Out of Place

Friday, it rained.

I am so, so, so over rain. If it's going to rain, I need it to be at least spring-like temperatures so it's not miserably cold on top of wet. I've been fighting off a bug of some sort since Thursday night so Friday, I ended up skipping out on All-Sing and resting in an effort to ward it off. It was raining so hard that I refused to leave the building for food so I ordered Papa John's and made the poor delivery guy come out in the rain instead. Don't worry, I tipped him well. And then ate pizza all weekend since I thought it was a great idea to get the large pizza $10 deal they were offering, all for myself.

Oh but Saturday...

Saturday, I had to go to the Easy Ride Bike Show to do promotion for UT's radio station, WUTK. It was a class assignment and I love doing promotion so I was all for it. Well, guess who stuck out like a sore thumb at this thing? That's right, your's truly.

First, there was my outfit. I had on a blue corduroy shirt dress, tights, and a pair of black fur boots. This is a perfectly acceptable, stylish outfit around campus. At a bike show however, it is not. 98% of the population was in leather. Well, I start working the booth and learned that my name is apparently darling. I got called that at least a 100 times in the 2 hours I was there. Maybe I'm just that charming, I don't know.

When my shift was up, I decided to walk around. I'm not a biker AT ALL but some of the bikes on display were very cool. An unbelievable amount of money goes into them. There was also a live band that was pretty good. And of course, what would a bike show be without half naked models promoting bike polish?

But what really got me was this: They were giving tattoos in the middle of the venue! Call me crazy, but I can't see that as sanitary. I stood there, baffled that there was no less than FIVE people getting tattoos. I couldn't believe it. A big, heavily tattooed guy saw me standing there, gaping, and asked if I wanted to 'get in line' for a tattoo. It scared me too bad to answer. I whirled around and took off in the opposite direction - as in out the door and back to campus where shirt dresses and boots are commonplace and I could get Starbucks instead of Coors Light.

It was interesting though, I have to say. And I had a blast working the WUTK booth. I love doing that stuff.

Sunday, I watched the Super Bowl. I'm now trying to be happy for the Saints. Trying. But the Colts (and the Titans) are my team so...

But you know, my major has ruined media for me. I LOVE my major. Absolutely love it. I love promoting and selling and figuring out how to solve a company's reputation issues. However, I can no longer watch reality shows that are competitions because of a documentary we watched in JEM 275. When I'm watching a show on TV, I'm thinking about things like why am I watching it, why is it being played in that time slot, how much did it cost to produce, what are the ratings, you know, normal things like that. And watching the Super Bowl last night? I analyzed commercials and told anyone who would listen how much advertising space costs ($2.5 million on average) during the Super Bowl.

All and all, it was an eventful weekend. And Peyton Manning? You're still my Super Bowl MVP.

Getting To Know You - and a PSA

First, a couple of you All-Sing veterans asked for the results. I only have a couple in as I didn't go to the second night, but I can safely tell you that the Baptist Collegiate Ministry won their division, best male soloist, AND All-Sing overall. I'm EXTREMELY proud to tell you that my sorority, partnered with the awesome men of AGR, won FIRST PLACE in our division! I was so proud - the girls and guys who participated put in a lot of hours, frustration, and even tears and worked so hard. Yay!

Second, a PSA: Regardless of what your mother might tell you, TheraFlu DOES NOT taste like hot lemonade. I called her just now to tell her so and she replied 'I said it tastes like hot lemonade with honey.' Wrong again, Mom. It's horrendous. I don't believe I got enough down to do me any good. *Cringes as I think about drinking that nasty stuff a little while ago.* I've been fighting off something for a few days now and woke up feeling worse than I did last night. Not cool. But I live in a dorm which is an incubator for germs, so I guess I should be lucky I lasted this long without catching something.

And now, some MannLand5's Getting To Know You action!

The questions..

1. How many piercings do you have?'

Just my ears. I'm too much of a wimp to get anything else pierced.

