013

What is your favorite season and why?

My favorite season is spring.  When I was younger it was my favorite because my birthday is in May, but as I grow older, I see it as a time of renewal, when everything just seems to come together after being so lifeless for so long.  Everything's always more pleasant in the spring.  It's not too hot like summer; it's not cold and slow like winter.  In springtime everything is just beginning, so there's a chance for everything to have a new chance at opportunities.  I love spring.

012

Name something you would like to devote more time to seeing or doing.

This is really simple for me, though I will admit that there are two things that I would like to devote more time to doing.  The first is writing.  I try to post  something everyday--which usually fails--but I know I need to work on writing a lot more instead of watching television and working on jigsaw puzzles.  The second is finding a big-girl job.  Again, the time I spend watching TV and puzzling should be spent doing something more constructive.

The biggest problem with this is that I'm getting too settled in a routine.  I watch One Tree Hill and work on my puzzle until it's time for work, and then I go to Retail Hell til closing.  After that I go to Taco Bell, then home.  It's a well-constructed plan, but it's not getting me anywhere in the real world.  So, there ya go.

011

Describe 5 things you want to do or see before it's too late.

1.  If I never do anything else on this list, I merely want to write a novel and have it published.  I want what I have to say to be read and heard by millions.  That's all I've ever really wanted.

2.  I want to bungee jump while my body will still let me take such a risk.  It's the closest I could ever get to just free-falling.  I want to let myself go and feel completely weightless, knowing that everything will be alright.

3.  I want to see the sun rise on the beach with someone I love sitting beside me.

4.  I want to have a family--whatever that ends up meaning to me.

5.  Finally, I want to just be incandescently happy with the life I live and proud of my accomplishments.

010

What 5 traits do people first notice when they meet you for the first time?

I think the most obvious trait that people notice about me if my use of sarcasm.  I don't know if that's really a trait, but it's a big part of who I am.  I'm rarely ever serious about anything, and my sarcasm usually makes me come off as a bitch, but the people who really know me know my true colors, so that's all that matters.

I'm taking "trait" to mean either personality or physical, so for the next I will say my assets; and by that, I mean the two out front.  Some refer to them as "the girls," "the twins," or "fun-bags."  I refer to them as Mike and Ike.  It's hard to ignore them, so I would say they definitely qualify for this list.

I have also been told that I am shy, but I think that's more of a first impression evaluation.  I'm very quiet until I have something to say and I open up to people.  I like to save my words for when they count.

I hate to use this one, because it seems so cliche, but I've been told that I have very pretty eyes.  They're hazel, which I think is a fancy way of saying  that they range anywhere from brown to green.  It depends on the lighting and what colors I'm wearing, but people have said that's the first thing they notice about me.

So, in summary, my five noticeable traits are: sarcasm, Mike, Ike, shyness, and eyes.

009

Has anyone (besides yourself) ever read your journal, either with or without your permission?

Obviously people have read this, since I link it to my Facebook, but I used to have a journal on my old netbook that I wrote in everyday.  I let my girlfriend at the time read most of the entries because they were all about her.  After we broke up, I continued to write, though not as frequently, and I let my best friend read some of my entries.

Now I have a journal that I've never let anyone read--nor do I plan to.  When I write in this journal, it's for me and me alone; it's my safe space.  I don't know what I'd do if anyone read the things I've written in there.

008

Detail the greatest prank you have ever pulled off successfully.

Honestly, I have never successfully pulled off a prank.  That having been said, I was involved in an elaborate prank that failed in nearly every capacity, which I would love to detail.  I played club volleyball for six years on a club coached by pranksters.  Each season ended with a tournament at Penn State University.  We stayed in the dorms, ate in one of the dining halls, and played in the university gyms.  On several occasions I was doused with powdered Kool-Aid while showering, turning patches of skin and hair a disturbing shade of red or purple.  However, during one of my final years with the club, my coach asked our team to help her with a prank on another coach. 

