Feeling Most Excellent

Well, I just got done at the gym about 1/2 hour ago, which always leaves me feeling great. I love the runner's high/endorphine rush that accompanies the gym. And, to my great delight, when I went outside to walk back to the dorm, it was raining. Its that really cold, light rain where you can see your breath and feel the raindrops through your clothes (which is saying something as I was wearing my heaviest sweatshirt). Anyway, i had so much fun that I decided to stand in the courtyard for a while longer when I got back and just feel the raindrops on my face (as cheesy as that sounds, it feels really good). It sad that some people dont appreciate the great weather (cough*michael*cough* cuppaurlgrey.com *cough). anyway, I guess its time for me to go take a shower and get ready for dinner and homework etc.

wonderful break

Well, I had an amazing break with my own complaint being it was too short. I was able to drive the whole way from Indiana to New York safely, had a wondeful time with my parents especially on thanksgiving day, and even saw my friends a few times. It was really awesome. Now I'm kicking back into school mode for this last push of the season. Only 9 more days until I am done. But in that time i have an ochem final, a stat final, a 6-10 page shakespeare essay, and a drama performance and journal due. So, I guess my new residence will be the library.

This time tomorrow...

...I will be at my grama's. This time Wednesday, I will, hopefully, be home. Then I get to see (probably in this order) family, cat, my bedroom, friends, hot tub, my bed. Ahh, its going to be wonderful. Gotta love the holidays. Now if only I could get this problem set finished so I dont have to bump back the time of my train tomorrow, I really dont want it to come to that.

Im a quote fiend

Ive decided to retire the phrase at the top of the blog: Your best friend is not the one bailing you out of jail, she is the one sitting next to you in the cell saying "man....that shit was fuckin awesome!".

Ive found some new interesting quotes to fill the space, because I love quotes to no end. Here are a few:
"Some people see the glass half full. Others see it half empty. I see a glass that's twice as big as it needs to be." - George Carlin
"Be wary of strong drink. It can make you shoot at tax collectors - and miss." - Lazarus Long
"Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young." -Henry Ford
"When you come to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on." -Franklin D. Roosevelt
"Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names." - John F. Kennedy
"Well begun is half done." - Aristotle
"Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life." - Confucius
"Love your neighbor - but don't pull down your hedge." -Benjamin Franklin
"The most valuable of all talents is that of never using two words when one will do." - Thomas Jefferson
"It's not whether you get knocked down, it's whether you get up." - Vince Lombardi
"An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last." - Winston Churchill
"The greatest lesson in life is to know that even fools are right sometimes." -Winston Churchill
"The graveyards are full of indispensable men." - Charles De Gaulle

Good Weekend

It has been a very good weekend. Friday I went to an acapella concert with Lauren, and also saw a choreographed dance performed in the windows of the reg (the main library) which was very cool. then we went to a party at a friend's apartment which was really fun, there were a lot of cool people there. there were a few people who got really drunk, and had to be taken care of, but I was neither too drunk or taking care of someone who was too drunk, which made it a lot of fun. after a bit we decided to leave and go back to Colleen's room (a girl in my house) and we had the picnic inside because it was cloudy and dreary outside. it was a lot of fun. then on saturday i slept in, read some comics, puttered around my room, and then at 4:45 went to the shoreland for pizza, and left there around 6 for the movies. we saw finding neverland (leah, laura, and i totally cried) and the incredibles, both of which were totally amazing. it was so much fun. we got pretty lost on the cta on the way there and back, because the theater was way up on the north side and there was an intersection that defies description. the streets arent perpendicular and the names change and its all messed up. but so that was a lot of fun, even the getting lost part. then we came back to my room and michael and his friends came down, and we sat around and talked, had a drink (i mean one singular) and it was fun. zach stayed a little longer than everyone else which was nice, cuz i always like talking to zach. so that was my weekend. and just now i realized that i dont have ochem lab on monday afternoon which frees up 4 hours of time, thats great.

Andrew for Sara

In response to The Hot One's comment: Andrew is a new friend this year, he's a first year in...central I think? yeah. Anyway, he was friends with Zach and we are friends too now. He's really cool, and I swear he carries around a pocket dictionary/theasaurus because he always and new and crazy words. I dont think you would know him, sara, because he's new this year, but he's still cool, and he's hot, and I think he might have broken up with an ex recently (a grad schooler, how progressive), but thats a tangent. He likes anime (Chr*s Tsa* style), is super tall, has this funny kind of smile he makes when he is trying in vain to explain something to me that is ever so endearing. Anyway, Im excited about hanging out and also very very excited about the meteor shower, damn Chicago weather and being cloudy all the time.

