Practice makes perfect sense.

They will stare and say how empty we are.

2008-09-17T18:45:00.000-07:00

Ughhh so much has been going on.

Ever since this semester started I have been crazy busy.
Schedule:
Mondays: Instrumentation from 10-11:15, research 11:15-1:30, physics 1:50-3:05, dinner, math 5-6:15, homework
Tuesdays: IPRO 8:35-9:50, research 10-11:15, history 11:25-12:40, UB meeting 1-1:30, lunch, signals 3:05-4:30, gym/homework
Wednesdays: Instrumentation from 8-11:15, research 11:20-1:30, physics 1:50-3:05, dinner, math 5-6:15, homework
Thursdays: IPRO 8:35-9:50, research 10-11:15, history 11:25-12:40, Bog meeting 1-1:30, lunch, signals 3:05-4:30, gym/homework
Fridays: wake up, homework, physics lab 1:50-4:30, research
Saturdays: homework, attempted social life
Sundays: church, homework

Basically, no time time to breathe, no less blog. However, I am going to do everything in my power to continue blogging.

Lots of bad stuff has been happening lately. Friends are going through some tough spots, my computer stopped working so now I have to mail it in for repair so it will be gone for a couple of weeks, etc. I just gotta try to keep my head up..

I think I'm gonna go hang out at Kappa tomorrow. I need a break from the harsh reality of the universe. Sasha said they are having a game night. It should be a lot of fun.

Jon bought me food again today because right now I can't afford to buy my own. Our moms are coming to see us October 10. I am so excited to see my mommy...

Breathing in a new mentality.

2008-08-25T13:47:00.001-07:00

OOOOOOOHHHH MAN, WHAT a WEEKEND!!

Friday-Sunday was the first (of 2) weekends for the Sophomore Leadership Retreat. I expected it to be pretty cool, but I NEVER thought it would be as wonderful as it turned out to be.

On Friday we left on the first bus around 1:40 pm. The entire way to Lake Geneva we watched V for Vendetta. It's the first time I ever saw it, and it was REALLY awesome.

Once we got to Lake Geneva, we dropped our stuff off in our rooms and headed out to have some student/faculty competitions. There were heats for tether ball, horseshoe, badminton, shuffleboard, and volleyball. I was on Sarah's team, and we gradually worked our way up. EventuallyNikhail and I decided to team up for the championship round against 2 other students (to determine who would play Bruce [director of the Leadership Academy] and John Anderson [president ofIIT]). Nikhail and I prevailed, but unfortunately, we lost against Bruce and President Anderson 10-7. It's ok , though, because we were able to get to know the two of them fairly well, which was really awesome! I mean, these are two powerful guys atIIT, and they sat there and talked with us AND played horseshoes with us! Awesome.

After competitions, we headed to dinner. After dinner, we played this version of dodgeball called "star wars", and it was SO fun (basically dodgeball but with stuffed animals, etc.) After that, the 2nd bus arrived. We were divided into "teams" and did a bunch of extremely fun (and silly) team building games until about 10. Then we had free time, and a lot of us went to bed.

On Saturday morning, we had breakfast, then we had Team Olympics. We had to come up with a team name/cheer, and our team was team 'Bumblebee Tuna'. Our cheer was basically us in the formation of what we assumed a bumblebee tuna would look like, and it was a LOT of fun. The events were basically a bunch of team building/problem solving exercises, and I don't think our group stopped laughing once.

After Team Olympics, we had lunch. Post lunch, we had our first activity. Our team canoed first, and it was really fun. We canoed all over the lake, and learned how to right a tipped canoe in the middle of the water. We got to a spot where a bunch of us jumped out of our canoes and swam around. It was just a really interesting experience.

After canoeing, we got to go sailing. I have never sailed before, and I was pretty freaked out about doing it in a really deep lake (we had life jackets but I was convinced there was a lake monster that would eat me). The person I was with wanted to tip the sunfish (keep in mind a sunfish is a 1 to 2 person mini sailboat). When the big sailboat came by I discovered there was a ladder that went down the back of the boat to the water, so I bailed out of the sunfish and swam over to the big boat. :)

After sailing I took a quick shower and headed over to dinner. After dinner we had a brief speaker and then we had free time. During free time, a big group of us went to the Observatory. We got a tour AND we got to look through the huge telescopes to see a bunch of really cool astronomy stuff.

I left the observatory and went to bed. On Sunday morning we had breakfast and then our 3rd activity. Our group had low ropes, and it was WAY cooler than the name lets on. We had record time for this one challenge (6.5 seconds baby!), and it was cool to work together on all the others.

After that we had lunch and a leadership seminar to follow. Although, during the seminar, we discussed how it shouldn't be called that, because the term seminar implies boring, long, monotone speech. And oh no, this was definitely not a seminar. It was a hands-on, interactive, ridiculously entertaining activity. I loved it.

Right from the seminar we got on the buses and headed back to campus. We watched The Devil Wears Prada on the bus on the way back, and it was pretty cool. Once back, I did laundry, showered, cuddled with Marsala, and went to sleep.

It was a ridiculously awesome weekend, and I met a bunch of kids I had never really talked to prior to going on the retreat. We had a blast, and I expect the fun to continue through this school year. I HIGHLY recommend the retreat to any sophomore at IIT. You really can't understand how fun that weekend truly is!

The only survivor was miraculously unharmed.

2008-08-21T08:18:00.000-07:00

I love, love, LOVE my first class of the day! It was my IPRO, or interprofessional project, and it is absolutely perfect. I'm taking orthotic and prosthetic education for Latin America, and I am already super excited about the work we're going to do this semester. I'm hoping it will help me figure out exactly what I want to do within the field of prosthetics when I graduate, and right now I'm leaning a little bit more towards pediatric orthotics and prosthetics. Regardless, it's an 8:35 class, so it's a very good thing that I love it. It will help get me motivated to wake up for it in the morning.

After work yesterday I went to the delt house for the steak dinner. Oh my goodness, it was SO delicious! They started everything off with this delicious salad that had little mandarin oranges and some sweet vinaigrette dressing. After the salad they served steak, shrimp, twice baked potatoes, and green beans. Naturally, since I hate seafood, I gave my shrimp away. However, I DEVOURED the rest of my dinner and it was absolutely delicious. After everyone had finished their main course, we were each brought our own banana's foster for dessert and OH MY GOSH. It was heaven.

After dinner I briefly went to the MTCC Ballroom to visit the Kappa's event. They were doing country dancing, but I was both exhausted and stressed, so I decided to leave after a couple of minutes to start preparing for classes that began today.

When I went home I pet Marsala (she has been locked away in my room the past day and a half because her and Echo don't like each other) and took her in the bathroom with me when I showered so she could experience a different room. After I showered I got all of my notebooks ready for all of my classes and discovered I could return my ECE books because I changed my schedule at the last minute yesterday. This fall, I am now taking:
IPRO 497-309
Math 333
History of American Women
BME 315
BME 330
Physics 2

After my next class (history) I'm going to go home to put Marsala back into my room and let Echo out (I had switched roles so she could experience daylight today). I also need to eat lunch and pack for the sophomore leadership retreat, and my third class isn't until 3:15. It's really nice because tomorrow the only class I have scheduled is my physics lab, and labs are never held the first week of classes, so I have the day off tomorrow!

We always assume the worst!

2008-08-20T11:24:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was fun. After I left work I headed over to Kappa to hang out. There was a Project Runway event that they did where we all had to make an outfit for a model to wear out of a bunch of stuff from the dollar store (things like garbage bags, tin foil, a shower cap, a curtain, etc.). It turned out to be a lot of fun, and our outfit turned into an 80's era design. It was a great way to help break the ice and let us get to know the sisters.

Today ASA and the delts are having a steak/shrimp dinner and a boat cruise followed by fireworks. I'm definitely going to the dinner, not sure about the boat cruise yet. I have an 8:15 am class tomorrow morning, and classes all day (oh how I'm dreading it!) so I want to get back and in bed at a decent hour.

Campus is very busy with activity again. Aya Eid and I are working on making the camping on Siegel Field a reality. We are going to meet with Ray Ballard (Union Board president) to figure out more of the logistics, but we have a target date and plan that we came up with.

Other than that, nothing too new or exciting has happened. Each day that passes builds my anticipation for the new Underoath CD.....!

You wouldn't last a minute on the creek.

2008-08-19T07:49:00.000-07:00

What a crazy couple of days. Not necessarily in a good way, either.

I'm trying to think of where I left off, and so much has happened in the past few days that I can't think straight. Friday night I just hung out at the apartment and tried relaxing. Saturday was date day. Jon and I walked over to 31st street beach to start off the day. The air and water show was this weekend, so there were planes flying over the beach to and from Navy Pier. It was really neat to see, especially since the beach really wasn't crowded AT ALL. We threw around a frisbee for a while and then we dug holes and buried our legs in them. When I got bored with that and was just laying in the sun, Jon decided to dig as deep of a hole he could with his hands. It was crazy because the way he dug it, it was almost perfectly round. It looked really cool!

After the beach, we walked back to my apartment. We made a frozen pizza (and it was actually REALLLLLY good) and just relaxed for a couple hours. I was having issues with my hair and I couldn't get it to do anything that looked decent, so Jon actually managed to put it into two little pig-tail bun things for me. It looked really cute! Around 4:30, we left for Navy Pier. On our way to the bus, he picked a flower and put it in my hair, which actually made my hair even CUTER! It was very sweet of him.

