Taking it's toll

I always forget how hard it is to find balance. Even though working out makes me feel better mentally and physically, it is always difficult around 1/4-1/3 of the semester through to find the time. I was sitting at a table with some friends the other day when a man in uniform approached me and told me about a new program called safe run. The idea is that girls who want to run at night can be paired with a marine/navy ROTC student to make sure that they are not running alone. Hopefully once that program launches I will not be able to use the darkness as an excuse not to run. Even though it is a fairly good one. But it lead to a conversation about how getting to the gym is such a production. It is preparing at your house, making sure you have everything you need, driving over, parking (the worst), finding a machine and hoping they aren't all taken, waiting on weights and then leaving and getting back home. If only I could just know when the gym is full and when it isn't. It might make the whole production less intimidating.

Perhaps I will start researching gear soon. I will need to buy that in small succession to not overload the parents with costs.

Great things are done when men
and mountains meet. This is not
done by jostling in the street.
-William Blake

The 90/10 Theory

In a situation involving two people with questionable intentions, one person has to do 90% of the work (flirting, setting the stage, making it obvious that they are interested etc) and the other person is responsible for the other 10% (the final transition from almost kissing to kissing). One would think the 90% is the hard work, but it is the 10% who risks the ultimate rejection/failure/has the ability to ruin everything the 90% has worked for. Which are you?

why you should sweat the small stuff

at the end of the day, the small stuff will bother you. it will either bother you enough that you think about it, or you will realize it doesn't bother you as much as you thought it did, and you will continue you on. but anything can be a deal breaker. because the small stuff never goes away. you live with the daily frustration as much as you live with fundamental differences, probably more. so if their obsession with a demasculizing musician or an inappropriate flavor of gatorade is a constant topic of conversation, let it go. because it doesn't matter how much your friends laugh about it, if you can't laugh about it with them you will never be happy.

only in college

can you go out the night before a test and toast every shot you take to it (8)

Things you can only do in college...

Have a headache of unknown origin all day...

Until you go back to the bars and realize you drank the night before.

Only in college can you forget which nights you drank and which ones you didn't.

Relationship Advice 101:

What to do when you ask someone out at a bar, and you're not sure if they remember it:

If you receive some form of communication that makes you think that the other person that you asked out doesn't remember you asking them out, do not panic. Simply respond by saying,

"I was pretty drunk the other night too. Speaking of which, I remember us discussing this, but I'm not sure what the outcome was, but do you have plans this Friday night?"

That way if they didn't remember, it gives them the opportunity to jump on it (which they of course want to), and it doesn't make you sound crazy for fixating on a date that might not have even happened.

Black outs can always be blamed.

(703): i feel like after you turn 30 you aren't supposed to black out anymore

Things you can only do in college...

Get drunk on Sunday night

When it's not the Superbowl.

And when it is.

This is Real Life

Roommate: How do you spell tequila?
Friend: F-A-I-L

I couldn't make this up if I tried...

GO SAINTS!

Lazy days in the library

One of my goals in life has always been to have a library in my house. Somehow, I managed to travel to a city with a phenomenal library and absolutely miss out on it...



One of my favorite quotes is the one by St. Augustine that compares traveling to reading. I can honestly say that both subjects matter intensely to me, and I wouldn't be able to experience the world the way I do without them. However, recently I have found that I have neither the time nor the effort to engage in either, seeing as everything else I do sucks the life out of me. It is phenomenal the parallels between reading and traveling. In both ways you are seeing the world through someone else's eyes. Similarly, you are seeing someone else's world through your own eyes. All that you need to understand is given to you, yet at the same time all is left up to interpretation. You can become as involved as you want, and you can leave at any point returning to the world you know and understand. Each adventure has an opening and a closing, and can be revisited under different circumstances making you appreciate subtleties you may have missed the first (or second or fifth) time you visited. Different characters can have an impact on your life, and you may find that even though the place (or yourself) is a little worse for wear, the magic can still be found.

Today I wish I could waste away my day at the Kansas City Public Library



Half the fun of the travel is the esthetic of lostness. ~Ray Bradbury

It's like a challenge

11 most dangerous mountains in the world

The Absolute Truth

Let me just say this: There is nothing better than college football Saturday in the South. The weather is warm, the liquor is bountiful, the barbecue is sumptuous, there are countless hot girls in sundresses, and all of it is topped off with three hours of brutal, modern gladiatorial competition for your enjoyment. After the game, you go home, have drunk sex, and pass out. What beats that?
-Tucker Max

Today

I wish I was here

Things my roommate is afraid of

1. Spiders
(legit fear, some of them are poisonous)
2. Lizards
(absolutely unfounded and ridiculous, but since girls don't like squishy things I will let it go)
3. Cockroaches
(certainly the grossest thing to cross the earth, but not scary at all)
4. Ghosts

Yes...she said that.

Added today was possums. But only after I explained why possums were grosser than raccoons. Which are also on her list.

(757): tell me how a rose bowl party involves waking up to find a raccoon in my kitchen cabinet eating my oreos the next morning?

This is Real Life

Roommate: I like this boy, I really like him
Me: Woah, why are you throwing around the like word, you haven't even hung out with him sober?
Roommate: But he's just such a good kisser...
Me: But just because he's a good kisser doesn't mean he's good at other things
Roommate:...that is such a good point
Me: You can like him because he's good in bed, that's an acceptable reason. Or because he's got 5 million dollars, that's also an acceptable reason
Roommate: That's 5 million reasons...

