a spoonful of random...

the texas chronicles continued

written at 10:21 p.m. on 02.21.04
As I was eating a bowl of Frosted Flakes this morning for breakfast, it dawned on me. These innocent-looking flakes were designed to reflect milk. Honestly, nine out of ten times, I'll be pouring the milk into a cute little bowl of scrumdiddelyumptious Frosted Flakes, and the milk hits one flake just right, spraying the milk back out of the bowl and all over my placemat. GAH! People who make this cereal must get very bored, so they apparently dream up these great plans of devious schemes. I'm guessing there is even a tiny camera planted somewhere on the box, or even somewhere in your house, that records every frustrated moment you share with your cereal. It is time that we cereal-eaters take revenge! We should wear really expensive clothes while pouring this mischievous milk, and then sue both Kellogg's and the milk company when the suit is ruined. Bwa ha ha!

Ahem. So, another odd thought found its way to my conscious thought recently. Yesterday, during homeroom, I completely spaced out as Mrs. Heath (principal, teaching poetry to the AP English class) was reading a devotional from some book. She was still reading well past the end of homeroom. Needless to say, at eight o'clock in the morning, I'm very susceptible to zoning out as a very monotone voice is droning on for fifteen to twenty minutes.

While I was zoning out, I thought of a lot of things, but one thing in particular stuck with me. I was thinking that it would be interesting to keep a vase of roses in one's bedroom after marriage, though not just any number of roses. This bouquet would signify the number of months/years one had been married. I thought it would be fun to have a vase of red roses for how many months you had been married sitting atop one shelf, and then another signifying the number of years sitting on another shelf. I'm picturing floating shelves in my mind, but that's just cuz I was just watching In a Fix on TLC during breakfast. Anywho, these would be real flowers, and though eventually that might get expensive, it would be a really cool way to celebrate your anniversary every month. It bothered me to think that I would only remember my wedding day once a year. Keep the passion alive! Celebrate every month! Of course, by the time 50th anniversaries come rolling around, I might want to consider getting a job as a florist, or starting my own rose garden... but in any case, I thought it was a pretty cool idea.

Now for the more serious things that float about somewhere in my head.

I've been thinking a lot about people at school, and I think that after three and a half years with these people, I'm becoming utterly sick of some of my friends and acquaintances. It's hard to explain, since I still love my friends, and I love the people in my class. I guess... it's like my patience has run out. I no longer wish to tolerate the character flaws, the little quirks and habits that have bothered me since day one. People seem more selfish than ever, more rude than ever, more self-absorbed than ever. I know this isn�t true, or at least I hope this is all a figment of my imagination. However, I can�t help but wonder if we�re all getting sick of each other, or if I�m the only one bothered by all of this.

That reminds me of something else. I really wish there was a way to video tape what goes on the hallways and classrooms every day. I want a video like this to be played at chapel one week to show people how cruel and heartless they really can be. Maybe I�m just tired of being made fun of, and this is my last attempt to ask people to stop. Honestly, I don�t want to be all whiny and pitiful. But, I really am sick and tired of getting picked on� at a Christian school of all places. Instead of following Christ�s example and being encouraging, we rip each other apart nonstop in a most gruesome fashion. Again, I think I�m feeling this way because three and a half years of this has finally worn out my patience. After hearing the same insults and �jokes� over and over again, you start wanting to believe that they�re true, that people really mean what they say, despite covering up their cruelty with the ever-popular �I was just kidding� cop-out.

Yar. I didn�t mean for this entry to get so depressing. I didn�t mean to get so depressed myself. In fact, I really am in a somewhat good mood today. Whoa! I totally forgot to put that iMood thing back on my page when I redesigned it. Ha, oh well. I don�t think there is any room left for another link.

Umm.. oh yeah, I suppose I should write about Texas before I forget. But then again, how could I ever forget sight-seeing at Taco Bell and scent-smelling at LeTourneau?