Forrest Gump is Jon's favorite movie, and he really wanted to go to Bubba Gump's, so we decided on it for dinner. When we got there, there was about a 2 hour wait, so we put our name on the list. Then we just walked around the Pier the whole time and went into all of the different shops. There was a juggler that we watched for a bit, and we sat in the garden for a little while, too. After the time passed we headed back to the restaurant. When we got there, neither of us could decide what to get. We decided to each order something and share it 50/50. He got a BBQ cheeseburger and I got a Cajun grilled chicken sandwich. We cut them in half and each took half. We also got a coupon for a free smoothie, and it was REALLY good. The picture I attached is of Jon attempting to finish dessert (it is literally called 'That Chocolate Thing'). Apparently it tasted just like this brownie dessert he used to get at Applebee's when he was younger that they stopped making. He was so full and I told him not to attempt to finish it because he would get sick, but he didn't listen and sure enough, he felt really nauseous for about 2 hours. The picture of the two of us was taken in the garden prior to dinner.

All in all, Saturday was a GREAT day!! I love spending time with Jon.

On Sunday we went to church, and after church, Jon, Shea, and I went to Subway. It was delicious. After lunch, Jon and I headed back to his place to hardcore clean. We moved all of his furniture in order to sweep, and once we swept we wet 'Swiffered' the entire floor. While I was doing some sweeping, Jon did his dishes, cleaned out all the moldy food from his refrigerator, organized all his shelves (and threw out a bunch of old papers), and took out the trash. We also washed all of his clothes. When I went to clean Lola's cage (our dwarf hamster) I realized there were bugs in her bag of fresh food, so after we threw it out, Jon walked over to Petsmart to get new food and I washed the bathroom. It probably took about 3 hours total to clean everything, but once it was clean the apartment looked GREAT. I felt very accomplished after.

I didn't come into work yesterday because my friend Tasha was coming from Ohio to drop off Marsala, her old/my new cat. I cleaned my room and some of the apartment, and Tasha and her mom got in around 2. We moved Marsala into my room and shut the door, then Jon, Tasha, Tasha's mom and I all left. We went to Jewel first to get the two of them a 1-day pass, then after Jewel we walked over to Millennium and Grant parks. Tasha took lots of pictures with this stuffed camel that her sister (and one of my best friends), Heather, got her. We went all over Chicago, to the Bean, Buckingham fountain, etc. After walking around for about 2 hours we went to Giordano's for dinner. After dinner we went up to the Magnificent Mile and just walked around for like 15 minutes. We left for Garret's popcorn and after that headed to Chinatown. Tasha looked at the little turtles there and bought a bubble tea, and we went back to the apartment.

It was a good and busy weekend. There were some sucky areas that I intentionally left out, but overall I can't complain.

Classes start Thursday, so we'll see how that goes. Sophomore Leadership Retreat for me is this weekend. I'm nervous about being gone all weekend, but it should be good.

Learn to live with it, long enough to take it day by day.

2008-08-14T09:24:00.000-07:00

My head hurts so bad right now.

There are some issues happening with someone back in Ohio that are pushing me to my breaking point. It's so frustrating because I feel like I am doing everything humanly possible to resolve the issues, and no matter what I do or say, he refuses to accept me. He's more stubborn than I am, and I just don't know how to handle it anymore. All I know is that I'm tired of fighting, and I'm tired of constantly being put in a place where I feel like everything that goes wrong in the world is somehow my fault. I just really don't know what to do.

On a less upset/dark note, it's almost the weekend. Jon has this Saturday off, so we're going to hang out all day because next weekend I'll be gone on the Sophomore Leadership Retreat. We're either going to go to Navy Pier to watch the air and water show/eat at Bubba Gump's, go to the beach, go to Shedd Aquarium, go to the zoo, or we may even wander out into the suburbs. I'm really excited to have a whole day with him :) It will be date day!!

I talked to my mom today. We're hoping that sometime this fall she and Jon's mom can come out here for a visit. I sure hope so, because with the way my week has been steadily getting worse, all I want right now is my Mommy.

It's a shame to walk away from everything I want, and leave you here all alone.

2008-08-13T12:00:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a good day.

After work, I cleaned the living room and made dinner. Nikolai and Jon came over and we watched the Olympics. Nikolai left around 8, and Jon and I put on some Ace Enders and a Million Different People and danced around. It was actually a LOT of fun, and I didn't stop laughing the entire time. I love my boyfriend!

Today I went to the lab to get oriented, but the chemicals they ordered that they need to synthesize the proteins haven't come yet, so I decided to come into work instead. I'm going to try again tomorrow.

Our international students get into campus for orientation today and tomorrow, and it is excited because campus is quickly becoming a buzz of activity. It seems like only yesterday when I was a freshman...

Jon works all day today so I'm not going to see him :( After work I'm going to take a nap and veg around the apartment. It's supposed to storm this afternoon, so I might curl up on the couch with Echo and read a book (which will in turn put me to sleep).

I get my kitty on Monday! She was originally my friend, Tasha's, but Tasha is going to college in Iowa and her parents are moving to Florida, so she needs to get rid of Marsala. I'm excited because that means I get to see Tasha, not to mention Marsala is a total sweetheart..

Just as things should get back to normal, they're not quite for me.

2008-08-12T11:43:00.000-07:00

OH my goodness, I ADORE the band Ace Enders and a Million Different People! I've been listening to them nonstop since the show on Sunday, and I keep falling more and more in love with their sound. Not only is their music wonderful, but the bandmates are all SO down to earth and NOT conceited at all, which is a major breath of fresh air. Their album is free for download from Fuse, so there is no excuse to not listen to them.

After work yesterday I went on a cleaning rampage. Since Nicole is still in the process of moving in, our apartment is a DISASTER. It is so disgusting and I just couldn't handle it anymore. Jon put away all the dishes (and washed the other dishes) while I scrubbed down the entire bathroom. I scrubbed the walls, floor, toilet, sink, shower, mirror, and washed the bath mats. After that, I went into the kitchen (which was difficult to do based on the piles of miscellaneous items on the floor) and started putting other new dishes and various items away. Once the floor was somewhat visible, I swept and mopped. During the whole process, I also had a bunch of laundry going in the background. After the main cleaning was done, I took out ALL of the trash (kitchen, bathroom, bedroom) and in the process, got locked out. It was all good, though, because Jon was still inside doing dishes and he let me back in. Once those living areas were clean, I decided to have a go at my room. All that really needed done was putting clothes away (and re-organizing my dresser drawers). While I cleaned my room Jon played my guitar and sang some of the songs he's written, and as usual, they were beautiful. With a large hunk of cleaning done, I decided to shower and relax for the evening.

I also got to talk to my friend from home, Heather, for about 45 minutes yesterday. We talked mostly about her wedding plans and how they are coming along (Heather is my best friend/is engaged to Paul, who happens to be Jon's best friend). We brainstormed ideas for the *gasp!* bachelorette party (no worries, ideas involved spa days and baking parties. We are not a wild bunch). It was a good conversation and it was nice to catch up with her.

Today I am going to try and clean the living room area because that it still a disaster. Tomorrow I'm going to Dr. Orgel's lab for most of the day to become more familiar with it. Should be a good time:)

I know you wonder if it's worth the wait.

2008-08-11T08:57:00.001-07:00

What a busy (but wonderful!) weekend!!!! The pictures in this blog are a general preview of the madness that went on.

Lauren and Kevin got in around 4:45 on Friday. We went to my apartment to drop off their stuff then headed up north via the red line. We met up with Jon at The Metro to see The Lifeline. We ended up leaving early to go to Clark's. After we ate, Jon went home and Lauren and Kevin and I headed back to the south side.

On Saturday Jon had work basically all day, so it was just L, K, and me. In the morning we went to Lincoln Park Zoo for a few hours. It was really fun until we went to the chimpanzee exhibit. One of the chimps had caught a rabbit, killed it, and was carrying its limp body around its enclosure. It was really, really, REALLY depressing.

After the zoo, we went to Chipotle. After Chipotle, we visited Jon at work and then went back to my place to take a nap. After our nap, we headed out with Shea and Nicole (my roommates) to Bubba Gump's restaurant on Navy Pier. That name is probably familiar to you, but it was foreign to me. You see, I have never seen Forrest Gump. I grew up in a family that was 75% female, so when I was little our idea of movies was all Disney stuff. Vietnam War classic American movies were not of interest to me. Anyway, the restaurant was a LOT of fun-- our waiter was hilarious and it was fun messing around with him. After we ate, Shea and Nicole headed off and L, K, and I headed into the Pier to do touristy stuff. One elephant ear later, the three of us headed over to Millennium Park to see the Bean.

While there, an orchestra was playing in the amphitheatre, so it was cool to watch that. We saw the Bean, and those crazy sculptures that have faces on them (and they spit water). It was too dark, though, so we went back to my place to crash for the night.

On Sunday we went to church, Giordano's (so they could taste some 'authentic' Chicago deep dish pizza), and back to the Bean. They left for Ohio basically right when we got home, and it was sad to see them go.

After they left, Jon and I went BACK to the Metro to see Danger Radio, Ace Enders (AMAZING band/best set EVER. You should definitely check them out!!!), Powerspace (I have never liked Powerspace. They act like they invented rock and roll and it really annoys me), and Cute is What We Aim For. We left after a few songs of Cute is What We Aim For's set because I couldn't stand anymore, and I'm really not that knocked out about their music.

