"Home again, home again, jiggety-jig."

It's about time! Thanks to God, I finished my finals like a boss, and now I'm back home for about a month. I'm so thankful that I got through my first semester of college.

It's great to enjoy time with my father, mother, and little sister. I love it.

But wait...

*Car screech noise*

I have surgery next week. Yes, I'm going under the knife. It's okay, though. This surgery is not as serious as it sounds.

You see, I have six wisdom teeth, instead of four; and it's about time for those things to come out. My dentist can't even do it, so I have to go to a bloody oral surgeon.

When I made this appointment in August, the oral surgeon gave me a pill to take an hour before the surgery. It's kind of cute. The pill is in its own mini Ziploc bag that says "Pill Bag".

This is borderline depressing, though! I already took out four teeth a few years ago (to accommodate my braces), and now six more have to go?! That's ten teeth! TEN TEETH!

So yeah, I'll probably be loopy and in pain afterwards. I'll most likely be bed-ridden and have ice packs on my cheeks during Christmas. *Shrugs* Oh well.

If I'm not sleeping, groaning, or working on my artwork, I'll be doing my best to keep my blogging consistent. That's one of the most important things. My goal is to get 300 followers and/or 100,000 views before 2012. That would be awesome.

That's all I wanted to share with you. What are your plans for the holidays?!

I hope you all are doing exceptionally well!

http://www.formspring.me/NiaSpeaking

Dysfunctional

I can't even function properly. Correctly. Whatever word better advocates the fact that I am malfunctioning. This sounds redundant.

Too many people.

It's clustered in here...clustered? Full. Mess. High concentration.

I can't deal with all of these people. I can't.

Too many people. Too many things. Too little space. Way too little space.

My room's not even my safe place anymore. I don't have a haven to escape to.

Oh my days.

Routine is skewed. Like seriously. I can't function.

I haven't even planned my outfits in advance! My pre-planned outfit log can't even help me! Oh no!

So many performances, practices, and deadlines. So many meetings, papers, and random assignments. Quizzes and tests. All of this whilst trying to manage this extra load.

I can't, but I will anyway.

What is going on?!?! I'm going crazy.

Is all this worth ten measly dollars? Is that what I've come to?

These were some of the thoughts that were going through my mind this past Sunday to Tuesday. It was "College Days" at Oakwood University, and hundreds of high schoolers invaded the campus.

My residence hall was so terribly noisy, especially on the first day. As more and more people started piling in, I was going more insane...at least I thought I was.

"Nia, are you okay?", a residence assistant asked. "Yeah, I'm fine.", I replied.

Apparently, my face didn't say so.

Sure, I'm used to being exposed to many people all at the same time. Greeting acquaintances with smiles, shaking hands with strangers, saying hello to a familiar face...but this...THIS was too much! This is where I live!

I quickly decided it was time to run. Run away from lobby. Run away from the hallways. I couldn't go outside because the number of people increased. I went to unlock my door in an attempt to escape all the cacophony...

...to no avail. The noise in my room wasn't audible. Oxymoron? I believe so. Stuff. All I see is stuff. Clutter. Things that weren't mine nor my roommate's. The mess was silently screaming at me.

Why?

Students of Oakwood University volunteered to host high school/potential transfer students or chaperones in their rooms. If you hosted a student, you would receive ten dollars. If you hosted a chaperone, you were expected to give up your bed, and you would get twenty dollars.

I hosted a student. Not just any student, but my beloved little sister. Surprisingly, we somehow managed to share my small, 39" x 75" twin bed.

My roommate decided to host one of her best friends; however, my roommate decided to put her guest on the floor. Haha!

Our two guests had so much stuff! Also, my roommate and I rearranged our room to accommodate our appliances, so while other rooms had their space maximized, our space was minimized. That left us with little wiggle room even before our guests arrived.

I found myself going to the study room to escape my own room. That's crazy.

If you read "Get To Know Me One Fact At A Time.", you would know that I plan my outfits in advance.

For some reason, I didn't plan my outfits that I would wear during college days or any days afterwards. So, when the time came, I was beside myself. I could barely get to my closet, and the fact that I had to take time out of my day to figure out what I was wearing instead of simply looking at the planner seemed unbearable.

Many other things contributed to my stress: some quizzes, an article for the school newspaper, reading reports, meetings, practices, rehearsals, performances, and anything else. I don't feel like going into all of those.

