This is for you, Uffish.

Here I am, updating my blog instead of packing. Just to make you happy. I am sad that I couldn't go spelunking with you this christmas, and I am also sad that we couldn't go see Pride and Prejudice. Sigh. On the other hand, I'm very much looking forward to my next semester at the University of Parts Unknown, and hoping it doesn't go as fast as the first semester did. If it does, I'll be back home in like, a week, and I really want to enjoy a longer-feeling time there. Because it's fun and nice there. I especially like it there because there is snow, and as you may have noticed, I enjoy playing in the snow. In fact, I plan to do fun snow activities the first weekend back. Tonight is my last night at home, and we're going to make casts of our hands, and go out to dinner, and my sister's going to come. I'm going to steal mass quantities of music from her, and mass quantities of recipes from my mom. Happy New Year, and I'll see you maybe sometime this summer, depending on both of our schedules.

Uh, weird.

I was just looking through my old yearbooks, because I told my roommates I'd bring one to show them what my high school was like. I just noticed something: Molly and Will from my italian class a few semesters ago, who I think are so fun and interesting, went to my high school. (!!!!!!!!)

How messed up is it that my school was so big that I don't even recognize the faces of the people in my own graduating class? I find it truly fascinating that we sat together and did several projects together, and never figured this out. I'm sure they knew each other, but I don't think they knew that I went to the same school as them, either. Huh.

Home for the Holidays

It's good to be home. I love Parts Unknown, but I love home, too. And I feel so loved every time I run into someone I know- they're all happy to see me, and excited to hear how my life's been going the past few months. So if you're from home, gimme a call. I want to hear from you. If you're from Parts Unknown, don't worry! I'll be back there in January, and we can have a whole nother fun semester of hanging out and running around in the snow and stuff. Yes, I know you guys don't find the snow as fascinating as I do, but still. I need to go toboganning (sp?) and snowboarding and icefishing yet. Oh yes, and skating on the lake. We mustn't forget that one. I may or may not post again while I'm home, so if I don't, I wish you all the best of Christmases, and safe and happy New Years.

2 Reasons why I'm royally pissed off at Cory

1. He broke my speakers for my iPod. My roommate's iPod was on it, and he had it turned up really loud, and the phone rang. Instead of turning the music off, he forcibly ripped the iPod off of the dock so he could speak on the phone without background noise. This didn't completely ruin the speakers. They still play music, but they don't charge the iPod, and that's one of the things I love about my speakers. And now they don't do it! Frickin want to throw my shoe at him.

2. He made me get mad for the first time in four months. I haven't had a truly bad day in four months, and he ruined my happy streak. For this, I want to throw my other shoe at him. Preferably, a pair of steel-toed doc martens. Thank you, Cory, for making me mad. This is totally the week when I want something more to go wrong, right when I'm stressed about doing finals and getting everything done and figuring out how to get through customs and three airports to get home. I need to go to bed, because writing this blog is not cathartic. It instead is making me more angry and more wanting to do something harmful to him.

Good night, internet. Don't worry too much about me. This is really going to be a good week- I've got fun stuff I'm doing after my finals, and I'm going home soon, so just talk to me in a few days once I'm done stressing and beginning to enjoy my Christmas break.

Wow.

I'm pretty amazed. I never knew that drunk people could articulate words in song so quickly.

In other news, the snow continues to fall, and I continue to like it. I'm going to send out Christmas cards on monday. Christmas cards, like snow, make me happy.

Why I love Parts Unknown

Because I just spent an afternoon walking around downtown, shopping. I went with one of my roommates, and we spent a long time in a record/movie/book store, and we bought some hot chocolate, and we window shopped and bought christmas presents and got some dinner and then went exhaustedly to walmart for some groceries. I love it here because you can spend a wonderfully cold day just going around doing nothing, and not knowing what time it is, and feeling your nosehairs freeze, watching your breath rise above you, and then go home to be warm in pj's and watch a movie. That's what I'm going to do right now. I hope you all have as good of a day as I am having.

