You HAVE to See This!

....just sayin.


Ok, so on to real business, my life = AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH right now.  My internship isn't all that bad today seeing as how I have something to do (yay!) but still...I'm just about ready to be done.

I'm preparing to get in to take a CCV course this summer, and I've filled out the online application...so now I'm just waiting to hear back either via e-mail or letter to my home mailbox, and take the next steps.  I've requested a copy of my transcript, so I'm well on my way to navigating ANOTHER college system.

Next week I have a couple of recognition dinners coming up.  The first is an EHS Division Honors night.  Velvet, Ryan, and Ashley are going to accompany me for the evening for the dinner and recognition (I guess I got in because of my GPA or something, but I'm not really sure.  I feel like I should have been acknowledged for this last year as well if that is the case,) and overall I think it will be fun.  It's free food....and not caf-related (I don't think.)  What more could you want?!

The second is PA recognition night.  This unfortunately I have to go to by myself, but it's supposed to be "fun", and "themed"...and that makes me not want to go already.  I'm just really done with being a PA, but again..it's free food....and NOT caf related.  WHOOO HOOO!

This weekend, although the weather is supposed to be in the 70s and GORGEOUS...I'll give you THREE guesses where I'll be...and the first one doesn't count.  North Beach?  Yeah right.  Try again.  C'mon...you can figure this out!  THERE you go...fianlly.  Yep...that's right, the library.  How depressing is that?!  I mean, I have this 25+ source bibliography due a week from today, and I'm kind of freaking out.  Mostly because I'm not sure I have time to get it done, but secondly, I don't really have the motivation to do so either.  I hate my COR classes this year.  Most of the students in my class aren't all that bad, but with as much as I have on my plate this semester, the two COR professors I have are asking wayyy too much of me.  Any other semester I wouldn't have had as huge a problem with it, but I literally don't have time to sit down and do all the $hit they want me to (of course I say this as I'm spending 15 mins on a blog...) I'M VENTING, OK?! JEEZ!

This past weekend was fun because I got to go sit on a panel of students at Accepted Students Day on Saturday to represent the SWK program and where I came from, why I chose SWK, that sort of thing.  Velvet continued with her strange habit of stalking me, and we both together continued our strange (actually, completely normal) habit of stalking another Megan we know.  She is in Music Makers with us, sits next to me, and has our same sense of humor.  In short, we love her.  And we now see her all over campus....like, whether we want to or not.  SO, that's been fun!

Looking forward to this weekend (again), my family said that they would like for me to come home...which would be amazing.  Except remember that whole 25 source bibliography I have to do?  And the 77-or-so degeree weather + sun?  Yeah....uhm....not sure going home is going to be an option.  Sunday though, they will be coming up to take me out for an Easter lunch/dinner, so that will be great.  (Again, not caf food!)

Looking ahead two weeks, #1) GLEE RETURNS, #2) Champlain Loses It has its finale party (which somehow Ashley Velvet and I are still in,) #3) We have two Music Makers concerts-one for a fundraiser, another for a Diversity and Inclusion dinner (maybe not caf food?), #4) Accepted Students Day-which I may get to go represent for SWK again, and even further, #5) the Music Maker's own concert on April 20th, 7pm, in the Auditorium.  WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT!!!  It's been another great semester for Music Makers, so this will be exciting. 

I forgot to mention!  Zumba is amazing.  I looked into taking some classes this summer back in my area, but it's $45 for 6 classes.  Not sure I want to pay for that.  Actually, that's kind of riddiculous.  Maybe if there's a class in Montpelier on Mondays/Wednesdays that's cheaper I can hang around after my summer class to do that too!  We shall see.  I've finally found a fitness program that I actually love, and I guess it's too soon to tell whether or not I can continue with it this summer.  If not, I'll have to try to make it work in my schedule for next semeseter.

All in all....I have a crap load of work coming up all due within the next 3-4 weeks.  I've worked hard for some of this stuff, and so now balancing the rewards (AKA recognition dinners) around all the hard work I still have left to do is going to be an interesting dance.  We'll see how that all goes.

Class and housing registrations have been taking a toll on everyone as well.  Planning a schedule that you can live with is difficult!  Like, it's almost a life and death situation..but not.  Most students try to get a Friday or a Monday off so that they can relax, sleep, whatever on the 3 day weekend.  The rest of us are just hoping classes we need to take don't fill up before our registration window opens and we're able to get into the classes we want.

