unartistic

So this is a random post that has nothing to do with Texas, but I wanted to share anyways. I have set many goals for myself for this summer and upcoming year, one of which is to read more. I have a ton of books that I brought with me and thus far I have been successful at reading almost everyday! Much of this is because the internet is slow and I don't have a TV. No matter what finally got me to do it I am enjoying it more than ever and don't plan to stop!

So in the process of reading more I have reattempted to get through all of soul pancake, an awesome book/journal about faith/life/creativity/etc. While reading it, filling in the questions, and doing the prompts I have gotten stuck on the same chapter as I did in January. ART. also known as FML. Now anyone who knows me well knows I lack understanding or appreciation for almost all art. I hope no one is offended by this, I'm not trying to belittle your interests, it is just the way I am. I actually sort of dislike this part of myself and wish I could understand and appreciate art more.

After an initial avoidance of the book, then a lot of thinking I have decided maybe I don't appreciate or care for art because I myself lack any artistic talent. So maybe if I attempted to create different types of art throughout the summer I could find something I am good at, or at least somewhat enjoy doing. Even if I hate doing all of it, maybe I will appreciate what artists create...

Worst off I am in the same place I started right?

So each week of the summer, starting Monday, I will be trying to create a different type of art...
Week 1 Photography
Week 2 Drawing
Week 3 Sculpture
Week 4 Poetry (is poetry art? well I under appreciate it so I am going to say yes for this purpose...)
Week 5 Collage
Week 6 Painting
Week 7 ... cant think of another form of art.. someone suggest something please :)

If I think any are good or really bad to the point of laughter I will share them on the blog. I will also try and post how I feel about art at the end of this experiment..

Welcome to Texas y'all

So things have gotten a lot better in the past few days and I hope they continue that way :) I have gotten to know the people I am working with a little better and now don't dislike any of them! Yay! I still will get annoyed from time to time, but hey I can't be perfect! I am just grateful that I am enjoying spending time with everyone more now and I think I am growing a thicker skin so jokes don't overly offend me as often. ANYWAYS...

I went to Fort Worth and Granbury this weekend and wanted to share my new impression of Texas as well as some photos!

I went to a thai restaurant (not anything like thai food in WA), a gelato place, a comedy show (called 4 day weekend and is HILARIOUS!), a breakfast diner, the stockyards, and Granbury. The description below is from what I found while shopping at the stock yards and in Granbury. Enjoy!

Welcome to Texas where...

Cowboy boots are worn with business suits

antler pieces are something people will pay for

animal heads on your purse is okay and maybe even cool

you can be so out of shape that shopping takes too much energy

glass jewelry cases are filled with belt buckles and guns (no guns in this pic, but I promise there were cases of them in many stores)

boots cost as much as my first car (the orange and blue ones below cost $1225!)

camo is a part of your sex life

and 911 is optional...

Yeehaw Everybody! :)

Tattoo

Many of you know I am thinking about getting a tattoo while in Texas. There are three shops in town, one of which apparently tattooed Vanilla Ice and Keanu Reeves (according to locals, I've seen no proof) so I have plenty of legit options... One problem. I have NO IDEA what I want! Only a few half ass ideas that I can't seem to get excited about so I will not be getting any of them. Anyways I was hoping that one/all of you could help me out! Call/text/email/post a comment on what tattoo ideas you think would be good for me. I want to get something on my left upper leg - hip area, I want something pretty big that could cover the area of a regular sheet of paper, maybe a little smaller... Anyways let me know your ideas por favor! :)

Also it doesn't need to/would preferably not have anything to do with Texas...

Storm

So this afternoon I laid out and got myself a pretty decent sunburn. It was about 90*-95*. However now within 10 hours of that it is storming out worse than ever! I took a short video of the storm, but it doesn't fully capture how intense it feels sitting in it. Anyways check out the video if you are interested, and also there is a pic of my first Texas sun burn (although I am sure not the last). Other than that my weekend was filled with reading about the Iditarod :)
Hope you all had wonderful weekends! Please text/comment/call/stay in touch...because I miss you all so much!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TwjULo7AmI

unprofessional

So I have been poked fun at a lot since being in Texas. I have been made fun of for almost any WA stereotype, most of which I didn't know existed. Also most of of which I do not have any part of. For instance apparently Washingtonians are all stoner druggies that love to sue people and never shave. I don't know that those three go together but they have all been mentioned as something 'my people' do. Some of these stereotypes are fitting to me such as coffee loving or vegetarian, but most of them are ridiculous. Other jokes are about me snowboarding or not having a car and that is just my own fault for sharing that info. Anyways none of it bothers me since it is all meant in good fun and I give them shit right back about the ignorant gun loving hicks in Texas. So all has been good right? Well yes...

Then I was made fun of for working in such an unprofessional environment at WSU. Not cool.
I was comparing the different structures of the residence life systems and when sharing I was ridiculed for the inappropriateness of interactions I have had with students, staff members, supervisors, etc. WHICH has been nothing beyond hanging out after hours(after 5pm), outside the office or reshalls, or for fun rather than strictly work. I also shared that we don't have set schedules or have to dress professionally daily and that is a big shocker I guess. Well I was on the defense for sure, but I think I just continually dug my self into a deeper hole of not having any real professional experience. It is also in their opinion that my role at WSU as an AP/AHD is 'fake' since there is no real responsibility there (their opininion not mine).

