I never said I was an artist

Drew bought one of those Halloween cookie decorating kits when we were grocery shopping for the week. This is as artistic as I get.

Time to Travel

I'm at the airport right now, which means that my updating is going to be scarce for a few days.  I wasn't able to fit all the work I needed to complete into the time before I left, so I'm going to have to work through my vacation.  My flight is delayed 20 minutes, the sky looks like it's going to open up right now. Drew and I went to First Watch this morning for breakfast and I had an omelette, which is uncharacteristically Katie. Eating breakfast is uncharacteristically Katie also, but I did it anyway. My love of top 20 hits is starting to teeter onto my iPod playlist selections.  It's a sign that I'm hanging out with the hipster kids too much,  I think.  My top played is going from Gaslight Anthem to Pitbull.
I rented Horrible Bosses and bought the season premiere of Psych for the flight.
I'm missing homecoming this weekend. Apparently there's an actual carnival that takes place, so I'm super bummed now. Oh well, I'll be hanging out with the cool kids and it's Amr's birthday this weekend! Which means, paintball....
Well, for him anyway, I just do the party part.

Meeting Markus Zusak

The author of The Book Thief and I Am the Messenger! He was amazing.

Off to Bradenton for the weekend

I have to take the FTCE this weekend, which I'm a little nervous about. Hopefully it will be ok, I get my results back pretty quickly.  I'm taking it in Sarasota which means I'll be out of the apartment all weekend. I think my roommates are excited about the prospect of quiet for a few days. I come home on Sunday and then I fly out again on Wednesday, I should probably put together the times I'm flying, this would be helpful for the future. I have a ton of ESOL work to get in, and I wanted to get my genre project and the presentation due on the 24th for Psych in the final stages before I fly out. I want to try to not have anything hanging over my head for the 5 days I'm out of town.
Markus Zusak was amazing last night. He talked about the importance of chapter headings, which I was really appreciative of because I sometimes feel like my outlines are too rough. He was incredibly sweet, he signed my book and took a picture, which I'll post up when I get a chance.  Courtney and T had a really good time, and we learned that it's really hard to eat fast food in the dining room after 10 at night. We really wanted to go to Emily's restaurant but it took forever to get through the Zusak line because everyone was regaling him with tales. He was such a kind-hearted guy he didn't want to cut anyone off. If the event was run by a larger company the signing would've gone completely different. I told him I didn't think I would ever get to meet him because he's usually pretty stationary in Australia and he told me he was glad that he got to meet me. Everyone in the line awww'ed over that.

This is what I look like all the time

The other night I went bowling with some classmates for Alyssa's birthday. I don't think I've gone bowling since I was about 13. I bowl terribly, I don't think I hit double digits for at least 6 frames, and the amount of times I actually hit a pin versus the amount of times I threw the ball is highly disproportionate. I think it turned out to be a fine lesson for me. I learned that I really can't be good at everything! We laughed and drank and talked about the past, the present and the future.. the foundation of an amazing night. I had fun though, some of my classmates are pretty awesome, and it was nice to see what else is around Tampa because honestly, I get lost all the time.  Plans are in the works for another night out with even more people, which should be an awesome time. One can only hope it won't be bowling again though, I'm not sure I can handle that much embarrassment again!

Katie, it's a strange world..

My mind can't seem to settle down for the 5 minutes necessary to make a blog entry lately. Here are some updates on my life that you may find interesting:

I'm in love with my school. Even when I'm stressed out and running around like a mad-woman I still stop and take a moment to think about how incredibly I am to be at this point in my life. My classes, my classmates, the teachers.. everyone has been absolutely amazing. It's that feeling of knowing I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be that seems to flow out of me with every word that comes out of my mouth. I get nervous, I get homesick, my patience gets tried.

I wouldn't trade it for anything.

I would live in the library if I could, just shack up somewhere on the 4th floor in between call numbers among the bookshelves that seem to go on forever. People would talk about the girl who lives in the library, and they would send letters asking questions like, "Don't you ever get tired of the smell of all the books?" To which I would respond, there is no better breath to take for a bibliophile. My address would read as follows:

Kathryn Mary
C/O USF Library
Corner of PQ and PS
Tampa Fl, 33620

If I lived in the library I would definitely go by Kathryn Mary, it seems more official and librarian-like.

I would sleep alongside Neil Gaiman and Maya Angelou; happily handing books out to those who pass by with the same enthusiasm that I have for late nights and Star Wars. Sometimes I'm struck with the realization that my perfect life is very, very different from the norm.

I'm full of good ideas

I've said it before and I'll say it again, I cannot believe the amount of passive-aggressive anger that I see on Facebook every day. It honestly throws me for a loop sometimes. If you didn't know some of my friends and looked at their Facebook profile you would think that they were self-deprecating people who sat inside all day looking out the window, waiting for someone to walk on their lawn so they could promptly go out and yell at them accordingly. I don't laugh out loud a lot, but I love the people who claim to be the epicenter of karmic goodness but also post things like "I wish she would die" or "EVERYONE'S JEALOUS!!! I LOVE THE HATERS!! YOU DO NOTHING BUT FUEL MY FUEL TANK FOR SUCCESS!!" I may or may not be exaggerating here.
Often times, someone will make some stupid, off the cuff comment to me or go down the well-trodden passive aggressive route and generalize it down so that they can make a post that 300 of their closest friends will read and think that they are entirely too clever. Often times I think they are entirely too ridiculous and that's the reason why I leave my own well-trodden trail of dead end conversations. I think that's been one of the biggest indicators of personal growth for myself, not having to prove myself to others or compare my own achievements to someone else. I'm not entirely exempt from this, if you're one of the handful of people whose opinion I actually value then I might stack myself up against you.
When I meet new people and we do the Facebook thing, I am the first person to say that I post a lot, I understand people don't want their wall clogged with status updates about things that I find amusing. I tell people that my family is on Facebook so I make a lot of postings about my general state of mind so they are able to check in on me without having to feel tied down to a phone call. Side note: I cannot believe how many people forget they have family on Facebook and I am amazed about how often people post things that they then have to take down because they forgot it could be potentially harmful on one's perspective of a person. Don't worry, it's just you and 300 of your closest friends!