Today's Been a Day...

That has been the theme of this last week of Term I. Every day was pretty damn hectic. Our theory was that since we had a fairly good first two weeks, hell was breaking out week three. Here's a recap of the week:


Monday: I hosted IPhoneography as an evening activity with twenty-four TIPsters. They were extremely confused by my directions of "bring your cell phone and water to the 2nd floor laundry room lounge space."
"Are we going to be doing magic tricks?"
"Are we going to solve mysteries?"
"PLEASE JUST TELL US WHAT WE ARE DOING!"
TIPsters are so impatient sometimes.
Once everyone came back with their supplies, I introduced myself and gave them a brief background of myself. (Allee, RLC, graduated from a small, liberal arts college, majored in photography, yadda yadda yadda...) I did a short introduction of IPhoneography and showed examples of images I've taken with my IPhone. After the brief lecture, we headed outside to take some pictures. We walked throughout South Campus and went to the Trial Gardens. The TIPsters loved the freedom they were getting while photographing. (I wasn't hawking them and wanted them to have some creative liberty with their images. I didn't want to take away from what inspired them.)
Once we returned to Myers, the TIPsters used some of the editing apps I had recommended during the introduction and showed me their creations. They had a blast with this activity and a few TIPsters told me it was their favorite of the entire term. I'd call that a win!
Later that night, I had a few staff members call me about some strange, inappropriate noises coming from a room while they were completing rounds on night duty. I came upstairs to get filled in on the full story and then called the OSD since it was happening on the male floor. Unfortunately the issue remained a mystery until the next day because the students were asleep and did not answer the door.

Humane Society Field Trip

Tuesday: I spent my morning playing with cats (and puppies). I drove for the Vet Med field trip to the Humane Society, my favorite field trip of each term. Unfortunately, this trip resulted in sending a student to the ER for fainting. Luckily, there were more than a few extended admin members on this trip so we were able to handle it all.
Once I got back to Myers, I sat in on a few awkward conversations with TIPsters about inappropriate noises on Monday night. While in the meeting, a student was sent to the clinic for falling out of a tree. (Yes, you read that correctly...)
The rest of the day was as follows: more awkward conversations. Admin meeting. Dinner. Another awkward conversation. Small evening activity fiasco because an RC had to take a student to the clinic. Another freaking conversation. Another student to the ER. Parent phone calls. Sleep?

Wednesday: After the two days of hell, I needed a day off. I slept in, went to lunch, and then headed to a waterfall with two of my RCs. We were originally heading to Panther Creek Falls (a 7mi hike), but stumbled across signs for Tallulah Gorge on our way there.
Tallulah Gorge was gorgeous (see what I did there?). Even though we were caught in a torrential downpour at the start of our hike, we had a blast. Despite having to climb up and down over a thousand steps and having a small asthma attack, I made it through the hike. I really enjoy this and hope to hike a bit more while I am here.
When we got back to Myers, we got changed and ran over to trivia at the Blind Pig with a bunch of people who had off. We started off strong in 1st place, dropped to 2nd, and finally ended in 4th place.

All good things come to an end. At least there was beer!

TIP Prom 2k15: Term I

My fabulous date and I

Thursday: OSD's day off: Shit hits the fan. One of the students had Prom taken away from them as punishment for an outburst (multiple occurrences led to this decision). I went to help set up for Prom, spoke to my staff about their RC group meetings that night, and then headed back to Myers. We decided to give the student the option to go to Prom since they were a 4th year and improved since the conversation earlier in the day.
At the end of Prom, a student was feeling dizzy, nauseous, and was complaining about being elbowed in the head earlier in the night. Sadly, this resulted in a trip to the ER. Our OSD was at Prom and offered to go to the ER with an RC and the student.
Since the RC was at the ER, I had to put their kids to sleep. These students became my adopted RC group since I put them to bed every night with their RC.

After lights out, I met with my staff on the balcony to discuss the rest of the term. Once the meeting was over, I headed to my room to relax. Unfortunately, I couldn't sleep knowing that staff and students were in the ER.

Friday/Saturday: The RC that was in the ER turned 21 while they were there. (Great way to ring in your 21st, right?) When I got into the office, a ton of cars were being used for field trips and multiple trips to the clinic. I was supposed to take the newly 21 RC on driver training, but sadly there were no cars.
As soon as a van returned around 11AM, driver training began. Not so surprisingly, the RC passed, meaning we gained another driver for IHOP. YAY!
I spent the rest of my day in the office distributing Termbooks and organizing the moving of rooms for RCs (surprise, everyone has to switch floors since there are too many male TIPsters next term!). I also finished the slide show for the Talent Show during this time, but that wasn't too complicated. I went to dinner early with the Talent Show committee and students in the show, headed to Tate to help set up, and then prepped for my awesomely bad performance in the show with a few other staff members.
The Talent Show ran smoothly. I was able to sit in the back of the room and work on my staff evaluations, which I completed. (Thank you fourth year speeches.)
Once everyone returned to Myers, I went to the kitchen to bake gluten-free chocolate chip cookies for my staff to thank them for an awesome term. At 12AM, I went to the piano room to await the fourth years going to IHOP.
We carted all the fourth years to IHOP, with multiple trips there and back, and finally sat down at a table around 12:45AM. The staff grabbed to-go orders for the RCs back at Myers who weren't in attendance. We spent most of our time at the table joking around with one another because we were all so sleep deprived.

