Gone Again

It's not really surprising that Andrew and I are no longer friends. This happens once a semester, and then we somehow find a way back to each other. It's ridiculous every single time, so if this is the way it is, I hope this is the way it stays. I can't put up with this for three more semesters after this one. I could go into so much drama with this one, but I'll spare you all the immature details.

Here's what happened. My two best friends are, or were, Andrew and Jordan. Both of them loved spending time with me alone, but the two of them didn't get along too well. After a stressful day, I told both of them that I didn't want to hang out tonight. However, Andrew came up to my room to check on me, and we went up to the 6th floor study room for him to fix my laptop. I was feeling much better and planned to hang out with him later. Then, Jordan called and asked if I wanted to go to McDonald's with her. Without really thinking much of it, I said yes. Andrew blew up at me, saying that it was supposed to be our time together and that I had chosen Jordan over him. I was planning on hanging out with him after my McDonald's outing with Jordan, but he didn't believe me. Somehow, this all escalated into a huge war of the words and him saying that he can't trust me and never has been able to. Eventually, he left, calling me something very special. I recently discovered that he has not only removed me from his Facebook friends, but he has also blocked me entirely. For him, this is a huge move, so I do think it's officially over this time.

I've shed too many tears in the past over our lost friendship, so I'm all done crying. He's never really read the blog, so he probably won't see it. Even if he does, there's nothing here that he doesn't already know. I'm not his girlfriend, and he doesn't own me. My only fault, I believe, was trying too hard to please both of my best friends. Now I've lost one for the millionth time. At least he fixed my computer before he declared our friendship dead. I do appreciate him very much for that. Jordan is amazing. She even tried to mediate the whole conflict. Needless to say, she's still sticking by me like she always has.

Nothing Exciting

Yesterday was pretty uneventful. I had theater and Latin, and other than a total tool in my theater class who wanted to debate everything and believed he was right about everything. If anyone else tried to talk, he would snap his fingers when they made a point, like they were wrong and he was showing them how stupid they were and how he didn't have time to listen to them. I wish he would drop the class. As for Latin, I think I'm going to get a tutor. It's close enough to Spanish that I get really mixed up. Why did I not take Spanish, you ask? Well, Spanish is impossible at Duke. Andrew and I studied for a while in the 6th floor study room last night, and it was beautiful. I love it up there, and the stairs to it are right across from my room. The night ended with a phone call from Goggy and a scalding shower.

In other news, Sarah is coming to visit today through Saturday! We'll have a great time for sure, except for that she will have to sleep on the floor. Also, I'm not really sure about Yaz. I've been riding the crimson wave for 9 days now, and it seems like I'm chronically bloated. Hopefully, things will let up soon. As for my back, I've been having that same pain in my shoulder blades, which is no doubt exacerbated by carrying a bag of books around. I still need to make an appointment with Dr. Hey for my 3-month follow-up, but I'll want to talk to him about the shoulder pain when I see him. Well, I'm in personality psych right now, so I should probably pay attention to the lecture. Looking forward to seeing you and the baby whenever he or she emerges, Myrrh!

Coincidence

One of the coolest things happened today. After my adolescent psychology class, Andrew took me with him to talk to the professor because he knows her through the Robertson program. We talked for about 15 minutes with her, and somehow it came up that her daughter had had back surgery 2 years ago. Something just told me to probe further, so I asked her what kind of surgery, and she said it was for scoliosis. I asked what surgeon she used, and she said Dr. Hey! What a coincidence! We were able to talk about her daughter's wonderful experience at the Hey Clinic, and I can just tell that she's going to be a great professor. She seems really fun, and Andrew says that she's crazy, so the class should be excellent. Andrew and I had lunch after we finished talking to her.

I also had personality psychology today, which should be an interesting course, but the professor gives off a creepy vibe, like a sex offender who preys on young co-eds. I can't really explain it, but I'm not going to sit in the front of the classroom or draw attention to myself. I got a nap after that class, and then I had dinner with Jordan and Rebecca. At 9:30, I had a hall meeting, and then Andrew, Jordan, and I went to McDonald's for dessert. I'm so addicted to their iced coffees right now. Now I'm doing homework and getting ready to take a shower. I'm gonna be up pretty late, unfortunately. Two days in, and I'm already procrastinating like crazy.

