I have been awake since 6am this morning going through e-mails, papers, binders, folders, books, web-sites, phone conversations, and everything else possible! Lets start off with the first two hours of my day. I spent two hours this morning putting together information for an interview that I would have for Kiss 107 about my involvement through the Mount on www.collegeweeklive.com. I then got ready for the day and went to my 9am class. Afterwards I spoke with Cliff about the semester so far and picked up my the Flip Video Camera to start taking more footage for the video that will ...eventually... be up on this blog page. He also had mentioned some ideas for the phonathon job just so many hours later. I then had just enough time to stop up in my room to check e-mails again before my tutoring for ethics. My tutor helped me pitch some ideas for my last ethics paper for the semester. I finished tutoring and made my way up to the room to yet again CHECK MY E-MAIL for more updates for the day and this week. ((I feel like I get 10 e-mails every hour - I'm too involved.)) I then rushed my lunch in order to once again check my e-mail so I can be ready for another interview for the day. I was able to speak with Shane Fero for an hour today about glass art. He is the president of the Glass Art Society and has created some amazingly beautiful pieces and has been able to present, lecture, demonstrate, and teach the techniques of flameworking. I had this interview with him today because of a research paper that is due on Thursday for my flameworking course. We have to research the technique and history of the glasswork as well as an artist who uses the technique and their thoughts and experience with it. I chose Shane Fero because of his magnificent work but never expected to be given the opportunity to speak with him directly about his fabulous work! The best thing I got from the interview was this direct quote from him. His words are inspirational:

“Coming from a traditional background, you learn by practice. Somebody that is coming from a background doesn’t have to have huge skills to make something beautiful. You don’t have to have incredible flameworking skills to make incredible art.”

I've been in a great mood ever since! But still tired because there has been more to add on to the day. After the interview I had voice lessons and then had to rush up to the theatre lobby for the campus ministry leadership team bingo event. I was unaboule to stay for the whole thing however because of choir. Of course after choir, I went up to my room again to CHECK E-MAIL AGAIN before dinner in which i rush in order to get to work on time. Working the phonathon was of course slow tonight because its the last week of calling and we were calling some of the more difficult customers. We made it through though and ended up making it over our goal for the semester. So it overall was a big success. Well after work I had another meeting with campus ministry to talk about the bingo event earlier in the day, as well as the trick or treat for canned goods event. They were BOTH BIG SUCCESSES! We are really excited about it. We also began talking in to more details about upcoming events for the semester. This includes shanty town in which any of the mount students/faculty/staff etc. can build a place to stay for the night of november 19th out of cardboard boxes and sleep outside. it is a big part of our homelessness awareness week! we talked about more details within the week about movie events, speakers, and more. i'm really excited about it! we have more events coming up as well, including a night hike on december 2nd that is welcome to all. after the meeting i was finally able to come back to my room FOR THE NIGHT and get ready for bed. and so now i'm here. writing this blog, tired as can be, and still having to work on more homework, including that ten-page paper that my interview was for. thankfully i have more than enough information to feed off of. its just a matter of whether my brain is too fried to work on it much tonight before i sleep.

well either way, thanks for reading my blog again!

Well this weekend is the Mount's homecoming football game! We are playing the Franklin Grizzlies at 1:30 on Saturday. In celebration of the game, the school has several activities going on around the campus. The dorm wars began last night with a presentation of the flags. This past Monday I helped to decorate our floor's flag. We were given a dark green for our color so we decided our team's name would be the Ninja Frogs. A lot of creativity was put in to the flag and because of how much fabric we were given we were able to make headbands and wrist bands for every girl on the floor. I wasn't able to go to the flag presentation, but according to the pictures I'm pretty sure we had the best ! There were a couple other different activities last night to begin the dorm wars. They had a checker/chess tournement, talent show, puzzle making, and more!

There was another big activity on campus today, the Push-Cart Parade. Some of the clubs/organizations at the Mount were given an opportunity to decorate a push-cart to make it look like a float from a parade to represent their club with the Homecoming theme in mind - Monster Mash. As being on the Campus Ministry Leadership Team, I was able to help out with decorating our cart. We were able to find the perfect passage to use for our cart, Revelations 13:1-2: 

"Then I stood on the sand of the sea. I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads. On his horns were ten crowns, and on his heads, blasphemous names. The beast which I saw was like a leopard, and his feet were like those of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. The dragon gave him his power, his throne, and great authority. "

How perfect is it that we the Mount Lions are playing the Franklin Grizzlies for our Monster Mash Homecoming? So our team ended up creating a seven headed lion with a MSJ jersey pouncing over a cowering grizzly bear. The parade today gave us the opportunity to see what kind of creatitivy the clubs have on campus. It was really exciting to see .

