Thursday, November 30, 2006

"Blessed is That Man Who Has Found His Work"

Today is the Feast of Adonis. For those unaware, Adonis' mother, Smyrna, tricked her own father into sleeping with her, and then when he figured out and she ran, a god turned her into a tree. Nine months later, the bark on the tree peeled back and a baby emerged. That's Adonis. Aphrodite took the baby and asked Persephone to raise him, and he grew up to be so beautiful that Aphrodite wanted him back and Persephone, in a weird Oedipal moment, wanted to keep him. They fought and then brought the matter to Zeus, who decided that Adonis could spend a third of the year with each goddess and the last third with whichever of the two he preferred. He naturally preferred Aphrodite (Persephone was like his MOM). He and Aphrodite had a daughter but then he died because he was attacked by a boar, and Aphrodite turned him into an anenome.

Moral of this story: Beautiful people have weird family situations and die young, the Greeks liked the idea of sleeping with their mothers, and all problems can be solved by turning into a plant.

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I met with my therapist today. She gave me an assignment, like usual. Luckily this homework is easier than last session's assignment, "Have a conversation with Incredibly Hot Guy, even if it's just three sentences"- I didn't accomplish this. The conversation was two sentences. This is not to say that this new assignment is easy. It is "list all your positive qualities." This is impossible, naturally, because to list all the ways I am awesome would take years.

No, not really. It's actually hard because I feel like I'm bragging every time I say something nice about myself. Thus, here is my list:

1. I have, thus far, not killed anything larger than a guinea pig (a duckling is smaller than a guinea pig, right?)
2. Cameras and mirrors have never broken when looking at me. Cameras break when I point them at other stuff.
3. I am not allergic to peas.
4. If I'm ever cornered by a mad ax murderer (as opposed to the sane ax murderers that wander around), and they say, "I'll let you live- if you answer one question: How much does Jean Grey weigh?" I'll be able to say, "115 lbs!" and save myself. I expect this to happen at least three times next week.
5. I could write a book on Greek mythology. No one would read it. It would sit on a shelf in a library and/or my friends' coffee tables and collect dust. It would, however, be an excellent conversation piece and/or paperweight. I would get to act all snooty, like "I've written a book" and my friends would have to make sure it was out when I came over, or I'd get all insulted...

(Don't worry, that's not what I'm telling her. You just don't want to hear me try to be nice to myself. Or maybe you do. I'll stick the real list in my LJ later tonight.)

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In other news, I was getting into the cab to come back from the therapist's office today when I got a call from TJ Maxx asking me to come in for an interview. Nice. That's 11 AM on Saturday. Less than an hour later- I kid you not- someone from Vector Marketing, a company I know nothing about except that they're hiring students and I applied, called and asked to set up an appointment. The caller was somewhat pushy and the next thing I knew I had a ninety-minute appointment interview at 2:30, meaning it will end right at four. That was when I was supposed to go to Macy's for that interview. One somewhat frantic call to Macy's later, I had a completely booked Saturday, from 11:00 to 6:00.

I mentioned that I had job interviews coming up in Group today and they kinda walked me through questions I should ask, which was good, because I so need a job. And only partially because I'm broke. In large part it is because my mother was incredibly disapproving of my lack of a summer job. I believe my not having a Christmas job would result in immediate banishment from her presence.

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Speaking of disapproving: Disapproving Rabbits. Very amusing. Kept me occupied for a whole half hour or so.

There is other stuff to do now.

Wednesday, November 29, 2006

"Your Deeds Today Will Be Your Memories Tomorrow"

Today is the Fili Saturni, a festival to honor the sons of Saturn/Cronus- Jupiter/Zeus, Neptune/Poseidon, and Pluto/Hades.

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I am sick. My throat kills and I generally feel like I'm falling apart. This also means that while I am STARVING, I can't actually eat, because my throat's too sore. This is NOT COOL. I need chicken noodle Ramen...

I was trying to choke down lunch today (luckily there was scampi, which was soft and oily so easy to handle) with Libentra, and we were approached (in the cafeteria, mind you) by an overly bubbly salesgirl who was offering a promotional deal to the first 100 girls who signed up. The deal was for a spa in Portsmouth, and it was for a hair analysis, style consultation, design cut, shampoo, and style, deep conditioning treatment, scalp massage, eyebrow shaping, manicure, pedicure, hand paraffin treatment, face-framing highlights, color gloss (no idea what this is, sounds like they spray-paint you, or maybe your car), light therapy treatment, skin analysis, and ultra sound corrective facial.

So it's pretty pricey, right? I mean, that's a lot of stuff. I know a manicure is like $15 and a facial can be like $60... No. It was $38. For the whole thing (well, excluding tips). I mean, like, damn. Good deal. So I'm thinking I know quite a few ladies who wouldn't mind some of this stuff, like my mom, my sister, and some of my friends (Candida would mind horribly, but besides her), and since it's Christmastime and all, I figured, eh, why not, and I bought it.

Now, naturally, I'm sitting here debating the choice... because I never make a impetuous decision without debating it six ways from Sunday after the fact. But I have decided not to regret this choice. I refuse. At least not until I call the spa to make an appointment and discover that I've been scammed or something. But they have a website, which validates the offer somewhat...

Meh. Worst happens, the salesgirl uses the credit card number and robs me, and then discovers that it's got a $500 limit on purchases so it was a waste of time.

