"Final-ly"

AAAAAHHHH FRIENDS!!!!

KATIE JUST TOLD ME THAT IT'S FINALS WEEK, AND WE HAVE TO TAKE TESTS AND DO PROJECTS AND WRITE PAPERS, AND I HAVEN'T BEEN GOING TO CLASS AT ALL THIS SEMESTER, AND NOW I'M GOING TO FAIL, AND IF I FAIL I CAN'T GRADUATE, AND IF I DON'T GRADUATE I'LL HAVE TO STAY AT JSU, AND KATIE WILL LEAVE ME, AND I'LL BE ABANDONED AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So, for anyone who doesn't know, Finals Week is the last week of the semester. You have to take one last test in each of your classes (I don't even know what classes me/Katie is taking!!!), and then you're done forever! Sometimes your tests are worth a lot of points, and sometimes they're not, but it's always a really stressful week, mostly because you're tired and burned out from the rest of the semester.

AND I AM SO NOT PREPARED!!!!

Is this how you study?

How do you even use the Google?? I can't work a computer! I don't have thumbs!!!

I'm gonna need some caffeine if I'm going to pull an "all-nighter." That's a thing college kids do during Finals Week, right? You stay up all night to do the things. I've never seen Katie stay up all night...Except that one time she and Short Girl and Curly-Haired Boy watched Western movies until 4AM.

 

If I'm going to study, I definitely need ice cream. Ice cream is brain food. Oooh!! And pizza rolls! Pizza rolls are delicious!

And chips! You can't have a study break without chips! Oh, and we have pretzels, too! And peanut butter! My favorite!!

Okay. I think I've got everything I need to be a college student preparing for Finals. 

...

...

...

WAIT

Katie just told me that I don't have to take Finals, because I'm a bear...and I'm not enrolled in school...I also can't read or write...so I can't take tests. And...I just spent a long time freaking out and gathering snacks for nothing.

Are you freaking out, friends? 

Because you shouldn't be. It's just as pointless as me freaking out. Even though you guys ARE enrolled and you CAN read and write and you DO have to take tests, you shouldn't be worried. Those are all GOOD things. And you're all smart enough and talented enough to pass all your tests and juries and finish all your projects and papers. I believe in all of you! So just take a deep breath, grab some snacks, and keep going. Take a break every once in a while. Watch Tarzan. (I hear it's a great movie!) And remember, you're almost there!

Good luck everyone! You can do it!!

~Trash Bear (and Katie)~

Formal and Adorable

FRIENDS, FRIENDS, FRIENDS, FRIENDS, FRIENDS, FRIENDS, FRIENDS!!!!!

I GOT TO GO TO A FORMAL! 

AND FORMALS ARE LIKE PROM! 

AND I LOVE PROM NOW!!!

Okay, I'm calm now. I promise. I was just so excited that Katie was having a formal with the Honors Program, and I had to get it all out! Apparently she's been planning this for a long time, and she didn't tell me about it, because she wanted it to be a surprise! (And as much as I tease Katie, I know that anything she plans will be great, because she's so organized and wants people to have fun and be happy.)

They sure do clean up nice!

Formal was at this place called Events on Court in Gadsden, and it was SOOOO pretty! There was cobblestone and twinkly lights and a gazebo and a fountain and brick walls with vines creeping up the side and an indoor room with mirrors and lanterns and couches!! It was so nice! And this fancy restaurant called Effina's catered really yummy food AND dessert!! (That didn't go quite as smoothly as we wanted it to, but I'll explain that in a minute.) I'm so, so proud of Katie for planning everything! From the food to the venue and music to the tickets and advertising, she basically did it all. (With a little help from her friends, obviously, but if we're being honest, Katie has some control issues.) 

And I guess that it explains why she's beens so stressed out recently. As much as I love Katie, she takes things to whole new levels of stress that I didn't know people could reach. She only does it because she cares so, so, so much about everything she does, but it can be a lot to handle sometimes. And formal was one of those times.

Because the caterers were late.

The caterers were a  whole HOUR late.

And they brought the wrong size tablecloths.

And I thought Katie was going to use her fancy red high heels to kill somebody.

But after that blew over and Katie calmed down (which admittedly took a little while), I think everyone had fun! Katie's best friend from high school was her date (a "date" is someone who goes to a dance or fancy event with you, but they don't have to be your boyfriend or girlfriend). 

Family Pic

Fancy Boy being weird...again

And Curly-Haired Boy was Short Girl's date, and one of The Babies was Glasses Boy's date, and Bearded Boy was there--and Redhead Girl and Blonde Boy, too! Basically all my friends were there! And everyone looked so fancy!!! Katie made the sparkly belt that she wore,  and Fancy Boy (her date/BFF) wore a tux, and Curly-Haired Boy got red shoes to match Short Girl's dress, and Short Girl looked like a princess, and she was even a little taller than usual because she had reeeaalllly tall sparkly heels on, and Redhead Girl curled her hair, and the boys even wore button down shirts, which Katie swears is a big deal!

Photo from my new friend James Thompson

Look at my gorgeous friends!

