote twice for Kail. It’s retarded how much Dick and Daniele are overreacting. Now they’re trying to get Jessica in on it too! No! Eric and Jessica are perfect! Kail needs to go home this week. Then Jen, Dick and Daniele. Zach can stay, because he’s easily manipulated by anyone who befriends him, because he feels isolated and lonely. But Dick just won’t shut up. And he and Daniele are getting most of it wrong. Eric has not been pining for Nick to go the whole time, he’s not the mastermind, and he definitely hasn’t been playing all sides. Yeah, he was the two votes, but after Daniele figured that out, Dick planted all this crap into her head that it’s all Eric’s fault that Nick is gone. They’re the ones that voted Nick out! Hypocrites! Ugh. I’m just… so frustrated. Frustrated with America, for giving Eric dumb things to do, and at America for flying that stupid banner over the house. Whoever that is, they’re gonna pay…in bad karma. If Eric goes home this week, it’s all their fault.

And America’s also retarded for actually taking Barry Bonds’ record seriously. I mean, the man’s a beast He’s obviously been on steroids. And if the MLB doesn’t find him and Mark McGwire guilty, then they’re making a huge mistake. His record should either beinvalidated or completely validated and just overly publicized the he’s been on steroids to make America hate him. I just hope that A-Rod beats his record by the time his career’s over. He is the fastest player to get to 500 homeruns. He’s 32. Barry is 43. Alex has plenty of time. Yeah, I resent him for leaving the Mariners 7 years ago, but he’s not on steroids, and I’m rooting for him no matter what. He still started his baseball career with us.

I still think that Barry Bonds in a big phony, but this was the cutest thing I’ve ever seen. Jay Leno got Zac a ball signed by Barry.

It was so cute.

I can breathe now

I feel like I’ve been holding my breath for the last 5 hours. I finally finished Harry Potter 7. The Deathly Hallows has finally come to an end.

Now what?

I need to start over.

I read my most favorite column today-The Pop of King by Stephen King. It’s the very last page of Entertainment weekly, and it’s the first one I’ve been able to read in the last two weeks, since the last two weeks have had something to do with Harry Potter 7, and I couldn’t risk major spoilers. But it made me see something. The pull quote from the column said “The crazy guy dancing in Best Buy demonstrates the purpose of these things that we write about–to cause a burst of happiness.” (See crazy guy at bottom) But Steve here made me see that life is not about evaluating what life is, it’s about those moments that make us want to dance in the aisle at a Best Buy. Now, it’s a little obscure metaphor, but when you watch the video, it will become much clearer to you. We have to squeeze the juice out of every day we get, do what we want, and do it when we have the chance.

But along with the words of wisdom from Stephen King, something happened today that made me feel as low as low could be. Yeah, I felt like a total squib (another odd metaphor, I know) I feel like I can’t do anything right. Blah, blah, blah, whoa is me. But then yesterday’s revelation came back to me, I have something completely new to start in 3 weeks, or less. I’m entering into a completely new place, with all new people, with the exception of two. But one is one of my best friends, and my roommate, and the other has social behaviorial issues–I’m sure he’ll have much more of an issue fitting in than I will. With all of the failure that I’ve endured, I have a clean slate. Nobody knows what I have or have not done. I’m not saying that I should make some totally new person, but start from scratch, with no baggage. I’m telling you, with all my friends, if I tried to start over, it wouldn’t work. There’s too much water under the thing… or whatever.

I don’t want to leave behind my past, but I want to start a new future. Yeah, this summer stasis has kicked my ass, which isn’t what should have happened, but it’s given me time to think… lots of time.

Until next time.
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