Back Again for the 2nd Time

Hey,

I know I have not posted in a while, but a lot (and believe me when I say a lot) has been going on in my life. So many misadventures to tell you about, I hardly know where to begin.

I hate to say it, but the past two weeks have been strange. I find myself constantly on the move, busy with things, and between schoolwork, catching up on sleep and trying to get my head back into the academic game, I'm dragging. Not really sure why, but Im just not getting the sleep I want, I don't have the energy or passion I need to function, and Im just..drained and bored.

I just found out today that my May graduation has been pushed to December. Why? Because of a god***n technicality. Nothing else. So I have two options, be pissed about it OR take advantage of my situation. I'm going to do the latter. I've decided to stay on at my school for the Fall Semester, and take some additional classes that can help me if I choose to go into a Masters/JD Program. I also am still taking my trip, and getting my bike. Nothing stops. I have learned to not stress myself with things out of my control, and unfortunately, my advisor not being the least bit accommodating, is one of them.

I have an internship in the PR Department of a local hospital. I enjoy it, but I'm always so damn tired...and it seems as if my presence is the bane of the Department Coordinator's existence. I try to do my job as best as I can, but some people just ain't morning people. I seem to be one of them. Not a morning person, but one of the night people, I mean.

Im getting an iPhone tomorrow as a late Christmas gift to myself, so I'll be able to blog more as I go about my day. I promise not to have such a lag in it.

Sad day about Blago being impeached, kicked out of office and banned from holding any Illinois office as long as he lives. I, being someone who loves the law, believes in being innocent until proven guilty. I think that he should have resigned, and while he did not want to do that, there is someone who could have gotten the message through to him that the cards were stacked against him. Honestly, I've liked Blago. Any man who can personally ask me for my vote as I ride in my car and even lean out his Black SUV and down into my droptop convertible to shake my hand at a stop light at 67th and Cottage Grove is my governor, plain and simple.

Thoughts?

*Ashley Robin*

This Time Next Week/The Way Things Happen/Solo Explorations

I'll be school. Starting next week, I will be a senior in college. Last year of undergrad has finally arrived. Part of me is very conflicted, but the other part is relieved to be that much closer to law school. That's the goal, to go to law school. Everything I do now, in terms of my academics, is related to that. It is not a joke studying for this LSAT though, and I've decided to go on and admit that I need outside help. If I can't get into a class in time for the October test, I'll definitely get in one in time for the December test.  This cartoon is definitely on the money, as far as the time needed to study, it feels like 15 years! LOL...but in the meanwhile, I'll be getting everything together..just didn't realize there are so many fees involved! There's registration fees, LSDAS fees, application fees, document copy fees, transcript fees, and the list goes on and on. I just hope that I score high enough on the test to get into the law school of good financial aid programs (scholarship, anyone) and of my choosing. When I have more of a list of the schools I plan to apply to, I will share it, but now I'm just doing a lot of research into it.

So, a while ago, I was kind of discussing my lack of love life. All of a sudden, it seems as if I've got contenders in the ring showing interest to date me. It's weird how just when you start to think that the possibility of a love life is temporarily M.I.A., you find that you were wrong. And from the most unlikely people as well...people you figure either didn't notice you for one reason or another, or just didn't picture yourself with. By no means does that say I'm on the verge of finding my Mr. Robin, not at all, BUT there are guys who are interested in me and have made that interest known and that's what I wanted...just to feel..wanted. :-) Now, I do, so I feel like there's hope for the MisAdventures to actually become real adventures after all. I just hope that it doesn't cause me to have to change the blog or myself too much, because my misadventures are what keep people coming back to read and read. Even though hardly anyone comments, trust, I get plenty of emails in regards to this blog, so I know that someone out there (including you, Reader X) are currently enjoying reading about my goofy exploits and observations in love and life.

