Trying to figure out where I'm going to live when I attend IADT in the fall is a lot more complicated than I ever would have thought. The collegiate housing application that the academy sent me to fill out and return is for some place up in Indiana. I'm going to school in Florida, not Indiana. (The collegiate housing people also sent me a letter congratulating me on acceptance into American Intercontinental University..?? I'm going to IADT, not AIU.)

I also cannot for the life of me figure out what the apartment options are..there seems to be a list to pick from and yet..there doesn't. If that makes any sense. There's a page that tells of Newport Apartments, supposedly nearby the school although a google search reveals no such apartment complex in the Tampa area, and there's also a map of some surrounding area of the academy in which a few apartment complexes are pointed out. Does that mean all of those are options, or just the Newport Apartments (wherever they may actually be..cause they have to be near the school somewhere if they're claiming they've got current students living there as I write this, which they do..) ?

I'm going to go see if my mom can help with any of this at all. Otherwise I'll have to wait until tomorrow and ask my dad when he gets off work.

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I didn't realize that it would be so difficult to apply for housing at IADT for next semester. It's hard! The forms are a bit confusing, and I need some sort of a guarantor to sign the lease. I have no idea what a guarantor is or how I'd find one to help sign the lease. (Assuming I figure all of this out and actually become able to live in Tampa so I can attend IADT in October.) I'm so glad I've got a few months to work with, but I definitely want it done and taken care of ASAP. I don't like fearing being homeless. My dad's at work today, but if he's not working overtime tomorrow I'm hoping he may be of some help in all these matters. My daddy's smart like that! It comes in handy, you know.

I need to call IADT in the morning on Monday, too. The financial aid stuff I'm supposed to be returning didn't get here until like the 18th or 19th of last week, yet the deadline for returning it was the 17th. (Yes, I should have opened the packets when I first received them, but I didn't have the availability to until this afternoon. Long story.) Ugh. Financial stuff is just as confusing, if not more so than the housing application. Again, my dad is going to be sought after for help in that area. You know...it'd really be helpful if I knew of anybody else who could possibly help with this sort of thing. Then I could just call that person and get it done, without having to wait for my dad to be off work and finished (or semi-finished) with his varying chores around the house and whatnot.

Speaking of the housing application...anyone want to suggest whether or not I should request a roommate of a differing major? Or should I stick with one in the same? I can see the advantages and disadvantages to both options, but I really don't know. I could go either way and I thought maybe some of you could suggest which way to go?

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Wow. There are so many things to inform all my readers--each very exciting. I'll start with my diet--it's going amazingly well, thanks to www.mydailyplate.com. It's definitely making my calorie-counting a lot easier, and although they're a little tight, my jeans finally fit! (Size 5!!!) There is still more progress to made, of course, and I definitely need to workout at the gym to get toned. I'm definitely going to be on the girls basketball team next semester as well. We met the coach on Friday, at the first, unofficial, practice. It was a lot of fun, and definitely a good workout. I had so much fun! On Saturday, Eric took me out for a driving lesson after breakfast which was fun. Nobody died, but he did say I need to work on parking, and turning, although it wasn't terrible. Just needs work. After our driving lesson, I hung out in Epiphanes (our on-campus coffeeshop) and talked to different people as they came and went for about an hour. Then Charlie, Eric, Esther and I went down to the sponge docks and walked around for a few hours before dinner. There was also a park nearby, where we chilled for a bit afterward. Then Eric and I drove Redd to the Christian bookstore so that he could get a new bible since his got lost in Brazil, before returning to Trinity. Then Esther, Charlie and myself drove over to Pizza Hut, picked up Crash and drove back to her apartment where we hung out and watched the first half of Ratoutille. We were cutting it close with curfew though, so we didn't get to finish the entire movie. . I really want to see the end of it, so hopefully we'll get a chance to watch the rest of it soon. Dave drove me to church this morning, and I'm really sorry I don't hang out with him more often. He's a cool guy. He's also offered to let me practice driving to church on Sunday's! Esther, Charlie and I went to Subway once I got back from church, and watched Amazing Grace down in the lounge when we returned from Subway. And now, I'm sitting in my room, writing this here blog...and I'm bored. I don't know what else to do; may go to my car and call my parents about what we're doing for easter. (Going to the car because it's much quieter than it is here in the dorms. Stupid people with their car stereos blasting in the back of the building! . How am I supposed to get any studying done?!?)

