Yesterday was Father's Day, and I now have a broken toe. I think. I'm not positive, because it is pointless to go to the doctor for a broken toe because the only thing they can really do for you is wrap it up and tell you to take it easy. And who better to cause it than my dad, today of all days.
So here's how it happened. I woke up and had to go to work at 11, so naturally I get up at 9, get myself ready for the day, and head downstairs to give my dad the to Dallas Cowboys t-shirts I had gotten him. Well, my mom paid and had the idea, because my dad is so hard to shop for. I had picked them out though. He loved them, said thank you, and tried them on, the whole deal of receiving a gift. I went into the kitchen to fill a water bottle and grab something to take and eat for lunch while I worked.
As I was walking out the door, my dad came to give me a hug and say thank you, water cup (the big Tervis ones, like 32 oz.) in my hand. As we pulled apart from each other, his elbow hit my cup and knocked it to the ground, heading for my foot. I tried to move out of the way, but I was too slow. It landed on my big toe, the bottom edge landing directly on my cuticle. I doubled over in pain, tears instantly welling up in my eyes. I'm not normally one to cry (at pain anyway, don't get me started on chick flicks and heartwarming Facebook videos, with dogs, soldiers coming home, things like that). I then looked down to realize that I was actually bleeding. My mom rushed to get some paper towels, wrapped them around my toe and sat me on the couch.
Sitting down, I felt fine. It hurt like hell, but I was okay. My toe nail started to turn a dark blue/purple color from the blood under the nail, but nothing extremely gross. My mom grabbed some bandaids and co-band to wrap it up so I could head to work, and helped me get it all situated. I went back to the kitchen to take some ibuprofen and get a new water bottle, since the other one had cracked. All of a sudden, I got really light headed, so I sat on the ground for a few minutes. My mom started to tell me to call in to work to tell them I would be late, but I insisted that I would be fine. After I had recovered, my mom got worried that I shouldn't drive myself, and insisted on taking me. As I was assuring her that I would be just fine, I felt my face get very hot, very fast, and everything went blurry, light headed again. I took a seat, once again, on the floor and tried to collect my thoughts and calm down. I was now already 10 minutes late for work, not counting drive time. I called my manager to let him know that I was going to be late, but that I was coming.
Once I felt better, my mom drove me to work. As I clocked in, I was still fighting back tears. Once I got to the garden center, I told Shelly the story while bawling my eyes out. I was so embarrassed at how stupid the story sounded, and how much of a baby it made me seem, but it was actually really bad. I worked my garden center shift, wanting to get out of there. At around 3 p.m., I got a call from Rob, Scott's (my boyfriend, if I haven't mentioned that before) uncle. He was inviting us over for a get together at his house, with his wife's son (from a previous marriage), Scott's other uncle, Matt, his fiancée Missie, and her son Hunter.
This made me really happy, like over the moon happy, because he thought to call me when he couldn't get a hold of Scott, because he was at work too. It shows that SOMEONE sees us as a legitimate couple, not one person while the other tags along, like everyone else seems to think.
When I went to text my mom to let her know that I was making plans after work, I realized that she had texted me to inform me about us hosting a barbecue with my grandparents, my aunt and uncle, and my sister. Once Scott was on break, we decided that I would go home and visit my family for a bit, then I would meet him at Rob's house.
5 p.m. rolled around, I was closing the garden center and heading up front to begin the second part of my shift, which was tearing down a sidewalk sale that we were running. This process was a complete mess. I was told by the person in charge of the sale to get help from a manager, who was then busy when I needed him, so he got me another manager that started helping me, but never finished, then there were lose ends that nobody knew how to deal with, and I ultimately got out of there an hour early, but it was still very frustrating.
I was finally home, and my day did a complete 180. I had a bite to eat, I visited with my family, and had a nice time. They left soon after though, because they had been there for a couple hours before I had. I left to head over to Rob's house (making sure to get cookies on the way, like always when I go to someone's house) and arrived just in time for us to head down to the creek behind their house.
Rob's house backs up to some woods, that has a park trail on the other side. They mow a path down to the trail, which then leads to a creek that they like to take their dogs to, so that they can swim a bit. We took their two dogs, Matt and Missie's two dogs, and Tyler's two dogs, along with the four kiddos that where there to swim a bit, and it was a blast! Scott and I didn't swim, but sat on the sand with the others who didn't go in. We still ended up wet though, from all the shaking dogs.
