sorry, I'm sure people will understand the sporadic nature of my posts recently (I am sure, it is better than my bi-monthly postings) I just had to make some clothing related musings.

I am on the hunt for good, sturdy, funky, reasonably priced boots - which seem to be almost non-existent. I would love a pair of Frye's harness boots, but they are a couple hundred bucks a pop. For something nicer, I have ABSOLUTELY fallen in love with both Ann Demulemeester's tripple laced heeled boots and Chloé's red/black "Susan" studded ankle boots. sigh.......unfortunately, I couldn't even afford them in my dreams as they are both at least $1000. or higher. It is so hard to be a poor shoe-baby. C'est la vie. I suppose I shall have to make do with self-sufficiency.

Right now I am really into both strawberry-milk juice-boxes and the movie Surf's Up. The juice-boxes are just really tasty and fun to drink, and the movie is pretty much the combination of two of my favorite medias; surfing flicks and animated movies. In all honesty, it has an awesome soundtrack and who wouldn't want to watch a movie about surfing penguins/chicken.

In other news, I have a love/hate relationship with daylight savings. I love it because I haven't set my alarm clock back yet, thus I think I am sleeping in a little (but I actually still get up at a decent hour). I don't think that this is going to keep on going though because this morning I got up at 8:30, got dressed and packed my bag, but I couldn't find my keys. So I scrambled around my room for a little bit frantically trying to find them as quietly as I could. I found them, but as a result I left the campus at 8:51 giving me 9 minutes to do what can be a 20 minute walk. I rushed down to the library as quickly as I could, but ended up getting there (as I knew I would) 3 minutes past the hour. What I hadn't realized up until then was that the hour was NOT 9:00 as I thought, but 8:00. So, I got downtown an hour early, forgot my wallet so I couldn't get either a bagel or coffee, and REALLY had to go to the bathroom. Luckily I ran into Beth who let me into the library early, and thus I got to leave a little early. YAAY! So, initially it was a bit chaotic, but it all worked out. I think though that I will have a little bit of trouble in fooling myself twice, no matter how groggy I am in the morning. C'est la vie.



it's good, not as fast as the music video, but couldn't embed that.

Poor, poor man... Not only has his book been run into the ground by absolutely everyone via play and movie format, but now Disney has got their grubby little paws on it. I thought it was bad enough when it was just that Jim Carey was playing Scrooge, but this is catastrophic. IS NOTHING SACRED?

*sigh* I'm sorry. There just seems to be a number of children's books being made into movies lately. It's a little overwhelming.

please don't be offended. I don't mean to insult/infuriate anyone, this is just my opinion.

I cannot stand Men In Black (either one of them), and I just don't really like Star Wars. Star Wars is just too much CGI for me, I saw them at least once (and bits of them on other occasions) and that is more than enough for me. Sorry, Sky-walker before he becomes all Vadered up just resembles a teenager having a temper-tantrum way too much. And MIB just makes me nauseated. This is how I feel, I love the old classics. There are a few movies which I can put up with no matter simply because of the endearment they bring....this is not true for either Star Wars or Men In Black.

(I only bring this up because my room-mate has seen both the first two Star Wars movies lately and is currently watching the second MIB, which I don't mind at all... I just gotta say)

So, it is 12:00 on a thursday morning and my roommate is still asleep (at least she was 15 minutes ago when I dropped off some fruit I stole from the dinning hall). I really need to go into the room to clean up my side, get ready for drawing and make some coffee/ eat grapes. the room is pitch dark and she is a super light sleeper so I can hardly just go on in anyways. hmmmm.....

lately I have felt myself slipping slightly, so I just wanted to write this as a reminder to myself- sort of hash it out on "paper"

I know I have issues with time management, people have told me before and I can see it too. I also have issues with procrastination that I am too well aware of. I like to get up early because I feel more productive when I get a lot done in the morning, but here at college I can feel myself slipping into a lethargy which I need to shake myself from. I find myself sleeping in until 8:30 oftentimes. It is bad. I really need to buckle down - especially with French. Ugh. I'm really tired right now, but I can't nap or else I won't be able to go to bed. I guess I'll have ramen in my room tonight and I'll start studying early so I can go to bed early. I've also gotta go look at the course schedule for spring.

So, I went with a bunch of my classmates from my First Year Sem. to the local Hindu temple for a feast a couple fridays ago. It was amazing. I got blisters on my toes from rug-burns I got dancing for 1.5 - 2 hours.

