Fun Stuff!

Hello!!
Today I turned in my application to be a Rho Chi (recruitment counselor) for Fall Rush 2006. I just enjoyed that side of rush so much more than any other side, and I would love to do it again. A lot of the girls that were Rho Chis when I was are signed up to do it again also. A TON of Gamma Phis are trying for it, so I don't know if I will get to do it again, but we will see. I hope that I get to! Please pray that God puts me where I can do His will most effectively during rush.

And Now...for something fun (I stole this from a friend's blog and filled it out myself!):


7 things I plan to do before I die:
~Become SCUBA certified
~Marry Tom and have no less than three children (hopefully four) and maybe adopt as well.
~Go Bungee-Jumping
~Learn to Surf
~Travel All Over the World
~Learn to Dance (I mean like Salsa and Swing and the such)
~Get my Eyesite Corrected

7 things I can do:
~Bake great cookies
~Dance to hip-hop (choreographed, like in cheerleading..and I guess freestyle, but that is too graphic to actually feel comfortable doing)
~Hold my own against a room full of Bulldog haters (haters are jealous)
~Be a Great Babysitter
~Sing in my room/car/wherever to all music
~Keep a secret
~Eat a whole bag of cheetos(the poofy kind) by myself

7 things I currently cannot do:
~Wakeboard
~Make a long road trip without having to use the bathroom at least once
~Sing in front of people without freaking out because of nerves
~Play guitar...or any other musical instrument
~Drive a stick-shift
~Watch scary movies by myself
~Go to the mall without a specific thing to buy bc I will buy way too much stuff otherwise

7 things that attract me to the opposite sex:
~Dark hair/Blue eyed combo + being cut, but not overly big or overly skinny. (Basically...Tom)
~Good (and sorta goofy) sense of humor- can be funny w/o putting others down
~Loves God
~Smart but not full of himself for it
~Not afraid of commitment
~Plays guitar-so sexy! haha
~Fun to hang out with (you wanna spend time with him and look forward to it)

7 things I say most often:
~Hey Hoe!/You are SUCH a Hoe!
~I love you!
~DUDE!!
~Fo Sho
~Gaaaaaaaahhhhhh...(Nappie D)
~Hola!
~Oh. My. Gosh. This is AMAZING! It's like an orgasm in my mouth! (this sounds a bit much, but it wasn't something I made up-it's courtesy of Stewie from Family Guy-gotta give credit where credit is due)


7 people I want to do this:
~Anyone who has a blog or who can respond to mine with a message on here!!

I Heard That Sound!!

Hey!!
Yesterday I drove up to Atlanta for the MXPX/Relient K/Rufio Concert, and it was AWESOME!!!!!!!! When I first arrived, I helped Ben with some Psych homework, and that was great because it made me feel smart to help someone do Intro psych homework because I finally am in classes that are for my major! I need to feel smart every now and then. Ben is smart, so I didn't really help him much, only on like...3 questions then he did the rest. But it was good for my self esteem. lol. Plus it was fun to see Benjamin bc I miss him lots while he is at Valdosta! Tom was working on some code for CS.

We all got in Tom's car and drove to Theta Xi to pick up Sarah, a friend of a lot of the brothers there, and we all headed to the concert. Hetty ended up showing up with some of her GCSU friends, which just rocked my face off! And Tyler and Kyle, some of the Theta Xi guys made it over after an ultimate frisbee game, so it was fun to get to know them too. Of course, the music was AWESOME! And Hetty even started a mosh pit, but then had to bail from it when all the guys in it got too rough. It was so funny! Tom from MXPX threw a guitar pick out, and it hit me in the forehead (I was pulling up my hair, so I couldn't catch it) and then got shoved under a mat, so I couldnt' get it. SO SAD! But if you wanna see pics of the concert, you can go to Tom's MoBlog here: http://www.tommcfarlin4.com/moblog/

Today, Dad called me when I was in class, and I met him afterwards downtown to go to eat, and we met up at The Grill. It was delicious! And I was surprised he was in town, but he had come through on his way home for a state medical board meeting. It was really nice to get to see him though, and I was hungry too! =)

Alright, I'm out!
Love,
Meghan

Weekend Extrordinare

Hola a la gente de la red!
It's Monday, and I'm actually in a good mood! Who knew it could happen! haha

Well, Basically this past weekend was GREAT! On Friday, I went to Atlanta to see Tom. We went to Theta Xi for a minute, and I got to know some of the guys better which was fun. I had to put up with them making fun of my choice of Higher Education a lil bit, but that's nothing I'm not used to handling...and responding to! It was funny. After we left, Tom and I went to the City Cafe with Robert Lee, Daniel, and Jessica. That was so yummy! I had a turkey melt with fries, then Jessica and I split a HUGE piece of turtle cheesecake. Words can't describe the ecstasy of that one. whew...

Ok so Saturday was Mom's birthday, and I went home for it. She and Dad went with Jordan to help him move in to his apartment while I did my laundry and some of Jordan's. UGA beat Vandy, Tom came over, and everyone ate food from PF Chang's (they brought it back from Atl when they were done moving Jordan in). That was great, and the Great Wall of Chocolate cake was AWESOME! We gave mom her presents and cards and hung out and watched some of the Braves Game. Tom left, and Jordan and I stayed up talking about Harry Potter stuff until about 2:30 am. I can't WAIT for the next movie to come out and also to get the free time I want to read the books! (which I am asking for for Christmas)

Sunday, after church, Mom, Jordan, and I went to Pacho's for lunch and brought back food for Dad, who was on call. Tom came over, and we both fell asleep watching tv, and that was great because I was so tired! We just chilled out with dad and watched the Falcons and read the comics and ate some of the chocolate silk pie I had made and refrigerated the day before-YUM! Then mom and Jordan got home (they had been shopping for Jordan's apartment). We all visited then, Tom left, and I packed up my car and headed back to Athens to get my picture taken for the Gamma Phi composite. After my picture was done, I decided to go dress out in black and do the Sig Ep haunted house with Jessica and Laura. We worked the house (scaring people is fun! yay!) from 8-9:30, then headed back to the house. Jessica and I made smores and popped popcorn and watched Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants with Kelsey. That was done around 12:30 (Kels and Jess left early to go do homecoming street painting), and I headed back to the apartment. I talked to Tom and headed to bed. Basically, that was the most relaxed weekend I've had this semester. I LOVED IT! It's so much less stressful because I am test free this week FOR ONCE!! yayayayayayayay! I think this week will be fun-tonight after chapter and singing practice, I want to go to Sig Ep's haunted house as a customer. I know I will be a fun person for them because I scream at ANYTHING that startles, jumps, or scares. I think Kelsey and Jessica are coming with me, so if you are reading this and want to come along, just lemme know! Also on Tuesday, I am going to Atl to meet up with Tom and Ben to see MXPX and Relient K and Rufio in concert! YAY!!!!!!! Also, there are events going on all week for homecoming, and then this weekend, Tom is going to come up and see me. We are planning to go to the homecoming parade and maybe go see Elizabeth Town too, which I can't wait to see! Then the game is Saturday, and Henry, Dana, Dessie, and Dessie's boyfriend are coming up, so I think we are going to meet up with them-YAY! More fun times! I love this week!

Alrighty, well it's almost 5:00pm, and I have only had a pack of crackers today, so I am going to go eat some of my left over spaghetti-I'm starved!!!!

Before I go, I wanna give a huge shout out to Henry-HAPPY 23RD!!!


Much love yall,
Meghan

UH OH...It's a Quiz

Yeah, yeah, I know ppl never want to do these, but my lil sis had it in her blog and I stole it! I like this one! PLEASE do this if you have the time...you can respond in email (mcp@uga.edu) or you can just leave me a message on here by copying and pasting the quiz and typing in your answers! It will make me SOOOO HAPPY. Please. Please make me happy. And you do have time. You can make time to make me smile! You can do the quiz in the bathroom if you have a laptop. You can do it during commercial breaks for that show you love and always make time to watch during the week. Tom, even you have time to take my quiz. And for all the rest of you guys..."Come ooooon....Come ooooonnnn!"(family guy! haha)

What would you do if:
1. I died?
2. I yelled at you?
3. I lived next door to you?
4. I started smoking?
5. I stole something?
6. I was hospitalized?
7. I ran away from home?
8. I got into a fight and you weren't there?

What do you think about my:
9. Personality?
10. Eyes?
11. Hair?
12. Family?

Would you:
13. Be my friend?
14. Keep a secret if I told you one?
15. Hold my hand?
16. Take a bullet for me?
17. Keep in touch?
18. Try and solve my problems?
19. Love me?
20. Hate me?

Have you ever:
21. Lied to make me feel better?
22. Wanted to be my best friend?
23. Wanted to kill me?
24. Broken my heart?
25. Kept something important from me?
26. Thought I was unbearably annoying?

More...
27. Who are you?
28. Are we friends?
30. Describe me in one word:
31. What was your first impression?
32. Do you still think that way about me now?
33. What reminds you of me?
34. If you could give me anything what would it be?
35. How well do you know me?
36. When's the last time you saw me?
37. Ever wanted to tell me something but couldn't?
38. Are you gonna put this on yours to see what I say about you?