2. I love the sound of.....?

Children laughing. I think it's just magical. The sound of the ocean crashing against the shore and rain on a tin roof - me and my Daddy share a love of that. And I'm not going to lie - "Rocky Top" being played on a Saturday in the fall? Pretty dang great. If you're wearing orange, of course. Otherwise, it's probably like nails on a chalkboard to your ears.

3. Favorite city?

Nashville. It's Music City! Or "A crazy town full of neon dreams" as Jason Aldean says. It's my top choice of places to live after graduation in December.

However, I have been completely enchanted by London ever since I was a little girl and was babysat by a girl who's mother was from London. We'd visit with her mother during the day and have afternoon tea and she'd tell me stories about London. I would LOVE to live there for at least six months one day.


Another city I've recently become enchanted by? Calgary, Alberta. More so the ranch land surrounding it, but I wouldn't turn down a chance to visit/live in Calgary either.

4. Colts, Saints, or could care less?

You know, if the Colts weren't in the Super Bowl (and the Titans weren't either), I'd cheer for the Saints. I love a feel good story. But the Colts are in the Super Bowl and they're one of my two favorite teams, the Titans being the other one. And just like any proud Tennessee Vol, I'll be cheering for this guy tonight:


That's Peyton Manning for those of you who are 'normal' and not football-obsessed like myself. He's one of the Tennessee greats.

And on a side note, tune in for the National Anthem before the Super Bowl - Carrie Underwood is performing it and the girl has some serious pipes when she belts it out. Amazing. Hear her sound check here if you want to get chills and feel proud to be an American.

5. Frozen yogurt or ice cream?

Ice cream, hands down. It's my kryptonite.

6. Favorite appetizer?

Chips and salsa or cheese sticks. Man I love cheese sticks... iHop has them... iHop is just across the courtyard...

7. What item in your closet currently makes you the happiest?

I have a blue corduroy shirt dress from Old Navy that I just LOVE. It's so comfy and I can dress it up or down. I definitely wore it to a bike show yesterday (that's a whole other blog post...).

8.Favorite facial moisturizer?

I discovered the most amazing product ever. And it costs two dollars! It's Walgreen's brand of Vaseline's complete moisturizing lotion. I swear by it. I started using it last year for my dry feet and about a week ago, when I ran out of whatever moisturizer I was trying that go round, I decided to give it a go on my face. I can already tell a major difference. Generic brand or no, it's fabulous.

Lady Gaga Who?

Last night, I went to All-Sing which is, essential, a show choir competition. Mostly Greeks compete, but it is open to any organization on campus who would like to field a group. All eleven performances were great, as were the groups that performed in between each set.

BUT.

One guy STOLE the show with his version of Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance." The video is at the bottom of this post and is a MUST SEE. He is part of a sector of the UT Men's Chorale group called VOLume which is a contemporary A Capella group. Definitely scroll down to the bottom to see it! If you'd like to see some pictures I took from the event however, here you go!

The ladies of Delta Gamma and the gentlemen of Phi Mu Alpha performed selections from
Annie Get Your Gun.

Kappa Delta and Alpha Delta Pi teamed up for the fourth year in a row and did a medley of 60s songs. One of my residents (who shares my love of Taylor Swift) is featured in this picture, but I won't point her out for privacy reasons.

Chi Omega and Tri-Delta did a selection of Christmas songs. Yes, Christmas songs. I wasn't sure how that was going to work, but it was PHENOMENAL.

Here is one of the acts in between performances - UT's only Barbershop Quartet

Delta Zeta and Kappa Sigma chose songs from Aladdin. I want to be friends with their Genie.

Zeta Tau Alpha and Kappa Kappa Gamma chose Legally Blonde- The Musical. They had some microphone issues however. Oddley enough, in the last ACE event they competed in, they had music issues. Not cool and I felt terrible for the three girls trying to sing with only one working mics, but they pulled if off - in sparkly pink heels!

This is a shot from one of VOLume's performances, though not the Lady Gaga guy.

