Curses

So, I reread the previous posting about everything seemingly calm, and now I"m laughing with sense of impending stress and hopefully surmountable number of tasks. I think this semester is going to contain a violent level of mood swings related to the awesome nature of learning so much that will help me with my career and is interesting, withthe sheer amount of learning and reading to get to that level. So far, I'm feeling WAY behind already in all 4 of the classes I'm taking - not to sound like the big complainer though -cause yes, I realize I set myself up for this sort of thing. so on to happier things
Jaime called tonight - wedding plans are coasting along nicely it seems...misa called last night, good to hear from her as she destresses from her busy week at work...jon and chai called the other night to inform me that our basketball team star is a moron, and will no longer be on the team (good for alford, he FINALLY gets a few points in my book for that - though not many cause he's still a jerk) I got emails from friends in far away places, though I'm still waiting for one particular friend on teh east coast to let me know he's still alive...though since he's in grad school he's probably got a bit of an excuse, - more so than me even...
mardi gras this year might be the first one I haven't gone out on in AGES, since starting college in fact! I hope to make it out to play a little billards at least, so I can say I still did go out at least, just no drinking and no late night - hve too much to do and no desire to drink before doing homework this time around...
okies, that's all for now, I'm out. case study to write.

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!

Loyalties and Parties

All day today my away message varied from "I hate snow" "I despise snow" "Snow sucks" and "When I'm grown up, I want to live somewhere warm" mostly this is due to my cabin fever of sorts, because I was stuck inside the house for the ENTIRE day. Blah. There was this huge storm that's moved through Iowa (will not be done until tomorrow afternoon) and it started with sleet and ice, and now is snowing. So the grounds are not only icy, but snowy to. Just the kind of weather I really LOVE being around. *ahem* cough, sarcasm. I also hate when the weather means my plans get cancelled. Just proves Mother Nature really does rule our lives, and rightly so - as we've recently seen how powerful it can be, and sadly at that. But tonight we were going to make ghetto gingerbread houses, and it was going to be fun, I just know it. We did it a few years ago and I thought it was a blast. I like being creative, and I especially like when I can be creative at the same time as other people and we can share the creative vibes. OH well, only a few more days in Iowa, until back in Indy I will not have time to do anything but study, attend classes, study, read for classes, hopefully work out occasionally, figure out housing for next year, and maybe do dinner a few times with some friends. That will suck...means to an end, means to an end. I'll just keep telling myself that. I meet with my internship advisor in the morning (if I can get OUT and drive on the roads) I hope that she doesn't think I'm a total moron, and that I have no business being an art librarian. I'm worried she'll think I'm not ready for it...
This past weekend was a total blast. I haven't been out to party that consistantly in FOREVER. Firstly we went out for Eben's bday on Thurs night, fun times. At least my hair looked really spiff and cute. Was a small West high Reunion, and Jana and Pete got to come along as well. Then on Friday night we did the new year's styles. All the pics are up on the web. it was a blast...I love those folks, thanks for celebrating with me you guys! Sat I was on full recovery mode. I did almost nothing the whole day. I fell asleep at like 10:30 that night too. Sunday night we went to Jakes for Kimi's 21st. That was also quite fun, took me back a ways to last year and many years previous when we'd go there to dance and have a good time just grooving the night away. Jakes is also the bar that is somewhat known as the "hook up" bar, though Sunday night, during break, there weren't too many ppl out. We did have a few guys that danced with kimi and me for a bit, but mostly it was just the group on the floor. Then Monday night we went to the Field House to help her celebrate with Pitchers, I drove though, and was bummed that they didn't have the dance floor open that night, but it was okay, it was a very relaxed and chill evening to help Kimi reach official legal age. Tonight I've stayed in, due to the weather...tomorrow night, I'll watch the hawk men open their big ten season. I am definately a hawkeye at heart, having spent 22 years of my life cheering on my black and gold. - so when I'm in Indy I will have to find a sportsbar that'll show the bball games so I can stay on top of things, and go IU basketball too - I watched the IU women take on the UI women the other night, and had my Iowa sweatshirt on, especially because I went with my mom, and she's also a UI grad. I cheered for the IU girls when they made good plays, but ultimately, I find my loyalty sports wise must rest with the hawks still - not to mention that after the hailmary pass to end the Capital One Bowl, I'm pretty impressed with how lucky my Hawk football team was, with the end of their season. Only 3 more days in Iowa...hopefully the weather will be good for the drive back on Sat. night folks.

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!