Reflections

I really didn't feel like getting up this morning, but I knew that I could afford to miss another wonderful college algebra class again. So, I got out of bed, picked out my wet clothes from my assortment of just-washed clothes, grabbed my basket of shower gear, and headed into The Darkness of the bathroom (I believe in a thing called light).

After I got out of the shower (in fact, until the bathroom light is fixed, I will henceforth refer to the bathroom or the shower as The Darkness), I felt refreshed and ready to go. It was 7:57 AM, class was in thirty minutes, and I felt like today was going to be a good day (despite the fact that none of my clothes had dried completely even though they were in the dryer for a full cycle).

Rachel was supposed to call me and wake me up that morning. That's because she's my Wake-Up Call. A Wake-Up Call is when someone calls and tells you that you cannot sleep anymore because you have to get up. Unfortunately, it wasn't I who needed a Wake-Up Call this morning -- it was, in fact, Rachel, who, incidentally, had stayed up to all hours of the morning writing her paper for English and forgot to set her alarm. I think Rachel and I need to hire someone else to call both of us.

Kurtis was already gone because he has a 7:30 AM class on Friday. That means that I can't really talk to anyone in my room when I get up, unless Kurtis has slept in past his class (which would mean that Rachel didn't call him either).

I tied my ankle-high boots, threw away some trash on my desk, grabbed the things that I needed, and left for class.

Math was extremely boring today. We're going over functions. If I put 5 into the function f(x)=5+x, then what do I get? Well, I simply substitute x with 5, therefore: f(x)5+(5), which would equal 10. I feel like Einstein when I explain simple mathematics.

I got back from math class to be greeted by my good friend Rachel who needed some help with her English paper. I proofread and helped out with a few ideas, and sent it back to her school e-mail account. Then I check my e-mail and noticed that I received a huge e-mail from Judy about all the upcoming plans from now until December 1, 2004. The next upcoming event is high school homecomings!

Jill and my friend Jamie (I say "my friend" Jamie simply because he says it unnecessarily when he refers to anyone not going to Flagler-Palm Coast High School, i.e., "My friend Deena." Jill's my friend, too) will be traveling to Clermont today to prepare for a Homecoming that they're attending with Seussical friends Nick Shennington-Gunn and Jessie Reid (let's get some spelling checks on those names, theenks). Judy recently informed me that she would have to take some homecoming photographs at the hotel they'd be staying at in Clermont (it's a two hour drive, so they got a hotel to make everything a lot easier). I was appalled by the fact that Judy wasn't observing proper...

Homecoming/Prom Photography Etiquette

1. You have to go to someone’s house and take the pictures. Make sure you’re in front of some beautiful tree, flower bed, or shrub.
2. Make sure you have at least twelve parents present. It doesn't matter if you only have four kids. Invite parents of kids that aren't even going. This will make the experience feel more like a traditional homecoming/prom despite the fact that your children do not have many friends.
3. Line up your kids, take out ten or so cameras, and have two moms run down the line of kids to adjust their ties, corsages, hair, etc. Make sure at least one camera is on a tripod. There always seems to be a "professional" parent in the crowd. However, no more than two cameras are permitted on a tripod at any given time.
4. When you begin taking pictures, begin to randomly scream things like, “Okay, look over here,” and “This way!” while simultaneously taking as many pictures as you can. IMPORTANT: NO MORE THAN THREE KIDS CAN BE LOOKING AT A SINGLE CAMERA AT A TIME. Remember, you have ten cameras. Make it as confusing as possible for them! Keep in mind that you will want to try get shots with their eyes closed, with random facial expressions, and especially shots where they're trying to fix their appearance.
5. After you’ve done all the group shots, you then have to then try the "combination" shots. This is the part when you do the All Girls and All Boys shot, and multiple variations. The trick is to make this process horrifyingly boring. Try the Boy Girl, Boy Girl shot, or the Parents and Child shot. Be creative!
6. Plan for one or more of the parents to say, "Oh, just one more!" at least four to five times.
   