All in all it was a really long and exhausting weekend, but it was totally worth it!!

We'll bring the beat so you can keep your feet moving.

2008-08-08T13:27:00.000-07:00

Note to self:

Listen to more:

Mercy Mercedes
Person L
Norma Jean
Danger Radio
Emarosa
A Bird A Sparrow

My God, where have I been?

2008-08-08T09:05:00.000-07:00

I have included a few pictures from Cedar Point for your viewing pleasure. Picture 1 (top to bottom) is of Jon and me on the train that goes around the park. Jon loves trains, and if he had his way he would be a train conductor, so he very much enjoyed that ride.

For picture 2, Jon came up with the idea that we all stand with our backs to Jessica's camera, and on the count of 3 all turn around and smile. I think it's one of my favorites.

The last picture is of Jessica and me. Jessica and her boyfriend, Cameron, just got engaged a few weeks ago and I am VERY excited for them. For the record, that face isn't Jessica's normal smile face. :)

I feel like I am 7 years old again!

When I was little, if something really exciting was going to happen (leaving for a family vacation, going to a birthday party, having a sleepover, etc.) I would get myself so worked up that I would physically get sick.

Here I am, 13 years later, and I find myself so excited that Lauren and Kevin are coming today that I am ACTUALLY nauseous! More on this later...

Yesterday was good fun. After work, I took about an hour and a half nap and it was so wonderful. Echo actually slept peacefully with me (as opposed to his typical attacking antics)-- he army crawled under my covers and sprawled out on my legs-- it was SO cute! I had left the apartment door unlocked because Tim and Tiffany were going to be getting in relatively soon, and I woke up when my phone went off because Jon was trying to tell me he was over but my bedroom door was locked. When I woke up, he and I hung out until Tim and Tiffany got back. When they got back, they cooked dinner and it was DELICIOUS. They made lasagna, grilled chicken Caesar salad, and garlic bread-- I felt like a QUEEN!

Not long after we were done eating, Shea got home, and the five of us walked to Scoops to get ice cream. While at Scoops, Tim gave me $0.50 to ride the mechanical horse. It was actually a lot more fun than one would think.

After Scoops, we all headed back to the apartment and watched some TV and just relaxed. Jon left, and I talked to my friend, Peter, online for about half an hour-- he and I haven't talked in forever so it was nice catching up. After that, I went to bed and had the most solid sleep I've had in a REALLY long time.

Which brings me BACK to Lauren and Kevin's visit!! They're aiming to get into Chicago around 4 today, and around 4:45 we are going to leave to go see 1997 and The Lifeline at the Metro.. for FREE! Tomorrow Jon has to work all day, so Arnett might meet up with Lauren, Kevin and I to go to the zoo and just hang out.

I cannot stop listening to the new Underoath song.

What terrible company, with zero apologies.

2008-08-07T11:48:00.001-07:00

This is an ode to Underoath (I will no longer be ashamed of my taste in music! I don't care if you hate it, I LOVE it!) and their new album.

Their previous album, Define the Great Line, was one that I took to heart. I am a Christian, and so is Underoath, so a LOT of their songs really hit home. They used beautiful language to explain and express so many struggles and disappointments in regards to one's self that I could completely relate to.

On their new album, Lost in the Sound of Separation, I have really only heard one song thus far ("Desperate Times, Desperate Measures"), but I already LOVE it. The lyrics are as follows:

I've been crawling around around in the dark for a while
Spread out across the floor, not collecting dust anymore
Define me a parasite, define my host
Trapped beneath the floor, I slowly waste away
I pull my frail body into a chair, and look me in the face
I'm disappointed, so disappointed
This will be my last one, it's gonna be good and hard
It might be a touch out of key, a touch out of key
When this thing breaks, I will be you, you will be me
I'll pray that this is really happening
When this thing breaks, I will be you, you will be me
Let's hope this is short lived and riddled with disease
Oh God, the noise this is ringing in my ear, it's so unclear, so unclear
I hear them talking, but can't make out the words
Speak up, speak clear
I hear them talking, but can't make out the words
Speak up, speak clear
Where have I been?
What terrible company, with zero apologies
My God, where have I been, where have I been when I sink to the bottom?
I'll sing out as it fills with water
I hope I've done enough
I'm worn out, I'm worn thin, I will never break through
Let me out, let me out

I just know what it feels like to be so disappointed with the person I am and the acts I've committed. Underoath seems to have a knack for putting the things I feel relatively regularly into words and melodies (and for those of you who aren't familiar with me, music is my main escape from reality, pain, fear, anxiety, etc.). I just think their music is liberating. I know it's cheesy and cliche, but it's truly how I feel. I'm not trying to be 'trendy', and to be perfectly honest I hate the way society classifies everyone into categories ('emo', 'scene', 'prep', 'goth', etc.). I am me, and this is who I am and how I feel and think. I am done with trying to be something I'm not. I am done killing myself to act and look how certain people want me to act and look. From the cold years of middle school with the heartless comments of my peers, I have slowly learned to love myself for who I am. I know now that I don't need to impress anyone. As long as I am happy, that is what matters. Don't get me wrong, I have NOTHING against constructive criticism (I have heard a saying of something to the effect of 'the people who tell you [reasonable] things you need to improve are the people who care about you the most') and I see nothing but positivity surrounding one trying to improve who he or she is as a person. But I am done trying to change how I look and quiet my loud demeanor.

Ok that turned out to be a lot longer, darker, and somewhat more 'profound' than I originially intended. My bad.

But anyway, go listen to some Underoath.

Hey unloving, I will love you.

2008-08-07T07:54:00.000-07:00

What an exciting morning I've already had! We had a bunch of high school students in that needed tours under 30 minutes long, so we had to spice everything up. Instead of the typical campus tours that we normally give, each of our groups went to individual classrooms/labs/Crown and talked about our own majors. It gave me a great opportunity to brag about our beautiful new BME labs! Mad thanks to Professor Dhar for coming in this morning to unlock the labs for us!

Yesterday was a good day. I left work early because our entire office was at a picnic and there was basically nothing to do at all. When I got home I watched TV for a little bit. Around 4:30, Arnett came and picked me up so I could run errands. We went to Target and I got all of the school supplies I need for the fall, and might I add I only spent about $13! I saved my old binders from last year, my office gave me TONS of random pens and pencils about a week ago, I still have a stapler, staples, post-its, highligters, some paper, and scissors. I bought 6 notebooks (2 for $3) and 6 folders (2 for $1). I also got 2 pads of looseleaf notebook paper (50 cents each!). Sorry, I am VERY proud of bargain-hunting and I LOVE finding good deals (I'm in college-- what do you expect!?). After Target, Arnett and I headed over to Dominick's so I could get groceries and some CTA visitor's passes for my friends, Lauren and Kevin, who are coming to visit this weekend.

When I got home, Shea and I watched some tv and ate some dinner. After dinner, I went for a quick run and then did some push-ups and sit-ups. I am ridiculously out of shape, but I guess you gotta start somewhere.

I went to bed relatively early and then came into work first thing. I am so amped for Lauren and Kevin to come!

You look so cute when you're confused.

2008-08-06T09:11:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was fuun.

After work, I hung out with Shea and fought with Jimmy John's. Here is how the drama went down:

I called the Jimmy John's that is about 3 blocks away (just south of campus) and tried ordering. When I gave them my address I was informed that I lived too far for delivery. Confused, I called my friend who works there. He gave them a call and then relayed to me that I am not too far for delivery, I just live in another Jimmy John's delivery territory and if his Jimmy John's were to deliver to me, "stuff would go down". I called the Jimmy John's he referred me to, only to be informed that they did not have a delivery guy in. Frazzled and craving Jimmy John's, I decided to call their headquarters to inquire as to what I should do. I calmly (and politely, too, I might add!) explained the situation, they took my phone number, and eventually the first Jimmy John's I called gave ME a call to take my order. I had a sandwich within 20 minutes :) I think the delivery girl expected me to yell at her when she came, because she cautiously approached my door and was extremely apologetic. When I paid her for the sandwich and told her I didn't need change, she looked scared and asked me, "are you sure?" All I wanted was a sandwich, I didn't want it to be a big deal. But I got my sandwich and it was delicious.

After I ate, I showered then rode my bike to Emily and Frank's. A bunch of Frank's friends were over, and we all hung out and they made dinner. I left about 10 to head back to the apartment, and was in bed by 11. It was a good night.

Tonight I'm planning on laying low for the sake of regaining energy, but who knows what could happen! My two friends, Lauren and Kevin, are coming in from Ohio to visit on Friday, so this weekend is going to be hectic. Friday night we're going to a free show at the Metro (The Lifeline and 1997 are playing), Saturday I think we're going to the zoo, and Sunday Jon and I are going to see Cute is What We Aim For and Danger Radio at the Metro again.

And tomorrow, I know, will be rainy at best.

2008-08-05T09:09:00.000-07:00

This is going to be an ode to crazy Chicago weather blog!

