Andrea~ What type of mental illness are you looking at specifically? Are you going to go through the stages, and end with being out of the hospital? I'm really curious to see how this turns out, I think it's awesome that you're really trying to get in the mind of a mentally ill patient. Did you look at any you-tube videos or any medical videos with actual mentally ill patients talking? I feel like that may be beneficial to your writing.

So I don't know about you guys, but if I have one more thing to do this week, I think I may have a heart attack. I'm usually this crazy efficient person that gets things done a good two weeks ahead of time, but so many things seem to be piling up this week. I have this really, really, dumb computer class that is seriously just a waste of my life, but it's required and all of a sudden, our homework assignments are taking several hours a piece. We have our final English project, and I know that everyone has tons of final projects, papers, and the such for each of our classes.

So, over spring break, I went to Chicago on an inner-city mission trip and worked with a ministry called Sunshine Gospel that is centered in the South Side of Chicago in an area right near Hyde Park. The area is almost entirely African-American and lives well under the poverty line. I told a ton of people before I left where I was going, and each person told me the exact same thing- that I had better be careful or I was going to get shot. Well, those people were all wrong.

So I'm not going to lie, I'm really excited for spring break. I mean, not only is it a week break from classes, enclosed by two weekends, but I'll be doing something super cool. I know it's going to be cold, and the entire point of a college student's spring break is to be warm, but I'll be spending mine in Chicago. I'm going on a inner-city mission trip with Campus House to work with the poor, homeless, and otherwise needy. And it's going to be insane.

I mean, he is, really. But more than that, John Krasinski makes a fabulous Jim Halpert on The Office. Which technically, it is a documentary, though I suppose I would label it as a mockumentary. Either way, though, it is really a fabulous show. I really enjoy the way that it is the camera works. Obviously, it follows day-to-day movement of a failing branch of a paper company, led by a crazy boss. However, I love that each individual has their own separate space in which they are shot in action, and then also in the conference room.

When I was contemplating the things that I believe in, I kept coming up with the thought that I really value friendship. I was trying to come up with a symbol for friendship and I continuously kept thinking that what I value most in friendship is a simple hug. I believe that a bear hug tells you everything that you need to know about a friendship. I believe that the friends that would do anything for you are the people that give you the biggest bear hugs. I believe that hugs can make the hardest situation into one that is manageable.

As a writer, my strengths lie in my creative ability. My favorite part of writing has always been to take something that is already beautiful, whether it is an existing work of art such as a painting or another inspiration in life, and be able to write so that others that were not able to see the work could imagine its beauty. I love that writing is entirely creative and no two people will ever write in the exact same way. Writing is one of the only places where we can be unique, where no one else can be exactly the same and have exactly the same thoughts.