Welcome to Sheepville

2005-10-26T18:42:00.000-05:00

CONCERT SURVEY

What was your first concert?
Haha, the first KISS Reunion tour - 1996

What year was it and how old were you?
I was twelve.

Have you ever had to go to a concert with a parent, and were you embarrassed about it?
I've been to concerts with other people's parents, but they were usually parents who acted like their kids' "friends."

What other concerts have you been to?
Wow. I don't even know that I could remember them all.

What concerts do you want to see that you haven't?
I've actually been very lucky, and seen all of my favorite bands. Well, seeing Fiona would be good.

Have you seen any bands more than once? Who are they, and how many times?
Cursive - 6
Nine Inch Nails - 5
Mike Park, Darkest Hour, and, uh, another band - 4
Murder by Death - 2
A Perfect Circle - 2
KISS - 2
Creed (hah) - 2
Blood Brothers - 2
And probably more opening bands, etc, that I don't remember right now.

Have you ever met any bands, and if so, who?
Hmm. Funnily enough, I've not yet met Trent Reznor. I've been in the same room as the rest of the band, but I don't think I introduced myself or anything. Anyway: All of Cursive (that was fun), all of Murder by Death, I have a special fondness for the drummer from Darkest Hour - he dedicated a song to my boyfriend and me. Also the drummer from - that band whose name still escapes me. I've talked to a bunch other, but those are the ones that stick out. Oh, and at least a few people have been to my house when I was younger - I think a member of Great White, and one of Whitesnake.

Do you have an signed memorabilia from shows, and if so, what?
I don't really do that, no. I do have some signed photos from movie stars, but that's a whole different bulletin. Wait! I do have a hat signed from the bassist of Aerosmith, but my sister got that for me. And of course she owns tons of stuff signed by Ace Frehley.

Do you buy something (other than your ticket, of course) when you see shows?
Not big shows (the merch costs a ton) but when I was twelve I bought a KISS Army bandanna. And I've bought a few murder by death shirts, and at least one Cursive shirt, at a show.

What is the most you've ever paid for concert tickets, and who were they for?
Probably 50 bucks. For NIN, always. Oh, and I guess the Coachella tickets were 80 bucks, but considering the amount of bands, meh. ]

Have you ever won concert tickets, and if so, for what concert?
Not that I can recall. I've GIVEN out tickets on the air, though.

What is the best concert you've ever been to?
Hmmm. Second night of Cursive being in Orlando really sticks out there. Also the first time I saw NIN (in Lakeland, 2000). Oooh, and the whole Coachella experience was awesome.
Other shows: WTF does this mean?

What is the worst?
Hmmm. I would have to say the second time I saw Creed (they were but one band on a large bill).

How far is the furthest you've traveled to see a concert?
Probably Indio, California (from Florida). We were going to see Deftones /Dredg in Idaho, but they cancelled. And Philly is relatively far from Florida as well.

What is your favorite concert venue?
I love the Social, just because of how intimate it is.

Do you save your ticket stubs?
Yeah, but I've been worse at keeping it up over the years.

What is some random fact about you and your concert-going?
I've goten so used to seeing little indie bands that seeing an arena show last night really threw me off. Also, I reeally like first row, though last night was the first time I've tried it at an arena show.

What is your fondest concert memory? Wow. That's a hard one. Chez ETS was a ball, Tim coming up and hugging Greg after the Cursive show, Darkest Hour dedicating a song to Greg and me, I suppose being front row barrier last night will be up there, and the SOMETHING'S GONNA GET BROKEN moment...And of course I have a fondness for the first time I saw nin, for several reasons.

Do you have any concerts coming up? Just saw NIN last night. There's a concert coming up in November that I'm looking forward to, and then supposedly there's going to be another nin leg in January, but I think the "season" is winding down.

2005-10-23T20:58:00.000-05:00

Under a tornado watch...and we all know how I love tornadoes!!1 LOLZ!!

2005-10-23T10:56:00.000-05:00

test test test test

2005-09-07T11:35:00.000-05:00

Summer Fun

I've returned from a Labor Day weekend in Pennsylvania, hanging out with, essentially, the admins of echoingthesound, plus the significant others, and meathead. Was quite fun and relaxing, and I got to ride a segway for the first time. I've got my fingers crossed that we might get visited by some or all of this crew come January (Florida is, after all, preferable to the Northeast in the winter).

Didn't get to go to Dragon*Con, as it conflicted with my PA plans, but Katie and Cara did, and they got to hang out with my sisters and Jim. I feel a bit pouty about that, but it makes me look forward to FX all the more.

And speaking of looking forward to things... I am already looking forward to Saturday. Last get-together was fun, and now there's poker chips.

2005-08-20T21:36:00.000-05:00

I'm Hot, Sticky Sweet...

It's freaking hot. And there is no way I can make that less of an understatement.

Thursday night the AC was acting funny - it wouldn't turn on, no matter what temperature we set it at or switch we flicked. It would come on, eventually, if it felt like it, and then turn off again after about five minutes, for another hour or so. Still, with all the cold air pent up in the apartment, it was ok.

Yesterday morning it was still acting strangely, so we went to the front management office. However, since it was Friday, it was too late to get a maintenance guy, and the earliest we will get one is *sigh* Monday. And meanwhile, the cold air has run out, and as of 10:41 pm, it's somewhere between 80 and 85 degrees in here. And neither of the bedrooms have overhead fans.

We went to Target and bought a stand-up, swivel fan, as well as a little portable one. The boyfriend has fashioned a strange air conditioner out of the little fan and a box and some ice, which helps a bit, and the windows are open, which helps a bit more, but still, 80 degrees at night, man. I've been sticking my head in the freezer.

2005-08-17T11:53:00.000-05:00

Sadness

I found out today that Katie's mother, Linda, has passed away, with a service this weekend. This isn't entirely unexpected, as she's been ill for some time, but it's a sad day nonetheless. Katie and her family are simply wonderful people - they even let me live with them for a few weeks - and I know there are so many of us who fiercely wish they could be spared this.

2005-08-09T21:06:00.000-05:00

Buggin' Out

Well, Morm is lucky enough to get bats flying around inside her house; we get a flying cockroach.

I think my first encounter with a palmetto bug was the day I moved to Florida. Sure, I was only five years old, but I remember my sisters, parents and I walking into our new house - and Doug having to immediately kill what looked like, well, a huge flying roach.

And that's what they are, basically. They like living in mulch. And they can grow to be HUGE. So you can imagine our delight when one started flying around the apartment a half hour ago.

The boyfriend and I tried to move away from it, to get a good vantage point, but it kept, you know, flying. And it would fly into the overhead fan, and get batted, and soar in our direction, so we'd scramble away. Finally, he told me to go into the office/bathroom wing of the place, which we had sealed off by closing all the doors. I hid. I heard some cursing, and some thumps. And finally, it was over, and the day was saved.

Afterward, the boyfriend and I immediately started talking about mkaing sure we don't leave food out, etc. But while I did tonight's dinner dishes, I started thinking. Unlike cockroaches, palmetto bugs aren't as associated with filth. If you ever see them in a house, they've usually come from outdoors, flown in through a sliding door or something. We have only the front door, and it's sealed pretty tightly.

And then it hit me. Usually, if they're in a house they might have gotten in somehow from the garage. We don't have a garage - but the boyfriend's parents do. And they were cleaning out their garage this weekend, and we were helping. And his mom came across a box of mics and stuff from the garage band days. She asked him to go through the stuff, but he said it was all his (he was busy helping his father) - so she put the box directly into the back of his car. Didn't sort through it or anything. And it wasn't even a closed box - it was an open-top crate full of wires and electronics. And he picked up the box, and brought it into our apartment, and put it on the dining room table - the very place we first spotted the bug coming from like a bat out of hell.

I've just informed him of my suspicions. He is less than pleased. Understandably, cause there's no way I am going near that box.

2005-08-04T11:34:00.000-05:00

I'm gonna have a good time tonight, rock n' roll music gonna play all night

Actually, now that I think of it, I guess there is a gig tonight for John's band. Don't know if I'm going to go, though it would probably be fun.

Animal Kingdom was much more fun than I actually expected. I didn't really think it could compare to Busch Gardens, but it's actually better in many respects, namely the way they integrated the animals with the environment (ie, you're not gazing at a giraffe way in the distance; there's one not eight feet away). We definitely need to bring Marie there - she'd probably get a kick out of it, as well as the Dinosaur and Bug's Life rides, which are NOT designed for children. With the tall trees, though, the park has a very closed-in feeling, and it's about ten degrees hotter inside Animal Kingdom than any of the other parks. I was dripping all day, constantly refilling my water bottle. I hope Michelle does alright working in the new climate! Definitely a switch from The Great Movie Ride.

With all my CDs mostly still packed away, I realized I haven't been listening to my collection nearly enough. Last night I rediscovered Air - Moon Safari (now that brings back memories of sophomore year in the Cove) and today I'm listening to my Lost Boys soundtrack (a very good, used buy at Park Ave CDs from about a year ago). Wix was kind enough to give me a Mew track, Snow Brigade, and I'm addicted. However, he's in France, so I won't be getting any more for awhile.

AH! I had no idea that the cover of "People Are Strange" on the Lost Boys is done by Echo and the Bunnymen. Now THAT is strange.

I'm just babbling at this point, really.

2005-08-02T07:31:00.000-05:00

Morning Report

Aghhhhh, so early....my stomach is protesting wildly at eating breakfast before 8 am. I do want to go to Animal Kingdom, I do...but it's...so...early.

2005-07-23T09:31:00.000-05:00

Lincoln

Updated and reorganized my links (okay, the order makes perfect sense to me; I have stuff grouped). New people of note: anita, who has yet to put much on her page, but I'm sure it will be wonderful, and wix, who will soon be joining us in the sweet land o' liberty.

2005-07-22T13:31:00.000-05:00

The Sleaziest People in the World

Are Myspace girl collectors. Honestly, if you are adding some chick that you don't even know because she's hot or is willing to get half-naked for the camera - STOP IT. You're no better than creepy guys hanging around a college campus.

I think I may have added a few inadvertently because I thought they were from echoingthesound. Or maybe the guys on echoingthesound are just creepy girl collectors (note: I am glad Tony has quit this nasty habit).

2005-07-18T00:18:00.000-05:00

Stuff to talk about later

I'm exhausted, and I've just gotten home. Since I keep forgetting, I should mention:

*I finished the sixth Harry Potter book mid-afternoon yesterday (now technically the day before yesterday). I won't post any spoilers, of course, and will castrate anyone who even attempts to allude to any. With a butter knife.

*Now am currently reading Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land. I was kind of put off Heinlein, as my introduction to him was Glory Road. Then I read The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, and looooved it. This one was highly recommended, and so far I quite like it, but I'm only halfway through.

*Just got back from seeing Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I quite liked it. A bit less sinister than the original movie, which to me is not a bad thing.

*I am STILL getting teased about the Gazelle. Yep.

2005-07-16T01:40:00.000-05:00

Hoary Peter

Heheh. Well, we just got back from the Potter Party at Borders. It was an adventure, to say the least.

Let me first say that we did not follow any of the good advice given over at echoingthesound. We weren't sure for certain that we would go, and we wound out heading out the door around ten o'clock. We got to the Borders, registered, and received a card, number 566. Yes, meaning they started at one, and we were 566. Really, we should have gotten there at five pm, gotten an early card, left and come back, but live and learn.

So they start handing out the books at midnight. First batch called up was 1-50. Twenty minutes later, it's 50-75. A little later, it's 75-100. You can see how this was going.

The boyfriend was getting insufferably antsy, and the high concentration of squealy kids and (more) obnoxious teenagers dressed like schoolgirl sluts (for some reason) wasn't helping. But it got all the more interesting at around 1am, around number 200...when the power went out. And stayed out.

Turns out they're thinking it was some sort of vandalism, because yes, we were the ONLY place that lost power, in the area, in local Borders, whatever. And then, though the cash registers were running on battery backup, the credit cards wouldn't work. Hilarity ensues.

To make a looong story short, the crowd was actually pretty well-behaved, considering; as a bonus, the power went back up just as we were reaching the front of the line, so, though we had enough cash, we were able to use the card. We got our book at nearly exactly 2am. Soo...what am I doing?! I should get reading!

2005-07-14T22:19:00.000-05:00

Moving quickly through the open plains

Sooo, I've returned from Tennessee. It was much fun; there were fireworks, swimming, the drive-in, good food, and relaxing times. Sucked that Julian wasn't there, and it sucked that the boyfriend couldn't go, but oh well. Still quite fun.

On Sunday, the night before I left, I awoke in the middle of the night. The wind was howling, so I checked the TV to make sure there weren't warnings (there weren't), then headed back to bed. I couldn't sleep, however, because I was having issues breathing, pressure in my chest, and my chest was sort of hurting. Also, every time I drifted off to sleep, it would feel like my heart skipped a beat. I didn't sleep that night, and the symptoms persisted through the week, though they got a bit better.

Today I went to the doctor. Turns out the problem was not cardiac at all, thankfully; instead, I had bruised the joint and the whole area of, I guess, my sternum. And since my doctor's a D.O., he was able to make some adjustments to my back and such right then and there. I've already been feeling better with each passing day, and I should be absolutely fine in another few.

