Today was one of those days that I didn't really feel like talking much. Nothing was wrong, I was just quiet. Because I wasn't talking much, people were led to believe that something was upsetting me. But no, this was not the case. And no matter how often I explain this to people, they always still manage to question my well-being, which makes me want to scream, "I'm FINE! And don't tell me I'm not!" which comes across as a BIG red flag that something is NOT ok with me. So, usually on days like today, I become really antisocial, not wanting direct human interaction with pretty much anybody. Again, not because I am bothered or upset about something, but because it is much easier to be by myself and not feel like nobody really knows me when I have to go through this "thing" about me with them. Then again, how can I expect them to know if I don't tell them? And if I'm not going to be talking, it's more convenient to be alone where I won't get irritated with those who won't seem to QUIT talking.

To recap, today was a pretty good day, I just didn't talk for most of it. Until this evening.

I think my need for conversation began to erupt around 9:30, when I was talking to Janeen online. I suddenly had SO many things I wanted to tell her. I guess I felt like I needed to squeeze my 6,000 or so words into one short conversation on AIM. Then, when Nozomi got back from wherever she was when I got back from class, I was talking to her like I actually had something of significance to say. You know how when you get excited, the pitch of your voice rises and you start to talk even faster than normal (which is a real feat for people like me, who already speed through their sentences) and you get all expressive and involved? Or is that just me? Anyhoo, I was like that for the 5 minutes I talked to Noz. It was great. She was laughing at me and I told her to tell me to shut up if I started to annoy her by my out-of-the-blue talking.

Speaking of Noz... Monday morning, I was walking out the door to go to my first class. She said, "See ya!" and I replied with the classic third grade quip of, "Wouldn't wanna be ya!" I stood right outside the door and thought, "Why the heck did I just say that?" So, I walked back in and apologized. :) She didn't know what I had said (apparently they don't say that in Japan. Who knew?) so I explained it to her. Now, everytime one of us leaves to go someplace and we say, "See ya!" the other automatically retorts the infamous elementary reply. Today I said both right in a row, and she told me I cheated because she was WAITING for me to say it right before I left. She makes me laugh. She's a good roomie. Way to be, Noz.

As much as I complain about my Spanish class, I really do like it. Today's class was so interesting. I think I am finally catching on to why things are the way they are in Latin American countries, especially in regards to politics. Who ever thought that I'd actually care about that? I know I didn't. Today I learned that I am prejudiced. I didn't know I was. Not prejudiced against any certain people, but against the ideas of socialism and communism. We talked a lot today about the historical reasonings behind the leftist government styles of many Latin American countries and how they are so mixed with dictatorships that it's hard to tell the difference sometimes. Usually, when I (I know I'm not the only one thinking this way, because I talked to some class members afterward. But for the sake of honesty, I'll just say "I.") think about communism and/or socialism, my initial response is something along these lines: Why would anyone seriously want to be communist? What good does it do? Have we ever seen a communist or socialist regime do what it said it was going to (reduce poverty, equalize social status, etc.)? No, we have not. Obviously this system doesn't work, and any country that would purposefully impose this way of life on itself needs to be re-aligned." Or something like that. I am learning now that even though it doesn't seem to be working today and hasn't worked in the past, there are reasons why it is still in existence and in all reality, it HAS done some good. Not much, but some. Will Latin America as a whole ever see peace and prosperity? Probably not in my lifetime, but that doesn't mean that it can't. I hope it does.

I took a test in my night class tonight. Dr. Smith surprised us by putting an essay at the very end of it. I was zipping through the test, confident of myself. It wasn't until after I turned my test in that my stomach sank. I think I might not get any points for my essay. The question I chose to answer was something along the lines of "Explain the change in the worldview of the 17th century and the significance of this change." No problem, I thought. Piece of cake. So I wrote. And wrote. And wrote. It was a really good essay, by far the best I've written this semester. However, after I turned my test in, the thought ran through my mind that I had just completely blown it. How? you might ask ... I talked about the changing views of the 18th CENTURY and the ramifications THAT had, NOT the 17th. DANG IT!! I was on a roll, talking about the Enlightenment and the rise of Deism, along with Adam Smith's _Wealth of Nations_ (most definitely an 18th century piece. 1776, to be more precise), when I should have been writing about absolutism and the Scientific Revolution (Amazing! Even after my rant about Bacon v. Aristotle last week, I still managed to mess this up.). So, we'll see. I'm not sure if I originally read the question wrong or if I just got my centuries mixed up. Either way, I should have caught it BEFORE I turned my test in. Blah. That makes me sad. Even if I got everything else right on the test and received zero of the available 20 points for the essay, that leaves me with an 80%, which I believe is a solid "C." NO!!!

