The Road Less Traveled...

I've known that I wanted to be an attorney since I was in the sixth grade. Everything I've done up to this point in my life has been with that goal in mind. Here I am a little under two years away from my degree, and all I can think about is all the other jobs I would like to do. Don't worry, I'm not going to quit school and take up one of these careers, but it's fun to wonder what would have happened and where I'd be today if I'd picked a different path. If I could do something different, I would choose:

* Sideline reporter for ESPN and during the college football off season, I would be an in studio sportscaster.

* Anything that made me famous enough to be on Dancing with the Stars

* Flight Attendant

* Playing Belle at Disney World or Disney Cruise Line worker

* Olympian (either swimming, gymnastics, or ice skating)

* Country Music Singer

* Dog Groomer

I'm sure I'm leaving out some incredibly wonderful career opportunities, but these are the ones that I find myself thinking about most of the time, especially ESPN sideline reporter!

Blessed be the tie that bind...

Today is the day I've been dreading since classes started. No, I don't have a huge test or a big project due, in fact most people in my classes are going about their days as normal. In fact, when you read this you'll probably think I'm crazy or childish or shake your head and go, "Really? You're upset about THAT!?" I'll admit that it may seem that way and deep down I'm sure you're right, but I'm sentimental and proud of it.

Today is the kick off of sorority recruitment for the undergrad students on my campus. What this means, is that all the sorority girls are proudly wearing their letters and giving evil glances to the anyone that is not, except of course for the girls they are hoping decide to join them :) Yep, they are everywhere. On the sidewalks, in the student center, in library...everywhere. Luckily, they have no reason to be in the law school, so I find shelter here. In fact, had I not HAD to have a cup of coffee this morning, I wouldn't have even known this was occurring. If only the temperature wasn't negative 10 in my classrooms, I wouldn't have needed that coffee. But, it is and I did and now I'm left thinking about my college years once again.

See, when I went to college I told myself and anyone that would listen that I would NOT join a sorority. To me they were just a bunch of drunk girls that made you do things you didn't want to do in order to be accepted. However, my sophomore year, I realized that while those groups are out there, they are not all that way. I joined my sorority and never looked back. It was seriously the best thing I did in college. Being in that group gave me confidence that I never had before, TRUE friends that I hadn't found anywhere else, and the comfort that I needed being away from home. It was because of that group that I was able to live college to the fullest both socially and academically. There is just something about knowing there are 25 girls that will love you no matter what, that makes it easier to get up in front of a group of people and make a speech. Yes, it was this group that really helped me figure out who I was, as cliche as that sounds.

Thus, as I watch the different greek letters walk by me, it's not so much that I'm jealous (though I am a little bit) but more that I'm remembering all the wonderful times I had with those girls and our "guys" (the frat that was OUR brothers). I miss the Friday nights hanging out at someones apartment or the quick hug on the sidewalk as you go to take a big test. I must say that I'm handling this better now than last year. I vividly remember crying my eyes out as I drove from campus to my apartment. This year I can tell that it's getting easier. While I still don't like seeing it (because I'm not a part of it) it does give me a chance to reflect on my wonderful sisters. Everyone grows up and moves on, and I'm thankful I had the opportunity to be a part of such an amazing group. However, I still want to scream at the top of my lungs to every sorority girl that walks by me and looks at me funny since I'm not wearing letters and say, "I have sisters too, and mine are better than yours!" haha.

Ms. OMG I think he's into me...

Have you met her? That girl who thinks every man within 10 feet is flirting with her. Every time a male speaks to her she is convinced that he is trying to get with her. Well, I've met her and it's not the first time. While I encountered this girl a couple of times in the past, never to the degree that "Annabelle" lives up to. As you'll remember I have issues with Annabelle anyway, so this character trait makes me want to separate myself from her more and more.

While having a coffee break with her and another friend "L" between class yesterday, she proceeded to tell a story about a party she went to last week in which she was flying solo (the tragic bf stayed home because hanging out with a bunch of law students is not really his things and who can blame him), anyway while she was there apparently EVERY guy in the room was trying to kiss her or at the least they were flirting with her. Now Annabelle also tends to over think everything and while I, too, am guilty of this, I only over analyze things that matter, but with her it's stupid stuff like "he kinda brushed against me in the crowded hallway, I think he wants to ask me out. Should I tell him I have boyfriend, or just wait till he asks me out and then tell him?" It's at this point that I want to shout "Get Real!" but I resist and let "L" take over (she seems better at telling Annabelle she's overreacting better than I).

