And then I realized: when I get back to school, I have to deal with people again. W&B, APO, it's all the same: I'm great until people actually start having minds of their own. It's great as long as they do whatever I say.
-Laurel
7.31.2005
Checking up on summer goals
At 40 days left until school, I made a list of my goals for the rest of the summer. I am now at the twenty-one-day mark, essentially the halfway point, and am hereby evaluating them:
-Play DDR for at least an hour a week. Come on, this should *not* be so hard. [I have essentially failed on this one. The first week worked; the nearly-two weeks after that have not, so far.]
-Go swimming once in a while, since we actually have a pool. [So far failing.]
-Read *Moby-Dick*. [This one's in progress.]
-Read at least six more Newberys before school starts, averaging one a week. This also should not be so hard. [So far failing.]
-Have (or, well, attend) at least three other mass home-friend gatherings before school. Great Northern Gatherings or bowling outings (*not* in Gates, or where-the-heck-ever charged us an arm and a leg) are cool, but I'm open to additional suggestions. [Defining a "mass gathering" as six or more people, including myself, I've attended somewhere between zero and two, depending on whether 1) Ananda's boyfriend counts as a home friend even though I've just met him, and 2) whether Matt's graduation party counts.]
-Clean out all the folders I brought home from school. [Haven't yet.]
-Find my extra clothes and donate them to the drive at church. [See previous. I guess it's not exactly a "drive," though, since it's ongoing.]
-Figure out whether Lisa ever got my message about not helping out at church this summer, since I left it over a month ago and never got a reply. [This one I have actually done. Score one.]
-Make challah at some point. [Not yet.]
-Either make or eat roasted-garlic soup. [See previous.]
-See Hitchhiker's Guide (I should do that soon; it won't be at Movies 10 forever) with Erik and maybe my mom. [Accomplished. That makes two.]
-Find some way to see the following people at least once more before school: Tim, Lydia (she lives around here, c'mon!), and possibly the capitol-districters (Chris/Evan). [A round failure thus far, but I've still got time.]
-Resist the temptation, however great, to start messing with the APO service program prior to August 10th, since there's nothing we can do 'til we're back on campus anyway. [Oh, this is going to be a failure and how. I'm not waiting any longer.]
So...two-and-a-quarter completed out of thirteen, with one debatable two-thirds completion...on pace to accomplish somewhere around five, but I think I'll do better than that because the rush especially in the last two weeks before school should make a few of these easier, like the mass gatherings and the folder-cleaning.
::shrugs:: They're only goals anyway. "Fail" is not really the most semantically-accurate word I could be using here. Still, it reminds me of how much I can do with my next three weeks.
-Laurel
-Play DDR for at least an hour a week. Come on, this should *not* be so hard. [I have essentially failed on this one. The first week worked; the nearly-two weeks after that have not, so far.]
-Go swimming once in a while, since we actually have a pool. [So far failing.]
-Read *Moby-Dick*. [This one's in progress.]
-Read at least six more Newberys before school starts, averaging one a week. This also should not be so hard. [So far failing.]
-Have (or, well, attend) at least three other mass home-friend gatherings before school. Great Northern Gatherings or bowling outings (*not* in Gates, or where-the-heck-ever charged us an arm and a leg) are cool, but I'm open to additional suggestions. [Defining a "mass gathering" as six or more people, including myself, I've attended somewhere between zero and two, depending on whether 1) Ananda's boyfriend counts as a home friend even though I've just met him, and 2) whether Matt's graduation party counts.]
-Clean out all the folders I brought home from school. [Haven't yet.]
-Find my extra clothes and donate them to the drive at church. [See previous. I guess it's not exactly a "drive," though, since it's ongoing.]
-Figure out whether Lisa ever got my message about not helping out at church this summer, since I left it over a month ago and never got a reply. [This one I have actually done. Score one.]
-Make challah at some point. [Not yet.]
-Either make or eat roasted-garlic soup. [See previous.]
-See Hitchhiker's Guide (I should do that soon; it won't be at Movies 10 forever) with Erik and maybe my mom. [Accomplished. That makes two.]
-Find some way to see the following people at least once more before school: Tim, Lydia (she lives around here, c'mon!), and possibly the capitol-districters (Chris/Evan). [A round failure thus far, but I've still got time.]
-Resist the temptation, however great, to start messing with the APO service program prior to August 10th, since there's nothing we can do 'til we're back on campus anyway. [Oh, this is going to be a failure and how. I'm not waiting any longer.]
So...two-and-a-quarter completed out of thirteen, with one debatable two-thirds completion...on pace to accomplish somewhere around five, but I think I'll do better than that because the rush especially in the last two weeks before school should make a few of these easier, like the mass gatherings and the folder-cleaning.
::shrugs:: They're only goals anyway. "Fail" is not really the most semantically-accurate word I could be using here. Still, it reminds me of how much I can do with my next three weeks.
-Laurel
7.30.2005
::shrieked a little like Miguel from Don Juan and Miguel:: "What'chu want for nothing...r-r-r-r-rubber biscuit?"
Matt's party was all kinds of cool. The presents and cards were funny. The food was good (meatballs with grape jelly in the sauce...and they rocked!). We played Apples to Apples ("Matt & Kathy: Nauseating Glenn and Robbie since 2003" is still the best I can do, but I guess it's not bad so far), even though apparently I was a horrible person. :-P (My brilliance is so misunderstood. ::disdainful sniff::) We played big-ball ping-pong, too, and sat around listening to music and watching weird downloaded video clips.
It is going to be so much fun this coming year. I get lots of time to kick back, cook things, get sleep, do my homework, save the world...
...heh, watch me waste it on AIM instead. :-P
-Laurel
It is going to be so much fun this coming year. I get lots of time to kick back, cook things, get sleep, do my homework, save the world...
...heh, watch me waste it on AIM instead. :-P
-Laurel
Matt's grad party today! ::dances::
Dang, it's noon and I've already had a nap today. 'swhat happens when you get up at 7 am after going to bed at, like, one.
It made me laugh, so I'm going to put it here, that Casey from school calls DaVinci Code "her personal Silmarillion" because she can't get past the first twenty pages. ::giggles:: Glad to know I'm not the only one who failed the first two or three tries.
-Laurel
It made me laugh, so I'm going to put it here, that Casey from school calls DaVinci Code "her personal Silmarillion" because she can't get past the first twenty pages. ::giggles:: Glad to know I'm not the only one who failed the first two or three tries.
-Laurel
7.29.2005
Outing excitement, times two!
Last night Bethie and Aneya and I went out for ice cream again. I got the scariest smoothie ever, just ask them. We laughed and laughed about stupid things. Then we went to Wal-Mart. We found scary convulsive puffballs (which would be a good name for an all-girl punk band or something...ladies and gentlemen, the Convulsive Puffballs!). We declare utter disdain for Bratz dolls and redesigned Treasure Trolls. We all have a new suffix (for lack of a better term), "Cameron." Barefoot Pam made a very brief appearance.
And guess what guess what guess what. My dad got a coupon in the mail, and gave it to me, for one free game of bowling at one of the local lanes...for each person in my group, up to ten people, even though we have to pay for renting the shoes. Expires end of August. ...Random bowling outing, home-friends! Yeah, man!
-Laurel
And guess what guess what guess what. My dad got a coupon in the mail, and gave it to me, for one free game of bowling at one of the local lanes...for each person in my group, up to ten people, even though we have to pay for renting the shoes. Expires end of August. ...Random bowling outing, home-friends! Yeah, man!
