I'm Back- FOR REAL

Hey, y'all! So I think this might be my longest hiatus from posting-- A MONTH AND A HALF. WHAT?!?!? And I know I promised in April that I would be posting again... and then I posted like 2 things and disappeared. But this time, I'm for real. Want to know how I know that?

Because I already have 3 posts scheduled to go up IN THE NEXT WEEK ALONE. Not even kidding. And I'll probably have another within the next 24 hours. The first one will be posted at noon today (10 AM Central time, June 16th), and it's my Harry Potter Experience post. Chances are, if you're reading this, it's already up. So go check that out if you're interested!

Then, tomorrow, I'll (hopefully) have a post that correlates to my Top 5 Wednesday video this week, followed by 2 review posts on Friday and Monday.

But let's stop for a second and get real here. This is not going to keep up. I'm not going to be posting 4X a week on a regular basis. I'm hoping to post at least once a week steadily, maybe more depending on the week. I want to continue my ranking Project Runway designers series, and I want to continue doing CDs On My Shelf posts. I'll probably scatter in some other things (especially bookish things, if I do full written reviews of books), but those will be the main content on here.

I'm not making any promises. I know I'm a lazy bum, but I also know that if I continually force myself to do stuff I don't really want to do, I will eventually just stop all-together. And I don't mean to say that I dislike blogging. I like it very much. But sometimes, after working all day (I have a full-time job, for those of you who are unaware), sometimes, I don't feel like coming home and doing MORE work, and instead want to just sit and watch Netflix/YouTube. So I'm going to try and strike a healthy balance of vlogging, reading, blogging, and down-time over the summer.

I'm not sure how anything's going to transfer into the new school year, because (for those of you who don't know), I'm entering my senior year of college. And not only am I going to be taking senior classes, but as a music major, I'm going to be preparing for a recital. And on top of this, I'm going to be working as a research assistant, will (most likely) have a fellowship, AND will be applying to grad school. So blogging/vlogging/reading regularly might not be as possible then as it is now.

Anyway, I have digressed extremely far from my original point, which is that for now, I'm back, and I hope to continue to steadily post over the next few months because I feel like there's no better way to talk about my opinions than to type and subsequently edit them so that I can say exactly what I mean.

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Thanks for reading! If you like my posts, I'd really appreciate if you'd subscribe/follow so that I know you're enjoying what I'm posting! See y'all soon!

Summer Wrap-up!

Hey, y'all! Back in April, I did a monthly wrap-up post and mentioned that I might make it into a monthly series. Obviously, that hasn't happened... for several reasons. I had a lot of posts going up at the end of the month during each month in the summer, but the main reason I didn't do them is that my life isn't that interesting. I don't do that much. But enough interesting stuff happened throughout the summer that it warranted a wrap-up post. I'll also be discussing my monthly favorites! Let's get right into it!

The first, most obvious thing that I did this summer was my summer reading challenge. If you followed my blog at all throughout the summer, you probably already knew that. But, if you haven't seen anything about it, you can click here to check it out! It was definitely a big challenge for me, but I'm really glad that I decided to do it, because I got through 26 books in only 3 months! I'm really happy with the amount of reading I got done in May, June, and July.

Now, let's get into everything that went on in my life during each month!

May

As I mentioned in my April post, May began with finals. My finals were actually really early this year, and my last one was on May 2nd. Normally, I would almost immediately begin moving out after finishing my finals, but since I was working in the library on campus over the summer, I actually just got to chill out for a week before starting work. Both of my roommates moved out and went home, leaving me with a huge triple to myself! But the joy didn't last for long. Mid-May, I moved into summer housing. Let's just say it sucked. The dorm we lived in during the school year is one of the nicer dorms and we had a fairly large room. The room I lived in over the summer was very small, had bad lighting, and was in an older dorm with lots of pipes and a big window AC unit. It was a bit of a disaster.

Besides moving into my summer room, not much really went on in May. I worked 40 hours a week during the weekdays and relaxed in my room on the weekends... and didn't really do much else. 

