Yes, guys, I did say tigers.  If I'm going to share my life with y'all, I guess I might as well go right out ahead with it and be honest with y'all.  I was once a tiger.  My closet was once filled with orange and black tees.  I had orange and white pompoms and a lil' stuffed tiger.  I yelled "GO TIGERS!" probaby at least once a week.  But wait!  There's good news with this itty-bitty, not-so-secret-anymore, dark fact about myself...those tiger moments of my life were for my high school!  Hehe!

This fall break, my alma mater was celebrating their homecoming, and a couple of my '06 alumnis and a good ol' friend of mine cheered on the Tigers at their football game.  I promised my 10th grade U.S. Government teacher who is a die-hard Clemson Tiger fan that last night will only be the one time I cheer for the tigers again. 

The game was just like most high school football games I used to watch in my good ol' years.  Same old, same old meaning that they unfortunately lost.  My good ol' tigers were never so great with football.  But actually, the Tigers did hold the opposing team to a 28-12 lead during the first half.  The first TD of the game was an awesome 90-yard TD from a fumble of the other team.  The Tiger Fever was in the air, and the homecoming festivities went on during half time.  It was so exciting thinking that the team is going to have such a great win!  Unfortunately the end of the 3rd quarter came up to 28-20.  A few crazy plays ended the 4th quarter with some angry parents on the stands and a tied game of 28-28.  The first over time ended with both teams making a TD but missing the extra points forcing the game into yet another over time, which unfortunately the Tigers just couldn't push through the defense for a TD.  The other team made theirs...so, yea.  In short, we lost.

Back in high school we always had the saying of "Once a Tiger, always a Tiger," and I can't say that I don't love those tiger moments of my life anymore.  I loved being a Tiger, screaming at the top of my lungs during my soccer game huddles, "TI-GERRRS."  It's just I have been now enlightened, and I'm loving the garnet blood running through my veins!  Indeed it is and will remain...GAMECOCKS FOR LIFE!

And so with that, I shall bid y'all adieu.  The football cheering does not end at last night, as today's Saturday and there'll be lots of good College football games to watch.  I also need to get myself all ready for this afternoon's game against that other Carolina!  Time to stomp those Heels! 

Catch y'all later on the flipside, Gamecocks!

Posted by Kriska at 08:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Holy Baloney!  100th entry and still going strong.  I sure hope that y'all have been having a great time following me all throughout my Carolina experience.  As for me, it's been a great experience to be able to write about all that I do in Cola and everywhere and sharing that with y'all.

Last week, I had a meeting with the other bloggers and were shown the statistics of how our blogs are doing, and I was just so excited.  I knew people were reading our blogs, but to see the actual numbers of those unique visitors and of course the repeat visitors who keep coming back to read my blog, it was just cool!!!  It made me feel like my blogging might really be making a difference...hehehe!

I hope y'all keep on reading 'coz y'all know what...I'll keep on writing!  :)

Catch y'all a gazillion more entries later, Gamecocks!

Posted by Kriska at 08:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Starting last last Friday with Relay for Life, the past week seemed to have gone so well.  I had a blast with my friends and all the other participants at RFL.  Then Shawn's parents came up for the Spring game.  Pseudo-tailgating and watching Hootie and the Blowfish was so much fun.  I didn't have my usual Chemistry lab because I had already finished all of the experiments for the semester.  I also finally made my first A in Physics.  I went to the mall to celebrate the A and shopped!  I also found great bargains on USC merchandise at the bookstore at the Russell House.  Then, on Thursday night, I went to a concert with Shawn and Megan.  And lastly, to top of the week, Shawn and I were picked up by my brother, sister, and her husband for a nice Saturday get-away.  We had so much fun hanging out at Beaufort!

