Three Words

(And this one was done Thursday night. Guess I didn't feel like actually posting last week for some reason.)

3 Word Meme

Where is your cell phone? In my pocket
Boyfriend? I hope soon.
Hair? Brown, layered, lovely. :-)
Your mother? Gives good hugs.
Your father? Makes me laugh.
Your favorite item(s)? Ring, laptop, CDs
Your dream last night? I don't remember
Your favorite drink? Ice cold water
Your dream guy? Catholic, tall, hilarious
The room you are in? Brown family room
Your fear? Being alone forever
What do you want to be in 10 years? Married with children.
Who did you hang out with last night? Parents, brother, nephew
What are you not? Organized, clean, efficient.
Are you in love? Never so far
One of your wish list items? Winning lottery ticket?
What time is it? Eleven fifty one
The last thing you did? Emailed ethics paper
What are you wearing? Jewelry, pants, shirts
Your favorite book? Lion Witch Wardrobe
The last thing you ate? Stale yummy marshmallow
Your summer? Pretty much disappointing.
Your relationship status? Single, sadly, single
What is on your tv screen? Conan, Jeff Goldblum
When is the last time you laughed? Lots at dinner
Last time you cried? I don't remember.
School? I love ND
Your mood? Tired, headache-y, nauseated
Your friends? Can be lovely
What are you thinking about right now? Should be sleeping
Your car? Not really mine
What are you doing at this moment? this, watching TV
Your life? Always chugging along.

Procrastinating Papers, my favorite Pasttime

(Ok, so I wrote this...last Wednesday night. The 25th. Night before a Thursday when I had two papers due. Yeah. For some reason didn't post it that night. But if I just post it now it'll be lost into the abyss of past posts, because we know I like to post a lot, so I'll just post it now. Not that it really matters.)

I think I may have figured out something great to get my dad for his upcoming birthday. I always make myself stress too much about presents, finding the "perfect" one and whatnot, while also wanting it to be a present that wasn't explicitly stated as wanted (it always seems so boring when someone just says "Get me this." It's not as bad if there are a few options, but yeah). I guess I just think that I ought to know the people I'm buying for well enough to know what they would want or enjoy without having to tell me. But it never works out very well for me, and things that I think people wouldn't really want, end up being good presents. So I've given up. Anyway though, I do think I have found something my dad will enjoy, which he hasn't mentioned as wanting. (This also makes me nervous because what if there's something on his "list" that he really wants, and instead I get him this other thing that maybe he won't want so much?) Anyway. Hopefully he'll like it, if I do end up getting it. Still got a couple weeks though to figure it out.

I got the newest Josh Groban CD from the library this week. It came out in November, I believe, but for some reason I didn't get it then. Decided early on in the new year (Jan or Feb) to put it on hold at the library, despite the fact that I was in Indiana at that point. But, lucky me (and I must have known this when I put it on hold, or it would have been pointless), I was rather far down on the queue, to the extent that it just now got to the library for me to pick up this week. Works for me, I guess. I just wanted to listen to it to see if it was worth buying (I guess I must have heard some so-so reviews when it first came out, which convinced me that I might want to check it out before wasting my $15). Anyway. I've listened to it all the way through probably at least three or four times since, what, Monday I guess it was. Tempted to say it might be my favorite of his CDs thus far. I love the first one because it was just such a great discovery when I first became a fan, back in junior year of high school, when for some reason you could listen to his entire debut album on his website. I spent many a night over Christmas break doing just that. Finally bought the CD the day my grandmom died, so I could listen to it when we went back for the funeral and such, because it had become a great comfort to me. His voice has the ability to sooth like no other. So the first CD will always have a special place in my heart. Second just didn't have the emotional punch that the first did, although it is still great. The bar had been set high, though. I definitely haven't listened to that CD as much as the first, possibly because I got the first in high school when I was doing a lot of driving around (to school and such, and other places), and the second came out at some point during college, when I don't drive as much and thus don't listen to music as much. Not sure why, but I don't often think to play music when I'm just sitting at my computer or in my room. Perhaps that will change with having a single this year. Anyway. The important point here is that I'm a big fan of this new CD. And maybe one day I'll actually be able to buy it! (Must admit, I was sorely tempted today when I put it in my computer to listen to it and the option came up to rip it to my computer to click yes...but I didn't.)

I miss lilacs. And snow. Hey, remember when we got all those blizzards this past winter? And then I went back to school where we got lots and lots of snow, plus a large number of days with below zero temperatures? Yeah, that was nice. Sure, it was a bit of a pain (literally) walking from one end of campus to another, but I don't mind being bundled up. I quite enjoy it actually. Even on hot summer nights, I have my fan going and I have at the very least my sheets pulled up to my head, and usually my comforter too. Sometimes my afghan as well. So the cold temperatures don't bother me too much. Oh well. At least we haven't hit 100 degree temps yet, and for the most part these high 80s, low 90s temps really don't bother me too much either. Plus it's not humid. That's always a plus. I wouldn't mind if fall hurried up and got here, though. At least the next few days look nice, with highs of around 75, and then nothing much higher than low 80s for awhile after that. Sounds good to me. Although, I really wish we'd get a nice thunderstorm again sometime soon. Seems like it's been awhile. I sure do like my thunderstorms.

Speaking of thunderstorms:
Just for fun, I was looking through the different posters they have at despair.com, because they're just funny. This one really made me laugh out loud, and I don't know why, but I figured I should share it. (And I like the suggestions as to for whom it'd be perfect.) Actually, looking at them, there's quite a number that really tickle my funny bone. And I really like the icon for the webpage itself. That poor little frownie face.

In which I talk about sex. Sort of. (Don't forget, I am a prude.)

I saw somewhere the other day that today 95% of Americans have sex before they're married. 95%. I found this to be rather...high. I mean, 95%? So yesterday I googled around, and discovered that a study was released last...December, I believe, which stated that indeed somewhere around 95% of people have sex before they get married. It's not just some random number someone made up and threw out there. I mean, I suppose it could be (64% of statistics are made up on the spot, did you know that?), but it seems pretty factual. And really, much as I might not want to admit it, not terribly surprising. I guess the reason it is for me is because I'm somewhat relatively sheltered from all that, going to a Catholic college. Granted, there are plenty of people there who have sex, I'm sure, but it's not necessarily bandied about as it might be on some other college campuses. Generally discussions which include admissions of "hooking up" with some random person or another means simply making out, which might not necessarily be the typical usage elsewhere. So to hear that 95% of people my age (give or take a few years, since from what I read, something like 93% was before the age of 30) are having sex outside of marriage is somewhat of a shock.

I mean, can I really be in the minority by such a drastic percentage? And I wonder what percentage of those 5% or so who haven't, are actually planning on waiting until marriage, or if they simply haven't had sex yet for whatever reason. As far as I know, very few (if any) of my very closest friends would place themselves in the majority percentage of this study. At least, very few who have told me. Wouldn't surprise me if some didn't (or won't) tell me because I am so judgmental, after all. But anyway. I don't know. I just can't get over that. 95%. Pretty soon there won't be anyone left who will admit to staying chaste until marriage. Hopefully that's not true though. Twould seem that I am one of a dying breed, however. The solution? Marry another of that dying breed (that is, if there are any guys like that left), and then have lots of Catholic babies who we'll raise with the same values and beliefs we hold, and hopefully the kids will value and believe those things too, and will manage to find others who do as well and then they can get married and have lots of Catholic babies and perpetuate the cycle. Hahaha.

Ok I'm done now I suppose. But geez. 95%? Really? Even seeing articles with my own two eyes I can't quite grasp or believe it. So perhaps in my own little world, I'll pretend it's a much smaller percentage. Even though the culture surrounding me would seem to contradict that imaginary belief, making it harder to maintain...hm...oh well. Just gotta live my own life I guess.

Love it

Ok, this is my first time ever embedding a video in a blog post. I'm kind of excited. Anyway, I've seen these around some blogs the past few days, and they're rather slightly amusing, so I'm gonna post them here. So enjoy, NFP vs Contraception (in the style of the Mac vs PC commercials).







I guess they're seminarians somewhere. Anyway. I thought it was funny, at least.

Hahaha, and unrelated (but Catholic-related), check out this wrapping paper! Dude, that's awesome.

I'll take what I can get

Know what's nice? Spending some good quality time with friends I don't get to see all that often anymore, but still having a grand old time when we do get together. Who knows how long it'll last, what we'll all be doing once we graduate and whatnot, but for now, at least we have those few times a year that we can manage to squeeze in a night together at Village Inn or something like that. I'll take it for as long as I can.

Ah, the memories we shared...

I have a horrendous headache at the moment. Not that this is an unusual occurrence for me, exactly, but some times it's worse than others. I just took some Excedrin so I know I'll be ok in a little while, but until then...ugh. It's reminiscent of the Great Headache of 07. I just named it that. Referring, of course, to the lovely practically 24 hour long headache through which I suffered the Thursday (I believe it was Thursday) of finals week back in May. Boy was that ever lovely. Went on all day long despite numerous attempts at controlling it medicinally, and unfortunately I couldn't just lie in bed and let it go away because I had about eleventy one papers to write that day. In addition to packing and such. Oh, the loveliness of the end of the school year rituals.

Anyway. Don't know why today's headache made me think of that one, but here's hoping it's gone in the next hour (and doesn't take until tomorrow to leave. I realize I must be quite a lovely host, but these headaches have long worn out their welcome). Because, man. It's one of those ones that squeezes my whole head, makes my eyes feel like they'd be more comfortable outside of my head, and makes quite uncomfortable pretty much any position in which I might find myself. Headaches. Gotta love 'em. Bleh.

It's been a draining day, ok?

Did you know that Mandy Patinkin's real name is Mandel? Hahahaha. Who names their kid Mandel?

Dude, dang, I just realized that I forgot to mention yesterday that it (yesterday) was Jimmy's one month birthday thing! Oh well.

(Ignore Dad in the background...as he looks somewhat dead or something. Weird. I wasn't around when these pictures were taken, so I have no idea what's going on there. But hey, cute baby, so that's all that really matters.)

I know I promised another post of baby pictures a few weeks ago, and never did manage to get around to that. So...this sort of makes up for it? There's a few more here, not ones I took but yeah. Anyway. There you go.

Oh, and also? I need to go to confession, I realized. I think I start to get really...irritable or something when I haven't gone in awhile. I think it's been around two months or so since the last time, and it's starting to show. I really need to get myself to the Cathedral sometime this week (they have confessions every day after their 12:10pm Mass, so it's pretty convenient). It's funny how much I dread and try to put off doing something that I know will help me enormously, something that's not even going to have any negative consequences (quite the opposite, actually), something that's just fantastic when you get down to it. I really can't wait to go, get all this weight off of me. That'll be my goal for the week, I guess.

Anyway.

People are so unreliable. Maybe not all people. But a large majority, in my experience. Every time I try to stop believing that, try to make myself believe that this time, this person or that person won't flake out or whatever it is, I get stomped on (meaning, this person or that person does exactly what I deep down expected them to do, despite wanting to hope for the best). And some people wonder why I don't trust people in general, and why I'm such a pessimist when it comes to people. And why I don't like to count on people keeping their word. It's easier to expect that they'll end up disappointing me, and a pleasant surprise when they don't. And that's all there is to it.


(And I'm sure I'm not the most reliable sometimes, but I really try to be. Perhaps other people do, too. But when it's an over and over and over again thing, it seems maybe not.)

Indulge me for a minute

I despise whoever it was thought that racing cars, any types of cars, around and around and around a track would make for good enough "entertainment" to justify having it all over the TV every weekend. Or even just having it in general. Complete waste of everything. And whoever says it's a sport, well, I've got words with you. Competition, sure. Game, yeah. Sport? No way.


But no matter how one wants to classify it, it's crap, and I hate it, and I hate it being on TV.

Do-over

My family (meaning parents and younger brother) and I went to the annual Colorado Springs ND Alumni Club student send-off/summer picnic doohickey thing today. (Haha, apparently "doohicky" is an incorrect spelling, but "doohickey" is a perfectly acceptable word. I figured spell checker wouldn't like either. Weird.) I hadn't gone since the one right before I started at ND, so three years ago, because the two ones after that interfered with other stuff we had planned and whatnot, and there was also the slight matter of the fact that last summer I wasn't going back, at least for the semester. So that would have been slightly awkward. And it was interesting today, seeing all these new students (well, like four or five) who are just starting out on their Notre Dame journey, and thinking about how much I'm looking forward to getting back there, and how nervous I was when I first started, and how this is the first year since I started that I can't wait to get back. I couldn't help but wonder how things would have been different had I felt this zeal that I feel now from the very beginning. If I could just have a do-over and start back from the beginning, feeling the way I do now about that wonderful slice of heaven known as Notre Dame du Lac. It's bizarre to me to go back and read journal and diary entries in which I lamented ever going to Notre Dame, and where I whined and complained that I didn't want to go back, and all that fun stuff. How was that ever me? How could I have ever thought that stuff about my beloved school which I am now dreading having to leave in a year?

