Plan Number Six

If I take four normal academic classes plus one exercise class for the next four semesters, I will be able to graduate a semester early.

The inevitable emotional issues are my main deterrent; most of all, I would miss everyone. The reasons for doing it, however, all make perfect logical sense. Though I would be a bit more stressed with the weight of an extra academic and exercise class per semester, I wouldn't have to pay for tuition, room, board, a meal plan, DG dues, etc. for an entire semester. Also, I could get a full-time job right away. If I do end up trying to get into law school, graduating early would look fantastic on my application.

So the question is whether the benefits outweigh the drawbacks. Just how much stress would I be under? Would it be worth the frustration of the extra work and the sadness about one less semester with my friends, who have already become like my family? I really don't know.

Advice?

I went with my sister to her school today and got to experience the strange life of a middle school teacher. Good times, right? But here's the rub: I kind of liked it. It's sad to have a lovely career path in business law all fleshed out only to be distracted by something completely different.

I already miss everyone back at school, and there are a few people it's particularly hard to be away from. I'm sure they know who they are.

It's incredible to think that I will be leaving in less than five hours. Isn't that amazing? In four and a half hours I will be getting into my car, turning on my iPod, and making sure my ivy and petunias are secure in the passenger seat before pulling out of the garage, backing down the driveway, crawling through the gate, leaving the neighborhood, and saying au revoir to summer.

Two hours and fifty minutes later, I will be pulling up to Casey's house as I inform her over the phone that I've arrived. After I park and turn off my car, I am sure we will hug and jabber excitedly about our goings-on over the summer. It will be extraordinary. After the greetings (though the jabber will inevitably continue for hours), we will make our way to the Apple Store in the Washington Square Mall of Tigard, Oregon, where I will buy myself a MacBook, a Nano, and a printer, the latter two being free as a consequence of buying the first.

We have contemplated visiting such diverse places as a park, Target, and/or Applebee's after leaving the Apple Store, so I am not entirely sure what will follow. What I do know, however, is that it will be totally and completely fantastic no matter what we do or where we go.

I'm going home.

Rest in peace, Pisbardo. Even after complications with your screen transplant caused you to go deaf and dumb, you were so good to me. I'm sad to see you finally go.

However, I must admit that if my dad actually does keep his word for once and replace you with a MacBook before summer's out, I won't miss you all that much. Sorry.

If he was just humoring me like he usually does, though, and I'm stuck with my iMac G3 for another year or two (or three or four), you will definitely continue to hold a place in my heart. At least you didn't anchor me to my desk.

Unrelated: Why do I seem to be the only one who isn't dreading the coming return to school? Am I the only one who actually likes the people there and wants to see them again? This childish fear borders on ridiculous. Get over it.

LAST NIGHT WAS AMAZING.

Preparation for the night began the week before. My sister and I stopped in at the local Borders to find out how exactly they would be coordinating the midnight release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. We discovered a gem of information that made our 21st of July infinitely easier: they would be handing out line bracelets as soon as the store opened Friday morning. There was no question that Juli and I would be there when they did.

We were there, all right, forty minutes before what was supposed to be their opening at 10 AM. For some unknown reason, however, they opened at nine that morning, and we had been beaten to the front of the line. No matter; there were 150 orange bracelets, the first color in the line, and we were definitely early enough to get two of those. After that slightly annoying adventure, we returned home, and I went to sleep. (For some reason my sleeping schedule threw itself off base. I'm not too upset about it, though, considering it happened just in time for the release.)

We came back at 10:30 PM, prepped with information and filled with determination to be as close to the front of the line as possible. During our first Borders adventure, we had discovered that the line would be forming outside. Our second told us that lining up would begin at half an hour before show time. Armed with this knowledge, Juli and I sat ourselves down in the empty aisle nearest the door. Apparently very few were aware of the plan to start the line outside, because we were the only ones lurking near the door, and none were waiting outside. This was boding well.

