Five Card Story

I did this a few days ago, but have been away from my computer so here it is. My five card story. Fill in the details with your imagination (and by the way I imagine it's set in Italy, but any country will do.)

---

Five Card Story: A Day in the City

a Five Card Flickr story created by imnora

flickr photo by krutscjo

flickr photo by bionicteaching

flickr photo by kairós

flickr photo by bionicteaching

flickr photo by DavidDMuir

It was a day in a city they'd never been to, enjoying the sites, sounds, and food of this utterly foreign place.

---

Photo of a Poster

Parts of the walls the define my room(s) have, for the past nine years have been lined with tickets and postcards documenting my life as I've made my way from high schooler to nearly post-collegiate.* Right now I have about 35 tickets, one bumper sticker, 8 postcards, one clay figurine of Ricky Wilson, 4 iron patches, three keychains, one candy bar wrapper, 1 bat, and one lecture leaflet that constitute what I call "The Ticket Wall." There's also a photo of a poster on a telephone booth in London. While I could tell a story about every piece of paper that are on my walls, this photo holds a special place in my heart because of what it depicts and the timing of the photo itself.
My grandparents decided on something of a whim to take my sister and I to London over spring break. I was a freshmen in high school at a boarding school in Staunton, VA while my sister was a senior at the local public school. So it was decided that trip would be over my sister's spring instead of over mine (which totally makes sense by the way.) I had been a hardcore anglophile for about a year at this point and so the idea of visiting London, even if only for a week, was absolutely thrilling. And London held up its end. Even when walking around in 2 inch heels to the top of St. Paul's Cathedral was awesome. One of the things I remember most clearly though are the posters that lined the Underground and dotted the streets for a movie called Shaun of the Dead. I didn't recognize the actor on the poster** but I loved the tag lines on the posters and given their ubiquity in the city I was deeply interested in seeing this movie. I figured there would zombies***, but what else was this movie about? While I lost track of the movie after leaving London, my sister didn't and when it eventually came out on DVD she pounced on it. Shaun of the Dead remains one my favourite movies and I've since seen everything produced by writing/acting team behind the movie. And the great thing is, I will always have that picture of that poster. When DVDs and Blu-Ray discs are over taken my brain implants**** I'll still have that photo and I'll still remember the story behind that photo. And I can say the same thing for every ticket, postcard, iron patch, candy bar wrapper, key chain, bumper sticker, and lecture leaflet in my collection. Which is incredibly sentimental and I'll just leave it with this: You've got red on you.

*A fact which scares the crap out of me in a way I can't even describe. That and 8th grade just doesn't seem that long ago to be perfectly honest.
**Simon Pegg for the unintiated. And if you haven't seen this movie yet go see it. NOW!
***Because, well, duh.
****This will happen. All the sci-fi movies tell me so.

Creativity Conundrum

Creativity is kind of a funny thing*. I had a choir director way back in the day say to my mom that anyone who can talk can sing. This isn't true. My mother, bless her heart, can't sing on pitch to save her life, try as she might. But while my mother can't sing on pitch I can't draw anything beyond stick figures despite the fact that my mom majored in studio art.** I also can't compose music*** despite the fact that my dad majored in music composition. But what I can do (besides sing) is write. In spite of the fact that I shouldn't be able to write as well as I do, I write quite a lot. For me, my writing is the only original creative outlet I have. I might not be able to write a piece of creative fiction, but I can sure as hell tell you about my day in an interesting way.****
What interests me about creativity is the way people define. Society almost automatically ascribes creativity to people who are some how involved in the performing or fine arts (and somewhere in there people who write books, poems, and short stories). The person who created the internet wasn't creative, he was very skilled at his job and was quite possibly a genius. But not creative. The men who figured out DNA weren't creative, nor was whoever actually invented the telephone.***** They were just really smart and very, very talented. Einstein has never been described as creative, just as a genius. And this divide intrigues me. Why can't scientists or mathematicians be described as creative? Because let's be honest, they are creative, very creative. Yes, artists are creative, but so are biologists and geologists.
So that's my deal. I think anyone who expands human knowledge is creative and that creativity should not be limited to the fine and performing arts (and writers.) There will those who disagree (or think I'm making a really lame point.) But I stand by my idea because it means that the people who major in computer science and biology are equally creative as people who major in theatre or studio art. And I like that principle.

*I literally had this conversation in my Intro to Theatre class two weeks ago. Most of what you'll read is based on that discussion.**Therefore I should have natural skill at drawing things beyond stick figures.
***See previous footnote.
****But not today. Today was really boring.
*****I've watched way too many episodes of QI and therefore know too many random facts. I'm pretty sure Alexander Graham Bell didn't actually invent the telephone though. Pretty sure.

Nora's Awesome Vintage Radio Show - 2/9/11

So this week's show was interesting on many levels, at least for me. The first level was just doing my show (which is always interesting). The second level was incorporating an assignment from this class to make the playlist for this week's show. And the third level of interestingness was the fact that while I was broadcasting over WMWC waves I was also broadcasting over Radio DS106* waves. And there was no fourth level of interestingness.** And now for the run down.
Playlist

1. Glad Girls - Guided By Voices***
2. Sail - Awolnation
3. We Are Golden - Mika
4. Heads Will Roll - Yeah Yeah Yeahs****
5. Rolling in the Deep - Adele
6. Cecilia - Simon and Garfunkel
7. The Underdog - Spoon
8. All My Friends (London Session) - LCD Soundsystem
9. 40 Day Dream - Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros
10. She's Not There - The Zombies
11. Twist and Shout - The Beatles
12. The Authority Song - Jimmy Eat World

News

• Cake tops the charts and helps the record industry reach an all time low. Go Cake!
• The Strokes have a new album and a new single. Go Strokes!
• Goodbye Guitar Hero. You will be missed in dorm rooms throughout the country.

As mentioned there were no releases this week, but I expect there will be next week. And until then have a good weekend and don't let the overwhelming stress of school get to you. Two more weeks and it will be spring break! And then you can catch up on the sleep you've been missing.

*Others may call it DS106 radio, but I will ever follow the tradition of the BBC and call it Radio DS106. Besides, it makes the whole thing sound more stately and less insane (which it actually is.)
**Interestingness is a word and failed Inception reference is awesome on some level.
***No videos this week since I'm trying to get this out before I go to bed. And save for maybe a handful, most of these songs wouldn't have videos anyway so no real loss.
****What are Yeah Yeah Yeahs? :end veiled reference to Glee:

Adventures with Little Cthulhu

My days, by and large a pretty busy. But today, as part of anagahama visual assignment, I brought a little "buddy" around with me to document my day. anagahama may have been thinking of something else, but I had fun taking pictures of Little Cthulhu* in the various places I live and work. And, as compromise of sorts this will count for a "design" assignment** because I don't do design.*** So here's the adventures of Little Cthulhu.

*Purchased at a comic bookstore in York, England about a year ago.
**Or at least I'm hoping Over Lord Jim will allow for this compromise.
***And at this point Over Lord Jim says "No! You must stretch yourself in uncomfortable ways!" and I mumble something and do a real design assignment.

Playlist Poetry

[caption id="attachment_95" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="This is what happens when Nora makes a playlist"][/caption]Here is my playlist poem. There are some words that probably need to be inserted to have the poem actually make sense and admittely those last four songs don't actually make sense in the morning light* but the neat thing is, is that because of this assignment I now have the playlist for this weeks show. So here's the breakdown:

• Glad Girl - featured on How I Met Your Mother
• Sail - number 18 on Alt-Nation's weekly top 18
• Rolling in the Deep - realized Adele was coming out with a new album and had a new single
• Cecilia - featured as part of chart on HIMYM
• The Underdog - featured on HIMYM
• She's Not There - featured on Sunday night's episode of Glee
• All My Friends (London Session) - mentioned in last week's show
• We Are Golden - because it's awesome
• New Low - featured on the Alt-Nation's weekly top 18 (I forget which number and probably won't be played on the show)
• Heads Will Roll - featured as part of a mashup on Sunday night's episode of Glee
• Twist and Shout - my friends mentioned it at their birthday party.
• The Authority Song - Jimmy Eat World are playing on Wednesday.

And for those of you wondering, yes that is really how I make my playlist every week. Two parts what I've seen on TV, 1 part what's been recently released and 1 part whatever the hell I feel like. The fact that this week's playlist makes a kind of poem is just kind of icing on the cake. And I don't have to worry about making a playlist this week. Up next: Little Cthulu takes part in my Tuesday/Thursday schedule.

Pomegrante Martinis

So this story isn't strictly all ages, but I figure I'm 22 and the lovely ladies in the pictures just celebrated their 23rd birthdays* so it's all good. The background: Feb. 1st were the twins' birthday and so they both came back to Fredericksburg** to celebrate with all their not-graduate friends (and some who have graduated but haven't left yet). The party was held in the private room at Capital Ale House and, because we're all of age, we ordered alcoholic beverages. Lauren (the one on the left) ordered a pomegranate martini. And the a friend ordered her and her sister Heather (the one on the right) pomegranate martinis. And now the story (conceived and performed by Lauren Greider. Pickles eaten by Heather.) [gallery] Panel 1: Mmmm pomegranate martini. Panel 2: But soon I won't have anymore :( Panel 3: I have another at the ready! Yay!

