Starting now...uh, a week ago, my Christmases will be different.

Yeap, this year my family decided to spend Christmas at Disney World.  We hadn't had a family vacation since '99 and since I'll be moving away come summer, my parents wanted to do something.  Now, instead of going day by day of what we did, I'll just go by categories.

Traveling:

• On the day of leaving, we were meant to leave at 12 noon but, of course, we left a little late.  Everyone was ready to go but my mom which is always the case.  The trip to the airport in Raleigh was about two hours but I slept most of the way.  The airport was crowded and the flight was delayed but all went well for that.
• To get to the different parks, we took three different modes of transportation: boat, bus, and monorail.  Can't say I liked the buses too much simply because they took too long to get to the bus stops and a few of them didn't know what they were doing or where things where.  The boat went straight to the Magic Kingdom from the Wilderness Lodge were we stayed.
• Getting back home was better than leaving...though we had to be ready by quarter to seven this morning.  Things went smoothly (and I got the window seat this time).  Much better than driving too and from.  It would have taken about 12 hours.

Parks:

• The Magic Kingdom was the first place we went too.  I have to say that that park is the most Disney out of them all...if that makes sense.  We got to see a few parades and my mom and I went shopping on main street.  We rode a few things and my brother and I even got to see the "inner workings" of Space Mountain.  On the 24th, he and I went back there alone to enjoy more rides.  We got in line for Space Mountain again only to have it shut down right as we got to the front.  The lights came on inside and we got to see the tracks above (because, for those who don't know, Space Mountain's an inside coaster that's in the dark) which was rare.  As we waited, the people running the ride tried singing carols for entertainment.  It struck midnight as we waited and we all called out Merry Christmas.  Eventally we got to ride it.  It was prety cool.
• MGM was pretty good.  Gotta love Tower of Terror (or Terror of Tower as my dad called it).  I rode it three times, two of them twice in a row.  It was surprising the first time but so so fun.  I also happened to like the fact that they have a place there called Beverly Sunset.  I got a picture of it. <3
• Epcot wasn't too bad but probably not the most fun park to go to.  It wasn't as bad as everyone had said but I probably wouldn't go to it more than once or anything.  Mission Space and Test Track weren't half bad (We got on Mission Space twice) but I like the coaster better.
  
• The Animal Kingdom was alright but we didn't do much.  We went for the rides (Everest was a freakin' blast!) but didn't see any of the saffaris or anything.  We didn't have time to go back to it to see any of them.

Food:

• There seriously isn't much of a variety of things to eat at Disney World.  All of the menus are small and there's not much to choose from.  I got tired of pizza.  But the one thing I did like was the breakfast cresant sandwich thing...yum.
• Sit down meals were rather disappointing.  Each time my dad complained that the food wasn't to his liking.  It really bugged me.  Granted, I didn't like the food all too much but I didn't sit there at the table and complain.  He even refused to eat one night because he didn't like what was offered.

People:

• Oh god...the people.  Now this is what I complained about.  Some of the people weren't so bad but I've never met such idiotic people before.  Let's see...some of the worst went like this:
  
• One guy walked past my mom and hit her in the face with his bag and didn't appologize or even excused himself.  My dad fussed him out.
• Someone, while we waited in a crowded line, pushed into me and nearly made me and the woman I hit fall over.  Didn't appologize.
• While waiting to get into one park, some guy cut right between my dad and I (when there was barely room between us) then stepped hard of my foot when deciding he couldn't be patient.  Didn't appologize.
• When at Epcot looking at the water fountains, some guys walked past and splashed me and my brother (wasn't a lot but still).  They walked off laughing while I glared.  Should have cussed at them...but my parents were right there.
• When trying to take a picture of my dad by a car, several people kept walking up to take pictures first.  If I didn't care about my dad's camera, I would have thrown it at them.  My dad even said one thing to a woman but she just glared and went on with her picture.
  
• In general, people would cut infront of us, stop infront of us while we walked, and the like.  A few times, I simply stopped infront of the people and forced them to walk around me instead.  Kids were also loud and roudy, running into people and infront of us with no care in the world.
• Some people were nice, though, stopping when we were taking pictures or holding doors or whatever.  They were few and far between.