I love my sister, my parents, and the friends that came along with them; but the absence of their stuff in my room is a beautiful thing. The absence of their STUFF. Not them. Just their stuff.

Today is my first day of my attempt to return to normalcy.

Oh, and I'm still waiting on my ten dollars! This college budget is something else!

I hope this post was somewhat entertaining.

Until next time...

First Week of School: Day Two

THURSDAY

I only had one class today - Life Sciences 101 - that started at 11:30 AM and ended at 12:45 PM.

You know what that means? Sleeping in. YEEEESSSS! I set my alarm for 9:30 AM, so I would room for my morning routine and to get the continental breakfast at the cafeteria. Then I set it for 9:00...

My wonderful roommate has 8:00 classes every morning, so when her alarm went off, I was up for a few minutes...then went back to sleep.

Around 7:00, I woke up again. Waiting for my alarm to go off. I go back to sleep. I wake up again. I go back to sleep. And again...blah blah.

I finally just decide to get up at 8:00. I went to breakfast with a friend of mine, and this is what I wore today. My head is cut off. My bad.

I got so many compliments today. Most of them were on my shoes. Of course, I thanked anyone who had something nice to say, but every time, I'm thinking to myself, "This is super casual. Why am I getting so much praise?"

I hope it doesn't sound like I'm conceited. I'm not conceited. I was just taken off guard.

Anyway, my Life Sciences professor came ten minutes late. I thought we were just going to go over the syllabus and leave. But no. We took notes. He was something else!

After that, I did my homework. I have two classes tomorrow, and I am extremely tired.

Sorry if this post was dry. See you tomorrow!

First Week of School: Day One

Real quick. I am a freshman at Oakwood University as an English Professional Writing major, and I'll be giving you all daily posts regarding my first week of school. Let's start with today!

WEDNESDAY

I am an extremely precise when it comes to my schedule. During orientation and today, I got up at 5:45 AM. I would get up, take a shower, brush my teeth (and retainers -___-), get dressed, have worship, do my hair, and get to the cafeteria right at 7:00 AM, because I don't care for lines.

Today, I did the same thing. Except, I didn't wear what was in my outfit journal (that I plan in advance). I just put on some sweatpants - THREE CHEERS FOR SWEATPANTS - and a t-shirt, because my first class didn't start until 10:00 AM. Believe it or not, I am not a morning person.

So, I am at the cafeteria, getting my ID card swiped, and next thing you know, the lady says I'm not in the system.

Whaaaaat?! Not in the system? I've been eating at the cafeteria all week during orientation, and now all of a sudden, I'm not in the system?

I made some calls, but nothing was open at 7:00 AM, so I decided to make some oatmeal to hold me over.

This is what I wore today. I would just click on it, because Blogger is doing something weird to the quality.

My first class, Psychology - Honors, started at 10:00 AM. We pretty much just went over the syllabus.

My next class was Freshman Composition. We started at 11:00 AM and also went over the syllabus and other handouts. That professor made me laugh. You see, Oakwood is a private school that happens to have a dress code. No jewelry (-______-), no shorts/skirts that's higher than an inch above the knee, no cleavage, etc. This professor, like the other professors, abides by those rules, but she took it to a different. First, she pulled out of a bag, a "Bling Box". She had something to cover up your legs if too much is showing. Something to cover up your back if too much is showing. A big drape to cover up everything if your whole wardrobe is too much. But what still has me laughing is - I kid you not - the "Bosom Bib". My professor pulls out this bib with the words "Bosom Bib" on it. I was laughing so hard! She says to us, "Some of you ladies have been very well endowed, but we don't want to show all of our blessings." Mercy.

I had my Life and Teachings of Jesus class at 1:00 PM. Again, it was going over the handouts. Oh, and I bought two of the required textbooks from her for $1 and $3. Good deal!

At 2:30 PM, I went to my Fundamental Concepts of Mathematics class. We went over the syllabus. Getting kind of old, right? We got out really early though.

Finally, my Tennis I class started at 3:45 PM. The instructor is fifty-six years old, and he looks like he's in his forties...maybe late thirties. We went over some stuff. Again. I can't wait to start playing tennis again. It's been too long.

That's about it! I'll update you sometime tomorrow.

Taylor Michaels Scholarship Program 2011

Hello, everyone! I'm super busy this week! It's insane. Marcus and I move into my dorm tomorrow.

