So posting on the regular is a thing now?

Alright, I haven't posted in a while.  My bad.  But I want to get back into blogging.  It was a lot of fun because I got to just say whatever I was feeling and you would have to read it.  But really, only about 7 of you will read it, most of which will be family.

Anyway, this summer I did a lot of "adulting", starting off with making the word adulting.  It should be added to the Webster's Dictionary within the next year or so.  So what did I do since the last time I blogged.  Let's see, I've:

- Graduated college
- Signed a lease on an apartment
- Created a budget (kinda)
- Had just a few late night talks with members of my family about being an adult
- Went to 2 weddings (with 2 more coming up)
- Attempted to make lifestyle changes
- Failed at some of those lifestyle changes
- Pledged to actually make those changes once grad school starts
- Packed for graduate school
- Watched a whole lot of Netflix
- Played even more video games

To me, this was a pretty productive summer.  I did some reading, both for fun and for grad school.  I'm starting to feel like an actual adult.  While I still have a little ways to go, I know that once I get to Bowling Green I'll make it work.  Along with the fair share of adulting I did, I also had some time to be a kid.  Between waking up at noon, staying up really late at night and playing video games in my pajamas, I'm sure I scare people when I tell them I'm going to graduate school.

But this is what summer is to me.  I like having the time to do absolutely nothing.  Normally I'm a person that is always on the move and rarely has time to relax.  Summer is the chance for me to let loose by nothing doing anything all day long.  Some people see this as lazy, while I try to look at it as I am preparing for the upcoming year where I won't be allowed lazy days.

Now my summer is ending.  I have two more days in Illinois before I depart for Ohio.  In that time I'm going to be packing, watching the second Sharknado movie and getting a tattoo.  This has been a great summer for me and I'm sad to be leaving.  At least I'll be leaving feeling a lot better about myself and my future.

I guess this means I've made it... temporarily

Welp... I graduated college. See below for proof

Yep, that's me getting my diploma. Well, the holder really.  I'll have to wait around 90 days to get the actual thing, but it still counts.

Graduation was a crazy experience.  I hooted and hollered for my best friends, and they did the same for me.  I was having pictures taken of me left and right.  This is about the only time I'll feel like a celebrity.  I managed to hold back tears until a line in my alma mater.  There were over 600 people in my graduating class, and I think I was one of maybe 30 that can sing the alma mater.  Anyway, the line is Wherever we go throughout the land our loyalty we sing.  It was the wherever we go part that got me.  In that moment I realized that I would actually have to leave BW.

But thankfully I was able to hold those tears back, pack my stuff up, say goodbye to my best friends and trek it back to Illinois.  Of course I got sick on the ride back, and have just now gotten over it.

Today the shock has kinda worn off me.  That Monday was spent traveling.  My family stopped in BG to check out the campus and see my office.  There were a few friends and colleagues there to say hello to.  It made the upcoming year seem more real to me.  After that I was sick so the driving back mainly consisted of me sleeping in my car (apologies to my mom and sister who had to drive whilst I slept).  Then Tuesday was my mope day.  My dad always calls the day before he has to go to work his "mope day" where he, as you could probably guess, mopes.  I did that all of Tuesday.  I sat around my room doing absolutely nothing.  Wednesday was my "let's make my room presentable" day.  I was moving stuff around because I'll be here until the end of July.  I also applied to some places for summer jobs.

Today was different.  Today was a day that I was feeling well and my room was pretty well put together.  I didn't have anything planned, but I didn't want to waste the day.  I mailed a letter and went to the bank, both very adult things to do.  It was weird because I didn't feel like a college graduate, even though I was wearing my Baldwin Wallace Alumni quarter zip.  I just felt in the middle, like this summer is another transition summer.  This summer is another transition summer, but I don't think it has quite kicked in that at the end of the summer I'll be going back to BW.

This summer is going to be a weird one for sure.

Fair Weather Reader

Recently I finished reading The Fault in Our Stars by John Green.  This book is absolutely fabulous and you should read it if you have the chance.  I've been hearing for a while that this book is really good so I finally decided to read it.  It didn't hurt that the movie is coming out soon and I love all the actors in the movie.  Anyway, I read about half of the book last night between midnight and 3am.  You know the book is good when you start crying just because you have a sense of what's coming.  It reminded me of when I stayed up until 5am reading The Hunger Games or spent an entire day with the latest Harry Potter book, after standing in line for the midnight release.

