Tidbits of randomness

Randoms...and still nothing about New Orleans...but I will get around to writing about it...one day soon...

-Christmas, celebrated on Christmas Eve, with Mom, Dad, Sarah, Seth, Abby and Alex was nice and relaxing. We saw Avatar in 3D and ate chili and cornbread for dinner before we opened gifts. Sixty dollars to Sephora from Abby and Alex, a knock off Chanel purse from Seth, Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist on DVD from Sarah and $350 and assorted books and CDs from Dad. Mom plans to take us shopping for clothes as our gift on Monday. I saw Nine yesterday with Sarah (OMG I love Marion Cotillard) and Sherlock Holmes today with Alex's parents, Alex, Abby, Mom and Dad. I love family and free movies.

-A gynecologist yelled at me about my diabetes earlier this week. He was an older man I'd never met before who clearly didn't understand the differences between type 1 and type 2 diabetes. When I sat down in his office, he blatantly said, "You're not gonna live to be 50 and if you do, it's not gonna be a healthy 50." He also insulted the job done by my endocrinologists, who know far more about diabetes than a gynecologist does. I left his office in tears. My dad jokingly offered to slash his tires.

-My purple insulin pump is here, sitting in a box in the kitchen. Before I can use it, however, I'm to take a "refresher" course at Children's Hospital to relearn how to work it. When I told Trevor how ugly I'm afraid it will look, he responded, "It looks sexy and I love it." But what I'm dreading the most is the onslaught of people who will be asking questions about the device that's attached to me, making my illness even more visible. I hate that I have to wear this thing again....but I will get over it in order to be healthier.

-I have an appointment on Monday at the post office to get my passport. Belize, here I come.

-I need to buy something ridiculously sparkly to wear on New Years Eve. Along with fake eyelashes and those fake gemstones that stick to your skin. I'm 'bout to go all out.

-I'm going to audition for Women's Glee Club at school, if they have space. If not, I'll try out in the spring. This Glee Club does not dance, thank God.

-I probably drank an entire bottle of wine by myself last night and for some reason, I woke up at 7:30 this morning. I need to go back to bed now.

Just got back from New Orleans. Unforgettable.

French Quarter
Bourbon Street
Project Lazarus
Voodoo
HIV-positive
AIDS
People
Black people
White people
Gay people
Straight people
Dying people
Living people
Homeless people
Hopeless people
Hopeful people
Drug abusers
The Ninth Ward
Brad Pitt
Zydeco music
Alligator
Fried catfish
Mississippi River

I'll elaborate later when I feel like it.

LEAVING THE COUNTRY

That is the flag of Belize.

I put it there because...I'm going to Belize over Spring Break! I found out today that one of the participants originally selected for the trip dropped out and I was the first alternate on the list! It's another Alternative Break offered through Ohio State (like the New Orleans trip that I'm going on--in less than a week!). In Belize, I'll be volunteering for the organization One World Running which donates shoes to underprivileged communities.

I'M SOOOOOOOOOO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!! I've been obsessed with Central and South America since I was a little girl and my uncle Ned showed me pictures of ruins and colorful festivals. Now I finally get to travel to Central America! And I'll be leaving the United States for the first time in my life.

I'll need to raise a hefty $1,500...so if anyone wants to donate, please let me know! I would appreciate it more than anything.

P.S. If you were perhaps curious as to why I seem so hyperactive, blame the excitement of going on the Belize trip and the fact that I just chugged an Amp Energy drink. I'm not sleeping before my Nursing 301 final exam tomorrow. Good times.

Great Expectations

Remember Great Expectations? Charles Dickens's book about the life of Pip, a boy born into a low social class who desires to become a wealthy, respected nobleman. During his childhood, he meets the extravagant and contemptuous Miss Havisham and her adopted daughter Estella, who he falls in love with despite her coldness and cruelty. Pip begins his climb toward the upper class with the hope that one day he will be wealthy and distinguished enough to marry Estella.

Trevor claims that when reading Great Expectations in high school, the character Estella reminded him of me as a little girl. I don't believe I was totally Estella-esque but Trevor does have an impeccable memory and he remembers just about every exchange we had as kids...

As the story goes, Trevor moved into my neighborhood when we were ten or eleven years old. He began coming to the community center where my friends and I played after school and he claims that that's when he fell in love with me. But just as quickly, I broke his heart. I was allegedly manipulative and cruel, toying with his feelings. An especially Estella moment: during our brief time as boyfriend and girlfriend, he gave me a reversible ladybug/bumble bee stuffed animal as a gift (he seriously remembers these details) but I soon dumped him for another boy.

Before we entered middle school, Trevor moved away. But he never forgot about me and I never really forgot about him. We saw each other two or three times throughout the middle school and high school years. He kept tabs on me through Facebook and I sometimes clicked on his page to see where he had ended up. I had always wondered why he'd never tried to contact me (he would later tell me that he never had because he could never settle for being "just your friend.")

Last May, on my birthday (which is the day before his own), he wished me a "happy birthday" and suggested that we hang out over summer break. Little did I know, he had finally contacted me after seeing my relationship status on Facebook change to "single."

I didn't think anything of his invitation to hang out and I certainly did not think he was still interested in me after eight years. We finally saw each other again at the end of June. He later admitted that his ten-year-old crush was rekindled that night. And the rest of the story, you already know.

So I guess our story is kind of like Estella and Pip's. Minus the escaped criminal turned secret benefactor and the bat-crazy old lady with the permanent broken heart.