Sharing

This was written awhile ago and I didn't ever publish it. Enjoy!

I am not a good sharer.  I mostly blame my parents for this.  I have always gotten whatever I wanted and never really had to share with my sister.  When we did have to share, like when we lived together, she was rarely home and also had this thing called common courtesy.  Common courtesy, to me, dictates that you do not eat other people food without asking, you don't use other people's things without asking, you respect other people.  I try to follow these rules.  I may not always be perfect but let me tell you, I'm not as bad as it as some people in my life.  Some people need to learn that what's mine is mine and not yours.  It's yours if I offer, not if you just take.  Having to learn to share things that I DESPERATELY do NOT want to share is becoming very difficult for me. Very difficult.  It's making me more and more upset with every day that I am still living like this!

Longest. Semester. EVER.

Sorry for the inexcusably long hiatus from blogging!  If anyone still reads this, let me explain a little.  Last semester was the very last semester of classes that I had to take as an undergraduate college student.  Which meant stress.  What should have been the easiest semester of my life: only 12 hours, only education classes, no working in the school 2 full days a weeks for the experience.  Easy right?! Not quite.  See my semester started with trying to get my summer credits to transfer.  I took this stupid political science class at a community college from San Antonio.  Because I had a life in good ole' College Station, I took it online.  I, of course, waited till the last minute to get the work done.  I finished all the quizzes for the class and managed an 80 something in the class...not bad for me.  Well fast forward to August to get this credit on my A&M transcript.... The community college somehow 'withdrew' me from the course and wasn't giving me any credit for it.  After what seemed like a million back up plans and phone calls and wrong transfers to wrong departments, I somehow managed to  get ahold of the professor for the class.  He decided to be a SAINT and help me out.  Well about a month and a half later, I was able to get all of my work on the transcript and sent to A&M!  YAY! In addition to all of that stress, I thought it would be a fun idea to pick up some more jobs!  So I was managing at the Call Center three nights a week, substitute teaching on Fridays, and being a teaching assistant for a class once a week.  Needless to say, I was stretched thin.  All this while trying to maintain a social life with all my awesome friends, making it home for all the hockey games, and trying to get used to living with someone not my sister (whole other post coming for this topic).  Add in a birthday, Thanksgiving, a broken heart, and moving out of my apartment.  That was what all I was dealing with! Crazy right?! I am now going to be blogging again! YAY! More flashback posts from last semester to come, along with new stories in my adventures in teaching and living with my parents...

Welcome to Hell

Group projects.  Seemingly harmful assignments right?! False.  Group projects are a gift sent to us straight from the Devil himself.
What a group project is supposed to look like:
All students doing an equal share of the work
All students working together to create the work
All students working together
All students collaborating to arrive at the answers/final product

What they actually look like:
1 person organizes the group
1 person does the prep work
1 person does all the work
That one person happens to be the SAME person
Very little is done by all members

I'm currently involved in 2 group work heavy classes and let me just tell you: the freaking suck!  Some people argue that group projects prepare you to work in the "real world."  And I'm going to go ahead and say that that is a total complete lie.  Yes, you have to work together and collaborate in the "real world" but everyone is more invested because its 1) your job and 2) people will rat you out 3) if you don't know the material and can't explain your work to the boss man, you're screwed.  Group projects teach you one thing: single out the smartest person and team up with them so that they'll do all the work.  I of course am always the one who gets singled out like the weak gazelle on National Geographic.  I'd stay and rant longer, but I have work for other people to take credit for.

A letter entitled, my life sucks!

I had a really crappy day yesterday which, while it sucked yesterday, I can definitely laugh at it now.  Here is an email I wrote to my dear friend who is serving her mission.

Hey Bubbler!

