Relationships, love, and all that jazz.

(Tricked you. There's no jazz music involved.)


It's no secret that one of the biggest parts of college is developing interpersonal relationships. As a matter of fact, that's actually what I think the purpose of life is. While there are many relationships people need to establish (i.e. friendships, business networks, and casual acquaintances), this article will focus primarily on the romantic ones.

Plenty of people come to college looking to meet their significant other, some for that reason alone. It makes sense, what with thousands of people grouped together with similar age and similar life issues. However, don't fall trap to the chaos of having to have someone. Know that you're special, and wait for the person that deserves you.

Don't settle for someone based on looks alone. If they can't hold a conversation, the relationship won't last long. Physical attraction is good, but looks fade. Instead, buy a poster. It'll save you a lot of time and money.

Go for someone that you don't think you can get. They'll be the one who makes you want to be better, just to be worthy of their time. When you discover someone who thinks as highly of you as you do of them, you've found the right person.

But while I stress not settling, I also think it's important to realize that no one is perfect. If you wait for the perfect super model to sweep you off your feet, carry you into the sunset, and never do you wrong, you'll die alone. Realize that you yourself aren't perfect, so you can't expect them to be either. True love is acknowledging their faults, accepting them, and loving them unconditionally.

In conclusion, love is confusing. However, it's worth it. It must be for so many songs and movies to be as popular as they are. Keep looking for your soulmate, and don't give up. Take comfort that they're on their journey towards finding you as well. And when you meet up, and life seems like it's too good to be true, let it be. Keep dreaming. Live in imagination, because everyone deserves happiness.

P.S. I Love You.

So I watched P.S. I love you the other night, and well... let's just say I cried a tad bit. Every now and then it's nice to open the floodgates and let the river flow. Everyone has emotions, and showing them doesn't make you a wuss, only a human. Anyways, now that I've got that disclosure out of the way, I'll get to the point. In the movie, the main character's husband dies (it happens in the very beginning, so I didn't ruin anything for you), and throughout the story you discover some of the past events she shared with her husband as she struggles with her grief. And it got me to thinking about my own family and the losses we've went through. (Which only led to more manly, manly tears).



Growing up, I've lived at my grandparents house. Not for disciplinary reasons, but because my mother worked late nights, and my step-dad wasn't in the picture yet. At least, I hope not for disciplinary reasons...
Also, Gammaw's homemade, made-with-love meals help soothed the transition. Therefore, the main male influences I had in my family were my Papa and Uncle Joey. (My aunt and uncle live right next door to my grandparents. And my house is only five or six blocks away. So you can say we're close. At very least, by proximity.) When I was nine years old, I went away on a camping trip, and when I returned I found out that Papa had suffered from a stroke. To shorten a long sad story, and spare my tear ducts for a few minutes, Papa passed on later that year. I still remember how my Gammaw (Grandma minus a few letters - Phonics hadn't caught on at that point) cried at the funeral, because upon seeing her break down, I did too. I never thought I would cry that hard again. And until my sophomore year in high school, I didn't. That's when my uncle Joey, the main man in my life, one of my role models, and my hero, suffered a brain aneurism. I was in school when I found out. They called me to the school office to tell me. I went to the bathroom and cried all through 5th period. Anyways, after a long stint in various hospitals, he left to see Jesus and fill Papa in on what he'd missed those past years.



Anyways, I didn't write this blog to let everyone know how much a sissy I am. I wrote it to applaud my Gammaw and aunt Carolyn. Of course I've known that losing your husbands hurt, but I hadn't realized the pain that lingers every single day. I haven't always treated you with the respect that you both deserve, and for that I'm sorry. There is nothing harder in life than losing a loved one, and to see how both of you have battled through hard times and continued to be beacons of joy in our family is truly inspirational. Thank you so much for your patience with me and helping me through my petty heartbreaks, when in comparison to yours, they are microscopic. I love you both.

So for everyone that has stuck with this unusually dreary blog: Go hug you're loved ones, especially the widows and widowers. Appreciate the bravery that they've shown to continue on with their lives, despite their personal griefs. And don't miss a chance to say, "P.S. I love you."

When Mama Ain't Happy...

As everyone knows, "When Mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy."



And well, this past week, I lived and breathed this oh-so-true horror.

I made my mama very upset with me. (Fellow idiotic children, never disagree with your mother, no matter how correct you think you are.)

To sum it up: Mom came and helped fix up new dorm room. Cash didn't agree with designs for HIS dorm room. Cash and Mom got into "heated" debate over floor plans. Both parties became angry and seperated, as to not kill each other. Mother gave Cash ultimatum: Public apology on Facebook, and write a blog about the fiasco, or face the life of Orphan Annie. Cash finally gave in, put his ego aside, and wrote stupid blog.

