Of Chickens and Fountains

It's been kind of a crazy week. I finished my eight page paper, went to talk to my teacher, found out she hated it, had to rewrite everything in two days while also doing a physics take home test. Not to mention a french presentation, piano practice for my upcoming audition, and band practice.

See? So crazy I'm pretty sure those aren't coherent sentences to anyone but me.

Me with a chicken :D I'm a city girl who grew up wanting to be a farm girl. Some friends and I were walking across campus to get to a crayfish boil (more on that later) when we came across an activity fair for the prospies. It was so cool to see all the clubs we have here; some of which I didn't even know existed.

 I had heard about the chicken club, but that was about it. So when my friend and I spotted the adorable chickens we squealed and ran over to the Jerry-rigged cage which consisted of a couple of dinning room chairs and chicken wire. Luckily the people who were manning the station knew us so they just laughed as we climbed over the chicken wire and showed us how to pick up the chicken.

 Adorable, right???

 My other friend was rather excited, not about the chickens, but about crayfish boil so he drug us away from the cute chickens and towards the crayfish boil....which turned out to be in the backyard of the apartment complex. Granted, this may be an exaggeration, but the second we timidly walked through the fence into the backyard the music dropped and everyone turned to look at us. It felt like they kept watching us as we made our way over to the food. So, in all reality, probably one person looked, but it sure felt like everyone stopped what they were doing, wondering how these freshmen wandered over here. My friend was oblivious to this whole movie moment, grabbed a plate and loaded as many crayfish as he could. They were tasty, it just took way too long to get to the small amount of meat.

A couple of days ago, it was my friend's birthday. Per custom, we ran around campus at midnight, trying to catch her and throw her into the fountain. We finally grabbed her, not without much difficulty, and dragged her across campus to the fountain to toss her into the somewhat chilly water.

While at the fountain we realized that two people who were helping through her in had not been thrown in yet. You see, the rules are as follows.
 You can get thrown in on:
 a)your birthday
 b)your half-birthday
c)any random time that seems appropriate

 Both Lee and Blair's birthday/half-birthday had fallen conveniently on some break, we realized that now was the perfect time to throw them in.

They might tend to disagree. But at Hendrix, that's just how we roll. ;)

Reflections

You may or may not know this, but I'm kind of obsessed with reflections.

Yesterday I was at a quidditch tournament in the north part of the state. The tournament itself was only slightly short of miserable; I'm out of shape and believe me I know it. However, after we were eliminated we discovered a little creek surrounded by trees.

All I had with me was my iPhone, so I started snapping away. The water was soooo cold; I had to take this photo multiple times because I could never keep my foot still enough.

Oh, reflections. The water was super clear, and my eyes were drawn to the colors of the leaves above us reflecting off of it.

The quality isn't the best, but still I liked the results. The inspiration for the hand was this photographer I follow on Facebook. His pictures are amazing reflections but they are allll the same; a figure reflected with an outstretched hand.

Still, it's a cool idea; the hand really solidifies what the reflection is of as it adds definition with the open fingers.

This isn't really a reflection but something that caught my eye at the creek. There was this plant whose shadow was falling on the light wood. It imprinted such color to the wood that I had to take a picture.

This reflections came from hanging out playing Banagrams on Friday night before heading to see the Lucky One. ((worst. movie. ever. don't waste your money!))

My friend was sitting across from me at the table and the reflection was perfect. I took some good pictures but as she is severely photophobic (is that even a word? Regardless, it fits her)I can't post them =|

I just love how the wood grain overlays the photo. It doesn't appear like an obvious reflection-- which is always my goal. I want to trick to the viewer so that they have to think twice about what they are seeing.

Anyway, I can't believe that the semester is almost over! We have one week and a day left of classes. Then, music auditions, finals, relaxation, graduation, and then...summer! It's crazyyyy.

My life in photos

By some fluke of the universe, or technically glitch, I suddenly have gained more followers. Which then makes me feel delinquent when I don't post regularly.

So here I am! Writing a post in an attempt to keep sane. Tuesdays are always my hectic why-am-I-a-physics-major-I-hate-my-life day. Good thing I just have one ;) Um anyway, I'm writing this from my phone inches away from my computer which now that I think of it doesn't make a tremendous amount of sense but I shall continue regardless.