-Laurel
7.28.2005
Vacation, Cliffs Notes style
So I planned to write a whole huge thing about being in DC, and then I realized that nobody would care, including me. So here are the main points:
-I got to see the Boy Scouts before all their woes made the news; before the trouble started, we touched down in DC only to find that many, many troops had come early to hang around the Capitol, apparently before they proceeded to VA. (Unless the campsite for the Jamboree is really near that part of VA. I don't know.) So everywhere we went that first day, the Boy Scouts were sure to go. My dad was kind of annoyed, because they made everything really crowded. I thought it was hysterical, and kept checking the left arms of every troop that went by, reading their troop numbers and looking for the one from home. No sign. Ah, well.
-I got to see the inside of the Supreme Court, which was super-cool, not to mention smaller than I expected. I learned a lot, and enjoyed gazing at the friezes.
-There is a lot of marble in DC, and I don't know why.
-Some memorials and historic sites are better at night. But some of them are really poorly lit, considering the number of people who visit them by night.
-The Metro is much cleaner and simpler (and possibly cheaper) than the New York subway system. It reminded me of London, though they could use London's PA systems, or at least clearer ones than they've got.
-The Library of Congress is very artistically done, but, in the Jefferson Building at least, it does not contain any accessible books, which was a big disappointment.
-DC is more beautiful, slightly calmer, and more politically powerful than NYC, but what it really wants, deep down, is to be NYC. If you don't believe me, look at the shops, some of the ads, and the fact that the hotel gave us copies of the Times instead of the Post.
-In my opinion, at least, the International Spy Museum's gift shop is cooler than the actual museum, even though it makes a clear effort to avoid this.
-For those people on the choir trip to Boston in high school: I went to Legal Seafood. It's good stuff. But if you're coming for dinner, bringing a twenty might not cut it, and I'm talking about if you're alone.
-I saw the weirdest 7-Eleven. I'll show people the picture sometime.
-I had quite a nauseating shuttle ride from the hotel to Dulles Airport; it is not my place to heckle any driver, because they probably aren't worse than I am on the whole, but let me say that I have never had a police car honk at me, like this guy did while we were riding.
-Independence Air's most interesting feature, which is also its weirdest, is that its flight-safety announcement spiels are done by professional comedians, pre-recorded. You don't exactly roll in the aisle seats, but I'm still amused by such comments as, "[In case of a water landing], the cushions blah blah blah...and you might as well have some fun with it. Marco! ...Polo!"
So that was my vacation, which brought out everything I like and everything I loathe about my family, not that you asked. Now I'm back here, essentially the same as I was before, which is to say that at this moment Tom and I are having an argument about the nature of good and evil with regards to Harry Potter and the real world, which, yes, is every bit as stupid a thing to do as you may have expected. So nothing's changed, but the break was nice.
Yesterday I had to drive the MouseMobile in to work, or at least I thought I had to, and once I had, it turned out I hadn't had to, but never mind. ...The MouseMobile was my car freshman year, and went under the name "White Lightning," which it got from APO for being, well, white and aerodynamic. (My current car is also white, and is of the same make, but not as small, nor as aerodynamic. I have named it "Lightning the Larger.") But then White Lightning spent a year in my aunt and uncle's barn, with the plan that eventually my brother would inherit it when he got his license. This he did yesterday, but not in White Lightning. Not only is Lightning the Larger easier for my brother to parallel park, but it smells better, so he took it to his driving test.
Why the malodorous quality to White Lightning? It was in a barn for a year. A family of mice moved in. They did lots of mousy things. It smells like a badly-neglected pet shop in there. Believe me, I know; I drove it to work and back with the windows fully down, even though it was raining, and turned off all the venting because running it made me gag.
But when I got home from work, the brother hadn't yet left for the test, so I could've taken my own car. Oh, well.
I'm gonna get off the computer soonish. Or something. I'm almost done cleaning my closet, which has got to be the news flash of the week from this household, at least when you've learned, as you have, of my brother being a licensed driver.
-Laurel
-I got to see the Boy Scouts before all their woes made the news; before the trouble started, we touched down in DC only to find that many, many troops had come early to hang around the Capitol, apparently before they proceeded to VA. (Unless the campsite for the Jamboree is really near that part of VA. I don't know.) So everywhere we went that first day, the Boy Scouts were sure to go. My dad was kind of annoyed, because they made everything really crowded. I thought it was hysterical, and kept checking the left arms of every troop that went by, reading their troop numbers and looking for the one from home. No sign. Ah, well.
-I got to see the inside of the Supreme Court, which was super-cool, not to mention smaller than I expected. I learned a lot, and enjoyed gazing at the friezes.
-There is a lot of marble in DC, and I don't know why.
-Some memorials and historic sites are better at night. But some of them are really poorly lit, considering the number of people who visit them by night.
-The Metro is much cleaner and simpler (and possibly cheaper) than the New York subway system. It reminded me of London, though they could use London's PA systems, or at least clearer ones than they've got.
-The Library of Congress is very artistically done, but, in the Jefferson Building at least, it does not contain any accessible books, which was a big disappointment.
-DC is more beautiful, slightly calmer, and more politically powerful than NYC, but what it really wants, deep down, is to be NYC. If you don't believe me, look at the shops, some of the ads, and the fact that the hotel gave us copies of the Times instead of the Post.
-In my opinion, at least, the International Spy Museum's gift shop is cooler than the actual museum, even though it makes a clear effort to avoid this.
-For those people on the choir trip to Boston in high school: I went to Legal Seafood. It's good stuff. But if you're coming for dinner, bringing a twenty might not cut it, and I'm talking about if you're alone.
-I saw the weirdest 7-Eleven. I'll show people the picture sometime.
-I had quite a nauseating shuttle ride from the hotel to Dulles Airport; it is not my place to heckle any driver, because they probably aren't worse than I am on the whole, but let me say that I have never had a police car honk at me, like this guy did while we were riding.
-Independence Air's most interesting feature, which is also its weirdest, is that its flight-safety announcement spiels are done by professional comedians, pre-recorded. You don't exactly roll in the aisle seats, but I'm still amused by such comments as, "[In case of a water landing], the cushions blah blah blah...and you might as well have some fun with it. Marco! ...Polo!"
So that was my vacation, which brought out everything I like and everything I loathe about my family, not that you asked. Now I'm back here, essentially the same as I was before, which is to say that at this moment Tom and I are having an argument about the nature of good and evil with regards to Harry Potter and the real world, which, yes, is every bit as stupid a thing to do as you may have expected. So nothing's changed, but the break was nice.
Yesterday I had to drive the MouseMobile in to work, or at least I thought I had to, and once I had, it turned out I hadn't had to, but never mind. ...The MouseMobile was my car freshman year, and went under the name "White Lightning," which it got from APO for being, well, white and aerodynamic. (My current car is also white, and is of the same make, but not as small, nor as aerodynamic. I have named it "Lightning the Larger.") But then White Lightning spent a year in my aunt and uncle's barn, with the plan that eventually my brother would inherit it when he got his license. This he did yesterday, but not in White Lightning. Not only is Lightning the Larger easier for my brother to parallel park, but it smells better, so he took it to his driving test.
Why the malodorous quality to White Lightning? It was in a barn for a year. A family of mice moved in. They did lots of mousy things. It smells like a badly-neglected pet shop in there. Believe me, I know; I drove it to work and back with the windows fully down, even though it was raining, and turned off all the venting because running it made me gag.