Now...how did I manage to bruise myself and not notice, you ask? Well, my parents own a Gazelle, that goofy exercise thing you see on TV. I used it, and it was actually quite effective...evidently TOO effective. Yes, I got messed up due to a GAZELLE.

The boyfriend, who was very understanding while I was worried about my symptoms, now has joke fodder which I think will last though the weekend. Oh boy.

2005-07-01T14:15:00.000-05:00

Science Fiction, Double Feature

In the fast few weeks I've seen both Batman Begins and War of the Worlds (well, and Mr. & Mrs. Smith, though that doesn't quite fit in - cute comedy though, go see it). Batman Begins was undoubtedly the best release of the summer, at the time of its release. The movie was pleasing to comic book purists and movie freaks alike, and was, at long last, an adult version of Batman - not for the five-year-old set. I felt absolutely certain that this was THE movie of the summer.

...Now, though, I'm not so sure.

Sure, Tom Cruise is a dick, and the boyfriend hates Dakota Fanning, but the movie looked intruiging, so I dragged him anyway. We came out with this face: O_O

It was, simply, awesome.

Sure, the science aspect of it leaves giant holes, and the last three minutes are rather hokey (I'm talking little details, not the actual ending of the film), but that all pales in comparison to the giant kick in the stomach that the film was. I spent most of it with my jaw dropped and my hand over my mouth. Independence Day, it ain't.

Now I'm wondering who I should recommend it to. To any adult, sure. To any little kid, absolutely not. But what of the preteen set? What of L.M? Granted, the movie is rated PG-13, but that's amazing. Sort of sad that a bit of nudity or a curse word garners an R, whereas "disturbing images and violence" is suitable for kids.

Someone asked me whether WOTW or Batman was better. Tough choice, actually. I think that WOTW was better, but Batman was more enjoyable. I can watch it, and still eat afterwards. I can watch it over and over and not feel disturbed.

...However, now that the initial shock of WOTW has passed, I want to watch it again.

Maybe I can handle a little more disturbance...

2005-06-30T14:02:00.000-05:00

"She was a whoo-ore"

Ok, so the idea behind this quiz thing is that you put an X next to the movies you've seen. If you're over 70, you're a "movie whore," whatever that means. Out of 200, I have seen 107.

001. ( )Napoleon Dynamite
002. ( )Saw
003. ( )White Noise
004. ( )White Oleander
005. (x)Anger Management
006. (x)50 First Dates
007. ( )Jason X
008. (x)Scream
009. (x)Scream 2
010. (x )Scream 3
011. (x)Scary Movie
012. (x)Scary Movie 2
013. ( )Scary Movie 3
014. (x)American Pie
015. (x)American Pie 2
016. (x)American Wedding
017. (x)Harry Potter
018. (x)Harry Potter 2
019. (x)Harry Potter 3
020. ( )Resident Evil I
021. ( )Resident Evil 2
022. (x)The Wedding Singer
023. ( )Little Black Book
024. (x)The Village
025. (x)Donnie Darko
026. (x)Lilo & Stitch
027. (x)Finding Nemo
028. (x)Finding Neverland
029. ( )Thir13en Ghosts
030. (x)Signs
031. (x)The Grinch
032. ( )Texas Chainsaw Massacre (original)
033. ( )White Chicks
034. ( )Butterfly Effect
035. ( )Thirteen going on 30
036. (x)I, Robot
037. (x)Dodgeball
038. ( )Cry Baby
039. (x)Clueless
040. (x)Excess Baggage
041. (x)Deep impact
042. ( )Kingpin
043. (x)Never Been Kissed
044. (x)Meet The Parents
045. ( ) Meet The Fockers
046. ( ) Eight Crazy Nights
047. ( )A Cinderella Story
048. ( )The Terminal
049. ( )The Lizzie McGuire Movie
050. ( )Passport to Paris
051. ( )Dumb & Dumber
052. ( )Dumb & Dumberer
053. (x)Final Destination
054. ( )Final Destination 2
055. (x)Halloween
056. (x)The Ring
057. ( )The Ring 2
058. ( )Harold & Kumar (White Castle)
059. (x)Practical Magic
060. (x)Chicago
061. ( )Ghost Ship
062. ( )From Hell
063. (x)Titanic
064. ( )Pearl Harbor
065. ( )I Am Sam
066. ( )The Whole Nine Yards
067. ( )The Whole Ten Yards
068. (x) The Day After Tomorrow
069. (x)Child's Play
070. ( )Bride of Chucky
071. (x)Ten Things I Hate About You
072. ( )Just Married
073. (x)Gothika
074. (x)A Nightmare on Elm Street
075. (x)Sixteen Candles
076. ( )Bad Boys
077. ( )Bad Boys 2
078. (x)Joy Ride
079. ( )Se7en
080. (x)Oceans Eleven
081. (x)Oceans Twelve
082. (x) Identity
083. ( )Lone Star
084. (x)Bedazzled
085. ( )Predator
086. ( ) Predator II
087. (x) Independence Day
088. ( )Cujo
089. ( )A Bronx Tale
090. ( )Darkness Falls
091. ( )Christine
092. (x) E.T.
093. ( )Children of the Corn
094. ( )My boss' daughter
095. ( )Maid in Manhattan
096. ( )Frailty
097. ( )Best bet
098. ( )How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
099. (x)She's All That
100. ( )Calendar Girls
101. ( )Sideways
102. (x)Mars Attacks
103. (x)Event Horizon
104. (x)Ever after
105. (x)Forrest Gump
106. (x)Big Trouble in Little China
107. (x)X-men
108. (x)X-men 2
109. (x)Jeepers Creepers
110. ( )Jeepers Creepers 2
111. ( )Catch Me If You Can
112. (x)The Others
113. (x)Freaky Friday (original)
114. ( )Reign of Fire
115. (x)Cruel Intentions
116. ( )The Hot Chick
117. (x)Swimfan
118. ( )Miracle
119. (x)Old School
120. ( ) Ray
121. ( )The Notebook
122. ( )K-Pax
123. (x)Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
124. (x)Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
125. (x)Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
126. (x)A Walk to Remember
127. ( )Boogeyman
128. ( )Hitch
129. ( )Vertical Limit
130. ( )Cellular
131. (x) The Fifth Element
132. (x)Star wars episode I
133. (x) Star wars episode II
134. (x)Star wars episode III
135. (x) Star wars episode IV
136. (x)Star wars episode V
137. (x)Star wars episode VI
138. (x) Troop Beverly Hills
139. ( )Swimming with Sharks
140. ( )Trainspotting
141. (x)People under the stairs
142. ( )Blue Velvet
143. (x)Sound of music
144. (x)Parent Trap (original)
145. (x)The Burbs
146. ( )SLC Punk
147. ( )Meet Joe Black
148. ( )Wild girls
149. ( )A Clockwork Orange
150. ( )The Order
151. (x)Spiderman
152. (x)Spiderman 2
153. (x)Amelie
154. (x)Mean Girls
155. (x)Shrek
156. (x)Shrek 2
157. ( )The Incredibles
158. (x)Collateral
159. (x)The Fast & the Furious
160. ( )2 Fast 2 Furious
161. ( )Sky Captain & The World of Tomorrow
162. ( )Closer
163. (x)The Sixth Sense
164. (x)Artificial intelligence (A.I)
165. ( )Love actually
166. ( )Shutter
167. ( )Ella Enchanted
168. (x)Princess Diaries
169. ( )Princess diaries 2
170. ( x)Constantine
171. ( )Domestic Disturbance
172. ( )Life of david gale
173. (x)25th hour
174. ( )vanilla sky
175. (x)Eternal sunshine of a spotless mind
176. ( )Boogy Nights
177. (x)Braveheart
178. ( )Black Hawk Down
179. (x)Frequency
180. (x) (Cheech and Chong) Up in smoke
181. ( )Cheech and Chong's Next Movie
182. ( )Still Smokin?
183. ( )Things Are Tough All Over
184. ( )Be Cool
185. ( )Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken
186. (x)Grease
187. (x)Short Circuit
188. (x)Short Circuit 2
189. (x)Gremlins
190. (x)Gremlins 2
191. (x)The Goonies
192. ( )Scarface
193. (x)The Godfather
194. ( ) Rocky
195. (x)Fight Club
196. (x)Ferris Bueller's Day Off
197. (x)Dawn of the Dead
198. (x)The matrix
199. (x)The matrix reloaded
200. ( x)The matrix revolutions

2005-06-29T15:55:00.000-05:00

Do I get fries with that?

Oooooh.

If I ever get an iPod, you can bet that I will be buying some felt and making myself one of these.

In other, Japanese-toy related news, I have fallen in love with the phenomenon that is the Nyan Nyan Nyanko cat. Basically, it's a cute, Hello Kitty-esque cat that likes to dress in full-body costumes of its favorite food. Granted, sometimes it kind of looks more like you're going to eat the cat...but whatever.

I really think my stuffed Domo-Kuns need a little cat friend. Sitting in an apple pie or a donut, cause they might need a snack.

2005-06-28T11:10:00.000-05:00

late birthday presents

This morning I woke up, and wandered out to check the mail, cause I was told there was some stuff for me. I turned around, and sitting on the couch was my brand new Neo-Fami! A Neo-Fami is basically like a top-loading Nintendo. My old original NES hadn't completely died, but was getting more and more particular, so I would spend ten minutes getting a game to work, and then it would blink out and blue-screen ten minutes into playing. Since this loads games standing up, it hits the pins differently - every game I've tried so far has worked perfectly.

You can tell you aren't playing a legit Nintendo - the graphics are kind of ultra-bright, almost like they have a little silver sheen to them at times, and the sound seems to be balanced differently, but I'm going to mess around with the surround speakers and see what happens.

All in all, I'm incredibly happy with it; I got the red and white version, and the power button and reset light up blue. The console itself is teeny tiny compared to the cartridge loaded in the top slot. I'm getting used to the controllers; they don't respond quite the same way my Nintendo ones did, but if I get tired of them, I can actually just substitute my original controllers. The Duck Hunt gun, too.

AND! Thanks to a successful Ebay auction, I also got the Domo-Kun phone strap I've been wanting. Pictures will follow when I get it.

2005-06-22T15:59:00.000-05:00

Technology Update

Since I seem to be living under a rock, I thought I'd mention this stuff for anyone else who might be, too.

The PS3 was finally unveiled. Looks sleek and pretty, coming in white, silver and black, and the controller looks vaguely sinister, like something out of Tomorrowland. The XBox360 might look a little cooler, but I have my loyalties.

Speaking of Playstation, in May, the UK got a silver slimline version of the PS2. I'm pouting, not so much for myself, as my original PS2 still functions fine, but my little sister still wants a PS2, and I know she'd be nutters for a silver version. Maybe the UK is getting this to compensate for the raw deal they've been getting on the PSP.

On my wishlist: a little Domo-Kun phone strap. I just realized my phone has that little bar on it for keychains to hang off of, and I want a phone charm.

2005-06-19T13:54:00.000-05:00

Moxy Fruvous - King of Spain

Once I was the King of Spain, now I eat humble pie
Oh... my unspeakable wife, Queen Lisa, now I eat humble pie
I'm telling you I was the King of Spain, now I eat humble pie
And now I work at the Pizza Pizza

1 2 3 4!

Royalty, lord it looked good on me
Buried in silk in the royal boudoir or going nuclear free
Or playing Crokinole with the Princess of Monaco
Telling my jokes to the OPEC leaders, getting it all on video

Once I was the King of Spain, now I eat humble pie
A palatial palace, that was my home, now I eat humble pie
I'm telling you I was the King of Spain, now I eat humble pie
And now I vacuum the turf at SkyDome
Once he was the King of Spain

I can't wait, I'm lowering interest rates, my people say:
"King, how are you such a genius?
There's a roof overhead
and food on our plates!"

It's laissez-faire, I don't even give a care
Let's make Friday part of the weekend
And give every new baby a chocolate eclair

Once I was the King of Spain, now I eat humble pie
Hey Clinton! Hey Yeltsin! Got problems?
You phone me, now I eat humble pie
I'm telling you I was the King of Spain, now I eat humble pie
Now the Leafs call me up to drive the Zamboni
Once he was the King of Spain

Ladies and Gentlemen, I introduce to you the international orchestra!

Now some of you might be wondering how I came to be living in Canada
after being royalty in Spain. Should I tell them, guys?
Tell us, King!

You see late one night when the palace was asleep
Out of my royal chambers and into the garden I creep
And I wait till the appointed time, when the moon is lighting the pitch
At which point my peasant friend, who looks just like me
Arrives and we make switch!
(gasp)

Prince and pauper, junior and whopper
World made up of silver and copper
Under my own volition, I took a change of position
So next time you drool in the pizza line
Remember, slower pizza's more luscious
The King of Spain never rushes!!!

Once I was the King of Spain, now I eat humble pie
I was lookin' for off-handed ways to improve us, now I eat humble pie
I'm telling you I was the King of Spain, now I eat humble pie
And now I'm jamming with Moxy Fruvous!

Once he was the King of Spain

2005-06-18T22:46:00.000-05:00

Random NIN News

Yeah, so, fall dates have been announced, including four in Florida, and one in Orlando (in the O-rena... I can hear the Jock Jams now). Don't know where all we're going to go, since it was rather tiring going to multiple shows last time, and arena shows are more impersonal(and Indio, CA won't be happening this time, sadly), but we'll see.

