Wednesday Night: Mer really wanted to do something, so we went to Laurance Lake before dinner. It was raining, I think that sums up most of the scenery. Spring everywhere and rain constantly. We wandered around eating the snacks Mum packed us (fruit and cheese), and laughing at how ridiculous the situation was. No one was up there, except one kid fishing and a gold van with people honking and yelling (kind of freaked me out, I was extra sneaky while picking bear grass for Mum on account of them driving around and making so much noise). I picked a lovely bouquet, although Mer complains that the bear grass smells like salty playdough. We walked along the gravel road (the lake kind of looked like pictures of Loch Ness, all misty and raining and gray). We were lucky and saw a pika scampering between rock hideouts.
Thursday: Mum & I visited Mary Marker, and then headed off to clean. Mrs. Marker was interested in my England plans, and suggested January as a better deal. We also visited to see Mrs. Marker's yellow room, to see if I'd like the color. I've decided that my room in the new house should be a golden yellow color. I think it'll look nice with the skylight and a white ceiling.
Anyways, I helped clean with Mum, and then we headed off to town. We visited Arlene for awhile (she seems to think May for England for better weather). Also got some yummy cheesecake (ahh lovely cheesecake...)
After dinner (lasagna, as Mum thought we should have that before I left), we watched Moulin Rouge. I'd never seen it before. Rather enjoyed it.
Today: Crazy that I'm leaving at like 4 am for the airport tomorrow morning. Packed all morning. Damned weight limits! Airlines are such a damned hassle with all these regulations. Honestly, the job description to work in the Mount Holyoke College Mail services requires us student workers to be capable of lifting 70 pounds. Surely people working for airlines can lift more than 50 (because I can, and I'm not a very muscular person). Anyways. That took a long time.
Went up to Whistlestop for ice cream. Me and Mer had bubble gum for old time's sake. Mer says, "the ice cream that keeps on giving" (as you get gum after you finish the ice cream, provided you set the gum aside and do not try to eat and chew at the same time (which is really tricky and not worth the trouble)). Saw Shannon, who's lucky and gets to work there! I'd love to work around ice cream... yum. It was still raining, naturally. So the Lost Lake idea was temporarily abandoned.
Once we got back home, it was sunny for a bit, and we reconsidered the lake idea. We did it! And I'm glad we did, it was a blast. We hiked to the dock in the rain, and it started hailing. The lake is just as pretty in the rain as in the sun. And we had the trail all to ourselves. The dock was about flooded out the lake was so swollen. On the way back I decided that I had had enough of sidestepping puddles and taking detours straight through wet foliage, so I gave up. I ran through puddles, straight through the deepest parts. It was rather like wading in the lake on a sunny day. Only it was in puddles and it was raining.
On the way home I refused to sit in my completely soaked pants, so I traveled home sin los pantalones. Which was fine, until I wanted to run out of the car and pick some rhodedendrons (I'm too lazy to look up the correct spelling of that). Luckily no one came down the road.
Bright, full rainbow as we drove back. Saw a ringneck pheasant in an orchard. And of course the long horned cows were near enough the fence for us to stop and watch them for awhile. Mer couldn't take pictures: we were both out of batteries.
Friday, May 28, 2004
Wednesday, May 26, 2004
It's been a few days... I'm trying to remember...
Saturday: I don't think Saturday was very exciting, which is sad, because Saturdays should always be exciting, especially Saturday nights. But Mer and I did watch SNL, which was excellent. "I want more cowbell!"
Sunday: Mum and I went early to a windsurfing swap hoping to get rid of some windsurfing equipment we have "inherited" from some people we alpaca-sit for. Long story short, we got up at 6:30 am and paid 5$ for the priviledge of sitting in the wind all morning. At some point we offered everything we had for $50. There were no takers. We left. Luckily Tim found some people that wanted the stuff and just gave it away.
In the evening we had Mer's Elks banquet. The food was kind of like dorm food. Greasy scalloped potatoes, tough tasteless chicken, salad composed primarily of iceberg lettuce. Also like MHC food, the only redeeming point was dessert: cake. [It might be noted at this point that Jaime ate a brownie as big as her head the other day!!]
The other interesting thing about dinner: we sat at the same table as the Burton-Hendrickson family. This is interesting because I knew the older brother who is one of 3 people that I know from Hood River (yes that's counting myself) going to school in MA.
Monday: I went to town with Mum in order to be dropped of downtown to wander about on my own while she worked for 3 hours. I didn't really meet up with anyone, so it was kind of cool just doing whatever I felt like and spending some time alone. I walked first to Holstein's for something to drink because I was thirsty. [Raspberry Italian Soda, and here they ask you if you want cream in it, and whipped cream on top. I hate that they give you just plain club soda with a shot of flavor in it on the east coast, it's a rip off. If I wanted plain soda I could buy it from a vending machine!!] Anyways, after sitting for awhile and reading my book I ventured off to buy this bag I've been wanting to buy. That accomplished, I wandered around in the used book store for awhile, eventually picking out James's The Golden Bowl because it is highly recommended by Quillian as perhaps his favorite novel. And it's been awhile since I read James, since sophomore year, and maybe this will be useful for the GRE subject test...
Next stop was the library. I sat on the lawn for awhile to finish Zadie Smith's White Teeth, which was awesome and amazing and humorous. The end tied up perfectly, like a Dickens novel... But alas, I am not using it for my independent project next year.
I then went in the library and searched for Great Britain travel guides. Which made me think maybe I should go abroad right after graduating next spring, rather than during January. Due to the weather, you know. Then it was time for ice cream: sticky bun and chocolate brownie again at Carousel Candy!
That was the most interesting part of my Monday... On to Tuesday!
Tuesday: I unfortunately missed lunch with the relatives, but I did meet up with all three of my aunts at Grammy's house for a letter-writing marathon. Grammy needed help with thank-you notes for all the flowers. They enlisted me to write the model letter with prompts. We ended up writing over 35 letters I think. At some point Mum came back and helped a little, too. Sitting with everyone was definitely a highlight.
In the evening we again met up with Grammy (and Aunt Donna) for Mer's scholarship night. She received two (interestingly, they were two of the same ones I got as a senior). I was about to scream with frustration as W.T.E. [acronym of code name] gathered up like, eight. She also took the Parkdale one I wanted Mer to get. The problem with this is W.T.E. is not bright, or a star athlete. She's just unbearably average. And, my prediction is she will be partying like crazy at OSU and eventually drop out to get married. Sad, sad night it was...
But, we did get cake afterwards. And I managed to get a huge piece with LOTS of frosting. And we proceeded to go home, where I baked chocolate chip cookies. Yum, dough!
Speaking of cookies, Mer had better get me Otis Spunkmeyer cookies at school today.
Saturday: I don't think Saturday was very exciting, which is sad, because Saturdays should always be exciting, especially Saturday nights. But Mer and I did watch SNL, which was excellent. "I want more cowbell!"
Sunday: Mum and I went early to a windsurfing swap hoping to get rid of some windsurfing equipment we have "inherited" from some people we alpaca-sit for. Long story short, we got up at 6:30 am and paid 5$ for the priviledge of sitting in the wind all morning. At some point we offered everything we had for $50. There were no takers. We left. Luckily Tim found some people that wanted the stuff and just gave it away.
In the evening we had Mer's Elks banquet. The food was kind of like dorm food. Greasy scalloped potatoes, tough tasteless chicken, salad composed primarily of iceberg lettuce. Also like MHC food, the only redeeming point was dessert: cake. [It might be noted at this point that Jaime ate a brownie as big as her head the other day!!]
The other interesting thing about dinner: we sat at the same table as the Burton-Hendrickson family. This is interesting because I knew the older brother who is one of 3 people that I know from Hood River (yes that's counting myself) going to school in MA.
Monday: I went to town with Mum in order to be dropped of downtown to wander about on my own while she worked for 3 hours. I didn't really meet up with anyone, so it was kind of cool just doing whatever I felt like and spending some time alone. I walked first to Holstein's for something to drink because I was thirsty. [Raspberry Italian Soda, and here they ask you if you want cream in it, and whipped cream on top. I hate that they give you just plain club soda with a shot of flavor in it on the east coast, it's a rip off. If I wanted plain soda I could buy it from a vending machine!!] Anyways, after sitting for awhile and reading my book I ventured off to buy this bag I've been wanting to buy. That accomplished, I wandered around in the used book store for awhile, eventually picking out James's The Golden Bowl because it is highly recommended by Quillian as perhaps his favorite novel. And it's been awhile since I read James, since sophomore year, and maybe this will be useful for the GRE subject test...
