The one with...the stress ulcer.

I am aware that this poor blog has been neglected for some time. We have so much to catch up on! Corn madness, post-Corn madness, November days, etc! No worries though, now that it is break time, updates will probably be more frequent because I'll be bored out of my mind. On that note, why is is December?

December? DECEMBER! Oh my GAH, how are we already at December? My mind is blown by the fact that I have one more semester of college left...like, FOREVER (until I decide to go to grad school). Wow. I bounce back a lot from feeling elated and ready to go to New York to feeling defiant about graduating and being all, "I'm not doing it. Nope. What's a class I can fail? Okay, I'm failing it. The end."

It has finally happened, folks. The little "Kiran-isms," i.e. the amount of stress that I let affect me in my daily life has landed me into the Land of the Medical, i.e. Rex Hospital, where I am awaiting to be "officially" diagnosed with either stress ulcers or gastroentritis, meaning my stomach is inflamed. Isn't that gross? Ew. My doctor, sweet Dr. Beck, was very calm as she told me that for the next five or six weeks I was to have no more of the following: caffeine, alcohol, processed foods, fruit with high acidity (bye, bye, beloved kiwi. Oh, how I'll miss you), or CHOCOLATE. That's right, y'all. CHOCOLATE. The alcohol thing? I can do without. The caffeine? Really, the only thing I really drink is coffee, and I mean, I can take a break. But it is Christmastime, and this is the time of the year when chocolate things are at its best: peanut butter cookies with Hershey kisses in the middle, homemade chocolate toffee, chocolate-oreo "mush" desserts with gummy bears and crumbled chocolate bits on top, sugar cookies with Santa's distorted face on them, CARAMEL CHEWS...I mean, really, why didn't she just hand me a noose and tell me to go at it?

However: cleaning out my needing-to-be-cleaned diet (i.e. not drinking copious amounts of slightly burned coffee everyday, along with my penchant for going to Which Wich/Whole Foods when the "time's is tough" on the academic front), and sipping on decaf tea and Trader Joe hummus and bread (thanks, daddio), I feel a lot better. Well, you would feel better too once the stabs in your stomach settled. But I feel like my body is building its strength back so I can muck it up with more late-night Cookout next semester (I kid, I kid). I've been sleeping a lot, reading things that aren't academically inclined (I banish you, Theatre History, to the bottom of my bed until next semester), and honestly, hanging out with my family. I am not even kidding when I say that my dad is ecstatic to have me back around the homefront. He misses my sister and I, I think, and so when one of us is ailing, he jumps at the chance to take care of us. Gone is the twenty-two year old form that is me currently, and in its place is the gap-toothed six-year-old me with a slight mullet haircut (thanks to him, of course. Dad thought it would be "economical" to try and cut my hair then...needless to say, he stopped and shelled out the dough to the professionals), always wanting to hold his hand. It's been nice to just do things with him like take our new collie puppy Chloe out for walks, go to Trader Joe's, and watch movies together (since I'm in theatre, I tell him a lot about what we learn in class, so he's picked up the lingo too...we were watching Law & Order, and all he could talk about was the "believability" and "character choices" of Detective Stabler). Aaand I'm not going to lie, my inner six-year-old is secretly glad to spend some quality time with her fisherman-hat-wearing-socks-and-sandals-sporting father.

Since I have been on my meds, I have been able to drive on my own and do things. Over this past week, we at Meredith said, "Congratulations and see you later!" to two very special grads:



The always-fabulous Jenn, who is heading back up to Maine to be at home for awhile and then scooching on over to NEW YOOOOORK (where I will be joining her next year!) to pave her classy name in the acting business.

And then we have...



This hoss over here, Sheryl. While this picture captures her "gangsta" mode, this HILARIOUS and beautiful gal will be hanging around Raleightown to showcase her many acting talents and then hopefully head over to Chicago and land herself a lead on SNL...because yes, people, she is that talented.

I can't even put into words how much these two mean to me or have impacted my stay at Meredith. All I can say is that I love them deeply, believe in them SO MUCH, and cannot wait to see what they do.

I cannot wait to see what this break brings. Hopefully a lot of hip hop classes, writing, catching up with my friends, and seeing my wonderfully insane family? This makes for a vacation where a lot of funny shit will go down...and I cannot wait to be there in the midst of it. Happy, happy December, sweet friends! I can't wait to see you all...and SOON!