10/13/25

Today I didn't do too much. Woke up at 8, made a coffee, got ready, my dad made me eggs with whole sausage patties in them (he's still working on cooking), and I left for my class.

My class at 9 was pretty boring. Mrs. Stinnett led it, sometimes it's her, sometimes it's Mrs. Hall. I honestly like Stinnett better. And we went over med administration. So it was alright but boring because it was just listening to her and reading the PowerPoint. I do feel like these boring 3 hour classes are kind of conditioning me, though. Like if I ever go back to a 50 minute or 75 minute class, it's gonna feel like nothing.

We did get out of that class about 25 minutes early, so I went to Teen Challenge. I ended up getting a hoodie that said SEMO Swarm, which I think was like a children's soccer team, but it's kind of a cool hoodie, only 5 dollars. And then I also got a Ron Jon Surf Shop shirt that looked brand new and was a dollar.

Then Janell texted me and said she was going to get pizza at Towers, so I went, too. I was talking about Saturday and apparently Janell was really annoyed with me on Saturday, which I figured she would've been. I think Janell joining a sorority is changing her whole brain chemistry, I don't know if she's built for a sorority. Apparently she said something bad about PIKE the other day, and word got around or something, so she got in trouble or something. So now she doesn't think she can say anything about anyone. So anytime I'd mention a name, she'd go crazy. But really, I didn't go that crazy on Saturday, she just needs to loosen up. But I had Indian food again at Towers because that's what I always get, and it was pretty good.

I didn't know if we'd have assessment or not, I didn't get any emails about it being cancelled, and I thought that new professor from assessment clinical may be our new teacher, so I went to that at 1 pm, and no one was there. So that class was cancelled again and I did not get the memo again. So I walked right back down the hill that I had just walked up.

Then I decided to go home because I needed a white shirt because composite photos were today. I probably should have pomped today because there are only a few more days that we can get hours and I'm still at 5, but I didn't. I went home, laid down for a bit, tried playing Cry of Fear but the resolution was all messed up, and then my mom brought me a double cheeseburger from McDonald's when she got home. My mom has been on this kind of crazy kick of doing these McDonald's Monopoly spins. Like she actually has a gambling mindset. She started sending the codes to my phone, too, and she'll do them on my phone. But she is winning a lot of free stuff.

I left at about 4:30 and went to the UC to get my composite photo taken. I felt kind of stupid because I was wearing this long sleeve white button-up with athletic shorts and tennis shoes, so it felt kind of like a humiliation ritual. Then I had to find the room, because on Discord it said Tribute Room, but it was actually in the Heritage Room. And I thought there'd be other guys there, but nope. Just me. So I got that done, the workers in there were kind of weird, I don't know. Pictures did not turn out awesome, these composites always make you look weird. At least me.

After that, I sat around for a bit in the rec center parking lot. Again, I should've been pomping, but I was only there for about a half hour. Then I was going to go to the Spirit Rally that they were doing for homecoming. So I drove to 333, but then I didn't really feel like going. I decided I was gonna go to the library and study instead.

So I went to the library at 6 pm and started working on some Dosage Calc homework due later this week. Then, when it was going on 7, Grant and Matt showed up because Grant was proctoring. TKE is really trying to get serious with proctoring, and I'm actually supposed to be proctored 4 hours a week. So it was just coincidence that they were there at the same time I was and that they happened to go to the third floor and find me. So we studied together for quite a long time, it was 9:30 when I left. Grant was still there when I left and I said I was going to leave and he said, "Okay I've got one question left," and then I said okay and left. Once I left I realized he may have wanted me to leave with him or something, but whatever. I was there for almost four hours, I'm out.

Then I went home, talked to my parents some, made some mac and cheese, started episode 5 of Slushy Noobz playing Detroit Become Human (I never finished that series when they started), and then went to bed before midnight I'm pretty sure.

Today was a 4/10, nothing happened that was fun.

10/12/25

Today I woke up at Nana's at around 6 am, and I decided to leave right then, because today there were going to be workers over here and I'd rather leave now than when they'd be here. I wasn't feeling too hungover after yesterday, not sick or anything. So I gathered my things and went home.

At home my dad was up so I talked to him for a bit, then went downstairs and went to sleep again. I don't know when I woke up, probably around 11 am. I didn't really do much for the rest of the day. I did homework and stuff, my mom had made fried chicken, so I ate that and some grapes, I was out with the dogs a lot, just that kind of stuff.

There was a meeting at 4, so I went to that. Not much happened, I almost won Mason of the Week for breaking the Fireball bottle yesterday. I also had to stay for an MQB (membership quality board), which I'd never had to do before. And it was for my grades, my 74 that I have in assessment. So I realized that's kind of bad when even TKE is saying my grades need a talking about. So they asked what was up, I told them I missed an online quiz, that was about it. Then Prince told me I need to pay my dues, so I told him I'd pay half of what I owe ($500) when I got home.

So I left and went home, and my mom said I should just pay all of it. So now I'm out $970, but at least my dues from last semester and this one are paid. Then I ate some supper that my mom made, and it was actually really good. It was chicken fried rice and stir fry, with that Trader Joe's teriyaki soy sauce on it. And that was basically my day, I don't think I did anything else. Actually, I played Minecraft and watched the creepy new Mr. Beast Out of Character episode. I guess I also watched the new Slushy Noobz Roblox video which is probably a new favorite of mine. I did that earlier today.

So today was boring, but not awful I guess. 5/10.

10/11/25

Today was Tri Delta's Triple Play event and also a tailgate and football game. I woke up at 9:30, which was pretty lucky, because I didn't have an alarm set and we were supposed to be at 333 to pregame at 10 am. So I got ready and went there.

The pregame for Triple Play was alright. There were probably 10 guys there and Keely, Presley, and Madison from Tri Delta, because they were our coaches. So they brought Fireball shots and vodka and orange juice for screwdrivers, so I had one screwdriver that ended up having quite a bit of vodka in it, because Kevin poured in some extra. They also had some little breakfast sandwiches with biscuits and sausage and those were pretty good. It was a little awkward with the deltas because of my predicament with Keely and how I rejected her a couple of weeks ago. I watched them play that one train card game, I forgot the name of it, but people were playing that on the beer die table outside. I don't know how that game works so I didn't play.

We left at probably 10:45 to go to the fields. I guess I should explain what Triple Play actually is. It is Tri Delta's main philanthropy event and is basically just a softball tournament. So they were at the fields by Bertling and Sprigg, I guess those are the IM fields. We rode in the bed of Grant's truck, and it was a nice little ride over there. At the fields, we practiced a bit, and I think I was a little tipsy or maybe I just forgot how baseball works because I wasn't doing very good and I was saying it was because I was wearing a left-handed mitt and I'm not left-handed. But yeah, if you're right-handed, you're supposed to wear a left-handed mitt so that you can throw with your dominant hand. So they probably thought I was crazy. Then we practiced on the field for a bit before we started, and I was throwing back and forth with Kevin. My first couple of throws to him were really rough, I was making him run.

