J slash K

I was offered a ticket to the tournament for next sunday. Who can ever turn down such an offer? Not me. So, disregard any of the complaints I made about not liking the tournament. I have vowed that this year I will not be "a waste of a pass." I am going to enjoy my egg salad sandwich, stalk Tiger, not complain about the weather, and be grateful that I'm somewhere where just about every guy I know wants to be.

it's that time of the year again...

It's Masters time. All of you Augusta kids will know what I'm talking about when I say that it's always a relief for the masters to be over because that means all of the questions stop. I know that tonight I will be asked about 20 times if: a. I'm going home for the masters b. I have tickets to the tournament c. I can get them tickets.
Yes, I am going home for the masters, I'm from the AUG, this is what we do.
No, I dont have tickets. My family learned long ago that I'm a waste of a pass. I get tired of walking around, golf is slightly boring to me, and I sweat more than I like to.
No, I can't get you tickets. I dont know where people came up with this idea that if you're from Augusta, you just have tournament passes lying around.

Those three sentences will probably account for 75% of my bar talk tonight. Oh well. I guess it's a small price to pay. I do love that I live in the city that is home of the masters. People dont realize that it's not just a week out of a year that Augusta revolves around golf. Because of the masters, the city is golf 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Here are some fun facts about how my growing up was different from yours b/c I live in Augusta:

I, along with about 90 percent of my friends from home, live on a golf course.

In middle school, the most popular kids in the neighborhood were not always the cutest, the coolest, the richest or the funniest. The most popular kids were the ones with the best golf carts. Emily's was red, monogrammed, and had headlights and a sound system. For real.

By the age of 5, my brother was so good at golf (or at least he was a pro on hole 10, the hole we lived on) that he could beat all of our family from out of town. By about 9, he could beat my dad and uncle. I can't remember what age it was that he got his first hole in one, but I know he wasn't much older than 10.

When I wanted to swim in my pool or lay out in the backyard, this meant that I had to be willing to accept the odds that I might get hit in the face with a golf ball.

My mom had a nervous breakdown a few times a year because of new discoveries, like the stucco was dented in a new place or a car was dented in a new place.

Spring Break was always the same week as the masters. It took some serious getting used to when I came to UGA and the break didn't revolve around a golf tournament.

All of us left town during master's week. We had to, as our houses were being rented out by complete strangers. (p.s. one week renting your house out for the masters can pay for about 4 house payments, my dad tells me)

Once a year, I had to make my bedroom look like a hotel room. This is hard when you're an adolescent girl.

Once we stayed at our lake house for spring break and we decided to drive through our neighborhood. No normal cars. Only lincolns and limos. It was weird.

If you didn't have some article of clothing that had the masters logo on it, then you were in the minority.

It's funny now that I am in school and our spring break is a few weeks earlier, b/c we all go home for masters weekend now. It's so much fun, way too crowded, but fun. I get to see all of my old friends. Granted, most of us dont have a place to stay, still, but we find a place. This year I'm probably bunking with Sam and her family. I dont know yet, but I do know that I am excited to pull into town and see all of those signs leading everyone in the direction of the national.

random thought #2

I guess it's more a question, than a thought really. But, do you tip when you go to pick up take-out? I used to tip. Like a dollar or something. I never really thought about it, i just did it... mainly because there is that awkwardness that exists when a waiter brings you your food and receipt and waits there while you sign it. But, this one time a friend and I were picking up some food from Utage. We waited in line behind a girl who was also picking up some sushi for her sister who had just had a baby. Both of us got our food and receipts at the same time, so we ended up walking out together. As we were leaving she turned around to ask us if we tipped. I wasn't the one who signed the receipt, but I assumed we did. Before I could tell her yes, my friend said, "uhhh, no. I dont tip on take-out" The girl was relieved, because she said she didn't either (and her bill was 95 dollars--seriously).

So, from that day on I stopped tipping take-out people. But, I'm starting to get these rude looks from my friends at On The Border and I think the girl at Utage is about to be over me. I always rationalize my lack of tipping by saying that they really didn't do anything, I mean they bagged up the food the chef made and ran my credit card. That doesn't exactly warrant a tip. But, then I think well what if this is what they do all day? Just give take-out orders. Noone leaves a tip, and I mean afterall, they bag your food up and run your credit card receipt. Maybe I should at least give them a dollar. Anyway, the point is that i'm torn and need feedback (I pick up food at least 3 times a week). To tip or not to tip, that's the question.

