A Lill Quiz thingy

THREE SCREEN NAMES YOU HAVE HAD (OTHER THAN THIS ONE):1. Absolut4get. 2. none3. none
THREE THINGS YOU LIKE ABOUT YOURSELF:1. My academic success (so far at least) 2. People seem to think I'm nice, so my kind heart 3. My level of Determination
THREE THINGS YOU HATE ABOUT YOURSELF:1. I talk too much and too fast 2. somewhat nosy 3. my commitment issues
THREE PARTS OF YOUR HERITAGE:1. Dutch 2.Welsch 3. Irish
THREE THINGS THAT SCARE YOU:1. lonliness 2. helplessness 3. settling
THREE OF YOUR EVERYDAY ESSENTIALS:1. the cell phone 2. ipod 3. check my e-mail/internet
THREE THINGS YOU ARE WEARING RIGHT NOW:1. lots of earrings 2. umbro soccer shorts 3. champion sweatshirt
THREE OF YOUR FAVORITE BANDS OR ARTISTS AT THE MOMENT:1. Maroon 5 2.Switchfoot 3. Dispatch
THREE OF YOUR FAVORITE SONGS AT PRESENT:1. Finger Eleven's one that gets radioplay 2.Dare you to Move 3. Sunday Morning
THREE NEW THINGS YOU WANT TO TRY IN THE NEXT 12 MONTHS1. ride a cable car (I'm going to San Fran) 2. Las Vegas 3. actually learn to be an art librarian
THREE THINGS YOU WANT IN A RELATIONSHIP (Love is a given):1. trust (as much as possible) 2. laughter 3. excitement
TWO TRUTHS AND A LIE (Guess which one's the lie?)1. I can write my name lefthanded and backwards 2. I can touch my tongue to my nose 3. I can tie cherry stems in knots
THREE PHYSICAL THINGS ABOUT THE OPPOSITE SEX THAT APPEAL TO YOU:1. eyes 2. smile 3. composition
THREE THINGS YOU JUST CAN'T DO:1. drive stick well 2. read latin 3. math
THREE OF YOUR FAVORITE HOBBIES:1. reading 2. creative crafts 3. partying
THREE THINGS YOU WANT TO DO REALLY BADLY RIGHT NOW:1. sleep 2. eat 3. watch t.v.
THREE CAREERS YOU'RE CONSIDERING:1. Fine Arts Librarian 2.Photographer 3. Writer
THREE PLACES YOU WANT TO GO ON VACATION:1. Europe 2. Australia 3. Eastern Asia
THREE KID'S NAMES YOU LIKE:1. Sonora(I know, "Snore" poor kid) 2.Serena 3. Catalina
THREE THINGS YOU WANT TO DO BEFORE YOU DIE:1. live in a foreign country 2.help humanity in some capacity 3. see hagia sophia

Holiday Mussings

I am petsitting for a lovely schnauzer right now, I LOVE unconditional love from a puppy, even if they are not my own, makes me feel special :) My happy family did breakfast at Perkins this morning, which was a blast. My grandma and aunt then took off for some other family visits on their way to Spencer. My dad has actually been playing the xbox, which is great, because it was really FOR him, and not just for us when we come home to visit. I have to say though, I am already addicted to Burnout 3, that game totally rocks my socks off. :) SOOo good that I don't have an xbox or ps2 in Indy...I'd probably flunk out of grad school.
My foursome family kept probably our ONLY tradition alive today, by going to see Meet the Fochers - (we always go as a foursome to see a movie over a holiday when we're all home. For the past few years it was LOTR, -NERD that I am). It's a pretty good show, not quite as good as the first for the "sticky happenings that he gets himself into" but more believable I think. I have seen WAY too many movies this break and basically I'm OKAY with that fact, haha, I need to catch up! I've seen three in the theater too, which is alot for me...but great still. I haven't been an entire shut in though - and did accomplish a lill bit of the reading for classes - I know HOMEWORK over Break? doesn't seem right does it?
I am totally trying to channel my nervous engery. Have been for the last day or so...it really sucks when you hear on the news that a Tsunami has hit a place where your friend might still be! I have been trying not to think about it too much though. It usually happens when I hear things, that my loved ones are okay. Like w. 9/11 - my cousin actually worked in the World Trade Center building, but luckily, was on business in Minneapolis when the planes hit, not that it takes away from the horribleness of what happened, but it was a full day of nervous energy for me, having SO many family members and friends that lived in NYC that day. So I hope that he is okay, and if you can, whomever is reading this, send up a prayer, if you believe in praying for my friend. He's in Thailand on vacation for the christmas holiday and hopefully okay. My prayers for everyone else as well that is over there or has loved ones there as well. So, enough moments of worry, I am headed to dinner with two of my very best friends in the world! I hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday and a peaceful restful time spent with family and friends and relaxation!
-and GO HAWKS for the Capital One Bowl in a few days! - I must make a note to find a sports bar in Indy that will play the UI Men's Bball games...I will miss that when I'm back in B-town, and for those of you in B-town right now, I hope you are recovering and digging out of all that snow!

Happy Holiday Greetings to everyone! I love spending time with the family and friends during the season to be jolly. Grandma arrived in Iowa City on Wednesday, after a meer 4 hrs on the road, - we were impressed she was able to make the trip and I'm happy she got here safely. Unfortunately mom took her to the ER today as she's got bronchitis, poor thing. I get to pick up my bro at the airport tomorrow, and I"m sure I will pick his brain about what to do in San Fran when i'm there over Spring Break. I will also get to satisfy my need for pets by taking care of Fritz, the awesome schnauzer of some family friends. I get to stay at their house to, which is great, and will give me some much needed time to concentrate on getting some of this work done for school and cuddling with a puppy is always nice :)
We went out to MugClub last night, it was VERY cold here in IA, no snow yet, but some negative degrees and nasty windchills...apparently Indy got dumped on with lots of snow recently - I hope that will all melt before I am back there for the start of next semester.
I have caught up on many of the movies that I'd wanted to see, which is one thing I can cross off that list I wrote awhile ago, and I've worked on the website alot too - though it's not nearly done yet...Surprisingly I haven't really taken many pictures since getting back to Iowa either. Guess I"ll get on that here soon! I have seen :
Oceans 12, Finding Neverland, Saved (hilarious), Napoleon Dynamite, Collateral, American History X, GhostWorld, Super Size Me, and some others too. I've also caught a few of the men's bball games....I think i will miss that the most when i'm back in Indy, and may have tomake a few trips to some sports bar with possible regional coverage that extends to the other "I" states.
Chai asked if he could come to indiana for the Iowa/Indiana game, and I promptly told him Of course he could, and that he can watch it at the sportsbar with me, silly boy, the game's in IC this year. Haha, the hawks kicked texas tech butt though - so Bobby Knight didn't have much to be happy about the other night.
hope everyone is having a good start to their celebrations (whatever you celebrate)

did next to nothing during the day, and then went to the Quad Citites tonight, it was a very lovely evening complete with dinner with Christy, a movie, and some bowling. I love getting to see my sissy and meeting her Quad Cities friends was fun too. The movie was really great! I enjoyed it, lots of laughter and some scary portions too. Scott should have a bright future ahead of him in the film industry, and his other short film (the one I saw tonight was Her Summer, one of two o ftheir most recent feature length films) "Shades" was one of the three finalists in the MTV Best Film on Campus contest that happened recently. I think he's got a lot of good stuff going for him as a director/writer/producer in the industry, and he picks great actressess hehe. Christy did say she's died in 5 of the movies, and we wonder slightly if Scott might be trying to send her a message. Christy is always a fabulous host for her guests and I really enjoyed the evening. There was a good turn out for the film, and both scott and brian were surprised so many folks showed up, including a few out of towners like ME :) The Brew and View theater itself is also pretty spiff. Though because so many people showed up, christy, her friend kelly, and I parked ourselves on this couch down in front, and two of the guys, Corey and Shane (shane was one of the actors in the film) sat on either side of the three of us, so it was a cozy crew on the couch. My bowling after the film really stank, I"m so out of practice!!! need to go for a few rounds of quartermania again I think!
anyways, now that I"m back, safe and sound, despite a bit of a run in w. some black ice on Holiday road after getting back to IC, I must hit the hay!
Count down till Grandma, Steve, and Lis come has begun, as well as to when i get to dog sit, and to the fun of the season! We've finally got some snow in IA that I was here for, that's starting to stick...I ONLY like snow RiGHT around Christmas time, so this is well played snow...if it stays too long, I'm sure I'll complain about it, but for now it's fun :)

Yule Tide Greetings

So yay for my holidays so far and what's to come! I found out today that I get to petsit for one of my favorite puppies. hooray! Fritz is a fabulous schnauzer and I will get to take care of him for the 25th through the 29th, a happy way to satisify my animal craziness, since I suffer with drawal often now that I don't have my cat around anymore, and of course, none of the Indiana friends have pets there in Bloomington either. So yay!
I also will go tomorrow night to the QC to see my friend Scott's newest movie. Scott is someone I've mentioned in the blog b.f with a link to his website (for those of you that have actually read this thing - a small number I"m sure). I'm also excited because I will get to see Christy, whom I consider as a little sister and good friend as well. I met Scott through her, because he is her boyfriend, and she's starring in a few of his movies anyway :) Hopefully a few of the other IC folks will want to come with m e so that I don't have to drive over there alone. So that should be fun, though it sounds as if the weather earlier in the day won't be totally great, hopefully it'll be okay by early evening when I head over there.
Sat night was fun. Went to Jon's for a lill hang out party, Faraji was in town so he attended with me, and then Becks, Faraji and I went to Brothers for some dancing (Cause I wanted the exercise) it was weird though - some older folks macking on each other, was interesting....we also watched meet the parents and princess diaries II. I was beat by 4 am when I finally tucked myself into bed though. I have basically done nothing at all today (sunday) except take a bath and write in this journal...hah. I also watched the National Geographic Channels 'unlocking the da vinci code" because, of course, I am a HUGE art history nerd, and read that book and thought it has been an interesting theological debate. Now I think I'll work a bit on my website, and then hit the hay. I hope everyone else is having a good break and enjoying the holiday season (as per my previous post about xmas carrolls, my "rage" has disapated and I've resigned to simply sigh as ppl sing to their jolly little heart's content...it'll be okay)

