Homecoming Week

I wish that I could say that Homecoming Week at UWEC was really super awesome and exciting and more fun than a high school homecoming week, but it's really not. Sure, they had lots of events going on, but I couldn't go to any of them because they were all at 4:00, when I have marching band. Yet another reason why I hate marching band. Also, they weren't that exciting anyway, from what they looked like on paper. They had a pudgy bunny contest... pretty sure that's not safe and I am super curious as to why a nice university condones a potentially lethal game...

... but who am I kidding, the kids here do far worse partying.

Um, I'm not going to go into the party scene much here, but I will say, that yes, there were people drunk at 9am when we were walking to our parade spot.

So Friday night, I was just hanging out with some friends, but I went back to my dorm at like 11:30. I walk into the lobby and there is this big group of girls dressed in nothing but spandex, short-shorts, short-skirts, belly shirts, glittery sparkly nonsense, and only about half of them had a coat on. It was pretty obvious that they planned on "going out", but Jesus Christ, it's like 30 degrees out! What is wrong with these people?

I passed them by and I got into the elevator where I rode up with a group of guys. One of the guys had his sweatshirt pockets full of ping pong balls. Come on. Who do you think you're kidding? If you're going to try to smuggle stuff in (not that smuggling in ping pong balls is bad, maybe they jus really like ping pong, who knows), at least put it in a backpack.

... So I went to bed at midnight on Friday during Homecoming weekend. It was really lame.

Then I got up at 8 to go and get ready for the parade. The parade was at 10. It wasn't that exciting. I got photosniped by my speech teacher. It was really awkward because she came up to me afterward and is like, "Oh hi, Lacey, I got your picture in the parade!"

...


Ever noticed how every girls' name sounds like my name? All names are two syllables and end in the "ee" sound. Lacey. Ashley. Katie. Emily. Jenny. Sally. Angie. Shelly. Mary. Nancy. Carrie. Kaylee. Shaylee. Jessie. Hailee. Kelsey. Sydney. Julie. Laurie. Molly. Maggie. You get the picture. So I kept hearing names like that being called during the parade, and I keep thinking they are my name, but... chances are... they're not.





Then we performed at the game. No lie. It was really bad. But everybody was probably drunk, so it's not like it matters. Okay, the band was good, the guard was really bad. ... I won't go into detail, but let's just say that it had something to do with "getting all of your show done before the first performance is considered lucky". Except our show is still not done. .... So yeah.



And then we went to a chili cookoff after the homecoming game. Honestly, that was the best part of my whole weekend. I got to eat all kinds of delicious chili, and our chili ("Inferno Death Chili - Tastes Better Than Babies!") got sixth place out of ten. Actually, it tied for sixth, and our comments were: "Your chili looks like something out of a horror movie from somebody who should not be directing horror movies." Lol. I was okay with this. I mean, nobody likes us since we're freshman, so it's to be expected. But our chili was freaking awesome. End of story.





And then I went home, and I went to the clinic for another orthodontist appointment. And just because God hates me, he says to the orthodontists, "You know what would be a really good idea? Let's add insult to injury and make her wear rubber bands 24/7!"

... FML.





So I really wanted some Jones soda today. I drove all over town for just under two hours, and I did not find any except for the crappy Halloween kind. Then I went to the crappy corner store just a few blocks from campus, and they had any kind of Jones ever imaginable.

I won't lie. I did cry. A lot.



But wait, there's more, if you're interested in hearing more about my terrible life! So I had a job interview in Rochester for a holiday job on Thursday. I e-mailed my guard captain and asked her if I could miss band for a job interview. No. I can't. ... I mean really. So now I might not get my holiday job, because I've been trying to play phone tag with them for a couple days and I cannot get a hold of the HR lady anymore.

I HATE BAND.

I hate my life.





It's official. I'm changing my major. I'm going to be a communications major.

It's Snowing Here!

All right, so what have I been up to since I got back from Chicago? Well let's see. Not a lot, actually. Pretty typical week. I had an exciting weekend though.

On Friday I went to Wabasha to go say hello to a few friends of mine. It was their Homecoming weekend (pics on Facebook). I went and watched their parade. It was about as exciting as parades get (which, in my case, is actually pretty exciting. I like parades.) Then I went to the marching band's afterparty. It was fun, but a little awkward because 1.) I'm not in their marching band and 2.) I don't even go to their school. I did kick butt at Scrabble though. Thank you "unzip" on triple word score!

Then I watched the game. They had amazing apple cider. I mean, it was only like 4-5 ounces for a dollar, but it was really tasty. And I felt compelled to buy some W-K wear. I'm not sure why. I mean, I'm not in high school anymore, and I live nowhere near Wabasha, so... that would be weird. But it was so pretty, and red, and I don't wear much red since I graduated anymore... But I didn't buy anything. Even though the scarves looked pretty tempting.

(For the record, football fans, W-K lost their game. What a shame. Also, football fans, who won the JM-Century game? I never did find out...)

I got to see some friends in Wabasha that I hadn't seen in a while. And I met some new friends. Which was nice. Now I feel like I know the majority of the W-K high school, haha. All 12 of them. XD I'm just kidding. But I do feel like I know a lot of people from there...

And they're all so young! I keep forgetting my friend Geoff is only a junior. Yeesh. I feel so old. =/ I turn 19 in like 2 months! Srsly. I'm almost done being a teenager. Wow.



Anyway, on Saturday, the marching band performed at Chippewa Falls. Funny story about that. I had skipped band practice to go to Wabasha because band had been cut short already anyway, so I'm like, "Screw it. I'll just leave early." And because of that I didn't get to perform at Chippewa.

Am I sad about this? Not at all. It was snowing during the performance. The guard uniforms are tank tops. Screw that. I have no regrets. Besides, I was spending time with some nice people, so it was time well spent. PLUS I got to WATCH the band (and not on Youtube!) for once, and it was really cool. I never get to see what happens in the front. So it really was a win-win situation, in my opinion.



