Ryan Edwards: My All Time Most Popular Post

It's pretty sad. 

My all time most popular post, meaning the one that the most people have read... 

is not because anyone cares about my blog or what I write.

It's because people search: Ryan Edwards, 16 and Pregnant.

My blog pops up 5th on the google search. Lovely.

I wrote that post last December, almost a year ago, and people are still reading it.

I had no idea that it would be any different from any other post.

I just thought I was writing about a guy from high school who is on that show.

Little did I know how popular he would get. 

Little did I know that people would be reading my blog because I know him.

Little did I know that I would see his face on the front cover of a magazine in Dollar General.

What?!

Anyways, I just thought it was funny that my most popular post is about Ryan Edwards, that guy from high school who wasn't even one of my friends.

I have always hoped that he hasn't searched his name on google and found my writing about him. That would be pretty embarrassing. But let's be real here. Being famous and all, he has probably googled his name to see what all people say about him. He has probably read all about what I thought about him in high school. If you have read the post, you'd see why it would be awkward.

That's my luck. 

(My luck is always for something embarrassing to happen.)

I just read the first paragraph of the post and was too embarrassed to keep reading, knowing that he has probably read it. 

Click here if you would like to read it. 

(And maybe the post will become even more popular. Woo Whoo!)

My First Ride in a Police Car

As of 2:08 pm today, I have one chubby thumb.

I was late to class because I thought it started at 2:40 for I don't know what reason, but I realized at 1:54 that class started at 2:10. I rushed to campus, found an excellent parking spot and began the trek to class. Sweaty, tired, and very oblivious, I crossed an intersection as soon as the walk light turned white.

It was all a blur, but I felt a bug on my thumb (random place) and I brushed it away. OUCH!!! There was a stinger in my hand. A very large one. Mind you, I was in the middle of a big intersection and had to keep walking. My eyes welled up with tears as soon as I got to the other side of the road and was not able to get the stinger out as it was still stinging me.

Right then, I looked up to see two policemen who were pulling someone over. By this time I was definitely crying, standing still on the sidewalk, and I couldn't get the dang stinger out of my thumb with just one hand. I didn't know anyone around and they all looked pretty busy because class was starting in 2 minutes.  The policeman asked me if I was okay. I must have looked pretty desperate. Crying, standing still, alone, in the middle of classes changing.

Pictures on the UTPD website. They are intense. The ones I saw were actually in a car though!

This is embarrassing, but I was practically bawling and told him about the stinger and asked if he could try to get it out. Without replying to me, he immediately told the other policeman to abort the citation and that they had to get me to the clinic. ....What?!? He didn't even try to get the stinger out himself. (That guy getting the ticket lucked out!)

He went and opened the back door to the POLICE CAR and told me to get in. In front of all of the people on the sidewalk, I put my backpack in the backseat and got in. He told the other policeman to hurry with his business, opened the window between the front and back so that I could get some air conditioner back there. He kind of fanned me as he explained that he knew I was probably hot. By the way, did you know that police cars have hard plastic seats and absolutely no leg room? I told him I was sorry for being a baby and that he really didn't have to do this, but he insisted that it looked like it hurt. I did have a stinger sticking in my thumb, so I guess it did look painful.

So anyways, he turns the lights on and does a little whoop whoop siren sound as he pulls a U-turn in the middle of traffic on across a 5 lane road. I was looking forward as I hoped that no one I knew would see me in the back of the car. He wasn't being discrete about it either. Lights, sirens, the whole 9 yards!

We talked about their job and about their busy week and the nice policeman told me about how he would much rather help me out than give someone a citation. Anyways, we arrived in front of the health clinic, he got out and opened my door. At first I thought he was being polite, and then I realized that I didn't even have a door handle inside that cage. If my thumb hadn't been in so much pain, I probably would have been claustrophobic.