Also, there's a new NIN fan club titled, unimaginatively, The Spiral. Costs sixty bucks. Again, we'll see. But it's caused quite a bit of tension over at echoingthesound.org. 30some pages worth of tension, at last count.

There's also a few other mysteries around the board lately, the most pressing of which is, just who IS Batman? However, I have it on good authority that some of the most keen minds around are on the case...

2005-06-15T19:20:00.000-05:00

Too Many Secrets

Am I the only person in the world who's seen the movie Sneakers? Even the people I converse with on the Internet are seemingly clueless. Since this is the only good hackerish movie EVAR (anyone seen Swordfish? My boyfriend just about died at the OMG SIX MONITORS bit), you'd think it would be a bit more popular today. Beyond that, I love the comedic aspect of it. So go rent it today. Sneakers, 1992, has everyone from Robert to Sidney to River to Dan.

2005-06-14T20:55:00.000-05:00

"Left, right, right, left"

Hmm. Been an eventful few days. Firstly, I had my birthday, and that was much fun; it involved a bowling trip, video camera action, flying chairs, baked ravioli, and a homemade cake (and I wish I still had some).

A few days later, I went to the beach with Michelle and Anthony. That day, too, was much fun; it went something like: sun, wind, sand, water, waves, salt, tumbling, drift, warm, drift, drift....

Sun, heat, stinging, pain, red, hot, ow.

It's sufficient to say I got the worst sunburn of my life. I've always had a tendency to get lightly pink in certain areas (face, shoulders, back, back of the knees, etc), and tan everywhere else. So I put suntan lotion in those areas, and didn't worry about, say, my legs, stomach, arms, etc.

Now, the sunscreened bits are the only parts of me not fried to a crisp. It hurts my stomach to sit, or stand too much. It hurts my legs to bend them. A few times in the night I tried to sleep on my stomach; that woke me up immediately.

Since it's my own fault that I didn't completely lather up, I'm not met with much pity on the home front. To make up for it, I get a lot of ridicule. Because of my stiff toddling, I'm known as The Biggest Baby Evar, and because of the lovely rosy tone of my skin, I'm also The Big Hot Dog. Seriously, I'm practically glowing.

Every time I watch Doctor Who, with Captain Jack, I get the Captain Jack song stuck in my head. For the uninitiated, these are the lyrics:

goo... left, go right go pick up the step, go left, go right, go left

Forward march

Ejo Captain Jack
(Ejo Captain Jack)
bring me back to the railroad track
(bring me back to the railroad track)
give me a gun in my hand,
(give me a gun in my hand,)
I want to be a shooting man
(I want to be a shooting man)
left, right, left
(left, right, left)
the military step,
(the military step,)
the airforce rap,
(the airforce rap,)
the seventeen is the best
(the seventeen is the best)

goo... left, go right go pick up the step, go left, go right, go left
(goo... left, go right go pick up the step, go left, go right, go left)

We're running to the railroad track
Run along with Captain Jack
Badadadideido,
Run along with Captain Jack
Run into the peacecamp back
Run along with Captain Jack
Badadadideido, badideido, badideidideidideido
Badadadideido, left, right, right, left
Badadadideido, run along with Captain Jack

goo... left, go right go pick up the step, go left, go right, go left

2005-06-09T13:31:00.000-05:00

The Collector

I suppose that somewhere in the back of my mind I am always trying to collect all the nine inch nails halos. It would be easy to just get them all through Amazon or Ebay, but it's not really a priority; I 'll get something from a used record store every now and then, with a new purchase maybe once a year, on average. And, as has been reminded multiple times, I don't often sit down and listen to the singles I have (singles are all I have left to collect), so generally money could be spent elsewhere. And it's true. Still I understand the desire to catch em all.

So it's understandable when people want to collect all the halos. Or all the vinyls. Or all the promos. Or hell, even one of every NIN-related CD release, even in cassette.

However, I'm having issues fathoming what it must be like to be some of the people in echoingthesound.net's Collector Thread. We had a similar thread when the board started. Most people had all the halos, with an odd rare piece here and there (well, ok, except for me, though I don't know anyone else who kept that 1999 calendar), or a promo or two. Some people had nearly one of everything, which was quite impressive. The release of the new album, however, has brought to the board what I can only call freaks.

What am I talking about? Well, as an example, this. Or this. This is still the same person; this is not.

I find myself wanting to shout "Stop obsessing!" And I find myself more tolerant of Jim and Marie.

And someone needs to tell that first guy that the "Just how deep do you believe?" poster in the middle of all those CDs is about as cheesy as it gets.

2005-06-06T15:49:00.000-05:00

Taken over by The Man

Good lord. Check out what's become of Nite Moves, the old teen dance club that was THE place to be between the ages of 13 and, well, 14. As far as I can tell, they don't even offer a teen dance NIGHT anymore. I don't have any old pictures of Nite Moves, but if anyone reading this does, let me know. The new pictures are barely recognizable as the old hangout, but look past the first few and you'll spot the concession stand where ten kids would share one Dr. Pepper (with no ice) - thank God none of us had mono.

Looking back, it really did a pretty good job of satisfying all the groups that hung out there - Manson, Metallica and Prodigy were represented along with the Train song and Tootsie Roll. I did the Macarena (o_O), headbanged, and hopped around with Cotton-Eye Joe. And let's not forget the infamous time The Group jumped so hard during that song that we accidentally broke the plywood stage, causing it to be forevermore encircled by a wrought-iron fence and provoking lewd cage dancing. I once fell off the shoulders of a six-foot tall boy, tumbling to the polished concrete below.

Grunge and goth were still fashion trends, and kids would change in the dingy bathrooms upon arrival. Boys would use them at the end of the night to scrub off their eyeliner.

There was a little arcade, but no one used it - any rest was spent crammed into one of the oversized booths that lined the main floor, seeing and being seen.

Pretty cool, considering the whole thing was run by the Longwood po-lice. The only real police presence occurred at the end of the night, when the second-to-last song (always that Madonna "Say Goodbye" one) faded out, and "Bad Boys (theme from COPS)" started up. Though we all felt we were doing something cool, and there was the occasional make-out session or something, in retrospect I realize it really was a relatively drug, alcohol and adult-free, safe environment.

A shame that, like Fun World, new generations can't enjoy it.

2005-06-03T15:17:00.000-05:00

Oh, Spike, you're the big bad!

Yes, this is what goes through my mind when I read about the Bad Wolf theories concerning the latest series of Doctor Who. For those not "in the know," each episode this season has had something to do with the phrase Bad Wolf. What does it mean? We don't know, but the last episode this season, to air on my birthday, has the same title, so chances are we will soon. And as I noticed on Saturnine's blog, the BBC now has a site dealing with the whole mystery.

It's the biggest conundrum since "What is Dawn?" And there I'd better stop, before someone gets on yet another tangent on the Buffy/new Dr. Who similarities.

2005-05-30T23:58:00.000-05:00

I don't speak monkey

Rented Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events to watch it for the second time. I do so like the soundtrack...perhaps I should see if the score is available. Now I'm considering dressing as Violet Baudelaire for Halloween. Should be relatively easy; of course, I've said that in the past...

Been moving in, unpacking. Kind of hard to do that when there's no bookshelves or desk, though, so much has remained in boxes. Went through all our yearbooks and had a trip down memory lane the other night. I'm very satisfied with what I decided to keep and what I decided to ditch.

Been playing God of War the past few days, for PS2. Awesome game. For the past day or so I've been doing more watching that playing, so the story can progress, but playing it is fun too - fun to rip harpies apart and such. It's like Primal Rage mixed with an RPG, but much faster-paced. The visual setting is amazing, and I approve of the score. More games should be like this.

I hope you readers are using Mozilla Firefox, cause on IE or any other browser this looks pretty lousy. I totally forgot about that issue til Mormolyke mentioned something similar on her site. Everyone should use Firefox anyway.

2005-05-21T19:15:00.000-05:00

Something's gonna get broken!

Time for a quick update before going to see Episode III. I would be in Atlanta tonight, seeing Nine Inch Nails, but we decided not to go. The two shows in Philadelphia were awesome, but we're rather exhausted (nothing's really slowed down since Coachella), and there's much to be done in the next few days, and we're sick - I have a horrible hacking cough that kept me up intermittently all night. Philly was wonderful, but I wish I hadn't been sick, and been more energetic.

In other news, I got to go to Disney with the family, and I got a video camera. Woooo!

I'm almost twenty-two, and I was just reflecting how much more casually I've consumed alcohol in the past year. Weird. Even though I couldn't have cared less about drinking when I turned twenty-one, it just sort of magically worked its way in.

I suppose I will attempt to update more later.

2005-05-12T09:02:00.000-05:00

I took a cute 80's movie star quiz, but it messed up the blog, so here's the low-fi version:

You scored as Lloyd Dobler. You are Lloyd Dobler. You are a cute, sensitive, smart person, who is attracted to school valedictorians.

Lloyd Dobler

55%

Molly Ringwald

50%

Corey Feldman

35%

Ally Sheedy (The Recluse)

25%

Anthony Michael Hall

20%

Ferris Bueller

15%

Judd Nelson

10%

2005-05-05T14:06:00.000-05:00

Let's Hear It For Nine Inch Nails! Woo, They're Good!

Soooo a person I happen to know once happened to be having a conversation with Trent Reznor about politics. It was quite amusing, given the controversies on the board lately concerning the lyrics to The Hand That Feeds, but we weren't really allowed to spread it. Now that the album's out, however, it's evidently fair game. I would type the whole controversy and mess out, but I think Mormolyke does it better.

2005-05-05T00:07:00.000-05:00

Super Update

Happy late Birthday to Jim.

Went to Indio, California to see Nine Inch Nails and a house full o' goofballs. Every aspect of the trip was amazing. I miss the group already. And of course NIN was awesome.

New Dr. Who is silly, but I still love it. I'm literally hearing "EXTERMINATE!!" in my head.

Have finals starting 8 am tomorrow. Must away to bed.

2005-04-27T22:54:00.000-05:00

Remember kiddies, where it says "Midwestern," I'm pretty sure they're talking St. Louis, Illinois, etc, which we all know I do NOT sound like. Iowa and Nebraska ARE in the Midwest, but they speak General American English (like newscasters, wooo). So I really do have the classic accentless accent.

Your Linguistic Profile:

70% General American English

15% Yankee

10% Upper Midwestern

5% Dixie

0% Midwestern

What Kind of American English Do You Speak?

2005-04-26T11:51:00.000-05:00

Excerpt from my paper critiquing Christina Aguilera's video, Dirrty:

"With your background in media and already well-developed critique, I hope your future plans include a) graduate school and b) running the country."

Excellent.

2005-04-26T00:00:00.000-05:00

Die Hausaufgaben

So this was my homework that's due in the morning. It was assigned last-minute, I discovered the assignment via email last-minute, and thus completed last-minute and kind of in a loopy manner.

Compile a list of at least 10 items that respond to the following: if everything we knew about love, romance, and sexuality came from the movies, what lessons would we draw? What “rules” would we follow? What would be the “scripts”?

1)It is the goal of every man or woman to find true love, which generally results in getting married, or at least a wedding. This true love = happiness.

2)...Unless, of course, your spouse cheats on you. This is almost inevitable. Watch them like hawks, especially if there's a secretary or best friend in the picture.

3)The geek can definitely get the girl, as long as he proves himself in some way to her, like defending her from the date rapist jock or maybe killing her father's would-be assassin. It also doesn't hurt to be John Cusack.

4)The gay man is the single woman's best friend (the married ones don't seem to have much use for them). The lesbian is the single man's obstacle, taking good meat off the market.

5)The perfect man is growly on the outside, but you just know there's a nice hidden core that the RIGHT woman can find. See Brandon Lee in The Crow, or Wolverine, or that rough hockey player from The Cutting Edge, as an example.

6)The perfect woman is pretty and feminine, but tough, so she's not too much of a burden on the guy. Of course, nobody's infallible, so you can pretty much count on a breakdown at some point. Then the man will gently tip her chin up, and tell her everything will be all right. See Buffy, or any female from Sin City.

7)Evident hatred is a sure sign of hidden attraction. Operating on this logic, insulting every person you're attracted to is a sure way to get laid.

8)Exotic is almost always better. If you're from the city, find a country girl. If you're American, go to Australia or Europe or South America (not much Africa, though). If you're a well-traveled Earthling, there's always those hot people from outer space. People from other cultures surely have secret sexual knowledge that you will surely soon be privy to.

9)Safe sex? What safe sex? Condoms (or at least their wrappers) belong in gags, jokes, references, balloon shows – not lovemaking.

10)It is completely fun and easy to have sex on the beach, in the shower, in a hammock, in the snow, at zero gravity – really, any place, any time. Anyone who says otherwise is sexually slow.

2005-04-20T22:24:00.001-05:00

This is a test, this is only a test...

Blogger's being weird.

2005-04-20T22:24:00.000-05:00

This is a test, this is only a test...

Blogger's being weird.