That's NOT my Christmas present, though. That's just a nice thing I want to do for people. I still have Christmas shopping to do. I can't really do it yet, though, because I want to make sure I have a job and figure out how much I'll be earning before I start spending money. And yes, I know that I'm broke and I shouldn't have bought the spa thing, but honestly, it's probably worth it and more.

Oh, and by the way, if anyone knows someone who highlights their hair (with something besides henna), someone who might want to get face-framing highlights for free, let me know. Or, you know, if you feel you particularly deserve something on the above list (and are female). I haven't a clue what some of them are, anyway, you're welcome to those.

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A new word, which I am trying to get into common usage: mythologic, n. 1. The alternative form of logic, involving much leaping, that is used in mythology. 2. An oxymoron.

This is due to two conversations I was in today, in myth class and then in latin, both unrelated but along the same vein. The first discussed the logic of Leda having sex with a man and a swan in the same night, but all four of her children- two from each father- being born from eggs. Even the mortal ones. That was in myth class.

In Latin, we're translating Ovid's "Midas" from the Metamorphoses, and in the discussion of the god Dionysus and his role, the professor mentioned the story about Semele, Dionysus' mother, dying, and how Zeus sewed the unborn Dionysus into his thigh. One of the brighter (sarcasm here) students, a young man named for a city, asked, "Wait- is that logical? Like, could that happen biologically?"

Yes, honey. It's really possible for a man to deliver a child by sewing him into his thigh. Riiiiiight. Can we get some sex ed in here, stat!?

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I was saddened somewhat by the news that Blue Eyes won't be continuing in Latin next semester. Not that I'm definitely going into the class he would have taken anyway. Blue Eyes, by the way, is the young man who sits next to me in class. His eyes are very, very blue (hence the moniker). You will find that while I name friends and girls I talk about a lot by Latin names, like "Tacita" or "Libentra," I give Native-American-esque names to the guys that I'm not friends with but talk about semi-frequently. Hence names like "Blue Eyes." Or "Incredibly Hot Guy," who's in most of my classes and lives on my floor.

By the way, Blue Eyes is a nice guy, who has actually occasionally tried to talk to me, which is why I'm kinda saddened that he doesn't like Latin enough to continue. It's not just for the eyes. I'm not shallow... all the time.

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Well, that's about it for today, I guess. I have a lab report to finish and then the pre-lab, and I have to work on that miserable poem. I'm about halfway done at this point, I think. I still need Libentra to check it over, though, and scan it to let me know if it sounds iambic enough. That poem shall be the death of me.

16 Days until Break!

Tuesday, November 28, 2006

"A Different World Cannot Be Built By Indifferent People"

Today is the Egyptian feast of Hathor-Sekhmet. As in, Egyptian celebration of the fertility goddess Hathor. So pretty standard fertility rites. Knock yourselves out.

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I have this really bad habit of eavesdropping, which is to say that I have a bad habit of not not listening, and consequently overhearing stuff that was not intended for my ears. This is especially true for when my roommates have phone conversations in the room when I'm studying. It's not that I'm trying to overhear, I just do.

Anyway, normally nothing of interest is said, but last night Loquatia was talking on the phone with her mother, and she described this movie she'd seen in sociology about transgendered people, and I got the distinct impression that she was seriously questioning the tenets of her Christian faith regarding them. She was calling to ask her mother what Christians were supposed to think about people who despite their biological gender, considered themselves the opposite gender from a very young age. As in, long before it could be a result of rebelliousness or something.

This struck me for two reasons: first, that she needed to call her mother to know what to think. That's the only problem I have with religion: some followers believe that all their thoughts have to be dictated by the faith. But more important, I think, is that she was thinking about transgenderation to begin with. That's why we're at college- to learn and to broaden our horizons. If Loquatia could come out of school with doubts about the validity of anti-transgender claims, then clearly her education was worth it. Whatever the pastor may say.

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Countdown to Christmas Break: 17 Days.

I'm working on my final project for Myth, the epic poem in iambic pentameter. It's due Now, "And you did in distress no more sing sweet" may be iambic pentameter (or close), but it's lousy grammar... See, I wrote the whole thing first, a seventy-line poem about Orpheus and Eurydice, in something vaguely resembling pentameter, at least, if not iambs. Now I'm going through and carefully correcting each line to the proper meter. So "Who swiftly to Hades Hermes did take" becomes "Who swift to Hades Hermes Guide did take" and the aforementioned line was originally the much more logical-sounding "And you in sadness no more did sing sweet."

Writing seventy lines of poetry in rhyming couplets took me half an hour. Correcting the first nine of those lines to something close to iambic pentameter took me an hour and a half.

It's gonna be a fun week.

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Some bright individual has either abandoned an egg salad sandwich in a particularly secretive spot, or exploded a stink bomb on the main stairwell. It smells SO BAD. Nasty. I really hope they live in this dorm, so they have to deal with the effects of this prank like the rest of us...

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Loquatia is listening to a Christian Radio talk show, right now, and they're telling a story- it's for kids, but she grew up on it and she loves it. It's weird, though. They're telling the story of this family that gets robbed on Christmas Eve and how they "pull together with the spirit of Christmas" and sit around reading the Bible about the birth of Jesus.

Now, I dunno about you, but if I had a family and was robbed on Christmas Day, I'd give my kids a hug and call up Auntie Shrewd or someone, tell her what happened, get the turkey out of the fridge (because no one would steal a raw turkey, I mean, come on) and go celebrate at her house, then replace the gifts a few days later. I certainly wouldn't expect my kids to sit around while I told them Nativity stories.

