Liz's Blog

Daily Life Lessons: Soccer Tournament Edition

LizM — Thu, 14 May 2009 03:55:00 GMT

SORRY IT HAS BEEN SO LONG SINCE I POSTED!

i completely forgot. my bad :( enjoy :)

Oh soccer tournaments. Well, actually I only played soccer for a few years in grade school and the highlight of my footballing career was when i "blocked" a goal whilst playing goalie. The ball hit me in the face, so I'm not sure if it really counts. Needless to say that hobby was short-lived. However, my younger brother received all of the athletic talent in the family. He is currently playing Select, FC, whatever you call it soccer as well as pitching (and its his first year playing) for his baseball team just after finishing up basketball and indoor soccer season. I am a superfan, his second soccer mom if you will. That's right, I get down and dirty. I scream and yell and I'm considering beginning to sport the little button with his picture on it.

---Actually one mom I saw today was literally pulling her hair out with her head buried in her lap. I draw the line there. They were also the parents of the kids on the opposing team that were hitting and tripping my brother's team. Sorry I had to get a little personal there---

Today Will had a tournament game in Sidney, Ohio. We went to the same one last year but I spent most of the time playing with the other soccer parents' kids because I was kind of the babysitter/cattledriver of the children. This time I just got to handle the pure enjoyment of the game. He had two games, so in between me and the family had a few hours to grab lunch and tour the lovely establishment that is Sidney, OH. My Granny is in town for the week so she was also along for the ride. I had a few realizations, epiphanies of sorts.

1. I know nothing about soccer.
Seriously. I kind of pretend I do because I feel like everyone at Butler has played soccer and is obsessed with some random European team. Manchester, Liverpool, Barcelona, Madrid? uhhhh? What? Yeah so the soccer parents and the players are using all this fancy terminology and I feel like I am listening in on a convo between the Vietnamese ladies that give me pedicures. I am not a trendy soccer fanatic, but I aspire to be one.

2. I am lonley
But not really. It was funny because I kind of always check out the refs at these things. I mean they play soccer so they're in shape, they get a little tan from watching kids play soccer in the sunshine, its usually a pretty good chance that you'll catch a looker. You just have to look past the yellow and black. Bumblebee look is not so flattering. Today was not one of those days full of attractive referees. However I did comment on one who reffed Will's second game and my mom goes, "Hm. you are desperate and lonely." Thanks for the honesty, mom.

3. Continuation of 2
It is slightly pitiful when your Granny gets more attention from males than you do. We were walking into Wal*Mart today to get some snacks and read some gossip mags to kill time in between the games. As we are walking in there are two Veterans sitting at the door collecting money. As we approach them, one says "How are you today young lady?" I stupidly answer "Oh! Great thanks how about you?" Then I realize he is staring right at my Granny. He was trying to hit on her with that oh-so-suave line. Its cool. My Granny is pretty hot for her age, and the best part about it was after we got inside she says, "I don't give any of those old men the time of day." Love. Her.

4. I eat when I am thinking or nervous. Managed to knock out half a bag of cheese puffs today. My body is going to resent this at the Y this week.

5. Go re-watch Twilight. It is hilarious the second time around. Also count how many facial expressions Kristin Stewart makes throughout the film. I think I counted about two. She has the "Shocked with mouth open" look and the "Sad worried and scared for my vampire lover's life" look. Such a versatile actress. Also Kung-Fu Panda is one of the greatest movies you will ever see. Seriously, Its so funny!!! "Legend tells of a Legendary warrior whose Kung-Fu skills were the stuff of Legends..."

6. I will pray day and night my children enjoy non-competitive activities like chess or playing instruments or basket-weaving...perhaps I will go into more detail on this topic in another post.

7. It's summer!
There were parts of today when all I could think about was next year. I'm mentally already trying to plan out what activities I want to participate in, what new things I want to add to the list, what kinds of changes I need to make and what is going to be most important to me. Not to mention I have to start thinking about internships and if I'm really serious about Law school. Then I realized...IT'S SUMMER!!! I have plenty of time to think about all that business later.

8. My family is so much fun
I had the best time with my family today. We sat in Arby's for an hour+ talking and laughing. We are pretty loud so the people in the restaurant probably thought we were real weird...but I wouldn't have it any other way. My family has been here to support me through everything I've done from recitals to musicals to awards ceremonies. I'm glad I can be here to see Will grow up into a fine young athlete and spend quality time with my family, even if it is yelling at ten year old boys in freezing cold weather.

