It’s like one of those bad dreams in which you’re in a situation that you just can’t find an out to.  You look and climb and run and plead but you just can’t find the right path, door, whatever.

Well this is how I’ve been living for the past four or five weeks of my life. You may have noticed a lack of updates on my Life Blog.  I had taken a dive into the deep social scenes of college life and started to drown. 

Some of you are thinking to yourselves, “oh, she’s one of Those kids who can’t handle being independent,” or, “This is one of Those stories again.”

Yeah?  Well I used to read stories of college “eff”- ups and think the same thing.

It can happen to anybody, and it can happen without you realizing it.. until it’s too late.

This year I had joined a sorority.  I had made many more friends and have attended all of the main entertainment events of this semester so far.

I had also managed to miss three homework assignments, skip 5 classes, show up to French class drunk, fake sick from a volunteering assignment, and drink for a record-breaking 6 nights in a row.

Not to mention I have yet to wash my bedsheets.

Okay, so maybe I’m just really overwhelmed with everything, and I just need to catch up.

The scariest part of it all is that I started to accept it.  I stopped caring.  I let my grades fall.  I just wasn’t myself anymore.

And then last weekend my close friend got pulled out of college by his parents.  They had been hearing stories from his roommates of how he wasn’t going to classes, partying constantly, and skipping his service hours (from a misdemeanor this summer.)

This was an awakening for me.  I wasn’t at his level of “effed-up-ness,” but I know how he started out.  Last fall, this kid was a scholar.  He was always studying, keeping organized, and taking care of his drunk friends during Friday night shit-shows.

It’s amazing how steep the slope of irresponsibility is.  Especially when you watch other people fall.  They fall fast.

So today I’ve decided to turn myself around. 

I started off well.  I made my bed.

Help me through this.  Any encouraging words will suffice.

Almost every one of my friends are on "the pill."  It's kinda funny, actually.  It makes us girls look like we're always slutting it up or something.  We're not.  But it's just gotten so common for our generation and the ones coming.  It's almost as common as taking a multi-vitamin.

Another common aspect of our generation and the ones coming up is population and global warming problems.

The government is not suggesting that by combining these two commonalities, our problems can be solved.  

They're suggesting that women in developing countries be given prescriptions of birth control in order to slow the population rate.  According to an article in the Associated Press, "more than 200 million women worldwide want contraceptives, but don't have access to them... [resulting] in 76 million unintended pregnancies every year.("Birth Control could Help Combat Climate Change" - AP)

76 million unintended pregnancies?!

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This is kinda weird to me.  I don't know if it's ethical to give out birth control to everyone in a country in order to slow the population.  I mean, it sounds worse than it actually is I guess.  But I just don't get a good vibe from this approach.

I want to hear your thoughts.

Her hands were shaking.  Heart was beating rapid-fire.  Her head was spinning and she couldn't focus on what her professor was saying.  All she could think of was...

... where is her cell phone?!

I bet you didn't think that was coming.  Something that sounds so trivial could make us incredibly upset if it actually happened.

When I lose my cell phone, I feel like I've lost touch with the world.  A major panic sets in and my mind is constantly on trying to find it.

THIS IS AN ADDICTION

According to a recent article on drugrehabtreatment.com, cell phone addiction is now being cosidered as an illness in which rehab may be used to treat.

"In Spain, two children ages 12 and 13 were recently admitted to a mental hospital for mobile phone addiction. Their treatment will resemble that of drug addicts and those with obsessive-compulsive disorder. Maite Utgés, director of the hospital, indicated that the children were failing in school and couldn't complete normal tasks because they spent five or six hours a day on their phones."

This must be a joke.  Sure, I do rely on my cellular for a variety of things, but... well... 

I guess I'm addicted too.

Several studies have been done on this new "illness."  In China, nearly 1/3 of all highschool students were found to "show signs of addiction."

Not only does this addiction affect one's mental health, it also has shown to decrease work productivity, traffic safety, and learning abilities.

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SYMPTOMS INCLUDE:

• Feeling restless or uncomfortable when not using a cell phone;
• Having irrational reactions to being without a phone if it is lost or forgotten;
• Substantial increases in the amount of time spent talking on a cell phone;
• Mounting cell phone bills that cause financial distress;
• Problems at school and work from constant cell phone use;
• Interpersonal problems from constant cell phone use; or
• Taking unnecessary risks such as using a cell phone during inappropriate times (driving, etc.).

I don't know what to think of this addiction.  If it's something we should worry about, what can we do?

Penn State has released a notice to all students.

If anyone is suspected of having the H1N1 Virus, they must be called out for it immediately.

They will then be checked in and rallied up with the other swine flu sufferers in a little corner of the campus.

Completely isolated.  No physical contact with the outside world.

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Don't get me wrong, this is a great way of slowing the virus spread.  But please, it seems as if the world is going a bit berserk on this H1N1 epidemic.  That fact that our students will now be quarantined away from society if ill only makes the scare even .. well.. scarier.

This is what I think.  If the flu is going around, people are bound to get it.  The fact that it can be slowed down a bit by isolating the sick only keeps the hype and apprehension at its highest for a longer period of time.

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Plus, if someone turned me in for coughing, I'd lose all respect for that person.  That's like ratting out a friend who cheated on a test.

Kinda.

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Anyway, the flu shots will be available by mid-October, so if any of you would prefer not to be isolated from the world, this is your chance to prevent it.

Hey everyone.  I have a personal question that I need answered.

My friends and I are currently living on campus in a new apartment.  They are very conscious about money, and recently it's gotten to the point that we all must buy our own bread and food, put our names on our things, and not touch anyone else's. 

They have a list of "who-owes-who" on our fridge, with amounts like $1.00 to Liz. 

Nobody is allowed to touch anything that others buy, even something like paper towels.

This morning, we signed a "constitution" on our things.

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It's really bothering me, because I wasn't raised like this.  My house was usually open to everyone, and everything I had I offered to others, just to be hospitable.

It was only right.

Friends usually share things with others, especially when you live with your best friends.  Having three heads of cabbage in a fridge does not make much sense to me.

Is this a bit nit-picky?