And now my boyfriend is in Eau Claire for a college visit. I was having a coffee at the cafe in the student center, and I saw all the high school kids touring, but... I did not see him. Sketchy. *shrug* Oh well.

I also realized that uhh... my expenses are outweighing my income. Time for Lacey to pick up some new shifts at work... but I kind of really hate my job. Okay, I don't REALLY hate it, but... I don't enjoy it. At all, really. I miss the library. I hope they hire me back for winter break. I made good money there, and I knew how to do everything, and I can work in ILL and... *sigh* I really should just freaking major in library science. But then, it's stupid that I need a degree for work that I more or less could just get trained in and figure it out.

Speaking of that, I think it's hilarious that people need 4-year degrees to work with handicapped children in public schools. My grandma did that for years, and she didn't even graduate high school. Oh, times have changed...



Registration for spring is in a little over a month (for me anyway). Time to meet with my advisor and tell him, "... I'm having a quarterlife crisis. I am having second thoughts about majoring in business. But now I don't know what I want to do." I think I'll just keep it for now because I can't think of anything better to do, but I don't think I want to do human resources anymore. I just... I can't do it. I can't be that serious at my job. I just can't.

But... you know... now what.

I'm planning on taking fun classes next semester. I mean, sure I'll have a few crap classes like math and macroecon, but you know what, I am going to take some stuff that has nothing to do with my current major and attempt to enjoy education. I'm just really bummed that they don't have a class specifically for Freudian psychology. What a shame it's "outdated". I love it. =/



I had a midterm today. Pretty sure I at least got a B. There were a few that I didn't know, but... I feel confident. Oh yeah, I got my degree audit the other day. I am in "good academic standing". Hooray.

I'm gonna go eat a sandwich and then go to class. Ciao, readers!

Chicago + Auditions

I went to Chicago this past weekend for the Marching Band. It was okay. It wasn't super special awesome like I thought it was going to be.

We got on a coach bus (late, thanks to us trying to be on top of things but epic failing and having to go back and forth and to Shopko...) and departed for The State That Never Ends (also known as Illinois).

It was just like Florida all over again. Same kind of bus, same kind of groups, same kind of movies. Remember how bus 2 watched The Producers? Well so did bus 3 for the BMB. Ah, memories. And then there was the awkward napping positions... well, if you've ever been on a coach bus, you know what I'm talking about.

We got to the hotel with no injury after stopping in Madison for dinner. The hotel was okay. It had nice decorations, but the beds were FULL beds, not queen beds. Wtf. How are we supposed to comfortably fit 2 people on that little bed? Well, we did, it wasn't that bad, but I still would have preferred a queen. And there was nothing on the TV except for the 3rd Pirates of the Caribbean. I hate the third one. It's stupid. And then the continental breakfast is one of the worst I've ever had. The worst continenal breakfast was one were all they served were bagels and toast. This one had eggs, but they were NASTY.

I think anything east of the Mississippi has a problem with eggs. The eggs used in the cafeteria on campus make me feel ill, and then the hotels in Chicago (or rather, Schaumberg, a suburb of Chicago) were runny and cold and watery and just, ew. I could hardly choke them down.

Then we went to Chicago just for the hell of it. Chicago is all rent. Lots of sweet architecture (pics on Facebook). And lots of hobos. There was actually a battallion of homeless people who sell magazines to you and tell you funny jokes and give tourist information. And then there are the homeless people that smell like pee... but... yeah.

I bought lots of stuff. It was exciting. We went to Navy Pier, and we rode on the gigantic Ferris Wheel overlooking Lake Michigan. I forgot how big the Great Lakes are. I've only been to Superior (and now Michigan!), and... they are freaky. I guess I still can't get over my epic fear of large bodies of water. Except Lake Michigan doesn't look like a trashbag like the Atlantic Ocean does. Or the Zumbro river.

We didn't get to stay for very long in Chicago, though, which was disappointing. There was so much more I wanted to see, like the Field Museum, and the public library (it was cool looking, okay?), and the publishing companies, and the Chicago Tribune... Okay. So I thought it was cool to actually see the building where the Chicago Trib was made. I mean, I've only been putting away and recycling their newspapers for the past four years, it was kind of awesome. I wish I could have seen the inside... Though I'm sure it's a lot like the Post-Bulletin. I guess once you've seen one newspaper building, you've seen them all? I've seen the machines that shove the advertisements in the center, I've seen the printing press and the foldy-machines and the forklifts... eh.

Then we got on a bus and drove back to Wisconsin to go to Greendale, where our exhibition performance was. We're not quite sure why we went to Chicago other than just for fun, since we had to drive 2 hours back north towards Milwaukee...? Whatever. It was kind of a bummer though, since we didn't get to see any of the other bands performing at the competition. Well, some kids did, but not the colorguard 'cuz we had to practice. Ew.

All right, I'm gonna be totally honest. I thought our practice run-throughs were kind of awful. Maybe it was because we were on a bus for several hours and we were all tired and cranky (I know I was). And cold. It was freezing out. But I just don't think any of us (not just the guard, the whole band) were feeling it. It was better by actualy show-time. Except my hands were too darn cold to do anything. I couldn't toss, I could hardly move the flag even with the gloves. We had to stand outside for a full hour before we actually went on though, and we weren't wearing our jackets or anything. The colorguard wears tank tops. Yeah. VERY cold.

I will post video as soon as I find it?





Today I auditioned for Seussical at the Eau Claire Children's Theater. I sucked. End of story. I performed "Oh What a Circus" from Evita, and I didn't even get to the good part ("But who is this Santa Evita/Why all this howling hysterical sorrow?"). I auditioned with 3 other kids (yes, kids). The 8-year-old was easily the best one in there. Then there was this really cocky 13-year-old who was... your typical theater kid if you know what I mean. And then there was a cute little boy who was so nervous and kept forgetting the words. It was really cute.

