Top Ten Posts from 2010

Morning, fellow bloggers. I thought I'd copy a few blogs and list some of my favorite memories from 2010. It was a good year, wasn't it?

Going just from memory, I'd say one of my favorite posts was about the trip I took to Texas in August to visit my bestest friend, Elke, and to welcome the birth of her second child. That was such a ...What?

You say I didn't blog about that? Of course I did. I mean, Elke and I have known each other for years! Despite being states apart, we are still the best of friends. That week was one of the highlights of our friendship. Surely I blogged about it; let me check my archives, back in a minute.

...

So it seems I did NOT blog about that. Wow. I can't believe I didn't share that experience with you. That's a bit of a surprise to me.

Well, I'll continue to a different favorite memory from last year. Remember when my car, you know the one with electric tape over the 'fix engine' light, just died? And how I got that new car that was a stick shift? Except I didn't know how to drive stick shift? And remember when two friends went with me to help me learn how to drive and I yelled at them, middle names and all? Oh, man, that was intense; well, funny, now that it's over.

(leans in closer) What did you say? I didn't blog about that, either? Really?! I don't believe this. I could have sworn I did...

Alright, moving on. I know I blogged about that crazy Mud Run I did in September. Remember?! It's the race with just a bunch of mud? I had to have blogged about that. Maybe a picture will help jog your memory. We looked like this at the end, remember now?

No?! 

Okay, this is ridiculous. Tell me, do you remember the post about the snake on my front porch? My new glasses? My assistantship with the University of Georgia? My trip to Walt Disney World that coincided with the Stars Wars Convention held there? Johnny Cherie, my baby sister, graduating from High School (gulp)? Me shooting guns?

You don't remember any of those? I don't understand. I used to blog all the time. Surely, surely I blogged about one of those.

What's that you say? I haven't blogged since APRIL?! That's just absurd. That can't be the case.

...Oh, well, this is embarrassing. Turns out you were right. My account shows I only blogged three times this past year. Well, um, goodness. Looks like I'm behind on some blogging. 

I'll make you a deal: If you promise not to mention the fact that I'm a blog slacker to anyone, I'll at least double my posts from last year. Heh.

Happy New Year!

One Track Mind

I know I haven't blogged much this semester. I've been pretty busy. In fact, I admitted to some friends that I may have bit off more than I can chew what with 15 credit hours and working part time. It seems the minute I get one thing done, five more assignments demand my attention. I stay up late to get more reading done - which makes me tired during lecture - which requires more reading on my part to understand my notes - which leads to, well, you see where this is headed. A typical day might start at 6:45 am and end the following morning at 1am. I yawn a lot. I'm sooo sleepy.

It rained in Athens on Wednesday. This meant I took the bus instead of riding my bike. The bus crosses a train track - one I've never seen used during my career at UGA. I was surprised to see some actual train cars 'parked' on the track that particular afternoon. I noticed one of the cars had been tagged by a graffiti artist. My yawn was interrupted by a chuckle as I read what the paint said.

My train of thought preciously. Seems the graffiti artist is having a tough semester as well.

The Great Generation Gap

I have the most fun with my major. Really, I do. One of my classes, Teaching Elementary Children P.E., has a lab each Friday where we participate in physical activities catered to children. This means I'm encouraged to act like a child. It's no wonder why I enjoy grad school.

One particular morning we learned how to teach and demonstrate different types of traveling. The professor would yell a verb such as jumping, running, skipping, crawling, etc and as a class, we traveled around the gym for 20 or 30 seconds.

"Gallop like a horse."

I began to 'gallop'. To complete the demonstration, I cupped my hands and clapped to imitate hoof sounds.

The undergrads just stared at me.

Oh come on! Just because you were born in 1990 shouldn't mean you don't get a Monty Python reference!

Right?

Right?!?

Never mind.

Come back and I'll taunt you again. Yeah, that's right! I'm talking to you! Icky icky icky pikang zoop boing. You heard me!

P.S. I decided Friday the 13th had to be the luckiest day to start blogging again.

Take Another One Just In Case

Thanks to a friend who sold me a ticket for face value, I was able to attend the football game this past weekend. I wanted pictures to document the occasion so I asked Little Boy Blue to take one.

*click

"Well, that's nice but you cut off the top of my head. Take another one but get my whole face this time."

*click

"Okay...you got my head but I don't need the rest of the hallway and bedroom in the shot. This is better but take another picture and this time zoom in a bit."

