Step 9: Turning it Over to Him

Happy early Monday fellow bloggers! I'm sorry I've been so vacant this past week, I was putting my positive outlook to the test. Let me tell you, it was hard. It was so hard that I literally started several blog posts just to talk about it, but instead, im going to share this with you: 

I love God. I believe in God. And God loves me. 

Dealing with depression and anxiety can be tough, especially when you have a hard time managing it. Yesterday (Sunday) and Saturday were challenges because I felt extremely down on myself and alert about everything around me. It even got to the point on where I couldn't eat or sleep, but going to church made me realize one thing. 

I've been focusing on the wrong thing. This whole time I've been trying to figure this out my way, when I needed to call on Him. I figured this out several hours later while in the bathtub, trying to relax and calm down my anxiety. Wanna know what I did? 

I whispered every single thing that I hated about myself, so not only I could hear it but so could God. After I was done crying my eyes out, a sweet lyrics popped into my head: Holy, Holy, Hy is the Lord God almighty. Who was and is, and is to come. 

A wonderful thing about God is that he loves you no matter what. He can take every single thing that you hate about yourself and turn it into something he loves.  God is beautiful and loving, cast all your worries on him. 

This week I pray that you can fully surrender yourself to him, and trust him daily. I know for me it is a struggle to continuously let go, that's why I have to do it daily. He hears you, don't be afraid to speak out. 

-MiMi out. 

Step 8: Knowing When to Shut Your Mind Off

Warning: A serious post is below. Please continue reading only if you are in a serious mood because MiMi has had a very serious weekend. Which means no laughter. Ever. Okay, maybe like a few times, but mostly never. 

About 50% of the time, I am a happy person. Half of the time I'm laughing about something stupid and joking around with my castmates/coworkers/friends, but even then I suffer from the problem of not being able to shut my mind off. 

All through elementary school I was bullied for being shy, having a giant gap in my teeth, being overweight, or too smart. Not physically bullied, but verbally. It finally ended for a good two years during junior high, which was good because honestly, Junior High is where you really figure out who you are/want to be. I know for some people, those two years personally sucked and I although for me there were some ups and downs, I'm grateful for being able to have a good group of friends to be with during that time. 

But then ninth grade came around and I had to deal with something so painful (for an innocent fourteen year old) that I'm amazed I'm still here today. The first friend that I made when I moved here not only decided to betray me and accuse me of being several rude things, but cyber bully me. She wasn't alone either, oh no, she had her "best friend" that she tried to set me up with (who I actually had feelings for) join in on the fun. It was a knock down that would continue to hit me in the ribs for years. 

From freshman year on, I have dealt with serious depression and anxiety. To any of the readers out there suffering from the same thing, I feel for you. Unfortunately I can't give great advice on it either, because it's uniquely painful. 

Because while some people only deal with sad thoughts during the late hours of the night, we deal with them twenty four seven. It hurts even more when your parents decide to dog on you, or when you get a bad grade on a paper. It's tough walking past the kitchens knives when doing dishes because there's that dark voice in the back of your head tempting you. There's that constant reminder that your friends only tolerate you, and that they'll eventually betray you too. 

And you can't help but wonder why anyone bothers wasting their time on you. 

This is when I would instruct you to take the remote that controls your brain and to hit the mute button. It's tough, yes, but you have to somehow accomplish it. Why? Because if you don't then not only are you going to continue walking down this dark path by yourelf, but you're also going to continue blowing out any candle in sight. 

You've got to believe that your friends are there for a reason. If you don't trust in them, then how do you ever expect to lead n how to trust yourself? 

You've got to realize that criticism is just someone else's opinion, not an actual fact. Whatever someone says to you, just know that there are probably tens of people out there who think otherwise. You've got a big support system, so why let it be broken down by a single blow? 

But most importantly, you've got to keep the candle glowing. You're not expected to walk this road alone, so don't. Call a lifeline and don't be afraid to reach out to the light (this is the one time you'll probably hear me say that). 

Let's make a deal, this next week we focus on the positive outcomes of what our days bring. If you can try being completely positive for one week, then so can I. 

-MiMi out.  

Step 7: When to Properly Tongue Flap and Other Shenanigans

Lately there's been this famous action that people (mostly teenagers) will do as a greeting to other people (again, mostly teenagers). We call it: the tongue flap. Some people call it revolting, we call it madness. 

But all madness must be tamed (except for the Joker, you just go ahead and do your thing bro, because you're scary) and I've personally experienced when not to use the tongue flap. 

Tongue flapping semi-truck drivers is okay, but doing it to an elderly female truck driver is not. Doing so will only result in a sickening feeling in your stomach and an awkward chill running up your spine. Trust me, you don't want awkward chills and sickening feelings. 

