news bit #1 (classification: annoying): my arm hurts... =( i got a sunburn 2.5 weeks ago at valpo graduation... the little bit of my head/collar that burned pealed pretty quickly... my arm just started to this afternoon and it's making me sad =(
news bit #2 (classification: good): i have a job to do! i was supposed to call my memphis boss at 9 tonight, which i did (8 her time) so that she'd be in the office (which is attached to her house) but not expecting regular business hours calls... my first task will be to assemble a database of emails of potential sponsors for fishing expos in mississippi... how much fun is that? mostly, i'll be glad to have some structure in my life
news bit #3 (classification: exceedingly frustrating): i really need to work on my being able to occupy myself ability... like today -- after dave and dave headed out, it's been me, the tv, the stereo, and the computer... all day long... i've been productive and not even had time for dinner yet even though it's nearly 10! (yes, i did have lunch)... while i'm capable of occupying my own time with books, movies, etc.... i go really stircrazy when i don't get to interact face to face with anyone, but i have no money so i can't just go shopping either to interact with people... it's just a quick jump from lots of people every day to almost no one every day... i used to laugh at g-ma (not meanly, but didn't understand her) when she said she often goes to buy little things she doesn't need at walmart/kmart/target etc., just so she can chat with the clerks despite the fact that she has neighbors, two brothers within an hour of her, a boyfriend, etc. and in general, there's people for her to visit with... but really, i think, looking ahead to a month of working at home on my computer and with a roommate who i get along with but don't do things with or really talk to about anything besides bills, i see a little bit of her point.
news bit #4 (classification: very good!): to remedy point #3 at least moderately tomorrow... ben and i have plans to catch the 1pm matinee of "main hoon na", and indian movie with subtitles that's playing relatively near here (see http://movies.yahoo.com/shop?d=hv&cf=info&id=1808559133 hopefully it'll be good =)
i'm out of news... for someone who's talked to themselves for the last 14 hours, i sure type a lot =P
Monday, May 31, 2004
50 bad songs
so i finished posting pictures and landed on vh1.. they're doing a special of the "top 50 most awesomely bad songs ever"... only i'm not watching it for that they think you should be watching for
as far as their picks, 2/3 really do belong on the list...
but billy joel's "we didn't start the fire" for example shouldn't be if their reasoning is "pop music cool, history not cool, try again"... while maybe not like the absolute best song of the century, it IS a unique song from when someone told billy joel none of the good history happened before '80 or so, and he started writing the world events of his life and found a beat to it... it's catchy, and a trip through the last 50 years...
or bette midler's "from a distance" being even higher up on the list because "God watching us all the time is just a creepy concept" -- whatever; they're not analyzing quality/unquality of music, they're picking on songs that conflict with their "we're vh1 and therefore we're cool" philosophy ;-P
nah, mostly i'm watching because the comedians, singers, magazine editors, actors, and commetators they have analyzing are completely ridiculous -- they all have such a serious "i'm a world expert on this" look pasted on their faces, and they all sound so dumb, full of themselves, and mostly ridiculous... it's more like watching a car wreck of commentators than of bad music videos like they intended... oh well... that's my morning entertainment, eh? =P
as far as their picks, 2/3 really do belong on the list...
but billy joel's "we didn't start the fire" for example shouldn't be if their reasoning is "pop music cool, history not cool, try again"... while maybe not like the absolute best song of the century, it IS a unique song from when someone told billy joel none of the good history happened before '80 or so, and he started writing the world events of his life and found a beat to it... it's catchy, and a trip through the last 50 years...
or bette midler's "from a distance" being even higher up on the list because "God watching us all the time is just a creepy concept" -- whatever; they're not analyzing quality/unquality of music, they're picking on songs that conflict with their "we're vh1 and therefore we're cool" philosophy ;-P
nah, mostly i'm watching because the comedians, singers, magazine editors, actors, and commetators they have analyzing are completely ridiculous -- they all have such a serious "i'm a world expert on this" look pasted on their faces, and they all sound so dumb, full of themselves, and mostly ridiculous... it's more like watching a car wreck of commentators than of bad music videos like they intended... oh well... that's my morning entertainment, eh? =P
eh
it's an "in-between day" and i'm tired.... inbetween because the daves left at 8 this morning and i have nothing to do/no one to talk to until i call my boss in memphis at 9 tonight to get my first assignment of the summer
tired because i slept for only 4 hours... after reading the email from nicole's parents/looking at the pictures of her stuff they sent, i cried for a bit, and then was thinking for awhile... it was 3:30 before i was calm enough to sleep and i woke up at 7:30 to help the daves move their stuff to the car and wish them farewell
the crying's weird and makes me feel sick... i mean it's normal to miss people after they've died and there's nothing wrong with the fact that i'm still grieving nicole's death in a way already 9 months since she died... but it's weird what happens to set it off from time to time... there's nothing in particular distressing about pictures of her stuff -- i mean, the girl loved smiley faces, they were very cheerful pictures of stuffed animals, smiley faces, books, and masks... just the fact that together they represent someone i cared about a lot, and the fact that those pictures being sent out means that that stuff is being distributed out since the person they belong to doesn't need them anymore... yeah, i dunno... but it distressed me for a bit to read and look... i wrote back and asked nicole's parents for a large smiley face pillow she always kept on her bed at valpo... when i was stressed out and chatting with her about whatever was on my mind, nicole would sometimes let me hold the pillow... if no one asked for it before i did, then i can still have it as some sort of security blanket when i'm stressed out =) i'd like that.
it was a little sad to say goodbye to the daves too... like not the same kind of sad, but like it was fun to have them around and now my summer will start a less exciting working pace for a bit... i also just really liked having a valpo friend visit... one of the chief things i miss about valpo is hugs =)... it sounds a little weird, but it's true... amongst my friends at valpo it's not weird to give someone a hug or put your arm around their shoulders or whatever, and it doesn't mean anything out of the ordinary; just that's what people do.... with my math friends, both guys and girls, the most anyone does is a high five or something for the most part... that's fine and it's just a completely different group of people to interact with, but really, i miss the hugs... it was good to have them back for a few days at least =P
so yeah, the end... oh, that, and i posted pictures of NY from this weekend -- http://www.eden.rutgers.edu/~lpudwell/photoalbum.html#nyc -- enjoy =P
later dudes =P
tired because i slept for only 4 hours... after reading the email from nicole's parents/looking at the pictures of her stuff they sent, i cried for a bit, and then was thinking for awhile... it was 3:30 before i was calm enough to sleep and i woke up at 7:30 to help the daves move their stuff to the car and wish them farewell
the crying's weird and makes me feel sick... i mean it's normal to miss people after they've died and there's nothing wrong with the fact that i'm still grieving nicole's death in a way already 9 months since she died... but it's weird what happens to set it off from time to time... there's nothing in particular distressing about pictures of her stuff -- i mean, the girl loved smiley faces, they were very cheerful pictures of stuffed animals, smiley faces, books, and masks... just the fact that together they represent someone i cared about a lot, and the fact that those pictures being sent out means that that stuff is being distributed out since the person they belong to doesn't need them anymore... yeah, i dunno... but it distressed me for a bit to read and look... i wrote back and asked nicole's parents for a large smiley face pillow she always kept on her bed at valpo... when i was stressed out and chatting with her about whatever was on my mind, nicole would sometimes let me hold the pillow... if no one asked for it before i did, then i can still have it as some sort of security blanket when i'm stressed out =) i'd like that.
it was a little sad to say goodbye to the daves too... like not the same kind of sad, but like it was fun to have them around and now my summer will start a less exciting working pace for a bit... i also just really liked having a valpo friend visit... one of the chief things i miss about valpo is hugs =)... it sounds a little weird, but it's true... amongst my friends at valpo it's not weird to give someone a hug or put your arm around their shoulders or whatever, and it doesn't mean anything out of the ordinary; just that's what people do.... with my math friends, both guys and girls, the most anyone does is a high five or something for the most part... that's fine and it's just a completely different group of people to interact with, but really, i miss the hugs... it was good to have them back for a few days at least =P
so yeah, the end... oh, that, and i posted pictures of NY from this weekend -- http://www.eden.rutgers.edu/~lpudwell/photoalbum.html#nyc -- enjoy =P
later dudes =P
a lazy-ish day
...or at least as lazy as i get =P
was up early again to get ready for church and leave time for the daves to get ready too... even though all the weiss's (my adopted family there) except mr. weiss (who was ushering) were out of town, it was good to be back at good shepherd... it was good to hear pastor j. again, and i was glad dave (beagley) had a chance to meet him... the other dave, who is catholic, also survived his first lutheran service =)
after that we dropped off my two rolls of film from our time in NYC off for 1 hour developing while we went for lunch at applebees... (will post the best ones tomorrow after they're gone again)
finally, we looked up movie times... apparently after seeing NYC in all its glory for the past two days, the daves wanted to see it destroyed by a tidal wave and 15 feet of snow, so we went to see "the day after tomorrow"... it was decent, but there were parts i hid under my jacket for... and so it goes
since then, it's been movie mania, part 2... we watched the indiana jones marathon on USA until it was done and then watched brother bear until now...
on the whole, a quality day... except one thing
i came back to my computer and had an email taking up half of my inbox -- update from my friend nicole's parents (nicole is my friend/roommate from valpo who died in september in a car wreck)... they're cleaning out her room this summer and wanted to know first what each of the roommates wanted of her stuff and sent several pictures of what all is in her room... it was hard to read and even harder to look through the pictures and i was quickly (and still am half an hour later) in tears... i kept myself busy doing dishes and stuff but asked beagley what was on TV when i went to lock the door and told him what was up when he asked... not that beagley and me are like super close like me and roommate or anything, but usually when i'm having another break down about nicole here, i'm not around anyone else who knew her, so at least the fact that he understood was nice... now to pretend to go to sleep... i don't know that it's gonna quite work though... gotta be up in 6.5 hours to say bye to the daves before they head out
night y'all
was up early again to get ready for church and leave time for the daves to get ready too... even though all the weiss's (my adopted family there) except mr. weiss (who was ushering) were out of town, it was good to be back at good shepherd... it was good to hear pastor j. again, and i was glad dave (beagley) had a chance to meet him... the other dave, who is catholic, also survived his first lutheran service =)
after that we dropped off my two rolls of film from our time in NYC off for 1 hour developing while we went for lunch at applebees... (will post the best ones tomorrow after they're gone again)
finally, we looked up movie times... apparently after seeing NYC in all its glory for the past two days, the daves wanted to see it destroyed by a tidal wave and 15 feet of snow, so we went to see "the day after tomorrow"... it was decent, but there were parts i hid under my jacket for... and so it goes
since then, it's been movie mania, part 2... we watched the indiana jones marathon on USA until it was done and then watched brother bear until now...
on the whole, a quality day... except one thing
i came back to my computer and had an email taking up half of my inbox -- update from my friend nicole's parents (nicole is my friend/roommate from valpo who died in september in a car wreck)... they're cleaning out her room this summer and wanted to know first what each of the roommates wanted of her stuff and sent several pictures of what all is in her room... it was hard to read and even harder to look through the pictures and i was quickly (and still am half an hour later) in tears... i kept myself busy doing dishes and stuff but asked beagley what was on TV when i went to lock the door and told him what was up when he asked... not that beagley and me are like super close like me and roommate or anything, but usually when i'm having another break down about nicole here, i'm not around anyone else who knew her, so at least the fact that he understood was nice... now to pretend to go to sleep... i don't know that it's gonna quite work though... gotta be up in 6.5 hours to say bye to the daves before they head out
night y'all
Saturday, May 29, 2004
another day in the city =)
it's been fun yet again... today was just me and the two daves... from all our walking yesterday, we're all extremely sore, so today was much slower.
mostly we wandered around times square for a bit, hitting up the toys r us and the hershey store because they were amused and not quite sure what to do in a world's largest toy store and i said that hershey smelled better than being out on the street ;-P got lunch at the sbarro on broadway there, and then saw aida.
aida was amazingly good -- elton john music, tim rice lyrics, and extremely well staged too! e.g. one scene has a swimming pool, but they put a vertical screen of looking down on the swimming pool on the back of the stage and then people on invisible strings "swam" up through it... etc.... the storyline is that aida is the princess of nubia, but egypt is attacking and wiping out her country and she gets captured and made into a slave... a head egyptian army captain falls in love with her, only it's a problem b/c he's engaged to be married to the princess of egypt and b/c she's a slave... the captain makes arrangements for aida to escape the country during his wedding, but she decides she must help her father, the king of nubia, flee the country first... in the delay of getting him out as well, she and the captain are caught red-handed and sentenced to die by being buried alive.... the princess, i.e. the guy's wife, actually has mercy on them and sentences them to die in the same grave... then the play ends with them rediscovering each other (i.e. reincarnated) in a modern museum looking at an exhibit of artifacts from their previous life... the music, the staging, and the storyline were all fantastic -- i enjoyed it a lot =)
after aida, we headed down to the empire state building... last time i was there it was night and we just visited the 86th floor observatory... this time, the daves were game for the cheesy NY skyride... it was a similuation of a helicopter ride over the city narrated by kevin bacon... in seats that pick up and move around... cheesy to the umpteenth degree, but worth doing at least once... then something like 2 hours after we first got in line outside, we got to the top... it was still daylight, like an hour before sunset... got nice clear pictures all around.... =)
finally, caught the 8:14 train back to jersey and got some thai food for dinner...