I am one of those people that believe that one should read the book before seeing the movie adaptation, so I wanted to read The Fault in Our Stars before June.  However I recall when The Hunger Games and Harry Potter last came out.  I was really excited because I had grown up with these characters and I could not wait to see them explode on the screen.  There were people in the theater, however, that had never read the books and were only seeing the movie.

The thought that somebody didn't know these characters and was just seeing the move because it "looked cool" absolutely disgusted me.  These people were not as invested in the story as I was.  They didn't understand the poetic nature of the plot lines.  None of those people had read the books, so they weren't picturing exactly how the set should look in their minds.  They are a blank slate waiting to be drawn on.

I used to think that the only people worse than not reading the books before seeing the movie are the people that only read the book because the movie is coming out.  Those people that just a week before the movie comes out are seen walking around with the book whose cover is the movie adaptation version (those are the WORST).  Those people who just days before the movie come out finally get on the bandwagon talking about how it's the BEST BOOK EVER!! and won't shut up about it.

Those people upset me because I've had weeks, months and even years preparing for some movies.  I had read the last two Lord of the Rings books before either movie came out.  I was years ahead of the curve, so to see someone read it days before the movie came out upset me.  It upset me because they felt like they were the biggest fans of the books series.  Like it was their series, but it wasn't.  It was my series.  They hadn't stayed up really late night after night because they couldn't put the book down.  They didn't have to wait for weeks on end waiting for the next book in the trilogy to come out.  Yet, I would hear time and time again that they "could NOT be more excited".

But then it hit me.  I'm one of those people when it came to The Fault in Our Stars.  Sure I had heard of the book before the movie was even started, but I didn't read it then.  I only started reading it because I really like the main actress in the movie.  Now that I'm finished with the book, I could NOT be more excited for the movie to come out.

I will always be one of those people that believes someone should read the book before the movie comes out, but at least now I know that everybody is taken on a different journey when it comes to books and my journey is not the same as someone who read this book ages ago.  It's not my fault that I loved the book and am now really pumped for the movie, nor is it the fault of the Hunger Games fan who just really likes the plot.

But really, everyone needs to read The Fault in Our Stars.

Homosexuality is WRONG!

The title, I hope, has evoked one of two emotions.  Either you are mad as hell with me and do not understand how I could say that homosexuality is wrong, or you completely agree and assume that this blog post is going to say how right you are.  Keep reading and find out.

As the vice president of the LGBT group on my campus, I have gotten to interact with both sides of this spectrum.  I've had great talks with people who wholeheartedly approve of same sex marriage and also with people who use the term 'fag' or 'faggot' like it's their job.  From these discussions, I've learned a lot about the current state of the people.

My overall advice is this: If you don't approve of gay marriage, don't marry someone who is gay.  That's it.  That's all the 'gay agenda' should be.  If you don't approve of the gay lifestyle, don't put yourself in one.  If I don't like people with red hair, I won't hang around people with red hair.  What I wouldn't even consider doing is going up to any red haired person I could find and tell them their lifestyle is wrong and should change immediately, because their genetic makeup can of course be changed.

Picture yourself.  Find one aspect of your life that is permanent and you were born with.  Maybe you have freckles, or are really short/tall, or even have a weird laugh.  Now picture a group of people telling you that one aspect of your life makes you a lesser person that should not be allowed the same rights as those of the 'correct' type.  Say anyone under 5,10'' cannot get married.  That's not something you can change, yet not you are unable to marry the person you love.

Seems stupid, doesn't it?  That's because it is.  No matter what your own beliefs are, they are your own.  You do not determine what is right or wrong for other people.  You can only speak for yourself.

I am not here saying that everybody should approve of gay marriage.  I know that is something that will most likely never happen.  I am just saying that we shouldn't judge people based on something that can't be changed.

The perk of being human is that we aren't the same.  We just haven't gotten to the point where we accept that everyone is different.  Once we realize that what I do does not affect you, nor vice versa, the world can become something great.

So far to go

I feel like so far I've been doing an okay-ish job with starting to become and adult.  I painted my bedroom at home, cleaned my college room from clutter that I won't need, and overall started taking better care of myself.  However, I've had one big hinderance; Facebook.

