Disgusting

Well........I'm a college graduate.

Graduation: While walking up to the IU Auditorium, I could hear bagpipes. As I turned the corner I noticed that there was in fact a man in a kilt, play the bagpipes. I guess that was to class it up a bit. I stood in line with some rather interesting people. In fact, I sat next to a feisty Bulgarian woman. That was entertaining. While in line, the people around me wanted to know what G5.1 stood for. Here's how that conversation went: Random girl:"What is G51?"  Me:"It's G5.1."  RG: jokingly, "Oh. Was that your GPA? You little over achiever, you."  Me:"Oh yea."  RG:"How did you manage that?"  Me: jokingly, "I slept with all my professors."  Then, I tried to explain that G5.1 was a rap group that my cousin and I started together. That he was graduating that night too, and that's why it said Ebony & Ivory. He was Ebony and I was Ivory. They found the truth to be even more ridiculous then the lie.

Disgusting Story: So my Mammaw was up for graduation, and was talking about puking. (I know I gave you a heads up.) Anyway, ever since then I've been thinking about the same thing over and over again. During Spring Break my junior year of high school myself, Erin, and Ashton were going to Bloomington to find prom shoes for Erin. Erin and I had already eaten, but Ashton wanted us to go through Taco Bell and get him some food. He got his 3 soft tacos, and we were on our way. Well, Erin was really sensitive to smells, and she just couldn't handle the smell of Ashton's tacos. As we turned onto the highway, we rolled down the windows so she could get some air. However, that apparently wasn't enough. She threw up out the window, and it went all over my back window, right next to where Ashton was sitting, eating his tacos. I'm one of those people if I see it, I'm gonna do it and I did. I'm driving on 37, puking in my lap and Erin is puking out the side of the car. And Ashton is sitting in the back seat, eating his tacos. I pulled over to the side of the road and tried to gain my composure, because not only was a puking but I was laughing. It was a mess. I eventually got myself together, and we pulled over in Oolitic at this gas station. I got out of the car, and the guys in the truck next to us said, "Taco Bell?" The three of us together, "Yep." After we, and by we I mean Ashton, cleaned up some of the puke we decided that we were going to need to clean my car out. Once again, by we, I mean Ashton and Erin cleaned out my car. We get to the car wash and they hose out my car, and then they hose me down. Then they made me walk to Kmart to purchase an outfit that was not covered in water and puke, while they drove my car. Oh....Fond memories.

I don't know why that is so vivid in my head. It makes me laugh every time I think about it because it was just so ridiculous. The mental picture of it is just insane. God must have been like, "What are those 3 idiots doing?" Dumb.

Sorry for the disgusting story.

I've started working on graduation videos, and while looking for pictures for mine I came across a lot of interesting things.

1: I found my funeral plans that I made for Tolliver's class, my freshman year of high school. That was a weird feeling. Most of that stuff has changed, but even then I didn't want any flowers or anything sent to the funeral home. I wanted it sent to the American Cancer Society. Weird.
2: I found my high school diploma.
3: I found an e-mail that Mr. Giggy had sent my mother because I was failing English. This was during the "Ashley Phase". Surprise Surprise. It's interesting to look back on my grades and see how awesome I did my freshman year, and see how my grades started to digress when she entered the picture.
4: I found my final from Advance Psychology, which was to write 10 nice things about everyone in the room. Most of mine say something about SADD and me being funny. I had a few people write that I was outspoken and stood my ground, and a couple of people wrote about how I always stood up for the underdog. A ton of people put that I was sarcastic. Who knew? One girl put 'Nice to most people!:)', and then some others put things about how I was brutally honest and told people what I thought of them.

I wasn't exactly the nicest person in high school. I guess it depended on who you were. I did tend to stand up for the underdog, and I did tell people what I thought about them. I'm proud of myself for always taking up for the underdog, but not so much proud of the way I did it. That was then, and this is now. I'm not who I was.

Anyway....

We won our softball game Tuesday night. We are playing much better this year. I had an awesome catch Monday night, and my excitement was clear on my face.

Grades came in. 4.0 for the semester.

I was a little late to work today because I completely forgot about subbing. However, I made it there by 8:35. One kid was like, "How did you get here so fast?" I told him I apparated into the building. I subbed for 3 periods, and I am getting paid for a full day. It's nice.

That's what I have for now. Just a bunch of randomness, but in all fairness that's what this blog is all about.

Magna Cum Laude

What a ridiculous week I've had.

It's finals week which basically means a lot of cramming and very little sleep. On top of that I worked the polls (Shout out to Gerald Tolliver who won the City Council District #2 spot), I've had SADD Board Interviews this week, and I've had various meetings through out the week.

One of the guys working the polls, stood there talking to one of my students about the good ol' days at Mitchell High School. I heard him say, "My time at MHS was the high light of my life." He was missing some teeth. My reply, "I bet it was."

It's a little weird that it's time for SADD Interviews to be happening. It's also weird to be the one conducting the interviews. It's weird being the one in charge. It's crazy to think I left 5 years ago with the intent to come back and be the next Gerald Tolliver, and that I actually came back and became the sponsor of SADD. That's half of the original plan.

Five years ago I graduated from Mitchell and moved to Terre Haute to attend ISU for social studies education. I was miserable. Of course, why wouldn't I have been? That was a half assed decision that I made based around a girl. (That whole story is a little too long to share here. If you want to know that part of my story, then you can ask me.) Then from ISU I went to USI for Radio/TV. Once again, I was miserable. I was still in a bit of a funk from the previous 4 years. That's when I made the decision to come home.