So I am officially offended, but have continued to remind myself that this is good for me to get new experiences, new perspective, etc. This is a learning experience. This is a learning experience. This is a learning experience.

In positive news it is 5:15pm on a Friday which means I get to do what ever I want with my life for the next 64 hours! This will include reading, sleeping in, laying out in the sun to tan, and working out :)
Then next week the other Conference Directors get here and we start training! So there will be more fun people and more fun stuff to do! Then next weekend is my first trip to Dallas :) we will be seeing a baseball game, where JFK was shot, a comedy show, and something called the stock yards...

So although I'm a little offended and annoyed I am mostly excited for the next couple of weeks :) I will post photos and updates with my adventures next weekend!

DAY... 8? Maybe 9... too lazy to count

So here in my REAL ROOM! It was finally cleaned and ready for me to move in so I did today! And I have, mostly out of boredom, taken MANY pictures to show you my new residence hall and room :)

ALSO I learned what camps I will be getting while I am here and they include Mr marbles science camp, 4H, Health club, football, and cheer. I can not wait to see what all those kids will be like haha.

Here is my room/bed

Other half of my room...

My Desk area (no wireless internet here so I'm actually utilizing the desk area when on the internet)

My bathroom .. exciting I know..

My favorite part.. my shower! it is hard to tell from the photo but it looks like one of those circle room/ door things they have in front of photo developing rooms.. does anyone know what I am talking about? lol.. if not just know it looks cool to me

My door! Im a Resident Leader now! haha... well my title here is Conference Director, but I am staying in a RL (RA) room so I get the super cool sign on my door.

My view from my room. I also want to point out they dont let us open windows here :( boo. I might do it anyway... we will see if I can last the whole summer without fresh air in the room.

The main lobby of the building :) very pretty I love it.. but the picture doesnt do it justice so dont judge too much lol

K well I am going to go finish unpacking and do some laundry. Big fun ahead :)
Miss you all so much! thanks for all the comments&texts this last week!

Day Seven - exploring Stephenville

So I had today off for the first day since in Texas :) I slept till 1pm, showered, then went off for an exploration of the town. I was also hoping to find a place in town with cell service, but instead found out through the lovely Walmart cell phone experts that tmobile towers went down a month ago and they dont plan on repairing them so ... Im shit out of luck. I can still text from my phone, just not talk. I broke down and bought a pay as you go phone for only $10 and then $2 each day I use it.. So i am only turning it on to talk to people on Saturdays&sundays so please only try and call then! My new number is 254-434-7976. Also my new address (which Im sharing with one of the hall directors) is :
Miranda Belcher
T-2043
Stephenville TX 76402
Attn: Faith Stiffler

Here is random stuff I saw on my adventure:


This is a two sided truck I saw on my walk to Starbucks today..It was parked in the middle of a random parking lot, not near any store named Footgear, so people must drive it right?!?! I really want to see someone drive it, but didn't feel like waiting around all day.

This is a big monster Truck I saw on the way back from Starbucks. I think it is used to advertise the Autoparts store.. There were a couple kids climbing on it so I dont think anyone actually owns it or drives it anywhere... But that would be way cooler if they did drive it to work everyday..

This is the entrance to the Stephenville Cemetery

Here is a picture of the Stephenville cemetery. I know this picture doesn't really capture how enormous the cemetery is, but let me tell you it is HUGE. Especially considering we are in a small town. And it can't be that old because the whole reason we cant walk on the grass here is because the school founder is buried somewhere on campus and no one knows where so they avoid the potential of stepping on his grave by avoiding grass... therefore I might die while here since apparently an disproportionate amount of people are buried here.. CREEPY!

Day Six - Closing

Dear WSU reslife (specifically RAs),
YOU HAVE IT SO FREAKING EASY! Closing the halls here is so much more work than what we do. You know how we have those amazing custodians that basically take care of everything and all we do is have them fill out their RIA? Well not so much at Tarleton. They walk through all their residents rooms once by themselves and mark all damages on a spread sheet, then they take all the stuff left in the rooms to either lost&found or the dumpster, then the RA has to remove any damaged/gross mattresses to a specific storage room (which for most people is far away), and then they finally get to do a final walk through with the hall director. PLUS they have their end of year banquet equivalent (bowling) on the same day...
New found happiness and appreciation for the WSU res life system.

I was assigned to the most country of all the hall directors yesterday. He is super into hunting, fishing, guns, etc. He works on a ranch when not in the res halls. He is difficult to understand at times because of his strong ass accent. HE IS AWESOME! Super friendly, funny, nice, and super super cute. He has a girlfriend and is way out of my league, but I wont mind working with him this summer at all. Then today I worked with a woman hall director... I feel like we are the same person really, but in the weirdest ways. Like she makes the same frustrated noises that I make, wears similar clothing, likes similar music, and has a similar attitude as I do. She is way more organized than me though so I will have to work on that... anyways she was cool, but since it was closing it was more actual work than fun time.

