How To: Let Someone Surprise You

1. Believe everything people tell you.  There's no way they're not telling you the whole truth.
2. Underestimate your friends.
3. Underestimate your parents.
4. Refrain from texting people because you don't want to impose.  It will give them time to drive to your town.
5. Tell everyone where you're going and the exact time you leave.  It will give them time to call your parents.

In case you didn't hear--but you probably did if you read Nicole's last post--I had quite the birthday.  First things first, birthdays are not a big thing in my family.  You get a cake if you're lucky.  We'll take you out to your favorite restaurant eventually, but they've never been super celebrated.  For the record, it's not that we never celebrate, we just do it when it's convenient.  I've always celebrated my birthday on July 3rd when my family gets together because the church and town throws a party. Three of us grandkids have birthdays in July so it's nice and convenient.  Plus there's a fireworks show.  Sometimes I'll have a bonfire in late July or early August if I'm feeling motivated.

I did not expect anything different this year.  I really didn't.  Every time Nicole would mention my birthday, I told her I wasn't planning anything.  She would always get upset and the conversation would end with something like:

Nicole:  You're so frustrating.  You're driving me crazy.
Me: I'm sorry, I told you I might do something in August.

So the night before my birthday, I was feeling a little weird about turning 20.  It's a scary number, especially when you feel like you should be taller or just feel older. I was talking to Nicole when Melissa asked me to come over and watch a movie. I asked Nicole if I should go and she told me I should. Mind you, this was 11:45 at night. I knew Nicole had something to do with it, I thought she put Melissa up to it. I decided to go to get my mind off things and when I walked downstairs, there was a figure in a hoodie just chilling on the couch.  I thought it was Melissa's sister, until the figure started laughing.  Helloooo Nicole. Surprise #1.  At that point I thought that was the extent of the surprise.  I had no reason to believe anything else.  I was in complete and utter shock.  For weeks I had heard her griping about how she was working that weekend. I smiled for the rest of the night--until I went to bed at 4 am.

Melissa and Nicole wanted to take me out for lunch the next day, but I declined, saying I had a grad party to go to. Nicole told me the grad party started at 2...at which point I knew this was a lot deeper than I thought and that my parents knew about this. Surprise #2.  So they took me out to lunch the next day and we made plans to hook up with Melissa after she got off work at 9. Meanwhile, Nicole and I headed to that grad party.  After that, we went to my place, rented a movie, and I started to wind down for what I thought would be a relaxing night.  I decided to check the mail, at which point Nicole told me she told people to write letters to me.  Surprise #3.

We took some time to chill before watching the film when all of a sudden my doorbell rang.  Nicole ran to go get it and at THAT point, I knew I was in for much, much more. Surprise #4.  My friends started showing up and I was treated to my first ever surprise party, which included having packing peanuts poured on me multiple times and one heck of a cake. My parents knew about everything.  Everything.

I had no reason to suspect anything. No one made me suspect anything and even if there were hints, I never picked up on them.  Nicole has never been dishonest and this has dealt a serious blow to my trust! :P  Maybe this is what I get for befriending people with acting experience?  After reluctantly kicking people out because we both had horribly early mornings, we went to bed.  As I was practically in tears out of pure happiness and awe that someone had put in so much time and effort to throw me a party, Nicole said, "I told you, I just like birthdays." Go figure.

And that is how to let someone surprise you.  Needless to say, Melissa and Nicole turned turning 20 into an event I won't soon forget.

With love and hugs,

Megan

How Do You Measure?

1. Speak up.
2. Migraines aren't fun.
3. Don't take lofts down by yourself, but if you do, you're gonna have some epic bruises.
4. Take time to reflect on the times life has been good to you.

Oh my gosh!  Megan here... It's the last Wednesday of the year, so you'll probably be hearing a lot less from me.  I'll post some over summer, but I think we're going off the usual schedule.