Housing selection is going to take a toll on a lot of us too.  Ashley and I would like to try to get our same triple again, so we're waiting for priority numbers to come out in order to see what sort of chance we have of making that happen again.  We love our couch (it's a place for Ryan to stay when he comes to visit,) Ashley loves her chair, and we just want our room back.  Velvet is going thru some $hit about just trying to make sure she can come back next year, so we're all hoping for the best.  It would be fantastic if she was able to be our 3rd roommate, but we don't know what's happening just yet.  Everyone just hope for the best.  There's got to be a light at the end of the tunnel somewhere.  RAWR!

I believe that this is the end of everything I can think of for the rest of the semester.  I apologize for all the paragraphs being so choppy, and for the lack of transitions.  Stream of conciousness writing will do that to you. :)

Hope you all have a fantastic day!

-Megan

CCV

I had my meeting with my Academic Advisor, Fred, this past week.  Basically we met to discuss what my class schedule would look like for next semester, and to make sure I'm on track with all the classes I need to be taking.  Indeed, I am well on my way!  However, when we looked at possibilities for next semester, I had 3-4 classes listed, which I needed to pick 2 of.  One of these classes was a science with a lab.  Now, granted I am already signed up to be taking 6 classes next semester, but I don't want to have to waste class space while I'm here over the school year to take my required science with a lab.

SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO....

Fred suggested I look into CCV about taking my science with a lab class over the summer through them.  Hmmmm...that would be cool.  First off, when I go home I get really bored because I'm so isolated from everyone else my age.  It's so much easier here in B-town to go walk 10-15 mins and BAM! You find your friends!  In Lyndonville, I could DRIVE for 15 mins and still not see anyone my age.  Having a summer class like this would A) Prevent extreme boredom and isolation, B) Allow for some NICE summer morning/afternoon driving :), and C) Allow me to potentially make some new friends in other areas of  VT.  I'm almost positive that the CCV classes have many adult students, students my age, and even some students that are in high school.  This will allow me to socialize myself nicely!

So far, I think it might work!  Unfortunately, the science with a lab course wasn't being offered in St. J, so that means I will have to drive an hour to the city where I'm going to actually be taking this class, but like I said, it will allow for some beautiful driving.  (Plus it'll help me get my driving fix for the week, having to drive over there 2 days out of the week.)  Mmmmm...I like it! 

It definitely looks like a plus on just about all sides except for payment...but we might even be able to work that out as well.  WIN!

Now I have to try to see when the CCV offices are open so I can get in to speak with someone.  I may try this afternoon after I man the table for Accepted Students Day by being on the student SWK panel (so basically, students and their parents can come ask me about the program and teachers and such.) Yay!  I'm pumped.  (Plus I get $50 out of it....so I'm all about making $50 in about 1.25 hours. hahaha!!)

Whooooot!  Well, I am going to go finish the rest of my day.  Wish me luck, everyone!

~Megan

Still Not Sleeping

Afternoon, blogosphere!

This post is more dedicated to getting responses from you all.  I'm looking for suggestions, thoughts, comments, and/or support about my issue.  If you have anything, leave a comment!

The past two weeks I haven't been sleeping well.  I've either been tossing and turning, simply unable to fall asleep, or waking up fighting/talking in my sleep.  Most of this is due to anxt from holding down 3 jobs and 5 classes, but its starting to become a problem for me.  I can get my body relaxed, but my mind unfortunately is full-speed-ahead 24/7 and I feel like this might be part of the issue.  I've tried just sitting and meditating for a while and clearing my mind, but the Neverending To-Do List creeps back in eventually.  (The other part of my problem is that I don't have that much time to just sit and let everything go.)

I'm almost to the point where I'm going to start taking sleep aids at night before my body crashes, but I would rather start with natural methods first.  If you have anything that may help, I will gladly accept it.

Thank you for your dedication!

Love,
Megan

P.S.  I have been eating right in order to keep up my strength/energy and have even tried exercising more during my day.  Those aren't working either...

I Love Being 9 Years Old

This weekend I went home with Ryan for a mini-slumber party at my house.  Already, you can tell this is going to be an excellent weekend.

My grandmother calls me Friday morning wanting to know if I want to get picked up that night.  I decline, but tell her that both Ryan and I would be willing to come home Saturday morning to spend a night at my house.

