Going Home.

Last year, I never went home. My parents live about 20 minutes away and I hardly every ventured across town, not even to do laundry. I paid $1.75 a load to do it in the crappy dorm washers. I just wanted the "college experience" or something. I liked pretending that I was somewhere far away at college instead of just being downtown. I liked feeling like I was somewhat on my own.

So I had my "independent college experience" last year (it's in quotes because dorm life isn't exactly independent--people feed you and clean for you and you don't really have to be responsible for anything). It was great.

I'm completely over all that this year.

I love going home. I really enjoy not paying for laundry and getting to eat real food. I still don't go home all that often, maybe every other weekend or so, and I don't usually stay overnight. I did last night though, it was wonderful sleeping in a bed that wasn't lofted.

It's not that I'm getting sick of college or anything. I just really like having some more space and freedom than I get in a dorm room. And real food is always wonderful.

I can't wait to live in an apartment next year.

Updates.

I've realized I'm really bad about following through on things.

I am a completely unreliable person. It's true. I forget things and lack motivation. It's something I'm working on.

So here are some updates about things I've written about on here and not followed through on:

Resolutions.

Remember when I posted my New Years resolutions on here so I would stay accountable and stick to them? Hahaha. I had to go back to my post to see what they were because I couldn't remember them. Fail.

Actually, I'm not doing too bad. Healthwise...well we have a crapton of chocolate, courtesy of my roommate's boyfriend (Thanks!) but other than that, I've been doing a pretty good job of eating healthy. I've rediscovered my love of pb&j and vegetables (not together). I seriously eat baby carrots like they're potato chips. Running is a different story. I think I've mentioned how my life is absolutely crazy this semester? I kind of forgot what it's like to have free time, meaning I don't have time to run. I have a feeling this whole half-marathon thing is not going to go well...

Spirituality...This one is going pretty ok also. I had to give up on yoga because I'm a poor college student and didn't want to pay $65 for it. But it's been going well otherwise.

Making up for not being in France...this is not happening. I wish I was in France.

The Housing Conundrum.

This is still a conundrum. I opted not to live with my guy friend and entered the lottery for the on-campus apartments with my roomie and a couple other girls. We got wait-listed. We're number 65. The plan is to move off-campus now so hopefully we get that all figured out soon.

It's really stressful not knowing where you're going to live next year.

Coffee.

I haven't drank coffee at all this week and I'm still functioning just fine. No caffeine problem! I have felt like crap the past couple days, but I'm going to chalk that up to lack of sleep and lots of stress. Coffee is being reinstated soon though, I miss it!

So yes, those are all the wonderful things that I've been doing (or not doing).

Coffee!

I think I have a problem. I think I've built up a tolerance to caffeine.

See, I absolutely love coffee. Not any of that fancy, frothy, flavored crap. I like it straight and black. No cream, no sugar, just coffee. Also, it has to be from a bean. I'm a bit spoiled from all my Hatian coffee I got this summer, and now I refuse to drink Folgers.

Mr. Reginald Coffee is one of my favorite things.

I really don't drink coffee all that much. I used to only have it every once in awhile, but this semester I've started drinking it just about every day because I have really early class. It helps me wake up in the mornings, or at least it used to. I still feel much more functional in the morning when I drink my coffee, but caffeine has lost its magical power to keep me awake.

Case in point, today I've had about 2 1/2 cups and I'm really fighting to not fall asleep.

I've tried really hard not to drink too much, usually about 1-2 cups a day, and only in the mornings. I don't drink pop, so my only caffeine exposure is from coffee. And according to a MedicineNet.com article on caffeine, a regular cup of coffee has about 135 mg of caffeine. So two cups of coffee puts you at about 270 mg, which is still in the "moderate" intake range and considered safe by the FDA and the AMA.

So is caffeine actually addictive? It depends on who you ask. The same MedicineNet article says that it's disputable since not everyone who consumes caffeine experiences withdrawal symptoms or dependence, but it's definitely possible. You've heard people say they get headaches if they haven't had their morning coffee.

I don't think I have an "addiction." At least if I do, it's not serious. I just really like coffee and happen to drink it fairly often. And maybe caffeine has lost its effect on me or maybe it's just been lessened as I've gotten used to it. I'm pretty positive I could go days without coffee and be just fine, just maybe a bit more groggy in the mornings.

Busy busy bees.

I realize I haven't posted in forever, but I've been really busy. School is starting to kick my butt and there is ALWAYS something going on.

I had a quiz Wednesday and Friday in the same class. Our teacher didn't tell us about either of them. I have a test in that same class this upcoming Wednesday.

I'm taking 16 hours this semester, which isn't terrible, but it's more than I'm used to. Also, one of those classes is about six hours a week and only counts for 1 credit hour. Add in work, student government stuff, and everything else, I've kind of forgotten what free time is.