There were lots of other Honors Program people there that I didn't know, but they all seemed to have fun, too! There was Purple Dress and Polka Dots and Green Hair and Red Dress #1 and Red Dress #2 and Green Dress and so many boys in suits! I'm getting dizzy just trying to remember everyone!

We stayed at formal for a pretty long time just eating food and talking and taking lots and lots and lots of cute pictures. For the last hour or so (when not many people were still there), Blonde Boy got on the stage and lip-synched to songs, and we did the Cha-Cha Slide and the Cupid Shuffle, too! (Okay, Katie and the others did those dances. I didn't because my knees don't bend....)

The best part was that we all got to spend time together looking beautiful and having fun and relaxing before Finals Week. Because Finals Week is apparently not super fun. But, then again, adventures don't have to be fun to be adventures. But I bet my friends and I can make Finals fun! They'll have to start calling them "Fun-als" when we're through with them!

 Overall, I think we can call Honors Formal 2016 a success!! 

Good job, team!

 ~Trash Bear (and Katie)~

My First Road Trip!

Friends, guess what?!?!

I went on my first road trip last weekend!! Me and Katie and Glasses Boy and Curly-Haired Boy and Short Girl all went on a road trip to a place called Tennessee! Do you know where Tennessee is? Have you ever been there? I hadn't until this weekend. We went to watch our friend Tall Girl play music.

So proud of Tall Girl!

Tall Girl is part of something called "indoor drumline." (One of The Babies is in it, too! So I go to see TWO friends!!) Indoor drumline is exactly what it sounds like: drumming inside. But Tall Girl doesn't play drums like you see rockstars play. She usually plays something called a marimba. It has the same notes as a piano, but it's on wheels, and you hit the keys with mallets to make sounds. It looks like this:

But for THIS indoor drumline, Tall Girl isn't playing marimba, either. She's playing synth, which is basically an electric piano. (Dear Tall Girl, The Baby, and any other music person who reads this: please don't be sad when I explain music instruments badly. I'm just a bear. My head is filled with fluffy stuffs.)

Go, The Baby, Go!!

The indoor drumline that Tall Girl and The Baby are part of is called Music City Mystique. They're probably my favorite group, and I'm only kind of biased. (Katie's Note: Trash Bear is totally biased. He only knows one indoor group, and that's McM. He doesn't even know what "biased" means. He's right, though. McM is pretty stinkin' awesome, and I'm incredibly proud of all the JSU kids who march with them!!) It's called Music City Mystique because it meets in Nashville, and Katie says that Nashville is sometimes called Music City because of all the country music people who perform there.

It's really hard to be in an indoor drumline, especially McM. Tall Girl and The Baby have to go to Nashville EVERY WEEKEND, and it's pretty far away from Jacksonville. I know because we roadtripped to almost there this weekend. They work for hours and hours and hours on music and marching and lights and sounds and visuals and their really intense facial expressions! Sometimes they don't get home until really late on Sundays, and then they have to go to school the next day! It's not easy, but Tall Girl has always wanted to march with Mystique, and she told Katie that it's worth it.

And once we got to see their show in person, I think I understand what Tall Girl meant. Because they were SO GOOD! The drummers were like running around, and they had light sticks that they grabbed and tricks that they did, and sometimes the people at the front would spin around, and one time people stood on their heads!!! It was crazy! You'll just have to watch the video that I'll make Katie post here, because it was too good to explain! And you could see on their faces that everyone loved what they were doing even though it was a lot of hard work. In fact, I think they may have been so happy because it was a lot of hard work and they were proud of themselves for doing it. I know I'm proud of myself every time I post a new blog, so I bet the McM kids were even MORE proud.

So, we drove a loooooong way to Tennessee (Katie says it's about a 3-hour drive, but it took us almost 4....whoops), and we saw an AWESOME show; then we spent about an hour in Books-a-Million (because there's not much sightseeing to do in Spring Hill, Tennessee), and then we drove a looooong way home--but this time we had Tall Girl with us! The car was so full that I got to ride in the trunk! It was an adventure within an adventure!!

Last Sunday was a really long day (for me and for Katie). Even when we got home, she and Short Girl and Curly-Haired Boy had homework to do. But I think we all think it was worth it. Like Curly-Haired Boy said, "These are the things you're supposed to do in college: make memories."

And I like memories. Especially memories with these guys.

 Watch McM's 2016 Show "In Bloom" Here!

~Trash Bear (and Katie)

UPDATE: Katie says that Tall Girl and The Baby and the rest of McM are competing in the WGI Indoor Drumline Championships in Dayton, Ohio, today through Saturday! Go McM! Go Tall Girl! Go The Baby! We're all so proud of you! Wooooooooh!!!

***All photo credits go to Ms. Doreen Hart Brisendine. She's a mom of one of the musicians and McM's semi-official photographer***

Cockystock with the Cool Kids

Hi again, friends!

I've had so much fun recently that I've almost forgotten to blog about it! (Well, Katie's forgotten to blog about it, but don't worry, because I reminded her!) And the last few weeks of the semester have been especially busy!

Anything with my bestie is an adventure!