After a sort-of-restful night at Jeanne Mance, Ryan and I wake up looking for breakfast.  Brennan's is closed, Cooks just...ugh, and everything else just kind of failed.  Oh well, it worked out (kind of) because we got to go to Friendly's!  (Note about that: waitress fail, breakfast..eh..so-so.) 

After getting back to my house, Ryan books it for my shower.  Apparently it has some appeal.  Awesome!  I find nail clippers to take care of my nails that were bothering me all Friday night, and THEN we're all good to go.

Alice in Wonderland was playing at the Star Theatre, so we went to see that.  TIM BURTON + JOHNNY DEPP DO IT AGAIN!!!!  It was amazing!  After this, we run back to my house for a quick pb + pickle sandwich lunch, and run back out the door with a frisbee and camera to go play.  I decided that we should go to the East Burke Playground, and then Ryan and I got to act like we were 9 yr olds (promptly showing the ACTUAL 9 yr olds already there how its done.)

Note to the world: Megan's frisbee aim SUCKS.  Hahahaha.  If your life depends on my frisbee aim...FYI, you're DOOMED!!!!

After two hours of epic awesomeness (and a 10 minute hike,) we decide that its time to go see Eleemosynary at LI.  That, too was EPIC.  AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.  Everything was just so good.  :D

At around 8:30-9pm, we leave LI and decide that we're starving.  I already know there is going to be nothing spectacular to eat at home, so a ROADTRIP TO PRICE CHOPPER happens!  Originally we were looking to just buy a pre-cooked chicken and dissect that, but epicFAILPriceChopper.  So, to improvise, we buy Pizza Bread (amazing!), ABC shaped tater-tots, and Pillsbury SuperDuper Chocolate Chip cookies (or something of the sort.)  This constitutes another win for team Meg Ryan.  (See, when we live together, we're not going to starve!  Between the two of us we can manage to operate a microwave, an oven, and pour milk.)  :)  On the way out, Ryan and I decide to invest in 2 Redbox movies for the night.  Precious was in!!!!!!!!!!!  Also, we found that Couple's Retreat was in, and it looked halarious--so we thought we'd give that one a shot.  Both were pretty good.  Precious made us cry, and Couple's Retreat was just a great get-away-from-reality kind of movie.

After having exhausted ourselves for the day, we get ready for bed.  We get into bed at 2am, but don't go to bed until 4-4:30.  How does this happen?  Talking.  About what?  Past, present, future, babies, being single, being taken, jobs, UVMFail, ChamplainFail, UVMWIN, ChamplainWIN, friends (both old and new,) and about how we are just basically going to live together for the rest of our lives after college is all over with.  Neither one of us is planning on  getting a boyfriend or girlfriend because that means one of us is probably going to get jealous, and THEN we'll have an issue. (That'll screw up the whole 'both of us living together forever' situation.)  LOL! 

My family members are all working on getting life insurance, so in case one of them dies (KNOCK ON WOOD!) the house will be paid for.  In my grandfather's words "...because we don't know anybody that's interested in living here." (That's sarcastic...and "anybody" means me.)  I do want to live in that house after college if my job allows me to, so we'll see how this all works out!

Anywho, that was about the extent of my Saturday adventures! 

Hope you all had a safe weekend!

Much love!
-Megan

Jeanne Mance

Hello, everyone!


This evening, the Adventures of Meg Ryan continue.  We're both at Jeanne Mance for the night, and tomorrow morning....something spectacular happens.  My grandmother (or mom?) is coming to pick us both up to spend a night back in the homey (hahaha) of Lyndon, and Ryan and I get to have some epic adventures all day Saturday.

Of course, this means that we won't be here to celebrate this fantastic weekend with Ashley and Velvet, but we're going to try to be back by 2 on Sunday in order to still have some time to all relax together.  Can't wait!!!

I'll try to keep you posted as more exciting things happen tomorrow.

Much love!
Megan

Today: I cried.

:'(

(This was last night.)

=)

Bye!

First Monday Off

Hello, everyone!  So, today was my first Monday off.  It began (and still continues) with me feeling like something isn't quite right.  I feel like I'm forgetting to do something...and if I don't figure it out....it's not going to end well.  However, I got through it.  Tomorrow I'll probably realize what I missed, and then I will be in deep doo-doo.

