It's Been A While...

But Internet, I have returned.

The past couple months have been rough ones for me. Dealing with the break-up, dealing with the after-math of the break-up, dealing with school and the end of the school year... And then, of course, there was this semester's version of Humans vs. Zombies, which I helped to run...

And now it's summer. I've been in and out of jobs, doing the college student thing, living off of mac and cheese, top ramen, and pepsi. My amazing grandparents gave me a chunk of money that's currently helping me live.

And then, of course, I got a job editing.

I couldn't believe it when I found it. A lady just needing her PhD dissertation edited. A lady who was willing to pay me several hundred to edit said dissertation. Do I want to have this kind of job every month in order to pay my bills? HECK YES. Despite the large amount of work, it's a job I know I'm good at.

So, Internet, that's all I've really been up to. Editing is taking up part of my day, my friends take up the other part. I'm here, I'm living, I'm eating, I'm breathing, I'm loving life. I'm planning for trips that I'll be taking in the future (one to Vegas at the end of August to visit my best friend and one to LA in November with all of my friends in order to go to a convention). And I'm getting ready to go back to Chico State in the fall.

I cant wait for school to start.

Catch you soon, Internet.

Getting Healthy

Today, I tried wheat grass for the first time.

My friends from the newspaper are finally all back in town and we have been having a blast together. One of my friends (ironically, the relationship columnist for the newspaper) got engaged on New Years Eve, so we've been trying to spend as much time as we can with her before she moves to Denver in June to be with her fiance. I'm really stoked because, sometime this week, we're going to this place called The Melting Pot, which is a really fancy fondu restaurant. I'll definitely have photos to share of the experience.

One of the things that my friends and I are planning this semester is to try to get fit. I'm taking a rock climbing class at the university on Mondays and we're trying to go to the university gym for zumba (aerobic dancing) several times a week. Of course, getting healthy means eating right as well and getting healthy also means dedication. So, we're going to begin a blog about our experiences and struggles for the next 5 months. I'll link that blog to this one if anyone is curious to read it. It'll be frustrating sometimes, occasionally funny, and definitely educational.

Today's healthy experience involved trying wheat grass for the first time. Wheat grass is supposed to be a cleanser for the system. What did it taste like? Grass. But it wasn't completely horrible. Grass has a fairly decent smell and it sort of tasted the way that it smells. I don't think I'll be doing it every day but... try everything once, right?

Now... if I could get rid of this cold, I would feel ok about this whole "get fit" thing.

A Whole New Ball Game

Christmas break has been going really well so far. I've spent time with my mom's family, I've seen my best friend, I found the skirt for my steampunk costume...

Christmas break has been going really well so far.

Until this evening.

I realize I'm a fairly serious person. In grade school, my friends used to tease me about my lack of sense of humor. I dealt with it, laughing along with their teasing and building up my little brick wall against them. I thought that the older I grew, the more people would understand that I take things seriously because I believe certain things out to be taken seriously. Especially break ups.

Tonight, a friend of mine texted me, letting me know that he and his girlfriend broke up. I freaked out, thinking that he needed me, but he didn't pick up when I called. When he did call me back, he was laughing because it had all been a joke. It had all been a prank.

I don't know about you, but it was no joking matter. Telling a friend that you're moving back to the coast to be closer to the ocean so you can drown yourself because you broke up with your girlfriend is not funny. Frankly, it's concerning. And I was concerned. And hurt. Hurt that a friend had played such a cruel trick.

I'm posting this as just a ramble. I don't know what I'm going to do about it all and I hope everyone who reads this learns from my experience.

What a way to celebrate the week of Christmas.

Zombie Slayers Gone Wild - Part Four

*Gurgle*


Brains... must feed...


*Low moan*

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I want to add a side note to this blog post which, yes, is supposed to be short and stupid. You'll see why tomorrow. (I've been having way too much fun at school chasing humans around for me not to act like a silly zombie.) Lately, the boyfriend and I have been re-watching the old Star Wars movies. You know, the original three, the only ones that are worth watching. We finally got to the last one and a little conversation between Vader and the Emperor caught my eye. Now, I have watched these movies over and over again but it took a late night viewing to come up with this. I'll write it down first, see if you can catch it, and then I'll mention what I saw. This little conversation takes place just after Leah, Han, and Luke have met the Ewocks on Endor.

Vader: My son with with them.
Emperor: Are you sure?
Vader: I have felt him.
Emperor: Strange I have not. I wonder if your feelings on this matter are clear, Lord Vader.
Vader: They are clear, my master.
Emperor: You must go to the Centrilian Moon and wait for him.
Vader: He will come to me.
Emperor: Yes. I have forseen it. His compassion for you will be his undoing. He will come to you and you will bring him before me.