Anyway, here's the Life post that I promised you.

Two weeks ago, from July 27th to July 31st, I flew out to Los Angeles for a leadership conference. This wasn't just any leadership conference. But before I tell you that story, I have to tell you this story.

Early this year, I applied for the Taylor Michaels Scholarship from the Magic Johnson Foundation. Thankfully, I got it, and one part of the scholarship is going to the foundation's Leadership Conference every summer.

The conference was SO AMAZING! We stayed at Loyola Marymount University, and it was so inspiring to meet different scholars who had incredible stories. I really admire the foundation for giving this opportunity to me and so many others.

Having a mentor and being in different sessions with the other scholars, alumni, and Mr. Johnson really helped me learn a lot of stuff to prepare for college.

There was some fun involved...like ice skating, team building exercises, going to a Los Angeles Times interview of Magic Johnson, dinners, dancing, and a brunch, but what I liked the most was when Mr. Johnson addressed us.

Only one slide was on the PowerPoint, and that was all we needed. That one slide was the outline of many important lessons needed in order to succeed in college.

"How to win...

-Time management

-Follow through

-Team player

-Passion

-Preparation

-Focus

-Discipline"

I'll say it again. That conference really helped me get better prepared for college...for the workplace...for life. I made many new friends, and I can't wait to go again next summer.

I wish I had the time to go into further detail, but, as I said, I'm terribly busy. If you have any questions for me about it, please feel free to email me at nialangleyspeaks@gmail.com

Also, if you can, support the Magic Johnson Foundation HERE.

Oh, PLEASE DON'T STEAL THIS PHOTOGRAPH. I would be extremely upset if you did. Legal action will take place, okay? I'm trusting you. =)

Suit: Sharagano
Undershirt: H&M
Shoes: INC International Concepts

Have a great day!

You've Got Me Spinning Now...

First, I would like you to enjoy this illusion of a spinning wheel. Let me know if it works for you! (Try looking away while not looking away)

Most of you know that my schedule has been a little hectic lately to say the least, but these past two weeks have been hades.

I've never been on a crazier schedule in my life! We're talking going to bed at 6am and waking up at 9am. I mean, this is simply ridiculous!

The reason for all of this stress and lack of sleep? The end of my school year. Everyone in my class has been done for the past two weeks now. But me? Ohhhh no. Why? Because last year, I decided to cram two school years into one school year.

"WHAT?! You did it in THREE years?!" Yes. I was blessed enough to be given the opportunity to do so, but I feel like this would have gone sooooo much easier if my summer of 2010 wasn't so...eventful.

I signed up for two online classes this past summer, and I started off just fine. In the midst of the traveling across the country and stuff, I was somewhat keeping up with the class in the beginning. But in July, while I was at a conference in Atlanta, Georgia, my great-grandmother became very ill. I was supposed to go to Barbados for a party later that week, but I ended up going to Queens, New York for a day with my sister, Aliya, then I stayed in Connecticut for the rest of the week until my great-grandmother passed away.

This is when the schedule was just screwed. After my great-grandmother's death, my family reunited, and we were in New York for a week frantically trying to put a funeral program together. It really wasn't a good week. Too many sad, bad, and angry emotions flying around.

Along with that, my grandmother's house didn't have internet, so I couldn't get online. There were very few times when I could slip away to Starbucks and do some work.

That was the biggest thing that caused my summer classes schedule to be thrown off track...leading to the incompletion of those classes.

So the beginning of this year was a struggle, because I had extra stuff. With the regular stuff, violin, and everything else, piling extra classes was extremely unfortunate.

That's why this past year has been all about school and music. And I guess this blog :)

No sports. At all. I couldn't fit it into my crazy schedule. That wouldn't work, which was really sad, because I love playing sports. Maybe that's why I'm in the gym so much now...gotta stay fit.

Time to fast forward...

So anyway, I travel very often. Recently, I've left town at least once a month. So, that doesn't help me get work done. I'm not sure if any of you have ever taken an online class before, but I find it more difficult than going in for a lecture or whatnot, simply because it's not in your face. Of course, there's an advantage of doing things at your own pace, but for me, if it's not in my face and I don't care for it that much, it's easy for me to forget about it in the midst of other stuff I have to do.

That's what happened.

Of course, I was NOT going to fail three classes all at once, so I spent these past two weeks doing about a semester's worth of stuff for three classes.

