Money Money Money

I really do try not to complain on my blog that often and I definitely try not to rant either, but this situation calls for a little of both. For those of you who do not know, Appalachian has a textbook rental program which allows students to rent the books and return them at the end of the semester. This is a great idea and it is supposed to help cut down on the money students have to spend buying textbooks. Sadly, the system doesn't work as well as it should. What most students don't realize is that you DO pay for the books, there's a fee in your tuition and fees each semester around $300 that you're charged and you don't even get to keep the books. On top of that, you can't sell the books back at the end of the semester for some extra spending money. This also means that you usually have to wait an hour to get your books at the beginning of the semester and deal with grouchy volunteers who yell every 5 seconds for you to "Have your Appcard out!".

None of these things bother me, what bothers me is that even with that system, students are still forced to buy books for classes and these books are usually expensive. As an Apparel and Textiles major, I have had to buy around 5 books for my major classes alone. These books range from around $65 to $110 a piece. As if that's not bad enough, there's repetition I now own two fashion illustration books that have the same exact information. I realize that a lot of college students are wealthy or at least their parents are, but I am an exception to that idea. My parents are not wealthy and seeing as I have no car or time for a job, I am broke. Still when my professor said we had to purchase our Fashion Illustration book, I scoured Ebay and found it for around $80 and received my order before they even had the textbook at the bookstore. So imagine my horror when today I find out that she told us to buy the wrong book, the book I bought is now a rental and there's a $91 book that we have to buy. Also there's still a $64 book that we have to buy as well. I'm sorry but this makes me furious and more than that I just want to tell these professors "I'm not rich, I'm flat broke. I don't even have cable or internet because I can't afford it, so the last thing I want to do is pay $150 on textbooks for your class, especially after spending $80 to buy a book I didn't even need to BUY!" I don't understand how we are expected to keep shelling out money on top of our tuition for things like textbooks when there's this rental program that is supposed to alleviate the high textbook costs.

Don't even get me started on the fact that we have to pay tuition while we do our internship. That means not only will I be doing 400 hours of work for free at an internship, my parents will literally have to pay for me to work, hence I will be paying to work.

College, you are ridiculous.

Good Movie, Great Song

I was doing my usual late night Netflix routine and I decided to watch a French film "Heartbreaker" or "L'Arnacoeur" in Francais. It's a movie about a guy who, along with his sister and brother-in-law, breaks up bad relationships by seducing the woman (only kissing, nothing else) and then helps her to see that she deserves better. The basic storyline is that he falls in love with one of his "targets", Vanessa Paradis' character whose fiancee isn't a bad guy. I really didn't know much about her other than her relationship with Johnny Depp, after watching this movie I'm a fan. I not only loved her character, but I also love what a unique beauty she has with her gap-toothed grin a la Lauren Hutton. The movie is cute and part of it is set in Monaco which is absolutely beautiful and has soared to the top of my "Places I Want to Visit" List, but I have to admit, there was a song in the movie that stood out to me more than the actual film. The song is "Doing the Wrong Things" by Rebecca Young and it's just a simple beautiful song that I've been listening to over and over again since hearing it.

Google thinks I'm a loser

When I started a blog I didn't realize how difficult it would be to get views and followers. After writing around 58 posts and having this blog for a few months, I've truly realized this. Still, my blog is more of a way for me to get my thoughts, ideas, and work out there and keep in touch with family and friends than it is a money maker. So when Google sent me a card with $100 worth of free advertising in order to "Grow my site" aka get more web traffic, I was slightly offended. That was until I saw that the card was printed on recycled paper which contained wildflower seeds with the instructions to put the paper under a light layer or soil, place it in a sunny spot, and water as needed. Thank you Google, I appreciate the gift and though I won't be using the free advertising via AdWords, I will be planting your card and working on my green thumb.

On another note, pretty cute idea Google...real cute.

The Next Chapter?

