It's the final countdown.

[Insert epic music to go with that title]

So you know how I left off on my last entry (over two months ago) saying that I was going to spend the summer having a social life? Well I'm not sure about that, but a good few other things did happen this summer. It's been pretty intense, to the point where the start of school is looking like a relief.

On the less exciting side of the scale, I worked as a tour guide/receptionist/whatever the hell else needed to be done at The Myrtles Plantation. The Myrtles has been deemed "America's most haunted home", and though I didn't directly encounter any ghosts I did come across some pretty scary characters (ranging from psychics to rednecks). In my first week alone I was proposed to by a guy on my tour, force-fed grits, and asked multiple times questions like "Are you guaranteed to see ghosts?" "Do the ghosts touch people?" and "Are YOU a ghost?" All in all an interesting first-job experience, to say the least.

Early in the summer I also had a brief job playing some chick named Eliza Pirrie for an LPB special. I won't go in to detail about this, but I will let you know when to tune in to watch me pretend to play the piano and wear the stupidest hat you will ever have the amusement/horror to witness.

Now that you've been updated on my summer involvement in the working-world (you poor soul), I'll give you a brief run-down of the important things that as my blog reader you need to know, but I really don't want to talk about. Firstly, I'm now dating someone. Secondly, this someone's name is Jacob and he will also be coming to LSMSA because, thirdly, he was previously dating Anneke (the roomate and bestie, remember?). This has lead us to, fourthly, the fact that Anneke and I will not be rooming together next year. We've decided it's for the best, and we're still besties, so don't get your knickers in a bunch. But for the sake of my sanity (and probably yours), I digress.

Move in is in less that a week (this Saturday - gasp!) , and though I'm stocked up on all of the silly crap one must have in a dorm room (ranging from Beatles posters to pirate-themed dishes), I'm a wee bit apprehensive. But a bit excited as well, so I'm just going to suck it up and take the leap of faith (with or without the leaping or the faith, but you get the idea). If you don't hear from me, tell my mother to return the Frigidaire.

Thoroughly oriented.

I just got in from the four-day, three-night-long New Student Orientation at LSMSA (which Anneke and I have taken to pronouncing "lismisah" for short). As one may assume, there is a good bit of information that can be drilled into students' brain in four days. However, there are only so many things students need to know about a school, residential or otherwise. Here are the main points they stressed (and re-stressed) during the four-day event:

1. You are going to fail.
Not only are you going to fail, but you are going to get no sleep what-so-ever and gain a freshman fifty-something from all of the cafeteria food (which is surprisingly decent) and ramen you will eat in an attempt to dull the pain of your mind-screwing, college-level classes and several metric tons of homework. But uh, you'll learn a lot.

2. Don't drive your roommate completely insane.
Blaring music in the middle of the night is not always accepted. Not everyone is comfortable with naked. Stealing their stuff and eating their food is not nice, nor is pointedly waking them up when they do not have a class. You probably shouldn't room with your best friend (Anneke and I discussed this: we came to the conclusion that we are at the point in our friendship where we can tolerate each other, however bat-shit insane we may be).

3. Don't smoke pot.

Those are some of the main points covered. But I did attend some pretty amusing and/or intellectually stimulating seminars. I started with one on Kurt Vonnegut taught by Dr. Allen from Duke, Vonnegut's BFF who is also in possession of what is probably the last piece of mail Vonnegut ever sent (postcard addressed to him). My English high was killed, however, with Ms. Mangum's "I Wish the Word 'Math' Weren't in the Name of the School" lecture. Yes, the grammatical error in the title is ironic and yes, Ms. Mangum both amuses and intimidates me to no end. I also went to a seminar on dorm decoration, which mainly consisted of a Student Life Advisor (SLA) telling us what we could and could not stick on our walls and reading Zombie Haiku (which is quite possibly the most simultaneously hilarious and disturbing book ever written, followed by Freud's Interpretation of Dreams. Anneke is spearheading a Zombie Militia Club for next year).

I also met with my academic advisor (who is conveniently the head of the Theatre Department) and signed up for my courses, which include Web Design, Acting I (again, unfortunately), and Stage Production for the fall. In spring I'm taking Creative Writing: Poetry and Literary Non-fiction, Kurt Vonnegut, Body Movement, and hopefully Repertory Theatre (if I make auditions). Some of these that I had to audition for may mean that I'll even be eligible for some badass Arts Focus stuff if I play my cards right. That and my new LSMSA "I heart English" shirt almost is enough to make me forget about all of the math. But for now I'm going to suck it up, practice my functions, and get some social-life in before fall.

A blog by any other name.

The captain has turned on the fasten seatbelt light. (Get it, like a plane analogy?)

In all seriousness, welcome to my shiny new blog. I'm hesitant to call it a "blog" for the simple reason that writing blogs requires a quick-wit and funny anecdotes about small children and waiting in lines at the grocery store, but because I'm using Blogspot as a host it appears I've been labeled. "But Alex, why are you writing a blog if you don't intend to supply us with anecdotes about shopping excursions?", you may ask. Well, here's why I'm here:

Next year I'm leaving Catholic School and transfering to The Louisiana School for Math, Science, and the Arts. Today is my last day among the upper-middle-class white girls (with all of the church services and estrogen that comes along with them), and now I'm pulling up my roots and going to the dark side: public liberal arts boarding school. So, this blog is my account of what happens (the good, bad, and the weird). This is sounding like the set-up for a bad reality show.

Next week I finish final exams. The next day I'll be grabbing Anneke (bestie and fellow new LSMSA student extraordinaire) and heading to Natchitoches, Louisiana for four days of orientation among our future classmates. It's going to be a bumpy ride.