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Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Packing for REAL

9:00 AM Earlier this summer, when I made a potential list of the books I'd be packing to take to school, it seemed like a manageable amount. I didn't want to pull them off the shelf until the last second, because my eyes twitch and skin crawls when my books aren't in perfect alphabetical and series order, but I leave tomorrow morning, so today is the day. And it, um, appears that eighteen books is a much higher stack in reality than it is in my mind. I'm going to have to close my eyes and return a couple of them to their places in my bedroom. I know it's only until late November, and I know I can get most of these from the library or online, and I know I won't have any time to sit around reading... but I feel like I'm being asked to selectively save only ten of my 200 children from a fire. Right now, my stack is made up of:

--The Bible
--The Complete Works of Shakespeare
--Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and Deathly Hallows
--Robert Masello's brilliant Robert's Rules of Writing
--Cion by Zakes Mda (required reading)
--The Year of Secret Assignments and The Spell Book of Listen Taylor by Jaclyn Moriarty
--The Catcher in the Rye and Franny and Zooey
--"Le Petit Prince"
--John Green's Looking For Alaska, An Abundance of Katherines, and Paper Towns
--Megan McCafferty's Second Helpings and Perfect Fifths
--Pride and Prejudice
--The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson

I was going to use this next paragraph to debate the merits of each book and then decide which to weed out, but you know what? Everything but the anthologies fits in a small tupperware container, I'm bringing a big bookshelf, and eighteen is my lucky number. SCREW IT, THEY'RE ALL COMING.

Less compact than my beloved books are the shoes I wouldn't even wear if I had the option, but society says I need to cover my feet, so I'll have to find a way to pack them. At the present, it appears that the following footwear will be making the journey to OU.

Flats: black, navy, red
Heels: black open-toed, brown maryjanes
Flipflops: teal, red, blue, sparkly navy, green, burgundy, brown, black
Tennies: white, grungy green, black running shoes
Boots: white Sailor Venus boots, orange Ugg(ly/disgusting and I can't believe I compromised my morals for comfort)

The lineup originally included four more pairs of flipflops, khaki blue heels, and white heels, but I couldn't bring myself to pack more shoes than books. As Barbara Novak once said, "What kind of girl do you think I am?"

11:00 AM It's a few hours later now, and while I'm now wearing a dress and makeup instead of pajamas and my own filth, I haven't made a whole lot of progress in the packing department. I've refolded all the clothes I stupidly tried to pack a week ago when I'd still need to wear them, sang the two-hour Rent soundtrack once through, and shoved all the shoes into a laundry basket. It looks like the final count is going to be: a giant hamper full of dresses, skirts and t-shirts, a tupperware container of sweaters and long sleeves, a big duffle bag of underwear/bras/pajamas/workout clothes/tights/hose/socks, a box of pants and shorts, a big shopping bag of food and toiletries, a basket of shoes, a container of books, a bookshelf, a printer, two lamps, a trashbag of bedding and towels. All of this is enough that I worry whether I'll fit in the car or have to be strapped to the roof with jumper cables.

2:00 PM I was sitting here, on the floor next to my bed, imagining myself tied to the top of an SUV, when I realized I was, first, starving, and second, all alone. I ran down the regular order of people I'd like to have lunch with. But. They're already back at school. I suddenly got really depressed-- the kind of depressed that can only be eliminated by filling the voids inside me with with Texmex. Needless to say, I just downed half a Chipotle burrito in minutes flat, and now I'm taking a break from eating to eat a giant mixing bowl full of sliced strawberries. I don't think health food has ever been so unhealthy without deepfrying it.

I already miss my friends, and I saw the core group of them just last night. Lor and I drove out to visit Jess and Sebastian. It turned dark on our way there, so it was freezing on the campus, but both of their roommates were doing homework and we didn't want to disturb them inside. We ended up having snacks and going to sit on a big couch in a mostly empty lounge area to talk. Sebastian was incredibly moody. He keeps having to pay masses of money for art supplies for classes, and he's no happy camper about it. I spent most of the evening skipping around and lifting the corners of his mouth with my fingers in an attempt to knock him out of it, but it was basically to no avail. Jess is combatting the Freshman Fifteen by constantly trekking the six flights of stairs up to her dorm, and even though she's only been there a week, it already looks like she's lost weight. Lauren's fitting in with her marching band (although there's apparently a Clarinet Nazi they kind of want to spork) and has commuting down, so besides some classes being boring and the constant struggle to find parking spaces on her campus, she's doing all right.