This week has been so strange.  I've been emotional almost the entire week, and can't seem to get over the fact that freshman year is almost over.  I'm taking a break from studying as I have 2 exams on Friday that I'm a little nervous about.  When you mix the stress of finals with packing and having to understand that you won't see the people you've lived with, laughed with, studied with, cried with, learned with, for the next four months...  It feels a little overwhelming.  I go into my emotions a little bit more on my other blog.

I think it goes without saying that I've been doing way too much reflecting and thinking and feeling this past week about the year and the future...  It was inevitable.  I just feel so rushed with finals that there's little time to relax, have fun, and celebrate the year.

You know, the first movie night of many in my dorm was when Melissa and Nicole came over and we watched Rent--since I had never seen it before.  I think Nicole and I stayed up late and woke up early just talking about anything and everything.  It's kind of my first really happy, really groundbreaking memory of college that let me know this year was going to be something special.  Since then, I've listened to the Rent soundtrack way too many times, especially over Christmas break.  I almost have all of "La Vie Boheme" memorized I think, but the song that really gets to me is "Seasons of Love."  It gets me--and Sally--every time.  The song pretty much asks the question, "How do you measure a year?"  So... here are some ways in which I will measure my freshman year in college, all with the fondest of memories:
 

Tumblr posts

Facebook statuses

Dollars spent

Facebook events attended

Miles traveled

Ticket stubs

Movies watched

Cups of tea

Blog posts

Papers written

Hugs

Stories told

Times I laughed 'til I cried

Letters written

Text messages sent

Hours I should have been sleeping

Hours spent talking

Exams taken

Loads of laundry done

New facebook friends

Phone calls home

Photos taken

Meals in DS

Times I’ve redyed my hair

Times I wanted to cry

Times I felt overwhelmed

Times I felt loved

And last but not least, times I realized that I was where I was meant to be.

It has been such a wonderful year, and while it was honestly the most stressful and difficult I've had, it's also been the greatest.  Nicole thinks this post is cheesy.  I say it's nostalgic.

All of my love,

-Megan

  

"I'm the squire in Caroline's quest for attention. "

1. When you go home, prepare to listen to msnbc 24/7.

2. Feed your mental hamster

3. Dianna Agron was in Burlesque?!

4. Crank it up.

Hellooo, Megan here and I am relaxing in a la-z-boy, as all my friends in town (and former teachers) are enjoying the snow day that my district has finally decided to allow as soon as I leave. :P

The title is a quotation from one of my favorite movies, Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, which I really need to watch again.  Ever notice how the perfect playlist can do anything?  My friend drove Melissa, Sally, and I home on her way to MPLS and ultimately, Wisconsin, and she prepared an 11 hour playlist for her drive.  It had everything from Led Zepplin to Rent, to Glee and Owl City.  I thoroughly enjoyed the ride.

Playlists are like that.  They can be a mix of everything to get you through a road trip, powerful enough to get you through that long awaited hour-long workout, sad enough to make you cry, happy enough to make you forget a rough day, calm enough to lull you to sleep when you're worried about something, and just plain awesome enough to make a night with friends epic.  I'm listening to an Owl City playlist at the moment.  No regrets.

I always seem to have music going, just to give my life a soundtrack or drown out the silence, and when I'm in a car with friends that music gets turned up a little bit, just because it's us.  And honestly, when it's 10 pm and you're timing the lights just so you can speed over the bumps in a new intersection, who says you shouldn't be rocking out to Domino by Jessie J or Stereo Hearts by Gym Class Heroes?  No one, that's who.

Music plays into our lives in ways that are hard to describe and explain whether we perform it or just listen to it, and a whole bunch of wise and famous people have commented on this notion.  My favorite quotations are "Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life."  -Berthold Auerbach and "Take a music bath once or twice a week for a few seasons.  You will find it is to the soul what a water bath is to the body."  -Oliver Wendell Holmes  

So go listen to something that either fits, or changes your mood.  Have fun with it and have a ridiculously fabulous week!

