Turkey Day in good ol' Texas

Howdy Y'all! 

I am officially back from my very fun, very warm, very twangy Thanksgiving break with my aunt and uncle in Dallas.

So, not going to lie, I was a tad bit nervous going. Think about it, I'm hoping on a plane to visit my aunt and uncle, without any other family. No cousins, they are like me and live all over and will be visiting for Christmas, so they can't afford two trips so soon. It's a new city that I don't know, a completely different state at that. And growing up I only got to see them every now and then, at a holiday function, wedding, and occasional summer trip. We aren't like "The Modern Family" where everyone sees each other everyday or even on a regular basis. I had gotten to know my cousins better, naturally, as I'm the same age as one and only 2 years younger than the oldest. 

Yeah, so you know, yeah this could be maybe, weird. A little bit.

So...there's that.

But I wanted to get out of Carbondale super badly and it was only an hour and half flight so I hopped on that plane and said, "Here goes nothing."

It was way better than I thought. 

We watched movies, went to the Arboretum, the Dallas World Aquarium, went to downtown Dallas, ate way too much Thanksgiving food and played with the dogs. If being an only child is like that, man, I am so bummed I have siblings! (kidding, I love you poop-heads) We talked about traveling and all the places we have been. They told me how I need to go to Germany and that the wine tours in the south of France are the best they've ever been on. And I talked about how Switzerland is the land of milk and money and that the chocolate is heavenly. We talked a lot about our own family a lot. A lot, a lot. They taught me how to drink wine (not just drink it but really taste it and appreciate it) and that watching 3 movies in a row is totally fine when you're on vacation. I also learned that my uncle makes a pretty dang good gin and tonic. Like way better than any I have had at the bars around here. It was always warm (even if it got a little chilly at night for them...babies) and super sunny, you always needed sunglasses, it got to be 70, and I had left Illinois in the snow, literally, and there is a ton of concrete everywhere (nothing else can handle the heat), they drive like insane people and texting isn't outlawed yet so they go like 85 and text (super scary!) and they have pretty cool bar scene that's hip and cool but totally throws me off when our hipster waiter talks with an accent. What was I thinking, going to Dallas for break? Sounds down right awful...

#jk

My uncle and dad are brothers and it is painstakingly clear that this is the case. They walk the same, talk the same, make the same silly jokes, curse like sailors, I could keep the list going. Think of Chandler Bing and that's pretty much who they are.

Sarcastic and goofy and a whole lotta of feigned expressions of "I'll try to care...and yep, sorry, it's gone." moments 

And they obviously married very similar women. Clean, orderly, list-making, kinda bossy(ok yeah, bossy), but very motherly so a lot of the dynamics are almost verbatim what my parents say/do. For instance, we were walking around the Arboretum but then we finished too early for my aunt's plans.

Aunt: "Well maybe we should walk around some more? I didn't think we would go so fast! It's too early for the next activity but we have so much time to kill!"

Uncle:"We can do whatever, I just don't want to walk and see any more trees."

Aunt: "Oh come on! We can sit and just chat, get some coffee, maybe go to a cafe.."(more harmless fussing)

Uncle: *Eyeroll* "Whatever you want to do."

Aunt: "No- don't sound so enthusiastic, dear...*slightly passive aggressive*"

Uncle: "OK! YEAH! SOUNDS GREAT! WOO-HOO!"

Aunt: "You're such a brat."

Pretty sure I've witnessed the exact same deal with my parents. Like exactly the same.

The look my aunt gives to my uncle on a regular basis. Shocker, my mother does the same to my father. All out of love.

So obviously there are some major differences but it felt like I was back home. We laughed a lot and they talked about life and how exciting this time for me will be as it was for them and gave life advice. Typical for any Family Thanksgiving, right?

Yuck. My usual response to that bombardment of life questions.

But I didn't mind it. My uncle is working on his doctorate, and has more than one master's degree. My aunt had kids young but works as a nurse in oncology and loves it. They didn't have the typical route of good job, married and kids but it worked out well for them. They have a beautiful home, 2 married kids who are doing pretty darn well, and seem overall pretty happy with where they are. 

I guess maybe hearing it from them made it sink a bit more than coming from my parents. Or people I see all the time.

