But if I get a new car, how will I get my workout in?

Side note about my last blog-- I'm disappointed that more of you didn't tell me how you would have spent a million bucks. Unless Jason is really the only one who reads my blog, in which case this is rather embarrassing...

But anyway. Let me tell you about my adventures on Wednesday.

Before I do that, you should know some things. 1) My school schedule on Mon/Wed starts at 9:30 am and ends at 7:45 pm. I have one class, then a 3+ hour break, and 3 more classes all right in a row. It's not that bad, if I don't have a lot of homework to do between classes, I usually go home. 2) My car is sad. It takes all of 5 miles for it to overheat, and it doesn't go in reverse. It has other problems, but they're pretty minor. This "overheating" thing and the "only goes forward" thing are the big problems it has. And the "only goes forward" thing is the one important to the story today. A lot of people ask me how I get out of parking lots when they find out my car lacks that ability. I drive around until I find a place I can pull through (usually not too difficult, but ensures a far walk) or, if I'm at church or something, I just wait out whoever's parked in front of me. In rare cases, I've pushed my car, usually with the help of some friends.

So on Wednesday, I had a test in my first class-- history-- and I had to buy a Greenbook before class (just a little booklet with a bunch of lined paper to write essays on), so I made sure to get up early enough to catch the bus that would get me to campus about 15 minutes before class started. I managed to hit a bunch of red lights, so I was about to miss the bus, and as I pulled in to the parking lot, I could see it was just pulling up. So I hurried and parked as close as I could and ran up (turns out that wasn't my bus, and the bus driver was running a little late, so I still got to school on time). Well, parking as close as I could means that there was a car in front of mine. Not a problem, actually. I had some homework I needed to do, so I should stay anyway, and by the time I get back to the park-n-ride at night, there's usually only 5 other cars there.

And, if I really wanted to go home, I could just push my car. Done it before.

Well, I took my test (which I think went well, but I really hate essay tests), and I finished about 20 minutes before I would have usually gotten out of class. In my rush to leave in the morning, I didn't bring anything to eat, so I decided with the extra time I had, I could still push my car out of the parking space and head back home for a while. My homework didn't need to be done that day, so I would be fine.

As I'm walking toward my car, I just kept hoping that the car in front of me had already left. Make my life easy. But as I knew deep down, the car was still there. I get into my car and put it in neutral, and I start letting up off the brake. Aaand... I start sliding downhill aka toward the car in front of me.

This is a bit of a pickle. I decided to go ahead and gently love tap the car in front of me and push my car out while it wasn't rolling downhill, but pressed comfortably against the car in front of me. (As I get out and I'm pushing, I had horrible visions of this episode of Grey's Anatomy where someone's legs got pinned in a car crash. I was just really careful.) Oh, and does everyone remember how it was cold and a little snowy out on Wednesday? That made this so much more fun.

After 15-20 minutes of pushing and two people walking past me, I had made it about 6 feet. Something I'm proud of, but it wasn't far enough to actually leave. I sat there thinking... I was really tired. Pushing a car uphill for a period of time is not something I've been training for. Do I want to keep pushing and hopefully make it out eventually? Will I get enough time at home for it to be worth it? Should I just give up and go back to campus?

Unfortunately, I decided to get back in my car and put it back where it originally was. 20 minutes of my life wasted. I sat in my car being cold with wet knees and dirty hands, listening to music while doing some Chinese homework, then caught a bus back to campus. Incidentally, it was the same bus driver that I had earlier. I sat by my physics classroom for an hour waiting for the class before mine to be done, then proceeded on with my day.

Actually, because it was so cold, my Chinese teach let us go 45 minutes early. Told us to go home and eat dinner and be warm. Really cool, right? WRONG. Haha. I had another class an hour after she let us go which I had to stay around for. That's ok, I went up to this candy and soda shop that I've always wanted to go to and bought some Twix. This was the coolest store I've ever been in in my life. Very retro and awesome.

Results of pushing my car: Very sore forearm for the next several hours (which you can really feel when you turn the wheel of your car haha.) and a sore back the next couple days. Made for a kinda fun story, and I got a sure workout in, so I guess it was worth it.

Even still, I will be happy to get a new car. Someday...

$710,000

Did you know, if you have a scratch ticket and "win a million bucks," after taxes and all, it turns out to be $710,000? Yes. How do I know this? Not by winning a million bucks myself, sadly. But one of my physics lab partners came into class yesterday, and told us that his friend just won a million on some scratch ticket. I actually heard a commercial on the radio for it later, and the odds of winning the million are like one in six million something. So it would be extra dumb of anyone to go out and buy a ticket hoping to win, knowing that someone just won yesterday.

