summer update

HOW IS IT ALREADY JUNE 24th??  i mean, seriously.  where has the summer gone?

i know it's not exactly normal to start off a post in an all-caps-yelling-style, but for realz.  i feel like it was just the spring and my nose was constantly red and dripping.  now instead of my nose being red and dripping, my cheeks are red from the blasted heat and my body is dripping from sweat at all hours.  cute, right?

welcome to north carolina, where comfortable body temperatures come to die.

however, this summer has already been a summer of firsts for a few things in the life of megan and i want to share them with you.  for better or worse, here they are.

1.  the full-time job:  so i've had a full-time job since october, but this is the first summer that i've had one of these things.  working full days during the summer months has its tough moments, but when it's daylight outside until late AND i get that full-time paycheck in my account every two weeks, the tough moments have a way of not seeming so bad.

2.  no camp cheerio:  this is the first summer (minus the summer when i was 16 and i was on a mission trip ... regardless of what any of my friends may tell you) that i won't be going up to camp cheerio, even if for a brief visit.  i'm not sure how i feel about it i know exactly how i feel about it: it makes my heart hurt, but i make sure to live vicariously through the wonderful pictures posted on facebook.  thank god for social media.

3.  ballet class:  i took photography last summer and had quite a ball learning something new.  this summer i've enrolled in ballet!  while it's beginning ballet, it's actually quite advanced for someone that is as clumsy as i am.  however, every thursday i go and point my feet in unnatural ways and turn out my hips until i'm afraid they'll pop out leaving me disfigured.  and while i've been so sore (and confused) i've shed some tears, i do love it.  even if i don't get it.  and even if i fall over sometimes.  there's just something cool about learning something that some of my friends do so effortlessly, in addition to doing something that's graceful, elegant, and structured (three things i am not).  more power to those of you who beast the art of ballet.

4.  durham bulls:  if anyone were to ask, i would have told them i love the durham bulls baseball team.  however, it's a little known fact that until tonight, i hadn't actually ever gone to a game.  i love baseball so i knew i would love it, but this fact was finally confirmed tonight.  complete with reuniting with a few old camp friends, my introduction to the bulls was superb!


anyways, those were just four of my firsts.  i hope your summer has been a summer of wonderful firsts as well!  if not, don't worry. there are a quite a few so-humid-you-could-die days left in north carolina's extended summer.  go out and do something you've never done before.  you'll be glad you did.

the power of the four-way stop

every day on my way to work i go through the same four-way stop.  and every day i love it.

now let's get a few things straight.  no, i don't enjoy the actual drive to work.  in fact, i don't enjoy any drives.  i hate driving.  this girl was made to be driven, people.  also, my love for the four-way stop has nothing to do with obeying traffic laws.  anyone who knows me even a little knows that i've broken my fair share ... and then some.

so what is it about the four-way stop that makes my day?  it's what it represents.  it's how people (generally) behave.  it's how no matter how late i am, i chill the heck out and wait my turn.

and that, my friends, is how it should be.  wouldn't every day be better if we had four-way stops for us throughout the day?  those people that feel so entitled to belittle others could wait their self-righteous turns ... the awkwardness of the question 'when do i go?' would be fixed with a simple wave and a smile ... and we could all slow down once in a while because in the end we'd know that the extra 3 seconds of patience was worth it.

and of course, there's always that dip that cheats and goes even though you could have gotten out and cartwheeled before he even began to stop his car at the intersection.  life is full of four-way stop haters.  however, in my experience, the small amount of "ARE YOU KIDDING ME?" that i feel when i encounter one of these dips is easily removed when i receive that encouraging smile and disappointed shake of a head from my fellow four-way stop rule followers.  that's right, dip.  we all saw you disrespect the sanctity that is the four-way.

so this summer, as life either gets insanely busy, begins to slow down, or stays pretty much the same depending on your profession, i challenge you to behave as though you were at a four-way stop.  chill out, smile, and heck, maybe even throw a wave or two.

and you thought i was never coming back!

remember that funny joke when i said i was going to post more in july?  HA!  i got you!  i'm such a trickster sometimes.  but seriously, if you think about it, if i post less each individual post is more special.  right?  that might be a stretch, but as my battle cry goes: my blog. my rules.

and just for the record, i do have an excuse about not posting thus far in august.  granted, i usually have an excuse seeing as how my life is often consumed with getting out of things, but this one's legit if i do say so myself. so here it is, just so you don't think i've been avoiding you.  my dear sweet grandmother passed away unexpectedly july 31st (harry potter's birthday for those of you that live your life according to pop references like i do) and i stayed with my grandfather and mom to help take care of things afterwards.  needless to say it came as an unbelievable shock to all of us, but i'm at peace with the knowledge that my grandmother was kick-butt awesome.  i had some of my most favorite memories thanks to her (and my grandfather) and she will truly be missed.  but don't worry, pepye (i know you're reading this because obviously they have the internet in heaven and you bookmarked my blog up there) ... i'll try to stop talking on my cellphone when i'm driving (just like you always asked) and i'll finally write down the directions for making hard boiled eggs since i can't call you every time i need to figure that ish out.  and by the time i see you again, i'll have figured my life out and no one will have to worry about what crazy idea i'll come up with next.  cheers to that, right?

hopefully that didn't bum anyone out because this blog is obviously not about bumming.  it's about learning!  so here's a list of a few things i learned this summer.  some have been blogged about previously (but i know you skim the posts so it's not like you'd know that), but others are brand spanking new.  enjoy the list and get ready for some daily (weekly? monthly? eh, we'll see) blogs detailing my LAST SEMESTER of school!  and the job search process.  but let's not talk about that right now.

five things i learned this summer

1.  photography is no easy task, but every now and again you'll get something that doesn't make you shudder. this was grasped after a summer of classes and many evenings of being told my pictures were junk.  you win some, you lose some.
 