Not Over

Scoliotastic isn't over, at least not yet. Of course, I've only had one day of class so far, so the work will start piling up over the next week, but right now, it's not too bad. The family helped me move in on Saturday, and I love my room. It's small, but it's just the right size for a single, and it's all I need. I'm on the 5th floor in a tower of a newly renovated dorm, and there's only one other room up here. The bathroom is right below us, and there's a beautiful study room above us. I don't know anyone else in this dorm, but that's fine with me. Andrew's dorm is right next door, and Jordan's is two dorms down. I overlook the bus stop roundabout, and there are no frats nearby, so it's pretty quiet here. Needless to say, being on the 5th floor wasn't fun for moving in, but I didn't have to carry much at all because my back is still healing. What a wonderful excuse! After we got all moved in, the family, Andrew, and I went to dinner at The Loop. When we parted ways, I was sadder than I had expected to be, but still totally excited to be here. I had become so used to living at home for 4 months with my parents that it was a bit upsetting to see them go, but I only shed a few tears. As for Sarah, I'm pretty used to not seeing her! Plus, she's coming to visit later this week. Saturday night, Andrew and I hung out some, and he gave me a precious stuffed llama from Argentina and a handcarved design stone as gifts, but I was in bed by 12:30.

Sunday was a bit more difficult, mainly because there was nothing much to do. I'm the kind of person who needs a routine, and that hadn't been established yet, so I was feeling kind of down. Andrew, Matthew and I had lunch and hung out, and I had a great time, but I still needed to call my dad and just talk for a little bit to see how everything was going at home. After we talked, I felt a lot better, and then I hung out with Jordan for a while. She, Rebecca, and I ended up going to Office Depot, Target, and Ross to look for various things, and that lifted my spirits a lot. I needed a standing fan for my room because even though it's air conditioned, it doesn't get as cool as I want it. I basically like to live in an icebox. Unfortunately, Target was out of standing fans, so I'll have to get one somewhere else. When we got back to Duke, we ordered pizza and watched Hocus Pocus. Once again, I was in bed by 12:30.

Today was pretty good, considering it was the first day of classes, or FDOC, as it's called at Duke. I woke up at 9:30 to go to breakfast with Jordan, but she canceled because she was too tired, so I had a bowl of cereal in my room. At 11:10, 30 minutes in advance, I hopped the bus over to East Campus for my first class, Reading Theater, which is required for theater minors. The professor is great and has an awesome British accent, and it seems like it'll be a really interesting class. After that, I made the long trek off campus over to the Registrar's Office to get some scholarship renewal forms signed, only to discover that the office had been moved to a warehouse even farther off campus. I was really frustrated, but I hopped on the bus that took me to my car and then drove to the building to get my forms signed. The warehouse was ridiculous and like a maze with all the construction that was going on, but I got done what I needed to get done, and drove back to West Campus. By that time, I had about an hour before my next class, so I grabbed a bite to eat. Finding my next class at 3:05 wasn't easy, though, and Sarah had to help me out with some online maps. Perkins Library is such a maze, too. You never know where you're going to end up. Anyways, this class is Latin 63, which is the third level of Latin, and the last foreign language course I have to take at Duke, assuming I pass it. I'll be so glad to finish up with this dead language, although my professor this semester seems pretty interesting. By interesting, I mean crazy. She likes to dance around the room while she teaches, and she's way too excited about Latin. However, her enthusiasm could be good in the long run. At 3:55, I left the library, Andrew called, and I told him I'd meet him at the Bryan Center. I also told Jordan that I'd have dinner with her at 5:00. I got an iced coffee from McDonald's, but I was still pretty full from lunch, so I didn't eat anything. When Jordan arrived, we all three sat in one of the swings with tables on the plaza, and when Andrew left, Rebecca replaced him. I just finished saying farewell to Jordan and Rebecca, and now I'm enjoying some down time in my room. I've done a lot of walking today, so I'm pretty tired. I might take a nap and then hang out with people later, but things are going well so far. Also, I apologize for any mistakes in the blog entries from here on out. I'm tired of proofreading all of them, so what I write initially is what you get.

The End?

I woke up really nauseous this morning and wasn't even sure if I could go to Jumpin' Jacks with Gene and Sarah for breakfast. After drinking some water, though, my stomach settled down enough to go. I had a Joe's cinnamon bun and regular coffee, and they were delicious. When we got home, I lay out in the sun for almost 2 hours. Unfortunately, I'm really burned now, and I have raccoon eyes from where my sunglasses were. My face is beet red and feels about 200 degrees. Anyways, the rest of the afternoon was pretty worthless, but Marold and I got a lot of packing done, and we're still packing while watching some Arrested Development. I've just felt incredibly nauseous all day. Since nausea is a side effect of Yaz, I assume that that's where it's coming from. It's been pretty miserable at times, but I definitely don't want to stop taking the medicine. I'm hoping that my body will adjust to it quickly. So, I'm heading back to Duke tomorrow, and I'm ready, as long as this nausea goes away. It's gonna be great having a single room in the tower on the main quad. It overlooks the bus stop, too, so I can pretty much roll out of bed and run to the buses if I need to. I'm really excited.

