Tuesday, August 31, 2010

August 31st, 2010: Not a good day...

College... college... what else can I say. It is just... college. Paying tons of money to have people stand in front of you and teach us things that will never be used in life. College. High school but a million times bigger and the chances of your teachers telling you that you're going to fail are higher. "We're here to help you"... yeah, sure. Help by putting me down, help by giving me that look of "well, she's never going to go anywhere." Yeah, I know that look, you think you're doing an excellent job at hiding it because "dancers are actors too" but hey, guess what.... you aren't perfect...
just don't tell your little primas that.
 Imagine that, you're not perfect! Oh gosh! Sorry to burst your pink, sparkly, fluffy, spotlight, leotard wearing bubble... but its time for your reality check. Walking with your "buttock" clenched so it looks tiny, with your shoulders back and down... oh but not too far back... back straight with that slight arch (that supposedly is natural for your back to have), and in perfect turned out first... you think you either look like the graceful prima ballerina that "you are", or you think you look confident. When really added to all that, you accidentally have your nose to the air... you look like a stuck up, snooty, spoiled goose who is trying and failing to lay an egg.
As I said, reality check.


As you can tell, those of you who read this, today was not one of the best days.
I wear my knee brace to my classes so I don't get injured, well because of this I've had two teachers now say I should either get into a lower class or I should switch my major. If the teachers would just let my body get used to ballet (which I haven't done since I was 12!) and jazz... then I could show them, I'm up there with their little primas.
I'm sorry that I grew up in a small town and didn't go to a high dollar dance studio, and I'm sorry that my dance teacher(s) taught different. So I've been trained different... big deal.
Would these teachers rather give me the time of day and have me thank them and mention them by name when I get an award for choreography or would they rather be the snooty primas they are being and have me bash their names?
I'm not here to get seen, I'm here to learn. Stop telling me that I'm not going to make it anywhere, just because I don't get seen doesn't mean I'd make it in the profession.
Have any of them even talked to me to find out why I'm here? Haha, no!
I'm not here to get a job in one of the stage shows, I'm here to learn, to learn so I can teach.
Ugh!

Friday, August 27, 2010

August 27th, 2010: Finally, the weekend.

So it is 8:54 Friday morning, and this is considered my weekend.
Last night was fun, small dorm floor party. Had too much sugar (with all the soda, ice tea and junk food I was eating) so I didn't get to sleep till about 2 last night.
Anyway, at about midnight the party ended so I hung out with Eric (Foot), Chris, Casey and Jacob. We started a back massage train. Me gusta much!
I think someone is knocking on my door! Nope.
Annyway...
Class yesterday was okay. One of my advisers said that I should look into doing dance as my Minor and getting a different Major... all because he saw me with my knee brace on. Yeah, that kinda hurt.
Margo made me feel better though.
Ballet was okay, I'm so not used to it and I think Dolly can tell. I just need to start remembering it all, that's all... everything is somewhere in my mind, in the very back far left corner, under lock and key.
Math was fine. Got there early so I could get a table, then end up sitting surrounded by guys. No joke.
I sat down at a totally empty side of the room, then a football player sat on my left, a skater to my right, a blond behind me and a red head in front of me!
Then was Premier... which was like the last day of the school year at Scenic. Only thing that made it worth going to was I got a free tee-shirt, and hearing the girls scream when the fireworks went off (not from excitement but because it scared them). Yeah, there were fireworks, because we had to stand in this huge thing that said UNLV so we made up the letters (think Scenic 7th grade year for me). This took like at least a half hour in itself to get it perfect.
All in all, it was a pretty good night... but I'm thankful its the weekend.

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

August 25th, 2010: Crash?

Third day: down to an art!


Had English today and sat next to Mo (short for Mohammad, I'm guessing because he's from Lebanon). He's really sweet. I get to write my first essay on him... first essay topic: Ghost Writing. So I get to write about Mo... as if I was Mo. Hehe, fun! Oh and Paul (my English teacher) said a lovely quote: "It isn't like a science book that gives you content... it (English book) isn't like 'MIOSIS' ".

