So, I got my ears pierced yesterday.

Mom and I went to the Valley Plaza to return some things and as we were walking she stopped in front of one of those piercing kiosks and said she was going to get her ear pierced (yes, only one ear as the other whole hadn't closed up since she stopped wearing earrings) and somehow she convinced me to do it as well. I really wanted pierced ears when I was a kid and I was told that when I turned 12 I could get it done. Obviously it didn't happen. I was a bit afraid and since my ears are small and close to my head anyway I didn't think it made much of a difference. After a while I liked that I didn't have piercings. It was always a surprise to people when they noticed or when I mentioned it. And now here I am. It feels kind of weird to get it done in adulthood. It's like I missed out on a rite of passage, but I seem to be missing all of the normal milestones so that's how it goes.

• I'm moving back to Bakersfield. Not sure if I'm happy about that or not.
• I got an A in my Composition and Literature class after writing my final on how Hamlet and Horatio were probably hooking up between the scenes.
• Got an A in Intermediate GIS. Of course.
• Almost died fifty times driving home from the pub my Sustainability class went to after the final on Tuesday. It was thirty miles to my house, all downhill, it was pouring rain, the roads were completely inundated with water and I was constantly on the verge of losing control of my car. I finally saw another car spin out and drive up a mountain and that's I decided that I should probably take surface streets the rest of the way to my house. That is, after I stopped to make sure the people who spun out were okay. They were. It was, hands down, the most terrified I have ever been in my life.

When I was in the first grade I was told I had bad handwriting. I had to do all of these stupid handwriting exercises whenever I had free time (which was a lot, because even though I was in a combo 1st/2nd class and I did all the 2nd grade work, I was still done way before other kids). Ever since then I've been convinced that I had bad handwriting. But I don't, really, it's just still in my head.

The point of this anecdote is that I'm trying to let things go. I'm trying to release my baggage into the wild. And it's really fucking hard.

Just finished my Geographical Information Systems final. In it my professor had us work through a hypothetical situation under our fictional boss, "Mr. Big." We were asked what problems we might run into during the course of the project and me, being me, said "Mr. Big leaves you for Carrie Bradshaw. Again." I really hope that he is familiar with Sex and the City, or else he will be very confused.

My other favorite answer includes the sentence "It's entirely possible that your computer will explode at this stage in the project."

My brain is slowly turning to mush.

Set in present-day New York City. The shows were big. The thrills were bigger.

"This movie is so awesome. You could feel the hairs on the back of your neck stand up and fall back down again because they fainted because it was so intense. Seriously. Pay attention to your neck hairs." - Roger Ebert*

"Five Stars!" - Peter Travers **

*of the Lodi High School student-run newspaper.

*of the Folsom Lake College cafeteria

Soundtrack

Lady Gaga - Lovegame

Ain't No Mountain High Enough - Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell

The Sound of Silence - Simon and Garfunkel

B.Y.O.B. - System of a Down

Carry Out (featuring Justin Timberlake) - Timbaland

O Sole Mio - The Three Tenors

The World Has Turned and Left Me Here - Weezer

Velocity Girl - Snow Patrol

On Your Bike - Heinz Kiessling

Eminence Front - The Who

Don't Rain on My Parade - Barbra Streisand

The Engine Driver - The Decemberists

I figure since Oprah always does her favorite things episode at this time of year (it was a few weeks ago, I think) I should talk about some of my favorite things because I'm obviously as important as Oprah Winfrey.

1. Hats.

I've entered a hat phase. I'm not really sure what this means for my well-being but they keep my head warm. For years I thought I wasn't a hat person. I thought my head was funny shaped, or too big or that my face couldn't handle a hat being so close to it, but I was wrong. I just needed to find the right hat style so now I have four hats. Two knit beret things, one normal knit beanie-type hat and one that I bought to go skiing in earlier this year with earflaps that has found it's way onto my head in the privacy of my room more times that I'd like to admit.