Find it? No?

Rewind a second. Vader kind of leads this conversation and the Emperor catches on later, making Vader's words his own. Vader is confident that he will see Luke under Luke's own terms and, at first, the Emperor questions this. He even critisizes Vader, wondering if his "feelings on the matter are clear." Then, later in the conversation, the Emperor basically repeats what Vader said, telling him "I have forseen it." My question is this: How could the Emperor have forseen this when he even tells Vader "Strange that I have not" in regards to feeling Luke's presence?

It's just so funny how little things like re-watching a beloved film could catch such mistakes. I wonder what George Lucus thinks of his masterpiece after all these years. I still love this movie, anyway.

Zombie Slayers Gone Wild - Part Three

I must write quickly before the poison takes hold of me. I fear these are my last few moments of sanity.

Yes, that's right, I have been bitten. It was a long hard battle and I'll will tell all to you in due time.

As I got on the bus this morning, still human, I met five other male humans, well armed, who offered to get me to my class safely. I took this offer and off to class we went, without seeing a single zombie along the way. However, once in class, one of my dear friends became ill and my professor asked me to take her to the Health Center, the one place I didn't want to go (after previous experiences with that retched place) but I said I would go, anyway. Armed with socks, I walked her over to the Health Center, once again without meeting a single zombie. What is going on? I thought to myself. They should be out by now! After seeing her safe within the confines of the sick ward, I headed back towards the library in search of zombies. I knew they were out. There were at least 55 of them. It had been reported last night!

That's when I got the text message from Jo. He had been bitten and was going through the painful transformation. I shed a single tear and then closed my cell phone. All I could do was let him go to his doom.

I was right about the zombies being out. One was there, walking across a bridge I was also crossing to get to the library. She turned, ready, but was not fast enough. I pegged her with a sock before she could even get near. Inside the library, I ran into a human friend, one that needed to get to a building that had been rumored to be infested with zombies. I offered my services and we traveled without disturbance. I was dumb-founded by this time. I had hardly seen any zombies all day. Very few guarded the library, which was normally very guarded. I headed home to get ready for my second class, pondering this thought.

I suppose I let my ego get the best of me. That must have been why this happened. After class, a fellow human and I debated on waiting until 6:30 (when the zombies had to stand down) to go to a human meeting that was supposed to take place in the library at 6:45. We peeked out of the building and, though we couldn't see any zombies, I immediately got a bad feeling about the situation. I wanted to wait until 6:30 to come out of hiding but she offered that we move now, while the zombies were gone. We were sure, too, that they had all given up until we came upon the library cooridor.

We didn't even make it to the front door.

Three zombies jumped out of hiding and sprinted after the two of us. I bolted for the neared building I could see, which happened to be the second closest building. I realized, as my friend was bitten behind me and let out a shriek, that I had led us in the wrong direction. I heard fast steps beside me and turned to hit the original zombie, who immediately backed down. I kept running. Moments before I reached the door of the building, I turned to hit the zombie behind me and, as the sock left my hand, he grabbed me. I let out a disappointed wail and stooped to catch my breath as the pain of the new transformation began to flow through my veins. Moments later, the original zombie appeared, welcoming me into the horde and complementing me on my quickness of step. "We could use people like you!" he told me as he clapped me on the shoulder.

And now I am home. In these last moments, I apologize to all of you for my weakness of judgment. I was trained to be strong and I wasn't strong. I was trained to be wise and I wasn't wise. I am sorry to let you all down. I just hope that... in this new transformation...

I can find...

forgiveness...

Zombie Slayers Gone Wild - Part Two

I knew today would be much different than yesterday.

First of all, I had more stuff to carry with me today. If I had only had to go to the library and study for my evening midterm, I would have just carried on small bag. But I had my yoga mat with me, as well as a set of clothes for yoga. Which put extra weight on, extra weight that I would have to carry if I broke into a sprint away from a determined zombie.

Second of all, the finally tally for zombies last night was 22. That means that the original zombie tagged enough zombies, who tagged other zombies, to reach the count of 22. Who knew what the count would get to be today? If all of those zombies tagged at least one person, the count would reach 44. Or worse. What if they each tagged two people? The count would be 66. And I’m determined not to be one of those 66. Or 88. Or 110.

I have been taking the bus to school instead of riding my bicycle because rumors have it that last year there was a zombie outbreak and a human got chased down by three zombies while riding his bicycle to school. And there’s no way you can ride your bike and pelt zombies with socks all at the same time. So, as I stepped off the bus, I looked around cautiously, alternating between looking in front of me and then behind me every other second, and darted to my yoga class. I got there safely, without a single zombie spotting.