I could wax and wane about my life problems and work load but would probably lose every one of my new followers who for all I know could be biochemical double majors with far more work than I. Rather I thought I would post a couple photos that summed up my hectic life these past couple of days. I have a monster Cal II test coming up, and a film paper that needs to be written. Not to mention applying for summer jobs, applying for summer classes, and practicing for my piano auditions. Oh yeah and apparently finals are coming up soon.

Since I'm posting from my phone I can't put the pictures in the text but rather just a list at the end. So! The ticket is the fruits of our efforts, a Ms Hendrix. It only took one cold night and having to deal with drunk guys to get it.

Hope you guys' week is less stressful than mine! (even you crazy ambitious double biochem majors :P)

Most Surreal Night

alternate title 'that one night with that one drunk guy and that one problem'.

Yeah. It's a good story. ;)

A couple of days ago, spontaneously, some friends and I decided to camp out for some Ms Hendrix tickets. Ms Hendrix is a drag competition put on by the school, and all the profits go towards charity. We were told that the tickets ran out like crazy, and if you wanted some, you had to camp out the night before.

At around nine at night we decided that we should camp out. Things just fell into place; one friend randomly had a tent, the other a sleeping bag. As one person could only hold the place of three others, and our group was five, we had to have two people at our spot at any given time.

So, my friend Anna and I decided to spend the night in the tent.

We started to set up the tent. Rather, they started to set up the tent and I took pictures with my iPhone thus the awful lack of quality.

Though I like to think it lends a retro vibe to the photos ;)

There were tents are far as the eye could see. It was a loud, rowdy, interesting atmosphere. Kids were studying for tests next to kids playing beer pong. Ah, the paradox of Hendrix.

We tried to get some studying done. I did my cal, and then quizzed my friend for her religion test.

So far, everything seems normal right? Well, granted we were camping out not for sports tickets but rather a drag competition ... Other than that, the night was going well. Around one we decided to try to get some sleep. Not an easy task considering that the beer pong table was right next to our tent.

I kept getting distracted listening to the conversations around me, their voices floating through the tent before passing through. It was the most interesting environment; rowdy but entertaining. I felt like this was what a hostel would be like. Everyone's conversations were interesting to listen to, most of them were far different from me. Someone grabbed a guitar and it was to the surprising well sung songs that I tried to fall asleep to.

Even though there was just a flimsy layer of plastic between me and everyone else, I felt safe. It was Hendrix after all, it wasn't like we had any crime on campus. And somehow, through all the noise I managed to fall asleep.

I don't know exactly what caused me to wake up. All I know is that there was some rummaging, some noise, and sleepily I blinked. There was a shirtless guy, pulling a blanket over him, laying down next to me. The tent was rather roomy, and Anna and I had just enough space between us for another person.

I lay there for a moment, looking at his face. He was playing on his phone, the dim white light barely illuminating his features. He was cute, and had some abs but I couldn't make out much more than that. I lay there, closing my eyes. I was exhausted, and just wanted to sleep. The fact that a completely random shirtless guy was laying right next to me floated through my mind. I opened my eyes, as if to make sure he hadn't disappeared, a figment of my sleep deprived mind.

He was still here, his phone off, and his eyes closed. I glanced over to see Anna. Our eyes met, sharing a look of incredulous surprise. Through gestures I realized that she also had no idea who he was. I shrugged, and then lay back down to go back to sleep. He appeared harmless, passed out between us. I was exhausted. We can just worry about it in the morning, I thought.

Though as I lay there it kept hitting me how impossible this all was. I had no clue who this guy was. Not only was it a tad bit creepy, I was also worried that Anna would be uncomfortable with this little sleeping arrangement. I sat up, and shook the dude.

'Hey, you're in the wrong tent' I said, shaking his shoulder.

He groaned. 'It happens,' he mumbled before going back to sleep.

'No, it's not okay!' I said, though he was gone. Anna and I crawled out of the tent, trying to figure out what we should do. We kept laughing at the whole surrealism of this moment. We wanted him out, but shaking him and telling him to leave wasn't helping.