But for now, I'll share with you what I did today.  This morning I woke up at 11, and took a shower.  Mmm, exciting, right?  (Yeah, I didn't think so either.)  I waited for Velvet to wake up so that we could go to the gym.  (That never actually happened, but stick with me for a moment while I continue to write about my day.)  Around 12:30, we were both finally up and decent enough to go get lunch.  Mmmmmmm...Mac n' cheese (that actually needed a lot of work), and a grilled cheese sandwich. 

After consuming sustinance, Velvet and I go to her dorm to grab her gym clothes.  At 1:40 we go to meet Ryan out of his Spanish class.  Mmmm....Ryan.  We hang out in his room for a while at UVM and then guess who shows up?  Thats right!  Josef! AHHH!!! Actually, no, I love Joe.  We chat and make small talk for about 10-15 mins, and then its time for Ryan to go to his Theatre lab.  Mmmm painting!  This worked out fine because it meant that we were finally able to go to the gym (after stopping by the library to do some printing, that is.) 

Lab fail.  Gym fail.  On the way back to Champlain, I get a text from Ryan.  Basically, his class all showed up, and the teacher showed up and cancelled the lab.  "Well, fine!"  This sparked an idea in my head. 

"Hey, Velvet.  Instead of going to the gym, want to do a walk around Burlington with Ryan?  His lab is cancelled."  Mmmm...Velvet.  The answer was toes, and so after doing a few errands, we both stopped by 308 and dropped off gym clothes and decided to wait for Ryan.  Eventually, this trip progressed.

Instead of spending 2 hours at the gym as originally planned, we spent 2-3 hours walking around Burlington.  Specifically we spent time at the waterfront, and took a bunch of random pictures all together.  Awwwww!!!!

Yes, today was amazing.  Oh! And for your amusement...here are some b-day pictures that were FINALLY rescued from my camera.  Enjoy!

Love,

Megan

I'm Baaaaaack!!!!

Well, the 2010 Spring Break is over.  Now we're all in it for the long haul.  A month and a half left of school.  Isn't that so depressing?

Seriously, wtf?  Can't we just like, stay in 308 forever and never have to worry about leaving and the possibility of not coming back?  NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!  I won't have it.

Tonight is going to be fun.  We're going to try to have a discussion amongst our 308 members about where we're going to be living next year, and/or to see if we can still stay here in the same room next year.  I really want to.  Velvet has some hinderances, but we want to see if we can work through them.  Also, Ashley has some cautions about all of us rooming together, but hopefully we'll get this all discussed tonight.  We'll see.

I'm so tired, and I shouldn't be.  I mean, tomorrow is Monday.  I don't have classes.  Normally I would have an internship but because I got ahead in my hours I am now allowed to take Mondays off.  AGGGHHHHH!!! That'll be fun! 

So, I guess I'm just working on hanging in there.  I want this semester to be over sooo badly I can taste it.  But, I don't want to leave all these wonderful people.  Can I just live in Champlain's dorms with everybody and NOT take classes or have work to do?  Can we work that out somehow?  Shoot, didn't think so. :(



Ok, well I'm going to go and try to figure out to do with the rest of my school career.  Much love!

-Megan

Motivation...Or Lack Thereof

Good Mornin' Blogosphere!

Or, afternoon really, seeing as how it's 12:12 here.  How are all of you wonderful people this fine afternoon?  Oh, how am I you ask?  Well.........I am SICK! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!  Yes, unfortunately, I have had a random 4-5 day cold that just HAPPENED to come down on me around the same time as my birthday..which was Sunday for those of you who didn't know.

So, unfortunately I do not have my PictBridge cable here to transfer pictures taken from my birthday weekend onto this fabulous blog post, so you'll have to pretend we're on a Disney Safari.  I'll be your tour guide.  You may not be able to see everything, but you can imagine it in your mind's eye.  Ready? Here we go...

Ryan and I woke up at 8am on Saturday morning to get ready for the day.  The night before, my mom and gram and I had all spoken, and said that we would be leaving at 9am.  Cool!  After hanging up, I spent the rest of the evening with 308 (Ashley, Velvet, and Ryan,) and had a few epic good times.  Of course, Ashley and Ryan locked themselves in our bedroom to finish the surprise for our hotel room the following night so I didn't really see much of them, but Velvet and I had a good time for a little while anyway.