*Yes, they're twins.
**Lauren is currently in Charlotte, SC and Heather is in Pittsburgh, PA.

Bye Bye For Now

We all know I deal with depressive episodes. We all know I've been in counseling/therapy. These are just facts. However, for reasons that should be fairly obvious based on what I've been writing about lately, I'm back in a place where I need to go back into counseling. I've also gotten to the point where the things I think about and the things I want to write about just can't be discussed here. A long time ago I decided that writing about every time I get depressed and describing those emotions don't necessarily help and are definitely not things I want to broadcast to the whole wide world. And so we've gotten to a point where because of where I'm at emotionally and the amount of work I'm currently doing this blog will pretty much be dead until...whenever I'm ready to start blogging here again. I suspect that even if I don't blog too much this summer, once I start law school I'm going to start blogging again. It's kind of a long way off, but given how quickly time flies it'll be here before I (and we) know it. So until whenever I next update, go to Anglo-Audiophile 2.0 where I'll probably be updating at least a bit more than here.

Daily Shoot #6

Tomorrow 30+ people are going to go down to Capital Ale House bedecked in their best and favouritest costumes and celebrating two of our graduated friends' birthday. Granted the friends are twins, but the point remains the same: I needed a costume. A couple of years ago I was in a similar situation at Halloween when my initial idea of being King of the Mods fell through.* So I decided I would go for another Mighty Boosh character namely Old Gregg. Granted, while getting a whole mod outfit could have been expensive, Old Gregg wasn't exactly inexpensive. I ended up having to get a bright pink tutu amongst other things, but those other things could be reworn in more practical circumstances. A bright pink tutu on the other hand can't be worn every day.** I haven't worn that bright pink tutu since that Halloween, but when I was told I needed a costume for this birthday shindig I knew what at least one part of that costume was going to be. My bright pink tutu. I came up with the rest of it based on what I already owned or could get easily and relatively inexpensively. And so tomorrow when 30+ people are walking down to Capital Ale House I will be the one dressed as a retired ballerina.
Of course all of this conviently fit into today's Daily Shoot prompt which was to focus on color rather than detail. Granted the photo isn't particularly abstract, but as my caption says, it is colour-ific.



*You'd be surprised how difficult it can be to buy mod-esque clothing when you're not trying particularly hard and want it to fit into your regular wardrobe. That it would probably be impossible to redo Noel Fielding's hair from that episode.
**Unless your into that kind of thing. In which case go forth and wear the bright pink tutu every day.

Pollard Sky

So yesterday's daily shoot didn't happen because well...crap.* But today's shoot did happen, largely because I remembered to put my camera in purse, and while the shot was a bit blurrier than I would have liked it does accurately portray something I see almost every day. Namely the sky between DuPont and Pollard (as you exit DuPont taking the covered walk to Pollard.) So once again we have a convenient shot that works out for the best. Yay convenience!



*Crap that I'm not going to get into here because I believe in a separation between my personal life blog and my academic life blog. Let's just say it's personal and leave it at that. It will never be spoken of again.

Nora's Awesome Vintage Radio Show 2/2/11

So this week's show was basically last week's show. Played and talked this week. And man was it fun. And a lot shorter than I was expecting, but I guess that's the difference between one hour and two hours, eh?

Playlist*
Moneygrabber - Fitz and the Tantrums
My Body - Young the Giant
Internet Killed the Video Star - The Limosines
Howlin' For You - The Black Keys
Shake Me Down - Cage the Elephant
Elenore - The Turtles
Video Killed the Radio Star - The Buggles
Get Myself Together - Robyn
Bad Reputation - Joan Jett
When You Walk in the Room - Fyfe Dangerfield
Louder Than Ever - Cold War Kids
Moneybox - Eliza Doolittle
What to Do - OK Go

Releases
Deerhoof - Doorhood vs. Evil
Iron and Wine - Kiss Each Other Clean
Cold War Kids - Mine is Yours
Amos Lee - Mission Bell
LCD Soundsystem - London Session

News Items
2010 was the worst year for rock since 1960. And anyone who's been forced to listen to mainstream radio is not surprised.Limewire will fight the system until it can't anymore. And then it will play the music industry a billion dollars. Because that's how the music industry rolls.
Neil Diamond and a bunch of other people will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Yay them.

So that's it until next week. Same bat time, same bat place.

*As mentioned on the show this week's playlist was put on shuffle and whatever happens, happens. However I didn't bother to write down what happened. Sue me.

Daily Shoot #1: Forks

My original idea for today's shoot was to take an artsy photo of band stands. However I couldn't get into the band room so, being the lazy person that I am, decided instead to grab a handful of forks and take a picture of them. I have a lot of forks so this was pretty easy to do. For those of you wondering, the policeman holds tea bags. Yummy, yummy tea bags.

London Redux

I hate crying in public. I hate crying in front of one person who isn't my mother to be perfectly honest. I generally dislike crying because it's a major sign of weakness and you never know who might overhear. But on Thursday, and indeed for the past few days, I've been crying quite a lot. As Dr. Fillerup rightly pointed out, I'm under quite a lot of stress and it seems crying is the only remedy at the moment.
A situation that has been brewing since last semester is close to boiling. My roommates and I are no longer speaking and they actively ignore me when it's possible. I've tried my best to ignore and live with the current setup, but when you dread going back to your own room because of the hostility that lives there you know there's something wrong. I've been through this before (though it was rather more distressing as those with long memories will remember) and I hate the idea of going through it again. I've spoken to my RA and I hope that by making a roommate agreement things won't get worse will possibly get better, but given the knots in my stomach, I wouldn't say I have a lot of hope. I'm more worried about retaliation to be honest but that's largely because I'm just paranoid like that. I want a calm life. I'm that a roommate agreement will bring that, at least to a certain extent. As I kept saying last year, I just need to get through till the end of April and then I'll be away from all this. I'm just not sure how well I'll make it.
Otherwise things are going well. I'm tired of being an undergraduate and I'm looking towards my future more and more. Nonetheless classes are going well and I'm actually enjoying some of them. I'll try to post again when something good happens. For the meantime be sure to check out my other far more active blog Anglo-Audiophile 2.0 for interesting musings on various things. The next two weeks will be filled with photos, so that's cheery. And we all need cheery things in our lives.

Why Can't I Just Blog Like A Normal Person?

(So the thing I was going to post last night has been moved to next week. Blame the snow.)

The second part of this week's assignment has proved difficult for me to finish. I've looked through all of Cog Dog Roo's list of fifty and I've tried out several of them trying to create a "Web 2.0"* story. I've tried and failed several times. My stories, as I tell them, are incredibly wordy and round about and have a tendency to go off on random tangents. I don't tell straight up stories. My stories need background information and footnotes to be complete. Trying to cram one of my stories into a comic or a slide show or even on a map (which I tried several times) just doesn't work very well. There are some straight forward stories in my repertoire but then I become impatient with the tools at my disposal and even my more straightforward stories tend to be lengthy.** Largely though, I'm just rather impatient and don't really see the point*** of trying to use fancy tools to tell a story when I can just write it and be done with it. So this whole assignment is troublesome to me but because I want to do well in this class and so I want to be able to finish this assignment.
What I would really like to do is create a straight up podcast. I host a weekly radio show and having blogged for nearly ten years**** so I suspect I would be good at podcasting. But I don't know how to with just my computer and Audacity. The tools provided by Cog Dog Roo don't really help either and again, I don't have a proper microphone (which I feel I need for some reason.) So that's what I would have liked to have done for this assignment. And I would have talked about something. I had a number of ideas floating around in my head including last year's spring break, why I can't have blank walls in my room, the origin of my love of the Kaiser Chiefs, etc., etc. I don't want to say I'm giving up on this assignment (largely because I'm sure Prof. Groom wouldn't approve) but I think it's one that I might have to come back to later. When I get a proper microphone or someone tells me why I don't need a proper microphone. Which ever comes first.

*If one of the leaders of Web 2.0 is blogging, why can't a Web 2.0 story just be a blog entry? Hmmm??
**I should clarify: When I say lengthy I mean more than a hundred words. I'm actually a very concise person which has gotten me into a lot of trouble when I write papers. This is why I believe that humans should evolve to be telepathic. It would make my life a lot easier.
***I do see the point. Refer to footnote 1 for clarification on why I "don't" see the point.
****I was going to write about this fact (and my have actually already mentioned it) at length but found a more streamlined way to get my point across. Often what I "write" in my head never sees the light of day because I've forgotten what I "wrote."

My Pride and Joy

(This is going to act as a preface for something that will be posted later tonight, but which I'm actually working on right now because I like entering in the html myself and the thing that will be posted tonight is html intensive. Enjoy.)

