"A fine with romance with no kisses."

photo of my pretty mornings here. (coming soon!)

So if it's one thing I've learned about myself over time it is that I don't have many pet hates. There aren't a lot of little things that people do or that happen in daily life that annoy me. Outside of people being hypocritical, not listening and generally being rude I cannot name but one thing that really comes to mind when someone poses the question, "What is something that drives you up the wall?" That something is retainers.

It's not retainers in and of themselves that bothers me, I love the idea of them! Sort of. I mean, they help keep my lovely, post-braced teeth straight, yanno? It's not the thought of them that makes me cringe, it's the sight of them.

My best friend Lexi can attest to this. In fact, I just recently "came clean" to her about this being one of my pet hates due to the fact that she keeps hers on her bedside table and pops it in and out in the evening and morning respectively. Not the fact that she puts it in and takes it out makes me mental either, it's the fact that she does so without brushing her retainer out every time. It makes me crazy! It makes me want to shout, "How can you do that, Lexi?! It tastes/is so gross just leaving it next to your bed!" (She is a normal person, though, so none of this peeves her, just an FYI.)

Now, I know what you're thinking; "Mallory, we all KNEW you were crazy." Yes, yes well, now you know I am way MORE crazy than you all probably originally thought.

I have to take my retainer out in the bathroom and brush it before and after I take it out. Not just cleaning it out, but my mouth has to be cleaned out straight away after as well. (Oh, gosh. I sound like a mental person!)

Basically, when it comes to retainers; I can touch them, I can look at them, but please don't remove them from your mouth in my presence. (Putting them in is fine.) If I love you, I'll put up with it, like I do with Lex, but she's a special case! And actually, because she's the most wonderful person and friend in the world she makes sure to take her retainer out where I can't see, these days. Now, that if that isn't dedication and love I don't know what is.

Wow, I seriously did not mean to spend that long talking about retainers/my foolish pet hate. OH WELL.

I'm back at school.
This is the main news I wanted to bring to your computer screens, today. It's taken off and is in full force basically all-at-once already! I was prepared, but this is still a lot. In fact, I should be working on a profile piece of this lovely girl in one of my comm classes called Terra this very moment, but I'm not. w00t!

Classes are super crazy, as is my schedule, at the moment. My basic line-up is (and here is where I will nerdily bore you with a list, lucky you!):

M/W/F: 8 a.m. COMA 212 (public speaking)
9.15 a.m. COMA 120 (not sure yet, some writing class.)
1.45-2.50 p.m. COMA 213 (writing)
6-8 p.m. COMA 102 (ethics)

T/TH: 9.55-11.40 a.m. COMA 101 (basic communication)
12-1.30 p.m. KPLU (radio)
3.30-9.30 p.m. Apple

F: 8 a.m. COMA 212 (public speaking)
9.15-10.20 a.m. COMA 120 (not sure yet, some writing class.)
1-close Apple

S: 8 a.m.-sometime Apple

So, that is actually my weekly schedule including work. In parentheses you can find out what the classes really are, yay, you! (The class numbers are basically only there for me, HA!)

I'm stoked, now. I didn't used to be. Yesterday was a rough first day. We only had 25 minutes of my first class and no classes until after 11.30 because there was some "first day welcoming" nonsense from the school president and alum and all that good stuff. I didn't know about this and wished I had so I could have slept in 'til my 1.45 class. (I'm responsible like that.) The least they could've done was told me. But at this school, communication to students (who don't live on campus) is fail.

Now, I'm going to ask you all to guess which two out of all my classes are my favourite. (COMA 120 isn't in the mix, though, cuz I haven't actually had it yet and Andrew, you are not allowed to guess since you already did and guessed right.) Yeah, so go ahead and do that. I'm interested to see if you guys know me well enough to be able to guess something as subtle as this. (:

So besides not being able to sleep in, it was an alright day. There are a lot of preps and jocks here, though, and that makes me mental. (It's kind of an overrated prep school, but that's okay, it's growing on me. Which is a good thing.) Now that I've been people watching a little bit more and have found my building (the comm building) I think I'll be more at home so long as I stick 'round with the people who are artsy (and not silly) like me.

I was just bummed out because I was SO stoked to start like, up until about a week before I did. Then I got tired of the paperwork they were constantly expecting me to know I had to do (last minute always) with no forewarning or way of finding out I had it save them telling me I was missing it in a threatening form. RUDE.

Now that school has started (as you can maybe see by my schedule) I don't have a lot of free time. BUT! I would like to make the public announcement (in hopes that some of you will love me enough to maybe help keep me on track/do something similar along with me) that I will be resuming running on T/TH mornings. YEY!

I know, right?
It was my folly to make the promise to myself that I would get in better shape/resume weekly running over the summer. HAHA. Yeah, that didn't happen. It didn't even come close, in fact. (Oops.) My basic goal is just that: to get back into shape.

When I originally started college 2 long/short years ago I started in pretty decent shape with a pretty decent exercise patterns. All of which has since faded away. Before college I also made eating a regular practice. That, too, has since slipped from my grasp. (See my Tweet from yesterday: "Forgetting to eat is a constant folly of mine. OOPS!") This is not a good thing for someone looking to regain "in shape" status. Eating and sleep are a HUGE part of this plan I have. And oh, it is a grand scheme, let me tell you.

Since Lexi and I probably won't be spending as much time with each other as we originally planned/assumed now that we're in school, I'm not sure our weekly evening Pilate's will remain a reality. We shall see. My hope is steadfast.

As far as life goes; I'm happy. Those of you who know me know I'm usually happy.
Those of you who know me also know that sometimes I go through phases of life being overwhelming. (You are all too good to listen to me moan when these phases come around, few and far between/in the past as they may be, I'm sure there are more on the distant horizon but here's hoping I can ward them off!) But this year, what with the paper and the divorce/move in the past, I've been on the uphill swing for about 4 months now and feel, "Fabulous, darling!"

I've been thinking a lot about moods, lately and just how much thoughts and what we say about how we're feeling/our moods really affect what our mood and reality really is. I used to think about this a lot and I was much more aware of it, but ever since school it had kind of slipped into the peripheral. This year it's back, though. It's really interesting to me and I think it's part of why I don't like to dwell on the bad, I'm happy most of the time, I like to exude optimism and generally smile at every opportunity. (Guys, am I getting back to how happy/smiley I used to be, before the paper last year? Gosh, last year was a rough one. Another apology to all who knew/had to be around me last year in the later issues of the paper and a huge thank you to all who still loved me/said I was cheery/smiley despite the challenge it was. MP, I saved that paper from your speech and what you said about me and think about it whenever I wear my red "tennis shoes." (; )

But yeah, anyway, it's like sick people; it's all a mind game. If we're constantly complaining about how life "sucks" and "this sucks" and "that sucks" then we've got ourselves stuck in a silly and lame rut that affects our atmospheres drastically. We are atmosphere changers and really have a lot more power in shaping the atmospheres we dwell in than a lot of times I think we do.

Wow, this was long. I still have more I wish to talk about which is nice, but I'll save it for another time. Random title, no? It's that song, "A Fine Romance" by Billie Holiday. Bless radio for always being so slow so as to give me the time to properly blog.

xxx mal