Farewell to Stinky Pete

Turtles smell funny. Pete ended up being just the right name...Stinky Pete. haha. Well, I called the UGA Vet school and they said they would take him since having a piece of metal stuck through your shell technically qualifies as "injured." Poor thing. He HATED the car ride over, but I had to do it. Anyway, he is safely in the hands of the wildlife specialists at UGA's Small Animal Clinic- one of the best in the country. And they said that the way the metal was in his shell was NOT a form of tagging. They said the way they do it allows for the tag to eventually come off. This was more like marking him so that if the person saw him again one day he would recognize the turtle. But you should never mark a turtle by driving a piece of metal through it's shell and twisting it up. How awful! He could have gotten snagged on something underwater and drowned or he could have gotten caught above water and never gotten to food or water and died. So mean! By the way, I looked up turtles online and from what I could tell in pictures and reading, I guessed him to be a "slider." They said I was right at the vet school! yay! lol.
Ok, Pete is well on his way to being released again to the wild. Probably at nasty Lake Harrick. Yuck.
Love,
The animal-lover who always has a bleeding heart for animals in need.

Pete

Hey,
This is my temporary pet, Pete. I actually named him Michaelangelo (My fave Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle), but Tom told me to give him a short name too, and he didn't like Mike, so I went with Pete. Anyway, Someone actually stuck a piece of metal through his shell. I am going to give him to the vet school at UGA or to the Biology department. I found him taking a walk on the sidewalk in front of my apartment. He's a big boy. Check out my moblog for more pics.
Love,
Meghan

Sisterhood is sweet

Hola!
This weekend was pretty good...

Friday...Tom came up, which (of course) made my night! We just hung out at the apartment, went to Mexacali and Marble Slab, and watched Conan, and stuff like that. It was a good time.

Saturday... Sadly, Tom had to leave with Davey for Theta Xi's big brother/lil brother retreat at Jackson Lake. I spent the entire day like a hermit-in my apartment and alone. I don't know why I did this. But I did. That night I had plans to go out with Jessica, and to make it even more fun, Kelsey and Erin joined us to go to see Just Like Heaven. That sounded sarcastic, but I wasn't being that way; I was excited they came too! I LOVE THIS MOVIE!! It rocked my face off. I think guys will like it too, and the guys that were in the theater seemed to find it pretty funny, but I don't know those ppl (undoubtedly there with their girlfriends and wives), so maybe they were faking their laughter. I doubt it. It sort of made me think of How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days in that is just had a lot of really good humor and a cute story line. Plus, I love Mark Ruffalo and Reese Witherspoon, so it just made it that much better.

Sunday...Today was our Gamma Phi Beta sisterhood retreat, and we road trip'd it to Lake Hartwell in South Carolina. It was pretty fun- the ride there and back was fun because I was with Jessica, Kelsey, Laura and Sophe. (Laura is Kelsey's little, and Sophe is my grand-lil (Jessica's lil)!) I had a blast riding around with them today. There was lots of yummy food provided at the retreat, and we also had a ton of fun swimming around in the lake. Now I know why Ben, Tom, and Will like to freak me out by talking about "freshwater sharks" and "catfish the size of VW Bugs" and whatever else when we go to Jackson Lake. Basically, I was swimming around and two sorority sisters, Natalie and Lauren, were with me. I turned to them and said..."So have yall seen Lake Placid?" Them: "No, why?" Me: "I haven't either, but it looks scary. It's about this HUGE aligator who is in a lake. It keeps eating people and their pets and stuff. It's gigantic!" Them: " DON'T SAY THAT!! You are scarying me! shut up!" Me : (evil laugh) "HAHAHAHA!!!" But I still hate it when the guys do it to me. At least Jackson Lake's a lot less likely to have a huge aligator than a huge catfish that can swallow you! *shudder* ugh.
When I got back from the lake, I came here and put up groceries and stuff. My hair was super curly from the lake making it wet and having it up on the ride home. I wish I could get it to do this whenever I wanted it to. It looks more natural than with a curling iron or some other way. But oh well. I am gonna go do some Spanish work now! Boo to returning to reality.

Love,
Megs
ps- the pics are from the trip today-the dam we passed on the way, the girls who were in the car with me, the pavilion there and the view!

DON'T CHA...which this song was never sung?

For those of you who listen to the radio, ever have on MTV or some other way have heard the "Pussy-Cat Dolls" song Don't Cha, you know what I am talking about. It's stupid, and it's catchy. And I made the mistake of thinking it would be a funny way to pick on Tom while we were on the phone if I started to sing the chorus. I figured he would find it...annoying and silly, like I do, and would pretty much command that I stop singing stupid songs to him or he would hang up, at which point I was going to start singing at a much higher volume for about two more seconds right before I stopped. Why these ideas go through my head, I may never know. But it backfired when he found the song hilarious and decided that he and Ben need to do a rock and roll cover of it. Well. That wiped the smile right off my face. Not that it won't be hilarious to hear their version of the song, but I don't need any more help having annoying songs stick in my brain. If only it were that easy to remember all the rules and tenses of Spanish and the boring notes I take in Biology...not that my bio teacher is boring-quite the opposite. But anyway, the point is that this song is getting in the way of me and my life. I can't quit singing "dontcha wish your girlfriend was hot like me?" *sigh*....I'll just post the lyrics and let you see why it's so stupid for yourself....

Don't Cha

Oh, baby dolls

I know you like me (I know you like me)
I know you do (I know you do)
Thats why whenever I come around shes all over you
And I know you want it (I know you want it)
It's easy to see (it's easy to see)
And in the back of your mind
I know you should be home with me

[Chorus]
Dont cha wish your girlfriend was hot like me
Dont cha wish your girlfriend was a freak like me
Dont cha, dont cha
Dont cha wish your girlfriend was raw like me
Dont cha wish your girlfriend was fun like me
Dont cha, dont cha

Fight the feeling (fight the feeling)
Leave it alone (leave it alone)
Cause if it aint love
It just aint enough to leave a happy home
Let's keep it friendly (let's keep it friendly)
You have to play fair (you have to play fair)
See, I dont care
But I know she aint gon' wanna share

[Chorus]
Dont cha wish your girlfriend was hot like me
Dont cha wish your girlfriend was a freak like me
Dont cha, dont cha , baby
Dont cha wish your girlfriend was raw like me
Dont cha wish your girlfriend was fun like me
Dont cha, dont cha

I know I'm on your mind
I know we'll have a good time
I'm your friend
I'm fun
And I'm fine
I aint lying
Look at me, you aint blind [2x]

See, I know she loves you (I know she loves you)
I understand (I understand)
I'd probably be just as crazy about you
If you were my own man
Maybe next lifetime (maybe next lifetime)
Possibly (possibly)
Until then, Oh friend your'e secret is safe with me

[Chorus]
Dont cha wish your girlfriend was hot like me
Dont cha wish your girlfriend was a freak like me
Dont cha, dont cha
Dont cha wish your girlfriend was raw like me
Dont cha wish your girlfriend was fun like me
Dont cha, dont cha

This version of the song is a bit milder than the one with the f-bomb in it, but I assume the worse one is the version they have featuring Busta Rhymes. Oh my head. Funny story: One of my sorority sisters is in a class with a gay guy, and the other day in class he was singing a variation of this song..."Don't cha wish your BOYFRIEND was hot like me? Don't cha wish your boyfriend was a freak like me? Don't Cha Don't cha?" haha

This song is officially driving me crazy.
~Megs

Sick and Tired

of being sick and tired.....
Basically, I had a Spanish test Friday, a practice in-class composition in Spanish Monday, a Psych 2980 (Research Design) test Monday, babysitting tonight, and a test at 11 am for Marine Science tomorrow. I have to make up sleeping through my Marine Science lab(!!) today (due to heavy medication before bed) by going to a make up for it on Thursday. That means that I will have to go to my biology lab Thursday morning, miss some of biology lecture in order to make it to the MarS. make-up lab (it's really just a different lab section, but my TA is in charge of it, so she let me make it up then), and I don't get out of class till about 3:00. Also on Wednesday I have my small group then Campus Outreach. SO...yeah, I am going to CRASH Thursday night. I mean, WHEW I am tired, and I can't wait to be done with classes Friday. Tom will come down to see me which will be fun. Saturday he has his big brother/lil brother retreat on the lake (Jackson). Sunday, I am going to my sisterhood retreat and riding up with my lil and grand-lil and maybe some more girls too. (Fun times! woohoo!) we are going to Sandler's Creek State Park (Lake Hartwell) to hang out and get some sun and eat and just have a good time. I am excited to have a relaxing day, but honestly I know that I am going to end up bringing my Spanish book because I will have an in-class essay the next day and no, it's not open book. AAAUGH. I need Christmas break. And it's only September. .....I need to chill out.
I'm off to study more Marine Science. Please pray for me and my psycho schedule.
Love,
Meghan

Country Gal

Howdy!
I am still wearing my cowboy hat and boots as I type this up! hehe. Tonight was Gamma Phi Beta's Field Party Date Night- basically like the equivalent of Christmas in date night terms for me because I LOVE dressing out in my cowgirl clothes. Tom is actually in Panama City with his fraternity brothers, but since I couldn't just miss this event, I tagged along with a group of people that included Jessica (my lil sis), Kelsey (her roommate, whom I adore) and Angela (Kelsey's big sis that is in my pledge class, used to room with my big sis-Alicia, and whom I think is super fun to hang out with) and their dates Ben, Patrick, and Jeff. It was great to meet those guys- they are into music and serious about their Christianity. Hopefully I will be able to get Tom into Athens sometime when they can meet him-they were nice guys. There were some more people we sat with, but they drove separately. But everyone was fun to hang out with. We put down blankets in the field and ate KFC, because everyone knows that you eat fried chicken and mashed 'taters when ya live in the country. hehe! Also there was a big ole bonfire for the entire field of people to use, so we made smores- though I felt like the fire would melt my clothes bc it was so hot! The band was great again this year, and in one part they let this younger group play that could definately use some work.....by young I mean about 15 years old, and they were rhyming words with the same word. For example (this is from the chorus of a song they wrote): "Let's head back to Athens where we started out, We always had our friends there who helped us out." or something like that. It was cute, and obviously better than the music I have written, which at last count was none- but still, they need to do more work on their lyrics and singing too. Basically though, the field party was a smashing success (hehe who says that?) and it was a lot of fun.

