The week before Christmas: in photos

Although my week and a half at home has been quite relaxing, it's been full of photo-worthy events to be shared!

Merry Christmas! The Artemas family on Christmas Eve at Sts. Peter & Paul.

Eleni, Maria and I with Yiayia Sophie
Let's rewind to Saturday, Dec. 18 and go from there. Dean's friend told him about Glendi at St. Demetrios-Elmhurst, so Christina, Dean and I figured we'd try it out. Their friend was Greek dancing in this Cretan troupe and the three of us enjoyed a nice meal and danced afterwards.

The unique part of this experience for me was going somewhere I clearly don't belong, not knowing anyone else there, and just making the most of the situation. We had a great time catching up, dancing and meeting fellow Greeks, but I felt not Greek enough to be there. If a group of college students came to a dance at Sts. Peter & Paul, the current college students would probably glare at them. But being on the opposite side of the situation taught me a lesson and encouraged me to attend such benefits in the future!

Dean and I
I spent a lovely night with the Flammily building gingerbread houses with Becca and Jessie! Mine is painted red (obviously), and is Christmas-y with its red and green gum drops, but Mizzou-spirited with M-I-Z on one side and Z-O-U on the other, bordered in yellow and black gumdrops and licorice.

If there's anything I've learned over the holidays, it's that crafts like this as well as dishes and cleaning are the most relaxing break you can take.
Jessie, me and Becca with our trees!

Problem: Since I've only been in Northbrook twice without really working at Friday's or having a constant babysitting job, I've only had these two times to realize how open-ended people can be when they don't use a planner. To take advantage of this essence, I volunteered to drive to Cincinnati and pick up my Yiayia Sophie to join our family for Christmas. Why go on a Megabus when your granddaughter can chauffeur you, and take a vacation while she does it?!

Meredith came with me and we had a nice drive there, visiting my Yiayia, three of my Theas (aunts) and some cousins. Meredith's good friend Jon from University of Illinois lives in Cincinnati, so we went with him and his sister to the zoo for the Festival of Lights! It was gorgeous!

Light show
We still got to see a couple of animals regardless of the surplus of lights and the cold weather! The elephants!
After the zoo, we decided to show Meredith all of Cincinnati and went to Fountain Square downtown. There was a nice ice skating rink we planned to skate on, but unfortunately it closed early and they were out of skates so we weren't able to pursue the plan. Our nice alternative was Graeter's Ice Cream, a Cincinnati classic, in Clifton and enjoying each other's company in a different setting than our college towns.
The next morning (we packed a lot into two days), we took donuts to my cousins Christina (left) and Jillian (right) who taught us how to play Just Dance 2 on the Wii. This game is not quite DDR, but instead lets you hold the Wii-mote and forces you to follow each move the character is doing, as if he or she is a dance instructor for let's say, a Zumba class. It was the most fun Wii game I have ever played and was a phenomenal workout. Meredith's psychic aunt purchased it for her for Christmas, so I will be playing again soon! The songs range from Ke$ha to Avril Lavigne to Mika, a variety of upbeat favorites. Give it a try!
After packing and a quick lunch at Skyline Chili, another Cincinnati classic, we visited my Thea Jeanie and her three children! Megan, Drew, me and Courtney smile below :)

Driving in Indiana with Yiayia sleeping in the front seat. This was what I actually did for 10 hours in two days, but you would think we id so much more based on our schedule! It was nice to get away and see my entire extended family on my mom's side while doing so.

The past few days have been a combination of going to a church service and eating with the family, all in efforts to celebrate Christmas. Christ is Born, Glorify Him, and hope you're having a fun break too!

The Nativity

Apparently, the thing to do this year is modernize the Nativity. I can't decide if this is the greatest thing in the world or the strangest thing in the world.

The Christmas Story: This video, as found by my friend Anna, shows a group of young kids explaining Jesus's birth in their innocent voices.

The Digital Story of the Nativity:

My dad sent me a link to this video a few weeks ago and I have shared it with many people, because it is so amazing. This creator uses current Internet technology screenshots to describe in today's world how a story could possibly be told. Some programs he uses include Gmail, Facebook, Twitter, Four Square and iPhone text messaging. I was even more fascinated as I had just learned what Four Square was the day before watching this video: a program where you check into your current location and have the incentive of seeing who else is there by checking in, or being labeled the "mayor" of that location for being there the most. Social media and religion are something I never would have thought to combine, but the video works well.

The advantage is that these independent groups are spending their time and effort into putting the Nativity and Christmas story into the rest of society's terms, and it might even enhance knowledge. A teenager who grew up without a religious background and comes across these videos might better comprehend the story of Christmas. Both videos focus on simplicity, and when information is presented so clearly, humans are more inclined to listen. It's great that people are spending their time analyzing the Bible and parables, then wanting to share the lessons and stories with the rest of the world.

But are we diminishing the significance of what happened by almost mocking the scene? This potential disadvantage arose in the digital nativity video. The Virgin Mary types this on Gmail in a message to joseph.carpenter07@gmail.com: Joseph, we need to talk. I will be pregnant. Call me ASAP. xoxo, Mary. The Three Kings exchange messages about what gift to buy the baby. Generally, I think this mocks our priorities of gifts and impatience more than the Nativity story itself, hitting home, but some might see it as a sign of disrespect. For now, I remain in favor of such videos and hope to see more arise in the future.

I wish you and your family a great Christmas and holiday season!! Merry Christmas!

Christmas cards

Christmas cards are intended to spread holiday cheer. Wikipedia describes them as "greeting cards sent as part of the traditional celebration of Christmas in order to convey between people a range of sentiments related to the Christmas and holiday season." Being in a family that receives Christmas cards from parishioners of our church, family and miscellaneous people we've met around the country, we go through quite a lot of them (as seen in the photo below).

It wasn't until this year that I realized the real connotations Christmas cards have; they are a way to brag, flash your wealth and/or judge people. Maybe a nice gesture to let someone know you remember their existence--whether it's distant cousins, your best friend from middle school or the priest that did your wedding, but once the card arrives, the judging begins. She gained weight, their kids look too much like (insert parent or grandparent here), that's an unattractive family, the dog is hideous. Effortlessly, I immediately think of these examples from cards my family receives annually.

