Courtney P

Who even follows through on New Year’s Resolutions anyway?

So I’m not exactly spending New Year’s Eve the way I planned it: I’m doing the same thing I do every year.  Jenna, Brendan and I had awesome aspirations to make some crazy plans and do something really exciting, and yet I just finished making dip and then I’m off to vacuum my den so we have somewhere clean to hang out.

All of our friends are either away, or have other plans with their significant other (woohoo for the three third-wheels!) and since anywhere that would have been open is now closed because of snow (!), we’re going to veg out on the couch and maybe have a bonfire in the backyard.  There’s no other way to ring in the New Year. 

I’m not making any Resolutions per se.  I tend to associate Resolutions with empty promises to go to the gym and abstain from gorging on snacks.  Two weeks later (if that), everyone’s back to the same old life.  But I am making a promise to keep trying to improve myself.  Whether it’s going to the gym four times a week instead of once or twice, or making an honest effort to start papers more than ten hours before they’re due… I’m haven’t decided which direction I’m taking it in.  But it’s always to have a fresh start, with a new semester coming up! 

Speaking of… I’m back at school next week already! I can’t believe a month has flown by so fast.  Of course, classes don’t start until January 20, but I’m leaving home on January 7 because I have an invitational tournament for fencing at Penn State that weekend.  I’m sad that I’m going to miss out on the end of break with my “home friends” but I’m totally psyched to get back to fencing – I can’t believe I actually miss practice! 

Merry Christmas!

"Love came down at Christmas;

Love all lovely, love divine;

Love was born at Christmas,

Stars and angels gave the sign."

- Christina Rossetti (1830-1894)

"I can understand people simply fleeing the mountainous effort Christmas has become… but there are always a few saving graces and finally they make up for all the bother and distress." - May Sarton

The first quote is from Christina Rossetti, one of my favorite English poets!  I love poetry from later British Literature, and Christina Rossetti as well as her brother, who was another amazing poet.  And I feel like the second one completely conveys my experience with the holidays-- I'm so exhausted, but I'm looking forward to just seeing all of my family tomorrow morning. 

Merry Christmas!

Re-united

"I've got some friends, some that I hardly know
But we've had some times I wouldn't trade for the world
We chase these days down with talks of the places that we will go" -Swing Life Away, Rise Against

Ahh Winter Break!
The last time I updated was just before finals week, after the hockey game.  What a stressful week that turned out to be!  But the best part was getting all of my work done before finals week even started-- I only had one final exam to take because of all of the papers and projects I had to hand in before that.  So I've been home for two weeks already!  I missed a lot of bonding time with my roommates, which I'm bummed about, but I've been working and hanging out with all of my friends from high school.

I just got back from my friend Karissa's house; she invited a few of our friends over for dinner.  I probably haven't seen her in probably 6 months, so it was so great to be sitting around her kitchen table with my friends and Karissa's mom, laughing and talking forever.

One of the most interesting things about going to college is being able to choose who you want to keep in touch with from high school.  Admittedly, there are some people from my youth who I wouldn't mind never speaking to again.  There are friends who I've grown apart from, and there are my best friends who I couldn't go more than a week without talking to in some way. 

And then there are people who I couldn't have imagined being close with after graduating.  I don't even know how it happened, but people who I didn't hang out with after-school or on the weekends have become part of my close circle of friends-- the people I call first when I'm home from SHU.  One of my best friends, Brendan, was somebody who I was good friends with in high school, but once we went to Sacred Heart together, we became nearly inseparable.  Even though we tell people we met in high school, the foundation of our friendship was really built post-graduation. 

I guess it's just funny-- I hung out with "the old crowd" tonight, but it was with a completely different dynamic than when we gathered in Karissa's basement in high school.  We're growing up, and we're slowly going out into the 'real world,' but we have such a strong history together that things haven't really changed all that much-- we just dress differently and look older, and have new funny stories to tell.  Four of us will be 21 soon-- and it's so strange to think that next time we're home, we can go to a bar to catch up instead of hanging out in Karissa's kitchen. 

Getting too sappy for you?  Haha, me too. 
Happy Christmas Eve!!!  I'll probably update tomorrow night after work (*gasp* on Christmas Eve?  Someone's gotta sell those last minute stocking stuffers--that's me!) just because I have a fun Christmas-y quote to put up :).

Pictures! More are on the way!

Totally using my sweet image inserting skills!  Here's the pep band and the hockey team on the ice at the Milford Ice Pavilion, in Milford, CT (where SHU plays their home games).  I'm three from the left in the top row.  Doesn't it look like we overpower the players? Haha  They're all nice, but I wouldn't get in their way when they've got the puck! 

Almost there!

"The woods are lovely, dark, and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep." -Robert Frost

It's almost finals week, and do you know what that means?  Crunch time! 

The week before finals is always just a little bit crazy (in a good way, of course) but this time it's even crazier because it's just after Thanksgiving break.  I'm so excited to get everything done and over with.  It's been a long semester for me, with a lot of fun classes, and I'm psyched to see the end results of my papers and projects.  I really enjoyed my Television and New Media Journalism class, and I spent all of last night working on the revision of a video for that class, as well as a paper for my Developing a Writing Voice class.  Of course, I didn't get very much sleep last night (you really wouldn't want to know how little sleep I got) but I'm comforted by the fact that once tomorrow comes along, I'm pretty much done with my work for the semester except for a final on Tuesday.

Plus we have Christmas parties all week!  I had a Secret Santa gift exchange with my Spectrum friends and my suitemates and I are planning to decorate our apartment for finals week, and there are all kinds of holiday-like activities, from New Year's BINGO tonight at midnight and a Christmas tree lighting ceremony on Thursday to our annual holiday band concert on Sunday.  And you can't have a fun-filled holiday week without ice hockey and basketball games all week! 

Tonight was the men's ice hockey game against UConn.  It was a lot of fun-- we won 5-3 in an exciting and fast-paced game.  At the end, the hockey team and the pep band took a picture together on the ice.  It was wierd being on the ice and up close to the players, considering we're usually watching and cheering from the stands, haha.  I'll post the picture once my friend Zack sends it to me-- I learned how to post pictures!

Now, it's off to Midnight BINGO, some last minute Spectrum editing, and sleep!