Like MAD

My Farewell

2008-12-14T20:56:00.001-08:00

So I went-a-counting, and I only have to make one more post. Just one more, and this is it. I guess I am following the trend here, but it is going to be on my final thoughts about the class and blogging.

I enjoyed this class. I mean, Tuesdays and Thursdays I only had two classes, but knowing that I had english class next made Calculus a little bit less of a drag. At orientation, the only reason I signed up for the class was because the advisor there helping me really wanted me to take another tuesday/thursday class, and it was the only TAP class listed with a spot left. The title sounded pretty cool, and I saw that it counted for my english requirement. And I really wanted to take a TAP class. I'm glad I did, because it was nice and small and open and I actually got to hear everyone else's opinions most. It was my only class that wasn't made up of boring lectures two or three times a week.

In our final class when people were talking about what they liked/disliked, I was surprised to hear how many of you guys never blogged before. I remember back in the 7th grade when everyone had Xanga. Everyday after school we would post about our new lip gloss flavor, or the game we just found on Neopets, or cheat codes we found for the Sims. Those were the days. I mean, I had my own AOL screename since I was four years old, so I guess I was a little bit ahead of the times...

When I got to this class, I realized I could no longer write posts about lip gloss, games, or gossip about the girls in our class we didn't like. I guess that is one of the reasons it was so tedious to blog every week. There was never something interesting and new to post about every day. In seventh grade, all the girls in our class (basically the audience of my blog) wore lip gloss, played neopets, and the sims, and liked to talk bad about the other girls we didn't like, so there was a common ground. 6 years later in this class, our class never really had a common ground on what we liked reading posts about, so the majority of blogs were filled with funny videos, and our own thoughts.

I never would have considered anything I read online to be literature. I mean, this blog is certainly not literature.. and my old Xanga from my junior high days most certainly is not literature... but still, the online stuff that I would consider literature is pretty cool after all. I'm glad I was opened up to this sort of stuff.

Now that the semester is over, I am going to miss this course. All the people in it were great, and so was our professor. To be honest, I think we are all going to see the death of our blogs. I don't think any of us are actually going to continue blogging. Now that its all over, and we never have to do dumb blog tallies again, blogging doesn't seem too bad after all. But I certainly won't be doing it.

Best of Luck to everyone (if there is anyone) actually reading this blog

You Know You Need Sleep When...

2008-12-14T20:47:00.000-08:00

... something like this makes you laugh like a hyena.

I probably won't get to bed for another 2 or 3 more hours, as i still have 3 million years of early hominid evolution left to memorize, and I unsure as to how many more posts I have to make before I can say goodbye to English class forever, so this video will probably be on repeat a few more times. I would like to also add in a public apology to my roommate.

When i saw the title of this, i thought it would be a hamster running across a piano and banging all the keys, but to my surprise it was actually something cute.

"Hamster on a piano! Hamster on a piano! Hamster on a piano! Eatin' popcorn on a piano! Hamster on a ..."

I hope it gets stuck in your head now, as it is stuck in mine.

FAIL!

2008-12-14T19:39:00.000-08:00

Haha, so as I was writing my last post, about how I am such a failure that I resorted to writing a paper when I could have done something cool, I was thinking about failing in general. I might possibly fail my biological anthropology final. I will probably just pass my calculus final, but now that I said that I think I will pass I probably jinxed myself and will fail.

I am SUCH a procrastinator that I am THE loser who types random things in on google in hopes of finding something cooler to read. (as you probably found out in my other post about how how i found the hatebook)

I was thinking about failing, and i was thinking about english, and what do i find on google? The english fail blog! a BLOG! one of the major themes of our english class. That itself made me excited that i found it. Besides the fact that a few of them are actually funny.

It is basically a site where people took pictures of signs and stuff with horrible grammar/ spelling. Hence the title "english fail blog" and the subtitle, "user-submitted failpictures of the English language. Now that I think about it, most of these are pretty stupid. I think i only found some of these funny because I am getting slightly delirious thinking about posting and then having to go memorize the names of australopithecines and other pre homind species, the types of teeth they had, and the hill in Africa they were found on.

Anyway, if anyone is actually still reading this long post, or this blog in general now that class is over, have a look at the english fail blog. Not a very good blog, but still better than mine.

www.englishfailblog.com

was there a required post?

2008-12-14T19:21:00.001-08:00

So heres the deal: I don't actually remember if we were assigned a required post or not. I mean out of 6 that we were supposed to do, there should have been one right? Being that i don't know if we had a required post, i certainly don't know what the topic of it was supposed to be. Following the trend of everyone else who had to make up 6 posts this week, I'll just write a post about that final project we had to do.

At the beginning of the semester, when we got our syllabus, I was excited for that digital story we would have to make. I was not looking forward to the next project listed, the 26 lies/1 truth one, but then i saw that the final project could be anything! I was certain that I would enjoy making the digital story, and way back in September I figured I would do that for the final project as well, many months later in December.

Then Thanksgiving came, and the time i DID NOT spend posting, i wasn't thinking of ideas for my project either.

Then school started again, and I got to class with no material at all to work on my project with during class. That day, I had to resort to the last thing.

The paper.

The paper = my worst enemy.

All through high school I hated english, because we had to read boring books, and then write boring papers on them. For example, Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter. What a bore. I knew that I would be able to find some better class to fulfill my college english requirement with, and I did. On Computers! Who even knew electronic literature was out there?

With exposure to all these cool/not cool digital formats in English class, what did i do for my final project? The last thing I would ever have to do for my last English class I would ever be forced to take? Write a stinkin' paper. Just like high school English all over again. Honors American Literature might have possibly ruined me. I could have done something cool and creative. I used to be creative. Now I should just go bury myself in a hole or something. Go find that chick from Slice. I don't actually remember what her name was. I can't believe I let myself resort to a stinkin' paper.

hatebook

2008-12-14T19:08:00.000-08:00

If you are like me, you are hating yourself right now for taking horribly boring classes that are so boring that you can't find the motivation to open the textbook and read. You haven't gotten much sleep the past week because of stress/papers/tests. Its finals time, and even though I have been in my room the past few days studying (and procrastinating some), I can't help looking out the window and seeing the outside world is full of people, or signing on AIM/stalking friends away messages and seeing that they actually have time to be social this weekend and go out rather than stay inside and study.

Am i the only one? Do others just not care enough to study, or is this actually really easy and I just procrastinated too much so now I'm stuck studying when everybody else knows the material by heart? For some reason I couldn't find anything else to procrastinate with and simply typed in "i hate finals" on google. I got linked to this site ALL about hatred called the hate book. It kind of makes you feel a little bit better about yourself like postsecret does.

Heres a lovely excerpt:

I hate that someone found MY study spot in the library. It is completely isolated-1 table, 1 chair and a bunch of books, and not surrounded by a bunch of tables full of loud gum-chomping idiots so that means that my spot is QUIET. I hate that its the ONLY ONE in the library! I HATE it when I get to the library and I'm all psyched to study and get to my spot and SOMEONE IS THERE!

I want to smash their head into the table multiple times and mess up their stupid note card study system.

Where the fuck am I supposed to study now twat?!I hate you person sitting at my table with your stupid laptop and highlighters! You have neckfat and no one likes neckfat-ha!

I hate that it makes me mad and they are probably only there because its finals week. I HATEFINALS TOO! Dec 12 3:50 PM MST

This makes me feel really good about myself. I'm not alone in this world. For more from people are hating on finals, college in general, or anything from "gay" to politics, check out www.hatebook.com

new favorite show

2008-12-14T11:59:00.000-08:00

I don't know if any of you loyal readers of mine watch Californication, or if you all even exist, but if you do exist, and don't watch the show, you should start.

The basic premise of the show is that David Duchovny is a self-loathing writer who recently moved from NY to LA, and hates it. Since moving to LA he has ruined his relationship with the woman he loves, and has a daughter with. After that relationship ends and his ex meets a new (much less entertaining) guy, Duchovny becomes a sex addict, what some would call an alcoholic, and a mild drug user. Hilarity ensues.

I have been hard-pressed to find a show that makes me laugh harder than the first seasons of Entourage and Weeds, but I think that Califonication has done it. The first few episodes of this show are probably the funniest episodes of any show I've seen.

The real hilarity about this show, though, is that David Duchovny actually checked himself into rehab somewhat recently, because, apparently, the show isn't that far off from reality.

The cynical, hateful, sarcastic banter and commentary that Duchovny and the other characters supply is easily some of the best dialogue on television. It helps that the show is on Showtime, and therefore can include just about the most foul, offensive things it wants. (That is not to say that the goal of the show is to be as foul and offensive as possible, rather it's just that they need not hold back.)

Check this show out.

Leap Second/ Brain Fry

2008-12-11T12:47:00.000-08:00

I tried to wikipedia this phenomenon but after reading the first two sentences I couldn't do it anymore. Does anyone else feel like they cannot do anything other than study and write final papers? And even that is a stretch. My brain is fried. Am I the only one?

I've been writing a paper continuously for the past week or more. My brain doesn't even want to let me create a blog post. Honestly, I just had to take out the word "do" and replace it with "create," because I realized that "do" is not the type of word that I like to use.

It is really difficult to write a post when the only thing that is filtering through your muddled brain is the thought that "I have, literally, nothing of any interest to tell anyone at this point in time."

I can't wait for Christmas though. Who's with me!? WOOOH!

Dreaming of a White Christmas

2008-12-11T12:06:00.000-08:00

This past weekend my suite had "Early Christmas". It was quite the extravaganza. We planned a whole Secret Santa gift exchange and everything. We planned on staying in ALL day and watching Christmas movies, and then putting on dresses and going to dinner together, but turned out a few girls decided to go snowboarding that day. The four of us who were left went to one of the girls house, her family lives about 15 minutes away. Her mother let us destroy the kitchen, and we each made our own personal pizzas. This one is not mine, mine was just plain cheese, but the picture didn't look that nice so I'll show you guys another girl's pizza. You know you are jealous. You and your roommate don't go flipping pizza pies in your dorm room. Hah.

We came back to campus in time for the 11 oclock showing of The Dark Knight in Billings. Some annoying boys were behind us complaining the whole time saying "the contra

st is off!" "its ruining the effect!" and so on and so forth. Whatever. That movie is not as great as people made it out to be.

Then we headed back to our suite for the party and the other girls were back by then. So, we partied hard. No need for details. Then we all brought our mattresses into the common room to all sleep together in there. I don't think anyone got much sleep, but by the time we woke up, it was "christmas morning", and what is falling from the sky? SNOW! haha. we had a white christmas! atleast i got to have one white christmas this year, in new york we never get one its always rains and turns to slush.

Then, everyone got to go sledding, while I had to go to stupid work. Stupid, stupid work. I still want to go sledding, its on my MUST DO list for before going home after finals

music

2008-12-11T10:39:00.000-08:00

When I study I need to listen to certain songs or bands depending on what I am studying. I have to listen to it at a certain volume, and again depending on the subject, I have to listen to it with headphones or without. I am very particular about it, and if I don't do it right, I cannot concentrate on my work.

Honestly that is probably just an excuse I use to procrastinate, my music isn't right yet. Oh well.

When the 24 hour quiet hour goes into effect tonight I do not know what I am going to do. I am not going to be able to handle not being allowed to listen to my music out loud for a week. I will slowly go crazy.

Probably not. But still. It will be a challenge adjusting my music listening for during my study times, from my usual habits, probably good for me to do.

Final Project

2008-12-11T09:12:00.000-08:00

So, I have been working hard on my final project for a little while. Today I decided that I didn't like what I had done and I changed the project. At first I was going to make a comic out of a short story that I had written, but then I decided it did not adequately cover the question, "What is reading in a digital age?". So now, as I seem to always do, I am struggling to finish my project to my satisfaction in the small amount of time I have left. Go me!

Final project... addendum

2008-12-07T09:28:00.000-08:00

Because I started the Tell-Tale Heart project a little bit ago it was saved as a draft and therefore posted in the slot it would have been in, had I posted it rather than saved it. So, it's a few posts down. Please take a look.

cheese

2008-12-05T19:33:00.001-08:00

As some of you might recall, I once wrote a post on cheese, and how american cheese does not count as cheese. Imagine my surprise, horror and intense disappointment when I walked over to all the cheese in the Marche today and saw... that Cabot makes american cheese. I was emotionally wounded. I was feeling tears form in the corners of my eyes.

Ok... so maybe it wasn't that dramatic. But seriously. Seriously? They make american cheese? Why? Why do they have to sully their brand with such a horrible thing. It would be like if monument farms started saying that powdered milk was their preferred type of milk for making chocolate milk. It would be world altering. Life changing.

Ok... so again maybe it wasn't that dramatic. Seriously though, why would they want to make american cheese. They should just focus on cheddar cheese and all the other varieties they make so well.

Avoid the american cheese! It isn't real.

Final project?

2008-12-05T12:42:00.000-08:00

I guess the required post this week is about the final...

Imagine if you will, what Edgar Allen Poe would have done with the use of Microsoft Word. That is the basis of my project. I chose Poe because, one, he is one of the best writers ever to live, two, he writes short stories and poems best, and three, he is a crazy mother fuc**r. (Actually... it would be more accurate to call him a crazy cousin f**ker... but that isn't my point) His writing style fits my purposes well, and I think that had he had the use of a computer and the glorious things it can do with text formatting, spacing, color, etc. he would have put the digital writer/artists of today to shame. Maybe that's because cocaine and laudanum ran amuck those days... but whatever the case, he is a freak-genius, in every sense of those words.

She's gonna ask us something,

On Edgar Allen Poe,

I know it, I just know that,

Any moment now she's gonna call on me

and ask me something I don't know...

On Edgar...

Allen...

Poe.

Edgar Allen, American poet

Born in eighteen hundred and nine

Wrote "Park Robin" and "My Darling Clementine"

Published "Tamberlane" in eighteen twenty-seven

If you're listening Heaven, Heaven, help me, help me!

-Excerpt from "Edgar Allen Poe"

The Peanuts Musical

Yup.

a conclusion.

2008-12-04T13:23:00.000-08:00

I have recently come to the conclusion that groups of teenage girls, and many times girls that are even into their mid-twenties, when left to their own devices, will do everything in their power to make polite, unassuming, (sometimes hapless) gentlemen, like myself, feel uncomfortable, insecure, and confused.