i must say, i'm talented at making people do weird things... case in point: earlier in the day i spent intermission at the play convincing dave beagley he should sing songs on command... when i asked him if dave (his HS friend) sang, they both vehemently insisted no, not even 'happy birthday' (note, dave beagley is fairly quiet and as he likes to say, "low key"... dave, his HS friend, makes *him* seem outgoing!... both nice guys, but both very quiet and not (especially the not-beagley dave) easy to read a lot of the time)... however, on the train ride back, i said to dave beagley "and then dave sang a song about riding on the train -- go!" and he sang something to the effect of "we rode on the train oh yay"... when he was done, i turned to the other dave and said "and then you sang verse two -- go!" and he burst out in "hi ho the derio, we're riding on the train"... when beagley and i started laughing and reminded him that he said he never sings, he insisted i wouldn't see it happen again, and then later in the train trip he started singing a line on his own again... conclusion: i have power over making people do crazy things -- the end. =P
church tomorrow -- i'm really excited... i enjoyed valpo and roommate's church and heather's church, but i really missed good shepherd too... and that's a wrap ;-P later dudes =P
mostly we wandered around times square for a bit, hitting up the toys r us and the hershey store because they were amused and not quite sure what to do in a world's largest toy store and i said that hershey smelled better than being out on the street ;-P got lunch at the sbarro on broadway there, and then saw aida.
aida was amazingly good -- elton john music, tim rice lyrics, and extremely well staged too! e.g. one scene has a swimming pool, but they put a vertical screen of looking down on the swimming pool on the back of the stage and then people on invisible strings "swam" up through it... etc.... the storyline is that aida is the princess of nubia, but egypt is attacking and wiping out her country and she gets captured and made into a slave... a head egyptian army captain falls in love with her, only it's a problem b/c he's engaged to be married to the princess of egypt and b/c she's a slave... the captain makes arrangements for aida to escape the country during his wedding, but she decides she must help her father, the king of nubia, flee the country first... in the delay of getting him out as well, she and the captain are caught red-handed and sentenced to die by being buried alive.... the princess, i.e. the guy's wife, actually has mercy on them and sentences them to die in the same grave... then the play ends with them rediscovering each other (i.e. reincarnated) in a modern museum looking at an exhibit of artifacts from their previous life... the music, the staging, and the storyline were all fantastic -- i enjoyed it a lot =)
after aida, we headed down to the empire state building... last time i was there it was night and we just visited the 86th floor observatory... this time, the daves were game for the cheesy NY skyride... it was a similuation of a helicopter ride over the city narrated by kevin bacon... in seats that pick up and move around... cheesy to the umpteenth degree, but worth doing at least once... then something like 2 hours after we first got in line outside, we got to the top... it was still daylight, like an hour before sunset... got nice clear pictures all around.... =)
finally, caught the 8:14 train back to jersey and got some thai food for dinner...
i must say, i'm talented at making people do weird things... case in point: earlier in the day i spent intermission at the play convincing dave beagley he should sing songs on command... when i asked him if dave (his HS friend) sang, they both vehemently insisted no, not even 'happy birthday' (note, dave beagley is fairly quiet and as he likes to say, "low key"... dave, his HS friend, makes *him* seem outgoing!... both nice guys, but both very quiet and not (especially the not-beagley dave) easy to read a lot of the time)... however, on the train ride back, i said to dave beagley "and then dave sang a song about riding on the train -- go!" and he sang something to the effect of "we rode on the train oh yay"... when he was done, i turned to the other dave and said "and then you sang verse two -- go!" and he burst out in "hi ho the derio, we're riding on the train"... when beagley and i started laughing and reminded him that he said he never sings, he insisted i wouldn't see it happen again, and then later in the train trip he started singing a line on his own again... conclusion: i have power over making people do crazy things -- the end. =P
church tomorrow -- i'm really excited... i enjoyed valpo and roommate's church and heather's church, but i really missed good shepherd too... and that's a wrap ;-P later dudes =P
Friday, May 28, 2004
extremely unbored
so the two daves got in around 11:30 last night... i showed them around the apartment (5 minutes), helped them move into my TV room, and then we all got some sleep
left for NYC around 10 this morning, picking up ben on the way to the train station... we got into the city around 11:30... the first part of the day was stuff i've done at least half a dozen times but none of them had... subway to the world trade center site, wandered around there, walked down to wall street (and actually got to go inside trinity church on the corner of wall st. and broadway -- that part was new for me), saw the stock exchange, got accosted by a guy promoting a strip club (that was new... mostly because me with a group of 3 guys and the guy didn't see me when he approached them), starbucks, brooklyn bridge, staten island ferry, and then booked it further north.
then, another first... it was pouring down rain, so we ran down to the UN (which i'd never been to before) and toook the tour of it while the rain poured... our tour was given by a cool kenyan guy named osodo... did you know... the UN buildings are joint territory of the 191 countries of the UN? (so in a twisted way i was in hungary and england and china and the US all at once ;-P) that the UN has its own post office with its own stamps that can only be used from that one post office? and otehr exciting things... we got to see the security council chamber (the one you usually see in news stuff on TV) and i actually answered a question the tourguide asked us (too bad i never *used* to speak up in class!) =P it was a quality trip.
after the UN, we walked through rockefeller center, st. patrick's cathedral, and central park before stopping at the NYC hard rock cafe for dinner... we each got drinks in the hurricane glasses that you get to keep -- me, a raspberry margarita =) it was a party
now, tired and sore, we're all back! and attacking the city again tomorrow :-P
later dudes! =P
left for NYC around 10 this morning, picking up ben on the way to the train station... we got into the city around 11:30... the first part of the day was stuff i've done at least half a dozen times but none of them had... subway to the world trade center site, wandered around there, walked down to wall street (and actually got to go inside trinity church on the corner of wall st. and broadway -- that part was new for me), saw the stock exchange, got accosted by a guy promoting a strip club (that was new... mostly because me with a group of 3 guys and the guy didn't see me when he approached them), starbucks, brooklyn bridge, staten island ferry, and then booked it further north.
then, another first... it was pouring down rain, so we ran down to the UN (which i'd never been to before) and toook the tour of it while the rain poured... our tour was given by a cool kenyan guy named osodo... did you know... the UN buildings are joint territory of the 191 countries of the UN? (so in a twisted way i was in hungary and england and china and the US all at once ;-P) that the UN has its own post office with its own stamps that can only be used from that one post office? and otehr exciting things... we got to see the security council chamber (the one you usually see in news stuff on TV) and i actually answered a question the tourguide asked us (too bad i never *used* to speak up in class!) =P it was a quality trip.
after the UN, we walked through rockefeller center, st. patrick's cathedral, and central park before stopping at the NYC hard rock cafe for dinner... we each got drinks in the hurricane glasses that you get to keep -- me, a raspberry margarita =) it was a party
now, tired and sore, we're all back! and attacking the city again tomorrow :-P
later dudes! =P
Thursday, May 27, 2004
un-bored
so i paid the bills i needed to, and then complained to ben about how bored i was... his solution? "hey, let's go see a movie!"
he convinced me to see "van helsing", which i had planned to avoid, but he saw a chick flick with me last time, so i figured i'd be brave and go along with one he was more excited about... on the whole the plot was good, i just freaked out every time a monster jumped out... even if the music hinted one was coming =P... however, unlike how ben hinted there would be claw marks on his arm just in time for when he starts teaching next week, he was wrong -- i just hide from the screen when i don't like it =P
anyhow, now i'm waiting for dave and the other dave to get in... i'm guessing at least another hour to wait... so it goes.
later dudes =P
he convinced me to see "van helsing", which i had planned to avoid, but he saw a chick flick with me last time, so i figured i'd be brave and go along with one he was more excited about... on the whole the plot was good, i just freaked out every time a monster jumped out... even if the music hinted one was coming =P... however, unlike how ben hinted there would be claw marks on his arm just in time for when he starts teaching next week, he was wrong -- i just hide from the screen when i don't like it =P
anyhow, now i'm waiting for dave and the other dave to get in... i'm guessing at least another hour to wait... so it goes.
later dudes =P
i'm bored
the problem is, i have no excuse to be bored... i had math i could be studying, email i could be catching up on, chores/cleaning around the apartment i should be doing, fun books i could be reading, movies i could be watching, mail i should be sorting through, and yet i'm sitting here whining... go me.
dave called eh 50 minutes ago and said he just got in to pennsylvania... either he and his friend (a) drive slower than me (b) make more stops than me or (c) both... this isn't hard to do... i drive in 2 and 3 hour chunks and generally don't stop for more than 10 minutes at a time when i have a long way to go. oh well.
anywho, this means they'll not get in til closer to 11pm now... 5 hours to kill... on the agenda: pay bills, make sweet tea, and eat lunch (yes i know it's after 6... doht)
i haven't seen anyone i know all day -- i think that's the problem... i might go pick up my plants, just so i can say hi to john instead of talking to myself til 11 -- ah, what a social life =P
later dudes
dave called eh 50 minutes ago and said he just got in to pennsylvania... either he and his friend (a) drive slower than me (b) make more stops than me or (c) both... this isn't hard to do... i drive in 2 and 3 hour chunks and generally don't stop for more than 10 minutes at a time when i have a long way to go. oh well.
anywho, this means they'll not get in til closer to 11pm now... 5 hours to kill... on the agenda: pay bills, make sweet tea, and eat lunch (yes i know it's after 6... doht)
i haven't seen anyone i know all day -- i think that's the problem... i might go pick up my plants, just so i can say hi to john instead of talking to myself til 11 -- ah, what a social life =P
later dudes
change of plans
so jessica's dad drove farther than we guessed today and she can't make the movie tomorrow since he'll be getting in several hours earlier than planned -- oops! this means we'll take a rain check... so it goes.
on the other hand, not having to be up by 9am, i decided to go ahead and finish posting all the trip pictures i planned to post... all 79 ones i've posted from the last 2 weeks are online now... same link as last post...
really, now, 3am, i should get some sleep or i'll be noctural this weekend and my guests won't be! doht!
night! =P
on the other hand, not having to be up by 9am, i decided to go ahead and finish posting all the trip pictures i planned to post... all 79 ones i've posted from the last 2 weeks are online now... same link as last post...
really, now, 3am, i should get some sleep or i'll be noctural this weekend and my guests won't be! doht!
night! =P
dude, what a day
i've been up for over 18 hours now... i guess that's what happens when you're used to being up late but started the day off with people who are used to being awake just hours after you *usually* go to sleep!
had fun last night in pittsburgh with my aunt, uncle, and cousins... my pittsburgh cousins are 12 and 13... the 13 year old is a foster kid who's in process of being adopted; she's been with them for going on 2 years now, whereas the 12 year old is related to me by blood... the difference between the two is sooo funny... danelle (foster cousin) has had such a bizarre past before she came to live with them, and is so flirty; whereas rachel (other cousin) is so laid back, calm, straightforward, and just complete opposite of danelle! apparently one of danelle's friends at school told her she should watch the little mermaid because "the preist gets horny during the wedding"... danelle brought this up as soon as we all got home from dinner last night and it made for hilarious discussion later on while my aunt tried to figure out what to do with her... who knows
this morning they all got up around 6, so that's how long i've been running... was on the road from 9:30am til 3:30pm, and have been unpacking, doing laundry, and catching up on email since.
tomorrow will be fun -- jessica's coming up from philly so we can see "mean girls" and then do lunch... after she goes home to meet up with her dad (a tree destroyed her car in the storms last weekend, so he's bringing her her mom's car to replace the old one), i get to clean up around here before dave beagley and his friend (also a dave) get here... but that'll be late -- chicago to jersey all in one day is a looong haul!
done rambling, really.
if you're interested, photos from the trip are at http://www.eden.rutgers.edu/~lpudwell/photoalbum.html ... i've gotten about halfway through my visit to roommate's place and i'll finish at some point in the next week when i'm not falling asleep at the computer =P
night y'all!
had fun last night in pittsburgh with my aunt, uncle, and cousins... my pittsburgh cousins are 12 and 13... the 13 year old is a foster kid who's in process of being adopted; she's been with them for going on 2 years now, whereas the 12 year old is related to me by blood... the difference between the two is sooo funny... danelle (foster cousin) has had such a bizarre past before she came to live with them, and is so flirty; whereas rachel (other cousin) is so laid back, calm, straightforward, and just complete opposite of danelle! apparently one of danelle's friends at school told her she should watch the little mermaid because "the preist gets horny during the wedding"... danelle brought this up as soon as we all got home from dinner last night and it made for hilarious discussion later on while my aunt tried to figure out what to do with her... who knows
this morning they all got up around 6, so that's how long i've been running... was on the road from 9:30am til 3:30pm, and have been unpacking, doing laundry, and catching up on email since.
tomorrow will be fun -- jessica's coming up from philly so we can see "mean girls" and then do lunch... after she goes home to meet up with her dad (a tree destroyed her car in the storms last weekend, so he's bringing her her mom's car to replace the old one), i get to clean up around here before dave beagley and his friend (also a dave) get here... but that'll be late -- chicago to jersey all in one day is a looong haul!
done rambling, really.
if you're interested, photos from the trip are at http://www.eden.rutgers.edu/~lpudwell/photoalbum.html ... i've gotten about halfway through my visit to roommate's place and i'll finish at some point in the next week when i'm not falling asleep at the computer =P
night y'all!