Thanks to the fabulous Facebook, I have become a grade A creeper.  With Facebook, people can look at their friends in the comfort of their own home... sometimes without pants on.  When you meet someone new, the first thing you do is attempt to find them on Facebook.  Want to see what you mortal enemy from high school is up to now?  Check Facebook.  Need some dirt on an ex's new significant others?  Check Facebook.

One of my greatest pastimes on Facebook is to find funny articles on Buzzfeed and post them on friends' (mainly my sister's) wall.  Usually the phrases "SO. TRUE." or "They know me so well" precedes the link.  My life can be summed up in 21 GIFS, according to the latest BUZZ.

This always leads to me spilling too much information on Facebook.  I am a proud ENTP, yet I don't need to share which HP/Star Wars/Disney characters I share my Myers Briggs test with.  My friends don't need to hear that I will be "Forever Single" or that I'm "Failing Life", thanks to all the quiz results.

Why do we live in a world where the preferred method of communication is "poking"?  We have all become addicts.  We are addicted to Facebook and social media.  No longer is there that face to face connection.  Now, all there is is a computer screen.  As a society, we have become desensitized to communication.  Instead of using the one-on-one interactions with others, all we need to do is creep on their page for about 5 minutes and there are all the answers.

My name is Julie and I am an addict.  The first step is admitting it.  I am one of those serial "like within one minute of posting" people.  On several occasions, a friend has posted something and within 60 seconds I have liked and most likely commented on their post.  What I need to do is, instead of liking a status, actually talking to the person and saying, "Hey, congrats on the job!" or "OMG your celeb partner in crime is Jennifer Lawrence, ME TOO!" But I don't. Instead I sit on my computer and type "OMG LOL" on my keyboard.  Why must people type LOL when in all reality, they barely even crack a smile.

I think we all need to take a breather and read a book.  Spend some time not over-analyzing your life based on what happens on Facebook.  Now please excuse me as I post this to all forms of social media and critique my writing skills based on how many views this blog gets.

10 things I've learned about life from video games

I love video games, and through my gaming I have seen a lot of parallels between the video games I'm playing and life lessons.  This is for those out there who love video games/ don't see the point in video games/ people who think video games stunt your growth.

1. If you just stand there, nothing is going to happen

When you are gaming, the purpose is to keep moving. Levels can only progress once the player has made it to the end.  Like life, one needs to keep moving forward.  Just standing there, someone isn't going to get to enjoy life.  The rest of the game is going on, but you will never know if you don't pick up the controller and move to the right.

2. Completing a whole game seems crazy. Start by just working on achievements

This comes from my non-futuristic way of thinking.  I like to just go with the flow, which means that my goals in life are not 30 year goals.  Yes, the purpose of playing a video game is to beat the entire game, but that seems like a daunting task.  I like to take the game level by level.  If I see the game as little stepping stones that will overall help me reach my goal, I enjoy the game a lot better.

3.You decided what games you want to play

Just because everybody is playing Call of Duty doesn't mean you have to.  If you want to play computer games or just random flash games online, that's totally fine.  In life, you get to decide what you do.  Nobody else is playing your video game but you, just like nobody else is living your life but you

4. Got stuck somewhere? Turn off your system and come back later

There have been so many times in which I have been stuck on the same level or same boss fight and not been able to beat it.  In those cases, I put my controller down and walk away for a little bit.  I get the chance to clear my head and then come back.  If you are stuck in life with a decision you don't know the answer to, take a step back, walk away to clear your head, then come back.  Most of the time the answer is right in front of your face, you just didn't see it before.

5. The most famous games are not always the most fun to play

Everybody was talking about how much fun the new __________ game was.  I tried it once and didn't like it.  That's perfectly fine.  Sometimes what everybody else thinks is great isn't worth your time.  There are times in life when everybody else is doing one thing, talking about how much fun it is, but it might not be what's right for you.  Don't just go with the flow and conform to what everyone else is doing.

6. Sometimes you need to blow off some steam

The main purpose of video games for me is a way for me to relax.  I love coming back to my room after a long day of classes and meetings and just be able to sit back, relax and kill zombies.  Everybody needs something to blow off steam once in a while.  Whether it is video games, music or hanging out with friends.  The key to a less stressful life is to find something that keeps you calm.

7. Game the way you want to

There are plenty of people who take gaming seriously.  You don't have to be one of those people.  If you are a recreational player who games for pure enjoyment, that's great! You do you.  Everybody games differently, just like everybody lives differently.  You need to discover how you game and not let anyone else tell you differently.