I love run-on sentences.

Let me give you an example (of girls being evil; not necessarily of a run-on sentence). Recently, I was cohabiting an area of the gym with two females who working out together. Usually I try to avoid coming into direct contact with females at the gym, for a number or reasons, not the least of which being that I smell like a gym sock, and that the "fairer sex" seems to have a more sensitive collective nasal passage. Alas, I was forced to stand awkwardly close to these two particular "ladies," as they were directly in the way of where I needed to put back the two weights that I had been using. Upon coming into close proximity with said "ladies" their conversation dropped to a whisper, and subsequently ceased. I politely said, "Excuse me, thanks," and deposited the weights in their proper homes. Immediately upon my departure, these two femme fatales began to do a horrible, ear-splitting, brain-numbing thing that shall henceforth be known as "gispering." I call it this because the more logical and sonorous hybrid would have been "wiggling," which, of course, is taken. If you haven't yet figured out what they were doing, it was a hybrid vocal function, somewhere between whispering and giggling. It is not something you want to hear immediately following your departure from a specific place.

These two deserved to be defenestrated.

Squirrels are out to get us

2008-12-03T18:00:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago a friend and I were walking around church street and headed down to the waterfront to watch the sunset. When we were walking back to church street to catch the bus we were talking. As we passed a tall fence we heard a loud scratching noise, and the fence started to shake. We both shrieked as something came flying over the fence at us. When I say we shrieked, people across the street and a little bit away looked at us we were that loud.

A stupid squirrel had decided to pick that moment to come at us, just as were talking about how as females, we should consider carrying rape whistles so that are parents feel better about our safety.

That was definitely good timing on the squirrels part, I personally think that the squirrel was out to get us.

What if...

2008-12-02T12:55:00.000-08:00

...Edgar Allen Poe was alive today?

Let us explore the possibilities.

The Tell-Blog Heart

TRUE! Nervous, very, very nervous I have been and am; But why WILL you say that I am mad? The disease had sharpened my senses, not destroyed, not dulled them. Above all was the sense of hearing acute. I heard all things in the heaven and in the earth. I heard many things in hell. How then, am I MAD? HEARKEN! and observe how HEALTHILY, how calmly I can tell you the whole story.

It is impossible to say how first the idea entered my BRAIN... but once conceived… it haunted me day and night. Object there was none. PASSION there was none. I loved the old man. He had never wronged me. He had never given me insult. For his gold I had no desire. I think it was his eye! Yes, it was this! One of his eyes resembled that of a vulture. Pale blue with a film over it. Whenever it fell upon me my blood ran cold. And so, by degrees, very gradually, I decided that I must take the life of the old man, and thus rid myself of the eye forever.

Now this is the point. You fancy me MAD. Madmen know nothing. But you should have seen ME. You should have seen how wisely I proceeded-- with what caution-- with what foresight, what dissimulation I went to work! I was never kinder to the old man than during the week before I killed him. And every night, about midnight I turned the latch of his bedroom door and opened it-- oh so gently. And then! when I had made an opening sufficient for my head, I put in a dark lantern, all closed, so that no light shone, and then I thrust in my head. Oh, you would have laughed to see how cunningly I thrust it in. I moved it slowly-- v e r y , v e r y s l o w l y... so that I might not disturb the old man's sleep. It took me an hour to place my head within the opening so far that I could see him as he lay upon his bed. HA! would a madman have been so wise as this? And then, when my head was well in the room, I undid the lantern cautiously-- oh so cautiously-- cautiously (for the hinges creaked) -- I undid it just so much that a single thin ray shone upon his vulture eye. And this I did for seven l o n g nights-- every night, just at midnight-- but I found the eye always closed; so it was impossible to do the work, for it was not the old man who vexed me but his Evil Eye. And every morning when the day broke I went boldly into his room and spoke courageously to him, calling him by name, in a hearty tone, and inquiring how he had passed the night. So you see, he would have been a very profound old man, indeed, to suspect that every night, just at twelve, I looked in on him while he slept.

On the eighth night I was more than usually cautious in opening the door. A watch's minute hand moves more quickly than mine did. Never before that night had I felt the extent of my own powers-- of my sagacity. I could scarecly contain my feelings of triumph. To think that there I was, opening the door, little by little, and he not even to dream of my secret deeds or thoughts. I fairly chuckled at the idea; and perhaps he heard me; for he moved on the bed suddenly, as if startled. Now, you may think that I drew back-- but no. His room was as black as pitch with the thick darkness, (for the shutters were close fastened through fear of robbers) so I knew that he could not see the opening of the door, and I kept pushing it on steadily, steadily.

I had my head in, and was about to open the lantern, when my thumb slipped upon the tin fastening, and the old man sprang up in the bed, crying out, "Who's there?"

I kept quite still and said nothing. For a whole hour I did not move a muscle, and in the meantime I did not hear him lie down. He was still sitting up in the bed, listening; just as I have done night after night hearkening to the death watches in the wall.

Presently, I heard a slight groan, and I knew it was the groan of mortal terror. It was not a groan of pain or of grief -- oh, no! It was the low stifled sound that arises from the bottom of the soul when overcharged with awe. I knew the sound well. Many a night, just at midnight, when all the world slept, it has welled up from my own bosom, deepening, with its dreadful echo, the terrors that distracted me. I say I knew it well. I knew what the old man felt, and pitied him although I chuckled at heart. I knew that he had been lying awake ever since the first slight noise when he had turned in the bed. His fears had been ever since growing upon him. He had been trying to fancy them causeless, but could not. He had been saying to himself, "It is nothing but the wind in the chimney, it is only a mouse crossing the floor," or, "It is merely a cricket which has made a single chirp." Yes he has been trying to comfort himself with these suppositions ; but he had found all in vain. ALL IN VAIN, because Death in approaching him had stalked with his black shadow before him and enveloped the victim. And it was the mournful influence of the unperceived shadow that caused him to feel, although he neither saw nor heard, to feel the presence of my head within the room.

When I had waited a long time very patiently without hearing him lie down, I resolved to open a little -- a very, very little crevice in the lantern. So I opened it -- you cannot imagine how stealthily, stealthily -- until at length a single dim ray like the thread of the spider shot out from the crevice and fell upon the vulture eye.

It was open, wide, wide open, and I grew furious as I gazed upon it. I saw it with perfect distinctness -- all a dull blue with a hideous veil over it that chilled the very marrow in my bones, but I could see nothing else of the old man's face or person, for I had directed the ray as if by instinct precisely upon the damned spot.

And now have I not told you that what you mistake for madness is but over-acuteness of the senses? now, I say, there came to my ears a low, dull, quick sound, such as a watch makes when enveloped in cotton. I knew that sound well too. It was the beating of the old man's heart. It increased my fury as the beating of a drum stimulates the soldier into courage.

But even yet I refrained and kept still. I scarcely breathed. I held the lantern motionless. I tried how steadily I could maintain the ray upon the eye. Meantime the hellish tattoo of the heart increased. It grew quicker and quicker, and louder and louder, every instant. The old man's terror must have been extreme! It grew louder, I say, louder every moment! -- do you mark me well? I have told you that I am nervous: so I am. And now at the dead hour of the night, amid the dreadful silence of that old house, so strange a noise as this excited me to uncontrollable terror. Yet, for some minutes longer I refrained and stood still. But the beating grew louder, louder! I thought the heart must burst. And now a new anxiety seized me -- the sound would be heard by a neighbour! The old man's hour had come!

With a loud yell, I threw open the lantern and leaped into the room. He shrieked once -- once only. In an instant I dragged him to the floor, and pulled the heavy bed over him. I then smiled gaily, to find the deed so far done. But for many minutes the heart beat on with a muffled sound. This, however, did not vex me; it would not be heard through the wall. At length it ceased. The old man was dead. I removed the bed and examined the corpse. Yes, he was stone, stone dead. I placed my hand upon the heart and held it there many minutes. There was no pulsation. He was stone dead. His eye would trouble me no more.

If still you think me mad, you will think so no longer when I describe the wise precautions I took for the concealment of the body. The night waned, and I worked hastily, but in silence.

I took up three planks from the flooring of the chamber, and deposited all between the scantlings. I then replaced the boards so cleverly so cunningly, that no human eye -- not even his -- could have detected anything wrong. There was nothing to wash out -- no stain of any kind -- no blood-spot whatever. I had been too wary for that.

When I had made an end of these labours, it was four o'clock -- still dark as midnight. As the bell sounded the hour, there came a k n o c k i n g at the street door. I went down to open it with a light heart, -- for what had I now to fear? There entered three men, who introduced themselves, with perfect suavity, as officers of the police. A shriek had been heard by a neighbour during the night; suspicion of foul play had been aroused; information had been lodged at the police office, and they (the officers) had been deputed to search the premises.

I smiled, -- for what had I to fear? I bade the gentlemen welcome. The shriek, I said, was my own in a dream. The old man, I mentioned, was absent in the country. I took my visitors all over the house. I bade them search -- search well. I led them, at length, to his chamber. I showed them his treasures, secure, undisturbed. In the enthusiasm of my confidence, I brought chairs into the room, and desired them here to rest from their fatigues, while I myself, in the wild audacity of my perfect triumph, placed my own seat upon the very spot beneath which reposed the corpse of the victim.

The officers were satisfied. My MANNER had convinced them. I was singularly at ease. They sat and while I answered cheerily, they chatted of familiar things. But, ere long, I felt myself getting pale and wished them gone. My head ached, and I fancied a ringing in my ears; but still they sat, and still chatted. The ringing became more distinct: I talked more freely to get rid of the feeling: but it c o n t i n u e d and gained definitiveness -- until, at length, I found that the noise was NOT within my ears.

No doubt I now grew VERY pale; but I talked more fluently, and with a heightened voice. Yet the sound increased -- and what could I do? It was A LOW, DULL, QUICK SOUND -- MUCH SUCH A SOUND AS A WATCH MAKES WHEN ENVELOPED IN COTTON. I gasped for breath, and yet the officers heard it not. I talked more quickly, more vehemently but the noise steadily increased. I arose and argued about trifles, in a high key and with violent gesticulations; but the noise s t e a d i l y increased. Why WOULD they not be gone? I paced the floor to and fro with heavy strides, as if excited to fury by the observations of the men, but the noise s t e a d i l y increased. O God! what COULD I do? I foamed -- I raved -- I swore! I swung the chair upon which I had been sitting, and grated it upon the boards, but the noise arose over all and c o n t i n u a l l y InCrEaSeD. It grew louder -- louder -- louder! And still the men chatted pleasantly , and smiled. Was it possible they heard not? Almighty God! -- no, NO? They heard! -- they suspected! -- they KNEW! -- they were making a mockery of my horror! -- this I thought, and this I think. But anything was better than this agony! Anything was more tolerable than this derision! I could bear those hypocritical smiles no longer! I felt that I must scream or die! -- and now -- again -- hark! louder! louder! louder! LOUDER! --

"Villains!" I shrieked, "dissemble no more! I admit the deed! -- tear up the planks! -- here, here! -- it is the beating of his hideous heart!"

home

2008-11-22T14:23:00.000-08:00

I thought it would feel good to be home, to be able to be in my town again. I have been looking forward to being able to know people everywhere I go. I thought it would be so nice.

I was completely wrong. I didn't wake up until three in the afternoon today. Which was nice. Then I went with my family to go grocery shopping and just some regular errands. The second store we go to I manage to set off the alarm thing as I walk in. Then, for the rest of the time I am in the store, I, along with my family was followed by an employee. Want to know the worst part? We had a friend with us. He is black, and because of this, he is automatically distrusted in every store he goes into in my home town. He was with us, so they decided he might try some crap there. My sister works at that store, and I told them I was wearing shorts from Old Navy (which sets off alarms), plus the shift supervisor goes to my church, and should know all of us. I felt worse for my sister, her boss sucks, and is way rude.

I have never in all my life been treated with such distrust in my home town. I live in a small town, and I have never had issues there. To be followed around like I was a criminal or someone trying to destroy the store sucks, and to know my friend is discriminated against wherever he goes makes me so mad.

Not such a great way to be welcomed home.

what it is like to be home for the first time in 3 months

2008-11-21T15:53:00.001-08:00

my flight home was this afternoon so i have been home for a few hours already. and i still feel just as weird as i did when i first got home. i have not been home since august 28, the day before we all moved in to college. what i came home to is nothing like i remembered it though. for one thing, i forgot how to turn the key in my own door... then i come inside and see that the kitchen floor is finally done and we now have a new fridge which opens... backwords? i was pulling at it for a while before i realized there wasn't actually a handle there and it was on the other side.. who makes refridgerators like that... not only was the kitchen a weird experience but the bathroom was too. the toilet is much lower now. i swear it must have shrunk down to the ground or something. because home is the one place where it is not disgusting to actually sit on the toilet seat. but then i just kept getting lower. seriously, what? and the sink is really low too. like, i had to crouch down to wash my hands. i guess the sinks at school are higher or something....

so THEN i picked up my bags that i had dumped in the front hall the second i came in to bring into my room and my room is, unfortunately, exactly the way i remember leaving it. A MESS. exactly what it looked like when i tore it apart packing in august, and didn't have time (or just didnt want to) clean it up the day before leaving, because we had to drive up early. oh man, the one thing that didnt change is the one thing i wish did. i have been looking forward to sleeping in my own bed for the past 3 months, but my bed is covered with the clothes i pulled out my closet and wanted to pack but had no more rooom for. as is the floor. and the desk. and the top of my dresser. i wonder why i have so many clothes at home, because i have way too many at school i thought i wouldnt have that much at home. but apparently i do.

then mommy dearest came home from work and i told her that she should have cleaned my room. (Seriously, she always used to try and clean my room and i would yell at her not to but now when i actually would have liked her to she didn't even do it)

and now i smell dinner. AHHHHH, DINNER ! as in, not gross nasty ugh ew not my mothers cooking, college dining hall food. must go eat.
i hope this weirdness i feel at home doesnt last long, because i would like to get used to it before i have to head back up to school and get used to school again only to come back home 2 weeks later. that wouldnt be fun. and i hope everyone else is enjoying being at home or wherever you are, because it is not school. hope u all have a happy thanksgiving too.

torture

2008-11-21T15:39:00.000-08:00

As i said in class, the videos we watched, Dakota and Nukorea were torture. Nukorea more so than Dakota. For one thing, i think they should be reversed. the story line of dakota goes better with the video of of nukorea and the story line of nukorea goes better with the video of dakota. dakota was hard to read because it went by so quickly, to the beat of the drums. it wasn't quite torture because it wasn't that bad to keep up and the story wasn't nearly as disturbing as nukorea. nukorea on the other hand was 100% torture. the music was way too slow for the video. the only thing that kept my eyes on the screen was the changes in the sizing of the words. but even that didn't help because i zoned out a few times from the horrible music and how slow the words were going. but then when we thought we were safe, the words would zoom by before i had the chance to focus on the screen again. it sucked that this story had to go on for like, 10 whole minutes. i did not enjoy everything getting blown up and i certainly do not enjoy maggots. so i think the point is that i didn't like the story in general, even if it weren't set to slow music and the speeds didnt play tricks on us. because if it were on paper, it still wouldn't have been good. but i think people like reading digital stories better than reading books anyway. i am sort of glad i was one of the select few to be in class and watch the videos though, because i didn't even think of how technology affects literature in such a simple way as the MUSIC it is set to and the SPEED at which the words go by. if i ever want to do a digital story that will torture people, i now know EXACTLY what i need to do.

i am one of those people

2008-11-21T07:13:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was a very important day. A momentous day. I have been looking forward to yesterday's events since the beginning of the school year, and maybe even a little before. Last night, I went to THE movie premiere. That's right. I am a Twilight fan. One of those slobbering, screaming, shrieking people. (Maybe more self contained than openly slobbering.)

