Well, I’m home and I’m jittery. I’ll tackle the first one and then explain the “jittery.” (There’s a summary at the end, if y’all don’t have time right now.)

It’s amazing how much time passes when you’re at home being a bum instead of in a dorm room avoiding work. It probably helps that it doesn’t matter when I get up, as there are no classes to miss. I finally have time to watch movies again (as in “sit down and pay attention” and not “having blaring in the background while frantically working on math homework an hour before it’s due”), which I’ve been enjoying immensely. Quick shout-out to Jennifer for loaning her copies of “A Walk to Remember” and “Kate and Leopold.” [Opinions on both—fully prepared to hate the first one, but it was saved by “Dancing in the Moonlight” (great song)/”two places at once” scene. The second was adorable (although I really should’ve seen the ending coming), and, hey, it had Hugh Jackman. Yum.] I also went to a 10:30 p.m. showing of “The Two Towers” last night [at a theater an hour from my house, so add that to the 3+ hours length of the movie], so I got to relieve my college ways and walk in the front door around 3 a.m. My parents love me, I’m sure.

Man, this is long. And we’re only half-way! Anyway….

As for the jittery-ness…I went to the doctor today to get some moles cut off (I was more than a little paranoid after the cancer lecture in fitness class when some of my moles fit the ABC’s of warning signs). Of course, this meant a great big needle and even some stitches on my right leg (which is kinda cool, since I’ve never needed stitches before—yes, most people would think that was a good thing). After everything was done and bandaged, the nurse asked if I was “woozy.” I, however, never feel woozy after things like this; I just get a jittery feeling where my appendages can’t stop shaking. My leg was especially tap-y, as that was where I had, not one, but two shots to numb the area. It’s chilling out now, y’all, but let’s just say that I’ve had a fun time correcting my typing.

Summary Time! I’m home, I’ve seen too many movies, although I recommend “Kate and Leopold” if you find Hugh Jackman yummy and “The Two Towers” if you like movies of any kind (even when sitting in the front row—I need to do this for every movie, especially as I’m doing it for over half that I’ve seen already this year), and movies with Orlando Bloom especially. (Yes, I care for more than yummy looking guys. There’s just so many of them that I feel like mentioning.) I feel bouncy and jittery instead of woozy and faint whenever medical-type things happen to me, and feel like sharing with the general population. I think this summary is too long….according to the Fye rules, it’s actually paraphrase length now. I won’t tell if you won’t.

*Extra Note*: blogger wasn't working last night, so the post from Sunday night is on the comment board for the Saturday morning post. Check out details on the fire!

I'm done! I'm done I'm done I'm done! Everybody sing! I'm done! I'm done I'm done I'm done! (bum-bum!) And I'm leaving today and selling my books and getting out of this frozen wasteland!

Just a little joyful, sorry. Next post most likely from the slow Sullivan connection (oh, constant internet, how I shall miss thee). See y'all then!

As if all that wasn't enough for one night, when I got back to my room last night [around 11:30-ish], there was a note on my door to pop down and see my friend Michelle. She was bored and, by then, I was wide awake again, so we proceeded to watch "Bridget Jones's Diary" and "Labyrinth" (I'd never seen the first, she'd never seen the second, but there's no better time to watch Labyrinth than 1:30 in the morning). When both were over (at three, if you're wondering), I decided I was finally sleepy again, so I headed off to bed.

Here comes the craziest part of the entire night.

A little after four I woke up because the fire alarms were blaring down the hall. I was just awake enough to grab some shoes and a blanket, and got outside with all the other Dobsinites as we wondered what idiot had pulled the alarm for kicks. It turned out, though, that there was an actual fire on the second floor. I don't know much more past that (I'm going to try and find my SA today and beg her for details), but I know someone put the fire out with a fire extinuisher before the fire trucks showed up. [The fire station isn't even three blocks away and it took them twenty minutes to make it over. I feel so safe sometimes.] They eventually opened the class building across from the dorm so we could hang out in warmth, and we all tried to fall back asleep on majorly uncomfortable couches until they allowed us back in the dorms, 51 minutes (according to the same Michelle) later.

Too much excitement for one night, and I still got up before nine today. Will I crash around 8:30 tonight? Looks favorable.

The *Real* 2. There's a dance going on at my high school next weekend (when I'm home! For a month! Yay!), and I'd love to go (that kinda takes care of the "how will I see everyone before Christmas?" thing), but I have to have a guy sign me in. Any volunteers?

Man, I've got all sorts of stuff to post tonight.....I think I'm down to two things (although I should probably aim for *three* instead).

1. I finally picked up my marching band paycheck (that's right--picked up--apparently that was my problem....here I was, waiting for them to mail it to me, and it was sitting in the cashier's office the entire time.) and promptly journeyed downtown and bought a few more Christmas presents and my very own copy of All in the Timing by David Ives. It almost feels like I'm trying to prepare myself for directing my own One Act my senior (or super-senior--hey, I *am* double majoring) year, but I really just couldn't find anything by Oscar Wilde.

2. I forgot what this was supposed to be. Sorry.

3. Does anyone (besides Caleb and Jennifer) actually read this? I know I sent out the address and all, but if nobody else comments, I don't know how affective my "I don't have to send emails because I've got my blog" plan actually is. Let me know, y'all.

2. [This wasn't actually it, but I felt like mentioning this also.] Some guy just came into the lab and not only is he talking incredibly loudly to the person one foot away, but he keeps rolling in his chair and--every time he does--it hits mine. I think it's time to go back to the burning hot room.

I'm currently sitting in the downstairs computer lab, instead of my usual comfy chair in my dorm room because (A) my room is hotter than blazes and at least there's a fan down here (yup, we're real high tech 'round thems parts, shore 'nuff), and (B) my roommate was still logged onto my happy computer (I've decided to name it "Chester," replacing "Steve," which started to become creepy when I actually met a guy down the hall named Steve who was very puzzled when I was yelling at Steve (the computer) because a file wouldn't come up) so she can play minesweeper during commercial breaks of the ST:TNG marathon leading to the opening date of Nemesis. I've actually been spending lots of time out of the room for this exact reason because anytime Debbie is in the room, the TV is on---which means the TV is always on Star Trek. Today I felt a particular thrill when Debbie was taking a final and I got to watch Trading Spaces for the very first time (I was disappointed; both groups seemed happy with what their neighbors had changed. I wanted more drama than that.).

I had a point. I think. Oh, yeah.....I'm in the lab. Anyway.

I finally saw the first Lord of the Rings, and--let me say--it's a pretty confounded good thing that the next one opens on Wednesday, or else I'd be rather upset with Peter Jackson and Company. You'd think that I'd figure out if there's two more movies, they can't possibly provide much closure at the end of the first. However, as my wonderful brother can attest, I'm able to watch the same movie repeatedly without losing interest because I don't try to think about what may or may not happen next.

I wasn't very happy with the universe when I finished this one. I loathe not finding closure.

It didn't help my movie-watching experience that my friends Tiffani and Megan (who got me Operation for Christmas! Megan is cooler every time I see her), who had seen the movie before, kept laughing at certain spots. Apparently, they'd found some site with the "secret diaries" of all the characters. [No, I don't have the link, but I don't think I want to see the site, since I *like* most movies the way they are.] I think if I see the flick again, I'll appreciate it more, but right now I'm kinda steamed with myself for not figuring out sooner that it wasn't going to end so much as pause. If that makes any sense.

At least I'm prepared for the second one, and all it's cliff-hanging action.

I took the theatre final, my scarf is now about four pot-holder lengths, I've only added to my laundry, but my hair is dry.

Just in case you were wondering.

I have...

* less than an hour before my theatre final

* half of a scarf made, or about three good pot-holders length

* to do laundry, but it can wait for Monday when I'm home again (for a month!)

* semi-damp hair, because I wanted to eat breakfast more than I wanted to pull out the blow-dryer

An Official Apology: Today I was walking by someone and suddenly realized I was focusing more on staying in step with her clunky shoes (she was making lots of noise with every footstep) than actually listening to what she was saying.

Danny Rubenstein, wherever you are, I'm sorry--after all these years, I finally realize I am a band nerd.

Debbie just said something. I think she must be asleep, because her breathing's all nice and relaxed (as complared to during the day), but she's never talked in her sleep before. I had my headphones on, so I didn't catch what she actually said, just that she said something. I somehow feel a deep sense of loss, like what she said might've made a differnce to the world, if only I'd been able to hear it. I can't go to bed with this sense of failure...I'm going to win a game of freecell first.

God bless Reading Day!

For those of you not blessed with a Truman education, reading day is when all classes are canceled so the students can study for their finals the next day. Of course, this actually means that we all stayed up late the night before, slept in today, and did basically nothing between waking up and going to bed tonight. What exactly did *I* do? I actually got up around 8-ish, and ate breakfast with the three only other people in the dining hall. I took advantage of the great bandwith this morning (who else was up?), and made gingerbread houses with my hall this afternoon. Then, I got locked out and spent a long time in the library (I wasn't going to pay the buck to get back into my room because I didn't know where Debbie had gone and, therefore, when she'd get back.) reading Newsweek and talking to Jolene (we used lots of "sure things" and plays off of lines from the show until all the people actually studying in the library gave us enough looks that I left). This evening I started making garland out of packing peanuts (after I frolic in them for awhile), and learned how to crochet from Kristen while watching most of Evita and up to the balcony scene of Romeo and Juliet (I add the link so you know which version).

