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Please Take this! And pass it along to any teachers you may know!

Games I Learned At College

Don't worry, this isn't what you think. Mom, Grammy, you can keep reading, don't worry. These are just some of the games I've learned to play being a college kid.

• Chivialry Yahtzee: This game is played by walking behind one or more people while your arms are full of food, books, packages or other assorted large unwieldy objects. You try and guess whether or not the people/person in front of you will wait and hold the door or make you stand (most likely in the rain, cause people rarely hold doors in the rain) and fumble blindly and one-handedly in your pocket for your ID card to get into your dorm.
• French Fry Jenga: This is also a game played when your hands are full. When walking back from somewhere (usually Late Night) with a bunch of food in your hands, and you're STARVING and you REALLY REALLY want that french fry on top of the pile on top of all the food your holding so you use your tongue/lips to maneuver that single fry out from the pile of fries and into your mouth without A. tumbling the pile B. dropping fries or C. having fry fall down your cleavage. Sorry to say I've lost this game a few times...
• YouTube Scramble: This is the stupid, shorter name for a game I like to call "How-Many-Games-of-Tetris-Can-I-Play-Before-This-Video-Loads." Self-explanatory
• That's All I Got In the Fridge: Sprinkle sprankle bitches.
• Did I Wear This Last Class?: Yeah, I hate laundry. And if you wear layers, sometimes you can get away with the top shirt twice. Don't judge me, I know you've done it.
• Bus Bingo: This is when I just kinda saunter off to the mall/the city/Goodwill/the movies without really actually looking to see when there are buses and just pray that there's another one coming.
• But I Had a Reason! This is when you sit down, sign off Facebook, disconnect your Internet and get pumped for some hardcore working time, and then you realize that you absolutely had to [insert something you "need" Internet/facebook for here]. Then you end up spending 40 more minutes on Facebook/YouTube/Skype/Stumbleupon/CollegeHumor/this blog before you actually start your homework.
• Don't Wake Roomate!: A classic, that's even more high-stakes if you're an insomniac whose sleep schedule is three hours off from the rest of the world (who, me?)
• New Class Clue: This is when you get stuck in some class where you literally know no one and the proff makes you pick groups or partners on the very first day. So you have to eye up everyone around you and evaluate their intelligence, group work ability, commuter-status, personality and general usefulness in one glance and then calculate how best to not-awkwardly ask them to be partners. [Note: variations of this game include "You're the best looking in this class, let's work together" and "I-Spy the Class Workaholic. Partners?"]
• Registration-opoly: Players must weigh the benefits of a great prof vs the inconvenience of an 8am class! Try and get a set of classes in all the same building in a row so you don't have to walk back-and-forth!
• InconvienceLand: Nothing like it's jolly counterpart (true life: there's no Queen Frostine in the real world), this game occurs when you need to know something about hours, services on campus, regulations, etc. All you have to do is ask yourself the question "Would it be convenient?" If the answer to that question is 'yes', the answer to your original query is 'no'. [Note: I can only vouch for this game's accuracy at my school, but with 50% budget cuts, the rest of the PA schools might get better at this game soon enough]
• Bidd-I-Spy: You can pretty much play this one anywhere. Basically, grab a window seat or lawn chair by housing on a Thursday, Friday or Saturday night (PSU: any night works for you) and watch the Uggs/leggings/Northfaces roll on by in droves. Play with your friends by making bets on how early into spring semester you'll start seeing bare legs again (my money's on February).

MLIB: My Life is Bizzzaaayyy

Hey kids, quick post tonight, it's late and I have first grade bright and early tomorrow then class then have to assemble some more costumes, write some more papers, plan some more lesson, do some more shit. But, I noticed I haven't posted in a week (SAD, I know) and I love you all so much, I wanted to check in. So, here's a quickie.

This is kind of epic. I don't care if you don't really know what Starcraft is (it's a video game, beyond that, I'm on the same page as most of you - noooo idea). But you cannot deny the awesome mash-up power that these two random-ass pop culture items have when, well, mashed up. It's the audio for the video game trailer dubbed over clips from the 'My Little Pony' TV show. WHO THINKS OF THESE THINGS?!



Speaking of mashups...guess whose favorite blogger got to see the Beelzebubs (AKA: the Warbler's from Glee/the guys from 'The Sing Off') this weekend. That's right, your favorite blogger (ie - me). Ph.D. (sorry girl, it's late and that's the best codename I could think of after our lovely car ride talk) and I road tripped it up to PSU to see the 'Bubs' perform with NOTA, PSU's equally awesome acapella group (GLaDOS, kiddo, ya did great!). So, basically as if the Warblers were not already my favorite part of Glee....