I like to pretend that that wasn't really me, that I never really felt those things. Because it is so much better now, I just can't fathom that I did ever really feel them. I am so utterly ecstatic about my school, about being there, about where I am right now. I wish I had felt this way the past three years. Maybe deep down, somehow I did feel this way, but my longings for home and familiar people and places sort of trumped the rest of it. I don't really know. All I know is, for the past year I have realized that Notre Dame is where I'm supposed to be, and I'm happy. Last summer by this point I had begun to regret my decision to take a semester off, although I don't think I really voiced it. I wonder what would have happened if I had changed my mind mid-summer, and somehow had been able to come back instead of having to stay here. I wouldn't have missed a football season, which would have made me happy. But yeah. I don't know, and I'll never know. All I know for sure is that I'm going to do my darnedest to make this year, my last year, the best year it can be. I know I'm a different person than I was a year or two ago, and that I can handle being apart from my family without having a meltdown. Stupid family, being all wonderful and making me miss them so much I didn't see what was right in front of me at school. Psh. Anyway. (Truth be told -- and don't hate me, parents, but you know it's true and had to happen -- the longer this summer is dragging on, the more I can't wait to get away from my family. I love them and all, obviously, but I'm not a kid anymore who needs her mommy all the time. I mean, I'll miss them, but I'm rather done with having to live with them every day. 22 years is quite long enough for that, I think.)

I am a bit sad that I had all that time at Notre Dame in which I didn't fully appreciate it, and yet I realize that my journal entries during that tumultuous period weren't necessarily truly reflective of everything going on. I know I didn't hate every minute of every day that I spent there, and honestly I barely remember disliking it as much as those entries would seem to indicate. And I'm thankful for that, because I know that when I leave those hallowed grounds, never to return as a student, I'll only be taking the best memories. And hopefully I'll have a heart full of good ones from this coming year alone. The last year. Here's hoping it won't be spent whiling away over books and schoolwork, and no fun. (Ha.)

Mmm, lumpy

Funny story. I was making myself a cup of reheated coffee this afternoon because I needed some caffeine and hadn't had any all day. So I stuck it in the microwave, then added a bit of hot chocolate powder, some sugar, and then poured the milk. My usual when I have coffee at home. Only this time, the milk was a little...solid. More solid than a person wants milk to be, I think. Expiration date was today, so it's not like it had been sitting in our fridge for four weeks. At first Dad thought maybe it had just gotten a little bit frozen in the fridge, but then I looked at my coffee and the milk was definitely...not melted as slightly frozen milk would have been in that cup of hot coffee. Looked more like cottage cheese, actually. So we decided it's probably not good, and I had to dump the coffee and the rest of the milk left in that carton. Wasn't a whole lot, but still. That never happens around here, having milk long enough to go bad. Twas very weird. And rather gross. Has anyone seen...I believe it's called Life With Mikey, a movie with Michael J Fox from the early 90s I guess, and he plays a former child star now talent agent for up and coming child "stars." Not very good ones. Anyway. There's a scene in which he uses very lumpy milk for his fruit loops, and that's what I think of any time I think of milk gone bad. Quite gross.

Edit: hahaha two minutes after I posted this, I looked to see what's on TV tonight/right now, and know what's playing on the CW (channel 2, though, which we don't get, unless we had cable I think -- for some reason the CW that plays on channel 2 is different than what's on channel 57, which we do get, during the day. Primetime is the same, I believe) right this very minute? None other than Life with Mikey. Weird how that happens.

My version of a nightmare

I had a weird dream last night/this morning. I don't remember it all, but the part I do remember, my dad was taking me to my wedding, on which apparently I had had basically no input. We were either walking or driving in this big stone courtyard, past one church building thing that looked nice enough, I think, and then we stopped at what appeared to be an outdoors church. Altar and everything were outside, and apparently that's where the ceremony was going to be. I was not at all happy with this arrangement. And then somehow I found out (maybe the program said it or something?) that it was just going to be a basic old ceremony, not a Mass or anything really Catholic about it. I was very, very upset about this. No Mass? Unacceptable. I think I was basically hyperventilating because the whole thing was just a disaster. And another odd thing, which wasn't exactly something that made me unhappy for some reason, was that I had no idea who I was marrying. Like, I had never seen him before. But that part I guess had been previously agreed upon so I was just upset about the church/wedding thing.

So. just so everyone knows, when I get married, it's going to be in a (hopefully) beautiful church (Basilica, anyone?) with a full-out Mass. All the bells and whistles if I can manage it. Bells and smells, I should say. Maybe even with some Latin. I do likes me some Latin.


Mom and I watched Sense and Sensibility tonight. I had seen it once before, but a long time ago. It's a good one, although the Kate Winslet/Alan Rickman relationship is somewhat creepy, being that they are thirty years apart...But it was funny how many people in that movie were related to the Harry Potter movies. Obviously there was Snape (Alan Rickman), and Trelawney (Emma Thompson), and then there was Madam Pomfrey (Gemma Jones, the woman who plays Mrs Dashwood), and the Fat Lady (Elizabeth Spriggs -- the woman who plays Mrs. Jennings, at least she was the Fat Lady in the first movie), and Fudge (Robert Hardy -- Sir John Middleton), and then the one that made me laugh each time I saw her, Umbridge (Imelda Staunton, who plays Charlotte Palmer -- whose character is married to a man played by none other than House, which was also funny). But man it was hilarious to see "Umbridge" in another role. She was kind of similar, except instead of being evil in a sort of sickly sweet way, she was annoying in that same sweet way. It was just funny. (And another almost-connection: Hugh Grant is in Sense and Sensibility, and I read that he was originally planned to be Gilderoy Lockhart in the second Harry Potter movie. Instead, Kenneth Branagh played Lockhart, and he was at one point attached to be in Sense and Sensibility. Not sure in what role, but yeah. Interesting.) Anyway, I'm done now. Sorry about that.

Prayers can be powerful

We went over to my neighbor's tonight to see how he's doing. He wasn't there at first, his son was (who I hadn't seen in years and years and thus didn't recognize, because when I had seen him it was only a few times) so we talked to him for a bit until Hal showed up with his other son, my ex-best friend's father (who I do recognize, because I saw him much more frequently back in those days). Over the course of our time there tonight, we found out when the memorial service is (good news, I get to miss Tuesday's class. Bad news, it's because someone close to me died. Obviously I'd rather be going to class than a memorial service if it meant no one had died).

My mom also asked about that old best friend of mine. Her uncle doesn't expect that she'll be coming. I knew she had basically thrown my sister and me out of her life, but I guess I was kind of hopeful that she hadn't done the same to her grandparents and father. Apparently I was wrong, and she's had little to no contact with them in the last...must be eight or so years. I just can't imagine being so far from relatives that you wouldn't come to your own grandmother's funeral. I mean, Ann was such a stable influence for her when her parents were going through a divorce and such, and I just can't imagine cutting her out of my life were she my grandmother. We (my sister and I, and our family I guess) have long thought that she (my friend) was more or less brainwashed by a particular person in her life, and apparently her family thinks that too. But I guess that excuse can only take you so far, and once you hit a certain age, how could you keep ignoring such important people in your life? I just don't get it. There's obviously still a chance that she might come to the funeral, slim though it is. I'll be praying for that until Tuesday, because I know how much it would mean to her family -- to her grieving grandfather, her father who I'm sure misses her every day, and all the rest. Sigh. If any of you feel like praying, I'm sure it'll take as many as can be dished out to get her to come. And it would be wonderful if she did.

Nothing I say will be adequate

When it's a beloved character in a book, it's one thing. When it's a real person, it's entirely different. I came back from my class this afternoon to discover that our next-door neighbor, the grandmother of my childhood best friend who often acted as a surrogate grandmother to me (my grandparents have always been across the country, and thus I don't/didn't see them that often), had died sometime last night, apparently in her sleep. I haven't seen her much in the past few years, thanks to her granddaughter moving away and thus not coming over anymore, which resulted in me not going over there much either, and then going to college states away didn't make it easier for me to see her. Not that I made much of an effort, I'm rather ashamed to admit. A few weeks ago, though, my sister, mom, and I went over to see her because she wanted to see the new baby. I'm glad now that I chose to follow along to see her. It came as quite a shock when my dad told me, but at the same time I wasn't exactly surprised: there were a large number of cars in front of their house, which is rather unusual, so I knew that something was up -- but given the fact that I'm a pessimist and tend to assume the worst normally anyway, only to have the worst not come true, I didn't think that I could possibly be right in my assumption that either she or her husband had died.

Anyway, obviously I was wrong in thinking that, because it turns out I was right, and I wish I wasn't. It is so weird to me to think that she's gone. I won't say I was wonderfully close to her, but I have fond memories of her carting my sister and I along with her granddaughter to the mall, various stores, and other places. Spending many summer days over at their house next door. It's hard to wrap my head around the whole thing. I knew it would happen eventually, but it's one of those things you expect to happen but can't believe when it actually does. I don't really know what I'm saying right now. I don't know what I'm feeling, because I don't like to feel things. It's easier for me to feel grief for a fictional character than it is to show real grief for a real person I knew and was at least somewhat close to. I don't know why. All I know is it's hard for me to wrap my mind around this whole thing. And also, it doesn't matter what I feel right now, because there are other people hurting.

So, prayers for the Meadows family would be appreciated. While Ann wasn't young, I don't think that this was in any way expected, and Hal (her husband) is understandably torn up about it. To say the least. Any prayers would help, I am sure.

And sorry about how disjointed this is. It's hard to gather my thoughts about it, whatever they are. It's been (thankfully) a long time since someone close to me died. Four and a half years since my grandmom, and since then two pets but those seem to be on a different level in my head. I don't like thinking about this, and I really can't believe I wrote this much about it.

Teeth that are glued in with cement

Every time I have a paper to write, I forget just how much getting me to write it is like pulling teeth. Especially any time before around midnight the night before it's due. I've been sitting here all day staring at a mostly blank Microsoft Word document, occasionally adding a word or maybe even a sentence here and there. Which results in me not being very far done with it right now. And that's just one of the papers. (The other one that's due isn't due until midnight tomorrow night, emailed obviously, and I have a bit better grasp on that one than this, which is due in my 10:50 class tomorrow morning. When we're going to be discussing the movie we're supposed to have watched which, of course, I haven't done because I've been trying to get this paper done all day and last night. 2 hours and 40 minutes seems like an excessively long time to devote to discussing one movie that isn't even two full hours long. Sigh.) I'm basically a failure. It's a wonder I've made it through this much of my college career with semi-decent grades. Of course, unlike some friends I have, I have conditioned myself to be able to function on very little (and occasionally no) sleep, so sleep has become an easily expendable part of my life when I have assignments to do. Dumb? Quite. But it's what I've gotten used to, pretty much since I started having real assignments and projects to do. Of course, in middle school, my idea of giving up sleep was staying up until 10 or maybe midnight. But when a midnight bedtime is considered early, obviously the hours into which I will stay up become closer to the hours at which I have to be awake. Oh well. No worries.

Know what's exciting, though? After these two papers are turned in tomorrow, all I'll have to do is read All Quiet on the Western Front by Tuesday, and then I won't have to worry about schoolwork for another month. (Which means that starting tomorrow, I won't be worrying about schoolwork for another month, because I'm almost sure I won't be reading the entire book. Unless it turns out to be good, in which case I will, but otherwise I'll just give it a skim through. It's not like I'm going to be graded on it. Terrible attitude to have, I know, but for some reason there's such a struggle for me when I have to do something versus when I want to do something. A book that I might love, I'll end up hating if I am forced to read it for a class. There have been exceptions to this, obviously, but I'm still very juvenile in that respect.) And hopefully the schoolwork I have starting a month from this Saturday will be at least slightly more interesting than this WWI stuff, considering four of my five classes are directly related to my major, and the fifth is Latin, which I already know I like. Anyway. Back to work now.

Bound for life

Last night, I happened upon a post on a blog which I visit infrequently, which discussed parents paying for college and loans and such. Actually it stemmed from a post on another blog I visit, which was discussing how people can afford to have big families, and I guess the topic came up regarding not having as many kids so that the parents can afford to send to college the ones they do have. In the comments of the post I saw last night, most were agreeing that it's fairly ridiculous to have fewer children just because it might not be doable to send eight to college and pay for them all. This topic was rather interesting to me because I am in college, and I'm going to be paying for it for THE REST OF MY LIFE. My parents are helping out, but they're not paying all of it. (My dad actually pushed me slightly to attend Notre Dame, back when I was in the decision process, by saying that he'd pay more if I went there than he would if I went elsewhere. This is helpful, since ND is pretty expensive compared to some other places I was considering. Although, since all of them were private, I guess it wasn't that much more expensive. And they gave me the best financial aid, I believe.)

