Cue The Lights!!!

While this is the last blog entry for credit in my English class for the semester, I appreciate the chance to write about what ever I want and I plan to keep this blog and maybe from time to time I'll come back to it and keep writing whether it's a lot more random-ness or whatever. =]

With there only being 20 days until Christmas, I am getting SO antsy just waiting. Christmas is my favorite time of year and one of my favorite parts, next to the caroling, are the christmas lights!! Sadly, my family never did anything too extravagant but it was always fun putting up all the decorations. If you think your decorations and lights are crazy good, just look at this family's display of holiday spirit. This house's christmas light show was synchronized to the Trans Siberian Orchestra. Pretty cool, huh?


"The Supreme Court has ruled that they cannot have a nativity scene in Washington, D.C. This wasn't for any religious reasons. They couldn't find three wise men and a virgin."
~Jay Leno

Don't Sweat It

With finals week coming closer and our first semester drawing to an end, I thought it might be a good idea to write about ways to deal with stress. I don't know about you, but I get stressed pretty easily and I never like to deal with it so I looked up a few things that might help with the craziness of the season.

First of all, you have to figure out what is causing any of your built up anxiety. It could be anything from large crowds to death. There are a number of ways to deal with this stress. As a matter of fact, I found 101, thanks to the Tripler Army Medical Center in Honolulu, Hawaii. Here are a few interesting tips to help.

Stretch

Get enough sleep

Look at a work of art

Say "hello" to a stranger

Don't know all the answers

Don't rely on your memory, write it down

Break large tasks into "bite-sized" portions

Stop saying negative things to yourself

Say something nice to someone

Get up 15 minutes earlier

Practic breathing slowly

Talk less, listen more

Look up at the stars

Freely praise others

Exercise

Smile

Another tip was something I'd never thought about. Sharon Gold said, "Throw out an alarming alarm clock. If the ring is loud and strident, you're waking up to instant stress. You shouldn't be bullied out of bed, just reminded that it's time to start your day." If you think about it, it makes total sense. First of all, you wake up startled and discombobulated (I've always liked that word). It just starts your day off badly.

Hopefully you can use a couple of these stress relievers to get through finals. Good luck!

"Stress is nothing more than a socially acceptable form of mental illness."

~Richard Carlson

"Reality is the leading cause of stress for those in touch with it."

~Jane Wagner

RIP Jamie's Ipod =[

That's right.... Its gone. My ipod is gone. I lost 60GB of my life the other day and now I don't know what to do with myself! I simply picked it up to turn it on and ^this little picture^ popped up so I went through the troubleshooting steps and still I got nothin'. Sad, isn't it?

I'm debating on getting a new one but I have nooo idea which one to get. Plus, I just got a new phone and it is seriously a mini computer so there is a way to put music on it like an ipod but there are a couple catches. One, I hate technology and can't figure out how. Two, I wouldn't be able put as much music on it as an ipod because it would take up so much memory and three, I got no mulah.

I was looking at prices and gigabytes and everything for new ones and the best one in my price range is the shuffle which is $49 but it only holds 500 songs at most. The next option is the ipod nano which sounds a bit better. It's bigger than a shuffle yet still small and compact. It costs $149 for 8GB (2,000 songs) or $199 for 16BG (4000 songs). I don't even remember how many songs were on my old one but I think 4000 songs would be sufficient. The ipod classic is way too much, I think. I'm pretty sure I don't need room for 32,000 songs. I don't know anyone who knows that many songs, plus it costs $249 and the itouch is just unnecessary for me because I don't download movies or games anyway. Who knows, maybe I can ask Santa. =]

"Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life."

~Berthold Auerbach

Turkey Day

Anyone else excited that Thanksgiving break is only SIX days away?! My roommates and I started a countdown two weeks ago hoping that it might make it seem a tad closer. I am SO excited to see my family friends!

A couple of years ago around this time I stumbled upon a video that I thought I just had to share with you all. It's Adam Sandler's Thanksgiving Day Song that he performed on SNL (Saturday Night Live) and if anything, I thought it might brighten your day a bit or possibly make the five day break come a little sooner. =]

"An optimist is a person who starts a new diet on Thanksgiving Day."