Highlights of the day:
* someone gave me Paul Newman brand popcorn, which has a big picture of his face on the package. I'll never be able to pop this stuff.
* finally getting my gingerbread house perfect in time to watch it all fall apart into a perfect pile of pieces, ready for me to stack and eat
* Coming up with band names---look out world, here comes Sticky Boob and the Cheesy Pants!
* No classes meant no scholarship class....no scholarship class meant no wasting my time....no wasting my time meant I didn't have to watch the guy with the shiny bald head talk! Triple yay!

I know, I left all y'all hanging about the One-Acts last Saturday (which means an extra-long post today!). I've *ever* so proud to say, they were amazing! We'd never done the show so excellently, which is how all shows should go, but never actually do. The only minor problem was when Jolene tried to stick Paul to the table with her fork (through his tie, no less, into the foam-covered table), she did so with such force that the fork actually *popped* back out. Naturally, the audience ate this up, and Jolene tried again. This time, the fork actually bent completely in half. I wish I could've actually seen it (I was busy trying to be invisible for when I had to ring my next bell). This was totally the most fullfilling thing I've done in a long time, and I remember why I love theatre again. (Which is good, because I'm still a theatre major--it's always a good thing to love the thing you're majoring in.)

To top off all that happiness, I actually got flowers from my friends that came to the show! Megan, Tiffani, and Rachel: y'all are wonderful people! I think I need to invest in a vase, though, because the only thing I could find to hold them was my giant Oreo water bottle that all the freshmen got for free.

As for the week, it's been up and down. I found out I received a 101% on my math test (so much better than my 56%), and I also realized I needed a 96% on my fitness final to get an A (as in, only miss two questions--I don't think this happened). I finished my script study at 11 p.m. the day before it was due (last time, I finished it at 11 a.m. on the due date) and then realized I hadn't done anything with my study guide that we were going to discuss in class. I didn't have to present my research paper yesterday, but that means that I have to present it tomorrow. I made ten Christmas cards last night, and it only took me until 1 a.m. to do so.

I have no classes today to "study" for finals, which means my schedule for the day is:

2 PM - Make Gingerbread houses with house
? PM (after Gingerbread) - go to Wal-Mart with Megan and Tiffani
7 PM - watching Labyrinth with the flute section

Yeah, I'm going to work hard. I'll actually probably end up being productive this morning to make up for the afternoon, but it's not looking like that right now. For all you poor college students out there, here's a little bit of "I hear ya" for finals:

Twas the night before finals,
And all through the college,
The students were praying
For last minute knowledge.

Most were quite sleepy,
But none touched their beds,
While visions of essays
Danced in their heads.

Out in the tavern! s,
A few were still drinking,
And hoping that liquor
Would loosen up their thinking.

In my own room,
I had been pacing,
And dreading exams
I soon would be facing.

My roommate was speechless,
Her nose in her books,
And my comments to her
Drew unfriendly looks.

I drained all the coffee,
And brewed a new pot,
No longer caring
That my nerves were shot.

I stared at my notes,
But my thoughts were muddy,
My eyes went ablur,
I just couldn't study.

"Some pizza might help,"
I said with a shiver,
But each place I called
Refused to deliver.

I'd nearly concluded
That life was too cruel,
With futures depending
On grades had in school.

When all of a sudden,
Our door opened wide,
And Patron Saint Put It Off
Ambled inside.

His spirit was careless,
His manner was mellow,
All of a sudden,
He started to bellow.

"On Cliff notes, on Crib notes
On Last Ye! ar Exams.
On Wingit and Slingit
And Last Minute Crams."

His message delivered
He vanished from sight.
But we heard him laughing
Outside in the night.

Your teachers have pegged you
So just do your best.
Happy Finals to All
And to all a Good Test!

Good luck, y'all......don't choke now, we're almost free!

Best line from lunch: "I'm just saying, if you're going to have to go to the emergency room at 2 a.m. because you got super glue in your eye, you might as well have a hot doctor."

I have to leave for a quick tech run through soon, but before I go, let me just say I look fantabulous for a stage manager! Y'all know in high school where I'd do crew in sweat pants and an inside-out t-shirt? *Right now* I've got my new sweater, my Caramba brand jeans (otherwise known as the "if it wasn't for fitness class crunches, I couldn't fit them" jeans), and some shiny "not-really heels" heels.

I know, I know. None of y'all care what I'm wearing--I really shouldn't care, either. But, when a t-shirt and jeans girl looks this fab, she's got to share.

I'll let y'all know how it went later.

I'm completely stuck on my script study (yeah, I'm finally getting around to it--but I think it's some because I have nervous energy going on for tonight), so I thought I'd ask cyberspace: What's the word for chick who has a suitor? We're supposed to do character relationships and I have things like husband/wife, father/daughter, and then suitor/what? I've no clue.

Help!

The coolest, stupidest thing I've ever seen (watch out, kiddies, it requires Shockware): Gerbil Derby!

I don't know why this just occured to me, but: Caleb, there was some link or site or something that I mentioned over Thanksgiving that you wanted me to link to--do you remember what it was, because I sure don't.

Let me know, bro. (intentional rhyme)

Have I mentioned lately how much I love Fridays? (Or at least, how much they seem to love me?) Yes, technically it's Saturday by now, but I'm still up because it was such a great Friday....I went to the One-Acts with a group of people and had a great time, and then found out afterward that the prof sponsering the O-As was holding a party for the directors and stage managers at her house tonight (there's a full cast and crew party tomorrow, or, I guess, today). While I'd like to think I'll be a stage manager again, I figured why not take advantage of the opporitunity and hooked myself up with a ride. I had a blast, but was starting to feel sleepy, so I came back to my wonderful dorm room, only to realize I wasn't tired anymore (cold winter air can do that to you).

And here I am, at 1:07 a.m. (according to the computer clock), tell all y'all how blessed I was with a splendiferous Friday. Hopefully I'll be able to say the same about tomorrow/today!

Furthering the "Life is Beautiful and Wonderful Today" from before.....

* I just noticed that darling and spifftacular Sam updated her blog again for the first time in nearly forever.

* I went downtown to buy myself a black shirt for working tech staff tomorrow night (yay, One-Acts! Rah!) and ended up not only with an adorable black shirt, but also a gorgeous navy blue sweater. This would totally become my third date sweater if I ever dated anyone--it's that great.

* I spent an entire half hour watching Tiffani's possessed Christmas tree lights blink to the rhythm of the music she was playing (as in, they'd actual slow down and speed up depending on what was playing--they liked "Lady Marmalade")

* I discovered my kooky DVD player has a screen capture option on it and spent the next hour finding my favorite scenes and taking pictures to print out if I ever make it over the computer lab again.

* It was Friday. What else do you need? (I love Fridays. Especially when they're this amazing.)

Because you can never take too many pointless quizzes (Amen, eh, Cindyanne?)





I'm an alabaster jar containing facial cream! Which treasure of King Tut's tomb are you? by Clicks and buzzes

My desk is now completely different, I finished my math re-take ahead of schedule, I'm blasting "Truly, Truly" over the old episode of SNL on Comedy Central, I'm going to eat ice cream for dessert at lunch. The sun is shining and I plan on singing Christmas carols all the way downtown and back.

Life is beautiful and wonderful today.

I....

* just discovered all the names of Truman apartment buildings come from Monopoly (including Water Works and Community Chest, interesting enough).

* am currently listening to "Send Me on My Way" from the Matilda soundtrack.

* actually e-mail my high school English teacher for MLA help before I even considered asking my professor

* can hardly wait for my marching band paycheck to come in so I can go Christmas shopping

* plan on going shopping tomorrow with or without the check

* am going to rearrange my furniture (today it's my desk) before I even start work on my script study (don't worry, it's due next week)

* am now leaving for a fullfilling lunch of cereal. Amazing how much Froot Loops you can get for $3.50 each meal.

My paper's done! My paper's done! Happy rejoicing among all people!

Jennifer, read the comments on the last post. (I suppose I could just copy and paste and all that jazz, but I'll just let you click on the link because technology on the whole doesn't seem to like me right now.)

Oh, Dear Lord, My Mother is Going to Kill Me

I was just looking through my old high school English notebook from last year, trying to find some old papers on documentation (the MLA--happily--isn't completely stuck in my head! Rejoice!), when I found a magazine. Checked out to my mother. From May 19, 2001. (Yes, 2001. I'd think it was a misprint, but that's the year on the cover of the magazine, also.)

So, conundrum time. Since she doesn't know, and the library's probably given up hope on it by now--where does that leave this poor copy of Entertainment Weekly? (And, I mean "poor" in more ways than one: the cover story is about The Mummy Returns)

I think I'm going to hope that this is one of the copies I bought from the library before the lady found out she wasn't supposed to sell them. How to explain the card, then? Maybe they're lazy? Oh, golly.

Sad Confession: This weekend I actually thought to myself (on *several* occassions), "Man, I really wish I had my MLA."

Fie on you, Fye, for turning me into this!

Sorry to ditch y'all for the entire Thanksgiving vacation--I was off being too merry to even hop on the internet (well, except for two seconds on Saturday night to make sure my email hadn't been completely flooded by Cindy-Loo) the entire time. Let's just say this was one of the better Thanksgivings: I ate lots of wonderful food (it's amazing how college dorm food makes you appreciate things more, although I will admit that Sodexho's mashed potatoes were better than my own grandmother's), spent way too much money on sale items, and actually did a fair amount of my homework. All in all, spifftacular.