As line time approached, my sister and I got more and more antsy in a very fun way. I ended up seeing quite a few high school friends there, though the only ones that actually acknowledged me and talked to me were Alex, Chris, and Lekhi. We had just started a game of cards when my sister informed me that it was 11:19 and time to head outside to see what was going down. I apologized for breaking up the game, told them it was great to see them, and then Juli and I quickly made our way out.

Outside we found a circle of Borders employees discussing how things were going to go down. We decided to stand pretty close to them, which would serve the dual purpose of finding out what was going down and claiming our spot in line behind whichever employee was going to be leading it. They realized what we were doing, laughed, and started up the orange line with my sister and I as numbers one and two. We also got some pretty slick glow sticks for no apparent reason, which made us even happier. Who could possibly turn down a free and unexplained glow stick in a moment of victory?

It's tiring to write in this much detail, so I'm going to stop now.

We ended up being the first two people to buy our books, even though a little girl and her parents ended up winning a raffle ticket drawing for the first spot in line. (The girl was so cute!) We beat them out because Juli and I had our cards ready when we got up to the counter while the guy had to fish for his. I doubt that had any effect on the little girl's enjoyment of the moment, which I'm glad of, because being the first to buy a copy had a great effect on my enjoyment of the moment. What a rush!

Juli and I basically ran out of the store and across the parking lot. As soon as the people lined up saw us with our bags, they started cheering for us, and they kept cheering all the way to the car. Lexi called as soon as we got in to see if I was in line at Borders, and it was very fun to say, completely out of breath, that no, I wasn't in line, because I was already out of it because I was FIRST. It was all quite exhilarating. Pretty soon after she called I told her I'd have to talk to her later because we were kind of in a rush to start reading.

My sister read aloud the entire way home, and I read all through the night. Some things were REALLY COOL, others were infuriating. Mostly, though, it was pretty good. I found myself disappointed with the lack of information she gave us about how everyone dealt with things in the end, but I'm not too upset.

The most amusing part of it? The entire thing reads like fanfiction.

( Pretty, witty, and gay? )

I'm so tired. For some reason I haven't been able to get to sleep at night, despite being awake for 20+ hours and only sleeping for four for three days now. I'd have thought the running would have helped last night, but no dice.

That communication error I was ranting about the other day still hasn't been solved; she has yet to get back to me. I could wring her neck!

Thursday morning draws ever closer. I guess the upside is that I'll have some pretty sweet "sexy librarian" glasses when it's all over and done with, even if the downside will most likely be having to wear said glasses all the time.

I was going to go biking after church, but it's been raining hard off and on all day. It wouldn't be the most intelligent thing to go riding a bike I'm not very familiar with around an extremely hilly neighborhood right after rain or while it's raining, so I guess it'll have to wait for another day. Running resumes tomorrow, though, rain or shine. I have a schedule, and I intend to stick to it.

House with Lexi will save the day!

And I'm back once again, with yet another entry. It's almost sad how often I update this thing when I don't have people around to talk to all the time, isn't it? I used to think I was fairly introverted; now I realize that I'm only introverted when I'm friendless.

There was this horrific moment a little bit ago where I was reading some really adorable scene in my book and I completely melted. I've obviously been away from my boyfriend for too long. Heavens. I thought I'd passed that stage when I turned eleven, but apparently not.

Lexi and I saw Ocean's 13 this afternoon and followed that up with a very long House marathon. Both were amazing, and I actually got in the right lane this time on the way home from the theater! I'm almost proud. Driving home at three in the morning after the marathon was a little creepy, for some odd reasons that I need not get into, but I got home fine and that's what's important.

I'm listening to far too much music lately. I should probably stop. My shuffled playlist of Lily Allen, Keane, Corinne Bailey Rae, Regina Spektor, The Fratellis, The Feeling, The Kooks, The Scissor Sisters, etc. is like a drug. Is there a patch to help you quit music?

