Go-go-GaGa

Well. It's only 2 months since my last post. Geez. Ummm you would think that I left the country or something but I've just been buried in school work, work, and in my spare time....I sleep. I'm taking a break from my Gross Anatomy and OT homework, though I really shouldn't;) Well Halloween was a week ago and my costume was the one...the only...Lady GaGa. It was a miracle I got the costume finished. I went up to Mizzou on Saturday to party with one of my best friends and I didn't have the whole thing put together until the Friday before. I was driving all over South County trying to find supplies. The look I chose was from her Pokerface video (though everyone said I should have done the meat look. Har har). Pretty much it was black leggings which I already owned, a black one sleeve tank top, which was near impossible to find 2 days before Halloween. Thankfully Deb had one...for $5 too! Then lots of foam, styrofoam, velcro, a mask, spraypaint and mirror decal paper. Oh, and glue guns. My mom helped me a lot. I found videos on youtube instructing me on how to make the whole thing.
Needless to say, I got lots of compliments. My feet were KILLING me by the end of the night. I could barely walk. I guess that's what I get for wearing 4inch heels. Now I have nothing to look forward to except HARRY POTTER but that's a completely different post. Well, the deltoid and scapular regions of the body are calling my name and these muscles aren't going to get imprinted into my brain by themselves.

hi:)

Ummmm, hi 0:) I've been bad, and very busy. Well, I'm going into my third week of school and I'm already overwhelmed. I guess I'll explain all of my classes to my lovely (and very few) readers. Mondays are longggggg. I have Abnormal Psych at 8:00AM and then a 3 hour break, which sounds nice, but all of my friends are either in class or doing work study so I'm normally just sitting at Kaldi's writing a paper or doing homework. Then it's off to Foundations of Occupational Therapy at 12:50. It gets out at 2:05 but then I have lab from 2:30 to 4:30. 2 hours doesn't seem that bad, but for some reason that class just drags on. I really hate Mondays. I think Tuesdays will be my favorite. I have Gross Anatomy lecture at 1:40, then lab right after. It's still a little too early to judge, but lab was actually fun. A lot of people don't think dissecting a human body is fun, but it was REALLY interesting. Wednesdays are the same as Monday, just no OT lab, and Gross Anatomy lecture on Thursday with no lab. On wednesday, I go to work right after class lets out, and then will have to go back to school for Gross Anatomy open lab. Thursdays I go to work right after class and then have volleyball. Fridays, I just work. I'm only taking 13 hours, but I can barely breathe now with Gross Anatomy. There is SO much to learn. We have to know the location of muscles. So, for example, the rectus femoris (part of the quadriceps) is medial to the vastus lateralis and lateral to the vastus medialis, superficial to the vastus intermedius. We need to know the innervation which is the femoral nerve, and the root level L2,3,4 (still trying to figure out how I'm going to memorize/study for that), and last but not least the actions. The rectus femoris helps in hip flexion and knee extension. Phew. That was just one muscle, and I only had to look up the root level, very proud of myself haha. I have made notecards AND a chart for the muscles so far, and tomorrow I'm going to get MORE muscles to memorize. Yayyyyyy. Well, I think I'm going to turn in. I have decided to attempt to read the Lord of the Rings trilogy because 1) I LOVE the movies and 2) I need to read something other than Harry Potter and textbooks:P Good night!

New Perspective

Well a week from now will be a school night. Yikes!! It's going to be an extremely tough year the main explanation being...Gross Anatomy. I'm not going to worry about that now. I spent my entire night reorganizing my desk, cleaning my room and making a budget for this semester. I made a rough estimate of what my monthly earnings will be and am sending more than half of it (no matter what the amount) to my savings account and the other half being divided into gas (which will be pretty much my biggest expense this entire year) and miscellaneous. I have always been very laissez-faire about my money. I always put my paycheck into my savings and then put some into my checking account and also paid off my visa credit card, which I used strictly for gas. I never looked at my bank statements. That's not going to happen anymore. I have decided to put my credit card away (not going to cut it just yet). First off, I really don't use it and I feel like it will just be temptation when money will be tight for me. At the beginning of the month, I'm going to put a set amount into my checking account and that's it. I've worked out how much gas will cost me monthly and put a little extra for shopping and activities with friends...but not much. I'm only working 10 hours a week this semester and that's really going to be tough on my expensive taste. I'm kind of excited to see how this turns out strangely. Hopefully my savings will be larger at the end of the semester:)
Now, onto more interesting things... I have decided this year is going to be a fresh start for me. Yeah, I'm a year late considering I'm starting my second year of college but in other perspectives as well. I am setting a VERY high bar this year academically. I'm shooting for a 4.0 and with that, hopefully and I cant get more scholarship money. Maryville is not cheap. My mom and I went over my student loan and the figures really scared me. But I'm going to try to come out of my shell this year and meet new people. I'm considering joining a gym and also several clubs/organizations at school. Ahhhh it shall be a busy year. Very busy. And stressful.
I feel like this song should be my anthem for the school year....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3sA5plF6kE

