It has been a wonderful and overall, very relaxing day. I actually got up and went to Anthropology. I was about 5 minutes late but it wasn’t that bad. I pre-downloaded the notes last night and went over stuff from Tuesday (that I missed) and today’s notes. About 15 minutes into the class my teacher put a movie on. I had to sit through an hour of fossil diggers digging up bones in Africa. They believed that they were the remains of creatures 3 million years ago that were part human, part ape. I’m not sure weather I believe this though. I’m more of a “God made Adam and Eve and there ya go” kind of believer. I pretty much refuse to believe that we humans descended from monkeys. But the movie was almost interesting though. The fossil diggers are quite diligent in what they do and they take it very seriously.

After Anthro I came back to the dorm and went to sleep. When I woke up I printed that too long essay that I have to read for Focused Inquiry. I’ll do that sometime tonight. Now I’m about to go to the gym, I’ll be back to write tomorrow though.

As I’m sittin on the bed and typing this weblog I have music coming from Eric’s ipod and into my ear. And as I am sitting here I am thinking about young people today, my generation. We’re all so alike in that we were born within the same decade or close to it anyway. But we are also so different in many ways. Not just gender, sexuality preference, or race although these traits are pretty eminent in our lives. One thing that brings us together, usually in a rather diverse way, is music.

I’m having this thought because as I listen to my boyfriend’s ipod the type of music he enjoys intrigues me. I’ve been listening to this music for about 20 minutes now and I have heard LiL Wayne, T.I., Prince, The Isley Brothers, and now John Legend. There are very few people my age, that I know of anyway, who actually listen to older artists such as Prince and The Isley Brothers. But nearly every young person when asked know exactly who LiL Wayne and T.I. are. This was just a thought of mine. What do you think?

~*Cognition*at*it’s*BEST*~

Today is Tuesday. Not very busy as far as classes are concerned, I only had one (that I didn’t attend). But I had other things to do in my life. I also probably shouldn’t keep posting that I’m missing classes… the same class I keep missing, Anthropology. Each time it’s the same thing. I just can’t seem to get out of bed at 8am on Tuesdays and Thursdays compared to last semester when I didn’t have class until 2pm. What’s worse is that I actually like this class. I’ll just say I hope there were no pop quizzes today. I think that’s how he takes attendance. Because that particular teacher puts all his notes/PowerPoint presentations online anyway I already have the important stuff.

When I did finally get out of the bed, almost 1:30, I decided to go to the gym. Actually that had been the idea anyway. Gym Tuesday – Thursday from now on… or at least twice a week. I’m too young to be out of shape, yet I am. I went to the gym and did the Ellipse Trainer for almost 20 minutes, I started feeling sick. I didn’t want to leave the gym after only 20 minutes so I just sat down in the locker room for a while. Eventually after drinking half a bottle of Aquafina and inhaling 2 puffs from my inhaler I was ready again. I went back and did 20 minutes more but this time on the Tread Mill. That was different because the speed kept changing. It was slow, then fast, then really fast, then slow again. The speed changed automatically every 60 seconds. After that I worked on this machine that is suppose to work my abs. That was interesting and I felt the burn. By the time I was through with all that it was a little after 3:00. I went back to my dorm, took a shower and now I am currently washing clothes. So other than skipping Anthropology for the 2nd time this semester, this Tuesday was pretty productive.

So it’s the weekend. Most people get excited about the weekend. I’m excited that I don’t have to leave my dorm and go to any classes, nor do I have to get out of my pyjamas. But as much work as I’ve been doing it doesn’t feel very weekend-ish. I’ve been doing Pre-Calculus for about 2 hours now, still not done though. I’m taking a break.

I wonder what I’ll be doing tomorrow. Probably writing the rest of my personal essay. That shouldn’t take as long as this math homework though…

Most of my life people have mistaken my age. When I was 12 I was 15, when I was 15 I was 16. Ironically when I actually reached the ages everyone wanted to betsow on me earlier in life, suddenly I was younger. When I was 16 I was 15, when I was 17, somehow I was still 15. My dad told me that this was because I have a body of a grown woman but I’m short with face and sometimes the mentality of a little girl. And this confuses people. Even now when I talk to people who don’t know me find it hard to believe that I’m a college freshman, they think I’m a high school freshman. And that’s fine.

Today I felt like a woman. It was nothing miraculous that I did or anything new. I believe that being grown- no, specifically a woman, means this; being able to respectfully carry ones self and take care of her responsibilities regardless of the circumstances. Of course this is my belief a bit condensed, but it’s the gist of things. This is how my day went, specifically my morning. I woke up at 8:40, on Fridays my MATH 151 is at 10:00. I tried to wake Eric but he said he wasn’t feeling well, stomach cramp, therefore wasn’t coming to class. Part of me wanted to stay with him but right after math I have English112 at 11:00 and I knew if I would have stayed I would have slept till noon. Why miss both classes? Besides, other than being sleepy I felt perfectly fine. I came to the conclusion a while ago that I won’t let all my parent’s college money go to waste.

