Stephany Writes

Categories: Life

The Night Before I Begin a New Semester

I’m writing this post as a stream of consciousness the night before I start Fall semester. I have so many emotions rolling around in my head that the only proper way to get them out is to just let them flow naturally, with no thought to grammar or focus.

I’ve been rotating between feelings of excitement and feelings of anxiousness about starting a new semester. Last semester took everything out of me and having a break for 4 months (aside from my 6-week class) has been amazing. It’s been nice to work, then come home and either take a nap or just chill out around the house. No responsibilities, no pressing assignments. It was nice.

I don’t even know how much I’ll be blogging once school starts. Right now, I’m also doing all the housework and cleaning. Who knew such a small apartment could get so dirty so fast?! I have a few blog posts already written, but I know this semester is going to be pretty crazy. I don’t think it’ll be as crazy as last semester but I am taking two courses heavy on the writing, one course heavy on the studying, and another course heavy on the research.

I enter every semester with big plans to stretch myself, really research for good stories, and put all my effort into my classes. And within 3 weeks, I’m back to just doing enough to get by with an A or B, but not doing much to stretch myself as a writer. I have big plans this year. I’m taking some exciting classes, like Magazine Feature Writing and Social Media, that make me anxious to get started with this semester. I feel like I’m going to learn so much more about journalism and media, and also about myself through this semester.

I don’t think I’m going to be as stressed as I was last semester. For one thing, I’ll only be interning one day a week (still toying with Mondays or Wednesdays). For another, I have long breaks between my classes on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. I won’t be jumping from work mode to school mode to internship mode.

In other great news, my brother and I did our fantasy draft on Saturday. I managed to score Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, AND Drew Brees as my QBs. I also got Adrian Peterson, Larry Fitzgerald, and Randy Moss. My brother got some all-stars as well, so I think it’s going to be an amazing season for us! I about killed him last season so I need some competition. Hehehe.

I feel so behind on blog stuff. Saturday night, I had to do the dreaded “Mark All As Read” in Google Reader because I had 162 unread blog posts to get to and knew I would never get to them by the time Monday rolled around. My “blogiversary” was yesterday and months ago, I had big plans on how I was going to celebrate – have my own domain, giveaways, etc. – but I did nothing. I just let it pass.

I have nothing else to say, other than I’m nervous about this semester. I’m nervous about how I’ll do, how I’ll handle the course load, and what kind of assignments will be thrown at me. I know I can handle it. I just have to prove it to myself again. Hopefully, I won’t have too many whiny blog posts this time around.

Categories: Life

She’s a Warrior – And Has the Battle Scars To Prove It

I’m not even sure how to write this blog post. I’ve started and deleted it multiple times. This weekend was a tough one for me, but an even tougher one for my mom. It was filled with ups and downs, pain and a few doses of laughter. I guess I should start off where it all began, which was Friday morning.

My mom was hit by a car on Friday morning. It was around 6:00am and she was doing her morning run, as she usually does. As she was running across the sidewalk of a shopping center, she was hit. She was able to walk home* on her own and let me tell you, seeing your mother with blood all over her face, arms, legs, and clothes is one of the scariest sights in the world. But she was walking, talking, and completely coherent so I knew her injuries couldn’t be all that bad.

We got to the emergency room around 6:30 and were there for 5 hours where she had multiple x-rays and a CAT scan done. Her biggest problems were a fractured elbow and laceration above her eye, requiring two rows of stitches. She also cut herself up good on her knees, elbows, and hands, as well as bruising up her thumb.

As a side note, I just want to say what an awesome staff the hospital we went to had. We went to Bardmoor Emergency Center which was just built a few years ago and is pretty top of the line. The staff was amazing there, as well. The doctor who stitched up my mom was pretty spectacular, even stopping halfway through the process to get my mom a Diet Pepsi and blueberry muffin! And they were so thorough in their x-ray process and making sure she didn’t have any gravel/debris in her skin. They actually were out of our way, but I’m so happy we went there. (Plus, we had zero wait time!)

