College, Comitments, and Fandom Shirts

I have officially survived my first three weeks of college. I've turned every assignment in on time and have attended every class. Needless to say I'm pretty proud of myself for maintaining altitude, so to speak, now I just need to stay at this level for 6 more weeks. I can do this.
However, my biggest dilemma of late isn't just keeping above a 90% in my classes,
It's figuring out what I really want to study for the next four years. What do I want.
I'm still not sure, but everyday it's becoming clearer to me of which path I want to take. I have two more weeks to make a decision, and I think that's enough time.

As far as my commitment toward my other goal as mentioned in my previous blog, well...
I'm proud to say I'm staying committed toward it too. I waited until I knew I had time to dedicate myself to this 30 Day Shred program and I have just finished day 4. I can hardly use my arms after graduating to the 10 lb. weights, and the pain feels amazing. After finishing a work out, I feel ten times better and that feeling is really, really addicting and makes me want to do more.

On a side note, after a particularly good day at school, I come home to find a package waiting for me.
Ladies and Gentlemen, I am the proud owner of my first fandom shirt ever.
I'm a happy Sherlockian.

Goals

Goals.

Easy to set, harder to follow. Without motivation, they are a most difficult thing to achieve. So I'm about to start motivating myself through this blog.
Someone once told me that if you tell someone about your goals and talk about your progress, the easier it is to climb that proverbial ladder. In no particular order, here are a few of the things I wish to achieve by December.

1. Health. More specifically, physical health. I used to be very physically active, advanced ballet classes twice a week and riding horses every weekend. After an unfortunate accident that rendered me immobile for a solid 6 months, I kind of... let myself go a bit. Now I'm going to commit myself to a 30 day challenge and I will achieve the same strength I used to have, and then some. By next summer I will be strong enough to dance again.

2. Attain A's and B's in all my classes at College this fall. My study skills are not as stellar as they could be, which made my first year of college a nightmare. This time around I will stop being too proud make it  my priority to seek help when I need it with math and I will stay away from all electronic devices (mainly tumblr if I'm being honest) for as long as needed until any and all homework is done.

Naturally there are projects on the side that I'd like to have completed in under a year, including but not limited to, fan fiction, fan art and finish reading the complete collection of Sherlock Holmes stories...and Lord of the Rings.

Expect quite a few of these types of entries because writing things like this down has helped me with smaller tasks in the past and God know's I need all the help I can get.

-Ashley

Dear Derek,

I never thought I'd ever be caught up by this blogging thing people do, but here I am. The main reason I have one is credited to the one person I owe a lot to. His name is Derek Landy.

Derek is a strange bloke who lives in a strange place called Ireland, and he makes a living writing strange books. You may have heard of them if you live within that cluster of rocks in the northern region of Europe. He is the author of the brilliant Skulduggery Pleasant series. (On a side note, not to inflate his already unbelievable ego, but you need to read this series. Seriously.)

He runs a blog here --> dereklandy.blogspot.com

It's highly entertaining and I love reading it. Aside from his most recent post. Which brings me to the topic I sat down to write about.

Derek is an awesome person. Because of these damn books, I have the best friends I could have ever asked for, I have a second family that I love and cherish more than I could ever describe in words. I've established a love for reading because of this series. And I've grown from these books too. I went from a shy, timid twelve-year-old who would hide in the library at lunch who grew into the confident and out going person that I am today. Countless nights I've stayed up reading and rereading these stories. Laughing until I couldn't breathe or until I was crying so hard I couldn't see.

But right now, all I have to say is, Derek, I'm sorry. I truly am.
I know you're going to hear that a lot for a while but I mean it.

You lost a pet... or rather, a friend.

I... I'm kind of at a loss for words but, I know exactly what you're going through. It hurts. It's painful. Ali was more than a dog, more than a pet. I get that and honestly, after reading about Ali, that little hollow feeling in the pit of my stomach that I thought was gone, is starting to ache again.  

One year and 10 months ago, I lost my friend too. It doesn't get easier, in fact it never really goes away. That may not sound comforting right now, giving how fresh your wound is, but it's the most comforting thing I can think of to say. Only because, when the grief of losing a friend like this hurts so bad and cuts so deep that you know the scar left behind will never go away, it means that the bond you two had was something truly, truly special. Cherish that.

Sincerely,
a very devoted Ameriminion,
Ashley

Curley Sue
April 30, 1984 - December 9, 2011

Blogging

Pretty fancy title for a first entry, I know.

To be straight up, I don't know anything about blogging... except tumblr, but I'm not sure that really counts...

I'm just trying to get used to setting into a routine, forming habits, documenting anything and everything. Whether anybody actually decides to follow this blog or not, it's fine by me. If you're reading this and you do decide that you like reading about my ramblings, then you're awesome and I thank you.
I've attempted keeping a diary before, but that idea fell flat on it's face. Let's see how far this blog gets, shall we?

- Ashley