Next stop was the library. I sat on the lawn for awhile to finish Zadie Smith's White Teeth, which was awesome and amazing and humorous. The end tied up perfectly, like a Dickens novel... But alas, I am not using it for my independent project next year.
I then went in the library and searched for Great Britain travel guides. Which made me think maybe I should go abroad right after graduating next spring, rather than during January. Due to the weather, you know. Then it was time for ice cream: sticky bun and chocolate brownie again at Carousel Candy!
That was the most interesting part of my Monday... On to Tuesday!
Tuesday: I unfortunately missed lunch with the relatives, but I did meet up with all three of my aunts at Grammy's house for a letter-writing marathon. Grammy needed help with thank-you notes for all the flowers. They enlisted me to write the model letter with prompts. We ended up writing over 35 letters I think. At some point Mum came back and helped a little, too. Sitting with everyone was definitely a highlight.
In the evening we again met up with Grammy (and Aunt Donna) for Mer's scholarship night. She received two (interestingly, they were two of the same ones I got as a senior). I was about to scream with frustration as W.T.E. [acronym of code name] gathered up like, eight. She also took the Parkdale one I wanted Mer to get. The problem with this is W.T.E. is not bright, or a star athlete. She's just unbearably average. And, my prediction is she will be partying like crazy at OSU and eventually drop out to get married. Sad, sad night it was...
But, we did get cake afterwards. And I managed to get a huge piece with LOTS of frosting. And we proceeded to go home, where I baked chocolate chip cookies. Yum, dough!
Speaking of cookies, Mer had better get me Otis Spunkmeyer cookies at school today.
Friday, May 21, 2004
Busy shopping day! After finding a work wardrobe here in Hood River, me and Mum went to the Dalles. There I decided on more sensible black shoes as opposed to red shoes, and a tube top (for fun, not work). Back home we decided at like, 8 pm, that we wanted to go down to The Crazy Pepper for dinner. It was a late dinner but excellent (of course, like always). Me and Mer had our regular fajita burritos, but it was the first time I was able to order an alcoholic drink there. A strawberry daquiri, that I definitely couldn't taste the rum in (thank God).
Big news: Two English dept. prizes, one of which means that I have $1000 to travel with! Now I must find a way to use that money without wiping out my own funds in the process. Mexico or England? I'm thinking during January... Which towns/cities? Any advice much appreciated!
Quotes:
Tim the other day after hearing one of my hospital stories: "Haha I sure get a kick out of you saying "f---." You really mean it!"
Mom tonight over dinner: "Do you ever see stars? Like when you shave your underarms?...I see stars when I shave."
Big news: Two English dept. prizes, one of which means that I have $1000 to travel with! Now I must find a way to use that money without wiping out my own funds in the process. Mexico or England? I'm thinking during January... Which towns/cities? Any advice much appreciated!
Quotes:
Tim the other day after hearing one of my hospital stories: "Haha I sure get a kick out of you saying "f---." You really mean it!"
Mom tonight over dinner: "Do you ever see stars? Like when you shave your underarms?...I see stars when I shave."
Thursday, May 20, 2004
Big news here lately: Merrie gave me her cold. Of course I'm using this to full advantage (haha poor Merrie!), but it's actually working. Sleeping around 12 hours per day will cure pretty much anything that ails you, I've decided. The Dub cat naps with me. So that meant that yesterday, I didn't really do much of anything. Going to Grammy's to help write thank you cards was simply not an option.
Tonight me and Mer went to Mr. HRV (which was my big project in ASB as a junior in high school). It was great -- pink checked suits for evening wear, "Victor's Secret," & the Denmark-Kangaroo-Orange trick. Prof. Brownlow was right -- comedy is the best way to forget you're sick.
Some highlights over the last few days:
Snooks was annoying us in the car on the way up to Laurance Lake. I did a funny voice reprimanding her, and then said "REDRUM!!" Mer said, "I was just thinking that!!"
Yesterday in the height of my illness, I came out to the living room and Mer was sitting on the couch watching tv eating a fudgsicle. I kind of glared at her, and she said: "What! There are 17 more popsicles left!!" (I was actually glaring because I was mad that I was sick, but, it was funny that the popsicle was the first explanation that came to her mind.)
Recounting all my romantic mistakes in high school to make Merrie laugh.
Tonight me and Mer went to Mr. HRV (which was my big project in ASB as a junior in high school). It was great -- pink checked suits for evening wear, "Victor's Secret," & the Denmark-Kangaroo-Orange trick. Prof. Brownlow was right -- comedy is the best way to forget you're sick.
Some highlights over the last few days:
Snooks was annoying us in the car on the way up to Laurance Lake. I did a funny voice reprimanding her, and then said "REDRUM!!" Mer said, "I was just thinking that!!"
Yesterday in the height of my illness, I came out to the living room and Mer was sitting on the couch watching tv eating a fudgsicle. I kind of glared at her, and she said: "What! There are 17 more popsicles left!!" (I was actually glaring because I was mad that I was sick, but, it was funny that the popsicle was the first explanation that came to her mind.)
Recounting all my romantic mistakes in high school to make Merrie laugh.
Monday, May 17, 2004
So I'm home now!! Yay! Here's how I got home and what I've been doing:
Thursday: Dale kept saying she wanted to go out Thursday night, as I'd been done with my finals since Tuesday and I really wanted to go out and celebrate. But I ended up chasing after her and Miranda and going to dinner (at Prospect), instead of going with Korisha and Beth to Amherst to see Korisha's presentation. So then I was rather depressed because Dale didn't want to go out at night either. So I was sitting in my completely bare room, when Korisha and Beth came by. They completely rescued me from end-of-the-semester-blahs. We went out to the ABC and tried some kind of beer (Beth's exact words were, I think, "This tastes like ASS"). We also ran into Korisha's boss, who was wandering around in the streets of Amherst. That was definitely bizarre...Then we drove to pick up Beth's parents. Korisha and I got lost in the Bradley loops, but luckily we didn't end up on the freeway!
That night, since my room was really bare, I slept in Dale and Miranda's room. In the morning we scrounged around for breakfast, and I printed out and turned in The Blackstick Review. Thank God that's over!! But then it was nearly 11 am, and Dale was still packing her stuff and getting it out of the hall. So I was understandably getting worried, as I'd hoped to leave at 11 am. I ran some errands for us, but she still wasn't ready by 11:15. So she told me to start packing her stuff out with her so we could go sooner, so I helped, but it wasn't getting done very quickly. 11:30 am, and I ran into Beth, who could tell I was nervous. Long story short, Beth and her family rescued me and got me to the airport in time to catch my flight without much worrying! They completely calmed me down, and I think I had the most nerve-free flight ever.
The flights were good, except for delays. The first leg was 20 minutes delayed at least, as they were throwing a circuit breaker or something technical like that (which should have been taken care of BEFORE they boarded the plane, but...that's NWA for you). I had a window seat, and no one sat in the middle, so it was nice... i was able to do my weird leg contortions and stay comfortable. Then I spent about 3 hours in the midwest, as we sat on the next plane for a full hour while a "mechanical problem" was taken care of (which also should have been taken care of BEFORE boarding the plane). So our flight was definitely late...But again no one sat in the middle and I was in the aisle, so it was fairly comfortable. They gave us free alcohol (the first one, anyway), but I had tea instead.
At the airport Mum, Mer, & Grammy found me. It was wonderful seeing everyone again. Visited at Grammy's house a little while, then I pushed my awake time to like 21 hours staying up talking with everyone at home.
Saturday: I slept till ONE PM. That's like, four o'clock eastern time. Crazy. So I ended up seeing my Dad, and going out to see Troy. Also took a trip to Northwest Lake, feeding some weird ass looking geese...Played checkers with Margy's niece and nephew. I saw like 4 people from high school at the theatre which was kind of eerie. Troy was entertaining, lots of fighting scenes. Somehow I even had merlot without getting carded. Dad throughout the movie pointed out deviations from The Iliad, as I haven't read it. SNL was surprisingly funny with the Olsen twins. Jimmy's last show =(
Sunday: Slept in again, but after a couple of tours of the new house (one for Mary Marker, one for Scott and Linda), we decided to go hiking. We took a trail up by Laurance Lake and it was beautiful. Got to love those pines and evergreens. Such a different looking forest from those out east... Lots of pictures, Mum & Mer were constantly looking for photo ops. And Merrie found lots of frogs in a bog.
