Girly Musings and Angst

Okay, so strictly speaking, this isn't very English/Literature related. It isn't really academia related either. But I figured, it is my blog about my college experience and I can write about what I want, darn it! ;)
Anyway, every year each society has a dating outing, right? So, my society's is two weeks from tomorrow. Except I have no guy friends. The curse of being a townie who gets rather shy around her peers (I know, I don't know why I do that either. Tis very weird). I don't know how this got started, but there is this thing called a Tie Pull. Basically, officers (or people who have legit guy friends) go around and ask those guy friends if they would be interested in being set up with a girl in the society. The guys who are interested will donate a tie, which is put into a bag. Then all the girls who are either too shy to get a date or who have no guy friends pick a tie and that is who they go with to the dating outing.
Today was the tie pull.
I wasn't really nervous or anything. I mean, it isn't like I am going to be marrying the guy, nor is it exactly like a real romantic I-want-to-get-to-know-you-for-the-purpose-of-getting-ready-for-marriage-and-babies kind of date. It is just having a good time with friends.
So why am I slightly freaking out???
I was picked (at random) to go first. Actually, this was a good thing; I basically got to pick from all the dudes. Teehee. Eh-hem. So I go up and I look into the sky and feel around in the bag and pull out a green, cream, and purple scarf.
FLASHBACK!
First guy friend: Likes musicals and Disney movies. Nothing wrong with that in my mind. Sadly, other evidence has convinved my mom and sister that he is gay.
Second guy friend: His girl/guy friend ratio is currently 120/5. We counted. He also likes to listen to rather girly music. My mom and sister also have questions about which way this guy is swinging.
Should probably note that I try not to disparage these poor guys's characters, but my mom and sister are rather insistent. >points finger<
END FLASHBACK!
So my first thought when I see this scarf is basically "Oh, I got another [insert guy friends' names here]". Then, the girls start squealing. "Oh, you got P---!" and they say this foreign sounding name. Come to find out, he is Russian (from, like, the Black Sea or something) and he isn't the guy who has an afro (which will put my dad's mind at ease). According to the girls, he is a freshman (which, ok, it isn't that big of an age difference...I think) and he is super funny and really sweet.
So here I sit, wearing this scarf around my neck (it is actually an ok scarf. I looks well with my outfit today, I think) and I have just written to P--- telling him "hey dude! I picked your scarf! We be goin on a date! Wanna hang out before that so we can nix the awkward?" In more polite, genteel terms, of course. Now, I don't know if it is the residual woozy from the drugs, but my hands are kinda shaky. Don't know why. IT REALLY ISN'T THAT BIG OF A DEAL, HANNAH! But such is life, I guess. Maybe it is because I have never really been on a date before. Even if this isn't a real date. But it kinda is the awkward BoJo equivalent to blind dating. I guess we shall see.
I kinda stalked P--- on eguide and facebook. (With guy friend 2's help, teehee). He know Russian and English, is from North Carolina, is a business administration major with a minor in Music, and he has over a thousand friends on facebook. From his picture (which is just a little blurry), he has dark hair and is relatively cute, too. And I briefly talked to Katie, and while she doesn't know him, she thinks someone with his name (which, there is most likely only one of them on campus) is in the musical Fiddler on the Roof that is going to be performed on campus.
Good Lord, that last paragraph looks sooooooo bad.
Oh well. Whatever. He can return the stalking-favor if he feels he has to. I have no shame.
I know Sarah will be jealous. She has this thing for the Russian language >wicked laugh<.
But, there it is. My angst laid forth for your entertainment. I guess we shall see what comes out of it. Best case scenario? I get a new friend. Worst case? Hmmm. Can't think of a worst case. Oh well. :)
On a short Literary note, we studied "The Eve of St.Agnes" in Brit Lit on Wed. I do love that poem. I can almost feel my thesis on the edges of my mind, but as yet it hasn't revealed itself.
ALSO! I haven't mentioned music for a while, have I? Well, I have discovered Florence + The Machine. <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 I loooove her. My favorite two songs of hers so far are 'Drumming Song' and 'Cosmic Love'. She is ethereal and mystical and red-haired and British. Amazing.
Until next time, my loves!!!

Fancy a Cakewalk?