But when I got home from work, the brother hadn't yet left for the test, so I could've taken my own car. Oh, well.
I'm gonna get off the computer soonish. Or something. I'm almost done cleaning my closet, which has got to be the news flash of the week from this household, at least when you've learned, as you have, of my brother being a licensed driver.
-Laurel
7.21.2005
::singing:: So long and thanks for all the fish!
Saw Hitchhiker's Guide tonight with Erik. It was brilliant.
How such a movie could actually end up heartwarming, I don't know, but in a way it did, I think because they made Arthur Dent so adorably likable, more so than I ever got out of the book. Like, I think I must have wanted to like him and just found him a bit too dense and fussy or something, 'cause in the movie he's totally endearing, and it made me happy.
I have to check the book's description of Marvin, because I think that if it wasn't specified as such, such a big round head was a bad idea, but they couldn't have picked a better voice for him than Alan Rickman, so a thousand points on that one as well.
Actually, they did some good casting all round, in my opinion, and I'm quite happy with the way it turned out. I haven't read all the books 14 times or anything, but from the perspective of someone who got through the first two books (about once each) and spent many happy-if-often-puzzled hours on the text-based game (around 1999, but also this year when the BBC site relaunched it), the movie is no insult to Adams whatsoever, and I enjoyed it.
Thumbs up.
-Laurel
How such a movie could actually end up heartwarming, I don't know, but in a way it did, I think because they made Arthur Dent so adorably likable, more so than I ever got out of the book. Like, I think I must have wanted to like him and just found him a bit too dense and fussy or something, 'cause in the movie he's totally endearing, and it made me happy.
I have to check the book's description of Marvin, because I think that if it wasn't specified as such, such a big round head was a bad idea, but they couldn't have picked a better voice for him than Alan Rickman, so a thousand points on that one as well.
Actually, they did some good casting all round, in my opinion, and I'm quite happy with the way it turned out. I haven't read all the books 14 times or anything, but from the perspective of someone who got through the first two books (about once each) and spent many happy-if-often-puzzled hours on the text-based game (around 1999, but also this year when the BBC site relaunched it), the movie is no insult to Adams whatsoever, and I enjoyed it.
Thumbs up.
-Laurel
7.20.2005
More brief linkage
I know most people have heard this out of me at least once, but I've never appreciated this site more. Go look at it right now.
Rinkworks's Book-a-Minute
-Laurel
Rinkworks's Book-a-Minute
-Laurel
::tapping foot ever faster on chair::
Ohhhh my wooooord, what am I going to do for the next thirty-two days?
I can't go see friends every night of the week, but I'm so incredibly, irrepressibly, unquenchably antsy to go places and see people. It's like drinking salt water: the more I get, the worse it is without it. This isn't about Tim, this's about me being impatient and difficult, and I have to go do something, because I have had it up to here with AIM, reading, work, and W&B in a cadence like this, but there're still four and a half weeks before I'll ever escape it.
DC may help or it may not. It depends on whether the setting will help, or whether I need another set of people.
Oh, and by the way, the article in Time about J.K. Rowling was okay, but a message to Lev Grossman, the author: please air your grievances with C.S. Lewis's works on your own time, instead of using one author as an excuse to slam the other, okay? Even if J.K. Rowling didn't like Narnia. You were so close to being professional about it, but something about the line "if Lewis showed up [in HP], let's face it, he'd probably wind up a Death Eater" really brought you down short, especially after the comment that his books are "drenched in theology." Subtle, dude. Also a little exaggerative, but never mind.
I'm gonna go.
-Laurel
I can't go see friends every night of the week, but I'm so incredibly, irrepressibly, unquenchably antsy to go places and see people. It's like drinking salt water: the more I get, the worse it is without it. This isn't about Tim, this's about me being impatient and difficult, and I have to go do something, because I have had it up to here with AIM, reading, work, and W&B in a cadence like this, but there're still four and a half weeks before I'll ever escape it.
DC may help or it may not. It depends on whether the setting will help, or whether I need another set of people.
Oh, and by the way, the article in Time about J.K. Rowling was okay, but a message to Lev Grossman, the author: please air your grievances with C.S. Lewis's works on your own time, instead of using one author as an excuse to slam the other, okay? Even if J.K. Rowling didn't like Narnia. You were so close to being professional about it, but something about the line "if Lewis showed up [in HP], let's face it, he'd probably wind up a Death Eater" really brought you down short, especially after the comment that his books are "drenched in theology." Subtle, dude. Also a little exaggerative, but never mind.
I'm gonna go.
-Laurel
Postcard from Dilbertland
Yay for half-hour breaks because of no real work to do.
Here's the conclusion I've come to after nine weeks here: everything they say about office politics is true.
Also, I think I'm going to have to start writing in Spanish more. Not here, obviously, but in general, lest I forget every vocabulary word I know, which I don't want to have happen. I keep thinking that maybe I can beat the odds and become fluent without the help of Spanish classes, based solely on my Spanish dictionary, my Spanish books, and Telemundo. Even though I wasn't fluent even with the classes.
Okay, and maybe cows'll sprout wings, but how 'bout I lose all my skill a little more slowly than I otherwise would?
I can't believe this week's class at W&B is half over. This's the quietest group of kids yet, but not, to be honest, incredibly fun or interesting. Though I ought to know some of these homeschooled kids when I come across them by now. Not to be stereotypical, but so far they are the most well-behaved kids, and so kind.
Ech, tomorrow we have to bust our butts in compiling an anthology. And after Friday...the trip to DC. Whoa. And after that, we're practically in August.
And thank goodness. I came back home "late" last summer because of Peru, but remember how June seemed to drag on forever, July went a little faster, and August faster still, which was a mercy 'cause I wanted to get the heck back to school. (...Not just 'cause'a Tim, though that was certainly a part of it.)
Same thing so far this year. May and June took ages, and feel now like they happened ages ago. July's gone fast enough to be tolerable, though I'm still antsy. Not to wish my life away, but I hope August hurries its dog-day-afternoon butt along. I thought at first that August 17-20, when so many of my friends are at school and I'm not, would be the worst days of that month, but now that I think about it, those last few days are among the best: packing is simultaneously exciting and a huge pain, and makes those last few get-togethers with home friends doubly worth it. And this year I get to spaz right along with Matt, Kathy, and Trevor, who'll follow me. The days of feeling stranded at home may well be over: I'll have the best of both worlds, just down a couple of streets.
Ooh, hamburgers cooking downstairs (work picnic), and I'm invited to have one. More another time.
-Laurel
Here's the conclusion I've come to after nine weeks here: everything they say about office politics is true.
Also, I think I'm going to have to start writing in Spanish more. Not here, obviously, but in general, lest I forget every vocabulary word I know, which I don't want to have happen. I keep thinking that maybe I can beat the odds and become fluent without the help of Spanish classes, based solely on my Spanish dictionary, my Spanish books, and Telemundo. Even though I wasn't fluent even with the classes.
Okay, and maybe cows'll sprout wings, but how 'bout I lose all my skill a little more slowly than I otherwise would?
I can't believe this week's class at W&B is half over. This's the quietest group of kids yet, but not, to be honest, incredibly fun or interesting. Though I ought to know some of these homeschooled kids when I come across them by now. Not to be stereotypical, but so far they are the most well-behaved kids, and so kind.
Ech, tomorrow we have to bust our butts in compiling an anthology. And after Friday...the trip to DC. Whoa. And after that, we're practically in August.
