I'M MOVING!

I'm moving to WordPress!

http://tkconcialdi.wordpress.com

So don't be looking for new blogs at this site, look at that one!

It's still a work in progress, but I've got it to a point that I really like and can now let people see it. :)

So...

Farewell Blogger! It was nice knowin' ya!

Zachary, This Is For You.

A tip for all the college students/soon to be college students:

Skipping all your morning classes to sleep in until 11 + Three naps later in the afternoon DOES NOT EQUAL Going to bed early to ensure you get enough sleep for your test the next morning.

We'll see how this goes tomorrow.



On another note, I'm starting to feel more included in things. I mean, not by much, but by enough to feel like I have friends. And get this - THEY'RE MUSIC ED! I "studied" with some kids from my music ed class for a while, and I can really relate to them and be myself. Who knew?

And finally, Zachary Horst, this is for you:

The more I think about it, the more my desire to teach grows. I literally cannot see myself choosing any other career and being happy. I don't even care what I teach! I can teach lessons, or a elementary music class, or an elementary math class, or even elementary english! I will be happy teaching whatever is available to me and it will bring me so much joy watching the children in my classroom grow.

Also, I've become addicted to Kit Kat bars. I used to love them as a child, but for the past five or so years I never touched them. Well, I've rediscovered them. And I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE them!

I also love the Disney channel. It's unending cheesiness and cleanliness is just so refreshing. I'll take Disney over Teen Mom anyday!

And, I still love my nose piercing! It is a little boring having to sit with my nose in warm salt water for ten minutes twice a day, but it really helps! It really draws out all the pus and gunk that's inside my skin and makes it feel less painful! But, I've been heating up the water too much lately, so I have to sit with a cotton ball that's soaked in salt water on my nose for about ten minutes before I can put my nose in the water. Otherwise, I burn myself and my nose is bright red for a good thirty minutes! But I'd rather have to wait to use hot, sterilized water than possible soak my nose in water that's not hot enough to be effective.

That is all. I will post more, loves. I promise.

Surprised?

So yesterday I did something many people would not expect me to do.

I GOT MY NOSE PIERCED!

It hurt really badly, but it looks so cute! I love it!

But this morning when I woke up, it was sticking out of my nose and I was worried something bad was going down, but I called the place where I got it pierced and they told me to just push it back in! Haha :) I'm going to take really really good care of it so that the scar tissue doesn't build up and I don't get hypertrophic scarring or a keloid. That would be horrible! It's the only thing I'm worried about.

And my parents weren't too thrilled when I told them. They freaked out, but at the same time they were also understanding. My mom's response (this was before I got it pierced and I told her I was going to) was a lot of whining and saying stuff like "Why would you do this? I never thought one of my kids would want that! Why are you doing this to yourself? I would tell you no, but you're an adult now and I can't!" and then my dad's response (this was after I got it pierced and I told him I did it) was "This is all a joke right? You're just kidding with me right?" and then once I convinced him I actually did it he was like  "Were you drunk? Were you on drugs?" and once I convinced him I was completely sober he finally said "Well I guess everybody needs something to show off their individuality and make them unique."

But it's really not that bad. It's not super noticeable, and the good thing is if I decide I don't like it, I just take it out, the hole closes up, and I go on like nothing happened. But I don't think I'll be doing that any time soon. ;)

Well here's some pictures of each stage of the process :) Enjoy

 Pre-piercing nerves

Piercing! It was SO painful!

If you look closely, you can see the needle that just went through my nose in front of his left index finger.

Pierced Nose!

Thoughts?

Orange.

I feel like I don't fit in anywhere.

I don't fit in with my high school friends anymore, because we're just all off in different directions and lost contact.
I don't fit in with my "church" friends, because I went the to the school that was farthest away so I never see any of them so I don't understand inside jokes or updates about life.
I don't fit in in at OU because everyone who's anyone is in a Sorority or Frat. I have no desire.
I don't fit in at any of the churches in Norman because they've all already made their cliques and circles and I feel like an intruder.
I don't fit in with Jon and his friends because they're all petroleum engineers, and I'm just a mere music education major.
I don't fit in with Jon because he doesn't really have the time for me, since getting a degree in PE is so time consuming.
I don't fit in with my family because my siblings are still young and immature and don't really want to spend time with me.

I'm just left out everywhere I go.

I feel like an orange trying to take up residence in an apple tree.

I Love My Job!

I worked on Saturday and Sunday, and each day I love my job more and more!

Saturday I had to work inside all day, so it was kind of boring. But Jon and Ethan came to see me! They hit some balls on the driving range and hung out inside with me a little bit. But then they left and I was back to playing Sudoku on my phone. But I made a lot of money!

And yesterday was THE BOMB! I worked inside for four hours and was smart enough to bring something to do. I'm currently reading Dear John by Nicholas Sparks so I can see the movie, but I have a feeling the movie isn't going to be worth seeing. I'm not really a fan of Amanda Seyfried or whatever. Anyways, then I went on the cart for four hours! I didn't make quite as much tips as I would have liked, but I still made forty bucks! AND two guys gave me FIVE DOLLAR TIPS! The first one was because I was driving along in my golf cart (Starting at the hole and working my way to the tee) and saw someone about to hit the ball towards the hole so I stopped off to the side. He hits it, yells FORE!, and next thing I know a golf ball hits my wind screen. It was hilarious! So we drive to meet eachother and I crack a few jokes and ask if he wants anything, and he gets a drink and gives me five dollars because it's the "least he could do since he scared me so bad." AWESOME!! And then (I have to backtrack a bit) while I was working inside, this asian guy who's probably in his late twenties came in and got a 6 pack of Bud Light and introduced himself to me. His name is Shaun. Anyways, he was upset there wouldn't be a cart girl because I told unless somebody else comes to work inside, I'm stuck inside. But Cathy came, and I got to go out on the cart! So I see them and they're yelling "TAYLOR! TAYLOR!" and I'm like "Hey Shaun! Hey guys! Can I get y'all anything to drink or eat? More Bud Light?" and they were like yeah! So I filled them up and went on my way. Then on my second round, I see them again. They're on one side of a pond about to hit their ball and I'm on the other side. One guy hits the ball and it looks like it went in the water, and then all the sudden there's a ball bouncing and rolling next to me. So they drive over and I said "Did you make that ball skip across teh water?!" and he said "Yeah, wasn't that awesome! You need to follow us around! You're my good luck charm!" And I refilled their 6 pack and went on my way. THEN I saw them one more time and they got ANOTHER 6 pack! And that's the time they gave me a 5 dollar tip.

