Today was just one of those days that nothing seemed to want to work in my favor. It all started when I woke up and decided to check on when UCO's fall classes start. I'm taking 2 classes there, but I didn't really think to check before telling my boss that my last day working would be Weds, Aug. 12th. OC's fall semester doesn't start until Mon, Aug. 31st, so that seemed like a good break. Yeah, UCO starts 2 weeks earlier - Mon, Aug. 17th. Greaaaaat.

Since Kathleen has already made plans and bought a plane ticket to come up and drive back with me, there's no changing that now. I just have to deal with a super short break between work and classes starting. Lesson learned - check ALL schedules.

Later, I figured I'd check online to see what my schedule was exactly - class times, etc. I couldn't remember my username and password for the UCO system, so I was directed to call Tech Support since I also did not know my Student ID # or Admissions #.

Tech Support of course started by asking if I knew my Student ID # or Admissions #.
"Nope, that's why I called you..."
Right, well, next they wanted to know if I could come in for my info...
"Not possible."
So, I was told to fax in my photo ID and signature. Sweet! CAN DO.

When I called back to Tech Services, they sent me to Student Services who sent me to the Fax Office who claimed to never have received it...... Right.

Take two: faxed it again, called Student Services > sent to Admissions > put on hold while she called the fax people > who got it that time, all to have this convo:

UCO: "We can't give you information over the phone, but we can mail it to you at the address we have on file."
Me: "Is that address in Oklahoma?"
UCO: "Ma'am, I can't tell you that. It's confidential"
Me: "Well, ok... Don't tell me the address, but also don't send my info to anywhere in Oklahoma because that won't be to me. You might as well mail it and my banking info to Nigeria for all that would be worth"
UCO: "Oh. Yes. It's Oklahoma"
Me: "Sooo...."
UCO: "Can you come by campus?"

My mom ended up having my Student ID #, which I used to find my username and password. UCO's super secret username is the public email address they assign to you, which you in turn give to anyone and everyone you ever email on their system. The password? Yeah, it's your 6 digit birthday. At this point, my username is the more secret part of this combo, and if I ever used that email address it wouldn't be anymore.

The moral of that story is: UCO's system of security through obscurity is painful and pointless.

I had dinner with Blake Wednesday. I just went over to his apartment, and he cooked for us. It was really good - Costco Eggplant Parmesan and 3 minute mashed potatoes. :) Then we went on a walk around a trail near his place. It was fun watching the fireflies and making up our route as we went, trying to decide if we were allowed to build fires or not. Not right then, just for future reference, of course. Haha! Then on the way back, we came across a deer! It was pretty big too, and we weren't very far from it when we saw it. We'd been walking and talking and suddenly we stopped and watched it as it took it's time walking away into the woods. Pretty cool!

Every time I'm with Blake I learn a little bit more about him, and it's been really fun so far. As always, can't wait until next time :)

Lindsay gets credit for showing me this.

Ten Things I Wish I Could Say to Ten Different People:
1. If you're trying to impress me, you're going about it all wrong.
2. I know it's your goal and within your reach, so why aren't you going for it?
3. Just letting it go would be much easier than this act you put on.
4. I wish I knew the right words to show you the truth.
5. You might think of me as a sister, but I don't think of you that way.
6. I'm pretty sure I can't trust you the same anymore.
7. I'm only doing this to keep the peace.
8. The times you do call almost make up for all the times you don't.
9. Stop measuring yourself in relationships and be happy being you.
10. I hope you can see how much better off you are now even though things didn't turn out as planned.

Nine Things About Me:
1. I'm way more introverted than I let on.
2. I fall too hard, too fast.
3. I stay up way too late at night.
4. There are things I've closed myself off to so much I can't cry about it when I want to.
5. Graduating doesn't scare me as much as not graduating does.
6. I truly want to live in the UK at some point in my life.
7. I honestly believe I can will myself to never have Depression.
8. Being recognized isn't nearly as important to be as making a positive impact.
9. I wish I was more organized.

Eight Ways To Win My Heart:
1. Love God
2. Make me laugh
3. Do small things to show you care
4. Impress me with your intelligence
5. Dream of foreign adventures with me
6. Be honest, even if it hurts
7. Show kindness to everyone else around you
8. Be patient

Seven Things That Cross My Mind All The Time:
1. I miss Pac Rim
2. I love Coldplay
3. Hmm, Career... Go abroad... Career... Go abroad....
4. I should get ahead on my homework. Oh, look, I'm behind.
5. Is this really what I want to do with my life?
6. I wish I had some kind of view from my cubicle.
7. I wonder what I'd be doing now if I had...... (this part varies)

Six Things I Do Before I Fall Asleep:
1. Check my email
2. Put forth a weak effort at tidying up
3. Brush my teeth
4. Search for the best pillow arrangement
5. Try to read for a while
6. Turn out the light

Five People (or groups of people) Who Mean A Lot:
1. Mom
2. Family
3. Lindsay
4. Pac Rimmers
5. Lambda

Four Things You Love Wearing:
1. Jeans
2. Tank tops
3. No shoes
4. Sunscreen

Three Songs You Listen To Often:
1. Yellow by Coldplay
2. 22 by Lily Allen
3. Why Do You Let Me Stay Here by She & Him

Two Things You Want To Do Before You Die:
1. Live in the UK
2. Change someone's life for good

One Confession:
1. One of my biggest fears is that I'll never let myself take the risks I need to in order to really enjoy life like I want to.