-Megan 
P.S. I am having so many issues formatting this thing to fit the other posts! Nicole, fix it. :P

Flying Solo... with bruises

1. Don't start papers at 11 pm.
2. Eat something.
3. Sometimes you have to sacrifice your own comfort for someone else.
4. Your professor will make a meeting go 30 minutes over.

Hey guys, Megan here.  Sorry I didn't post yesterday. I'm kind of in the middle of a family emergency and I was figuring out a bunch of logistical things.  I finally have a moment to sit down and relax--there's not a whole lot of work I am willing to do right now anyways.  So the big news is that Nicole and I will be leaving at 7am tomorrow for a conference in Iowa and we'll be getting back Sunday night, after which I'll be leaving to go home around 1pm on Monday and getting back on Tuesday night.  I guess I'll just be living out of a suitcase for the next five days.

Flying Solo was the name of my yearbook junior year, and it was by far my most difficult, due to the fact that I was dealing with a lot of things at the time as well as tough classes, but it was also really, really enjoyable.  I discovered a lot about myself and I also took my first psych and poetry classes... now I'm a psych major with a possible English writing minor, so I guess things worked out.

In case you didn't know, I'm now living alone, essentially flying solo.  My roommate transferred to the University of Nebraska--Omaha, and she tells me she's loving it and that it's exactly where she's supposed to be.  It also puts her closer to her friends, boyfriend, and family which is really cool.  I still miss her a lot though.  I think roommates share a really unique bond that comes with the somewhat terrifying experience of going off to college.  I see it a lot, especially with the floor that adopted me.  Melissa and her roommate are perfect together!  It's actually really fun to see them interact.  My roommate and I got along well and we had some really great discussions about anything and everything, and I miss that.  One of my favorite stories is when I dropped something or did something clumsy and my roommate said to me, "You know... sometimes I wake up and I have bruises that I don't know where they came from, and I feel like that's kind of like your life sometimes."  There are tons and tons of quotations like that.

Sure, it's nice to live alone sometimes, but I miss having a roommate--mine was always someone welcoming to come home to.  My room is a little more sterile feeling these days.  In a way, she was part of what I wanted out of the college experience.  She provided me with a different outlook on EVERYTHING!  Her life has been completely different than mine and I got loads of new perspective just by listening to her stories.  She made me reconsider things I probably needed to.  I miss her sometimes, especially just the sound of her skyping her boyfriend or the way she looked like she wanted to murder someone in the mornings. :P We are definitely not morning people. I'd gotten used to falling asleep to her talking and the lights on and now the silence bothers me sometimes.  I couldn't sleep at all on my first night back. 

So, I miss her.  Adjusting to living alone is a lot of getting in the mindset that being alone shouldn't be a cause of loneliness, but rather a source of solitude, and I'm getting there.  I've also been lucky enough to be adopted by Nicole, Melissa, and Sally's floor.  Everyone there has been so kind and welcoming to me that they've been like a family to me.  I have no idea what I'd do without them.  So I guess I'm not really flying solo after all, am I?

Peace and be well.  Maybe Nicole will blog from Iowa...

-Megan

Best Facebook Hack Ever

1. 3 hour naps are glorious.
2. Twizzlers are yummy.
3. Don't leave your computer open...your Facebook will be hacked.
4. Sometimes crazy things happen.

So Megan left her computer open in my dorm while she ran back to her dorm to grab a few things. So, I hacked her Facebook, Tumblr, and Twitter. (A 'hack' is when you pose as a person on their profile, often done when the person is gone.) I took my opportunity to write something on her Facebook. So instead of writing another post, I thought I would share what I wrote. Here you go.

Hello world. I am Nicole and Megan made the mistake of leaving her compute open in my dorm while she was running back to her's to grab some stuff. So, I took this opportunity to hack her Facebook and post something for the world to see.