We showed up last night at nine for the midnight premiere. We hung out in line, talked and basically sat there hitting each other because we were so excited. When we went into the theater we ran so that we could get good seats. (We were really close to the front of the line to begin with.)

When the actual movie started, there was clapping, cheering and general excitement. Then, when the Cullens were first spotted in the movie loud and audible gasps were made throughout the whole theater. Only about half of the people actually were loud when Edward entered, the rest gasped louder, or catcalled.

Now, I don't want to say too much. Yet, I am going to say this. POTENTIAL SPOILER alert. He glittered not sparkled, and he was supposed to sparkle, not glitter. If that is my only complaint, I can't really complain.

movie cliches

2008-11-20T23:43:00.000-08:00

i thought this was pretty dumb at first when i found the site, i think the whole idea of a cliche is dumb, but when i was reading through these i thought they were either just really funny, or they were actually true. think about some old favorites or just next time you watch a movie you will realize how cliche stupid script writers actually are most of the time...

KIDS/TEENAGERS

A kid always knows more than an adult.
A kid can fend for himself even if his parents have gone to Paris, leaving him with no food, electricity, heat, money, etc.
No child can ever be killed...even if they're electrocuted on a high-voltage electric fence that could kill a dinosaur (Jurassic Park)
Eight to ten-year-old kids are the best computer hackers on earth and can break into any system.
Girls who can't find a date to the prom in high school films are usually the girls that, in most high schools, would have almost every teenage boy asking them.

PHONES

All phone numbers begin with 555.
People speaking on the phone never introduce themselves, and never ever say "good-bye" at the end of a conversation.
A ringing phone is usually picked up within 3 seconds.
Don't give the person on the other end of the phone time to say what they have to.
You also never have to look up a phone number, for anyone.
When a phone line is broken or someone hangs up unexpectedly, communication channels can be restored by frantically beating the cradle and saying "Hello? Hello?".
Always knock over the phone if it wakes you up. If you are expecting a call, make sure that you pull the covers up completely over your head so that knocking it over becomes easier. All houses have phones next to the bed.
There's a dial tone to be heard on A's phone immediately after B has hung up on his/her end.
The Movie Telephone Time Vortex.
How often have you seen something like this:
Phone rings. Hero/Heroine picks it up. "Hello. Yes. O.k. Right. Thanks, Goodbye." (Total elapsed time on phone: 5 seconds.)
Hero/Heroine turns to other character: "That was John. He says that the Marilyn left for the lawyer's office about an hour ago, and she should have been there by now. He's called the lawyer's office but Marilyn apparently never got there. He also called Bill's, thinking she'd stop by there, but Bill hasn't seen her. John says he's going to call Anne, as Marilyn said she and Ann were going to go shopping sometime today. If she's not at Anne's, he's going to call the police. He suggests that we drive over to Mario's and check with him as to whether or not Marilyn told Wally about the statue. However, he thinks this is unlikely as Marilyn doesn't trust Wally, she only trusts us and Fransisco. John also suggests we try to get in touch with Fransisco . . . ."
On the subject of phones, how about variations of the Bob Newhart-style conversation where we only get to hear one side of the conversation, as in: Marilyn hasn't shown up at the lawyer's office yet? (PAUSE) And you already called Bill's? (PAUSE) What did he say? (PAUSE) He hasn't seen her either. (PAUSE) So, John's getting nervous? (PAUSE) He's going to call the police...
If I'm not mistaken, the conversation must have gone like this:
"Marilyn hasn't shown up at the lawyer's office yet."
"Marilyn hasn't shown up at the lawyer's office yet?"
"No, and I've already called Bill's."
"And you already called Bill's?"
"Yes."
"What did he say?"
"He hasn't seen her either."
"He hasn't seen her either."
"John's getting pretty nervous about this."
"So, John's getting nervous?"
"Yes, he's going to call the police."
"He's going to call the police..."
When phone-calls are traced you can see a map on the screen with a beam closing in on the caller, and the caller always knows how long he can talk before he has to hang up to not be traced down. He always manages to say everything perfectly timed for 2 minutes.
Video-phones display pictures of the callers looking straight into the camera. The camera must be in the middle of their screen, in other words.
If the hero tries to call someone he needs urgently he won't need more than three rings to know that he/she is not there.
If someone wants to call the hero, he/she will let the phone ring forever before hanging up, expecially if the caller does not know that the hero has to fight his way to the phone through a bunch of bad guys.
A person is placing a phone call to a company, such as "Sports Illustrated." The phone at the other end is picked up, and the person PLACING the call says, "Hello, Sports Illustrated?", as if they are checking to make sure they called the right place.
What this means is that at a major company, someone is answering the phone with "hello" and that's it! Not, "hello, Sports Illustrated, can I help you?" or anything like that, just "Hello!"

HOUSES

People never answer the door until the doorbell or knocking has sounded at least three times.
The hero lives in New York City working at some okay, but not particularly high-paying job, and yet he or she has a roomy apartment filled with nice stuff, generally with a good view, and sometimes a nice, romantic rooftop to go to.
People never get out of the house when there is obvious danger there (ghosts, murderers).
People who hear something weird outside will go OUT to look, even if they know there's a homicidal maniac on the loose.
When someone's in bed and hears a sound outside, he'll get up and turn the lights on before looking out of a window, even if this usually guarantees that he'll never be able to see anything going on.
When an intruder is in the house, the occupant will snuck along a wall with his back pressed to it tightly and his arms out a bit from his body, palms flat agaisnt the wall.
When there's an intruder somewhere in the house, the thing that jumps at the heroine in the dark turns out to be her cat, even if it comes from places cats wouldn't be, like inside a cupboard! As soon as she relaxes, the killer will show up and strangle her.
Any apartment in Paris will have a view of the Eiffel Tower

MINORITES

Minorities such as Native Americans or Asians will always have some sort of mystical knowledge or inate fighting skill. For example, the Native American always knows the course of events to come from some sign in nature, and Asians are all born with Martial Arts skills they can use to battle the bad guys.

RESTROOMS

In film, no one uses the restroom, except as a venue for escape. If there are multiple people in the restroom, expect a minor character revealation while they stand at the mirror

craziest

2008-11-20T22:44:00.000-08:00

apparently, from reading other blogs, i'm not the only one who didn't quite catch on for a bit that craziest is fictional. i thought this girl was just a freak who worshipped scrabble. also her whole life story of her dad sending her to boarding school and then her not moving back after because he would be sad about her mom... wasn't that like in a movie or something, that storyline sounds so familiar. but i think i liked it because

1) it was not nearly as long as 21 steps

2)did not involve as much viewer interaction as 21 steps

3) it made scrabble into such a big deal.

i LOVE scrabble. when i was little, i used to see those family game nights on tv and beg my family to all play scrabble together, but they thought a family game night was corny. it is, but i just wanted to play scrabble. nobody else did...my mom loves it though.

so this video definitely kept me interested.

once i realized it wasn't true, i was able to laugh at it, because it is hilarious how serious she makes scrabble out to be... and i cracked up when the old man died at the last second putting the last s down. "this man was 53, his heart was so bad he shouldn't have played" all that tension in that scene i find amazing. the game was called, i never laid down my tiles. poor thing.and then at the end the brain is just deteriorating.

but this made me really want to play scrabble, so i signed out the game from the front desk on wednesday and made some people play with me. i may or may not have been embarrassed to admit that it was scrabble that i rented when i told them i had a game. i think the whole digital story thing is starting to grow on me now that i see how ridiculous something can be but how amusing it can be at the same time (and how it can reconnect you with an old favorite game, scrabble. but thats a lie, no other digital story has ever done that)

Its that time of year

2008-11-20T11:28:00.000-08:00

After hearing so many people be upset about the snow, I decided to make a list of my favorite things that happen around this time of year.

1. SNOW

2. Snow ball fights

3. Drinking lots and lots of hot chocolate

4. Playing in the snow with my dog

5. Holiday decorations

6. I love the silence at two in the morning when you are outside and it is snowing

7. Snow balls

8. The sparkly lights everywhere

9. The energy when you are in the mall

10. A long break

11. Spending time with my family

12. SNOW

13. Eggnog

14. Shopping for gifts for others

15. The surprise of slipping on ice (especially on the top of a hill)

Some of these may seem weird, and I know I repeated snow, but it is exciting enough to deserve the repetition. This might be my favorite time of the year.

40 first lines

2008-11-20T07:03:00.000-08:00

So, this phenomenon has been creeping around facebook for the past couple weeks. What happens is, somone makes a note that contains the first lines to 40 different songs, and people leave comments with the names and artists. So here's what I'm gonna do. Put my iPod on shuffle and let the fun begin. If you know that, COMMENT. This is like a freebie comment.

If the title is in the first line I'll skip to the next line, or to the first verse.

1. I wanna love ya, and treat you right

2. Your choice, so choose.

3. Well, they'll stone ya when you're trynta be so good.

4. I heard you on the wireless, back in fifty-two. (oh, this one is CLASSIC!)

5. Lately, newspaper man says cheap airfare (1st verse)

6. The train pulled out, and I swung on behind (1st verse, 2nd line)

7. One last kiss, one only.

8. hey, hey, hey, hey, oooooooooooowwwww... won't you, come see about me? (so good)

9. Stashed his trash in Ecuador, bought a good suit of clothes.

10. Day after day I'm more confused.

11. Well I'm going down to Rosedale, take my rider by my side (2nd verse)

12. Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme. (2nd line)

13. When I find myself in times of trouble...

14. Etty in the room a cry, mama said she must wipe her eye.

15. She's got everything she needs, she's an artist, she don't look back.

16. Think of London. Small city.

17. Sittin' in his nowhere land (2nd line)

18. Oooow.... hey kid, rock and roll

19. I believed I was wrong but baby now I know.

20. Found myself a matchbook, beside some hotel bed.

21. We've done four already but now we're steady and then they went: one, two, three, four.... Singin' in the sunshine...

22. The ocean liner's gone so far away (2nd line)

23. One, two, three, four. Cindy smiles in overcoats.

24. Legalize it.... don't criticize it... legalize it... and I'll advertise it.

25. It was a slow day, the sun was beating on the soldiers by the side of the road.

26. Pistol shots ring out in a barroom night

27. One-two... on the field I remember you were incredible.

28. Once upon a time you dressed so fine.

29. A devastating backstroke, all the way from France.

30. If I could have chosen where God would hide his Heaven...

31. Mama told me, when I was young

32. He bought a shotgun, cuz he was in the mood for a little con-fron-ta-tion. (2nd line)

33. I climb the walls of my mind just like climbin' on a jungle gym.

34. Every time that I see your face, something moves within my heart.

35. Oh father high in heaven, smile down upon your son.

36. I knew a girl, her name was Truth.

37. Oh, oh-oh-oh-oh oohh, you don't have to go-oh-oh-oh-oh-oooh

38. Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep (rrriiiinnggg) yo? Yo Biggie wake up.

39. The pressure builds, you buy a gift.

40. I wanna live in the city, with no friends and family

Some real good ones on this list. Let's see who wins.

stumble upon

2008-11-19T17:29:00.000-08:00

im sure most of you out there are using firefox, and this is great because then what i am about to suggest was built for your browser. i don't know how many of you out there have heard of stumble upon, i had but i never actually downloaded it, and now that i have i realize it is great, and you all should check it out.
http://www.stumbleupon.com/
it is a great way to procrastinate...
and it is a great way to find funny stuff to post on blogs about.

in fact, thats the reason why i actually downloaded it, me and a friend were sitting around complaining about all the work we have this week and i mentioned that i have to post horrible blogs for english class (she is jealous that she is stuck in written expression while we are not even allowed to take that class) and find something less horrible to post about this time, and she told me to go stumble upon stuff, apparently it is a verb now like those other ones (ex. google it)

so the button gets added to the toolbar on firefox, you can't miss it, it has a little logo and then says, Stumble! and all you have to do is click it and it brings you to a random website based on the boxes you check off telling them your interests when you first download it. there are a lot of weird things out there, but some pretty cool things too. its kind of addictive, just keep pressing the button and you are brought to more and more randomess...

here is one of my favorite things ive stumbled upon today...
http://www.swcp.com/~jamii/OtherCats/
my favorite is the poptart kitten.
Now everyone say, AWWW.
not only did i get to see cute little cats, but i found out that ratemykitten.com exists ?! what? that reminds me of 8th grade when my friends and i posted a bunch of trash all over ratemyteacher.com about our teachers. gosh thats embarassing. i forgot about all those sites, maybe i will head over to ratemyprofessor.com to pick classes, hopefully i can find more classes with teachers as entertaining as ours.

lyrics

2008-11-19T16:58:00.000-08:00

The other day lyrics from a song I was listening to caught my attention. I don't know if any of you have ever experienced it, but when I hear something that really hits me, I get cold chills. I totally got cold chills with this song. I don't actually know the name of the song or anything. So, here it is:

"If we are waiting for the circumstance to change so that we can be happy,

you know we are missing out on every thing

cause its our hearts that need to be changed."