Use the tongue flap wisely. 

Tongue flapping a person who is mentally friend-zoned is fine, but doing it to someone who you wish you could friendzone is not. This is only going to result of you feeling crummy about yourself afterward because for some reason, you rather enjoyed that awkward moment. 

Do not abuse the tongue flap. 

Tongue flapping is generally just not okay when you are in the presence of adults, such as your parents or mentors. I don't think I have to go into further explanation with this one, but if you absolutely feel the need to be weird and awkward, a simple "Meeeerp" works just as well as a tongue flap. 

There you go, I have saved you from horrendous embarrassment and bad memories. Don't say I never did you any good. Any awkward stories involving tongue flaps or other weird sounds? Shoot a comment and we'll chit chat. 

-MiMi out. 

Step 6: Levels of Attraction

Being a single person in a world of good looking guys can lead to two things. The first is deciding that the only way you're going to get with them is if you put yourself out there (sometimes people go too hard...) and the second is rating people on levels of attractiveness. 

We've already discussed the types of theatre hot shots, but me and my pal, Dumbledore have come up with two more levels of attractiveness: Sports, Smarts and Sexy,  and the James Bond Wannabe.  

"Sports, Smarts, and Sexy" 

-typically the one that everyone can swoon over as well as get help with ther homework. As bad as this sounds, guys like this are generally gifted with great backsides. Other characteristics include being able to tell really bad jokes, succeeding in kissing up to teachers and knowing how to rock a knit beanie. 

This group of men enjoy every possible sport available as well as math class and student body courses. 

"The James Bond Wannabe" 

-typically the guy who sits in the back of the class, usually wearing a pair of pajama pants and a sweatshirt. Doesn't care about they way he looks or whathis grade   is, just as long as he is awake. Other traits include a brilliant smirk, a wide vocabulary of curse words and a knowledge of useless facts. He feels the need to express the fact that he doesn't care about anything, but will gladly brag about his "abilities". 

This group of men will make you want to either punch yourself or him. 

So we've covered three different classifications, what are yours? Comment below and we can chit chat. 

-MiMi out. 

Step 5: Ignoring Fandom Moments

By now, I'm certain that you all have realized that this blog does not actually give great advice and is more of a slightly humorous/sad journal of my experiences in college. If you've gotten this far and are still interested in reading more, than holy freaking crap you should get a cookie. But if I gave you a cookie, then I would have to give myself a cookie because I think I deserve one after surviving college this far. 

The title of this blog may seem ridiculous and probably has nothing to do with your life, but I must start this post out with a question. What do you do when your professor looks like Severus Snape in his late thirties? 

Over the course of this semester, I have come up with four options to keep my focus on the class and not on the fact that he literally looks like the potion's professor at Hogwarts. 

Option One: Casually look around the class for anyone with a jagged lightning scar before the class starts. By doing this, you are making sure that the next hour and a half is in a positive environment and will not be focused on making a certain person's life hell. Also make sure that you yourself do not have a scar on your forehead because that could be the reason for the grades on your assignments. 

Option Two: Les Miserables It. Keep your focus on your book. In other words: Look down, Look down, Don't look him in the eye...

Option Three: Keep yourself informed on the current lesson, just to be safe. We all know that Snape excelled in shoving Ron and Harry's heads in their books and to be honest, that looked quite painful. Take that as a warning and jump at every opportunity to answer questions, and just pray that your answer is right. 

Option Four: Inform him of this piece of news. Odds are, he (or she...) doesn't realize just how much he looks like Snape. Plus, if he hears about this from you, then there is a chance he will be easy on the homework. Why? Well, he probably wants to make sure that there is a definite difference between him and Snape. 

There has to be more professors out there that have a scary resemblance to fictional characters. If you have a story, share it in the comments below.

-MiMi out.  

Step 4: Mastering a Ballerina Lift

In a perfect world, there would be no such thing as a blond moment, or even the occasional trip. In a perfect world everyone and everything would be in the perfect upright position without ever finding the need to fall down. 

But sadly, we don't live in a perfect world and people do trip more than once. If I had a nickel, no, a penny for every time I made a fool of myself...well, let's just say Bill Gates would be in poverty compared to my bank account. 

But today however, was the icing on the cake. The sprinkles on the donut. The boom on the firework. Why, you ask? Because at our recent rehearsal, MiMi attempted to do a ballerina lift. Key word: attempted. 

One word: Draco. 

Long story short, apparently he trusts a girl about thirty pounds heavier and five inches taller than me more. In fact, he lifted her with no problem, but once we tried to do it for real, he backed away. Apparently he has a fear of dropping me? 

Side Note: I really don't understand the male species. 