Of course, then I had to come back to my freezing cold dorm room. I guess they turned down the heat (they couldn't have turned it completely off because some people stayed over break), because every place in this building is cold. Even the bathrooms aren't their usual sauna-selves. Debbie actually brought some [non-frozen] soup from home, stuck it in the fridge, and pulled it out for supper an hour later completely frozen. She had it out on the heater for a couple more hours before it finally defrosted enough to eat.

Crazy crazy crazy.

Just like this upcoming week. If I don't post much on here during the next week, I'm very sorry. It's the week before finals, and I start to twitch a little when I think about all that I have going on between now and December 18th. But I'll be okay. I'll be fine and dandy.

Lord be with me.

So, here I sit in my dorm room watching Notting Hill, wondering how I can love the movie so much even though Julia Roberts is such a jerk to Hugh Grant (mmm....Hugh Grant), and wishing I was already in the car headed toward home. My last class got over around 11:16 (we finished early), but I have one-act practice from 6:30 until 8:00, hence my fun wait. I was actually planning to watch Lord of the Rings since I have plenty of DVD time, but the player kept freezing every five minutes. When you're watching a three hour movie, this only adds to the length.

Man, Julia Roberts is such a jerk in this flick.

But that only makes me love Hugh Grant even more.

Fun Fact: Troy, my ride (who's so incredibly wonderful to stay and wait for me to be done even though that'll put us arriving home around 11:30 tonight), fell off of his bunk bed last night onto (get this, y'all) a chair. He's kinda walking with a tilt to the side right now, but he says he'll be fine to drive.

Well, I've got an hour to kill before practice, so I may try to actually do some work before I leave. Maybe.

Or maybe I'll just take advantage of the fact that hardly anyone's on the network, so stuff should download faster than.....fast stuff.

(Yes, that post is a not-so-carefully disgused way to post without actually writing anything. Aren't you so clever to catch on?)

One More Reason to Love MSN:
(an abbreviated message between Tiffani and myself)

TJ says: married w/ children is on

Hannah jane says: I'd say I hadn't seen it in forever, but yesterday I saw half an episode

TJ says: really that is cool

TJ says: friends is on

TJ says: ho hum

Hannah jane says: not a good episode?

TJ says: don't know

TJ says: don't care

TJ says: kinda funny

Hannah jane says: I guess that's kinda good

TJ says: old

Hannah jane says: I like the old ones best

TJ says: yep i don' like any of them

TJ says: actually

TJ says: kinda like them

TJ says: Golden girls!!!!!!!!!!

Hannah jane says: I was never a big Golden Girls fan

TJ says: see that is cool awesome show!

TJ says: cheese on lennon

TJ says: dropped remote

TJ says: All in the Family!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wow, I just love how the universe suddnely decided I deserved awesome Fridays! Maybe it's because the rest of my weekday evenings have one-act practice...I don't really know, and don't especially care, either. I just know that last night was so-o-o-o much fun!

I went out with the flute section again to see Harry Potter (although this time we stayed in Kirksville and didn't take a road trip to Macon), which--of course--meant we had to eat out first. Between McDonalds (which has these *amazing* "Treasure Planet" Happy Meal toys right now AND they're back to the old cardboard boxes [at least for now]--a double helping of wonderfulness) and the movie theatre itself, I have about 89 cents left. (Please, marching band paycheck, please please come in soon!)

But, I loved the movie just as much as I did the first time around, which means I can totally justify to myself buying the DVD when it comes out next year at a price that's way too high for my cheap college lifestyle. Of course, we weren't in the very front row (as fun as that was) and we made comments to each other the entire time (Kristen, dude, you crack me up)--including credits--but it was still lots of fun.

When we came back to campus, we decided it was the perfect time to explore the basement in Baldwin Hall, which is supposed to be haunted......this naturally led to trying to get into *every* basement on campus. So you, young Truman student, never have to go through this same process, I give you:

The Basements of Truman Buildings

Ophelia Parrish - very white, very sterile looking, very boring. Don't waste your time unless you just want to ride in the gigantic elevator (it's made to fit instruments and scenery pieces--I think we're going to sneak into the building and have a flute sleep-over in it sometime, though).

Kirk Memorial - actual door to the basement was locked, but that's probably to protect the weird artifact museum down there. There *was* a good collection of old dentist chairs outside the door, however, and the first floor lobby has excellent accoustics for singing loudly ("I Will Survive") or just yelling because no one's around.

Kirk Building - I was the only one who'd actually been in the basement here before (there's a big gym down there where we filmed for filmclub the day I actually got to stay long enough to be part of the movie), and that stayed the same as all the doors were locked. Truman, is there no trust in the world? You leave everything else unlocked.

Violette Hall - There is no basement. We didn't even go in the building. (I think it was locked, anyway.)

McClain Hall - It's a boring building with no actual basement. We did utilize the campus phones to make a quick prank call, although the person wasn't home, so it was just a prank message (Hey, it's me! Call me back! Thanks, bye!). No, we didn't know the person.

Baldwin Hall - The only one with a remotely creepy basement; mainly because it's where all the old fine arts stuff was stored before it moved to OP, so the basement is just old lockers and cabinets hanging open with music all over the floor. Also in Baldwin, there's a door that constantly bangs against its lock, like someone's trying to get in from the other side. (Kristen could not stand by this door for longer than 30 seconds.) This was the only spooky thing (in my opinion) in any basement, although the dentist chairs were kinda weird. The best part about Baldwin, however, was the open window on the third floor that opened onto the roof. No, the sidewalk isn't close enough to the side of the building to use this fact to our advantage, although we did agree it would make the best hide-and-seek spot ever.

All in all, a wonderful time. I need to go exploring more often. (I'd say, I'll do that next Friday, but I'll be happily long gone from here by then--yay, Thanksgiving!) Hope all y'alls Friday was just as great. (Oh, and Memento? Twisted movie, y'all, but recommended highly. Broadway trivia: The chick who plays Stanley's wife just won the Tony last year for Featured Actress in a Musical even though she'd never done a musical before in her entire life. Go, Harriet Harris, go!)

I just realized that last night, while my brother, Caleb, was writing a thought-provoking post on cloning and scientists "playing god," I was watching kittens dressed as vikings sail to a Led Zeppelin song. Same family, different worlds. (And people think he's the weird one...)

I'd ponder this longer, but I'm hungry and want to go to lunch so I can do laundry this afternoon so I can buy discounted books tomorrow at the bookstore's customer appreciation day. Is there anything you want, Caleb? Let me know. (You know how to reach me.....or else you really don't and that's why I never seem to hear from you anymore.)

Okay, you know it's time to go to bed when you run into something like this. (As a complete side note---I wouldn't be completely adverse to someone buying me one of the t-shirts; just make it a good one.)

Goodnight, y'all. Don't let the kittens haunt your dreams tonight!

I just finished my math homework and I'm amusing myself with this.....my pirate name's Mad Jenny Bonney, what's yours? Arr!

I totally woke up this morning thinking it was Wednesday. It wasn't until I was debating which pair of exercise shorts to wear (I have fitness activity on Mon/Wed) before I realized that it was actually Tuesday and I still had to register. This, of course, was a mondo bummer to realize.

However, as of three-ish this afternoon, I am officially registered will all the classes I wanted for next semester. (They're in a little bit different order, but they're still there, and that's all that really matters to me right now.) I believe that calls for a "YAY!!!"

Interesting news on the math front......

I was talking to my friend Steve (he also takes elementary functions, although the hour before me, so we work on problems together--he finds it vastly amusing that I have a calculator named "Steve") and he says that since the professor (Dr. Knight) has been gone for so long, the math department is considering whether or not he'll get to retain his teaching position next semester. Apparently, he wasn't supposed to be gone this long, and no one's sure what to do anymore. We were supposed to have a test today (according to the schedule), but he didn't leave a copy behind, so we didn't have it. (That was a *yay* moment, if I ever saw one.) We're not even sure when we'll actually take it, if ever.

Crazy, huh? I just hope I get to make up that first test after Thanksgiving like we were promised at the begining of the year. Otherwise, rest of the class or not, my final grade will kinda go downhill.

I've just got to brag on myself before I rush off to lunch......Remember how much my math pain makes me moan and writher in pain and agony? (Or something like that.....I'm in a good mood and prone to exagerate.) Today we got back our last test [from about two weeks ago--we've had a substitute teacher for awhile], and I received a 97%! That's the best math test grade I've received all this year! Yay, me!

[EXTRA NOTE: I don't know why, but Blogger keeps saying it's post and publishing, but this is the third time I've had to re-publish this note. Does someone at Blogger not want to celebrate my math victory?]

I am so incredibly proud of myself. Today, for the first time EVER in my entire short existance, I actually managed to twist noodles onto a fork and get them to my mouth before they all fell off. Greatest thing about this? No need to slurp the ends of my noodles (although I enjoy doing that in the privacy of my home, the middle of the Ryle Hall dinning hall isn't the best place to slurp noodles).

Of course, I couldn't repeat the same feat *afterward,* nor will I ever be able to do so again, I suppose. Oh, well. In the [sorta] words of Shakespeare: Tis better to have twisted once only than to have never twisted at all.

