Friday, October 31, 2003

So, so much res life. So, so much gossip. As Lee said, our floor is having a post-midterm stress fest, everyone's "cracking at once." Well, I wouldn't say cracking, exactly... And my little sister is leaving the floor and that's traumatic for a lot of people here... And Dale went home till Saturday...

Promised to accompany Lindsay to noho tonight for gift shopping, so my reading will just have to wait till I get back and am "on-duty" all night. Kristina, the best HP in the world, took over my Saturday on-duty, so I am, in fact, going to the concert! Dale will be "chaperoning" us and I think we're going to take her car, I think Dale likes to be in control of things like that!

Well, off I go, Kobe walking & the mail center before fun & homework!

Tuesday, October 28, 2003

Bright and sunny out today, not sure where the rain clouds went. Seemed very busy today, classes all day (crazy yoga with pelvic floor muscle flexing), then I read straight until dinner (yes, ulysses), then I read my spanish up until my mediation session, did the mediation session, took a quick trip to the library, showered, and finally, finally sat down in my room to relax and talk. Ended up having a bit of a heart-to-heart with Daley (who wants a rat now), then, well, started on my SAW application! The essay's gonna be short, but I don't know if I even want the job so I'm not going to worry about it!

I'm exhausted, better, but still fighting off some sort of fever or cold. And tomorrow is a res life inservice -- yes, a date with Res life, till about 9 pm. Then I must worry about prospective students (uhm the possible ten has dwindled to only one definite overnight guest... weird). Not sure if I'll be getting to that Badly Drawn Boy concert, as I'm supposed to be on duty friday and saturday nights... icky stuff.

Ok, I'm for bed, goodnight!

Monday, October 27, 2003

Oh wow. I didn't update since Friday. Yes, I have an excellent excuse, I had a good weekend! Andrew & I saw Lost in Translation -- the next day Dale says: "Oh yeah, that was a light heared movie." And no, we didn't just let that comment go! Anyway, I'm feeling a little sick (maybe "under the weather" would be most appropriate, since I was out and wet in the rain quite a bit today) so I'll keep this short. Basically, an excellent weekend, a decent Monday, an 89 on the Spanish midterm (but the highest grade was an A- so that made me feel better), corn nuts through the mail from Mum & a care package from Grammy & Grandpa's church. Oh! And krispy kream donuts from CT for our public safety hall activity/get together.

Friday, October 24, 2003

Work day... had a mediation in the morning, a Kobe walk (finally, we got paid!), and then 3 hours in the mail center (they sent me home early). Then Dale dragged me to the gym with Jen... I had about 25 minutes on a stair master, then we went to the weight room. Uhm yeah, so, I'm really weak... but I did show them some cool yoga stuff. Like "crow" position and some wickedly painful abdominal exercises. Have been eating heartily to make up for this out of character trip...

Res. life has consumed me, and probably won't let me go till after this weds. Our floor is exploding... But at the same time we have lots of fun. Seven of us or so gathered in Irene's room for Down with Love (which was excellent). Then Lee tried teaching us how to dance to hip hop. Dale looked hot in spandex, t-shirt, and Lee's baseball cap. I think we concluded we need professional help!

Cate & Ramona came by with pizza (can't you see the bad habits developing?) Flipped through more magazines and catalogs and contemplated doing some work. Didn't, however, do any. Did make a list of what work I need to do... Mainly just reading. And writing a poem in blank verse... But I'll do that stuff tomorrow. "After all, tomorrow is another day."

Thursday, October 23, 2003

All day I was thinking of when I could next curl up in bed. I came back after yoga, slept. After walking Newton, slept some more. Uhm... had a really strange dream about drinking beer at a bar with Dale. Decided to go shopping online as it's my "compensation" for not getting the travel scholarship, and I just needed to replace some stuff. Bought two sweaters, two cardigans, and a bra, from alloy.com for under 50$ including shipping. Just now decided on four pairs of panties and a nightgown for under 35$ from victoriassecret.com. Yay! I love girly nightgowns, especially now that I have my own room. I'm going to be a very special girl for awhile now, Mum's sent a package (thank you Mum!), the church care package comes in late Oct. (thank you Grammy & Grandpa!), & I've ordered from two places online. Happy days when yellow slips appear in the mailbox!

