Same Old Song and Dance

Yes, I'm aware - SEVERE lack of postage. No excuse!

...But, there is an explanation.
My computer has been all kinds of effed up the past few months. In mid-October-ish it got an uber load of adware and a few viruses. Every time I went on the interent it killed my computer a little, so I had to stop it for a while. $80 and several scans later, I've just gotten it back in working order the past few weeks, and yesterday my AIM and Internet Explorer stopped working and were blocked by one of my protective do-dads. Luckily, I've got Firefox and that is working. But I had to re-locate all my bookmarks.

And now, here I am.

Here's what you've missed: Homework, minor mental breakdown, epic story idea, dorm evacuation, minor mental breakdown, zombies and turkey, a humbug and rattling chains, and now some finals.

Haven't posted in a while (obviously). It's not that there's been nothing worth posting about. I've just been focusing on homework and haven't really felt like blogging.

Today I asked my roommate to horde hot water from the cafe so I could make tea. "Why?" you ask. My dorm, once again has no kitchen. We still have one. I mean it didn't get taken out by the limb of a flailing tree or anything like that - It's still there. We just can't use it because some people are slobs.

It's fucking October, people! Wayyy too early in the year for this crap.

I'd like to think we can change the way the dorms are run, make them a little more grown up and a little less preschool. But I realize now that we can't. Because no matter how many non-slobby people live here, it only takes one. Just one slob to fuck the whole place over and get the kitchen shut down. Whenever they try to ease up on the rules, there will always be some moron around to gleefully prove that we need them. And then they'll happily bitch and moan about it to whoever will listen.

The answer to our problems is very simple here, people. Grow the fuck up! Pick up your trash, wash your own dishes, take your laundry out of the dryer and - here's a thought out of left field - fold them yourself instead of just leaving them wherever, wipe your own ass, and grow the fuck up!! Or else go back and live with your parents.

Those Pesky Life Transitions

Sorry it's been a little while since my last post. First nothing interesting was going on, and then I got very busy very quickly as the time came for me to move back to my dorm for school. I was an Orientation Leader again this year, so I came back a few days earlier than the rest of the upper-classmen. I had barely any time for anything when I got back, since I was training and team-building and whatnot. It was a good time though. I got to climb a rock wall.

Now that classes are in full swing, I had a bit of a hiccup. I realized as I was sitting in my first Science class of the semester that I was experiencing some severe deja vu. Either I was having a "Twilight Zone" moment where everything seemed eerily familiar, or I'd done this before. I talked to my Advisor and, sure enough, I had already taken that science class.

Balls.

So I spent the rest of my Thursday morning and afternoon waiting around for administrative staff to come back from whatever alternate dimension they'd conveniently disappeared to while simultaneously hunting down professors and begging to switch into/out of their classes.

I did get some good story ideas while in the sitting around waiting moments, though.

Let's see, what else is new? Well, I watched Obama's Democratic Acceptance Speech. Still voting for him. He's got a new way of thinking and a new approach to solving our problems that I believe we desperately need. McCain's "This is the way it shall be done because this is the way it's always been done" attitude will get us nowhere at bullet-speed. Sorry, sir, but we cannot put the women back in the kitchen, and we cannot put the gays back in the closet. Not only is it silly to do that, but it's also impossible. McCain has an old way of thinking, which may not necessarily be right or wrong, but it definitely does not fit our modern issues. We need to focus on fixing the mess we've created and think about the future consequences of our actions rather than making an even bigger clusterfuck out of this country. I think Obama, although he's young and not everyone agrees with his ideas, will help this country in ways that McCain cannot. We need a President who is old enough to have some life experience and to have made something of himself, but young enough to understand this generation and to remember what it was like to have nothing. We need a President who thinks of his daughters and the future when he makes decisions, not one who does the same shit Bush has done and doesn't understand us. Plus, if McCain dies, we get stuck with a 40-something-year-old hockey mom with zero experience. Then what, America? Then what?

The Ruins

So this is a bit late, but oh well.

I saw The Ruins about a week ago. Not a bad horror movie. It definitely had me jumping and cringing a lot. But I'm in the middle of reading the book and one thing bothers me... dumbing down the characters for the film adaptation. I thought the film was well done, but the characters annoyed the hell out of me. They seemed to just lack complete common sense most of the time, except for Jeff (played by Jonathan Tucker), who is just downright scary at some points. I think the one that bothered me most, though was Amy (played by Jena Malone). In the book she's a little moody, but not stupid. And Stacy (can't remember who played her off the top of my head... go check IMDB if you're that curious), wtf? She went from being this flighty, spacy chick in the book to a dumb blond slut in the movie, which bugged the hell out of me. Why were the girls so freaking dumb?

I also haven't finished the book yet (and probably won't until the winter when I have time to read it again).

I'm going to stop ranting now because if I don't I'll just keep going. I'm guessing you get the gist by now.

Oh, and this doesn't mean I didn't like the actors' performances. Just that I think the entire movie became more plot-oriented and ignored the characters.

That's all.

Current Events

Okay, so I'm still voting for Obama. I was just a little shocked about his decision regarding the war. Where is he planning on getting these troops to put in Afghanistan? Is he taking them from Iraq? Does that mean we're done in Iraq? What's going on?

So that's that.

In other news, did anybody hear about Shia LaBeouf's car accident? Yeesh. I would not have wanted to be the girl in the death seat of that car. You're a cutie, Shia, but nothing about that looked fun. I don't think the guy should be raked over the coals in the media for it, though. Everybody makes mistakes. Actors are no different. Okay, the drinking part of the drinking and driving, not the smartest idea, but hopefully he won't be doing that again.

By the way, Eagle Eye looks awesome.

Speaking of movies, I just watched The Lost Boys: The Tribe. Man, what the hell happened? It seems to me like they had a good idea going and about halfway through the movie it just all fell apart. And the ending was way too easy. Where's the twist the first one had? It looked like they were trying to make Alan Frogg or Sam the actual head vampire, but then they just didn't. I don't know what the hell happened here. Oh, and wayyy too many boobs for my liking. Feldman's character was great. Corey Haim wasn't even in it, really, neither was Alan Frogg. They did have a really sweet cover of Cry Little Sister, though.

