My new computer rocks. It came today, and I'm already very much in love with it -- the conversion from PC user to Mac owner was quite easy. The design of the iBook is awesome -- there are all these little things (like the power cord's little prongs to make wrapping the cord easier, and the rounded corners, etc) that are just very nice and well thought out. So yes. Yay for my new computer!

No New Year's Eve plans for me -- I lead such an exciting life.

Merry Christmas to everyone. Christmas went well this year -- all of my immediate family was home, which was nice, and most of my extended family came as well.

My major Christmas present was also the last-minute one: a new computer. The latest estimate to fix my computer was $649 or something around that... So we just went with a new (well, technically refurbished) iBook instead. Woohoo. The pretty 14 -inch iBook shall be mine... Probably sometimes next week. And this time, I got the extended warranty. Let it not be said that I don't learn from my mistakes.

Other than that, not much to say. Yay for lazy days and games with family.

The latest problem with my computer: the modem doesn't seem to be working. So not internet for me, at least not with my laptop. Rar.

Other than that and the possible flu I'm dealing with, all is well. The new puppy is very cute, the other animals are good, I'm learning how to knit, and hanging out with friends and family is great. Yay break!

I am done. It's a fantastic feeling. All in all, my finals went pretty well. I think I did okay on my religion final today, and I got my last paper back when I was done, and I did very well on it... So that should cancel out any less than stellar portions of the exam. At this point, I don't really care... Because I'm done!

My main task now is to pack and do the various random chores associated with leaving. Nothing too major.

Tomorrow, I get up far too early, fly into St. Louis, do some shopping, and then go home to the fuzzy creatures, including the new puppy. It should be a good day.

Yesterday evening's focus was video games... I watched some people play Mario Kart in the Pit, then I played some Dead or Alive 2 with them, then I went over to Mertz and played Soul Calibur II with Rob and Kyle, then played some Smash Brothers with them and others (I really don't like that game -- it gives me a headache... Too much stuff on the screen...), then finished the night off with a little more SCII. All in all, a fun evening.

I also got 4 CDs from one of the rock directors to listen to and review over break... I've given them all a listen, and they're all pretty good.

I'm taking a short break from studying for religion... The studying is going okay, but definately not as fun as gaming. On that note, I'm not letting myself anywhere near a video game console today. Tomorrow, after my final, I will, but until then, no.

I'm going home on Saturday, going to Beaux Arts on Sunday, and then being lazy for a long time after that!

And I'm done with my paper, with 25 minutes to go on the debate. Heck yeah.

I should now spend the rest of my day studying for religion. Anyone want to place any bets on me actually doing it? If so, please never go to a casino or the races. I'd hate to see you lose all your money.

I'm working on my revision of my theatre midterm paper right now... Such fun. It's not very hard, but it's also not all that interesting. And it's also annoying to be talking about the presidential debates after Bush's win, when Kerry dominated the debates. Bah.

The first debate is playing on mute (partly by default, my computer still does not make any noise) in the background so I can study their mannerisms and such. It would rock if I got the revision done before the debate was over. 1 hour, 30 minutes long debate, and I'm about 14 minutes into it. I should be able to do this.

Back to work I go, whee.

Today I reached new heights in laziness... I stayed in bed for a very, very long time, then wandered up to campus for dinner, and then went over to Mertz where I hung out with Rob and played Soul Calibur II for a very long time. Definately not a productive day, but a very nice one.

Despite not getting the library internship, I'm considering just staying here over the summer and working at the library. Rob will be here over the summer doing research, and it would be great to hang out with him all summer.

Finally heard back about the library internship... And I didn't get it. I'll probably try again next year.

Winter break will now be spent looking into summer abroad programs and other internships. Whee.

On a happier note, I just got up. Yay for uber-lazy days!

I wrote two papers today with minimum amounts of procrastination. I froze my butt off around midnight to look for the Geminids and was rewarded with the sight of one shooting star (it was pretty). All in all, a very productive day. I will make up for this by doing next to nothing tomorrow.

Time for sleep now, without setting my alarm clock. Oh, the luxury.

So, almost 3 months later, another breakup. This one was handled much better, and it was basically a mutual decision. We're going to stay friends -- and this time, that's 100% true. So yeah... I'm doing surprisingly well, actually.

Time to go play some WEBoggle, my latest addiction. Word games = my weakness.

I didn't get the rock director position, which really came as no surprise to me. It was also the nicest rejection letter I've ever recieved, so that's cool.

Now I can focus all my anxiety on finals and the library internship, which I STILL haven't heard back from. Arg.

I finally got to sleep around 5 am. Such fun.

I can't sleep at all. It's annoying... I'm tired, but not sleepy. My first real bout of insomnia, it seems. Something I really never have to deal with... I usually have trouble staying awake rather than getting to sleep. But I can't get comfortable, I can't relax... I just can't sleep. I want to watch TV until my mind glazes over and I zonk out on the couch, but amazingly enough, there are people awake and watching a movie at this hour. So I'm not sure what I'm going to do. Gah. This is very, very, frustrating.

In theory, I could start working on my papers for English and theatre... But I don't want to. I just want to sleep. Why won't my body cooperate?

I'm done with my CS final... Yay! I think it went okay. Now I just have 2 papers to write, a revision of a paper to write, and my religion final. It shouldn't be too bad.

Time to crash now.

Without classes, I am super lazy. Case in point: I set my alarm for 10:30 today. I woke up at 9:30, checked my email, then went back to bed, setting the alarm for 11. When it went off, I got up and read webcomics for a long time. It is now almost 1. I have done nothing productive at all. I'm going to change that by going for a run. Then maybe I'll actually do some studying.

Rock director interview on Saturday. I'm actually going against two people, but I'm only really concerned about the one I mentioned a few days ago. Anyway, there's always next semester if I don't get it this time.

Running time.

Thefacebook.com: guaranteeing me more "Happy birthday"s than ever before.

Tonight was my last radio show of the semester. *tear* It went fairly well, despite some technical mishaps and numerous phone calls to be dealt with.

Playlist:

Red House Painters - Have You Forgotten
* TV on the Radio - Modern Romance
* Shark Quest - Katherine of Krakow
* Matt Pond PA - Lily Two
* Death from Above 1979 - Romantic Rights
Emiliana Torrini - Tuna Fish
Jimmy Eat World - Table for Glasses
? - You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch
* A.C. Newman - Come Crash
* The Arcade Fire - Neighborhood #3 (Tower Out)
* Friends Like These - What Emily Says
Wilco - Kamera
* Menomena - The Strongest Man in the World
* The Reputation - Bottle Rocket Battles
MC Honky - The Object
* The Washdown - Ladies and Gentlemen
Blur - Beetlebum
* Regina Spektor - Carbon Monoxide
Tori Amos - Precious Things
* Elliot Smith - King's Crossing
Guster - Two Points for Honesty
* The High Water Marks - Have Another Dream
* Moving Units - Between Us and Them
* Autolux - Turnstile Blues
* Interpol - Evil
Weezer - Only in Dreams

I found out who I'm competing against for the rock director position. I don't think I'm going to get it now -- he's done many more reviews than I have, seems to be more knowledgeable of the indie scene, and is also a year older. Though I'm not very upset about it -- I've read the reviews he's written, and he'd make a great rock director. Also, another spot will be opening up next year; I may try again then. We'll see what happens with the interview later this week.

