A Tale of Two Intake Forms HW

I found the conversation on Tuesday to be very interesting. There were two different intake forms: one basic one that only asked about the person's income and family, and the other which was more Christian-based. I am not sure which one i agree with the most. I believe that the Helping Hands (basic) one was like that because it is a government funded place. I liked that one because they just asked what they needed to know. I think that the church one seemed like a little too much like where it asked "Did you go to church on Sunday? If no, why not?" I have to admit that even though I am a Christian, I do not believe that you have to go to church on Sunday to look better in God's eyes. Yes, it is a good place to gather with those who share your beliefs, but I have not been to church in a while, and I do not feel that it has affected me at all as a Christian. I still pray and believe in God and try to follow my beliefs. I believe that the church could've still asked religious questions, but they should've been ones that seemed less judgmental, like "have you been saved?" or something like that.

Joe Blog. HW

Okay, so today I read my reading assignment. I kind of thought that it was boring at first because before this class, I was not too into blogging. It just seemed like something that writers did for fun, and I definitely was not a writer. (except freshman year of high school, i used to blog on here and I totally forgot about it and one day I looked it up. It was actually pretty funny.) I love how a blog is kind of like a journal, and you can just write whatever you feel at the moment. You don't have to worry about people reading it and being really mad or something about it because you are just saying what you feel, and they don't have to keep reading it. You are writing for yourself and only yourself when you blog.

Helping Hands

I'm not sure if we were supposed to blog about this, but whatev, if not, hopefully I'll get extra credit.

Last week, our university class went to the Helping Hands center in Cookeville. It's pretty much like the food bank that i used to help out at back in Nashville. When we went, we entered a large room stacked high with cans of food and whatnot that were given to families that came by that could not afford to buy food for themselves. When I was younger, I used to go with my mom, and we'd work at the food bank every other wednesday for our church. I think it was good of my mom to get my sisters and I to do that. I used to love it. Whenever a family would come up, I helped fill up a bag of food to give to them, and I would go and buy candy at the store that we would give the kids who came in. I always loved making people happy with food, because food made me happy. I remember one time, though, I had brought in leftover Halloween candy to give the kids, and I handed a girl a bag full of candy. She looked through the candy with a disgusted face and handed a few pieces back to me because she said they were too old or looked like there would be bugs in them. I remember being really sad about that. It is a weird story to remember, but that is one of the main things that i remember from that, and I hate it because it is kind of a bad reflection on the people that are in need. The majority of the people that came into the food bank, though, were very very grateful for what we were doing for them. Some people even gave us Christmas cards during the holidays and stuff. It was great.

Fall Break

My fall break was actually pretty fun. I was excited to go home for once and sleep in my own comfy bed and see all of my friends from home. I left to go home on Friday. I went into my work (TJ Maxx) first to pick up my paychecks that had been waiting for me...they added up to $70 :( I'm not used to getting such crappy paychecks, but whatever. I visited my boyfriend and also saw my friends Tori and Kait before they went to the Kings of Leon concert (that i reeeeaaaaalllllyyy wanted to go to, but I couldn't ever find good tickets). After they left, I hung out with my friend Wesley. I always have fun with him. We rented a stupid scary movie called 13 Hours in a Factory, like old times and went to Walmart and got tons of candy to eat during it. We're kind of like little kids when we get together. After I hung out with Wesley, Anthony got off of work, and he came over. We watched a movie at my house because it was too late to go and see one. We watched Observe and Report. On Saturday, I had to work from 1 to 10:37. It was pretty lame, like always. After work, Kait and I went over to Steak n Shake to meet Anthony and Wesley. It was fun. After that, Anthony came over to my house for a while, and we just watched TV. The next day, I had to work open to close (11-8:30). It was dumb. I went home and hung out with my family. On Monday, I went to lunch with my mom. When my little sister, Channing, got out of school, I took her to Target for a little while. After that, I hung out with Anthony again, and we went to go see Zombieland and eat at Steak n Shake..again. Zombieland was pretty much what I expected it to be. Yesterday, I hung out with my friend Alison and we went to Target. It was pretty fun. After that, Tori and Kait came over to eat dinner with me, and we went to Providence and went to Target...again. I came back this morning.

I did a lot of stuff more than once this weekend, but it was still fun. I think the most simple things in life make me happy.

Tori and I at Steak n' Shake.

Kait and Wes

Make Up..Kinda

So this week, we're doing our workshop things, and I've talked to someone who's already gone through their's, and I learned that I have failed to blog about something, so now, I'm going to before my workshop.

Mick Jagger Wants Me

I really liked this story. It was fun to read. I haven't ever been this extreme about a famous person I don't believe, but I still liked it. My favorite part, though, was probably the end where the girl realizes that this wasn't how she wanted to see him for the first time: as another screaming girl in the crowd, but she would never get more than this. I thought that it was pretty cool.

Us and Them

Well I read "Us and Them" by David Sedaris, and I actually liked it a lot also. I liked how it showed how people can be so curious about other people that they meet that are different from them. There is a family who don't have a television and went trick-or-treating on an abnormal day compared to everyone else. The story actually had several pop culture references in it, so it was pretty relevant to what we were learning.