The constant hassling about my growing need to write a new blog has paid off...I guess. I mean, I'm going to write, but I dont have anything specific to entertain anyone with. I thought about writing about my spring break trip, but I found that I couldn't do the trip justice through my writing. Then, after I found out that a family friend, and my old babysitter, had been in a wreck and was paralyzed from the waist down, I started to write a blog about her. But, again, my writing didn't do her justice. But, I will ask for you to keep her and her family in your thoughts and prayers. She is an amazing person and I am lucky to know her. I even started to write another blog about losing touch with people. Why it is that you know how sad or regretful you would be if something were to happen to someone you care about, yet you go months, or years even, without even speaking a word. You're too busy, you'll "do it tomorrow," or maybe there are hard feelings involved. Either way, I want to know why you let people leave your life so easily, but if something happened to their life it would be so hard for you. Anyway, that blog went on and on and was a little more personal than I care to post. So, I'm left to write about how I have nothing to write about. So, here are some incoherent thoughts that crossed my mind this time:

I could write about my adventures at the daycare since I'm there 4 days a week. I could talk about how i heard a 3 year old tell another 3 year old, "you are a bad person." Even at the age of 3, that comment stings. The girl cried for an hour. I told her what I swore I would never tell a child (as it never makes them feel better), "well, why do you want to be friends with her if she's going to be ugly?" I knew the answer: because. I couldn't even believe I asked it, ugh. What's next? Am I going to tell my kids "because I'm the mom and I said so"?

In other daycare -related news, I have learned:
Curious George's "the man with the yellow hat" has a name, it's Ted, and there is no better way to piss off a 4 year old than to refer to him as "the man with the yellow hat" (even though that's the way the story reads). I wish they could appreciate how hard it is to train the eye to recognize any text reading "the man with the yellow hat" as "Ted." I'm getting better though.

Also, did you know that "Ted" stole George? I didn't know that. I just pretended that he found him wandering around one day and rescued him. No, it was on a trip and he found George in a jungle. He tricked him by putting a banana in a bag and then, as George was going to grab it, the man scooped him up. It even talks about how sad George was, and even though the story adds that "although George was sad to leave, he was a little curious," my idea of "Ted" is forever changed.

And, while I"m sure it wont be surprising to hear that 4 and 5 year olds love play dough, it is interesting to note that the daycare has to make it home made because about 50 % of the class likes to eat it. 4 and 5 year olds, not 1 or 2 or 3 even. Sick. F.Y.I. you will never outgrow loving play dough. Yesterday I made a snake, the "scream" face, a blueberry pie and a slice of pizza.

So, you've learned all about it in classes, but gender roles are totally established by the age of about 4. You will find the occasional 2 year old girl playing trucks or the 3 year old boy who carries around a doll, but for the most part the kids stick to their roles. On the playground I watch the boys play pirate ship. They climb the jungle gym to find gold, then come down carrying imaginary bags. Yesterday I told them I thought they left a bag up there and without hesitation Jack Sparrow rounded up the men and they headed back up to the top of the jungle gym to retrieve the lost bag. "We got it, Ms. Megan! Thanks for your help!" Angus told me. The girls play in the playhouse that's next to the jungle gym. The most assertive girl always gets to play the mom and the others are the kids. Yesterday I thought I heard someone crying and ran to the house only to find that the 4 year olds were actually babies crying for milk and the 3 year old mother was searching frantically for a bottle. Girls, I thought. Maybe I dont want 2 of them, I thought. My poor mother, I thought.

I could go on forever, that's why i didn't do an entire blog on it (only 3/4s). I was also going to write about the quirky side of me. Once Kate wrote down a lot of the unique things that make her who she is. I started and I thought that maybe some of you wont be friends with me after you read. But, I am going to do one like that soon. I also thought about sharing some of my favorite songs right now in the hopes that some of you will illegally downlaod them and love them. Here are my top 5 right now:
1. Postal Service-Be Still My Heart
2. Flipsyde-Someday
3. The Fray-All at Once
4. Matisyahu-King without a Crown
5. LL Cool J-Control Myself

Okay, so I finally wrote something,which was nothing, and I am sorry if it was disappointing, but se la vie.

finally...

i've reconnected with my pre-junior year school standards, and it was about time.

Fact: I began my junior year with a gpa of 3.73 and began my senior year with a gpa of 3.44.

Fact: My sophomore year I made only one B out of 31 hours of classes, and the rest A's. My junior year I made no A's and 2 C's. The only plus side is that I only took 18 hours the whole year. In my small defense, I had taken 6 hours the summer before.

Fact: I withdrew from Comparative Literature twice last year, and not during drop/add. Both times I withdrew at 8 a.m. the morning of the mid-term.

Fact: We had 3 tests in HACE2100 my first semester of junior year and I went out every night before a test.

Fact: I got a C in a class that offered every test online. The lowest grade I ever got on a test was a 95. There was an 8 a.m. lab once a week that counted for a large portion of our grade, and I went twice. Out of curiosity, I decided to look at the key after the semester was over and out of about 200 students there was about 70 percent A's, 28% B's, and 2 % C's.