And thank goodness. I came back home "late" last summer because of Peru, but remember how June seemed to drag on forever, July went a little faster, and August faster still, which was a mercy 'cause I wanted to get the heck back to school. (...Not just 'cause'a Tim, though that was certainly a part of it.)
Same thing so far this year. May and June took ages, and feel now like they happened ages ago. July's gone fast enough to be tolerable, though I'm still antsy. Not to wish my life away, but I hope August hurries its dog-day-afternoon butt along. I thought at first that August 17-20, when so many of my friends are at school and I'm not, would be the worst days of that month, but now that I think about it, those last few days are among the best: packing is simultaneously exciting and a huge pain, and makes those last few get-togethers with home friends doubly worth it. And this year I get to spaz right along with Matt, Kathy, and Trevor, who'll follow me. The days of feeling stranded at home may well be over: I'll have the best of both worlds, just down a couple of streets.
Ooh, hamburgers cooking downstairs (work picnic), and I'm invited to have one. More another time.
-Laurel
7.19.2005
"I lost my man to Barefoot Pam!"
Tonight, in lieu of ice cream, Bethie and Aneya and I went minigolfing. This was fantastic fun: $6 bought us all of the following:
-one 18-hole game each of minigolf
-four game tokens each. Six went to Aneya and Laurel playing one round of DrumMania (or at least the knock-off)...
-...and the other six went to two games each of Skee-Ball (yay for Bethie!). The real kind, too, not the off-brand.
This in turn got us a total of 34 tickets, which got us three (3) cheap plastic rings and three (3) temporary tattoos, because we could really only afford two, but the nice counter-girl threw in a third. We applied these to our upper arms. Mine is a ring of tropical fish. It never occurred to me (Aneya had to make the guess) that this was really intended as a tattoo to be applied around one's navel, and that would explain why the fish were arranged in a circle.
We also went down to Borders, where I wish I'd gone, instead of K-Mart, when I was looking for a sympathy card for Heather's family, because the ones there are much more artistic and down-to-earth, suitable for people who've lost 21-year-olds. (The one I eventually found in K-Mart wasn't too bad.) One of them, incidentally, had a Little Prince quotation on it, which I hail as a very fitting use of said text.
Wacky concept of the night: Barefoot Pam, a country-music-lovin' gal who apparently, since Aneya and I had the same concept somehow, wears either red plaid or a red-and-white-checked shirt. Maybe she alternates because they go in the wash. I don't know.
-Laurel
-one 18-hole game each of minigolf
-four game tokens each. Six went to Aneya and Laurel playing one round of DrumMania (or at least the knock-off)...
-...and the other six went to two games each of Skee-Ball (yay for Bethie!). The real kind, too, not the off-brand.
This in turn got us a total of 34 tickets, which got us three (3) cheap plastic rings and three (3) temporary tattoos, because we could really only afford two, but the nice counter-girl threw in a third. We applied these to our upper arms. Mine is a ring of tropical fish. It never occurred to me (Aneya had to make the guess) that this was really intended as a tattoo to be applied around one's navel, and that would explain why the fish were arranged in a circle.
We also went down to Borders, where I wish I'd gone, instead of K-Mart, when I was looking for a sympathy card for Heather's family, because the ones there are much more artistic and down-to-earth, suitable for people who've lost 21-year-olds. (The one I eventually found in K-Mart wasn't too bad.) One of them, incidentally, had a Little Prince quotation on it, which I hail as a very fitting use of said text.
Wacky concept of the night: Barefoot Pam, a country-music-lovin' gal who apparently, since Aneya and I had the same concept somehow, wears either red plaid or a red-and-white-checked shirt. Maybe she alternates because they go in the wash. I don't know.
-Laurel
7.17.2005
Ahh, the wonder of pyrotechnics!
Had a very lazy Sunday: church, (twenty minutes of) DDR, lunch, long nap, playing Mario Party with my brother, eating pizza, more Mario Party, seeing the local fireworks display with Aneya. The fireworks were great; I can't think of a year that they were quite this good, though last year's were also lovely. ...Fireworks and Uno on fold-out chairs: who knew it could be so nice?
Man, it's a steam bath in this town--and none too comfy some days even in this air-conditioned house! And next week is supposed to be the same. When they said it'd be a hot summer, for once they were right. This is wreaking havoc on my nasturtiums (not one of them has flowered; what the heck?), but I'll take it.
Inadvertently I have acquired a light tan on my arms. I was surprised by this, but keep in mind that all this means is that I'm now the same shade as everyone else was before they tanned, heh.
It's gonna be a long stinking week, though. Erik wants to get together for chai sometime soon, which is exciting. I'd also like to see Glenn, because oddly enough he's been one of the nicest people to talk to this summer (okay, not so odd; we make a better friendship than couplehood, but we get along very well), not to mention somebody who could use an excuse to get out of his house (his mom won't let him get a job 'cause it takes away from family time...and he spent all last week trapped at home 'cause their only car was being fixed), but I always feel weird doing that now that we're not, you know, together. One-on-one stuff gets tricky, especially since we can't even get milkshakes or something; since his mom apparently only lets him have money for bigger-group things, to take him out of his house would only be to bring him to mine. Or the nature trail, but I get really bug-bitten doing that.
(*ahem* end tangent. I need to stop talking about boys on this stupid blog.)
Looking on the bright side, I have a graduation present for Matt, and today I sat with Kathy at church and made sure Lesa'd gotten my message about not helping with the kids for the summer, so that last is one summer goal fulfilled so far.
To bed soonish, I think; good night. :)
-Laurel
Man, it's a steam bath in this town--and none too comfy some days even in this air-conditioned house! And next week is supposed to be the same. When they said it'd be a hot summer, for once they were right. This is wreaking havoc on my nasturtiums (not one of them has flowered; what the heck?), but I'll take it.
Inadvertently I have acquired a light tan on my arms. I was surprised by this, but keep in mind that all this means is that I'm now the same shade as everyone else was before they tanned, heh.
It's gonna be a long stinking week, though. Erik wants to get together for chai sometime soon, which is exciting. I'd also like to see Glenn, because oddly enough he's been one of the nicest people to talk to this summer (okay, not so odd; we make a better friendship than couplehood, but we get along very well), not to mention somebody who could use an excuse to get out of his house (his mom won't let him get a job 'cause it takes away from family time...and he spent all last week trapped at home 'cause their only car was being fixed), but I always feel weird doing that now that we're not, you know, together. One-on-one stuff gets tricky, especially since we can't even get milkshakes or something; since his mom apparently only lets him have money for bigger-group things, to take him out of his house would only be to bring him to mine. Or the nature trail, but I get really bug-bitten doing that.
(*ahem* end tangent. I need to stop talking about boys on this stupid blog.)
Looking on the bright side, I have a graduation present for Matt, and today I sat with Kathy at church and made sure Lesa'd gotten my message about not helping with the kids for the summer, so that last is one summer goal fulfilled so far.
To bed soonish, I think; good night. :)
-Laurel
7.16.2005
No spoilers. At all. Honest.
Today, after the training at W&B (very nice, and I mean that genuinely), I took about seven-and-a-half hours and read Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. As in, yeah, the whole thing, start to finish. It didn't feel quite that long; I couldn't put it down, except for bathroom breaks. I read while I ate.
