I have a problem with college right now. I’m not spending enough time studying. I plan on making myself print out a schedule every week and abide by that, more or less. I’ll include time for working out, studying, doing homework, looking over class notes eating, sleeping, showering, EVERYTHING. My mom is understanding, that being so far away from home, and a bunch of other stress is on me. I dropped my Intro to Music class this past tuesday, 17 hours was just too much for me.
My dad is stressing me out like crazy. He will call and ask me questions. Which would be fine, but my mom knows the answers to most of the questions. I talk to my mom and then my dad will call and be unaware I even talked to my mom. This happens ALL TH E TIME. When my married parents don’t communicate and I have to have a 30 minute [on average] conversation with each of them EVERY DAY, it gets a little stressful. That and the fact that my dad will call, ask me a million questions, and if I can’t answer them IMMEDIATELY, he gets super aggravated and starts yelling at me. He also pushes my buttons and knows how to get me mad. Although you would think he really doesn’t want to get me mad, my friends and my boyfriend can attest that he literally calls me and starts arguments. UGH! I need something to help me relax!!

I wrote this for university studies class on September 3rd, 2009.

My classes are overwhelming me. I have seventeen hours worth of classes and for each class, we’re supposed to do 2 hours of studying for every one hour we are in class. That blows my mind. That means that, on average, I should be spending thirty four hours a week simply studying. Wow. I can’t handle that, nor could I concentrate that long. I’ve been sick the past week and I still am not feeling too hot. As I typed this I just coughed and smelt that nasty phlegm smell. Gross!!
So far, I’ve had difficulty keeping up with all my work and managing my time in the right ways. I really need something like the weekly planner, but to print one out every week and write everything down. That’d be awesome if I did it. I’m also having a lot of trouble with math, but my boyfriend Alex is helping me with it because he is great at math. I actually seem to understand it better when he explains it compared to the grad student who teaches the class.
My top five priorities:
1. Manage time better.
2. Study more. Don’t fall behind on work.
3. Go to class, even if you feel sick from now on.
4. Have time for me. Contact the softball coach, and work out at least 2-3 times a week.
5. Call Mom, Dad, Seth, Anna and Grandma at least twice a week.

I wrote this for university studies class on September 3rd, 2009.

I knew high school ending and college starting was going to be different. High school was difficult, but I could coast through some parts. Senior year was by far the easiest grade in school, a joke even. The first couple of months are difficult, don’t get me wrong. Finishing up SATs, filling out and mailing college applications, filling out FAFSA forms.. all that stuff is pretty difficult at times. It gets very stressful. I am very bad about procrastinating, so putting off some forms were easy for me. It got to the point where my mom wouldn’t let me go out of my room, let alone the house, until I had all my forms done. As you can imagine, at that point, I hurried my little booty to get all those forms done. I can’t be hindered for being social. I love socializing!
After all those forms were done, not only was I allowed to go back out with friends, but I had a huge wright lifted off my shoulders. I now had done everything I could to enable myself to get into college.
Coming here was a huge deal, but I was definitely ready for it. Once school started, I realized here we have a ton of more work to do. I also realize that professors won’t get on our butts about things like teachers in high school do.
Some resources I will utilize in college is the writing center. I am bad at writing papers and I definitely could use help. My boyfriend can also help me, and he has helped me already write a paper, because my weakness is introductions and conclusions.
Another thing I will definitely utilize is tutors. I will shortly need a tutor in math and I’m glad they are free here.

My friend Dave linked this article to me in a tweet. I clicked on the article, and began to fill out the survey to sign up to possibly be picked to test out the Palm Pre.

Long story short, it asked me about a typical day in my life. While there are always things that make my days not typical, here was my answer:

I am a senior in high school. I wake up in the morning. My phone has 3 alarms set jst incase the alarm on my night table doesn’t work. But I usually can’t use the alarm on my phone because if the volume is on, then if I get a text or call while I’m sleeping, I’ll wake up. So, I usually have 3 missed alerts from alarms. I close those missed alerts and check my phone for texts and voicemails. I usually have a few texts waiting, some of which the conversations were from the night before. I then have to go into my outbox and check to see what I sent last. To remind myself what we were talking about in the conversation. Next, I get ready and go to school. I’m a senior in high school. During school I check twitter constantly. I follow over 400 people, thus I choose to only get direct messages as texts, not people’s regular updates. Therefore, I use the twitter mobile site [m.twitter.com]. It’d be really handy if my phone had different apps we could add on, like my mom has an iPhone and I use Tweetie on her iPhone. I absolutely love that. But my current phone is the Samsung UpStage. While at first I loved it, after it got stepped on in a concert, I’ve had to get constant refurbished ones [Sprint won't give me a brand new phone] every 3 months or so. Right now, my phone’s battery sucks. I’ve had to keep my laptop running all day and allow a twitter app I use on my laptop run all day to catch all the tweets I missed. When I get home from school, I catch up on twitter. That usually takes a good 15-20 minutes. I hate that though, because twitter is all about the now. And reading things hours later is not as interesting as reading it when it happens. I’d love to use the palm pre to keep in the now with my twitter friends. After that 20 minutes of twitter-reading, I eat a quick snack then return back to school. I have either a softball game or practice every day of the week [except Sundays]. Soon travel softball practice will start, which is every day of the week. I’m a big fan of baseball and softball. I played baseball with all boys until 6th grade. Then I made the switch to fastpitch softball. Now, I play [fastpitch] softball all year ’round — travel and school teams.

Soon, I’ll be going off to college. I am really looking forward to it. However, the months before that, I am in desperate need of a new phone. I hate being unable to get in contact [or anyone be able to get in contact with me] for hours on end! It’s incredibly frustrating!
After practice, I come home, eat dinner and shower or shower and eat dinner — depending on what time dinner is ready. After that, since I have no homework 99.9% of the time, I chill on my laptop, or go out with friends if it’s the weekend. Afterwords, I sleep and repeat.

That’s a typical day in my life right now.

I thought this might interest some of you. Could be wrong, though.

Day #26
3/20/09
10:17 PM

Dinner! Tonight was the our first performance of senior show. It was a hit!
Yesterday was dress rehearsal. It was the first day the techies [lighting & sound] showed up. Yeah, the night before the show. I know. Last night was an absolute mess — about 1/4 of the people didn’t know their lines. Lighting and sound literally had no idea when to do what. It was the first time looking at our script and their first time watching it. Oy vey!

Tonight, it really came together. Everyone did amazing. My skit was fun [= I'm definitely gonna put my skit on Viddler, although I don't know if I will put the whole show up.

Senior show makes fun of teachers, things that happened in school, and anything we want to basically. Most of the play mocks various teachers; making the majority of the play less funny if you do not/have not attended my school. Seniors write, direct, and produce the skits and videos presented. There are two preformances -- Friday and Saturday night.

After the show, a group of my friends took me to Red Mango. I've never had it before, but they all love it and so they took me. It was decent, nothing amazing, but it was good. Also great to hang out with my friends. [=

After Red Mango, I picked up Pizza on the way home. I was still hungry after Red Mango [I hadn't had time to eat dinner yet because I had softball practice, then I rushed home and showered and had to be back at school at 6/6:30 for the show]. Oh, practice was great. [=

So yah, I’m a bit tired, and this took forever to write, but I hope you all enjoyed it. I think I’m gonna start reposting these pictures/text on my WP blog too. [=
Alright, peace and love all! I’m looking forward to tomorrow night’s performance. [=

Day #25
3/19/09
5:21PM

Sometimes I get very frustrated with the people I care about most. We’ve all been there. I’ve learned that sometimes instead of always having something to say, sometimes the best way to deal with certain situations is to just be silent. To not say anything. I can think of four situations that I am currently going through right now where this method I’m exercising applies. That is why my mouth is covered in my picture. I don’t want to say something I will later regret I said. I try and not regret my past, but I know that sometimes I will say things in the “heat of the moment” and later be upset that I said those things. I want to be less hurtful to myself and others. I hope I can keep my mouth shut when I need to. So far I’ve been doing a good job.

Leah Noreman

3/5/09

Why Everyone Needs Vacations 

Ever had one of those days where you are just tired of everything, cranky and impatient? Feel like you need some time off, just time to yourself? Everyone has had those days. It’s quite normal. Even going through days like that, many people don’t take vacations.

