Hot Dogs, Friends, & the ER

Just 2 weeks to go, my friends! C R A Z Y . Guess what I spent my Friday night doing? Eating at the Hot Dogger of course! Told ya I'd do it. And my, oh my, it did not disappoint! I did get extremely overwhelmed when she asked me which mustard I'd like because there were about 3,471 to chose from and I. Love. Mustard. My friend and I saw so many cute little couples hand-in-hand around the town, so we decided to go home and drown our sorrows getting immersed into the imaginary lives of our favorite TV show characters. And with some fro-yo in hand, we immediately felt better. Pathetic? You bet.

I'm a little backed-up on the updates so here's a quick synopsis of last weekend; I was gone for most of it on Spring Retreat. It was a great time to stay up wayyyy late with everyone and plan for next year. We also each made little "encouragement bags", which others could drop little notes into as the weekend went on. Although for a split-second I feared that I would be that girl with zero notes in her bag by the end of the week, I got a good lil' stash. Though it seemed that the 2 common themes that people wrote about were how "hilarious" I am, and that I am "such a good dancer". (We had a dance party a few weeks back...so everyone got to experience the magic that is Cameron on the dance floor...kidding).

Speaking of dancing (and onto this current weekend...), friends were visiting and you bet your bottom dollar that I took them line-dancing! Trevor, Laura & Sarah came up, and I knew that I just had to show them what goes down Saturdays at the Grad. There's also always one swing dance song, which I usually spend reminiscing on my days as a third-runner-up champion...but this time my dance partner was there! We may have showed off a little. Not to mention we were the only couple under the age of 40 on the dance floor.

The rest of the weekend consisted of showing them the beauty of my campus, a quick trip to Fenton's ice-cream ("single" scoop that looks like a pint on your cone? YES. ), allowing them to experience the famous DC food, late-night SNL-watching and not a whole lot'a sleep. But alll such fun things, including a teensy-weensy trip to Urgent Care.  I'll spare you the graphic details (and trust me, they are GNARLEY), but I had some weird skin-reaction all over my legs that I had been noticing. One area in particular seemed to be getting worse and worse to the point where I couldn't identify it & it hurt to bend my knee--long story short...this gal took an adventure to the Emergency Room! It really wasn't a big deal; the doctor took a look at it, "diagnosed" it as a bacterial-infected ingrown hair with tissue damage (gross), gave me some instructions and anti-biotics. Its already looking and feeling much better so have no fear, Grandparents! I'm just a little sad that "Never Been to the ER" is no longer something I can provide in get-to-know-me trivia games...

Which brings me to today; no school (woohoo), a bikeride to riteaid for a bountiful amount of band-aids, & a suprise downpour on my way back! (not so woohoo). But we are all staying inside on this blustery day (I thought Memorial Day was supposed to kick-off summer?!) & all in all it was an extremely fun weekend. Now onto the homestretch and just a few more mid-terms until finals.

The Woman From Up Top.

Hello all! Where do I begin? Let me start by mentioning that despite popular opinion, my new background is not dalmatian print. Those actually happen to be, in my opinion, one of the ugliest species of dogs. No, no, my background is cow print. Ya get it? Cows...cowtown?

I seem to procrastinate on updating whenever I go home for a visit--probably because I can update you all in person! I did go home last weekend and had a glorious time catching up with the fambam and being with my Mama for her day. Its always nice to go home and pretend I don't have any responsibilities for a bit...and then come back and resume my student-life. I have been daily updating my whiteboard for my "Countdown to Summer"; 28 days if you're curious, (12 excluding weekends, holidays, and finals), though there seems to be no end in my near future. I guess its better to think that way, I mean the last thing I need is to be doing something like blogging when I'm trying to get my work done....................

Anyhow, between "mid" terms (a mid-term in the last 3 weeks of school is NOT the middle of the term, people!) and trips home my days have consisted of coffee, classes, biking, studying and repeating. Hence the lack of exciting updates for you all. The most exciting part of my day? Receiving a package in the mail!...Of textbooks from Amazon. Yup, this is some good stuff. (P.S. If you want to make my day; send me a letter! Maybe then I'll have something to write about!)

Do any of my faithful followers remember my escapades back in September, when I went into the horrifically-creepy archaeology building with the even more creepy changing temperatures? Believe it or not, I went back, and I am alive to tell the tale. This time I stayed on the first floor, the "Psychology" ward wing to participate in an experiment. Don't get too excited; for my Psych class we have to complete 6 hours of "outside study" in which we choose a few experiments to partake in. Though I was disappointed that the study involving electromagnetic nodes being attached to my brain conflicted with my schedule, I found one this afternoon that led me to the ol' Young Hall. It was a simple experiment that I just couldn't seem to get a grasp on, a computer simulation of sorts. There I sat, feeling like a complete failure when I consistently could not seem to remember the matching pairs of faces that I was supposed to. Ultimately the prompter just sent me home. Watch as I become the "outlying factor" that messes up their entire experiment. Whoops.