So we started at 11:15 am and I think we were playing Sig Chi? I really don't remember. I was playing 2nd base, but Matt was batting for me, because he's an actual baseball player and I hadn't practiced batting. We started out not too great, we started on offense and they immediately caught all of our hits. Then they got several points once they started batting. But we eventually started doing a little better, we got a couple of points, I think Matt hit a home run. I was mainly just standing by second base, but at one point, I actually got an out, Grant threw it to me, I caught it, and then touched the base. So that was awesome. And then Asian Nathan wanted to play so they took me out, right as I was starting to do good. But the game didn't go on too long after that. We lost, I think it was 3-6 or something, so not too bad of a loss. So we rode back to 333 in Grant's truck and that was that.

At 333, I sat in my car for a bit because they weren't really doing anything inside. It was also a little past noon at this point, so the tailgate had started. So eventually I walked down to the tailgate, and it was basically empty. I talked to Rachel and some other girl and they were running this big screen that was showing the Mizzou game. Apparently Rachel also quit the Juicery because I was asking her about that. None of the tekes were even here yet, and when they finally did get here, they weren't even there for more than 20 minutes. The tailgate was just really dead, probably because a lot of the frats were still playing in Triple Play. So I also went back to 333 because that's where all the tekes went, and they were all just in the living room watching the Mizzou game on the TV. So that was boring, so whenever Romell said that he was having Jafar take him to get some alcohol, I went along with them. Normally, I would not have done that, but it was really boring.

So I went and got my wallet and Jafar drove Romell and I to Schnucks, because Romell wanted Cutwater. At Schnucks, they didn't have the flavor that he wanted, so we were going to go somewhere else. I didn't realize how expensive Cutwater is. I know it's pretty strong, but it's still like 15 bucks for four cans. Then, when we were still in Schnucks, we were just looking around a bit, and I lifted up the price tag for the bottles of Fireball, and somehow two bottles of Fireball fell out of the box and one of the caps broke, so it started spilling out of the floor. So I quickly picked that up and put it back and started rushing Romell out of the store before someone noticed the puddle of Fireball on the ground. Then Romell started saying my name and stuff, and I was telling him not to say my name because the cameras will pick it up and they'll be able to identify me. So we got out of there, Romell was telling me I should have 'Zamboni'd it" which I guess is licking it off the ground, I don't know. So we went to Neighborhood Walmart next, and they still didn't have his flavor, but he got some other drink. I realized the Four Loko is actually pretty good value. Not even three bucks for a tall can with about 14% in it, so I got one of those. And Jafar got Grey Goose vodka. So we all checked out and left. Olivia was texting me on the way back that she was at the tailgate.

So I went back to the tailgate once we got back, and I brought my new drink with me. Rachel was still there so I talked to her, then I saw Ella and her dad, but just waved to her. Then right after I saw her, I saw my mom and Jennifer. I knew she was going to the game, but I did not realize my mom was going to be at the tailgate, so that was  bit of a surprise. So I talked to her some about nothing in particular, just trying to act not drunk. I didn't talk to her for too long because her and Jennifer were making their way inside for the game. Then I talked to Paige right after, because she was there. Her friend Aubrey was there, too, and that's the person she was making that one short film with, and I told them I could be an actor if they need me too. So hopefully they didn't take that too literal, because I would not be good at that. But I talked to her and her group for a while, then I talked to Ellie and some Tri Sigmas for a bit, then Olivia found me and I hung out with her for a long time, and Rylee from work was there again, so I said hi to her while Olivia was with me, which was kind of weird. But we talked for a while, too. Olivia was with some other people like Cass and some people I didn't know, but somehow I got on my cartwheel phase again. I don't know why, but once I get to a certain level of drunk, I really like doing cartwheels, this is a thing that has happened before. So I actually did a cartwheel, right in the middle of the street of the tailgate, and I kind of started a trend. This little boy started doing these crazy cartwheel back-handspring things, and he got more applause than me, he actually got the crowd going. And then me and that one guy that's Paige's friend kind of did some synchronized cartwheels, I don't know, it was probably awesome to witness from an outside perspective. But the tailgate was starting to clear out, the game had started and it was after 3 pm, so we started to leave and I went with Olivia's group. She started talking about the Tea app, and I told her to post me on it, but I wanted a cool picture of me being mid-jump to be on it. So she took that and posted it. Then I went back to Merick with them and got a little tour of Olivia's new room. We weren't there for too long, because they were going to Ellis, which was Phi Delt's house. So I was not going there, but I rode with them in Cass's car because it was near the TKE house.

So they went to Ellis, I went to TKE, and Owen was right at the top of the stairs, on the porch. And he kind of went crazy when he saw me, he was like, "Bronson! Where did you come from!" So I sat out there for a bit, I still had my Four Loko with me so I was sipping on that. Then some more people showed up, we started playing never have I ever with some Tri Deltas that showed up. Larik, Keely, Kenady, Owen, and Maddie are the people I remember. For some reason I started talking about Quentin Tarantino, I don't know. But then I went to my car and fell asleep, because I was actually really tired.

I woke up at almost 10 o'clock, so I was asleep at least four hours. And I still had my Four Loko and it still had some in it. I got a mention from Grant in the TKE group chat telling me to pull up to the Tri Delta shot party because I guess it was Selena's birthday. So I went there, it was kinda fun. Then Kenady was telling me to call Janell, so I did, and they were telling her to come there because she was just in her room. And then Keely took my phone and really started telling her to. So Janell did show up, and then Kenady was going to give her a room tour, but I went with them because I wasn't really doing anything out on the porch. So we got to see that, I don't think Janell liked the fact that I went with them. And I was asking Kenady if she played Fortnite since she had an Xbox in her room.

Then I ran into some tekes going to The Library, so I rode with them there, because why not. I went to my car and grabbed a Twisted Tea before I went, to have something to drink. What I did not grab was my wallet or my ID. But that didn't matter, because there wasn't a bouncer or anyone. I even brought my Twea in with me. It was kind of fun there, nothing crazy. I talked to Ryker a lot and Lucas Gaskill some. I was talking a little about religion with him, which was interesting. Then I saw Adriana, my clinical partner, and started talking to her some. The tekes were amazed I was talking to her because they thought she was beautiful I guess. Then I went with Ryker to talk to her again, I really don't know why I did that, that was kind of weird, I just wanted to show them that she was just my lab partner. But yeah, not much else happened. I don't really like bars that much, because I always feel confined to the group that I came with. Romell kept having me go to the bathroom with him, I don't know why. But he's kind of funny, we kind of click when we're drunk. And I really was not drunk at this point. I had my one Twea, and did not buy anything here.

Then we went back and I decided to go to McDonald's because I was hungry. I hadn't had anything to drink for three hours, so I think I was good there. I had the Twea at 11, it was now 2 am. So I got McDonalds, and Jafar and Whitlow were going a little crazy wondering where I was. Jafar was calling me and Whitlow was texting me, I don't know why they cared. They probably thought I was still drunk. But I got my food and went back to 333 for a bit, they were watching The Nightmare Before Christmas for some reason. So I watched that a bit and then went to Nana's at around 3 am because I did not really want to sleep at 333.

And that's basically it, I fell asleep pretty quick once I got there. So a very full day. 7/10.