We finally decided to text one of Anna's friends for help. It was 3:30 in the morning but luckily for us he was up.

'Hey, hypothetically speaking, if there was a drunk guy in your tent and he wouldn't leave, what would you do?' she texted him.

He replied he was on his way, and after perhaps ten minutes arrived at our tent. I felt rather foolish; this was my problem and I should be able to fix it, not need a guy's help. Still, it was three in the morning, I was exhausted, and didn't want to try and drag the guy out.

The drunk dude thought the guy friend was the campus security, and reluctantly began to get up, with much complaint. While my friend and I were waiting outside the tent, feeling bad for no sensible reason, some high dudes came through the tents. They had a cardboard flag with 'Ms Hendrix' written on it, and the scaled a nearby light pole where a Hendrix banner was hanging. Like monkeys, they strung out the flag, which was made out of a 12 pack of beer box.

Behind us a dude randomly appeared to set up a tent. At three thirty in the morning.

To say that the entire situation was surreal would be an understatement. The dude finally left our tent, but only after much prodding and light shinning in the face from the guy friend. He stumbled down the sidewalk and my friend and I crawled back into the tent, trying to get some sleep.

So yeah. Good college story ;) Haha it was just so crazy! Not that I can blame the guy; all the tents looked alike to me, and I was sober.

Anyway! I'll post later about the next day, which was spent in line. Tonight is the fruit of our efforts, Ms Hendrix :)

We better get good seats.

Surprise!

Well, for me at least. This morning I thought that I would check my stats for this blog. It's something I do somewhat obsessively, though I didn't expect much this morning, perhaps one or two since I didn't even have a new post.

The number that lay before my eyes was greater than one or two though.

50! 50 page views! Fifty! Cinquente! That's a lot! I mean, granted, that doesn't mean that fifty unique people viewed my blog one person could have viewed several pages, but still, that's a lot!

I just had to write a post and say how much that made my day :) fifty...yikes. Anyway! Since I'm writing this post I thought that I would post some pictures of my yard that I took over Easter weekend.

This one is actually from Spring Break. I was just meandering through my yard when this little fellow caught my eye. It was growing out of a tree, a burst of life amongst the dark wood.

These are one of the prettiest flowers, but they are hard to photograph. The flower is kind of folded over on itself.

:) So after I finish writing this post I have to do some Cal II homework and get ready for my piano lesson. After my lesson, me, some other physics students, and a physics professor, are headed down to Little Rock to attend a physics lecture there :D I'm quite excited, being the nerd that I am.

Well, I should go be productive. Thanks you guys for making my day :)

Memories

Life has been rather hectic as of late. It's the final dash towards the finish line and the teachers seem to make a sport of how much homework they can drag us down with.

Still, I have managed to struggle on regardless. I'll know how well I managed in a while, when all my tests are graded, and assignments returned. Perhaps I'll scrap by.

I pretty much refuse to believe that the semester is almost over. I feel like we just arrived here like, last week. For the first time I'm not really looking forward to summer. I won't get to see all my college friends and I'll have to get a job. =| But! I plan on taking a really cool summer class on horses so I guess it'll work out.

Anyway, since I'm existing in a state of denial and think that I'll never leave Hendrix, I'll continue on. ;)

Today was another themed lunch, 'Rock and Roll'. The cafeteria was decked out, and they had hired a live band! The band was a couple of old guys playing old songs. It was amazing; even though it made any conversation impossible, everybody was just swaying along with the music. Then, one of the cafe ladies started to dance with a guy (who, in my romantic mind was her beloved husband. could've just been some random dude but I choose to think not) in the middle of the cafe.

It felt like a glimpse into the past, where the music that was playing was hot off the records, and swing was the hippest dance. The next song the other cafe ladies, and some kids joined her, dancing and swaying to the music. We were all clapping along to 'Just take those old records off the shelf' which probably isn't the title because that's super long but anyway! It was amazing :) We were all singing along to the parts we remembered, cheering on the cafe ladies.

Ever have one of those days where you carefully file away the memory, and think 'that's a story I want to tell my kids'? Yeah, it was one of those days ;) It may not sound like much, it may not be groundbreaking amazing, but it's something I want to remember.

