"I and my decapitated popsicle will now retire upstairs, THANK YOU VERY MUCH"

So I have discovered that it's very hard to drive home when you're crying for the last 45 minutes of the hour-long trip.

And now, I'll make you wonder, and start at the beginning.

Let's see... My Day, by Basiorana. After a quick trip to the gym and a shower, I headed over to the school to meet with my old guidance counselor, who was thrilled to see me, showed me the image of me she stitched into her quilt (the little tiny pencil in my hair was priceless), then gave me information to pass along to Shrewd and the Brother about jobs while offering nothing for me.

Figures.

Anyway, I proceeded to drive up to Dover for my therapy appointment, and after that, headed over to Ryter's. I was driving along a long, straight stretch of road at about 50, 55 mph in a 35 mph zone and I passed a cop. Thinking, Aww, damn..., I slowed and kept going, watching as he did a U-turn and followed me to the highway on-ramp, whereupon he turned on his lights and I immediately pulled over.

I got a warning. I mean, he put me into the system and nothing came up, I'm sure, so I got a verbal admonishment and was sent on my way. I've been driving kind of slow since then; I was always kind of proud of the fact that I'd never been stopped by a cop for anything and that's no longer the case, which I find mildly depressing, but I didn't get a ticket or even a written warning so that's good, at least. Ryter mentioned that he'd noticed the Durham police are able to devote much more time to catching speeders once school gets out, so I'll be especially careful this summer.

I met up with Ryter, anyway, and we went to go get stuff for his new lizard tank. He's getting a bearded dragon, got it approved by his landlady and everything. He's really excited, it's cute. He's going to name it Jesus (Hay-SOOS, not JEE-sus), for Jesus shall be his name (He said it, not me...). We got the tank and all, stashed it in the back of the car securely, and then went to get more climbing wood at another pet store, a few towns over. We had just passed the exit we would have taken to go back to his house when the skies opened up in terrible, torrential rain. Ryter decided we might as well keep going, and I didn't object.

We got to the parking lot, headed in, and a few seconds too late Ryter noticed that the lot was flooded. He realized this because his car was in a very, very deep puddle. Like, caulk the wagons and float across kind of puddle. After a few tries, the car moved and he parked. "On three, we run," he declared, and on three, I sprinted out of the car and over to the covered sidewalk, where a man was waiting to inform me that the front bumper of Ryter's car was currently floating in the waters of the Giant Puddle of Doom.

Much rain, bumper-fetching and bumper-cramming-into-the-back-seat later, the water-swept part was secured in the car, and we went to the pet store. Shoes squishing, I also stopped by Fashion Bug to grab a dry shirt for when we got back to his apartment. And, on the way back, it started to hail, too, so I was suddenly petrified I'd come back to see my car damaged or something. And, tornado watches, flashes of lightning, nonstop thunder... Yeah, not so fun.

Plus we got back to his apartment and the power went out, which displeased him greatly. But we set up both the terrarium and his bookcase, then went out and bought a chess game in a lull to occupy ourselves (he checkmated me in three moves, then in four moves-- I fail, but hey, I voted for Pretty Pretty Princess), but as soon as we got back, the power went back on.

None of this has anything to do with why I started to cry on the way back home, though. I'll go into it more when I'm not so tired, but suffice it to say that I'm very frustrated for my inability to ask for things I want. Need, yes, I'll ask for that. Want, not so much. It's driving me crazy.

Flood days are like snow days only wetter.

I woke up this morning to rain; torrential, wind-blown, miserable rain. I woke up late, thankfully, because I had plans to get breakfast with Libentra to try and make heads or tails of that ridiculous Chemistry homework, and she, unlike Loquatia, does not have a 9 AM class. So we sprinted to Philbrook and then to the lecture hall, where about 150 very damp Chemistry students were gathering.