We left the hospital around 11:30, armed with information on her injuries and a prescription for a painkiller and an antibiotic. I went to Walgreens to fill those and then got my mom home. If seeing my mom with blood all over her was a horrible sight, getting her from the car to the apartment was even worse. After sitting for a good 6 hours and then having to walk in the 90-degree heat to the apartment made my mom extremely dizzy. It’s about 30 steps from our car to our apartment and twice she fell down she was so dizzy. The second time, her eyes blanked for a second and that, my friends, is the scariest sight in the world. My mom’s CAT scan came back clean, but they did send me home with a paper talking about the minor head trauma she experienced and if she got dizzy, she needed to go to the ER. To say I was scared is an extreme understatement. She hasn’t had any dizzy spells since then and we think it was just the heat getting to her because she’s been fine since then.

The rest of the weekend consisted of me playing nursemaid, making sure her glass was always filled with Diet Coke and that she took her pain medication. (Although she’s only had 1 painkiller and has been taking ibuprofen for the pain instead.) 10,000mg cbd creams may also help relieve pain from these injuries.

We’ve been catching up on our DVR (and I’m getting hooked on Days of our Lives), watching movies, reading, and just celebrating the fact that my mom is alive and well, and I’m not sitting in a hospital room while I figure out how to live with a paraplegic, or making funeral plans.

This experience does make me a little frightened to run outside. I run in a suburban area, but there is a lot of traffic and a lot of stores. There are many times I have to watch out for cars as I cross streets and places where cars will be coming in. I’m usually very cautious about this, but now I’m even more so. I won’t be wearing dark clothing, no matter what time of day it is. And my mom and I will be heading to Sports Authority to buy her more reflective clothing to wear. (And maybe a headlamp!) It’s also made me more cautious of pedestrians and whenever I turn into a shopping center or onto a street, I’m doing it much more slowly and with more awareness to my surroundings.

The bottom line is, my mom is OK. Her injuries are very minor, in comparison to what could have happened. She’s feeling pretty rough right now, and keeps saying how stupid she was, but she is alive. Her spirits are high, most of the time. And she will still be running that marathon in January. I’m making sure of it.

Categories: Life

Thursday Tidbits

  • Can I just say how amazing the comments on yesterday’s post were? I was so nervous about the response I would receive, but every single comment made me smile – and some even made me tear up a little! I love you guys.
  • I still have a week to go before my next hair appointment and my hair is driving me crazy! While it’s still maintaining a semblance of blonde (thankfully, my natural color is closer to blonde than brown!), the length is driving me nuts. It’s hitting about half an inch above my shoulders which makes it flip out. I’m definitely going to have to keep my appointments 7-8 weeks apart.
  • Every time I hear about someone working on a freelance article, my heart sinks. A big part of me really wants to start trying to score some work this way, but a bigger part is too nervous about failing.
  • My ankle is pretty much completely healed. It’s still a little tender after work and standing on it all day, but I can run on it with no problem! This makes me so happy!
  • Speaking of running, is it weird that I find motivation in how I’m going to tweet about my run? Sometimes, it keeps me running if I tell myself, “Think about what an awesome Twitter status you could write!” (OK, don’t answer that. It’s definitely on the crazy side.)
  • I’ve been sick all week, which has really messed with my healthy eating/exercise. I only managed to get in 2 runs on Saturday and Sunday, but have been way too exhausted during the week to do more than work, come home, take a long nap, and sit on the couch. Plus, being sick like me makes me super hungry and feel nauseous when I don’t eat. It hasn’t been good.
  • I’ve been looking around at where to buy my domain and I found that you can do it through WordPress, which costs $5 more than if you were to buy it from a place like GoDaddy and use WordPress. Is this the best option, or should I still use GoDaddy? This domain-buying stuff is very confusing!
  • After reading BlogHer tweets/recaps from the past two years, I’m making it a priority to get to BlogHer ’11 in San Diego. I just need a roommate and someone who’s not afraid to be tied to a socially awkward girl who finds it hard to talk to people in big groups. (Oh, I know. I sound like a CATCH!)
Categories: Life