So what I've found about my job is if I act really open and friendly, maybe flirt a bit, be really outgoing, I get more tips. :) And it doesn't hurt that I'm not ugly. Haha

Also, I love the people I work with. I mean, I'm the only Cart Girl, but there are a lot of guys who do other things on the golf course. Maintenance things. And they're all the age of my dad. And they act really fatherly towards me and joke around with me. They all remind me of my dad and his buddies. And actually one guy, Tom, who is the most fatherly and looks out for me while still cracking jokes at me, has a son, Kyle, who looks EXACTLY like Garrett (except darker skin and dark hair) and acts exactly like him, too! AND I think they're about the same age! I was hanging out with him inside and it was just uncanny. I can't get over it.

Anyways, sorry this is such a long post. I just really love my job!

Busy Bee!

The last few weeks have been insane!

Unfortunately, I can only remember the last few days. When I get stressed out, I tend to forget things that have happened. Haha. These are small examples, but for instance, when I audition for something, I can't remember how I played five minutes after I'm done. I just go on auto-pilot. So the last few weeks I have just been on auto-pilot the whole time.

But here are some quick updates:

• I am ROCKING my classes! I mean, it's not as good as last semester when I had a 100 in Spanish and basically a high A in everything else. I'm afraid some of my grades will be borderline A, but I'm sure I can pull it off. ) BTW, I got a 98 on my Music in Cultures test. BOOM ROASTED!
• I've been advised and planned out my schedule for next semester! 18 hours! I feel like that's a lot, but when I remember that right now I'm taking 17 hours, it puts me at ease. Oh and the best part about next semester is I won't have any class earlier than 8:30! I know 8:30 seems early to some, but this semester and last I've had 8:00 classes. No matter what you say, I believe that 30 minutes really makes a difference in how I sleep!
• I really like the pieces I'm learning in piano right now. They're really pretty. My favorite is The Little Girls' Dance by Niels Gade. I've found all of my favorite pieces so far have been Romantic.
• My roommate, Amy, is obsessed with the show Sex and The City. So of course, I am now hooked, too. I started watching halfway through the last season, then went back to the beginning, and now I'm watching the entire series from the beginning. This seems to be how I start watching all TV shows. That's how it happened with LOST, The Office, Gilmore Girls, etc. I always start watching at the end.
• I feel like this seems dumb to be posting about, but things have been going REALLY WELL with Jon lately. It was tough at the beginning of last semester and this semester because we saw each other SO MUCH. It seemed like we were always fighting. But the last few weeks have been really great. I feel how I did when we first started dating, which is what I've been asking for all year. 

And finally, (and most importantly), I GOT A JOB!!! It's not super consistent, and it's not really convenient (in a way), but I LOVE IT. Jon's aunt (Cathy), who lives in Moore, called me last Friday and asked if I could start working at two of the golf courses where she works!  So I started the next day.

 

What is my job, you ask? Well let me tell you.

I'm the "Cart Girl." Basically, I drive the golf cart around and sell beer to old men. Ironic? I think so. I've never touched so much beer in my life. BUT the tips are AWESOME!!! And all the people that work there are really nice and feel like family already! It's weird, because I'm the youngest person who works there by about at least twenty years, but I feel like I fit in. 

So I won't be coming home as early as I thought for Spring Break because I'm working this weekend, but that's okay. I desperately need the money! I'm so excited about it!

Podunk.

This has been an emotional week. I'm not even sure why.

Thursday I had an Observation for Teaching Techniques. The class we were observing is in Noble, this little podunk town outside of Norman. It's literally about four streets by four streets wide. This is key to find the irony in this story.

So I got a ride with my friend Andy, Julia, and P.J. so that I wouldn't feel the pressure of driving. I hate driving to places I don't know. So we all cram into Andy's little mustang hotrod (he strikes me as more of a big red, hick truck kind of guy) and drive to Noble. The class starts at 10:45 am. We leave about 10:30, which should be enough time to get to Noble Middle School. However, nobody looked up directions on how to get there because we all assumed somebody else would (you know what they say about when you assume...). But luckily, Julia had her iPhone and mapquested it. So we're driving along, all hunky dory, and we're following the directions perfectly, and it brings us to Pioneer Intermediate/Elementary School. Not the right place. So then we drive a little farther down the street (and by a little further I literally mean one block) and see this other school looking building. We also see some of our friends from class walking out of the building. They say it's an administration building, and they got directions. So we follow them. Those directions took us to Noble High School. Not the right place. So then some of our OTHER friends from class call Andy asking if we had found it yet. Nope. But those other friends had gotten directions from this lady on the street, so we followed their directions. It took us to an elementary school. Not the right place. But we saw this other school a little up the street so we went there. ANOTHER elementary school. Not the right place! Finally we just decide to drive around to the ONLY place we hadn't driven, and guess what? We found the middle school. We walk into the classroom forty-five minutes late, sit down, and about two minutes later, the class is dismissed. We spent forty-five minutes driving no father than three streets horizontally and about six streets vertically looking for this dumb middle school. What a story!

Last night, Jon, Ethan, Kaylie and I went to see 2012. I felt like the movie was drawn on too long, and too unrealistic. The main character, Jackson, makes all these close escapes without even a scratch! I was over the movie when he fell into the pit created by an earthquake/volcanoe, and climbed out totally unscathed. Anyways, ironically, today there are tsunami threats in Hawaii, Alaska, and California. Freaky.

And today I went job hunting. NOBODY is hiring right now. But I guess I'll still apply.
Oh and, I had made plans to go to some free swing dance lessons with Jon, except Jon didn't know about it. I just told him not to plan anything after 5:30. I called him and he was working on a lab with his lab group and said he'd have to stay late. The lessons started at 6, and I still haven't heard from him. I'm really upset. So I think I'll go practice bassoon and piano now to relieve my emotions.
I was really looking forward to this.

Woohoo!

So I had three tests (back to back to back) last Wednesday morning. I got a 92 on my first one (Theory), a 93 on my second one (Spanish), and I'm pretty sure I aced the last one (Music in Culture). Hopefully I get the last one back Wednesday.

Well, I think I aced it. I know I aced the test portion (it was all just memorizing and regurgitating the facts back. I finished in ten minutes. And that's including double checking my work, and waiting for my teacher to play the song excerpts a second time.) but the essay portion I'm pretty SURE I did okay. But the GA is grading them. And she seems like a ... you know what. Haha. So we'll see what happens.

