HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!

My birthday was earlier this week! That's right! My birthday! Not to mention, it was my first birthday in Illinois. I initially expected to spend my celebration of birth alone in my apartment watching movies and being bored, but my new friends here saw to it that I enjoyed every moment of my big day! By the end of the night, I was crying tears of joy simply because they all cared so much about this new stranger from Virginia. (There aren't many Virginians around  here.) 

If you're curious, here's how my birthday turned out. I woke up bright and early after getting a birthday phone call from one of my sisters. After talking with her for a little while, I decided to stay awake and get dressed for the day. It came as such a surprise that one of my cherished Oberlin friends contacted me from Europe only a few moments later. He wished me a happy birthday and told me that I'd be receiving a postcard in the mail really soon. Since I hadn't spoken to him since mid-January, the simple gesture helped me to be a bit more optimistic about my birthday. 

It just so happened that a new friend of mine joined me for lunch. I ate a tasty stir-fry meal with rice, broccoli, carrots, pineapples, green beans, a dozen other yummy foods. Shortly after lunch, I went to work, which was also surprisingly fun. Every since the summer of my ninth grade year in high school, I have been so blessed to work at the most wonderful places with the most fun-loving people. Spending the day at work on my birthday wasn't any different. Actually, being with my co-workers ended up being one of the highlights of my day. Once our work was complete, many of us went to sing karaoke as a way of celebrating my birthday and bonding outside of the office. I can proudly say that I have no voice today after performing, encouraging others, and singing for nearly three hours. Three songs were dedicated to me - the birthday girl - even from complete strangers. I ended up singing Respect by Aretha Franklin and Ain't No Mountain High Enough. All in all, we had so much fun that we may make karaoke night a summertime tradition, but only time will tell. 

The Good, The Bad, and The Best

What a day I've had! Let's see.... today I've been chipper, extremely sad, overburdened, overjoyed, overwhelmed, super Southern (if such an adjective exists), confused, annoyed, hopeless, satisfied, hurried, prayerful, worried, embarrassed, giggly, talkative, scared, determined, helpful, etc... I could go on, but I think you get the picture. Overall, the good outweighed the bad. Today was a fantastic day, although it didn't start out that way. 

My job hunt went terribly today. I guess you could say that it was so bad, that I don't even want to talk about, let alone blog about it. Speaking of jobs, another thing that really upset me today was my visit to an institution that shall remain nameless (simply because I think that's good etiquette). I wanted to open up an account near campus today so that could set up direct deposit in the near future. That didn't go so well. After wasting about thirty minutes, six branches of a tree, and quite a bit of ink, I left the building in the same state that I arrived in - without any type of account set up here. My day quickly turned around though.

A new friend of mine - that I randomly met last week - invited me to eat dinner with her and her friends tonight. I accepted my invitation and was asked to bring delicious bread for dipping! Once I made my way to the correct address and stepped through the threshold, I knew from that moment on that I was going to have a great evening. A wave of spices in the form of a tasty aroma floated in my direction! The entire first floor must have smelled so rich and savory! One of my new friend's friends was in the kitchen stirring a pot of southern stew flavored with Mexican pork. He turned around, waved me inside and the evening of laughter, stories and deliciousness began. Long story short, I intended to eat dinner with only three new friends, but I ended up making six more my the time I left! The best part of this story is that I'll get to enjoy their company again tomorrow! We have an entire schedule of things all mapped out, but I don't want to spoil the surprise, so I'll tell you all about it tomorrow.

Words of Encouragement: Many of my days remind me of the phrase used to describe the month of March - they come in like a lion and go out like a lamb. Whenever you feel like your day can't get any worse, do your best to stay positive. Your day can most certainly get worse, but it can also become a whole lot better, especially if you work toward making it a better day. Could you imagine what would have happened if I would my invitation to dinner tonight simply because I was in a bad mood? 

When life give you lemons, grab a little sugar, a few quarts of water and mix up a pitcher of lemonade! Make the best of what may seem like the worse, and remember, someone would love to have your bad days!

So Exactly What Are You Doing Right Now?

That seems to be the magic question for me now-a-days‼ Graduating from one college and immediately moving to another college twelve hours later isn't exactly something that students do regularly; so I can understand why some of my friends and family members may be a bit perplexed. Hopefully, this post will shed a bit of light into those gray areas.

I am pretty sure that surviving my first year of law school will be no easy task‼ Completing my first year of law school while balancing grades, a part-time job, and participation in a few organizations will prove to be even more difficult. That being said, when I was trying to decide what to do this summer, I knew that I didn't want to do something that would be strenuous or stressful in any respect. I am pleased to announce that my plan is working‼ I've been fairly relaxed for the past week.

I have two jobs here on campus doing things that I love to do - meeting new people and communicating with constituents via the telephone. When I'm not at work, I'm able to continue to do things that I love - explore the neighboring cities, watch films on Netflix, and sleep‼ Being able to take unexpected naps in the middle of the day is one of many blessing that this summer has offered me‼

In a way, I'm kind of hibernating right now. For the remainder of the summer I hope to conserve my energy and brain power as I recuperate from the past four years of intense essay writing, sleepless nights, and final exams. By orientation I should be refreshed, well-rested, and ready to take another step closer to the real world.

My Inner Alarm Clock

Friday . . . 7:25a.m.

Saturday . . . 6:54a.m.

Sunday . . . 7:57a.m.

Monday . . . 7:38a.m.

Tuesday . . . 7:14a.m.

Every since I moved last week, I have not been able to sleep past eight o' clock in the morning, and it's not for lack of trying. Last night I went to sleep at about 3:30a.m. in hopes of waking up a little later this morning. That didn't work either‼

I have yet to figure out what has caused the appearance of my new inner alarm clock. At first I thought that it may be as a result of moving to a new time zone. However, I only moved one time zone over, and before relocating I most certainly was not waking up before 9:00a.m. every morning. An older friend of mine said that at a certain age, the body creates it's own "work clock." So, although I don't have a job that requires me to wake up this early, one day I will and my body knows that all on it's own. Consequently, it will become habit for my body to wake up without an alarm. I guess I could believe that. My mother has never used an alarm clock for as long as I can remember, and she's always on time for work.

Does the body simply revert to it's own sleep schedule at a certain age? Could it be the change in time zone? What do you think?