I'd really like to be in the show. I love Seussical. But 62 people auditioned last night, and there were about another 20-30 tonight. I know I won't get a lead. And... I don't know. I just don't feel confident. I didn't think the show would be so popular... =/



I'm "watching" the Packer-Vikings game. Right now, Vikes are winning 28-14. Lol. That's all I have to say. It's pretty intense here. Everybody is shrieking like howler monkeys. Pretty sure Vikings are gonna win. That's all.

This Week in Unnecessary Censorship

... Nah, there's no unnecessary censorship here. But I do like the UC videos on Youtube. They are quite comical. Want to see one? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vviBx6FkdbI . Watch it 'till the end. The last one is the best.

Now that I have your attention, I suppose I should tell you what I've been up to since I last updated.

This week is ultra-mega-super test week. I had two exams and a quiz today, followed by a quiz tomorrow morning. Every single one of my classes except for marching band had a quiz or test this week. And I have a band performance on Saturday, so that's kind of like a test. So I guess that makes all of them.

Most of these were the first legit tests of the semester. Okay well half of them. My bio test was the first big test of the year, as was my speech test. It was kind of nice though, for my bio test we were allowed to have an entire 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of paper, both sides, for notes. And we were allowed one 3 x 5 notecard in speech. I'm glad I put more effort into studying for bio than I did for studying for speech, because my speech exam was more or less a piece of cake.

The thing I hate about tests though is that teachers will put completely irrelevant information on there. I don't understand why. For example, on my speech exam one of the questions was "What is the typical speaking pattern in Kenya?" First of all, why the hell would I ever need to know this? Second, it was never covered in class. It was one of those "Have you read the textbook?" kind of questions. I don't understand why they are necessary. I mean, who cares? As interesting as I'm sure the speaking pattern of Kenya is, it's not relevant, you don't need to know this ever, no one cares, and it has nothing to do with "the big picture".

That's what I like to think tests are. "Big picture" concepts. And most classes and their tests are like that. But every now and then you'll get some jackass who throws in a "trick question" like the speaking patterns in Kenya just to see if you've been reading.

Now if it were a class were reading the textbook was actually necessary, I could maybe understand. But a speech class? Come on! Why do we even HAVE a textbook for speech class? I've learned nothing new. Okay, well that's not true. I learned the technical terms for stuff I already knew. Do you know what the majority of our past unit was on? How to write an outline.

I learned how to write an outline in fourth grade. And I like the way I write outlines. I don't understand why I need to learn a newer, more stupid way of writing outlines. Why do my main points need to be in complete sentences? It's an outline, for crying out loud! Okay, here is how I would write an outline for a speech. (Pretend this stuff is indented and formatted correctly)

I.) Mayo Clinic

A.) stats

1.) x # of total employees

2.) x # of patients per year

B.) research

1.) cancer

2.) alzheimers

C.) buildings

1.) Mayo

2.) Gonda

3.) Siebens

And so on, and so forth. I write simple outlines. If I have info that I need to write out, like a quote, then I do that. This is how we're supposed to write outlines for the class.

I. The Mayo Clinic is the world's largest medical center.

A.) I will share some interesting statistics about the Mayo Clinic

1.) x # of total employees

2.) x # of patients per year

B.) The Mayo Clinic has done extensive research in several different areas of medicine.

1.) cancer

2.) alzheimers

C.) The Mayo Clinic has several different buildings.

1.) Mayo

2.) Gonda

3.) Siebens

I hate writng in complete sentences when I don't have. Wasn't this the whole point of Reading for College? Use less words, highlight stuff less, take less notes? I am getting conflicting messages in my education!

I hate my speech class. Okay, more like, I really don't like the teacher.

(For the record, AP Geography students, there are 300 shoe factories in Boston. This is a test question. I'm not kidding. It's vital to your education. KNOW THIS.)

Enough about my academic life. I am going to talk about band, because I know that bandies are a large part of my target audience. Unfortunately, I am going to talk about color guard instead of legit band. So, um, sorry.

Okay. I know in high school, nobody really likes the color guard (except you all love me 'cuz I'm awesome). In college, the few people I have been brave enough to ask what they think about guard say that they don't have a problem with them (but I know they're lying, I can see it in their eyes). They said that at the beginning of the season.

As of right now, the EC guard only has work for two out of the four songs we're playing for our field show. We did have work for the third song, but we had to scrap most of it since it just didn't work with the drill (we were supposed to be doing pole work while jazz running 40 yards across the field in 32-ish counts... yeah... not gonna happen). So we have a big exhibition coming up this weekend in Chicago. The band sounds great, I'm sure they look nice too (I can't really tell since we're behind them most of the time and it's not like I'm paying attention to their lines anyway), and then there's the guard. Our first song looks pretty good, since we've known it the longest. Second song is probably a bit sloppy. Third and fourth songs are nonexistent.

And I am in no way blaming this on anybody. In college, they don't have a week-long color guard camp to teach the work for the field show. There's band camp, and that's it. So there is not a whole lot of time for us to squeeze in time to learn new stuff. We have somebody else write our work for us, so we have to wait until he writes it, and then the captains have to learn it well enough to teach it.

Yuck, I could never be a color guard captain. No way.

There's 24 girls on the color guard. If you think things are bad when you get even a small group of girls together, and then they start bitching about something or other, just wait until you have 24 of them. I try to stay out of whatever drama is going on. Most of it, I think, goes on between the upperclassmen, so... yeah I don't want to make any enemies by telling them to shut up. It's tough though, since I enjoy yelling at people and "sticking up for justice" and all that BS. Eh. I just get the feeling that something is gonna happen as far as spectacular bitch-fights goes.

Like how at JM every other week or so there'd be some chick fight in the hallways with hair-pulling and Spanish cussing? That's kind of what I think is going to happen.

... In other news, I'm pretty pumped for Chicago. I've never been there before, so it should be fun.