IHOP selfie

When I finally returned to Myers, it was almost 4AM. Just in time for the first load of students to leave. I was told I fell asleep on a couch until my staff came downstairs for a quick meeting at 5AM.
The rest of the day was a blur. I remember drinking a Red Bull, which did indeed give me wings, and then getting yelled at by an angry parent. Once the last student was picked up around 3:45PM, all remaining staff members were sent to bed.
Around 7:30PM, everyone met up to go to Cali and Tito's for dinner. (I still had yet to sleep because I knew I would be out for the night if I actually laid down.) After Cali and Tito's, a few people got together for drinks. Aside from a little mishap, it was a nice night. I was up until about 2:30AM with a few staff members, handling a chaotic situation. I decided that instead of waking up at 8AM to leave for South Carolina, I would sleep in as long as I could and just relax in good ol' Myers over intersession. (It was over 48 hours since I actually slept so it was probably for the best.) So much for a vacation.

Today kicked off intersession. I slept until 1PM, skyped with a good friend at home (miss you, Billy!), and then went to see Ted 2. (Definitely not as great as the first, but still pretty funny.)
The rest of the evening is up in the air. There's talk about heading downtown or watching a movie in the piano room. I'm kind of looking forward to a low key night, considering how hectic the last week has been. I'll be sure to update periodically over this week, but I hope to not think about TIP for a few days.

 Here's the video from our lovely talent show performance!

A Little Rain Never Hurt Nobody

The last few days have been insanely busy, but a blast nonetheless.

Here's a recap:

Thursday Evening: I sat in on the College 101 evening activity. I spoke about Arcadia and life as a student at a small, liberal arts school. I told some funny stories and roommate horror stories. The  TIPsters surprisingly had solid questions for the 2 hours. When lights out came around, I put an RC's kids to bed. One TIPster gave me a free cream soda (in a glass bottle! =D). After lights out, I couldn't sleep, so I got Hush Puppies (99 cents at Cookout, which is dangerous...).

Triplet Day <3

Triplet Day for Spirit Week

Friday Morning: Our Admin meeting was moved to 9AM, but I didn't know. Whoopsies. I woke up and checked my phone at 9:15AM and sprinted over to the meeting. We discussed staff and student concerns with one another. After the Admin meeting, I met with my RHLs and RPA from 10-11AM to discuss term so far and what is next. From 11AM-12PM, I met with Res Staff to plan evening activities for next week and did duty scheduling. When planning evening activities, it was decided that I will be hosting 'Mystery Time' on Monday. Spoiler Alert: It is going to be IPhone-ography.
WOO!
At some point during the day, a student's relative dropped off a package and said that the student is loving TIP this summer. It was nice to hear that from a parent.
After lunch, I created a schedule for the staff about the weekend and organized the buses for FunOpolis. Whilst doing this, I was asked to walk a student to class and chatted about classes and activities. The student said they are having a blast. Go us!
In the evening, we took a student to the Emergency Room. (Our first one of the summer!) The student was shaking and couldn't feel their legs so we collectively decided that we should take them to the ER. Everything is alright now, but it was a bit scary in the moment. (The student was cool, calm, and collected and was even making jokes about the situation. Way to power through, kid!)
While the students played ultimate frisbee, I sat in the office and got some work done. I also started looking at Master's and Doctoral Programs in Higher Education and Student Affairs. It was a productive evening.
After lights out, my staff met to discuss highs and lows and the rest of the weekend. Once this meeting was over, I headed to my room for a bit before a few staff members and I went to Cookout. (Hush puppies yet again.)

Saturday: It was a pretty relaxed day. DAWGfest was a success aside from the torrential downpour

DAWGfest

Fred and Daphne take on the
Relive Your Childhood Dance

that caused it to end about an hour early. My quieter RHL was in charge of planning the entire event (with a committee of course) and made sure DAWGfest ran smoothly. I was incredibly impressed with how well everything ran and how much the TIPsters enjoyed the day. I had a blast keeping score and repping all of the teams. When the rain started, we let the students continue to participate in activities. At the first sign of thunder, everyone was immediately sent inside to the Piano Room. The sky seemed to have opened up and just poured everything it had in it down on us. A few RCs and I helped move the supplies to a dry area and then proceeded to get poured on while running into Myers.

The Gang and Scooby Doo

I love my staff!

When we realized the monsoon was not going to pass, we sent the TIPsters to their floors for On-Hall time. (It was mainly to make sure they showered because they smelled so bad and were covered in paint from DAWGfest.)
The dance committee headed to dinner around 4:45PM in hopes to get a head start on rearranging and decorating the fourth floor of the MLC. It was a pain in the ass to get it situated, but we managed to get it done (and done well!).
When the TIPsters arrived, they were excited to see the giant Game Boy decoration, the VHS, and boombox. The dance went really well, but there were more tears this week. Prom is going to be a flood.

Today started off very fast paced. When I got to the office, I had to make rosters of everyone on each bus, make sure the buses were arriving at the right time and in the right place, and make sure everyone was accounted for on each bus. Once everyone was sent to their respective buses, I was able
FunOpolis was a blast. I went on a tornado ride (FYI: two times in a row is not the best idea...), went on bumper cars, played DDR, went in a spider climbing thing (way harder than it sounds/looks), and went on a weird 4D roller coaster simulation (two times). The TIPsters were incredibly well behaved and I was so happy.