Still no word on the library internship. Arg. I want to know!

Tomorrow is my 20th birthday. Eep. I feel oddly old and yet still very, very young.

So we sang Beethoven's 9th Symphony last night. The orchestra did an amazing job, and the choir did pretty well too. It was fun.

The last bit of Beethoven's 9th is like a humming bird on speed. Good lord it's fast!

It is rainy and yucky outside. Blech.

A quiz, because I haven't posted one for awhile, and I came across this one:


Umberto Eco: The Name of the Rose. You are a
mystery novel dealing with theology, especially
with catholic vs liberal issues. You search
wisdom and knowledge endlessly, feeling that
learning is essential in life.

Which literature classic are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

I now feel I should read this book.

Time for yoga now.

Jogging has become my unofficial Tuesday night tradition. Tonight I ran further than I have all year. My estimation is about 1.8 miles, about 0.3 of a mile longer than I ran last Tuesday, which had been my previous best. My roommate guessed that I had been gone about 20 min (I really need to start looking at the time)... So about an 11.1 minute mile or something. Not bad for a fun jog. Whee.

Now I have to do real work. Bah.

One of the rock directors for WSRN is going abroad or on leave next semester. There is therefore an opening for that position. I applied for it. We'll see what happens.

Also applied for: library internship for this spring and summer. Again, we'll see.

Time to do work. Or run. Or something.

Massively long day, and it's not over yet...

Had religion class, a quick lunch, and crammed for my theatre performance. The performance itself went well, though it was kind of nerve-wracking... I felt butterflies before, during, and then for awhile after. Whee. After that, some work on CS, then my radio show, then more CS, then WA conference for my religion paper.

Radio show playlist:

* The Washdown - Awful Truth
* Shoplifting - Ask Me
Pavement - Cut Your Hair
Cursive - The Casualty
* Mates of State - Goods [All in Your Head]
Built to Spill - Else
Pedro the Lion - Criticism as Inspiration
Jeff Buckley - Eternal Life
* Camper van Beethoven - 51-7
* Apostle of Hustle - Baby, You're in Luck
The Shins - So Says I
* The Arcade Fire - Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)
* Fall Back Open - Antidote
Portastatic - Impolite Cheers
* Menomena - Cough Coughing
The Paper Chase - These Things Happen
Blonde Redhead - In Particular
Beauty Pill - Terrible Things
Hot Water Music - Rooftops
Beulah - A Man Like Me
* The Libertines - Last Post on the Bugle
Hot Hot Heat - Naked in the City Again
The New Pornographers - The Laws Have Changed
* Ted Leo/the Pharmacists - Counting Down the Hours
* Autolux - Blanket
* The Prefects - Agony Column
* Fur Cups for Teeth - Mystery Train
* Bloc Party - Banquet
Franz Ferdinand - Cheating on You
* The Reputation - Face It
Braid - Forever Got Shorter

And now, to write my English journal and read some poetry. And then, sleep. Yay sleep.

Haven't updated for about a week... So here's a brief summary: Work, sleep, work, hanging out, sleep, choir concert, being lazy, work. Whee.

The choir concert went well... We sang Mozart's Requiem at this one... The next one, on December 4th, is for Beethoven's 9th.

Tonight's radio show was less than stellar... I made lots of stupid, silly mistakes and babbled a bit. Oh well.

Playlist:
Foo Fighters - Everlong
* Autolux - Here Comes Everybody
Fiona Apple - Paper Bag
The Delgados - All You Need is Hate
Portastatic - Autumn Got Dark
The Anniversary - The Heart is a Lonely Hunter
Braid - First Day Back
Letters to Cleo - I Want You to Want Me
Ozma - Battlescars
Cake - When You Sleep
* The Bigger Lovers - Ninja Suit
* Menomena - 20 Cell Revolt
* The New Year - Start
Tori Amos - Take to the Sky
Poe - Could've Gone Mad
* Fur Cups for Teeth - $100 Haircut
OK Go - The Fix is In
Garbage - Vow
* Guided by Voices - Everybody Thinks I'm a Raincloud (When I'm Not Looking)
Crooked Fingers - New Drink for the Old Drunk
Soul Coughing - Circles
The Hives - Die, All Right!
Pixies - Gigantic
Jimmy Eat World - Bleed American
Operation Ivy - Unity
Alkaline Trio - This Could Be Love
Saves the Day - Shoulder to the Wheel
* The Reputation - Let This Rest
Chris Cornell - Wave Goodbye
* Adem - Ringing in My Ear

So yes. A tinge of a 90's, as I got nostaligic while looking through my CDs. That's one reason why there are so few playlist songs. I've also started going into the library and seeking things I've been meaning to listen to. Like Braid, for instance. And I have been rewarded by having some different music to listen to that is quite good. Whee.

Sleep soon... And home on Wednesday! Well, St. Louis on Wednesday, home on Thursday afternoon. But close enough. Yay!

Today was okay. I started the day off with an amazing lack of energy... I stayed in Child's Pose in yoga for quite some time... I eventually got out of it because my feet were falling asleep. But it was cool of the teacher to let me do that... I would have been completely exhausted otherwise.

Classes were fine today... Nothing to exciting... And there was nothing all that exciting about my radio show either.

Playlist:

The Postal Service - Nothing Better
Jimmy Eat World - Blister
* TV on the Radio - New Health Rock
* A.C. Newman - Miracle Drug
Beauty Pill - Here Lies Rachel Wallace
* Camera Obscura - Shine Like a New Pin
Beulah - If We Can Land a Man on the Moon, Surely I Can Win Your Heart
Spoon - Stay Don't Go
Modest Mouse - Paper Thin Walls
Desaparecidos - Man and Wife, the Latter (Damaged Goods)
* Adem - These are Your Friends
* Menomena - E is Stable
* The Decemberists - Billy Liar
Built to Spill - Strange
* Autolux - Turnstile Blues
Bikini Kill - New Radio
* Le Tigre - Seconds
Pretty Girls Make Graves - Chemical, Chemical
Sonic Youth - Teenage Riot
Grandaddy - El Caminos in the West
* The Hidden Cameras - The Fear is On
* The Clientele - (I Want You) More than Ever
Interpol - Obstacle 2
* Portastatic - Noisy Night
* Animal Collective - Who Could Win a Rabbit?
The Weakerthans - A Plea from a Cat Named Virtue
Saves the Day - All I'm Losing is Me
Hey Mercedes - Haven't Been this Happy
The Get Up Kids - Action and Action
Weezer - Only in Dreams
Weezer - The World has Turned and Left Me Here

The reason for the two songs from the Blue Album is this: When "Only in Dreams" was wrapping up, it was 8:05 and I was all cleaned up, CDs put away, etc... But the next show's DJs had not yet shown up. So I needed something. So I just switched the dial from track ten to track four and yay, another four and a half minutes of music. And then the DJs came just in time... I was beginning to fret.