I am so very Not Happy

I guess it's kind of my fault. I always had to plug in my computer in a plug further to the left of where I was sitting. If I had plugged it into a socket to my right, this never would have happened. Or maybe it's Apple's fault. Why did you put the power cord thingy coming out of the right hand side of the iBook? And come to think of it, why is the usb and firewire port and everything else on the left hand side? Kay, think about it. Most people are used to using their right hand for the mouse. But having the usb on the left side makes mousing all obnoxiously problematic, cause you have to find a cord long enough to go around the back of your computer. But a cord that long makes it tough to keep tidy and un-cordy. Alright, Apple, it's totally your fault. You need to put all the usb and crap on the right side, and the power on the left, and then I could mouse happily and my frickin power cord wouldn't have to perpetually bend in the same spot to the point of breaking the casing open, exposing the wires, and eventually becoming totally nonfunctional. Why, Steve Jobs, why? Why did you have to put the usb on the left hand side? While I'm berating you, why don't you have an apple store in every capital city in North America? Cause if you did, my life would totally suck less right now when I have to use these nasty Old Dells in the computer room to write my term papers. Not that I'm writing them anyway, cause I'm too bitter and annoyed and I need to tell the internet about how annoying my life is. Two weeks until I go home; two weeks until I can get to an apple store and get a new power cord. Two weeks of PC torture.

57 Bobby Pins

And when you're picking them out of sticky, day-old hairsprayed hair, that's all noodly and confusing, it takes you a dang long time. It was still worth it.

Absinthe makes the heart grow fonder

This was my favorite quote from this evening. No, I didn't drink any, although I smelled it. It smelled like Listerene, and from what I heard, it tasted like it, too. Anyway. The evening was perfect in its imperfections. Main imperfection: my dress never arrived in the mail. Go figure. Stupid postal service hates me and doesn't want me to go to masquerades. So today was a fun rush to borrow a dressy skirt, and a quick (amazingly quick) trip to purchase a dressy shirt, shrug, nylons and shoes (I bought shoes, mom! Pretty ones, that make me look good! Aren't you proud of me?). I ended up looking a whole lot nicer than I expected to, and my roommates did my hair to make me look like... fancy. They did my hair, then "booted 'er outta there" to get home for the weekend, leaving me with the task of getting dressed and makeuped on my own. I never thought I was good at doing makeup, but I looked prooty hot tonight. I was actually sad that I was going to wear a mask, because my face looked so nice! But the mask made the whole outfit that much more fun, and I did spend a good portion of the evening with the mask pushed up to the top of my forehead so I could see.

We had a lovely formal dinner, a fun speaker who gave a witty account of Edgar Allen Poe's life (the evening was called the Masque of the Red Death), door prizes (none of our party won anything), and great "19th century games," such as charades and do you love your neighbor. I didn't know that those games were such classical things, but we had good fun playing. The Outgoing Mexican lost another earring tonight, for which we are sad, but other than that and the fact that I was in an unexpected outfit, the night went perfectly. Once we got tired of the masquerade, we ran back to my car ("oh, it's not that cold out here..." *wind* "oooh, now it is- run, run!") and drove home to watch the Princess Bride up in my apartment. After the movie, the Outgoing Mexican realized that her earring was lost, and we went back to my car to look for it, to no avail. And now I'm writing about it all at 3:30 in the morning, with my hair all still done up and makeup clinging to my face. I'm too tired to undo it all, so I fear that I'll just have to go to bed like this, and wash the makeup and hairspray off my pillowcase in the morning.

Thanksgiving will be excellent

The picture, so you all know, is taken from the driveway of the house I stay at when I'm in Parts Moreknown. It was a really nice weekend- barely cold at all, no snow, sunny the whole time.

I'm gearing up to give my roommates and some other friends a great thanksgiving. I'm still waiting on how to make gravy from my mom, but other than that I've got everything covered. Trying to gather everything up and get organized so that when I start cooking, I know what all I have to do, and not forget anything or whatever. I'm mad at iTunes, though. I'm trying to buy Alice's Restaurant, because thanksgiving isn't complete without it, but it won't let me purchase it, and it's really starting to make me annoyed. Happy tuesday, everybody! Maybe I'll go watch Harry Potter tonight. Seems like the whole world has already seen it. I'm already mad at one roommate, three friends, and the entire city of Parts Unknown for seeing it without me. Anybody else seen it yet? Can I be mad at you too?

