I just love weekends. Sometimes, weekends on campus are pretty boring because there is nothing to do. So that's when we pull out the big guns: random road trips and fun times with video cameras.
Last night, Jenn and I set out on our first trip of the year. It turned out to be a little disappointing because we knew where we were for most of the trip. We found a town on my map and headed out for it: Young America, Indiana. It's best if you don't have an actual destination, just drive until you know you are "there." I didn't know that I knew my way around that part of the state, but I also didn't realize that this fun town was right by Flora and Burlington.

I had to be back by 9:30 b/c Shea was supposed to call. Somehow, we never seem to catch each other. Whenever we have WWW/DPR, etc., she can't come and vice versa. So we made a date. We ended up having a mini dance party and video taping it. Noz, Brittany, Shea, and I busted it out. It was so funny. We used my Legolas standup as a prop and of course, there was some dancing with him. We also made a music video to "I Will Always Love You." We all sang into curling irons and belted it as loudly as we could. Watching that was probably the highlight. We have some pretty dumb dance moves, too, I realized. But does that mean we'll quit doing them? Heck no!

After the dance action, we decided to take Shea's video camera around campus and try to find couples making out. We were pretty unsuccessful, even though we hit up most of the popular spots. We ended up staking out the entrance to Kem and Scripture, in Kem TV lounge. We caught a few couples, but only one worthy to be recorded forever. And even then, it was a little disappointing. Next time we need to cruise the parking lots, and maybe even head off campus, however there is no telling what we'll find in parking lots. I've been out there at night. Not so holy. We plan on going out more often and making a whole documentary of PDA at IWU. That should be fun. I'll post when we get some good footage. PDA 2003, here we come!

We ended up crashing in the TV lounge, watching Fletch. I decided to come upstairs at 3:30, and Shea stayed the night and slept on the couch in our living room. Nozomi was still awake, so she said she'd wake up Brittany when she left. I tried to get her up twice...no reaction. I was hoping she wasn't dead. I guess, though, that they woke up at 7:30 this morning and they were still lying on the couches in the lounge. Oh well.

And so that was my Friday.

I woke up today at 12:30 thanks to a phone call. And for some reason, I was really motivated to do some work, so I sat down at my computer and wrote a 5 page paper relatively quickly. I took a break to play volleyball with Angie outside, and now here I am, putting off my next paper. It's due Monday morning. Yuck. Ok, I suppose I had better get to that...

I have been reading other peoples blogs and online journals and, dang, it is so depressing! Nobody is happy anymore. Nobody seems content with their lives, at least based on what they write. I hope that people don't come away from reading my entries thinking, "Dear God, what is wrong with that girl? She sounds miserable." I hope I don't leave you in a foul mood after you read these.

I was telling Ben about it, and I feel like I'm an oddity because I actually ENJOY being me and I LIKE what I am doing. I guess it's just not cool anymore to be happy? I find that to be really pathetic, actually. I refuse to believe that people's lives are really as bad as they make them out to be. One thing I have learned since living with these roommates is that, regardless of your situation, SOMEONE HAS IT WORSE. Trite, but true. And I hate that. And so, dear people, can we please, just for 5 minutes, quit acting like the entire world is out to get us? Can we drop the mindset that life is nothing but bad? Can we take just a few seconds and smile? Is that asking too much? I really don't think so. Let's get our heads out of our butts and see the view. It might not be half bad.

I'm not saying that you have to pretend that everything is great when it's not. There's no need to put on any masks or to lie. And nobody is asking you to be happy-go-lucky ALL the time (quite frankly, people who are overly happy disturb me, too). But there is something to be said for the person who can, when "crisis" occurs, manage to not wallow in self-pity and make the lives of those around them just as miserable as their own. And it IS hard to maintain a positive outlook, but it can be done. And you'll notice that nobody wants to hang around a poopypants. And that's what we are being. So, that said, forgive me if you find me an insensitive jerk.

Oh, along these lines... I learned something cool today. In the Chinese picture alphabet, the word "crisis" is 2 symbols. One is for "danger" and the other is for "opportunity." How neat is that? :)

Anyhoo, I'll get off my soap box and step off of your toes now. I really just wanted to throw that out there.