These two pictures are perfect examples of Homecoming/Prom Photography Etiquette. In the girl's picture (remember, you must take boys and girls pictures), you can clearly see that almost everyone is looking at the same camera. THIS IS NOT GOOD. In the boys picture, they are clearly confused, looking every which way, and even some people have their eyes closed/in weird positions. THIS IS PERFECT. More pictures of Jessica's 10th Grade Homecoming can be found on her website (I Googled her, and I do not know her, so please don't ask me for her phone number).


I don't think I'm missing anything. However, if you think I am, feel free to suggest some official Homecoming/Prom Photography Etiquette by contacting me.

Vegans.

After checking my e-mail, I headed to English class eager to present my letter to the editor to class. It was an actual assignment, kids. I didn't just feel like writing it. Anyway, I threw some trash away, grabbed the things I needed, and headed off, again, for class. This time, however, I was happier to leave for class because REFLECTIONS would be open and playing 107.7 on the radio. I just hoped that I wouldn't be walking buy when radio DJs were talking. That always made my day 15% worse. Since every day starts out at 50%, I was now down to a measly 35%.

To much regret, walking by REFLECTIONS made my day 15% worse. I happily strolled by on the way to English and there she was -- talking on REFLECTIONS-RADIO instead of playing music...that one lady always babbling about the traffic reports...Leslie Gale...or something like that. And they always play that crazy music in the background while she's talking. Hey, if you listen to that station long enough, you'll hear it, too. I promise.

This fun logo was found on a vegan website. I think it's funny.

I read my letter to the editor in class today. Most thought that it was pretty good. The teacher liked it, also. As I said before, the assignment was to listen to a speaker and then write a letter to the editor based on their speech. You can see more detailed information inside the actual letter, which was posted as yesterday's entry. We had a brief discussion on animal rights and how the PETA people are indeed crazy. In fact, I leaned over and asked the kid sitting next to me how he felt about PETA.

Witty99: Yeah, I don't think they knew what they were talking about.
Me_Me_Me: I have to agree, I think they're completely stupid. I got so mad after I heard them yesterday, I had to leave here at get some meat to eat.
Witty99: I hear ya, I did the same thing.
Me_Me_Me: They really made me mad! I wanted to stab that one guy when he was talking.
Witty99: What, with a compass?

The guy thought he was being funny, I guess. Jerk. Yeah, with a compass. He was the guy who edited my first paper for peer reviews -- that's how he knew about the compass. Anyway, it actually was pretty funny, and he's not a jerk. I take it back.

For those of you who are interested, the above IM is the new format of conversation that I will have with people -- whether they were online or not. This is cyberspace, people, we have to play by Their rules. For the computer geeks out there, I coded that IM in HTML using interactive frames. Not too shabby, eh?

There are two types of people in the world: those who do, and those who say they're people who do but they're too lazy or they don't care. The simple truth is: if you don't do, you're not lazy, you're just incapable of doing. Get real, people, and actual do the work required instead of giving excuses about how you're smart but you "just didn't feel like it."

Walking back from English was boring and stupid until I got to REFLECTIONS. However, my day averaged back to only 50% when I heard the song playing on REFLECTIONS-RADIO. The percentage only leveled (and didn't go up higher than 50%) because I didn't know what the song was.

So, I came back to my dorm and worked on some computer-related materials. I'm hoping to get my DVD-+RW back so I can burn some TWO KNOW copies for all my friends (and, not to mention my portfolio requirements for film schools). As soon as I get my DVD burner working, the link will go up on judyhoof.com for ordering information.

My cell phone vibrated and said that I have a meeting with my first-year advisor at 1:30 PM. It was 1:20 PM, so I walked out of my dorm and ventured into the unknown to talk about scheduling for next term with my first-year advisor -- Rex Roberts (yes, the name is real). On the way to see him, a bike gang stopped me and started yelling things. I'm not sure if you know them, but the gang consisted of Flagler-Palm Coast High School alumni Mark Russell and Mike Leby. I was not scared. I handled the situation like anyone else would. We talked for awhile about the life and times of college. I don't even think they know about my journal. Laura Negron came up behind me and scared the crap out of me with some grabbing/screaming combo that took my bed sheets for a spin on the music charts. Speaking of which, I'm going to invest in some BILLBOARD advertisements on I-95 and I-4 for my Journal. I think it's a reasonable investment.

