Flag Football Weekend From Hell Part 3

Happy Halloween!! Muahhahaaa! I love any and all holidays and any excuse to dress up is always taken advantage by me! I'm currently in my Organizational and Behavior Marketing class dressed up like Rosie the Riveter and yes, I am the only one dressed up and yes I'm getting stares but COME ON PEOPLE it's Halloween! Let your inner child out once in awhile! Eat a friggin' candy bar or 2 or 19. It's awesome, let me tell you… but I'll save that for later. now for my final part of the trilogy that is my Flag Football weekend in Notre Dame!

I left you on Saturday with me thinking about how maybe I can't hide my emotions very well and that my insecurities can be easily read like a book. Gotta work on that. But for now let's focus on what was Sunday, the last day at the Shamrock Classic.

We started off reconvening with our perspective staff and going over who should work what games in order to figure out how to best decide would make the All-tourney team. Here, the main guy and LifeAdvice guy basically say "We didn't get to see much of the women's games yesterday, so you two (points to me and my stats partner, the other GA) should go ahead and choose the team, as you are probably the most knowledgable when it comes to the players."

Wait. You mean me? Me, the rookie?

OK!!

So even though we didn't have a huge pool to choose from and often times women's sports get kinda overshadowed (ok, really overshadowed) in these tournaments but the fact that they felt we could handle it completely on our own was super awesome and I totally looked forward to taking on that responsibility. We analyzed stats and mostly went off what we saw and not so much number crunching but came up with a pretty solid group of talented girls who fully deserved being named All Tournament. We also announced our winners after the Championship game, as the winner of the tournament gets a bid to the National Tournament, and then gave out trophies for the girls too. They were so excited and it was so cool to be able to shake their hand and say congratulations.

Reminder that it was also a competition for the officials too. 3 of the top officials get a bid to National's, and it was fairly obvious that WannaBe GA guy, my staff member was definitely in that running for the bid. *Side note* I'm very competitive. I work in this field because I like competition and sports and it's a good fit, but I sometimes take things too seriously.
I know WannaBe is doing well, and I'm very proud. I get to point at him and say, "Ya that ref? See him? He's mine. He's from SIU, I'm his GA." *insert shoulder brush here* Do I have anything to do with his abilities or skills? None whatsoever. Do people claim just by association? Ab-Saluki they do. (see what i did there? it's been used by a few people in Salukiville and i love it.) I used his jacket, I yell at him when he makes mistakes at work, he drives me up the wall when he drives carelessly, but I totally claim him.
He gets assigned the women's championship game and he does fairly well and I think he's got this in the bag. He's maybe not THE best but he's good. And he knows it. Everyone knows it. In fact, at first he was seen as the pretentious, snobby, know-it-all. But then we had a talk and I told him to just let his actions speak for himself. He learned a lot that weekend and he wasn't portrayed as the snob by the end of it.
At the very end I happened to be standing behind one of the main official committee members who had a list on his clipboard of all the officials. No I wasn't peeking, but he left if out in the open, and well, I couldn't help myself. My eyes might have wandered. A little bit. I didn't see the whole list but I saw 3 names circled. WannaBe was definitely circled. I'm super excited now and trying to conceal my excitement. Play it cool, Marissa, keep cool.

The Men's game finishes, and we're just about done. Trophies are handed out to teams and all-tournament selections, niceties are made, etc.

It's time to announce the officials. The 1st is called, then the second. It comes to the 3rd and I hear, 'last but not least we have ____ (not wannabe)'.

My reaction exactly.

How could they not choose him??? WHAT!?!?! No way. It's a typo. Stop the show. They screwed up. Royally. 

But that's it and we start cleaning up and saying good byes and people leave. 

I'm packed and start walking back to the car, all good byes, and thank yous said and done. WannaBe falls into step next to me and without looking at him I go "I'm sorry. I jinxed it. I thought you had it in the bag, I thought you were going to win for sure. I'm sorry, but it should have been you up there."

He turns to me and just starts to laugh. "And they say I'm the competitive one...Marissa, I'm fine with not getting it. Really. I lost to some very good officials, and I did my best. I can't ask for more."

I was not expecting him to be so cool, calm and collected about it. 

It was really the best answer and he did seem to be honest. He could have said ya, it was politics, I messed up that one call in like the first game, blah blah or blamed anything under the sun and no one would have thought otherwise. They would have given him that leeway and it would have been fine, even expected. But he chose not to. Maybe he is going to be a good GA. Maybe he is maturing a little bit. All I know is that I wasn't more proud to claim him than I was at that moment. And it made me realize that I have to rise above and hold myself to a higher standard too. I guess I can learn from WannaBe…who would've guessed that? Not I, that's for sure.

We're just about to hit the highway and I look at the clock. It's 4:45pm. I had looked up the Notre Dame bookstore hours and knew they closed on Sundays at 5pm. We had 15 minutes to find it, find a sweatshirt for my dad and get out of there. Totally doable. WannaBe is driving and we're almost out of the parking lot when I go "STOP"

Screech. Halt.

"What the-"

"Sorry, but can we please try to find the bookstore? I really want to get my dad something. Please? It closes at 5 and we have 15, no 14 minutes. Please!?"

"Well we can hit the road now and be back real late or we can see if we can find it and get back really late. Let's see if we can find it."

So we turn around and start driving around on campus, searching on our smartphones for the exact address.

It was probably one of the coolest parts of the weekend. Just cruising along random roads on the Notre Dame campus just checking it out. A mini self-guided tour. We saw the Athletic's offices, practice football fields (8 of them, they have so much money it's unreal) Drove behind the stadium, saw the basketball arena, some halls we think and some school buildings for classrooms. It's a beautiful campus. All of the buildings look like churches and there is just a super prestigious air to it all. Like you don't have to know a single thing about Notre Dame and just by looking at it you have this feeling that there's a whole lot of history there.

We end up in this obscure parking lot, in a spot probably reserved for somebody way more important than some visitors from Illinois, but we find the bookstore. And it was so cool. It was 2 stories, FILLED with everything ND, Fighting Irish, you could imagine. From clothes to nick-nacks to full on silver ware and china sets, books, bed sets, you name it, it's in there with Notre Dame literally written all over it. 

We spend some time just trying on the ridiculous hats (they had berets, straw hats etc) scarves and even leather boots with ND branded into them. No joke. We're probably having too much fun going around giggling and just forgetting everything flag football and not caring about anything anymore. I get my family some souvenirs and then we head out. (They and extended their hours to 7 so we weren't as crunched for time as I thought we were) 

The road trip back was eventful. We stopped for dinner at an Olive Garden in only god knows where because outside of Chicago it's all the same to me. It was nice to sit down and eat something not pizza or finger food but it would have been nicer had WannaBe not been on his cell the whole time. 

Rude. I hate that. Don't answer your phone, I know it's not a date but still. Just don't. So guess we're back to him being an annoying little thorn in my side. That didnt take long.

But out on the road switched up drivers, listened to weird music, talked about everything from the weekend and the people we met, how ridiculously cold it was to about school and life and then we got real deep and even talked philosophy and religion and future aspirations, etc. 

Yikes.

Normally, I like to keep things light and not so heavy. Whenever religion or politics come up I'm like-

I pretty much want nothing to do with it.

But they had some interesting points and I was thankful that they were staying up with me as I was driving. And it wasn't too bad or heated so i was ok with it. And since I almost killed them twice while driving (i got lost looking for a gas station and missed a turn and tried to pull a u-turn on a one-way street and the 2nd time we were merging from 2 to 1 lanes and it didn't gradually change it just went 2 boom 1 and I almost got squished by another car…oops)  I guess the least I could do was put up with their rants and chit chat. 