Yesterday was really fun. I had to leave work early because two friends from Colorado, Tim and Tiffany, showed up at my office and needed to become acquainted with my place. I took them there and we made lunch, then we met up with Jon and walked around Chinatown for about an hour and a half. The weather was sunny and ridiculously humid, but otherwise nice. After Chinatown we all hung out the apartment the rest of the night. Around 7:30, it had started lightning, but the weather seemed fine. Then at 8:00 we had just started watching a movie when I heard sirens. I thought they were on the TV, but Shea came out of her room (Shea is from Alabama and thus familiar with severe weather) and asked if we heard them, too. We muted the TV and walked to the windows, and I noticed everyone on our street who sits on their porches were running into their houses (the weather wasn't even bad!) I HATE storms, they terrify me, so instinctively I ran for the basement of the apartment building. The thing is, our apartment has absolutely no internal rooms, and every single room and hallway has at least one window in it. When I got to the porch, my landlady was standing there (I almost gave her a heart attack with how quick I came up on her) and she saw me hyperventilating and shaking and took me into her apartment.

Jon was not far behind me, so we went and sat in her living room. I looked out the window and out of nowhere this massive gust of wind was bending the trees on our street at their middle and torrential rains came out of nowhere. I ran into her bathroom and Jon followed me to try to calm me down, and the landlady asked me to call Shea and have her, Tim, and Tiffany come downstairs, too. The landlady's 3 grandsons were there, and we noticed a cop pull someone over in front of the house. Next thing we know, there was a knock at the door-- apparently, the reason the cops were pulling this guy over was to tell him he needed to get into a building ASAP. So basically, it was a little party in my landlady's apartment for about half an hour.

Once the weather calmed down, Shea, Jon, Tim, Tiffany, and I went back upstairs to finish our movie. Around 10:00 I went to bed, only to be awoken around 11:30. The air conditioner in my room seems to amplify the sound of rain, which is what initially woke me up, but when I became a little more alert I realized the rain sounded like it was IN my room. I ran and turned on the light, and sure enough, rain was pouring in through the top of my window sill (not from my actual window). Luckily, Tim and Tiffany were still awake, so they came and held up towels while I ran back downstairs to see the landlady. She and her son came up, and he couldn't figure out where the water was coming from. The two of them went to the apartment above ours, and apparently, it was raining so hard/so horizontally that the rain was actually going in between the bottom of their window and the wall, and then dripping down into my window frame. They draped some garbage bags on the outside of her window to prevent the rain from going in, and that seemed to do the trick, so I went back to sleep.

It was such a crazy night, I have never experienced anything like it. I had never heard tornado sirens prior to last night, either, and it was one of the creepiest sounds I had ever heard! I'm just glad Jon was there to help calm me down because I was freaking out and I think I probably would have had a full blown panic attack.

Other than the crazy weather, yesterday was good on the whole. I definitely plan on taking a nap after work because I am EXHAUSTED after the flooding room madness of last night. Lauren and Kevin get in on Friday, and Tim and Tiffany don't leave til Saturday, so it should be an interesting night.

You asked me what I wanted, I want you.

2008-08-04T08:59:00.000-07:00

WHHHHHAT a weekend.

Jon and I left bright and early on Friday morning to meet up with Brian at Union Station. Once there, we ate McDonalds for breakfast and waited for the bus. For once, the Megabus actually came on time, and the three of us managed to snake the 5-seater backseat all for ourselves! The trip to Cleveland was quick, painless, and we actually arrived EARLY! Straight from getting picked up, Jon's parents, my parents, my grandma, and two of my cousins met up with all of us at Applebee's for an early dinner. It was so delicious and so happy because I haven't seen my grandma in over a year. After dinner, Brian and I went back to my house to drop off our stuff and hang out with my parents for a little bit. We eventually had to leave to go to Paul's house to drop off his and Heather's Cedar Point tickets. Jon and his brother, Marc, live right down the street from Paul, so they came over, too. Eventually, our friends Matt and Greg came over, also. We all hung out by a bonfire pretty late, and Heather tried on her wedding dress so I could see it and I tried on my bridesmaid's dress so she could see that (Heather and Paul are engaged. Heather is my best friend, Paul is Jon's, and they are ultimately who introduced Jon and I to one another). SHE LOOKED LIKE SUCH A PRINCESS! I am so excited for the two of them, they are definitely perfect together.

Around 11:00, Brian and I left because we were planning on leaving my house for Cedar Point by 9. On Saturday morning, Jessica, Cameron, Matt, and Claire came over, and the six of us left for CP. Around noon, Jon and Marc showed up, and then around 2:30 Heather, Paul, Alex, and Marie came out (Heather had to work til 1:15). There were some definite low points that I won't get into at the beginning and end of the day, but the time spent inbetween was pretty cool. On the Raptor (one of the steel rollercoasters where your feet dangle) they replaced the still photos by mounting cameras in front of all the seats to record your face during the ride. Jon is afraid of heights, so when we got off to see the video of him on the Raptor we were all literally rolling on the floor laughing. His face appeared as though he had just witnessed death, terror, and a vicious crime all at once. It was so adorable!!

After CP, we all went our separate ways and crashed for the night.

Sunday morning, my family, Brian, and I went to Jon's church to see him get baptised. After the baptism, Jon's parents had friends and family over for a celebratory brunch. We all hung out there for a bit, but Brian and I had to go back to my house to finish packing. We took the Megabus back (which was, of course, an hour late into Union) and crashed hard last night.

I just met Tim and Tiffany, Lam's friends, who will be crashing at my apartment this week because their original Chicago host has been admitted to the hospital and they have nowhere to stay. Lauren and Kevin come on Friday.

It should be good times.

I am sick and tired of writing songs about you.

2008-07-31T10:43:00.000-07:00

MY INDEX FINGER HURTS SOOOO BAD.

Yesterday I got angry because my keys were stuck through the bottom of the basket on my bike and I got frustrated and hit the keys with my palm. This was a bad idea and I cut my hand on the keys. Then, after a few hours, my hand got somewhat swollen and my index finger is stiff. Boo on me.

I have been asked to discuss biomedical engineering because many people don't know what it is. So here it goes:

Biomedical engineering is (taken from Wikipedia): the application of engineering principles and techniques to the medical field. It combines the design and problem solving skills of engineering with medical and biological sciences to help improve patient health care and the quality of life of individuals.

Here at Illinois Tech we have three different tracks of BME.
1. Neural engineering (again from Wikipedia)- a discipline that uses engineering techniques to understand, repair, replace, enhance, or treat the diseases of neural systems. Neural engineers are uniquely qualified to solve design problems at the interface of living neural tissue and non-living constructs.
2. Cell and Tissue engineering (Wikipedia credit)- the use of a combination of engineering and material methods, and suitable biochemical and physio-chemical factors to improve or replace biological functions.
3. Medical Imaging- a discipline that uses engineering techniques to create new methods and improve old methods that allow one to (under relatively harmless consequences) look into the human body to see tissues, organs, etc. that are not visible by just the eye.

Often times, pre-med students will do their undergraduate work in BME. Because our faculty at IIT know a lot of our biomedical engineering students plan on going to medical school, all of the required courses to get a B.S. in BME are the courses one would need to take in order to attend medical school.

I might share more later, but for now I need to get back to the normal work of my days:)

I go home tomorrow! Expect a blog of epic proportions come Monday!

It doesn't matter what you say, you never mattered anyway.

2008-07-30T14:47:00.000-07:00

I am peeved!

I read an article online today about how IIT is the #10 school in the country with the most unhappy students.!!! It discussed how the campus is ugly, there is no social life, and classes are difficult.

My response:
1. The campus is GORGEOUS. The whole campus design theme was "a park within the city" so there are trees and green space and flowers EVERYWHERE. Some of the academic buildings are definitely more of an acquired taste, but they aren't ugly.
2. NO SOCIAL LIFE?! Are you KIDDING me?! College is what you make of it. The reality is, Union Board plans events EVERY WEEK for our students, but half the students here don't take advantage of the events. Then they say "oh I'm not into concerts or hypnotists or [insert the event here]s". MY RESPONSE: DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT! Get involved with UB and plan your own events! Too lazy/don't have time? SEND UB a message! They will do everything they can to accomodate your request! But don't you dare say there is nothing to do.
3. Yes, classes are difficult. The reality is, college isn't here to just party nonstop, it is here to prepare you for a successful career. Our classes are definitely more difficult than the average large state party school (we are ranked 96 out of the top 100 universities in the country) and they do require work. However, if you learn time management and keep up with your work, you have more than ample time to have a social life. Students who do work as it is assigned to them are more than able to go out on weekends without having to worry about falling behind. It's the students that put stuff off until the last minute that are stressing about all the work and the lack of socializing.

So yes, those are my thoughts on that article. I am NOT happy with that article (as a student) and I completely disagree with everything it says.

The end.

Stand my ground 'cause I'm not ready to back down.

2008-07-29T10:10:00.000-07:00

I got a new bike!!

It was originally a black North Face bike, but when Margaret and I were finished with it, black was definitely not the color. The body of the bike is hot pink with lime green polka dots. There was a silver chain guard thing on the right side of it, and that got painted green. I decided to name my bike "Sally" (not sure why), so on that chain guard thing I wrote Sally in electric blue. In case this bike gets stolen I want it to be easily recognized :)

I get to go home in 3 days! That makes me SO happy. Everything is falling into place for this weekend. I also get to see my step grandma (whom I haven't seen for like 9 months) and my step cousins this Friday, which makes me VERY happy!

Jon and I got tickets to go see Danger Radio, Cute is What We Aim For, and Ace Enders on the 10. I am wayy excited for that show. I fully intend on dancing like crazy for Danger Radio.

I'm going to see the movie in Grant Park tonight-- it should be fun to hang out with some new people that I don't even know ;)

Alright, I'm working the front desk so I should really get back to it.

