Once again, I SURE do know where my priorities lie...

So, I went out last night when I should've been writing my essay. But I figured that I would sleep early yesterday and wake up early today to write. Uh... yeah right! For some reason, I ended up getting to bed around 3am. Even I have no idea what I was doing up so late. Anyway, so I finally crawl into bed, feeling all groggy. Two seconds after I closed my eyes, these bright lights from my neighbor's house went on and shined directly through my blinds and at my eyes. Now, you have to understand, these lights were like flood lights, REALLY REALLY bright! They're also motion sensor lights, so they would come on and then go off and then come on again. Well, after 5 minutes of trying to find some corner of darkness in my room to try to get some sleep, I got this really eerie feeling that something was wrong. As I laid in my bed, I began hearing all this rustling, as if things were getting moved around. Burglars! For the first time in my life, I knew what it was like to be so scared that your legs don't move. But I kept thinking, if my neighbors get robbed and I don't do anything right now, I'm gonna hate myself forever. I thought about calling 9-1-1. (Who the hell do you call if you get robbed?! I certainly wasn't gonna go flipping through a telephone book to look for the number to the police department!) But then I figured I'd call my mom, since she was at work. I figured if anybody would know what to do, it would be my mom. (Besides, if I screamed while talking to her on the phone, she would know where to find my body. Dude, I really thought burglars were gonna catch me spying on them and kill me!) Anyway, I called my mom and told her that I was really scared and that I kept hearing noises outside my window. Here's what my mom said, "Jamie, our neighbors are working. That's probably the wife, sorting out merchandise. Go check, I guarantee you." So still with my lights off and gripping the phone tightly, I take one small peek outside my window to find my neighbor sorting out her products. (She's some sort of fashion designer that sells clothes in the Fashion District in Downtown.) :whew: But who the heck works at 3am in their backyard?!?!?! People are trying to sleep!!!!

For some reason, after my fiasco, I just couldn't sleep. (I swear it's from watching too many scary movies!!!) My stomach kept grumbling in bed last night. I was ready to believe that strange beings had cut me open and sewed up a live rat in my stomach. (That's what happened in Dr. Sleep!) Then maybe the summer heat got to me, but I kept tossing and turning. I think I finally zonked out around 5am. What makes things worse is that I didn't wake up early enough to fully plan out my lesson plans and so I had to kinda improvise as I went along today. Good thing my kids look up to me SO much that they believe anything that I tell them. :sarcasm: I told them about my "burglar" story and they all got a kick outta it. They probably think I'm the strangest person they've ever met, but oh well. (I think this story warrants a "Freakin' Jamie" from Ben. Thanks, Ben, I can hear you laughing now!)

On the upside, I think I managed to reach out and encourage a student about her SAT scores today. At first, Krystal didn't even want to take my class. She told Ms. Banda that the only reason why she was taking the class was cuz her mom and her brother made her. But I noticed that she's really been trying to make an effort in my class. I always tell my students to make vocab cards. I know it's a tedious task, but it would really help them. Well, like last year, I tell them to do it, but most of them don't anyway. (It's understandable, nobody wants to do extra hw during summer vacation.) But I was so happy when Krystal pulled out her cards. I think she kinda tried to hide them cuz she didn't wanna seem uncool, that she actually listened to me and wants to do well. But I made it a point to pull her aside after class to tell her how proud I was of her. Here's what she told me: "I think I'm starting to like the SATs, I like your class." Thanks Krystal, you totally made my day.

I CANNOT believe we got shushed at Johnny Rockets!!!!

Today was such a fun day! Work was once again great! I love both of my classes. As soon as work was done, I was lucky enough to have awesome girlfriends to hang out with tonight! (Yay! Girls night out!) Angie had gotten free preview tickets to see "Dr. Sleep." It was a good thriller, pretty gruesome at times. Do NOT be fooled by the title of the movie, it's NOT comedy. I've never been so scared while watching a movie. It wasn't scary cuz of ghosts or anything. The movie was scary cuz of all the fake-outs and the scary music. I was so jumpy! Anyway, good movie!