Tuesday, May 25, 2004
the last one...
the final post from the road --
tonight i was introduced to the ohio wonder that is BW3-s, aka buffalo wild wings... quality food but talk about sensory overload... besides regular dinner time, there's a bar, a karaoke deal going on, tvs tuned to like 42 different channels around the room, and trivia (you can request a keypad or whatever to compete against other patrons... it's on still more tv screens around the room... multiple choice random factoids... it was lots of fun.
after that, alliswan, me, and her friend teresa went back to grounds for thought and played trivial pursuit for forever... only it was the 1981 release of the game so it was waaaay before our time... later teresa's husband guy met up with us all and we came back to alliswan's place and had ice cream/mudslides with her roommate lindsay, until now... 1am and time for sleep!
so yeah, it's been yet another quality visit. =)
now, two more days on the road and i'm home in jersey for a bit -- woohah =P
tonight i was introduced to the ohio wonder that is BW3-s, aka buffalo wild wings... quality food but talk about sensory overload... besides regular dinner time, there's a bar, a karaoke deal going on, tvs tuned to like 42 different channels around the room, and trivia (you can request a keypad or whatever to compete against other patrons... it's on still more tv screens around the room... multiple choice random factoids... it was lots of fun.
after that, alliswan, me, and her friend teresa went back to grounds for thought and played trivial pursuit for forever... only it was the 1981 release of the game so it was waaaay before our time... later teresa's husband guy met up with us all and we came back to alliswan's place and had ice cream/mudslides with her roommate lindsay, until now... 1am and time for sleep!
so yeah, it's been yet another quality visit. =)
now, two more days on the road and i'm home in jersey for a bit -- woohah =P
Monday, May 24, 2004
another happy day =)
it's been a good trip -- really it has... too bad it's almost over...
this morning alliswan made us french toast for breakfast and then we were off... first on a tour of her school (bowling green state university), then to panera for lunch (yay portabello and mozarella sandwiches!) and then to other fun.
immediately after lunch we went to "grounds for thought", a local coffee shop/used book store she keeps telling me about... i had a stellar latte, we played a game of chess, and then attacked the books... got a cheap copy of _a mathematician's apology_ finally, and also a book about the physics of christmas -- e.g. talks about celestial candidates for what was the star of bethlehem (i scanned the chapter... apparently jupiter saturn and one other planet would have converges from earth's point of view and a comet came through the same area of the sky then too... kinda cool) and the physics of what would be necessary for reindeer to fly =P
after grounds for thought, which again, was an extremely quality place, we drove up north to maumee, OH (suburb of toledo) to see a movie... i had seen "13 going on 30" before, but alliswan hadn't and i liked it so much the 1st time i was more than willing to see it again. =P
after the movie we enjoyed the theater arcade for a bit... pinball, racecar games, and air hockey later, we're back in good old bowling green... dropped off my film between valpo and today to pick up on our way to dinner and then getting together with some of alliswan's other friends here later... all in all, a quality day. =)
for those of you trying to keep track of my whereabouts, after today, i'll have brunch with alliswan tomorrow, then drive to my aunt's place in pittsburgh tomorrow afternoon... wednesday i drive pittsburgh to jersey and then i get to orchestrate fun while relatively staying put for a bit... it's been a party. =)
later dudes =P
this morning alliswan made us french toast for breakfast and then we were off... first on a tour of her school (bowling green state university), then to panera for lunch (yay portabello and mozarella sandwiches!) and then to other fun.
immediately after lunch we went to "grounds for thought", a local coffee shop/used book store she keeps telling me about... i had a stellar latte, we played a game of chess, and then attacked the books... got a cheap copy of _a mathematician's apology_ finally, and also a book about the physics of christmas -- e.g. talks about celestial candidates for what was the star of bethlehem (i scanned the chapter... apparently jupiter saturn and one other planet would have converges from earth's point of view and a comet came through the same area of the sky then too... kinda cool) and the physics of what would be necessary for reindeer to fly =P
after grounds for thought, which again, was an extremely quality place, we drove up north to maumee, OH (suburb of toledo) to see a movie... i had seen "13 going on 30" before, but alliswan hadn't and i liked it so much the 1st time i was more than willing to see it again. =P
after the movie we enjoyed the theater arcade for a bit... pinball, racecar games, and air hockey later, we're back in good old bowling green... dropped off my film between valpo and today to pick up on our way to dinner and then getting together with some of alliswan's other friends here later... all in all, a quality day. =)
for those of you trying to keep track of my whereabouts, after today, i'll have brunch with alliswan tomorrow, then drive to my aunt's place in pittsburgh tomorrow afternoon... wednesday i drive pittsburgh to jersey and then i get to orchestrate fun while relatively staying put for a bit... it's been a party. =)
later dudes =P
Sunday, May 23, 2004
do dah do dah
greetings from ohio (again!) =P
today was spiffy... lots of people and lots of fun.
last night, tammy, marcus, and i drove out on the county roads to look at the stars... i want to steal part of backroads indiana and take it back to jersey with me -- we could see sooooo many more stars than i can being between NYC and philly!
after that we watched bend it like beckham and crashed a little after 1am... not being able to sleep more than 6 hours in one shot anymore i was awake a little after 7, but waited til 8:30 to get ready... a quick breakfast and some chatting later, i was on my way 45 minutes around to the other end of indy to meet up with heather miller!
heather goes to a huge non-denominational church south of indy... i'd guess there were at least 500 people there and we were at one of just FOUR services... i liked it a lot but will also be happy to see my friends at good shepherd next week too =P
after church we had a long lunch and a really good chat... it was nice to see her for a bit even though it was a quick visit.
after paying $2.13 (choke!) for gas (the cheapest grade), and 4 hours of driving in crazy rain later, i'm at alliswan's place =)
it's still raining, so we spent the night in... dished out the couple $$ to rent "win a date with tad hamilton" and had fun laughing at the transparent characters =) it's good to be here. =)
hopefully tomorrow the weather will be nicer! tomorrow's alliswan's birthday, but if you're in ohio then shhhh, because you're not supposed to know! ;-)
later dudes! =P
today was spiffy... lots of people and lots of fun.
last night, tammy, marcus, and i drove out on the county roads to look at the stars... i want to steal part of backroads indiana and take it back to jersey with me -- we could see sooooo many more stars than i can being between NYC and philly!
after that we watched bend it like beckham and crashed a little after 1am... not being able to sleep more than 6 hours in one shot anymore i was awake a little after 7, but waited til 8:30 to get ready... a quick breakfast and some chatting later, i was on my way 45 minutes around to the other end of indy to meet up with heather miller!
heather goes to a huge non-denominational church south of indy... i'd guess there were at least 500 people there and we were at one of just FOUR services... i liked it a lot but will also be happy to see my friends at good shepherd next week too =P
after church we had a long lunch and a really good chat... it was nice to see her for a bit even though it was a quick visit.
after paying $2.13 (choke!) for gas (the cheapest grade), and 4 hours of driving in crazy rain later, i'm at alliswan's place =)
it's still raining, so we spent the night in... dished out the couple $$ to rent "win a date with tad hamilton" and had fun laughing at the transparent characters =) it's good to be here. =)
hopefully tomorrow the weather will be nicer! tomorrow's alliswan's birthday, but if you're in ohio then shhhh, because you're not supposed to know! ;-)
later dudes! =P
Saturday, May 22, 2004
dear old indy
so i'm in indiana for the 3rd time this trip!
staying with tammy and marcus (tammy as in math/cs buddy from valpo, and marcus is her husband... i was a bridesmaid in their wedding last may) just NW of indy.
last night i was indoctrinated -- saw wayne's world 1 and 2 with marcus (tammy was at work during the 1st one, and tammy fell asleep partway through the 2nd)... inbetween we had pizza and marcus's sister jenette was over with her two kids (ages 2 and 13 months)... it was a fun evening.
today, after making a mess making pancakes with tammy we went to the indy children's museum (5 floors of fun including a planetarium)... apparently the world's largest children's museum... i got trapped in a racecar (ask for details another time)... and greatly enjoyed the planetarium shows and had lots of fun with everything else too -- it was really well put together, and a party and a half =)
we stayed at the museum til it closed at 5 then headed into downtown to the soldiers and sailors monument in the center of the city... paid the $1 to get to the top and take pictures of the city from up high... then wandered circle center mall for a bit.
now, we're back at marcus and tammy's place (cute farmhouse they're renting with cows in the backyard =P) for dinner... later will be stargazing and mooooovie. =) (bend it like beckham since tammy's never seen it... i bought the soundtrack today and am majorly excited about it =P)
the plot after tonight? i meet heather miller for church in the AM (45 minute drive... tammy and marcus are NW of town, heather's church is S of town), have lunch with her, then drive 5 hours NE to bowling green, OH to hang out with alliswan for her birthday (monday) -- excited about seeing both of them as well!
at any rate, that's the plot... an excellent saturday to all y'all... be parties! =)
staying with tammy and marcus (tammy as in math/cs buddy from valpo, and marcus is her husband... i was a bridesmaid in their wedding last may) just NW of indy.
last night i was indoctrinated -- saw wayne's world 1 and 2 with marcus (tammy was at work during the 1st one, and tammy fell asleep partway through the 2nd)... inbetween we had pizza and marcus's sister jenette was over with her two kids (ages 2 and 13 months)... it was a fun evening.
today, after making a mess making pancakes with tammy we went to the indy children's museum (5 floors of fun including a planetarium)... apparently the world's largest children's museum... i got trapped in a racecar (ask for details another time)... and greatly enjoyed the planetarium shows and had lots of fun with everything else too -- it was really well put together, and a party and a half =)
we stayed at the museum til it closed at 5 then headed into downtown to the soldiers and sailors monument in the center of the city... paid the $1 to get to the top and take pictures of the city from up high... then wandered circle center mall for a bit.
now, we're back at marcus and tammy's place (cute farmhouse they're renting with cows in the backyard =P) for dinner... later will be stargazing and mooooovie. =) (bend it like beckham since tammy's never seen it... i bought the soundtrack today and am majorly excited about it =P)
the plot after tonight? i meet heather miller for church in the AM (45 minute drive... tammy and marcus are NW of town, heather's church is S of town), have lunch with her, then drive 5 hours NE to bowling green, OH to hang out with alliswan for her birthday (monday) -- excited about seeing both of them as well!
at any rate, that's the plot... an excellent saturday to all y'all... be parties! =)
Friday, May 21, 2004
midnight notes
here it is 12:32am (at least if you're in my time zone :-P), everyone else who actually belongs in this house is in bed and asleep, and here sits lara in the dark, typing away at the computer...
actually i have good reason for this... i've been on the road a week and roommate offered that i do my laundry for free while i'm here, so i started stuff up and i'm waiting for the dryer to finish up... blah.
anyhow, so i heard roommate preach tonight... since she's not ordained yet, she led the whole service except communion, then a visiting pastor from another denomination (united church of christ, which is in full communion with elca (roommate's kind of lutheran)) visited and led that part... only, if you're familiar with lutheran liturgy at all, he completely skipped the proper preface and recited the sanctus instead when the congregation normally sings that in response... he also held a card with the words of institution written on them so that when he actually picked up the bread and the chalice, he was one hand short and did strange things with them... it all worked out and he was really nice, but it was kinda amusing too.
while i'm on this church terms kick, saw a "what theologian are you?" quiz in another friend's blog who's in seminary (i.e. pastor school) like roommate is... here's my results:
What theologian are you?
A creation of Henderson
the "You don't care much for other people's opinions either" i beg to disagree with, but the rest i thought was amusing. =P
so how about getting done with laundry and getting some sleep, eh?
p.s. "how to deal" gets 6/10 on the lara movie rating scale... "love actually" is for tomorrow morning.
night dudes. =P
actually i have good reason for this... i've been on the road a week and roommate offered that i do my laundry for free while i'm here, so i started stuff up and i'm waiting for the dryer to finish up... blah.
anyhow, so i heard roommate preach tonight... since she's not ordained yet, she led the whole service except communion, then a visiting pastor from another denomination (united church of christ, which is in full communion with elca (roommate's kind of lutheran)) visited and led that part... only, if you're familiar with lutheran liturgy at all, he completely skipped the proper preface and recited the sanctus instead when the congregation normally sings that in response... he also held a card with the words of institution written on them so that when he actually picked up the bread and the chalice, he was one hand short and did strange things with them... it all worked out and he was really nice, but it was kinda amusing too.
while i'm on this church terms kick, saw a "what theologian are you?" quiz in another friend's blog who's in seminary (i.e. pastor school) like roommate is... here's my results:
| "We reject the false doctrine that the church could have permission to hand over the form
of its message and of its order to whatever it itself might wish or to the vicissitudes of the prevailing ideological and political convictions of the day." |
| You are Karl Barth! You like your freedom, and are pretty stubborn against authority! You don't care much for other people's opinions either. You can come up with your own fun, and often enough you have too much fun. You are pretty popular because you let people have their way, even when you have things figured out better than them. |
What theologian are you?