I've been taking out loans every year, and this year is no exception. In fact, it's even less of an exception. That makes no sense. Anyway, I'm having to pay quite a bit more, substantially more, this coming year because ND decreased my aid rather largely, of course mostly in the scholarship portion I was receiving and not the loan portion they give me every year. This is due to the fact that this is the first year I haven't had another sibling in college, and not only that, but none of my siblings live at home anymore or are dependents of my parents. Not even my younger brother who, as of the previous time we filled out the FAFSA (February 06), he was still living at home and was planning on going to a technical school. Obviously that didn't happen and he went into the army instead, but it was still on the FAFSA and ND had already given me my financial aid, which I had already accepted, by the time he decided to do the army thing. The two times we had done it before that, Tom was in college. This time, though, none of that, so therefore my parents could afford to pay more money since it's just me they have to worry about, and thus less money for Susie from ND. They are paying a bit more this year than they have previously, but I'm still having to take out a substantial loan in addition to the financial aid I received and the loan my parents are taking out for their portion.

With the fact that I didn't manage to procure a job this summer (which would have probably only given me around $1000 by the end of the summer anyway) to help with the tuition thing, and the fact that I'm having to take out a large loan this year, I'm obviously fairly concerned about this money thing to an extent I haven't been before. It might also be the fact that this is my last year and as a result I'm closer to having to start actually paying off all these loans, since they're marked as the kind that I don't have to worry about until I'm all gradumacated. It's enough to make me wonder if I should even bother applying for grad school at the JPII Institute. If I do apply, and somehow get accepted and end up attending, that's another probably $12-15K that I'll have to come up with over the two years I'll be there. Not to mention I have to take the GRE, which costs $120. A drop in the bucket compared to all this other stuff, but given the paltry amount of money that's sitting in my bank account right now and the fact that I have to take it soon, it's a rather considerable amount. And I feel bad enough as it is having my parents pay for so much of my living expenses at the moment without having them pay for that, too. The whole situation is almost enough for me to want to drop out and just go start earning money. Ok, that might be a lie, but still.

Notre Dame is a ridiculously expensive school, and sometimes I wonder if all this money and these loans I'm going to be paying off for years to come will have been worth it. But I know how much I love it, and how much I'll treasure the experiences I had there, so even though I may be cursing these loans 73 years down the line, I'll be glad I can say I went to Notre Dame. That doesn't make the loans any less worrisome. Maybe if I were planning on doing something great and grand and important with my degree, something that will get me lots of money and prestige, it wouldn't be such an issue. But first, I don't think there's a job on earth that would give a theology major lots of money and prestige. Everyone knows that if you get a degree in anything liberal arts-related, you'll either be in a low-paying job, or you'll be doing something not at all related to that degree. And if I do go to grad school, I don't exactly think a master's in theological studies on marriage and family will cause people to clamor for me to come work for them, throwing money in my face. Not to mention the fact that once I get married (assuming I do), I want to stay home when I have kids (also assuming I have those), and that's about as low paying a job as a person can get. Money-wise, anyway. The fact that I want to do this has always made going to such an expensive school seem semi-ridiculous. A guy I knew in high school, who knew I was going to Notre Dame, asked me why I'd waste so much money there (or possibly going to college at all; I forget the details) if I was just planning on "wasting" my degree once I had kids. Whatever. But it does make me question things. I mean, with all these loans, will it even be possible to live on one income once all those hypothetical things happen? I don't know. (This is why I'm planning on marrying a millionaire and just cutting out the whole worrying about money thing. Good plan, no?)

Eh, I know it's a bit dumb to start worrying about things that are probably at least a few years off anyway, but worrying about money is my favorite pasttime. And it's been on my mind a lot this summer. I am quite lucky to have parents who are willing to help me out when I need it, and aren't forcing me to pay for the entire cost of my education by myself, and I realize that, but I don't like them having to pay for it any more than I like me having to pay for it. Perhaps even less. I guess the only logical thing to do is to win the lottery. Then neither of us have to worry about it. (This would require me actually playing, though, which I admit I have never done.) Anyway. I know it'll all work out somehow, eventually, and all that jazz, but I still hate the whole thing. It'd be really nice if, on the FAFSA, they took into account the amount the parents are actually going to be paying, instead of assuming that parents will pay the full amount minus whatever financial aid is given. I suppose that'd be easy to manipulate, though. But it really sucks for those of us whose parents aren't footing the entire bill, even though FAFSA is entirely based on parental income. More or less. I think. (Right?) Oh well. I could have made it easier on myself and just gone to CSU, gotten a year's worth of credit from the fact that I was an International Baccalaureate graduate (instead of getting absolutely zero credit for IB from Notre Dame. Thanks, ND. Sigh), and only had to pay a fraction of what Notre Dame costs. But I have a friend who just graduated from CSU, a year early, and for her it seems college was just another thing on the path. For me, going to Notre Dame has become a part of me, part of my identity, and I know I'll remember it quite fondly and nostalgically, instead of just another thing I did before entering the "real world." Is that worth having loans to pay off for a good number of years? I don't know. I sure hope it is, and I really think it will be.

How's she doing?

Remember last week when I told you Colt got into a bit of a fight? Well, I figured (since, you know, I have two essays due tomorrow and thus nothing better to do than update my blog) I should update y'all. (Sometimes I wish I were from Texas. But not really, because then I would have had to endure Texas heat for some period of time, and I'm almost to the point now lately here where I have to resort to using the air conditioning when driving around. I haven't succumbed yet, though, because I hate air conditioning on principle and it'll take a lot more than lower to mid 90 degree weather to make me give in.)

Anyway, her nose indeed did swell up a bit. Whereas before it curved inward on the bridge, when looking at her from the side, before curving out again where her nose is, it was just a straight line from her forehead to her nose. And it just made her look weird, and not like the cat I've known and loved for...six years now. Wow, six years? Huh. Anyway. I took some pictures, because it was just bizarre to see this cat's face distorted to an extent that I almost barely believed it was her. I mean, not really that dramatically, but it was weird. I was going to put the pictures on here, or one at least, but probably no one wants to see that. It looked pretty gross, too, the cut itself, since it bled a bit and then scabbed over. And then a few days ago it started to pus a little bit. (This is so gross. I have no idea why I'm telling this to the Internet.) And then Dad found some antibacterial stuff that we had gotten at some point for some other pet ailment, and he looked it up on the Internet and it's a cat and dog thing, so he's put that on a few times. It's starting to look better, but it's still really gross to look at, so I try not to. The other thing, and I feel bad about this because it makes me want to avoid her a bit, is that it kinda smells. I'm not sure if it's the cut itself or the antibacterial stuff, but it's not pleasant. So I'm looking forward to it healing fully. Poor cat. I wish I could just stick a bandaid on it and call it a day, but seeing as how she reacts when someone puts tape on her fur, anywhere (going all crazy and running away as fast as possible as if to run away from the tape that is stuck to her), I doubt she'd be very hapy with a bandaid on the bridge of her nose. It'd be entertaining for me at least, though. But I'm not that mean to her. Usually. Hehe. Poor fat kitty.

Sorry, can't help it

I know I said that I wouldn't be talking about Harry Potter anymore, not much anyway. Well, I lied. I don't have anyone with whom to discuss it, because none of my friends/family who read Harry Potter (and there's a limited number of those who do) have finished it yet. Ok, that's a lie too. I'm sure my school friends have finished it, and they're all fairly fanatical about it (to the extent that I just couldn't remain roommates with three of them, and practically roommates with a fourth, sophomore year without ending up getting hooked. They were so proud when I made my first Harry Potter reference. I believe it was at a football game. Man I miss football games. Only 39 days left, people). Unfortunately though, I haven't been in contact with them very regularly this summer, as our main mode of communication is often AIM, and with time differences and all, and the fact that they all have jobs and such keeping them busy, I'm not often on AIM at the same time as them. Which results in the fact that I haven't had a chance even to see how they liked it yet. But anyway. This brings us to the fact that I must have an outlet somewhere, and what's the point of having a blog if I can't self-indulge on it? (Because I never, ever do that.)

Anyway. I just read an article that made me all kinds of happy. Or at least somewhat happy. Discusses the character who was going to be killed in the seventh book that Rowling just couldn't kill, in the end. Not who I expected. I'm glad that person didn't get killed, though, although I wish another person who was killed could have survived instead. And not the one who I guess she ended up killing instead of that first person. Haha this would be so much less confusing if I actually used names. I guess I could put a spoiler warning. Eh maybe some other time, if I feel like discussing it more. Anyway. I'm also very excited that it looks like there will be an encyclopedia of sorts, giving both backstory and what happened after the end of the book (stuff that lots of people wish the epilogue had discussed, but the epilogue was rather sparse on details regarding the survivors' lives post-Hogwarts). That'll be cool to read, if it does happen. It looks like it will, but who knows when.

I hope they do justice to the book when they make the movie. I know they won't, because they really haven't thus far (especially the last few, it seems). I really like the first two movies, and I was really disappointed with the fifth one regarding stuff they left out or changed or whatnot (including the part with Snape's worst memory, which only consisted of flashes of memory in the movie, and they left out one of if not the most important part of the memory. Although I guess we don't find that out until the seventh book, but I had heard many speculate on it before the seventh book to the extent that I took it as common knowledge), so I hope they get it together for the next two. Especially the seventh. I definitely don't think they need to squeeze it into a two hour movie. It'll be rather bad, I think, if they try to do that. People go to see longer movies (look at the Lord of the Rings movies), especially if it's for a series to which they've been devoted for years. And if they make a disappointing movie to finish out the series, I don't think people will be too happy. I know I won't. But no one really cares what I think, in the grand scheme of things. Anyway. An awesome book deserves an awesome movie. (But at the same time I'm aware of the fact that no matter how good the movie may be, it won't be nearly as good as the image I get in my head when reading. Ah well.)

Oh, and here's another article I just read tonight about some Christian-related themes found in Harry Potter. It's pretty interesting.

She sure hate's that

I went to the library today after my class to pick up a movie I had put on hold, which I have to watch for that class. I was standing in line, waiting so that one of the library people could get the DVD for me (since DVD -- and CD -- holds aren't put in the regular holds section; you have to get a worker to get them for you). As I was standing there, I noticed a sign that said something about getting holds and waiting in line if you need DVDs that are on hold, or something like that. All I remember, specifically, is that DVDs was written "DVD's." They put an apostrophe in there. On a sign at the library. It just seems so wrong. I mean, putting apostrophes after things that are just acronyms, like the word DVD, doesn't necessarily bother me as much as, say, writing "Book's on hold are around the corner" or "All the horse's are at the fair." (I have been known to write the plural of a letter grade, for example the grade A, as "A's," mostly because otherwise it's just "As." And that is a different word.) But still. I would hope that the library is better than that. Sigh. Life was so much nicer when I wasn't such a grammar nazi. (Although, was it really? I mean, is a life without correct grammar any kind of a life at all? Haha.)

This is the end, my only friend, the end

I finished it last night. This morning, if you want to be picky. I hadn't planned on reading it all yesterday, necessarily, but then I just got so caught up in it and didn't want to put it down (and I'll admit, I still had a slight fear that somehow, someone at church would have finished it or read the spoilers and would ruin it for me. Don't ask my why on earth that would ever happen, but I can't always be expected to be rational, can I?). I did get some sleep though, and got up in time for 9:30 Mass. So I'm a little tired, but I'm enjoying being able to reflect on the book and such. I don't really know what to say or how I feel. I mean, it's always sad when a great and gripping series comes to an end, isn't it? Especially one that has the incredible ability to drag people into its little fantasy world, making it seem completely real and plausible, making the characters become like best friends to whom you don't want to say goodbye. You can't read these books and not love all the Weasleys (except maybe Percy. And I'm more or less ambivalent towards Charlie and Bill, as they're kind of just filler characters to me). You can't help feeling Harry's sadness at never knowing his parents, not past the age of one at least. You can't help but wish you had teachers like McGonagall, or someone like Dumbledore as your mentor; can't help but long for a school like Hogwarts (not that I want to be come a witch or anything -- but the brand of witch in the Harry Potter series is nothing like witches in the real world, who call upon and answer to a dark and disturbing force. Wizardry in Harry Potter is simply something that some people have the ability to do, and it has nothing to do whatsoever with calling upon any otherworldly force or anything like that. It's just like...the color hair you have, or how tall you are. You can't decide to become a witch or wizard, you either are or aren't. And thus the difference between Harry Potter's world and our world, in which witches are tapped into something evil to do what they do). It's a wonderful escape, reading these books, and lucky for us even though there won't be any more new adventures, we still have the old ones to revisit again and again.