***

Thursday: My mom woke me up at 6:15 or so. Actually getting to sleep in for fifteen minutes was nice, since I am not a morning person, and getting up to go to school at six o�clock every day becomes my personal hell. Anyway, after the whole family piled in the car, we drove forty minutes to get my brother to school. We then headed back about ten minutes and turned off at the expressway. My dad drove really slow, so it probably took closer to two hours to get to O�Hare, though I think we live about an hour and a half from the airport.

After getting in the airport my mom and I had breakfast with my dad from the only place open outside of the security gates� Starbucks. The Caf� Mocha was good, the blueberry muffin was okay. After my dad left, my mom made it through security without any problems. We found our gate without any trouble, and the plane ride was relatively smooth. During take-off, one little girl loudly asked her mommy �Are we going up now?� Her mother was too busy to answer the curious child, but as the plane started picking up speed down the runway, the bright little girl must have figured out what was going on all by herself. She started yelling, �Up, up, and awayyyyyyyyyy! Up, up and awayyyyyyy!�

Despite the windy conditions in Dallas, the turbulence wasn�t bad, and my mom and I met up with Allison at the rental car pick-up soon after landing. Navigating the 150 miles from Dallas to Longview proved to be a nerve-wracking experience, as my mother would have mini panic-attacks before each exit. Even after we got onto the one road we would be on for 93 miles, she kept waking me out of my blissful sleep to ask me once again where we would be turning next.

Anyway, this is probably relating more details then necessary, so let me speed things up. The three of us (Allison, my mother, and I) finally found our way to the hotel where my mom would be staying for the weekend. Her sisters, who live in other areas of Texas, had already driven up to the hotel and met us there.

From the hotel, we drove five minutes down the road to LeTourneau. Wanting to rid ourselves of all our baggage, Allison and I went up to the room we would be staying in. A girl who used to attend high school with us (Ali R.) had offered to let us stay with her, so we were excited to meet up with her again. However, she had gone shopping and was not back yet, but we did meet her roommate, Sarah.

Eventually, I should mention the reason why we were in Texas.. Allison and I were eligible to compete for full-tuition scholarships at LeTourneau University in Longview, Texas. This is the only school I have applied to so far, and so this scholarship is very important to me.

Anyway, Thursday night involved watching a movie on the history of the founder, R.G. LeTourneau, which was interesting and boring all at the same time. Basically, Mrs. LeTourneau winked at R.G. and boom the school was born.

By the time the movie was over, Ali had returned from shopping, and she and her boyfriend Jason escorted Allison and I to the basketball game. The LeTourneau YellowJackets won, so that was exciting. The four of us went back to chill in Ali�s dorm room, where Sarah and her fianc� were hanging out. We listened to German pop music and chatted about everything from Sarah�s wedding to psycho teachers to how provocative SpongeBob SquarePants really can be� (inside joke). Then, glorious sleep.

Friday: (I�ll try to make this even shorter.) Breakfast was at eight, and Ali took Allison and I to the dining hall. During breakfast, we met Jim, who was another competitor (we were called �previewers� by the college kids). He lived several hours south of Longview, and he had such a thick Southern accent that he was difficult to understand. Anyway, Allison and I loved it when he asked, �Mayy ah tayke yore traieys laydays?� (May I take your trays, ladies?)

After breakfast was a mini-seminar about something. I was sleeping with my eyes open the entire time. Then, we toured the campus in groups according to major. The majority of people competing for the scholarships were Engineering and Aeronautical Science majors, which makes sense since those have been strong majors for LeTourneau since day one. Only six people were in my business tour, but we had a grand old time. After the tours was a class. I chose to sit in on Microeconomics, which was somewhat interesting. Another opportunity to nod off a little bit. Then came chapel, which I also slept through, since it was some movie about black people in war (Black History Emphasis Week). Movies are not a good thing to play while sleep-deprived students are in the audience. After the movie was lunch. I was awake enough to munch my way through some mediocre pizza. Being that I live on pizza, I probably should stay in the Chicago-land area� I�ll never get used to the nasty pizza found elsewhere in the country. Another class, another nap. Then, I went back to the dorm and slept before my interview.