10/8/25

I woke up bright and early at 8 am to the awful sound of ridiculously loud hammering, because I decided to sleep at Nana's last night after work, and they were there working on the flooring this morning. Luckily I had my noise-cancelling headphones right next to me, so I slipped those on and fell right back asleep. I woke up a couple hours later, and kind of just laid around a bit. I can't remember if I did anything else that morning, I may have played some Xbox or something. But I got a shower and all that, and then I left at around 12:40 pm to go to my assessment clinical. There was one guy there when I left, and he was sitting on the porch. There were also no cars or anything there, because apparently that guy can't drive, so he had to be dropped off there. So I said hey to him and told him it was looking good inside.

Assessment was actually really boring. We got this new professor who's going to be teaching us, and she has a very monotone voice, so that's gonna be fun. I guess she's going to be a more permanent substitute for this class. But we went over abdominal assessments and measuring arm circumference. Then we had to actually do abdominal assessments on each other, and she said we didn't actually have to lift our shirts up or anything, but CJ was my partner and he did it anyway, so I kind of did it, too, but just enough to reveal a sliver of my stomach. But we inspected, listened to the four quadrants, percussed (which I don't think I was doing right), and palpated. We also had to hit them on the back to try and hear their kidneys, I also don't think I did that right. And we actually had to do the assessment to two people, so I also did it to Teigan. Also, my stethoscope was broken, the tympanic part of the diaphragm part fell off, so I had to use the monotone professor's purple sparkly stethoscope. NOOO, my masculinity instantly disappeared. Just kidding.

After that class, I went to 343 to pomp, because I only had two pomping hours. Janell was there with other tri deltas and I was surprised to find Landon and Scott there, the TKE pledges. So I was there for about an hour and 40 minutes. Owen also showed up after a while, and it was a little awkward because at one point, it was us four tekes, plus Janell. All her tri deltas left. But they didn't know she was my sister, so it was just weird. Then everyone started @ing me in the triple play group chat. We left because they were closing the basement for some reason, so we went to the TKE house. I was there for about a minute before leaving. A bunch of guys were going to Simply Swirled because if you buy from there today, part of the money goes to Tri Delta. I did not go, I went to Walmart instead to buy some food, because I know we have no food at home. Mason and Grant followed me for a bit in their truck when we left, they probably thought I was going to Simply Swirled.

But I went to Walmart and bought two Great Value macaroni boxes and a rice Hamburger Helper box. Then I went home, and as I was going home I felt like I was getting a little migraine feeling. So when I got home I took some Excedrin and laid down with an ice pack. My mom made the macaroni for me, how nice. I felt better after 15 minutes or so, so that's good. Then I ate that whole pot of macaroni because I hadn't eaten all day. That may also be why I was getting a migraine. Then I went downstairs and didn't do much. I played some deadshot.io, Club Penguin, looked over some Quizlets for my exam tomorrow, and ended up ordering the Lego Boutique Hotel because Amazon Prime Day was today and it was 30 percent off. That was a bit of an impulse buy, but I haven't had a big Lego set like that since the Daily Bugle, and that was years ago that I got that. And I think that was basically my day.

So that was the day. 4/10.

10/5/25

Today I don't think I did too much. Luckily there was no chapter because this was still technically fall break. I woke up later today I think, probably no earlier than 11 am, I don't really remember. But when I got up, Janell was already home from her church job, and she'd brought KFC, hallelujah. So that was a very good breakfast/lunch. I love the buffalo ranch from there.

Then Janell started Madagascar last night and we finished that. Then she started Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa and watched that, too. So she was on a kick now, so after she watched that, she started the third one. I didn't really watch that one with her for too long. I started this new Minecraft world recently with the new copper update, so I was playing on that, and then I also started playing on my old 1.8 world again.

My parents said they were going over to Nana's to check the progress and they might meet George over there to talk about painting. So I decided to go with them, mainly because I felt like playing Fortnite, and my Xbox was over there. So we went over there, I played a single round of Reload before George got there and dad invited him upstairs. So I had to quickly turn off my Xbox. They talked upstairs for a while, so I went and sat on the porch for a while. Then they went outside and talked some more, so I went up and I ended up playing some Skyrim, which I hadn't played since the summer. After a bit, I think my mom was ready to go even though my dad was still talking, so I sat in the car for a bit with my mom and we waited for my dad to get done talking to George. And that was that, then we went home. We were only over there for probably an hour.

At home, Janell went back to her dorm eventually, and I got my other HESI EAQ done that night. It actually took me a long time and was really annoying, because I thought it still progressed you if you got questions wrong, so I just clicked through a bunch hoping it would get me done quicker, but I think it adds a question every time you get one wrong. So it was like 300 questions this time. But I got it done by 10:30 pm or so. Then I also had my Dosage Calc stuff, but that didn't take too long because I found a good Quizlet. And I listened to the new Out of Character episode while getting that stuff done. And I think that was about it for the day. I probably watched some Always Sunny, I've still been on that kick. I'm on season 8 now.

So today was a chill day, but was boring. 4/10.

10/4/25

Today I don't think I did much in the morning, probably just watched some YouTube or something, I don't really remember. But that evening, I went with my parents to a wedding. I guess it was my dad's cousin's daughter's wedding. So I don't know how I was related to her, was she my second cousin? I don't know, I don't even remember the bride's name. But we left for that at around 4 pm I think. It was up near Perryville, so on the way there I just listened to music because it was almost an hour away. Janell didn't come because she was going to a potluck or something with her friends that evening. So just me, mom, and dad, how fun.

The wedding was at these barns that were out in the middle of nowhere. So we got there, we saw some relatives, Aunt Judy was there, and Angie. Those were the only two I knew. The actual marriage was outside and was facing directly towards the sun, so we were blinded the whole time. It also took place between two silos or something, I don't really know. But Drew Hahs' dad from Saxony was the guy who was officiating them. But it wasn't anything too crazy, just a normal wedding. Not like The Deer Hunter wedding. I want a wedding like that.

Then the reception was afterwards, and that was in a barn inside from where the wedding happened. Really, the whole reason I came to this wedding was because they had free beer, so I immediately got a Busch Lite. My mom also got a Michelob, so at least I wasn't drinking alone. We didn't eat for a while, and I ended up drinking like three beers before we could even eat. So I was feeling a tiny bit tipsy, but I realized it wasn't really a good tipsy feeling. I was just feeling really tired. So eventually they had the food ready and we ate, and it was pretty good. I had scalloped potatoes, pulled pork, mac and cheese, and green beans. Then, not much else really happened, some people started dancing, the bridesmaid told a little speech, the bride and groom ran around to Yakety Sax taking pictures with every table, and my dad went a little crazy for that because he loves that silly little song. And that was basically it, I didn't get to talk to many people and I didn't feel like talking to anyone. Also, something I forgot to mention, I'm pretty sure Kylie from work was there. I trained with Kylie for one day and apparently she was bad mouthing me to the other transporters because she said I had to have her scan the patient's bracelet for me, which was true, but come on, she was on the side of the bracelet. So I didn't even really want to talk to her. And she was at a table with probably her boyfriend and some other younger people. And I'm over here with my parents and two other old relatives. So before we left I grabbed a donut and a Moon Mist drink from a cooler. My mom had my dad drive because she had two beers. I only ended up having four, but I was so tired for some reason. I fell asleep for the whole way home.