Christmas Spirit and Alchy

It's 3:!8 am Iowa time, I'm not tired. I hate how much I've thrown off my sleeping schedule in the first week of being on break. It's really annoying that I basically get up with the sun, because, surprise, my parents do. and then go back to sleep, after breakfast, and sleep until like noon or so, and lounge around all day, working out, and doing the normal break things, like reading and such. I'm a huge dork I know. Tonight was friday of finals for the Iowa folks, so I actually got to see a few of them out and about. Misa had a wine party get together thing that I attended, I did coffee with Jaime, and also got to see faraji and Krisitn. Kristin I haven't seen since WAY back before I left for IU, which I guess, while not being a super long time ago in reality, meer months really, still seems like forever. she's awesome and I did have some fun hanging w. her at 808 (previously Malones, and I gotta say, was better as a more sit down irish pub enviro than drunk college kid place) but, nonetheless it was interesting. Got hit on by a guy in law school here at iowa, was a way to pass the time I guess, making conversation...and another guy chatted with me, and a really drunk guy sang a few christmas carolls for us - I REALLY had to hold myself back from decking him. Honestly, I have a pent up rage building for christmas songs, and especially people, (though drunk they can NOT really use that as an excuse) who randomly break out into their favorite little xmas ditty, when I didn't ASK them to serenade me, and could care less to hear O Holy Night, while some rap song is playing in the background and they feel the need to TOP the base in the dj's song by yelling out All is Calm and Bright at the top of their freaking lungs. He asked what my favorite christmas song was, and I was sure he'd sing it anyways, so to shut him up (hopefully) I asked to hear 'Santa Baby' - feeling rather smug and kewl about my answer, he did NOT break into a screaming rendition, but instead remarked 'that's great, but for me to sing it, kinda gay." Thank God.
I'm all for the xmas spirit, sure. I mean, the spirit of giving and having fun and holiday breaks and such, but for some reason the whole idea of christmas carrolls is entirely pissing me off righ tnow. Perhaps it is because I have tried to boycott hearing them at all, which is an entirely impossible task, as every radio station is the eastern Iowa area seems to LOVE slipping a few in every HOUR! There are only so many times I can hit the seek or scan button on the civic and really not crave to plug in the ipod - current events and songs be damned. I have nothing against ppl enjoying the chance to sing christmas songs in the privacy of their own home (thank you mom and dad for not playing them or humming them 24/7) I do have a problem with being forced to listen to anyone sing. Carrollers, dont' stop at my house, or I will shut the door in your face this time around - not sure why it's affecting me so much this year - last year I wasn't like this...misdirected rage towards the happy go lucky idea of xmas songs? perhaps tis more the season to be jolly is okay and well and good - but not for those people that celebrate Kwanza or Haunakah (can you tell I'm not jewish cause I can't spell that word at all?) I ALMOST told the guy in the bar: "I don't celebrate christmas. I was adopted by an african american family and I celebrate kwanza, and your carrolling offends me." but duh, iowa city bar friday night of finals week, there isn't really a way to SAY that and not hear about ten rounds of "jingle bells" as an answer.
so ya, bah humbug to xmas carrolling in public.

Iowa, oh, Iowa

Well, I have been back in Iowa now for a few days. I realize even though B-town isn't that much further "south" it had been alot warmer...at least 15degrees, which was MUCH warmer compared to the 15-20 degree range in IA right now. I have complained about this to the Iowa friends, and they all agree, it's freakin cold here, and we all want to boycott cold weather! However, it has not snowed yet, so I guess that's a plus.
Most of my friends here are still in the midst of their finals week, I feel sorta bad to steal them away from their studies to hang out with me, and I serve as this great distraction. At least most of them welcome a break from the insanity that is studying for finals - ah I remember it soo well - thank goodness none for me this time around - next sem will probably kick my ass enough to make up for it though.
I have already been in touch with a few of the Indiana friends, and will hopefully get out some christmas cards before the end of the week. I have extreme empathy for one in particular as she's just gotten some really frustrating news related to a class. I wish I could help her out more, but hopefully something good will come out of it. She is very bright, a sweetheart, and a super gal, so it always sucks when disappointing things like this happy to the people who least deserve it. Karma be damned on that!
I drove back on Sat morn, after having stayed up way too late friday night, but for a good reason, Tanya and I went to tutto benne, which was lots of fun, I had grilled artichokes, yummy, and some wine. Then we went out and played pool and Art joined us. I turned down a shot from a guy that offered, and told him to give it to the graduating girl instead. It was pretty funny. After a few rounds of pool we just sat and discussed alot of different things, which was lots of fun for me, because I got to know Art a lill better, and Tanya was able to get sufficently wasted as planned. We went back to Art's place for awhile for afterhours which was also fun. Then I got three hrs of sleep and packed, and drove back to IA. I was glad Trac and I got Starbucks b.f I went for dinner, otherwise I probably wouldn't have been able to hang out so late, or stay awake on the drive home either.
I did fall asleep pretty quickly after getting back into town here. ate dinner w. the folks, watched a movie and then slept...missing a few invites to hangout. Last night we went out to the bars for awhile, I drove so didn't drink, but I had fun hanging out with the friends there...though I would have liked to have danced more, because I didn't work out yesterday at all. I have been trying to be better about doing at least 30 minutes a day in the hopes to get more muscle tone, which means I"ve also been lifting, and hah, a lill sore from that! If you haven't seen the movie SAVED, I highly recommend, as long as you can take a good look at the crazy religious zealouts out there, and take it all with a grain of salt, as they say, especially good if you are like me, and enjoy the sort of sadistic dark humor comedies. okies, well I will end this now, because I am off to join pete at house of aromas for a cheesecake latte and some catching up! hope you've all been able to stay somewhat WARM out there!

wrapping up

Well the semester will be over for me officially tomorrow, after I get my 401 homework turned in. Tanya and I will go to a more upscale place for dinner and out for some billiards. I'm joining Traci for our last Starbucks visit before break - sadness...I'll talk to her over the vacation I imagine though. I meet with the art librarian, B.J. Irvine tomorrow to hopefully beg and plead to be in her class next semester since my sched. got messed up. Profs should not be allowed to change the time of their classes this late in the game, it's been almost a month since we first registered for them...but hopefully all will work out okay. I've started my website project that will occupy some time over break. hooray. Today I went to INdy to the Indianapolis Museum of Art, there is alot of construction, but i did get to see the european paintings galleries, and the african galleries. it was a fun lill sojourn, though I was most proud because I did not get terribly lost, even though Mapquest didn't give me fully great directions. I-65, 465, and 74 are the same thing for PART of the trip, but not ALL of the trip...since 465 just circles in a "loop" i was okay just getting back on it to find my exit, however the Highway 37 to I-65 was NOT marked properly. Oh well, it was an adventure. I have wondered if anyone's ever written a scholarly text tracing the comparrison between stools and thrones of the kings in Africa to neckrests that they also make there...I thought they looked kinda similar, and I hadn't seen neckrests before this trip to Indy. The collection was pretty decent, though I was disappointed not to see more of it because of the construction, guess I"ll just have to go back in September (it'll be closed Jan-April) and I won't be in B-town over the summer...it was a good way to spend a few hours though, soaking up some artistic culture and remembering why I'm in this career path....I miss studying slides for tests though - how odd...guess i truly am an academic dork. Good luck to all on getting final papers/projects and such done! I'll be thinking bout ya! I feel like a wine dealer too, cause Oliver Winery will get good business from me on Sat...it's a lovely gift for those of age :)
night folks!

holiday possibilities

I'm really looking forward to my Winter Break. I have high ambitions for how I will fill my days and evenings. I'm very excited that my grandmother is coming to spend Christmas with us this year! My brother is also flying home from San Fransisco for the festivities, and my aunt Julie will be passing through due to work. Lis is coming back from Korea for a few days, so I will also get to catch up with her. I must say I really really love the holiday season right about this time of year. It's not so much that I love the holiday of christmas, or dare I say the birth of christ which caused it's formation. For me, it's more about getting to spend the time with my family and friends, and getting to buy them things that make them happy or at the very least, i've put some time and effort into making for them. I'm on a zealous campaign to teach myself some more website html designing things, to play as much playstation II as possible, to practice the guitar, to read many great books, to hang out often with the friends, to play board games with them (haha, they'll get roped into it!), to see my old bosses and co-workers, to sleep alot, to party alot, to watch alot of t.v. and alot of movies, to explore a lill more of Indy and Bloomington before I go, to ring in the new year in a funtabulous way, to send out many happy holiday cards to friends near and far, to take LOTS and LOTS of pictures (which is a normal given in my case), to make mom's lasagna, to enjoy a wine and cheese party, some shopping, some cleaning of the storage locker, and some serious time by myself to write.
I know I know...as I said...zealous. about half of that I will probably actually get around to doing. But it's almost as much fun just thinking of all the hours of the day i COULD spend doing things that makes the Winter Break seem so open to possibilities. I know I know...I'm a big dork! At least I admit it!
happy holidays folks!

okay, so ya, um, I don't have anything to write, I should really bother with this entry in the end. Do you ever get that feeling like everyone else in the world is doing something so much better/more fun/interesting/cooler than you are at this very second? well I do. and I'm having that thought right now. It's not because I'md oing something horrible either, though sometimes that compensates and allows for the complaining factor of feeling like they are all doing something better cause they probably truly are, as you struggle with the crap that you are doing. But no, I'm not doing anything horrible now....and yet...I still feel like other people's lives must be way cooler than mine currently. not sure why that is...
oh well, guess I'll go read...cause that's cool.

Following Traci's lead I've filled out some quizes. Also because it prolongs my paper writing break.

if you were a movie, you'd be a Groundbreaking Documentary

If you think documentaries are boring, think again. Like your movie match, you're an intelligent individual who makes people think. Documentaries span all sorts of topics, from the trivial to the profound. Perhaps your interests do the same, but one thing's clear — you're a smarty and you like to learn.We'd guess you're the person at the dinner table or the water cooler who stirs up lively debates about the latest news or tidbits from the Discovery Channel. Part of you probably gets a kick out of creating controversy and getting people fired up about their beliefs. Another part probably likes opening people's eyes and sharing your thoughts. And for that, you get two thumbs up for trying to get to the bottom of things and making waves!

I'm going to San Fran for Spring Break! WOO HOO! Best part? It's an xmas present from my folks. I get to go and stay for 5 days out on the West coast - where i've NEVER been mind you, and see my bro, and soak up the San Fran culture and night life...hooray! Also kewl, Hawks are in the Cap One Bowl, so FL there they go. I'd say here i come, IF I could swing it, alas no money for that, but at least San Fran for the NEXT break will rawk. :) -besides i still remember last time in FL and it was a blast, but I'd need to have my girls with me to fully enjoy the rollercoasters! ;)
also very kewl is that i did well on my paper...so I should be heading back to IC around Dec 14th or so. yay! good part about that, I'll probl catch all my academically obligated friends, b.c iowa final's week is then I think, so they'll still be havin to stick around a few days so I can see em :) yay! okies, speaking of academically obligated...I have to work on this pathfinder...