Anyway, we did some math, and if he put all his money into an account that pays 6% interest, he could live off of the interest happily for the next 10+ years.

And then we talked about what we would do with that kind of money. The other girl in my group said she would not be smart with her money and she would go blow it all on useless things. The two guys in the group would drop out of school.

I've actually thought about what I would do with a million bucks before, and it doesn't involve anything extravagant. I would buy a car that's actually worth something, but nothing too fancy. I just want it to go in reverse and not break down after 5 miles, be a stick shift, and have ABS (That's my current car's flaws ha). And then, I would put the rest of the money into a bank and just go to school for the rest of my life. I would probably still get a job somewhere down the line, and I wouldn't buy a ridiculous house or car or anything. I would just go to school forever. :) Always learning, always becoming better.

At some point, I would probably take a really nice vacation.

I would also like to give some of it to some charity or good cause, just so that way I'm not selfish. You know, help the needy, be a good person, blah blah blah.


Or-- if I decided that school's for fools (look at me!)-- I would instead put my grand 2-year traveling plan into motion. I haven't really looked at the cost of this, so a million might not be enough, but this is just a fantasy, so I can do whatever I want. It would involve: Live in France for about a year (perfecting my French-language skills), and then spend 3 months visiting the rest of Europe. Germany, Spain and Italy are specifically on my list. Maybe a month in each of those. Then I'd want to go to spend about 6 or 7 months in South America, visiting Chile and Argentina, and working my way up to Brazil, maybe Peru. Then for 1 and a half or 2 months, I'd go to Jamaica, and finish off the year with Quebec (which would be quite a climate change), and polish off my French a little more. Then I could come home and be thoroughly traveled, and then I would buy my car and go to school with whatever money (if any) I had left. That seems like the better option between the two, probably.

10 Things

So, MJ. Ten things you probably don't know about me... I think this will actually be pretty hard.

1- While I was in China, we ALWAYS had free time. We only worked for 3-4 hours a day, and then we were done. Yet somehow, we still couldn't make it through the day without a nap.
2- Now that I'm back home, I rarely have free time because I have so many credits [16] at school. But I wouldn't want to take less than what I have (or more-- already made that mistake). I'm a hardcore nerd. I love learning. One of my favorite classes this semester is physics. And even with that class, I desperately miss my chem classes.
3- I love foreign languages. And I'm pretty good at them. In high school, I took French, and now in college, I'm taking Chinese. I hope to learn Chinese a little better when I go back to China next year, then when I come home, I want to take ASL at Metro. And eventually, just so I can get better at French, I'd like to buy Rosetta Stone.
Oh yeah. This doesn't count as another number, but I think about half of you probably don't know. I'm going back to China next year, if I get accepted back into the program. I'll leave late Jan/early Feb, and come home the 3rd week of June. Chances are very good I won't be in the country when I turn 21. I find this totally acceptable.
4- Sometimes, I really miss having super short hair that I can spike, but I don't want to cut it, because I want long hair for my wedding. I don't even have a boyfriend, but I'm growing my hair out for my wedding. Haha. Yes, I know I'm ridiculous.
5- I don't watch movies, apparently. It never fails to surprise someone that I haven't seen Star Wars or Indiana Jones. Or Elf. My roommates tried to get me to watch Elf, but when they downloaded it, it was too jumpy to watch (I think it's a sign). But I'm not opposed to watching these movies, just no one has ever sat me down to watch them.
6- I never thought I was a "typical college student" food-wise. You know, always eating ramen and nutella and frozen pizza. I mean, I know how to cook. Grilled chicken, Chinese food, tacos. All the awesome stuff. It wasn't until mom and dad were at Disney World for a week when I realized, despite KNOWING how to cook, it was days before I ate anything that I couldn't cook in less than 2 minutes.
7- I really love learning. I think, after I graduate, I'd like to continue going to school forever. Just taking a couple classes a semester. Again, I know, I'm a nerd.
8- When I watch movies with my friends, we dig into them and pull out really philosophical meanings. I don't necessarily think the directors intended for us to do that, but it's what we do. (Come to find out, Moulin Rouge is very deep ha.)
9- It actually makes me really sad when I let someone over (while driving) and they don't wave at me. Such a simple gesture.
10- All this new technology really freaks me out. I don't like feeling like I have to have my phone on me all the time. Some of my friends literally can't have a conversation with me without checking their phone, and that makes me sad for them. I wish I wrote to people more often. It's so much more awesome than emailing. Facebook literally steals souls from people. Except I think "steal" is too harsh. I'm pretty sure the souls it has were willingly given up.
And despite not liking all these advances, I still do find them really convenient. But their convenience is such a trap! Can't we just be independent?
And there's my 10 things. I tag everyone who hasn't done it yet.