If I'm going to be up this early, I'm going to watch the sun rise. Maybe I should borrow my dad's laptop and make myself comfortable on the deck. That would be rather gorgeous, wouldn't it? I think I've got myself a plan.

Even better than that, though, would be going down to the beach with a sweatshirt and a camera. I can't take the path because I'd be alone and there are rapists(!), but I could drive down there perfectly safely. I'm doing it.

I stole this from Sk8 and Zoey because I have nothing better to do. Ooh, maybe I'll go swing at the park later! It could be kind of creepy in the dark, though. Darn.

( I finished this while watching three episodes of What Not to Wear. It was pretty sweet. )

I had a funny story to tell, but I can't remember what it is. I fail. Oh well!

I'm trying to decide whether I should go running or not tomorrow morning. If I go after shopping, I might end up with a headache from the heat again, but I really don't want to shower before I go because I'll take too long. I think laziness prevails in this situation. After it is!

It's been a strange few days. My sleeping schedule is now almost on track with the rest of the world, except instead of staying up later than everyone else, now I'm getting up earlier. I'm already tired enough that I know the trend will continue another day, with me waking up somewhere between five and six tomorrow morning. Oh well, it's better than sleeping the day away!

We've been making some mega landscaping changes around our house. Upsides: an awesome-looking house, a slight tan, and a work-out. Downside: a work-out. It wasn't too bad, I guess. I was really annoyed when my parents stopped for lunch, took a three-hour nap, and then decided to get to work again. I can't stand stopping in the middle of a project, especially for that long. If you're done, stop; if you're not done, get back to work!

Church felt very awkward today. I kept coming up with outfits that would be considered immodest, so I had to keep changing my clothes. I ended up looking good (as always! ha) but feeling incredibly stupid. All through the meetings I couldn't help but think how worthless it was for me to be there since I don't believe in any of it. Instead of being angry about that, though, as my brother always was, I just felt guilty. I should have gone to my old class with Devin; I would have been too distracted to be emo. I don't think it's possible to be around Devin for any significant amount of time and remain unhappy—not for me (and Jenny!), at least. I wish I'd thought of that at the time. Blast!

The plan for tomorrow was going to be rock climbing with my sister, her husband, and some of their friends, but she sprained both of her ankles in a fall today while hiking with the same group, so I doubt we're still going. Even if everyone else is, there's no way I'd go with them without Juli, so no rock climbing for us. Boo!

Apparently I like ending paragraphs with exclamations tonight. How odd!

I need more social contact with non-family members and non-church members; those groups just make me feel down. Also, I need hugs. Lots of them. Why does school only last eight months out of the year? I want my life back!

I'm such a sap. I'm watching Pride and Prejudice right now, and Darcy just clenched the hand that he had used to help Lizzy get into a carriage as he walked away. Aww! I'm so easily won over.

I've been sick since I left Willamette. Coughs, sneezes, aches, and dizzy spells have defined my existence for the past four days, and it certainly hasn't been a ball. (They are totally at a ball right now in the movie! I amuse myself far more than I should.) I've been taking a bath every day in the fantastic tub in my parents' bathroom in an effort to be at least partially cured by the steam, but after each bath I would dry off, put some clothes on, pull my hair back, and go back to lazing around in front of the TV or my mom's computer. Not very mood-lifting. Today, however, I actually groomed myself. It's ridiculous how much better I feel after indulging my vanity. Despite my continued sickness, feeling like I looked somewhat decent today really improved my mood.

In other news, I've declared war on clutter, and I've somehow been able to get my parents in on the fight. I'm going to throw out almost everything in my room right now to make way for the things I brought back from school, the things I truly have use for. While I'm waiting to get a job and start working, my mission is to de-clutter my house, starting, for obvious reasons, with my bedroom. I certainly no longer need papers from my eighth grade science class or receipts from five years ago, so why continue to keep them? Throw the baggage out!

I miss having people around all the time. Certain people more than others, of course, but anyone would be better than no one all day long. It's depressing, being alone again.