Just to Mention It: favorite line of Harry Potter that *wasn't* in the book? RON: "Follow the spiders?! Why couldn't it have been follow the butterflies?"

And, if you see the movie, stay until the end of the credits for a short little funny thing. If credits bore you, just do what we did: make fun of the names. Trust me, there's some doozies in there.

(For those of you who care: Yes, I feel better now (I think it might've been the scrambled eggs I ate this morning), and--far as I know--no one's dead. Although, I did obsessively check my messages today, just in case.

Anyway.

Once I got past the whole "overwhelming feeling of dread" thing, this was a great day. More than that....we need a thesaurus to accuratly describe today. Today, Friday, November 15, was a wonderful, extraordinary, marvelous, astonighing, amazing remarkable, astounding day! (Thank you Webster's Classic Reference Library Thesaurus (new revised edition), copyright 2001) First of all, I found out I don't have a math test on Monday, which means I don't have to worry about it this weekend. And, I already finished my math homework, so I don't have to think about math at all, if I don't want to. (And, oh, do I not want to think about functions class.) I planned out an entirely new replacement schedule, just in case the lab slotdoesn't work out, so I don't have to fret about that. ["Fret" is a very British-sounding word; don't you think so?] I tracked down my theatre advisor, so both schedules are completely approved and ready to register on Tuesday. While I *did* have marching band, it lasted for less than an hour (to quote my SA Alicen: "Sweet!"), and--by going--I found out that a group of flutes were meeting to go to Harry Potter in the evening. So, that's how I ended up on a road trip to Macon, Missouri at five thirty today.

Interestingly enough, when we arrived, there was no one (no one) there, so we left for supper (Burger King; I am now the proud owner of a Simpsons Kid's Meal toy) to eat something more substatial than popcorn. When we got back, however, the place was packed (of course), and we ended up sitting in the *very* *front* *row.* Dead center. This, of course, added a new and interesting twist to the movie, as anytime something popped out, it looked like it was going to attack us. [MINOR MOVIE SPOILER: yeah, and that snake at the end? Don't even get me started on how freaky it is to have *that* look like it's going to attack you.]

And, I don't know why this made the whole trip totally worthwhile, but the movie theater was selling supplies left over from their haunted corn maze (the "maize maze," as they called it--yes, this is more of a hick town than Sullivan; scary, eh?), so I'm now the proud owner of a safari helmet. (For $1.00, no less)

So, moral: tomorrow may suck, but at least I'll have today to remember forever. And that's good enough for me.

Okay, not to sound like an alarmist, but is everyone okay? About twenty minutes ago, I got the most overwhelming feeling of dread, and--while I feel better now (God bless prayer)--I don't know if everyone else feels okay, too.

So, is there anything going on out there? Let me know if you're all okay (or bad or whatever--just let me know you're still alive).

As it's only *40-ish* days until Christmas, (and I'm apparently making up for my lack of posting over the past couple of days by posting a zillion times in one night) here's some helpful gift ideas. (And don't forget this one.) (If the link would work, you could see my wonderful bowling bag purse at this link. (In red, por favor.) )

Just because I was already there......Mom, weren't you looking for something like this? Just letting you know it's out there.

Two Other Pieces of News That Just Occurred to Me:

1. Mom and Dad, if you're reading this (so help you), I have a tenative ride home for Thanksgiving break. Troy said he'd give me a ride, so we can mess with the vacation thing from there. Sound cool? Spiffy.

2. Jennifer (of the comment board fame) has a new weblog. It seems the disease is spreading to all whom I touch. I can hardly wait for it to spread to Hope and Cindy-Loo-Hoo. Jennifer's still working out technical difficulties, but hopefully with some help (Did you used to have that same template, Caleb? Wanna spread some help around?---email Jennifer, for golly sakes!), she'll match the technical marvel that is my site. [Feel free to add your own solid laughter here.] Here's the link. Ta da.

So, ......life. Yeah. It's been kinda hectic around here lately (like I oh so subtly mentioned before). I think I finally have my schedule worked out (I register on Tuesday), although there's only four spots left in the lab class I *have* to be in for everything to work. (No, I'm not tense. I've always had this nervous tick.) (Yes, I have a back-up schedule. I just really didn't want to have to use it.)

I've only had One-Act practice twice this week. We missed on Sunday, cancelled Tuesday for the director's birthday, and we skipped today so one of the actors could go to a Harry Potter party (Yes, I know the movie comes out tomorrow, and yes, I plan on going. The theater doesn't sell tickets until the day of, so I'm calling first thing in the morning.) Yesterday we didn't have much of a practice because we through the director a surprise party. Lydia made a cake, Jolene bought ice cream, and Paul killed all the balloons with a big metal stick someone left in the room. (It kinda resembled a machete.) We talked about meeting tomorrow, but Harry Potter stood in the way.

Other news: I tried to reorganize my desk (move the DVDs I can't play out of site, move the printer up a shelf, and move my books), but it wasn't until I threaded all my cords through different holes in the back of the desk, taken everything off the shelf, and had nearly everything perfect that I realized I didn't leave enough room for all my textbooks. So I had to move everything back. Bleck. (Semi-related note: I need to buy a new black ink cartridge because I have 25% left according to the message box that pops up every time I turn on the computer.)

Yesterday I played my bass drum part completely left handed. (I'm a righty.) No one noticed the difference. I'm finally ambidextrous at something! (I've always wanted to be ambidextrous--though I don't have the time to teach myself to write left-handed.) I just never thought it'd be in percussion. Although, three months ago, I never thought I'd be in percussion to begin with.

I totally have no topic going anymore, so I'll end with this quote, heard in the Baldwin Hall stairwell after WACT class: "You're walking, not waiting! They both start with "w," but they ain't the same thing!"

I was terribly dissapointed today when I figured out [based on other chalkings around campus] that the ad for "Learn the Truth About Warner's Health" was actually a badly written Women's Health. I was really looking forward to listening to some football conspiracy theories. I haven't heard a good conspiracy theory in a long while. Oh well.

Let me also add how sad I was when I walked toward Baldwin today and there was no mattress on the grass like usual.

Allow me to explain.

It's fairly common practice for roommates to steal each other's mattresses (not that common--but I do hear about another thing at least once or twice a month) and put them in odd places. Lots of people hide them in the elevator, and just move it off onto a floor whenever the owner gets suspicious. Some mattresses have ended up in entierly different buildings. So, when I saw the mattress there Sunday night, I wasn't so much surprised to see it as I wondered how long it would stay there. (Apparently, four days--depending on when it was put there over the weekend.) Either the owner started searching the campus, the people who hid it finally gave in, or Truman staff took over. I'd like to think the matinence staff became too sick of looking for it, had to find some obscure spot for it, and the people who hid it suddenly had a whole lot more trouble on their hands from the mattress's owner.

Hee hee hee

Yeah, I know....I used to be so gung-ho about posting all the time. You know that sensation you get when a big rubber mallet comes into contact with the back of you skull? I don't know it specifically, but I can guess it's a whole lot like what life's doing to me right now. I think all my professors suddenly figured out there's only a few weeks left before finals and since they surely haven't taught us anything yet, they have to now. Bleck. I just had to report that when I went to get my mail today, I was listening to the music blaring from open windows in the dorm (it's a really nice day out today). There was the expected rock, alternative, and rap, but I was vastly surprised by the person blasting "The Song That Never Ends" out of their second floor window. Man, I'm so glad I'm not that person's roommate.

No, I didn't delete the comment board, but it looks like someone did for me because it doesn't show up half the time. Sorry if you try to post and it doesn't show up--I swear I didn't get rid of it, but it disappears every once in awhile. Sorry.

Have I mentioned how much I love Jennifer's comments? (And how sorry I am that I didn't get to see you this weekend---I think that helped add to my sickness: total guilt that I never even called you.) Extra special mail coming your way!

Speaking of deleting things.....blogger just ate my last post. Dang. I guess this means I have to write it again. Double dang.

This was a crazy weekend. Friday had the most gorgeous November weather I've ever seen--it was a confounded high of 74 degrees! I didn't have any classes in the afternoon, so I took my lawn chair out to the quad and sat and read for three hours. I'd actually planned to work on my schedule and four-year plan, but I didn't. I didn't work on either of those that evening/night, either, as I worked on not watching The Lord of the Rings (remember--I flubbed up my DVD player?) instead.

Saturday morning, my wonderful parents drove up, picked me up, and drove me back home. (Did I mention they were wonderful? Because they really really are and I love them so much) I did laundry all afternoon, along with some math homework and schedule work. That night I went to my high school's production of "The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe"--the main reason for my journey home. It was a pretty good show---the White Witch was wonderfully evil, my friend Kelly had two (*two!*) sword fight sequences, and I got to see lots of my drama people. I actually ended up at an unofficial semi-cast party singing country songs (and Bohemian Rhapsody, a must for any sing-along situation) very loudly at Pizza Hut. The party moved to Jeani's house around 10-ish, and I got home around 11:40 (yes, I had a curfew and yes, I was late). I eventually fell asleep on the couch around 1:30 watching Ocean's Eleven, woke up around 6:30 lamenting the fact that I didn't get to sleep on my regular, not-up-in-the-air bed, moved to said bed, and fell asleep watching the sun rise through the crack in my curtains.

