#idk who these people are who are throwing a party on good friday at 8:30pm and blaring fearless tv but they are my kinda people

[fingertipsmp3]

Love accidentally walking 3 miles with my best friend while talking shit about our jobs and accidentally outlining a novel

[epcot-anthony]

College Tips

Hey guys!! This is obviously very off brand for the blog and I don’t know if anyone actually wants this but i’m bored so i’m going to do it anyways since a lot of schools start this week! Here’s just some things that I think may be good to know. Obviously take everything pretty lightly because everything is VERY dependent on your specific school/campus and you as a person! I hope this helps a little bit though!!

1.) Pack lightly. This is one that’s super relevant right now, but that’s not fully what I mean. A lot of people are going to say don’t bring your entire wardrobe and I agree with that, but by packing lightly I mean don’t bring all the little things. Don’t bring 10 bottles of perfume or 50 pairs of earrings if you do not think you will use those all the time. Little stuff totally adds up and will create some clutter! Right now especially I think it’s important to only bring the things you will use on a daily basis.

2.) Don’t fully trust ratemyprofessor. A lot of people will look on ratemyprofessor before they choose classes and I think that’s a super good thing, but it’s super important to realize that some reviews may not mean much at all. I know a lot of people get super worried when they have to choose a professor that has terrible reviews but I wouldn’t let that worry you too much. Everyone is so different so you may love a professor that someone hated and vise versa. Also, it’s good to realize that some people who leave reviews are the people who didn’t want to give any effort at all so that’s good to keep in mind.

3.) Be safe. Parties are totally fine (not during a pandemic, but that’s up to you I guess) but it’s super important to take precautions before going out. Go out with friends!! Unrelated to parties, but if you have to walk alone at night then self defense is super important! I haven’t heard people mention this one much before, but staying safe on dating apps is super important. Sharing your location with your friends before you meet with people is a very good idea!!

4.) It’s okay not to be best friends with your roommate. It is such a common misconception that you will go into college and be best friends with the person you took with. This does happen for some people but it does not happen to a lot of people either! It can totally suck and it’s something i’m still dealing with accepting, but it’s just important to realize that you can make friends in other ways. The only thing you really need to have with your roommate is respect for one another. With that, be a good person. Clean up after yourself, don’t be obnoxious when the other persons sleeping, and overall just be respectful.

5.) It’s okay to question your major. Lol still struggling with this but apparently it’s super normal!! As long as you are not absolutely miserable, I wouldn’t be concerned with occasionally questioning your major. If it’s something you genuinely do not want to do anymore though, then talk with your advisor! Also, career quizzes are fun if you ever are panicking! Very nice because sometimes they’ll give you your future career and it’s like oh cool, maybe I don’t need to panic over this! I also recommend looking into minors if you’re worried about the options your major limits you to.

6.) Figure out what’s right for you. I’m not sure how good of advice this is, but i’ll share it anyways. You will likely get the option of choosing when your classes are and within that you get to choose the order of your classes. It’s super important to begin to figure out if you are the type of person who enjoys 3 classes in a row to get them over with or the type of person who enjoys 2 classes in a row and then a 3 hour break before the next one. Also, when making your schedule it’s probably good to make note of the times and if those are realistic or not. Like, you need to eat lunch at some point so you probably shouldn’t have classes from 8am to 2pm every single day. Figuring out what’s best for you is great!

7.) It’s okay to not meet your best friend the first week of college. There is a pretty big stereotype that you will meet all your best friends and your entire friend group the first week of school and while that may happen for some people, it’s very unrealistic for others. It’s normal to not have all these friends a few days into being on campus. You will be alright, seriously. Class friends can be super amazing and you will probably make some of those! You will find friends at your own pace and that’s okay. You may never have a full friend group and that’s okay too! Really, do what makes you happy and realize that you are not the only one going through this.

8.) Make sure you are taking the right classes for your degree. So every major is different. Some majors will allow you to have complete freedom while others will have an exact set schedule for you for your entire college career. Realizing which of these you are in is especially important for class registration time (which sucks lol) because you need to know if you are allowed to select a random elective or if that will throw off your entire track. Again, talk with your advisor! Some are wonderful and some unfortunately are not. If yours isn’t, I would just try to figure out the specific classes you need to take before you register so you aren’t wasting money or delaying graduation.

9.) Textbooks. This section has a few things so we will go vague with the title! Now I know most schools make you rent textbooks for a crazy amount which sucks, but I fortunately don’t really deal with that so I can’t give much opinion there. If you’re in that situation, I do recommend looking at all the textbook sites online (i’m sorry I don’t have names but i’m sure they’re not too hard to find!!) and trying to find cheaper versions. So many classes you will not use the book once even if it’s required. Like..you may have required readings and still not reallyyy need to use the textbook. If you have some classes that require you to buy the books, don’t get them until the class has started. Don’t pay $200 for something you may not need at all. It is good to be prepared for class, but you probably won’t be the only one who didn’t get the textbook. I’ve had situations where the rental place will say a section doesn’t need the book and they do, so i’d just wait until class for that one!

