GUESS WHAT?!?

i'm not going to be in steen next year. i'm gong to be in hall 13. but hall 13 got demolished, right? yes it did. but they're building a sweet new one in the same place. AND I'M GOING TO LIVE THERE! woot! can you tell i'm excited? it's totally like a small apartment, except for the fact that it is still covered by my scholarship. it has a kitchenette and full sized fridge (not a full kitchen, i'll still be on a meal plan), two bed rooms (i'll have my own room for the first time in my life. how cool is that? nick is my roommate), a living room with furniture and entertainment center, and a bathroom for just the two of us. whoa. ever is going to stay here in steen and room with jimmy. who wants to bet he'll be living a good portion of his life in our room? karin has already decided to move in with us. :-P so the whole housing thing is over and done with. oh, i just realized that i got distracted somewhere at the beginning of this paragraph. what i was going to say, is that this place isn't even built yet. there's like, a foundation and a bunch of pipes. so it's going to be fresh off the mint when i move in. anyway, that's all about it for now.

i didn't think to mention this before, but i am playing in a piano recital in temple theater this evening. it's at 6:30. not that anyone will be there... i think i like playing lots of stuff more than just one thing on a recital. with just one piece, there's more of a chance of messing it up and having nothing to redeem oneself. simply bow graciously and don't trip on the way out.

this could seriously be bad. tomorrow is my chance to sign up for housing again. my space is no longer reserved. all the people from hall 14 and south hall had today to pick where they want to move (their dorms are being demolished). any of them could have picked steen and gotten my space. tomorrow will be open for everyone again, including new students. once again, seniors and juniors have priority. pleeeeeease let my space not be gone.

Oh...

... i got tagged. there were no instructions, but i think i've got the idea.

8 years ago... i was 12. i'm pretty sure that was the year i joined boy scouts, or perhaps just before i turned 12. i probably erased the rest, so it's gone forever. i think that might have been the last year i played baseball too. i had passed my peak. piano was more important.

5 years ago... i was 15. i got my first license (learner's permit). went to philmont. oh wait, that was the summer before. ah, close enough. i remember i lied one time. never fear, all was confessed.

1 year ago... i was deep in my second semester, staying up insanely late every single night, neglecting my quiet times, making windchimes and flutes in my tiny room, facing the prospect of losing my 4.0, struggling with myself, and some other things...

i sooooo wish yesterday had been a superlative day to compare with last year, but alas. i slept late, and got a minimal amount accomplished. ask about today instead. i did go and sing at godtel. i got a bunch of music, and i may start leading the singing eventually, or at least trading out with taylor.

5 songs i know all the words too... step by step - rich mullens. the booger song - unknown to me. wow, this is hard. i can think of millions of chorus's and stuff. most of josh groban's songs. most of rich mullen's. how about, lonely road - greenday. i know there's plenty more. never mind about the specific ones. i wish i could say the erlking. that's totally the awesomest song. sends chills up my spine every time i hear it. i know the beginning of one of the verses!!! "mine vater, mine vater!!!"

5 things i woudl do with $100 M... let's see, first i would definitely have to get a ferrari. who cares which one. then a reeeeally super nice camera with a top-notch lense. probably nikon. a trek or giant road bike definitely. also a ducati monster S4R. mmmmmmmmm. also two new computers at once can be my last choice. that leaves me with well over $99 M. i'll take 1 more million and you can have the rest. when gas and insurence get unbearable i'll just sell the ferrari and buy a spankin' new honda civic. you can have the other 98. hahahahahaha!!! holy cow!!! i forgot the 9 ft steinway!!! i've still got plenty to handle that.

5 things i would never wear... i can't think of anything. i'll just let you imagine that for a minute...

5 favorite tv shows... i don't watch tv.

5 bad habits... picking my nose. oversleeping. drinking too much dr pepper. not shaving. biting the inside of my cheeks and lips.

5 biggest joys... jesus, family, friends, music, reading... that's not fair. there's way more that all go right in there.

