Why You Shouldn't Give a Former Track Runner a Car...

I am my father's daughter through and through. I am hard-headed and fiercely independent. You can tell me not to do something until you are blue in the face and it still won't sink in with me. I have always had to learn things the hard way. It sucks but I only do it once.
Today's lesson was "do not speed in the 55mph zone just outside my hometown. The state trooper sitting across the highway will pull you over and give you a speeding ticket." Usually I am very aware of my speed while driving through that zone. There have been many accidents at the main intersection from my hometown onto the highway. Precautions such as lowering the speed limit and moving a turn lane to make traffic more visible have been taken to reduce accidents. I make sure that I don't speed through there because I don't want to be in an accident or cause one right there. I've seen some of them and they are pretty bad.
Part of me thinks the trooper was full of shit when he said I was driving 74mph in a 55mph zone. I very well could have been this morning. I was running late and on the way out of town the highway is on a downhill so its very easy to speed and not realize it.
I got off easy. Instead of writing me a ticket for 19 over and emptying my bank account he knocked it down to 6 over. I still have to pay $114 but it's not a moving violation.
This is why you shouldn't give a former track runner a car. I have a need for speed. Now I have to find a way to satisfy that without costing me $114 or aggravating my horrible shin splints. Suggestions?

I've got it bad

There is a girl in my chemistry class that I am crushing so hard on right now. I've kinda had a crush on her since the beginning of the semester and I like her more and more every day. All we ever do when we are together is laugh. We have an inside joke about Tootie Fruities, the generic brand of Fruit Loops. I won a bag of Tootie Fruities at Grocery Bingo a few weeks after the semester started. I had to take it into lab with me cuz I didn't have time to go to my car. I was so excited that I won Tootie Fruities because I never win anything when I play Bingo. She thought it was the most hilarious thing ever, how excited I was about this dang bag of cereal. Now all I have to say is "Tootie Fruities" and we burst into hysterics. No one else understands so they all give us weird looks. We know why it's funny.
She's been really flirty since the beginning of class. During the first lab she stood really close to me while I was doing things and she still kind of does. There's plenty of room for her to stand a little further away but I don't really mind :) We're lab partners so we spend alot of time together during the week. We've had quite a few conversations. She knows I'm gay and she knows about J.

Here's the thing. I have no idea what team she plays for. I've talked about J so she knows that J is my ex. Never once has she said anything about an ex or even a current relationship. Maybe she hasn't dated anyone yet. I don't know. My friend MS also in my Chemistry class sees her flirtiness too. I can't really tell if she's flirting with me or if it's just her personality. Neither one of us can figure her out. It's so frustrating!
I've decided that Wednesday is the day. I'm not gonna make a move cuz I don't want things to be awkward but I am definitely going to find out what team she plays for.

Wish me luck!

Shakira ft. Freshlyground - Waka Waka (This Time for Africa) (The Offici...

Here's the English one like I promised. I like the spanish one better.

Waka Waka (Esto es Africa) (Cancion Oficial de la Copa Mu...

I love this song and the video! Shakira is hot. I want to learn how to dance like that. This is the spanish version. I'll post the English version too.

NE/WYO

Last weekend I had the pleasure of driving across the midwest and seeing the beautiful landscape of Wyoming. The best thing about it was the trip was virutally free. The only thing I had to pay for was my own food.


What was this trip for you ask?

The Nebraska/Wyoming Regional conference for Phi Theta Kappa International Honor Society.