On that topic, sort of, I would like to thank everybody whom I have captained over the past few years. Thank you Speech Team and Mock Trial team for being AWESOME and not being disrespectful or mean or in any way "bad". I have a lot more respect for people in leadership positions who have to deal with people who aren't that pleasant or who are always arguing with the way you want to run things. I was lucky to have you guys as teammates. Please keep up the good sportsmanship and good work! I miss you. :(

Hmm what else have I done this week. My friend Ryan turned 19. We had a "surprise" party for him (pictures are on Facebook). It was kind of exciting. Then I went to my LEADS and SHRM meetings on Tuesday.

I feel really out of place in SHRM. Everybody is so serious. It kind of really bugs me. Like, the girls running the group are really nice and really friendly, but I just feel like I'm at a really dull business meeting. I guess I just feel out of place because I'm a freshman and I have no desire to have a legit career right now. I mean, I do down the road, but there's only so much a freshman in college can do, career-wise, other than take classes. Nobody wants a freshman intern, they don't know what they're doing. No employer wants to meet a freshman, they want somebody with, or very close to getting, a degree.

So we listened to a speaker in the field. She was in compensation and benefits, and she was a nice speaker and all, but I just didn't really care. I had a moment of "shoot. Maybe I really should change my major to psychology". I mean, seriously. I'm so bored!

And yet, I love The Office and stuff ('cuz that's totally a real depiction of corporate life!), and I'm like, "Yeah. I wanna be just like Michael Scott and wear a nice suit every day and have my own office." Except I'd be more of a Toby, because I wanted to major in HR. And, if you've ever watched The Office, you know how people feel about Toby... =/

I thought business was what I really wanted to do. And I just... I don't know.

I did hear through the grapevine though that International Business is becoming a legit major instead of just a minor or certificate program. But then I feel like oh, darn, I joined SHRM and everything, and I just... I don't know how I feel about it. HR? International Business? Healthcare Administration?? Augh, I just don't know. I mean, I want to travel. So Int'l Business makes sense, right? But I'm interested in management, because I like to be in charge and all that... ugh. I don't know. I know I got time, but... what if I decide to completely scrap the business idea altogether (though I don't know what I would do in its place...)?

Hmmmm. Career path meltdown. =/

On a lighter note, uh... hmm... eh. This week has just been pretty "blah". Not terrible, but not fantastic either. Busy. But, it's all good because I leave for Chicago in exactly 24 hours! Yay!

Minority Camp

So I went to this "Multicultural Alliance of Change Leadership Retreat" this past weekend. I like to lovingly refer to it as "Minority Camp". At any rate, I kept a journal during the 3-day retreat, since I knew all of you were dying to hear about it, and I didn't want to forget any details. So, without further ado, here is my journal!

Day One

We loaded up the bus from Towers around 5:30pm. I got on pretty early, and I sat toward the middle near an attractive sophomore who looked like the black guy from High School Musical. His name was Nate. And also, much to my excitement, another white girl sat by us! I was so relieved there was another white person on this trip. So naturally, I studied her face, her features, wondering what the hell minority she could possibly be. My guess was American Indian. Then I couldn't help but wonder what people thought I was...

But they didn't judge. And that's what I like about this group of people. Everybody was so easy to make friends with. Nobody excluded me because I was white (on the outside, haha). Color really didn't matter. It wasn't like JM where there was totally obvious segregation going on. No crowds of loud black chicks clustered, with their backs turned, at the bottom of the stairs, and no groups of Hispanic girls gossiping in Spanish across the hall from the black girls. We were like recyclables - aluminum cans and plastic bottles and glass containers, co-mingling.

I use that phrase because we have a recycle bin outside my room with big letters that say "CO-MINGLE".

I've always wondered how that works though. Why is it okay to mix the bottles with the cans? And what happens when people forget to take the caps off their plastic bottles?

Something to think about.

Anyway. We got to Camp Manitou, which is actually pretty ritzy for a summer camp. No run-down shacks for living quarters or latrine toilets here. We're camping in style.

After a delicious dinner of pulled pork sandwiches and CAKE, we played an introductory game of "My name is Loquacious Lacey, this is Jilted Jeremy, etc." Except somebody accidentally said "Jizzling Jeremy", and it was pretty much the highlight of the night. I was the second-to-last person to go in this game, and I only forgot 3 out of 35 or so names. Not bad, I'd say.

Then me and my bus clique (which consisted of me, Nate the HSM guy, the other white chick (whose name is Becca), and a black guy named Emeka) decided to go exploring. We went into the equipment shed, in which there was a boat; naturally, we all sang "I'm on a Boat!" Then Emeka played baseball with a rubber chicken, and... we decided that we had had enough of the shed.

I climbed a tree. I fell out of the tree. We sat on a bench overlooking the lake and chatted about astronomy, the Loch Ness monster, and viral Youtbe videos. Also, we took goofy Facebook pictures (WHICH YOU CAN SEE HERE: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=logo#/album.php?aid=106599&id=503824588&ref=mf ). You know, average kid stuff.

In conclusion - Day One was awesome. I really like everyone here, and I can't wait to legitimately do stuff. And before I end today's entry, here are a few fun facts:

1.) There are no blinds on these windows. Changing is a wee bit awkward, since there is a large group of people outside my cabin at this very moment.

2.) Minorities make up less than 5% of the UWEC student body.

3.) I was right. Becca is American Indian.

Day Two

I woke up early in the morning. I'm not sure what time, since I had turned my phone off to conserve battery, and there are no clocks in my cabin.

Some more about the cabin: The beds looked comfy, but they really weren't. They were incredibly noisy to shift in, and there was a lot of shifting. Finally, at about 7:30, I decided that I had had enough shifting and went to go shower.

And once again, I am pleasantly annoyed to find showers larger than the ones in my residence hall. Oh, mini tangent - so I love the free stuff festivals at the beginning of the year. Not only did I get free pens and cookies, but I also got some free travel-size shampoo and conditioner from a local hair salon. Needless to say, it came in handy.

After my shower, I had a semi-decent breakfast of "McManitous", or, kind of burnt egg sandwiches and yogurt. Then we sat around for a very long time. We were supposed to have this crazy jam-packed schedule full of student presentations, videos, and activities. We were supposed to start at 9:30. We didn't get around to our first student presentation until 10:30. Which was fine, yet not fine because I was expecting this retreat to be more like a business conference with structure and strict schedules. Instead, we had several hours of recreational free time.