Earlier today I had my first Spanish exam of the semester, and it was TOUGH. I feel like the more I go to class, the more stupid I become. Does that make sense at all? It does to me. Try to go to that class and you will understand how I feel. But anyway- I am SO glad it's the weekend because I can sleep late tomorrow and I get to see Alejandra and Tom (Saturday and Sunday respectively), but honestly I am just dying for next Friday to be here (after the classes, naturally). It's just that I have a Psych 2980 test on Monday and a Marine Science test on Wednesday. I also have the usually 17 hour schedule and that includes marine science lab on Tuesday at 9 (meaning wake up around 7:30) and babysitting Tuesday night- then heading back to study more for Marine Science test at 11AM the next day. UGH. I know this is morbid, but I know I am not the only one who has thought this (ahem-Jessica), but sometimes I think it would be easier to just "accidentally" step in front of a bus- not the whole way, but enough to go to the hospital for a few days- just to get a break from all this work and CRAZY schedule. But then I am like...I am losing my mind. Honestly, it wouldn't solve a thing- I would just be broken physically and still have to make up all that crap in the summer or some other time I don't want to do it. So...no bus accidents for me. Besides, that would really hurt and those busses...they are kinda huge and scary if they are screeching towards you- I don't want one coming at me.

I am super congested and my throat is killing me, so hopefully that will stop in the next few days. That would be great.

I am a grand-big sis now. Can you believe that? A GRAND big sis?? where has the time gone? Her name is Sophe Cook, and she is just awesome. I am so glad she is in our family. Basically, you get a family tree when you are adopted into a family as a lil sis. There are cute little names for a lot of the families...like : The Angel Family, The Princess Family, The Belle Family, The Pink Flamingo Family....and my family is nameless! We are like the...anonymous family or something because we were never named. But Jessica, Sophe, and I want to change all that. Any suggestions?

The posted pics are from tonight. They are of the group we were with, of Jessica and Sophe, and stuff like that. Enjoy.

Have a good weekend!
Love,
Meghan

Here, There and Everywhere

Hello All!
Yesterday was quite a day for me! I had a marine science lab at 9 AM, biology at 12:20, and an advising appointment at 3:00, but I actually got to start that early-allowing me out early which was great because I had to be at the house and ready to leave for Emory by 4:30. Whew. Basically, yesterday I had to go to Emory with some sisters because we are colonizing there (we sound like ants or something), and we needed to go up to meet the girls and help the people in charge of the Emory chapter answer any questions,just meet the girls, and give them a feel for what our sorority is like. That meant that I couldn't just get up and go to Marine Science lab looking cruddy. Boo.

Alright, so my advising appointment with Prof. Dowd was AWESOME. Basically, she is the best advisor in the world. We have the same birthday, so in the fall we always listen to each other's bday stories (she was at the beach, I hung out with friends at home). Then we get down to business, but somewhere in there we get to talking too, and she was asking about me and Tom and my promise ring. I promised her to come by or email her when we get engaged one day but told her it isn't happening any time soon! haha. Ok, so this is the best part- I have been wanting to study abroad in Costa Rica for a Maymester since I started thinking about it last semester. And I am definately going to pursue that. I also thought that would be a good tool to get me on track to graduate more closely to May of 2007. (Long story short, my first semester in my freshman year I was in a dif major, and I dropped a class- making my GPA and hours suffer. But she told me yesterday that I "recovered VERY nicely and no one would know if (I) didn't tell them." That made me feel better.) I asked her if I was on track to graduate in May '07. She said she didn't think so but we looked it over and found out that I am highly likely to graduate on time. Technically I am 2 hours short of being a junior, but since I am taking 17 hrs, I will be exactly in the middle of my jr year after this semester, and if I take 15 hrs next semester, I will be a senior at the end of the Spring Semester. By taking 2 classes in Costa Rica, I will actually put myself 6 hours ahead in my senior year, and that is fantastic! I am so excited about that. Even more exciting is that Alejandra is going to see if she can find a way to go on the CR Maymester with me and UGA. Sometimes schools will allow grades to transfer if you take classes on a study abroad trip with another school, so pray for that to work out- it would ROCK MY FACE OFF if she could come too! Next semester I am FINALLY going to be in upper level Spanish -Span 3010 (it is in conversation and composition..but harder than what I have been doing this semester and the last two semesters). In CR, I would be trying to get 2 more upper level Spanish classes out of the way. The downside of study abroad is that I can't take friends, Tom, and Family with me. That makes me so sad- I would be missing Jonathan's Med School graduation, Tyler's Third bday, and Me and Tom's 6-year anniversary. BOO on that. Dang it May-you are too popular of a month! No one better decide to get married this May, or I will hurt them!

Ok....So, Jessica rode to Atl with me, and that was SO MUCH FUN. We are so dorky, and I love hanging out with her. We just can talk about anything, and have a lot in common- like that we love Phantom of the Opera and Gamma Phi songs for example. She saw Phantom last Friday, and we had the soundtrack cds blaring and we were singing along. Now the notes in some of those songs are hard to hit anyway, but add to it that she is an alto and that I blew my voice out yelling at the game during parents weekend- I can't sing high notes right now. Did that stop us? NO. We were screeching out what would have been torturous sounds for anyone to have to listen to the whole way there and back, and then we would just die laughing; it really sounded that bad. At least I did- she actually wasn't so bad. Before we put in the Phantom music though, we were blaring my "Walkin' on Broken Glass" cd-basically it's a burned cd of songs that we sing in the a cappella group in Gamma Phi. The songs are for rush, for singing competitions, the national anthem for UGA athletic events (yes, we sing everywhere on campus but football games), etc. Basically, we are the only girls besides the song chair (I heart Jen Griffith!) that listen to that cd because we want to in our free time, not because we have to or need to. We also love that she is an alto and I am a soprano, because we harmonize on pretty much every song, and that is fun too. But yeah, just riding around with her and goofing off and talking meant I had a great evening.

Another thing that was fun was going to eat at Chili's with Megan, Megan, and Jess. (there are a ton of Meg(h)ans in my sorority). I didn't know Megan (Barclay,our President) or Megan (McDonald) very well, so it was fun to get to hang out with them. We went to the Kappa house at Emory because Megan B's older sister used to be one there and now works there as a chapter advisor. They have a condo where the 4 exec members live and where the chapter meets to have their chapter meetings. In August they are going to have "Sorority Village" at Emory available to all the sororities on campus- including Gamma Phi, which is awesome. Those houses will be spilt in two for housing two sororities per house, and they can hold 24 rather than 4 girls. Ok, after that we went to Chili's, and there was a guy (super overweight in his late 30s I would guess) there for a dude's bday as a singing telegraph. He was dressed in a full body leotard of light pink with fairy wings and a rainbow wig on his head. To complete the ensemble, he had a fairy wand that resembled one the kids I babysit have. Of course Jessica and I couldn't let him leave without getting a picture with him, so we caught him on the way out the door. We used her camera, so when she emails me the pics, I will try to remember to add them.

Ok that is all for now- I have a test on Friday in Spanish, in Psych 2980 on Monday, and in Marine Science on Wednesday, so I am going to be studying a lot for a bit. Pray for me!
Love,
Meghan

Back to the Drawing Board

Ok I don't have much time to post bc I have to leave soon! (as in..one minute!) I am gonna go eat with my pledge class at the house before chapter and am supposed to arrive at 5:15. It's 5:00 now.

Ok- This weekend was good, but Tyler, Lisa, Maddie, and Mom were all sick which was a bit sad. Tyler had croupe, so Jonathan and he missed the game. It was HOT there, and Mom, Dad, Sarah, and Jordan left early. Kristen and Tom stayed with me till third quarter, but then we decided to miss some of the traffic and head home. I had a good time over all though, and I think they did too. UGA could stand to do a lil better on the offensive line for blocking, but that is all I have to say about that. Tech is going to be tough to beat if we keep acting this way.

Alrighty, So funny thing happened in Spanish today. (Today was the best Spanish class I have had of the semester.) Basically this chapter in our book is over the sexes, and we discussed women's rights (derechos de los mujeres) in different countries. Then we split up (boys versus girls) to make a list of traits, jobs, sports, whatever to do with either guys or girls. Our teacher is a woman and she kept listening to the boys then coming over and telling us what they said, then she would give us ideas of what to put- it was so funny. One of the words she said was "caverniculos" or something like that, but it means cavemen. hehe. She had us put them on the board, and the we went over them all and the reactions were quite funny. She couldn't quit laughing when she got to cavemen! hehe. Well, I looked up and saw that they guys put (under women) "dependientes"- it means "dependent." So I ran up right before we went over it and wrote under our list for guys "dependientes de sus madres" (dependent on your mamas). When she got to the end of our list and read that out all the girls died laughing, and the guys were all saying "HEY!" Then we she read their list I asked "dependientes? de que?" (asking on what were we dependent) and then one guy said "de sus PADRES" (on your daddy!), and I replied "No-del dinero de mi padre!" (no- on the money of my daddy!") which sounds bratty, but I just meant it to be funny. Anyway, the whole exchange got the class laughing, and it was the first time this semester I REALLY enjoyed my spanish class, so I thought it was worth posting. YAY!