I saw Jenn's butt tonight. Well, we've all seen her naked (That payback for throwing water on her while in the shower. Yeah, Brittany tossed a cup of cold water over the shower curtain and Jenn screamed. Noz, Brittany, and I went back to whatever we had been doing, and the next thing I know, Noz screams. I turn around, and Jenn is standing in the doorway, completely naked and dripping wet. RIGHT out of the shower. She didn't dry off or anything. After we all started breathing again, she got back in the shower. Oh my word, it was so funny.), but tonight she mooned me in the stairwell. She was walking in front of me and asked me if she had a tan line, and suddenly, there was her butt. I laughed lots. Talk about being caught off guard. :) Nozomi didn't see, so Jenn did it to her, too. Noz put her face against the wall and wouldn't look at Jenn. And later, Jenn said something about her butt and Noz told her not to say "that word" because it reminded her of earlier. I'm suprised Noz hasn't called us "dumb AMerican girls" or anything like that yet. She is so fun.
Andrew has been giving me lines to say to her and things for her to translate. She told me how to say "I am sexy" and "your mom" last night, but he corrected her. Is it just me, or it slightly ironic that he'd correct her Japanese? :) So far, I've told her that he likes cat meat the best, and i/he/she (i don't remember who, exactly) eats rabbit (NOT rabid!) chocolate every morning.

Today was one of those days. You know, when everything seems to go wrong at the last possible second. Let me explain, and yes, this blog will be filled with my complaints. Deal with it. :)

I woke up to a blaring alarm clock, which I am not a fan of, so I fumbled around with my stupid radio, trying to turn it off, only to discover that it wasn't my alarm. I actually got out of bed to see who's bed it was coming from. Nozomi was the culprit. So I yelled at her to turn it off and she sat right up and apologized. I went to the bathroom and came back out and saw that it was only 8:03. I didn't have to be awake for another 17 minutes! Glorious!!!

Wrong. I woke up at 9:05. I had class at 9:25. In my excitement to sleep another 17 minutes, I failed to realize that when I shut my alarm off earlier (when I thought it was sounding), I failed to turn it back on. Yep. I unintentionally left myself just less than 15 minutes to wake up enough to get dressed and look somewhat presentable-NOT like I had just woken up. I don't think I pulled it off. And since I had JUST woken up, I had an extremely hard time staying awake in my first class. Lennox seemed to drone on and on and all I could think was, "This sucks."

I was also sick today. Not the usual oh-I-don't-feel-so-well sick, but the kind of sick where you are walking and you aren't sure if you are going to be able to make it from one building to another without keeling over and crawling on all fours. That kind of sickness is always pretty scary to me.

I debated whether or not to go to my last 2 classes, and finally decided against it. Though I'm not a fan of missing class, I did it. I laid in my bed, in a ball, making friends with Jenn's heating pad. I went to the Health Center to pick up an excused absense slip, and I figured the nurse would at least take a look at me and deem my ailments worthy of missing class. But no. I walked up to the counter and told the lady behind the desk I needed an excuse slip and she, while talking to the other secretary lady, opened a drawer and pulled on out and set it in front of me with a pen, never once looking at me. I filled it out and gave it back to her so she signed it and gave me the yellow copy. I guess they operate on an unwritten honor code, which is fine with me.

So, I walked back to my room and again spent some quality time with my bed. Finally, at 2:30, I took a shower and got ready "for the day." Too bad my day was more that 1/2 over. It's also too bad because my hair looks really good today. Definitely NOT like a mushroom or an 85 year-old woman who just had her hair set. :)

I don't remember much of this afternoon. I read most of Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis for my theology class. That is such a good book. You all should read it if you haven't already.

Oh yeah, I also told Noz that she liked to eat cat meat or something today in Japanese. Her favorite food is cat meat? Maybe? I don't really know, Andrew told me what to say, so I did. It's always pretty dangerous to say things to people in foreign languages when you don't know what you are saying. She laughed, so I guess that's a good thing. But then again, she laughs at most things I say. "You make me laugh, Proah!" She is so cute. And last night I was sitting on her bed doing something dumb and she said, "Oh mother!" and I thought I was going to pass out from lack of oxygen, I was laughing so hard.