In other news, ochem midterm is over, I think thats all I can say about that.

Today I took a 1.5 hour nap, which was greatly needed, but i woke up from it to think that its morning and i was confused for a good 2 minutes. I hate it when that happens. And now I am off to do a stat problem set, work on a paper, read a shakespeare play, and then go celebrate with Fei that ochem midterm is over. :)

Now Entering Doom

Well, tomorrow is the second of the ochem midterms. So I am planning on spending the rest of the day on that. And then tomorrow I have to do my stat problem set, and write a short essay for drama which I got an extension on from due thursday to due friday. Then, friday night, there is gonna be fun times with Andrew, I really hope we end up having an all-night picnic someplace to watch the meteor shower, that sounds like so much fun. Andrew introduced me to pomogranate seeds yesterday, it was weird, and good. On an unpleasant note, yesterday joan and I discovered something weird and gross on our bathroom door, which sent me into a cleaning frenzy of sorts.. I really hope its all gone by now. Well, off to start my studying kick. Hope everyone out there is having a good day.

Being Spontaneous

Today was a lot of fun, I went downtown to a Starbucks with Michael this afternoon, and it was really fun. I've decided I really like cafe & cocoa, even if they don't have it as an option here, I described it to the barista, and she made it for me (because she's from New York too). I've had 3 cups of coffee today, that is so much, so much that I am tempted to add extra o's to the "so" in "so much". I guess that goes to show how little sleep I got last night. I got some more ochem done, but there is a lot remaining before the midterm Thursday. I also made the (not original) observation that babies are cute. Also, people make funny expressions when they are reading, and its fun to look at them until they get uncomfortable and hide a piece of paper to make them think there is something on it that is worth seeing, when in fact, there isn't, I'm so tricky.

This morning I got up early to finish some homework and my friend Carl from ochem was also online doing his ochem problem set. We had a good to see someone else up at the ungodly hour of 7am to do work.

Something happened to me that I don't believe has ever happened before. Today I beat a boy out of the bathrooms. I could have sworn he left without me, because it is just such a ridiculous idea, but luckily, he didn't leave.

I feel like playing my drum, I haven't in a while, I told the story today of how my dad brought it back from South Africa for me, and it reminded me of how excited I am to be going home for thanksgiving. I miss my family.

I've decided that fresh mangoes from bartlett are wonderful; they are also good when made into a vegan smoothie by Erica.

Well, everything is wonderful. I'm currently downloading tonight's episode of Gilmore Girls, I'm talking to my wonderful friends, I'm happy.

P.S. Shout out to Sara who had a rough day. ::love::

happy

Well, I just got home from my ochem lab practical a bit ago, and I shouldn't talk about it on the off chance that another person who has yet to take the test find this, but, as my title says, Im pretty happy.

Also, due to the incompatibility of the weather and what I own, Ive decided to get an umbrella, or perhaps ask for one for christmas.

now entering the wee hours

Well, it looks like I will be up for a while longer. Stupid ochem lab, but something in me tells me its worth it somehow. And as a bonus, this is the last lab of the quarter, and theres not even a write-up for it. Cool beans.

I have recently switched from writing in all lowercase letters to actually capitalizing the first letter of a sentence and the word I and things like that. I dont know what spurred this change, but at least I am consistent in not using punctuation. I have a feeling that might change sometime soon as well. Well, for as mundane as that sounds, I guess it just goes to show what weird stuff I think about.

In other news, Ive decided I love the smell of freshly printed paper. Perhaps I associate it with finished work, or maybe its just because its all nice and warm and smells like...home, and high school homework, fond memories nonetheless.

reminded of a dream

So last night/this morning I had a crazy dream that I was home again. My parents were throwing one of their awesome parties and I was helping mom get something from the kitchen. Also, besides the fact that I knew it was my house, it looked nothing like my house. But so I went into the kitchen and discovered that something has spilled and there was a huge puddle taking up most of the kitchen with small pink salmon swimming in it (we are talking a big puddle). I guess my mom had made salmon for the party and these were the left overs (still alive). My parents told me to just throw them out, but I didnt want them to die, so I concocted a plan to take a huge blue tub from the basement, the one we use to transport grapes from the vinyard, and drive it down to the river behind the hospital, about 6 blocks away. I then filled the tub with riverwater, knowing full well that its full of awful bacteria and its nearing the middle of the night. but so I get the riverwater and bring it back to the kitchen and put the baby salmon in the tub, rescuing a particularly big and fiesty one from under the fridge, and then went to bed, planning on dumping the salmon in the river tomorrow morning. I dont know what that means.. its just weird I think.