 Do you know, I really like my campus library. I really do. Tis quiet and peaceful and has lots and lots of books.
 I just thought I'd put that out there. :)
 So, the way my schedule is set up, I have about 2 hours everyday free for lunch and stuff. Today is the first day that I don't really have homework to do during that time, so VOILA! I decided to write in my poor lonesome blog. Sadly, there will be no deep thoughts today; because I haven't had time to study anything very deeply and I am actually rather ill. Did you know having a cold is rather like being on some sort of high? Seriously, it is! I don't know why, but everything I look at has a kind of weird wonky texture around the edges of my eyes (which keep watering for some reason. I must look hideously like Peter Pettigrew). And there is a vague feeling of unreality and tiredness around me. And my hands randomly shake like mad--Mum says its the cold medicine. And I have this cough, though not as nasty as it could be. I speak from last year's experience. And I am sniffing like crazy. I want to describe the whole experience as 'tripping', but Mum says that isn't the best term to use, especially at school. Even if it is true.
 Wow. I had no idea I was going to go off on that tangent. See? I am totally tripping, in the sense of having blocked sinuses.
  You know who I like? Keats. Keats is wonderful. We are learning about him in Brit Lit (speaking of! I love my BL teacher. Her name is Dr. Rowe and she is fabulous. I am never bored in that class [which, actually, I don't usually get bored in any lit class...but that is beside the point] and she has a quirky sense of humor. I just like her). Yeah. He is a Second Generation Romantic (I guess they came in waves or something) and he is actually normal. Especially when compared to Wordsworth, who annoyed the heck out of me. Seriously? He was tripping. Anyway, Keats. I just love him. We are going to go over The Eve of St. Agnes tomorrow, which I actually first loved when I first read it in, what, 10th grade? Yeah, there abouts. That is what I will be writing my paper about, though. Not 10th grade, Eve of St. Agnes. If you haven't read it, do. Tis amazing. The thing is I haven't figured out my thesis yet. There are many different ways I suppose I could go, but I just haven't had an idea speak to me yet. It doesn't help that all my thinking is basically reduced to ADD musings about the relationship between colds and drug-induced highs. (Yeah, and random Harry Potter references. I do love those books...) I guess my thesis will come to me, and I sincerely doubt that it will be due this week. Dr. Rowe is rather very much behind. Her mother died and she had to deal with that, so I am not peeved about being behind and not quite knowing what I am supposed to be doing for the day. Iss awl gooood. ;)
  I guess I should sign off. I don't really have anything productive to say...maybe I can go read a book or something, since I am in the library. Speaking of reading and tripping, let me tell you, it is reeeeeeally weird. The words kinda squiggle but don't know. Most distracting. My sinuses just need to clear already. Or I should be allowed to go home and sleep. Preferably both, but neither is going to happen.
  Anyway, til next time!

A New Song

  Yesterday, I discovered this song from Josh Groban's newest album Illuminations. Tis called "Bells of New York City". I love it so much, that I decided to share it with you. The video below is a lyric video (lyrics on the screen), but if you don't have time to watch the video (or just really don't want to) I will post the lyrics below the video. I urge you to pay attention the the last verse of the song; it makes me a little breathless. Enjoy, darlings!

Bells Of New York City lyrics
There's a pale winter moon in the sky coming through my window
And the park is laid out like a bed below
It's a cold, dark night and my heart melts like the snow
And the bells of New York City tell me not to go

It's always this time of year that my thoughts undo me
With the ghosts of many lifetimes all abound
But from these mad heights I can always hear the sound
Of the bells of New York City singing all around

Stay with me, stay with me
Refuge from these broken dreams
Wait right here awake with me
On silent snow filled streets

Sing to me one song for joy and one for redemption
And whatever's in between that I call mine
With the street lamp light to illuminate the gray
And the bells of New York City calling me to stay
The bells of New York City calling me to stay.

*lyrics retrieved from elyrics.net; song Josh Groban's.

And the award for 'most brilliant' goes to...

