Fly like an eagle.

Well, it's back to the old grind.

Only three more weeks until (almost) complete freedom. Three weeks of paper writing, project making, researching, and long hours of studying in the lounge and at the library. I didn't even realize HOW MUCH I had to do until I finally settled down this weekend and went through my checklist. It is going to be a tough few weeks ahead of me.

In other news, I got a new phone AND a new iPod this weekend. Sprint was having a special on their phones for Black Friday, so I got the LG Optimus (creatively nicknamed Optimus Prime!) for free! It's a smartphone with a data plan and it's also my favorite color: PURPLE! I was in dire need of a phone upgrade so this sale came at the perfect time. It's also been fun playing with all of the settings and applications on both of these new devices since I have both the Android and Apple markets.

Now that I'm well rested from Thanksgiving break, it's time to get back into studying! Buonanotte!

Happy Turkey Day!

It's so good to be home! I walked in to my house for the first time since September and it felt so different, like I hadn't been here in years. I am so happy to be back though, even if it's not going to be a very restful break with all of the projects and papers I have to finish this weekend. At least I get to see my family, finally!

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you and your families! Eat good food, celebrate with good people, and enjoy life!

Na na na na, na na na, na na.

Thunder? In the middle of November?

I'll take that over the snow any day. It was unseasonable warm today, and I have absolutely no problem with that. :]

Best three words to hear on a Monday morning..

"Class is canceled."

!!!! I was so excited when I heard that my first of two classes was canceled today! Mind you, I did bike all the way to Holmes from South Complex, BUT it is also around 60 degrees outside today, so I didn't care that much. :]

Well, it looks like I should get some of my other work done since I have two plus hours until my next class! :D

Raise you glass if you are wrong in all the right ways.

I broke my Ipod the other day. Well, I didn't break it persay, I just kept it in a very unsafe place during the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows premiere. It was in my backpack with my camera, wallet, phone, gloves, and.. water bottle. I never expected it to explode all over the place (thankfully my camera and phone were in hand when this occured), but it's still unfortunate. I am intending on purchasing a new one when I go home for Thanksgiving. There is an Apple retail store conveniently located in the mall that I work at so I can turn in my busted one to get a discount on the new one. Guess that means I need to work some more hours to make up for it.. :/

The Harry Potter premiere itself was amazing though! I went with the majority of my Quidditch team to NCG in Eastwood Plaza and we had to wait outside for sooo long. We had so much fun though! We played Ninja and Samuri, which are two time-passing games about as ridiculous as Quidditch. My friend Will is watching the Red Wings game with my right now, and he referred to them as "group dynamic ice-breakers" if that makes any more sense.. Anyway, we sang old school songs like "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen, "Allstar" by Smash Mouth, and "Sk8er Boi" by Avril Lavigne. Overall, it was a great, great night.

I also worked my last shift for the football games Traffic/Special Events! The colorguard parents gave my coworker and I breakfast again, they are so sweet! I decided to go to the game too, it being the final home game of the year, and I'm so happy that I did! Everyone kept talking about the "blocked punt" just how we couldn't get over "little giants" or the "mousetrap."Anyway, it was an excellent season, so pumped for our final regular season game, BEAT PENN STATE! :D

Let's hear it for New York.

Michigan State University Quidditch Banner

I'm back!

And very much not excited to come back to reality. I hadn't read my emails for three days, and oh boy, I'm never waiting that long again, even if I'm away from home. So after filtering through ALL of my emails and notifications, it was back to the daily grind. This week is especially busy with one paper, one exam, one quiz, and working all three jobs. Sigh. At least I had an incredible weekend to make up for it. The Official Michigan State Quidditch team won two of three round-robin play games on Saturday against Syracuse, Franklin & Marshall, but lost to Middlebury, and we also lost in the first round of elimination against Texas A&M on Sunday. It was our first year attending the Quidditch World Cup, and honestly, I don't think we did that poorly. Our coach is extremely proud of how we performed, we just have A LOT of work to do for next year!

Our team is also all over the internet!:
ABC News
NY1
NBC Boston
Techland Photos
The State News
Youtube: Conga Line
Youtube: MSU victory over Syracuse
Youtube: MSU loss to Middlebury
Flickr jamie_nyc
Flickr QueenHermione
Official MSU Quidditch Team Facebook Page
  ^^Most of these are my photos!