So I had the worst day ever yesterday, but it's kind of actually hilarious now and I thought you might like to hear about it! :)

So I went to walk around downtown Bryan (kind of a sketch area) for a school project and let me tell you, if this is what you do walking around dangerous areas and going up to people who may or may not want to talk to you, i commend you because it scared the bejezzus out of me!! So we're walking around and we got honked at and whistled at more times than I care to count.  Then we were walking along and what do my little eye see?!?! The barrel of a shotgun pointed at the street.  Umm no thanks. So i turn to my group and say, no, we're leaving, i'm done. no more walking around for me!  Well we kept walking anyway because my scared little butt got out voted.  Turns out when he shot the gun, it was actually a bb gun, but still....it was mildly terrifying.  Anyway, so we went back to my place to do the write up portion of the project and no surprise here, I ended up having to do all the work :/  So im sitting there doing all the work putting the project together and then everyone leaves because they're just watching me work at this point and that is frustrating to say the least... ugh group projects! Anyway....to continue on with my day.  So i worked on some other homework...math, who decided we needed to learn this stuff?! And then I decide I need to hit up Sonic so that I can stay awake while trying to learn my math.  Well that required finding my keys.  Well let me tell you that yesterday morning I cleaned my room pretty good.  I couldn't find my silly keys anywhere.  So i began to panic, obviously.  So then I was like well maybe i locked them in my car. So I tried to break into my own car with a coat hanger....ya know, like in the movies.  Just like that.  Except it doesn't actually work like that. It's kind of impossible. Oh, and did I mention that it was raining at this point in the night when I'm trying to break into my own car? because it totally was. Well then i call my mom to brainstorm and problem solve and she told me to call AAA to have them unlock my car.  Well they unlock it and guess what! no keys..... well crap. So I call my friend ashley and tell her she needs to check her car because at this point, they're either at the mall in Houston someplace or in her car.....and I was hoping they were in her car.  So she went to check while I continued to PANIC majorly. Well she called me and they were in her car!! Yay! so I asked my roommate, victoria, to drive me to Ashley's to get my keys and I told her I'd buy her frozen yogurt if she took me.  So we pick up the keys and I run through the grass to get the keys from Ashley.  In case you've forgotten, it's still raining at this point. rain+grass=mud.  lots of it.  So i'm running in my flip flops and sliding all over the place and got my feet covered in mud.  so now that i've got the keys, i'm running back to the car and rinse my feet off in a puddle (you know you're a redneck when...lol) and get in the car to go get some fro yo with victoria.  So we make our fro yos and we go to pay. well i should say, try to pay. This idiot forgot her wallet at home.....So victoria had to pay.  I felt AWFUL!!! I tried to pay her back when we got home but she wouldn't take it, saying that my day was rough enough already. So let me tell you I was ready for sleep but since i'd done all that crazy running around and everything, I had to work on homework...... But today should be better. I hope....I think....I pray....

What's the worst day you've had?  Please tell me you've lost your keys too....right?!

Lo Siento!

I'm so sorry that I haven't been blogging. This girl got a little caught up in the working 3 jobs and trying to enjoy my very last summer as a "kid" ever!  I promise, I have a list of things to blog about which I will start writing about now! Well as soon as I say SORRY one more time for my unannounced hiatus from the blogosphere!!! :)

Back To School!

I love going back to school for quite a few reasons:
1. I love being on a schedule
2. Back To School Shopping!! new clothes, new pens, new pencils, new post-its!!!! Need I go on?
3. I get to go back to seeing my friends on a regular basis again!
4. I'm going to be a teacher, so clearly I love that whole school thing!
5.  Back to school clothes sales!!

Anyway, I got to thinking since today was my last first day of academic classes!  I started thinking about all my first days of school!!  When I was little, I was scared to go to school for the first time so my mom gave me a back pack teddy bear and I called her Lee.  My big seester had one named Louise (our middle names).  Whenever I got scared or missed my mom, I went to my back pack to sneak a peak at my teddy! I've always loved that idea and have been adamant that my children will have little back pack bears of their own one day. (one day very far away)

Bucket List: Revisited

It's about a month left of summer and I decided I need to get to work on this bucket list!