My aunt really made me think about my life a little more deeply than I had before. She had it pretty rough. 2 kids right after getting married and then going back to school and working at the same time. I can't even imagine or fathom what that's like. We all complain about how hard we have it but that, yikes. No thank you. But there she was, successful nurse, loving family, 2 dogs and a home and stories of traveling and lots of smiles. I want that. I want to travel with my family and make some awesome memories, have a successful career, a dog or two, a home and to be smiling a lot. 

One day, I'll be this cool.

And who doesn't? It wasn't the easiest road, or the 'right' path or even at all planned but it worked out. They made mistakes, and had to move on but it was ok. And they reassured me that I was going to make mistakes. Some big ones, some little ones and I'd make a lot of good choices too. I'd choose the wrong job or the wrong guy to date, etc., etc. But I'd be ok. Maybe it was the holiday and being the season to be thankful, but I really was and am very thankful for my entire family. I am so loved, and have such a huge amount of support and am so blessed that I have family and friends who are in all corners of the world, Ohio, Texas, California, Oregon, Washington, Illinois and even Columbia, Italy and Germany but when we are together it's like no amount of miles or time has passed.

I love them all so stinking much. Just like whatever this girl loves.

It wasn't all serious business talk, but I did like getting to know them so much more. Cooking the turkey and mashed potatoes, comparing how being west coasters in the south and midwest is an odd culture shock at times, watching Interstellar in the 2nd row, so you come out of the movie theater with a sore neck, checking out the fish and sharks at the aquarium and just hanging out at home too. But most of all I loved feeling loved. And being with family. It sucks that we couldn't all be together at once. We faced timed with my cousins and grandparents but it's not nearly as good. But I will remember that trip forever and have so much more love for my aunt and uncle and be able to share that bond the next time we visit each other. 

To be continued!

So many people are in my corner and it's just, you know, like so awesome. *read it in my cali accent. I feared I was getting a little too twangy there.

Coming live from the Airport

Hey hey and Happy Turkey Day Eve!

Is that a thing? Thanksgiving Eve? Welp, now it is!

Anyway, I'm bored waiting for my flight to Texas to visit my aunt and uncle in Dallas.

My last blog post was just a quick recap of the flag tourney so now I'll get into the gory details of my life's happenings within the last 3 weeks. So school is ok. And so is work. Social life is more or less barely existent. Work has become my social life. Gag. If you're like my Nonna then you'll ask "Go on any dates?" HA! Nonna's got jokes... It's cool though, T-Swift and I are on the same page so there's that. My sleep schedule is super screwy, as I get up at 3am and then fight to fall back asleep and don't fall asleep til 5/6am and sleep til 8 only because I absolutely have to get up. Oh joy. I was getting headaches in class and at work, got checked out and I need glasses. Another sign my body is aging and deteriorating. Fun fun. I was having weird body pains, got diagnosed with PCOS, basically a non-threatening-ish condition in which my own blood cells attack my girl parts. Yay. I need another reminder that my body hates me.

#sarcasm

If 2014 could just be over with I would be totally ok with that.

I know things could be worse but I need a vacation stat. And that's exactly what I'm getting.
My dad's brother and his wife moved to Texas about 3 or 4 years ago and my uncle and I have this ongoing rivalry between college sports and how they suck, and can't play real sports, more asshole remarks, etc. but it's all out of love or at least a mutual like as we pick on each other. Anyway, he found out that I wasn't going all the way back to Cali for Thanksgiving and said "hey come on down to Texas".

At first I was like, that's a big trip for such a short time, I don't mind staying in Salukiville for the break, I did it last year and it was actually fun. But upon further reflection and talking to Dad who was totally on board I said, Ok, see you for the Holiday.

I'm actually excited to go to a new state and it'll be warm and my uncle already said that he's ok with me sleeping most of the time.

Thank you, Baby Jesus! So excited for a relaxing break. Sounds fantastic.

And now I have to run to a different gate to catch my flight! See y'all in a bit, I'm headed to the Big D, and no not that you perverts, Dallas!

To be continued!!

Flag Football, Freezing Temps and Fruity Drinks

Bon jour, all of you lovely people!

