I miss someone.

Today is a day marked Q.R.C.F., or Quando Rex Comitavit Fas. Basically, today is an unlawful day (as in, public sessions like court cases aren't allowed) until the the Rex Sacrorum declares a session of the comitia. I'm too tired to figure out what that means.

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You know where they have cell phone reception? Mount Everest. You know where they don't have cell phone reception? Anywhere within my house or yard, in wealthy suburban America.

Do you see the problem here?

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Today the job hunt continued as I applied at Home Depot and Sears, turned in my application to Partyrama, and picked up applications from a kiosk at the mall that makes those T-shirts with your face on them; Eddie Bauer, which is incidentally where one of my high school teachers works during the summer, and yes, that WOULD be weird; and a maternity store, which Shrewd, who was with me, seemed very uncomfortable about entering, for fear she'd catch the pregnant or something.

Then we went to another mall, a little farther away, so Shrewd could go to Lane Bryant to get some work clothes and I could hunt for more applications. That mall had more places hiring but they were all junior's boutiques like Wet Seal or Abercrombie, or else were really upscale places like Ann Taylor. Places like that usually want you to dress in the style of the store, so I didn't apply. I can't exactly buy a whole new wardrobe. But I did apply at a Hallmark-esque gift store and a Payless. Shrewd's going back to that mall tomorrow to go back to Lane Bryant and exchange some stuff so I'll tag along with her then and turn in the applications.

As I told my mother, this summer she can't nag me about not getting a job.

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Shrewd and I also decided to bring Mummy and Daddy's old bikes in for repairs, so we could exercise by biking this summer. We set out to put the bike rack on her car, as it has a trailer hitch to attach the trailer-hitch bike rack to.

Ten minutes of struggling and pounding later: "I think the hitch is too rusty..."

Switched to the beat-up old junky bike rack and my car.

"Won't go on..."

When we finally set off, the front wheels were in the trunk, the two bikes were jammed in the back seat, and the handlebars were sticking out the windows.

But we did it. VICTORY!

Spiderman is emo now, didya notice?

So... remember how that Chem exam was going to be the week after next, thus giving me a whole week between them in which I could study for Chem and forget Bio?

I was wrong.

It's Friday or nothing.

GAH!!!!!!

I don't have TIME to study for Chem AND Bio! That's what screwed me over last time when I flunked that Bio exam! How the hell am I supposed to deal with this? I mean, it's an optional final. But I really, really wanted it to be a choice, and now it might not be, not really.

As best as I can calculate, I have a 86% in that course, not factoring in the ACS exam and assuming I have about an 80 in lab. That's a B. I wanted to get an A-, but will settle (grudgingly) for a B+, which requires an 87%.

I don't know what grade I will have to get overall, all told, to induce me to try to study for Chem and take that final. I haven't decided if I want to settle for a B or not. I must think. And talk to my folks.

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Today I woke up at 11:00 or so when Vivacia (formerly known as Mistake, if you're not caught up on recent posts) called, asking me if I wanted to go to the mall. I, in sleepiness, replied that I thought I had stuff to do and I didn't think I could. She seemed rather upset but said okay.

About half an hour later, once I had actually woken up, I thought about it, and realized that I hadn't had anything planned for today besides meeting Ryter's mom for dinner, and I could have easily gone to the mall. So I called Vivacia back and spent waaaaay too long convincing her that I did actually want to go, but my sleepy coma had stopped me from voicing my true intentions.

So we went to the mall... I got a sundress, actually, though the whole point was to get gifts for Mother's Day. I got one of those too. But I did get a pretty red and white sundress for summer, and it was only $25. I also saw the prettiest red-gemstone silver ring at a really cool jewelry store in the mall, but it was $10 for one ring and I decided I shouldn't spend that much money on myself. But... PRETTY. And SHINY. I was sad. I really liked it.