10.) Don’t believe all the college advice you see. Yeah this is super weird to put in here, but I think it’s important. There will be so many college Youtube videos and blog articles telling you how your college experience is going to go and it’s best to take that lightly. One thing that I never realized was how different all schools are. I watched Youtube videos where the girls would talk about how everyone would open their doors and just be best friends with everyone and yeah that was absolutely not the case for me. Sooo many things will be campus, personal, and even dorm based so it’s so good to take things lightly. Don’t fully trust everything you see because it may cause you to be disappointed when you realize that you’re in the exact opposite situation. Just take everything super lightly!

Bonus stuff that’s kinda simple but still important:

10/10 recommend a fridge and microwave

Try not to miss class because it becomes a bad habit and will catch up to you

Being homesick is so extremely normal. It happens to almost everyone and it sucks. It might not even hit you until your second semester and it’s super hard, but I do believe it can be hardest when you don’t have responsibilities yet. Once classes start and you have a routine things will likely start to get easier.

Planners!! Are!! Great!!! (If you’re online for the semester, 10/10 recommend fully planning what assignments and things you need to get done every single day and just crossing them off like a checklist. It gives you a little bit of a routine)

Try to do laundry at weird times. A Tuesday at 2:30pm? Sure! Doing laundry with less people is much more enjoyable than doing it on a Friday or Saturday when there is a thousand people and there is random socks everywhere.

Emailing people when you have questions is never a bad thing. Anxiety sucksss but the thing I always think of is “this is likely not the worst email this person has ever received” and it makes me feel so much better.

I apologize for how long this may be!!! Idk, these might suck but hopefully they’re kinda helpful. I know they’re mostly academic based, but that stuff is always important too! If you have any questions or need literally anything you can always message me or send me an ask!! I believe in you!!

[songofsaraneth]

hhhh not online much even tho i’m not traveling bc when i’m not at work i am either 1) building the blanket fort or 2) obsessing about how to design different parts of the blanket fort and how possibly to top last year’s party. I was pretty out of hope UNTIL i got a lead on maybe getting 3 bunk beds we can set up in the front room so we can have a second story and ALSO a 8-10ft inflatable river raft & frame we can put out in the backyard in Tent City to be a cool boat room of the outdoor section of the fort. and with those two things i think we will cross over into WOWing guests agian!!! 

ITS SO STRESSFUL TO BE KNOWN FOR THIS PARTY, there are still ppl who introduce themselves to me with “oh! i’ve been to your house! it was covered in sheets!” and who have never seen the place when its Not a fort. I MUST IMPRESS THEM AND EVERYONE ELSE EVEN MORE NOW

these notes to myself mostly:

THURSDAY

like work or whatever. but before going to office stop by hardware store and general store and buy more light strands

if we can get bunk beds tomorrow, redo left half of front room to accommodate them and set up that section

set up boat/sheets around it in backyard; ideally close to tree so we can add a hammock off the frame too 

buy more light strands tomorrow morning!! and maybe extra binder clips

pick up extra sheets/tarps from coworker and friend

start my room section of fort??

get giant speaker from chris and have him help set it up in the corner by the dance floor section

FRIDAY

in the morning, bake mini donut muffins -- 2 batches?? 3? and also some cookies (36). will require trip to grocery store (milk, butter, vegan versions, nutmeg?, check sugar/flour)

also get stuff for a cheese plate from store, and chips, ??? idk

finish bedroom while baking or after

once everyone else is off work get started on tent city before it’s dark. this will probably take several hours. 

after that’s done or it gets dark (whichever comes first), connect front room to back room and back entry

get as much of front room minus kitchen done as possible: lights!! decorate!! floor padding!! sheets for wall covers!

decorate my bedroom: lights, tarot card reading station, etc on lower level; stuffed animals/pillows/blankets for canopy bed level

remind Keegan to get his n64 from storage for the mario kart room

shower

SATURDAY

once everyone is awake and done with breakfast, set up kitchen section connecting to front and back room. this always takes so much more work/time than you expect. not a lot of places to hang things from in there. try to finish this by noon.

Finish any construction left on tent city (may need to buy more binder clips from office supply store)

get BALLOONS x 100 from the party store to blow up for the balloon pit tent -- with 4 of us will probably take an hour or so.

someone needs to make an actual good dancey playlist, and a chill music playlist for in the tents

finish anything that wasn’t done previous days

set out food/drinks by 7:30pm (people potentially arriving as soon as 8)

????? chill until PARTYTIME. 

god i hope that’s everything. this is why i only throw one party per year i can’t not be super fucking extra about it. as of right now we have 44 yes/12 maybe on facebook invites, and i know a bunch of people are bringing partners not on the fb list, and there’s another handful of people i’ve invited in person who aren’t on fb. and whoever else tags along??? looking at last year and the year before, we had 39/18 and 34/6 on the yes/maybe replies, and at least 40-45 people showed up at various points in the night, so maybe 55-60 this year. maybe... buy more snacks gah.