Sunday night we all went out to Pietro's -- I was in ecstasy over taco pizza. Amazing.
Today! I woke up early, saw Merrie off, and then waited till Mum got home. Luckily didn't have an exam at the clinic... Then I found lots of books at Artifacts. Lots of cute things at Second Thought, too... I want a new bag of some sort... And they had a little swim skirt that would match my kind of tiny bikini...
Then me and Mum had ice cream... Yummy, sticky bun and chocolate brownie!
That's about it up till now! I love being home.
Thursday: Dale kept saying she wanted to go out Thursday night, as I'd been done with my finals since Tuesday and I really wanted to go out and celebrate. But I ended up chasing after her and Miranda and going to dinner (at Prospect), instead of going with Korisha and Beth to Amherst to see Korisha's presentation. So then I was rather depressed because Dale didn't want to go out at night either. So I was sitting in my completely bare room, when Korisha and Beth came by. They completely rescued me from end-of-the-semester-blahs. We went out to the ABC and tried some kind of beer (Beth's exact words were, I think, "This tastes like ASS"). We also ran into Korisha's boss, who was wandering around in the streets of Amherst. That was definitely bizarre...Then we drove to pick up Beth's parents. Korisha and I got lost in the Bradley loops, but luckily we didn't end up on the freeway!
That night, since my room was really bare, I slept in Dale and Miranda's room. In the morning we scrounged around for breakfast, and I printed out and turned in The Blackstick Review. Thank God that's over!! But then it was nearly 11 am, and Dale was still packing her stuff and getting it out of the hall. So I was understandably getting worried, as I'd hoped to leave at 11 am. I ran some errands for us, but she still wasn't ready by 11:15. So she told me to start packing her stuff out with her so we could go sooner, so I helped, but it wasn't getting done very quickly. 11:30 am, and I ran into Beth, who could tell I was nervous. Long story short, Beth and her family rescued me and got me to the airport in time to catch my flight without much worrying! They completely calmed me down, and I think I had the most nerve-free flight ever.
The flights were good, except for delays. The first leg was 20 minutes delayed at least, as they were throwing a circuit breaker or something technical like that (which should have been taken care of BEFORE they boarded the plane, but...that's NWA for you). I had a window seat, and no one sat in the middle, so it was nice... i was able to do my weird leg contortions and stay comfortable. Then I spent about 3 hours in the midwest, as we sat on the next plane for a full hour while a "mechanical problem" was taken care of (which also should have been taken care of BEFORE boarding the plane). So our flight was definitely late...But again no one sat in the middle and I was in the aisle, so it was fairly comfortable. They gave us free alcohol (the first one, anyway), but I had tea instead.
At the airport Mum, Mer, & Grammy found me. It was wonderful seeing everyone again. Visited at Grammy's house a little while, then I pushed my awake time to like 21 hours staying up talking with everyone at home.
Saturday: I slept till ONE PM. That's like, four o'clock eastern time. Crazy. So I ended up seeing my Dad, and going out to see Troy. Also took a trip to Northwest Lake, feeding some weird ass looking geese...Played checkers with Margy's niece and nephew. I saw like 4 people from high school at the theatre which was kind of eerie. Troy was entertaining, lots of fighting scenes. Somehow I even had merlot without getting carded. Dad throughout the movie pointed out deviations from The Iliad, as I haven't read it. SNL was surprisingly funny with the Olsen twins. Jimmy's last show =(
Sunday: Slept in again, but after a couple of tours of the new house (one for Mary Marker, one for Scott and Linda), we decided to go hiking. We took a trail up by Laurance Lake and it was beautiful. Got to love those pines and evergreens. Such a different looking forest from those out east... Lots of pictures, Mum & Mer were constantly looking for photo ops. And Merrie found lots of frogs in a bog.
Sunday night we all went out to Pietro's -- I was in ecstasy over taco pizza. Amazing.
Today! I woke up early, saw Merrie off, and then waited till Mum got home. Luckily didn't have an exam at the clinic... Then I found lots of books at Artifacts. Lots of cute things at Second Thought, too... I want a new bag of some sort... And they had a little swim skirt that would match my kind of tiny bikini...
Then me and Mum had ice cream... Yummy, sticky bun and chocolate brownie!
That's about it up till now! I love being home.
Thursday, May 13, 2004
Yesterday was the Smith College library adventure (with a side trip to Flayvors). I've been packing a lot. My room is all packed up. I'll be sleeping in Dale's room tonight, and she's bringing me to the airport... I hope I don't get too nervous...
Talked with Prof. Mosby and Prof. Demas today. Things are good, I think. I'm bringing in the magazine to copycat tomorrow morning. Now I just hope everything works as planned...
Talked with Prof. Mosby and Prof. Demas today. Things are good, I think. I'm bringing in the magazine to copycat tomorrow morning. Now I just hope everything works as planned...
Tuesday, May 11, 2004
I was SO productive today it's disgusting. I worked on my Spanish essay in the morning, walked Kobe, and had lunch with Dale (Old Yeller was there in a little green miniskirt with black polka dots. Something contradictory about that...polka dots are so HAPPY. She kept WATCHING me, too). Had my last real shift at the mail center -- the one "not slow" computer that we do forwarding on has the virus and no one has fixed it, and the other computer's printer wasn't working, so it was rather frustrating not being able to do forwarding. I love forwarding, it's completely mindless and repetitive. But, since I couldn't, I left on time and was able to finish my Spanish essay before dinner time.
Dinner with Dale & Miranda was crazy tonight. First me and Miranda picked out a table out on the patio at Ham/MacG, which was in the direct line of cigarette smoke. Two women were just sitting and smoking, totally oblivious to their smoke wafting into everyone's faces as they tried to eat. Disgusting. So we moved. But we moved right by this big group of "Mohos" talking about very racy topics (at some point I caught a line that I can't even repeat here). Dale was completely annoyed by this and couldn't stand it any longer, so we moved back to where the smoke had been, but no longer was, since the smokers had left. So then we got to eavesdrop on a conversation between friends exchanging gifts, which was a definite improvement. At some point it became known that I was done with my finals. So after the congratulations, Dale picked up a glass of water and held it over my head. I laughed and was like "ok maybe a drop or two?" and Dale proceeded to dump the whole (well ok, half) glass of water over my head. It was so hot out today it didn't really bother me (even though it WAS ice water). Miranda was in shock, and Dale and I were laughing. Miranda couldn't figure out what had happened and why Dale had dumped water on me and why I wasn't pissed. We've decided to make this a new tradition (at least while the warm weather holds out).
After dinner I was basically dry again, so I went to the library to work on the paper copy of The Blackstick Review. Stealing some of Verbosity's formatting, I was able to finish that up in around 2, 2.5 hours. Yay! I'm usually not the one actually handling the mouse while we do verbosity, so it was cool to do everything on my own. Yay complete editorial control!
This evening I also started packing in earnest. Two storage bins in the trunk room so far!
I have a feeling I must have made all sorts of spelling and grammer mistakes, as it's around 2 am. Oh well. Reading this is voluntary =) Speaking of reading, now I can start doing PLEASURE READING!! wow.
Dinner with Dale & Miranda was crazy tonight. First me and Miranda picked out a table out on the patio at Ham/MacG, which was in the direct line of cigarette smoke. Two women were just sitting and smoking, totally oblivious to their smoke wafting into everyone's faces as they tried to eat. Disgusting. So we moved. But we moved right by this big group of "Mohos" talking about very racy topics (at some point I caught a line that I can't even repeat here). Dale was completely annoyed by this and couldn't stand it any longer, so we moved back to where the smoke had been, but no longer was, since the smokers had left. So then we got to eavesdrop on a conversation between friends exchanging gifts, which was a definite improvement. At some point it became known that I was done with my finals. So after the congratulations, Dale picked up a glass of water and held it over my head. I laughed and was like "ok maybe a drop or two?" and Dale proceeded to dump the whole (well ok, half) glass of water over my head. It was so hot out today it didn't really bother me (even though it WAS ice water). Miranda was in shock, and Dale and I were laughing. Miranda couldn't figure out what had happened and why Dale had dumped water on me and why I wasn't pissed. We've decided to make this a new tradition (at least while the warm weather holds out).