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Vivacia wasn't feeling very well, but she needed a gift for her mom, and then we had to kill time before the bus got back, so we wandered around and made Closer stand in the girlie stores like Urban Behavior, and went to the pet store the next mall over and freaked out when a bunny looked like it was dying (he was fine), until the bus came and they left, and I stuck around to meet Ryter over by iParty.

Anyway, it was fun; I've missed seeing Vivacia. There is a well-documented syndrome that says the first time a girl gets a boyfriend, she will ditch her friends for the sake of the guy until she figures out how to balance the two. I didn't have this issue with KTMack because it was summer and I wasn't doing anything and he and Vivacia both had jobs. But now Vivacia and I both have classes and finals to study for, so I'm already crazy busy, and then I spend so much time with Ryter...

The trouble with this syndrome is all romantic relationships must eventually end*, but friendships needn't. Thus one should never forget their friends for a Significant Other, and I'm only now learning to balance the whole thing.

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Anyway, I met up with Ryter and Vivacia and Closer went home to study. We met at iParty so he could get some stuff for a class party. At about the same time I cautioned him that since he was having me spend the night at his place before his graduation, I was going to be obligated to decorate his apartment in the most gaudy, god-awful, tacky graduation-themed decorations I could find.

He is very enthusiastic about this idea.

We then went over to his car to wait for his mom. Fifteen minutes later, I met her and we went into T.G.I.Friday's for dinner. Ryter's mom is very nice, and man, can I see where Ryter gets it all. I mean, the two of them are soooo alike, even more so than Ryter and his dad. But she was cool and I got to have a decent meal, as opposed to school food.

Ryter and I hung out for a little while afterwards, but ended it earlier than usual. We were both tired. But it was a very good day, until I discovered the Chem stuff...

*We are ignoring the marriage alternative, of course. But having your spouse be your only close friend isn't that great an idea either.

"Platypus Brings Armageddon!"

Today is the festival of Luna, goddess of the moon. Yeah, not much to say about that...

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I normally don't talk about my dates with Ryter. However, I'm more likely to do so if other people are involved in it. Like meeting his friend last night, and being awkward (Let me clarify something: Awkward as it was, I still had fun and liked meeting the kid. I can usually rise above the awkwardness). But I'm gonna talk about today, because... I was told to. And who can say no to a request like "Blog about me, baby"?

Today Ryter met Closer and Mistake. We just got together (I was NOT late, all evidence aside; they were EARLY), ate lunch at JP's, then wandered back and sat on a bunch of rocks by some trees over by the Upper Quad (It's prettier than it sounds, I promise), and listened to Closer play guitar. How did it go? No one died... there were no nuclear declarations involved... okay, I think it was fine.

The issue is as follows: Ryter and Mistake have pretty much nothing in common. All the interests I share with Mistake are the ones that Ryter doesn't have, and vice versa. I mean, I'm sure with enough time and effort they could find common ground-- Mistake likes some scifi stuff. But pretty much the closest they have to common ground would be discussing politics, and Closer can't discuss politics as, as has previously been mentioned, he zonks out. Between the four of us there was very little to discuss.

Ryter and I seem to have a conversation default when we run out of words: Zombie fights. Zombie Stalin versus Zombie Napoleon kind of thing. Problem: Mistake is mildly closer to normal, and doesn't like discussing the undead while consuming a sandwich. So much for that default.

But they didn't dislike each other. At least, Ryter didn't dislike them. I haven't talked to Mistake since then so I can't get her opinion.

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Anyway, after we went our separate ways Ryter and I went to this little beach to sit for a while and then to the mall, wandered for a bit, then went to Fridays. But not before we stopped at this ring store with a big bin-o-rings out front, complete with a watchclerk to prevent pocketers. I was looking for rings because I'm on a constant quest for some that will fit me besides the mood ring, which totally lost it's head the other day and I had to glue it back together AGAIN. Anyway, I was pawing through the silver and Ryter was goofing off, suggesting rings that he himself could get that were pretty much as girly as he could find... and Watchclerk totally took him seriously. And quite clearly seriously objected to the concept of a guy purchasing women's jewelry (to wear himself, that is). I think he would have denied us service.

