Congratulations!

Congratulations and Best Wishes are in order to Lindsay and Josh Elliot as they join the officially married couples of the world.
This weekend brought a close to my time at ACT, mountains of laundry, $10 loss at the new Riverside Casino, (but I made up for it in enjoying time with friends), a wedding, a football game, and a brunch.

Memory Circle

Congrats to Christa, on her acceptance of a position on the OTHER side of the ILL department at IUB. :) May you find the borrowing as much fun as the lending.
Also, for those of you who believe in the power of prayer, or you believe that just thinking about someone can send them "good vibes" then please do so for Christa and her family, as they are going through a bit of a rough patch.

I took my grandmother's ring to a store tonight to see if they can replace the missing stone. No surprise that since it's an antique ring, they'll have to cut a new stone with the same "cut style" from a piece of original rock that is of the same coloring...i.e. a peridot of particular shade....so it sounds like it's going to cost quite a bit to fix, but to me, it will be worth it. What can I say, but that I am attachted to sentimental things such as these. My grandma let me pick one piece of jewelry from her jewelry box for my birthday when I was either 14, 15, or 16 (and we still had the old cottage at Okoboji in the family). I picked the ring, because it looked like it was my birthstone (and I didn't have anything else w. my birthstone except for my original studs from piercing my ears). But, I have to say half the fun of that time was the pleasure I got from looking through her possessions. I'm not saying that in any sort of sick, money-hungry type tone...but more in the tone of, it's neat to think about what other people collect as far as personal adornment goes. It was more fun for me to hear the stories that went along with other pieces in her collection, than to really settle on something.
I found the same thing to be true when I recently raided my mom's box to find a gold object to go with my "Roman Goddess" costume, and found "Care to Teach" pins, and some cufflinks of my dad's, and a neat tennis bracelet with various charms for her to explain.
In a way, it is funny that I don't remember the background of the particular peridot ring. I remember more how I felt getting to spend some quality one on one time with Grandma Madeliene. A rare commodity when there were 14 other cousins (a few with their own new additions), her own 5 remaining children, and my Grandfather, plus NUMEROUS stoppers-by that could occupy her attention on the front porch downstairs.
My grandma is great. I think maybe that's a universal for people that love their grandparents to say, but for me, it does hold true.
She's one of a kind, in the way that I'm sure all grandmothers are. And to have a small reminder of that uniqueness in something I can keep in a box and pass on to my own offspring will make repairing it worth the monetary expense.

Broken But Reassembled Like New

How many of you out there find successful outlets to venting anger or releasing stress and anxiety? Sometimes life is just so annoying or messed up or worriesome that you have very little recourse than to exhaust yourself in a fight with a pillow, a good bitch session with a friend, journaling, or an attempt at relaxation techniques.

Well, I know I have. Often, Stitchy, my fearless stuffed bear takes the brunt of my frustrations, both in becoming "SuperStitchy" (which means he gets hurled across the bedroom in hopes of hitting a wall) or playing kleenex to my more oft found faucet of tears. I guess psychologists say there is a "good way" to deal with stress and frustration and a "bad way." A good way would be to go and exercise. A bad way would be to exercise your fist into someone else's face. A bad way would be to drink yourself into a drunken oblivion. A good way would be to smash a tomatto and drink a home-made V8. (This is not being mean to veggies but creating a healthyoutlet) Of course, I'm not advocating combining the two (Bloody Mary) and calling it even.
The levels of stress and anxiety or frustration that many Americans feel today are prevelant. A look at the number of prescriptions for anti-anxiety medications can easily tell you this. It is no wonder that not managing stress/frustration can lead to so many physical health problems.

Mind over matter isn't just a saying folks. But maybe matter does play a part. Perhaps there is a reason why companies are able to sell "Stress balls" to squeeze, and mini punching bags for your office desk. That emotional outlet when directed toward an object instead of a person is better for sure, but then, that also can lead to some damage. What we all really clamour for, is a way to express our anger without suffering irreparable consequences. This guy has the right idea.