*click

"Okay, I know I said zoom in but I didn't mean like this. Take another picture but, see this area I'm outlining with my fingers, that's what needs to be in the picture."

*click

"Thank you. It's sideways but it will work."

Little Boy Blue is smart. He knew exactly what he was doing each time. I think he just likes my camera.

Oh! and can you believe this is another post regarding sports?! This won't be routine - trust me.

Golf = ROFL

I am going back to school with the intent of becoming a P.E./Health teacher. Since I'll evenutally be responsible for teaching different sports, part of my education is learning these sports. This semester I'm in a class that focuses on golf for the first several weeks then switches to handball for the last half.

Friday was the first day our class went to the driving range. Now, I have been to a driving range before but I'm not very good. Period. I couldn't even remember which club to use. In fact, until Friday, I defined golf very differently.

Golf according to Charlottalove:

Club: Where a UGA student goes to par-tay.
Ball: A traditional dance requiring dresses or tuxes.
Mulligan: Gilligan's cousin. I picture him with a mullet.
Course: A class offered by UGA.
18 holes: What an 18-wheeler will get if it drives over a pile of nails.
Iron: Element on the periodic table represented by the letters Fe.
Wedge: A style of shoe.
Putter: A vehicle with starting difficulties.
Tiger Woods: Sequel to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Birdie: Lunch for a cat.
Greens: Vegetables at dinner time.
Stroke: A swimming maneuver.
Driving Range: Area a teenager is allowed to take the car without consequences.
Slice: An order of pizza.
Swing: Type of equipment at the park.

As you can see, I have lots to learn. It should be fun though. Part of my grade requires me to play a round of 9 holes. Wish me luck ~ I'm off to the driving ran...

FORE!

oops...sorry about that.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You have probably noticed but I thought I but I thought I should explain. Due to my new schedule, my blog posts and comments to your blogs have been and will be a bit erratic. This graduate school idea was a bit harder than I anticipated.

A Master Degree

Graduate school is in session. Although I plan to earn my Masters, I also plan to master a few areas: the bus and my watch.

On the first day of orientation I opted to ride the bus to class instead of dealing with parking passes and limited spaces. I mapped the route I'd ride. That morning - a drizzly morning - I arrived at 7:30. Orientation began at 8:30 - plenty of time. What I didn't realize was that UGA and the Athens Transit both stopped at my stop. I hopped on the first bus that came - the Athens City Transit. The route followed the UGA route for a few minutes but then turned away from campus. Uh oh... In the end, I rode the bus to downtown Athens, swapped to the UGA bus, rode back to a connecting stop, and got to orientation at 8:45.

Sigh...the first day of orientation. I will master the bus system.

The second item is my watch. I'm not a watch person. I own watches - I just don't wear them. My 'watch' is my cell phone. The phone method isn't very convenient though in class so I wore a watch the first day of class. At 12:45 I heard a faint beepbeep. beepbeep. beepbeep. coming from my wrist. I had no idea the alarm was set. How would I know? I'm typically at work or at lunch during that time. The alarm would have only had my jewelry as an audience. Not knowing anything about the buttons on the watch, I hit several until I found one to silence the alarm.

5 minutes later I heard beepbeep. beepbeep. beepbeep. My alarm had a snooze?! Again I hit several buttons and the alarm paused. Class would continue for another hour. Taking notes in 5 minute intervals just wouldn't work. I fiddled around and changed the alarm for several hours later.

5 minutes later: beepbeep. beepbe. I was prepared this time. I quickly hit what obviously was the snooze button. Realizing that the new alarm time hadn't worked, I changed the actual clock time. The alarm didn't sound again.

I can just see some student approaching me in the morning to find out the time. "Well, I'm sure it's around 9 although my watch indicates 7:22 pm."

Sigh...the first day of class. I will master my watch.

The Never Ending Story

It's been well over six months since I learned I was accepted to the University of Georgia and set up an online student account. The semester begins next Monday so it's come time to pay tuition. In an attempt to tie up all loose ends before class starts, I went online to pay. I guessed at my username and password. The first attempt failed which wasn't too much of a surprise.

Username: Charlottalove
Password: ******
Username and or password is not correct.

Hmm, I thought. I should make sure this is my username. I clicked on the ‘Forget Your Username?’ link.

Social Security Number: 123-45-6789
Birthday: **/**/****
Your username is ‘_____’

Okay, that wasn’t what I tried originally. Here I go for round 2.

Username: ‘_____’
Password: ******
Username and or password is not correct.

Hmm. This is frustrating. I guess I need to click the ‘Forget Your Password’ link.