So Mrs. Danna Hutchinson, please accept my apology, and know that I recognize that you are the superior interior decorator. And ultimatum-giver. And all around winner in this heated chapter of our lives.

Seriously though, I love you, and I don't know what I would do without you. I appreciate all the help and guidance you've provided me throughout my short life (please let it continue to become an older one). Thank you for being the kind, patient, loving woman that I know you are.

Sincerely, your little Orphan Annie.

Don't Worry, Be Happy

Oh Blog, how I've missed thee. Where to begin, you all have missed so much of my life! I have went a whole semester without letting you 5 followers know my every thought, how have you all survived!? (Run-on sentence, don't even care.) Well here I am, to remove your life support and fill you again with the sweet, sweet oxygen that is my life.

This past semester I've loved, I've lost (not really, just for dramatic effect lol), I've made new friends and lost others, made my first B, practiced voodoo on a professor for the first time, exclaimed hallelujah and hugged another teacher, attempted to eat a 72 oz steak, failed, grew gray hair, grew a beard, lost my beard and gray hair, and rode in a car to Tampa, FL and back, totaling 2,600 miles and 46 hours on the road.



What I've gathered from this exhilaration that I call my life is that I'm not as smart as I thought I was. I don't have it all planned out. I tend to stress way too much, and place emphasis on all the wrong things. Throughout most of my life, grades have been my #1 priority. Heck, I almost missed out on my uncle's funeral because it'd mess up my perfect attendance in high school. (I did go though, I'm not that terrible of a person. haha) And although I had convinced myself that there was nothing wrong with that stern focus, I realize now that there is.




While grades are important, they're not worth losing your mind over. With one B, I'll still get into pharmacy school, still earn the same pay when I graduate, and with some luck, still graduate college summa cum laude.

So how this applies to you all: Whatever you're struggling with, realize that it'll be okay in the long run, and as Billy the Bass sings, "Don't worry, Be happy". Life is a beautiful blessing, so don't waste yours by stressing out. Realize that you are made by a God that loves you, that you are surrounded by His people, and be happy. Everything short of this matters not in the long run. Life is a marathon, not a sprint. Focus your attention on the people around you, and enjoy the friendships that will bloom as a result. Cherish the people you have in your life, because unlike what grade you made in organic chemistry the fall semester of your sophomore year in college, they will continue to bless you throughout your life.



Hope this has helped somehow.
Mahalo.

Welcome to Walgreens!

Hey followers/people that accidentally type in the wrong URL,

Sorry it's been so long since you've heard from me. I can't say I've been particularly busy, more like particularly lazy/unmotivated. But this past week, I finally heard back from Walgreens and once again, I'm here to tell you about my life!

The journey of my Walgreens employment is long and twisted, even though I've only been an actual employee since this past Friday. I actually went and interviewed with Walgreens at the beginning of the summer, and a few weeks later, I got a call back saying they didn't need me if I was only going to be able to work for the summer. After a few cries and beggings, they decided to give me a shot, on the condition that I work there at least one weekend a month while in school. So this past Friday, I showed up expecting to have the best day of my life. Unfortunately, it didn't quite turn out like I had hoped.

Once I arrived, I remembered that "work" isn't too much fun. If you've ever worked at a retail store, you've probably at some point had to face and front the shelves. It's a tedious task that involves just what it says, pulling items to the front of the shelves and make the label face the front. It definitely serves it's purpose, but is also probably one of the most boring jobs ever thought of. Especially when that's your task for seven hours straight. SEVEN HOURS!!!

Anyways, if that wasn't enough to fill my heart to the brim with joy, I also had the pleasure of meeting a work crew that had already established cliques within the first week. So being the new, college, wanna-be pharmacist clique turned out not to have too large of a following. A lot like my blog. lol

The one thing that I actually do like is that I feel completely like Jim Halpert from The Office.

Thank goodness for NBC sitcoms.

So this joyful week has made me wonder, what is so different about this job from my past three?

1. In my past three jobs, I worked with people that I already knew.

I believe that work is work, and what makes it tolerable, even enjoyable, is the people that you work with. Interactions with other people are what make us tick, so already having those connections when I started made the transition process very quick and easy.