~Irv Kupcinet

No One Mourns the WICKED

Soo... sorry if my last post was a bit of a "Debbie Downer" but this post should lighten the mood a bit. If you didn't know, as dorky as it may seem, I am a musical freak. I love musicals! There are so many like, Chicago, Phantom of the Opera, Moulin Rouge, Hairspray, Rent, West Side Story to name a few and last but not least... Wicked. My RA (Resident Assistant) for my building has been trying to plan events for us so we can enjoy our time here at Purdue a little bit more and possibly attempt to lure us out of hibernation for an entire weekend during the winter months quickly arriving. She sent out an e-mail last week with a couple ideas for fun things to do and along with paintballing (which I think would be awesome to try) there was a suggestion that we might go to Chicago for a weekend in January and see the musical, Wicked, LIVE and on BROADWAY!! How stinkin' cool is that?! I've never been able to see any kind of musical live on stage before and I cannot wait!!

If you're not familiar with the story of Wicked, let me explain a little. I'm assuming most of you have seen the movie, The Wizard of Oz, right? Well, I would hope so and if you haven't... well, shame on you. Wicked is known as "the untold story of the witches of Oz" and is based on a best-selling book by Winnie Holzman called "Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West".

In the beginnining of the story, Elphaba, who is later labeled the Wicked Witch, is born with hideous green skin and has a very unhappy, childhood because of the discrimination against her strange color. When Elphaba goes of to Shiz University, she meets her roommate, Galinda, who you may recall as the "good witch" from Wizard of Oz. At first, Elphaba and Galinda aren't exactly two peas in a pod. Actually, they loathed each other. After a heart to heart conversation between the two about Elphaba and her young, wheelchair-bound sister's rough childhood, Galinda decided to take Elphaba under her wing and give her a makeover to make her become "Popular". Elphaba begins taking special sorcery classes after she reveals an innate magical talent to a headmaster, Madame Morrible at the school and hopes to send her to the Wizard of Oz because she says she could be of great use to the Wizard. Still misunderstood by most of her peers, Fiyero, a dashing young prince who was currently with Galinda, is very hesitant to confess his love for Elphaba who is rather smitten herself. After finding animals being kept in a cage, Elphaba casts a spell on her entire class except for Fiyero and they set the animals free. After finding Elphaba under a bridge, Madame Morrible tells her that she has been granted an audience with the Wizard. Galinda complains to her about Fiyero's waning feelings towards her while Elphaba prepares to leave. Feeling bad for her, Elphaba invites Glinda (having shortened her name in an attempt to impress Fiyero for multiple reasons) to go with her to the Emerald City . After "One Short Day" in the City, Elphaba and Glinda meet with the Wizard and he tells Elphaba to use a book of spells to turn his monkey servant into a flying monkey. She does as she is told. The Wizard reveals an entire cage full of monkeys with new wings and tells her they will make great spies for his evil plan. Elphaba realizes she had been used and that the wizard had no power of his own. They run away and when they arrive back at Shiz, her and Glinda hear Madame Morrible announcing that she is the Wizard's press secratary and that the "Wicked Witch", meaning Elphaba cannot be trusted. Elphaba enchants a broom and asks Glinda to come along. Glinda cannot leave behind her popularity and she refuses. Elphaba tells Glinda to somehow become the leader of Shiz and she rizes into the sky promising to fight the Wizard with all her power. Some time passes and Elphaba goes to find her sister, Nessa, who is now the governor of Munchinland and gives her a pair of ruby red slippers which enable her to walk. Nessa's servant, Boq reveals to her that he is in love with Glinda and must leave. Nessa is furious and casts a mispronounced spell from Elphaba's book on Boq and is now called the Wicked Witch of the East.. In an attempt to save Boq, Elphaba turns him into the Tin Woodman. Elphaba runs into Fiyero after she refuses an offer from the Wizard but they are interrupted when Elphaba senses her sister is in danger but is too late when she finds that Dorothy's house had landed on her. The guards catch them and take Fiyero away while Boq and the citizens of Oz declare a witch hunt. When the witch hunters find Elphaba, Dorothy throws a bucket of water on her and she apparently melts. It's revealed later that Elphaba never actually melted. She and Fiyero, who she turned into a scarecrow, escaped from the castle and run away keeping Elphaba's existence a secret. Glinda is now known as "Glinda the Good," and is now in charge and reforms the government and once again there is peace in Oz.

