Lesson 25) ...And Then I found 20 Bucks

Everyone knows at least one person who can't tell a story...
...if you don't, it might be you.

Now, there are several different types of people who can and cannot tell stories:
There's the Too Much Intro person, who tells you the three days leading up to the funny/dramatic/gossip-worthy event in perfect detail. By the time the punch line comes, you're dead in your chair and don't have enough brain cells functioning to register the hilarity of the situation.
You also have the Monotone storyteller, where you don't know the punch line has come because it was all in the same tone of voice. They normally end up pausing or making big eyes, gesturing awkwardly so that you "OH!" before realizing it wasn't worth that.
Lastly, there is the And Then I Found 20 Bucks person. This person doesn't have any issues with the storytelling, he just doesn't have a good story to begin with. The only way to salvage this story is to claim that at the end, he found some money. Because really, who doesn't find joy in discovering free money?
Of course, you also have the Excellent Storyteller. Carrie is one of these- she can make the most mundane day sound better than all of your life experiences combined. There are the voices, the excitement, and the vibe that keeps you all on the edge of your seat!

I asure you I can find at least one of each of these in my list of friends. Sometimes, I'm sure I've even been one or all of them at some point or another. One you might know is Mason- he's totally a Too Much Intro, but his stories are so funny that we've all stopped minding.

But don't you worry! There's a way to FIX this! There are SIGNS that you're a bad story teller and need to revise ASAP!
(I feel like an infomercial)
It's very easy: tell your best friend first. Unless you are totally positive (you might still be wrong) that you have a god of a tale, tell your BFFL first. She/He will be honest and let you know that it was not funny for you to try to dance down the hall of the English Department and almost ran over the really old secretary- you could have KILLED her!
...Not that that's happened...
But she'll let you know that you are HILARIOUS and need to tell everyone you know how you were playing in a puddle and managed to splash (by accident) one of Sara's biggest enemies and completely soak her.
...Not that that's happened either, or anything.
...Happy Monday!

Curl Girl, out!

Lesson 24) Enter Tight-Rope

Balance is a tricky little b*st*rd.
In college, there are so many things you have to balance:

• Work and Play
• Phil 1504 and American Lit 2526
• Sleep and Study
• Home and Dorm
• This Group of Friends... and That Group of Friends

None of these are easy, and no one's balance ends up the same. I've got the Work/Play down pretty well, the Sleep/Study thing will be ongoing forever, Home/Dorm settle themselves out once you get in a groove, and today I'm toying with Phil 1504 and American Lit 2526. 

The worst of these is the last, the groups of friends.

There are two different conflicts. First, you have the friends from your high school/hometown that you want to keep in touch with. You want to know how their lives are going, and you want to let them know what's new with you. For the first few weeks it's pretty easy because no one really has their own life yet and you're still missing those kids. But as time goes on, you have to make an effort for a Skype date and to make sure you have time to get online and chat with them to see how college is treating them. But that can be so hard because a part of you has changed. You're not exactly the same person you were when you walked across that stage at graduation, and it's hard to fit back into the mold you left behind last summer. None of you are- yet you care about each other still, so you both try to be that combination of "old you" and "new you" so that you don't lose touch. I, personally, love my hometown people and will do my best to always be in touch with them, but I will admit it's not exactly easy all the time.

The second issue is friends actually on campus with you. Not everyone is going to get along, and sometimes people don't mesh as much as you would like them to. For example: I love hanging out with both Mason and Marshal, but doing so at the same time is an issue. They live completely different lives and have totally different stories to share.

We tried this Friday night- we ended up with too many plans, but didn't want to miss out on the dinner with Mason and that group, yet we told Marshal we would hang out with him that night- we thought combining the two would be no big deal. It wasn't bad, and I enjoyed myself for most of it, but there were several little awkward moments when Sara and I just exchanged a "how in the world do we fix this?" look. I felt even worse when afterwards Marshal even admitted to me how strange it had been to be with that whole group in such a setting. I want to be able to be with both groups all the time, but if they don't click, what can I do?

Clearly, balance is something I still have to work on. I think it's one of those things I'll be working on all of my life. As soon as I get this friend thing figured out, I'll have to balance between (one day) boyfriend/husband vs. friends vs. family. After that it will be in-laws vs. blood-relatives vs. friends, and then when does it ever end? 

(and how SCARY is it that I'm at the point in my life where these sort of worries are normal?? I didn't sign up for this whole growing-up thing!)

'deeeeeeeeeeeep breath'

Balance isn't easy for anyone, and it's something that everyone has to face. There's no net on under this high-wire, so the only chance we have is to do our best and pray. Every step needs to be taken with thought and if somewhere along the way someone gets upset, you simply have to explain your actions and point out that you're trying your best.

But today is Sunday, so I think I'll just go hide in my room and eat an entire bag of chips and let Monday deal with the rest...

Curl Girl, out!

Lesson 23) Countdown Begins

So, it has just come to my attention that after next week, my school is going on Spring Break.
After Spring Break, there are only a few weeks left before the summer. When did this happen?

I have a really weird feeling about my time here at school.  Not only do I feel like I only arrived yesterday, but I also feel like I've been here for years. Does that make any sense? Probably not, but I'm sure at some point in your life you had something that made you feel similarly confused.

The question here is- what will change? Next semester my friends won't be just down the hall. Some of them will be in other dorm buildings and even other ones will be off campus. From there on out, it will be just slightly more difficult to see everyone when I actually have to go outside!

The only option here is to enjoy it while it lasts! It's like anything good that might be coming to an end. To no means will we all be moving away from everyone else, it will just feel a little bit different. We'll make the effort to spend time together and there will always be the weekends, I just didn't think this time would come so soon. In fact, there was a point when I didn't think this point would ever come. It's hard to imagine that there was a time when I wasn't sure about the people here, when I didn't know if I'd ever really be tight with anyone here. Now, I'm wondering how I ever went through life without some of these people.

It's exactly as those older people told us when we graduated that college would just fly by, and now I'm seeing it happen! Whoa... guess we should listen to some of the things our parents told us... haha.

"There's more fish in the sea."
"The best things in life are free."
"Don't judge a book by it's cover."

...or I could continue to be a college female and learn things the hard way.
Yeah, I'll go with that :)

Curl Girl, out!

Lesson 22) U-Turns

This is yesterday's lesson since this happened last night :)

Last night, Sara wasn't feeling very good, and I was feeling pretty lazy, so we decided not to join our friends in partying. Instead Sara offered to DD (Designate Driver) in Daphne's car for Daphne, our friend Carrie, and our friend Mason. I didn't have anything else to do, so I decided to ride passenger with her.

On the way to drop them off, we had Daphne with us to give directions. It turns out, though, that knowing the route the bus takes and taking the route in the dark driving ourselves is very different! We turned around about three times before we got Daphne and Carrie where they were going.
Getting home was another adventure, because we had only arrived by luck so trying to do the whole thing backwards was once again... a little challenging. At least we had good music with us!
Around eleven, Mason called and asked us to come get him and take us to where Carrie was so that he could join them before they went to the next party. The catch? He didn't know exactly where he was, and he defiantly wasn't sure how to get there. Between getting him, taking him to Carrie, and then getting all three of them home, that SUV probably made more turn-arounds last night than ever before in its life (do you know how many places it's illegal to make a U-turn? Too many).