I didn’t just get dressed and go to class. Not this morning. But I decided to curl my hair, put on some dress pants, a nice shirt and my black heels. And I walked to the bus stop with excellent posture, back straight and head up. I payed attention to my surroundings. And as I walked to the bus-stop, although it was cold and windy, I felt good about myself. I can’t quite say why but I can say that I felt respectable, sophisticated, and mature. To be grown, not just determined by a birth date but a level of maturity, by my definition, is beautiful.

So today I can say with full confidence, I felt beautiful.

In other words… this day is pretty much dull. I did not want to get out of bed this morning. I was struggling. Maybe I should have went to bed last night. I don’t know what happened. Before I took my shower I was so tired. My body was ready for sleep. But when I got out the shower I was suddenly wide awake. So I decided to read some anthropology stuff and take some notes. That’s the only class I had today. When I got tired of doing that I played Super Mario on my boyfriend’s Nintendo DS for a while. Eventually, I don’t know when, but eventually I went to sleep.

I almost didn’t make it through Anthropology this morning. I got there like 15 minutes early but those chairs in that room are so comfortable and Dr. Steenhuysee’s voice is so relaxing (with his French-like accent) I didn’t think I was going to make it the entire hour and 15minutes of lecture. Luckily class didn’t last that long. Actually he gave us our first pop quiz, another way of taking role in such a large class. But of course, the pop quiz would be on Cultural Relativism and it’s importance to anthropologists, something that he must have taught the day I missed class. I came to this conclusion when I couldn’t find those words anywhere in my notebook. But God always makes a way. Ironically, just last night I bought an Anthropology text book from my new friend Kimi for just $40.00 (it cost nearly $90.00 at the bookstore). And we were aloud to use any information we had including notes and textbooks. So I’m pretty sure I conquered my first “anthropological pop quiz.” If not, at least I was counted present.

I don’t have anymore classes today.

((about 5hours later))

 Ok, I didn’t get to publish this earlier. I was in the library writing then Eric showed up. We went to Shafer… but didn’t eat anything. Awkward. This day is still a “boo-like” day. I just woke up from nearly a 3hour nap…

my definition of a “boo-like” day: a day lacking life, emotion, or any feeling at all. just another day…

Last semester my Focused Inquiry course was at 8am three days a week and of course living on another campus and having to catch a bus, I usually woke up around 7am. I am very grateful that now this class is at 11am and I no longer have any 8am courses. Now my earliest class is at 9:30am and that’s Monday thru Thursday. Still, I’m not complaining. But I am complaining about Eric.

Now before anybody jumps to any crazy conclusions I’m not talking about actually leaving, as in dumping, my boyfriend. But I am literally speaking of leaving him in the mornings when we go to class… Or anytime we have a class together or at the same time. Although I am a freshman and Eric’s a sophomore we still take Math 151 and Chemistry 100 together. When it comes to getting to class, his motto is “I’ll get there when I get there.” My motto is more like “If I’m early I’m on time. If I’m on time I’m late.” My mom has been constantly preaching that to me for so many years it is permanent in my brain and in my conscience.

Eric was enrolled into his classes almost at the very last minute and by then I already had a daily routine as far as when to get ready for class. I usually take my showers at night that way in the morning I just have to get dressed and eat breakfast. For my 9:30 classes I wake up around 8:00, get dressed, eat, and leave the dorm no later than 8:45 (the busses are not that reliable). But Eric likes to take his showers in the morning and, might I add, he takes FOREVER! By the time I was dressed and getting my breakfast Eric was JUST getting out of the shower. I wanted to slap him but that probably would have woken Manny up, Eric’s roommate. I’m too nice for that anyway J

In the end I really couldn’t complain and I did apologize to Eric for fussing (because I did once we got to bus stop). We were on the bus by 9:07 and still got to our math class about 10 minutes early. Still I don’t like being paranoid or feeling like I’m going to be late to anything. Besides, we don’t need to be together in EVERYTHING we do anyway. This evening we have Chemistry at 3:30 and Eric has already told me he’s leaving the dorm at 3:00. I’ll be leaving no later than 2:45.

I can’t believe this. It’s quite ironic how I just wrote a blog about my allergies on Saturday not knowing that I was also allergic to the brand new bottle of lotion that I brought the night before. So my three day weekend was pretty much horrible. This is probably the worse breakout I’ve ever had. Actually, it’s probably so bad because it attacked majority of my face leaving it bumpy and itchy. This resulting in “the WORSE breakout ever,” and that’s just my theory.

I already have eczema though, and now a breakout? I mean, can I get a break? (and that was not meant to be funny). But other than my constant itching and scratching all weekend I guess it wasn’t that bad. I’ve been living in Cabaniss Hall all school year and somehow I still manage to make new friends. I met a girl name Kim and she’s pretty cool. She even gave me a new nickname, she calls me BUBS, it has to be in all caps haha. It’s short for Bubbles, because I’m such a happy person. So why have I let this breakout get me down?