2. Cranberry Sierra Mist

This is truly the cold, fizzy, non-alcoholic soda beverage of winter. Yes, I did have to qualify that an awful lot because it doesn't beat my other favorite cold, fizzy, non-alcoholic (but non-soda) beverage, Martinelli's Apple Cider. But Cranberry Sierra Mist is delicious. I bought a 12-pack of it a week ago and it's already gone. I'm thinking I should probably buy the sugar-free kind since obviously I can't control myself when I'm around it. It's like the drink equivalent of John Krasinski (though I've never met him and have no way of knowing how I would act if we were to ever meet, but I don't doubt that he'd fall madly in love with me, clearly).

3. The Social Network

Those few of you who have been privy to my obsession with this movie know that I think it's the best movie to come out in the last 15 years. I'm anxiously awaiting to see if it ever makes it to second-run theatres because it if does I will go every single day when I'm home over break. Yes, I have an "illegally" obtained copy of it (JUST KIDDING, FBI) but it's terrible quality and I really want to see it on the big screen again. I think that will tide me over until it comes out in all of it's Blu-ray glory and I can sit entranced for hours at a time, staring in wonder at the magic that David Fincher and Aaron Sorkin have bestowed upon us.

4. Tumblr

Now, I know that a lot of people think Tumblr is where all of the hipster kids hang out, and well, yeah, it's kind of true. I've had a Tumblr account (allysoninthemist.tumblr.com, only go there if you want to see all of the pop culture, pretty boys, and music I obsess over) for like a month now and it's pretty much ruined my life. I wasn't horribly obsessed with The Social Network before I found this place but it just wrapped me up in it's sweet arms and said "It's alright, Allyson, embrace your obsessive personality, we accept you here. We're all like you, way too apt to think that everyone is gay and Mark and Eduardo were secret lovers, and just slash, slash everywhere because everything is gay and nothing hurts. Shhh it's okay, come to mama, let me hold you here my soft bosom where you belong. It's okay to cry a little. Here's some links to some awesome fanfic, we know how into Harry Potter fanfic you were when you were twelve, and we know how ridiculously happy fic makes you even if it makes no sense at all and it just puts a silly smile on your face because we're just like you. We ship anything and everything even if it makes no sense, even if there's really no hint of any underlying sexual tension at all because we just like thinking about all the possibilties. And we understand why you love British television so much because isn't it the greatest? We're watching all of the sames shows as you, all of the weird ones that you're real friends don't watch because they have much better things to do with their lives than obsess over a British TV show that no one in the states has even heard of. Also, look at these pictures of pretty boys, look how pretty they are, they are so pretty how are they even real? And look at these freaking Jewnicorns right here. Look at how flawless these boys are, is this real life? It is real life. It's Tumblr life and we know you love it. And we love Sufjan Stevens, too, and we love our new hats and our cardigans, you're not a terrible person because you haven't written that paper yet, you have plenty of time, just hang out here a little longer, it's so fun here, can't you see how much you belong here?" As of this writing Tumblr has been down for about 24 hours. This may be a contributing factor to my writing this.

5. Freaks and Geeks

I had been meaning to watch this show for forever because it has such a quality cast and crew and I finally started watching it on Saturday. You better believe that I zoomed through 17 of the 18 episodes in less than 24 hours it is that good. I haven't watched the finale yet, I can't really bring myself to watch it yet. I'll be too sad. But it pretty much cemented my endless love for Jason Segel and James Franco and Martin Starr. Everyone needs to watch this show. Another amazing show cancelled too early. Now I'm watching Party Down (yes, I do have school work to do and an entire book to read and a paper to write and a final study guide to work on, what do you mean?) which was on Starz for two seasons and is also ridiculously funny.

That's pretty good for now, yeah?

Who knew that just one week of events could lead to so many potentially life changing decisions?

• How much a part of my life do I want debate to have?
• Should I take the necessary steps to insure that FLC will not have a program next year?
• How do I keep these people in my life?

I thought I had my life somewhat figured out. I thought I knew what I wanted to do in terms of college and in getting my degree. But now I need to decide if I'm going to abandon this thing I've grown to love so much and go for the original plan or change everything and take the opportunity I'm being presented with. I've been told repeatedly that I have potential, I mean I've already competed to the tip-top of the novice division, I can be really good at this if I want to be. And to think that getting into this activity was on nothing but a whim, a curiosity, and I very nearly did not return for the second semester. Now what?