I don't have the answers. I just have random mussings. But I'll leave you with one image that often comes to mind when I think of frustrated, stressed-out folks...Click here.

Renovation or Relocation?

So I have been contemplating a few other blog services out there recently. I am considering a move. Either a move, or at least renovating this blog, so it's a bit more snazzy. (I am giving myself bonus props for using the word snazzy)
I have been scoping out wordpress.com specifically because I can organize tags to classify posts....I know, maybe not nec...but the librarian in me is screaming "oooohhhhh" about that. (and the rest of you are probably screaming "whoooo, nerd" at that too)
we'll see what I come to decide, but this is forwarning in case change does occur. I know I know, some of you are probably resistant to change, well, guess what, the only constant in life, is that some stuff changes :) so embrace it if you can.
Also, got Season II of Dead Like Me from a little birdy tonight. Hung w. some friends at a place called the Red Poppy tonight, which felt dangerously like I was on the borderline to a potential drugbust for "hookah" which I guess IS legal, but doesn't it sound soo illegal? Regardless of legallity, place had really good organic tea. :) The conversation wasn't bad either.

Auld Lang Syne

So I'd promised to regale you all with the tale of my New Year's Eve. I deliver. :)
Friday morning I woke up with a sore throat, and then I worked at Barnes and Noble. I went to visit Christysissy as well, which was fun, and watched one of my fav. eps of Simpsons (lisa becomes a veggie) and then I hit the hay early.
I awoke at 6 am. Picked up the cohorts in crime at 7 am or so, with the extremely bright sunshine as a fourth companion. The drive to Chi-town went fairly quickly, with Pete serving as the IPOD DJ, and Misa and I chatted. All three of us lamented how we'd not gotten much sleep lately, and I also lamented the new found germs running through my system. Erik was kind enough to switch cars with me, and he drove us into the city...while I bogarted the BEST BLANKET IN THE WORLD, and tried to catch a little shut-eye, with no luck. We arrived early enough for Misa and Pete to get their tickets from WillCall, as we'd suspected that the mailman stole Pete's ticket AND would be present at Excalibur and Vision later that evening. We found thai food at the Siam House and then headed back to the HOJO for some much needed napping. Unfortunately for me, the pattern continued and I couldn't sleep...there's something wrong with me, but I can not sleep well if one of my nostrils is stuffed up and my throat is sore I guess. still with the lights off, I was at least able to close my eyes for a bit.

We woke up about 6 or so and primped for our night. Headed to the buffet dinner about 7:30 ish, and then started the night off right, by getting drinks from the open bar and stocking up on food.
After dinner we circled the club a few times, it was nice and big which meant the smoke wasn't too bad for my allergies - or the newly forming cold - and the alchy made swallowing a tad easier for my sore throat as the night went on. Eventually we made our way to the dance floor and hung out there for most of the evening. It was a blast! Good dj, good techno music and nice vibes. Plus the bartender at the upper bar was awesome. Misa disappeared to the bathroom, Pete to the bar, and Erik to go find his friend Ryan, so I was left for about ten minutes upstairs near the dance floor to just take in the crowd and people watch. it was fun, but I got a lill weirded out by some guys behind me who seemed to be staring at me, so I was happy when everybody else returned. Besides, it was getting close to midnight anyways....
The clock struck, balloons fell and people cheered...ringing in the New Year in a quite traditional way. Though I will say it was fun to watch Erik's reaction to the replays of the White Sox victory footage upon the countdown. I also found it amusing that despite my best efforts to get Pete to kiss one of the balloons at Midnight, he found enormous glee from popping them instead. (He later informed me that he normally HATES the sound of popping balloons, but apparently while drinking, it's joyous) Of course I had a better place to plant my new years eve kiss *wink*
We stayed at the club until almost 3 am or so, when we were all exhausted, covered in sweat, and ready to leave - after a fun ice fight, i might add.