I'm going to quickly recap a few major events that have happened.

Remember the first time I went to a flag football tournament? It was in Notre Dame, freezing cold and I was pretty shell shocked and was wayyyyy out of my element but had a good time and learned a lot.

Well my co-worker and I made it back to that tournament for this year and it was again, at Notre Dame, still super cold and I was again shell shocked as I was asked to be on an official's committee.

But I learned probably 3 times as much as the 1st time around and really came to love my job even more.

I got to see some familiar faces, who not only I recognized, but recognized me too. I got to expand my professional network even more, start recruiting for my position next year (that's right, I'm going for a big girl job!) and learned how to evaluate officials on an entirely new level.

Not going to lie, I was probably the least experienced official committee member there. But gotta start somewhere, right? Right. I got the email asking me to be on the committee about 3 weeks before heading up and I immediately ran into Lane's office.

"OH NO! I got official's committee?!? Why? How?! I didn't do that last year! What are they thinking?? I've never done this before, why choose me?! I can't evaluate officials! Not in flag! That's not my strong sport!! LANE!?!!!"

Lane takes his usual approach, leans back in his chair, crosses his legs and arms.
"Breathe... your first response should not be "oh no"...maybe they want to give you a shot. Maybe they think you actually can add to the committee. Maybe you deserve this."

"I'm not ready!"

"We'll get you ready. You'll be fine. But you're going. You are definitely going."

Damn it.

Official's committee is a group of people who really get the game and how to officiate flag football. They teach the refs at the tournament as it's a competition for them to get the chance to be selected to move on to the National Tournament. And I was now going to be considered apart of that group.
Gulp.

So we got ready. I went out to our own flag games, not as much as liked with my class schedule but when I could. I watched a lot of video. A LOT. I would watch it, write what I thought and how it should have happened, was told 'No, you're wrong, try again.' and would watch more video. I got advice from my student staff who had been to these tournaments before as well and high school football officials. Lane and PJ made me use cheat sheets for penalties since the last time I threw a penalty on the field was during Obama's first term as President.

And then what felt like way too soon, PJ and I made our trek up to South Bend, Indiana, home of the Fightin' Irish.

The next three days were kind of a blur and slow-mo all in one. I got to see my old student staff, remember WannaBeGA Guy?? Well he got that GA so he's no longer a Wanna Be. And it was really great to catch up with him and talk GA up's and down's and all that jazz. He was on the committee with me as well. There was a pretty funny moment when sitting with WannaBe and another committee member was asking us questions "So, what's your story? Why SIU, what was your major....(etc. etc.)?"
WannaBe -"Oh I can tell this one! Let me tell it, ok this is a great story, see she's a small town girl from California, don't let the blonde hair fool ya, and she was a political science major but her heart was in recreation sports since that was her job throughout college-"
Me- "Hey! Ok, smartass, he's asking me not you! Knock it off Michelle! (his nickname I dubbed him as he was the only male worker in the office last year)"
One of his officials sitting with us- "Michelle?? Oh that's precious, so using that one!"
WannaBe laughing- "No, no you can't, I won't answer. She can, she's allowed, she's my GA."

Everyone around laughed though and it was pretty hilarious. He did sit in on my interview for the SIU job and we did work a lot together last year. I can tell his story too though, don't get it twisted, that boy is a talker too.

I got a great chance to listen to some very good evaluators and watch some pretty good officials too. The games were not half bad but it was flipping cold so that always takes away from being super duper fun. The best part was probably when the leader of the committee was standing with me watching officials and said "Ok, I'm going to go to this other field, you got this?"

What.

"Um, yeah, sure. You know, I'll maybe ask so-and-so to come by and-"
"Ok sounds good see ya"

Oh. Ok. Oh crap. Ok. Ok. You got this, you can do this. You know that guy should be standing about 2 yards off the sideline and you know that back judge is farther than 17 yards out. Just tell them that. Work on the things you know. They'll listen. They won't laugh or won't listen to you. You can do this.

So the crew comes up to me at the time out and asks for advice. Oh crap. I'm alone and they want me to evaluate them. They're eager like little puppy dogs waiting for you to throw a stick for them to fetch. Make me better, make me look good. And I'm blanking. CRAP.