Once we were home I went downstairs and watched the new Slushy Noobz parkour video. Janell also got home from her thing at around 11 pm, so I talked to her some, and then we ended up watching The Purge. It really wasn't the best movie, but it was kind of fun, we'd both never seen it. After that Janell said we needed a friendlier movie to counterweight that movie, so we started Madagascar. We didn't end up finishing it because it was probably 2 am by this point. But that was fun. Then I was really tired and told her to put something on for me to fall asleep to, and she put on the Bob's Burger Movie, so I fell asleep on the couch to that. Then my dad woke me up after about half an hour and told me to turn the TV off. So that was fun.

So not a great day, possibly a 3/10. That wedding was not too fun, watching movies was the funnest part.

10/3/25

Today was our fun day of fall break, the day we were going to St. Louis. Yeah, normally we go to Branson or something for all of fall break, but that didn't really work out because I worked yesterday and Janell has something on Saturday, so we really just decided on doing one day trip this year, which is better than nothing in my book. So we got up, I got ready, I wore my chicken tender shirt today because I was feeling a bit silly, we got in the car, and we were gone by 9:30 AM.

My dad actually wasn't with us yet, he had to deliver lumber to Jackson this morning, so he left his truck at the Bavarian Hall, and we picked him up from there. We stopped in Perryville to get gas and Janell and I went inside and got slushies. My dad also went in to go to the bathroom. But yeah, I got a 32 oz blue slushy, very good. Then we also switched seats and I drove for the rest of the way up to St. Louis.

The first place we went was Thai 202. I don't know how we decided on that, but we ate there a couple of years ago when we were in St. Louis and it was good, so I guess we were going again. It took a while to find parking, and we had to park a little ways away from the restaurant. And you still have to pay even if you're just parking on the street, didn't know that. So we walked to the place and I got red curry with chicken. Janell got some kind of ramen and my parents both got some kind of chicken meal. The food came out really fast and mine was really good, but really hot, both in spice and temperature. There was this really annoying guy behind us who was literally the definition of a tech bro. He was talking about AI the whole time and practically yelling for some reason. He was so loud. But yeah, the food was great, I think I was the only one who finished their meal because the food was so filling. I also went through several glasses of water because it was so spicy. Janell also got a Thai tea before we left.

Once we left we walked to the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis, because that was really the only place I wanted to go today. It was like, a half mile away, so it wasn't too long of a walk. It was pretty hot though. There was this homeless guy yelling behind us for a while as we were walking and I think my parents were a little scared. It was a nice walk there though, it was kind of a weird area. It didn't feel like we were in St. Louis. The cathedral itself was awesome, I had no idea it was even in St. Louis until a couple of days ago when I was researching. It was bigger than the cathedrals we went to in Helsinki, so that surprised me. We took some pictures on the outside first and Janell and I were a little scared to go in because we thought they might still be having mass inside. But my mom went in and they weren't. So we all went in and it was even cooler on the inside. I've always been a fan of these grand cathedrals even though I don't think my dad was. He kept saying stuff like, "Was this built for the glory of God or for man?" But he's not really a fan of Catholics so maybe that's why. But yeah, they had all these different little rooms and alters, little bowls of holy water, confession rooms that were curtained over, huge domes with mosaics and murals, and candles. I ended up lighting one of the candles for a dollar and saying a little prayer. We also went downstairs because there was a little museum down there. I guess there was also a wedding or something going on down there because that's what a sign said. We left, but my dad stayed in the museum, so we waited on him for a while. Janell and I sat outside on the side of the church for a bit. After he finally came out, we left and walked back to the car.

On the way back walking, we were looking at all of the houses because they were kind of old and interesting looking. My mom also had to take someone's picture in front of a giant wooden chess piece, and the lady kept having mom retake it because she was cutting out the top of the chess piece, so that was a bit funny. My dad kept going on about how they need to put that chess piece inside somewhere to preserve it.

We got back to the car and drove to West County Center, a mall that Janell wanted to go to. I'm pretty sure I've never been here, but I don't know. I think I've been to South County Center, but a lot of the stores were the same. We parked in the parking garage and went in, going to Macy's first. As soon as Janell started looking at shoes, I knew we were going to be here for a while. After that she went to Pacsun, and at the point, I was a little embarrassed wearing my chicken tender shirt, because people in there are all fashionistas apparently. At that point I separated from them, including my dad. I felt kind of bad leaving him, but I didn't really feel like walking around with anyone. And he was going a little crazy, his new kick was the tornado that came through St. Louis earlier this year. So I went on my own and walked around a bit. This one security guy said something to me when I was walking, but I didn't quite hear him. I think he said I looked wack, but I couldn't tell. I went to this used media store and looked through there for a while. They had some cool stuff, like some Arrested Development DVDs that I did not end up getting. They didn't have any Always Sunny that I could find. But they had lots of CDs that I looked through, and some video games. But I left empty-handed and I think I met up with Janell again, because she also had to separate from my parents. We went to some clothes shops and then I made her go to the LEGO store. We built some minifigures, she was trying to make Conan Gray and I was just gathering cool exclusive pieces. I made a cheese man and an artist girl and those were the three we bought. I also snuck a couple torsos and a ghost lady in my pocket because I wanted them, too. Janell said she thinks the workers saw me take them and they were giving me dirty looks. I doubt that. But she had my mom come to pay for them, because Janell loves doing that. Then I went back to the media store with Janell this time, and we looked through CDs and the posters, and they actually had some really cool posters. Some cool Pink Floyd ones, and different movie posters, I should've gotten one. But I think we might be getting one of these stores in the Cape mall, so maybe they'll have them there. We also went to Barnes and Noble and I found more Spider-Man minifigures, so I scanned them and found the cowboy one, so I picked him out. Some worker came up to us when I was scanning them, so that was a little awkward. Then Janell picked out a Conan Gray CD from there and she called my mom to come pay for our stuff again. My dad started reading a Trump magazine while we were waiting in line.

After we were done shopping, we went to the food court and ate. A sub shop was handing out samples, and they were pretty good. It convinced Janell to get one. But my mom, dad, and I got Philly cheesesteaks from Charley's. It was pretty good, I love Philly cheesesteaks. Then we went to the bathroom and left the mall. We were here for a while, from about 2:30 to 6 pm.

That was about it, on the way home, Janell wanted to stop at Trader Joe's, so we did. I didn't really pick out anything, but Janell found like, 100 dollars worth of stuff, including pumpkin wine. So that stop wasn't that significant for me. The ride home was alright, nothing special.

We stopped at Dairy Queen once we were back in Fruitland. We didn't think they were open at first because they were cleaning up inside, but they were. We all went to the bathroom right away first. Lucas Overbey ended up being the one to take our order, so that was a little awkward, especially for Janell. I got a delicious Oreo Blizzard, Janell got a pumpkin thing, and my parents got sundaes. It was a nice little end to the evening.

I think my dad wanted someone to ride with him in his truck on the way home, but we didn't. I feel kind of bad, but his truck wasn't cleaned out or anything, so it's fine. Then I don't think we did anything else for the rest of the night.

I think this was actually a really fun day, I got some Legos, we got to go the cathedral, we ate good food. Today was 8/10.

10/2/25

Today I did not do much at all. I woke up late at noon, didn't get up till 1 pm. My dad was the only one home. I got ready, took a shower, and then went outside for a bit with the dogs. I just walked around and went down to the building. I also made some great Hamburger Helper.