I didn't originally want to go to Mary Washington. It took a lot of convincing to get me here*, but once I was convinced (and admitted) I made it my mission to do the following things: Brainwash the campus into loving the Kaiser Chiefs as much as I did and study abroad in London. My first mission would be done by being a member of the newspaper, Giant Productions, and the radio station (WMWC, what what.) Two of those things didn't happen. The radio station did. Still didn't brainwash the campus into falling for the Kaiser Chiefs, but I did get the opportunity to introduce obscure** British artists to the handful of people who listen to WMWC and my show. For an hour or two a week I got to play music I love*** and talk about things I find interesting.****
I've done a lot in my time here at Mdub. I've written an 18 page paper, worked two jobs,***** helped to found the school's sci-fi club, and studied abroad in London. But when all is said and done, I'll be most proud of my contribution to the radio station. I never acted as an officer, but I was there week in and week out no matter who was in charge, just doing my thing and promoting the radio station to the best of my ability. My show and the radio station are my pride and joy****** from the past four years.

*Basically it took meeting someone who knew someone named Trillian. I'm actually really easy.
**Or not so obscure if you're cool like that (or I play Lily Allen/Mika/Keane etc.)
***Or not love, though that's gone by the wayside now that I primarily use my Zune for each show.
****Or mercilessly mock people who I really shouldn't be mocking because they might crush me. It's still fun though.
*****On campus, so nothing taxing or particularly exciting.
******I promise to never do that again. And how did I get to six footnotes? Can't promise that won't happen again.

My Web 2.0

I don't have the best memory. I don't remember when I first started using Google or Wikipedia. The only reason I remember why I started watching certain shows is because of my personal blog, where I can retrace the steps that got me to a certain point. When you're 15 you don't blog about using Wikipedia or Google. They just become a part of what you do on a day to day basis. I know that there was a time before Wikipedia and Google, but I don't remember them. They've always been there and they will always be there, at least in my memory.
For me, in my poor memory, the web has always been 2.0. Based on the article by Tim O'Reilly and cursory look at the Web 2.0 article on Wikipedia, this makes sense. My family had a dial-up service fairly early on and I remember logging on to AOL and then Netscape to access the internet. I don't really remember what I did on the internet at that age, though I suspect it probably had something to do with PBS (I've been a history nerd since I was at least 6, so you can see the appeal there.) But the web, as I know it and can remember it didn't really start until I signed up for my first real email account with Yahoo!* I was in my early teens at that point which would have been around 2001. So based on sources already stated, I really started interacting with the web right when web 2.0 was starting. 2001 was the year that Wikipedia started and Google had already been around for about five years. Based on my memory Web 2.0 is the only kind of web that has ever existed.
But what is Web 2.0? Both articles go some way to explaining what it is but to someone who's only really known Web 2.0 their explanations don't really help that much. So here's my definition. Web 2.0 is interactive and collaborative. Web 2.0 allows people to interface with each other and the web in a way that isn't confusing and can be done by someone who didn't major in comp. sci. To me Web 2.0 is blogging, Google, wikis, Twitter, and Facebook all wrapped together in one big happy family. And the reasoning behind my definition is that because I've only known Web 2.0, everything associated with what I know as the internet must be Web 2.0.
But** that doesn't really answer the question either. That's the problem with the web. It's constantly evolving so the web doesn't stand still for observation. We can try and categorize it, but what's the point? I say, let the web happen and when something new comes along to take over the web we can try and define it then. The internet, as easily accessible by ordinary people, has only been around for twenty or so years. Give it some time to grow.

*This account was setup in 2003, so while I can remember why I chose "cyd" to be part of it (I was a dancer and adored Cyd Charisse) I can't explain the rest. So please don't ask me to explain that particular address, I can't explain it.
**I hate it when I start two paragraphs the same way. So this is my apology for things like that. And any sentences with missing connective words. I type fast and have a tendency to only check for spelling. You'll get use to it.

Adventures in Public Transportation

As a resident of suburbia, I'm used to getting around by car. However for the past three summer that I have been volunteering/interning at WPFW I have to love the Metro. One of the things I miss the most about London is the Underground. And while I have a driver's license I have never owned a car. All this means is that while the majority of my fellow upperclassmen have control over how they get around Fredericksburg I am at the mercy of the FRED bus system for better and worse.
Generally speaking I have a love/hate relationship with public transport systems. I love them when they work and when they're on time and get me where I need to go in a timely fashion. I hate them one when they fail to do any one of the above. This is why my love for the Underground is so odd. Most of the time I was in London it worked like a charm but on the other hand most weekends I was stranded in the semi-suburb where I was staying (though it's more complicated than that.) I also understand that my admiration of the metro is odd because most residents of DC are more likely to moan about it than embrace it. But for me, with only a few exceptions, the Metro has worked.
On the other hand FRED and I seem to have a mutual disdain for each other. We're like ex's who broke up amicably - we put with each other but only to a point. While I have seen parts of Fredericksburg that I wouldn't have seen otherwise I do wish sometimes that I could have just driven from Central Park back to my apartment without having to wait an hour for a bus. While all of the public transport systems I have ridden on have been dysfunctional* in one way or another, Fredericksburg's system is perhaps the most dysfunctional of all of them. But who knows, maybe Boston** will prove even more dysfunctional.

*Really this all breaks down to my love of things what are dysfunctional. I don't know love them all the time, but I do identify with inanimate but dysfunctional systems. It's why I love WMWC so much - it's incredibly dysfunctional but it does the job well enough that no one knows just how dysfunctional it is. The same can be said for all of the above examples. I just have a thing for dysfunction.
**Boston aka the place I'll probably end up going to law school, unless Loyola LA surprises me and actually says yes instead of no or waitlist. But we shall see.

The Infinite Terror of Blogging Pt 3

(I promise I will start using a different title eventually. But trust me, using this title one more time will make sense. Honest.)

I am, by my very nature, a lurker.* I'm the consummate wallflower, a constant observer absorbing everything I can about the world around me. But while I comment in my own head about what I observe, I don't really feel the need to comment out loud. I read articles, I follow blogs, I read Twitter posts, but I don't say anything because a) website comment sections are truly scary and b) why? For much the same reason that Prof. Groom doesn't feel the need to get a cellphone, I don't feel the need to comment. Who am I to say anything about what anyone else says? So I lurk, learning and retaining mountains of largely useless information.**
Which is directly contradicted by the fact that I've been blogging for nearly 10 years. I started on deadjournal.com and slowly made my way to Blogger in February of 2005. I can search within that blog for nearly ever major landmark event in my life and can give an approximate date to when those things happen. I lay bare for anyone who wants to read it, my entire life in that blog. While I'm embarrassed by four or so years of what I wrote about, anyone*** can read about my avid fangirliness for a number of topics during that time simply by googling the right terms. But how does this effect anything outside my personal life? It doesn't. I blog to keep a record of my life so that when I get older I can look back and remember what I was like when I was fifteen, twenty, twenty-five. Alzheimer's runs in my family, so I would like to know that for better or worse there's a record of my doings for people to remember me by. Because as much as I lurk, I still want to be remembered.
So what of academia? In as much as I blog about anything, I blog about my classes. I don't blog about each of my classes to the extent that I suspect Prof. Groom will be wanting us to blog about this class, but I do talk about what I'm doing in school. Of all the things we'll be expected to do, I suspect for me that blogging about every step I take in this class will be the hardest thing to do.
I don't blog as much as I use to for many reasons. The biggest hope I have for this class is that I will start blogging more because I'll be inspired to blog more, instead of because I feel bad or whatever. And now, just to prove a point, here's a bunch of media stuff. Enjoy.
(one of my favourite videos of all time)
[caption id="attachment_28" align="alignnone" width="202" caption="Provided by thefilmstage.com"][/caption] (one my favourite movies that I saw last year)



*In classic internet parlance. Other synonyms include leech, which is probably accurate to a certain extent.
**Or useless at this point in time. Perhaps sometime in the future the useless things I know will be handy. I doubt it, but you never know.
***I've actually thought this through, at least in certain aspects and I just hope that no one looking to hire me figures out that the crazy blog they're looking is written my yours truly. Because if they ever did, there's a good chance no one would hire me.

Question Answered

This has next to nothing to do with this class or what I'm suppose to be doing in this blog, but I'm too excited to care. Besides, it's important to how I view the rest of this semester and the rest of my life really. So, yeah. Deal with it ;)

I've spent the past couple of months wondering if I would ever get into law school. Well my friends I have the answer: Yes. I have been accepted at New England Law School in Boston, so I do have it within me to get into law school. And as my mom said, even if I don't get in anywhere else, I'll have gotten into one school and that's all that's needed to go to law school. So to reiterate what my Facebook status says: I got into law school!!!! Wheeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!

I got into law school!!!! Whee...

I got into law school!!!! Wheeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!