Originally, Blake had talked about going into DC to see the fireworks for the 4th, but instead a coworker of his, Andrew, invited the guys he works with to a 4th of July barbecue at his house. We've both seen the DC fireworks, so we decided to go see what this party was all about. When we got there, Andrew and his wife said they were expecting anywhere from 30 to 300 people to show up! Apparently he's been putting together a 4th of July party at his house every year for the past 20+ years!! It was a big mix of people that we mostly had never met before, but everyone of all ages had a great time watching the live band, lighting firecrackers, or hanging out inside.

We started out watching the music outside, but after a while we moved inside to find Blake's roommates, Matt and Josh, who also came. They had found the one other guy they work with, so we all hung out for a while watching the Return of the Jedi with the occasional trivia and opinions about each movie. It's been a while since I'd seen any of them, so it was fun enjoying an "American classic" on our nation's birthday. At one point Blake left to talk to someone outside he knew, and a lady came in joking about the geeks outside talking about things she didn't understand. Hahaha! How cute.

Around 9 or so, the Fairfax City fireworks started up, and we had a great view of them while sitting on the lawn at Andrew's house. It was just a really fun, relaxing day overall, and I had so much fun again hanging out with Blake and joking around with Matt and Josh.

Besides Virginia's personal attack on me with it's allergens, I had a pretty nice day off today. It's almost crazy to think about how much I did today.

I got a very slow start today as my allergies were keeping me down most of the morning. They hadn't bothered me at all this summer yet, so I thought I was in the clear. Wrong. Yesterday I started sneezing a lot, and by this morning I was in allergy city. Of course I was too lazy to go get some allergy medicine, so I mostly just decided that as long as I had the day off anyway and not much that I had to accomplish, I'd just sleep it off. I also hoped that this would help my sleep schedule get back to normal, and I think it just might have worked!

Around lunch time I gave Blake a call to work out plans for the 4th. He had mentioned going into DC, but then a coworker invited everyone he works with to a big 4th of July party at his house in Fairfax. So now that's the plan. :) Neither of us was doing much so he invited me to come over if I felt up to it. I figured it was about time I did something about my allergies, so I went to the drug store for some medicine and went to hang out for a little while.

Meanwhile, Lindsay called to invite me to go to dinner in DC with her, a friend from Future Leaders, and some other friends of her friend from Liberty University. After going to Blake's I went to Lindsay's new place, and we picked up Morgan to head to the metro. We all immediately got along great telling lots of stories and taking pictures to record Morgan's adventures in buying her own metro ticket. We promised to take lots of pictures throughout the night, and we did a great job of keeping up with that. We met up with the rest of the group - Aaron, Tim, Rob, and Kendra - and went to Union Station for dinner at Uno's. As we stopped to pray before eating I realized that no matter where you are, you can always find amazing, Christian people to hang out and have fun with. After dinner we walked to the mall, planning to just walk along it from the Capital to the Washington Monument. When we got to the Capital, there was a huge crowd with a concert going on - a rehearsal for the 4th celebrations. So we hung around for a little bit to listen to Aretha Franklin and Barry Manilow before walking farther where we saw the cannons firing. We walked down past the Washington Monument to the World War 2 Memorial, and it was just beautiful to see all of those places lit up at night. Then we walked and walked and walked some more to find a metro and finally found Faragut West. I say this just to remember how far we walked. :)

All in all, today was a very long but rewarding day. Tomorrow should be fun too since I'll be spending the evening with Blake and his work friends and watching fireworks at night. I think this weekend will turn out to be one of the best out of the entire summer.

I just thought it was worth noting that it is 6:45a right now, and I have already ridden my bike and taken a shower for the day.

Anyone that knows me won't believe that statement. I almost don't.

Yesterday, 5 or 6 of us at work started a Biggest Loser competition for the month of July. So far... well, I wasn't even planning on getting up that early today, but my sleep schedule this entire week has been so weird. I was so tired yesterday at work that I came home and just crashed for a few hours. Then I got up and had dinner, finished my homework assignment for the day, and I went back to bed. I figured I'd wake up early so I planned last night that if I did that I'd ride my bike. Well, that's what happened. I guess I'll just make my lunch and get ready for my day now. This having-so-much-extra-time-in-the-morning thing is weirding me out.