Afterwords, however, it was a different story. On my way out of the building, I ran into another member of the resistance, a girl around my age looking very rattled. I asked her if she had seen any zombies and she immediately told my how she had bumped into her friend in a building who had been turned into a zombie and how, even though it was only the second day, they were growing in number. I thanked her, promising to be cautious, and set on my way. I had planned to head straight to the library to study for a midterm, avoiding any narrow paths where zombies might be hiding in wait of an unaware human. However, there was a slight kink to my plan. I needed a scantron for my exam and the only place that I knew to get one was the student store. I mapped the path out in my head before starting out, using the same method as before of alternating between looking in front of me and then behind me.

I had almost made it there. As I crossed an open grassy area, students absolutely everywhere, I could see the student store in front of me. I debated breaking into a sprint but I decided that it would make me much less aware of my surroundings, as I would have to sprint and look ahead. As I rotated my gaze to behind me, I suddenly saw it: a male zombie, dark-haired, about my height with an orange bandanna, racing towards me. For a moment, I froze, and then, feeling the weight of the sock of my hand, I whipped around, aimed the sock at him, and threw it. He jumped past me, the sock missing him by an inch, and as he turned to try again, I recovered my sock and threw it. I thought it missed him until a disappointed look crossed his face and I knew I had hit my target. “Fifteen minutes!” I yelled and then hustled to the student store, breathing hard by the time I was inside. I was only there for five minutes, so I knew he couldn’t follow me for another ten. That was enough time to get to the library, I told myself.

The trip to the library was a little less eventful but only slightly. A zombie in a green bandanna stood against a pillar, texting, glancing around him. I froze, watching him closely, and then I moved slowly, quietly. I can only suppose he didn’t see me, although I was ready, sock in hand. As soon as I was close enough, I made a bolt for the door of the library and retreated safely inside for a couple hours of studying.

A few hours into the library session, I ran into a bunch of humans who were watching zombies in front of the library from a window. We bickered for a while about whether or not they could get me to my 6:30 before 6:30 (since the zombies have to stand down on campus after dark) and we finally were able to work out a route to my class before it became too dark. We also worked out a major zombie massacre on Thursday afternoon (if we all were still humans by then).

Jo is still a human. We’re keeping each other safe.


Final tally:

Megan – 1

Zombies - 0

Zombie Slayers Gone Wild - Part One

The epidemic has begun.

I've seen several of my fellow humans but no one can seem to tell me who the original zombie is. All we can do is walk softly and become paranoid people. My fellow classmates - those not knowing or caring about the epidemic - stare at me strangely. I'm sure the orange bandanna around my arm looks slightly strange but it's the only method the fellow members of the resistance and myself can tell who is who.

We hear the zombie are growing smarter.

The infection begins at the forehead, the sin growing grayish and ragged. We're not entirely sure how it began; rumors are that a freshman chemistry student went rogue and ingested a tampered formula. We do know that once touched, the infection spreads like wildfire. Those who have started getting the infection decided to move their bandanna from their arms to their foreheads to hide the beginnings of the infection. It tricked us at first but, once one of those monsters with the bandannas on their heads attacked a member of the resistance, we grew smart, too. Anyone wearing a head bandanna is immediately pelted with ammo... er... socks. Or hidden from.

But I am not the hiding type.

I have not seen a zombie today but, then again, it is only the first day of the epidemic. Jo, on the other hand, was caught in an elevator with a human who had very recently been turned into a zombie. As soon as he could find me, we immediately snuck out of the building before that one zombie retrieved her zombie friends and killed us in a zombie fashion. I would have stayed and fought for the resistance but we're not quite sure how many zombies there are on campus at the moment. Once we see more zombies, we can take different precautions.

I am determined to survive the week.

Me, brandishing my sock and orange bandanna.

Jo with his yellow bandanna, determined to fight for the resistance.

Barely Awake

Yesterday was Jo's 22nd birthday. It's so funny that he's now two years older than me and he's been able to drink legally for a year. We went to a fairly expensive sushi bar with some good friends who love sushi as much as we do (and it's hard to find a good sushi bar in NorCal because you're far from the ocean) and Jo tried sake for the first time. He loved the hot sake but, of course, he's a lightweight (as am I), so he felt the effects right away. I actually had a tiny sip of it, but it was kind of cold by that time. I liked it but I still would have liked to have tried it hot. 3 1/2 more months until I can!

I also had a job interview yesterday.