A creation of Henderson
the "You don't care much for other people's opinions either" i beg to disagree with, but the rest i thought was amusing. =P
so how about getting done with laundry and getting some sleep, eh?
p.s. "how to deal" gets 6/10 on the lara movie rating scale... "love actually" is for tomorrow morning.
night dudes. =P
Thursday, May 20, 2004
happy happy joy joy
the rain held off -- now, i hope it pours so as to clean all the bird doo off my car from where it was parked last night!
i saw an 11 month old elephant today and it was exceedingly cute =)
so movies last night: shrek 2 (in theater), and cheaper by the dozen (rented)...
the plan tonight? kristin's church has thursday night services in the summer for people who travel on weekends... she's preaching... we leave in an hour... afterwards, pizza time and watching the movies we rented when we returned last night's choice: "how to deal" and "love actually"... neither of us have seen either of them.
yay for fun downtime.
back to indiana tomorrow.
later dudes! =P
i saw an 11 month old elephant today and it was exceedingly cute =)
so movies last night: shrek 2 (in theater), and cheaper by the dozen (rented)...
the plan tonight? kristin's church has thursday night services in the summer for people who travel on weekends... she's preaching... we leave in an hour... afterwards, pizza time and watching the movies we rented when we returned last night's choice: "how to deal" and "love actually"... neither of us have seen either of them.
yay for fun downtime.
back to indiana tomorrow.
later dudes! =P
Wednesday, May 19, 2004
greetings from defiance!
hello people! and greetings again from the road
back in ohio -- defiance, to be exact... kinda an hour south of toledo -- kinda... at roommate's parents' house... since i last wrote
*i'm not the only one who got messed up by analysis this semester -- at least i'm not alone!
*graduation was fun...found all the people i meant to find and got spiffy pictures
*went to lake michigan to watch the sun set with jenny lemahieu, nina miller, heather schaefer, alli pagan, and anton and laura lutz sunday night... absolutely beautiful
*lunch w/ margie on monday... after creaming prof. gillman in mancala while waiting on her =P
*spent a day with g-ma pudwell and surprisingly didn't get any horrible lectures on what i'm doing wrong with my life... i appreciate that!
*the family had a baby llama born monday night... this is exciting... i told them to name it after adam hughes b/c he'd appreciate that... we'll see! =P
*now, roommate and i saw shrek 2 (which was hilarious) and ate at bob evans for dinner... time for a movie while she writes her sermon for tomorrow night's church service
toledo zoo tomorrow... party indeed... night y'all! =P
back in ohio -- defiance, to be exact... kinda an hour south of toledo -- kinda... at roommate's parents' house... since i last wrote
*i'm not the only one who got messed up by analysis this semester -- at least i'm not alone!
*graduation was fun...found all the people i meant to find and got spiffy pictures
*went to lake michigan to watch the sun set with jenny lemahieu, nina miller, heather schaefer, alli pagan, and anton and laura lutz sunday night... absolutely beautiful
*lunch w/ margie on monday... after creaming prof. gillman in mancala while waiting on her =P
*spent a day with g-ma pudwell and surprisingly didn't get any horrible lectures on what i'm doing wrong with my life... i appreciate that!
*the family had a baby llama born monday night... this is exciting... i told them to name it after adam hughes b/c he'd appreciate that... we'll see! =P
*now, roommate and i saw shrek 2 (which was hilarious) and ate at bob evans for dinner... time for a movie while she writes her sermon for tomorrow night's church service
toledo zoo tomorrow... party indeed... night y'all! =P
Saturday, May 15, 2004
i love valpo =)
you think while you're in college you can't wait to be done,.... and yeah, it's excellent to be done with things... but like last may, when i left, it was exciting to move on elsewhere in my life, i was ready for something new, and thought oh, i won't be back there for at least another year, probably more... now look at me... this is my 3rd time back in the past year.
it's good to be back. strange becuase it's another turnover time... most of the friends i had left were seniors this year and the few who aren't will only be around for one more year...
changes: the new library they started last fall is nearly finished and they're giving tours
the communications building is doubling in size or something... what used to be greenspace is now filling up with building... the new entrance of the major highway through town (u.s. 30) is opened now,... the math building's gotten a complete face lift...
all in all, it's different every time
nonetheless, people changes and campus changes aside, coming back is still coming home in a sense. i don't see my friends here regularly anymore, but when i do see them, it's stepping back into "family" -- i *belong* here.
anyhow, i'm done being all sentimental or whatever i'm being... exciting events in the last 24 hours?
the concert at heather's church was the touring choir from Africa University (in Zimbabwe)... dude, they could really sing and dance... the students in the choir (15 out of 115 are on tour for the summer in the states) were so excited that last night was the first stop where they got to meet american *college students* instead of just adults and small children... people their own age... they wanted pictures with us and to exchange emails... not only did we thoroughly enjoy the concert, we had lots of fun chatting with the choir members after!
after concert, adam hughes found us and he, heather, and i went to broadway and had planets (mars, neptune, and pluto to be specific)... if you don't know what planets are you're either (a) not from valpo or (b) haven't heard me babble enough about valpo yet =P
after that we went to visit the rock and take silly pictures with it (yes, at like midnight... i hope they turn out well, it was fun)
had a lazy AM, and dude i'm glad i'm staying with a friend... it was so hot when i left jersey that i only packed summer clothes, only it got down to 40 last night and is still just high 50s today, and thankfully neighborest heather is lending me sweatshirts for while i'm here!!!
had lunch with laura johnson and her fiance chris (they got engaged like a year ago, and this was the first i met him!) yay applebees... we had fun...
now, going to wander campus and probably call a rutgers friend or two -- analysis grades are posted, and dr. goodman wasn't afraid to give Cs =( i got a C+... which is not good and means i can't get a C next semester or i'm in trouble... oops.
time for a walk, to enjoy the beautiful weather now that the sun's out, and to talk get my analysis final angst out of my system... and then back to enjoying my friends. =)
later dudes.
it's good to be back. strange becuase it's another turnover time... most of the friends i had left were seniors this year and the few who aren't will only be around for one more year...
changes: the new library they started last fall is nearly finished and they're giving tours
the communications building is doubling in size or something... what used to be greenspace is now filling up with building... the new entrance of the major highway through town (u.s. 30) is opened now,... the math building's gotten a complete face lift...
all in all, it's different every time
nonetheless, people changes and campus changes aside, coming back is still coming home in a sense. i don't see my friends here regularly anymore, but when i do see them, it's stepping back into "family" -- i *belong* here.
anyhow, i'm done being all sentimental or whatever i'm being... exciting events in the last 24 hours?
the concert at heather's church was the touring choir from Africa University (in Zimbabwe)... dude, they could really sing and dance... the students in the choir (15 out of 115 are on tour for the summer in the states) were so excited that last night was the first stop where they got to meet american *college students* instead of just adults and small children... people their own age... they wanted pictures with us and to exchange emails... not only did we thoroughly enjoy the concert, we had lots of fun chatting with the choir members after!
after concert, adam hughes found us and he, heather, and i went to broadway and had planets (mars, neptune, and pluto to be specific)... if you don't know what planets are you're either (a) not from valpo or (b) haven't heard me babble enough about valpo yet =P
after that we went to visit the rock and take silly pictures with it (yes, at like midnight... i hope they turn out well, it was fun)
had a lazy AM, and dude i'm glad i'm staying with a friend... it was so hot when i left jersey that i only packed summer clothes, only it got down to 40 last night and is still just high 50s today, and thankfully neighborest heather is lending me sweatshirts for while i'm here!!!
had lunch with laura johnson and her fiance chris (they got engaged like a year ago, and this was the first i met him!) yay applebees... we had fun...
now, going to wander campus and probably call a rutgers friend or two -- analysis grades are posted, and dr. goodman wasn't afraid to give Cs =( i got a C+... which is not good and means i can't get a C next semester or i'm in trouble... oops.
time for a walk, to enjoy the beautiful weather now that the sun's out, and to talk get my analysis final angst out of my system... and then back to enjoying my friends. =)
later dudes.
Friday, May 14, 2004
greetings from the road =)
greetings from valpo!
what have i been up to in the past 3 days?
wednesday: was on the road from 7:30am til 7pm... that includes having to pull off the road for half an hour and wait for drugs to kick in to knock out an awful awful headache, but i made it to ohio feeling all better. =) happy night of good chili, ice cream, and mooovies w/ jenny
thursday: all day at the cincinnati zoo with jenny, then back to her campus and wandering around oxford's "uptown", and playing nintendo til we fell asleep
friday: dinner w/ one of jenny's friends, drove for 4.5 hours, showed up at gellersen (valpo math building) around 2 this afternoon and chatted with prof. gillman for an hour about all the new things going on in the department and he took an opinion poll of what i thought on like 42 other things... the new redone front lobby is pretty snazzy! and it was good to catch him since he's going out of town tomorrow morning and i wouldn't have seen him the rest of the weekend...
now, in the valpo library with heather schaefer (neighborest heather) in the 8 minutes before they close, deleting junk mail...
got 3 of my 4 grades online -- As in lie groups and algebra, B in graph theory, verdict on analysis isn't in yet -- at least i'm not failing ;)
now dinner and a concert at neighborest heather's church... yay for being back at valpo =)
what have i been up to in the past 3 days?
wednesday: was on the road from 7:30am til 7pm... that includes having to pull off the road for half an hour and wait for drugs to kick in to knock out an awful awful headache, but i made it to ohio feeling all better. =) happy night of good chili, ice cream, and mooovies w/ jenny
thursday: all day at the cincinnati zoo with jenny, then back to her campus and wandering around oxford's "uptown", and playing nintendo til we fell asleep
friday: dinner w/ one of jenny's friends, drove for 4.5 hours, showed up at gellersen (valpo math building) around 2 this afternoon and chatted with prof. gillman for an hour about all the new things going on in the department and he took an opinion poll of what i thought on like 42 other things... the new redone front lobby is pretty snazzy! and it was good to catch him since he's going out of town tomorrow morning and i wouldn't have seen him the rest of the weekend...
now, in the valpo library with heather schaefer (neighborest heather) in the 8 minutes before they close, deleting junk mail...
got 3 of my 4 grades online -- As in lie groups and algebra, B in graph theory, verdict on analysis isn't in yet -- at least i'm not failing ;)
now dinner and a concert at neighborest heather's church... yay for being back at valpo =)
Wednesday, May 12, 2004
on my way =)
tell everybody i'm on my way
new friends and new places to see
with blue skies ahead yes
i'm on my way
and there's nowhere else
that i'd rather be
tell everybody i'm on my way
and i'm loving every step i take
with the sun beating down yes
i'm on my way
and i can't keep this smile off my face
cause there's nothing like seeing
each other again
no matter what the distance between
and the stories that we tell
will make you smile
oh it really lifts my heart
(the "road trip song" from "brother bear") =)
in an hour hopefully i *will* be on my way! in the meantime... for your "tracking lara" entertainment... here's the plan for the next two weeks
wednesday, 5/12: drive from NJ to memphis jenny's place (near cincinnati... almost on the OH/IN border
thursday 5/13: out and about w/ jenny
friday 5/14: drive from jenny's to valpo!, stay with heather schaefer
saturday 5/15: in valpo
sunday 5/16: in valpo, graduation day!
monday 5/17: lunch with margie, in valpo til mid-afternoon, drive to grandma pudwell's place
tuesday 5/18: w/ g-ma pudwell
wednesday 5/19: drive from IL to NW ohio to roommate's place =)
thursday 5/20: out and about with roommate
friday 5/21: drive from ohio to indiananpolis to tammy's place
saturday 5/22: around and about with tammy and marcus
sunday 5/23: church and lunch with heather miller, drive back to ohio to hang out with alliswan =)
monday 5/24: happy birthday alliswan!
tuesday 5/25: drive from NW ohio to pittsburgh
wednesday 5/26: drive from pitt back to jersey
...and that's the scoop... catch you all on the flip side and possibly a few times inbetween now and then ;-)
new friends and new places to see
with blue skies ahead yes
i'm on my way
and there's nowhere else
that i'd rather be
tell everybody i'm on my way
and i'm loving every step i take
with the sun beating down yes
i'm on my way
and i can't keep this smile off my face
cause there's nothing like seeing
each other again
no matter what the distance between
and the stories that we tell
will make you smile
oh it really lifts my heart
(the "road trip song" from "brother bear") =)
in an hour hopefully i *will* be on my way! in the meantime... for your "tracking lara" entertainment... here's the plan for the next two weeks
wednesday, 5/12: drive from NJ to memphis jenny's place (near cincinnati... almost on the OH/IN border
thursday 5/13: out and about w/ jenny
friday 5/14: drive from jenny's to valpo!, stay with heather schaefer
saturday 5/15: in valpo
sunday 5/16: in valpo, graduation day!
monday 5/17: lunch with margie, in valpo til mid-afternoon, drive to grandma pudwell's place
tuesday 5/18: w/ g-ma pudwell
wednesday 5/19: drive from IL to NW ohio to roommate's place =)
thursday 5/20: out and about with roommate
friday 5/21: drive from ohio to indiananpolis to tammy's place
saturday 5/22: around and about with tammy and marcus
sunday 5/23: church and lunch with heather miller, drive back to ohio to hang out with alliswan =)
monday 5/24: happy birthday alliswan!
tuesday 5/25: drive from NW ohio to pittsburgh
wednesday 5/26: drive from pitt back to jersey
...and that's the scoop... catch you all on the flip side and possibly a few times inbetween now and then ;-)
Tuesday, May 11, 2004
what a day
feels more like a year
went to sleep at 1am
then...
6am: woke up, got my act together
6:45am: left intent on getting to starbucks to get frappuccinos for both me and leigh
7:30am: frappuccinos in hand, picked up leigh at her house, helped her pack my trunk full of her luggage, drove her to the airport
9am: arrived back at my place, after driving to newark and back
9-9:30am: actually got my act together for the day (the first time was mostly getting my eyes open and my arms and legs convinced they could move before 9... this time was for real =P
9:30am-11am: did laundry, did dishes, organized my life, balanced my checkbook, etc.