So, how was this last one? It was incredible. I don't think anyone reads this who reads Harry Potter, but just in case, I won't give away anything too juicy. People died, a lot more than I expected, and not just random people or people from the bad side (though there were plenty deaths of that sort), but people we've met and even grown to love throughout the series. Four (maybe five) were particularly sad, but especially two of them. One of those two was surprising and thus even more sad, the other I pretty much expected. The resolution to the story, however, was just amazing. The way it ended was awesome. It had to be something completely off-the-charts to fit the hype, and in my opinion it did that. I mean, I'm sure some think it could have been done better, but I really liked the way Rowling did it. I had heard earlier this year that one character that she was going to kill off had gotten a pass, but two others had died instead. I wonder who was the one she saved, and who were the two she ended up sacrificing. This book was different than the others in that very little of it took place at Hogwarts. So there was none of the angst over classes and homework, none of the excitement of Quidditch matches and Hogsmeade trips. But it wouldn't have been possible, I think, to have that normalcy for Harry in this book. So while I missed roaming through the halls of Hogwarts, it made sense. (And there are a rather important series of events that take place at Hogwarts, so it's not abandoned completely.) It was just almost bizarre, reading this seventh book and realizing that it was the final installment of a series that began with Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, even though the two books seem lightyears replaced from each other in their setting, tone, mood, and circumstances. The first was much more fantasy, much more light. By the seventh, there's real evil out there, right outside the door, and it's no longer possible to pretend it's not there or that it'll go away. It's much more real and developed and mature in its emotions. But that's how it had to be, because Harry has become an adult by the seventh, and is no longer protected by that which (and those who) could do so. It was always leading to this, but here, there's nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, and he had no choice but to do what he could to conquer the evil that was squeezing life and happiness out of the world. He had to do it on his own. In a word, this book was what I would call satisfying. The series too, for that matter. Perhaps a few things didn't work out the way I wanted them to, but the stuff that happened generally worked out the way they were supposed to, and that's satisfying. I don't like loose ends.

Anyway. I'm done waxing sentimental about this. Needless to say, I think that this book definitely lived up to its hype for me, so that's good. I'm not even that broken up about the fact that the series is over now; after all, I haven't put in eight or ten years of devotion to and anticipation for these books. I only started reading them at Christmas (but developed a liking for the series a year before that, with the movies -- which now seems almost ludicrous given the fact that the movies have absolutely nothing compared to the books. And this seventh book is so good I'm not even sure I'll want to see its movie version, because...yeah. I know they're separate and all, but I just don't like to see unfulfilling versions of movies made from books I love. But that's probably another three years away anyway). So it's not as if I suddenly have nothing because this series into which I've put in so much time is now done. But yeah. Anyway. So there you go. And now you won't have to hear me talk about Harry Potter stuff anymore this summer. Well, more or less. (And yes, I realize that it's slightly pathetic that I have spent so much time thinking/talking about this, but hey, it's my blog, and I can discuss a series I enjoy if I want to, even if it's considered to be childish. For the record though, the first two, maybe three, books of the series were child-appropriate, but the further on they go, the older the target audience should be. I most certainly wouldn't think that anyone younger than maybe...13 or so should read the last few. Particularly this one. And even 13 might be pushing it. Anyway though, if people didn't talk about books, then they'd all become obscure and unnecessary. Not to mention, English classes would become obsolete. And while these might not be the deepest as far as literature is concerned, I'd argue that they're better than half the stuff I read in high school -- perhaps this is just because I hated most of the drivel I was forced to read in high school -- and they have some nice themes running through out them that provide ample examples (hehe) for discussion and exploration.) (And also for the record, though people like to say that the Pope came out against the books, from what I can tell he never actually really said that, and in fact probably hasn't even read them and therefore whatever he says is going off of speculation. I just dislike it when people bring up the "Oh, the Pope says they're bad" line. Just because the media said that that's what the Pope said most certainly does not make it true. There's no document out there from the Pope, no official decree saying "Harry Potter is evil." So...yeah. Just thought I'd throw that in there.)

It's after midnight in much of the country. I don't want to go anywhere else online.

A - Attached or Single?
About as single as you can get.

B - Best Friend:
What about her? Or them? (I'd say I have a few best friends, probably.)

C- Cake or Pie:
Dude, I really do like my cake. Particularly the cheese variety. And the cup variety. But not so much the double-chocolate with extra chocolate chunks chocolate icing.

D- Drink of Choice:
Totally anything with alcohol. Except not. Not sure exactly what my favorite drink is. Colorado water is always good. Although I drink a surprisingly small amount of it.

E - Essential Item:
Hm, well I am rather attached to this laptop. But I'd probably somewhat more saddened if I lost one or both of my rings. I would be sad if my laptop died though, with all the stuff I have on here (that I save, packrat that I am, but never go back to look at...music and pictures being the exception, obviously).

F - Favorite Color:
Oh, I never know what to answer for this one anymore. I like pretty colors. And blue.

G - Gummi Bears or Worms?
I guess worms. Don't really care much for either. Don't dislike them, but I'm never like, "Man, I want some Gummi Bears/Worms." Now, Jelly Bellies, man I could eat those All.The.Time.

H - Hometown:
Good ol' Colorado Springs

I - Indulgence:
Dude, I indulge on just way too much. I have no self-control. Especially when it comes to delicious foods. Mmmmm.

J - January or February?
Ehhh, I'm not a January fan. It just always seems like a rather crap month. So I guess February wins by default.

K - Kids:
Maybe one of these days. Although hopefully not one of these days soon, because that would mean that some definitely unexpected things happened. Haha.

L - Life is incomplete without:
I. (Or, spoken grammatically, me. Hahaha.) Were I to be serious, then...love. Love is important. (Just read Harry Potter! Love is what will allow Harry to vanquish Voldemort. True story. hehe. Sorry. I'm a big loser.)

M - Marriage Date:
Let's hope it's before...2010. Sigh.

N - Number of Siblings:
Trois, plus a sibling-in-law.

O - Oranges or Apples?
Oh definitely apples.

P - Phobias/Fears:
Well, I've become rather irrational in my..."dislike" of spiders this summer. And I occasionally worry that my house will burn down someday. But I've always worried about that. And now I really hope it doesn't happen like tomorrow or something now...this is why I don't like voicing my fears, because then I'm convinced it's going to happen the next day. I'm so irrational sometimes.

Q - Favorite Quote:
I don't really have one. I sometimes pretend to, but I don't think I really do. Oh well.

R - Reasons to smile:
Kebbie. :-)

S - Season:
Today I've been feeling quite a soft spot for autumn. But this always happens halfway or so through any season; I start getting sick of it and wishing for the next one. Particularly when the next one is spring or autumn. Mmm autumn at ND is amazing. And not just for the obvious, the football. But all of it. Yay autumn.

T- Tag Three
Your face, your mom, and...Bob. (Hey, what do you call a guy with no arms and no legs in a pool? Bob!)

U - Unknown Fact About Me:
I have a third leg. Oh, it has to be real? Hm. Lately I've been feeling almost suffocated living in this neighborhood which, like most neighborhoods in the city, is full of houses not nearly far enough away from each other.

V - Vegetarian or Oppressor of Animals?
Total oppressor. Not that I'm all, "Mmm meat" all the time, but I'd really miss it if I went vegetarian. Some of it. Not the steak, and not the raw stuff, but yeah.

W - Worst Habit:
Tough one...procrastination? Packratism? Indecisiveness? (I wish I could make that third one start with a P.)

X - X-rays or Ultrasounds?
I think I had an x-ray one time, to see if I had broken a toe (which is pointless, because it's not like they can do anything about it anyway, really. I think it wasn't broken though.)

Y - Your Favorite Foods:
Oh man, pizza. Pepperoni pizza. And...chicken lo mein. Mmmmm. And my dad's beef stew is pretty high up there too. And his mashed potatoes, the best you'll ever taste. Oh and the turkey we make every year for Thanksgiving, cooked on the grill with some bacon on top. That with the mashed potatoes is practically heaven. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Z- Zodiac:
Virgo. Which is fitting, since, hey, I'm a virgin! haha.

Eeeeeeeeeeeee!

That's a sound of excitement, by the way. Anyway. Harry Potter will be here in around T-12 hours. Well, at the very latest, T-12 hours 40 minutes. Or else it's free. (I really wouldn't mind at all if it were delivered at, say, 1:30 or so tomorrow afternoon. But (un?)fortunately, they're being delivered by UPS, and thus I have to admit that they'll probably all be at their respective new homes by noon tomorrow. UPS>USPS. Don't forget it.) And boy oh boy am I excited. I've been reading the sixth Harry Potter all day today, really. I probably read close to three hundred pages today (hey, I had nothing else to do, and I had to get it read before tomorrow, so leave me alone), in between carefully surfing the Internet (hoping against hope that none of my regular sites would contain spoilers, and that I wouldn't somehow accidentally stumble onto some website that did have spoilers. Luckily, nothing so far, so I should be good until I read the thing. Although, I'm going to have to be careful tomorrow if I get online before or even while I'm reading it) and doing other uninteresting things, including watching an old favorite, Ever After. Great movie. Anyway. I have a feeling this seventh book will be read rather quickly by me (and many others). I've heard from several people who have already read the book that it is excellent, and the best of the series. I'm very much looking forward to finding out some answers to questions which have been lingering throughout the series. Including and especially what it is that Snape told Dumbledore that made Dumbledore trust him. Man. Great stuff. So I'm quite excited. It's nice to be excited about things like this. For some reason being excited about this book is different than being excited about a highly anticipated movie. I'm sure it has something to do with the fact that, when watching a movie, you're a completely passive audience. When you read a book, you're quite active in the story, almost becoming the characters themselves. I don't know. Reading>watching movies. Fact. Mmmmm I'm excited.

(And, for the record, I don't understand why so many people find it highly odd and irregular that so many adults are so into these books. Sure, they're billed as children's books, but they're just great stories. They're not childish stories. Obviously, seeing as how the main characters are children/teenagers, some of what they go through are more younger-people-oriented, but they're captivating and absolutely gripping stories. Although I guess technically my generation, or people my age (what constitutes a generation?) get a pass, seeing as how we were kind of in the right age bracket when they first came out. I am, of course, ignoring the fact that I didn't watch the movies until sophomore year of college, and didn't pick up a book until halfway through my junior year of college. Actually that's not true. I tried reading the first one years ago. I guess I was in high school, but I forget exactly what grade. Didnt' click with me then, but I refused to enjoy anything fantasy-related for awhile (with the exception of the Chronicles of Narnia, to which I had been introduced and with which I fell in love as a child). Heck, I refused to let myself get dragged into the Lord of the Rings thing until the third movie came out, at which point I decided I should maybe see what all the hype was about (and then I subsequently quite enjoyed them. Books I have yet to read. Partway through the first, and I have read the Hobbit which was a lovely read.) Anyway. I forget what my point was. And I just realised that this whole paragraph is supposed to be encased in parentheses. So, seeing as how I've lost the main point anyway, here.)

Don't touch the dead rabbits!

I just got an email from the UCCS security people (or, at least, I just checked that email and saw it in there. But I don't check that email very often). It's a note thing informing the school that there have been reported cases of Tularemia, of which I have never heard, but apparently it has something to do with rabbits or something. Rabbit fever, I guess. At the end of the message, they warn us, as a precaution (because it's rare but can be serious in humans) not to approach or touch rabbit or other carcasses. Man, I wish I had found this out yesterday! I saw a dead rabbit lying on the ground after class and of course, logically and obviously, I went over to it and poked and prodded and then moved it from the ground to a bench. Because, you know, that's what you do with dead animals. Touch them, and move them around and such. Geez, do people really have to be told not to touch dead animals? I sure don't want to be friends with people who freely and openly touch animal carcasses. I mean, unless it's like a pet or something, and you know from what it died. But yeah. Weird.

Didn't take long for this post to change tracks...

I don't think I've ever driven in South Bend before. No, that's not true, sophomore year I drove Sara's car at least once. That's right. But I think that was it. Unless I drove Katherine's car at some point this past semester, which, if I did, I don't remember. Hm. It'll be weird having a car up there. But nice. (Until something happens to it and I need to take it to get checked or something...so let's hope that doesn't happen, shall we?)

So for the paper I wrote for my ethics class that was due today, I decided to write about the immorality of abortion. This was a good and bad idea. Good, because I knew the main points about which I wanted to write. And it's not hard for me to write about why I believe abortion is wrong. Bad, because it was only supposed to be four pages. And it's not hard for me to write about why I believe abortion is wrong. Needless to say, I had a bit of trouble including an intro paragraph, three main body paragraphs with a separate point each, a paragraph with a criticism of one of the points, and a paragraph responding to the criticism. Ended up with about 4.5 pages, so hopefully my teacher won't be too much a stickler for that four page thing. But man, sitting down to write a paper about a few reasons abortion is wrong really brings it into focus yet again. I mean, I always know it's just a terrible horrible thing, but sometimes it doesn't truly seep in, you know? But once in awhile I'll really be thinking about it, and geez. How can people think it's ok? 50 million have been killed in the US alone since 1973. I think the worldwide estimate is around 40-50 million per year. Babies are being massacred right under our noses, and we don't do anything about it. Some of us condone it. And it's beyond a heartbreaking situation. Like my dad often says, some day down the line (hopefully sooner rather than later) we, we being the country or the human race in general or something, will look back at this period where abortion was legal and we'll be as disgusted with today's people as we are by those who condoned slavery to the point of starting a war. Or we'll be as disgusted as we are by Hitler and his men. In both cases, a section of the human race was deemed by some to be less than human, not deserving of human rights, and treated deplorably. Exactly the situation we have today, only the section of the human race under attack are our infants, those who should be guaranteed the most protection. It's an awful situation.