It was movie night for me and Dale -- we watched El espinazo del diablo with Miranda (which was muy muy excelente y la mejor pelicula de horror que he visto) and Bowling for Columbine at Blanchard. That was amazing, very glad I stayed up for it.

This weekend I start Ulysses (again). Only this time, I WILL be finishing it. Reading but nothing "due" next week. Which is good, because I'm hosting a prospective student and organizing that whole deal on Thursday. Although the poem for next week has to be in blank verse, which is close to impossible for me. I have no ear for stresses.

In further news, James (Phil. prof of last semester) is nominating me for the SAW center, and, well, I might drop some hours at the post office and take that on instead. More helpful for future grad. school apps. And then there's my J-term course proposal: it's been accepted and they want more details. So I will be getting some teaching experience over January, which would also be muy muy util for those grad school apps... esp. if I end up at some less than dreamy place like U of O, where fellowships for first years are only given to those who have teaching experience...

Oh! And I did get my $1.30 back from that damn washing machine incident.

Wednesday, October 22, 2003

Tuesday was crazy. I read about 250 pages of Women in Love, staying up till 3:30 in the morning. Had a "conversation" over AIM that was just really not necessary, the sort of communication one finds degrading... Got not enough sleep but went through the day without a problem. I did, however, need a nap by the time I got home. It was a short one, but I was excited about Rent so it was easy to perk up. Had dinner with Dale before we headed over to umass, all dressed up for our night out =) Enjoyed it, of course, Dale & I kinda side hugged and swayed to "Seasons of Love" and got a little cynical over some of the scenes that were supposed to be sad.

Had long conversations with Mum & Mer, mostly me talking at them! Then there was the laundry fiasco. Someone took it out of the washer and it was sopping wet. I actually had to wring some things out. So of course the dryer didn't help much, everything's now drying on my drying rack. Uhm... I WILL be calling card services tomorrow demanding a refund! I hate the laundry facilities...

To bed, finally!!

Monday, October 20, 2003

I haven't updated in awhile...! A quick run down since it's late and by weds. I have to finish Women in Love. Las Vegas Night was ok, more fun dressing up for it than going to it. Got hit on by a girl who yelled "Hey Cutie!" Some guys said something or other to Miranda and I on our way into Pearsons but, well, we ignored it and I started giggling about it soon after, so... yeah. Had to quiet down a party upstairs and got to sleep, finally, at 5 am.

Sunday I had brunch with Dale and Miranda, then Dale accompanied me to the Thirsty Mind so we could meet up with Andrew. Dale definitely kept me, well, less nervous. I tend to act like a complete goof (yes, more than normal) when meeting people. Had a great time, the weather was nice for us finally by around 4! Then I had to try to focus on Spanish =( Poor me!

Really cold and foggy out this morning and it burned off after spanish class. Midterm wasn't terribly bad, but it was still rather horrid. No one feels good after an in class essay I guess. But it's ok, it's over, I'm guessing it'll be a B test. Walked dogs, Kobe got rather out of control, she could seriously use some training... Newton was perfect... Sent something in the mail... Salmon dinner with Lindsay at Prospect like old times, at the same table... Hall committee meeting... art history paper... first write up for a noise violation... that's about it!

Saturday, October 18, 2003

So I stayed up till about 3 am last night, tired as hell but wishing I could stay up longer. I fell asleep with my light on and without brushing my teeth. Woke up at 7:30 am. Brushed and realized there was no way in hell I'd be sleeping till after 8:30 am (time of winner's call). I waited in bed with nervous stomach knots, but nothing happened. Once I think I almost hallucinated the start of a ring. But nothing. Had a bizarre dream in which the award went to someone that planned to only travel in the US. So I was like, you do realize she's not going abroad, and it says in the application for travel outside of the US and Canada? And they were like yeah, but we liked her application. But isn't that against the rules? We can change the rules. Yeah. Then I woke up. It was 10 am, still no call. At this point I gave up.