I've also happened to discover that there's some sort of a weird stigma about a woman doing things alone. I don't get that, maybe someone out there can make it clear to me. Just yesterday evening, I was telling a guy friend of mine, a friend who I know wants to be more than a friend,  about my desire to go to Great America before the summer is over, and I won't be able to enjoy any of the rides, especially the addition of a new roller coaster designed after the newest Batman movie, The Dark Knight.  For those of you not from the Chicagoland area, Great America is a nearby theme park full of roller coasters, water rides, etc, similar to Great Adventure or Disneyland, but with Bugs Bunny instead of Mickey Mouse. Well, lo and behold, he starts hemming and hawing, like he was assuming and therefore expecting me to just ask him to take me. Personally, I don't know if I can stand certain people that long, including him. He's kind of boring. But, before it even got to that, I cut him off by saying that I planned on going by myself. Do you know what this S.O.B. did? He LAUGHED. As if that was funny. For some reason, I was slightly pissed. Not only did this guy proceed to say that he thought it funny because women need someone to go with to such a "big place" but also that he'd never think I would actually do it, because I'm "too afraid to be alone". I was shocked, because while this guy is a friend, I realized he doesn't know me too well. 

So it begs the question: Are women really too chicken to do things alone? Or are they just afraid of what others will think?

I'm not. I haven't really delved too into my history before writing this blog, because lord know who reads it, but I spent almost 3 years living on my own in Washington D.C. I lived in the dorms of Howard University for a year, and then I moved out and got my own place for two years after. I worked a full-time job, went to school and socialized, all on my own. I had no escort from the train to my job or from the bus to my job or anywhere else I went. If I went to a club, (which I spent about 50% of my time there doing), I was going solo, sometimes to meet folks, sometimes not. When I was too drunk to even see straight, I called cabs. Hell, I even puked in the backseat of one. (I gave that guy a $40 tip on a $10 fare for that one). And when I went to Adams Morgan for late night pizza and beer, and was hit on by guys from American, Georgetown, George Washington and Catholic, I was solo. So, it kind of hurt my heart that this guy thought I was that dependent on company, specifically male company to escort me on my adventures of an outing. 

So, I've decided, as soon as my car is ready, I'm taking myself to Great America for the day. Alone. Even though now, it seems like there are plenty of guys willing to take me. How's that for irony?

*Ashley Robin*

Dreaming in Technicolor/Choices

Hey Everyone,

So they say people don't dream in technicolor, but just in black and white. I say that even if that's true, since all my recollections of dreams are in color and are vivid, I've decided to use that idea to create a philosophy for life. It is to dream in technicolor, to do the impossible and to force yourself to step it up to the next level. 

With that in mind, I have a big decision ahead of me. Massively huge, and one that I cannot come into lightly. The decision is, whether to pursue graduate school overseas for a year, or to go to law school. I say this is a massively huge decision, mainly because I have always wanted to go overseas to study, and study pretty much anything! But, part of me has always wanted to go to law school as well. I'm emotionally conflicted, due to my own desires and it's hard. 

I also have a lot of stressful things going on, trying to prepare for graduate or law school, maintain a high GPA so I can graduate magna cum laude like I have always dreamed, and with Honors Recognition. So, I have to get A's all across the board in the Fall and Spring. In order to do that, I have to cut back on my involvement in some of my other activities, like my chaotic love life. LOL.

Speaking of my love life, I'm content being single for once. I know what I want and need, and I'm prepared to wait and sacrifice other things for it. However, I am convinced I will not find anyone worth making a commitment to until I get to the graduate program, whether it be law school or graduate school, of my choice. 

Love is crazy, and the feeling of being in love is just as vital. Without it, how can someone be as excited about getting cute, doing the hair, waxing your neither regions, etc...knowing that a potential date or crush object will see you, versus just doing it for yourself. I have decided to turn that desire to be in love into a strong self-love relationship with myself. So, in keeping with that, I will take myself out on "dates", doing things that I love. Even when I am in a relationship, I've always done things for me by myself, BUT this is different. 

I first discovered these self-dates when my mother was having a rather large party at my house. I have to get you to understand that my mother is like Martha Stewart on crack. She's big on cooking, entertaining..whereas I'm not. I see my home as my place of escape from people...and inviting the very people I wish to escape from into it is like traveling to the depths of hell. I'm just more private, I guess. Maybe that's only child syndrome, I don't know. However, when she decided to throw this party, I made the decision to pack up my cat and leave the night before and hang out all day and come home the next night after her party was over.