This is why I don't like Christian talk radio.

Speaking of the birth of Jesus, I have decided that I want to see The Nativity Story, when it comes out in theaters. I'm not Christian but I like that story, and it looks like they took an interesting approach to it, focusing on Joseph and Mary's views of the situation rather than rambling on about the glory of God. The problem is that I haven't a clue who I'd go with: I don't go to movies alone, and my usual movie buddy, Shrewd, most likely doesn't want to go to a Christmas movie. Also, whoever I go with would have to deal with my after-movie discussion, so that rules out anyone who is particularly sensitive to having a heathen discuss their faith. Which rules out my dad, who is just now starting to regret not raising us Congregationalist. I think it was the conversation Shrewd and I had about selling our souls to the Devil.

Maybe my mom would go with me.

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Now I have to go read for Myth. We're supposed to read Book 1, 2, and 3 in the Iliad. One problem: We weren't given the Iliad. We were given the Odyssey. So I have to go buy a book. And I'm doing that now, because the talk radio has switched to someone ranting about how we'd all go to hell if not for the grace of God, and we don't deserve anything that God gives us, and how we're all inherently a bunch of lustful, slothful, greedy liars. The latter part may be true, but honestly, I can only take so much preaching...

Monday, November 27, 2006

"You Will Be Blessed With Longevity"

Well, it's official. Loquatia's moving out. She's moving a whole three doors down the hall. You know, for the change of scenery.

No word on Tacita's plans yet- she might still be leaving the hall. But she might not. I wouldn't mind horribly, though, if she stayed. Tacita's nice, she's quiet, and she goes to bed early, doesn't get drunk, and goes home on the weekends a lot. We're not close friends but we get along. At least that's my veiw of it; I could be her Seabass for all I know.

Of course, if she IS planning on moving out, to join her friends at Englehardt, some advance notice would be nice, so I could actually meet my roommate-to-be before January. I'm just saying.

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Anyway... the school year's winding down. Next week I turn in my last assignment for the Biology Careers lecture; there's obviously no exam in there. My lab practicals are next week too. Then the week after next is Finals: Latin and Biology on Tuesday, one right after another; then Chem on Thursday at EIGHT IN THE MORNING, an ungodly hour I have been avoiding all semester. Wrap it up with Mythology on Friday, only that one isn't in the morning as would be advantageous (so I could go home); no, it ends at three. Great.

Countdown to Christmas Break: 18 Days.

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I am, apparently, the awesomeness, due to my mastery of the art of procrastination. This was stated by Libentra when she complained about freshman who feel the need to get work done weeks in advance. She's got a kinda sucky situation with her lab group, who insisted that since they had started to work on the lab weeks in advance, long before the TA

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Me: I hope we don't start studying DNA in Bio. I hate DNA.

Libentra: Yes, well, maybe DNA hates you too. *Pause* I mean, obviously.

Me: Okay, yeah, I knew THAT was coming....

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Oh, and remember how last night Mummy and I had to turn around on the road and go back to get something I forgot? Well, I didn't get everything I forgot. Because there is this law that says Basio must forget one important thing every time she leaves the house. Last time it was my sneakers and my wallet. This time it's my mouth guard. Which is much worse, because I'm so used to wearing it that I can't fall asleep without it. And unlike most things I could have left behind, it's not easily replaceable. Grr.

This has caused me to add "proximity tags" to my Christmas list. Daddy was talking about them- they keep you from loosing stuff, like cell phones and wallets and keys and poorly attached heads...

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Guess what? Macy's wants me to interview! As in, I might get the job! As in, I might get a job! This is good!

I have to go back this weekend to interview. This is not so good. Not entirely sure how that's gonna work out. But oh well. I'm still glad they liked me enough to call me back.

Sunday, November 26, 2006

I did have a fortune, from the sushi place, but I forgot it

Well, Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. Few days late or not. I was going to post something Thursday, but honestly, there's not that much of interest to say about Thanksgiving. Much of the day was spent alternating between watching the Eureka marathon on the SciFi channel and setting the table, eating, clearing the table, and forcing the boys to help me clean so Mummy didn't have to do all the work after cooking.

Daddy spent most of the day watching football with Grandpa, an activity he only does with Grandpa. Because he's really not that into football, at least not watching other people play it. My dad's a bit of a geek. So whatever he might claim, I could totally see that he'd infinitely prefer to be watching science fiction with his daughter than football with his father. Oh well. He took a break in the afternoon to watch a few episodes of the marathon.

Poor Daddy. He's trying so hard.

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Meanwhile, on Wednesday night, The Shrewd One let me play The Sims 2 on her computer in exchange for internet access on mine. We had a bit off a party on the living room floor. I have determined this: I should not play the Sims 2, because I get too upset when I hit the wrong button and my Sim hugs the wrong Sim and her Sim-boyfriend is mad for like FOREVER and cries all the time like a computer-generated nancy-boy. I, of course, feel horribly upset despite the fact that they are slightly creepy looking people on a computer screen.

But she let me keep playing until I fixed the problem, and as of last night, when I last played, my Sims were engaged to be married. Nice. I think I need to get that game.