Okay, lastly: Kiera Knightley. For anyone reading this who doesn't know, Kiera refused to allow her cleavage to be made more appealing with digital editing in her upcoming movie. Let me just say: woot.

Obama for President Bad for Troops?

This is one of the rare times where I'm posting a pretty serious post. (Sorry if you're expecting something amusing, but please keep reading.)

In my opinion, and I think lots of people out there agree with me, the priority for our next president is to clean up the messes we've made in Iraq and Afghanastan. Let's face it, the War on Terror is something that seemed like a good idea at the time (to Bush and half the country - not to me) , but ultimately it hasn't panned out the way it was supposed to. Consequently our men and women are dying overseas for a cause most of America doesn't even believe in anymore. Not to mention all the Iraqi and Afghani people dying (I'm talking about civilians killed in bombings and such, not terrorists). Our soldiers are being kept in service long after they should've gone home to their families; our economy is in a severe decline; and most importantly the American faith in our government has been shaken. We need to end this war as quickly and painlessly as possible. Our troops have been risking their lives for way too long and we've wasted far too much time and money. And everyone is tired of it.

Getting to Obama (who had my vote up until this morning), apparently his visit to Iraq has changed his way of thinking since he stated that if elected president, he will not only not bring the troops home, but will send more into Afghanistan to "finish what we started".

What the fuck? This is total bullshit. I don't understand this need to "finish what we started". 9/11 was awful and it sucks that it happened, but what the fuck did that have to do with Iraq? There is no proof, nor has there ever been, that Iraq and Saddam had any connection whatsoever with 9/11. Nor is there any proof that there was any ever hint of a god damn nuclear weapon in Iraq. I understand what we're doing in Afghanistan, although I don't necessarily agree that running in half cocked and trying to change their way of living was the best way to go about things. But I've never understood wtf we are doing in Iraq. And now we have to finish something that probably should never have been started in the first place?

Right now I feel like this entire election is a fucking joke. No matter who we vote for nothing's going to get better. No matter who we vote for, no one is going to step up and end this war. It's just going to keep going and going until we have no more soldiers to send over, or no more money to pour into it. And for what? To prove we won't back down? That if you don't think the way we do we'll kick your ass? So we don't look like idiots because we pull our troops out? What is going on over there? Does anyone know?

Oh, government. What are we going to do with you?

My Latest Dental Adventure

So, this morning, after a night of sitting in traffic on the highway for no apparent reason, I had a dental cleaning. I know, fun!

Apparently I'm not flossing.

This is funny to anyone who's ever seen me doing my 15-minute dental regiment before going to bed. I live in a dorm, so that's pretty much any girl who's in the bathroom while I'm doing teeth. Brushing, copious flossing, and 1 minute of rinsing. I'm religious about my teeth routine, okay? RELIGIOUS!!

But, no. I get, "You're not flossing... Well, then you're not flossing the way I told you" and I get scary words like "bone loss" and "gum scaling" thrown out there at me. "Deep" gum scaling. Okay, that does not sound fun.

But I'm beginning to think it's a scam. I know plenty of people who brush once a day and don't floss and have never even heard of flouride rinse. Their teeth are fucking peachy, okay? So I find it a bit odd that I do everything I'm told and may still have to get scary proceedures done with pointy intstruments without numbing agents.

W... T... F???!!!!

Is Mass. the New Vegas?

I heard on the news this morning that they (meaning the government) are trying to make it legal for gay couples from out of state to get married in Massachusetts. Caterers, jewelers, florists, etc. are hoping this happens because it would mean more money for them. Of course there are lots of people who are against it. If this law gets repealed Massachusetts would, theoretically, become a Las Vegas for gay people. (I forget who said that... some big important mucky muck guy.)

I think this is a good thing. Gay people have been living like married couples live just as long as straight people have - so why is it legal for straight people to get married while gay people can't? All I'm hearing in rebuttal to gay marriage is: "Marriage is between a man in a woman in the eyes of God." Says who? Did God tell us gay people couldn't get married? No. The Bible did. Keep in mind the Bible was not written by God. It was written by men. It also says in the Bible that women are to blame for the pain and suffering of all mankind because Eve ate an apple. Seriously, let's pull our heads out of our asses, shall we America? Being gay is not a sin, and the world will not end because gay people are getting married.

What do I say to the possibility of Mass. becoming the Vegas for gay people (as if Vegas belongs to straghties anyway at this point, let's be honest)? I say bring it on! Come get married! All of you!

That's my two cents on the matter. Cheers.

Busy Winding Down of Summer

Yesterday was a really good day. I went to a reunion dinner with some old friends from high school (some of which I still talk to on a regular basis). And it was just so cool to see everyone again and catch up.

Jamie, dear, can't wait to see you and your mom on Wednesday! We're gonna have so much fun, even though we'll be missing a vital piece of our little group. Damn you, Stop 'n' Shop!

I got some clothes today. 2 pairs of shorts. Not much, but more than I had before. And one really cute top.

I have a feeling these next 3 weeks are gonna go by way too fast and make me not want to go back to school. I'll have to make time to hang out with people on weekends.

What We Have Here Is A Failure To Communicate

Over the past few months of summer vacation, I haven't been leading a very exciting life. Mostly I sit around the house, read, write. Which I guess could be considered exciting. All I've been doing really is working 3 days a week and getting nagged by my parents to clean the house. "Why do you sleep so late?" says Dad. "Get up and DO something!" I pointed out to him that I really have nothing to do other than work, and when I do work I don't have to get up until at least 11.

He told me to do yard work.

Keep in mind A: We don't have a yard, and B: We have nothing to do yard work with, and C: We have a neighbor behind us with 2 very big and very unfriendly rotties (dogs) who, although they don't on a regular basis, are fully capable of breaking through the bottom of the fence and getting into our yard.

Yeah. I don't think I'll be trying that suicide mission any time soon.

Lately my parents have been getting on me about cleaning the house. "You're home ALL DAY," they say, "And you could easily clean the house." This is true. But, the thing is I DO clean. I clean my stuff. I clean my dirty dishes, clean up my messes, and do the laundry when it piles up. But, it doesn't help that when Mom or Dad would like a hand with something they have an interesting way of letting me know.

It's this thing called telepathy. Where they think I should do something, and therefore I should do it. And if I don't do it, I'm lazy and ungrateful.

0_0

My thoughts exactly.