Exhibit A: One family had a tri-fold, double-sided card on photo paper. If that wasn't enough, the front was a picture of each of four children, along with some group photos. The back three sides had three photos- one of a fully furnished and decorated home, one of a pool and jacuzzi with the beach in the background, and another with the sunset. The caption said "FINALLY, after three years, our vacation home in Los Cielos, Mexico is ready!!" Intended reaction...jealousy. We've already seen your kid in every context of each hobby you let them participate in, but cannot fully understand the place your family is in if we didn't see the vacation home. I imagine it to be one of the most beautiful views, but why lust over what you can't have? The Christmas card was an obvious example of showing off the fact that they can afford a beach home, and not just any beach home, that specific one.

Exhibit B: A distant relative annually sends a family photo with a two-page letter describing how her family's life is, with a paragraph on each activity each child is involved in. I've never met the people, and I can probably describe Zach and Lindsay's teen years as best as they can. Three years ago, we heard about the entire family. But two years ago was when life started to fall apart. She included in the card that she was getting a divorce and basically had nowhere to go in life. Last year, she "retired" (although she wasn't old enough to really retire, just stopped working/took a break, depression much?) and her son's girlfriend got knocked up. This year, she's a 'happy' grandmother, her son still is not married and her daughter is probably staying near home for college to keep her mother up and running. Is this Christmas card calling for pity, or the only outlet this woman has to describe her life to someone?

Exhibit C: I picked up my grandmother in Cincinnati to bring her to Chicago for Christmas, and naturally, went through her Christmas card. She whined about getting less cards this year (which probably isn't true, just her perception) and I wondered why she cared. All the cards she got were pre-written, and literally had "Dear Sophie," at the top, and the person' signature under Hallmark's generic paragraph and hope all is well wishes. We had an interesting experience running into an extended family member at a nearby restaurant, where the conversation went something like this:

"Hi Sophie!"

"Hi! How's your 90 year old father?"

"He's doing great, thanks for asking!"

"Really, I wouldn't know, I didn't get his Christmas card." (why she said this, I don't know)

"That's odd, I sent them all out!" (daughter doing her job taking care of her 90 year old father from his nursing home)

"Guess I'm off the list then."

Besides the fact that senior citizens are blunt, this taught me that old people especially realize who still cares about them and wants others to know they're alive through the exchange of Christmas cards. Sure, spreading some holiday spirit is worth something; it's exciting to get mail in the winter that's not a credit card bill. But one value of cards are to know who is still up and running and well enough to write them themselves.

Exhibit D: Let's discuss the average Christmas card, a family photo. This can constitute a photo of just the children, the parents too or extended family at a nice event. Choosing that picture can be difficult because you are giving half of the people on the card list one emblem to base their thoughts on your family off of for another year. With these cards, upon receiving them, you look at a few attributes. This is included but not limited to the attractiveness of the family, how their well-being seems from the picture, where the photo is taken, if the parents are in it too, how many people or kids are in it, which parent or family member they resemble and more. As the most simple of cards, I think they portray a classy representation of one's family to their extended social circle.

Basically, when you include a letter or multiple photos on your Christmas card, you're asking for more mental judgment. You give your readers more to play off of. This depresses me because we take something so positive, the spirit of the Christmas holiday and celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ, and just evolve the idea into something it is not. Matthew 7:1 says, "Do not judge, or you too will be judged." Luke 6:37 reinforces this by saying "Don't judge or condemn others." So when you get these Christmas cards, instead of trying to interpret someone's life success, appreciate the holiday spirit they are sending you in the form of the excitement of receiving mail.

How do I know that people judge and look at some cards negatively? Because I am guilty of it. My sisters and I often read letters aloud, look up the Facebook profiles of people we know from Christmas card land and are curious to learn more about, and "aww" the cute children. So as someone guilty of this, what am I going to do to not be a hypocrite?

As my solution, I'll probably send out a photo card because of my obvious obsession with photos when I get older, but do a little more to show I care. Until I have kids, get ultra-stressed out and go through a mid-life crisis, I'm going to personalize the cards with notes! Handwritten or not, it at least shows that you genuinely care about the family. And if you blank out on what to write on one of these notes, you know that person shouldn't be getting your Christmas card anyway. You'll not only save postage money, but no longer feel forced to maintain fake life relationships. The people who judge you based on how you and your dog look aren't who you should care about in life.

So rather than analyzing others by their Christmas cards, I sincerely hope that you appreciate the fact that someone cared enough about you to want you to know how their family is doing. They want to maintain some sort of contact; maybe not continuously, but some type of relationship still exists. When sending out your own Christmas cards, think of your intentions of sending a note to that family. Do you want to brag and how off how nice your family looks at your cousin's wedding, or do you want to express that although you had no time to call or e-mail someone this year, you still care that they are alive.

On an ending note, here is the Artemas family Christmas card. Anyone who cares about me enough to read this blog probably got one. I genuinely wish you a Merry Christmas, thank anyone who has sent me their family's card and hope you have a great holiday!

My cousins

Here's a quick shout-out to my cousins Christina and Jillian who I will be seeing tomorrow in Cincinnati, and are nice enough to open up this blog! I haven't seen them since this summer at their pool (pictured below :P). Love you girls!

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The downer of deaths

Earlier this week, my father informed me someone had passed away. Nick Figaro, a 35-year-old Greek Orthodox man, died of heart complications that he was unaware he had in his bed, in his parents' house.

I know of him because a GBN physical education and health teacher, Beth, married him at my church and my father performed the wedding. I never had Beth (called Ms. O before she was married/to most of my class at GBN) as a teacher, but we became very friendly with each other after she got to know my dad through her pre-marriage classes and Chrismation. When I was home in October, I even met their daughter Sloan, who is a little shy of one year old, and Nick's mom at the Homecoming parade.