Quote: "I think I know how God feels." ~Me, when my sister turned off the Free Will option on the game and asked me if I preferred it that way

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Friday I was going to job-hunt, starting at like noon, then as soon as I finished eating, then as soon as I finished reading my book that I got distracted by, then as soon as I finished helping Mummy load the Christmas dishes into the hutch, then as soon as I could find someone to go with me, because I freak out in crowds and I really didn't want to go alone. But Grandpa can't walk very well and wouldn't want to go anyway, and Mummy was working- she's ALWAYS working- and The Shrewd One was entertaining Grandpa and Daddy wanted me to see who else was going.

And when I told Shrewd that I was asking her along because I was concerned about having a panic attack, she rolled her eyes at me, which made me feel fabulous.

I know, that sounds kinda selfish- I'm tearing them away from what they're doing to help me. But I really, really don't want to deal with day-after-Thanksgiving crowds at the malls without at least one familiar face around...

And in the end, I didn't even wind up going to the mall, I just went to one of the local strip malls and applied at TJ Maxx. I was gonna apply at Lindt but they weren't hiring any more. Saturday I checked a bunch of places but only wound up applying to Sears, Macy's, and JC Penney's. I wanted to apply to Old Navy but their computer thing was being weird, and the application for Bath and Body Works is sitting at home where it is absolutely useless...

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I didn't spend nearly enough time with my grandfather over Thanksgiving, because I've got a sore throat and random headaches, and I was concerned about transmitting them. Also because the sore throat meant I couldn't talk loud enough for him to hear me.

So... Saturday after job-hunting The Shrewd and I got sushi and then picked up Candida, a mutual friend whom both of us know from Girl Scouts ("Candida" means honest and straightforward, which she is, and it also means white, which she definitely is. Lots of Nordic heritage in that one). With her in tow we went to see Happy Feet, a cute movie with plenty of good music, which made up for it's totally illogical nature. Then on the way out, who did we run into but Mistake, Closer, and KT Mack, off to see the new Bond movie. Go figure.

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Today, pretty much all I did was laundry and the homework needed for my group lab report. We were really late getting off, first because I confused the times and thought my dorm wasn't opening until five, when in fact it was open much earlier- like one or so. So my dad couldn't take me to get here at five because he had to drop off The Shrewd and my grandfather in their respective Massachusetts locations and then drive to Connecticut for a week-long business thing. Then I was going to hitch a ride with Mistake's family but I had a lot of stuff, having done a lot of laundry, and I was concerned that they'd be leaving so early that I'd have to stash my junk in Mistake's room or something and haul it across campus later. So Mummy took me back here.

But in the end it was probably for the best, because I think it would have been a pain for Mistake's family to deal with all my junk anyway. Especially Ajax and Deiphobus, who came home with me.

Anyway, we were intending to leave at 4:00 to get here at five, but The Brother was late getting back, and then we were going to leave without him but he swore it would only be a half-hour and Mummy wanted to touch base with him. But it was not a half-hour. It was like an hour. We finally left, and then I realized a few minutes into the drive that I was missing something, and we turned around and went to get it- and then his girlfriend dropped him off at last.

Turns out they went for a walk. Without warning Mummy. Grr.

OH! But I know her! The girlfriend, that is. She was a sorta-friend of mine back in high school- I hung out with her before school. She knew Mistake through the band. She used to complain to me that my brother was annoying, like kicking the back of her seat on the band bus or drumming or sticking stuff in her hair. Guess that was flirting.

Boys are weird.

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And guess what?

I FOUND THE PHONE.

As in, that stupid goddamn cell phone that I got to replace the one I lost, and then I lost the new one, and in looking for the new one found the old one. Now, I have both the new one and the old one, which I've been using.

My reaction when I found it was something along the lines of: "Oh, you have GOT to be KIDDING me! I can't BELIEVE this! All this time in the goddamn SOFA cushions! You- I- it- ARGH! ARGHY ARGH ARGH!"

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Oh well. I have to go study or unpack or something....

Saturday, November 25, 2006

Turkey Comas

I'm not dead.

I just am not particularly interested in writing right now, as I have other distractions.

Sorry...

Wednesday, November 22, 2006

Home Is Where The Humor Is

The Brother has a GIRLFRIEND!

Or, rather, a lady friend. Whom he is taking to see Blue Man Group for Christmas. This is good because it means we're all going- all the family. Yes, I am aware how odd it is that all the family is going on The Brother's date. But come on. It's BLUE MAN GROUP.

This lady friend was met through the band, it seems, and she is a SENIOR. This tells me two things: one, the brother likes older women, which makes me giggle. Two, the band is the ultimate source of significant others for high school students. Though I'm pretty sure Mistake's own dating history could have told me that. Heh.

The fact that she's a senior also means that The Brother might have to go to prom with her, a concept that makes me giggle almost as much as the fact that he likes older women. The only drawback is that despite the enormous amounts I was mocked for MY first significant other, we are not permitted to tease The Brother in any way, for fear that we will traumatize him sufficiently that he will not continue to date young ladies. This is a horrible fear of my mother's.

He's met her parents. They're going to the Symphony this Friday.

Insert uproarious laughter here, followed by silly dancing and raucous giggling.

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Anyway, today Daddy and I drove down to Brandeis to retrieve The Shrewd One, and I got to see her suite, which was pretty cool. She has a legit kitchen. These seniors and their fancy housing with cheap plaster walls.

Shrewd One in tow, we all drove to the T station and took the T to Fenway, from where we intended to walk to the Museum of Fine Arts. However, we wound up walking the complete opposite direction. Forty minutes later, we finally arrived at the Museum, for two hour's exploration of the European Masters and the American Art exhibits. I love the European Masters; "Automedon and the Horses of Achilles" by Henri Regnault is one of my favorites.