After that I had Jazz, talk to Richard (my jazz teacher) about switching out, he said if I need to that I should. I did the class and actually had some fun... even though it was a mix of Modern, Jazz and Hip hop... which still doesn't click in my mind!!! Grr.... but luckily I saw that I'm not the only one that is struggling in there. Makes me feel better.

After school, came back to my dorm and got ready to head to the (according to my sister) "dangerous" Walmart. Got some stamps and other goodies... and SURVIVED to tell about it. It was funny though because (this sounds awful, and I swear on my life I'm not racist) any time a white/Caucasian person saw another white/Caucasian person they got like this HUGE grin on their face, and it was like they had known each other for yeeeeeears. I got this from a lot of people and I've never seen them in my life!

While I was leaving Walmart, a stupid jeep pulled in front of Molly car and me which almost caused me to have my first accident. (Stupid girl was on her cell phone both talking on it and texting.) Luckily, Molly has really good breaks and likes to make her self heard with a very loud horn. Collision averted.

Molly car was really happy to get out and run around a little bit. She really likes that the slowest she has to go around here is 15 through parking lots. Though she hates sitting at lights and she gets a little hot headed about that, when she reaches the 30 marker she calms down a bit.

After my lovely, dangerous, heart-attack-giving trip to Walmart... I NEEDED a coffee so I went to The Coffee Bean and got my new "snickers" (though it not nearly as good as Dutch Bros.)... its a White Chocolate Blended coffee... yum.

Then I came back to my dorm, and tested my strength and make all of the stuff I have in one trip. That includes: four bags, my purse, a box of ice tea and my coffee!!! Got to my floor just fine and then a guy that lives up here asked if I needed help, probably would have taken it if I wasn't so stubborn. So got all that stuff to my dorm in one trip! SUCCESS!!!!

I'm still fairly sore, especially with making that one trip... my arm is still shaking.

All in all, great day.
 
Just took pictures of my dorm for Maria, 'cause she was complaining that she hadn't seen where I lived.
 
All of that done, and it's only 3:52... ah, life as a college student.

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

August 24th, 2010: Rockstar Mentality?

So woke up at 8 this morning to the lovely Kenny Chesney "Young". ALWAYS a good way to start your day. Though I was hoping for a wake up call... guess a girl can't get everything she wants.
Now get this, I was heading to class today and some one in the hall was talking about how at his high school you weren't allowed to graduate unless you knew what you were majoring or minoring in.... I wanted to be like "THAT'S ALL YOU HAD TO DO?! AND YOU'RE COMPLINAING?! I HAD TO WRITE A 7 PAGE ESSAY AND A SPEECH AND LOG 24 HOU...RS OF WORK!!!!". But he was cute, so I said nothing and just kept walking.
Oh and  heard in my dorm hall: "oh my gosh! Sooo much nudity." .... I'm scared to open my door anymore to be "social".
Dance kinda kicked my butt! It's rather obvious I haven't done Ballet since I was like 12... all my "ballerina habits" flew out the window. So Dolly (my ballet teacher) kept correcting me, and my goodness, I knew I was rusty but not as rusty as she made it seem! Yes, yes... UNLV has me back in pink tights, and a leotard... not too happy about that one. I'm still wondering where the tutu is.
But I was a "Rebel" (Haha, still funny to me.) ballerina, wore crazy bold pink eyeshadow, with sparkles and had my pink extensions in my hair. =D
Then I had choreography: impov. That class is amazing thus far. We learned the directions of the stage (upstage, downstage... right, left etc.) and we played a little game with that. Which was simple for me. Then we had to walk from stage right to downstage center, do a movement and introduce ourselves (I did the "rodger rabbit"), then walk to stage left. After we got everyone over there, we had to do our movement all the way from downstage left to upstage right (I had to make a few teaks on how I did the "rodger rabbit", 'cause it is far from a moving step).
Then I had a lovely break and then the lovely class of Math.
My teacher, Matt, is hilarious... and allergic to chalk.
(Just checked my "webcampus" and got this message from him:
"Welcome to MATH095-1022!
I look forward to meeting all of you on Tuesday. In the meantime, perhaps you might like to download the syllabus and read through it. If you have any questions, please send me an email.
Also, you will want to bring your textbook to class beginning on the very first day, as we will be using it extensively throughout the semester.
Cheers,
Matt"
I think he was a little too cheer-y while writing this.)
He does have an accent, and the minute I find out from where I will tell you... he still says "mobile phones" but it's more like "mo-bye-el".
I already have an exam in that class next Thursday, ugh.
Oh! And a guy in the elevator saw me and said that I must be a singer because I give off a "rockstar mentality". Compliment? I guess... I did say thanks and he smiled. Hmmm... these Vegas-ians (vegas-ers? Veg-ions?).
My body isn't looking forward to waking up at 6:30 tomorrow, I'm so beyond sore. It even hurt my abs to get onto my bed. Few weeks of this and I should be fine ...but I'll be crazy sore till then.