A Year Ago (One Last Reminiscence)

It's been a year. Actually it's been a year and two days, but for some reason I couldn't bring myself to actually write about this before right now. So it's been a year and two days since I landed in London. A year and two days since I spent five hours freezing my ass off in Paddington station wondering what the hell I had gotten myself into. A year and two days since my life began to change quite dramatically.
A year ago and two days I didn't know just how dramatically my life would be changing. I thought London would reaffirm everything I already believed not change it. I thought I would come back from London craving to go back immediately and never leave again. I thought it would make becoming a DJ so much easier. I never thought it would change my career goals or my understanding of how much my family means to me. London changed everything, but not in the way I thought it would. Which is probably for the best.
I do miss London. I miss being able to go to the theatre easily, I miss the Comedy Store, I miss the Tube, and I miss living in a city. No, I don't miss the people I was forced to live with, but as the immediacy of those memories recede, the good things, the things I loved about London remain. But because of London I know myself better than I did a year ago, so I know that while I love London. Living there would be unbearably hard. I couldn't go it alone like I did last year, I would absolutely need to have someone with me.
So it's been a year and two days. It doesn't seem like that long ago, but time doesn't lie (mostly.) I do know this - it's been a hell of a year.

The Infinite Terror of Blogging Pt. 2

As hinted at in my last entry, I am very slow to adapt. It took a few months after getting into college to actually get a facebook account and it took my sister wittering on about the funny things being said on Twitter for a few months to actually convince me that Twitter wasn't completely worthless.* In fact the only way in which I'm truly progressive is in what I listen to and what I watch.** As I discovered when I was studying in London, I am actually a forty year old in a twenty-two year old's body (which can be very inconvenient, the forty year old can get quite grumpy about those youngins). Which leads me to my next point...
Last semester I had the opportunity to take a number of upper level history classes. I'm a music major who thought she wanted to be a history major, so getting to take three history classes was a revelation to me. In all three of those classes, at one point or another, each of the professors made the point that while the curriculum and ideas taught by academia can be quite progressive the actual professors are perhaps the least progressive people in the country, especially in their unwillingness to adapt to new things. Which leads me to my next point...
I have mixed feelings about "A Personal Cyberinfrastructure." One part of me, the part that probably convinced me that blogging was and continues to be a good idea and who got me to finally join Twitter, completely agrees with what Gardner Campbell has to say in both the lecture and the article. But the pragmatist, the part of me that knows that there are people in their mid to late 20s who don't know how to work a power point presentation, thinks that his ideas are nice and yes it would be great if we could implement them, but it would never really work. The majority of professors, heck even the majority of middle and high school teachers, would be unwilling to adapt to the new technology. The same professors who rail against Wikipedia as completely untrustworthy and incapable of providing accurate information would be same professors railing against Prof. Campbell's ideas as unnecessary and incompatible with higher education. They're wrong on both points, but they aren't going anywhere and so Prof. Campbell's ideas will, in all likelihood, go unfulfilled until my generation comes into power.*** That is, if people not like me become tenured professors at universities. Because I'm still not sure about this whole website thing. I like my templates.

*Hello! Welcome to my version of footnotes, wherein I make tangential comments that wouldn't make sense in the body of the entry. Tangential comment: This is a true story. I didn't get on the Twitter bandwagon until February of '09 but almost immediately started following Stephen Fry and rash of British comedians no one has heard of. It was a good day.
**Mwhahahahaha. The footnotes are not always mature.

The Infinite Terror of Blogging

At some point in my pre-teen/adolescent past I had a website.  It was actually a geocity site, but what I remember is that it was complicated.  Very complicated.  I don't remember how old I was or why I decided to register for a geocity site, but when I did I realized what I had gotten myself into and didn't like it.  It required learning a new language and at whatever age I was I didn't want to do that.  I also discovered blogging (wherein I learned very, very basic html) which was so much easier, so my geocity site when down the drain.  Ever since I've been incredibly intimidated by the idea of owning or maintaining a website.  And it turns out I was wrong.

For this class we were asked to buy a domain and rent server space to host said domain.  I, admittedly, freaked a bit.  Websites, according to my own philosophy, are a) expensive and b) complicated.  But I wanted to be in this class, I love the ideas behind this class, so I did it.  And man almighty was it easy.  Which of course means I messed it up a little bit (imnora.us, not imnore.us), but if you're reading this, you are seeing how easy it is to actually. The weird thing is, is that I'm still ambivalent about owning a website. This is possibly because I fear turning into an all out geek instead of just being a cultural geek (which is what I am now and will admit to freely.) However I guess I will just have to overcome that fear in this class.

Edit: If you ever have an issue with having to delete root files (wp-admin, etc) here's a really simple solution thanks to a fellow blogger: http://nickriebe.com/cant-delete-wordpress-folders-to-re-install/

Last Semester (Until Law School)

I'm going to start with a story about my day. The reason for this is because it will indicate the kind of mood I'm in which in turn will indicate how the rest of the entry will go. It's like a warning I suppose. So here's the story about my day.
It started with my alarm not going off. As I have mentioned numerous times (depending on where you're reading this) I am taking 20 credits this semester so the amount of time I have for anything (especially work) is limited to say the least.* So my plan for this morning was to wake up at 8:30am do morning stuff and be in the band room to set up by 10am. I woke up at 10:13. I have a class at 11am and then band immediately after, so waking up at 10:13am meant that band setup was out of the question. A real breakfast was also out of the question unfortunately. And lunch. So after music history (which ended at 3:15ish) I said hello to the library vending machine and settled in for a so-so afternoon. And discovered that the soda I had managed to get in between band and music history was leaking in my bag. Nothing important was damaged but my bag was wet and my soda was a lost cause. Thankfully I had a book and my Zune so the day that had gone all wrong ended up not so bad.
The first day of classes went much smoother. I woke up on time and I got to eat lunch. My swim class** is going to be way relaxed which is exactly what I was looking for. Oceanography is going to be a bit more intense than I was expecting, but Tibert seems pumped which will hopefully get me pumped. Intro to Theatre*** is going to be amazing and instead of writing about the Kinks I'll be writing about copyright, because that's just how I roll (and Fickett actually kind of approved that topic.) Monday/Wednesday/Fridays aren't going to be so bad I think, though I'm currently really biased against Tuesday/Thursdays.
Final topic I want to talk about (and kinda sorta have to): Digital Storytelling. I will admit after today's experiences I'm kind of ambivalent**** about this class. It seems a lot more intense (which is a word I need to stop using now) than I was expecting, but then again what we're going to be doing in this class is what I'm passionate about (from a law perspective in any event) and so part of me really doesn't want to leave this class. And of course there's the fact that anything I can get into is either going to be a) something I really don't want to take or b) equally time consuming. So the real question is whether to take the class pass/fail which has its own set of questions. In any event here's the big news: I have a domain name. It was really easy and really quick. Now I just need to get a webserver/host/thing and set up the blog aspect and I'll have myself a for real website. Which, as I sarcastically said to Mr. Groom tonight, is another thing I get to manage online. Yay.

*I require a certain amount of downtime/sleep time during my day, so while I could probably fit in more if I woke up at say 7am, I'm just not that kind of person, so why kid myself.
**I noticed that swimming met at the same time as weight training so I switched to the method of exercise I prefer. Sorry weight lifters.
***The only art history class I could fit in my schedule closed so I decided to not try and get into a closed class and take an equally interesting class that was open. I get to see "An Ideal Husband" so it all works out really.
****And my ex is in the class which makes me even more ambivalent, which if you've been reading this long enough, you will understand.

The Round Up

I was going to go to a club to ring in the new year. But I'm not really the club kind of person, so now I have a stomach bug. No need to dwell on that though, let's sum up the year in a pithy fashion. As one does you know.

• Favourite Album: Mark Ronson, Record Collection. Possibly one of the best albums I've heard in a long time, Mr. Ronson proves with Record Collection that he can in fact write and produce original music without it sounding crap. Save for a couple of tracks I'm not particularly fond of Record Collection really is a brilliant album.
• What I Actually Listened to For Most of the Year: Glee. The thing about Glee is that they pick songs that are basically comfort food for ears. They aren't terribly adventurous and for the most part very well known. So when you want something simply to listen to Glee is an excellent option because the artists are talented and songs are comfortable. So that's mostly what I've actually been listening to.
• Favourite Film: Tie between The Social Network and Inception. The odd thing about this years is that I've seen a lot of great movies. It started in London when going to see a movie was a cheaper way to spend a couple of hours in central London than say, seeing a play or something of that sort. And while I could go to a museum might seem even cheaper, a movie is far more entertaining. In any event I became accustomed to going to a movie by myself, so I decided to do that. Multiple times. So I got to see a number of really great movies. But of all the movies I saw, my favourites were definitely Inception and The Social Network. Both were brilliantly devised, directed, and acted. However I can't really pick just one, so I suggest you go see both. Or you know, rent them when they come out on DVD.
• Best Book I Read This Year (That Really Wasn't Published This Year): Amongst the Thugs. Not only did it cover a topic I'm interested in (football hooligans) it also held within its covers the most disgusting scene I've ever read (which I won't commit to electronic paper for my more sensitive readers.) Thugs is an elegantly written book about a very inelegant topic that gives the reader an insiders prospective on a culture that is very hard to get involved in. Do yourself a favor and read it. And look out for descriptions of eyes.
• Thing I Hope Will Happen in 2011: That I get into law school. I may not be sure that I actually want to practice law, but I do know that I want to at least get into law school. Everything else is just frosting on the cake. Though I would like one of the following bands to start working on an album: Franz Ferdinand, Kaiser Chiefs, or Arctic Monkeys. That would be very nice.