We ate an overpriced lunch at the museum; post MFA, and post a MUCH shorter walk back to the Fenway station (like ten minutes), we took the T back to the car and drove to Plymouth to pick up my grandfather. He, of course, had baked two pies for tomorrow. Grandpa always brings pie.

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The car ride how was less than comfortable, as I was crammed up in the front seat with it pushed all the way forward to accommodate my grandfather's long legs. Consequently, I started out in a ladylike knees-to-the-side pose and wound up in the slightly less ladylike feet-on-the-dashboard-knees-in-my-face pose. Oh well. I try. Or I'm trying, not sure which one it was.

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Once at home, we had a pretty simple evening; Bones wasn't on tonight, which made me sad. So The Shrewd One and I watched A Prairie Home Companion. Okay, POINTLESS movie. One good song, though: "Bad jokes, lord I love 'em, bad jokes, can't get enough of 'em..." Example: "Hey, Lefty, what do you get when you cross holy water with castor oil?" "What, Dusty?" "A religious movement!"

Still, I recommend skipping the actual movie and finding the clip of that song on YouTube or something.

Now, we're playing Sims 2 Nightlife. Which is WAY more engaging than this, sorry...

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

My Throat Hurts.

7:00 AM: Alarm clock goes off for the first time. It plays static, as I still haven't bothered to change it to a local radio station. I hit it and it shuts up.

7:15: It goes off again. I hit it again. Loquatia rolls out of bed and starts getting ready for class.

7:30: The actual alarm goes off, with annoying buzzing. I hit it again.

7:45: Goes off again. Hit it again. Wonder briefly before slipping into unconsciousness how much Tacita, sleeping above me, must hate me right now.

8:00-9:00: Alarm goes off every fifteen minutes; at some point, Tacita gets up and leaves.

9:00: I finally roll out of bed. This two-hour wake-up is why I'm fairly certain my neighbors have no qualms about playing their annoyingly loud video games at all hours of the night.

9:30: Having read my morning comics, while bundled up in my comforter since it's FREEZING, I go to shower.

10:00: Done showering. Horrible water pressure this morning. I get dressed quickly, then check my email.

10:20: Breakfast. I can call it that because it's still morning.

10:40: Start packing up stuff to go home. We have to unplug everything, including appliances, before we can leave. Plus I'm bringing home my laundry, including my sheets and blanket. And two pillows, because last time I went home I realized that all my good pillows were at school. And my school books. And attire suitable for job-hunting. Because that's how I'm spending most these four days- except for Thursday, when everything's closed, I'm going to be looking for a job for Christmas break.

11:20: Already packed and now bored. Try to find stuff to do online.

11:21: Out of stuff to do online...

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I didn't want to study any more- I felt there wasn't much more chemistry I could cram in, and I didn't really need to study for Latin. So I was really, really bored. I swept the floor. I wandered around the room and checked stuff. I started writing a journal entry, but it got too long and now I'm rewriting it... yesterday's post was pretty long, let's not prolong it any more.

But I think I did okay on the tests, despite my miserable grade on the last Bio test he handed back. 74. Yikes. I felt really ready for this test, though, for one simple reason: the professor gave us EVERYTHING we could POSSIBLY need to know for the exam at the review session last night. It was somewhat ridiculous, actually; he had a copy of the test in his hand and he was doing sample problems for each one. I knew not only what was going to be one the test, but in what order. Not complaining, though. Not at all.

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Last night I got an IM from a girl in my Bio lab section, saying she'd have to move the meeting to 3:45 because of work. I was like, "what meeting," which is never a good sign... There's this group lab report in Bio, on plant cloning, that we're working on. I don't have to do anything but compile the data, which is good; I'm so horrible at Lab that I think they decided I shouldn't be allowed to write anything myself. But apparently there was a meeting today to make sure I got everything from them.

Oops.

I was kinda planning on going home, remember? Well, that changed, I had to call my mom and have her tell Daddy to pick me up at 4:30 at the earliest. Bummer. Little change in plans.

And, to make matters worse, when the girl IMed me, she informed me that she couldn't actually get in touch with anyone else in our little group, because I was the only one who had provided her with my screen name. Either that or she got it off Facebook, I'm not sure. Anyway, I happened to have one other screen name, so I sent that guy a note about the change in time, but the last member in our group was completely inaccessible. I sent him an email at the address he gave me but it bounced back, and my normal stalker-routes on Facebook yielded nothing. So I went over to the library at the time we were supposed to meet originally, 3:00, and I sat down, intending to just plain wait and tell him of the rescheduling when he arrived.

BUT someone else had told him of the rescheduling when they happened to run into him. So total waste of time. Grr.

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Daddy picked me up right on time, and after five- yes, five- trips back and forth up 2 flights of stairs between my room and the car outside, I was ready to go. Got home and watched Stargate, Dead Like Me, and House. I've missed television. My only exposure to it is CNN or Fox News in the cafeteria, and I ignore Fox News.

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I just want to say one thing before I shut up and go to bed: Just once, just once, I want to see a teenager on House that doesn't use drugs, has never used drugs, doesn't have sex, has never had sex, and is an all-around good-kid, but gets sick anyway. Because not only do those "good kids" exist, they're just as capable of getting weird obscure diseases as the druggie sex addicts. At least, most of the weird diseases. But honestly, as much as I love House, I have NEVER seen a teenager on this show who wasn't secretly having sex or doing drugs. Or openly having sex or doing drugs. Whatever.