After waking up at 8 and starting to get ready.  I looked at my phone sitting on my desk and realized that I had 4 new voice messages.  FOUR.  WHAT IS THIS?!  I called my voice mail, and after listening to the annoying Verizon woman speak for 30 seconds I finally got to the first one.  "Hey Megan, it's Mom.  So, we had a change of plans (again...*sigh*) and so we're going to be there at 7am to pick you and Ryan up.  We're going to try to catch a noon showing of Avatar on the way down to Mass, so make sure you're ready, ok? Bye!" Crap.  So, the last hour we'd been sleeping, they've been sitting out in the parking lot waiting for us.  CRAP! 

Meanwhile, Ryan is blow drying his hair in the bathroom.  *Knock Knock Knock* 
"Yeah?"
"Hey, so....my mom and gram have been sitting in the parking lot for about an hour waiting for us to get going.  They called me last night and apparently changed plans so that we could get on the road a little earlier....just FYI..."
".............................................."
"Yeah, that's what I said too."


CRAP AGAIN!  Beyond this point, I don't even KNOW what happened.  There was a lot of running, jumping over one another like it was a bloody obstacle course in 308, and also a lot of "Shoot! Where is (insert random item's noun here.)?"

AFTER running around looking like lunatics, Ryan and I finally have everything together.  Feeling bad about leaving such a mess all over the place, we book it for the car.  We have a great time getting things packed in, and then we're on our way, after a quick stop at Dunkin' Donuts that is.

We finally make it JUSTINTIME to see Avatar.  Which was amazing...again.  I had seen it 2 weeks prior to this trip with my mom.  It is FABULOUS!!!!  And after the movie, we started to book it for the hotel.  Ok, so getting to this hotel is like trying to get to Pettico Junction.  It's a whole 'nother dimension unto itself.  There's a random side street you have to take, and once you're over the bridge and through the woods, voila! DING DING DING! You win!  Seriously, if I was an FBI agent or something, that would be the hotel I would choose to stay at.  NOBODY knows its there.  Oh and guess what?  The indicator for the road you need to take to get there?  Yeah, its right in front of a Dunkin' Donuts.  I mean, obviously....where else would the road be?

Hahahaha!

So, this weekend sounds fun so far, right?  Yeah, well we're not done yet.

For supper we all decided that we would go to the Rainforest Cafe for supper...part of my birthday weekend and all.  After getting to the Burlington Mall, we walk up and talk to the hostess at the podium in front of the gift shop. 
"Yeah, so there's going to be a two-and-a-half hour wait for the next table.  We'll call you when it's ready."  CRAP.

Mind you, by this time at night (around 6ish) we were all starving.  It had been a long ride, and we just wanted to eat something.  Two and a half hour wait was not sounding very good at this point in time.  So, we went to the food court and each got a slice of pizza to tide us over.  Meanwhile, Ryan is freaking out because of all the people in such a small space.  Of course, it could have just been partly because we'd had such a long ride, and partly because the height of the ceiling was only about 7.5 feet in the food court...but either way I can attest to it feeling a little crowded myself.  (And the whole me having dealt with a sore throat this entire day wasn't helping either.)

SO, after eating our snack, we walked the mall.  Mostly designer things that are pretty to look at, not so pretty to actually buy.  Seriously, who fits in a size -1?  Your intestines must be like the size of spaghetti or something...sheesh.   Eventually we found a Mac store and I was able to buy a cover for the iTouch my mom got me for Christmas. (I love that woman!)

iTouch protected, we leave and go find a place to sit for the next hour.  People watching is so much fun, especially when you're in a place with a lot more diversity, and around people of different ethnicities.  Vermont is sooooo white.  I grew up with white people everywhere.  Walking around and seeing Latinos, Blacks, Puerto Ricans, Asians, Vietnamese, EVERYTHING is such an eye-opener.  I love it when I get to be exposed to diversity.  Unfortunately, living in Vermont, it doesn't happen all that often.

FINALLY the time to eat supper arrives.  MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM.  That's all I have to say on that matter.

Getting back to the hotel, Ryan is getting anxious because he wants to decorate the room while I am gone.  So, upon returning to the hotel, we find that the pool is open until 11.  THANK GOD!  I get changed and go down to start swimming, and the plan is that Ryan would join me shortly.  Hmm....mysterious.  Hahahaha.  After waiting for an entire HOUR, he finally comes down.  (Side note: We got back to the hotel at 9.  Meaning we had two hours to swim.  Meaning that now he had wasted an hour, WE only had 1 hour to swim TOGETHER.)  FML.  Hahaha.  So we did that, it was a pretty good time!  Bob and Mary came to chill (our invisible acquatic friends) and we played WTF DINO all over the pool.  It was certainly an excellent adventure.