May Favorites

The Mole

For those of you who have never heard of The Mole, it was a reality TV show from the early 2000s. There are 5 seasons. The first two are with regular people, the 3rd and 4th are with celebrities, and the 5th season was a regular people reboot circa 2008. The premise of the tv show is that a large group of people are competing to win money for a group pot that one of them will win. But the catch is that one person in the group is "The Mole," a saboteur hidden among the group who is working with the producers to keep the group from winning money. The contestants are attempting to discover who the mole is, while simultaneously trying to win money, and the home viewers also don't know who the mole is. At the end of each episode, contestants take a quiz where they have to answer questions about the mole's identity. The person who scores lowest on the quiz is eliminated. 

I first discovered the show last summer and watched the first two seasons. In May, I ended up re-watching the first two seasons and watching all 3 of the other seasons for the first time. If there were more seasons, I would have watched those too. I love this show. Oh, and the gif is of Anderson Cooper (who hosted the first two seasons and is half the reason it's amazing) being adorable after tricking the contestants into thinking he was about to eliminate someone. 

Clockwork Princess

Clockwork Princess was by far my favorite book that I read in the month of May. I read almost all of it in a single sitting, and it was absolutely beautiful. It quickly and unquestionably became one of my favorite books. Often, I have to give quite a bit of thought into what rating to give a book, but this one was a no brainer. 10/10 immediately.

June

June 1st, one of my school-year roommates got back to school for her internship that she was doing over the summer. We weren't living together because all of the summer rooms were just doubles, but it was nice to have one of my best friends back on campus. 

My birthday was on June 10th, and my parents were able to drive down to visit me, and they got there the same day my summer roommate (who I also live with during the school year!) came back to campus. So I spent the weekend with them and then my grandparents were supposed to fly in on Monday morning. Unfortunately, my grandparents' plane was delayed because of bad weather, so they didn't arrive until late that night. That afternoon, however, I took my parents to meet my bosses, and they actually bought me a cake and brought it in for all of us to eat!

  

 I love my bosses. They're some of the sweetest people ever. So, that night, my grandparents finally got in and I got to spend just a little bit of time with them that night. 

The next day, I showed them around my campus and introduced them to my bosses. We got to go out to dinner and then we picked up my cake and met up with my roommates to eat the cake.

My roommate Erin (the one on the right, who I wasn't living with over the summer) gave me a Wreck This Journal, which I was really excited to start using. Sarah, however, got... creative.

It's a running joke. We got Erin a wand for her birthday as well. We're all basically 5 year olds trapped in 20 year olds' bodies. Also, my smile is so weird because the icing on the cake turned our teeth black. Oops.

After my birthday, June wasn't really too interesting. It was basically just like May: work, chill, repeat.

June Favorites

Top Chef

Top Chef has been one of my favorite TV shows since 8th grade. So basically for 7 years *cue Kristen stopping and realizing that junior high was literally SEVEN YEARS AGO and that she's currently a 20 year old college junior* I have watched this show religiously. Well... lately not so much, but the first few seasons are perfection. Hulu added basically every episode of Top Chef, so I ended up making my way through *almost* all of the first five seasons while at work. I didn't quite make it to the end of season 5, because that was when the season started going downhill, and when the show started going downhill as well. Season 2 was the best season by far (followed by season 3, and then seasons 1&4 are tied). The only reason season 4 gets to tie with 1 is because RICHARD BLAIS. AKA my favorite contestant ever on Top Chef ever. Anyway, season 2, head-shaving incident. It will live forever in infamy. 

American Horror Story: Murder House

I had been meaning to watch this show for a really long time, but I have a very long list of shows that I've wanted to get to for a long time. I was in the mood, so I went for it. Season 1 was great. Haunted houses are my favorite haunted things. And Evan Peters as Tate totally has a Kurt Cobain vibe and I love it and I love him. I watched about half of season 2 before getting disinterested. I didn't dislike it, but I definitely couldn't get into it as much as season 1. If season 3 had been up on Netflix, I'd probably have just watched that, because I know I'd like it. But season 1 was great. I'll get to the other 2 eventually. 

July

Just like May and June, only one really interesting thing happened in July... the Fourth of July! One of my friends had an Independence Day party, where we ate lots of food and set off lots of fireworks. It was lots of fun.

So yeah, the fourth of July was really fun, but it was really the only exciting thing that happened in the month of July.