So we headed back to the hotel. On the way home, a couple who had just gotten mcdonalds food called out...their reasoning....Erik saw a billboard of heather graham and couldn't control himself, haha. The guy of said couple called out "Now that's a real good way to spend new year's eve!" To which I had to reply "Hey, he's got a REAL girl to spend it with!" and at that Erik picked me up, and starting walking toward the hotel - and the guy yelled out "Okay, that's the REAL way to spend New Year's Eve" too funny!
We ate in the morning at the resturaunt near the hotel, and then switched cars back in Naperville, and after meeting Erik's folks and Kristie (the dog) and noticing Kyle passed out on the couch - we were on our way back to IC.
Misa and I dropped off Pete, then witnessed a fire at Panchero's and ate with Aaron....then i went home and CRASHED!! :)
That was my nye. now you've all been informed. the end.

listening to: Goo Goo Dolls Iris
Well, on the countdown to a new semester of graduate school, I've decided to write again. Imagine that. I think this will hopefully be a good semester to follow a wonderful summer. I had such a fabulous time hanging out with the friends back home, I miss you guys! It was a jam-packed three months, full of lots of work at a bookstore and a library, some nights out drinking and socializing, a few movies, and alot of Burnout III. That will now be replaced with 4 months of work at a library, some socializing and alot of homework/reading. I am excited though, as friends from IC and elsewhere have promised to come and visit this time around. I am also enjoying the decorating process of my apartment. Hopefully people will likely come and hang out here throughout the semester as well. My trip to Ohio on Wednesday was a blast. Went to the Columbus zoo, hung out with a friend i hadn't seen in almost two years, drank a smoothie, ate chinese buffet, it was like old times ;) I am hoping to swing a trip to Sandusky to Cedar Point with Lis and Mees, though it doesn't seem like that will happen :( since i have to work on labor day, and the sunday night before, plus i can't really spend $ on more trips now that i've got the aprt to pay for, I'd like to see them again though. Hopefully misa is in the category of those coming to visit me through out the semester, as is Erik, and perhaps Cassi. :) others are always welcome too ya know :)
okay, well this is a short entry, and not too informative, but I'm gonna go and work out now instead. so happy semester's beginning and happy friday to folks!

Well, I have been back in Iowa for almost two full weeks now. It has been a very good experience to readjust to life over here. I am loving my internship so far, Rijn is awesome and I am learning some really cool things, and I just got a call to interview at Barnes and Noble on Wed. so everyone wish me luck with that! (how totally awesome would it be to work with books and get paid? haha, oh wait...that's what my REAL career is going to be anyways! hehe, perhaps that's why I'm worthy of an interview. Hopefully they won't care that i"m only going to be around in the summer, and only want part time...well keep your fingers crossed anyways okay?). Let's see...other things....readjustment...well it has been really nice to see the Iowa friends again. There is something quite wonderful in the simple pleasure I take in hanging out with certain people that i have great chemistry with, so that we can spend an entire evening hanging out and in a very Seinfeldian sort of way, conduct a "show about nothing." Seriously, I hadn't laughed sooo hard in ages, as I did last week at perkins. It felt so good to just gel with them again. :) I miss my b-town girls and boys already too, because they are awesome as well, but there is something to be said for hanging out with people that, for all practical purposes have all sorts of "ammo" against you from previous knowledge to make fun of you with. Ah, the joys of being able to laugh at yourself. Particularly, from the bowling alley, the first night of my return, when I was dead tired and dragged my butt over because it was MY idea to go bowling earlier in the day, for when I got back to town, but soo tired I barely knew what was going on. Needless to say my comment of "I left the deathstars in the other duffelbag" is now living in infamy. Not to mention "what happens when you step on a dead cow?" (from the perkins evening) to which I replied "It stays dead?"
Not all of this homeward venture has been rosy though, as I've realized a few more things about myself that i need to work on. Like jealousy. I've always thought it such a stupid emotion, but I am beginning to understand the complexities and different types of jealousy that exist, and hopefully will discover how to better deal with them from an internal standpoint. But for the most part, life is fairly coposetic..(and I STILL can't spell for anything) So that's the newest update. peace!

