Monday, November 30, 2009

Christmas ABCs

Yes, yes. I still have three papers to write. However, it is vital to stay alive and well. Thus, I am going to blog about Christmas. Here are MY ABCs of Christmas...

Absolutely fabulous presents, I mean company!
Beatles music. Something about the Beatles just screams Christmas to me.
Christmas carols
Dancing around the Christmas tree
Everybody gets together for the holidays
Festive cheer
Gluhwein
Happy faces
Ice
Jolly Ol' St. Nick!
Kris Kringle
Laughter
Music...lots of it
Nog as in Egg Nog
Offspring have to visit their 'rents
Prayer before the meal
Quietly sneaking to see if St. Nick is real.
Red
Sleigh bells
Tinsel on the tree
Uniform Christmas gifts...no kid gets more than another at the BBJ house
Very Merry Christmas Disney sing-along
Winter Wonderland
Xciting times
Yule tidings
Zzzzs since the old farts are too old to wake up early for presents these days

Sunday, November 29, 2009

little gnomes


I like gnomes. I have a few. Three lawn gnomes now decorate my parents' front lawn. My mom doesn't like them. My father tolerates them, I'm sure when he sees them, he thinks of me.

This past weekend, I went to Dayton to visit my parents and take a litte "vaca." It was great. But while I was home, I realized that my parents don't care much for the gnomes in their yard. The beach gnome pictured on this blog was knocked over. It looked as if he had been lying on his side for a while. It was horrible. Okay, to be honest, this is the one gnome I haven't named yet. I don't really know what to call him. I mean, he wears shorts every day of the year. Who does this? It's not as if we live in Hawaii.

If anyone has any ideas of what the gnome should be named, please let me know.

Anyway...

I think lawn gnomes are cool. But if I ever end up living in a house with a hundred cats and a colony of lawn gnomes in my yard, I totally give you all permission to have an intervention.

Friday, November 27, 2009

Top Ten Things About Thanksgiving...

1. The green bean casserole

2. Hanging out with family

3. Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on TV

4. Playing board games and card games

5. Turkey...the only time of year I'll eat turkey...I don't like that kind of bird.

6. Decorating for Christmas and listening to Christmas music suddenly becomes okay.

7. Chex Mix

8. The "I'm Thankful For" Speeches (which we totally skipped this year)

9. The Veggie tray

10. The prospect of great sales on Black Friday (even when I don't have money to shop

Thanksgiving weekend...utterly stuffing!

It seems that every time I visit my parents in Dayton, I end up eating too many sweets, drinking a whole lot of sugared soda and forgetting to eat anything of real substance. Lucky for me, yesterday was Thanksgiving and we ate turkey and other totally awesome food. My favorite was the green bean casserole. Yummy!

This was my first family Thanksgiving since 2003. For the past five years, I've celebrated with friends and colleagues. Yesterday was all about the family. I played Scrabble with my brother's partner and read my British chick lit while we watched holiday films.

It was a fantastic weekened. I love turkey day and all it brings to me.

Saturday, November 21, 2009

COW boys at OSU

I did a story a couple of weeks ago. It was on the radio. I was proud of it because it took so much work to complete.

Here's the link to my story on KLCC's website.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Keeping my Sanity

Today I realized that my life is a bit busy. It'd be so much easier if I could just sit around and watch TV all the time, but when I do that, I feel lazy. So I go to school or I go to work. It's a good way to be, a good thing to do.

HOWEVER...

On occasion, I allow myself to just watch TV and not do stressful homework. This past weekend was one of those times. Instead of finishing up my big project, I took a little bit of down time. I watched Dawson's Creek, Season Three.

It was awesome! I was able to escape from my homework and focus on the trivial lives of fictional East Coast characters. I got annoyed with Dawson. He's too much of a cry-baby. And I was hoping for Joey and Pacey to get together way before it actually happened. I even looked up some of the episodes on Wikipedia just to relieve any stress I felt over not knowing what the characters would do.

Ah. It was a nice weekend.

Note: The way I feel about Dawson and Pacey is much the way I now feel about Jacob and Edward in the Twilight series. Originally (when I was in high school), I wanted Dawson and Joey to get together. Now, I find Dawson to be a complete moron and I cheer Pacey on. The same is true for the Twilight characters. In the beginning, I was a huge Edward fan. Now, after re-reading New Moon, I find Edward to be a total jerk. And Bella is stupid for crying over him so much. Jacob is SUCH the better bet. Plus, he's funny. Oh...if I ruled the world, these stupid match-ups would never go down.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

If I weren't studying...

I'm not such a fan of studying these days. I do it, though. It's not as if I've started to slack off or anything. It's just that I would rather be doing other things. Studying isn't so fun anymore. I end up thinking too hard. I'm not supposed to be an analytical thinker. And that's what I have to do at school. Ugh!

As I'm taking a 20 minute break from studying, I've decided to share a list of things I'd rather be doing...if I weren't forced to study, that is...

