The Juniors Breach MyQueens

     Registration. Possibly the most stressful parts of the College experience are the days when you wait until the clock strikes 12 and you race to get into your classes. The weeks leading up to this event are what I like to call the scheduling weeks. The only question you hear is, “Do you have your schedule figured out yet?!”

     Personally, registration, and school supply shopping are my favorite parts of school, but for others, registration can be a panic filled night that has the ability to end with horrible results.

     This is what my registration night looked like. Two of my four roommate and I were sitting in the living room, computers on our laps checking and rechecking our multiple schedule mockups. Mind you, we had hunkered down at about 10pm. The next step involved going through the different courses that we needed and figuring out which ones we should attack first. (We are all juniors, so the seniors had had first pick on the courses). Once we had planned our counterattack, all that was left to do was wait.

     The clock slowly ticked on and our anxiety began to grow. Facebook was filled with nervous students anticipating the second hands final stroke until midnight. And then it happened. Our Internet began to slow down! All three of us frantically clicked away to other websites trying desperately to make the registration page reload. By this time our countdown was nearly up and the race to the “apply course” button was about to begin. Finally, the page opened and the room became silent and still. The three of us focused on our computers and the fate that the small boxes we were clicking would have on our futures.

     At last, at about 12:15am, the siege of myqueens had ended. We were registered for our classes and sat back in our chairs reveling in our victory. Within seconds, our phones began to blow up with the one question on everyone’s mind, “Did you get your classes!?!”

     Regardless if you go to Queens or not, I am sure that the experience explained is very similar at your University. The stress, the panic and then the relief when it is all finished. If you have registered for the spring term already then I truly hope you got into all of the courses you had planned to, and if you are currently gearing up to register, then good luck to you. “Hoo-Rah!”

Until Next Time,

Jenna Buthman

Starbucks vs. Teavana

  I’ll admit it, I am a Starbucks addict. My love for coffee started at a young age, when riding to work with my day and stopping by Dunkin’ Donuts. To feel cool like him, I ordered a coffee with more sugar than water, and from then on, my addiction to beverage was born. I have always been a fan of Starbucks coffee. The price was always a little steep to me, but their lattés couldn’t be beat, and I would indulge myself maybe once or twice a month, tops. That is, until I met my boyfriend, Will. Will is a former Starbucks barista, where he worked in both Charlotte and Greenville during college. He opened my eyes to why Starbucks coffees are so much better than the rest, and my trips to the store really started to add up. 

A few months ago, when I realized that my bank account was dwindling, and the main reason for it was my obsession with skinny vanilla lattés, I knew I needed an intervention. A cheaper, alternative way to get my fix for a warm beverage, and one that maybe wasn’t always caffeinated. That way I could drink them in the evening, too. 

So, I tried my luck at Teavana, and fell in love all over again, and didn’t even feel guilty about cheating on my girlfriend, the green mermaid. What I love about tea is the fact that it is much more convenient. You can make it at home, rather than hitting up the coffee shop every morning. Also, the unique flavors and combinations are endless. So are the benefits and vitamins that come from every kind of tea. There are teas to give you energy and caffeine like coffee, but there are also teas to relax you and help you fall asleep. I am obsessed with the Lavender Dreams blend at Teavana. You can mix it with several different other favorites of mine. Such as their Citrus lavendar sage blend, or their Peachberry Jasmine Sutra and your tastebuds will be in heaven, and your mind at ease. For my mornings, when I crave caffeine, the Blackberry Mojito green tea is AMAZING. 

For my birthday, I was given a teapot that I had had my eye on at the store for a while. It is made of Yixing clay, and the clay seasons over time and enhances the flavors of your favorite tea. The Yixing teapot is in the shape of a dragon, which symbolizes power and strength. The tea spout is the dragon’s mouth, and I just love the design of it. 

As I continue to try different teas from Teavana and learn the health benefits of each, I find myself pulling further from Starbucks each day. Which is a good thing, both for my wellbeing and for my pocket. If you’I highly recommend giving it a try! Even my personal barista is starting to come over to the dark side. :) 

-Brittani Pedersen

Hot or Cold Weather?

     This can be a hard question for some people to answer. Would you rather have cold weather or hot weather? Both of them have their advantages and disadvantages.