It seems so unfair, however, to enjoy the fact that I had had such a great week last week.  What with the NASA murder-suicide, the massacre at Virginia Tech, and the crash of the Blue Angel that killed the pilot and destroyed several homes that all took place last week.  Looking back on all the things I have enjoyed, they all now seem so miniscule all too quick, and it makes me want to just take a moment to pause and put things into perspective...

I actually didn't hear much about the NASA murder-suicide, but it is just as important and as big as anything else.  It's all too incredulous how a man can do such a thing.  Quite even more unfathomable, of course, is how that student just went around on such a spree to take so many innocent lives.  There are so many questions.  So many questions from everyone, including myself, that will just never get answered.  I couldn't even get myself to gather my thoughts about what had happened.  It's just one of those things that's just too impossible to comprehend. 

Over this weekend, when I had gone to Beaufort, I thought I was just going to have a fun Saturday with my siblings and my boyfriend.   Just one good Saturday of relaxation--a nice little break from school.  And it was nice.  It was a lot of fun, but little did I know that as much fun as I had and as fascinated as I was with all the tricks  that all of the pilots performed that day at the airshow that it would end on such a tragic note.  I didn't know the pilot, of course, but when I saw that cloud of smoke and realized that one plane was missing there was only one thing that I could think about--I hope that he's okay.  Regardless of the fact that each individual in the service knows that there is an ultimate risk in what they have gotten themselves in, it's always so sad when a life is claimed.  On top of that, it wasn't like he was off in battle.  He was just there to provide families and friends with good, patriotic, American pride and fun!  Keeping up to date with the news, I later found out that his family was also there at the show to watch him.  I can only imagine what was going through their minds as his plane could not be seen anywhere in sight...Again, questions in my mind...

No one expects any of these things to happen.  No one thinks that a bad report may induce a man to kill.  No one suspects a single student can affect so many lives in such a scary way.  Lastly, you think least of accidents to happen to anyone...

LIFE.  It's all too precious.  So many bad things can happen and usually without any warning.  Maybe it is okay for me to be excited about last week.  That USC "Why Not US?" shirt I bought for $5.99, that guy who said I was a pretty beastly football player at RFL, my first A in physics, the mac & cheese and banana pudding Shawn's mom made, my new black clutch purse that Shawn got me, the crazy, fun concert where Shawn, Megan, and I were swarmed with cute dancing old couples...maybe I am allowed to enjoy all of those things despite the unfortunate events that came with it because at any given moment any bad thing can happen to me so I should treasure every great moment that comes. 

I will continue to keep all those who have had a rough week in my mind.  I only hope that time will help them heal...but at the same time I urge y'all, whether y'all were affected directly or not by any of the events to just continue living.  No one could have said it any better than Abraham Lincoln did when he said, "And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years."

Catch y'all later on the flipside future Gamecocks.  Keeping y'all in my mind...

Posted by Kriska at 04:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Sorry that I haven't been able to blog lately guys.  In a somewhat unplanned/planned trip...I all of a sudden found myself here in Indy.  Unplanned/planned because my sister and I have been talking about my other sister, my brother and I coming up to visit her here in Indianapolis but never really making any concrete plans about it... Actually, I'm about to leave to go back to Greenville.  I've been here since Tuesday--mostly to help my sister and her husband pack up their things because they are having to relocate back to Greenville for my sister's job.  This is a great thing for the family because we've sorely missed my sister who's been living in Indianapolis for the past 6 years...

Anyways, the trip has been really cool.  There was a lot of packing that needed to be done, but whenever we got a chance, we also snuck in some sight-seeing and shopping--like taking a tour-lap around the Indy 500 Speedway, shopping around downtown, and eating at my sister's fave restaurants.  It will probably be a while before we ever come back up here since my sister is moving back down.  The coolest part of the trip will probably be going up on a Cessna 172--FLOWN BY MY VERY OWN SISTER!  It has been her childhood dream since I can remember for her to become a pilot, and she's very close to getting her license.  It was quite a treat for my siblings and I that she took us up around the downtown area.  I got to enjoy a nice sunset view of the city...it was pretty sweet!