You know, I look at my newborn nephew, who wasn't due for another week, and I realize just how amazing babies are. I mean, he's not that different from a baby who's only at 20 weeks gestation. He's about as different from that baby as he is from a 20 month old baby. How someone can see newborn babies and not realize that they are ending a life just like that one is beyond me. And even though most abortions happen in the first trimester, especially I think within the first eight or ten weeks, even those babies aren't that far from looking just like a newborn. People are so adamant about the evils of animal abuse, but the people who seem to be so pro-animals also tend to be more pro-abortion. I remember in eighth grade, my first real experience debating the abortion issue with someone who disagreed, my best friend (at the time) was staying the night, and we were up very late discussing it. She was so pro-choice (I think I remember her saying that her mom had had an abortion years before, and so she felt that abortion was ok because had her mom not done that, she [my friend] wouldn't be here. Which to me seemed to be saying that she felt her life was more important than that of her sibling), and actually was all those really liberal things -- pro gay everything, extremely feminist to the point almost of man-hating, or so it seemed, vegetarian, pro-PETA, pro-ACLU, etc. Yeah, I'm not sure how we got to be that close; we had nothing in common aside from our tendency toward nerdiness and being teacher's pets, and we actually kind of very much disliked each other 6th and most of 7th grades. Our friendship didn't last terribly long, however. Hard to maintain a relationship when you go to different high schools and disagree on many topics. Anyway, one of the things I remember most from this debate was how she was so strongly for allowing women the choice to kill their children (that phrase isn't the best to use in debates, but I'm not debating anyone at the moment), and yet she was so against eating meat because the animals are treated so badly or whatnot. Which may or may not be true, but how can you place the importance of an animal over the life of a child? I don't think I'll ever understand how people can hold those two views at the same time.

Ok, sorry. I'm done on that issue now. For now.

Well, I was originally going to write about something else, but then I wrote about this, and it'd just seem weird to go on to another topic now, so...bye.

That damn cat

Sorry about the language. I'm rather mad though. Colt slipped outside tonight when the door was open as we were transferring Jason and Jimmy from the house to the car to take them home. A little while later, I thought I heard some meowing outside, so I went and opened the front door to see if Colt and that grey cat that's been hanging around far too often this summer (and getting into fighting matches/staring at each other making those weird mad cat noises) were on the porch or something. I didn't see anything, and at first didn't hear anything either, but then I thought I heard it again, so I went to the side of the porch to look at the side yard, and there they were. It was starting to rain a bit too, so I stood there and kept calling Colt, who seemed to want to come inside but was reluctant to turn her back on this cat or let him go or something. But eventually she did come onto the porch, and then I got her into the house. She seemed to be a bit dirty and looked kind of tousled, but nothing major. A bit later, Mom noticed that she had a cut on her nose. And boy is it a cut. A rather deep gash which makes me kinda sick to my stomach to look at. Or think about. (Not that this is hard to do; someone even just mentioning that they got a paper cut can do that too. I don't do well with injuries. Particularly of the cut kind.) We're just going to let it heal on its own (and hopefully it does so successfully and quickly), because a vet would just do like stitches and cost lots of money and make her wear one of those cone collars (they call them Elizabethan collars). Poor Chicken. I hope she doesn't have other cuts somewhere else that we haven't noticed (we haven't really examined her much beyond looking at her nose to see how bad it is), but I'm sure she'll be ok soon enough. So anyway, now I'm pissed at this cat. It was an annoyance before, but now he's gone too far, and he's injured my Chicken. Unacceptable. I just wanna let Kebbie loose on him. (But then she'd just end up running down the street somewhere and lose the cat, and we'd have to go get her because she likes to take her sweet time coming back to the house after she chases something.)

My poor Pinkin. :-(

Things discovered

I just tonight found out that laptop cooling pads exist. Things on which a person can place her poor, tired, hot laptop, which have two little fans to help the laptop to cool itself. And apparently they aren't that expensive either. I've seen a few in the $10-15 range. I think I might look into getting one of those for myself at some point. It sure would be nice not to have to deal with an annoyingly hot laptop all the time, as I currently do.

Know what else? Drinking wine is the perfect accompaniment to writing essays. Lovely part of being home. Haha. Although, I could easily have alcohol in my room this coming year. (Not hard alcohol, of course, but I don't ever drink hard alcohol.) Such as the wine I am currently drinking, the lovely girlie Arbor Mist Tropical Fruits Chardonnay. First time trying Arbor Mist (well, Saturday night was the first time), and it's quite good. Anyway though.

To continue this odd assortment of ideas, I saw this thing the other day. Totally completely blows my mind. I just don't believe it. But apparently it is true, and it's so weird. Usually with things such as those (where your eyes play tricks on you), I can see it after I'm shown it or whatever, and while it might still be weird, it doesn't mess with my brain like this one does. We-eird. (Edit: My dad reminded me that the page to which I linked is a daily updated page, and that this is the page I was talking about. But the daily updated one is pretty cool too, often.)

Best in Show: Ferret Edition

I was looking at what was on TV just now, or a little while ago, and saw that on PBS there was something on called "Ferrets: The Pursuit of Excellence" and I told Peter, kinda sarcastically, that it was on and we should watch it. So he switched to it (there's nothing on tonight), and man. Hilarious. It's like a dog show deal, except with ferrets, and in what looks like the basement of a large building or something. Very very weird. All the people (maybe not all, but a large number) were rather fat, and they were very very serious about their ferrets. I can't do it justice here in writing, but man. It was awesome. Haha. I believe the actual show they were in was called like the Ferret Buckeye Bash or something, and obviously it was in Ohio. It was just...wow. Haha. I don't even know what to say.

Essays are dumb.

Know what's not fun? Having a four page paper due on the same day you're supposed to have a whole book read for another class (despite the fact that there have been other reading assignments for said class every day previously. Every day it's held, at least). And most especially when you still have half of the sixth Harry Potter to get through before Saturday, when the long-awaited (although for me, the wait has only been a few months, instead of the two years practically every other single Harry Potter fan has had to wait). Ah well, that's what Friday is for. And Saturday and Sunday will be for HP7. And then I'm going to have to kick my butt into gear again because I have a 3-4 pager due in history next Thursday, and a 6 pager due in ethics next Tuesday. Or Thursday. She's not particularly picky, apparently. But seeing as how I don't do well with two essays due on the same day, I should probably work on getting the ethics one done sooner than later...

But first I have to do the one that's due tomorrow. Haha. Aw I suck.

Why would you do that?

So I just read somewhere that the entire Harry Potter book has been leaked. Someone got a copy and took pictures of every page and posted them somewhere. And from this, someone updated the wikipedia site about Harry Potter, revealing a major death in the seventh book. Now, some are speculating (perhaps hoping in vain) that it's possible someone just did this to be a jerk and it's actually like photoshopped and thus not real, but I wouldn't be surprised if it is real. I just don't understand people who do this. I mean, not only is it dishonest to the author and such, but it can potentially ruin the reading experience for numerous people who perhaps unwittingly stumbled across a spoiler without realizing what they were reading at first. All these people trying to be the first to "break the news" and whatnot. Why can't they just let people read it themselves? I'm starting to get wary of being online the next few days, for fear that I'll go to a news website or something and there'll be a headline that says like "Harry Potter dies in Seventh Book" or someone else dies or whatnot. This is the first of the books that I will have read without knowing some or most of the major plot points. And, while sometimes I accidentally have something spoiled for me (a movie or something) and I survive, it just takes something out of the experience of seeing/reading it for the first time, and I want to be able to have that completely new, unspoiled experience this time, with this book. So please, if you find out a spoiler for this book, big or small, don't tell me. Don't post it in a comment. Don't email me. Don't call me. Don't tell me in person. I don't want to know.

Kinda exciting...

Ok, so y'all remember that I mentioned that Motu Proprio a bit over a week ago, and how now, or starting September 14 (wonderful day, by the way), the Tridentine Mass will be more easily available (in theory) all over? And how I hoped that Notre Dame will have at least one Mass a week with the now "extraordinary" form (as opposed to the "ordinary," the Novus Ordo Mass currently used all over. And not always wonderfully)? At least, I think I mentioned that hope. Perhaps I just thought it. Anyway. I do hope it. Well, Facebook being the wonderful thing that it is, it didn't take long for a group to be started with the name "I am interested in having the Tridentine Mass at Notre Dame." Now, it's not a huge group at this point, but it does make it seem like there's most definitely going to be celebrations of that Mass at school this year. And, in the comments section of that group, someone said that someone in the know has said that things are already being set in motion to have the TLM at Notre Dame. So. That's cool. I'm kinda excited about it.

And it's also come out in the past few days that the TLM is the form that Pope Benedict uses in his private Masses. So that's pretty cool too.

Anyway.

But buses have padded walls!

I was discussing this with my mom and sister yesterday, when my sister mentioned that she had heard some state requires children to be in carseats until they are eight years old (and weigh eighty pounds). Apparently in Colorado it's four (and forty pounds). There are such stringent laws regarding seatbelts for children and child safety seats and whatnot, and yet school buses don't even have seatbelts, let alone require them and carseats and all that jazz. It's the weirdest thing to me that buses don't have seatbelts. I mean, how on earth does that make any sense? A society in which laws are starting to "crack down" on dangerous things for children, such as...recess, or...playing outside unattended and whatnot, but hasn't seen it necessary to install seatbelts in school buses, which take many many children to school every day. Now, it's not like I'm going to start clamoring for this to happen, I just find it terribly interesting that legislators (or whoever makes these kinds of decisions) have not seen fit yet to do something which has become inherent in regular cars. Get in, put the seatbelt on, off you go. Are buses really that much more safe compared to a Jeep or a Honda or a Chevy? Odd.

Is hysterical laughter at nothing funny a sign of the crazies?

Have you ever had an experience where you're laughing at something that's kind of funny, but not laughing very hard, and then all of a sudden, for no reason, your laughter level escalates to a point where it's far excessive for the hilarity (or lack thereof) of whatever it is you're laughing at? Hm not sure if that sentence made any sense. But that happened to me today. Someone posted a video (since I don't want to look for the video at collegehumor.com, where it seems it's from, this link goes to where I saw it today, an ND related message board. Good place, by the way. They even decided to move all Harry Potter book related discussions to the Game Day board, usually used for, obviously, comments that go on during various ND games. Usually football. But since there's lots of people who want to discuss the books, or will once the seventh comes out, and lots who couldn't care less, and some who don't want anything to get spoiled if they don't read the book quickly enough, they're now going to have all discussions there, no spoiler warnings necessary, instead of in the "Backroom" board, which is just a hodgepodge of various discussions, whatever anyone feels like discussing. So anyway. That's kinda cool). End sentence since that parenthetical statement went on too long. So someone posted a video of a cat being ganged up on by a bunch of puppies, and it is quite cute and somewhat funny, but as I was watching it, I felt the laughter start to bubble up for some inexplicable reason, and before I knew it I was laughing a ridiculous amount at this video which just isn't funny enough to justify laughing that hard. It was quite weird. And when I passed the link on to my brother, who wanted to know the reason for my hysterics, he didn't get what was so funny about it. Know what? I sure don't either. But hey, I won't complain. Laughing is a most excellent way to pass one's time, particularly when it makes no sense. Obviously there are situations in which it is bad to laugh, but whatever.

(Incidentally, I found this video on youtube when doing a search to see if I could find the first video, and while it's not the same, it's rather humorous as well. Mostly to see those little puppies scared to get too close to the cat, and climbing all over one another and such. Puppies are fun.)

(Oh and hey, anyone remember these goats? Haha man they're so funny to watch. Goats are cool.)

At least he doesn't throw any telephones. In movies.

I've never been a huge Russell Crowe fan. Not sure why, I just didn't care much about him. I think I'm one of a few people who has yet to see A Beautiful Mind in its entirety. I've seen clips of it, but not the whole thing. I've also never seen The Gladiator. Actually, now that I think about it, I really haven't seen any of his movies. With one notable exception. Cinderella Man. I saw it in the theaters, perhaps twice, and bought it on DVD last year. It is just an excellent, excellent film. Mom and I watched it again tonight, and it's just always so good. I mean, it's a great story to begin with, and Russell Crowe and Renee Zellweger are great in it. Renee Zellweger is often quite great, actually. But yeah. Very much a feel-good film, with lots of suspense and "life's not always perfect" stuff too. And the scene where Mae goes to church to pray, and the priest says "That's what they're all here for too" or something like that, and there's all these other people there, what a tear-jerker scene. And I really like Paul Giamatti too. Again, haven't seen a lot of his stuff (never saw Sideways, don't plan to either), but I've seen a few more things with him, and on talk shows and stuff. I like him. Apparently he's a Red Sox fan. So, that's cool, he's got that going for him. And he's in a new movie coming out this year (later this year) called Fred Claus, with Vince Vaughn, which looks like it might be worth seeing. He's also playing John Adams in a TV miniseries out next year sometime, on some cable channel, with Laura Linney as Abagail Adams. I like her too. But anyway. (Both of them are also in The Truman Show, another good movie.)

