Still growing

Friday, November 21st, 2008 | Uncategorized | No Comments

I thought I was supposed to be finished with the whole growth spurt thing a long time ago.

I have been 5′6 since I was in middle school. But when I put on a pair of my jeans from last winter, I got a surprise - they were too short.

I checked the tags to make sure they were the right size. It said 2 regular. That’s me. Or at least it used to be until I hit my unheard-of-for-college-aged-girls growth spurt.

I was shocked, but I knew I had to handle the situation. So I went shopping for new jeans.

I tried on 2 longs, and they actually fit. Which is really weird, because I remember wishing I could wear longs instead of regulars.

I’m the shortest person in my immediate family, and I always wished I could be tall like my mom and my sister (they are both 5′10).

I would try on the long jeans, and they would swallow my legs whole. And now, a few years and unexpected inches later, they fit.

Sorry, Sis. No more short jokes.

Yay, surgery!

Monday, November 17th, 2008 | Uncategorized | No Comments

My 21st birthday is coming up, and you know what that means.

I am finally eligible for lasik eye surgery. (I bet that wasn’t what you were expecting.)

I have worn contacts since the fifth grade. THE FIFTH GRADE. And although I am glad I had the option to wear contacts, I am so over them.

Putting them in every morning. Taking them out every night. Constantly applying rewetting drops. All but crying when a piece of fuzz finds its way onto a lense. And most importantly, not being able to see squat without my contacts.

I can’t wait to be able to wake up in the morning and actually see without having to stumble into the bathroom to force contacts into my sleepy eyes. And I can go to sleep without poking myself in the eye trying to take the things out. No more dry contacts and no more watery, irritated eyes (except during allergy season).

Just 20-20 vision and a hassle gone from my life.

Turning gray

Saturday, November 8th, 2008 | Uncategorized | 1 Comment

I think all the professors at Auburn have a meeting at the beginning of the year to make sure their students will have all their tests/projects on the same day. When I had one test this semester, I had three. I understand that at the end of the semester, teachers are required to give finals within a certain time period. So that is to be expected. But it seems like one load of schoolwork after another has been dumped on me all semester long. I like to think I am a good student, but I have definitely had a hard time keeping up this fall.

Professors should develop some kind of rotation so students don’t get as stressed out about classes as I have. Obviously they couldn’t solve every student’s problems, but even if professors within one department could decide to make their tests or projects on different weeks, it would be helpful.

I know college is supposed to be challenging, but I am pretty sure this semester is bringing in my first gray hairs.

How sweet is that!

Saturday, November 1st, 2008 | Uncategorized | No Comments

Thursday night was trick-or-treat night for the kids in Auburn. My sister lives here, and she needed some help keeping up with her four children while they ran around wildly in search of candy.

So I went to her house to help them get ready for the big night and to give the kids their Halloween treats from me. They looked absolutely adorable in their costumes. The twin boys were Star Wars characters. One girl was Barbie, and the other girl was Tinkerbell. We snapped as many pictures as we could. (It was hard because you know kids - they can’t stay still when there’s candy to be collected.)

We rode around their neighborhood, and then we drove to Moore’s Mill, a subdivision where my sister and her family used to live, and knocked on doors there.

I think I was helpful to my sister. I chased down a kid or two, and I stopped them from stepping out in the road several times. But toward the end of the night I was exhausted, and I really didn’t think I was being that entertaining any more for the kids.

But at the end of the night, one of the twins said something that made all that walking, running and sticky hand holding worth it. I heard him tell his dad that this was the best Halloween ever. His dad asked him why, and he said, “Because Julie was with us.”

You don’t know me

Friday, October 24th, 2008 | Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Most people would agree that college is a time to make new friends. I hang out with a lot of people I went to high school with, but I hang out with a lot of new people, too. Many have sort of come and gone within my circle of friends since my freshman year. But I like to think that I know how to act around new people, especially when I am the new person in a large group of other people who all know each other. I have met a few people lately, however, who just don’t seem to know how to act. No home-trainin’ at all. So here are a few tips for those who know who they are.

1. Don’t act like you know me.

2. Don’t act like you remember things that happened before you came around.

3. Don’t pretend to know the people we know who we know you don’t know.

4. Don’t laugh at inside jokes you don’t get. 

5. Don’t tell jokes we don’t get.

6. Don’t try to be the center of attention.

7. Don’t talk $h!t.

8. Don’t make fun of our other friends even if we do.

9. Don’t come if you’re not invited.

10. And don’t act like you know me.

Diabeetus sucks

Monday, October 20th, 2008 | Uncategorized | 1 Comment

We’re running two stories this week in Intrigue about things I can’t have - cupcakes and pancakes. I can’t say exactly what the stories are about (that would spoil the surprise!), but I can say they made me hungry. But I’m diabetic, and I’m supposed to stay away from sweets. So no frosting or syrup for me, but I do get to do a lot of stuff normal people don’t.

First of all, I shoot up eight times a day. Nope, no high. But I do get a lot of funny looks from the people who see me give myself insulin shots.

I also get to go to the doctor every three months. If the appointment is at 9 a.m., and then I actually get called back at about 11 a.m. And then I might see the doctor sometime around 3 p.m. And by the time she’s finished lecturing me on how I need to take better care of myself, it’s nearing 5 p.m. A full day of fun.

And I have so much to look forward to. Kidney failure, foot amputation and maybe even coma. Hooray for the beetus!

Family matters

Friday, October 10th, 2008 | Uncategorized | 1 Comment

My mom and I went to a Doobie Brothers reunion concert earlier this year. She gets 50 cool points for that alone.

I miss my mommy.

No, I am not a freshman still adjusting to being away from my parents. In fact, this is my third year at Auburn, and even though I love my parents very much, I’m pretty sure I couldn’t move back in with them.

For one thing, it would be impossible to fit all the stuff I have accumulated since I moved into my one bedroom condo into my room at home. And I don’t think I would enjoy following the house rules again. But I do miss seeing my parents every day.

Some people might read this and think I am too dependent on my parents and need to take a few more steps away from the nest. They might not understand why I call my mom at least three times a day. Or why I occasionally skip parties on Friday nights to hang out with my parents.

But I think being so close to my parents is a good thing. Although they help me out financially, I’m not completely dependent on them. I do my own laundry and everything. And I’m happy living in Auburn even though my parents don’t. I just enjoy their company.

I’m excited about my future, and I will not plan it around how geographically close I will be to my parents. But I do value my family, and I just want to spend as much time with them now as I can, before I have to devote more time to a real job and possibly even a family of my own.

If you met my parents, you would understand.