Sunshine Bug's Blog

With this semester officially finished off, all I can truly ask for is that next semester turns out to be this amazing. It’s my second semester on the Dean’s List and with 62 credits under my belt, it’s the beginning of my Junior year… so odd to say that when it’s the middle of my second year at CMU. I’ve completed… uhm half of the credits necessary for graduation…sad thing is… I’ve got roughly 100 more to go. So it’s another two years from this point. That seems like a long time… it truly does, but I can see myself teaching in my own classroom already and at times it scares me. Am I honestly ready for all of that? I have so many ideas for lessons and little things to bring to my classroom… I have to be ready. I’m so excited about it. But yet I’ve got… hundreds of hours left of being in the classroom instead of being the teacher. I suppose I can only see where time takes me, two years will go by quicker than I’ve ever imagined I’m sure.

As November draws to an end, and December rolls around, it’s time for my annual Year-In-The-Life of Katelynn soundtrack. Starting in January and going until now. December usually just gets a Christmas song or two, since the season means so much to me. Anyway here goes and remember it isn’t just the titles that count, it’s the meaning behind the song.

January
1. If Today Was Your Last Day — Nickelback
2. Life Ain’t Always Beautiful — Gary Allan
February
1. Let It Rock — Kevin Rudolf
2. Just Dance — Lady Gaga
March
1. 4 In The Morning — Gwen Stefani
2. I Hate This Part — Pussycat Dolls
April
1. Single — Natasha Beddingfield
2. When God Ran — Benny Hester
May
1. Bless the Broken Road — Rascal Flatts
2. Bouncing Off The Ceiling (Upside down) — A*Teens
June
1. Love Story — Taylor Swift
2. Pennies — Lady Sovereign
July
1. Damaged — Danity Kane
2. Halo — Beyonce
August
1. No Surprise — Daughtry
2. Second Chance — Shinedown
September
1. Scars — Papa Roach
2. Down — Jay Sean
October
1. So Small — Carrie Underwood
2. Him — Lily Allen
November
1. Fall For You — Secondhand Serenade
2. I Could Not Ask For More — (unknown…)
December
1. Christmas Canon — Trans-Siberian Orchestra
2. Hark The Harold Angel Sings

Yep…a year in the life of Katelynn. There you have it.

No, it is not officially winter yet, but it’s close enough. And with the fall semester slowly drawing to it’s end, winter and snow are just around the river bend. So is Thanksgiving. In fact that’s just in three days, and to say I’m excited about spending the holiday with my family and my grandma’s this coming Thursday would be an understatement. There is just something almost magical about the holiday season which begins with Thanksgiving. Maybe it’s being together with loved ones, or maybe it’s the fact that soon after Thanksgiving comes my favorite holiday Christmas. Which means being able to spend even more time with loved ones and celebrating not only Christ but family and the spirit of giving.

This year for Thanksgiving I’m thankful for a lot of things. To have an amazing group of roommates, three girls that mean the world to me. For my family, for supporting me and helping me get through some of the hardest times in my life. Especially mom and grandma. I’d be so lost without those two absolutely amazing and talented women. For having a job so that I may to continue to have some spending money while at Central.

I’m very thankful for a wonderful boyfriend of six months, who has done nothing but support me and show me how a working relationship actually does work. He means the world to me, and these past six months have been some of the best in my life. I have never felt happier or more immersed in a relationship like this before. Third time seems to be the charm, and I can’t express how thankful this makes me feel. It truly is absolutely amazing, I can’t express into words how much I truly love him. Or how thankful and lucky I am to have someone as special as he is in my life.

I’m excited for the upcoming month and the surprises and bonding time it will bring for me and my loved ones.

This weekend I’m at home, and while here I’ve decided to explore my old desktop… and my what I have found. From old pictures and writing to my old music collection.

What’s perhaps the funniest part is that a lot of what is on my itunes are songs that not only related to me in some way, but they go way back to when I was still very addicted to role-playing. At one point in time I had soundtracks written up for some of my characters and as I listen to some of the songs that have been playing on my itunes this afternoon it brings back memories. Just sitting here does but that is a different story.

It’s funny how a simple song can take me back to a time when I was writing in the Harry Potter universe almost religiously. Take for example I don’t remember the name of the game off hand but in it I wrote as Alice Longbottom an Unspeakable, the highest level of intelligence at the Ministry of Magic and “Another Day In Paradise” reminds me of the plotline we had going. Things were great until she was kidnapped… gone for days and days while the world she knew and loved fell apart.

Then there are other fairly more recent songs that remind me of other games. “Boondocks” for example reminds me of my version of Morag MacDougal back on Paradise Lost -my first ever game mind you. It’s definitely funny how these things work. I’m amused to say the very least.

Oh memory lane… I’m definitely glad I don’t still deal with some of the things I did back then. But it’s interesting to go back and take a look and/or listen into my mind of only a few years ago. Goodtimes. Good times for sure.

Today seems like a really good day to write something. The only question is what? I should be writing a paper, but the drive to do it is simply not coming to me. Luckily the final draft isn’t due until Tuesday…I just have to get some kind of a start on the thing tonight. Maybe when I’m working my mid-3am shift I’ll get something accomplished. Maybe. It isn’t even as though it’s a boring topic. I think what worries me is that I relate so closely with it, I’m scared that as I write the paper I’ll suddenly see that some of the things I’ve learned through my research will apply directly to me…

This week has pretty much taken everything out of me. I signed up for “A Week In The Life of a RAMA Staff Member” so I knew I’d be busy. But add to that this paper and studying for Meteorology? I’m pretty much brain dead. Plus this has just been a stressful week socially too.