It took me just long enough to realize what was going on that I was unable to rescue Ryter from the awkward cloud forming over us, so we fled, laughing uncontrollably. Laughter, you see, is the mortal enemy of the awkward cloud. Luckily it also is the natural response to it.

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Oh, and Ryter got a new DVD set that is frikkin' AWESOME, man. It's called The Future is Wild, which anyone who likes biology, evolution, computer animation or just stuff that looks cool should see. It's a miniseries, though, so we only covered what the world will look like in the next 5 million years and that took us several hours. Next up: 100 million years! Oh, and I want a pet spink. If only I had a time machine, I could go to the future and get an awesome pet. Yes, that's me-- build a time machine and use it to get futuristic animals...

"Oh, look, family bathrooms. We can all go in together!"*

So today Mistake and I were all set to go to the mall, and then she went to go onto the 5A bus, so I, naturally, followed her as I only know that 3A goes to see my therapist in Dover. Turns out that we wanted 4A, so we rode around for an hour and got a fun and exciting tour of Newmarket. Poor Mistake felt really dumb, which kinda made me feel bad, because it wasn't really her fault. We've to the mall like, four or five times, max, and the buses are kinda confusing. They all come at the same time, so it's easy to get on the wrong one. Besides, we just rode it back, took a later bus to the mall and hung out in my dorm in the meantime. This did mean that Closer came with us to the mall, though, since we figured that the fact that neither of us picked up on the fact that we were on the wrong bus until we'd already gone too far to get off meant that chances are we'd screw something up again.

It's okay, all he was planning on doing was, y'know, homework. Like that matters. Pfft.

But yes, mall. I got lightweight sneakers that will be easier to dance in but won't look so formal and Mistake got a Panic! At the Disco poster for her dorm room, and then we grabbed a bite to eat before coming back to campus, partaking in Ice Cream Night at Hoco, and going back to Mistake's room to hang out and talk about politics until Closer fell asleep.

Okay, so that's not totally fair, he was actually tired, but he probably wouldn't have fallen asleep if he'd been contributing the conversation, so it was at least partially our fault.

...This is how I spend Saturday night when there's a huge hockey game against UMaine going on. Maybe this has something to do with the fact I have so few friends.

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Valentine's Day is Coming, according to every store in the mall... and Mistake and Closer, who were discussing the holiday. Closer is planning something absolutely, sickeningly adorable, I'm sure. He said he wasn't going to do something huge, but it will be sweet, whatever it is, because he knows that this is one of the first Valentine's Days when she actually has a boyfriend who won't forget what day it is.

At least, it better.

I might give out carnations, since I definitely can't afford roses this year. They're pretty cheap and I really like giving flowers to my friends on that day, so I can pretend that I don't care that I'm single.

And because I don't have that many friends, it will be even cheaper. It works out to... four. Wow, that's pretty embarrassing. Maybe I'll give Deandron one too, because I think at this point he's the only one of his roommates who's single, and while I doubt he cares... Ah, who am I kidding. I want to see how uncomfortable I can make him. Because honestly, if I have to be single on Valentine's Day, the least I should be able to do is make some poor guy uncomfortable. I think I shall scotch tape it to his door, because nothing says "classy" like scotch tape.

Oh, man. I just realized-- Valentine's Day is on a Wednesday. As in, my weekly Bad Day. Ha ha, God, I see what you did there. Cute. Hmmph.

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And I've discovered a new hair-styling technique that I love, because it's easy. All I do is shower, comb it, let it air-dry most of the way, then take a massive handful of gel, flip my hair over my head, and mess it up. Then I blow-dry it and presto, hairstyle #1, curly and messy and bed-head chic. But it's crunchy, so once it completely dries, I gently comb through it first with my fingers and then with a comb (playing with it throughout the day, basically) so it gradually drops and relaxes and smooths out throughout the day. It only gets clumpy if I stop playing with it. This is not usually an issue, since I always play with my hair when it's down anyway.