Dad bought the tickets for Cyprus today. Yay! I think he said he got them for $1039, which isn't too bad. It's no $583 deal that I found, but it sure beats $3,000. We'll have a 6 hour layover in Washington, DC, which could prove to be fun.

Other news, I found out today that my godfather (Yes, the Pruett children have godparents. John and Carrie Wilson to be exact.) is getting remarried on March 20. I was in shock when Dad told me that. They divorced last year, I think, for all sorts of reasons, but I never imagined he would remarry so soon. I don't really know what I think about that. We're going to the wedding, so that will be an interesting post. John and Carrie are the closest things to parents I have outside of my own. Most of my memories from early childhood are of times spent with them, actually. They helped raise us and were the ones my parents chose to be our guardians if my parents would have died before we were legal adults. The whole divorce process was messy and involved. I felt "bad" for my parents. What are you supposed to do when your best friends split? Ugh. It's sad, more than anything. I'm sure it will be an emotional weekend.

On a much lighter note, I'm going home this weekend. Jeremy has his Hardcourt Homecoming game on Friday night, and if I'm not mistaken, he might just be on court. Go brother! Following in my footsteps... sigh. Even if he isn't, it should still be a good game. Kalee will be there, too, so hopefully we can do lots of yelling together. And on Saturday, I have hot plans with Andrew. Ok, so maybe not HOT plans, but we're doing something. We still don't know what yet, but I have a feeling it might involve some hair dye. Regardless of the lack of plans, I am looking forward to it. It's been 2 weeks, dang it! Bring on the boyfriend. Woo!

Let me leave you with this quote I heard while I was eating dinner with Eric in the CM lobby after we finished the test:

"I'm in favor of standardized testing. I really am. I like them. I just don't like the power they hold in our society today."

Honestly, that quote has no bearing to this post, or anything at all, really. I just wanted to end with a quote from the guy with dark blue hair in my class. So I did.

I'm one of the only people I know who actually like to take time and fill out these surveys. What can I say? I just do. I found this one in Peter's LiveJournal, so I decided I'd add it to mine. I'll just sit here and listen to Queen singing "We Are The Champions."

1. Done any drugs? None unprescribed

2. Drank alcohol? Not that I know of

3. Had sex? Nope

4. Fallen in love? Not yet, but I hope to

5. Fallen in love online? No, but I've met some pretty cool people. I still talk to them.

6. Met someone from online? in person? No, but I've talked on the phone to a few.

7. Tried to set a bug on fire with a magnifying glass? Yes, and I was successful. It's also fun to pour salt on slugs.

8. Torn off a lightening bugs light and smeared it anywhere on your body? Yeah, Kalee and I used to make rings out the lights. We'd also write with them. Those were the days...

9. Made a snow angel? Honestly, is there a person in the entire midwest who HASN'T made a snow angel?

10. Dreamed you could fly? I don't remember, but probably

11. Ever had a job, if so what? Hoe-er for life? At least for a few summers. I work at Country Choice when I'm not in school. Yay, raw meat.

12. Bungee jumped? Nope, but it looks like fun.

13. Felt betrayed? Not recently, but in the past, yes.

14. Seriously contemplated suicide? No

15. Attempted suicide? No

16. Been in a car accident? Yes.

17. Had a friend who died? Yes

18. Had a close family member die? Yes

19. Seen the Eiffel tower? Not in person, sadly. Not YET, that is.

20. Seen the statue of liberty? Again, not in person. I'm going to NY in March, though, so we'll see.

21. Told a secret you swore you wouldn't tell? I don't think so.

22. Stolen anything? Hmm, I really don't think so. I've had stuff stolen from me, though, if that counts.

23. Gone out with someone for their looks? No, but I do think my boyfriend is attractive. :)

25. Met anyone famous? My best friend in 3rd grade's next door neighbor was some semi-famous racecar driver. I can't think of his name off the top of my head, though. Then again, I don't really consider Nascar people to be all that famous, so I guess that's a bit NO.

26. Been on radio or tv? Both. Go me?

27. Been on stage? Yes, lots.

28. Intentionally hurt someone? Yes

29. Dumped someone? Mutual

30. Been dumped? Refer to above

31. Been to Europe? Yes, but I was probably 2 at the time, so it doesn't count. Janeen and I are going the summer after we graduate, though!! Woo!!

32. Been convicted of a crime? Nope

33. Been in a mosh pit? Yes. The people always smell bad.

34. Been asked for an autograph? Yeah

35. Been toilet papering? Yeah buddy

36. Been toilet papered? Yep

37. Loved someone so much it made you cry? No?

38. Cried over someone of the opposite sex? A few times. The very first time was at church camp after my freshman year of high school, because I was a jerk and thought I made my good friend hate me. It all worked out nicely the next day.