 Alright, so we practice this lift a few times before we try and place it into the scene, and it actually looks okay. My nerves, at that point, were slowly fading away. In fact, my director even helped us out for a few times, so that  boosted our confidence even more. Everything is going good until our scene comes up and I find myself jumping in his arms. 

In a perfect world, the jump would be absolute perfection and would go smoothly. In fact, in that world I probably would have squealed with happiness from the cuteness of it all. But no, instead what happened was a huge chest bump and the both of us landing on our butts. 

Now, I don't know how we managed to do it. The whole motion of it all was straight from a cartoon and not only was I dumbstruck by the action, but I was in pain from the impact. Fellow thespians, take note: Nobody wins with a chest bump, especially if one's chest is cushioned with boobs. 

So here's my advice about ballerina lifts, especially if you've never done one before and a scene calls for it. Ladies, don't stick out your chest as if you were a penguin and men, please don't run at the girl like you are in football. 

Remember, it's a lift, not a tackle. 

Alright, I need to go ice my boobs. 

-MiMi out. 

Step 3: Avoiding Distractions While Studying

A big part of college is being able to study on your own time and be just as efficient as you would be with a teacher. Yes, this means putting down the cell phone and closing the Netflix tab on your laptop. This is to ensure that you'll get the grade you worked so badly for. 

"Oh MiMi, tell us some great studying techniques! Give us advice MiMi!" 

Here's my own slice of advice for you: 

-Find someone else who knows how to give great advice. 

Truth be told, I'm blogging this while leaning against my bed-frame with a large glass of sweet tea on my left and my Psych book on my right. The only one I have touched is the sweet tea.  

Well, I DID have chicken nuggets too, but my dog seemed to think that I was fat enough without that delicacy and snatched them up when I was in another room. The only way I can think of how he managed to eat seven nuggets without spilling the sauce, moving the container, OR getting crumbs all over my floor, was if he slurped them up like a milkshake. 

One big processed chicken (not even chicken..) milkshake. 

So, that was how I suddenly became unmotivated to even start studying, but oddly enough, I've had crazier stories. See, studying is like a nearly impossible task to do if you tend to think of twenty things at once. It's like the Tri-Wizard Tournament, extremely difficult and deadly to pretty much everyone except for that one kid (otherwise known as Cedric Digggory) who no one likes. You start with good intentions, but once you google something for that test, you're screwed. You could go from looking up how to rationilze a denominator to reading an article about a rumored Wicked movie adaption, which then leads to flinging your math homework in the air while standing on your bed belting out the lyrics to "Defying Gravity". 

I have discovered that not only do I have bad balance, but I have super sensitive reflexes. Draco drew the short end of the straw and learned both of those first hand. 

Story time? Why not! Because this blog entry is about distractions while studying and I'm obviously not going to get any studying done, neither is anyone reading this. 

We were rehearsing a scene from our play, a very sexist play mind you, and I have to almost beat him up with my staff. To do so, I was standing on two chairs out together, a "bench", with my staff over my head. At this time, Draco is walking back and forth giving a monologue about how women are dogs compared to men, completely in to his character.  Everything was going good until I started to lose my balance and wobbled off the bench rather embarrassed, my staff knocking me into head and me falling on the ground in just enough time for me to say my lines. 

Jump back to the first scene Draco and I share, and we find a romantic exchange between our characters. Meaning, a kiss and other lovey-dovey crap. I managed the survive the first awkward kiss well, and was able to keep in character for several runs, but then my director suggested a "Persian Goodbye" and that's when the trouble truly began. 

A Persian goodbye is a reference to Oklahoma, and is when a guy kisses down your arm "romantically". I forgot to mention to him that I was a rather ticklish person, so when he kissed the palm of my hand....I kind of...elbowed him in the face. 

...hard. 

We ended up practicing that specific action three times that night, and by the third time I was able to stay in character and not hurt him physically. But fortunately for the both of us, we laughed away the embarrassment (me) and pain (him) and carried on with our lives. 

I personally don't know why Draco keeps up with me. The only thing that's going to result from this is more pain in the face, which I guess is why he always has the other end of the triangle to fall back on: the Cho Chang of the cast. 

And that concludes our segment of "Draco, Cho and I", back to the original task at hand. Love triangles and chicken nuggets keep me from studying, what's your distraction? 

-MiMi out. 

 

Step 2: College Boys: Theatre Level

Alright ladies (and gentlemen) , this one is for you. Raise your hand if your heart melts at any of the following: 

~Guys who are musically gifted and are not afraid to be in theatre 

~Gentlemen 

~One and Two combined. 

Odds are, you are falling in love with a theatre hot-shot. Let's face the facts, everyone adores a guy who can sing Phantom of the Opera without a problem. Anyone who says otherwise is lying because those notes are dead serious. 

