Various nicknames acquired over the years.

After living for nearly 18.5 years, I've acquired several nicknames, be it through school, jobs, or just because my friends wanted to call me something other than plain old "Steigen" regardless of the fact that it isn't plain or old to begin with.

Here are the ones I can think of off the top of my head:

Ste (Bia)

Steigg (Jasmine)

Steiggy (Jessica, Meagan, Alex)

Stiego (Carowinds)

Steigenator (most common)

E Dong (Jes)

Sexy S**** (Jes, and no, the second isn't a cuss word)

Even Steigen (Neb)

Scuba Steig (Neb)

Steiglitz (Hugo Stiglitz from Inglorious Basterds)

Wrench Girl (Karen and Paige)

Steigasarus Rex (old Xbox Live gamertag)

Steigalicious (Neb)

Steigelz (Neb)

Steigelbear (Haleycakes)

The Steig (Top Gear)

Dr. Steigenheimer (inventor of the atomic bomb)

Stelgen (Riverside)

The names in parentheses are either the person who gave me the name or the reference to the name.

Another day at Red Bowl.

So, I was working a regular Friday morning lunch shift at Red Bowl yesterday, and an older couple, probably in their sixties, comes in to eat lunch. I sat them down at the booth that is located right behind the hostess stand. After doing so, I gave them their menus, and went back to my stand.

While I'm looking around the restaurant right after seating these people, I realize the woman unzipping her jacket. Okay, normal. NOT. As she starts zipping lower and lower, I realize this woman has nothing but a blue laced bra underneath her jacket.

I panic. Do I tell her that she doesn't have a shirt on? Does she REALIZE she doesn't have a shirt on? Does her husband notice? Has anyone else noticed? Did she purposely unzip her jacket well aware of the fact that she didn't have a shirt on DESPITE the fact that it is COMPLETELY inappropriate to dine in your undergarments?

Before I had time to clear my head of all of these thoughts, the woman, who has completely unzipped her jacket and is about to remove it, realizes the fact that she doesn't have a shirt on, and says to her prospective husband "Oh, I forgot that I don't have a shirt on underneath my jacket. That's embarrassing. I hope no one else saw that" in the calmest, most unphased voice ever. She zipped her jacket back up to the top, and went on her merry way.

Thank God I didn't have to tell her. Remember when you don't have shirts on under your jackets, kids, to avoid disasters like this.

I am so lucky.

I am so thankful for my roommate, Jes.

Not only do we have an amazing story of how we met and became roommates, but because of how everything has played out, there's no way that it couldn't have been fate that brought us together.

Long story short, we both lived in Brazil and went to the same school, simply at different times. I went to this school during my 7th and 8th grade years, while Jes attended this school during her 11th grade year.

One day during my senior year I was just Facebook lurking (as usual) and I stumbled upon Jes' profile and realized that we had a lot of friends in common from Brazil, and that she lived in Lexington, so I decided to add her. Lucky for me, she accepted. Much later on, when it was getting closer to the end of my first semester of senior year, I was telling a mutual friend of ours, Maiane, about how I was going to USC for International Business and Chinese. Jes saw this and decided to message me, asking if I had a roommate yet and if I'd be interested.

Of course I said yes.

After that I found out that Jes was actually cousins with two people I had classes with when I lived in Brazil four years ago, and that we had a lot more in common than we thought.

Now we're roommates, and I couldn't be happier. Even though I plan on switching my major, Jes and I still constantly help each other out as much as we can on assignments. Good thing for us, I'm good at English, and she is good at math, so we are able to help each other in fields that the other isn't as strong in. Anytime something is bothering us, there is never the feeling of hostility or being unable to talk about our thoughts. If there's a problem, the only way to fix it is by talking it out. I can honestly say that she has become one of my best friends. She pushes me to do well because she wants to see me achieve everything I put my mind to to the best of my ability, and I couldn't thank her enough.

I hope that others are able to get as lucky as I did when receiving a roommate. This is for you, Jes. My roomie, my friend, my S*** M*** M*** ;]

What doesn't make sense?

You spend 13 years in free, public, elementary, middle, and high schools. You go to these schools five days a week for eight hours straight. You get a small half hour lunch break in the middle. You get a small two week vacation for Christmas, and a mere two months for Summer break.

You're basically put in school for 40 hours during the week, half of which isn't even spent productively. Then you receive a small break for all of the wasted time, then it's back to the ole' grind. And, again, this is all free.

What doesn't make sense, is when you go to college, you spend a minimum of $5,000 (depending on where you go, for me it's $10,000) a semester to go to school, spend probably a total of 2-4 hours actually spent IN CLASS a day, you get more than a mere half hour for a lunch break, you receive not only an entire MONTH for Christmas Break and THREE MONTHS for Summer break, but you also receive a four-day weekend called "Fall break" at some point in October/November.

Doesn't make sense. You spend more time in public school for free, while you spend less time in college for (insert amount here).

Currently listening to: Neunundneunzig Luftballons by Nena