After dinner I was basically dry again, so I went to the library to work on the paper copy of The Blackstick Review. Stealing some of Verbosity's formatting, I was able to finish that up in around 2, 2.5 hours. Yay! I'm usually not the one actually handling the mouse while we do verbosity, so it was cool to do everything on my own. Yay complete editorial control!
This evening I also started packing in earnest. Two storage bins in the trunk room so far!
I have a feeling I must have made all sorts of spelling and grammer mistakes, as it's around 2 am. Oh well. Reading this is voluntary =) Speaking of reading, now I can start doing PLEASURE READING!! wow.
Monday, May 10, 2004
Um... I'm not a fan of this new blog style, AT ALL. Note to whoever the hell designs blogger: GO BACK! NO ONE LIKES CHANGE!!
Anyways, now that I have THAT out of my system... I haven't updated in awhile, so I'm going to try to remember things:
Did I ever mention that me and Dale watched The Big Easy & endured Dennis Quaid's horrible southern accent that often sounded more like an Italian accent? Well, we did!
Saturday Jaime & I took an adventure to Northampton -- the bus was like an existentialist play. We saw a man with one huge dreadlock (just one), carrying a world globe and a beaded curtain. And yes, he did get on the bus, although we were lucky in that he didn't sit next to us. But the way back was the worse... the bus driver put on some sort of show tune soundtrack that involved children singing. Then some blonde girl with a cell phone got on the bus and started insulting her mother (and keep in mind, this is the day before mother's day), saying "you should be happy we're coming to see you at ALL!" And we have pictures of ourselves with crazy sunglasses to prove we were in Noho. (PS the vintage clothing store is not as cool as it looks from the outside. You'll realize this when you see the glittery ninja masks.)
Late Saturday night Andrew arrived, which was muy muy exciting because I hadn't seen him for... two weeks? something like that, it seemed like a long time! Sunday was pretty busy... Andrew was still half in Amsterdam time so he kept trying to wake me up and I kept falling back asleep. We went to brunch with Dale, Miranda, & Kate -- Dale made a lovely ketchup and water art piece on her plate. Spotted Old Yeller and pointed her out to everyone. In the afternoon it cleared up (it was raining all morning), so Andrew & I went to Amherst. I almost bought a purse/tote thingy and a wallet, but then decided to hold off a little longer to make sure I get a set that I really like... Had Rao's chai and walked around, bought some candy at Hastings... then I insisted on Fresh Side for dinner =) We ate mostly at the Notch which was lovely (the puddles were perfectly reflective and bugs kept hitting on the water and making ripples). Then back at MHC we took a walk around Lower Lake. Saw the ducks and the bully goose, and we heard a splash that Andrew thought was a duck diving. Really though, it was a beaver! I was excited. We walked around most of Lower Lake with it swimming right by us. Very cute. It chewed on a twig and then turned back away from us.
After packing some of my stuff for the summer into Andrew's car, we watched the last two episodes of The OC. I hadn't ever seen it before. It was pretty good, I think...of course in my TV deprived state anything seems entertaining =)
It was sad saying goodbye to Andrew this morning, because this was the last time he could visit me this school year...next year I'll have a different dorm, a different room... crazy. Yes, very nostalgic...
Anyways, now that I have THAT out of my system... I haven't updated in awhile, so I'm going to try to remember things:
Did I ever mention that me and Dale watched The Big Easy & endured Dennis Quaid's horrible southern accent that often sounded more like an Italian accent? Well, we did!
Saturday Jaime & I took an adventure to Northampton -- the bus was like an existentialist play. We saw a man with one huge dreadlock (just one), carrying a world globe and a beaded curtain. And yes, he did get on the bus, although we were lucky in that he didn't sit next to us. But the way back was the worse... the bus driver put on some sort of show tune soundtrack that involved children singing. Then some blonde girl with a cell phone got on the bus and started insulting her mother (and keep in mind, this is the day before mother's day), saying "you should be happy we're coming to see you at ALL!" And we have pictures of ourselves with crazy sunglasses to prove we were in Noho. (PS the vintage clothing store is not as cool as it looks from the outside. You'll realize this when you see the glittery ninja masks.)
Late Saturday night Andrew arrived, which was muy muy exciting because I hadn't seen him for... two weeks? something like that, it seemed like a long time! Sunday was pretty busy... Andrew was still half in Amsterdam time so he kept trying to wake me up and I kept falling back asleep. We went to brunch with Dale, Miranda, & Kate -- Dale made a lovely ketchup and water art piece on her plate. Spotted Old Yeller and pointed her out to everyone. In the afternoon it cleared up (it was raining all morning), so Andrew & I went to Amherst. I almost bought a purse/tote thingy and a wallet, but then decided to hold off a little longer to make sure I get a set that I really like... Had Rao's chai and walked around, bought some candy at Hastings... then I insisted on Fresh Side for dinner =) We ate mostly at the Notch which was lovely (the puddles were perfectly reflective and bugs kept hitting on the water and making ripples). Then back at MHC we took a walk around Lower Lake. Saw the ducks and the bully goose, and we heard a splash that Andrew thought was a duck diving. Really though, it was a beaver! I was excited. We walked around most of Lower Lake with it swimming right by us. Very cute. It chewed on a twig and then turned back away from us.
After packing some of my stuff for the summer into Andrew's car, we watched the last two episodes of The OC. I hadn't ever seen it before. It was pretty good, I think...of course in my TV deprived state anything seems entertaining =)
It was sad saying goodbye to Andrew this morning, because this was the last time he could visit me this school year...next year I'll have a different dorm, a different room... crazy. Yes, very nostalgic...
Friday, May 07, 2004
It was another beautiful sunny day, but today it was actually WARM. I turned in my papers, worked longer than I normally do on Fridays at the mail center, and came to the conclusion that I should do a creative writing thesis. After dinner, Dale, Miranda & I had an adventure in finding storage boxes. We went to grocery stores, liquor stores, and a BJ's looking for boxes for summer storage. Miranda pointed out that there was a distinct majority of men in the liquor stores. We found a lot of boxes that used to hold flowers at BJ's, but they were so large they took up all the trunk and backseat. Miranda & I squished into the front for the ride home. Dale found a cemetary on the way home and decided that we should stop, so we did. Studying names, we found lots of French names, many sharing Dale's last name (spooky). But not Smiths or Richardsons. The sunset was gorgeous, clouds at a slant, blue sky to one side, yellow to the other... At some point it became too chilly to wander about, and we squished back into the car.
We had a hell of a time getting the boxes into Pearsons. Once we got inside we let them all fall around the entry way... Somehow we got upstairs, I ended up dropping all but three boxes because I was laughing so hard. Somehow Dale picked up the slack. So on our floor, in the hallway, we played the annoying kids having fun during finals. We built a fort, took pictures of ourselves in the fort, and fought over who would get to keep which boxes.
After, I read some, but mostly didn't work. Oh well! I only have one Spanish essay left and I don't think I could get less than a 98% on it if I tried...
We had a hell of a time getting the boxes into Pearsons. Once we got inside we let them all fall around the entry way... Somehow we got upstairs, I ended up dropping all but three boxes because I was laughing so hard. Somehow Dale picked up the slack. So on our floor, in the hallway, we played the annoying kids having fun during finals. We built a fort, took pictures of ourselves in the fort, and fought over who would get to keep which boxes.
After, I read some, but mostly didn't work. Oh well! I only have one Spanish essay left and I don't think I could get less than a 98% on it if I tried...
Thursday, May 06, 2004
I had an awesome day! I got up kind of late (it was nice sleeping with the sun shining out my window), and then went to lunch with Dale. [aside for Jaime's benefit: I had a truly lackluster lunch, it was Thanksgiving/Mexican food.] We then went on a Kobe walk, on a different route than I normally take. Kobe about killed me when Dale rescued a bird trapped in the garage area. That dog is a beast. It was a perfect, warm day -- twice some guys working initiated conversations with me and Dale. Luckily we were together so it didn't seem so sketchy and we could joke about it. Like what are they going to do? Ask what kind of dog Kobe is, and then ask for our phone numbers? So we acted really close and stuff so people would leave us be...