Listening to: Guster - Keep It Together
Hey all,
just finished the first film in our AFI 100 adventure mission - our film choice tonight? North By Northwest, classic Hitchcock and number 40. I know, we didn't really follow the conventions of doing the list either in backwards order (as originally thought) or from 1 - 100 like the REAL conventional folks. Oh well though right? This way at least we aren't competing with other folks that are doing the same thing we are - and I KNOW a set of folks that are! So yay.
It's about 3:30 am Indiana time and I'm still up, mostly that's because i've been staying up so late the past couple of nights - going to bed at 2:30 or 3 am and getting up at 8 or 8:30, so this afternoon it finally caught up with me and I went to work at 8 am til about 4 pm and then CRASHED for a good three hour nap or so....bad for the homework and school stress, but good for my sleep-deprived body - alas though - i COULD have done school work tonight - and I did do a lill, but felt fairly unproductive about it - and I"m nervous about the art paper still because I STILL have to find some librarians/museum curators/publishers to interview for that darn thing! blah! THEN maybe I won't feel QUITE so under the gun for that paper...which isn't due til the end of the sem which SURPRISE isn't really that far away! yikes!
anyways, otherwise life is life, and i've got three other papers to worry about, plus other assignments so all my energy is concentrated there right now, and I need to buckle down even more than I was starting to...keep the pace keep the pace...
so anyways that's what's up with me. for those of you that bother to read this, write me emails :) I like to get them. I can at least read them, and I won't really have much time to post in the next couple of weeks, so that would be better ;)
okies, me out.