*SIGH*

Life is crazy, that’s why I love mine no matter how strange it gets.

Ya know, it really does suck being allergic to everything. Well of course I’m not literally allergic to EVERYTHING, but sometimes it seems like it.

When I was younger I loved eating fruit like apples, peaches, grapes and bananas. My great grandma always had fruit at her house for me and my little cousin. We were the only children that were ever around. Mum-Mum, that’s what we call her, always did make sure we ate healthy. There was always more fruit than candy. Anyway, it never occurred to me that I was allergic to anything until I was a teenager. When I was a little girl I noticed that whenever I ate apples or peaches or plums it made my mouth feel funny, tingly like. For whatever reason I thought maybe it was the skin of the fruit that bothered me so I just peeled it off. I never had this problem eating the bananas, grapes, or pears.

Today I know that I am allergic to many organic fruits and vegetables. It’s interesting because I react negatively to raw apples and carrots. When I eat these foods (and others) the inside of my mouth swells up, including my lips and throat which is so not cool. But I love cooked veggies that contain cooked carrots and I love apple juice, apple pie, and apple sauce. These foods don’t effect me at all. What is bad though is that I still have never been to an Allergist so I still don’t know everything that I am allergic too.

Not only am allergic to foods but I have very sensitive skin too. I remember the summer of 2001, it was right before 7th grade. I guess puberty had hit me hard because my face had been breaking out- acne. I decided to use some type of face cleansing pads. They were popular then. I think they were called Stride and I was so excited because I just knew I was going back to school beautiful. But when school started not only was I not beautiful but the good majority of my face was a light caramel like color and for those of you that are unaware of my natural complexion, I’m more dark chocolate than caramel.

All this has come about because apparently I reacted wrong to something today but I’m not sure what. All I know is that the side of my face began itching then Eric noticed a “bump” on my face. After running to a mirror and examining my face I saw that this itchy protrusion was not just a bump but a giant red whelp. My dad was on his way here from Newport News with my TV and laptop, that had been broken all winter break. So I called him and asked if he could pick up some Benadryl on the way. I feel much better now.

Allergies really aren’t that bad. I just had to learn to live with them.

What type of allergies do you have, if any, and how do you deal?

I’ve already missed a class this semester. This semester that just started Monday, and that sucks. I probably should have gone to bed last night… before 3AM. My first and only class today started at 9:30. My alarm went off at 8:15 and I went back to sleep. Not only did I miss class but Eric, my boyfriend, missed his 10:00 appointment with his adviser. It’s pretty safe to say that this day did not start off well.

I went back to sleep. When I woke up at 2:15 I remembered that I was suppose to go to Hibbs #201 to talk to some lady; part of the reason why I am now in Ms. Gordon’s 11:00 class and no longer her 12:00. As a resident of VCU’s MCV campus, in order to get to the other campus I have to catch a bus. Getting up and catching a bus all the way to the other campus just to spend a few minutes with one person is more than annoying. But I had to do it. I didn’t want to go by myself so I asked my boyfriend to join me. He didn’t seem too willing but decided to join me anyway.

I guess because we didn’t start the day off right there was some degree of tension between me and Eric. Most days we seem like a happy couple. We’ve only been together 3months and 7days. Some days we love our relationship, or love each other, if there’s a difference. Then there are days where we both have attitudes and few words are said. Today was awkward. As we walked to the bus stop the cold air seemed colder as it beat on my cheeks. I believe it felt colder because Eric and I seemed so distant. Normally he’d attempt to keep me warm or at least hold my hand. But not today.

On the trail to the bus stop we walk under naked tree branches. Have you ever walked beneath trees during or after a shower, rain that is? I was wearing my black jacket and hood. It wasn’t raining that hard, just drizzling. But when we walked beneath the trees I heard a loud thud. Obviously it was a rather large rain drop that fell from one of the braches and on the top of my head. This actually took my mind away from the fact that Eric hadn’t said a word to me since we left the dorm, that I felt it was partially my fault he missed his meeting this morning, and that for some reason I also felt upset, and knew not why.

All my attention was on this rain drop. It felt as if it dropped right in the middle of my head like I was a target walking by. And it was almost amazing to me as I thought about it. Was that rain drop just hanging from the tree branch waiting for the right hoodie to walk by? Waiting to let go just in time and that rain drop did have perfect timing. It dropped just in time to not land on the concrete. It dropped just in time to take my mind away from such sad thoughts.

The entire day was not so depressing. By the time we reached Hibbs #201, we were talking again. From Hibbs, to Chick-fil-A, to Subway, back to Cabaniss Hall; somewhere on that rout our relationship went back to normal. The weather seemed a bit depressing today but in some way it made me and my man friend feel better.