001. What is your name? Susan
2. Spell your name backwards: Nasus
003. birthday? 8/2/81
004. Male or female? female
005. astroological sign: Roar says the lion
006. Nicknames: Sus, Susie, Susie Sunshine, Crackbaby, Blondie
007. Occupation? Grad student
008. Height: 5'4・BR>
009. Weight: 150
010. Hair color: blonder
011. Eye color: light blue, greyish in summer
012. Where were you born? Coralville, ia
013. Where do you reside now? Bloomington, IN
014. Age: 23
015. Screen names: ssbar
016. E-mail addy: same
017. What does your screen name stand for? The first horse that I took care of, the one my friend owned. Sports Star Bar
018. What is your lj name? Ssbar
019. What does your Blurty name stand for? No idea…
020. Pets: used to have a cat, and used to have a fish, no, none…I play with other people’s though
021. Number of candles you blew out on your last birthday cake? Did it have candles? I don’t remember, I didn’t eat it. –don’t like cake..it was for all the ppl that showed up to the BBQ
022. Piercings? 12 – all in the ears. 3 cartilage, tragus, three in each lobe, and a new industrial I got a few months ago
023. Tattoo's? no – but I’d get a celtic triangle on my left ankle if I were to
024. Shoe size: 7, or 7.5
025. Righty or lefty? Right, but I can write my name with my left hand and backwards! – oh yea, did that last week in a drunken moment too.
026. Wearing: okoboji sweatshirt, jeans and a smile. haha
027. Hearing: Drew Carey Show
028. Feeling: happy because I don’t have any finals!
029. Eating/drinking: yes please, I’m starved…but dinner’s not for another 20 minutes
~Girls/Love/Kissing/And Other Stuff~
061. Have you ever been in love? I believe so ya
062. How many guys/girls have you told "i love you" ? I love all my friends and family, so that seems an odd question…relationship wise – only one
063. How many people have you been in love with? Again, only one, so far – though I think you can fall in love many times in a life.
064. Last person you hugged? Christa, when I got back to IU
dont know where ?'s 065.-113. went
114. Does someone in your family wear a toupee? Not that I know of
115. Do you have any nieces or nephews? Not yet, but MANY second cousins J
116. Are your parents divorced? no
117. Do you have step parents? no
118. Has your family ever disowned another member of your family? Depends on what you define as "family"
119. If so for what?
120. Did some of your family come to America from another country? Yes, dutch, irish, german and welsch.
~Music Stuff~
121. What song do you swear was written about you or your life? Many of them are, at different times
122. What's the most embarrasing cd you own? None that I can think of…
123. What's the best cd you own? I would have to say・can I just say all that are on my ipod?
124. What song do you absolutely hate? Many…I don’t like that new "Save a Horse, Ride A Cowboy" Song – was a bumper sticker first ya know…since I actually ride horses.
125. Do you sing in the shower? Not here – but I did at home….where no one could hear me
126. What song reminds you of that special someone? Right now there isn’t someone special to be reminded of…so I’ll have to get back to you on that.
~Okay, I Name An Artist And You Give A Lyric From Any One Of Their Songs!~
127. Pink: get this party started
128. Aerosmith: janies got a gun
129. Madonna: like a virgin, touched for the very first time
130. Korn: um…
131. Backstreet Boys: um, something with bad cell phone reception…..
132. The Beatles: imagine all the people, living for today (I LOVE the beatles)
>133. Sublime: at the moment no..
>134. J.Lo: I’m still Jenny from the block
>135. *Nsync: crazy
>136. Limp Bizkit: did it all for the nookie
137. Britney Spears: Not that innocent
>138. Creed: with arms wide open・
139. Enrique Iglesias: um, sexy something or other?140. Good Charlotte: they are from Iowa i think! J
141. Christina Aguilera: dirrty
>142. Eminem: I’m the real slim shaddy
143. New Found Glory: My friend’s over You.
144. Kelly Clarkston: miss independant
145. Kelly Osbourne: papa don’t preach
146. Mandy Moore: wanna be with you
147. Eve: with Gwen Stephani
148. Aaliyah: Boy・致e been watchin you like a hawk from the sky・B
149. Nelly: in da club
BR>150. Alicia Keys: IIIIII kkeeeeeppp oooonnn fallin・
151. Incubus: take the wheel and drive
~Favorites~
152. Color: light blue
153. Food: Italain, and Thai
154. Song: again, no idea…too many….right now, Dare you to move, switchfoot, and finger eleven’s new one
155. Show: Everwood , Buffy, Friends, ER, etc
156. school subject: Collection development and management
157. Band/singer: um, again, too many. Life house, Counting Crows, Dashboard, Story Hill, Kings of Convenience, Pomeroy,
158. Animal: kitties, puppies, horsies, and cuddly creatures
159. Outfit: normal? Sweatshirt and jeans…dressy: button down dress shirt and my khakis
160. Radio station: B100, um, others…
161. Movie: too many to list
162. Pair of shoes: my new kick ass high heel boots
163. Cartoon: Family Guy, Simpsons, Futurama
164. Actor: Kevin Kline and Jason Lee are the two I would marry J
165. Actress: not sure…
166. Potato chip: frito lays
167. Drink: water
168. Alcholic drink: Alabama slamber, 151 and coke
169. Holiday: um…not sure there
170. Perfume/cologne: for me(perfume) Victoria Secret’s Halo, and Jill Sandars, for him (cologne) has to be Nautica Latitude Longitude.
171. Pizza topping: cheese
172. Jello flavor: strawberry
173. Lunch meat: turkey
174. Board game: cranium, risk, catch phrase, trivial pursuit
175. Video game: Grand Theft 1,2,3, Burnout 300, mariobros, streetfighter
176. Website: um, my own?
177. Book: just finished How I Paid for College: A Novel of Sex, Theft, Friendship and Musical Theater, was fabulous – but I’ve got many favs.
178. Computer game: free cell, I’m addicted.
179. Thing you own? My ipod!! Also my desktop computer, and my dvd./tv/vcr…I’m addicted to music and t.v also
180. Cereal: honey nut chex
181. Comedian: Dave Chapelle, Eddie Izzard, Robin Williams
182. Dessert: cherry cheesecake
183. Disney character: probably Nala from the Lion King…b.c she’s adventurous, and not afraid to pin the boys ;)
184. Clothing store: Old Navy, Express, Wet Seal,
185. Passtime: photography, reading, writing, watching t.v.
186. Teacher: junior high: Mr. Norton (older) high school: mr shutt and mr anthony undergrad: professor bork, professor hochstrasser grad school: nisonger (so far)
187. Childhood toy: toy or friend? Stitchy is my stuffed bear, so I guess he counts as a "toy" but don’t tell him that, he’d probably be offended.
188. Carnival game/ride: game: skeeball…like God in Dogma! Ride: roller coasters, DUH!
189. Candy bar: snickers
190. Magazine: don’t really have one…
191. Salad dressing: fat free ranch
192. Thing to do on the weekend: join the crew for drinks or movies or whatever else we’ve cooked up for plans
193. Hot drink: mulled apple cider, or the raspberry cheesecake latte from House of Aromas
194. Season: fall
195. Sport to watch:Soccer, (anybody), football and basketball if my times are playing…and horse jumping
196. Person to talk to online: anybody who is on…though probl Erik and Rachel because they are in Japan and the Carribean respectively, so that means far away, and it’s not as expensive as phone calls.
~Your Bedroom/Sleeping Habits~
197. What color are your sheets? Green and cream
198. What color are your bedroom walls? Dorm – white – though I’ve put up pics and posters to brighten it up
199. Do you have posters on your wall? Yes, Scott Mutter, Surrational Images, Matisse, and Rene Magritte – I’ll bring one of "Sesame Street Fever" w. Grover at xmas
200. If so of what? See above
201. Do you have a tv in your bedroom? Yes, and I would even if it isn’t one room
202. How many pillows are on your bed? 2
203. What do you normally sleep in? pj pants and a variety of tank top (if I’m in the dorm room) – also depends on WHERE I’m sleeping ;)
204. Describe your favorite pair of pajamas: my fuzzy cami and my fuzzy blue/cream striped pants…they are very fun to touch J
205. What size bed do you have? Twin currently. I really want a bigger bed when I’ve got my own place…I’ll compensate with a king size probably – I’ve had a twin all my life
206. Do you have a waterbed/bunkbed daybed? It’s standard issue boring dorm.
207. Do you have your own phone line in your bedroom? yes
208. Do you listen to music while trying to fall asleep? No, I listen to t.v. and wind up falling asleep
209. Describe the last nightmare you had: don’t remember the last nightmare. The last dream involved pete, jon, cassi and I trying to sneak her on to roller coasters even though she’s got a cast on her leg…and then we were skiing – it was strange as most of them are – but cas and I ended up w. some hot looking ski patrol boys 210. Do you sleep with stuffed animals? Yes, see about Stitchy above
211. How many people can comfortably sleep in your bed? Probably just me, because I move around A LOT when I sleep…but on that kingsize, we’ll just have to test how many will fit to sleep there!
212. Do you sleep in any unusual positions? See above – I’m always in weird positions (okay, that sounded dirty) ) I fell asleep upside down in a papa-sahn b.f
213. Do you have to share your bedroom with a sibling? No, thank goodness. He has his own place and is quite successful, I’ll sleep on his couch and sponge of him some day I’m sure J
214. Do you snore? Only when I have a cold (i.e. right now) I can talk in my sleep though….
215. How about drool? Not that I’m aware of
216. Do you have an alarm clock in your room? My cell phone
217. What color is the carpet in your room? ugly
218. What's under your bed? My camera case and suitcase
~This or that~
219. beach/mountains: both
220. Donuts/bagels: bagels
221. Day/night: most often night, but early morning if I’m in the mood
222. Wicked witch of the east/wicked witch of the west: East, he’s dead for most of the movie
223. Heaven/hell: I assume this is where would I rather be, so I’ll say Heaven..but I’ve wished other people to hell b.f
224. Make love/have sex: both
225. Coffee/tea: both…chai tea or green tea, and lattes
228. Britney/Christina: pass
229. Swiss cheese/american cheese: american
230. Real World/Road Rules: real world
231. Backstreet Boys/*Nsync: neither
232. Silver/gold: white gold
233. Nike/Adidas: both
234. McDonalds/Taco Bell: neither
235. Sweet/sour: both236. Punk/emo: both
237. Hot/cold: I like fall - chilly238. Winter/summer: fall
239. Spring/fall: now you’ve got it!
240. Operas/plays: both
241. Read/watch tv: both, sometimes at the same time.A.D.D as I am
242. Cd's/tapes: CD’s, who uses tapes anymore? Records are making a comeback though
243. Dvd's/vhs: DVD's
244. Old/new: both – depends on the object or person
245. Shorts/skirts: skirts probably –though I don’t wear many – I RARELY wear shorts…only to work out…I don’t like all the bruises/scars on my legs from soccer
246. Pink/red: red, though I look good in pink
247. Colored pictures/black and white photos: both – depends on my artistic vision
248. Meat/vegetables: don’t they belong together?
249. Mexican food/chinese food: both – Peking Rawks!
250. Commercials/infomercials: commercials
251. Scary movies/comedies: comedies/though scary if I want an excuse to cuddle, and be a fraidy cat and let my man reassure me
252. Bikinis/one piece bathing suits: one piece, never worn a bikini b.f
253. Sandals/tennis shoes: my addidas shoes, or sketchers sandals
254. Dogs/cats: both
255. Unicorns/fairies: unicorns…have you seen a fairy lately?
256. Water/land: both257. Sugar/spice: both 258. Black/white: both
259. ribbons/bows: um, neither?
260. Chicken/beef: both – I love a good steak
261. Colored christmas lights/regular white christmas lights: dude – do I care?
262. Cars/trucks: cars for parallel parking, trucks for moving stuff. I like truck engines.
263. Austin Powers/James Bond: classic james bond, hands down.
264. Popcorn/pretzels: popcorn
265. Hip/hop: hop!
266. Passionate kiss/peck: both please
267. WWE wrestling/real wrestling: neither…
268. Back rub/foot massage: back rub
269. Picture frames/photo albums: both of course
270. Pens/pencils: pen
~What Is Your Opinion Of The Following~
271. Eminem: decent 272. Virgins: aww you guys are so much fun! J
273. God: hope I get to meet him/her/it someday in heaven
274. The Osbournes: psycho
275. Reality TV: not another one!
276. J.Lo: bennifer
277. Religion: if you’ve got it, enjoy it, but don’t force it on others.
278. Emo music: Dashboard is great!
279. Valentine's Day: blech – hallmark’s favorite day of the year. My lover should tell me he loves me more than one day a year and I’ll do the same
280. Christina Aguilera's comeback: there was a comeback? From what?
281. Homosexuals: awww, scandal J
282. Abortion: woman’s right to choose
283. Inter-racial relationships: of course
284. Murder: um, no thanks
285. Death: I’ll get back to you from the great beyond.
286. Obesity: many people are, but if it’s not a health risk and they are happy then okay
287. Pre-marital sex: choice of the people involved
288. Terrorism: a horrible way to get a viewpoint heard
289. Pornography: if it helps you release the tension then whatever, so do strippers
290. Fortune tellers: interesting…
291. Threesomes: I can’t spell manag-a-toi and I took french, but that doesn’t mean it’s not in my vocabulary
292. Prostitution: shrugs
293. Politics: very liberal
294. Country music: not really
295. George W. Bush: no bush and no dick, I’d vow celibacy there
296. Cloning: up to human organs for transplants, okay..but full humans, no