8. Nobody likes the gamers who showboat

I hate those gamers that constantly talk about how great they are.  They have beaten this many enemies or completed this many achievements.  Nobody likes those people.  Don't be one of them.  There are those people in life too.  These will be the people that say things like, "I don't want to tell you what to do, but if you want to do well you should..." Don't let those people throw you off your groove in life.  They suck, you're awesome.

9. Someone might be on a higher level than you, but that doesn't make them better

Just because someone has already completed the level you are on, doesn't mean they did a better job.  They might have missed something that you didn't.  They might have blown through the level, but you're taking your time and enjoying it more.  They might have started sooner than you.  All of these are reasons why someone would be further along than you in gaming and in life, but that doesn't mean they are better than you.  Never for a second think that's true.  Unless you are both going head to head in competition, then they might have beaten you. But in everyday gaming, just focus on your own game.

10. Save often

I take this to mean show appreciation.  In gaming, when you save, that means you have a baseline so if you mess up later, you can always come back to this point.  Everybody needs a support system in their lives so if stuff really starts to hit the fan, you have people you can go to for advice or support.  My friends and family are my save button.  I know that no matter what happens, I will have them and I can always go back to that point.

Lessons learned from ΦM

            Today marks the Founders Day of my sorority, Phi Mu.  162 years ago, three ingenious women named Martha Hardaway Redding, Mary Myrick Daniel and Mary Dupont Lines decided to create a society of like-minded women.  These women had no idea back then that Phi Mu would have grown exponentially over all this time.  I wanted to take the time to share my opinions about not only Phi Mu, but also sororities in general.

            I joined Phi Mu back in 2011.  I had no idea the impact joining a sorority would make on me.  I, like a lot of people, thought that Greek Life was a joke.  I believed that I was buying friends and I didn’t need that in my life.  I could not have been more wrong.  Through my other organizations, I had the opportunity to meet several current Phi Mu members.  I thought I was going to see a group of rude, vapid, girls just looking for their next party.  What I saw was a group of women grounded on the idea of supporting one another during every endeavor.  The Phi Mu members that I saw liked me for me.  I didn’t have to change myself to be accepted by Phi Mu.

            My first semester as a Phi Mu was like a dream.  Here I was in this loving environment with people that genuinely cared about me.  I had a big that I would have done anything to make proud.  I felt like I had found my niche.  I hope my Panhellenic sisters are reading this and nodding because everybody has this moment while in a sorority.  This is the moment of pure happiness.

            Obviously with being in a group of 70 women, the times will not always be happy.  You never truly know drama until you join a sorority.  No matter what sorority you are looking at, there will be more drama than you anticipated.  That’s life.  Whether in a sorority or not, drama is a part of life.  Phi Mu gave me the opportunity to learn how to confront this drama.

            Some friends, when I tell them about drama that’s going on in my sorority ask me, “If there’s so much drama, why do you stay?”  That’s a valid question.  With everything that happens in a sorority (drama, recruitment, negative stereotypes), why do you stay?  I stay in Phi Mu because this has become my hΦMe.  Phi Mu has taught me so much about others and myself.  I couldn’t picture myself without it. 

Being in a sorority is tough.  You constantly have to prove to others that you are not the stereotype.  However, life is also difficult.  You enter the work force constantly trying to prove to your boss or interviewer that you belong there.  Who will have the upper hand then? 

 I have a Phi Mu shirt that says “These letters don’t make me better than you, they make me better than who I used to be”.  I don’t think I’m better than other people because I’m Greek and you aren’t.  Because of Phi Mu, I have become a better version of myself.  I know who I want to be, thanks to lessons learned from Phi Mu. 

My American Idol

Whenever I am in an interview I always seem to be asked the same question, "Who is your idol?"

This is a tough answer to give.  Nobody wants to be cliche about their answer, however you are being judged on what you say.  There is also a difference between someone you look up to and an idol.  To me, someone who you look up to is a person in your life that has taught you something and you draw on their decisions to help you make your own.  An idol is something completely different.  An idol is someone who's actions you want to emulate.  An idol is someone who can do absolutely no wrong in your eyes.

That being said, my answer has always and will always be Ke$ha.