Shania Twain’s song “UP” describes today and the past few days perfectly. Specifically:
“It’s ’bout as bad as it could be
Seems everybody’s buggin’ me
Like nothing wants to go my way–
yeah, it just ain’t been my day
Nothin’s comin’ easily

Even my skin is acting weird
I wish that I could grow a beard
Then I could cover up my spots
not play connect the dots
I just wanna disappear”

I am definitely excited though…tonight’s special feature for Week in the Life is called “Behind Closed Doors” and basically it gives all of us the chance to see two things: 1. We experience mock situations that the RAMA Staff faces on a daily and/or weekly basis. And 2. We get to see where our strengths and weaknesses are. It’s definitely a learning experience and I cannot wait to start the program tonight after Hall Council. Oh good old student government.

…and as I continue to listen to Shania’s music, maybe my analytical paper earlier this semester ought to have been about her album… oh well, what’s done is done. Though that may be something fun to write later.

It’s funny, I looked through my diary today and wow…a year changes a lot of things. First, it’s been well over a year since I wrote an entire entry in it, sure I’ve scribbled little things here and there, but it’s never been anything worthwhile. Seems all of my greatest entries of any sort of passion have been online… ninety percent of them being on Myspace. It got me thinking: why haven’t I taken the time to actually write in a real paper journal? That’s all they had back in the old days…but is it due to technology and our seemingly endless need for the world to know all of our most private thoughts that has kept me from truly writing? Possibly… in all honesty it wouldn’t surprise me. Most of us know that there is of course thoughts and information that ought to be kept private, but when we don’t publish it for the entire world to see, where does it go? We supress it, ignore, and hope that somewhere down the line we’ll forget about it. But we don’t. Ranting and raving into the pages of a paper journal can be just as benefical as ranting to any social networking site. Or…just maybe we post the things we do, not in hopes of everyone reading it, but in hopes of those select few that it is geared toward will stumble upon it. I’ll admit I’ve done  it…several times in the last year even.

On another note though, a year changes everything. Amazing to think it’s gone by so quickly, but in my last hand written entry I talked about being nervous to enter college. This year, as it’s now almost November, I was more than ready to get back to CMU. To a job, to friends and amazing roommates, and to quite possibly the best boyfriend a girl could have ever asked for. The year honestly couldn’t get any better.

It’s interesting though to look at how I was feeling in regards to confidence then and how I feel now. There is such a major improvement in my general attitude. I’m not the shy girl who’s never heard she was absolutely beautiful except for on prom night anymore. I’m not affraid to be myself, after all college is the time to figure out who the heck I am anyway.

All I can say is wow… watch the video, I promise it definitely hits home when it comes to being in college and what it is like to be a student in today’s technology obsessed world. As I watch I can’t help but wonder: “Why are we this way?” “Can technology actually be what saves us, when it looks like it is gradually tearing our society apart?”

You may have noticed the sign which said something along the lines of “That’s 26.5 hours per day.” Time constraints on students are a bit hectic, if I were to total up everything I did yesterday alone, or even any other day of the week, I would be well over 24 hours in one single day. Keep in mind I do realize we multitask in everyday life, what I am saying is that we pretend just for a moment that we simply do not multitask. Naturally of course the total energy requirement and “hours” is determined based on the level of being involved in activities, or in other words getting that truly well rounded college experience.

The video though, it blows my mind at how scarily accurate it is. It hits home, shining a new light on the world of being a college student to all those people who think “college life is easy.” They simply haven’t been there yet.

With the start of any new blog, it makes sense to have some sort of introduction. I’m Katelynn, or as I’ll be known around here, Sunshine Bug. I am a sophomore in college studying to become a middle school science teacher. Call me crazy but the 13 and 14 year olds are the age group I absolutely adore. I’ve already spent a year teaching 8th grade back in high school. That group of students were quite possibly the most curious and amazing kids I have ever met, thanks to them I definitely decided on the middle school level. I am currently a desk receptionist after a two and a half year stint as a crew member at Dairy Queen.

I am a nerd through and through. Anything that has to do with Science, especially Earth Science or Geology gets my attention fairly quickly. So I like rocks… it’s okay. I’ll admit it. Earth is a curious place, what isn’t there to like about it? And rocks are so diverse that it truly is hard not to take some interest in them. Biological sciences, especially those involving Genetics also fascinate me. As does Astronomy. It’s quite honestly like a former teacher of mine said “How can someone say they aren’t interested in Science? No one can honestly look around them and say nothing makes them wonder ‘why’ or ‘how?’” (S. Hicks).

Star Wars and Harry Potter are my two biggest fandoms. I have nearly all of the Harry Potter series memorized, and a fairly good portion of Star Wars down. As far as TV goes, Gilmore Girls is the one show I try never to miss.

On a slightly more personal note, I have perhaps the best boyfriend I could have asked for, and my best friends are like my sisters. Without them, and my biological family I would surely be lost.

But, welcome to my blog! There isn’t any set topic here, it’s a bit of a “Day-In-The-Life” sort of thing, most of my entries will be things that come to mind and have no where else to be made public, because you know, facebook doesn’t always have to know!

~Sunshine Bug.