Health:

• I had three small headaches while we were there, two on the mornings we left to go there and come back.  None of them were that bad...but still.  Sneezing also got to me but I have no clue what caused it.
• My feet.  I found that I simply can't stand on my feet for more than a couple hours without pain.  As the days went on, it got worse.  A few times, I was on the verge of tears and could barely walk.  One night I had to stand on the bus ride back and thought I'd pass out or something from the pain.  My parents now want me to go see a doctor about it.  I will but it won't be right now.

Shopping:

• The only thing I bought myself was a black army sorta style hat that had Pirate Princess on it.  I rather like it and hope to wear it often.
• For others, I bought Tom's parents Goofy mugs, his brother a Barbosa actionfigure, and for Tom a siloette of myself.  I hope they'll like them. <3
• My mom bought me a few things.  First was a little tiara she found with clear crystals and a black skull and crossbones on the front.  I also got from her two new links for a bracelet she gave me a few years ago and a charm bracles that has five of the princesses and a Mickey Mouse head. (Sleeping Beauty's my fav one, by the way.)

All in all, the trip wasn't too bad.  It was a nice change of pace but I'm glad to be home-ish.  It wasn't as relaxing as I would have hoped.  But, tomorrow, I'll be heading off to see Tom and his family for New Year before going back to college.  I'll probably enjoy that more...but that's just me.

*firsts dusts the blog off*

Kay, well, I've got a few things to talk about.  I really should use this more.  Blah.  Ok, so today's subjects are school, life, and people.

School.  I'm in my senior year, supposed to be graduating in spring.  Things decided to screw with me.  So, when it comes time to register for classes for the spring, I found that I couldn't take one of the four classes I -needed- to have to graduate.  Why?  Because it overlapped with two classes (there were two of the class but both overlapped with two other classes I was already signed up for).  So I tried to talk to the digital professors about it... By the time I did, both classes were closed.  Didn't matter anyway because neither would let me into their class.  I was on the verge of tears, thinking I had to come back to this dreadful college in fall 2007.  It didn't help me much because I was already stressing over other things.  But, one afternoon, my advisor happened to run into me and told me that the digital class I needed would be offered in the summer.  I hadn't been so happy in so long.  Granted, I still had to make a few adjustments but things will go alright.  Well, just as soon as I clear up some things with the registuar office (they said I needed another elective and a speech test, which I've done both).

Life.  I'm already starting to plan for the future...though I've been doing that vaguely for a while now.  But Tom and I are already making plans for when we'd look for an apartment, what would be needed to furnish it, and all that jazz.  We plan to go back to Richmond, which is a big move for me.  I'm nervous about it yet excited.  'Course, my mom keeps bringing it up and there's only but so much I can tell her now.  And we've already talked about everything that we could.  But so far, we've basically furnished our future apartment though there are a few things that we want to save up for and buy later (like a nice TV, desktop computer, KitchenAid mixer, etc.).

People.  I hate being the way I am.  Since Chris and Hurley left, I've not hung out with anyone but Tom this semester.  I'm sure it's annoying him...but I just can't find friends of my own.  I like a variety of things and don't want to have friends that are focused on just a select few.  Ok, now that I don't want them but that I can't interact with them.  I'm too nervous around others.  And yet I have friends online...or at least I concider them friends.  I hope they concider me the same.  I hope I can start making friends once I move.

I hate getting all hyped up for nothing.

So, the Renaissance Faire was this past weekend and I was really excited about it.  I had gone last year with Tom and Chris and was just blown away.  I loved the mevieval feel, outfits, shops, and shows.  This was why I wanted to come back. 

Anyways, since I had basically procrastinated all year on a costume, I had to throw something together.  I had originally wanted to go as a mage (because we're nerds and wanted to do D&D characters) but I just didn't have the time to make something for it.  Then I got the idea to do the female version of the Trapmaster (character Tom had created).  Though, the idea changed to being the Trapmaster's Apprientice.  Ok, so, that's what I did; an evil black and white skull themed jester.  We were ready.

