It's Over!

I survived recruitment!!!!!!!!! That's all I have to say about it. Everything else will just have to wait until tomorrow morning. I'm so excited about Bid Day though. Other than that, here are a few memorable experiences from recruitment 2005:
-Having one of the girls I hosted during conversation rounds run around and look for other people she knew, causing me to follow her around the house and herd her back to the group.
-Having one of my girls during the first round discover that her Rho Gamma was in our house because of a picture someone accidentally left out.
-Discovering twenty minutes before skit rounds that the boombox with the skit CD in it had accidentally been taken by the painters (don't worry, we got it back).
-Losing my feather duster for the third skit performance and having to dance around waving an invisible feather duster.
-Breaking my previous record of Whoppers and Raisinets consumption in a single night.
-Running outside in the snow wearing a dress and pointy-toed black heels to scream Kappa songs at the top of my lungs.

That's about it...except that Panera sandwiches rock my world! :)

So, in honor of Bid Day and the end of recruitment, I'm listening to the Kappa Kappa Gamma rap song - "Yeah yeah yeah, ya boy DJ $crilla representin', once again ya know how we do, Kappa Kappa Gamma, holla at ya boyz!" :p

The First Rounds, They Went So Fast!

I feel so much better now that I've caught up on sleep, thanks to only having one class at 12:30 on Fridays. Skit rounds were so much fun even though my throat hurt and I was going hoarse from singing and talking by the end of the fourth round. It went so well and we were all so excited by the end of the fourth round. Although I must say, the best part of the evening was right after the final girls left. About five minutes after the last one was out the door, we all attacked the leftover popcorn and candy, devouring it like ravenous wolves. It was gone within 10-15 minutes. I am so excited about preference rounds tonight and even more excited to see who shows up on Bid Day. I think I'm even more excited and nervous now than I was last year when I was going through recruitment. We've put so much work into this week, I hope it's all worth it. I could name at least 30 girls, probably more, that I would love to have in our house, but quota will probably be less than 30, and most likely not all of those girls would join anyway. Regardless, there will definitely be some wonderful ladies at our house on Sunday afternoon who genuinely want to be there, and we can't wait to welcome them with lots of surprises!

Recruitment is Killing Me

I realized this evening that I'm getting way too into this recruitment thing. I'm starting to get all "sorority girl-ish" and I hate it. I hate it when my sorority consumes my life and slightly warps my identity. Or maybe I'm just pissed that I had to stay up until 5 a.m. the other day in order to finish my homework after rounds. Either way, I'm starting to get way too serious about something that is really rather petty and I realize I need to stop. It's one thing to use my sorority to make friends and have a social life, because I know that without it, I would rarely leave my room and would know about 5 people on campus, but it's a whole different story when it starts to swallow me up and make me forget the things that are really important to me. At tonight's recruitment workshop, I collapsed on the couch until Liz gave me a caffeine-laden Coke and an Excedrin for my awful headache, which was very much appreciated and made me feel a whole lot better.

In the midst of tremendous amounts of reading and six hours of recruitment a night, I've been frantically working on ideas for summer research. I hope to stay on campus and do research on English literature. Right now, I'm in the process of writing a research proposal with my advisor. My topic has to do with women in early Gothic novels from about 1764-1820, particularly with women as virtuous heroines trying to escape from evils, whether in supernatural guise or in the form of sadistic men. I've selected about five novels to focus on and am hoping to find some similarities among them. I'm not yet sure what the significance of this will project will be, but I'm working on it. I'm supposed to meet with my advisor today and pitch him a few more ideas, then hopefully write the proposal this weekend so he can read over it this coming week. That way it'll wow all the people on the committee that decides who gets money to do research. I'm really, really excited about this though. It's like I just want to drop everything and do it now just to see what I can find out. I really hope I get a research grant. My advisor said that they give special consideration to people in the humanities because most people that do research are in the sciences, plus he's really excited to direct a project and I don't think he would be so helpful or excited about it if he didn't think I could actually do it. My proposal is due next Monday, so after that, I guess I'll just keep my fingers crossed!