But first, let me tell you about the presentations. There were five toal, each about a different facet of leadership, like communication, setting a model example, and encouragement. They were fun. Most of them included teamwork activities and such, but my favorite one was where we each had a sheet of paper taped to our backs and everybody had to write one nice thing about each person. We got to read them afterward, and it made my day. I got a couple of silly ones like "I love your braces" and "You look like Wendy from The Shining".

Quick mini-tangent! There were at least 3 or 4 of us at the retreat who are my age or older who have braces. I always get really excited when I see people my age with braces. I feel less alone inthe world.

But then I also got some really nice compliments, too. It's so weird; these people have barely known me for a weekend, and they already have me figured out. "Entertaining", "You speak your mind", "funny", and, my personal favorite "You have great chatter". I'm assuming that means I say interesting things...? Right...?

Okay, backing up to the early afternoon. We had 3 hours of free time before dinner, so I went canoeing for the second time (the first time was at Quarry Hill on that little pond with a bunch of 3rd graders, so that doesn't count). I was in the back, steering. We raced another canoe, and we lost but it was totally unfair because their steerer was a guy with huge arms.

Then after canoeing, I played badminton and realized that I'm not as good as I thought I was. Then I drank hot cocoa and watched the boys play football until dinnertime.

Dinner = lasagna + brownie = EPIC NOM!

And then we had the Talent Show. That was super fun. A bunch of boys danced to "Show Me the Meaning of Being Lonely" (complete with a break dance finale), one guy juggled, one girl did fortune telling, and a couple of people sang and danced Native American tribal songs.

I gave a speech. Naturally. No, it was not my Creative X piece from last year; I wasn't sure how popular my horribl(y funny) Asian stereotypical barsita would be... So I did a "prose" piece from a cutscene of a videogame (You can see the original scene that I did here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfnD05NR1bg). It was rather depressing, but people actually came up to me after the show and were like, "Hey, that was relaly good!". That surprised me a lot. I was expecting an awkward silence after a piece of me pretending to have a conversation with myself, but today I learned that it's not just speech and theater nerds who can appreciate a decent dramatic performance.

It was a good day.

Day Three

I woke up to several alarms going off within twenty minutes of each other, and after being thoroughly annoyed by this, I heaved myself out of bed and made my way to the dining hall for my last meal. It was pancakes. And after lying in the sun for a few minutes, I packed up and proceeded to an open field for our final few activities.

I think today was the most productive day all weekend. We all wanted to get out of here by 11 to get home on time, so we actually started things on schedule. We shared our life stories in pictures, filled out surveys, and chose our peer mentors. My mentor's name is Dawn. She's very nice, she studied abroad in Rome, and she's a business major like me. That's why I chose her. Kind of like a double-hitter - business and multicultural mentor.

Then we all got on a bus and went home. One side note: the town of Bloomer is mega-frightening. Quite possibly the shadiest and most run-down small town I've ever seen.

All in all, I'm really glad I went on this retreat. It was a lot more fun than I ghoutht it would be, certainly less structured, and while I idn't really learn a whole lot that was new, I had fun doing it. And as with most things that I do, the people I was with made it all worthwhile.

Das Ende! Thanks for reading. :)

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Orgs

So last night I went to a couple of meetings for various organizations. I went to a different one last week, B.U.S. (Beta Upsilon Sigma, the Business major fraternity), but I decided not to do BUS since they meet on Wednesdays, and I work on Wednesdays. :(

But! I am going to join Eau Claire's chapter for SHRM (the Society for Human Resource Managers) and LEADS (Leadership Education something Development something). LEADS was REALLY fun. We didn't do a whole lot, but basically it just seems like one big crazy party all the time. Plus I got free pizza, free Pepsi, and a free pen. What's not to love?

What we did at LEADS is we all got a sheet of paper, and we had to find as many things in common with three random people as possible in 2 minutes. That was our first "icebreaker" activity. Then we had another activity where we all had these quotes, and we had to find a group of people with the same quote. There were 3 outcasts, and the lesson was that "Even if someone doesn't quite fit in, let them be a part of your group anyway". Irony Time: The quote I got was "We must be the change you want to see in the world."

Now Gandhi was a nice man, don't get me wrong. I'm just sick of hearing "Be the change you want to see!" all the time. If I had a nickel for everytime I heard a speech of any kind reference either Gandhi or that quote, I would be a rich lady. I dunno. I just really have something against it. I hear it too much.

And then we were informed that LEADS is just a big social group dedicated to... dada... leadership! Yay. It sounds REALLY fun. I'm pretty excited. We get to go to Action City (which is kind of a big theme park type thing around here)!

And then I went to SHRM, which was much quieter. I felt a little out of place because A) I was a freshman and B) I'm not an HR major... yet. But I will be. Most likely. There were only about 5 of us who weren't HR majors. Granted, I'm still (hopefully) in the College of Business (I haven't applied yet; I need to take a couple more boring business-related courses first), but... whatever.

Factoid: The VP of EC's SHRM is also named Lacey. I am determined to take her spot. In a couple years, there is going to be another VP Lacey. But for right now, I'm settling for co-chair of the Recruitment Committee. Which I think is slightly awesome. I mean, sure, our committee is the smallest out of all the ones available, because apparently nobody thinks advertising is cool, but still. It will make me important if I for sure get co-chair (or even chair, which could happen... maybe???).

SHRM is business attire for all meetings. I didn't bring a lot of business casual clothes with me, but I'm going back home in a week and a half (gosh, I feel like I was just at home... and then I'm going back again... hmm), so I can get more. Plus, when I go back home, all the really cute fall merchandise will probably be on clearance now! Sweet deal! So, Mom, if you're reading this, we're going shopping next weekend.