BUMPER CARS!

to pack up Thor (one of the SUVs) and head to FunOpolis!

When we got back to campus, the TIPsters got ready for TIPsync and dinner. I helped my RPA set up the space for TIPsync and was excited to learn I would be judging with a few AC staff members. Our OC decided to join in on the judging and we took on a persona together: confused admin members who never leave the office. We had a blast with the comments after each performance and got a few good laughs from the TIPsters. Aside from a few questionable acts, TIPsync was great.

I clearly love Bumper Cars.

At the end of the event, we announced to the TIPsters that they had fifteen minutes extra of free time. Instead of On-Hall time starting at 10PM, they had until 10:15PM. They were excited until they found out that lights out was still happening at 10:45PM. Womp.
Once 10:15PM hit, I went to a few of the RC Group meetings to discuss the borderline inappropriate acts. Two of the acts were a bit too sexual and a third was just incredibly bizarre and could've been taken the wrong way. (It was about carrots being people too, but the act could've been perceived as a slightly religious sermon the way it was executed.)
After I put some TIPsters to bed (as usual), I came out to the balcony to hang out with some of my staff members. Most of us are so over tired that everything has been pretty damn hilarious.

This upcoming week is going to be a whirlwind of emotions and chaos. I can't believe it is already Week 3. I'll try to blog throughout the week, but it might get pretty crazy here so no promises.

Early Bedtime is the Best Time

This week has been a blur. Most of the days have blended together because not much has happened.

Does this outfit make me look tacky?

Tacky Day: Term I

Monday was Tacky Day. I remember I got to put a bunch of TIPsters to sleep on this day, but I don't remember much else.

Decades Day: Term I

1950's polka dot ladies

Tuesday was Decades Day, my personal favorite. A ton of student issues happened and I had to sit through at least ten disciplinary meetings, most of which were minor situations. Some of the things that students get in trouble for are pretty funny. Hickeys, using the wrong staircase, filling up water bottles with shaving cream... But some of them are more serious like using inappropriate or derogatory language, disrespecting staff members, and being disruptive in class. It was interesting to sit in on these meetings and listen to our OSD talk to the students about learning from these mistakes and making action steps to take moving forward.

Decades Day: Term I

After these meetings, I sat in on one of my RC's group meetings to talk to the students about practical jokes. I had to explain to these young boys why it was not appropriate to hang a sock off of their RC's door. The TIPsters were so worried they were in big trouble. I'm not going to lie, I loved that they were scared of me, but what I loved even more was that they were no longer going to disrespect their RC or play jokes on them. I received a ton of "Yes ma'am", "No ma'am", and "We're are so sorry, ma'am" from the TIPsters. They were so polite, which is something I am not used to seeing much anymore from teenage boys.

Once the meeting was over, I walked around the building looking for trash. We had told the TIPsters on Monday that for every piece of trash we found, it was a minute early bedtime for the entire camp. We had found nine pieces and the GroupMe was blowing up with the bedtime countdown. As I was walking around telling the TIPsters that bedtime was at 10:36PM, I found another piece of trash. 10:35PM! The TIPsters were not pleased that they were sent to bed early, but the staff sure was excited.

After the TIPsters went to sleep, a few staff members went on an adventure to Walmart and Cookout. I caved for one day on my 'no sweets until Saturday' thing I've been doing and got an oreo mint milkshake. (It was worth it, but I only had about 1/4 of it.) I also got hush puppies, which are little bits of heaven. I don't think we really have them up North, but it would be awesome if I could figure out how to make them.

I came back to Myers and hung out with my staff on the balcony for a little while. We watched "Don't Touch Me I'm Scared" and a few other weird youtube videos. When I had my fill of strangeness for the day, I headed to bed.

On our way to Jurassic World

Bar in the movie theater... WHAT!?

Wednesday was my day off. I slept until about 12:30PM, grabbed my laptop from the office, and then watched OITNB until about 3:30PM. My best friend, Tess, FaceTimed me around 3:30PM and told me all about her journey to Durham, NC, where she will be a Teaching Assistant for a Documentary class for a Duke TIP Field Studies Program. I'm so excited for her to fall in love with TIP and to hear all about her experiences.

Around 5PM, I headed to dinner with a few staff members. We planned to leave for the movies to see Jurassic World at 6:15PM and wound up getting four of us together to go.

The movie theater had a freaking full bar in it. WHY ISN'T THIS A THING EVERYWHERE!? I decided to get Bacardi and Coke for the movie just because I could. (Solid decision, I might add.) The four of us split a huge tub of popcorn (my favorite) and wound up killing it by the end of the movie. We had a nice time out and I'm really glad I finally got to see Jurassic World.

Side note: There was one part of the movie where two brothers were having a heart to heart and it reminded me of the conversations I had with my brother before I went to college and then away to Cape Town for  summer. It hit me right in the feels. Miss and love ya, Jordan!

After the movie, I came back to Myers to find out that the TIPsters received another early bedtime, but this time it was 10PM, forty-five minutes early. Apparently they were all entirely too loud during free time. Hopefully this will calm them down from here on out.

Today has been a pretty slow day, thankfully. It's our OSD's day off so I'm happy nothing catastrophic has happened (knock on wood). I'm hoping evening activities and free time run smoothly tonight.

Tomorrow we have the DAWGfest Ultimate Frisbee Tournament. May the best team win!

This weekend is going to be jam-packed, but hopefully I'll be able to write on Sunday evening when things slow down.

