By: Genevieve Scholl

My fellow blogger wrote about what makes her happy, so I decided to show you guys a little something about me. Instead of just saying what makes me happy, I am going to list my 10 Guilty Pleasures and 10 Things That Bother Me That Really Shouldn’t.

10 Guilty Pleasures

• Rock Climbing
• Disney Channel
• Chocolate Peanut Butter Ice Cream
• Ratetouille (The Food, not the movie)
• Irish/ Native American/ Jazz Music
• CSI/ Criminal Minds
• CASTLE
• Blowing a Whole Day to Read a Book From Cover to Cover
• Heels with Jeans
• Coconut Rum

10 Things That Bother Me That Really Shouldn’t

• Uneven Numbers
• Motorcycles
• Re-makes of Classic Movies (The Original Dirty Dancing will always be the ONLY Dirty Dancing!)
• Jiff Peanut-Butter Commercial: “Well you’re making this for me!”
• Mono-toned Voices
• Facebook Changes (Though I think that bothers all of us)
• People Eating Sushi
• The Smell of Vanilla
• Packing
• When People Concentrate More on the Details of a Wedding, Rather Than the Person They are Marrying.

And that’s me in a nutshell! I hope you don’t think me too weird…

Goodmorning, GCC!!

I must confess that every time I see the word “happy” I either hear the Cheerios slogan “Bee Happy, Be Healthy” (No, that is not misspelled. See, the honey bee pun?) or the opening shot of Elle Woods, spritzing Clinique’s popular fragrance Happy on her wrist while she is getting ready, in the fantastic (yes, I love this movie) film, Legally Blonde (you know, deep, deep down, that you love this movie too). 

Why am I going on about the word “happy,” you may ask? Well, a good friend of mine informed me this morning that my blog is sad. Not sad, in a pathetic sort of way, but sad as in emotion. Now, I know that he was kidding, however, it got me thinking. I have been posting about alot of introspective, sad stories.

I have decided that it is time for me to lighten it up a bit!!

During the second half of my senior year of highschool, a few of my close friends and I ended up in a study hall together during the last block of the day. This study hall was run by one of my favorite teachers, Mr. Watterson, and basically consisted of joking, gossiping, serious talks about wordly issues (seriously, we talked through a bunch of different topics with Mr. Watterson), complaining about a highschool that we all secretly love, a bit of school work, (done mostly by me) and the exchanging of wisdom between friends.  

During one of these study halls, one of my friends came up with the idea to make “happy lists.” Simply put, happy lists ended up being very, very, very long lists of anything and everything that we could think of that made us happy. We would spend about half a block laughing and coming up with the lists, while spending the rest of the block reading them outloud to each other. “Happy lists” are one of my favorite memories of my senior year; I still have my list in a keepsake box, safely tucked away in my bedroom.

I would like to share a bit of my list with you today, and encourage you to make one of your own. Creating my happy list forced me to see all the blessings I have in my life, and sharing it out loud brought me closer to my friends.

So, here are 50 things that make me happy, in no particular order. Maybe, some of these make you happy as well, or maybe they will just help brighten your day a little. Enjoy 🙂

1. dancing on a cold, hardwood floor

2. watching the sun rise through the wind shield of my car

3. eating popcorn

4. my family

5. shopping

6. watching my brother win a 100 hurdles race

7. Ryan Reynolds

8. black Starbucks coffee

9. teaching dance

10. watching a Buffalo Bills football game (no matter the outcome)

11. the moment immediatly following finishing a big project

12. unexpected smiles

13. late night hangouts at Coffee Culture

14. a fantastic pair of high heels

15. John Wayne movies

16. dreading the last page of a great book

17. men in white t-shirts and blue jeans

18. the last day of the semester

19. blasting the music in my car

20. church on sunday morning, immediatly followed by the NFL pregame show

21. posing for pictures

22. accents (English, Australian, Southern….love them all)

23. Johnny Depp

24. riding an ATV through a cornfield

25. the smell of fall

26. surprises

27. writing

28. work boots

29. hearing from someone you havent seen in a while

30. walking through the halls of my highschool (making lots of noise in my high heels)

31. Friday night football games, cheering on my brother

32. a great pair of jeans

33. the color black

34. going out to dinner

35. music from the 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s

36. 90’s alt. rock

37. Friends

38. diamond jewlery

39. finishing a test with 40 minutes left in free class time

40. the smell of vanilla

41. The Office

42. Aerosmith

43. Any movie/TV show produced by Lorne Michaels

43. vacations

44. tail-gating

45. the colors red, white, and blue (multiple reasons)

46. crazy jingles that get stuck in your head

47. That 70’s Show

48. chocolate

49. thunderstorms

50. cheesy disaster movies

There are over 300 items on my original list, 50 is just a drop in the bucket. Please think about writing a list of your own, it really does help to put your life in perspective.

Until next time,

Emily

By: Genevieve Scholl

Hello Everyone on this beautiful day we have off of classes! You will have to bare with me today, as I am blogging from a Mac Computer and have not used one in quite some time.Here is my experience at Darien Lake on Saturday!

