100th post

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hi friends,

It's been almost 3 years and I just now land on my 100th post.

interesting.

well I'm totally okay with that. it's been a busy 3 years!

keeping any thought in my head straight this last month (read: 6 months) has been kind of hard. putting it down in blog form has been even harder.

I wanted to contribute more to the BSU Blogfest 2012 more than I did. last week turned into the craziest week ever for some reason. I feel like many of the coming weeks are going to end up like that.

this weekend alone was a busy one. all I wanted to do today was chill out watching youtube videos. and watch I did.

let me recap some of the weekend for you.

we all know thursday was THE night. Hunger Games night. I bought tickets and organized rides for about 23 people to go see the midnight premiere. we all sat around each other and I know everyone had a blast!

friday I had to go dress shopping but also had tickets to the Providence Bruins game. my roommate Morgan, old roommate Nicole, and I went to Providence Place mall a little earlier to shop then we went to the game. it was a lot of fun and they ended up winning!

last night I went to a dance with my friend Andrea. it was her sorority's Crush Party. we danced and had a lot of fun. then played Taboo afterwards.

this morning I went to breakfast with some friends, three of which graduated last year and I don't see them ever! then I proceeded to watch youtube videos the rest of the day (with some facetiming my parents mixed in).

busy weekend makes Meghan a tired lady.

now I'm off to start writing a paper for my psych of personality class. nothing like a paper to end your weekend right.

oh and sleep. sleep will be nice.

BSU Blogfest 2012 Day 2!

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It may be a little late (12 hours! Woops! Blame busy Tuesday) but here it is:

Today's theme for the BSU Blogfest is Community!

I could go anywhere with this topic but the wonderful Cindy Kane, Advisor, Director of OSIL, and Mentor, gave me a great idea for today's theme.

I know I've talked about it before MANY times, but I was an Orientation Leader the past two summers. I worked with 32 other students in helping to welcome the newest members of the BSU community. Being an OL is a community in and of itself and that's what I'll talk a little about.

As an OL, you move into one of the residence halls on campus roughly a week after the last day of finals. When you move back, all the OLs live in the same hallway sharing rooms for about 2 weeks during training until it comes time to move throughout the building to be available for the students when they arrive for one of six different sessions offered throughout the span of 3 weeks.

During this time the OLs are living in our own little world. We share living space, have meals together, train and do work together, and work as a team to welcome the students. Those two weeks and the weeks following, you really get to know these people. It's an amazing time.

Especially after this past summer, I have become extremely close to so many of the OLs I worked with. I can call every single one of them a good friend of mine. When we all get together or even when a few of us get together I know we can all talk about whatever, trust one another, and know we'll have each others backs.

This position is unlike any job out there. It's hard to describe to someone what this job means. There are long hours, sometimes the students don't want to cooperate, sometimes there are good sessions and sometimes there are difficult ones. There are ups and downs mentally and emotionally, but when working in a community of people who are doing the same job you're doing and have your back makes it all worth it.

We welcomed 2,600 students to Bridgewater State last summer. Would I do it a third time?

Absolutely.

BSU Blogfest 2012 Day 1

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Hi Blogging Friends!

Part of my blog return and revamp is for the BSU Blogfest! I participated in it last year. You can look at my posts from them HERE.

I figured I had an interesting time last year doing it so I thought let's do it again!

Today is day one and the theme is Why Blog?

I really like the questions posed for today so I'm going to go off of them.

"What motivated you to get started with blogging?"

Blogging was one of those things that I didn't really understand and didn't know what I was going to talk about/use it for. I was at UMASS Dartmouth in my freshmen year and by the time blogging came into my life I was just ready to get out of there. Really reading other blogs motivated me to create my own blog. I figured it would be a great way to keep my mind of things and waste time before I could leave UMD and come to Bridgewater. It was kind of a coping mechanism at the time and turned into a place to share life events and meet new people.

"Why do you continue to blog?"

I continue blogging because I like the people I've met through blogging and the people I get to know by reading other blogs. Sometimes I feel inspired by other bloggers. I hope that I can do that for one of my readers some day.

I took a long time off from blogging recently because I've been feeling pretty stressed about life after graduation. Blogging brings the real life to light and that scares me. I've been feeling less optimistic about it and since this blog is titled Optimistic and In Denial I feel I need to keep the positive, optimistic thoughts on here and not the stressful, worried feelings I've been having the last few months. I returned from my "hiatus" I guess you could say because I thought it was time to document the next step in my life, much like I did when I started blogging during my transition between UMD and BSU. Hopefully sharing here will help me in this strange time I feel coming up.

"What do you think makes for great blogs or not-so-great blogs?"

I think a great blog is one that is honest and real. If I feel like you're making things up in your life I don't think I would be interested in reading it. On the other side of things, when you share far too much about your life or are Negative Nancy about every part of life I don't think I could follow your blog.

"Any advice for people considering getting started with a blog?"

When starting a blog you need to find your own voice. Speaking can convey one thing, writing may convey another. You need to find what fits you as a blogger.

Don't worry so much about the number of followers or comments your blog gets. Don't let low numbers deter you from continuing and don't let large numbers scare you away from that voice you've established for yourself on your blog. While I've never faced any meanness on my blog I do know it's out there. Don't let someone bully your blog. It's your place to speak, you take control of it and make it your own.

Hope you all enjoyed my view on blogging. Stay tuned for more posts this week for BSU Blogfest 2012!

How would you answer these questions?

:) Meg O

what's 8 months in the scheme of things?

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it's almost been so long now I don't know what where to start.

so I'll start with a list because I love lists.

1. there are 58 days until I graduate

2. I'm the Class of 2012 President

3. I read 19 books last year

4. I have a couple of purple streaks in my hair

5. I'm taking 4 classes right now. my last Math class where I have to write a 15 page paper, two psychology classes for my minor and a history class for no reason.

6. I have a kindle and I love it

7. my younger brother is a marine and lives in California right now. my older brother is graduated from college (finally) and lives in Boston working full time as a computer nerd (haha I kid he maintains servers)

8. I missed blogging but lost the motivation over the last 8 months

9. I want a new simple blog layout but don't know where to get one.

10. I'm participating in the BSU Blogfest for social media week again this year. I'm using it as my jumping point to refresh and rejuvenate O&ID

hope you'll all stick around to see me through my last couple months of undergrad and my post graduation life.

until later (but not too much later)

:) Meg O