Why I always need to be busy.

I don't know what to do with myself when I am not busy. Does anyone else get like this?

It's weird. I have plenty of things I like doing with my time. I love writing. I love reading books. I like catching up on TV shows, and making food, and going for walks; I like playing music and cleaning out my room and organizing things, I like puttering around online, taking baths, going shopping, talking on the phone or on skype - but I don't usually have a ton of free time to do that stuff.

I keep myself very busy - with school, homework, plans with friends or family, making videos, replying to emails, going on trips, making appointments, meetings, projects, deadlines, collaborations, etc.

So when I DO have a day with little to nothing planned, like today, I just don't know what to do with myself.

This is how my train of thought went just now.

I am doing laundry today. I could fold the next load of laundry. But it's still a little damp, so I give it more time, and come back upstairs.
I could take a shower. Or I could read a book! But - oh, here's an idea, I could take a BATH, and read a book while bathing. That would be nice. But what book should I read? I haven't read anything new since Will Grayson, Will Grayson. I would have to start a new book.
I'm going to sit on the edge of my bed where I can see my bookshelf and ponder over the books I have on my shelf but haven't begun reading yet.

Feed, by M.T. Anderson?
Diary, by Chuck Palahniuk?
Thirteen Reasons Why, by Jay Asher?

Or, well, hm. I kind of want to read them all. I'm going to put my head down on my bed for a minute and think about this. It's very soft, and I'm still in my pajamas. And I'm a little tired, even though it's only five o'clock. Maybe I'll just rest my eyes for a minute…

Twenty minutes later, my roommate runs up the stairs to ask me something, stops in the doorway, and I hear him say, "Kristina, why are you sleeping at the foot of your bed?"

And then I mumble something about the bookshelf being too far away and trying to multitask my free time and I realize I am talking nonsense, and man, I do not do well with free time.

Even when I don't need to multi-task, I find myself doing it, because I work better when I FEEL busy. Catching up on Glee while folding my laundry. Reading a book while bathing. Getting multiple things done at the same time, even when I have all day to myself, to do anything I want with the time.

Now if I could just find a way to make videos while I sleep and write blog posts while doing the dishes, life would be great.


Tomorrow morning, I am leaving for a camping trip that I am quite looking forward to. What I am about to say makes me sound like some work-a-holic internet obsessed freak, but this will be the first time I have gone on a vacation without my laptop since I bought a laptop for the first time, four years ago. Mostly I'm leaving it home because there will be no wifi or place to plug it in, but also because I deserve a little break from the Internet this weekend. A nice little mental break before the last week of college.

My phone gets email sent to it though, so I guess I'm not completely checking out. Haha.
But anyway. No laptop. Just me, my family, my best friend Eia, a campfire, the tide flats, marshmallows, hot dogs, probably some rain, the river, dirt paths, clam digging and nature. I can't wait. :)


I wanted to bring up all the comments on my last entry. I can't believe how many of you are going through such crazy things in your life right now! So many of you are graduating from high school, or have just started college, or are completely leaving your life to spend a year in a foreign country, just wow. And thank you to all the first time commenters; it's always nice to hear from new people.

I am going to reply to a couple people now, though I wish I could reply to everyone:

April, I know what you mean about freedom also bringing pressure, because suddenly it's entirely up to you to prove to people (and to yourself) that you're using that freedom in a productive way.
Caliowin, I'm sorry to hear about your tonsillitis!
Azu, congrats on your Orthography contest! I don't know what that is, but it sounds fancy!
Partyweetow, I am so sorry about your cat Lumpy. Losing a pet is like losing a friend, and that's never easy.
Danielle, a huge congrats on grad school. And thank you for the encouraging words on always being able to change your path if you are unhappy.
TessaBessa! Good luck on your date!
Alylurker, you'll do great in Spain. It's hard not going back to what's familiar, but I really hope your summer is fantastic.
Giascreen, I am so sorry your dad wont be able to see you graduate. And never apologize for sharing your experiences with others, I can't even count the number of times I've dumped sad things here on this blog.
Appletrain, wow. Moving from California to the Middle East is a huge change, but I am sure you'll find things you love about both places as you adjust.
Sarah-Mechelle, you just opened your own cafe! That's awesome.

So many of you are doing so many amazing things - I can't believe what an impressive group of people I have reading about MY experiences. After reading your comments to my last post, I seriously wanted to find out more about every single one of your lives.

Last google search: "bbiab" <-- Alan Lastufka said this to me on skype, and I had to look up what it meant. "Be back in a bit." Really, Alan? That needed an acronym? THOSE ARE ALL SHORT WORDS.
Chipotle burritos: 10

Diving in.