Oh- Mom and Dad, I've made something of a christmas list. I'm going to try and get it to you tonight or tomorrow. We've been decorating our apartment in christmas stuff. Last night we painted christmas tree balls, and today we're making a tree out of clothes hangers, and my one roommate and I are going to do a library class where you decorate a frosted ornament. Oh yeah! I got a library card! I'm so excited! I even checked two movies out yesterday. I already watched them, too. Very fun.

Yay!

When I went to Parts Moreknown a while ago, it was an Expedition. This weekend I went again, and this time it was a Visit. You have no idea how happy that makes me. I have friends in a city I've never lived in! And they're awesome friends. We had a party and a bunch of people came and we played games and talked and stayed up till all hours of the night. After most of the people had left, those of us who remained went upstairs and did a group scripture study that was pretty amazing.

The first time I went to that city, I saw this cool ad for 7up painted on the brick wall of a building, all old and faded and stuff. I vowed to take a picture of it the next time I went there. I didn't take the picture this time. Even though we drove by it like three times. You know what this means? I'm going to have to go again in like three weeks. That's what it means. Plus, I want to do some Christmas shopping up there, and my friend from Parts Unknown wants to show me Faraway Parts, the city she lived in about a year ago, which is about an hour and a half north of Parts Moreknown. Am I confusing you yet? Good. Anyway. We're going to try and bring the Outgoing Mexican along with us this next time, because she still hasn't been to Parts Moreknown.

And now, I have to hit the showers before it's time to go to class again. Cause my hair seriously needs some washing.

I've almost mastered the art of bubblegum bubble blowing

What I have not mastered at all, however, is how to not get sticky gum-film all over the outside of my mouth, nose and chin. Seriously unpleasant.


Now for the cool part of the post. So I've spent about 20 hours during the last two weeks in the library and the study room. I go to these places because it's harder to get distracted there, and I had two 10-page papers to write. These were hard papers. Research papers. I had to like, read these academic books that were written by sociologists 100 years ago. Like 15 of these type of books, all told. So I spent some major time studying. And writing. I found that it's better to read in the library, and write in the study room. The library is comfy and stylish and book-smelling. I sit on the 6th floor, which has a great view of the lake, and it's fun to look out the window while it's snowing. It also has these couches. Are they not so modern and 50's looking? It's like the breakroom on the starship Enterprise, or something. In other words, the sixth floor of the library is the most wonderful place on earth to sit and read for hours on end. But it's too stimulating to try and think up my own thoughts in. So when it's time to write, I go back to my apartment building, up to the fourth floor where the most boring room in the world exists: the study room. It's a room with tile floors and hard chairs and some boring tables and white walls. You sit there, and your options are 1. writing your paper and 2. staring at the wall. So you write your paper, and it gets done in maybe like five hours instead of like ten or fifteen hours.

Now that the past two weeks are done, I'm feeling excited and happy. They were my school-dominated weeks, and the next two weeks are going to be my social-dominated weeks. I'm doing fun things all the next week, and then the week after, I'm going to throw a Thanksgiving for my roommates and some other friends. I'm very excited. I can't wait to make pies, and do a turkey, and eat stuffing. Roommate #1 and Semi-Roomie are making fun of me for wanting to make a pie and stuffing and mashed potatoes from scratch. They say that here in Parts Unknown, you buy the pie, and you use StoveTop stuffing. Fortunately for me, the evening is being billed as my American Thanksgiving, so what I say goes. Why would you buy a crappy store-made pumpkin pie? I may opt for the stovetop stuffing just for simplicity and cost effectiveness. But definately a homemade pie.

You know your life has changed for the better when...

You spend two nights in a row playing board games with two different groups of people in parties that don't break up till two in the morning. And you eat enchiladas on the second day.