Can you say PROCRASTINATION?!

Yes. I realize I brought this upon myself. Let this be a lesson to you all NOT to procrastinate in anything. It sucks at the end of the line.

Today is the deadline, and thankfully, I've been blessed to complete everything at 6am this morning.

Unfortunately, I won't be able to fully rest and re-cooperate, because I have a bunch of family and friends coming from out of town. Along with that, I'm hosting a 24 hour party this Sunday, and I have a bunch a mess to do next week.

Rest won't come for me until the 8th of June. -_______-

I hope you enjoyed this post! Until next time...

Picture citations: http://school.discoveryeducation.com/clipart/images/cmpsilho.gif, http://skiptucker.blogspot.com/2010/09/procrastinators-creed.html, http://christophersmark.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/illusion_spinning.png

Just to hold you over!

Oh my days. I'm sorry guys. So much stuff has been going on, so again my apologies for not being on my daily blogging grind.

This week has been pretty crazy, but let me just tell you about this morning:
I was at the gym working out like usual, and I got on this machine that twists so you can work your obliques. I wasn't planning on going all out, so I only put 50 pounds. Everything was good until I started twisting. My weights got caught on this other man's leg machine. After saying, "Sir" a few times, I finally got his attention, and he kindly moved my weights back down.

Well...I still wanted to exercise on the machine, so I got back on it, and yet again, the weights got stuck. Already frustrated that this is taking more than 5 minutes to start and that the 2 machines were poorly placed by each other, I decided to lift the weights myself. I grabbed the weights from underneath, and they were off of the other machine; but then I realized that I couldn't simply set them down without having some difficulty. I decided to drop the weights.

My right hand came out fine, but left hand miscalculated the speed of the fall, causing my middle finger to be landed on. I didn't say a word. I went downstairs, asked for some ice, and then iced my poor little finger. My workout was cut short. I ended with some stretches and then went back home. My finger still hurts a little bit as I'm typing this. So sad.

Anyways, thanks for stopping by. I have 2 pictures here that I saw on someone's blog, but I can't remember whose...as soon as I figure out, I'll give credit where credit is due.

The Chanel Ice Cream Cone is COOL! I also find the Oreo picture kind of funny. (If these pictures were on your blog, speak now or forever hold your peace)

I hope you all have a great weekend! Until next time...

Photos: No Copyright Infringement Intended

Hmmm...So what happened this week?

MONDAY

Do any of you guys remember that show on Disney Channel called "Lizzie McGuire"? Well on Monday, I got word that Disney is will be shooting "Lizzie McGuire: College Life" this fall and will air it in the spring.
Hilary Duff said that she is excited to go back to where her career began. So, I think that's pretty interesting...

I also received my acceptance letter from Oakwood University! That's the college I will be attending, so I was super excited.









TUESDAY
Many of you know that my favorite dance company is the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. Well, I got the chance to see the company perform on Tuesday! Ahhhh! They were sooooo amazing. I enjoyed EVERY piece they showed us of their repertoire. My favorite pieces were the "Anointed" (especially the first section of it named "Passing"...performed by Glenn Allen Sims - my favorite dancer's husband - and Olivia Bowman Jackson), In/Side (performed by Samuel Lee Roberts), and Revelations (Alvin Ailey's most popular and critically acclaimed work that's been performed for 50 years).

No, Linda Celeste Sims didn't perform that night...unfortunately =(. But it was GREAT to see some of the company perform that night regardless. So inspiring! I swear, I have a love/hate thing for dancers. I hate them for being able to do such graceful and admirable things...I envy them. But at the same time, I have such a respect for them, and I'm in awe of the things they are able to do. I LOVE DANCE!

Photo by Andrew Eccles

WEDNESDAY
Wednesday was the middle of the week, so it was somewhat a struggle, but pretty much chill. I think if you can make it through Wednesday, you can last the rest of the week.

THURSDAY

On Thursday, I had an interview with the Magic Johnson Foundation for the Taylor Michaels Scholarship. I was more nervous than a new guy in a prison shower block, but overall, I think it went well. I was interviewed by two people, and I'll know if I got the scholarship in two weeks. AH! *Fingers crossed!*


FRIDAY
YES! The end of the week had come. Friday was a pretty chill day too, but I was kind of tired, because I went to bed around 3:30am and woke up at 5:00am to go to the gym. But, overall I was just happy the weekend was almost in reach.

