10 Things I Learned on Campus

So this wasn't supposed the be the topic of today's post, but I realized the many things I learned in just one day. It seemed for a much more fun post and I need a little bit of fun today.

1. I will always be girlier if my hair is straightened. This seems superficial, and it is, but if I feel girly then I feel good. If I feel good then I get more accomplished. You gotta do what you gotta do. 
2. The cafe in the library has the BEST Chai Tea Latte, hands down! No more Starbucks for me. 
3. Heaven forbid you remember where someone sits (she will think you're stalking)! Next time, I'm taking her seat.
4. Having freshmen friends is the bees knees. They are required to have meal plans and they always get guest passes, which means free lunch! 
5. Hanging out at the library will always put me in a good mood. Walking the aisles and pauses to search through a book is a form of therapy for me. It forces me slow down. 
6. The right amount of eye contact and sincere smile will take you far on a packed bus. For instance, from point A, standing in the aisle, to point B, sitting in seat.  Smile ladies!!
7. The best place to read, study, or just be alone is the second floor in the union. I hate when I'm reading and people keep trying to talk to me. Clearly I'm busy! The Union is full of other like-minded individuals. 
8. Very few people will understand an anxiety attack and almost everyone will get annoyed if, and when, you have one. It's ok! Have the attack and move on afterwards. Dwelling just causes more anxiety. 
9. You might find yourself in a class where two or more individuals will debate technical Mary Jane terms, as contribution to the lecture! It's best not to befriend these people
10. This is the most important thing I learned:  IT IS POSSIBLE TO TURN A BAD DAY INTO A GOOD DAY! Surround yourself with positive people, always be honest about what's wrong (no more, "I'm fine," if you really aren't), and look for the positives. It's hard at first, but it is do-able. 

BONUS! 

Whoever placed the yoga studio in front of the basketball courts must have been a man. That is the worst 30 second walk ever. 

Organizing Frenzy

The first week of the new semester has come and gone. I was buying new school supplies and textbooks all week long. I must admit, I'm a tad bit obsessed with office supplies, school supplies, and stationary. Something about new post-it notes (my true weakness) makes me giddy! They are my must have item, or items depending how you look at it, that i need for every semester. I color code and organize everything with them. I promise this whole post isn't about post-it notes, although it could be. Like I said, OBSESSED!

Since my last final in the fall I have been on an organizing frenzy. I evaluated my last semester and took note of the many mistakes I had made. I am determined not to make the same ones this semester. Looking back, I find my main problem was poor time management and of course procrastination. I practically did an entire semester's worth of work in two weeks. Towards the last couple of days my mind was already trying to come to terms with the idea of having failed every class. Luckily, I didn't! I actually did pretty well. It made me think, "if I can accomplish that in two weeks, imagine what I could do if I had a whole semester!"

So my mind was set, no more fucking up! Now I had to figure out why I was screwing up. Procrastination, yes, I just said that. Poor time management, yes, I get it. How was I wasting my time though? I remember trying to sit down and get work done. I visited the library. I made to-do lists. I organized the space around me...and took four hours each time. BINGO! I found one of the main reasons for my poor time management. I've always been the type that needs a clean space to have a clear mind. The only problem is that I can never just tidy up. If I'm going to clean then I'm cleaning everything. If I'm going to organize then I'm devising the most spectacular system. Genius like that takes time!

I recognized the problem during my last final. I couldn't remember an artist's name for the life of me, but I damn sure could remember every article of clothing I had hanging in my closet and it's general location on the rack. (My closet was organized by color and then the sleeve size). Blue, polka dot, quarter sleeve cardigan was not the answer! By the time I got back to my apartment that evening I already had a game plan in mind to fix this issue. I was going to organize my entire living space during the winter break. Winter break lasted about a month, so I figured I would have plenty of time to accomplish this.

I honestly finished in about a weekend but I kept re-organizing. I needed this to be fool proof. I bought new goodwill and thrift shop finds to help and disposed of the old and ugly. If it's pretty I'm more likely to keep it neat. I bought a new duvet cover and now I make the bed every morning. I finally hung up all the artwork I had just piling up in my closet. My bookshelves (yes, I have more than one) got a makeover and I even considered the fact that I would undoubtedly buy more books. I tackled every area of my room. Everything has a place. A toddler can keep my room organized!

The next step was my school stuff. I have a whole new system in place. While it does require taking a few minutes of time out of my day to keep it up it's going to keep me infinitely more organized, which means 100 times less stressed. I even have an "emergency kit" packed in my back pack. I'm a bit on the paranoid side. I'm actually quite proud of my little kit. It covers every possible dilemma I can encounter without it being overwhelming to carry. I'm hoping having the kit on me, and how simple it is, will help me stress less while I'm on campus and help me keep calm should I ever find myself in an unpleasant situation.

The last part of my organizing frenzy is my personal life. This part I'm still working on. I've already come up with a daily morning routine and a nightly routine. I'm thinking if I have a set schedule to stick by I'll be less likely to get distracted. So far my mornings have been less chaotic, I haven't been late to work a single time, and my cat has been fed everyday. I've even been able to save some money since I've scheduled time to actually pack a lunch.

Having organized so much I'm starting to feel in control and less stressed. It's exciting and I'm starting to feel like the grown up my mother keeps trying to convince me that I am. I feel extremely optimistic about this semester. I can't wait to see the things I can accomplish when I'm not worried about when things are due or where the hell all my books are going to go. It's going to be a great semester, and hopefully and even better year!

Stage Fright

This has been a goal of mine for about three years now. Every time I think I'm finally ready to get started, I find some excuse to chicken out. I still want to back out of this. I'm sitting at my desk typing with knots in my stomach. I'm shaking uncontrollably and I'm pretty sure I'm going to cry. This is stage fright taken to a new level. Let's take a moment and have a glass of wine.

...So much better. OK, so many of my friends keep telling me I have nothing to be nervous about. "It's not like you have to read it to anyone," they say. No shit! I'm a nervous wreck, not a dunce! What most people don't understand is that it's not the actual act of presenting that freaks me out. It's what people might be thinking. So in a way, writing this is even worse than presenting to a class full of strangers. Here my thoughts are going to be judged, commented on, and possibly discussed and shared with more people that will then judge and comment. That's a lot of shit for me to deal with right now!