So that's the round up. I haven't done the best job of writing this year, but I think making resolutions is stupid so I won't do that. However I can promise that I'll be updating more, simply because I'm going to be taking a class that involves blogging. So whatever I write for that class will be posted in this blog (as well as the one I keep for school which gets update even less than this one.) So here's to 2011, may it go more smoothly than this year.

The Bi-Monthly Update

All bullet points. Such is life.

• I miss London. I suspect that I will say that from now until I get back there, when I will immediately stop missing London and start missing DC. Right now though I miss London and I miss it with every fibre of my being.
• The situation with my roommates is just below civil. There haven't been any out right confrontations, largely because I hate confrontations but also because it's a week until we all go home. My hope remains to be that when we get back things will settle into a civil living arrangement that I'll be able to stand and that the ill-will which currently exists will have dissipated. A month away from each other should help, or at least I hope it will help. And if not then I'll do what I did second semester freshmen year which is stay away from the apartment as much as humanely possible. Which will be made easier by the fact that...
• I'm going to be doing a credit overload next semester. My adviser (and the school really) have failed me again and so I will be taking 20 credits next semester. One of these credits (quite literally 1) will be weight lifting. And here I thought I had finished with PE junior year of high school. Still I'm only taking 3 upper level classes and none of them are history. So it shouldn't be too bad right? Right. Optimism, always optimism.

Did I mention it's finals? Yes, I've got exams Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. I leave on Saturday in the morning and then a month off. So until next time, don't panic.

True Facts

I don't like flutes. Or, more specifically, I don't like flutes outside of the orchestra or orchestral pieces. I find their sound far to airy to be taken seriously and it's incredibly easy to play a flute out of tune which is equally troubling. The people who play flutes tend to annoy me as well as they're either far too perky or far too self absorbed for their own good. Generally speaking there is nothing I like about the flute or the people who play flutes that I like. And yet I room with a flutist. Ironic, no?
I want to be acknowledged for the things I do. I don't do spectacular things, in fact most of the time I do my best to stay below the radar. But that doesn't mean I don't do things. I do important things, behind the scene things that if they weren't done people would suddenly notice. For those things I wish to be acknowledged, those things that I do behind the scenes. It's an utterly selfish motive, but I'm tired of people who don't deserve to acknowledged (at least in my opinion) being acknowledged before me. I'm tired of standing in the shadows waiting for a round of applause that will never come. I'm not asking to applauded every time I do band set-up or make it through the day without screaming at the top of my lungs, but just once I would like my efforts to be appreciated. Just once.
I want a job. I'm tired of school, I want a job. I don't care if it's menial, I don't care if I have to work as a temp, I just want a job. I want to make money, my own money just for me. That's all, I just want a job. I want to live on my own, in a city and work. Unfortunately I probably have another three years of putting off the inevitable before I can do that. Hopefully having those three years will mean that when I do face the inevitable I'll be able to make more money. Because what I really want is a job.

Piecemeal

11/12/10: So I'm writing this paper. I've been dreading it since the beginning of the semester because I pulled the prospectus out of my ass and I was sure that there was no way I could write anywhere close to 15 pages on anything. I finished page nine tonight and by the end of business on Saturday I'll probably have another nine written.
11/13/10: Or not. More like 2 and half. But I'll have it done by Monday which is the point right? Anyway, I'm currently having flashbacks to London. And not the warm fuzzy kind I get when I think about tea and the tube. The unfuzzy kind when I think about my flatmates and having to move apartments. At least I'm two floors up and therefore can't tell what song it is they're playing down in the basement, but my instinct to knock loudly on their doors and call security is screaming quite loudly at the moment. However it's Saturday night so as much as I would like to go to sleep right now (so I can wake up early so I can't work on this damn paper), I probably won't get to. Of course I could always open my window and let the sound of traffic lull me to sleep. But then there are the drunken revelers returning home at odd times, so opening my window isn't really an option. Where are my earplugs when I need them?
11/15/10: The paper turned into a nearly 6,000 word opus on a topic that has been flitting around my head for ages. What annoys me more than anything though is that I still have ideas about that paper flitting around my head. Ideas about songs or bands or artists that I could have looked at. I thought that by writing this paper I would finally be done with this topic and would be able to move on with my life. But no, now I'm thinking about former British colonials and the music they brought with them when they immigrated to Britain. Taking a more in depth look at the punk/post-punk movements in the 80's in relation to the politics. And on and on. I need a new obsession because this one is getting annoying.

Quickie

I got my LSAT score by and I've applied to all the schools I'm planning applying to. Pace is being a buttface (I know, mature) and not realizing that I have 12 transfer credits and won't process my application until I have at least 90 credits. 12 plus 79 from fall last year equals 91. Hence my frustration. However, I'm supposedly going to be hearing from DePaul in about two weeks, which is terrifying. Otherwise I probably won't hear anything until the end of the semester. Which is one of the many reasons I can't wait for this semester to be over.
My other reason for wanting this semester to be over is that I won't have to write any papers for a month. Right now I'm working on my British history term paper which, while fascinating, is 15 to 20 pages long. As I've mentioned before I've never written that much in my life and I'm not a history major. I should never have to write that much in a non-major class. Still, I will slog through it this week and will hopefully come out the other side with most of my sanity still in place. But we shall see.
That's it really. I just wanted to prove I'm alive and haven't gone off the deep end entirely.

The Question of Living With People

I can say in all I honesty, I don't know whether I'm a good roommate or not. Given the myriad living situations I've had over the last four years, it's difficult to gauge. I'd like to think that overall I'm okay to live with. Sure, I'm not very socially, but on the flip side I make a huge effort not to bother the people I live with. I keep my things fairly clean and I make an effort to keep my room organized and not looking like a disaster zone (though that can be difficult at times let me tell you.) I'm conscientious about cleaning my dishes and I take out the garbage and the recycling a fair deal. I pretty much believe that as long as you can't see it, why bother, which can bother people who are a bit more anal, but the method works well for me. From that view point I'd say the first three years (even including the disastrous second semester of junior year*) have been a success. This year though, I'm starting to wonder.
They leave their dishes in the sink for days on end. Even if I don't clean my dishes the night I use them, I always take care of them before the end of business the next day**. As I said, I take out the garbage in the kitchen and I do the recycling nine times out of ten. No, I don't vacuum the living room, but on the other hand I don't spend any time in the living. I make sure my room looks mostly presentable most of the time and I close the door when it's not. I don't clean the bathroom that often, but when it needs to be cleaned, I will (if only to avoid doing homework). I keep myself to myself and while that may mean I come off as a bit of hermit, well...I am. Does this make me a bad roommate? Does wishing my fellow flatmates take care of their dishes in a timely manner make me a bad flatmate? Does not putting away their dishes for them when I empty the dishwasher (which I run nine times out of ten) make me a bad roommate? I don't know to be honest. But it's really starting to bug me.
Beyond that, things are going as they always do. I registered for classes yesterday and I got all of the classes I wanted/needed for next semester. I find out on Monday what my LSAT score is and if it's really good, I'll tell you lot. If it's not, you'll find out whenever I decide to next update.

*Disastrous when it came to the people I was living with. Overall the semester wasn't that bad at all.
**11pm for those of you wondering. Yes, I am an old woman.

It's Been A Long Time Hasn't It

I've been blogging for nine years across four different platforms (though two of those overlap starting seven/eight years ago). The first two years I updated fairly consistently and then lagged around the time I switched from private to public school. I started up again once I had settled in to my groove again and for the next five years I blogged fairly consistently. In an odd way my blogging patterns mimic my mood. The more I update the better I'm feeling and the less I blog the more depressed (or overwhelmed) I am. I started blogging less and less after the ex* broke up with me and never really got my momentum back. There was a brief period where I was updating more, when I first got to London, but then the roommates from hell came to life thus ending what little momentum I had. I never got that back. Now I'm dealing with more work than I've ever dealt with before (in my entire life) and am just feeling incredibly overwhelmed. One of the books I'm reading has chapters than can reach 100 pages. I have a 200 page book to read by Monday. Then of course there are the Ancient Greeks who've never heard of brevity. And of course the only way I know how to handle all of this is by watching more TV than I can afford and cramming in as much reading as I can. I'm just glad that I've mostly curbed by other "Good God I don't know what I'm doing anymore" tendencies for the most part. Anyway.
I haven't given up on blogging. I get ideas about things that I want to write about, but by the time I get to my computer I've forgotten the idea or have lost enthusiasm for writing about it. I don't really like doing the whole bullet point thing, but given how much has been missed, it seems like the only choice. Writing out complete paragraphs covering the last two weeks seems far too time consuming and to be perfectly honest not that much happened and what did happened wasn't memorable to stick in my poor over taxed brain. So I'm left with doing bullet points and feeling like I've cheated a non-existent audience out of a proper update. However I don't really see things changing. I haven't given up on blogging, at least not yet, but I'm not going to apologize for not updating often anymore. Eventually I will give up, but for now, whoever reads this just be pleased that I haven't. I figure I've been writing in this thing for seven years, might as well make it to ten right? By then I'll be most of the way through law school and if I'm still doing this then...well then I don't know. I'll be even more insane than I am now? Anyway.