   As y'all know, I have become re-fascinated with The Chronicles of Narnia as of late. But before I could dive into rediscovering that series, I felt that I needed more information about its author--a lot more information. While reading his autobiography (Surprised by Joy) would have been ideal, my library does not have it. However, I did find The C.S. Lewis Chronicles: the Indispensable Biography of the Creator of Narnia, Full of Little-known Facts, Events and Miscellany. It has proved to be a vastly interesting read, and has further increased my awe about this fascinating man. So, I guess that this post will be made of just a few of the facts I have learned about C.S. Lewis.

1. He was actually born Clive Staples Lewis. Very early in his life he nicknamed himself 'Jacks' or 'Jack', and continued to be called such (by family and friends) for the rest of his life.
2. He lived in the north of Ireland during a majority of his life, the landscape of which inspired his idea of the Narnian landscape.
3. He read more than any person I have ever heard of in my entire life. Seriously. There are at least 2 lists in The C.S. Lewis Chronicles detailing the books he read in his life, and they are extensive lists. He is fluent in Latin and Greek before he is 17 years old.
Ok, can't manage to continue the list thing; I guess what happens next will just be fangirly rambling.
This man was seriously, seriously, seriously brilliant. I don't know if it is because the standards for education in 1930s-ish Britain are so much stricter than now, or my own natural scholastic pessimism; either way, I know that there is no way I could do as much as he did scholastically. Even just looking at, say, the topics he discussed with his friends, or the titles of the lectures he gave--they are  amazing. I guess there is a book (or two?) with his lectures gathered together. His passion was medieval literature, and he loved the idea of a 'romance'--which he defines as something that sparks of something of another world. Most of his work, from what I can gather, has to do with this aspect.
 C.S. Lewis was actually a sort of atheist for a good part of his life. This fact surprised me when I first heard it, because of all of the Biblical allusions in the Narnia series. It was only after becoming convinced of the deity of Christ and the truth of the Bible (his statement about his philosophy about why the Bible is true is fascinating; I think another whole blog entry will have to be dedicated to that alone) that he wrote his many theologically-based works.
  I haven't yet finished The C.S. Lewis Chronicles; for now, I am at the part where Lewis is still teaching at Oxford during WWII. However, I have determined, based upon this book (which I fully recommend, by the bye) that my purpose in life is to teach a C.S. Lewis course at my college someday. But, for now, I am just an almost second-semester sophmore, and my mom wants me to get off the computer now. So, until next time, you know that I will be studying more about this insanely genius guy. Adieu, dear ones!

Duriez, Colin. The C.S. Lewis Chronicles: the Indispensable Biography of the Creator of Narnia, Full  of Little-known Facts, Events and Miscellany. New York: BlueBridge, 2005. Print.

Smiley Faces and Happy Dances

  This, my dear readers, has nothing really to do with literary things. Unless you count the fact that it is about school, where I am learning lots of literary things. But the focus is not on those literary things. It is in fact on the school.
  Earlier this year, when school ended, I realized that I did not have a high enough GPA to receive a $5,000 scholarship that I needed to attend school. After a large bout of panicking, my mother and I sallied forth on a short but dizzying quest to try and figure out something to help me get the money we needed. After talking to everyone at my college but the president himself, we deduced that, to raise my GPA, I had to take 15 credits worth of classes this summer. Just in case you aren't aware, 15 credits is an entire semester's worth of credits. No joke. And I had to get A's in all of those classes. The first bunch of classes I took on campus, and behold, I actually got A-'s in both. Then, for the rest of the credits, I took 3 online classes. I have since been told that taking 3 online classes at once is the equivalent of having a 22 credit load during a 15 week semester. (Which, during the school year, it is not allowed for an undergrad to take more than 20.) I don't think it needs to be said that I failed spectacularly (as far as getting A's; technically, I think I passed them....).
  Yesterday was when I realized that all the work that I had done this summer had come to naught. It was not a very good time. Much tears ensued. However, due to encouraging parents and besties, hope was restored. Even if I couldn't afford to take a full semester, I could still take a couple courses and work. And it wasn't like I could fall behind much; I am techinically a semester ahead.
  Today my dad and I went to the Financial Aid office, and a nice man named Mr. Day (liked Lotus cars, was ex-military, and had a grenade hanging off of his in box--no joke) sat down and figured out that I am still able to go to school full time after all.
  The Lord is good to me >sing song like my Mom does when she is happy about getting a parking spot close to our Publix<