11am-noon: played chauffer for eric (and his friend misty who was visiting) so eric could mail some stuff home, run by the bank, etc. being without a car as he is
noon-1pm: played phone tag/etc. with scott
1-3pm: had a sushi party at my house (memphis jenny had sent me a startup kit for making my own sushi... scott, ben, and vicki came over and helped with the endeavor (highlight of the afternoon for all was scott taking a shower with my punching bag -- don't ask)
3-3:45pm: cleaned up the sushi party
3:45-5pm: helped eric finish packing up his apartment, moved everything that his aunt hadn't taken to philly on sunday to my car
5pm-5:45pm: moved half of the stuff we had just put in my car into my place
(to top off all this moving stuff it's been in the mid-high 80s all day, my room isn't air conditioned, and amanda refuses to turn on a/c in the rest of the apartment)
6-6:30pm: drove eric to newark airport, both of us singing billy joel songs the whole way and chatting quite a bit
6:30-7pm: drove back to my place
7-7:30pm: sorted through all eric's stuff to decide where to store it for the summer
7:30-8:30pm: waited in the most stupidly long lines ever at walmart to pay for lots of travel-size toiletries
8:30-9pm: other misc. errands
9-11pm: packing... ate the leftover sushi rice for dinner
now, finally, i think i'm about ready to crash... i at least have clothes, maps, and film figured out... the rest i can make up for on the fly if necessary... i hope.
so excited to see people... i saw roommate and alliswan both just 2 months ago, but they both visited when i was swamped with work; even if it's just for a day each, it'll be fantastic to get to visit without being incredibly stressed out at the same time =)... i saw most of the valpo people i'll see just back in january, but i'm excited to cheer for the graduating ones (and of course to see the non-graduating ones too =P)-- it'll just be an exciting time to be on campus, albeit a little bittersweet -- last time i was there for graduation, it was mine, and nicole was there too; i have a feeling those memories will be around a bit too.... haven't really visited with tammy or heather schaefer in person since last may, so it'll be extremely good to get some quality one-on-one visit time with both of them too =)... haven't seen memphis jenny since christmas, it'll be cool to see her corner of the world now... saw heather miller at the funeral in sept., but not really visited with her in person since then; from the bits i've heard from her in the last few weeks, this year's been really good for her academically and deciding what to do with her life-wise, so it'll be great to see her and chat a bit on what all she's up to... also, haven't seen jenny lemahieu in 2.5 years -- since she left for haiti with the peace coprs; now that she's back, we have a standing date to go chat at the dunes at some point over the weekend and discuss the finer points of life, the universe, and everything -- that'll be really good too. =) yeah, in summary... it's gonna be a lot of driving (good thing i like that), and also just a really good time to catch up with people for a bit... it'll be great, all around. =)
now, to finish off my apple juice and get me some sleep.
night y'all! =)
went to sleep at 1am
then...
6am: woke up, got my act together
6:45am: left intent on getting to starbucks to get frappuccinos for both me and leigh
7:30am: frappuccinos in hand, picked up leigh at her house, helped her pack my trunk full of her luggage, drove her to the airport
9am: arrived back at my place, after driving to newark and back
9-9:30am: actually got my act together for the day (the first time was mostly getting my eyes open and my arms and legs convinced they could move before 9... this time was for real =P
9:30am-11am: did laundry, did dishes, organized my life, balanced my checkbook, etc.
11am-noon: played chauffer for eric (and his friend misty who was visiting) so eric could mail some stuff home, run by the bank, etc. being without a car as he is
noon-1pm: played phone tag/etc. with scott
1-3pm: had a sushi party at my house (memphis jenny had sent me a startup kit for making my own sushi... scott, ben, and vicki came over and helped with the endeavor (highlight of the afternoon for all was scott taking a shower with my punching bag -- don't ask)
3-3:45pm: cleaned up the sushi party
3:45-5pm: helped eric finish packing up his apartment, moved everything that his aunt hadn't taken to philly on sunday to my car
5pm-5:45pm: moved half of the stuff we had just put in my car into my place
(to top off all this moving stuff it's been in the mid-high 80s all day, my room isn't air conditioned, and amanda refuses to turn on a/c in the rest of the apartment)
6-6:30pm: drove eric to newark airport, both of us singing billy joel songs the whole way and chatting quite a bit
6:30-7pm: drove back to my place
7-7:30pm: sorted through all eric's stuff to decide where to store it for the summer
7:30-8:30pm: waited in the most stupidly long lines ever at walmart to pay for lots of travel-size toiletries
8:30-9pm: other misc. errands
9-11pm: packing... ate the leftover sushi rice for dinner
now, finally, i think i'm about ready to crash... i at least have clothes, maps, and film figured out... the rest i can make up for on the fly if necessary... i hope.
so excited to see people... i saw roommate and alliswan both just 2 months ago, but they both visited when i was swamped with work; even if it's just for a day each, it'll be fantastic to get to visit without being incredibly stressed out at the same time =)... i saw most of the valpo people i'll see just back in january, but i'm excited to cheer for the graduating ones (and of course to see the non-graduating ones too =P)-- it'll just be an exciting time to be on campus, albeit a little bittersweet -- last time i was there for graduation, it was mine, and nicole was there too; i have a feeling those memories will be around a bit too.... haven't really visited with tammy or heather schaefer in person since last may, so it'll be extremely good to get some quality one-on-one visit time with both of them too =)... haven't seen memphis jenny since christmas, it'll be cool to see her corner of the world now... saw heather miller at the funeral in sept., but not really visited with her in person since then; from the bits i've heard from her in the last few weeks, this year's been really good for her academically and deciding what to do with her life-wise, so it'll be great to see her and chat a bit on what all she's up to... also, haven't seen jenny lemahieu in 2.5 years -- since she left for haiti with the peace coprs; now that she's back, we have a standing date to go chat at the dunes at some point over the weekend and discuss the finer points of life, the universe, and everything -- that'll be really good too. =) yeah, in summary... it's gonna be a lot of driving (good thing i like that), and also just a really good time to catch up with people for a bit... it'll be great, all around. =)
now, to finish off my apple juice and get me some sleep.
night y'all! =)
happy tuesday?
dude, if you think just because i'm done with classes life calms down... nope... last night i was up til 1am doing various "sorting out my life" type things... had a hard time falling asleep and was up again at 6am this morning (45 minutes before my alarm went off) so i could take leigh to the airport to catch her flight home.
i think partly when things are not following the usual schedule (e.g. two of my best friends here leaving today... the others leaving while i'm gone later in the week, me taking off tomorrow for 2 weeks and i haven't packed yet, etc.) my brain gets so excited at travel or so "oh my goodness i'm going to miss leigh/eric/scott/whoever" that it keeps going when it should be letting me sleep... oh well... tomorrow night i'll be on the road and ready to actually crash at night... i hope =P
in the meantime, it's hot outside... the drive to newark with leigh was nice... we picked up starbucks frappuccinos for the drive, sang along with the brother bear soundtrack, and the turnpike was moving along quickly... her plane takes off in like 2 minutes... meanwhile i'm doing laundry, figuring out exactly how one makes homemade sushi (for later this afternoon), should be packing, and need to take eric to run some errands in about an hour... joy oh joy. =P
in summary: no, things have not calmed down, i'm just as busy but with different things =P
oh, and here's your fun link of the day:
http://www.jobpredictor.com/index.asp
(i saw it in a friend's away message this morning... his name's neil... if you type it in you'll see why he didn't like the website... on the other hand, it says that my ideal job is being a "superhero", so yay for me =P ...and it says my brother (ryan)'s ideal job is a garden gnome, so that's 2 for 2, eh? =P let me know what it tells you =P)
later dudes =P
i think partly when things are not following the usual schedule (e.g. two of my best friends here leaving today... the others leaving while i'm gone later in the week, me taking off tomorrow for 2 weeks and i haven't packed yet, etc.) my brain gets so excited at travel or so "oh my goodness i'm going to miss leigh/eric/scott/whoever" that it keeps going when it should be letting me sleep... oh well... tomorrow night i'll be on the road and ready to actually crash at night... i hope =P
in the meantime, it's hot outside... the drive to newark with leigh was nice... we picked up starbucks frappuccinos for the drive, sang along with the brother bear soundtrack, and the turnpike was moving along quickly... her plane takes off in like 2 minutes... meanwhile i'm doing laundry, figuring out exactly how one makes homemade sushi (for later this afternoon), should be packing, and need to take eric to run some errands in about an hour... joy oh joy. =P
in summary: no, things have not calmed down, i'm just as busy but with different things =P
oh, and here's your fun link of the day:
http://www.jobpredictor.com/index.asp
(i saw it in a friend's away message this morning... his name's neil... if you type it in you'll see why he didn't like the website... on the other hand, it says that my ideal job is being a "superhero", so yay for me =P ...and it says my brother (ryan)'s ideal job is a garden gnome, so that's 2 for 2, eh? =P let me know what it tells you =P)
later dudes =P
Monday, May 10, 2004
nerf
several points of interest =P
(1) first off, unless you're completely thick in the head, i gave the blog a new look -- i like it, and if you don't, it's not your blog, so deal... if you do like it, enjoy! =P
(2) i'm officially a first-year-of-math-grad-school survivor!!! today was rough though... i decided i like early morning finals much better than late afternoon ones... analysis was 4-7pm today and that gave me the 7 hours i was awake pre-exam to worry myself sick about a test i'm guessing i got a 25% on anyhow (it can't be good when you give up halfway through and start writing haikus in the margin about why you hate the class just to *look* busy because you have no good ideas about the problems themselves... i spent the last 20 minutes erasing my angst-filled poetry too =P)
(3) tomorrow shall be interesting... i'm not good with quick transitions and the next day and a half is definitely exactly that... i'm picking up leigh at 7:30 (AM) to drive her to newark to catch her flight home... doing laundry, etc. here, and getting ready for my trip... helping eric with some last minute errands of his own... making homemade sushi with the people... then driving eric to the airport to catch his flight home... (both eric and leigh told me they only *needed* rides to the train station, but i insisted i was willing to drive them the whole way so that i could actually talk to each of them before they leave... like i said... not good with quick transitions!) then, i gotta get myself in gear to get outta town myself... when i return, like everyone except ben will be gone for a bit... sadness.
(4) nonetheless, happy summer... road trip #1 begins in something like 36 hours =)
(1) first off, unless you're completely thick in the head, i gave the blog a new look -- i like it, and if you don't, it's not your blog, so deal... if you do like it, enjoy! =P
(2) i'm officially a first-year-of-math-grad-school survivor!!! today was rough though... i decided i like early morning finals much better than late afternoon ones... analysis was 4-7pm today and that gave me the 7 hours i was awake pre-exam to worry myself sick about a test i'm guessing i got a 25% on anyhow (it can't be good when you give up halfway through and start writing haikus in the margin about why you hate the class just to *look* busy because you have no good ideas about the problems themselves... i spent the last 20 minutes erasing my angst-filled poetry too =P)
(3) tomorrow shall be interesting... i'm not good with quick transitions and the next day and a half is definitely exactly that... i'm picking up leigh at 7:30 (AM) to drive her to newark to catch her flight home... doing laundry, etc. here, and getting ready for my trip... helping eric with some last minute errands of his own... making homemade sushi with the people... then driving eric to the airport to catch his flight home... (both eric and leigh told me they only *needed* rides to the train station, but i insisted i was willing to drive them the whole way so that i could actually talk to each of them before they leave... like i said... not good with quick transitions!) then, i gotta get myself in gear to get outta town myself... when i return, like everyone except ben will be gone for a bit... sadness.
(4) nonetheless, happy summer... road trip #1 begins in something like 36 hours =)
Sunday, May 09, 2004
aye yai yai
in 24 hours i'll be the happiest lara ever... possibly in 22 or 23... in the meantime, analysis is sucking the life out of me... highly unfortunate. i just want to get at least 50% on the exam so i can keep a B... i don't have a chance at an A anyhow. 50% doesn't sound like much, but my hard-earned midterm grade was a 55... it'll be close.
in other news, blogspot (the site this blog is hosted by) redid its pages today... i like the new look, but i have to pay attention to where i click when i go to post now since it's all different... doht.
back to analysis... oh the joy of hilbert spaces and fourier transforms.
wish me luck!
in other news, blogspot (the site this blog is hosted by) redid its pages today... i like the new look, but i have to pay attention to where i click when i go to post now since it's all different... doht.
back to analysis... oh the joy of hilbert spaces and fourier transforms.
wish me luck!
Saturday, May 08, 2004
high drama all the live long day =P
it's been a fun one to be sure.
woke up and called friends to avoid studying, played minesweeper to avoid studying, wrote emails to avoid studying... then talked to rooommate for awhile she she made me promise to study for 2 hours... so i more or less did... then got back to being trouble.
drama #1: studying this afternoon in my room (which shares a wall with the bathroom)... amanda went in the bathroom to do whatever and started screaming and cursing for a couple minutes... she quickly got ready, and left for about 15 minutes, and when she came back she asked me the following
~~~~
amanda: hey, have you been in the woods lately?
me: um, no, here, and campus, and that's about it
amanda: because i found a tick in the bathroom earlier! it was sooo gross! i've been in the woods, but i did a tick check, so i don't think it was me.