The Beelzebus on 'The Sing Off' (if they don't make you melt you don't have a soul - add that to my list!)


PSU's NOTA (Think they sound good? They're even better live. Espesh when they do 'I'll Follow You Into the Dark, one of my favorite songs of all time. And I've been told 'Helena' isn't too shabby either.)

More or less the Bean kinda nailed it down today during our two hour discussion of acapella music: "NOTHING IS MORE ATTRACTIVE THAN A MAN WHO CAN SING" (granted that was one of the more blog-ppropriate comments we exchanged, but let's leave it at that...acapella music is incredible. The performers (both male and female, haha) have such an extreme degree of talent in every fiber of their being that just being around it makes you feel so great. Bottom line: GO SEE YOUR SCHOOL's ACAPELLA GROUP(S)!!! Or, if you're at a lame-ass school like me without one, travel an exuberant amount of time to see someone else's!! I'm pretty sure my total travel time for acapella music is fast approaching the 10hr mark. Addiction? Maybe.

Wow, this was supposed to be a quickie post...now look at it, three videos and a small inner monologue/soapbox speech later and here we are. At the end, I swear. G'night lovelys. Sweet, acapella (singer) filled dreams!

Krysti @ College: Hipster or Not?

Reasons Why I am a Hipster

• I own a shirt from Urban Outfitters
• I own and regularly wear berets
• I have brightly colored wayfarer sunglasses
• You might not recognise half the stuff on my iPod
• I write in serif-ed fonts
• I wear my slip-on Vans and Converses until they are literally held together with duct tape
• I blog
• I have band shirts from bands you've probably never heard of
• I shop in thrift stores
• I changed the font of this list to Georgia because Times New Roman is too mainstream
• I wear plaid button downs regularly
• I've been to concerts at the TLA, World Cafe, and WXPN's Summer Music Fest
• I use reusable bags
• I make/design/deconstruct my own clothes fairly often
• I tend to"shun mainstream societal conventions that apply to dating preferences and traditional "rules" of physical attraction" (thanks Urban Dictionary)
• I know what PennyArcade is 

Reasons Why I am Not a Hipster

• I shop at Target for 90% of my clothes
• I own one pair of skinny jeans
• You probably know 50% or more of the music on my iPod
• I've bee to two Jonas Brothers concerts
• I don't drink really fancy brand name water
• I can't really hold a very long dialogue about art
• I am not vegan or vegetarian
• I think that in moderation, consumerism actually drives the economy and thus we kind of need it
• I don't own or wear anything made from hemp
• I don't have an androgynous yet edgy haircut
• I like to share my music
• I don't live in New York or some other urban, bohemian area
• I don't smoke or drink coffee
• I am not very trendy nor am I a setter of trends
• I am not persuing a liberal arts degree nor a degree in anything close (ie art, music, english, philosophy, etc.)
• I really don't give off the required "aura of effortless cool" (thanks Urban Dictionary)

Ten(ish) Commandments of Facebook

1. Thou shall have other social networking sites besides me but all must be linked back to me.
2. Thou shall not have a MySpace.
3. Honor thy father and mother - by not being their friend.
4. Thou shall not 'poke' thy best friend's boyfriend.
5. Thou shall only chose a profile picture with friends if the friends deem it A. 'CUTEEEE XXXD' B. 'hawt' or C. hilarious (as indicated by number of 'lols' posted)
6. Thou shall update thy status reflecting any and all relationship developments.
7. Thou shall acquire as many friends as humanly possible. Including, but not limited to: family, neighbors, fellow club members, old classmates, current classmates, exes, friends exes, ex's friends, cashier at the CVS, that guy from your kindergarten class who made binoculars out of two paper towel rolls and lives in Tuscon..* not an original joke.
8. Thou shalt not 'like' thine neighbors breakup.
9. Thou shalt not update thine status unless the information is new, relevant, or witty. Thou shalt not post an agenda of thine daily activities nor irrelevant and uninteresting details of ones life.
10. Thou shalt not shamelessly promote thine cousin/neighbor/roomate/uncle's band.
11. Thou shall honor thy Facebook before checking email, playing Tetris, online quizzes, or homework of any kind.
12. Thou shall be a fan of Starkid and Lady Gaga.
13. Thou shalt not bombard thine friends with stupid invitations or requests. (Farmville! Mafia Wars! I'm talking to you!)
14. Thou shalt not go though my wall posts/statuses/pictures whilst at the computer next to me 'liking' every activity (SALAD - this means you!)
15. Thou shalt not let any information gathered on Facebook slip whilst in casual conversation with a good looking stranger.