I cannot wait to see this musical live!! If you want to go see it too, you'd better get tickets soon because 2009 is the last year for the tour!!

"Yes dear, just follow that one road the whole time.. oh I hope she doesn't get lost I'm just terrible at giving to directions!"

~Glinda the Good Witch (WICKED)

Life is Like a Box of Chocolates...

Alright, so I know I said I wasn't going to write about my personal life but, there's quite a bit going on right now and it's kind of more like a prayer request... My best friend of like, my whole life, is having a pretty rough time right now, and so am I. To give you a bit of background information, in the middle of the valedictorian speech at our high school graduation ceremony, Melissa suffered a major stroke. Actually, she had three. That night was supposed to be one of the biggest and greatest nights of our lives. Instead, it turned into a sleepless night on a hard hospital floor full of heartbreak and tragedy. We were told she wouldn't make it through to the morning. She had seizures until 2am when she was put into a medically induced coma to stop them. She was in that coma for a month and a half undergoing multiple brain surgeries. When she finally woke up, she had to completely relearn all of the things we take for granted each day. It took so long for her to just mutter the word, "Hi." She had to learn how to breath on her own first. Then it slowly moved to eating on her own, speaking, sitting up, and eventually walking. She's come so far already but one thing that's not changed is her memory. For a while, when I'd walk into her hospital room it was clear she had no idea who I was. All of the memories from our childhood and after were wiped away and there was nothing anyone could do. As far as I know, she could only remember her immediate family. Usually, when I would come in the room, her dad would say, "Melissa! Jamie's here!" and there would be no change in her facial expression. Still not being able to talk, she would just turn and look out the window.

I will never forget the day she remembered me. Like usual, I walked in the room and her dad announced I was there. Her vision was still very blurred so I got close to her face to see if she could notice me and said hello. She looked at me for a few seconds with the most confused look on her face and suddenly, after another few more seconds, the confusion left her face and she started crying. I knew she remembered me. It took all I had not to cry a river but I held it in so I wouldn't upset her. After that day she began to show more signs of herself. I hadn't seen her smile in 41 days. It looked as if she'd be back to normal in no time. Besides the miracle that she's even walking now with a cane, that's as far as she has come. Melissa is back at home now but still has no recollection of our senior year, most of high school at all and even the day before today. Her personality is totally different and the right side of her body is somewhat paralyzed.

A few days after getting settled in back at home, we had a graduation ceremony at our high school ALL for her and the biggest graduation party ever! It was great to see her out of that hospital bed and back to where she's comfotable at but now, being here at Purdue and her being in Indianapolis, I'm not there to help her through things and it's been on my mind so much lately so, like I said, please keep her, her family and the rest of our friends in your thoughts and prayers and hope that her full recovery comes soon! =]

my bff. =]

"My momma always said life was like a box of chocolates…you never know what you're gonna get."

~Forrest Gump

"Be glad of life because it gives you the chance to love and to work and to play and to look up at the stars."

~Henry Van Dyke

That's What it's All About

Given the chance to sort of 'broaden my horizons' in my college english class, I got to branch out from my previous blog, Pretty at Purdue, and start my very own, allowing me to write about whatever I choose. It took me a while to decide if I wanted to write a blog about things that just happened to pop into my mind, things I just think are cool, or maybe my personal life. I decided to write more about things and thoughts and less of the juicy personal details. I think my classmates would probably appreciate not having to read every miniscule thing that happens to me. If you really wanna know, find me on facebook since it's the most convenient way to divulge waaay too deeply into your friends' business now days.



Anywho... while I ponder on what my first subject will be, I should just clarify that I write very casually with my "..."s and whatnot.



I'm pretty big on random quotes, poems, song lyrics, and thoughts from famous or special people too so I'd like to share a few of them with you at the end of my entries. Just food for thought. =]

"I have lots of ideas. Trouble is, most of them suck."

- George Carlin