The interview went like this: four judges, eight questions, ten minutes. The goal was to answer each question with poise and clarity, as well as to maintain eye contact and to stay calm. The nice thing was that they only graded the questions that you answered, so you weren�t penalized for not answering all eight questions. Well, I answered all the questions with five minutes to spare, so I chatted it up with my judges, asking all my questions about the school and laughing about the snow that was just starting to fall. All in all, I think I did pretty well� Oh yeah, I did get hooked on capital punishment, and I started incorporating my views on that into every answer, so I hope they don�t think I�m obsessed with criminals.

Friday night.. the previewers were all taken by bus to the Butcher Shop, an excellent hamburger joint. There I met a semi-prissy but anti-prissy girl, a couple of fat, shy kids, a lot of Lord of the Rings fans, and one rich dude who could do the best impersonations of any character from homestarrunner.com I have ever heard. He could do Strong Bad, Teen Girl Squad, Strong Sad,.. everyone but Trogdor.

After the hamburger joint was bowling, which turned into cosmic bowling! Here, Allison and I met Chris and Paul, two hilarious guys who made what could have been a horridly boring night into a lot of fun. A little note about the arcade games in Texas bowling alleys. They all include using guns.. big guns. Honestly, the guns at the arcade games were more rifle-sized than hand-gun-sized. It was scary and hilarious all at once.

Bowling.. then.. oh yes, the rest of the previewers watched "Finding Nemo" while Allison and I met up with Lance and headed over to Chili�s. A lot of fun ensued from there on out, including leaving a Valentine�s card for our waitress, watching Dexter�s Lab in Lance�s hotel room, and making little cartoons of our crazy experiences so far. The only downside was staying there until two in the morning, which kinda cut into any sleep time I was hoping for. Hopefully it didn�t affect my essay-writing abilities any.

Saturday: Definitely slept through breakfast on Saturday. By the time I was done showering, it was basically time to leave to go write the essay. Before and after the essay-writing, the students were allowed to use the computers to surf the net, hence the previous entry. I think I did well on the essay, but finishing in 50 out of 75 minutes scared me a little bit.

With the essay out of the way, the previewers headed over to a wrap-up meeting to receive our free t-shirts (whoo-hoo!) and to be blabbed at for the final time. After this, my mom came by to pick up Allison and I. The three of us headed to a dollar store where Allison and I purchased gifts for Ali and Sarah, the two girls who hosted us. After returning to campus to drop off the gifts, we met up with Lance again at Bodacious, the best barbecue joint in the world, in my opinion. We ate and split up. Lance and Allison went and did their thing, and my mom and I chilled at her hotel, where we watched a million chick flicks that were on TV for V-day weekend. Flight back home.. end of story. I�m getting bored of writing, and I�m sure you�re really tired of reading.

That�s Texas for ya!

Oh, one more story. On the flight back, the chick behind me, a native Texan, asked what the white stuff covering the ground was (in Chicago). �What�s that white stuff? Do they grow white stuff here?� Snow, dear.. That�s called snow. That stuff in paintings and pictures and books and on TV and in movies and everywhere.. it�s called snow. Twenty-five years old without a clue what snow was or what it looked like. For Pete�s sake, it was snowing in Dallas when we flew out! Sometimes, Texans scares me.

Yar. I�m done for real now. This entry is four pages long in Microsoft Word, so I�m sure it�ll be ghastly long when I post it.

The end.

EDIT: I just added a SiteMeter thingy, and I cheated and I made the starting number three thousand and something, because looking at a little zero was so depressing. Plus, I'm sure I've had at least a few thousand visits since starting this diary.. maybe. Hopefully I can change the starting number back to zero soon. Visit frequently!

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