So, in summary, if you haven't seen Cinderella Man, I highly recommend that you do. Well worth a couple hours of your time. Plus, it's got a rather great score, so, you know, that's always good.

Me likes

Yesterday (or was it the day before? What day is today? No, it was yesterday) I was messing around on my computer, with my settings, trying to find how to dim my screen, or how to make it dim when the power cord is unplugged. It had been doing that plenty fine before I got the new motherboard, but when all was said and done and put back together, for some reason the screen stayed the same brightness level whether the cord was plugged in or not. Which makes it difficult to tell when my power cord has been pulled out of the socket. Not a huge deal, but I like to be able to tell. So I was trying to find a setting that maybe had somehow been messed with or something. (I looked for far too long, by the way, and eventually through a google search of some combination of words including "dim," "screen," and "battery," I discovered that the arrow keys, up and down, have these little blue pictures on them. The blue things on the keys are the ones that work when I hit the blue Fn key. Like, some of the keys have them so that I can have a pretend number pad like most regular keyboards, but not laptop keyboards, have, although it's just confusing to use it like that. But I do use the Fn key for things like muting my computer or turning the volume up or down. Anyway, on the up and down arrow keys, there are things that look like little suns, and on the up arrow key there's an arrow pointing up above the sun, and on the down, one pointing down below the sun. And those control the dim/bright factor. So I tried unplugging my computer, making the screen dim, and then plugging it back in, and indeed it brightened right up automatically. So that problem is solved.)

In my messing around on the control panel, looking anywhere I thought might help me, I came across the Display properties thing in the Appearance and Themes section. Back when I got this thing, there were two color schemes I could pick from for the windows and such, at least as far as I remember. Blue and grey. Sorry, silver. Freshman year, I changed it to silver, because it was new and cool. (I'm pretty sure our home computer has only ever been the regular default color scheme.) Three years later, not so much. But last night I discovered that they also have olive green! So, in a surprisingly quick decision for me, I picked that one. And I really really like it. The tops of the windows are olive green, the scroll bar is olive green, when I highlight text it's olive green. The little thing at the bottom right corner of a firefox window that moves when a window is loading (the little bar thing that like moves forward...eh whatever) is orange. And the taskbar at the bottom (is that the taskbar?) is green too, except for the section with the little icons being used, which is orange-ish. Haha. Anyway. I'm really kinda excited about it. Sometimes a little change is exciting. Haha. Oh, and know what else I just did? I changed the mouse pointer, what it looks like on the screen. Only slightly, but it's cool. It changed the hourglass thing that comes up when something's loading too. And a few other things I guess. But yeah. It's a little exciting, I have to admit.

I thought it couldn't be prettier

I came across this website the other day, and while looking through it, I inadvertently found a picture that I had been wanting to see for awhile now, and didn't know existed. A picture of the interior of the Basilica pre-Vatican II. Waaaay pre-Vatican II. And even a more recent one. Slightly more recent. Here's an interior as it looks now. Ok. Obviously, as everyone knows, I'm about as in love with the Basilica as a person can be with a building. And that's a pretty deep love, let me tell you. Anyway. I do find it gorgeous, outside and in, especially compared with the rather bare and Protestant-inspired churches that my diocese seems to favor. Sometimes. I guess there are some nice-ish churches in town. But not to the degree of the Basilica (or most other pre-Vatican II built churches). However, looking at those pictures of the Basilica as it used to be, I can't help but find that slightly more beautiful. I mean, the only difference really is the sanctuary/altar. Look at those pictures. Today's version is just rather bare, with one of those table type altars which are ok, but don't rival high altars of times past. (I guess there are still some around, but not many.) I don't know. It's just interesting to see the difference. And man, the altar rail (communion rail?) is kinda cool. I'd like to experience going to Communion at a rail, kneeling down. I think it'd be very very nice.

Anyway. It's cool looking through a lot of those pictures at that website. But then I am quite interested in things and times that used to be, and aren't anymore. And I'm interested in anything Notre Dame. It would have been cool to experience it back in the early days of the 1900s, I think. Although, I wouldn't have experienced it, because it was boys-only back then, but St Mary's was apparently around (and most certainly didn't have the stigma it does today among some people. Occasionally myself included, I'll admit). It's just cool to see it though, just a handful of buildings, surrounded by farmland. Now it's a plethora of buildings, surrounded by...city. Blech, city. But anyway. Can't stop progress, I guess. I hope Notre Dame doesn't continue to grow larger and larger. It's a big on the big side right now, in my opinion. 8000-9000 undergrads. Definitely not large by any means, but I hope they keep it there. It wouldn't be the same if it were to get too much bigger. I know they're planning more dorms, I'm not sure how many more but one's in the works right now, but they say it's to alleviate the somewhat overcrowding that is going on in many of the dorms now. Dorms which have had many of their study rooms converted to dorm rooms to accommodate more people, have had rooms which used to be doubles turned into triples, etc. They have said that they won't be upping the acceptance rate much if at all because of these dorms. But who knows. Eh, oh well. I won't be there much longer, and no matter what happens, any time I visit after I graduate it simply won't live up to my memories of it. Those things never do. Most things never do.

Anyway.

I think we have different definitions of "so many"

Victoria Beckham (Posh Spice) just described her family as having "so many children." They have three kids. Um...ok.

How about the better of two goods?

Know what I was just thinking about? Of course you don't. That's why you're reading this. Duh.

Anyway.

Lots of people in the country are disillusioned with Bush as president at this point. Lots just didn't like him from the beginning, too, but whatever. Many people think he's a horrible president, blah blah blah, he should be kicked out, etc. But here's the thing. Sure, he may not be the best president. He may not even be one of the top 10 or 20. But he was the better candidate both elections he won. Ok, maybe that's arguable to some people, but obviously slightly more than half the people in the country thought he was the better candidate both times. Which, in my opinion, isn't saying much. But geez, how many people are out there today, looking at all the stuff Al Gore has done in the last six years, saying, "Man, if only he were president." I'm sure there are some who think that would be exactly what the country and the world needs, but...uh...no. And Kerry? I don't think so. In both cases, Bush was more or less "the lesser of two evils."

And that's what kind of sucks about the state of politics in America these days. Why is it that everyone now is forced to choose the lesser of two evils, instead of a genuinely good candidate? It really worries me, thinking about next November. Because what happens when the two evils don't seem to have a lesser? I really don't know what the solution is, but politicians in this country are just a big joke now. I guess they have been for awhile, but I'm pretty sure they used to be respected and even well-liked by many Americans. How many people respect or like Hillary Clinton? Or Bush? Or any of them, particularly the more mainstream ones? I don't know the answer, but it's definitely a problem.

Far too excited for my own good

(hehe, when I typed the title, my finger hit the "t" in "too" before it hit the space, so for a second it said "fart." haha. Sorry, sometimes I'm just juvenile.)

I have far too many hopes for this weekend. Too many things I'm excited about. Perhaps because it's Friday, and I don't really have anything to do, and that's actually nice this week (since, instead of having class two days the whole week, I had class four days this week, and twice two of those days). The day is stretching before me in a quite lovely manner, and all I have to do is pick a few things I want to get done: I'm planning on typing up some of my mom's paper for her current master's course (she actually writes out her papers on REAL PAPER in PEN before transferring it to the computer. Imagine that. I try, and then I get bored with it and end up just putting a few lines that I hope will help guide me once I start the typing. I'm just not a more than one draft kind of person), because my mother is wonderful and anything I can do to help her with her classes is good. Goodness knows when I'm home I take away lots of her time that she could be spending working on them. I also could do homework. But we all know that won't be happening. I have some stuff to read as usual (although I've realized that I can quite easily get away with not reading my ethics book at all, the way she does the class. I've still been skimming it though, because it's fairly interesting for the most part), and I have to do another one page response to one of the three articles we have to read for Tuesday's history class. And we have a 4 page paper due on Thursday in my ethics class. Perhaps I should get a jump on that this weekend. Not today, though. I could also work on studying for the GRE. I have to register for that too, I've realized. On the website they don't have specific test dates for the computer-based test (as opposed to the less frequently given paper-based one), it just says they do it every month, and you have to register for an appointment. So I don't really know what that means, but seeing as how I want to take it around a month from now, I should look into that. (It costs like $100-something, which sucks. And I also realized that I'm going to have to pay for books in a month, for school, and I don't know if, don't think that, I have enough money in my account anymore to pay for those. So that kinda really sucks. I need to go play and win the lottery. Yeah.) Anyway. So I'm planning on working on Mom's paper a bit (it's like 20 or so written pages, go Mom), and looking at the GRE practice test, and also, the most important thing, reading more of the sixth Harry Potter.

I'm so excited for the seventh book. Dude. Totally. Just over a week now. It took me rather awhile to reread the fifth, probably because I just did it in fits and spurts here and there, so I want to get a bunch of this book read this weekend so I don't have it to distract me next week. And then next weekend, and this is a stupid move, will be spent reading the seventh as fast as possible. On the one hand, I want to read it semi-slowly and savor it, but on the other, this is the only Harry Potter book I will have read without knowing at least the major plot details, and I don't want to get on the computer or hear a newscast or something before I've finished and find out the fates of all the characters. Or find out who dies. Or find out what happens to Harry. I want to discover it on my own for once. So, even though the week after next weekend I'll have two essays due (a six-pager for ethics and a three-to-four-pager for history), I'm simply going to have to devote a majority of my time to Harry Potter. Besides, I don't know how likely it is that I'll be able to put it down for more than five minutes at a time, anyway. I've been known to forgo sleep in favor of reading a book that has quite captured my attention. But those books were usually around 200 pages or so, and thus easily readable in one 5 or 6 hour sitting. This one will be more like...700 some pages, I believe. (Ugh, and unfortunately hardcover. I'm not a huge fan of reading hardcover books. Sometimes I like to hold them in one hand as I do other things, and that's simply not possible with hardcovers. At least, not hardcovers of 700+ pages. My hand's not quite that big. I don't know what I'm going to do when I brush my teeth. I like to read while brushing my teeth. It's so boring otherwise, just standing there, staring at myself in the mirror.) Anyway. I just tangented all over myself.

The other major reason for my excitement about this weekend? Lauren's coming home tomorrow! My lovely Lauren. I haven't seen her since Christmas break, and dude I miss her. She's one of my redhead friends. I have a redheaded friend in pretty much all my different circles of friends, and she's the one in my home/church group. (And then there's one in my high school group of friends, and one in my close group of friends at school, and one in my group of friends at school who I haven't seen much the past two years, as we've been disjointed since freshman year -- and that redheaded friend was actually in Ireland this whole past year, so yeah. But us in that disjointed group, almost all of us are living on the fourth floor next year, and I'm terribly excited about it. Mmm fourth floor. Mmm single. Mmm lots of seniors on the fourth floor, hence fewer annoying underclassmen as I had to deal with quite muchly this past semester.) I like my redheaded friends. Perhaps it's my sometimes wish that I were redheaded. But I like my hair. Haha. Oh how dumb I am sometimes. Actually, my redhead friend in my closer school group (all of whom will be living off campus next year, somewhat sadly), apparently that's not exactly her real color. But no one's quite sure what her real color is, not even her, as she's been dying it for years now. I pretend that's not true, though. Anyway, back to the topic. Lauren! I don't quite understand why, but she's driving home right now and will get here tomorrow (coming from California), and is staying until Wednesday or something, and then she's coming back in a couple weeks, flying that time, for a visit that's been scheduled for awhile. This weekend trip apparently was kind of just decided recently. Either way, it means more Lauren time for me, and that's exciting. She's quite fun. I miss her. I haven't hung out with a friend since...well, I think the last time I saw Cathy (my only friend who was actually home this summer, but who is currently in Denver for the month) was...maybe almost a month ago? Perhaps not quite that long. But it's been awhile. Depressing for me. So I'm excited to have another friend around. I sound so pathetic. Oh well. Yay Lauren!

OH! And, I should be getting my Journey CD soon! I think they said something like the 15th, but in my experience it seems that they are typically earlier on delivery than they say. At least, that's what I'm hoping. I don't think I've ordered something from Amazon in awhile. Aside from books, but those are always from private vendors selling on Amazon, not Amazon itself. Maybe it'll come today. That would be amazingly awesome and I would be quite a happy camper. Mmm camping. EDIT: So, not even an hour after I wrote this, I went out to check the mail, and guess what was in there? A bill. Ok just kidding. A bunch of boring stuff, and my Journey CD!!! Lovely.