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Farewell sweet BU

LizM — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 19:41:00 GMT

This will be my last blog post of the year! Wow. Time flies. I can't believe that this year is actually coming to a close. I am having such a hard time staying focused to study for exams...I just want to play with my friends before we all have to leave to go home! I had two finals yesterday, journalism and biology. Both went pretty smoothly except my biology one was given in a different room than we are usually in. The room felt like a sauna. It was so hot I thought I was going to have a heatstroke. Also it was right after I ate lunch so I was really sleepy. But it wasn't that awful, I survived.

We also had room picks on Tuesday night for Theta. I am rooming with one of my good friends and another girl who I absolutely LOVE and will hopefully get to know better. We were able to get one of our favorite rooms in the house so that was definitely exciting. I also was able to sign up for a bottom bunk in the cold dorm which is awesome. The way our house is set up, we have desks, dressers, and closets in our rooms but we all sleep in a big room on the third floor. It's kind of like summer camp. There is a big room full of bunk beds and that's where all of us sleep. Its called the cold dorm because it is always cool (with the windows open) and dark, so even if you want to take a nap in the middle of the day you can go up there and find some peace and quiet. I'm really looking forward to moving into the house and getting to know the other girls on a deeper leve.

Today I had the day off which was nice. I had one of my big bros over for lunch at the Theta house because he is leaving to go home tomorrow. I'm not going home until next Tuesday so I have a few more days left to savor. I have a mass communications exam tomorrow and then I have my music final on Saturday morning. My roommate isn't leaving until Tuesday either because she has a final on Monday so I just decided to stick around and hang with her for a day or two more. I have SO much stuff to pack up so I will need the time. Also our RA just informed us that our room will be used as a tour room for students during the summer...wonderful. That means we actually have to clean. We are two of the messiest people in existence and never clean our room, so this should be interesting. I'm just not ready to leave yet. I'm scared of being a sophomore and growing up. Last weekend when I went home I was dreading coming back to school but now I don't want to leave :( I wish we could stay and hang out and just not do the whole schoolwork part of it :)

This summer I will be nannying for two little girls who are our neighbors. They don't get out of school for another month by the time I get home so I will have some time to relax and get my ducks in a row before work starts. My clothes are all over our house - in tupperwares in the garage and the basement and thrown in my closet - so I need to go through them and get rid of stuff I never wear and try to get that organized! Also it will give me some time to maybe find a night job at a restaurant or something and to hang out with my friends that are about to graduate from High school and those that are home from college. My dad and I are taking a week to go fishing in lakes and ponds around the area and enjoy the hopefully beautiful weather. I really like fishing and I haven't been all year so that will be a lot of fun to get to spend time with my dad. I'm sure my mom and I will take some shopping trips and do some movie nights together too :) I've missed her a lot.

I am really looking forward to coming back to school next year though. The past month or so has been rough with so much schoolwork and just trying to make it to the end of the year. This year has been very eye-opening. College is an experience unlike anything else in life. Living on your own, making your own rules and trying to decide who you want to be is probably the hardest thing you will ever have to deal with. You just have to take it one day at a time and learn from your mistakes. Everyone is here to learn and to grow and sometimes its nice to know that you're not all on your own. We're all in the same boat. You'll have days where you just don't want to get out of bed and face the world and days where you can't help but tell everyone about that awesome grade you got on your paper or that you finally declared your major. You just have to milk it for all its worth and stop worrying about what other people think. These four years are your life and what you make of it. If you constantly worry about what other people think or waste your time trying to be someone you aren't you won't be happy. Its only until you discover who you are and the person that you want to be, regardless of what your parents or friends or professors may think that you will have so much happiness and fun that you never even knew existed. College is so much more than just classes and finals and parties and a degree.

"It takes courage to grow up and become who we really are. All our dreams can come true...if we have the courage to pursue them."
-- Walt Disney

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Exam JAM!

LizM — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 15:56:00 GMT

Today was the last day of classes!! It is so exciting that the summer is here, but sad that freshman year is over. I am looking forward to being home for the summer but I will really miss my friends at Butler. I am trying to soak up as much time with them as I can in the week left. Its hard though because we have finals this week :( The good thing is that we have a day off tomorrow reserved for studying. Its technically called "reading day" but everybody pretty much packs up their bookbags and heads to the mall or library for a good long day of studying.

