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Packing.
It’s not pretty. For the majority of this summer (ever since my graduation party, actually), the couch in our basement was occupied by Things Jordan is Taking to School - So Don’t Touch, Thanks. Baskets filled with laundry detergent, duffel bags stuffed with books, and cardboard boxes from the bedding company. It didn’t make any sense to put those things away somewhere else in the house when I’d just need to haul them back out again in a few weeks.
While the office supplies and kitchen utensils were organized and packed pretty much when I got them, clothes were another story. I went through all of my drawers and the closet I share with my sister, and the first thing I did was to sort out everything I could possibly sell or just plain get rid of. Then I went through again and picked out what clothes I was actually going to take with me. Now, the boys I know who have gone off to college fit all their clothes into one piece of carry-on luggage. Me? I got all of my wardrobe crammed into one suitcase. A suitcase so big it’s not even allowed on planes anymore, and I still had a formal dress and shirts on hangers and not to mention my shoes. I have never felt so high-maintenance in my entire life.
Finally, finally, about two days before move-in day at Notre Dame, I had everything packed. Then came the hard part – fitting it all in the minivan. It took some strategic assembling, a lot of sweating in the 90 degree heat, and quite a lot of exasperated sighing, but with my dad and brother’s help I got all my junk in the vehicle.
One piece of advice for any future dorm-movers: get boxes. I didn’t have any of those handy cardboard storage boxes, and I really wish I would have. Shopping bags from the mall don’t stack well and their contents tend to shift and spill. Full Post »
Shopping
I have a love/hate relationship with shopping. I definitely like having what I need and want, but at the same time I absolutely detest parting with money.
I’ve spent more money this summer than I feel comfortable admitting. Notre Dame’s tuition is ridiculous as it is, but when you have to add up all the incidentals that are required for college life … it makes me queasy.
NOTRE DAME SURVIVAL KIT
1. Bedding set (sheets, pillow, pillowcase, comforter)
2. Bath set (soap, loofah, shampoo, conditioner, shower caddy, razors, toothpaste, toothbrush, Q-tips, makeup, contact solution, contacts)
3. Laptop
4. Graphing calculator
5. Laundry essentials (basket, detergent, fabric softener, not to mention the $1.25 for washes and $1.00 for drying each time)
6. Alarm clock
7. Hangers
8. Shoe organizer
9. Rainboots (for South Bend’s abundant precipitation)
10. Sweatshirt hoodies (for South Bend’s abundant freezing cold)
11. Complete Harry Potter series in paperback
12. Textbooks I’ve already found
13. Ramen noodles
14. Teddy bear The Boyfriend won for me at McCutcheon’s After-Prom
15. Easy Mac
16. Sanity
I’ve tried to catch all the sales and I’ve definitely saved a lot of money buying my textbooks online – but still! All my graduation gift money and well over half of what I’ve earned working two jobs this summer is wrapped up in school supplies and new clothes and cotton balls. I keep telling myself that a lot of what I’ve bought I’ll be using again my sophomore year, and that makes it a little better.
But if I’m freaking out about spending money now, I wonder if I’ll be able to handle mortgages and insurance payments and cable television fees and my college loans once I’m out in the real world. Now that really makes me shudder. Full Post »
Oh man, Harry Potter. Talk about your childhood memories. I’ve been diligently reading (and rereading) the Harry Potter books since the fourth grade, when I spent an entire Friday afternoon, evening, and early morning reading the first installment, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.
Since then, I have been devouring the new books and going through the earlier chapters to refresh my memory on J.K. Rowling’s ridiculously intricate plotting and development. I would stay up late on Potter fan websites, reading other readers’ theories about what might happen in the next books. I dragged my family to a screening of the movie A.I. – Artificial Intelligence (yes, the movie with the boy from The Sixth Sense as a robot with feelings) just so I could watch the preview trailer for the movie version of the first book. I plastered the walls of my basement with clippings from magazines and Internet printouts. I went to three midnight release parties at Barnes and Noble and ordered “butterbeer” (really sugary chai) from the Starbucks and dominated in trivia contests. One of my friends even hosts a podcast about Harry Potter, and I try to butt in every once in a while.
It’s become something of a cliché to say my generation has grown up with Harry Potter, but I sure do feel that way. I started reading the first book when I was 10, a year younger than the character of Harry in Sorcerer’s Stone. I finished the final book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (in which Harry is 17), a month after my 19th birthday.
At the same time, however, I’m not too worried about outgrowing Harry like I outgrew American Girl dolls and Power Rangers and Beanie Babies. Even after finishing the last book I am itching to start back at the beginning – I don’t know if I’ll ever get sick of the story.