Time to read or do something like that until I decide to actually go to bed... Which may turn out to be pretty soon, I think.

I've been really stressed this week for some reason... Lots of headaches, whee, no fun at all. It was nice to see Saka on Wednesday, but other than that the week was less than great. Yay for it being the weekend.

I didn't get into the poetry workshop for next semester... That upset me... But I'm okay with it now, thanks to the power of distraction (yay SSx Tricky on an 8 foot screen!). I've also found another class to take instead: Classical Mythology. So that should be interesting, I think.

The tentative schedule for next semester:

Monday
9:30-10:20 Modern British Poetry
11:30-12:20 Classical Mythology
1-4 Acting I

Tuesday
9-10:20 Yoga (for the 1st half of the semester)
1:15-2:30 Existentialism

Wednesday
9:30-10:20 Modern British Poetry
11:30-12:20 Classical Mythology
4:10-6:40 Acting I
7:15-9:45 Chorus

Thursday
Same as Tuesday

Friday
9:30-10:20 Modern British Poetry
11:30-12:20 Classical Mythology

I may not take yoga for gym credit... I should be done with gym after this semester, so I may just show up when I feel like it. We'll see. And Acting I is C/NC (credit/no credit, i.e. pass/fail), so that's nice... And I may take Mythology C/NC as well, but I'll decide during the first week of class, after I see the syllabus. I have all four of my C/NC options left, though... And I should use them. I should have used one for either religion or CS this semester (probably CS)... I've definately been more stressed than I would like.

Time for brunch now.

Bah. Today has not been that great. I didn't get as much work done yesterday as I should have (though I did get to see Saka, which was really nice)... Chorus felt very long last night, and the first concert is coming up quickly... Today I had a CS exam, and I'm sure I didn't do great... I'm behind on some freewriting stuff that I have to do to prep for my theatre piece... I have another religion paper coming up, as well as a response paper that's due tomorrow... I'm very tired and just want to be lazy and not do anything at all. Arg. Yay for the weekend being here very soon. And yay for yoga, which is fun, even though it makes me ache.

I want to nap, but instead I have to go to the Daily Gazette meeting. Whee.

So today was a busy but pretty good day... I actually got to yoga class on time, and I even managed to pull off Crow position in addition to my usual tripod. Whee. Religion was fine, and theatre was long but fun. We did acting exercises and moved around a bit, which was nice. Worked on CS for a bit after that (well, Lauren worked and I occasionally pointed out stuff)... Then had a quick dinner and did my radio show.

The radio show was interesting -- the door to the staircase to get up to the studio was locked... I ended up crawling in through another window that is by another staircase, going up those stairs to the 2nd floor, then going down the other staircase to unlock the door and prop it open. Then I finally got to climb back up to the 3rd floor for my show.

The playlist:

Beth Orton - Couldn't Cause Me Harm
Death Cab for Cutie - President of What? (since it got cut off last week)
Belle and Sebastian - Get Me Away From Here, I'm Dying
*Driver of the Year - Volume Switch
*The Crimea - Opposite Ends
*Frausdots - Fashion Death Trends
*Bloc Party - Little Thoughts
*Le Tigre - After Dark
Joydrop - Thick Skin
Lennon - Trying to Make Me
*Clinic - W.D.Y.Y.B.
*Ted Leo/Pharmacists - Heart Problems
The Killers - Mr. Brightside
Guster - Airport Song
*Menomena - The Monkey's Back
#*Spoon - Anything You Want
Ambulance Ltd. - Primitive
Jets to Brazil - Lemon Yellow Black
Sunny Day Real Estate - Every Shining Time You Arrive
#*Neutral Milk Hotel - Song Against Sex
#*Superchunk - Cool
#*M. Ward - Outta My Head
#*Versus - Eskimo
*A.C. Newman - On the Table
*Plastic Mastery - Before the Fall
*Guided by Voices - Asphyxiated Circle
*Apostle of Hustle - Sleepwalking Ballad
Jump, Little Children - Too High
*Luna - Malibu Love Nest

The songs with # by them are all from a 3 disc compilation from Merge Records. Lots of playlist songs tonight, and most of them were really good. I really need to get the Menomena CD... I've heard 3 songs off it now, and they're all really great.

Time to do work and also time to turn off the computer... It's making very scary noises.

So today has so far been a pretty good day. I got up half an hour early to finish up my religion response paper, went to class and actually contributed some, got my paper and midterm back (did well on the paper, fine on the midterm), I turned in my theatre response paper and my writing submission for the poetry workshop, had a fun lunch, and then played Soul Calibur II with Rob.

Soul Calibur was especially fun, since we played in the Pit, which is, well, kind of a pit in the floor, with carpeted tiers, and a big projection screen. So yes. Soul Calibur on an 6 or 8 foot screen? Very cool. The only downside is that my thumbs are a bit sore.

Nap now, then dinner, then some sort of movie-watching tonight. Lunch out tomorrow to celebrate Andrew's birthday. It should be fun.

Computer status, in case you care: still functioning, but when I initially turn it on, it sounds like it has a woodpecker living in it. Not so cool. Oh well.

Another 4 years of Bush. Geez. I just don't understand it.

Augh. So stressed at the moment. The election is much, much closer than I would like. Eep. Not cool at all...

Also, my computer is actively dying. Apparently my soundcard is probably integrated into the laptop's motherboard. This means that the problem isn't isolated to one little part. Oh no. My computer seems to have had a stroke. It had been mostly okay, except for the sound part. But tonight, when I went to start copying my files over to a memory card I discovered there was a bit more wrong than that. The computer didn't recognize the chip, said there was no disk in the drive. So I transfered what I needed into my user folder on the college network. Then I decided I would put all my music onto CDs in data form. Good idea, except then my CD drive decided to act up. Luckily, it's cooperating again... Who knows for how long. But at this point I have about half my songs on CDs and the other half in my user folder. Now the interesting thing is that the other two drives, E and F, which hadn't been recognizing the disk, aren't even being recognized by the computer. They have vanished, basically.

So what this all boils down to is this: I need a new motherboard. Apparently that is rather expensive, and my warranty has expired, so I think I'll be trying to just get a new computer altogether. This time I go with a nice, friendly Mac. When my computer was freezing up, I started using the public Macs as well as Andrew's Powerbook, and now I'm rather fond of them. So yeah. I think that's the route I'll be taking.

Off to possibly work on my religion reading, but more likely to stress over the election. Oh joy.

My computer was working fine. It still is working fine -- mostly. Except for one little problem: my computer is now incapable of producing sound. Yeah. The short story: I had it plugged in to the auxilarily feed at WSRN, and somehow smoke began to pour out of the headphone jack, and now my sound is kaput. Whee. Unfortunately, that happened within the first 15 minutes or so of my show. Leaving me with an hour and 45 minutes to fill without all my MP3s. Still, I managed with the use of lots and lots of playlist CDs.

