So this past month has been really busy for me. These past two weeks have been jammed pack with a bunch of crap I've had to do. The reason I'm able to post as often as I do now, I write while I'm sitting in class, but I later post them when I am at home. I'm admitting to this only b/c since the end of May I've been in four different classes. I just recently started the fourth class this past Thursday. I haven't had a summer break at all. My "break" from intersession and first summer session and now second summer session is one day between the sessions. I haven't been able to enjoy these days off or the weekends because of papers, or having to run to Memphis for my mom and dad or I'm having to take care of stuff in town. The reason I have kept up with doing these posts in class is b/c I've somehow managed to have a 4.0 this summer. Shocker. So why mess with something that is working? :) 

But a huge change is about to take place in my life... I'm finally getting my car. I've been talking with my parents a lot this past month. It has been back and forth about what to get and what I want. I've had huge vehicles my whole driving life. My first vehicle was an AMAZING piece of machinery. 

A 1993 White Chevy Van, the interior was this blue velvet feeling material. All the seats were like Lazy Boys. Was dangerous driving it home after any away games. This isn't the actually van I drove but pretty close to it. It was given the name "THE Great White." This is what I learned to parallel park. I started driving this at my parents surprise. It was my junior year of high school and was the first year that I didn't have an older sibling to ride with to school. When my brother started to drive when I was in elementary school. It was a drag race getting to school... he would speed to get me to school first then he would speed back to take my older sister to the junior high then he would manage to make it to school on time... we always left with 15 min for him to get to school. My older sister started driving by her freshman year of high school. I was still in junior high at this point. But when I was a junior in high school, the van that i wanted to drive, THE Tan Van, had been given away.  

It had a HUGE moon roof in the back, the captain chairs could swivel all the way around. I have so many stories about that van. It was a legend at the high school even when I was in high school, that was about 5 or so years after my brother graduated. But my Great White van was awesome. The first day of school, my parents said to me, "OK. You can walk to school, get a ride from friends, or we can take you to school." I looked at them, then saw the van keys hanging up. I reached for the keys and said that I would drive. They were in shock. My mom said,"What are you doing? The van hasn't been driven in a few years. Is that not an embarrassing thing to drive for you?" My only response was,"No. I don't want to catch rides or walk. It is in the driveway so why not drive it? Think of all the people I can pile in there?!" My dad started laughing my mom was still in shock. 

It only got 8 miles to the gallon in town, but everybody knew when I was coming. It had a V8 engine. It was loud for a van. I had a TV, VCR, and Nintendo in the back along with two coolers. On many occasions I had about 20+ people in the van. Going to any house party I always had a spot right at the front of the house mainly b/c it looked like a family was there. It threw the cops off a lot.  Going to school in the mornings was always interesting. When I was going to be the first one at the light to turn into the high school, there was always friends sitting at the light. I would lay on my horn as i saw the light turning to red. When i would get to the light it would be red but i would roll on through and wave to everybody in a way to say thanks. The school cop followed me. He was laughing mainly b/c i ran the light blatantly and I was able to parallel park this huge van. He proceeded to ask me why I ran that light... I told him that I was going to be late if I had to sit through that light and my friends knew I was coming. He laughed when I said that b/c he said, "Yeah I heard your van, too. You have a loud engine and a loud horn. Will you be doing this often?" "Yes, sir. If I know the cars at the light they will know I am not going to stop." He laughed and was said,"Only you could get away with this." 

 

But I drove this up until I went to college. Freshman year of college I came in possession of the other family vehicle, a black two door 1994 Yukon. 