People always seem shocked when I answer that the person I most want to emulate is a singer who brushes her teeth with a "bottle of Jack".  However, Ke$ha is deeper than most people think.  I tell people that the only difference between Ke$ha and I is our affinity towards glitter.  I can't stand glitter, and every single piece of clothing or makeup Ke$ha wears seems to have some glitter involved.

While most of Ke$ha's music revolves around drinking or lewd behavior, with lyrics full of swearing.  But that's not what I hear when I listen to Ke$ha.  I hear a girl who knows what the younger generations want to hear and uses that to her advantage.  The most popular songs from Ke$ha are often party anthems, in which it is almost vital nowadays to include references to drinking and coitus.  Very few people hear the inspirational lyrics of Ke$ha's ballads.  One of my favorite songs by Ke$ha is "Love Into the Light".  Ke$ha talks about her imperfections and how culture dictates that people are perfect and if not, everyone will talk about how terrible of a person you are.  Some of her most poignant lyrics are,

I know we're all different
Baby that's life
But all of these differences
They make me feel alive

Ke$ha knows how she is seen to the public.  She knows that some people only see her as a party animal and an alcoholic.  Not many people know that Ke$ha is actually smart enough to be a member of MENSA.  While Ke$ha's musical style isn't everyone's cup of tea, she is doing something that she really loves. Ke$ha is trying to show people that you can still be successful as long as you believe in yourself and not worry about the opinions of other people.

Ke$ha is the type of person that I want to be.  I want to wake up in the morning believing in myself.  People underestimate me.  I want to show them that, like Ke$ha, I am stronger than what people think.  My goals in life will be enough to keep me going, no matter what.  People will say whatever they want about me, but I will take the high road and persevere.  I will walk into a room and automatically own it.  Nothing will be able to bring me down and nobody will be able to touch me.

Don't worry though, I find the idea of brushing my teeth with anything other than toothpaste yucky

I hate talking about myself

Yes, I know how cliche this sounds.  I'm running a blog, so obviously I like to talk about myself, but that's not what I mean.  I hate talking about my strengths and such.  Over the past few months I have had to write similar documents about my strengths as a leader to add to graduate school applications.  Prompts like, "Highlight some skills and experiences that make you the best possible candidate" absolutely freak me out.  I don't want to downgrade myself and say anything negative, but I don't want to be that person that just says, "I'M AMAZING AND IF YOU DON'T HIRE ME THEN YOU ARE AN IDIOT".  What I've learned over the past few weeks is that I need to say the say "I'M AMAZING" without having to say it, which is difficult.

I mean, let's face it.  I am amazing, but so are we all.  I'm not trying to start an existential movement here, I just don't want to sound like a self-obsessed woman on these applications.  So I'll talk about how I am an LRA and in charge of a staff of 8, I was Vice President of Operations in my sorority and that entailed being in charge of a board of 15, and I'm currently the Vice President of Allies, the LGBT group at school.  I have to talk about what impact I have made within all of these roles and how that has better prepared me for graduate school.  Then it hits me.

I'm not prepared for graduate school.  I don't think anybody really is.  Yes, it's a continuation of your education, however everything is different.  I will be the adult in charge, not just the leader of a student organization.  We are in this college bubble.  Sure, we have jobs and take classes that prepare us for after graduation.  But does that mean that we are actually prepared for after graduation?  There are some people I see throughout campus that scare me when I think that soon they will be departing into the real world.  I'm sure there are people who think that about me.  Heck, I think that about me all the time.

What I'm trying to say is that we are all awesome and have these awesome things to put on our awesome applications and awesome resumes, however once we get that diploma, it's going to be like momma bird is kicking us out of the nest and we have to learn to fly.

I just don't want to be that bird that's stranded on the ground.

Why does my body not let me rest?

This past weekend was an extra long one due to MLK day.  Because of this, I had an extra day to sit around and do nothing really.  I had places to go and people to see, but between going to those places and seeing those people, I found myself bored out of my skull.  I didn't have homework to be doing, and all of my friends were either busy or contributing to society via their big kid jobs.  Basically, I was stuck in my room all weekend.  It was actually pretty boring.

Now, however, at 2am the night before classes start again, I find myself restless.  My body is telling me that I haven't done enough to warrant being tired.  I'm just laying in bed, twiddling my thumbs, waiting for sleep to hit me.  Then my brain starts working overtime.