And as for me? I'm in purgatory. It's like someone hit the pause button on my life to take a bathroom break, and then went to the mall, the bank and the grocery store, forgetting about me, frozen in time and space. Then I'll leave tomorrow morning, and everything will speed up so quickly that I won't know what's going on. Fantastic.

I think I'm going to stop here and post this, because my blog is partially responsible for my poor sleep lately. I go out, and if I get home early enough, I practically rush to my bed to unload all my thoughts before the clock strikes midnight. Tonight, however, I'm going to savor every spec of my bed. I'm going to stretch out, diagonally, and let my limbs flail every whichway, and I'm going to sleep for eight full hours. I mean it. It's an unbreakable resolution.

Sexy: I've literally been staring at my blinking cursor for a good two minutes straight. I don't know what's sexy, okay?! I'm stressed!
Unsexy: The state of my stomach! I just consumed a day's worth of calories in less time than it takes to watch an sxephil video. Nervous eating FTL.

Chipotle burritos this year: 29
Subscribers: 20,014!

Bye, guys! Hopefully I'll see you tomorrow after I'm unpacked. <3

66 comments:

Shelby Rebekah said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Shelby Rebekah said...

once you get back into the swing of things, everything will be alright :) college will be awesome, and you'll see your friends enough. you'll even make... *ominous lightning* NEW FRIENDS!

and blinking cursors can be sexy...in an, "i hold the unknown" sort of way.

allison said...

I'm excited for you! It always takes a few bumps in the road before a sweet journey. Rocky road ice cream is the same way: all the almonds and marshmallows never end up in the grooves at the end of my cup, so I wind up scraping my spoon against the side for 10 last calories.

Good luck with packing (I should get my ass off the town library's comp to go home and pack...)

Blinking cursors can be sexy. They're, like, little decapitated stick figures who just happen to apparate back and forth to the same spot.

Anonymous said...

I wish you all the good luck in the world that things go smoothly for you during the transition to what is apparently 'Real Life'. Be brave! You're doing a good job so far. And congrats on your 20 000 subscribers as well!!

Margaret said...

Hayley! You don't sound at all excited about going to college! I know it's cliche, but don't think about what you're losing so much as what you're gaining. Not that you're losing your friends, or anything, but you're going to COLLEGE. Be excited! Everything will be FINE! :)

to_thine_own_self said...

I just wanted to say good luck, Hayley!

You'll have a fabulous time at college.

=]]]

Equatorgrim said...

Everything's going to be okay.

Eric Gomez said...

Good luck. Good luck Good luck Good luck Good luck Good luck Good luck Good luck Good luck Good luck Good luck Good luck Good luck Good luck Good luck Good luck Good luck Good luck Good luck Good luck. [I would try to do 20,000 good lucks, but, yea, I'll spare you. 20 is good enough, right?]

Mickey said...

"in less time than it takes to watch an sxephil video."

This may be the best comparison of time ever. Who needs seconds/minutes? Everything, in the end, is just an over/under of sxephil vids.

Just remember, at least you don't have it as badly as those of us still with a year to go in high school.

justjustine said...

good luck in college, hayley, you'll be great! :)

seurat2 said...

First off,let me give hearty congrats on getting those 20,000 subscribers. I know this is a major achievement for you and happened as a result of a lot of work, and I'm happy I was one of the firse 5,000 or so.

I'll pass on commenting on the clothes packing thiong, since I just can't relate but I'm glad you decided to bring all the books. Hope you got your eight hours of sleep. You are awesome.

seurat2 said...

Some day I will do a post that doesn't have random typing mistakes that I don't take the time to correct, like that last one did. Sigh.
On the plus side, I've just watched your new you tube video and offered congrats there too.

Elizabeth... said...

Selective books and shoes. A scary prospect, but thankfully I only own one pair of flip flops and all those other pesky shoes...
Oh god, it's still over 3 weeks till I face this but the reality is hitting already. Today I bought a wok. That's right. I now own my own cooking utensils.
Being 18 and moving out to Uni is very strange.
I hope all goes well in your moving tomorrow!
:)

Madhu said...

1) i love you
2) in response to your last blog, it would be reader-san not chan. chan is when someone is really young.

bluuuuuuuuuuurb japanese ftw

Ida said...