I've needed a part-time job for quite a while now. I get just enough money from the government to get by; however, if any of my friends want to go to a movie, I'm scraping the barrel for every last dollar. In reality, I only need about 12 hours of work. An extra $150-$200 a month would just be fantastic! If I got this job, I'd be working at one of the front desks at the university, assisting students on how to get places on campus. I could do that! 5 years of customer service experience right here! I think the interview went fairly well and, supposedly, I'm going to find out if I either get a second interview or just get the job or didn't get anything on the 1st of October, the day I'm driving down to the Writers Conference. So, I'll either be coming home to my mom with a "yaaaay!" or an "awww... darn."

We'll just have to wait and see.

I keep thinking about the conference, which is literally a week a way. I know that I have articles to edit this weekend, a chapter to finish for my class (yes, we finally get to FINISH the chapter in my Computer class), and a Human Sexuality test to study for but all I want to do is write. I've written the Prologue and the first part of Chapter One, but, other than that, I'm finding it hard to find time to write this week.

However, I've been debating on posting a bit of my prologue here. What do you all think of that idea? I'm mostly afraid that someone would steal it.

I've also discovered that I am tired all the time now. I never thought that was possible but it's true. I'm pretty used to it now and the only time when it ever consumes me is in the morning. For example, I got up at 9am this morning, ate a bowl of cereal, and then sat back down on my bed to write a blog entry. At 10:15am, I was suddenly overwhelmed with a feeling of total exhaustion and could barely keep my eyes open, so I set my laptop aside and laid down, thinking I would close my eyes for just a couple of minutes. I woke again at 11am and got up to do some chores before Jo's mom got here. And then it was go go go from then on, working on my Human Sexuality study guide and studying for my Statistics test. I just don't seem to have time for anything until 11pm, unless I try to get some writing in during the middle of the day. It's sad.

This aside, I was shocked to learn that my university's health center ordered 1,000 flu shots and they ran out in just 2 days. Being a health major and in the health professionals club, that's just awesome to me! I cant wait for the H1N1 shots to come out so I can get myself vaccinated.

8 days until Writers Conference!!

Yin and Yang

Good and bad. The past 36 hours have been filled with a bit of both. But you know that little dot that floats in the middle of each?

Yea. That's the crazy.

Last night, Jo and I got together with my friend Ian and some of his friends for a continuation of my Mel Gibson movie fest. I had already watched Braveheart that afternoon (which I have never seen before) which is an awesome movie, so watching Payback that evening was kind of a downer. Not my favorite Mel Gibson movie.

The real "fun" of the night started when the brother of one of the girls accidentally locked her keys into the back of her trunk and we all spent about an hour trying to get them out. We tried looking for a spare key, finding a spare key and then discovering that it was the key to the ignition and not to the door, and using a coat hanger to break in and open the door. She even went home with her boyfriend to see if the key was at her house and I'm not sure if they were able to get into the house because the locked keys also held the key to her house. In the end, we had to call AAA, who were late (of course) and I left by the time that they even got there.

In the midst of all of this happening, I was also hit on/flirted with by a girl in the sorority that Ian lives next to. I'll have to admit that it was my first time and a little... disturbing. She sort of stopped once she hit on Jo and then he mentioned that he was dating me. But, it didn't stop her from saying that, despite the fact that she has a boyfriend, she thinks the whole point of getting drunk is to make out with chicks, which isn't technically cheating.

Yea.

Anyway, I woke today in anticipation of finding a job. I was bound determined to get back on my feet again. Which is the opposite of what I wanted to do when I got to the school... because, let's face it: when you wash your favorite pair of slip-ons on the hot cycle with your sheets and towels, they're bound to shrink. Which makes feet hurt and creates large blisters. Not very fun. I started noticing the pain as I was walking to apply as a Copy Editor to the college newspaper (update on that after 5pm tomorrow!) and, by the time that I headed out of there towards two job opportunities, I was wincing in pain. One opportunity was to work in a children's clothing store and, when I got there, they admitted that they had already hired someone YESTERDAY and had forgotten to take the ad off the college job search. Yeah. The other job was working as a helper (writing, reading) for disabled students and she had already hired enough people but told me to come back Friday (in case someone decided to cancel) because I mentioned that I had my minor in English.

So, I admit... by the time I got home, my feet were in pain due to large blisters on my heels and I had failed yet again at finding a job, and I wanted to do was cry. Which I did. (Being a girl really helps on this front, by the way, because one can cry and their boyfriend just lets them do it because we girls are allowed to release our emotion in a salty wave of tears.) BUT!!! I was immediately cheered up when the mail came because my wonderful grandparents send me $500 to get me through the rest of the month.

THANK YOU!!!!!!!!

So, that's my conclusion for the good, the bad, and the crazy.