Studies have shown people who go on vacations experience less stress. Being constantly on the go and not being able to just relax will wear a person out after a while. Some may think that staying at home is a vacation. Although this may be relaxing for some, getting out of your house and breaking from the normal routine will really help get the full effect of taking a vacation.

Vacation promotes creativity. Going on a good vacation will help you reconnect with your inner self. They helps you restart your body, physically, mentally, and emotionally.

People who take vacations and ever just time off to relax are much less likely to burn out compared to their coworkers who are constantly working without taking a break to relax. Being under-rested and overworked can really take a toll on a person mentally, physically and even emotionally. It all depends on the person. Also, vacations allow you to revamp your body, mind and soul. Some need it more than others, but everyone does need vacations. Taking regular breaks in your work schedule will decrease the amount of stress you experience. And the more stress, the less healthy you become. Stress affects each person differently, some can handle more than others, but eventually it gets the best of everyone.

While some people choose to vacation alone, most people take vacations with loved ones such as family or friends. Breaking your everyday schedule not only with strengthen your inner self, but it also strengthens your relationship with the people you go with. Living with someone everyday can be a challenge. If you take a vacation, you can rekindle your relationships. Enjoy the carefree, fun times you are spending with the people you are on vacation with.

Vacations are all about being in an environment that we’re not normally in. By being in a different kind of environment, we allow our minds to refresh and think in new ways. Also, being in a different environment challenges the brain. We don’t realize, but subconsciously our brains are reacting to the new environment and learning different and new things.

It’s similar to having a cell phone, if you keep it on all the time, even at night when you’re just charging it and not using it, it still needs a break. So, every once in a while, it will probably just turn off of freeze without you doing much to it to trigger the phone to do so. Your brain is the same way, you need to be able to give your brain a restart so it can perform to it’s best abilities. That is what a vacation is all about.

My brother and I left school after staying late for our various meetings. He had eaten lunch during his lunch period [which is around 9AM] and I had not eaten lunch yet. It was currently 3PM.

Seth and I went straight to Subway to pick up a bite to eat [ugh! I love Subway =], then drove a few towns over to meet my dad and little sister Anna to work out [for softball/baseball].

Cause we came straight from school so we were in my dad’s red sports car [the one I drive to and from school every day].

Anyway, when Seth and I got home from workouts, I waited for Dad and Anna to arrive back home so I could hand dad the car keys [he previously got mad at me once before for having his keys and not putting them back: when I took his SUV keys to school by accident after having them the night before when I had to use his SUV to pick him up at the train station]. Anyway, I waited a while before getting in the shower so I could give him the keys straight away.
He didn’t come home for a while so I waited 45 minutes before getting into the shower.
10 minutes after I got in the shower he starts banging on the bathroom door;
yelling how I have to return the keys to HIS car to him [or back to where the keys go in the house] as soon as I get home. I get out of the shower and crack the bathroom door open and politely tell him that his keys are on my lanyard key chain in my bag, which is on the kitchen table. Then I close the door and hop back in he shower.

He just returned home about a half hour ago. He literally walks in the door and begins yelling at everyone in the house for various [and meaningless, unnecessary things]. This happens about 90% of the time he comes home.

This time, he decides to pick on Seth first. Next, me.

He was yelling that all his keys weren’t on his key chain
[which may i add he took off my key chain while i was in the shower]. Then he yelled more at me for putting his keys on my key chain.

I just thought to myself:

“Oh. I’m sorry. Let me not put your car keys on my keychain that way im way more likely to lose the keys or take forever to find them in my bag every time I need to get in the car.“

Honestly though, is it really necessary to come home an just start yelling and picking fights? You think I want to fight all the time? Nobody wants to be around someone who is always causing problems. It’s just like my Dad says [ironically enough]:

“Nobody wants to be around someone who is complaining and miserable all the time… Nobody wants to be around someone who just argues constantly.”

Really Dad? Really. Because I’m pretty sure that’s how you are. How’s that for irony?