Hence, when I received this call, I still got the chills that such things happen. Imagine being the parents of a 35-year-old and hearing your son died. Imagine marrying the love of your life, envisioning a future, and that person dying just two years later. Imagine thinking of how to raise a child of one year who will now live without her father living and raising her. It makes me cry to even think about it.

I attended the wake with my family, and came across a lot of my former GBN teachers. I saw the entire GBN physical education department and a lot of district administrators who I haven't seen in awhile. But the awkward thing about visitations and wakes is that you don't go greet these people as you would in a normal setting. You might exchange a glance of sadness, but there is no chatting or catching up. That is put aside out of respect for the person who passed away. It doesn't matter how school is going, someone's class is or how things are with their family, what matters is that both of you are paying respects to the family of someone who just died.

And that is how life goes. You live, watch all of your neighbors, family, friends, old acquaintances and classmates do the same, and then they die. Some early, some late, some past the time you are living. And you have to live knowing that you don't know the last time you will ever see some of these people. Or one of the only places you'll run into those people you never see and never expected to see is at such depressing events. I didn't quite realize this until I was there that day. I have to sadly think that the next time I will see some of those teachers is at another funeral. But I can fulfill my thoughts knowing that I am on good enough terms with them to exchange a glance and empathize with what they are thinking, without even needing to speak to express our feelings.

What can be deduced from this is that you have to live every day to its fullest and maintain positive relationships with the people you know and love, so this is always the case where and whenever you see them. It could be at Walgreens or at a store, at a restaurant, walking by them in a mall or at a park, in a classroom, or at their funeral. You never know when that last day will come. So always say hi, always be pleasant, don't hesitate to be nice....because you don't know what the future will bring.

People will die, unfortunate things will happen, and life has to move on. Beth will have to be a single mother, the daughter will have to grow up without her father and the family will always miss their beloved brother and son. But all we can do is remember that the last time I saw Beth before this tragedy, we had a great conversation and were happy to see each other and talk. So when I saw her at the wake, a hug of comfort was exchanged. And that feeling of comfort is what will mean the world to someone someday.

I have experienced at this at many funerals and wakes in the past couple of years, as well as Nick's this past week. Some would say that my high school and middle school graduating class was not the lucky one. In middle school, Marco DeVito and Tommy Whang passed away; at GBN- Jenny Snyder passed away; just a few months ago, Lizzy Seeberg committed suicide after being sexually assaulted by a Notre Dame football player, and her parents cannot even charge that player with anything due to insufficient evidence that will prove something.

So remember to be positive and don't be afraid to demonstrate your care for others, because you don't know what will come next.

Merry Christmas from my Mizzou families

Finals week can either be the best or the worst thing for college students. Depending on your schedule, you have so much free time you don't know what to do with yourself, or you study, study, study. With no exams or class work from last Wednesday until this Tuesday, I took advantage of the holiday spirit with some friends and relaxed this past weekend.

The Magic Tree is lit by a man in Columbia who used to have it in his yard, but it was moved to a shopping center lot this year due to too much disrupting with his neighbors. As seen below, it's quite a nice photo spot, and as Kathryn titled it, our Mizzou family went and took photos together!

Sherman, Kathryn, me, Kate, Laura, Shaina, Amy and Andrew
Just for kicks, taking a picture by the "Hannukah Bush" across the field. The Jewish friends are in back, and the suitemates are in front :). It just happened to work out that the four girls who lived together freshmen year are close friends, and best friends with four Jews. No one has a problem with their religion by any means, it's just ironic. We constantly make jokes about being outnumbered in certain situations, but here it is even! The woman taking the photo was kind enough to wait for the lights (which change colors!) to be blue, what a nice citizen. So Merry Christmas and a Happy Hannukah!
Since we luckily went on one of Columbia's warm, 45 degree nights, the eight of us exchanged our Christmas presents in the gazebo near the Magic Tree and watched other group of friends take photos of themselves! Precious.

At the House of Chow for Shaina's birthday dinner! We just can't get enough of each other.

Now....onto my Phi Mu family!

My pledge family had a nice dinner at my "grandma" Cassie's house, and stopped by the Magic Tree on the way home! Me, Stephanie, Shelley, Dani and Amy :)

The new Executive Board at our chapter advisor's house for a holiday dinner!

I hope this post gave you some Christmas spirit and I'll be writing more over break and after my two final exams!

My 100th Blog Post

I feel unfortunate to say that although this is my 100th blog post, it won't be incredibly exciting. Why? Because my life is not very thrilling right now. I survived my first semester of sophomore year! Classes are officially over. I am in Columbia until next Thursday with absolutely no agenda besides studying for three non-cumulative tests, and going out to dinner with various groups of people every night.

Being in Columbia, or any college town for that matter, without having a strict schedule of classes, homework and activity meetings is one of the weirdest feelings ever. I feel like when you're at school, you're at school to work, so when I'm not working I feel like I have a problem. I watched an entire season of Gilmore Girls in less than a week. I had one evening without a meeting or plan for the night, and I got so impatient just staying around the house that I went Christmas shopping at 10:30 pm just to be productive. I have a problem...it's fine.

But cool enough....I have kept up with this blog. For all of you who doubted my ability to blog after returning to Facebook, I did it. And I love it. So much that I created another blog. And update them both very often (once or twice a week is considered often to me in the collegiate world). And nothing makes my day more than when my friends comment (verbally and in writing) on my blogs. I'm happy to have enough people I love that somewhat care about what's going on in my life to even skim this for pictures, read my revelations and process what I say. It's an outlet for journalists to practice writing opinion-style without being published in print, and I like that.

One of my theoretical goals to add to that list is to categorize my blog in a more organized manner. I've seen cute ideas like Sara's "Wish List Wednesday" and more, and have the categories of updates and revelations. But sometimes, I just have something to complain about that I've learned something from, which I call rants. But I hate how unprofessional the word 'rant' sounds. Complaint is not much better. And sometimes, they are just lessons that have sprung from a so-called 'complaint' or 'rant,' but what word describes that?