Let me start off by saying it's been quite the adventure the past few months of college. I grew up near Concordia (only about 15 minutes away), so I didn't expect to experience too much change. But boy was I wrong. I grew up an only child living with just my mom. Now I am living with 30 girls, sharing one bathroom and having to figure out a balance with them. I have met people who I never would have had the opportunity to meet otherwise, even though I am only 15 minutes away from home. One of those people is Megan. Megan and I were talking a few days ago about how we probably would have never been friends before college. We aren't completely sure why this is true, but somehow the circumstances and timing were right to make this friendship work.

So here's my little message to you: sometimes crazy things happen. Sometimes you end up tackling someone to the ground and think that now that person is going to hate you...but then you end up connected at the heart and spending hours talking about anything and everything. (Yay Megan!) Or maybe sometimes you are at a football game and you are a little too hyper for your own good and the person next to you leans over and says, "Do you speak whale?" and then you end up being "those girls" on your floor that everyone has to tell to shut up because you are laughing too loud. (Yay Melissa!)

The thing is all this wouldn't have happened if I hadn't let myself be a bit crazy. Maybe sometimes you need to be a bit insane to become sane...who knows?

Well, Megan's back and is currently sitting on a bed, writing what I'm sure is an poem or thought. It's really cool to see - she's sort of in her element.

Ok, that's all I've got. Thanks for reading my hack note.

Peace!

-Nicole

Superhero

1. George Watsky is fantastic at spoken word. Look him up.
2. Sometimes you need a day where all you do is talk to a friend.
3. Being on a technical crew is much different than being in the cast in a play.
4. We are all superheroes.

If I were a superhero, I would want to have the power to be invisible. My name would be "Mess in a Dress." No cape though, as explained in The Incredibles. Tends to get caught in things and it would injure me. Not a good plan, to have a cape. But I would wear a ball gown. Or I would wear a black, flowing dress with funky tights, ballet flats, and possibly a red hat.

I always thought it would be epic to have the power to be invisible. I could hide in places and find things out I never knew before. I could also get into concerts for free; that'd be sweet. I never wanted to have the power to fly, though. It scared me a bit. And mind reading was never appealing either, although I always did want to be able to project my thoughts to other people's head so they would understand me better. But I've always wanted to have the power to be invisible, if I were to ever become a superhero.

Melissa was having a rough time tonight, as everyone has every once in a while. After a bit of talking it out with Megan and I, she seemed to be doing a bit better. She excused herself from the room to head to the bathroom. As soon as she exited, Megan turned and said, "You are a superhero. Much better than I am at this." I disagree. Now that I think of it, each of us is a superhero, with different skills and talents.

I have the power to be invisible. People come to me and without knowing it, they are telling me things they never expected to say in the first place. Megan has the power of flying. She carries people when they need to be carried. They are still in the situation, but the ride is a bit easier from above. Melissa has the power of an energy force field. She's the positive energy against other things when needed. My mom is sort of like the Hulk; strong against other forces and is very protective. Everyone has a super power. We each have something to offer to someone who is hurting; each relieves suffering, but each in a different way. You may not know you have superpowers, but you do. You just may not have the typical power or you simply may have not had the chance to use it. But you do have it. Everyone has a power.

The cool thing about being a superhero is the "super" part. It's pretty super to be able to help someone. It's pretty super we each are helpful in a different way. Together, we are super superheroes. But superheroes do need help sometimes - weather it be on a rescue mission and they need backup or they need help themselves. And that's ok. Why else are there so many superheroes?

So let's take off. Let's get out there and be super. Let's know that we are not alone in this crazy world. We each can alleviate suffering in the world - we just have to be ourselves.

Peace!

-Nicole aka Mess in a Dress

Down to the Wire

1. If you break into a coughing fit, people will stare.
2. Breathe... slowly, or else you'll have another coughing fit.
3. Phone calls are nice sometimes.
4. Have faith things will work out.