On another note, I googled Ben Peek the other day and found this website, interesting marketing strategy.... http://www.talkingsquid.net/archives/129

21 steps

2008-11-19T16:51:00.000-08:00

After going through 21 steps in class, two things stuck out for me. One, if I wasn't careful the screen made me feel sick when it was zooming around, and two the story line was a little obvious. Don't get me wrong, I thought it was cute. But that is just it, it was cute, nothing more, nothing less. I was not overly inspired by this to go out and make my own, or even to watch it again and again, to find things I may or may not have missed previously. It was just cute.

I prefer a story line that keeps you guessing up until the very last bit. I once read a story that was written in such a way that the reader kept switching who they thought the murderer was between two sisters. Until the very last chapter when it was all revealed, until then you could guess but could not know. I like books like that, where you have to read every single word and pay attention to every single scene trying to find some hidden clue. When you can skip a page, a paragraph, a chapter, it just does not have the same magical hold over a person, and you can be content with just being the reader in the story.

When a book, or piece of literature forces you to do more then just sit there and contentedly read a little section at a time, that is when you start to find the true master pieces in literature. Until then, it is just cute.

Warren Buffet

2008-11-19T13:51:00.000-08:00

Truly a remarkable man, Warren Buffet, who at the beginning of this year was estimated to be worth as much as 62 billion dollars, by Forbes, started out (and I'm not joking) with a paper route.

The man, a boy at the time, filed his first tax return at age 13, writing off his watch and bicycle as business expenses!

One of his first material investments, before he started snatching up farmland in and around Omaha, was a pinball machine. He and a buddy spent 25 bucks on a used pinball machine and put it in a barber shop. The coin started rolling in.

A fun fact about this man, one the most successful and brilliant business men in history, is that he was turned down by Harvard Business school. He did get into Columbia's program though.

You may think that I am crazy, but if you are ever bored and want something interesting to read, go to the wikipedia page on this man. You will be astounded. A true American, he built himself from the ground up, started raking in money hand-over-fist, and still lives in the same house he has lived in since he got married. He purchased it for under 40,000 and it now is estimated to be worth only 700,000. Compare that to people like the CEOs of Enron, Tyco, or other such companies... and I'd say that's pretty good. When he finally bought his own private jet, he even named it "The Indefensible" because he knew he shouldn't have, but hey, he did announce a plan to give away 83% of his fortune to charity. No, that is not a typo, and no, that does not say 8.3%.

"I got an uncle who owns a bank, he's a self-made millionaire." - Who do you think?

Jimmy Buffet

2008-11-19T13:34:00.000-08:00

This may take the form of a rant. I've got some energy right now, and this is a subject that really gets me riled up.

I am a Jimmy Buffet fan.

The man is a legend. And NOT because he wrote any of the following songs: Margaritaville, Cheeseburger in Paradise, Volcano, or Fins. Despite the fact that these are all good songs, they are in no way my favorite Buffet songs. If someone tells you that they are a Buffet fan, DO NOT under any circumstances, start mentioning these songs.

Conversely, if someone claims to be a Jimmy Buffet fan and starts to name these songs as their favorite... send them to me. I'll deal with them.

Jimmy Buffet is a genius... but also, in my opinion, he sold himself short.

He is a genius on two fronts. And that is where the trouble is.

Jimmy Buffet is one of the most talented song-writers living in America today. The sheer volume of his catalogue is staggering. He consistently produces albums with good songs on them, and has for 30 years. He has at least 5 albums that I would call "great."

But, being that he is the nephew of one of the greatest financial minds on the planet, Warren Buffet, he also is very marketing savvy. Jimmy Buffet has marketed himself better than any one else I can imagine. You may argue that Elvis did better at this... but that is not the case. Elvis drove himself into bankruptcy before he died, and his heirs now make bank off his image. Buffet primarily created his fortune himself. In doing so made himself "enough money to buy Miami," as he states in "A Pirate Looks at 40." But, he also undersold his own talent. It's hard to market all of your stuff, so he had to concentrate on those songs that had the most wide public appeal, and play to those. And by god it worked.

But, a true Buffet fan will be able to sing you songs like "Pencil Thin Mustache," "Railroad Lady," "He Went To Paris," "Death of an Unpopular Poet," and scores and scores of others. I once named over a hundred in under 20 minutes. And the ones stated in this paragraph are no where near the most obscure.

I am confident that I could pass of the lyrics to any number of Jimmy Buffet songs as legitimate poetry, in my Intro to Poetry class. But no one will believe me when I say this because all they can think about is "I LIKE MINE WITH LETTUCE AND TOMATOES!"

Look forward to a post about how Warren Buffet made his first million. It's amazing.

Tea

2008-11-19T13:17:00.000-08:00

If you can't tell yet, I'm sitting at my computer and composing posts about the things that are near me.

"I love.... lamp?"

Right now I'm drinking tea. I love... tea? Hot tea.

And I do love it. What is better than a hot cup of tea after walking back from class without a damn hat, because I'm an idiot? I can only think of a few. I won't get into them now... this is not the forum for that discussion.

I tell people that I like tea, but I don't REALLY like tea. I've met people who REALLY like tea, and they operate on a whole other level of tea consciousness. One of my friends wrote his common application college essay on tea. Loose leaf, french press, hot and cold, white, green, black, oolong, there is more tea terminology than any person would care to know.

I'm content with Salada. Hot. Black. Sugary. Delicious.

Caffeine has very little effect on me.

Halo

2008-11-19T13:08:00.000-08:00

I would like someone to please explain to me what the big draw is to the Halo video games.

Don't get me wrong, I game as much as the next guy, though maybe not as much as many, but if I'm gonna be shooting at people on my TV I'd rather have it look somewhat realistic. I'd rather know the approximations of what my character can do physically, because they are similar to what I can do physically.

Personally, of the new generation of first person shooters, I choose Call of Duty over Halo any day. When you play Duty, as I abbreviate it, you can make vague estimates as to what your character can do. You see a wall thats a few feet tall and say, I could jump that in real life.... so.... and generally you are right. You can do that type stuff, just as you can shoot actual bullets, and you can be shot by them as well.

Whereas, when you play Halo you see a glowing orb of purple-ness and a hundred foot high stainless steel piece of imagination and you say, well duh, I can propel myself over that as long as I jump from this moving warthog and land directly in the center of that ball of purple and do some other bullshit along the way. Like seriously... what the hell is an energy sword or whatever?

Halo is stupid.

"I found religion the day I discovered gangster rap."

2008-11-19T12:44:00.000-08:00

I once saw a commercial on television... I don't remember what it was for... but I remember at one point an innocent looking, young, clean cut, caucasian woman says, directly into the camera, "I found religion the day I discovered gangster rap."

I feel this way some times too.

I wouldn't say that gangster rap is my favorite kind of music, indeed it may well be far from it. But, it does serve a valuable purpose. Similar to a vindicated middle-aged woman putting on the Carly Simon Greatest Hits album, or an underpaid highschool Latin teacher rocking out to Social Distortion's "Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell," listening to Dr. Dre or ODB lamenting about their own problems and how they deal with them tends to make me feel good.

Some people claim that rap is senseless, desensitized, crude, and talentless. I disagree. When I listen to Snoop lay down a rhyme, that often he comes up with on the spot, I see art. Rappers are quite talented. My favorite rapper/producer would have to be Dr. Dre. And I'll tell you why, via a quote from his own mouth.

It goes as follows: "You've never been on a ride like this before. With a producer who can rap and control the maestro, at the same time with the dope rhyme that I kick, you know, and I know, I flow some old funky sh..."

Basically what Dre is saying is that he can rap, and he can lay down hot beats. And that my friends... that is talent. Way more talent than the Jonas Brothers. Combined.

"Fallin' back on that ass with a hellified gangsta lean. Gettin funky on the mic like a old batch a collard greens. It's the capital S, oh yes I'm fresh, N, double-O, P, D, O, double- G, Y, D, O, double-G you see." -Snoop.

Both of those glorious quotes were taken from the song Nuthin But A G Thang.

The 21 step program.

2008-11-19T12:31:00.000-08:00

When does he have to apologize to everyone he wronged in the past?

Just kidding.

Seriously though, that was a pretty enjoyable little story. Tied up all the loose ends almost too well. My favorite part of the story was the fact that the main character's old college buddy is probably going to have to be "taken care of" at some point in the near future.

I think the main reason I enjoyed this work was because it took me back to some of my favorite movie scenes from my childhood. I am referring to, of course, the "map scenes" in the Indiana Jones trilogy. If you don't know what I'm talking about... first of all, shame. Second of all, let this refresh your memory.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tp-N8j6oSE&feature=related

The iSpirits wouldn't allow me to embed the video. Sorry.

pointless post you will see from me #1

2008-11-19T10:44:00.000-08:00

warning you all that this is gonna be one of those posts about my day, but it is kind of a rant post, or when you are feeling down about yourself you can just think of how much of a fool i am and instantly feel better. and im predicting right now that this is going to be really long, and have a lot of words.

so being that i just woke up, i decided it to be the perfect time to catch up on missed blogs from our little class break. yeah, i woke up 2 minutes after my anthro class started, looked at my alarm clock, yelled at it for magically forgetting to go off, and then threw it at my roommate's closet. come on, 2 minutes? maybe if it was 5 minutes i would feel better, but when you see that it was only 2 minutes ago it sucks.

NO im not just waking up for the day, i woke up at 7:30 and had two classes, but when i was falling asleep while conjugating verbs in french class, i decided i wanted to take a nap before my last class at 1:25. for some reason, while it is one of my busiest weeks of the semester, i still decide i want to sleep at any random time. yesterday, i didn't even have my first class until 2 so i was pretty much in bed until about noon. decided to go back to my room and take a nap at 6 pm, instead of going to the library to work on 3 chapters of math homework with my friend from that class. i didn't even set an alarm then, i could have slept straight through until the morning, but then i woke up at 9 thankfully in time for dinner, sure the dining halls are closed then but the marche is right downstairs =) so around 10 pm is when i decided to start my homework, if i had done it earlier i could have been going to bed for the night dont you think? or not, because i still have a research paper to work on and a calc test im going to fail. well now i am wide awake, and should be until 6 pm again. and since my whole suite is empty and quiet, it is the perfect setting for me to teach myself derivatives (because i sure didnt learn it in class). and maybe i might not get another 60 on a test.

instead, im probably just going to sit here looking for funny stuff to post about. i will probably feel the need to go to sleep before i work on implicit differentiation derivatives again tonight. because i have no other choice now, the test is tomorrow i cant keep putting it off...

okay, i think this post is long enough now because i am just pissed off and rambling and nobody else is going to read this. im gonna press publish now, and head back over to stumble upon where maybe i might find something cooler for you guys.

WAIT one more rant i just realized

i missed this class today, and i will definitely be missing it again friday because my flight home is at 1. but thats fine because i planned to miss that class in advance. see when you plan to miss a class, its okay, but when you miss a class because you woke up too late for it even though you were sleeping at a time you really didnt even need to be asleep, its pretty sucky. and i bet she did something cool in class today, like show us chimp fossils or something. (not that this is actually cool, its just a horribly boring class called biological anthropology that teaches us we came from chimps. or maybe we didnt. i dont actually remember the specific species name we came from. but every once in a while she decides to do something cool, like let us out early, or show us chimp fossils)

ughhhhh. i never felt bad after missing a class in high school. and in high school attendance actually mattered. college is stupid. ok i am done now. kthxbye.

Sock sale

2008-11-17T16:04:00.000-08:00

Saturday morning I got up at six so that I would be ready when my sister came to pick me up at six thirty (she was only a few minutes late). My sister, her roommate, my friend and I all went in a car together.

We got there around seven thirty, an hour early. A few minutes earlier and we could have been out of the rain, instead we stood next to the people under the roof as it rained. For the next hour we talked about books, Twilight the movie, and numerous other things. We got some smiles at how animated our conversations were getting about books, we were shouting a few times, trying to prove our points about a series. (Outlander if you are wondering, I say skip the first chapter and then go back and read it, every one else says force your way through it.)

We got in there and immediately went running to the back table. I must say, it was far more civil this year, no one was shoving, too much. There were mounds of socks everywhere we went.

After we found the socks we wanted, we went and stood in line, I couldn't get any good pictures of the line, but it took us forty five minutes in line to be able to pay, and we got in line early, and took turns shopping and standing in line.

I also got to meet up with my twin, and three of her friends. There was a guy dressed up as Uncle Sam walking around, I must admit, I wanted to yank off his beard, but I managed to resist that temptation.

I bought some socks. Then we went to the tshirt sale, which was really a tshirt, long sleeved shirt, sweat shirt, sweat pants and shorts sale. I bought three new sweatshirts there.

I love what people will do for crazy sales, this sale is something I look forward to every year.

Castles and glue guns

2008-11-14T19:28:00.000-08:00

Today I was hanging out with one of my older sisters and we were shopping. Some how we decided that we wanted to buy popsicle sticks and make a castle out of them. We went back to her place and got started.

Now, I don't know about others, but I find that the glue from a hot glue gun is, at times, hot. Strange right? Yet, the glue also cools off, and stops working quite quickly. It took me a few minutes, but I got the hang of it eventually. I even built two or three walls, and the two of us figured out how to put the various pieces together.

Now, we have plans on making towers, and walls, multiple floors, and many other parts to it.

It is going to be the coolest popsicle castle ever. Guaranteed.

a real vulnerability

2008-11-09T17:48:00.000-08:00

I must first start this with, please no matter your personal feelings, understand I am putting myself out here now. I am exposing myself and letting some of my vulnerability show through. I hope you all will be willing to respect that.

I am a Christian. I may not be the best at it, I don't know the bible that well, I don't always follow Jesus' word, I certainly still sin. Yet I try to become a better Christian, and the kind of person that God wishes me to be every single day. This weekend, I went to a fall conference for Inter Varsity, a Christian group on campus. Our mission statement is "Encounter Jesus and revolutionize the world with love, service and justice". While I was there I thought a lot about my life and what I am doing with it. We were told that if we haven't experienced butterflies in our stomach because of something we did for Jesus, then we are not really living our lives for Jesus. This is my butterflies. I realized that for me to do what I truly wish to do, and that is give my life to God, then I must be willing to expose my beliefs to others.