With looks to kill, you got my eyes in a thrill.

2008-07-28T08:22:00.001-07:00

What a weekend!

Friday after work I went out to Chipotle with Emily, her brother, Ben, and Jon. As usual, Chipotle was delicious and I was able to get two meals out of it.

On Saturday we had the open house-- what an intense day! Several of us gave two tours back-to-back, each group consisting of about 40 people. Needless to say by the end we were all sweaty (it was about 85 and REALLY humid) and voiceless. It was fun, though, and kids came as far as Sweden and California!

After the open house, I headed back up to the north side to meet up with Jon. Once together, we got on a bus to head up to the Metro. We passed Wrigley Field along the way, which was the first time I've ever seen it in person. Our excursion to the Metro is also the furthest north I've been in Chicago. Anyway, we were early, so we headed over to a Subway to get some dinner. After we ate (and it was delicious, too, I might add) we went into the Metro. Jon saw a ton of people he knew from work and the studio, so he was being all social while I watched. The lineup (from openers to headliners) went: Lookout! Giants, A Kidnap in Color, Minus the Girl, Dormlife, and finally ending with Amrita. It was a really good show of all local bands, and I REALLY liked the venue. Jon and I are going to try to head back to the Metro on the 8th to see Cute is What We Aim For with Danger Radio.

On Sunday morning Shea, Ellen, and I went to church. After the service, Jon and I went out to lunch with Josh and about 6-7 other people. We ate at Dunlay's in Logan Square and it was SO good. After we ate, Jon and I headed back to his apartment. Lunch was so long we actually didn't get back til about 4. Once we were back, we headed back out to go to Lincoln Park Zoo. Unfortunately, everything was pretty much asleep at that point. We watched the sea lions for about fifteen minutes (they were one of like four animals throughout the whole zoo that were awake) and walked around for about 20. We headed back out of the zoo and got popsicles on the way. Once we got back to Jon's he grabbed some laundry and we went back to my place.

We both did laundry and just hung out with Shea. Nicole came over and we made edible play dough (Equal parts dry milk, creamy peanut butter, and honey). I just ate it, but Nicole and Shea played with it.

And now it's Monday. Monday always comes far too quickly. I'm supposed to go to Margaret's house tonight. She offered to give me a bike for free because she has a couple of spares in her basement that she doesn't use. We just need to clean it up and re-paint it, so I'm planning on using a bright color, such as hot pink or lime green!

Tomorrow night I'm going to the movie in Grant Park (I think it's Blue's Brothers) to meet up with my community group from church. It should be lots of fun.

Wednesday and Thursday I'll just be packing and getting ready to go back to Ohio. I am SO excited to head back.

Expect a blog tomorrow (in theory).

There's more glory to be seen and savored through suffering.

2008-07-25T08:39:00.000-07:00

Ughhhh yesterday was more awful than I originally expected.

I took the math final, which was MURDER, and headed over to work. Work was ok, but I left early to study/take a nap before my circuits final. During the time I was home (between about 1:30 pm-5:00 pm) my bike got stolen from outside of my apartment building and it was locked up and EVERYTHING. Needless to say that did not help my mentality as I discovered it right before I left to take my last final. I filed a police report, but I don't expect to get it back at all. I talked to some ladies who were on their porch a few houses down, and apparently my bike was the 4th bike to get stolen off our block this week. Oh fabulous.

The good news is I found out my final grade in calculus was a B! Now I just need to hear about circuits...

Today is the first official day of summer vacation for me (yayy!). I'm going to Chipotle tonight with Emily, Jon, and Emily's brother-- it should be a good time. Besides, it's Emily's last free Chipotle coupon, so it will be free which is FABULOUS. Then Jon and I are going to hang out for a little bit, but not too late because he opens in the morning and I have to be at the open house by 7:30 tomorrow morning.

I just realized I won't have to do homework this weekend! THAT FEELS SO GOOD.

Beth and I are having a tiramisu party. It is so delicious.

Alright, I should probably find some other work to do around the office in preparation for the big open house tomorrow.

Go listen to the new Classic Crime CD. It's wonderful.

Let's make this now or never.

2008-07-23T14:45:00.000-07:00

So I have been having some issues with my fall scheduling, and I am so impressed by the helpfulness of the staff at IIT!

Due to scheduling conflicts, I've had to drop and add random different classes for the fall. I'm trying to get into an IPRO that is full, and I also need to switch my physics class to a different time. I've been contacting two different professors as well as the director of the IPROs, and they are all so friendly and accomodating. It's nice to know faculty value the students here.

It's been a busy day. I got my glasses today--everything is so clear it's been weird adjusting to it! Definitely can't complain, though.

I have both finals tomorrow! I'm terrified, but Emily is coming over after work today so we can study together. Don't be surprised if there is no blog tomorrow-- the office is going to be really busy and I'm going to be majorly stressing, so we'll see what happens...

Desperate times, desperate measures.

2008-07-22T14:39:00.001-07:00

What a busy day!

We made 260 open house folders, about 40 welcome to IIT boxes for our admitted students, and cleaned up the basement! Not to mention the tours and the data entry we've all done.

Echo attacked me last night. He bit my hand and as I pulled it away (he was still chomped down) his tooth tore about a 2-inch long cut in my right hand :( I was very upset at that kitty.

Jon and I made virgin pina coladas last night with pineapple juice and cream of coconut and they were SO delicious!!! I also had an at-home California Pizza Kitchen pizza for lunch today. It was ok, I prefer Lean Cuisine BBQ Chicken Pizzas over the California Pizza Kitchen ones I've discovered.

I'm getting REALLY nervous about finals on Thursday. I hate dreading a day that is at the end of the week. It's just not fun. The good news is I will be able to breathe easy come Friday morning. Just need to keep reminding myself it's only 2 tests and they will not completely destroy my grades if by chance I were to fail them. Oh the anxiety.

My visit home is rapidly approaching and with the looming finals in the near future, said visit home is one of the few things keeping me going right now. I can't wait to see my family and friends!

I just heard the first new single off of Underoath's new CD and I am SO excited for it! It's going to be an awesome CD, and as soon as I get home I'm going to pre-order it:)

Ok, time's tight and I still have a few things to finish up..

Aesthetics don't hurt one bit.

2008-07-21T12:35:00.000-07:00

Man was I wrong about what it is that Dr. Orgel researches! He is world renown for his discoveries/work with COLLAGEN, not diabetes! After sitting down with two of his main lab students for a couple of hours, I became extremely fascinated with the different aspects of collagen research they are conducting! I am going to try to sit down with Dr. Orgel this week to discuss whether or not I can play a long-term part in his lab. We'll see what happens:)

This past weekend was amazing! Friday night Jon and I hung out, and on Saturday I went to the eye doctor. Turns out my vision has gotten worse (could be due to the fact that I haven't worn my glasses nor have I gone to the eye doctor in about 5 years) so I had to order new glasses. I'm kind of excited, though, because the glasses are brown on the outside but a purplish pink on the inside! Yayyy. Saturday night Jon and I went on a date to this place called Select Cuts in Lincoln Park-- it was AMAZING. I love going on actual dates with him, not to mention I always have such a good time when I'm in his company. I really lucked out with that one. On Sunday I went to church with Ellen, Jessica, Shea, and Jon, and after church Jon and I went to the grocery store to pick up fruit for him. Sunday afternoon/evening Jon and I hung out with Shea, Sasha, and Adam and watched marathons of Law and Order: SVU and then it was "WE Go Bridal Night". I also did calc homework. Overall, it was an uneventful but marvelous weekend.

In calculus today, Emily and I couldn't believe our last real class is on Wednesday. The summer semester went so fast, which is good and bad. I'm not ready for summer vacation to be over yet because this summer has been so wonderful (and I haven't really done much!) The good news about summer semester ending, though, is I can spend more time working and I get to go home in less than 2 weeks. I can't wait to see my friends and family, and every day I get more and more excited to go home.

Our 2nd summer open house is this Saturday and it's supposed to be epic. Sandra said there might be 200 students plus their families. We're actually trying to get other students to come in on Saturday to help out because we've lost a few of our workers to ROTC summer training and vacations and whatnot.

Alright, they're doing a mailing in the basement that I should go down and assist with. Hasta luego!

I'm one step closer to being just where I want to be.

2008-07-18T09:43:00.000-07:00

What an exciting day in the parent's lounge! This time around there were TONS of parents to chat with! I talked to a dad from Maine and it was exciting for me because I've always wanted to go to Maine. His son is going to be studying architecture here and his daughter is studying at the University of Chicago, so it works out perfectly for his kids to travel to and from home! It was just fun to hear parents' stories and share ours.

I'm leaving work a couple of hours early today and I'm very excited for the reason why: I get to do research this fall (hopefully)! I talked to Dr. Orgel, my biology professor from the spring semester, and he said I could probably do research for him during the school year! I'm going in today with two of his graduate students to become familiar with the lab and what they're researching (if I'm not mistaken, I believe it has something to do with diabetes research.) Hopefully during the month of August I can get into the lab every now and again (his lab is already full with students so space is limited) and then if all goes to plan I might get to do research during the year! If you are unable to tell (sarcasm) I can barely put my excitement about this potential opportunity into words!