2005-04-18T22:08:00.000-05:00

Sunspots

I've been worried about skin cancer lately. I have a teeny, tiny red spot on my cheek, that's been there since the hurricanes. I also have a round, reddish rough spot on one arm. If I listen to the Internets, this surely means I have nonmelanoma skin cancer. Or dry skin. One of the two. Sigh.
This week is incredibly hectic. I have two jazz concerts, a paper due, and most of a project to do, as well as two different scholarship functions. Fun fun fun.

I have decided my school really is Big Brother. In addition to prying questions about Michelle and Anthony lately, they seem to also have my cell and gmail address, neither of which I recall actually giving them. Scary.

I'm falling asleep at the keyboard, and have more media studies homework to read, so perhaps more tomorrow.

2005-04-11T01:00:00.000-05:00

Happy Birthday to Mormolyke!

In other news, I have seen the movie Sin City three times, and the Tarantino Movie Night Part I was a success. I think Michelle is only slightly warped, and hopefully we will get to the two Kill Bills in the near future.

I participated in concerts relating to the President of the college's Installation on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, with performances ranging from jazz to Beethoven's Sixth and Jupiter from The Planets (the new President is an astrophysicist). That's a lot of playing.

The school is waiting for Fox Day with bated breath. Here's hoping for tomorrow. Oh, and speaking of tomorrow, I guess Juan is getting married then. I've been using this expression a lot, and now I can use it when referring to that phenomenon where all your peers become grownups: I can only express puzzlement, bordering on alarm.
(I know, I know, that's terrible - but it fits better than "I got my mitts.")

Best wishes to Mel! I'll have to ask her if she was waiting to celebrate her birthday at midnight EDT, or if she' s actually celebrating it a day early to coincide with Australia time.

2005-04-04T10:06:00.000-05:00

new toys

Just after I have a conversation with Michelle and Anthony about top-loading Nintendos, this comes up! Courtesy of ciel blanc, I've discovered what I'm going to do when my beloved original NES finally kicks the bucket (not that it ever will, honey...I still love you, don't listen!).

The Neo Fami evidently plays old NES games, is US compatible, and, though you won't see it on the page I linked, the latest version is compatible with the controllers and Duck Hunt gun, all of which I have in working condition (I think).

Since I absolutely cannot live life without Adventure Island 2, Mario, WCW Wrestling, and Bubble Bobble, this makes me happy.

I want a red and white one, I think.

2005-03-23T00:18:00.000-05:00

Boredom (and a little attention whoring)

If you lurk here, leave a comment!

In return, I thought I'd recognize my favorite bunnyboi, Thumper, and Sauly, and Alan, all of whom I never get to talk to anymore but who are awesome individuals. I have more awesome friends, of course, but you don't get this recognition if I've seen you in the past two months. :)

2005-03-12T03:25:00.000-05:00

Bold Means It's Applicable

Okay, Casey, I like to steal too. And I didn't steal the other one cause the answers would be way too personal. :)

01. Bought everyone in the pub a drink
02. Swam with wild dolphins
03. Climbed a mountain
04. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
05. Been inside the Great Pyramid
06. Held a tarantula.
07. Taken a candlelit bath with someone (do bubblebaths count? if so, then it's a yes)
08. Said ‘I love you’ and meant it
09. Hugged a tree
10. Done a striptease
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Stayed up all night long, and watch the sun rise
15. Seen the Northern Lights
16. Gone to a huge sports game
17. Walked the stairs to the top of the Leaning Tower of Pisa
18. Grown and eaten your own vegetables (I helped)
19. Touched an iceberg
20. Slept under the stars
21. Changed a baby’s diaper
22. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
23. Watched a meteor shower
24. Gotten drunk on champagne
25. Given more than you can afford to charity
26. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
27. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
28. Had a food fight
29. Bet on a winning horse
30. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
31. Asked out a stranger (sorta)
32. Had a snowball fight
33. Photocopied your bottom on the office photocopier
34. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
35. Held a lamb
36. Enacted a favorite fantasy
37. Taken a midnight skinny dip
38. Taken an ice cold bath
39. Had a meaningful conversation with a beggar
40. Seen a total eclipse (through a little box)
41. Ridden a roller coaster
42. Hit a home run
43. Fit three weeks miraculously into three days
44. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking
45. Adopted an accent for an entire day
46. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
47. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment
48. Had two hard drives for your computer.
49. Visited all 50 states
50. Loved your job for all accounts
51. Taken care of someone who was shit faced
52. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
53. Had amazing friends
54. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country
55. Watched wild whales
56. Stolen a sign
57. Backpacked in Europe
58. Taken a road-trip
59. Rock climbing
60. Lied to foreign government’s official in that country to avoid notice
61. Midnight walk on the beach
62. Sky diving
63. Visited Ireland
64. Been heartbroken longer then you were actually in love
65. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger’s table and had a meal with them
66. Visited Japan
67. Benchpressed your own weight
68. Milked a cow
69. Alphabetized your records
70. Pretended to be a superhero
71. Sung karaoke
72. Lounged around in bed all day
73. Posed nude in front of strangers
74. Scuba diving
75. Got it on to “Let’s Get It On” by Marvin Gaye
76. Kissed in the rain
77. Played in the mud
78. Played in the rain
79. Gone to a drive-in theater
80. Done something you should regret, but don’t regret it (Oh God yes)
81. Visited the Great Wall of China
82. Discovered that someone who’s not supposed to have known about your blog has discovered your blog
83. Dropped Windows in favor of something better
84. Started a business
85. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken
86. Toured ancient sites
87. Taken a martial arts class
88. Swordfought for the honor of a woman
89. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight
90. Gotten married
91. Been in a movie (it was good enough for me!)
92. Crashed a party
93. Loved someone you shouldn’t have (at the time)
94. Kissed someone so passionately it made them dizzy
95. Gotten divorced
96. Had sex at the office
97. Gone without food for 5 days
98. Made cookies from scratch
99. Won first prize in a costume contest
100. Ridden a gondola in Venice
101. Gotten a tattoo
102. Found that the texture of some materials can turn you on
103. Rafted the Snake River
104. Been on television news programs as an “expert”
105. Got flowers for no reason
106. Masturbated in a public place
107. Got so drunk you don’t remember anything
108. Experimented with some form of illegal drug
109. Performed on stage
110. Been to Las Vegas
111. Recorded music
112. Eaten shark
113. Had a one-night stand
114. Gone to Thailand
115. Seen Siouxsie live
116. Bought a house
117. Been in a combat zone
118. Buried one/both of your parents
119. Shaved or waxed
120. Been on a cruise ship
121. Spoken more than one language fluently
122. Gotten into a fight while attempting to defend someone
123. Bounced a check
124. Performed in Rocky Horror
125. Read - and understood - your credit report
126. Raised children
127. Recently bought and played with a favorite childhood toy
128. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
129. Created and named your own constellation of stars
130. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
131. Found out something significant that your ancestors did
132. Called or written your Congress person
133. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over
134. …more than once? — More than thrice?
135. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
136. Sang loudly in the car, and didn’t stop when you knew someone was looking
137. Had an abortion or your female partner did
138. Had plastic surgery (I have facial reconstructive surgery every three years)
139. Survived an accident that you shouldn’t have survived
140. Wrote articles for a large publication
141. Lost over 100 pounds
142. Held someone while they were having a flashback
143. Piloted an airplane
144. Petted a stingray
145. Broken someone’s heart
146. Helped an animal give birth
147. Been fired or laid off from a job
148. Won money on a T.V. game show
149. Broken a bone
150. Killed a human being
151. Gone on an African photo safari
152. Ridden a motorcycle
153. Driven any land vehicle at a speed of greater than 100 mph
154. Had a body part of yours below the neck pierced
155. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol
156. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild
157. Ridden a horse
158. Had major surgery
159. Had sex on a moving train
160. Had a snake as a pet
161. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
162. Slept through an entire flight: takeoff, flight, and landing
163. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours (only when sick)
164. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. states
165. Visited all 7 continents
166. Taken a rafting trip that lasted more than 2 days
167. Eaten kangaroo meat
168. Fallen in love at an ancient Mayan burial ground
169. Been a sperm or egg donor
170. Eaten sushi
171. Had your picture in the newspaper
172. Had 2 (or more) healthy romantic relationships for over a year in your lifetime
173. Changed someone’s mind about something you care deeply about (HAHAHAHAHA)
174. Gotten someone fired for their actions
175. Gone back to school
176. Parasailed
177. Changed your name (haha, screenname)
178. Petted a cockroach
179. Eaten fried green tomatoes
180. Read The Iliad
181. Selected one “important” author who you missed in school, and read
182. Dined in a restaurant and stolen silverware, plates, cups because your apartment needed them.
183. ..and .gotten 86’ed from the restaurant because you did it so many times, they figured out it was you
184. Taught yourself an art from scratch
185. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
186. Apologized to someone years after inflicting the hurt
187. Skipped all your school reunions.
188. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
189. Been elected to public office
190. Written your own computer language
191. Thought to yourself that you’re living your dream
192. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
193. Built your own PC from parts
194. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn’t know you
195. Had a booth at a street fair
196: Dyed your hair
197: Been a DJ
198: Found out someone was going to dump you via LiveJournal
199: Written your own role playing game
200: Been arrested

2005-03-09T23:32:00.000-05:00

Hegemonic Domination

I have my media studies midterm tomorrow. I should have studied last night, but I got to see Katie and all instead, and it was worth it. I've been to nearly every class and taken notes and done the discussion questions and the reading, so I should be fine, right? Looking at the review, though, I don't feel nearly as fine as I would like. And yet here I sit, not freaking out. Do I have senioritis? Probably, since I'm done with interviews and it's almost spring break and I have graduation, life and NIN on the brain. But I'm going to blame it on another slacker I know, and call it Mormolykitis.

Anyway, here's some of what I get to ponder today and tomorrow:

--cultural studies perspective on “high” v. “low” culture
--open v. closed texts
--production, distribution, circulation
--functions of media
--Marxist media analysis
--bourgeoisie, proletariat
--ideology
--myth of self-made person
--hegemony
--products as solutions

feminine and masculine identity lecture:
--components of feminine identity
--components of masculine identity

semiotic analysis lecture:
--semiotics
--sign
--signifier
--signified

That's maybe the first fifth of what I have. Wish me luck!

2005-03-09T01:40:00.000-05:00

Truth Hurts.

So I was reading around a bit and Zach posted this:

"Camaros have two speeds. Fast and broken down on the side of the road."

Ohhhhhohohoho. I needed a good giggle before bed.

In other news, I hung out with Katie tonight, and Michelle and Xan, and Michelle gets maaarried on Sunday!

2005-03-04T18:22:00.000-05:00

Let's hear it for Nine Inch Nails! Woo, they're good!

Ok, so tickets for the NIN shows went on sale today.

I have tickets for some shows, but not all that I'd like. And Jacob wasn't able to get any, which makes me sad. :[

In other news, a total of three songs have been leaked. I've barely heard the third one, but the first two are awesome.

The board had 308 members on at one time today. Awesome.

And finally, I've become an IRC addict. Again. Nice to see I haven't changed since I was fifteen.

2005-02-17T23:07:00.000-05:00

Updated a few links.

Sooo, can anyone tell me: V7/V in D in the enharmonic equivalent of the Ger. sixth chord in what key?

2005-02-15T22:25:00.000-05:00

Podcasting?

Chuck actually gave us the heads-up about this originally. Remember Adam Curry from MTV? He's been busy. After learning Applescript, he made the iPodder. Basically, it works like an RSS feed, except it sends it straight to the iPod. What does this mean? It means radio broadcasts can be sent to the iPod, for one, and downloaded, so you can listen whenever you have time. It also means just anyone can play DJ and have their own show. One article is saying it will do to radio what blogging did to print journalism. I did a simple google search, and sure enough, I found people out in the desert of New Mexico, a network, a site chock full of reviews, and more. I can't believe I hadn't heard of this before.

I'm already getting suckered into wanting an iPod. This isn't helping.

2005-02-15T21:52:00.000-05:00

Your Beauty lies
in Plain Sight. Plain, simple and the girl next
door. People tend overlook you as you are the
"normal girl", but you're actually
very beautiful. And you have plenty about you to
set you apart, but more that
lets you blend. People love the stability you have
because as others may come
and go, you will always be there and you may always
be the same. You like simple
things and that's what people like about you. You
most likely enjoy things most
consider normal, like movies, shopping, that sort
of thing and are very friendly
and probably have many friends. You are sweet and
kind and that shows on you,
but you're also strong and not very naive. You're a
rather well-rounded
individual. Even though some people pass you off as
just another girl, shrug it
off because they don't know what they're
missing.

Some Things
That Represent You:

Element:
Earth, Light Animal: Cat Color:
Pinks, Blues, Browns Song:
Girl Next Door by Pilot Expression: Simple
Smile

Gemstone:
Alexandrite Mythological Creature: Fox
Demon, Hobbit Planet: Jupiter Hair
Color: Light Brown Eye Color:
Brown

Quote:
"To the world you may be one person, but to
one person you may be the world."

Where Does Your Beauty Lie? ..::Original Pictures Are Back! Detailed Results::..
brought to you by Quizilla

2005-01-19T17:33:00.000-05:00

Final semester. Weird.