I got an email from the Iowa Regional Coordinator, Nancy. The NE/WYO region invited her to come speak at their conference so she decided to invite a few more people to tag along with her. More like 8 people but who's counting? All 9 of us piled ourselves and our luggage into an 8 passenger van. Yeah do the math 9 people + 8 passenger van + all of our stuff for a weekend = cramped! Nancy had the brilliant idea of putting a baby crib mattress in the back for someone to sit on and we would rotate who would sit back there. Rotate my ass. I was stuck in the back for 10 hours of the 12 hour ride out there. I was not alone most of the time. We had a few hefty passengers so the seats were quite cramped trying to fit 3 people to a seat. Luckily on the way back home I didn't have to sit in the back at all. I even got to ride shotgun with Nancy for part of the ride. It was my job to talk to Nancy to keep her awake and alert. However after sitting there for at least two hours my head began to bob and I was out like a light. To explain this I guess I better tell you what I did in Wyoming that made me so freaking tired that I fell asleep in the van (its rare that I fall asleep in vehicles).
Last friday we left at 4 o'clock in the morning so we would have time to make stops and we had to pick up a few people along the way. We were on the road for over a good 12 hours on Friday. We checked into the hotel and had time to shower or rest before going to the community college where the conference was being held. Nancy was the guest speaker on Friday night so it was mandatory that we attend the first general session.
Dinner was provided for us and was catered by Texas Roadhouse. I, being a person who cannot digest red meat very well, was not happy with the only choice of meat being steak. I did however; eat the vegetable, potato and the dinner rolls so don't worry I didn't go hungry.
Saturday was full of break-out sessions. These small break-out sessions are designed to be informational and engage you in an activity so you learn the information without realizing it. At least that's what the Iowa believes they are supposed to be like. I didn't attend other break-out sessions because the ones that we were doing had the information that I wanted to know. I didn't really care about the other topics because I either wasn't interested or it didn't apply to me. Saturday was also full of weird looks and whispers from the NE/WYO region members. Nancy can be quite the character so she got alot of funny looks on Friday during her speech. On saturday the whole Iowa region was given funny looks because we all chose to wear halloween headbands that Nancy bought us at the Dollar Store when we stopped for lunch.
Iowa region is known for shaking things up and for being the loudest region at International. We were louder than Texas and they had twice as many people. We're all about having a good time and showing our Phi Theta Kappa spirit, something that not many people from the NE/WYO region possess. We had to show them how it's done.
Let's get back to the point. I hopped in a van with 8 other people, drove across the midwest, did a little sightseeing along the way, wore a hilarious halloween headband, went for an adventure in the Dollar Tree in Cheyenne, Wyoming; decorated the van with smiley face and Power Rangers window clings, crashed a wedding reception in downtown Cheyenne,
went bowling,
sang karaoke at a Relay for Life event
and got my picture taken with a girl dressed up as Lady Gaga.
I had a crazy Saturday night in Cheyenne, Wyoming. We got back to the hotel around 2 o'clock and got up at 5 to make the trip back to Iowa. Now I know that if part of our trip is on Sunday I should take Monday off from work and possibly get my homework from class so I can stay home and sleep. I fell asleep during chemistry, called into work to say that I was picking up my paycheck then leaving, and dozed off during my spanish quiz. There is no rest for the weary because the next day I had to speak at the Induction ceremony for my chapter. I was given the task of writing a speech about why new inductees should get involved and what being involved in Phi Theta Kappa means to me. My speech rocked! My grandpa has video but if he ever gets it to me in a format that I can use I will post it. I was also installed as a chapter officer. I assumed my duties as co-president for my chapter in May of this year. Hopefully at our next chapter meeting on Tuesday I see alot of new faces and people who are eager to get involved. It really is a great experience and it has really changed my life.
Next weekend I will be in Carroll, Iowa for the Iowa Regional conference. This conference is being held on Thursday, Friday and Saturday so I will have Sunday to recover.
I have lots more pics but Blogger won't let me upload them to this post. I will do a separate photo post when I have time. I am currently running low so if someone has some spare time they would like to give me it would be greatly appreciated!

Spanish Capitals

In high school I took spanish for four years. When you learn spanish you have to learn culture with it because so much of the language comes from the culture of the people who speak it. Each country has a different of speaking. They have their own colloquial terms that could mean something completely different in another country even though it's the same language.
Along with learning the culture of spanish speaking countries we had to learn the capital of each country too. My high school teacher had a rap song to help us memorize them. This song gets really annoying after awhile but it really sticks with you! The chapter that we are currently studying in my college spanish class has us learning the capitals of spanish speaking countries. When I saw that we were learning capitals this song immediately popped into my head 3 years after I last heard it. We got to listen to a little bit of it in class today. I didn't have the opportunity to view the nice little video that goes with it.

Central American Capitals


South American Capitals

Honesty

For those of you know me personally, you know that I am a very honest person. Sometimes too honest. I'm one of those people who prefers to be spoken to directly. I hate it when people sugarcoat things or skate around the issues. I like to be blunt and to the point. Extra words are extra energy that could be used elsewhere in a much more productive manner. My question to you is "Is it wrong to ask for complete honesty from the people in your life who you care about or could potentially care about?"
In my last post I told you about S. She is a really cool person and I thought we had a connection. However, she wasn't completely honest with me about a major issue. S asked me about my opinion on the practice of smoking marijuana. I told her that I have no desire to try it nor do I have any desire to even be around it. I don't have a problem with people who smoke as long as it's not around me. I also informed her of the consequences if I were caught even being around marijuana. I still have to live by my parents' rules and if I don't I will lose my freedom. This was the end of our conversation. At this point I had no idea why she asked for my opinion. I wasn't going to assume anything because I didn't want to make an ass out of myself. I wasn't sure if she was trying to tell me that she smoked or if she was trying to find out if I did. About a week ago I asked her where our relationship was going because she seemed disinterested and talking to her wasn't the same as it was before.
I found out that she smokes pretty regularly and she always has it on her so my wish to not be around it would be disrespected. I don't understand why she couldn't have been honest with me about it from the beginning.