July Favorites

The Pilgrims of Rayne by DJ MacHale

This one shocked me. I always considered it to be one of the worst in the series (partially due to its terrible cover) but upon a re-read, it's unquestionably my favorite. I wish I could erase my memories of reading it and then go back and re-read it so that I could experience all of the shock and awe that goes along with it.

My Top 15 Stand-alones

I promise that this isn't just some shameless plug. I actually really enjoyed writing this post. I mean, I enjoy writing every post, but I especially enjoyed this one. I'm not quite sure exactly why I enjoyed it so much, but it was just a lot of fun and I got to see how some of my favorite books stacked up against each other... quite literally!

August

August is when things started to get really great. August first, Erin, Sarah, and I were able to move out of summer housing into our new apartment! Erin liked her summer room, but Sarah and I were very, very ready to move. Not only was our room completely cramped, but it had become ant and gnat infested and super gross. We wanted out of that place ASAP. And it didn't hurt that our new apartment is gorgeous...

The only tiny complaint is that the apartments were designed to have one person in each bedroom, but when our school took it over, they put two people per room. So our spaces are a little... cozy.

This is my side of mine & Erin's room. There's also an entry into the room with our closet, and on the wall across from my bed, I have my desk and bookshelf... but you can't see that yet because I'll be making a post all about my bookshelf later. 

After spending the entire weekend of August 1st-3rd moving, I packed up again on Monday and hopped on a plane to visit my parents! I spent a week there, and it was a nice and relaxing break from work and pretty much any responsibilities at all. It was great. 

And that pretty much catches y'all up with everything that has been going on with me this summer. Classes start today (well tomorrow, but I'm scheduling this for tomorrow, so... you get it) but I only have work-study and orchestra, so I have a pretty light schedule... until Thursday. That's when I start doing research assistant stuff out the wazoo. WOOT. 

August Favorites

Problem by Pentatonix

So, I will admit that I have listened to the original version of this song (by Ariana Grande and Iggy Azalea) a grand total of 0 times. All the way through, at least. So I wasn't extremely excited about Pentatonix covering it. I knew it would be great because it's PTX and everything they do is amazing, but I wasn't crazy excited. The day their EP went up for pre-order, I pre-ordered it, being the obsessed fan that I am. With that came this song, and the music video was released the same day. I then proceeded to listen to exactly 0 other songs for about a week. I'm not exaggerating. This song is probably my most played song on my iTunes at this point, but I don't want to plug in my phone and prove myself right.

Dare MattG

If you're unaware, this guy is Matt. His Youtube channel is MattG124, and every Friday, he does "Dare MattG" (That thing on the internet where you dare me to do some things and sometimes I do those things that you dare me to do). Anyway, since he's been doing it for almost 3 years and has had a few breaks from doing it, he has a little over 90 Dare MattG videos. Before starting this marathon, I think I had seen like 2. I've now seen 1-75. And I'm working on the last 20ish. I've loved his videos for forever, but never got into Dare MattG. And now I've seen the light.

This brings me to infinity and beyond... er... what my plans are for the immediate future.

I'm working with my advisor as her research assistant, so that's going to take up a lot of time. Plus, I have 2 300 level psychology classes this semester, which is intimidating. I also have a 100 level music class, but I'm not really concerned about that. I probably wouldn't be too fazed by taking 4 400 level music classes, honestly. Anyway, I also have the same work-study job as well as ensemble classes and private lessons and orchestra (for which I'm now the viola section leader, so YAY). Plus the many many hours I'll be devoting to research assistant stuff, which I don't even want to think about right now. Let's just say that I'm glad I dropped my fourth class.   

I'll be posting an update on schedule and such... soon. IDK when. Because I don't have a schedule yet. If you only knew how busy I am...

Don't forget that I've created a Facebook page for my blog! If you want to check that out and like it, you can click HERE. I'll try to keep that pretty up-to-date with new posts and such.

Thanks for reading this! If you like my posts, don't forget to subscribe/follow, since it lets me know that you're enjoying what I'm doing. See y'all soon!

30 Day College/University Challenge

Day 1 - Which college was your number one choice? Are you going to that school? If not, how did you handle the rejection? If so, is it everything you always thought it would be?