After the movie, we (Ang, Lys, Kris, Carolyn, Carrie, and me) went over to Johnny Rockets. (We were at The Block.) While we were laughing and trying to figure out how Johnny Rockets' waiters do that twirly thing with the straw dispenser, (Good job, Angie!) one of the waiter dudes came over to shush us!!!! Anyway, we still had our fun. Angie's heart/fist went outta control over dinner while Lys and Carrie commented on how good their breasts tasted (chicken breast sandwiches).

The night ended with us sitting in Carrie's big old truck talking about farting. (Yes, girls do fart!) Definitely a fun night. Sometimes, I feel like I live double lives. While I'm teaching, I have this aura of professionalism. (I even wore a suit today!) And then as soon as the clock strikes 4pm and I let my kids out, I'm back to being a regular teenager. Last night, I was decked out in my shorts and t-shirt balling it up, or at least trying to. Tonight, I was laughing up a storm w/ my girlfriends. Sometimes, I wish I could just freeze time, cuz it doesn't get any better than this...

Rant: People can be such jerks! This is the 5th time my house has been egged! Even when I approached the guilty culprit, they acted like they knew nothing about what I was talking about. Ugh! I don't understand why my family is always targeted in these egg attacks. What makes it worse is that my whole neighborhood is filled with a bunch of senior citizens. It's only been lately that these "new-age" people have moved in. Honestly, outta less than 20 houses, i barely know the residents of like 3 houses. It's sad that in society today, we're all so busy that we can't even stop to do even the simplest things, like meet your neighbors! Whatever happened to good old block parties?!

Rave: Basketball is awesome. Unfortunately, I'm way too old and slow to hang with the big boys anymore. I love basketball, but I just can't do much anymore. My asthma always kicks in and I die after 10 minutes. BUT, I'll always love basketball! (Even if I do get beat by tall track guys! Bah!)

I admit it... I'm such a spaz! I went into Sav-ons today after work cuz I needed a new tube of lipstick. Anyway, I go to the check out counter to find a cute cashier working there. Trying to be smooth and everything, I casually hand over my items. Since I was low on cash, I decided to charge it on my credit card. I couldn't even say "credit" correctly, as I stupidly fumbled over my words. Then while trying to slide my card through the machine, I couldn't even hold it the right direction! Dude, I've had my credit card forever! And only now I don't know how to use it! When I finally got it correctly, he said, "Thata girl, you're a quick one." :flashes huge smile: Then cuz he had been staring at me try to slide my card through the machine for so long, he said, "Hey, nice picture. You come here often?" I managed to give him a weird nod and shake at the same time. :more smiling: My receipt finally scrolls out and he hands me a pen to sign. (Thank goodness I was able to sign my name!) But then the big klutz in me came out and as he handed me my items, I knock his pen to the floor. Naturally, I bend down to pick up the pen and this weirdo behind me whistled at me! I was so embarassed!!! I was wearing nice black slacks, and I guess there were kinda tight around the butt area. I dunno... but believe me, I DID NOT do the bend and snap thing!!!! Needless to say, I walked out red-faced with the cashier guy still smiling in disbelief. (He wasn't even all that good-looking!!!!) At least my experience wasn't as embarassing as the guy in front of me. He bought a pack of Trojan condoms and it needed a price check! The cashier dude used the microphone to ask!!!! I swear... that was real cruel!

I finally turned in my Alumni Scholarhip application today. Part of the application said to "Describe in essay form how you have developed as a leader to this point. Use as many pages as necessary." Simple essay, right? WRONG! I ended up pulling an all-nighter and writing 8 pages!!!! Even with 8 pages, I couldn't include everything that I wanted to say. It's a sad thing when you go to sleep AFTER the sun is already up! I guess Ben was right, I AM a big nerd.

On the upside, I met my students today. They're so cute and tiny. Bryan is sooo hilarious! Though I miss not being able to work with Dennis, I must admit, Bryan does a pretty good job of taking his place... taking his place in telling corny jokes, that is! (No offense, Dennis, I've got nothing but love for ya!) Bryan came dressed in shorts today cuz his mom sent all his long pants over to the East Coast already! I guess his mom can't wait for him to leave. (Bryan, go make friends with that girl that picks her nose. What an interesting hobby, how can she not be interesting?!) Anyway, it's so refreshing to actually LOOK FORWARD TO GOING TO WORK! I can only hope that I'll find something as worthy as this in the future...

