It's a charmed life.

Finger foods, wine, reality TV and a bucket list. Tonight is the kind of night you want to keep in a jar to show your grandkids one day, so they know what it means to really live the life.

Here’s to having the best of what’s around.

I just printed my last, LAST paper for the semester, and can only think, “now what?”

Grad school or bust! I already miss college.

The Time Has Come...

Since I can’t write any more of this paper and it is afterall, December, it’s time for a look back at this year, specifically what I’ve learned. So here we go.

2009 In Review:

• Birthdays are only as great as the people you spend them with.
• The best kind of love is the kind you give away, to someone, something or otherwise.
• Make time for yourself. Take time for yourself.
• Friends are 100% without a doubt the most important people in your life. They are, afterall, the family you make for yourself. Choose wisely.
• Your past will inevitably find you at a most inconvenient time. You can either confront and overcome it or succumb to what you thought was great at the time. That is a true test of character.
• People can change, but only if they want to, independently. You can’t and won’t change anyone.
• A life without best friends around is not a life worth living, no matter how much money, how much fame, how much respect you could earn away from them.
• There is no such thing as a sure thing. Even your family will let you down at some point.
• We only have ourselves to blame for the situations we create. 
• You’re going to screw up. How you recover from that demonstrates what kind of person you are.
• There is nothing better than eating some crow and finding forgiveness.
• Often, the best advice you can take is your very own.
• Second chances are just like lottery tickets; you can give out a million of them, but only a few are actually worth anything.
• Keeping secrets never works. Eventually, you will be found out, and you will have five minutes to do something about it, whatever that something might be.
• There are still truly great people in this big, bad world, who make nice gestures and can be thoughtful completely on their own, no praise or thanks necessary.
• A lot of people simply refuse to grow up. Don’t feel obligated to babysit them.
• Always advocate for yourself. You’re the only one looking out for YOU, afterall.
• Make new friends, always. But don’t ever forget about the old ones.

It’s been quite the year. My guess is that it only gets better from here.

It’s official.

I’m one literary criticism away from finishing undergrad entirely. 

Shockingly enough, it doesn’t feel any different than any other fall semester I’ve finished so far. 

A Few Things.

• Christmas came early when Bama beat Florida, making little Timmy Tebow cry like the infant he is.
• Holiday Parties are worth the time and effort every time.
• Dirty Santa left his porn at my house. Not ideal.
• Graduation is six days away. Just saying.
• Today is a day for projectos and Elf. 
• You’re sitting on a throne of LIES!

Things I Have To Do Today Though I Really Don't Want To Do Them But I Have To So I Guess I Will Do Them List:

• Pick up my cap, gown and tickets. How stupid/Pass the beer.
• Purchase a season and gender neutral sweater for my dog who shivers and cries when he is cold. (Perhaps socks also, though I’m not sure where to get those.)
• Take my memorabilia to Doak for Bobby’s last signing session ever. Say it ain’t so.
• Finish my project about blogging. (Sidenote: Maybe don’t follow the new blog I created. I’m deleting it next week anyway.)
• Return library books to avoid eminent doom (um, fines.)
• Muster up the energy to leave the house. Has anyone SEEN  the abysmal weather conditions??
• Schedule a daring hair appointment. Adios, hippie locks. Helloooooo short hair!!

Today is one of those days where grabbing the bull by the balls totes pays off.

On Bobby's Announcement.

Today is a day that will live on forever as Bobby Appreciation Day. The man, the myth and the legend will be announcing his retirement today. It’s bittersweet, since he has been such a huge figure at this fine university for so many years. Last weekend during the UF/FSU game, CBS aired a trivia question asking who was the head coach at FSU before Bobby Bowden. My dad looked over at me with the sincerest eyes and said, “I thought Bobby invented head-coaching.”

Clearly the man was kidding, but seriously, he’s been here for years and years and years. 

Well, he’ll be on a permanent fishing trip effective immediately and my only regret is that he’s going out with so little dignity. Kids my age are making facebook groups left and right to “Fire Bobby,” or “Retire Bobby.” Well listen, kiddos. If you knew how many championships this man has won us, how many Heisman winners he has mentored and how many hours he has stood on those sidelines, rain or shine for the sake of our team, you would sing a different tune. He deserves a decent send-off, or we’ve failed him as True Seminoles.

The bright side is, now that he and Mickey are retired, they have plenty of time to take me fishing. We all have that in common, this retirement thing. Working just isn’t for us. At least for now.

Reflection and Terrification (if that is a word, which it is not)

Don’t be alarmed by a difference in posts for the next week or so. I’m using my blog for a school project and as a result have to input posts that I would likely never publicly post. It will probably involved throwing loved ones under the bus. Stay tuned.

By the by, it is so unbelievably awkward to workshop your project in class which includes being ten feet away from your classmates reading your blog. Talk about some serious scaries.