We got in around 2ish3 am and I was never ever so happy to back in Carbondale. 

The next day was the worst Monday in the history of Mondays. So sleepy…but soooo much work.

To Be Continued!

Flag Football Weekend From Hell Part 2

I left off at the end of Friday, leaving the bar and heading back to the hotel.

I crash and then around 1:00am my phone buzzes. It's a text from my dad. 'u up? can u talk? call me.'
I text back 'no, my roommates asleep i'll call you tomorrow.'
But then I can't fall asleep and now my brain wheels start to turn and I'm not going to get any sleep at this rate.

So I get up and creep out into the hallway, and walk to the fire escape stairs and call my dad. At 1am. I'm officially in the east coast time zone so it's not that late in California but it's still late. But I'm so nervous and still kinda reeling from it all that all I want to do is talk to my daddy. It wasn't a very long conversation, just that it was so cool to be at notre dame, and that I'm slowly meeting more and more people, a few even knew my old boss's boss back at Davis and that everyone is curious as to why or how I ended up in Illinois, etc. And I don't explicitly say that I'm nervous. But he knows. The thing about my dad is that I'm pretty sure he gets me more than I get me. I don't have to say much or really do much and he already tells me how I'm gonna think, or going to act, etc. It's weird. He's the voice in my head and to this day whenever I feel sad or want to cry I can see him and hear him saying "Don't waste your tears, there's no crying in *insert whatever sport season it happened to be, here*." And while sitting in that fire escape I became incredibly home sick. I miss him and my family so much and I wanted so badly to just be home not worrying about making the right impression, or not messing up the silly stats and making it painfully obvious that I was a rookie or going back to my job as a ga or worrying about who was supposed to work IM soccer or club baseball... All I wanted was to be sitting at home watching football with my dad. And I think he knew that and so he hurried the conversation and told me to get some sleep and to be ready for the next day. He told me that it was, if anything at all, a good learning experience and that's our motto - learn something new everyday; better yourself everyday. And then he said good night and that he wanted a ND sweatshirt from the book store.

So I felt a little better going to sleep.

Then around 4am the phone rings. It's the front desk asking that we un-deadbolt our door as our other roommate has just arrived.
I was so sleepy and tired I couldn't really comprehend what they were asking and my roommate was the same she looks over and goes…

"It's 4am…what, I, um….I'm so confused."

I know sweetheart, me too. 

I unlock the door and crawl back into bed. But then not 30seconds later we hear the door open and somebody is trying to get in. This isn't weird or slightly creepy or actually terrifying if you've ever seen any episode of CSI:any city or Dexter or Law&Order or any criminal show, horror movie EVER.

The Shining…Why you will never find me staying at isolated hotel in the middle of Colorado's wilderness during a snow storm. never.

But then I hear the intruder mumble and i can tell it's the other GA from SIU. I go "B? Is that you?" and thankfully it wasn't Jack Nicholson or Christian Bale from American Psycho it was B and she goes, "Oh hey, sorry, yeah it's me." "Hey, hi, get into my bed, i'm right here by the door." "Ok, glad you're in this room, I was worried it was a total stranger." Ha. Makes 2 of us.
And then we go to sleep but it's short lived as I have to be at the field by 8.

We get to the fields and things are already happening. People are getting teams signed in, people are moving and hustling for officials committee, operations and all-tourney staff. The place is buzzing. I get my stat sheets and head out to the field with my partner, another GA from Grand Valley State University. We get our chairs, find out the teams and numbers and prepare to sit and watch and make little hash marks for every play made. Fun fun fun.
Mind you, it's 29 degrees outside. And overcast. And windy. It's VERY cold.
I'm not from SoCal and I ski so I thought I could handle the cold. Oh no. When you're just sitting there it is flipping miserable. And I was EXTREMELY miserable and let everyone know it.

I had on 3 pair of socks, cold weather leggings under my pants, a long sleeve shirt, a shirt over that, a pull over and a north face jacket on with scarf, gloves and headband for my ears and I was still cold. After about the 3rd game I couldn't handle it. I had to go and warm up. But we had had back to back games and literally no time to even take a 5min break let alone try and defrost.

Finally I just claimed I had to pee and walked back to the building where everything was held, Stepan Center is the official name. Unlayering was a ridiculous amount of work and I was not about to do that I just needed to move around and not sit in the frigid cold anymore. I noticed that WannaBeGA guy was also inside, taking a little break before he and his crew went out to the next game. He had a super nice jacket that I had used as a pillow for the car ride and you can't wear jackets while officiating so I sprinted over to him. I asked if I could use it and he laughed at me teasing me how the Cali girl just couldn't hang in the midwest. This was surprising as this is the same kid who wore long sleeve and under armor leggings for a flag football game in September…it was maybe 55 degrees. Pansy. But he gave it to me since he really didn't need it while he was working. Score! I looked like the michelin man or pilsbury dough boy I had on 6 or 7 layers but I didn't care, I was finally not so miserable.

One of the main guys running the All-Tournament staff saw me take the jacket and later asked me about it. I kinda joked that I pulled rank and made WannaBe give it to me. At the end of the day when I still had it on and WannaBe was finished with his games, he came up to me again and said "Atta girl, you pull rank, keep that jacket til we're done. remind those boys just who they're working for." with a wink. I laughed out loud but I agreed. No way was he getting it back until he begged for it or I knew I was headed back to a nice warm hotel room.

Throughout the day after I got past the notion it was flipping freezing and not about to get any warmer I did learn a lot. I learned more about the rules of flag football (its amazing how much you think you know and then a crazy play happens and everyone goes umm wait what? how many yards is that? from line of scrimmage or point of penalty? and how did that even happen??) and about how to take stats more efficiently and what to really look for. I'm pretty sure I even started enjoying myself just sitting there with the GVSU kid talking football. I'm sure I sound like a complete bore and a total boy but hey, that's my job. And it wasn't all serious no, my nerves weren't as present by mid day and I even got to know some really cool people. Sure we bonded over the cold and flag football mostly but that's more than nothing.

One professional staff in particular had me in fits of laughter no matter how cold or frozen I felt. He was about 5'5 on a good day and had the biggest southern accent I had ever heard outside of television and he was quite literally a ball of fire. For being a professional, he was a tad short on that spectrum. He cussed and made jokes and got silly and told us probably not the best stories of his crazy past. He knows my boss and told me to tell him that he was a bald jack ass. Yeah, I'm definitely going to do that..you betchya. no. But we got to talking and I'm pretty sure he was just thrilled I laughed at everything he says as he already calls me a blonde and space cadet. And i did laugh at all of his jokes. all of them. but then he goes, 'you probably need to have a life talk with me. I give great life talks.' oh really. this coming from the guy who painted his name in the middle of an intersection and then went back and repainted it when they tried to take it off…yes. great life advice i'm sure… he goes "When I first saw you, I could tell. You're at the corner of 'Where The Hell Am I Street' and 'What The F*** Am I Doing Ave'."
Talk about quick to judge.
While I did burst out laughing I kinda thought 'dang…he's kinda right. I'm totally at that corner.'