I have been reunited with my first love at home... my trusty N64! I've forgotten how much I love playing video games. (As I tried explaining to Kris today, I'm not like most girls.) I've played so much that my thumb hurts. It's from using the up button as Yoshi in Super Smash Bros. (For all those Yoshi fans, you know which move I'm talking about!) But I figure I better get all my playing done before I start work on Monday.

I'm real excited about meeting my students this year. Ever since school got out for me, I've already been planning different ways to teach my classes better. I'm thinking that this year, I will take the practice tests with my classes and challenge them to try to score better than me. If they score higher than me, I will take them out to the restaurant of their choice. I figure that I'd do this since I honestly don't think that my SAT scores qualify me as a good tutor. If it weren't for my patient nature, I'd have no business teaching SATs, so I'm gonna take the tests with my students as a way to justify my job to my guilty conscience. But I know that not all of my students will be able to beat my score (or else it would probably be real embarassing on my part) so I'm also gonna set a goal for each student to reach, somwhere along the lines of a 200 point increase. (I always request the low-scoring students, so it's definitely do-able.) If ALL my students reach the goal, then I want to treat the whole class to dinner at Buca's. I know it'll probably be expensive to do this, but my pay is ridiculously high for the little amount of time I actually work. I would much rather use the money I make back on my students. Anyway, the money's not important. What's important is when a student comes up to me on graduation day and tells me that she used every technique I taught her on her SATs and that she scored so high that her parents were very surprised and happy. What's important is when a student remembers the corny jokes that I tell in class and is actually able to use it on test day. And what's important is that I am able to teach my students all the things I know about the test to be able to overcome their anxieties about it. I'm excited and a bit nervous, but I definitely look forward to Monday.

Never have I been SO happy to hear "So Fresh, So Clean"...

We had our little c/o 2001 reunion today (technically yesterday) at Huntington Beach. The day started out nice, but a bit on the foggy side. However, Smitti managed to get his kite going, the boys played some tackle football and soccer in the sand, while I did a little Chinese dance routine with one of the tails to Smitti's kite. (Apparently Kristen doesn't know how to "yank it to make it go up." LOL) As the night rolled in, we started our bonfire. Unfortunately, we were sorely outdone by this weird cult chanting and dancing around their gigantic pit of fire. (I could've sworn Satan was gonna rise outta that fire any minute.) Needless to say, as soon as 9:45pm rolled around, the big yellow trucks came rolling by, with lifeguards telling us to leave the premises. We all packed up and got ready to leave. Imagine my state of panic as we drove down Beach and I realized that I didn't have my cell phone anymore! I remember I had it in the pocket of my pullover and it musta slipped out when I was being flipped down on the sand. (Darn shallow pockets!) As we hightailed it back to the beach, Kristen and I roamed back into a sea of pitch black. Yet I gotta be thankful for that cult-dancing group and their hell fire. From their pit, we were able to locate our pit. Using Mike's phone, Kristen dialed my cell phone and there... buried in the sand, was my wonderful cell phone. (Thanks Kris and Mike, you guys are the BEST!)

Honestly, when I thought I had lost my cell phone forever, the only thing I was worried about was, "What if somebody at school was trying to call me?" I thought about all the important calls I'd miss, from Jesse (Mr. President), Will (Mr. Chief of Staff), Kris (my true boss), Berkeley faculty members... I was worried that Ms. Banda, or Ms. Clark, or worse yet, DA Steve Cooley would try to call that cell phone to contact me about my random jobs this summer. It's sad... I don't think I really use my cell phone to call friends all that much. (Maybe that's why I hate my cell phone so much, it's always work-related.) The ONLY time I ran up my phone bill was during the month of May, when I was trying to call people each day and night to schedule chalking, flyering, sign-waving... all that good campaign stuff. Hmmm... just a thought, but maybe I should call my friends more often with my cell phone. (Dude, I DO get free nights and weekends!)