Oh, and I almost forgot: Shout out to my little brother for bringing up his GPA this year and getting A's and B's in his classes. I'm a proud big sister!

Call Me, Beep Me If You Wanna Reach Me

Saturday was a loooooooong day, but for the most part it was worth it.

Unfortunately I spent most of my day in the office preparing for TIPstar Extravaganza and then had to do a Walmart supply run in the middle of the Staff vs. Student Ultimate Frisbee Game. Sadly, I did not get to play at all. (I didn't even make it outside to watch the staff beat the TIPsters!) When the game was over, there was a minor/borderline major student issue that required immediate attention from myself and the OSD. It was a slightly scary situation, but I remained calm as I moved quickly throughout Myers hall to handle it. (That's pretty much all the details I can give, but know that the situation has been handled and everyone is more than okay now.)

After the little bump in the road, the evening progressed and we moved into dance preparation.
We almost did not have a space for the dance and after a cancellation of our space the morning of, we finally had a place to host it: Memorial Hall.

Super Admin Staff (Minus One)

The space was gorgeous and incredibly lit by sunlight when we got there. We set up the space in about an hour or so and had about ten minutes to breathe before the TIPsters arrived. For a small space, we did a darn good job decorating it. We had balloons, superhero and villain symbols throughout the room, streamers, and twinkle lights. There were two floors in this space: a dance floor and an awesome balcony area for the students to relax on and the staff to patrol the space (the most important part, right?).

Shego vs. Kim Possible

The students arrived a little before 7:30PM and were super awkward at first. It took about a half hour for them to warm, but once this happened, it seemed like the TIPsters had a really good time. By the time the traditional songs came on, everyone was tired, but made it through. There are a few traditional songs at UGA:

Wonderwall
Time Warp (Staff performs while facing the students)
It's the End of the World (As We Know It) (Students run in a circle and high five the staff members as they do this.)
Save Tonight
Breakfast at Tiffany's
Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)
American Pie

For the last three songs, there are three circles formed. The first is an inner circle of fourth years, another circle of staff members, and then a giant circle of second and third years surrounding both inner circles.  The circles get really emotional and a lot of people start crying. I'm not going to lie, I got pretty teary eyed during the last three songs because I was thinking about all of the people who were standing around me last year, swaying back and forth, and singing. Most of those people weren't standing beside me this year so it was pretty sad. Even though I really miss the staff from UGA 2014, I was happy to be swaying in the circle and making memories with a new staff. Things will never be as they were last year, but that doesn't mean they will not be great in their own way.

Once the dance was over, I helped clean up everything and then drove dance committee back to Myers Hall, just in time for lights out. As I was walking back into Myers, I ran into Evil Zach, one of the TA's from last summer. I was so excited to see him, but unfortunately it was brief since I had to meet with my staff.

The staff had a quick meeting on the balcony with pizza after lights out and then most of the staff headed to bed. I decided to sit up with a few of my RCs since I don't ever get to hang out with them. We were all so delusional and exhausted that everything we said or did was hilarious. I really enjoyed this bonding time with them, even if I hated myself in the morning for staying up so late.

Sunday morning was fairly lax. I sat in the office and prepped TIPstar stuff for the afternoon. A ton of parents decided to check out their kids that morning, like an obscene amount, and caused a bunch of chaos while doing so. Eventually, the chaos died down, but it was incredibly frustrating that so many TIPsters were leaving. I guess it was better for it to be this weekend rather than next since we have a field trip on the 21st...

Around 11:30AM, the OC and I headed to Bolton for lunch. We beat the rush of TIPsters and made it back to the office in time to finish last minute preparations for TIPstar.

From 1:15PM-4:00PM, the TIPsters participated in TIPstar Extravaganza. I spent this time tracking down students for various activities, checking in with my RCs running their programs, and taking some pictures. Overall, the day went really well. The TIPsters seemed to really enjoy their activities. We had ten different activities that students could participate in:

Ultimate Frisbee Workshop
Healthy Pancakes (Bananas and Dark Chocolate Chips)
Diversity Icebreakers

The TIPsters made me thank you cards! =D

Leadership Styles
Philanthropy Events Planning Workshop
Brighten the Space (Making cards and decorations for staff members)
Song Writing Workshop
Paper Mosaics
Diversity Cookies
Teambuilding Activities

I really enjoyed watching my staff members lead such great activities for so many students (about 60 per activity throughout the three hours). And of course, the students loved getting pins for each activity they attended.

After TIPstar and dinner, we hosted movie night in the MLC. The room really felt like a movie theater and the TIPsters brought snacks with them to really add to the aesthetic. Before the movie began, our OSD had a serious talk with the TIPsters about bullying, boundaries, and respect. I'm really happy he spearheaded this because the TIPsters are so scared of upsetting him that I don't think there will be too many issues from here on out.

Once the seriousness was over, we told the students they were going to watch Dolphin Tale. Surprisingly, there was not much backlash, but when we told them it was a joke, they were incredibly happy. We then gave them four choices of movies and gave obscure descriptions of them without the title and had everyone vote.

In no particular order, the descriptions were:

A movie about friendship, a club, and all of the challenges they overcome.

A movie about a book and life.

A movie about a prehistoric family who carry themselves on their own two feet wherever they go.

A movie about a substance with a mind of its own.

Any guesses as to which movie won?