I love this Yukon. I've been driving it for five years now. It has 200K miles on it. It has a lot of stories to go a long with it. It is the most reliable thing our family has owned. There has been times when I've pulled up to boyfriends houses in the past and they are taken off guard when they see the beast I drive. It usually overpowers the vehicle that they drive. My all time favorite story from when I've been driving it was when I was leaving from the end of the road at Sardis with a guy friend of mine. The road was washed out to the point where if you didn't have four wheel drive you were going to have a really hard time NOT getting stuck. Well, there was a small truck that left the lake the same time we did. This truck was an old Toyota truck w/o 4 wheel drive. The guys following us out got stuck. They yelled at the guy that was with me (he was directing me so I wouldn't drive into a huge rut), and asked if we could pull them out. I tell him that I could just let me pull back in so I could use my front tow hooks. At this time in my life I had my sorority tag on the front tag plate. As I'm driving down towards the guys the mouths drop realizing the truck wasn't his but mine. I hope out all 4'11" of me and ask them where there chains or ropes where and proceeded to get them out. I could tell they had a huge blow to their egos. It was funny seeing their reactions, but that wasn't the first time I've had to pull people out. I have some country in me, and it comes in handy.

But the days of the Yukon are numbered. My brother and his wife will get it and be able to use it. My parents and I have decided on the car I originally wanted. But now the price had been reduced and they agreed to it. I'm glad I held out on them. I'm getting to pick it up this weekend...

It is an oyster grey '08 Volvo. It was a demo vehicle that only has 1,400 miles on it. It is the smallest vehicle that I have ever had as a daily driver. It will take some getting use to. Obviously by my car history, I can't be a road bully anymore. Sad day but it definitely gets better gas mileage and is probably half the size of my Yukon. I'm ready for some road trips in this car! The color of this car really catches your eye. It is beautiful and it is sweet! It is coming at the end of my undergrad career which is unfortunate, but it doesn't mean that this vehicle wont acquire stories. I'm excited about it and ready to put my own miles on it!

This weekend I went down to Jackson for a wedding; one of my first cousins got married. This was my first Episcopalian weddings. I always find it interesting how different weddings can be depending on the denomination. Baptist are the quickest weddings Presbyterians are a close second. The longest I would have to say would be Catholic and Episcopalian. But regardless, my cousin looked beautiful, and the reception was fun. The first time for me to be at a reception at a church and be able to drink wine and beer. First for everything I guess. 

But before all the wedding stuff went down, we had a HUGE dinner at a restaurant. There was 16 people in our party (when we got in we were too late for the rehearsal dinner so we got together w/ some close family friends of ours). It was a lot of fun, and afterwards the "of age" kids went out to a place called The 930 Blues Cafe. There is always an interesting crowd at this place. The liquor drinks are real pricey but really stiff, but the beer is cheap. 

There is a character at this bar that sings on Thurs. Fri. and Sat. nights. MS Jackie Bell...

 (*there is a video to be posted that will give you a better sense of this woman*) It is always a different show when you go. People dancing in the hot packed second floor room, drinking their beers or mix drinks from mini solo cups. I love dancing. It doesn't matter to what, how much I have been drinking, if there is music I will dance. But It is always more fun, without question, when you are dancing with somebody. My older sister made the comment to me that when she was showing some of her friends some videos of me and my little sister when we were mascots and some dances I've choreographed, she had to explain to her friends that she has never been able to move her body the way we can. My younger sister and I have received the same comments about being the mascot... They don't believe that it was/is a white female in the outfit. But back to the blues cafe...

I enjoy places like this. Off the wall places where you can sit back and enjoy the live music or get up and dance. I prefer the dancing part, but I do sit back and enjoy the music. 

Boom Boom

This is were I want to be... Alaska and camping. I actually enjoy camping and doing stuff outdoors. Getting to have a disconnect from everyday life. These two photos above are my brothers. He took these when he was doing the NOLS Alaska course. NOLS stands for National Outdoors Leadership School. I've been trying to convince my parents to let me go do this. They are not going for it. If I got to go, I would want to go to Alaska or Patagonia. Three months or so of being back to basics so to say. I was talking to somebody about it and he thought I was crazy for wanting to pay to go through this. His train of thought was if you want to see this stuff get a nice hotel and go out during the day to see what you want then get to shower. There are times when I like doing those things... get a hotel and get to see sites during the day but what you get to see and do at NOLS you don't get to do or see in little day excursions @ hotels. This was all a day dream while sitting in my class. 