Janell got off from the Juicery and was home by 2:30 probably. My mom got home a little after that I think. My mom started making these turkey-filled pepper things, so I was kind of nervous for those. But yeah, I didn't really do much else, just played some piano and stuff.

We ate and the pepper things actually weren't bad. I didn't eat the pepper itself, but the filling inside was good. Then we were outside with the cats and dogs for a bit talking as a family about what we're going to do tomorrow. We kinda want to go somewhere for fall break since everyone's off, and I guess we're going to St. Louis for the day.

After that I left for work. For some reason, Rylee was there until 7:30, so I was in the break room with her for a while, we didn't talk too much, just a bit as she was leaving. Work was boring, I got one request at around 8 pm, and it was kind of confusing because it said I was taking them from surgical to surgical, but a note said that they were at the ER waiting room. So I went to ER and asked if that guy was there. He wasn't in the system, so I called surgical and they confirmed he was in the waiting room, so I went there and sure enough, he was there. So he didn't have a bracelet or anything, but I brought him to surgical, so that was easy enough after all. There was a really awkward encounter when I ran into that one girl, Alecia or whatever, from when I was getting my education stuff done for working here, and I just could not speak when I was talking to her. I don't know if it's cause I was in a rush, or what, but every word I was stuttering on. So awkward. But she was nice. For the rest of the time I just watched the Blues game, and that was pretty good, we finally won a preseason game. And then I had one more request come in from ER towards the end of my shift. The people in ER kept saying I got there just in time, so I don't know what that meant, but I had to move this old lady to neuro, so it wasn't that big of a deal. I had an ER tech unhook everything for me. Then I had a nurse up in neuro help me transfer her from stretcher to bed. And then I left cause it was 10:30.

Then I'm pretty sure I didn't do anything else. So today was a 4/10 probably.

10/1/25

Today I didn't do much. I woke up right before my class, so like 10:30. I didn't have an actual class today, just open lab at 11. Normally I'd have my assessment clinical, but since some people have that class on Fridays and fall break starts tomorrow, that class was cancelled. But I got up and went to open lab.

Kenzi said hi to me on the way inside, so that was nice. About 2/3 of the normal class was here today, and my partner was not one of them. So I was kind of by myself here. I talked to Paige and Briana some and practiced by myself with the manikin. I did some wound and trach care, and then I just messed around on my laptop for a bit, before I decided to text Janell and ask if she was eating. She said she was about to, so I decided to leave and go eat with her. CJ said bye to me as I was leaving, so that was also nice.

I had Janell pick me up from the side of the road as I was leaving and walking down the sidewalk. She picked me up and went to Donburi, this Chinese restaurant I think, but I didn't really want that, so instead she went to Dunkin Donuts and got a sandwich and coffee. I didn't get anything from there, but she went to Sonic afterwards for me because we had coupons. So I got two breakfast burritos, it was buy one get one free. So those were good. Then we went to PetSmart afterward because I wanted to see if they had any shrimp there because I was thinking it'd be cool to have a fish tank with some shrimp in it over at Nana's. But they didn't have any unfortunately, but they had lots of birds and some cats and we looked at dog toys and stuff. After that we went to Barnes and Noble and we looked at CDs, records, lots of clearance stuff that was actually pretty cheap, and then I found some Lego minifigures at the end. I haven't found any of those Spider-Man figures since they released, but they had a box at the counter here, and it had the two that I wanted, Cyborg Spider-Woman and Spider-Punk. So that was awesome. Janell got something too, I don't remember what. Probably a Conan Gray thing, she's been into him since she went to that concert on Sunday.

After Barnes and Noble we went to Teen Challenge. Janell was mainly looking at jackets, I looked at shirts and furniture. I really want to get a couch for over at Nana's. But they didn't have too much that caught my eye. They had some long leather trench coat duster jacket things in the women's section, and that gave me an idea to go as Mac from Always Sunny when he's in that duster jacket for Halloween. But the sleeves were too short on those. I did get a cool t-shirt that has a crappie on it. Janell got a purple North Face jacket. She also vacuumed and washed her car and that felt like it took forever.

Then she dropped me back off at my car and I went home. At home I fell asleep for a while, then when I woke up, my dad was home and he'd brought me some McDonald's fries and a cheeseburger, so that was good. I don't think I did too much else until Janell got home. She worked and got off probably around 9. So she came home, she doesn't really do that much anymore, so we all talked as a family for a bit. Then Janell and I watched Saw, this was her first time watching it. And that was basically it. I was up for a while longer playing Minecraft and stuff, but that was it for the night.

Today was pretty good, got some Legos and a shirt that I like. 7/10.

9/30/25

Today I just felt kind of gross. I hate when I feel like this. I don't even know how to describe it, like I'm really self-conscious about everything. I'll feel like I'm walking weird and I'm really focused on trying to walk normal instead of just doing it naturally without thinking about it. And when I was driving I just felt uncomfortable, like I just need to go somewhere and lay down. But anyway, now that we got into how I was feeling today, I can actually get into the day.

I've been staying at home since Nana's floors are getting redone and the carpets are being ripped out. So I woke up at around noon because last night I was up late watching stuff. I finished The Deer Hunter and moved onto Apocalypse Now. These Vietnam movies are kind of fun to watch. They make me feel like I need to be more masculine. So I was up late, so I woke up late. It was around noon before I woke up, and I had class at 1pm, so I had to rush a bit. I ate some leftover sushi and a spring roll for my brunch, so that was good. But it also filled me up a bit and made me feel big, that probably didn't help with my already bad feeling.

Class was pretty bad, it was patho, and I just could not focus at all. I left to go splash some water on my face and that didn't really help. And I tried to stretch a bit. I guess we were going over electrolytes and fluid balance and stuff in class, but I could not listen at all. So it felt like the class went on forever. We took the quiz at the end of class and I'm pretty sure I failed it.

After class, Janell called and gave me some cheese curds and a bite of pretzel burger that she had leftover from Culver's. I was going to pomp, but I didn't feel like being around other people, especially strangers, so I instead got the Tri Delta philanthropy packet turned in, and then went to Nana's.

It does definitely smell better over there. All the carpets are gone and the floor's been partially sanded. So now it just smells like wood and construction. Also, my air conditioner upstairs was not working, I had to adjust it and kinda hit it until it eventually kicked on, but it was making this crazy loud noise. So I may have to get a new air conditioner up there. I played one or two rounds of Fortnite Reload, watched part of Slushy Noobz newest Undertale video, and then watched the first bit of their live on Patreon where they were watching Shark Side of the Moon. Then I left for work.

I was feeling a bit better, but when I got to work I realized the ranch from the cheese curds had spilled on my phone and seat, so I cleaned that up, but I was a minute or two late to work. But I think that's fine. At work, I guess Tyler was there, but he was leaving when I got there. Kayden was still there, so I was actually working with him tonight. He worked 3-11 today, so twice my hours. But hey, I still helped him out some, there were several bed patients that we needed two people for. I watched the rest of the movie that Slushy Noobz were livestreaming on Patreon, very interesting ending, she gave birth to lots of baby man-sharks. I also watched the rest of the Undertale video, so I got all of that done, but barely got any homework done. I really need to work on those EAQ questions because there are two mastery ones that need to be done by the end of fall break. Anyways, at 10:20 pm, I was getting ready to leave in 10 minutes, but we got a request to move someone from CPC to CT scan. So we went up there, the patient was kind of unconscious, I don't know if they were asleep or just really sedated. But the nurse had to unhook the IV and all that, the patient was also restrained because they apparently kept taking their NG tube out and they were kind of restless. So we took them down to ER CT scan and got that done. But that whole thing took about 40 minutes, so it was after 11 pm before I left. Also, I'm pretty sure Kayden did not clock out before leaving, and I was gonna tell him, but he was gone. But I remembered. So it wasn't a bad day at work, not too busy, but not too boring. And it was kind of nice working with someone else, all those beds would have been awful to move on my own.

