Things Never Turn Out Quite How You Want

When planning out the weekend, I usually envision myself getting to do everything that I want (i.e. lay out by the pool, swim, cookout, hang out with my friends on my schedule, etc). However, as weekend after weekend has shown, this rarely happens. What does usually happen is I make plans, my friends have their own plans, and I must give in to what the majority of the group wants. Even on what is supposed to be one of the most fun weekends of the summer, this can happen.
Let me begin this story by saying that I love my friends. Dearly. With all of my heart and soul. And as my friends Jeremy said, "I wouldn't put up with this crap if I didn't want to do it." That being said, let the bitching begin.
Friday was supposed to be a pretty fun day. Things were looking up. I was going to spend some quality time with my boys (ahem, I'm sorry...my men) and also get to hang out with Jessica (whom I've known as long as she's lived in this town). I was going to enjoy the beauty and fun of the river while still getting to go out and dance and flirt with lots of hot guys. So, to paraphrase the afternoon, I was under the impression that the boys wanted to go out to the river around 2:00 or 3:00. In reality, we didn't end up leaving to go out there until...wait for it...8:00! Now, I'm not one to talk about running late, because the lateness gene runs in my family. But, come on! I was all jazzed up and ready to bond with and talk to people I didn't know and swim and just have a great time. Instead, I went out to the river, tired, cranky, disappointed, and ready to leave. Luckily, my friend Megan was out there to not ignore me (sorry guys, I know that you were just having fun, I'm not mad at you for talking to other people, so don't take it the wrong way), so I had a decent time with her. Then leaving was interesting. When Megan leaves, she gets the whole, "You can't go! We don't want you to go! We love you Megan!!!" When I leave, no one notices until I make a big enough of a stink for my sweet friend Jeremy to run (more like stumble, bless his heart) over to the car and say (with as much sincerity as is possible with a drunk person), "Sarah.......Thank you for the ride out here." I, of course, appreciated that very much, but still had my pride hurt at the lack of interest in trying to keep me out there too.
As I drive back into town, I begin thinking, "Okay, this night will shape up now cause I'm going to go have fun with my other friends and all will be well in the world." If you couldn't guess by the title of my entry, this did not happen either. First of all, since my friend wanted to get alcohol, and all of my older friends were out at the river, I was semi-forced into seeing an ex that I absolutely do not enjoy being around. (It's not that I hate him so much as he makes me incredibly uncomfortable.) After that trying experience ("Hello, Sarah," he says to me with all the contempt his drunk-ass can muster), we head to the club. By this point in the night, it is about 12:30, and since I've been awake since 8:00 in the morning, I'm starting to get tired. Anyway, we enter the club, and I try to dance with my friend for a second. She is way more talented at the dancing than I am, and for some reason, that night it bothered me. So, I decide to sit down for the rest of the time. She, not able to resist the temptation of the thumping beat and hot sweaty bodies, dances for most the rest of the time, running over every now and then to apologize and tell me how she's a bad friend. Meanwhile, I'm sitting at a table filled with aquaintances and being hit on repeatedly by a creepy guy that did not want to give up. Finally, the club closes and I say to my friend, "I think I just want you to take me home. No, nothing's wrong. I'm just really tired. You know I've been getting up at 8:00 all week long for class. Are you sure you're okay to go the party by yourself? Alright then." Unfortunately, I get dragged to the party. I'm still not sure how it happened, but the next thing I know, I'm at some guy's house and stuck inside making small talk with people I don't know while she's outside making out with some guy in her car. I love my friends, and I'll love Jesse till the day she dies and even after that, but I was very bored and sleepy, and upset that the task of breaking up the steamy car couple had fallen on my shoulders. After an hour of sitting in a stranger's living room, I work up the nerve to ask my friend to take me home. She of course tell me how sorry she is and how horrible a friend she is and how she's going to make it all up to me. I, like the good friend I am, tell her it's fine, that I'd had a good time, and that she isn't a horrible friend, but a great friend. I walk into my pool house around 3:15 and pass out, exhausted from the day's many disappointments. Now I'm sitting here two day later, getting ready to leave town to hang out with Gwennie, the bestest person alive, and praying that my plans for tonight and tomorrow happen to work out the way that I want them to, so that I can salvage something from this crappy Memorial Day weekend.

Carrie Underwood Wins American Idol!