I began my last undergrad class. The Blue and the Gray, history class on the Civil War. I've been wanting to take it for the longest time but every time i tried to sign up for it; it was always full. Took me two years to finally get into the class. I wanted a certain professor but he ended up not doing it this summer in Oxford, so I'm commuting to Tupelo. I'm glad that it is only meeting three days a week, don't know how much I would like driving to and from Tupelo Monday through Friday.  I know my dad does it but then again my dad is Superman. I say this b/c I'm the 3rd of 4 kids. My brother is the oldest at 29, my older sister is only 15.5 months older than me, then my little sister is six years younger than me. Back to my dad, while growing up, I can only think of a few things that he could not make it to. He was at my sporting events when I was younger. In middle school and high school he went to the football games on Friday nights that I cheered, then later mascoted, at, then would be at my cross country or track meets early Saturday mornings. He would even make it to my soccer games on weeknights or on the weekends. He even suffered through the dreaded cheerleader competitions. You have to keep in mind there were three others who were just as involved with extracurriculars. To this day I do not know how my dad did all that he has done. 

But being one of 4 kept life interesting to say the least. Last night at dinner, we were all telling stories. When this happens, you have to be prepared to sit for at least another 20 minutes. My mom went into how she would go to any length NOT to take us to the grocery store. She wants to know what the person was thinking when they came up with the mini grocery buggies. My mom had to put up with the three of us, my little sister wasn't in the picture just yet. We would cut up and get into more trouble than any mom would want their kids to be getting into. We all turned out pretty well I would have to say. No criminal records or serious jail time. Other families in Oxford still talk about some things that we got into together but didn't get into serious trouble, mainly because we were getting a lecture from the cops our families were friends with.  When you saw three teenagers like this:

What are you going to say? We all say that we keep my parents young, and we do. How many people say that their mom and dad would do the "jump on it" dance without hesitation if they heard it come on? That is a whole other story that I could tell, but I don't think I should at this time. Tonight should be another night of goofing off. We are all going down to Jackson tomorrow for a wedding. A cousin is getting married and so just imagine. Friday night we are getting dinner at a restaurant with a close family friends of ours. There will be 15-20 of us. My mom asked the lady on the phone if there were any of the private rooms open, and there are not. So my mom gave them warning that we all might get a little loud and want to kick us out, but the lady on the other end assured her that we should be fine. We shall see. 

Wish You Were Here

I'm still amazed by how much songs remind me of certain people. When I get lost in thought because of these songs, makes me miss hanging out with this person or persons. Cliché song of the moment is "Wish You Were Here," Incubus version. You realize over the years, well, let me rephrase that... I've realized over the years how some people I have hung out with have all gone our separate ways. I have very few close friends but a lot of acquaintances. I don't mind this. Odd, because I love hanging out with people and having a good time, but I find myself now hanging out more often with my younger sister and my older brother and sis-in-law. I know I have said a lot about my family but I have a lot of fun hanging out with them. But anyway...

So excited that I only have a couple more days of class... I only have one day break which kind of sucks but then I'll have three day weekends all of July. Kind of excited b/c there are some concerts I want to go to in Atlanta and Birmingham. I'm also well overdue for a road trip. So we will see what comes together. Still trying to get a job lined up for when I'm finished. Don't mind if I'm not working immediately in August but much rather have a job sooner rather than later. Hopefully I'll be able to do the traveling and interviewing for the MS Arts Commission. I would be able to go all over the South/Southeast doing interviews research and so forth. Talk about road tripping and getting paid. That would be the best thing.