Over winter break, I was in a wreck and sadly my beloved first car Ruby was totaled. It was a red 2000 Ford Focus and sadly there was too much damage done to the frame of the car and to the underneath of it. It took a while for it to really hit me, but it did about two hours after my mother told me that they had totaled it and I started crying over the loss of Ruby. Luckily in Boone, I don't necessarily have to have a car, I can easily walk to class and many other places and I have a great boyfriend who drives me where I need to go. I'm really glad about this because I really want to take my time finding a car since it will be the car that I'll be driving for probably the next 5-10 years. In an ideal world, I'd love to get a KIA Soul, but I'm not sure that it would be financially possible for me. Even with the down payment that will most likely be provided by the insurance company, I'd have a monthly payment of around $230 for a while. Still a girl can dream, I love the "Denim" aka blue KIA Soul l mostly I love the size because I'm a pack rat and I love shopping for furniture at thrift stores and usually had to have them hold items for me because I couldn't take them home in my car. I'm going to take my time and hopefully find a great car for me, but Ruby will always have a special place in my heart-she was an awesome first car and I know she had quite a few years left in her.

Friendships that Last

I'm not too proud to say that I have lost quite a few friends in my life, it's never the product of a huge betrayal or anything, it just gets pretty hard to maintain friendships. Sometimes physical distance is the culprit, sometimes it's just a matter of growing apart. There are some friendships that survive almost anything, I have two friendships like that. The first is my best friend and cousin Millie, I've known her literally since she was born and one could say that our friendship lasts purely because we're related, but I know better. Mostly because, even when we haven't seen each other for months and months at a time, when we get together we still have tons of things to talk about and we still have common interests. More than all that, I know that we will always be friends because we grew up together and we know each other better than most friends ever do. The second friendship I have like that is my friend, Michelle. There's very few people that I could have as much fun with as her. I'd venture to say that's it is a rarity for two people to spend an hour at CVS laughing at the cards and making up even more hilarious scenarios that the cards would work for. I know that we'll be friends because once again we have lots of things in common and we always have things to talk about. Even more than that, I think we'll always be friends because we've been through a lot. We've went months without talking because of a petty fight and I think we both realized that we don't want that to happen again and that the friendship means so much more to us than the petty stuff ever will. So I think what truly makes a lasting friendship is understanding the other person and wanting the best for your friend. So Shout out to two of my favorite people, Michelle and Millie. I wish you both the best in life, love, and everything in between.

Me and Andre

Yesterday I met a wonderful new friend, his name is Andre. He has a bubbly personality and his humor is extra dry. Best of all Andre could be yours for the low low price of $5.49 at Harris Teeters everywhere. New Year's Eve was the first time I'd had champagne in years and I realized that I really love the taste of it, plus drinking it makes you feel pretty damn classy. Sadly, champagne isn't the cheapest drink out there, so you could imagine my excitement when I found a delicious drink for a little over $5. Bottom line is champagne isn't just for New Years Eve and Weddings, it's an every other weekend cocktail in my opinion. Well gotta go hang with my new pal, Andre! (just kidding)

No Mo' Creativity

So I'm having a little trouble with two of the big projects that I have for my Apparel Design and Production class. The first assignment is due tomorrow and I'm stumped. We have to make or style an outfit that represents kitsch. I had a pretty decent idea but due to time and other constraints, I don't think I could execute it as well as I'd like to. Therefore, I'm thinking of going the sentimentality route of kitsch and wearing a few somewhat tacky things that I own but never wear. Things that I keep just because they mean a lot to me. Its due tomorrow so hopefully I can figure something out tonight, David's driving me to Goodwill after class so maybe I'll find something perfect there. If not I have a few ideas from things I've seen at the Dollar Tree too.

The other project is a collection of at least 5-7 pieces based on an auditory inspiration. It can be a song, an album, or just a sound, like raindrops. For this one the problem is that I have too many ideas and I'm not sure which one to try. I'll keep you updated and include pics of the one that I end up doing.


***Update, for the kitsch project I ended up dressing as Little Edie from Grey Gardens. I think her style was pretty kitschy.