And so the playlist for my first radio show of the year, finally! (* indicates from rock department playlist, ** means I wrote the review and feel proud...)

*Interpol – Evil
Beulah – Landslide Baby
** Camera Obscura – Double Feature
Spoon – Revenge!
Desaparecidos – Greater Omaha
Death Cab for Cutie – President of What? – (Sadly, this song was cut off by the smoking of the laptop)
* Luna – Speedbumps
* The New Year – Plan B
Le Tigre – Fake French
** The Reputation – Bottle Rocket Battles
** The Washdown – Learning Makes You Handsome
* Ted Leo and the Pharmacists – Me and Mia
The Rapture – Sister Savior
** Shoplifting – L.O.V.E.
The Killers – Smile Like You Mean It
Pretty Girls Make Graves – Speakers Push the Air
* Ulysses – Frustrated
They Might Be Giants – Meet James Ensor
* Karate – Tow Truck
Matchbook Romance – My Eyes Burn
* The Bigger Lovers – I Resign
* The Black Keys – 10 AM Automatic
* The Crimea – White Russian Galaxy
* Bloc Party – She’s Hearing Voices
Fugazi – Waiting Room
* Menomena – The Late Great Libido
* The Libertines – What Became of the Likely Lads
* Now It’s Overhead - Reverse
* Regina Spektor - Us
Taking Back Sunday – A Decade Under the Influence
* Menomena – The Strongest Man in the World
* The Autumn Leaf – Over the Pond

Things to note: I normally never play 2 songs by the same band, let alone 2 songs off the same album. But I had to play two songs off of Menomena's album. One, I was fascinated by the presentation of it. The CD case was a flipbook, with the in a pocket on the inside back cover. So cool! Two, the first song was awesome, and I felt the need to see if the other songs were good as well. Since I couldn't just toss it into my laptop and check that way, I played it on the air. And it was also great. So yes. Check them out.

Off to do actual work now, I think.

My computer is finally fixed. Yay Uber! Seems Norton was screwing things up.

This week has been less than great. Whee. Halloween party tonight, not sure how that will be. We'll see.

WSRN will start up on Monday. My show will start at 6 pm EST. You should listen.

So it seems that WSRN is still a bit of a mess... So my show will most likely not start on Monday afternoon. Perhaps the next week it will actually happen. We'll see.

The grand room switch took place today between the double and single across the hall from me. Andrew had the double as a single, while a freshman had been put in the single after he requested a room change. However, it was determined that he should have a roommate... So he found one, and then moved into the double today, while Andrew moved into the single. Such fun.

I was somewhat productive today, in that I helped Andrew to move, but that's about all I've done. I'm playing poker at 10, but maybe I'll try to get some reading done before then.

Sort of sick... I felt bad on Thursday night, so I skipped my one class on Friday and slept late instead. My first actual skipped class, and it hardly counts because the prof is so laid-back: I emailed him, explained what was up, told him I'd give him the assignment on Monday. He replied, said that was fine and that extra sleep did indeed sound nice.

So I did nothing productive yesterday, and I've only been up 2 hours today and haven't done much of anything yet. Whee. I do need to do actual work though... I just wish I felt the least bit motivated. Blah.

WSRN is finally going to be starting up on Monday. I have a 2 hour show this time... Monday evenings, from 6 to 8 pm, eastern time. Hopefully the web broadcast will be working. Listen to me try and fill twice as much air time as last year!

That's all for now.

No Death Cab for Cutie and Pretty Girls Make Graves concert for me after all... I can't find anyone to go with me. :( However, there is an Interpol concert in a few weeks, and I'm going to try to go to that one.

Not much else to say... Weather here is crappy, I'm sleepy, nothing exciting going on other than my computer acting up. And that's old news, but still highly frustrating.

My computer is still not being very nice. I ended up having to save my stuff into my user folder on the network and then accessed it on my roomate's computer. I was up far too late, and got far too little sleep. But the paper is done and was turned in, and I made it through today okay.

Yoga was pretty interesting. It woke me up some, but was also relaxing. I think I'll really enjoy this class.

Off to write a short article for the Daily Gazette now.

My computer seems to hate me. It keeps on freezing up every few minutes. Then as soon as I hit Ctrl-Alt-Del once, all is well again. Blah.

I'm back at Swat, things here are fine, I need to finish up some work, and I start yoga tomorrow. Whee.

Now I work. If my computer will allow it, anyway.

Broken glass is actually rather pretty when it catches the right light. Too bad it's so sharp.

An explanation for this observation: It's a bit windy tonight. My family forgot to fold down the patio table umbrella. It caught a nice gust of wind and headed into one of the family room windows. Lots of shattered glass all over the place. Luckily, no one was hurt.

So yes, an interesting occurrence for my last night home during break. I also watched The Professional on TV, which was quite good. Luckily AMC decided to show an older version of Dracula next, instead of something I wanted to watch... Otherwise I might have been in the chair closest to the window. And that, my friends, would have resulted in a rather bloody mess. And for once the blood would be real, not just me expressing my love for British vernacular.

I have a rough rough draft of my theatre paper. Whee. It's actually the right length, which is more than could be said about my religion rough draft. So all I really need to do is put in some quotes from the sources I found, tidy it up a bit, and make it sound nice. Not too much work... But I still don't want to do it.

Tomorrow afternoon: go down to St. Louis, dinner with grandparents, some shopping.

Sunday: fly back to Philly, return to Swat in the afternoon, do some last minute work for Monday.

Monday: back to the usual routine.

Damn, break feels short.

I went to sign up to get an absentee ballot today. Instead, I ended up voting. I was a bit surprised, but I decided to go for it. There was one part I had to leave blank, because it was about whether certain judges should keep their positions -- and I hadn't heard of any of them. So that made me feel like an uniformed citizen. But I did vote for president and senator and such. Woohoo. Now that's all been taken care of, and now I wait to see what happens.

I'm home, I have furry creatures, and life is good. Not much else to say at the moment.

I think I kicked my English paper's butt. Woohoo! Now break has begun in earnest, at least until I get home and decide to work on theatre.

I watched the second debate tonight... The town hall format one in St. Louis. I think Kerry did a really good job, but part of that was due to Bush doing pretty poorly. The main reason Bush didn't do well? He got mad. He interrupted the moderator a few times when he was kind of pissed off, and he just didn't come across well. Yay for Bush digging his own grave!

A bit of paper writing tonight, then sleep, then more writing tomorrow. And then the slackerdom begins for a few days, until I get home and realize that I need to write my theatre paper. Gah.

So the religion midterm did not kill me, nor did I kill it. We called a nice happy truce. In other words, I think I did okay.

I celebrated with a nice nap, and now I will work on my English paper for a bit, get some dinner, watch the presidental debate, and then relax.

Yay for October break!