I have three (possible four) quizzes tomorrow. A keyboard quiz, where we have to play a I IV I V I chord progression (in different inversions in the right hand) and any key she gives us. Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezey. Then I possibly have a singing quiz in that same class. I don't know, because we each have to sing one at a time, and she only does two people a day. So, yeah. It sucks. Then I have a spanish vocab quiz. I know about half of the words. I'll probably make flash cards after this. And then I have a "patterns quiz." The teacher will sing TWO notes (not even kidding! two!) and we have to sing them back. Man I love being a music major! Hahah

I wish I wrote deeper, more philosophical blogs. But I can't.

Maybe one of these days I'll write a blog in spanish! That would be fun! I attempted to write a letter to Jon in spanish once. I gave up after "Dear Jon. Right now I'm in my room and I'm very bored. Right now you are at (wherever he was.. I don't remember). I love you. I don't know what to say" or something like that. Then I reverted back to my natural language.

I really love spanish though. If I wasn't trying to graduate early, I would maybe consider minoring in it. It's just so interesting!

Weekend.

This has been a really nice weekend!

Friday evening, Jon went to stay with his aunt in Moore with his mom, so I thought I was going to be really lonely. But Amy and I went to go see Princess and the Frog. DON'T spend money on it. It was weird. And then after that we got dinner. And then I went to bed. Nice, and relaxing Friday night.

Saturday was really chill, too. I slept in, watched Pocahontas and other Disney shows. And then Jon's mom and I went out for a coffee date/Walmart run while Jon was at the men's basketball game. It was a lot of fun! We bought Jon a new fish since his last one died. He doesn't have good luck with fish. And then the three of us went to PadThai after Jon got out. It was really good! And then after that Jon's mom left and Ethan came over and we WERE going to watch The Office, but I guess they didn't show a new one last Thursday? Bummer. So we watched some SNL skits, YouTube videos, and 16 & Pregnant. :) I've got Jon hooked on the show, too!

And today I slept in, got some Burger King, and now Amy and I are watchign The Hangover. Not my choice, but she thinks it's hilarious. I might take a nap.

This is a weekend I've needed.

Trust.

Trust is a funny thing.
Once it's broken, it's so hard to gain it back.

Why can't everything just stay the same.

Stress.

This has been a stressful week.

Early!

This weekend was a blast! Zachary came up with my Mom and Jenny & Tyler played an AWESOME concert and Amy's boyfriend Taylor came up! And Valentine's Day was GREAT. Jon sure does know how to be romantic! And I'll explain more about all of this later (probably after Wednesday - I have THREE tests Wednesday morning! One at 8:30, one at 9:30, one at 10:30. SUCKS!) but I just wanted to keep the three people who read this updated with my current decisions and whatnot.

Friday afternoon I had a meeting with the temporary head of the Music Education department (the normal guy is on sebbatacle) and talked about the possibility of graduating early. By early, I mean one semester early. Which will mean I'll be graduating in four years instead of four and a half. So technically, I'm graduating on time. But for music majors, it's WAY early! Graduating early is pretty much unheard of! But I'm going to do it! I'll have to take two summers of summer school, and that's basically it! I mean, I'll have to take the classes that are originally in my Senior Spring Semester in my Junior Spring Semester, but since I came into college with so many Gen Ed's, that's a piece of cake. AND I'll never have to take more than 18 hours a semester! I HAVE to take extra classes in order to be a full time student my senior year and keep my scholarships. So if I wanted to, I could just take 14-16 hours each semester, and I won't have to find some random just-for-fun class my senior year. But I might want to do that anyways. ;)

So that's my new goal.
I WILL be graduated in May of 2013, not December.
I WILL be one of the few Music Ed majors to graduate EARLY/ON TIME!

I am so excited about this!

Oh, and I also have a friend who is like me (came in with a lot of credits) and we're going to do all of this together! We'll be each other's support!

Did I mention how excited I was?

Mini-Rant

I feel like I've posted a lot today.

I guess I'm just in the blogging mood because I have to keep up with a blog for my Teaching Techniques class. I have to blog about twice a week. And since I haven't done that AT ALL this semester, I need to write about eight blogs by Friday. I've already written two so far. Only at least six to go!

Anyways, I was taking an online survey and it was asking me things for just statistics (i.e. What is your age? What is your ethnicity? What country do you live in?) and one of the questions asked "What is your profession?" and it's multiple choice. I obviously put "Full-time Student," but there was an option that said "Full-time Parent, Homemaker."

That really pushed my buttons. You are not a "full-time parent" only if you're a stay-at-home mom. EVERY parent is a "full-time parent." Parents who work aren't "part-time parents!" If you have a child, you are his/her mother/father ALL THE TIME.

Ugh.

Mini-rant over.

Random

I know I already posted today, but I just feel like posting again.

I just want to let everyone know that nothing weird is going on. I just have a lot on my plate right now. Some things didn't turn out the way I would have imagined, but I guess that's the way life works.

Friday night was the Engineering Ball. It was weird and a little awkward. It was very small, and there was a bar. But I got my dancing shoes on (and by that I mean I took off the shoes I was wearing so I could dance) and boogied. But then Jon and the couple we were with wanted to leave to go to this party at his house (the guy in the couple). So we went. There was drinking. I was uncomfortable. That's probably the first REAL party I went to where the main goal of it was to get drunk. But we all went upstairs and played video games. Haha. I'm obsessed! It's called Feeding Frenzy. You're a fish and you eat smaller fish and avoid the bigger fish that will eat you. And once you eat enough smaller fish, you turn into a bigger fish! It's awesome. And very educational. So I guess something good came out of this party? Haha

Sunday was the Super Bowl (I never know if this is supposed to be one word or two? I guess two?). See earlier post.

Yesterday I had SO much homework to do. I was very stressed out.

Today is my best day of the week. It's the least busy class-wise. So in about an hour I'll do my fish Middle School Tutoring session! I'm excited. Amy and I both do it, so she'll show me the ropes. And after that I'm going to Zumba. And then my tons of homework that I'm putting off.

Right now I'm using the Crest WhiteStrips that whiten your teeth. It's the first time I've used them. I haven't decided if I like them yet. I don't really enjoy having stuff stuck in my mouth for long periods of time. I keep running my tongue over the strips and it's just so awkward. And the inside of my lip feels really weird. But I'm going to stick with it. I'll have whiter teeth in no time! Oh and I've started flossing. Not regularly, but I gotta start somewhere, right?

Emotions.

My emotions have gone haywire. It's wearing me down.

This has been a rough weekend/week. I am so stressed out. I have so much to do! And I don't have any time because I keep committing myself to new things! Yes, they're small commitments, but still. Last semester my days were pretty much the same routine. This semester it's crazy. Weird breaks in between classes, I've started tutoring middle schoolers on Tuesday, I'm taking Group Fitness classes, I think I'm going to start going to Antioch's LifeGroups.