1.  Learn to shoot a handgun
2.  Ice skate
3.  ACTUALLY go see movies - DONESKIES!!!! Saw Dark Knight, Spiderman, and Brave!!
4.  Spend a majority of my free time at the beach with the besties! Donish! Went to Corpus with Ashely and her family!
5.  Take a road trip (just a day trip at least) someplace new!  DONE!! Went to Corpus!!
6.  Get another piercing - not yet, but cartilage piercing here we come!!
7.  sing karaoke 
8.  Don't think - just do - I'm doing ok with this one!
9.  Go to Lake Bryan
10.  Go to a concert - Summer fest kickoff at Harry's counts right??
11.  go dancing - like country dancing
12.  Successfully make clothespin cookies
13.  keep in contact with everyone who is important to me I'm doing a fairly good job at this one!
14.  Live in a clean apartment - all summer - Ashley, don't laugh too hard at that one! The apartment is clean....My room is a different story... In my defense, I still haven't actually settled into my room yet.
15.  READ - pshhhh umm not so much
16.  Lay out & tannnnnnn - I had a decent tan going, then camp happened.
17.  work out - hahahaha what was I thinking....
18.  Go bowling with friends frequently
19.  Pass Texas Government - WITH A B!!!! BAM!
20.  Float the river with friends!

Okay, only 8 of the 20 have been done.... UHOH!!! HELP!!! Anyone who wants to help me complete these let me know!!

LONDON

Hey there bloggy friends.  I have a HUGE apology to issue.  It's been months since I posted.  I can't say it's because I couldn't find the time, but I was in London and then working like crazy and then I took a mini vacation with a friend's family and now I'm working a camp for 3 weeks.  Oh and I had to pass Texas Poli Sci at some point in there too.  To help express my sincerest apologies, I'm including lots of eye candy today! Enjoy my pictures from London!

The Seester in the courtyard of the Victoria & Albert Museum

Just me chillin in a phone booth

Burberry Outlet Store - Everything was still wayyyy too expensive

Westminster Abbey - LOVED IT

Outside Buckingham Palace gates 

Seester outside the Palace

Just headed to Hogwarts - No big deal!

Golden Carriage at the Royal Mews

We had to take a picture with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge!!

More about London to come soon!!

Catch-Up

I haven't posted in forever and I know that. I have PLENTY to talk about tho for sure. I have a whole bunch of posts to put up about my trip to LONDON!!! Complete with pictures.  But first of all, these are the things that my friends have said to/about me this week.  Some of them were kind hearted, others maybe not so much.

"We have lots of problems..."
"You're a crazy motha f****"
"You think too much about everything"
"You're dramatic"
"You over think every single detail"
"It's about time you had something positive in your life"
"You do know how to hit it pretty hard"

This is what my friends think of me.

Summer Bucket List

I'm sure you're all familiar with bucket lists. (don't EVER watch that movie with Morgan Freeman).  I have decided to make a bucket list since this is my last summer in college.  It's the last time I can do stupid stuff and still be able to tell people, "back when I was in college..."
This is my summer bucket list: (in no particular order)

1.  Learn to shoot a handgun
2.  Ice skate
3.  ACTUALLY go see movies
4.  Spend a majority of my free time at the beach with one of the besties
5.  Take a road trip (just a day trip at least) someplace new!
6.  Get another piercing
7.  sing karaoke 
8.  Don't think - just do
9.  Go to Lake Bryan
10.  Go to a concert
11.  go dancing - like country dancing
12.  Successfully make clothespin cookies
13.  keep in contact with everyone who is important to me
14.  Live in a clean apartment - all summer - Ashley, don't laugh too hard at that one
15.  READ
16.  Lay out & tannnnnnn
17.  work out
18.  Go bowling with friends frequently
19.  Pass Texas Government
20.  Float the river with friends!

The ones in italics are the ones I'm really nervous about....

Procrastination

So I'm at the park with my one of the besties, Ashley and what happens? We find ourselves in the midst of a really cheesy rom-com.  Let me set the scene a little:

Setting:  Breezy day, overcast but not gloomy.  Fairly windy. Public Park

Enter: Sorority chick (costume: triple extra large v-neck american apparel depicting a sorority sponsored event and some white shorts) and boyfriend (aggie uniform - maroon t-shirt and jean shorts).

In hand, the two have a kite.  Yes, a kite.  Now I'm just as cynical as the next single girl so let me ask you this, what is so fun about sitting down and holding a string and watching the dang kite just float?!? Well anyway, after about 20 minutes they finally got it up.  and then they just sat there.  Her with her arms around her knees holding the kite and him with his arm around her.  And that's it.  That's all they did.  Now, Ashley says that it is SOOOO ROMANTIC, but I just don't get it.  Maybe I'm emotionally stunted but they literally sat there for like an hour.  DOING NOTHING.  Do you not have finals to prepare for?!  Oh and to make them just that much more adorable, they left in a VW bug. He drove.