Anywho, we then waited for Miranda for awhile, thinking she wanted to go to Flayvors with us. Ends up she didn't want to go, but me and Dale forged ahead with the plan. It was lovely ... ice cream, cows, and working out on the grass in the sun. I got a few pages written, and we napped a bit. The cows strangely connected to what I was writing about... think camel udder boxes (and cows definitely have udders).
After a really relaxing afternoon, me and Dale headed back to MHC. We had dinner at MacG and listened to some truly disgusting conversations while we ate. Like, about really long fingernails, and guys "vacuuming faces." We were basically exposed to waaayy too much information from the next table over, which seemed to be TRYING to be VERY loud in advertising their private info. that me and Dale definitely didn't want to hear. Ick.
Then it was off to the dessert banquet for graduating SAW seniors and us incoming kids (yay!) Yummy chocolate cake and strawberries and cream. Cool shirts. Emily Mack's hilarious mentoring drawings.
And some cool news -- I got a reply from Pearsons Education about an internship. They pay 12$/hour, so if it's full time and 40 hours a week, I'd end up making 400$ more in the space of two months than I would make at warm2kids for the full three months. Going to do a phone interview and see what happens.
Finished my essay for Quillian! So now I just should proofread (but some things aren't fixable, ie, my essay for Siraj).
Oh! And I found out that Miranda and I have a Christopher Pike connection!
Awesome thing that Mer wrote in her blog:
"Possibly the tackiest way to hydrate: "Nylon patriotic water bottle holder necklaces: These adjustable 36" cords will keep your water bottle handy."
You read right. Oriental Trading Co. claims that wearing a water bottle around your neck is ok."
Anywho, we then waited for Miranda for awhile, thinking she wanted to go to Flayvors with us. Ends up she didn't want to go, but me and Dale forged ahead with the plan. It was lovely ... ice cream, cows, and working out on the grass in the sun. I got a few pages written, and we napped a bit. The cows strangely connected to what I was writing about... think camel udder boxes (and cows definitely have udders).
After a really relaxing afternoon, me and Dale headed back to MHC. We had dinner at MacG and listened to some truly disgusting conversations while we ate. Like, about really long fingernails, and guys "vacuuming faces." We were basically exposed to waaayy too much information from the next table over, which seemed to be TRYING to be VERY loud in advertising their private info. that me and Dale definitely didn't want to hear. Ick.
Then it was off to the dessert banquet for graduating SAW seniors and us incoming kids (yay!) Yummy chocolate cake and strawberries and cream. Cool shirts. Emily Mack's hilarious mentoring drawings.
And some cool news -- I got a reply from Pearsons Education about an internship. They pay 12$/hour, so if it's full time and 40 hours a week, I'd end up making 400$ more in the space of two months than I would make at warm2kids for the full three months. Going to do a phone interview and see what happens.
Finished my essay for Quillian! So now I just should proofread (but some things aren't fixable, ie, my essay for Siraj).
Oh! And I found out that Miranda and I have a Christopher Pike connection!
Awesome thing that Mer wrote in her blog:
"Possibly the tackiest way to hydrate: "Nylon patriotic water bottle holder necklaces: These adjustable 36" cords will keep your water bottle handy."
You read right. Oriental Trading Co. claims that wearing a water bottle around your neck is ok."
Wednesday, May 05, 2004
Advice for the day: Whenever you sign on to a job or internship, make sure you get a contract with the salary on it. Because yeah, it sucks when the people in charge randomly decide to change the salary. Yes, I'm getting ready to launch into the story that you have all probably heard, but oh well, if you've heard it you can skip over this:
So I went into Boston late March or early April for an interview at this new company that basically is an online resource for parents and teens on all topics that teens face, etc. etc. And it seemed pretty cool, they offered me the position, said it'd be full-time and $10/hour, and I was sold. About a week, a week and a half later, after I'd totally stopped looking into the other positions I had applied for, I get an email confirming that they want me and that they can offer me $50/day. I figure for an 8-hour workday that's a loss of about $30/day. That seems like kinda a lot. So I give them a call, am assured that they're willing to work with me, blah blah blah. They say maybe I can get a scholarship at the end of the summer guaranteed to help me pay for school books. Problem with this? They'll probably later take that back, too! So I ask for some more time to think about it, and to have them call me again soon. Two weeks go by. I'm wondering what the hell is going on, so I give them another call. Finally talk to the woman in charge of interns. My phone card goes out but I hear something about "not sure about adding another person," "there have been some changes..." So I call back frantically (f$&#!!!! phone wouldn't work!!), and basically just get a confirmation that they'll contact me again ASAP. Of course I'm worried like crazy, thinking I'm going to end up living in a cardboard box (although a very nice cardboard box) on Newbury St. I worry all night, write some emails in response to job offers on Craig's List, send off my resume, and research more job/internship opportunities on the CDC website. I wake up with a fluttery stomach wondering wtf I'm going to do, check new job listings on Craig's List. FINALLY this afternoon, after telling Thomasena and Prof. Pesola about it at the Spanish dept. picnic, I get an email. Good news: They offered me $60/day instead. Bad news: The scholarship isn't guaranteed. But I think I'm going to just do it, and make sure I only work 8 hours a day. The leftover hours will be spent outside the office complex, reading and waiting for Andrew to be done with his job. Wow. And I just finished my essay for Siraj's class. So it's like, all is well with the world again. Except for the damn literary magazine for Eng. 303!!
Ok if you skipped over all that, good news for you because that was long and boring. On to my snippets:
Good news today:
-Jaime's excellent mix CD which sustained me through the last three pages and the works cited list of my paper. Yeah Apollonian and Dionysian music! Take that, Adrianne! (I saw her at dinner, btw.)
-Refreshments at the English theses talk.
-Mum & Mer sent me a care package!
-Siraj's essay is pretty much done.
-Did well on peer mentoring assignments.
-It didn't rain today.
-Last night watching Center Stage. (Officially, it was very early in the morning today.)
-The ice cream at dinner. Yum.
Bad news today:
-I saw Old Yeller at the Spanish dept. picnic.
-I again saw Old Yeller at dinner and she gave me the "I'm a scary bitch but I'm going to smile like I'm really happy to see you because I'm not going to confront you when people might overhear me" smile.
-The let down of a cinco de mayo gracious dinner. Just because we've got candles doesn't mean it's gracious!! I've had better refried beans out of a CAN for CHRIST'S SAKE!
-Weather kinda sucked.
Hmmmmm..... more later!
So I went into Boston late March or early April for an interview at this new company that basically is an online resource for parents and teens on all topics that teens face, etc. etc. And it seemed pretty cool, they offered me the position, said it'd be full-time and $10/hour, and I was sold. About a week, a week and a half later, after I'd totally stopped looking into the other positions I had applied for, I get an email confirming that they want me and that they can offer me $50/day. I figure for an 8-hour workday that's a loss of about $30/day. That seems like kinda a lot. So I give them a call, am assured that they're willing to work with me, blah blah blah. They say maybe I can get a scholarship at the end of the summer guaranteed to help me pay for school books. Problem with this? They'll probably later take that back, too! So I ask for some more time to think about it, and to have them call me again soon. Two weeks go by. I'm wondering what the hell is going on, so I give them another call. Finally talk to the woman in charge of interns. My phone card goes out but I hear something about "not sure about adding another person," "there have been some changes..." So I call back frantically (f$&#!!!! phone wouldn't work!!), and basically just get a confirmation that they'll contact me again ASAP. Of course I'm worried like crazy, thinking I'm going to end up living in a cardboard box (although a very nice cardboard box) on Newbury St. I worry all night, write some emails in response to job offers on Craig's List, send off my resume, and research more job/internship opportunities on the CDC website. I wake up with a fluttery stomach wondering wtf I'm going to do, check new job listings on Craig's List. FINALLY this afternoon, after telling Thomasena and Prof. Pesola about it at the Spanish dept. picnic, I get an email. Good news: They offered me $60/day instead. Bad news: The scholarship isn't guaranteed. But I think I'm going to just do it, and make sure I only work 8 hours a day. The leftover hours will be spent outside the office complex, reading and waiting for Andrew to be done with his job. Wow. And I just finished my essay for Siraj's class. So it's like, all is well with the world again. Except for the damn literary magazine for Eng. 303!!