For lack of terminology, here's my rant of the day: I hate it when people ask for notes from a class they do not attend. I always have, because who am I to give you notes. Here's a mythical conversation that describes my perspective on people that ask for notes.

Desperate one: Hey! Oh my gosh I've just been so busy and everything that I didn't have time to get to that class the other day....you take really good notes, can you just e-mail them all to me?

Person that attends class: So you want ME, who didn't have time either but actually got out of bed and WENT to class, to send YOU what I processed from class, because that's fair how? I take my time and effort to try and learn material, and you want me to just hand it over to you?

Person making lame excuse: I'll bribe you though!

*Side note: this has actually happened to me. I received an e-mail offering me gourmet chocolate and candy for giving her notes for a class. People can get pretty ridiculous.

Ethical person: Well this is getting even more ethical! Now you realized that you made a mistake, and just won't own up to it!

Bad note-taker: I guess I can just ask someone else....*thinking remorse will somehow come of this*

Class attendant: That's a good idea. *the bad note-taker gets disappointed.*

The only circumstance in which I will now trade notes is with my best friends, who honestly know when we were sick (I get it now, I can say I've had pneumonia and had to miss class) or attending something more important (like a Missourian tour for another class...good planning J-School) that forced them not to come to class. This is new criteria for me, but for the best. You would think that college students get more responsible as life progresses, but sometimes it's the opposite. They try getting around things as much as possible. They don't prioritize their obligations. And the people that are considered responsible in one aspect of their lives must suffer the consequences of other people's poor decision making? I don't think so.

This is one part of my "learning to say no" life lesson in terms of unnecessary remorse, as I have started realizing that people who don't care about class don't deserve help. And if I've learned anything in life, people try to pick at and get around your morals. One person joked about how they take bad notes and if I could just e-mail them all of mine, that would be great. When I laughed, they became concerned and realized I wasn't stupid. Sorry hun! Another person just came in my room while I was asleep to get my notes. Tricky tricky. I hope later in life, everyone realizes they can't just depend on other people to do things for them. We are all people with brains, power and our own work ethics, and if you don't apply you full potential of those attributes, then you will not succeed. The end.

Holiday season!

After a long week of doing a lot of nothing, I finally left the house on Friday! Cautiously of course. My sorority was hosting a holiday-themed party, and I could not miss out on an opportunity to wear Christmas decor! Patricia's sweater has been very helpful for "Ugly-Christmas Sweater" parties, and I wore it with my red tank top, jingle bell earrings from Kate last year and jingle bell hair tie!

I really was feeling better, and you hit a point after being locked up inside so long where once you're any bit of better, you have to interact with the world. I've never been happier to socialize. Here are some pictures!

Shelley and I's big-little picture!

Kathryn, Jamie, me and Katie at the social!

Kathryn and I with Santa!

Even though it seems like this happens often, it really doesn't.

All of my friends are in the same place at the same time,

and we're smiling and getting along! Yay!

After the social, all of our friends typically met up at AEPi. It was one of those evenings where a few of us realized how deprived we are by not living together. It's the hardest thing ever when you know that some of your best friends are down the street doing the same thing you're doing, relaxing in the comfort in your room, but it's too much effort to walk over just to say hello. Or lug your computer and books over to do homework there. So we're all going to live together senior year to relive the memories :). It was nice to spend some weekend-night time together and just enjoy each other's company.

Saturday, I got back into scrapbooking mode and watched an entire disc of Gilmore Girls. I miss that show so much. I'll probably bring my DVDs back to school, which can't be for the better, consider I'll have a different workload starting my journalism sequence next semester. It was the most relaxing thing to enjoy Lorelai's humor and laugh at all the jokes just like I used to, and I look forward to not working winter break so I can scrapbook the past two semesters and catch up on some Gilmore Girls while I do it!

Since I have gotten so much sleep this week (although it was all necessary and none just felt extra), I was able to get through today which was a more normal, back-on-schedule day. I went to church, worked on an accounting project for hours, received an award for being the Relay For Life steering committee member of the month after three hours of Relay work and finally headed home! The most exciting part of my Sunday though: church. We had a hierarchical Divine Liturgy, meaning a bishop was serving, and the bishop was Archbishop Demetri. Since he's the chancellor of the Chicago branch of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese, we know each other pretty well from him visiting my home parish, so it was a surprise to see him and his assistant in Columbia. But they were ultra nice to me, so much that I got to sit at the special lunch table after church, was introduced to some new parishioners, the PK treatment that I only receive in Chicago! It was fun.

Now off to complete my last few real assignments due of this semester, YES, IT'S ALMOST OVER! What a semester.

Presenting...a professional blog!

One of my goals has been to create a professional blog to use to send to potential employers, places I apply to internships and people I want to give a more business-look of myself to. So...here it is....my Wordpress page!

What I've learned in the process: Wordpress is a lot harder to use than Blogger. I am so glad I made a blogspot page first and learned how to use 'widgets,' HTML code and more on here because it took awhile to figure out Wordpress. Also, I hope you enjoy the snow falling down the page, I know it's not incredibly professional....but it's not like I'm applying for anything now, and it only goes until the end of what Wordpress defines the holiday season...January 4.

Enjoy the other blog, add it to your favorites if you love me, and I will still be posting here so no worries!!

Sadness is called pneumonia

When I was in high school, I used to pray that I would get sick for a day, or even get mono, so I could kind of just pause life. Many people reminded me that it would not necessarily be a pause, but more of a falling behind, but in the high school life....that's not entirely true. I wished this so badly because not only did I never have a break, but I don't get sick....ever, and everyone around me always does. Friends, sisters, my dad, they get sick all the time....but me, never. Except at very inconvenient times.

I only missed one day in three years of middle school, and it was a field trip to see a play that I actually wanted to see in eighth grade. The only other 'common time' for me to actually be a sick and weak human being was the morning before Easter, so I was already out of school Good Friday, why waste another day off of school when I can be sick a weekend I'm already ultra-busy? So pretty much no sick days in high school either. Now onto college.