~~~~
ok... whatever... pretty sure of our two alibis it was not me... just had never seen someone freak out to such an extent over that before... =P
drama #2: (the only drama there was supposed to be!) eric, colleen, scott, leigh, john, and me had tickets to see the play "hms pinafore" tonight at the local playhouse... everyone but eric went out to dinner first, which was fun, and then we picked up eric and headed over to the play... it was fun... we all sat together for the first half, then eric spotted some unused seats in the next balcony down and wanted to move and everyone else felt too guilty to use seats besides the ones on their tickets, so it was just eric and me for the second half... if you've never heard of it before it's an opera satire... it's on a boat and the captain's about to have the commander of the british navy come aboard and marry his daughter, but the daughter's in love with one of the ship's crew instead... meanwhile the captain is in love with a tradeswoman who sells food to the ship, but both matches are crossing social strata so they're all screwed. when the navy commander comes aboard he brings along his 8 sisters, cousins, and aunts and there's lots of dancing jigs and corny songs... in the end it turns out the captain and the sailor that the captain's daughter loves were switched at birth so really everyone's in love with someone on their own social level and there's a double wedding and the world goes on happily ever after. in the meantime lots of laughs and jigs... it was fun to see.
drama #3: everyone else went straight home after the play except me and leigh, who both wanted some starbucks... as the whole crew of us was leaving though, a fire engine crossed in front of us... 20 minutes later when leigh and i got to the parking garage where my car was, that's where the fire engine was, and the firemen were all flooding down to the basement level of the garage... good thing my car was parked on the roof ;-)
all this is to say, for starting off slowly, it's been an eventful evening.
now, for some un-drama... or mental drama,... or something... leigh borrowed my favorite book ever (magnus by sigmund brouwer) last month, and now i'm reading hers (arrows of the queen by mercedes lackey)... i'm about a third of the way through at present... easy to read fantasy novel... it's fun.
reading myself to sleep... night y'all! =P
woke up and called friends to avoid studying, played minesweeper to avoid studying, wrote emails to avoid studying... then talked to rooommate for awhile she she made me promise to study for 2 hours... so i more or less did... then got back to being trouble.
drama #1: studying this afternoon in my room (which shares a wall with the bathroom)... amanda went in the bathroom to do whatever and started screaming and cursing for a couple minutes... she quickly got ready, and left for about 15 minutes, and when she came back she asked me the following
~~~~
amanda: hey, have you been in the woods lately?
me: um, no, here, and campus, and that's about it
amanda: because i found a tick in the bathroom earlier! it was sooo gross! i've been in the woods, but i did a tick check, so i don't think it was me.
~~~~
ok... whatever... pretty sure of our two alibis it was not me... just had never seen someone freak out to such an extent over that before... =P
drama #2: (the only drama there was supposed to be!) eric, colleen, scott, leigh, john, and me had tickets to see the play "hms pinafore" tonight at the local playhouse... everyone but eric went out to dinner first, which was fun, and then we picked up eric and headed over to the play... it was fun... we all sat together for the first half, then eric spotted some unused seats in the next balcony down and wanted to move and everyone else felt too guilty to use seats besides the ones on their tickets, so it was just eric and me for the second half... if you've never heard of it before it's an opera satire... it's on a boat and the captain's about to have the commander of the british navy come aboard and marry his daughter, but the daughter's in love with one of the ship's crew instead... meanwhile the captain is in love with a tradeswoman who sells food to the ship, but both matches are crossing social strata so they're all screwed. when the navy commander comes aboard he brings along his 8 sisters, cousins, and aunts and there's lots of dancing jigs and corny songs... in the end it turns out the captain and the sailor that the captain's daughter loves were switched at birth so really everyone's in love with someone on their own social level and there's a double wedding and the world goes on happily ever after. in the meantime lots of laughs and jigs... it was fun to see.
drama #3: everyone else went straight home after the play except me and leigh, who both wanted some starbucks... as the whole crew of us was leaving though, a fire engine crossed in front of us... 20 minutes later when leigh and i got to the parking garage where my car was, that's where the fire engine was, and the firemen were all flooding down to the basement level of the garage... good thing my car was parked on the roof ;-)
all this is to say, for starting off slowly, it's been an eventful evening.
now, for some un-drama... or mental drama,... or something... leigh borrowed my favorite book ever (magnus by sigmund brouwer) last month, and now i'm reading hers (arrows of the queen by mercedes lackey)... i'm about a third of the way through at present... easy to read fantasy novel... it's fun.
reading myself to sleep... night y'all! =P
Friday, May 07, 2004
another day, another play
that's the theme lately... last weekend was "cats", tonight was "signs of love", which i'm confident none of you have heard of before =P why? because it's a play my pastor wrote for part of his Ph.D. 10 years ago, and it was fun. tonight was the 3rd performance of 4 times that all the local churches were invited to and i'm glad i went. basically he took the gospel of john and made it into a modern day parable... jesus and the disciples were instead a controversial rock band in L.A., judas was their money hungry manager... the feeding of the 5,000 with bread and fish became the feeding of the concert audience with chicken and biscuits; lazarus being raised from the dead happened in the middle of a hospital autopsy, etc.... full of puns and funniness, but also an interesting spin on things too, and not quite as cut and dry as the general scene descriptions i just wrote sound.... both pastor and his son (who helped produce the staging of it) acted in it, and both steve and scott (the two brothers in the family i'm always visiting) were in it too.
all in all, a thought-provoking and enjoyable evening... like i said, really glad i went. =)
plus, of course, since i was hanging out with church people for the evening i got lots of hugs -- that doesn't happen in math departments =P so yay for people too.
anyhow, now i'm just being a putz for the evening... night all.
all in all, a thought-provoking and enjoyable evening... like i said, really glad i went. =)
plus, of course, since i was hanging out with church people for the evening i got lots of hugs -- that doesn't happen in math departments =P so yay for people too.
anyhow, now i'm just being a putz for the evening... night all.
some kind of weird
so i spent my evening not with the math people for one more friday night, but at church, half an hour away... (more on that later)... just a weird happening on the way home... so i'm driving back to my place and my phone rings... the caller ID said "jessica warnier" (one of my valpo friends, but the last i've called her/she's called me instead of just IM was when i was over to valpo in january) i answer, kinda surprised with a "hi!, how are you?" and instead get "hi lara? this is grandm- oh wait... yeah, grandma... how are you? you're on the same time zone as chicago over there aren't you? i didn't wake you up?" dude... just fine, and had to go over the "wrong g-ma there's a time change, but i'm always up way later than this so you're fine", but my phone's never screwed up the caller ID feature before...
whatever.
more on what i was up to tonight later =P
whatever.
more on what i was up to tonight later =P
summer fun
so i have a part time job for summer now... i guess it is partly who you know... my boss from last summer said i could work long distance for june for the same pay rate i made last summer for somewhere around 10-15 hours per week. it's not full time, but it's something, ya know? and for me only being in one place for 4 weeks of the summer, i don't know how much more i'd find anyhow.
so yay for that.
the end.
so yay for that.
the end.
spring cleaning
well, the didgeridoo concert went off spectacularly... by the time i got to campus and found eric and we got to the math building it was nearly 11pm... within 5 minutes of when we started playing the didgeridoos from the ground floor level of the main 7 story staircase (the echoes/vibrations are awesome and make them really loud) i got a call on my cell from someone asking me if all the noise was me and eric or if the building was going to fall down =P shortly thereafter paul ellis and colleen appeared at the 7th floor railing laughing at us... we met them halfway up the stairs and played with the didges for a bit... there were people studying in the graduate lounge (on the 7th floor) and we tormented them for a little too... by the time we made it all the way back downstairs and played in the courtyard for a little, it was midnight.
made it hope and have been cleaning out email, and saving old ones to disk... check out this one from my 6th grade teacher:
"Lara, Summer plans sound wonderful! I envy your energy. Enjoy life while you are free and unattached. Some day you will look back and amaze yourself at your guts and worldly travels. There are a whole bunch of people who wish they had taken your opportunities before settling down with a job and family. God bless. Mrs. Winter"
i read that a couple days ago and thought it was a nice cherry message, and then i got all philosophical.
question: when i'm older, will i really be amazed at my "guts and worldly travels" or is my lifestyle just the 20-something student lifestyle that's been made possible as technology/travel options improve... i don't think of myself as gutsy, but whatever... discuss.
i have no idea why i'm up at quarter to 4am... maybe it's time for sleep... night! =P
made it hope and have been cleaning out email, and saving old ones to disk... check out this one from my 6th grade teacher:
"Lara, Summer plans sound wonderful! I envy your energy. Enjoy life while you are free and unattached. Some day you will look back and amaze yourself at your guts and worldly travels. There are a whole bunch of people who wish they had taken your opportunities before settling down with a job and family. God bless. Mrs. Winter"
i read that a couple days ago and thought it was a nice cherry message, and then i got all philosophical.
question: when i'm older, will i really be amazed at my "guts and worldly travels" or is my lifestyle just the 20-something student lifestyle that's been made possible as technology/travel options improve... i don't think of myself as gutsy, but whatever... discuss.
i have no idea why i'm up at quarter to 4am... maybe it's time for sleep... night! =P
Thursday, May 06, 2004
no more friends =(
dude, so i just spent another 2 hours in front of the TV watching more friends... i didn't know that the first hour was just going to be old scenes, but it was fun... the last show though, ended each plotline how i thought it should end... phoebe's stuff has been settled for awhile; but her bursting out in song periodically was fun... joey was joey; the whole birds in the foosball table issue was funny; but it was interesting that no reference was made to him moving to hollywood for the new series; instead they just talked about him staying on where he was; i totally did NOT see the twins coming for chandler and monica, so they was high drama AND a surprise... and you knew ross and rachel had to end up together; it was a little drawn out and then seemed a little too peachy, but it ended how you wanted it to end for everyone to be happy... at any rate, no new episodes, and between grandma pudwell and me, all the old ones are just about memorized =P
otherwise, my day was productive... studied algebra last night from 11pm to 2am... slept til 7am, woke up, studied some more... took the exam from 9-11... came to my place with eric and plotted with my atlas about july... went to shoprite to recycle lots of bags, went to walmart to talk about the broken part of my telescope and got things arranged so the telescope manufacturer (at walmart's prompting) will pay for the broken part to be shipped (UPS is coming by tomorrow or monday to pick it up) and fix it... then went to blockbuster... leigh, colleen, and eric all had wanted to see "master and commander" for a bit, so eric and i rented it, and we all went to leigh's to watch... later, a few more errands, and it was already 7pm... i went home for dinner and friends, eric went home to work on his number theory final... dude, i'm so skilled at wasting away time!
at any rate... here's the extra fun... eric and me are meeting up in 20 minutes to go play both our didgeridoos in the 7 story stairwell of the math building... it shall be highly entertaining. =P back later dudes =)
otherwise, my day was productive... studied algebra last night from 11pm to 2am... slept til 7am, woke up, studied some more... took the exam from 9-11... came to my place with eric and plotted with my atlas about july... went to shoprite to recycle lots of bags, went to walmart to talk about the broken part of my telescope and got things arranged so the telescope manufacturer (at walmart's prompting) will pay for the broken part to be shipped (UPS is coming by tomorrow or monday to pick it up) and fix it... then went to blockbuster... leigh, colleen, and eric all had wanted to see "master and commander" for a bit, so eric and i rented it, and we all went to leigh's to watch... later, a few more errands, and it was already 7pm... i went home for dinner and friends, eric went home to work on his number theory final... dude, i'm so skilled at wasting away time!
at any rate... here's the extra fun... eric and me are meeting up in 20 minutes to go play both our didgeridoos in the 7 story stairwell of the math building... it shall be highly entertaining. =P back later dudes =)
soooo almost there
no more algebra... just down to analysis and then i'm a 2nd year... yay =)
this morning's exam was alright... it really wouldn't have helped me to study lots more last night b/c the main question i had no idea on was over something i didn't plan to study last night either... he said answer everything and he'd just count our best 75%, so i think it worked out alright.
since then, eric and me have been putzing around... we went to my house to check out my new didgeridoo, then looked at maps and got excited about the july trip, then to shoprite to recycle grocery bags, then to walmart to ask them about the broken azimuth drive on my telescope, then to blockbuster... eric's currently making us sandwiches, then an afternoon of watching "master and commander" with colleen and leigh, and doing other misc errands (burning CDs i want before eric leaves for home on tuesday... packing up the broken part of my telescope for UPS to pick up and send to the dealer tomorrow, etc. joy.
the end. yay for being down to just one class and having a time to not start studying for the last one just yet. ;-)
later dudes!
this morning's exam was alright... it really wouldn't have helped me to study lots more last night b/c the main question i had no idea on was over something i didn't plan to study last night either... he said answer everything and he'd just count our best 75%, so i think it worked out alright.
since then, eric and me have been putzing around... we went to my house to check out my new didgeridoo, then looked at maps and got excited about the july trip, then to shoprite to recycle grocery bags, then to walmart to ask them about the broken azimuth drive on my telescope, then to blockbuster... eric's currently making us sandwiches, then an afternoon of watching "master and commander" with colleen and leigh, and doing other misc errands (burning CDs i want before eric leaves for home on tuesday... packing up the broken part of my telescope for UPS to pick up and send to the dealer tomorrow, etc. joy.
the end. yay for being down to just one class and having a time to not start studying for the last one just yet. ;-)
later dudes!
