January 9, 2000
Happy Birthday to Me

Today happens to be my twenty-first birthday and I couldn’t be more excited. I am sitting in front of my computer that I haven’t been near in three weeks and that makes me happy. It is an IBM (I hate our Mac at home) and the internet access is much faster than I have been used to. I am going to order a 56K modem soon as a birthday present and that will be fabulous. Anyway, I have successfully gotten almost everything out of my car and into my room. By the way, I don’t have a new roommate yet, but our president just talked to me about Lelaine moving in. That sounds cool – much better than other roommate prospects – so we’ll see what happens. My next task is to walk over to University Book and Supply and try to get some of the books I need for this semester. Doesn’t that sound like fun? I am waiting a little while before I leave because it is very hot outside and maybe Stuart will call me soon and we can go together.

When I got here (around 12:30 PM) I already had a message from Jennifer calling to wish me a happy birthday. She called yesterday. Classes at Florida State started on Wednesday even though the football team was playing in the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans the night before. (I am very happy that FSU won the National Championship since I am a native of Tallahassee. If they had been playing against UF that would have been another story, but since that didn’t happen it’s OK.) Fortunately my classes don’t start until tomorrow. I really enjoyed having three weeks off from school and now I can pretend I am ready for it to start again.

My parents were upset that they didn’t get me very many presents for my birthday, but I am happy with what I got. Earlier in the week I got a new radio/CD player installed in my car. It wasn’t something I asked for as a birthday present, but I am glad it is there now. Yesterday I bought a new black purse (the only other one I had was the one I carried in Europe, Kathe you know what that one is like) and a video tape of “Star Trek: First Contact.” My movie collection is mostly science fiction stuff with a couple of Disney films in the mix so no one ever asks to borrow a movie from me. I wonder why? If only Gina didn’t take her TV and VCR with her when she moved out in December! I am going to miss Gina a lot (and not just for her cool stuff) – she was the best roommate I have ever had. I will be able to post a picture of her as soon as I get up scanner up and running. Soon you guys will be able to see what all of the people mentioned her look like. How cool is that?

Later…

OK, I am having a slight technical difficulty. It turns out that the scanner I got for Christmas won’t work with my Windows 95 computer operating system. Aack! I can’t believe I didn’t read that on the side of the box before I opened EVERYTHING and tried to get it working. This is a major problem. My dad is calling Best Buy in Tallahassee to see if there is anything that can be done about it. OK, he just called me back. Best Buy will be able to give me credit for the scanner if I have the receipt and my parents are going to mail it to me. I guess I will have to wait a couple of days before I get to play with a new toy, but it will be worth it. Come back later in the week to see what new information has surfaced on this subject. Maybe I will have some pictures for you to see then!

I am waiting for Stu to get back from Orlando and call me. I went to the bookstore at 4 PM and got three books. That covers two of my classes, but the textbooks for the other two classes weren’t available at UBS. I have a two-hour break between two classes tomorrow so I will go to another bookstore then and see if I can find them. I hate spending money I don’t have, but that is the beauty of the credit card – the State of Florida will send me the money at the end of the week and I won’t have to pay for the books until I get my Discover Card bill.

By the way, I have a new roommate now. Her name is Lelaine (as I mentioned before) and I think this arrangement is going to work out all right. More information on that situation as is develops. She has a TV!

Even later…

It is now 11 PM and I am getting ready for bed. I finally called Stu and we went out for some food. He was trying to get me to buy some alcohol since it is my twenty-first birthday (he even tried to make up a fake law saying it was mandatory), but I got away with not doing that. We are going out tomorrow night to a restaurant and I will buy my first legal drink then. I have plenty of time to cash in on this “coming of age” experience. Stu put some balloons on the pillars in front of the Alpha Chi house yesterday, but they had deflated or broken by the time I got here today. I didn't think anything of them until Kristen told me they were for my birthday. What a sweet thing to do – even if it didn’t work out completely. I guess my birthday wasn’t that much fun when I think about it and that’s rather disappointing. At least I got to see Stu again. Katherine remembered what day it was at least and it was nice to hear her say “happy birthday.” Now I have to start thinking about classes tomorrow. Great.