Rodney Atkins Concert

Last Thursday, I went to the Rodney Atkins and Phil Vassar concert. It was an interesting experience. I do not listen to much Country music at all, so it was cool to listen to something that I don't normally listen to. I went to the concert with Lindsey. We had to sit super high up in the nosebleed section because we had bought our tickets kind of late. It was still fun though. I actually knew a few Phil Vassar songs, so that was cool. I thought that he did really good. Next, was Rodney Atkins. He was pretty good, but a little too country for me. He did really well with the crowd though, getting them excited and stuff. That is what I love about concerts. I don't know how to explain it but I love seeing the performer interact with the fans and stuff. ha I kind of sound like a weirdo though.

Anyways, the concert was actually a benefit concert for the Mustard Seed Ranch. All of the people working working the concert were actually Tech athletes which I thought was kind of cool. Oh and at the beginning of the concert, they gave away two seats to be able to come move up front. The two seats were 9 and 10 and I was 11 and Lindsey was 12! I was kind of mad, but I didn't care too much.

The night was overall pretty fun. Our school should have concerts like that more often.

ADPI!

Since I have started college, I decided to join a sorority. I think it has been one of the best decisions that I have made. Before school started, my mom convinced me to go through recruitment. I did not really want to because my thought on sororities were like the one on the movie "Legally Blonde," and I'm not really into that.

I got a ΠΧ who contacted me on facebook the week before and wanted to know my dorm and room number so that she could meet me in person. The first day here, she came and visited and helped me move in, along with a few other AΔΠ's. They were so nice. I remember telling my mom that I wanted to be an ΑΔΠ. That night, there was an all-Greek mxer on the south patio. It was cool and I met a lot of girls from different sororities. After that night, I decided that my first two choices for a sorority were going to be KΔ or ΑΔΠ. Ι was really excited because everyone seemed really cool and i had already met SO many people on just the first night.

The recruitment days finally came. The first night was Philanthropy Night. On this night, you went in to all four of the sorority's rooms to learn more about the sorority and their philanthropy. Each of them also had some pretty cool slideshows. The first room that i went to was ΔΓ. As soon as i walked in, everyone was screaming and overly excited. It definitely weirded me out. I even second guessed joining a sorority. They were constantly cheering and yelling. I was very happy to get out of there. The second room was KΔ. I told the girl that was talking to me that i really wanted to be in KΔ (at that point in time, it was my first choice). I also told her about how ΔΓ freaked me out. There was such a difference between the two rooms. KΔ was so much more calm compared to ΔΓ. The third room that I went to was ΦM. They were more similar to ΔΓ, but a little more calm. I kind of liked them, but they seemed a little too girly for me. They were very nice though. The final room for that night was AΔΠ. They were really cool. They were singing and the girl even said sorry about the singing, but they had to do it. I thought it was kinda cool that she said that because they seemed more real. When i left that room, I kept my top three (AΔΠ, KΔ, and ΦM) and dropped ΔΓ.

The next night was skit night. We were supposed to kind of dress up for that night. When i got there, i found out that KΔ had dropped me. I was really down and I didn't even care to talk to the girl in ΦM (my first room) because i felt like just crying. They had been my first choice. I decided that i had to keep it together because i still had AΔΠ and that i may have been wrong about the other sororities. AΔΠ's skit was cute and i could relate to it because it was about these three girls and their first few weeks of school leading up to bid day where they got into AΔΠ. ΔΓ's skit was also pretty cute, so i decided to drop ΦM that night.

The last night was preference night. We had to dress up in a cocktail-type dress and look really cute. It was the formal night. It was also a lot more serious. Both of the rooms that i went to were really cool. I also realized that i loved AΔΠ more and more each day. I really liked getting on a more personal level with them. I was so nervous that night when i ranked them. I put AΔΠ first and ΔΓ second. It was kind of ironic because i had originally dropped ΔΓ and hadn't even given them the time of day.

Bid day was the next day. I woke up early and felt terrible. My stomach hurt so bad I didn't know what it was. I still went though. Everyone met in Derryberry to get our cards. It was a long process and I was getting pretty impatient. We finally got to open our cards i was so anxious. That card wouldn't open fast enough! When it was finally open, i read: The Sisters of Alpha Delta Pi Sorority cordially invite Olivia Grisham to join our Sisterhood. Welcome to the Epsilon Psi Chapter, Tennessee Tech. It was SOOOOO exciting!!! We all ran outside to meet our new sisters, all 96 of them! They were so sweet and welcoming. I loved it! It also ended up that my ΠΧ was also an AΔΠ! It was an amazing experience!

^^MY ΠΧ GROUP ON BID DAY!^^

^^ALL OF MY NEW SISTERS!^^

Naira Has No Gender

Last week, on September 30, I went to go see the play "Naira Has No Gender." I overall enjoyed it. There were a few things that I didn't like though, like how only one person in the play had an African accent, and I could not really understand it.

I did really like the music and dancing throughout the play though. The drums were cool. Certain parts were pretty funny also.

Sarah, who's in my university class, did really good. She played the king-guy's wife.

I did not realize that the play would be SO crowded. It was the last night, and they had to turn people away. Thankfully, we got there early though.