A Few of My (New) Favorite Things

Self explanatory. One of the things that happens in college (and just in general life) is you're exposed to all sorts of new stuff. These are some of the keepers:


1. Key Lime Pie Yoplait: So, this started as a joke but it's actually fucking delicious and we have it at our dining hall so basically I eat it all the time now.

"Who stole my keylimepie yoplait??"

2. Acapella music: Okay, so a great deal of this new love miiiiight be due to Glee's newest cast members 'The Warblers' who actually sing acapella (DARREN CRISS MAKES ME MELT). But I also actually make an effort to go see college shows now too. CAUSE I'M A NERRRRD.

specifically mens groups <3

3. Portal/Half Life: Okay so I'm defiantly not new to video games, but it's been quite awhile since I've been quite as in love with a single player as I am with these two.

4. Monster Energy Drink (specifically the orange one...Khaos I believe): So I know I already devoted a whole post to this stuff, so I'll be brief. Now that I have to be up at the ass-crack of dawn for field placement and then have class and (soon) rehearsal afterward...it's my new best friend.

5. Yoga/Pilates/Yogalates: I'm not 100% sure what the name of the class is, all I know is it makes me hurt like hell all week afterwards and I love it. Between that and Zumba (also a love) I actually go to the gym. SHOCKER. But it makes me feel so stretchy, even though I struggle with every move and the new gym layout puts group fitness classes at center stage so it's awkward as all hell, but whatever.

This move is about the extent of my skill

Grab Bag

So I've been trying to think of a blog post topic for like ever now, and all I can manage is small, one liners that I can't/don't feel like developing into full posts. So, here's kinda what my life would sound like if I had a twitter I suppose.

• Do you ever get that sneaking suspicion that you're not individual at all, but a composite of everything you think others want you to be?
• Ever notice how much gratification from the other sex (or the same sex - honey that's fine, you were born that way) means to you? It kind of bothers me how much it does actually.
• Confidence is tricky. You have to be careful not to have too much or too little, but in just the right amount it's so freakin sexy. On the one hand, why value what others think of you? But on the other, self worth is kind of like money, its not really worth anything if everyone else doesn't think so...
• One of the worst side effects of technology is the ease of avoiding people we don't want to talk to, leaving them panicking about what they did wrong that doesn't merit a response from you.
• I think the reason I'm hesitant to make a decision in my belief in love is that I don't like the idea of someone having so much subconscious control over me. I'm pretty sure if I get right down to it, I don't think I have the confidence in myself (I guess these ramblings do have a little theme going on...) to accept that someone else would want to fill the role of the other party in said relationship. Not that I'm not somewhat confident ("Krysti" you're probably saying "you write a fucking blog about your boring-ass life. I think you're pretty full of yourself." "huh aren't you saucy!" i reply) and I think one of my okay qualities is that I've more or less come to terms with who I am (not that I have any really outstanding hardships in identity to overcome). And I don't say this in a 'I'm-going-to-be-a-lonely-cat-lady-forever' way, just in a realistic way: I can't picture myself in a relationship because I don't know who the fuck out there I would even come close to being compatible with.
• Oh, also, recently decided I'm absolutely having cats as an adult. I guess this is already a warning sign of my future....
• I'm also kind of saucy because there was this kind of adorable kid in the laundry room the other day who was just chillaxin there with me and gave me his dryer and looked totally up for some random 1am laundry room chatting and I totally missed that opportunity. *sigh* Which goes against what I was saying in the other bullet point a little but hey, me contradicting myself? Like that's a first...
• I'm much to selfish to have kids of my own. I think it's a valuable thing for me to know this though, because if I were to have children I know for a fact I'd want to give not only the world to them, but the whole damn solar system (Pluto included - you'll always be a planet to me buddy <3) and I just don't think I really want to do that. I want to make use of my (hopefully) degree. I want to travel. I want to live for me, visit friends whenever I want, stay out all night, go to Comic Conventions, and move at the drop of a hat. None of this is conducive to being a parent. So basically I'm in the market for an awesome roommate/travel buddy, I suppose.
• Cell phones: the great equalizer. Now men and women are equally as poor drivers and ignore each other equally as efficiently.