Hayley and I were video-chatting the other day (which isn't really something we do ever, but it was fun) and we had a little chuckle over how we both seem to check out of the blogging world at the same time.

But then I felt a bit sad about how long it's been since I updated. I am in the process of finishing my senior thesis and graduating from college, and regardless of how busy I am right now, this is a part of my life I am going to want to remember. So here I am.

Since I last updated, I went to Washington DC with Shawn Ahmed of Uncultured Project and Matt Shueller (Booshoe37) to help with Advocacy Day for Save The Children on Capitol Hill. I met so many amazing people (including Senator Durbin and Frist, and Lisa Edelstein of the TV show House!) and got to actually talk to the administrative assistants of the WA state Senators about Save The Children issues. I had a great team I was working with (they split Shawn and Matt and I up, which ended up being okay because we all met awesome people in our separate groups) and I made what I think is a pretty good video about the whole experience.

I got home and then picked up Luke from the airport that same night. He came to visit me one last time before moving back to Wyoming for the summer, which was really nice. We did film our footage for the Mirror Song while he was here, but other than that, we mostly just got to hang out and spend time together in average, normal couple ways. I liked that. Usually we jam pack so much stuff into our trips together; just having some free time was lovely.

Now Luke is officially moved in over in Wyoming, doing his river guiding job, and I'm working hard here on my Senior Thesis and end of the year school things. It's been nice getting little updates from him in a new place. He still feels just as far away (a phone call, or an IM) but it's fun getting to learn about his new home.

I gave my Thesis presentation yesterday but it was kind of a showcase of "what we're working on" - so the final project is actually due in a week. Then I have one last final exam, a journal assignment, and a commencement party left, and then that's IT. I'll be done with school. It's a really, really weird feeling.

On the one hand, I am so thrilled. I've been a little bit emotionally unattached to school for the better part of the last year or so, because sometimes I feel like it gets in the way of the things I feel are actually benefiting my life. I mean, I definitely feel that getting a degree is going to benefit my life (which is why I am still here). But with all the opportunities I've gotten with music and YouTube recently; it's a struggle when I have to turn things down because of school. So having the freedom from that, after graduation, is going to be amazing.

But on the other hand, I have never not been a student. I went from preschool finger painting to kindergarten gluing things to elementary school clubs and playgrounds to middle school friend drama to high school self discovery to college independence with no breaks. To think that will all be over in two short weeks - I have no idea what to expect on the other side!

I'm excited about it though. I love the life I'm living, and every day I have seems brighter than the last. Every December 31st I think to myself "I could never top this year I just had", and every year I do! So I'm interested to see what life has in store for me without school dictating how I spend my time.

So I don't know. I'm feeling a combination of excitement and nervousness. Readiness and of being unprepared. But there are things, I'm finding, in life, that you can never truly be prepared for. Graduating. Making huge changes like moving. Your favorite TV show ending. Falling in love. There is no way to fully prepare for things like this, because there is such a huge element of the unknown. Of being disappointed. Of failing. Of being vulnerable. Things like this, you just have to dive into. With faith that you'll be okay on the other end.

I have faith that I'll be okay on the other end. And if I'm not, well, then I have you guys. :)

You should tell me in the comments if you're graduating from something soon (or if you did recently). And if you're not, then what have you needed to dive into recently? I'd like to know what big events are going on in all of your lives, because it sure makes it a heck of a lot easier knowing I'm not the only one with huge changes on my horizon.

I'm going to try to update more as school continues to wind down. Fingers crossed I wont take another three week break like last time.

Last google search: HTC HD2 (I'm a phone nerd)
Chipotle burritos: 10

I'm just a Bill, yeah I'm only a Bill.

This is another installment of "Kristina's life is stressful and crazy but ultimately really fun."

So, tonight at 11:55, I am flying to Washington DC. There I am meeting Matt (Booshoe37), getting a cab to our hotel, and meeting up with Shawn from UnculturedProject. From there, we will have a whirlwind 2 days of workshops, receptions, and a big advocacy event on Capitol Hill where we get to talk to politicians with other representatives from Save The Children, including Lisa Edelstein from "House".

I haven't told you about this yet, blog readers, because I only found out I was selected to go on Friday. And my tickets weren't purchased until yesterday. So it's probably the most spontaneous trip I've ever gone on. But at the same time, I hope it also does the most good out of any trip I've ever gone on, as well.

