The Tale of Olean Girl

The following story occurred during my freshman year. I believe the girl's real name might have been Emily, but honestly I'm not sure. I think she transferred sometime during my sophomore year. At least, that's the last time me and my current roommate at the time Rachel creeped on her from the cafeteria.

Regardless.

Now the thing you need to know before I delve any further into this story, is that Houghton College is in the middle of nowhere. The nearest anything is 45 minutes away. It is a land of dollar generals and small family owned restaurants

In case you needed an illustration, the green dot is Houghton. The yellow dots are the nearest Walmarts.
The horizontal line is PA, and Canada is creeping in the top left corner.

It was sometime in the evening, and I got a call from my friend Lindsey about how her eye was bothering her, and she really needed to see a doctor. We went to the front desk of Gillette to ask if there was a nurse on campus. Since it was after 5 the health office was closed so we would have to drive all the way to the ER in Olean Hospital (40 minutes away). Since Lindsey couldn't see, I told her to wait in Gillette Lounge while I went to go get my car in the Fire Hall.

What is the Fire Hall you ask? Just a convenient parking lot which required one to trek for miles down the Winding Hill, past the Nerdy Boy's Dorm, over the Bridge of a Thousand Deaths, through the Mines of Moria, and cross the road of turmoil to reach it.

So there I was, looking both ways before I crossed the road, when I noticed there was a girl on the other side of the cross walk who apparently had just dropped her car off. When it was safe to cross, I began to walk, and we were just about to pass each other, when she called out to me.

Girl: "Are you going to Olean?"
(Please keep in mind the darkness- and the fact that there was no one else around. No one. Except maybe a cow a few fields away or something.)
Me (with a confused face): "Yes... why?"
Girl: "Well my phone recently broke and I really need a new one and I really need to go to Verizon."
Me (still confused): "Well, I have to take my friend to the ER-"
Girl (acting like this was a life or death situation): "It's ok! I can just drive with you and walk to the Verizon store myself! I won't be a hindrance at all!"
Me (wondering if she even heard me mention the ER at all in my previous response): "I don't really know, because my friend really needs to go to the ER and I don't know how long it will take or where Verizon is."
Girl (apparently oblivious to everyone's problems except her own): "That's alright! I don't care! I just really need a phone!"

After much back and forth chatter in which I tried not to outright say no because I thought it was obvious that, since my friend had to be taken to the ER all other problems were sort of insignificant at the moment... but this didn't seem to faze her and she essentially demanded I take her to Verizon. So I told her I was going to be driving my car back up to Gillette to pick my friend up, and to meet us there asap.

Then I did what any sane person would do. I made haste back to Gillette, found Lindsey, and told her we needed to get into my car as fast as possible. I then went up to the desk proctor, described this girl to her, and told her that if this girl showed up to let her know I really needed to get my friend to the ER and had to leave.

Lindsey and I left Gillette, got into my car, and I was just buckling myself in and turning on my lights... when I saw her enter the lounge, look at the desk proctor, and look out the window where my car was...

and I got the crap out of there.

Because there were a few things that occurred to me. The reason she was in the Fire Hall, wasn't because she was dropping off her car... she was looking for me, and knew where to look. Granted, the desk proctor probably told her someone was going to Olean, but I would rather believe she was lurking in the ceiling above our heads listening into our conversation.

Also, when someone puts the needs of a phone above the needs of a future ER patient, is that really the kind of stranger you want to welcome into your car? She would of had the perfect vantage point to murder us, or worse.

So the moral of the story is, if some strange girl you've never met before is demanding you take her to Verizon when you need to take your friend to the ER... just run. Run as far as you can, and don't ever look back.

Update! Blog name change!

After some thought... I've come to the decision that the name of my blog needs to change.

Last year, I created this blog figuring it was an easier way of recounting my travels in China with family and friends. I chose the name "Chasing Starlights" because it's based off of a Muse song, "Starlight", and I thought it sort of had a "traveling-esque" feel to it (also I'm obsessed with Muse, but minor details).

However, I've recently realized that every other person in the world also thought that naming their blog "Chasing Starlights" wouldn't be cliched at all.

Therefore, to avoid competing with the blogs of hormonal teenagers across the world... I've decided I'm changing the name of mine to "Delineations of a Dork".

I'll have an actual blog post soon. It's sort of hard to blog when, well, there's nothing to blog about. I've spent my entire week watching shows like "Bridezillas" and "My Fair Wedding with David Tutera". Nothing life changing there.

Why, Paolini. Why. ; _ ;

You know what book I'm horribly disappointed by? Inheritance by Christopher Paolini (which I actually mentioned I was excited about a while back. Oh past Brittany, you clearly knew nothing). I mean, it's got friggin' DRAGONS. HOW can one mess that up?!

This is not a dragon from Paolini's universe. It's actually a dragon from the
Game of Thrones universe. Not like that's a show I watch. Pfff. No. Not this guy.

Well, in a variety of ways:

1.) Every interaction between all the characters feels forced, especially the love related ones. They make me want to gag. If Paolini's version of love was reality, humanity would have ended with the start of existence. Adam and Eve would have been the only humans. Ever.

2.) Paolini goes through a multitude of ways to make a passage as boring as possible. I don't want a whole chapter that describes Katrina washing laundry and Roran eating some boring stew. I want magic. MAGIC. And DRAGONS.

3.) When I'm reading something, and I fail to feel anything for a character when he/she dies... well. Maybe I'm not supposed to feel anything? Cause clearly said character is actually a robot, judging by their emotions and the emotions others share for him/her..