There are kids out there who are not Dungeons and Dragons types or uber-religious but who don't have sex or do drugs. I know this because I'm one of them, and my best friend is another, and her boyfriend is another, and KT Mack, my friend from high school whom you can find a link to on the sidebar, is yet another. And I bet any of us could contract a horrible genetic disease that we didn't know about and wind up with like 20 different symptom diseases. But you won't see us on House, because we're not examples of how today's youth is a bunch of sex-obsessed potheads.

Uhm, God? Hi. It's me. Uh... please ignore that previous statement. I really don't want any of my friends to contract a horrible genetic disease. Especially since I'm the one with a parent who's adopted and consequently has no medical history for his biological family, so if anyone's getting a horrible genetic disease, it's gonna be me...

Monday, November 20, 2006

They Were Out Of Fortune Cookies. It Was Sad.

It's just another Mercatus day on the Roman-holiday front. Don't worry, there's some good holidays later this week. Of course, those of you using the holidays to get out of class/work/whatever will ask, "Gee, what good is that? Thanksgiving is this week, anyway!" But oh well. Sorry 'bout that.

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My Chemistry professor, a fairly young man for whom this is his first semester both teaching, and out of graduate school, came to class with a baseball cap this morning; this was not particularly out of the ordinary, despite it's dorky backwards status, as he tends to dress on the "youthful" side. Nevertheless, the reason for the hat quickly became apparent to those of us in the front row, as bits of black hair were peeping out from under it.

Last Friday, he was a blond.

So the truth was gradually teased out of him (oo, double entendre!); there had been a bit of an accident involving hair dye, you see. He wasn't very specific. But judging by his Facebook pictures, and what I can derive as the usual weekend proceedings for this man, I have this to say:

Learn from this story, kids. Never drink and dye.

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In other news, I managed to finagle my schedule so as to have no classes on Wednesday, and I'm going home tomorrow. This means that technically I could go home with Make A Mistake and her dad at 8:30 pm tonight, if we could work it out; however, that's like five hours after my last class and Closer's going too, so the car might be a bit cramped. Instead, my daddy's picking me up somewhere between 3:00 and 5:00, depending on when his car tuneup is over.

The Shrewd One, my sister, shall be retrieved on Wednesday. My grandfather is arriving on Wednesday or Thursday. Then there shall be turkey. Much turkey.

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I'm going to be having clothing issues tomorrow, I know it. We're still conserving water here, as a part of a competition to see which dorm can be the most energy-efficient, and I figured I should wait until I get home before I clean the laundry. This is especially true because I think my dorm's winning, and we get a pizza party.

Never say no to free food, unless it's in the hands of a creepy leering guy or it's cafeteria food.

Anyway, the issue arises in that I have no socks and no clean pants. So I guess I'll smell tomorrow.

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Speaking of which, a girl I know was sitting by me in class today and OH MY GOD HER BREATH SMELLED SO BAD. It was like she hadn't brushed in FOREVER. But I couldn't figure out how to discreetly like, offer her mint gum or something, because I had just put mine in as she sat down, so it would invovle throwing out perfectly good gum on the pretense of it being too "stale" and then getting a new piece and offering one to her. And then I would have had to press the issue if she'd refused... So I tried not to breath in when she talked. But honestly, what do you DO in that situation?

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My friend Libentra (I guess I can call her that; we have almost all the same classes and consequently eat together and do homework together a lot, and I think she's introduced me as her friend once or twice) and I grabbed lunch together, which really meant that she got a glass of lemonade and waited for me to finish eating so we could go work on our Latin translation together. She eats earlier on Mondays. Anyway, Libentra and I were sitting together and then Rachel's friends started coming over... first a guy who I've met before, he eats with us a lot... then two girls I didn't know... then ANOTHER girl I didn't know... By the time I finished my cheese enchilada lasagna (cafeteria food is WEIRD), the table was full.

This is why I need to hang out with Libentra more. She attracts friends like a lamp attracts moths, minus the zappy doom at the end. Most of the time, anyway.

Alas, a side effect of a table full of people that all know each other but not me is that they try to talk to me, because I'm the new thing; I consequently have to actually talk to them, and the shyness kicks in and I start saying the one-word answers or worse, sound stupid because I'm nervous. BUT. I did talk! I had an actual conversation about RAs (two of the girls were RAs) and how they have to go into people's rooms and check to make sure everything's unplugged during the break (and the stupidity of people leaving alcohol bottles lying around). I actually contributed, not a lot but some, to the conversation and I didn't get really nervous or anything.

I'm quite proud of myself. I'll have to remember this and mention it at Group.

It's a little weird at Group, because I'm so much worse off than the rest of the kids there. They're all talking about how they can't say no or they talk too much or they don't know how to talk about the important things. I can talk about the important things, it's the small talk that gets me. And because I'm trying so hard, I almost always have something positive to report... but it's like, "I talked to my lab partners in Bio about something not related to the lab" or "I talked to a guy I know from class... outside of class!" So I'm sure the other kids in Group are sitting there scratching their heads thinking, Damn, how bad off IS this girl? But I'm giving myself positive reinforcement. I have to take life one step at a time, and if that step is the difference between a one-word answer and a five-word answer, I'm gonna celebrate it.