It was so obvious that we had no idea what we were doing, it was almost painful. Each time, as a group of us got up to try and join in and dance, some kind indian woman would take pity and try to teach us. We were our own little herd, sticking close together for support and comfort in a scene that was both socially and culturally unfamiliar. In retrospect, it would have made more sense to place one or two of us within a coordinated and synchronized group. In any case it was still WONDERFUL! The music and the saris were amazing. Some of the saris were rather simple, but others had amazingly intricate stitching and mirror work. It was so much fun, and our professor himself got quite carried away I think. We weren't going to stay for the whole thing because he had to drive home to Pennsylvania and get up early the next morning to attend his son's family weekend in New Jersey, but we ultimately did. I think it was worth it.

next:

Two fridays ago I toured the Walter's art conservation lab with my professor for Chinese Art History (Dr. Scott, who graciously drove) and three other students. That also was FANTASTIC!!! IT WAS SOOO COOL. The tour was only supposed to be 30-45 minutes, but we were there for almost 2 hours. I was the youngest one there and didn't say much. I just wandered along stupidly trying to remember all the while to keep my mouth shut (heh) and tone down the ogling. The others had such good questions so I just listened to what was going on. It really gave us a good idea of what we might be getting into and how best to prepare. I am totally going to have to go back to the Walters, the look like they have an amazing collection.

Not too much is going on right now. I'm at the end of fall break. Thought I was going to spend it in D.C. but my friend's family was visiting him, Tyler's out of town with his family (not that I could request to stay with him in all properness), My old creative writing teacher's daughter and daughter's roommate are visiting her, and I could hardly call Sindbad and say "Hey, you met me once, I'm Grace's cousin. Mind putting me up and showing me about?" So I was one of the few who stayed on campus, which was fine. But now everyone is getting back and I'm back with my nose to the grindstone. I also don't mind that too much, it's nice to have structure back in my life (and an open library), I'm just tired of the trite and tepid drama which comes back with people. I am hitting right now a new emotional low. The whole situation has placed me in a dashed awkward situation and I feel slightly off balance making me homesick and feel like crying (which I am hardly about to do)....blaargh.....

Well, it's finally becoming fall in Maryland. The leaves are changing color (although I have to say it doesn't touch Newport) and falling and it's getting cooler. I am now at Sam's Bagels, which I have to say I like a lot. unfortunately they are only open in the morning until 2:00. It's nice and warm inside and the smell reminds me of Buffalo NY. I think I might make it my new haunt, especially considering I only have 14 meals a week at GLAR (the dining hall) and I really shouldn't have waffles EVERY time I go there for breakfast. I know that mom is concerned that I am too concerned with getting off the campus and away from the school, but in reality, I don't mind the school at all. I just need to find someplace that I can go to every once-and-awhile to calm down and focus. Someplace where the voice at the back of my mind which is constantly thinking of stuff I need to do and take care of can calm down and take a break.

in other news: Mom visited for family's weekend this past weekend which was really fun. It was really nice and comforting to see her again, and to have someone who knows me well enough that I can talk about just about anything with. Midterms are this week, and I somehow lucked out and don't have any tests. I'm really concerned about my French grade though. I've been having a lot of difficulty with it lately. so I am now in super-study mode. I think I am going to be spending a lot of time in the library from here-on-out. I really like studying on the 3rd floor. It's technically the 5th, but the 1st 2 are underground sort-of. The campus is on a hill thus almost all the buildings are built on a slope, so what may be ground level on one side of the building is generally 1 or two floors up on the other side. This also means that there are ALOT of stairs. Anyways, the top floor of the library has in the center a circular desk with a lip a foot above it and lights in the lip. Not many people venture up that far, so it is most-of the time quiet. Then there's the commons, which is a room just in front of the library (off of it's foyer) which is open 24/7. There are a lot of desks and vending machines (which really makes no difference to me considering I've given up on anything which comes out of a vending machine) and bathrooms. So I have quite a few places I can go to study which is good.

Fall weekend is this weekend. I was going to go to D.C. to visit my friend Andrew, my creative writing teacher Shari Alvanas, and probably Tyler my uncle's best friend. But as it turns out, Andrew's family is visiting him that weekend (and it would hardly be proper for me to meet his mother and grandmother for the first time while I am crashing on the floor), and Tyler and his family are going to be away that weekend, and Shari's daughter will probably be home that weekend with her roomate. It's probably better though, because this way I can work at the library -earn more money-, study, research grad programs, and all that jazz. I'll have the room to myself for the first part because Katherine is going to be away until either sunday or monday.

I know I said I would post about the Hindu temple soon. I will next time along with my visit to the Walter's art conservation lab which I just have to say now was AWESOME!!!

also gotta say, JSTOR is the new love of my life.