OH MY GOSH! I am so excited that Carrie Underwood won American Idol!!! My family and I watched the show on Tuesday night, witnessing Bo and Carrie's last performances. Bo, who over the past few weeks really shone in the competition, seemed to choke up on the last night, while Carrie let loose and, as judge Randy said, 'emotionally connected' with the songs she sang. During the last number she performed, I literally got goose bumps on my arm. On Wednesday night, I watched the season finale with my mother, my sister, and my friends Jeremy and Aaron (who has a ridiculous crush on Carrie and talks whimsically about the time she rejected him at Ned's (the local bar)). It was really fun, and I felt incredibly nervous, even though I wasn't the one on stage. The show itself was entertaining, especially the part where they spoofed the expose on Paula Abdul's accused torrid love affair with a loser from the second season of American Idol. Finally, it got down to the last 5 minutes of the show. Watching this part reminded me very much of watching the Oscars. A man walked out on stage and presented Ryan Seacrest with an envelope. Ryan, ever the man with dramatic flare, ripped open the envelope, and announced that the newest American Idol was.......Carrie! The audience errupted into cheers, while we few gathered around the television in our living room started applauding and screaming with excitement! It was so exciting I felt like I was there, even though the sane part of me knew (and still knows) that I wasn't. All in all I feel priveleged to attend the same school that this new American Idol attended. Although I never met her, to have some sort of connection to this newly made celebrity is a heady feeling. Not only am I happy that Carrie won because of the hometown pride factor, but I honestly believed that she had the best natural singing voice and raw talent of all the competition on American Idol. I have watched the show from the beginning of this season, following her path along the road to stardom (how cheesy did that just sound?). I am thoroughly pleased that she has won, and hope that every following season of American Idol will be blessed enough to find the amount of talent it has found this season.

STAR WARS!!!

Oh my gosh! Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith is freaking awesome! I got to see it for the first time on Tuesday night (yeah, I know...two days early!) and then again on Wednesday night (technically, it was Thursday, at 12:01). By the way, midnight shows are always so much fun! Anyway, back to what's really important, this new movie is wonderful. It really gives tons of insight into the characters that Star Wars fans know and love from the first three movies (of course, I mean Episodes IV, V, and VI). George Lucas defintely did not let me down for this movie. It was as dark and terrifying as it should have been. Watching the "chosen one," Anakin, played by Hayden Christiansen, turn to the dark side was exhilirating, because you know that you are going to get one of the coolest bad guys ever out of it. Not to mention all of the other characters in the movie. Played by the ever impressive Ewan McGreggor, Obi-Wan Kenobi's role in this move was rich and complex. And only Ewan McGreggor could say those cheesy lines of dialouge and make them sound like the most natural thing in the world. I would also like to add that the romance between Anakin and Padme blossomed in this movie into something much more tangible than the first two movies. There is a scene in particular that I thought was very touching that has no dialogue at all. This movie really helped explain why Anakin turns to the Dark Side, and as the audience experiences what Anakin does, we also get amazing visuals to go along with it. I thought that the special effects have greatly improved. Things that I knew were CGI looked real (do I think this is due to The Lord of the Rings's success? YES!). Not to mention the lightsaber battles. While the final lightsaber battle was not as emotional as the final lightsaber battle (the one between Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker) in Return of the Jedi, it was never-the-less amazing to watch. I have lots of other things to say, but I think for now, I'll just leave it at this.

I'm sleepy

Yesterday, I started my intersession classes. I'm so sleepy cause I have to wake up at 8 a.m. every day. I am not a morning person. And I didn't get to eat before class. I can hardly wait until it is over so I can take a nap. It's not that I don't like this class, but I'm just so sleepy. We're talking about copy in advertisments right now. My professor is cool. I had him for Digital Photography last semester. I absolutely loved that class. We're getting ready to do something, so I'm going to take a break.

Finals Week...AAAHHHH!!!

This week marks the last week of the semester for me. Thank God! I made it through another semester. Now, if I can only manage to get through this week, then maybe I can celebrate. Actually, I'm overexaggerating. This week is going to be a breeze. I had one final test that I already took today. I don't think I did too hot on it or anything, but that's okay cause I really don't care about the class. So long as I make a C, I could care less. I have photography portfolio to turn in today as well, and now I'm just waiting to turn that in. Last but not least, I have a take-home final to turn in on Thursday. Don't you just love take-home tests? They're not really so much tests as they are homework assignment. Even though my finals week is coming to an end, school is not. I don't get a break before starting intersession. I'm taking a class with Lynne. I think it will be fun. At least I hope so. I'm not looking forward to waking up at 8 a.m. every day for three weeks, but I am looking forward to boosting my G.P.A. with this interesting class I'll be taking (Advertising Copywriting and Layout). Anyway, I should get back to work. Work is always lots of fun, fun, fun!