Since I've barely touched the computer since about one o'clock this morning, Eastern Daylight Time, I missed any spoilers that may have been within my sight online, and therefore got the whole plot to myself, to unfold at its leisure. Similarly, I will give no information.
It was amazing. Breathtaking.
And that's all I have to say.
-Laurel
Since I've barely touched the computer since about one o'clock this morning, Eastern Daylight Time, I missed any spoilers that may have been within my sight online, and therefore got the whole plot to myself, to unfold at its leisure. Similarly, I will give no information.
It was amazing. Breathtaking.
And that's all I have to say.
-Laurel
7.15.2005
Thirty-six days, two hours, and fifteen minutes...but that's okay.
Got out of the existentialism that may or may not be Rosencrantz and went back to teen-lit, in the form of Alice Alone. (It's one of a series. The book is good by itself, but better if you read the series. But unless you're female, I wouldn't recommend reading the series prior to...just about this book.)
Much nicer, in its way, and made me happy, though I still miss school and every little thing about it, even the dining hall food (yes, that is sad).
-Laurel
Much nicer, in its way, and made me happy, though I still miss school and every little thing about it, even the dining hall food (yes, that is sad).
-Laurel
thirty-seven days
Have just read Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, and I have to say, huh?
That we're going someplace for the new Harry Potter book at midnight is the best news I've heard all day. But what I can't figure out is whether I'm bored, or whether I think I'm bored when I'm actually lonely, and for all the wrong people, since they're the ones who aren't around or can't be reached.
Tim's family goes on vacation tomorrow and doesn't come back until the day my family goes on vacation. Ten days altogether without any chance of my hearing from him.
Ech, today, all of it, has been too darn depressing.
-Laurel
That we're going someplace for the new Harry Potter book at midnight is the best news I've heard all day. But what I can't figure out is whether I'm bored, or whether I think I'm bored when I'm actually lonely, and for all the wrong people, since they're the ones who aren't around or can't be reached.
Tim's family goes on vacation tomorrow and doesn't come back until the day my family goes on vacation. Ten days altogether without any chance of my hearing from him.
Ech, today, all of it, has been too darn depressing.
-Laurel
One from Tom, one from Zinni
From Tom:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4682123.stm
Go read.
And then, sometime, read Adam Gopnik's essay "Bumping into Mr. Ravioli," because it's a little like this, only in narrative form and even more wonderful.
The thing they mention about the salad dressings comes out of social psychology, by the way. It was in my text last semester.
And now, putting this up because Zinni made it herself:
You're attraction 20: "It's a Small
World" in fantasy land. You are
understanding. People love you because you
bring them together. Sometimes people find you
annoying because you get songs stuck in their
head, but you want everyone to get along and
have a good time. The more the merrier!!
What Walt Disney World Magic Kingdom attraction are you?
brought to you by Quizilla
-Laurel
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4682123.stm
Go read.
And then, sometime, read Adam Gopnik's essay "Bumping into Mr. Ravioli," because it's a little like this, only in narrative form and even more wonderful.
The thing they mention about the salad dressings comes out of social psychology, by the way. It was in my text last semester.
And now, putting this up because Zinni made it herself:
You're attraction 20: "It's a Small
World" in fantasy land. You are
understanding. People love you because you
bring them together. Sometimes people find you
annoying because you get songs stuck in their
head, but you want everyone to get along and
have a good time. The more the merrier!!
What Walt Disney World Magic Kingdom attraction are you?
brought to you by Quizilla
-Laurel
7.14.2005
What do you do when it's raining down sheets and the traffic lights are out? Go for ice cream!
It's come to my attention that I'm being too skitchy about the OG thing. This is really not just about my being an OG, but also about my being a cosmic perfectionist. But anyway.
Tonight Daf joined the ice-cream group, and she, Bethie, Aneya, and I went to the one closest to me. Since it's not that hard to get to and at least two of us (Aneya and I) had been there before, we decided to save it for a hurried or otherwise weird night. This turned out to be the weird night, because when I got picked up, it was already storming so hard that power was out in several places and we could hardly see in front of us.
Things to remember: the "catfish" ice-cream-eating maneuver, frozen banana hands, "them's good peoples", the semi-skeevy counter guys, and perhaps the rock-solid custard "wheel." Am I forgetting anything in particular?
Then, since the rain had pretty much stopped, we went to a nearby plaza and explored (this's the usual routine so far. Consume ice cream, look for nearest interesting plaza). I had no idea how cool that plaza was, even though the Chinese restaurant there is the best one I know. ...And Big Lots, man, talk about a surprisingly cool store.
What was really surprising was finding the one girl from school working there, that was in all the 300-level Spanish classes with me. (I want to call her Lauren, but I don't think that's her name.) I felt bad that it sounded like we were making fun of the store around then. We really did like the neon-light flamingoes, but it's hard to sound appreciative when you also think they're funny.
Thing to remember: the grunting Shrek chew toy. (It had a "grunter" in it, instead of a squeaker. It said right on the package.) Also, Christmas Crunch (thing not to buy) and Nestle Nestum. (Link to a description of Nestum, not to mention a very strange website, here. I'd like to point out that the official Nestle website refuses, as far as I can tell, to acknowledge Nestum's existence.)
Getting home from W&B today took 50 minutes instead of its usual 20-ish, since I ran into a traffic jam that made just getting through the Inner Loop take, I am serious, 30 minutes. Which's about five times what it's supposed to take. But that was okay; I listened to lots of Coldplay (was in the mood) and watched the action, and shook my tired braking foot out as much as possible.
Okay, my life is otherwise boring, so here I sign off.
My home friends are great and good. But I need to lead less boring a life than go to work, come home, do something in the evening, travel with family on weekends, repeat. When the school friends were here, that pattern was different.
-Laurel
Tonight Daf joined the ice-cream group, and she, Bethie, Aneya, and I went to the one closest to me. Since it's not that hard to get to and at least two of us (Aneya and I) had been there before, we decided to save it for a hurried or otherwise weird night. This turned out to be the weird night, because when I got picked up, it was already storming so hard that power was out in several places and we could hardly see in front of us.
Things to remember: the "catfish" ice-cream-eating maneuver, frozen banana hands, "them's good peoples", the semi-skeevy counter guys, and perhaps the rock-solid custard "wheel." Am I forgetting anything in particular?
Then, since the rain had pretty much stopped, we went to a nearby plaza and explored (this's the usual routine so far. Consume ice cream, look for nearest interesting plaza). I had no idea how cool that plaza was, even though the Chinese restaurant there is the best one I know. ...And Big Lots, man, talk about a surprisingly cool store.
What was really surprising was finding the one girl from school working there, that was in all the 300-level Spanish classes with me. (I want to call her Lauren, but I don't think that's her name.) I felt bad that it sounded like we were making fun of the store around then. We really did like the neon-light flamingoes, but it's hard to sound appreciative when you also think they're funny.
Thing to remember: the grunting Shrek chew toy. (It had a "grunter" in it, instead of a squeaker. It said right on the package.) Also, Christmas Crunch (thing not to buy) and Nestle Nestum. (Link to a description of Nestum, not to mention a very strange website, here. I'd like to point out that the official Nestle website refuses, as far as I can tell, to acknowledge Nestum's existence.)
Getting home from W&B today took 50 minutes instead of its usual 20-ish, since I ran into a traffic jam that made just getting through the Inner Loop take, I am serious, 30 minutes. Which's about five times what it's supposed to take. But that was okay; I listened to lots of Coldplay (was in the mood) and watched the action, and shook my tired braking foot out as much as possible.