We ended our day and kinda talked over who our star players were etc, then headed back to the hotel to get ready for dinner. Dinner was served at a BBQ place that had some pretty good BBQ and I was told it was nothing compared to Tennessee's BBQ. While it is northern indiana so…I'm guessing ya Tennessee is going to be a bit better. But I was taught that you have to eat your cole slaw on top of your pulled pork not separately and that the best beer to pair bbq with is the slightly more bitter ales to off set the sweet BBQ sauce. Learn something new everyday. The more I got to talk with the folks at the tourney and just kinda fully immerse myself in this new culture of not only the midwest but Rec Sports, the more I've come to really like it. The people are nice. And funny. And I love all of the accents. Yeah it gets clique-y. But a lot of these folks have known each other for years and a new face is always coming and going. But everyone will listen to your story as long as you'll listen to theirs. Everybody has a story to tell, a path they took, or didn't take, that got them to where they're at. And no one, not a single person there hates their job. There are bad days but everyone in that field loves it. Some leave and then come back and some never ever leave and some never come back but they're all incredibly happy. So maybe I am at the corner of "Where The Hell Am I Street" and "What The F*** Am I Doing Ave". But I think it's just taking me a little bit to figure out my map. I don't have an end destination, but I'll figure it out. I'm learning. And maybe a few life talks from that fire ball guy will do the trick. Who knows, it could work. I'm up for anything.

Here's some photos of the weekend but To Be Continued for my last day and final entry of the flag football trilogy!

Touchdown Jesus 

Where we ate dinner on Saturday

Go Irish!

Yeah it was covered by a big white tarp...

But I'm not NOT taking a photo of Notre Dame's big white tarp. Obvi.

Don't step on the ND.

Too. Cool.

Touchdown Jesus in all it's glory.

Flag Football Weekend From Hell Part 1

Hey hey.

The amount of stress and busy that has consumed my life this past week has exceeded my limit. Thrice fold. I. Am. Tired. and I sorry for not posting, mostly to myself because I do like writing and miss it but I just don't have time for myself and when I do I have so much to say I can't get it all out so I put it off longer and then I catch myself in a vicious circle.

But. I can't not blog about this weekend.

So, if you have read my previous blogs, you'd have known that I applied and got selected to work the Intramural Flag Football Regional Tournament in Notre Dame apart of the All-tournament staff, meaning I would watch games and the teams and keep stats and then collectively make a decision about who were the best players to be selected for the All-Tournament Team, and MVP's, etc. And you'll also  know that in my old stompin' grounds these tournaments weren't the norm, we had 1 or 2 a season and it was always super far away and we didn't send teams or anyone all that often to them.  I went to ONE bball tourney as an official and had fun but that was the extent of my experience. It wasn't as big of a deal.
That is soooo not the case out here.

These folks LOVE their intramural tournaments. In our region alone we have 3 tournaments and we had the potential to send people to other regions' tourneys too. It's crazy. Everyone has either officiated like a bajillion of these things, worked them, ran them, played in them, etc. They display their past achievements of All-American official, National official, All-Topurney, Tournament Director, etc, etc. like badges and try to one up everybody. It's nuts and I'm so out of my element. BUT I was super excited to get selected as it was a good opportunity to meet people in the region and go to see Notre Dame if nothing else. (Hello. It's the fighting Irish!)

We also sent 2 officials. The officials also compete to prove they are worthy enough to officiate at the national tournament. My co-worker also could go but had prior plans so couldn't travel with me but would join later. And my boss didn't want to go. So me, the total rookie, and two of my staff, Wannabe GA guy and another flag official headed out at 6AM on Friday morning for South Bend, Indiana, 8 hours away.

Oh boy. Road trip!

Yeah right...

It was cold and dark and I wanted to be back in my bed but no, I was in a very small compact car with 2 cranky boys headed to a flag football tournament. It's so ridiculous, it has to be true. We get maybe 10 min into the trip and WannaBe GA guy asks if he can lean his seat back as I'm sitting behind him. I say sure as I'm sprawled out ontop of bags in the back. He proceeds to lean the seat ALL the way back. Ok, fine. But then after I get uncomfortable I try to switch my position and I'm blocked by his seat. I try to move around and end up with my knees literally in my chest against his seat and he's snoring like a flipping rhino, head phones in, mouth open, totally KO-ed. dude. you're killing me.

We get to an oasis on the outskirts of chicago, it's like a gas station but it has a mini mall next to it. it's mostly just food and bathrooms but it's kinda cool, and we stop for food and gas. FINALLY he wakes up and lifts the seat up as we get out. Mind you, this is 4 HOURS later. I literally crawl out of the car my legs are numb from being so crammed and so uncomfortable for that long. He goes, "what's you're problem, don't like road trips?"

No. I just don't like having my knees by my face for 4 flocking hours. But it's cool.

We're making good time but head back out on the road. We switch up drivers and WannaBe GA guy gets to drive now. Fun fact about me: I don't like it when you text and drive. Or do anything really on your phone. I've done it but I don't often. And I've seen a few crashes and been in a car crash so I get a tad nervous on highways. Not that I'm scared, just cautious. The one with bigger lug nuts wins and we're in a chevy impala. Not exactly a tank of a car. We'd be squashed like bugs on the windshield if we took on a semi.

This kid…He's not only texting and driving but SnapChatting, and he's talking and doesn't use his blinker, and EVEN watches espn on his phone all WHILE driving. I almost died of a panic attack. At one point I tell him "Pick a lane!" as he was straddling the line on a major highway. He turned and looked back at me with the biggest death glare I've ever seen from him ever and goes, "you'll ride on the roof". I retorted back with "If I die because of a F**cking snap chat, I swear, I will come back and kill you." So of course he proceeds to swerve in and out of lanes with little regards for others around him.
I was quietly hyperventilated for the rest of the trip, whispering prayers.
But he did manage to get us there safely and I think only cut off one or two cars. Better than average.

We get to the hotel early, and my room isn't ready so I go to the guys's and hang with them. We're just waiting for the tournament to officially start with staff meetings, etc. so that we're prepared for when teams show up. But for now, we have down time.
But I'm nervous as I don't know anyone other than my staff and my co-worker isn't going to be around til the next day. Oh man. What if I suck at this? What if I fail? What will my boss say if I get a bad review? Ugh…I'm way over thinking things but then we have to go to the field and then it's dinner with everyone, etc, etc. the whole weekend is planned for us so we gotta get going. Great. Here goes nothing.

We have our perspective meetings and as I'm not an official we separate. Dang it. Now I have to be social. I'm awkward and try making small talk but everyone seems to know each other. So now I feel like the new girl in school all over again. ugh. I hate this part. But then I over hear a guy tell someone that he's originally from California. Oh yeah? Makes two of us and now I have my ice-breaker, score! So I ask what part of California. he goes Northern. Oh really? Me too. What town? He goes well, it's close to the oregon border. me too… (i'm kinda freaking out now) I go okay, what town though, I'm familiar with the area (we're both like wait, no way…this is too similar) and he says have you ever heard of Etna?
Shut up.
Etna is a neighboring town to my hometown of Yreka. It's maybe a little over 20min away. We were like rival high schools and I have quite a few friends from there. It's small with about 2000 people and Yreka has 5000.
I almost shout, "No WAY! I'm from Yreka!" He instantly knows and we start laughing. What are the chances that 2 people from the same area in California meet out in the midwest at a intramural flag football tournament??? Get this. I worked with his sister at our county fair and his other sister works at SIU. Shut up. Shut up. Shut up. This isn't happening. Someone else from Siskiyou County is at SIU too?? No way. I knew the world was small but that is CRAZY.

Before we can revel in the absolute craziness and the small probability of this happening we have to break into our work groups. I'm on All-Staff and so I have to discuss how to take stats, what we're looking in players, etc. I meet some more people and they're mostly professionals, and I'm one of 4 GA's out of 12. Ok cool. And they all have experience. Ok. I can hang. Maybe. Maybe not. damn. We don't start til the next day though so my nerves have to be set aside for later. We get our assignments and then we proceed out to have dinner with everyone.