Anyways, Geo came to the clinic and picked me up soon after and drove me to class. So sweet! I got to class 20 minutes late. The whole ordeal from getting my thumb stung in an intersection to the police car ride to walking back into class only took 22 minutes!  I went to class and learned that I had missed a quiz. I told the professor what had happened and he was nice enough to not count it against me.

I forgot to put ice or tobacco or whatever you do to stings to take the sting out. So, my thumb is currently 105 degrees, red, and swollen.

Moral to the story, be on the lookout for bees/wasps/hornets/whatever it was, in intersections on busy roads in the city. And be sure to cover up your thumbs! And if you don't want a ride in a police car, never ask a policeman for medical help. They clearly have no idea what to do.


On a more positive note, I got my hair cut today and it's nothing dramatic. So thankful!

Also, I never wrote about the Haiti trip. It was great and very rough. More to come later hopefully! I hit the ground running when I got home and this has been the first week that I've been able to breathe.

Those Preconceived Notions of High School

Crazy story:

On MTV last night, a guy from my high school, Ryan, was on there! First off, he was on the 16 and Pregnant show. He was the father of this adorable baby, Bentley, I think his name was. Second off, it was a sweet story. He and Maci (I'm beginning to feel stalkerish that I know this story and am blogging about it) are getting married, so it showed them kind of thinking about the wedding, but Ryan has to go out of town to Kansas(maybe) for an entire month, so Maci is sad. And it made me sad too. There is a follow-up show coming next week I think maybe, because they left us hangin'.

But this brought back memories from high school.

Ryan, well he was that guy in high school. That guy, who was a year older than me, and that as a freshman and sophomore, I'm pretty sure I never uttered a word to his face. But, if I was lucky enough to see him that day, I always remembered what he was wearing, where I saw him, and who he was talking to.

He was absolutely beautiful, I remember that clearly. My memory is failing me, but I'm pretty sure he drove a huge, lifted truck. He played football. He was friends with the 'popular' people. Maybe he was the popular one. (I'll have to ask Merd to confirm those details because she remembers everything.)

I got myself together enough my junior year to talk to him, because somehow, I became a lot more confident, and I finally realized that it was more weird how I was completely silent around him than if I just said something stupid. I'm pretty sure he assumed I was mute before this.

But whenever something came out of my mouth, I remember it never being very profound.

To this day, I'm not sure if I could speak a normal word to him, especially nothing witty. Something would probably come out of my mouth like, "Hey I saw you on MTV. You didn't see that blog post I dedicated to you on December 9th, did you?"

And immediately thinking,"Oh dear, WHY did I say that."

I'm sure he would respond perplexed, "No, what are you talking about?"

And I'd quickly reply something along the lines of, "Oh, I don't know. What are you talking about?"

And then the awkward tension would come and I'd say, "Well it was so good to see you Edward. I mean, Ryan." Giggle. "Ryan Edwards. I always used to get confused as to which was your first and which was your last name, because they both seem like first names. But, I mean, I like your name. Just confusing. Dear goodness, I have a terrible memory. Okay, I better go now because... uhhh.... my arm is hurting from pushing this shopping cart."

Turn around and leave, chuckling to myself because I just made something normal be awkward, once again.

Then I would most definitely run into him again, pushing my shopping cart, which was "making my arm hurt". I would feel the need to either a.) explain that my arm suddenly got better through a miraculous miracle, or more likely, b.) make awkward/avoidance eye-contact with him as we are walking toward each other on the same aisle, realize it's going to be awkward, and immediately cause a small buggy jam on the toilet paper aisle as I try to turn my cart around and run into a shelf, causing some toilet paper to fall onto the ground and have stop to pick it up, my face now radiating red.

It's funny how high school insecurity was so prevalent in my life. Now, I would talk to anyone, hot or not, without a thought about it.

But I think that there was a preconceived notion that ruled my brain telling me that these other people were so cool. It caused me not to be myself for about a year and a half in high school. That preconceived notion was so hammered into my thoughts by my own self, that I would still not be able to act normal around him 4 years later.

But if I hadn't known him in high school, I would probably be able to have a complete conversation, and I might even be able to cause him to think that I'm almost normal. Maybe.