Last Wednesday, I went to Cockystock with Katie. Cockystock is this outside thing on the TMB lawn with music and food and crafts. Katie says it's a play off "Woodstock," but I don't know what Woodstock is, either. Just that it happened a pretty long time ago. It sounds like it was fun, though.

Meet my new friends: The Babies!

Most importantly, I made some new friends at Cockystock! They have a lot of names that I'll never remember, but Katie says I can just call them The Babies. The Babies are freshmen in college, and Katie kind of adopted/kidnapped them. Some of them even call her "Mom," and that's cute and weird at the same time. They really look up to Katie for help with college, and Katie likes helping them. So, I guess it makes sense that they call each other "Babies" and "Mom." They really are like a family.

So, all that to say that The Babies wanted to have a Family Volleyball Game before Cockystock, and they invited me and
Katie to play with them!
I got to be part of their big, happy, crazy family
for a little while, and, boy, was it fun!

I will say this, though: Katie and The Babies aren't so great at sports...but it's okay, because they definitely had fun. They did more running after the ball than hitting it, but they probably got a good workout just from laughing so much! The Boy Babies are pretty good at sportsing, though. Katie says they played sports in high school, though, so that's almost like cheating. I didn't play. Mostly because I have disproportionally short arms. And you sometimes need your arms to play volleyball.

After a few games of volleyball (Katie's team won...I think. It's hard to tell.), we went over to Cockystock, and I got free pizza! Free pizza is by far the best kind of pizza. Me and Katie and The Babies sat together and ate dinner and listened to the band that was playing (One of the guitar players was really, really enthusiastic! He was dancing around the stage and shaking his hair all around! He might have more energy than Katie!), and then we decided to go inside and look around. There were so many people waiting in lines to make dream catchers and paint canvases or have their names drawn into pictures or get silly pictures of themselves drawn! There was a lot packed into the teeny tiny TMB lobby!!

But pretty soon it was time to go. Katie was tired from sportsing, and The Babies had homework to do. So Katie took a few more pictures and got me another piece of pizza, and then we headed back home.

It wasn't a grand, all-day adventure, but sometimes adventures are in the little things: hanging out with your family and being collectively bad at something together and eating pizza and relaxing and putting off your obligations and responsibilities for one evening. Because a long, long time from now, you won't remember the homework assignments you had, but you will remember the nights when you had fun doing nothing with people who mean everything to you.

~Trash Bear (and Katie)~

Family Volleyball Champs!

Prom 2016: "Bear"fast at Tiffany's (Or Something Like That)

Okay, friends,

How many of you knew what “Prom” was and didn’t tell me?!?!

Because a few weeks ago, Katie’s Brother had his prom, and it sounds like just about the coolest thing ever invented in the history of ever! You get to get dressed up in fancy clothes and eat yummy food and take pictures with your best friends and go to a fancy place and eat MORE yummy food and dance!! Those are all of my favorite things!

Well, since Katie’s Brother is a senior (which means he’ll stop being in high school soon), this was his last prom, and Katie and Katie’s Mom and Katie’s Dad wanted to make is special for him, so of course that means I got to be a part of it! Me and Katie and Short Girl and all of Katie’s family and a bunch of Katie’s Brother’s friends went to this cute little park not-so-far away to take pictures. (Katie says it’s in Alexandria.) All the girls had fancy fluffy dresses on, and the boys were wearing these things called “tuxes.” (Katie says that girls like it when boys wear tuxes. Maybe I’ll get a tux someday, too!) Everyone looked so nice. And aaaalllllllll their moms showed up and took soooooooo many pictures, but it was okay, because everyone was excited and happy. They even let ME take pictures with the pretty girls!

Now, normally, I’m not so excited about MORE pictures (because, let’s be real, Katie takes way too many pictures), but how often do you get to be surrounded by so many pretty girls in fancy dresses?  So, obviously I went for it! I also had a few “photobombs,” which were apparently pretty funny. (I actually just learned what a photobomb is while I was typing this, and now that Katie’s explained it to me, it is funny.)

But my favorite part of taking prom pictures was when me, Katie, and Short Girl had our own photoshoot. Short Girl called them our “awkward family photos.” I don’t really know what she meant by that, but I do know that it means I get to be part of a family. That’s the thing I noticed most about Katie’s Brother’s prom group: they looked like a family. They were all different colors and shapes, but they looked like they belonged together.

Katie was a senior in high school (so long ago—like 2 whole years ago!), and she says that that's one of the coolest years of your life. You have a lot of freedom. It's scary, because everything you've ever known is changing all around you, but you compensate by spending time with your friends and driving with the all windows rolled down and the music blaring and staying up late to watch movies and play board games. Katie says senior year is all about making memories...because sometimes things change after high school. Sometimes you make new friends and start new little families (new little families with bears like me!). She says that can be really scary when it's happening but that senior year isn't that way at all. It's a little piece of perfect, and no matter what happens after high school, no one can take away all the fun of your senior year.

I definitely saw that with Katie's Brother and his friends. They were loving every last second of their senior year, and I'm really glad I got to be a part of their little piece of perfection that they'll remember forever.

~Trash Bear (and Katie)~