Dinner was served in the Notre Dame Football Player's Lounge at Notre Dame Stadium, "The House That Rockne Built".

WHAT

Yeah, I ate dinner in the stadium right next to the locker room at one of the most prestigious colleges in the nation. I saw Touchdown Jesus and after dinner we got a tour of the locker room and got to go out onto the field.

It's ok to be jealous.

It was too cool. I had goose bumps going into the locker room and seeing all the trophies, rings and busts of past players. The ND on the floor was awe-inspiring and I couldn't believe that I was standing in a room so full of football history. I'm a total history buff, especially with sports and my dad also loves tradition and history when it comes to sports. A lot of my early memories of my dad involve football, either college or pro, or watching some bio-pic about the past great teams and there I was, standing in that room I had only seen briefly on tv. We just dig that sort of stuff. He would have loved it and I so have to go back and bring him to see it all. Don't worry, Daddy, I promise you, we'll go to a game and I'll make sure to give you a tour of it all too.

We then headed to the hotel. By then I had a room and a roommate and we were just talking in our room when all of sudden about 5 other GA's knocked on our door. Our room became the hang out spot and we just started to chill, watching modern family and drinking some bud lights somebody had picked up form the liquor store across the way.
Ok, now we're talking. I'm instantly a whole lot more interesting and less awkward with a little liquid confidence.

Some other staff had mentioned about going out to a bar in downtown South Bend, so we drive on over to check it out. It's a small sport's bar and almost all of the staff and officials are there hanging. I end up meeting quite a few people and we exchange stories of how we got where we are, etc. etc. I'm enjoying myself and I'm starting to feel more and more comfortable. WannaBe knew a lot more people as he's been to a ton of these things so I felt kinda weird getting introduced by my staff instead of vice versa but after I made a joke of it, everyone seemed to find it funny too and then ask about how I liked the midwest, etc. So thanks WannaBe, I guess you can be useful…sometimes.

A few people I met that night know my boss and we start to talk about him and the program at SIU, one was his first GA and she was asking how I was doing as a GA now. It was kinda cool to exchange experiences and to learn a little about my boss back in the day. But then it took a more serious note and she talked about how she had some issues and it was hard a lot of the times. I don't know, when she was talking I was sitting there like, oh man. she gets it. I'm going through a lot of that now. And it was nice to share my fears and doubts with someone who literally has been there before. Like literally that same spot. Probably the same chair and desk that I had literally sat at not 24 hours before.
We then all left and as we had to start our day fairly early in order to get things going for the tourney.

To be continued, part 2!

Birthday Shenanigans!

Ok so not anymore, but it was my birthday on Saturday and let me tell you how much I LOVE birthdays…I like to celebrate the whole month of October reminding people it's my birthday soon and then I like to spen usually 3 or so total days with my actual birthday in the middle really celebrating. (Conceited much? Nah, I'm fabulous, why wouldn't people be happy that I'm around??)

But this year it was a little different. One of the 2nd year GA's was getting married on that day, it was SIU's Homecoming AND I'm in a new town, and my friends and family are 2,000 miles away.
I know, oh woe is me. But really though, I kinda figured that it was probably for the best that my birthday fell on such a hectic day so that I wouldn't notice the fact that I wasn't surrounded by loved ones on my special day. And 22 is kinda anticlimactic minus the fact that everyone sings T-Swift's song in your face all day. (If i hear that song one more time I may hurt somebody)

Who am I kidding though.. I was SUPER bummed and not really looking forward to it. I couldn't plan anything super fun and the glory of it all was fading.

It was a short week too, coming off of Fall Break and so it was kinda crazy in the office and at school. We had the championship games for Street Hockey IM's and meetings, prepping for new sports and just all around playing catch up from the long weekend. Thursday the 17th rolled around we had early morning meeting that day and I thought my boss had forgotten about my bday as he usually brings breakfast donuts for whoever has had or is having a birthday on staff. But he hadn't mentioned anything but I wasn't too upset. Promise, I wasn't, I'm not a morning person so the less smily and cheery i had to be the better. But he surprised me and brought the donuts and fruit for everyone and I got a bunch of happy early birthdays and I felt better about it all. At least I got some lovin.

On Friday I had morning class and as I'm walking back to the office, I see my boss and we walk back together, talking about weekend events, class, etc. He's got the weekend off from officiating football and he plans on just relaxing and I am looking forward to having a less hectic work weekend as we only have 1 event.

We walk into the office and I'm surprised because my desk is covered in balloons and cupcakes! I'm very shocked and beaming as I love surprises! The two girls I have come to know pretty well in the office got them for me and they were like we wanted to do it today since we don't work tomorrow!

Awww! You guys shouldn't have! But really you totally should have and I'm glad you did! loved those cupcakes too :)

And about 5 minutes later I get flowers and MORE cupcakes that my mom and dad sent to me! I am feeling so incredibly loved and it isn't even my real birthday!!
So now EVERYONE in the office knows it's my birthday and I'm handing out cupcakes to everyone (bad idea and hard to get rid of so many when you work in a rec center…everyone is so health conscientious or on some gluten-free, paleo, organic, something diet, but most gave in when I came by with my charming smile)

We still have a busy day though and so me and some office girls go out to eat a quick lunch and make it kinda like a bday luncheon at my new favorite spot, Moe's which is like a midwest version of Chipotle. A birthday lunch at a fast-food place. *facepalm* Not your typical birthday lunch date but it was delicious and I was so happy to be celebrating the coolest person I know, ME.
Head back into the office and we had a basketball game for the Army and AirForce ROTC groups and a 3 point shoot out and the schedule to get out. whew! It was about 8:30pm when we walked out of there and I was so ready to go home and lie in my bed.

And then i get a text from another friend and she's like come on birthday girl let's party hardy! I kinda laugh and agree to go out but that I hadn't planned on going hard til tomorrow, when Kaylee had agreed to come out with me and we would try to find some trouble to get into.

If you know me at all, you have probably heard me say this before and you probably know that this is NEVER how it ends up going down. But I still try anyways.
So I meet up with them and they have birthday dessert and cards for me and of course, birthday shots.

Oh boy…this is looking like it's going to be a longer night than originally planned. We proceed to just talk and gossip and laugh at my corny bday cards that I loved so much (one had a pic of a cow and it said "It's your birthday? Time to bust a Moo!" I died.) and then we hear about a house party so we head over to just check it out. It was a smaller affair with the guys playing madden and some people playing jenga and just chilling. So we play jenga and laugh and it reminded me so much of my friends and what we would do on a typical Friday at Davis. Just playing video games and not doing much of anything but loving every minute of it. Gosh how I miss it so much but it was so nice to have it here too.
Next stop, the bars. We go to the other side of town, to switch it up a bit. It's the place that I climbed onto the roof before and the little dive bar is now PACKED with people here for homecoming and it's insane. But we get in and right around midnight, my official birthday, I magically become that girl…

You know exactly what I'm talking about. That girl who goes out on her birthday and tells everyone and gets free drinks and she doesn't really need anymore to drink but you just can't stop her.
Yep. That was me. I'm meeting and talking to complete strangers, I'm getting free drinks and high fives and I'm finally VERY excited it's my birthday and the glory is back! It's my birthday and I want everyone in the bar to know it!

I didn't give many people a choice in the matter.