Ok if you skipped over all that, good news for you because that was long and boring. On to my snippets:
Good news today:
-Jaime's excellent mix CD which sustained me through the last three pages and the works cited list of my paper. Yeah Apollonian and Dionysian music! Take that, Adrianne! (I saw her at dinner, btw.)
-Refreshments at the English theses talk.
-Mum & Mer sent me a care package!
-Siraj's essay is pretty much done.
-Did well on peer mentoring assignments.
-It didn't rain today.
-Last night watching Center Stage. (Officially, it was very early in the morning today.)
-The ice cream at dinner. Yum.
Bad news today:
-I saw Old Yeller at the Spanish dept. picnic.
-I again saw Old Yeller at dinner and she gave me the "I'm a scary bitch but I'm going to smile like I'm really happy to see you because I'm not going to confront you when people might overhear me" smile.
-The let down of a cinco de mayo gracious dinner. Just because we've got candles doesn't mean it's gracious!! I've had better refried beans out of a CAN for CHRIST'S SAKE!
-Weather kinda sucked.
Hmmmmm..... more later!
Sunday, May 02, 2004
First of all, thanks to Mer for the correction: Moose are not herd animals. I bet no one else who read my blog of April 27th stopped to think about that, but Merrie did.
Important news, stolen from Mer's blog, but arrived at in a conversation together: Be thankful that you're not a whale with triangular eyebrows.
Big news in dining services: "Sweet dreams" herbal tea has been replaced with "Cozy chamomile."
Update on the end of the year: I've done all the classwork, the last day of classes is tuesday, and I have two papers due on friday which I have already done the research for. Well only one really involved research, but whatever, it makes me feel better to think of them as both being done with preliminaries. Then I just have a Spanish paper, which I'm not too worried about. And, perhaps, the paper version of the literary mag. for my creative writing class.
Verbosity update!! We have the magazines (1200 of them) and will begin distributing them at lunch tomorrow!!
Hmmm... So it's been a really quiet weekend. Andrew's off in Amsterdam, and I was catching up on sleep and homework. One great exception to that was Saturday night and Miranda's birthday party. Amazing! We watched Harold and Maude (Mer you'd enjoy it, very absurd), ate strawberries and brownies, and took funny pictures. Yay for Miranda for throwing a real old fashioned birthday party!!
Important news, stolen from Mer's blog, but arrived at in a conversation together: Be thankful that you're not a whale with triangular eyebrows.
Big news in dining services: "Sweet dreams" herbal tea has been replaced with "Cozy chamomile."
Update on the end of the year: I've done all the classwork, the last day of classes is tuesday, and I have two papers due on friday which I have already done the research for. Well only one really involved research, but whatever, it makes me feel better to think of them as both being done with preliminaries. Then I just have a Spanish paper, which I'm not too worried about. And, perhaps, the paper version of the literary mag. for my creative writing class.
Verbosity update!! We have the magazines (1200 of them) and will begin distributing them at lunch tomorrow!!
Hmmm... So it's been a really quiet weekend. Andrew's off in Amsterdam, and I was catching up on sleep and homework. One great exception to that was Saturday night and Miranda's birthday party. Amazing! We watched Harold and Maude (Mer you'd enjoy it, very absurd), ate strawberries and brownies, and took funny pictures. Yay for Miranda for throwing a real old fashioned birthday party!!
Friday, April 30, 2004
I've had a couple of amazing days, and sad news. Butr let's start with the good news (it's in chronological order that way):
Yesterday: A really beautiful day. Warm and sunny, I was running around, walking Kobe, skipping lunch, to go to Prof. Demas's house. I'd eaten, well, not much -- a banana and milk, some juice and a little cereal -- and we ate cookies, fruit, and cake at Corinne's. Really yummy, but talk about a sugar high. Corinne's house is beautiful, too, and her dog was awesome, as were the donkeys. A really lovely class, with the breeze going through the house, and everyone there...
But in the evening, work set in on the online journal. 8 pm till after 11:30 ... crazy! Luckily Ije and Heather are fun to work with =)
Today: Another pretty warm day! And I slept in! Turned in English department award applications, ate at the picnic with Laura and Dorothy, distributed the first of our verbosities... lots of misdelivered periodicals today! My last peer mentoring class went well -- we had a little discussion of everything that was helpful in the class and we were all bonding like crazy and feeling totally thrilled with ourselves. It was a bubble moment.
Had a long conversation with Mum and Mer tonight... and we're dealing with things =(
Yesterday: A really beautiful day. Warm and sunny, I was running around, walking Kobe, skipping lunch, to go to Prof. Demas's house. I'd eaten, well, not much -- a banana and milk, some juice and a little cereal -- and we ate cookies, fruit, and cake at Corinne's. Really yummy, but talk about a sugar high. Corinne's house is beautiful, too, and her dog was awesome, as were the donkeys. A really lovely class, with the breeze going through the house, and everyone there...
But in the evening, work set in on the online journal. 8 pm till after 11:30 ... crazy! Luckily Ije and Heather are fun to work with =)
Today: Another pretty warm day! And I slept in! Turned in English department award applications, ate at the picnic with Laura and Dorothy, distributed the first of our verbosities... lots of misdelivered periodicals today! My last peer mentoring class went well -- we had a little discussion of everything that was helpful in the class and we were all bonding like crazy and feeling totally thrilled with ourselves. It was a bubble moment.
Had a long conversation with Mum and Mer tonight... and we're dealing with things =(
Tuesday, April 27, 2004
Another happy weekend to report on!
Friday night was the student reading for the Glascock poetry competition-- I got there rather early, & sat next to Jamie (half of our eng. 280 class was in the audience). I wasn't expecting Andrew to get to MHC in time for the readings, so I was super suprised and happy when Miranda pointed and asked "Isn't that your boyfriend?" The readings were... well, some were really good, some were rather strange, and others were plain funny. I think we all laughed when the guy from Columbia started singing "A-hunting we will go, a-hunting we will go!" The reception afterwards was good EXCEPT for the fact that the raspberry cream cheese chocolate bars were no where to be found. AND the fact that I forgot my ID so I couldn't have wine (not that I particularly like wine, but still). Finally met Merry, a friend of Andrew's that graduated from MHC last year.
After, we went dogsitting and watched some tv. Saturday morning we took Windy on a long walk and then packed up for the day. I wanted to find some place fun to bring Andrew to since I'm going to miss his birthday (as he'll be vacationing while I'm doing finals, ick). So we went to Mt. Tom state park, which was pretty with a lake (but a bit muddy still). I was really enjoying the peaceful woodland setting, until we spotted these men dressed in crazy bright striped outfits, running through the woods like a bear was after them. Me and Andrew thought the same thing: escaped mental patients. But no, it turns out, it was just a sprint orienteering event. As in, people sprint between hints (rather like a running scavenger hunt) that tell them which way to run with their little compass and stuff. Yeah, you have to be pretty damn dorky, right? So we left and looked at the dinosaur prints in the rocks along the Connecticut River =) I remembered the site pretty well as we had to draw pictures of it for physical geology last year.
After another Windy walk we decided to eat dinner. I finally experienced The Hanger in Amherst, and cheese fries (surprisingly good). Then we went to The Black Sheep for some sort of birthday dessert. Andrew introduced me to the best cake ever, and I tried out the chocolate mousse (which gets extra points for sounding like the large antlered herd animal). Back home we ate dessert and watched Pulp Fiction. Or rather, Andrew fell asleep, and I watched Pulp Fiction. It was my first time seeing it I think, and it was awesome. Very very exciting for me. And Andrew slept right through it =)
Sunday we got a fairly early start out -- ate brunch with Ashley at Blanchard -- and started on our way to Lee. I'd been outlet shopping there once before, so I vaguely remembered the layout. I bought a summery halter top, it reminds me of something Mum would pick out. Then we went into "Lee proper" and found this cute bakery/tea/coffee place. I had some really yummy fruity tea, and we shared a peanut butter brownie. I'm very focused on what I eat, aren't I? I'm just realizing that I vividly remember what I eat during all of my weekend adventures...