But for now, I need some sleep!

I am socially awkward.

Yay! An Update!

I'm finally updating. I know, it's been awhile. My life is so unexplainably crazy right now. I have so much reading to do its insane, and recruitment preparations are killing me. My classes seem really interesting and I'm excited about them although they do require tremendous amounts of reading. Traditional East Asian Civilization seems interesting and not too hard. Early Brit Lit seems really interesting too. We're studying literary theory right now and reading some interesting books later. I'm really excited about it in a twisted sort of way. My history seminar, Debating the Middle Ages, is for history majors and minors only and had been justly referred to as "history boot camp". I have an insane amount of reading in that class and the professor is hardcore about learning not only about history, but how historians work, research, write, and depict the past. It's going to be tough. My communications class, Persuasion, is probably my least favorite, mostly because I'm not as interested in it and it requires two speeches in class. I cannot speak in front of people. When I do, I begin to physically shake so badly that anyone could notice it from 20 feet away. Plus the class is rather politically charged, which doesn't excite me too much either. All in all, my classes should be fun and I'm actually looking forward to this semester.

I got a new advisor in my department, my favorite professor from my favorite class last semester. He teaches 18th/19th Century Brit Lit and non-fiction writing, and those are the two subjects that I'm most interested in, plus he is super friendly, super nice, and super helpful. It's so much better than having a psych major as an advisor.

Preparations for recruitment have been so crazy and I'm so glad its finally here so I can have a bit of a break later. Tonight was the first night and it went much faster than I would've expected. I got to meet some really friendly and fun girls who will hopefully be interested in joining our chapter. It wasn't too overwhelming and I'm even more excited for skit rounds, pref rounds, and most definitely Bid Day to see how many wonderful new sisters there will be! Some of us already have wish lists, and I already have a potential little (a.k.a. rush crush) picked out!

On a sadder note, I just received an IM from one of my high school friends saying that my favorite English teacher from high school died last night. :*( She is the teacher who made me like English, and who wrote me excellent reccomendation letters on numerous occasions. I also credit her with giving me confidence in writing. Before I had her class, I hated writing and I hated English classes in general. After her class, I decided to take AP English, and now here I am, an English Lit major in college. She had lymphonic cancer for several years and had been getting progressively worse, so I guess this sort of thing was inevitable. Still, it's sad. I'll miss you Mrs. Fuller. :*(

Back at School!

I'm seriously so excited to be back! There are so many things to look forward to! Recruitment, new classes, being in a singing group again, a new schedule, more fun times with friends! I'm so excited to start my classes tomorrow! I really am, and even though it was nice to be at home see my parents for awhile, it's really just as nice or better too be here with so many different people with such a variety of things to do. Yay for college! :D

Also, I've made it my new goal to see how many times I can see The Phantom of the Opera in the movie theater. I've already found one person to go with and I can hopefully convince at least one other person. I'm really obsessed with this movie, and if I had a car, I think I'd see it every other day. It's the best movie I've ever seen, at least in recent memory. I love it!!!!!

The Phantom of the Opera is Here...

This is my last night at home for a long time. :*( For once I'm actually packed the night before I have to leave, so I guess that's good. I'm not really looking forward to going back, but when I'm there it'll be okay.

I just saw the greatest movie in the world today. In fact, only 12 hours ago, I was sitting in the movie theater mesmorized. What movie you may ask? The Phantom of the Opera! I was so excited to find out that it was coming to the movie theater, but I thought it didn't start until next weekend, and I knew that when I went back to school I might not have the chance to see it. Lucky for me, it started this weekend. I practically have the soundtrack memorized and I've read the book, but I had never seen it performed, either in movie form or onstage. That's why I was so excited to see it, and I was definitely not disappointed! Everything about this movie was absolutely perfect. The music, actors, make-up, costumes, cinematography, set designs, lighting - everything was perfect. I was entranced and I think I had a goofy smile on my face throughout the whole movie. It was absolutely amazing, I can't say enough good things about it. I LOVE this movie more than anything in the world and I MUST see it again. Or maybe four more times. I think I could watch it every day and be happy. I adore this movie, and I think it's most definitely my favorite musical now. I've been humming the songs all day and walked around in a happy little trance. It's wonderful and I think it just made my whole entire winter break. :D