Oh, and again! My laptop is good to go. Well, I mean, aside from the power cord thing it still has all the little things that perhaps annoy me (and I think for a little while in my head I was believing that putting the new motherboard and processor in would somehow fix everything else, like it would magically make my battery last longer again, but no such luck. Although the guy who did fix it, who was here two days ago and then yesterday to put in the new processor, told my dad (who was here when he came, as I was going to class) that I should call Dell about the battery, because it shouldn't be so weak, and they should replace it. So perhaps I'll do that before the summer's over. It'd be nice to have a 3 hour long lasting battery again). But for now it's just so nice not to feel like I have to sit as still as can be when using my laptop, and not to feel like I can't get up and move the laptop once I've found a position in which the battery is charging, for fear that any tiny movement (or even none at all) will disrupt the connection between the computer and the cord and then I'll have to spend another five minutes finding another position in which it'll charge. The cord feels so tight in there now, as it hasn't in awhile. Apparently there's a little ring type dealie inside the computer there where it plugs in, and if that gets broken somehow (as mine apparently did), it's just not going to work well. So anyway. Lovely to be able to move, and move my computer, fear-free. Ahhhhh.

Ok. Now I'm off to go do one of the things I was talking about. Because the last thing I want to do is spend my entire fun day off updating my blog. How boring.

Honesty is such a lonely word

I did something today. Something that may or may not have been stupid. I got a call today, although I missed it so really I got a message. Anyway. It was from a guy with whom I interviewed last week (and didn't tell anyone, for some reason, although I did tell my sister afterward because she asked about why I was so dressed up when I went to visit her. But I digress, and no one cares), at the Fine Arts Center, about a part time museum gift shop employee. It was Thursday, and he said he might be calling Friday or early next (this) week, either way. I definitely didn't feel confident following the interview, and when I didn't hear from him Monday or Tuesday I wasn't surprised and figured I didn't get it. So I was rather surprised when, in his message, he didn't say something along the lines of "I'm sorry blah blah blah" but "If you're still interested we have a place for you" or something like that. And obviously he wanted me to call back and let him know, and to work out some scheduling and whatnot with him.

Here's the thing. I hadn't been completely honest in my interview. Or, more accurately, on my resume. Out of desperation at some point recently, I put that I am attending UCCS now, and put Notre Dame as 2004-2007. Instead of 2004-current, or whatever. Therefore it wouldn't be an automatic red flag when people looked at it, considering I only have about a month and a half left here, and most employers would rather not hire someone who's barely gonna be employed long enough to get trained. So he thought that I would be going to UCCS come late August, and part of the "scheduling" he wanted was to know my school schedule for fall, so that they could set up like permanent shifts for people, instead of the figure it out a week or two ahead of time that I so despise, but which most of the places I've worked do. I didn't feel good about it when I interviewed, and the thought of not getting that job was almost a relief, because then I wouldn't have to keep up any rouse and then barely after I got used to the place turn in my two weeks notice. So I was conflicted when I got that phone call. After thinking about it for awhile, and knowing how guilty I'd feel about going there under false pretenses and then barely lasting a month before telling them I was going to quit, while also considering the fact that I have a far too rapidly depleting bank account as well as the fact that lots of people don't last very long at various jobs, and the fact that lots of people aren't honest with lots of things, I finally decided that I just couldn't do it. So I called him back, got his voice mail, and told him that I won't be here after August and I assume that would make him want to reconsider hiring me, and I told him that I understood and blah blah blah. I guess we'll see what happens now.

I feel kind of like an idiot. I mean, on the one hand, I've been looking for a job for two months now. Well, almost. I have no money. I finally got a bite. And I basically turned it down because I'm pathetic. But I just...I don't know. I'm not perfect, I lie, I just don't know if I could keep that up. And I'd feel like I was taking advantage of the people who hired me, expecting me to be there for an extended period of time, not just a month and a half. Sometimes it's more logical to be dishonest, I guess, in a way. More financially prudent. But I just don't want to do it. I mean, I do feel like I'm taking advantage of my parents for not carrying more of my share (I'd love it if I didn't have to depend on them for so much right now), but perhaps I was just too programmed as a kid that lying is wrong, and that good ol' Catholic guilt thing weighs down on me something awful when I do. Especially things like this. Not that I'm in this sort of situation a lot...but man. This sucks. I can't believe that it's taken me this long to find a job, and probably the only reason I got it is because I lied. I'm just trying to trust God that something's going to happen in some way to make up for this, or to make it worth it, or something, because I certainly can't imagine that God would want me lying to get a job. Even if I do need money. You know, the whole "Trust in me, even when it's hard" kind of deal. I guess I'm not typically in a situation where I really have to depend on him like this, because generally things for which I might have to trust him are not major things at all. So I don't know. I just feel like an idiot. An idiot who lets her emotions get in the way of things. Lets guilt control her. (Some might call that listening to one's conscience, but perhaps I take it to a bit of an extreme sometimes.) But on the other hand...do I really have to lie about something like that just to get a job? I guess at this point maybe I do. I just don't think I can.

I guess that's my saga of the day. Man I wish I had money. You know, I even stooped to applying at a fast food place. Chick-fil-A, which doesn't seem quite as bad as McDonald's, but even they didn't take me. I guess they can't hire people if there's no spots open, but still. I don't think I put that I'm "at UCCS now" on that application, so that might be it too. This rather crappy excuse for a summer can't be done soon enough. At least I have the guarantee of an 8 hours a week, $7.35 an hour job waiting for me back there.

My poor baby

My laptop is currently in pieces on our dining room table. Quite sad-looking, really. But have no fear: the Dell guy is in charge. He came over this afternoon to put in the new motherboard they ordered for me last week, which will apparently fix my power cord problem, and after taking apart what looked like literally every single bit of my laptop that could be taken apart (talk about looking sad), he put the new motherboard in and was about to put everything back together when he noticed something weird with the processor. It's this little square with a ton of tiny little pins sticking up on one side of it, which apparently go into tiny holes on the motherboard. I guess mine didn't go in so well, and after examining it for a few minutes, he determined that a few of the pins seemed to be missing. Now, how or when this could have happened is beyond me (and I think he was rather surprised as well, and also surprised that I wasn't seeming to have any huge problems with my computer freezing or anything like that), but apparently it did somewhere along the way. Although, a little while after he had gone, I looked at the processor myself and I'm pretty sure all the pins are there, but a few are definitely bent. So either way, he ordered a new processor (man am I happy we got a full warranty for four years on my laptop), and it was sent this afternoon and should get to him tomorrow. In the interest of time, he didn't put my computer entirely back together so that tomorrow he can just plop the new processor in and get the rest of the pieces that are currently resting on the table back onto/into the computer. And I will be happy again. Because I don't care for this computer, or its keyboard, very much. Alas. Theoretically, then, this would keep me off the computer more than usual, right? But no, I'm addicted after all. (Plus, I have to write a two page "essay" for my ethics class. An essay in two pages? Hm. I mean, I'd rather two than four or six (which are the lengths for the other two papers I'll have to write for this class in the next two weeks), but it's hard for a rambler to cut an essay to two pages only. I shall survive, though, and persevere, and WIN!!! Um...what?)

Five more minutes!

I had a horrible night's sleep last night. First of all, I was up a bit later than I would have liked thanks to that essay (I suck at finishing essays. And this one just sucked in general. But I know I'll get either an A or B, so whatever). And then once I did get to bed, I couldn't fall asleep, and it was really windy out (loudly windy), and my cat decided she wanted in my room at some point and then she was keeping me from falling asleep or something, and for the rest of the night until 8:30 or whenever my alarm went off, I felt like I didn't get more than 5 minutes consecutive sleep. I'm sure that wasn't really the case, but that's what it felt like, and that's what I felt like all day. And I had to sit through my history class (which really could have been a lot worse, and I didn't even get an urge to fall asleep which surprised me), and then a little later my ethics class. Which also wasn't terrible, really. I attempted a bit of a nap between the two, but I don't know that I really fell asleep at all. I think I did feel a tad rejuvenated after I stopped attempting the nap, though. Man, and I'm going to a movie at midnight? What's wrong with me? Haha ok just kidding. I'd stay up late for that. I may take a nap while we're sitting in the theater though. Be like my dad. Yeah. And then sit through 2 hours and 18 minutes of deliciousness known as: HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX.

Wow.

I was driving home from my history class a little while ago, flipping through the radio stations as I am sometimes wont to do when I can't find anything I feel like listening to, and I ended up stopping on our local classical station (88.7). They were in the middle of a song, and the first few bars that I heard trapped me to stay on that station. As I drove the rest of the way home (and I was listening to this song most of the way home, and then some, because classical songs last awhile), I found myself more moved by a piece of music than I've been in a very long time. It is such a gorgeous creation. Parts of it sounded sort of like an old western-themed movie back from the 50s or so, parts of it seemed to be obviously Asian in origin, and it had some breathtakingly wonderful sweeping crescendos of music that I could feel throughout my whole body, making me feel a rush of emotions that songs normally don't make me feel. I mean, it was amazing. So when I got home and it was still playing, I stayed in the car because I had to know what song it was (and they always announce after a piece its title and composer, and I guess usually the symphony playing it and the conductor). So I sat there for maybe another five minutes because I could tell it was reaching the finale, letting the end notes wash over me. And then finally, the title. It's called "Buttefly Lover's Violin Concerto" and is indeed composed by a Chinese composer. Or, two I guess. Apparently it's a pretty famous Chinese composition. I had never heard it before, but I sure hope that I can manage to find it somewhere, because man. It's wonderful. (I was trying to find it somewhere online to listen to, and the best I can get is this website which has a bit of a sample from it. Seems to be a good part in the song, too. Especially towards the end of the minute. Despite playing the violin myself, I'm not a huge fan of a lot of solo violin parts. Solo cello, heck yes. But even though often I don't care a great deal about those parts, this song is still magnificent, and it really works. Hopefully that link works, too, so you all can hear at least that minute of it.) Anyway. I have a few free music download cards that I got this past semester that I have yet to use (because I can't decide what songs I want to use them on. I don't want to make a bad decision, you know, so I don't make any). I might go and see if that song is on the website, because I most definitely want to listen to it again and again. Because...wow.

24 hours!

I just saw Daniel Radcliffe on Leno (it was kinda funny; he seemed really nervous and awkward for awhile there, but it's all good), and then of course they showed a clip from the movie, and dude I'm excited now. Not that I wasn't before, but dude. I mean, I'm trying to keep the movie a bit separate in my head from the book, because when I watch the movies comparing them to the books I just get annoyed at the movies. And I know that there will be lots of things in this movie that will annoy me if I look at it that way too. I mean, you just can't transfer an 800+ page book into a movie without cutting lots of things out (unless you want a rather long movie. Which I personally wouldn't mind, but people tend not to like movies that are more than like 2.5 hours or so). And the actors, good as they may be, just can't match the characters I have in my head. So. Tomorrow night, I'm going to try to watch it as a movie continuing the story that the other four told, and not one that's projecting the story of the book onto a movie screen. Even though it is, obviously, but whatever.

First, I have to get through finishing a paper (which isn't going well, but I don't really care either), get through sitting through another 2 hour 40 minute history class (not that they're bad, they're just long, and I think tomorrow might be tedious because it's a "catch up day" or something like that, so I have a feeling it might be a lot of...recap. I'm not a huge fan of recap days, in general. Unless it gets me out of class sooner. Which I'm not holding my breath for, but I won't deny that I'm hoping it'll happen), and then also I have to get through my second (of eight, which means seven left) ethics class. A class which is scheduled to go 4:30-9 each night, but which in reality will probably only go like...two to three hours each night. So that's nice. So yeah. I have to get through all that tomorrow, and then it's smooth sailing to Harry Potter 5! (Oh, and I don't remember if I mentioned it, but I finally placed the order for the seventh book over the weekend. I got a Journey Greatest Hits along with it, so I should get that this week sometime, and I am quite excited about that. And then next weekend the book! Not sure how I'm going to work out reading it as quickly as possible along with writing an essay that will be due the following Tuesday or probably later...but I'll figure something out. Hm. Actually, lovely, I will have an essay due in both classes that week...eek. That sucks.)

Choice? It's not even a real choice.

I just got an email from the Huddle. An unusual occurance in the summertime, I must say. But, they're thinking ahead apparently. See, all Huddle employees are required to work two football shifts. Meaning, two shifts during any football Friday or Saturday, when there are hugely larger amounts of people on campus than usual. (Man, I can't wait for football.) Normally there are football shift sign ups during the first week or two of school. This year, however, something out of the ordinary is happening with regard to our home football schedule. Our first home game is the first weekend we're back. That never happens, both because we normally go back a week earlier, and also because we normally have an away game first, and thus our first home game isn't until maybe the second weekend in September. So they (the Huddle) decided to get started earlier, and they sent out an email listing shifts we can work if we want to get football shifts out of the way. So here's my dilemma: Do I sign up for a shift now, thus getting at least one of the required shifts out of the way, or do I not sign up for this first weekend, and just worry about enjoying being back at school? Yeah, I don't know why I'm even considering it. I'll just put this off until later football weekends. Why on earth would I choose to work my first weekend back, and during the first home football weekend? Psh. Crazy me for even entertaining this thought for a second.