• Glee. That's all
• The LSAT went surprisingly well. In two weeks I will find out if those good feelings translate into a good score. I hope to god they do or I'll be going to Tulsa University.
• I saw The Social Network. I don't care if its accurate, all I know is that you should see it and all your friends should see it. It's just that awesome.
• Oh God won't the reading ever stop? Why???
• Wegmann's is a god among grocery stores. I still wish we had a Trader Joe's though. A girl can dream right?
• I did my first study abroad panel and the best memory I could come up with on the spot was seeing The 39 Steps. Next time it will be the Comedy Store and seeing Phill Jupitus in the flesh.
• At that same panel I described my living experience as "a unique British experience." Hopefully the audience didn't get the wrong idea.
• Terry Pratchett and Psych are extremely addicting. Avoid when you have many assignments due.
• Mark Ronson's new album is incredibly ace. I actually kind of wrote a review of it.
• Registration starts next week and I have one class left to decide on. Digital Storytelling or Art History II? That is the question that will be answered next week.

So that's all for now. Enjoy the length and I will update when I feel guilty again.

*Yes, I've gone back to calling him the ex. I blame his current happiness. I'm a very bitter person and hate it when he's happy. I'm only happy when he's miserable. This is why I'm going to become a cat lady in my later life.

A New Beatles/Kinks Theory

I've become kind of sort of obsessed with the AV Club over the past six months or so. And when I say kind of sort of obsessed what I mean is that I use as way to put off doing the shit ton of reading I need to do. One of the features of the AV Club is a section called "Coming Distractions" which is a bunch of trailers for TV shows and upcoming films. I only ever watch the trailers for films which is why I know the Smurfs movie is real and not just a gigantic ploy by the internet to make me sad. Today, while I was suppose to be working the media lab, I watched the trailer for a movie about John Lennon (before the Beatles) called Nowhere Boy. While I have many nitpicky problems with the trailer (which I will get into in the footnotes*) after not noticing anything about Cynthia Lennon, John's put upon first wife, and mentions of Hamburg, I went to the film's page and discovered that there was no entry for Cynthia. This irks me to a considerable degree and is probably the biggest problem I could have with the film. It also made me think about why the Beatles are so damn popular** while the Kinks are left to rot in obscurity (in the US.)*** And, after putting a selection of each band's music on shuffle I came up with a hypothesis (which is heavily influenced by the works of others, but whom I can't credit because I can't really point to who exactly was the influence. This however is probably not wholly original.) The songs the Beatles produced were a) highly generalizable (anyone in the Western world can relate to these songs) and fairly sexualized (which is always appealing no matter where you live.) The Kinks on the other hand are culture specific (most of their songs are only relatable if you are of working/middle class background [or have an affinity for that class] and have lived in England) and largely asexual (with a few minor exceptions including "Lola" for obvious reasons.) Add that to the mythos that surrounds the Beatles and the outgoingness of the lead singer/songwriters of the Beatles (especially compared to Ray Davies) and you have a pretty good explanation for why the Beatles will still be mostly popular fifty years from now and why only anglophiles will even know of the Kinks fifty years from now.****
In another piece of news I didn't mention yesterday, I saw a live performance of the famous Beethoven's famous ninth symphony. It was sufficiently awesome.
And now, back to not updating. I've got a book of Thucydides to read.

*The actor portraying John Lennon is way too good looking to be John Lennon. The accents aren't accurate (and I'm an American who shouldn't be able to tell that). The actor portraying Paul McCartney doesn't have enough fat on his face and his face is the wrong shape. Also his accent is an incredibly bland version of the Liverpudlian accent (which makes sense since he's from London, but still.) However it seems to have been filmed on location which makes me happy. Also, welcome back to footnotes!
**Not that I begrudge them their popularity (too much.) I'm a huge fan of the Beatles, I just think the Kinks need to be properly acknowledged by the world at large.
***The Kinks are only slightly less obscure in the UK where they are at least kind of acknowledged for their importance in British rock. The Who seem to get more credit for creating a distinctly British rock which is bullshit, but I won't go there.
****This is an exaggeration. But it's my blog so suck it.

Lyrics to Fill the Gap

Okay, so it's been a long time since I've updated. I'm not going to even pretend to catch up with what's been going on because that would be insane. For the most part I've been swamped with reading and other things, so this blog has dropped to fiftieth in my list of priorities (right after shaving and keeping my room tidy). However, thanks to repeated watchings of Glee I've found a new anthem for when I have to deal with my ex. It's not in any way accurate, but it makes me feel shiny so I don't give a damn. I will continue to not update, though I will try to inform this blog as to how my LSAT went (six days >_<) and other things that might come up. Just imagine me being a hermit reading and watching Law and Order: SVU. That really is my life at the moment. So here are the lyrics to tide you over.

I wake up every evening
With a big smile on my face
And it never feels out of place
And you're still probably working
At a nine to five pace
I wonder how bad that tastes

When you see my face
Hope it gives you hell
Hope it gives you hell
When you walk my way
Hope it gives you hell
Hope it gives you hell

Now where's your picket fence love
And where's that shiny car
And did it ever get you far
You never seemed so tense love
I've never seen you fall so hard
Do you know where you are

And truth be told I miss you
And truth be told I'm lying

When you see my face
Hope it gives you hell
Hope it gives you hell
When you walk my way
Hope it gives you hell
Hope it gives you hell
If you find a man that's worth a damn and treats you well
Then he's a fool you're just as well
Hope it gives you hell
Hope it gives you hell

Tomorrow you'll be thinking to yourself
Where'd it all go wrong?
But the list goes on and on

And truth be told I miss you
And truth be told I'm lying

When you see my face
Hope it gives you hell
Hope it gives you hell
When you walk my way
Hope it gives you hell
Hope it gives you hell
When you find a man that's worth a damn and treats you well
Then he's a fool, you're just as well
Hope it gives you hell

Now you'll never see
What you've done to me
You can take back your memories
They're no good to me
And here's all your lies
You can't look me in the eyes
With the sad, sad look
That you wear so well

When you see my face
Hope it gives you hell
Hope it gives you hell
When you walk my way
Hope it gives you hell
Hope it gives you hell
When you find a man that's worth a damn and treats you well
Then he's a fool you're just as well
Hope it gives you hell

When you see my face
Hope it gives you hell
Hope it gives you hell
When you walk my way
Hope it gives you hell
Hope it gives you hell
When you hear this song and you sing along but you never tell
Then you're the fool, I'm just as well
Hope it gives you hell

When you hear this song
I hope that it will give you hell

You can sing along
I hope that it puts you through hell

This is My Life at the Moment

There's a blog I follow, a fellow student, though she's in law school and lives in Singapore. She almost never updates I've always wondered what the point of having a blog if you never update. Now I understand. School has literally swamped me in reading. I had my first paper due today, but mostly I've been reading. And cursing my computer for being pooey. But mostly I've been reading and procrastinating on reading. Also cooking, but we'll get to that.
I always thought it would be fun to be a history major. I love history (a well documented fact) and so assumed that as with music, history would be easy. I was wrong. Once you hit a certain level (300) there's more reading than you shack a stick at and most of it is due all on the same day. I'm going to end up reading six books for British history, three books (plus a shit ton of articles) for French history, and about four books for ancient Greek history (also plus a shit ton of articles). That's in addition to papers for each class, eating, sleeping, and geology reading and labs. I'm only taking 15 credits, but it feels like 18. God only knows what 18 credits would feel like. I've never worked this hard in my life. Sure I've had to wait 22 years to get to this point, but a fact remains a fact. However I will get through this and come out the other side sane. I've been through worse right?
Now cooking. Having a real kitchen and being a grown up and all I decided this would be the year I would finally cook for myself. I have three cookbooks and CD of receipes that aren't in cook books. I've made mac and cheese, pork, and chicken risotto. Tonight I made pancetta and pasta. And set of the smoke detector in my building. After today (presentation, paper, class, radio station training, grocery shopping) the last thing I needed was being singled out for cooking. The dish, however, turned out beautifully, though I do miss high quality ingredients. No metallicy after taste with high quality ingredients. Still I'm very pleased with myself that I can cook this well and haven't actually burned down any houses (or apartment buildings.)
There's more reading in my future. A hell of a lot more reading. Which means infrequent updating. I will leave you with this last tidbit though, something to ponder while I'm away: The ex has a new beau and I made it patently clear that while I can be civil with him, I don't have to be nice. Also, rum makes awkward social situations slightly better.