A poem that I read for English class today that I quite liked:

Well, I Have Lost You

Well, I have lost you; and I lost you fairly;
In my own way, and with my full consent.
Say what you will, kings in a tumbrel rarely
Went to their deaths more proud than this one went.
Some nights of apprehension and hot weeping
I will confess; but that's permitted me;
Day dried my eyes; I was not one for keeping
Rubbed in a cage a wing that would be free.
If I had loved you less or played you slyly
I might have held you for a summer more,
But at the cost of words I value highly,
And no such summer as the one before.
Should I outlive this anguish-- and men do--
I shall have only good to say of you.

-- Edna St. Vincent Millay

Now to study for my dreaded religion midterm.

So I gave blood today. It went better than I expected: the pin-prick to the finger to test my iron levels hurt more than I thought it would, the actual blood donation hurt less. I had to give from my right arm, though -- the veins in my left arm weren't big enough, and the ones in the right were just barely large enough. So now I have a bandage on the inside of my right elbow, the outside of my right elbow, and one on my right middle finger. Geez.

I'm feeling a bit out of it -- it's open to debate if this is from the blood loss or just me being tired as usual.

Speaking of debates: Kerry kicked Bush's butt in the first one, despite all the to-do about the "global test" (which is being taken out of context so badly). I think Edwards did a decent job against Cheney, but I feel that they tied, unfortunately. At least Edwards didn't look evil. Cheney could scare small children and animals, I think.

Time for a nap (a short one, this time!) and then some work.

I really should be prevented from doing 2 things:

1) Accidently inflicting pain upon myself
2) Taking naps unsupervised

So this morning I tripped over this lovely metal thing that prevents cars from driving down the paths of campus. I was wearing flip-flops. The nail of my left big toe is kind of screwed up, and the big toe and the one next to it (pointer toe?) are both kind of swollen and causing pain. Owie.

As for the naps: this afternoon I decided to take a nap. I set my alarm. It went off. I set it for a bit later. It went off. I turned it off entirely. So I ended up with a lovely 3 hour long nap, no work done, and no dinner. I could go to the snack bar to get food, but I am lazy. So I will turn to my fridge instead.

Compiling the Daily Gazette tonight, so that will keep me up a bit. At least I'm well-rested from the nap.

Religion paper: Done
Theatre reading: Very far from done

But I'm happy and wasn't going to get much sleep anyway, so what does it matter? I will forgo my normal weight-lifting in the morning to sit on the exercise bike, pedal away, and read, read, read.

Something that is sort of interesting...

Imood (the thing I use to have that little face and my mood displayed on the side bar) keeps a log of my past moods, known as my "personal mood history."

My most common moods:

Tired: 23 times
Content: 18
Happy: 16
Fine:16
Better: 16
Lazy: 16
Alright: 15

Interesting moods:

Achy: 4 times
Bittersweet: 3
Blah: 4
Bleh: 3
Crestfallen: 1
Discombobulated: 1
Drained: 7
Giddy: 5
Hopeful: 8
Irked: 1
Mixed: 9
Overwhelmed: 7
Overworked: 4
Stressed: 4
Unmotivated: 8
Vulnerable: 1

Okay, time to move my laundry to the dryer. And then I'll work on my religion paper. Really, I will.

Yesterday: Went into Philly. Didn't go to the Something Corporate concert, but did go to the Franklin Institute and into the art museum briefly. Both were fun. Went to some market place to get food, and ended up wtih some excellent lasagna.

Last night: Poker with Uber and company. I lost all $5 I put in, but it was fun. We had a good turn out, and ended up breaking into 2 groups: 1 just Texas Hold 'Em, 1 fun, weird games like Black Maria. We also made and enjoyed daquaris.

Today: So far I have woken up, gotten brunch, and started my laundry. I am currently listening to some grunge and punk music and drinking coffee in attempts to fully wake myself up to write my religion paper. Whee.

Tomorrow: Another spec!

Wednesday: I donate blood for the first time ever. Eep.

I feel like I actually accomplished some stuff today so far... Late last night I actually wrote a decent response paper for religion, this morning I woke up on time, and in gym I've increased the weight for some of my lifts. Also, not only did I manage to stay awake during discussion in religion, but I actively participated. Ooh. And I also reclaimed the missing muffin tin for the breakfast room. Yay!

Philly tomorrow for museum fun and concerty goodness. Also poker tomorrow night, since Uber has been kind enough to grace us with his presence. Then Sunday is paper writing, theatre reading hell day. Woohoo.

Time to nap!

I am fairly confident that I just kicked my CS exam's ass. I feel like a coding master at the moment, but I'm sure that feeling will go away as soon as I tackle this week's homework.

Hosting a study break tonight: MST3k with milk and cookies. Awesomeness.

Cheese and crackers -- quite possibly one of the best snacks ever. Yum.

On a different note: I hate scansion. Blah.

So I was planning on taking a short nap and then doing some work. The short nap ended up being rather long. Nice, but not conducive to work-doing. Bah.

Now I work.

So very rainy outside. My backpack actually did get soaked through, despite the valiant efforts of my umbrella. So I have things strewn across my room, drying. I may break out the hair dryer for some stuff. Boo to you, rain.

Other than that, things are fine. Not enough sleep, too much work, but whatever. Such is life.

No They Might Be Giants concert after all. I just remembered that I'm supposed to be hosting a study break that night, and while trying to see if I could reschedule that, I discovered just how much work I really need to be getting done in the next week and a half or so. Eep. So no concert for Jen - just a study break and then work, work, work.

Entertaining tidbit of the day: Go to Google. Go to Prefrences. Where it says Interface Language, go through the languages in the drop down menu and choose Hacker. Enjoy your new H4x3r-style Google. So fun.

Yesterday was really nice... Went out the dinner (Bertucci's has amazingly delicious pizza, yum), watched some MST3K, hung out. Today will be less nice, because it will consist mostly of work. Blah.

They Might Be Giants concert on Thursday, College Day in Philly on Saturday -- free museums and Something Corporate concert. Whee!

So the Kill Hannah concert rocked. The Trocadero has two sections, apparently... A larger room and a smaller one. We were in the smaller upstairs one, so we were like thisclose to the band. It was cool. There was a not so great opening act, but Kill Hannah themselves were great. Highlights of the evening: the marriage proposal from one fan to another and buying my t-shirt from the bassist himself. All in all, a great evening.

Better now, for the most part. Went for a run, which was nice. Then got cheered up and was assured that I should not take the rejection personally, etc. So yeah, that helped. Still disappointed, but life goes on.

My religion paper (read: outline) is pretty crappy. I included an apology to the WA (Writing Associate, to all you non-Swatties) and feel bad. But I need sleep, and there is no way that I could redeem it in time anyway. Thank goodness it's "just a WA copy"... I will thoroughly attack it (and my CS reading and multiple other things) this weekend and make it work.

Maybe this will teach me to a) not procrastinate as much and b) not over extend myself. Then again, maybe not.

Rar. Got rejected by the lit mag again. Yay for not being able to become an editor, even though that's one of my main career possibilities. I feel so damn cool.

I will be going to Career Services tomorrow afternoon to look into externships for winter break. Hopefully that will go better. My current pessimistic attitude is not so sure.