Okay, my life is otherwise boring, so here I sign off.
My home friends are great and good. But I need to lead less boring a life than go to work, come home, do something in the evening, travel with family on weekends, repeat. When the school friends were here, that pattern was different.
-Laurel
7.13.2005
They're my friends, and I can give them a slightly-unfair edge if I want to... :-P
::chanting:: It's not OGing week yet. It's not OGing week yet. It's not OGing week yet. I can favor specific freshmen, and call them freshmen, and give opinions on professors if I want to, 'cause it's not August yet.
As such, since there's nothing on Banner that I could find to prohibit the practice (not that I looked except as an afterthought), I am perfectly justified in signing into Banner, looking over all the classes Matt wants to take fall semester (he'll be incoming), and telling him which ones he was and was not likely to get into, based on the number of students still allowed in. I am justified in helping him choose alternates. And in checking some of Kathy's while I was at it. We're prohibited to sign up for them, not to give them help in signing up themselves. :-P
Okay, so it's still unfair to give the home-slices an edge. But I did it anyway. Here's hoping Tim and Albert and Evan don't send me to OG Coventry. (As in the state of exile. Not the place in the state of Rhode Island.) Martha Stewart went to jail for getting mixed up in inside information. ;-)
-Laurel
As such, since there's nothing on Banner that I could find to prohibit the practice (not that I looked except as an afterthought), I am perfectly justified in signing into Banner, looking over all the classes Matt wants to take fall semester (he'll be incoming), and telling him which ones he was and was not likely to get into, based on the number of students still allowed in. I am justified in helping him choose alternates. And in checking some of Kathy's while I was at it. We're prohibited to sign up for them, not to give them help in signing up themselves. :-P
Okay, so it's still unfair to give the home-slices an edge. But I did it anyway. Here's hoping Tim and Albert and Evan don't send me to OG Coventry. (As in the state of exile. Not the place in the state of Rhode Island.) Martha Stewart went to jail for getting mixed up in inside information. ;-)
-Laurel
7.12.2005
a matter of consequence
I decided tonight, since I was so naive as to not know anything about it, really, that after hearing several references to it in the past months and even seeing a whole calendar devoted to it when my family went to Yale with my dad's friends (not having, apparently, anything else to do in Connecticut), it was time I read The Little Prince. So I did, all at once; I think it took me a little less than an hour.
I should know better, far better, than to ask how something could be so famous and popular, even among children, when it's also so startling, cold-warm, and sad.
I guess I can see it. But why put it on calendars?
-Laurel
I should know better, far better, than to ask how something could be so famous and popular, even among children, when it's also so startling, cold-warm, and sad.
I guess I can see it. But why put it on calendars?
-Laurel
And this is me not playing DDR like I should be.
Today at W&B was pretty darn mediocre, but when I got home, I asked if we could go out for Chinese, so we did. What I got was mango chicken, which apparently is actually Thai, but was delectable.
Then I went to the library. Total books taken out: 5. Copies of Moby-Dick: 1.
Newberys: 0. ...::snorts::
Turns out that Dave Barry, my favorite humorist ever, was in London when the bombs went off, and by chance he and his family hadn't been riding the Underground that morning, since they'd been taking it "like crazy" before that. Yiesh.
And now for some links I can't resist posting (thanks to Tim and the Dave Barry blog):
Fireworks!
So deadpan it's funny.
Same here.
Okay, time to get off the computer.
-Laurel
Then I went to the library. Total books taken out: 5. Copies of Moby-Dick: 1.
Newberys: 0. ...::snorts::
Turns out that Dave Barry, my favorite humorist ever, was in London when the bombs went off, and by chance he and his family hadn't been riding the Underground that morning, since they'd been taking it "like crazy" before that. Yiesh.
And now for some links I can't resist posting (thanks to Tim and the Dave Barry blog):
Fireworks!
So deadpan it's funny.
Same here.
Okay, time to get off the computer.
-Laurel
Once again, this is me not having any work to do at work.
The bread from last night tastes good, like last time, but again it's mushy in the middle even though I cooked it so that I was afraid it'd burn on the outside if I left it in any longer.
I haven't felt that good late last night or today; maybe it's the minor lack of sleep.
I had another random thought, like from yesterday's update, but now I can't remember it. Fascinating, I know.
Here are the things, since apparently I like to set listy goals (read every Newbery book; go to this many Abbott's ice cream shops with Aneya and Bethie; play every DDR file, at least on "light," that I d/led from Bemanistyle), that I still want to do this summer:
-Play DDR for at least an hour a week. Come on, this should not be so hard.
-Go swimming once in a while, since we actually have a pool.
-Read Moby-Dick.
-Read at least six more Newberys before school starts, averaging one a week. This also should not be so hard.
-Have (or, well, attend) at least three other mass home-friend gatherings before school. Great Northern Gatherings or bowling outings (*not* in Gates, or where-the-heck-ever charged us an arm and a leg) are cool, but I'm open to additional suggestions.
-Clean out all the folders I brought home from school.
-Find my extra clothes and donate them to the drive at church.
-Figure out whether Lisa ever got my message about not helping out at church this summer, since I left it over a month ago and never got a reply.
-Make challah at some point.
-Either make or eat roasted-garlic soup.
-See Hitchhiker's Guide (I should do that soon; it won't be at Movies 10 forever) with Erik and maybe my mom.
-Find some way to see the following people at least once more before school: Tim, Lydia (she lives around here, c'mon!), and possibly the capitol-districters (Chris/Evan).
-Resist the temptation, however great, to start messing with the APO service program prior to August 10th, since there's nothing we can do 'til we're back on campus anyway.
Okay, maybe I'll work on the list more later. Though probably not. That may yet be enough goals for forty days.
Chris Rice's music is darn good, by the way. Have been listening to it for the past two days and remember why I loved it so much in high school.
-Laurel
I haven't felt that good late last night or today; maybe it's the minor lack of sleep.
I had another random thought, like from yesterday's update, but now I can't remember it. Fascinating, I know.
Here are the things, since apparently I like to set listy goals (read every Newbery book; go to this many Abbott's ice cream shops with Aneya and Bethie; play every DDR file, at least on "light," that I d/led from Bemanistyle), that I still want to do this summer:
-Play DDR for at least an hour a week. Come on, this should not be so hard.
-Go swimming once in a while, since we actually have a pool.
-Read Moby-Dick.
-Read at least six more Newberys before school starts, averaging one a week. This also should not be so hard.
-Have (or, well, attend) at least three other mass home-friend gatherings before school. Great Northern Gatherings or bowling outings (*not* in Gates, or where-the-heck-ever charged us an arm and a leg) are cool, but I'm open to additional suggestions.
-Clean out all the folders I brought home from school.
-Find my extra clothes and donate them to the drive at church.
-Figure out whether Lisa ever got my message about not helping out at church this summer, since I left it over a month ago and never got a reply.
-Make challah at some point.
-Either make or eat roasted-garlic soup.
-See Hitchhiker's Guide (I should do that soon; it won't be at Movies 10 forever) with Erik and maybe my mom.
-Find some way to see the following people at least once more before school: Tim, Lydia (she lives around here, c'mon!), and possibly the capitol-districters (Chris/Evan).
-Resist the temptation, however great, to start messing with the APO service program prior to August 10th, since there's nothing we can do 'til we're back on campus anyway.
Okay, maybe I'll work on the list more later. Though probably not. That may yet be enough goals for forty days.