After getting back to the room, there are pictures of me and me with random friends all over the place.  All together now...."AWWWWWWWW!!!!"   They were lined up in order from me as a child up until this year at 308. SOOO CUTE!!!!  Also attached to the walls were WTF Dino, and a WTF collage.  I LOVE IT!!!!  Hehehehehe.  Oh, and there was also a balloon party and random picture taking....which was some $hit.

After staying up until 2 am and watching P.S. I Love You, I decided that it was time for bed.  My sickness was draining me.  AHHHHH, NOOOO YOU BASTARDS!!!  Apparently by the time Ryan got back to bed from doing his nightly ritual, I was already snoring...which is weird because I remember him climbing back into bed...idk, maybe I was partially awake?  (A note on this: in honor and reverence to SCE and their trips all over the country, Ryan and I pushed the two beds together to make a huge bed.  It was AWESOME.)

......................................................................Silence................................................................................

8am the next morning, Ryan and I wake up.  I realize that I can't breathe.  Mucus is all up in my lungs, and I don't have a voice.  Awesome, I mean, I love when mucus is like, dripping from your vocal chords.  That's my fave.  Also, today is WATERPARK day...so this is going to work out fabulously.

After getting to Coco Keys Water Resort, things get AWESOME.  (Not in my snarky, sarcastic-al tone either...)  THERE'S WATER EVERYWHERE!!! AHHHHH!!!! From the 4 "big kid" water slides-2 of which require innertubes, 2 of which don't, the 2 pre-teen slides, and the 5 or 6 little kid ones, to the out-of-order wave pool (big surprise), to the lazy river thingy-mer-bob all in all it was a great time.  Ryan and I discovered the secrets of the water coming out of the ground in bursts, took some unexpected showers, and got dumped all over about 4 or 5 times from the huge bucket on top of everything.  :D  TOES FUN!

We were only able to amuse ourselves for about 2 hours.  There apparently was a river/innertube thing somewhere where you could float and watch a full-length movie while floating around, but we never found that.  I don't know if there was a whole 'nother section in there somewhere, but we had fun with what we were actually able to find. 

After the water park, things get fuzzy.  I got some medication to start combating the mucus with Mucinex and Vicks Cough Syrup.  This works...kind of...  Hahaha. We get to have lunch at about 2:30-3 at a 99 somewhere on the way home, and then Ryan and I both pass out until we get to Franconia Notch.  His parents had called, so he woke up then I woke up shortly after.  Of course, we all also had to pee, so we found a random Irving station and took care of that situation.

After that, there isn't much to tell.  We got Ryan home, I went home.  We both slept forever.  The end.

That was my birthday weekend.  Nice, huh?  Overcoming random obstacles and constantly changing plans of action was fun.  Hahahahhahhahahaha!!!!

Ok, now that I've written a book I feel that I should go.  Enjoy.  Disney Safari is now over.  Please watch your step when exiting the vehicle.  Thank you, and have a WONDERFUL day!

Much Love!
-Megan

P.S. The title of this blog actually has to do with me getting in touch with Ryan's UVM library.  I have books out that are due back today, and I haven't had the motivation to do with them what I need to be doing so I can just return them and be done with it.....Yeah, I'm useless.

Future Plans/Dear 308, My Life Would Suck Without You. Love, Megan.

Good morning everyone!

Right now I am gorging myself on some Glee music.  Awesome?  Yes, I think so.  Guess what?!  Spring break begins in 31 hours!  That's right!  WHOOOT!

So, I am thinking about my future and where I want to go.  (This subject came up because I'm brainstorming ideas for Supervision Conversations for the rest of the semester.)  I love Social Work so much because you learn the basic skills, but then you can essentially help any kind of client you like.  You can go into alcohol and drug addictions, clinical social work (which is the stereotypical working one-on-one with a client,) aiding entire communities, working as a government sort of social worker, working in a school, etc.  I love jobs where you can still have learned the basics, but every day is different.  I think this might be why I became so fond of cashier work.  You know how to run the register, it's the same every time.  But you get new clients who buy different combinations of things.  It's fun!  But I digress.  In essence, social work is perfect for me.