Well this week went by pretty fast. I feel sort of as if so much of the semester has already past and that there are soo many things i should have already started relating to school work that i haven't gotten to yet. Oh well, there's only so much you can do each day before you go insane. Grad school has really made me notice my ADD MTV generation attention span. I can't go for more than two hours of reading without having to take a break, and either bounce off the walls for awhile or have some other distraction around. Plus, while reading my mind wanders so much, to thinking about so many other things, it's like i'm trying to tell myself with my consciousness that ANYTHING is more worthwhile than learning and reading whatever is in front of me. So much so, that today, while reading about structures and theories of organizational learning and scapegoats and whistle-blowers for compannies, I was instead recalling an experience from elementry school - ya, that far back, so I really have NO idea what i was trying to read. Damnit, I hate when you end a paragraph and have no idea what it said, but yay for the memory, because it was a sweet one :).
I've had a decent weekend too. I screwed up something at worktoday - at least I think I did, which I'll probably have to try and correct later this week, but only one probably correctable mistake so far isn't horrible I guess. Traci and I investigated a bit of Brown County, we've decided it will be majorly fun to go back there in the Spring time, it reminds me of the Res and the drive out there, but it's actually way cooler, with these gorgeous rolling Southern Indiana hills and trees and these houses that look like quaint little cottages and some log cabins. I could really tell where all the flooding has happened too, since all the trees were basically burried in ice. Seemed a lill desolate, but the warm smoke coming from the cabins made me feel warm too. Nashville is a small sorta spread out town with a wedding chapel, plenty of bed and breakfasts and an artists' colony and a county library. Of course Traci and I went to the library to check that out :) not much was there though....a kewl building nonetheless. We went into a couple of the shops, one where the woman made handmade paper, another for doll house minatures. I thought about the boys back home too, because in one "box" they had a miniature old time bar set up, and I totally thought the boys would LOVE the little mini bottles of Jack Daniels, (for will of course), and beer cans (for Q). We went into a book store as well, but quickly realized we needed to get back to B-town for Traci to get a monroe co public library card, so back we went. I will have to take a picture of the sign for the car place here...it def tops Kum and Go, for the signage and the hilarious dirty-ness of it. Perhaps I will get a chance to do that soon. Friday night I stayed in and did homework, and I watched Charade, an Audrey Hepburn Carry Grant movie with the Stempel Three girls . and then went to bed, I was exhausted, having woken up at 5 am and not being able to get back to sleep. I also felt a little pang of missing home, because not only did I get emails from many of the old friends - including one from heather hall - whom I saw in Germany last summer and sarah buschelman whom I haven't seen since third year at UI, but because many of them were going out on the town last night, and/or drinking together. While I didn't really drink much during the semesters I would still have probably gone and hung out and socialized, so i do miss that aspect...more now than last semester too, because I haven't met anybody else to go to the bars with here in Indy yet. Today has been really boring during the day, homework/reading the whole time...did watch the hawks kick indy ass...no surprise there. I had a great time watching Dial M for Murder with Christa, Dimah and Julie though - classic older movies are great! We went to main and were just purusing the shelves of movies there. I realized I have not seen many of the "classics" I've now resolved to watch all of the movies on the AFI's 100 years 100 movies list that I have not already seen. I've not seen many - and some I've only seen a few scenes from - like Casablanca, and the Godfather (Thanks ALOT jon and Q!!! I will fastforward through that scene next time!!!!) so before the end of summer I will try to see all of them that I haven't. another zealous behind the scene type project...
right now it's 1 am, and I"m not really feeling sleepy, but again, not feeling like doing any more reading tonight. so hence the longer entry in this online journal thang. I'm feeling like writing some poetry, but also not feeling motivated to write it, becaue it would be crappy. Tomorrow will be spent doing homework most of the day, then going to kickboxing in the early evening, then to Barnes and Noble with Traci for more homework time, but at least in a different place. The "e" cover on my keyboard has fallen off of the laptop. This is not good. Not only because it is more difficult to use the "E" key, and my realization that the e is in quite a few words in zee english language, but also because it's not my laptop, it's dad's. I'm sure he will be none too happy to hear this.
I am looking forward to Valentine's Day this year...which is odd. The last time I had a good valentine's day was junior year of college, when I made protest shirts with Christy, Jon gave all the girls roses (so he could be a pimp ya..) and Tuttle wrote me a poem. That was the last good V-day I had. Senior year, I got my teeth cleanned, that was the highlight. 5th year I dogsat for Fritz, the cutest Schnauzer in the world, and had to field phone calls from weird stalkerboy #2 who wanted to come over to keep me company. This year might actually be interesting. I've always been single on V-day, and that will not change this time around - so i get to wear my Pink protest shirt - yes, the ONLY pink shirt I own (since i really dislike the color pink) I will go to class...oh joy....and then I may set up an appointment to dye my hair, something drastic, a big change...any suggestions from the online journal readers out there?
I got my first paycheck yesterday too, makes me feel like less of a slacker, as I've spent all of last semester watching the account balance simply dwindle. I bought a scale and some handweights too...to help motivate myself to lift more often.
and that's the boring life of me. If I were to write a screenplay to the movie of my life so far - (since i'm on a movie kick after the AFI list) I think I would have to title chapters - sort of like in Kill Bill - and this one would be called "The Boring life of Me" subtitled the grad school years, and yes, I know now how to do the proper grammer and punctuation for cataloging such a title.
so, that's the scoop here. ...