We walked back and sat around the table in the back yard for a while, getting a free light show courtesy of the lightning bugs in the woods, and just talked, laughed, and had a merry old time. Soon, the idea came to light off some fireworks, since they just became legal in Iowa this year (during specific times of they year...). We didn't know that Marion had an ordinance in place restricting these times to even fewer times. We realized it after we had a cop drive past the house (3 times) after we were done for the night.
Even with a bum toe, I managed to have an amazing day with family. You don't have to let small things (or big things that seem small) get in your way of having fun and living your life. Just make the best of your situation, and everything will be fine,
Monday, June 19, 2017
Saturday, June 17, 2017
Orientation
It all feels real now. I'm not going back to high school ever again. As a student at least. This weekend it really sank in as I was at Freshman orientation, met some new friends, hung out with my roommate to be, and registered for classes that I'm now a college student.
At UNI, orientation is a two day event where you go through the boring "This is how we deal with this, this is what we expect," blah blah blah. I admit, it was a lot of good information, and a lot of good things to know. But it was a lot for just two days.
I drove while my dad rode, since he wants me to feel comfortable with the drive that I will be making so often over the next four years. We go there and checked in, I turned in the college credit that I am bringing from AP exams and an academy program I took last year, so i could register for classes without worrying about taking classes I don't really need, and then we waited.
Soon, the first session started and it was a big welcome hoorah, where the president of the university talked about how glad he was that we were there, how great the university was, all the stuff we want to hear. then, we were introduced to our leaders (that gave off an odd camp counselor vibe, but it was cool). We were split into groups based on our majors, so I was in a group wit all English majors.
The group was cool. there was a guy, Sam, from my hometown that was pretty odd. I tried to keep away from him as best I could. At lunch, he asked what high school I graduated from ,since there are three. His response was "Eww!" Now, there is an obvious feud between the three and we all make fun of each other because that's just how it goes. But Kennedy is a million times better that Wash. We have been ranked in the top 10 schools in the nation for at least the last 8 years, probably more beyond that. They made the top 10 once, and keep the banner on the side of their school because they are too poor to pay someone to take it down. Our athletics can blow them out of water, and don't even get me started on our performing arts programs. That one little comment rubbed me the wrong way, and I refused to let it go.
To make matters worse, as I tried to brush it off, I asked if he knew my cousin that is our age (I'm older by a day 😝). He responded with "Oh yeah! We're buds! Let me text him now." Okay. You do you bud, it's not that neat. My cousin and I aren't super close, so that's just a small world kind of thing, nit like were all three gonna start palling around. So we're eating, and he gets like four messages, and out of habit, I look down at his phone on the table as if it were mine. they were messages from Kahner. "Dude." "Back off." "She has a boyfriend." "Lol" Thanks for having my back cuz! Definitely steering clear of Sam in the fall.
So later we go to an advising session, where the leaders talk to us about academics and registering for classes and all that fun stuff. It sounded super overwhelming, and that is a lot of power to give to young adults that have no clue what they are doing. In the past, it was like "These are the classes I want to take" after your teachers have told you what you should take. Then the counselors make a master schedule and put you in classes and you have no say, you just know that you will have seven classes from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. This was "you need to satisfy these requirements, and have to take these as part of your major. Here are the classes and times the classes will be. Pick five, make your own schedule." HUGE change. But I did it, and it was actually pretty fun.
Then we went to a couple more "This is what to expect" lectures and the Student Involvement Fair, which was a hall with probably 70 tables set up with different clubs and activities that you can join. Some of them sound really cool, and I plan to get involved in. Others, not so much. Purple Mayhem sounds super fun. It's pretty much the VIP student section. You go to all the games and go hard. You're leading the student section, and talking to the coaches and players, traveling with the teams, all the stuff that I've missed the last four years while I was in band. I will most likely join.
After that, I met up with my dad, and we then met up with my mom (She couldn't get the days off work to come up, but she had a free hotel room that she had to be there to check into, so she came up for dinner and to hang around with my dad for a bit while I was at Pantherpalooza.) and went to the Purple and Gold dinner. It was a nice catered meal and some prizes. It was very classy, even though most of us were sweaty from walking around outside all day in the heat.
My parents went to the hotel (which was also a casino) while I went to Pantherpalooza to hang out. It was basically an open gym, wit volleyball, basketball, rock climbing, arts and crafts, and later a dance party. I started of playing volleyball, or some form of, with about 10 other people. I am not athletic, and I sucked. But I had fun, so it was nice. After a bit I went upstairs and colored with a group of girls and just talked, and that was amazing. I don't think I'll really keep in touch, but it was still super fun.