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Wow. I haven't been on here in awhile. Partly due to a hectic schedule at school, and partly due to being unable to login for some unknown reason. Anyway, I decided to try and login again today, and guess what? It worked! My school is on Spring Break this week, so I'm mostly just chillin' back home in Kissimmee. I really need to start working on some of my homework assignments that are due next week, but I really haven't the motivation at all.
On Friday afternoon, after all our classes had let out, Charlie, Esther and myself headed to a dinner theatre at the Wycliffe Headquarters in Orlando where we saw an awesome production of "Sunong." After that, Charlie dropped me off at home where I found a large green bag of gifts that my mom had left for me. It was awesome! She got me some cross-stitch supplies, thin mints (Girl Scout cookies, if you're unaware), a bunch of mini tissue packets, a magazine, and twobooks I really wanted: Awakening of a Jehovah's Witness by Diane Wilson and Out of the Cocoon by Brenda Lee.
I couldn't wait to dig into my new books, and have already gotten halfway through Wilson's book. The more and more I read in it, the more and more I start to think about how similar Diane Wilson's life mirrors that of another woman I care about, who is still involved with the cult. There are so many similarities, and while I'm very concerned for this woman, this book is allowing me to stay hopeful that she will one day see that this organization is not "in the Truth," and rather a false prophet of which the bible warns about.
It's incredibily profound to know that my interest in this religious cult was piqued by my relationship with a self-proclaimed witness, whom I almost married. It's also an incredible blessing to look back upon my experiences with the two mentioned above, among a few others, and see that I not once found myself willing to explore more into this organization by joining in it myself. It's also such a blessing to still have a relationship with my ex-fiance where I may one day have an opportunity to witness and share with them just what divides Jehovah's Witnesses from being true Christians, although they put up a very good disguise as being such.
Anyway, if anyone is interested in learning more about this cult, or just want to get to know more about me, I'm always available on AIM (charmeddiva16@aim.com).

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I've been thinking about this school thing, and I am really not a school person. I love the classes that I'm in, and I love my classmates and friends and professors and all, but I still really feel this incredible need to get out of there as quick as possible. So I've considered the option of getting my A.A. and then going to Tennessee and working with "A Christian Ministry in the National Parks." [Great Smoky Mountains!] Trinity College doesn't have any art majors anyway, and I'm not interested in transfering to a bible college that doesn't right now. So I think that's what I've pretty much decided at this point, but that could change by the time this next semester ends.

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These past couple of days have been interesting. Went home on Wednesday evening, after stopping at Chili's for some dinner, although I'd already eaten what the school served for dinner that night (individual pizzas and curly fries). I just got some fried cheese sticks, which are awesome! I love those things. I got home around 8-9 pm, and I wasn't even home five minutes before getting annoyed at Joseph. Sometimes I feel it is his goal and mission in life to annoy his older sisters...grr! His fall break from school isn't until next week, so I didn't see much of him after that, and I'm kind of thankful for that. I love my stupid brother, but he's more annoying than friendly. At least towards me.

I didn't really do much on Thursday and Friday, although I did get to play Sims 2 and download ALL of my music onto my MP3 player. 783 tracks...yes, I am a music addict. I'll admit it--I absolutely love music. I also got to go out to eat on Friday and Saturday to a couple of my favorite restaurants, Fazoli's and Olive Garden. I still say Fazoli's has better Italian cuisine than Olive Garden, and it's cheaper! Oh, and funny story about something that happened at Fazoli's--some guy tried to take my food. Off the tray. Seriously! The guy was confused and thought that my baked ziti was actually part of his order and took it off the tray and started to walk back to his table. HELLO. The guy realized his mistake not two steps back from the counter, and returned the dish, but still. I just stood there stunned as he tried to steal my food. I was offered a new plate, but he didn't actually do anything to the food (I had my eyes on him the entire time).

I saw the last half of Final Destination 2 on Saturday. It looks like an interesting movie, although I haven't gotten through more than the first half hour of Final Destination nor seen the first half of FD 2. I would like to see both of those movies in completion though. (Oh, and Kenan & Kel came on Friday night. I was so happy to get to see that again!) I figure I'll have an opportunity to rent both of those sometime in the near future, so I'm not too upset about having missed the ending of one, and the beginning of the other.

I decided to visit two different churches on Sunday. First United Methodist Church (FUMC) was the first one I attended. I used to work at that church as a babysitter in the nursery in high school, although I never actually attended the services on Sunday morning. It was a good service; they're actually one of the few churches back home that use hymnals. It reminded me a lot of Charlie's church, just a little bigger. I was mostly interested in possibly getting to see the kids I used to babysit, which I didn't realy get to do. I saw two, and third who looked a lot like Maddie, but I can't be certain that it was her. I also got to talk to Dwight for a few minutes, which was awesome.

The service at Cornerstone has changed so much since I last attended a service there. It's a good change though, I kind of like the new format that they are using now to spread the message. Speaking of which, Sunday mornings service was about sex..and the emotional/mental aftermath of having pre-marital sex. It was interesting to say the least. There's more I want to say on this particular topic, but I'll save it for the two people I trust most in this world.

I also saw the Ten Commandment with Esther and Charlie on Sunday night. It was pretty good, although it did leave a few things out. I enjoyed it all the same though. I've also come to realize that I'm starting to trust my new friends here at Trinity a lot quicker than I used to trust people I just met at school or work. I think that's good for me, though.

Come Monday morning, I find that my roommate, Jesse, is engaged to her boyfriend, WIll. And the wedding is set for someime in December. I have very mixed emotions about this, and again need to talk to the two I trust most in this world, Ed and Esther. I'm happy for Jesse, I really am, but I just got out of an engagement and am still trying to get over it. It also seems a bit rushed to be getting married in December when they just got back together. (They were broken up about two weeks ago...)

This is certainly a lot more than I bargained for when I decided to go to college...

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