Sunday morning, I woke up a couple hours later, got ready for church, started feeling a little sick, but managed to sit through the sermon in Ezekiel and go downstairs for the meal (leftovers from a dinner held Friday night) before I felt really ill. We finally went back home, but only long enough to pack and get in the car before leaving for campus. I tried to work on my four-year plan again, feel nauseous, fell sleep to try and feel better, woke up, worked on my plan some more, and gave up about three miles outside Kirksville. I dropped all my stuff off, walked my parents back to the car, cried for awhile, reminded myself Thanksgiving was in two weeks, and ate my supper. Unfortunetly, eating kinda made me sick again, and I ended up [finally] throwing-up in the four floor lounge's trash can. This wasn't exactly the best place, but at least I felt better. I then threw away the rest of my sandwich (there wasn't much, and I certainly wasn't going to eat any more after seeing it again that soon), and ran to one-act practice. Where I sat for half an hour with the cast until we finally decided the director had either died on his way back from Kansas City or was in jail for stealing bells. (Long story--I'll explain another time.) Got back to the room just in time to hear Brian (the director)'s message on the phone (Apparently, someone who got a ride with him became rather sick on the ride back and they had spend some quality time at a McDonald's parking lot.) Then, I sat down at the computer, typed out my four-year plan, wished for luck that I would actually work out, and typed out a blog entry.

Then I had to type it again because blogger ate it. But you already knew that. I'm thinking bed is a good idea for right now, but I have a brand new Delia's catalog and I won't have time for it in the morning. Although, bed has nice warm blankets......

Yeah, that's gonna win. Goodnight, y'all. (Please, Lord, let this actually post.)

Well, I just figured out that I deleted the DVD program off my computer. Of course, I found this out when I actually wanted to watch a movie five minutes ago. Apparently, when I tried to delete the not-working, crummy DVD program on my computer, I actually deleted the one I actually use. And love. (Or loved, as I guess the case really is now.) This is just a great big bummer--I had a new DVD and everything! I'm now listening to the three somber Moxy Fruvous songs actually on my computer ("Sad Girl" has a good melancholy-ness to it that helps the upset mood I'm in.) I think I need to read something happy and upbeat before I go to bed....I'll have weird dreams if I go to bed right now.

Hoping y'all haven't deleted something important to your existance today. (Yeah, it's only a DVD player, but I'm a college student. What am I supposed to do--study? I do too much of that already.)

*Happy Birthday, Sam!*

That's right, y'all, it's my friend Sam's 18th birthday! (It's also my half birthday, so if you want to get me something, just check out this. Rock out, Moxy Fruvous!) In honor of this wonderful occassion, here's....

A Couple of Great Things About Sam

* She sends poor college students (like me) letters in decorated envelopes with a package of Pop Rocks and a couple stickers--the greatest things to find in the dull gray dorm mailbox.
* I'm four hours away, but still completely current on my hometown gossip because she fills me in over MSN at night.
* She introduced me to the scrapbook store downtown with its Wall of Stickers.
* My junior year, we roomed together at state music festival and called all our friends with different accents for hours.
* The way she always tries to spread a little joy around the world.
* Sam's laugh. There's no way to describe it, but it just makes me happy.

BTWY ("by the way, y'all") --- the comment board's going to stick around as long as Jennifer's making comments on it. I'd love for this to turn into the Hannah and Jennifer show, 'cause she cracks me up so much!

Truly Bizarrness

I was working on a paper in my writing class today, when I wrote the word "occupy" and I suddenly flashed back to seventh grade SAGE class and how annoying I was. I can't believe I actually (on many occassions) just ran in circles around poor Dan Culp saying "occupy! occupy!" How did I have friends back then if I acted this way to people? I just want to apologize to Dan for that, along with anyone else I did some weird annoying thing to during that time of my life. I'm very embarrassed to look back on that, and I have no clue why that suddenly came to me in class today.

I feel better now.

Anyway, I know I promised (pinky swore and everything!) a real post--what? Two days ago? My life's been suddenly taken over by my next submission in my writing class, and it doesn't look like I'll be free until I actually turn it in next Thursday. (Oh, golly, I hope it doesn't take that long.) So, forgive me, y'all, but I want to keep my scholarship.

Can't talk today......I'm busy writing a paper about why being 1/4 Canadian is the best minority to be (please don't send me flak about that---it's a tounge-in-cheek persuasive paper). I pinky swear to update tomorrow.

Extra Note: I've gotten some mail (okay, one email) that the comment board doesn't work. This could possibly have been the problem all along. If you've tried to use the comment board but couldn't, send me an email so I can see if this problem only affects my brother. (Yes, he's alive! Hi Caleb!)

I've come to the conclusion that I should disband the comment board. No one ever seems to use it, and I hate looking at how it doubled itself anyway, so I don't think it's a big loss. I'll probably look into a guestbook for the future, but I'm not too concerned with that right now. I'll leave the comment line up for about the rest of the week, in case anyone wants to plead with me to keep it around (please ignore my laughter at that thought--I've had two comments the entire time, and one was from myself to all y'all).

Weird Moment: I was just taking a break from studying (I have a health test tomorrow morning) by playing the random quote game on Internet Movie Database when I got a quote from The Muppet Movie just when the song "The Magic Show" (from the end of that movie) was playing on my computer. Bizarre timing, eh?

(Why are all my latest posts in weird subject form like this? Besides the fact that that's how I'm organizing stuff right now, why should it extend to my weblog?)

Greatest Thing About the Library Having Windows: people on the outside can watch a person's frustration grow until they finally beat their head on the table and/or Hugely Thick Book that caused the frustration. Ah, college.

One Thing That Makes Me Smile: getting an email from someone that starts out "Dearest Hannah." The 'est' just makes it that much better than a regular 'dear.'

That is all. Too much happened today to expand further.

Okay, let me just say I had the best Halloween ever (so good it deserves bold *and* italics!) My SA told us not too buy too much candy (not that I bought any at all, as I already mentioned) because the fourth floor doesn't generally have many visitors. Ha. I've never seen so many confounded costumed kids in my life. I *did* end up wearing my duct tape dress (and made a great crown...I was a gigantic hit that people are still talking about, just to brag), and was handing out candy left and right when the *fire alarm* went off. Of course, my first reaction wasn't "I hope there aren't many kids in the building" or "boy, what idiot pulled the alarm?" No, the first thing I thought of was how I would reach my total doom by falling down the stairs because my duct tape dress wouldn't let me bend. Everyone got out of the building eventually, and were huddling around because the temperature had dropped about ten degrees after the sun set. While my floor was re-grouping, we heard someone behind us say "I *told* him not to use the fog machine!" That's right, someone on the third floor had turned on their fog machine (to make their hall creepier and thus possibly win the hall decorating contest), and it triggered the alarm. I'm sure the three firetrucks that showed up were very thrilled to find this out.

Anyway, we finally get back up to our rooms (after and even scarier climb *up* the stairs in the duct tape dress), and the kids start coming back and continue clearing me out of candy. I finally got to a point where I was nearly out (and had a space between kids) and walked aimlessly down the hall to see how everyone else was. My friend Janna was nearly out of candy like I was, and lamenting the loss of all her candy bars. So, we decided we'd earn back all our candy by trick-or-treating ourselves. You have no idea how much fun it is to go around with all the little kids and beg people your age for candy. You also have no idea how much fun it is to see people's reaction when they figure out you're wearing duct tape. I highly recommend for everyone to wear a completely duct tape outfit at least once in their lives to know this sensation. Janna and I ended up with way more candy than we even started out with (*good* candy, too!), and we didn't have to buy any of it. Definitely a great Halloween.

Then, yesterday, I voted for the first time ever (is it just me, or are the little boxes little bundles of fun to punch out? I'm totally looking forward to the next election now just for that.), didn't go to the library like I [sorta] planned, saw the lab show ("The Visit"--a truly creepy play that I'm still thinking about...I recommend you go out and read it, although it won't be the same as sitting there in the first row, watching it live, like I did.), went to Wal-Mart around 11 p.m., bought some [discounted] candy corn (yay! sugar high!) and "The Three Musketeers" on DVD (I totally never realized that was Kieffer Sutherland and Charlie Sheen--how sad is that?), and ended up falling asleep on Tiffani's very solid floor while watching Spider-Man at one a.m after discussing how bad it would be if people became hyper after eating carbohydrates instead of sugar, as you'd never be able to eat potatoes (yes, we were very very tired).

Boy, three links in one sentence. That must be some kind of record.

Today I sat through the coldest football game of all time, only to watch us lose (although the 100-yard touchdown was pretty spiffy to see). Before that, I actually managed to make it filming and am finally in a movie! This is exciting because I tried to be in the movie before and ended up with gray hair and no shooting. Sure, all I'm doing is sitting and hanging out, but it's still something. (And I didn't have to color my hair.) All in all, a relatively good day (once I could feel my toes again), and it's about to get even better--I'm going to bed. Yay, sleep! Goodnight, y'all!

Happy Halloween, y'all! I was busy all yesterday afternoon helping decorate our hall into a greusome, haunted carnival, complete with freak show, hall of mirrors, and lots of trashbag covered walls. Gotta love cheap black plastic.

Favorite [cop-out] costume: Kelly, in my writing class who wore all J-Crew clothing and called himself a J-Crew Ad.