Congratulations on the subscribers!

Kay said...

Your pause button metaphor was awesome, it's things like that, that make your blog so enjoyable. I'm going to start university in october so kind of know how you feel, but to know that there is so much more to come always cheers me up.

alanasays said...

Your blog today reminded me of a quote from 'sisterhood of the travelling pants' by Ann Brashares.

"She felt as though she'd stepped out of the flow of time. She watched it go past, but she didn't take part. She just waited there wondering when her life would start again."

I love that series! - even though I'm supposed to be a little old for it.

I hope tomorrow isn't too stressful. I'm sure you're going to love it and settle in in no time. I can't wait to hear about all the amazing, inspiring, interesting, crazy, awesome people you'll meet and experiences you'll have.

Good luck! We think you're awesome!

Anonymous said...

good luck tomorrow!

Kate M said...

good luck moving in!! and, though it is probably too late, don't forget to pack clothes hangers. i'm a junior in college and this is the FIRST year that i remembered hangers.
congrats on fitting 20,000!!! woo hayley! its weird how happy i am for you, even though i've never met you. i guess you're just that awesome. :)

comelygrace said...

Strapped to the roof with jumper cables? ...Or bungee cords? I guess jumper cables makes sense if you wanted to receive shocks ensuring you'd stay alive on the duration of your journey. ;P

Jealous of your shoe collection. I only brought one pair of flip flops and tennies each...but I'll have to bring back some fancier shoes eventually in the semester. It can wait until Thanksgiving though. Sooo yeah, whatevs.

Good luck moving in!

Anonymous said...

Geeze, Hayley. That is a TON of shoes! But I will refrain from making fun ;)

Oh and cursors... totally sexy!

but the name is Tarah. said...

I just realized that Sebastian has the same first name as Seb Mantegna.

I've also just realized that I need to work on my attention to detail.

When I was reading about your internal struggle regarding which books to bring, I literally became nervous thinking you wouldn't bring them all, and then when you said you were going to bring them all I wanted to make some kind of victory noise.

You can't leave pieces of your soul behind Hayley.

I mean, really.

<3

meaghanlittle said...

Good Luck with the moving, unpacking, and adjusting at school.

You'll be stressed but and enjoy it. I wish I was able to, instead I have to commute.

Elrich89 said...

You'll. Be. FINE.

notaclareintheworld said...

Welcome to my life! My school starts later than most so my two best friends left two weeks ago and I still have a week and a half to go before I leave for school. :-P Don't worry though, you'll be busier than ever soon enough. Get excited! I wish I were leaving tomorrow, too!

Alex Dahlberry said...

Calm down, everyone goes through this, you'll survive.
I know, not helpful right? Basically what everyone says?
Unfortunately I cant really say anyhting more helpful than that, but good luck and we (your blog readers) are thinking of you!!

-alex

Allison said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Nokorola said...

Good luck starting your college life tomorrow Hayley!

A blinking cursor is pretty sexy.

Congrats on all the YouTube stalk...er... I mean subscribers.

Tenley Nadine said...

Argh... yeah, packing sucks. But, college (at least so far) is awesome! I'm sure you'll have a good time... okay, no. I'm not sure, but I mean, probably? jk... kinda

Oh and is it strange that I read "FTL" and spent a good five minutes trying to figure out what it was? Awkward... *looks away from the computer*

Christy said...

Wait, so how many white camisoles did you decide to take?!

Hilary said...

Ah, I remember packing a couple weeks ago and not thinking everything fits. And I totally get the books thing. I brought... 10, I think, and my Psych Season 3 DVD set. And you will have time to read (at least you have a bookshelf, mine are in a box under my bed) like in between classes or before bed or something.

GOOD LUCK TOMORROW! BE EXCITED! I'll be thinking of you. BREATHE!

Anonymous said...

As others have said, you seem like the type of person who will really enjoy the college experience. Just try to relax and approach this with a positive attitude. Also be grateful that IM, cell phones, and facebook make keeping in touch with old friends much easier.

I'm glad you're bringing the whole lot of books, because it's always hard to predict what one will be in the mood to read. Best to go prepared. :)

Good luck at college an DFTBA.

Beth said...

