More Drama: from an 11 yr old's journal entries...

Well...remember that identical journal entry I said I probably had? I found one. It's not identical, but it's pretty dang similar. Now, seeing as Father's Day is tomorrow, please know that all feelings expressed in this entry are not real/lasting. I don't want anyone to think that I still hate my dad...I probs only hated him for a night (well...probably several nights throughout my pre-teen/teenage years, but you understand). Every parent gets to hear "I hate you" their fair share, right?! Anyways, here's a peek into my 11 yr old life:

July 3, 1998
Write now I have to sit on my bed, my dad made me just cause I said I don't want to wash. Now I can't sleep in the tent with everyone else. I hate my family sometimes. I had to pick a number between 1 and 20 and we were fighting over drying dishes, I got the closest to the number and my dad made me wash - when I got the closest! He told Elsina to pick 1-2-3-4 or 5 and she picked 5 and so she didn't have to wash - He favored Elsina. I'm so mat at my dad - he acts like he doesn't like me and he likes Elsina better.

The real sad part...the entry ended with this:

That'll show him...crossed him out as if he's not my dad. Brutal. I guess that's what ya get if you like Elsina better. haha. Oh dear. How dramatic was I?!

Don't worry...there's more. When my family moved from Layton, UT to Kuna, ID, I was not happy. You can't move a dramatic 11 year old to another state right before the 6th grade. This will be the result:


And finally...one last little thing that I was CRACKING UP about the other day. There are a series of entries that I wrote while mad at my family:

Aug. 21, 1998
We're in our new house. I hate it. It craps. Why did we have to come here? Tonight I'm sleeping in the bathroom tub. Tonight me and Elsina got in a fight, now everybody is against me everybody hates me.

Aug. 22, 1998
I've locked myself in my bedroom and I'm not getting out. I hate my life. I never ended up sleeping in the tub.

(later on Aug. 22)
Dad got mad and said "alright just write in your stupid journal". Then I heard him talking to mom, he said, "well, if I didn't let her she would be balling all night". My dad always says he never says anything bad about me but I guess he lies. Today a tractor on the other street caught on fire. It was exciting. Well, dad just asked Elsina a mean question about me!
Bye
Maren (the hated)

My favorite parts: "it craps"...what the heck? What does that even mean? haha. "I never ended up sleeping in the tub"...this makes me laugh because I legitimately remember getting our red quilt and my pillow and setting up camp in the bathroom. I wonder what went wrong. "My dad always says he never says anything bad about me but I guess he lies"...oh dramatic little Maren, bless your heart. And finally, "today a tractor caught on fire. It was exciting"...WTHeck? So random.
So, there you have it...Abby wasn't the only one that thought she was hated and unloved. And for the record...my dad is the awesomest dad ever. Seriously. Happy Father's Day, Pa! I'm terribly sorry about the 11 year old me.

I was a teenage monster...

So the other night, my little sister and I laughed for quite some time over one of her journal entries from 2003. That means I was 16 yrs old and Abby was 11 3/4 (she specified in a journal entry that she was 11 3/4...not 11, or 12, or even 11 1/2). I guess we laughed about more than one entry...but I will just share the funniest/saddest. I think our relationship at the time was a problem because I was a teenage monster (which I, to this day, will admit) and Abby was a dramatic pre-teen. So we get the following:

June 23, 2003
Why Does Dad and Maren hate me? Maren treats me like a baby and pushes me around. She thinks I can't do nothing! Dad is always on her side so when we fight, I always am the one getting in trouble. Tonight we were planting sod and she kept saying I wasn't working hard enough. I got mad and I had to go to bed, right away! All I was doing was trying to be extra good and work really hard, but Maren found a way to get me in trouble, she always does! Why does Maren hate me? She always points out the smallest flaws, just to get me in trouble!
If that's the way she wants to play, then watch out Maren, I'm coming back to get ya!
Bye,
Abby the Hated, Picked on, etc.

hahaha. "I'm coming back to get ya!"...? Coming back from where?! Oh Abby...