I've told my mom more than once to leave a list of stuff she'd like me to do before she goes to work in the morning so when I wake up I can maybe vaccuum or do an extra load of laundry or something to take the work off her shoulders. But I will not do everything. That's simply not fair. It's not like every dirty thing in this house suddenly belongs to me just because I'm home for the summer. That's just not the way it works.

That aside, I've set a few goals for myself. It's occurred to me that in about 3 weeks I'm going on vacation with my family to Maine... which means the beach... which means a bathing suit for the first time in months. Quite possibly in a full year. Call me Miss Vanity, but I'd like to look less like cottage cheese in my bathing suit than I do now. So, I've started eating smart and today I worked out a little. Some lunges, push-ups, weights, crunches. Nothing too ballsy. Mom and I are supposedly going to go walking next week, hopefully. I figure doing the lunges and such will be good for when I'm not walking.

I also did some cleaning. I'll be sooo pissed if no one notices.

Open the Floodgates

So I finally got my Antje Duvekot CD's in the mail ( "Big Dream Boulevard" and "Snapshots") and I'm listening to them. Between Antje and Alanis I'm just in angry girl music heaven.

I have the house to myself this weekend, which is actually doing me a lot of good. I'm very inspired and writing lots of different stuff. I don't know if any of it's going to amount to anything special, but we'll see I suppose.

Other than that, there's really not much to report. I'm reading The Tale of the Body Thief by Anne Rice, and when I get tired of that I break into Scott Smith's The Ruins, I Am Legend, or one of the many short stories I've been meaning to read. Junot Diaz has a great narrative voice, Mary Gaitskill's got great friction between characters, and Alice Munro's just awesome. I won't ramble, because I'm starting to, so I'll stop myself now.

I am officially on a reading rampage, which is super sweet because it's causing a writing rampage.

8 Easy Steps

After the longest 3-hour work day of the summer so far, I'm sitting here watching an episode of Daria and sipping a coconut iced coffee while pondering my next storyline. Today I worked with someone who has the charismatic, magnetic personality and all the ambition of a towel rack. So I spent the day running out of coffee and looking around for my invisible towel rack co-worker while simultaniously running out of change and wittling down a never-ending line out the door of customers. My hands shook. I spilled copious amounts of sticky beverages on myself, and burnt my fingertips.

Seriously. Wtf?

In between and during all of that, I came up with this. Enjoy.

How to Piss Off Your Co-Worker in 8 Easy Steps:
1. Talk on your cellphone. Always. If you're not talking, be texting.
2. Take your time. With everything.
3. Don't wear the required uniform in the required way so your co-workers look like shitheads.
4. Wait until there's an overwhelming amount of customers to tend to. Then disappear.
5. Invite your friends to talk to you during work. And then forget you have a job to do at all.
6. Find something important to clean every time a difficult regular shows up.
7. Ask what kind of music your co-worker hates. Then tune the radio to precisely that type of music.
8. Punch out before all the work for the day is done, leaving your co-worker with the rest.

This is all the shit I've had done to me, and have in turn started to do to the ones who deserve it.

I'll teach you all this in eight easy steps
A course of a lifetime you'll never forget
I'll show you how to in eight easy steps
I'll show you how leadership looks when taught by the best

A Home In the Dunes

So I'm in kind of a crappy rut. I'm anxious a lot, I'm worried about a lot of stuff I shouldn't be worried about, and I'm restless. A lot. My dad seems to be going through something similar, although he has a lot on his plate rather than the worrying randomly thing.

I really need to get some positive energy going. I'm not sure how. I've tried meditating and exercizing and writing and reading and video games. Any form of escape and healthy me time. And it works sort of, but not really because it only takes one tiny thing to bring all the negative back. Which isn't good because it means my inner energy is off balance in a bad way.

I have had a few awesome days with Mom and with Kim. And my new music is really making me happy. I try to listen to it as much as possible. And for some reason Alanis Morissette has sort of set off a creative spark and I'm writing like crazy. I keep getting frustrated because I have to interrupt my creative flow to go to work, which should be a goldmine for characters but it's really not. Maybe it will be someday when I'm reflecting. Right now it's just annoying.

I think I need to do more nature-oriented things. I want so badly to go kayaking on the lake like every day it's not raining. But we have to move the kayaks to nana's house so we can launch them from her side of the lake... which we need the truck for, which is still out of comission... and I need someone to carry them down with. Maybe I can rope Kim into it once we transport them... I also will probably rope Dad into taking walks with me or hiking or something. I think that would be good for both of us.

Look at us break our bonds in this kitchen.
Look at us rallying our defenses.

Swimming In Your Stomache

Alright, folks, here's the good news. My size 8 shorts are too big. Wooo! I also decided to treat myself and get some CD's. I ordered 2 Antje Duvekot CD's off www.cdbaby.com and am patiently awaiting their arrival. If you haven't heard of her you should check her out. I'm friends with her on MySpace. I also had a good day with Mom yesterday. We went to the Mall and I got the 2 newest Alanis Morissette CD's. The Collection, which is made up of her most recognizable songs and her "favorites". I also got her brand new one Flavors of Entanglment, which I love love love. It's got the same emotion and some of the same style as her earlier stuff, but it's also been tweaked and sort of updated. It's a good different.

Now here's the bad stuff. Well, not really bad, just things that are worrying me that I should probably put out there. Somewhere.

As the whole country knows, our economy sucks lots right now. And I'm very worried that I won't be able to get a student loan for the fall. VERY worried. A few weeks ago it looked like even if we couldn't get a loan (because our loan company was one of the ones that decided not to do student loans or something) we'd still be able to get the money. Now it looks like no. We got a letter from our loan company saying they could offer us some other type of loan, but we won't get details on that until next month. So we won't even know if we can apply until then, and if we do apply there's no guaruntee we'll get the money.