Wednesday, May 05, 2004
the art of procrastination
boy, do i have it mastered or what?!?
algebra final in 10 hours... too bad i've managed to procrastinate for the past 10 hours... ooops
1-2pm... convinced eric that he didn't want to study yet and we should run errands
2-3pm... convinced eric that we should have one last starbucks run of the semester, and chatted about life the universe and everything over frappuccinos
3-4pm... arrived home to discover my new didgeridoo... was compelled to play it, and call friends up to play "name that sound" over the phone =)
4-5pm... made strawberry kiwi jello and a big pitcher of sweet tea... played minesweeper inbetween
5-6pm... pretended to study algebra, but ran around frequently to play with my koosh ball and write emails... chatted with my brother for half an hour
6-7pm... got way excited about the thunderstorm that passed through and rained like an inch of rain in 15 minutes, watched the clouds and hoped for a rainbow
7-8pm... dinner and more general time-wasting
8-9pm... actually studied for the better part of an hour (but shhh don't tell)
9-11pm... watched the dateline special about the end of "friends", which i enjoyed a bunch, the interviews were entertaining and the outtakes were highly amusing
so yeah, that's how to kill an afternoon lara-style... maybe i should think about studying a bit more than 45 minutes before 9am gets here... too bad my brain's quit for the semester when in theory it has 5 days to go... oops.
algebra final in 10 hours... too bad i've managed to procrastinate for the past 10 hours... ooops
1-2pm... convinced eric that he didn't want to study yet and we should run errands
2-3pm... convinced eric that we should have one last starbucks run of the semester, and chatted about life the universe and everything over frappuccinos
3-4pm... arrived home to discover my new didgeridoo... was compelled to play it, and call friends up to play "name that sound" over the phone =)
4-5pm... made strawberry kiwi jello and a big pitcher of sweet tea... played minesweeper inbetween
5-6pm... pretended to study algebra, but ran around frequently to play with my koosh ball and write emails... chatted with my brother for half an hour
6-7pm... got way excited about the thunderstorm that passed through and rained like an inch of rain in 15 minutes, watched the clouds and hoped for a rainbow
7-8pm... dinner and more general time-wasting
8-9pm... actually studied for the better part of an hour (but shhh don't tell)
9-11pm... watched the dateline special about the end of "friends", which i enjoyed a bunch, the interviews were entertaining and the outtakes were highly amusing
so yeah, that's how to kill an afternoon lara-style... maybe i should think about studying a bit more than 45 minutes before 9am gets here... too bad my brain's quit for the semester when in theory it has 5 days to go... oops.
happy happy joy joy!!!
lara = happiest proud new didgeridoo owner in the world
recall eric has a didgeridoo i like to play with that a friend of his made... after much discussion (eric talks to me, then eric talks to his friend) over the past 8 months, a month ago i sent a check to cover postage and give the guy some money for handmaking the thing, and it (my new handcarved by eric's MN friend didgeridoo) came in the mail today -- i'm ecstatic! =)
recall eric has a didgeridoo i like to play with that a friend of his made... after much discussion (eric talks to me, then eric talks to his friend) over the past 8 months, a month ago i sent a check to cover postage and give the guy some money for handmaking the thing, and it (my new handcarved by eric's MN friend didgeridoo) came in the mail today -- i'm ecstatic! =)
dude, what?!?!
so i just got done with a luncheon with some math department benefactors... while we were waiting for the donors to show up, colleen and eric sat me down and explained last night after i was asleep paul (the crazy 2nd year in charge of pizza seminar) found them (most all the usual 1st year crew) in the graduate lounge and made a list of all the 1st years to decide who should be in charge of pizza seminar next year....
they apparently decided on me since sam, ian, and me were top picks and sam is already in charge of computer input and the graduate logic seminar, and ian has a small child to interfere... they also told paul i'd probably outright refuse to order pizza (which leigh volunteered to do if i don't make her do a talk) and that he should by no means just come up to me and say "hey lara, you're the next pizza coordinator" or i'd kill him (they know me well!)
anyhow, apparently it's my new job and they decided personality wise i'd be good at convnicing people to do it because i generally don't take no for an answer: either i'm persistent or i cry, both of which makes people do stuff.
never knew being as talkative as i am and as prone to crying as i am could add up to a good thing...
anyhow, i told paul to give me a few days to reconcile with being in charge of the seminar and then it would probably be ok... in the meantime to leave me alone about it. =P
the end.
they apparently decided on me since sam, ian, and me were top picks and sam is already in charge of computer input and the graduate logic seminar, and ian has a small child to interfere... they also told paul i'd probably outright refuse to order pizza (which leigh volunteered to do if i don't make her do a talk) and that he should by no means just come up to me and say "hey lara, you're the next pizza coordinator" or i'd kill him (they know me well!)
anyhow, apparently it's my new job and they decided personality wise i'd be good at convnicing people to do it because i generally don't take no for an answer: either i'm persistent or i cry, both of which makes people do stuff.
never knew being as talkative as i am and as prone to crying as i am could add up to a good thing...
anyhow, i told paul to give me a few days to reconcile with being in charge of the seminar and then it would probably be ok... in the meantime to leave me alone about it. =P
the end.
top 10 -- spring 04`
i have no idea why i'm awake... especially when i've been up for like 14 hours now on just 4 hours of sleep... nonetheless, in finals/reflection/wrap-up mode.... last entry of the night, then really, i'm going to sleep =P, promise...
top 10 things i've learned this semester
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(10) various mathematical facts (e.g. tensors of characters of irreducible representations, 3 points if you can correctly define every word in that phrase =P)
(9) you can absolutely love a subject, but learn absolutely nothing about it on account of a bad prof (algebra)
(8) you can work your head off, but if you started out behind, you'll most likely be behind the whole semester (taking lie groups with colleen and leigh and none of us knowing a thing about manifolds... oops!)
(7) you can know exactly what's going on, still work for hours and hours and hours and hours and hours and hours and still have nothing to show for it (graph theory homework)
(6) sometimes you just have to admit you have no idea what's going on and beg for smarter friends to spoonfeed you ideas (analysis), rephrased: grad school leaves no room for pride
(5) grades don't mean a thing -- seriously
(4) coming to terms with #5 takes a bit of work, but once you do, it makes life much simpler.
(3) when stressed, i cry easily... and mostly on account of yawning, laughing, or thinking hard... summary: i've learned i have hyper-active tear ducts, and they're a great source of entertainment, but also make people worry about me more than necessary
(2) your subconscious keeps dealing with stress and manifesting itself in weird ways long after you think you're consciously done dealing with stuff
(1) good friends are more valuable than just about anything else on the planet, and i have some most excellent ones =)
the end.
top 10 things i've learned this semester
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(10) various mathematical facts (e.g. tensors of characters of irreducible representations, 3 points if you can correctly define every word in that phrase =P)
(9) you can absolutely love a subject, but learn absolutely nothing about it on account of a bad prof (algebra)
(8) you can work your head off, but if you started out behind, you'll most likely be behind the whole semester (taking lie groups with colleen and leigh and none of us knowing a thing about manifolds... oops!)
(7) you can know exactly what's going on, still work for hours and hours and hours and hours and hours and hours and still have nothing to show for it (graph theory homework)
(6) sometimes you just have to admit you have no idea what's going on and beg for smarter friends to spoonfeed you ideas (analysis), rephrased: grad school leaves no room for pride
(5) grades don't mean a thing -- seriously
(4) coming to terms with #5 takes a bit of work, but once you do, it makes life much simpler.
(3) when stressed, i cry easily... and mostly on account of yawning, laughing, or thinking hard... summary: i've learned i have hyper-active tear ducts, and they're a great source of entertainment, but also make people worry about me more than necessary
(2) your subconscious keeps dealing with stress and manifesting itself in weird ways long after you think you're consciously done dealing with stuff
(1) good friends are more valuable than just about anything else on the planet, and i have some most excellent ones =)
the end.
Tuesday, May 04, 2004
food for thought
lkp 42 42 42: so you said the other day "i've learned the most in analysis out of all my classes this semester, but i'm not going to let that fool me into thinking i'd be remotely good at it"
however, one repeated remark to me complaining about graph theory is "well it's a hard class and a hard prof; that doesn't necessarily mean you're bad at it"
food for thought: how do you determine the line between "this class is hard/challenging" and "really, this i'm not cut out for this"... could they really be rationalizing the same problem different ways based on prior disposition????
remark: this isn't to complain "lara's dumb"... more of a philosophical issue
Galois1105: well the first criterion for discriminating the two that comes to mind is this: If I went back to an undergraduate analysis course, I'd probably understand things a little better, but I don't know that I'd be all that much better at solving problems. If you went back to an undergraduate graph theory course, I think you'd be able to solve a lot more with the experience that you've gained this semester.
discuss.
however, one repeated remark to me complaining about graph theory is "well it's a hard class and a hard prof; that doesn't necessarily mean you're bad at it"
food for thought: how do you determine the line between "this class is hard/challenging" and "really, this i'm not cut out for this"... could they really be rationalizing the same problem different ways based on prior disposition????
remark: this isn't to complain "lara's dumb"... more of a philosophical issue
Galois1105: well the first criterion for discriminating the two that comes to mind is this: If I went back to an undergraduate analysis course, I'd probably understand things a little better, but I don't know that I'd be all that much better at solving problems. If you went back to an undergraduate graph theory course, I think you'd be able to solve a lot more with the experience that you've gained this semester.
discuss.
happy reading day!
i'm tired
i ended up not going to sleep until 6am, woke up at 10 to turn in graph theory (which was badly done at that), decided i didn't want to drive all the way to campus, spent 20 minutes figuring out how to convert the .dvi file of my answers into a .pdf, emailed it to the prof, and tried to go back to sleep... *try* being the operative word... i couldn't fall back asleep with the sun so bright out my window, so i've been running on 4 hours of sleep...
ran lots of errands, then showed up on campus... i didn't think i was in a bad mood until i started to work on the takehome part of the algebra final and couldn't think straight to solve anything... i was so tired that even yawning made me cry... eric helped me for about 20 minutes and then leigh invited me to go to barnes and noble with her for a couple hours, so that's what i did...
leigh wins super-hero of the day award... i now have most of the take-home part of algebra done mostly because she sat down in a corner of the bookstore with me and some starbucks, and let me work and just occasionally asked "so where are you now? tell me what you're thinking" and kept me on task... i like leigh a lot... if you're in a great mood, she's all abouy having fun... if you're in a crummy mood, you couldn't ask for someone more consistently patient and helpful to interact with. the end.
now, i'm home... writing up stuff, watching the season finale of scrubs, and then at long last... sleep!
i ended up not going to sleep until 6am, woke up at 10 to turn in graph theory (which was badly done at that), decided i didn't want to drive all the way to campus, spent 20 minutes figuring out how to convert the .dvi file of my answers into a .pdf, emailed it to the prof, and tried to go back to sleep... *try* being the operative word... i couldn't fall back asleep with the sun so bright out my window, so i've been running on 4 hours of sleep...
ran lots of errands, then showed up on campus... i didn't think i was in a bad mood until i started to work on the takehome part of the algebra final and couldn't think straight to solve anything... i was so tired that even yawning made me cry... eric helped me for about 20 minutes and then leigh invited me to go to barnes and noble with her for a couple hours, so that's what i did...
leigh wins super-hero of the day award... i now have most of the take-home part of algebra done mostly because she sat down in a corner of the bookstore with me and some starbucks, and let me work and just occasionally asked "so where are you now? tell me what you're thinking" and kept me on task... i like leigh a lot... if you're in a great mood, she's all abouy having fun... if you're in a crummy mood, you couldn't ask for someone more consistently patient and helpful to interact with. the end.
now, i'm home... writing up stuff, watching the season finale of scrubs, and then at long last... sleep!
why am i still up?!?!
$\mathbb{E}[lara's anticipated graph theory grade] < \epsilon \forall \epsilon >0$
(you might be a math person if you know what on earth i typed that in...)
(you might have been an analysis student at some point if you can make sense of what it says!)
i solved absolutely no new problems today despite working most of the time since i woke up at 10... why do i even bother staying up this late?
for all epsilon > 0, my enthusiasm for the rest of this semester is definitely bounded above by epsilon, and my anticipation to move on to summer break is bounded below by 1/epsilon. 1 more week til freedom...
(you might be a math person if you know what on earth i typed that in...)
(you might have been an analysis student at some point if you can make sense of what it says!)
i solved absolutely no new problems today despite working most of the time since i woke up at 10... why do i even bother staying up this late?
for all epsilon > 0, my enthusiasm for the rest of this semester is definitely bounded above by epsilon, and my anticipation to move on to summer break is bounded below by 1/epsilon. 1 more week til freedom...
Monday, May 03, 2004
...and i still don't care
i'm a mean person today... really.
i was way excited about being done with analysis lectures for forever and my away message proclaimed that last night. the younger brother of one of my friends talks to me on IM sometimes and told me "oh that can't be right... analysis rocks!" and i told him he's doesn't know enough to have a valid comment. (1) mean of me (2) why did his comment get to me?
worked on graph theory with sarah (2nd year) for awhile between classes today and didn't get anywhere new... haven't worked on it on the computer yet tonight (just on paper) and have no idea on the last 3/9 problems. i'm really past the point of caring... at all.... though, so whatever.
i'm just ready for this semester to be done -- 15 hours and graph theory will be done, 3 days and algebra will be done, a week and it's all done... joy.
on a happier note, eric IMed me earlier and was like "dude, wanna make pizza for dinner?" 45 minutes later i showed up, and we started making the pizza to discover he had no cheese... a grocery store trip and other such fun later we had our artichoke, mushroom, and olive pizza, some quality salad, and juice, and it was durn spiffy.
quote:
me (to myself, in a different room from eric): la la la
eric: dude, what was that noise?
me: you don't recognize it?
eric: well, i'd say it was you singing in a muppet voice, but how often does that happen?
me: (laughing) good job!
eric: seriously it's like "hi! kermit the frog here!"