There are two types of theatre hot-shots that I have noticed. 

1. The Confident Jazz Square Perfection: 

-Typically is casted as the male lead of any production because not only is he good at what he does, but everyone loves him for it. Traits include a cocky attitude, an overwhelming diva persona during tech week, a great way of giving  compliments and dishing out insults and a sense of knowing when to flirt with someone in order to get what they want. All the cast members love this guy and the only people who don't are ones who have had a bad run-in with him. 

Unfortunately if you fall for this one, it's likely to end in a big mess and a pile of ice cream. Try as you might, you'll never be able to truly dislike this guy because his talent and knee-buckling smile constantly sweep you off your feet. 

2. The Sarcastic Goof-Off God: 

-Typically known as the guy everyone hears mouthing off everyone backstage. No, he's not classified as a "douche" because everything he says is not only funny, but true! Usually the supporting male role that everyone pays an excessive amount of attention to. Traits include a knowledge in the language of sarcasm, an incredibly smart way of snagging girls with a pity party, and has an A+ in giving hugs. The director especially loves this guy because of his tendency to make everyone laugh while somehow knowing all of his lines. 

If you fall for this one, good luck. 

I'm pretty positive that everyone falls for both of these at some point in time at rehearsal. I have, unfortunately, found myself attached to both kinds of hot-shots. Currently I'm in a lovely situation with #2. Let's call him Draco (yes, as in Malfoy) because that boy is so hard to understand and if we have any StarKid fans, you'll understand why I have him classified as a number two and is under the name Draco. 

There'll be more info on Draco later on, but I'm about to be late to my next class. But before I go, I would like to know if you have had any run-ins with these hot-shots? Or maybe you've found a third classification? Shoot me a comment below and we can chit-chat about it. 

-MiMi out

Step 1: Classes and Three Fibs

Short introduction: 

Imagine this in a fast-forward, Alvin & The Chipmunks, motion. 

I'm MiMi and a college freshman, bringing you the latest scope on life as a college student. If you expect an actual how-to blog, you should probably leave because I can't really tell you how to be a success when I myself am not one. Sarcasm is fun. Stick with me through the adventure of finals, crap teachers, theatre productions, road rage, and maybe possibly romance. Ooo. Grab your popcorn and soda pop because this will be fun! 

Back to subject: 

Now that we got that out of the way, we can focus on he task at hand. Classes. College class, more importantly. Now, when I was registering for my first semester, I knew absolutely nothing. The only thing I knew was that I had so many credits to take before I could get my degree and of course the advisor made all of the classes seem easy. 

Lie #1: "Oh sure, Anthropology? That's an easy class, you'll be able to breeze right through it." 

Lie #2: "Seventeen credits is actually nothing to worry about." 

Lie #3: "He knows what he is talking about."

There is a difference between classes you need to take and classes you can live without, but to an advisor, it's literally all the same thing. An Intro to Film class is literally life or death to her, whereas to you it's just an easy humanities class. If there is one thing I've learned about college in the 1.5 semesters I've taken, it's that your college advisor would fly to the moon if that meant you'd be taking more classes. Regardless on if you truly need them. 

Let's discuss lie number one for a second. Now, keep in mind that I am a theatre major and anthropology has actually nothing to do with my career choice. On paper, the class seemed interesting enough and I figured that it would be an easy class to breeze right through. 

Yeah, easy as in "Here's a 60% on your first test of the semester". 

I quickly learned that the class descriptions tended to sugarcoat things with interesting adjectives. 

Quick tip: unless you are actually interested in learning about bride wealth and patrilocal families, proceed that class with caution. 

Upcoming freshman please take this seriously when I say that seventeen credits is no joke. When people say that for every hour in class, it's two hours at home, they mean it. So if you have four three hour classes, guess what you're doing in your free time? Studying, writing papers and, yup you guessed it, even more studying. In between the two of those is a quick bite to eat and maybe four hours of sleep. You're lucky if you even get that. 

Being a full-time student is no joke, and don't expect your teachers to actually care if you miss a day of class. Everything is up to you. 

Speaking of being responsible, I have currently wasted my morning psych class on coffee and social media. Why? Because I was told that I could take the tests whenever I wanted, as long as I got them done before the semester ends. So here I am, at the midway mark of the semester, finally opening my psych book for the first time while the rest of the class is on chapter eight. 

The stress is real. 

I should probably get back to that first chapter, now that I bring it up. Or maybe I'll go get a bagel and laugh about my failure as a student. I'm hoping for option one, but more than likely going for option two. 

Stay sane fellow freshman, finals are on the way. 

-MiMi out.