I feel like I just don't have time, anymore. I guess I'm going to have to start getting used to going to bed past 11 and getting less than 8 hours of sleep. This semester's tough.

Behind.

I feel really behind in school already. Maybe that's because I missed a day of classes for my grandma's funeral and then we had two snow days in a row. Or maybe it's because my classes are A LOT harder than last semester and I'm just used to breezing through things. Or maybe I studied more last semester and I've been spending more time goofing off and not studying or doing my homework. Whatever it is, I'm behind. And I don't like it. I feel like I can never catch up. Like I'm just drowning in behind-ness. I don't know.

Superbowl

Today was the first Superbowl in ... four years? where I was not at Zachary Horst's house surrounded by people I know. Instead, Jon and I went to our friend Ethan's house. There were maybe ten people there. I knew four or five of them (two of them I've never really talked to before. We're just at Ethan's house so much that I'm around them often). We actually WATCHED the game. Well, I spent most of my time absentmindedly staring at the TV while lost in thought. I actually saw and processed only one touchdown of the game. Everything else I don't really remember seeing.

This was the weirdest superbowl ever.

Shock.

I hate being shocked. I don't mean physically. I mean emotionally. I mean mentally.

I hate finding out that people are changing. I can handle seeing someone change gradually. But it's so hard to handle when it all comes at you at once and you suddenly realize they aren't who they used to be. It's hard to grasp that things will never be the same. It's hard to accept that things are no longer how they once were and it can never go back.

I don't like growing up. I don't like what it brings.

I Love To Dance!

The Band Banquet for the Pride was last Saturday. Unfortunately, the weather caused the banquet to be cancelled. BUT school was cancelled Thursday and Friday! Woohoo!

So I was pretty bummed out that I was missing a chance to get dressed up and pretty and go to a nice event. And then told me the Engineers' Winter Ball is on Friday! That only gave me about five days to decide on a dress to wear. Oh, men, when will you ever learn that girls need AT LEAST two weeks to prepare for a dance/banquet?

So now Jon and I, our best-friends-to-be Ethan and Kaylie (and by best-friends-to-be I mean they will soon be Jon and mine's best friends. They're already dating), and Amy (roommate) and Taylor (her bf) are all going to the Ball! (It took some effort to convince Amy to go. But I'm excited she is!) I didn't really have a nice dress, so I borrowed one of Laney's, but it doesn't fit exactly right. So Amy and I (Amy doesn't have a dress, either) went to Target and Kohl's today to go Valentine's Day shopping, get an application to Kohl's (they aren't hiring. Bummer.) and possibly look at dresses. But as we pull up to Kohls we decide that we really don't feel like trying on any clothes. So we walk into the store and all these cute dresses are staring us in the face. So naturally, I try them on. THEY FIT ME PERFECTLY!!! THAT NEVER HAPPENS! So I bought one. IT'S SO HOTTTT!! I am so excited! I can't wait to dance!

Letters

Today I was reading an article (many of you do not know that I have a guilty pleasure type of obsession with shine.yahoo.com. In my spare time, I read articles about everything there is. It's how I keep up with life.) about a woman who has a child with Tourette's. This woman is actually one of the writers of the weekly love articles (I think), but she started talking about how more often than not, when women have their first child, the husbands get pushed aside. This isn't the point of my story though. She mentioned briefly that she has kept a journal of letters that she wrote to her child before he was born. Just letters about how she's going to love him no matter what he turns out to be and stuff like that. It inspired me.

I really enjoy writing letters to Jon and mailing them to him even though we only live a few minutes away now. I guess that's the hopeless romantic in me. I'm a sucker for old-fashioned things. Anyways, today I decided to write a letter to my future child (IMPORTANT NOTE: I am NOT pregnant. Nor will I be until I'm married. I don't want any drama/confusion/rumors spread haha). It felt really odd, but at the same time, I can just imagine him/her reading it when they're older. Or having his/her father read it to them when they're a few years old. Or if (hopefully not, though) something were to happen to me in child birth and early in their life, I want them to know that I looked forward to being their mom so much. I basically said in the letter that I'm 19 years old right now, and even though starting a family is quite a while away, I want them to know that I think about them a lot and look forward to my future with them and that I'll always love them no matter who they are, where they live, or how old they are (because they'll always be my baby). And I've decided I'm going to this quite a bit. I don't mean write a letter every day, but maybe once a year. And I was very careful not to say anything that could make them think that I was hoping for a girl for my first child (in case it's a boy), or anything about a father (since I don't know who that will be), or anything about how I hope their future will be (ex: I hope we'll be rich so I can give you everything you need and more.) because I don't want it to seem like I couldn't provide for them if the future didn't turn out that way. Mostly I just talked about how I want them to be happy and that's my goal in life. To provide my kids with what they need to be successful and happy to the best of my ability.

I know that might be weird, but I really hope it'll mean a lot to my future kid. I hope it's something they'll treasure forever.

Stress

Today has been so stressful.

Since I'm not going to be at school Wednesday, I've had to do all the homework that's due Tomorrow, Wednesday, AND Thursday tonight. That's a lot of stuff to do! And it doesn't help that I have no idea if I'm doing the theory homework correctly (my brain just can't wrap itself around the concept of Sevenths. I don't really understand how to get a half-diminished seventh and stuff. But I guess that's why I'm at college.), I had to do some dictation homework (for those of you who are non-musicians or don't know what that means, it means listening to a melody, a complex rhythm, or a series of regular and inverted chords, and figuring out what it is without looking at anything and writing it down. I've never been good at learning things by ear) and one of the chords just doesn't make sense. I think it's a Five Seventh (I have no idea how to write that out without the roman numerals and subcriptions - and there we are with the Sevenths again!), but it sounds like there's only two notes in it. Ugh! And, nobody ever does their homework before the night before it's due, so I have nobody to compare with! I hate our generation of procrastinators! I also have a Spanish quiz tomorrow. My brain is so filled with everything else I have to remember for the next few days that I can't remember all the dumb words. And it's all food! It should be easy! But no. UGHHH I AM SO STRESSED.

I've been doing so good this week. I've been staying busy. I haven't been dwelling. I went to Jon's the night I found out and just sobbed. And after that, I told myself I was going to put it behind me at least until the funeral, and then I'm going to move on. I've been doing so good. But tonight, I have nothing to do. Nobody to talk to. Nothing to distract me but my computer and my TV. And I can't help but think about how she's not going to be there at Easter, or my birthday, or Thanksgiving, or Christmas. I wish I hadn't thrown all the birthday and Christmas cards from her away. Nobody close to me has ever died before. I mean, my aunt died when I was in middle school. But she lived in North Carolina and I only saw her a few times in my life. My mom's best friend's son died. He lived in Louisiana, and I have many memories of hanging out with him and his brothers when we would visit or when they would. But I hadn't seen him in years before he died. But I saw Grandma multiple times a year. It's going to be so weird.