I'm also planning on joining AIESEC, which I don't remember what it stands for, but it's like an international education thing, which could potentially hook me up with interships abroad. Sweet deal. And I'm also looking at the Model United Nations Club. I've heard about model UNs before, and they sound cool but they also have the potential to sound really boring too, because politics make me want to kill myself. I'll check it out though. Hopefully anyway. I have to take tomorrow off in order to make it to the meeting.



Oh, I suppose now I'll tell people about my job. I work in the dishroom at the cafeteria on upper campus. I've only worked once, but it wasn't so bad. You get used to the nasty after like two minutes. Plus I like the speed of it all. I mean, getting paid $8.50 to do more or less nothing at the library was nice and all, but the time goes by a lot faster when people are like "MOVE MOVE MOVE!" and stuff is happening all over.

I work today.

I suppose that's all I have to say about organizations and work for now. Until next time!

First Game

Okay so I was totally gonna update on my first day of class and all those other fun "firsts", but now the moment is kind of lost right, so here's a summary of my first week of classes: So far, it's pretty boring. I hate listening to "Here is the class syllabus and classroom policies..."

I have one lecture class with 250 people in it. One of my other classes has 65 people. This does not bother me, especially since the 65-person one is an econ class and it's rather boring, so I can just sit in the back and doodle. HOWEVER, the text book is WAY easier to understand than that piece of crap I "read" in AP Macro...

Anyway. So on Saturday, the Blugold Marching Band had its first performance, and the football team had its first game (we won, 21-7). And honestly... I like high school football games better.

I was told upon entering Carson Park that nobody goes to UWEC football games. Saturday's crowd was pretty good (although it cleaned out by halftime...), but... uh... yeah. JM's crowd is ridiculous, and they actually pay to watch!

It really made me miss JM. Like I don't miss much from home, but every now and then something dumb will pop up and I'll be like "... Oh. I miss that."

Anyway. Since most of you reading this are/were in band, I'll tell you about band. Which I feel like a total hypocrite talking about because by no means am I a "bandie" (I just hang out with lots of them... =/). But I'm standing on the field, making eye contact with this random chick in the crowds (focal point!), and I'm seeing this mess of blue and gold, and I'm like, "... This isn't right." Where is my black and/or red sea? Where is the massive, jam-packed crowd of people cheering? There is nobody clinging to the fence. There are no emo kids making out by the concession stand. There are no gangsta 12-year-olds picking a fight with each other. It's very... calm.

By the way, guard drill for pregame is really lame. And we don't do anything. Not that anybody ever really gives a crap about the colorguard anyway (which is fine by me...), but... geez. I miss that tick-tick thing we did at JM.... Whatever.

And aha... yeah. Nobody really cheers at the UWEC games. I think we had tailgating, because I think I saw some lawn chairs and a grill in the Carson parking lot, but it was nowhere near as cool as JM's (um, by the way, I hope Class of 2010 is keeping up with the excellence that was our TG!). Where is Kurt running around with a giant flag and our trash can drummers???

Ohhh, high school football was so much fun. I can't wait to come back for homecoming. :)

Mmmm, some stuff happened, points were scored, and then the BMB performed. It was fun. I love performing. I mean, I know I'm no good at guard stuff, and yet, here I am, least nervous out of a group of 24 girls. I guess I'm lucky; I very rarely get nervous for anything.

First song went well. That's the only song we have finished, so I guess it should have gone well. Second song, I know I did horrible on, but I get the feeling I'm not alone on that, since we never practice it. Third song... we have no work, so we just awkwardly marched on the field. Yay! The band looked cool though. They run! It's funny!

If you want the video go here, then click Sept. 5 video in the upper right hand corner. http://www.blugoldmarchingband.com/09camp.html. Oh, and I guess there are pictures of band camp too, but I don't think I'm in any of them. As for the video, if you're wondering where I am, once the band sets in, around 30-40 seconds, I'm just to the left of the 50-yard-line, girl in the middle. And around 1:40, I'm the single guard member a few steps left of the 50.

Ummm... I was gonna say a lot of stuff about what I miss from Rochester. Like I mentioned, high school football games... JM guard... actually CHEERING for my team, even if I didn't watch a single second of the game...

Oh yeah. One thing I REALLY miss. During the national anthem, when we scream out "ROCKETS!" I really miss that. I secretly wanna do it during the anthem when we play it at Eau Claire. But the version of Star Spangled Banner we play is really slow and pretty sounding, as opposed to a more "pep-band-y" feel that we had. And it would be really awkward and probably in poor taste.

... I better be impressed at JM Homecoming.

I also really miss the 2nd Street Caribou Coffee. I don't even know why. I hardly ever went there. Parking was terrible. But the inside is so cozy, and there's always plenty of people to watch from the window facing St. Mary's. I went to the 41st St Caribou way more than I went to 2nd St, but... I miss it more. Go figure.

And I miss Target. There is a Shopko within walking distance of campus, but... Shopko scares me. Or at least the one in Rochester does, so I'm always really nervous about going to the 'Ko in EC. I've only been there like twice, but... still... gives me the willies.

At any rate, I'll be back home in about a week, so I'm looking forward to seeing as many Rochesterites as I can nex weekend. And study hard and all that BS. I know it's tough. The educational part of high school blows. ;)

Until next time...

Appearances

Today's Blogging Blugold post is inspired by outward appearances.

So, I'm sure a lot of you when you packed up for college, you all packed up your cute clothes, maybe a pretty dress or two, your pretty-but-painful shoes, and a bunch of makeup and hair accessories. I did. Maybe you packed for college with the "I'm gonna look supercute every day!" mindset in your head. I did.

Most days in high school I dressed to impress. Well, maybe not impress, but I did try to look decent 90% of the time. Like, I would never go out in sweatpants. I wore makeup almost every day. I blow-dried and even sometimes "did" my hair.

Now? Hmmm... not so much. My friends have all seen me wear absolute crap, and I will go out and have breakfast or lunch in my absolute crap, and it's not really a huge deal. Then again, most of that was for band camp, and nobody looks good at band camp, so I guess it's not so bad. Maybe things will be different once classes actually start (tomorrow!). Then again, maybe not. I get the feeling I am going to be super lazy on Tuesdays and Thursdays when I have my 8:00 class, and just go to it in my pajamas and shower later.