Mm, it's Saturday

Well, normally I don’t do anything of great importance on Saturdays, but I got up early today, 9:15 (early for a Saturday) and I’m planning on going to the library or something to get some serious work done. I’ve got an ochem midterm Thursday, and almost as importantly a lab practical Monday, and so I need to get my study on for both of those. Also I’ve got a lab write-up due Monday in lab (last one of the quarter though, ::nostalgic sigh::). In addition, I’ve got a new Shakespeare play to read, and I need to start memorizing my lines for drama, plus a meeting with my scene partner tomorrow to figure out our "history" together to play our scene. Well, I guess its time to go get started now. :). It’s actually not very depressing that I’m going too spend today in the library; it will be nice to have some things done and off my mind. This weekend is turning out to be a lot better than the end of the week was.

sigh

I didnt get enough sleep the past two nights, entirely my own fault. I was up too late hanging out with friends and had to wake up early to finish my homework. But Ithink it was worth it, because it is weekend now and its all good. In really good news, we did practice for the lab practical monday, where they are going to give up chemicals and a problem that is yet to be determined and we will have to solve the problem in one lab. And it turns out that Idont think its going to be as hard as I originally thought.

I organized some today, that always makes me feel better, now if only I could take a nap or something, but Ive never been one to take naps.

my room is a mess

I have so much to get together this weekend, I was hoping to go up to the north side sometime, I have reading to do, start studying for ochem midterm thursday, maybe even laundry. Yeah, I really hope I can find the concentration to work on it all, I know its not hard, I just have to do it. That always seems to be the problem, I can do it, I just dont normally want to.
In other news, I am playing either Ms. Page or Ms. Ford in our scene from Merry Wives of Windsor, which will be very cool. Im working with two other cool girls from my class, Subha will be the other actress and Iliana is the director. Im looking forward to doing this for the rest of the quarter.
Im also really looking forward to thanksgiving, seeing my family and friends, driving again (even if it is for an absurdly long time), seeing my cat (its sad that that isnt plural), and other perks.
Tonight I have a stat problem set to look forward to, wish me luck.

taken from a long conversation

Do you think God plays favorites? No. Then why are we born priviledged in America instead of Darfur? Because we have some purpose that we dont understand yet.

That seems like such a vague (therefore not good) answer. What purpose? Why were we chosen for this purpose instead of another one? which leads back to the favorites question. It makes me wonder, am I working toward accomplishing my purpose? accomplishing anything? I feel that I am, I am getting my education, becoming an adult.

Is everyone always working toward some purpose? If they are, then what about the people who are doing "evil" things? Is that their purpose? Did God give it to them to do? Or is it that some people do not fulfill their purpose on earth and commit evil acts instead. If someone can avoid their purpose, can they avoid it by doing something good?

Is there only one life path that has been selected for me to follow? I think so. Can I make the wrong decisions and somehow not follow it? I have to say yes. Where does fate come into the play between a selected life path/purpose and free will?

Why are things the way they are? How can I come to know that reason?

I felt like michael today

this morning was very good. i just got back from walking to osco, and i had the forethought to walk through the park instead of down 53rd and it was beautiful. its a crisp 50 degrees, the leaves are almost all down, the sun is shining. i was listening to the ben folds cd that michael gave me and petted a few dogs and all together had a lovely time. on the way home i actually got some stares because i was smiling for no apparent reason.

classes today were good too, i had a great time in drama, we directed a scene from cherry orchard and talked about our papers due thursday. ochem was also kinda fun thanks to sitting between fei and sneha and also thanks to the existance of a chemical named "pig liver esterase". thats just fantastic! i got all my stuff worked out at osco and with the pharmacist (they can be tricky sometimes). and even had a few minutes to read a magazine.

so now i will go to lunch, and then head off to the library i guess. i feel like i have no right being this happy, its really awesome. i love fall. i love chicago. right now, i even love weber who is sitting next to me reminding me to give him to leah.