297. Britney's boobs: totally fake. Mine are real though, but not as big.
298. Gas prices in America: ouch~Name Game~What Do You Think Of When You Hear These Common Names?.
299. Jack: and Diane – Mellencamp Song
300. Tiffany: who?
301. Ben: aww, Ben Folds
302. Maria: Sound of Music
303. Jennifer: not talked to her in years
304. Nicole: moving to cali
305. Amy: everwood character
306. Adam: my cos, and Wildman
307. Richard: belding (watched saved by the bell today)
308. Justin: Timberlake
309. Arnold: don’t know any
310. Tom: SouthBend Tom or my dad
311. Melissa: Will’s friend
312. Charlotte: Sex and the City
313. Harold: another everwood character
314. John: Chai, Thelander, Bessman, etc etc…
315. Joel: Q’s old roommate or my uncle
316. Vanessa: one of Steve’s friends
317. Michelle: Chelle. Basic acting freshman I took under my wing…now lives above the boys
318. Kevin: Kath’s friend
19. Brent: aww, I miss Brent. He was a sweetie
320. Jake: um, don’t know any
321. Billy: I know Will…who is close to Bill – that count?
322. Sarah: Wow, lots. Whitie, Jon’s sis, Sarah A, now married, Sarah B…wonder how she’s doing
323. Natalie: girl on my floor
224. Christi: my sissy –though she spells it w. a y
225. nick: awww, I miss Nick too, he was also sweet
326. Linda: Jaime’s Mom
327. Taylor: Jon’s dog PsychoPuppy, or James Taylor
329. Jamie: aww, happy engagement darling – she spells it JaIme b.tw
~Have You Ever....~
331. Mooned anyone? yes
332. been on a diet? Yes
333. Been to a foreign country? yes
34. Broken a bone? yes
335. Swallowed a tooth/cap/filling? My wisdom teeth stitches
336. Swear at a teacher? Yes – my mother
337. Talked to a lj member via e-mails or instant messages? yes
338. Got in a fight? yes
339. Dated a teacher? not one of mine.
340. Laughed so hard you peed your pants?? no
41. Thought about killing your enemy? no
342. Gone skinny dipping? yes3
43. Met another Blurty member in the flesh? no
344. Told a little white lie? Define little…haha
345. Told a secret you swore not to tell? Nope, if I’m told not to tell anyone else. I don’t.
346. Stolen anything? Nothing serious
347. Misused a swear word and it sounded absolutely stupid? I use them properly and it STILL sounds stupid, no one takes me seriously when I swear – could be that often times I’m drunk when I do it
.348. Been on TV? yes
349. Been on the radio? As a caller ya
350. Been in a mosh pit? Yes – and body surfing was not a wise idea…
351. Been to a concert? many
352. Dated one of your best friends? Ya, but it was along time ago
353. Loved someone so much it makes you cry? Yes, damn them
354. Decieved somebody close to you? I don’t believe so
355. Broken the law? Yes, illegal activities are prevalent in my age group haha
356. Been to a rodeo? yes
357. Been on a talk show? no
358. Been on a game show? No, but my brother was on the price is right
359. Been on an airplane? Yes, not a member of the mile high club yet though, I’ve also been known to FLY a plane every now and again when my uncle will let me – thanks joel!
360. Got to ride on a firetruck? I got to honk the horn
361. Came close to dying? Well, when I broke my collar bone, they thought I had a concussion, and I’d blacked out, but not really close to death there…
362. just gonna delete this ?...dude, this is too much effort to delete, thing’s freakin HUGE!
363. Gave someone a piggy back ride? Yup – you should have picked me Becks.
364. Terrorized a babysitter? Probably, don’t remember
365. Made a mud pie? Um, for my barbies
366. Had a dream that our falling off a cliff? Off a cliff, not sure, but falling for sure
367. Snuck out of the house at night? Lol I had to sneak back in once.
368. Been so drunk you don't remember your name? Always remembered my name, sometimes not the sequence of events, and for sure not everything I’ve said
369. Had an eating disorder? no
370. Felt like you didn't belong? yes
371. Felt like the 3rd wheel? Yes, many times…that comes from being single when most of your friends are paired…I was the FIFTH wheel too.
372. Smoked? no
373. Done drugs? No, are you kidding? We just discussed this week how strange it would be for me to be high on anything but life.
374. Been arrested? nope
375. Had your tonsils removed? no
376. Gone to camp? yes
377. Won a bet? yes
378. Written a love letter? I think so, but I wussed out of sending it
379. Gone out of your way to be with the one you love? Well, I might have, had we been older and understood things better
380. Written a love poem? Not about myself
381. Kissed in the rain? Actually id on’t think I’ve done that yet – must put it on the list, along w. mile high club haha
382. Slow danced with someone you love? No, slow danced yes, not w. someone I’m in love with though
383. Participated in cyber sex? no
384. Faked an orgasm? no
385. Stolen a kiss? I steal them all the time. Cassanova over here…no
.386. Asked a friend for relationship advice? yes
387. Had a friend steal your bf/gf? no
388. Watched the sunset/rise with someone you love? ya
389. Gotten a speeding ticket? no
390. Done jail time? no
391. Had to wear a uniform to work?? yes
392. Won a trophy? yes
393. Thrown up in public? yes...
394. Bowled a perfect game? no395. Failed/got held back? no
396. Got perfect attendance in grade school? Don’t believe so – once for a trimester in highschool
397. Roasted pumpkin seeds? yup
398. Taken ballet lessons? Nothing official…I’ve worn pointshoes b.f
399. Attempted suicide? no
400. Cut yourself? Accidentally, sure
~Childhood Stuff~
401. Did you play with Barbies? Yes, I had ALL sorts of stuff for them
402. Did you own Treasure Trolls? yes...the wish ones
403. Did you watch Beverly Hills 90210? Yes, sadly
404. Did you play Simon? What?
405. Did you watch Fraggle Rock? yes
406. Did you wet the bed? When I was like 4 or so I think
407. Did you believe there were monsters in your closet or under your bed? I don’t remember there being any…I do remember sneaking into my parents bedroom and sleeping on their floor during really bad thunderstorms though
408. Did you wear the underwear with the days of the week on them? Nope…I’ve got more interesting underwear than that I hope
409. Were you shy? In highschool I was fairly shy – stuck to my own group mostly…now, not really
410. Were you spoiled? I was, and am, I think, but I don’t take it for granted at least
411. Were you abused? no
412. Did you go to the circus? yes
413. Did you go to the zoo? yes
414. Were you in a car accident? A few
415. Did you build snowmen? yes
416. Did you cry when you scraped your knee? When Iw as REALLY young ya
417. Were your older cousins mean to you? Nope my cousins RAWK!
418. Did you think slinkies were cool?I played w. em not sure I evaluated their coolness ever..
419. Did you think the Ninja Turtles really lived in the sewer? no
420. Were you afraid of the dark? sometimes
421. Did you have slumber parties? Of course! Scrabble letters are still missing…
422. Did you have New Kids On The Block sheets, curtains, sleeping bags, dolls and pajamas? Nope, didn’t get into new kids
423. Did you tease your hair out like Tiffany? No but I did her song for a talent show once
424. Did you believe in the Easter Bunny/Santa Claus/ and the Tooth Fairy? For a few years~Randomness~
425. Do you believe in aliens? I think intelligent life exists…course, here it’s only half the population..the other half voted for a our president to have a second term.
426. Name three things that are next to your computer: the printer? The card reader? And my switchfoot cd case
427. Do you have any hidden talents? They aren’t hidden, I tie cherries in knots all the time!
428. Do you wish MTV would play music videos? They don’t anymore?
429. If you were to star in a movie, what kind of movie would it be? Probably a comedy…I hope it has a happier ending that my life so far has…
430. What would your movie star name be? Hopefully better than my prison bitch name, right Tom?
431. Do you play any sports? Right now I only go running, I wish I did…I miss soccer and riding and volleybal
l432. What's the scariest movie you've ever seen? Not sure…haven’t seen a REALLy scary one in a long time. Nosfuratu was pretty freaky though
433. What is the best movie you've seen in the theater or rented recently? I just saw national treasure, it was worth the 7 bucks my parents paid ;)
434. dumbest movie you've ever seen? Random Hearts – Harrison Ford flick – I walked out on it.
435. Do you drive? Yes, my civic Bessie rawks.
436. What is your dream car? Royal blue dodge viper – but my Bessie comes in a close second!
437. Do you think your good looking? I have my moments of self-awareness and my moments of self-assuredness
438. Do others think you are good looking? I’ve been told I’m hot from time to time, it’s always flattering, and hopefully genuine.
439. Would you ever sky dive? probably
440. Do you believe in Bigfoot? no
441. How many rooms do you have in your house? 11
442. Are you afraid of roller coasters? Yes…I’m always terrified the first time I try one, and then I LOVE them afterward
443. Do you believe in God? I believe in a higher power yes
444. Do you believe in Satan? Not in the sense of devil horns and a tail –but evil forces yes
445. Do you believe there is a heaven? Answered this with a I want to end upthere
446. Do you believe there is a hell? If there is I’ve sent a few ppl there in my mind
447. Do you own a pooltable? We used to, not any more – though I still get in a few rounds on occasion – haha JON LOST this week! Kath and I rule!
448. Do you have a pool? I used to, at my apartment. Now I really want my folks to put in a hottub when they add on to their house…
449. Do you have a dishwasher in your kitchen? They do ya
450. Do you like chocolate? Of course I do J
451. Who/what is on your 2003 calendar? Don’t remember…the 2004 calender doesn’t exist…2005 who knows, haven’t bought it yet
452. How many U.S. states have you been to? Um, would have to count. Alabama, Conn (drove through)., Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi (drove through), Missouri, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Wisconsin, Wyoming – 27 so far – I’m only 23 years old though, got some time to get to em all.
453. Ever wished on a shooting star? yes
454. Best Halloween costume you ever wore? I was a naughty librarian this year, that was good – my She-Ra Princess of Power costume when I was eight was the best though – pink sword!
455. Do you carry any weapons on you? My intellect…not entirely effective either.
>456. What is your weakness? Nice smiles
457. Name something you can't get enough of: friendships
458. Describe yourself in 3 adjectives: fun, creative, loyal (I think other ppl use the adjectives: cute, perky, funny)
459. How many kids do you want to have? Maybe none…though perhaps some
460. Future daughters names: Catalina, Sonora
461. Future sons names: um…no idea
462. What is your ideal way to die? Doing something I like
463. How do you release stress? Well, sometimes I take stupid surveys that take forever!
464. Are you a trendy person? Can be
465. Are you an artisitic person? Yes – but not in the being able to draw sense…but I see things with an artistic side
466. Are you a realistic person? Try to be
467. Do you un-tie your shoes every time you take them off? rarely
468. Are you a strong person? Depends on whether you mean mental or psychical…I’m average in both I bet
469. Are you a strong willed person? Oh..um, sometimes
470. Who is the last person to e-mail you? My prof from Iowa..J
471. Who is the last person to IM you? Trac
472. Do you hate chain e-mails? yes
473. Are you a deep sleeper? Depends, not usually
474. Are you a good story teller? Sometimes…sometimes no
475. What do you believe is your best quality? I’m fun to be around, I think….
476. What is your greatest accomplishment? Finishing college and actually biting the bullet to get through grad school
477. Do you like to burn candles or incense? Incense, no. some candles are okay
478. Do you do yoga? No, I should start though..I hear it’s good for flexibility and muscle strength479. Do you have your own credit card? yes
480. Let's say you win the lotto. (wow, this one’s not a question..but I like the suggestion)
481. Do you have a check book? ya
482. Do you like your driver? Like golf driver – yes.
483. Do you tan easily? No, I burn and peal. Not really tan
484. What color is your hair naturally? blond
485. How many fillings do you have? none
486. How many cavities did you have at your last dentist visit? none
487. Worst feeling in the world? Helplessness
488. Best feeling in the world? happiness
489. Is the glass half empty or half full? Probably empty cause I drank it
490. Last thing you downloaded? Um, an assignment
491. Do you catch yourself using online terms in your real life? Only jokingly
492. What do you think people think of you? Hopefully that I’m nice and kind and really wonderful and fabulous and the list goes on, haha
493. Are you a likeable person?? See above
494. Do you need therapy? Been there, done that, I’m sane again..i think
495. Do you take medication for a chemical imbalance? nope
496. What the best way to be proposed to? Surprised by the one I love…but in some way they know I’ll like.
497. What kind of movie would you star in? isn’t this one a repeat?
498. If Fed Ex and UPS were to merge, would they call it Fed UP? I have no idea and do not care
499. When are you moving? Well home for the summer, back to IU for another year then whenever/wherever I get a job
500. What's your favorite phrase? I’ve got NO idea right now. (that’s not the phrase..it’s my lack thereof)