Because, honestly, who do I have to impress here? It's not like I'm a single girl, "on the prowl". Maybe if I were single I would try harder. But I'm not, so I don't care.

I have not blow-dried my hair since I got here. I have not put any sort of product or effort into my hair. I've worn makeup... hmm... twice? since I moved in. And I don't even wear contacts half the time!

This is not to say that I've turned into some huge slob though. Well... maybe a little. But the thing is... it's true. Nobody gives a crap in college. It's nice.

My First Saturday At College

Would you like to know what I did with my first Saturday at college? It was actually really fantastic.

I have this new clique that fluctuates between 5 and 8 people. This morning it started out with 5. We call ourselves The Breakfast Club. I'm Claire, Molly Ringwald's character, the "Princess". Anyway, the five of us went to breakfast on Hilltop, and the first thing the cashier says to us is "Hey are you all freshmen? Do you want a job?" So... we all got hired on the spot to be dishwashers in the cafeteria. Sweet. I start on Thursday.

After that eventful morning (which, by the way, this all occured around 11AM. I like not having band camp), we went to my friend's room and we sat around on Facebook, updating our statuses to "So-and-so has got a job!" Then we all commented on and liked each others' statuses. It was intense. Then we sat around and were extremely lazy for a good hour or so, and then we decided to buy our books.

At UWEC, you can rent most of your books. I only had to pay for one. I paid an astounding total $36 for five textbooks. Well, technically one textbook, but... I got 5 (for the price of one!). I also got a free stick of gum. Yep. One individually plastic-wrapped stick of gum. Awesome.

Then we went back to my friend's dorm to decide what to do with the rest of our day. Our intent was to explore the city, so we hopped on a bus on lower campus and sat on it full cycle just to see where it went. Then we got on another bus to see where that one went. It went into the neighboring city of Altoona, and there were tons of creepy homeless-looking people and a spooky old lady who kept staring at us.

At the end of our epic 2-hour bus adventure (bussing is free for UWEC students, by the way), we ended up just a couple of blocks away from where we first boarded. So we rode on a bus for 2 hours to go somewhere that was 10 minutes away from the residence halls.

And then we went to dinner at Dooley's, and then we went to a $2 play! It was really good, albeit incredibly depressing.

So in order to take our minds off the massive cloud of sadness left by the play, we went back to my friend's dorm, and by that time it was just four of us girls left. So we found the worst fanfiction ever written ("My Immortal"), and we had a Reader's Theater for an hour and a half.

Pretty much the most epically lametastically awesome Saturday I've had in a while. I love college.

First Week - Band Camp

So I'm all moved in at UW-Eau Claire, and I really have not had much of a chance to breathe since I got here, so I apologize to my folks for not calling them, blah blah blah...

So some horrible demon possessed me and told me to sign up for marching band. I didn't really like marching band last year, so I don't know why I thought it would be more fun in college. It's not. I wake up at 6:30 in the morning and kind of want to kill myself.

I miss my old guard. They didn't make me feel stupid, and we all got to be really good friends, I'd like to think. Don't get my wrong, the girls at Eau Claire are all really nice, but, since I'm a freshman, a lot of the upper classmen already have their well-established connections and don't really say much to the freshman. They give us rides and are more than happy to help us out (thanks everyone who puts up with me, I know I'm terrible!), but... it's not the same. I guess that's to be expected though.

So here is my advice: Don't do something in college that you really know, deep in your heart, that you don't want to do it.

Currently, the cafeteria is not open, but we did have dinner there once. The food is okay. I didn't have a whole lot, but I had a brownie, and it was decent enough. I've only been in one other college cafeteria, but this one was pretty much the same. They have a soup n' salad line, the main entree line, pizza, cereal, soda fountain, desserts, etc. Other than that though, I've been living off the food I have in my dorm and stuff like Subway.

Okay, actually, there is this really awesome pizza place on Water Street called Jeff and Jim's. They have 2 slices of pizza and a soda for $5.50, and those slices are MASSIVE. Bigger than Sbarro's, I swear! Good pizza, too. And they are open until 2-3AM most nights. A lot of places are open really late in town. Which makes sense. But it's kind of funny, getting used to "Open 'til 3AM!" and it's not a Taco Bell or a McDonald's.

Tonight, I had a pretty good fruit, yogurt, and peanut butter... thing. It was good.

So I have hardly explored my dorm at all. I saw a kitchen downstairs once, but I haven't been able to find it again. I figure I'll just get a tour when all the other people move in on Sunday, but I'm kinda bummed. I have to do dishes. I guess I'll just do them in the bathroom?

Currently, it's just me, the RAs (Resident Assistants) (I'm next door to one of them), and a couple of international students who are on my floor (I'm on the 9th of 10 floors in Towers South).

Wanna see some pictures? I bet you do. That's what you came for. But first, you have to listen to this little bit:

I miss home. I really, honestly do. I didn't think I would. Rochester is dumb, and I don't miss the town at all. Like, yesterday, they were talking about health care or something on the TV and the Mayo Clinic was mentioned and I couldn't help but groan. I can't get away from that damned place! But I do miss stuff like my house. My grandma's house. My friend's houses. I don't miss work yet, but I haven't had time to sit around and effectively be unemployed. I also don't miss JM, but that's not surprising seeing as how I didn't really even go there the last two years anyway. I don't miss RCTC. Well, okay, I kinda do. When peoples' Facebook statuses were RCTC-centered this past Monday, I couldn't help but feel a little nostalgic. At least I know where stuff is there!

That's one thing I miss the most. Being "omniscient". Like, I know where almost everything in Rochester is (not including residential areas). I know how to get from class to class at RCTC or JM. Here in Eau Claire, I have no idea where anything is. I can get from my room to the Haas Fine Arts center where we meet for band each morning and back. Yesterday, I went to Walgreens to get some soda, and I was really disoriented and couldn't find my way back. It was a little depressing.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, whichever way you look at it, I only have time to think about home really early in the morning or late at night.