Damn it, I was so happy this afternoon, too. Rar again. And rar to my religion paper as well, which I don't want to write at all. Rar, rar, rar.

*sulk*

I'm going to go into Philly tomorrow and see a concert with Finlay. We're going to go see Kill Hannah... It should be pretty good.

Religion paper must get written now. Eep. I may have to resort to coffee at some point. But at least tomorrow is Friday. Yay weekend!

Way to go administration. Someone just now figured out that the Neil Gaiman reading is scheduled during October break. They have now decided to reschedule it. This makes sense, but it is also annoying since I already got my ticket home. So now I can either a) sit around Swat until Monday doing nothing b) change my ticket or c) figure out something else to do that Friday afternoon - Sunday. Bah.

So when you empty the spam folder of Gmail, it says "Hooray, no spam here!" I find that amusing.

I got my CS stuff done (output not quite as pretty as it should be, but at least correct) and read my English. Things left to do: read for relgion, write religion paper, write English journal entry, catch up on CS reading, etc.

But now I nap. Because I really, really need it.

This is partially for the sake of my mom, and also because it's true - I'm actually doing quite well.

Yes, this current CS assignment has been more time consuming than I expected, yes I have a paper due in Religion on Friday that I haven't even thought about, plus other work. I also think I'm learning the meaning of over-extended first-hand this semester. Work, hanging out with people, Daily Gazette, choir, practicing for that skit last week... And now add on me applying to be on Small Craft Warnings' staff as well as DJing for WSRN and hopefully writing some reviews for the playlist... It's getting pretty busy.

At the same time, despite all the craziness, I'm really quite content. I've been spending a lot of time with a person I really like, I'm enjoying most of my classes, I'm getting to know Lauren a lot better as well as meeting some new people...

All in all, I'm having a good time. Busy, but nice.

I was supposed to go to my very first frat party last night. It ended up not happening for various reasons, most important being that the friend I was supposed to go with decided to watch anime with a *ahem* friend instead. So I played Wink instead, which was fun and, of course, violent. Surprisingly, no major rugburn this time (I think the socks helped), though I do have a lovely bruise on my hip, a tender elbow that was landed on, and perhaps a bit of a bruised sternum as well. Nevertheless, good fun.

Today's plan: read stuff for theatre, probably read stuff for religion, try to come up with a paper topic for religion, maybe read for CS, postpone having my ass kicked again by CS until tomorrow afternoon. Tonight: WSRN meeting, which means that hopefully I will soon get a radio show again. Not sure when broadcasting starts, but I'm eagerly awaiting it.

I also just signed up to give blood. I can't say I'm afraid of needles after getting a tattoo, and it's been a year since I got the tattoo, so I'm allowed to give now. I'm a bit nervous, but that's better than feeling guilty if I don't do it.

Time to do work now, whee.

CS is currently kicking my ass. Rar. I just want this program to work, dammit. Then I can move onto the next one and proceed to get my ass kicked by that. Wasn't this supposed to be easy? Apparently not as easy as I thought.

Rar again.

I don't learn, it seems. No matter how vauge something may seem to me, someone figures it out. Generally the person(s) I would rather not have the information. So yeah, blogging can come back to haunt you. That's another piece of good advice my mom gave me that I have evidently not followed. I need to work on that.

Some loafing about for the next 30 minutes, and then back to campus for a rehearsal... I'm in a skit for Directing I. Whee. I get to be dead for at least part of it, which will be kind of nice, actually. I feel a bit dead now, so I might as well get to act like it.

How is it that something that made/makes me so happy can also screw up so many other things and make me feel like hell?

Maybe the next time I get good advice I'll actually listen to it.

I feel really crappy at the moment. I will use one of my three absences from gym and not go. It sucks that today is such a busy day -- even without gym, I have religion class, a DG article to write, a spec to contact, reading to do, chorus, and a rehearsal for a Directing I skit that I'm acting in. That takes me up to 1 am... Bleh.

Copyright 2002 Anne Taintor. Please don't sue, etc.

So this sort of sums it up in a vauge way. Sorry Mom.

Last night was a bit weird. Very awkward, but eventually nice. Today, I think, will continue to be more of the same. I should know better, but I'm really happy anyway.

Lauren was cool enough to help me with my hair, so it's on it's way to being mahogany red brown. I just have to sit here for about 20 more minutes. Such fun. And then I will rinse out the color, apply the conditioner, and hopefully have pretty hair.

After that comes work. I need to read a play, write a paper, read some poems, and read for religion. It will be a fun filled afternoon, I am sure.

I watched Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind tonight. It was really good, though a bit weird, especially right after a break up, since that plays a big part in the movie.

I have hair dye sitting on my shelf, just waiting to be used. I need to find someone to help me do it -- I'm afraid that if I do it myself I'll miss a huge spot. And that would be very bad. So hopefully I'll be able to enlist someone, since I promised myself that I would dye it by Monday.

Life is weird and complicated, which can sometimes be nice, but right now it's really not. Bah.

So I was wondering if I could make a decent Goth. I have no real intention of become one, partially because I don't have a super-strong desire to align myself with a specific scene, but there are certain things that appeal to me. I've been listening to some really good, at least sort-of-goth music (yay for Finlay's iTunes for that one) and have been enjoying it a lot. A great deal of my wardrobe is already black. I treasure my steel-toed Docs and like black eyeliner. And I love corsets and some other goth clothes. I lust after just about everything I've seen at Heavy Red, and really wish I could have it. Just try and tell me that the Transylvanian concubine corset isn't beautiful, or that the Gothic couture garter dress and the empire waist pinstripe skirt with corset back aren't insanely cool looking. I will not listen, because I find them so pretty, and wish I had a reason to own them and a place to wear them.

And yes, I know that all of the above is pretty generalized and stereotypical. Sorry. But damn those clothes are pretty.

I'm hosting a spec (prospective student, for those who don't know) on Thursday. Niftiness.

I'm mostly better. I just had a bit of a moment when I saw a picture of us, but I'm okay. I'm going to be fine.

I'm really not sure how today could be any worse. I mean, I'm sure it's possible, but really, I don't even want to contemplate it.

So I tried posting three times last night, and each time it didn't want to post. And now today all three showed up. But I deleted two of the three, because otherwise it would be really redundant.

I really, really want to sleep. But I need to get some work done before I can do that without feeling too guilty. Blah. English definately needs to be done, since that's due tomorrow. But I should do some religion as well, because I'm going into Philly tomorrow with my theatre class and will therefore have less time to deal with it tomorrow evening. Or maybe I'll just stay up late tomorrow night. There's always a good chance of that.

Tonight (yesterday, actually) has been interesting. And immensely draining. And I can't even do my Gazette compiling duties fully because Eudora is being weird. Rar. I just want to sleep for a day or two. Maybe three.

Turns out the girl next door will not be moving after all. The room she was going to move into has become unavailable, since its current resident decided to stay. So she's stuck here.

Sleep soon, then hopefully a good interesting day tomorrow.