Truman sponsers the community to bring in their kids to trick-or-treat in the dorms (as I'm sure most colleges do), so I'm trying to be ready for the little monsters to arrive around six, six-thirty. My costume isn't completely finished yet....I'm still trying to figure out how to build a tiara out of duct tape (I'm going as Hannah, Queen of Duct Tape---I figure, if I have a dress made out of duct tape, why not put it to use?) Since a dress of duct tape isn't very practical for college life (it's hard to sit in duct tape), I've just been walking around with cat ears all day. It's more than most people---Truman people don't seem to have enough spirit. It must be all that time they spend in the library.

None of the kids are going to like me, I bet. I never had time to run out to Wal-Mart, so the only candy I have is the creme savers and lifesavers my mom sent me back in August. (Oh, I have pop rocks, but they're not getting their grubby hands anywhere near my pop rocks.) This probably works out better anyway, because I'll just go to Wal-Mart tomorrow and buy discounted candy and costume stuff. Yay, cheap stuff! The best part of college!

Anyway, hope y'all have a nice safe holiday, and don't terrorize too many people (unless they really really deserve it--then, go right ahead). And don't forget to look for the great pumpkin!

Oh! What a Beautiful Mornin'!

I just checked my email and I receieved not one, but two of those "someone likes you" email thingies. On my campus account. (This fact is important because it shows (1) they're not just random junkmail, as my campus account blocks all spam, thank God, and (2) the two people must be here on campus, otherwise they'd have my hotmail address.) There's nothing like a little love in the air to improve your rainy morning.

One Last Thing...

Boy, I love "Dinner and a Movie" on TBS. It's one of the weirdest concepts ever (Let's have a kitchen show using a movie as the theme for the meal!), yet it works so, so well.

That's all. Go back to your lives (or papers, but that's just if you're me).

Just had to mention it....

I was cleaning my room all afternoon today (hey, anything to put off writing a paper for class), and dumped some trash on my desk. No big deal. Two seconds ago I looked down, and there's now two crumbs and a piece of hair shaped just like a smiley face where all the rest of the trash got thrown away.

If the universe is trying to cheer me up right now, just tell it to wait until I'm sad. I don't need these grand signs right now. (Thanks, though!)

No, I wasn't in the library today. At all. Rejoice!

Just writing a quick post to say that once more the madness is spreading. Boy, if I'd realized how many people I'd end up turning on to Blogger when I stole this whole thing from Caleb in the first place.........I still would've done it. :) Newest addition? My insane friend Tiffani (of Tom Daschle and Lemmings fame)'s site: "Proof Freud Was Not a Quack" will be a random stream of her thoughts. Please don't blame me for setting this loose on the universe. I will give my apologizes to the world, though. But remember, she's a psych major. For this alone we must forgive her.

Just kidding, Tiff. Don't analyze me for that.

Okay, now you can be on my case. It feels like 1 a.m. and I know I'm going to be up way to early tomorrow morning to make copies of the paper I just finished (we have to have 20 copies--one for each person of the class to throw away on their way out of the door). I feel in the mood to be happy for actually accomplishing [most] of my to-do list for this weekend, despite being surprised by dinner and a movie this afternoon. (Calm down, all y'alls who think I actually have a love life--I was "adopted" by a family from my church, and they wanted to save me from the dining hall.) Speaking of movies....

Not to sound like I'm completely jumping on the critical bandwagon, but you (yes *you*)need to get up off your couch and see "My Big Fat Greek Wedding." Yes, it's a chick flick, but it's a funny chick flick, so that should ease your pain, guys. Saw it this afternoon (or, I guess I should technically call it *yesterday* afternoon, as it's now [kinda] Monday) and thouroughly enjoyed it, even though I needed to go to the bathroom for the entire second half. Confounded large sodas! Not that any of y'all wanted to know that.

Two Things I'm Sad to Admit:

1. The first thing I thought of when the "Two Towers" preview came on was, "Boy, I bet Matt would've really perked up when that came on!"

2. I perked up about double Matt's probable "Two Towers" reaction when the new Harry Potter trailer came on.

[Further] Proof How Pathetic I Am: I again spent my evening in the library. For nearly five hours. What did I accomplish? A mostly finished paper and I watched a movie for Intro to Theatre. And, you have no idea how unworthy of the "Harvard of the Midwest" you feel when you can't even get the confounded desk lamp to turn on. Sad sad sad. (That's becoming my new catchphrase, which in itself is "sad sad sad." Boy, I need sleep. [Another catchphrase!])

Don't be on my case for being up late again...it's technically eleven all over again.

Funniest line of the night (look forward to this as my MSN name for the next week): "No, Tom Daschle, I can't be the lemming!" --Tiffani, talking about her political views

Proof How Pathetic I Am: I spent my Saturday night in the library and, even once I came back to my room (once because the library closed), I avoided watching the perfect-to-make-fun-of flick on Sci-Fi to write a paper. Sad sad sad. However, this did give me:

Three Things That Made Me Happy I Went to the Library

1. Seeing the metal tree holders in the floor where they built the new section of the library but left the sidewalk where it was before, thus, leaving the outdoor tree holders and trashcans.

2. Listening to the couple I passed talk about a favorite blanket of the girl's that she used for imprompto picnics as a kid

3. Seeing the guy with the jaunty walk and fluffy, curly hair stop mid-step to say "Hey" as I passed. (Did I mention he had Buddy Holly glasses? Man, I dig those.)

See, kiddies--it's *good* to study! Don't want a guy with a jaunty walk to say "Hey" to you?

Of course you do. I know these things.

Sheepishly Admitting:

It occured to me after I pressed the "publish" button on that last post, that I have had a couple friends email me and mention they'd seen the site. So, allow me to make amends....

*Hey Sam! I hope you don't mind I posted a link to your site. How'd your trip go? Got anything special you want for your birthday--or are you even doing anything special that weekend? I'm still not sure I'll be back, but [like I said a zillion times already] I'm working on it.

*Debra! Darling! I hadn't heard for you in so long, I was worried you'd fallen off one of those Colorado mountains! First chair *and* a 4.0--that's just awesome! Boy, I'm using lots of exclamation points on you! If only there were a billion cute guys in one place....

*Speaking of cute guys...Matt! What's going on? (I thought you might like that intro :) ) Sorry I didn't get to see you for longer than two seconds when I was home--although some people I didn't even see at all. You're going to have to teach me chess sometime so I don't have to be beaten at rock paper scissors all the time.

See, don't you want a special message, too? (Or maybe you want to teach me how to play chess...) Whatever, just email me! (Wow, I sound really desperate for human contact, don't I? Trust me, I don't live in a box or anything that would make me feel this way. I just want some idea of who's out there readying my stuff.)

Hopefully This Won't Last For Long

I've decided that, since it doesn't seem like many people see my blog, I'll put on a personalized message to each person who did (and thus might again). So, a great big "warm-like-toast" hi to Rob G., who took time out of his day to ask me why I thought people write blogs. Rob, just in case you're not big on checking your email, (see--personalized! Don't you want one?) I'll repeat myself for your benefit: I think most people are just trying to get their ideas/thoughts/values out into the world. One person may only have so much contact with others in their lives, but how many people will pull up a random weblog of a person they don't know? Part of the weblog appeal is probably the attention, which stems from getting people to want to hear their ideas, become fascinated with their life, and then stalk them. Me? I'm just a busy college chick who doesn't have time to mess with long emails and is trying to keep in contact with friends. So, yeah, my thoughts'll be out for anyone to stumble across, but I'm not really looking for attention from anyone (although I do have semi-stalker experience).

Now, don't you want your very own message, too? If so, talk to me so I can talk to you!

I can't believe myself. I stayed up until one a.m. organizing my music files. All 717 of them on KaZaA. Yeah, every once in awhile I feel the need to make sure all my files are okay, but not like this. Whenever I didn't know the composer or the album name, I looked it up on Amazon. I obsessively categorized everything, even making subcategories when I couldn't decide if it was more of a pop or rock thingy (or whatever--you should check out my "movies based on musicals" and "oldies used on tv show soundtracks" categories). I feel like such a pathetic person. Here it was, Friday night, I was even invited to a frat party (not that I was going to go, but--really!--who would want to invite me?), I had many other options, and instead I stayed up late organizing pirated music on my computer. Sad sad sad.

I'm not even a big organization person! (Contray to what Hope may tell anyone....) Even my friend Chris (who I've known for what? Two months now?) mentioned that he couldn't picture me fanatically organizing music at one in the morning. He said I seemed to just go with the flow. Which I do. I just don't know where this sudden need to have everything perfect before I could fall asleep came from.

Hey, lookit! I've actually figured out [kinda] how to work the comment thing. No, I don't know why there's two of them, either. (Or at least there were last I checked. I'm assuming that wasn't a one-time thing.) Still, now y'all can leave me little messages. It's like having an answering machine, but I don't have to figure out how to record anything. Spiffy!

Go out and find yourself some clips by Mitch Hedberg---*fantastic* comedian! His bit about koala bears--oh, golly, it kills me! Here, I'lll even give y'all a link to his homepage. Check him out, y'all!

I was walking down the hall today, and all of a sudden I thought, "Boy, my shoelaces are really really loud today."

Life is Like Toast--now fully link-i-fied for your enjoyment!

I don't promise that they all work. I may be at the "Harvard of the Midwest," but that doesn't mean I understand HTML.