When One is Bored...One Blogs

I'm bored....and thinking about wayyyyy too much stuff. That mainly being, what else in a girl's mind, boys. When I'm bored, I think about how lonely I am. And when I think about how lonely I am, I get sad. All of my friends are packing up and leaving for Mizzou or some other school, while I'm stuck in STL being all depressed. Sometimes I really regret choosing to go to Maryville. I REALLLLLY wish I went with Mizzou. But I had to be 'smart' and choose the school that had freshmen entry for the program/major I'm in; while at Mizzou it's super competitive. But I still want to the big school experience. My school has only 3,000 something students while Mizzou has 30,000. We don't have Greek Life or a 5 mile campus. Sigh. I need to stop regretting. I really do love Maryville. I love being in the Occupational Therapy program and that's what I need to keep telling myself. I didn't make a lot of friends because of 2 major reasons. 1) I chose to room with my best friend which for me, was great, but for my social life, not so great. 2) I can't believe I'm saying this in public...but I suffer from clinical depression and take medication for it. I got put on the meds around November, and at the time the damage had been done. When I was not talking with Becca or with her, I was locked in my dorm room just laying in my bed having no motivation to go out or meet new people. Not the best way to start freshmen year of college. Only 2 people outside of my immediate family know that I'm on medication for depression and it's not something that I'm at all proud of. I don't like having to take pills that make me happy. I still have relapses, even on the medication but they're not as bad when I'm not. Not nearly as bad. I'm really happy almost no one read this. I may delete this post because I don't like people knowing.

You Are Beautiful

"Hi, I'm Kristen. My nose is crooked from taking so many basketballs to the face. My bra size will always be small. My bite needs jaw surgery to be corrected but I will never get it. It seems like more acne appears on my face every week. I never paint my nails, I always cut them off so I don't have to deal with them. I will never be tan. My shoulders have enough freckles for 3 people. I'm 5'9" and I weigh 127. I'm terrified of turning 20.

It doesn't matter what you weigh
What you wear
How you look
Where you live
What you do for a living
How old you are

I am unique. And I am beautiful. I like to call this my 'Naked Hippie Theory.' I am who I am and I'm OK with that. Love yourself for who you really are, and not for who others want you to be. Join me?"

Yeah I just posted that to all of my 701 friends on facebook. Some of my deepest insecurities that I only tell my friend Andrea. I'll be honest. For the longest time...I hated my nose. Like looking up rhinoplasty and actually considering it. But then I realized...I only hate my nose because a 'friend' of mine went around "asking" people what they thought of me and apparently my "big nose" was unanimous. It got to me and I felt worthless. But the thing is, I always thought I was beautiful until that someone pointed out all of my "flaws" that she saw in me. And I allowed myself to feel inferior. It took me all through my high school years to realize that I AM beautiful. Even in high school, people would compliment me, but they fell on deaf ears. The only thing I would listen to was the list of my flaws. It is so unhealthy to focus on that. I felt like a weight was lifted on my shoulders posting that to the world. Eleanor Roosevelt...The only person who can make you feel inferior about yourself is YOU. I am not perfect. I will still struggle against my many insecurities. But I have come to realize that I am worthy for a boyfriend and I begin telling myself that I'm actually the "total package." I am taking a huge step towards inner peace, which I think is the hardest peace to conquer in today's society. Starting this school year, I pledge to try and be the confident girl I never was. I will love myself and I will be proud of who I am. Remember, you are beautiful.