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But. I have to study. I have a Chem test at noon tomorrow and a Latin test immediately after it. Latin I'm not worried about, I'm better off than most of my classmates- but Chem is evilness. Next time I write, I'll be at HOME!

Sunday, November 19, 2006

"Be Direct, Usually One Can Accomplish More That Way"

It would be the Mercatus, today, were we Ancient Romans. A Mercatus was a day involving markets and fairs. But we aren't Ancient Romans. So no fairs. Bummer.

By the way, for those of you wondering why I post a Roman holiday here, it's because I love that the Romans have more holidays than normal days, and every day that they had a holiday of any sort, I intend to let you know, so you can call out of work on account of it being a "religious holiday" or something. I don't think a Mercatus would work very well... but there are better ones, I promise.

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Okay, total twilight zone moment today. Guess where my roommate Tacita went to preschool? Applewood. As in, the same Applewood where MakeaMistake and I went kindergarten together. The same Applewood I went to for after-school care right up to sixth grade, then volunteered at until I was 16, then worked at until the start of senior year of high school. That Applewood. And considering that she's over a year younger than me, it's very, very possible that she was in preschool while I was in kindergarten there.

How weird is that?

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Our RA has a board up that he updates every once in a while, and right now the theme is "What are you thankful for?" There's a section for each room to write what they're thankful for. Ignoring the person who stated he was thankful for "boobies," the current most interesting entry is the one for the lounge at the end of the hall (it's a triple that's been turned into a quad, and one of the inhabitants is a guy I know from high school). One of the guys inhabiting that lounge stated that they were thankful for another inhabitant, whom I shall refer to as Cute Lounge Inhabitant #2 (I'm assuming he's not thankful for himself, though I guess that's possible).

This is amusing in part because a guy said he was thankful for another guy and in part because I know of very few people who wouldn't be thankful for any of the inhabitants of that lounge. That room is like 80% attractive. It's somewhat disturbing.

I don't know if I'm thankful or not for that fact. Or the fact that that same percentage could most likely be applied to the males on this floor as a whole. Let me ponder this a while and get back to you. I'll just be over here... pondering cute guys...

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Mistake, Closer and I went to dinner together, interrupting my incredible studiousness that consisted of staring idly at the Chemistry assignment on my computer screen and wondering if I'd be that much worse off leaving this until the last minute like usual. I was perfectly happy to abandon the computer for HoCo (that's Holloway Commons to you non-UNH students). Plus, it's freezing cold out, like, might-snow-tonight cold, so I got to wear my nice coat for the first time this season!

I'm sure everyone (all females, at least) has garments of clothing that they absolutely love, clothes that they can put on and feel beautiful no matter what else they're wearing. That's what this coat is for me. It was a hand-me-down from my mother, and it's like a pea coat, only it comes to my knees. I guess it speaks something about my self-esteem that I feel beautiful only when I'm completely covered from neck to knees in a thick, woolen coat, but I love it.

Unfortunately, it's a little tight in the shoulders... But I will not be deterred in the wearing of this coat. I intend to wear this coat for the rest of my life. The day I get too fat for this coat is the day that I become anorexic, I swear.

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Closer, I have learned, has made himself a blog, so technically I should change his presence in my blog list from a link to his Myspace page to a link to his blog. But I won't. Not until he posts something. Even if it's stupid or short or a link to something else... I refuse to give someone a link to an empty page.

Also in my blog list is Psychokitty, who is notable in that that was my first introduction to blogging. And yes. Psychokitty is one of those "blog-from-my-cat's-point-of-view" blogs. It's also wicked funny and well written so you should read it anyway.

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Time to study again. I have to finish my Chemistry. In Soviet Russia, Chemistry finishes you... but there are times when I think that's true here as well.


Oh, and scroll down to the very bottom of the page... what do you think?

Saturday, November 18, 2006

"Accept the Next Proposition You Hear"*

In Ancient Rome, there would be a festival to Ceres today, and we wouldn't have to do anything. But it's Saturday, so I guess that's still kinda true.

I was not intending on waking up this morning, but apparently it wasn't my decision; my best friend MakeaMistake called me at 10:51, with an hour and nine minutes still to go before "morning" was officially over. My roommate Loquatia picked up the phone, and once she told me who it was and I stumbled out of bed, trying desperately to disentangle myself from the sheets, she proceeded to laugh at me and say, "You're so funny when you've just woken up."

Gee, thanks.

An alarming percentage of my Saturdays start about this way. Anyway, the call was inviting me to go eat with her and Closer at Holloway Commons, the main dining hall, so I naturally accepted despite the audacity that lead her to call it "lunch" instead of it's rightful name, "breakfast," considering it was the breaking of my fast, at least. She told me to meet them at 11:30. I talked her down to 12:00, pleading the need to shower.

By the time I returned from the horrible dorm showers (I got the one that actually produces hot water, yay) Loquatia had started to clean the room. I immediately felt bad, considering that my section is far and away the messiest. In my defense, though, Ajax and Deiphobus have been sick lately, most likely due to the poor quality of the water here, and I went to the pet store on Thursday to get them all new tank stuff with the hopes that it would be fungus-free. So strewn across the floor in my little corner there were all sorts of bags containing the old tank stuff, the remaining new tank stuff, and the stuff I'd used to clean the tank. I was going to clean that up today...

I told her so, in fact, but she kinda shrugged it off. She was kinda on a cleaning spree. I told her about three times before I left, and yet, when I got back this afternoon, she'd cleaned up my space. She'd also vacuumed our little rugs and swept the floor around them, but... my SPACE.