(Yeah, I should really be doing my math. But am I?.....nah. Why choose math when you can choose fun?)

The curse continues!

Just found out that not only does my *brother* have a weblog (which--remember--I stole this whole idea from in the first place), but now my friend Sam has one also! Check it out here, y'all!

Yes, the paper's done now. (It's actually been done for about seven hours, for all those keeping score.) That's why I get to play again.

Anyway.

Highlight of my day-- listening to Cathy from across the hall tell of her "tramatic mac and cheese incident" at supper tonight. Priceless fun stuff.

Quick shout-out to Caroline Crane, a random person who happened across my blog and felt the need to provide a couple toast quotes (or at least a website that had some). Caroline, if you come back, remember that you get a fun prize now! And, all you people who actually know me--are you going to let a stranger beat you out for cool stuff? You don't know what you're missing out on!

If anyone's heard from my brother in the past couple of days, could you please let me know. I'm sure he's not dead or anything (well, pretty sure), but I haven't heard from him for awhile. Thanks, y'all. (Yes, I emailed him. Communication on my side is not the problem here.)

Finally.....another great song: "Truly, Truly" by Grant Lee Buffalo, the guy who does the troubadore thing on Gilmore Girls

Song I just discovered that makes me as giddy as "Rock Lobster"--"Big Fish" by Moxy Fruvous (yes, the Canadian group I love....so what if I'm still finding new songs?) "...in the small pond, you'll be a big fish!" Love it!

No, my paper's not done yet. No, I haven't been working on it this entire time. I gave up around 2-ish, thank you so much. Just be happy I'm awake at all and God bless fitness class for being canceled today!

I've apparently been working on this script study too long. I just leaned over to rest my head for a moment and think about the relationships of the characters in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof for a moment, but all I could think was "boy, my arm smells like corn chips."

That should probably tell me something. Unfortunetly, I'm going to have to ignore it and continue writing about my antagonists for awhile longer. Confound my procastination instincts!

Conversation I Had Yesterday that I'm Still Thinking About

TROY: Have you ever tried to drink an entire gallon of milk in an hour?

ME: No, but Caleb tried that last year. I think one of his professors mentioned it and then it turned into a bet on his floor for who could do it. I don't remember how many tried, but one actually made it.

TROY: Ha! See, I knew it could be done! That money's mine!

And then it went into how many times people threw up before they felt better (a lot), what kind of milk it was (Troy's using 2% because he thinks skim is "too watery"), and how long it took the one guy to feel better again (a long, long time).

Now, hopefully I can stop thinking about that (and whether I should send over the stomach medicine *now* or *later*) and work on my script study. Due tomorrow. Hey, I've got a day....

Wow, okay, remember how I didn't get that part from the callback but it was a good thing because I'm too busy anyway?

Let's just say I'm a little more busy now.

I got a call earlier this evening (right when I was rushing off and trying to end three MSN conversations, too) from the director, Brad, who was looking for a stage manager. So he called me. (No, I don't know how many people turned him down before he got to the lowly freshman--I didn't think it was polite to ask.) (I'm guessing three, though.) I guess the point is I *FINALLY* get to do some theatre stuff around here! Like, real theatre stuff! And I'll be in-charge and crap. Ooh....shades of junior year Assistant Director all over again. (hee hee hee)

Now that someone (besides myself) actually reads this thingy, it's been brought to my attention that I never really clarified what the GSBFMC thing was. Of course, now that it seems to be over (there was nothing in today's mail, at least), this is the *perfect* time to explain what the heck I was talking about. Every year, my mom runs a bookfair at both her schools. At the end of the week, the Scholastic Company people have a thing where if the students send so many letters to people, my mom will earn so much money to buy books for the school. My mom, brilliant woman that she is, always writes the addresses of nearly everyone she knows on the chalkboard and has the students send the letters to them instead. My mom knew she had a new address out of me going to college, but decided she could get two birds with one stone (I hate that expression) by also including my roommate. So then Debbie and I decided to turn it into a contest--who would get the most letters?--the results of which I've been documenting. That's basically it.

See, that wasn't so hard then, was it?

Update on callbacks---I didn't make the final list, but still feel really proud that, out of the entire campus, I was in the final 12 for this show. So......go me!

Last thing. Although I really enjoyed the Steve Martin quote (and had many more where that came from--read Cruel Shoes if you can find it, y'all), I've decided to turn the side quote into things about toast. Unfortunetly, I don't have many of these yet. So, I appeal to you, citizens of the world! Send me your toast quotes! (Maybe even just breakfast food quotes....I'm not going to be too picky.) Send me your toast stories! Just send me an email and tell me you like toast! (or let me know that you're reading--I'd love to know who out there--besides myself--reads this) If I use something of yours, I'll give you credit and send you something special in the mail! Promise!

Look! Real post alert! BWEEP! BWEEP!


This is my last post before I release this little monster on the world. I promised myself to wait lots of time (well, more than two days) before I sent out word about good ol' "Life is Like Toast" so I wouldn't steal Caleb's thunder too badly. Although I did really steal the entire idea from him in the first place. But I'm okay with that. (as you should be)


Anyway, [as I say because that paragraph is really going nowhere] it's been a pretty good day. My math class was canceled, I didn't have trash dumped on me for the litter commercial today (have I mentioned that? Filmclub's entering a contest purely to win the money--we want it so bad, we're entering three times under different names--and my group's dumping trash on people to show how much litter piles up in one day.), I played percussion for the first time *ever* (triangle, for those wondering--who was it that guessed that was all I'd do? I probably owe them a cookie or something.....although I will get to move up to chimes next time. Yay!), and I was called back for the One-Act plays. The senior class puts on a series of One-Act plays each semester, and I was called back for "Sure Thing" by David Ives. It's set up kinda like Groundhog Day (Bill Murray, Andie MacDowell--good flick), where a guy's trying to pick up a girl and each time either says something dumb, a bell rings and they get to try again. It sounds nifty, but now I've got big competition, since there's only two people in the play. But, still, my name was *finally* on a list! I'm so happy, I want to keep the paper; just tear it off the wall and hold on to it forever! (and ever and ever and ever and....)


Boy, I'm feeling crazy today.


It's probably from the switch back to college life. I actually had to do something today (a couple somethings, actually). And, yes, I know I have no pity from you hard-working high school people, but it was a weird switch. And don't even get me started on having to deal with four flights of stairs anytime I want to leave my dorm room. I wish the "invisible" elevator would actually materialize de vez en cuando. (Wow, I think that's the only Spanish I still know. Guess who's not looking forward to Spanish next semester....)


I think this is the longest single post I've ever made.


That probably means I should wind things down. Isn't that the weirdest saying ever? "Wind things down?" When did I ever have time to wind them up? No wonder I have no spare time; I'm probably winding things up all the time, just so I can wind them back down later.


I'm getting nowhere on my own, so I'll just leave a link y'all should visit. These people did what I always wanted to do: took one sentence, put it through every option on Babelfish (over at Altavista--great thing for Spanish projects), and showed just why translators don't really work. Funny stuff. Check it out and have a pleasant tomorrow!

[Probably the last] Update in the GSBFMC (you know what I mean):
Friday through Monday Totals:

Hannah: 25 Debbie: 8

Yeah, they really piled up over the weekend. *Two!* I'm so disappointed, I can't even express it. It's like y'all stole my ice cream or something.

I promise a real post later today. If I remember later today. If I'm not working on my script study later today. *sigh.* I miss midterm break already.

It's so weird to be home.

I mean, it's been *two months* since I've been home, and now I'm here, typing on the couch on a labtop with a purring cat at my feet wondering why Senator John McCain is hosting SNL. It's a whole lot better than sitting on my dorm room lofted bed, writing in my theatre book (which I really should be writing in) wondering why Senator John McCain is hosting SNL. (Why is he on?!? Isn't that against Congress's morals or something?) I guess there isn't much difference, but there's just something nice about being able to spread out, throw stuff around, and not have to pick up after myself.

I got in Thursday night, so I went to my old high school on Friday. I must've spent nearly an hour just wandering around the halls, trying to figure out where stuff was again. I also did the old "talk to old teachers so they can brag and forget about their class and talk to you, saving the students" thing. Boy, that needs a shorter title. My favorite part was choir, when I just wandered around the back of the room, starting with the sopranos and singing warm-ups with the altos. I don't think Mrs. Cox even realized I was there. I love how she's always so oblivious to the world. It gives me something I can count on. Then, we even won the homecoming football game that night. (We swamped the other team: 38 to 12 [hey, that's "swamping" for us]) I ended up falling asleep on this same couch that I mentioned earlier. I'm feeling like I'm going to fall asleep on it right now, but I want to see Weekend Update. Stop doing dumb bits with the senator--give me Tina and Jimmy!!

Next Update in the GSBFMC (Great Scholastic Book Fair Mail Contest--at least I'm trying to shorten it somehow)
Thursday Totals:

Hannah: 23 Debbie: 8

I'm very disappointed that we're leveling off as quickly as we are. I was hoping for floodgates of mail, and what do I have? 23 letters! Oh well, I guess I'll have to hold off on those plans to wallpaper my dorm walls. Besides, I'm going to be gone for the next couple of days and they might pile up. Here's hoping so!