For example, being in cold weather you can put clothes on like sweaters and jackets. You can also sit by a fire place and cuddle up with someone.  While being cold you can also lay up under a lot of covers. Supposedly it’s so much easier to breathe cold, crisp air than hot, heavy air. The main reason why I think people love cold weather is because of the snow. Snow has a major effect on people’s doings. For example everybody loves when it snows so they don’t have to go to class or work. However I feel like it’s harder to warm up if you were already cold.  I have taken many ice baths over my college career and it takes at least 5 hours before my body is warm again. Cold weather basically makes you wear a lot of clothing and having all that clothing just makes you move super slowly. Being in cold weather at a football game is the most horrible thing. Frostbites occur and no matter how much clothing you have on, for some reason you just can’t get warm.

     When hot weather occurs, people usually remove clothing. However, there are places to go to cool off. For example most people travel to beaches or pools to cool off. I usually go to a pool or just eat ice cream. If you didn’t know I’m a basketball player so shorts and shirt is my main attire. I love being able to wear less clothes and just relax but now comes the bad part about hot weather. In the heat people tend to get mad and deal with less. I feel like being too hot causes people to act crazy because they just can’t think. This might just be me but some of the main reasons I hate hot weather is because, the grass grows too fast and I have to cut it and bee’s and all type of insects irritate me.

I don’t think I can chose which weather I prefer the most but they both have their Pros and Cons. 

Antonio Stabler

Home Away from Home

In this day and age it seems like we spend most of our lives away from home.  What us college students tend to consider “home,” during the school year, the place where we sleep and hope to spend a lot of our time.  Unfortunately, this is far from the case, especially for students.  The majority of our time is spent at our “home-away-from-home.”  We all have one, that place we spend most of our days.  For some it’s the workplace, campuses, maybe even libraries.  For myself, and most of the Queens student-athlete’s, our second home is the Sports Complex at Marion Diehl Park. 

            For us, that second home feel usually comes as one of those love-hate kinds of things.  There are the days where we get excited to see that enormous lion when we pull up to the complex, although they may be few and far between since game days are far outnumbered by work days.

Most of the time when us athletes are at “the complex” it is to do something productive, whether it be lifting, practicing, or the dreadful yet necessary morning treatment.  But then again there are those times when the event, although it could be argued as productive, just doesn’t seem as such.  For all you athletes out there you know what I’m referring to, the four-hour compliance meetings and end of the year banquets. 

While I do love that most of my time at the complex is productively spent, I hate that I have to be awake to do some of those things before the sun even considers lighting the sky.  Us lacrosse players dread seeing the lights on the field when we have morning lifts, because there aren’t weights on the field, just lines to run around.  On those days I have to try extra hard to convince myself that whatever it is we are doing is ultimately bettering my teammates and I from the day before.

Since I am a student-athlete, you could consider my situation relatively extreme compared to someone who has a career in regards to time spent away from home, but I think we can all agree that we’ve got our own home-away-from-home.   Before I became a student-athlete I always wanted to get away from home, but now that I rarely get the opportunity to kick back and relax on my own couch or get a real, full night of sleep, it’s the only place I want to be!

Jeremy Bugbee

Road Trip!

Road trip.  These are two of the most exciting words a Queens student will hear during their tenure.  While I think it is safe to say that all of us at Queens enjoy and embrace our tight-knit community, everyone needs a little break from time to time.  The best way to get a breath of fresh air is to take a little road trip out of Charlotte, especially to visit a larger college campus.  While we all have our group of friends that we spend most of our time with, sometimes you just need to get away.

            I’m the kind of person who likes a little change now and again.  For me, I’ve been a part of the small-town feel for most of my life.  Which is one of the main reasons I came to Queens in the first place.  But there comes a time when being around the same crowd gets a little, well, old.  I’ve found that the best way to rekindle the fire, so to speak, is to hit the road and go somewhere that you don’t know as many people.  I prefer to venture off to larger colleges and make new acquaintances.  It is nice to get to know new people in new communities.  To me it is often times a culture shock because every college has their own culture specific to that place.  While often times your typical schedule of events isn’t altered much from the usual at Queens, the people are what really make the difference.  Sure there are tons of things to do in Charlotte, and changing up your routine for the weekend might help a little, there is nothing like venturing off to a new place that you’ve never been and spending time with people you’ve never or barely known.   

            While the destination is always what we look forward to when taking a road trip, sometimes the best entertainment comes from the ride itself.  So be sure when you are planning or just jumping in a car and rolling, to bring a great group of friends along to make the drive worth while.

Jeremy Bugbee

Election Trolling

We all know that Facebook is a powerful tool in the age of social media. While it is mostly used to kill time during class or stalk the crap out of someone you knew in high school, it can also be used for more nefarious purposes. Oooooh yes, I’m talking about political posts. And not just regular political posts, I’m talking about people who post something on Facebook just to ignite an argument for all to see. While some of you cool cats may call this “trolling”, I just call it evil. I commend my fellow Americans who stood tall in the face of political Facebook posts this year, and I would also like to reach out to those who were unfortunate enough to have had their lives destroyed by them. The sun will rise again…. unless… unless OBAMA puts another SOCIALIST TAX…… I’m… I am so sorry. I don’t know what just came over me there. What I meant to say is… that ROMNEY IS A LOSERFACE WHO NEVER…… oh goodness…. I did it again…. my apologies.