After a busy weekend in Kansas City, I was definitely sick. Friday, I even took pills. Saturday, I took a two-hour nap while my friends socialized outside. Saturday to Sunday, I slept for 12 hours straight at Laura's house before going back to school. And upon arrival back to school, all I could do was sleep and shiver, so I slept through Monday. Monday afternoon, the student health center tested me and determined that I had a mild type G strep throat, so they gave me some pills and I slept and took those. But Tuesday, it had been nearly four full days of being pretty sick and my fever was still 102 degrees. Not good. So Shelley and Jen drove me to Urgent Care. Where after a flu test and an x-ray, I was told I had pneumonia.

Pneumonia?!?! Really? Yes. So what have I been doing this week? Laying down in my bed and sleeping. Coughing. Drinking water, propel, gatorade. Swallowing more pills than I have in my entire lifetime. That's about it.

I can't even focus on watching TV or a movie. On Wednesday, I woke up at 12:30 pm and thought, wow, what am I going to do all day?! Well, it took me until 5 p.m. to work up effort do do anything. So yes, now I know what it's like to be sick. It's not like I can do homework or get anything done, because you feel that bad that you can just do nothing. I couldn't even eat. From Saturday to Wednesday, all I consumed was two oranges, a sip of soup and a pack of Welch's Fruit Snacks that took me two days to finish. I'm finally onto a semi-normal eating schedule.

Sunday through Tuesday was when I was at my weakest, with 103 degree fever and essentially no energy. I couldn't check my computer without help, could barely respond to texts and calls and couldn't move from my bed or reach anything that wasn't on my desk. It's definitely nice to be mobile again, and the next 12 days are going to throw me off with three more days of class, a ton of days of nothing and three final exams. Two non-cumulative and one writing exam. So it should be an enjoyable finals season celebrating the holidays with friends, knowing I can't be any worse than I was this week, and studying for some exams.

Don't get as sick as I did and have a good weekend!

Thanksgiving break

Lesson from Thanksgiving: Never eat Thanksgiving dinner at a restaurant. The tables will be cramped, you won't all fit at one or even two tables, you can't control your portion size, the waiter tries taking away everything a minute after you touch it, you argue over the check, just don't do it. I had a great time playing with Lena and sitting at the kids table though, ha.

The Artemas Family

The Stornello children with Maria, Eleni and I

Later that night, I got a really massive headache (worse than usual). It clearly wasn't from the food, since I ate very little from entertaining Lena so much. I thought I'd solve it by taking a nap on the couch before Black Friday shopping with Eleni at Wal-Mart at midnight. Still in pain upon waking up, Black Friday seemed like the most viable option. $225 worth of Christmas shopping done, plus these matching shirts for my sisters and I! Success right? I woke up pretty early the next morning to fly to Kansas City.

Friday was pretty nice, as I was welcomed with some nice surprises on my flight. I was expecting some type of Mizzou population because the Kansas rivalry is a popular game, so not only did I see a GBN graduate who attends Mizzou on the flight, but also the chancellor of the University and his wife! I recognized them at the terminal and approached them to say hello. We talked for about 10 minutes outside, and they ended up sitting in the row right behind me on the plane. It was a nice family feeling we all had :).

Laura picked Andrew, Kathryn and I up from the airport and we headed to where we were staying in Shawnee, Kansas. We caught up and hung out like the exciting friends we are for quite a few hours, and didn't head to Overland Park to pick up Asher until past 7 p.m. We went to the Plaza with its holiday lights for a nice dinner and some phenomenal shopping at Forever 21, which was a nice way to keep us occupied with a two-hour dinner wait.

Andrew, Asher, Laura, Kathryn and I on the Plaza

I even took pills to keep me alive for the day, which is ironic since I'm one of those crazy humans that believes the majority of pills are placebos and that they are a waste of money and faux medicine. So after roaming the Plaza, we had a lovely dinner at P.F. Changs and headed back to Kansas. For those of you who don't know, Kansas City is on both the Kansas AND Missouri side, separated by the clever "State Line Road." The city itself is gorgeous and very classy, a great place to live as a young adult (an apartment downtown, which is on the Missouri side) or with a family (in which case you want to be in the nicer Kansas suburbs). So we headed back to shop for our well-planned out tailgate at 8 in the morning and get some rest before the big MU-KU game...the purpose of our trip.

We got to Arrowhead Stadium nice and early for the game, and took a mini-van with seven students and a TON of tailgating supplies. Between a cooler, chairs, table, grill, food and more, our bodies barely fit in the car, but we were cheap teenagers who didn't want to pay $26 more for our comfort and parking confusion. We had a nice morning before the 11:30 game, and walked in to see zero Kansas fans and a pretty packed stadium of Mizzou fans. It was almost embarrassing how they had NO student fans show up. But we won 35-7, and my friends had great seats so it was a fun game to watch.

After the game, we went back to Kansas again, just to get ready to go to dinner at the Power & Light District of Kansas City. We watched some more football and then actually got a good night's sleep before going back to school in the morning! It was a great Thanksgiving break and despite my current state of illness, I was not too exhausted from my traveling. It's always nice to spend time with friends in exciting places, cheer on your school and see family over a break. Now, to see if Mizzou goes to a Bowl game and if we can do it all again!

Airport Travel

My privacy has officially been violated. It was bound to happen. After flying three times in one week, it was almost guaranteed that I would be scanned by one of the new TSA scanners.

These scanners, a new security measure, scan your body for 10 seconds as you stand in a box with your legs a foot apart and your arms raised above your head. It projects a naked image of your body toward a security official watching the screen, who then looks for anything you might be sneaking onto a flight. From my understanding, the scanners make “pat-downs” unnecessary since technology does everything for us. They have created an ethical issue by potentially causing discomfort in some individuals at the idea of a random stranger examining your nude body.

TSA and newspaper articles suggest that it is not unethical because “the person monitoring the image does not know your identity.” A friend in Boston raised an interesting point refuting this measure. People don’t know someone’s identity when they are looking at pornography magazines, do they? So why is this ethical?