I don't really know what to expect. Shawn is wonderful and has given us as much information as he possibly could, but we really only know what I told you in the above paragraph. And that I have a red-eye flight tonight, as I leave at midnight and arrive in DC around 9 am. This is, you know, normal human sleeping hours. I have no idea how I am going to sleep in a middle seat the whole way there. I fly a lot, and since I usually book my own flights, I have grown rather particular about where I sit. Maybe this makes me spoiled, but I like sitting in a window seat on the right, and generally, it's simple enough to get that seat (This is always seat "E", if you were curious. I pick it because it's the easiest for me to sleep in that seat, and plane rides are boring and long and so much better if you sleep through them) when you're booking a few months out. Not when you're booking them one day in advance. xD

I'm definitely not complaining, obviously, that Save The Children is paying for me to go to the Capitol to vlog about Advocacy Day, and because of that I have to sit in a middle seat, but knowing it's a red-eye -- I'm just not looking forward to the flight. Even WITH my 10 free comics to read.

Anyway, I'm sure I'll have many adventures to blog about in the coming few days, but as for right now, I am tired, need to finish packing, and have to drive over to my parents' house.

I'm going to leave you with this last message: a lot of you commented on my last blog because you were unhappy with my saying we removed girls from the list of potential girlfriends for Justin because they were into both genders. I want to clarify that I never said that was a negative quality in a person, and copy and paste the message Justin himself left on my blog post:

"Actually, it was my choice to take girls off the list of ones that I would contact based on if they chose 'man or woman for dating' in the 'searching for' category.

And while it certainly isn't a minus jess, whimsy, and rosa; I am biased by previous experience and have chosen not to pursue such girls."

I'm truly sorry if I offended anyone.

Next post will be from Washington DC!

Last google search: "school house rock album torrent"
Donuts left: 6 (I gave 2 to Eia! Don't judge me!)
Chipotle burritos: 9

Free taco fashion show.

I had the best day today.

First of all, Justin and I went to Krispy Kreme yesterday and we each bought a dozen donuts. I think I will add that to my list of stuff I announce at the bottom of each post until the donuts are gone, actually. Maybe it will stop me from eating them all by myself. Anyway, my point is that my day started by eating a glazed creme-filled, which is my favorite.

Then it was time to go and participate in FREE COMIC BOOK DAY. At 11:30 or so, my friend Tara came and picked up Justin and I and the three of us headed to Comics Dungeon. It was amazing. Right off the bat there were Storm Troopers and Obi Wan standing outside on the curb.


We went inside and there were people everywhere. They had two tables set up with the participating comics (there were about 30-40 to pick from; not everything was free) and we had a ton of fun picking our allowed 7. I got a pretty good assortment, and plan to make a "haul" video on my channel later this week, so if you're interested in which ones I got, be sure to watch for that.

Then we went to a second comic shop that wasn't nearly as good, because they only allowed us to take 3. But looking back, going home with a total of 10 free comics is not bad. Not bad at all.

So after a morning of getting my nerd on, I went home, had some lovely turkey noodle soup that my mom made and had my dad drop off for me on his way home from work (I am so spoiled - I'm in college, live on my own, but still get home-cooked food now and then; and in some cases, get it delivered to me) and took a quick nap.

Then at 6, Justin and I hopped back in the car, drove downtown, got Tara, and went to this awesome "grand-reopening" of a fancy salon/the neighboring quirky clothing shop. I'm having a hard time finding a way to describe this event in a way that you'll believe I am not just making the whole thing up. Basically, this event was a fashion show. So we watched these models, who'd had their hair done by the salon, do a runway show in the clothes from the neighboring clothing store - but. That wasn't all. It was sponsored by this company (whose name I can't remember off hand) that does gourmet food from a truck. So we got these free korean style tacos and sliders. And drinks.

So, just to be clear: it was a free taco, free alcohol fashion show.

And it was amazing.

After the event was over, we perused the clothes briefly (they had pajama bottoms with pictures of bacon strips on them!) and then we went back to Tara's apartment, where we helped Justin shop for women.

By "shop for women", I mean we went on his profile on this local dating site he recently signed up for, and looked through the 26 girls he'd favorited. Tara and I were ruthless, ruling girls out based on looks, grammar usage and ability to spell, use of the word "chill" as a verb meaning "hang out", and whether or not they were music snobs/into both genders/someone we'd want to hang out with. We finally got it down to 13 girls, including the 3 Justin wouldn't let us delete because they're into football, and the 1 he downright refused to delete because she was a chimpanzee trainer.

I told him dating sites are not the way to go. I told him he needs to meet someone online in a cooler way, like through YouTube or at a Harry Potter conference. He said he doesn't have any other online social networks really... so... ladies? Want to date my friend Justin? His twitter username is @ZombieJack. (He's probably going to kill me for posting this. Hahaha.) (You should send him tweet anyway.)

So that was my day! Tomorrow I have a lot of work to do. But I also have 10 comics to read, so we'll see how that goes.

Last google search: "we rule kingdom screenshots"
Krispy Kreme donuts left: 9
Chipotle burritos: 9