I was rather sad about it all until Dale and Miranda and I went to lunch. We were walking over and as soon as Miranda knew I hadn't been selected, she just said "You didn't get it?! Those fuckers!" Then I felt ten times better -- I'd been thinking of how I'd done something insufficiently, and her comment made me look at it differently ; )

Mum made me feel better too, sorry to continually quote you, but, I liked this:
Pink Poodledog: thank you mum :-)
Pink Poodledog: i'll try to perk up more, maybe I'll find something better to do this summer anyway!
SITA3783: yeah, anytime
SITA3783: I'm your mum. and I love ya
Pink Poodledog: hehe love you too
SITA3783: I'm a firm believer in when the time is right, it will come

So we're waiting for the right time, sometime in the future. As Dale says, I just wasn't meant to go in that way at this time. And something that brightens my day esp. when taken out of context:
SITA3783: Tim and I are going to Salem to pick up 500 gallons of apricot puree today
Pink Poodledog: oh my god
SITA3783: for skunk bait. we got it real cheap

This afternoon I took a nap and had a bizarre dream. First my neighbor Leah showed up, her nickname became "Gail." Uhm... I could see why Leah was in my dream (she has my delia's catalog), but why Gail? I only know one Gail, who's our neighbor... Yeah. Then Helen & I were roommates in this huge room that I guess was Jojo's... why we were like renting a huge room in a vacant house owned by MHC's president I have no idea, but, there you go. I was like, wow, this is a huge room, do you want to split it in half or share all of it? Helen: I was thinking to split it. Me: Yeah, that's cool... and we can put the fridges in the middle of the two spaces so if we get something out at night it won't wake up the other person. Helen: Yeah. And we were all happy. It was muy extrano. I can't figure out what that fridge dialogue even meant, but it's what I remember best. And then Jojo showed up with an assistant and I think we were like hiding or keeping out of the way...

Woke up when someone knocked at the door, apparently it wasn't Dale as she called me a bit later from the art studio. Still lazed around though. Then I got a call from Andrew and that motivated me to wake up finally. We're meeting up tomorrow, Dale's coming with me to encourage me to be myself from the start instead of being my usual silly nervous just-meeting-you self. Yay! Lindsey you'd be proud of me, as we're meeting for coffee =) I'm going to develop a taste for the stuff!

And now to address Merrers: I totally understand what Mr. DeBorde is trying to teach you, but if you got to Linfield it will NOT be like that... Here it's almost like high school in that the professors really are responsive to how we handle the work load and how much work is too much, and what sort of expectations are too high. And if no one in the class understood the directions and did something wrong, I think most of my professors would blame themselves for being unclear rather than the students for being lazy or something. Sure, be careful and follow your syllabus, but most things can be cleared up with a simple question in class. And again, big difference between U of O or OSU and Linfield or MHC...

Well, think I'll read a bit, then I'm going to get ready for Las Vegas Night! Dale, Miranda & I have sparkly dresses to wear!

Friday, October 17, 2003

Oh, some funny things from today's away message:

MuskratFan: Beckers, just wanted to see what your little yellow note says... =)

SITA3783: Gee, I got quoted. Guess I'll have to watch what I say from now on
How did the interview go? Sunny day here after tons of rain. guess I should quit looking at ebay (frilly vintage bib aprons, of all things) and enjoy this sunshine. love you!

Also had happy encouraging IMs from Julia and Lindsay and Kathleen, thanks!! =)
I'm tired and I've been inhaling nail polish remover and eating cookies in Dale's room and am really in no condition to be typing anything that anyone might read. That said, my interview was today. I walked Kobe, worked in the mail center for two hours, and then had my nervous-under-time interview. I hope I didn't make a bad impression. In view of probably not getting the reward, I am going to sleep in tomorrow, so if I get a phone call at 8:30 am (doubtful) I'll wake up. and if the phone call does not come, I'll sleep till about 11 and wake up and go shopping online.

Met up with Madalyn as I was coming out of the interview, who had good news in the form of cosmetics. I like them! Must get some blush next. Then Dale, Miranda & I had dinner at Prospect, and headed for the mall. Got a sparkly pink and black striped strapless dress for $20 for Las Vegas Night and some hoop earrings. Fashioned a choker and bracelet out of a black bra's straps that I don't use anymore. Almost wanted to buy this black and white strapless sparkly dress, but it cost twice as much...