Hey, it's Megan. Is it Wednesday? It doesn't feel like Wednesday.

Holy buckets has it been a stressful week so far. Grease opens tomorrow, and while neither Melissa nor I have been involved, Nicole is logging some serious hours. It's funny, I kind of want to find an association between level of stress, lack of time, and propensity to blog... On top of that, we all have assignments or papers due, aaaand it's registration week which means we're all stressing over our adviser meetings and deciding what classes to take.

I myself have been incredibly ill over the past three days. I think I caught the plague. Don't listen to Nicole or Melissa--I won't cough up a lung, nor do I intend to die. I just have a racking cough and some congestion, that's all. I've been chugging DayQuil as well as tea and popping cough drops as well as vitamins. Just give me another day or so and I'm sure I'll be good as new.

It seems like everything is suddenly hurling into hyper speed and coming down to the wire. I have to be up around 6 tomorrow to register for my classes and I'm entirely set on taking this one history class. The problem is it appears to be full. Sad right? Naturally, I emailed the professor and am anxiously awaiting a reply that says I've been granted an override, but I'm still stressing about the possibility that I won't get the email in time and thus not be able to take this class--a huge bummer since I've been looking forward to diving into my history major.

The trick is to remain positive and have some faith that it will all be okay in the end. This situation has loads of possible outcomes. I might get the override and be able to take an epic class, or I might have to take something else. If I don't get in, I still have an epic psychology class and philosophy class I will hopefully get into. Oh, and did I mention I'm going to try to take Social Dance? Yep, look out world! Megan's going to try to learn how to dance. Even if things are really stressful and coming down to the wire, it's going to be okay. That's what the weekends are for, relieving stress, and we're already making plans...

Take care, be well. Don't get sick like me.
-Megan

Everything's Magic

1. Finding creative alarm clock solutions is enjoyable.
2. Little things can brighten moods.
3. Make eye contact.
4. Don't be sorry for things you can't control.

Megan here, It's Wednesday and I'm back. Happy Wednesday!

So, today was our long awaited Harry Potter themed dinner in our dining hall and wow did they do a great job! It was everything one could want and more, complete with Butterbeer, a sorting hat, and Professor Trelawney providing divination. To give you an idea of what it was like, I ate a dish called Dobby's ears, was sorted into Slytherin, and was told by Trelawney that I would experience many trials and tribulations, but would prevail. There was also something about a short year of happiness ahead. All in all it was a wonderful night and once again Nicole, Melissa, and I crashed in Melissa's room to unwind before hitting the books. Granted, we stayed longer than we wanted to, but it was still an important and much needed break since the stress is starting to pile up once again.

For all the Harry Potter fans out there, do you remember all the fascinating things about the books? I mean, three epic friends lived at a castle complex and learned magic! To be honest, that's kind of what college (and High School) is like if you so choose to view it that way. School is our life, and life is our school. Here on a college campus, there is no separation from your learning environment and your living environment. Every hour you spend outside of a classroom is still spent learning. Sure it's different subject matter, but it really is a learning environment. You learn about different people, learn different perspectives, learn better communication skills, and on some level, you learn more about yourself as a person, and wow am I learning a lot. It's like every time I check my now fading-to-green hair in the mirror, I see aspects of my future self--almost like looking into the Mirror of Erised.

I find it kind of funny how some of my classes make me think about things I never thought I would. Melissa and I have our psychology class together and we've been discussing happiness quite a bit as a part of our unit on emotions. We had to read an article on how monetary wealth doesn't necessarily equate to happiness because a high paying job might take away time from being with a family and things of that nature. Yet... here we are, college students trying to be successful, a term society now associates with monetary wealth. I find it funny because, like Nicole, I am also experiencing a great deal of happiness. The thing is I am a very poor, very sleep deprived college student! So why am I happy? I think it's because I am learning, not only from incredible professors, but from incredible friends and peers as well. When I leave my Utopian Philosophy class with a headache from pondering whether or not I truly have free will, or when I'm up late in a lounge coloring a Spanish project, I have little moments of not being able to explain what this experience is. How do we explain things we don't quite understand? Simple. It's magic.