To receive your password, you must answer your secret question.

Oh, this should be fun. Wonder which secret question I picked.

You have not selected a secret question. Click here to set up secret question.

Click.

Enter your username and password.

I don’t know my password!

Click here if you do not know your password.

Click.

Answer your secret question.

...ulg.

You have not selected a secret question. Click here to set up secret question.

Click.

Enter your username and password.

ARGH!

Dear UGA,
I have some money I want to give to you. All I ask for in return is my online password. Meet me behind the stadium at 5. I’ll have the money. Tell no one. This is top secret – much like the question I’ve yet to select.
Sincerely,
Charlottalove

A Love Letter: Part II

I had a roommate in college who loved this pickup line. “Wanna come over to my place for pizza and a make-out?” She would wait for a reply in the affirmative then say, “Well, I actually don’t like pizza but come over anyway.”

Every time I drive by a mural that marks the entrance to a pizza joint in town, that pick up line comes to mind. At first glace one sees a group of people running towards a common location. Someone holds a sign for PIZZA and other for SUBS.

But look again. Closer this time...

Is that a pregnant woman next to a bride and groom? And what’s with the boy dressed as Robin? A broken leg; an umpire; and what is that nurse holding? I don’t know what type of pizza/sub party this is but I’m not hungry anymore. Suddenly I don’t like pizza. And please don’t come over anyway.

...and lest you forget what town you are in, where is everyone running?

To see the gator leashed by the bulldog of course!

That’s right. Go DAWGS.

Botox Alternative

The University of Georgia requires all new students to update their immunization records. Since my last shot was administered in 1990, I was past due on several accounts. I took care of that on Tuesday. So now, if you sit by me, I may bite but at least I'm not contagious.

While I waited to be a human pin cushion, I noticed an advertisement poster for Botox on the wall. The pictures showed a before and after picture of two individuals who'd had injections. The after pictures showed full, plump, smiling faces. The before showed the sad, wrinkled state the faces had once been.

Wait a minute...

Is it just me or does the before picture look like the model simply scrunched up his/her forehead by scowling?

That forehead wrinkle seems so familiar... as if I've seen it before... but where?

Oh yes, now I know!

Introducing needle-less botox: Are you nervous to visit a doctor? Do needles make you cringe? Try new 'Zam-Tox. Even the biggest skeptic will find 'Zam-Tox straightforward. Simply enroll in a local college, attend class, and wait. Results may take a few weeks but are guaranteed by the first exam. See for yourself.

Before an exam:

After an exam:

"I've used 'Zam-Tox for two semesters and the results are visible to all. Thank you 'Zam-Tox. If I knew I could be wrinkle free, I'd have gone back to school years ago!"

'Zam-Tox: The Smart Botox

A Hallmark Moment

The question foremost on my mind since being accepted to UGA concerns the cost and how I'll be able to pay. I applied, albeit late, for an assistantship but all the positions are filled. While I wait to apply again, I've found several sites that list scholarship opportunities for graduate students. One in particular caught my attention. Applicants submit greeting messages or pictures for an online card company. The winner(s) will receive school funding and their idea becomes a virtual reality.

A few years ago, my bestest friend Elke went to the doctor for some pain in her wrists. The doctor said she was suffering from carpal tunnel. Since we live a few states away, I couldn't physically help her with tasks around the house but I tried to show sympathy with a card. In case you were wondering, there's not much of a market catered to carpal tunnel. I had to make my own.

What do you say? Should I give this company a call? Really, who can say no to talent like that?!

Let's Chat

Blogger Friend! I have good news and bad news.
Good news first.
I received my letter of acceptance to the University of Georgia!
That is wonderful! Is this for your undergrad or masters degree?
Masters. My undergrad was in Recreation Management.
What will be your program of study?
Kinesiology.
Bless you.
No, that is the major. My emphasis will be on physical and health education.
Wait, I thought you already were taking classes.
I took the first half of Anatomy last quarter. It fulfills some general classes needed for my Masters. The second half of the class starts tomorrow.
On April 1st?
I know. Lame April Fool’s joke if you ask me.
Weren’t you supposed to get married?
Oh. Right. That will have to wait.
Well, what’s the bad news?
I’m going to take a blogging break this week.
Just this week?
Well, until I get some new To-Do items off my list. I need to get an academic advisor and discuss possibilities of an assistanceship. Unless you want to fund my graduate school…
Um, I’ll get back to you on that.

The break shouldn’t be too long. I'll miss you guys...I’ll be back soon!