"The Little Rascals"

After a laughter filled evening, the students went back to Myers and met with their DAWGfest teams (Red, Blue, Green, and Yellow) to plan out their name, chants, and sign ups for the events they will participate in on Saturday afternoon. The meetings lasted until about 9:30PM, leaving the students only a half hour for free time (how sad...). After lights out, I had a very serious talk with my staff about safety and parents picking up their students. I'm hoping the new plans we have in place for this will help alleviate any current and future issues.

Two staff members fell asleep during the movie
so I obviously needed to take a picture
with them.

So far today, we have had a few issues that I have had to address with my staff and will be addressing tonight after lights out. I foresee today being a fairly boring day for me, which is a-okay. 


Hopefully after my stern talk with my staff tonight, many of the issues I've been seeing will be resolved.

*Aggressively Hula Hoops*

Our cell phone graveyard of confiscated phones

Balcony chilling,
we lost an RC

Well I accurately predicted the remainder of my night yesterday. It did indeed consist of me hula hooping in the office until lights out. I decided to walk down the hallway on the boys' floor and saw one of my RCs chatting with his kids. Since it wasn't technically time for lights out, I decided to hang out down there until they had to be put to bed. The kids were so sweet to me and let me join their group hang out session. They even let me "put them to bed" and shut out their lights. It was adorable and really made me miss having TIPsters of my own.

After lights out, I went to the balcony to watch Orange is the New Black. I sat in a corner so I didn't disturb anyone, even though I had my headphones in. While watching the first episode, a few rowdy staff members appeared in the lobby. I could hear them through my headphones, which is impressive considering I'm pretty much deaf. I know I pissed them off when I laid down the "iron fist" as my staff called it because I got a lot of sass. I felt bad about it at first, but then I remembered it is my job to enforce rules so I stopped caring.

Decided to break out
my inner child today

I was woken up this morning by loud banging as if someone was de-lofting a bed... in my room. I never did figure out where the sound was coming from, but I was quite pissed off with that wake up call.

I spent most of my day in meetings with my RHLs and RPA, ResLife, and then admin. It wasn't the most exciting day, but it was quite productive.

<3

After a long day of meetings, we had our BIG event, an alphabet scavenger hunt. The TIPsters had to go to different stations with props and/or skits to perform for staff members. These skits had to represent the letter(s) at the station. The skits were rated on a scale of 0-5 based on creativity. I was in the office and had the pleasure of watching the skits for the letter 'Q'. Some of them were extremely creative, but most were incredibly boring. We wound up giving out a lot of zeros. (The groups were able to return later and try again with a different skit.) Around 8:30PM, we ended the event. We will be tallying and announcing the scores on Sunday night, after the movie.

The rest of the night is probably going to be quite quiet for me. I'm hoping to get to sleep earlier than 1AM, but I'm sure that will not be the case.

Tomorrow, I hope to be playing in the Ultimate game. Hopefully there will not be too many things to do in the office to prevent this from happening. Also, we will be having our first dance tomorrow night in a new space I have yet to see. Fingers crossed it all goes well!

"I'd Love to Sit in on One of Your Conversations..."

My first day off was a success! In the morning, I went to Goodwill with one of my RCs and the office assistant. This Goodwill was ENORMOUS and probably the nicest one I've ever seen. It was set up like a Marshalls more so than a thrift store which made it feel incredibly fancy.

Strawberry lemonade <3

We all decided we were hungry so we went to Mama's Boy for a late breakfast. I forgot how much I enjoyed breakfast food in Georgia. (Biscuits and grits just don't taste the same at home as they do here, just sayin'.) Another RC who had off also joined us for breakfast. It was nice to talk about things that weren't TIP related like jobs and apartments and life. (I've been thinking about looking for jobs down here since I enjoy the vibe so much, but don't worry mom, it's just a thought.)

I love having a good hair day

After breakfast, we ventured to Walmart to pick up items for our superhero/super villain costumes. Our office assistant had to be back for work by 1PM, so the trip was short lived. My RC and I headed to a different Walmart after we dropped off the OA and were able to gather fabric for our gloves for our costumes. (To say I am pumped for my costume is an understatement.)

When I returned to campus, I took an incredibly long nap, which I apparently needed. I woke up around 6PM and decided to sit in the office with a few RCs and staff members until we were leaving for trivia.

Trivia was a blast. Only three of us went this week, but we did not let that dampen our spirits. Our team name was Just the TIP, a throwback to last year. We struggled through many of the questions, but got very creative with our answers:

What time does Wall Street open? Our answer: 8:03AM Correct answer: 9:30AM

Where did a certain basketball player (their name escapes me) attend school? Our answer: Hogwarts Correct answer: Not Hogwarts

What were two of the six original flavors of Kool-Aid? Our answer: Watermelon and Grape
Correct answer: Cherry, Grape, Strawberry, Orange, and something else

Our awesomely bad answers

The trivia master kept calling us out and said, "Man, I'd love to sit in on one of your conversations to figure out these answers..."

After our answer of Hogwarts, we won a healthy pitcher of beer. We decided to save our ticket for our next trivia night, two weeks from now. (We will be seeing Jurassic World next week instead of
playing trivia.)

Also: June 10th was my 5 year
anniversary of graduating HS

When we got back to campus, it was 11PM. I headed up to the balcony to hang out with my staff for a little while. One of my staff members asked if they could speak privately with me, even though it was my day off. Of course I said yes and we chatted for a bit in the office. We had a nice conversation and I helped them work through some issues they've been dealing with on staff. At the end of the conversation, my staff member said "I know you don't think you're doing a good job, but you really are." It made my night and then I was able to head to bed.