Phi Mu and Alpha Chi Omega did Cats. They had some of the most elaborate costumes of the night. The makeup especially was incredible.

And then it was our turn!!! We were with Alpha Gamma Rho and did a medley of Motown songs. I thought we were fantastic (though I'm biased!) and our soloists were amazing. One of my good friends/sorority sister who is also one of the sweetest people you will ever meet, took the directors' spot. There was a lot of stress surrounding this event and a lot of late nights practicing, but they did such a great job!

And then I fell in love. Like, went all giggly and provided my best friend, Rachel, with all sorts of amusement. Seriously, give a boy a guitar and I'm done. This guy was AMAZING. He performed twice between All-Sing performances. The first time he did Tom Petty's "Free Falling" and the second time was an original. I'm swooning just thinking about it.

Sigma Kappa and Delta Tau Delta did a tribute to the Beatles.

Pi Beta Phi and Phi Delta Theta chose a disco medley. I loved their Village People!

The Baptist Collegiate Ministry were incredible. They have an actual choir to begin with, but they were just amazing. The guy with the music note on his robe had one of the best - if not THE best - male soloists spots of the night. They did a collection of gospel songs and called their medley "Do you know the Man?"

Alpha Omicron Pi and Alpha Tau Omega hands down had the best costumes of the night - VERY elaborate. They performed Les Miserable.

AOPi and ATO were the last performance of the night, but right before they went on, VOLume came back and this time, their A Capella performance was Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance." This guy... I can't begin to describe it. This is pure talent - on all of their parts as his group mates provided all the backup 'music.' We weren't supposed to record anything, but I just HAD to get some of his performance! Enjoy! (And ignore my friend *cough* Rachel *cough* occasionally talking during it!)

To say he got the only genuine standing ovation of the night would be an understatement.

I Did Not

I love reading the Not Me Monday posts I've seen on various blogs I follow over the last couple of weeks. While I love reading them, at the time, I haven't had the whatever to do one myself. Mondays are a busy day in my world. Well, every day is a busy day, but Mondays have a lot going on.

Anyway, today alone has been full of 'Not Me' moments. Since it's not Monday, I'm going to just say 'I did not...' Here's what I did not do today.

- I did not wake up for my 8am, turn off the alarm clock, and go back to sleep for an extra 15 minutes. Nor did I completely ignore the fact that it was pouring rain outside and put on flats instead of rain-appropriate footwear (Wears Inappropriate Shoes, remember?). I also did not forget my umbrella.

- I did not bless out Punxsutawney Phil for seeing his shadow.

- I did not roll my eyes when a girl who must have been trying to imitate Hermione Granger raised her hand to ask an unrelated question for the 20th time in my promotions class. Nor did the teacher see me do it, smirk, pointedly answer her question and cut off her need to discuss every. single. response. by letting us out 10 minutes early.

- I did not contemplate strangling a girl in my group in my programming class with her own badly bleached braids. Nor did I speak up when she proceeded to present our idea for a TV show all kinds of wrong and proceed to argue with her until the professor cut in and told her I was right. I didn't smile in satisfaction or fall all over my words when the curly-headed beauty I do not sneak peeks of during class told me I 'rocked that assignment' either.

- I did not spend the whole of my advertising class in whispered conversation with my sorority sister over why our male professor knows so much about fragrances and makeup.

- I did not try to sweet talk the lady at the ticket office into selling me two tickets at the student price with only one student ID. (For the record, that one failed).

- I did not doodle all over the margins of my notebook in my Mass Comm History class. Nor did I pass notes. Nor did I get my pen stuck in my hair no less than 4 times because I was twirling my hair around it. I absolutely did not leave that class yet again wondering what the heck the professor was talking about because it certainly did not match what I read in the textbook.

- I did not tell the guy smoking outside my building that he looked like Kevin Jonas.

- I did not have the attention span of a goldfish all day long.

- I am not currently loading up on coffee in an effort to stay awake until I finish my desk shift around 1am.