It's a Small World After All

"it's a small world": The happiest cruise
that ever sailed! Surreal and silly, or sweat
and touching, you are a well intentioned 1960s
homage to the world's diversity that
unfortunatly inspires feelings of sheer terror
in those who can't help but feel something more
sinister lays beneath your shiney surface. But
most cannot deny your charm, even if they
cannot explain it, and leave feeling better
than when they entered. Most overlook the fact
that because of your unique style and design,
courtesy of Disney Legend Mary Blair, you are a
true work of art and you deserve to be
appreciated. You are both worldy and
simplistic, both cosmopolitan and decidedly
middle American. You are a splendid
candy-coated contradiction with a sugary, sunny
song that one never forgets. If the world
truely listened to your never-ending optimism,
it could be a small world after all.

What Disneyland attraction are you?
brought to you by

And it Continues...

I finished reading Les Miserables last week, and my feelings upon finishing it were much more anticlimactic than I first expected. I've already started reading three more books that I hope to finish before break. I'm not sure if that will happen.

I was thinking about how much more fun this would be if I could actually get more people to comment so I could at least know whether anyone was really reading it. That way it would seem more purposeful. It's not for lack of trying though. I guess I just haven't met the right people who are addicted to these things. Most people I know think they're silly. Hmm...maybe I could pay people, like blogger mercenaries or something. Any suggestions? Haha, that was a (bad) joke.

Now that I've quit my job, I don't really have anything to do all day while my parents are at work. I slept until 2:30 p.m. today (shameful!), although that's understandable since I didn't go to sleep until 5:00 a.m. I'm crazy like that. My mom's friend's son does the same thing, and my mom's friend claims that it is a legitimate sleep disorder. I beg to differ, because when I actually have something to do, I don't stay up so late, unless I have to in order to get it done. When I'm back on a schedule, I won't do stuff like that anymore. Although it is kind of fun.

I have this gargantuan (you know, I've always loved that word, gargantuan, but you very rarely have the chance to use it in a sentence - from Kill Bill Vol. 2, FYI) pile of laundry staring at me that just keeps getting bigger and bigger every day. It's really quite disgusting.

I'm kind of starting to miss college, mostly because I just got a bunch of real pictures made from my digital camera pictures and it reminds me of how much fun I have with people at college. I haven't really done anything fun with anyone other than my parents all break, and I'm starting to really miss my friends. I can't wait to go back and see them all again!

Yay for the first post of the new year!

Only one more week before I have to go back to school, and I have to say that I don't really want to go back. I'm having too much fun just hanging out at home. I've been working 30+ hours per week at my favorite local grocery store, but I'm VERY pleased to say that today is my last day. I'm taking the last week off just for me. I've already earned enough to pay my sorority dues this coming semester, so I don't really care about anything else. I've spent most of my break reading and watching movies. So far I finished The Grapes of Wrath and Pledged:The Secret Life of Sororities, and I read A Christmas Carol just before Christmas because I'd never read it and because Muppet Christmas Carol is the best Christmas movie ever. I'm desperately trying to finish reading Les Miserables that I started this summer because it's the longest freaking book I've ever seen and I feel like I've been reading it forever. I only have 130 pages to go, and I can't wait until it's over. I've gone to the movie theater to see Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, Meet the Fockers, and Ocean's Twelve. Ocean's Twelve was my favorite. I love the first one and I thought the second was just as good.

I don't know if I'll keep writing in here or not for two reasons. First of all, once I'm back at school, I'm going to be even more busy because sorority recruitment is going to take over my life during the first two weeks, I'm tutoring at the elementary schools more hours per week, I joined gospel choir, and I'd like to spend less time procrastinating so I can get more sleep (although that's what I always say and it never happens). Secondly, this is getting kind of boring and I don't really know why I do it anyway. Eh, who knows.

In the meantime, I'm spicing it up a bit with a new template! Boo to the old boring one and yay for the sweet new one!