"You are a nerd and you don't write about me enough in your blogs." That's a direct IM from my sister, Kalee. So, Kalee my love, here is an entire blog devoted strictly to you.
Kalee Joy Pruett.
Hmm... I'm not sure where to start...
Kalee is quite possibly the coolest older sister anyone could ask for (Jeremy, if you read this, you are supposed to say, "No, Keenan, you BOTH are the best older sisters anyone could ask for!"). She's a keeper. We get along really well, and we pretty much always have. She's 18 months older than me. She was my first friend and we played all the time. We used to make tents and make up songs (I was more of the songbird. She used to get so mad at me for hogging the microphone) and play dolls. We had Cabbage Patch dolls that we loved. Hers was a boy named Marty, and he had a tuft of hair on the top of his head. Mine was a girl named Regina Juanita and she was completely bald. I don't know who made up the names of those dolls and put them on their "birth certificates," but they had the worst names ever.
We shared a bedroom our entire lives until we moved to Kokomo in '97. I was in 7th grade and she was a freshman in HS. We didn't get along as well then, b/c I was the annoying younger sister and she was mean to me. Also, my part of the room was always messy, and my messes tended to carry over to her stuff, so we'd both get in trouble for my inability to keep a clean room (That has changed, though. This summer, I noticed that my room was constantly cleaner than hers.) We'd lie in our bunkbeds and talk for a long time pretty much every night. It got to the point where she made me play the "Quiet Game" on a regular basis. :) Yeah, I usually lost that, b/c I would always remember one more thing I just HAD to tell her before I'd fall asleep. And she didn't allow time-outs. You lost if you spoke. Sometimes I'd lose for things like sneezing and coughing. It WAS the "Quiet Game." It was scarring.
One of our biggest bonding moments took place one night right after my 9th birthday. I was in 3rd grade. We also had animals that Jeremy gave to us when he came home from the hospital after he was born (it wasn't until much later that I realized that it wasn't actually HIM who gave us the presents, but my parents. It was a cool thing to do, though). Kalee's was a big gray Pound Purry (the cat) and I had a brown and black Pound Puppy. Kalee had the top bunk and she dropped her kitty on the floor, so I picked it up for her and turned around and bent over, intending to hike it to her like a football. I'm not sure what happened, but somehow I fell forward, landing on my hand. All of my weight, right on my thumb. I stood up and looked at my hand, only to see that my right thumb was a full inch and a half shorter than it previously was. I turned around and said, "Kalee! Look at my hand!" and she, being the spaz that she was and still is, flipped out. She started shereiking at the top of her lungs and went running down the hallway to the living room to get my parents. I think I was in shock, b/c I didn't scream much. Dad said Kalee was more upset that I was. But it WAS really gross. My thumb had been dislocated and the top knuckle was where the bottom knuckle usually was. It was so gross. So, I spent the next 5 hours in an emergency room in lots and lots of pain, all for the sake of some stupid stuffed animal. Grr...
She's also really creative. She STILL makes up songs. Last Christmas Eve, I was sleeping on the top bunk in her room (somehow, when the "big split" took place, she got the bunk beds and I got a full size. No complaints from me, though), which is another weird tradition that we have, and she started singing some really stupid song that she was making up as she went. I can't remember much of it, but it was about a large, gray animal that was lonely or something. I do remember laughing a lot at her, then making fun of her the next day for it.
We still spend lots of time together. It's cool to be at the same school as her. She made my freshman year so much better. Well, she was constantly taking my clothes... I hope that's not the only reason she'd come to my room. :) She was also good to have around for her vast array of hair junk, for when I decided to straighten my hair and make it all cute and trendy.
If you haven't already gotten to know her, you really should. People say we look a lot alike and they confuse us for each other, but that's something we've dealt with our entire lives. Heck, I even answer to her name in public. We do look a lot more similar since I cut my hair. I think I wrote about that in a different blog (yep, that's a cue to read them all!).
Ok, this massive mother of a blog is long enough. I hope you are happy, Kalee.

When you live with three other girls, you are bound to learn a lot about life. Really important, meaningful things that will last a lifetime. Things that are responsible for the molding and shaping of your future. Things that will have a lasting impact on who you are. Right... You will also learn a lot about yourself, which can be scary. Here's what I've learned so far:

If someone's curling iron cord prevents your drawer under the sink from opening b/c it is always in the way, simply unplugging it and putting it away for them a few days in a row does 2 things. a) makes the other person happy, and b) makes them feel obligated to put it away themselves. Very nice approach if you want something done.

You are much more likely to eat something late at night if someone else is. This is very true... ah, the power or pressure.