Tonight the games will include sand volleyball, knock-out, and cornhole. I unfortunatley won't be able to attend those activities due to my night class but I'm sure it will be a lot of fun! Everyone in the dorms seems to be really excited about the activities! I'm anxious for tomorrow's games because I will actually be able to participate. My roomie and I will be our floor's team for the 3-legged race so it will definitely be interesting! After the activities, we will be having our homecoming dance in which everyone is invited to dress up in Halloween costumes, and for anyone who doesn't already know me, I like pirates! And therefore I will be dressing up as a Pirate Wench !

Then the perfect way to end the week is with the game on Saturday. I'm more than anxious to see the Lions beat the Grizzlies in the best game yet! 

So I was a bad girl on Friday... :) I decided to skip classes (which was only 2) and I went on a field trip with my mom's classroom to a pumpkin patch!

That is one of the kewl things about Cincinnati- we have a TON of pumpkin patches. We went to Shaw Farm off of 131 in Milford (get off at the Milford- theater- exit on 275 and then follow that road straight and you'll eventually hit on your left- go for like 15 minutes) and it has pumpkins, a corn maze, a wooden maze (it's made of wood planks and only has one exit and one entrance right next to each other so you can let your kids go in and you can just stand watching the entrance/exit and they're bound to come out at some point or another), a hay ride you can take, and then a little shop you get candy, goods, food, drinks, and fun stuff in.

While we were there, we went on the hay ride and that was a blast! Then we got to see some animals- goats, a horse, chickens- that looked freaking hilarious! because they weren't the normal kind of chickens, they were ones with a ton of fluff and they looked like they were wearing boots around their feet, and some pigs. We also did a sensory activity. It was a bunch of boxes of corn with hidden objects and you had to find certain ones hidden in the corn. There were also boxes of mixed seeds and you had to identify what seed was what based on a diagram/chart they gave you. We also played in the mazes, played in the wooden "houses" which were just boards put up into house with no roofs so kids could go in and play and stick their heads out of them, found a pumpkin (those little tiny gourd ones- so cute!), and just ran around having fun!

This was also a part of my service hours for one of my classes, Human Exceptionalities. We need 30 hours to get a service learning credit, a free credit toward your total of credits that you can only do 3 times over the course of your 4 (or more) years at the Mount, and I'm working on that right now. So I got 5 hours helping out my mom on a field trip (these kids all have autism in some form or another) and I had fun in the process!!! :)

I love pumpkins!

For Homecoming we got a pumpkin shaped stress ball (just a balloon filled with sand) and it so much fun to play with!!! :)

So we're half through the semester which means we're one fourth of the way through the year and one sixteenth of the way through the my four years and so on. Anyway I've learned so much already. These liberal arts classes have made me think differently about the world and its surroundings. I've been learning to think critically about stuff I never thought I would think about. Like society and politics and other world issues that never use to concern me.

Recently, I just scheduled my classes for next semester. It looks like its going to be another tough four months. I'm taking Biology 112, Chemistry 112, Piano II, Masterworks in Music, Philosphy, and DINOSAUR BIOLOGY. I'm taking a lot of tough classes. I'm not big fan of Chemistry so hopefully I get my study habits and my schedule worked out so  that I can be prepared for next semester.

Alright enough about school, its almost Halloween! This weekend I've been working at the Williamsburg Junior Athletic Association (WJAA). Every halloween, my father and I and about another other sum people work there to scare the heeby jeeby's out of people. We work out in the middle of the woods with about 50 different other skits. It's a lot of fun. I dressed up as Jason from the the friday the 13th movies.  I loved getting in people's faces when they don't expect it and watch them jump. That's pretty much the highlight of my weekend. I would also like to note that SAW V is coming out next weekend, it's been a tradition of mine to go see those movies opening night. I'm also pretty stoked about homecoming but I will talk about that in my next blog, with PICTURES

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays! The sugar that is coated on your teeth and the variety of costumes that are seen all night long. I am to the point that I do not go trick-or-treating anymore but I do enjoy seeing children run around from house to house. Halloween is another time of year where many places host haunted houses for the season. I am not a haunted house person because I am scaredy cat. My friends have always tried to get me to go to one but I have never gave in. For example of a haunted house around the area would be at Kings Island, Howl-o-leen. I have heard that that is very frightening.

When I was a child, I always loved to dress up for Halloween. My mother was very creative with my costumes. I wasn't your average witch or pumpkin. She made some of my costumes from scratch. I was a gumball machine one year that was made out of a clear garbage bag and multi-colored balloons. I loved that costume. I was also a joker with a white face and the actual costume was made by my grandmother. 

After my siblings and I were finished trick-or-treating we would sit in the family room and sort our candy. We put the Snickers in one pile and the Milky Ways in another and so on. Then we would trade candy with each other. This became a family tradition evey year but sometimes it got out of hand because some wouldn't trade with me and I would cause an uproar.

The traditions of many holidays are near and dear to my heart because anytime that I can spend with my family is so much fun.