New and improved topic: FEAR!

 "You should do one thing every day that scares you." 

This week I was hanging out in my friend's room and saw the above quote on her wall. This quote got me thinking- I'm scared of everything. I'm scared of heights, roller coasters, people who drive too fast, sudden turns, open water, water skiing, being in the dark alone, most vegetables, failure, public speaking... everything. Athazagoraphobia, is my greatest fear-- the fear of being forgotten or ignored. You're probably thinking "Wow, what isn't she afraid of?" Yeah, I'm wondering the same thing. Everyone loves a success story. We all love to hear about people who overcome their fears. Why not blog about it? So I've decided to change the premise of my blog. Each week, I will post about fears. I'll post things that scare me, fears I've conquered that week, fears others have conquered- anything that relates to the fear that consumes so many of us.

Now that I've introduced my new and improved topic, I'll move on to my interview. I interviewed Laura Bolling, a Junior and fellow Brenau student. I picked her because Saturday night, right before I was about to face my fear of being in front of people by performing a step with my sorority, she conquered one of my own fears: public speaking. There were way too many people to count crammed in the tiny side room at the gag, and before she spoke, she was telling me not to be nervous. She didn't seem phased by the crowd at all. And then she spoke without a stutter.


KB: How would you define fear?
LB: A psychological situation that causes anxiety or unpleasant emotions


KB: What are you afraid of? 

LB: Rodents, people finding out my secrets, and being ineffective

KB: What is your biggest fear?

LB: That I'll miss the opportunity to change the world. Or that even though I tried, it will stay the same. 

KB: What helps you conquer your fears, big or small?

LB: Being proactive. If I see a problem, I try to change it.

KB: "You should do one thing each day that scares you." How do you feel about this quote?

LB: Gloria Steinem once said that you should do one outrageous thing a day and I think they go hand in hand. If you do one thing that scares you each day, you'll eventually become fearless.  

KB:  Who has inspired you to face your fears?

LB: Probably my mother. She has faced such hard and scary times, but she still comes out of situations with a pure and open heart and she refuses to become jaded. 

KB:  Have you conquered any fears since you've come to Brenau?

LB: PUBLIC SPEAKING!!! I used to be so afraid to speak in front of my peers and now I truly enjoy it. 

(This is my biggest fear, and the very reason why I picked Laura to interview!)

KB: What is the scariest thing you've ever done?

LB: Moving away from a horrible situation in Washington state. In freeing myself, I found Brenau and became the woman I am today. 

Next, I asked her to say the first thing that came to her mind when I mentioned the following:

KB: Fear?

LB: unknown 

KB: Phobia?

LB: RATS!!!

KB: Caution?

LB: Driving

KB: Brave?

LB: Standing up to injustice

Same time next week? Perfect. See you then. :)

Residential Roommate Hell

This week, one thing in particular stuck out in my mind: roommate problems.

Last year, I couldn’t WAIT to have a roommate and have coordinating bed sets... and have someone to hang out with all the time. I’m an only child, so I was convinced my roommate and I would have a sisterly bond. My roommate was also an only child, also blonde with blue eyes. We were similar heights, had similar interests, and even similar pasts. Both of us had never met our biological father. Both of us were going through a really rough break up. Both of us wanted to be ADPis. We were the “same person”.

I never realized how hard it was to live with someone. Within a week, we were fighting. The entire semester was a battle. She no longer attends Brenau, so this semester I have a new roommate. But now one of my close friends is having roommate problems. It never ends! The underlying problem in both of our situations was that we both thought because we were roommates, we had to be best friends. WRONG. That will never be true. If it is, awesome.  

This semester, I have a new roommate. She’s new to Brenau and we aren’t very close. But now I’m constantly being told that I should bring her around with me more, hang out with her more, tell her more, share more… the list is endless. Where is the happy medium?

I am your roommate, not your mother. I shouldn’t have to take out the garbage every week. I shouldn’t be the only one cleaning. It’s not okay for you to pop in a movie at midnight because you don’t have class tomorrow even though I have an 8 am. If you leave your laundry in the dryer and have to go to class, it’s not my job to wait for it to finish to bring it back to our room! You are in college—don’t put in your laundry if you know you don’t have the time to watch it. No, I will not make your bed. What's mine is NOT yours. Most of this is common sense, but almost all of my friends have an endless list of complaints about their roommate simply not understanding the concept.

It’s okay to be polite without being best friends. It’s okay to be involved in different things. You are my roommate, we are not the same person. 

Introduction :)

I had a hard time deciding on a topic because, well, I'm too ADHD to focus on just one thing. I wanted my blog to accurately represent me and become more than just an assignment. The end result? My Life As Katie: "These are a few of my favorite things...".

 I picked the title My Life As Katie because of the MTV show "My Life As Liz". I mocked the show's concept at first, but slowly began to love her. I love people who are witty and awkwardly random, and that's the epitome of this show. My subtitle, "These are a few of my favorite things..", is from the Sound of Music. I decided to throw that in there for two reasons: 1) While sitting in class today, thinking of a new and improved topic, I realized I have an endless list of "favorites". 2) After coming to this realization, I couldn't get the song out of my head.

 This semester I'll be posting about... well, I have no idea. Everything. I'm going to discuss things that catch my eye in the news, entertainment world, things that irk me, food, college life, sorority life-- anything and everything that excites me when I sit down to write my post. Most of them will probably be random, but normal is boring anyways.

See you next week. :)