Am I crazy? Or was that just a little too cheesy???

Home Stretch

Okey, so here's the breakdown:
1 take home test that is 8 pages to finish by 2:00PM tomorrow
1 Take home test that consists of 3, 2-3 page (double spaced) essays Due tomorrow by 11:59 PM
1 online test that is 40 questions with 25 minutes to take it in available after Wednesday.

What does this mean??? It means that by Wednesday night, I will be DONESKIES with my Junior year of college.  Seriously?! Seriously!!!!

Just a Spruce

I thought I'd spruce up the blog a tad! It's been the same for quite awhile!  I decided to go with the paris theme because 1) I am OBSESSSSSSED with ALL THINGS PARIS and 2) I WILL BE IN PARIS IN A MONTH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Can we please just focus on that for a second?! In one month, the sister will be graduated and we will be hanging out in London and Paris like the little jet setters we aspire to be!!!!!!

Whirlwind!

The past few weekends have been a whirlwind of stuff!!! So I've got my last few days of classes and placement left and with that means like a thousand projects..... Oh how I hate projects.  On the plus side, all of my finals are either online or take home tests!! whoop!!! :)  SO that means I won't have to waste valuable time studying!  So the last two weekends I've gone home to San Antonio to spend time with the family as well as see some friends.  Jessica and I have been spending more and more time together when I'm home which is always super fantastic and then there is all the fun partying I get to do there now!!
While the last few weekends have been all about fun, this weekend was jam packed with stuff!  Friday I subbed which wasn't too terrible actually! And then I got ready for Aggie Relay for Life.  This is an event that I truly love! It is an event put on by the American Cancer Society and the whole 12 hour event mirrors the cancer diagnosis and treatment.  When you start the night at 7PM, you are pumped and strong and ready to spend 12 hours awake, just like when you are first diagnosed with cancer, you have strength and are determined to beat it.  As the night goes on, or as treatment goes on, it gets tough to keep going, your legs are sore from walking, you're tired, it's freaking cold and windy and you just can't get warm, your spirit lessens as well as your strength.  Then as you see dawn, you see that you aren't that far away from the finish line.  It's such a beautiful experience and I got to spend it with such an amazing group of people!!! It definitely makes me sad that this could be my last spring semester at A&M :(

Then when I came home in the wee hours Saturday morning, I slept till 1 and then tried to be productive....I got some homework done, and one load of laundry (of like 5 to be done...). Then Ashley came over with some pints of coldstone (could she be any better??) and we watched Friends and had girl time!

Then, a group of boys asked me to come over for some drinks and that if I came over, they'd watch the meteor shower with me!  So around 11 I went over and they're just always so much fun to hang out with! We ended up piling in a truck and going to the middle of nowhere to watch for meteors and guess what!  We actually saw some! And by some, I mean a bunch!!!!!! It was cold, but we were having so much fun trying to figure out if a slasher was going to come out of the woods and who was gonna die first, that we didn't notice how cold it was!

I'm happy with everything right now and can't believe that in 24 days, I'm leaving for LONDON!!!!!!!

Tentative

UGH! I hate tentative plans......If we have plans, we have them, if you don't want to have them, don't make/agree to them.....

Is This Real Life?

There have been very few opportunities in my life where I've literally just had to stop and think to myself, "Is this real life?"  Last weekend was one of those weekends.  My sister, is incredibly awesome and this whole thing just started because she tweeted.  Yes, we both tweet: (Follow me @hannah_lee {that is with ONE underscore})  I'm not going to give tons of details (sorry) because I don't want to get anyone in trouble! We got to go out with a bunch of guys who got us VIP service at a club in San Antonio.  Now what all does this include you might ask.  First of all, a reduced cover charge (that she and I did not pay).  And then we had bottle service with Patron and Grey Goose.  Not too shabby.  Right?  This was quite possibly the best weekend I've had in a LONG LONG while!  Needless to say, I'm smitten!!