I should note that my confidence level, if charted, would look something like a heart monitor. I have my ups and downs. Therefore, I could never be Annabelle. I could never walk in a room and say "oh yeah, everyone is checking me out." It's just not me, nor do I want it to be. I guess what really drives me crazy about Annabelle is that what is completely obvious to me...that these guys are just being nice and polite and trying to carry on a conversation...is taken the complete opposite way by her. I just don't know how some one's mind operates that way, cause my sure doesn't. Oh well...

On a complete opposite note. During this same conversation with Annabelle and "L" they were trashing Annabelle's roommate (who is also a law student and also suffers from this "he's totally into me syndrome") and they accidentally said something that I apparently was not supposed to hear. Something about who the roommate was going to have dinner with this weekend, but I digress. The point of this story is that "L" said, "oh it's alright you can hear this...You're not gossipy." I almost spilled coffee on myself because in college I would never have gotten that comment and most of the people I know from college would have laughed in her face. Little does she know. Put me with the right people and you wouldn't believe...haha!

Happy Friday!

Okay America...

Let us clear this up quick, fast, and in a hurry. It is possible for a woman to be both a good mom and have a successful career. Okay? Okay! As you've probably guessed this post is inspired by the recent scrutiny that Vice Presidential Candidate Sarah Palin is facing currently. To say that I'm mad that she is having to defend whether or not she is capable of having a public job and raising a family is an understatement. No man has to validate himself in this way. How many people are asking O'bama how many hours he has spent with his daughters in the past year or so since his campaign began? No one! This double standard is ridiculous! When the men in this country decide to run for office, the women in their lives are just expected to be there to take care of their 2.5 children in their beautiful million dollar homes, yet when a woman decides to pursue the same path, she is expected to juggle it all by herself. Can her husband not take care of the children too? Does all the burden have to fall on her? I think not!



Being a woman that is 1. pursuing a professional career that requires long hours and 2. hoping to make her way into the political arena herself, this double standard is something I've been concerned with for some time now. While I want to have a family and attend all of my children's events, I also want to have a career...I mean I'm in debt up to my ears, so I want to be able to use this incredibly expensive education. However, with the world today the mother takes the blame when her children turn out bad or they fall short of societal standards. While it seemed this standard was getting better in this country, I now see that it is, in fact, not changing. Apparently, if you're a woman and you want to have a career, say run for President or Vice President, your children have to be grown, such as Hilary Clinton, because as we're seeing society is not ready for a working mother of 5.



Now, while I understand that Governor Palin has some issues that are inevitably going to come out in the media, that doesn't mean that I think they should. It is no ones business what is going on, for instance, with her 17 year old daughter. I'm sure it is hard enough being pregnant at 17 without having the whole country staring at you. I mean really!



Also, (and while I've tried really hard to stay partisan on here, I clearly failed...sorry) the media needs to get real! What happened to reporting the news and only the news! Since when to newspapers and magazines fell the need to spin the headlines to get us to favor one party over another. We have election finance so that each candidate can only spend so much money on T.V. ads for instance, however with the liberal media pushing O'bama - picture to left for instance - he gets free press...how convenient!

Alright, I'm going to stop, but really back to the original point. Woman can have a real career and raise a family. They can juggle two or more things at once and do them all well. If we're going to make women explain themselves and their actions and their plans for balancing career and family, we should make men do the same. The last time I checked, children needed a father figure in their lives as well, so they should be held to the same standard.

Now that I've probably alienate most people that read this (and if I did, I'm sorry) I'm done.

In a Perfect World...

"I keep telling myself I'm movin' on, But I'm stumbling, Believin' my heart was strong enough, but now I'm wonderin', every step I take that leads me away, Just circles back to your door, Wishin' I didn't love you anymore..."

This weekend was great! I got to go home and see some of my absolute favorite people (some of which I hadn't seen in months and in some cases years!), my college team won a huge game they weren't expected to win, and I got a new book...all of these things make me extremely happy. So why do I feel like running down to my nearest grocery store and shoving my head into a package of cookie dough and a half gallon of ice cream? Could it be that once again I get to see everyone that I miss so much and realize that I'll never get go back to the best time (so far) of my life? Could it be that the guy that inspired the above song lyrics sporadically comes in and out of my life, thus making it extremely hard to fully get over him? Could it be a combination of all these things? I think so!

Everything is changing; I know this, it's been changing for a while. I thought I was getting better with it, and in many ways I think I am. However, I'm also scared. Pretty soon the occasions that bring all my friends together (weddings, homecomings, etc.) are going to become fewer and fewer, and then what? Do I just lose contact with the people that mean so much to me? I guess I'm really only talking about one person here, because everyone else actually keeps in contact either by phone or facebook. I just don't know. Maybe it would be better for me if he did just disappear like he's so good at, because when I see him I have to start at square one again.

