10 Things I Like

Whoever reads this should also post 10 things they like. It's not in any particular order, and it doesn't have to be your top 10 favorite things. They can be simple or elaborate, or anything, actually! Because listing what you like to do shows a lot about who you are.

10 Things I Like:

1. Songs with meaning~ Happy tunes are exciting, but I like songs that can mean something to me-- something that I can relate to. Last week I heard what is now one of my favorite songs ever-- I listened to it all the way to Indy and back, and it gets better every time!
Someone to Fall Back On, by Aly Michalka

I'll never be a knight in armor with a sword in hand or a kamekazi fighter
Don't count on me to storm a barricade and take a stand or hold my ground
You'll never see any scars or wounds. I don't walk on coals, I won't walk on water
I am no prince, I am no saint, I am not anyone's wildest dream
But I will stand behind and be someone to fall back on

Some comedy; you're bruised and beaten down and I'm the one who's looking for a favor
Still honestly, you don't believe me but the things I have are the things you need
You look at me like I don't make sense, like I'm a waste of time, like it serves no purpose
I am no prince, I am no saint, and if that's what you believe you need
You're wrong- you don't need much, you need someone to fall back on

Someone that will take your side; if I'm the only one, I'm used to that
I've been alone, I'd rather be half of us-- the least of you, the best of me
And I will be, I'll be your prince, I'll be your saint, I will go crashing through fences
In your name, I will, I swear, I'll be someone to fall back on

I will be the one who waits, and for as long as you let me
I will be the one you need, I'll be someone to fall back on

~ I really like this song because it wasn't just written as a love song; it was written as an anything and everything song. Good songs are awesome!

2. Pizza King and Pepes-- two of the reasons if I ever leave Indiana, I'll be sad. There is no pizza like Pizza King, and no one has salsa as awesome as Pepe's. Good thing it's over 20 minutes away, or I'd go there every night!

3. Psych- One of my favorite shows ever! It makes me laugh no matter what kind of mood I was in before, and it reminds me of my relationship with my friends.

4. Having things to do outside my house- If I stay in one place too long, I'll fall asleep. Really-- that's probably why I'm so tired all the time. Whether it's going to the Library for an hour or the Battle Field, going somewhere else-- having a list of places to go and things to do that takes up time makes the day more bearable.

5. Being outside/Warm weather-- This summer, I am going to live in the lazy river! And swim a lot and play basketball and go outside and fall asleep. I also need to go back to the Dunes. My mom told me about a commercial she saw the other day that was really funny-- "It was horrible! It was all white, and everything was sooo cold!" "It was just winter... you'll be okay..." That's how I feel! "It was soooo horrible!" "You mean, winter?" "Yes! Thank-goodness we survived another one of those!!!

6. My love for plants might be considered weird and creepy by most, and it probably is. Ever since I was little, I had this thing about helping things that were trying to live live, and little plants have so much potential! Planting vegetable seeds and then watching them grow into huge plants that bare food is amazing! Gardening also gives me something to do. Manual labor sometimes is the best thing to keep you sane!

7. The British show Merlin-- A twist of the Merlin/Arthur story, where they're both the same age an in their 20's. I was a little wary of it, becuase my friend who told me that the Boy in the Striped Pajama movie was good recommended it to me, but I really like it! It has some of the best friendship characters I have seen. My favorite part-- still the hug scene:
Arthur: Well, thanks! (Pats Merlin on the back)
Merlin: Yeah (leans in for a hug)
Arthur: (Throws his hands in the air) WHOA!!! (Merlin backs out and throws his hands up, too) What are you doing?!?!
Merlin: I thought... we were going for hugs.
Arthur: NO!
Merlin: Oh...
*Arthur walks away with a disgusted look on his face*

8. Writing-- I love to write. I'm probably horrible at it, especially since I write something at midnight and think it's awesome, only to look at it the next day and see how incredibly cheesy it is. I don't usually let people read the things I write, but I should change that, if anyone's interested.

9. Learning things that will probably never come in handy-- Did you know tomatoes originated in South America? And they were the size of grape tomatoes. Maybe a little bigger. What did the Italians use before tomatoes?! Also, whoolly mammoths came AFTER elephants. Who knew?