Happy Easter!

He is risen he's risen today. Alleluia

:D

As though one little emoticon, just an accumulation of pixels on a screen, can fully describe this singular event, this crux of Christianity. For without the resurrection, there would be no Christianity.

After celebrating Easter at church we headed home for Easter lunch with some friends.

Which is where these little guys come into play. My mother saw pictures of these on Facebook, and thought they were the cutest things ever. I was in charge of making them before church this morning.

:P They were adorable, and everyone loved them. After lunch we meandered through the yard; it's a beautiful cool spring day.

Annd now I'm back at Hendrix procrastinating from some work that I'm sure needs to be done. ;)

Happy Easter!

Following the Light

Yesterday I packed up my stuff and headed home for the Easter weekend. As much as I love my church in Conway, I really wanted to celebrate Easter with my family and my home church.

As soon as I got home, I grabbed my camera and started to wander the yard. The sun was not yet setting, so there was no 'magic hour' to be seen. However, that didn't mean there wasn't any good light.

Sometimes I feel like that's all I do; follow the light. Search until I find the perfect sunlight draped around my subject like the finest of fabrics on the most perfect of models.

Some new flowers had bloomed since I was home last; everything has seamlessly shifted from spring to summer with barely a hint at the transition.

The one possible downfall of being a photographer is that every time I see something beautiful, or the perfect setting, or the prettiest light, I want to stop whatever I'm doing and take a picture. Not a very good urge when you're going 75 mph down the highway and all you really want to do is pullover, hop over the fence, and capture the beautiful fields that shimmer with gold in the setting sun.

I've come very close to just pulling over and hoping the fence isn't barbed wire. Very close. Perhaps I should just do that sometime; there are some beautiful fields just outside of Conway.

Beautiful light exists everywhere; it's just a question of if you can see it or not.

I love being able to capture the beauty I see. For years I have just admired it. Now, whenever something catches my eye, I want to pull out whatever camera I happen to have on me at the moment, and take a picture. Capture the fleeting beauty.

For the Love of Art

I really should be doing some form of work right now. I could study Physics, look at my Cal, watch Casablanca for my class....or procrastinate from all of the above and post :)

Option D it is! Of course blogging is not the only thing that I have been doing to procrastinate from actual work.

I recently got a little pastel kit :) I've always wanted to be an artist, but never was particularly good at any medium until I found photography.

Still, that doesn't mean that I don't enjoy doing it. I've always wanted to be able draw clouds. I've settled for taking pictures of them :) They are just so beautiful; so ethereal. It's hard to do them justice.

So we are in the last month of school. It's crazy; I can't wait for summer. Such a foolish wish-- why would I wish my life away? Summer will mean the end of my freshmen year, an entire year done with college! It's crazy. I'm still in denial about my age. There is just no conceivable way that I am nineteen years old. That's almost two decades! Since when have I been old enough to see two decades??!

Yeah. I won't technically have a midlife crisis until I'm 53 but when I do it's going to be awful. I'm already freaking out. I started freaking out when I turned sixteen. 19 just seems like such an old age. I feel like I should have my whole life figured out at this point, and be totally independent. I feel like I should be an adult already; I still feel like a kid. I don't even feel mature enough to be called a college kid.

Yeah, I'm weird ;) I've just decided not to accept my age. What is age, besides numbers?

Modeling Gig

I, your very own perfectly normal and non-photogenic, Anna have my first modeling gig!

Okay so technically I'm just sitting out by the tree so my friend can draw me.

So, totally legit. I'm writing this as I try not to melt in the sunlight. That's one thing I love about Hendrix. Not the oppressive sunshine, but that people just hang out outside, sitting underneath trees, sunbathing on the grass. It isn't called 'veasey beach' for nothing you know.

So last night two of my friends started a prank war. It's pretty legit; I'm game commissioner. Sort of like slap-bet commissioner from How I Meet Your Mother but without the slaps ;) just pure pranks. At the end of the week, the loser gets thrown into the fountain. :D I'm pretty excited to see how it all turns out.

So since I'm posting this lovely post from my phone I can't put pictures in the post, but rather just a long list. So you'll just have imagine the captions :P