thankful that...

Okay, it's roughly 3:30 in the morning, IA time on Thanksgiving. I've thrown off my sleeping schedule significantly this week. I've caught a cold (pretty much since i got back last friday) cause I'm burning the candle at both ends. I hate that my internal clock still wakes me upa t 9 am every day regardless of what is actually slated to happen that day and whether or not it will be occuring during the morning hours. I've been staying up too late each night for that to be the case.
Wow, I felt old hanging out with folks the other night. What's really funny, the new people I met had no idea i was nearly as old as I am upon meeting me, so I consider that a victory for my passing myself off as younger than I really am. haha. not that I really look old I guess, and a certainly tend to act younger in a lot of situations and I am totally a kid at heart, so I guess it makes sense. I also blend well in different types of groups based on behavior i think. or at least I hope so. Regardless, it was kind of a nice feeling to hang with younger folks...wow, talk about the whole "feeling old once you think about having your five year high school reunion" because well, that should happen this year for me...if it happens. scary. I did have a great time though. Watched the hawks lose :( but managed to get in a few good games of billiards at Brothers while watching them suck it up - NO defense. seriously. I was actually doing pretty well w. some shots I didn't expect to make too. We all ate 10 cent wings and socialized. Q, Will and Rolling Rock split off to go hop the bars, and I wasn't entirely up for joining in their plans when i discovered they'd gone to a townie bar (after the game was over) that is not really near downtown. Sounded like they had a good time though. Instead I opted for hanging w. kath, Chai and Jon and Chai's friend from camp from the summer. was pretty fun to just go back to his place and chill and watch Harry Potter 1. He'd watched HP3 with us the night b.f at my place, and had NO idea what was going on, having not seen the other two. I'm pretty sure he still has no idea what was going on, since he didn't get to watch the movie really b.c we were all chatting and joking around. haha...funny quote from that night "if Chai and Jon had a child, it would be 3/4 asian." After we left Chai's, I had great fun exercising my long lost skills at Duck Hunt. I'd forgotten how much that dog annoys me when you miss a duck, and also, how close I used to sit to the screen in order to hit them. I think Grand Theft is more my speed, but retro is classy too :)
Turkey day has been very lazy, as turkey days should be. We went to see National Treasure (my parents and I) it was quite good. Very entertaining, very much Da Vinci Code meets Indiana Jones, which was the way it as described to me b.f hand as well. Then back here to sleep -because well, I'm sick and need my rest. so i had a pre-turkey nap and a post-turkey nap, as any self-respecting person should on a national holiday where we celebrate things we're thankful for, including naps in the afternoon :) Steve arrived home at about 6:30 pm and by then I was starving, so ate too much food and then watched Pieces of April, which Steve had rented b.f leaving San Fran. kinda a depressing movie, but with thanksgiving theme, so fitting for the day. and I promptly fell asleep for a number of hours. now, my sleep schedule being all messed up, I'm fully awake at 3:40 Iowa time.
In honor of thanksgiving though I'll say what I"m thankful for - ooh, yes, waxing self-reflective for a moment!
I'm thankful for my family, extended and immediate.
I"m thankful for my friends, IC and otherwise :) You guys keep my life both entertaining and somewhat more sane that it would be if I didn't have ya.
I'm thankful for chance to get a higher higher education, with which I hope to make something out of myself.
I'm thankful that I've only got 4 more years of having to deal with president bush. hopefully he'll do better the second time around.
I'm thankful that I've been able to travel and explore so much of the world already, and hope to continue to do so.
I'm thankful that I've been blessed in so many ways!
okay folks, I'm outta here....

Home for the holiday and quite happy ;) I've gotten some of the assignments done and turned in on time for the classes. my mom is doing okay after her car accident - a dog hit the passenger side door. I've had a blast hanging out with my ole pals from the IC Crew :) I miss having nights when all I have to do is call one of the friends and soon I've got five people to share the time with and watch movies or whatever. such fun. tonight we watched harry potter which I bought this afternoon. last night we watched elf and I finally got to plan San Andreas and Halo II. was really fun! NOw I just have to kick my butt to get my pathfinder done or started tomorrow during the day, and then going out for wing night at brothers possibly, or at least, hanging out and drinking a bit with the boys and gals perhaps. should be fun! and the Indy folks have already emailed and text'd and called and such, so I feel like I've got a nice home away from home started too! hooray! such great folks. Happy thanksgiving everyone!

Turkey Break

So, now that my paper is finished, and all stappled and read to turn in, I have to do a few more homework assignments tonight, and attend class in the morning, and THEN, fun coffee time with Traci and THEN, driving back to Iowa City. I wantedt og et home earlier, so I'm missing class on monday, mostly cause mom was in a car accident - though she's okay, i feel like i should go a bit earlier if i can to make sure she's REALLY okay, and not just saying so, so that i"ll stay for class like I'm posed to. I'm looking forward to partying with the iowa city folks again for an extended weekend instead of the rushed visit last time - though mostly Im looking forward to a break from grad school life and the chance to actually relax and watch amovie or two and visit and chill and so forth and so on. I"m hoping that everyone else has a great holiday too!

long term project in the works, so not a very long entry tonight. glad to know some people have finally updated their blogs - some of you haven't and you know who you are! :) not that I"m complaining, as I just enjoy reading what folks are up to, but I understand the busy factor around this time of the semester (for those of us in school) and yes, the beginnings of the holiday rush on gifts and toys and new products that cause for many hours of distraction haha. For my part, I've always been more excited about giving gifts that getting them. that probably comes off sounding very holier than thou or something, or at least very "standard thing to say but don't really mean it" but for me it's quite true. I sort of pride myself in my ability to match a gift to a person's personal tastes or some aspect of their personality that the object might remind me of. Actually I've already got the gifts picked out for a few friends. To be totally factual one friend already has hers :) because, she's like me, as soon as you've got it, you've GOT to play with it, or at the very least take it out of the box and admire it. hehe. mostly though, I'm thinking I'll go the homemade gift route this year again, if I have the time over break, I will definately go that route, because, I LOVE to do that and it's more creative and fun and funky. not sure what i'll do this year..there are some good options. Most often my gifts that are semi-homemade count as pictures that I give to folks....but this year, I'm hoping to go a bit of a different route...not surethough, we'll see...but the ideas are brewing :)
and speaking of ideas...the idea now is that i should either get back to work or go to sleep, neither of which is likely to happen in the near future...