10. I like joking around. Lots of the time people think I'm serious and actually mean my outlantish remarks. I've been told when I actually am serious, I'm scary, so hopefully you can know the difference in that way:).

Another week

My week was relatively uneventful. So uneventful, in fact, that I barely remember what happened. If I remember at all... Here's what I do remember:

Monday and Tuesday, I watched my sister and brother-in-law's dog creature. It was decently nice outside, so I took her to the Battlefield. I found out she LOVES the water and tried to chew her leash off when I was pulling her away. On Tuesday, there was a woman there with a dog that wasn't on a leash. Her dog came running up to the one I was watching, and she said, "Watch out-- she's a fighter!" A mini-fight ensued, and afterwards, the owner of the other dog followed up with the question, "Which way's East?" I can't even find my way home from Walmart, so I told her that regretably, I had no idea. I couldn't care less which direction what is, and I think if left and right can be relative, directions are relative, too. She then asked where I was from, and I got to, for the first time in 10 years, introduce myself as a Battle Groundian. She then said, "I'm from Wisconsin." "Cool." "Yeah, I'm here touring..." "Oh," my mind thought, "so, she's ACTUALLY from a different state!" Being in a college town, I'm so used to people saying where they're from as a "this is where I was raised, but I now reside in Lafayette" thing. I couldn't believe people actually came from afar to visit places like Battle Ground! It was exciting, especially since my friends were there, so they got to answer their first questions as honorary natives. She then said, "I think it's horrible what we did to the Native Americans here-- just horrible!" I agreed and told her from the monuments and plaques honoring "the heroes" who fought on the American side it appeared that people around here were in favor of the people who killed thousands of people to steal their land, but in reality, it was quite opposite. She asked if there were still Native Americans around here, and I told her there weren't. I should have had fun with her and said something like, "Actually, I am descended from the Native Americans who fought in this battle... my great, great, great grandfather is buried in this land, which is why I walk here so often," but I can't lie, so I didn't. It was still a lot of fun to be a tour guide, though!

Friday(?) there was a prank on campus. Someone saw a white SUV pull up to a bus stop and force someone waiting there into a car. They called the police, who alerted all of Purdue. That means my friends and I went into amateur Kidnapper Hunting. We looked at every white SUV that passed by our way and tried to see if they were shady looking people. We only found one that almost matched the discription, but we found out that it was all a prank, and our job ended. It's okay, though-- because we're Kidnapper Hunters!

A friend of mine went to work with me on my overnight shift at the Crisis Center. I was very appreciative of that, because I'm normally scared to death there alone, and with two people, it's not scary at all! We watched an entire disk of psych. It was a productive night:)

I also learned a lot of useless trivia, such as the guy who plays Shawn and the girl who plays Jules are dating in real life, the guy who plays Gus is married, and the guy who plays Shawn's dad is married to a British lady.

Oh, and my vegetable seeds are still growing...

Spring Break

Well, I decided that since my sisters were both blogging, perhaps I should start mine off again, too. First of all, the weather has been AMAZING for this time of year. Perhaps because March loves us. I made a deal the last 5 days of February that I wouldn't complain about the snow and cold, but in return, I could complain all I wanted to in March, because although the rest of the world mistakenly believes today is the first day of Spring, I know the actual Spring equinox is March 1st. Of course the last 5 days of February were in the 20's and snowing, but after that, it has been really amazing! Here's a couple of things I that highlighted my week:

Monday- always good to start off then. Monday I had an informational interview with a hospital in Fort Wayne, Indiana (about 2 and a half hours away). At the last moment (literally around 11:00 PM the night before), my mom saw how scared I was to drive my car that far in the pre-dawn hours, so she took the day off and drove me. I have the best mommy in the world:). I told her I had to get over my fear some time, and she said, "Yes, but not in an interview... you don't want something to go wrong before that..." We made it, and I was very surprised how different a Child Life department can be from the one at Riley North, where I'm used to working at. I got home in time to clean most of my house (as in, throw everything into my room), go grocery shopping, and feed the missionaries. When they were leaving, they asked if there was anything they could do for me, and I said, "Well, if you want to take the meat home, that would be good." "Okay!" said one missionary, but the other said, "I don't really want any..." So the first missionary said, "Okay-- we won't take any, then..." "No, really-- I'm not going to eat it, Elders-- I'm a vegetarian." "Are you really?" "Yeah..." "It's okay-- I had like, 20 cookies..." So I was left with $14 of uneaten lunch meat. A few days later, I just ended up throwing it all away, because I'm not sure how long it's able to stay in the refrigerator before it goes bad. I did, however, start to see some of my peppers sprout. Peppers take forever to sprout (as in, 10 days-- I'm impatient), so I was beginning to think they never would turn up again. I planted 72 peppers and 72 tomatoes. I'm hoping to buy a plot at Purdue again and this year actually follow through with my garden!

Tuesday I had another informational interview with Riley Hospital at Methodist. Again, completely different from Riley North, but the people there were friendly. There are about 5 Child Life Specialists there, so I think I like Fort Wayne better. Maybe not better, but at Fort Wayne, there's less people, and I feel like I could do more there. The cons: being away from my friends and family, but it's only for 4 months, and it's only Fort Wayne-- easily drive-able. If I want to be a Child Life Specialist, I have to have an internship, and Lafayette doesn't have any. Indy does, but I really don't want to depend upon my car to take me over an hour away to work every day-- plus gas prices alone, along with the fact that my internship will be in the winter, so if there's a lot of ice on the interstate... Gas would be $12 a day, which would be an extra $240 a month, during a semester I'm not supposed to be working. I don't know, though-- we'll see which one actually accepts me. I might have no choice...

Wednesday-- I don't remember what I did. Really-- no clue. Perhaps that was one of the days-- wait-- yes, it was! A friend and I redboxed Princess and the Frog. In my mind, nothing can compare to Mulan, but at least now I know a little bit more about the Bayou, which we're going to be forced to live in once we can't get jobs and have to live in a tree house. I also told myself that I was going to clean my house, which didn't happen.

Thursday-- I went for a walk in the Battlefield because the weather was so nice. I love going to Battle Ground-- I have lots of good memories there. I then went to the Library for the first time since I returned the books I owed $189 on, and borrowed the exact same ones back. It was actually kind of funny, because as I was being checked out, the lady at the counter suddenly put her hand on the book after scaning and said, "Have you ever read this before?" I was all scared thinking, "Oh crap-- there's something in that computer that says, 'Don't let Charissa borrow this book!!! She'll never return it!!!'" I just said, "No, I haven't READ it, but..." "Oh-- it's REALLY good-- she's one of my favorite authors!" I would believe the library was out to get me... Then at 2:50 I forgot I told my best friend's brother I would take him driving at 3:00. He has his permit, but is too scared to drive with his parents. He drove past my dad's house, on to 52, then to Schuyler, to Delphi, and back to his house. It took about 2 hours of constant driving at scary places. I was really proud of him!

Friday I actually cleanned my room! Well, mostly... I didn't touch my closet, but that's because scary things happen in there. I finished just in time for my sister's birthday party, which was AWESOME! I didn't want to leave, but at 11:20, I thought, "I have to leave by 5:30 to go to Indy to work in the morning..." I didn't actually fall asleep until 1:30, but I had a lot of fun laser tagging!

Saturday, like I said, I went to Indy to work at Passport toward Success for MFRI. There was a whole bunch that went into it that I'm too lazy to write here, but suffice it to say when I got home, I went to sleep at 4:00 PM, woke up at 7:30, and then when 10:10 came around, I thought, "Time to go to bed again!" And then laid in my bed until 12:30, when I finally went to sleep and had a weird dream that my hair fell out because I tried to dye it, and my hair didn't like it. Thank goodness I had a barbie wig, because then next day I was supposed to be at another interview. I woke up thinking, "Wait-- that was a dream?! Thank-goodness! It was a dream, right..." I think we should all get barbie wigs, just incase stuff like that happens