Thanks to the generosity of Kevin Manne, we got free tickets to Darien Lake and went to Frightfest on Saturday afternoon. It was a great day and a very exciting event. After parking right by the entrance (lucky us) we walked into the park and did some shopping. We didn’t buy much, except way too much rock candy, but there were a lot of great things that were for sale. The best thing I saw was baby stuffed animals wrapped in blankets. They were sooo adorable (unfortunately no picture) and I wanted to get one for my sister in law, but couldn’t afford it 😦 . Then, we walked into the park and jumped right into lunch :). We ate at Beaver Brothers Restaurant and let me tell you the food was delicious! I had a “ceasar salad” (I put it in quotes, because I got ranch dressing instead of the ceasar dressing) and my best friend had a Bucky’s Bacon Burger. It smelled heavenly and I know that the bacon, since I stole a piece, was good at least.

After lunch, we proceeded to the rides for the day. A lot of things were closed, being this late in the season and it being Frightfest and all, but we were able to right five different rides; four for me. We started off with the Haymaker, which was basically a seat that you spun around in, and that was fun but we were kind of dizzy afterward. Then, we headed over to the carousel to relax a bit before we went to another thrilling ride. The next ride happened to be the Fright Night Bus Tour. Basically, we got onto a bus and the driver took us around the campgrounds where various Halloween themed things were set up. There were clowns, decapitated heads, zombies, etc. There were moments when the “monsters” got on the bus, there was fog, scary sounds, and even times when we almost hit someone with the bus. (It was all choreographed of course so don’t worry, no one got hurt; though a few kids did cry). It was a lot of fun and actually more funny than scary. We did it in the day time so, I am not sure what the difference would have been at night, but it was very well done. I mean, we thought we were on a ride instead of bus because the bus driver was so good at taking turns fast and everything. A lot of fun. Check it out next Fright fest. After that, we sat down and had a drink before heading to the last ride (mine anyway) of the night. The Raging Seas (another sit and spin type ride). My best friend also went on a roller coaster (I do not like roller coasters at all) called the Motocoster. It is a roller coaster where you sit on a motorcycle instead of in a bench seat like most roller coasters. I’ll admit, it is scary for me, because I feel like I am going to fall out even though there are plenty of restraints. She had a blast though, so I didn’t mind waiting the forty minutes for her to be done waiting and riding the coaster.

After all the rides, we made our way to the field by the lake to get ready for the Laser Spooktacular! It is a laser light show that is put on everyday during the season, but for Halloween, it becomes the Spooktacular! It was a lot of fun. They played songs like Addams Family, Harry Potter, Monster Mash, This is Halloween, etc. That lasted about 15 minutes and we headed to the parking lot. By the time we left the park it was 10:30PM and we had at least a forty minute drive back to Brockport, so we had a relaxing ride with some music to wind down from the exciting day and go to sleep as soon as we got back.

The only downside to the whole day, was that there was a problem with the Ferris Wheel, so we were unable to ride it. But that’s okay, there’s always next year!

Kevin Manne

Thank you again to Kevin Manne for the tickets! Bye bye for now everyone! Enjoy your day off!

By: Genevieve Scholl

On Tuesday night, we had a roommates only night. All guests or friends or boyfriends, etc, left the room for two hours while the roommates hung out and watched movies, drank hot chocolate, and did makeup and hair.

Roommates

We watched Enchanted with Amy Adams and Patrick Dempsey and we watched Fern Gully: The Last Rainforest. It was a very girly night where we remembered our youth and relaxed. No homework was done, no stresses were present, and we stuffed our mouths full of food that we really didn’t need. It was a relaxing and enjoyable time that I believe everyone should allow themselves at least once a week to rid themselves of the stresses of classes and work.

Now, while most of you know what Enchanted is or at least have heard of it, I bet a lot of you have never heard of Fern Gully. My roommates sure hadn’t before Tuesday night. I think that is a crying shame! Everyone should see Fern Gully at least once in their lifetime.

Fern Gully is the story of Crysta, a fairy in the rainforest, and her family. Their world is being destroyed by loggers and the trees are in pain, but Crysta won’t let that happen! When a human working on the site thinks she is a bug and tries to spray her with spray paint, he accidentally sprays an ancient tree that holds an evil spirit. In the process of this,  Crysta accidentally shrinks down the human, a creature that all the fairies fear thanks to their crazy friend Batty (a bat who escaped from a biology lap with a radio in his head), when she is trying to explore the logging areas and hatch out a plan. What happens? Well, you will just have to watch the movie and find out.

Now, that was just a little insight into my childhood. Unfortunately, it also shows my age in relation to about every other student on this campus haha, but that’s okay. I am just happy to share my wisdom and experiences with everyone in order for them to experience these moments and movies themselves. Next up to introduce to the roommates… We will just have to wait and see. 🙂

Thanks for listening!

Hey, guys, Emily here.

When someone dies, it’s often difficult to talk about. You often can’t find words to express what you are feeling, or the thoughts that are going through your mind. You find yourself sitting there, thinking that what you have just heard is crazy and can’t be true…trying to find a way to make it go away in your mind, or even just a way to compartmentalized the news into a neat package that is somehow easier to swallow.