I was woken up out of a dead sleep to a phone call from one of my staff members around 6AM.
We resolved the issue, but I wasn't able to go back to sleep.

I headed to the office around 8AM and had to deal with a million things. We had to call up to Main Office for a few things and waited around most of the afternoon to get the issue resolved. It was very weird for me to absorb the OSD position and make sure everything ran smoothly since it was our OSD's day off today. We had a bunch of hiccups, but we were able to make it through.

SO HAPPY!

When I came back into the office after my admin meeting, there was a package on my desk from my friend, Bill. I opened it and squealed because he sent me Guardians of the Galaxy. It was definitely the pick me up I needed after the last few days. Thanks, Bill, for being so great! =D

Around 4:30PM, I went down to the lobby and ran into the Community Director. We had been emailing back and forth about de-lofting some beds all week and it still hadn't been done. Angry, he decided to take matters into his own hands. I went with him to deloft two beds on the third floor. We had some interesting conversations about Thor, Jurrasic World, and the World of Coke. Again, it was nice to not talk about TIP.

After dinner, I sat in the office with my quieter RHL. He made buttons, I diffused some issues, did a headstand for absolutely no reason, and blogged. It was a productive evening.

The rest of my night will probably consist of hula hooping in the office doorway while my staff actively supervises students until lights out.

Tomorrow kicks off our first weekend of events:

Friday: The BIG event

Saturday: Staff vs. Student Ultimate Frisbee Tournament and the Superhero/Super Villain Dance

Sunday: TIPstar Extravaganza and Movie Night

I'm excited for this dance. After the first dance, everything will truly feel like TIP. The staff will bond even more and there will be less of a divide with the students. (There's no going back to the way things were once you've cried together and boy do these TIPsters cry at dances...)

Here's to a great weekend with (hopefully) only minor injuries!

Bring on the Thunder

Today was our first thunderstorm we've had since I've been here. (We did have one monsoon situation, but there was no thunder and lightening... And the kids weren't here yet.)

Last night, I was told I didn't need to be in the office until 10AM this morning. I took full advantage of this by staying up on night duty (until 12:30AM) and then attempted to sleep in this morning.

Around 7AM, a large crack and bang woke me up. A giant flash of light and a bunch of text messages made me jump out of a sound sleep. Everyone was concerned about 1) getting students to breakfast and 2) getting students to class after. (Understandably so since we are not able to have the TIPsters outside in this type of weather.) I was fully prepared to handle the situation, but the OSD stepped in and had everyone wait out the weather until it stopped hailing, thundering, and lightening. Once everyone got to breakfast, it was apparently sheer chaos. There were two other camps eating breakfast at the same time and the TIPsters had no where to eat. They wound up going to class late, which was unfortunate for the instructors. All of this happened and was resolved from the comfort of my bed this morning. I was quite happy about this and proud of the staff for coming together to solve the issues.

The morning in the office was pretty lax. I made some pins for our TIPstar Extravaganza on Sunday. TIPstar Extravaganza is an afternoon where the TIPsters participate in three activities (which they chose earlier in the week). Each activity is geared towards one of the five points of the star: Diversity, Service, Health and Wellness, Fine Arts, and Leadership. For each activity the TIPster participates in, they receive a pin. The goal is to go to activities in three different categories and collect pins for each one. Any TIPsters with all five pins at the end of the term get to make their own pin on the last night. (Trust me, the love that.)

I spent most of the day planning TIPstar, meeting with admin, making pins, and hula hooping. Other than filling out some paperwork and handling student issues, I had a pretty boring day.

The evening was full of laughter, button making, and hula hooping with staff members who were incredibly bored on their day off. I'm so glad they enjoy each other's company enough to spend time together on their days off.

When the TIPsters came back from their evening activities, I had the opportunity to roam the hallways and converse with many of them. A lot of the returners were asking me how I liked not having an RC Group. I told them as much as I miss having a group of my own, I really do love having a group of RCs to oversee. They are incredible people, each and every one of them, and I love working beside them. I can already tell this is going to be a great summer.

Tomorrow is my first day off. I'm planning on going thrift store shopping with an RC and the OA. (We need to plan our outfits for the superhero/supervillain dance this weekend, for which I am PUMPED!) Hopefully I make it to trivia and the gym tomorrow as well, but that might be a little ambitious for me...

On a few unrelated notes:

1) Happy belated Best Friends Day to my besties. Love y'all!

2) Happy 23rd Birthday to Jenn, one of my oldest friends! Love you, darling!

3) There has been an awful lot of deaths showing up in my newsfeed on facebook as of late. It really has me thinking about how short and frail life is and how we need to reach out to others when we are in need. I know I struggle with this, but I want to get better at it. I want all of my readers to know that you can reach out to me if you ever need someone to talk to. (I'm a great listener.) These deaths have really struck a chord with me and I really want everyone to know that you are important. You matter to people and are loved. If you ever need anything, reach out, please. <3

Under Pressure

Holy Toledo. Sunday was a whirlwind of chaos, but it is finally over!

Saturday night, admin (minus one) went out to dinner at the Blind Pig. It was nice to get off campus for a few beers before the students were due to arrive the next day. We tried to talk about everything under the sun other than TIP, making it an incredible night out.

