Feeling the Pressure!

The past few days have been very busy for me.

Tuesday night I worked up at Skyviews to help out with Dinner Series. It turned out to be quite an eventful night! Both elevators stopped working at the same time, leaving all of our guests stranded on the sixth floor of the building! The only way out was to take six flights of stairs down to the parking lot. That, and one of our guests got stuck inside the elevator for 30 minutes or so.

I went to the Theraputic Riding Center orientation yesterday. I'm a little nervous about volunteering there, but I think it could be a good experience for me.

My Community Engagement class has proved to be very interesting thus far. We're forming a fundraiser to help send underprivelaged kids to summer camp. I'm pretty excited about the opportunity to really help someone!

Other than that, I've been helping out at fashion camp as much as I can and trying to avoid getting sick. One of my student's was sick this past week, and I think I may have caught it from him.

I know I should be helping out at fashion camp more, but it's been really hard to find time with everything I have going on. I have a feeling my professor might be slightly upset with me over this. I hate that feeling. Hopefully I can find a way to make up any missed hours I have! I really hope she's not mad...

Fashion Camp: Day 1

Glad to say that the first day of fashion camp when well. Despite the 100 degree temperatures and bright sunny skies, the campus tour that I volunteered to sign up for went smoothly. It's weird to be around teenage girls again. It hasn't been that long since I was a teenager myself, but being a teenager is just different now. It will be interesting to see how the rest of the week goes.

Tomorrow is the photo shoot that I signed up/was forced to lead. I struggle a little bit with the whole concept of being a counselor at a fashion camp. Let's face it, most of the campers probably know more about fashion than I do; I can put together an outfit, but I'm no fashionista. But I'm curious to learn the works of putting together a camp of any kind, especially one that includes a fashion show. It can only help build my resume!

A much needed update

Okay, I've really got to stop slacking on this blog business! I didn't start one just to not use it!

I bought a book yesterday called "The Red Leather Diary" (which, by the way, prompted me to update my OWN diary!) and I'm really enjoying it so far. It's about a girl named Lily who finds this diary of a young woman who lived during the late 1920s/early 1930s. She eventually finds the woman who wrote the diary, who, at the ripe old age of 90, was still alive and well, at least at the time the book was published. I've always loved reading accounts of how life used to be before I was born. I don't know why I find it so fascinating to see how other people lived their lives, but I do.

I also bought two trashy romance novels that I enjoy reading from time to time. They help take my mind of the more serious matters in my life :).

I'm currently in summer school taking three courses. I know it's ambitious of me, but I'd rather be ANYWHERE but Lubbock in the summer! However, I want to complete my master's degree more than anything at the moment. All lofty goals require some sacrafice, right? I'm really looking forward to finishing the next two weeks of school. I have to somehow complete 5 Master Event Plans by August 5. Except I have NO idea how to even write a Master Even Plan! It's so frustrating! I'm hoping to complete all five by June 26 so I can at least write off one class as being completed this summer. We'll see if I can accomplish this.

So many plans!

I feel a certain sense of satisfaction knowing that I'm achieving a goal most people only dream about. Or at least trying to. Lately, I've noticed many people want to own a bakery and plan events, both goals I'm working towards. Hopefully, my master's in RHIM will help me achieve those dreams.

I also want to get my pastry certificate after I graduate in December so I can start making and selling baked goods from my house. My goal is to one day open a bakery that also doubles as a bistro. Nothing big, I just want to sell baked goods, sandwiches, soups, salads, and sweet tea. Oh, and also pottery. Maybe I could recruit local artists to sell their pieces at my bakery? I think that would be fun!

I've been so busy with school lately I've barely been able to keep up. I wish I had more time to pursue activities that I enjoy, not just school and work. I was really hoping I could join the Polo team this semester, but all the rides times are during my class periods, which is disappointing. I really miss horseback riding. I hope one day I will be fortunate enough to own my own horse and actually show. I've always wanted to do that. But it's still frustrating to me that I can't do anything about it NOW. There must be something I can work out...

I also wanted to join the new Swim Club on campus but they also meet when I'm in class or at work. Ugh. It's so aggrevating to me that I don't have the time or money to do the things I really want to do. Hopefully, I can find some kind of activity this semster to try, preferably something that I've always wanted to try. I'm going to try to work something out.

I will get organized. Eventually.

It's soooooo freakin' COLD outside! I'll tell ya, going out is just not the same when the weather is cold. It's just not worth getting all dressed up and leaving my apartment, lol! Nonetheless, I'm glad that I went out tonight since my splitting migraine prevented me from doing anything entertaining last night. Other than surfing Facebook, of course.