5 people i tag to do this... how about you just tell me if you did it. or if you prefer not to, thank me for not tagging you.

all week i've been getting messages that completely filled up my inbox reminding me that on Tues. March 28 2006 from 2:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. is the renewal application time for housing. i totally tried to do it at 8:30. i'm an idiot. and a little concerned too...

AAAGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!

today is indeed that very special day. we actually celebrated yesterday, with yummy chicken. of course there was chocolate cake. mom got some fine gifts, including an electronic laminator, an umbrella and matching sun cap (go figure), and a framed 8x10 of some beautiful flowers from the arboretum. :-D

mom was very pleased with her cake, and having stephen sitting next to her...

then stephen saw us licking the candels and decided it looked good. except... he's more into biting than licking. he couldn't understand why we liked it so much.

papa quickly took charge of the cake...then mumzy opened her gifts, including the best of all - a red umbrella!!!

ahhh, what a fine afternoon it was

happy birthday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hellow

how would you interpret this picture? such as, who am i looking at? what does the expression mean? what time of the day or night is it? what did i eat last?... that sort of thing. *grins* and wow, i can hardly believe that absolutely no one commented on ever's banged up face. i almost expected it to be a hit. perhaps my audience is not up for violence and bloodshed. :-P

Me Roomie

this is what happens when you ride your bicycle too fast. it almost happened to me but i narrowly escaped the bloody punishment ever took. i think we learned our lesson though. we need to work on our spinouts bigtime. i'm sure after a few more tries we'll have them down to an art. if only we could have had a video of my awesome skid around the corner in the afternoon, followed by ever's awesome slide/road burn combo. 

today i saw a horse. actually, 8 of them. big horses. biting ones...

yeah, that big...

Epicurean Gratification

you know how i'm always complaining about the bad food. or i do on occassion... possibly less than i used to. it's more like a way of life now instead of the cruel and unusual punishment it used to be. wow, that reminds me. last night our suite mate (the one and only, since his roommate got called back into active service) was puking his guts out at 1:30. you have to wonder if he was starting the partying a day early, or if he has the bug that's been going around... OR... is it the food??? you have to wonder sometimes. so where was i? oh yes, some genuises decided to make some tastey grub, which they were advertising on this flier i found on the floor (tada!!! no, up there ^ above you. yeah, there you go). wow, pictures of steaming pots advertising an italian feast in the steen community kitchen just makes my taste buds explode. notice it starts at 4:30. this meal has many tastey courses the cooking, serving and consumption of which will take many hours. and in case these sumptuous gourmet promises haven't convinced you that there's no place you would rather be on a sunday afternoon than in the tiny dirty cold steen community kitchen with a bunch of stinky starving college students and a small bowl of spaghetti, then RTFP!!! (that's read the fine print, for those of you who don't know. i just found that out myself, not too long ago, and for some reason i've been dying to write it. except i found out that one of karen's, i think math teachers, uses it for a slightly altered meaning). ummm... oh yes. it says "special accomodations available." hahahahha. hahhahahahahahah. ehhh, excuse me. what the heck does that even mean? you can ask for extra meat balls? we'll kindly unpin the door and take if off the hinges so you can get your wheel chair through? call early and we'll deliver it hot to your dorm room? (i like that idea) i really shouldn't be this cynical. i've probably been in dr tkacik's class for too long already. i promise i'm not really that bitter about the food. i just like to pretend for the writing aspect. EXCEPT I HATE IT WHEN I HAVE TO WAIT 20 MINUTES FOR A BURNT GREASE BURGER WITH A WAD OF BACON AND UNMELTED CHEESE AND WATCH THE SWIPER LADY NOT LET SOMEONE EAT SINCE THEIR CARD CAN'T BE SWIPED FOR ANOTHER 3 MINUTES BECAUSE OF THE STUPID... deeeeeep breath...ffffff....exhale....hhhhhhhh. ;-D