Then I drove home, talked to my dad some, he was really going on about this church meeting that he went to. Apparently he wants to start wearing a gun when he is the usher guy. That's kind of crazy and maybe a bit unnecessary if you ask me. I guess their meeting was about security for the church. I think maybe a taser or pepper spray would be more appropriate. But I didn't tell him that. I ate some leftover sushi, ate some Cheetos and Doritos, and watched some Always Sunny and I also watched What Women Want because I saw a clip of it on TikTok and that made me curious. It was kind of a fun watch. But it was almost 5 am by the time I fell asleep.

So today wasn't bad, work was better than class. Still might be a 4/10 though.

9/22/25

Today wasn't too crazy I guess. I woke up early because I had an exam in my fundamentals class today, and I did not study much last night. I was playing one block bed wars again and watching the new Out of Character episode instead. So I woke up at 6:30 AM and studied a bunch of Quizlets. Aunt Beck was still staying at our house, she'd be here till Wednesday, so I said hi to her this morning. My dad really wanted to make me breakfast, I think to kind of show off to Beck, because my dad almost never makes breakfast. But he was asking me all these questions on how to cook an egg because he I guess doesn't know how. But he ended up making scrambled eggs with sausage mixed in and it was pretty good, I added some melted cheese and seasoning.

Then I left and went to my exam, and it wasn't really too bad. At first I felt like I knew most of the questions, then I started to doubt myself, but I ended up with an 80, and once she went through and edited some of the questions afterwards, I ended up with an 82. So that's an upgrade from my last exam which was a 75, so I'm happy with it. Then after the exam we unfortunately still lectured.

I texted Janell to buy me lunch in between classes and she agreed even though she wanted to sleep, so I walked down to Towers. I got my Indian food that I always get and it was pretty good. She got pepperoni pizza, which was definitely not as good as my meal. So I caught up with Janell, we talked about Saturday some more and all that.

Then I left to go to my assessment lecture that I thought I had. Turns out it was still cancelled. I literally can't find any emails or announcements that say there's no class. I found one email that said there will be an online lecture posted, but you'd think they would say there's no in-person class today. So that makes last week and this week that I showed up to this class and it wasn't going on.

So I left and went to Nana's, played Fortnite, and relaxed. A little after 4, my mom texted me and said that the family was eating at Culver's at 5, so I got ready and went to that.

Culver's was definitely interesting. The Welch's, Yingling's, Rach, Beck, and all of my family were there. I ordered a chicken kid's meal with extra signature sauce because I had that sauce a week or so ago and it's so good. Then Micah and Matthew found me and they had me sit with them. They were sitting at a high table, with like, no room, so it was crowded. They were going crazy, talking about wedgies and games and who knows what else. My food came and Micah took my biggest French fry, talking about some "cousin tax". Grrr. Then Matthew fell out of his chair and dropped his sauce and chicken. Once I was done eating, I could not keep sitting there, so I went over to Janell's table and she was with Emma, Leah, and my mom. So I talked to them some.

After Culver's Janell was going pomping, so I went too. At first it was just Janell, me, and another delta, so it was nice and quiet. Then all of these other people showed up, but I was leaving about then, because I had a meeting at 7. So luckily I got out of there.

My meeting was a chairman meeting at Scully. We went over the calendar for TKE and all the events we'd be doing this semester. We talked about philanthropy week some, which was good because I had not idea what we were doing for that and I was supposed to be the one planning it. But it was alright, Grant, Khole, the Nathans, Zach, Jafar, Owen, Matt, KT, Eddy, maybe some other people, but that's who was there. The Alpha Delta Pi philanthropy person texted me while I was there and asked if TKE would be going to their philanthropy week, so I asked if we would, they didn't give me an answer, so I texted her back probably not. I hate having to communicate with these sororities.

After that, I went home and was planning on staying in for the night, but that one girl I met a couple of weeks ago, Shaylea, texted and asked if I wanted to hang out. So I said sure, because I wasn't doing anything else. So I took a shower, got ready, and went to meet her. Apparently she was at Sig Tau, and her friend was with another guy, so she wanted to hang out with me. So I pulled up into the parking lot behind the TKE house, and she walked over to my car. So we really just talked, and we ended up talking for a long time, like until 2 in the morning. We were really just waiting for her friend and whatever guy she was with the get done so that her friend could take her home. So we talked, and I she's kind of interesting. She doesn't know like, any music except for Morgan Wallen, so that's weird, but I tried introducing her to all sorts of stuff. Both of our phones ended up dying. She pronounces Chappell Roan and 'Tau' weird. We were standing outside my car for a bit, but ended up sitting in my car for most of the time. When we were outside the car, Scott walked by and saw us so I talked to him for a bit. He was probably a bit confused. But yeah, at 2, we figured that was late enough so she went back over to her friend even though she was still with the guy. And then I left. So not very interesting, but I got to know her better.

Then I went home, and fell asleep pretty quickly.

Today was a 6/10. Did a lot, but nothing really fun.

9/20/25

Today was a little bit crazy I guess. I woke up on the TKE couch at around 9:30 AM and had a pretty big headache from last night's drinking. My parents were still out of town, so I went home to feed the dogs and all that. So I drove home, did that, took a shower downstairs, and went to sleep on the downstairs mattress.

I woke up a couple hours later and was feeling a little better. I finished up some stuff around the house, I fed Orange Man, the other cats, got an egg from the chickens, and then left to go feed Pete, the cat at Rach's house. So I fed him but didn't see him.

Then I went to Nana's house and by this time it was probably around 2 pm, and I was planning on going to the tailgate at 3. So I really didn't feel like drinking anymore, but I did anyway, because I've been looking forward to this tailgate for like, 2 weeks. So I prepared some stuff to bring, like a water bottle filled with vodka and Sprite and my lunchbox filled with drinks. So I put all that into a backpack and went to the tailgate.

I got there a little after 3 and luckily found a parking spot in a commuter lot on N Pacific. It wasn't technically a spot, but I made it a spot. Everywhere was parked full. So I put on my backpack and walked to the tailgate. I found the TKE tent and at first I felt like I didn't really know anyone there. None of the good tekes were there. But I was given some Jell-O shots, did the beer bong-zilla twice, and sipped from my awful tasting water bottle concoction. So eventually I got a little drunk and then all of these people that I knew started appearing. First was Logan Wendell. I talk to him for a good thirty minutes. He apparently wants to be in the FBI or CIA or something. Then I ran into Pam and Ella, and I started talking to them. Pam was drinking a Yuengling Flight and I think she may have been a little drunk. But I also talked to them for a while. We talked about how my parents are gone for the wedding, Janell's gone at the fair, and I'm the only one of my family here. And I asked about Ella's sorority. Then I ran into Paige, and she was with these other people, I had no idea who they were. I told one of her friends that I liked her piercings. Another of her friends gave me a Dr. Pepper football. Then we ran into Olivia, and I guess Paige and Olivia are friends again? So that's cool. And Lennon and Ashton Gariagni showed up from somewhere. So we all talked for a while. And then Nate Jones appeared and he was super drunk and was drinking Malibu from a water bottle. So me and him went to a Sig Nu house because he's in Sig Nu, and they had pizza in there. So I ate two pieces and then grabbed another before I left to bring to-go. But yeah, Nate passed out on the couch in that house and Kenzi, a girl from my nursing cohort was in there, too, for some reason. So I talked to her about her sorority some, she's in A Phi. Then I really don't know what happened. I think after I ate I got really tired and I fell asleep on the TKE couch, because that's where I woke up.