I was back in Myers and in bed before 11PM and surprisingly, sleep came very easily. I fell into such a deep sleep that when I awoke I thought I was back in my queen sized bed in Pennsylvania. When I finally realized where I was, a slight disappointment set in (only slight though!).

To be awake at 6:45AM, bright eyed and bushy tailed, was asking for a lot from me, but I decided to fake it until I made it. It worked, for the most part. My staff was mostly on time for our meeting about the day and were ready to hit the ground running.

Glowing logo gave me the power
to survive move-in day

The day ran fairly smooth with only a few minor hiccups and a few major road blocks, but I learned today that I am an excellent problem solver. Yay for ResLife in college and being able to think on my feet! From room issues to nonexistent students to sassy parents to snarky kids, I was able to handle everything (mostly) with grace. I was incredibly impressed with my ability to diffuse all of the issues thrown at me today. I am much much much more confident in my abilities than I was before.

Thanks, anonymous, for this!

I had to help facilitate the parent meeting with my OSD. I don't usually get nervous speaking in front of people, but for some reason I felt incredibly incompetent right before I had to stand up and address the parents. (Great time to feel inadequate, right?) As I began to speak, the words just spilled out of my mouth. I didn't need to think about what I was saying anymore. When I was finished with my spiel, a bunch of parents' hands shot up. (Maybe I didn't do such a great job explaining everything...) Most of the questions were just clarifications. It seemed a bit like a rapid fire round to see if I knew my stuff. (Similarly to after a presentation to a class when your professor really tries to test your knowledge.) I answered everything and then some. I shut down those parents and was extremely proud of myself. (I'd like to think my OSD was proud as well.)

After the meeting, I decided to call my parents. I hadn't had the opportunity to chat with them much since I've been here so I figured my walk back to Myers Hall would be a good time to catch up. It was nice catching up with my dad because I rarely catch him on the phone. (My mom usually jumps at any opportunity to talk to me.) It was a short lived conversation, but at least they (err... my dad) knows I'm alive and well.

The rest of the afternoon flew by. I cleaned up the check-in area at 5PM and prepared myself for the student meeting. I didn't have time to eat before the meeting so I decided I would order something when I got back to the office.

Delusion set in around 8PM

We kicked off the student meeting with a(n invisible) roller coaster ride. I could try to explain it to you in text, but it would not make any sense. Just trust me when I say it is a silly, fun way to get the students to calm down. (Thank you, Sarah for this lovely trick!) Once the TIPsters were worn out from the crazy ride (okay, it wasn't actually crazy, but they were quiet!), our OSD began the meeting.

The meeting went so smoothly. The rules video was HILARIOUS this year. (The rules video is made by the RCs so the TIPsters can understand the rules in a lighthearted manner.) This year, the RCs set it as a 1950s infomercial. I could not stop laughing at it. If I can get access to it, I will be sure to post it at a later date.

Positive Gossip Wall in the office

After the meeting, the 4th years (the oldest TIPsters) had to stay behind for a '4th year meeting'. Basically, the RHLs laid out that they are role models and the TIPsters will look up to them. "TIP=Love so don't ruin it" was the main theme of the meeting. Once this was over, everyone returned to Myers Hall for their first RC Group meetings and then On-Hall time.

Thanks, Olivia! =D

The night seemed to drag on f o r e v e r. I just wanted it to be 2AM so I could go to sleep. I had to meet with my RCs and go over night duty with all of them. It was going to be a looooong night.

My staff thinks I'm weird

Once lights out hit at 10:45PM, I headed to the balcony and saw an issue arising. The OSD was knocking on a door for the students to prove they were in their rooms. (The RC expressed concern that they were not answering so our OSD stepped in.) After multiple attempts banging on the door and calling out the students' names, the OSD decided we needed to key into the room to make sure the students were okay. When we finally got in, the two students were sound asleep with blankets over their heads. The poor kids were so tired they slept through all of the noise, which I find hard to believe. The RC will be speaking with students today about the incident to make sure they do not fall asleep until we know they are in their assigned room.

When this was all said and done, I met my staff on the balcony. I was falling asleep and could barely form coherent sentences. After I went over all of the information I needed to with them, one of my staff members asked, "Allee, could you do us all a favor?". Of course I responded with, "Maybe? It depends on what it is..." "Go to sleep, please. You clearly need it." And so I did.

And I slept like a damn baby.

This morning started around 8:30AM in the office with a few minor issues and some paperwork. I had breakfast with our CO and then returned to the office again to solve some other issues. At 11:30AM, I went to lunch with a few admin members.

We had an admin meeting from 1-2PM and then returned to the office yet again. I've just been doing odd-jobs all day, but I am sure as time goes on I will be busier when I am in the office.

We don't have too many exciting things happening this evening, other than our evening activities (Project Runway, Sports, Board Game Night, etc.). I'm excited to hear about the activities, but not so excited about sitting in the office with nothing to do.

Tomorrow should be another uneventful day so I plan on visiting some classes.

Here's to a not so crazy week!

Exhausted is My Eternal State of Being

Yesterday was a long day. I slept in until 8:30AM, but felt as though I hadn't slept at all. Luckily, I was able to sit in the office until 9:30AM before I actually had to facilitate a session.

I walked down to the MLC to set up for TIPardy (TIP Jeopardy) to find out we didn't have a room. Orientation was in the room we had been using. Fine. Plan B: Find another available room.