At around 10 the dance party started, and I went for a bit, but I left a little bit in. I was tired and it was super hot. So I drove over to the hotel and went to bed pretty fast. I could have stayed in one of the dorms there, but I wasn't able to stay with my roommate, and there was no air conditioning on an 80 degree night, and it would have cost us an extra $50. A hotel would do just fine.
The next morning, we got up and I had to be back at 8:15, so I could meet with an advisor, finalize my classes, and sit through a couple more information sessions. Nothing too painful. I did get a chance to declare a second major of Spanish-Teaching, so that helped. By the end of it, I walked out feeling really good. I'm super excited to start my adventure in the fall.
Soon I will be living in a new place, in a new city, doing new things every day. It has finally become real that this is my new life. And I couldn't be more excited.
At UNI, orientation is a two day event where you go through the boring "This is how we deal with this, this is what we expect," blah blah blah. I admit, it was a lot of good information, and a lot of good things to know. But it was a lot for just two days.
I drove while my dad rode, since he wants me to feel comfortable with the drive that I will be making so often over the next four years. We go there and checked in, I turned in the college credit that I am bringing from AP exams and an academy program I took last year, so i could register for classes without worrying about taking classes I don't really need, and then we waited.
Soon, the first session started and it was a big welcome hoorah, where the president of the university talked about how glad he was that we were there, how great the university was, all the stuff we want to hear. then, we were introduced to our leaders (that gave off an odd camp counselor vibe, but it was cool). We were split into groups based on our majors, so I was in a group wit all English majors.
The group was cool. there was a guy, Sam, from my hometown that was pretty odd. I tried to keep away from him as best I could. At lunch, he asked what high school I graduated from ,since there are three. His response was "Eww!" Now, there is an obvious feud between the three and we all make fun of each other because that's just how it goes. But Kennedy is a million times better that Wash. We have been ranked in the top 10 schools in the nation for at least the last 8 years, probably more beyond that. They made the top 10 once, and keep the banner on the side of their school because they are too poor to pay someone to take it down. Our athletics can blow them out of water, and don't even get me started on our performing arts programs. That one little comment rubbed me the wrong way, and I refused to let it go.
To make matters worse, as I tried to brush it off, I asked if he knew my cousin that is our age (I'm older by a day 😝). He responded with "Oh yeah! We're buds! Let me text him now." Okay. You do you bud, it's not that neat. My cousin and I aren't super close, so that's just a small world kind of thing, nit like were all three gonna start palling around. So we're eating, and he gets like four messages, and out of habit, I look down at his phone on the table as if it were mine. they were messages from Kahner. "Dude." "Back off." "She has a boyfriend." "Lol" Thanks for having my back cuz! Definitely steering clear of Sam in the fall.
So later we go to an advising session, where the leaders talk to us about academics and registering for classes and all that fun stuff. It sounded super overwhelming, and that is a lot of power to give to young adults that have no clue what they are doing. In the past, it was like "These are the classes I want to take" after your teachers have told you what you should take. Then the counselors make a master schedule and put you in classes and you have no say, you just know that you will have seven classes from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. This was "you need to satisfy these requirements, and have to take these as part of your major. Here are the classes and times the classes will be. Pick five, make your own schedule." HUGE change. But I did it, and it was actually pretty fun.
Then we went to a couple more "This is what to expect" lectures and the Student Involvement Fair, which was a hall with probably 70 tables set up with different clubs and activities that you can join. Some of them sound really cool, and I plan to get involved in. Others, not so much. Purple Mayhem sounds super fun. It's pretty much the VIP student section. You go to all the games and go hard. You're leading the student section, and talking to the coaches and players, traveling with the teams, all the stuff that I've missed the last four years while I was in band. I will most likely join.
After that, I met up with my dad, and we then met up with my mom (She couldn't get the days off work to come up, but she had a free hotel room that she had to be there to check into, so she came up for dinner and to hang around with my dad for a bit while I was at Pantherpalooza.) and went to the Purple and Gold dinner. It was a nice catered meal and some prizes. It was very classy, even though most of us were sweaty from walking around outside all day in the heat.