Like I said, at least we had good music! We were both also in a good mood, because all we could really do was laugh about the fact that we couldn't drive in a town we've now lived in for about seven months. Now- we can WALK anywhere in this place, but having to follow roads changes things up! You can't exactly hop a fence here or walk behind a restaurant there when in a vehicle.

I thought it was pretty symbolic though. We were college kids who thought we knew where we were going so we didn't take a map, then continuously got lost and had to turn around until we found the right road. I mean- could it get any deeper?? But we were perfectly willing to take those turns! We knew we'd find the right way eventually, so we just kept jammin' and jazzin' until we could: "THERE! I see the Food Lion- take this right!"

Mostly- know where you're going before you leave the dorm. But if you don't, just relax- you'll get there eventually (and that's for the party, and you know... life as we know it)!
Ironically, "Life is a Highway" by the Rascal Flatts just came on my Pandora Radio...

Curl Girl, out!

Lesson 21) Thirsty Thursdays

Thirsty Thursdays are to party kids as Pasta Pump-Ups are to swimmers.

There. Now you don't have to ask out loud like I did.
Granted, I did this a long time ago, but the fact that Sara and Daphne are going out tonight for their first Thirsty Thursday reminds me that you need this information so that you don't get the "wow, which rock do you live under?" look that I got at the beginning of the year!

My girls are going about this the most-correct way possible for doing a TT. I do not encourage TTs, I think they're a bit silly, and my 8 am Philosophy class would say the same. But if you're going to do it, do it like my girls are.

• Sara's morning class for tomorrow got cancelled, so she's alright. Daphne doesn't even have a morning class tomorrow, so she's good too. 
• They're not going "out," they're actually going to one of their sorority sisters' houses, so there will be only a small number of girls getting a bit buzzed
• They're catching the 11:45 bus back so they're back in the dorm before midnight
• There will be no "Double Header" as we are having a game-night Friday, including Monopoly and Uno

So with all these correct-choices-within-incorrectness, I'm rather proud, and this is one of those times where you can actually do what we say AND what we do. The four of us aren't perfect angels, but we always know where the other ones are, we know each other's limits, we have schedules that we stick to, and we have rules that are never broken- ever. You can always find a good time, but if you set limits for yourself and have a thought-through plan to keep everyone happy and safe, it'll be a good time that you can walk away from with your head held up. No one wants to be the kid in class with the sunglasses asking for the professor to speak a little softer. 

But really, always check with a really good friend before you ask about what things mean. 

Before I came here, the only Double Header I knew was a really impressive soccer move. This is not the case.

(^ see what I did there? "Case?" Case of beer? Hee hee!)

Whether your weekend is starting tonight, tomorrow night, or never (probably means you're an Engineering major) I hope it's a good one! 

And if you're going to make bad choices, be like the F500 and do them the best way possible!

Curl Girl, out!

Lesson 20) Found The Liver- SHOTS!

I just counted up lessons and found that I am off by a lesson!
Due to my nasty flu-thing, I didn't even realized I skipped the 15th while sick. How terrible!
Luckily, life is always exciting here and there's a whole lot to learn.

I'm going to be upfront and obvious about this one: be ready for the unexpected.

I'm in a biology lab, and this morning we had to continue a dissection of a pig fetus. Not the most glorious thing to be doing at 8 in the morning, but if it helps me on my Entomology minor, whatever.
So, my partner and I were having a hard time finding a few pieces of the reproductive system. Our little pig had a whole lot of connective tissue and latex-filled-and-burst veins, making things extra difficult. We called over the TA who heads the class and asked for assistance after trying on our own for too long. He, with his brilliant PHD-track mind, sniffed and picked our probe out of my hand, ready to show us lesser-beings the mysteries of the world.

Yeah, he couldn't find any of the parts either. He began to explain that perhaps our pig had yet to go through those stages of development, and 'perhaps we should have recognized that before taking his time.'
That was until a deep voice spoke up: "May I look?"
It was the 'University-Studies'-major-backward-baseball-cap-half-hungover-frat-boy from the table behind us. He would clearly have been happier had this entire procedure been some sort of drinking game, but he explained that he had a hard time with his own pig as he gently asked for our pins and carefully showed us each little piece of our specimen and how each part was connected.

We were very appreciative and after thanking him while glaring at the TA, we went back to our assigned organ hunt without much thought. After class I realized how silly the situation had been. If I could have guessed who our unlikely hero would have been, I think I would have picked a nerdy Computer Science major or something. Of course it was the frat boy.

Be ready to be surprised, sometimes being wrong is worth the giggle.

Curl Girl, out!

Lesson 19) "Blame It On The POP!"

    o
   \I/
    /\

I will be the first to admit that there were times in high school that I cared what other people thought about me: It was terrible to have a bad hair day. I was scared that my makeup wasn't on right. I hid from the embarrassment of being dropped off in the morning.
Senior year, things began to change.
I was the drum major of my high schools marching band (band geeks will rule the world one day- be nice to the ones you know). With the captain of the band, we made a real effort to make the band "cool" to the senior class, and it worked out rather nicely. It was a huge success, and I'm still proud. But other than that one social correction, I fear a lot of me fell to "normal" standards.

Yeah, thank God that's over. I didn't really realize the tremendous change in myself brought on by my current college-ness until this afternoon. I knew something awesome was going on. Life is busy, but good. If there weren't challenges, we'd be bored, right? But I didn't know quite what it was.

I was walking to the convenience store to change my dollar into quarters (it's laundry day) and I had my iPod turned to a rather jazzed song (United States of Pop 2009, incase you wanna get your groove on). I was feeling the beat and actually dancing on my way... yeah, like hips swaying and arm movements. There was a couple out running I saw and they looked at me. I had the thought that it was super cute for them to be out running together before I realized they were kinda staring at me. Oh- that dance wasn't just in my head? I'd been doing that on the outside?
Whatever. *sliiide, step, jam, step, BOP!*
Wait- WHAT?
When had I become okay with this? I had been doing this (walking to class with my iPod) for a while, hadn't I? Where was the fear that someone would see me? Where was the worry that someone I knew would give me a funny look? Where was the panic that should be setting in that I know for a FACT that kid over there is in my American Lit class???

Oh, I guess I grew up... or down, it doesn't really matter. Continuing to dance on my way back, I thought about all the new things I'd begun to do without realizing it. When I wake up really early for a class, sometimes I forget my makeup. I listen to country music only I like on my loud speakers. I've even -GASP- worn my gym clothes to lunch! Who IS this person, and where did she come from??
But how wonderful today was while I was outside. The sky was just turning orange as sunset began, and although I did have to wear a jacket, I was able to leave it open. My iPod shuffled to another good song- it was like God was asking me to make a fool of myself, and I gladly obliged.
Here at college, life is different. No one that saw me today will likely see me again, and if they do it will be in passing and they won't really remember me. If they do, well that won't matter too much either. We have to be ourselves at this point, because if you can't express yourself on a college campus, you'll be waisting your whole life being someone boringly average.

Here's my attitude these days: This is me. I hope you like her 'cause she's all I got.
I'm less stressed, less worried, and honestly I think I actually have much closer relationships because they see the real me 24/7.
Curl Girl dances in public... during the day... to the music on her headphones.
What do you do to let the world know who you are?

Curl Girl, out!

(PS- the symbol @ the top is a stick figure dancing)

Lesson 18) "...And The Answer Is?"

"zzzz.. DON'T EAT MY CAKE!"
"...no, it was Chaucer that wrote this poem."
"Oh."