I'm super excited for today because it's the first day in forever that I have nothing going on. I don't have to work or go anywhere or do anything, I can just hang out. I went on a run this morning, ate an omelet, and now I'm probably going to take a nap here pretty soon, maybe study, and go to a movie tonight.

I love Saturdays.

Blogging.

Yes that's right, I'm blogging about blogging. I'm...metablogging.

Scrolling through my facebook news feed, I've noticed that an increasing amount of my facebook "friends" have started blogging, either though inadvertent creeping because facebook gives tells me what people write on each others' walls or because they post links to their blog posts.

Since when has blogging become so popular? I know it's been a "cool" thing to do for awhile, but it seems like now that everybody does it, it's much less cool.

Why do so many of us feel the need to tell the internet about every detail of our lives? Is it because no one in real life cares? Do we really think that what we have to say is that important? Are we really contributing to society by posting all this stuff online?

I'm completely guilty of this. I started this blog about a year and a half ago, and when I first started, I didn't know anybody else who blogged. I don't think I'd ever even read a blog before. I started blogging because I was going through my freshman year at college and I wanted people to read it and learn how to survive college themselves or something like that. I thought that I had this wonderful, unique perspective and experience and that this experience made me some kind of an expert.

Do you know how many people in the United States are in college right now? According to the U.S. 2009 census report on school enrollment, about 14 million people are enrolled in some type of post-high school education, with about 2 million of those being first year students at a 4-year college, aka college freshmen. Definitely NOT a unique experience.

People have blogs about things like vegetarian cooking, fixing up a home, raising a family, traveling, running a marathon, photography, any number of things, but ultimately blogging boils down to people publishing things about their life on the internet. I do it too, but why? Why do we feel the need for people to read our every thought and daily agenda?

We have such an overload of information sharing: Facebook, Twitter, blogging, and now you can even find out where your friends are with sites like Foursquare. Remember when facebook status updates were just that, status updates? It literally said "Cara is...." and you would fill in "happy" or "tired" or "excited for the weekend." Now they've dropped the "is" and it's become basically like posting on your own wall. You can write as much as you want about whatever you want. It's like one big online demand for attention.

I post my newest blogs to my facebook page so people will see them and read them. I monitor my blog stats to see how many people view each page and how many views I've gotten. Why do I care? I don't know. It makes me feel accomplished or something?

And see the weird part is, I never used to care who read this. I didn't publish it to facebook or "follow" any other blogs and I didn't care about getting hits. I've always loved writing, so blogging was a perfect outlet. I still love writing and I'm not gonna lie, I like blogging. I like knowing that other people like what I write. I want to be entertaining.

So is that why the blog community exists? Because we gain satisfaction from other people caring about what we write? Probably.

New favorite song at the moment..

Ok so apparently there isn't an official video to this song, so I'm sorry there's nothing to look at but it's a good song. A really good song. And I posted a video because I'm not smart enough to figure out how to do audio on here. I used to know HTML and forgot it all. Sad day.




Oh and I don't normally listen to Kid Cudi. Just to clarify.

Winter Weather Advisory.

So right now it is about 8º F with a windchill in the -20s and it looks like this outside:

Pretty much every other school in the greater Nebraska area is canceled except us. At least I got to sleep in because my practicum school had a snow day because of awful conditions. Did I mention that under all the snow is a layer of black ice? I have lived in Nebraska for close to 20 years now and I'm definitely used to the weather, but I wouldn't want to be driving in this crap.

More snow is expected as a Massive storm begins trek across Midwest. We'll see if it hits Nebraska and if Harvey gives us a day off tomorrow. Probably not, since we had snow days the first two days of the semester.

I'm still wearing shorts and I haven't left the building yet. My first class is at 2. I'm not excited.

Tips for Surviving Nebraska winters:

• Layer up! I'm probably going to be wearing my Under Armor tights under my pants when I leave.
• Invest in boots. And I mean good, waterproof snow boots, not Uggs or anything with heels. (I do have Uggs and I love them, just not today).
• Stock up on travel mugs, hot chocolate, and coffee. Nothing makes the walk to class better than being able to drink something warm when you get there.
• Keep an ice scraper in your car AT ALL TIMES.
• If you have to drive, leave waaay early. Even if the roads don't suck, people freak out and drive slow when there's snow on the ground.
• Don't think that winter is over when it warms up. It was like 45º on Friday. Nebraska weather is a bit bipolar.
• Don't forget gloves, scarf, hat, etc. My friend works downtown and he walks there and he was trying to find a ski mask. Creepy, yes, but warm.

I'm off to brave the arctic weather and head to class. Wish me luck.