My family moves around a lot. Most people assume it's because my family is military or because my parents are  relocated for their jobs. No, my dad's a principal and yet he is always hopping from one school to the next ready for another experience. Even if he likes the school where he is, if another opportunity comes around he will snatch it up. Right now he is principal of a very nice high school in a small town in Virginia. There was a nationwide search for a new principal for a high school in Alexandria, a large city right outside D.C. After a couple of weeks of interviews, my dad was told he got the job. Fun fact: the high school is the same school from the movie Remember the Titans. Once again, my parents moving doesn't affect me that much, but I guess I just want them to just pick a place and stay there longer than 3 years.

Recently some friends of mine have gotten me to start rock climbing again. I first learned how to rock climb when I was about six years old. My parents belayed for birthday parties at a place called Vertical Edge so when they were done they would teach my sister and I. I ended up having my seventh birthday at Vertical Edge. Besides that my parents and I love bouldering whenever we go on hikes that have good rock outcroppings. My second high school actually had a pretty decent rock wall in the gym so I had opportunities to climb again and even joined the rock climbing club. For one reason or another I never went to the rock wall here at Appalachian but in the last week I've gone at least four times and have gotten really determined to get good at it again. Of course I'm a little intimidated by the people (and my friends) that go all the time and are really good but I just want to get better.

A friend of mine has been asking me for a while now to go contra dancing with her. I'm not much of a dancer and I'm not a big fan of random strangers touching me so I've been brushing her off for a few weeks now. Yesterday we hung out and went rock climbing after work when she heard about a contra dance happening that night in Valle Crucis so of course she begged me to go. I finally agreed to go with her. She excitedly gave me a cute outfit to wear and we drove off to the Apple Barn where it was taking place. I had so much fun! I didn't expect to like it, but from the first dance I was hooked. Even though I didn't know what I was doing the people there were really nice and very open to helping me learn. I can't wait to go back later this week.

What do you do when you need money but your job sucks? I don't just mean you don't like your job or it's boring or something, I mean it's a volatile environment. I've had crappy jobs before. Things that I didn't want to do but had to deal with anyways to make some extra money. This time I really need money just so I can pay rent and bills by the end of the month so of course I was grateful when I was basically hired on the spot for this job. That's why I feel so stuck. I have to keep this job, at least until I can find something else (if I can find something else) but my work environment is awful. I can't stand being around people that can't control themselves (e.g. get through their work shift without being high on heroine, xanax, etc.).

If you hate it when people talk about how much they go to the gym then this will really annoy you, I've had a lasting hip injury that just continues to get worse. Last Thursday I got a cortisone (steroid) injection to hopefully heal any inflammation and make my hip better. I took the whole week off from working out last week and rested as much as possible after my injection. On Sunday night I tried to do a light cardio workout and not put any extra strain on my hip. I still ended up having intense pain after barely an hour. Exercise is a huge stress reliever for me and, as silly as this sounds, is a huge part of who I am. It's been really difficult for me to not be able to work out the way I want to because of a lasting injury. Everyone asks like I'm so ridiculous for still working out when I'm in pain, but not going to the gym is worse than exercising with an injury. Yes, I know I'm crazy.

I love my parents. My mom and I have a pretty close relationship, mainly because we have pretty similar personalities but that can also be the reason why we don’t see eye-to-eye. Today I was just having a normal conversation with my mother when out of the blue she brought up grad school, again. I went through some traumatic experiences through my freshman and sophomore years of college and therefore want to take a gap year to work before going to grad school so that I can fully recuperate before jumping into another stressful school situation. My mother would prefer me go straight to school, mainly because she worries about me having to pay off my loans during that year. She also looks back on my sister’s mistakes with school and, being the youngest child, my parents push me extra hard to keep me from making the same mistakes.  

So an update on a previous post. I now have four group projects for the remainder of the semester. I got most of one of them done last night which is nice. My partner is really sweet and a good student but she it doesn't seem like she always understood what I was talking about. Oh well. Today I have cultural diversity class and will see my group members. It's pretty frustrating that I had to pick the topic, hand out individual assignments, and go choose resources for them and they still haven't done any research. One girl asked me to remind her what her individual assignment was! My newest group project is in my dance class. You know how the teacher will put you in groups and you secretly hope you don't get put with a specific person. Well I was put with that specific person. Thankfully there are two other people in the group that I get along with pretty well. I just want to be done with group projects.

As you guys probably know, I'm doing my minor in Special Education. When I first came to college I thought this was what I wanted to do, but quickly came to the realization that I didn't want a classroom, and I wanted a more focused and one-on-one environment so I switched to Communication Disorders. I still want to work with special needs children and really enjoy my special ed classes. So far in all of my special ed classes, my professors always tell me what a great student I am, what a deep thinker I am, etc., etc. Now this may be a little selfish but I guess sometimes it would be nice to get this same affirmation from professors in my actual major. I realize that just by the nature of their subjects, the professors will not only have different teaching styles, but will also probably differ in how they interact with students. It would still be nice to have that affirmation that I made a good choice when choosing this major and that I will continue to do well into grad school.

Old, square, grandma, etc. I lose track of the names people use to describe my rather tame college lifestyle. Unless I'm working out, I like to be in bed by 10:00pm at the latest. I like chamomile tea and crocheting. The only time I drink is when I pour myself some wine with my dinner so needless to say I don't go out much or indulge in parties. So on occasions like Friday night when my neighbors decided to throw a party ALL NIGHT I was rather salty (irritated). I had just come home from work and had to be up early in the morning to volunteer but apparently it wasn't in God's plan for me to get any sleep that night. The icing on top would definitely have to be when my neighbors' lovely guests were shouting racial slurs, such as the n-word, along with their favorite rap songs. It was truly a magical time. They say only God can judge, and yet here I am... Heathens need to turn down their music and make better decisions.