This ^ is called sleeping in class. Which, I would like to point out, Brit Lit Professor, I was not doing today. I was day-dreaming, and these are two very different things.
Sleeping in class would be irresponsible... and difficult due to the comfort level of those chairs.

I have already read the Canterbury Tales enough times to write about four essays on them. So today when my professor decided to answer a stupid question from one of my fellow classmates (yes, stupid questions exist), I allowed myself to drift into La-La-Land for a few minutes. I may have stayed there too long, especially since I am only in the second row. No, I didn't get into any trouble but I was caused to blush a little bit when it was pointed out that my eyes had glazed over.

Today's lesson is that sometimes, people need to be cut some slack. I'm not just trying to justify my mind wanderings today, I've always felt this way. There are times when people need to be firm and commanding, and there are also times when you need to CHILL OUT. I want to remember this when I'm older. I want to be able to remember what it felt like to be a young adult at 9 in the morning on a Tuesday, and remember not to yell at the little intern of mine for gazing into the distance instead of getting my coffee and the most recent reports. Sometimes you need to let the back of your mind take the driver's seat and just cruise control. It lets some interesting stuff surface, helps you see solutions you may not have noticed before. I needed those little seconds, and my professor, though kind in his reprimand, didn't understand this.

Yesterday I told you to be more firm, like Erin should be with her roommate, and today I'm telling you to chill. No, I'm not that bipolar- these are in two different situations. Becca is out of control, I just needed a little reminder to snap back to reality. Remember to allow people these small seconds to make tiny mistakes. There's a big difference, and we all have to remember that at one point, we were tired, didn't sleep well last night, and have a lot of things on our mind.

Typical Tuesday, just making you wait for the weekend...
...what were we talking about?

Curl Girl, out!

Lesson 17) ROTFL.

No, literally, Sara and I were

Rolling
On
The
Floor
Laughing

We were doing so at the racquetball court, which probably wasn't so sanitary. There's this Dixie Chicks old song "Sometimes You Gotta Dance." This is also true, but today Sara and I were observing that sometimes you just have to laugh. Part of is was that we were being absolutely terrible and kinda lazy at racquetball today, which you can only giggle about. I mean, when you jump up in the air in this spread-eagle slow motion style, only for the ball to soar about a foot above your racket, you either have to laugh or give up.
Sara and I have a deal about giving up.

But most of what we were laughing about was this weekend. There are always going to be times when you embarrass yourself. Sometimes its your fault and sometimes it's just the situation. Sara and I had a series of these instances this weekend, both at parties and just walking along the street, tripping on nothing (...me). Once again, there are two options:

1. Give up
2. Laugh about it

Honestly, which one sounds more fun to you? It is super tempting to give up and crawl back into your bed some days. But when you have someone in the situation with you, it's a little bit easier. Having Sara replay my epic fails though, in comic form, defiantly makes it all not seem so bad at all! I, of course, did the same to her. After the initial "whyyyyy did I do that?" there is the "HAHAHAHAHAHA! Yeah, that was pretty stupid!! HAHAHAHA!!" Really, in this life we don't have time to just sit there and regret things. Especially for us, as we are in the 'best four years of our life' as older people continue to remind us. We have to be living it up, or we'll just be down and out the whole time, and who wants to tell their kids those sorts of stories? 

"Well, Mommy spilt Aunt Sara's drink all over the host, so Mommy didn't go to parties anymore after that."

No. That will not do!

"Well, Mommy spilt Aunt Sara's drink all over the host, but hey, at least the colors went together alright!"

Sitting there on the floor, wiping the little tears away and attempting to get our breath back, we were pretty sure we could make it through the awkward moments, as long as we stick together and remember that it may be pretty bad now but we'll laugh about it later so no worries! Laugh Out Loud, because it feels so much better than being gloomy.

...I almost won this time, by the way. I'll get her one day, you watch!

Curl Girl, out!

Lesson 16) Look Alive!

...because your roommate is about to kill you.


You've already heard me talk about Erin's roommate who doesn't shower too often. Well, there is more to that story today. Erin had a lot to do today, and (let's call her...) Becca decided she would mess up in several ways.
Just for the sake of the lesson, let's just list them out:

1. Her friends from high school over-stayed their welcome... and slept in Erin's bed
2. Becca put the air-freshner in upside down so the oil spilled over Erin's heir-loom jewelry box
3. Becca called Erin to come jump-start the high school friends' car, and it turned out it wasn't just the battery. This made Erin miss talking to her military-school boyfriend.
4. After leaving food everywhere in the room all the time, Becca asked Erin to get rid of a bowl of soup that had been there for less than an hour.

I would like to tell you that today's lesson is about how to get back at someone who just runs over you. I would also like to tell you that this lesson is also about standing up for your friend, as I would like to do for Erin, and will if this sort of thing goes any further. However, today is about standing up for yourself.

Erin is a strong person in so many ways. If anything goes wrong in your life, she's ready to be there for you and support you through the roughest of times. She has the answer to a lot of life questions, and she's willing to share. 

But she can't stand up to someone that is hurting her. It's her weakness- she absolutely hates confrontation. We have ten weeks left at school, and she has to deal with Becca for all of them. It's not fair to her, but perhaps if she had said something several weeks ago it wouldn't be at this point. On the other hand, some people are darn near impossible to get through to so maybe Becca would still be this bad, we'll never know. Erin deserves better, most people do. She needs to stop Becca in her tracks and list all of the things I have listed for you, and point out that all of that is just in one day! She's worried that it will make things awkward, but I believe it's weird enough having to constantly make up for Becca's short comings in manners. Erin should have said something the first or second time the room became a mess, and she has to say something now. You have to be willing to stand up for your needs, especially if it involves your home. Let's be honest, if you count out the days, we're here at school more often than we're home. This is our second home. If someone is messing with it, we have the right to stand up and say that that's not okay in any way. 

It's more than just your dorm room. This world doesn't allow for push-overs any more. I know it's hard- thankfully I was brought up in a family where being a push-over was never really an option (thank you, brothers who are not only older but got their growth-spurts waaaaaay before me). There is, also, always points for the sweet cute person that doesn't want to fight. But the bad guys, or the obnoxious girls, are always out there and we have to make sure that we aren't scared to tell them that they can just go crawl back under whichever rock they came from! Make sure you never forget that you're worth it and they breath in and out just like you do, they're no one special.

They can dance their jig somewhere else.

Curl Girl, out!

Lesson 15) Do Not Get Behind In Anything

Let it be work, life, or posts...

I have slacked off the past few days, but not because I've been lazy or had nothing to say, but I've actually been very busy with a whole lot of things going on. I am sorry that the updates haven't been coming on time, but I will catch up today and do my best not to get behind again.

See, this is why you can't let one thing slip. It's very difficult to catch up on things, and you end up stressing yourself out more than you need. This leads me to today's lesson.

For about two weeks, I have been out of the loop with part of my group. Two weeks ago I was incredibly busy, as all professors tend to decide on one week together where they want absolutely everything done. That was two weeks ago for me, which may have led to the problem of the following week, my crippling cold that left me just above dead for about five days. These two weeks I didn't see my friends a whole lot, for obvious germ-y reasons. These past few days, however, I've been back in with the crowd.