A part of me is ashamed to tell someone "I believe in God, I believe in His word, His mission, everything." Especially if I am not certain that the person I am talking to is a Christian. I can't be living the life that Jesus wishes me to live, if I won't confess my love for Him.

Even now, while exposing myself to a very real vulnerability, I am staying safe. I am typing this on a computer and posting it online. Yet I am not going up to someone I know, or even to someone I don't know and saying to them, I believe in God, and I wish to share his word with you. There is no actual human interaction required for me to do this.

If anyone feels a need or wishes to learn more about God, Jesus and Inter Varsity I am here to talk to if you want. I can try and point you in the beginning of the right direction, I can give you a sense of community with other Christians, and I can help you start a journey that will last you all this life, and follow you into the next.

I am finally willing to stand up, and say I believe in the Lord.

The coolest

2008-11-03T15:26:00.000-08:00

So my sister has this wicked cool pet, a Russian desert tortoise. He is the coolest little dude ever. He is really small and has a lot of personality.

When he gets mad or annoyed with us he will throw temper tantrums. He stomps around his cage. If he is hungry and we don't feed him right away he climbs up his hut, then slides down on the other side.

I am telling you all this to give you background on what an obviously awesome tortoise he is.

The other day when I was home I decided to have a "dance party" in the living room with my sisters. We turned up the music and were dancing near his cage when all of a sudden I looked in and he was dancing with the music.

Now obviously he did not get up on his back two legs and do a jig, but he was moving his head and front two legs to the music. The entire time.

For some strange and unexplainable reason, everyone I have told does not believe me. I have witnesses. I guess no one can believe me because their tortoises are just not as cool as Elliott.

i forgot to understand

2008-11-02T20:58:00.001-08:00

i forgot to post about "understanding" before I jumped over to meet the lucky ones. jumping back a week, forward a week, then back, I should get with it, shouldnt I?

Its kind of hard to understand understanding, considering its just a picture. of eyes. not much to understand. the eyes are clearly sad eyes, you would think. however, it is a play on words because the eyes are not actually "understanding". i think it is about the point where WE are "understanding" what is going on for him, so when we see the sadness in his eyes, we sympathize.

He is not the one "understanding", we are. get it? well, this is just my take on the matter. at first i thought of it as his eyes being understanding eyes, as he is understanding and accepting the accident, and trying not to take fault, but when i thought about him being full of regret and remorse, we are the ones who are supposed to see this all in him and "understand".

feeeelin lucky (or not considering im posting this)

2008-11-02T20:46:00.000-08:00

When I had watched Meet the Lucky Ones a second time, I didn't feel any difference really from the first time I watched it. Both times, I got pretty bored at clicking around the random things.Oh and a stupid moment of mine that I should be embarrassed to share is that when I first watched it, I didn't realize there was an actual video for the characters until I was on the site for about 15 minutes. I was kind of just clicking around on the backrounds and the desks and etc.

After being notified by another student in class that it was actually a car commercial, i was like HUH?! and was definitely looking for that when i watched it. but still, I didn't see much of a commercial. I guess just product placement, sharons car? i guess that is why sharon is important, if she wasn't given that car the whole ad would be a flop (nothing to advertise). I tried to look at the characters relationships with each other more than i did at first, because at first I didn't really see a point to it at all. I still find Estelle quite annoying. Come on, its a bath. Hey Jesper, you did it on purpose. Ashley, you are a brat. None of you three need to exist. As for the rest of the characters, I find the easiest way to follow the story was to follow one character through, until there was a mention of another character and head over to that episode. This was much more successful than my first viewing, where i was a scatter brain and was unsure of what to do with the site, and by the time i knew i was bored. nope, i'm not gonna go buy sharon's car.

New Orleans

2008-11-02T20:34:00.000-08:00

As I am sure at least some of you are aware (from me handing out those little pieces of paper) I am planning on going down to volunteer in New Orleans for my spring break. I am going down with InterVarsity, and really looking forward to it.

Tonight I had the opportunity to go see a documentary at the Palace 9 about Hurricane Katrina. It was filmed by people who went through the experience. The documentary is called Trouble the Water.

As most do, I know at the least the basic facts about what happened. I know the levees broke, houses got flooded out and there was a mass movement of people leaving the area. Before I started to talk to people about going down for spring break in my mind it was all over and taken care of. The houses all built up neatly and everyone had, for the most part, moved on from what happened.

I now know that people are still dealing with the aftermath of what happened that day in 2005. People still have not been able to come back to New Orleans. It is either too hard emotionally or their houses are condemned.

This documentary brought a very personal touch to it all. There were moments I felt like crying, from the despair I felt just watching this documentary. Yet these amazing people were able to maintain faith in God, and survive. They were courteous to all they met. They were nice to the people who were sent down to help, even when they were ignored.

A few things really stuck out to me in this documentary:

1. The people were turned away with force and threat of imminent death if they did not leave from an abandoned and closed naval base.

2. The news focused on how the gas prices would affect everyone. (At the time that had seemed pertinent to me, now having seen this film, it seems rude, selfish and horrible to even think about focusing on that.)

3. The prisoners were abandoned in a prison with no food or drink for days, while all the people in charge, the guards and everyone else left.

5. The hospital which claimed they had evacuated, did not evacuate resulting in the deaths of a lot of people, mostly older.

6. The tourism department in New Orleans made a point of making the tourist areas nice quickly, so that tourists would not have to face the fact that the disaster had happened. (Then ignored the rest of the city.)

If you get a chance, you should definitely go see this. It is only playing for this week at the Palace 9.

diary entry

2008-11-02T19:15:00.000-08:00

So, a long time ago when we actually read the book, we were asked to then reread it just looking at the personal diary entries in order. being that i imagined myself posting this blog when i actually reread the diary entries, its hard for me to look back and remember what i actually thought of it instead of rereading them all a third time.The first time, i didn't pay any mind to these entries, and didn't see any correlation between them.... But in fact, they all actually were posted on the same day, october 12. his birthday (for some reason i feel the need to also write that this is my sister's birthday... so here you go, thats also my sisters birthday!) well except for the first one, which was from march. that diary entry isn't important. it only talks about the whole reason he is doing the blog, the publishing deal. this is sarcasm, because i don't know how to relate that entry to the rest. oh wait, now that i think about it i do. that same day was the day of the car accident and his beloved geraldine died.

then, all the rest of the entries are pretty much him ranting about that night, and all his emotions built up. they are all snippets of one long diary entry. validation- "i have done nothing wrong, i keep telling myself that". yearn- "nothing you do or say takes back a moment". its obvious through that ben peek was feeling pretty shitty and down in the dumps when he wrote those diary entries. as i quoted in 'yearn', he pretty much has realized that nothing he does or says he will never be able to go back to that moment of the accident that night. he can't forgive himself for it. poor ben. i did enjoy reading his diary entries more than the actual other entries. they've got emotion. well, the dialogues did too.

Crap.

2008-11-02T17:59:00.000-08:00

So being the procrastinator that I am, i had a long weekend and waited till today to do make sure I have my blog comments done. So i'm commenting blogs and I get off the computer and yadayadaya you know the rest. Then about an hour ago I realize I have to actually email our lovely professor my blogs, and I go onto this blog and go back and back and back until I come to the conclusion that....

I HAVEN'T ACTUALLY POSTED ANY. AT ALL. IN THE PAST 2 WEEKS. i definitely must have imagined myself doing so. i posted on the eyes, the diary entries, the difference when I rewatched meet the lucky ones, and then i posted on how excited i was for halloween to be here.

thats 4 posts that i apparently imagined myself writing. to think, i thought i actually did something the day it was actually assigned? i guess it was a dream, have you guys ever had those dreams where they felt so real that when you woke up you had to actually stop and realize none it actually happened? 'cuz I have, and I guess this is like that. this really sucks, because I really want to go to sleep.

I hope you guys feel my pain if you decide to read any of my blogs, because I would much rather be watching tv with my suitemates or shower and get ready for bed, then to try to remember what in hell i wrote about in those posts from 2 weeks ago that i "imagined myself writing". I bet he won't even read the blogs I post, because he is probably enjoying whatever he usually enjoys on sunday nights, and then he is gonna get in a nice warm bed while I'm busy hitting myself over the head for having such a vivid imagination.

this may or may not need to count as one of my 4 posts, depending on how silly I feel posting about "how excited I am for halloween to be here!" when halloween has already passed.

either way this post is me ranting.. me ranting like MAD... (i would say no pun here is intended but pun here actually is intended)

IRA

2008-10-31T11:54:00.000-07:00

(sorry for the length everyone)

Is anyone else fed up with all the talk about people who are part of the IRA (Inter Residence Association) getting bed waivers, or whatever they are called. These people signed up to do this because they wanted to be involved on campus, do something with their time, and potentially make a difference (hopefully for the better of ALL students) on campus. Now they want to put more money towards themselves.

I recently got an email highlighting all of their fine accomplishments this year so far. I was far from impressed. They seem to be doing what they signed up for, and once in awhile getting credit for some ideas. Wow, shocking that people who signed up to do what they are doing, are actually doing it.

Now they think that they are doing some hugely amazing thing and deserve to take money meant to be used on campus for all students and put it towards themselves.

I for one, do not like it at all. I think it is incredibly selfish and rude of them to think that the thing they signed up to do gives them these rights.

Quoting from the email I received, "IRA works every single day to make sure that the residents are being heard and to ensure a higher quality of life." If they are so hard at work making sure to listen to the residents on campus, why are they so blatantly ignoring what people are saying? I must say, I am starting to wonder whose quality of life they are so worried about. They say they are concerned with "being the prominent student voice on campus", yet it doesn't seem to be all students voices on campus. Just a few chosen students making sure only their voices are heard.

"The idea behind this proposal is a step towards raising the awareness of the work that we do every single day on your behalf." Apparently with us not giving them a huge standing ovation for following through on something they thought they wanted to do they decided to make sure they got the recognition they "deserve".

Now, maybe I am unaware of things, but to me saying, "We need your support if we are going to continue to strive towards our vision. Without it, we will be severely stunted in our effort to better the organization hence bettering the quality of life within the residence halls." Makes it seem like they think they can't continue with something they chose to do without this bed waiver.

Quickly some numbers:

The maximum room rate for a traditional double (what the waiver is for): $5,742.

What they receive now for compensation: $475 in catscratch a semester.

Student fee for those on campus: $15

Students on campus: over 5000

Budget of: +$150,000

*these numbers are all taken from the email sent out.

With the budget so big I guess they think we won't notice the money being used on them.

Thanks to you IRA Executive Board!

Meet the lucky ones. again.

2008-10-29T20:41:00.000-07:00

First off, a very original post title isn't it?

So, after watching/reading/doing Meet the Lucky Ones, I was struck by one thing. Why does Alan wear a heart sticker into the tanning booth? Does he think it will add to his "appeal", or does he think it will make him unique? I must say a dead beat dad trying to pick up woman, yep Alan is one unique guy. Not a single other one like him out there. Oh, wait. Yes there is.

This time, I followed one character (Alice) all the way through the five episodes. Than I followed Alan through the five episodes. Than Yesper. And on and on. I think you can figure it out from there.

Not much else new that I could find.

understanding

2008-10-29T20:36:00.000-07:00

I know, I know. Way late for this. But, I was once taught that nothing and no one is ever late until the destination is reached, so...

I feel that the drawing under the entry Understanding in Ben Peek's twenty-six lies/one truth is all about the need for understanding in life to be able to survive life. For instance, Ben Peeks need to understand that Geraldine Lee is forever gone from him and his life. I think this drawing also addresses a need to understand the basic knowledge of life and death.

we meet again... lucky ones

2008-10-29T16:48:00.000-07:00

We're the lucky ones... Lucky to be alliiiivvveeee...

Ok, so that has been in my brain continuously for the past few days...

So I already made a post about the lucky ones, but as our professor made us watch it again, I guess I'll do another one. But, that also means that it can be half free choice! So watch out.

I wish I could just watch the parts of the series that revolve around Jesper, Estelle, and Alan. But wait! I can... Sweet.

There's the beauty of the whole thing. You can decided what you want to watch, and when. So when you watch it in a different order you can get a whole different feeling. What I found was that when you watch it in order, or out of order, or in backwards order, it doesn't, obviously, change what happens during the series, but it can change what you perceive as being more or most important. Generally, if you watch the same person first every time, than that person's issues may seem more important.

The majority of the Star Wars desert scenes were filmed in Tunisia, where they still offer Star Wars Tours. (That's the "whatever you want to post about" part...)

The same holds true for the person you typically watch last. The ones in the middle don't seem to stand out as much.

But this is all very boring...

So I will end this post soon. "Be all you can be, keep hope alive."

Quidditch

2008-10-28T08:48:00.000-07:00

This weekend when I went home my family and I had plans together. We were going to go watch the quidditch match. It was the second annual intercollegiate quidditch tournament. About fourteen colleges had teams that were playing. The teams came from Canada, Louisiana, Boston, Washington (the state), and many other places. They all had their own unique outfits, and of course they all had brightly colored capes. At the tournament there were people dressed up as Hagrid, a hippogryph, and dementors.

There were owls and alpacas to visit with, food from local restaurants to buy, and of course quidditch to watch. The tournament went from ten in the morning until six that evening.

Muggle quidditch, a full contact sport, requires that more than one girl be playing on the field at all times. The players have brooms (Harry Potter brooms), and all wear safety goggles. There were different colored headbands, so that the different players could be identified. Yellow headbands denoted the seekers, green headbands showed who the keepers were, and everyone else had either white or black to separate the two teams.

My personal favorite part was the snitch. Track stars dressed in all yellow running around trying to avoid getting caught. The snitch would tease and taunt the seekers only to run away quickly. The snitch could often be seen jumping over people playing the game, sliding under benches, stealing the seekers capes, and hiding in the crowds. A few times a snitch would be more creative, one climbed on top of a bus, another rode a bicycle across the field, and once the snitch was put into a cardboard box and re-released onto the playing field.

The half time show was made up of singers, dancers, jugglers and potions. People walked around on stilts, juggled with flames or knives, or they rode around on a unicycle.

I must admit, I feared boredom when I went. Than while I was there I laughed, I shouted and I even took part in a wave. I am going to go next year also.