Um, I Still Exist

watching: LOTR -Fellowship Network Premier on WB
Hey Everybody, I haven't quite dropped off the face of the Earth. I had a weekend full of interesting events :) Including the "not so official weekend" start on Thursday night with drinks and karaoke at Bear's and dancing and drinks at Axis with Tanya and some of her friends. Had a BLAST...then of course, got home at 4 am, still feeling the buzz, and chatted online until the sun came up. Fabulous. Course, I had to shower to get rid of the smoke smell...slept for about half an hour, then went to my 9:30 class - leaving the dorm at 9:20 - and arriving just in time. Class was a blur, by nature of my distracted personality at that point, but I still took very good notes (surprisingly). Then I spent the next massive amount of hours in the library doing research for a collection development project. Came home and slept for god knows how long, until waking up on Sat and doing the SAME thing, more collection development project ALL day. Heh, the relief and break came when Traci and I joined one of her friends for Indian food. I'd never had it before and it was really really good. Not too spicy(heh, we had the recommendations of the native to help for that) and quite tasty. We also went to Nick's for a bit to converse. Her friend really likes brain teasers and was trying out a few on us. I was close to both of the right answers in my logical thinking process, but not quite there. Course, my first instinct, as always, is to problem solve by going outside the parameters of the given situation. i.e. in the case where you have a light bulb upstairs, and three light switches, and you want to know how many times you would have to go upstairs to determine which lightswitch turns on the bulb - I first decided, i wouldn't have to go up at all. I'd make one of my friends do it as a favor :) hhaha, can't let it be said that I don't think outside the box right? - the answer in reality, is 1 time. which was my inital guess, though I couldn't totally back up why....turns out, lightbulbs get hot, if lit...which I knew, so I was trying to guess how many times you'd go up to know that the bulb was hot...if you go up after you've flipped the second switch on and off, then you know...because you can feel the bulb...if the bulb is hot, it's the second, if it's warm, it was the first, and if neither, then it's the third switch...so the initial choice of ONE time is correct...but ya, was kinda a fun lill test of analytical thinking skills. Other than that, I haven't done much else besides homework all weekend, and won't do much else for the rest of the week either. I'm getting excited to go home again over thanksgiving and see all the IC crew, and my parentals. I do miss them. It was nice that my mom actually called me the other night, complaining that she wanted to hear the sound of my voice, rather than just doing the AIM chatting that we have been doing mostly so far...they are somewhat tech savy...I'm very proud of that fact ;) but was nice to know they wanted to hear from me. Anyways, back to the studies now

Democracy Still Works

Listening to: Green Day Time of Your Life
Okay okay, so the election did not turn out the way I wanted. I'd rather have seen Kerry put into office than Bush to not leave it. But, at least I know democracy still works. My vote still counted. It may not have helped to change the current state of the country, but I voted for whom I thought could do the job better. Does this mean that I won't support Bush? Hellz ya it does. When he does stupid things like oh um, say, "let's protect the sanctity of marriage between a man and a woman" you can bet I"ll be back out there on the protesting line with my sign. If he tries to pass more legislation that takes away a woman's right to choose, then hell ya, I'll be back out there AGAIN, to give him a piece of my mind and let my voice be heard. But, that also doesn't mean I don't appreciate living in this country. I have the right to vote, I have the right to peacably assemble for those protests mentioned above. I have the BILL of RIGHTS for that matter, to protect me from my government and the idiots we, as American people vote to put into office. So, ya, the outcome wasn't what i wanted, and ya, I have problems with the way Bush has run the country so far, and probably will in the next 4 years too...but at least, because I live in a democracy I can criticize my government and my elected officials. Granted I think that the Constitution should be treated as an "organic" document, meaning it is open for alteration and adaptation as the times change, and the political climate in our country changes. I do belive that the second amendment is an antiquated notion, and could be rewritten to better suit our society today and what it needs and gets from gun control legislation and the "right to bare arms" I really don't imagine when the Fore fathers worte it, thought it would apply to an AK47 or any other semi-automatic. Do I think there needs to be an amendment to define what marriage is? of course not. I find Bush's policy so annoying here. If you think that marriage is a religious institution, that what the hell do you think the idea of separation of church and state is for? While we're at it, marriage isn't just a religous institution, it's ALREADY an institution. Health benefits are provided for the spouses and children that belong to and can be claimed by a wife or a husband, so why not another wife or husband or both? Health isn't something that is a religious instituion, it's controlled by HMO's and the government. SO ya, I think I have a few things I disagree with Bush about, and the same is true for Kerry too. So I guess, mostly my point is...yes, it's here, deep down somewhere...I'm glad I live in a democracy where I have a right to choose my president, a right to choose to voice my opinons and critcize that president and a right to hopefully make a difference, even if it isn't in my own personal ballot.

Get out and vote folks! Let's change this country in the best way we know how. By using our constitutional rights! Today I worked on my 524 adn 528 collection development projects. I don't mind spending time in the reference stacks of main when I actually accomplish things. Good thing I brought the lappy, that helped quite a bit on saving the effort of writing everything down. So yes, this is a short entry, cause there is more that needs to be done. Kerry 2004!

Happy Halloween

Hey Everyone,
Happy Halloween! I hope you all had/have great days/evenings tonight and last night. For my part, everything was tons of fun. We went over to Traci's and carved pumpkins, then went out for Thai food at Esan Thai, SOOO good. yummy. Traci's friend Greg joined us as well, so the five of us went to dinner and then came back to the dorms to have some fun. We changed into costume (those of us who had them) and socialized, till going downtown. Traci and Greg headed home, cause Trac had been up until 5 am working on her paper, so I totally didn't blame her for going home. Greg seemed like a very nice guy too. Tom, Tanya and I hit the bar scene, for some dancing and fun. It was a great evening overall. Came back home around 2 am, and watched episodes of Family Guy on DVD and ate pad thai leftovers until we all pretty much crashed. Tons of fun. Happy 21st Birthday to Heathersissy as well! yay!

All Hallows Pre-Eve

So, I'm excited for today's festivities. Heading over to Traci's around 2:30 to carve pumpkins...hooray! and then out on the town to wander around in costume and join in the festivities of the evening, wherever that happens to land us! :) Tom is on his way down from South Bend as well, yay for guy friends that are making the trip to see me, and as he says 'the main IU campus', since he has his comp sci degree from IU South Bend...haha. Yesterday I spent most of the day reading and finishing the book I mentioned the other day. Was very funny. I stayed in last night and watched t.v. and read, a good way to spend a night before crazy activites commence. Anyways, short entry today...and those of you with blogs that haven't updated in awhile, shame shame! you know who you are :)

Listening to: Beatles ONE
Okay, so yesterday I went to Barnes and Noble and was dismayed to discover that they do not carry David Sedaris' early work on AudioCD. I was looking forward to purchasing Barrel Fever or Naked on AudioCD to pass the time on my drive home to Iowa City over Thanksgiving Break. Mostly this is in anticipation of his visit to IU in April. I will have read everything by then, I hope. So, after browsing the Essay section, I settled upon the print copy of Holidays on Ice, and later, got the promise from a friend to borrow Barrel Fever from her in exchange for Dress Your Family. I will turn to Amazon.com for the AudioCD of Naked though. And also for Sedaris' play that he cowrote with his sister Amy. But, back to the story at hand. So, while I'm at Barnes and Noble, because, well, let's face it, I LOVE books, I can't help but scan the other stacks looking for new works and authors to read. I did stumble on a new little gem so far. It's titled How I Paid for College: A Novel of Sex, Theft, Friendship and Musical Theater. The guy, Marc Acito, has a quality and style similar to Sedaris actually. It's a very funny novel, and I've already found myself laughing outloud and I'm only 100 pages in. So I recommend it based on the first 100 pages, and will give you my full report. Until then, I will have to close this journal, cause I'm going out to hit the town for some karaoke action! woo hoo!

Okay, so instead of doing some shameless self-promotion, because well, I'm not really doing anything all that interesting with my own life. (This is not really by choice though, as I'm currently attending graduate school, which serves as a legit excuse as to WHY I don't have stuff of my own to promote) INSTEAD, I'll promote shamelessly for my friends and family. Because some of them ARE doing great and fabulous things (well they all are doing great and fabulous things, some of them just have websites to easily add here)
My cousin Adam is in a movie called Straight Jacket...check out the trailer and site here:
http://www.straightjacket-themovie.com/trailer.html

One of my great friends in IC "Christysissy" has acted, produced, and edited for her boyfriend and his friend. They are great filmmakers, and I anxiously await snagging a copy of the latest production when I'm back over Thanksgiving.
http://www.blueboxlimited.com


there are others, but not the time right now to shamelessly plug everybody, so hopefully this satisfies those of you that wanna know!
oh, and on the related note of promoting famous folks I like or something. I really dig a band called Guster, many of you may have heard of them. They have a kick ass feature on their site where you can take a look into their fridges on the road.
http://www.guster.com

Kevin Smith and Me

So, another journal entry is required. Because I've been so good about writing every day for awhole week, how can I stop now?
Saw Kevin Smith's latest film on Hooiser t.v. the other night. Sadly disappointed. Though, from the previews, I knew it was not one I would see in the theaters, based on my expectation level of Smith's writing abilities with characters such as Jay and Silent Bob. It was not horrible, but it was not great, it had something of a "reaching outside the boundries of my here to fore known style" for the self proclaimed master of dick and fart jokes. It was sweet, and at points, funny, but few and far between. At least, people embraced Chasing Amy, well SOME people did. The gay and lesbian groups had problems with the film because it cast a negative light on a woman who supposedly falls in love with a straight man, though she's a lesbian, perhaps that suggested to the gay and lesbian groups that she wasn't truly a lesbian? I'm not sure, I didn't follow enough of the press on that one to claim knowledge of the argument on either side. However, for my part, I thought that was a great Kevin Smith film, though also "outside the boundries" of his normal fun comedy flicks, it had a message and it had great writing. The scene in the car in which Ben Afleck's character confesses that he is falling for Joley Adam's character is refreshing in both the way it is written and acted. It isn't overdone, (which is so easy to do I think) but genuine.
Smith caught flack for Dogma too. Again, a film with great writing and a great philosophy about the way in which we all view religion, our own and otherwise. A film in which an open mind is required, and a good sense of humor is expected. Dogma is probably my favorite Smith film to date, with Jay and Silent Bob a very close second. I tend to quote both quite often in my daily life, seeing it as a challenge to pay homage to a great director and writer when I get the chance. Mallrats deserves respect as the genre of runamuck characters really gets to be explored, and Clerks, well, Clerks started it all, low-budget black and white film. Who doesn't imagine the lives of these characters as being entirely close to home? There are worthy quotes from both.
There aren't any particularly quoteworthly lines from Jersey Girl. None that I can remember. There were of course, cameos by some of Smith's favorite friends and fellow actors, which I always admire about his films. He's always willing to give work to his friends. Those friends are always willing to lend themsevles to his work. I just didn't feel that Jersey Girl was up to his standard. I'm sure he got paid quite a bit of money from Mirimax to make the film, but as Matt Damon reminds Ben Afleck in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, in "Hunting Season" you have to do the surefire blockbuster hit, before you go and make the artsy pieces. Perhaps, Jersey Girl has to be counted in that category. Jay and Silent Bob, the block buster...Jersey Girl the artsy. Though, if that's the case, I still feel it lacked something of the quality I expect from Kevin Smith. I'm sure movie making isn't easy though, so I probably should keep my opinion to myself, because I don't do it. It's probably like Loki says in Dogma "mass genocide is probably the most exhausting endurance trial one can engage in, next to soccer" - perhaps that's movie making too.

