Bittersweet

As much as I talk about getting out of East Texas, I do realize that it will be bittersweet.

I'm pretty comfortable here. On campus, I know who I need to talk to to get what I want and need, and people know me well enough that it doesn't take a lot of effort to get it. When I go out to eat, I only have a few places that I go, and they know me, some know my name, and they know what I like to drink and some of my favorite food items.

I went in to a promotions company today to see if I could get a gift for someone, and I've done a large amount of business with them over the years. They got the gift for me even though you're technically supposed to order at least 25. They told me I was such a great customer that they didn't mind and would make it work.

It's hard for me to go out without seeing a number of people that I know where ever I am, and it's gotten to be very normal for me. I don't know what it will be like when I have to start over again. It will be exciting in some ways, and I got a taste of it this past summer, but it'll be a building process all over again.

Ready for Spring Break! ATX, here I come!!

Also, 298 days til I graduate.

Maturity

I can feel it, and I notice it all the time. I'm getting more mature. I've always been pretty grown up, a little ahead of people my age, but lately I've started to actually feel like an adult.

Part of it is my self control. I've been in some really stressful situations in the past couple of months, and instead of panicking, I've been just handling it. I've realized that panicking doesn't do anything but make things worse. I choose not to stress, and I deal with the problem at hand.

Other self control things have been that I used to be a great procrastinator, and even though I still push things off sometimes, it now resembles prioritization. I deal with the most important things at hand, and then I take care of other things down my list. Even if it's something that I don't want to do, I just do it. It has to get done, and I might as well get it over with.

A lot of the changes have been subconscious, but other things have been intentional decisions. I've begun budgeting. I pay much more attention to the things that I spend my money on, and I consider the payments that I need to be making. I'm almost out of the small amount of debt I had accumulated, and I'm catching up on some other things as well.

Clothing was another choice; Before I buy, I think, "Would a professional wear this?" Not that I dress for the office all the time, but my purchases look less and less young all the time. At work, at both jobs, my professionalism has increased. I take care of things in a timely and polite manner, and my presence in meetings is more mature than ever.

Don't get me wrong: I'm still the same fun guy. I know how to have a good time, but time and place is something that I've learned to adapt to. I like it.

Btw, I didn't really get "arrested." I had an outstanding speeding ticket, and the City Marshall took me to the court to pay it. No booking or anything crazy, but it was an interesting morning for sure.

Also, I just made plans for Spring Break. Just going to Austin to see some friends. Should be a good time. Not going til the second half of the week (the 10th of March) so hit me up about plans before that.

Long time, no blog!

So… yeah, I'll skip the apologies and head straight into what's going on.

It's 313 days until I graduate from UT Tyler, and that's exciting. You know what else is exciting? SAINTS WON THE SUPERBOWL! FINALLY!

Anyway, I'm only taking 15 hours this semester, and it's still pretty brutal. Work in Career Services has picked up immensely. I had to take the laptop home and work over the weekend. This was in between working at Outback in Longview, which is also getting busier, which means the money is improving. I'm excited about that, too.

I do feel a little stagnant because I feel like my classes are very, very repetitive, and I'm still not meeting my full potential because all I can do is part-time jobs. 313 days. I just keep telling myself that. Then I'll be gone for good. This is not to say that I'm not happy; I'm quite happy, but I'm ready to go out and make my mark on society. I'm ready to live in a more open-minded region.

Someone gave me the greatest compliment the other day; he told me that I seemed like I was from the city. What a nice guy.

That's just a quick catch-up. I'll try to stay on top of things, and if you're good then I'll post about getting arrested a couple of weeks ago.

Chaos

So my life is crazy. There's never enough time or money or energy to get all the things I need/have/want to do.

Of course, I'm doing school - 18 hours of 4000 level classes... and I want a 4.0. We will see. Also, I am on IFC, and we meet fairly regularly. I am doing a lot of stuff with Greek Life apart from IFC and SAE, so that's another commitment. Then I'm obviously in SAE, where I am Pledge Educator, so I write and deliver all the history and stuff for new members, plus, I'm starting from scratch on that program because I want it to be revolutionary and win an award. I'm also the Correspondent and Chronicler, so there's more stuff. Then this past Thursday I became the President of the newly established Tyler Student Chapter of SHRM at UTT, and we're planning on winning a national award. Then of course, I work in Career Services, so that is a good chunk of time as well.

I'm just trying to keep my head above water, honestly. I'm not sure what all this is going to do for me someday, but hopefully it helps me get into an amazing MBA program. I've looked at a ton of them: everything from UTD to Yale. I'm sure that once I get there (where ever "there" is) that the fun won't stop. I can't help but be over-involved. Here's the clincher to this post: I do say no to people. All the time actually. I'm constantly being asked if I can do things, and I just say no and offer no explanation which makes me sound like an ass, but whatever.

I'm ready for my Narnia collection to come in the mail. I need a new book to read.

Finally, a new post

Alright, so this semester has been good thus far. Even with 18 hours of 4000-level classes, I've kept ahead on my homework. I still have plenty of free-time to read (I read at least one book a week) and hang out with friends. Fraternity stuff is very time consuming, especially this week, which is Rush, but it's all been enjoyable thus far. I feel like I've earned a lot of people's respect recently because of all the work that I've done.

I keep busy enough that I don't have time to feel sorry for myself about living in East Texas. With all the things mentioned above plus my Career Services Internship, I pretty much keep aloof. I don't drink very much at all, which is weird considering my behavior last semester and this summer. I had a drinking phase, then a party phase, then a bar phase, and now I just kinda hangout. It's been good, and it's much less expensive! I didn't realize how much money I spent on alcohol until I came back from my summer with not a dime to my name.

I swear I'm gonna start working out soon. Maybe Monday. I honestly need someone to go at the same time as me, so I feel more obligated to go. I can go anytime on Monday, Wednesday, or Friday during the day but would prefer the morning because there's way less people in there then. It's just hard to get motivated to go by myself, ya know? Monday might be difficult to start because of....

PRIDE! This weekend in Dallas with MD! So excited. I've never been before, so we'll see how it goes, but I'm pretty pumped about it, not gonna lie. I'm sure I'll be exhausted when I return, however, and that makes me think that I probably won't want to get up on Monday at 7 to workout... We'll see.

Time to get some homework done. Later.