Reassessing my Expectations

Disclaimer: I'm a big baby. Proceed with caution.

There is a fundamental and universal pattern in the way people name objects; they are generally named after the function they perform or the service they provide.

For instance, computers compute, irons iron, bakers bake, and coaches coach. This is even true in different languages. For instance, jugadores juegan in Spanish.

There is a point to this, I swear.

Once every couple of weeks, I manage to cut a chunk of time out of my oh-so-busy schedule to lug my bag of dirty clothes down to the laundromat of my dorm. This is no easy task; girls wear A LOT of clothes over the course of two weeks (especially in the winter). Multiple trips are inevitable. The laundromat of my dorm isn't inside the building but rather in the common area between two dorms. And did I mention I live on the 4th floor? On a given laundry day, I could make 6 separate trips to the laundromat and back. And don't get me started about the limited availability of machines. There is no mercy for people who leave their clothing unattended in the machines when their cycle is done. To top it all off, it costs $1.25 a load per machine! It costs me over $7 to do my laundry every 2 weeks, which comes out to about $130 a school year.

Now, I have two very simple, but essential, expectations when I finally make it down there. They are as follows:

1. Clothes will be washed when I take them out of the washer.
2. Clothes will be dry when I take them out of the dryer.

Usually my first expectation is fulfilled. My clothes come out smelling like Tide and that's how I like it. But the second one is another story. You see where I'm going here.

My laundry recently got out of hand because I was a few days overdue for my laundry day. I was dreading making the epic journey down to the laundromat but I put on my big girls pants and made the trip. I have a system for getting the clothes down there and in the washer; I even have it timed right so that I will have time to fold each load after it comes out of the dryer just in time for the next load to come out. It's a beautiful thing.

Clothes in, detergent in, cough up some money, and - BAM! - spin cycle. Wait 35 minutes and throw them in the dryer. (Remember, you have to be prompt - no mercy.) Fabric softener, cough up some more money, and - POW! - halfway done. 50 minutes later, you have dry clothes.

Or so I thought. Everything was going smoothly until the last step. I was already on a tight schedule to get to work on time so I had the cycles timed perfectly. I went down to get the my clothes expecting dry clothes.

Needless to say, they were not dry.

I have discovered there are many drawbacks to quasi-dry clothes. First of all, they no longer smell Tide-fresh. They smell more like damp dogs. It is also very difficult to get the wrinkles out of non-dry clothing. But I think the worst part about my endeavor was the towel. Wouldn't you know it; drying off with a wet towel is not the most effective method and highly unpleasant.

Moral of the story: don't do laundry.

Romeo & Juliet

My mom has been doing some spring cleaning and has stumbled upon random goodies along the way. When I was home for Easter a few weeks ago, I found a couple of these treasures on my desk: some books from my childhood, a mixed CD my soccer coach made me 4 years ago, and a couple of DVDs.

But these weren't any old DVDs. On the contrary, these bad boys were the Romeo & Juliet plays we performed 4 years ago in freshman English. We were split into groups and had to come up with a spin on the classical love story to perform in front of the whole class. Unfortunately, Luckily, one of our technically-gifted classmates was able to compile all of the videos on DVDs and distributed them to us all. I watched a few minutes at home and knew I had to spread the joy.

I brought them back up to Gainesville with me and invited a few friends from high school over today. They had no idea what was coming, but, as soon as they saw the DVD menu, the hysterical laughter began. Among the skits were 2 1950's diner renditions, a clash between rival marching bands, a Power Ranger take, and even a very politically-incorrect blind sketch, complete with snarky remarks such as:

Romeo: When can I see you again?
Juliet: Well, never. You're blind.

We were amazed at how different we all look! While 4 years is a long time, it was still cool to see how we've all grown up*. We also reminisced about our first year of college. We couldn't believe Wednesday is our last day of class; where has the year gone? It seems like just yesterday I was cramming all of my belongings into the family van and moving up here. Now it's already time to move out.

I've learned a lot this year in my classes and about life in general. I'm very grateful to have this opportunity to attend such a great institution. Although USF would have been a better option financially, I know in my heart that UF is the only place for me. UF is not only the best public university in the country, it also has an electric atmosphere that sucks every visitor into Gator Nation.

While I'm doing very well in all of my classes, I'm also in a great place socially. I've been extremely fortunate to have stumbled upon my co-ed honors fraternity, Phi Sigma Pi. Through this organization, I have met dozens of people and established true friendships. I've also maintained and strengthened friendships from high school that will last my whole life. Oh, and I'm kinda head-over-heels in love with this kid. :)



I know I have a lot more to learn. And, as the Romeo & Juliet videos showed us, a lot can change over the course of 4 years. But I'm where I'm supposed to be right now and I can't wait to see what the future holds.



*Well, everyone but me. I still look like a 14-year-old girl.

A Picture Says a Thousand Words

I don't know about you, but I absolutely love going through old photos. Each one tells a story. Let's tale a look, just for funnsies.



You can almost hear her saying, "Someone needs a diaper change!"



This guy captures the excitement of two little girls on their way to their first concert. Hanson of all bands.



David was channeling Downtown Marvin Brown's bowling expertise in a "friendly" game of bowling. I say "friendly" because I was obviously not taking the defeat very well.



8th grade dance. 'Nuff said.



This might be one of my fave pictures. Ever.

Happy Holidays!