Anyways...just wanted to catch up with y'all!  Sorry that it's been a while since I last blogged.  Cheer the Gamecocks on as they play in the Liberty Bowl.  Unfortunately, my sister and her husband do not believe in paying for cable so I'm having to watch the game on ESPN.com on Gamecast!  Oh, cross y'alls fingers and pray we get a chance!!! 

Well, it's time to get going...pretty soon we have to head to the airport to catch our flight.  Hope everyone's Christmas celebration went well... New year's right around the corner...HOLY CRAP!  hehehe!

Well, catch y'all later on the flipside, future Gamecocks! 

Posted by Kriska at 04:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I remember that back in middle school, I was such a bookworm that I was in the school library every morning returning a book and borrowing a new one to read for the day.  I participated in the Accelerated Reader Program in seventh and eighth grade, and in both years, I had accumulated the highest points for the school year.  But that was about four and a half years ago, and in all honesty, I have felt that I have “outgrown” reading books.  In high school, I barely read any books.  I read more Pinkmonkeys and Sparknotes more than I ever read any of the required reading books.  I just felt that between soccer, tennis, Red Cross, Student Council, French newspaper, Honor Society--yadah, yadah, yadah...you name the club, and I was in it--that I had no time to pick up any book.  But lo and behold, suprising even myself, I have found that my English 282 Fiction class has to be my favorite class for this semester.

It is a pretty demanding course.  I have to read ten books for the semester, and the books aren’t jokes.  The list includes Faulkner, Rushdie, Conrad, and Kundera.  Besides Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, the books have been pretty hard reads—I’m not even going to go into how difficult Faulkner’s Absalom, Absalom! was.  But hard as the books have been, I’ve actually found myself reading them.  YES, I’M BACK TO READING BOOKS AND LOVING IT!  Mrs. Chandler, my senior year English teacher, would be so proud to hear me say that.

I’d have to give credit where it is due, however, because this sudden urge to read is definitely not my own doing especially when the books are so complex.  He is witty and clever, he is funny and interesting, and best of all, he is my professor.  Professor Mark Sibley-Jones makes running to Flinn Hall every Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays at 1:22 (the class starts at 1:25 but Flinn is just right next door to Maxcy) worth it.  A lot of the time, I don’t understand the books we are reading, but I know that every time I go to class somehow it will all make sense.  I think it would be a good assumption to say that he knows his “stuff” pretty well, and if not, he sure does know how to make it all look good.  Also, there are only eighteen of us in the class so discussions go very well.  The discussions are good, and in that way, my classmates also help me out in learning the material.  These are two reasons of many why I like being in the Honors College—I get to enjoy small classes and great professors.  The idea of sitting in an auditorium filled with 299 other students and a professor running through PowerPoint slideshows just does not appeal to me, even if it does mean that I can sleep in class or even skip it and my professor would probably never even know.

So yea, just when I thought I was done with books and that Pinkmonkeys are the best animals in this world, here I am delving into another book and actually enjoying it.  I encourage you to apply for the Honors College.  Not only will it be a great looking diploma after four years but you will be able to engage in your classes even better.  I encourage you to also read books—Pinkmonkeys are awesome but you just don’t get out as much from it as you actually do when you read a book.  Lastly, I recommend taking a class with Sibley-Jones when you get here.  It’ll be time and tuition money well spent.

Catch y’all on the flipside, future Gamecocks! 

Posted by Kriska at 03:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Who of y'all actually got up at the break of dawn 4AM to go line up at Best Buy, Circuit City, Kohls, Wal-Mart and such to shop for the early bird specials?!?  (Scratch out "break of dawn"  I don't think I actually saw the sun until 7 or something!) 

