Just like everyone else's writings, I'm sure starting off with I don't know what to write is commonplace. we used to have to write like this in english last year but Mrs. williams would give us a specific topic- like "king kong" or "umbrellas". she was the coolest teacher, she really had a good time teaching our class and made sure we had a good time too. a lot of the guys took advantage of her good nature though, especially when we had to do the "hobbitt" project and austin named one of the characters "dildo daggins". that was interesting because Mrs. williams couldn't really hear them say "dildo" and wondered why the class was laughing so hard. I wasn't in that class but I got to hear all about it. I really miss all those guys, we had a pretty close group of friends because we all grew up together and went to pretty much all the same schools together. by graduation there were about 7 of us that had gone through school together since pre-k. I think that says a lot about us. there are others that I've gone to school with since elementary school too since we were all in the same advanced classes. this annoying "firewall alert" keeps popping up on my screen and it's bugging the fire out of me cause I don't like computers to begin with and I can't get it to stop. kinda like our smoke detector. it beeped for 4 days before someone would come to change it. my roommate went out of town this weekend and when she got back and came in the room she said "is that thing STILL beeping?" and she told me it had been beeping for 2 days and she kept forgetting to report it. so I went downstairs to report it and they told me no one would come until at least Monday because the maintenance crew doesn't work on the weekends. it really sucks cause I couldn't study or sleep in here because the thing beeped every 45 seconds. I ended up staying at towers with my guy friends from high school and we had a really good time- so I guess it worked out. I think I'm going to start dating their third roommate- he is from san antonio and I've really gotten to know him the past couple of weeks cause I'm always at my guy friends' place. oh yah- and the maintenance guy finally came today and fixed the smoke detector. I don't know where my roommate is, she left at 5:30 for her sorority meeting and I left for mine at 6 but she is still not back and it's almost 9. my dad called today and wants me to go to my grandparents sometime soon and shut off the hot water heater. my grandparents have been traveling in colorado since the beginning of july and when my parents came to move me in they stayed out at my grandparents (in south austin) and forgot to turn off the hot water heater. I don't understand why he wants me to do it- he could call their neighbors, which would be a lot more convenient (sp?) for me since I don't have a car. I called two of my friends to see if I could borrow their car but neither one of them picked up the phone, so maybe my roommate will take me out there later. I wish I could drive her car but it's a standard and I'm not very good at them. I got my nose re-pierced last night, chasity (my roommate) went with me. I got it done when I was in Ecuador this summer for a dollar and here they wanted $30! I wanted to scream. but oh well- it'll be there for a while. I took it out when I got home from ecuador because I didn't know how my parents would feel about it, and I know my dad's parents would shit bricks if they saw it, so I decided to play it cool and take it out when I was around my parents or grandparents, but it became too much of a hassle and I left it out too long. I really like it though- the stud it a tiny light blue rhinestone. I have a white one I got while I was in ecuador that I'm going to change out pretty soon. my roommate has her nose pierced too. I can't wait to show my brother. I called him last night to tell him and he was kinda mad that I did it without him because I had told him that I'd get it done before I left for college and that he could go with me but it just never happened. it's a big thing in Chile from girls to have their nose pierced and while we were in Ecuador a youth group of about 20 came up from Chile. I really miss Ecuador- I can't wait to go back, even though I don't speak the language very well I made a lot of great relationships. this one guy, dandle, from Chile, really had an impact on me. we still talk through e-mail daily and it's awesome to see things from his perspective. he is the person I'd most like to see again. he taught himself to speak English- he is never had a formal English lesson, and he wants to be a youth minister or music minister. I'm so impressed by his faith and his determination to educate himself. I really wish I had that mindset and determination to better myself without the help of teachers and tutors and school- but there are so many opportunities here that make it easier to get help I suppose. the time's almost up- I really didn't think I'd be able to type and think for 20 minutes but it's kinda flown by in a hurry- bye!