It is nearly impossible to accompany a roommate to Wal-Mart and leave empty-handed. I always feel obligated to buy at least one thing whenever I go. Wal-Mart = college student's dream AND nightmare. Also, there is no such thing as a "quick trip."

Dirty dishes WILL NOT clean themselves. The mentality that someone else will take car of it, especially considering they are someone else's mess is wrong. I am guilty of this myself. Sorry, roommates. I promise to wash my bowl.

There is always a middle ground to be reached when it comes to music preferences. This hasn't been a problem at all this year (or last year for that matter, except Janeen didn't like John Mayer. Fa-reak!) but it will probably come up sooner than later.

Eating someone else's food is always more enjoyable than eating your own.

If you put cokes in the fridge, you can almost guarantee that you will not be the only one drinking them.

Late night chats on the cool old couches are the best.

Talking about true heart stuff promotes lasting bonds.

Knowing what to say at just the right time when a person is upset and actually saying it is HUGE. Also, knowing what NOT to say and not saying it is just as important.

There is a fine line between being complementary and being a suck-up.

Insecure people need more than just words of affirmation.

Japanese rap and techno music can brighten my day like nothing else.

When sharing textbooks with a roommate who has the same class but at a different time, always take it out of your bookbag before leaving for another class, particularily when the roommate you are sharing it with needs it.

A Legolas standup in the corner of the living room is both scary and wonderful to see first thing in the morning.

Someone is bound to be making lots of noise when you are sleeping. Build a bat cave!

DPRs and WWWs promote unity!

So, I guess that's about it for now. My year has just been great; many, many thanks to Jus, Wil, Nish, Bernice Patrice, Ortega Raul, and Rory Dick!!!

Yeah, it's 4:09 and I am still awake. I will be "waking up" for school in 3 hours and 1 minute. I don't know why I'm not in bed yet. I guess I can't sleep? Maybe it's not that I can't, but that I haven't really tried. I planned on being in bed by 1:30 (yeah right, who was I kidding) and then I started chatting and the next thing I realized was that it was 10 til 4. Dang this IM! It's so addicting! :(
Anyhoo, I guess I can write about my day. I woke up sick, so I went to sleep on the couch around noon, and I woke up just before 1:30 to Jenn tucking me in and feeling my forehead, telling me I had a slight fever. She was my mom for the afternoon. Oh, the many, many joys of wonderful roommates! I don't remember much about the rest of my day, except they served chicken tenders in Baldwinfor dinner, so we definitely hit that up.
It was a farily boring day. Nothing much happened, but I hate to think that I live to be entertained. Life is so much more than going from one big thrill to another. It's sad when people don't understand that. And we wonder why no one is happy...
It also saddens me when people are incredibly insecure. I have this one friend, no names mentioned, that constantly makes comments about herself that are so derrogatory and belittleing. And she does things to draw attention to herself b/c she doesn't get it from people around her who should be giving it to her. It's terrible and I don't know how to react when she does it. I hope that I can somehow help her: to show her that she does have value and that the past is in the past and she can have a future. It's hard for me b/c this is one area that I haven't really struggled with much myself, which is kinda weird. It's going to be a long and interesting year, I think.
Now it is 4:22, and I am starting to get sleepy. Nothing better than a long nap before a busy day! Ha ha. I can still take over the world on three hours of sleep. I'm at my best then! Not a problem.

I think I am going to pierce my nose. I've wanted to for about a year, but I figured my parents would hate it. Turns out, Dad is pretty cool about it. Actually, he said he didn't mind and to do it if I wanted to. Mom, however, isn't so keen on the idea, but she said she would be able to live with it. And it's not like I'd get a massive mother of a hoop or anything like that: I want a tiny little diamond stud. I think it looks cute. Jenn and I are going to get it done together, b/c we are both a little afraid. She doesn't want to go to an actual body piercing place b/c she thinks her parents will flip out and she doesn't want to have spent $50 to let it grow back. I, however, would feel a LOT better about things if I got it done there than at some "Piercing Pagoda" in the mall. Yikes. Plus, I plan on keeping mine, so it'd be ok to fork out the extra 25 dollars. I still haven't decided if I'm going to do it or not. Ben keeps saying no. Quite adamently, actually. If anyone wants to give me their opinion, I will gladly hear it. Not that I can't make a decision by myself (hello, independence), but it's nice to get a 2nd opinion... or 3rd, or 4th... :)

