1. I read this at 6:30am Monday morning and what a way to start a week! Derek Chan, a man who I so thoroughly respect and admire, wrote in his Xanga, "Emily: As far as I'm concerned, if there was a perfect girl when it comes to looks, personality, and intellectual capacity, it would be you. Your blog is never boring and I really learn a lot from your entries." Let's just say my heart melted.
2. Tuesday night's MUN barcrawl. MUN is a special organization to me, not for any reasons to do with its stated purpose, but rather because this club has become home to me over the past four years. I actually used to give out 280 Illini Union #36 1401 W. Green Street as my personal address and, even more importantly, many MUN members have become part of my very close Illini family. Indeed, most of my best friends are from MUN.
I remember back to freshman year when I went to the first meeting because Connie said there was free pizza and I had figured out that for the first two weeks of school there is no need to eat dorm dinners as there are all these clubs giving away free food. So, in my quest for dinner, I went. I'm not exactly sure how the rest of the story goes. I met some absolutely amazingly interesting people and convinced them that I was worthy of their company, all the time knowing that there was no way I was half as cool as they were. I felt like such a fraud trying to hang out with such worldly people, but they are also some of the most loving and accepting people I've ever met, so they took me in with open arms. I only hope that as I gained leadership in the club (again, by total fluke accident), that the newbies also felt the MUN love. I'd like to think that they did as we are as close a club as ever.
Anyhoot, leaving the MUN barcrawl Tuesday night was rather tough, and indeed a tear or two were shed, although infinitely more laughs were shared. I was saying goodbye to one of the greatest families a girl could ever know and I consider myself extremely lucky to have each and every one of them in my life. (By the way, I was quite serious about a MUN roadtrip next year!)
3. A certain man who knows me better than almost all wrote me a beautiful card as we said our official goodbyes on Wednesday. Of course, I've seen him a couple of times since Wednesday and I will most certainly see him several more times before I depart Champaign and we will very likely stay in touch, but still... the official goodbye was sad. Anyhoot, an excerpt from the card:
The little things I know about you: Your favorite ice cream is Edy’s Nestle Toll House Cookie Dough, but overall you’re a rich chocolate lover. You hate to sneeze and stifle it whenever possible. You can’t finish a whole can of regular Coke because it’s so sugary. You can’t sit through a whole two hour movie and the people sitting next to you hate you because you fidget so much in your chair. You get claustrophobic after 4 hours on a plane. You say Catcher in the Rye is your favorite book when you don’t really want to talk about literature, but really your favorite is Lafcadio: The Lion That Shot Back. You prefer to drink water out of bottles, no ice. You prefer Evian over all other brands of bottled water. You’d seriously consider majoring in aviation if you could do college all over again. You like to be a leader but you’d never want to run your own company. You claim to always love people over machines, but there are days when you’d much rather just surround yourself with a bunch of computers. You think big dogs are the best. You wish you still owned a convertible and make do on nice days by opening the windows and sunroof. You think CDs and DVDs are outdated technology and often wonder why people still use them. You like the Dave Clark Five better than the Beatles. You find Bill O’Reilly to be endlessly entertaining. You think a piano or violin can do wonders for any song. You wish you owned a baby grand piano, but you prefer to play in solitude. You cry every time you watch Rudy. You do certain things solely motivated by the fear of being boring. You like big paintings. You could be a vegetarian, but don’t really care to be. You’ll only eat pig, cow, chicken or fish, all other meats being a bit too exotic for your liking. You love thunderstorms, big snowflakes, and hard rains far more than you like sunshine. You would love an all-day movie marathon if you could find someone to keep you good company. You think the little romantic gestures are the best. You drink McDonald’s chocolate milkshakes when you’re homesick. You’re scared of semi-trucks and concrete road barriers. You read a crazy number of newspapers everyday online out of a fear of having nothing to say. You remember people’s eyes better than any other feature. You feel safer when you’re with a man whose hand can encase yours entirely. You glow for hours after a good run. You only cross your arms when you’re surveying an area or critically reading a document. You love for a beau to sing to you. You play with your earlobe when you’re tired. You think Killian’s Irish Red and cheese fries is the food of the gods. You only get hiccups when you’re really tired. You wish you got less email and more regular postal mail. You have no idea how to refold a map, but you’ll certainly try until you exasperate everyone else around you. You can listen to the same song for hours on end. You love brand new socks, but all your socks are plain white. You’re more likely to wake up to your cell phone than your alarm clock. You know one joke by heart and always preface it by saying that it’s terrible (and indeed it is), but you really think it’s funny. You love little kisses. You like limes better than lemons, but you can’t taste the difference between Sprite and 7-UP. Your favorite constellation is Cygnus, although you never know when he’ll be in the sky. You pay close attention to people’s body language but rarely that of your own. You like massages but you’re back is incredibly sensitive to touch. You always double knot your shoelaces. You think things taste better when eaten with a spoon. You remember people’s birthdays. You seriously worry about what would happen if there really was a tornado at 10am on the first Tuesday of a month. You remember more than you’ll ever admit. You think about things far more than you let on. You include chocolate as part of a balanced diet... I've learned this much about you in four years, and I only wish I had four more years."I'm still left speechless.
