No picture today, because this is just a really short post.

Today, my life changed forever. Why, you ask?

Thanks to some genius at mylifeisaverage.com, I discovered that by typing (^^^) and
<(") into Facebook chat, you will get a shark and a penguin, respectively. :putnam: makes a little man.

If you have Facebook, I suggest you try it. It will rock your world.

Today started out as a normal Sunday. My mom got me up. I went into the living room. I said good morning to my parents. My dad got up and went to the kitchen. He came back with an envelope...WITH METALLICA TICKETS INSIDE!!!!!

Metallica is my all-time favorite band, and they are coming to Atlanta on October 4th, which just happens to be my birthday! So they gave me the tickets today, because I'll have to make plans to go back to Athens that Monday morning. My parents are awesome!

I also bought a rainbow-colored GIANT umbrella today that also happens to fold up small enough to fit into my bookbag. It both opens and closes with a button. Amazingness? Yes.

While walking through Belks to get the umbrella, I happened to see, out of the corner of my eye, a gray, black and red dress on SALE! It's the perfect colors for a Georgia game, which I will be going to this weekend (most likely in the rain, since this monsoon isn't going away for another week). I also had a ten dollar off coupon, so I got ridiculously good deals on both umbrella and dress.

One of my good friends got back from a cruise recently, and brought me back a t-shirt from Nassau, as well as some of my favorite body spray in a scent that has been discontinued. Oh, and I took a nap. Basically, I had a good day.

Now off to have some of my favorite frozen yogurt, Cool Mint Cookie. Yum!

RAIN.

Oh my God it has done nothing but rain for the entire week. Every day, it's drippy, and wet, and puddly, and... rainy. Sometimes it's a really good drenching, other times it's a fairly decent drizzle, and occasionally a weak little mist that coats your glasses so you can't see (which I'm wearing until this weekend, when I can grab another pair of contacts). And when is it going to stop? There's not a single sun to be found on the weather forecast until next Saturday.

Yesterday, I ran to the mailbox. It was not raining. Halfway to the mailbox. It started raining. Not just raining, oh no--POURING. I was drenched within five minutes, and I even had to go change clothes. Not cool. I like rockin my super awesome Republican rain boots, but there's only so much stuff I have that is navy blue.

IT'S SATURDAY IN ATHENS! GO DAWGS!

Okay, well, it was Saturday, two days ago. I've had an amazing weekend. Seriously, these are the ones that are the ultimate college experience.

Friday, I went to a birthday dinner for one of my sorority sisters. There were about 22-23 of us, and we took up about half the restaurant. It was awesome =]

Then, later that night, I went to Phi Kappa Theta's Margaritaville...a frat party. Yes, I know what you're thinking (or at least what Miranda's thinking). You? Stephanie?? At a party??? I figured that I should go to at least one real party before I graduate, so I did. Surprise, surprise, I actually had a lot of fun! I talked to friends, met some new people, and finally got to see what the inside of a Greek house looks like. (Word of advice: bring your own toilet paper to frat houses. They tend to run out in the girls' bathroom).

Saturday was game day! We played the University of South Carolina and won 41-37. It was simultaneously the best and most stressful football game I've ever been to. The score went back and forth and back and forth, and we didn't know if the Dawgs were going to win or not until the last SIXTEEN SECONDS. It was fourth down, three yards from the goal, and USC has an incredible passing game. The receiver missed the ball in the endzone though, and at that moment my voice hit octaves I didn't know it had. It still kinda sounds funny today.

Before the game, I tailgated at the Phi Kapp house and with some of the Xi Delta alumnae, and after it I went to Waffle House with a couple of friends. We determined that Waffle House never tastes better than after 12 AM.

Yesterday, I finally talked to the roommate about the disgustingness that was our kitchen. I came home to this:



And it was unacceptable. So hopefully from now on it won't be as bad. I still have to talk to her about the whole her boyfriend is living with us thing, but one step at a time.

Also, I might be going on a Disney cruise for Spring Break?

Life is good!

Eight years ago, I was in sixth grade. The one thing I will remember about 9-11 until the day I die is standing in the lunch line and saying that I guess the Pentagon's a square now.

Say a prayer for the victims and their families of the attacks. They certainly haven't forgotten, and neither should we.

Okay... so I'm going to try really hard to not make this the rant about the roomie blog a permanent thing. Hopefully this will be the last time for a while.

I leave for class tomorrow at 8:15. My roommate leaves at 7:45. Her boyfriend does not have class until 2:30, so he won't be leaving until a lot later. Now, from what I've heard, he has no intention of getting up and leaving when my roommate does. So.. he's going to be here, and get ready for class here, by himself. Alone. In my apartment.

Now, I've tried really hard to remember if the old roomie and her boyfriend ever did this, and I honestly can't. I don't think they did. She usually got him up when she had to go to class/work, and he would go up to his own room and go back to sleep.

The roommate doesn't get out of class until 2:15, but I get out at 1:10, so in all likelihood, he will still be here when I get back. He can't leave, because he doesn't have a key and therefore can't lock the door.

Should this bother me? I feel like I'm being too picky, but for some reason I just really don't like that. It's one thing for the two of them to be here, but just him? By himself? I really, really don't like that, but they've already gone to bed, and I didn't realize it until just a few minutes ago, so I can't bring it up. It just solidifies the whole "living, not visiting" thing.

This is my roommate's toilet.

Ew.

I happened to come across this when I went into her bathroom to get dental floss (I asked first!) and OH MY GOD. You know those bathroom cleanser commercials where they show their amazing product wiping away all the grime? I always wonder, who in the world would actually let things get that dirty. Well... now I guess I know. Seriously, how hard is it to pour Lysol in the toilet and swish a toilet brush around it? I'll tell you. It's not.

Once again...

Ew.

To clarify, this is not Randa, my old roomie. This is new roomie, who shall remain nameless. What shall I call her? Noomie? New + roomie?

I have mushrooms in my plant.

My mother has a green thumb. Seriously, she can grow anything--she even saved a tomato plant that my dog ate until nothing was left but a little stick. I have never taken care of plants before. I water them from time to time when I'm at home, but for the most part that's my mom's domain, not mine.

To make my apartment look homier and warmer, Mom bought me three plants--two for inside the apartment, and one to go next to the front door. I'm supposed to water the indoor ones once a week, and the outdoor one twice a week, since the heat and sun makes the water evaporate faster. When I went to water the outdoor plant on Thursday, I noticed something... there were giant mushrooms growing everywhere!

Mom says this is because it's getting too much water, but I'm just doing what she told me! One Big Kahuna's cup worth of water twice a week. So instead of forgetting to water it, I've somehow managed to cultivate mushrooms. Great.

So, I'm in my ecology class. We've been talking about population growth and today are focusing on overpopulation in China and the resulting one-child law. People who had more than one child had to either pay massive fines or were often sterilized. As a result, many people started to come to the States to claim asylum. A lot of people opposed having them here, because this was not a reason for us to let them in and because we had to worry about our own overcrowding. Okay, that makes sense.

But why is it that we cannot let the Chinese in, who were being sterilized, but the millions of illegal immigrants from Mexico and other Latin American countries are okay? I don't get it...