1. drinking tea with Baba Masha...oh to be able to complain about my school work to that sweet old lady. I miss her so much!
2. watching Dawson's Creek...I know. Totally lame. But the high school drama requires no brain power. The problems they face are so tiny compared to my HUGE grad school issues. (ha!)
3. Wandering through the Christmas decorations at Fred Meyer or Target.
4. Reading my British chickLit!
5. traveling...anywhere really.
6. taking pictures for fun
7. sleeping
8. reorganizing my cupboards or bookshelves (seriously, I sometimes get a high from this!)
9. drinking a glass of wine...I'm sure I haven't had any wine since week 2 of school! Ah!
10. Going back to Dayton to see my closest friend from the Dayton years.

Too bad. I have to go read more about the Political Economy of the Media. Wahoo?

Monday, November 9, 2009

Belated Halloween Post


I was a nurse for Halloween. I'm pretty sure it was the most comfortable Halloween costume ever invented. And now I can use the scrubs as pajamas. AMAZING!

I went to a party with cousin Penny on Friday and then on Saturday, I worked the U of O football game.

This all happened a week and a half ago. And right now, my apartment is decorated for Christmas. Wahoo!

the DITCHER

I like to travel. I like to go to new places. And I like to meet new friends. Since I graduated from high school, I've been the one to move away and find my way. I've been the ditcher, not the ditched.

UNTIL NOW.

Tonight, I went to trivia night to interview Trivia Keith. When he had to start his show, I sat at my corner table and wrote. I observed the bar and wrote down what details I found important. At nine, I had been hoping that some of my friends and classmates would show up to do a little trivia. It didn't happen. I sat through a round, which was actually kinda fun, and then I left and went on a short shopping spree in Market of Choice.

When I sat, waiting for the bus, I recalled the time this past year when I was ditched by THREE friends in one night. Tonight, I had nine potential trivia friends and none could make it. Hmph. It's a little sad, but I think it's okay. I put on deodorant this morning. It couldn't be that I stink...or could it?

Just kidding. Anyone who started to believe that I could smell anything but spectacular is awful!

Poka, peops!

Friday, November 6, 2009

History of an English Nerd - NNU Essay circa 2005

Here is another college essay I found yesterday. I'm a nerd. I'm a writer. I guess that's why I'm a journalism student, eh?

Sharece Bunn
February 28, 2005
EN 498: Senior Seminar

The History of an English Nerd

I have always been a nerd. There is no other way to explain it. How else would you describe a first grade student who stayed in from recess to write in her journal? Or a little girl who would sneak out of bed at night and hide in the bathroom so she could finish reading the book she checked out of the library. Where did this passion come from? The truth is that I have no idea how I fell in love with reading and writing. I’ve always just known that both were such an important part of me.

The writing side of me has never changed. I’ve always loved it. In second grade, I told my friend, Josh Bohl that I was one day going to be a writer. I had forgotten about this until we were juniors in high school, talking about what we wanted to do when we grew up. I told him about my dreams of becoming a writer and he actually reminded me that I had told him that almost a decade before.

My journals and letter-writing abilities are probably what kept my love for writing alive. I used to take my journal with me to my oldest sister’s basketball games to write about my silly boy crushes with my friend Abby. As for the letters, I wrote to my cousin Jenny all the time. I also set-up mail boxes for all my immediate family members in our hallway, writing each of them a letter every hour and then waiting impatiently for responses, as if the letters will magically appear. Thinking about it now, I realize just how much of a nerd I always was. Even now, I do some of the same quirky things, like checking my mailbox more that two times daily, itching for more mail.

My love for books must have grown out of my desire to write books. I went through various phases of reading based on a certain series or books my teachers read aloud in class. It took a while for my interests in reading to expand, but I have finally reached a point where I will at least start reading any book a good friend of mine recommends, but it must be said that recommendations for great children’s books will make it to the top of my reading list.

Time as an English major at NNU has only increased my nerdiness. I have written in an average of at least five journals per year, complete with random pictures and significant e-mails I have received. And whenever I can scratch up the time, I will read the random books on my shelf that have been dying to be read by me. The way figure it, I will always be a nerd. I’m okay with that. I feel like embracing the nerdiness because if I don’t and if I try to deny my passion of reading and writing, who knows what will happen to me.

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Autobiographical notes from Oxford circa 2004

Here is something I found on my old harddrive. I wrote it while I was studying in Oxford and shared it in front of a group at our "Talent Night." Enjoy.