I can't even remember her voice anymore.

MORE!

I would just like to point out that within a few weeks, I've posted more blogs than I did in a full year.

The first week of school is done! I had two quizzes today. I think I made a 100 on my theory one, and I got 43.5/44 on my Spanish one. But, I'm going to get a 0 next week on a theory quiz because I'm flying home and I'll miss it. But luckily we have like 50 or so quizzes in that class (3 a week) so it shouldn't hurt me too much.

I'm flying home next Tuesday night for my grandma's funeral next Wednesday. And then I'm flying back to Norman Wednesday night. I can't remember if I already said that in another post. It's been a long day.

Jon's out of town this weekend, and all of my friends are busy. This is going to be super boring.

And finally, I love Disney.

Group Fitness

I paid for a Group Fitness membership today! Woohoo! I'm so excited! I love Zumba. It's awkward and sometimes hard, but I love it. And it makes my legs so sore. My inner thighs burn every time I walk. I love it.

I think I'm going to do Zumba twice a week, if not more. The class I'll go to on Monday with Laney is easy. And then the hard class is Tuesday and Thursday. Amy made me go yesterday. Ouch. Haha.

And I'm really excited about beginning yoga! I know I'm going to suck because I have HORRIBLE balance, but maybe this will help? But I have to miss the first class because I'm flying home next Tuesday for Grandma's funeral Wednesday morning and flying back later on Wednesday, and I'm only assuming I won't get back in time for them class. But who knows? I haven't booked my flight yet, so maybe I will be back by 7:45. But I kind of want to just stay at home for as long as possible, so my flight will probably be late.

ZUMBA

Since I wasn't in the mood to really update about how my first day of classes went yesterday, I'll update about it today.

I have 8:30am/8:00am classes again this semester. And I will have them for the next two semesters as well. Remind me why I picked Music Ed? 

Anyways, TR I have Aural Skills II, then Spanish Cont., then Teaching Techniques.

I'm nervous about Aural Skills because even though the grading scale is now 90-100 is an "A" (as opposed to last semester when 93-100 was an "A"), it's going to get a lot harder. And the only reason I made an A last semester was because I got two extra credit points on my final grade because I didn't miss any class. We'll see how that goes. I'll just have to practice a lot? I'm really bad at Sight Singing and Dictation. Ugh.

Spanish will be okay. My teacher's name is Lourdes Yen. Confused about her ethnicity? Her first name is Spanish because she was born somewhere in Latin America and lived there her whole life. Her last name is Taiwanese because she's Taiwanese. So she has the (pardon my stereotyping) high pitched, nasal-y voice of asian women. And her accent when she tries to speak english is so strange. It's hard to understand her spanish AND her english. But I think it's just something I have to get accustomed to. I actually enjoy spanish though. I wish I could be fluent in it, but after this semester, I have no more room to take more classes since it's a 5 hour course.

Teaching Techniques is going to be a blast. I love being in Music Ed because the same group of people are in the same classes semester to semester. Teaching Tech. is the same group of kids as my Intro to Music Ed class. So we already have our relationships formed and know each other well enough to goof around. Example: We had to go around the circle and say our name, what we play, and what we think our strongest teacher feature is. When it got to me, I said "I'm Taylor, I play bassoon, and I think my strongest point is my flexibility..." and before I could continue on with my sentence, everybody started laughing because that could be taken the wrong way. And I'm pretty sure my face got red. But I'm not worried about it because we're a great group of kids. It's going to be a great class. Oh, and what I meant by flexibility is my ability to teach in different styles and alter the methods I use to teach kids that learn differently. I eventually got that out after the giggles died down.

Now I'll update you about my classes today. (But first, I want to let you know that having the first day of classes on a Tuesday really is throwing me off. AND it doesn't help that last semester, Aural Skills was MWF, and now it's TR. And last semester Theory was TR and now it's MWF.) MWF I have Theory, Spanish, and Music in Cultures back to back to back with no break. Gross. Then, depending on which band I make, I'll either go straight Wind Ensemble, or have a two hour break and go to Symphony Band.  And W will be the worst because I'll have my piano lesson AND bassoon studio.

Theory: I like last semester's professor a lot better. But I guess I'm not really giving this new one a chance. But I'm excited about learning more theory. I really enjoyed that class, and I did really well. The only thing that makes me nervous is that we have a quiz EVERY DAY. Yikes. 

Spanish: See a few paragraphs above this.

Music in Cultures: Oh. My. Gosh. I don't even know where to start. I THINK this class is about music of the native americans/indigenous people all over the world. But I can't be sure because the teacher is on Speed or something. She's somewhat old, talks really fast, and goes off on random tangents about everything. She'll stop mid-sentence and be like "Oh and don't even get me started on blah blah blah" and talks about that forever until something else comes up. It's just really hard to follow her. But I've heard the class is really easy so hopefully I'll be okay.

I'm also going to sign up for some Group Fitness Classes. This week, the classes are free. So I went to the "easy" Zumba class after my band auditions (I was really nervous about the auditions, but it ended up being really relaxed. And I think I did really well considering I didn't get to practice much since I had my teeth extracted). I got there about ten minutes late because the auditions were running late, so I went to the back with Ashley (future roommate), her sister Sarah, and her hallmate Catherine (or is it with a "K"? I can't remember). Amy (my current roommate) and her BFF Alanna were in the front. Basically, I LOVE ZUMBA. I felt really awkward because my coordination has drastically gotten worse since I quit dance seven years ago. But it was a lot of fun. It really got my heart pumping. I'm so out of shape. I'm hoping this will help me get in shape. So I'm going to take a Zumba class Monday nights, and Amy and I are going to take a Beginning Yoga class Wednesday nights. I'm so excited!

So, that's what school looks like for me. I haven't decided what I think of it, yet.

Today

Today was the first day of classes.

Today my grandmother passed away.

Back at School

I'm back at OU. I have to admit, the urges to update my blog have decreased to almost nothing. But I'm updating it anyways!

I got back Saturday evening. Jon and I caravanned to Norman. However, we were delayed because at the gas station where we stopped outside of Dallas, I locked my keys in my car. This is a mistake I often make. But usually, one of the other doors are unlocked. This time they weren't. So I had to call AAA (I never know whether to write "Triple A" or "AAA." But you get the picture.) and wait for them to send a wrecker to open my car. Other than that, it was a pretty smooth trip.