My parents went to the hotel (which was also a casino) while I went to Pantherpalooza to hang out. It was basically an open gym, wit volleyball, basketball, rock climbing, arts and crafts, and later a dance party. I started of playing volleyball, or some form of, with about 10 other people. I am not athletic, and I sucked. But I had fun, so it was nice. After a bit I went upstairs and colored with a group of girls and just talked, and that was amazing. I don't think I'll really keep in touch, but it was still super fun.
At around 10 the dance party started, and I went for a bit, but I left a little bit in. I was tired and it was super hot. So I drove over to the hotel and went to bed pretty fast. I could have stayed in one of the dorms there, but I wasn't able to stay with my roommate, and there was no air conditioning on an 80 degree night, and it would have cost us an extra $50. A hotel would do just fine.
The next morning, we got up and I had to be back at 8:15, so I could meet with an advisor, finalize my classes, and sit through a couple more information sessions. Nothing too painful. I did get a chance to declare a second major of Spanish-Teaching, so that helped. By the end of it, I walked out feeling really good. I'm super excited to start my adventure in the fall.
Soon I will be living in a new place, in a new city, doing new things every day. It has finally become real that this is my new life. And I couldn't be more excited.
Wednesday, June 14, 2017
A New Adventure
Everything is changing. I just graduated high school, which still hasn't sunk in yet. I feel like as soon as August rolls around, I'll be right back at Kennedy taking seven classes, waiting to be done with high school. I don't feel any different, even though I've been waiting for college since sophomore year.
The biggest change as or late is the new MacBook Pro I am typing this on. This is where my graduation money went. I planned on getting a Mac since, well, forever, with my graduation money, so I had been doing research on a few different models and sizes and processors and what not. I finally ordered the one that I though would be best, and the wait was on.
Macs are hella expensive, in case you don't know. So, it would make sense that you have to sign for it when it shows up at your door. The only problem with that, I worked from 11a.m. to 5 p.m... So, as I didn't want to have to pick it up from the UPS store after the truck returned for the day, I printed the pre-sign paperwork for the delivery guy and left it on the door. I went to grab all my things to leave, and then my dog started barking at the door. I was about to be pissed. I thought is was going to show up at my door just in time for me to leave, and I would have to wait the 7 hours that I would be at work to even open the box.
Upon opening the door to retrieve my package, it was just the adaptors that I ordered, since the newest version of Macs don't have the ports, but instead have their own kind of ports (which is actually pretty annoying, considering that I had to drop an extra $70 to be able to plug in a USB, or even my iPhone, and still don't have all the ports that i may need or want).
Half relieved, I go to work in the Garden Center at Hy-vee. The sky starts looking dark, like it might rain soon, and I see a glimmer of hope in the dark clouds. If it storms all day, who will want to come buy flowers? They will send me home, where I will be able to wait by the door for my Mac to show up. Soon, it does in fact start pouring, and the Garden Center tent is flooding. I take the till inside and ask my manager what I should do, hoping she will say something along the lines of "Go ahead and head home, I have plenty of checkers, and the rain won't stop soon." Instead, she sends me to General Merchandise to run back stock. My heart hit the floor...
I start working, doing my thing, and about a half hour later, the sun is shining and I'm getting paged to Customer Service. The storm has passed and customers are waiting for me outside. I had mixed feelings, as the Garden Center was better than running back stock, but not as awesome as going home. So I head outside, help customers check out, and take my spot on my throne (the table behind the register that makes a pretty good seat. What else am I supposed to do when there is no work to be done?) for the rest of my shift.
5 p.m. hits, and I am out of there. I fly home to bring my Mac off the front step and start setting it up. I'm bouncing in my seat with excitement the whole time I drive, knowing what is sitting on the front step. I turn the corner, park my car, run to the front step, and my heart hits the floor once again. There is no package on the step, and my pre-sign paperwork is still hanging in the doorway. It hasn't come yet.
I head inside, moping. I sat down and began to catch up on my DVR, keeping an ear open for the doorbell. I wait, and wait, and wait. Still nothing. By 6, I'm starting to worry. Our UPS packages usually come by 5, so being this late I'm worried that it wont come today, when the next two days I will be away at orientation.=, which would be two long days of waiting to get home.
I head to our front room and begin watching the fish while scrolling around on Facebook on my phone, taking quizzes and reading all the clickbait and reading the fights that happen in the comments of the posts of the girl I went to middle school with that got pregnant (such entertainment, and lots of pure comedic drama), all while keeping an eye on the window, waiting for the UPS truck.