At first, I thought they were mad at me. There were a whole lot of jokes that I didn't get, and there were lots of stories they were sharing that I didn't get the relevance of... I was worried that I had been pushed out and that I couldn't get back in. I was upset, and drifted from them just a little bit.
This is never the answer, and I needed a swift kick in the butt from Sara to realize that what was in my head was not the case at all. I had once gone on a rant about a girl that was mad we didn't tell her all the new jokes she had missed while she was in class, and now here I was doing the same thing. I almost pushed people away because of something that was none of our faults. All I had to do was jump back in, ask a few questions and be around.

Now- do NOT use this as an excuse not to do your work. That's not what I mean at all. There is a nice balance, simply that my balance went out of whack for a while and I had to redistribute so that I was still getting my work done and hanging out with my friends (which is a lot easier when your body isn't trying to cough up half a lung).

If you feel left out of something or some group that you weren't before, don't automatically assume that you or the other person/people are at fault. Somethings just happen. Your life might be on pause or autopilot-hyperspeed for a while, but that doesn't mean that everyone else's is, and you have to remember that. You see only through your own eyes, so you can't possibly know what speed everyone else is on that week unless you speak up and ask. I didn't remember this, and I almost put myself into a royal pouting mess before it was brought to my attention that would be stupid.

Here's to working hard and playing hard, and making sure to do both!

Curl Girl, out!

Lesson 14) Bzzzzzzzzzz

That's my busy-bee impression, do you like it?

Today I'm sending out two lessons since I missed yesterday (unintentionally)! I started yesterday's, but catching up on all of my work from missing a day at school kinda of had me between a rock and a stack of reading to do, so I apologize.


I've found that one of the most rewarding feelings in the world is to look down at your planner and realize that your week has been full. There are notes on everyday, even a sticky-note here and there from an added activity.

Then there's that one day that's completely free: Ahhhhhh.

A busy schedule help's life pass. Think how boring life would be if you had absolutely nothing to do. We would get so couch-potato that we'd eventually just become the couch itself! Also, I think we would be awfully lonely when other people had things to do.

I just really like that feeling when I've gotten a lot of things done and I can sit down for just a moment and write to you wonderful folks, or go for a jog around campus, or even just sit outside in these few moments of sunshine we're being blessed with today. Busy schedules are something we often curse, but I think we need to appreciate them. They make us count the good times a little closer.

"Oh, I have time today to go see Bob! Yay!"
or
"Movie tonight?"
"Yes, I finally finished that report and I don't have to start the reading until tomorrow, let's watch a shoot-'em-up!"

So don't moan when you see the billions of things you have to do today. Just think how wonderful that glass of beer wine scotch 2% milk will be at the end of all those accomplishments!

Happy Weekend!
Curl Girl, out!

Lesson 13) If "Yes" Means "Maybe," and "Maybe" Means "No"...

Then what means "yes"?
...I don't think it's "no," as I'm pretty sure the saying goes "no means no."

Here's the situation:
Sara needs a boy to understand that he's just a friend.
I also need a boy to realize that he's only (and just barely) a friend.

But with the code the world has created, how are we supposed to do any of that? Girls are always accused of being manipulative and not saying what we mean, but the girls who say what they mean are automatically labeled as b*tches. Does that seem fair at all? In the end, is it better to be mistrusted because of manipulation, or disliked because of blunt honesty?

Sara's boy is actually Marshal, whom I've spoken of before. He asked her "formally" out to lunch, which is cute since he's a cadet. He really is an adorable boy... but he's shorter than Sara, and she really dislikes that. He also doesn't give her quite the butterfly feeling she's looking for, which is totally understandable. So yesterday I got the frazzled text from her asking me what she should do. I wasn't really sure because it's one of those situations where we still want him around, but saying no is going to hurt him in some fashion. The solution we came up with together was for her to go to lunch with him, but to make it clear that they were just friends. Maybe he'll see that they are better off that way... or maybe she'll feel a spark? I'll update you on that when the lunch happens, probably sometime around Monday.

The boy I'm dealing with is a typical situation. See... I believe an outsider might say I was "leading him on." I promise you that I had no intention of doing this. I love to dance, he needed a dance partner at a party I went to, we were shoved together by a mutual friend, and I continued to dance. Is it my fault that the DJ just knew how to jam? Anyway, he seemed like a fun guy, so when he started chatting me up on Facebook, I talked to him. But hey, I talk to my brother on Facebook so I don't think that should really count as anything. He's now made it clear that he wants to hang out with me on a "more than friends" level, and not only am I not ready for that, but if I was I don't think I would be with him. So I'm stuck in the same position Sara is- how do you say "no" without hurting the guy? For someone he is perfect! He's just not for this Curl Girl, who is enjoying being too busy with all her classes and friends too much to worry about a boy all the time. So, I tried to nicely point out that I'm busy all weekend, which is the truth, but that I hoped he would have a good weekend too!  Ugh... does it ever get easier?

My advice: Don't dance with a single boy you know on any small level, it's just too messy. Dance with strangers you don't mind just walking away from, or boys who you're friends with who are totally aware that you have no intentions of anything other than getting your boogy on!

But when that boy comes along that Sara and I want to say "yes" to... how does one even say that? Looks to me like the only option there is to just throw yourself to the lions and pray God likes you as much as he liked Daniel.

So I think I'll stick to dancing with the girls, and pretending I don't even see the boys around us...

Curl Girl, out!

Lesson 12) Hey... you?

Yep, you all know this embarrassment.

"Hey, Curl Girl! How are you?? The semester going well? How's the roomie??"
"...Um... hello?"

Yes, on the way back from one of my classes today, I ran into someone who knew me way better than I knew her and I had absolutely no clue. I didn't even know where to start. Could she have been in a class I had last semester? Did she live on a floor in my building? Could she have been in that Rape, Aggression, Defense class Sara and I took?
No idea.

Now, there are two mature options to take when something like this happens. The first is the obvious- fake your butt off until you're pretty sure who it is:
"Oh, HEY, girl! It's going great, Sara is wonderful, life is just grand. Tell me how you're doing!"
"Well, Bob and I just had the best Valentine's Day ever..."
You: (OH! She's Bob's girlfriend! We met at the dance, alright here we go.)

Or there is the admitting to your fault:
"Hey dear, I'm terrible about these things, and I'm going to blame it on the flu..."
"You had the flu?! You poor thing!"
"Yeah, I know, right? But you see..."
"Oh, no worries, I'm Bob's girlfriend, we met at the dance?"
"Oh! I'm sorry sweetie, blah blah blah..."

Now, either of these would work out really well for the normal, thinking person. Yours truly, however, decides to go with the third option, which is to just fail miserably.
"Um... hey. Life's good! Sara's wonderful.... and um... how are you?"
"I'm pretty good!"
"...goooood. Well, um... I have to go do a... um... report... before my next class."
"Oh, of course! Good talking to you, Curl Girl! Later!"
"Yeah, we'll catch up later!"
"Sounds like a plan!"

...I'm screwed. I still don't know who she is, because I don't actually have a friend named Bob with a girlfriend that I met at a dance. I still can't think of who that girl is. I've even described her to the girls and they can't think of who it might be, which makes me think that she must have been in a class last semester or something. By not sticking around for a second and finding out who she is, I now have to go a different way back from that class because now she THINKS I know who she is, and that's way worse than the stigma of having forgotten a name for the first time we've spoken in... whenever I met her last. Just greeeaaaaaaaaaaaat.

Be the big kid, or at least a better detective than me!

Curl Girl, out!

Lesson 11) To Be (S.A.D.) or Not to Be (S.A.D.)?