I'm trying to figure out what area of social work I want to find myself in for a good 10-20 years.  I would like to try to figure this out before my senior year of college so that when I am in my senior, full-year internship, I'll be in a placement getting experience in the particular area of social work that I want to be working in after grad school.  (Which is a whole 'nother OMG situation.)

Grad School-*sigh*, here we go.  Right now, the Champlain College SWK program is not accredited by CSWE (the body that actually accredits the SWK programs throughtout the nation.)  This means that unless I get grandfathered in with the accredidation, I won't have something called Advanced Standing, which means that I will only need to be in grad school for a year to a year-and-a-half instead of the full two years.  I would like to get into UVM's MSW program and get my Master's from there, but depending on how things work out in the future, I don't know.  See, Ryan and I want to live together at some point.  His junior year (my senior year), he would like to go to England to study abroad for a semester (which he should TOTALLY do if he gets in!)  But I'm a little nervous about what my transition from undergrad college student to grad student at UVM is going to look like.  Apparently, if you're in a grad school program there's a chance that you can live on campus through the college.  THIS means, that if I can get into UVM's program straight out of Champlain, I can live with Ryan his senior year of college while I'll be going through my first year of my MSW program.  This would be SO perfect.

I do kind of want to stay in the Burlington area, but housing here is so expensive.  The landlords do not generally take great care of the apartments.  They know that college students are looking to get off campus so they can drink and party at their leisure, which means that the landlords know that the students are desperate.  So if the apartment isn't really up to par, oh well. They're still going to have to keep the apartment until the school year is over, why spend money to fix it up when you know you aren't going to lose your tenants?  This is all relevant becase ideally I would like to end up working at Casey Family Services (located in Winooski.)  Although now I think about it, this is kind of stupid.  I have the agency picked out where I eventually would like to work, but I still don't know what branch of social work I want to get into.  What?!  Ugh, nothing makes any sense. :(  I do know that I want to end up in a place that has great benefits (i.e. Casey's,) but what if it's a branch of work I don't enjoy?  WHY DIDN'T I THINK OF THIS BEFORE??!?!?!!?! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH  Although, I think I would definitely enjoy working with kids.  Maybe it'll work out?

In other words, I don't know whats going to happen.  I'm not financially stable enough to be able to live on my own, or to be able to afford my own apartment (even with roommates.)  Because of my full-time student status, I don't have the time to work enough hours to afford keeping myself in an apartment.  And again, Ryan and I would like to live together after college is all over with and such, but he also wants to go for his Master's as well.  Why do our schedules work out SO well?

On a futuristic note a little close to us in time, I'm not sure whats happening for where I'm living next year.  See, there's a problem.  Velvet wants/needs to live in International House (because this is the only dorm kept open on campus over breaks.)  Ashley doesn't like the temperature of it (it's always so warm.  It's on UVM heat because we lease it from UVM every year....so..yeah..) and I think it's just a really gross, old, too-lived in building.  (You can tell when certain buildings have just had people living there too long.)  So, we don't know.  If Velvet were able to get a job back in NY that she was able to go home to on breaks and such, we wouldn't be stuck in as big a conundrum.  The other option would be for Ashley and I to find a nice double somewhere where there is enough space to have one (or two) other people spend the night once in a while. I would feel bad about this though because to me, it feels like we're ditching Velvet. See, I'd be fine with staying in the same triple in 308 next year...but once again, Velvet would need to make sure she has a job to go back to over breaks, or make sure she can stay with someone here in Burlington.  Actually, staying at 308 would really be ideal.  The couch is nice for when Ryan comes over, and if Velvet is our third roommate, we could TOTALLY have this.  Everything is just...AHHHHH!!!!

I hate feeling like I don't know what I'm doing.  I want to be able to provide for myself, and to see what it feels like to have my own place (or share it with Ryan.) Hahaha. I don't know!  I know what I generally want to do with my life, but I need help figuring out the details.

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Dear 308,

I love you all!  I want to thank you all sooooooo much will all the support you have provided to me this year, and this semester specifically.  I've made a lot of life changes this year, and it's been one hell of a ride trying to figure out what's happening.  I want you all to know I love you, and in fact, my life would suck without you.  I want us all to be in the same nursing home when we're 90 and senile.  Ashley will just start writing random tidbits on her walls, Ryan and I will be WTFing everywhere, and Velvet will be the old cranky lady who yells at everybody.  Hahahahahaha! 

I love you guys so much!  Thank you for everything!

Love to everybody!

-Megan