Another entry ended with this:

I know what you're thinking...and yes, this does make me kinda sad and makes me feel kinda bad. Buuuutttt...only kinda. BECAUSE that's life when it comes to sisters. And I have many identical journal entries from my own journal at that age. Everyone was always against me, everyone hated me, I was always the one getting in trouble when it was really a sister's fault, my parents favored my sisters, I was alone and unloved, etc etc. Any one who has ever been 10-16 yrs old with 3 sisters will understand.

The best part of these entries: how hard we laugh about them now. Now that we're older, we often pull out our old, embarrassing journals/diaries and share different things with each other. I have been so near to peeing my pants from laughter SO many times when it comes to reading through these. We can look back on it now and just laugh. I love it. See?...hating each other turned out to be a great thing! Right?!

Highlight of the Week

Just as expected, seeing my Club kids made my week.

The staff for the BGClub this summer visited Reed Elementary yesterday during recess so we could see the kids and publicize for the summer program beginning in a couple weeks. I will share a few of my favorite moments that made me laugh...

We were out at recess with the kindergartners. Keep in mind that these kids were too young to be at the club last summer...so we were complete strangers to all these little ones.

Random little boy with glasses comes up to me: "Hello, what's your name?" (umm...isn't it supposed to be ME that asks for names around here?)
Me: "Hi I'm Maren, what's your name?"
Boy: (shakes my hand)"Michael. Want to race me?"
Me: "Of course, but I must warn you, I'm really fast."
Boy: "That's okay. I'm faster."

So we race several times. Short races. But over and over again. I obviously let him win a few times, tied him a few times, and beat him by one step a few times to keep things interesting. But once after I let him win a couple times in a row, he CLEARLY made sure I won the next one. haha. What a nice little boy. Wanted me to have SOME success. Precious. Then later in our conversation...

Boy: "Maren...when my mom gets here she can get your number and then you can come over to my house and play all day because you are really fun and nice."

Awwwwww. Those little ones just melt my heart.

The most fun was when my 3rd and 4th graders from last summer came out for recess. A couple of my favorite moments with them...

Kaden: "Maren?"
Me: "Yes Kaden?"
Kaden: "Are you done with law school now?"
Me: "How do you remember that I went to law school?"
TJ: "It's easy! You're going to be a lawyer. Duh."

I don't know why it surprises me so much that my kids remembered that. I just don't expect 3rd graders to remember details about my life. Isn't that the cutest thing ever?!

(to one of my 3rd graders with a little mohawk...he thinks he's quite the ladies man...last summer he was juggling several girlfriends, a few of which were like 16 yrs old haha)
Me: "Hey Caden...this is a new hairstyle...I like it"
Caden: "Thanks."
Me: "Well, it's pretty cool...did you do it for the ladies?"
Caden: "Of course Maren."
Me: "So is it workin?"
Caden: "OH YEAH!"
(later he taught me how to raise one eyebrow...a skill he uses to give the little 3rd grade ladies his version of the blue steel look)

hahahaha. Oh man. I know these are probably not as funny to those reading who don't know these kids or aren't around kids much in general...but even writing about them is making me laugh out loud. Can't get enough. That is, until they are driving me absolutely crazy mid-summer. But until then...I LOVE IT!

I AM: a 2L now....and home for the summer!

Ahhh I am done with my first year of law school! Super weird feeling. When I walked into my apartment after finishing my last final, my 19 yr old roommate says, "You're finished with a YEAR of law school...do you feel OLD now?" Uhhhh....well....yeah I guess now I do! Ughhh.

Being done is such a relief. Two weeks of finals. Five classes that each have a 3-4 hr long essay exam. I was on my second to last final (Property...exciting, I know) and I got so bored sitting there after about an hour. It took everything I had to force myself to focus and get something on paper. I struggled with that exam. On the last essay question I could NOT remember one of the things I needed to remember. I ended up making something up that I was actually quite proud of. Well, proud of for a little while. I made the mistake of going home and thinking "I'm going to check that in my notes really quick"....should NOT have checked my notes. It turns out the B.S. answer I had been somewhat proud of was not something to be proud of after all. So I had about 15 minutes worth of a panic attack before I remembered it's okay to maybe get a C...and maybe it won't even be a C. Sooo...I'm no longer panicking about that. BUT getting that grade just might ruin my summer. Stay tuned.

