Signature Wednesdays

Wednesday nights in The Chimes' office exemplify the nature of our friendship and may be proof that we were both made to be journalists.

Michelle and I have a lot in common. We both love reading news, signing off on finished Chimes pages and copy editing with red pens. After four years of journalism classes and multiple internships, we have something to prove. Every good journalist is an opportunist at heart and takes advantage of opportunities that may have slipped through the cracks otherwise. An example of this is our shared initiative in recruiting (luring) athletes into the office for a (very vague) picture for The Chimes. Yes, a picture with us. Let me assure you that it was not a coincidence that they were all the top male athletes in the school. Another quality a future editor should have is that of delegation, something we've perfected in letting the sports editor figure out how to tell the guys why they had to come into the office at 11:00 Wednesday night, why they took such cas pics with two girls and why the picture wasn't on the front page of the section.

Anything to lighten up the long Wednesday nights that quickly fade to early Thursday mornings. When I didn't have a car fall semester, Wednesday nights would end with a lazily triumphant drive back to our Decadox house. This semester, we've kept up the tradition, this time in different cars: Michelle in the maroon Taurus (soon to be Audi A6) and me in the Party Bus (woot!). Before that, however, I have been known to be intimately acquainted with The Chimes' couch while I'm waiting for the last pages of the paper to be put to bed. Pictured here is Michelle hard at work, while I snooze on the brown couch someone stole from the SUB.

As many similarities that we share, there are a few things that distinctly set us apart.

Michelle's insistence in walking out of the upper SUB door and and walking around the building in the bitter morning cold instead of going out of the lower SUB door hints at her one-of-a-kind directional helplessness.

Couches and drool-marked pillows, on the other hand, are my signature, defiant declaration that I'm cool enough to sleep anywhere.

There is no doubt that Wednesday nights are a highlight for us and will always be savored as some of the best times we've had yet.

Beauty Queen, Check

Michelle now has one more thing to check off her list of accomplishments -- being in a beauty pageant.

Michelle was one of the three girls in our house to compete in Miss Fullerton 2009. They even got the rules changed so they could get in.

Amanda, Michelle and Jessica were all so, so so, beautiful and knocked the competition out of the water with their superior piano performances and eloquent interviews.

I'm so proud of Michelle! It was so fun to see her pick out her outfits, do her morning sit-ups and practice the probing interview questions -- nearly all 1,000 of them. Michelle's eveningwear was of particular note, as everyone agreed with our friend Dirk that she looked like a Disney princess.

There's just no way I'd ever be in a pageant, so props to Rindels here for having the guts to stick it out with all the pressure. Enjoy the scholarship money, beautiful. You earned it.

Love always, Gail.