The college I go to, Rhodes College, was my top choice. It's better than I thought it would be. I wasn't AT ALL excited about college. I don't like being forced to make new friends. But it turned out AMAZING.

Day 2 - What school do you go to? What is something that makes your school unique, or that makes the school special to you?

Well, I already said above that I go to Rhodes College. Uhhh... our fight song says "Roll Lynx, Roll" which is a reference to Lynxes vomiting and rolling in their vomit. I'm not sure if that's out of fear or mating, but it's a legit thing!

Day 3 - If you live away from home, share your moving day experience. If you commute, do you feel like you are missing out on a true college experience?

I'm currently at home, but I lived in the dorm during the school year. The only interesting part about my moving day is that the dorm I lived in is notorious for being extremely confusing to navigate. If you wanna see what I'm talking about, skip to about 3:55 in this video, and it shows people trying to traverse my dorm. The sad part is that I knew exactly where they were the entire time while watching this a minute ago. The part of the hall they ended their little quest in is actually where my best friend lived this year :)

Day 4 - Describe the best party experience you’ve had so far.

I actually don't do parties... But I did go to the "Neopolitan" party my music theory professor threw, where we ate ice cream and played Apples to Apples. It was a lot of fun.

Day 5 - Who is the best friend you’ve met at college? How did you meet and what sort of adventures have you had?

I actually have 2 best friends. Sarah and I were in the same advising group and I saw her at the Freshman BBQ at the house of our college's President. We started talking about Harry Potter and A Very Potter Musical, and the rest is history. I met Erin in the common room of our dorm. One night, we and a guy named Bryton stayed up all night playing mario kart and watching horror movies and from then on, we became besties. We've had all kinds of fun adventures. My favorite is the time we randomly 'stole' a pineapple from the cafeteria, climbed the geosphere, rode the lynx, and stuck the pineapple on the lynx's ears.

Day 6 - If you live in the dorms, tell us about your roommates/floormates.

I did live in the dorms. I had a so-so roommate experience. We got kinda stuck together when the people we were supposed to room with decided in July that they weren't going to Rhodes. We're totally different people. I was totally anti-sorority, and she was in the school's stereotypical party sorority. And while she definitely wasn't the worst partier, she definitely partied and there were a couple times our room smelled like vomit because she drank a bit too much. Overall, though, I was just glad that she had a boyfriend back at home and didn't bring any guys over. That's where I would've drawn my line. I'm really excited for next year because I'm living with Sarah and Erin in a triple, so it'll be a lot more fun.

Day 7 - What is your field of study? How did you come to this decision, and how many times have you changed your mind?

My major is a bridge major, which is basically a combination of two separate fields. I'm majoring in music and psychology. Originally, it was just going to be music, but then I got into a class called the psychology of music and it changed my life forever. I love it! 

Day 8 - How many years have you been in college?  How many more years until you complete it?

I just finished my first year, so I have 3 more years of undergrad. Then it's on to get my masters/doctorate. I know in some cases, masters is not required before doctorate, and I'm hoping that this is the case. 

Day 9 - Post a picture of your college.

I'll give you 3, because Rhodes is freaking gorgeous. 

Buckman Hall

Aerial view of campus (small reference, the picture was taken from somewhere right above Buckman)

Barret Library and Kennedy Hall

Day 10 - What has been your favorite class to take, and what made it so fascinating?

Definitely Psychology of Music. I had the same professor (my favorite!) for that class and music theory, and I like music theory but I slept through it many mornings. But I made 100% sure that I was awake for Psychology of music, because it was always so interesting to sit in that class and listen to all of these really cool theories about how music affects the brain.

Day 11 - If your college has sports teams, which sport is the most respected? Have they ever won a championship?

First of all, we're like in the lowest division of college sports because we're a tiny school. But our girls' basketball team won something pretty big this year.. not sure what. The only reason I halfway knew anything about it was because my roommate was on the team and I would always look up when they would have away games so I'd know when I'd get some alone time.

Day 12 - Which clubs and teams are you a member of? Do you remember how you got involved with these clubs?

I'm in the Rhodes Orchestra. I really wanted to do quidditch (yes, you read that correctly) but I didn't have the time. 