So view the world as a magical place, because sometimes it really is. Heck, I might even ask the Chemistry students how Potions class is going...

That's it. Peace out. All my love!

-Megan

National Coming Out Day

1. Finishing a paper feels really good, especially if it is over the page length needed and there is still more to write.
2. Sometimes all you need is a hug.
3. Uploading videos to Youtube is a difficult process.
4. I'm coming out as stunning and crazy...and an ally.

Today is National Coming Out Day. Today, instead of writing a ton of stuff, I want to share a few videos.

First off, here is the first video that inspired the rest of them:

Since I cannot seem to embed the videos, here are links to the rest of them:

Melissa's Message

Megan's Message

And finally, mine: My Message

Please check out other videos. Everyone has a story to tell. Let their words speak for me. Just know that if someone around you is struggling, the best thing you can do for them is to love them and be supportive. Whatever they're going through (whether it be coming out or anything else), all they need is someone to stand by them and be that little bit of love that makes any day a bit brighter.

Peace!

-Nicole

Megan Tackles Art and Artistry

1. Don't stay up until 3:15 working on a speech.
2. Don't fall asleep reading a book, it will fall on your roommate in the middle of the night.
3. Boots = blisters.
4. It's okay to be impulsive every once in a while.

Megan here and it's Wednesday. That means you get to listen to me for a bit.

As I'm sure Nicole mentioned, we had our Symposium a few weeks ago which surrounded the topic of "The Role of the Artist in Society" A ton of great speakers came and held amazing sessions and whatnot. As it happened, Melissa forced me into a strange situation in our Psychology class the next day. She raised my hand when our Prof asked if anyone considered themselves an artist. I was uncomfortable with this for two reasons:

1. I've never gone by the descriptor "Artist." Ever.
2. I now had to talk to the class and explain how I felt about an artist's obligation to society, especially focusing on optimism.

It made me think, so here we go...

First off, yes. I do believe it is an artist's job to be optimistic, especially if they intend to reach a mass audience. That isn't to say one cannot produce dark art (I myself am guilty), however the artist must acknowledge that whatever unfortunate circumstance they've encountered is not universal and must provide a glimmer of hope for their audience. Defining art for a second as any form of self-expression, it is my belief that inherent beauty exists in every form and instance of art. Yes, I am aware that beauty exists in death and other things not seen as conducive to what we think of as being optimistic, but I also believe that the majority of art exists to highlight and express the beauty of life, in contrast to death.

To recapitulate this idea, darkness is a part of art. It is a part of human existence, and one would be ill-advised to ignore that. However, art in itself is a form of optimism in that the artist cares enough to capture its image, whether through paint, ink, graphite, dance, song, or what have you. The artist itself must acknowledge that optimism is just as viable as a viewpoint as pessimism and must present this to their audience. As a species, I believe we are generally optimistic. I mean, imagine if Oogruck the caveman thought to himself, "Well, I am entirely incapable to bringing down a mammoth tomorrow. We're all doomed." NO! Long story short, yes, being optimistic is in the job description of an artist, if ever so slightly.

Now (on a less grandiose level of thinking) I'm going to speak as someone who creates art. I caution you, Reader, in how you approach someone's art, whether that be a professional, amateur, peer, etc. Art is self-expression, and thus is created through the lens of the artist and cannot always be taken as empirical fact. Yeah an artist uses art to represent real life, but it's only a representation and well... art. People create art for art's sake, and so I advise you to not take it too literally or seriously (within reason.)

Simply put, do not pass complete judgment on an artist based solely on their art. You can view every single Frida Kahlo painting and still not know her entirely, or listen to every single Michael Jackson song and still not have a complete picture of who he was as a man. An artist will be incredibly intimate with you, but they won't tell you everything. They leave their existence for that.

