Busy with Exams & Christmas

Yah, No more classes for the semester. Right now I all I have to do is get ready for the 4 exams I have, 3 are on Monday and 1 is on Wednesday. I am so excited!!! To be done that is, not take exams, and of course Christmas. I'm not so much excited for the getting present part this year, although that will be fun. I am really excited cause I just am, it will be nice to not do anything for classes. I have so much to do though!!!

Here is my list of things I have to do:

• Study for exams
• Get stuff together for the vacation
• Work on the Christmas Story present for my boyfriend
• Get all of my friends addresses to send them Christmas Cards
• Call my friends
• Merry Christmas/ Thank you notes for my Professors
• Practice the Flute for my family on Christmas
• Get my brother a gift
• Get a birthday gift for one of my friends son

There is so much I have to do!!! Not to mention I have to clean my room today cause one of my friends is back from Illinois! I can't wait to see her.

In other news I got a 98 on one of my French tests!!! Go me!!! Other than that I have just been working hard and trying to get everything done.

Pretty soon I will be starting up some book reviews. I have finished books I just haven't had the chance to write reviews on them. They are really good too, I can't wait!

Well off to work I go, I should really get stuff done, I have many things I need to do before she comes over.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Wow, it is already thanksgiving. Not too long ago it was Halloween. As I get older, the years seem to go by faster, a part of me wants it all to slow down just so that I can ebjoy.

But at the same time I am very glad, because soon I will be done with my 1st full semester at Pellissippi State. Go me! It has been quite the challenge, but I am very glad that I went on and pushed through it.

Now this Thanksgiving I decided to do something I have never done before, really give thanks to all those in my life and why I am thankful.

Here it goes:

To...

• My Mother- she has always been there for me and listened to me and taught me how to deal with everything in life. She has taught me how to be a strong woman and have belief in myself.
• My Father- a strong man who taught me how to love my country and taught me to take pride in myself.
• My Brother, Sean- he taught me (and still is) teaching me patience. With him having autism, it is very hard and very frustrating. He also taught me to not judge, be afraid or uncomfortable with people who are different.
• My Grandma- she is such a hard worker and is always good for a laugh. She is very strong and has taught me a lot about where my family had come from. I'm so glad she lives with us.
• Amber- my dog, the biggest and most lovable ditz ever. She is hilarious and so insecure. But our family would not be complete without her.
• Christopher- my wonderful and amazing boyfriend, he has taught me so much that it would take a whole book to explain it all. But I will say is that he has brought a lot of laughter in my life, but also helped motivated me to become a better person for me, myself and no one else. That is the greatest gift he has given me.
• All my old friends- thank you. I have learned so much from all of you. Listening to all of you and learning from your lives has helped me appreciate my life more and taught me to look at life from another persons perspective. I hope that I will be able to hang out with you again soon.
• The random people I have met and haven't talked to since- although our encounters were brief, you have made and impact and taught me something as well. The lesson may have been small, it may have been big. The important thing is that you were at the right moment, at the right place, at the right time. Teaching me something new. Thank you
• Jessica- there have been many Jessica's in my life. My best friend from high school, and My big sister from Omega Phi Alpha are just a few. To My BFF from high school, thank you for all the wonderful times we had together, you were very optimistic, kind, passionate and very bubbly. You helped bring out the happy side in me. And to my big sister, you were so understanding, very awesome and you always helped me out, thank you. I know I haven't talked to both of you in a long time, but that changes now.
• Tanya- You are so sweet. I love your personality. I hope when I'm at your age, I'm still full of life, as kind, and as wonderful as you are. You were very helpful and so much fun to be with. Don't worry, you will see me again, you can't get rid of me.
• Meredith- I was so glad to have met you. There aren't many people I love, admire and respect and you are one of them. I know we haven't talked in a long time. But I remember all the times that we have spent together and they have made an impact on me. The next time I'm in town. Let's hang out and get some cake :D
• My cousins- I'm thankful that I have you. Although I don't know all of you as well as I would like, I still remember all the times we got together and it was so much fun. I would still nevertheless want to get to know all of you better and I hope that we could hang out and get to know each other even more.
• The rest of my extended family- the same goes to you as well. I'm thankful for all the cards and gifts you have sent me over the years, even though we don't always talk and see each other. I would love to spend time with all of you and get to know you better.
• Dr. Gray- an amazing Professor who has been so helpful to me this fall semester and so full of life. Her thirst for knowledge and desire to be a better person has inspired me greatly. Thank you
• Professor Rivers- who helped me speak out during class discussions and help me not stay in the background and taught me that yes my opinion matters too.
• Professor Byrd- who was so much fun and made literature very enjoyable. Which even though I am an English major, I have experienced teachers who were able to suck the life out of literature.
• My french Professor, Madame Gammon- thank you for your patience. Learning languages has always been hard for me. I had a speech problem when I was younger. So taking on French has been a challenge for me. But I appreciate the help and the enthusiasm that you exude. Thank you
• All the new friends I have made at Pellissippi- thank you for all the new memories that I have. I hope that I will be able to get to know all of you better.
• All the soldiers that are fighting and have fought- thank you, thank you, thank you. I honestly can't thank you enough for fighting for this country. It is a hard job and you go through more pain, hardship and struggle that most people would see in a lifetime. I'm proud of you, even if I don't know you. Keep up the good work, don't get discouraged, and have faith.
• The founding fathers and mothers of this country- I thank you for fighting for freedom, I thank you for making the sacrifices that you did. We can never truly understand that hardships that you went through. Do not worry, your sacrifice will not have been in vain. I will never forget.
• All those who do not like me- thank you too. You have taught me to ignore what you think of me, to not care about how you feel about me, and how to just live me life as though you were not there. And if I had to work with you, you have taught me how to show respect to others and to be kind and compassionate towards others, even if I did not receive it in return. Thank you.
• St. Joan of Arc- one of my biggest inspiration and someone who I hope to be like. She is a woman of strength, wisdom, and strong faith. She led an army of men and between the ages of 14-16. I thank her for all the times she has listened to me. She is like a friend that I wish to one day meet.
• God- For everything. My family, friends,me, my dog, boyfriend, and all of those in my life. For giving me strength when I needed it, listened to me and for every time he forgave me.
• Myself- Yes this one is very weird, but I am thankful for me too. I am thankful that I have become a better woman over the past 2 years. That I have become more motivated and that I have been working with more determination to reach my goals. That I have taken life by the reigns and took charge of it. I am thankful for what I was, for what I am now, and what I will become.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving everyone. Enjoy the food, the family and most importantly have fun!