Now that the weather has gotten warmer the campus has come alive again! I went home this weekend so that I could go see my high school's production of "Fame" and get some studying done. When my mom came to get me and we were leaving campus people were covering the grass from edge to edge. It really kinda was like a movie, the typical college experience.

Today after classes ended from 4-7 on the mall we had an "Exam Jam" with a bungee trampoline thing, temporary tattoos, water massages, free stuff and Qdoba. They had a DJ and it was fun to just go hang out and enjoy the beautiful day with the rest of the school. Afterwards GYM CLASS HEROES came to give a concert with Chester French. THe concert was awesome! Chester French was kind of ridiculous but GCH was sweet. The lead singer, Travis McCoy, even came out into the audience on the last song. So yeah, I touched him. It was sweet.

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SSS and Formal: A crazy weekend!

LizM — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 14:42:00 GMT

Only one week of classes left! Yikes! The worst thing about it, is that this weekend was SO much fun but I got absolutely nothing done.

Friday night was Spring Sports Spectacular, the event put on by SGA that was a huge variety of sports competitions between the greek houses and independent council*. There were so many activities between Hinkle, the Health and Rec Center, and the Butler Bowl. I personally beasted some Mario Kart on the N64. I didn't win, but i gave the race all i had. I found a group of Thetas and we wandered around, watching the intense tug-of-war battle in the main gym, and the extremely popular dance off contest and karaoke in Hinkle. I think the most fierce competition was the soccer tournament, but those games didn't start until really late and I was so tired, so I didn't stick around for that. Jimmy Johns and Hot Box pizza provided some delicious goodies so I couldn't pass that up either. There was also a penny war between all of the houses. Honestly, I probably helped Theta lose because I didn't understand the concept of the penny war AT ALL. I felt kind of stupid.

Apparently you get points for every Penny you put in the bucket, and real money or silver coins detract points. Unbeknownst to me, I threw some dollars and coins in our bucket, confused why later my friends asked me why I put it in ours and not someone elses ha! But all of the money went towards supporting the Special Olympics, so no matter who won it was all for a fantastic cause.

Our formal was the following night, so I headed home around midnight to catch some z's before Saturday. My Saturday was nice and relaxing: Headed to Starbucks in the morning to knock out some Bio homework, went to the HRC for a quick workout, and then back to Schwiz to shower, paint my nails and curl my hair before 6. I volunteered to be on risk management for this formal, so I helped out the head Theta in charge of making sure everyone got to the dance safely and anyone who wanted to leave early could get a Cab back to school. I went over to the house early to get some pictures with my friends and check out everyone's pretty dresses :) I ended up taking two dates (because ladies is pimps too) and they were both sooo much fun!! I had a blast dancing with everyone and enjoying the night.

Yesterday I pretty much got nothing at all done, and I have a heavy workload for this last week of class. Boo. Two of my friends and I went to Target and bought a lot of things we didn't really need: Some pretty sweet crazy sunglasses and strawberry milkshake oreos. When we got back to school it was raining, so we put on our shades and had a spontaneous dance party in the parking lot. These are the things I will miss the most over the summer. Just being able to go out and do absolutely nothing but loving every minute of it.

*I mentioned Independent Council before and you're probably wondering what that is. Independent Council just started up this year, and is a group of students who are non-Greek but still want to participate in the big philanthropy events for the houses as well as all campus events like SSS and Spring Sing. They've had a great first year on campus, participating in Trike lipsyncs, Spring sing, and Spring sports as well as hosting a benefit concert with some on-campus bands. Pretty exciting stuff!

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Scared and uprepared

LizM — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 20:29:00 GMT

So I sign up for classes tomorrow...and I have yet to determine what I am going to take!

All my friends said "Didn't you go to your advising appointment?!" And yes, I did, but we only figured out which classes I needed required for my major. Now I have no idea what else to take!

Okay that is kind of an overstatement. I am pretty sure of most of my schedule, the only thing I am iffy on is which Political Science class to take for next semester. I was unsure about making PoliSci my minor (the sweet trendy name college kids use for political science) but I took the introduction course last semester and I really enjoyed it. I'm definitely taking my Global and Historical Studies class, part of the Core required here at Butler, so that I can knock out almost all of my core classes between the next two semesters. Then it will be time to start applying for internships... eeek!