Welcome to singles, relationship-ers, and even those "it's complicated" misfits!

Today was Red-Velvet-Cupcake day. It was either filled with love, mush, anxiety, or ice cream. Here in the Fantastic 500, we had a combination of all. Erin has a wonderful beau (however, he lives real far away), Sara is single and loving it (but where all the hotties at?), Daphne is her ever cute self (a boy would be nice though...), and I have the flu (so it was sherbet instead of ice cream). However, none of us really let that get to us. Except me, but Tylenol can only get you so far.

As I told you yesterday, Erin and I made a bunch of cupcakes (with home-made cream cheese icing! You're jealous, it's okay). Today we went around delivering the ones that were left from last night's attack to some friends, and people in our classes. It just felt good to see other people smile, to be reminded that today was a holiday of some sort, and we can take a moment to relax and enjoy it. There are two stories that I want to share though, and neither of them are actually my own.

The first is a girl in my class, Carly, who's boyfriend broke up with her not long ago. She's an avid student and believes firmly in "work first, play later." She is also an firm believer in "work hard, play harder," so I don't know what the boy's problem was. She seems pretty neat to me! But she's in two of my classes and so I brought her and another girl in the class a little cake and they were SO HAPPY! I was so glad to see Carly's face brighten- 'cause she def had the V-Day blues going on. Just a simple little piece of let's-not-count-the-calories and life is a tiny bit better.

The second belongs to a group of people. I have a huge lecture class, and in it I sit with four cadets. I met one of them, Marshal, through Sara, and then the other three through sitting with Marshal. They don't talk too much, but they're pretty cool individuals. So today I brought them each a little cupcake (Sara added a message-heart on each one for extra-adorable-ness). I carried them in, but I was a tad late so I couldn't give out the cakes until after class, plus that was probably better so they didn't get any crumbs on their uniform. Anyway, so after class I offered them each a cupcake. One of them didn't want it, so Eva, the only girl, took his extra. They were just SO CUTE.
"Are those really for us?"
"Yep!"
"Are you sure?"
"Pretty sure... there are four cupcakes and four of you, haha."
"But... you're sure?"
"No."
"Oh."
"Just kidding, yes of COURSE they're for you, take one or I'll be insulted!"

Apparently, the cadets are not often remembered on mini-holidays. I found out later that they may been breaking a rule or two by eating not only while moving, but also a sweet offered to them by an outside source. But I didn't do anything naughty to the cupcakes, I promise. They ate those suckers so fast though, I almost worried they had dropped them or something. It was good to see some red-crumbed-covered smiles out of those serious dudes.
So I learned what everyone relearns every year at Christmas (or whatever gift-giving holiday you may celebrate). Making others feel good makes YOU feel good. So on Valentine's Day, when you could just wallow in your single-ness or far-away-from-loved-one-ness or whatever-ness, do something for a girlfriend. Get her that double-chunk ice cream and bring over her favorite movie (NOT a chick flick- we do not go that corny at F500). You'll be with her, she'll be with you, and even if y'all are both still a tad lonely, at least you won't be alone.

Life is good with a tub of extra icing!

Curl Girl, out!

Lesson 10) Take one down, pass it around...

44 cupcakes to ice!

Tomorrow is Red-Velvet-Cupcake-Day! Some people call it St. Valentine's Day, but those people are just strange. Other people call it S.A.D. which is Single-Awareness-Day. Still, I'm right and they're wrong... no big deal.

Erin and I made red velvet cupcakes tonight because none of us have time tomorrow, thanks to those classes things. So we made them today. When we picked up a box at the grocery store we saw that each box made about 24 cupcakes. It seemed like enough, but we were a little unsure so we got another box just in case. We moved into the kitchen lounge, plugged in The Emperor's New Groove, and got going on 46 cupcakes (because apparently we spilled the equivalent batter of 2 cupcakes). It appears this was a good idea, because people slowly wondered into the kitchen with puppy eyes, led by the smell of fresh baking. By the time we had escaped with our yummy creations back to my room, we only had 27 left!

Apparently, today's lesson is that it's always good to over prepare. Can you think of a situation in which it's a bad thing? Big test? Over prepare. Dinner party? Over prepare. Popping the question? Over prepare!

I apologize again for the short lesson, I'm still not feeling quite up to snuff. I hope your weekend was wonderful!

Curl Girl, out!

Lesson 9) No, it's MY turn to be Luigi!

Yes, this lesson is about Mario Karts, because I'm cool like that.

Unfortunately, I'm not feeling too wonderful right now (pleasedon'tbetheflupleasedon'tbetheflupleasedon'tbetheflu), so today's post is going to be rather short, and I apologize!

Last night, my group was rather tame. After attending an AMAZING dance performance for Relay For Life (which everyone should do), we came home and played Mario Karts for hours. We had tournaments and VS. battles and pretty much just enjoyed ourselves as we waved goodbye to the people that were on their ways to parties.

These are the kind of friends you need to make sure you have to support you. My group played Mario Karts this weekend, cursing over green-shell grenades and "HEY, you cheated! There is no way you can beat me on that level!" Next weekend we will be going to a party where we will watch out for each other, approving cute boys for dance partners and making sure we always know the general location of everyone, and of course rocking out.

The party don't start 'til we walk in, after all.

It's okay to have different sets of friends that you go different places with. However, you really need to find that small set that can scream "B UP, PRESS B UP NOW!", teach you how to Dougie, and then hold your hair back after a rough night. It's not easy to find these people, in fact I found them by accident. Sitting around last night and looking around at a part of our little group just reminded me that I wanted to tell y'all to never settle for someone who will only do one or the other for you. You need people that you would do the same for them as well. The world is hectic, especially this crazy college place where there are boys trying to serve you one too many cups of that dangerous Jungle Juice and Bowser's trying to cannon your car over the edge of the canyon.

Happy weekend!

Curl Girl, out!

Lesson 8) Good morning, Early Bird!

Well, we might not want the worm, but today it was rather good to get up early. This was mostly because if I hadn't, I would have missed my philosophy recitation and that would've lost me a quiz grade...

But that's beside the point.

My point is that the morning is beautiful. By observing this, we can actually wake up. This morning I was huddled into my down jacket, crossing the drill field with the wind blowing, and solid frost over the whole ground, leaving evidence of the few students that had gotten there before me. I was upset that I had to be up that early, so I had stuck my earbuds in and pretended I was somewhere warmer ("Give me TWO margaritas, I need one for each hand...") but then I heard this sound and took my buds out to find out what was interrupting me. Was someone calling my name?

Nope- it was the bell tower calling out an old church hymn that I couldn't quite remember the name of. I looked around and it seemed that the whole campus stood still for just a second. Several other students had done the same, slowing down for just a moment to hear which tune our bells were playing today. Then the wind blew again and we all put our heads back down into our scarves and continued on our way. 

I know this doesn't sound like a lesson, but to me it is. Your grandparents are always going to tell you to stop and smell the roses. But, have you noticed how rare random roses are? I live on a campus, if there are roses anywhere then they were planted according to a designer's plan so that the alumni would be happy. Plus it's February, there isn't a rose in sight where I am. Allow me to propose that there are things out there that we need to stop to appreciate that aren't so obviously cliche'. The smell of the snow during dawn is probably my favorite scent on earth, beaten only by the beginning of a storm. It was such a short moment this morning, but it woke me up for the rest of my day and now that I'm sitting here studying the songs of the Chippewas for my literature quiz later today, I'm seeing a real life instance of their whole "everything is connected" theory.