Anyway, I'm tired. But tomorrow will be fun. This whole weekend will be happy, actually. Despite whatever happens with the scholarship.

Thursday, October 16, 2003

"And when you get off that plane, you're going to be scared, and if you're not, you shouldn't be there." - great quote from Mr. Sullivan, the founder of the travel award I'm a semi-finalist for. The award dinner was, in a word, long. 3.5 hours long. The past recipients talked, talked, talked... I wasn't bored, but I did have to leave at some point for the ladies' room. And the food was horribly lackluster. Regular iceberg lettuce salad mix, rice I recognized from the dining hall fare, mushy chicken cordon bleu, cold and unremarkable french apple pie (or something like that).

So we're all nervous for the interviews tomorrow. They said to "be creative." Uhm... I have postcards & brochures from the '60s when my grandmother took out a loan to take a trip to Europe with my grandfather who was going for business. But I don't know... what does one do in such a situation? I was nervous enough talking this evening in front of everyone. Maybe I shouldn't be thinking about it at all so my nerves can't build up... maybe I should do some yoga or something tomorrow?

Took a nice walk with a very clean Newton, I think he must have been to the groomer's. Tried to take a nap but my phone rang twice... I about fell asleep in art history class, but perked up halfway through when Prof. Staiti said something funny and my mind was finally engaged. Partly tired due to a late night conversation with Mum, round about 2 am we were talking about vacuums, here are some excerpts (haha now that you know how to read this Mum, it's not so sneaky to quote you):

SITA3783: Oh, I will send you another little package soon.
SITA3783: I got a real deal today on a favorite of yours
Pink Poodledog: haha uh oh, I'm going to be gaining weight this year ;-)
Pink Poodledog: hmmm... I'd wager a guess at corn nuts? hehe
SITA3783: jeez. well I guess I bought the right thing then, you guessed it!!
Pink Poodledog: hahahaha
Pink Poodledog: no, I was definitely wanting some, and at the store they finally have them, but no plain flavored ones :-(

and then:

SITA3783: I just bought a indiglo watch on eby for 13.00
SITA3783: brand new timex

and of course:

SITA3783: then I was thinking of going for a rug nozzle for my rainbow vac. exciting huh?

Sorry Mum, but, it was pretty funny that you tried to buy a vacuum part on ebay... =)

And here's a quote from Prof. Staiti, remembered especially for Lindsey, who showed me the Rococo painting "The Swing" by Fragonard in high school when she took a correspondence art history course (I specifically remember that painting and the spooky figures in shadow!):

Prof. Staiti: "And look, who's this pushing the swing? The local priest! Sure, why not? What a capital idea!"

Wednesday, October 15, 2003

Had Lucky Charms for breakfast this morning in honor of today being the day I find out if I'm a semi-finalist in the travel scholarship process.

To Mer: about your math... call me if you want any help, you're basically doing problems where there are different equations for different portions of your graph, right?

Tuesday, October 14, 2003

Home sweet dorm! I had an exceedingly relaxing weekend at Dale's house, despite the homework that accumulated. Also had my first manicure, I felt beyond pampered. My nails are now a deep red and it's strange how very waterproof the top coat is. Joni found a sweater for me, too. Walked about in it tonight and felt warm and snug, it's wool and handmade. The last night we were there Dale wanted to see her bf, naturally, so we went to the mall and out for bowling. The mall was closing down and not so exciting. But bowling was fun, me and Dale were horrible and Warren started bowling left handed to compensate. In the midst of my gutter balls I bowled two strikes in a row, and Warren remarked: "Wow, we've just entered the matrix." Dale and I agree it was the most fun. I obtained bleeps through the quarter machines, only one of which was good. Bowling shoes are still ugly.

Now we're back. Must hand in essay on Friday as it's dismal and unfinished. I'm hoping to write another essay that is better that I will end up handing in instead. Will finish this one though for back up. Bit more to read to get through half of Women in Love...

To Mom, Mer & Tim: received a package notice today in the mail! thanks bunches, I'll go pick it up tomorrow =) Also got a Delia's magazine I requested, yay!