Now I am waiting for another hall director to take me to dinner :) yay for food! I am also excited because I will have no more assigned poeple to follow around this summer! it ends today! tomorrow I am sleeping in! AND my temp roommate went home for the night so I really will be alone for the first time since I left pullman on Sunday! Pretty exciting for me :) haha

I will take more pics this weekend of interesting stuff while I explore stephenville so I can post more fun stuff!

Day four / MOST RIDICULOUS DAY!

K so today was ridiculous... I don't even know how to explain it...

The day started with me finding my way across campus by myself for the fist time ever.. only looked at a map once! When I got to the reslife office I finally met Gary Stout...I haven't decided if he is awesome or awful yet. I spent the morning having him, with no warning, drag me to the heads of TSU for some meet and greets. For example I met the equivalent of the dean of students by being walked to his office and shoved in there by myself with only a warning of 'don't make me look bad' from Gary. WTF?! But I think I didn't embarrass myself too much.. I didn't feel like I was being overly awkward..

Then we had the RC (residential coordinator or equivalent of an RED) meeting which was entertaining because most the meeting everyone just discussed where they wanted to get lunch... we decided on the dining center (this was an hour long meeting)

Then the best part of the day hit! We are eating lunch, I go to grab a cookie get back and half the group is gone, the other half standing up saying 'we got to go NOW'. Apparently a storm was about to hit and we either had to leave immediately or be stuck in the dining center for the rest of the day. So we ran to Honeywell Hall. About 10 minutes later the storm started, which although it was supposed to be hailing golf balls, it just rained really hard with a little thunder and lightning. So we didn't leave for 2 hours...
TO PUT THIS IN PERSPECTIVE.. It would be like eating lunch at hillside, deciding we must get to SP offices before the storm hits so we don't get stuck, making it to Regents, sitting there for 10 minutes before the storm starts, then the storm starts while in Regents so you don't leave for 2 hours... IT WAS JUST RAIN! so we sat and did NO WORK, but instead watched it rain forever instead of walking 2 more blocks...In all fairness it was raining really hard.

The day ended with me eating at CICIs for the first time with one of the RCs and her 2 year old kid. I know I dont like kids, but this one was pretty awesome. Now I am finally back in my temp room listening to my temp roomie study for her math final while waiting for Glee to buffer enough to watch.

What a day! Meeting super important TSU people, seeing Texan's react to rain, and actually enjoying being around a kid. I can't wait to see what tomorrow brings..

Day three

Okay so day three and a few troubles..
Internet and phone service both pretty much non existent....this really shouldn't be a big deal, but I'm addicted to tecnology and have been dying to check email,post on the blog, and I couldn't talk to Ana on the phone before she left for Italy :(

On the positive side my phone internet randomly started working (how I'm posting now), I learned a ton about TSU reslife today,and it was only 70* out! Also I was practically in WA today cuz I sat in a Starbucks talking to a new friend watching the rainy gloomy weather outside haha. It rained when I went to CA, when I went to Vegas, and now in Texas. Apparently it follows me where ever I go.

Tomorrow I finally meet Gary! He is the one I have been emailing back and forth with and the man who hired me so I'm very excited to finally get to work with him :)

Anyways typing on my phone at 1230 am is not nearly as fun as I thought it would be so more updates manana!

Newest lingo:
"He is sweating her" = he likes her

Day two

So there is no way I could post only once a week on here because way too much happens in one day. Or at least I feel that way now because everything that is happening is brand new. So here is my day two:

 I 'shadowed' or basically followed around one of the area coordinators today. She thankfully started the day at Starbucks and bought me a coffee. Next we went to Walmart, which is where people with the thickest accents live apparently. Then off to TSU's central offices. I met their residence life department, which is WAY smaller than WSU's, and got my Texan Card (equivalent of a cougar card). I got to eat texmex for dinner, which is what they call mexican food in Texas apparently. I also drank a lot of sweet tea and had my first snow cone! They have three entire stands dedicated to selling just snowcones (example pics above), yet not a single coffee stand... don't know how I feel about this...  a lot happened in between, but I won't bore you with the details. Here are  the basics:

Things I learned today:

• Texmex = Mexican food in texas
• Walking on the grass on campus = NOT okay
• Everyone swipes their card... I mean everyone to get into a building. They call it 'No tail gaiting'. So even if I am with 3 girls from my hall and one swipes in the other two of us still have to too... even though the door is already open... 
• Texas boys are ridiculously attractive... and the accent only helps :)

New lingo (sure I'll be saying these by the end of the summer):

• "He/She is good people"
• "He/She is older than Jesus"
• "Yall", "Ma'am", etc. 

Day one

I have arrived in Texas! I got off the plane at approximately 1pm Texas time and was greeted by 101* weather...and of course I am wearing sweats. I got to drink real Texas sweet tea for the first time and it is awesome. Also when driving into Stephenville I got to see the picture above... A proud cow with its 223 million dollars annual milk sales! Luckily for me they still carry soy milk in the local stores. This blog should hopefully help me to keep in touch with all my missed WA friends without facebook. More updates soon!