FUTHER MORE...
Also, something that was new for me this week is that I started waking up at 5:00am to go the gym to work out. If you read my About Nia section, you'll see on the bottom that I like working out hahaha. So pretty much, I work out at around 5:30am and 8:00am on Mondays through Fridays...and 6:30am tomorrow. I haven't set a time for the weekends haha

But today, I went to church and had a nice rest. I might be getting dragged to a party soon(?), so I had to do this post real quick.

I hope you all had a great week, and have a great rest of the weekend! Much love :)

Pictures: No Copyright Infringement Intended

A little piece of CHILDHOOD

Not too long ago, I found this letter I wrote to the tooth fairy.

(the back says "tooth fairy!")

Haha! Clearly, I had either really high expectations or a crazy sense of humor. I can't remember writing this letter, but somehow it brought back so many childhood memories. I began thinking about how good it was back then.

Insert "The Way We Were" by Barbra Streisand...
"Can it be that it was all so simple then?"

Haha okay. Sorry. But then, I said to myself, "What other childhood thing do I have on hand?"

And I got this...

I wore this the day of my very first Super Bowl. It's so tiny! My teddy bear can (barely) fit it. To think that I was once that small is mind-blowing.

So anyways, I just wanted to share a little piece of my childhood with you. It's always good to reminisce.

Have a good day!

Camera of Lego =)

I bought this today, because I think it's adorable! This Lego Digital Camera isn't huge. It only has 3 megapixels, and hold 80 photos at one time. Haha kind of pathetic, but it's just so cute to me! This camera is more like a "bring to a get-together" type of camera, not a "bring to a wedding" type of camera. =) This thing doesn't take bad pictures either! It's pretty legitimate. So anyways, I simply wanted to share this purchase with you.

P.S. Sorry for looking a little creepy in this picture. =/

Have a good day!

~Nia A.D.L.

*Like this post? Dislike it? Comment! Any feedback is appreciated.*

Sorry for being so distant!

Hey hey hey! I didn't post a thing this November, and I'm (almost) sad about it. It has been crazy busy life for me recently. but I have stuff to share with you all.

FIRST UPDATE:
While my family and I were in Detroit, our 2007 Yukon Denali was stolen out of a guarded and gated church parking lot. I'm not gonna go into details about the EYE WITNESSES of the whole ordeal, but the Detroit Police took forever and a day to get us some help.



When the truck was found (only 2 blocks from the church), it was pretty devastating. They stripped it down!

Here are some of the pictures:



We rented a Kia-something for a little while, and finally (with all thanks to God) we bought a new truck! The 2011 Yukon Denali we now have is bigger and better. =)



Though the new car makes my car seem very small, our family is blessed and very thankful to have the new edition to the family! (haha corny I know)

SECOND UPDATE:
I just recently came back from the most non-traditional Thanksgiving break ever. My family and I spent our Thanksgiving break aboard the Disney Magic cruise ship! It was simply AHH-MAZE-ING! The ship was HUGEEE, and the service was beyond incredible!



We were on the ship for a week, and we were never bored! Our three stops were St. Maarten, St. Thomas, and Castaway Cay (Disney's Island).





In St. Maarten we did an ATV tour of the entire island and chilled on the beach. Some nude people were just walking around though...EW! In St. Thomas we bought necklaces and chocolate diamonds. Amazing shopping was done there. It was also my parent's anniversary that day, so we went out to eat. In Castaway Cay we jet skied, and my sister and I went parasailing! ATVing, jet skiing, and parasailing were all new activities for us. It was a lot of fun!

Plenty of fun was on the ship too. The purser who cleaned our room would leave some sort of animal on the bed (made our of towels) every night. We also had the same servers- Cedomir, Rodel, and Giorgio (I miss them very much) for breakfast and dinner everyday. There were three main restaurants: Animator's Palate, Parrot Cay, and Lumiere's (our favorite). There were also other buffets and food places throughout the ship.



Blaaah! There were so many other awesome things on that ship! I'd love to write more about it, but I'd be typing all day. Bottom line, Thanksgiving break was awesome, and I'm STILL struggling to get back to the regular reality routine. Looking back at all of this and being in this everyday life again just confirms that it's time for summer again...or at least Christmas break!



I hope that you enjoyed this post, and hopefully I won't be as distant in the near future. Have a good day. =)

~Nia A.D.L.

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