Today is Friday, so Lord knows I'm going to have a pretty interesting lesson for you tomorrow, so this one gets to be serene.

Here's to your weekend plans, and stopping to smell the world around you, whether it be snow or roses!

Curl Girl, out!

Lesson 7) Close Your Eyes & Pick A Jelly Bean

Happy Week-aversery! No, I won't celebrate this every week (...unlike some couples I know) but the first one is pretty neat, I think.

Anyway... today we're talking about taking chances.
Before I start, I should point out that there are somethings you do not need to take chances with. These would include drinks that you didn't see mixed, strange little blue pills, and science classes that you can't pronounce the name of.

But people, that's something your probably should check out.
Today I went to a late lunch with a friend that I met at a Frat party. We'll call him Gerald (because that makes me think of Gerard Butler, which makes me happy). He was the sober brother than night, and I was the sober friend that was to make sure everyone got home, so we hung out a bit. The next day, he Facebook-ed and we talked for about a week. When he asked me to meet him for lunch or something, I was really hesitant. He's not my type, I'd just failed at dating about a week ago, and numerous other little reasons to feel weird about it. But some little voice (Erin) told me that I should just go and see what happened. The whole way there I was trying to think about things we might be able to talk about, because I was so nervous that I wouldn't be able to talk to him in any way, I'd only met him once! It had been a little nerve racking talking to Calvin after seeing him almost everyday for a week! I even started to go through a list of excuses to have to leave early.

You already know where this is going, don't you?
He, of course, was awesome. Gerald has the craziest life story, and it was fun listening to! We just enjoyed ourselves, and talked so long that he walked me back to my dorm (before he went to study for an exam tomorrow) to finish our conversation. It was purely platonic- I had overreacted and come very close to missing out on becoming friends with a fantastic person.

I'm bad about first impressions. I barely let people completely express themselves before I've decided whether I fear them want to be their friend or not. It's a terrible habit. Luckily I also have a guilt level that makes me suspect some sort of Catholic background, so those two characteristics have always balanced each other out. Hopefully you can take risks on people without having such little battles in your head. Yes, sometimes you'll strike out and the person will be a jerk, or at the least annoying. But every once in a while you'll run into a Gerald, and I think he's going to be a friend that's definitely worth shifting through all the stupid people for.

So, like the title of this lesson, sometimes you have to reach into the Jelly Belly bag without looking. You might get EarWax coconut or popcorn...
...but here's to getting watermelon!

Curl Girl, out!

Lesson 6) A Dorm Is Not A Home...

"When there's no one there to hold you tight,
and none to hold your hair back at night..."

Oh, is that not how that song goes?

This week the housing notices for next year's dorms are due, so of course the whole floor is fidgeting with excitement. Do you keep your roommate... or move in with someone else? How will this friend feel if you decide to live with that one? Who do you sign up with if you think you might get a Resident Advisor position? Do you really want to move off campus, or stay as close to the dining halls as possible? It's a whole lot of drama, girls OR boys.

It's reminded me just how important the roommate relationship is. Unless you know someone before hand who is going to your college, you're going to be living with a complete stranger for the first two weeks of your college career. After that, you will probably know your roommate better than a most people in the world, not because you're necessarily that close, but simply because you can't get too far away from each other in a 15x12 room. It's simply not possible. You learn her habits, her detailed characteristics, and maybe even some stuff that you never wanted to know ("you did WHAT with WHO?"). It doesn't matter whether they become your best friend or remain that psyco-maniac-with-the-ant-farm, this person that was thrust into your living quarters will become a huge part of your life no matter what.

Now, I got lucky. I was unpacking when I met Sara for the first time. She was returning from the school's freshmen-camp, and was dressed in her black bandana and war-paint from the last day's competition. It may have been a little intimidating, but we started chatting and figuring out how to get all of our stuff to fit in the room in some sort of livable manner. I was a tad worried, but when we both broke out in a white-girl-victory-dance like a pair of five years old, I knew we'd be fine!
Not to say we haven't had our ups and downs. We've both had our bad/annoying days, but we've gotten over them, gotten close, (not to get to mushy but) would stick together through even the worst of nights (proven over & over) and this semester, well, we're 1/2 of the Fantastic 500. That really speaks for itself.
But some people were not so lucky.  One friend, who will go unmentioned for polite purposes, has a roommate who will go almost an entire week without showering (um, EW!) and several without washing her clothes. The whole room has a slight odor to it that will be hard to be rid of. They even tried putting in one of those fruity-plug-in things, but then it was just like walking straight into a wall of watermelon every time one entered the room (no, this is not the delicious image you just came up with, it was suffocating). Another girl down the hall has a roommate that will never leave the room. There's a boy on the other side of the floor who has pretty much moved into Daphne's room because Daphne's roommate is his girlfriend, and he cannot STAND his own roommate.

This year, we freshmen can get off the hook easy because everyone can blame getting a bad roommate on "the system." This coming year, if we end up in a bad situation, it's pretty much our own fault. Life doesn't happen like in Disney movies, so you can't rely on fighting off the bad guy just to discover y'all are actually long-lost twins! You can't wait for your roommate to be perfect. No matter how many "hall events" your RAs put on, the relationship is completely on you and this new partner-in-crime of yours. You can either be thick as thieves or that awkward middle-aged couple that's just staying together for the kids:

*Door slams*
"How was your day?"
"Fine...  how was yours?"
"Fine."
"Good."
"Yeah, good."
"..."

You have to jump in and introduce yourself and be that crazy-fun person that you would want to room with...
...and shower.
Also, don't tell them about your weird fetishes until you know they like you enough to not judge you.  Honestly.

Curl Gurl, out!

Lesson 5) Some Ideas Look Better On Paper

First, please allow me to apologize for the amount of grammatical errors that have been brought to my attention. I will admit that in my excitement to post, I have not done very extensive proof reading. The following posts will be edited much closer, and I thank you for your patience.

Now back to our regularly scheduled lesson!

A list of ideas that have proved better on paper than in practice could literally go on for miles, but I'm going to give you just a few examples so that you can fully understand the point to which I am getting:

1. Communism
2. Fried Twinkies
3. "Guidance" class in elementary schools
4. Lemmings
5. Kegs 'til Eggs Parties

It is the last of these that we need to talk about, partially because it's really the only one I'm qualified to discuss. For those of you who are not familiar with what exactly a "Kegs 'til Eggs Party" is, trust me you don't want to. I'm going to tell you anyway. These parties are generally in the "medium" size, that being between 30 to 50 people, but if you have a pretty rich supporter (aka NOT a college student, but maybe their parents), they can go as big as the house fits. The idea is to drink beer from around 10 pm ("Kegs") through the night and into the hours of morning breakfast ("'til Eggs").  

For any teenager anywhere party-inclined college student, this sounds like a fantastic idea. Imagine how much crazy fun you could have! All that beer! All that dancing! By the time the hangover comes, it'll be time to drink again!

Now, I'm not a big fan of beer.  I'm a picky drinker, in that if I don't like the taste of it there is no way I will be drinking enough for it to have any kind of effect on me. So on the night of this infamous Kegs 'til Eggs, I accepted an invitation to a different shindig, and off I went. My dears Sara and Daphne, however, chose to participate. They were very excited and betting each other how long into the night each of them would last before passing out. Then they were going to go to breakfast and talk about all the awesome things that had happened!

