the purpose of a blog

i keep reading these blogs - or, ok, blog - that go on and on about how blogs are for self-involved, narcissistic people who talk about nothing but themselves.  (these are blogs (blog) that talk about themselves and what they do every day and what they think about random things.)

DUH.

why would you have a blog that talked about other people's opinions and other people's lives and other people's whatever?  you wouldn't.

i don't expect my blog to go viral any time soon.  i don't expect everyone who comes across my little bloggie to be captured by my every word. 

i like to write.  i like to write about things.  i like to write about my opinions and my life, because it lets me sort things out, laugh at them, or cry at them, or whatever. 

we live in a world of technology and transportation and toast (toast, because it was a t word, and 3 t's seemed like a good idea).  we live far away from our families.  like either 10 minutes, or 10 hours, depending on the particular piece of family.  we are all busy and we don't have time to email or call or drive home every day to tell everyone about every single thing that has happened to us.  but that doesn't mean we don't want anyone to know, or that no one wants to know.  hence:  the blog.  convenient updates for the writer, and convenient updates for the reader.  win.  win. 

so shut up, you bloggers, who are blogging about yourself, but don't like the other ones with blogs who blog about themselves.  don't read it if you don't like it!  it's so easy!

evidence of my narcissism

haiku of the day

no one likes texas

but san antonio's nice

nursing school's fun!

stupid tfc day 12

good band.  super european feel.

___________________________________________

this is only day 12.  there is a loooooong way to go.

so i got maybe 4 hours of sleep on my camp night.  first i was too hot.  then too cold.  then too sticky.  then too scared of bugs and pigs.  then too tired.  but hey, those hours that i slept?  i was getting paid. 

in the morning, after someone woke me up (finally.  some sleep.), i was getting ready and put my boots on and was walking to go brush my teeth and wash my face and stuff.  and my foot kept feeling tickly.  so i stopped and rubbed it around inside my shoe - you know how you do when it itches a little, but not enough to take your shoe off?  well, it was still tickly.  so i took my boot off and.  there was a bug.  in my boot!  it was so hard not to scream. 

when i was walking back from brushing my teeth, suddenly the side of my butt  (as in, kind of by my hip, but more on my butt than my hip) felt like it had a scratch - that kind of burny, papercut feeling?  i just brushed off my pants and kept going - i just figured a twig or a piece of grass got in there or something. 
but while i was putting my bag on the engine, my little scratch kept hurting more and more.  and then it was like i was getting paralyzed.  so i went behind the engine and pulled my pants down to check for bugs.  nothing. 
i was getting more and more paralyzed.  i limped into the truck and laid in the back because it hurt to sit.  it just kept hurting more and more, and i kept getting more and more paralyzed. 
we left and drove for about half an hour.  my butt just kept hurting and hurting.  finally, we stopped, and i was freaking out.  something had to be in my pants.  you don't just get paralyzed out of nowhere.  so i jumped out, as much as a paralyzed person can jump out of an engine, and somehow got in front it, so i could safely pull down my pants without too many boys seeing my undies(!). 
guess what i found.  a fire ant. 
do you know they are the size of a wyomingish wood ant.  do you know that they actually sting you (or something) and they have venom?  true story.  my butt was paralyzed, yet hurt, for hours. 

i'm not saying all that was worth it.  i'm not saying that working a 30 hour shift was worth it.  but we did get all afternoon off.  i laid by the pool and listened to music, and swam, and napped (a bit - but not too much so i wouldn't get sunburned), and it was beautiful!  so beautiful. 

trying not to think about the burning, horribly feeling of fire ant venom in my butt

contemplating how i will live my life with a paralyzed butt cheek

then? and now...

remember when i used to have real adventures? 
remember when i used to have links to actual important youtubes?  (is that an oxymoron?)
that was fun.

now i just go to school professionally, and post links like this one.  but it is funny.  he spot on in his interpretation of "teenage girl". 

__________________________________________

someday i will finish my stupid texas story so i can write about whatever i want, and not feel like an incompletist (new word - i think...) failure for not finishing all stupid 20 days or 17 days or whatever.

for now, here's a photo i took the other day, so i can pretend this is a relevant post....

texas is the worst

why do i want to move there?

just to finish school...

TFC DAY #11

bang bang
_________________________________________

DAY #11

of course we got a fire today.  i just started a new book.  i had to start one.  i couldn't bear the extreme sports going on, so i had to at least try to tune them out.  there was a coin flipping tournament.  the prize for the winner was a really ugly hat. 

luckily the tournament was over by the time we got called to the "clay fire". 

when we got close-ish to the fire you could see the smoke pretty well.  when we got closer, the smoke was huuuuuge.  it was almost a mushroom!  the kind where the smoke rises so tall that it falls on itself and makes a mushroom.  those are the bad ones because the smoke starts creating its own weather.  little did i know, this would be the start of a 30 hour shift of sitting (aka sleeping) in the truck.

Lesson # 7 - walk very far to go pee.
this is because the "trees", which are barely taller than i am, are much too small to pee behind.

i saw a dust storm.  it was pretty crazy.  at first you could sort of see a storm coming, but as it got closer, it was just this huge line of dirt - dust?  and as it went over the fire, it just started blowing up like crazy.  it was just brown and purple and orange.  we were in the perfect, safe, place to watch, but some overhead guy got all nervous and made us drive 5 miles out of the way. 

aaaand. we stayed til after midnight.  every one else was where we were supposed to be camping, but our three trucks couldn't go back because the storm was making the fire blow up along the road we needed to get back.

when we finally got back, i just wanted to sleep.  i didn't sleep for like 6 hours straight because we were watching the dust storm!  so i was getting ready to make my little camping spot, and i heard someone talking about how the ranchers play music really loud by their garden at night to keep the GIANT VICIOUS PIGS away.  so i decided i was going to sleep in the middle of a group of boys so the vicious pigs could eat them and be too full by the time they got to me.  then one of them started snoring.  then another.  and another.  there were like five boys snoring all at different paces. 
i'll take the pigs any day.  so i went really far away and slept by the yard and hoped i wouldn't find any bugs.

yes, i should be studying right now.

funny. 
___________________________________________

people who say they wish they could go back to high school blow my mind.

my memories of high school include:
one friend who "liked to do the rest of our hair and makeup."  turns out, she would make us look bad to make herself look better.
three bouts of laryngitis because of the stress
countless stupid fights.
and another friend who liked to do photo shoots.  turns out she most likely wanted me to look like a 17 year old alcoholic, while she got to look like the artsy one.
proof:

THE 17 YEAR OLD ALCOHOLIC

note:  she did my alcoholic makeup, my alcoholic hair, and gave me the alcoholic dress to wear, because "it complemented my coloring".  of pasty-alcoholness...

THE ARTSY INNOCENT HIGHSCHOOLER

note:  the innocent high school outfit, the innocent (if insane) high school hair, the innocent high school makeup.

disclaimer:  i thought about blurring her face to protect her identity, but as 3 people read this, and anyone who knows her will know who she is regardless the instant they see her hair, i figured "what the hell".

my friends were sweethearts. 

to make myself feel better, i'm going to put it down to my good photography skills...