Ring Day

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the traditions of Texas A&M University, Ring Day is kind of a big deal.  And by kind of I mean really.  At most universities, you can get your 'class ring' whenever.  That's cool.  It's just not how we do it here.  At A&M you have to earn your ring; you have to work your hiney off for your ring.  First of all, you have to complete 90 hours of classes with no more than 45 hours at a different college.  So you can't order it until you are classified as a senior.  You also have to be in good academic standing with the university.  Now these things aren't cheap.  So not only do you have to earn it, it's expensive!  Well I've waited two and a half years for this day and let me tell you I was excited!!!!
This whole process started back in January.  You have to go and get sized for your ring and order it.  Then you have to wait 3 grueling months to wake up at 6:00 am the Monday before you get your ring to register for a time to get it.  Which sounds easy, except the website crashed about 60983418702837056 times and took me and the bestie forEVER to get the right times!  But all that aside, I know have that little hunk of Aggie Bling!

The Family on Kyle Field 

One of the besties!! We both got our rings!

Another bestie and her boyfriend and me!
This captures us well...

One of my favorite photos taken all day!

Gig 'Em!!!

Friendships

SO  I sort of have just about the best friends in the WORLD.  I know that sounds a little braggy but, hello, humbleness ranks right up there with patience in the traits I don't possess.  Let's start with why my friends are so wonderful:
1.  My girlfriends (and sometimes even their boyfriends too) are always up for Margarita night!  This is wonderful because when you have a stressful week of teaching, it's nice to have people you can call up and go out with!

2.  My girlfriends always help me know what's due when and what to study! This is especially lovely because sometimes it's just too much to keep organized in my head

3.  My girlfriends are always willing to listen to me bitch and complain about the men in my life, silly professors, silly work nonsense and really just anything!

4.  My girlfriends let me drive.  This one may sound silly. But it's not. I have control issues, I don't need to pay a shrink $100 an hour to tell me that.  I like being in control and that especially means in a car.  So whenever we go places, my friends don't mind if I drive :)

And the last reason that my girlfriends are THE best is.......(drumroll please)
5.  They're always there for me.  In any and every capacity.  Whether I need cheered up or someone to go to dinner with or just someone to watch tv with, they're always there for me!

Pet Peeve

Quite possibly one of my biggest school/presentation pet peeves is when people misuse PowerPoint.   I’m a huge nerd when it comes to using Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint, so when people use it with their head up their butt, it makes it difficult for me to respect you as an educator/presenter.  Case in point:  I’m in class today and the teaching assistant gets up to teach the class.  I will say that, thank God, her speech was understandable, and the only way to describe the rate at which she speaks would be to compare it to a squirrel on crack.  Here is the problem.  First of all, she has her back to the classroom and she is looking at the screen.  Problem one:  YOU SHOULD NEVER TURN YOUR BACK ON STUDENTS.  We’re not gonna pay attention and you can bet that if you did this in a public school, all hell would break loose if you taught with your back to them. Also, if you don’t make eye contact with me {and you’re capable of it} you’ve lost even more of my attention and respect.  Problem 2:  She’s reading VERBATIM what is on the slides.  Remember that old adage when PowerPoints were just starting to pop up?  If you don’t, I’ll remind you, “Keep about 5-10 words maximum on each slide.”  I’m willing to let this slide {see what I did there?}  because it makes it easier for me to not pay attention when you put everything on the slide.  BUT DO NOT sit there and ONLY read the slides to me.  Last time I checked, literacy, was imperative to getting into college.  Do not insult my intelligence while you’re teaching me. 

Rant over.

High School

Now, I was definitely not one of those high school girls.  I hated just about every second of it.  From the school dances in the gym, to group projects with pot heads and slackers, to analyzing Shakespeare, I have very few fond memories.  And by very few, I'm sure I could count them on two hands.... maybe even just the one.  Every time I come back home (especially when I come home by myself) I still feel kind of like I'm right back in high school.  Although, now when I come home, I can drink, so that already makes life better now than in high school.  But when I come home, I miss the simplicity of high school:  I very rarely had homework, and when I did it was easy,  I never had to read text books,  I could lie my way out of anything at school,  and I had a small group of friends that I saw all the time.  Now, I barely have time to see friends between work and school, and school work.  I also knew exactly what I wanted to do without any hesitation.  Now, I've discovered that teaching may not be my thing but that I want to do something that requires more schooling, and more money.  Great right?  Yeah, not so much.  High School may have sucked for a lot of reasons, but everything was a hell of a lot easier back then.