I am nervous about going through the whole internship process, but I don't think it will be too traumatizing. We have a really great internship coordinator in the school of Journalism and people have been able to get internships from all kinds of companies. I went to the journalism banquet last week and it was great to meet some of the upperclassmen that I had never had the chance to talk to and hear about some of their experiences academically and out in the "real world." One girl in particular told me about a 42 page research paper she had recently submitted about the Boston Massacre and its reportings in the two major newspaper sources of that time period. Forty Two Pages. Wow. And I think a 12 page research paper is a lot.

It was interesting to hear about where different students had completed their internships. A girl who is actually a Theta was able to do an internship with the renowned Alvin Ailey Dance Company in New York City!!!!! This was super exciting for me because that is right up my alley. I'm really thinking that something in the arts is where I belong. I danced for 13 years and I'm really starting to see how much I miss it. I love musical theatre and all that good stuff, so something arts related would definitely be fun. Plus I'm just not a sporty person at all. If I did PR for the Colts or something Indianapolis would evict me from the city. I pretend to understand sports but I really have no idea what's going on 99% of the time.

Well, I'm off to figure out the schedule. Wish me luck. Hopefully none of my classes will the closed

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Sparknotes are a girl's best friend

LizM — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 01:53:00 GMT

I'm sitting here on my bed dreading reading a certain book for my Freshman Seminar class. Its actually probably going to be pretty good, I just hate starting books. Such is the life of a college student, book after book...until the end of the school year, which happens to be in three short weeks.

We are writing a research paper on a topic pertaining to two books we are reading about Afghanistan for our class. It's hard to get anything done though when we have such a fun filled weekend coming up next week. Friday is Spring Sports Spectacular and Saturday is our formal :)

Spring Sports Spectacular is a 12-hour all-campus philanthropic event which supports the Special Olympics of Indiana. The entire campus competes in sporting events ranging from basketball and dodge ball, to Twister and euchre, and everything in between. There are SO many competitions like soccer, football, 100 meter dash, and really sporty things. On the other hand, there are silly competitions like oreo stacking, karaoke, timed sudokus, and catch phrase. It should be a lot of fun, just will need a lot of sleep beforehand.

Students are beginning to come and register for their classes on campus. Its strange to see them roaming around (and I know I have said this before) and to think that those students are in the same position I was last year. A lot of people laugh when they see my student ID picture because I look so different now. I used to have bangs and they made me look a lot younger :) Speaking of which, my birthday is coming up! June 7th! Okay so still kind of far away but I'm pretty excited.

Well as much as I love my sparknotes I think I'm going to genuinely read this book.

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Eating Tacos and Doing it for the Kids

LizM — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 15:53:00 GMT

This past weekend was full of philanthropy events! Friday kicked off Alpha Phi's Phiesta soccer tournament. I went over with some friends to cheer the Thetas on and also got some delicious food at their taco bar :) My roomie was a ref as well so I was there for moral support. She was fierce with the whistle and had to put some of the fraternity men in their place when they got a little crazy. It was fun!

Also Delt's philanthropy that I had mentioned before started later that night, TRIKE! All the money went to the kids of Reilly Children's Hospital so all of the houses worked hard to raise money for it. Friday night was the Lip syncs and pledge auction. All of the houses did an amazing job with their lip syncs, and fortunately Theta won!!! It was really exciting, our girls worked so hard. My theta mom was a contortionist and put her leg behind her head and all this crazy stuff, and then another girl was a clown, and another girl blew fire! It was funny because she was practicing with the fire earlier in the day in the basement of the house, and the smoke detector was right above her. The fire alarm went off and everybody was so confused about what was going on. The house mom tried to call the fire department to tell them what had happened, but it was too late! There were two fire trucks outside of Theta and all of the people across the street at Phiesta had no idea what was going on.

The pledge auction was hilarious as well. Each pair of boys performed a "talent." Most of them pretended to sing songs and danced around. One of my good friends even dressed up like Taylor Swift, sporting my hannah montana wig and my roommate's dress. It was so so funny. I ended up buying my Big Bro and one of his friends but we still have to come up with a plan as to what do make them do for us. . .maybe shave a little KAO in the back of their heads :)?