Anyway! After Lee & toiletries shopping, we had to set aside a few hours for work. Lots of Spanish, and it took me forever to write one damn little paragraph on the movie for Postcolonial lit! As a reward for actually doing work, we ate some pizza at blanchard and then finished off Andrew's cake. Also watched the first episode of Six Feet Under which I found incredibly disturbing. All the talk about fixing up dead bodies really worried me. It reminded me of conversations had with Mum and Mer on the possibility of being cremated. Ack. I think after that show I'm more convinced that I'd rather be dusty than embalmed =/ (and yes I do worry about these things).
That's all for now! It was quite sunny out and DIDN'T RAIN! Take that, weatherpeople!!
Friday night was the student reading for the Glascock poetry competition-- I got there rather early, & sat next to Jamie (half of our eng. 280 class was in the audience). I wasn't expecting Andrew to get to MHC in time for the readings, so I was super suprised and happy when Miranda pointed and asked "Isn't that your boyfriend?" The readings were... well, some were really good, some were rather strange, and others were plain funny. I think we all laughed when the guy from Columbia started singing "A-hunting we will go, a-hunting we will go!" The reception afterwards was good EXCEPT for the fact that the raspberry cream cheese chocolate bars were no where to be found. AND the fact that I forgot my ID so I couldn't have wine (not that I particularly like wine, but still). Finally met Merry, a friend of Andrew's that graduated from MHC last year.
After, we went dogsitting and watched some tv. Saturday morning we took Windy on a long walk and then packed up for the day. I wanted to find some place fun to bring Andrew to since I'm going to miss his birthday (as he'll be vacationing while I'm doing finals, ick). So we went to Mt. Tom state park, which was pretty with a lake (but a bit muddy still). I was really enjoying the peaceful woodland setting, until we spotted these men dressed in crazy bright striped outfits, running through the woods like a bear was after them. Me and Andrew thought the same thing: escaped mental patients. But no, it turns out, it was just a sprint orienteering event. As in, people sprint between hints (rather like a running scavenger hunt) that tell them which way to run with their little compass and stuff. Yeah, you have to be pretty damn dorky, right? So we left and looked at the dinosaur prints in the rocks along the Connecticut River =) I remembered the site pretty well as we had to draw pictures of it for physical geology last year.
After another Windy walk we decided to eat dinner. I finally experienced The Hanger in Amherst, and cheese fries (surprisingly good). Then we went to The Black Sheep for some sort of birthday dessert. Andrew introduced me to the best cake ever, and I tried out the chocolate mousse (which gets extra points for sounding like the large antlered herd animal). Back home we ate dessert and watched Pulp Fiction. Or rather, Andrew fell asleep, and I watched Pulp Fiction. It was my first time seeing it I think, and it was awesome. Very very exciting for me. And Andrew slept right through it =)
Sunday we got a fairly early start out -- ate brunch with Ashley at Blanchard -- and started on our way to Lee. I'd been outlet shopping there once before, so I vaguely remembered the layout. I bought a summery halter top, it reminds me of something Mum would pick out. Then we went into "Lee proper" and found this cute bakery/tea/coffee place. I had some really yummy fruity tea, and we shared a peanut butter brownie. I'm very focused on what I eat, aren't I? I'm just realizing that I vividly remember what I eat during all of my weekend adventures...
Anyway! After Lee & toiletries shopping, we had to set aside a few hours for work. Lots of Spanish, and it took me forever to write one damn little paragraph on the movie for Postcolonial lit! As a reward for actually doing work, we ate some pizza at blanchard and then finished off Andrew's cake. Also watched the first episode of Six Feet Under which I found incredibly disturbing. All the talk about fixing up dead bodies really worried me. It reminded me of conversations had with Mum and Mer on the possibility of being cremated. Ack. I think after that show I'm more convinced that I'd rather be dusty than embalmed =/ (and yes I do worry about these things).
That's all for now! It was quite sunny out and DIDN'T RAIN! Take that, weatherpeople!!
Tuesday, April 20, 2004
Monday, April 19, 2004
Ahh such a lovely weekend. But I haven't updated in awhile! Last weekend I was dogsitting Kobe, but me and Andrew sneaked in a visit anyways -- he came over Sunday afternoon and we enjoyed the spring weather and watched the sunset... we drove all over! Ended up at Dairy Queen!
So after that brief recap of the last week that I haven't updated, here's more about this last weekend =)
Friday: I met up with Andrew at the mall (after I bought the first version of his birthday present -- a real picnic basket) and we shopped a little, ate, it was fun =) I found some cheap summer and work clothes, yay! Then I was on duty but the dorm was quiet (thank god).
Saturday: A perfect day! Warm finally, and sunny! We took a picnic lunch up to this lake (Wyola or something? Andrew knows, but I'm bad with names), and it was so quiet and calm. Just people fishing, but we had the park area to ourselves. I forgot napkins (which made things rather sticky since we were eating peanut butter sandwiches). Then we continued on the road trip and found this great lookout point over Quabbin reservoir, which Andrew spotted last weekend on his way to work. It's this circle of stones just off the highway, and I found a nice stone to sunbathe on. A couple of other cars pulled over but I think they just stopped because they saw other people there and were curious what the fuss was about. The sun was so bright, you forget in the winter how blinding it can be... So that's now on my list of cool places to go with a picnic.
Afterwards, we continued on our way to Brattleboro, VT. We got lost -- Andrew somehow got us unlost. We got to VT, and Andrew claims you can see the difference (more hilly? woodsy? more church steeples?). Anyway, it was the first time I'd been in Vermont (and we passed through NH, also a new state for me). In Brattleboro we explored the local stores -- a bead store, an antique store, a used stuff store, a record store... and of course Mocha Joe's for coffee (and yummy mango tea).
After walking around and people watching, and exhausting the cool store possibilities, we were pretty tired of walking. So we got back on the road =) Ended up in Northampton, where we ate bagels and walked across that old train bridge. Found a place to sit below the bridge and read for awhile. It was a cool place to sit and read, a little out of context, but a great view. Shopped a bit in Noho, and then Korisha called us as I was right across the street from where they were going to dinner. Also met Netta at this point, we always run into some of Andrew's college friends while wandering around in the valley! So I had my first real sushi experience, Andrew says I handled it pretty well =) Some of the actual raw fish tasted good, but it was hard to get past the fact that it was like raw flesh. I kind of set myself up for failure thinking about what I'm eating... But I think I'll get over that. It was fun to be out with everyone for dinner, too, post-Julia's-MCAT's.
We tried to get ice cream after dinner but the line at Herrell's was SO long. So me and Andrew got some ben and jerry's at the supermarket instead. Yum and convenient! I was on duty again so I was pretty stuck to my room. We started Pulp Fiction but Andrew was too tired to pay attention! Anywho, it was a more eventful night in the dorm but things didn't get out of control.
Sunday was another outdoorsy day. After breakfast/brunch at blanchard, we hiked up Mt. Holyoke. We took the straight up the mountain side trail on the way up, but then took the trail I've always taken on Mountain Day down. Saw lots of cool dogs! We sat for awhile at the top and just enjoyed the view and the sun... I'm finally getting an idea of the geography of the valley... Some views of the park up there really should be in postcards (so I can send them home to mum =) Oh, and I finally discovered why we always end up in someone's backyard, walking around by some old barn. There are now signs posted up -- "PRIVATE PROPERTY" and such -- and signs back to the real trail. Which is much more direct and doesn't drop you off on the highway. So that mystery is finally solved, I always wondered where the correct trail breaks off from the trail I've taken before.
Then we drove to Amherst, returned the picnic basket (after realizing that it wasn't going to be good for our hiking adventures, trying to lug that unwieldy thing around with us -- instead we found a backpack picnic thingy which should be perfect and encourage us to actually hike before sitting down for a picnic =), got food, and wandered around the Holyoke mall looking for said backpack. Said backpack isn't sold in stores, but we found it on ebay! Or rather, Andrew found it. And we won it which was exciting =) I hope next weekend is good weather so we can use it!!
Back in my room we ate Fresh Side (yum), then headed over to Dwight so I could take this dreamweaver course (Andrew sat and read for awhile -- adding to the population of "taken guys" in our library that Dale always complains of). I learned how to do stuff to my webspace which was muy muy exciting =) Then we had a snack/dessert from Blanchard (I got the hugest piece of fried dough ever), and I finished some reading... Which I should get back to now =) But it's so hard to work after having such an amazing weekend... ahh pobrecita =)
Signing off for now!
