My Plastic Flower Garden

Lately, my mother's very favorite phrase each time I leave the house to go out with my friends is, "Remember, you're a poor college student now," a phrase I never really knew the whole meaning of until just an hour or so ago. I know that students are poor, and I understand how. Low-paying jobs paired with steep school expenses would never equal extra money to burn, but it's never been a reality to me until this morning. Why, you may ask? I'd say the realization hit me at the exact moment the woman working the desk at the bookstore rang up the total for my books.

Now, everyone has always told me how expensive books are and I can always remember my high school teachers threatening us with the astronomical fees for lost texts, but I guess you never really know until you actually buy the books. For my math book and my six or seven chemistry book (Jesus H. Christ!), it came out to be around $400. That, and I still need to buy my german books!

Oh, but I went to the dentist today and Dr. Thompson said I've been doing a good job flossing, so I guess that's a plus. The dental hygenist didn't offer me different flavors of toothpaste, though. I was looking forward to the chocolate cake stuff, which actually does taste like chocolate cake. I guess you have to be under 18 to get the fun flavors.

So I'm applying to blog for Ohio State this year! They have a new student blog program for admissions where freshman keep a blog to show prospective students what being a Buckeye is like. I hope I get it, that way I'll be more motivated to write and things. I would get paid a little bit for it, too, so that's nice.

In related news, I cannot WAIT for Ohio State! I went to the football game against Akron yesterday with my dad, and just being on campus made me feel like I was going to burst. I can’t wait to move in and meet my roommate, I can’t wait to start classes, and for some strange reason, I can’t even wait to do my own laundry! After two or three weeks of my friends at other schools telling me how much I’ll love college, I really just want to get it started. Although I know I should make the best of this last week of summer, of being with my family and all of my highschool friends, I just want to press fast forward and get down to Ohio State right now!

That isn't to say I havn't had an amazing summer, though. It's been really long too. I was just thinking about how the first weekend of summer was when I was in Virginia with Leigh and how that seems like a million years ago. Since then I've done so much, making new friends with people I just never got to know in high school, like Jack and Stephen and Justin. I went back to Stone Lab, which was beyond amazing even though it was so different from last year.

Well, I actually should cut this short. Despite my overwhelming excitement for school, I still have a thousand things to do/buy/pack. I'm going to go get some pictures developed today, so maybe some scans or something later on. Chao!

I've decided I should make more posts in this interwebs journal, if only for personal records. I highly doubt that anyone reads this, save Maddie and Erin, but I enjoy reading back through my old journal posts just to see how much I've changed or havn't changed. Looking back, I made this journal 3 years ago and so much has happened since then. 'Tis quite remarkable.

But without dwelling on the past for too long, let's continue. I'm fresh off of spring break, all rested and relaxed for my last nine weeks of high school. Over my two weeks of half-days (DACC = lame, stay at south!), I've managed to accomplish a whole load of awesome. For example, I saw... five movies? six? Let's see... The Last Mimzy, Blades of Glory (x2), Music and Lyrics, The Lookout, Shooter, and Meet the Robinsons. So that's seven movies. Damn I'm awesome. I also went to the Newport Aquarium (Large, picture-laden post on it's way), shopped, worked, lax-ed, and read The Slaughterhouse Five.

Oh yeah, I watched Wassup Rockers and A Very Long Engagement too, so that's nine movies.

Now, all I really have to do is complete the minimum amount of work at South to remain exempt from finals, complete my thesis (lol), and try to apply to some more scholarships (again, lol). Oh, and I have to do my housing stuff soon, if I ever get it! Yay for college.

Hello eljay world! It's me, that one girl that writes every month or so. I could regale you all with the tales of the end of my swim season, like when I dropped 13 seconds in my 500 at sectionals or packing everyone in my house to shave down in my kitchen, but I won't.

Basically, all I really want to say is that I have come to the conclusion that I am way too open to suggestion. Someone says 'hey, Ali, you should like this guy' or 'Ali, you should buy that prom dress' and BAM that's what I want to do. Boo.

My mom let me have a sip of Guinness a bit ago. Yuck.

Speaking of yuck, I have a scholarship essay to write.

Well well well. I have not written here in a while, ha. I didn't forget about it, after all I check my friends page just about every other second, I just havn't felt like I had much to say here. Although now, after not writing for a few months, I feel apt to update this "journal."

I guess I'll start off with swimming, since it basically owns me. It owns me to the point where I'm in the water almost 3 and a half hours a day! Over winter break, it was 4 on some days. Blegh. Yesterday we had practice for 3 hours, and most of it was with shoes on. I don't know if any of you have ever swam with shoes on, but it's HARD. Shoes reduce your kick to nearly nothing, so racing 24 50's is actually quite difficult. Especially on the shoulders. Hey but then we played a nice, vicious game of sharks and minnows and Kevin's face turned a really wierd shade of red when he pulled Megan's hair on accident. I escaped the game with only a slight bruise on my hand and a couple scratches on my back.

Taper is so close I can smell it. It smells like flowers and spaghetti and christmas cookies. Like happiness.

Speaking of happiness, I saw The Pursuit of Happiness with Nick the other night. I thought it was a fantastic, inspiring story and Will Smith played the part quite well. It was comforting too, because I found out I didn't even get an interview for the Biomedical Sciences program. So whatever. I guess I'll just be a regular-type Buckeye.

Yup, I got into OSU, and EMU too. So Erin, you need to show me all of the good veggie restaurants on campus. Oh yes, another thing, I stopped eating meat, starting in October. It started as just me doing it for the hell of it, and now I just don't want to eat it anymore. It kinda grosses me out, the chewing on flesh. Ick. And after all, meatless meatloaf is tastier than regular meatloaf! Ha yay for my dad making tofu-y things.

Hmm what else... exams at south are this week. My chem exam will be easy, it's an easy class and I get two pages of notes. Score. My english exam, however, will be quite a task. 6 essays, my friend, all in an hour and 45 minutes. She says she is preparing us for college... uhh... yay for NOT being an english major? Basically, yes.

Well, I best be off. So much time and so little to do!