Day 13 - Is there anything that you imagined would happen in college, but now that you’re in college you realize that you were totally wrong?

I was a bit naive about how many people would drink and how much sex goes on. HOLY CRAP. STDs everywhere.

Day 14 - Which kinds of students are the most annoying to be in a class with?

There are many types... The sorority girls there on Daddy's money, the close-minded people who have to make their opinions heard constantly, and the kids who think they're smarter than everyone and comment constantly.

Day 15 - Share about the first boy/girl you’ve had a crush on since being in college. Where did you first see them? Where did you first talk to them? Did you date?

I haven't really had many "crushes" but there are certainly a couple guys who are really great eye candy. I can think of 2 or 3 upperclassmen guys who are really talented musically, and are also very attractive. My best friend and I do our whole middle school giggling routine and talk about them, but honestly, they're not guys I'd ever date. Most of them are nice guys though. There's one in particular who is our favorite eye candy, but we both agree that we'd never date him because of his personality. Not our type at all... honestly, personality-wise, none of them really are. They're just nice to look at.

Day 16 - What are your favorite things to do, when you aren’t in class or studying? (sports games, parties, etc.?)

This year, I got really close with the people in my dorm, and we had the best common room on campus, so we would always hang out in there.

Day 17 - Are you paying for college yourself? If so, are you using loans and scholarships?

My parents are paying, but yes, I do have a nice scholarship and a smaller loan. Otherwise I couldn't afford to go to Rhodes.

Day 18 - Show us a picture of your favorite place to hang out around campus.

Well, other than the common room, the best place to hang out is the Lair, one of 2 eating places on campus. My friends and I always like playing pool or ping pong in there.

Day 19 - What do you do during holiday breaks?

I go home and just chill. Except Easter break. I stay at school for that one.

Day 20 - What has been the toughest class you’ve taken so far? Are there any classes that you are not looking forward to?

I haven't taken any that were super hard. I guess the hardest was my first semester required Religious Studies course because it was almost entirely exam based. I'm not looking forward to my required science credit. At all.

Day 21 - Tell us about your favorite professor.

My music theory professor is the best :) She's totally nice and helpful and really friendly and fun to talk to. She's also my adviser. She had an end of semester party at her house this semester and it was totally fun and she has a yellow lab named Gracie who is just adorable :')

Day 22 - Tell us about your least favorite professor.
Well, since I've only had... eight professors (I've had 3 classes with my favorite professor, plus an orchestra professor, plus a private lesson teacher), the one I really disliked was the one who taught the class mentioned on #20. It was a bible course, so he had to realize that people would have opinions on it, and yet he was super condescending to any opinion that differed from his own and it was really rude and I didn't like him. I mean, when he talked about other things, he seemed friendly enough, but he was just really condescending about that.

Day 23 - Post a picture of yourself that encapsulates your college experience so far.

Me, and one of my best friends, Erin :)

Day 24 - Tell us about something interesting/funny that’s happened during class.

A lot of interesting things happened in my psychology of music class- like we listened to a couple seconds of a song and were asked if we could identify it. It was really fun and cool. 

Day 25 - Which did you enjoy more: high school or college?

Definitely college. It's nice to have more freedom, and you make friends A LOT faster when you're around people 24/7. 

Day 26 - What is something non-academic that you’ve learned at college?

That I really need to stop procrastinating!!!

Day 27 - Tell us about your worst experience from your college years.

Well, I've only been in college a year, but when I went to college, I'd been dating a guy for a year and a half, and he broke up with me three weeks into the semester and was dating another girl 2 weeks later. 

Day 28 - Did any of your high school friends go to the same college as you? If not, do you still talk to your old high school friends?

No, they didn't. I still talk to some of my friends from high school. Only the ones I was really close with, as well as people from where I used to go to church in Texas. 

Day 29 - Tell us about the most interesting person you have encountered at school or around campus.

Most interesting? Hmmmm... I'm not sure of the most interesting!

Day 30 - What are your favorite and least favorite things about college?

Favorite... Living in the dorms with my friends, and going to classes that I'm actually interested in. Least favorite... Dealing with people constantly partying and having to pay for things myself that my parents would normally pay for.