Chris Rice's music is darn good, by the way. Have been listening to it for the past two days and remember why I loved it so much in high school.
-Laurel
7.11.2005
Legitimate school-related concentration!
So I got to think about school for a good reason just now: got an e-mail this afternoon stating that the psych class I was signed up for had been cancelled.
Let me tell you, enviro-sci and Judaism/Islam made rescheduling really darn complicated, not that it isn't complicated already for English majors with psych minors (do they teach upper-level English and psych courses that work and play well together? I realize that like everyone on the campus has to get a lit and a soc-sci credit, so they're concentrating the most on the lower-levels, but crud...). However, I messed about on the online registration page and finally came up with a viable solution. Psych is going to have to go on hiatus for the semester; I'm now enrolled in an English-major course instead. This is just as well, since I need seven of them in the next four semesters, and this one and my other one for the semester will be only the first two.
This one is Major Figures in Literature: Hawthorne and Melville. Quite the name for a course that runs 50 minutes, four days a week. And a good thing it's only that long, too, 'cause I hear Dr. Ryan works us hard and likes to get into really intellectual tangents. These are good things in themselves, but they will probably be even better in small doses.
I like Nathaniel Hawthorne, so that'll be fine. Melville is kind of eh, but I have never read Moby-Dick, and am not sure what happens, so this will be a good experience for me. (I may read it before school starts, though, just for the sake of it.)
The best part? My classes still don't start 'til one in the afternoon. :-D
I'd write more, but my bread dough is probably about to fall right out of the bowl, and that would wreak Major Havoc on the finished product, so I must go.
-Laurel
Let me tell you, enviro-sci and Judaism/Islam made rescheduling really darn complicated, not that it isn't complicated already for English majors with psych minors (do they teach upper-level English and psych courses that work and play well together? I realize that like everyone on the campus has to get a lit and a soc-sci credit, so they're concentrating the most on the lower-levels, but crud...). However, I messed about on the online registration page and finally came up with a viable solution. Psych is going to have to go on hiatus for the semester; I'm now enrolled in an English-major course instead. This is just as well, since I need seven of them in the next four semesters, and this one and my other one for the semester will be only the first two.
This one is Major Figures in Literature: Hawthorne and Melville. Quite the name for a course that runs 50 minutes, four days a week. And a good thing it's only that long, too, 'cause I hear Dr. Ryan works us hard and likes to get into really intellectual tangents. These are good things in themselves, but they will probably be even better in small doses.
I like Nathaniel Hawthorne, so that'll be fine. Melville is kind of eh, but I have never read Moby-Dick, and am not sure what happens, so this will be a good experience for me. (I may read it before school starts, though, just for the sake of it.)
The best part? My classes still don't start 'til one in the afternoon. :-D
I'd write more, but my bread dough is probably about to fall right out of the bowl, and that would wreak Major Havoc on the finished product, so I must go.
-Laurel
Look, I'm allowed to be online!
Nothing to do at work until the mail comes, so Marj says I can be online, so here I am. :-D
On Friday I went to school(!) to pick up John(!) and bring him back to my house so he could stay until Sunday, when his plane left from the local airport. He, Erik, my brother, and I went to the Renaissance Festival on Saturday. That was a good day. Though it was also a good day for Tim's parents not to be there, especially considering the mud show. I think they (the mud show players) should stick to retelling Greek myths and leave the Bible stories alone.
But it's not every day you see your brother sold into servanthood by one friend (Erik gave him to a company player for free, some ten minutes after we'd arrived--and then, of course, we had to trail them at a distance until our opportunity to get him back) and the other friend assigned to play Romeo under a tavern balcony, looking up at a guy in a dress (Juliet, of course, as done by another company player).
My brother also ate lots and lots of food, in case you wanted to know. He was pretty good to have around this weekend, too, except when he was bugging me to walk faster, complaining about my "leaving him behind," etc., but that wasn't so bad.
Last night I watched Vanity Fair with my parents, and that was a nice time. The movie wasn't bad; the book would probably have been significantly better, since it'd give a better picture of why on earth everything was happening.
Since I realize that detailing my life is only semi-interesting, I will now give a random opinion:
I really like Coldplay's song "X&Y," but if British people take so much more care with their grammar than Americans, then how come their chorus starts, "You and me are floating on a tidal wave"? There is absolutely no good reason why it should not be "you and I." Not only would it not change the rhythm of the song or interfere with any rhymes (not that "space" rhymes with "wave" anyway; way to go, Mr. Martin...), but it would make it much easier for English majors like me to sing along. I keep singing "you and I" by force of habit and having to figure out whether to correct myself as I'm singing, which would really be incorrection anyway.
Six-weeks-minus-one-day until I'm back at school. Tomorrow it'll be 40 days, which sounds all big and important. What on earth am I going to do for 40 days, dude? Suppose I could finish cleaning out all my drawers and stuff, play DDR, try to get some more ice cream with Aneya and Bethie.
But I'm really starting to get antsy to go dress in purple and wear myself out. Bet I'll look back on this entry in August and gag. ::snorts::
-Laurel
On Friday I went to school(!) to pick up John(!) and bring him back to my house so he could stay until Sunday, when his plane left from the local airport. He, Erik, my brother, and I went to the Renaissance Festival on Saturday. That was a good day. Though it was also a good day for Tim's parents not to be there, especially considering the mud show. I think they (the mud show players) should stick to retelling Greek myths and leave the Bible stories alone.
But it's not every day you see your brother sold into servanthood by one friend (Erik gave him to a company player for free, some ten minutes after we'd arrived--and then, of course, we had to trail them at a distance until our opportunity to get him back) and the other friend assigned to play Romeo under a tavern balcony, looking up at a guy in a dress (Juliet, of course, as done by another company player).
My brother also ate lots and lots of food, in case you wanted to know. He was pretty good to have around this weekend, too, except when he was bugging me to walk faster, complaining about my "leaving him behind," etc., but that wasn't so bad.
Last night I watched Vanity Fair with my parents, and that was a nice time. The movie wasn't bad; the book would probably have been significantly better, since it'd give a better picture of why on earth everything was happening.
Since I realize that detailing my life is only semi-interesting, I will now give a random opinion:
I really like Coldplay's song "X&Y," but if British people take so much more care with their grammar than Americans, then how come their chorus starts, "You and me are floating on a tidal wave"? There is absolutely no good reason why it should not be "you and I." Not only would it not change the rhythm of the song or interfere with any rhymes (not that "space" rhymes with "wave" anyway; way to go, Mr. Martin...), but it would make it much easier for English majors like me to sing along. I keep singing "you and I" by force of habit and having to figure out whether to correct myself as I'm singing, which would really be incorrection anyway.
Six-weeks-minus-one-day until I'm back at school. Tomorrow it'll be 40 days, which sounds all big and important. What on earth am I going to do for 40 days, dude? Suppose I could finish cleaning out all my drawers and stuff, play DDR, try to get some more ice cream with Aneya and Bethie.
But I'm really starting to get antsy to go dress in purple and wear myself out. Bet I'll look back on this entry in August and gag. ::snorts::
-Laurel
7.08.2005
"I know you think I'm crazy, and you probably should..."
This will be brief because I'm here at work and bored out of my mind. Heh, Fridays.
Marj is playing Toby Keith music and suddenly I miss having Mike around to make sarcastic comments and obsess about the Yankees and bowling. He better the heck come to State in the fall.