I felt like the end of my summer was a state of purgatory as well. I was tired of the anticipation and ready to finally just dive into the new adventures this fall has brought for me. The me of four weeks ago can SO relate. Although I wasn't a college freshman this fall, I was an incoming graduate student at a university 3 1/2 hours from home, so I am all too familiar with what you're going through. While the growing pains can be pretty rough, you will soon be living the things you've been anticipating for so long. And it will be great.

Anonymous said...

...And I'm reading your blog instead of the 50 pages of textbook due Friday. ;)

Good luck at school, hey? Once all the nervewracking saying goodbye and leaving is over, YOU WILL HAVE FUN. (this is coming from the girl who made more friends in the last seven days than in the last seven YEARS). College, at least a week of it in my experience, is FUN.

bassrocks9 said...

Hayley, don't forget to bring your chargers and toothbrush and such!
Haha. Honestly, Hayley, I think that everyone is going to fall in love with you. I actually wonder how many of your classmates will already have heard of you. You have 20,000 subscribers now, after all!
Good luck. Good luck.

Also please accept my facebook friend request. We were already friends, why did you unfriend me?
(I'm Samantha Nam-Krane)

Odi said...

After all this time reading your blog, how did I only just notice you always end it with "Bye, guys! Hopefully I'll see you tomorrow. <3"

Hayley_leesha666 said...

Goodluck Hayley :)Goodluck Hayley :)Goodluck Hayley :)Goodluck Hayley :)Goodluck Hayley :)Goodluck Hayley :)Goodluck Hayley :)Goodluck Hayley :)Goodluck Hayley :)Goodluck Hayley :)Goodluck Hayley :)Goodluck Hayley :)Goodluck Hayley :)Goodluck Hayley :)Goodluck Hayley :)Goodluck Hayley :)Goodluck Hayley :) you will do great! i bet you will love college! :) have fun!

CiaranPK said...

Im so excited for you too, to be able to flee the nest and embark on a new adventure.. (god that sounds so cheesy, but hey am a cheesy guy) wwwweeeeeee. :)

VTBurninator said...

Haha your Sims references kill me...and that is exactly how Teddy, Hank and Aldous Forest (my Sims 3 Faimly) feels today after I got a temporary job cutting out the free time rool I was on since having quit my job, moved to a new part of the state and failed at the game that is life trying to find a job in the horrible economy...Sorry Forest Family....I miss you! Good luck with the purg Hay! Can't wait to see what happens when we can super fast forward to the college experience =)

VTBurninator said...

and by rool I totally meant roll...FML!

Bel G. said...

Good luck in college! You'll be fine, there's nothing to worry about!

Congrats on the 20.000 subscribers - It's not surprising, because you are truly awesome! People naturally subscribe to your channel, you don't even have to ask!

Jessica Bergman "TheOtherJessica" said...

Good luck with college!!!
I just had my very first Chipotle Burrito today! After reading your blogs I decided I HAD to have one, because if they are good enough for someone to constantly blog about, then they are something I have to try.

ekrammarkee said...

Hayley! Well done on the packing front, I probably would have packed like 5 pairs of shoes and all of my books. :D

College should be fun, reading your blog while your there will be immense fun for us.

Good luck! And have fun for me-- starting as a highschool freshmen will (hopefully) be survivable!

Anonymous said...

Please do get lots of sleep. Because you have ignored the obvious.----

What if you room mate snores?

Workout clothes are good because you will be forced to buy and lug around at least 50 pounds of text books daily.

And the cursor thing and you don't know what is sexy--we know!! 'cause forcing us guys to watch some video of half dressed guys is just throw up good!

Hayley, hope you still have time for us(and by us I mean me). :)

Have a great time in your new world.

traderbob11 said...

What have I done? the message above is me

Anonymous said...

Hayley, I'm sure you'll be great. :)

Oh, and the Barbara Novak reference made my day.

Sarahalala said...

Hayley, good luck tomorrow!!! I am excited for you.

Friendships are hard during times of change ... it is so, so hard to know that they will have to change in some way. I have been thinking back to some of my childhood friendships that actually strengthened across the distance and our efforts to maintain the bond, and I hope that it may be the same for you.

Did you finish the Spell Book of Listen Taylor? What did you think of it in the end?

- Sarah (who wore brown flipflops with a black outfit tonight and is jealous of your awesome shoe selections!)

Anonymous said...

good luck hayley!!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

Good luck in college Hayley.

Pip said...

I was exactly where you are about a week ago. It sucked being the last one at home. And if you think packing is hard, unpacking is ten times worse. Just think about how all those items that had been scattered around your big, family house now have to be stuffed into a tiny room with limited storage space.

