Lifelong Friendships

"Lifelong friendships are created here at MJW."-A line I was skeptical to believe before I got here.
When my mom dropped me off at Paty Hall on Friday, July 11,2008 I must admit my pessimistic attitude completely overshadowed any false hopes of meeting anyone who I considered even slightly cool. I had already made up in my mind that I was coming here sheerly for the experience and journalism knowledge available. People that I could relate to in anyway outside of writing?Definitley not.

After a tearful goodbye between me and my mom, I slumped back upstairs to my "new" room in hopes that my room mate wouldn't aggravate me too much,oh, and that she wouldn't end up being a snobby conceited writer who considered everything she produced as god's gift to MJW.
I was greeted as soon as I rounded the corner by a smiling and bubbly young woman with a head full of curly brown hair.

"Hey, are you my room mate?"-her
"Well, is this your room?"- me

Not such an epic beginning to what I now know will be a lifelong friendship between Taylor Barrett and I, but that's how it started. Still feeling a little bit jaded and "whoa is me for having to sleep in this musty dorm room for 10 days" I didn't interact with her too much and decided instead to take a nap.[my usual retreat when I'm feeling stressed]

It wasn't until the next day, when I awoke freshly optimistic, that I really started attempting to establish actual friendships with my peers. Once I allowed myself to open up to everyone, one by one the strangers around me were turning into my friends. They were dealing with the same stressful things that I was [i.e. not enough food, weird musty smelling dorm rooms, stories that refused to write themselves] and we were all able to laugh together. Humor is a huge deciding factor in whether or not I befriend someone and EVERYONE here has made me laugh at least one hearty time. Although I'll be torn to pieces when I have to leave the distinct odor of Paty Hall far in the distance, I'll burst into random laughter when memories of all the funny things that happened at MJW 2008 cross my mind. [then I'll probably leave a few nostalgic Facebook messages to my new lifelong friends :-]

ANNOYED

I'm annoyed with my inability to write my stories for this camp.Deadline is steadily approaching but my writers block is holding strong and, like I said, I'm unable to write. I am, however, able to be caught off guard by the constant nagging of people in my life who are my so called "friends".

I'm tired of going HOME and leaving only to hear how much fun people are having without me and how much they "wish" I could be there.SAVE IT.Sure,it sounds selfish and probably slightly ridiculous but I could care less at this point.

"Now you know how it feels, Ophelia"- words of wisdom from a former friend regarding my terrible calling people back skills. Let's face it people, 9 out of 10 times I probably won't call you back. I've always been this way,and chances are that's the way I'll be forever.

(this blog is all over the place,but that's how my brain feels)

First Blog for MJW

Well since I'm used to posting things on the internet for the whole world to have access to,then blogging on this website should be a breeze. First of all, I'm definitley tired of sitting at Phifer in these rolling chairs.Its been a productive day, but I'm completely ready to get out into the sunlight again.Almost 10 hours of learning about journalism ain't bad for day one,eh?