Getting to Know You Sunday

It's time for Mannland5's Getting to Know You Sunday!

The questions..

1. Do you iron your sheets?

That would be a big 'ol NO. If I manage to put away my laundry away within a couple days of doing it, it's a good week (or two weeks seeing as that's about how often I do laundry). You can forget about ironing sheets.

2. Your dream car is....?

Chevy Tahoe Hybrid. I'm a fan of big cars - they make me feel safer. And since this one's a hybrid it, in theory, is easier on the environment and my wallet.

3. Do you have an innie or an outie belly button?

Innie here!

4. What meal do you look forward to the most..breakfast, lunch, or dinner?

Dinner. A lot of days, that's the only meal I eat (bad habit, I know). When I'm home for a break, dinner is on my mind the moment I wake up. I love my Mama's home cooking!

5. Favorite mascara?

Right now, I'm using this and loving it:
But I'm also a big fan of this:


6. What would you say your decorating style is..traditional, modern, eclectic, country, french country, shabby chic, etc..?

Hmmm.... I guess I don't really have a 'style' just yet since the only thing I've gotten to decorate is my dorm room. It's basically my monogram, sorority letters, and lots and lots of pictures. I'll get back to you in December/January when I have that college degree and my own place to go with it. Going to guess 'shabby chic' will be my way of life for a while though.

7. Have you ever been skinny dipping?

No. I really don't think I'm brave enough to risk it. Like the song "Skinny Dipping" by Whitney Duncan though!

8. I hate the smell of...?

Sardines or any fish-y smell in general. My stepdad eats sardines out the can and I have to leave the room when he breaks those bad boys open. Lord help me when they get in the seafood mood.

Today Was A Fairytale

"But no matter what love throws at you, you have to believe in it.
You have to believe in love stories and prince charmings and happily ever afters."

- Taylor Swift

This is one of my favorite quotes. I have it tacked up on my wall and also as part of my 'About your RA' display outside my door.

When I was little, I believed in princesses and fairy godmothers and talking mice that could sew a dress. I really thought we'd find the seven dwarfs if Daddy would just walk a little further into the woods with me. I had a yellow brick road in the living room (it was a rope rug) and a pair of ruby red slippers. I willed my little clown coffee mug to talk like Chip from Beauty and the Beast. I even dropped it several times in an effort to get it to chip because if it had a chip, surely it would talk then. That was a tough little mug. Never so much as cracked. My grandma still has it actually.

I had all the fairy tales growing up. Cinderella was and still is my favorite. I remember at the beach one year, I had brought a big chunk of my Little Golden Books collection with me. My cousin Zach and I had a scuffle about which one we were going to read, but Papa told Zach ladies always got their way and not to fight it. Funny what you remember from those days.

Zach and I settled on either side of him and he began to read - or, more accurately, tell his own version of Cinderella. Mom stopped him before we found out what Cinderella and Prince Charming were up to behind the log. Seriously, that man has corrupted a fairytale or nursery rhyme for all of us grandkids. Only my sister has been foolish enough to go to school and repeat one of them. But 1 out of 15 isn't a bad record for him, I guess.

Like most, if not all, of you, as I got older, I realized fairy tales were merely that - tales. No matter how many times I hit a pumpkin with a stick, it wasn't going to turn into a carriage. I could tug on the rug's fringes all I wanted, but it wasn't going to turn into a magic carpet. And the only resemblance my cat was ever going to have to Raja the tiger was going to be his orange coat.

But now, as I've gotten still older, I've started to change my mind about fairy tales once more. I think fairy tales do exist. They just don't exactly include princesses or maybe even prince charmings.

A line from a Taylor Swift song got me thinking about this. The line was "Today was a fairytale, I wore a dress, you wore a dark grey t-shirt. You told me I was pretty when I looked like a mess, today was a fairytale."