I had an encounter today with a young boy. He got up from his table, approached me and mumbled some phrase I couldn't quite understand. When I looked up at him he said "Oh sorry. I thought you were the woman from up top..." as he slowly lifted his head to gaze towards the heavens. Not knowing how exactly to respond to this I just uttered a "oh, don't worry about it..." and watched him walk away, still with a perplexed look on his face as he continued to look up at the sky. Uhh, okay? Not sure if I should gather that he thought I resembled a deceased woman who is now "up top", or if there is some 4th dimension upper-level to our campus that I am unaware of. Either way I chalked it up to typical Davis student interaction.

One teeny-tiny adventure I see in my near future is an excursion to The Hot Dogger. Its a crummy little hole-in-the-wall shack downtown that solely sells different kinds of hot dogs. This came to mind as I was at dinner tonight, conversing with my friends about our favorite foods and a thought occurred to me; hot dogs.  Amidst all the extraneous things presented to me at the DC, never once have they served hot dogs. Now, where I come from that just ain't right. Time and time again I have biked by The Hot Dogger when traveling into town, and next time I will be trying it. How's that for an adventure?

Oh, and I will be seeing "The Great Gatsby" next week for Tuesday-5-dollar-movie nights downtown. Its one of my favorite books and lets be honest; Leo DiCaprio is just beyond words. He could be sitting on screen for 4 hours doing underwater basket weaving and I would still watch with pleasure. So that's happening.
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Dumplings and Marine Man.

Surprise, the blog got a lil' makeover! And that, my friends, is the result of major procrastination. But its a nice change, don't ya think? I am pretty pleased because the "peak" of my midterms are over. However, we all know there isn't much time to celebrate, as I have an upcoming midterm next week...the sun never sets on the quarter system! But I'm keeping busy, and hopefully it will make the seemingly endless amount of weeks left until summer go a wee bit faster.

What new did I try this week? Not much. I did venture to downtown a few times with friends; once to go check out an old used bookstore (where my friend bought a book for $2.00 titled, "Who Moved my Cheese?"). The other time was for a birthday, and the birthday boy requested the Dumpling House, a place that has intrigued me since orientation. It did not disappoint! Plates upon plates of pot stickers and egg rolls, what more could you ask for? Almost tried the homemade soy milk, but it seemed a bit too sketchy and I'm not that adventurous. I don't know if its a Chinese birthday tradition, but after I convinced the waitress to sing to him (while she simateanously smacked him on the head with a platter on the off beats) she gave him a kiss on the cheek. She was probably 60-years old. Needless to say, we plan on going back.

This week was we had Harry Potter day in the DC. I'm only a newish fan of this series, but no doubt I was bursting with excitement to see what they would come up with. They hyped it up so much, but I was expecting a few decorations, maybe some chocolate frogs. Oh, no. They went ALL OUT! I'm talking floor to ceiling transformation of the DC into Hogwarts, a whole new menu with HP references, miniature "Daily Prophets" as souvenirs, a photo booth, and Sirius Black himself running around. If you aren't familiar with any of what I am saying A) I am so, so, sad for you, and B) We are having a movie marathon this summer. No ifs, ands, or buts. Anyways, I was set on getting a picture with my favorite character, so I essentially stalked Sirius Black around the DC until he saw me. We got a picture together. And my year is now complete. (Photo inserted below).

 Upon popular demand, I have to share another story about nudity. Well, partial nudity. All year long, my friend and I have long-admired a boy we dubbed, "Marine Man"; he is, you guessed it, in the marines, and proudly flaunts his uniform while we swoon. Well yesterday as I was mounting my bike I glanced at the big grass field next to the dorms. And there he was, basking in the sunlight. Shirt off (sorry, I had to mention it), laying down, reading a textbook. Beauty and brains! As I frantically scrambled to text my friend telling her to look out her window and feast her eyes, he stood up in what seemed to be a slow-motion state. Slowwwly, he hoisted himself up, did a few push-ups, and (sadly) put his shirt back on. "fldfk kbgn .........." were the words out of my mouth. And maybe a little drool.

5 weeks until I'm a sophomore, and then I won't have any cowtown adventures to report on for a few months! Though I guess European adventures might be more exciting....thoughts on blog posts: "travel edition"?