Things I Did This Week

Here is not at all comprehensive list of things I have done thus far this week. Enjoy.

• Went home and wrote most of a personal statement with my sister's tutor. Enjoyed not having to cook for myself.
• Cut the side of my feet by walking 48,000 inches.* This is quite painful and will be the reason for another item on this list.
• Filled out law school applications. I also passed out letter of recommendation forms and transcript request forms to the correct people.
• Spelled Dr. Bartam's name incorrectly. There two A's.
• Cooked pork.
• Was highly amused by my fellow radio DJs.
• Learned how to "read" a topographic map. Kind of. Not really.
• Filled out more law school applications.
• Bought a dry erase board calendar and plotted out everything I have to read over the next month. It's quite a lot.
• Put up all of my tickets. They take up quite a lot of wall space.
• Avoided doing homework. Which is what I'm doing right now.
• Gave myself massive blisters on the bottom of my feet by walking on extremely hot pavement barefoot. This is seemed like a good idea before the massive blisters appeared.
• Went to the clinic and dumbfounded both the nurse and the doctor.

I'm going to study geology now. Tomorrow is the first sci-fi club meeting where I will get to give Ana a huge hug and moan a bit more about how much my feet hurt. There's a lesson to be learned in this small children: Do not walk barefoot on pavement when it's 96 degrees outside. Blisters will happen.

*48,000 inches = 4,000 feet = 0.768 miles = walking the length of my campus

Sheep

I'm currently trying to minimize the amount of battery I use because I don't want to move back to my desk. Yes, I am that lazy.
In other news it's almost the end of my first week and, as always, my first week has been insane. Picking up disability letters, trying to decide whether to take 18 credits or drop a class, passing out disability letters, talking to various offices, filling out paper work, and finding out that my old job as band aid was back on the market and I was the number one candidate for it. Per usual, this has left me feeling like a chicken with no head. And tomorrow is not going to be any better. I have more letter to pass out, pick up one last book, work the media lab (because that job never went away), and meet up with Mom so she can give me a rug and various kitchen utensils. This weekend I will be working with a tutor (my sister's tutor to be exact) on my personal statement. The only upside to all of this is that next week won't be insane and this weekend I get to consult with my Mom about cooking. That's the one nice thing about living in the apartments is that I can really cook for myself, which is much better than frozen diet meals.
So let's talk classes. I started out with Ancient Greek history, French history, anthropology, and geology. I will end the week with Ancient Greek history, French history, British history, and geology. Why the change? A) I don't tolerate egotists very well and b) as much as I don't love the working class people of Britain, I do love Britain and I would really like to know what happened after William the Orange landed with Mary. So instead of taking the relatively easy A (anthro) I went with the 15-20 page paper class (British history.) Thankfully my other two classes aren't requiring papers that long and I already have a topic in mind for said paper (the Kinks and depictions of the working class in the late 1960's.) My other non-science classes are equally interesting. Dr. O'Brien (Greek history) has a quirky sense of humor but is really enthusiastic about the topic so the fact that he went on a minor tangent about name origins, it works well. Dr. Harris, who I had for Western Civ. II, is his same dorky, enthusiastic self so I'm not worried about French history. I also have a friend in French history and that always helps. Actually, I have friends in each of my history classes, which is a plus since I feel really strange being in all of these upper level history class (300, 331, and 354, just for reference) and not being a history major. I keep having to remind myself that I do in fact belong in these classes and am capable of doing well in them. As I told a friend, if the school had history minors available to me, I would be one.
Of course what I'm not mentioning are my music classes. I'm only taking two this semester, chorus and band, and...nothing has changed. Prof. Tavenier has lost a lot of weight (kind of scary amount actually) and Dr. Bartrum hasn't changed an iota (except for losing a non-scary amount of weight.) The one change I dislike the most though is I had to audition for my position as first of the third clarinets. I dislike this greatly because I hate auditioning, especially for things where I already know the outcome. However, as I mentioned, I got my band aid job back, which is nice in it's own annoying way. I was kind of hoping to not have to deal with that particular stress this semester, but I'm good at setting up chairs, what can I say? While some things change a whole hell of a lot, some things never change.
Other updates:

• I had a civil conversation with Hunter without giving death glare the whole time. Trust me, this is an improvement.
• I will most likely be having my radio shows on Thursday nights because that is the most convenient time for me. And as much as I could plan my life around what's on TV, some things are more important.
• Yogurt and chocolate chips is the best dessert that won't make me feel guilty about having dessert. Actual best desserts include pie, cake, and ice cream.

That's it my friends. There's a slim hope that I will have most of a first draft of my personal statement done by the time I get back to school from sojourn home. And now that I'm down to 15% battery power remaining, I think I'll call it a night. Don't panic.

Have a Great Senior Year

Alright, so it's been a while. Longer than a week in fact. But I'll have you know that I was on vacation last week and therefore I didn't have time to update. This was largely because it was the best beach vacation I've ever been on and therefore was spending my time having a great time. So yeah, that's my excuse for not updating for two week. But I'm updating now and that's what's important.
It's my senior year. Of college. Unsurprisingly I'm freaking the frak out. And then I miss the reason I was suppose to move back early and then I see Hunter. So right now I want a TARDIS so I can go back home and be there for a little while longer. I'm very ambivalent about this whole situation and I'm tired from moving today. So as much as I would like to write more about this situation, I'm just going to say this: I wish I didn't have to be a responsible adult anymore. And I would like to stay in my room and watch TV forever.
I will try and have a more coherent entry after my first week of classes. If not then...well yeah. Stuff.

Something Over Nothing/LSAT Is Dead Long Live LSAT

August already? Really? Good lord...
In other news I've gotten my third comment on an entry I wrote 3 years ago. First of all, the people who've commented on this entry (and yes I deleted one of the comments because it was just beyond dumb) obviously have only ever read that one entry and so don't realize that I've moved beyond high school. Second of all, it was 3 years ago. Who gives a fuck what I wrote three years ago when I was in a really bad mood. Which leads to my third point: I was in a horrible mood when I wrote that entry. I had actually written an entry two days previously apologizing for any behaviour that offended. If these people had actually read more than one entry of my blog, they'd probably realize that, that really old entry is not typical. I've gained control of my faculties and no longer write that kind of thing in this or any other blog. So now that I've gotten that off my chest, shall we move on? Yes, let us move on.
My LSAT class is over, but the agony and stress of applying to law school and taking the real LSAT have not gone away. I'm in my last week at WPFW and then the fam and I are off to the beach for what will hopefully be a fun vacation. My dad's older brother, wife, daughter and possibly her boyfriend will be joining us this year which means that the normal crazy that occurs when will be less. It won't go away, but it won't be prominent. And I've got LSAT studying to do, so there's always that excuse. After the beach I have three days at home which will involve all of the following things: packing, getting my hair dyed, packing, getting my eyes checked, my last clarinet lesson, packing, packing, and more packing. Then, after those three days, I'll be going back to school. It's kind of freaky to think about, especially given how close I am to graduating, but I'm more focused on the whole LSAT/law school thing, so the fact that I'm a senior is less in focus. I can focus on being a senior once my life after UMW is figured out.
One last thing. I have a new ultra shiny green computer. My Mom has inherited my old computer and is working on making it not suck to which I say, bully for you crazy lady. I'm happy with my new lovely computer and hopefully it will last a little bit longer than my last one. Until next time, don't panic.

It's the Little Things

It's been ten days. I guess an update is in order.
After some minor/major stresses over the past ten days, I'm reaching a calm place within myself which is a welcome change from being stressed all the time (damn you LSAT!). That doesn't mean the stress has exited entirely (damn you LSAT!), but at least some of the more minor stresses have been taken care of. Which leads me to my small list of nice things that have happened to me over the past 24 hours that have helped me to reach this calm space.

• Getting through an entire logic game without going "how the frak do the expect me to answer this?" Granted that was followed by a game that I couldn't figure out to save my life, but at least I got one without any problems. That's a huge improvement for me.
• Getting complemented on my new haircut by two different guys (one possibly gay, one old as the hills).

Yes, it's a very short list, but at least it's something.
Otherwise my life has been pretty much the same. LSAT, trying to get some clarinet practice in, LSAT, volunteering at WPFW, and LSAT. One other highlight from the past 48 hours is that I will get to move in early at school, thus completing my four year streak of getting to move in early. Which is always nice. And now that I've completely lost the thread of this entry I'll end it here. Until next time.