Ok, well time to go to the house. Tonight I have supper, chapter, then singing practice, then it's back here for more homework. Tomorrow I am headed to Emory to help out with a Q&A rush for Gamma Phi's first chapter there. WOO HOO for spreading out. If I see girls there that I met at Oxford, it's gonna be pretty funny.
YIKES- It's 5:14!!
~Meghan

Parent's Weekend and Stuff...

This week was a very long one, school-wise. I had a ton of stuff to do for classes every day not to mention a Bio test on Tuesday. But enough about that. I live for the weekends. This weekend is going to be great (I hope) because it's parent's weekend for Gamma Phi. That means that Kristen will be in town, and I haven't gotten to see her in a while so that is exciting. I wish James could come too, but he had to stay in St. Louis. It's also just great because Tom is staying at my house all weekend! But mainly what Parents Weekend means (this year anyway) is that Mom, Dad, Jonathan, Tyler, Kristen, Jordan, Sarah, Tom, and I will all be at the football game at UGA tomorrow, which is AWESOME. It's a lil less awesome bc we are playing Louisiana-Monroe, whoever they are. I don't mean that in a mean way...it's just...UGA is a great team, and I haven't gotten to see my dawgs play this semester yet. I was kind of wanting to see them beat a more high-profile team. But that's ok, because this weekend is going to be really fun.
I also had my first CO (Camous Outreach) small group this semester. We are going to be studying First Corinthians this semester. It's really special because my lil sis in Gamma Phi, Jessica, is our small group leader. I'm really proud of her. I can see a difference in maturity and also her faith since last year. Not to say she wasn't mature, but I just respect her even more now, and I love her to death.
Before I run off...I just gotta say...I just watched a "Super Sweet 16" by MTV....umm... The girl-Jazmin (she spelled it that way)- she is one of those people that could stand to be beaten up. I just wanted to...I don't know ...hurt her. What a brat. She actually had a stage and a VIP room, and if you weren't one of her VIP girls, you weren't allowed in there or on the stage or in her limo. She got mad at her best friend and kicked her off the VIP list the day before the party. She got a brand new BMW convertable for her bday present, and she had 360 ppl at her "Cali Beach" style party. She had guys hired to sit in lifeguard stands and take their shirts off at her command. She also flew to NYC on her parent's jet to shop for her dress. At the very end she actually said, "My party cost more than my parent's wedding...but I don't care- I deserve it....Princess Jazmin-duh!" If that isn't ridiculous, I don't know what is.
~Meghan

AAhhhhhYEAH

I had a wonderful weekend! Here's a quick rundown with some pics!...(more are on my moblog)!

Friday, I went to Atl to see Tom after classes, and I got my wallet back- YAY! Tom and I went to Theta Xi, and I got to meet his big bro, Jason, as well as some of Tom's other brothers! Jason is Theta Xi's President, and he is really nice and easy to talk to.

Then we headed back to his apartment. George and Alejandra came over, and we all walked to Moe's to eat with Robert Lee and Daniel. Afterwards, we walked back...Atl looks pretty cool at night with all the lights going on! We all hung out at the apartment for a while before George left, then Tom and I took Alejandra back to Emory a little while later.

Saturday I went to the Tech-UNC game...umm...UNC...not ranked. And Tech beat them by 6 points or so. Unfortunately. But that's ok- we were able to get back to the apartment in time to watch the end of the UGA game and see the Dawgs beat the Gamecocks. Whew- that was a close game (17-15)!! That night, Tom made hamburgers and we ate with Robert Lee, Daniel, Jordan and Sarah. It was pretty fun- Jordan and Sarah ended up hanging out with us till about 1am. I felt bad for Jessica (Daniel's gf) bc she kept commuting to work in Conyers and back to Atl. She is a waitress at Cafe Milano, and I can imagine how tired she was making that drive continuously all weekend.

Today, Mr. Tommy and Mrs. Patti took me and Tom to see The Phantom of the Opera at The Fox. It was great!!! I love theatre, and it was just so awesome because the seats were in Row B----yeah, that's right- SECOND ROW BABY! How generous of them, right? I am soooo happy that we were able to go with them! (Thanks again!)

After the play, I had to go back to Athens ASAP so that I could be at the house by 6:00pm. We were having The Annual Gamma Phi Beta Chili Cook-Off. It's our Fall philanthropy, and the money goes to about 3 or 4 different charities- usually it's the same ones year after year, but in light of the date (September 11th) we decided to give some of it to an organization for families of men and/or women in the armed forces, as well as families who lost someone in the Armed Forces.

Ok- I have a Biology test on Tuesday and have a lot of reading to do. Pray for me please!!
Love,
Meghan

Wallet and Katrina

Ok- first off...I got a new Drivers License so I could drive back to school Tuesday morning, and after I was here about an hour, Mom called. Apparently the GT Police found my wallet outside of a building at GT, and they called blockbuster in Athens for my number. (who knew being a member of blockbuster would be so helpful?) But Blockbuster wouldn't give my number, so they got his info and called my house- and gave the info to Mom. Mom called me, I called the police, and I talked to Capt. Thomas. Tom went to the police station and got the wallet for me. YAAAAAAAAAAAAAY! That is truly an answer to prayer, because pretty much everything was still in it! And thanks to all of you guys who prayed for it to be found.

Ok, that is all I have to type-I have some Spanish to get to. But I wanted to put in that blurb as well as paste in the rest of my post for this blog. It was emailed to me by Jennie Armstrong (I babysit for her and Scot every week), and I found it rather interesting....