In a perfect world, I would move about 5 people into my city or somewhere else...I'm not picky. That way, we would all be close and near each other, while also able to lead our own lives. Yeah, that would be perfect. I really thought I was over this nostalgia, but apparently it comes in waves, and you never know when it's going to hit.

Jumping on top my soap box...

The above picture is from Ronald Reagan's Presidential Convention in 1984, but you could really insert any one's name on the various signs and banners, and have the Democratic or Republican conventions from this year. Thousands of people gather together to assert that their candidate is the best and that he should be President of the United States. One can get lost in the bright colors and loud music, and one could even forget the real reason they're there to begin with. Don't worry this is not going to be a "political" post in which I try to persuade you to vote for candidate X or candidate Y, but it is going to be a political post in the sense that I have a real issue with the way in which the political process operates today.

Having been watching the DNC this past week, (this does not make me a democrat, as I'll be doing the same thing next week with the RNC) I noticed some very disturbing trends in the political process. I'll spare you the details of the paper I wrote in college, that I'll admit, I'm still pretty proud of, but I will tell you that the process by which the president is elected today is nothing like it was when this country was founded nor is it anything like it was even 50 years ago. For purposes of this post, however, I'll concentrate primarily on the conventions.

Presidential conventions used to be the place where delegates would come together and debate about who they thought should be president. We're talking actually discussions about policies and issues. On the first night of the convention a vote was held and the top vote getter's would move on to night two. Then more discussion occurred! The four day event was marked by heated debates, enlightening speeches, and the strong desire to move the country forward. On some occasions, the presidential nominee was not known until the last day of the convention, something completely unheard of in today's day and age.

The reasons for this stem from primaries being held earlier, more money in the hands of very few candidates, and the need to 'unify' the party earlier. But is that the best way to do it? Is unification of a party so important that we lose sight of the issues?

Today's conventions are essentially pep rallies! Delegates gather for four days and yell and scream and throw a party for a candidate that is already known. There is no debate, no discussion of what the party as a whole stands for...nothing! I can't tell you anymore about the democratic party's stand on the issues today, than I could of three days ago. How can voters be informed about the issues if no one every talks about them? If we already know who the candidate is going to be and we're not going to do anything except where stupid hats with donkeys and elephants on them, why bother even holding these? They have lost ALL their significance!

Tonight takes us to a whole new level. O'bama is going to give his acceptance speech, but really any speech he's given since July has been an acceptance speech, to a crowd of 70,000 people. I have serious issue with this. As stated above, some candidates did not know until the last night of the convention if they were the nominee (and everyone thought the Hilary/O'bama race lasted a long time). These candidates did not have the luxury of speaking large groups of people; there was no grand, elaborate venue with guest stars and loud music, it was just the candidate and the issues....the way it should be.

For those of you who made it to the end, I can't promise that there will be no more 'political' post in the near future, but I'll try and keep them to a minimum. Politics is a passion of mine and sometimes I just can't think of any better way to vent, than to write it all out...

Okay, I'm calming down and going to class.

I'm Single, not Sick!

I had a great lunch today with a couple of girls from my class. Having just started classes and having not seen each other for the summer, we thought it would be fun to get together and catch up. Somewhere between the meal and the conversations about school, summer jobs, other classmates, and life in general, one of the girls, we'll call her Annabelle, decided to bring up, as she does every time we get together, my personal life. Now, while I don't mind talking about it, it gets old talking about it over and over again, especially when nothing changes. I'm single and while it used to bother me, it really doesn't anymore. It will happen when it happens, and I'm not in a rush anymore. Now Annabelle is two years older than me, she's dating this guy that she fights with all the time and is seriously considering breaking up with, which I believe she should since she doesn't want to talk to him most of the time anyway, so who is she to be forcing a relationship on me? Every time this comes up, she says, "Oh my boyfriend has this guy friend that would be perfect for you!" And while I appreciate the gesture, I'm not really looking to be set up, especially if the guy is going to be anything like her boyfriend.

Now the other girl, we'll call her Emily, is married and has a little boy. She's about my age, and she says, that you have your whole life to be married, so you should enjoy the time right now. Thank goodness she was there. I politely told Annabelle that I don't know where I'm going to be in two years, and that it really wasn't the right time for me anyway. I don't want to feel like I'm tied down to one area after I graduate. I'm sure that she's just trying to be nice, but really, it gets old after a while. I don't want to have be put on display and have a pity party thrown every time I go out!

Along the same lines, I've order a book that I can't wait to read cause I think it will be funny. It's called, The Bridal Wave, by Erin Torneo and Valerie Cabrera Krause. It's basically about being single while all your friends are getting married. I saw it advertised on Oprah and thought it would be fun to read. Basically it tells you how to deal, in a nice way, with people like Annabelle. I'll post more on it later!