I think my circuits test went relatively well last night! I definitely don't have as high of a level of anxiety as I did after my first midterm in that class. We'll just see how it goes. I was also excited because I got to see Jon for a few hours last night. I made this AMAZINGLY delicious chicken pasta dish (that sounds very immodest-- not my intention. I was just surprised by it). All I did was fry up chicken with sliced garlic and ground oregano. I also made pasta with lots of butter (soo healthy), a little bit of garlic powder, some oregano, salt, and pepper. I was shocked at how wonderful it tasted with such minor ingredients put into it. I want more tonight!

This should be a good weekend. I'm supposed to study with my friend, Adam, for our calc test on Thursday. I also intend on reviewing some material for my ECE final. I'm going to the delt's tea thing today and tomorrow I think Jon and I are going to try to go to the beach for a little bit. Who knows, really, I just want to relax a little bit before Monday starts.

On that note I'm going to head back into the office and see if I can find some work to do. I should update the blog on Monday :)

Head under water, so they tell me to breathe easy for a while.

2008-07-17T10:54:00.000-07:00

Today is yet another ridiculously hot day. I shouldn't be surprised, though, seeing as this is what normal July weather in Chicago is like. I guess I just got used to the cooler temperatures this past week.

Another summer orientation session began today. Tomorrow I get to sit in the parents' lounge again and talk to, well, parents. It's one of my favorite aspects of the job except for the fact that I leave the lounge feeling a little more homesick each time.

It hit me today that (in theory) I only have about 2 years of school left before I get my Bachelor's degree. I can't believe the time is going so fast. I got really excited just to realize I still have to get my Master's degree, which means I probably actually have about 4 years of school to finish before I plan on really diving into my career. I guess I'll just see where life takes me.

Dinner was SO delicious last night-- well worth the hype I built it up to be.

I have an ECE midterm again tonight. I'm nervous about it, but I also feel a lot more confident than I did for my first midterm. I've prepared pretty much the best I can-- I really don't know how else I can study for it (I've gone through all my notes and re-worked the examples, I've also gone through all of the corrected homework problems for the sections of the test. Then I read the chapters and marked my book with little post-its so I know where things are [it's open book]). I hope the studying pays off, but if it doesn't, I will figure out how to deal with it.

I wrote my first check for June utilities/August's rent. That's the first time I realized how expensive it is to live on your own (and I don't even pay for health care or car insurance!) Mad props to Mark and Doreen (my parents) for paying for all this stuff throughout my sister's and my life. When they're too old to care for themselves I TOTALLY plan on putting them in a luxurious retirement home ;) JUST KIDDING! I'll take care of them. :)

We have our 2nd open house of the summer a week from Saturday. Apparently the turn out is supposed to be huge this time around, so it should be lots of fun!

Aaaand I think that about sums up everything that is new and exciting in my life. The delts (one of the frats on campus) are having an authentic Indian tea party (the brothers who are from India are making tea the way they make tea in India from what I understand) tomorrow, and I'm going with my friend Cory. I'm excited, but I really don't like tea that much, so we'll see how it goes. I'm working on being more adventurous :P

I've been jumping from the tops of buildings for the thrill of the fall.

2008-07-16T12:27:00.000-07:00

It is SO hot outside today! On my way to class around 9:45 this morning I'd say it was already well near 80 degrees.

I'm officially done with (learning) new material for my ECE 213 class! Now all I have to worry about is a midterm tomorrow and my final a week from tomorrow! It feels good to know that summer classes are basically over.

Gave a quick tour today. Talked to Don about some financial aid questions I had. I get to hang out with Jon tonight-- we're going to make barbeque chicken pizza from scratch and I am SO excited-- I hope it tastes even better than the Lean Cuisine barbeque chicken pizza.

Echo jumped onto my shoulder while I was at the kitchen sink TWICE last night. The surprising thing is that Jon was in the room when it happened so someone else actually witnessed it this time. I'm excited to be getting Marsala soon so that Echo has someone to play with.

The office is reallllly quiet again. My fellow Ambassadors and I are lost without Sandra here to give us random projects to do. :)

We have another orientation session tomorrow-- it should be a LOT of fun for them. I kind of regret not applying to be an OC, but with summer classes it wouldn't have worked anyway.

There are two girls I work with, Beth and Lisa, and they studied abroad in France the beginning of the summer and earned credits for their upper level humanities and social science courses and they loved it. I just requested an audit to find out what classes I need to graduate, and if I still need an upper level humanities or social science class I'm very much considering applying for the same program next summer!!! Now I'm kind of really hoping I don't have those credits so I can do it! Fingers crossed.

Beth and Lisa are also twins and they are messing with me because they are able to communicate without speaking. They also saw me typing this so they are doing it MORE than usual!!!! It's crazy.

Ok I should go now, bye.

Don't fight these feelings (we both know you're not that type).

2008-07-15T10:25:00.000-07:00

Another summer orientation session wrapped up today!

The parents had a LOT of questions about campus living and Greek life this time. Luckily, Preston, who is in Triangle fraternity, was there and was able to answer all of them.

I hung out with a few of our new freshmen last night-- it was a lot of fun! I met a lot of new architecture students and a couple civil engineering ones, but unfortunately I didn't meet any other BMEs.

I'm getting more and more excited as each day passes for a couple of reasons:
1. I get to go home in 17 days
2. I get to go see A Kidnap in Color, Minus the Girl, Lookout! Giants, Dormlife, and Amrita at the Metro in 11 days
3. I will be done with summer classes in 10 days

...yeah, this is turning out to be a ridiculously amaizng summer.

I have the song 'Party Foul' by Danger Radio on repeat. I was dancing around my room to it as I got ready this morning. It's just so poppy and danceable that I can't help but get into it.

I want to start working out, but I lack the motivation. Even with my Zune playing I get so bored when I work out. I just don't have the attention span for it. Jon has exercise DVDs that he said he's going to make me do with him. We'll see about that ;)

We're in the process of [attempting] to re-organize our basement storage room. It's difficult to do because there is already a sense of organized chaos down here, and I feel like we really aren't making any improvement.

Alrrrriiiiiiight, I should probably get back to cleaning, organizing, etc. Go listen to 'My Getaway'. They are yet another peppy sounding band that can put you in a better mood than before you listen to their music. :D

Tell me all that's needed, 'cause I don't really want this.

2008-07-14T11:48:00.000-07:00

Life is hectic here in the undergrad office today!

A few of our staff members are in Phoenix so the ambassadors (Lisa, Beth, Preston, and me) are running around doing random tasks here or there.

Christy is going to take me to P.A.W.S. next week (kitty shelter in Chicago) and I might just find a new bundle of joy for myself (plus my friend, Tasha, (She lives in Ohio)) will be dropping her cat, Marsala, off in August.! :) Echo is getting out of control and really needs a feline friend to put him in his place.

This weekend was amazing. I got to see Jon on Friday night, and on Saturday Sasha made dinner for a bunch of people. It was absolutely delicious and made me so happy! Sunday was church, then Jon and I went to Panera for lunch and grocery shopping. It was wonderful to be able to get food again!

After grocery shopping we went back to my apartment and hung out with Sasha and Adam. We watched WE Go Bridal night on WE TV. It was wonderful! (Who doesn't love the shows 'Bridezillas' and 'Platinum Weddings'?!) It's just really nice to be able to hang out with everyone and watch television.

This blog has actually taken about 3 hours to write-- I've been showing our new student worker the ins and outs of the admissions office. We also had to give a tour and put some material together to be mailed. We still have the daunting task of re-organizing our basement supply room, which will probably take the rest of the week. I still have to finish updating our database with those international guidance counselor names. It is going to be a busy couple of weeks, I can already tell :) Until the next time I can squeeze in a blog, enjoy this beautiful weather!

I know why you never take your eyes off of me--I've used my lungs for everything but breathing.

2008-07-11T10:56:00.000-07:00

Today the orientation session concluded and I got to talk to more parents than freshmen this time around.

The office is really quiet again today, it's kind of eerie.

This weekend is going to be a lot of fun. I'm going to Chipotle with Emily and Jon today to get free food (Emily has this coupon for free burritos, chips, guacamole, and drinks for four people!) and then Jon and I are hanging out after. Tomorrow Jon has to work during the day so I am going to *hopefully* motivate myself to do some homework and studying, then tomorrow night Sasha is having her dinner for everyone (Jon is probably going to come to that, too). Sunday I have church, then I am DEFINITELY doing homework.

Monday marks the last full week of classes, then both of my finals are a week from Thursday! I am anxious already.

There were some really awesome thunderstorms last night. On the news they showed images of all the different buildings downtown getting struck by lightning and it was ridiculously awesome looking!

I should probably get going-- I have a bunch of files to pull and more data entry to do before I go home tonight :)

There's got to be some stable ground left to walk on.

2008-07-10T11:24:00.000-07:00

Oh my goodness!! Echo has retained a place in my heart from now until ETERNITY! Last night everyone was out (Sasha had her orientation session and Shea was out with friends) so Echo was traipsing around my room while I did some homework. It finally got on my nerves when he attacked my pencil midsentence, so I kicked him out. The little booger cried outside my bedroom door, so when I was ready for bed I decided to give him a shot at sleeping in my room (I always sleep with my door shut & locked at night-- it's one of my security "blankets"). At first he kept attacking me as I moved under the sheets, but after about ten minutes he curled up in a ball by my knees and passed out. When I woke up this morning he was cuddled up on my chest and it was SO adorable. The little guy made me feel so special. If everyone is gone again tonight I might just let him sleep with me again!

