I'm a cornucopia of emotion!!!

I'm going to share a sad story first, because I hope to cheer people up as the blog goes on.
My family continued our tradition of travelling to Nashville to visit my Aunt Nancy, her fun husband Kieth, and their two adorable daughters Frances and Jacklyn. IN order to make the trip, we need someone to take care of our dogs, Quigley, a young and boisterous red heeler with more energy than a kindergarten classroom after a snack of Smarties and Bug Juice, and Jenna, a decrepit and ancient shaggy dog with more dreadlocks than a Rastafarian. Our kind neighbors are willing to take care of these two polar opposites, but Jenna is actually more trouble than Quigley. It is difficult to get her to react to you, as she can hardly see or hear. For this reason, we called a family friend who has watched her in the past, and they agreed to take her in for nearly a week. Grateful for their kindness, we tried to make Jenna rather more presentable than she was at the time. We thought that giving her a VERY thorough brushing, trim up her hair, cut out some of the dreadlocks that couldn't be brushed out, and trim up her nails. Being the old and inflexible type of dog she is, she did not take to kindly to being pampered. We were just finishing up on some brushing and trimming around one of her front paws, when she started to shake, and then she let out a strangled, mewling howl, and slid to the ground, when she began to shake more violently. I had no idea what we could even do, but my dad just held her softly and stroked her, and eventually the seizure stopped. It was so horrifying to see our family pet laying there being able to do nothing for her at that moment. Jenna is 15 years old now, and nearing her trip to the ice cream shop (her last day with us). I will miss her dearly when she goes...
In MUCH brighter news, my two little cousins are huge handfuls, but they are so adorable, and really are sweet natured. Frances is 7 and Jacklyn is 5. They are true and blue southern girls. We drove all through the night to arrive here Wednesday morning, and the rest of my family headed straight to bed. Seeing as how the girls were already climbing on me, I had very little choice but to give them horsey rides, play catch, run amuck, and otherwise be a member of great, childlike, innocent mischief. I was thinking that at least my mom would be awake within two hours, but when 10 am rolled around, she remained fast asleep. 11 came and went. Noon passed. It wasn't until two o'clock that a real break came in the form of my grandmother sitting us down for lunch. By this time, I was sweaty, my arms and legs were sore, and my joints ached. As soon as lunch was over, I tried to sneak off, but little Jacklyn was simply DYING to play pilgrims, so I dragged myself into their 18"x36" cardboard box, dubbed the Mayflower... and fell asleep. Jacklyn tried smacking me in the face asking "are you really asleep?" for a couple minutes before Nancy saw what was happening, and I was able to get a God-send of a nap; a whopping 23 minutes! The rest of the night was spent convincing them to play cards and a color by numbers variation of horses.
The next day, after my brother Brandon had arrived, the girls were back at it with us. They especially liked to play with the air mattress that I spent my nights on. Brandon and I would hold it upright and they would charge at it full speed and bounce off, or they would try climbing it like a wall. As they pulled at it more and more, it turned from a wall to a slide. Then, they pushed us underneath it and started to jump on top of it. Simply to protect our ba-.... our faces, I mean, we lifted the mattress off the ground with our backs on the ground and our hands and feet up in the air. They now had a magic carpet to ride, and boy did they ride it! They asked us to make it hop up and down, to plummet to the ground, or do the wave. Within minutes, we were bruised, sweaty and Brandon kept yelling "low efficiency" every time we had to raise the mattress in the air again. Then it gt more out of control. Eventually, while I was under the mattress by my lonesome, Frances decided to take a flying dive toward the mattress, and fell off the end, smacking into the ground. Thankfully, no one was really hurt, but we had to stop that game. Jacklyn still comes up to me every hour or two and says "can we play the mattress game again?"
I love being able to come down here. I don't like car trips and I like being able to nap whenever I want, not feeling guilty about grabbing a snack at 2 am, and whatever else besides. But even though these surface reasons would point to me having a TERRIBLE time visiting this family, I love them so much. It is always a magnificent time, and even with the bumps, bruises, sore muscles, and lack of sleep, I always look forward to my next visit. I LOVE YOU, DUCKETTS!!!
In other news, just to wrap things up, I have been sneaking through the last couple weeks of school with as much laziness as I can muster. I speed read my assignments, doing just enough to finish my homework and do a good job on tests and quizzes. I have another two papers to finish up, and two more papers. Next semester won't be nearly as kind to me. First off, I have a lab (bleah!!!). Two history classes will mean a lot of papers, and my last 300 level Econ class. But by May, I will have a degree from St. Norbet College, and that will be worth it.
Lastly, I want to point out that I am a bit of a nerd. Doctor Who is awesome. I got to watch the 50th with a wonderful family, discuss details with a great friend, and then gossip with my mom about it. I am also re-reading the Harry Potter series again (when I'm not being pummeled by these two sweet angels pulling on my hair to get me to play with them right now!), and am just now starting Prisoner of Azkaban.  I have started a new Nicholas Sparks book as well, and am still working through the Jane Austen collection, and finished a new book called the Name of the Wind. My Christmas list consists of Harry Potter, bow ties, and other assorted fantasy books.
Well, a Happy Thanksgiving to all!!! May your lives continue to be fruitful and fun and full of love!!!!