So I'm very upset about that right now. Mostly because the thought of hanging around the house working where I work now possibly long-term makes me want to punch a puppy. Well, not really. But it makes me very very sad and angry. I'm intelligent, dammit, and I have dreams. I will not have them squashed so early. I'm not going to be a coffee pourer or a server for the rest of my life. I did not go to a good high school and work my ass off for an education to not finish or to pour coffee and deal with people's bullshit. "I wanted 7 and a half sugars, not 8. and I wanted a bacon egg and cheese sandwich, not an egg cheese and bacon. And is that croissant toasted? What do you mean you can't toast it because your toaster will catch fire?? And can you be a dear and spread the cream cheese on the bagel for me?" NO! I CAN'T! As you can see, I work with a bunch of fucktards for the most part and the manager can't even write out a schedule without fucking it up. So NO, I will not put fucking non-fat blueberry cream cheese on your goddamn low-fat toasted bagel. Do it yourself, it'll be good exercise! By the way, don't bother doing lowfat anything if you're eating at Dunkin Donuts, asshole.

*Sigh* I feel better.

A Harmonic Connection Between All Living Beings

This isn't so much a blog post as much as it is a list of all the CD's I want to buy before the end of the summer, plus a bit of celebrity gossip discussion.

First, the music. I know, who buys CD's anymore, right? Apparently I do:
Copenhagan by Chris Townsend
Don't Look Away by Kate Voegele
Antje Duvekot (whatever I can find)
3 Doors Down by 3 Doors Down
Colbie Callet
Sara Bareilles
Coldplay
Course of Nature
Tyler Hilton

I don't know the titles of the last 5, but I want to get them nonetheless. Tyler Hilton's isn't out yet, but I'm keeping my eye out.

Now for some celebrity stuff. First of all, Sharon Stone, wtf were you thinking? The earthquake in China was KARMA??!! And you're surprised people were offended. Tsk, tsk. And, not to be Chris Crocker, but why is every magazine I pick up knocking Britney's body? Is she as lean and toned as she was when she was 18? No. But she looks damn good, especially after having 2 kids. It just bothers me.

That's my 2 cents for now.

What I Got

Is a job. Good because I could use the cash, but not so good because I've discovered I don't really like serving food products to people.

I've also been watching some movies. There's a bit of a lull in our netflix queue, so we've rented Halloween (Rob Zombie style) and National Treasure 2. Before that it was Nancy Drew, which I wasn't too keen on watching, but we did anyway. Not bad. Before that it was a few 8 Films of Horror selections. One was so forgettable I can't remember the title, and the other was Tooth and Nail, which was predictable but not too bad. Yay for Rider Strong and underground horror movies.

I've just discovered, thanks to Melissa Joan Hart's MySpace, the band Course of Nature, which I actually really enjoy. Check them out at: www.myspace.com/courseofnature

That's all I got for now. Sorry it's not very amusing.

Home

Funny how one 4-letter word can be used to tell everyone what's going on. Just "home." That's all that's necessary. We'll just skip the part where I had to fit my whole life into 2 trashbags and a storage bin... and use a bunch of little grocery bags for the rest. And we won't mention that I'm trying to sort through it all and put it away when there's really nowhere to put it all.

Ahh, college. Hopefully I can go back in the fall. Stupid loan companies.

Oh, something worth mentioning in this post: I went to Nick's last play at my old high school last night. They did such a good job. Nick, you were an awesome insane, angry Dr. Frankenstein :)

World Spins Madly On

The past few weeks have been kind of busy, whirring by so that everything is blurry and I often can't remember what day it is - not even kidding. If it weren't for my classes I'd be totally lost within the week. But, that's not to say this is a bad thing. The workload has lightened a bit in some classes, and is chugging on in others. I seem to have more time to get things done, although I still have quite a bit to get done - if that makes any sense.

I don't have class Monday, so I'll most likely take a long weekend at home to spend some time with family and friends I've been neglecting. (Don't worry, Jamie! I'll still model for you on Monday!) Hopefully I can clean out my kayak and go out on the lake with it, but that's probably wishful thinking.

I saw a trailer for The Lost Boys 2: The Tribe and I'd heard about this movie beforehand and was a little worried. I've come to grudgingly accept the fact that my generation is not going to be known for the fantastic movies produced. Everything is a remake, a sequel, or a copy of something else. No one's daringly original anymore... well, some people are, I'm sure, but they're few and far between. So when I heard that they were making a sequel to The Lost Boys, which was the very first "horror" movie I ever saw as a kid (I think I was 10 at the time) and has a special place in my heart as one of my favorites, my first thought was, "Oh my God, no." But, now that I have seen the trailer (which can be found at www.imdb.com after searching for The Lost Boys: The Tribe) I'm kind of excited. Jamie pointed out that it struck her more as a tribute than a sequel. It seems like they stuck with the original feel and style of the movie, but tweaked it to make it appeal to a new audience. And, it looked like BOTH Coreys were present, so I think all that stuff about Haim being difficult was hype for their show. Oh, and Aiden's cover of Cry Little Sister playing in the trailer = awesome.

I figured I'd post an update now since I'll probably be focusing on finals and end-of-the-year stuff for a while.

Weekend Reviews

Hello there ladies and gent's. How's this lovely spring weather treating you? I'm loving it, although my sinuses seem to be hating the air change at the moment.

How was my weekend, you ask? Well, just dandy. Let me tell you about it.

Due to my absent-minded forgetfulness, my plans to work on my art history paper over the weekend fell through and I was unable to do more than construct a skeletal outline. And then mom rented The Mist and the game Condemned 2: Bloodshot, which I've been anxiously anticipating playing for some months now. So, I had an unplanned slacker weekend of movie watching and video game playing.

What did I think of them, you ask? Well, it just so happens I plan to tell you.

I enjoyed The Mist, which is based on a novella by Stephen King, although I experienced a lot of deja vu during the unfolding events. "Hmm," I thought to myself, "a bunch of random characters trapped together in one place... child sacrifice to the devil in the name of God... Storm of the Century, anyone?" Or, "Hmm, a man and his son trying to survive the end of the world and later travelling down this ruined stretch of highway amidst terrible new dangers... The Road or Cell, even?" Although I did enjoy the movie and the crazy characters portrayed by little-known actors, I found myself wondering - as I do while watching many movies made within the last 10 years - where has the originality gone? Christina and I had this discussion and I'm sure I've had it with many people, so I won't bore anyone with the details. But, one of the things I hope to achieve as a writer is originality. There are only so many stories that can be told. The trick is to find a new and interesting way of telling them. Although I'm not quite there yet, I'm learning and trying to write something entertaining, literary, and original.

I'll let you know how that works out...