I kept thinking that as I went to buy my books yesterday. The general chaos, a freshman asking me "how we figure out what books we need, again," Tom from the music department asking me if I needed help, as usual...he helped me find my books my very first semester. At least as an undergrad, this'll be the last time I have a first day of class. Am I ready to keep going through this all for another six or so years? I don't necessarily know - but the notion of "keeping moving" has served me well so far.

For a last semester that was supposed to be my "easy" one, it's still jam-packed with personal stuff to do. Not necessarily as stressful as the most recent one, with the GREs and presenting the paper, but still busy. I will have:
*Michelle's wedding
*Interview for grad school
*FX
*Hanging out with Amy before she moves
*general senior stuff
*The possibility of a NIN tour

It's that last one that's driving me mad, because no tour dates have been released yet, and every major date that gets put down in my dayplanner is making me paranoid and nuts. But the possibilities of this tour are driving me equally nuts with excitement.

Marathon Madness

So we're smack in the middle of the 110 Hour Marathon. Yep. One of our very own DJs, Dave Plotkin, is attempting to break the Guiness Book of World Records by broadcasting for a full 110 hours straight. So far, we're past the halfway mark, on hour 50something. From now on anything could happen; hallucinations, memory loss, random spouting of obscenities (we hope not), and there's always the possibility of loss of consciousness. You too can listen, on our crappy streaming thingy at the official site ! (Soon to be replaced.) Or, just listen on Friday morning on the Howard Stern show, somewhere around 6:30 am EST. Assuming Dave's made it that far, which of course he will.

Cold and gray.

I am becoming an icicle. The boiler is broken/being replaced/being repaired in my dorm. This means we have hot water, but no heat. And it's about 40 degrees at night. I just got back from Tennessee where it was 0 degrees with the wind chill and snowing, but I wasn't nearly this cold. I was seriously depressed at how cold it was this morning. And of course everyone laughs if you tell them you're cold in Florida. Grumble, indeed.

2005-01-15T18:56:00.000-05:00

So those of you who know me personally: I've decided my family is quite similar to the Weasleys. In short, we are the Weasleys.

Thoughts?

2005-01-09T02:37:00.000-05:00

So, a few weeks ago there was a huge ice storm here, followed by a few days of snow. I hadn't seen that much snow since I was about five, so I ran around like a dork with my little web cam. Everything's back to being brown and dull again, but for a few days, I finally got to have a White Christmas. Here's some of what I shot:

I also realized there's one I liked that I forgot to upload, but oh well. Maybe tomorrow.

2005-01-06T23:30:00.000-05:00

Thanks to the lovely Mormolyke, whose site can be seen as a link on the left, I now have the missing Question number #21!

Who did you spend the most time on the phone with in 2004?

That's an incredibly easy and applicable question, and the answer is obvious. I think the summer of talking just about every day sort of tipped the results, though. Luckily, my family has free long distance, and cell phones are nice too. When I can get service in this hollow of the woods.

2005-01-02T01:16:00.000-05:00

Ripped off with love from Saturnine's Livejournal:

2004 sum up :
1. What did you do in 2004 that you'd never done before? Developed high blood pressure, went to PA, traveled completely on my own, gave a professional presentation at a conference, took GREs, made a CV, applied to grad school, followed some bands on tour around, slept in the Bush building, voted.

2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?I'm ripping off Saturnine's response: I don't make resolutions just because the New Year begins. I'm always trying to achieve stuff, even though it's not too huge a goal.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth? Nope. One got married, though.

4. Did anyone close to you die? Nope.

5. What countries did you visit? More of good ol' U.S. of A.

6. What would you like to have in 2005 that you lacked in 2004? More persistence, a stronger will, less procrastination, more money, stronger backbone (and back, come to think of it).

7. What date(s) from 2004 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? Meh, not many dates to think of... maybe Oct 23, because that's when I presented my paper.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? Moving closer to being a "real grown-up."

9. What was your biggest failure? Not being adult enough. Not being tougher in the "workplace." Still the horrible procrastination.

10. Did you suffer any illness or injury? High blood pressure.

11. What was the best thing you bought? My red dress for Phantom. I love that dress.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration? Horace McGee, for everything, my family for putting up with my moodswings and stress, Michelle, Katie, Amber, Xan & co for same, everyone who voted and volunteered to work at the polls.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? The majority of the country.

14. Where did most of your money go? Travel expenses.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? The Plea for Peace tour. The 4th of July. The nin.com updates (FIRST ON THE LIST!). The PA trip.

16. What song will always remind you of 2004? Too soon to tell; but right now, probably anything Ashlee Simpson and Britney Spears' "Toxic."

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:i. happier or sadder? About the same.ii. thinner or fatter? Fatter, by about 10 lbs (gasp)iii. richer or poorer? Poorer.

18. What do you wish you'd done more of? losing weight. stress management.

19. What do you wish you'd done less of? Stressing, panicking.

20. How will you be spending Christmas? Was spent with the family.

22. Did you fall in love in 2004? Hey, where did question 21 go? Anyway, I'm actually kind of always falling in love.

23. How many one-night stands? Ick. None.

24. What was your favorite TV program?Ashlee Simpson Show (to scream at). Gilmore Girls. Degrassi, new and old. Taken. The 4400. Monk.

25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year? I don't know if I ever hate anyone...but I certainly like Alee less than this time last year.

26. What was the best book you read? Hmmm, tough call... I did like American Gods. But I did so much reading this summer, I can't remember everything I read. Oooh, The Robber Brides by Atwood was good. OH! Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. And some more of the Foundation series (beyond the original trilogy, which I read ages ago).

27. What was your greatest musical discovery? Murder by Death.

28. What did you want and get? A good relationship.

29. What did you want and not get? To win the lottery without even playing.

30. What was your favorite film of this year? Favorite one I saw? Kill Bill vol. 2.

31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? Went to the Forgot Store (a bar) with my sister and my mother. I was 21. Oh, and got freaked by a tornado a few miles away (we could HEAR the sirens going off in neighborhoods around us, and no one would go in the damn basement! We were standing on the porch!).

32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? Secure feelings about the future.

33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2004? Bit geeky, bit more indie-rockish than in years past. Still Lazy College.

34. What kept you sane? Cows.

35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? Johnny Depp. Uma Thurman.

36. What political issue stirred you the most? The Election.

37. Who did you miss? My family, when I was at school; my boyfriend, when I was home. Friends at various times. My cat.

38. Who was the best new person you met? Hmm. Most people I've spent time with were olderish. I did feel like I got to know Matt better, though. He's a sweet guy.

39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2004. Honesty works; I've been more successful than I realized, but I can't fall asleep because of this.

40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year. "I've got my feet on the ground and I don't go to sleep to dream."

2005-01-01T01:53:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year to all!

New Year's is a special time for me regardless, but here's some extra good news: according to nin.com, or the ninhotline, or wherever you choose to look, the new album is reportedly finished. Fangirl reigns again.

Here's hoping my sisters overcome their hangover tomorrow, mauahaha.

2004-12-31T01:19:00.000-05:00

I got Julian his birthday present and he got them from me today, since I won't be here on his birthday. He got a Spiderman coloring book, an old-style Spiderman T-shirt with Dr. Octopus as well (from the comic, not the movie), and a pair of Jnco army pants to match. I felt weird getting him Jncos - am I somehow encouraging the regression of fashion? - but since they were such a large portion of my wardrobe in early high school, I succumbed to waves of nostalgia. Hell, I didn't even know they were still making the things. They don't seem to still be for girls, which is GOOD, since looking back I can't believe I wore the things, but for little boys they still seem to be in keeping with the style. A pair of baggy cargo black camo pants is pretty much standard, and the fact that they're Jncos for four-year-olds is pretty cool too. Reminds me of the little ones we used to buy for Marie. Now she seems to be heading closer toward the goth path each day, which amuses me. And meanwhile Lee calls me preppy. We need to drag up some old high school pictures of me, not that I really want to go that route again; still, it worked for me then.

Anyway, Julian also got some new pajamas from us. He looks adorable in everything.

2004-12-28T01:36:00.000-05:00

Most people who have known me forever know about my love for the Nancy Drew series. When I was seven, my mother gave me all her old books, and I read just about all of them (the exception being a few lacking their dust covers, and without the yellow spine; they tended to be separated, or looked too boring to me). Through elementary school, I was known as the Nancy Drew girl. As I got older (well, ok, so this may have been third or fourth grade) I got my paws on my sisters' copies of The Nancy Drew Files, the eightiesified version of good old Nancy. Ned wasn't such a chauvinist in those, if I recall. And in the mid-nineties, the series Nancy Drew on Campus was released, where the poor girl finally gets to go to college. That series was actually pretty good; I only had the first three, but Ned was back to being a chauvinist - and she dumped him. But I digress.

Here at home for the winter break, I noticed that my little sister has now taken possession of the old yellow Nancy Drews, though she's currently more fascinated with my old Goosebumps series. I decided to read one of out of boredom - The Clue of the Tapping Heels. Well, there were racial slurs that I certainly didn't recall from when I was seven, or from the rest of the series for that matter. The copyright date said 1939, but still, I was rather shocked; this wasn't the Nancy Drew I recalled.

This evening I was browsing some and came across a site about the differences in the original and revised editions of Mystery at Lilac Inn. It said the book had been revised, to take out racial slurs, to aid in pacing, etc, but it wasn't just edited - it was fairly rewritten. To my surprise, the memory I had of the novel matched with the revised edition, not the original.

But these were my mom's books! Just how old was the revision? I went to find the book in question. Naturally, it's gone missing. But as it was only the fourth in the series, I decided to look at the other early ones. I pulled out the very first Nancy Drew, The Secret of the Old Clock. I knew that Tapping Heels, circa 1939, was #16 or so. I looked at the copyright date of Clock and found...

This new story for today's readers is based on the original of the same title.

Aha! I began rifling through all the books, checking dates. Looking up more on google is cleared things up fairly quickly. You see, the revising started in 59 - when my mom was still a kid, and went on through the sixties. So for a time, it was entirely possible to buy these books with the first few edited, but not the later ones. And any written after that time would have the same stylistic differences, etc. So we have the first six or so edited, but I've found at least six more (some of which were older editions and looked more "boring") that have copyright dates from the early thirties. I'm fascinated by these, and intend to read them; I've read of other differences in these, like that Carson Drew carried a cane and was stricter with Nancy, and that Nancy was sixteen instead of eighteen. These older books were not my favorites; the ones I best remember were either written in the sixties, or early ones revised during that period. Nancy drove a run-of-the-mill convertible in those, though, and I clearly remember Nancy driving the original roadster, so I guess I read quite a few of the older ones as well. I plan to begin reading them tonight. At any rate, it looks like I can wrap up this Mystery of the Rewritten Novel.

I also came across a website with wonderful Nancy Drew merch: pajamas, shirts, messenger bags, etc. And much of it is pink. I want I want I want! My "The World According to Nancy Drew" book still sits by my bed.

Off to read my 1932 mystery.

2004-12-20T02:17:00.000-05:00

I did in fact go to Disney - without a coat, so Michelle and I froze our Disney-clad selves and bought scarves. I did indeed go to Horace McGee's for a few days, and I did spend about eight hours walking in a mall. My legs hurt more from that than from Disney.

And now I'm back in Tennessee. Back home once again. Home to my cat, who seems to actually like me again. Home to my toasty footie Snoopy pajamas, which I need since it's in the teens or lower here. Back to my attempts to diet, and back to my avoidance of deadlines. Sigh, indeed. I've just finished the article, though, so now the only pressing things are the grad school issues. And, of course, the dieting, but that will have to wait til after Christmas. It's just a few days away, anyway.

Now off to bed.

2004-12-14T22:37:00.000-05:00

So, I'm off to sleep over at Michelle's house, then tomorrow we go to Disney, then it's off to Horace McGee's for a bit. I shall post when i get a chance!

2004-12-13T01:18:00.000-05:00

TALES FROM THE DARK SIDE

[Voice of narrator Paul Sparer] "Man lives in the sunlit world of what he believes to be reality. But there is unseen by most, an underworld, a place that is just as real, but not as brightly lit, a darkside."

[Closing statement]: "The darkside is always there, waiting for us to enter, waiting to enter us. Until next time...try to enjoy the daylight!"

2004-12-09T10:07:00.000-05:00

One final down, two to go. It sort of sucks that the final today was on the first day, 8 am, but if I had to have one, then Rock and Roll History was certainly the best one to take. I so completely aced it that it's silly. And I've gotten 100s on every test. But I know some people had difficulties with it, and I remember the difficulties with some of the jazz and world music classes of his, so I know I shouldn't feel smug. I guess I just knew more about rock than I thought.

The RHA is really making me love them this year, what with the free massages, DDR, and then this morning the free orange juice and donuts in front of every RA's door. Seriously good job.

Off to sleep and then do Emily's show...

2004-12-01T22:19:00.000-05:00

I'm currently working on a project for History of Rock and Roll. It's about Nine Inch Nails.

I am officially a twelve-year-old fangirl.