Small Town Quaintness

At the very beginning of this month I went with my awesome boyfriend to Fayetville, Tennessee to visit his family and the home where he grew up. It was so beautiful and amazing. It was like time literaly stopped, there was so much land. Miles and miles of nothing but farmland, there was even this huge transformer like tractor. It crossed the road which just made me laugh because it is like often do you see that everyday. Well this huge tractor like thing, no idea what the real term is, started spreading these wing like things over the field and it looked like it was giving a spray.

And that was just when we were driving to his house, which was still over an hour away. But besides that....

There was of course the town center, where had a courtyard, and a buidling (I can't remember if it was a town center or a courthouse) but this building had its own bell, which was an actual bell and rang every hour. The town center had a movie theatre, a bookstore, I think a barber shop , and a few antique bookstores. I loved it.

I literaly felt like time had stopped there. There was of course some stores and fast food places that have been cropping up expanding the area. But you can tell the town still had that small town feel, I just hope that that feeling continues to stay there.

I went on a walk in the area, feed some horses, which I believe that the family that owns them rehabilitates them. I was even told by his parents that the population has stayed the same for many, many years. I will have to come back and put the exact numbers on here about the population, but I remebered it was very interesting.

Visiting his family was a lot of fun, I was glad I got to them better and become closer to my love. Just when I think I knew everything there is to know about him, I am always learning more.

Busyness!!!

So I just noticed something while writing the title for this blog: busyness and business. This may have been obvious to others, but to me this is a revelation. There is a definite connection between the two. I wonder if business came from busyness???

Moving on though I have been very busy for quite some time, I have been studying my butt off for this class, reading other books, hanging with my friends, chillin with my boyfriend, and all the while improving myself and trying to go nuts :D.

I am so excited though, within two days I will be completly done with this class. So far in this class I have gotten 2 A's on 2 exams and I want to get that last A.

Besides that I am dealing with paperwork for Pelissippi and its been a total pain,everything from registration to financial needs. I won't be going back to UTC where I originally was going for quite some time. But I won't be able to because I have been ill for quite some time and my immune system sucks as a result.

I am getting better, but until I am back to my peak I am going to stay at home and go to school.

Either way I am very excited to be finished so that way I can relax a little bit before classes start for the fall.

My plans for the rest of the summer is excersie, write more, post more on this blog, read more, practice on my flute, and maybe even paint and draw. I'm pretty excited.

Friendship....Is it Real? A Dream?

"Don't Walk in Front of Me, I May Not Follow. Don't Walk Behind Me, I May Not Lead. Walk Beside Me and Be My Friend."

Friendship: the state of being friends

I don't know about the rest of the world, but I have always had wondered about friendships. Despite the fact that I do have some friends, I have a hard time believing whois my real friend and who is there out of convience. After all there are so many kinds of friends that existed:

• Those friends that you know through other friends


• Friends that you have in a club you are part of, but don't really spend time withoutside of the club


• Friends that you had since childhood
  
• Friends from high school


• Friends from college


• Friends from where you work


• Family friends


• Friendly Aquaintences


• Buisness friends


• On the surface friends


• Those people that you are once friends with, but through time you just lose touch
  

and last but not least

• The friend that's always there


• Me as my own friend
  

It's strange how there are different kind of friendships and friends. In my experience I have always found it hard to be able to differentiate. It has taken me many years to figure out true friends, to be honest I still have some trouble. Frankly, it has been hard for me to figure out whether or not I have friends.

For I have always been paranoid when it comes to opening myself up to other people, I won't go into details, but lets just say I was one of those kids that was severly mistreated and frequently betrayed by those who I thought were my friends. Well I did learn from my mistakes, but unfortunatly I kept running into the types of people who I thought were my friends, but really weren't. Heck I can write a book about the many types of people that you think are your friends, but really aren't.

So you can say that for many years and sometimes to this day, I have a little bit given up on the idea of friendship. You can say I'm not that kind of person that trusts people off the bat anymore. I am getting better though. It took till college for me to really believe this, the idea of friendship. The person that introduced me to this concept was my boyfriend. He really was able to show me that I can have friends and he was able to prove it. He was able to show that some of my sorority sisters are in fact really my friends. He was able to show that I can trust.

It still will be hard, I have been through a great deal. It has left many scars that you can say are still visible. Only through time will be I be able to accpet the idea tha friendship can become a reality, that it is more then a dream.