"Honey, why you callin me so late? It's kinda hard to talk right now." -Hinder

Happy Humpday! Since last week SO MUCH has happened, but I’ll do my best to keep this free of needless rambling.

We were in the middle of initiation week last time I wrote, and now the newbies are fully initiated members of Alpha Delta Pi. Congrats to them!

Friday was not only Venessa’s birthday, but it also signified 24-hours-and-counting until my birthday. After our classes, Venessa, Paula, Steph, and I went to Appleton for birthday pedicures. It was sooooo nice. When we got back to Ripon, we found Kaplan (who had been in Ripon since about 12:30, wandering campus and saying hellos) and immediately proceeded to order take out Chinese in accordance with tradition.

The girls decorated my room with streamers and a “Happy Birthday” banner and a TON of balloons. They proceeded to decorate me with a “Birthday Princess” crown, plastic hoop “Princess” earrings, a Mardi-Gras-esque “Princess” necklace, a gaudy pink feather boa (that itched terribly, for the record), and some birthday handcuffs. Those came in handy for not losing Kaplan later.


We went to the bars at midnight, and made it to two before bar time. I was not carded. I was sad. I guess the crazy get-up might have been a give away, but really! Oh well. Good friends, good times, an overall pleasant birthday.

Saturday night Emily, Katie, and Kate came up to visit from their respective towns of residence. It was miraculous, really. We had a great time, and I got quite the gambit of gifts from them, which was pretty funny to be opening at the restaurant when we went out for birthday dinner. The food was good, the company was great, and the service was sub-par. The early evening averaged a good+, company carrying more weight than service.

That night there was a lounge party on campus. Read: tons of people, mostly-empty room, large speakers, and – for the girls from home – a room of perfect strangers. We had an exceptionally good time. Knowing virtually everyone on campus has its advantages: the birthday girl got to make unlimited song requests. More often than not they would be on next. It was like my own personal party!

After the lounge party shut down (or slightly before) my now completely legal group of friends trekked it the 2-3 blocks to Bert’s, a bar in town that was having a foam party. Having never seen this ever before in my life, I was in awe. Another great at-the-door story: I hand the bouncer my ID, and WHILE he’s looking at it, Emily says, “it’s her birthday!” He hands me my ID BACK and says “oh yeah? How old?” How old? You were supposed to have just looked at my ID! Do the math! And realize that the date where it says “under 21 until” is TODAY! Oh Ripon intellect…

Since then I’ve basically been catching up on homework and slowly picking up my room. Most of the balloons are now just hiding under my bed. Sorry I didn’t have better birthday stories, but I would say overall that it was a great 21st. Thanks to everyone who sent birthday wishes! It was much appreciated. :)

Rebecca~

"Don't cry to me...If you want me, come find me. Make up your mind." -Evanescence

Peeves:

#1: The grounds guy moving the lawn right now, only worsened by the simultaneous weed-whacking by another grounds guy. Don't they know I'm trying to write a very important e-mail? I closed one window, but it's a little hot n humid out today, and I want my fan on! What is it about the noise of lawn machines that is so grating? If I get distracted or off track, I blame the yard guys. (Nowhere near as cute as the yard guys on The OC, unfortunately.)

#2: The amount of blue on my calendar. I've given up trying to hide it, and I'm pretty sure we all know I'm a nerd with a pretty well developed case of OCD. I have my schedule on my computer, on my Palm Pilot, and posted outside my door for all to stalk. Blue happens to be the color for sorority events. Don't get me wrong, at times it's great, but when there's more blue than purple (school related events), I kinda want to rip my hair out. And by kinda I mean really.

#3: Each day only comes with 24 hours, and the longest hours are those spent sitting in class. Not sure what it was -- maybe the weather, maybe that it's hump day, maybe that my birthday is obscenely close, maybe that the stuff just interesting -- but class today was the worst two hours in all my recent class recollections. AND it was only two hours spent in two different classes. That should have been cake! Aye.

On the flip side, I would have liked to trade some of those long hours for the short ones I spent at home this Saturday. Venessa and Paula (my neighbors) drove home with me for the day to hang out on the lake for probably the last skiable weekend of the year. We had a great time, but it would have been greater had we actually got up at 9 like we planned instead of 11:30. It was good to see home again, and a good reminder how close it really is if I ever need a sanity-break from Ripon.

#4: BUSY WORK! That seems to be all I've been getting lately. My favorite was a teacher's oh-yeah-I-forgot-to-tell-you-but-these-two-readings-and-papers-are-due-tomorrow stunt. Suuuuper, I'll just add that onto my already huge list of tasks. Then apparently we only had to do one paper. Oops, she misspoke. MISSPOKE? How about a little extra credit for the misspeak? No? Figures...

That's enough whining for me for one week, I suppose. Next's week's should be full of good stories after the big 2-1 on Saturday. Gifts can be sent to 600 Campus Dr. #568, Ripon, WI 54971-1400. kidding. sorta...

Happy Hump Day!
Rebecca~