The Problem with Trips

So, every summer my family and I go to this beach town a few hours away for a week. Our hotel has an indoor pool, waterslides, an outdoor pool, a restaurant, a pizza place next door, and it's on the boardwalk, the closest hotel to the beach. And my favorite part is the little bookstore a few blocks from our hotel. It's full of mostly used books and just smells like books and I adore it. And last year (and probably this year), my sister and brother-in-law join us. Last summer it worked out timing wise, this year they've moved across the country and there now pretty close to the town.

But anyway, we don't leave for two more weeks. Exactly two weeks from today, I'll be packing last minute things and getting ready for a three hour car ride. 

The anticipation is killing me.

I've got to sort out work and blog stuff. Make sure something will go up every day I'm gone, any review books for that week are read and ready to go, making sure that everything's handled for the actual work I do and I talk to my boss about it. I may have to set up an automated email because I hate leaving people hanging and REFUSE to sit in the lobby with my laptop and charger every day answering emails because of that.

Then there's the actual packing. What do I want to wear? Are those items clean? Since I know I'll buy a crapload at the bookstore and I'll have my Kindle, how many books should I bring? And WHICH books should I bring? Is my iPod fully updated? Do I need to run to the bookstore or pick up an iTunes giftcard or buy any clothes? Do I need a hat? A sweatjacket? Should I bring a drawstring bag to help me carry home the books since I almost hurt myself last year doing it? Am I really going to want to wear dresses that often? Are pants necessary? What about sunburns? What about clothes I may by there? Should I ask my parents to hand over some of the money we just put in the bank account so I have it available? How many of my six bottles of body spray do I need? And how many of those lotion bottles? How many bottles of aloe/solarcaine/sunblock? I won't use my hair dryer but...should I bring it anyway since you never know?

My mom's added extra stress but saying she'd like to eat in more. So now I also have to worry about making sure I have enough of the foods I want. But what do I really want to bring? What kind of stuff did the kitchen already have? What meals are we talking about? How many bags of chips and tubs of salsa will I go through? How many pasta portions will I need?

There's just all these little things that I freak over. I'm already planning on asking to go to a bookstore this weekend to pick up some books and/or a Barnes and Noble gift card because there are some books I want to have for vacation (assuming I don't read them before that) as well as an iTunes gift card in case the $12 I have left on my account aren't enough for a proper update (it won't be). I know I'm going to the mall next week and need to make a list of things that must be picked up while I'm there.

I just...I really want to be there already. I want to go to my little bookstore on the first day and stock up. I'm hoping they'll have some Patricia Cabot novels since they're pretty much out of print and can only be gotten used. I'm also hoping they'll have some awesome, older YA. I want to go to Stewart's and have an Orange and Cream. I want to play Ski Ball. I want to boogie board. I want to build my epic sandcastles with moats. I want to swim in the ocean and go down a water slide. I want to go and get the new necklaces to replace the ones from last summer that broke. I want to walk the boardwalk because I can walk up and down that mile stretch in flip flops without my feet hurting. I want to spend time with my family in the place where we're the happiest.

But until then, I have to deal with my neurotic anxieties.

--Julie

Summer = Bummer

Ahh summer. Beaches, friends, no pressure or anything that can get in the way of your perfect existence because IT'S SUMMER!!!!!

Oh, wait. It's not like that at all.

Actually, I'm pretty sure I'm busier this summer than I ever was during school. I was so eager for summer to start, so I could just relax everyday and do nothing with my life, but it turns out I barely have a moment of free time to do anything. 

Right now I am working two jobs (one for "fun", and the other for the money), doing schoolwork all summer long for two AP classes that for some reason decided having homework all summer was a good idea, trying to keep up with my blogging/reading (though severely lacking), two internships--oh what's that? One of my internships promoted me to an editing position? Yeah, that too.

I'm also trying to maintain some form of a social life, since it is summer and I do want to have some fun.

So, what I really need to do is what I've always done, and always preached. PRIORITIZE! I need to weed out some things that I can live without, and decide what's most important for me and my future. Shit's getting real the more I grow up, and I am going to have to do things to adapt. 

I just need to get my life together, and things will all be okay. Right? RIGHT? Right!

Doctor Who: Finale of Series 2

 
I finished the finale of Series 2 of Doctor Who a while ago today. Series 1's finale was filled with rainbows and narwhals and giggles compared to this, and I teared up during it. The Series 2 finale? I sobbed for the last thirty minutes. And then, for like fifteen minutes after finishing it, I sat and finished crying and then told the world THERE IS NO POINT IN GOING ON. THERE IS NO POINT IN LIVING ANYMORE. GOODBYE. And then it was like a teeny-tiny part of me said, "You are weird. They're fictional characters. I'm sure David (Tennant) and Billie (Piper) are still friends in real life. Remember that thing? Real life? It exists outside of books and Doctor Who?"