A Small Hopeful Prayer

I am not, by nature, a very religious person in my day to day life. I am not, by nature, one who believes that organized religion is the path that is right for her. I do not however disregard how much strength of character and will some of my friends and family gain from attending church on a regular basis and worshiping in the ways that they see fit. I will not try to push my views on others and I will not try to make other people believe what I believe. Tonight, though, I would like to have anyone that reads this journal and does believe in praying to read my words and send your own as well.
I offer a simple but hopefully strong message when I want to pray for all of the families and friends that have been affected by this war, fought not on our own soil, but with the lives of our loved ones. I pray for our loved ones in Iraq and all around the globe that have dedicated a portion and perhaps their entire lives to serving our country. I pray for the loved ones that are left behind. I wish for all of them that their friends and families serving overseas will return home soon and can find peace and comfort with their families again. I want everyone to return safely, healthy and happy. My normal prayers are usually for those specific friends and family members that are going through rough spots of their own, and I always add that I pray for the rest of those who have touched my life in so many ways, that they are also happy, healthy and safe. For my personal part, I have not been directly affected by the war in Iraq in the sense that a family member is there. However, I do have friends in the military that will hopefully not, but possibly soon, find themselves in a position of active duty serving in a war zone. I pray that they do not have to go. I pray especially for a friend I knew in highschool, that I don't talk to on a regular basis anymore, but through other friends I know that she is facing probably the roughest nine months of her life, as her husband of just over a year will soon be heading to the Middle East. I pray for her husband as well. I pray for my friend back in Iowa City who has another good friend in the military who has been serving in Iraq for almost the whole time I have known her. I pray for the victims in Iraq and those on the soil in which this war is being fought. I pray that this war will cease to be an event affecting all our lives, in the small or large ways, that it has affected each and every one of us.

Monday Mornings

First off, have to wish a Happy 24th Birthday to Misa! Wow. You aren't a youngin any more are you? One year away from being a quarter of a century old huh? That being said, I hope you have a blast tonight. I'm there in spirit and via phone call, since this is the first one I will have missed in like six years of friendship!
Not much else to write today, just another manic monday. Very excited for Halloween weekend. Karaoke on Thursday night, pumpkins, parties, and possibly a visit from an out of town friend! Hooray! ;) Have great days ya'll!

Listening to: Ben Harper - Strawberry Fields (Beatles Cover), Hepburn - I Quit, Hoobostank - Running Away,

No idea what to write about today. Guess the muse has amusingly decided to vacate my head. Yesterday was a pretty chill and rainy day, we spent it at the library doing homework. I came back here, watched part of a musical, then helped Christa find her Halloween costume (quite fun) But, alas, a normal ordinary type of day. Actually I appreciate the normal ordinary days too, because, it makes me realize how special a day of just chilling and relaxing can be. This morning was great. Tanya had the idea that we should try the Runcible Spoon, because she'd never been, and I'm a newbie to IU anyway, so it presents a good excuse to get good food at some local places and soak up some local atmosphere. It's a fun little place. A converted house, was very crowded, populated with interesting folks to people watch. It's also full of fun bookshelves with many mismatched volumes of various old binding varieties. Including "Peter the Great" next to a book on gardening. Such fun. A real treat for the visualist like me. We had to wait almost 45 minutes for our food, but I did get to catch up with Tanya. I haven't seen much of her this past week because of her midterms, and she's also been feeling under the weather lately. The food was great. I've been craving some good french toast for some time now, since I live off of cereal almost everyday for breakfast, it was well deserved and needed! It was the perfect way to start the day. I think Tanya and I will venture to a place on Thursday night to try our hand (or rather lend our voices) at karoake. What fun that will be! ;) And perhaps will go see BatBoy the musical on Friday night, and then Sat, we'll carve pumpkins and get out the costumes and attend a party ;) SO, I just have to keep my head in the game for the rest of this week and get all of my school stuff done...

The opera last night was fabulous. I love spending the evening letting myself get lost in a story played out before me by people playing the part. I love how fast it seems that characters can fall in love, that they can sing so beautifully and with such eloquence about that love. How wonderful would it be to get to fall in love every night you preform? Though, for the principle characters last night, such love was not to be found. The stage manager, who did the pre-show talk, told us the main emphasis was upon Fate, and how Tchaikovsky was using Puskin's poem (as a huge romantic sentiment) to basically suggest that Fate and Destiny mock the true love of the characters. The costumes and set design were awesome, because that is more my area of expertise with the art history and costume background anyway, I was truly transported...the dancing was well done and Emily did a great job in the ensemb. The only weakness was very slight, in the voice of the mez0-soprano playing Olga, the sister. However, given IU"s ability to produce and cultivate a great vocal music program, it was just that, slight. I must also say how much I miss playing the french horn, but on the same token, how much I enjoy listening to people that can play it well. There were some gorgeous horn solos in this opera. I love how easily the horn can blend with a string section. Some really great moments when you can get caught up in the thoughts and feelings of the characters as they lament, or follow the social decorum of the day, are echoed wonderfully in the accompanying orchestrations. I can imagine it is extremly hard to sing opera in English. The number of consonants in our language, and the factor of not having nearly as many gorgeous long true vowel sounds, as they do in Italian or say, french. I wonder what the opera would have sounded like in Russian. Regardless, it was a lovely and entertaining evening, and I had a great time getting transported to the world of the Russian countryside, and St. Petersburg. Once transported, I had a wonderful time letting the opera take hold and effectively got lost in the genuine love of characters expressed with such purity of voice.
Today is rainy. The type of rain, that when you wake up to it, you simply want to stay in bed all day, wrapped in your warm comforter and go back to sleep and dream more of princes and love in the countryside. Alas, for me, princes aren't in the cards, instead it's off to the library for 524 encyclopedia work, but perhaps we'll go and get our pumpkins today, though it's not as much fun to pick them in the rain....

Listening to: MP3 Oldies List (which means great tunes from the 50's, 60's, 70's)

All registered for my classes for next semester. Yay. I'm a big dork, I'm excited for them. Well, mostly...maybe not so much for cataloging, but it's something I need to learn, and it's required, so here we go!

So there is a coffee commercial out right now, for Foldgers, that includes my theme song. I can't believe how awesome it was to hear the EVERLY BROTHERS live in concert with Simon and Garfunkel this summer. I still can't get over how stoaked I was, I felt like they were singing directly to me, even though that Qwest Center was probably sold out. I love how I went to a concert with my parents. How many people get to say that their parents have good taste in music and that you agree with those tastes? I had a really great exposure at an early age to the music of my parents' generation, though they tell me they were on the "tame" side, weren't protesting, didn't do woodstock, etc. They listened to folks like Peter, Paul and Mary and the Carpenters. All great stuff if you ask me. I remember many roadtrips to Okoboji, before Steve and I were old enough to drive up by ourselves, in which I would get to listen to the Beatles and numerous other one-hit wonders, and also the music from their childhoods, like early Motown, and stuff like "Leader of the Pack".
Nowadays, when I roadtrip my music tastes are so entirely vast it's hard to pinpoint WHAT I listen to, but I know what I like. Now that I've got the Ipod, and itunes, I can roll out with just about anything and mix it up constantly. Last night I was doing homework to the RANDOM setting, it was great fun. Going from stuff like Dave Mathews to Ice Cube to Sugar Shack to Ave Maria to Pour Some Sugar On Me. Granted, I have my lists too, if I'm feeling like a particular kind a music, say "jazz" then I can turn to Etta and Sinatra. Or power females I've got Alanis and Janis and Liz to keep me company. But sometimes it's fun to just mesh it all together. Especially when some things really fit one after the other. Anyways, you are probably asking what the point of this random mussing is...well there ISN"T really one in particular. So hah!

I'm excited for the opera tonight!

Tom Forsythe and Me

Listening to - Leroy - New World - Ten Things I Hate About You Soundtrack
Watching - Home Improvement with the sound 0ff - very counterintuitive I know...

So, the thursday trend of sleeping in continues. I didn't get up until 11:30 today. woo hoo. I was a VERY good girl though. *Remember When I Told ya'll I had that HALO?* hehe. I got all of my reading done for tomorrow morning's class, even caught up on the reading for it last week (which I'd skipped). I got all the immunization things taken care of, so I can register. I worked on the 524 lab. I squared away the contact information for my internship for the summer. I went running, did abs, AND even lifted a bit. I also finally finished putting up some new decorations around the room (no halloween ones yet, I'll put something on my door soon though) but, I bought that whacky sticky tacky stuff this weekend (because I have NO masking tape around here), so my walls won't seem so bare. There's a hilarious artist that I discovered in Art News a few weeks back when Traci and I were high on caffeine and doing our 401 at B&N. He was being sued by Mattel for his "representations of Barbie dolls." Well, having taken Art, Law and Ethics last sem at Iowa and finding copyright law fascinating, my curiosity was piqued. I "googled" for his website (and man, do I LOVE google).
http://creativefreedomdefense.org/index2.htm is Tom Forsythe's homepage...read and look and laugh and enjoy.
How this pertains to me: well, I've put up a few thumbnail images above the computer. I'm particularly fond of "fondue a la Barbie" and "Oster Dive" as well as "Missionary Barbie". As the disclaimer says, "it's derivative work" so it's freedom of expression. I often think, if I wasn't going to be a librarian, a professional writer, professonial photographer, or museum professional, I'd add lawyer to the mix and defend artists. :)
Now I am going to be a further good girl and work on some other assignments, because tomorrow night I'm going to the opera with Christa - yay! I'll get to hear people that actually know how to sing! and it's Tchaikovsky, and IU so should be fabulous! So exciting!