Tonight I played games with the Christians at the house of (holding out on a name for this one: the jury's still out on his character, personality and outstanding features). Very nice house, though. And tonight, I became a man (in a coming-of-age sort of way, not in a sex-change sort of way). Or rather, I finally played Settlers of Catan. The guys used to always play it when they came for game night in my old apartment back home, but I was always too interested in playing boggle or uno or whatever to try. Plus, I was afraid it'd be confusing or stupid or something. I was wrong. It's a pretty fun game- it's a good bit like monopoly, only more interesting and not as long, a bit like risk, something like pit, and all kinds of cool. I plan on involving myself in more games of Settlers, whenever it's convenient. It's also safer feeling- games like Taboo are loud and fun and great for bunches of people, but I kind of like the non-frantic, slow paced, very limited group you get with Settlers. Nice way to spend an hour with three other people. Oh, and I lost, but only because I opened my big mouth a round before I would have won. Anyway. It's time for me to go to bed, if i'm going to be awake for any of the morning hours tomorrow. Or I could just sleep till noon again like I did today. I love this whole not-having-a-job thing, because it means that weekends are really times when I can relax and do not much.

Photos are working again

Today it is completely clear and sunny, and dry, and not really cold at all. But Tuesday, it snowed. And Outgoing Mexican and I had a snowball fight, and made snow angels, and made a snowman (he's the one in the middle). Now, when I proudly showed this picture to my roommates, they laughed at me: "Snowmen are supposed to be three balls, not a big lump!" Well, excuuuuuse me. I thought he was pretty darn cool. We even gave him coin eyes and a pinecone nose. Not to mention a hat and scarf and gloves.

While we were making the snowman, two other Mexicans joined us. Why have I never met them before? Why have I not even heard about them? Kind of like how I learned of a few English people lately, too. It's sad that they don't come to all the fun stuff with us when we go places or have parties or what have you. Anyway. So when the two Lesser Mssrs joined us, we decided to throw some more snowballs, since it's more fun when you have more choices of who to hit. So we had a somewhat larger snowfight, then realized that half of us couldn't feel our fingers (I was wearing gloves, and was quite comfortable). So we all trooped up to my apartment and had hot chocolate. It was a fun night.

Ooh! Ooh! So they have this thing called Remembrance Day here. It's like Veteren's Day back home, only here they have like services and stuff, and the whole week before, everybody walks around wearing these fake red flowers (Poppies- you know, like "in Flanders fields the poppies grow...") pinned to their jackets and stuff. I went and gave a donation and got my poppy yesterday. I feel so patriotic, or something. I'm glad I did it. So also today we have no school, which is good because there was a planned power outage this morning that I forgot about when setting my alarm clock last night, and I didn't wake up until noon, since I didn't go to bed till about 3.

Last night I had some friends over. (I have friends! And I invited them over! And they came!) We played a whole lot of Uno, and I made a cake, and we talked, and I introduced people around, and we ended up watching a movie at the end of the night. Then my roommate came home with one of her friends (one of our two semi-roommates), and most everybody left except the Long Haired Christian (I sure do love making up names for people. Is that one ok, LHC?). Me and Roomie #1 and Semi-Roomie and LHC stayed up and colored coloring pages that they printed out. I colored a ninja turtle, and a cinderella, and a smurfette. And I learned that colored pencils are not colored pencils, but pencil-crayons. We had a fight about which was the most appropriate name for them. The fight ended when they pointed out that I chose to live here, so I have to assimilate into their culture.

Oh, and by the way, there was a reason for the coloring pages. Semi-Roomie's birthday is coming up, and they're going to make invitation cards with a colored page on each. I think it's a fun idea.

Blogger hates me

Ok, so I don't post that often. The one time I've got something I really want to talk about, and show you, blogger gets all stupid about the photo thing, and won't upload my picture. The whole post is pretty much worthless without the picture. So you guys get nothing. Really. I was actually going to write out a fun story, and tell you all kinds of cool stuff, and make my post more than a sentence long, but no. Maybe I'll still feel like talking later when blogger feels like cooperating. Maybe.

Holy It's Still Snowing, Batman!

I'm not used to precipitation that hangs around and keeps going for hours on end. I'm used to rain that comes for maybe fifteen minutes, then moves on and you don't get rain again for a month. This is insane and cool. Today I walked outside into the snow. It was so cute! Like down feathers, or powdered sugar or something. I will admit, though, that when it's windy, a snowflake in the eye is fairly unpleasant. Not that it's cold or anything, just that you can't see very well. It's like a bug in the eye, only gentler and it doesn't leave bug guts in your eye. Also, thanks mom and dad for the scarf. I still haven't had time to knit one for myself (I just finished the one for the underpriveledged children), so this'll be good to have between now and when I make my own. When I got the package, I thought mom had accidentally mailed me an empty box, cause the fleece is so light. I was about to laugh, when I opened it and saw the scarf.