Saturday, October 11, 2003

At Dale's house for Oct. break! Thurs. night we went to see Cold Creek Manor with her bf & his friend back in Hadley... it was more funny than scary though. I was on Dale's lap for part of the movie and I couldn't stop laughing. Then it was back to Windy sitting... which I finally stopped this morning when Dale picked me up. We all ate at Prospect, then Dale, her bf & I strted off for NY. Dale & I greeted everyone (including the cats, of course). Had my first raking experience with Dale, very Charlie Brown-esque. Went to a great restaurant for Mexican food. Have some saved for tomorrow. Chips and salsa like the Crazy Pepper's back home. And we had fried ice cream with quite a bit of brandy or something in it still. Had my first flambe experience =)

Well, that's all for now, don't want to take up too much time on the computer! Will update later. Oh. Big task this weekend: write my midterm essay on Lawrence and/or Joyce.

Thursday, October 09, 2003

To Mer: Go to both the party and the dance, and enjoy! Sing along, sway if you can't dance, and have fun =)
Dog sitting... it's always rather amazing to suddenly have an entire house at your disposal. Last night Dale came with me and I did laundry & showered. I filled out stuff for Verbosity's registration with Student Programs, and my proposal for a non-credit course during J-term (which I would teach) on creative writing. The whole goal with that goes back to my grad-school hopes -- if I can't get into a good one that helps financially (a lot), and I end up somewhere like U of O, then I'm going to need teaching experience to get a fellowship starting my first year. So yeah... maybe a little practice. Plus I'd enjoy trying out the teacher role for a change...

Got to bed rather late as I actually did my Art History reading... At 7 am I looked out the windows and there was a thick fog all through the trees, and the combination of pea-soup atmosphere and fatigue led me to the decision that skipping yoga class would be a good idea. At 9 am this still seemed like a good decision, although I still dragged myself out of bed (not quite so tired though). It takes at least two hours for me to get ready for class, walk windy, and get to campus. Got to Art History at exactly 5 till 11. The fog had burned off by the time class was over, and I had my ultra healthy granola bar with odwalla fruit smoothie for lunch (d becky was rather disgusted by this).

After, I walked both Kobe and Newton. Kobe found a neighbor in her garden and was awarded with dog biscuits. Newton & I explored the strange forest trail near his house, although I'm not really sure if I'm supposed to be on that trail or not... Anyway, it was interesting. Had to turn back at one point, as I was worried we had wandered off the main path... there are numerous "take-off" trails that eventually come back to the main one, I think... Newton looks rather like a muppet when he gets excited.

Good news: Verbosity does appear to have funding! The English Department secretary had overheard Prof. Hill talking about this, that the budget was the "same as last year." Introduced myself & asked for info. about Nostos's contact person, would like to use the same publisher as them this year. Then I went to Student Programs to turn in our little registration form... still waiting to see if we want fleet and copy cat accounts. Good news, Laura, we're official!!!

My library search wasn't terribly fruitful. No "fecund darkness" in the journal shelves. Did find one book on DHL's "bestiary" and an online article about Ursula's horses. Hmmm. I hope those will be sufficient to get me started on my essay.

About time for me to head back to Windy's house now... will update later...

Wednesday, October 08, 2003

Finally an update! I've been kind of distracted in the evenings, so my journal-keep-up has been a little lackluster =)

Well! Lo bueno es que my work has been coming back to me with pleasant grades... Finished The Rainbow last night and wrote a reading response (I turned it in, even though apparently we were supposed to take a week off of writing those... oops). Today I started dogsitting Windy, so I'm going back there tonight with Dale, who is graciously driving me over! Then we're going to read, and read, and read... It was beautiful today, 70 something high and lots of sun. Wore a skirt for maybe the last time before the weather gets icky again... The trees all seem so distinct and clarified to me now (new contact prescription, maybe?), esp. with the sun highlighting things... Very nice walk to/from/with Windy.

Merrie just sent me her story for AP English. Good job, Merrers! I'm sure Lorenzen is going to think our entire family is completely screwed up with these gory stories we write for his classes! haha that was you through and through, I think you just made a new example for true "irony," too.