I'll post later about the festival at the hindu temple I attended on Friday. In the meantime I want everyone to watch the traIler for Sita Sings the Blues, then go to youtube and watch it.
-It goes between the Ramayana (Indian historical myth) and a contemporary relationship. The film is animated and its' style of animation switches depending on the theme that they are showing. It also has some lovely old blues songs from the 1920 sung by Annette Hanshaw.

It's a wonderful production, my only qualm is that it doesn't show the entirety of the Ramayana. In the trailer you will wee it being advertised as the greatest brea-kup story ever told....It's not a break-up story. HOWEVER, quibbles such as this should not stop anyone from watching and loving it.

So, I've been at school for roughly a month by now, and it has been interesting to say the least. For one thing it is strange to suddenly have to raise my hand in a class which should in theory be a seminar. Second, it is weird to be at a school where a very small portion of the campus actually goes out into Westminster. It isn't like the town is that amazing. I mean, the closer you get to the campus the sketchier it gets. My RA Echo (yes that is her name, and she rocks) knows at least three guys who got jumped on Pennsylvania Ave last year. And there doesn't seem to be a surplus of cafes or shops which would attract students (I'm actually at one right now called Heinze Bakery and Cafe. I gotta say, it sucks. They don't have a variety of bread ~or even good bread with a crunchy crust at all~ or pastries. Their apple turnovers need the dough to be folded more ~it seems to bee puff pastry~ and they mixed my cream and sugar for me when I ordered coffee. WHO DOES THAT? ) Anyways, the next cafe I have found is probably 10 - 15 min. further down the road from this one (which is roughly 20 min. walk from campus). I haven't been in it yet, but it looks promising. They advertised that they serve breakfast all day, and I miss breakfast. I love breakfast foods, just not the ones my school serves.

In any case, my question is this: How do you know you've found the right fit at a college? I mean, I feel kind of lazy and don't really want to go through the whole application process all over, but after walking the length of Water street this morning (which seems to be the "downtown area" ) I'm seriously questioning my choice in coming here. I know that it is stupid to judge a college based off of it's outlying town, but thinking about the fact that I'm going to be spending my next four years here gives me pause. It isn't that I have an issue with the distance, I do miss home and my friends/family, but I can communicate and video chat, and it isn't as if I'm crying into my pillow every night or anything. I just keep comparing my classes to my high school classes which is PATHETIC. I also keep thinking of other college towns I've been in when I walk around Westminster. That is to say I think about Newport (and Empire, which isn't really a great cafe, but it DOES have a variety, or even Starbucks), Providence, EVEN Tucson. This morning when I was walking around trying to find a place I could study and have something to drink or eat I kept thinking about Bentley's (which I have been to all of ONCE) in Tucson, and you can't even really walk around Tucson because it is so big and HOT.

I want to have a good experience at college, but I want a better area. One that I can walk around at night without pepper spray or a knife. Or one that I can walk around during the day without being hit on by sketchy older guys. Or one with decent coffee shops that DON'T put your cream and sugar in for you. I'm going to try Ronnie's corner cafe saturday (which is about a 30 - 40 min. walk from campus). I'll post a review and further musings on my college. In the meantime I think I'll talk to my RA about college and what she thinks.

my coffee is now lukewarm in its Styrofoam cup (ugh, hate styrofoam cups) and I think it's time for me to walk back to school so I can get lunch at GLAR (our dinning hall ~ sounds appetizing doesn't it?) I'm getting kinda antsy sitting here. Maybe I'll stop at the Jiffy Mart on my way home and pick up some gummy spearmint leaves to keep in the freezer back in the dorm room.

Okay, so I have been trying to figure out how to make a preview thingy on my mac and use the slide-bar. It's sort of the same concept as making an icon that moves except I'm using bigger pages. I know how to make a slide-bar, that is relatively easy, I just don't know how to save it so that all the pages on my slide-bar don't disappear.

*agonized howls* I am near giving up hope. I am at the end of my first week of school and I still don't have a work study lined up. I'm going to have to start finding multiple little ones I can do that will add up to roughly 7.39 hours per week. It is pathetic. I have emailed the people in question for almost every single one possible and the only person that actually got an interview with was with the International Programs Office which I highly doubt I will get because I'm just a lowly freshman who doesn't know the campus. I hate it. The worst thing is that I had a good morning, it's just that whenever I think about my work study, I kinda want to cry.

So, I am in my first week of classes. slightly overwhelmed/ freaked out. Kinda homesick. I don't know. I HAVE HOPE!!!....I think.....