2004-12-01T01:37:00.000-05:00

Take the What
animal best portrays your sexual appetite?? Quiz

I swear I've taken that test before sometime. Eh, at least I'm consistent.

jim: ahhh, love the trent
me: 10 year anniversary I guess
jim: soon NIN will be classic rock
me: and you can get it in either 5.1 or SACD
me: hehe, soon?
jim: does he take advantage of the surround
jim: phm was released in 1990?
me: yeah
me: and yeah, I hear he does take advantage
me: haven't heard it myself yet though
jim: madness
me: www.nin.com
jim: purest madness
jim: lordy
me: he answers people and everything
me: in the access section
me: and there are updates and pictures
me: like woo
jim: does he blog?
me: soooort of
me: he answers questions in access
me: they can be funny
jim: must have a lot of freetime
me: oh and closure is supposed to be coming out soon on DVD
me: and there's a new album coming out
me: now titled 'with teeth'
jim: you know too much college girl
jim: sick people, you realize that you are enabling trent
me: hehehe
me: true enough
me: and we're probably sadomasochistic
jim: you should join a group, have big nin bonfire
me: I should really go to bed
jim: goodnight then floridian, sleep well and dream of large men
me: lol
me: goodnight
jim: gnight

Jim's a weird guy. And I'm a dork.

2004-11-30T13:36:00.000-05:00

So I just waved to Adam as I walked to my dorm. And I started thinking about how the hell I know Adam and Manu. I think this is somewhat indicative of my school.

I had at least one class with Manu freshman year. I can't for the life of me remember which one - maybe an English one. At any rate, I didn't start hanging out with her til I was dating Bill sophomore year. Manu was dating Adam, and Bill and Adam worked at the library together. As I remembered this, a whole bunch of memories flashed at me: huddling in the cold as the guys tried unsuccessfully to steal signs, going to Adam's "roomwarming" party.

BUT, when all that happened I was already separately friends with Adam, because we'd had a few philosophy classes together, back when I was going to be a philosophy minor, and we'd study together, sometimes with Dolce or Anico thrown in.

Then Adam went off to Asia for awhile, and I lost track of Manu. But this year, Adam is back and Manu is my RA, and we all get to hang out all over again.

This is what it's like with a good portion of the campus. The strands of connection weave together and around and quickly become a big jangled mess. At times, it really does feel like everyone on campus knows each other. I still remember Alee being shocked at how I knew what was up with Bill in England when she hadn't told me - never mind that he was part of a fairly large group and I could have found out from any number of people.

Perhaps this is what it's like living in a small town. Everyone knows everyone, and eventually you don't remember how anymore, and if you do it takes three hours to tell.

Hmmm, like a soap opera. No wonder this place is so full of drama.

2004-11-29T01:40:00.000-05:00

So when I got to Nashville, I discovered the airport had lost my baggage. They found it - eventually. Then that night, Doug's car broke down on the way home from work at three in the morning, so he got to walk the remaining few miles or so to Jim and Krista's. Naturally, this was the one night he had forgotten a jacket or a sweater, and it was about forty degrees out. My mother somehow forgot to put sugar in the pumpkin pies. She did wind up making some normal ones, but not until after we'd had a nasty experience. Jim's grandfather died on Thanksgiving night. At some point, Marie accidentally knocked a Coke into my lap. Oh, yes, this was when I was at the airport, hoping to find my luggage. Julian got a bloody nose on Saturday - his first ever at the tender age of three. A whole bunch of other things happened, but I'm home now.

Oh, wait. The airport lost my luggage. Again. And this time they haven't found it yet. And today I spent about twelve hours, all in all, at airports. I am pissed.

2004-11-22T01:31:00.000-05:00

BRING BACK FIFTH COLUMN.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind was actually quite good, btw.

2004-11-18T13:13:00.000-05:00

So last night was quite interesting.

Council of Evil got out remarkably early, so I headed down to the station to fill in Selena on what she'd missed from the meeting. While I was there, Russell came in, and I took this opportunity to interview him, while erin ran back and forth with some duct tape. After the official interview, Selena, Russell and I talked about random stuff like the Rollins ghosts, etc. And that's when my cell phone started ringing.

It was Michelle, and she called multiple times, but I a) didn't think I could get reception in the office and b) was preparing to leave anyway, so I didn't think much of it. But a few minutes later, Michelle and Amber came through the door of the station, surprising me. And then they informed us there was a guy with a gun on campus (so they had heard) and we couldn't leave.

Immediately we locked the doors to all the exits (totally terrifying, as you have to open the front door to lock it, and I was the one who did it) and called campus safety. They informed us there was a "situation," but couldn't tell us anything other than that we should stay in and locked up. Selena tried calling everyone she knew, and we got a world of rumors:
*There was a man with a gun
*someone was raped
*someone from AOPi was raped
*someone was assaulted between ATO and TKE
*there was a bomb
*someone fell out the window of Gale
*there was some hazing mishap by X-Club
*the man with a gun was cornered in McKean
*there was crime scene tape over by Cornell
*there were ambulances in front of Roc

We didn't really find out what had happened til this morning, when, oh, the NEWS cleared it all up (campus safety refused to say anything, and evidently were hanging up on some people). There was indeed a woman raped by Cornell, by two men, and they refuse to say whether they were armed or not. And someone from X-Club did get hurt earlier that night and taken away, but it's unclear if it was hazing, falling out a window or what.

In the meantime last night, we holed up in the station until after midnight, when we called campus safety and they told us it was safe "to go straight to our cars or dorms." They still wouldn't say why.

Everyone's rather disgruntled with campus saefty. On channel 13 news, someone is saying how they locked down the dorms, etc, when this happened, but I don't know one person who knew of that. The RAs weren't informed. We at the station were not, nor were the theater students at the play right next to the crime scene. Only way you knew if you shouldn't be out was if you already were, and that is simply not safe.

Today the sports lot is a media circus. Channel 13 was here last night, but today every other station has arrived at the party. I'm waiting for the inevitable tie-in to Take Back the Night, Extremities and Sexual Assualt Awareness Week. Sigh.

2004-11-15T20:14:00.000-05:00

AAAIIIIEEEEE! The wonderful trailer in question. Honestly, I know there's really no point to a movie like this since the show is already fabulous, but hey, I love it and will watch it in pretty much any medium. Well, listen to it in pretty much any medium. And hey, perhaps the special effects will be really be cool.

Trailer

2004-11-15T01:23:00.000-05:00

Yet another post-weekend, pre-bed update.

Just watched this last week's Gilmore Girls episode with Michelle. Ah, that show is finally beginning to prove that it did NOT jump the shark when it sent Rory to Yale. Wooooo. Now for this past weekend:

Bridget Jones Edge of Reason: Meh. The first was based on Pride & Prejudice, and the second book meandered around. Wouldn't translate well to film, so instead they made it a direct ripoff of the first movie. Not fabulous. But the double date aspect was fun, and the movie wasn't terrible, and there's always room for Colin Firth. Oh, and Phantom of the Opera trailer! I knew nothing of this, so from the first few notes of Masquerade in the first two seconds, I gasped aloud. Aiiieeee!

Pulp Fiction: I liked it very much. This brings my Tarantino tally to: Kill Bill - loved a lot, Pulp Fiction - liked a lot, Reservoir Dogs - meh, good movie, but a bit too grim for my taste.

Grand Theft Auto, San Andreas: hmmm. Didn't play it much myself, but seems fun, despite horrific Head Like a Hole AFI cover on the soundtrack. And thank God Freddy is finally dead.

City of Heroes: Wonderfully fun as always. Hope the Marvel issue turns out alright.

Maverick: I still love that movie, no matter what. :P

Secondhand Lions: Ehhh, not bad. Hope Haley Joel Osmond doesn't go the way of Brad Renfro.

Cookie cake: Yum.

Bailey's Irish Creme stuff: Yum.

Pasta with sausage stuff: Yum.

Laternenfest: Cute kids.

Sleep: ahhh, glorious sleep.

That about sums up the weekend. I leave you with something ripped from the wonderful Pixie Wolfe, and also Tony I think:

5 THINGS YOU ARE WEARING
1. Strawberry Shortcake pajama pants
2. red Cursive Driftwood T-shirt
3. Rollins zip-up sweatshirt
4. black rubber bracelets
5. black hair rubberband

5 THINGS YOU CAN SEE
1. Grad school application stuff
2. water bottle
3. pink pixellated makeup bag
4. mini Domo-Kun
5. Belle photo frame

FIRST 5 PEOPLE YOU KISSED (damn you and your precedents, Pixie)
1. Blake (6th grade)
2. Jonathan (7th grade)
3. Billy (7th grade)
4.Carl (8th grade)
5. Sean (10th grade)
I realize I become very boring from there. I only have two people to add to the list after that. Some other...incidents, but only two "proper" kissee people.

5 THINGS YOU ARE DOING RIGHT NOW
1. Taking away from my sleep
2. Growing tireder by the second
3. Being thirsty
4. Typing
5. Reading

5 THINGS YOU ATE IN THE LAST 24 HOURS
1. Pasta with bread and sausage
2. Cookie cake
3. Cookie dough bites
4.Diet Dr. Pepper
5. Bailey's Irish Creme
An unhealthy weekend.

5 THINGS YOU DID SO FAR TODAY
1. Went to the mall
2. Drove a little GTA
3. Slept and lay around
4. danced goofy
5. did German homework

5 THOUGHTS IN YOUR HEAD
1. "This survey didn't seem this long before"
2. "Sleeeeeep"
3. "That sounded like 'doooonuts'"
4. "can't wait for next weekend"
5. "that new love interest on Gilmore Girls is soooo much cooler"

5 PEOPLE THAT ROCK YOUR SOCKS
1. The Chicken McNugget Fairy
2. Katie
3. Michelle
4. Am
5. The Weasley Twins

5 FAMOUS PEOPLE YOU WOULD NEVER MISS A CHANCE TO MEET
1. Rachmaninoff
2. Anne Rice
3. Trent Reznor
4. John Williams
5. Liszt

5 OBJECTS IN YOUR ROOM YOU LOVE
1. My monkey, George
2. My Domo-Kun stuff
3. My fibre-optic pumpkin
4. My pink bowling bag
5. My comforter

End.

2004-11-07T13:00:00.000-05:00

Eeeee! Last night I got to pretend to be a keyboard player. I say this, and not pianist, because that would REALLY be a stretch - but I digress. You see, last week I was informed that if I could throw together some sort of semblance of the cello and piano parts from the Murder By Death song End of the Line, I could play it on the keyboard at their next show. Which was...in a week. It was a daunting task, but with some (ahem, a lot) of help from Amber, I was able to at least fill in some of the bits. And I learned alllll about beeeeee minor. Since I had never done any sort of improv at all, Ever, this was interesting. The good news is that the performance actually went quite well on my part, considering. The bad news is that apparently only half of the place could hear me. Eh, trial and error. It was still actually quite fun.

In other news, though, the guys were absolutely fantastic, and they raised a sizable chunk of money for Anjali's charity. I guess that (sorta) acoustic setting works out well. I definitely think they should use the electric acoustic on a few of their songs permanently now, though for some others, I longed for the distortion. And screaming.

Was also a little shocked and hurt at another point in the night, but... gah.

Got home at one something and didn't get to bed past two. Then I got to get up before seven this morning for the Founder's Day concert. Playing that early in the morning is never fun, but it sucks more when you've only had four hours of sleep. That being said, I'm headed for bed.

2004-11-04T11:20:00.000-05:00

Gah. So I've been gloomy for the past few days. But working the polls was fun, though I did have to wake up at 3:45 am. It actually does give me hope for the future. I hope the number of people voting continues to rise, even if the results aren't always what I'd like. And from what I've seen, I really, really like Obama.

2004-11-01T01:48:00.000-05:00

Phew. Am finally home from Halloween Horror Nights. Went a little late this year - as in on the last day. Still, I'm glad I did, for I've been going most every year since I was thirteen or fourteen, and who knows when I'll get to next? Emily was cool enough to have a connection to get us 25 dollars off of admission, and off we went. Amazingly, I was able to get through the zombie haunted house, despite my fear of zombies. I think, in some weird way, it even sort of helped. Ooooh, and the new Mummy roller coaster is simply awesome. I don't know that the whole atmospheric thing worked as well with the two parks, but perhaps they'll tighten it up in the next few years. Bill and Ted's made me giggle as usual; I can't believe I missed out on that great show the first few years I went. Such a shame. I hope Emily had a good time on her first adventure; I'm pretty sure the rest of us did. I have more to talk about, but I am soooo tired, so off I go. Hope everyone had a Happy Halloween! (muahahahaha)

2004-10-28T12:08:00.000-05:00

Well, I'm back from Pennsylvania. It's interesting - while I have certainly flown alone before, I had never flown somewhere where I was COMPLETELY on my own, not meeting someone or getting picked up, etc. Anyway, my paper went very well, and I actually had someone assume I was working on my doctorate already, which was awesome. When I was on the plane home, at a layover in Cincinnati, I was stuck for awhile because the door to the plane wouldn't open to let us off. Maintenance came and pried it open. Luckily I don't have claustrophobia.

I returned and was thrust into the thick of things again. I had election day training on Tuesday, and got to watch little videos made by Homeland Security. Now I feel safe. :P Tonight is my Halloween concert, and I'm already in costume. I wore it today to class, actually, because Michelle wanted us to dress for decades day. It's technically a tavern wench/gypsy costume, but I'm telling everyone I'm from the 1970's and am Stevie Nicks.