Yesterday, Jon and I ran some errands. One of those was picking out a new fish for Jon! I convinced him to get two since they were only 28 cents. One's big with bright orange and yellow. The other's one's small and extremely hyper. I love them.

Today, Jon and I went out to eat with his new roommate, Koen. Koen is from the Netherlands. He's an exchange student studying American Studies (weird, right?) for his Masters. He's so cute! I love his accent! And he's extremely tall and 24. Haha. Anyways, when I read his name, I thought it would be pronounced "Coh-In" but it's not. It's like "Coon." Like raccoon without the ra. But I think Jon and his other roommates are going to call him Coh-in anyways.

Then I practiced bassoon in my dorm room. It was weird. I felt really self-conscious because the walls are paper thin. But I couldn't practice for long because the back of my mouth (where my wisdom teeth used to be) started to hurt. When I play bassoon, there's a lot of back pressure and so I guess since the holes aren't totally healed it started to hurt. I don't know how this is going to work out since I have band and lessons and studio and stuff. I'm getting kind of nervous.

Classes start tomorrow. It's going to be so weird starting on a Tuesday. I hate my schedule this semester. I feel like I'm in high school again because I go from 8 am to 2:30/4:00 depending on the day. It sucks.

I want to teach.

Ryan, invite me to read your blog!

Okay. Now that I got that out of my system.

Yesterday was my mom's birthday! I woke up, took a shower, and then spent the WHOLE day with her. We went to lunch, went to the mall, came home and took a power nap that ended up only being a few minutes because we had to go to Jersey Village to watch my brother wrestle his first Varsity match. He got pinned pretty quickly :( I felt so sad for him, because that was the only time he could wrestle. I miss him wrestling. I hope he gets really good, gets a full ride to OU, and then we'll be there for a semester together and I can go to his matches! Then we (mom and me) went to a hibachi grill with my aunt and my neighbor. I love that place. Then we came home and went to bed. Haha

Today I went to two elementary schools. At the first, I sat in on some one-on-one Special Ed classes. If I did Special Ed, that's what I'd want to do. Elementary school one-on-one stuff. Not para, not Life Skills. The little boys that were there were so adorable and the gratification of teaching a student with disabilities how to read and add. Oh it was just amazing. And I sat in on the music class. I'm torn, because I really want to do the S.E. but I really want to do the general music. Maybe it will all work out one day. At the second school, I sat in on some Music Therapy sessions. I now know that is not what I want to do. Yes, it was cool, and yes, I could do it. But I'd be happier being a teacher. I want to teach. I'm meant to be a teacher.

My Day

I forgot how great it is to just talk about everything.

Zachary Wilbur Horst, I've missed you.

I miss having someone to talk to for hours and hours about everything and not worrying about judgements and all that jazz.



I took Garrett (my brother) to the dentist today. We got there on time for our 3:00 appointment. We left at 5:00. I was peeved. But I knit the whole time. I finished the dumb scarf I've been working on for a year. Okay, not really a year. I took a semester long break. But still. AND it's ugly. Ugh. I hate it. My mom said she would take it. So I gave it to her. Haha I doubt she'll wear it. But now I can start on a new one. A pretty one. The other one was only ugly because of the yarn I chose. It just wasn't working.




Tomorrow is my mom's birthday! We're going to lunch and then just hanging out.

Knitting, Baking, and Flushing

Yesterday I got a knitting book at Barnes & Noble. So naturally, I've been knitting all day. Literally. I feel pretty proud of myself. I learned how to purl stitch, made a large swatch of the "Basket Weave Pattern" and made a swatch where it's argyles. Yes, I knit argyle. I'm super excited to make a scarf with it. I also learned how to weave the extra yarn when I'm finished back into the scarf, rather than tying a knot and cutting it and hoping it never comes undone. I wish I had more time to knit.

Jon came over for dinner with my family. Earlier today I read Jenny & Tyler's blog about the recipe for brownies from scratch. So, as Jon & Taylor, we decided to make them! They were pretty good! But when Jon was measuring the unsweetened cocoa, instead of measuring 4 tablespoons, he accidentally did 4 spoons that equaled 4 teaspoons. So instead of 4 tablespoons, it was 16 teaspoons. Oops! So the brownies weren't as sweet as they were supposed to be. But we did a quick fix and sprinkled powder sugar on it! I had never made brownies from scratch before. I love baking things from scratch. I feel so accomplished. When I have a family, I'm going to be the type of mom that bakes all day. I can't wait. I also can't wait to have my own apartment next semester with a kitchen.

Also, after dinner, I had to use the Syringe of Doom and stick the syringe INTO the holes in my mouth and flush it out with water. Unfortunately, my stomach is not that strong. I couldn't even handle watching the doctor do it in the mirror. So I had Mom do it. Not fun. Fdhgsjlfgajhdg.

Tomorrow I'm getting breakfast with Zach! And afterwards I'm getting lunch with Jon. And then I'm starting to pack to leave. It will be a fun and busy day tomorrow.

More

I forgot I wanted to update about some of the stuff that happened today.

I had my one week check up with my surgeon who took out my wisdom teeth. People have been telling me about this Syringe of Doom they had to do. I thought I just didn't have one. I do. I got it today. I have to stick the tip of the syringe INTO the holes in my mouth and flush out whatever is in there with water. I freaked out just watching the doctor do it to me in the mirror. I am not going to be able to do this. Which is why I love the convenience of having my boyfriend live a minute away at school. He is the best. I asked him if he'd do it for me so I wouldn't have to throw up every time I tried, and he said yes. Oh, my man is definitely a keeper. (:

I also got a knitting book at Barnes & Noble with mom today. I wish I had more time to knit.

Not Bored Enough?

I've been wanting to just post a list of Likes and Dislikes, but, surprisingly, I haven't been bored enough the past few days to do that. It'll happen soon. I feel it.

Yesterday I went to lunch with some PALs friends. One thing I've realized since being in college is that while PALs was an organization that was alcohol and tobacco free, it was more about the attitudes and the decisions. I'm not a PAL anymore, but I consider myself one because I'm still holding myself to the standards that PALs held me too. I'm a PAL because of the decisions I make. I don't make those decisions because I'm (well, used to be) a PAL.

Then Morgan and I went to our hair stylist. She got her hair colored and I got mine cut. I look pretty hot now, not gunna lie. ;)

Then we went to pick up my Uncle Tom and Aunt Michele (they're in from Nevada to visit my Grandma in the hospital) and we saw Avatar. Really great movie! I thought it would be dumb. I felt really odd seeing it with them though because before my extended family went their separate ways on Christmas Day, Grandma asked me if I wanted to see Avatar with her that weekend and since I was getting ready to leave for El Paso, I never made the time. And then she had her heart attack while I was gone. I felt like I was cheating on her or something.

