February 23, 2013

Dear Friend,

So if you saw my last post, you will see that I was not coherent at all and that was at 11 this morning. I was not coherent enough to even post what I did at 11 when I got back to my room at 7:30 this morning. I started becoming incoherent around 3 this morning. So even though I am exhausted and sore, Relay for Life was amazing. We made over $14,000 for the American Cancer Society. While we didn’t make as much as last year, but you know what? We made money to help the fight against cancer so that is good in my book.

Relay was INSANE!!!!! I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off. I got down to the Rec Center around 2:30 and started setting up right away. Then I didn’t really stop going until I got back at 7:30 and at that point I had been up for 24 hours with only a few hours of sleep the night before. But it was worth it. There were problems with the performers and trying to stay on schedule and drama with some of the performers, but all of them sounded fantastic! It was stressful and tiring and wonderful. All the people who were there said they had a fantastic time and even though we only made it halfway to our goal, we still helped.

We were actually on TV too! The local news channel was there and they filmed people walking and did an interview with my Event Chair and I. So I was on TV! Talking about why I Relay and why this event is such a huge deal.

It is such an amazing feeling to do something like this and actually make a difference. I mean who can say that they made a difference in the life of someone who needs it. Granted a lot of people, but still, you know what I mean.

So now I am exhausted, but I feel good. All I have done today is sleep, try to eat, and watch movies. I started not feeling well around 6:30. We were cleaning up and I just started feeling like shit. I was tired, I had been eating crap all night, and I was stressed so my stomach just started yelling at me and is still yelling at me. I haven’t been able to eat much all day, but I am trying.

So in closing, I will just add that Nate asked me to answer some questions that he was asked and I thought I would make that its own blog post so probably tomorrow, my post will be me answering those questions. For now, goodnight

Love Always,

Rachael

February 21, 2013

Dear Friend,

RELAY FOR LIFE IS TOMORROW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So I am officially freaking out. But, I think I have all the sound issues solved and all the performers have told me they are good with the time they are playing at except one, but that is one whole group of students so its all good, but I think we are all set. I talked to the sound guy today and he is all excited and he is super nice so that is good. And I am starting to get excited!!!

The sad part about all of this is the lack of support I am getting from my friends. Now I am friends with a lot of peeps in theater and music here at school so I always make a point to go to their concerts and plays if they are in them or have done something for them. I like to show them I support them and what they did. I mean they put a lot of work into this and I want to show them that I care about that. And I have put in so much time and energy to Relay for Life this year. I mean I have spent all my free time doing things for Relay. And only some of my friends are going. Some people I mention it too just shrug and say they aren’t going, some say its too much money (registration was $10 until 2 weeks ago, now it is $20) when all the money they spend goes right to the American Cancer Society and that money goes to the many programs the ACS has that supports the fighters and to the many labs they fund who are looking for a cure for cancer. So what I really want to know is why my friends can’t spare any time on their Friday night (when they have no other plans) or a couple of bucks to not only support me and see where all my hard work has gone, but also to support a fantastic cause. I mean seriously?! I have poured my heart into this night because I care about this cause and you can’t spend any time or money on it?!

I should probably tell you why I am so gung ho about this charity. Cancer affects everyone. You cannot tell me you do not know anyone who has/had cancer. I bet you everyone knows, at least distantly, someone who has been affected by this horrible disease. So my link to cancer is a long list of many people. I have the survivors: both of my grandmothers, my Aunt Joyce (all three survived Breast Cancer), a few family friends by the names of Aunt Rie and Grandma Nancy, and a little boy from my old church, Simon. I also have the ones I’ve lost: my aunt Sandy and her husband. So for me cancer is a disease I want to see gone. Even though I have never lost anyone close to me due to cancer, it has still been an ever present reminder that someone could die from it (Aunt Rie is just in remission). Even with the survivors, there is a chance that the cancer could come back. So I want to try and make it so that doesn’t happen. Back home we do a fundraiser called “Goin Bald for Bucks” and all the money raised goes to a cancer hospital in the city. I shaved my head twice for that fundraiser (my mom did it with me the second time see photo) 

So yeah. Any charity that has to do with cancer is a big deal to me. I am there trying to make it so we live in a world without cancer because it sucks.

Oh and back to the fact that none of my friends will come to Relay, our generation has become complacent. No one is willing to rebel and stand up for what they think. Well a few do, but not that many. What happened to the days of protesting the Vietnam War? Where did those people go? Why are we not out in the streets protesting the war and unemployment and all the shitty things in this world?! We have become fine with our lives, but our lives aren’t perfect so why are we just accepting it?!

Okay my rant is over. Now I am going to sleep.

Oh and I will not be able to post tomorrow night because I will be at Relay so I think what I will do is post after Relay is over (at like 6 am) and that will be my post for the 22nd and then I will post Saturday evening for my post on the 23rd.