4.) The book is 849 pages long. I'm only on page 218. I'm not even halfway there, and I'm barely living on a prayer. I'm pretty sure if Paolini bothered to edit his book and take out all the filler (e.g. pages of walking through barracks, Eragon reading all the time, some minor character having a child for 20 pages which will probably contribute in no way shape or form to the overall plot of the book judging by past experience, the stew eating, etc.), his book would probably be closer to 200-300 pages. Unfortunately, he didn't. I guess that's what happens when your family owns a publishing company.

I don't understand. I remember being so absorbed into Eragon (the first book) that I wanted to be a Dragon Rider more than anything else in the world. I wanted Eragon to exist and be my friend. I wanted to live in Alagaesia. However, I did read that when I was 15, about the same time I read Twilight and liked it (Something I'm not proud of. Past Brittany. Good thing we are separated by time. Or I would punch your face in). I think that alone speaks volumes.

That being said, I'm taking a break from books right now. I feel like I'm overly cynical in regards to anything I read, and I'm aware of this while I'm reading, and therefore unable to comprehend/get into whatever it is I am reading. I blame this mostly on the classes I took for my English major, in which I was forced to read books I may or may not have liked (I'm mostly thinking of my seductive fictions class. You'd think that, with a title like that, the class would have been riveting. Well, if you find four hour documentaries that explicitly explain the process of photosynthesis exhilarating... then this class would have been perfect for you).

Instead, I've been filling up my time viewing shows I've been meaning to watch. I finished both seasons of The Walking Dead in 2.5 days. The writing in that show is awesome (meaning: "I felt so much emotion at the end of some episodes I had to take a break and watch something cute and furry on YouTube"). Also, I found out a season into it that my Mom has been a fan of the show since day one. WHO. AM. I. ; _ ;

Also (tangent), I recently started playing Dead Space 2, and thought it wasn't going to be scary in the slightest. I was horribly. Horribly. Wrong. My parents/brothers periodically come into my room to make sure I'm not dying, or being horribly devoured by a necromorph, because I keep screaming like the pansy little girl that I am.

Picture originally found here, because I can't draw.
Also, I'm a big fan of PewDiePie now. Mostly because I'm pretty sure
I would have the same reactions to horror games. Because I do.

I mean, if you happened to read Inheritance, and loved it, good for you. I'm just going to take a break from books, because I think good story lines and well developed characters can also be found in television and video games, two genres in which I haven't seen anyone horrendously butcher a storyline involving dragons. Yet.

Just, why Paolini. Why.  ; _ ;

99 Problems and Money is All of It.

So I just finished Mass Effect 2. May I just say that the ending of that game made me more stressed than finals week?! Basically at the end of the game, whatever actions you did previously determines whether or not certain members of your team die. I worked TOO hard and spent TOO much time on missions to gain their loyalty ONLY to have them just DIE in some CUTSCENE. AGH.

[In case you were wondering, no one died. Although I did scream at my game when Garrus was shot (not lethally), and for a moment I thought Tali was going to roll off a cliff, but my character managed to catch her in time. Phew.]

That being said, I need to buy Mass Effect 3. ASAP. (I've heard some people say it's an abomination. But I don't care. I'll make my own judgement. I've already come to terms with the fact that nothing will be as good as ME2. NOTHING.)

(Also, if you're interested, and haven't seen it yet, the trailer for ME3 can be found here. You'll notice I chose the trailer for the female Shepard, not the male one. Pfff. Like I'm gonna save the galaxy as a GUY.)

Potentially buying Mass Effect 3 brings me to my main point.

Money Issues 101

-What do Of Monsters and Men, JayMay, Regina Spektor, Mewithoutyou, Blood Red Shoes, Metric, and Silversun Pickups all have in common? They all thought it would be hilarious to release new music when the only way I can afford it is if I resorted to stealing. I can be a klepto sometimes (I've stolen a lot at Houghton. Weird crap man. Why? Because I could. Really. That is the ONLY reason) but I also believe in supporting bands.

-The past three years, I've worn the same pair of pajamas. Don't worry, I wash them frequently. But three years of constant wear will, well, wear them out. They're gross. I don't have to be scared of monsters at night, because I'm pretty sure they're scared of me.

-Right before I went to China, my mom bought me what are now my favorite pair of shoes. Well now I can't wear them when it's raining out. There is a massive hole in the bottom of each. In fact, this hole continues on through my socks. I also need socks.

-I need to visit my friends in western New York. I consider myself somewhat of an introvert, but that doesn't mean I don't like seeing people every once in a while.

-Asian food store. Thirty minutes from my house. I've mentioned it in a previous blog, but it needs to be known. I will get there. I will find a way. Ain't no mountain too high. River too wide. Valley to low. To keep me. From getting something with Mandarin characters written all over the packaging.

Now I realize my money problems are no where near as bad as other people's money problems, but let's get one thing straight: I hate money. I hate it with a passion. If I could burn all the money in the world in the fires of Mount Doom I would. It bothers me that, in order for me to do anything besides sit around all day, first I require money. I can't go to the library to get the second season of Buffy the Vampire slayer. It's obnoxious. Frick man.

One that note, I'm gonna go play Uncharted 3, which (by the way) practically gave me an anxiety attack last night cause there's this part where you have to escape a burning castle. There were too many close calls, dudeman. TOO MANY. It reminded me of the first time I saw Mission Impossible 4 in theatres and was so anxious during that scene where Tom Cruise is climbing that massively high building in Dubai that I almost threw up. It also didn't help that I was going through reverse culture shock at the time... but still. No movie has ever made me feel that way, and I hope no movie ever will again because I will die of a heart attack. You only die once, and I REFUSE to make my exit off this world in such a fashion.