And now for Condemned 2: Bloodshot. This game kicks ass! I played the first one and enjoyed it - it was the scariest game I've played since Silent Hill, and there was more to it than just blood and gore (although that was part of its charm). There was a good story line, there were well-developed characters, and you got to investigate crime scenes. Condemned 2 takes all the good qualities of the first game and improves them. More gore, more characters, more backstory, and more challenging investigations. The only thing I didn't like was the fact that they "sexed up" the look of the characters. Look at screen shots of Ethan and Rosa from the first game and compare them to the second and you'll see what I mean. I liked it better when they were more real and less Hollywood. But, other than that, I liked it a lot.

That's about it other than the awesome adventure I had with a few cool ladies yesterday, but more about that later. Right now I'm off to take my second exam of the day, which hopefully goes better than the first did.

Cheers.

A Bit of an Issue

I discovered on this lovely spring day that I have a bit of an issue. The weather's slowly but surely warming up, although it's not quite warm yet. But the only jackets I have here are really light and don't do much, and my big puffy winter jacket. And I don't own any long-sleeved shirts. Come to think of it, my wardrobe pretty much consists of jeans + old, worn out t-shirt... and half the time the jeans don't really fit.

I think I'm in dire need of a wardrobe makeover. Alas, I lack the cash to fix my problem.

Put Me In A Car

... and undoubtedly some weird and crazy adventure will happen. I've had 2 car misadventures in 3 days. Want to hear about them? Come on, you know you do.

Misadventure #1: The Tewksbury Tire Incident
Place: Tewksbury, somewhere between Wal-Mart and home.
Time: Around 10 PM Saturday
Involving: Me, a kickass girl named Kim, Kim's awesome dad.

So, at around 4 in the afternoon after Dad and I got back from an amazing new Mexican restaurant called Casa Blanca, I accompanied Kim on a shopping journey to the Mall for supplies for her future apartment. This was an adventure in itself, but in a good way. She got some good buys and we did a lot of chatting and window shopping. Later there was Food Courting and Bennett visiting. But our story begins after we left the Mall, failing to find an alarm clock for less than $27. "Wal-Mart," I say. "I'll bet they'll have one cheap at Wal-Mart." And off we go. We got to Wal-Mart fine, and Kim got a sweet deal on an alarm clock... that was also an iPod speaker set. It was on the way back that we encountered the Pothole. No, that is not a typo. That "P" is capitalized because this pothole was no ordinary pothole. This pothole was epic. I could describe it in detail, but you'd only think I was exaggerating. Let's just say that tiny children would run in fear of this Pothole if they knew what it was capable of. Brave men would crumble in the midst of this Pothole and women would flee and cry out in trembling fear.

You get the point, right? Big ass Pothole.

Because the street was so dark, Kim didn't see the Pothole until it was right in front of us and even when she tried to swerve it didn't do much. We were beyond hope at that point. The Pothole had set its sights on us and we didn't stand a chance. I felt the tire below me come to blows with the Pothole and then the car began to rattle and make a terrible metallic screeching noise. It appears the tire has lost the battle with the Pothole.

Needless to say, Kim had to pull over and her dad came to the rescue to change her tire after we waited a while and watched about 27 cars pass by without slowing down or offering to help. Nice society we live in, huh?

Props to my mom for picking me up from Kim's house at 11:30.

Misadventure #2: Christina and Noel's Bogus Journey
Place: All Over New Hampshire
Time: 4:30-10:30 PM Tuesday
Involving: Me, Christina, and a bunch of random cashiers.

"Hey, I have to go to Barnes & Noble to get a book for class. Want to come?" Christina asks. I say "Okay" because I have nothing pressing to do. We started out okay, browsing Barnes & Noble, stopping at Burger King, heading to the Salem Mall. We went to Borders, looked at some adorable puppies, I tried on some hats. After not having found the book at Barnes & Nobel or Borders, we go to the Manchester Mall, which incidentally doesn't have a bookstore in it... at all. Not one. They did have a gigantic picture of a hot model near their entrance, which was pretty sweet. Then we tried one more Barnes & Noble... I think. It's all kind of a blur. But no luck. So we decide to drive around downtown Manchester looking for a used bookstore we're told might help. Sketchiest car ride ever. And we found nothing. We talked in silly accents on the way back to Chester. She was Carla from Scrubs and I was Keira Knightly. It was pretty nifty.

I bought French for Dummies online for 92 cents. Way better than $9.99. I'm pretty damn proud of myself.

Only Happy When it Rains

Okay, so it needs to stop snowing already. I'm sick of blowing my nose every 10 seconds and having to get ready for class 10 minutes earlier than normal so I can prepare for my 3-to-5-minute journey into the chill to the other side of campus. Really, if it takes you more time to get dressed than it does for you to actually get wherever you're going, there's a problem. Which tells you how much I think about what I wear on a daily basis.

The Tudors + Alicia + me = "Nice hat!"

That show is such a lie. Henry VIII was never that sexy.

Mornings Eleven

So today was the beloved Registration Day here at CCNE. Junior registration began at 10:30AM, and Registration here is pretty much run like the DMV: You get there at the designated time, they give you a number, and if the stars align you go register when they call it.

Well, this time around they started giving out numbers early... and not everybody knew about it. So I woke up at 9:30 and was warned by a frantic friend that they were giving out numbers and we hauled ass down there.

But, for the first time I've been at this school I got a good number and got all my classes. Quick and painless... except for the whole tromping around in the 3 inches of snow we got today. Stupid bipolar New England. Anyways, here are my classes for the Fall:
Images and Ideas
Ethics and Contemporary Social Problems
Intro. to Screenwriting
Life Science
Life Science Lab
Lit. and Madness

Oh! And Tommy Vee the hypnotist was a good time. Anyone who wasn't there, you should've been.

Here It Goes Again

Here it goes, here it goes, here it goes again!

Here it is, the last chunk of second semester. And we all know what that means, don't we? That's right, kids, it's Registration time! And didn't it just sneak up on all of us like a blow to the head? Mid-terms, Spring Break, BAM- there it is! I also just signed up for a timeslot for matriculation, another thing that's coming up fast. I feel like these last 6 weeks or so are going to go by like nothing and suddenly it's gonna be Registration, Metriculation, Finals, Summer!

I'm fully aware that I'm kind of rambling. I'm having a rambling kind of week.