Anyways, I thought I'd share with you a few picture from high school. None of these include Ryan because I wasn't that cool, but this is me.

I'm on the far right above.

I'm in the pink.

And I'm over on the far right again.

So my conclusion is, why do we think that other people are too cool for us to talk to? This is completely ridiculous and I'm taking a stand against it. Facebook group, anyone?

Any ideas for the title of the group?

It's really bright out here.

In Charlotte at Mary Ann's we decided to take a picture on the last day. We hadn't seen the sun all weekend, and we thought a picture on the patio would be nice.

But surprise surprise, the sun peeks around as soon as we go out there!

Didn't realize how bright it was out here... Cute squinty eyes.

This isn't working out so well.

Ouch.

This isn't worth it... Let's go inside.

Finally... we got smart and moved to the sofa.

And we added Mol!

Missed you this weekend Mary Ann!

I'm a Vegetable.

I'm a Vegetable.

The past 30 hours:

Awaken at 9, off to class, straight to lunch, head to the library for 3 hours, then to finance office hours for 1.5 hours, bus ride back to the apartment at 5:30, hurry to turn in homework by 6, drive to Val's to study, actually study, bake cookies for Crompton and Devin, come home at 10:00, go to Sonic for caffeine, back to Val's till 11:30 without my sonic diet dr. pepper (it's still in my room), back to the apartment to study until 2am, sleep 4 hours, wake up at 6am, 2 cups of coffee, study for a test at 8am, another 9am class, lunch at 10:30 with Mol, tutor a girl in finance, class until 1:10 and HOME by 1:30.

So my point? I've been lying in bed for over an hour and haven't slept. I drank too much coffee. I can't do anything really-- no homework, don't want to get out of bed, can't form a complete sentence out loud; I'm just a vegetable, jacked up on caffeine. It's a lovely feeling, really.

I have my small group at 5:00 and then my other small group at 7:00, and then The Cross and 9:00 but I'm thinking I'm going to be a vegetable by then, not jacked up on caffeine anymore, so The Cross may not happen this lovely rainy Wednesday evening.

By The Way: I thought that I knew a guy on the bus today, a guy who I met last night at Devin and Crompton's apartment. So I see him on the bus as I'm walking on, about to slide my bus card, and I cut my eyes over, gave him a cheesy smile and raised my eyebrows, like I knew him or something and was about to go talk to him (although it was a weird thing to do, no matter if I knew him or not), but keep in mind, this is at 1:10 after this long day. So, no reaction from dude. I proceed to get my card out after dropping all my wet stuff in the bus doorway, and then look at him again failing to give up on the first time he obviously didn't recognize me, and this time I squint my eyes, smirk, sit in front of him, then take a deep breath like I'm about to say something, but then I finally recognize the look of complete confusion and shock on the guy's face. Then I just turn around, and sit there in front of him for the rest of the 15 minute bus ride, never looking back, and ignoring him get off.

Why do I do these things? Why, oh why, do I make eyes at complete strangers on buses when I have to sit there with them (it's worse than an elevator)? I can almost guarantee you that I will see dude again this week. And he will definitely not forget that little wordless encounter.

I can already picture it, tomorrow:
7:30am: Mel enters bus.
7:31am: Mel just sees a seat and sits in it, not really noticing the bus buddy in the seat directly next to it.
7:31:30: Mel hits the bus buddy with her back pack. Oh wait, when she turns to apologize, she realizes, is that him? She doesn't apologize.
7:32am: Mel is feeling awkward, next to him. Her mind leaves her; she can't think of a single thing to say. She thinks that he thinks that she meant to sit there next to him. Obviously, he thinks she is a total creeper, first the eyes, then the next day sitting right next to him.
7:33am: Mel decides to try to talk to him. But all she gets out, because she thinks back to this post, she says, "Hey, I'm a vegetable!... [awkward pause] .... I mean, I'm Melissa."

Yes, this will happen tomorrow.