Now, Tom and I left on Friday to get to Chris' house then when Chris and his friend got there, we would go over to Greg's house (another friend of Chris') because there was a lot of people who were going to the faire and we all had to stay at once place for the night (for whatever reason).  We didn't think much of this until getting there.  I can't tell you how out of place I felt.  I also had the feeling that I wasn't very liked, especially by the only other two girls there (When I said 'art crap' around one of them, she looked at me like I'd just shot her dog.  I had to tell her that I did art every day and it got a little tiresome.  I don't think she believed me.).  I dunno why but I just don't think they liked me.  But I tried getting a long, of course, but meh.  This wasn't my crowd.  It was loud and a bit bothersome and I began to wonder again why we had to stay there.  When Tom and I decided it was time for sleep (because we needed to get up early), we ended up sharing a couch.  I felt a little irked that our host didn't ask any of us if we wanted to use the shower or had bothered to pull out blankets for us.  It was a terribley uncomfortable sleep.  In the morning I found out that the two girls had been given a room to sleep in while I had been offered nothing.  I know I'm "one of the guys" but I'm still female.  Thanks for the gentlemanly act.

Come morning, we had to dress and stuffs.  I wanted to shower but decided against it since the host never actually offered the shower to me.  And then I got rushed to dress, me not having reallized how long it would take to get all my stuff on.  I think that pissed the others off, especially the girls.  I had to finish up at Chris' place when we stopped there to pick stuff up.  Oh, and I had lent Greg some of my stuff to wear, including my long black coat.  Remember that.

Getting to the fair wasn't so bad and everything seemed alright until everyone started breaking up.  I had thought everyone would stick together but I guess no one cared.  So yeah.  We stayed somewhat together for a little while then Tom and I ended up walking around on our own.  We were just a bit too annoyed with everyone else to care.  But we liked it on our own so I guess that was ok.  Oh, but it was nippy and drizzlely and I wore a thin longsleeve shirt.  I had brought my coat, though, so I wore that the rest of the time.  The other disappointment was the jousting and shows.  The three jousts were basically the same each time and weren't much different from last years.  Same for the shows.  It was disappointing.  One thing that was interesting was that we saw a wedding persession go through in the beginning.  It was awesome.  Someone had gotten married at the fair and they were all decked out in medieval clothes.  It's something like what Tom and I wanted to do.

So, for the rest of the time, Tom and I just hung out and did our thing.  We had bread bowls for lunch (rather good) and some sugared warm almonds later on.  I also got a pretty necklace for $10.  It's a silver dragon claw holding a pink marble-sized stone that looks all cracked inside.  Even though I had bought it, Tom had picked it out for me because of what the color meant.  (Here's what the card says it means: Loving and calming.  Purification, good health, renews love, heightens sensuallity.  Protects from anxiety, toxicity or disease.)  He said it fits me perfectly so now I'm wearing it. <3

When the faire was finally over, everyone met up outside the enterence.  Took a little while to do it but it got done.  Then I got annoyed again.  The coat I let Greg borrow was now being worn by his girlfriend and she was dragging the bottom of it all over the ground.  I know it was a bit chilly but I never said she could wear my coat.  Please have no respect at all for someone else's property.  She must have seen my expression because it looked as if she glared at me.  Then we all lined up for a group picture, Greg putting my stuff back on for it, then we gave everyone's stuff back to who it belonged to.  Yes, now you can freeze because that's -my- coat.

I had to say that I enjoyed that night better than the previous because we were back at Chris' place, just the four of us.  We watched some TV and got comfy over all.  I was finally able to shower and I slept a little better that night even though a storm came through.  In the morning, Chris rushed off and left me and Tom at his place but we were just about ready to leave anyways.  It's good to be back here, I must say.  I don't think I'd want to hang out with all those people again.  It's just not for me...