An Unnatural Disaster: A Hurricane Exposes the Man-Made Disaster of the Welfare State
> >
> > by Robert Tracinski Sep 02, 2005 by Robert Tracinski
> >
> > It has taken four long days for state and federal officials to figure out how to deal with the disaster in New Orleans. I can't blame them, because it has also taken me four long days to figure out what is going on there. The reason is that the events there make no sense if you think that we are confronting a natural disaster.
> >
> > If this is just a natural disaster, the response for public officials is obvious: you bring in food, water, and doctors; you send transportation to evacuate refugees to temporary shelters; you send engineers to stop the flooding and rebuild the city's infrastructure. For journalists, natural disasters also have a familiar pattern: the heroism of ordinary people pulling together to survive; the hard work and dedication of doctors, nurses, and rescue workers; the steps being taken to clean up and rebuild.
> >
> > Public officials did not expect that the first thing they would have to do is to send thousands of armed troops in armored vehicle, as if they are suppressing an enemy insurgency. And journalists--myself included--did not expect that the story would not be about rain, wind, and flooding, but about rape, murder, and looting.
> >
> > But this is not a natural disaster. It is a man-made disaster.
> >
> > The man-made disaster is not an inadequate or incompetent response by federal relief agencies, and it was not directly caused by Hurricane Katrina. This is where just about every newspaper and television channel has gotten the story wrong.
> >
> > The man-made disaster we are now witnessing in New Orleans did not happen over the past four days. It happened over the past four decades. Hurricane Katrina merely exposed it to public view.
> >
> > The man-made disaster is the welfare state.
> >
> > For the past few days, I have found the news from New Orleans to be confusing. People were not behaving as you would expect them to behave in an emergency--indeed, they were not behaving as they have behaved in other emergencies. That is what has shocked so many people: they have been saying that this is not what we expect from America. In fact, it is not even what we expect from a Third World country.
> >
> > When confronted with a disaster, people usually rise to the occasion. They work together to rescue people in danger, and they spontaneously organize to keep order and solve problems. This is especially true in America. We are an enterprising people, used to relying on our own initiative rather than waiting around for the government to take care of us. I have seen this a hundred times, in small examples (a small town whose main traffic light had gone out, causing ordinary citizens to get out of their cars and serve as impromptu traffic cops, directing cars through the intersection) and large ones (the spontaneous response of New Yorkers to September 11).
> >
> > So what explains the chaos in New Orleans?
> >
> > To give you an idea of the magnitude of what is going on, here is a description from a Washington Times story:
> >
> > "Storm victims are raped and beaten; fights erupt with flying fists, knives and guns; fires are breaking out; corpses litter the streets; and police and rescue helicopters are repeatedly fired on.
> >
> > "The plea from Mayor C. Ray Nagin came even as National Guardsmen poured in to restore order and stop the looting, carjackings and gunfire....
> >
> > "Last night, Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco said 300 Iraq-hardened Arkansas National Guard members were inside New Orleans with shoot-to-kill orders.
> >
> > " 'These troops are...under my orders to restore order in the streets,' she said. 'They have M-16s, and they are locked and loaded. These troops know how to shoot and kill and they are more than willing to do so if necessary and I expect they will.' "
> >
> > The reference to Iraq is eerie. The photo that accompanies this article shows National Guard troops, with rifles and armored vests, riding on an armored vehicle through trash-strewn streets lined by a rabble of squalid, listless people, one of whom appears to be yelling at them. It looks exactly like a scene from Sadr City in Baghdad.
> >
> > What explains bands of thugs using a natural disaster as an excuse for an orgy of looting, armed robbery, and rape? What causes unruly mobs to storm the very buses that have arrived to evacuate them, causing the drivers to drive away, frightened for their lives? What causes people to attack the doctors trying to treat patients at the Super Dome?
> >
> > Why are people responding to natural destruction by causing further destruction? Why are they attacking the people who are trying to help them?
> >
> > Sherri figured it out first, and she figured it out on a sense-of-life level. While watching the coverage last night on Fox News Channel, she told me that she was getting a familiar feeling. She studied architecture at the Illinois Institute of Chicago, which is located in the South Side of Chicago just blocks away from the Robert Taylor Homes, one of the largest high-rise public housing projects in America. "The projects," as they were known, were infamous for uncontrollable crime and irremediable squalor. (They have since, mercifully, been demolished.)
> >
> > What Sherri was getting from last night's television coverage was a whiff of the sense of life of "the projects." Then the "crawl"--the informational phrases flashed at the bottom of the screen on most news channels--gave some vital statistics to confirm this sense: 75% of the residents of New Orleans had already evacuated before the hurricane, and of the 300,000 or so who remained, a large number were from the city's public housing projects. Jack Wakeland then gave me an additional, crucial fact: early reports from CNN and Fox indicated that the city had no plan for evacuating all of the prisoners in the city's jails--so they just let many of them loose. There is no doubt a significant overlap between these two populations--that is, a large number of people in the jails used to live in the housing projects, and vice versa.
> >
> > There were many decent, innocent people trapped in New Orleans when the deluge hit--but they were trapped alongside large numbers of people from two groups: criminals--and wards of the welfare state, people selected, over decades, for their lack of initiative and self-induced helplessness. The welfare wards were a mass of sheep--on whom the incompetent administration of New Orleans unleashed a pack of wolves.
> >
> > All of this is related, incidentally, to the apparent incompetence of the city government, which failed to plan for a total evacuation of the city, despite the knowledge that this might be necessary. But in a city corrupted by the welfare state, the job of city officials is to ensure the flow of handouts to welfare recipients and patronage to political supporters--not to ensure a lawful, orderly evacuation in case of emergency.
> >
> > No one has really reported this story, as far as I can tell. In fact, some are already actively distorting it, blaming President Bush, for example, for failing to personally ensure that the Mayor of New Orleans had drafted an adequate evacuation plan. The worst example is an execrable piece from the Toronto Globe and Mail, by a supercilious Canadian who blames the chaos on American "individualism." But the truth is precisely the opposite: the chaos was caused by a system that was the exact opposite of individualism.
> >
> > What Hurricane Katrina exposed was the psychological consequences of the welfare state. What we consider "normal" behavior in an emergency is behavior that is normal for people who have values and take the responsibility to pursue and protect them. People with values respond to a disaster by fighting against it and doing whatever it takes to overcome the difficulties they face. They don't sit around and complain that the government hasn't taken care of them. They don't use the chaos of a disaster as an opportunity to prey on their fellow men.
> >
> > But what about criminals and welfare parasites? Do they worry about saving their houses and property? They don't, because they don't own anything. Do they worry about what is going to happen to their businesses or how they are going to make a living? They never worried about those things before. Do they worry about crime and looting? But living off of stolen wealth is a way of life for them.
> >
> > The welfare state--and the brutish, uncivilized mentality it sustains and encourages--is the man-made disaster that explains the moral ugliness that has swamped New Orleans. And that is the story that no one is reporting.
> >
> > Source: TIA Daily -- September 2, 2005

Welcome to CrazyWorld

This weekend was NOT normal. Ok...so Friday Tom and I were supposed to go swing-dancing at this free swing-dance lesson that Tech provides, with Davey and Kristen, and two of her friends and two of the Theta Xi brothers. Before I left for Atlanta on Friday afternoon, Tom called to say that they found out the event wasn't occuring that weekend and that we would do it some other time. Disappointing, but not the end of the world.

I arrived at the apartment, and I met Kristen's friends, Meaghan and Stacy. They were really nice and fun to be around. I also spent a little time talking to Daniel and Robert Lee, then I went into Tom and Davey's side of the house to wait to go eat. We went out to eat at a BBQ place, where I had sweet tea bc I wasn't that hungry anyway, and I don't eat bbq- called Ribs and Blues. And then we went across the street to Marble Slab to get treats- mmmm cake-batter milkshake with heath bar pieces for me. All of this was Tom's treat, and I thought it was sweet of him. Correction: all of what I ate was Tom's treat. haha. Robert Lee spilt from the rest of the group to go see a friend after that, and the rest of us continued on to Theta Xi.

At Theta Xi, Alejandra called me, and OH MY GOSH. It was so good to hear from her. I just LOVE her, and I haven't gotten to talk to her since she stayed with me at the end of the semester last spring. She has been in France and Texas and Costa Rica, and everywhere but here, so FINALLY she is back! =) *grin* I talked to her for about 20 minutes, but we were all walking back to the apartment by that point and I felt rude, plus she had to go see someone, so we hung up. While I was on the phone, everyone that I was walking with had stopped to play frisbee, so I pulled out my camera and took some pics after hanging up with Alej.

Fast-forward to Saturday. My car is packed and I am carrying my purse out there. I had taken all my cameras out of my purse, so it was lighter...but TOO light. So I look inside, and sure enough- no wallet. I thought, "must have fallen out in Tom's room." Nope. We tore that apartment apart, took everything out of everyone of my bags, called both Ribs and Blues and the Marble Slab we went to, drove around where we walked, looked in Theta Xi, asked around, called Davey and the girls to see if they had it, called Melissa (my roommate) to see if it was in my room, and Tom even drove me out to Athens so we could check for ourselves that it wasn't there. And it wasn't. It wasn't in my car either. My dad checked when I got home. THIS IS BAD. I hope that last sentence was pretty much stating the obvious to those who actually read this, but I just wrote it, because that kept running through my head. The only other place it could be is in the office of my apartment complex, and that is closed on weekends. (and today is Labor Day). SO, I was freaking out, and called my sister, Kristen, to see what she would do. She said she would call Mom for me since I was so upset, and she did. I don't know what I would do without my sister. She is seriously one of my best friends, and just was there for me, even in St. Louis when she was trying to have fun with her husband at a Sumo Exhibition. =)

And, yeah, mom was pretty mad. But I would say that overall, it sucks more for me than anyone. I mean, I lost my drivers license, my student id, my spare key to my car, my money, my checks from babysitting and other stuff, my frequent buyer cards, my pictures, my atm card, and my visa-which makes the family mad at me because they can't use theirs either. So...yeah. Stinks for me.

PLEASE pray that it shows up sometime. (Sometime soon. as in...now). I am already having to rearrange my entire Tuesday schedule so that I can go to my Marine Science lab (9:05am) because I have to go get a new license on Tuesday just so I can drive myself back to school. I also have to babysit tomorrow, so I get the fun of telling them what happened with that check. I guess they could see online if someone deposited it. I get to tell two other ppl the who story too-I had already signed their checks. And whoever has my wallet has my id, so it shouldn't be too hard. I really hope it is in the office and not stolen. I just don't know when it would have been taken, and it's hard to think I just left if somewhere because I didn't take it out to use it since Thursday night when i bought gas. I distinctly remember getting into my car, holding my wallet, and looking at the crazy price of the gas on the receipt before putting it back in my purse. My dad double checked my car when I got home too. It seems hopeless, but it didn't disappear into thin air, and God has done more miraculous things than make someone's wallet turn up in the past. So please just pray for it.

OK, other than the wallet situation, I watched the Dawgs WALLOP the Broncos Saturday evening, then watched Tech upset the War Eagles/Tigers- whatever Auburn is, that night. And that was fine by me. I don't like Auburn any more than the next bulldog. =) Not that I was exactly rooting for Tech. I just sort of sat there in awe of how different Auburn was after they lost so many players from last season.

Sunday-church and lunch (steak, yummy) with family, then I made some cookies, Jordan and Sarah came by, and Tom came over, so that was fun. We all hung out and played with Maddie and Tyler- who are both so funny. Then we went to his house where Mr. Tommy and Mrs. Patti made some awesome supper. (chicken this time) Henry, Will, Jordan, Sarah, Ben, Tom, and I ate with them. Jordan had to take Sarah back to her car, so he left. And we swam for a while then got out and played Hoopla with Davey and the girls when they came back and Jordan when he got back. Overall, Sunday was fun, minus the lost wallet situation. Jordan got an ipod with picture capability, so he is pretty excited about that, and I think it's awesome. I heart my Ipod.

Alrighty, well I need to get moving. I want to play with Tyler and Maddie some. Tom is coming over at 12:30 or so to eat lunch with me before he heads back to Tech. *smile* I was planning to go back to Athens today, but I guess not. It feels weird to be immobile. I even had a nightmare that I got pulled over and I didn't have my license so my mom was supposed to bring it to me in Athens, but my wallet was still gone and she was just mad. It woke me up. freaky...

Later on!
Much Love,
Megs

Just Stop It.