So after that fiasco I had nothing left in me for my last final. It took me about 2.5 hours and it was scheduled to be a 4 hr exam. Oops. Sorry Prof. Goble, I just didn't care for your exam. Products liability, what a bore. I think I put a couple coherent answers together. I'm hoping for 30 points on that exam. Last semester a 28 out of 200 something possible points got me a B...maybe 30 this semester will get me a glorious B+. A girl can hope! I've only had one grade disappointment/freak out so far in law school and I hope it stays that way. I've surprised myself here and there with grades and I hope I can keep that up. But what a way to ruin a summer...giving us our grades after we're already home and not caring about school anymore. Rude.

So NOW what? Well, I decided to use my first week home to relax, move back in, get situated, write a paper, and read. I thought it would be such a relaxing week. Turns out I NEED structure in my life. This week has been painfully boring and I cannot wait for this next week to begin. Starting this week I will spend a couple days in a law office, just kinda following people around and getting more familiar with things...and then the other days at the Boys and Girls Club, preparing for the summer program. Then next week I'm off to Mesa for my cousin's wedding (LaLa I cannot wait for this...soooo excited!) before coming back home and starting full time at the Club with my kids.

I am so excited to go back to working with my kids. I was going to workout a summer internship/externship in a law firm, but after a couple phone calls from my BGClub boss reminding me how fun it is and telling me they really wanted me back, I decided to spend one last summer getting paid to be a kid :) One of my favorite things is having a bunch of little 7-12 yr olds as best friends each summer. Constant entertainment.

Anyways...that was a whole lot of post for not a lot of exciting information. I'm not even going to read back through it...so I apologize for errors. Editing is not worth my time right now.
Stay tuned for summer adventures!

How Embarrassing...

So…I am sitting in my bed. It’s 10 pm on a Monday night. I have just realized that this day blows. It feels like there has been 3 different days in this one day alone. I don’t know why. Law school does funny things to my brain sometimes. There doesn’t seem to be a whole lot to look forward to here on out this semester…so instead of thinking about that, I decided I should blog. It’s been too long. I apologize to those that have been waiting and requesting…I just haven’t had it in me. But here I am now! And boy do I have some stories for your entertainment (at least…I hope they entertain you…cuz I laugh about them quite often).

This is my “you know you’ve been in law school too long when….” post.

1. One day last semester I was reading what felt like hundreds of pages for torts. I came along a word I was not familiar with… “destined” …I spent a good 3 minutes trying to decide what “de-styned” meant. I was about to google the definition when it occurred to me that the word was not “de-styned”, it was “destined”. WOW Maren. So glad I didn’t get to the googling of the term. How embarrassing.

2. Around the time my trial brief was due, I often found myself not being able to focus on a single task. One afternoon I got to school and parked in one of the front spots by the school. After ONE CLASS (yes, only about one hour later), I walked out to go home and I could NOT remember where I had parked. I couldn’t think about it clearly, so for some reason I walked myself all the way up the hill to the Kibbie Dome lot (not a terrible walk, but definitely out of the way). Welp, then I realized I had parked right in front that day. What do you do when you realize? There are people around and you have to act like you forgot something, or kinda throw your hands up and do an “oh stupid me” look as you turn around and head back down the hill to your car. Oopsie. How embarrassing.

3. I have one pen that I absolutely love. It’s not special…it’s a free pen from some hotel from my volleyball playing days…but I prefer my notes to be written with it. Well one morning I got to class and had a private panic attack…my pen was gone. Checked my bag, went back down to my desk…no pen. I had to use a stupid pen for notes that day. Middle of my second class, I reach up to tighten my ponytail and guess what I found?! My pen. Used it to put my hair up while reviewing notes before classes that morning. Panicked for nothing. How embarrassing.

4. I was watching an NCAA bball tourney game and one of my friends said it was cool that Virginia had several teams in the tournament. She named a few before I added, “WVU”. Yes, I added West Virginia University to the list of Virginia schools. We just looked at each other for a moment and started laughing. West Virginia happens to be its own state. Good work, Maren. How embarrassing.