We bought dozens of packages of ounce-sized Dixie bathroom cups and began stapling them together to make a blanket of cups.  When our blanket was the correct size--approximately the size of a long twin mattress that one would find in a college dorm room--we carried it down the hall to the other coach's room.  Our coach had managed to seize a copy of the key, and we were in.  We set our blanket on the bed and began filling each cup.  Basically, in order to move the blanket, she would have to drink each cup via straw.

Halfway through filling the blanket, we realized our grave mistake: we had the wrong room.  There we were with a watery blanket in a random person's room.  Somehow the fifteen of us managed to lift the blanket out the door, spilling a good majority of the water on the floor (which we cleaned up).

Though we did get the right room and pranked the other coach, she claimed it wasn't too difficult to move the blanket and dispose of it.  To this day, I have no idea whether she was telling us the truth, but this prank was not nearly the success mission that we had hoped.

007

Name an unusual writing habit or ritual you or someone you know has.

I think I heard in an interview somewhere that J.K. Rowling always types things out on a typewriter before typing it on the computer, but that could be completely wrong--and of course, I don't really know her.

I don't think I have any unusual habits when it comes to writing.  In high school when I wrote, however, I always had to write on college ruled loose leaf paper (or in a composition journal) before I typed it up.  Then I would make changes as I reread and typed.  As for my writing habits now... I don't find anything terribly unusual when I write, except perhaps that it's always when there's something else I should probably be doing.  Right now, for example, I should be applying for jobs.  C'est la vie.

006

Name a totally useless possession and how you came to acquire it.

I have a million useless possessions--lots of knick-knacks from friends and relatives, clothes that are too small yet I feel the need to keep.  I want to tell you about something that has a good story behind it, but some of the things have stories that I don't really feel like rehashing--teddy bears from exes, carousel horses inherited from my aunt, sorority mementos.

Alright, after looking through my closet, I have narrowed it down to two completely useless items, but only one has a good story to accompany it.  The useless item is a Talon mini self-defense stun device.  In other words, it's a miniature taser.  Eighty-thousand volts of non-lethal electricity.  Surely you now believe either a) I am one kinky individual, or b) I am a paranoid individual.  Consider this: I called it a useless possession.  This has remained in my closet for the past two years.  During my sophomore year of college, I spent nearly every weekend at the biggest party house on campus.  One of the boys who lived at this house also had a taser, which he brought out during a party and used on anyone willing to risk it.  As a reckless college girl with liquid courage coursing through my veins, I jumped at the opportunity.  I didn't hate it.  A sharp jolt to my arm was the rush I enjoyed, especially with all eyes on me.

A few months later, on Valentine's Day, the gentleman with the taser arrived at my dormitory with two basins full of goodies for my roommate and me; at the bottom of mine was this miniature electrifying experience which I have never used, hence "useless."

005

Are you afraid of the dark?  Why or why not?

I am actually a little afraid of the dark, but it's situational.  When I was younger I pretended to be afraid of the dark so I could keep a nightlight on and read by it.  However, the only time in which I actually get anxious in the dark is when I'm in a place I'm not used to, and I think that's more than anything a matter of being somewhere new, especially when I'm trying to get to sleep.  I don't sleep well alone in places I'm not accustomed to.  So, there's that.  In reality, I think fear of the dark is just a fear of the unknown; the idea that you never know what is lurking in the dark.  So, my answer, I guess, is sometimes?  Put me out in the woods in the middle of the night--hell yeah, I'm scared; put me in my bedroom with the lights off--not so much.

004

Name a time you felt alone.