I Never Wanted to be a Lawyer

Now that it's officially been a "long time" since I last updated (which I warned all of you would happen) I suppose I should give some kind of update. I'm continuing to update my list of unspoken commuter rules (which includes walking up and down the correct side of the escalator and generally not being an idiot) and worrying constantly that I'm not going to get into law school and will be forced to become a hobo (or something along those lines). Mostly I'm worried about my personal statement because what do I say? I'm a music major who's decided to become a lawyer because...because? Yeah, that's really part of the problem. I have no idea what I want to do as a lawyer. I know I want to work in intellectual property and that I want to deal with entertainment (which means trademark and copyright, not patents really). I also I know I'm a music major which makes the whole process of writing this personal statement more complicated because I somehow have to explain how my major relates to being a lawyer. So, I want to be a lawyer because...and I'm a music major and that will help me be a lawyer because...
And then there's the gunner in my prep class. Who's constantly worried which makes me more worried because how am I (the music major) suppose to remain calm when the gunner (a pre-law student) isn't?
Mostly though I'm just trying to fit everything into 24 hours. Homework, class, WPFW, sleeping, eating, and practicing. It might not seem like a lot, but it is really. Especially the sleeping part. That takes up many, many hours. In any event I probably won't update again for awhile. You know how it is.

Whatever Let's You Sleep

There's is a thing I have learned about my mother, a thing that drives me insane, that makes me hate myself and makes me hate her even more. When she's gotten on her high horse, when she is just absolutely certain that she's right and everyone else is wrong, it's best not to argue or show any kind of emotion that might make her think you're arguing with her. It's pointless because the minute you try to disprove her, to point out the blindingly obvious flaws in her argument, she starts yelling even louder than before (and this is a woman who's inside voice is the same as most people's outside voice) and it will just make what is already a painful experience that much worse. Sure, I lie awake in bed not able to get to sleep because I want so badly to argue my point, or at least get the opportunity to argue my point. And yes, this aggravating habit makes me want to run away and never come back and never talk to her ever again. But this is how she has been my entire life. She won't change and I argued most of my childhood and it got me absolutely nowhere. I just have to get this final thing off my chest though: There is a difference between turning on a personal computer without any kind of permission and turning on a computer widely available to the entire family having been given blanket permission to use it. It's a huge difference and cannot be ignored because of the location of said personal computer. So fuck you bitch, it's my goddamn computer and I expect to be treated with respect. So leave my fucking computer alone and don't fucking turn it on without my goddamn permission. Just fucking call me and I'll say yes.
This, along with a number of other things, is why I want to go to law school out of state, even if that means living the rest of my life in debt. I can't live here for another three fucking years.

Too Busy, Can't Write

Told you I wouldn't be updating much. I've uber busy/dealing with the fact that my computer is as close to being useless as a computer can be. Honestly, I'm just writing this to prove that a) I'm alive and b) I haven't forgotten about my blog(s). Expect more silence over the coming weeks (at least until my LSAT class is over) unless something major happens. Like a meteorite crash or the US making it through the first round of the World Cup. Oh wait, one of those things actually happened. Anyway, just expect sporadic updates until August. And then expect sporadic updates after August because I'll still be studying for the LSAT and I'll be getting ready for my last year of college. :freaks out completely: And now back to writing questions for Gloria.

Busy Bee

I think my computer's dying. I've had it for many, many years (nearly as long as this blog actually) but I'm still attached this old thing and would be very sad if it is in fact dying. Either that or Symantec has f-ed it up entirely and therefore it's not dying, it's just very, very sick, which is still annoying. As I repeatedly told my Mom has she tried to make everything all better, all I want is for my computer to work and for it not to die. I have three babies (computer, clarinet, Zune) and I'm only happy when they all work and the fact that one of them isn't working properly makes me sad. Like right now, which is why I just want my computer to be better.
In other news I've decided to catch up on the fifth season of Lost. I watched the series finale and since Hulu is streaming the first five seasons until the end of the year (and I have nothing going on on Mondays and Tuesdays during the day) I figured, why not watch the fifth season? If I'm really bored I'll watch the whole thing from the beginning, but with my LSAT class giving me homework and a clarinet to practice I don't know if I'll have time to watch that much TV. Though we are talking about me, so you never know, I just might do it. We shall see.
So that's it. LSAT prep class on Tuesdays and Saturdays, clarinet lessons on Mondays, and work the rest of the non-Sundays (aka Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays.) It's good, I like keeping busy, at least when I'm at home. It keeps me away from the things that are wrong and can't be fixed in this house. So I'll keep busy, which probably means I won't be updating as much. But, as always, we shall see.

Back At Home

It's amazing how quickly you can slip back into a life. I've been home nearly a week and it feels like I never left. Granted the pile of winter clothing on my floor would beg to differ on that point, but the ease of which I've slipped back into the daily motions of my life here at home just seems ridiculous. I'm waiting to hear from Gloria and save for taking clarinet lessons and a LSAT prep course, this summer will be exactly like last summer. Despite spending five and a half months in a foreign country, it feels like nothing has changed. Except for the law school thing. Other than that, nothing's changed.
Obviously though, that's not true. Lots of things have changed, including my life plan and taste in music (kind of.) Everyone I know agrees that I'm more mature and more self reliant than I was before I left for London, though as with anything having to do with my own maturity I don't really believe that. I'm definitely more world weary and more prepared for life outside the comfortable life I lead with the help of my parents. I also know how to deal with airport security which is nothing to sniff at in my opinion.
And what about London? It wasn't what I expected. I think that largely had to do with the people I was roomed with for the first half of the semester and less to do with the actual city. I've often ruminated on this point and I honestly think that if I'd either been enrolled in a different program or had been housed differently to begin with, the way I experienced London would have been completely different. Despite what the British may want people to think the class system is alive and well and if you live in London that system gets shoved down your throat in a rather uncomfortable way every day, especially outside of central London. That isn't to say happiness can't be found in the city, you just have to be in the right place and around the right people (which entirely depends on your economic status or the what socioeconomic status you're use to mingling with.) A lot of what I did in London was amazing and hopefully that's what I'll remember in ten years time and for the rest of my life.
I'm glad to be home though. I like the life I have here and certainly appreciate it more than I use to (for the most part.) And maybe now that I'm home I'll start updating a bit more often. Maybe.

This Week

Right, it's been a week and I have five days left in London. It's a bit surreal to be honest, despite the inevitable mailing that will occur tomorrow (all my sweatshirts, all of the presents for those who don't live with me, my posters, the rest of the large-ish teddy bears) and the fact that I've packed up all my mugs and everything else in my room is, bit by bit, getting put away either in my duffel bag or my carry on. Still, I haven't been resting on my laurels or moping in my room about my departure on Tuesday. No, I've been out and about getting in my last trips both in the southern part of England and in London. There will be more trips in London tomorrow, but for now I'm going to talk about a couple of stand out moments from the last seven days.
So I'm going to admit it: I bailed on Miike Snow. I printed out the ticket but when the time came to leave for the gig, I decided that I just didn't want to spend 3 hours rubbing shoulders (literally) with a bunch of hipsters. I like Miike Snow's music, but the majority of the people who were going to be at that concert are exactly the kind of people who have made my London experience less than brilliant. So I stayed home and relaxed, which given the week I've had was probably a good idea.
The next night however I didn't bail on seeing the Hertfordshire Choir perform Mozart's Requiem. It was an amazing performance and so Mozartian that at points I just had to smile and go "Aaah Mozart. So distinctive, so pattern oriented." I had a nice dinner and in general a nice night out. However to all future composers: Don't try and mix modern music with scientific theories and moral concepts. Especially where lyrics are involved. It doesn't work.
Monday I mailed things. I had grander plans, but after I found out that I would be spending hard cash to mail everything, grander plans went out the window.
Tuesday I went to Brighton and while the weather was nice and I got some good pictures, it was a bit disappointing to be honest. I went to the Pier, but none of the rides were opened and for me, that was the whole point. Sure the Royal Pavilion was beautiful and opulent and well worth the time, but it's not why I went to Brighton. I went to Brighton to have fun on the pier. Still, at least I can say I've been there (like I can say I've been to Leeds, Cardiff, Liverpool, Glasgow, Bath, Winchester, Salisbury, York, Canterbury, Greenwich, Penzance, Windsor, Stonehenge, and Dover.)
Speaking of Dover, that's where I went today. It was over cast the entire time, I couldn't find the restaurant my Mom found for me (I walked past where it was multiple times though without knowing it, which annoys me even more), and it took 35 minutes to get from the White Cliffs (National Trust shop site) to the Dover Priory train station (which means it probably took about 30 minutes to get from the town centre to the cliffs). Once I was at the White Cliffs, the views were amazing, but again, it was over cast and chilly. Not a great day for viewing needless to say. However the day was redeemed because I got a crepe and the book my grandmother wanted me to get for her at St. Pancras. However the some of my flatmates are being obnoxious, but I only have a few more days of said obnoxiousness.
I still have to make up my mind about what I'm doing tomorrow, but I do know that the morning will be devoted to spending a great hairy wad of money to send off the last of my sending off things. It annoys me, but the post office doesn't take credit cards (well American credit cards) so I have no choice. I might be getting my hair done or I might be shopping and going to the Eye. All I know is that I'm having dinner with Amanda and a friend of her's, so part of my evening is taking care of. I also know that on Saturday I'm going to a cinema theater to watch Dr. Strangelove: or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb because I haven't seen it all the way through and it seems like a good movie to see on the big screen. In the next entry I will talk about my undying love for Glee and the Comedy Store. But that's next time. Until then, don't panic.