today we were talking about discrimination issues in poli sci. one of the issues we discussed was gender in the military. first of all, "is there discrimination in the military based on gender?" well duh, yes. "where? or in what ways?" a few of them are rather obvious, and, dare i say, quite legitimate. women cannot (at least today) fight in the infantry. they cannot be in a position where they will be on the front lines and fight hand to hand combat. someone asked why. dr tkacik just smiled and stared for a second. then he's like, "umm, you... (points at a girl on the front row) come stand up here. and you... (points at me) come stand beside her. (i'm about a foot taller and 60-75 lbs heavier) now who do you think's gonna win if they have a fight?" i just stood there grinning like an idiot, and looking very fierce. a young woman in the back shouted, "THE GIRL'S GONNA WIN EVERY TIME!!!" anyway, the point was made, and we all had a good laugh. i think it would have been even funnier if the big guy in our class had been on the front row where he could easily stand up and demonstrate even more dramatically. he's another 8 or 9 inches taller than me, and probably out weighs me by 150 lbs. lol. i wouldn't want to fight him.

i need to buy a scantron 882. now you know.

paterfamilias \pay-tuhr-fuh-MIL-ee-uhs; pat-uhr-; pah-\, noun;plural patresfamilias \pay-treez-; pat-reez-; pah-treez-\:The male head of a household or the father of a family.

this one just looks kinda cool 

 

 

 

isn't it sad that i don't know the names of trees? 

Ramblin' Rover

tuesdays amaze me.

i got up early and had a productive morning (jaws agape).

i sat down after theory and did all the homework before my next class.

shyly basked in the glory of my test score in music lit.

suddenly had to go to a small voice recital/master class instead of accompanying.

said happy birthday to amanda and immediately had a long conversation about her performance in the master class, music history, her boy friend (who's name is jordan), and got invited to alaska.

i ate a yucky bacon cheeseburger. and loved it.

dr tkacik became so impassioned during his lecture that he came this close to crying. class got really quiet, and people started coughing. have you ever seen your poli sci professor cry?

i taught courtney how to play the piano. she's amazing now.

then i practiced. i didn't feel at all amazing.

i ate an amazing plate of rice and gumbo. and i don't mean amazing in a good way. there was also a plain bagel with no cream cheese.

i'm listening to irish beer songs. and i wrote an email. and i need to read. and that list is way longer than i expected it to be. oh gosh, i just remembered i have a quiz tomorrow. i think i shall not study for it. g'day!

aubade \oh-BAHD\, noun:A song or poem greeting the dawn; also, a composition suggestive of morning.

Stormy

outside there is a raging storm. or there was a few minutes ago. seems to be easing up a bit. felt like it had our tower by the collar and was giving it a good shake. ever's car alarm went off too. so that, combined with needing to use the restroom kind of woke me up a little earlier than i was originally planning on getting up. i figured it was the perfect opportunity to listen to arabic belly dance music and write a blog post.

in the past week during which i wrote nary a blog post, i have been on a delightful spring break vacation road trip thing. all told we drove about 1200 miles. foist, we went to houston. that brings me to an important point. the "we" i spoke of, consisted of ever, karen, nick and me. here we are in the butterfly exhibit at the natural science museum.



and here are some of the butterflies at a feeder post. i encourage you to visit karen's blog, for which there is a link on my last post (which almost no one had time to read i'm sure). but what the heck, i'll include another one. there's a few more butterflies over there.

and since karen didn't document the museum besides the butterfly stuff, here we are (minus karen, plus her sister amie. for some reason i'm thinking that's the way she spells her name. i'm going out on a limb) in front of a little metal guy that spins around in a facinating and random way. we were all impressed. sort of. sadly, it is now 9:00, ever is gone, and i have things to do. till next time...