I've Been VERY Bad

Well, it has been quite awhile. I've been crazy busy w/ work and other stuff. The rest of my trip isn't much to blog about. We went to Daytona Beach, St. Augustine and that's about it:P We decided to leave a day early because it had been long trip. We arrived home at Thursday at 3:00 PM and I went to the Cardinals game against the LA Dodgers. A great STL welcoming. I do have one story about our way home. We stopped in Chattanooga, TN in a hotel. Maddie and I were watching "Minute to Win It"...nothing else was on. The people were just about to win $50,000 and BAM the power goes out. I was also checking my email for work BUT the wireless wasn't working. About 5 minutes later it went back on, then off again, then on again, then off again, etc... My dad kept saying that if it happened again we would just drive home. But we ended up staying. Oh we also went to Andersonville, a POW civil war camp. Apparently Hitler got a lot of his ideas for the concentration camps from it? Well on Friday when we got home, my dad wakes me up and says that we are going to look for a new dog. I knew it would happen, but I wasn't ready for a new dog. I still miss Dolly today. We went to the APA and came back with Cocoa, a 7 year old jack russell terrier. She is very sweet, potty trained, and PLAYFUL. I'll play tug of war with her, and if I let go of the toy-she puts it right back into my hand! She's constantly setting toys at my feet wanting to play. Hmmm I don't really know what else to say now. Maybe more later? At the rate I'm going, in about month haha.

I've Been Bad

Day 2 of Magic Kingdom

In front of "Mt. Everest" at Animal Kingdom

At Disney Hollywood
I've been bad! I haven't blogged about Florida in about a week. Well I'll just have to do condensed versions, but the last 3 days weren't as busy. Wednesday we tackled MGM or as it is now known as "Disney Hollywood Studios." I do not like this day because I left my awesome new sunglasses that I bought for trip- paid extra for shipping so that they would come in time- in the bathroom and they got stolen. I was PISSED, and mainly at myself for being to stupid. I was only gone for 10 minutes before I realized they were gone. Well, I brought another pair but it's still upsetting. Before that Maddie and I rode Rock'n Rollercoaster. It was a lot of fun. The wait was long though. It shot off like Mr. Freeze and the entire rollercoaster was in the dark except for glowing street signs. Afterwards is when I lost my sunglasses. We next went on Tower of Terror, which I was a little nervous for. I don't like 90 degree drops. I'll do everything else but it was actually one of my favorite rides. Too short haha. We spent the rest of the day walking around, I was still pissed about my sunglasses and scowled through Muppet Vision 3D. Afterwards I dropped my attitude and shrugged it off. The last thing we did there was watch a stunt show, it was funny and very impressive. The driving reminded me of Andrea's:) (that's not a compliment). The rest of the day was R and R by the pool.
Thursday we went to Animal Kingdom, and it seemed like all of the Brazilian tour groups chose that theme park as well. We went off to 'Asia' to ride the Mt. Everest roller coaster, which we ended up doing twice because both of my parents missed the huge Yetti in it and it was just fun. The next ride was a 'rafting' water ride which was a lot like Thunder River at six flags and I got soaked. Not too happy about that. Mom and I opted out on riding it a second time, instead we just stood in the sun drying off. Next it was off to 'Africa' for a safari through the reservation, which frankly, I could have seen every one the animals there at that St. Louis Zoo. Then we rode the train up to 'Rafiki's Planet Watch' which was nothing special except a photo op w/ Rafiki. It was mainly for kids and all about conservation and there was a petting zoo with mainly goats. At that point, I was done with Animal Kingdom but after lunch we went back in because my mom wanted to see 'It's Tough To Be a Bug,' but when we got to the theatre, it was broken:\. Across the way was a character location with the characters of Winnie the Pooh (Pooh, Eeyore, and Tigger). When we came back, the show was fixed. I didn't want to see, I had bad memories of it from 2000, but it wasn't bad;) Then we went back to the hotel for more R and R by the pool:) We also packed because Friday was our last day at Disney:(
Friday was a semi-short day but it seemed like we did the most. We went back to the Magic Kingdom. First stop- Space Mountain. Next we rode the teacups because, well its' Disney. I insisted that we go to Mickey's Toontown or whatever it's called because I was DETERMINED to get a picture with Cinderella or some princess. The princesses seemed like the only characters not walking around the park. We got to the character line and there was a line to meet the fairies (which was really long) and.... the princesses! I was SO happy, once again....I may be 19 going on 20 but I still sleep on a Disney Princess pillow case w/ a disney princess blanket. We got pictures w/ Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella and Belle (who was kind of a bitch). Afterwards we rode the Snow White ride, which Maddie was a little scared on, and then we watched Mickey's Philharmagic which was the best show. Then I said we HAD to go on "It's a Small World." Don't ask, because my answer will only be "It's Disney." Then we left Orlando. I was sad but I didn't want to spend another day at a theme park. Our next destination- Cocoa Beach. Which I'll talk about later...my fingers are starting to hurt from this typing.