The next day was the carnival and trike races. Unfortunately it was also parents day for the University and many of the houses, so a lot of girls from our house couldn't show up because their parents were here. I actually ended up having to participate in the races!! I led our team to victory three times. . .but we didn't win. It was really a lot harder than you would think. I think getting the momentum is the most difficult part, and there are no brakes! So you kind of just have to slam your feet down and hope you stop. I've retired from my trike riding days even though it was a great run. I can send autographs in the mail if anyone's interested. . .

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4 3 2 1

LizM — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 00:24:00 GMT

There are 4 weeks left in the semester. Its CRAZY! I don't know how freshman year has passed by so quickly. I had my scheduling meeting with my advisor today it's just so unreal. It feels like just yesterday I was hauling in my overpacked luggage and sweating in Schwitzer, wondering what to do next. Now it's a second home and I feel like there is never a shortage of things to do around here. I have a pretty long list of things I still have to do before this weekend is over!

This weekend is going to be really really fun though. My roommate's sorority, Alpha Phi, is having their philanthropy event. Its called Phiesta and is a soccer tournament and taco bar held on Friday over at their house. I'm terrible at soccer but I'll definitely go cheer my friends on and get some good mexican food :) It's also been Delta Tau Delta's philanthropy week, which they call Trike. All the funds raised go to Riley Children's hospital here in Indianapolis, its a great cause. They had a cookout Monday, had tours around the hospital Wednesday, and then today they came around and serenaded all of the sorority houses to invite us to their big event tomorrow night. They're auctioning off their newest initiated members, and the boys have to show off their talent to try and get the girls to buy them. Whoever the highest bidder is, is then treated to massages, having their room cleaned, or even getting the guys to shave the letters of the girls' house into the back of their head. Needless to say, it's going to be hilarious!

They also have a lip sync competition tomorrow night. Lip syncs are not at all what they sound like! The first time someone told me about them I was like "ohhh okay like karaoke?" Lip syncs are basically dance competitions between the sororities. Each house makes a mix of a bunch of different songs and then a panel judges the dances to determine a winner. There were too many people that wanted to do Lip syncs for Theta so we split up into two groups, and the older girls are doing Trike while us freshman and sophomores are performing for Phi Psi's philanthropy event, Phi Psi 500. We just got started on the dance and so far it's really fun :)

Saturday they have an actual Trike race, where girls from each house ride the trikes. It will be funny to see some of my theta sisses riding the little trikes haha. BUT let's not forget about schoolwork. I have a Bio exam next week that I'm dreading. Sometimes I forget that I come here for academics and not just for fun!

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Arsty Fartsy

LizM — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 04:23:00 GMT

I am probably the least artsy person I know. However, I like looking at art. I can manage that :) Butler is right around the corner from the Indianapolis Museum of Art and I have been dying to go there since the fall so I finally went last weekend with one of my friends from IU. It is an amazing museum and definitely something to check out if you are visiting the Indianapolis area. I still have a long list of things to do in Indy before I graduate! A lot of my friends from the area laugh when I talk about my list because they are from here and grew up with the sights and places here. I have yet to go to the Children's Museum or take a carriage downtown or go to the Civil War museum under the monument in Circle Center.

But anyhow here are a few pictures I snapped on my phone in the museum. It was okay to take pictures of all of the really old stuff, but the modern works of art were supposed to be left alone (but I still took some pictures shhhh). I got yelled at by one of the docent people in the contemporary art works exhibit haha. No offense to contemporary artists but I think most of that stuff is kind of wacky anyways.

This artist painted a picture of two women looking at another painting of his. Vain much?

A little disco dancing Buddha guy. They have a whole room full of Asian artifacts and these little people in all different materials and sizes.

Mummy Head! This was pretty cool. They have an actual mummy casing there too.

I really liked this seaside painting. It makes me wish I wasn't stuck in these landlocked midwestern states.

This surrealist painting was amazing. In real life all of the colors are very vibrant and it jumps off the canvas. If you look, each cliffside looks like a person's head.

I thought this vase was very pretty :) They have a whole gallery full of different porcelain works from Europe (but this vase was the best one out of them all)

My friend Steve is in the corner of the picture haha. This is right before we got scolded, but this glasswork was really neat.

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The past few weeks in pictures

LizM — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 17:24:00 GMT

This week was pretty amazing for having to go back to school right after break. I was dreading having to get back into a schedule coming back to Butler but a few fun events this week have brightened the dreaded week.

Here are a few disney pictures! We took so many I had a hard time deciding which ones to put up. I had to put in links because they were too big to put in the actual blog. sorry :(