(btw, eric does a surprisingly good kermit voice impression! -- i laughed)
now, i'm working for a little then crashing... no class tomorrow -- yay for reading days!
i was way excited about being done with analysis lectures for forever and my away message proclaimed that last night. the younger brother of one of my friends talks to me on IM sometimes and told me "oh that can't be right... analysis rocks!" and i told him he's doesn't know enough to have a valid comment. (1) mean of me (2) why did his comment get to me?
worked on graph theory with sarah (2nd year) for awhile between classes today and didn't get anywhere new... haven't worked on it on the computer yet tonight (just on paper) and have no idea on the last 3/9 problems. i'm really past the point of caring... at all.... though, so whatever.
i'm just ready for this semester to be done -- 15 hours and graph theory will be done, 3 days and algebra will be done, a week and it's all done... joy.
on a happier note, eric IMed me earlier and was like "dude, wanna make pizza for dinner?" 45 minutes later i showed up, and we started making the pizza to discover he had no cheese... a grocery store trip and other such fun later we had our artichoke, mushroom, and olive pizza, some quality salad, and juice, and it was durn spiffy.
quote:
me (to myself, in a different room from eric): la la la
eric: dude, what was that noise?
me: you don't recognize it?
eric: well, i'd say it was you singing in a muppet voice, but how often does that happen?
me: (laughing) good job!
eric: seriously it's like "hi! kermit the frog here!"
(btw, eric does a surprisingly good kermit voice impression! -- i laughed)
now, i'm working for a little then crashing... no class tomorrow -- yay for reading days!
12:58am
it's official -- i don't care anymore... seriously, i have no problem turning in completely made up answers to my profs, getting horrible grades, and just being done with things. i've never had so much to do at once as i have had this weekend, and my brain is fried. i learned lots of stuff this semester, just not quite what my profs wanted me to.
its been a recent revelation that grades are pretty insignificant in general (at least in terms of math grad school). either you have a tough prof who gives mostly Bs, or an easy prof who gives mostly As. as long as you turn in stuff, there's not a chance of getting a C because no prof can justify being the one who got you kicked out if you've been turning in your work and going to class and making some sort of an effort. if i'm going to turn in hours worth of work and most likely get Bs all around anyhow, i might as well not agonize anymore, right?
right.... you know as soon as graph theory's done i'll be panicking over algebra, and after that over analysis... remind me of this entry when i do that.
i'm grumpy, tired, feeling dumb, and who knows what else.... at least i have a bowl of pistachio pudding. =)
its been a recent revelation that grades are pretty insignificant in general (at least in terms of math grad school). either you have a tough prof who gives mostly Bs, or an easy prof who gives mostly As. as long as you turn in stuff, there's not a chance of getting a C because no prof can justify being the one who got you kicked out if you've been turning in your work and going to class and making some sort of an effort. if i'm going to turn in hours worth of work and most likely get Bs all around anyhow, i might as well not agonize anymore, right?
right.... you know as soon as graph theory's done i'll be panicking over algebra, and after that over analysis... remind me of this entry when i do that.
i'm grumpy, tired, feeling dumb, and who knows what else.... at least i have a bowl of pistachio pudding. =)
Sunday, May 02, 2004
$2 dinner
just a note to say, grabbing dinner off the "expires today/half price" pasta shelf at shoprite is a worthwhile expenditure. while eric was waiting his turn in line at the deli (took 20 minutes) this afternoon, i was looking around, and found a bunch of fancy pasta things marked down from $4 to $2 because they had fresh vegetable/seafood/whatever stuff on top of them and will go bad eventually... i picked up a mushroom one and a seafood one (fettuccini pescatore seafood special). they looked decent at the time, and now that i'm having the latter one for dinner, it was an extremely quality investment (& yes, my brain is completely fried.)
back to work
back to work
brainstorm
the brother called... he's currently giving me a list of $$-making ideas for the summer
current list:
* sell my organs on the black market
* sell all my possessions on ebay
* sell flamingo insurance
* ask everyone on my mass-email list to donate $20 to the "la endowment fund"
* wander around public places talking my head off and get them to pay me to go away
* panhandle
* find a rich benefactor
thoughts?
while i'm thinking about it, eric did suggest yesterday that maybe if i had a bar mitzvah, i'd get enough money to cover bills... (obviously it was a joke... and even if it weren't i don't think converting to judaism for the month of june would convince the people who know me to give me money =P)
joy. now, really, i'm working.
current list:
* sell my organs on the black market
* sell all my possessions on ebay
* sell flamingo insurance
* ask everyone on my mass-email list to donate $20 to the "la endowment fund"
* wander around public places talking my head off and get them to pay me to go away
* panhandle
* find a rich benefactor
thoughts?
while i'm thinking about it, eric did suggest yesterday that maybe if i had a bar mitzvah, i'd get enough money to cover bills... (obviously it was a joke... and even if it weren't i don't think converting to judaism for the month of june would convince the people who know me to give me money =P)
joy. now, really, i'm working.
my current hit list
not really, but some people get to me... lately that would be ian (one of the other first years here... only he's nearer 30 years old and has a wife and a 2 year old daugher)... a couple weeks ago, he gave me a hard time about speaking up on behalf of most of the class about scheduling exams... since then he's been giving me minor headaches with his attitude/whatever too... like today, he told me he was all about working on graph theory this afternoon, so i showed up at the math building, and he (1) more or less dismissed my solution to one problem he was still working on, and kept going on it in silence, and (2) when i asked for a hint on one he'd already solved and i haven't talked to me like i was stupid and ended up being no help whatsoever... basically i spent 3 hours in the math building and accomplishing nothing... yuck... back to work, and getting over my curren ian-directed angst.
later dudes
later dudes
finished
just finally finished with the house on the strand -- i actually started reading it in new hampshire over spring break when i was visiting marianne... that it takes me 2 months to finish a quality 300-page book says a lot for how hectic my life is, eh?
i've had nightmares the last two nights on account of people dying in the book and pictures still in my head when i try to go to sleep... figured if i finished off the last 5 chapters tonight, i wouldn't have to worry about it... the plot's done, but it left me with more questions than the average story... i suppose that's a sign of a good and intriguing plot. at any rate, it's obscure, but i'd highly recommend it... all about being caught between two worlds and determining what's real,... once i got going, i was hooked.
for now, though, i gotta be up in like 6.5 or 7 hours... gotta separate the reality of wanting to think more about the book from the necessity of sleep and go with the latter... joy.
night y'all... for real this time =P
i've had nightmares the last two nights on account of people dying in the book and pictures still in my head when i try to go to sleep... figured if i finished off the last 5 chapters tonight, i wouldn't have to worry about it... the plot's done, but it left me with more questions than the average story... i suppose that's a sign of a good and intriguing plot. at any rate, it's obscure, but i'd highly recommend it... all about being caught between two worlds and determining what's real,... once i got going, i was hooked.
for now, though, i gotta be up in like 6.5 or 7 hours... gotta separate the reality of wanting to think more about the book from the necessity of sleep and go with the latter... joy.
night y'all... for real this time =P
Saturday, May 01, 2004
a cat so clever as magical mr. mistoffelees
dude, fun afternoon.
first, eric and me went to cash in our full sub club cards at subway (i.e. i got a free sandwich and just had to pay for my drink)
then, we picked up scott and colleen and saw cats and the local theater -- it was fun... i never had seen it before, the one in the subject line was my favorite song, but the whole thing was pretty impressive!
i'm tired, and have lots to do, and in general as anyone who knows me remotely well would attest to, if i'm laughing hard, i'm generally crying hard as well... when i'm tired and/or stressed, just about anything will set off the "laughing so hard i cry" so i was crying most of the evening... dude, i need to get some non-hyperactive tear glands or something... and of course, people just egg me on once i get going... before the show eric, colleen, and i were talking in the lobby and something funny had just been said when scott came back to join us, and when he commented "wow lara, i knew i could make you cry, but just me leaving you for 5 minutes is a new one", that kept me going for awhile more! during intermission he also leaned over and asked me, "so give me your favorite 2-syllable word and i'll sing 'memory' for you", so we got "smelly, they're so awfully smelly", and "llama, when i see you i'll be riding a llama" and other crazy things. eric gave me a hard time too... mostly making fun of my grammar as usual, when i asked at one point "so is this halftime" he gave me a hard time for saying halftime instead of intermission... at another point he laughed his head off at me that "most people say 'shhhh' when they mean, 'hey, don't repeat when i just said'... how you manage to think it means 'shhh, hey, i'm not going to answer your question' is beyond me"
anyhow, we all laughed, we all had fun, and now we're all back home -- and luckily safely at that... i don't know what was up with me... 3 times i tried to drive the wrong way down one-way streets this evening on the way to and from the play... eric started explaining about something in vegas while we were walking from my car to his dorm to look up some stuff about shows when i'll be there in july, and i started looking around while he was talking and he was like "dude, the tower i'm talking about is in nevada, NOT here!"... i'm sooo out of it!
so yeah, i'm tired, but good, and apparently highly entertaining and highly amused.
oh here's two more random facts... i have the only un-air-conditioned room in this apartment... eric and scott were sweating the whole time in the play and i was fine... i get home and i've been sweating since i walked in the door -- it's burning up in here... literally!
also, i lit a new candle last night (3 layers, all different kinds of coffee scented), and noticed tonight that the desk lamp i have on my bookshelf was apparently too close to it since now, instead of a half-sphere it's a half sphere with several plastic icicles (now rehardened) dripping off of it... funny that i didn't see/smell anything weird last night...
bother.
reading myself to sleep... night y'all!
first, eric and me went to cash in our full sub club cards at subway (i.e. i got a free sandwich and just had to pay for my drink)
then, we picked up scott and colleen and saw cats and the local theater -- it was fun... i never had seen it before, the one in the subject line was my favorite song, but the whole thing was pretty impressive!
i'm tired, and have lots to do, and in general as anyone who knows me remotely well would attest to, if i'm laughing hard, i'm generally crying hard as well... when i'm tired and/or stressed, just about anything will set off the "laughing so hard i cry" so i was crying most of the evening... dude, i need to get some non-hyperactive tear glands or something... and of course, people just egg me on once i get going... before the show eric, colleen, and i were talking in the lobby and something funny had just been said when scott came back to join us, and when he commented "wow lara, i knew i could make you cry, but just me leaving you for 5 minutes is a new one", that kept me going for awhile more! during intermission he also leaned over and asked me, "so give me your favorite 2-syllable word and i'll sing 'memory' for you", so we got "smelly, they're so awfully smelly", and "llama, when i see you i'll be riding a llama" and other crazy things. eric gave me a hard time too... mostly making fun of my grammar as usual, when i asked at one point "so is this halftime" he gave me a hard time for saying halftime instead of intermission... at another point he laughed his head off at me that "most people say 'shhhh' when they mean, 'hey, don't repeat when i just said'... how you manage to think it means 'shhh, hey, i'm not going to answer your question' is beyond me"
anyhow, we all laughed, we all had fun, and now we're all back home -- and luckily safely at that... i don't know what was up with me... 3 times i tried to drive the wrong way down one-way streets this evening on the way to and from the play... eric started explaining about something in vegas while we were walking from my car to his dorm to look up some stuff about shows when i'll be there in july, and i started looking around while he was talking and he was like "dude, the tower i'm talking about is in nevada, NOT here!"... i'm sooo out of it!
so yeah, i'm tired, but good, and apparently highly entertaining and highly amused.
oh here's two more random facts... i have the only un-air-conditioned room in this apartment... eric and scott were sweating the whole time in the play and i was fine... i get home and i've been sweating since i walked in the door -- it's burning up in here... literally!
also, i lit a new candle last night (3 layers, all different kinds of coffee scented), and noticed tonight that the desk lamp i have on my bookshelf was apparently too close to it since now, instead of a half-sphere it's a half sphere with several plastic icicles (now rehardened) dripping off of it... funny that i didn't see/smell anything weird last night...
bother.
reading myself to sleep... night y'all!
a note to all of you beer drinkers... =P
in the event that you buy your beer in bottles instead of cans, it's probably not wise to put a box of such beer on its side on the front of a shelf in your fridge... bottles are narrower at the top, and the bottom row of beers forms a "slide" for the top row to attack whoever opens the fridge next.
in my case, amanda bought the beer, did a bad job of stacking it in the fridge last night, and when i opened the fridge this morning to make some lunch, a bottle fell out, breaking on my foot, soaking me in beer just after i had gotten out of the shower, and drenched the kitchen... amanda was already gone for the day, so i had to (a) clean the cut on my foot, (b) look for and clean up shards of glass all over the floor of the kitchen (c) mop up a lot of beer,.... and the kitchen and me still reek of beer... i guess that's shower #2 of the day coming up... joy.
in my case, amanda bought the beer, did a bad job of stacking it in the fridge last night, and when i opened the fridge this morning to make some lunch, a bottle fell out, breaking on my foot, soaking me in beer just after i had gotten out of the shower, and drenched the kitchen... amanda was already gone for the day, so i had to (a) clean the cut on my foot, (b) look for and clean up shards of glass all over the floor of the kitchen (c) mop up a lot of beer,.... and the kitchen and me still reek of beer... i guess that's shower #2 of the day coming up... joy.