I see some friends from staff and business school and then well you know. We walked back to the apartment and I end up on the couch and I wake up the next morning in a pretty bad state. Who knew having too much fun could be so detrimental to your health? Ugh…

But I had planned on going to the Homecoming parade to help Kaylee with the Rec float. But after getting up and trying to start functioning, I realize I can't. So I lie back down to just try and get it together. The next thing I know I wake up and I had slept for 3 hours. OH NO! Kaylee!! I apologize and she says it's fine that she had enough help and to not worry. But I felt so so bad because I don't like it when people flake on me and I am NOT a flaker I like to think I'm pretty reliable. Damn birthday...Terrible terrible life choices. 

That day, the actual day of my birthday was pretty good after that mishap though. I went tailgating although my drink of choice was a gatorade but the tail gate food did have enough grease in it to make me feel better. It was a beautiful fall day and I got to see some real life Salukis, there are some alumni that own the dogs and they were pretty cool. And I love dogs so I just really wanted to sit there and pet them all day. One more thing to check off my Salukiville bucket list!

Kaylee and I then meet up and we go to the mall for some retail therapy. She promises she's not too upset and it's my birthday so it's fine. I say that I owe her big time but she can't be too mad at me because I tell her about my night and she just kinda shakes her head at me and giggles "You're too much, Marissa, you're driving that struggle bus." I know. I'm getting too good at driving it.

I had gotten some gift cards for my birthday so at the mall. She and I love fall just so we can wear our boots with thick socks and scarves and sweaters. And it's officially sweater weather and I need a new pair of boots real bad. I notice some boots that I really want. I try a pair on and then Kaylee goes those are cute but what about these? and she points out an even cuter pair. Oh man…decisions decisions. It's a sale though and with the card we do some math and I'm like if I get 2 it's kinda like only buying 1 pair. I ask for a price check and with the original sale price it's not too bad but out of my price range. But then with the card it drops a lot and I walk out of there not with one pair of boots but 2! Happy birthday to me!! I am my mother's daughter…money doesn't last long with me. not when really cute boots are involved.

So we then go and grab an early bday dinner at Chili's (again, super classy I know. but I just dropped some serious cash, gotta take it easy on that wallet). Kaylee and I joke and gossip and enjoy the day. It was a perfect birthday. I was so worried about not having fun and some staff had mentioned how there was an event where they go from house to house drinking all the booze after the football game and it always gets crazy but I had my 4 years of undergrad. I lived that life, and I had fun and I'm still having fun but I don't need to go crazy anymore. (I still do from time to time, obvi) But at that moment all I wanted to do was sit with my friend Kaylee from Kentucky eating sliders from Chili's talking about everything and nothing at the same time. It was perfect. And I'm so glad I asked her to be my tent mate on that GA camping trip 2 when we were just starting out in Carbondale. I'd be a whole lot worse off if I didn't get to have my Sunday dinners with her trying new places to eat and to hear her southern accent constantly sassing me and judging me for my clumsiness and to share our obsession over cute boots and cute but dumb boys. I didn't need a lot of attention or a big party or anything like that I thought I needed. It really is the little things.

But I don't get off that easy as we had planned to go out that night. And we do go out and it was fun. It was a new bar, one that only opens during the winter/colder months, and sure enough there was a band but they were playing 90's alternative songs, including my favorite song in the entire world so of course it was a good night of singing and grooving and laughing. I got really tired though and somebody gave me this nasty concoction of too many liquors all in one glass and I was fading pretty fast. But it was my birthday and I can do whatever I want. Well..only kinda because we had to find a ride so then we had to wait and that meant more partying and when the guy showed up he didn't have enough room for all of us so a few had to sit on each others laps and 2 had to lay down in the back of his truck as he drove down a few or like 10 blocks or so that we could get back. I don't suggest that as the best way and they all win major kudo points for making my birthday fun and feeling loved. xoxo.

And then Sunday…let's just say that C-dale has shown me a good time. And for the most part this Cali girl can hang but I lost hard. 2 nights like that and I'm gonna end up like this…

To be continued!

Rumor Mill

In 1492, Christopher Columbus sailed the Ocean Blue.
I love Columbus day! It's such an obscure holiday that hardly anyone pays any attention to it except for the government (which is on hiatus anyway) which means no school for this kid! Woo!
(It's also fall break so no school tomorrow too! yay!)

I'm currently waiting on my laundry to magically load, wash, dry and fold itself so I can watch the football game. It's not working out to well.

Typical laundry day for Marissa.

I was very productive this week/weekend though. Just not right now. It comes and goes in waves. But I promise, I really really was.

It all started Monday with me getting back from my weekend in California (take me backkkk) and I basically hit the ground running. My flight got in at 11:30pm and I drove the 2 hour drive from St. Louis to C-dale with only one sketchy gas station stop along the way that had probably THE worst coffee I'd ever had, and a pack of twizzlers to keep me awake, which got me home around 2ish in the morning only to wake up in a panic that I'd slept through my alarm and missed work and class but really I hadn't because it was only 7am. 

Gosh I just LOVE traveling…GAG

At that point though, I was up and couldn't sleep so I went and tried to get some homework done and then proceeded to jump into BEAST MODE at the office. You shoulda seen me, I filed, emailed, scheduled, made phone calls, faxed invoices, etc. like a boss and even got in time to go to lunch with some friends. All on less than 5 hours of sleep. Boom. 

Tuesday-more or less the same old same old. Do work, do homework, sleep, eat, repeat.

Wednesday-See Tuesday. Throw in various random meetings just to shake it up. And lots of library bonding time.

Thursday-Start cramming for test at 6pm with intervals of studying for test on Friday at 9am. 

Take test. Don't do so well. Cry, move on to accounting, study in library with classmates, think I got this, go to bed.

Friday- Forget my calculator for an accounting exam, 30min til test time, borrow friends car, drive back home, get calculator, drive back (all in under 13minutes. How I didn't get pulled over, I still don't know.) and take test but everything you learned the night before is gone because I was flipping out over the stupid calculator, so that went real well, leave class, start prepping for the weekend events.

Saturday-It's fall break which means that most of my staff left for their perspective homes. Out of 17, only 4 were in town at all. Only 2 were available for Saturday. We had 3 events. You do the math…In case you can't, it means we're short 1 so guess who gets to be a supervisor this weekend!?? ME

Even Rex Ryan doesn't like the thought of it.

Whatever. I'll do it. 

So we had 2 rugby games, 1 soccer game and a baseball tournament. Fun stuff. I get all the gear out at 7am (killinggg me with these early start times) and at around ohhh 10ish it starts to POUR. Like, armageddon is upon us, thunder goes boom and, it is raining so hard I can't see across the field. Awesome. Flippin perfect.

Everything comes to a halt. Soccer hasn't technically started yet and me and my sups are scrambling to find keys and get things under cover. Not working out too well. Rugby is like, screw it, let's play in the mud and they do. And it's really really muddy and they're slipping and sliding and tackling and sloshing through the mud and it's pretty funny to watch but I'm still out in the rain with only my little jacket and I'm like can every one just go home so I can go home, that'd be greaatttt.

But no. Soccer even starts as they really need to get in these conference games. Ugh. Fine.

I'm soaked, I've been walking around in grass and mud so my shoes and pants look like I walked through a swamp, my socks are not even close to dry and that's my absolute biggest pet peeve, I HATE having wet socks. It's just so uncomfortable, and you never not have to use your feet for walking or doing anything so it makes it worse. I hate it I hate it I hate it. 

But baseball has to stop. The field is a lake and you can't walk up to plate without sinking in the mud. 