I've dated some toads in my life. Mr. Camaro cheated on me after almost two years together. Mr. Snuff was classy enough to break up with me via email. After a couple of dates and some 'everybody knows everybody else in this small town, let me ask around' research, I figured out Mr. Green Eyes wasn't so much shy as had more mental health issues than this then 18 year old girl could deal with. Mr. Blind Date was shorter than I am, had horrible teeth, and said 'golly' a lot. I'm only 5'2" so really, being shorter than I am is a real accomplishment. Least he paid for dinner. I still owe my cousin for that one. There was Mr. Chef who was too self-righteous for his own good. Last I heard, he'd moved to LA and is a 'struggling actor.' I'm stopping there. This is getting depressing.

I could easily be jaded. Instead, I choose to believe in fairy tales of the more ordinary variety. I believe I'll stumble across the love of my life when I least expect it. In fact, I think searching high and low for a boyfriend only makes it harder to find one. I believe my fairytale will be the days when we're sitting around a breakfast table, sipping coffee and reading the morning paper or listening to the children squabble over what cartoon they want to watch. Those ordinary, wouldn't trade them for anything in the world, kind of days.

Growing up doesn't mean we need to stop believing in fairy tales. It just means we need to believe in real ones.

But hey, Kevin Jonas gave his new wife a pair of glass slippers so if my future husband happens to read this...

Thursday's Thoughts

A selection of the many thoughts I've had while sitting through three classes this morning and waiting for the forth to begin (aka, the one I REALLY dislike):

~ I really wish the weather folk would get it together. I checked three weather sites this morning before class. See, they're calling for snow in Knoxville and that makes me happy. How MUCH snow (or if it's going to be ice, sleet, or rain for that matter) is the question. Weather.com said 1-3 inches. NOAA's website said 2-5. WBIR, our NBC affiliate, said 3-6. My guess is we get an inch - after everyone prepares for 6.

~ Confession: I'm going to Walgreen's on the strip after class to 'stock up' because that's what us southerns do. Which for me, means buying junk food to keep me from having to leave my building and, Lord forbid, walk across the courtyard 50 yards to the cafeteria.

~ The chicken and bacon flat bread sandwich I got at Subway was so good last night. I think I'm going to get another one tonight. And a peanut butter cookie because that was also amazing. Or, seeing as it was 8:30 and I hadn't eaten all day, I may have just been that hungry. That may be the case actually since, come to think of it, the Sun Chips I got were also incredible.

~ Pretentious people drive me insane and are in dire need of a reality check. Just sayin.'

~ My BlackBerry has been on the fritz. I finally made time to call Verizon about it and it starts working perfectly. It must have some sort of sensor in it, alerting it to when I'm about to demand Verizon replace it. Still thinking I'll make a phone call though - it'll likely start up again.

~ "American Honey" is the second best song ever. "I Go Back" is still the best song ever.

~ In the cafeteria the other day, they played "Party in the USA" and followed it by "You Belong With Me." Those are two of my favorite songs to have random dance parties to. I danced in the cafeteria and didn't care who was watching. Everyone needs to do that at least once. We're all too concerned with appearances for our own good.

~ It really gets under my skin when people put down my major or call it 'soft.' I work JUST as hard as you do, if not harder, and I WILL be successful at what I do because I'm darn good at it. I might not be able to do what you do, but YOU try sitting under 10 bright lights with cameras and monitors everywhere, trying to act natural and have a conversation while internally wondering if you look okay on camera and trying desperately not to fall over your words or say something that could be taken as offensive. It's NOT easy. Whew. That felt good to get out.

~ I'm going to dinner with my big and 'twin' tomorrow (Well, lunch, but we seem to be calling it dinner so...) and I am SO excited. I love those girls. Love them.

~ All this forecasted bad weather gives me the excuse I need to stay in this weekend and tackle an extensive to do list. One that I should probably make before I start on it.

~ I should probably go brush my teeth before I run out the door to my Mass Communication History class. I just downed my life line - coffee - and I'm sure others would appreciate not smelling coffee breath while I'm in class.

~ If my professor uses the term 'Jeffersonian' one more time in class today...