I just went for a run. An actual run, not a half jog, mostly walk thing. I did walk some, but it was inbetween periods of serious, hard running and only when I felt that I might not live if I didn't stop to breathe. I need to work on my endurance. I think instead of going to the gym to do cardio on Tuesdays and Thursdays I'll run instead... Hopefully my shins will be able to deal with it. Running is nice... My mind goes blank for the most part, just focusing on the movement and the breathing... I don't have to think about anything until I stop. Then of course, it all comes flooding back. But it's a nice escape for a bit.

I'm disgusting right now, so I really need to shower. I didn't know it was possible to get this sweaty in this short of a time period. Ew.

The girl who lives next door is moving out, switching to a dorm on campus. It kind of sucks, because she's cool, but she's promised to visit a lot. She just wants a place where she can go during the day instead of lugging all her stuff around and having to make the trek back here... Which is very understandable.

So much drama lately. It sucks.

I need sleep, but I don't want to actually go to sleep. Blah. But I have to work out tomorrow morning, which will be easier if I'm a bit awake. Plus I have theatre tomorrow afternoon, and I really need to be awake for that.

ML basement, not know for its hall life, is actually thriving. At least in my little corner of the hall, since I've gotten to know the guy across the hall and the girl next door. They're both pretty cool, as is my RA and some other people on the hall. So yay.

Sleep now.

Death Cab for Cutie and Pretty Girls Make Graves are playing in Philly on October 20th. I am going to do my very, very best to make sure I'm at that concert. Can you imagine how great of a show that will be? I don't even care that it's a Wednesday and I have choir. I'll use my one free absence just so I can go.

I had my first meeting for the Daily Gazette today, and it seemed pretty cool. I already know some people involved, so that's nice. I've agreed to write on article and do the compiling (putting the issue together) on Tuesdays. Whee. We'll see how it goes.

Tomorrow is my last day of non-gym gym class. Next week I actually have to start working out. Blah. I also have religion (which I need to finish the reading for, such fun), but that's about it. I'll work on my CS homework, and then Lauren and I are going to go swimming, which should be cool. There's also some magician coming to campus, which I will go and see because it may be interesting and also because the article I agreed to write is a summary about it. So tomorrow should be good. And then it's officially the weekend, yay!

The good thing about having all the readings for my theatre class on Blackboard as opposed to in books: I don't have to buy books. The downside: I have to print them off, and right now that's taking a long time. Rar.

Please excuse me as I have a fan-girl moment. Neil Gaiman is coming to Swat. YAY! I'm thrilled. The timing isn't great -- it's actually during October break -- but my plans weren't set in stone, so therefore they shall change so that I can go to the reading. Because there is no way that I am missing this.

*dances happily*

Time for choir.

I just realized that the Blogger NavBar was cutting off the top of my page and thus hiding the title. But that's been fixed now. Woot.

Did most of my CS homework today (all but the reading)... The tutorial for Emacs, the editor we'll be using was ungodly long, but that may be a result of me taking notes. I need to know the commands, and I knew if I didn't write them down I'd forget and have to go through the tutorial again, which I was not about to do.

Read for English class. We're starting off with Walt Whitman, which is okay. Then we're doing some Dickinson. The class goes into more contemporary stuff than I expected. Yes, it's called MODERN American Poetry, but based on some of the names they listed in the course guide, I wasn't sure what exactly to make of that. Or maybe my mind has just been screwed up with terms like modern, post-modern, and contemporary, and now I can't keep anything straight. Anyway, we start with Whitman and Dickinson, since they've been very influential, but then we also do some Gertrude Stein, T.S. Eliot, Frost, Ginsberg, Plath, and many others. Coolness.

Time for dinner, then choir. Choir should rock this year: Beethoven's 9th and Mozart's Requiem. Yay!

My official schedule now:

Monday
9:30-10:20 am -- Fitness training
10:30-11:20 am -- Religion and Human Experience
1-4 pm -- Theatre and Perfromance

Tuesday
9:55-11:10 am -- Modern American Poetry
2:40-3:55 pm -- Computer Science 21

Wednesday
9:30-10:20 am -- Fitness training
10:30-11:20 am -- Religion and Human Experience
7-10 pm -- Chorus

Thursday
Same as Tuesday

Friday
9:30-10:20 am -- Fitness training
10:30-11:20 am -- Religion and Human Experience

Whee.

My computer was being screwed up, and thanks to ITS and the net registration, I couldn't get online. But both problems have been fixed now, hallelujah. And whatever you do, don't download Service Pack 2 for Windows XP. I'm pretty sure it's what made my computer freeze up so much yesterday. After I got rid of it last night, my computer was fine.

Other than that... Nothing. I have to go read for my religion class now.

Dinner was nice; they gave us slices of orange at the end, which was odd to me but also very tasty. I need to eat oranges more often.

Hung out with Matt afterwards, came back to ML, met the guy across the hall from me, battled with my computer a bit (it was freezing up for some reason), wrote some, and am now back on the computer. Fun fun.

Classes start tomorrow. I have two, plus one I may add. Whee. I'm not sure how going straight from the gym to the religion class will work out... It should be okay, I guess. I just hope I have enough time to make it from one to the other.

Time to sleep - I actually have to wake up at a decent hour tomorrow.

I went swimming for the second day in a row today... Did some psuedo laps with Lauren (not as hardcore as the people who were seriously swimming) and stood around and chatted. My arms hurt from the swimming.

Classes start tomorrow, and I still don't have a fourth course. The prof for Theatre and Performance hasn't emailed me back yet, so I don't know if there's room in the class. I'll go tomorrow and see. Otherwise I may try the Playwriting Workshop, though I'm a bit nervous about that. Yes, I meet the prereqs, but it still seems intimidating to me.

Today was the activity fair... I signed up for the Daily Gazette (a daily news thing at school sent to people via email) and one of the lit mags. There was at least one other lit mag I was interested in, but they didn't seem to have a table set up. Oh well.

A bunch of us are going to go into the Ville tonight and get Chinese... It should be fun; at least it will be nicer than all of us sitting on the floor eating with plastic utensils.

It seems that Intro to Film and Media Studies is full now, so I won't be able to take it after all. Curses. Now I'm trying to get into Theatre and Performance, so we'll see how that goes.

I played poker last night, and came out exactly even. Put in $5, took $5 out. Not bad.

I will hopefully be dying my hair red sometime today. I'm not sure how the currently greenish parts will turn out, but oh well.

Ugh. I was woken up about 40 minutes ago by the fire alarm. It reminded me of the multiple times that happened last year, but at least this time it wasn't 3 am, freezing, and horrible. This time is was just very annoying. No fire, but something about a water break or something... Not entirely sure at the moment.

Anyway, now I'm up. Joy of joys. I probably wouldn't have slept too much longer, but waking up without the alarm would have been nice.

I missed out on the Wink game tonight, which is sad, but I still had fun. More people are arriving on campus, which is great. I hung out with Mark, Nile, Rob, David, and John for a bit tonight, got to see the part of the new dorm, and dealt some Texas Hold 'Em for the Saloon night.