Today summer orientation session numero tres began! I'm amazed that the excitement of talking to new students hasn't decreased in the slightest. Actually, with each parent's lounge session that I sit in on, I become MORE stoked for the next! Parents are just so fun to talk to, partially because so many of them remind me of my own. It's almost like I get a mini-visit with mine every time freshmen parents come to campus. I am very homesick right now so it's a breath of fresh air to have mom's and dad's walking around campus.

Today is my busy day. I had calculus 10-12:35, work from 12:35-5, then circuits 6:25-9:05. Long Thursdays make Fridays so much better, though, so I just focus on what I'm doing at that moment to help the time go quicker.

I really want to try to get to the beach this weekend. I had a dream last night I was on a boat on Lake Michigan, so I'm crossing my fingers that eventually that dream comes true! I also have to study this weekend because I have my 2nd circuits test on Thursday and finals are a mere two weeks a way!! How did time go so fast? Summer is almost half way over!!

I had yet another pleasant experience with the Office of Financial Aid yesterday. The staff over there are so ready and willing to help with anything finance-related at all; it amazes me! I had to sign some paperwork and all I did was walk in and they had it waiting for me. I can't get over how much IIT cares about its students. It's AWESOME!

I must sign off now, I'm helping give a tour to some freshmen in high school and we need to prep!

It's funny how we see things so clear when we have no time left to live.

2008-07-09T11:27:00.001-07:00

What a busy, busy day!

Since today is the only day admissions is really open to outside people (due to summer orientation sessions being held Mon-Tues, Thurs-Fri), we had about 16 people wanting tours of the campus! As usual, though, I LOVED it, loved talking to new people.

I am absolutely exhausted! I haven't been sleeping well lately, and last night I had about 3 nightmares and woke up on about 7 different occasions. I think I've reached the point that I'm simply too tired to sleep.

I talked to one of my favorite bands, This Providence, via their studio webcam/chatroom yesterday. It was good times-- those boys are amazing. Then last night Underoath broadcast one of their live shows over Stickam. It was crazy to see them playing from a backstage point-of-view, and it was nice to get to hear two of their new songs (without paying to go to the actual concert-- lovely!)

Echo was crazier than ever last night. I'm hoping that once he gets fixed his testosterone levels will decrease and maybe he'll become less aggressive. I was washing dishes at the sink and he jumped off of the dining room chair (which was four feet away, I might add) and onto my shoulder... TWICE! I think Echo thinks he's a dog (due to his playing fetch) and a monkey (due to his jumping long distance through the air onto unstable things). He thinks he's a dogkey.

Emily and I realized on Monday that we only have like... 2 1/2 weeks of classes left for the summer! That is NOT enough time for me to do all of the studying that I need to do.

Sasha is having a dinner party at our apartment on Saturday. I'm excited because it means homemade spaghetti and cheesy garlic bread. I am curious to see if Sasha will be awake to cook the dinner, however, because Sasha is working for the orientation session Thursday through Friday, and generally after she works a session she sleeps for 26 hours straight (no really, she totally did it was crazy!) Gotta love her.

New episode of Baby Borrowers tonight!!!! LOVE it.

New band: www.myspace.com/freeforallband. Ok, I don't know what their music sounds like but I talked to one of the members and they were really cool guys so they deserve some cred.

Ok, I gotta go eat my orange and then get back to updating the database!

Oh, my divided mind and restless soul.

2008-07-08T12:16:00.000-07:00

Vega Under Fire = amazing band.

Today has been hectic! I woke up at 8:30 this morning and figured I would go into work a little bit late today to quickly realize I had to give tours to the orientation session parents by 9! With my mad skills I managed to stroll into the Admissions office by 8:50. 8-)

This orientation group was AMAZING! I talked to a TON of new freshmen/parents and they were all so nice and friendly and wonderful. With each summer orientation I am becoming more and more excited about the fall semester/all the new faces.

Yesterday was busy. After work I got some ECE help. Jon had dinner on the table right when I got home around 5:15. He made nacho taco-y things and they were SO good. He also bought me feta cheese! What a man. What a wonderful, giving man. He spoils me way more than I deserve.

We watched Jon and Kate Plus 8 with Shea last night. It made me laugh because Aaden, the little sextuplet with glasses, found out he wasn't getting dessert since he didn't eat his dinner. His response was, "I don't get my cupcake!? OOOOOOH!"--it was SO adorable and I wanted to steal him.

Echo is more rambunctious than normal. I think it's because he's been sleeping all day when everyone is gone so at night he is well rested and absolutely CRAZY. Silly kitten. I also found out from Shea yesterday that he plays FETCH! And then she showed me and he really DOES! She would throw his little mouse toy and he would run and get it and drop it by her so she could throw it again. This went on for about half an hour. It was amazing. We used to have cairn terriers that couldn't even play fetch.

I'm in the process of updating a TON of international schools in our database, so I gotta get back to it... just didn't want to forget to write a blog today.

Go listen to these bands if you have time:
-Esme
-A Kidnap in Color
-Vega Under Fire
-This is an Empire
-Call Me Constant (a plug for my friend's band from Ohio--but they really are amazing)

Ok thanks :)

It's so hard to push my pride to the side.

2008-07-07T11:36:00.000-07:00

Oh what a marvelous weekend I had!

On Friday I went to the grocery store and got stuff for the apartment cook-in. We made WAYY too much food so I have TONS of left-overs (every college kid's dream!). It was also the first fourth of July Jon and I were able to spend together (he was in Arizona and I was in Ohio last 4th) and it was great! After we ate our indoor BBQ, we went down and walked around the Taste of Chicago for a bit. It was really crowded, though, so we wandered into the loop and searched for dessert. We ended up getting milkshakes from Potbelly's (SO delicious) and we took them down to the riverwalk to drink. While we were sitting next to the river, about 50 kayakers rowed past-- it was weird because it was around 9:30 and already getting dark. After we finished our shakes we went back to the apartment--we also got to see some of the fireworks from the train. There were fireworks being shot off all around Bridgeport-- it was so cool, and my roommate's kitten, Echo, was going NUTS. It was just enjoyable to watch.

On Saturday Jon had to work most of the day, so I went to the Taste of Chicago (to actually taste food) with Emily, Frank, Ben and a lot of Frank's friends from Ohio. I ate tiramisu gelato, a chocolate covered strawberry, and a Greek chicken sandwich on pita bread. It was SO delicious!! After that I went up to Jon's apartment and we went out to eat at Stella's diner and it was so good. On Sunday I had church and then I did homework. It was just an overall, nice and relaxing weekend.

Got my calc midterm today--did relatively well :)

Summer orientation sessions 2 and 3 are this week which means I probably won't see Sasha very much. It was thundering this morning so I hope the kids have relatively good weather this week.

Jon met everyone I work with in the office today--it was adorable because he is so shy at first and everyone in my office is so sarcastic. Poor kid didn't know what was coming at him! He's a great sport, though, so it went just fine.

I'm at it again-- caught up in the moment (but not in the right way).

2008-07-03T12:08:00.000-07:00

YESSS!!!

It is almost the weekend which makes me so incredibly happy! Especially because it's the weekend of the 4th which makes it SO much better! The office is closing early today (actually everyone has already left) so I am just blogging. Then I plan on shifting everything on Ryan's desk three inches to the left. He's gonna hate it! :)

I gave TWO campus tours today. It was absolutely crazy! The first was to three families, the second was to two grad students from Croatia--they were all so friendly! I love talking to people from all over-- it fascinates me. Other than Canada, I've never left the country (and I don't really count Niagra Falls as Canada to be honest).

Tomorrow we're probably going to have a cook in at the apartment (can't be a cook out because we don't have a grill). I'm going to make burgers and hot dogs, plus have the usual chips and dip and watermelon. I think the food is part of the reason why I love 4th of July so much!

I think I ROCKED my calc midterm today. I passed my ECE midterm. Midterms just make me feel so good because when they're over I appreciate not being stressed so much more. The only thing standing between me and a whole day off tomorrow is my ECE lecture tonight, but it shouldn't be bad.

I got to hang out with Jon last night which made me extremely happy! I always have so much fun with him. We went and bought ice cream at the Shell on the corner and it was so good. I also found out my that my brother's (or as I refer to him: Ziggy) chinchilla had babies yesterday! He said I could have one and he would also give me a cage. That ALSO means he and Alexis (his beautiful wife) have to come to Chicago (from Pittsburgh) to visit me!

I am super excited (and kind of bummed) about the first weekend in August! I get to go home for a weekend! I'm getting in Friday afternoon and I think the family is all coming over to hang out. Then on Saturday a TON of my friends from home (and Jon from here) are all going to Cedar Point for the day... which makes me stoked for rollercoasters. Sunday Jon is getting baptized then we come back to Chicago Sunday night. It's going to be nice to get to see everyone again before fall semester starts up. I'm bummed, however, because Chicago's Warped Tour, Lolapalooza, and my block's block party are ALL that weekend. Naturally.

Fireworks on Navy Pier are tonight. Sadly I will be in class, not to mention there will be about a million people there. Oh well, there's always next year.

I had a terrible dream about a fiasco of a wedding I was having last night. (I know, I'm not even engaged-- oh well!) Basically, it was my wedding day and I didn't have a bouquet, a cake, or centerpieces, so 3 hours before the wedding I was running around trying to find stuff. For some reason I was doing this in my wedding dress, and then someone stepped on the train and it tore my dress. It was terrible! Then the bouquet I was trying to make was really ugly. I blame the dream on the episode of Reba I watched yesterday-- it was the first one where her daughter was getting married.