I came home feeling so defeated. I had failed. I had failed my parents, all those who had invested in me, and more importantly, I failed myself.

It didn't make feel any better to hear people (people who had no business having an opinion on my life) tell me how disappointed they were in me. How taking a year off would mean that I would never go back and that I would end up staying in Mitchell forever, working for minimum wage. That made me feel really warm and fuzzy inside.

I was determined that wouldn't happen to me.


Not only did I go back to school, but I kicked ass doing it. Say what you want about Ivy Tech, I don't really care. I've spent my time here working my butt off, and it has paid off.

Next Friday, I will be graduating Magna Cum Laude (with high honors).

In the end the only thing that matters is that I have accomplished something that I can be proud of.

The past 3 years have been exciting and frustrating and full of so much growth. I came home defeated and I will be leaving redeemed.

Side Note: I'd like to point out that Destiny turned 8 this week. I may have been emotional. Haha. I love that kid so much.

"Harry Potter is a bitch."

At about 6am Friday, Nashville time, I woke up and freaked out a little bit because I realized I was in Nashville. There was no sleeping after that.

I spent Friday morning on campus taking meetings with various people. I met with Aaron Burtch, who is the transfer counselor. Here is how that conversation went. Aaron: "I guess you got your acceptance letter then?" Me: "Nope." Aaron: "Oh well, it's in the mail." And then some major excitement on my part. What can you get from that? I have officially been accepted to Lipscomb University!

Then I got to see the theatre department's production of The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe.

The rest of the weekend was spent with CallieAnn, just relaxing. That is just what I needed. 48 hours to just relax and be away from Mitchell. Plus I got to eat Genghis. Yum!

It's possible that we watched 'The Deathly Hallows Part 1' both Friday and Saturday night. It is also possible that we were looking up information in the book, while we were watching the movie. And it is also possible that we discussed what our patronus would be.

Yes, we are two grown women discussing what our patronus would be.

Monday was the Joel Penton presentation. It went really well. I heard a lot of positive feedback from the students. I also had a lot of students who came to the concert that night as well. Ryan Holliday, who came with Joel, performed a concert that night. It was a really great night, and I actually had a couple of faculty members who came out for the concert. I appreciate when the faculty members show some sort of support of what these students are doing.

I had a random thought pop into my head today. I kind of miss doing, "So, Just Say It."

I can also tell I'm not going to be real productive today.

c'est la vie

(The picture is a cardboard cutout of Amy Grant, courtesy of Miranda Giles.)

Finally

It is finally Thursday, which means it is finally time for my not so random disappearance.

Every once in a while I have to get away from Mitchell and do my own thing.

This town is suffocating.

I will say that this week has gone better than last week. I thought last week was never going to end.

Saturday, my parents came home from Vegas. They brought me home a flask. You have to appreciate the irony there. I think I'm going to put my coke in it and take it to family gatherings. ;)

Sunday, we went to Louisville to visit Pappaw. That was kind of rough. I think it's harder to watch someone suffer than to deal with death. I don't want to see him suffer. I just can't handle it.

It's definitely not an easy thing, but we weren't promised life would be easy.

During my Graphic Design class, Monday, I found out that we were taking the final this coming Monday. I can't be there due to Joel Penton coming to speak, so I freaked out a little bit. I asked if I could take the final early or the week after. Here was my professors response, "The test isn't worth very many points, and you have a solid A. I don't think there is anything you could do at this point to not have an A." That right there made up for the awful week I had just had.

Then on Tuesday night I had Physical Science. We were all kind of freaking out because we just started the Physics unit and there are 7 chapters to cover in a 2 week period. The professor basically told us not to worry about it. That the test would be 2 problems and would be set up like a practicum, and we could work with as many people as we wanted. He also told us that we didn't have to do any of the homework, but that if we had already started on it to go a head and put it in our notebook and we would get extra credit. I had already done 3 chapters.


AND I get to leave for Nashville after class tonight.

So really, this week has been much better than last week.

Really?!

What a week.

This was probably the 2nd most stressful week I've had this year.

My week was crazy busy between school, subbing, and SADD.

Then I had to deal with frustrating people all week. Between demands of teenagers, people over stepping their boundaries, my grandfather being in the ICU, and people who just simply don't care.

I won't say a whole lot on the subject because I'll start ranting, but I do want to say this. Unless you are willing to step up and be part of the solution, then you should stop complaining.

I'm really proud of my students this week. They did a great job with the talent show, and they raised $975 for the American Cancer Society. A special shout out to Senora Allen and Tara Ramey who performed in the talent show, and to Kevin Giggy who made the programs for us.

We had a great Emcee: Mike Shannon, and a wonderful group of judges: Deb Shannon, Krystal Shetler, & Sam Craig. Thom Ulmet, who is over the Relay For Life, came to show his support and give out some extra goodies to the students who performed.

3rd place: Julia Heatherly, who sang I Hope You Dance.
2nd place: Rebecca Burris, Abby Holmquist, Melissa Wilson, & Alayna Super, who danced across the stage to Single Ladies.
1st place: Alan Foddrill, who sang Don't Stop Believin'.

All of our performers did very well. Though, I have to admit my favorite performance of the evening was by Dustin Parkes, who played his guitar and sang an original song.

Thank you to all those who came out to support these kids as they helped to raise money for the American Cancer Society!