Day 3: The thief of stories,and small cons

I have never really thought my life very interesting I have always liked other stories more. And I remember reading a David Sedaris essay once about how he liked to steal other people's stories and adopt them as his own. He had always thought his life was boring as well. (I wonder if part of that is from he seems to have a vivid imagination as well)

There are stories that I have adopted. I love when people tell me stories, and some of the memories that I have added to my list of things actually were stories that I like to recount about other people. Since this is about remembering myself though, and I am almost tempted to just give an account of all the stories that I have adopted, but I have decided not to do that.

I would rather give account for my own stories. A lot of my memories may be filled with hyperbole, I like to build up things sometimes, but sometimes stories stand on their own. So, here is a story that is very close to one of the ones I actually stole... Mainly because it amused me how people can end up in similiar situations... Maybe I will explain that part at the end.

I am not sure if any of you have been to college, but a lot of colleges have instate fees and out of state fees.

Somewhere between senior year of high school, and my first semester of college, I decided that I wanted to escape out of Florida. I remember moving all over the state when we were little, and I think the count of times moved my whole life at this point is greater than the age I am. (Maybe some of the other moves will become another entry)

I wasn't sure what I wanted to do. I decided to pursue random things, and received all kinds of applications and information packages from school both out of Florida, and within Florida. I remember one of them was a University in Minnesota that offered courses on Morituary studies. I also know there was another information package from an university in Ireland.

I was desperate to start somewhere. I had decided I was going to try either English degree or one in criminal justice. (I am not sure when but at least since high school I have been interested in things like serial killers and crimes in general.)

The only problem with the applications was that each one had a fee to send it in. I somehow decided to apply for Ball State. Partly because my Aunt went there, and also because it seemed like a nice school. (My aunt was getting her masters there) My aunt and Uncle said that they would let me use their address as my home base if I wanted to go.

I borrowed money from my grandmother since we couldn't really afford to pay for it. I had just graduated and was working at Walmart, taking a couple of classes at the local community college.

So, Ball State was the only application I had sent in. I had decided that I would send it in and see what happened. Actually now that I think about it, I may have sent in another application that didn't have a fee, but since I can't remember receiving any other letters, I am going to say Ball State was the only one I sent in, since most colleges even if you don't get in send you a letter. (On another random note, did I pay $25 for a letter back...hmm)

I was accepted the spring semester of 2003. If I am not mistaken the orientation actually fell on the weekend of my birthday, or very close to it, because I remember that I was so happy to see snow so close to my birthday.

They had sent me a letter to prove I lived in Indiana, but I had forgotten to send them proof. Technically I didn't really have any proof. I was pleasantly surprised though when I saw the first bill for the semester, and found despite proof they have given me the Indiana in state fee.

So, technically I was an Indiana resident because I enrolled in the school I guess, and would actually spend most of the year in Indiana. (I took summer semester, but did travel to florida at Christmas and during the brief break between summer and fall classes)

Which actually that was a good thing, because I almost enough to buy books and pay the first installment. (Sadly I was a penny short, and the dumb bank bounced the check to the school, and the two separate charges for my books, but i took care of that later, and that is a different memory.)

Oh I was going to say why this relates to the thief of story thing... One of my friends who actually lived in this weird city most of his life, actually decided to try something similar. He wanted to go to college in Indiana, and went to Ivy Tech. His grandparents actually lived there, so he just used that as his address, and he did live with them when he was going to school up there. I stole his story because I was trying to tell my friend about these crazy coincidences that I found in our lives. (Though I guess when you are crushing on someone, you find all kinds of reasons why you are meant to be... I am working on getting over the crush though.)

Maybe one day I will give you the memories of the stories I have adopted to tell multiple people.