By the way, it took me half an hour to wash out all the sand outta my hair! Ooh... and another random comment: Caleb was at the beach having a bonfire the same night we were... except he's like 3000 miles away from me, and probably sitting in a nice clean beach. But maybe we were both staring up at the same stars and moon in the sky. Whoa... (Heehee, hi Caleb! Miss ya lots, hope Maui is treating you well!)

Yay! Good day... Jamie is HAPPY!

Haha... YES! Remember when I thought I had turned in the worst essay possible? Well, apparently my professor didn't think so. I got an A+!!!! My paper got a whole 100 points out of a possible 100! She even asked if she could use my paper as an example for future classes. I think I should just drop out of Cal and go to some JC... my grades could be sky high... unlike the crap grades I get up at Berkeley.

Gabs and I had quite the conversation last night. We both came to some pretty deep realizations and then opened each other's eyes to some big milestones that we're bound to hit within these next couple of years. She shared with me how my very smart and intelligent speech coach, Tony told her that rules change with adult relationships. Ahhh... relationships, don't even get me started. I always feel like I'm wishing upon someone else's star. Anyway, onto my epiphany... I realized that I'm in my last year of being a teenager. Once I turn 20, that's it, I'm no longer considered a "teenager." A won't be able to do "teenager-like" things and still get away with it. This raises the problem that I never really did any bad "teenager-like" things in the first place! I'm a fun girl, but I guess my fun is totally different from most people. Speech tournaments, going to Jerry's basketball games, competing at band reviews; that was fun for me. Not that I'm anticipating on changing my definition of fun anytime soon or anything, I'm just realizing that I should be living my life to the fullest each day, doing the things that I consider fun before it all runs out on me. I'm only a teenager once, I might as well enjoy it, instead of trying to live like a 40-year old trapped inside a body of a 19-year old girl.

I know I haven't blogged in awhile, so let me recap the past couple of days...

Thursday
Paul, Gabs and I took Derek for a walk on the wild side as we showed him around sunny southern Cali. Driving over to Paul's house proved to be a lot harder than Gabs and I thought. We managed to get horribly lost when ::ahem:: Paul told me to get off at an non-existent exit. Trying to make an U-turn, I found myself getting trapped in some Honda dealer. My uh... quick maneuvering *wink wink* got us outta there. After taking a couple of wrong turns, we finally made it to Paul's house. Paul's tour of his room included a quick romp around his room where we managed to strip his bed of its sheets. *What really happened: His bed already had no sheets cuz of "ants." I dunno, go figure... he does have a pink blanket, also due to ants. :shrug:* Driving around aimlessly in the neighboring cities of La Mirada, we made a pit stop at Starbucks and then headed over to the Block, which happened to be closing by that time. After that, instead of heading over to a UCI frat party, we did a little cruisin' of our own and ended up at Club Jungle. *What really happened: We went to Paul's favorite park and hung out at a jungle gym in the middle of the night.* The place was bumpin'. We managed to spice it up even more by creating some waves of our own while fooling around in the sand. *What really happened: I jumped on the kiddie bridge, creating "waves;" Gabs walked across a thin rail, showing off her tightrope circus routine; Paul invented a new Olympic sport on the slide-y ring thing (which I'm sure he'll receive the gold medal for); and Derek went on the swings, being pushed high in the air by Paul. In the midst of all the fun, it brought us closer to our childhood memories. It also made me realize what great friends I have. Thanks for taking us to your park, Paul! It was the best time I've had in years!!!* The place finally got scary, so we proceeded to fool around some more in the backseat of Paul's car. Things got quite hot and steamy and the car bounced up and down. *What really happened: Gabs decided to bring up all that Unsolved Mysteries crap... which scared the bejeezus outta us. The more we talked about "possibilities" for our story to get on Unsolved Mysteries, the more scared we got. So we circled our way outta the park, through the menacing sprinklers, and into Paul's car. Not wanting to end our conversation just yet, we decided to chat in the car. But, what if some axe-murderer guy was still around? We decided to fog up the windows so that nobody could see us inside the car. Then I asked how odd it would be to see a lone white car with fogged up windows in the middle of the night by some quiet neighborhood, no less, in the quaint and conservative city of La Mirada. So all decided to bounce in the car, and let the residents come up with their own conclusions. LOL* A quick snack at Denny's and we were back on the road, dropping off Derek and then back to Montebello to drop off Gabs (though she SWEARS she lives in East LA). Needless to say, I didn't get home until 3am the next morning, but I'll admit, it was definitely an awesome night... and THAT, is the absolute truth!