Note: long post! But read! Read, my little friends! Read until you cannot read any more! I guess I'll start with Friday.
Friday = fairly interesting. Classes were pretty good: I walked out of my theology class amazed at how brilliant my prof is and quoting to myself, "I am a theologian! I am called to be a theologian!" Very affirming. :) At lunch, I was sitting with Jenn, Brittany, and Ben and someone walked up behind me and put his hands over my eyes. Expecting to know the person, I looked up into the face of a perfect stranger. Well, I lied. I knew who the guy was, but I had never once had a conversation with him. So I looked up and said, "Hey?" and he asked if I remembered him. I DID have a class with him last year, so I told him that I did. And then he said that we met the day before in Wildcat. Sorry, buddy, but I didn't eat Wildcat on Thursday... yeah, he had me confused for someone else. My sister, to be exact. Since I cut my hair off, we look a lot more alike. Mine is shorter than hers, actually. And I straightened it on Friday so we looked even more alike, thus his confusion. He was kinda embarrassed, but he didn't leave, so I eventually told him to pull up a chair. I think he took that as an invitation to spend the next 2 and a half hours with me, because that's exactly what happened. He started telling me his life story, etc., and we ended up walking around campus for a bit before sitting on the ledge by the fountain. He asked me to go to the Taste of Marion with him, and I had planned on going by myself, so I felt bad saying no and then running into him there. So we went. Once we got there, Betsy and Dustin found me, and David (that's his name.) went to sign up to win something, so I left with Betsy. I didn't think it'd be rude. I barely knew the guy: we weren't exactly on a hot date. So, that was just a little akward. I ended up spending my afternoon with someone I had never really met before.
Friday also = Shanes concert! WOO HOO!!! They are SO GREAT!! I love their music. The 2 opening bands were pretty good. I didn't buy their CDs, but I thought about it. Shane and Shane just blow me away...so stinking talented! It was different than the last 3, though, b/c their band wasn't with them, for some reason. Like, it was a full set, but their band wasn't their. It was the guys from the 2nd band that played, who had never played with them before that afternoon. But I didn't notice much of a difference, so that's good. But even if I had, there'd be no complaints from me.
We stopped at Taco Bell on the way back. That meant having to stop halfway home to find a bathroom. Janeen, Brittany, and I hopped out of the car and it was a foot race to the bathroom. I won, and when I walked out, Brittany was curled up in the corner trying not to pee herself. Again.
The night ended well. We got back around 1:15, I think. Brittany and I put together an awesome song and dance number with the words "cool new shirt!" that involved lots of "scaba-daba-da-da-da" and "shooby-da-dooby-do-do-da"s and fun swing/ragtime style dancing. Jenn was in bed when we were doing this, and Brittany crawled in bed with her and serenaded her with "Have I told you lately that I love you?" by the great Rod Stewart. His version is a lot better.
And now the part you are all dying to read about: The Pork Festival!! One word: awesome. The PF itself wasn't so hot (It never is. I'd be a little afraid if I ever thought it was cool), but what started out as a trip for Janeen and I grew into quite the social event. There were 25 of us total! I didn't know most of them, actually. And I was in charge! I was shocked that so many came. AND THEY WERE ALL DRESSED UP!! Well, 4 weren't, but the rest of us were. And we looked so stinking amazing! A few went all out, but there was lots of plaid and tight jeans. The sad thing is that we fit right in with the masses. That's disturbing to me, quite frankly. But sadly, we didn't experience Cowboy Corner. They were nowhere to be found, but I'm guessing they were just all dispersed in the crowds rather than congregating like they usually do. When the PF comes to town, everything that is good and normal and right in the world gets turned upside down. Ha ha ha.
We spent a few hours there, then headed to Cone Palace in Kokomo (Gotta introduce them to the joys of CP. It's my duty as a Kokomoan.), then to my house so I could pick up a few shirts. I introduced eveyone to my parental units and everybody commented on how cool they are. Yeah, I know. I have great parents. :) And then we came back to campus. It was such a great day. I met people I probably wouldn't have talked to, which is always great. To all of you who didn't come with, you missed out. But there is always next year. And, the James Dean festival is the last week of September. I am so there! I'll probably have a big sign-up sheet for that, too, so I'll keep you posted. Be on the lookout for a few girls looking a heck of a lot like James Dean around that time: that will be us, recruiting people to come with.
Ok, thanks for reading. Sorry it was so long, but life is good and deserves some quality blog space. :)