And once again, I'm finding myself pondering the mystery of the disappearing Business Officers. They're never there when I need them to sign something.

Meanwhile, Christina and I are trying to think of other cardio-like exercises we can do aside from walking so we can mix it up a bit. If anyone has any suggestions, let us know.

I'm also trying to make my page at www.uber.com/thenoelshow look interesting. If anyone can help me with that it would be appreciated.

Let's See How Far We've Come

Sorry I haven't updated in a while, but there hasn't been much to update on. I spent the first few days of my Spring Break relaxing, playing video games and such - taking some chill time. Then I spent time with family and friends and got some work done.

Now it's Monday and I'm back at school, getting back to classes and all that. Registration is coming up at the end of the week. Holy shnykees Batman! Christina and I took our first walk of Spring today, a little less than an hour. And we're definitely feeling it. I have a blister on the bottom of my foot, but I feel accomplished. Our goals are to get out more, feel better, get fit, and maybe drop a few pounds. And we get some quality girl talk in, which is always a plus.

Video games played over break: 2
Movies watched: 5 1/2
TV shows caught up on: 3

Cheers, all.

Diet of the Week

You know what's fun? Diets.

You know what's even more fun? Involuntary diets.

I'm on a diet this week that must be just fabulous for quick weight loss.

It's called the Scarf-in-the-Toaster Diet. Here's how it works:
Step 1: Live in a dorm with a common kitchen.
Step 2: Be a slob. Especially in the kitchen. You spill some sauce on the counter? Leave it there! Dirty dishes? Fuck that, just stick 'em in the sink and forget about it. After all, we have people who come in and clean. They can do it!
note: Actually, you don't even need to be the slob. You just need to live in the same building and use the same kitchin as the slob - the results will be the same.
Step 3: Do something retarded like stick a scarf in the toaster after getting 2 warnings about abuse of the kitchen.
note: As before, you don't actually need to do it, just use the same kitchen as the person who does it.
Step 4: The kitchen gets shut down.

Add in some mid-term stress and all-nighters and here is your...

Result: You eat the food you have that doesn't need to be heated (for me: yogurt, fruit, ice cream, cookies, jelly beans, pop tarts, banana chips) food that gives you diahrrea (i.e. the cafeteria sauce and broth which seems to be overly acidic; food from McDonald's, which is cheap and the only thing available within a 5 mile radius at 11 at night). And you're not sleeping a hell of a lot.

I swear I'm losing 10 pounds just from typing this... and it's only been 3 days!

Top 10 Reasons Someone Would...

... Put a Scarf in a Toaster:
10. To warm it up because they don't want to toss it in the dryer
9. To see what would happen.
8. Because they thought it would be fun to take an early morning fieldtrip out in the snow to wait for the fire department.
7. To hide it somewhere no one would think to look.

You know what, I can't think of six more reasons. Hell, even those are pathetic at best, and that's being kind.

Thanks to some shmuck who for one of the above reasons, or something entirely different that in their moronic brain resembled logic, decided to put a scarf in the toaster.... a SCARF in the TOASTER... our kitchen's locked and I can't make any of the food I bought over the weekend and I can't make my tea.

Did I mention I fucking hate it here this semester?

Just Keep Swimming

You know what's awesome and awful at the same time?

A deadline.

deadline: a line or limit that must not be passed, or - ironically enough - a boundary in prison that prisoners can cross only at the risk of being shot.

Deadlines are fascinating creatures. They're difficult to work with most of the time and they make you do the impossible: put your muse in a cage and make her dance on command. Have you ever tried doing that? It's not a very productive or pleasant process and it usually just makes you frustrated. But deadlines also give you structure, a goal. "You must complete something by this date." Even if what you produce is absolute shit it's something. At the very least, a stepping stone to something better and at the most the beginning of something amazing.

You're probably wondering by now why I'm rambling on about muses and deadlines. Or maybe you're not. The people who read this most often probably know exactly what I'm talking about and exactly where I'm going.

I'm just wondering when it became the custom for people to assign a deadline - which is supposed to be pretty concrete - only to just change it on a whim and expect 2 weeks worth of work to be completed in less than half that time... and still be effing amazing.

Anyone want to weigh in here?

Bipolar New England

So when I move to Florida I'm thinking I'll get a place within walking distance of the beach. Maybe in Tampa. Tampa was cool. And there will be lots of palm trees, surfers, tans, and HEAT! There will be freakin' heat! And there won't be snow. There won't be winter jackets or snow boots or scarfs or lame hats that make my hair go poof, or dry skin or black ice or super careful driving on unplowed roads. And I'll go walking and get in shape and invest in like 10 cute bathing suits. Maybe I'll get a dog.

If I ever create a band or something it's going to be called Bipolar New England.

uber?

By the way, forgot to mention that I got a page at a site called www.uber.com. It's pretty much myspace, facebook, and blogger all thrown together and it's geered more toward networking and showcasing art than socializing. My URL is www.uber.com/thenoelshow. It's pretty cool and once I figure out what I want to put up for art (and how to get it up there) you'll be able to see it. I'm still figuring out how to navigate it and stuff, so my page will probably change.

Goonie Weekend

Well, not really. More like a girly weekend... kind of... with homework. And lacking some cool girls. But still fun.

You know, when you have mounds of homework every day and then suddenly have a few days of free time, you get insanely paranoid that you're forgetting something and that you have no right to use this time to do something silly.

But that doesn't stop you from doing the silly things anyway.

www.youtube.com/stevethevagina88

See what happens when college students get bored on a long weekend?

Balancing

It seemed like the theme of the day today was balance. Seeing as just about every inch of pavement on campus is covered in ice, just getting to and from class without breaking, spraining, or bruising something was an adventure.

As I am walking from a building on one end of campus to my dorm on the other end, I'm stepping in a lot of big puddles. I think to myself, "Finally this shit is melting! It'll be spring soon," or something along those lines, and I step on a puddle that turns out to be a chunk of ice covered in water. I, wearing my fashionable but non-functioning "winter" boots, slide and start trying to save myself by twisting around and balancing. I didn't fall, but I did wrench my knee pretty good in the process, which came back to haunt me several times throughout the day whenever a similar involuntary ice capade took place or I had to walk up or down a set of stairs.

Other than that, I've also been trying to balance homework with something resembling a social life.