Went out with my brother's girlfriend tonight for dinner and drinks and had a really great time! I really like her, and am very glad my brother finally found someone normal for once. We went to Carino's for dinner, and ironically enough, were waited on by a guy I used to work with in 2004 when I first started at Tech. His name is Josh. I thought I recognized him at first but wasn't sure if it was him, until he dropped the check and asked me if I had lifeguarded in Lubbock before (kind of a random question?). I said no, and that I had worked at Carino's before, and he said that's where he recognized me from. Apparently he had left to move to Houston shortly after I went back home, and had attended fire school and became an EMT. After Ike, he moved back up to Lubbock to finish his degree. He said he has another 6 months left. Anyway, the story is really irrelevent, but I just thought was neat to run into somebody from that time of my life. Such a screwed up time in my life. I was even more surprised that he actually recognized me, considering I don't look the same at 24 as I did at 19.

So after a delicious dinner and good conversation we went to Library to meet up with some of Teena's friends. I don't really care for Library that much; it's the place where Lubbock's ghetto people go to drink, surprisingly enough. That, and it's cold in the winter time because they keep the front doors open. I'm also a wimp though. Anyway, I just got home about 30 minutes ago and thought I would catch up on my journal since I've neglected it the past week or so.

I am so glad this week is over. I definitely need a chance to take a breather, get organized, and catch up on everything I haven't been able to get to since the semester started. I can't believe I'm going on my fourth week of school already. That's just crazy to me. I mean the faster, the better, but all the same, I have SO much to do! Tomorrow I'm going to make a to-do list, and a to-buy list, as well as go to Barnes and Noble and pick up a book on organization. I could really use the help. I have GOT to get my life together; I'm getting older, and much busier, and can't rely on memory alone to guide me in everything I need to accomplish. It's making me anxious as I write this! Anyway, hopefully I can get everything together this week so I can start off on a fresh page next week which will help set a good tone for the rest of the semester/yearh. I really want to be more organized, reliable, and accountable; I have to be in order to be taken more seriously on the job and get good recommendations when I graduate. Up until now, I've kind of relied on the theory that getting older means getting more on-top of things, which I've come to find isn't necessarily true.

A good example: I forgot to turn in my Module 2 exam for my Concepts class today. In my defense, it wasn't assigned in class, rather this past weekend a full week after the first day of class. If something isn't assigned in class, it's harder for me to remember to do it. Lame, I know, but it's true. Anyway, I felt like a total doofus, and decided then and there that enough is enough. I'm sure my co-workers and peers think I'm a total idiot for being so forgetful. I feel inadequate as a grad student as is; in fact, sometimes I think it would be better to wait until I'm a little older to go to grad school. But really, how am I going to be able to fit that into my schedule as I get older and have more responsibilities? There's just no way. So I'll suck it up and deal with it now, and just make the best of my situation. Man, I am pumped and ready to go! Must be the alcohol speaking.

Ignorance is Bliss

Well, today was a little better than yesterday as far as my mood is concerned. The first part of my day started out a little rough; I was definitely in the mood to self-depricate. Anyway, I snapped out of later when I realized that no one is perfect, and everyone makes mistakes. That's part of who we are as human beings, and it helps us learn who we really are. Besides, how boring would it be if I was perfect? Then nobody would like me, lol!

Anyway, one thing I need to work on is learning to accept myself for who I am. I know that's the pinnacle of every twenty-something's life, but for me it is extra hard because I haven't had the "normal" twenty-something experience. But I have accept that that's the way my life turned out, and no matter how much I wish I could go back and change things, I CAN'T. As my boyfriend's mother says "Stop looking in the rear-view mirror."

One thing that bothers me is people who say they have no regrets in life. That is the biggest load of BS I've ever heard. How can you have NO regrets in life? That's impossible. Everyone has something that they regret or wish they had done differently. People who disagree simply haven't lived enough to say otherwise. Usually it's people who are young and naive.

I've got to learn to lighten up a little, and not overanalyze things so much. The happiest people are those who can take bad experiences and pass at off as lesson learned, instead of dwelling on things they can't change.

It's so cold outside...

...I can see my breath. I can't, however, feel my toes.

My roomate and I moved into our new apartment today. It's in an older apartment complex on the south side of town. It's older than the last apartment I had, but ironically enough, a lot nicer. And quieter. I am so over houses. For now, anyway.

The whole burglarly has created a lot of anxiety in me lately. I'm not sure if it was the moving process I was dreading, or the loss of my sense of security, or maybe both, but I've felt on edge for about a week now. Sometimes living so far away from home is a hassle. But, I've got a year left of school, so I'm going to make the best of it while I can. Now I would just like to work on regaining that sense of confidence and security about leaving my belongings at home that I had before. When I really think about it, of all the days of my life, which there are many, I've only had one where I've come home to my house being broken into (or at least my roomate did). I know it will take time to regain my confidence, but I'm hopeful. Hopeful, but even more cautious than I was before.