The recap catchup

Well, I am back in the swing of things here in indiana. Enjoying the nice 62 degree weather today, though it was rainy, at least it wasn't icy, like back in IC. I hope you've all stayed indoors or gotten home safely over there! The two classes I've had so far will be good I think, both with professors I had last semester, yay for them! I'm more nervous for the seminar in art librarianship which will be on Thursday - because I haven't taken the prereq and it's a class of only 9 people. I already have reading assignments and *gasp* had PRE-reading assignments too...publishing syllabi on the web has it's advantages for the profs, and disadvantages for the students I guess. It's hard to push my brain back into school mode though. I did get over to the SRSC today to work out a bit, which will be a good habit to get into. I'll recap the last few days in IC and here, in order to catch folks up, and close this quickly, because I've got massive reading to do for Thursday...
I spent Thurs night by hanging out a bit w. Jon, who CRUSHED me at NCAA Football on xbox. I thought it rather comical - for someone that usually learns what the buttons do by creating random schemes of pushing all at once or all in a row - that he handed me the MANUAL, I was thinking to myself, what kind of messed up game is this, and I quickly learned that I would do well to memorize that manual. So ya, I'll learn what all those buttons do, and then, Jon, you better look out, cause it'll be GO TIME! After some xbox adventures, we went and picked up Ashley, Kath, and Chai and went to the women's bball game. I LOVE watching basketball - I have a lead on Yogi's as the place to watch the Hawk Men this weekend (bummer that they are 0-2 in the big ten now). After the game, we went back to Jon's, where Chai and I played some Burnout Three, - my FAV xbox game (out of the 4 I've played). Then we headed to pick up folks and go to MugClub. It was quite fun for the most part. I think the people i was with know like every single person that lives in the town of iowa city, cause they were all running into people they knew. Besides my friends, I only ran into one other person that I know myself. It was good times though. Then i went home and crashed! I met with Rijn at 10 am to discuss the internship this summer - I'm hoping to keep myself super busy with working ALOT so as to make ALOT of money - which means, after internship meeting I went out to ACT to interview. I must fill out many other appl. as well, when I"m back in IC - if anybody knows someone looking for summer help...please pass along my name ;) ...Then I joined Misa and Ax for lunch at the hospital, which was fun, and i headed over to Hardin and visited with Hope (my old boss) She's so cool. Couldn't talk for long though - cause i met pete at house of aromas for coffee (or in my case, Orange tea) that was a great convo :) I was happy he wanted to go. I also met Jaime for dinner at the mall, and that was fun to. wedding plans seem to be coming along nicely. After that, Misa and I headed up to CR for the girls night! Sorry to my boys out there, I love you guys, - but sometimes, the gals just need a night to have some fun with their own kind :)....we had a total blast! It was a group of about 10 of us, including some of hte Mt. Mercy girls that i haven't seen in Ages! We went to a new place called "element".
My one funny story from the night, just proves that I will always remain the oblivious "blond". When Misa and I walked in, I was wearing a zip-up sweatshirt over my "goingout" tank top. For thoseo f you that don't know I have a set of "goingout" tanks, which, to various degrees are mostly designated as such because I can get them smoky and wash them easily. Well, as I paid to get in, the bouncer told me to unzip my sweatshirt top, - no worries, I thought, this is probably just to check for concealed weapons or something. Well, after, rezipping my sweatshirt back up, the bouncer informs me that I will need to check my sweatshirt. I was thinking, "huh? what? that makes no sense" and I think he saw the look on my face conveying my thoughts. He responded by saying the coat check was free. I nodded, paid and walked in. It was FREEZING in the bar, so there was NO WAY I was going to check my shirt! I asked Misa, who was wearing a zip-up fleace over her tanktop "Did he tell you to check that?" and she gave me this weird look. "No, why?" "Because he told me to check mine. Which is soo stupid, it's way to cold in here. jeesh" and misa gave me another look, that clearly conveyed I'd been the "oblivious blond" as usual...the bouncer was totally interested in seeing me wearing my tanktop all night, instead of my zip-up sweatshirt. In other words, he'd been trying to hit on me. *shakes head* In the end, it's more annoying than endearing for bouncers to hit on you when you walk into a bar, but, in my case, I guess I won't notice anyway.
The rest of the night went really well, lots of fun dancing, and the drive home was nice, because misa and I got to catch up. I left IC early on Sat morning, and drove back to B-town, which just a lill bit of snow and icky weather right outside Indianapolis, so no big. Settled back in, and did dinner and a movie with Traci...yay! She's such a good cook, and a regular martha stewart without the jail time. :) We watched Eternal Sunshine. Sunday I lounged around and got my textbooks and finished unloading. So that's it...it's back to the exciting life of a grad student. - I am looking forward to starting work on Friday though. Art Libraries RAWK!
hope you are all well!

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)

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!

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....

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...

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.

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.