And that's only the start of it. :]

We also have club games this weekend, on Friday at 2pm at the Rock, if you want to watch us play! Bring your broomsticks if you want to join! :D

Time Square, New York, New York

Cardiology is a mystery.

It's an amazing thing when you feel like you made a contribution to the world. Today, I gave blood for the first time. And oh boy, was it quite the experience.

My friend Jacob convinced me to donate even though I hadn't incorporated it into my schedule for the day. I ate a big lunch, went to class, came back and ate a banana before going to the blood drive at Wilson. Unfortunately for me, Jacob had an appointment to go so he was in and out of there in no time (relatively speaking, he was still there for an hour). But as I was waiting for my number to be called, I got a little more nervous as the time went by. I didn't even know what I was jittery about though. I'm not afraid of needles or blood or doctors or anything like that. It was probably just because it was a new experience for me.

 Anyway, they FINALLY called me up after two hours of waiting and then it was paperwork time. They took my information, identification, and asked me a ton of questions pertaining to my health. They also took a blood sample to make sure I was actually able to give blood. I'm not a fan of pricking my fingers, and I had to get mine done twice. The first time, my iron count was too low on my left hand, so they redid it on my right hand and it was A-OK. After a few more questions they told me to sit on an open gurney and wait. 

More waiting. 

I won't go into the process of drawing blood, but I can tell you that it was over much quicker than I would have thought. Or maybe counting just makes the time go by faster. Either way, it was over and I did my good deed for the day! I didn't even get dizzy or light-headed or anything. The only negative results of this are a small purple bruise in the crook of my elbow and my arm occasionally falling asleep. But that will not stop me from donating again on January 15, 2011!

30 Points to the Spartan Spitfire!

I KNOW that this is another post that talks about Quidditch, but I need to share my excitement with someone. First of all, we got our new jerseys this weekend!

OFFICIAL jerseys, and I am number less than three :]

I have never been on a sports team that required me to have any type of memorabilia. The only thing related to that would be my marching band uniform in high school. So it is pretty exhilarating the first time you wear it with your teammates. Mind you, I did NOT attend the MSU vs. UoM Quidditch Tournament this weekend because, sadly, I was writing a paper and fighting a cold, but I did think about my team the entire day! We beat Michigan TWICE too (that's FOUR sports, Wolverine fans!), 140-120 and 40-30 and we caught the snitch in each game! 

I am also SUPER PUMPED for the Quidditch World Cup this weekend in New York City! There will be about 60 teams there, so it will be awesome to meet people from around the country who are just as nerdy as we are!

 Also, check out this article from ESPN. What would you think of Quidditch becoming an NCAA sport?

This is Halloween, this is Halloween.

Sorry for such a delay since my last post everyone! Once Halloween weekend was over, I just got swamped with projects and papers for my classes. But speaking of Halloween, it is by far my favorite weekend of the year. It is the only time of year that black, orange, and purple match, apple cider is in season, you can play dress up like a little kid again, and almost everyone on campus participates. This year, my best friend from home came up to stay with me for the weekend, and other than celebrating holiday festivities, we attended two MSU hockey games! She is very big into hockey like myself, and (lucky her!) she is able to keep up with all of the latest NHL news and daily games more than me. She is planning on enrolling in Michigan State next year either in engineering or hospitality and management, so I gave her a personal tour around campus and explained all of the amazing (and even not so good!) things about it. She absolutely loved it here, so I hope that I gave her a positive experience that will help her decide exactly what she wants to do!

My best friend Paige and I at the MSU vs. Alabama-Huntsville hockey game.

I also got a picture with Jake Chelios at one of the hockey games! :D

For Halloween this year, my friends and I decided to be Disney characters! Caryn was the only exception, she was a secretary. I was Eve from Wall-E, my roommate Krista and her boyfriend were Day and Night from the short film before Toy Story 3, Paige was Kevin from Up, and my other best friend Elli was the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland (1951).

Krista, Me, Caryn, Elli on October 30, 2010.

It was so much fun to get ready with all of them and wear our costumes to the hockey game too! I love Halloween so much, and I'm so sad it's already over. There are too many Christmas things out now, and I do not like it at all. :[ Hopefully it won't be here too soon, I have too many things to accomplish before the semester is over!