Leah Noreman                                                              February 3^rd, 2009

          I wasn’t a particularly negative kid, although I wasn’t always that positive either. I was somewhere in between, in the medium of the two. But in eighth grade, things got a little complicated. The last week of August, right before eighth grade started, Mom was incredibly sick: vomiting, diarrhea, migraines, you name it. Finally, the day before Labor Day, we took mom to the ER. I remember driving to the hospital, Dad driving and Mom in the passenger seat, hunched over her trash can she brought from her bathroom. For the past week, she had carried that thing around like a baby carries a blanket. I was in the seat behind my dad, watching my mom, cringing with both disgust and sympathy (I’m not very good with vomiting).

          We pulled up to the back of the Emergency Room. I remember me and my two siblings checking my mom in. After waiting with my mom in the waiting room for about an hour, my aunt came and picked up me, my brother and my sister, and took us to her house. I don’t remember what we did at Aunt Jill and Uncle Ron’s house really; I just remember we watched TV and ate dinner and played a bit of video games with my cousin Mike. My dad picked us up later that night, around 9 PM. I remember the car ride home was really silent and Dad’s face looked pretty pale and grim.

          Waking up the next morning was a little strange. At that point in time, Mom used to wake up in the mornings with us. It was the day before school started, and that meant we had to make sure we had all our school supplies ready to take in the next day for the first day of school. But, since mom was still in the hospital, in the morning dad just went to see her and told me to make breakfast for my brother, Seth and my sister, Anna. At the time, my brother was 10 years old and my sister was only 7 years old.

          For the next few days, while mom was still in the hospital getting tests done, dad put me in charge. He was almost always working or at the hospital with mom. For dinner, people from our church would bring us dinner many nights out of the week, or even order food to be delivered at our house. For the nights we didn’t get food, I’d cook for Seth and Anna.

          After a couple of days, tests showed mom had a brain tumor. The doctors at the hospital biopsied it and told my parents it was cancerous. That night Dad came home from the hospital and calmly told us what they had found out today and that tomorrow mom was going in for surgery to get the tumor removed.

Once the tumor was removed, my parents went to a many different doctors to find out what options Mom had for treatment of the cancer. The doctors here on Long Island wanted her to go straight to radiation. My parents wanted to find a doctor that didn’t want to jump straight to radiation because once you have radiation treatments, you can’t really have them later on in life if you need them again (because it’s so strong and poisonous to a person’s body). Mom received a referral for a doctor in New York City; my parents both really liked the doctor and her opinions of my mother’s case. She suggested chemotherapy, which is not as strong as radiation, but strong nonetheless.

Months passed by, and mom was part of a clinical trial where she took chemotherapy orally through a pill. Months after months of taking chemo on and off, she is still on it today. It amazes me how positive she’s been through her whole illness. Sure, there’s been time where I see her break down a bit; but hey, that’s humanity, right? She always keeps her head high and focuses on the positive things. In September my Mom got a call from one of her many doctors, and they told her that she most likely will never be off chemo completely. I was in the car when she got the call. She was visibly shaken, upset and afraid. I saw the hope quickly drain from her eyes. That’s heavy news – being on chemo the rest of your life. Through sporting events, birthday parties, weddings, concerts… that’s difficult to fathom.

That night, I heard her and dad discussing the news as I fell asleep. They realized how good the news was. It’s hard to be on chemotherapy – it’s a stress on your emotions and your body. Mom’s been on it on and off for four years already and she’s doing phenomenally; doing the things she normally did before she got sick, and more. The doctor said that if she completely stopped chemo now it’s a strong possibility that down the road her cancer came back. And if her cancer returned, and she started back on chemo, there’s a good possibility that her body would have built immunity to it and wouldn’t respond to the treatments. However, if mom did stay on the chemo, it should prevent the cancer from returning.

I still am amazed how positive my parents have been through the whole ordeal. It’s insane how wrong things can go, but how happy people still can be. I used to be negative the majority of the time.

I think what has caused me to be a lot more positive are two main things. One is how strong and healthy [despite the cancer] my mom has been. She has been so strong through the whole ordeal. Most people don’t know she has cancer or is on chemo unless we mention it to them. My mom does all the stuff she did before she was sick, and more. She’s stayed so positive through it all. Once in a while she gets down, but quickly recovers and becomes very positive again.

The fact that she remains so positive encourages me to be the same. I don’t think I’d have as great of an outlook on life if my mom wasn’t going through what she is going through. If she can be so positive and so strong, then I can definitely get through normal endeavors and keep my head high.