As for Scoliotastic, I'm not sure what's going to happen from now on. I know that I'll be busy when classes get going on Monday, so I can't promise that I'll continue blogging. It's really sad to think that this might be the end, so I'm not going to say that it is. I won't be able to post as often, of course, but I really do hope that I can continue to update. It's been really awesome to have this blog throughout the surgery and all, and it's so interesting to go back and read some of the earliest entries. That's why I can't officially say goodbye. I feel that I have a lot more to say. I'm not finished yet. Nope. Even if it's Christmas break or next summer before I post again, I'm definitely not finished yet. Here we go, junior year...

Lunch With Leslie

I woke up at about 11:00 and met Leslie at the church at noon. We went to Harmanco's, and I had the cold plate and sweet tea. It was really nice to get to talk to her and get to know her better. She's our associate minister, for those who don't know. Basically, we had a really good conversation and a good meal, and then I read The Lucky One by Nicholas Sparks for the rest of the afternoon. I love Nicholas Sparks. He always gets me so hooked on his books, probably because I'm such a hopeless romantic, and I need to believe that I can one day have what his characters have. Anyways, I definitely recommend that book to everyone, as well as all of his other books. When Marold got home at 6:00, she took Sarah and me to Little Tokyo for dinner while Gene was at a meeting. After that, we came home, and Gene suggested that we all go to Sonic for some ice cream. Of course nobody objected. Since then, we've been watching Arrested Development and Project Runway. In other news, I started taking Yaz last night for my PMDD. It's supposed to take about 3 months to work, but I'm praying that it's my miracle drug. Also, my left shoulder blade has been giving me some trouble for about the past 2 weeks. It's almost a burning pain, and it gets pretty intense at times, so I'll have to ask Dr. Hey what's going on with that when I see him next. I guess tomorrow will be a major packing day since I'm moving back to Duke on Saturday! At least Sarah, Gene, and I will be going out to breakfast before all the insanity begins.

Breakfast & Dinner

I woke up today at 8:30 and met Charles and Rebekah at the Goody Shop at 9:15. It was really great to catch up with them, and my sausage biscuit was delicious. It's nice to know that some people haven't changed at all and that I still feel comfortable talking to them casually and being myself around them. Afterwards, I came home and lay out for about an hour and a half. I took a little nap out there, too. It was all quite comfortable. I ended up watching some TV and then taking a longer nap in my room when it rained. It was one of the best naps I've ever had. At 7:00, our family met Gog, Granddaddy, Aunt Carolyn, Poo, David, and Meagan at Blue Bay for some fish. I had the Alaskan white fish, salted and peppered, of course. I ate all of it, and Gog amused the whole table and our waitress by talking with a lisp. She's crazy, but she's amazing. When we all parted ways, our family went to Wal-Mart and bought a step-stool for me so I can actually get up on my lofted bed without jumping and injuring myself. Now, we're watching Arrested Development and eating the last of Gene's birthday cake. I'm having lunch with Leslie, our associate minister, tomorrow, so I'll be going to bed soon. I hope I didn't overdo the sun today, or I might scare Leslie to death.

TPO - Enough Said

I woke up at about 9:30 and went to Gog's around 11:00 to see The Precious One, who is more precious than ever, of course. He's walking a bit now, and he has the cutest little New Balance shoes. We played for a while until Emily came to get him, and Sarah showed up. Gog, Granddaddy, Sarah, and I then had chicken salad for lunch, and Sarah and I went shopping at Maurice's. After trying on about 7 pairs of jeans, I actually found one pair that fit me pretty well. Thank goodness for that. It's so hard for me to find any pants that fit, so I'm very glad that the trip was productive. When we came back home, we didn't do much at all except for try to go to the used bookstore, but it was closed. I did get to chat with Mary for a little bit, which was awesome, as usual. Now we're sitting in the den watching Arrested Development, and I hope Sarah's warming up to it. It's such an awesome show. Tomorrow morning, I'm getting up pretty early to go to breakfast at the Goody Shop with Rebekah and Charles, so that will definitely be fun!