Mind you, it's a 16 team tournament. And we're only in day 1 and got 1 and 1/2 games in before the rain started. Oh boy. Guess who's running the tournament? Wannabe GA guy. He's a regular in my blogs now. Unfortunately. So me and Ga kid are talking about what to do and it's not really letting up so we move everything over to one of the high school fields. It sucks for the tournament as a whole but now I don't have to worry about supervising baseball as if they aren't on school property, it ain't my deal. Solid. He calls me from time to time to have me run out gear, etc. but otherwise the tournament is a bust and we'll be lucky to have all the teams play at least 2 games by the end of the weekend. Bummer for those teams that came all the way from Wisconsin. But oh well. 

Head back to rugby and the 2nd game starts. 2 guys on my staff are on the team and it's their last home game. Rain or shine, they're playing. Perfect. More wet, more mud, more mess, just perfect. But I stay and watch as it is the last home game, it's my club team that I manage and my staff and I like to support them. One of the guys even scores as he's very very fast and the other plays like he's 10foot2 and bullet proof but really he's maybe 5'10 on a good day and the other rugby players look like they could eat him whole. But he's also a hot head so when a fight breaks out, I wasn't at all surprised to find him throwing some punches and jabs right there in the middle of it all. Yep. That's my employee. So proud. Luckily he didn't get kicked out of the game, just a slap on the wrist with a yellow card and SIU ended up winning. It wasn't really a close game til the end though. Turns out the rugby team is very close to going to national's. Their last conference game is a do or die game, the winner gets the national bid. So that's exciting and even though I had nothing to do with that, I definitely feel some pride there, even if all I did was make sure they were properly insured, and had their equipment at the games. And that I know a few of them personally helps too. Even if they do have LMS (little-man-syndrome) I still gotta claim them as my own. IM sports staff stick together.

The rain finally lets up and things start wrapping up. Whew. I'm exhausted and still cold and soaked and so ready to go home. Just as the sups who stuck it out in the rain (total props, neither complained and they made it a whole lot less worse) and I leave, GA guy calls. "Hey, since you're finished there can you come out to the high school? I could use some help when I have to play." Through gritted teeth I go, "Sure, no prob".

And back out I go. Only there really wasn't a reason for me to be there. At all. But I did get to watch some decent baseball. I love baseball. I love watching it and for all those people out there that find it boring, get over yourself, it's america's past time and it's fantastic. I even brought some sunflower seeds and so even though I'm still soaked and still cold, I'm not too unhappy just sitting in the bleachers watching baseball teams from Wisconsin, Missouri, Ohio, and even Arkansas play, eating some seeds and just chillin. As SIU takes the field another team that is supposed to play later comes and sits on the bleachers next to me. they're college kids, guys too. They're loud, crude and very show-off-y. One kid takes notice of not only me but the 2 girls sitting down a few steps and starts to impromptu sing and tell all of these totally outrageous and not even a little bit true stories of how he got so drunk and blah blah blah. (Guys, take note, girls DO NOT dig that. At all. Just. Don't.) His team is kinda amused but then finally they get annoyed too. One of the other teammates says "What are you doing?? Who are you talking to? None of us are listening and THEY (pointing in the direction of us girls) do not give a **** about what you do."

I died. I couldn't help it. I bursted out laughing and then the whole team and the girls proceeded to laugh. The poor kid got so embarrassed, he tried to be cool but he was so red faced. Oh gosh, it was just way too funny. I felt bad but I couldn't stop laughing and I about choked on my sunflower seeds. Karma. But that was the ice breaker they needed and so we did end up chatting about what school they were from, how they were sorry for their annoying teammate and that we should stay and watch them play and cheer them on. I think they thought I was still in undergrad and then one asked which of the SIU players was my boyfriend (uh awkward) but I just said I was out to watch not for any team or for anybody. The Salukis ended up losing a close game and it all came down to base running and they didn't do a stellar job, but hey that's the game. I waited for Ga kid and we discussed what we should do for the remainder of the tourney and then I went home. Finally.

That night I went out with some friends and ended up playing beer pong in a bar (so cool) and the beer pong table at the bar was a mini replica of the Saluki basketball court (way cool) but the place was pretty dead as it's fall break and EVERYONE leaves (not cool). 

Sunday-

This is how I wanted to spend my Sunday. Go help set up for baseball and then…

 

proceed to bounce outta there.

But no. My plans never ever go according to plan. Just read my blog, you'll come to the same conclusion. 

The 2 guys who played rugby had agreed to work sunday since they were in town and obviously couldn't work the previous day because of their game. Score. 

But my lovely staff, I'm going to call the fast one Joe and the hot head LMS guy will be HotHead, had other plans. HotHead calls me and just for reference, this is the same guy who *jokingly* says I'm not a real GA, he's been around for 4 years and he has more say than I do, blah blah, etc. they like to tease but it's pretty much the truth. slightly. I'm not bitter or anything and no I wasn't secretly smiling to myself when he got that yellow card for fighting. not at all. but i digress…HotHead gives me a call about 5 min before they're both supposed to show up to work. This is how the convo went...

"Hey what are you doing right now?"

"I'm at the brick house. Where are you?"

"That's the thing…me and Joe are going to be about an hour late."

"WHAT"

"yeah well us and the rugby guys went to st. louis last night and you know.. things got crazy, and well we aren't back yet"

I stammer and I can't even get real words out I'm so flustered then I just hang up on him.

I am fuming. I'm sure my face is red and steam is coming out of my ears at this point and I literally throw the gear into the back of the Kubota almost trying to break something anything. I can't even talk I'm so mad. 

He calls back.

"I don't really want to talk to you right now but you better get your *** over here as soon as possible or your as-"

"(Chuckle) I'm kidding, I'm kidding, relax, we're two minutes away."

"WHAT?!? Oh my-you idiots-i can't-shut up-meh-uh-what the (more stuff I can't say here)" and I hang up on him again. 

Now I'm still angry but kinda laughing because it was a good prank. I was going to let him have it when they got to the field but then they get out of the car with their stupid grins and so proud of themselves that I can't keep a straight face. 

"You're way too easy to rile up, Cali. You got so mad! No one hangs up on me ever and you did…twice!"

"I'm aware."

"You're still mad!" Stupid 'Gotchya' grin from ear to ear.

And so the rest of the morning was basically one big prank. I'd make them run and get gear and 'forget' about this or that and make them go back and they'd get mad and then say how once I leave, they're going to leave an no one would know, etc. etc. 

I'm about to really leave and then the boss calls and says he's coming out to check on us. Cool. Guess I'll stay.

Boss shows up and we chat and talk about how this tourney isn't exactly going as planned but we're going to make the best of it. HotHead then decides to answer his phone in front of the boss (totally not supposed to do that..) and even as my boss is saying nice dude..breaking the rules, he has a full conversation. What?? umm HELLO! Boss goes, meh, he's fine, he's one of our best anyway and he's graduating soon. It's senioritis. …You're kidding me...And they wonder why he's not my favorite but he does do the job well and so I can't help but have him out there. I need him and he knows it. Damn.

I leave and take a nap then head back out for the last game so I can help clean up and just make sure that this hell of a weekend is officially over. 

So us three are out there hanging in the kubota, watching/not really watching baseball. We talk mostly and somehow we got on the topic of family. I explained how I'm pretty much the spitting image of my mother and HotHead goes "Yeah you are. I've met your mom."

Ha. funny. Your mom jokes were so 9th grade dude. No you have not met my mom. 

he goes, ya I did. She's blonde and about your height and that's all I remember but I've met her. I'm still not believing him when he goes, I met you too before school. It was in March when you came for that one weekend and Shane took you to see the rugby game. 

Oh snap. He's right! He has met my mom! Yikes.

I go wait..I don't remember you at all! Really you were there and you remember me? He goes gee thanks, ya I met you, and I remember you. You blew me off and just said 'hi' and kinda moved on. I thought you were a total bitch.

