I WIN!

Ok. So I was poking around princetonreview.com, looking at University Park.

Their newspaper is ranked ten in the country. They have the tenth best college newspaper in the entire country.

Guess what Syracuse ranked.

Eighteen. MWAHAHAHAHA.

We beat them by eight whole places! Eight! One, Two, Three, Four (still not there) Five, Six, Seven, Eight!

I jumped out of my chair and did the Rocky victory dance at the top of the stairs thing. I swear, I heard music.

I win. I win I win I win I win.

Na-na-na-na-NA-na! *sticking tongue out towards the northeast*

Man, not only would my football team kick their sorry butts, but my paper does, too. Rachel: 1, Syracuse:0.

I am thouroughly enjoying life right this minute.

My Rules:

OK. Evidently, I am much more introverted than I thought. I'm actually kind of surprised at myself. Oh well, whatever it takes.

So Dad's story about the ceramics class got me thinking. The best pots were cranked out by kids that made the most pots. Well, lately I've been trying to make a few, quality pots (metaphor) and it's gotten me almost nowhere. So, now I'm going to go for quantity. From now on, I am going to strike up conversation with at least two new people a day. Three would rock. I will get their names and try really hard to remember them. I will also take everything out of my room that I possibly can; I'll study at the library, or at the cafe, or on the porch of my res hall, or under some tree. I'll start going to the gym even though I don't like it too much - I'll try Pilates and cycling.

I'm filling you in because these new rules make me feel a lot better. I'm obviously worse at this than I thought, I mean, how many people need aquaintence quotas? But, I've come to terms with my lacking people skills, and I think I've found a way around them. Who knows, maybe they will become automatic. Practice makes perfect, right? I guess what I'm saying is, I find all of this kind of embarassing, so if you could not tease me, that would be great. But, I will be happy to tell you about my two-plus new aquaintences every day.

Hahaha. Oi ve.

The coffee is in the mail

Sounds like code. But it is true. Coffee and dad's cd from Sunday. It is about cave living, and I think you are in a little bit of a cave there in Erie, PA. The boy's are playing frisbee and I am putting off doing dishes. We are going to Lugia's, we will think of you and miss you.

Looking forward to this weekend, hope the weather is good. Do you want us to invite Nana and Papa for an after lunch tour? I wish I had something inspirational to blog about, but my nose is runny and me head is achey and I had 2 too many conversations and emails with Chris today.

This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5 "Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. 6 Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. 7 Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper."

This is what the LORD says: "When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my gracious promise to bring you back to this place. 11 For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Your dorm is your Babylon right now. You need to build and settle, plant and eat. You need to seek the peace and prosperity of your city because if it prospers so will you. And God will bring you to the place He has for you and you will walk into your future with hope.

I don't know if that is inspirational, but it is true. Did you know your mother has a gift for the prophetic? .............Look for your coffee tomorrow afternoon, check your mailbox (however that works!)

Dear Family,

Things I Would Like:

~Coffee. Italian or French roast, whatever.

~Another box of cinamon life

~Stamps and the stationary I left on the stairs

~Fillet Mingon and chocolate cheesecake.

So, I got an e-mail from the leader of Chi Alpha, Melanie. Meetings are Mondays at 7:00, and right now they're studying Peter. They are also planning some outdoorsy events before it gets too cold. I looked through pictures, and it looks like they have a lot of fun; canoeing, white water rafting. They have a trip to NYC in December. It looks like they get off campus often, the guys are fairly good-looking and none of the girls were wearing ankle-long denim skirts. It reminds me a lot of Young Life - when I looked at the pictures I felt like I could breathe again. So I"m going to go ahead and be hopeful about this one. They also have an Erie-wide meeting on Wednesdays, but I would have to drop the Entertainment Board for that. So I'll go a couple of weeks with Chi Alpha on Mondays and the entertainment board on Wednesdays, and then I'll pick one. I'm excited.

P.S. Reeves men - post!

To do list

Hey you - now I have new technology to give you a list of things to do. :) Have you gotten in touch with the Health people about your shot info? Get me a fax or address to send them the info they may need. They can keep you out of school next semester if the don't have the forms they need. Also have you gotten to your phone people so I can transfer phones?

Let me know what you will be wanting for food so I can have it for you when you come home next weekend. I will make what you want for dinner and then whatever to take with you for your freezer. Also I will try and remember to give you your stamps.
It is always good to talk to you, call anytime.

Love you lots - Mom

Mad Hatter's Tea/Move in Penn State

Here are a few pix of move in day and our Tea. The Parson's daughter was sorely missed, but a good time was had by all! The pix are in no special order. I'm just proud I got them all to show up. I'm thinking it should be a yearly tradition, it was a special afternoon spent with tea drinkers of all ages.

I'm so Happy!

Check out the e-mail I got from one of the editors at the Beacon. I had written up and sent in the bit on being a freshman, and I didn't think that they would put it in. So last night Aeriale did copy editing and she told me that they were using it this week. But then I got this:

"Hey Rachel,

This is Chris Brown, the opinion editor on the Beacon. I just wanted to thank you for writing your article this week. We all thought it was very well written and a welcome inclusion to this week's paper. If you want to ever write an article for the opinion page again you are more than welcome to, I think you have a unique style and gift of words. I also want to encourage you to think about stopping by on Thursday nights while we are laying out to get to know the staff and maybe see what being an editor is all about, because I think you might find it interesting. If you have any questions about future articles or anything about the paper, feel free to email me. And thanks again for the great article."

I've been writing for them for one week, and I can submit an opinion piece on whatever I want whenever I want. And they want me to learn about editing. Which means they probably want me to be an editor. An editor! And it's only been one week!

I can't even wrap my mind around this...

Happy 21st!

Mom and Dad, check your e-mails! (1:00pm)

: ]

HAPPY FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL, NATE!

: ]

Piece of Cake

I just conducted the easiest interview in the history of the world. Rebecca showed up at exactly 2:30, and didn't stop talking for 20 minutes. I could hardly get a question in edgewise, and I didn't need to, anyways. I think she was reading my list, or my mind. This article is only supposed to be 500 words long, but I could practically write a novel.

And I guess I had hung in there fairly well, because when we were finished she asked how long I had been working with the Beacon. When I said, "About twenty minutes," and explained that it was my second week on campus, she asked what college I had attended before I transferred to Behrend. I told her that I had just graduated high school, and she was very surprised, and I waited until she left to jump for joy.

Take that, Olive Garden waitress!

So, Jen is sending me some article outlines her high school teacher gave her, and I'll spend some time writing up the article. It shouldn't be hard at all, I have plenty of information and I know exactly what I want to say. Then I'll finish up the freshman piece and turn that in, to see if they'll print it.

Tonight is a hall council meeting in my lobby. I'm going, because my RA mentioned that she was only asking girls that could bring something positive to the building. Then tomorrow night is an entertainment board meeting. Hopefully, that will set me up with Monday night meetings for the publicity team. And then the paper on Thursday nights.

Am I involved or what?

Packing chocolate

How good to have the college student home with us for a long weekend. I hope she enjoyed it as much as we did. It seemed a long time, maybe it was just all of the leaping that dragged out the time :)

Have a good 2 weeks until you are home again. Good luck with your interview, get your rest, and always try to travel with a buddy! We love you! momdadnate