But I only have a little while longer before the new rooming situation and anyway, I'm non-confrontational. Besides, I'm sure she thought I'd appreciate it. And I did appreciate the carpet-cleaning and garbage-removal, it was getting kinda gross in here. There is a perpetual smell that can only be described as "funky." It might have been the combination of empty sushi plates and orange juice in the trash mixed in with the bleach from tank cleaning and my vanilla body spray, or it might not...

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Anyway, I did get to hang out with Mistake and Closer today; after eating we went over to Brooks, the movie place, and the Durham Marketplace, commonly called the DuMP. They're all in this one mall on the edge of campus, by the main drag. I needed to buy paper and, uhm, other stuff at Brooks, and meanwhile Closer was sent to pick out the movie of the day, which was decided to be The Perfect Man. We were gonna get another but there's not a lot of good movies out there right now, especially since Mistake and I would rather not see horror movies, action movies don't appeal to her, and dramas depress me. Besides, Closer always cries at sad movies and I have to make fun of him for being sensitive.

Post movie-renting, Mistake voted to go to the DuMP while we were there and get snack food so we weren't consuming all Closer's food during movie-viewing. And I saw A&W's Root Beer, which totally made my day, since I can't really have Barq's (caffeine is bad for me) and that's all the root beer you can usually find on campus.

Thus, laden with shopping bags, we trudged back to the wondrous Stoke Hall, where Closer and Mistake live (he's one floor down from her). Closer has a nice sized TV, or, rather, his roommate does, and we watched our chick flick. The movie was cute, though there were waaaay too many awkward moments, those moments when I have to wander out of the room because honestly, I don't want to see people in horribly embarrassing social situations... This is my issue with chick flicks. That and the fact that they depress me. The Perfect Man is a bit like that: I get bummed out because the perfect man exists, he's just NEVER single, straight, and interested in me. He's particularly not single, straight, interested in me, and able to ignore my communication troubles.

Still, good times. It was decided that we take a study break, as in, a break to go study, at that point, though I had just settled down to do a report on our recent photosynthesis lab when Mistake IMed me and told me that she'd made herself a blog, since she saw the blog belonging to Hillary Duff's character in The Perfect Man, and it was pretty cool. I'd already been thinking about a blog, since I've been reading some really funny ones with regularity- Old Horsetail Snake and Life in the Corner are absolutely hilarious- so I decided to do the same. The lab report is as of yet unfinished. But I've got me a blog!

Today's moral is: I get distracted easily.

I also ate dinner with Mistake and Closer, naturally, as it was Ice Cream Night at Holloway. Gotta love Ice Cream Night. The food in general is lousy, or at least really repetitive, but the hard ice cream on Ice Cream Night is GREAT.

Now. About that lab report....

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*My title is my daily fortune. I was somewhat concerned about this one: could be dangerous. Especially since Closer immediately proposed that I jump off a building. I'm saying that one doesn't count.

A Little Introduction

Hi.

I am the Frog-Kisser, or as they say in Latin, Basiorana (no, seriously, "basio rana" is Latin for "I kiss the frog"). Right now, though, frogs are the least of my concerns (well... maybe not the LEAST).

See, I'm a freshman at the University of New Hampshire in Durham, along with about 2,700 other kids. I'm also incredibly, horribly, painfully shy. And sure, I've got some great friends around here, like MakeaMistake, who's been my best friend since she smiled at me and asked me to sit with her on my first day at a new kindergarten. Plus there's Closerb4, Mistake's Prince Charming, though he started out as a real frog-boy. Apparently, sometimes if you kiss the same frog for long enough, they'll eventually turn into a prince too...

But anyway, besides Closer and Mistake, I've had a hard time making friends, mostly because I don't talk that much. Plus, if I'm talking to a stranger, I get so nervous, it becomes difficult to talk at all. So that's my goal: learn to interact with people. And I plan to chronicle my misadventures here.

I'm moving from Livejournal, if you'd like to see what I've been up to thus far: Frog-Kisser's Musings, Part I

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So, some more character development. I'm nineteen years old, I have a wonderful, supportive family consisting of my parents, who are still together (gasp), a 21-year-old sister, The Shrewd, and a 16-year-old brother whom I'll probably just refer to as The Brother. He's annoying.

I'm currently living in a built-up triple (that's a room that's supposed to be for two people, but they've crammed three in because UNH took in too many students) with my roommates Tacita, who never talks, and Loquatia, who some might say doth talk to much. We managed to be one of the few rooms in which we were picked at random but we still wound up with three college girls who don't smoke, don't drink, and don't get in trouble. Yes, we do exist.

Also inhabiting the room: Ajax and Deiphobus, my Betta fish. They live in a tank on my dresser.

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I'm a bit of a geek, you'll see; I'm obsessed with classical mythology. That's why I named my Betta fish after Trojan War heroes. I'm writing a retelling of the Greek myths for a more modern audience, but I doubt it'll ever get done at the rate I'm going. I also write poetry, and not that angsty crap you see so much of these days, but actual rhyming poetry (okay, okay, I mostly don't write the angsty crap, but sometimes, you know, you just feel really angsty...). Oddly enough, my major is biology, since I want to be a doctor. Sometimes I confuse myself.

Well, I guess you'll pick up on the rest of this as I go along. I honestly don't know how many people will read this, but I figure it'll be good to have an introduction post. I'll write again later tonight with my REAL first post.