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jalean06
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Name: Jenifer
Metro:
Birthday: 10/5/1987
Gender: Female
Interests: There are many things that interest me, but to sum most of them up: God. Horses. Running. Music. Computers. Photography. Drama. Loving you.
Expertise: Not showing up to band functions...how do you think I earned this nickname?
Occupation: Student
Industry: Textiles
Message: message meEmail: email me
Website: visit my website
MSN: equestrian_song@hotmail.com
Member Since:
4/21/2004
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| It's not that I'm lazy, its just that I want new people to know me like my friends do so I don't have to explain things to them. Perhaps that's one of the reasons people find my friends overwhelming: there's a lot of us and we know each other so well that almost no explaining happens, and memories and skills just whiz by the head of the new person. Taking time to get to know someone new is becoming a relic in the days when it's possible to Facebook someone and know the answers to all of the trivial little questions on which a relationship is founded. Even the FUA kids getting to know each other on Facebook before meeting is an example of that. For better or worse, a Facebook first impression is here to stay - most of the time. I only realize how accustomed I've grown to that when I get to know someone without the aid of Facebook.
The most important bits of my personality are the hardest ones to communicate to someone attempting to seriously learn more about you. Even people I've known for years have trouble with certain parts, like when my uncle from Chicago was thoroughly stumped this weekend regarding Corey and I's relationship - and Dane and Ben, to be fair, though we were discussing the fact that Corey has a girlfriend. "But...he has a girlfriend. And they're still close friends? How does that work?" My mom and dad tried to help him understand, telling him about the group of friends and how we just work like that, but I don't think he ever got it entirely. Oh well.
Well over $20 an hour today at Sharon's. Seven hours. Do the math, that's like 80 euros. Booyah, bitches!
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| The Salem chapter of Ultimate Tuesday has challenged the Charleston/EIU delegation to a game of Ultimate Frisbee that is tentatively scheduled for July 22. And we're actually going to practice.
This is going to be epic.
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| The study abroad experience feels so much like going to college for the
first time, and for that I am glad. The summer before I went to
college sparkled with the idea that I was beginning a new life in a few
months and anything could happen then. The people I'd meet, the places
I'd go, the beautiful dorm I'd live in, the dates I'd go on! Then, as
it does for everyone, the sophomore slump hits; it's not so much a
slump, as a resigned feeling that you've met the people, you've been to
all of the places worth seeing, you've been on some fruitless dates and
the dorm is still a dorm in which everyone does hours of homework, no matter how beautiful the architecture may
be. Suddenly, I'm not leaving the college I love for good, but the
sparkle is there again. Whom will I meet in Italy? Will they play Ultimate Frisbee, or run with Amy and I? Whom will I hit it off with? Just like freshman
year, my classmates are getting on Facebook and forming groups in order
to 'know' each other before they get there. There's solace in
numbers, for even though the adventure will be exciting, it's a little
nerve-wracking as well.
My life has been constrained to the four square miles of Salem for two months now, and I am happy. Perhaps not content: I know there's more out there than these eight thousand people can provide for me. But I'm so happy here. Nothing can touch me. Not working five jobs: there are always friends at work to have fun with, and there's always seeing more people I love for hours after work. Not going home when those fun times are over for the day: there's a beautiful house, loving family and wonderful - if evil! - pony waiting for me. Stormy days can't touch me, because there's playing Frisbee in a thunderstorm. Extra hours late on a Wednesday night at the pool can't touch me, as long as we can put on all kinds of items from the lost and found and jump in the deep end like special kids.
There's a lot more to life than Salem has to offer - I realize this more than a significant percentage of my high school class who will never make it out of here. Imagining living the rest of my life within the constraints of this town is a stifling and sobering thought to me. I have little to fear, though. The rest of the world - literally - is coming at me hard and fast in less than two months, when I fly halfway across the world to live farther from the Midwest than I ever thought I'd live. The promise of that adventure is enough to keep my wandering mind stilled as I lie in anticipation of the next big thing.
What happens when there is no 'next big thing'?
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| It's funny how many thoughts can go through your head when you're about to go sailing over the head of a horse. Venice and I went for a ride today and he was so excited because we were going out of the paddock. We rode into my front yard, I asked for a canter and *boing, boing, boing* we began bucking across my large front lawn. "I am not coming off," I said as I reached to brace against his mane like I normally do when he bucks. Another well-timed bounce caused me to miss his mane and slide my hand down his neck insted, "I may come off." One more bounce was all it took, "I'm coming off, and I am going to hold on to the reins so he doesn't run into the road." I went flying over his shoulder as he spun around the opposite direction; my grip on the reins was lost when the buckle cut my hand. "You bugger!" I yelled, as he stood pseudo-calmly eating my front lawn a few feet away from me. After I got back on and rode the buck out of him, I had to laugh: falling off never ceases to amuse me. Especially not from a mere 13.2hh in the air. Venice and I, we are a pair.
Two short months from today I will be on an airplane over the Atlantic Ocean. That fact is so incomprehensible, it hasn't set in yet and probably won't until I get on the plane.
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| Every time I see my Salem friends and our town through someone else's eyes, I realize anew what an unbelievably special place this is. It's got it's flaws and most of the time seems to barely scrape by economically, but these people and this atmosphere can't be bought and sold. So many people who've come to know Salem through my friends wistfully say that they wish they could have grown up with us and shared the bond we do. Those same people often remark that we seem like a time-warp from the 1940's and 1950's. As a fan of the classy style (and dancing!) of that era, I can't say I mind the comparison or deny that it's somewhat true. I wish I could give everyone who wants it - I'm looking at you Mary and Liz - the childhood I had. The best I can do is give Salem the opportunity to work its magic. There's a reason my mom's northern friends and family call visiting us going to their 'spa'.
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