Ok. Here's the deal. I was just thinking about this weekend as I looked at all the blogs of friends that I have bookmarked. I saw something that reminded me of so many comments I have heard about other blogs....basically everyone is worried that their blog isn't original enough, entertaining enough or whatever. People read others' blogs and critique them as if they were a term paper or a book. It's ridiculous. They talk about how much they hate some peoples' blogs or how much they just complain or talk about stupid pointless things. Here's an idea- you don't like it? DON'T READ IT. No one is holding you at gunpoint to make you read their livejournal, blogspot, xanga, or whatever else there is out there. No one should have to pass your approval to post their point of view, complaints, praise, random ramblings, thoughts or how their day went. If you don't think it is worth reading, don't. And if you think it's stupid what they wrote, then don't put it into your brain by continuing to go back to that blog and reading it's updates. JUST STOP IT. You don't like people complaining on their blogs? you don't have to see it. But we don't have that luxury of just shutting you up when we don't want to hear YOUR complaints. We can't close you like a tab or window on the internet. If you don't like reading people's complaints on their blogs or anything else about their day or thoughts, then maybe you shouldn't share those things with people ever at all either. Just an idea. It's just a blog. Get over it.

Change of Plans

The first week of classes is over, and the second week picks up again tomorrow. It's been pretty busy, and the classes are already running full speed ahead. I am going to be worn out by the end of every week, and I have a feeling that all I will want to do every break I get is sleep. My teachers all seem pretty good, but incredibly intense on their topic of expertise. For example, my Biology teacher- Prof. Darley. He seems like a reallly nice guy. He is in his late 60s and has been teaching for 35 years. This is his last year teaching....and he loves Biology so much. I mean...the first day of class he was flipping through some pictures of algae that were taken under a microscope, and continued to say, "Isn't it beautiful??" And then he showed us his "favorite algae," and he was so excited when he talked about how much time he spends growing algae and that we are going to study some of the algae which he has grown if we are in the corresponding lab. (I am). The guy could not be a bigger dork if he went to Georgia Tech. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Yes, he could be. *wink* =)>

Ok, so this weekend turned out a bit differently than expected. I found out that my lake weekend was actually one night. That meant I would leave after class Friday for Lake Lanier and then return Saturday whenever I chose to do so. That was great because I could still hang out with Tom, Claire, and Phillip on Sat night....Only everything changed. Thanks to the hurricane...I guess....the Lake weekend was canceled. Friday I got a message to let me know that they were sorry but had to cancel. No explanation, so that was the most logical guess I could make. Then Tom already had plans...as did everyone else in Athens as of 2:30 pm Friday, so I called my dad about heading home. Mom is out of town, so I went home and we had KFC and watched I Robot. SUPER GOOD movie. I was actually surprised bc I expected it to not be that great. After I went upstairs to go to bed, Jordan got home, and we ended up hanging out talking in my room till about 4:30. That was fun bc I don't get to see him often.
Saturday, Ben and Lacey came by to eat lunch and hang out some, then they left for Atl, and I left for Athens. I called Claire to see if she wanted to hang out (Phillip is out of town for the weekend), and couldn't get a hold of her. Sooo Tom and I decided to go ahead and eat. But we ended up waiting too long to eat- messing around on facebook, doing laundry,etc- and we had to make supper instead. But it was good (Hamburger/Chicken helper), and we watched some Matrix.

That has pretty much been my weekend. I have to study today for a Spanish quiz-wish me luck- tomorrow, as well as do a lot of my Spanish homework in which I am entirely behind. UGH. I am not in the mood for hw at all!! I can't seem to focus on classes...it's like I am all in a sudden ADD. I just don't want to do anything at all, and I know it sounds lazy, but I just can't concentrate on it. I mean, I will do the work, but it just seems annoying and takes forever to do. I guess I am still just adjusting to the swing of things again. I need to break out of summer mode.
Ok- outta here
Later my hoes. =)
Love,
Megs

Classes

Hola!!
Classes have been going in full swing, and I've been busy keeping up. This semester I have 17 hours - Biology 1104 and the lab, Marine Science and the lab, Spanish 2002(the third semester I've had of it), Psychology of parenting, and Psychology Research. I also go to Chapter every Monday, babysit pretty much every week, go to Campus Outreach every wednesday, and go to Gamma Phi's singing practice every week. So far we haven't had singing practice yet, but we are supposed to have a meeting about it soon, and the first CO of the year is tonight. But you get the drift- I'm busy and pretty tired.

Today, Mom is coming up, and after classes Mom is going to pick me up so we can go have ice cream! I know I sound like a little kid, but I am really excited!! =) Also, this weekend, I might be going to a CO lake weekend at Lake Lanier. They are going to go for two nights, and there are passes to the lake and waterpark for two days or something- fun times! If for some reason it doesn't work out though, like-I don't get out of classes before they need to leave- Tom is going to come visit me in Athens, and we are going to see Claire and Phillip some, which is always so fun! Either way, I am really ready for the weekend to arrive.

Tom ended up pledging Theta Xi last night, and I am SO excited for him. I really am glad that he is involved in such a great Christian group of guys, and I pray that they will be an uplifting outlet from school for him! =) I am sure that it will be so fun for him to be in a group like that!! I can't wait to see how it all goes...oooooh- two formals this year instead of just Gamma Phi's!! YAY- more fun!

Ok, off to more classes! I miss everyone who isn't at UGA...I hope all is well!
Love,
Meghan

If I don't update now...

...I never will. So I'm gonna do it now. =)

Ok...On the ninth of August, I packed up my car and headed back to Athens. I met with all the Rho Chis and the Panhellinic Exec in Memorial Hall (where the Greek Life Office is Located) and we talked about Rush-formally known as Recruitment, were assigned rooms and roommates, and did yet another ice breaker. This time what we did was tell tell our names, where we are from, something interesting about ourselves and answer a "would you rather" question. (Meghan Patton, Covington, I volunteered at Noah's Ark- an animal rescue center-this summer, and the question "Would you rather be able to fly or be able to read people's minds?" My answer: fly- that would be so cool. And I don't think I want to know what people are thinking a lot of the time- especially about me. haha). Then I got to know my roommates- Jess (Sigma Kappa) and Meredith (Delta Zeta). We were supposed to have 4 girls per room at the Holiday Inn, but Karen- our 4th, is a SK also, and we cannot room with girls in the same sorority, so she moved out- freeing up shower time, so that was convenient. I really am sooooo fortunate to have gotten to know those two roommates of mine so well. They are sweet and funny and fun to be with.

Being a Rho Chi (Formal name= Recruitment Counselor) is hard hard hard work, but well worth it. I LOVED this rush experience more than any other that I have had previously other than maybe when I found out I received a bid from Gamma Phi and when I found out that my lil sis- my rush crush- had taken our bid and was joining our sisterhood. I would recommend trying out for this position to anyone and am seriously considering trying again this year. I met so many girls that were fellow rho chis and consider them to be true friends. By the end of the two weeks we were together, we were hugging goodbye, though we would see each other the next day- bid day. And on Bid Day, when we saw each other, it was hugs again- and we felt like it had been forever. I was suprised at how close to my heart these girls became in a matter of weeks, and I really do miss them already.

So, what did we do? Well.....

The day before rush started, We all spilt into various locations to sign in the girls and answer any questions they or their mothers might have. That night we had an orientation session for them to give them a general idea of safety, of recruitment rules, and of who we are. The Rho Chis did a lil skit to make fun of rush- the 12 Days of Recruitment (rather than Christmas-ha).
12-Cups of water
11-Frat boys Drooling
10-Speeding Buses
9-Notecards missing
8-Packs of Breath Mints
7-Red Vests Strutting
6-Same Questions
5-Maxi Pads
4-Hours of Sleep
3-Ringing Bells
2-Comfy Shoes
And Don't forget your nametag!

If you have ever experienced Sorority recruitment at UGA, you will understand that song. =)

Then we all broke up to the locations we will meet in our small groups throughout the week and waited for the girls to be dismissed to that location. We each had about 18 girls in our group, and it was to these 18 girls that we were more personally Rho Chis. Throughout the week, any girl can approach a Rho Chi for help or advice, but when it is time to meet at the end of the day, withdraw, rank sororities, or have a heart to heart, our girls have us- the ones they meet with twice a day (in the morning and in the afternoon) to talk to. My group was awesome. I loved them all and I wish them all the best. They were so beautiful, smart and talented that I felt like a proud mama hen. By the end of the week, 8 of my 18 decided that they would like to withdraw from the process, but there is nothing I could do about that. I couldn't do anything about what houses invited them back, and 6 out of 8 times, that is why they withdrew. The other 2 decided that they weren't ready to be Greek at all in that point in time. It was too overwhelming for them. No matter what the reason, I wanted the girls to be happy, so I tried to be there for them, convince them to do all they could so they would look back on withdrawing with no regrets, then showed them where to withdraw if they were certain. The other 10 went through the whole way, and were happy to receive a wonderful array of bids on bid day. I'm proud to say that two of my own girls went into Gamma Phi!!

Ok...So: The first day of rush I was stationed at Alpha Gamma Delta. That means that I never left that post (except for lunch) and I was there to make sure that they were timing according to our rules on how long they could talk to the girls, have their doors open, and f0llowed all the other rules on rush. There are SO many rules...for example: no singing or cheering may take place outside of the doors of any sorority house, all pictures of Rho Chis and Exec members must be covered- and the coverings may not have "rho chi" or "exec" or any other such title on them, only water may be served in the first round, etc. They are allowed an exact amount of time for each round, and if they do not close their door by the time that the stationary Rho Chi has it on her stop-watch, then they are fined. The first time is a warning, but after that they can be fined up to $100 each time and a social. ...intense, huh? Your sorority could lose an entire social calendar in the first round or rush. UGA has the second most detailed and intense recruitment process in the nation...I think Alabama is the only one ahead of us. AGD didn't get a single violation while I was there. I did learn a lot of their songs though. "Oh How I love those Alpha Gams so deep deep so down down in my heart *clap* wooo!"

