The last two weeks.

As work has been picking up, and school has been making its final push towards the end of the semester, I have found myself very busy most of the time. Just to give you an idea of the typical day I go through...
6:15am - Rise and shine (it's really dark)
somewhere around 8:30am - arrive at work
9:00am - morning coffee. I have to add, my workplace has fresh Dunkin Donuts coffee every day, complete with a frequent buyers card. I am almost to my free cup!
noonish - lunch.
somewhere between 4:30 and 4:45pm, leave to go home, grab my things, and go to class for the rest of the night.
class 6-9pm.

So pretty much after class I kinda come home, sit in a cone of silence, maybe text with someone or something, and go to sleep to some sort of crappy tv show. Like Roseanne. That is, if I do not have a pressing project or assignment that would take precedence and keep me up later. I go from thing to thing all day, every day. I am really looking forward to the semester's break coming up, but also really enjoying having so much to do right now. I think it is having such little time to yourself that makes you cherish the simple random things so much more. And also it makes you want to do more with what time you have to yourself, not to waste time with trivial or stressful things.

The past two weekends have been perfect examples of that. Two weekends ago was the homecoming game. I went with a few of my close friends, and ran into several others. There is something about State having a good football season that makes the tailgating more fun. At homecoming Best and I did the traditional tailgate hop, had conversations about Yurman and wore dresses and boots. We ran into her brother, who supplied our tickets, and wound up hanging out at an RV tailgate where we got impromptu shagging lessons. On Sunday when I was telling someone "we shagged in front of the RV" they looked at me a little weird...then realized I was talking about the actual dance. Either way, it was just kind of epic. Who ever thought as a meer freshman in the dirt lot that as an alum I would be hanging out by the RV section getting life advice from people older than my parents. Epic.

This past weekend I did not want to go out, I was in kind of a funk from the week. On Saturday we did win our game, and a celebration was proposed. We went to dinner for Michelle's sister's birthday, and then headed down to our new preppy hangout spots. It is kind of like grown up Hillsborough scene, only with a mix of people. It's just not downtown. There is nobody in an Affliction teeshirt, and pretty much where those people are not, that is the place I should be. We ran into our old friend from the beach named Steele Magnolias (not really), and it was kind of a trip. Ran into a couple old coworkers as well who said they went there often, so I may have to keep it going. It was really just one of those nights where I almost called it early, had zero expectations, but then it was so much better.

Pretty much when my life hasn't felt like a bad episode of the Housewives of BH recently, it has been excellent. I am becoming more comfortable with my position and meeting more people at work, becoming more comfortable with the city I am in and those who are around me. I feel like the years right post college are an exercise in uncertainty. I feel like I am finally reaching a point where I see a bit of a path ahead of me, and it is kind of clear as to where I am going. There is still room for interpretation though, I like that.

I know Thanksgiving is in a few days, and this is really extremely cheesy, but I think all of this right now is something to be thankful for.

That and us beating Carolina.
Just sayin.

On my future.

Yesterday when I was blogging, I got a text soon after my last post from one of my best friends in CT who asked me what moisturizer I used.
I told her which I used for day and also added that I use Olay Regenerist Night Recovery Cream, and a Lancome product as well.
She texts me "you're going to be an anti-aging obsessed housewife haha"
I seriously love this. She is probably 75% correct, but I am starting early. I won't be Kim Kardashianing botox before age 30.

Hey, I could do worse, right?

When you feel like you're watching your life on TV.

This past weekend I went to Boone/Blowing Rock to attend a Life Celebration service for the brother of one of my best friends. It was really an amazing ceremony and gathering, the perfect way for family and friends to remember a person. In such a beautiful place as well.
Growing up in Connecticut, I lived in a place surrounded by landforms. Everywhere you looked on the horizon was a taller hill or mountain. (Yet I was about an hour or a little more from NYC) I believe it is technically the foothills of the Berkshire ranges, but I could be very wrong. Anyways, driving on the highway, I noticed an increased presence of mountains and was just really taken aback. I really haven't seen more than flat land in about 4 years. I think the overall feeling of the week had me very detached, and when I saw something familiar I was very moved by it.


(via BlackBerry)

After the ceremony, I met some of my friend's high school friends. I always like meeting people's friends from high school if I only knew them from college, and hearing like names of the people who were hot or thought they were soooooo cool back in the day. I hope someday to introduce the couple of remaining northerners I keep in touch with to my southern friends. I think we would all get along.

The whole feeling of watching my life on tv really occurred when a local friend took us to the party of one of his friends in a house near downtown. I feel like we all walked in and were totally puzzled, confused, detached from that situation. It really reminded me of this one time in Greenville where I went to a similar party with LWJ and it was like that Stealer's Wheel song, "clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right, here I am, stuck in the middle with you." You're there, but you're separate from the situation. There were Marine and German flags all over the house, which really took me back to another part of my life as well, one that I don't like visiting. Overall it was just strange. We were all there, but at the same time, really just observers.

Back in Raleigh now, the weekend made me really want to go home again. I also was talking to one of my friends from home that I have known since preschool. She was saying there was a bar with my last name that they all frequent. I think that is a sign more than any that I should probably take some time soon to head back home. I don't think I could do cold weather again, living in a place where you have to start your car 30 mins before you leave home, but I could use a trip up there. I need my fill of landforms and elevation for the next few years.

Things that made my week...

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It was my first full week of school this week, and there were some things that made it. Here is a list.

1. Music downloads: One of my friends took the liberty to give me the entire Teflon Don CD from Rick Ross. As well as some more inappropriate rap songs (the "Hard in the Paint" remix, etc) and some songs from Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, an indie band. This entire collection of music really just framed my week and made me happy. I needed new things to listen to. I think the other thing here that is key is I am just really into blatantly ridiculous rap, like Rick Ross. So now I have all of his new stuff, which is excellent, that I can quote (inappropriately) as I please and play while I'm driving. In my Volvo. Bitch, I'm MC Hammer.

2. Classes & Homework: All I have to say about this is that finally knowing somewhat what to expect from everything makes a huge transition easier. People seem nice, I don't feel like a complete dumbass, everything should be okay.

3. One of my good friends visited, and it was just really good to see them. People like that make me happy.

4. I finally got back to the whole gymming and tanning (outdoor and indoor) thing. It just makes me feel a little bit better about life in a holistic sense. If you take some time out of the day to do good things for yourself, it can change the landscape of a mood of a day/week/month overall. So that's what I do. And please don't take the time to tell me tanning is really bad. I actually could care less, and I think that is a stupid opinion to share.

Its been a good first week of unemployment and study. I think I may be prepared for all of this after all! And I think I will start looking for a job when it gets a bit colder. I haven't had a break like this since sophomore year.