In the dark shadow cast by this awful election season, I propose a solution so that future generations can live in a world where election season does not ruin everyone’s lives. I make this plea directly to the top (Yes, that means you, Zuckerberg).  I propose that we completely shut down Facebook during all the debates, and also for the entire week after a president is chosen. This will be a step in the right direction, but I must make it clear that this solution will not eradicate all political trolling. My thought process is that if we delay the political posts from being made, people might actually think about what they are saying. Because…. well because if…. IF THIS COUNTRY HAS TO DEAL WITH 4 MORE YEARS OF _______  THEN I’M MOVING TO CANADA!

- Eric Richard

Hair Flag Lady

Tuesday was an iconic day for America because so much happened to our nation.   President Obama was reelected, marijuana was legalized in Colorado, gay marriage was legalized in Maryland and Maine, and Elizabeth Warren became the first woman to be elected into the U.S. Senate from Massachusetts.  However with all of these progressive events happening to our country the nation continues to talk about the flag lady. 

            During Obama’s acceptance speech sitting directly behind his left shoulder was a woman with a flag stuck in her hair.  I found it terribly distracting when I was trying to watch and listen to Obama’s speech.  Every time she moved the flag moved too drawing so much attention.  “The Hair Flag Lady” went viral, people all across America were tweeting about the woman with the flag in her hair.  A few of my favorites include; “How far into that lady’s brain does that flag go?” tweeted singer Josh Groban, “I hope that lady is getting texts from her mother: “TAKE THAT FLAG OUT OF YOUR HAIR. EVERYONE CAN SEE YOU. #flaghead,”, and “did an astronaut land on that lady’s head and stick a flag in it,” – @jwoliner.

            No one knows who the flag in hair girl is yet, she is still referred to as “hairflag” or “the hair flag lady.  I think she’s probably a little embarrassed and has decided to not identify herself as the hair flag lady.  South Park even featured her in their episode on the election titled “Obama wins”.  I think it’s funny how one little mistake can make you notorious for something as simple as having a flag in your hair.  Maybe she thought it looked awesome and wore her hair flag with pride.  And maybe she stuck it in there to get something out of her purse and then forgot to take it out of her hair.  Whatever her reasoning is I feel as if she needs to embrace the fact that she is the flag hair lady.  

-Anna Kirwan 

Julius the Pumpkin

I must admit with great sadness that Halloween has officially come to an end. It is a time for mourning. We must mourn the end of a beloved holiday, but also for the daring pumpkins who gave their lives so that we may have carved them in any way we saw fit. Their sacrifices were a true testament to the American way of life. They so nobly offered their pumpkin selves to a cause that they believed in and never asked, “What’s in it for me?” Some were crafted into ghoulish faces to scare small children (and perhaps the elderly), while others were transformed into realistic depictions of everyday life, such as a pumpkin throwing up on a porch… truly magnificent. Today, I would like to pay homage to a particular pumpkin who changed my life, and the lives of my suitemates. His name was Julius, and this is his story.

(DISCLAIMER: This next paragraph is based exclusively off my elementary knowledge of pumpkin growth; not off biological facts. None of this was researched… at all.)

His life began as a seed. A pumpkin seed, to be exact. He was planted in a fertile field of dirt and manure, and he never looked back from there. He first sprouted from the ground in a matter of days, and with a lot of love and compassion from farmer Bill, he began to transform into his mature self. Julius spent most of his adolescent days sitting in a field talking with the other pumpkins about the weather, and whether or not they could weather the weather. He excelled in math and science at an early age, and was on track to becoming one of the most well-known pumpkin astrophysicists in his patch. However, all that changed when news of the Halloween season reached him. He was to be shipped off to the Dilworth Pumpkin Patch, where he would soon realize his true calling.

He manned his post for weeks on end, until he was finally purchased by my roommate: a man by the name of James Dunlevy. Julius was then carved into the likeness of an adorable kitten. Soon, Halloween had come and gone, and Julius had begun to rot. It was time to send him off into the Great Beyond. We did so in the only way we saw fit for such a glorious creature…by dropping him off a six-story building onto the concrete and capturing it on film. Please check my latest video post so that you may also honor this fallen hero. 

- Eric Richard