Day two: check.
                                                          ^..do I look like I have "rockstar mentality"?

Monday, August 23, 2010

August 23rd, 2010: Class day one: check!

So, first off... my alarm FAILED this morning. Thankfully I heard my room mate making her bed and woke up just five minutes off schedule. Phew. So THAT'S why we have room mates. Got it.

Okay, so I left my building at about 7:40ish this morning (class starts at 8:30, but I needed to make sure I knew where I was going). I was texting a few people, just for some encouragment. I look behind me, because I hear talking, and there's a group of about 12 guys... following me. Can you say, flashback to first day of school EVER?! So of course I had to text my mom and Mat to tell them about it, both of them laughed.
I got to the building, walked down the wrong hallway and ended up walking all the way around the building to get to my class that is just up the stairs that I DIDN'T come up. Of course! Thankfully, by this time it was only around 8:10. So, I sat down and started doodling as people showed up (because I was the first student there). While I was sitting there... a guy passed me wearing: a sweater vest, a white shirt, a jacket WITH a pocket protector, and glasses... AND he was carrying a briefcase. No, he was not a professor, he was a student.
The teacher showed up, didn't acknowledge any of us at all, he just walked into the classroom... all of us outside just kinda looked at each other, I laughed a little then someone got the guts to be the first one in the class.
My English teacher's name is Paul. That's what he goes by. We can call him by his last name, but it's long and hard to remember... so it's just Paul. He kinda reminds me of Mr. Grady from Crater (school 2).
I sat in the back, with one seat on both sides. Well, a guy (a cute guy) named Nate, sat next to me. He's a computer science major. I had to borrow paper from him: good ice breaker.
We had to write a small essay on how "adolecents today {1986} have worse grammar than the people before them", talk about an easy writing assignment for me! Once I got done, and wrote down my homework I got to leave.
Well that was like 9:45ish, and my Jazz class didn't start till 11:30. So I went to the building (after calling my mom) and found a place near my class to do my homework. Well, then there was a class in that class so I went down stairs and found the PERFECT Monday and Wednesday study spot. =D
So I did my english homework as I was sitting there. Just reading and high lighting out of my English book (the book is seriously titled "Text Messages").
Then Jazz started, and HEY! There's a cute (straight) guy in my class! WHOO!!! Lol. (too bad I'm not looking to date anyone other than the one who knows who he is).
In this class it was rather obvious I haven't taken Jazz in a few years because that class kicked my butt!
After that I came back to my room, took a shower, made easy mac, opened a soda and now get to relax for the rest of the day.
Phew. Class day one: CHECK!

Sunday, August 22, 2010

August 22nd, 2010: First night at the dorms...

Tonight will be my first night staying in my dorm, my room mate is here and we get along pretty well. I got my photo wall up, and it makes me feel better. Had to laugh because my "big brother" is on it more than anyone else.
We had a "floor meeting" tonight and my RA reminds me soooo much of my friend Cory, makes me feel more like home... as odd as that is.
My classes start tomorrow, and I'm scared to death about getting lost. Follow signs? I guess. I have a very very vague idea of where I'm heading, doesn't help though.
I don't really have anything too interesting to say today... got my internet set up, said good bye to my mom and spread my wings for the first time. I'll honestly say, I'm scared to death and there have been a few tears shed. Not going to lie.
So, to be "social" my rommie and I decided to prop our door open, things that need to go on the list of things to buy... door stop, because my bottle of Tide will only last so long.
<... My Photowall.


I'll write more tomorrow, since it'll be my first day of classes... so it'll be more interesting.
For now, I'm going to talk to people online and write letters.