5. I wrote “do ‘ nt” in my margins instead of “don’t” (I’ve misplaced apostrophes several times in my notes).

6. I legitimately tried to plug in my computer charger backwards (the side that should be in the outlet into my computer, and the computer plug-in into the outlet). Took me a minute to realize why things weren’t working out.

7. I was editing my appellate brief and I made a correction that I no longer wanted there…guess what I did?! I used white-out to fix it. Yes, I used white-out to fix my fixes. Who does that? HOW….EMBARRASSING.

8. At least I'm not alone. My friend woke up one morning and was barricaded into her bedroom. No recollection of how it happened. This is what happens around the time briefs are due. Also...she was reading through her brief and passed right over an important mistake a few times. Luckily she finally caught it. Instead of "Agent Beckett", she had "Action Beckett" in an important heading. Some things shouldn't be looked over...but often are. Seems fine.

My cousin is BACCKKK!

BRYCE IS HOMEEEEE!!! What a great weekend it was for us Ericsons. Poor Bryce was ambushed by a bunch of crazy siblings and cousins...but he handled it very well. I am so happy to have him back...but super bummed that I'm away at school. And even more sad...both him and his sister, Malea, will head to BYU-I for the summer session in April and will be gone when we are back for the summer. Bummer. But I just thought I'd post a couple pics from the weekend. Cannot wait for an Ericson gathering this summer. COUSINS: Harry Potter party better happen. I will be so disappointed if we don't get it done! I am keeping my fingers crossed for this reunion to happen.

What?! 2010 is over?

Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays/all that good stuff. Man, it's good to be home and with family. I can guarantee that my family is THE coolest, funniest, smartest, most fun, awesomest family ever. It is amazing how much I laugh each day when I'm home. I love them so much and I'm grateful we're all able to be together for the holidays. I love the games, sleepovers, talks, jokes, classic movie watching (the Mighty Ducks trilogy, Heavyweights, The Grinch...you know, all the good ones), eating, and cousin time. Life is good.

Christmas Lights in Lewiston (where Shelly's from)

Moscow has been good as well. My roommates and I get along great and it has been a joy getting to know them throughout the semester. It is like living with sisters for sure. We have learned to "agree to disagree" on a lot of things. I am so glad I have them though. Always someone I can come home and talk to after a long day at school. They are so funny and keep me entertained (that is, when I'm not entertaining them with my song and dance skills).

Got my roomies in some BSU gear!

Brenda is an architecture student and stays super busy with school. Shelly is a UI cheerleader and keeps busy with school and practices, etc. (yes...a bsu athlete and a ui cheerleader living in the same house!! i've managed to get both the roomies into bronco gear). We don't spend a lot of time at the apartment...but when we do, it's a good time. I look forward to another semester with them. We are also getting one more roommate for the remainder of the year. Looking forward to getting to know her as well.

Shelly snapped a pic of me studying at home. This used to be a usual occurrence...then I got bored of studying...so I don't. Usually spend my whole day at school studying and don't do a single thing once I get home.

As for school....it's a lot of work. The nerd inside of me absolutely loves it, but the rest of me gets tired of reading, studying, preparing for class, etc. I think I underestimated the amount of work law school would really be. I thought the content would be harder, but the work would be less. I'm surprised that the stuff I'm learning isn't hard...but staying on top of the work is. I survived my first semester of finals (well...hopefully). We get our grades back mid-january. Soooo lame. We stress for finals, then forget about it, then have to stress all over again when grades come out. I felt alright about 3 of my 4 exams, but not so great about 1. The finals were intense. 4 hours long and they are the ONLY grade we get for the semester. Ahhh! Property is the only exam that i'm legitimately worried about. It was one of those exams where you stare at the questions and the facts for so long, just hoping that something will come to you. I think I ended up doing fine, but I don't feel confident about it at all. I guess we'll see.

It's been an excellent year and I'm excited for 2011. I can't believe I keep getting older and older. Going on the big 2-4 pretty soon. Probably should think about being more mature and adult. I'll get on that. Next year.