2. In my past three jobs, I knew I wasn't going to be spending the rest of my life there.

I've always looked forward to the future and bigger, better times. It's important to set lofty goals, because they give you something to dream of and achieve. It's scary to not have them, because every day loses its purpose. And it's scary to think you've reached the end of the rainbow, when you don't see the pot of gold. <(What a great analogy, Cash! The end of a career search~(rainbow) and a pot of gold~(riches)>

3. In the past three, wait, two jobs, I've loved my bosses.

It's too early to tell whether or not this current one will attain their great levels, but through this, I've definitely realized that leadership DEFINITELY is a big part of happiness in the work place. ... Maybe that's why college places such emphasis on leadership...

4. In the past three jobs, I haven't had to drive half an hour to go to work.

But also.. In the past three, I haven't been able to have thirty minute jam sessions in my car before work.

So as much as I've sort of been dogging my current job, I AM looking forward to the future. I'm looking forward to learning more about pharmacy. I'm looking forward to establishing relationships with my co-workers. I'm looking forward to life.

Anddd if it doesn't work out, maybe NBC will give me my own sitcom..




Thanks for reading, and please leave me a comment if you have any opinions about work! :)

List O' Laughs

Well, I feel like it's been way too long since I've last blogged, and I definitely can't leave you with that last depressing blog, so here's my shot at redemption.

The year is almost over, and I really don't know how I feel about it. On one hand, I'm glad that I won't have to stress over tests for the upcoming three months. But on the other hand, I know I'm going to miss the crazy people I've met here at SWOSU...well most of them.

Last night, I was laying in bed, and for some reason, I started wondering what life would be like if I hadn't came to SWOSU. To sum it up, according to my dream, I would have been a rich oil tycoon and married to Taylor Swift.


PLUS

EQUALS

However, in real life, I think it probably would have been a little different...

If I had not came, I would have missed out on a multitude of laughs, including but not limited to:

1. Listening to Trevor tell me the story about him slipping on ice, hitting his head on the hood of a girls car, and the alarm going off.

2. Memorizing every line to the movie I Love You, Man.

3. Having all out brawls with Hulk Hands.

4. Meeting Heath. That alone is worth a million laughs.

5. Playing piano while Kyle improvised lyrics to a group of people I didn't know.

6. Meeting Tyler. Once again, there's another million laughs (at Heath).

7. Eating Caleb's food and watching him blame Brett (the office schmuck) for hours on end.

8. (This one's funny in hindsight but not so much at the time.) Posting a sticky note on my door that told my old roommate that if he didn't wash his clothes, I was going to throw them away..... I was serious.

9. Watching James make random people at Jerry's VERY uncomfortable.

10. Putting on my luchador mask and scaring Nic (this was the first time I met him).

*This list was hard to make, since basically every day another laugh is added to it. If I named everyone, this would go on forever and you'd get bored and quit reading..and we can't have that.

Anyways, I don't really remember where I was headed with this, so I'm just going to end it here, but in short, everything happens for a reason, and I'm glad this year did.

Broken

I am broken. I am embarrassed. I feel ignorant and even worse, stupid. This week I have five tests. FIVE! I am taking four different subjects this semester: General Chemistry II, Physics, World History, and Biological Concepts. And yet I have five tests (I had one in my Chem Lab also)! I didn't really mind having them all this week. Well... that's actually a lie lol. (Normally, when people type something they don't mean to, they delete it. But I'm not going to, because this is a prime example at how confused I am right now.) Anyways, I lied. I did mind having them. I hate feeling rushed. Hate it. You may think that's a universal, but trust me, I've met some people that will disprove that theory. I hate stress. Hate it. Usually the people that enjoy being rushed also agree with that. And most of all, I HATE failing, which is exactly what I did on my test today.

If you know me, you know I'm not used to failing (at least academically). 4.0 GPA, Academic All State, Oklahoma Regents Scholar..It's just sorta my knack. I just tend to grasp learning pretty well...or so I thought. I'd like to say that if I had spent more time studying, I would've done better. But the thing is, I spent time. I didn't even go home for Easter because I was studying! Between my job and already busy schedule, my free time is already somewhat limited. So this week, I squeezed out my already subtle me-time and spent it doing chemistry. And in the end, I failed all the same.



Today has humbled me beyond belief. Humbled me to the point of self loathing.

I know usually I write about the positive aspects in life and say to look on the bright side, and so I will try to remain positive through this. Anyone can be happy when times are good, it's when times are tough that true character is shown. So I am going to lift my head and look forward to tomorrow, but if you will, please pray that the grade on that test isn't as bad as I think it is. (That's right, I haven't actually seen the score yet, I just have a feeling. A STRONG feeling. lol) Also, comments are nice, so if you have any positive advice, let me know. Friends and family are what make the bad days tolerable. And sorry about the depressing blog, I thought about not posting this, but it shows that I have troubles too. But nevertheless, it's no worry, tomorrow is another day, and everything is gonna be alright.