I invested in the Yahoo! LAUNCHcast Plus radio. I enjoy it. I can listen to all types of radio stations and skip as many songs as I want. Then, if I like the song, I'll download it using one of my peer to peer network utilities. However, I only download uncopyrighted music -- just like everyone else...right? It was only $3.99 for a month. I think it's worth it.

During my meeting with Rex, I planned out my possible schedule for next term:

1. History of Motion Picture
2. Composition II
3. World History
4. Computer Science
5. Human Species
6. Astronomy
   

It took me awhile to type that because Rex has the handwriting of a doctor. So, basically I can take any four or five of those courses. I'm probably going to take five. I don't want to get behind in my credits, and speaking of which, I discovered an interesting aspect of college -- you don't have to be a sophomore in your second year. In fact, a lot of people aren't. You just have to get all your credit hours done by whatever time limit you specify for yourself. Obviously, the better the sooner because of money and time. I was worried that I'd, like, fail if I didn't have enough credits or something. I'm so not a college student yet.

This new Malt-O-Meal cereal, "Marshmallow Mateys," spawns the era of boxed $1 cereals. Be sure to keep a watch at stores for boxed "Coco Roos!" Betcha can't taste the difference! ; )

I came back and hung around the dorm on the computer for a while longer until I finally decided to spend some money at Target. I needed some groceries and other miscellaneous items. So, off I went. But, who knew where I'd end up. Barnes & Nobel, BestBuy, some random pizza place, Old Navy -- THE MOVIE THEATER??? The possibilities were endless. I also knew I had to do my online math homework due Saturday and some studying for my second psychology exam on Tuesday. Geeze.

So, I threw some trash on my floor, didn't take anything with me, and headed out.

Me being the responsible student that I am, I worked on two math problems and then went shopping for a few items. I need to build up a shirt repertoire, I know, so I bought a new shirt (which I'm wearing tomorrow when I see Judy) that says something not funny at all, but it's funny because I'm wearing it. I think it's awesome.

After Old Navy, I decided to get my haircut. It's been awhile since I got a haircut, and I knew that if I got it cut, I'd have a much easier time styling it in the morning (which, incidentally, I have not had the time to do in awhile). I didn't really search around for the best "hair salons." Instead, I just went to ULTA, an all-in-one beautician supplier, salon, and well, it does everything appearance related. You know, make-up, hair, scents, etc. My good UCF friend Kim Blythe called and asked if I wanted to join her amazing boyfriend Kyle Farris and her for cup of java at this cute little boutique on 42nd street (if you actually believed that, you need some counseling). I told them that I had a hair appointment at 6:30, and that I would meet them for pizza at 7:00.

What you see above is a towel that's hanging on Kurt Douglas's side of the sink. This picture is in no way edited (with the exception of the enlargement), and yes, that is his name embroidered on the towel.

So, I met Lori, who styled my hair at 6:32 PM and did a great job. I didn't get it cut real short, actually -- no real length cut at all. I got it razor cut and thinned down, which basically makes it easier to style. I also got a little (and I do mean little) jar of Bed Head Manipulator. That stuff is crazy, but it works great!

Kyle, Kim, and I had a wonderful dinner-time pizza. We chatted about everything from the Presidential Debate to Professor Negy to how our waiter may have died in the back because where's my refill, jerk?

Afterwards, I went shopping at Tarjaiè, the local French grocer. I bought all the necessities of life, and then went home to implement them in my life. I purchased such things as:

1. Desk drawer organizers
2. Pepsi on sale

That's all I can remember, but there are about seven or so bags.

Well, I unpacked and organized every single item in those bags. Then, I knew that I had to do my math homework and study for psychology. So, the night ended in a lull with me cleaning and doing homework.