I swear to you it was an out of body experience because the next thing I know I started explaining how standing off the sideline can make your field of vision better and that sticking to your areas of coverage makes the whole crew a better crew, and I'm moving and talking and their nodding and then they're back on the field.

Whoa.

And then a bang-bang play comes and my guy who is know 2 yards off the line is in the PERFECT position to see the player get possession of the ball before being shoved out of bounds and he calls it correctly.

Yeah! Awesome job! And you listened to me! And it worked! Wait..I did that? I DID THAT

The rest of the weekend wasn't full of those moments but I did relish in those few times that I felt like I contributed. But again I was reminded how much I love this field and how I want to continue working in sports, a college setting and with students. And coming back to Carbondale was bitter-sweet because I'm one more flag football tournament away from moving on to the big question mark in my life...the next step.

Cue internal screaming and histeria.


To be continued!

October is Over?!?

WHAAAAA??? October is over?? And I haven't blogged since September??

Oh my goodness time is literally running out for me! My birthday month has come and gone, Halloween is over and I hear Christmas music everywhere I go now..

What. The. Heck.

October LITERALLY flew by. No joke. I feel like I blinked and boom, 31 days just went by without me noticing.
If I thought last year went by fast...yeah, no, this year is on Usain Bolt's level.

And.....mini panic attack over.

Let me just real quick talk about any and all major events

I threw a Baby Shower for my coworker/friend, Leanne. She works at the rec like me, as a GA but she's married and well, having a baby! A baby boy and I am going to spoil the doo-doo out of that baby! And then as soon as he smells pass him back to mom.
Kaylee and I went all out on decorations and food and had little onsies to decorate. It was super cute, balloons, streamers, bottles and diapers, all blue and rubber duckies and we had a blast. No stupid baby games or my water broke, baby bingo or anything weird. Just food, and good people and puff paint.
For future reference though, don't throw a baby shower the same day you have a special event, a triathlon that you have to help set up at 5am the same day...ugh. Longest day ever but it was so worth it to see the smile on Leanne's face when she walked into the room.

Love her to death but nothing tells me I'm so not having kids for awhile like a baby shower.

The biggest tournament of the semester had to be canceled due to rain. Sad face. I was pretty bummed but we couldn't justify having so many teams come out and ruin our baseball fields for a Fall Ball tournament. We would spend most of the season instead of playing, repairing the damage done and playing baseball in the cold rain would have made a lot of teams pretty sassy. So we opted out. That weekend turned into a do homework, drink coffee listening to the rain kind of weekend, so I wasn't that mad about it. It was fall break though, and I got increasingly bored as all my friends left town. Downside to living so far away from home.

How I spent my Fall Break. A lot of lying down.

Next was a conference up at the University of Illinois, the home of the Fightin' Illini. Whatever the heck that is. But I went with two professional staff members from my office and it was a pretty good time. Sandy, Amanda and I went on up and went to sessions, had a team building exercise with other Rec people from all over the state of Illinois. It was a good chance to learn how other schools do what we do but different, and to scope out potential job openings...gag. I kid, but really I was sniffing out anyone who mentioned anything about that little J-O-B word and I kinda felt like I was that kid asking for votes at his middle school student body presidential campaign. "Look at me! I'm fun and am going to bring candy to class and make recess longer and Friday's are going to be called Fun Friday's so, Don't be Wack, Vote for Jack!" only this time it was "Hi, I'm Marissa and I'm a second  year GA and I am willing and able to bend over backward for just about any job position! Hire me!"

How I really want to answer the awful "So tell me about yourself" interview question.

I hate this part. I'm not a good salesperson, especially when trying to sell myself and I abhor it. Loathe it. Don't like it one bit.

But, alas, that's the name of the game and others are already out there doing the same thing for those same positions so I guess I better get my rear in gear. The real world is right around the corner!

If you all thought I was excited for 18th grade...the first day of my big girl job is going to be super fun. 

