Man, I love College.

So it’s been four weeks since we have started college and it has been going great! I love not having rules and doing things on my own time without parents in the way. Don’t get me wrong, I love my family but my mom was way too into my life and it’s great to finally have that separation. Now that I don’t actually have to live with my parents, my relationship with them has changed a lot. I do go home every weekend because I have to do laundry and I work right near my house so I usually stop by just to say hi. I have been trying to go every two weeks, but it’s hard when they live right next to Lane Stadium! Anyways, my relationship with my mom was never that great, we would always argue a lot about stupid things, I think it was our strong personalities. Like I said, now that we don’t live together we get a long so much better. We don’t argue and she has finally let me go and lets me do what I want to do. My dad has always been chill and I love him to death. He is the main reason I want to become an engineer. He has become so successful and I strive to be just like him when I grow up. He has always been harder on my sister; I think it’s because she is more like him and I’m more like my mother.So I work at Maggie Moos, which is a marble slab ice cream shop. I love working here because I get to work with people my own age and I get a log with everyone there. I have been working here since
October of last year. I don’t make a lot of money there, but it’s a job and I enjoy it. I also work at CMI which is a branch of the Virginia Tech Corporate Research Center. CMI stands for Conservation Management Institute and they work a lot with the environment. This job is ideal for me because I am interested in Environmental Engineering and this job really got me involved in the things I might be doing later. The job I had was really tedious, but I was actually learning things while I was working which I liked a lot. My job consisted of looking at aerial photos and mapping out wetlands on the photos. The program we were using is kind of like AutoCad, which I already know how to use so I didn’t need that much training to do the job. I was such a quick learner too, that I got a raise my second week! I was really happy when that happened because it didn’t seem like they did that a lot.
So do you guys know anything about this “Farm Ville” on Facebook? I have just started it to see what it was and it’s so addicting! I don’t even know why it is so addicting, it just is. For those of you who haven’t heard about Farm Ville, it’s like you have your own farm and you grow stuff and then sell the things you grow for money. I know it doesn’t sound that great, but it really is. The thing that got me going is how you have to harvest your crops before they wither and die. Last night there was a power outage in Lee and O’ Shag, so I couldn’t get on the internet! I was freaking out because my strawberries had to be harvested. Sadly I didn’t get to them on time, and they died. The internet still isn’t working for some reason, but I’m connected to wireless, so I can take care of my plants. There is also this other game on Facebook call YoVille which is where you live in a city and you bake stuff at the local bakery. Right now I’m baking pies and cookies, and I think I’ve got some cupcakes. It’s just like Farm Ville, but you bake stuff and if you don’t get to it on time, they will over cook. I just checked my cookies, they are at 75%. Phew! But I have really got to stop playing these games. They aren’t really that fun either, they are just addicting! Another fun game to play is called “Filler,” it’s on Kongregate games, just Google it and you will find it. I just want to say that it is fun and you actually have to think about what you’re doing. It’s also extra fun on the tablet because you can actually move faster than you can with a mouse. Same thing with Crayon Physics; you draw awesome shapes and try to get a ball into a certain spot. It’s really hard to think about too, it takes a lot of mind power. I love games that are challenging because when I win them, it feels great. Anyway, you all should play these games, because they are amazing!
Since I live in Blacksburg, I thought I would tell you guys about all the places downtown that you should know about. The first place is called PK’s. Best pizza ever! And if you go on Thursdays they do this thing if you get a 16” pizza when you are ready to pay the bouncer will come over and toss a coin and if you guess the right side that it will land on you get the pizza for free. It’s a great thing because us college students don’t have a lot of money, and it’s really fun. Another place you guys should know about is Macados. Though it isn’t downtown, it is right across from the math emporium, so it’s not hard to get to. The great thing about this place is the food is great and it isn’t expensive at all! The environment is also really nice; it’s a bar at night and a family place during the day. It’s a really good place to go for a first date too.

until next time,
Melissa