Man, I'd have to plead guilty... BLACK FRIDAY!  Man!  Well, I didn't get up exactly at 4 in the morning.  It was more like 4:25...hehe!  By 4:40, my brother, my best friend, and I were out the door and on our way to Kohls.  With the urging of my two passengers, I made a usual 20-25 minute trip to the busiest road of Greenville, South Carolina--Woodruff--in just 15 minutes!  This is a pretty crazy feat, and people who know me would definitely agree because I'm a pretty moderate driver--not slow but not fast either.  I'm a cop magnet, so I can't afford to drive fast... yea!  So anyways... It's pretty ridiculous actually that when we got to Kohls, as early as we were, there was a long line that wrapped around the store... which makes me just think... MY GOSH!  AMERICA, WE ARE SHOPAHOLICS!

Well, I hope y'all have had your fill of turkey and all that great stuff last night...and well that y'all had some great deals today!  Just wanted to drop a quick line and well... HEY!

Catch y'all on the flipside, future Gamecocks!

Posted by Kriska at 02:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

"So no one told you life was gonna be this way... Your job's a joke, you're broke, your love life's D.O.A... It's like you're always stuck in second gear... And it hasn't been your day, your week, your month, or even your year... but... I'll be there for you......" 

Yes, you might as well start playing the Rembrants in the background.  That is just how tight my friends and I are.  We started out with the Fab5--Yes, it does sound kind of gay, but it's far from being that.  Several kids from my high school are also here at USC with me, and four of them I guess haven't had enough of me from four years of high school and have decided to become my college buds too.  Meenal is my high school best friend.  Then, there's Megan who is my amazing roomie.  Then, there are the two guys, Eric and Andy, who if all else fails will be sure to make the day fun by cracking some odd jokes.  The fun doesn't ever stop with these guys, and we've actually drawn a couple others in our circle--the enhanced Super7.  Gayer?  Not!  Shawn's my best friend from ages ago who has decided to make a blast from the past, and Aaron lives down the hall from me.

Man the adventures with these guys.. the Late night Beezer runs--they have awesome subs for that 2 AM hunger strike... the movies at the Russell House--free from Carolina Productions... the old school TV reruns of Fresh Prince, Friends, and Boy Meets World--USC Cable TV pretty much rocks... the "hikes" out to Harden Street--Food Lion's pretty good for stocking up on some snacks... and well, my dorm room we've dubbed "MaxcyPad" for just chilling and hanging out!  

Well, thought I'd introduce to y'all my buds.  Y'all will probably be reading a lot about them as well, and yea, pretty much y'all will see me around campus with one of these awesome guys.

Catch y'all on the flip side future Gamecocks! 

Posted by Kriska at 10:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hey!  I'm sure y'all will agree with me that the typical "Hello, my name is" routine is just way too cliche-ic and can just get too old.  So, let me just get to the highlights and let's skip all the boring autobiographical mumbo jumbos! 

They call me Kriska, and currently, I am here in Gamecock Country, Columbia as a freshman in the Honors College as a Carolina Scholar.  I have a fairly broad range of interests, which usually gets me in trouble with being involved with far too many things.  At the moment, I'm already involved in a couple of clubs here, but will probably get into a couple more later.  I guess I can be categorized as that typical "honors" kid--an ultimate overachiever.  But I like it because keeping busy makes life interesting.  I'm living on campus here at Maxcy College, and I have to say that it's been an exciting change living on my own.  My neighbors are pretty cool, and my roomie is awesome!  I'm a declared pre-pharmacy major, but things may change... There is always something new everyday here at USC so we'll just have to see how things go...

Well, that's enough about me for now.  Guess I'll just wrap up with saying that the USC experience these past couple of months have been just great, and I'm certain it can only get better.  It doesn't even feel like I've been here for about three months!  It's so crazy just how fast time flies!  I'll make sure to catch you guys up on the first half of the fall semester and definitely let y'all in on my future adventures.  I hope y'all enjoy getting to know me as you follow me along here in Columbia.  Catch y'all on the flip side and hope to see y'all soon, future Gamecocks!

Posted by Kriska at 09:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)