In a world where technology takes more prevalence by the day, we are undoubtedly increasing our safety. I have no question that these machines were created with good intent, to ensure that people are not sneaking illegal items onto plane. But where do we draw the line between what is too much? The technology and amount of interactive devices are keeping us safe by increasing stalking abilities and not considering human thought and ramifications of such decisions. Privacy does not exist…ever. The scan takes 10 seconds, and I don’t believe it would take a security official any more than 10 seconds to pat down someone who sets the alarm off at the gate.

Thus, I foresee an interesting future with this new invention. If nude scanners are acceptable in airports, where will they be acceptable next? School buildings? Ellis Island? Museums? Essentially, my generation must be prepared to lose our definition of privacy and acknowledge the impact of the Information Age. By the time I have kids, security measures and inventions will probably have exploded.

Let’s just accept the fact that we were always being watched. Between these, security cameras in department stores and easily-available devices sold in stores, machines will be aware of what is going on. But do the people who own or control them? Despite my father’s jokes about these “TSA regulation and stimulation stations,” the people monitoring these machines are still Americans getting paid to do a job. In fact, they probably did not request that position, and if they did, I have hope that airport security is intelligent enough not to hire them. In an age of technological innovation, we must remain aware of our surroundings as we lose this privacy, because while we might be being watched, we are not necessarily being judged.

Judgment and appearance is ultimately what many humans care about, and a machine cannot do that. It can witness things but not really understand personality, therefore, admitting the creepiness of these TSA scanners, they do fulfill their goal of promoting security and safety. Once Americans recognize this, press coverage will diminish and these measures will become habitual, just as security has been in the past.

Happy Thanksgiving!

It's been a lovely and relaxing break in Northbrook and I am thankful for everyone I have gotten to see whether it was for five minutes or five hours!

Although this seems incredibly generic, I'm going to continue my list-making fetish and describe what I am thankful for!

What Katie is thankful for

• My family: I have to give my family some credit, because they still love me even though I am rarely home. I have not been with my family for more than a week since May (where I had a month), and cannot foresee a time where I will be at home for an incredibly long period of time. But I am thankful that when I do return, we can all sacrifice our time to have family dinners, catch up, spend time together doing completely random things, make jokes, laugh together and so much more. I can ramble on about absolutely nothing and they will listen. I can call members of my extended family like my Yiayias (who don't know enough about the Internet to know that this blog exists) on walks to class just to smile, and always feel loved. Thanks Artemi!
• Friends from high school: I am thankful to have close-knit relationships from high school so when I come home, I don't only have automatic plans, but I also never feel awkward or forced. I want to see everyone that I hang out with, and each one of these people can start off just where we left off. I can wear my glasses and no makeup for three days straight and not feel any bit of guilt. Hanging out with friends can constitute going to the bank, Costco, and running other errands and it's not about what we're doing...it's about valuing the time we have together. No one knows where we will all end up living after graduation, so I am thankful to have friends that take advantage of every minute we have together and home to continue our bond :).
• People that value communication: Both of the above categories fall in this realm, but I could not survive without my constant communication with the people in my life. Whether this is through phone calls everywhere I walk, Skyping when I'm stressed, or random texts throughout the day, I thank everyone who makes time to communicate with me by choice. I love having people to talk to, hear from and discuss anything from school to current events with, and not just one-sided relationships. Thank you to anyone who keeps in touch with me!!
• My college experience: Choosing the University of Missouri was never where I would have anticipated myself as a young teenager, and to this day I envy people who attend college in gorgeous U.S. cities and study abroad or do great work in amazing places. But I'm thankful that I attend Mizzou every day. Not just for our beautiful and simple campus, welcoming environment or Journalism School, but for the way the system works. FIGS (Freshman Interest Groups) and Learning Communities determine where you live as a freshman, and allow you to meet students in your major and with similar interests. While promoting competition, it allowed me to click with the university quicker than anywhere else I would have gone and oddly enough, I will always feel a strong attachment to Mizzou and "CoMo," the town of Columbia. I will be dressing my kids in Tiger-spirited items, have mugs and trinkets around my house as an adult and am happy that this is the case.
• College friends: Both living in Mark Twain Hall and my experience in Phi Mu have had a very strong impact on who my friends are and I can't envision things turning out any other way. My FIG and learning community gave me the best friends I could ask for- my own family at school. We're oddly obsessed with the same things and each other so much that I feel like we can read each other's minds, make each other's decisions and mock ourselves perfectly. We're insane enough to all leave our hometowns early to spend more time with each other...when we see each other on a daily basis at school. Kathryn, Sherman, Andrew, Laura, Kate, Shaina and Amy- thank you for keeping me sane on a daily basis. Phi Mu contributed as well by allowing me to meet a diverse community of girls who participate in various things on campus and come from a variety of backgrounds. Shelley- thank you for being the best pledge mom/big sister ever. And thank you to all of my friends from Mizzou for being my friend :)
• Involvement with the Greek Orthodox Church: After my trip to Boston this weekend, I realized how many activities and how much of my life has been influenced by having connections and more through church. Although I was visiting two friends from Project Mexico, I practically knew half of the school I was at (Holy Cross/Hellenic College) from Ionian Village, Fanari, St. Nicholas Camp or being a PK (priest's kid). We could all go to Divine Liturgy and Paraklesis together without questioning why we were there, and comfortably hang out with anyone and share the common bond of our faith. I'm very glad that I have this and look forward to pursuing it in the future through Orthodox Christian Fellowship (OCF) and College Conference at Antiochian Village this December!

Have a great Thanksgiving holiday, weekend and I hope that you can reflect on being thankful for some of these things too!

Boston!

Here are some photos from my trip to Boston!

We started off Friday by meeting up with friends at Holy Cross/Hellenic College's Office of Vocational Ministry (OVM) and then took the T down to Faneuil Hall to shop, grab dinner and eat Mike's Cannoli!

Anna and I!