39. Same sex? Cried WITH my girl friends. That counts, right?

40. Had toilet paper stuck to your shoe? Probably

41. Been caught with your fly unzipped? Haha, yep. That's embarrassing.

42. Had your pants fall down in public? Not in public places, but in people's homes. In 6th grade, we called that "shanking."

43. Been in a fight? Kalee and I have only gone at it maybe once or twice, and I've wanted to beat the crap out of Jeremy a few times, but nothing more than that. There were always those minor tiffs between friends that always seem so junior high-ish. Maybe that's because they were in junior high, but those were just catty girl things, no fists were thrown.

44. Cheated on someone? Nope. Call me loyal.

49. Hitchhiked? No

50. Picked up a hitchhiker? I've wanted to a few times, but I haven't ever.

51. Had your appendix and/or tonsils removed? Nope, still intact.

52. Gone skinny dipping? Yes. Woo.

The past two days have gone by relatively smoothly.

I wasn't in the best mood yesterday, but I don't think anybody noticed. I've been feeling really apathetic toward school in general, too. I don't want to do anything. Ever. Especially for my Spanish class, which I lack all motivation to prepare for. Last night, Janeen and I performed our twice-weekly ritual of reading the book together and she was literally pulling me by my arm to the library, while I dragged my feet saying, "I don't want to go!" in a loud, whiny voice. Dang, I need to get on the ball. It's only the 5th week of the semester. This stinks.
As Janeen and I were walking back from the library, two guys slipped on a really icy patch right outside of Scripture. I turned and laughed, because I had been talking on my phone earlier and slipped at the exact same spot. One of the guys laughed a lot and told us that it wasn't nice to laugh at them. Psh. Whateva. When I looked at his face, I laughed even more, because it was Nick Carter. And by Nick Carter, I mean the Backstreet Boy look-alike who frequented our room last year. But that's a whole different story. I might have written about it sometime last year. Oh well.

Today in dev psych, we were talking about short term memory, and out of nowhere, a person busted through the door and came running down the center aisle of the room, shooting a rubberband gun at my prof. She said, "Life is all about choices!" then grabbed the prof's coffee mug and ran back out. I was like, what the heck just happened? I sit in the front row, right next to the aisle, so this was taking place less than 2 feet away from me. After about a second and a half, it dawned on me that this was most likely something to do with short term memory. I was right. After Robinette stopped laughing, she said, "A crime was just committed here," and we were supposed to describe the villian in as much detail as we could. So that was fun.

Jared came to visit today, so we sat in McConn and talked for a long time. We went to late meal with Ben, Eric, and Ryne Fager (who came with Jared. They were playing Halo, so they skipped the gab session and came only for the food) and that was a lot of fun. Ben and I were telling Ryne about Max (Corky #2? What what?!) and Ryne said he looked like Chunk from The Goonies, which made me crack up. He's right, I think. Max could definitely pass for Chunk. Hahaha.

On the way out of the student center, Ben threw a snowball at Ryne, so Ben took of running (on the ice, mind you. Not the smartest cookie) and Ryne chased him. Ben ran past me and slipped and fell to the ground. He says I pushed him down, but, ha! Would I EVER do a thing like that?! Of course not! So, Ben is on the ground and he just about takes me down with him, and when Ryne came up, he slipped and fell on top of Ben, too. Ben ended up on his back in a small snowdrift. Jared was walking ahead and Eric was behind. They both just laughed and shook their heads. It was a definite "Oh, Ben" moment.

I was in line for a sub at Wildcat a few days ago and Kyle Parton walked up and kissed me. On the cheek, of course. Just out of the blue. Hello, Kyle. His girlfriend was standing there, too, and she smiled and apologized for it. It was just an awkward moment. I didn't know what to say. Thank you?

I have an awesome boyfriend. I just wanted to throw that out there. :)

I watched Zoolander for the first time tonight. Kalee and I watched it in my living room. It is so dumb. I liked it, and I'll probably watch it again, but man, just stupid. Brent told me that it's funnier the more you watch it. I'm hoping to pick up on some good one-liners next time.

I started a new art project today. I'd like to tell you all about it, but for the sake of secrecy and surprises, I am not going to. If it turns out well, I'll write about it in a few weeks. I can be really artsy and crafty when I want to be. I wish I was more often. If I had more time (heck, even better time management skills), I'd definitely use my creative abilities more frequently.