Holy SNOW, Batman!

Yes, it has happened.

Brief Interlude

I'm partway through writing a hugely long paper, and just thought I'd show you all what I saw when I looked out my bedroom window this morning. Yes, folks, the trees, they were white. So was the grass, and so were the edges of the leaves on the cute little bushes that have big red berry things. No, it wasn't snow (although I hear it has snowed in Parts Moreknown this morning, so it's only a matter of time. Short time, I hope). It was frost. And isn't it the prettiest thing ever? On the downside, when I went to my car last night to drive to the movies, I was required to borrow an ice scraper to make my windows see-throughable. Guess I need to go buy one of my own, in case there isn't someone around to lend me one next time.

Huh.

I went to a Halloween party tonight with my Mexican friend. It was put on by the Intervarsity Fellowship for Christian Students and Other People and What Have You. You know what I'm talking about. I really don't know what this particular one is called, but it was interesting. Those people that go to them, they're like church people, only they're a little more normal. And by normal, I mean that after the party in a room at school where we had a Napolean Dynamite Dance-Off, we all trooped over to this one guy's house and played cards and laughed and ate cheese dip and watched Shaolin (or something like that) and I made friends. The Outgoing Mexican has done amazing things for my life. Really. She got me to speak up and enjoy myself with the other exchange students, she got me to exercise most every weekday in the morning, and thusly got me to go to my morning class more regularly, she's introduced me to various individuals, she got me inadvertantly wrapped up in this Christian group that is actually a bunch of people I really enjoy being around. What will she do to make my life better tomorrow? Cause seriously, since I've known her, my life has improved pretty much daily. Outgoing Mexican, you are the best. You seriously rawk.

And I was Robin Hood. All I had to do was buy some yellow felt and sew two triangles together to make a hat (a Rather Dashing Hat, at that), and wear my green hooded tshirt. Also some pants, and my brown scarf wrapped rougishly around my torso. Easiest and cheapest costume ever, excluding the Girl-With-a-Worm-on-her-shoulder, which only required one gummi worm. But yeah, I'd say that $1.93 for some felt was a great investment for how surprisingly well my costume turned out. I was totally recognizable.

And as we were driving home around 2:00, it was all dark and stuff. It had rained in the afternoon, and there was all kind of misty-foggy stuff happening. It was so cool- Outgoing Mexican and I were in raptures, pointing and giggling, while the guy we were driving home inwardly laughed at us for being so stupid. Well, he probably has seen this several times a year for the past ten years, while for us it's a completely new and foreign concept. Outgoing Mexican and I hope for (and expect) snow in the next week or so. Hopefully. We have our fingers crossed.

Good Day

I've decided that I like tuesdays and thursdays. I get up at 7:00, work out from 7:30-8:30, then go back home and sleep till 11:00. Then I take a shower (sometimes I take a shower before falling back asleep. It depends) and eat fun things for lunch. Like today, I'm having leftover macaroni and cheese and some peach yogurt. Then I fiddle around, checking email and listening to music till quarter to one, when I get to go to my Power and Justice class. Then I'm done! Thursdays are especially good, because I have the knitting group in the evening, where we sit around and knit scarves for less-fortunate kids. I'm almost done with my scarf, and when I am, I'm going to make myself a touque (this is a fun word, and you pronounce it like TOOK. Except you'll still get it wrong, cause it's not like the word took so much as it is lik the word Ook. Like, ooky stuff on your shoe, or like spook). Anyway. I'm going to make myself a touque so my head doesn't freeze in the winter. Because touque is just a great way to say beanie with little ear flaps and ties. Maybe a pom pom on the top, too. We'll see.

Ugh. I know working out is supposed to be good for you, and build muscles and stuff, but does it have to be so hard? Today we did elliptical for 35 minutes, then spent the rest of the hour doing various abdominal-working exercises. It was tough. Which reminds me of the first day I worked out with my current workout buddy- she made me do all of these arm-working exercises that day, which made me realize that just as "chicken wings are not for flying," "people wings are not for lifting all kind of heavy barbells and stuff." But maybe they will be, if I just work out more.