Tomorrow (well, later today, actually) is my last day of CA duties. It is also the day when campus will be flooded with returning students. Yay! The downside is that classes start on Monday, and I'm not sure if I'm ready for that yet. But I don't really have a choice. At least my schedule is pretty nice.

Monday
9:30-10:20 am -- Fitness training (aka work out for gym credit)
10:30-11:20 am -- Religion and Human Experience
7-10 pm -- Intro to Film and Media Studies film screening

Tuesday
9:55-11:10 am -- Modern American Poetry
2:40-3:55 pm -- Computer Science 21 (coding in C++ and such)

Wednesday
9:30-10:20 am -- Fitness training
10:30-11:20 am -- Religion and Human Experience
1:15-4 pm -- Intro to Film and Media Studies class
7-10 pm -- Chorus

Thursday
Same as Tuesday

Friday
9:30-10:20 am -- Fitness training
10:30-11:20 am -- Religion and Human Experience

And then somewhere in there I'll hopefully have a radio show as well. All in all, I think it will be a good semester.

So I just got back from Collection, a sort of ceremony for first years. On my way back from campus, I encountered Gracie out for a walk with her owners. Gracie seemed to remember me (her tail started wagging and she was all happy), and I finally got to meet her owners. They seem very nice, and apparently they knew of my existance - they told me the dog's name was Gracie, and I said that I knew, and that I had visited her a lot last year, to which they responded, "Oh, are you that girl?" I am indeed that girl. They don't have any problem with me playing with Gracie, and invited me to stop by any time. So that's cool. And apparently Gracie was sad when I left Swat last year - for a week she went outside and waited for me to walk by, but I never came. Poor girl.

Also spotted tonight were 2 cats on campus. Not the Willets' Cat, but what I have dubbed the Sproul Cats. One is white with a brown tail, and the other is an orange tiger... I have seen both of them before, and I believe they eat the food set up by the back door of Sproul. I think they need to migrate over to Willets - neither of them seem as well fed as the Willets' Cat. They also seem less socialable - they both ran away from me, and when they bumped into each other there was some hissing.

Not a whole lot else happened today. I slept late, did a few odds and ends around campus, and finally got a decent meal at dinner. Tomorrow my CA group has a few things going on, and then Friday marks the return of the well, returning students. Nifty.

So the first day of actual CA duties (and the most serious and busy one) is over with. I spent 3 lovely hours in the morning helping people unload, another 1 and 1/2 answering questions and such, and then later listened to some speeches (the same as last year, almost word for word except for a few changes) and then met all my CAees. They all seem pretty nice and cool, and overall things went really well. It was an exhausting day, though. Luckily, I have nothing to do tomorrow until 6:50 pm. I will not be setting my alarm clock. There is no way.

Other than that, not much to say... My hall has livened up a little bit more, as has the dorm as a whole. I think it will be a good school year.

I made it my unofficial goal to cover the vast majority of the walls on my half of the room with stuff. I like stuff, stuff is nice, and I don't like white walls all that much. I feel that I have accomplished my goal. There are a few posters that I can't really make use of (too big for the closet doors, just not enough room elsewhere, unless I resort to the ceiling, where they will probably fall down), and I'm awaiting one more that one of my former specs is giving me, which will hopefully fit on the back of the door. If it doesn't, I don't know what I'll do with it. Perhaps invade Marci's half with it, but I'd feel a bit bad about that.

More orientation prep stuff tomorrow, and hopefully the buying of books as well. I want to get in there and get it over with before the mad rush starts. The aisles are not wide enough to manuver in when there is a mad rush. There is lots of bumping and toe-stepping and apologizing, and I would like to just avoid that whole mess.

I think I'm going to go play with my wonderful fridge-front of Magnetic Poetry now. Whee!

It seems that the Orientation Committee is not all that well organized. However, we're still managing to do the things that need to be done, so it should all turn out okay.

My brain is trying to deal with the reality of waking up "early" (read: early than I had been getting up back home; any time before 11 am), so I'm kind of groggy and such. Not a great thing, but also not too much of a problem since I haven't had to do anything too mentally taxing. But I need to get used to things before classes, otherwise things will fall apart.

I'm off to do something mindless now.

It's raining... Looks like I won't be heading up to campus to buy my books right now after all. Because hauling back textbooks in the rain is just not fun. I have plenty of time to get them anyway...

Back to hanging posters and such, then.

I'm officially moved in. I still have to hang up my posters and such, but everything else is in place. I have nothing to do until 8:30 tonight other than hang said posters and wander up to campus to get my books. Training and other various things for CA-dom start tomorrow, the frosh arrive on Tuesday, and then orientation gets into full swing.

I encountered the Willets cat yesterday, only the 3rd time since I've started college. Nice cat, even if it is a bit elusive.

Not much else to say. Things should get more exciting once more people arrive.

Except for a few last minute things, I'm all packed up and ready to go. I leave in about nine hours, have a lovely long drive, and move in Friday. Whee!

Other than that, not much to say... Quincyians, I will see you later. Swatties, I will see you soon. Everyone else... I don't know.

Today was an interesting day... I ran some errands (not interesting) and was complimented on my blue hair by an old stoner (somewhat interesting). The truly interesting part of the day, however, was this: my father quit/was asked to resign from his job today due to personality clashes with the CEO or something. There didn't seem to be an actual good reason. While it came as a bit of a shock - he was told today and today was his last day - it is also kind of nice. He can now follow up on some other prospects, which leads to another interesting bit: it's highly unlikely that he'd get another job in Quincy. Which means that within the next year, I will most likely end up moving. So. Interesting, no?

Also: I watched Goodbye Lenin! tonight. It was pretty good. Tomorrow I pack, and now I sleep.

My blue hair has faded and washed out to more of a teal color. It matches my boots. Too bad it's too warm for boots... Though it is abnormally cool for August.

Swatmail is down, it seems, thus preventing me from checking email. Arg. Curse it.

I find it mind-boggling that I head back to school in about four days. I'm ready for it, but I'm also not. I need to do things, like clean up my desk and pack and all. I keep saying I'm going to do it, but then I get distracted by things. Today the distraction was hanging out with Heather and seeing Princess Diaries 2. A perfectly worthy distraction, but still. I may actually set my alarm for tomorrow so that I get up at a decent time and get some more things accomplished.

In that case, I need to get some sleep so I'll actually get out of bed when the alarm goes off...

I was spoiled today, and it was lovely. Today was the spa day my mom gave me as a reward for helping out in Denver. So we went to a spa/salon in town and got pampered. I had a massage (amazing), facial (pretty nice), and a pedicure (great). We then wasted the rest of the day by just being lazy. It was so nice that we're thinking of making it an annual tradition. Yay!

I'm going to be awake for awhile yet, thanks to the 4 hour nap I took this afternoon. Oh well.

My blue hair... A bit faded from a few washings, but still hanging in there. I pulled back the top layer of (normal colored) hair so you could get a better look at the blue... So the back of my head doesn't look quite this blue when my hair is just down normally.