I was reading a person's xanga site yesterday (let me preface this. There is a circle of 6 to 7 that I read regularly. I have no idea who these people are, but I always read their journals. They are all friends and post to each other all the time. They're really funny, too, which makes it worth my time.) and I came across one entry that made me do a double take. Don't get me wrong, I usually don't sit around looking at girls in their undies, but this caught my attention. It was a picture of 5 girls from IU, showing off their very not-so-there thongs. So what, you may ask. What's the big deal about that? Well, I know three of the five girls in that picture. Yeah, they're from Kokomo. I sent Kalee the site and she agreed. She graduated with one of them. Way to represent, ladies. Woo.

I'm tired of hearing all the talk about the SuperBowl halftime show.

Janeen and I are learning to salsa dance. It's SO much fun! We haven't learned any dance sequences yet, but we're mastering basic steps and moves. I love it! I think the world would be a better place if everybody would try salsa dancing at least once.

I guess I don't talk about my friends to other friends very often. I don't mean gossiping (I don't do that either), but just talking about them and who they are, what they like, etc. etc. Angie pointed it out to me (sort of) and we had a small chat about it. At one point in the conversation, she was "crying" a lot while sitting on the bed that used to belong to Jenn Justice. She was even using the cry voice. I was impressed. I felt like a jerk because she kept saying that now she knows where she "ranks." Please! Come on! I hadn't been given a guilt trip like that since my senior year of high school. My mom used to be the queen of those, but lucky for me, she just sort of stopped. Either that, or I became completely desensitized to her. Take your pick.

This entry has jumped around a lot. So much for continuity. I'm ok with that.

Sundays are always a thing to behold in the Pruett house.

Things usually run pretty smoothly in the mornings, as we have the routine of shower times and hair dryer usage down to an art form. Unless, of course, I don't get out of bed right when Dad wakes me up (Shocked? Don't be.) and that throws everything off by a good 10 minutes or so. That was the case this morning, but luckily, it didn't matter too much.

Sunday afternoons, though, are much more chaotic. Brent and Megan pretty much always come over for lunch after church, which is always fun. Today Angie, Amy, and Katie came too. All 7 of us females were in the kitchen, preparing the meal (Amy and Katie = peeling potatoes, Megan and I = cutting potatoes, Angie = cutting mushrooms, Mom = cooking cubed steak, Kalee = making tea and standing around), and somehow we started singing Disney songs. Very loudly. We sang songs from The Little Mermaid, Aladin, Beauty and the Beast, and something else. It was awesome. I stood at the counter belting it out to "Be Our Guest" cutting potatoes into small chunks for mashed potatoes while everybody else hummed along and sang the few words they knew. Oh no, not me. I knew every word! Actually, I'm not that big of a loser, we sang it in 6th grade at a choir concert. Eventually, Dad yelled at us from the living room to lower it some, saying we sounded like "Mickey Mouse frmo Hell." He has such a way of saying things.

Brent, Kalee, Jeremy, and I had to eat at a card table in the living room. There was no way we'd all fit at the kitchen table. When we were little, it was lovingly referred to as "the kids' table" but today Mom called it "the auxiliary table." She's funny.

After we eat and clean the kitchen, everybody finds a place to take a nap. I've taken a nap on Sunday afternoons for as long as I can remember. It's definitely a psychological thing now, because I feel like I can't function on Sunday nights without taking a snooze in the afternoon. Apparently, Brent sleeps in my bed when I am not there. It's his bed of choice, which is understandable, because it is so comfortable. I think he probably sleeps in it more than I do these days, because he is there every week and I am not. He sleeps more ON it than IN it, but still... it's funny. Today, he "claimed" it while we were eating, but ended up being a gentleman and let Amy have it. What a nice guy. I don't know if I'd be so kind as to give up my bed for a friend. Mwahaha. That's not true, but it made me laugh when I thought about it. So yeah, about 1/2 hour after we eat, the house is silent except for the tv, which is left on even though nobody is awake.

Angie, Katie, and I left after we ate, but I did get a nap in once I got back to my room. It was great, I woke up at 5. :)

Oh yeah, on Friday, I made a t-shirt that says "Not everything is flat in Indiana." I wore it home on Saturday, and my parents just looked at me. Mom asked if I'd make her one, which I found to be humorous. We'll see. Today, Dad told me I shouldn't wear it anywhere outside of my dorm room. I think he's right. I can't exactly wear it to class or around campus: I'd probably be shunned by all the holy folk. :) I definitely can't wear it to church. Ever. Imagine, me talking to some 6th grade boy who asks what my shirt means. I'd have to lie and say it was a project for my social studies class. We were making salt-relief maps of the state and there are hills in southern Indiana, so my friend and I have a running joke about how Indiana is not all flat. Or something like that.