Must away to my radio office hours, but will hopefully have something good to report after the concert!

2004-10-18T22:50:00.000-05:00

Right. So my paper was so utterly and completely NOT finished. In fact, I just finished it this evening. Sort of. I still need to throw together a works cited page; as a result, my floor is littered with many an early American music textbook. But most importantly, the body of the paper is (hopefully) done after some extensive editing by those with fascist fists of fury, and Amber and I just came up with quite a clever title, if I do say so myself. Thus, tomorrow will be devoted to creating a works cited page, talking to DJ and Keri about the presentation aspect, and packing. And that whole school bit.

Ooooh, and I may get to see Matt and Melissa in PA as well. That's the tentative-yet-slightly-stable plan, anyhow. I'm becoming excited. And completely nauseous, but that's another story.

Ooooh, and guess what trailer is out and about! I WILL see this movie in the theaters. And I know just the person to see it with.

Trailer

She is a hybrid of:
Indie Girl
Academic Girl
Click on the pictures below to read more:
Take the 'What Kind of Girl Is She?' quiz at CookingToHookup.com

2004-10-14T22:46:00.000-05:00

Last night I got the breath knocked out of me, had a puffy lip for half the night, got kicked in the shins, and woke up with sore shoulders from them being twisted this way and that. Nope, there was no domestic violence involved; I just went to a Deftones show. Aside from the very minor aches and pains I was left with, it was actually quite fun. I got to dance. I recognized many more songs than I thought I would. And no one attempted to use my head for a stepladder or a diving board, so that's already an improvement from that one Cursive show. I'm already mentally gearing myself up for when NIN tours again (haha, I know, right). Seriously, though, it was fun, and I liked seeing Dredg. I also wore earplugs, so no ringing ears for moi.

Yesterday morning I got up bright an early for my GRE. I think I did well, though I'm not entirely certain how to interpret my scores - someone tell me what a respectable score is pleeeease. While the getting up at 6 in the morning was a pain and a half, it was fun doing the sleepover thing with Katie and Amber and her friend Melody (and Michelle, though she didn't take the test). We need to again soon.

Weirdly, I do believe I have finished my paper. I cannot believe it. Anyone want to edit?

2004-10-11T21:29:00.000-05:00

Ok, how messed up is this?

I was walking to fencing class, in the gym, when my upper right arm hurt very badly. I looked down and saw that I had been BIT. BY A FLY. I didn't even think those things could bite. It was smallish, not like a huge horsefly or anything. I brushed it off in horror and went on to class - I couldn't even find a bite mark. About five minutes later, my entire arm cramped down to my wrist. I mentioned it to my coach, and she suggested I get it checked out. Since I couldn't even find a mark, though, I decided to try and stick it out. Half an hour later, I decided to try the clinic. However, since they were about to go to lunch, they've scheduled me for one o clock. I think that's a bit silly, since if it were some sort of allergic reaction I'd rather sick by then, but oh well. It's been almost an hour and a half since I've been bitten, and my arm is still rather sore and crampy from the shoulder to the wrist. Now I ask: what the hell bit me? It wasn't a wasp. It sure as hell looked like a little fly. Oh, and now a bite mark has appeared, a small reddish dot. Weirdly, I almost think my other arm is starting to feel sore as well, but that could be psychological. So....can flies bite, or am I stuck in some weird Amityville Horror-esque world?

Update: so I went to the clinic. Despite being told I had the first appointment after lunch, I got to sit and watch an episode and a half of The Cosby Show. Once I finally got back there, they decided there was nothing they could do. My range of motion is fine, my reflexes are fine, my strength is fine. The fact that the soreness runs up into my back and neck is negligible. They gave me an antihistimine and I'm to report back tomorrow. Actually, I'm really to report back tomorrow cause she was far more concerned about my blood pressure. Since April it's been consistently 130/94, and this is evidently not good. So, this means tests to determine I don't have kidney problems or something equally problematic. I guess I just have to have the drama.

Plane tickets have been bought, hotel reservations made. Amy's wedding came and went, and was beautiful. If I have time I'll go into more detail later. I'm relieved that it's one more thing checked off the list, but also slightly nervous. I have this strangely rolling feeling, for the wedding marked the first of my Hell Weeks activities. From now, it's all downhill on its own momentum, moving quickly from GRE to finishing the paper to getting ready for this conference. I feel like things are now beyond my control, and I'm just trying not to fall off.

2004-10-08T00:03:00.000-05:00

The American Pie series amuses me. When we were in high school the first one came out, and everyone could at least semi-relate to one of those subplots. When the second one came out, we had just started college and the idea of maintaining relationships and such was extrmemely relevant. And now I just watched the third one. Interestingly enough, I'm going to be a bridesmaid in a wedding the day after tomorrow.

2004-09-30T22:19:00.000-05:00

Just watched Round 1 of the Presidential Debates. Was interesting, to say the least. I'd have more to say about it, but I'm rather exhausted. I just have three words: moo cow eyes.

I'm rather tired of the hurricanes, and I swear the next one we'll wind up in the radio station. But I'm kind of tired of some radio station drama too, so it's a tough choice.

GREs are in two weeks and counting. And the paper needs to get DONE. I'm freaking out. A lot.

2004-09-23T10:15:00.000-05:00

Just rocked on my German test, wooooo!

-The Perfect Drug-You are madly in love with someone right now, or at
least you want to be. You feel like you are out
of control with your emotions. It's not such a
bad feeling, is it? ;)

What Nine Inch Nails song are you?>
brought to you by

Hehe, if you want to take this quiz, there is a link under the image, but it's teeeeeny tiny. It's like Little Cat C.

2004-09-20T10:58:00.000-05:00

Again, the end of a hectic weekend, and the beginning of our second full week of school (damn hurricanes). It's really been quite busy here; I'm liking all my classes, and I got a 96 on my latest German test. Amber's room remains The Black Hole, where one loses track of time and space. Last night I went there to see Michelle and Amber and check over my theory homework, and we wound up talking until 2:30 am. Considering I get up at seven for classes, this morning was not the most fun in the world, but it was probably worth it.

The radio station keeps me on my toes, but I am loving it (assuming there are no zombies there, of course - I had a nightmare the other night in which there were, and I've been wary about going into the office ever since). Speaking of the station, I need to do some laundry. The only shirts I've been washing on the weekend are my station ones, and it's probably beginning to seem like I don't own anything else.

I am finally really playing City of Heroes instead of just watching it, and I'm having even more fun. I don't know if anything will ever compare to that one night with the alien invasion (was that before it was officially out?) but it's still tons of fun, and I keep thinking about it today. Too bad I'll have to wait til the weekend...

This weekend was Amy's bridal shower. It was also much fun, and I'm getting ideas for Michelle's (Muahahaha...)

Time for food! Here are a few quizzes:

Your Icecream Flavour is...
Cookies 'n Cream!

Smooth and creamy with a few rough bits mixed in, you are a real treat! You are probably very popular amongst your friends. Remember too much of a good thing is not always good! Don't lay it on too thick!

What is your Icecream Flavour?
Find out at Go Quiz

The University of Blogging

Presents to
jadezuki

An Honorary
Bachelor of
Color Bars

Majoring in
Emo

Signed
Dr. GoQuiz.com

Blogging Degree
From Go-Quiz.com

2004-09-13T09:24:00.000-05:00

Thoughts:

Had a busy busy weekend. Went ice skating with the UCF SAI girls and Katie (well, those two are one and the same, I guess) and Michelle. Saw Collateral. Saw Minus the Bear at the Social and did NOT forget my ID this time. Avoided all responsibility with German, something I will pay for dearly this afternoon. Ate lots of muffins. Slept a lot but not well. Am dreading GREs, my paper, October in general. Must buy Amy a present. Next semester should be soooo easy compared to this...

2004-09-10T07:19:00.000-05:00

So I survived the evil Bush building. We got released back into our dorms, and one hour later the power went out here. It came back on the next morning, but my air conditioning is busted. And I have water stains (and probably mold) on one wall, and I've been getting killer headaches lately. Lovely.

Other than that, things have been going well. I'm going ice skating with Katie and "the girls," tonight, as Katie strives to get the SAI ball rolling here. Ann(a) gave me a Cure mix CD, and I've been listening to it quite a bit - it never hurts to have a bit of Cure in one's life, esp since I have no cassette player (though I DO still have the mix cassette Candice made for me when I was fifteen). My room has returned to its former Domo-Kun glory.

The station has been more than hectic, but everything will work out - I'm determined. Now on to other challenges, such as studying for the GRE, finishing up the Moravian paper, and applying to all those grad schools.

2004-09-04T20:14:00.000-05:00

be sorted @ nimbo.net

So this is what I'm doing. In the bomb shelter. Waiting for it to even start raining, though I've had to be here since 8 am.

To be fair, though, it's looking pretty bad in Brevard. Hope everyone is safe, and I shall update later.

Amber shows me HP smut. And I highlighted her hair.
(that was *NOT* my fault Jill -Am)

(jill is hot - Am)

We're sleeping in a room full of plastic Barbie dolls - and a Ken was fucking LAYING on my PILLOW when I came in earlier. Was pissed. Am getting over it now - but when I left to come downstairs I took George with me.

Still no rain really...(we're fucking TRAPPED in this stupid bomb shelter for no bloody reason at all- OH THE HUMANITY!!!! -Am)

That's all for now.

2004-08-30T00:54:00.001-05:00

Blogger is dumb and posted a blank bit. Soooo...

Barber Baby Bubbles and a Bumblebee.

2004-08-30T00:54:00.000-05:00

So I'm back in school, once again. It's been incredibly hectic this past (not even) week, and already a new hurricane is approaching. All my classes are good, and I think I'll actually enjoy German. I'm still not fully unpacked, as everyone is dragging their feet getting my stuff out of storage, but it's slowly coming together.

This weekend was spent watching both volumes of Kill Bill for the first time, and drinking pina coladas. Diet starts again tomorrow.

It's already two, so off I go to bed. More info later.

2004-08-23T01:56:00.000-05:00

It's time for flitterin'
Dusting off the trunk and flitterin' far
Where the grass is greener
Now and then, comes the time again, for flitterin'

We'll soon be packing up
Stacking up our dreams and bric-a-brac for
Some destination
Don't know where, but we're going there
We're flitterin', again

New places, new faces
New friendships will start
While old places, old faces
Stay dear to our heart

As we go flitterin'
Following a rainbow, flitterin' bright
Over the horizon
Maybe then and maybe there
We'll settle down and never care
For flitterin' flitterin' flitterin' again

2004-08-21T00:48:00.000-05:00

At this point, I'm about midway or beyond in my packing. All my clothes are packed (except some for the next few days), my three bubble crates are packed, and most of the rest of my stuff has at least been gone through and condensed, if not packed. While packing I went through a stack of cassettes that my mom found in the Triangle. I found a copy of Jagged Little Pill that Ashley taped for me in the seventh grade, and belted along to it, feeling twelve years old, a little silly, and strangely angry at the male species. The most amusing find, however, was a blank tape from when I was fifteen. One side of it had stuff I'd taped off the radio: sadly, most of it was stuff from Celebrity Skin and assorted Metallica, with a little Rob Zombie and Orgy thrown in for good measure. But the other side...the other side had stuff from Unwelcome Guests!

I have no idea how I got a copy of all this stuff, but it probably had to do with Casey, or maybe somehow Axel. For those who haven't known me since I was fourteen (or ten), this was a ska band of students, mostly band geeks, mostly percussionists, that I was (good aquaintances? friends?) with in high school. The members, in one band or another, played at virtually every high school battle of the bands (except, of course, my all-time favorite one). I was once shown on the news cheering them on at one in Crane's Roost Park. Ahh, those were the days. As I listened to them today, I laughed. I winced. I laughed some more, and bopped around my room. I will be bringing this back to Florida with me.

2004-08-17T02:03:00.000-05:00

Okay, so my family has all these little tapes from the camcorder. I finally got around to buying a pack of VHS tapes, and I'm currently in the process of transferring all of these. Since most of these tapes are from 1996-97, and all of them are from 96-2000, some of them are getting pretty old and crackly. As a result, my mom is having this copy be the "master copy" of VHS, and won't let me edit anything out. I have slight reservations, as there's a lot of memories on these tapes, but surprisingly it doesn't affect me (or Melissa, for example) nearly as much anymore. Just got through cringing at my freshman band festival - 40 people in a brand-new school and polo shirts. Ouch. And yes, Casey, you make an appearance. :) I have also noticed I had HUGE eyebrows when I was fourteen, and slouch waaay too much. And my freshman year, all the guys (like Casey) were my height! Too funny. Anyway, this means there's tons upon tons of my family on this tape, so all you school people (or, well, Michelle) will get to see who I talk about all the time.

Oh, and Melo, you're on the festival tape too! And I will send you an email describing the whole long "why I'm in Tennessee" thing as well. Or actually I can say it here; most people know and I don't much care. You see, at the end of senior year a bunch of stuff happened. One, my stepfather got diagnosed with prostate cancer; two, the owners of the house we rented decided we had done such a good job making the house look better that they wanted to sell it, thus kicking us out. Doug couldn't work, what with the cancer treatments, so my dad offered to have everyone move to Tennessee and stay with him while Doug got treatments. They moved about a month before graduation, so I lived with Katie through AP testing and all. Then they came back and got a condo for a month or so, for graduation and through June. We then went up to Tennessee and stayed with my dad (living in the basement, more or less). When the treatments were successful, they decided they liked Tennessee and decided to stay here. So now, it's like I'm away at college, even though I'm where I grew up. Weird, huh?

