I was thinking...

I’ve discovered the best thing for me to do is to keep a word document open so I can type a quick note on something I want to think/type about later so that I don’t forget it. Here’s what has accumulated over the past week and half (ok two and a half weeks)…

There’s a moment in the movie “That Thing You Do” where the bands song plays on the radio for the first time and the band members all run to one place and are screaming and jumping around and are just overjoyed.

That’s what I anticipate the CSF celebration dinner to be like for us in 5, 10, 15 years. Us being so overjoyed to see each other and to catch up and be young again. I’m excited for those times. I’m excited to run through an airport (or just walk quickly) looking for the long-time friend who is anxiously anticipating my arrival.

I had E! on for a few minutes a couple days ago and they were talking about the most powerful women in entertainment and obviously Oprah was #1. They mentioned how much she is worth and what she makes a year and then broke that down to what she makes every minute. Oprah makes more in one minute than I make in a month.

I’m continually amazed with how the weather in Illinois varies between seasons. We have 100° temperatures and 100+ heat indexes in the summer and single digit temps in the winter with negative wind chills, all within the same state. Here in Springfield I can experience these extremes within 6 months of each other. It kind of makes me crazy. And sick sometimes.

I’ve had a couple conversations recently about how, as Capital Scholars, we really feel a sense of ownership of UIS and we’re actually kind of snobby about it. We think it’s OUR school and we don’t appreciate transfer students coming in and being whiny and annoying. We have had to do so much work and have been so overloaded that we think our upper division course work is a piece of cake. Transfer students come in and complain that they’re expected to be in class, and to get there on time, and they ask questions like “Does our research paper have to have a reference page?” I know not all transfers are like this. I suppose that if I was in a challenging program like a science then it might be different. I do have to put up with a lot of transfers and athletes on COM and PSY and sometimes I wonder how some people made it this far and how they’re going to make it through life.

But back to the ownership thing. The tangent I meant to get off on was how since CAPs live, sleep, and eat here, we have a serious investment here. I’ve seen one set of townhouses go up and another set is getting started. The pinnacle of campus, University Hall, was built outside my window in the dorm during my freshman year. I couldn’t walk directly from UHB to PAC for a year because the Quad was being built. I’m paying for a rec center to be built and it messed up parking for me all summer, and it’s not even going to be open before I graduate. I’m afraid transfer students just can’t quite grasp the sense of pride and ownership we can have over this place.

It’s interesting how we can be in the same place, but in such different places. We’re getting ready to graduate which puts us all in this same place. But we’re all in such different places. I have no idea what kind of employment I’ll have. Others know what job they’re getting or they’re getting married and have plans. It’s just so odd.

If people we immortal, how long ago would we have run out of food and space for people?

So I had an excellent birthday! I love it when my friends can get together and mesh well. Thank you to everyone who was there and spent time with me!

The ice is coming down again. I hope classes are cancelled tomorrow and the office is closed. I asked my boss what would happen if classes were cancelled but the office was open and he replied that the ‘essential staff’ is suppose to come in. I figure if I make under $7.50 then I’m non-essential, even though it’s easier for me to get to work than anyone else. But our sidewalks won’t be cleared until Friday, more than likely.

I’m so glad I decided and stuck with this whole not dating thing. I look at my life and I see how busy I am and how full my life is already. How could I put one more thing into this? Besides, I’m no where near mature enough or solid enough to handle a relationship. I’m thankful I have examples of relationships around me. But since I’m in this weird tandem of being at the end of college-hood and on the brink of adulthood, it just seems like the best idea to leave that to occur in adulthood when things aren’t so lava lampish and changing.


I just saw the most visually interesting gcommerncial in a long time and I should have known from the beginning what kind of commercial it was. You see 2 ice sculptures of pregnant women and there is a baby doll in their belly. They are standing out in the summer sun on a sidewalk and they are melting and dripping and falling apart and crashing down and shattering on the sidewalk. There are no words, just music. It was a “Truth” commercial that says “Over 30 children lose their moms to tobacco everyday.”