Fact: None of the aforementioned facts bothered me in the least.

By the beginning of my senior year, I had gotten my head together again and was ready to do well. I thought that since I had about 15 years of successful schooling under my belt, it would be easy to bounce back from one off year. Well, it was a lot harder than I thought. I did finally get the A I had so desperately missed and thankfully no C's showed up on my transcripts, but I had anticipated all A's or at least a shout out from the dean and I accomplished neither. My spirits were a little low, but I convinced myself that it was just going to be harder to get back on track than I thought and I was at least on the right course.

Well, I had a paper due in comparative literature (yes, I'm taking it for a third time, because contrary to what my 2 W's seem to convey, I really do like it) and I got it back today (oh, and this was after I turned in my midterm!) AND I got an A. My professor is pretty intense and after seeing the reactions of my classmates I figured I got a B at best. I was prepared to tell him what one of my friends told me to say: I may not write papers well, but I can write an entertaining blog or two. Thankfully I did do well and therefore didn't have to lie to him.

I was so surprised when I saw my grade that I realized it has been almost two years since I've gotten any sort of excitement from a grade. He wrote on it that it was moving and thoughtful. I blushed in the SLC hallway. He liked my intro a lot too, but offered this critique that I'm sure none of you will agree with: "You might want to rethink your comma use." I laughed in the SLC hallway.

Although I was brilliant enough to somehow manage to stretch my college career out for longer than 4 years, I am still feeling the pangs of graduation sadness approaching because some of my friends were not as smart as me. I dont understand why everyone can't stay at least an extra semester. Luckily, ashlee, kelly, caroline, whitney, mot, sallie, kelly, and katie ramsey are all still going to be here. Lucky for me, too, that I have a special place in my heart for younger boys. But, still, some of my best friends are going to be packing up in May and moving to their respective cities and I am going to be really sad.

And the worst part of the situation is that everyday I am reminded of their up and coming departures. It's like we can't even enjoy the last 2 full months that they have left in the best city on Earth. I mean I called my friend Erin the other day to ask her a simple question, it had nothing to do with May, nothing to do with caps or gowns and nothing to do with departures: I needed to know if she was switching out with ashlee at 12: 05. She didn't answer and I was preparing myself to leave her a message. Out of nowhere I hear, "Hi, you have reached the voicemail of Erin Jackson. I am unable to answer your call, so please leave your name, number and brief message and I will call you back" What happened to "Hey, it's Erin. Leave a message"? Of course I know what happened to it: graduation. We all need professional answering machines now. Ugh.

Because I was deathly ill today and there were new episodes of Entourage just released OnDemand, Ashlee and I decided to waste the day on the couch. I have spent countless days of my college career doing this same thing. Again, out of nowhere, in walks Kelly in a business suit complaining about the career fair and how she didn't give her resume out to anyone. I almost felt relieved. Good, she's no closer to getting a job, which means she's not closer to leaving us for a different life. Of course, I would be happy for her to have had a successful trip, but I take any sort of relief I can get.

Jared's getting acceptance letters from Law Schools, Ben just got into MCG, Emily has applied for two nursing jobs in Charleston, Mae has a dinner date with an accounting firm on Thursday, Bizzy is thinking of joining the Peace Corps, Elinor wants a job in magazine journalism in NYC, Paul Welch is going for his sixth interview with a real estate firm this weekend, Scott is thinking of entering into some program at Ga State in Atlanta, Erin hopefully has an interview in PR down in Jacksonville, Samantha will be hearing from Physical Therapy schools soon, and me....well, I am just concerned that 6 month leases will run out before we've had time to sign one.

adventures at the dmv

I was at the DMV today being a good citizen to my friend Heather and while I was there, the following happened:

1. I saw Hamza, our regular cab driver who i am sure has never seen me in the daylight. I was almost embarrassed that he noticed me, and i am pretty sure he laughed after he walked off.

2. A woman was yelling, breathing heavily and pacing back and forth all the while screaming that "there is no way I could have gotten pulled over for drunk driving in VIRGINIA!!!!!!!!!"

3. A man getting in a fight with someone who worked there because they refused to take his hospital birth certificate. The poor guy kept saying he "aint never got a birth certificate from the state!" I guess the woman was a life-ruiner because she said something along the lines of "well then the state doesn't recognize you as a person"

And the best thing that happened at the DMV........
A nice looking asian man approached Me and Heather as we were laughing hysterically about something (probably the lady who sounded like she was in labor, or the man who wanted to kill himself because hey! noone even knew he was alive). The man came up to me and said 'oh you look so excited ! did you just have 16th birthday?'