To drive my point home, I leave you with something from Rob Thomas of Matchbox Twenty. When he was on MTV Storytellers, he alluded to the fact that fans always asked him why everything on his album was so sad all the time. He response contained something close to the following, "When I'm happy I go do happy things, I'll go hang out and just enjoy being happy. When I'm sad or something's on my mind, I'll sit and write a song about it." So yeah, I think a lot of artists are the same way. That is definitely not to say that there aren't artists out there cranking out nothing but optimism. Google Vladimir Kush, I love that guy.

Peace out, be well. Hugs.

-Megan

Defy Gravity

Note from Nicole: Yes, we do seem to like the musical Wicked. It's a good theme to go with.

Melissa here. This is my first official blog post on here, so bear with me. I'm gonna post random stuff, and then elaborate on it all. Make sense? I hope so.

1. Study breaks are good. You know it's gone bad when you start reading words for other words that aren't that word... yeah.

Studying is not a good time. But, when you misread a word for a different word and tell your friends about it, it can be quite the amusing time. Let's just say I'm special. Also, sunflower seeds for me make EVERYTHING better. Especially studying.

2. Friends are awesome.

The friends I've made here are wonderful, and I feel so lucky to have found them. With me is one of my friends from high school, and I'm so glad I have her here with me. She's my safety blanket, and I'd be lost without her. I've managed to make new friends, too, and each and everyone one of them is amazing in their own way. I've managed to meet my twin (HI, NICOLE!), fellow Gleeks, Potterheads, Starkids, choir nerds, etc. It's kinda blowing my mind how awesome people are. I'm so excited to make some life-long friendships with some truly awesome people.

3. Sometimes, it's okay to be in a total state of confusion.

Finishing up my third week of classes, I've come to realize that they're not what I expected them to be, and I'm completely okay with that. My freshman inquiry seminar is called "gendered performance." It makes my brain hurt, it makes me totally confused, and it makes me question everything I know (or thought I knew) about gender, and I LOVE IT. I want to learn more, I want to know about all the different theories, and I want to hear other points of view. It's one of the first times that I really, really, REALLY want to learn. And it's a fabulous feeling. I'm actually excited to write my paper for this class, and it's one of the few times I've felt like this. It's wonderful.

4. Defy gravity.

Last week I was really struggling. I was constantly in a state of unhappiness, and I couldn't figure out exactly why. I just felt numb. I'm not sure how exactly I got myself out of the shlump (probably the amazing friends I talked about earlier), but now I don't want to let myself get back there. I've struggled with bouts of depression all throughout high school, and I want college to be that turning point. The time where I be myself, and I'm happy with myself, and I don't let anything stop me. In high school, I was sometimes afraid to just be myself and not worry about what others thought. I always thought I wasn't good enough, I was hard on myself, and at times, I was my own worst enemy. Now that I'm in college where no one knows who I am, was, or want to be, it's like a fresh slate has been handed to me, and I can do whatever I want. And that's exactly what I'm going to do, and it makes me so excited. It'll be difficult at times, but it's a new opportunity. Life is full of these opportunities and I have finally taken it.

It's my time to defy gravity. (I'm so cliché and cheesy. It doesn't help that "Defying Gravity" is the song Nicole and I will hopefully be singing for the freshman showcase, and the song is stuck in my head).

Yay for being cheesy. It's what I do best. That, and being awkward...

Aww yeah.

-Melissa

Cats (A Post by Melissa)

1. Cookies are delicious.
2. Flamboyant.
3. Milk is a good thing.
4. Melissa says salty olives are gross. Nicole disagrees.

Aww Yeah!

-Melissa

(Note: My friend Melissa decided to make an appearance on my blog. I agreed...and I have no idea why I did. Either way, enjoy the randomness.)