Friday
After rushing to turn in perhaps the worse essay I've ever written, it was on to the Pantages Theatre for a evening showing of The Lion King. One word: AMAZING! If you haven't seen it, GO SEE IT! Young Simba blew me away! Ooh, such talent!

Saturday
Way too much baseball today! Jerry had a baseball game early this morning. My poor brother got beaned in the knee by some sorry pitcher. (Apparently he threw a lot of wild balls.) Unfortunately they lost the game... too bad! Never fear... more baseball on the way! The Dodgers played the Angels, and guess who had left field, 7th row Dodger Stadium tickets... MY FAMILY (me included). My brother's baseball team decided to do a nice little family/team soiree by going to the game together. It was a lot of fun, and it didn't hurt that the Dodgers beat the Angels, 10-5! Go LA! Downside of the day: Even at a baseball game, my brother can't get away from his personal cheerleaders! Crazy girls from his school were at the game, too, and they kept yelling out his name from 5 rows behind us. Then after the 7th-inning stretch, when most people leave to avoid the traffic, the girls moved a row in front of my brother and his friends and started flirting with them. I'm not all that worried though, my brother doesn't give in so easily to girls. He's still my little baby, focused on sports, and not girls! (Yay... a big sigh of relief for me.)

Being at home makes me realize how lax my parents have become. My brother's grade in math is suffering... and though they care, they let him slide with so much. I remember when I used to be a 7th grader, my daddy was always on me about my math homework. He made it his cause to educate me cuz, for some reason, he always thought I'd follow down the path of mathematics. (Boy, was he wrong...) Anyway, I really wish my brother would just get his act together. He's really a smart boy, he's just starting to show signs of laziness... and I wish my parents would be harder on him.

Perhaps what makes it worse is knowing that most of my brother's friends aren't the greatest influences. Almost all of them either have a) a little girlfriend or b) are girl-crazed. I HATE how these girls call for my brother all the time and are actually rude about it when they ask to speak to him. Who do they think they are?! Girls, have a little respect, please! Do they honestly think that I'm stupid enough to fall for their shenanigans? Hello... I wasn't born yesterday!!! Take a hint... Jerry doesn't want to talk to you girls!

Rant of the day: AOL tech people are so IGNORANT!!!! After being transferred 7 times, telling off a salesperson that I do NOT want to purchase another account for AOL, and being AIM-deprived for 8 hours, I was very disheartened to find that no single AOL tech person could help me with my problem! Apparently they had accidentally blocked me, thinking that I had been warned to the point of being booted off. Did you know that there's a 24 hour live help on-line service through AOL? Sounds really great... but they don't know anything! Basically, they help you via conversations similar to IMs. The guy that helped me, Allan, asked me the same question 3 times! I feel bad, cuz I was pretty harsh on the guy... but he was really incompetent! He didn't undestand that there's a difference between the AOL version of Instant Messaging and AIM. Needless to say, I was the one who told him to check if they had blocked me. **ding ding** Who's the smart one now? I managed to solve the problem, no thanks to AOL! AOL, your tech crew SUCKS!!!!

I have regained faith in the "system" again. Things DO work out in the end! Ever since May, I've been in need of something... some sort of random act of kindness and now I've found it! Everything is right in my life again. I'm content knowing that hard work is still being recognized in society in this day and age... and things aren't just based on who you know. I can't exactly say what great thing happened to me today in this blog, but I am definitely on an emotional high; feeling better than I've had in a really long time...

JERRY... TELL YOUR DAMN GIRLFRIENDS TO STOP CALLING!!! [JENNIFER/KELLY/JESSICA - YOU FREAKIN' MEANIE... DON'T THINK YOU'RE BETTER THAN EVERYBODY. WHAT GIVES YOU THE RIGHT TO TEASE ALL THE "UNCOOL" PEOPLE!!!!! THE AUDACITY OF YOU! MY BROTHER WOULD NEVER GO FOR A SKOOTCHIE LIKE YOU!]