This is appropriate after yesterday's entry.  One of my best examples of when I felt alone is my twenty-first birthday.  My roommate had already moved out, and I returned from my sorority's chapter house to an empty room.  I watched the time dwindle down to midnight, and when I was finally twenty-one, I realized how alone I was.  It wasn't how I expected to ring in my birthday, especially since I had just gotten out of a relationship.  Some of my most lonely days were in spring of 2010, but that was certainly the most prominent.  Luckily I have a great best friend who came over and spent the night with me, but it was certainly a difficult night to be alone.

003

Write about your greatest fear.

I'm afraid of a lot of things, but those who know me best (or read my notes on Facebook) know that being alone is my worst fear.  I'm not sure how my fear began; usually people have some sort of pivotal moment in their life involving their greatest fears that makes them such, but I don't think I do.  I have both parents; I've always had friends.  There was never really a time in my childhood in which I spent a great amount of time by myself.  Yet, for some reason, I am paralyzed by the thought of being by myself.

Now, when I say 'being alone,' I don't just mean physically being alone; I can stand in a room full of people and still feel very much alone.  I believe I have had this feeling many times in my life, and that is where this feeling stems from.  Also, the prospect of being alone throughout my life, never finding that individual to spend my life with, is terrifying.  As much as I enjoy my time in solitude, when I can write or read without being disturbed, I am a creature of companionship; I am most comfortable when I know someone is thinking of me or at least acknowledging my existence.

002

What are all your thoughts on God?

This is a tough answer for me to explain.  My parents raised me as a Christian; I was baptized in the church my parents were married in; I attended Sunday school when I was young; and years later we went to a Methodist church on Easter morning.  As I got older, trips to church became few and far between, if ever.  I spent high school as an atheist and a fair amount of college agnostic.  My private liberal arts college maintains an association with the Disciples of Christ, so I was required to take a class on religion.  I avoided Christianity at all costs and took a class called Religions of Asia.  Our first assignment was to explain what we thought of religion, in which I said it was something for people to hide behind in order to feel better about the prospect of death.  (S/N: I got an A on that paper).

At this point in my life, my faith in God is a lot stronger than it used to be.  My junior year of college, I made a complete turn around and began praying; not every night, just when I needed to get my feelings out.  I don't really consider it praying, but everyone else seems to; I spent a lot of time just talking to the sky.  I think I knew deep down that I wanted to believe that there was someone up there listening to what I had to say.

I make it a point not to allow God to control my every action.  God is who I talk to when no one else will listen.  I make the choices I do for myself, not for God or anyone else.  That may seem selfish, but it's who I am.

001

Name one thing you feel brings out the good in people.

This is going to sound strange and a little morbid, but I think death really depicts the true nature of humanity.  During my senior year of high school, my uncle died.  He wasn't a good man.  He was a veteran, and he used that to his advantage.  He smoked and drank and rarely worked.  He lived his life off of money from the V.A. and cheated on his wife.  He was white trash in every sense of the word, and yet at his funeral I found myself wiping tears from my eyes, remembering Thanksgiving dinner when he'd sit at the head of the table and saying the blessing.

When a person dies, things change.  There is no longer any reason for resentment, because it's not as if they will ever know how you feel about them.  You're suddenly allowed to openly cherish the good moments you shared together, instead of feeling the need to criticize their downfalls as a human being.

Intro

I've been out of school for nearly two months now, and finding a job outside of the retail world has not been as easy as I had hoped; this is mostly due to the unfortunate circumstances that my potential references have yet to answer my e-mails.  So, in the meantime, I want to work on my writing; keep it up to par.  More importantly, I want to keep myself busy; because if I'm busy, I don't think about how bored I am in my parents' house in the middle of nowhere.  So, this is where I start, and I'm hoping to post here every day.  The only exception may be while I'm on vacation, and that will only be if I have no internet access.  Otherwise, expect greatness.  I plan to also link this to my Facebook, just as a source of entertainment--and hopefully to entice creative criticism from my peers.

That seems to sum it all up.  I have several lists of journal writing prompts that I've found because of StumbleUpon, and I guess I'll start there tomorrow.

Cheers!