WHAT?!? 

That's 3 different times now that I've heard of staff thinking I was some crazy strict biotch from California. 

"YOU started that rumor?! Well gee thanks butt-head, that's rude! You didn't even know me!"

"Well you didn't make a good first impression."

"It was 5 days after I crashed my bike so badly I had to be rushed to the hospital with a concussion…I was so high on pain killers and drugs I don't remember I whole lot of that trip anyway let alone the people I briefly met."

"Oh. I didn't know that, I'm sorry. But ya I thought that, past tense. I don't think that now."

He went on to say how it was actually kinda started by one of the old employees, who graduated, had said I was mean and awful. They were there for my interview though and that really surprised me. But from what HotHead said, they hated me. A lot. Like straight up mean-girls status and had most of the staff really not looking forward to having me around. But I do remember on that trip they had acted very nice and showed me and my mom around. They even suggested some places that would be convenient to live and where they had liked to go out at, and even offered to take me out with him/her that weekend. 

Well. I guess there are still some awful people out here, even in the midwest where everyone claims to have it just so dandy and that everyone is nice and it's all sunshine and corn fields and who would ever want to live in California where the people are mean and rude and have road rage.

BUT BEING TWO FACED!?? YA THATS TOTALLY OK

fake slores.

sorry. it's my blog though and you do not have to read it. 

So apparently I came in with a really big preconceived notion that I was just the boss from hell and that it was going to be a terrible time for the staff. And out of the people who have told me about the rumor, they all have said they definitely don't believe that now. I guess maybe I shouldn't be so worried about what other people think anyway but I had a great relationship with my old bosses and I want that for my staff here. And so far I think I've proven myself worthy. and yeah we joke a lot and I enjoy hanging with them outside of work but they always get the job done. Last weekend when I wasn't around and had about 6,000 other things going on, one of the guys really stepped up and handled it. He did a really good job and I'm very thankful that I can depend on my staff. And I HIGHLY doubt that if they hated me, they would work so hard or go above and beyond what they are asked to do. If that makes me a crazy biotch then call me the biggest biotch there ever was.

So take that! *insert me sticking my tongue out, wagging my fingers on top of my head and going neener neener* 

To be continued! 

It's the Freakin' Weekend!!!!

Woo! It's Friday!

I don't have any more tests!

I don't have to spend the night in the library!

YAY!

But I do have 4 glorious days off because it's FALL BREAK! Oh yeah!! Let the party begin!!

Jk.

I still have to study, homework, laundry and sleep to catch up on. And blogging to do! I'm sorry to all my devoted readers that I've been sort of MIA as of recently but I can explain….

But let me start off this blog about how AMAZING my trip back to California and my hometown was!

I went home for my best friend from high school's wedding and I am so glad that I did. She was an absolutely stunning bride and he was a very dapper groom. I remember the very first day they started dating and it was kind of surreal to be watching them tie the knot. (Literally, they tied a knot together, to symbolize their love, just too cute!) 

It was on her family's dairy and in her barn and looked like a wedding straight out of pinterest. Just so adorable and cute with fall colors and flowers. Very simple but in a good way and very much like the bride's personality. A good fit all around. The ceremony was very good and really showed their love, and I even teared up after the groom asked for a tissue from the minister before he could continue with his vows. My sister was like "Oh my gawd, stop, you're not seriously crying are you?" and I had to fake like I got some hay or dust in my eye but yeah, I was very emotional watching my best friend from 8th grade to 12th stood up there in a beautiful white dress and vail saying her I do's to the guy who I've also known since my days as a little timid freshman in high school. 

To say it hit close to home was an understatement.

Don't get me wrong, I often (Ok, I say this a lot) joke how I'm not ready at all to be in a serious relationship let alone mature enough to even be close to getting married (definitely not while I'm out in Salukiville either) and I mean it. I'm so not ready. But watching my dearest friends and hearing about others getting married, engaged, having families, well it kinda makes a girl go crazy and now all I want to do is go window shopping at the bridal shops!

But that's a long long longggg ways away and so for now I'll just make a perfect wedding in my own little fantasy land called Pinterest. Who needs a groom?

My sister and I had a really good time at the wedding, catching up with some old high school friends and family friends we hadn't seen in awhile. The rest of my stay at home was very brief, as I had to fly back the next day. But it was so much fun to just be with my family and a few dear friends back in my beautiful home state with my mountains and California sunshine. My favorite part of the whole weekend was getting to hang with my siblings. 

We're weird. And that's how we like it. We never claimed normalcy and we never will. But I wouldn't have it any other way.

We laugh all the time, we fight, we wrestle, we play pranks and we relentlessly tease each other. How old are we, you ask? A bunch of 10/12year olds? Oh no, almost all of us are out of the house in fact. But when we're all together in that house we act like 3rd graders running around, playing games and chasing the dog and the cat and my mom just sits in her spot at the table sipping her coffee and occasionally looking up and going, 'Hey! Don't break that!' but really she's very happy that all her babies are in one place, home. 

Some things I've missed in the 2 months that I've been gone.

My little brother used to be the littlest and his big sisters never let him forget it. But now he's growing like a weed and has shot up to be not only the tallest of his friends but he's now taller than me and my sister! What??!?! That's not ok! He's my BABY brother, not BIG brother! 

But alas, I am now only taller than my mom. Dang it. And once again my nickname of Shorty fits all too well. 

Another thing- my little sister, who is also taller than me, is still at home as she's attending the local community college, is no longer the younger brat of a sister that she used to be. she and I used to fight and fight and argue and throw dirty glances at each other all day. But now I sneak into her room late at night to talk with her about silly little girly things and we watch countless episodes of Friends and Fresh Prince of Bel-Air together giggling and making Chandler and Joey jokes all the time. When did that happen?? How did we go from love-mostly-hate relationship to stereotypical sisters after I leave? Not complaining but it's odd that the farther I go away, the closer we get. 

My brother has also become obsessed with golf. he goes out to the driving range almost every weekend and he absolutely loves it. You can thank me for that one, bro. I took a golf class last spring to just have some fun and I brought it back home over the summer one day when I was super bored and dragged him out to the course with me. And bam! He fell in love with the game of golf and even has a fancy new set of golf clubs to prove it. 

But now I'm back in Carbondale and I have lots of laundry to do but I will tell you about my week and ongoing weekend in due time! For now here's some photos from home and the wedding!

Me and my not-so-little, little brother. He can definitely beat me in basketball now…and probably beat me up too. Guess all those years of picking on him are going to catch up with me...

The guest book, and jenga pieces with little notes of love. Adorbs!

Me and the SeaStar. Dresses and boots, we still can do country out in Cali.

The green house turned into a gift room.

And we got potted flowers as take away gifts :)

Yes, she's my real sister. I already double checked with the State back in 5th grade to see if she was adopted… we're related.

Cow bells as table decorations! Moo.

It feels like yesterday we were getting ready for Prom!

From fairs to volleyball camp, and homecomings and lunch out in the parking lot these 2 were the best a girl could get.

The two flower girls. They stole the show, just too cute!

The get-away car! It was the groom's senior project and it's his baby.

Here comes the Bride!

They're officially Mr. & Mrs. (awww)

To be continued!

Mile High Club

Hello from 30,000 feet above the midwest!

I'm writing this blog entry from the AIRPLANE!

And remember when they used to yell at you for playing your game boy on the plane?? Yeah old, wears too much perfume and bad lipstick color, stewardess, you look like a real big dumdum now don't ya.