Finally, I hear the familiar rumble of the truck chugging up our hill. My dog begins his tirade of barking, and I open the door and step out to sign for the glory that is in his hands. I take it back inside, sit down on my couch, and open the package that I have so eagerly awaited. Inside the box is exactly everything I thought it would be. Opening the computer the first time, I swear I heard a choir of angels.
Now, I begin the process of learning the new processor, moving my iTunes from my old computer to the new one, and making this brand new Mac mine. There is a lot of things to get used to, but it's a pretty good metaphor for my life right now. I'm transitioning from living at home, high school, being under the control of my parents, to a new era of freedom, college, and dorm life. I'm so excited, my real life is finally beginning.
The biggest change as or late is the new MacBook Pro I am typing this on. This is where my graduation money went. I planned on getting a Mac since, well, forever, with my graduation money, so I had been doing research on a few different models and sizes and processors and what not. I finally ordered the one that I though would be best, and the wait was on.
Macs are hella expensive, in case you don't know. So, it would make sense that you have to sign for it when it shows up at your door. The only problem with that, I worked from 11a.m. to 5 p.m... So, as I didn't want to have to pick it up from the UPS store after the truck returned for the day, I printed the pre-sign paperwork for the delivery guy and left it on the door. I went to grab all my things to leave, and then my dog started barking at the door. I was about to be pissed. I thought is was going to show up at my door just in time for me to leave, and I would have to wait the 7 hours that I would be at work to even open the box.
Upon opening the door to retrieve my package, it was just the adaptors that I ordered, since the newest version of Macs don't have the ports, but instead have their own kind of ports (which is actually pretty annoying, considering that I had to drop an extra $70 to be able to plug in a USB, or even my iPhone, and still don't have all the ports that i may need or want).
Half relieved, I go to work in the Garden Center at Hy-vee. The sky starts looking dark, like it might rain soon, and I see a glimmer of hope in the dark clouds. If it storms all day, who will want to come buy flowers? They will send me home, where I will be able to wait by the door for my Mac to show up. Soon, it does in fact start pouring, and the Garden Center tent is flooding. I take the till inside and ask my manager what I should do, hoping she will say something along the lines of "Go ahead and head home, I have plenty of checkers, and the rain won't stop soon." Instead, she sends me to General Merchandise to run back stock. My heart hit the floor...
I start working, doing my thing, and about a half hour later, the sun is shining and I'm getting paged to Customer Service. The storm has passed and customers are waiting for me outside. I had mixed feelings, as the Garden Center was better than running back stock, but not as awesome as going home. So I head outside, help customers check out, and take my spot on my throne (the table behind the register that makes a pretty good seat. What else am I supposed to do when there is no work to be done?) for the rest of my shift.
5 p.m. hits, and I am out of there. I fly home to bring my Mac off the front step and start setting it up. I'm bouncing in my seat with excitement the whole time I drive, knowing what is sitting on the front step. I turn the corner, park my car, run to the front step, and my heart hits the floor once again. There is no package on the step, and my pre-sign paperwork is still hanging in the doorway. It hasn't come yet.
I head inside, moping. I sat down and began to catch up on my DVR, keeping an ear open for the doorbell. I wait, and wait, and wait. Still nothing. By 6, I'm starting to worry. Our UPS packages usually come by 5, so being this late I'm worried that it wont come today, when the next two days I will be away at orientation.=, which would be two long days of waiting to get home.
I head to our front room and begin watching the fish while scrolling around on Facebook on my phone, taking quizzes and reading all the clickbait and reading the fights that happen in the comments of the posts of the girl I went to middle school with that got pregnant (such entertainment, and lots of pure comedic drama), all while keeping an eye on the window, waiting for the UPS truck.
Finally, I hear the familiar rumble of the truck chugging up our hill. My dog begins his tirade of barking, and I open the door and step out to sign for the glory that is in his hands. I take it back inside, sit down on my couch, and open the package that I have so eagerly awaited. Inside the box is exactly everything I thought it would be. Opening the computer the first time, I swear I heard a choir of angels.
Now, I begin the process of learning the new processor, moving my iTunes from my old computer to the new one, and making this brand new Mac mine. There is a lot of things to get used to, but it's a pretty good metaphor for my life right now. I'm transitioning from living at home, high school, being under the control of my parents, to a new era of freedom, college, and dorm life. I'm so excited, my real life is finally beginning.
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