And yes, my parents had a very amicable divorce. Living with my dad for those six or so months, though, reinforced that my father drives my mother crazy, and probably vice versa, and they work best together when they see each other very rarely.

The amount of cleaning and packing I have to do tomorrow looms over my head, so off I go.

2004-08-16T01:01:00.000-05:00

From the Rollins website:

"The start of classes for the College of Arts & Sciences and the Hamilton Holt School has been delayed until Wednesday, August 25. [...] Check-in for returning students is postponed until Tuesday, August 24."

Not quite sure how I feel about that... I think I'm going to go with all right; I'll be seeing certain people later than I wanted to, but I'll be seeing them soon enough, and my mom wasn't ready for me to go back yet anyway.

2004-08-13T18:42:00.000-05:00

I'm mightily worried about all you kids in Florida. I've been gone all day, and come home to find out the possible Category 2 hurricane I heard about this morning is a 4! Let me know that everyone's okay when it blows over! This is one time I am glad I'm missing all the summer excitement. :P

I don't know what happened with that previous quiz. Sigh.

2004-08-13T02:32:00.000-05:00

You Know You're From Florida When...

You own at least five pairs of flip flops
You know someone who's been struck by lightning
You're more scared of the freaks who live down the street than gators
Your backyard is sometimes a swamp
You're officially sick of Disney
You shrug off hurricane warnings
You've been permanently blinded by fat men in speedos
There are only two seasons - hot and hotter
You've drank a flaming alligator.
You actually get these jokes and pass them on to other friends from Florida.

Get Your Own "You Know You're From" Meme Here

More cool things for your blog at Blogthings

2004-08-06T20:00:00.000-05:00

Rarrrr. I have been arguing with many people on the board concerning the movie The Village. I saw it on Monday, and I haven't yet posted a review on this board concerning it (and Catwoman, which was a double feature at the drive-in) because certain persons haven't yet seen the film. And since a large element of Shyamalan films is surprise, well, I'll hush for now. But....*grumble*

Catwoman, by the way, sucked, but actually not quite as bad as I expected. Luckily most of the cheesiest scenes (with the cliche 'cat' bits) are shown in the trailer, so it really doesn't get much worse than what you've already seen. Not necessarily much better, either, but you get the point.

Yesterday I started going through my boxes in the Bermuda Triangle. Understand, some of these hadn't been opened since I moved from Florida my senior year. After three years of searching, I *finally* found the cases to my NIN CDs, or more specifically, the cases to Pretty Hate Machine, Broken, and The Downward Spiral. I'm relatively sure the case to Further Down the Spiral is in the box as well, but I haven't hunted through the entire box yet.

Beyond finding that, I've stumbled across quite a bit, both that I didn't realize I missed and stuff that I didn't even realize I had. For example, to continue the NIN theme, I came across copies of the 1997 Spin magazine and the 1999 Rolling Stone that had Trent Reznor in it. While I do remember buying the Spin (and pulling out the pictures to decorate my walls, oh yes), I don't even remember purchasing the latter. Weird.

I also found more personal stuff, much of it amusing. Perhaps there will be more about that in the future.

Once again, off I go to make cookies.

2004-08-04T17:10:00.000-05:00

Woooooo! And the fangirl in me surfaces once more, due to the first teaser of the upcoming Closure release in DVD format: http://nin.com/visuals/closure_teaser_low.html

My sister and brother-in-law tend to be one entity. While they do have their own distinct traits, many concepts, movies, music, and more is very "Krista and Jim." If I see something reminiscent of Vampire: the Masquerade or Magic: The Gathering, for example, even though I've been involved in the counterculture of both, I might say, "That's so Krista and Jim." Not all couples I know are like that, however. It's not necessarily negative or positive; just interesting to think about. My parents were like that, but only with each other, not with either of the people they've remarried. Casey and Cherie miiight be like that, not sure. Michelle and Anthony, not so much, but they sort of look alike (something that is true also of Krista and Jim, perfectly in line with Jared Diamond's claim in The Third Chimpanzee that we inherently seek out people who have similar appearance, intelligence, etc.). So think about the people we all know, or your own relationships. Are any of us like that?

2004-08-02T02:38:00.000-05:00

So, the blue moon was still going strong tonight. Spoooooky.

I think it may have caused one of the dogs to act insane. He ate...something. I don't know what, but I don't want to know. It was a mammal. Both my mother and I were too upset to let him in the house. I just let him in finally, at 2 am, and put him straight to bed. I'm still disturbed. This may be the thing that tips me over to vegetarianism.

Went to dinner at Krista and Jim's tonight. Had a reasonably good time; we whined about the possible changes to the original Star Wars trilogy on the upcoming DVD release, watched some old episodes of the Osbournes (which, btw, I can understand waaaay better on the DVD than when it was on TV), ate some food. We laughed about Jack Osbourne, who of course has been forever tainted in my eyes. :P -Hohoho, I made a funny pun and that's not even who I was originally referring to.

Tonight I became re-obsessed with a book that creeped me out when I was little: John Bellairs' The Figure in the Shadows. Wonderful, wonderful book, aimed at the Harry Potter age group but really fun for all - and spooky as hell. If I can't find our copy when I go through the book boxes in the Bermuda Triangle, I will hunt down a copy. And I'm going to get the cover I remember, not this new goofy one. This is the proper cover:

Now, I simply need to find a larger ver. of this image so I can make an avatar. Later.

2004-08-01T02:55:00.000-05:00

Harry Potter Personality Quiz by Pirate Monkeys Inc.

2004-07-31T01:50:00.000-05:00

Just got out of a shower. Am incredibly relaxed, yet alert. I need to do this more often. Am now strongly reminded of those old sleepovers with Bonnie Minnix when we were ten, and it seemed really wild and daring to take showers at 1 am (with our swimsuits on, hehe). I do often wonder what she's up to now...

I'm currently finally reading Where the Heart Is. I remember Katie read it years ago, when the movie came out, and I'm just now getting around to it. I'm surprised at how much dialogue made it directly into the screenplay. That doesn't often happen (see Practical Magic). Speaking of Katie, I demand an update soon, dammit, so I know you're still all right and everything. :P

I...know...the gossip from Pinehurst! Cause Michelle was gracious enough to fill me in via email, even though I missed her IM the other night. All I can say is, I am not surprised in the slightest, though I'm mildly surprised the same thing didn't happen in vice versa, given the activities around spring break.

Tomorrow is the "party" celebrating the July birthdays at Stacey's. Never mind that there wasn't one celebrating the *ahem* June birthdays, or the three May birthdays...but this happens every year. Sigh. Meanwhile, I've yet to get a present or acknowledgement of a possible present from my dad. Or a card, even. But of course when the July birthdays are...ugh, never mind. I'm grumbly, but I will not be a whiny brat. Here's something to balance it out: the older Marie apparently got me a present, entirely unexpectedly. There, no more sour grapes. Regardless of any inbalances in the purpose, tomorrow should be fun, as The Whole Family will be there, and that's always fun.

I've been good since restarting Operation No-Pudge, and I'm beginning to feel like I'm actually making headway. Woooo!

Since I was up almost all night last night (not of my own choice) I had better wrap this up, and get some real sleep tonight.

2004-07-30T00:12:00.000-05:00

Woooo! I apparently read 550-600 words per minute. http://mindbluff.com/askread.htm

How fast do you read?

And this was ripped from Saturnine's blog, btw.

2004-07-25T00:59:00.000-05:00

Today, they finally, finally, finally opened up a Ross nearby, so my mother, Melissa, Marie and I naturally had to run and buy clothes. You don't appreciate the ten million Ross stores in Orlando until you don't have one, and realize you can't run and buy a sundress for six dollars, or a pair of Express jeans for twelve. And in Tennessee, there is nothing.

I bought two pairs of jeans and two shirts. Finding jeans is still as difficult as ever, even with having lost a bit of weight - I seem to be inbetween sizes. The two pairs of jeans I bought fit, but they'll fit better when I finish losing weight and continue to work on my stomach. Anyway, I'm quite pleased with my purchases. Last year I didn't get back to school clothes at all. I'm intending on asking my dad if I can buy some more clothes, put it on my credit card and have him pay for it. However, I'm thinking any more clothes might be best bought in Florida. Though the prices at Ross were good, and I did get all that for less than fifty dollars, there's almost ten percent sales tax here. The six percent in Orange County and even seven percent in Seminole is looking miiiighty good right about now. And don't get me started on how jealous I am about the no-sales-tax back to school special. Grumble.

I start my diet back up Monday, but first comes tomorrow. And with tomorrow comes cookies.

2004-07-22T01:03:00.000-05:00

Eeep! I see Blogger has changed things once again. They're just so crafty.

Speaking of unexpected changes, the Rollins website is totally different now. For the most part, I say "thank God" - it now looks much more professional. Took me a minute to find the Pipeline link, but I think once I get used to the new layout I'll like it much better.

Stacey's birthday was yesterday. We now have lots of cake in the house. Unfortunetely, that's about all we have in the house. Tonight I had a major craving for chicken salad (pasta, ranch dressing, chicken, green peas). However, we had none of these ingredients, nor ingredients for anything else healthy, so I wound up having peanut butter and jam on toast. And cake. Tomorrow we are having the salad, though, and I am glad. Besides being awful for my diet, I just feel so junked up from all the sweets and soda lately. Diet kicks back in with a vengeance on Monday, though, so I'm just indulging myself and telling myself I still have a month to lose more weight before school starts.

Haven't heard anything on the Melissa/Zach front lately. I must bug her about it.

Went to the drive-in the other night, and saw I, Robot and Spiderman 2 as a double feature. Was fun; I liked both movies, though the credits say the former was only "suggested" by Asimov. Though I've read and like the Foundation trilogy, I've never read any of the robot series, though I know I own it. Sadly, most of the family books are still in boxes in the basement. Last night I did come across The Positronic Man and Foundation and Earth. Have already finished the first, and am about 1/3 of the way through the latter.

Made pretty good progress on my paper; sent it off to Nola, though I've yet to recieve a response. My cousin's wife has also offered to give me pointers on presenting my paper at the conference, and edit my paper when I'm ready. This terrifies me, as she's a Fulbright scholar, apparently tears papers apart when she edits, etc. Yes, it's exactly what I need. I'm still afraid. Shut up, I'll cowboy up later.

I'm thinking of taking yoga during the spring semester. I really need the stretching, and by spring I may be strong enough to handle it. Plus, I need to learn to "breathe through my problems." I already have high blood pressure; I need to figure out a way to handle stress before I enter grad school. This internalizing cannot be good.

I miss everyone in Florida, though I am having a good time with my family. I'm missing those who I spend very little time with, due to busy schedules (Katie, Casey, Jacob, this means you) those I do get to see often (Michelle) and those who, well, I simply don't see enough (Mike, Anjali, Jen, Melo, and more). And Alan, well, you're still somehow a FL person in my mind. It's just occurring to me that come the end of the year, I will be moving out of state, and I need to take advantage of all the friendships I have here while you're still quite accessible. I know that with modern marvels such as the one I'm typing away on, moving away isn't all that terrible or at times even noticable (cough, Alan), but still...I'm actually getting slightly choked up thinking about leaving stupid things such as the Oviedo Marketplace, laden with so many teenaged memories; the Oviedo Borders, laden with so much drama; the many Checkers, Sci-Fi City, and simply the knowledge I've accumulated since I was five about where everything is. And hell, Disney will be a place I have to take a vacation to go to! And don't get me started about Halloween Horror Nights. I know that these thoughts will be quickly replaced with excitement at starting a new portion of my life; even with this nostalgia, I am aware that I'm ready to move on. Still, though, no matter how odd the circumstances, Orlando really is and always will be home.

The sugar from the cake I ate is condensing into a small, throbbing ball of pain in my head. Most definitely time to lay down and read some more Asimov. I think I've depressed myself sufficiently for now.

2004-07-16T01:17:00.000-05:00

Casey's right. I should just post a link to the nincam, since that's where I've been lately. Well, it is located at http://www.nin.com/visuals/webcam.html . Just so ya know.

My current plan is to go babysit Stacey's house on Sat. night, bring my laptop, and work like mad on my paper. So far, these are my intentions. We'll see how it goes.

I want to sleep through City of Heroes again. And see another alien landing.

Had to use some fast talking to get George away from Julian. George was upstairs cause I had brought him up when I came up after the storms, and I was taking a picture of him sitting on my laptop. Julian found him and was of course entranced. He is now "jungle monkey George," who uses his tail to "climb trees in the forest." Cute, but George is special. He's going back in my room now.

I am determined to go to bed at a reasonable hour. Bedtime for Frances.

2004-07-11T17:31:00.000-05:00

More Julian:

And finally, my emo-looking web cam pic:

2004-07-11T17:29:00.000-05:00

I need to get someone besides Orkut to host my pics, but in the meantime

Stormy, my cat.