Monday, Monday

Mamas and the Papas were right about crying on Mondays.

I bumped into Courtney, one of my friends I met in my journalism classes, and she said she's making journalism her minor and majoring in entertainment industry studies. E! here she comes! She said she cried about two times today before 9am!! I'm thinking the stress and tests are getting everyone down lately.

I was talking to Tara, a girl in my group for covering diverse, and she feels so overwhelmed with all the stories we have due in the course of the semester. I feel overwhelmed as well. If I cut out that class, I think I would be ten times less likely to pull my hair out.

Tempers and stress levels are running high this semester, more so than they were my first semester at Belmont. It seems the teachers wanted to be harder. I can just picture the teachers congregated in a room, discussing how they can make our lives a living hell and still convince us it's in our best interest.

I know that's certainly not true but it gives an answer to this wave of stress that consumed all of us as we arrived to Belmont. An answer, no matter how inadequate, is still an answer.

My brother, Alan, surprised me last night with a phone call. I love that! He went to his friend's quinceanera and had a blast. My mom sent me pictures of him in his suit and let me just say, he probably got a few girls' numbers Saturday night. The thing with Alan is he's very particular about he dresses, especially when it comes to dressing nicely. He's also a musician so the girls in his sophomore class think he's so cool. He's writing his own songs and I know every time he calls me, he wants me to hear his new one. Alan cracks me up.

He really had me cracking up with his hunting story.

Austin (my brother 18 months younger than me) and Alan (4 years younger than me) received their bow hunting license for this season. They have become obsessed with hunting since then. Austin got a job and with his money he's earned has bought camo, corn to bait the deer, and a blinder to protect themselves from the elements when they're in the deer stand.

A group of about five deer came around the boys and Austin went to shoot and missed. They got out of the deer stand and went to scout the deer. Austin drew back his bow and...hit a tree. He mistook the tree for a deer (wha??).

The boys are scouting again, and Alan finds a groundhog roaming around. The groundhog looks at him and starts smelling him and waddling around. Alan looks to his right and sees a little grey mouse also staring at him. Alan's a little freaked out about that but he doesn't do anything to the rodent. The mouse and groundhog stay around Alan for a little while until the groundhog waddles into his hole and the mouse runs away. For a few moments, Alan was the male version of Snow White. How quaint!

Austin and Alan go back into the tree stand and while the wind is whipping and the sky is grey, Alan falls asleep in the stand. He wakes up to find Austin walking back to the house without him!

"What the heck!" he thinks to himself and climbs out of the deer stand and walks back to the house.

"Why'd you leave me?" Alan asks Austin as he walks into the kitchen.

"I thought I had to go to the bathroom but I changed my mind," Austin says while getting something to eat. "You're in the house now so stop complaining. We'll go out later."

When Alan told me that, I started cracking up! I told my friends the story and they just shook their heads and chuckled to themselves.

Alan also told me a doe was standing right in our front yard. I told him the deer are just waiting to be shot and eaten, so here's hoping they get a deer. Chili made with deer meat is the best and I've missed that for such a long time.

The weather is getting colder and autumn is settling in here in Nashville. It's so glorious. I can't wait until the leaves start to change. That's when the campus turns magical for a few weeks...