Outside of Faneuil Hall and the clock tower
Saturday we explored Boston's "Chinatown," nothing like New York's and nothing worth seeing. But the more I travel, the more things I learn like this, so we just happily headed onto Boston Commons and enjoyed the nice weather!

Faneuil Hall had the lighting of its Christmas tree so we went back with a larger group to see it! Almost as exciting as the Anastasi service when it goes from darkness to full of light...hah.
Then, we gathered the HCHC crew and everyone from out of town for dinner at Bertucci's.

Sunday after Liturgy, we went to Harvard Square and walked around the campus and some bookstores in the area. I was shocked at how Harvard has its own Ralph Lauren POLO line, $90 for a hoodless sweatshirt. Those New England luxuries.

Emily and I on the "quad"
We thought this building was a nice church we went toward to go inside. It's actually Harvard's undergraduate dining hall. Sad.

Later that evening, we saw Social Network. Monday morning, I went to class with Emily and then Emily, Anna and I went to Larz Anderson Park and then Boston College to walk around!

Here, I ran into Mizzou's Memorial Union!! Doesn't it look just like it?

All in all, it was great to reunite and catch up with friends, while realizing how small of a world it is as everyone knew everyone! Things were really put into perspective when we realized Holy Cross/Hellenic has about 200 students....the size of a sorority at Mizzou. Thus, it's nice to have a close community but I'm glad I where I am but would gladly return to the beautiful town of Boston for visits in the future.

Have a holly jolly Christmas

As some of you know, I have a somewhat unhealthy obsession with Christmastime. The decorations, the music, gift-giving essence...the list goes on. So I hope you enjoy the new blog background!

The last weekend in Columbia

With Thanksgiving break approaching, this was the last weekend in Columbia until Dec. 4! I can cleverly say I will have been in four states in one week over break as I take off for Boston, home, Kansas City and back to Missouri!

Emily, Alex and I!

Lesson from the above photo: I have this habit of purchasing beautiful high-waisted skirts and not thinking that I need tops to tuck into them! Gift idea for Katie? Cute tank tops and long-sleeve shirts for my skirts! Thank you!

Phi Mu Semi-Formal 2010

Shelley and I getting ready! Lesson from the photo: Shelley's dress is from Von Maur and qualifies as gorgeous black and gold attire. If you come across any black and gold attire (business, professional, cute, etc.) or heels like mine (I need more!) and want to buy them for me for Christmas, go for it ;).

Here is a few of us in the living room waiting to get on the bus to the country club for semi-formal! Instead of taking dates, five girls from the house and I took a group of our friends and had a fun night!

The Tigers proved our undefeated record at home by beating Kansas State in today's last home football game! It was the coldest of of our games all season (we actually have to wear jackets in Missouri now...what?!), but this fit in with the blackout attire since we could layer as many black coats on as we wanted to.

Sherman's 'Surprise' Birthday Dinner

For once, I was actually pretty excited that within my group of friends, we had kept this dinner a secret all week. Literally. That is a huge challenge for a group of journalism-major-Type A-gossipy individuals who are constantly sharing a variety of information with each other. So here are the lessons I learned after we ate at Jina Yoo's:

• 1- When you make an event on Facebook that's a surprise, don't put anyone's name in the subject line. Because since Facebook events are on the right sidebar, anyone can see them that glances over at your computer (in the room, during class, etc.)
• 2- I cannot singlehandedly control everything. People started to arrive for our dinner reservation between 6-6:30, and Sherman had an interview for a class and didn't have his phone on. We did not know where he is or have any control or manipulation over when he got home and to this dinner. But everything worked out!! The restaurant host and I discussed a deal where I said "Katie for 3" when we walked in which really signified "Sherman for 15." I love nice people. But all in all, it was a successful event!

Hope that was an okay weekend update and have a great week before Thanksgiving!

The cell-phone-less life: learning to say no

I have a problem. I am attached to my cell phone. It does not leave my side. I have never once left it in my room, put it on silent of even turned it off this semester.

The idea sparked into my head that I should just go a day without my phone and see how things differ. In a plea to start saying no to more things in life and not trying to accomplish everything and more, I left my phone at home in my room, on silent, on top of my desk and will not check it until I return home for the day around 7:30 p.m. Twelve hours without a phone to contact the world. What would you do?

A quick disclaimer- I do have my computer with me and have been replying to e-mails, but this was not part of the experiment. The mission per se was that anything I am doing, I am always in contact with someone else via text or calling. I have a break in between 1:45 and 3:30 p.m. on this day in my schedule, and reflected upon what I usually get done during this hour. Even if I set an agenda and to-do list of things to accomplish, I realize they do not get done to the extent I want them to. Why? Because I am either calling people to catch up (something I value), texting someone I will see in a few minutes or hours, or running errands and favors that probably never would have even needed to be done if I wouldn't have said yes.

I cannot say no. This is a current issue I am working on with my friends, acquaintances and co-members of organizations, but people know this about me and take full advantage of it. I have spent hours driving people to places I don't even know to go because I feel bad that they have no other way of getting there. Gone to various buildings on campus to print assignments for group members because I am under the impression my grade will suffer if they do not complete their part. Helped people with quizzes when I should be writing a Spanish paper. Making documents and schedules for people who whine about not being able to organize their lives. Meeting up for coffee when I should be preparing for an exam.

And when I think about it, this sounds selfish, but I could probably finish my work and maybe have a little more free time if I toned those other errands down and focused on what I need to do. Do I regret helping my friends? Not in the least. Do I get aggravated at these errands and last minute wants sometimes? Yes. But I fulfill them anyway. Because I have an empathy problem and think that if I was in their position, I would take advantage of me too. But people barely return the favor and I continue to live. It's just how my life functions.

I've had some time to get ahead this afternoon and I've written two analytical blog posts, ran some errands on my own and achieved more than I thought I would. Potential things that could have happened with a phone include spontaneous calls and texts that inhibit me from paying attention in class or cause me to stress out about what needs to be done next. Or texts from people asking for help on a project or a paper that would cause me to immediately stop what I'm doing and go meet up with them. The thought of saying I have something else to do does not even cross my mind. Thus, the lack of cell phone usage this afternoon is a test in saying no to things that if really needed to be done, should have been contacted earlier. To warn my acquaintances, I posted my Facebook status that I was going phoneless for the day. I have already been questioned by three people in my classes how it's going. Note: these are not people I talk to on a regular basis. Goodness.