Then after that, we all went to the hospital and saw Grandma. She's doing "better" I guess. She still has breathing tubes and feeding tubes. But she opens her eyes and moves her head a little bit when we talk to her. I miss her. I hope she gets better.

Then immediately after that I went to pick up Jon and we had a double date with Alexa and Panda. We went to McDonald's for ice cream and then to Kroger. I've always wanted to have a Kroger date! We each had to find the most romantic items for under five dollars (total). It was awesome. Then we just walked around and stuff. Lots of fun.

Very busy day.



Today I went shopping with Mom. I like spending time with her. She misses me a lot.

Dreams

I've been having some crazy dreams since I've been home.

Last night was horrible though. It was bloody and gory and just plain horrible.

At first it was the drumline at OU unloading the truck and stuff and we had practice and everything was normal (well in the dream it was normal. Real life would have been crazy). But then when we went to load everything back into the truck, it turned into a movie kind of. And it reminded me of Inglourious Basterds. It became a war scene where people in blue uniforms began throwing Chinese fighting stars or whatever and bow and arrows and knifes and stuff (at least there were no guns?) at the people loading. It was a total ambush. There was blood everywhere. And then the "shot" (as in film shot) goes to this teenage boy who just had an arrow go through his chest and a blond teenage girl with her hair in braided pigtails (in a uniform) is leaning over him and hugging and kissing him and telling him she's going to pretend to be dead so she can win the war. And then her mother runs up and is like "What are you doing? No!" and all that.

It was just horrible. I'm glad Jon called and woke me up when he did.

The Wedding

I feel like I've been updating my blog A LOT lately. I kind of like it. Maybe I'll try to keep up with it when school starts? Although I'm nearly 92% certain that nobody but Zach reads it. (Not even Jon! I have to tell him to read certain posts if I want him to read it. It feels incredibly lame.) Anyways... maybe I'll put this on my facebook or something? I don't know. (Side note: It made me smile when my computer underlined "facebook" in red telling me it wasn't a real word.)

ANYWAYS

I hope the title of this blog didn't give you false hope or anxiety or anything. It's merely the title of the book I'm reading. I'm about forty pages from the end. I posted a blog earlier about it when I found out it was a follow up to The Notebook (my all time favorite book AND movie.) The main characters in this book are the daughter and son-in-law of Noah and Allie, the main characters in The Notebook, and the book is told from the son-in-law's, Wilson's, point of view.

The point of this blog, is to let you know how much I think men in general would benefit from reading this book. I love all of Nicholas Sparks' books. But this one seems to really speak about the types of things that let a woman know you love her.

Here's the summary from the back of the book:

After thirty years, Wilson Lewis is forced to face a painful truth. His wife, Jane, has fallen out of love with him, and it entirely his fault. Despite the shining example of his in-laws, Noah and Allie Calhoun, and their fifty-year love affair, Wilson is unable to express his true feelings. He has spent too little time at home and too much at the office. Now his daughter is about to marry, and his wife is thinking about leaving him. But if Wilson is sure of anything, it's this: His love for Jane has grown over the years, and he will do anything he can to save their marriage. With the memories of Noah and Allie's inspiring life together as his guide, he vows to find a way to make his wife fall in love with him... all over again.

So, I admit the summary isn't too captivating. But the whole book is full of memories of how Jane and Wilson met and why they loved each other in the first place and memories of Noah and Allie's life post-marriage, but pre-Alzheimers (which is not talked about in The Notebook). And Wilson figures out the perfect anniversary gift and just everything he's doing to make her fall in love with him. And it's less about what he does and more about how his attitude towards her and their relationship changes. It's just beautiful, and it's not hidden in a metaphor. It's simply stated.

Basically, I think anybody could learn a lot from this book (I know I have), but more specifically men. Because the things Wilson does in this book aren't necessarily impossible (expensive, yes, but he's also a partner in a law firm) and it just shows how simple showing how much you love someone can be.

I know I'm a hopeless romantic. I'm a girl. The ideas of love fill my mind more often than not. And I know in general guys hate romantic books. But, boy, you could sure learn a lot about what women ideally want if you just picked up a book.

B-A-N-A-N-A-S!

I just peeled a banana the "right" way and I feel much more satisfied.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBJV56WUDng

Annoyance

Annoyance: When people who are in no way affiliated with a college use the first person when referring to said college's football team.

Example:

Non-Student/Non-Alum/Non-Family-Member-of-Student-or-Alum: Man, we almost had that game. But at least we had class and kept fighting. We'll win next year!

I understand using "we" if you were associated with and had actual ties to the team. Yes, I occasionally say "we" when referring to OU's football team (Example: We won!). However, if I went to a private college or a junior college or no college at all, I would never include myself as part of a team. I wouldn't even say "we" when talking about A&M, and that's where my mom went!

Basically, the football team plays football. The team practices a million hours a week. The team undergoes more stress and pressure than anyone could imagine. Everyone else sits in the stands or on their couches or in a bar and watches the game. The team reacts to the outcome of the game. The fans (which are separated from the team) react differently. Especially fans who don't/didn't go to that school.

You, fan, do not have class because of what the football team did. The football team has class because of what the football team did.

Nicholas Sparks

I've recently discovered just how much I love Nicholas Sparks and his books. I had my neighbor bring home some of his books from the library for me to read while I'm at home.

Anyways, I just started reading "The Wedding." It was obviously written after "The Notebook." So I'm sitting here, just reading, and I'm about twenty pages into the story when I read the names Noah Calhoun and his wife Allie. Those are the names of the two characters in the The Notebook! It's just blowing my mind! APPARENTLY this story is written as a follow up to The Notebook, and Jane, the main character's wife, is the daughter of Noah and Allie! But this isn't a sequel or anything. I'm just in shock. I didn't even suspect the stories were connected.

I hope I like this one. Up until now I thought it was slightly boring.

Coming Soon To A Theater Near You

Taylor and the Chipmunks.

I wonder when my face will start to unswell.

I've lost my wisdom.