I couldn't make this up if I tried...

The Hand Theory

According to my friend Chris, the Hand Theory determines the exclusivity of the relationship.

If you have come to the point in your relationship where you have measured your hand versus your partner's hand to determine size, you have just crossed the line from casual dating to exclusivity.

Chris will make a lot of appearances here. I am slowly taking his place, but wish to share his wisdom with the world. Be careful whose hand you measure.

"College is like a fountain of knowledge, and the students are there to drink"

I wish someone would've told me this 3 years ago

The secret to handling a situation where you might be too drunk..

NEVER BE THE BIGGEST ASSHOLE AT THE PARTY.

If you are ever in the situation where you think you might be making an ass of yourself, take a quick survey of the room. If you can clearly see assholes in every corner that make a halo form over your head, continue having fun. If you notice that you are the only person at the party who has ever seen a bottle of alcohol let alone consumer it, it is time to tone it down. Or get out of there as fast as you can. You can be as much of an asshole as you want, as long as there is someone being a bigger asshole than you.

Beer is living proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy. -Benjamin Franklin

Top 10 Things You Can Only Get Away With in These Four Years

10. Believing in ghosts (it is on my roommate's fear list)

9. Cooking everything from the microwave and thinking it's high class if it's from a George Foreman

8. Drinking while writing a paper

7. Drinking while studying

6. Being drunk while taking a test (studies show you are supposed to take the test in the same mental state you study in, see #7)

5. Waking up still drunk

4. Waking up smelling like cologne and the bar you were at last night

3. Drinking from 11-11, just because it's Friday

2. Justifying things as "not really stealing"

1. Making out with 2 (or 3 or 4 or 5) people in the same night

(412): I learned his name tonight. This now makes him a real person. Obviously, I no longer want to sleep with him.

Top 10 Ways to Not Give Someone Your Phone Number

10. Tell him you're not supposed to talk to strangers

9. Give out a fake number

8. Receive a text message at that time from your friend beckoning you to the bar immediately--it cannot wait another 5 seconds.

7. Ask for his and tell him you'll call (you won't)

6. Tell him it's on Facebook (and then make sure it's not)

5. "Sorry, I don't do that."

4.The old tried and true--I have a boyfriend.

3. BIYYYEEEEEEE (this will not only work, it will confuse him)

2. Don't give the boy your name...

1. So when he asks for your phone number you can tell him he won't even know who he's calling so it really doesn't matter

Boy: Hey we should be BBM friends
Me: No, because then you'd have to know my name

Things I would rather be doing than studying...February 3, 2010

Going to the student government barbecue
Waking up somewhere naked
Going to chapter
Waking up somewhere having puked all over someone
Doing the 8 minute abs from hell workout
Waking up with a penis drawn on my face
Making out at crush parties
Drinking in France
Finding your friend a date

(607): you need to leave class get on facebook and start untagging IMMEDIATELY

My roommate and I were discussing

Life the other night. We are nearing the end of our third year of undergraduate education, and almost every day we have a ridiculous moment that the entire world should know about. Well, some of our moments the entire world shouldn't know about, but let's be honest you don't know who I am anyway.

So instead of keeping the success secrets of college to myself, I have decided to share them with the world, in blog form. I intend to include fun anecdotes, lists, tips for success, and anything I deem worthy of college-aged individuals that I might find on the internet.

And I will often times follow it with a quote, because I truly believe that quotes are the root of all good in the world.

"There are two types of people I don't trust in this world: people who don't drink, and people who collect stickers." -Chelsea Handler

Comments to follow...

50 Greatest Travel Books of all Time

It's the climb

Surprise surprise, I still can't stop thinking about the mountains.



Today I wish I was in the Swiss alps. This places holds all the benefits of being a European country but still being more of a natural beauty than a tourist trap. These mountains hold adventure and unknown, everything I seem to be chasing these days. In some pictures they are green, in some snow covered--but either way they are somewhere I want to conquer. I just can't quench this desire to reach out and grab everything this earth has to offer, but the longer I sit here, the longer I fear I am missing opportunities.



Facts:
The alps occupy nearly 70% of Switzerland
The most jagged peak is the Matterhorn
Swiss pilots are required to be trilingual (German, French and English)



A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step. -Lao Tzu

Low Intensity Cardio

I did the hill climb on the elliptical machine. It almost killed me in 30 minutes. Mostly the peak part. Cardio is not fun in the gym now that they have moved the machines. Must remember to provide my own music in the future.

Arms and Abs
Arms:
7.5 lbs
Flys 3 reps of 10
Outs and Ins (as so named to explain to my friend Lauren) 3 reps of 8
Pull Ups 3 reps of 10
Raises 3 reps of 10
Abs:
Side bends:
6 lb ball 3 reps of 8 (death by soccer)
Lauren's Ab workout that kills

Need to work on breathing. A lot. It is so much harder when you don't breathe.

When we tire of well-worn ways, we seek for new. This restless craving in the souls of men spurs them to climb, and to seek the mountain view.
-Ella Wheeler

All of these are places

I want to go someday