Vacation Odds & Ends

  • I’m writing this on Tuesday night, right before I begin my first real vacation in over two years. To say I’m excited is putting it mildly.
  • To some, this vacation might not be exciting. We’re not going on a cruise or spending a week in NYC. We’re spending 4 days in Orlando, which is about a 2-hour drive from where we live. We’re leaving today around lunchtime to drive up there and then will be hitting up 3 parks: Aquatica on Thursday, Disney World on Friday, and Sea World on Saturday.
  • I’ve never been to Aquatica. It’s the newest water park in Florida (this is a total guess, but it’s pretty new) and looks like a lot of fun. Plus, the park is open year-round, unlike Adventure Island which is only open seasonally. (Adventure Island is about 20 minutes from me.)
  • The last time I went to Disney World I was about 11 or 12. I think I grew out of it, after going every year since I was a kid. I wanted more fun, less “childish” theme parks like Universal Studios, Islands of Adventure, and Busch Gardens. But I am so excited to go back and see how much it’s changed and stayed the same.
  • Sea World is by far my favorite theme park. I’m a total animal lover so this fulfills all my needs. The shows are amazing and being so up close to the animals is great. You can pet dolphins and stingrays and feed sea lions and seals. It’s a blast.
  • Sadly, I have to wake up early to get my run in. I’m scheduled to run 2 miles and I can’t say I’m looking forward to it. I ran on Monday so I wouldn’t have to run on Saturday and it was pretty rough. I’m hoping this run will go much better.
  • In any event, it’s going to be such a fun vacation! See ya on the flip side, yo.
Categories: Life

May 2011

“Do you feel a lot of pressure on you to graduate in December?”

My mom posed this question to me over the weekend and it got me thinking. In a way, I do feel pressure but the pressure mainly stems from me. I want to be a college graduate in December. I want to stop living off my mom, get a full-time job and start acting more like an adult. Being a full-time college student and working part-time is no fun at all. I just want to be finished with this phase of my life and make 2011 the year I begin a new era of me.

But that’s not what’s going to happen. It all boils down to the same foreign language crap I’ve been dealing with since I changed my major. Basically, here’s the run-down:

  • November 2008: I changed my major from education to journalism. This was also the month I learned that I would be attempting a Bachelor of Arts degree, not a Bachelor of Science which requires 10 hours of a foreign language. With the B.S., taking a foreign language in high school would count. I also learned that my financial aid would probably be taken away since I had already attempted so many hours and that there was an exemption test to exempt me from the language classes. At the time, the exemption test seemed like the best way to go.
  • January 2009 – April 2010: I took my journalism classes, with the knowledge of those 10 hours looming in the back of my mind. Still, I did nothing about them and just pretended this pesky little requirement didn’t exist.
  • April 2010: Signed up to take Spanish I in the Summer and Spanish II in the Fall, which would keep me at my December graduation date. I wasn’t happy about this decision, as it would lead to another hectic semester when I was hoping to have a little bit of a break.
  • May 2010: Found out that I would have to pay $1,600 for my Summer classes since my financial aid still hadn’t been reinstated, and my scholarship didn’t pay for Summer classes. Freaked out a bit, especially when I received word that I may be dropped from my classes if that money wasn’t paid by the end of the first week of classes. I ended up dropping my Spanish class and resorting back to learning it myself. Very unhappy with this decision.
  • July 24, 2010: Signed up to take Spanish I in the Fall, and Spanish II in the Spring, giving me a May 2011 graduation date.

Am I happy about this decision? Yes. Am I at peace? Yes. Am I a procrastinator extraordinaire? Yup.

But I am happy and at peace with this decision, because I think it’s the best one in the long run. I feel less pressure to get everything done in one semester and am more relaxed about everything. For the upcoming Fall semester, I’ll have 14 credit hours and we’ll just have to see how it affects my running schedule. I’m keeping it the same for right now.

The good news is that I’ll only have 2 classes during my last semester: Senior Seminar (a class everyone takes during their last semester of college) and Spanish II. That semester will be my easiest yet!

Also, all the fun graduation stuff is gone by the time December rolls around. I’ll get fresh, new, exciting 2011 graduation stuff! At least there’s that.