So.... at school and moved in. Cried when mom and elle left. Can't help it, I still always cry when I leave dad and enter the airport in Tucson. Anyways, not bad day. Not gripping, but not a total bore. I'm kinda tempted to go out and listen to Turtle Buddy (a school band) and get Ice Cream, but I'm kinda exhausted. I think I'm just gonna crash.

So. the cut isn't so much scabbing as acquiring a new layer. It's like that stuff you can buy for cuts called "second skin" or something. My grandmother was obsessed with it at some point (the product) when I was a kid. It personally freaked me out; it stung like a bitch and just wasn't natural enough for me. I just wasn't comfortable enough putting strange chemicals on my wounds when band-aids and neosporin with a splash of hydrogen peroxide had ALWAYS done the trick. Anyways, the knee it healing itself by working inwards, so it now fits an extra large band aid. The bruise is still spectacular.

in other news I am in search of good leather boots at a reasonable price, which are near impossible to find. I tried some on down the street, but they were really expensive and didn't fit perfectly. Maybe I will purchase my dream skateboard instead.

I've gotta go now. I have to go get the dates of some shots I got in middle school FROM my middle school for my college.

Yeah, so I wiped-out on my bike on Wednesday. Instead of working, my boss and I decided to bike ocean drive. We were just at the end of the drive, by Gooseberry's beach and the road is only as wide as the two lanes of traffic. My tire strayed off the road and I was thrown slightly over the handlebars and skidded a few feet. My boss was right behind me and braked too hard and was thrown with his bike onto me. I have a giant bruise on my upper right leg, which is as big as my palm as well as being a lovely mixture of black, dark purplish-red and yellow. My left knee is a large cut (which is barely coverable by an extra-large band-aid) the issue though, is how to apply said band-aid because there is a large bruise on the side which makes taking it off to re-apply hydrogen-peroxide and neosporen. The cut on my knee makes walking and (combined with my bruise on my leg) climbing stairs difficult, and kneeling impossible. So far it hasn't scabbed over.

On a brighter note, Stefani brought me to Bed Bath and Beyond yesterday. It was SO INCREDIBLY kind of her. She got me practically everything I could possibly need; a comforter, pillows and covers, one of those big pillows with the arm side things, bathrobe, towels, hangers, under-bed case thing's, and more. Then I went to IKEA with my aunt, cousin, mother and grandmother and picked up only a couple of other things. Now all I need is clothing, ESPECIALLY jeans, even more so now that my lone two pair of pants I own have holes in the knees, and one of them have started to wear into crotch/upper inside leg holes. Both pairs are looking to be retired.

So I had a pretty rough morning. I worked overnight at CVS, and in a brief lack of sense promised my mother that I would go out to mass in the morning at the Abbey when I got off. This means I worked 10pm - 6:30 am (should have been to 6:00 but had to finish putting together the newspapers) got off, biked home, showered, got dressed into more comfortable non-work related clothes, then forced myself to stay awake for another 45 min. to go out to mass, fell asleep in my uncle's car, got back 10-ish and crashed. and woke up about half an hour ago round 5:15. I used to have issues with working at CVS (and still kinda do) but a lot of them were resolved in the fact that I am making $10.50/hour. Of course it would be a lot nicer if uncle Sam didn't make me share quite as much. He helped himself to $135 out of my last paycheck, that little bugger. I am sorry, but I would like to have some control over how I spend the fruits of my labor instead of this ridiculous guessing game. If I had the roughly $180 I have now oh so generously given up I would be able to pay off the 2nd half of my college payment (at least what was not covered by the grants and loans) and put the rest in the bank making me that much closer to my goal of having at least $1000 in the bank before I go off to college. I've really gotta get over this.

Book update:

8.) Do Travel Writer's Go To Hell? by Thomas Kohnstamm

good book. rather enjoyable insight into a man's first gig as a travel writer and the issues innately intertwined in travel writing.