Monday, October 06, 2003

Ack! It's rather late. Still must do lots of reading tomorrow... but I was having too much fun with Dale and then with talking to a particular young man online... definitely a diversion for me...

Well, no Kobe walk today (the dog is going with her family on a vacation, go figure). And I felt sick from Blanchard food, so I was lazy... ok, no more online time for me tonight, goodnight! I'm going to read a bit more...

Sunday, October 05, 2003

Drove with Dale to Fairfield today. Fairfield U memories: guys throwing balls around, guys lounging against walls, guys in the hallways, guys talking, guys with their laundry baskets... wow. And cute guys, too. Slept on the way home, and it was suddenly dusky when I woke up. Me and Dale are sick from icky Blanchard food. ICKY. Mustn't think about what I ate. Will finally learn lesson this time: no sandwiches from Blanchard, ever, ever.

OH! Picture board is up, I just had to finish it and surprise Katie.

Must sleep, continue with The Rainbow. Very short update today.

Saturday, October 04, 2003

I'm in the process of realizing that I'm woefully unable to communicate with guys around my own age. Wait, let me back up. I'm actually woefully unable to even be in a situation where communication could possibly happen with a guy around my own age. For example: I get dressed up to go to the library. At the library, I sit and read and occassionally try to make accidental eye contact with any guys there. Problem with this? At least half the guys in the library are taken and just hanging around waiting for their gfs. I don't know what's up with the other half, but one thing's certain, I've never had a conversation with a guy on this campus. Sometimes I get a little sad that I'm not making any guy friends or even acquaintances... but oh well. Dale tried to help by having me IM one of her guy friends. But somehow... well, I want to meet someone in person.

In further news, the trip to noho was canceled due to rain, but I did get to see Lindsay's room!

Friday, October 03, 2003

So now I know why I want to work for the post office... the magazines and catalogs that would normally be thrown out I can sneak off to my mailbox, and then I have the happy feeling of carrying home mail. Uhm, Neiman Marcus is expensive. Madalyn agrees: look for styles, then buy them cheaper somewhere else. She stole a make up look from the catalog and practiced on me - - true red lipstick with black eyeliner. I don't think I'd ever worn red lipstick before. A new experience! Ordered some lip gloss and shimmer powder. Will have to try out the blush and then buy that, too... So get a make over from Madalyn and then order some Mark stuff! It's quite happily priced.

Dale came over and cheered me up tonight. Now I'm tired I think. Oh, I changed my sheets. Well, goodnight.

Thursday, October 02, 2003

Hmm. Same old same old. Some rain, some blue skies. Big news: the radiators are on. Mine is cheerily whistling (think: barely boiling tea kettle). It was a frigid time without them, overnight lows dropping into the 40s. I've been especially tired lately. Wanted to fall asleep several times in the last couple of days. Closed my eyes during the Spanish movie last night but forced myself awake. Yeah... three men trying to get a statue of the Madonna to this village festival. A movie like a bad dream. Oh! Lindsey, you will be proud of me. I ordered a vanilla latte yesterday before my Spanish class. It was a good class (I think there's a link there...) And today I had some sugared and milked up coffee before my art history class (as the room is dark and it's hard to stay awake after yoga's relaxation period), AND I had some hot chocolate with coffee at M&C's (which is probably why I'm up typing this). Yay for initiating me into the coffee drinking world!

Today I received one of the coveted yellow slips in my mailbox, I was holding it up like that nerdy kid in Pretty in Pink with the panties. It was just mail I sent myself -- graduate school info from Princeton to motivate me. That's good, right? Better to shoot for the stars and land on the moon and all that stuff?

Newton had a fan club today. Dale and D. Becky walked with us. Dale broke D. Becky's umbrella.

We had gouda and brie at dinner tonight. Not quite your fete de fromage, huh Mer? But it's better than our usual wide selection of cheeses, everything from american to cheddar. Ha, you're reading the same stories we read in our AP English class Mer... You should hear Hootie and the Blowfish's "Araby." Strange. For some reason I like it. If you want short story ideas ask me... I'll try to give you something less gory...

The 2nd floor of Pearson's picture board WILL be up soon!!