We were driving to my brother's baseball game today and he starts telling me how he likes Eminem. He thinks that Eminem SINGS well, cuz it sounds so funny. I think dying cats sing better than Eminem... just my thought of the day. The baseball game was fun, despite it being exceptionally long! My brother managed to score the first run and my dad ended up with a sun-burned nose. (Haha... Terri sang Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer to him.)

I watched Sweet November today. Other than gawking at Keanu Reeves, I DO NOT RECOMMEND IT!!!!! The plot makes no sense! How can he fall so passionately in love with her to want to move in with her when he doesn't even know her?! Has society become so shallow?! Do people only base things on looks?! Hmmm... I've got a great personality! (And NO! It doesn't mean I'm ugly on the outside!)

As much as I love my Lakers, the NBA Finals have been awfully boring. To all my Kings' fans out there... I'm sorry we couldn't take out the East altogether first and then fight for the title amongst us. It only gets kinda interesting when they put in the Laker bench. But then I get all frustrated at them and I start screaming at the TV (so, that isn't all that great either). What would make my day is seeing white-boy Madsen play and actually score! Heehee, Madsen the cheerleader! My mommy says the only reason why he cheers so loud on the bench is cuz that's the only time he gets to be on TV, so why not cheer like crazy? I think it's funny how during the last couple of seconds in Game 2, they throw in Madsen as a filler. "Throw it to Madsen! Let him score!"

Kristen is finally back home!!!!! I'm so excited! I missed her so much! We have a lot to catch up on! (Yes... I'm sure the conversation will somehow lead to boys... but I'm not divulging any secrets! And neither is Kris!!!!) I threatened to take this section out cuz Kris was being mean to me and teasing me about blogging... but I GUESS I like her enough, so "Hi Kris! Welcome back!!!!"

Okay, so I "blogged back" in Gabs' blog and told her that she was "SOOO RANDOM," but honestly, I gotta admit, I think I'm up for "The Most Random" award also. Therefore, this entry will be a myriad of random comments. (Myriad... I like that word!)

Random Comment #1: The one show I WILL NOT miss... Saved by the Bell, it's on everyday from 4-5pm on channel 56. (No, it's not a cable channel!) I forgotten how much I love Zack Morris. I normally don't go for the blond-haired type, but Zack Morris is a hottie. (Or should I say Mark-Paul Gosselaar, cuz it would be ridiculous to fall for a character.) So today's episode was the one where he gets to play principal for a week and tries to sweet talk Kelly into falling for his phony "No-Test" policy. He's so smooth! Such the con-artist! And ironically, I was attracted to that. (Yes, it was a drool-fest between my sister and I.) I normally hate smooth talkers! They remind me too much of politicians, but I realized that I'm such a walking contradiction... sometimes I DO want a Zack Morris, someone to keep me on my toes...

Random Comment #2: Sharon Tay has a strange choice of words... In her "Real People, Real News" bite, she says how she "schlep across the country and worked [her] way to the top." SCHLEP?! The way she says it, it almost sounds like she "slept" her way across the country. Who uses the word "schlep"?! I had to look in a dictionary to see what it means. (Schlep means to trek or hike.) Honestly, Sharon, bad choice of words... real bad connotation!

Random Comment #3: I'm just realizing what a pimp my little brother is. Yesterday, this girl called for my brother and said that her name was "Jennifer". Since my brother wasn't home, I asked if I could take a message. She hung up so quickly. I guess I scared her off. Anyway, when my brother got home, I told him that Jennifer called. Jerry was like, "I don't know a Jennifer! Was it something else?" Anyway, she called again later that night, and I lied for him and said that he was in the shower. (Honestly! He didn't want to talk on the phone!) So today, same girl calls again and says her name is "Kelly". So, I say, "I'm sorry, my brother doesn't know a Kelly. BYE!!!" (Hey, I gotta do my sisterly duties and scare off all the girls, right?) Well, "Jennifer/Kelly" called again 10 minutes ago, AND SHE FINALLY LEFT HER REAL NAME! It was Jessica, some girl in his grade. Well, he still didn't want to talk to her, so I just lied and said he was still at practice. (He really had JUST gotten back from practice!) Anyway, this whole episode reminded me of my days at Macy. I can vaguely recall prank calling a couple of guys with Karen Endo. She usually did the calling, but I think I called Kyle once. (No last names, but he's Kacey's brother. ::hint hint:: So sue me, all the girls liked him at one point.) For some reason, I REALLY don't like it that these girls are calling my brother! He's only a 7th grader for crying out loud!!!! Leave my baby alone!