I am halfway through the day. There are several alarming reasons informing me that this problem persists in my life and it's even making me depressed that this is even the case. Examples include:

• During one of my lecture classes, I envisioned that my phone was ringing and I got really embarrassed that it interrupted class. But that didn't happen. I guess I just wish my phone was ringing/maybe it was ringing back at home and my cell phone and I have that sixth sense with each other. Yes, I just personified my cell phone. But without even having possession of the phone, I believe it rang because that's what I'm used to. Sad story #1.
• I am wearing a jacket with pockets and have these moments where I feel my phone vibrating and dig in my pocket to get it (one of its usual locations). But the phone is on my desk in my room....and there is no vibration I am actually feeling. I am just so adjusted to getting text messages at this time of day that it's instinctual to take my phone out.
• After proposing an argument at a TA's office hours, I received five points back on a test. My first feeling was to text my friends in that class about my excitement. But there was no phone in my pocket. Upon reflection, I thought...maybe if I eliminated the ability to do this, they don't actually need to know. In fact, they probably don't care. With unlimited texting, messages have lost their value and become so pointless. So, I got a few points back, the world continues.
• I'm sure more will come since it is only 3 p.m.

I encourage you all to participate because I feel so relaxed. As I acknowledged before, I did not cut of all contact due to e-mail and this blog obviously, but I hope you look forward to hearing the results of this experiment!

Networking, networking, networking...

I am a 19-year-old college sophomore who has two more years of undergraduate schooling. But we live in America so it's never too late to start thinking about where I'm getting a job in two (or three) years, right?

I don't know whether to attribute it to being at the University of Missouri or just being a young adult in the United States, but everything revolves around networking. It's all about the future. If I don't go meet the Associated Press recruiter when he is at MU now and today, the impression is given that I will just not get a job. If one of my parents or grandparents' best friends from who knows where does not own, manage or work as a CEO of a major agency, I won't get hired!

We do not have time to focus on the here and now. The perfect job opportunity, mentor to meet, or professor could be right in front of our eyes in a specific course but we would not even realize it. Students are too busy seeing what else they can sign up for 'networking'-wise that I don't think I don't think many would discover the opportunities right in front of their faces. If they are following Arik Hanson's blog (a popular blogger in America) or seeing who one can find on LinkedIn or Twitter during class, how are those professors supposed to write recommendations?

I advocate futuristic thinking, but sometimes it gets to be a little too much. I learned the value this summer of recognizing what's right in front of you and appreciating it. But now I am back at school and revert back to the norm (note: the norm for Type A personalities and my friends)- going after every opportunity. I enjoy those opportunities, but I need to define my limits. I took advantage of two opportunities in the past week that were beneficial to my college career and 100 percent networking, but remember not to go too overboard.

Friday, Nov. 5, I went to Kansas City with AAF Mizzou (Advertising Club, American Advertising Federation = AAF) to tour three agencies. We went to Two West, VML and Barkley & Associates. They were all prominent advertising agencies in the KC area and potential employers. The atmosphere was a lot more relaxed than one would anticipate, and the students in attendance did everything from listen to employees speak and give us their job descriptions, brainstorm about potential client campaigns and watch and analyze promotional videos.

But one way I applied the networking lessons I advocate is that while I saved every business card and the contact information of the associates, I have to remember...I am only a sophomore. Most of these agencies aren't even taking people my age as interns. One might call me an 'overachiever,' but that is not the case. I'm learning what interests me and how to apply it to what I do now. Last year I could not have told you what media planning or being a public relations account executive was, and now I can say that I am considering them for potential careers. The more I hear about what these people do and what you can do in college to prepare you for that, the more excited I get to enter the work force. So my idea of networking is to learn about myself and what I want out of my future in the process. I also met a variety of great individuals that I never would have met if I did not go on this trip. I was in the car for four hours with four people I had never met, and we had great conversation about the agencies, jobs and life at Mizzou right now. Plus, we had an awesome lunch with carne asada at an authentic Mexican restaurant called Manny's in KC. Bonus! Thus, this trip was a worthwhile experience and I look forward to more AAF trips in the future!

This past weekend fully encompassed networking as Saturday, I attended Mizzou's 1st Annual Leadership Academy. The schedule of events for the day consisted of two speakers and a closing address by Chancellor Brady Deaton, the opportunity to attend four breakout workshop sessions in a variety of topics, and a nice lunch and networking reception in the New Student Center. It was hard to decide which sessions to attend since there were a multitude of options, but I went to one on event planning (typical), Leadership Leverage- how to apply your college experiences with organizations to your future, leading effective meetings (what I will be doing as Phi Mu's vice president) and networking & connections.

Me, Susan, Katie and Stephanie at the reception.

Six Phi Mu women were in attendance!

While learning a lot of information from these four sessions, the last value I learned about networking is not only the value of knowing adults in the professional field, but people on your own campus. The networking and connecting session ended with a speed-dating atmosphere of getting to know the people in the room, and I met students from a variety of campus organizations. Not only will I appreciate their kindness and friendship, but there is a two-way benefit in networking. We can acknowledge each other and participate in each other's events. I may or may not have recruited Relay For Life teams and Maneater advertisements in these conversations. But I also learned about how I can help one of the hall councils with not even too much effort. It was an excellent opportunity to attend the first time the university held this event and meet so many leaders from around campus, and I look forward to attending the Academy in the future!

To conclude, I encourage you to see all the benefits of networking, while also living in the present. Be professional in what you do, but keep your eyes open and appreciate the wonderful experiences and people you meet by doing it.

Now I need some more business professional attire, huh? With all these interviews, events and elections in the past week, my suit outfits, collared shirts and high waisted skirts are exhausted!