Tuesday, April 28, 2009

I Get By With a Little Help From My Friends (and Family)


First of all, I apologize for not writing in my blog last week. A lot of things were going on and I decided it would be best to "take the week off". Hopefully it'll make this post more interesting since it covers twice as much as a normal entry would. The problem is, do I remember what happened two weeks ago? I'll do my best!

Two weeks ago, I was preparing like crazy for finals. It took a lot out of me. It is mostly my fault because I procrastinated a lot throughout the semester, which led to me having to do a lot of papers and studying in just a few days. I started to get overwhelmed by all I had to do, and started to have serious doubts that I would get it all finished in time. My plan was to leave to go home Sunday morning, so that I could go to Disneyland with my family the next day for Lauren's birthday. I found out the day before that the Disneyland trip was off and instead my sister got a dog. So, I could have staying a day or two longer and made my finals work a lot less stressful, but I was just glad to have completed it all. I had to write about 7 major papers and take 2 big final tests. It was exhausting, when I came back to my apartment on Saturday, I just collapsed and couldn't motivate myself to pack to go home the next morning.

There were fun moments during finals, though. I took a break to go to the movies with Kevin to see "Race to Witch Mountain". It was actually a really fun movie and really was effective in taking my mind off of finals for a few hours. Also, on Saturday night when I got home, I took another break and watched "Deja Vu" with Kevin on the Clearplay DVD player. I was pleased that he enjoyed the movie, and we ate Fettucine Alfredo and Asphalt Pie. It was a good close to our time as roommates this semester. After that, I spent a couple hours packing, and then finished packing and moving my stuff the next morning so I could go home.

I just wanted to devote a paragraph to my experience as roommates with Kevin this past school year. I really looked forward to being roommates with Kevin and it was a great experience. It confirmed all of the things I already knew about Kevin, that he is hardworking, extremely kind, and spiritually devoted. He is a huge example for me in my life and I was extremely priveleged to have that example for a roommate. It is funny, this past year I had the worst roommate (who I will call Sanjaya) I have ever had, and the best roommate I've ever had (Kevin, of course). I don't know if I could have handled "Sanjaya" if it wasn't for having someone like Kevin to commiserate with. Also, Kevin helped me a lot those last few days with moving and cleaning and I am extremely grateful for that- there is no way I could have moved out on time without his help. I hope he knows how much I value our friendship.

On Sunday, I drove home to California. The drive was pretty rough because I ran into a lot of traffic from Las Vegas all the way until I was home. But, once I got home, I was really happy and had a really enjoyable week with my family. It was a big contrast to the week of stress that finals had been. The only downside to the whole experience is that my sister's new dog, Lucy, didn't seem to like me very much. She barked at me as soon as I walked in the door and pretty much barked at me at some point every day I was home. Also, I got really bad allergies from the dog, although I was pleased that the allergies didn't really hit me that hard until about halfway through my week home. I did get some kind of cold at the end of my finals week, which I attribute to extreme stress. It was only in my chest and caused me to cough a lot and have a sore throat, so I had to deal with that as well for part of my time home.

But, despite the "sickness", I really loved being home with family. It made me realize how much I miss them when I am away and how hard this summer is going to be for me since I am mostly spending it away from home. My favorite moments were when I was able to just sit and joke around with my family. A lot of my family members (mainly my dad and Alex) are busy with other things all the time, so it is nice when they finally have a break from their schedules to hang out with the rest of the family. I enjoyed watching episodes of The Office with my dad (and sometimes my sister) and being able to show my family the movie "Knowing" which I really love. I don't think any of them loved it as much as I do, but they all enjoyed seeing it and had positive things to say about the movie. I also really enjoyed the home cooked meals, my mom really spoiled me by making one of my favorite dinners the night I was leaving- Fried Chicken and Mashed Potatoes. All in all, it was a truly great time, and felt way too short. Luckily, there are many more opportunities this summer for me to see them, so this isn't the end of my visits with them this year...

And, I guess I'll end my post there for the week. I just got to meet my new roommates for my spring apartment and had my first class, but I'll wait to talk about those things in detail in my next post. I guess I'll just sum it up by saying that I'm extremely grateful for family and friends. They are always there to help me through my most stressful times and are always supportive and helpful. I don't know how I'd get through life without them.

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