I'm late, I'm late, for a very important date.

I know that now that I’m in college, I’m supposed to set aside time everyday for all my school work and studying, but that’s just not something I do. Time management has never been something I was very good at. I’m not very keen on schedules and planners. Its definitely one of the more important things I need to work on. Its hard to change certain habits after 12 years of doing them a specific way.

I always have a planner, and when I remember, I write down homework or events, things in general that I’m supposed to remember. Every so often I’ll look through it, but a lot of the time I’ll forget to even open it. I’m better now at remembering to do homework and stuff, than I was back in the beginning of high school. I still have a ways to go, but that’s part of the college experience. To learn how to organize and prioritize your time.

"No one person can do everything. But we can all do something.” – Tracy Ediger, Fugees team manager

I feel kinda bad, but I didn’t really like warren St. John’s book, Out Casts United. There wasn’t anything I can specifically say I didn’t like, I just… didn’t care for it.

I did however, go to his lecture on Wednesday, September 15^th. Well I was still in class for the first half of it, but I made the other half.

Even though I didn’t have much interest in what he was saying, I tried to listened. It was really nice to see how much he genuinely cared for the kids he wrote about. He even said he still keeps in touch with some of them.

Some of the people at his lecture asked him questions like, “how long did it take you to write the book?” or, “what do you think was the main reason colleges wanted to use your book as a freshman read?”. I don’t remember how long it took him to write the book, but I remember him saying that it wasn’t his idea to make it a freshman read, but he thinks schools did it because of the amount of diversity, the struggles, and the honesty, or reality, that the book held. The book wasn’t some story about a couple of random, no name, fictional boys. It was true. All of it. These kids, this team, are real.

(the Fugees>)

"I sing just like Aretha, so respect me like I'm Caesar"-B.o.B.

The reason I waited til tonight to do the free write blog was because I had 2 things that I wanted to write about. One that happened Friday night, and the other today.

Last night I went to the We The Kings Concert. My friend Cait saved us awesome seats. We were 7^th row, center. There was this band, Valencia, before them, who I don’t know, but they were good.

                                                                                                              (Valencia^)

When We The Kings came on, the crowd went crazy. They sang a few of their songs (Secret Valentine, Check Yes Juliet, and from their new cd, She Takes Me High) and during the middle of the performance, lead singer, Travis, gave some weird story about round house kicking in your front door while holding your new pet owl and yelling at your mom. I didn’t understand it at all, but it was funny. Towards the end of the concert the crowd rushed the stage. Some kid tried to crowd surf, and that just ended badly.

(Cait and Nick^)

(Travis and Hunter fromWe The Kings>)

A couple of days ago, my boyfriend won tickets to see B.o.B. at the Hartford Colonial football game. He was the half time performer. I love football and I really like a lot of B.o.B.’s songs so I was really excited.

We had really good seats for the game too, center section behind the goal post, 5^th row. My boyfriend also brought his really nice Nikon camera, so when you looked though the screen, it felt like you were on the field.

(< looks professional right?>)

 (I took these photos actually)

Seeing as how B.o.B. was the half time performer, you’d think he would be in the middle of the field… right? Isn’t that how these sort of things usually go? Well he wasn’t in the middle of the field. He was actually a lot closer. Behind where we were sitting there was a giant screen, and under that was a little stage. Had we known he was going to be on the little random stage, we would have gotten there sooner. But, either way, it was fun and B.o.B. was magic.

 (<his arm is out like that because he was singing airplanes)

(what a crowd please ^)

(^haha his facial expression makes me laugh)

(cute smile :]^)

 

The best has yet to come, but it will soon enough.

A few days before school, 2 of my friends and I took it upon ourselves to figure out our schedules. We didn’t know how things were going to be done at orientation, and we didn’t want to end up totally lost around campus when classes started, so we just went through our schedules ourselves as if we were really going to them. It was a lot more relaxing to do it this way because it didn’t matter if we got lost, we weren’t on a time limit to get from one place to the other. And it also gave us a chance to explore the campus a little more.

So when our first day of college rolled around, we didn’t have trouble finding classes and I didn’t have to find parking because I get dropped off. So far, everything has been going pretty smoothly. As of yet, I really haven’t experienced anything that great or that bad about being here. I don’t really have any cool stories I can write about. We’re not even a month into the semester. I still have plenty of time to create some memorable experiences here at Southern

Really... you can put down your iphone. It won't kill you.