Taking my regular seat, the girl who sits next to me (we'll call her Anime Girl, because she reads it before class starts sometimes) said, "He said that if you don't have your homework completed, don't bother turning it in-- it's going to either be a hundred or a zero, based on if it's all done." Fabulous. I at least was able to turn in my proof, as the book had gone over that part.

Anime Girl and I talked a bit about the ridiculous weather. I mentioned that College Road was a bit like crossing the path of a fire-hose stream, and she said that it took her 45 minutes to drive in from 15 minutes away because most of the roads were out. In fact, there was only one route on or off of campus. "That's ridiculous," I replied. "You'd think they'd cancel classes."

"Well, they never think of the commuters," was her answer. I frowned. "Actually, that's the only reason they call snow days. I mean, obviously I can come to class regardless, I just live across the street." I flipped out my phone. "I'm going to call the storm hotline."

"Curtailed Operations have been called as of 9:45 this morning..." I returned to the class and alerted my professor, but also mentioned that I understood if he held class anyway, I mean, it was 10:07 and pretty much everyone was there already. When he announced curtailed operations, there was a little cheer-- and then he burst our bubble by clarifying, "But since you guys talk so much, we're a day behind my other class. So I'm teaching anyway. "

Luckily, class was cut short when one of his TAs came in and informed him that the last bus off campus was leaving at 11, so he had to release us in time for people to take public transportation.

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As soon as I got back I noticed that Ryter was not online. This is basically the surest indicator in the world that his power is out (or that an alien menace has usurped his computer and/or his body and said alien menace has an objection to AIM), so I was expecting his call. He walked over after picking up some emergency candles for his apartment. Yes, walked. In only a sweatshirt. Since I figured you'd have to be insane to walk that distance in the deluge, I was waiting outside for about fifteen minutes...

But when the roads are this bad, it's easier to walk anyway, I guess.

I did homework, he did some writing, then we started talking about plans for the rest of the day-- if the roads weren't too bad, he wanted to go to his dad's house so there was actually power and running water, and food. But they've evacuated one of the towns on his route and there was concern about flooded-out roads and possible dam breakage. We finally elected to walk to the nearby Ace Hardware, grab some supplies, and check his apartment. As we walked, we noticed that the rain had stopped, so he decided to make a break for it and try to get down to his dad's condo before the rain starts up again. That should be happening anytime between 5 and 6. I agreed to watch Constantine, his hard-to-transport Betta fish, and he set out.

The tenuous cease-fire with the weather continues, but this is just a lull. In the next hour the rain will start again and last for the next couple days. Meanwhile much of campus is at least partially flooded. But don't worry about me. I've put in my order for a few hundred cubits of gopher wood (which I'm pretty sure is composed of compressed gophers), and I think if I build it on the roof of Hubbard Hall I'll be fine.

"Mark Twain: Writer. Contemporary Thinker. Plot Device."

Today starts the seven days of the Ludi Cereri, leading up to the Cerelia on the eighth day. These were days of games and festivities celebrating Ceres/Demeter, goddess of the grain and the harvest.

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This was a rather rough morning for me, as the only time I could arrange to meet with my English professor to discuss my latest writing piece, the one on my one glorious day as a door-to-door environmentalist, was at 9:15 this morning. Due to a late night last night and a rough start this morning I found myself arriving at her office sans breakfast. And while she loved the piece (points for me!) by the time the meeting was over I was forced to sprint over to Demerritt Hall for Bio, stopping only to fetch a pop-tart and a Minute Maid cranapple raspberry juice from the vending machine. I felt very Japanese, getting my first meal this way.

Problem: Minute Maid cranapple raspberry juice is like, pure sugar. So are Pop Tarts. I immediately got all sugar-jittery, combined with sleep deprivation, so I was falling asleep but then my hand or my leg would start to shake so bad I'd wake myself up. I'm sure I looked very comical.

Thank god I managed to scarf down something more substantial at HoCo before sprinting over to PLTL...

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And it was raining today. Then it was sleeting. Then it was flat-out snowing.