Dancin in the House

Doing: typing at the keyboard, lit by the monitor, in an otherwise dark room.
I like when I can make people's days or evenings better by showing up and saying hello. I hope I was able to do that for Dick. He totally sounded like he needed a hug. Poor guy. His computer crashed, and snowball effect after that. So I went down to give him a hug and say hello. Then I subjected my costume to his approval, and he got the idea right away. He also plays the guitar and noticed I'd brought mine back from IC, (I didn't get to play it enough this summer, after the initial purchase, I learned 5 chords, and then realized I had three jobs, a precarious social life involving lots of long evenings spent catching up with folks, or dding for the bar, three really good novels to read, and the general helping around the house, the poor guitar did not get much use) So I like that the boys who know how to play can give the strings a work out every now and again when they wanna.
Tanya and I hit the bars tonight, totally rawking out. It was an awesome time. The DJ spinning at Bullwinkle's did a great job. I probably shouldn't have worn the new shoes, though they look totally hot, because by the time we come back here to the dorm (like 3:15 am) my feet are wrecked. I had a blast though. It was great fun. Tanya and I just cut loose and danced the night away. And at various points through out the evening many of the guys came up to tell us how hot we were and how we were working it on the dance floor and such, straight and gay boys. We met this hilarious gay boy named Mathew who had nothing but gushing compliments for us..and other guys were inviting us to parties because we "dance so great and are so fly", funny stuff. I think I danced pretty much the whole time too. Was remembering all those nights spent at the raves....all the times I danced from 11pm to 6 am and walked outside to the sun being up. (that was partly due to the dj's best friend, who was dancing the night away also, though for him, he had a lill help from an "e" friend hah) How many times I was so satisfied just grooving to the beats of a good house mix. Talking to all these random people, brought together by the music. Some of them high, some of them rolling, some of them just crazy weird and dressed up in funky costumes, candy flashing, glowsticks whirling, lights strobing to the beats. Some of them with car washing mits, which surprisingly felt SOOO good. I miss the all out endurance test of dancing all night to jungle and techno. I miss closing my eyes and just letting the music move through me and getting that sense of euphoric, nobody else cares how I dance, so long as I"m out there dancing and enjoying the music. That was nice. Few times when I dance am I ever self conscious. I love the fact that I don't mind getting up in a bar full of people, and being one of two on the dance floor - and ya, call me crazy but I do this sober! I was sober the ENTIRE time tonight, and it was fabulous...we were the first two on the dance floor, but by 12:30 the place was bumping and packed, but in a good packed way, where you could still move your body and not hit other people. So I'll just say how much I love to dance and free my body to the music and good night, because my feet want to rest!