So much Halloween!

So I really got into Halloween this year. I went to three different Res Life parties, and wore a different costume for each one. I was one of the scientists from Pacific Rim for the first party Halloween night(where we played charades, had a toilet paper costume contest, and watched Hocus Pocus), went as a Scottish soccer player Friday night (I added the kilt to my costume as the temperature dropped about halfway through Ghostbusters), and then I went to the final party Saturday night as the Warded Man, a man who fights Demons by tattooing his whole body with powerful magical symbols (and we also had pizza, a dance, charades, and ended the night watching Pitch Perfect). I spent about all that afternoon making a loin cloth drawing nearly 150 wards on my legs, chest, and left arm. A friend put about 30 on my back and right arm for me. That is the biggest time commitment I have made to a costume, by far.
Since Halloween ended I made a big change; I no longer follow my strict diet plan (meats and veggies 6 days a week, binge one day a week). I wanted to test and see if there would be a significant change in my weight and/or visible body fat by vastly increasing my carb load. So far, negligible results. Hrmmm...
I also started one of my biggest commitments so far; my sister called me up and asked me if I wanted to set up a training program for her to get ready for the Phoenix marathon March 1st. Well, I nearly leapt at the idea. I have been dying to try out the marathon program from 4 Hour Body. I am 5 days in, and it is at least challenging, and my lower back seems to be bearing the brunt of the punishment. It is almost exclusively sprint training and crossfit, and three straight days of power clean followed by a 5k, then 800 meter repeats has put a nasty cramped feeling in my back. Any suggestions friends?
I have also really taken to schnazzing myself up on Thursdays. Originally, it was associated with my fraternity, but I'm not sure we are doing it anymore, but since White Collar airs every Thursday night, I now have White Collar Thursdays, and I am loving it. I get to wear a suit every week! It's quite fun, actually, and I highly suggest it to most anyone.
And to end with a two week randomness round up, time for a variety of stories. I was rather nervous November 8th. I felt the need to dress 'snappy casual,' and I worried about it all day. I started asking Kayla about my choice of clothes all through lunch, and eventually she had me stand up and sort of model it all for her... in the middle of the cafeteria. We both had a big laugh as I gave a spin and struck a pose.
Randomness, take 2: we were discussing particularism in my upper level religions class (Particularism basically says there are multiple true faiths that lead to multiple true 'salvations'), and as we took a break, one confused girl asked the professor a question for clarification, but still didn't grasp the concept fully. The professor asked simply "Well, how do you know what justice is?" And I instantly responded with a slightly raspy voice "Batman lives by it!" The class went silent and then lightly giggled as I continued walking.
Random story 3: Marc is hilarious. As an econ professor, one would think he is dry and boring. Recognizing that, he very randomly throws out stories of his kids. The latest one, he explained to his daughter that the toy she got for Christmas said made in China because, since Santa doesn't get Christmas orders until early December, he has to outsource the labor of some items from China and the US and Europe. She then, a while later, she asked why some of those toys are still on shelves in Target (et al). He responded without missing a beat that those toys were from children who were good when they wrote their lists, turned naughty over the next few weeks, so Santa eliminated useless inventory, selling it to stores throughout the world.
Lastly, I have two major plans for next semester. Starting in January, I will either be a returning member of SNC REH as an RA, OR I will be returning to the SNC Track team. The unfortunate thing is that these two organizations are mutually exclusive. Well, here's to the future!!