What makes me unique
By Sharece Bunn

I am unique.
It’s true
My mommy sometimes even looks at me weird. But usually, it’s just the other kids I’m around. But they all think I’m fun and they like being my friend.
The worst part was when I was in high school. The student teacher in my consumer ec. Class told me that I was the “strangest leader ever.” So basically, he couldn’t figure out how a weird slacker like me ended up being so involved in FFA and student council and basically every other thing there was to get involved in. But I was okay with that. I sort of took it as a complement.
But when my family started telling me how strange I was, I was a little thrown off. They all love me of course, they just know that I’m not what people usually expect to get out of such an intelligent being.
But as for why I am unique, I must admit it is because I am just me.
I am a kid (at heart at least).
I’m on a strange diet since the summer which will actually be a lifestyle choice for the rest of my life so that I will not have cholesterol issues like my big brother Shane.
I go through weird fads, like when I decided to become a vegetarian for a month or when I decided that I was going to let my 80s fetish go hard-core with the pins on the jacket for a month. I love crimping my hair and will crimp it in the middle of writing a paper or just when I am by myself at the ‘rent’s house or in my apartment at school.
I used to stay in from recess in 1st grade to write in my journal.
I was always the teacher’s pet. I had a star badge every year of grade school and I was always one of the students who got student of the month.
I was the Valedictorian.
I was the student of the year.
I was hard core FFA chick in junior high, wishing for a belt-buckle for Christmas more than anything else.
When I got that belt buckle a few years later, I never wore it, as I was burnt out of the whole hick thing.
I love going to the St. Paul Rodeo but I would never want to dress up like a hick to go.
I love wearing plain white t-shirts best.
I love peace.
My favorite necklaces are multi-colored.
Purple is my ultimate favorite color. Whenever I buy something new, I usually have to think twice if it is not purple, but if it is purple, I will usually buy it pretty fast.
I have been obsessed with England for a long time, believing it to be the ideal place for me to live.
Since I’ve come to Oxford, I have decided that England is cool, but it’s just not me.
I don’t know exactly where I want to live when I grow up.
I once had a crush on JTT.
I have the same best friends from high school.
I have a serious princess complex. Yes, I was a princess in high school but I don’t know that I have ever gotten over the fact that now I am a grownup and I am not married to a prince, which means that I am no longer princess material (even though Shane thinks I will meet one of the princes while I’m here).
I’ve given up my dream of meeting a hot British boy here to marry. (yes, there are 8 weeks left but how ridiculous is that…to never have a relationship and then for the first one date someone I’m separated from by ocean).
I like jewelry.
I have a weird thing for guys in bands.
But I’ve never had a boyfriend. And I’ve never had the guts to actually let a guy know that I’m interested in him. And in all actuality, guys kind of scare me (although I have some closer guy friends here than I have had in a LONG time).
I wear holey socks.
I have a weird thing about matching my shoes to my belt (although I can’t do it here because not all my shoes are here).
I broke my umbrella and am too cheap to buy a new one even though I’ll spend money on ridiculous candy jars because the brand is “Bob’s your uncle.”
I always peel the labels off of my chapstick.
I picked Jell-o! as my camp name.
I usually HAVE to wash my sheets every two weeks but since I’ve moved here I haven’t even washed them (and its been five weeks).
I am random.
I am creative
I like to say things out of the ordinary just because that’s what I’m thinking about.
I usually drift off when people talk to me about serious things because I usually don’t know what they are talking about.
I sometimes nod my head when people ask me if I know what they’re talking about because I figure it’s not important to know anyway.
I pronounce words wrong ALL THE TIME.
I use words I learned as a child incorrectly because I never figured out what they actually mean or how they should be used.
I relate the most to Phoebe.
I can also relate to Joey quite a bit (during some of his dumb moments).
I really like things to be clean, at least in neat piles.
I used to have OCD (with my hands and the washing bit).
I had three ear related surgeries.
I sometimes forget to clean out my belly button.
I have a weird obsession with piercings (although I don’t know what else I would REALLY want pierced).
I want a tattoo but not enough to actually do it.
The pitt name (our hangout spot) was named by me.
I love photography.
Writing is a serious obsession with me but I keep getting writers block.
I write more in my journal that I would ever actually tell a human being.
God is my homeboy.
I need to go to bed.
Sincerely,
Recey 12:44 AM wed, the 13th of October in the year 2004!

Monday, November 2, 2009

Radio Sister

I've been on the radio TWICE in the past week. I'm so excited. I like my internship a lot. That said, I have a lot of homework. This post is going to be really short.

Poka! That means "later" in Ukrainian.

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Stress


Stress.

It gets to me. I don't like it, but it gets to me.

This weekend was stressful. I worked on Saturday at the football game. I went to work in nurse scrubs (it was Halloween) and had two fake vampire bite marks. I was a vampire victim through and through. But my boss wasn't impressed. My co-worker helped me turn myself into a nurse vampire with some really gross, cream makeup. It was a pain. And my skin got pretty irritated.

Today wasn't so bad. The stressful part was this: I didn't get to make my bed right after waking up. I had to wait for a few hours. My sister was staying with me and so I couldn't make it all nice and tidy. I know, OCD, right? And then my clothes didn't dry in the dryer enough and have to air dry.

Okay, I get it. I'm a nutcase. Yeah. I really need a vacation.