I woke up right before 10 o'clock on the couch, so I'd slept for about 4 hours. I woke up to Jafar in the house and he was about to go to Hypno, and he told me to come along. At Hypno, there was supposed to be this SEMO and SIU afterparty thing, because that's who we played today, SIU. I wasn't going to go, but at the tailgate, Logan's friend Jill said she had extra tickets and I could have one. But Jafar also had extra tickets, and since he was here, I just decided to use one of his. So we got Mason to drive us there because he was the sober driver. Apparently he ended up driving for 12 hours that day, from 2 PM to 2 AM. So, I feel bad for him, but I'm glad I declined his offer for me to drive.

But Hypno really wasn't that great. There was this DJ outside on the patio area, so that area was pretty crowded. This one older TKE alumni bought me a drink pretty early on because he said he could tell I wasn't drunk. Also, I didn't have my ID or wallet with me, so I couldn't buy anything myself if I wanted to. And they somehow let me in without an ID. So that guy bought me this weird red drink with a shot on the inside of the cup. Then he gave me a cigarette. So I kinda just hung out at this table with some of the tekes. A lot of people from TKE were behind the DJ stand, which a lot of people on Yik Yak said was corny, and I honestly agree. So there weren't that many people around that I knew. But then Jill, that one friend of Zach and Logan's, ended up buying me a Monaco and talking to me for a bit. So that was nice of her. And Logan eventually showed up, too, but I didn't really get to talk to him here. Asian Nathan and Zehao and some other guy showed up so I sat with them for a bit and smoked another cigarette or so. And that was basically it, they shut down probably a little before 2 PM and I ended up walking back to 333 with some guy named Wyatt who was going to an after-party. He was kind of cool, he was an apprentice electrician. But yeah, I got back to 333 and there were quite a few guys in the living room, like Scott and the alumni unc, and Mason, and they were all talking and it was probably 4 AM before I fell asleep. iCarly was playing on the TV for a bit, that was fun to watch while it lasted. But that's about it.

So today was interesting. Probably a 7/10 day.

9/18/25

I need to just write the day of again. All my things I'm trying to write are from forever ago. Like I still haven't finished my study abroad entries, or the Chicago entries, and I haven't even started on entries for the cruise that we went on this year. Those are all things I want to finish, I just really have to be in the mood to work on them. But for now, I just need to write about current stuff, like today, like I used to.

Last night, I went home. I've been  staying at Nana's so much that I'm only home once or twice a week now. But I mainly went home because Beck was coming over later tonight and I felt like I should at least visit with her a bit (unlike Janell, she didn't come home). So I went home last night, did some vitals on my mom for one of my classes, ate Culver's that my mom brought home, went to sleep on the mattress downstairs and woke up drenched in sweat, and then visited with Beck when she showed up. We talked a bit about my work at the hospital and that was about it. That night I couldn't fall asleep at all. It was like, past 4 AM when I fell asleep. And I was really into playing the '1 Block' mode of bed wars on Hypixel. I played that for hours while watching Out of Character. Felt like the good ol' days. I guess I should mention, the reason Beck came over was because in the morning, my mom, dad, and Beck were all driving to Tennessee for Johnny and Ari's wedding. So I am also in charge of running the house for the next couple of days.

So when I woke up at around 11 AM, everyone was already gone, they'd left at around 8 AM. So I got ready, brushed my teeth, put in my rubber bands, and then went out to feed the animals. I fed the cats, then called the dogs to the back porch and fed them. Chowder didn't really get to eat because he only wanted me to throw water on him, but he'll be fine. Then I put my stuff in my car, fed orange man at the building, and drove off. I didn't have class until 3 PM, so I was planning on going and pomping at 343 because I NEED pomping hours. I do not want to sober drive the homecoming party.

So I showed up there, sitting in the parking lot, and worked up the nerve to send a text to the TKE group chat asking if anyone was pomping. Nobody responded and I was left on read. Great. So I just decided to go in on my own. It was really awkward, I walked down the stairs and kind of just stood there. There were probably 15-20 people there. Several guys from the other frat, several Tri Delta girls, and no tekes. But luckily, two of the girls said I could sit with them and they gave me tissue paper and stuff to ball up. Mason, the guy I used to play saxophone with in high school, was also there and was part of the other frat we're paired with. So I talked to him for a bit. But I was there for about an hour and 20 minutes. It was not fun.

I left and went to the library because I still had 40 minutes or so before my class. I finally got connected to the SEMO Wi-Fi there. I've been using my phone hotspot all this time because I couldn't get connected, but I figured it out. I saw Scott Gers at the library as I was leaving and I talked to him for a bit. He was working on a historical preservation timeline or something. Cool. As I was leaving the library and walking to my class, I got a text from Lance saying that I was going to be training someone tonight, and THAT kind of scared me. Because I barely knew what to do myself on Tuesday. This was going to be my second day by myself, and I was already training someone. But it might be fun.

My pharmacology class was kind of awkward. Lots of talk of birth control, periods, blue balls, condoms, IUDs, and sex. So that was interesting.

After class I went to the Cape library for a bit just to waste 40 minutes or so. I changed the background of the blog. It's a bit more to theme now.

I left the library and went to work at 6:30. I changed in my car, clocked in early, went to the bathroom, and went to the house supervisor office. Tyler, the guy I'd be training was already in there. He was Mexican and had a beard, that's probably all I can give to describe him. So we went to the med tele break room, he told me it was his third day training, and then we sat in the break room. For a long time. Like 2 and a half hours. We were getting no requests. And I wanted to walk around or something, so I told him I was going to give him a little tour of the hospital, so we both got up and started walking. I showed him the laboratory, and then we walked to elevator J, the keycard elevator. Somehow he already knew like, everything. We went down to ER, then went up elevator L to floor 2, then walked to elevator D and went back to med tele. So everything I was telling him, he apparently already knew. I was like, "Do you know where the oxygen tanks are stored for this unit?" and he was like, "Yup," but I didn't even know where they were, so I don't know how he's apparently just a genius. So then we went back to the break room and did nothing. I got some homework done I guess. But yeah, there were no requests for the whole night. Then we left and he stopped at the vending machine and I didn't wait for him because I didn't realize he'd stopped. So it was just kinda awkward with him.

I left and went to Nana's, probably made some mac and cheese, and went to bed.

Day was a 5/10.