Day Two- Still Round one of Rush, but I was a GLO girl...Greek Life Office Girl. We do anything that is needed- filing, pencil sharpening (this sounds easy until you realize we sharpened over 1200 pencils), correcting ranking sheets (we had to mark through Delta Phi Epsilon on every sheet- again about 1200x4 because it was one sheet per girl per day she ranked) because DPhiE didn't do rush this year in order to strengthen Alumni ties. We also have to be avaliable to take later girls to houses they are supposed to be at via the vans, and to help out any Rho Chis or girls that need us to come to a house or whatever. But the best part is you are in Air Conditioning all day long, and if you get done with everything, you get to relax- maybe even sleep. That is a pretty big deal because sleep is not a luxury we got much of. Often we would get in bed around 12 am, and we had to be back ready to go for role call by 5:30 am. And that means we had to get up around 4:30. Wooo-hoo. I was exhausted by the end of the week. I was exhausted by the first day. But anyway....

Day three- Round Two of rush- House Tours/12 parties. I was a rotating Rho Chi, and there were 12 houses. That meant a LOOOOONG day. I traveled from house to house and had to call out the roll at each house of all the girls that were invited back to the party of the house I was at. Then the stationary Rho Chi and I would go inside and make sure that all the rules were being adhered to during the house tours. That was probably the worst day for "dirty rushing." Girls were alone with Sorority members in house or doors weren't opened all the way to some rooms with girls inside....it just had to be reported, so we didn't have to confront the sorority- the Exec did.

Day Four- Round Three- Skits/6 Parties. This round all the sororities perform skits for the girls that they invite back. I was stationed at AGD again this day, and they didn't have any viloations again. It was awesome- they never broke rules, so it made my job so easy!! Their skit was cute, and they teased the Rho Chi's with it, which caught me off guard the first time. They had been saying in one part "Yeah I thought that would be cool, but it turns out that was as cool as a Georgia Tech party!" But the third time they surprised me with "That was about as cool as those Wal-Mart vests that the Rho Chis are wearing all the time." And the other girl repiled, "Yeah, rolling down Milledge, Rolloing back prices." I gotta hand it to them, they totally deserved props for that one. You see, Milledge is the Road that most of the Greek houses are located on, and the Rho Chis are always wearing blue vests so that people know who we are in case they need us and so that we can do our job more effectively. We really did look like Wal-Mart workers, and the exec members had the same vests in red, hence number 7 in the 12 Days of Recruitment song.

Day Five-Pref Round/3 Parties. This is the last day of Rush, and the one that the sororities use to really try to seal the deal with the pnms (Potential New Members) so that they will put them number one on their bid list when they rank at the end of the day. That day, I was on bus duty, and I was on bus nine- the Gamma Phi Beta bus. That means that I was the girl who was on the loud speaker (haha, Tom) over the bus, and told the girls where all the stops were and how to get to each house. Because I was on the GPB bus, we stopped outside of Gamma Phi everytime that the partys were ending, and I would load girls from there and nearby houses on the bus and take them to their next party or back to Tate or the Greek Life Office. It about killed me to have that job, because as a Rho Chi, I had to disaffiliate from my sorority on August 1st, and I hadn't seen or spoken to my sisters since then. Seeing them standing right there and pretending not to even know them was SOOO hard. These girls are some of my best friends, and I missed them so much. But I did get to know the bus driver lady- Mrs. Elizabeth, and she was sweet and easy to talk to. I also got some free time in between rounds to chill on the bus- we waited at the Varsity in the parking lot between shifts, and while I was looking around at the adds on the bus, I noticed that I am in the top corner of a picture on an add! It is an add for all the choral groups at UGA, and I was in the UGA Women's Glee Club my Spring semester my freshman year- it was a picture from one of our concerts. That was a pretty exciting discovery.

So the next day, Thursday, was the first day of class as well as bid day. After classes, we had to be back at the GLO by 4:30. We practiced doing our last skit, and then saw the bids we were to hand out to our girls. I was pretty excited to hand them out- none of my girls mismatched, and all but one got their first choice- and she got her second, so that's not too shabby. We went downstairs in Tate to do our last skit, and it was to reveal what sorority we were in to the girls- they didn't know what sorority we were in the entire time, and my girls were sooo surprised- all but maybe one, and even she wasn't sure. What we did was mix up all over the stage with our vests on covering out t-shirts, which had our letters on them. We would all sing "If I weren't a Rho Chi, I tell you what I'd be. If I weren't a Rho Chi, an XYZ I would be!" and then the girls in XYZ sorority would run to the front of the stage and rip off their vests to reveal the letters, and do one of their sorority's cheers. We did that from Alpha Chi Omega to Zeta Tau Alpha, and then we all went to our spots we had been meeting our girls at all week. They dismissed the girls a minute later so they could come meet us, and we handed out their bids. I was so excited for these girls. Anyone who can go through the hell that is UGA sorority rush deserves to get a bid.

The bad parts of being a Rho Chi is being the bearer of bad news when you have to hand out a schedule that is mostly empty to a girl, and she comes to you with tears in her eyes and tells you she just doesn't understand. Or when you have to help someone withdraw. Or when a girl cries to you for hours because she is so torn on sororities- on of which is yours, and you have to be completely unbiased. Or when a girl drops out of rush because a certain sorority cut her....and it was your sorority. That is so tough to stomach, and it made me get misty-eyed more than once. Some of the other rho chis flat out cried once they were in private. It's not easy to see someone get hurt, or to know that the piece of paper you have to hand them in a minute is enough to make or break their day. I am so grateful that when I went through rush, God made it where I wasn't hurt by being cut from sororities. I was surprised sometimes, but not enough that I was hurt.

But anyway, so we had a bid day party that night, and Gamma Phi's theme was Cinderella. "The perfect fit" We had three horse drawn carriages that made rounds picking up our new pledge class (we met quota by the way!) and we gave them crown shaped name tags to pin to their dresses and tiaras to wear in their hair, and rode them to the house, where they were awaited by cheers and screams from the sorority. There were also tons of cheers from the boys who spent the entire night cruising by the sorority houses screaming like they hadn't seen females in years. Typical of rush in Athens though...

One of the best things about bid day for me was being reunited with my sisters. I couldn't help but cry by the 10th hug and "I missed you- rush wasn't the same without you." Even now thinking about it makes me misty... I really love those girls. A homecoming like that is something I will always treasure.

Classes went well enough- I still have some homework to get to before tomorrow. Also, I came up to see Tom this weekend. I am so proud of him because he went to a couple of rush events at Theta Xi, and is now an associate (pledge, but given more respect) of that fraternity. I can honestly say that that fraternity has earned my respect above and beyond any other fraternity I have ever seen. They are a great group of Christian guys, and I pray that they have great things in store for Tom. I have had a great time hanging out with everyone up here this weekend and am impressed with how well they have pulled the house together.

Ok, well I have to run do some other stuff. If you have actually read all that I typed- it took me almost two hours to get it all out- I am impressed, and you now have a good bit more knowledge of Rho Chi stuff and how my life has been the last few weeks. I hope all is well with your life, and leave me a message to let me know how you are!
Love,
Megs

Rush is over

...for the most part. I have to meet tomorrow to reveal my sorority affiliation and hand out the bids, then we have the bid party. I am so exhausted that I don't even want to sit up long enough to be on the computer and type up a blog. I am going to lay down...or get stuff out of my car then lay down. I hope I don't fall asleep before finding something to eat tonight. I haven't eaten well lately what with rush and all...
I'll blog when I can next- my first day of classes are tomorrow, and I will be sleeping LATE...at least compared to what I've been doing getting up between 4am and 5am lately.
Peace-out my hoes.
~Megs

Survey Says....

....Amazing boyfriends are Southern Gentlemen from my neck of the woods. =) I want to update about this week, and that is wonderful because it means I have total bragging rights for The McFarlin boys as well as Mr. Thompson. (aka:Tom, Ben, and Davey dating me, Lacey, and Kristen Bos.)

Monday:
I went shopping with Tom all day long, which was a lot of fun, although we were supposed to be shopping for him and it seemed like when we went into stores he chose, he was too picky and I ended up buying something I had forgotten I needed. So in the end, I had more stuff than he did. That was not how it was supposed to go, but oh well. I learned that Tom is really picky about shoes, but that is something I should be learning from. Shoes are a weakness of mine, and I tend to own way more than I should. At least, I can claim that a ton of them are flip-flops, which do get a lot of wear from me bc I LOVE flipflops, so I need to get them in every color to get with every outfit. *wink* While we were shopping, Tom treated me to lunch- as well as drove everywhere. Take notes, guys: ask girl to shop all day, offer to drive, pay for lunch. That's how it's done. =)

Ok, so Monday was Lacey's sixteenth birthday, and Ben was at home BAKING HER A CAKE- something he had never made before (but it was really good)- as a surprise, when Tom and I left for the mall. He also knew she wanted a "True Love Waits" ring, so he already had that. But in order to keep her guessing, he gave Tom some money to get her a T-shirt at PacSun. He was throwing her a surprise bday party that night (SO SWEET...Tom did that for my 17th bday), and he planned to give her the shirt then, and then the ring when he dropped her off at her house that night. Now that is what I am talking about. Throw me off by buying me two presents rather than one anytime you want. *wink* So at the mall I picked out 4 shirts I liked, and we sent pictures to Ben via Tom's phone and Ben picked out the second shirt. That night he took her out to eat, then came home to a surprise party, then gave her the presents (turns out she had wanted that exact shirt when she had gone shopping w/o Ben but they didn't have it in her size- so he really knew her taste), then ate the cake he made her, then we all hung out before going home, which is when he gave her the ring she had wanted. A+ Ben!!