They arrived at the party around 10:30. Coming at the time they did, the party should have already been in the beginning swing. There were kegs, and people, but not nearly enough of either one. There was no way so few kegs would be enough to keep a party tipsy all night long, so my girls weren't off to a great start. Daphne always tries to see the silver lining of things, so she made sure their whole group got a drink, and they tried to make the best of it. However, when a host tries to get enough beer to serve a large amount of people for a long period of time, the beer ends up being cheap. This case was no exception and not even Sara, an avid fan of beer, could deal with the flavor. Having so few people at the party was a significant downer, because having a room that isn't crowded makes it really hard for anyone to lose their inhibitions. A few short minutes later, one of the boys in their group that night called a DD, and they took off to a different party, where they had a great time and made it back to the dorm around 1 in the morning.

The thrill of parties is to go, see, be seen, crazy dance like you're a pro, then grab your group and laugh all the way back to your warm comfy beds (or futon) so that you are ALIVE the next morning to talk about all the embarrassing/brave moves you made the previous evening, and "tell me that you got his number!" It really does seem like a great idea when the Facebook event pops up- hey, it even rhymes! But here's my suggestion: press the "ignore" button, then go hard for a few hours somewhere else.

Let's see it not as: "Go hard or go home!"

But: "Go hard, THEN go home!"

Curl Girl, out!

Lesson 4) Clean is a Relative Term

Allow me to introduce a concept to you. Hall-wide bathrooms. No ladies- you're not out of this. It turns out, in college, girls are just as gross, possibly GROSSER than boys. Insert shudder here, as I let you come to your conclusions as to what girls may do to a hall bathroom. I'm asking you to not be one of those people that apparently does not know how to flush a toilet.  

Here's how you know that things are not as clean as they were back home. There will come a time of about three weeks where you will be sick. Three weeks- straight. Why? Well, for one, your mom isn't there feeding you medicine to make you feel better. For two, once your immune system is busy with something else, it's easier for another germ to attack. Your body is make antibodies as fast as it can to get rid of the first disease, and that's a tiring practice. Then you add on another germ on top of that one, and welcome to cough-syrup hell. There are more than two germs in your dorm room the moment you step into it. Then let's add up the fact that you're now living closer to more people than you ever have before (unless you are transferring from some tiny African village, which is totally wicked and feel free to skip this lesson). Plus that these people don't have their moms around either to tell them to take a vitamin, don't eat that, don't touch that railing, and go wash your hands for dinner. Pretty much- your immune system is SCREWED.  

My first time being sick was terrible. I wanted soup, but I didn't want to leave the dorm to GET the soup, nor did I really want to exist with all the yuck that was going through my body. In high school, you can skip a day or two and life isn't too terrible. Not so in college. You miss that one day and of COURSE that's the one day the professor gives out the topic for your term paper. I was lucky and my older brothers had already told me such things, so I stuffed a bunch of tissues in my bag and suffered through class. I was ALSO lucky in that when I returned to my dorm, Erin let me crash in her bed and made me warm ramen.  But, allow me to tell you about Allen. He's the oldest in his family, so he had no one to tell him these rules. When he got sick, he stayed away from class for a good three days and tried to heal up. Now, I'll be the first to admit that I'm a baby when I'm sick- but three days was a little much. What's worse is that he's a science major, so he missed a bunch of labs as well as lectures. That was back in October. He spent the entire rest of the semester paying for his those sick days. He didn't make his goal GPA, for various reasons, but that struggle didn't help.

I'm not telling you to live like a hermit and wash your hands so much that you start hitting bone, but we have to take care of ourselves these days. There are some "illnesses" that can not be avoided through cleanliness, such as the Saturday Night Stomach Flew and the Sunday Morning Head Cold. However, there are things we can avoid, and you need to do so not only for yourself, but for the people around you. A bad germ can actually effect your entire life now, because yes, we're here to make new friends and have new experiences, but when push comes to shove all those dollars are for us to get an education.

Grab some hand sanitizer, cough into your elbow, and get your FINGER OUT OF MY SOUP!

Curl Girl, out!

Lesson 3) Do Not Let Relationships Ruin Your Diet

Only hangovers are allowed to do that. 


So, this semester the Fantastic 500 has decided to be slightly healthier than the last one.  None of us were pleased by the new little pudge college had given us, and the holiday break didn't help too much either. So we're making a real effort to eat healthy together and go to the gym together at least five times a week. Looking in the mirror became extremely satisfying, which all ladies know doesn't happen too often. It was working really well for me until almost a week ago.


I met this boy, and we hit it off pretty well. We'll call him... Calvin. He was a great guy, really cute, smart, good dancer, all the stuff you look for in a guy you randomly meet at a party. We got along so well that we exchanged numbers. For the next two weeks, we hung out quite often. He met my friends, I met his friends, we went dancing, we had dinner, watched a movie... blah blah blah. I really thought we had potential to become a legitimate couple. Then, a few days ago, Calvin invites me out for coffee and informs me that he doesn't want to date anyone.
...Really? Because I thought that's what we had been doing for the past two weeks. I'm sorry- did I just get dumped before I even got the official title?
Yep.
I probably jinxed it by continuously thinking how cool "Calvin and Curl Girl" sounded.
So I acted all cool, like it was no big deal until I got back to the dorm where Erin held me and told me I was way too awesome for him anyways (like a good best friend) until Sara came back and we all proceeded to point out all Calvin's flaws (I'm sure he's still a great guy that would probably be a good friend, but we chose to ignore that for a few hours). I went through about a whole box of Cheez-Its. Then the next day, still feeling slightly sorry for myself that I couldn't land the guy, I got a huge cream-sauced pasta dish. That wouldn't be half bad if I didn't follow that with a philly-cheese steak sandwich later that day, with a side of Oreo ice cream and a few cookies. The next morning I woke myself up with peanut butter and hot chocolate.


Yeah... my body was not happy with me. It had been such a short time to "date" Calvin, but I had put way too much hope into it. The point is that I let myself eat my feelings, and that's never good.  Now I'm having to work harder to get back to the happy place I'd finally reached, not for the next boy, but for myself. I need to see that gorgeous girl in the mirror with curves in all the right places.
For me, I eat my feelings. Other girls, like Erin bless her heart, specifically do NOT eat their feelings.  Let me tell you, honey, girls' luscious curves are made of fat tissue, so that's not going to work out in your favor anyway. Not to mention going extreme either way is very unhealthy, for numerous reasons. I know that for a day anyone, boy or girl, can do what they want after a rough relationship let-down, but no more than that.  We have to be able to see those awesome people in the mirror, and that's going to be more about the way we feel than how we actually look. Can you imagine how slow and sleepy I felt after all that cheese? 


Either way you go, eating or not eating, go to my "Yummy Goodness" page, pick one or two, let yourself eat them with a couple awesome friends, complain about the person who upset you, and then get on with your life, because tomorrow is going to come whether you can fit into your party pants or not, so you gotta be ready for it!


Curl Girl, out!

Lesson 2) It's Okay To Do What You Want On Weekends

Here's another awesome thing about college:  no one cares what you do.  I don't mean that in a "no one cares about you" fashion, I mean- you're really not going to be judged by where you are on Friday nights.  In high school, where I came from, if you weren't at the football game on Fridays, you were pretty much a loser.  I've heard different versions of the same story.  Other high schools had a special hang out (like a certain ice cream store) or something of that fashion that everyone had to be seen at to be considered a real member of society.