Every new book was shrouded in publisher-upheld mystery, but the moment I cracked open the binding it was like I was settling down to catch up with an old friend – just the right mix of awestruck epic and deliciously familiar. Full Post »
But my sleep woes would have to wait until after the fair, because Thursday night was the Annual Greased Watermelon Contest. For the heathens among us who don’t know what a greased watermelon race is, let me explain: you take a watermelon covered in vegetable grease and race through an obstacle course in order to beat another team and earn eternal glory. It’s quite simple. I’ve never actually been in the race, but I have always been a rabid supporter of the Beef barn team, perennial favorites and the sworn enemy of the Swine barn team. I’ve never been gutsy enough to try out for the extremely competitive Beef team, but this year I automatically had a spot on the Queen team.
So, Thursday night after the Supreme Showmanship contest the five members of the Queen’s court as well as five other girls who had done the contest with us suited up in our custom “Queen Team” t-shirts with “Greasy for one night only” emblazoned on the back. I’ve got to say, we were pretty hardcore. Kathleen, the 2nd Runner-Up, plays volleyball for St. Mary’s College in South Bend and is viciously competitive when it comes to sports, so she had a pretty rock solid game plan.
1. Don’t stick your butt up when crawling under the straw bales, or you’ll knock the top bale off and you’ll have to go through again.
2. Get a foot in every tire.
3. Go over the first sawhorse, under the second, and over the third. Do it any other way and you’ll lose time.
4. The watermelon is not a baby. Do not hold it like one; you’ll only drop it.
5. Brace the person in front of you so the sheer force of passing off the melon doesn’t topple her over.
And rule number 6:
6. Win win win win win.
We did really well, actually. The team we lost to, Swine, had to beat us to advance to the championship, which they won. And I’m proud to say I was so into the race that I merited several scrapes and bruises on my knees from diving under straw bales.
Of course, when it was over, we couldn’t wash off the dirt and wood shavings and grease in the bathroom or anything – everyone has to go to the washracks in one of the livestock barns. Full Post »
Besides sitting in the showring for all the livestock shows, I also had other duties. First and foremost, I had to get sundresses. Before July 22nd, I owned exactly one sundress, a white one not entirely befitting 10-hour stints at the dusty fairgrounds. So, after a meeting with all the other members of the court on Sunday afternoon, my mom and I took off for JCPenney’s and the mall, where I got lots of fluffy, floaty sundresses. Well, not lots. Enough to last me through the sheep and goat show, the youth halter lamb class, the beef show, the Pet and Hobby Parade, the swine show, the dairy show, the llama show, and the auction.
Even though I was only 3rd Runner Up, my sparkly crown and out-of-place dresses made me stand out, especially to little girls who would either stare or bluntly demand an autograph. One day, I went to get lunch at the beef tent with the 2nd Runner Up, Kathleen, and it was kind of awkward sitting in the crowded beef tent with little kids pointing at us. Don’t get me wrong, having 5-year-olds ask for photo ops is pretty awesome – but surreal.
Usually I get to the fair between 6 and 7 AM, so having to get there early to be at all the livestock shows wasn’t that big of a deal. Unfortunately, I couldn’t take naps like I usually do, so by Wednesday I was nodding off in between swine classes. Not cool. Full Post »
I can’t believe another fair week has come and gone. It’s even weirder to think it was my last as a 4-H member. Ten years of cattle and show days and ribeye steaks and greased watermelon contests are finally over.
The whole week was kind of surreal, mostly because I had a tiara on my head for most of it. On Saturday night I was crowned the 3rd Runner Up in the Tippecanoe County 4-H Fair Queen Contest. Enough capitalized words for you?
I’m not gonna lie, when I heard “Contestant number eleven” called for 3rd Runner Up, all I could think was, “Okay, so that means I have to stand up in this dress again. Please God, don’t let it rip, don’t let it rip…” Then, once I got the crown and the sash and the ginormous silver plate and the bouquet, I finally realized, “Woah. This is kind of awesome.”
Usually my fair week is consumed with taking care of my cattle. But because I had suddenly acquired “queenly duties,” I would have virtually no time to do chores in the Beef barn. Not to mention that I had finally decided to show swine in my 10th year – of course, OF COURSE, the year when I would have less time than ever to water and feed and wash.
Thankfully, I have a brother, a sister, and a dad who would be at the fair all day, too, so they graciously took care of my animals while I was kept busy handing out livestock ribbons in the coliseum. Full Post »
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