New Species of Sea Squirts Found!

i thought that was pretty cool, and they are called sea squirts, thats pretty awesome. i got up early today to finish some chemistry, but im done with that now, and im thinking i might take a long-ish shower or something nice like that in the 37 minutes i now have before class. so, im off to do that. its a beautiful morning! the sun is shining and its 42 degrees out, and mostly sunny today. :)

addition: yesterday someone came to talk to the freshman in the dorm about a fundraiser based on the old mtv show Singled Out, and he said they might not know it because it was before their time..it made me feel so old! i totally used to watch that in middle school. but i guess its old in a good way. new fangled mtv shows...

huzzah! for wireless

im in the library working on ochem, or at least, i will be working on it momentarily. i just finished watching an incredible spanish movie called All About My Mother, it was really fantastic. i would recommend it to all of you. now back to pondering chirality.

celebrate

I got out of lab an hour early today! thats amazing! in addition to that, my crystals were nice and rectangular and good, and all sorts of nice things happened. now i have to go do my ochem problem set, read Much Ado About Nothing, write more on The Cherry Orchard, read another chapter in the chem book, and if there is time, watch a movie with zach, and start my stat for friday. so...i guess i should go do that now :)

conversations/reasons

Conversations i overheard/reasons why i left the reg
1) the girl next to me talking to her friend about how she was invited to a formal dance at the naval academy and was wondering what to wear, and how to get there, and talking about her date and all.
2) the girls in front of me who were talking about the crazy night they had last night at a party and barhopping because it was the 21st birthday of someone. they also talked about how one of them wasnt wearing a bra. they then moved on to talking about how cute the new fashions were in the magazines they had out (notice that they had magazines out at all, in a library). i also noticed that they had absolutely no text books, no notebooks, nothing. oh, but one of their friends with hair lighter than her skin did stop by to deliver coffee (skim latte, hope thats ok).

why am i surrounded by these people?

weekend events

well, this weekend (post friday) was fun. saturday i didnt wake up until noon, and then poked around and cleaned and did some stuff. around dinner i got a call asking if i could babysit for a few hours and so i took the house baby to snail for dinner. i got home, had time to take a shower and took off to go contra dancing with michael, also leah, ian and joan came at some point. it was loads of fun, and also lots of sweating. it was like high school square dancing all over again but with 40 people who all wanted to be dancing instead of 100 people who had to be there for credit. there were a few really talented people there and they were lots of fun to watch. they were able to do this weird stomp thing where they barely pick their foot up off the ground but it makes a surprising sound when it hits again. maybe it was their shoes. but so i got back to find out that zach had gone over to a party, so michael and i went to go find him. with the experience of friday, i decided not to get drunk, which was a good idea because some of my friends needed help getting home. the rest of the night was downhill.

today i have homework and cherry orchard to look forward to. well, i actually do look forward to the cherry orchard at steppenwolf, not really the homework so much, but it needs to get done. perhaps ill seclude myself in the reg tonight. theres perhaps an hour and 15 minutes ride to (and from) steppenwolf which will be my substite contemplative walk to the point, since i dont think i have time this weekend.

strange day yesterday

So yesterday i got really sick from something that was not fun at all. i had a really bad stomach ache for most of the afternoon and after emptying my stomach, just got chills and couldnt really stand up. it was very strange. i slept almost entirely from 3pm yesterday to noon today. i missed a show downtown i was supposed to see, Equus. that was sad because i hear its really good. oh well, i would not have been able to enjoy it if i had gone. im feeling a lot better today though, still a bit woozy, but much better. i had a few really weird dreams last night involving my ear peircings and other random things, and lots of dreams where i was running in a maze and kept turning over and over in bed trying to get out, but it wasnt scary. i dont get that one. anyway, time to go get dressed and do all my saturday activities.

thinking a lot lately

for the past few days, i have been seriously pondering my stance on a few major issues. ive narrowed my major issues down to basically life, life for humans, animals, our children and future generations. i guess i have always been an environmentalist in that i think the world would be much better off if we respected the environment more and had stopped our civilization before we had taken ourselves out of evolution (anyone who read Ishmael might get that). i want to be a leaver, not a taker.
i have also pretty much come to the conclusion that i dont ever want to have an abortion. of course there are exceptions like the baby has some fatal disease and is not going to live through childbirth and there arises some compication where i would also not live through childbirth, then i would consider abortion. but also very important to me is the fact that i get to make that choice. with another 4 years of bush coming up, i am beginning to wonder if that choice is in jeopardy. i dont ever want to tell another woman to suck it up and have the baby, if she doesnt want to, its her life.
the last important issue for me, which ties into these other two, is the future generations. i want my great great grandchildren to be able to find a right whale. i want them to be able to see polar bears outside of zoos. i want them to be able to go outside in a city and not worry about dying from polution. i want them to be able to live a safe and happy life with proper morals and ideas. i want there to be everything that i had and more.
so, basically that is what i have been thinking about a lot, and for any of you who havent read Ishmael, i seriously recommend it, it changed my life.
i guess now i will go back to reading ochem and shakespeare. to everyone, have a wonderful day.