It's April.

Damn it, stupid weather machine's on the fritz again...

"Sweet Memories are the Paradise of the Mind"

Today is a dies ater, which means it's bad luck to start anything new. It's also the festival of Juno Februa, who is really the same Juno as yesterday except yesterday she was the Queen of Heaven and Savior Mother, and today she's the mother of Mars/Ares. Just a different aspect of her. Anyway, today was celebrated by putting roasted spelt and salt on the door sill.

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Today Latin was canceled, which was exciting, and then at three I met up with Mistake and Closer to hang out all afternoon. Mistake showed me where to drop off my RA application and we went to Brooks, and then went back to her dorm and hung out and listened to the soundtrack of our childhood-- Who else remembers "Wannabe" by the Spice Girls, "C'est La Vie" by B*witched and "I Saw the Sign" by Ace of Base?

Mistake's ex boyfriend and current best friend (she collects them. Best friends, not ex boyfriends, though the latter is also possible) came up to visit, as he has a college interview at a nearby school tomorrow morning. He's staying the night in her dorm room, thanks to her lack of roommate. Closer may or may not spend the night in there with them, sleeping in the chair. He arrived just as it was starting to snow, and we went to eat dinner and then afterwards went to my dorm to get my mug for cocoa and some salsa I wanted to get rid of. AS we headed back to Stoke, the snow was starting to pick up and we threw snowballs and Mistake made a snow angel.

Mistake went and retrieved her camera, and we wandered around campus, avoiding the poor, confused skunk that was wandering about in the drifts because of the weird weather. We took pictures and played in the snow, and then we made a snowman on T-Hall lawn-- well, it started out as a snowman, but then I broke the head apart by packing too hard and rather than replace it, we gave it cat ears and a face and called it a Wildcat; then we took pictures with it and once we returned, wet and cold, to Mistake's dorm, she sent a picture in to the local news station and they showed it on the 11:00 news later that night.

Before the news, we watched Psych and ate popcorn; then we sat around and talked for a while after. I naturally had to call my mom and let her know what channel to watch, lest she miss the proof that college kids are quite talented snowman builders.

On the way back home at 12:30 AM there were kids riding dining hall trays down the hill by the library and having snowball fights in front of Hubbard Hall.

I love the snow.

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Actually, right now I'm kinda more loving the fact that at dinner tonight, I was totally checked out by not one, but two guys. First there was this guy who kept staring at me all through the meal-- well, either me or Closer, and if he was staring at Closer that's mildly creepy, whereas if he was staring at me it's still creepy but it makes me feel better so it's okay creepiness. The first time I caught him staring at me out of the corner of my eye I turned a little, like I was glancing around the room, and he blinked his eyes back to the people he was talking to, and it was about ten minutes before I noticed him again... so I decided I wasn't going to turn, and see how long he stared.

It was a pretty long time. I was kind of wondering when I was going to be able to look around the room again. He went back to talking with his dinner partners eventually, but I swear, like, five minutes later I noticed him looking at me again...

Then we were walking out to bring our trays to the dish room, and a totally different guy glanced at me walking by, glanced away, looked back, and then slid his eyes down the full length of my body. It was, as my sister decided when I told her of it later, "like... hardcore checked out." Again, definitely kinda creepy, but at the same time, in a twisted, odd, my-self-esteem-sucks kind of way, it really cheered me up.

If there was another possible reason for them looking at me, I really don't want to hear it, I'm basking here.

The only problem was I totally wanted to mention it to Mistake, because I actually find it pretty funny, too-- another advantage of being young/naive is that when people blatantly check you out, it's still funny and not just annoying-- but I couldn't think of a way to say it that didn't sound like I was completely full of myself, and Mistake's friend doesn't know me well enough to understand that I have "obnoxiously low" self esteem and this is kinda exciting for me.

Oh well. We're going to the mall tomorrow, I'll mention it then.