What have we learned from this blog post, kids?
Tread carefully through puddles in winter, know when to give yourself a break from work and have some fun, and never buy "winter" boots because they look cute.

Cold As Ice

The one flaw in my move to Florida plan? No snow days!

Since our campus is now a self-maintained ice rink and I'm sure the roads are no different, classes are cancelled today. Woohoo!

And what do I plan to do with a whole day off now that I've slept in and all that? Homework. I'm such a dork. I'll probably watch a movie or two as well. Writing will definitely be in there somewhere. It's days like these I wish I had my xbox up here, but if I did I'd never get any work done. I'd be too busy pretending I was Lara Croft and badass. Although it would be nice to look out my window and see snow while I'm swimming around in a pond in Africa as Lara.

Enjoy the lovely weather.

Anywhere But Here

Did I ever tell you about my plan to move to Florida?

No?

Well, I frequently have this plan to move to Florida, preferrably the Tampa area because I've been there and it kicked ass. The plan sort of revolves around this near-uncontrollable urge I have to not get frostbite. Ever. And to never slip on this magical camellion ice on my way up the hill to class and fall on my ass. Ever. Among other things.

So when these cold winter months of New England come around I make a mental note to move to Florida where it gets hot as hell, but everything is air conditioned and it never snows and barely ever gets colder than 57, which is usually the temperature of my house in the winter anyway. Am I rambling? I think I am.

Anyway, I'm in New Hampshire. It's cold as... well I'd say "cold as hell," but that just sounds silly. But it's pretty effing cold and I'm not liking it. So I'm finding myself playing the Anywhere But Here game as I'm walking up to class in the 13-degree weather that feels like -3 with the windchill. Fun times.

Time Here All But Means Nothing

Anyone ever notice how time is never balanced?

Either there aren't enough hours in the day to do everything you need or want to do, or the hours stretch on and on and you can't seem to fill them. Whenever you want something to go by quickly and painlessly, it drags on forever and becomes agonizing, torturous. And you think, "End already and get it over with!" But when you want to hang on to a moment, to make it last for as long as possible before letting go, it slips away in the blink of an eye and then it's gone. And you can never get it back. And it's in the empty moments, the days that never end, the days you can't fill up, that you reflect on the moments you've lost. What else can you do when an hour becomes an eternity?

....

Does it shock anyone that I've spent a few hours reading Sartre for a class on Existentialism?
Dreary, isn't it? Which is why I'm not reading anymore of it tonight... which means, since I have more hours of work than I do in the waking day, that I probably won't finish reading the section I'm supposed to. Also my eyes feel like they're about to fall out of my head or explode or both. So they certainly don't want to read anymore tonight.

I hope we have a snowday tomorrow. Otherwise I'm screwed.

Time here all but means nothing
Just shadows that move 'cross the wall
They keep me company
But they don't ask of me
They don't say nothin' at all
And I need just a little more silence
And I need just a little more time
Sarah McLachlan

Talk Hard!

Good afternoon readers (Shannon, Jamie, Christina, and Serah lol). What? How was my weekend, you ask? Well, maybe you didn't ask, but I'm gonna tell you anyway. Friday I woke up, and thought to myself, "A whole day without classes to worry about. What could I possibly do with all this free time? I know, I'll see how much homework I can get done today so I don't have to do any for the rest of the weekend!"

So pretty much all of Friday was spent in Christina's room finishing my Graphic Design and then watching Captivity at like midnight. Thanks for pointing out the obvious blooper, Christina. It totally ruined the movie for me.

Then Saturday I was in a weird bipolar mood so I was back and forth from my room to Christina's. Then Jamie came and hung out. That was nice.

Last night me, Jamie, and Serah watched Pump Up the Volume (Christian Slater, amazing as always). Then we watched The Girl Next Door. I don't care how crude it is, I think it's effing hilarious. After that I went on this crazy internet quest for Christian Slater pictures... and found a shitload at http://www.christian-slater.com/. I put a bunch of them on a screensaver. I'm such a dork. All the pictures I chose, though, are from his heroin and alcohol stage... so Christina, you're not the only one who seems to like those types, apparently. I will say though that for a guy who's old enough to be my dad, Christian Slater is still a very attractive man. He just needs better roles.

Now, other than having a scary amount of Christian Slater pictures on my computer, I also have this weird realization that almost every celebrity crush I have is in the 28-40 range. That's really weird, right?

"If I knew anything about love I would be out there making it instead of sitting in here talking to you guys." - Mark/Hard Harry Pump Up the Volume

"Eat your cereal with a fork and do your homework in the dark." - same as above.

Changes and Observations

As you can see, I've changed my blog look. Who knew there were more templates out there? Anyway, I'm aware the new appearance is pretty loud, but I like it. Let me know what you think since you're the one(s) reading and looking at it.

Now that we got that out of the way, a few observations.

Ladies living in a certain dorm building using a certain bathroom on the second floor: If you pee on the seat, for the love of Mark Wahlberg, clean up after yourself! And don't tell me you don't notice - you PEED on the SEAT!!! There's no way anybody doesn't notice that. More than once, more than twice - in the same week - I've had to wipe pee off the seat before I sat down. I know there are some things in a dorm lifestyle that aren't typical: Dishes other than your own being in the sink; washers in the laundry room being like a quarter of the size of a normal one while the driers are industrial size, and so on and soforth. But I for one learned very early on in life that it is not socially or hygenically acceptable to pee anywhere but IN the toilet, and if you do you clean it up before anyone notices it and you're labeled "Pee Girl" or "Mr. Pee" or, my personal favorite "You're fucking gross".

Oh, and clean your hair out of the god damn drain! Not just the shower, but the SINK. Really, ladies, don't tell me you can't notice this long wookie-like creature that was once your hair swimming around at the bottom of the shower stall. I'll admit I don't always wipe my own drain down when I'm finished... but if I had long, thick, dark hair I would. Always. And don't even try to tell me you can't see your hair in the sink. I went to brush my teeth and it looked like Hagrid had just given himself a haircut above the sink. Grossed out? So was I.

That's all for now. Enjoy!

Things That Make You Go... Huh?

I've spent most of my week working my ass off to get all my homework and reading done, but now that I have a bit of downtime here are some conversations that just made me laugh.