Last night I wasn't able to sleep b/c roommates were up socializing till the wee hours of the morning. So decided to watch a movie and suggested to me was The Boondock Saints. I always forget how much I like this movie. I've always been more of a fan of "guy" movies than chick flicks. But I do like my share of certain chick flicks. I could go on for days about the movies that I love but that could and would get too redundant. 

I get to enjoy my afternoon for once and not be sitting in a classroom... love it when I get emails saying class is canceled. That always makes my day so much better not matter how good or bad it is. So I'm off to enjoy the afternoon by the pool. 

So the other night when I was leaving my parents house, it felt and sounded like summer for the first time. Well, I guess the first time I really noticed it was summer (apart from the humid hotness of Mississippi). I was at my parents grabbing something to eat and telling them about my classes and work, discussing recipes with my mom and what we can do to add to them or to make them healthier, talking with my dad about when we could go up to Memphis to see a Redbirds game. The conversation wasn’t what made me realize that it was summer; it was when I was leaving. Walking down the three steps out the back door had to be cautious since there was already dew coving the back patio from all the humidity from the day. When I was about to step off the patio I hear a familiar sound that I hadn’t heard or noticed till that moment; the crescendo of the cicadas, the random light patterns of the lightning bugs, and there being enough moonlight to see, the temperature was perfect, and the faint scent of the honeysuckle. At that moment I wish I were able to just relax on our swinging bed on the porch. These are the times when full moon nights in Oxford could last a lot longer than they do.

But my brother and his wife have moved back to MS from NC. The weekend they moved back my older sister was back from Europe. All of the Little kids were back living in Oxford for the first time in about six years. It was crazy thinking about that. The only time we have all been together is during Thanksgiving and Christmas. I asked my dad how it felt to have all of his kids back in Oxford, his response was... "it wears me out." this was said with a huge smile on his face. I love being one of four kids. We range in age from 29 to 17. We keep our parents young and there is never a dull moment around our house. I love my family.

I'm ready for my summer school classes to be over with. It is scary to think that I will be done with school come the end of July. I've been looking at the GRE and potentially go to grad school. I really want to go to UNC Chapel Hill. They have a great program there that I want to be apart of. My mom at first like the idea, and then she is second guessing it, then she's back to liking the idea. I don't know. It is something that I really want to do. We will see.

So since I have mentioned school, I have to read for my classes. OH the joy.

So, over the past couple of weeks I have been in summer school. Taking two classes... both are lit style classes with a lot of reading (survey of Southern Lit and African American Lit in/or since the 1920s). Both are great classes and I'm glad that I'm taking them just a lot of reading. But besides classes I've had some great baseball games to attend! 

I love college sports! I can sit and watch any collegiate sport. I guess I like collegiate sports so much is b/c I know them or in classes with them. The competitive atmosphere is different from that of pro-sports. I like to watch some pro-sports but I prefer collegiate. College baseball for instance is great! I attend/attended THE University of Mississippi. We had an amazing season this year and I hate that it is over. I was hoping to be able to go to Omaha this year, hopefully next year. I have to hear about those MSU fans that live in Omaha that have that sign saying that Ole Miss isn't there again. I mean come on... I don't see MSU is post-season play this year. I guess I would be like them too IF I was a State fan. 

I took one for the team this weekend... I got a major sunburn. I put on sunscreen and everything. It was 30 SPF, and I put 55 on my face. I have water blisters on my back and I even have them on my ears. I got the burn yesterday at the game. I felt the pain coming on after the game... I felt like I had been hit by a 2x4 on my back. So I have become best friends with my Aloe vera goo. Its funny seeing my trying to rub the center of my back... I'm in slow motion while doing it. It should feel better by the end of the week... just wish I had somebody around to rub my backdown with the aloe vera...

I have a midterm tomorrow that I need to get to looking over the material. It shouldn't be too hard. I've mastered the art of being able to write a lot but not on a whole lot. So I should be able to fill up the blue book then some.