I have met the lucky ones.

2008-10-26T11:32:00.000-07:00

I have met the lucky ones... and gotten to know them quite well. I have to say, that while I felt like a tool spending so much time going through every part of all five episodes, I did really enjoy the series.

I think my favorite characters would have to be Yes-per and Great Grammy Estelle. Jesper, as it were, was a very strange guy, but I thought he was pretty funny, and I felt like I could relate to him. Although he was very weird, he was still pretty down to earth. Estelle was just awesome. She may or may not have been completely off her rocker, but she was pretty cool either way.

I'll admit that there were numerous times throughout my exploration of this story that I didn't want to go through all of the episodes and all of the characters, but something usually happened or I noticed something else that made me want to check out the rest of it. And check it out, I did. All of it... But in the end I was glad that I watched it all, because it is a really good story, and I think it was very well put-together.

I think that, honestly, this has been my favorite piece we have covered, on a computer screen, thus far. It is right up there with twenty-six lies/one truth. I don't know which of the most recent two pieces of literature we have been studying I like more, but I enjoyed them both, differently.

A good, concise way to describe Meet the Lucky Ones, is to say that it is worth the time it takes to watch it all.

Personal diary entry- Whoa...

2008-10-23T16:07:00.000-07:00

When I was given the assignment to read all of the personal diary entries, in order, in twenty-six lies/one truth I was expecting some sort of grand revelation to fall upon me like a warm blanket on a winter night. Or something like that. But, alas, nothing of the sort took place.

Did anybody else think something like that was gonna happen?

Instead, the entries just made me feel a whole lot of different emotions that didn't seem to be tied to anything in particular. My mind was confused, and my heart was confused. I was confused. I still am confused actually...

I feel as though reading all of the personal diary entries raised more new questions than it answered.

On the positive side though, something is to be said for writing that can make me feel so strongly, whether it be sad, confused, or otherwise. And beyond that, something is to be said for writing that could put our entire lit. class into silence like it did today. I think that is the first time that room has been silent (with us in it) since the time in which no one wanted to record the voice-overs for their digital stories.

I also found it ironic that our assignment was to read those, and to try to reach an understanding about "Understanding." And I didn't reach a definitive understanding of any of them. Just a little more insight.

I wish I didn't have two midterms tomorrow.

skydiving

2008-10-21T09:14:00.000-07:00

I wish I could say it was me who went, but it wasn't. Last weekend, the 11th, my friend went skydiving. The whole group of us from high school tried to get out there for it, I ended up not seeing anyone new there but that is another story. We got there in time to see her in a wonderful outfit. Amazing right? We were told that it would take twenty minutes for the plane to get high enough for her to jump. So we all got to watch a group of jumpers (skydivers) before she went.

It was an amazing fall day, and watching the skydivers made me wish I had the money for it. I would probably chicken out though, not as brave as that I don't think.

My favorite part was as she landed her legs weren't high enough and she tumbled, along with the guy she was attached to.

All in all, a great way to spend part of a fall day.

Ben Peek A-M

2008-10-21T08:26:00.000-07:00

So, I feel like we were all told to do this a long time ago, but here goes.

My favorite entry for twenty six lies/one truth would be Kinship. In this entry he talks about his family on Christmas and how his mom is an outsider. He realizes his mom, sister and him are all outsiders because his father died. He understands how unfair his extended family is to his mom, so he stops seeing them. I thought this entry should good insight into his family.

I'm a new man.

2008-10-20T09:37:00.000-07:00

This post is pretty closely related to my last one about my brother's wedding, but I neglected to mention a couple things...

You all probably know me exclusively as the kid with the tangled brown hair and dark, heavy beard... Because I've looked pretty much that way since I got to school. But I am no longer that person I once was. I didn't want to look scruffy on my brother's big day, especially if I was to be standing up in a tuxedo in front of everyone, so got my hair cut... pretty damn short... and shaved off my whole beard.

I tried to ease people into the new me before the weekend, by shaving some of my beard, leaving a goatee. I had that in class one day... But it didn't quite do the job. I've already had one of my friends almost walk straight past me, even though I was waving at her! Finally she stopped when I said, "Hey... You don't recognize me anymore." She responded by saying, "Wow! You look different without the beard!"

So... This is basically just a public service announcement reminding you that the Doug you knew has changed, so don't FREAK OUT.

P.S. MY HEAD IS SO FREAKIN COLD EVERY TIME I GO OUTSIDE NOW! So the beard will return.

Weddings. Gotta love 'em.

2008-10-20T08:44:00.000-07:00

So far in my life I've been to only three weddings that I know of. Two of these weddings have been since I started college... so just in the past few months. This weekend was a wedding weekend, so it is fresh in my mind.

This weekend will go down in my memory as one of my favorite weekends of my life. Something about weddings is just so happy and uplifting.

This past Saturday my eldest brother got married, and I (along with my two other brothers) were ushers. So I got to wear a tux. Pretty sweet.

The whole ceremony went off without a hitch... well, other than the fact that they got "hitched"... but thats neither here nor there... Seriously though, the minister was great, the music was fantastic (my brother and his new wife walked out to a trumpet player and 2 strings playing All You Need Is Love), and the readings were wonderful, despite the fact that the bride's brother had a sinus infection and could barely speak when he first got to the chapel. But really, they ended up being perfect.

And then there was the reception... I can pretty much sum up the reception with a couple fun facts... After last call my brother ran distraction so one of the groomsmen could lean over the bar and start filling glasses out of the tap... and it was the general consensus throughout the reception was that it was the first time anyone had ever been to a wedding and been given free jello shots made by the bride's brother. Good stuff...

In all seriousness though, it really was an absolutely wonderful day. I can't believe I have a sister-in-law now... I'm really proud of my brother and happy for them both. I know I sound kinda "girly" or whatever... but I love weddings. Saturday was the most fun I think I've ever had.

m4apes

2008-10-17T17:25:00.000-07:00

musicians for apes... They have a pretty good cause.

Today, they performed in Brennan's. I probably would not have been there if it weren't extra credit for anthropology, but when i got there it was pretty empty and I felt bad. The guy who founded the company is against chimpanzees and pretty much animals in general being used in the entertainment business, promising no harm on the set but then later on they are hurt and tested on. He and his partner play guitar and they played some songs for us, some were pretty creepy but there was an awesome one I liked. It was acoustic guitars but they were plugged into amps. There is one song where he drums on the guitar and the other guy was just plucking the same string.. i don't know how they did it but it sounded like they were in a jungle. It was perfect, sounded like a chimpanzees natural habitat. they were good at playing the music but I think they could improve their lyrics before they actually promote more. this was their first time coming to a university, a student here had contacted them to come. he is working on the site and I think everyone else should check it out!

I felt bad because they had a donation jar and nobody really put money in! Not that I'm one to donate to charity a lot but this actually seemed interesting. He mentioned one poor chimp that he used to visit in a sanctuary in Africa, they would pump aspartame into his cheeks for testing. Thats the stuff they use in diet soda! Supposedly they do a lot of worse things to the chimps they use for the circus and other entertainment. Next think i have a soda I know I'm going to have chimpanzees on my mind and I am going to feel REALLY bad. I hope more people get into causes like these, I thought this show was going to be a waste of my time but it really wasn't bad at all. They were thankful for the small crowd that actually did come out, imagine if more other people actually cared too.

A-M... C!

2008-10-17T16:53:00.000-07:00

I didn't have a favorite entry from sections A-M (this is partially because I'm not actually enjoying this book. does everyone else actually like it? i kind of just feel like it has no point, I'm just reading a bunch of words. When we discussed it in class about all the entries that connected, I saw some connections that i hadn't realized when I read it. I hope that there are more and that he actually goes somewhere with his entries because i'm really not enjoying it as it is...)

But I did have a favorite section, like a good number of others i picked C.

I mean, if i'm reading a book of some guys opinions... and random facts about things i don't care about, I want it to at least be humorous... Cunt.... maybe as a female i wasn't supposed to enjoy this section as much as i did. Well, he did defend women saying that if he was a woman he wouldn't appreciate people saying a cunt is the "most disgusting word." But I think he just has a male state of mind. Us females found it amusing. It was weird at first, 10 entries on the same topic when all the other sections were floating around on random topics. It was pretty ridiculous, but I guess the funniest entries were the creative writing and the elementary school classes. When I think of "the c word" I think of "crap". Isn't that what it was when we were kids? Now they just have cunt, a womans private parts? When we were kids I remember "dickhead" was a pretty bad insult you used when you were mad at someone. Guys didn't find that too offensive... so the fact that "cunt is the most dirty word" doesn't actually offend women... well, most of us. i don't know, these are just all the things I thought about as Ben went on and on about cunts.

You guys heard of Charlie?

2008-10-16T14:48:00.000-07:00

He is a British baby who likes to bite. His brother thinks it really hurts. I mean, this kid has over 55,000,000 views of the clip of him that his mom posted on youtube. I didn't hear about him until last night, when the rest of my suite was gathered together watching it, instead of watching the last debate. I probably should have watched one of those debates since I have to vote this year and all, but distractions like that left me with not watching them. When I heard laughter I went out to the common room to see what was going on, and this is what i found:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBlgSz8sSM

Apparently I missed out the past year since their mother posted the video, because the rest of the world has seen it. I even called up my sister to tell her to watch it, but she told me she saw it months ago and has her boyfriend (he is british too) say "charlie bit my finger and it really hurt" in his accent sometimes just for amusement. I don't think it would be amusing to see anyone but that little kid say it about his brother, but whatever. It just about does it for me when there is silence at the end and Charlie looks sad but then bursts out laughing. I don't know if you guys have seen it, but you should. Just don't shut me down and say you also saw it years ago. I have replayed it too many times today since I got back to my room and decided to study for my midterm tomorrow. If any one else is taking that geography midterm, i promise this is more enjoyable than those boring readings she said we should reread.

Postsecret

2008-10-14T18:11:00.001-07:00

I know, I know. No more "In the life of..." blog posts. No one wants them. Blah blah blah.

Suck it up or close out the window. Doesn't matter to me.

So tonight I went to the Postsecret event in the Ira Allen Chapel. It was started by Frank Warren. Postsecret, for those few unaware, is a community art project where people send their secrets on postcards to a man. He puts them up online, and travels the country talking about secrets. There are also books that are sold full of secrets.

Not to sound completely disgusting and almost cliché-ish, I found the event to be surprisingly unifying. Having someone go up and share their secret at the end was amazing, emotional, personal, and almost terrifying (even with me just sitting in the audience). It was impossible to know what secrets would be revealed, what secret might connect with my own personal secret. I have to give props to anyone brave enough to share their secrets with everyone there.

Everything talked about tonight was something that I am sure touched at least one person in the audience.

In the end, it ended up being one of the best five dollars I have ever spent.

13 chapters/one sitting

2008-10-14T09:47:00.000-07:00

Last night I decided to have a seat and start reading our assigned homework in twenty-six lies/one truth. I had planned on starting it, maybe reading the first half of the assignment, and then finishing it up the next morning (which, by the way, is this morning that I am currently living in) but, after I started I didn't really want to put it down. I took one break from reading the first half of this book and that was to get food because the dining hall was set to close soon. In short, I really enjoyed the first half of twenty-six lies/one truth. Ben Peek really gets to the cynical, realist core of things in a way that I respect, because he isn't, as many "cynics" are, overly pessimistic. There is a subtle, yet salient, difference between being a pessimist and a cynic. Fortunately, you can easily be a realist and cynic, and apparently a funny bastard in the process, and that is what Peek has done in this book.

To give you a little insight into how much I enjoyed reading these first 13 chapters I'll tell you about how I read them. I sat at my desk, in my dull wooden and metal chair, with my book on my desk before me, and my computer behind that. Eventually, I let my computer go into sleep mode because I had been ignoring it in favor of the book. I sat in my not particularly comfortable chair for about an hour without really moving at all and just ripped through pages and chapters. Many times I read a whole page, or a little entry, over and over a few times because I thought it was funny or provocative and I wanted to remember how he phrased his thought. At some point a couple chapters in, I grabbed the highlighter out of my marking implement and other such thing cup on my desk and began making different types of markings around different pieces that either confused me, made me laugh, or that I just thought were very well-made points.

If you decided that you didn't want to read this book, I recommend that you reconsider. It was worth the short amount of time that you have to dedicate to reading it.

Woke this morning and it seemed to me
That every night turns out to be
A little bit more like Bukowski
And yeah, I know he's a pretty good read
But God, who'd want to be
God, who'd want to be such an asshole?
-Isaac Brock, Modest Mouse

Inanimate Alice

2008-10-09T15:44:00.001-07:00

I didn't really have a favorite episode of Inanimate Alice, however I will go with episode 3, Russia. I mean, the first one was short (yay) and sweet and i kind of wanted to see where it was headed in the next episode, but when i watched the second episode and saw that it wasn't really a continuation i was turned off. I kind of hated Alice here, she called for help and then hung up and decided to solve her problem by making it worse? She knew she shouldn't have gone outside in the storm, and she also knew that it was already late and her parents would be home soon, so clearly she should have stayed in the house. Russia was my favorite because it was more kept me wondering what would happen. I wasn't understanding why Alice had to hide or why her parents had to get away so this was the one episode that i wanted to keep watching. That one scene also sort of reminded me of Anne Frank, the way Alice just had to sit in the closet and listen to the voices. and they were after her parents, and when they tried to escape they got stopped at a checkpoint before they could leave, that reminded me of the sound of music where the von trapps tried to escape in the car in the middle of the night but would have to get past them to get out the country. The fourth episode was decent I guess, I mean, I was happy Alice was finally normal, but it sucked that once she finally got some friends she gave into peer pressure. Poor girl. i don't think i care to watch the next episodes. im thankful that i chose not to play the games in them, too.

Inanimate Alice...

2008-10-08T20:35:00.000-07:00

Maybe it was because I watched it all in a row, or maybe it was the knowledge that I "had" to watch it. By the time I got to the fourth chapter, I was bored. I didn't want to watch anymore. I enjoyed the first three, they were "cute", I almost shudder to use that word, but, it fits.

The fourth one was far too long, too convoluted and boring. I found myself wishing for a fast forward button. Hoping I would be out of my misery soon.

Forcing myself to watch this video only made the watching of it worse, as I felt there was no escaping it with no end in sight. I wish the author had had the foresight to realize making it a little shorter would only have improved the story line.