This cracked me up so much, I just *had* to add it before I left for home today (yay! home!):

The origin of the word "tragedy" is a matter of conjecture. "Tragos" in Greek means "goat"; "oide" means "song." The exact connection of goat-song to drama is not clear, although three hypotheses have been advanced: (1) a goat was sacrificed as part of the original improvised ritual honoring Dionysus; (2) the chorus wore goatskins for costumes; (3) a goat was offered as a prize in the early choral contests. At any case, tragedy was associated with goat-song or goat-singer in it's early stages.

Becuase, of course, when I think of tragedy, I think of goat-song. Don't you? (gotta love theatre class and how it brings out such fun points from the screwy textbook.)

Great Scholastic Book Fair Mail Contest (boy, that's gotta get a shorter title) Wednesday Update:

Hannah: 22 Debbie: 8
Yup, I got seven more today, but there weren't any for Debbie. The first graders probably liked spelling "Hannah Smith" better than "Debbie Scarbrough."

Oh, anyway, rest of Tuesday. Tuesday was a big day, probably to make up for the sheer boring-ness of Monday. Biggest news of the day: I'm now a percussionist! Yes, I know, how does a sweet little innocent flute suddenly switch to the dark side and join the percussion? Easy--because she hates her flute and wants to do something new!

Now that marching band is winding down, Truman's holding auditions for the concert band. I wasn't sure I wanted to be in concert band, but I did kinda want the extra hour credit (now that I'm double majoring 16.5 credits makes me happier than 15.5). Still, since I hadn't practiced and kinda wanted free time, I went to cross my name off the audition list. Then, I ran into my flute section leader, who told me she's playing percussion for concert band. I think y'all can see where I'm going with this. A couple conversations with band directors later, I'm an offical percussionist. I'm not sure what exactly I'll play--probably something of the mallet variety--but I know that I'm looking forward to it a whole lot more than playing flute!

*One Last Thing* --- Now that I'm starting to receive Scholastic mail from my mom's book fair project, I think I'll start a grand tally on here (because I'm sure y'all are just as fascinated by it as I am).
Tuesday's Total
Hannah: 15 Debbie: 8
Feel free to make bets about who gets more, when, or whatever you like. I call 10% on all winning bets.

Boy, my Uncle David must've really felt like stealing my Aunt Lori's thunder, because (as of yesterday) I now have a *new* new baby cousin: Ethan Wesley Pierce. I don't really have the stats on him like I did Max Allan Bower, but I know Ethan's smaller. And louder. (These are my Uncle's words, not mine.) It's almost a shame my mom isn't pregnant, as all three siblings could have a kid in one week. (Wouldn't Grandma be thrilled?) Actually, it's probably better for everyone that my mom isn't pregnant; I like being the baby of the family.

Oh, what about today, Monday, October 14th, you ask? Today was boring. I got up, went to a couple classes, and I'll eventually go to bed. Nothing exceptional has happened yet, and I don't hold much hope for the next five hours.

I *will* wish everyone a very merry and happy Canadian Thanksgiving Day (eh!), though! So, reflect, and thank God for Canada, 'cause that's about all you Americans can do, I guess. At least by this point in the day.

(Did any of this make sense? I think I'm getting tired and not making much sense right now......maybe not.)

Boy, this past weekend was insane. Saturday was homecoming up here (When I come home, I'll get two in one week--fab!), so I had a parade at nine-ish (meaning I actually had to get up around 7 to be able to get downtown by 8:30). It started to rain by the end, so we got to cancel practice, but that just meant that I could go to filmclub filming [*back* downtown] at ten. I hung out there, had my hair sprayed gray for my scene, hung out some more, and finally got to around noon when I had to leave [withOUT getting my scene shot] to run back to the dorm, throw on my marching band uniform again, and line up to walk down to the stadium for the game. Once we were all at the game, it started to rain again, so the band missed the entire first quarter because we were taking shelter under the stadium. Where it leaked. (At least it was semi-warm.) By the beginning of the second quarter, however, it was only drizzling slightly, so we got the honor of sitting on the (newly-wet) bleachers in the rain and cold and wind. Not fun. AND we lost the game [see rant below, por favor.....I was ticked]. But, at least we got to leave and relax. Or, maybe that was what I was supposed to do....instead, I ran back to my dorm, took a quick shower (my hair was still gray--boy, did I get questions from the band), ate a bowl of cereal, and ran over to a dorm building across campus to meet my filmclub group to talk about our comercial we're filming. I get to have trash dumped on me to demonstrate how much litter piles up during one day or year or whatever. (Yes, I volunteered for this.) Then I finally got to go back to my dorm and chill.........in the form of working on my writing class paper.

And that was only Saturday. On Sunday, I had auditions for "A Christmas Carol" (or a version there of) at three, so I tried to do homework between lunch and that. I read for one of the very first scenes, but everyone else seemed to want to do the same monologue as me, and I didn't want to go right after someone else's rendition. I finally got out around 5:30, thank goodness. And my monologue didn't completely suck---it did at the beginning, but then I loosened up and just let loose. It was fun, and got rid of pent-up energy.

Okay, so Sunday wasn't so bad. But, Saturday almost did me in, so that counts for enough.

Go ahead, email me and tell me how horrible your weekend was. I like getting perspective on why my life isn't as wretched as I think it is sometimes. It keeps me sane. (Well, as sane as I get.)

One last thing, and then I swear I'll leave y'all alone for tonight.....just got word from my Grandma Pierce that I have a brand new cousin! World, say hello to Max Allan Bower! He was born Saturday, October 12th weighing 8 pounds, 5 1/2 ounces (Why are people always so obsessed with how much the baby weighed? I find this bizarre.) This new addition to the Okoboji (yay, Okoboji!) area has already been dubbed as "precious" by said Grandma, and I hear he doesn't cry alot yet. This probably helped the title of "precious" not be "loud." All kidding aside, I'm so thrilled for my Aunt Lori (this is her third child) and my Uncle George (his very first child--could he be more proud or clueless?), as well as my other cousins, Abby and Ricky. Send some love to Iowa for Max, 'kay y'all? And goodnight!

(first official rant! Aren't you glad you're here to see it? Of course you are!)

To: Truman State University Football Team
From: Hannah, who had to sit through the entire painful game today

See, I told you guys not to get cocky. Yes, it was homecoming. Yes, Washburn hadn't won anything all season. That apparently means nothing. They beat you guys. And, yes, it was a close game and, yes, you were winning for most of it. That's where the "getting cocky" part comes in. Once we get ahead, that doesn't mean we get to relax and assume everything will be okay. If you assume everything will be okay, everything will fall apart. Trust me, I learned it in high school. I didn't have to come to the "Harvard of the Midwest" just to figure that little gem out. I learned that at good ol' Sullivan--and we all know what a fine establishment that is. We got comfortable and then we missed catches, missed guys we needed to tackle, missed the goal line. (All minor details, I'm sure.)

The game didn't have to be this way, guys. Trust me, none of us band people like to play for the losing team. That just makes post-game all the more depressing than it already is. Boy, and we hate playing it when you guys win the game. Just imagine how much fun it was to play today with all the Washburn players still celebrating on the field. Such fun.

So don't screw up next time, okay? 4-2 is still a good record, but it's not where we should be right now.

Thank you for your time.

Why is it that I'm always on here late at night? (And by "always" I mean the two whole times I've posted so far.) Is this really when I'm most awake? Sure I could come up with better stuff earlier in the day. Oh, yeah. That's when I do everything else. Geez, forgot that for a moment.

Maybe it's just because my sarcasim (sp?) is in over-drive at this time of day/night/whatever. (It's certainly not for my spelling skills.)

Anyway, I guess I should just point out the main purpose for this thing. I'm doing this so I never have to email again! (Yeah, 'cause that's such a *realistic* goal!) Seriously though, as I pointed out in the....um, *other* post, I never have time to talk to all my friends, so I never hear from them or get to tell them the fun going-ons of my life. As I'm sure we're both missing out on this arrangement, I figured I'll just write out the great happenings of my life through this. If fifty-zillion other people can do this weblog thingy, so can I! Ta da -- mission [statement] accomplished! On to real posts......

Okay, I'll admit right up front (because I promised I would) that I completely stole the idea of publishing a weblog from Caleb. I'm sure I'm just as busy as he is, and--besides--I'm worse about contacting people. So, now all y'all can just read my rants about....well, whatever I have to rant about. I'm sure I'll cover a wide range of topics by the time I finally get sick of this. (Or you guys do. Whichever comes first.) (Is "whichever" even a word? It doesn't look right.) We'll see how this works to start out with, though, before I pass judgement and end the whole thing.

So....about the name. "Life is Like Toast" comes from a quote I love (even enough to use in a Hagan paper junior year) by Amy K. Rosenthal (you know--the "15 Megabytes of Fame" chick that makes me giggle so much). The full thing is "Life is like toast: one second your toast is fine, pleasingly brown; the next second it is burnt." One moment our lives reach perfection, but--if we don't watch out--we'll get burnt and loose it all. Kinda a downer way to think about toast, I know, but it's also a good philosophy. Enjoy each moment, because you never know when the toaster coils will get really hot and burn your toast.

Anybody else kinda hungry now? Maybe just me. I think I'll skip the food and just go to bed, as it's now 12:17 a.m. Hey, happy Saturday, y'all and go Bulldogs football! Don't get cocky and lose your homecoming game, okay? Thanks.

Goodnight, and here goes nothing.....[publish, please]