One of the articles we had to read for class sort of got me thinking. It was one of the articles about how too much technology is bad for you. Looking at the screens too much or too long, you can get “addicted”, it makes you tired, irritable, its bad for your vision… a whole list of reasons why too much of it isn’t a good thing. Yet we’re reading these articles online… It just seemed sort of crazy and contradictory that we’d be reading about something that is bad for you, on something that is bad for you. You know?


There was also an article about how parents nowadays are too busy with there iphones and blackberries to pay attention to their kids. One little kid had to resort to biting his mom's leg. Its pathetic and ridiculous when parents get too wrapped up in their smartphones, or whatever their using, and ignore their children. Why would you do that? I really don’t get it. What are you looking at that is so important that you cant look away for 5 minutes to check on you kid?

I think it really sucks that our society has become so dependant on technology. Cell phones for like calling and texting I can understand since its not as big a deal, its more for communication. It can keep you safe, but all the constant facebooking and emailing or whatever, its getting out of hand. I wish people would come to their senses are realize that if you keep your faces buried into those screens too long, you’re going to miss out on the rest of your life.

"Everytime I look for you, you're by my side. Love always shines."-gp

5 things about me:


1.They call me the “mom” of the group. I'm always the one that makes sure my friends aren't doing anything stupid. I think about the consequences of my actions, where as a lot of my friends don’t. Don’t get me wrong, I do my fair share of stupid things, but I like to take care of my friends too. Make sure that they’re safe. If someone doesn’t feel good while we’re out or something, I’m the one they go to. I have that “mom’ gene. I happen to be very nurturing.

My purse is my life. In that thing, I have water, band aids, medicine, purell, tissues… I could go on. You name it, I probably have it.

 

2. I absolutely love to laugh. Hanging out with my friends and laughing is one of my favorite things to do. I truly believe that the more you laugh, the longer you’ll live.

3. My family isn’t as close as I’d like it to be, but I love them regardless. I miss my sister, Mallory, she lives

in Boston for the time being, but the rest of us live here in Hamden.

4. I’m half Irish and half Italian. No disrespect to the Italian part of me, but I love being Irish . When I turn 18 in a few weeks I want to get a shamrock tattoo.

5. Photography is one of my biggest hobbies. I’m not sure how good I am at it though. I don’t really have the right equipment or much experience, but I love it.

<--(this is a pic. i took from my cell phone a few years ago at the North Haven fair)(this is a pic. my friend Jasmine took at Wintergreen Lake)-->

It’s surprisingly hard to think of just 5 things to say about myself. I don’t know what to tell unless I’m actually asked. So I guess the last thing I want to say here is this…

What’s something you want to ask me? What's something you want to know about me?

"Half of my heart's got a grip on the situation, half of my heart takes time."-jm

So far, college isn’t really at all what I expected. Half of me is so ready to be here and do “college” things. Ready to really get involved in campus life. But the other half is overwhelmed by the work load and being so independent. At sometime during the day, I get to the point where I start freaking out and think, “Holy crap. What have I gotten myself into?”.


Now I’m not a big party girl, I don’t see the point in it, but how is it that all these other students can go out to clubs, drink, and stay up till 2 or 3 in the morning and still function the next day? I can barely stay up till 12 and just watch a movie without being tired for class. I’m not saying that I want to do all those things, what I’m saying is, is that I want to be able to find my balance between work and play. How can I get all my work done, do it well, and on time… and still have a social life? I think for right now that’s going to be one of my biggest priorities. Finding my balance here. I don’t want to have to freak out and question myself and my abilities everyday.

Another thing I always question myself with, is, “How did I get here?”. And by “here” I mean, this point in my life. I just graduated from high school, and now I’m in college? I feel like I just watched my sister, who is six years older than me, graduate. I remember sitting in the bleachers at the football field as her and 600 other kids walked to their seats, and thinking that it’ll be forever before that’s me down there. Well, forever has come and gone. She graduated, then my brother did, then it was my turn. Soon enough, I’ll graduate from SCSU. But hopefully that won’t come too soon. I want to enjoy this time in my life as much as I can.

 

So here’s to you SCSU, and all the good times we’ll share.