Yes, I watch Reba. Better yet, I watch Reba on LIFETIME.

Yeah, put that in your pipe and smoke it.

;)

They can take all of me, but they won't ever take what I still believe.

2008-07-02T11:06:00.000-07:00

Woke up this morning to a fresh start from the anxiety of the ECE midterm, only to greet the anxiety of my upcoming calc 3 midterm. I need to stop worrying so much and start enjoying life while I have it.

Professor Lubin, my calc prof, made me smile today. During lecture we were discussing how to get the area of a shape in a polar coordinate system, and he asked us what we should refer to a particular shape as. He said he called it a polar rectangle. I asked him to call it a polar bear, and he referred to it as such for the rest of the class. It was hilarious because the first time he went to say it, it seemed as though it was painful for him to refer to it as a polar bear.

I guess it's the little things in life that can mean the most when it's 10 am and you're already having a bad day.

The good news is it's supposed to thunderstorm today and I LOVE thunderstorms. The other good news is I get to see Jon tonight. The final piece of good news is that I'm alive and that every day is a gift.

PS, I wanted to kill Echo this morning. He views my laptop as a jungle gym and while I was starting my day he kept messing up the music that was playing in my Zune library. Lame cat.

I have re-discovered All Time Low (a band). It's delightful. I've also recently come across a band called "The Wedding" and I LOVE them.

Oh, I am in the process of potentially trying to set up a concert in August/September for Union Board as a sort-of "welcome back to school" shenanigan (spelling? I'm feeling too apathetic to consult dictionary.com). If I get my way, the band Call Me Constant (my friends from Ohio who played in the Bog the week after spring break in March) would be opening for a powerpop/rock band called "The Last November". Ellen is out of the office for a few days (Ellen is the Bog's faculty advisor for Union Board), but as soon as she gets back I will hopefully have more details for you.

OH! That reminds me. I don't think I ever gave a little spoof about what exactly UB is. Union Board is a student programming organization that is the primary planner for concerts, magicians, hypnotists, movies, etc. on campus. Any student can join and you can plan basically anything you want (granted you need approval for the event as well as approval by the Student Government Association and/or have the funds in the Student Activities Fund), so if there is a band you want to see play on campus get involved and set it up. If you are too lazy to, recommend it to someone you know who is in UB. Basically, there is usually at least one event a week, and DEFINITELY one event a month, planned for main campus. So on a Saturday night that there is a band playing in the Bog, I don't want to hear you say there is nothing to do. GO OUT! GET INVOLVED! We work hard to bring stuff to campus for our students, so enjoy what we plan! More info at ub.iit.edu.

Dang, blogging put me in a little bit of a better mood. It's nice to be able to forget your worries for a few minutes.

"Love the madness."

Tell me what it takes to get to you and I'll be there, waiting.

2008-07-01T19:48:00.000-07:00

Took my ECE midterm tonight....

"breathe in, breathe out... live it up, you'll never live this down..." -Hit the Lights

...Not sure what to expect even in the slightest. I'm not optimistic.

PS, the new HTL album=basically amazing. Not to mention they're from the Cleveland area, too, so I gotta represent the 440!

PPS, the cutie in the picture with me = boyfriend. Disregard winter clothes; taken in January.

PPPS, I am exhausted so I am going to bed. Goodnight dears.

She gets what she wants and she breaks what she gets..

2008-07-01T10:17:00.000-07:00

Why hello there. (explanation of photo to follow below)

Sorry I haven't written in a few days (I'd honestly be surprised if anyone has been reading this, frankly). Jon has been terribly ill since Saturday, and yesterday I was also showing signs of sickness yesterday morn. Luckily, his fever has dropped back to normal temperatures, and other than my worries about midterms, I am feeling perfectly fine.

So midterms! I have my ECE-213 (aka Circuit Analysis 2) midterm this evening at 6:25. It just fully hit me this morning that it's tonight, so I'm already all nervous about it. I have been getting extra help from my professor during office hours, I have been doing all my homework, and I have studied for about 5 hours thus far (more studying tonight from 5-6:15). I feel somewhat confident about it, but more preparation could have been done so I am definitely anxious.

I have my calc 3 midterm on Thursday at 10 am. I'm studying for that one tomorrow (I have class tonight and have been studying for ECE in my spare time thus far) and I attended an optional review session for that midterm on my lunch break today. Similar to ECE, I have been keeping up on the homework and quizzes, so hopefully it will go smoothly.

On a less anxious and dreary note (because honestly, who likes midterms?), Echo, my roommate's rambunctious kitten, was on an adorable rampage yesterday. Apparently Shea had kept him up all night because she couldn't sleep, so he was passed out (contrary to his usual daily bitings, sneak attackings, and ridiculous amounts of energy) for pretty much the entire day. The most beautiful moment came when I was studying and I reached into my bookbag to get my textbook when I realized Echo had set up camp in it! He was passed out with his head and paws popping out.. ok I don't need to explain, you can reference the photo for yourself. Pardon the Moosejaw sticker-- I sent this picture to them because I literally just got my bookbag from their website four days ago and I thought they would appreciate the amount of adorable in the picture. Christy says he was exhausted from watching me study. In case you were worried, Echo was back to his typical antics this morning. I think he needs his brakes checked because he always slides into the walls when he is running. :)

It is a beautiful 80-degree day here in Chicago. I'm excited for Baby Borrowers tomorrow. I'm also excited for the 4th of July coming up! I think we're having a mini cookout at the apartment. I'm supposed to go to Taste of Chicago Sunday, so we'll see!

Have a beautiful Tuesday!

We just need to breathe and slow down.

2008-06-28T20:49:00.000-07:00

Heyyy!

So not only was today yet another game in the Cubs/Sox series, but it was our first summer open house (HOLLER!)!

It was a lot of fun chalking the campus sidewalks, the free food was delicious, and the prospective students were quite lovely. It was a lot of fun talking to families from various states, and despite the ridiculously hot and humid weather, fun was had by all.

Oh, and I killed a HUGE bug at Jon's apartment today! I was so proud of myself.

Yayyyy!

I've got a secret, please don't repeat it.

2008-06-27T09:24:00.000-07:00

Today I got to interact with several students and their parents at our first summer orientation session. Everyone was so friendly, which only continues the particularly happy students on IIT's campus.

Tomorrow is our first open house of the summer, so I am excited to interact with more prospective students.

Summer classes are going really well. I have two midterms next week which I am nervous about, but I've been getting extra help from my professors so I'm not concerned at all. Dr. Borkar is so helpful during his office hours-- he has made it apparent that he wants his students to succeed, even though that means working hard! Taking summer classes was a really good decision for me--hopefully I can graduate earlier and take an easier courseload in the fall because of it.

Taste of Chicago is this weekend and there was a free movie in Grant Park last night! Man I love this city.

Sasha, one of my roommates, is an orientation counselor (OC) this summer and I talked to her briefly today-- she had so much fun this session! She is only getting me more excited about incoming freshmen. :)

Last night my boyfriend, Jon, surprised me when he showed up at my apartment unannounced. It was a wonderful surprise because I haven't seen him in over a week (he went back to Ohio to visit his family). We made dinner and watched the show "Baby Borrowers" on TV- it is basically amazing.

Must go, work calls.

This is a seasonal affair, so be there or be square.

2008-06-26T10:13:00.001-07:00

Hey everyoneee! Before I get under way with all my personal business, I figured a relatively proper introduction was due...

My name is Danielle Madere (more often than not, I answer to 'Blue'), and I am a third year biomedical undergraduate at Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago. I grew up in Olmsted Falls, Ohio, a small suburb of Cleveland. I'm 19 years old (20 on October 9). My favorite color is pink and more often than not I'll be sporting it in some sense. I LOVE animals-- I'm currently in the process of considering purchasing a sugar glider. I am involved with Union Board on campus (I'll explain what UB is at a later time), and I work in the Office of Undergraduate Admissions (so if you've applied or want to apply there's a good chance I was involved in packing and sealing all those informational packets you receive!).

Ok, I THINK that is sufficient, but if not I'll probably hear about it later ;)

So anyway, it's time for me to continue onto what I originally intended to blog about.

Summer is in full swing here at IIT, marked by the arrival of the buzz of new freshmen participating in their summer orientation sessions. The funny part is, even though I haven't formally met any of them, I recognized at least 10 people. The great thing about a small college is that even if you don't personally know everyone, you can recognize and put a name with a face for 90% of the students. Facebook is a great tool for that-- there are ALWAYS Facebook groups for our incoming freshmen to help ease the anxiety of coming to a completely new place.

This summer has been relatively cool-- I was somewhat amazed. This is my first summer in Chicago (I am working part time and taking 2 summer classes) and I absolutely LOVE it! I went to the lake for the first time since coming to Illinois last Saturday and it was SO gorgeous! (absolutely opposite of gross smelly Lake Erie!) Some friends and I are looking into renting a boat at the end of the summer for a cruise to kick off the school year. Also, the Taste of Chicago starts tomorrow and I am SO excited! Even though I am so broke, there are so many FREE (who doesn't love free?) things to do. I discovered Lincoln Park Zoo in February-- it's free and it is SO amazing.

Ok, I just realized all the caps and exclamation points in this-- I apologize for my unusually cheerful temperament. I just love this school, love my classmates, love seeing new faces, and love this city.

Until next time... go listen to the new Cute is What We Aim For CD--I think it's amazing. :)