So I knew that I had it good the past couple of years, but wow. Did I have it great?
I have really been missing "the college life" recently. I went to class (and enjoyed it) and was around people my age. The main responsibilities I had was do homework and make good grades... and work a little to pay for my food and gas and anything else needed/wanted. I had afternoons to do whatever with whoever.
There were many lazy Saturday nights spent at the Grove with Fred, watching movies, eating his wonderful macaroni and cheese, beef dijon, homemade pizza, or pulled pork. Oh, those early mornings that started with Fred's amazing chocolate chip (sometimes white chocolate as well) pancakes. No syrup necessary! Movies... Lord of the Rings, Airplane, Naked Gun(s), etc. Many-a-Sunday afternoons, Monday and/or Thursday nights, watching football... Steelers or whatever other interesting game was on. There was even basketball games watched. Oh, and Mass Effect 1 and 2. LOST... LOST... and most LOST. Studying for dynamics, synoptic, and for many other classes together. And Madden 2010.... along with frustration, triumphant returns dashed by ruthless drives down the field, yelling, whining, more whining, slapping the bed and pillows, wicked laughter from Fred in his computer chair, consistent/relentless pushing of the same button after "throwing in the towel," men diving into the ground and missing tackles because I simply am dyslexic and pushed the wrong button, losing games in an embarrassing manner, follow-up suck-up hugs to ease "the pain of losing." Wow! Good times. I sure Sam thoroughly enjoyed my fussing... (sorry, Sam). I miss seeing that fellow Fatty in the room and bugging him in his room... and making fun of what he was eating.
Starbucks with Ashley. Doing laundry with Ashley. Staying up way, way too late talking... discussing problems, laughing over stories told and over nonsense. Knocking on the wall when one of us were in the bathroom...Hmm. I know, weird, but that's how we rolled. Cooking in the dorm... only to have the electricity go out on you. Speaking of which...
Beta 4 101 - what a room! So many great memories. Random 4th roommates, freezing cold temperatures that we could not control, punk boy neighbor that loved his bass, venturing outside with Miranda to confront punk boy... her peeping into his window, he looks back, she tears off back to the room, Ashley and I sprint right behind her. Luckily, he didn't follow us back to the room to harass us. Miranda, such a cool girl, doesn't put up with crap. The bass-booming got so loud one night, she called the campus police to report it because she couldn't sleep. Sleep... and random fire alarms due to girls above us cooking/burning things. These alarms would go off at the worst times.. in the cold, the rain, the mid of night! Early one morning, the alarms went off, and Miranda hid under her bed. She was not going outside haha. I was literally taped in my room one night by Miranda and Fatty Sam. I was on the phone with Jessica forever, and I kept hearing loud, weird noises. After giggling was heard, I open up the door and discover what was really going on. Fun stuff! They cut out a "door" for me. Haha. Surprise birthday with cookie cake and streamers for Miranda one night. NFL network games and NFL draft picks meant Fred would come over, food was purchased... OH! And the draft was after Oozeball typically. Oozeball? The most awesome sport ever! Volleyball in the mud... cold mud on a spring morning just before classes were out for the summer. Gosh, I miss it.
I realize it! Rambling is what I am doing at this point. I know... oops.
I took off work one night because Fred had invited me to his USA symphony-type thing (for a lack of correct terminology). Like I said, I was down to work but switched after hearing how disappointed he was that I would not be able to come. (This was before we were dating.... or even talking, if you would like to call it that.) I went but really didn't want to go by myself. Sam, Fatty to the Rescue (bum bum bum!), went with me. It was a cold, rainy night. We parked way out and had to walk in the rain. When we got to the door, Sam opened it and held it open for me. I, being fully aware of my surroundings, closed my umbrella and slung the mess out of it behind me... to shake off the excess water. Sam was like, "Jaclyn!" I turned around to see a guy, trying to hurry in the door out of the rain... and realized that I just shook all that water right in his face! Oops! I apologized. Sam laughed hysterically... and we laughed about it for many days after. Oh, Sam. Sam also went with me to get Fred's surprise birthday cake. Sam had planned everything to a tee (and totally caught Fred off-guard. Great job, Sam!), and I was in charge of the cake. We went to Brunos... the way-out-of-the-way Brunos. Why? Because I tend not to use my brain sometimes. But I'm glad we went there! The lady that took our cake order was hilarious! She could NOT understand my name for the life of her. After repeating it literally 4-5 times (I believe I spelled it too), she wrote down Tinsdale. And you know what? "She don't know nutin' about dem cakes!" ... but the lady that made the cake did an awesome Star Wars themed cake.
I loved pulling back up to the dorm after class! I would sometimes just sit in the car, roll down the windows, open the sunroof, study, call family, just hang out by myself and enjoy the warmth and sounds of outside. Sonic was another get-away place, but it also served as a great place to be with getas and friends as well. Limades became a tradition after flag-football games. Flag-football games!! Oh, how I miss them! Clinton and Brian, Dennis, Ashley, Miranda, Fred... so many good friends, good times, fun games, great wins,... and a knock-out, abuse-bruise courtesy of Brian and myself colliding. But Brian still caught the ball! I hated those freezing cold nights that we had to play at 8-9:30pm with the wind blowing and muddy, wet fields. But how I would give up so much to be back in that position.
I miss seeing sweet people in class every day. William in calculus, Lew and having paper chunked in my face because he was talking..., Corey and waiting on the Jagtran to go to physics, Dr. Connors and his awesome humor at 8am four days a week, all of my main MET classes full of the favorites and laughter and Fred's craziness... cracking everyone up, Clinton and his hilariously arrogant weather predictions, Ariel in Synoptic... rolling her eyes and huffing & puffing when class drugggg on, Geta Ashley pushing my desk up just to annoy me. Oh! Tropical discussion... even more good times these same great people. I miss walking to class. I miss parking at the Mitchell Center. I miss BCM and friends there. I miss BCM lunches and outings.
Running... running after class, running in the Rec Center when the weather turned cold, running around the intramural fields early, early in the morning with Brian, Fred, and Miranda, running around campus, shortcuts haha, feeling of satisfaction when you were finished, showering at Fred's place then watching TV the rest of the night... or whatever other activity (like studying) needed to be done. Setting a crazy, kind of scary goal... the Azalea Trial Run in late March. Waking up at the crack of dawn, driving downtown, forgetting to get our numbers..... lame!, running... literally... away from anyone that might pull us out of the race that we paid/trained for due to the lack of a numbered badge, Fred staying with me the entire time and pushing me not to stop... love that day. We met up with Brian, Nissi, and William after the race. We saw other people from South. We went back, showered, ate brunch at Waffle House. I went to work, and Fred picked me up after work to bring me back to his place to hang out. Great day!
Ok... I must finish this later. It has become entirely too long. For those of you that I went to college with, I love you guys! I miss you guys! I miss those times... For those of you that did not, college life is amazing. I hope these random stories and memories can spark your imagination enough to allow you to place yourself in my shoes and enjoy those memories like they were yours. College... I miss you.