Can't Wait! (sarcasm)((kinda))

But I got to see friends I have made from last year and met new people, handed out my business card a few times (love that part!) and all in all had a good time. Getting the chance to get to know other professional staff more in my office was maybe my favorite part. Sandy is awesome and really knowledgeable, but fun and silly. Amanda is shyer but has a big heart and the best way to get her to open up is to ask about her fiance. (Babies and wedding bells, our office is going crazy!) But they both gave really great advice and I enjoyed getting to know them on a more personal level.

The next big thing in October was my birthday! My birthday fell on a Sunday, so naturally I took the whole weekend to celebrate. Obvi. It was also the weekend of "Unofficial Halloween" here in Carbondale.
Quick back story: Sometime in the 80's there was a huge riot that broke out on Halloween night in Carbondale. Burning couches, stores broken into, riots, craziness amassed in the streets of the normally sleepy old college town. So the town said enough of that crap, we're shutting down Halloween. No one is allowed out that night, no alcohol sold, no bars open, nothing. If you're out, you're automatically pulled over and questioned and usually arrested. (Sounds oddly a lot like Footloose but whatever)

So what do the students do? They say fine, we'll throw a big party on a weekend BEFORE actual Halloween just to stick it to The Man.

Unofficial? Like is this for real? The worst part is the town allows it! Idiots.

And boy oh boy, it is a freaking party.

Real Halloween is now back since it's been like 20 years but the students are kinda over it. The real party is Unofficial.

This happened to fall on my birthday weekend and unlike last year, I was in town for it. So I rallied the girls and we got dressed up on Friday for night #1 of Unofficial and my birthday. I was a pink Crayon. I was pretty cute, I thought, even though some people thought I was the tooth fairy...um what?
But it was fun and us GA's went out together for the first time in what felt like forever and had probably too much fun but I loved it. It wasn't ridiculously crazy amount of people that night but it was definitely popping. And the next day you could see people walking around in costumes and day-drinking on the lawns.

And then Saturday night came.

Oh. My. Gawd.

From the 80's but it really was like this. Not joking. In the slightest.

Words do not do this night justice. I do not have a vast enough vocab to describe the sights I saw.
The town goes freaking nuts. It was INSANE. Thousands, not hundreds, of students and people were everywhere. House parties at just about every college house in town, so many people filled the streets and don't even think about driving cuz it was like a street festival but it's in the middle of the night. The line to get into bars had a wait of up to 3 hours long and there's only about 6 bars in the entire town. Nothing new for some of you avid clubbers and go-out-ers?? Let me remind you that this is NOT Vegas, or LA people....this is CARBONDALE, ILLINOIS. A very sleepy college town that has one Walmart and one (small) mall and not a single Starbucks other than the one inside the local grocery store.

Kind of a big flipping deal.

Again, the girls were rallied and had ourselves a fun little girls' night. I officially lost my 22 status and became the irrelevant 23 but my friends were awesome and made it a fun time. I was Daisy Buchanan from the Great Gatsby but no one guessed actual Daisy and just said Flapper girl so I went with it. We weren't about to wait in any line for even the greatest party for 3 hours so we went to the bar that had a strict 21+ rule (yeah the undergrads were out and about like something fierce)

My response to all the craziness. Still trying to comprehend how one fake holiday can have so many flipping people that excited.

And we had a blast. One of the new GA's is also a bartender, so naturally, she gets my one free birthday shot, yells "It's her birthday!" and you'd be amazed how some people are willing to get a girl who is turning 23 a few free drinks. Who would have thought?? Not me, that's for sure.

But it was a fun night and the energy of all those people dressed up and going crazy definitely made it a memorable birthday. On Sunday while loafing on my couch on my actual birthday, I saw on the news that there was a car or two flipped over and that there were record numbers of students and people out and arrests made. Shocking? not really. They'll probably take Unofficial away so now the students will have an Unofficial-Unofficial Halloween.

 Unofficial 2014

 This was one house. ONE HOUSE! On one small side street. Times this by a bajillion and then you have Unofficial. (and I found Waldo!)

Geez. I think experiencing it once was enough just to say I did and then never ever again. And I didn't even flip a car and I remember all of it too. That's good ol' Salukiville for ya. We may not have the best sports teams, the best malls, or the best of anything really but they sure can make the best out of everything they do have. In that the Dawgs take the freaking cake.

And I'll leave it off there and talk about the rest of October next time!

To be continued!