So yesterday morning I got my wisdom teeth out. Just to clarify, my wisdom teeth hadn't grown in yet, so I had to go to an oral surgeon and have them dig them out from underneath my gums so that they wouldn't cause the rest of my teeth to become crooked. So anyways, I got to the surgeon and I was REALLY nervous. More nervous about the IV than them taking the teeth out. So while I was in my room thing, I devised a plan to make the needle entering my skin less painful. Mom would pinch the other arm as hard as possible while they insert the needle so I would be distracted from the pinching pain. It didn't work. So the last thing I remember before the surgery was telling Mom was how the plan didn't work, but both my arm and my hand still hurt. Then I woke up and the nurse was in the room and told me it was over. The next thing I remember was being in a wheel chair outside of the elevator with the nurse and saying "My face is swollen. My face is swollen" and she told me it wasn't, it only felt that way because I was numb. And when I told her no it was really swollen, she said there's a mirror in the elevator I can look at. Then I remember being wheeled out of the downstairs main office and being really embarrassed. Next I was outside of Mom's car and the nurse was telling me to put my feet down. Then I remember getting into the car and telling her how I woke up in the middle of the procedure and there were blue towels covering my face and I could hear machines going and stuff. Then all I remember is Uncle Tom helping to walk me to the front door, and then I was laying down in bed. Oh and I remember Mom getting the video camera and telling me to tell her everything I told her in the car. And then I drifted off while Mom went to go get my pain medication, and woke up when she came back and I barely slept the rest of the day. Jon came over and helped me while Mom went to the hospital to visit Grandma (btw, the hospital's thinking about moving her to another care center, and Uncle Eddie isn't going to have surgery, so he's back home). Then yesterday evening right after Mom got off the phone with my surgeon (who called to check up on me), she gave me the pain pills and a few minutes later I threw them up. And then about an hour later she gave me another pain pills and within the hour I had thrown up again. It was miserable. I hate throwing up. It made me cry both times. So she called the surgeon, and he called in a prescription for nausea pills and Mom picked those up at 11 at night and I tried one of those. And so far, it seems to be working. I haven't felt nauseous all day and I've been taking pain pills. But the downside is the nausea pills make me really really drowsy, so I've been sleeping all day. And my mouth really hurts because I'm only taking one pain pill instead of two since I'm taking the nausea pills. AND my cheeks are starting to swell. Mom calls them chipmunk cheeks. Anyways, that is all for the day.

Sorry that was one long continuous paragraph. I took a nausea pill about an hour ago so I'm getting pretty drowsy and it's hard for me to think on an upper level writing skill. Like I said, I've lost my wisdom.

Another Post? Say What?

Enjoy this rare occurrence.

Today I went to the college service. I really really enjoyed it. It was stuff I had been needing to hear. I kind of wish I could go more often, but seeing that I live more than 400 miles away, I know that can't happen. I just hope the college services up at school are like that. I like the small-enough-to-be-intimate-but-large-enough-so-it's-not-awkward-on-your-first-few-visits type of setting. Haha. And it was great to see everybody again! I've missed everyone so much.

After church, I came home and had lasagna with my family + Uncle Tom and Uncle Joe (who flew in from Nevada to be with Grandma). They've (including my mom) have been so dedicated to visiting her. I love my family so much. They go up to the hospital every single visiting hour. That's every two hours starting at 9 until 5. And then again at 8. Our whole family's schedule is revolving around those hours.

After lunch, I pretty much just hung out at home and watched TV and stuff. Not much going on.

Then at 6 (which was just after the 5:00 visiting hour) we all went to Del Pueblo's since there isn't any good Mexican food in Nevada. I got queso AND sopapillas! It was such a treat! Then we finished dinner in time to go to the 8:00 visiting hour. I went this time. It was the first time I'd gone to visit her. I held my composure until it was just Mom, Grandma, and me in the room. And then I started crying a lot. But only for a minute because I knew it was time to go. I'm pretty proud of myself. My sister barely lasted a minute in the room when she visited before she had to leave. Anyways, what's going on with my grandma is she had a MASSIVE heart attack on the 29th of December. She went to the hospital and she was moving around a lot and really distressed so they had to sedate her. So she's on a food tube, a breathing tube, and lots of other tubes. This morning they took her off of the sedatives but she's still out of it. When I went, she could hear us talking and she would kind of fidget and try to move her head and open her eyes a little bit. It was really heart breaking. But she's hanging in there. Hopefully she keeps improving. Tomorrow they're going to try to take the food tubes out. I hope she makes it. I really do.

After we visited Grandma (by we I mean Mom, Uncle Joe, Uncle Tom, and I) we visited Uncle Eddie, who is also in the hospital. He went to the emergency room today because he had a super high fever (above 101) and some other stuff. It looks like he might have to have surgery.

So basically, this has been a weekend of hospitals. Grandma's been in it, Uncle Eddie's in it now, and I'll be in it tomorrow (although it's the Oral Surgery section) getting my wisdom teeth out. Uncle Eddie said we'll have a pain killers party together.

All in all, it has been quite a day.

Maybe I'll update tomorrow, but it'll probably just be a bunch of mumbo jumbo gibberish stuff. Haha.

Taylor? Who's she?

I doubt anyone will read this considering I haven't updated my blog in forever. But in case you've been wondering where I've disappeared to, I'm here to tell you.

So I'll just give you a recap of my semester.

• I made a 4.0! Straight A's! Woohoo! (And more specifically, I had a 99.something in Spanish.) I'm so relieved. Hopefully I can keep it up?
• Being in the Pride of Oklahoma was absolutely awesome. I met some really great people and I had a lot of fun. I can't wait until next year.
• I regret drifting away from my friends back home, but this semester was so hectic and crazy that I didn't really have time to think about anything but band and school. (And I have the 4.0 to prove it! Haha)
• I really wish I could get a minor in Special Education, but that's not possible. So I'm currently playing with the idea of getting a Masters in it.
• I haven't found a church to plug into and honestly, I wasn't trying too hard to do that. Saturdays were always the longest day of the week with football games and all and I was often out past midnight doing stuff with the band. So I used that as an excuse not to go to church on Sunday. Also, the Pride practices fell at the same time as Bible studies and such, so I didn't do that too often either. I really regret that. It's really hurting me how much I've stumbled.
• I feel like I haven't met that many people. I mean, I've met a lot of people, but I don't have any really close friends. I realized that when trying to plan my birthday dinner. But maybe it's better to only be close to a few people?
• I'm really excited about moving into an apartment with my two new, great friends Ashley and Laney. I don't see them enough, but they're my closest girl friends up at school.
• I just got back from El Paso. I went there for the Sun Bowl game OU was in. We won. It was amazing. I could literally see Mexico from the highway.
• While in El Paso, my mom called me and told me Grandma is in the hospital. She had a massive heart attack. She's been sedated for a few days now. I can't gather enough strength to go visit her because I know as soon as I walk into the room I'll break down and won't be able to stay. I feel like a horrible granddaughter. I cry just thinking about it.
• I started up piano lessons at school. I'm really glad I'm in lessons again. I missed it so much. It gives me a reason to go and practice piano and I end up staying there for much longer than I intended.

That's about all I can think of right now.