3/9/25

Today I got up a little before 5 AM because we had to be out the door by 5:30. I guess we had to be up this early to catch the tram to go to the docks to catch the ferry. So I was up early, didn't even have to have an alarm I don't think. Rhett was up, too. I went to the bathroom, brushed my teeth, packed my things, and that was it basically. Everyone gathered outside the hostel with all of their luggage and we were only missing one person, Tosha. So we waited a while outside until she finally came down.

Then, we walked to the place where our tram stop was, which was really just a little stop in the middle of the road. And it also turned out that we were really early. We waited there for like, 40 minutes or something. Probably from 5:40 to 6:20 AM. And it was dark this whole time. So we would not have had to be up that early. But yeah, by 6:20 we were on the tram and heading for the ferry port. I don't think the ride over there was too long, and we also got to see the sunrise as we were going there. Pretty cool. Once we all got off the tram and walked to the main terminal building, Tosha realized that she forgot her purse on the tram, so Dr. Caldwell and her ran back to the tram. I think we all just continued on into the building. I think there was a little bit of security that we had to go through, then we took an elevator up to this waiting area, and we waited up there for 25 minutes or so. Also, Caldwell and Tosha got back, and somehow the tram hadn't left yet, even though they thought it did because it changed its number or something. But she got her purse. The waiting area was actually really cool, too. It had lots of windows, these wooden ceilings, and pillars with vines on them.

But after waiting, we could get onto the ferry, and this is when I realized it wasn't really a traditional ferry, it was a cruise ship basically. We were on the ship by 7 AM and made our way to the buffet area because I guess that's where we were eating breakfast. I sat with Rhett, Chelsea, Molly, and Elisabeth, then went up to the buffet to get my food. There were all sorts of unique looking foods, so I got rice pies, potato rosti, a green egg muffin that I guess had spinach in it, bacon, breakfast sausage that just looked like a mini hot dog, meatballs, salami and cheese, and these little pancake things that definitely weren't pancakes, I don't know what they were, but they were good. And to go with all of that I had a glass of Coke, because they had that for free, too. Better than Carnival, cause you have to pay separate for soda on there. So I ate all that, had another glass of Coke, and then went up for dessert. I got some bread with margarine, a little strawberry donut, and a tiny piece of berry crumble cake. All very good. And then I had another glass of Coke, and Rhett was judging me for drinking so much of it, but hey, I had to get caffeinated.

Once everyone was kinda done eating, Elisabeth and Tosha kinda wanted to walk around, so I went with them, and then Molly also went. Rhett stayed behind because he was doing his little journal or whatever. So I went with those three and we just kinda walked around. We went up a few flights of stairs because we were going to go to the deck. We walked by a bunch of rooms, and it made me wonder, why are there whole rooms for a two hour ferry ride. I have no idea. But there were a lot of rooms, it literally was a whole cruise ship. When they said ferry, I was imagining a tiny two-story open boat like the kind that you take from the cruise ship to shore or whatever. But anyways, we made it to the deck and we went outside. It was super windy, but pretty cool out there, there was an Estonian flag. Estonia has one of my favorite flags of any country. Really nice colors. But there wasn't much else out there, so we went back in a different way, down these stairs through a glass door. And that led us down to this botanical greenhouse looking area. There were lots of windows and some plants and wooden seats and stuff. So we sat around there for a bit. The girls were taking pictures and stuff on this fake swing thing, so I kinda just looked around the room. There was this little slingshot game that looked kind of cool that two people were playing. Anyways, I was getting a little bored in there, so I decided to go off on my own.

Walking around on my own was actually really fun. It was my first bit of alone time I had on this trip. So I kinda just walked all over. There were tons of seats like an airplane in one part of the ship, there was a Burger King, and then I discovered the mall area. I also FaceTimed Janell around this time. It was a little after 8 AM on the ship, so it was like, 1 AM or something in Cape. So I showed her all around the mall. They had a Moomin display, Legos, candy, and alcohol. And they had one kind of alcohol on sale, a Hartwall Original Long Drink, gin and lemonade flavor. They had it a can for 1 euro, so I ended up buying one, Janell convinced me. I accidentally went up to the wrong cashier to check out, I went to the pre-checkout or something first. But I eventually found where to checkout and I bought it. It was pretty scary buying alcohol for the first time. Then I left the shopping area and walked around more, still on FaceTime with Janell. I found a vending machine and bought this Geisha candy bar because Janell said it looked good. There was also an arcade and a place to play PlayStation games. Also, I guess I ended up back at the botanical place, and Autumn said I should get another picture for my mom, so then I got my picture taken on that stupid fake swing. Then I went back to the buffet area. I also passed by Elisabeth and Tosha and Tosha was drinking something from the bar. Then I guess I'd FaceTimed Janell again and I was standing outside the buffet, so the other girls saw me talking to her, and they were asking stuff like, "did you call her or did she call you?" So I said I called her, and they were like, good. Anyways, I got back to the buffet and sat at my table for a bit. I also had another Coke or two. After about 30 minutes, we arrived in Tallinn. We departed the ship at 9:30.

After leaving the ship we walked down this enclosed ramp thing like you do with cruise ships. We could also see all of the cars driving off the ferry, that was cool. Elisabeth wanted to stop at this shop in the ship terminal, so she went in there. I was with her and Rhett and probably Chelsea at that point. So I waited outside the store while Elisabeth went in there. Then the rest of the group caught up to us. Elisabeth didn't end up getting any shoes from there. Then we all met outside and it was 9:45 by this point. This other random American lady was with our group, too, for some reason. My first impression of Tallinn was that it didn't really seem like too much. It seemed really flat, it was cloudy, kind of bleak even though the sky was blue under the clouds. But yeah, once we were all outside we started walking to our hostel. It definitely felt kind of Baltic, I guess? Our hostel was like 15 minutes away. The professors were giving us a little lecture on how not to walk in the bike lanes, I remember that much from the walk.

We got to our hostel, Fat Margaret's, and went in. We put all of our luggage in one room again, the very top floor room. Then we kind of just sat around up in that room for a little bit. Some people went to the bathroom because there was a bathroom in the room. It was also pretty hot up there so some people were trying to open the windows. Then Dana came over and said that this room that everyone was in would be our room. Like the boys room. And she showed me a piece of paper with a room code on it and had me take a picture of it. And of course, Rhett immediately sat on the furthest away bed in the room. Like, who gave you first choice. So I had to get the bed that was next to Caleb's and I had to duck down under the low slanted ceiling to get to my bed, which proved fun later. Eventually, I guess we were finally ready to go, so I put on my little black Adidas backpack which I hadn't worn yet, and my black coat, and then we left. Right after I walked out the door, I realized I forgot my water bottle, so I turned around and tried to open the door with my code, and it wouldn't work. I tried it a few more times, switching around some numbers and stuff and it still wouldn't work, so I turned around to leave because a water bottle wasn't too important anyways, but then Rhett and Chelsea showed up and they also needed into the room for something, so they started trying the code. They also couldn't really get it, and we tried it for a while. After Rhett's like, fifth attempt, this little alarm started going off in the door handle. Then I think they texted Dana, and she came up and somehow got it on the first try. Then we all went outside after getting our stuff from the room, and everyone was waiting out there.

Then we walked down the street a ways to Tallinn Old Town, which was pretty awesome. It was really just across the street from our hostel, but it felt like a whole other city. There were narrow cobblestone streets, colorful buildings and shops, and castle-like buildings.