Saturday, May 8, 2010

Word of the Day: Remember

So many stories that adults tell start with, "Remember that one time in college when..." Well, I graduated yesterday. I am afraid I am going to forget all of my stories! So here are some that I am logging now so that I can remember:

Rex: Remember that one time in college when...

...we got in a smoothie fight. My winter coat is still sticky and smells faintly of raspberry.

...we carved our initials into that tree by the rivier.

...we bred rats illegally in my dorm room.

...we pretended to get in a fight in Meijer and that lady in the wheelchair almost hit you because she was so mad at how you were treating me.

...I threw your hat in the fountain and you dove in after it because your hats are like your babies.

...and then you threw me into the fountain as revenge.

...we interviewed all the drunk people on Grand River after MSU made it to the championship game in March Madness.

...we ate at Pancheros and then went to Barnes and Noble almost every single week and we never got sick of it.

...BTB closed and we thought it was the absolute end of the world.

...we had that statistics class with PK and just passed notes the entire time. (BTW, I would like it to be recorded here that I got a better grade than you in that class. I'm just saying. So what if it was by one percent? I still win.)

...I threw my ice cream sundae at you and pretended that I just found out you were cheating on me so that all of the girls in the caf thought you were a terrible person and then you had to go take your exam covered in sprinkles.

...I ran into a brick wall walking home on my 21st birthday.

...we dressed up Cindy for Halloween and Easter.

...you bought baby Houdie and he jumped out of your hands and ran to hide in a bag of dog chow.

...I told my teacher you can deliver her baby, but luckily you didn't have to.

...we had a picnic in the garden.

...we went to two Tiger's games.

...we went to Michelle's place in Ann Arbor during the MSU/OSU game, and there was that one random guy cheering for State.

...when Swenson kicked that field goal to beat Wisconsin by one point and we were sitting twelve rows behind the goal posts.

...we raised $800 for the humane society by renting out puppies.

...we found that duck nesting outside of your window.


Katie: Remember that one time in college when...

...you told me that "we are going to be BEST FRIENDS" on the day that you met me, and I was totally freaked out.

...you made super cute fishbowl door decs for everyone.

...and made super cute tote bags for everyone.

...you went with me to pick out my wedding dress since my family was in New Zealand, and we found that ridiculous bird hairpiece. I still think you should wear it.

...you went to Bible study with me even though it took some serious convincing

...and you ended up accepting Christ a few weeks later. :-)

...you called yourself a "delusional bridesmaid" and told everyone you are in my wedding.

...you thought you were going to marry Kevin and had your wedding date set for April 30, 2016.

...you finally met Cindy and decided that you must have a rat of your own.

...that one thing happened the night before we left for home while we were watching "Never Been Kissed," and we did the weird jumpy/screamy thing that is only okay in middle schools and sororities.

...we actually did become best friends.


Charissa: Remember that time in college when...

...we were roommates.

...you made up a song for Cindy to teach her about Jesus: "Cindy Lou Cindy Lou Cindy Lou Cindy Lou-yah! Praise ye the Lord!"

...you also went to help me pick out my wedding dress, and you were the only one who liked the dress I picked.

...we always had quesadillas and watched Brian Regan on the first day of school.

...that one time when the Wings guy was looking for "Room 1" but found us instead and we tried to take Rex and Josh's wings.

...we got engaged within a month of each other and asked each other to be bridesmaids.

...we made our "wedding board" and each had half of it to tack up our wedding ideas.

...we decided to save money by splitting a graduation cap and gown and also a wedding veil.

...I tried a million times to convince Josh that you guys should get a rat but he didn't believe me.

...we went to Macy's with Rex and tried on the most ridiculous clothes we could pick out for each other.

...we went on a double date to Chili's and talked about possibly trying to reserve a table for "MackaHolleWebAsel."

...we went to that Bridal Show together and took crazy pictures in the photo booth.




That's a fun game. Maybe I will continue it with some of my other friends later. Three is good for now, though, since this post is already so long. I love college. Oops, I guess I should say, "I loved college." Sad day. I already miss it.






Word of the Day: Empty

Everyone is gone.

Campus is like a ghost town right now. I hate it.

All of the rooms are opened so you can look in and see the bare furniture and blank walls.

My friends are gone...Rex is gone...my rat is gone...life is bleak.

It is seriously eerie. I'm working at the front desk right now in Yakeley, the busiest desk in West Circle, and no one is coming by. I helped Katie move out today, and it was weird to see her room all blank and devoid of personality like all of the other rooms in the hall. It's just sad. I don't like being here alone. It feels wrong. It seems like everyone died and I'm the only one left behind. I have one friend still on campus (that's it! One!), but she doesn't live in my hall so it still feels totally weird. I've started packing, but it's just so sad! I'm not coming back again! This is my last day at MSU...WEIRD.

Still, being at MSU when no one else is here is no fun at all, so I really just want to leave at this point. I don't get to leave until tomorrow, though. *sigh*

Friday, May 7, 2010

Word of the Day: Secret

I have a secret.

Well, it's not really my secret...it's my friend's secret. We'll call that friend "Bernice."

So, Bernice has been wanting to meet Cindy (my adorable rat) all year. Because Bernice is also a mentor, I did not want to let her meet my pet on account of it would be her responsibility to turn me in. Even though she swore she wouldn't and I totally believed her, I still didn't want to put her in that compromising position.