Listening to: Otis Redding - Sitting on the Dock of the Bay, Etta James - At Last, Wallflowers - One Headlight,

I thank God for the miracles of modern medicine sometimes. I'm lucky that usually after taking a simple little pill, and crashing with the lights off, perhaps sometimes with a cool compress, I can be revived a meer four hours later and feel refreshed, with no lingering migraine. (this does not always work, but tonight, hooray that it did) So, I was compelled to come back to the blog and write a few more lines...
The level of productivity after my nap has been quite astonishing, given my latent tendencies towards watching t.v., listening to music, reading for fun, playing 5 chord guitar concerts for myself, and generally just saying "but, gee, I don't wanna" (to borrow a line from Will) about doing all this reading. It's piling up...there's a larger project looming on the horizon that I haven't really done much with yet...and I'm going to register for classes amidst this feeling that I'm totally forgetting all the stuff I really need to get done tomorrow. Why do I make myself lists when I promptly manage to loose those? I think the hand is the greatest tool most of us have at our disposal, and tonight, I've written everything I need to do tomorrow, in blue ink across my hand ;) that way I won't forget. It works alot better than a string for me, because I'd probably forget what the string stood for...and a string can't really stand for that many things at once anyways. I have an assignment notebook, I use it to write down assignments. I just don't really USE it, it's in the room somewhere...probably under the pile of textbooks in the papa-sahn. My system works. So long as I remember not to scrub really hard when I wash my hand in the morning, or the ink doesn't dry fast enough, and I wind up with my daily list across my forehead.

Short and Sweet

Sorry kids. For the fans of the long entry, too bad. For the fans of the short entry, here ya go.
I have a nasty headache now, swiftly forming itself into one of those migraines I love ever so much. So, my plan for the evening is to go to bed. yes, that's right. bed is my option, as my eyes start to get sensitive to the light, which means I take the drugs and they zonk me out anyways, so so much for being productive tonight...sigh...okay, well I'm not often productive in the early evening anyways. Hope you've all had good days and will have good evenings. I'm outtie.

Failure and Findings

I may have defeated the purpose of this blog by actually telling people about it. whoops. Not that it's a bad thing, but again, now I feel I have an audience, and with that, comes the responsibility to either say something profound or tell them something great about myself (like they'd really wanna hear that or something). Or so I figure. Well sorry folks, you'll probably be disappointed. I'm not really that profound, and whatever is great about me - well, I'm not sure what IS great about me, and what ISN"T really great about me, so that's the murky water I tread in everyday anyways. So I guess if you are willing to read these digressions into daily boring moments, or moments of self analyzation or self realization or generally just angry rants about my life, then woo hoo and happy to have you aboard. But don't expect too much. I've lived my life, outside of elementry and junior high, with the motto of: Low expectations, pleasant surprises. I try not to expect too much out of other people, I try not to rely on other people for the things I want for myself.
Perhaps I've just become defensive about it, I'm not really sure. I follow the same theory with my own performance as well though. I can study for an entire day for a test the next morning, and I will still go into the test with the thought that, "well, if I at least don't flunk the thing, I'll be happy." It's sort of that false sense of reassurance that you know you don't actually believe, but you HAVE to tell yourself this anyway, because, you aren't sure what really truly WOULD happen if you didn't do well. Especially for me, because so much of my academic life, I have attempted to "be the best I can be", whatever that REALLY means, and achieve this sense of personal satisifaction when my hard work pays off. And what happens when my hard work doesn't pay off? When I don't get the grade I really expected I would get(even though I've said, as long as I don't flunk)? Well, I'm disappointed of course. But, life still continues, the world keeps on turning, and ya know what? there will inevitably be another test.

Downpours and Droplets

I resemble a drowned rat currently. It's another very wet day in Bloomington. Sadly, it's a very wet Monday, and my car, which is back at the stadium lot as of Sunday night, contains an oft used product to defend against the onslaught of drops and buckets of H2O. Umbrella. grrr. I feel like writing an ode to you, because you are not here, and I need you. I am otherwise equiped with a nice fitting rain jacket, which does a miracle job of pooling the rain into droplets which I can then brush away from the coat itself...however, this does not help my backpack, which now looks at me sadly, almost like the puppy that has just had the bath and is cold and ready to be dried off. I am wearing the really great and tall puddle jumping platforms, a good three inches of shoe sole to wade through those gushing rivers flowing across the cement. However, I failed to realize the new jeans I bought on Thurs, are quite long, and truly, even with the extra height gained by the tall shoes, they are right at the bottom of shoe level. SO, the dampness, in a strange process of defying the laws of gravity and physics has traveled from that base, all the way to mid-calf level. Additionally, there are significantly large spots all over because my jacket, ya, it's not that long heh. My hair, which I didn't put up before the sojurn to main to finish the assignment (yes that same one I was avoiding last night), is now soaked and extremly curly. But, ya know what I want to do? Make the best of a wet situation, and chalk it all up to already being wet and go puddle jumping! However, I happen to have class in about 20 minutes, and that is not nearly enough time to dry off, and I'd rather not sit for another hour or so as a drowned rat. Course, as I bring this entry to a close, the rain has now stopped. Thank goodness. After class, I can walk to get my umbrella.

doing: 524 homework and watching The Skulls for mindless entertainment value of watching Paul Walker - who really sorta can't always act, but makes up for it with his gorgeous eyes...
*sigh* I need a break from the homework at this hour of the morning, so surprise, another thing stolen from Trac...

Name: Sus
Birthplace:Coralville IA
Current Location: Bloomington, IN
Eye Color: blue
Hair Color: blond
Height: 5'4'"
Righty or Lefty: right - but i can write my name in a first grade like manner with my left
Zodiac Sign: Roar! I'm Leo the lion baby
Your Heritage: Your average Euro mutt. Irish, Welsh, German and Dutch
The Shoes You Wore Today: adidas sneakers, nike running shoes, shower sandals,
Your Weakness: there are a few weaknesses.
Your Fears: public speaking, that dream where you show up to class naked, that my friends will forget me, I'll wind up alone,
Your Perfect Pizza: sausage
One Thing You'll Achieve: I've achieved a good deal already I think, but master's degree, and hopefully, eventually write a book of some kind. I'm already crossing off living outside of Iowa for ayear :) thank goodness
What is your most overused phrase?: just about anything that I say is hyperactive overusage
Your first thoughts waking up: usually, wow...I hope the alarm isn't so loud it woke up tanya next door.
The first feature you notice in the opposite sex: eyes
Your Best Physical Features: probably my eyes, and my smile
Your Bedtime: oh that varies by the night, and if I can fall asleep right away or if i have thoughts on my mind
Greatest Fear: Did we cover this one already? or is this like relevancy ranking? (can anyone else tell I'm trying to avoid the homework here?) probably that everyone will forget about me
Your Most Missed Memory: so many great memories to choose from. Probably the old cottage at Okoboji.
Pepsi or Coke: neither, I'm an uncola gal...pass the sprite.
McDonalds or Burger King: neither
Single or Group Dates: depends on the context
Adidas or Nike: both - earlier answer proves that
Chocolate or Vanilla: both please
Cappucino or Coffee: I like the cheesecake latte at house of aromas, or starbucks cafe vanilla - I hate the taste of regular coffee
Boxers or Briefs: boxers
Do you smoke?: no, I'm allergic
Cuss: ya, probably too much
Sing Well?: well, I sing. high school choir etc, nothing to write home about though. (I do enjoy it)
Do you think you've been in love?: yes, cases of too early in life though.
Want to go to college? I think I'm destined to be a professional student at this rate...and not because I want to.
Liked High school? it had its ups and downs but overall yea
Want to get married: perhaps
Type with fingers on the right keys?: as opposed to my feet?
Get motion sickness?: not yet. altitude sickness at Mt. Rushmore though.
Think you're attractive?: didn't this question come up already? I have my good points and my bad like everyone else
Health freak?: I work out, I eat junk food...does that put me in the middle?
Get along with parents?: yes, I love them very much
Like Thunderstorms?: if I'm not driving or photographing lightning then yes I love em (esp on Okoboji)
In The Past Month, have you?:
Consumed alcohol?: yes, beer is nasty. it smells bad- blech!
Had sex: nope
Made out: nope
Gone on a date: does my next door neighbor who is straight woman and is engagged to a man in FL count. She was my dancing date on Sat night ;)
Gone to the mall: yes, found my halloween costume yay!
Dyed your hair: no, though i thought about dying it red the other day while at the grocery store...yes Cas, that was a weird twin moment.
Stolen anything? not in the last month, and not ever tha i can remember...haha, oh wait...I stole this survey from Traci...scratch that.
Age you hope to be married?: You want an age? jeesh, demanding, I can't even tell you if I WANT to get married
Number and names of Children?: I'm undecided. but I like the names Catalina and Sonora
Describe your dream wedding: yikes...many questions about my future here. As long as the families and friends are there, that's dream enough
How do you want to die?: after a long and healthy life
What college?: UI and IU - I realize now that dyslexia is a descriptor for reading disorders..thanks 524, that i"m trying to avoid.
Career: future (ART) Librarian, right now, SLIS student
Most like to visit?: Eastern Europe, Austrailia/New Zealand, Western Europe, South America, Africa, pretty much anywhere someone is either willing to go with me to, will meet me there, or will let me come visit them at.
What are you doing right now: avoiding homework as usual
What was the last thing you did: yawned like a second ago
What is right next to you?: a martini glasss full of marbles to remind me of the Hardin crew, and a corkboard of pics of people who matter.
If you were a toy, what would you be?: The Top Hat baby - tanya knows what im talking about!
Where do you want to go on your honeymoon?: see answer to where to travel
Who do you want to spend the rest of your life with?: someone that wants to spend theirs with me
Last person on phone with?: Tom
Last person that IMed you?: Traci (remember Unix is Sexy)
Last person you IMed?: Traci (remember Unix is Sexy)
What's your ring tone?: The Muppet Show
Do you wear contacts?: no, I have glasses for seeing far away though, (ie. slides in art history classes and movies, and driving at night)
School? Indiana University
Vehicle? 2004 Honda Civic Bessie
Ever won a special award?: all awards are special...I've gotten a few
Last film you saw at the cinema?: Garden State - very good show
Did you actually watch it?: yup
Are you too shy to ask anyone out: always depends on the timing
If you could change your name to anything, what would it be: eh. I'm happy with it.
Scary or funny movies?: both
Christmas or Easter?: they are both important
Lust or Love?: again, depends on the timing
Kisses or Hugs?: yes please :)
What color is your toothbrush?: um....I dont usually pay attention to the color, I'll raincheck that one.
Roller Coaster: Scary or exciting?: Both. I'm weird. I get nervous before new ones and I scream the whole way through with my eyes closed and my hands clenched. But the second time through I scream and let go and love them
How many times do you let the phone ring before you answer it?: depends on its location relative to me...
If you could meet one person dead or alive, who would it be?: just one?
Day or night?: both, depending on my mood
Summer or Winter: neither - Fall
Silver or Gold: I like white gold best
Diamonds or pearls: probl diamonds
Sunrise of Sunet? both can be beautiful
Have you ever broken a bone?: collarbone
Who do you hate?: hate's a strong word, can i use the descriptor loathe? I'd still say no one.