Tuesday:
I was supposed to go to Atlanta to help Tom and Ben assist Davey in cleaning and painting his bedroom at their house, but I ended up staying home to finish the final cleaning of my closet and room. I took two huge black trash bags full of stuff from my room to the dump, and I have more stuff to take still. I also filled two of the same size bags with stuff to give away or sell at a consignement shop and hung up about 150 things to take to the shop. good gracious. OK, so instead of making me feel bad about not being able to come, Tom told me he understood then sent me sweet messages and some pictures of the updated apartment via our phones throughout the day so I could see what I wasn't there to see. He also made a short video of Davey's painted room so I could see how it looked. Awww. Kristen drove into Atlanta that day (she and Davey are going Sunday to Mississippi to see her extended family, so she needed to drive), and Tom and Davey had planned a suprise double date for us (and they had been planning several such dates for us for about a month, but I had plans to babysit Thurs and Friday this week, so it threw some of those plans off...oops).

So, about 8:00, I am getting into Tom's car and happened to glance down in time to see there was something in my seat and jumped back out before I smushed it. What was it you ask? A single long-stem rose (red- my fave color for roses, plus romantic, ahhh). It was absolutely beautiful and it smelled divine. I have a picture of it on my moblog, so check it out. Ok, so then Tom and I drive out to Davey's mom's house and there we had fondue with Davey, Kristen, Laura (d's sister) and Mrs. Anna (his mom). IT WAS AWESOME. What was there to fondue you ask? Steak, chicken, shrimp, broccolli, bread, apples, strawberries. To fondue in? Oil, Cheese, and Chocolate. There was also ice cream and cookies to go with the strawberries and chocolate. I never knew that Apples would taste good in melted cheese, but it's true. They were awesome. I didn't eat the shrimpies bc I don't like seafood, but I had a lot of steak and bread, some chicken, and a couple pieces of broccolli- which I normally hate, but it was good when smothered in cheese. After dinner and dessert, we were supposed to go to Davey's dad's house to go sit on the dock and star gaze (how sweet is that??) and I think they said something about a telescope too, but we ended up eating and talking for so long that it was 11:30pm, and Tom and I decided to head home. Now, girls, that was impressive, wasn't it? Tom and Davey making plans while talking online an ocean apart (Davey was in France when these plans were made) and what were they planning to do? Treat me and Kristen to a series of sweet dates. Getting writer's cramp guys? Don't stop taking notes yet...

Wednesday:
For my birthday (in June), Tom knew I wanted a Warped Tour ticket SO BADLY, and I didn't expect to get one, honestly. But I did, from Tom, and Warped Tour was Wednesday. I was incredibly excited about it because I knew MXPX and Relient K would be there, and I love those bands!!!!!! When we got there, there were a gazillion ppl milling about, and a lot needed to put some more clothes on, but that is not the point. Anyway, Ben and Lacey came along- Ben bought her ticket as well as his so she could come. None of us had anything to eat all day, but we kept buying powerade and water and drinking that because it was REALLY HOT and we were trying to stay hydrated. We headed over to listen to Relient K around 12:00 (they played at 12:20), but when we got over there, we saw signs saying that MXPX was signing stuff for free right there, so we got in line. About 20 min later, we were meeting Tom, Yuri, and Mike, getting pictures (moblog) and getting a free poster signed! I cannot even explain how awesome that was, and I mean, if I had done nothing else that day, that would have been an awesome birthday present! =) So when we got done posing and talking to them, we headed over to Relient K and they did a great show.

We took a break in some shade then went to listen to MAE perform. On the way we were....forced to listen to some other bands...ugh. I mean, the bands had talent, but they needed to get rid of their singers. I use that word liberally because most of the guys sounded like they threw up on the mic, and the one chick band that we heard....well I couldn't tell if she was speaking English in any of the songs. And she was American. It was weird and annoying. But anyway, Mae was awesome, and I am gonna buy their cd sometime soon, I hope. Props to Lacey for wanting to hear them- they are one of her fave bands.

At 3, we went and met Relient K and got autographs and pics (again moblog) with 4/5 of the band members, and it was so cool, because I realllly love their music! After that we went to listen to MXPX perform, and we managed to get right up to the front where only one girl was between me and the rail in front of the stage. That crowd was crazy, with lots of jumping and crowd surfing and shoving, and it was so fun! I was glad to have that girl between me and the rail because I got pushed into her so much, and it would have hurt to stand where she did. (she was cool about it though) And the show? IT ROCKED MY FACE OFF. MXPX did a good sampling of their music drawing from several cds, and then they made my day again by telling the crowd that they would be coming to Atl again in the fall with Rufio and Relient K!!!! YAY!

After MXPX performed, Lacey and I bought some t-shirts, then we all headed back to Ben's truck. On the way home we stopped at Blimpies, in Conyers near their house...I love that Blimpie guy! He knows who we are and he asked how UGA was going, he asked my major and how I liked it. Such a sweet dude (he's old enough to be my dad). Ok, so then Tom handed me some money and said to get whatever I wanted, which was really sweet...especially since I had no money on me after getting a t-shirt, but I was going to pay with credit, then I didn't have to. *smile* That was a really awesome day. And the guys drove and paid for everything (except the shirts and maybe a drink or two, which is cool with me). Awesome, right?? That night we hung out with Will at the McFarlin's before heading home. And that's not all...

Thursday:
Thursday, Tom, Ben, and Davey all decided we should go to Factory Shoals to eat lunch and swim. For those of you who aren't from Covington, FS is a river that has rapids and ends in a lake. (http://www.americanwhitewater.org/rivers/id/3372/). Well, that morning I was taking stuff to the consignment shops, so I wasn't able to get any food before heading out there, so Tom made me a pb&j and brought me a Sprite (bc he knows I can't have caffeine often or my kidneys get infected) and he also packed some chips and an oatmeal creamed pie. Now that is sweet! April came by to say hey to everyone since she lives about a mile down the road, and then after she left, we all got in the water. You have to be careful out there for the rapids and the snakes. People drown out there every year, and you don't wanna get caught under a rock or slip and hit your head on one. Obviously we were all just fine, and we had a great time, too. We all slipped a little, but it was more funny than anything. I thought it was sweet for the guys to plan it.

Thursday night I babysat in Athens, and today I am going to run errands with Mom. Tonight I am babsitting in Covington. That pretty much has you up-to-date. I had really good reasons to brag on those guys, and you know that if you read the book I just wrote on them! haha. Well, I have to go finish getting ready so mom and I can leave.

Adios!
Love,
Meghan

Meghan's Travels

Today was pretty tiring. After church and lunch, Tom and I went to Athens. I guess now is the time to mention that every time I went somewhere today, I drove. I just want to make that clear before I continue. Ok, so I drove to church and back, then to Athens. Tom was sweet enough to help me pack up some clothes to take to my apartment and help me unload it there. He then hung out and played guitar while I unloaded all of the clothes to their appropriate spots in my room.

After a quick stop by Marble Slab for some milkshakes...which ended up being supper....We headed out to Tech. YES. You heard that correctly. I DROVE TO ATLANTA. Not just sort of on I-85 for a minute till the first exit like before when I went to the mall with Melissa, but all the way to Tom's apartment. I was so freaked out, I almost cried at one point. I had clinched my teeth so much on the ride that I had a headache when I got to the house. Now, some of you may think this is a bit hyped up. I mean it's just a drive to Atlanta. No big deal, right? WRONG. I NEVER EVER drive in Atl, so it is really scary for me. I almost cried at one point because I was worrying, but I pulled it together. Tom sort of chilled me out by coaching me through the whole thing- telling me what exits to use and when to get over in lanes. I honestly wouldn't have wanted to ride into Atl for the first time like that with anyone else. I was so nervous, and he was a lifesaver. I think if we wrecked, I might have pulled the steering wheel clear out of the car because I was holding it so tightly. After we put a poster and some speakers into his room, Tom and I headed back to my house to get his car. So yeah, more Atl driving. Once I got on I-20 I was cool, but prior to that had me nervous.

After we went inside to tell everyone where we were headed, Tom and I went to his house and hung out with Henry, Will, and eventually Ben when he got home from Lacey's house. Tom and I schooled the guys on some mario kart, as usual. *wink* =)> Today is Lacey's bday, so happy 16th to you Lacey!! I love you girl.

I also didn't realize this till it was a bit late, but Jessica Smith's bday was the 31st (yesterday) and I totally forgot to call her. Happy Belated Bday to you- all 21 years of you! I can't wait to spend time with you and Ben in Athens again! I miss it so much!! =)

Well, I am finishing up in my room- there are a gazzilion hangers on the floor and I think that is going to drive me insane trying to sort them all out. They are all hooked together. AUGH!!! I think I might sleep for now and try to worry about the hangers in the morning.

Goodnight!
~Meghan