Old Man Gene

Today was Gene's birthday, so Sarah woke me up at about 10:30 for the three of us to go to breakfast. Marold wasn't coming since it was her first day back at work. We got ready and went to Waffle House, only to receive a call from Marold soon after we had ordered. She had just started her lunch break, so she was actually able to meet us there and eat with us. It was really nice. Afterwards, Marold and Sarah went home, and I ran some errands with Gene. A bit later, Sarah and I took a fairly long walk and then relaxed for the rest of the afternoon, watching Carmen: The Hip-Hopera and The Nightmare Before Christmas. When Marold got home from work, she had a hair appointment, but when she was finished, we all went to supper at Applebee's. It had been Gene's request yesterday to watch some Disney movies this week, so I burned some illegally, and we watched Hercules tonight while eating the German chocolate birthday cake Sarah and I made. Marold gave Gene a really creepy card with a talking ventriloquist's dummy on the front, and it was perfect since Gene hates puppetry, magic, mimicry, and all things fake. After Hercules, we watched some Arrested Development, of which I have now seen all episodes at least 4 times, and then Gene and Marold went to bed. Sarah and I are still watching Arrested Development, but I'm going to bed soon so I can get up early to visit Emily and TPO at Goggy's house!

Scoliotastic Lives

Yes, Scoliotastic is still alive, I promise. It's been far too long since I last posted, but there is a lot to write about my NYC trip, which is the main thing that has happened since the last entry. Something else that has occurred that I can gloss over pretty quickly is Justin and Candace's wedding on August 8th. We stayed in a hotel in Greensboro for 2 nights in order to attend the rehearsal dinner, wedding, and reception. It was a lot of fun, and it was great to be able to see my dad's side of the family since I don't get to see them that often. There was a couple who were always drunk, and the woman kept hitting on Gene. I nicknamed her Cheesecake because my dad said he might want to stay longer at the rehearsal dinner to get a piece of cheesecake. He obviously meant the dessert because this woman was so annoying, but I took his comment a different way. Anyhow, the wedding was lovely, and I loved getting to wear my new brown dress. As for everything else that I've not written about in the past few weeks, I've been out to lunch with Matt and Kristen, breakfast with Matt, and over to Gog's house with Poo and Sarah to play shuffleboard. I'm sure I'm forgetting a lot of things, but they're insignificant. Now I'll get onto the NYC trip. I have some notes I wrote about the trip as it was happening, but they're kind of confusing now. Basically, I'll do my best piecing the events back together.

We flew out of RDU, and when we were going through security, the rods in my back set off the metal detector, which I was hoping would not happen. One of the officials had to use the explosives wand on me off to the side, which was pretty embarrassing, but oh well. After we got through security, we grabbed a bite to eat and found out that our flight was delayed until 2:35. We boarded, and took off at about 3:00. Unfortunately, there was a weather delay, and there were too many planes over LaGuardia, so we had to stop in Baltimore to refuel. We had the most annoying and loud girl a row behind and diagonally to us, and she was constantly complaining about the smell coming from the bathroom, and how she was dying for a cigarette. Basically, after all the delays, a flight that should've only taken about an hour ended up taking four hours, and after a long time circling over LaGuardia, we landed at 6:54. Since we had a show to catch at 8:00, we had to rush out of the airport and into a cab. Sarah called and said that we didn't have time to check into our hotel, so we ended up checking all our bags at the theater coat room. By the time we got into our seats, it was about 7:55. The show we saw was Next to Normal, a rock musical about a family with a mother who has bipolar disorder. It was awesome, and I'm addicted to the soundtrack. It was easily my favorite nighttime activity we did the whole trip. Afterwards, we went across the street to Junior's to finally have dinner, and I had a club sandwich. We later checked into our hotel, On the Avenue. By 11:30, we were all asleep.

The next morning, we woke up at 10:30 and headed across the street to eat at Manhattan Diner, one of our favorite breakfast spots in NYC. I had a Belgian waffle and coffee. Even though it was scorching outside, we then took a walk through Central Park and ended up at FAO Schwarz, where we got to see some giant Lego movie characters and the huge piano from the movie Big. The air conditioning also felt amazing. Our next stops were Canal Street, where I found a great fake Coach bag, and Burger King, where we all got something to drink. Eventually, we found our way back to the hotel, made time for a short nap, and then went to a jazz show and dinner. The show was excellent and just really relaxing, and the food was quite delicious as well. I had coconut shrimp and strawberry cheesecake for dessert. When we got back to the hotel, I took a shower and fell asleep quickly. Overall, it was a big day to ride the subway everywhere.

