there are things that i have come to realize are happening more frequently due to living with [four] girls.

1) i'm happier - although i don't like to admit it, it is good to be back in the arms of estrogen, and not only that but girls that i like to be around.

2) the lonely feeling has gone away - if i get bored or need a break from the silence i've fallen victim to because of this semester's designated evening study times, i walk two rooms over to greta's, or up the flight of stairs to find refuge in one of the other's, or across from my own room to the kitchen for a cup of water.

3) speaking of water - i'm drinking more of it. and with a straw. a good habit to develop and apparently easy to harvest when you're constantly around people who do.

4) speaking of drinking - i'm drinking more alcohol and have fun doing it. this, i assume, is because a) i've become a new woman since august 17, b) i'm living with four other attractive ladies who like to drink with me, and c) it's football season. obviously.

5) i don't get sick of my wardrobe as often as i used to.

6) i eat healthier, although i still eat tuna and drink coffee at the most inappropriate times.

7) horrible but true: i gossip more. is this really what girls are supposed to do? i know we like to talk and shed our emotions in a depth that men don't undestand, but wow - it's like i never knew what it was like to be a woman before eating dinner in my new kitchen.

8) i don't feel dirty walking around my own house barefoot, and....

9) i don't have to get in my car to go hang out with my friends. this should really be number one, but i have come to realize that living by myself with complete strangers has taught me a few things. i've discovered a couple new appreciations for life - which seems to double as the semester count heightens - and i honestly believe that i never would have come to those moments in my life had i not managed to live that way for the time that i did. moving in with complete strangers has it perks, and it definitely taught me a thing or two. one lesson it did not teach me, although often preached through brief embarrassment, was that walking around in your underwear when you think everyone is asleep or no one is home is wrongful thinking and, once a bold move, is no longer sensational.

so all in all, and without saying too much, i'm putting a vote in for this year to be the best. it's the primaries anyway, right?