Over AIM (not exactly quoted. Discussing a myspace survey I posted in a blog in which one of the questions was: If you had to marry someone on your top friends, who would it be?)
Nick: I read your blog and I see my name as an answer to a survey question... in the same sentence as "gun to the head."
Me: Hahaha.
Nick: Really, would it have been so difficult to say that out of me, Kevin, Chris, and lesbian marriage, you'd pick me?
Me: Sorry. I just didn't want you to think I was proposing to you via myspace survey.

Talking to Serah at around 8 pm. (not exactly quoted)
Me: "I need some caffeine."
Serah: "So drink some."
Me: "Well, I have a Mountain Dew in my fridge."
Serah: "That works."
Me: "Well, it is after 8... and I do have a class at 10:30 in the morning."
Serah: (beat) "True."
Me: "I could drink some tea. See, I have a range of caffeine here. There's English Tea, which has caffeine, but doesn't really do much at all. And then there's Earl Grey Tea, which is more relaxing than anything else, but does have a bit of caffeine. Then there's good ol' Lady Grey, which has caffeine and will give me a pick-me-up, but not keep me up all night. And then there's Irish Tea... which is pretty much like a Caffeine Fairy coming up behind you and smacking you in the back of the head."

Over AIM (After listening to soundbites from Corey Feldman's 1999 album out of curiosity)
Me: So, Corey Feldman's music? Creepiest shit I've ever heard.
[a few lines later]
Me: It's like meditation/elevator/creepy music.
Christina: lol
Me: Serah was like, "If there's any heavy breathing you're closing that link!"
Me: And there was!!!!
Christina: LOL
Me: So I did.

After taking a wrong exit on the highway while driving with Christina and trying to find our way back to Chester from Haverhill.
Me: "Just think of Mark Wahlberg and everythin will be okay."
Christina: "Everything is okay... but let's think about him anyway."

Added Friday Afternoon
Over AIM (not exactly quoted)
Christina: I just almost had a heart attack I just got so excited.
Me: ?
Me: Naked Mark?
Christina: Timmy's phone can text again!
Me: Ooh.
Christina: Just kinda all the sudden
Me: Even better
Christina: Naked Mark?
Me: Wahlberg.
Christina: Oh. I'd be excited for that too.

Head Underwater...

... and they tell me to breathe easy for a while.

So the song doesn't really describe my life, but that one line kind of does.
This is the first full week of classes and I'm trying to get into the swing of things and trying not to let myself procrastinate. If you don't start a bad habit, you don't have to break it, right?
I feel a little overwhelmed by classwork right now. I have a lot of reading to do for all of them and there's only so much reading you can do before your eyes stop cooperating. And I have to draw for Graphic Design, and drawings never feel finished... kind of like stories. I'm forever editing and re-working things. I'm just afraid of falling behind.
And my class schedule isn't ideal. My earliest class is at 10:30 a.m., which isn't even really that early, and my only night class is on Thursdays from 6 to 8:50, so the time isn't so bad. But I don't see my friends as much as I'd like because our schedules don't match up and we all have work to do. I feel a little detached from people, a little isolated. So that's not so good.
That's pretty much life right now.

Life's Like an Hourglass

So, classes start tomorrow. I have Art History II at 10:30 and Graphic Design I at 4. I have no books yet because I'm poor. Never a good time.

I'm looking forward to Advanced Fiction and Intro to Existentialism, although they're both on Thursday, which is going to be my most insane day. Hopefully I'll get some good writing accomplished this semester. I've been in a slump the past few months.

I have an urge to make silly youtube videos soon. I don't know what of, but some kind of parody I hope.

RIP Heath Ledger<--- heard about that in the middle of writing this blog. :(

Here We Are Again

I'm back at Chester. Once again, it's like I never left.

Classes start Wednesday. I still need books I can't afford. We'll see how I manage to pull that off.

That's about it for now.

Cheers.

As Vacation Comes to an End

... I am possibly getting a cold. Figures, I had 4 weeks to get sick and I do it right before going back to school.

Well, Jamie and Serah came over this past weekend and we had some quality giggling, which was good.

I've been watching Season 1 of The Tudors. Not sure how I feel about it yet.

I'm getting ready to go back to Chester and resume the chaos.

My Winter Break So Far

I know I haven't updated this in forever, but only because I haven't been doing much worth talking about. I haven't gone to some lovely vacation spot like Miami or the Bahamas; I haven't gone anywhere at all since I don't have a car and it's too freezing most of the time to walk; I have worked (one day) so that's some money, anyway.

But I have been writing, which is always good. And I've been watching a lot of movies, playing video games, and listening to music. So here are some reviews and opinions. There are a few so I'll keep them brief.

Catch and Release (movie starring Jennifer Garner and Timothy Olyphant)
I have to say, although I wasn't too eager to watch this until it was on TV at 2 a.m. when nothing else was on, this was the first movie in a long time that I thoroughly enjoyed. The story was original and the characters were realistic. The casting was great, and the performances reflected that. I especially enjoyed seeing Timothy Olyphant play a character that wasn't evil or psychotic. And then when you throw Kevin Smith in the mix of anything, it can't possibly suck.

Tomb Raider: Anniversary (video game for xbox 360)
I love Tomb Raider, and Lara is the opitomy of the strong female character. But this game was a big disappointment for me. I played Angel of Darkness on Playstation 2, and although the game pissed me off with its glitches and such, I did like the storyline and the overall idea of it. It was a good play, even if it was frustrating and graphically challenged. But then I played Legend on xbox and was completely blown away. Lara looked more realistic and was normally proportioned; the scenary was absolutely beautiful; Lara moved smoothly; and you got to drive the motorcycle! And lets not forget the outfits and all the worthwhile unlockables. That game had definite replayability. But Anniversary has almost no story, barely any fighting, no driving, and Lara (no offence to my favorite globetrotter) looks like she should be spinning around a different kind of poll, if you catch my meaning. There was just no thought put into this game other than, "What's the most complicated possible way we can think of to get this door open?" My over-all analysis: Sure, it may look pretty and move smoothly, but that's about all this game has to offer.

Garden State (Motion Picture Soundtrack)
I know it's been out for a while now, but I've just managed to scrounge up the money to buy it. I love every song on this soundtrack. Totally worth the money. "Listen to these songs. They'll change your life."

That's it for now. Enjoy!