You know that feeling when you are just about to get to sleep, but then you realize every little thing that is wrong in your life and needs correcting?  Yes, that is exactly what's going on in my mind.  I can't stop thinking.  I'm thinking about my grad school applications and when I will be finding out about them.  I'm thinking about what McDonalds I will have to work at if I don't get into a grad school.  I'm thinking about how to make my last semester a good one, and I'm thinking about all the stupid things I say on a daily basis.

I don't know what about laying in bed trying to not think brings on all the thoughts, but it does.  I think about relationships that are different now than a year ago and how I can make them better.  I think about who is actually reading this blog or is this just for me.  I think about traveling and where I would want to go.  Then I start thinking about other people.  I flip through Twitter hoping that none of my friends are up because it's 2am and nobody should be up, but then it would be better if they were up because then I would have someone to talk to instead of ranting on my blog.

Of course, I jinx my sleep by thinking about the next day.
"If I go to bed right now, I will get exactly 5 hours and 40 minutes of sleep" I tell myself.  Just by thinking about sleep, I'm dooming myself.

Why are we not made with a nice ON/OFF switch?  It would be so much easier if I could get into bed, turn off my brain, and go out like a light until I needed to wake up.

This is why I hate thinking about what is coming up.  I stay in the present because if I think about the future too much, I will over think and I will never be able to sleep.  I hate having to wait for anything, so if I'm thinking about what I want, I will just want it now, instead of whenever it is supposed to happen.  I don't want to think about graduation because it will distract from the rest of this semester.  This is the semester that I hope to get the most out of.

I don't want to have tunnel vision, only worrying about one thing.  I want to worry about everything as it happens.

Women can be super too

I was on Tumblr the other day and one of my followers posted a link to a survey for a class they were taking.  This survey was about women in comic books.  Of course I jumped at the chance to talk about female superheroes.

The first part of the survey asked how often I read comic books and how many of those comics revolved around female lead characters.  For this, I came up with a discovery that I'm sure most people know.  At least all women who read comic books know that women are underwritten in most comic books.

Sure, there is Wonder Woman who is about as courageous and fierce as they come, but let's start out looking at her outfit.  I hardly believe that anyone could fight crime in that outfit.  She isn't even wearing comfortable shoes.  In most books featuring Wonder Woman she is wearing high heels.  As far as protection goes, thankfully Wonder Woman has her trusty cuffs to deflect oncoming bullets.  A fashion accessory only available to the most powerful of WOMEN I'm sure.  

Next, looking at PowerGirl, the outfits are even skimpier.  The appeal for PowerGirl is that she has really big breasts.  Seriously, she should be fighting her lower back pain rather than fighting crime.  The man who drew PowerGirl was convinced that his boss was not paying attention to the work the artist was doing, so each week, the artist made PowerGirl's breasts a little bigger.  There is even a nice "cleavage window" on her outfit.  This is a move that nobody would dare try on Batman.  Nobody would play with the symbol on his chest, making it bigger and bigger with each comic.  Are women only around in comic books to be the playthings of the writers? 

 

When are comic books going to evolve past the point of women falling into three categories: the damsels in distress, the prudes, and the lesbians.  I write that last category not to offend.  I am thrilled that the LGBT community has begun to be represented in comic books, however other characters are seen as lesbians if they are strong, independent, women.  On several occasions, Wonder Woman has been asked out by humans and superheroes alike and if she rejected them, the reader was left wondering if the Amazonian princess, who lived on an island without men, could really bat for the other team.

In the past few years, DC comics has rebooted the franchise, coming up with new story lines for all of our favorite heroes.  One of whom being Batwoman.  Within two issues, Batwoman was shown to actually be a lesbian.  It was great!  The story did not solely revolve around the fact that she was gay, however the writers did not hide it.  On the negative side, however, Batwoman was shown as really aggressive and rude.  I've heard people say they believe her aggression stemmed from her being a lesbian.  Are we not allowed to have a feminine superhero who can be gay and still kick a ton of booty?  I'm not asking for too much here.

Where is the hope for young girls?  We live in a place in which you can do whatever you want to do and be whoever you want to be, yet Princesses and Barbies are for girls and action figures and comic books are for boys.  The comic book situation is a huge Chicken and the Egg situation.  Do boys read more comics than girls because the women are not portrayed in a positive way, or are women portrayed in a negative way because more girls do not read comic books?  

I wish women in comic books would just have a tragic backstory like the men and be done with it.  Couldn't we just write women that kick ass and take names?  Why must a female superhero's power be her sexual appeal?