I located another room and had someone open up the media cabinet for me (after running up and down the steps about six times to do this). It wound up working really well for TIPardy. My staff  broke up into four teams: Stemianndy, Just the TIP (which I only called TIP), Go, and Indecisive. Team Indecisive wound up winning it all. I will probably wind up making them TIPardy pins as their reward. (As mentioned in previous posts, pins are a hot commodity.)

After TIPardy, my staff had a session with our Psychological Counselor. It was very informative and helped the RCs to see how to handle different situations they may encounter with TIPsters. Some of the staff members seemed a little shaky at first, but they soon became more confident in their abilities.

Mississippi Mud Cake
(still not sure how I felt about it)

We broke for lunch and then met up for office training followed by a ResLife breakout session. We went over everything about the RC position and also decided on Committees for the various events throughout the term. The meeting ran pretty smoothly, making me feel better about my ability to lead a staff.

There was a little over an hour break between the breakout session and our Diversity training. I went into the office to get a few things together and then walked back over to the MLC with a few staff members.

The Diversity training started out with the exercise "By My Bootstraps". It was a privilege line activity. (For those of you who do not know what this is here is an explanation:
The facilitator reads off various statements to a line of participants. Each statement has an action of moving forward or moving backward associated with it. If the statement does not apply to you or you chose not to move, you do not have to.) Everyone seemed to be pretty open to participating (from where I was standing). No matter how many times I participate in the activity, I always seem to get emotional. I don't always cry, but many of the statements get me choked up. (This time I did not cry, which is impressive if you know me. I cry all the time.) After the activity was completed, we returned to the room in the MLC to debrief. There were a lot of good conversations happening and a few that pressed some buttons. We set up a safe space though so everyone was able to express their opinions without being attacked. After the debriefing, our APA did a small presentation on the LGBT(PQIA) community. It was a brief introduction on the topic, but it was quite nice to see 1) the APA feel comfortable enough to present this topic and 2) to shed some light on something that we will possibly be seeing with the TIPsters and staff members.

Dinner view

Everyone went to dinner together after this. The OSD, Counselor, and myself decided to debrief a bit without the rest of the staff around so we sat outside. It was a lovely evening to do so.

After dinner, the ResLife Staff met in the Staff Lounge for Behind Closed Doors. (BCDs are situations acted out by RCs that they might run into during the term.) Before jumping right into the BCDs, we had a debriefing about the Diversity training. Again, good conversations were had. It was nice to see my staff bonding and really expressing themselves about different issues they are passionate about. I was a proud RLC.


Once the debriefing was over, we started the BCDs. In the beginning, we had some difficult scenarios, but they lightened up as the training went on. My staff handled many of the situations extremely well with only a few difficulties. My other staff members stepped in to help each other and I was extremely pleased. By the end of BCDs, I could honestly say I feel incredibly confident in my staff's ability to handle situations. Our OSD was also in attendance and gave them a little pep talk at the end. To sum it up: Main Office hired everyone for a reason and we are all going to be great. Also, he said that they have an incredible person leading them (aka me), which made me feel amazing after such a long and heavy day.

Another dinner view

I'm pretty sure I went back to the office again to work on more things, but the nights have blurred together so I could be wrong.

We met in the morning at 9AM for our first staff meeting. The staff picked their duties for the first week and we planned evening activities as well. The meeting went extremely well with very little side conversations. (Go me for keeping everyone mostly on track!) We did have a moment where we all discovered the new snapchat feature to add each other by taking a picture (in snapchat) of the other person's ghost icon. Seeing this written out probably doesn't make sense to most of you, but I know what I mean.


After our meeting, I again returned to the office. Not entirely sure what I did, but I know it was at least slightly important. We went to lunch at some point and then I returned to the office for an afternoon of paperwork and planning.


At 4:30PM, the core admin met to discuss any lingering items and the meetings on move-in day. I get to stand up and talk to the parents about ResLife and a few other things. Even though I know my stuff, I'm still nervous (and I love talking in front of people). At the student meeting, the OSD and I get to be the hard asses and the RCs get to be the fun and lovable bunch. I'm totally fine with this. The kids do not need to love me.


Towards the end of the meeting, I was no longer forming coherent sentences. The exhaustion train had officially arrived and I was derailing fast. Admin could see how badly I needed a nap so we dismissed and I headed back to my room.

I slept through my alarm and woke up at 6AM, over twelve hours later. To say I needed the sleep was clearly an understatement because I fell back asleep and awoke again at 8:30AM.

Since then, I've pretty much been in the office. I felt quite refreshed and even had a cup of coffee that I did not hate as much as I usually do. The coffee did make me super hyper and shaky though so I probably will not be drinking it again for a while...

First and last milkshake

I had my first milkshake at Bolton (and probably my last). A few staff members and I have planned to only eat sweets on Saturdays so we will see how well that works for me. We've also decided to try to do Zumba each night at 9PM. Hopefully we can stick to this plan.

Tonight, I have a meeting with admin to discuss how tomorrow will run. After that, I plan on running to the tattoo shop to get my septum ring taken out since it has been stuck in my nose for a few days, despite me trying to rip it out. (Yes, it is as painful as it sounds.)

Tomorrow, the TIPsters arrive. I am so excited! (Not so excited to wake up before 7AM, though.) It will be a long day, but I know it will be worth it.

Most likely, I will be too tired to post tomorrow, but I will try to post again on Monday!