Love Always,

Rachael

January 26, 2013

Dear Friend,

I still feel quite crappy, but I am living! Today was an okay day, but I am kind of exhausted.

Today we had a little summit thing for Relay for Life. It was a lot of fun and we learned a lot and got a bunch of ideas and I have to much work to do because Relay is in 3 weeks!!!! [COMMENCE GIANT FREAK OUT AND PANIC ATTACK!!!!!] But seriously I am kind of freaking out because we have less than 50 people signed up for it and we don’t have much planned. But we shall get it done!!!! And Relay is going to be fantastic this year! It has to be. I am seriously really excited about it.

Now I don’t know if ya’ll know about Relay so I am going to tell you about it. Now the American Cancer Society is a non-profit organization that raises money for cancer research and other programs for cancer patients. So the Relay for Life is this awesome fundraiser where a bunch of people get together and party as we raise funds for an awareness of cancer prevention. There are different teams and fun stuff to do. So for ours we have many fun activities to do throughout the night, live music, food, fun and awesome-ness. And it is a lot of fun. Now I can share why I Relay. Both of my grandmothers have had breast cancer and survived, my aunt and uncle both died from leukemia, and a family friend is fighting leukemia right now. Although all of those cases were when I was younger, it has still affected me and I never want to hear another person be told that they have cancer. If you know anyone, or you yourself have had cancer I hope you can understand what I mean here. I want to do anything I can to try and make a difference in the lives of people. So I just put on an awesome Relay for Life and help raise money to find a cure.

So we got a lot of good ideas and tomorrow is going to be a huge working day for me so I can get my reading done for the week (or at least Monday and Tuesday) and emailing lots of people and writing letters and sending messages and all that fun stuff. So hopefully I can be productive and get it all done. I gots this!!! 🙂

So after the summit thing I watched the movie Prom (such a bad movie) and now I am submitting my roommate Twiggy to the Lizzie Bennet Diaries. It is so wonderful to watch her reactions to different things. It is quite fun!

Now if only I could stop sneezing…

Love Always,

Rachael

October 28, 2012

Dear Friend,

Today was another boring day filled with me not doing my homework when I should have…I’m going to regret that later. Oh well what can ya do?

So I attempted some homework assignments and got a lil bit done, but not as much as I was hoping to get done. Although, the night is still young! I still have time to play catch up/get ahead with my assignments as I near the end of semester craziness. So instead of boring you with the details of my nonhomeworkness from this afternoon, I shall bore you with the details of my CAC meeting!

So if you don’t know CAC is Colleges Against Cancer. I am sort of not really an officer of this club meaning I am in training to be the President/Chair of our Relay for Life. If you don’t know what the Relay for Life is that is despicable. It is a wonderful fundraiser for the American Cancer Society. Basically at the college level, we have an all night party with food, music, and games and we raise money for a wonderful cause: The fight against cancer. So anyways we had a meeting today in which we just talked about our Relay Kick-Off and the shirts we are buying to sell for the ACS. And it was a lot of fun and we decided that the shirts are going to say “The one-night stand you will never forget.” Its funny and sarcastic and has a sexual innuendo which is always great for college students. 🙂 So it was a pretty productive meeting, which is good because it is something that means a lot to me and I really want to make a difference.

Since I mentioned how much the ACS and Relay for Life means to me, I might as well tell you why. It is because both of my grandmothers have been diagnosed with and survived Breast Cancer. Those are the biggies, but I know plenty of people who have suffered, but survived, and sadly I also know a few people who have died from this horrible disease that no one should suffer from. So if you are reading this, and you know someone who has suffered from cancer, then please go out and find a Relay near you or help out with something else, even if its giving your time to drive people to and from chemo appointments. Just help somehow, every little thing can make a difference.

So I think I will leave it at that. And with the website to the American Cancer Society

Love always,

Rachael

Addendum:

I hate my suitemates. Okay so that is an exaggeration, but still. I have these times where I NEED to be left alone. I NEED the solitude and the screamingly loud music that I listen to, to drown out my life. So I am on my bed just minding my own business and I haven’t closed my door yet but I’m feeling the need to section myself off from my suitemates, so I finally get up to close my door and I start feeling better because I can’t hear or see anyone and its wonderful. I can think and not focus on anyone else. Its nice. Then my roommate comes in to the room to grab something and I’m like okay whatever no biggie, but then when she leaves, she leaves the FUCKING DOOR OPEN! I mean is it really that hard to close the door if it was fucking closed when you walked into the room?! And this isn’t the first time she has done this either, its like I have the door open for a certain reason and same goes for the closed door so FUCKING leave it the way you found it. IT REALLY ISN’T THAT FUCKING DIFFICULT!!!!! So yeah I just had to get that out there.