At 10:00 on the next day, we all woke up and tried to have breakfast at Alice's Tea Cup, another one of our favorite restaurants in NYC, but there was an hour-long wait, so we ended up at Sarabeth's. I had a pumpkin waffle topped with pumpkin seeds, raisins, sour cream, strawberries, and honey, and I had coffee to drink. It was all scrumptious. We went back to the hotel for a nap, and then walked to Loehmann's to shop some. I got a cute shirt with two cats on it, and a massive thunderstorm started outside, so we were stranded in the store for a while, especially since I now have a lightning rod embedded in my body. Even though it was still pouring, we managed to make it to a Starbucks a few blocks away, where I got a caramel apple spice. There was a woman inside who got into an argument with an old lady in a neon yellow poncho about an open seat, and then the woman started yelling at a young guy in the corner about him looking at her. She called him a disgusting pig and told him that he just wished she were looking at him that way. After she left, he called a friend, relayed the story, and said that it was the funniest thing to ever happen to him in a Starbucks. When we had finished our drinks, we all went back to the hotel to relax until 7:30, when we headed to Sylvia's Soul Food in Harlem. We met up with Anna, who was one of our closest friends when she lived in Albemarle years ago, and we all enjoyed a delicious Southern meal while catching up with her. I had fried chicken, macaroni and cheese, potato salad, cornbread, and sweet tea. It was heavenly. When we were all stuffed, we said goodbye to Anna, hopped the subway, and then walked back to our hotel. In front of the hotel, there was a woman face-down on the street, surrounded by a few people trying to revive her. Since they weren't freaking out or anything, we just assumed she had gotten drunk and passed out right there. Once we got into our room and my head hit the pillow, I was fast asleep.

On our final full day, we got up at 10:30 and walked across the street to Manhattan Diner again. There was an old man right behind me who had the nastiest cough that sounded like he was choking and dying. It was so nerve-wracking that I had a panic attack and had to walk back to the hotel room to recover. A bit later, we went to an outdoor swing music concert, which was really cool, and then we decided to explore a Titanic exhibit in Times Square. It was absolutely awesome, especially some of the rooms that made you feel like you were actually on the ship, including a hallway and the Grand Staircase. We had our picture taken by the staff on the Grand Staircase, but it didn't turn out very well, so I really have nothing to show for this venture. I'd definitely recommend the exhibit to everyone, though. After we left the great ship, we walked through Bryant Park on our way back to the hotel, where we got ready for dinner at Alice's Tea Cup. I had an amazing smoked salmon sandwich and Earl Grey tea. Since we still had a few minutes before we needed to head to the theater where our next show would be, we explored a few shops. In the Heights was that night's entertainment. It's a musical about Washington Heights, and it was really good, too, but not nearly as good as Next to Normal, in my opinion. On our way to the theater, though, I saw a familiar face. Although he's not a big celebrity, I knew who he was. It was Christopher McDonald from Flubber and Chances Are. Unfortunately, none of the rest of the family was alert enough to spot him, but it was unmistakably him. After the show, we went to Roxy's Delicatessen for cheesecake and where some retard shouted, "I love NY!" I had a huge chunk of blueberry cheesecake, absolutely stuffing myself, and then we went back to the hotel for bed.

I don't have any notes on the next day, but we got up, said goodbye to Sarah, and went to the airport. The odd thing was that my back didn't set off the metal detector in LaGuardia, which makes me put a whole lot of stock in their security system. It's New York! They should have some of the best security around! Apparently not, though. Anyway, everything was pretty much on time with our flight, and I actually took a nap on the plane, which was a first for me. There was some nasty turbulence that woke me up at one point, but the rest of it was pretty smooth. As much fun as we had in NYC, we were all glad to be home. The trip was fantastic, but extremely exhausting, especially since we had Sarah as our tour guide.

As for this week, I don't have much planned. I'm heading back to Duke on Saturday, so I'm just going to spend these last few days at home relaxing, most likely. It's been a good summer. Mary, here's my blog entry for you. I know it's long, but I promised I would catch you up on everything! If anyone else reads this blog, I hope you enjoy the update as well. If anything else important happens in the next few days, I'll let you know! Also, I didn't proofread this entry because it's so long, so please forgive any grammatical errors or anything that just doesn't make sense.