So after that brief recap of the last week that I haven't updated, here's more about this last weekend =)
Friday: I met up with Andrew at the mall (after I bought the first version of his birthday present -- a real picnic basket) and we shopped a little, ate, it was fun =) I found some cheap summer and work clothes, yay! Then I was on duty but the dorm was quiet (thank god).
Saturday: A perfect day! Warm finally, and sunny! We took a picnic lunch up to this lake (Wyola or something? Andrew knows, but I'm bad with names), and it was so quiet and calm. Just people fishing, but we had the park area to ourselves. I forgot napkins (which made things rather sticky since we were eating peanut butter sandwiches). Then we continued on the road trip and found this great lookout point over Quabbin reservoir, which Andrew spotted last weekend on his way to work. It's this circle of stones just off the highway, and I found a nice stone to sunbathe on. A couple of other cars pulled over but I think they just stopped because they saw other people there and were curious what the fuss was about. The sun was so bright, you forget in the winter how blinding it can be... So that's now on my list of cool places to go with a picnic.
Afterwards, we continued on our way to Brattleboro, VT. We got lost -- Andrew somehow got us unlost. We got to VT, and Andrew claims you can see the difference (more hilly? woodsy? more church steeples?). Anyway, it was the first time I'd been in Vermont (and we passed through NH, also a new state for me). In Brattleboro we explored the local stores -- a bead store, an antique store, a used stuff store, a record store... and of course Mocha Joe's for coffee (and yummy mango tea).
After walking around and people watching, and exhausting the cool store possibilities, we were pretty tired of walking. So we got back on the road =) Ended up in Northampton, where we ate bagels and walked across that old train bridge. Found a place to sit below the bridge and read for awhile. It was a cool place to sit and read, a little out of context, but a great view. Shopped a bit in Noho, and then Korisha called us as I was right across the street from where they were going to dinner. Also met Netta at this point, we always run into some of Andrew's college friends while wandering around in the valley! So I had my first real sushi experience, Andrew says I handled it pretty well =) Some of the actual raw fish tasted good, but it was hard to get past the fact that it was like raw flesh. I kind of set myself up for failure thinking about what I'm eating... But I think I'll get over that. It was fun to be out with everyone for dinner, too, post-Julia's-MCAT's.
We tried to get ice cream after dinner but the line at Herrell's was SO long. So me and Andrew got some ben and jerry's at the supermarket instead. Yum and convenient! I was on duty again so I was pretty stuck to my room. We started Pulp Fiction but Andrew was too tired to pay attention! Anywho, it was a more eventful night in the dorm but things didn't get out of control.
Sunday was another outdoorsy day. After breakfast/brunch at blanchard, we hiked up Mt. Holyoke. We took the straight up the mountain side trail on the way up, but then took the trail I've always taken on Mountain Day down. Saw lots of cool dogs! We sat for awhile at the top and just enjoyed the view and the sun... I'm finally getting an idea of the geography of the valley... Some views of the park up there really should be in postcards (so I can send them home to mum =) Oh, and I finally discovered why we always end up in someone's backyard, walking around by some old barn. There are now signs posted up -- "PRIVATE PROPERTY" and such -- and signs back to the real trail. Which is much more direct and doesn't drop you off on the highway. So that mystery is finally solved, I always wondered where the correct trail breaks off from the trail I've taken before.
Then we drove to Amherst, returned the picnic basket (after realizing that it wasn't going to be good for our hiking adventures, trying to lug that unwieldy thing around with us -- instead we found a backpack picnic thingy which should be perfect and encourage us to actually hike before sitting down for a picnic =), got food, and wandered around the Holyoke mall looking for said backpack. Said backpack isn't sold in stores, but we found it on ebay! Or rather, Andrew found it. And we won it which was exciting =) I hope next weekend is good weather so we can use it!!
Back in my room we ate Fresh Side (yum), then headed over to Dwight so I could take this dreamweaver course (Andrew sat and read for awhile -- adding to the population of "taken guys" in our library that Dale always complains of). I learned how to do stuff to my webspace which was muy muy exciting =) Then we had a snack/dessert from Blanchard (I got the hugest piece of fried dough ever), and I finished some reading... Which I should get back to now =) But it's so hard to work after having such an amazing weekend... ahh pobrecita =)
Signing off for now!
Saturday, April 10, 2004
Thursday, April 08, 2004
Crazy busy days. Unfortunately didn't get to the student meeting on dining service cutbacks and cutbacks in general. Next one, I promise... Yesterday I did make it to the forum on "Opting Out" -- women choosing to quit jobs in order to be home with the kids. That was totally different from what I expected...talking to Thomasena afterwards, we agreed on that... we also agreed that we didn't really know what we had expected in the first place. Bottom line: by the time you get out of grad/law/medical school, you have about five years to get your career going and then you may just give it all up. Things to remember.
It was balmy this morning. Then it became overcast (but not rainy). I climbed on top of my desk to get to my window, and proceeded to "wrassle" with my window. I managed to get the storm window up, and I secured it with the putty FacMan put all around my window to keep the cold air out (because I distinctly remember an incident last fall... sleeping and waking up at 3 am to a loud crash -- it was my storm window falling down from its upright position. F-ing ridiculous. Someone's going to have a hell of a time getting that storm window down again. GOOD LUCK!!) I then finally, after much personal injury (aka getting my hands filthy with window grime), managed to get my screen down. So now I can get air AND keep bugs out. What genius!
Oh yes. Advising is next week. Here's what I want to take, must pick four out of the proceding five:
American Lit III: because I really should take some, and I'd love to read some more recent literature...
Independent: because I hope it'll turn into a thesis.
Spanish seminar -- Sex and the City or the Witches and Utopia: because I need a Spanish seminar and I should take it immediately upon returning to campus as the longer I go without Spanish, the worse I become at speaking/reading/hearing/writing it.
Criminology: because I still need a damn social science! And because Prof. Moran is teaching it and my one line in Junior Show was spoken as him (even though I didn't know who he was).
Existentialism: because I've always wanted to take this and it wasn't offered for a full year and a half...
It was balmy this morning. Then it became overcast (but not rainy). I climbed on top of my desk to get to my window, and proceeded to "wrassle" with my window. I managed to get the storm window up, and I secured it with the putty FacMan put all around my window to keep the cold air out (because I distinctly remember an incident last fall... sleeping and waking up at 3 am to a loud crash -- it was my storm window falling down from its upright position. F-ing ridiculous. Someone's going to have a hell of a time getting that storm window down again. GOOD LUCK!!) I then finally, after much personal injury (aka getting my hands filthy with window grime), managed to get my screen down. So now I can get air AND keep bugs out. What genius!
Oh yes. Advising is next week. Here's what I want to take, must pick four out of the proceding five:
American Lit III: because I really should take some, and I'd love to read some more recent literature...
Independent: because I hope it'll turn into a thesis.
Spanish seminar -- Sex and the City or the Witches and Utopia: because I need a Spanish seminar and I should take it immediately upon returning to campus as the longer I go without Spanish, the worse I become at speaking/reading/hearing/writing it.
Criminology: because I still need a damn social science! And because Prof. Moran is teaching it and my one line in Junior Show was spoken as him (even though I didn't know who he was).
Existentialism: because I've always wanted to take this and it wasn't offered for a full year and a half...
Tuesday, April 06, 2004
It's been sooo long since my last entry, I'm going to resort to vague updates:
1. Saw The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Mystic River (both highly awesome).
2. Partially climbed Mt. Holyoke with Andrew and explored the halfway house.
3. Went to Boston with Andrew and did some rushed apartment looking and job applying.
4. Had an interview that went really well and it looks like I have a job for this summer! The same day (almost the same exact time) Andrew found out that we do, indeed, have a sublet! So I have a room and a way to pay for it!
5. Andrew drove me back and stayed Monday night with me at MHC. We had a celebratory dinner and finally just sat and relaxed =)
1. Saw The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Mystic River (both highly awesome).
2. Partially climbed Mt. Holyoke with Andrew and explored the halfway house.
3. Went to Boston with Andrew and did some rushed apartment looking and job applying.
4. Had an interview that went really well and it looks like I have a job for this summer! The same day (almost the same exact time) Andrew found out that we do, indeed, have a sublet! So I have a room and a way to pay for it!
5. Andrew drove me back and stayed Monday night with me at MHC. We had a celebratory dinner and finally just sat and relaxed =)
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