Older than the Internet.

For the record, I have no idea what I am still doing up. I have class tomorrow. A long, long day of class. In case you don't know, my day starts at 8:20-8:25 am when I have to leave for my 9:30 class, and doesn't end until about 8:50 pm, when I get home from my last class that ends at 7:45. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it. I'm currently choosing to be optimistic), I have a nice, big 3 hour break from 10:45-2. Anyway, it's later than I should still be awake, I just want to announce this properly, before I head off.

In 3 days, it will be my birthday, and I will officially no longer be a teenager. So far in my life, I've graduated high school, worked 1 or 2 jobs (depending on if you count ILP), lived on the other side of the world, totaled my car, started learning 2 foreign languages, held the lives of many living creatures in my hands, started writing a book (which has a solid plot, but only a couple physical pages. I think I'm too afraid it won't turn out to be as awesome as I once hoped it would be), and I've lived through a year that's divisible by 100, but was still a leap year. I think it's been a successful life so far, and I intend to keep it going in awesome level.

Mostly, though, I think I've hit this point where I don't really care that my birthday's on Saturday. It's just another day. To be fair, nothing exciting happens when you turn 20. Still can't book a room at picky hotels. Still considered an adult by society. And it doesn't really seem that far off since I turned 19.

Come to think of it-- something exciting is happening this Sat. Mom is going to Disney World! Not with me, though. I wasn't even invited. Ha, I'm kidding. Well, no I'm not. I wasn't invited. I just don't mind. I would've turned down the invite anyway. I have too many awesome classes this semester. Which reminds me... I should go to sleep ha. Night everyone! Happy February!

Which way to Neverland?

I don't know how to start this post. I'm not sure what I want to say. I imagine it will turn out as a jumbled mess of thoughts, but I've been trying to write this blog post for a good hour and a half, and I doubt my ability to say anything more eloquent right now.

Things are changing. This is something that I'm both excited and scared for. Within the next year (and possibly in a time as short as the next 6 months), I'll have a job and be living on my own, paying my own way through college. If you had talked to me a month ago, I would have only been excited. Perhaps a little scared, but mostly just excited. But my parents are going to be moving as well, and in doing so, all my ties to the house that I've lived in for literally longer than I can remember will be cut. It's just a house, but it's the house where all my memories center. My childhood happened here, as well as my early adult life. And I won't lie-- I feel pretty dumb for being so shaken by my parents moving. I mean, regardless of if they stay here or not, I'll be living somewhere else, so it doesn't seem like this should be as big of a deal as I'm making out to be. It's not like if they move I lose my memories and childhood. All I lose is a house. Meh.

I miss China. At first, when I went out there, things were really different and it made me pretty nervous/scared/anxious, but it only took a couple months for me to get totally comfortable there, so that gives me hope that moving out and all that jazz will be as awesome as it's made out to be. I've never heard anyone complain about how they just wish they had stayed at home and not gained independence. And if I were to hear someone complain about that, I would surely not want to be their friend haha.

The question I get asked most often upon anyone hearing that I enjoyed my ILP experience-- "Will you go back?" I don't know. Maybe. I would consider it a possibility in my future. But not in the next couple years. I want to finish college first, and them I'm considering my possibilities. I might take somewhere between a semester and a year to go back as a head teacher. There are many countries that ILP visits that I haven't yet been to, and there's many different parts of China that I haven't been in. And it wouldn't get old. My roommates and I always compared our experiences with even the other schools in Zhongshan, and every single one of us had such a different experience. And we were all in the same city, so just imagine all the possibilities.

On the other hand, I might find something else to do with my life. I have a couple different ideas of where I might want to take my life, and I don't want to get too attached to any one of them, because I know that there is some force in the world that, as soon as I settle down and decide upon one path, will laugh in my face and throw me in another direction that I hadn't considered. And then this force will watch me struggling in unpreparedness and say "HAHAHAHAHA NOW WHAT." So I like to be one step ahead of this force by not having a rigid plan and staying on my feet so that I'll be able to take whatever situation I find myself in and have fun and be awesome in it.

All I really want to do is make a difference.