Why is it that I always start wearing my hair down regularly around this time of the year?

Oh. That's right... because it looks better, when I do it right. And because I'm lonely.

*Courtesy of Mistake-- she wanted me to put it up as the title. We didn't. In case you were curious.

"Are you just going to keep adding on to that nickname until it is as emasculating as possible?"

I didn't get any studying done today, because the Internet was down, and then Mistake and I went to the mall instead to do some Christmas shopping, then we watched High School Musical (good) and The Perfect Score (meh) with Closer, and then sat around and were bored... Generally just didn't study.

During the "bored" time, we played Truth or Dare, a game which my mother banned me from playing ever again when I was in middle school, on account of my being really, really good at it, and consequently making the other girls do/say stuff that they later regretted, or immediately regretted, and then there was crying and complaining calls to mothers. But don't worry, no one cried tonight, at least not because of me; Closer's eyes could have welled up when Mistake hit him in the groin, but that had absolutely no Basiorana involvement.

I will recommend not playing Truth or Dare with dating couples. "Truth or Dare?" "Dare." "Kiss me." *kiss* "Truth or Dare." "Dare." "Kiss me back." *kiss*... Mistake has installed Christmas lights, which at least gives me something to look at when I examine the ceiling in an attempt to ignore the lovey-dovey nonsense in front of me. Especially when there was pantsing involved, because honestly, there's a limit to how well you want to know your friends. And that's WAY past the limit.

Walking out of their dorm, I passed a cop car, then a fire truck, then an ambulance, all headed into Stoke. I've decided that it was Mistake and Closer's fault, though I'm not sure HOW yet.

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Last night was the Stress Fair, which was cool; we got cotton candy and played True Colors with Tibicina ("flute-player"), a girl we knew in high school. We also made stress balls by putting flour into balloons; I should say, I did, as I was the only one patient enough to finish the flouring. However, I was playing with the stress ball during the movie we went to see afterwards (Employee of the Month, pretty funny), and it broke and exploded flour all over my lap. I sat like that for the rest of the movie and then afterwards raced to the bathroom to deflour myself.

That's NOT the same as deflowering myself. Primarily because "deflowering" implies a "deflowerer" who is not the same person as the "deflowered."

Anyway. We played True Colors until Cocky Guy showed up (Cocky Guy is a guy Mistake met at orientation. We hung out with him a little at the beginning of the year, but he was apparently a bit of an ass to her and really offended her, and she always describes him as "cocky" or "jerky asshole who's so damn full of himself." Cocky is the nicer of the two [and I don't really know him so I feel bad being mean], and works as a double entendre that's almost as good as his real name, so we'll go with that). Then Tibicina and I ran through the giant blow-up obstacle course (I won both times, I am the giant blow-up obstacle course champion) while Closer and Mistake went to get movie tickets so Mistake could avoid Cocky Guy. She's pretty lucky he declined to join us when Tibicina invited him.

I know what Mistake told me about what the kid did to piss her off, but honestly, sometimes I wish she'd just let him know that she dislikes him, rather than making him think it's her being a jerk. Because honestly, if she told him "I was really offended when you did _______, and that's why I've been avoiding you" he'd probably get mad at her and stop trying to contact her, thus making her life easier, or he'd realize she had a point, apologize, and maybe try to be better about it in the future, or, more likely, somewhere in between. But honestly, she doesn't need his friendship, so what could it hurt to give him a little constructive criticism?

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Anyway, Tibicina works for Vector and she and I talked about it; she's actually quitting soon, though she still defended it a lot. They get some devoted people there, you know. I think it's the water, though there might be some nifty air-vent chemical-release program they've got set up.

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But it's 2 AM, so... tired.