-I'll get more caught up in posting what's up later

Hey everyone. Sorry I've been gone for rather quite a while. School & stuff got a tad in the way, but on the bright side I got excellent grades both for the term and for the year. I definitely got honor role, but I'm not sure if I got deans list. I can't remember for the life of me if you can't get below a B or a B-. If it's not below a B- then I totally got it.

anyways, in the near future, I will be going to McDaniel College in Westminster Maryland. Possibly (read probably) majoring in Art History.

this summer, I am working (sigh....groan...) at (mumbling) CVS.
on the brighter side, I am also sailing for my neighbor on his boat White Knuckles (can't remember the make). At the moment both Bob and Jim (the other crew) are adamant in making me the skipper. Had a better start this week, and I HAVE to say that all (most) of our failings ARE NOT MY FAULT. They CANNOT be laid at my door, the race committee (while being made up of volunteers, which I thank them for....maybe) is UTTERLY incompetent. I don't know whether to laugh, or cry. Honestly I don't. One would think that in a sailing town there would be SOMEONE who could help them in organization.....sigh....I can't actually bring myself to think about it much longer. I will also this summer be doing some welding for local artist/inventor Robert Kieronskey. And I found a local metals sculptor to learn from. He has a model T Ford hot rod which he built himself. It is SOO AWESOME!!! I got a ride home in it the other day. It was so much fun. I want to build one now myself.

I read a Lauren Willig novel the other day, and it was simple and sort of a fun read, then I got two others out of the library and now I hate the woman. She either must think her readers very simple that they cannot remember the opinions she had built up in their minds in past books (namely the animosities she planted against certain characters in one "novel" , but then in the next places the hated character on a pedestal and transfers the gaze of hatred upon the last "heroine"), or she is so limited in her imagination that she must flog a dead horse in brutally beating the idea first given physical form by Baroness Orczy of a spy with a botanical form. Not only that, but by taking one time and set and must look at it from each character's point of view (which Stephanie Meyer.... *retch* *retch* *retch* .... also is left to do by her own lack of imagination. Her writing is the equal of bad fanfic or Nora Roberts. Heh, I just have to put this in. At christmas, my secret santa was Jenefer Rocha, sweet girl...simple, but sweet. VERY Portuguese. In any case, she gave me a book, because I DO SO enjoy to read. Unfortunately, the book she gave me was two Nora Roberts "novels" bound in one paperback form).

-Book count update:

4.) Theophilus North by Thornton Wilder
a very good book to read. In my particular interest having grown up in Newport where it takes place. Also a rather interesting look at Thornton Wilder himself, supposed to be a quasi-autobiography (Wilder was posted in Newport at a time), as well as a supposed biography of his twin brother who he said would have been named Theophilus (who died at birth and left, as some have said, with a survivor's guilt forcing him to over-excell at life)

5.) Bloodhound by Tamora Pierce
I GREATLY enjoyed the first book in the series (Terrier), this one though left me wanting. The ending left me empty. I was furious that I had to wait a whole year (supposedly) till the next one came out and that I couldn't find a blurb yet for it.

6.) Temptation of the Midnight Jasmine by Lauren Willig
mildly entertaining even if somewhat vapid

7.) Deception of the Emerald Ring by Lauren Willig
disillusionment was swept away by this one. She made a muck of Irish history, and began her character mix ups. What a waste of space and time. I want the time it took me to read it BACK!!!

So, I am EXHAUSTED, and sort of dreading tomorrow (getting a pretty bad paper critiqued by Irish History Sem class, was going to happen at some point), and yet exstatic that I pretty much have ALL the articles we had of past plays scanned (doing drama archiving). I feel like I'm going to crash, but I've gotta get my homework done so once I do get home I CAN crash. It's kind of been one of those weeks, where 3 days feels like 3 years. Hate it. So, for this post I will just give bullets of the thoughts flitting through my head lately:
-earing piercings, wanna get 3 cartalidge, maybe one more lobe. Holy Smokes costs
$45/piercing - is it just me, or is that alot? 3 piercings= $135.
-piercings($135.) vs. GORGEOUS hardcover fashion hist. book at Book Fair been lusting after
($150) ~ not that I'd actually blow that kind of money, it's all going to school & a laptop
-spray paint, graffiti-esq, stenciled paintings on big canvases ~ sounds like fun to me
-laptop, macbook/macbook pro/dell ~don't want to get a dell to hold me over for the next 4
years just because it's cheaper. Been told that laptops don't last infinitely. Opinions?

So, I was at school yesterday morning, and in the dining hall, my uncle pointed out to me that a fold up table had been leaned up against the Alfonso Ossario we have there. The painting is massive, takes up most of the wall, and for some strange reason is tucked up in a corner by the bathrooms. This is the really cool and infuriating thing about this school; we have SO MANY AMAZING pieces of art work all over the campus, and yet, people don't take into account that a large portion of said pieces have six-digit figures attatched to them and thus aren't quite as carefull of them as they should be.

On other tangents, I am totally LOVING spring. We have had our first thunderstorm "YAAYYY!!!!" and I absolutely ADORE getting home before sunset!!! LOOOOOVE it!!*in sing-song voice*
-I'll post later, gotta go write my paper for Irish history Seminar