Then I tweeted Victoria Schwab about it, and she replied, "OMG ALL THE FEELINGS," so I know I'm not alone. I'll end this post with this:

Pros and Cons and Pretty Reckless and Gossip Girl

So I'm writing this blog because it's late and my mind is racing and I can't think of a better way to get all my thoughts together than on here.

So here's the deal: There's a private boarding school in Wisconsin whose main focus is to "inspire environmental stewardship" that two of my friends have applied to. One has already been accepted, the other is awaiting reply. And I've decided to apply. I'm still filling out applications and stuff, but I'm going to at least apply.

Here's a list of pros and cons-

Pros:
-I'll get to experience more of the world.
-I'll be reaching beyond my comfort zones.
-It looks good on college applications.
-It's very affordable.
-It's only a semester long.
-I'll get mid-December to mid-January off of any schooling.
-I'll get my own dorm room.
-It's a once in a lifetime opportunity.
-I'll still get my school credits.

Cons:
-It will take away part of my summer.
-I'm not sure if I even want to do environmental stuff in the future.
-I'll be leaving my comfort zone.
-It's a whole semester long.
-I'll be leaving all of the people I care about. I WILL MISS THEM!
-I'm not good with new people.
-I'll have to share a bathroom.
-I won't be home making money at my summer job.

There are probably more pros and more cons, but those are the ones I can think of right now. I'm stressing out so much when I probably shouldn't be. I haven't even applied yet, but when I do, and if I get accepted, I don't know what I'll do. I know it's a great experience, but is it a great experience for me? I'm not completely sure yet.

In other news, I've been listening to The Pretty Reckless religiously lately. In fact, I'm listening to them right now. They rock. I also love Gossip Girl, so... yeah. What do you think I should do?

New Girl

So with the new semester, some people left my school and some people joined it. I go to a really small school, so things like this are a big deal. And there's this new girl that looked like someone I could be friends with. She has the same look as my friends, and even sat with my friends on her first day.

But then she started to hang out with a group of girls at my school. They're kind of... odd. Not that I have a problem with odd people, most of them are really nice girls that I have no problem with. But one of them, who I will call Obamaniqwa is an immature, annoying... person. It's not just me that thinks this. If she was nice, I would tolerate her, but she's not. She's mean. Even her friends don't like her, which, you know, is never good. I texted her today, asking for new girl's number, and she wrote back a very mean thing, claiming that new girl was the one who told her to say it, but the people who were around her when she texted me this said that new girl did no such thing. But who knows.

So the new girl is hanging out with Obamaniqwa and her nice friends, but Obamaniqwa has an influence on her. If I just moved to a school where everyone already knows each other, I'd probably leech onto somebody too, but new girl made a bad decision.

I've tried to talk to new girl, but Obamaniqwa has clearly influenced the way new girl acts around people. All of my friends say they think new girl is, well, let's say "mean" after today. Here's a list of things new girl has done that are what I would consider mean. 1) She doesn't make an effort to talk to people outside of Obamaniqwa and her friends. I would be shy too, if I just moved to a new school, but the problem is that if you try to talk to new girl, she's not even nice. 2) I waved to her today, said hi, and she just turned around and ignored me. Like, we made eye contact, so I know she saw me. 3) She was flirting with my best guy friend, who has a girlfriend (and everyone knows it) all day today.

If I had just moved to a new school, I would try to be nice to everyone and not already cause problems my first week there. If new girl keeps it up, the only person she'll have at this school is Obamaniqwa. We're a tight-knit bunch at my school, and if somebody's not nice, they're not going to be welcomed very warmly. New girl so far seems very full of herself, like she doesn't have to be nice to people. Maybe that's Obamaniqwa's doing, or maybe, hopefully not, but maybe, new girl is just a bitch.

I'm going to continue to try to make an effort with new girl, and hopefully she'll come to her senses and not let Obamaniqwa make all the decisions for her. I could always use another friend.

Hi.

49 days until The Hunger Games movie.

o.0 ~ :) ~

Also, happy 2012.

In Which I Am a Fan

Even if you don't know about Hayao Miyazaki (which, if you don't, go watch everything directed by him and produced by Studio Ghibli right now), you should watch this. I am uber excited for the next Studio Ghibli movie: The Secret World of Arriety. I can't wait to get that feeling of watching a Miyazaki movie. Everything is so well-done, and they try to still do original (first on paper, then scanned) animation as they can, in a world where pretty much everything almost everything is done only on computers and tablets. And they're deep. And lovely and wonderful.

*giggles* *waits*

(No one paid or asked me to do this, blah-blah, blah-blah, blah-blah. I just LOVE them muchly.)