Dentists and freezing rain

Every once in a while I experience a true fluke of nature and have a good hair day. My hair curls and waves just right to look sexy and smooth but not flat or boring. This usually happens right after I get it cut, especially if the cut is good. And I got my hair cut just a few days ago. So today, I had one of those great hair days.

Guess what I did today.

I watched TV.

Curse you, Fate!

I left the house for a total of ten minutes today- I walked outside with my clothing boxes and prepared to head off to school, and promptly slipped and fell down the front steps, coated as they were with a thin layer of ice. The boxes sprawled across the walk as my dad, who'd been holding the door open, tried to ascertain if I had broken anything important. I didn't, thankfully, I just have a nice big bump and a bruise on my knee. But needless to say, my parents were not about to let me drive on my own up to Durham.

I was planning on driving on my own because I have a dentist's appointment tomorrow, courtesy of Poor Planning. So I was to drive up, set up the room with Loquatia tonight, and then head back tomorrow for the dentist, then have my dad drive me back to school and drop me off. This did not happen. The weather's supposed to be worse tomorrow, and it's not going to clear up until Tuesday morning.

Luckily, there are no classes tomorrow for MLK Day. And Tuesday follows a normal Tuesday schedule, which means, for me, no classes (Labs won't start for a couple weeks). So it's not only possible, it's a good idea for me to wait until Tuesday to have my dad drop me off. I think I have an appointment with Mimi on Tuesday, though, which is kinda inconvenient... Seems like Daddy and I will leave early, drop me and the rug I need to get soon off, I'll settle in until it's time to go, and then I'll head over to Dover.

I hate freezing rainstorms. I hate the fact that my leg still hurts, and I can't get in touch with my roommate to let her know not to expect me until Tuesday morning and ask her to inform anyone else who asks the same, like, I don't know, the RA or something, and I hate the fact that I was actually ready to go and I couldn't go and tomorrow I have to drive to the dentist's office in the freezing rain...

But instead of feeling bummed about all that, I've decided to focus on the least problematic of my problems, thus giving me reason to whine without actually having to think about actual issues.

Damn it, I hate having good hair when I'm trapped in the house!

"You will develop a strange fascination with steamed vegetables."*

Today's the feast day of Neptune/Poseidon and Salacia/Amphitrite or of Venus/Aphrodite and Cupid/Eros. I assume you know the latter pair, but Amphitrite was the wife of Poseidon and a Nereid- a sea-nymph that looked like our idea of a mermaid. She didn't want to marry Poseidon so when she heard that he wanted to marry her, she swam off to the edge of the world and hid from him. Poseidon sent out all the sea creatures to hunt her down, and the one that found her was Delphin, a dolphin. Delphin convinced Amphitrite to come back and marry Poseidon, and she became queen of the sea. Delphin was immortalized and his image was hung in the sky as a constellation.

Amphitrite is interesting because unlike Hera, and despite the fact that this was the reason she didn't want to marry him in the first place, she really could care less if her husband slept around. And he did. A lot.

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Loquatia is NOT moving out. Tacita is, most likely. See, the current roommate of the girl Loquatia was going to room with decided she didn't want to leave Hubbard after all, and the girl decided it wasn't fair to kick out her roommate, so she apologized profusely to Loquatia, but told her that they weren't going to be able to room together after all.

Meanwhile, Tacita is meeting with Housing to try to get out of this dorm all together, and rejoin her friends over in Englehardt. I'm not sure why- it's not like it's that far away. I walk to Stoke on the weekends all the time, but as much as I love Mistake and Closer, I'm not gonna LIVE there. And only partially because Mistake and I get along best when we don't see each other every day. Also because I like this dorm. And it's easier to meet new friends if the old ones aren't hanging around. But, anyway. Tacita will most likely find a room in the dorm of her choice, and then Loquatia and I will room together next semester.

And yeah, I know that I said she irritates me sometimes, but honestly, I'd rather have a mildly irritating roommate that doesn't drink or smoke or stay up past midnight on school nights or watch TV all the time than try to deal with the Housing Lottery.