I hope some of these mini-posts will be enough to hold you guys over for at least a little while cause the rest of this semester is going to be madness let-me-tell-you. Good thing I found out about Monster because I have a sneaking suspicion that I'll be releasing my inner Monster several more times this semester. But I'll try my hardest to drop in over here and say something random to make you smile as often as I can. Cause I'm not gonna lie, as stupid as the contents of this blog are, its my favorite thing ever. Basically I get to just ramble on about anything and everything and people tell me it makes them smile and they check it all the time. You people are so wonderful in that regard. Because let's face it, deep down I am such a goddamn attention whore, but I try my best not to be, so this is my one little space out in the interwebz where it is literally all about me. And....it's WONDERFUL.

<3goodnight kiddles, sweet and adventurous dreams my dears!

That Drink is a MONSTER

Okay honeys. Today I was introduced to the most wonderful and terrible substance on the planet. And no, its not alcohol or anything illegal. Today, ladies, gentlemen, and non gender conformers (Sheik...I'm talking to you) I had a Monster.

For those of you unfamiliar with our caffinated friend here, basically if you took a can of gasoline, threw it in a blender with old beer, a shot of orange kool-aid, and a cup of powered caffeine you get a Monster energy drink. These puppies can be commonly found in the hands of sleep deprived people, college students, and ravers (that was kind of repetitive, wasn't it?) and most recently: my belly. HOLY MOLEY.

Let. Me. Tell. You. (Mrs. B <3) I drank this thing four hours ago, so my buzz has died down pretty significantly, but before it did I left quite a few voicemails, a facebook video, and had a 30 minute straight one-sided conversation with my roommate. Maybe it was the lack of food in my stomach (I don't know if the same rules for alcohol apply with energy drinks?) but Holy mother of hyperactivity Batman! I was bouncing off the goddamn WALLS. Literally everything I said was at double speed, I made so many lists, danced my way across campus to rehearsal, texted in all caps for two hours, and just PACED. I was so out of control. Oh my lordie. In retrospect I should have just written some long hyper random blog post for you guys but from what I hear, the voicemails and videos left were pretty funny as well, just for their respective audience rather than the general public. Whatever. Now that I've gotten started some of the jitters are starting to come back, not gonna lie.

I suppose I should have a point to writing this ("oh good, something new and different for you" you say, "stfu" I say), so I'll make it a product review. As far as taste is concerned, it tastes exactly like you would guess from my prior description. But once you drink it for a little bit the taste kind of burns itself on your tongue and you kind of become numb to it. It looks, tastes, and smells gross but damn it all to hell IT WORKS. My recommendation is to wait until the inevitable and the Monster truck (literally a small monster truck with the Monster logo on it) comes to your campus (keep an eye out around finals/any major events on campus) - trust me, if it comes here I'm sure it comes to your school - grab one, try one. But I'm putting it out there right now. DO NOT TRY TO FUNCTION FOR HOURS AFTER.

Awesomeness - Videofied

So, you've probably heard of On the Rocks, though you may not know it. They're the men's acapella group whose 'Bad Romance' cover went viral (there's that word again! whoops!). Why? BECAUSE IT'S PHENOMENAL! I don't know why I haven't already posted it (maybe I have, I forget things a lot...) but if you haven't seen it - WATCH (first video is the original, the second is a fancy high-faluten official one). They're amazing and basically this combines all my loves into one:
1. acapella music <3
2. Lady Gaga
3. Suspenders (omg I LOVE SUSPENDERS - have I mentioned that? I think they're ADORABLE)
4. Guys singing

Just a Hot Second of Your Time...For My Sake

So, I don't claim to be super 1000% politically involved at all times, but I try and do my part to the things closest to my heart (the environment, gay rights, education reform, you know, that liberal agenda stuff). And this issue is not only close to my heart its actually the solid my heart lives on 9 months out of the year, the soil many of the people close to my heart live on, and the solid under thousands of deserving, wonderful people. PA state government is proposing budget cuts to higher education, in some reports by up to 50%. Now, I don't know if you knew this, but I go to a PA state school (so if you like me or my blog, right there is enough reason to sign). Not only that, cutting school funding in times of economic stress is THE WORST thing you can do. Hmm, to get ourselves out of recession lets make sure that the next generation of citizens is even more incompetent, uneducated and lazy! Great idea! Anyway, I'll hop off my soap box in the hopes that if you're cool enough to have found this blog, and you're awesome enough to stick with me that you value my education and the education of hundreds of thousands of others across the state who deserve (and in many cases work their ass off to afford and to get) a good education. The online petition can be found here:

http://coalitionpastudents.com/signpetition.html

There's also a group on facebook, so if you care, sign. If you care a lot, sign and send it to all your friends/family/pseudo-facebook friends/everyone you know. Thanks kiddles for helping change the world, one rambly blog post at a time.