So finally after a slight hiccup in my travel plans (I missed my flight because I'm perpetually running about 20min behind and then I hit construction and traffic in St. Louis that made 10miles go from a normal 10min drive to taking OVER FORTY-FIVE MINUTES) I am on my way back home and I am very relieved.

Things I've learned from traveling…ALWAYS give yourself at least 3 hours for travel time. Just do it. It'll save you  headaches and lots of money in the end. (there goes my xmas savings…) and do not where a maxi dress through security because TSA will think you're carrying something underneath and then will proceed to take 15 min to try and find a female agent and then take another 10min taking you to the back when I was saying the whole time "Just lift my skirt! I promise I'm not hiding anything!" but as soon as I go to do it and probably risk flashing everyone but I don't care because I just want to get through security, they freak out like I have a …*coughbombcough* strapped to my thigh.
Most ridiculous and awkward travel experience. EVER.

But everything happens for a reason and while I waited for my other flight for 4 hours I got homework for both work and school done. I applied for this business school externship program, I got details worked out for my group project and I slightly glanced at my accounting homework but then I started to feel queazy and stopped. No not because of turbulence, but because it's accounting.

Also, as I was about to board, a man accidentally rolled his luggage over my foot. It didn't hurt at all but he was very embarrassed and apologetic. I board and guess who I'm sitting next to? The same guy who not 5 min ago ran me over. I swear my life is a sitcom.
We laugh at how this should have been apart of one of the recent SNL skits where they had the airport/plane one, and we get to talking some small talk.
He works in LA as an owner of a construction/building consulting company. He's just branched out on his own and his new company is less than 1 month old but he has high hopes and already a fairly large clientele list. Cool. Oh and he got his MBA from USC. Double cool.
So we talk about MBA classes and how most of the time you sit in class going, well ya, this is obvious stuff. But he's telling me about how it's more about the personal connections you make and that your grades will never ever matter. He doesn't mean networking either, he means literal, first name basis, can make un-awkward eye-contact relationships. He talks about how that's how he got the courage to go out on his own because he was doing the same thing for a different company but he was tired of the way they were doing things. So his old school mates rallied behind him, helped with the legal, financial, design, etc. and boom. He has his own start up at the ripe old age of 36 with 2 kids under 3.

Ok. That's pretty freaking awesome.

He asks what I want to do. Haha. Good question, well how about in about 2 years YOU hire me?? I'd be ok with that. He laughed and said well I'm glad you think my work is interesting. That led to more talk of his work and then to LA and how he loves it there and I say I would like to end up there eventually and he says you should, have you been and I go a few times my aunt works at Occidental University and he goes, wait, what? really? They're one of my clients. I just helped them with a music building and I'm going to consult with them on a new library.

SMALL FUQING WORLD

I ask for his card and he writes my name and my aunts on the back of his and pockets it. (hey Cool Aunt, keep an eye out for a Chris who is consulting on your library at Oxy! Put a good word in for me *wink*)

It's like something was telling the world "make Marissa late for her flight" and everything I guess really does happen for a reason.

Alrighty that story aside, let me tell you about last night and how I'm starting to finally love it here in C-dale.
I had class pretty late and a presentation in it none-the-less but a friend who works in the office asked for me to pick her up from the mechanic shop. Her little car is leaking and struggling to the max. Of course, I agree, and we pretty much spend the afternoon together. She is so fun. She's from Chicago, has a deep chicago accent and a do not mess with me look as she's from south side Chi-town and I bet she's seen some things way worse than Kanye and with her whooping 5'2'' stature that stare can take down the strongest/tallest/scariest of dudes. She's been hit by a car and walked away like a champ. No lie, she is one tough chic but she is HILARIOUS. All we do is laugh and laugh and I think I'm going to get a six-pack just from all the laughing I do when I'm around her. She's older and much wiser and often she just looks at me whenever I go on with my silly antics like randomly skipping or dancing like no one is watching or start doing something especially blonde or dumdum and just shakes her head and goes 'this bitch' as if someone else is standing there watching and judging me. She does it so often I'm pretty sure it's my new nick name. (i never claimed normalcy, haters gonna hate)
So we're paling around and then she takes me to class and takes the car to work since hers has a boo-boo.
She picks me up from class and I get a call from my dad.

He's calling because I had previously called him when I was jumping up and down over my excitement of getting asked to work the regional flag football tournament for NIRSA, which I'm pretty stoked about still and I'm so going (going to these tourneys is a good way to meet people in the field of rec at different universities and as I'm new out here I'm pretty jazzed. It was an application process and I didn't think I'd get it because I am new but now I get to go check out Touchdown Jesus and the fighting irish!!) but my mom was confused as to what it was and was wondering why I was going to Notre Dame, when, for how long, and how much, etc. and so he called me to clear some things up and the conversation basically went like this…
"Hey, Shorty, f***, your mother is f***in crazy, she's f***in reading into this way too f***ing much, Like F***, we're f***in proud of you and f*** you should go, don't worry about whatever the f*** it cost, we'll f***in make sure you get there if the f***ing school can't pay for f***ing sh**. Don't worry about it.
And I'm totally used to it, and go thanks dad, I'll call mom and explain it to her later.

Amy the girl in the car who has obviously just heard everything looks at me with big eyes and says
Wow. Was he just really really mad??
No. Not at all. Why? Did he sound mad? No he was just excited.
She turns to me and blankly stares and goes (this is the the 'this bitch' look too)
He just said f***, f***in f*** probably 100 times.
I died.
That's just my dad. I didn't notice. Not even slightly bothered at all, I'm immune to the word. But whenever someone new meets my dad my family gets a kick out their reaction because he's quite the character obvi.
for reference my dad is a blue collar worker and the f-bomb is used by him and his workers daily and they uses it so much that if he didn't use it on the upwards of 100 times a day I'd be worried for his health. And now I have the mouth of a sailor but hey, daddy taught me well.

I will own this one day. 

So after laughing about my family dynamics and how she doesn't like it that at 5'8 my family nick name is 'Shorty', we go out to the fields to help her finish up her shift. It was a super fun night as I got to see lacrosse practice and got to play with these really cute puppies that were brought out by their owners who play flag football and then when we were driving the Kubota around in the dark we're just super weird and going off the path and I'm getting a pointless tour of absolutely nothing but we're screaming when driving around corners because we don't want the Yeti or Sasquatch to come out and eat us. There are woods in-between all of the fields we're making the rounds on and at night when you're on that kubota alone it is absolutely terrifying. but when you have someone else, especially if it's a petit school teacher in the making from south side chi-city makes you feel 100000x more safe. and a lot more giggly. makes total sense right? right.

But even though it's hard to explain why we had so much fun or what exactly was so funny about screaming in the dark while riding around on the kubota it just was. And I was a little sad to say bye to her for the weekend even though I'll be back very soon and will want to just go back to my family.

Another part of C-dale I've come to love is the odd little dive bars/eateries that are around. For instance, for one of my group projects we met at the lib and then after some solid (ok not so solid as I'm the dumb blonde of the group but someone has to fill the position and might as well be me) work we went for a round of beers at this mexican restaurant that turns into a bar and then a casino (?) at night. This was a Monday too and instead of being absolutely dead besides me and my group it was actually pretty crowded. whoa. That atmosphere is welcoming but slightly dirty and kinda on the not exactly your finest establishment side as men are chewing and their idea of fine beer is coor's but hey. I loved it. and I like how I'm becoming more accepted within the business side of my life and not just with work people. it was so refreshing to talk about work and they had NO idea who or what I was talking about. so i didn't have to talk about it much. perfect.

and that's that. I'm about to get into LAX now, and officially be back in CALIFORNIA!!!



California…California….Here we come!!!