So, I pack my cat up and drive to this pet-friendly hotel in the South Suburbs of Chicago. There, both my cat and I slept and ate food that was totally indulgent...I think he had a kitty version of Chicken Kiev and I ate a full three course meal, garlic risotto with chanterelle mushrooms, a rosemary pesto cream linguini with shrimp and an apple tart with french vanilla ice cream for desert. Yes, I love food. No, I'm not overweight. No, I don't eat like that all the time. That morning, when I was able to move again from stuffing my face, I worked out for about two hours, and then I swam in the hotel pool. Afterwards, I met a very strange man who tried to hit on me. Then, I got the cat and took him to the daycare, (yes, daycare for cats exists) and went to buy a new piece of software for my laptop, and then hit up a sushi and sashimi bar for lunch with two of my homegirls from Georgetown (GO HOYAS!) and then we went to get our nails and hair done. Afterwards, we stopped at a bachelorette party for one of their sister's, where I had stripper penis in my face for about an hour and a half. I wasn't the most comfortable with that though. LOL. Private penis dances are one thing to enjoy, but with a group of women all acting like they never even saw one before....notsomuch.

Yes, this date happened to be extravagant, and I don't recommend each self-date be as elaborate, by no means am I recommending people spend all their cash on themselves..but make it a point to do something for you and you alone. Whether it's going to get a manicure or a massage or going to see a movie or just buying a pair of pants or taking a drive somewhere (if you can afford the gas), just doing something that you love to get time with yourself, it will be great. You will feel better about yourself, you can de-stress, you can get to know yourself and enjoy who you are. 

Since it's summer, I plan on spending a lot of time tanning and being more active outside, clearing my head and focusing on the law school vs. grad school decision. I will be blogging, and writing more love, romance and sex advice. So hit me up with questions. I'll do my best to answer everything.

*Ashley Robin*

Life Is Just My Fairy Tale

Haven't really blogged in a while, mainly because not much interesting has happened. Then today came, and sigh....I realized that I'm stuck in a moment and it seems to be lasting forever. Here's the status of things....in a nutshell, I'm bored and tired. Not bored in the sense that I'd do something silly for kicks, and not tired in the sense that I need sleep...just that my life is going in circles...kinda like that movie Groundhog Day, where you keep repeating yourself over and over and over....until you get so sick of things you look for ways to die and even then, you still wake up the next day unscathed physically.

I've been doing a lot of thinking, about my life, my mistakes, my future, where I see myself, and other than getting this degree and my grad degree, I don't really know what lies ahead. For once in my life, I have no plans...and it scares the crap out of me. I always pictured myself doing this by that age, this by that age, etc, etc....and now I have no idea where I'll live, what I'll be, who I'll be with, (if anyone) and if my future is as bright as some say. I guess I have to learn to just go with the flow of things, but I've always had a plan. me without one is kinda like jumping out a plane without a parachute...it makes NO sense. So, instead of setting up ideals that I see myself in or out of, I've come up with five goals.

1) Getting on good terms with as much of my family as possible. No matter what happens, you should have good ties with my family. I'm mainly thinking of my father, which may not be possible, but if I go to New York to see him, and it doesn't work, at least I'll have tried, which will be more than enough for me. It'll be enough to know I gave 100Àthat I took all the bull in stride and that I can truly be proud of my effort, enough that I don't have to regret any decisions I make in regards to him.

2) Finding some purpose. I've always wanted to spend more time giving back, and having to do community service with the Honors College will force me to do just that. I have the feeling that if I throw myself into something, whether it be kids, animals, the homeless, babies, I'll have a good time with it. I've already planned to let my hair grow long enough to where it can be donated to Locks of Love (14 inches, plus) over and over again until I get tired of it....and to donate blood as often as I can...but it's not enough. I can do more.

3) Making a plan to graduate and sticking to it. This one is the most reachable, since I've got a plan on grad school and time to get it done. I just don't want to be an undergrad at 25...so I guess I better hurry up.

4) Happiness. Finding some degree of it, whether it be a puppy, a boyfriend or just self-love, and never letting it go.

5) Fun...having more of it, more time to be silly, more time to enjoy things. This goes hand in hand with my plan to work hard, get more money in my life, and actually try to take time to enjoy the fruit of my labor.

Ash