Long Weekend, and then....

(Have to find a festive fall color, because I'm longing for Autumn already!!):
I'm very excited that it is Thursday already. As Tim says, "We are now on the right side of Wednesday!" Amen to that. It's been a long week already, even though it went rather fast. I know, figure that one out. I'm excited about all the things coming up. (Including my oh so hot Beef Stew that I made in the crock pot for tonights dinner, and my new Vera Bradley purse which I won on Ebay, which will arrive today!)
Tomorrow after work Trav and I are meeting up at Willy's place to see his parents who are coming in this weekend so that they can see me before I leave. We should have a nice dinner (and probably a few drinks!), and we haven't seen them in a while so it should be fun.
Saturday I'm definitely sleeping in! I've been having so much trouble falling asleep at night lately, and its making my mornings miserable. After that I have an appointment for a leg and eyebrow wax at 11 (ouch!!!! but at least no shaving for China). Then I am going to lunch at Miyano's house so I can see her, Hiro, and my birthday baby Yu-Yu (a ripe 20 days old on Saturday)... plus meet her mom before she goes back to Japan. Very exciting. After that I'm not sure yet... hopefully Megan will be down and we will get to play some rousing rounds of putt-putt (boy vs. girl, i believe). And there is always Ro's BBQ.
Sunday, maybe a BBQ at Bri's... unless Trav's parents want to do something.
Monday, maybe up to Lehigh? Not sure yet on that one.
Then Tuesday it will be time to finish all last minute packing/buying/etc for China, because at a nice early 3:15am (Wednesday) Trav and I will be heading to Newark for my 7am flight to San Fransico. I will have a 4 hour layover there, and then its on to China for two weeks. It's unbelievalbe that it is so soon!!!!! I don't think the reality of it has completely sunk in yet, but I'm definitely getting butterflies just thinking about it.

Okay, random change of subject: So Stella and I talked briefly about my feelings of yearning for Lehigh. It was nice to talk to her, no matter how brief (see below, my "Friends List"). I really do miss Lehigh horribly... I'm enjoying my life here so much (especially having weekends like this one, and having them undisturbed by homework), but sometimes I still get very reminiscent, and very nostgalic for Lehigh and everyone there. I miss nights at the house (Psi U!), running into people randomly on campus, amusing teachers, and always being walking distance to a friend's house (but too lazy to walk it!). I miss late night drunken runs to WaWas, football games, weekend brunches at Wendy's, and picking up in the middle of the afternoon to go to the beach just because you can. I miss taking the whole day off because your morning class was cancelled.
Of course there are things that I don't miss. Homework, tests, late late nights when followed by (what I thought were) early mornings, and jerky teachers. But it was just so nice having all friends within reach, and not having to work at it. I suppose everything is a trade off.

Get right down to it though, and I am very happy. I have so much fun living with Trav and Mike, love having my nights completely free, and am actually working on bring my debt level down, instead of building it up! Yay for that. This has brought me in the past few weeks to make some decisions about priorities in my life however. I have decided that having little luxeries now is less important then paying off my credit card, and paying down my student loans faster then is neccesary. I know what you are thinking, leg waxes meg, not a luxery? Well, I do allow myself some give on this one just so I don't feel like I'm working my butt off for nothing. But paying off my CC so that I can stop being in the red, so that I can save lots towards "future stuff" (wedding, new car, house, etc) in very important.
Also high on my list is Travis, and continuing to build our relationship. I've talked before about our walks that we take, and they are very important to me... not only for how good they are for us physically, but also how great they are in giving us some alone time to just talk and vent and be together. It's great. There are actually relatively few other things on my list of priorities right now: staying close with my family, working on getting into the groove of a healthy lifestyle (exercise and eating better), and my friends.

Here is where the aforementioned "Friends List" comes into play. More accurately its my "Friends to Stay Attached to" list. I will be the first to admit that I suck at keeping in touch with people. Its very true. I don't just automatically pick up the phone and call people... I will go crazy and email everyone, then have a few busy weeks and not email a soul. IM is a lifesaver, but its no replacement for actual conversation. So, I made a list. Now this idea might offend some, but I did it for pure reasons. I have lots of people that I think are great. ST for example (I'm not going to use any names here, except for Stella's because I think she won't mind!), who is such a fun person to hang out with, but when it comes down to it is just an acquaintance. We had a bunch of classes together, and toward the end of my senior year got to the point where we might meet up to study together, or otherwise chill in some school related way, or even call if we were rather bored... but we wouldn't call each other to go to the movies, and so she did not make the list.
As sad as it is, because had we been where we were the end of my senior year at, say the end of my junior year, we might actually very close now... but I realized that it would be an uphill battle to maintain this friendship... and that I would most likely be the only one fighting for it. So I'll definitely IM here now and again, but I'm not going to feel sad about letting that go.
Stella on the other hand, I've known since freshman year. She's been there for some of my happiest moments, and she's seen me at some 'not so pretty' moments. And she still likes me! Stella is a definite friend, who is also willing to put forth effort to keep in touch. She definitely made the list. Now you might be asking yourself, what the hell exactly is this list.
Okay, so my "Friends List" ("FL") is really this simple: I know that I am not capable of keeping up with every single person that I have become 'friends' with over my years at Lehigh, and my years (period). So while not ending any friendships, or the like, the people on the "FL" are those that I am going to actively work to maintain my friendships with. If it means dropping emails periodically, randomly calling, or making the extra effort to see them, I want to keep the friendship going. I still might not see or talk to this person all the time, but they are someone who will know that if they need me I am there. Others may get the occational IM, or the seek out at a party, but "FL" people I will actively attempt to keep close for years to come. Now it is true that some people might eventually fall off the list, but that would take something big... or a mutual decision to think of each other now and again, with the occational email, but nothing more. And of course, new people will come along that may get added to the list as well. But for now this gives me something solid to use to help me feel like my life is balanced, and like the nostgalia for Lehigh isn't something to be sad about, because I still have great friends.
I suppose all this does is affirm my already overwhelming need for structure, order, and normalicy in my life in times of change. Well this is enough for now... I've spent my whole lunch break writing instead of eating!
Back to work and maybe I will write again before China. But if not, see you in a few weeks!!