In college, there is no way you can be seen everywhere that people go.  Maybe if you go to a really small university, but even there I'd imagine it would still be pretty hard.  Whether you go to a party school or not there are parties somewhere everyday of the weekend.  Most greek-life houses will be holding one, then you have the Grad kids with their apartments, bars throwing dances, and even the sophomores who got their hands on some handles and a beer pong table.  You can't make your way to all of them- so why not just go to the one you know you'll have the most fun?
At the beginning of the year, I had yet to figure out exactly which little group I belonged with.  I had already become okay friends with Erin, so when she found a couple of kids to go out with, she brought me with her.  We ended up at this Frat party with a gin bucket- and things just went down hill from there!  We kept wanting to leave, but there were people from our hall there and we wanted to make sure that they knew we weren't home-bodies.  The night went on, and the Natty Lite (aka room-temperatre horse spit) kept coming.  Eventually, I with help from another girl from the hall, had to guide a very inebriated Erin back to our dorm.  It was the loudest night of boredom I'd had in a really long time.


But we do learn.  A few weeks ago, the Fantastic 500 was invited to join another group of hallmates to go out to a frat party.  It seemed promising, but we had all had long weeks and decided we would rather stay in, watch a girly movie, and eat some well-earned junk food.  However, as we got into a relaxed mood, I found an offer from my brother to join his party that night.  There weren't going to be any people we knew there.  In fact, chances were the majority of people would be Grad kids like him, siding towards the more nerdy intellectual majors.  But hell YES we were going!
Erin ended up making friends with one of the older kids, just chit-chatting the night away about everything from classes to their significant others.  Sara found a hottie to pull onto the dance floor.  Daphne got to just chill out instead of worrying about where all of her group went (which used to happen regularly).  Even I found a cute boy- and after some fantastically done wing-womaning by Sara, exchanged numbers (and of course dance moves!) with him.   It was an excellent night- one without worry, hospital visits, gross beer, or drama.


The next weekend?  We stayed in.  We had just as much fun- just not the same flavor.  Our hallmates?  Yeah, they didn't care.  They invited us to go out with them the very next night.  It just doesn't matter who you go out with, because honestly- no one's going to be insulted.  There are just too many things to do for anyone to judge you for which one you choose.  It's something to learn quickly so that you actually enjoy yourself.  In high school- you got put down if you missed a kid's birthday party because you didn't feel like it.  Here?  It's more like "oh man, you weren't there?  Next time then!  But let me tell you how Sara broke this stripper pole at the frat..."


Curl Girl- out!

Lesson 1) "Never Sit, Never Silent, Never Leave Early."

My oldest brother said this lesson to me.  He's at the same college I am, only as a Grad student while I'm just a lowly undergrad.  He's pretty awesome, and his group of friends are ALMOST as cool as my own.  We have a pretty solid brother/sister relationship, one that I think a lot of siblings would probably be jealous over- we can't help it, we're awesome.


I was excited about my first football game at college, and told my brother exactly where I would be sitting and who I was going with. He told me to enjoy myself- the sun was shining, the air was crisp, and it was a team we were favored to beat.
It was horrible.  Though it was still summer, by the time kick-off came, the rain was pouring, the wind was howling, and the temperature had dropped about 20 degrees.  Just before the end of the game, my friends couldn't take it any longer and we headed back to the dorm.  The day got even worse when we LOST to the opposing school that was not even in our division.  I was crushed and sent an exasperated "WHAT???" text to my brother, hoping he would vent with me.  All I got in response was a quickly typed "Never sit, never silent, never leave early.  It's a lesson to learn quickly."


At the time, I thought he was just talking about being a loyal fan.  I didn't realize that he was actually giving me a means of proving my worth throughout my first semester.  
It's not easy to make a good first impression on people, and it's even harder when you're also leaving home for the first time, running to the wrong classroom, and trying to remember where the dining hall is.  I didn't do that great a job my first go around.  The personality I gave off for the first two weeks of school was a shy little girl who was happy being a follower.  I'm shocked and ashamed I acted so- I was never like that before in my life.  I'm a big girl, with big hair, and an even bigger personality.  I had sat silently, and pretty much checked out early when it came to really being a part of the scene.  The day after that awful football game, I looked my texts searching for something else, and found my brother's message again.  After looking it over a few times, I knew I had messed up, and dang it- I was going to try again.  I began to speak up, tell people what I wanted to do for the weekend, and here are MY jokes, aren't they funny?  Here's who I really am- hope you like her 'cause she's all I got.  I was suddenly so much happier, and I actually felt that lightness that authors often gift their characters.  I made some really close friends really quickly, once that I was comfortable with myself again, I was comfortable with these new kids too (who became my Fantastic 500).


I did apply my brother's advice to football games, as instructed, and they are wild and crazy when you get involved!  Tailgating became a huge thing to look forward to, and losing your voice became a sign of epic cheering!  I'll never really know whether he meant what he said to me to be so deep or not, but I'm sharing it with you because I believe it's something we can live by.  Never sit when there's something, or someone, to stand up for.  Never silent when there's a wrong, or a field goal.  Never leave early, there just might be something you won't want to miss.


Curl Girl, out!

Aloha!

Hello there!


I'm kind of new around here, so I thought I might introduce myself.  I'm Curl Girl, for obvious reasons.  I'm from South Carolina and I am currently a second semester college freshman moving into a major of Cinema Production.  I have wonderful parents and some pretty neat brothers.  I enjoy strawberry daiquiris, yoga pants, long walks on the beach...


You, know- the good stuff, haha.


Many of you already know, college is a new world.  You're not at home anymore.  There's no one out here to tell you that everything is going to be okay when the sun rises.  If you're like me and are the only one, or one of few, from your high school, no one else knows who you are- so you have to show them.  There's no Sunday-school-teacher to remind you of your morals, no mother to tell you to clean up, and all of the sudden four (or five, or six for Grad kids) years are over and you're standing there with a piece of paper and all the memories that prepared you to be an actual participant in the real world.


Here's how I plan on surviving: The Fantastic 500.  It's a group of four girls: Erin, Daphne, my roommate Sara, and me.  We came up with the name on accident, joking that a balcony at the local yogurt shop couldn't hold us up... which would have required each of us to be over 500 pounds.  That's not too important.  What's important is that we were thankfully thrown together, and we're going to get through this whole college thing leaning on each other.  I know you've probably heard about the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants or the ladies of Sex In the City.  They were also groups of four women who needed one another to get through their hectic lives.  The difference between those girls and us is we're actually real.  We don't get the Mr. Big at the end of the day- and I sure as hell cannot fit into Sara's skinny jeans.  


The biggest difference, however, is that you got to watch those girls learn all their lessons, knowing that they are the main characters so they kind of HAVE to win in the end.  For us- it's going to be a bit different.  I want to pass our real world lessons onto you.  Whether you're in high school, college, grad school, past all of that- you've been learning lessons the hard way your whole life, because honestly, who hasn't?  So my challenge is this- in honor of the Fantastic 500, I offer you 500 lessons, one lesson every day for 500 days.  That will be over a year, to today 2012 and onward.  If you can learn from our lessons instead of your own, that's one person out there who's survival was a little bit easier that day.  I think you'll enjoy this adventure as much as we will, so I invite you to come along with real people, like yourself, and survive each day with a new tackle on life.


And so... the lessons begin.