2.  sewing is a skill everyone should have.  my preschool bff is way good at it (hence why i learned from her), but i'm grasping it little by little.  and goodness it's fun to have a craft/quilt/purse/etc. when you're done!  although if i'm being honest, i've given away most everything i've made so far.  one day i'll keep something and it will be even more exciting.  

i've got your back, harry.

3.  i will never stop wanting to be a wizard.  harry potter may be finished, but until that acceptance letter comes from hogwarts, i'll never stop. ever.

4.  reunions are SO fun.  and no, i'm not talking about the high school kind, although i'm sure they're dandy (and by dandy, i mean awkward and potentially unnecessary thanks to facebook).  i'm talking about the 1991 kind!  again, a reference to my preschool bff, but she organized the best 1991 reunion complete with potato (her brother) and the perfect setting for the remake of our finest preschool photo.  AND there was a chocovine challenge which happened to be my first servery challenge and i didn't fail.  if you don't understand most of what i just wrote, that's good.  that means you aren't a creepy stalker.  but feel free to read more about it at my preschool bff's site.  my drink might have been strange tasting (but really that's because chocovine is gross), but it was oh-so-pretty with my monogrammed wineglass and ribbon.  never underestimate the power of presentation.

left: luckily my mom saves all her pictures. especially from 1991.
right: the 1991 crew can remake anything. photo props to steven.

who doesn't love the '80s?

5.  my parents are wonderful. and no, 'rents, i didn't put that in there because i need money (although feel free to put some in my account at any time).  nor did i do it because we're going to be roomies when i graduate and become unemployed.  i just put it because it's true.  and tom, stop getting a big head or i'll do my next blogpost on embarrassing things that you've said (preview: convos with preachers).

that's all folks!  until next time, mischief managed.

i love the period after a storm

in case it wasn't obvious from the title/subject line, i L-O-V-E the period right after a storm has rolled through the area. i also love the time during the storm (and the awkward weather hours leading up to the storm when the temperature drops suddenly, the animals kind of freak out, and the sky looks like it's just really really angry at you ... i'm a storm chaser at heart thanks to a little movie in 1996 called twister), but anyways - the time after the storm?  awesome.

it's like everything is all nicely showered and fresh and the puddles just ask you to run and jump in them.  in the boiling hot summer it's often still cool enough to do all the puddle jumping with a light raincoat in case a lagging shower decides to creep up, but it's really just such a happy time.  in fact, it's one of my favorite times.

i went for a walk after tonight's evening storm and everything was just stunning.  the trees and bushes and lawns and everything just sparkled their little hearts out and i couldn't help but wish it was always like this.  i know the sun lovers will hate me for it, but if i was in control of the weather i'd have a storm every day.  i'm not saying for 24 hours a day ... even a rain loving girl can't deal with 24/7 soggy feet.  but a quick shower to freshen up the world each day?  i'm game for that.

i am beyond humbled by my lack of photography skillz.

as part of a self-enrichment thing i'm doing this summer (or at least i'm attempting to do during my last summer of freedom ... listen closely, you can hear me crying in the background as i think about the fact that in 6 months i will actually have to get a j.o.b.), i've signed up for a weekly photography class.  i've always counted photography among my hobbies, but to be honest that's really just so i sounded cooler than i am.  because the cat's out of the bag ... i'm actually not that cool.  i know, gasp!  anyone that knows me knows that i'm pretty much just a hot mess.  and an awkward one at that.  not exactly the definition of cool.

anyways, when the summer sewing class was canceled through the local community college (still grumpy about that), i decided i'd finally take action to make my hobby a reality.  the photography class meets once a week and is designed for beginners so i wasn't exactly sure where i'd fit in to all of that.  i mean, i do have a camera.  and i do know how to take pictures.  and i even know how to do basic photoshop tweaking to take wrinkles out of faces if you're into that kind of thing (not naming names here, but i have been asked to do this).  

but am i beginner?

oh good heavens, YES!  i now know i am in fact beyond a beginner.  in all the 19+ years i have been in school (okay, i didn't actually do the math on that but i'm assuming if i started when i was 5 then that's almost right?) i don't know if i've ever learned so much in one three hour class.  and it was basic stuff, but stuff i didn't know.  stuff that i feel is already going to make me better at photography.  

ex: i now know the name of my camera.  baby steps, people, baby steps.

the class was overflowing with information and i just can't wait to soak it all up.  am i intimidated by all the photography words i don't know?  you betcha.  but am i pumped about the day that i too will be able to have a clue what the smart people in my class are talking about?  definitely.  

in my most egotistical of days i might have said i've taken a good picture here or there, but i am beyond humbled by everything i learned tonight.  i might have gotten lucky once in a blue moon taking a picture of my pretty sister and her pretty dog, but even if that picture turned out good, i now know i was going about everything wrong.  

<insert humbling moment here>

this summer is already shaping up to be the second best summer ever.  and for those of you that think it's strange to rank your summers, i can without a doubt tell you that nothing, and i mean nothing, will ever beat the summer i got cornrows.  i just don't think you can top adolescent megan with tiny little braids.  

think about it.  awesome, right?