Halloween Happenings

Shopping today. Played with a cute puppy at the petstore, and named him "Tuggers", which the woman at the petstore decided to call him since he didn't have a name yet. Funny. Screamed in the Spencers for ten seconds. That was pretty fun. I haven't had a good scream in awhile. :) Tanya got her devil ears to match the red dress, so she will be going as the "devil in the red dress" - instead of the "blue" dress. I got my costume to. Considering I'd started out with the whole "Rainbow Brite" idea, and found that I would have to MAKE that costume, and I don't really know how to sew beyond buttons and hems, that idea was out. Then, I was totally about going as the Bride from Kill Bill, not in the yellow jumpsuit - though it was comforting to know at least the manufacturers thought girls my size could pull it off. It wasn't original enough...so I figured I'd go as the pregnant Bride from the Two Pines Massacure...alas, no maternity bride dresses to be found at Goodwill in IC or places I'd looked around Bloomington. I still don't even know WHAT we are doing for halloween here, besides a few of us dressing up at SOME point, and hopefully carving pumpkins. So yay for carving pumpkins and dressing up!
Even if I have nowhere to GO to wear the costume, I'll still wear it to celebrate the Halloween spirit. It will not be something to wear to class though. Actually, what am I saying, it is TOTALLY something to wear to class, haha, as long as the people in my program didn't get totally offended by the mocking nature of my gist. It's totally the stereotypical librarian garb. It was a thrown together idea, mostly because I didn't really have to purchase much else to go along w. the parts of the costume I already owned. So yay for Halloween and Librarians!
Different than last year's "Gothic Angel" where I actually purchased the black gloves, and the make-up (I did already have the skirt from the previous year's outfit as the black cat - Meow!) And the leather tube top was from the year before that, when I went as the not so high priced call girl, hehe. Now THAT was a fun night. Halloween three years ago. Firstly, I dyed my hair red, secondly, I got dressed in my hooker gear. Thirdly, I strapped on the bookbag and went to take a 7pm journalism test. Oh yea, that was fun. It's really hard to take a professor seriously, as he passes out papers and he's wearing a red clown nose. I don't care what his official title of PHD means, that's just funny.
The BEST part about that night though, and I love ya Mees, but this totally takes the cake. Before leaving for that test, we agreed to meet at the chemistry building (where my test happened to be, since it was the biggest lecture hall on campus). Ihelped to improvse her costume though, because I didn't wanna be the only one of us strutting around as the call girl that night, so I roped her into it. Well, I will NEVER forget the fun I had that night when I got to pop her boobs. Yup. My improvisation was a hit. I never figured bubble wrap was much good for anything, beyond wrapping up your breakables and the occasional Mexican Hat Dance across the floor with sound effects. But actually, it worked quite a bit better than kleenex. I have to say, had I had balloons on hand, I would have prefered to fill a few with water and use those (for the consistancy factor if nothing else). Yay for Halloween and fake boobs!
Oh, of course there were other moments of fun, and some GREAT costumes out that night. Becks went as your standard kitty, Salena, the standard bunny, so we were all in great spirits. The best outfit had to be the guy who came dressed as the "One Night Stand" now THAT was hilarious. He literally had fashioned a night stand table to slip over his body, complete with a lamp, alarm clock and a drawer. I'm not sure WHAT exactly was inside the drawer, but it was rumored to be functional and contain a box of condoms. I hope he won one of the contest prizes that night. Props also go out to Tom for his costume last year, which I found very clever, especially for the "play on words". He went as an "Orgasm Donor" instead of an "Organ Donor". Nice work.
Should I have been celebrating Halloween in Iowa City this year, there was talk of going as "Troop 69" in which all of the girls would be dressed as girlscounts, and of course, one of the guys would dress up as our "den mother" - my contribution to the idea -- the belief that our merit badges should reflect our traditional girlscount talents -- sexual positions. So Yay for Halloween and the Troop 69 Girlscouts!
I think Christa will do Mary Poppins, her costume was at home in Michigan, where she is this weekend, and perhaps I can convince Traci into dressing up with the other gals for the festivities ;) (especially if she reads this haha) Even if all we do on actual Halloween night is sit around and play poker or watch movies, I don't care, so long as people are happy to be involved and enjoy themselves. Yay for enjoying ourselves!

How much I love Fall

Doing: sitting with the lights off but can't sleep
It's drizzling and cold outside. The ground is slick and covered with wet leaves. It's Fall, and I love it. The best season out of the year is the one where you can start to put on your sweatshirts and your woolen socks and watch highschool football games and start to see your breath in the air. When you can take long rides along the Cedar River on Becky or Gordon, and listen to the fallen leaves crunch under their hooves. It's the time when I get to be crazy and rope people into Halloween parties and socialize. When I get to subject my friends to late night walks by the Iowa City River to talk about life and love and loneliness. It's cold enough we need to wear gloves. My friends celebrate their October birthdays in various ways, but usually it includes a good night out at the bars for dancing and fun. You can just tell the new crop of freshman girls in their "barwhore" wear, oftentimes consisting of short skirts and even shorter tops, with the plunging neckline to compliment. They stumble their way through downtown looking for the bar of choice for the evening, and the guys watch and call. I show up, in a sweatshirt and jeans, with my kick ass M.U.D.D. boots (which many a guy has commented on) and I feel really good about it. Because I realize, it was only three years ago, that I was one of them. And now, I know that I don't need to rely on showing skin to impress a guy. For that matter I've realized guys worth impressing aren't the ones paying attention to these types of girls. And my Falls are better spent in the jeans and sweatshirts hanging out with the people who really matter, rather than trying to impress the random ones. It's still drizzling, it's still cold outside, but I'm a different me.