On the other side. I enjoyed the way the story was done. I liked all the effects it had, I enjoyed the playing around with the text, and the optional side games contained within the stories. I also enjoyed all the pictures employed within the stories, as I felt they made it more interesting. Having to interact at times so that the story could continue was a clever way to ensure the viewer stayed attentive to the story.

Overall, I feel that if they were not viewed all at once in a row, it would be a pleasant experience to watch Inanimate Alice.

Inanimate Alice. Eh.

2008-10-07T17:32:00.000-07:00

Let me start off this post by saying that I did not enjoy any of the episodes of Inanimate Alice very much at all. Generally, I found them mind-numbingly hollow and boring. There are, of course, a few exceptions to any generality, and I'll admit that at a few points throughout the total four episodes I was intrigued, piqued you may say, and a couple parts made me laugh, but all in all, I would consider it a less than enjoyable way to spend my time.

If I were to pick an episode to call my favorite, I would have to pick the "Italy" episode. This is, of course, while overlooking the fact that I wanted to reach through my computer screen and tell Alice that she is a bumbling moron for going out in a damn blizzard, on the side of a mountain, in the dark. I would call it my favorite because it was somewhat short, it managed to not drive me crazy with references to a character that the main character invented herself and then developed an infatuation for, and it didn't go into completely random, off topic, distracting digressions, as much as some of the other episodes did.

Did anyone else think similarly about these pieces of entertainment? Sometimes I can't tell if I'm just being overly-critical because I'm cranky or if I have a legitimate gripe. I don't think I'm cranky...

Cheese

2008-10-07T14:34:00.000-07:00

I just got back from getting a quick meal at the dining hall. Yet again I have noticed a serious lack of the utmost importance in our campus dining halls. Cheese. Real cheese.

Some poor misguided souls are under the very mistaken impression they are consuming cheese when they ask for "American Cheese". I am here to tell you that is WRONG. American cheese is basically a square cut from any form of plastic used in our day to day lives. Know that saran wrap you insist on using? Mix it with a little yellow or white rubber. Tada. American cheese.

Real cheese consists of many options. My personal favorite being cheddar cheese. (As long as it is not just plain wimpy cheddar.) I like Cabot extra sharp, hunter seriously sharp, and new york extra sharp. Cabot makes some really good cheese. I also enjoy muenster cheese, swiss cheese, provolone cheese and a wide variety of others.

If you want a list of cheese go here. Sadly, they too are misguided and included American cheese on the list. (Apparently American cheese meets the legal definition of cheese. Aren't we lucky?)

I feel bad for the youth of America who have been raised with this notion of American cheese being a real cheese.

As a side note. Check out Kate Fiano. Actually this is probably a better one to check out. She just released her first CD. Really good. The CD is only ten dollars, if any was wondering.

final story

2008-10-07T07:48:00.000-07:00

So here is my final digital story. I hate it because all weekend I would play it back and listen to how awkward my voice sounds. I tried to speak quietly and in one tone... it was horrible, I feel really bad for everyone who decided to go through that in class. Every time my roommate was out at events with her mom, I would tell myself I was going to re-record it in the room. But I didn't. I guess I have no choice now, I can't keep telling myself I'll re-record it later... I'm giving in and just posting what i have because class is soon.

So here it is.

Jewelry Making!

2008-10-06T12:36:00.000-07:00

I just woke up from my second nap today. I'm really tired because last night, around 11 pm, all my suitemates got back from spending the weekend out with their parents or at home. I live in the Jewelry making program in living and learning, however we haven't really made much jewelry so far. in fact, i hadn't made any because i didn't bring up my beads. But last night, all six of us from my suite really bonded in our common room for the first time over jewelry, which is kind of what we were supposed to be doing all along. Then one of the girls took out her Shrinky Dinks kit, have any of you heard of it? I hadn't, but apparently it is supposed to be a staple of childhood arts and crafts. You draw on this sheet of plasticy-paper that they give you in the kit, and then bake it, and then it curls up so you think that you suck at life and messed up a project meant for 8 year olds, but then it settles back the other way and it is fully done shrinking. We had a lot of fun with that... too much, we were making those until about 3 am. Then we basically made them into charms for simple cord necklaces or bracelets or earrings. One girl attempted to bend it into a ring, that took courage because it is pretty hard, and to be a failure at shrinky dinks is pretty embarassing. I pretty much stuck to necklaces. I made a few pretty cool ones last night that I was excited to wear today, but when i woke up it was already 8:45 (I pressed snooze around 10 times more than usual...) and I had to jet over to my 9 am class, so its not as if i had much time to accessorize. Whats cool about it is, people don't know it was shrinky dinks, and they look at it and think about all the intricate detailing and colors on such a small thing, they don't know that when we drew on to it, it was 5 times bigger haha. Overall it was a great way to spend a Sunday night (more fun than writing an English paper...) with friends. I just wish we had started earlier, because we were having way too much fun to quit even as we saw the hours pass and knew we would have to wake up soon.

Maybe a little early

2008-10-05T18:52:00.000-07:00

This year for some reason I am really excited for Christmas. Not the actual Christmas day. The whole season in general. I have, I must admit, already hung up some christmas ornaments, and started listening to Christmas music. I have also, with a friend, made paper snowflakes, decorated ornaments, and made plans for even more Christmas decorations. The really weird part, is that I used to never be that excited about Christmas. I would look forward to school break, and the Christmas eve service at my church. Yet never the whole Christmas day with gifts and everything. This year is very different. I wish Halloween were over, so that I would be able to find more Christmas items in stores. I bought a CD with Christmas music yesterday. I will probably buy more online. I even am really excited about making Christmas cookies. I will probably do that in another few weeks. (Anyone who knows me knows how huge that is, I cannot cook, bake or do anything productive in a kitchen. It almost always burns, doesn't cook, or doesn't set. My mom is the only one typically who will try my stuff. I can make a good cake from a box but that is it.)

Hopefully the time till Christmas goes quickly, yet not to quickly. I plan on enjoying it every chance I get.

Loved

2008-10-05T14:22:00.000-07:00

I've come to the conclusion that I'm not loved by my family.

My friend's family couldn't come see her, so they sent her a new ipod. One of the cool new nanos, in ORANGE. They finally made a new color nano, as opposed to just using a different shade of the colors they always used. I called up my mom and told her, hinting that I wouldn't mind being sent a gift. She said that she just got me a new ipod this summer, but she didn't get it for me, I got it free with my laptop. Plus the new ipod touch is so much cooler than the old one, it has built in speaker just like the phone. But whatever, I don't need a new ipod so its not a big deal. My family didn't think it was worth it to drive 7 hours up here, pay for gas, a hotel, etc just to see me for a day it would have been practically a thousand dollars. I agree, it just sucked being alone while EVERYONE else I know has family coming up. My mom told me that she was sending me a package too I would just have to wait for it to come. I reallyyyy wanted to know what it was, I knew it wouldn't be an ipod or something like that, but i figured it would be something nice. So then I called up my sister to see if she could give me a hint. I thought, it better not just be my winter coat that I was asking her to mail up to me, but she said it wasn't. Yessss. A few minutes later, i got it out of her. The gift my mom is mailing up to me is one of those halloween bags of candy, you know the assortment of different mini chocolate bars that you buy to give to trick or treaters. What a rip off. I could buy one of those in the marche downstairs. Ugh. Thanks mom, I love you too.

(Rereading this post, I realize I kind of sound like a brat. I'm not, its just the idea of the thing. She told me she was sending me a package when I told her my friend got an ipod. So now i'm getting a chocolate bar?! really??)

It's Not Illegal!

2008-10-04T22:16:00.000-07:00

So tonight my roommate and half my suitemates disappeared .. bored to death, we went through the many DVDs one of my suitemates brought. Being a new freshman unsure of what to bring to college, i filled up my mom's car in august with clothing (I didn't bring a winter coat though.. just sweatshirts and I will be freezing in the coming weeks if mother dearest doesn't send me the rest of my wardrobe soon... it was hard to bring 3 closets and 2 dressers worth of clothes I had at home and have it fit into a tiny wardrobe in a dorm- i had to narrow it down some how!) instead of bringing my own movies. When I saw all the movies everyone else had i was happy, but I missed my own collection. I also wanted a a way to copy a few of these DVDs they had, but of course there are copy protection laws against it so when you insert the DVD it will only be able to play it. Searching online brought me to this legal program just for macs that you can download, and then copy the DVDs to your computer. I think the idea of the program was that you would copy the DVDs you bought to protect them in case they get old and scratched up. This way, you already bought the DVD and you own it, you can do what you want with it. Of course I downloaded this program and copied 4 movies tonight.

I mean there's no way for the people in charge to find out that my suitemate paid to own the DVDs and not me, right? You know, if anything i made a copy of the DVD for my friend because she doesn't have a computer. Then I burned it onto a cd for her and then deleted the file right away. yep.

My final version...

2008-10-04T19:47:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately I had some issues with this project. It is not what I originally wanted or started with. I changed the pictures in it many times. As a result the pictures do not match up that well. Sorry. If I ever do this again, I will definitely do it all in one sitting, much easier to manipulate that way. Enjoy

BTW this video is supposed to be all about me and my twin. Who is far far away right now. (Well only like 2-2 1/2 hours away.)

I think it's finally finished.

2008-10-04T14:47:00.000-07:00

So there's my video... I hope you enjoy it. I'd write a better caption but that would just be taking away from what I could otherwise put in a five page paper that I now have to write...

not quite finished...

2008-10-02T13:20:00.000-07:00

I've been plagued with technical difficulties throughout this project... and it has nearly driven me insane. So if you don't like what you've seen so far, frankly I don't care. Feel free to comment, but feel encouraged not to. PEACE!

My Digital Story

2008-10-02T09:48:00.000-07:00

So heres my digital story so far... I tried to make it about my favorite places to go as a kid growing up in New York. Some of these places are gone now, some just aren't the same anymore, and some I still enjoy, however it's just not the same being in Vermont. I kind of gave up on playing around with the music clips so there are only two, but I think I found a cool part for them to change. I need to work on my script for what to say over the music clips so the music clips might be changing too.

Manners

2008-10-01T21:17:00.000-07:00

Personally I like to use Skype as a way to stay in contact with my friends and family. Recently while talking with someone (who shall remain undisclosed) I decided I wanted a late night snack and started munching from my bag of pretzels. Now, as I am sure people know, Skype involves webcams so you can video chat with someone. I went to answer a question asked of me, and showed my entire mouthful of food, right in front of the video cam. I received a little lecture, which adds up to:

1. Chew your food with your mouth shut.

2. Put your hand in front of your mouth if you must talk while eating.

3. Swallow fully before talking, or initiating conversation.

4. Do not ever intentionally show your food to someone else.

Now, as I am sure some people are aware. If your nose is really stuffed up, from allergies or a cold, it makes it harder to chew with your mouth fully shut. My problem comes when I need to breathe as well as eat. She was not very understanding. I finally had to give up my pretzel munching until after the chat.

(For the record, normally I have really good manners)

my digital story

2008-09-30T12:55:00.000-07:00

This is supposed to be about me and twin sister Marybeth. We have always been really close, but now are at colleges far away from each other. I hope this video, in the end, will convey the relationship I have with my sister.

Rooms

2008-09-25T10:39:00.000-07:00

I recently decided that my dorm room looked too generic. So I had some friends come over to help me move my stuff around. They were great. They wanted to make sure I stayed safe, so they supervised to make sure nothing could fall on me. They helped, well one of my friends helped. The other two laughed a lot and gave directions. We got my room all switched around. And they decided it was too harsh, so they made me move the furniture around some more.

Now I have one of those big wardrobes that is not attached to anything, but when it is full of clothes, a little heavy. They decided that was what I needed to move, by myself. So I moved it, got it where they told me to, and they said that it didn't look good like that, I should turn it around.

In my room I have a box attached to the wall, I like it, it gives me more storage space. When trying to move my furniture around, it just gets in the way. Of course, I also rented a kit to loft my bed, high enough for my fridge to go under it and that is it. We had very limited choices of where to put my stuff. Yet we managed to make it so that my stuff had to keep getting moved.

I now have my furniture where I want it. Well, the furniture I have. I might have to get my chair up here, I have made it so that I can't watch movies with my roommate from anywhere... so much for careful planning. And the whole thing only took an hour. In my opinion that was a very well spent hour.

Images

2008-09-24T09:04:00.000-07:00

So, we started work on our digital stories in class yesterday, and it got me to thinking. It got me thinking that images, actual pictures, are really powerful things. I brought with me to class a series of seemingly unconnected images, pictures of random things that I enjoy or that are just part of my life, and with a little thought I managed to put them together into a type of story, or maybe more accurately, a personal philosophy. Each image could carry so much meaning and be interpreted in more than one way. It seemed that almost every picture had a literal meaning (this is a picture of my car), and a figurative meaning (the car represents the freedom of being able to go wherever you want). Having these multiple meanings for each image, and various levels of comprehension and depth, I think, is what makes it possible to create a legitimate piece of literature based from a collection of nearly random images.

There is something distinctly poetic about starting off with a pile of images and weaving a story around them. When looking at poetry the reader often starts off by noticing the images in the poem. If it is a particularly difficult piece of reading they do exactly what we did in class, by trying to figure out what the images mean when they are seen all together. The images are the main messages in a poem and it is the job of the poet to display them in a logical way to reach their audience and depart to them their message. In this way I feel as though we are creating our own type of poetry using images, sounds, voice, and the computer screen to display it all. It's pretty deep.

Good day.

Animals and Jobs

2008-09-23T09:35:00.000-07:00

My family has always had a lot of pets, we seem to keep getting more as time goes by. We have 9 pets at my house now. All very special to us in their own way. For awhile after we moved in I was convinced that they had all forgotten me. Well maybe the goldfish didn't even know me to begin with but the other ones certainly did. I was so worried that they would not love me anymore when I went home. Luckily I went home and now realize that all of the pets will be happy and excited to see me each time I go home.

I have been missing being around animals ever since I moved in to the dorms. At my house we always have a ton of cats around, here there are none. Going to my sister's place to play with her cats is not nearly the same (especially as they would rather follow her around then play with me).