Random Comment #4: My brother and I wrestle a lot. It's kinda scary now cuz he can flip me. He even carries me on his back! We play flinching games and he always tries to punch me in the face. I figure it's cuz he's going through that stage where it's not cool to say that he loves his big sister. So he does it by pretending to punch me. Whenever he does that, I just respond, "Yeah, Jer, I love you too." Gosh, they grow up so fast. ::tear::

Random Comment #5: I was telling my mom today how I finally filled up my frequent buyer card at IB Hoagies and finally got my free hoagie at the end of the school year. (If you've never eaten there before, YOU'RE MISSING OUT!!!) Okay, so doing the math... 10 hoagies means I spent over $40 on hoagies!!!! That's outrageous. That can't be good for my body... which leads me to my next random comment...

Random Comment #6: My dad and my brother keep saying I'm fat!!!! I remember back in February, I kept complaining to Ben about how my pants were too loose and that they kept slipping off. I was upset cuz I thought I'd have to buy brand new jeans. Well, forget that! My jeans are too tight now! I have this whole skootchie thing going on. My jeans literally cling to my skin! So my summer resolution... to try to get back to the size I was when I left for college. (Bad Freshmen 15!!!!)

So Gabby says now that we aren't living together during the summer, I need to blog so that she knows what's going on in my life. (I missed so much that I didn't even know she had a boyfriend named Troy!) Mike Chow also said that I need my own blog cuz I take up too much space on Gabs' blog... so here it is, the long-awaited blog, purely for YOUR enjoyment. (Also cuz I'm bored outta my mind.) ::sigh:: What have I been doing with my life recently? I'm still suffering the aftershocks of campaigning. Instead of relaxing like a NORMAL teenager, I have already found 3 jobs offers, and actually going to take all 3! I'm also taking summer school at Rio Hondo. (The only time my trusty car let me down HAD to be on the day of the AP English exam! Ask Allison, she laughed til she peed in her pants... LITERALLY! Okay, well, not really, but she did laugh pretty hard!) With everything going on in my life, I'm still bored. The reason for my boredom all goes back to Campaign-Syndrome. Campaign-Syndrome is something that I will refer to whenever I discover a revelation hidden inside of me that can be attributed to the campaigning experience. I'm still stuck in the mode of having my days start at 6 in the morning and not end until 3 the next morning. People ask why I just don't go out and spend time with friends? Good question... answer: I have issues. I need to be doing things where I can see production, the fruits of my hard work. Am I crazy... perhaps. I'm already worried about next school year. I need an extracirricular to keep me company, cuz apparently spending all my time on my studies would be tedious to me. This is why I'm hoping for a position where I can do a lot in the Office of the President next year. But if I get a small position, I guess I'll still have Mock Trial to fall back on. (Yes, I've been thinking about being reunited w/ my three loves in high school... USB, Mock Trial, and Speech and Debate... Gabs and I are gonna rock the speech world once again in Team Debate! Err... we'll just hike up our skirts a bit, college judges ALWAYS fall for it!)

Campaign-Syndrome... for this I have Kris to thank. I never thought I would be able to do everything. I remember calling Tony the day that I said I would be Kris' campaign manager and confiding in him, telling him that I had taken on a role that I could not handle. Being my life mentor, he reassured me that I would get through this, just as how I have gotten through all the other stuff in high school. Doing all this, I have realized that there are no limits to me, which at times scare me. Is there a limit to me? If so, what is that limit? How much am I truly capable of? This summer will definitely be a time for me to explore my limitations and heighten expectations for myself...