But believe me it's worth it because starting college is one of the most exciting and fun things I've ever done (even though it's hard and scary sometimes, too).

JJC1138 said...

I'd wish you luck, but I think that would be kinda like offering to lend $10 to a billionaire: you really don't need it. You're completely awesome and this fact will not go unnoticed!

Anonymous said...

What's sexy? You are, beautiful.
Break a leg at college(?idk)
Congrats on 20K.

The Vagabond said...

The book thing is hard. I took way too many last year and ended up buying some more. At least you have your own bookshelf instead of having to cram all eighteen into the tiny one they would provide.

Good luck at school! You're going to do great!

:-)

Lizzie said...

Oh Hayley, Hayley, Hayley- Ugg boots, really? I'm disappointed in you!

Good luck and I'm sure college will be great. I'm jealous of all the other students that get to meet you!

Bre Melvin said...

you and your friends are still relatively close. you'll have the occasional weekends, as opposed to the giant chunk-months of nothingness

VicMorrowsGhost said...

ZOMG! 20,000+ :D

Rachelle said...

Good luck! You'll be fine, college is great. You'll be having so much fun in your classes and making friends that you won't even think about being nervous anymore. You'll see your friends enough so don't worry about missing them.

Adrienne said...

in response to your video, i bought my algebra one final grade with brownies(:
you're not alone.

congrats, and i hope college is going well!

Deanna said...

When I left for my freshman year of college my parents said I was only allowed to bring 1 banana box of books.

Most of my packing time was centered around how many books I could get into this box, and which books were the most important.

It's a hard job. But it looks like you know what you're doing.

Good Luck at school!!

Tom said...

Just since you tweeted you felt like the end of HBP...this is kinda random, but you should listen to the song "Forget the Girl" by How Airplanes Fly (it's on her supplemental myspace). Probably my third or fourth favorite wrock song of all time. Which IS saying something.

JoshV said...

Hey there,

I dont really have anything witty or smart to say, so I'll leave it at this: Hope you had a great trip today and best wishes for the future. Love ya!

Anonymous said...

I can't believe school is here already! I'm really excited (for you, not for me, haha), and I'm sure you'll have a great time. It's so cool to get to hear about everything first-hand from you, thanks so much!

Also, congrats on the subscribers!! Whenever college gets you down, just remember you've got all of us on the Internets who think you're awesome. :)

maddy said...

I wish I knew what to say to help you feel less anxious.

Good luck, and I'm sure everything will turn out great. :)

Jackie said...

*siiiiigh* I fear that I am going to have this same book problem when I finally go away to college. In my fantasy, I don't have a rommate, because I use the other half of the dorm to keep all my books.

Klunkymonkey said...

Hey Hayley,
So this upcoming Saturday, I am going to be moving into college for my freshman year. I'm excited to meet tons of new people and to be independent, but I'm also very sad to be moving away from my family and friends and I’m dreading having to say goodbye. (i'm going out of state. adios Ohio) :( I decided to go back and read this blog post, and let me tell you, it’s been extremely reassuring to know that someone else had the exact same feelings and turned out just fine. I know I’m being a bit irrational, but I just wanted to say thanks for writing this blog; I’ve personally connected to it many times and it is always funny, interesting, and real!
-Stephanie

Hope said...

I know you posted this two years ago, and I have no idea if you're going to even know that this post exists, but I wanted to coment on it because I'm moving to college for the first time next week and I'm in the middle of packing. It's stressing me out and I miss all my friends who are already at school and I'm not quite sure I can handle moving eight hours away... so I looked back through your blog to when you were moving to college for the first time yourself. And I found your posts funny and incredibly helpful. Like, more helpful than I even thought they would be. I've been reading your blog since you did BEDApril 2009, so I read these posts when you first made them, and I know I appreciated them then, but now... it's hard for me to put into words how much better I feel now, knowing that it's okay to feel stressed and upset about leaving all my friends, and that it's okay to take ridiculous amounts of books JUST BECAUSE I CAN'T BE PARTED FROM THEM EVER (I feel very strongly about my favorite books), or to have anxieties in general about moving away and leaving.

So thank you, Hayley G. Hoover, for making one girl's life a little bit better, and for helping her breathe easier, and helping her be maybe be a little bit less stressed out. It means a lot. :)