HOLY COW!!!!

i am in suuuuuuuuch a good mood i'm about to explode. so first of all, before i tell you about spring break, i have to tell you that i just got back (online) the results of my music lit midterm. i am proud to say... no, let me rephrase that... i am glowing to announce that i got a 102.5 on it!!!! if only i could tell dr mann. oh wait... i probably could if i wanted to bad enough. i wonder if he would be proud, or just ask me why i couldn't have pulled my act together a little sooner for him. ahh well, even if it does take a whole semester (or more), there should be rejoicing for the return of a wayward lazy music lit student, no? in fact, i'm so excited about it, that i shall not even finish a post about spring break (which was wonderful, btw). instead i shall here include a link to my friend karen's blog where you may go to see a few pictures of our antics, as well as a brief summary of our activities. never fear, my own pictures and posts will come soon. actually, some of the pictures just might repeat, since we shared. sweet dreams.

hi. it's me. i'm just here procrastinating for a few minutes. actually, i'm not really procrastinating. i'm studying intensely. see, i'm listening to music. i created a play list that i'm supposed to know all of for the test that's in 5.5 hours. it is 102 tracks long, totalling 500 minutes. i probably shouldn't even say this, but i'm at 132 minutes right now. i would say it's not fair that i have this at the same time as a regular music history test that we had to do the same thing for (which i did awesome on that test this morning, btw) but i should have been studying this stuff more intensely earlier. gosh. i'm listening to papillions, opus 2, by schumann. it will probably be on the test and i will have no idea what it is. spring break. come to me quickly. come to my arms oh beautiful one.

Just One Word

midterms

So THAT'S What Those Are For...

apparently the yellow saw horses are actually an anti-bicycle barrier. ever found that out the hard way. we're cruising along at, oh, i'd say about 120mph to the cafeteria. nothing unusual about that. but, ever decided that not only could he cruise that fast, he could make 90* turns at that speed. his rear tire whisked out from under him! but never fear! ever is here! he came out of his dire situation still on top of things (his bicycle, specifically). then as he rounded the bend, he over corrected! oh no! not the yellow saw horses!!!............................................oh yes, the yellow saw horses. and then it gets kind of less exciting, cuz he just jammed his front wheel, came to a very sudden stop, and gashed open his finger. nice work. but wait... what's this? an audience? we have spectators on the front steps of the UC! "*holy cow* i thoughtchoo wuz gonna diiiie!!!!" said mr fro as he jumped to his feet. it was all just too much for his friend who covered his face and went to hide behind a pillar. so ever cheated death for the second time today, two guys got their evening entertainment, and me...? i was just along for the ride.

Lake Trip

we went to the lake today! and no, we didn't get in the water. we did, however, find a neat little trail which i didn't know existed. we walked around up and down that, and made our way to the boating dock. there was a mediumish (do such a size exist?) ravine formed from drainoff. logically we decided to see what the widest part was that we could leap across. so i jumped across a couple of times. ever said, "should i do it? think i'll die?" "i doubt it, but i don't think you'll do it. you'll just run to the edge and stop." "no i won't!" "whatever." so he crouches down, takes off for the ravine, and skids to a stop right on the edge and comes tearing back. we quickly left, and discovered a nice long row of dunes. we went bounding down them, leaping over the gaps, and laughing and giggling like, um, never mind. "woohoo! yehhaaaaw! yeah man! yess!!!! alrigh....vearing right! avoiding the two very friendly people wrapped around eachother on the beach... yaaaay!" then there was an old rotten tree that fell down beside the trail. it had a long double arch in the trunk. so we walked across it. ever fell off when his small handhold broke, and barely caught himself before crashing to what would have been certain death. the funny thing was, he didn't cry out in terror, and i didn't cry out in alarm. he silently saved himself and i silently looked on. silence and heavy breathing (from ever). "...did i at least look cool?" "yes ever, very cool."

today dr tkacik had an assistant teach his class while he was gone. it was very short, but i wouldn't say sweet. she obviously knew her stuff, but she most definitely didn't know how to teach the class. she said things waaaay too fast to right down the relevant information. and then when we got her to slow down, instead of just repeating it a two or three times in an intelligible fashion, she slowly read what we needed to know, 4 or 5 words at a time, with reeeeeeally long pauses. it was absolutely horrid. on the plus side, class was only about 30 minutes instead of 75. i would prefer tkacik's 75 minutes. but i feel quite certain that the worst part was SHE WROTE "POISONESS" ON THE BOARD!!!! i was ashamed.