I also miss having Heather around for the bowling stuff, and the humor of her 32903294 local connections.
The other day here I was working with files, and I came across not only a Michael Finegan, but also a Peter Jennings. Dude.
-Laurel
Marj is playing Toby Keith music and suddenly I miss having Mike around to make sarcastic comments and obsess about the Yankees and bowling. He better the heck come to State in the fall.
I also miss having Heather around for the bowling stuff, and the humor of her 32903294 local connections.
The other day here I was working with files, and I came across not only a Michael Finegan, but also a Peter Jennings. Dude.
-Laurel
7.07.2005
Half-mast for London
I'm out the door and will write more later, but in the meantime, story of the London Underground/bus bombing locations here, and I'd like to point out that the Circle and Piccadilly Lines, which got hit, were the ones we honors-seminar girls traveled on the most when we were in London in October. Well, there was one that we used just as much as Piccadilly, but Circle was definitely the very most; Paddington Station was practically our home base, and that's how we tended to get there.
Best wishes for McDonough's family, and of course everyone else I don't know personally.
-Laurel
Best wishes for McDonough's family, and of course everyone else I don't know personally.
-Laurel
7.05.2005
"All horrors have followed the same course..."
I became intern to a different group today at W&B than I'd been told I would be...sort of, in that the group I was put with instead was the one promised me long ago over e-mail, and then switched this past Friday, only to be restored today.
To make a long story short, this is a class I wanted to be in, and here I actually am.
It has a teacher who actually teaches, almost with too much authority now, rather than not nearly enough. She appears to be dedicated to what she's doing. She knows and executes theater games, the kind I learned under Becky. There are seven kids in the class (hurrah, less than ten!) and an apparent age range of 6-10 (hurrah, no raging preteenagers!). The only one even approaching troublemaking is Av--, and only because he's a little given to interruption and to talking about his own stories that he's written outside the class, rather than about things everyone can understand. Annette, who is teacher, does not always have a lot of patience with him, but he is quite bright, and I like him. Li--, the happy little girl from last week's class, is back as well. Last week's difficult children, thank goodness, are not.
Annette lets me know ahead of time what's about to happen, and Wendy appears to have gotten my (I believe) tactful plea for mercy from last week's evaluation sheet, in which I had basically told her that I needed as much advance notice as possible for pretty much anything I could get it for. She asked me whether I liked working for someone who was so methodical, and then she asked me whether I'd be able to stay for an extra hour on Thursday to serve on a panel for something--she told me what, but I can't remember offhand.
It is just a little too structured to be perfect (I actually am saying that; I can't believe it), but it is already the best class so far (though I miss Kim and the Shakespeare, if perhaps not the children's quarrels), and this is the first time I'm not counting days until Friday. (And a good thing, too, since it's a two-week course.)
Apparently the size, age, and teacher aspects make a lot of difference. Maybe I can shut up about the pain of interning for a while and let other things float to the top of my brain. That's a relief to everybody, I'm sure.
-Laurel
To make a long story short, this is a class I wanted to be in, and here I actually am.
It has a teacher who actually teaches, almost with too much authority now, rather than not nearly enough. She appears to be dedicated to what she's doing. She knows and executes theater games, the kind I learned under Becky. There are seven kids in the class (hurrah, less than ten!) and an apparent age range of 6-10 (hurrah, no raging preteenagers!). The only one even approaching troublemaking is Av--, and only because he's a little given to interruption and to talking about his own stories that he's written outside the class, rather than about things everyone can understand. Annette, who is teacher, does not always have a lot of patience with him, but he is quite bright, and I like him. Li--, the happy little girl from last week's class, is back as well. Last week's difficult children, thank goodness, are not.
Annette lets me know ahead of time what's about to happen, and Wendy appears to have gotten my (I believe) tactful plea for mercy from last week's evaluation sheet, in which I had basically told her that I needed as much advance notice as possible for pretty much anything I could get it for. She asked me whether I liked working for someone who was so methodical, and then she asked me whether I'd be able to stay for an extra hour on Thursday to serve on a panel for something--she told me what, but I can't remember offhand.
It is just a little too structured to be perfect (I actually am saying that; I can't believe it), but it is already the best class so far (though I miss Kim and the Shakespeare, if perhaps not the children's quarrels), and this is the first time I'm not counting days until Friday. (And a good thing, too, since it's a two-week course.)
Apparently the size, age, and teacher aspects make a lot of difference. Maybe I can shut up about the pain of interning for a while and let other things float to the top of my brain. That's a relief to everybody, I'm sure.
-Laurel
7.04.2005
::lights sparkler for 4th::
Well, this was a whirlwind weekend and no mistake. Terri's wedding was yesterday (Sunday), so the day consisted of church with the boys, some Nanofictionary, lunch, the wedding service, and the reception. Everything was really lovely. I've decided that I need to see more of Gabe (F., not G.) and Nathanael dancing, because that alone makes for a good time.
Albert came here for it on Friday, the twins on Saturday afternoon, and Nathanael on Saturday night. I had not experienced the joy of having Nathanael around before, but have now, and am quite happy about it. And it is always good to have the twins around. Tom brought three loaves of fruit bread, which came in very handy. Tim brought all the patience I didn't have.
As I just mentioned, Albert arrived Friday, which was cool, and came to W&B, which was okay, in that it wasn't him that made it only okay, but everything else. His luggage was delayed, but came eventually. My brother was super-cool and played games with us. Yes, you read that previous sentence right.
Today the twins and I, since we were the ones still around, went to the wedding brunch, but Terri and Dan never, um, showed up. So we left when we had to, and proceeded to get lost, because, um, I was an idiot and assumed that Route 104 worked like 490, which it doesn't. And then messed up the thing with 490 anyway. Two unscheduled trips into mediocre parts of the city later, we got back, and their parents were late picking them up anyway, so we ate cake and bread and watched Whose Line 'til they came. And then I slept, no kidding, for about five hours straight. Watched the fireworks three doors down.
And am still tired, and have to work in both places tomorrow (new W&B camp is with kids 6 to 8 years old; they should be better-behaved, but more hyperactive and needing more reading help), so am going to bed.
Four dozen days until I'm back at school, ruddy crud.
-Laurel
Albert came here for it on Friday, the twins on Saturday afternoon, and Nathanael on Saturday night. I had not experienced the joy of having Nathanael around before, but have now, and am quite happy about it. And it is always good to have the twins around. Tom brought three loaves of fruit bread, which came in very handy. Tim brought all the patience I didn't have.
As I just mentioned, Albert arrived Friday, which was cool, and came to W&B, which was okay, in that it wasn't him that made it only okay, but everything else. His luggage was delayed, but came eventually. My brother was super-cool and played games with us. Yes, you read that previous sentence right.
Today the twins and I, since we were the ones still around, went to the wedding brunch, but Terri and Dan never, um, showed up. So we left when we had to, and proceeded to get lost, because, um, I was an idiot and assumed that Route 104 worked like 490, which it doesn't. And then messed up the thing with 490 anyway. Two unscheduled trips into mediocre parts of the city later, we got back, and their parents were late picking them up anyway, so we ate cake and bread and watched Whose Line 'til they came. And then I slept, no kidding, for about five hours straight. Watched the fireworks three doors down.
And am still tired, and have to work in both places tomorrow (new W&B camp is with kids 6 to 8 years old; they should be better-behaved, but more hyperactive and needing more reading help), so am going to bed.
Four dozen days until I'm back at school, ruddy crud.
-Laurel