I never remember to update this thing anymore, I swear.  I usually update stuffs in my Gaia journal. D:

So, since last time I posted, spring semester ended, went through summer session I and have just now started fall semester. XP Uh, le'ssee...after s. semester, Tom and I went off to the beach then went our separate ways for about two weeks then got back together for s. session I.  I took two classes, Adv. Painting II and Japanese Art History.  Oh Em Gee it was hot. D: I had to drag my paints and stuff in the middle of the day to class and back.  No fun.  And my painting professor (which wasn't my normal one) didn't critique very professionally.  It was either he liked it or didn't in the sense of his own personal taste.  Ugh.  Japanese art was ok since it was online. :3 Oh!  And I got -another- kidney infection near the beginning of the session. D: I had to go to the hospital because nothing else was open to help me.  The antibiotic they gave me made me super dizzy and cry. ;-; Didn't help that I hadn't eaten anything in hours.  Bother over all, it was a mild infection.  On the 9th of June, my brother graduated from high school so Tom and I went for that.

Ok, so after five weeks, I went back to the beach with Tom then again, our separate ways.  Richard had orientation a few days after I got back so I went with.  Ugh, shouldn't have.  It was long and boring and rainy. >-< A week after, I went to the beach yet again but this time with my mom and brother.  Not really that fun concidering I was on my period and got sick at the end.  That and my mom didn't care about me not feeling well and left me sitting in the SUV for an hour and a half while she and Richard played mini golf. *glare* But I got to see Tom for a very short time before leaving so it wasn't too bad.

Um...sat around mainly after that.  Turned 21 on the 6th then went to Richmond on the 7th. :D Bought my first alcoholic drink while up there.  A case of Mike's. XD;; After a few days, Tom and I went back to my place to pack Richard up for college then moved him in the next day.  Again, on my period. D: Then he and I came back to Pembroke, classes starting on the 17th.

I only have four classes this semester and all are long. >-< But!, I get Friday's off!  Yay! :D Renaissance Art History, Modern Art History, Adv. Painting III, and Adv. Drawing.  Drawing's at 7:30 am and I hate getting up for it.  Painting's just late in the day...when it's all hot 'n' sticky outside.  In a way, I can't wait for fall/winter, mainly so I can wear my kitteh hat again...and not be all sweaty.  Oh, and no more Chris or Hurley. :( Chris got accepted at Chapel Hill and Hurley's taking a little time off.  The group will get back together for Labor Day weekend (at the beach XD) so I'll see 'em again.  Must remember to take lots of pictures.

And that does it for now.  Oh, and I got yet another new roommate.  She's not so bad, really.  Rather friendly and she'll probably hardly ever be around on the weekends so I get the place to myself. :D

Why do people think they can walk all over me?  Why must I adjust to everyone else's comfort?  Why do I have to do what you tell me to?  Why why why?

I don't understand why people think they can take advantage of me or whatever.  I know growing up, I'd take it and not complain but now that I'm older, I'm getting fucking sick of it.  I just feel that I must constantly change myself or drop what I'm doing just so everyone else can be happy.  I like making people happy, don't get me wrong, but some people take advantage of it whether they know it or not.  Friends, strangers, anyone.

Examples?  Well, this morning I woke up to a note on my door telling me not to change the temperature at night and to keep it at 65 because "princess roommate"'s room gets hot at 70. ... So what?  I have to suffer through the cold just so she can be comfortable?  Now, I know my circulation is irregular and I get cold easily but she likes to change the temperature to whatever depending on how SHE feels, not me.  God forbid I be comfy too.  I know I have a fan/heater and electric blanket but I shouldn't have to huddle up in my room next to either just because my roommate's not comfortable.  Ugh.

Hm...I shouldn't complain about friends...but I gotta.  A few of mine seem to think it's ok for them to bring their laundry over to wash.  Half the time I'm never asked and the other half is at the last minute.  It bugs me because it always takes so long for them to do it.  Like, the washer or dryer will go off and they don't get up to switch over for about half an hour or so.  I don't mine friends being over...but it starts to get late, it bugs me.  I've also had Tom answer for me when they guys ask if they can come over or whatever.  What?  I can answer for myself?

I guess people just expect me to be nice and do as I'm told as if saying no to them will end the world.  I'm so frustraited with it all that I want to cry.

Stop taking advantage of my niceness!  Just because I let you one time doesn't mean you can do it everytime there after!  Let me be comfortable for once without you walking all over me.  I'm not part of the background or the dirt under your feet.  Don't treat me like a person without a brain.