Okay, here is my other rant. Dorm showers, at least in my dorm, are TINY. It can't be more than 2 feet by 2 feet. It's a nice enough shower, sure, and it works, but let me tell you about things they don't tell you in the college booklets.

This mostly pertains to the ladies, but... whatever. Ladies, ever tried to shave your legs in a 2 feet by 2 feet shower? I don't know about you, but it's tough! Balance is key (because I sure as hell am not touching those shower walls with any part of my body if I can help it). Also, next time you're in your dorm shower, check out the drain. I just happened to look down while I was taking a shower this evening, and at the drain there's all this hair. Most of it's mine, I'm sure, because I shed like a beast, but that's kind of gross. So don't look down when you're in the showers.

All right, enough of that, here are some pictures.

Here is my nasty tan lines. See that, around my neck? I have sock tan lines too.

This is the view from my dorm room. It's a nice parking lot and all, but I generally prefer the view at night.

... I guess you kind of have to be there to see it?

... Okay it takes forever to upload pictures here, because they don't format very nicely, and I'm too lazy to work it out, you can see the rest of my dorm pics here: http://s48.photobucket.com/albums/f241/crazykitsune17/Dorm/

To Those Still Stuck in High School

My boyfriend is still stuck in high school this upcoming fall, and he's one of those people that enjoys talking about the future. "I'm gonna be an astronaut, and I'm gonna be the first man on Pluto, and I will re-establish its planet-ness!" kind of thing. Where he maps out this epic future of grandeur and whatnot.

Mini-tangent: I saw a guy in a T-shirt the other day that had a picture of Pluto on it, and it said: "PLUTO: Never Forget." It made me smile.

But anyway, he's more or less picked out a college, a career path, a retirement plan, etc. Not that there's anything wrong with this. I did it too when I was a kid. Granted, he has changed these life plans several times since we started dating, but the point is, the kid likes to plan ahead.

And if your parents are anything like mine, they practically shoved "planning ahead" down your throat. I vividly remember when I was about 8 years old, my parents told me, "Okay, so when you get to high school, make sure you take four years of math. You take your Algebra freshman year, your Geometry sophomore year, your Trig junior year and Calculus when you're a senior! And then take Calc 2 and Finite Math when you're in college!" And I nodded my head with excitement (because I was good at math back then), and said, "Yup! Sure will!"

I also distinctly remember summer before my freshman year of high school, I sat with that damned course registration booklet and mapped out my entire high school career in one sitting. I literally picked 8 courses for each semester (I wasn't aware that one of those 8 periods in a school day was actually your lunch hour), wrote them all down, and was like, "Yeah! I'm so ready for high school!"

And then when I got to junior year, I stopped caring, didn't take trig or calculus, didn't even take a math class my senior year, I was actually truant for part of senior year, I hadn't had a "full" schedule since... 2nd semester freshman year? Fuck that, honestly.

Whatever, that's all in the past, I'm done with high school. My point is: Don't bother making all those great plans for yourself. Just go with the flow. It makes me unbelievably sad to see the younger generation (and by younger generation, I mean those younger than myself, so about 1/4 of all my Facebook friends) mapping out their entire lives.

Even my own classmates, including those who were hit pretty hard with senioritis! They all start planning. It's ridiculous. Your plans are going to change. Don't think about adulthood until you really have to.

I'm staring at my medical bills that aren't really mine because I don't pay them but they are addressed to me anyway, and it depresses me. I'm staring at the e-mail I received from Eau Claire telling me that I just signed my life away in student loans, and that after I graduate, I have 6 months to land a job and start paying $50 a month for the rest of my youth, assuming I even make it past 30... and that makes me sad.

I do a lot of "adult" things already. I do my own taxes. I buy some of my own food and toothpaste and stuff like that. I buy my own clothes. I pay for my own gas. I do my own laundry. I read Business Week magazine (but only after I'm done with Seventeen and Cosmo). I'm so "grown up", right?

No, because I gotta start paying for a mortgage or (eek!) actually make payments on my car that my parents told me to pay for myself but I never did and so they just pay for it for me, pay for my electric bills, my cell phone bill, my parents' nursing home fees for when they get too old to function!

I don't even want to grow up. Ever. I want to be slightly grown up, meaning that like, I'll buy my own food and stuff, but I don't want to pay taxes or pay bills. I don't want to do any of that. I don't want to have a real job where I have to actually do work that matters, where I have to work hard to avoid being laid off or watch some asshole get promoted over me. Where I earn a SALARY instead of a WAGE. :( I don't want to grow up! I don't want to leave college!

Okay, I'm not even there yet, but I don't want it to end. I couldn't wait for high school to end, and I know the rest of you who are still there can't wait for graduation either, and that's fine, because high school sucks, but... in all honesty, what is there to look forward to? Bills? Responsibility? Procreation (yuck!)?

And so I'm saying, enjoy your youth while you still can. Don't stress out about making decisions, like which college to go to, what to major in, what career you want. You still have a month of summer left. Enjoy it. Just go a day without thinking about your future and live your life how you want it NOW.

It's bad advice for the long run, and I'm sure you're all just saying, "Well, stfu, you applied for your colleges in August!" That I did. Keep in mind I also changed my mind about which college I wanted to go to halfway through the whole acceptance process. But that's a story for another day.

I guess I just don't know how to convey to you how unbearably sad it makes me to see my friends planning out the rest of their lives. This is the best time of your life. You're young, you're beautiful, most of you are so fortunate, you don't even know. Most of you have cars that either your parents are paying for, or you're just borrowing it from Mom anyway. Most of you have jobs and can buy your own clothes and stuff to continue being beautiful. You're in your prime! Don't waste it all away giving yourself wrinkles stressing about the future!

I'm not kidding. Just relax. If only for a day. Don't let all that higher education/planning for the future BS weigh you down. You'll only get one Summer 2009. Live it up.