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Meanwhile, the Brother apparently does, in fact, know how to communicate. At least with his girlfriend. Because on Wednesday night, according to Mummy, he had a three-hour-long phone conversation with the girl. This amuses me greatly and mildly annoys our mother, as she can't get him to stick two words together in a crude facsimile of a sentence.

Mummy wants him to invite his girlfriend to her Prom, but he countered by mentioning that some of his senior buddies who can't get dates are having a LAN party that night (hey, could be worse, a friend of mine in high school had a "let's burn various chemicals in a massive bonfire" party on Prom night last year). Our mother spent a decent amount of time explaining a cardinal rule of dating, you don't go to a LAN party instead of Prom with your girlfriend, before she caught on that he was kidding.

Heh.

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My poem, my miserable poem... she is finally finished. All seventy lines in iambic-pentameter goodness. I posted it on my livejournal here, if you'd like to see the fruit of my labors. I also included the little pre-poem explanation I had to submit to the professor, since neither "Orpheus" nor "Eurydice" fits the meter and thus neither was included in the actual poem, so you'd probably not have the slightest clue what I was writing about.

But... done. And turned in. And no longer my problem. Niiiiiiiiice.

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Thanks to our floor winning the Floor Wars back in October, I was recently awarded a UNH Geeks T-shirt. The front says "UNH Geeks" with the Es as sigma signs (to promote geekiness), so it's pronounced "UNH Gssks." Yeah, we're so smart we don't NEED to understand what Greek letters we put on our clothing! The back says "Hubbard Hall- you're just jealous," which I'm sure you are.

I wore the T-shirt for the first time today. So, apparently, did a bunch of other kids. Hmm. This reminds me of high school when we all wore our French T-shirts on the same day (or the Physics t-shirts, but those had cheat codes on them and we wore them for exams). I feel like I was accidentally initiated into a secret gang or something, and soon Williamson ninjas will jump me on my way to class for wearing gang paraphernalia in public.

Among the other people who wore the T-shirt: Deandron, whom I haven't mentioned yet on this blog and I wanted an excuse to mention because I picked a name for him at last. He's the kid I know from high school, who lives down the hall and has all the hot roommates. And yes, "de andron" means "down the hall." I said I picked one, I didn't say it was amazingly creative. At least I didn't name him "Amicinlesebrosus," which, besides being a mouthful, means "attractive friends." He gets a real name because we're friends, I don't just talk about him behind his back like I do for most guys.

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I recently took the most inaccurate personality test EVER. Sooooo bad. Let's see... According to it, I value pride and money over career or love, and love is the least important thing to me. I want to date someone who is proud, I think sex "smells good, but tastes nasty" and my life is "salty," I'm in love with my mom and Candida is my "twin soul." Then it told me my life would improve if I sent the link to 42 people. Riiiiight. I think I need to talk to my grandmother about what constitutes a "good forward."

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It was ridiculously warm this morning, so I wandered around in a T-shirt. This was annoying enough- it's December, for Pete's sake. But then, naturally, during Latin class, it started to rain- no, pour. Like buckets. So I sprinted across campus in the pouring, FREEZING rain, in just a T-shirt. That was the day's excitement, I decided. Nothing else after that.

Consequently, I haven't left my hall since. Mummy's picking me up in two hours, and I felt like I should clean before I left, so my roommates didn't have to deal with my mess if I wasn't there causing it...

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One last thing before I finish. Today is World AIDS Day. So if you're religious, say a little prayer or something for all the people afflicted with that horrible disease that kills so many people worldwide every year. I know in my head that we can't be completely free of incurable disease, or we'd have worse overpopulation than we do now, but I wish, sometimes, that the diseases didn't have to be so miserable... or that fewer of the victims had to be children.

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*Don't worry, that wasn't in a cookie, that's my humorscope of the day. Il m'amuse.