Greek Life?

Now that Spring Semester has begun, I have seen a vast majority of the women of the freshman class here at LMU rush for the sororities of their choice. While they were busy with the difficult decisions of what shoes to wear to the "parties" and which sorority to put as their top pick, I was sitting in my room, doing my reading assignments for my Psychology and Biology classes. I was all alone that weekend and it got me thinking; is this what the rest of Spring Semester is going to look like? Am I going to be in my room while my new friends and old friends are having a ball? So I thought to myself "Eh, maybe next year." Then I received an email about Gamma Week here on campus hosted by the sorority Sigma Lambda Gamma, a Latina-based multicultural sorority at LMU. I saw all the events they had planned and was interested in attending, but my work schedule would not let me attend any of the events since I have training all week long for officiating basketball. Now basketball was my sport in high school and I had been waiting all year for the season to finally come, but I wished a little that I could check out this sorority. I'm not the type to consider myself the ideal sorority sister, but I want to be involved on campus in a fun way. Hopefully I'll figure out if SLG is the right way to go before Sunday's interviews. I'm just not quite sure what to do.

http://www.sigmalambdagamma.com/

Pumpkin Cheesecake

Thanksgiving has finally come and I have one thing on my mind, home. I couldn't wait to have more than one day to stay at home and attempt to relax while having to manage homework, grocery shopping, and going to Mass with the family. This Thanksgiving we were minus my famous Auntie Sue, since she decided to spend the holiday with my Auntie Rose and the Oliver's in West Jordan, Utah. This time my sisters and I had to step up and prepare some of the meal. Of course I was planning to cover dessert since I have a little bit of a knack for baking. I made s'mores cookies the night before that I has stumbled upon online on stumbleupon.com, which is my new favorite website! The cookies were half gone by Thursday morning! I did have a back up plan for dessert, since my mom stresses to me all the time that I should always be prepared. I didn't want to make a pumpkin pie, not very original. I didn't really want to make a pie in general. Pies are quite the challenge, especially with a crust made from scratch. Still, I like a challenge, but pie just didn't feel right this year. I had made a cheesecake earlier in the year for the 4th of July that everyone liked. I wasn't too pleased with it, since I strive for perfection when it comes to baking. I thought why not combine the traditional flavors of Thanksgiving with the richness of a cheesecake and make the best of both worlds - pumpkin cheesecake! I had found a recipe from Ms. Paula Deen online and went with it. I had to give priority to all the dishes served with dinner so my cheesecake was put on hold until about 4 PM. By the time is was done baking, we were already sitting down eating dinner! I figured my grandma and Uncle Lou who had come over for dinner would not get a piece of this thing since it would take a good hour to cool on its own then had to be refrigerated for another 4 before it could be eaten. That darn cheesecake is still chilling. I guess I won't get to enjoy the fruits of my labor until tomorrow. Now I know, I must make cheesecakes the day before the big meal so that everyone can eat them the day of the holiday. Better luck next time I hope.

New Backpack

This weekend I bought a new backpack for school. This used to be a yearly ritual, when my parents took me to the local Office Depot for new supplies and would insist on me getting a new backpack every year. In 7th grade I found a red corduroy JanSport (or how my mother says "Jan-i-sport") backpack that I fell in love with. I was amazed at how much i could fit in it despite its small size, compared to my peers' backpacks. I had used it for my whole 7th grade year and decided to use it for 8th grade as well. Pretty soon I was starting my first year at Ramona and I was walking around campus with that same backpack. It was my signature. People knew who I was from seeing my red, faded, torn backpack. After my junior year I started to put pins on it to make it my own. Several girls would compliment my Kennedy Election Pin (which just so happened to be my favorite) and I knew that my pins were a good idea.

I began college and had received a Coach messenger bag as a graduation present from my Nino Mando that I decided was just too fancy to use and mess up. I had then used en eco-friendly reusable bag that I had received from the ACCESS program I participated in this summer.