Saturday, August 21, 2010

August 21st, 2010: Finished??

Am I finished editing my schedule yet?
Yes, yes... I edited it one last time today... now hopefully I wont have to do it again.
Went and saw "Eat Pray Love" today with my mom and my sister... such a good movie, go see it!
Tomorrow is the last day I get to be with my mom, and I'm already missing her. I'm already crazy home sick and have been for awhile.
I'm in the hotel with my mom right now, just to stay with her for one more night (and I swear, there is an elephant trying to dance staying in the room above us).

Today my mom and I also went to Dance 4 Less to pick up some dance stuff, leave it to UNLV to get me back into pink tights, black leotards and ballet shoes. Ugh. But! I did get a super cute new dance bag. That's the only thing that makes it liveable. I mean, yeah, I wanted to get back into Ballet... but not back into the leotards or pink tights. I'm not the biggest fan of feeling like I'm suffocating in my clothes because everything I'm wearing is just so darn tight. But life as a dancer, I guess I can't complain too much since its the life style I've chosen to follow.

Thursday, August 19, 2010

August 19th, 2010: Orientation/Move In/Meet Cortney

So today was my second day "at" UNLV.


Yesterday (I didn't have wireless and the hotel, hence why I didn't post anything), my sister helped my mom and I run around campus to get all the last minute stuff done, and then we went and got my books... my English one, no joke, says "Text Message" on the cover. :D

So now for today:
As I was saying it was my second day "at" UNLV.

Orientation:
So, first off... get on campus and mom and I follow (from far away) this other mom/daughter group... when they catch on to the fact that we're following them, we talk a little. Ends up the daughter is also majoring in dance. How lucky was that?
Then when I was sitting in the "ballroom" with mom, I looked to my left... I swear I was surrounded by guys. Look back at mom with my "I don't know what to do about this look" and all she can say is "some things never change".
When the separation of students and parents was made, I automatically knew that this means "ice breakers"... my least favorite part of anything (especially the circle one where you try to sit on each others laps... ugh). We did the one where you say your name, an interesting fact about yourself, and make up a dance move... then you have to try to remember every one's who went before you. I was the 6th person, and I couldn't think of a dance move... so I just do the Crip Walk... go figure, no one can do it.
Then we did a VERY small tour of the HUGE campus.
Then had lunch, and I got to know Tasha (Annastasha) and Casey. Both amazingly cool people. (Casey is from Maine!) So talked to them during lunch, and it was hilarious...
Then Casey and I kinda clung to each other 'cause of the whole "out of state student" automatic bond that happened.
Then Casey and I skipped out on the registration part of the "tour" (because her and I registered for classes online), so we became Rebels (haha, funny 'cause that's the UNLV's mascot but I was talking as in "breaking the rules") and we went to go get our Rebel card (student I.D. and literally your life card), my picture turned out rather good.


Move In:
Getting into the dorm is this huge process which is hilarious. You walk in a door, take like 10 steps and sign in, take 5 steps and get a bag, take 3 steps and get a paper to fill out, you take like 12 steps to a chair, fill out the paper, take the previous 12 steps to turn in the paper and then take 20 steps to ANOTHER table, sign another paper then walk down a hallway to the office. In the office you talk to one girl, sign a few more papers then take 10 steps to talk to another girl to get your mailbox key and your room key. UGH!


Meet Cortney:
So finally get to my dorm room, open the door and there are four people inside... one happens to be my new roomie! Yay! Her name is Cortney and she's going to major in Criminal Justice. She is also a runner. She seems really cool so far. She's originally from Cali (I think they said something like Napa? But maybe I'm thinking someone else).


So that was all the new stuff for the day,
how was everyone else's day?

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

August 18th, 2010: And here it is...

I'm on my way from living in small town, Oregon to living in Las Vegas, Nevada.
I'm scared to death, but excited to start my journey.
There is no turning back now, I'm more than half way there.
Just over 5 hours and I'm in my new town,
a little more than a day until I get into my home away from home (dorm room),
and probably meet my roomie.
I've started this section of my blog just for my college days,
personal things (that have nothing to do with college AT ALL) is still going to be in my other two blogs.
So, here goes nothing:
Vegas or bust.