My hope is that in the future, female superheroes are more common and writers write them not to appease the men, but to show young girls that if you work hard and have talents other than being well endowed, that you will go far in this world.

Ode to Free Time

Why do you never come when I want you?

Of course the only free time I get is the Sunday before school starts, or "Syllabus Eve" as it is more commonly known on campus.  All my residents have moved back in, I have said my hellos and had multiple conversations that went just like this,

"Hey!"
"Hey"
"How was break?"
"Good, how was yours?"
"Good..."

My winter break has been summed up with one word... good.  My winter break was awesome!  I went to Disney World and had a really fun time.  However, I do not want to prattle on all day about how fabulous my break was.  Mainly because I know that my residents do not really care.  It's an obligation to ask about break.  Nobody really cares, however it is the polite thing to do.

Anyway, after having riveting talks with passersby, I got the chance to sit back, relax, and do nothing.  What I realized is just how much I hate doing nothing.  Normally I love it!  There were times in which I could do nothing for an entire day.  This night is not one of those days.  I'm sitting at my desk thinking if I should just go to sleep because I am so bored, but then I realize it is only 8:20pm and I am not 60 years old.

I miss the free time that would come when I wanted it.  After a long day of classes and meetings, nothing felt better than coming back to my room and doing absolutely nothing.  Now, I find myself longing for something to do.  My room is all neat and clean, my books are ready for tomorrow, and my calendar is updated for the entire semester.

This shouldn't be something I complain about.  Most people scuttle around searching for extra seconds within a day.  I should be thankful for these next few hours before it is socially acceptable to go to sleep, however I know I will just be spending the time twiddling my thumbs hoping that someone gets locked out of their room.

Trying to convince myself that I am a fully functional adult by...

Cleaning my room.  That's right, cleaning.  It's always a challenge for me to KEEP my room clean, however I have no problem staying up until the early hours of the night meticulously organizing and reorganizing my living space.

I wanted this semester to get off to a great start, so I thought, "why not get my room in shape?"  This is how most people know that I am either bored out of my skull or over-thinking.  Normally I consider myself somewhat organized.  It's more of a chaotic organized but I always know where everything is, is it's ok in my book.

Tonight's adventure was to throw out things and food that I was going to be using.  I opened drawers and emptied boxes.  For the first time since I got back, I can actually see my desktop.  It has been non-stop Residence Life stuff, so this is really the first time I have had to myself.

I know I need to make this whole "cleaning" idea a weekly thing, but I have found it's more cathartic if I go from insane to perfectly organized rather than a little bit each week.  To me, I feel like I have accomplished more if I do a lot at a time, instead of small amounts.  I blame my need of immediate satisfaction.  I don't have time to put my clothes in the laundry basket because I just want to take a nap, so I just throw them on my futon.

Eventually, I find myself walking into my room thinking WWMYS or, "What Would My Mom Say?".  This scares the living daylights out of me, which quickly prompts my cleaning.

But when it's all said and done, my room looks amazing and I am ready to start this semester like an adult.  Now I'm going to read my comic books and drink out of my Doctor Who glass until my room gets cluttered again.

This is it...

I'm back on campus for my last semester at Baldwin Wallace University.  The idea of me being a second semester senior is a crazy one to me.  It feels like just yesterday I got my acceptance letter to BW.  Back then it was BWC, not BWU.

This semester is all about me growing up.  Sure, I am a responsible adult, however I am still not sure if I can function in the grown up world.  This semester will test that.  I will be going on interviews for grad schools, training a new staff member, the whole time taking a full course load.  This will not be an easy semester for me.

However, I think this is the semester that I am going to get the most out of.  I have to teach myself all the skills I will need in the future.  Like laundry.  Obviously I know how to do laundry, however whenever I do laundry, I end up leaving my clothes in the dryer.  Then, whenever I remember, the clothes are so wrinkled that I basically need to put the clothes back into the dryer.

Thankfully I already consider myself an "old soul".  Honestly, I think I am a 70 year old in a 22 year old body.  I've thought about the impending doom of youths and I'm getting worse and worse with the new "hip" technology.  I have yet to break a hip, but I'm sure that's coming.

Basically, I need this semester to be my time in which I will learn to say goodbye to my undergrad time and say hello to my new life.  Let's see how it goes.