My first trip home when I had began to look for Old Red. I asked my parents if they had seen it anywhere. All my dad handed back to me was my highly-acclaimed Kennedy pin. I was crushed. Something that had been a part of me for so long was gone.

Now my reusable bag is ripped and I decided it was time to move on and buy a new backpack. After going to several stores this weekend, I could not find a backpack that I had any liking towards. All of these new backpacks were too fancy and high tech. I just needed something simple to carry my books in.

Last night I ordered my new backpack online that I found somewhat appealing. I'm not sure how this relationship will work out, but I'm hoping that I will have some attachment to a backpack again.

My Weekend Home

This weekend I decided to come back to Montebello. I needed a few things and my mom couldn't wait until Thanksgiving. I had attempted to hang out with two of my old friends but neither of them could go out, so I was having a night in. I was watching TV with my sister this afternoon and realized how the things I once paid attention to didn't really matter that much to me anymore. I was once the girl that watched TV on a daily basis, the girl who turned the TV on as soon as she got home from school. Nowadays, I'm the girl that makes time for two shows a week, How I Met Your Mother of course and Grey's Anatomy, which is back to the level of drama I remember that got me hooked on the show in the first place. I remember watching shows like Keeping Up with the Kardashians weekly and now that family's news comes to me three weeks after it breaks.

This weekend also reminded me that Christmas is quickly approaching and 2009, a year very important in my life so far, is coming to end. 2009, you were good to me, most of the time, but now you're just a series of events I'll remember for the years to come.

Chilly nights like these make me want to stay up late and watch a movie, and I think that's what I'm about to do. I already missed SNL, but this week's host and musical guest weren't of much interest to me. It's about that time to put on my retainer (Yes, I wear one), plug my cell phone charger in for the night, and catch a few Z's.

A Christmas Nightmare?

Today I went to the Bertco Ind. Annual Movie Screening at the El Capitan in Hollywood. This year's movie was Disney's A Christmas Carol. My parents didn't get to go, so Kiki, my sister and I had to represent for the Castros. We saw one person we knew from the company there. Technically, this person was the wife of a man that works with my dad, and she didn't recognize us. We were fine with it, and were eager to get into the theater, collect our free buckets of popcorn and free drinks and find a decent seat. We were lucky enough to score front row seats in the balcony. We were unlucky in the amount of leg room/space for people to walk over us when trying to exit the row.

Anyway, we were veterans to this event and were well prepared for the organist playing Disney songs. Love that guy. We were not prepared for the dancing and singing that occurred after the previews (some of which were in 3D). Many of the Disney favorites, Mickey, Minnie, Chip, Dale, and Goofy were there, singing and dancing, as well as a girl that resembled my cousin John's girlfriend, Amanda. My sister and I laughed the second we saw her, singing and dancing joyfully, much like Amanda would with her bubbly personality.

After the dancing was over and the cast wished us a Merry Christmas in the first week of November, the movie began. My sister and I had many thoughts about Jim Carrey - mostly negative - and thought he would not do a good job with Scrooge, and the many other characters he voiced in the movie. We were not expecting the story to be so dark and grim, just like Dickens' novel. It was a little slow getting through the story, but eventually, it came to end happily, the way we all know and love Christmas movies to end.

All in all, our experience was fun and delicious (thanks to Canter's deli!). If you want to see a funny, light-hearted Christmas movie, I'd stick with the all day TNT marathon of Christmas Story and watch the story of the "Frah-jee-lay" leg lamp :]

New to Blogging

So, I did it.

I made myself a blog.

I know it's like a diary for you to see on the internet, but it if I end up liking it, then might as well.

The title of my blog is based on my favorite show, How I Met Your Mother, in which Barney Stinson, has a blog which he records his feelings of awesomeness on a daily basis. If he does it, then I have to try it. Since I don't have Twitter, I can't be "followed" so this way you can follow me on a regular basis and know how I suffer with studying and about everything else I do.

So if you're out there...

"Ted, you should really read my blog."