As the year came to an end, though, I decided it wouldn't be that big of a deal to let her meet Cindy. After all, I am totally not going to get fired with two days left of the semester.

When Bernice met Cindy, she responded in the way that any normal person would (If you were normal, Carly and Josh, you would have responded this way too). She said, "Oh my gosh she is sooooooo cuuuuuute!!!! I love her!!! Awwwww!!! Look at the way she scampers around!!!!! AHH! She's tickling my shoulders!!!" You get the idea. She loved her. Approximately three minutes after meeting Cindy, she said, "I want one too. Let's go get one."

With no finals left and everyone else studying, I didn't have anything better to do. So Bernice and I went to Preuss Pets and got her a complete rat setup! A rat, a cage, toys, a food dish, water bottle, the whole nine yards. Her new baby rat is so cute!!! So now even though I am graduating and moving away, there will still be at least one stowaway rat in Yakeley. Oops, I mean...on campus somewhere. I don't want to incriminate Bernice.

Oh, and we'll go ahead and say that Bernice named the rat "Katie." You know, just to keep up with the code names and such. ;-)

I am so proud of my little Cinders Linders. That fateful day in August of 2008 when I went and picked her up at the pet shop, no one knew what was coming. Here is a list of people who have gotten rats now because of meeting Cindy and learning how amazing rats are:

1. Rex
2. Cara
3. My mom
4. Jake
5. Michelle
6. My cousins Max, Michael, Matthew, and Jacob
7. Rex's cousin Joe
8. Cara's friend Morgan
9. Rex's cousin Dorothy
10. "Bernice"

That's a lot of rat love being spread around. All because Cindy is the cutest ball of fur to ever hit the Earth. I love her.

And now Bernice loves her rat too. Just like my love of Cindy, though, it has to be a secret. On-campus love of small animals is forbidden. We're like the Romeo and Juliet of the pet/owner variety, and our ending is much happier.

Stay tuned for an invite to Cindy's 2nd birthday party, which will be in July!

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Word of the Day: Long

It has been a LONG time since I posted anything to this blog. The last few weeks of school have been CRAZY, but things are slowing down now. That is, they are slowing down until after graduation, at which point they are going to get crazy again as I put the finishing touches on the Knasel/Webb wedding. 17 days. WHOA!

Here's what you missed while my typing fingers were idle:

1. Michelle came to visit! I had a total blast with her, and I'm so glad she came. She had to do some last minute work on school stuff before her finals week, and she wanted everyone at U of M to leave her alone so she came here!! She mostly studied, but Rex and I had to study too so that was okay. On Thursday (the night before she left), we went out after Rex's work shift (which ended at 1 AM) to BW3 and got boneless wings and drinks - YUM!! So much for that Webb curfew...lol

2. On the subject of Michelle, she graduated on Saturday and Rex and I went to go watch her. President Obama was speaking at the ceremony, and he did a really good job. After graduation we went to Abby's grandparents' house for dinner, and it was delicious. It may have been slightly less delicious if I had eaten anything in the past seven hours, but I hadn't. Therefore it was AMAZING.

3. Duckies! I was going to devote an entire post to ducks, but alas - I never had time. There is a female duck nesting outside of Rex's window, and we check on her every day. I can't wait for the babies to be born! Also, Rex and I saw a separate mommy duck a few days ago in the river. She had ten tiny babies who looked like they were swimming for the first time. They couldn't swim well at all and kept bobbling around. It was hilarious.

4. Puppies!! Rex loves dogs, so I decided to devise a way to get dogs to campus so he could play with them. Little did I know that this small idea would actually end up becoming a big event! I organized a "Rent-a-puppy" event where students could rent a puppy in exchange for a donation to the humane society. The humane society provided all the puppies last weekend, hundreds of students came, and we (my staff and the West Circle Community) raised over $800 to donate to the humane society! WOW! All because Rex wanted to play with puppies! Rex, of course, was a main volunteer for the event. :-)

5. Cotton Candy - At "Stress-free Zone" on the Sunday before finals, I was in charge of running the cotton candy machine. Best. Job. Ever. The only downside was that at the end of the night I felt like a bug that a spider was wrapping up to eat on account of the thin strings of sugar clinging to my clothes, skin, and hair. I bet I smelled good, though!

6. Girls' Day! On account of the fact that I only have one piece-of-cake final and it's not until Wednesday, I spent yesterday at the mall and then having a movie night. Two of my friends, Megan and Sara, are in similar finals situations, so I hung out with them. I bought a dress for the rehearsal dinner as well as two pairs of flip flops (2 for $5! WHOO HOO!). We had a lovely spaghetti dinner, and we watched How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. While we were watching, Sara took notes on all of the reasons why she dislikes Matthew McConaughey. It filled up FOUR pages.

7. Because this is number 7 on my list, it is the perfect time to tell you that I am working a seven hour shift behind the desk today. Can we say, "boringville"?? I was only supposed to work three and a half, but the girl after me was sick so I said I could stay. I played McVideoGame for an hour and made it to the year 2030. You may say I'm being unproductive, which would be true, but hey - I have no homework! Have you ever played McVideoGame? It's pretty sweet. Try it out: http://www.mcvideogame.com/

8. Today I filled out my first application form where, when I have to check the box, "What is your highest level of education?" I could click "I have a bachelor's degree." It felt good.

Well, that's all for now. The mail came, so I suppose I should sort it.

I promise to update more often now that my work is done for a while!