However, it isn’t often that you get this reaction to hearing about the death of a person that you have never met.

If you have not already heard, (with our 24/7 media, I’m not sure how it’s possible to “not hear” anymore) Apple’s former CEO, Steve Jobs, passed away yesterday. When I heard the news, I was sitting in a classroom during my Wednesday night Horror in Films class , when suddenly my friend Carolyn looked up from her Mac laptop, and told me that Steve Jobs had just died. Now, I have an ear for irony, and it was not lost on me that this news had been delivered to my friend and I via a Mac and that I quickly looked down at my iPhone, trying to decide whether I wanted to investigate the news for myself.

It was a weird, sad feeling. Hearing about Steve’s death. I can only compare it to the night that my mother told me that Heath Ledger had died (I’m going to be honest and tell you that I cried when she told me, he was one of my favorite actors of all time…he always will be) and the day that I found out that Michael Jackson had died (every self-respecting dancer loves Michael Jackson, it’s part of our culture).

I will admit that I did not react as strongly to Steve’s death, as I did to the deaths of Heath Ledger and Michael Jackson. I believe this was because I had only just started building my “relationship” with Steve Jobs. I have only been the proud owner of my iPhone 4 for about 3 1/2 months now, (of course, I have had an iPod for years, but those are so common place now, that it almost doesn’t feel very “Apple” if you know what I mean) and of course I have fallen in love with it, but I had only just begun thinking about making the switch to all Apple products.

Lets face reality and recognize that Steve Jobs was a visionary. He changed technology during our generation at a far faster pace than had ever been seen before in our country, or in the world. However, he did pay a price.

For the most part, I believe that everyone knew that he was sick , which was the reason why he stepped down as the CEO of Apple in the first place, but we were never aware just how sick he was. Steve Jobs was a very secretive man, which was one of the reasons why the American public was so enamored with him.

Like I said at the beginning of this post, it is hard to talk about someone who has died. I found an article on foxnews.com that pays tribute to Steve Jobs, his successes, and his history, in a more eloquent and succinct way then I ever could. I will post the link to the article below. Please read it, if you get the chance. It does shed some light on a man, that we all knew, and respected in one way or another.

We will always remember Steve the way we loved him most: standing on a huge stage, black turtle-neck, jeans, sneakers… with a little smirk on his face, about to unveil a product that was sure to change our lives forever.

Until next time,

Emily

http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/10/05/apple-says-founder-steve-jobs-is-dead/

Hey, guys!

Yesterday, I realized that my time management skills are terrible. And when I say terrible, I mean hideously, ridiculously, inexplicably awful. I’m serious. In an effort to be completely, honest with you, the student body, I am willing to tell you that today I opened my Biology 101 textbook for the first time. I literally had not taken the plastic wrapper off of the book until 11 am this morning; and we are in week 7 mind you.  

Now, I realize that this is nothing to be proud of (and let me tell you, I am sooooooo not proud of that) but up until today I really have not had a need to open the book….my biology professor is fantastic, and I have been able to keep up with her lectures and my notes.

However, that is simply not enough.

If you are like me, then you have goals and dreams for yourself that are at least 10 miles high. In order to achieve these goals, it is important to take school work, class time, and participation seriously. Let’s be serious for a minute. Every college student on this planet procrastinates. I don’t care if that was an extremely broad generalization, it’s true. Whether you are a freshman or this is your last semester at GCC, we have all had that thought in our minds of, “well… I don’t really feel like doing this now…I’ll just do it the night before.” Or maybe for you it was doing it tomorrow, or the next day, or this weekend, or the weekend after that. All-nighters are part of the college experience right? Heck, before I was a college student the thought of staying up late with a bottomless cup of coffee and a group of friends, all working on a project sounded like fun. Might as well take advantage of the free time, right?

Wrong.

Papers and projects completed at the last minute are prone to mistakes, and often recieve bad grades for which we as college kids rationalize in our brains. Have you ever thought to yourself, “I’ll accept the C… I didn’t have enough time to work on it any way…just as long as I didn’t get an F.” Wrong attitude!!!!!

We college kids need to strive for excellence in everything that we do!! If you want to achieve your dream, no matter what it is, make today count. Do your homework! Do your reading! Email your professor back!! If you do not take advantage of the oportunities you have now, you will most certainly regret it later in life.

Make your dreams your reality, guys 🙂

Until next time,

Emily

P.S. this post is for me just as much as it is for you. Let’s turn over a new leaf together!

My Handprint

By: Genevieve Scholl

On move in day, I signed a handprint (pictured at the left) to show that I support anti-bullying. As you can see, many others signed them as well. The program is called “No Place for Hate” and is sponsored by College Village.

“We had the students sign handprints and footprints when they checked in if they were for anti-bullying and a safe environment.” Said a representative at College Village.

I think it is a very smart and wonderful program. Have you signed a handprint or footprint? If not, maybe you should go show your support at College Village today!