I decided that a remedy to that would be getting a job at a pet store, in particular Petco. I have been needing to get a job anyway and thought this would be the perfect way to solve my problems. I was so proud of myself for actually applying for a job, and not just talking about it, that I even went and told my mom about how I was applying at Petco.

My mom looked at me and reminded me that I was allergic to all the animals there and that because of that I should not get a there. I was a little crushed, I had managed to shove all thoughts of my annoying allergies away. I was planning on getting a job where I got to see fuzzy little animals every time I worked.

So now, against the wisdom of my mom (who is always right at moments like this), I am hoping to get a job at Petco. Who knows, maybe my allergies will just disappear one day. Stranger things have happened.

French ?!

2008-09-18T07:30:00.000-07:00

I just got done with my first french test.. well it was supposedly a "quiz" but it took the full class and was pretty long. (this is french 1) Some of it was translation, and some of it was answering questions. One part was confusing.. because we didn't really know the verbs in the sentence to understand what it was telling us to do in the instructions. i started off answering the questions, and then somebody asked if we were supposed to answer the questions, or translate. She said to just translate it. So i was like, oh thats easier, let me just cross this all out. Then there was some more confusion in the class and you heard some mumbling and shuffling of papers ... and another question was asked, when I heard her say, oh no no! don't translate it, answer it! AFTER i was done crossing out my answers, and translating instead, I had to cross that part out too and rewrite my answers I had written to begin with. She would not even give me a new paper to start fresh. Then on the next section, it was more clear that we were just supposed to translate because the question was english, and we had to write how to say it in french ... a few of them were never even covered in the class and she said to only study what we have covered so far.. hmm.. i see myself not doing too well in this class.

I don't know what came over me when I decided to drop the lifetime of spanish classes I was taking, just to learn french. because i wasn't sure of a major, i just applied to the college of arts and sciences. i should have went to the business school or education... those degrees would get me a job right after graduation... but i really had no clue what i wanted. so thrown into arts and sciences, i have to take two semesters of a language as a requirement . the spanish placement test put me in an advanced level of spanish even though i haven't taken a spanish class in 2 years, and i did not want to be sitting in a class conducted entirely in spanish (did i mention french 1 is conducted in french?). I don't really want to become fluent in french, i'll just be taking my requirement and then dropping it. I could have continued spanish, I could have become fluent in that. But i didn't. I mean, none of my schools before ever offered french so I was always sort of just thrown into spanish.. I went to spain and was even able to speak spanish there.. so i figured, i want to go to france so why not try to learn french? I've taken spanish, i've taken italian.. I want to learn french! plus, why not be learn how to read the signs in montreal if you are going to be going there?

um, because you are used to spanish pronunciations and a perfect way to start off a new language is NOT sitting in french 1 reciting the alphabet and accidentally pronouncing half the spanish alphabet while getting dirty looks from your teacher, thats why... ugh, french ...

Honestly, I knew the first week of class that i wanted to drop french. But i had just spent 202 dollars on a brand new textbook, non returnable if opened. Of course, she assigned homework the first night in that 202 dollar textbook, so me being a good student and doing my homework = me being stuck in french = me being a bad student for doing poorly in class (like i will in french).

Theories

2008-09-17T17:12:00.000-07:00

I have this theory. A random one. That the temperature I wake up in decides how I feel that day. For example if I wake up warm, the day seems warmer, and if I wake up cold, the day seems cooler. Even when the outside temp does not change. I recognize this does not always apply to my day, so I think of it more as a guideline.

Weird I know, but it got me thinking about how, as individuals, we come up with these theories to explain us to ourselves and soon start to base what we are going to do on these theories. So, we have to decided as individuals if we should keep our theories, knowing they may work for us but they may also limit us, or just go through life not trying to dig deep for the whys and accepting things as they happen. Maybe though the whys are what keep us interested in life. I don't know.

Oh, Canada

2008-09-13T16:03:00.000-07:00

Hello readers...

I just got back, earlier today, from a ramble up to the wide open spaces of our Northerly Neighbor, the great land of Canada. I traveled across the border in my friend's old red SUV, with 3 other people. We are all from the same home town, but we met up with some other people from UVM once we got to Montreal.

We drove up, found the hotel that we had made reservations at and then walked the city, in search of food... and drink. We found both of these necessities just a few blocks from our hotel and eventually we found our comrades in arms on the very same block as our hotel.

In my opinion, making a trip to Montreal is a worthwhile endeavor. I only stayed for one night, and I know that a lot of the people who go will stay for two, like a friday-saturday deal. Two nights may have been fun, but the one downside is that you have to spend a lot of money on food and the hotel room... All in all though, I didn't spend any more money than I thought I would, and if you split the cost of a hotel room with three or four other people it's not that expensive. I do recommend making a trip there, but it's probably not the type of thing that you would do very often (unless you are pretty affluent).

The trip only took about an hour and a half to get from the UVM campus to Montreal, which I didn't think was too bad at all. It was weird for me to think that it's between 3 and 4 times longer to get back to my home in Massachusetts than it is to get to the border of Canada.

A word of advice:

If you do plan on making a trip up, and you want to get into the swanky, upscale, metrosexual-infested clubs, make sure that you are dressed at least semi-nice. At the very least, don't wear shorts... I was turned away from one of the downtown clubs because I didn't fit the dress code. Well, I don't wanna go to any club that doesn't think what I wear everyday is cool anyway!

~Just keep truckin'.

72ner and MSK Running

2008-09-11T12:58:00.000-07:00

I interviewed 72ner. His favorite digital story was "MSK Running". Heres how our interview went.

My favorite story was the one MSK Running.

So why did you like this story?

'Cuz it was interesting to see the different opinions of a South African kid... his education.. his visions of society. He has real good morals and seems pure. Like.. not corrupt like the 13 year old kids here, in America who aren't like that at all.

I forgot to ask you to summarize it first.

Well the kid is named Morn Solomon. He is 15 years old in South Africa. He was bitten by a snake.. and moved out.. well.. left his parents.. they were alcoholics. He goes to school and dreams to be a police officer to help South Africa. The story was kind of vague... He believes that if he studies and does his best he can make it.

And what was your least favorite part??

The way he tells stories about his life makes the whole thing really vague. Details are important even though he probably knows English just as a second language.

An interview with AKH

2008-09-11T12:54:00.000-07:00

AKH's favorite digital story was Alan.

Alan and Albert are brothers, Albert is older. The narrator, Albert, talks about how different he and his brother are because of age and school, and the distance between them. Albert, through talking to his mom, finds out Alan has M.S. He talks about his brother and stuff they did together after he was diagnosed.

AKH feels that a lot of the times it seems with the health stories they get sappy and emotional, but with Alan the narrator was concise and subtle about his emotions. You can tell what he is feeling without him directly saying what he is feeling.

Unfortunately some of the pictures were not as effective as other stories were. A lot of the pictures were really similar.

Interviewers and interviewees...

2008-09-11T12:52:00.000-07:00

-Introducing M Haji Bigman. You don't know him.

-Favorite video, M?
M.S.K. Running.

-Summary?
A thirteen year old kid, Morne Solomon, tells some of his life story. It starts with him being almost bitten by a snake, I think. He lived with his mother in South Africa, and she was a good mom, but she had an alcohol problem, so he moved in with his aunt, and he really liked spending time with her. He wants to be a cop where he lives, in South Africa, so that he can keep his community safe.

-Why was this one your favorite?
It was a touching story... the kid had been through a lot and still has this really positive outlook. He's not just a kid who wants to like help out, or just a kid who wants to be a cop, he really wants to be a cop so that he can help make his community better and safer.

-Did you have a least favorite part? What was it?
Uh... the drawings. The drawings of the kid were kinda hard to see and it was hard to tell what they were showing sometimes, because they were... less than perfect. Actual photos may have been better.

-This has been enlightening... thank you.

Family...

2008-09-11T09:53:00.000-07:00

The videos from the center for digital story telling had a lot to offer. I thought that each section of the videos had something different to share, and when taken as a whole they were similar to a well written collection of poems. Each video had something interesting to say, and provided a different perspective on a host of different topics.

Of the six categories of stories the one that stood out the most to me was the Family section. The "Mama Bisrat" and "Ironing" stories really caught my attention as I watched these videos. I felt like they were not easy stories for these people to tell but they did so anyway, and they told them with poeticism and heart. Many of the other stories were also, no doubt, difficult to tell, and very heartfelt, but something about those two stories in particular really grabbed my attention.

Did anyone else feel the same way about those two stories? Or maybe you felt the same way... about some of the other videos. Feel free to comment, I won't mind if you disagree.

Books

2008-09-10T20:11:00.001-07:00

I figure with this being an english class, even if it is mostly online forms of literature, it is suitable to write about books. Personally, I am a huge fan of books, can never get enough books to be fully satisfied. Lately though I have started to wonder. Is it possible for every single idea to have been used up? Is there a whirl pool of creativeness and once the creativeness is all used up that is it? In my constant search for new books I sometimes feel that I am only finding improved versions of an old story. Maybe this is because many people's lives have some base similarity to each other's and people tend to write what they know. (And even get criticized if they try to write about something they have not experienced.)

Don't get me wrong, I have my favorite books and favorite authors. Some authors I can read any of their books numerous times and still look forward to the next time I get to read that book. It is almost like a friend, reminding you of the places you have been when you have read the book previously. When almost all the books that I read seem to be similar it is not like a friend, it is more like a long hall of mirrors, where you see the same image reflected over and over, sometimes with a different angle, but always the same subject.

I have been worried about losing the written and printed book in the world of technology that we inhibit. I was convinced that I would fight against it with all my will power. I still love the books printed on paper that you can hold in your hand, I just am also starting to appreciate the online forms of literature available to us.

Slice

2008-09-09T09:37:00.000-07:00

I have never really thought of myself as being very traditional. Now that I have read Slice, I am realizing I am. At least in one sense. I like a story to have a beginning, a middle, and an end. I prefer the end to come very quickly after the middle, so you don't know until the last bit what truly happened or will happen.

Slice does not go along with the typical written story, at least compared to a traditional book. Typically in a written book I can become so immersed in it, I do not even realize the end is there until the last page has been read. With Slice the option was not there to become that immersed. I became curious and did look at all the entries on both hers and her parents blogs.

Slice was a confusing story that engaged me as I went looking for some answers. Only when I was having no luck with finding these answers did I truly become disenchanted with the format of the story. I enjoyed the mystery of trying to figure out what the hare meant, and where the hole led. I just wish that I had been able to figure out on my own what it all did mean. Then again, maybe I would have become bored if I had found all the answers too quickly.

How 'Slice' was created. In my opinion...

2008-09-09T09:11:00.000-07:00

Did anyone else get the impression that 'Slice' may have been written, or composed, while under the influence of Donnie Darko and Alice in Wonderland?

Here's what I think happened...

It all started on a rainy sunday afternoon, around one. It had been raining all day and there was little to do. Toby Litt, the author of 'Slice,' had been killing time all morning by reading Alice in Wonderland, and watching Donnie Darko. When he finished perusing his well-thumbed copy of Alice for the second time that day he put it down next to his laptop. Toby knew he had come across a good idea for a story with the help of his two influences, and maybe a couple others as well, but he was having trouble getting the story started.

Then an idea hit him. He'd wanted the story to be realistic and gripping, but he was having a lot of trouble with his own style. Should it be declarative and bold like Hemingway would have written it, or should it be ornate and gothic like a Bronte novel? After sufficient hemming and hawing and a little more outside influence and imagination Toby, or just Litt to his friends (as I imagine them) came up with the perfect style. He would write it in the most suspenseful, gripping way he knew. The good ole first person. With a twist.

Toby then proceeded to beast out this story of Slice, in multiple media, Jack Kerouac style, without once parting from his laptop. He finished all of the pieces of the story and then released them segment by segment, all the while creating a huge cult following. When the story finally ended, and he had nothing more to post, Toby fell back into his usual routine of 'just chillin' most of the time.

This has been my interpretation of how the story originated, and is in no way true, as far as I know. But then again, I also have no way of knowing that it isn't 100% correct either...

Slice

2008-09-09T08:11:00.000-07:00

So I finally got around to reading the blogs on Slice... I liked that there was a blog from the girls view and then another from the parents. Each blog seemed to fit the writer, like how the girl skipped over any details she didn't want to write about and said to just go to the parents blog. Then on the parents blog, there were pictures of the house and links to the houses they were looking at... I found that parent-like, having a blog that shows off their new house, while the childrens blog just has pictures of the weird things she has found in her creepy old room.

On the other hand, I don't appreciate that they left me hanging. I mean, it is good that you are able to come up with your own ending since they both left off at the same spot, however if it were up to me : the parents went down into the hole, found the girl who just happened to be sitting at a table for a tea party (haha) that hare brought her to ( I agree with some of the other bloggers that I read posts from, the story did seem a little Alice in Wonderland-esque...) and then got her out of there. They packed up their bags and then got on a flight right on back the U.S. Maybe that is just a teenage reader's point of view, because I noticed on the parents blogs some of the older readers who commented had agreed with them on their move. I for one would not forgive my parents for a while if I were in her shoes, with "teen angst" ( what non-angsty teenage girl actually likes Emily the Strange? ) levels at their highest, for moving me not even to a different state but a different continent.

I noticed reading the comments on the blogs that some of the accounts were created the same time of the story being posted. Did they actually make a whole account just to comment on the story? Did the writer of the story even read the comments ?? I also noticed that the mother mixed up the car crash with a plane crash and covered it up saying that her husband was taking care of it all and she was just so distraught over the news, but when people commented her correcting her that it was a car accident and not a plane, she did not go back and edit the post but kept it the way it was originally posted. I wonder why the author made that mistake intentional? Also on the girl's blog she said her parents shut down her myspace, but for one thing the date of the last log in was in february when the blog was made in march, so it had to have been a while before they even moved..and it says she is from california but the story made it seem like she was from florida because that is where the other family went when they had a house swap... how did her parents get her passwords anyway?

Although I like reading complete stories... I enjoyed this one in the end anyway. I thought it was weird at first to write an actual story on a blog, but it seemed well put together how the author made both blogs, an actual myspace account for the girl, and an email account for us all to check out. I still don't understand the Twitter, it says they are text messages, but who were they texting?

the one where we introduce ourselves ...

2008-09-04T12:47:00.000-07:00

Greetings from today's scribe... I am Melissa, here with my fellow bloggers Doug and Amira. Will post more later.