(Incidentally, I should probably find wherever it is that I wrote down the regular shifts I signed up for for this coming semester...Hm. And also, the email they just sent said that everyone's getting a 30 cent raise for the semester. Woohoo! Rolling in the big bucks here now. $7.35/hr. Sweeeet.)

Isn't stream of consciousness wonderful?

I discovered something amazing tonight. In a message board I read, someone asked about getting sharpie off of a 2-year-old's skin. People responded with using isopropyl alcohol, and how it's really good for getting all sorts of ink, even stuff that's been there for awhile. I don't remember if I thought of this right away, or later, but I was doing my laundry tonight, and came across my grey Notre Dame sweatshirt, and decided to try the alcohol trick. A few months ago, I think in April or so, I somehow managed to get Sharpie on the sweatshirt (along with two different instances of highlighting myself while wearing the sweatshirt -- but those came off pretty well with a Tide to Go pen. Not so the Sharpie mark), which kind of faded a little bit maybe, but didn't go away. It was on the chest area, to the right of the big navy blue "Notre Dame," so not really too conspicuous. But kinda annoying. Anyway, when I came across it in my laundry tonight, I figured I might as well give it a shot. I was very pleasantly surprised when I poured a bit on the spot and started blotting it with a paper towel, because immediately ink started coming up off the sweatshirt! I was kinda excited. It didn't all come out, but maybe more will come out in the wash, and maybe I'll try it again next time I was it, but even if I just leave it the way it is now, I'm pretty happy. So yeah. Alcohol seems to work well for ink stains. (Funny story: spell checker on here thinks that "isopropyl" should be "improperly." I guess they have a few letters in common there.)

On another note, Big Fish is an excellent movie. I've seen it before, considering I own it (and I tend only to buy movies that I quite enjoy, for the most part), but I just watched it again this weekend, and it's just a great movie. As is The Incredibles. It's just so nice to be able to watch movies that don't seem to think that the entire world, and point of existence, is made up of sex, gratuitous violence (yeah, sure, The Incredibles has some violence, but...not real stuff. I mean, I probably wouldn't think a really young kid should see it, but it's not like the violence is overwhelming), divorced/unfaithful/unhappy parents and marriages, lots of cussing, etc etc etc. Lots of movies do seem to think that these things, some or all, are necessary in depicting a "good story" or "real life," but there's some gems out there. Not to say either of these movies (or any movie, necessarily) are perfect, but life's not perfect, and people aren't perfect, so nothing's really perfect. Although there may be some songs that come close. All or most instrumental songs, of course, but there are some great songs. But wow am I tangent-ing here.

Hey, so you all know what came out yesterday, right? The long-awaited Motu Proprio from the Pope. And it didn't take long for this humorous video to be posted. Basically, this thing is saying that the old form of the Mass (known by many as the Tridentine Rite or the Tridentine Latin Mass), celebrated before changes in the liturgy resulting from Vatican II, can now be celebrated once again without having to request (and be granted) permission to do so. Since...somewhere around 1970 or in the 1960s, I forget exactly when, those wanting to have a TLM have had to get permission from the local bishop. As a result, it's not celebrated very frequently or very widely. There's one church in our diocese that celebrates it, but it's way down south and I've never been there. Actually, I only found out about it maybe a year or so ago. Anyway. It is because of this previous rule that certain groups broke away from communion with the Catholic Church, the sedevacantists. Or at least it was one of the reasons, the fact that the TLM seemed almost to be forbidden. The Pope realizes that there are many faithful Catholics who long for more orthodoxy in the Mass, and realizes that a number of...unfavorable, shall we say, changes have taken place in the Novus Ordo Masses (that's the liturgy that became the norm when the TLM became somewhat stifled). I love this passage from the explanatory letter by the Pope accompanying the Motu Proprio:

We all know that, in the movement led by Archbishop Lefebvre, fidelity to the old Missal became an external mark of identity; the reasons for the break which arose over this, however, were at a deeper level. Many people who clearly accepted the binding character of the Second Vatican Council, and were faithful to the Pope and the Bishops, nonetheless also desired to recover the form of the sacred liturgy that was dear to them. This occurred above all because in many places celebrations were not faithful to the prescriptions of the new Missal, but the latter actually was understood as authorizing or even requiring creativity, which frequently led to deformations of the liturgy which were hard to bear. I am speaking from experience, since I too lived through that period with all its hopes and its confusion. And I have seen how arbitrary deformations of the liturgy caused deep pain to individuals totally rooted in the faith of the Church.

Have I ever mentioned how awesome our Pope is? Because he's pretty amazing. Just to clarify this, though, the TLM doesn't include anything condemning Jews, as some think (it might have used to, but a revision in the early 1960s changed that, I believe, and that's the form that is now able to be practiced freely). And this also doesn't mean, by a long shot, that anyone's required to attend this new/old Mass. It's now simply considered an "extraordinary form," compared to the regular "ordinary form" that most know and are comfortable with. Now, I don't really expect this to have major sweeping effects, not in my diocese anyway. Who knows, I could be completely surprised. But I'm not holding my breath. And I don't even know how much I'd like the TLM, since I've never been to one (maybe once, back in the time period of my life where memories are only brief snippets here and there). But I do think I'd like it once I got used to it, and besides that, maybe, just maybe, having this allow the more traditional and (in my opinion) more reverent Mass to occur wherever there's desire, it might just effect regular Masses in a positive way, making them perhaps just a tad more traditional too. And that's a good thing. I am hoping, though, that maybe at school there'll be enough people asking for a regular TLM so that we get one there. That'd be pretty cool. Know what else makes me happy about this? The changes are to go into effect, officially, on the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross. Which happens to fall (every year, conveniently enough) on September 14. Which also happens to be (again, surprisingly, every year) my birthday. So this proves two things. The Exaltation of the Cross is a very good day in the eyes of the Church, an important one, even, even if it doesn't get the attention it deserves, and it also proves that my birthday is awesome. Because, see, it's not like September 14 is a Sunday this year or anything. It would seem logical to have this go into effect on a Sunday, wouldn't it? But no, it's a Friday. Not even the beginning of the week. Which proves that it's not some arbitrary date a few months away to give churches and priests time to prepare or whatnot. It's an important day in the eyes of someone, at least. Someone cool, I think. :-)

Completely unrelated, again. And much more trivial than the last topic. But lately I keep getting these pangs of longing for Christmas. I quite enjoy the Christmas season (aside from finals and all that non-fun stuff). Tis lovely. And one of these years it'll be a white Christmas. But any time I think, "man I wish it were Christmas season" (in the secular sense, is what I usually mean, since technically the real Christmas season begins on Christmas. Or at least after the fourth Sunday of Advent), I remember that, if it really were Christmas, then that would mean that the fall semester would be over/almost over, that I would only have half a year left at that wonderful place which I love, that there would be no more ND football games, as a student anyway (or at the very least, no more at home, if by some chance we get into a bowl game and if by an even smaller chance I actually were to go), and it would all be quite bittersweet. So, while I do like Christmas, I think I'll hold off for awhile on wishing this one to come faster. Because I sure don't want to make my senior year go by any more quickly than I already know it will.

It's someone's lucky day

For me, it's just a Saturday. But happy 7-7-07, anyway. I mean, how often does that happen? I guess around every 100 years or so. Haha. Whatever.

Who wants to hear something amazing?

Tonight, due to extreme desperation resulting from ridiculous boredom, I started on my 3-4 page history essay. The one that's not due until Tuesday. I don't know if you noticed, but it is currently Friday night. Not Monday night. Does that illustrate just how crazy I'm beginning to go? I also, with absolutely no prompting whatsoever of any kind, put away the clean dishes, re-packed the dishwasher, and washed the remaining dishes that don't get put into the dishwasher generally. Yeah. (Side note: I don't really mind washing dishes, but I don't do it very often because I'm so meticulous when I do it that it takes on average 5 minutes per dish, at least. And often I'll wash some of them twice, just to make sure they're clean. And it always bugs me when, in the end after I'm all done, I can't get all the soap suds to get out of the sponge or washcloth or whatever I'm using. That really annoys me for some reason.) And now I have my introduction paragraph all written out, and a sort of outline for the three body paragraphs done. Of course, I don't really do outlines, so each paragraph has about five lines written down as my "outline." Definitely not a very developed outline. But hey, it's something. I'm rather proud of myself for this feat.

But jeezaloo, I am going CRAZY. I have like no social interaction here this summer. No wonder I'm so much itching to get back to school. I mean, the only kind of social thing I have going on right now is my class, and of course I never really talk to people there. But I mean, at least it's something. I'm feeling so stuck here. I'm sick of being online (especially lately, using my computer, because of the whole stupid plug thing which is causing me to have a shorter and shorter fuse with it, and making me want to spend less and less time on my laptop). I finished the fifth Harry Potter book today, and obviously can't start on the sixth yet. Well, I guess I can, because I do want to read it before I get the seventh, but I wanted to wait until after I saw the fifth movie next week. But I'm not sure why, exactly. But still, I don't know. I don't feel like starting up another book right now. And then my parents aren't exactly that helpful with my cabin fever because they have better things to do than entertain me. My mom's being working on this paper for her current class for awhile now, and my dad has been working out in the yard pretty much every day for a long long time. Both very worthwhile and important endeavors. Just doesn't help me much. Haha. I am going to be starting on the studying for taking the GRE soon, because I think I want to try to take it in August, on the advice of my parents, so that's something to do. They figure, and quite rightly, that once school starts again I'll have quite a lot on my plate, without adding GRE studying to the mix, not to mention the time and worry for taking the test itself. In August I'll have a break (and possibly absolutely NOTHING to do, thanks to my unbelievable lack of a job this summer thus far, and at this point it's practically not even worth it, but I am still trying), and it would be a good time to take it. So hopefully at least I'll have that to occupy me sometimes. Of course, starting next week I'll have less time, thanks to my other class, but that really only lasts two weeks. (How crazy is that? Two weeks for a class. Hm.)

And I really miss football. Jeez-a-loo. Tonight I was trying to decide between two CDs to buy, along with the new Harry Potter book (I have a $25 gift certificate, and if I get at least $25 worth of stuff I get free shipping, so I decided to get a CD along with the book. It's the whittling down my wish list to the one I want the most that's the tough part). I think the two I am really deciding between at this point are a Journey Greatest Hits CD, and this one that looks like a gem, which I first heard about last November or so. I think I've almost decided for sure that I'm gonna get the Journey CD, because I really kinda want something I can sing along to. Plus it's cheaper. I have lots of instrumental music, and while I do enjoy it, I like singing along to things. And I do enjoy Journey. Most definitely. But the other CD, the Here Come the Irish CD, I don't know. I like that genre of music. And I like that there are Notre Dame-specific songs on there. And I really like that the first song on there is the lovely Here Come the Irish that I know so well from this little video. Which is most excellent. One of the best 5 minutes online. Seriously. Dude I just watched it again for the first time in quite awhile, and man. Man. Oh yeah that was the intro to this paragraph. I miss football. SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much. Those games. Game days. Game weekends. Some of the best experiences of my life. I don't want this to be my last year of being a student on those weekends. Sigh. I also miss pro football. Watching games on Sunday afternoons. College football, I don't tend to watch as much beyond ND games. Pro football, I obviously have my favorites, but in general any games are more interesting than any college game. Although I don't like the showboating that tends to be more prevalent in pro games. I guess it happens in college games too, but I don't notice it as much because it's not big on the ND team. I think Weis has seen to that. But anyway. I just miss football. Why does my favorite sport have to have the shortest season? Just not fair. Of course, football is rather more physically intense than most other sports, so yeah. But hockey's pretty physically intense, what with all the fights and whatnot, and they have a season that seems to last forever. At least, it seems like that to me because I have no interest in it at all, and it bothers me when it's on. Like basketball. Basketball has an annoyingly long season too. Football should be the only sport. I guess baseball can stay too. Anyway. Go football.

Oh speaking of sports, tonight there was a game between the White Sox and Minnesota. The final score? 20-14 (Minnesota won). That is a crazy score. I mean, how often does a team score 14 points, let alone score 14 points and still lose? Must have been a rather exciting game to watch. There were only four half innings that didn't have at least one run score, two per team. And only one of Minnesota's hits didn't end up scoring. (Of course, the game was in Chicago, so I'm sure most of the people there weren't terribly excited about that. But it's still kinda impressive.) Oh, apparently they played a double-header today, and in the other game (I'm not sure which one took place first), the Twins won 12-0. In that game they scored 12 runs on 15 hits. So that's pretty impressive too. Man oh man though, I do miss football. I don't mind watching baseball, but even I can't argue that the average baseball game is anywhere near as exciting as the average football game.

Oh. Unrelated. (what else is new.) Tonight, I read this article about a high speed chase that took place in Alabama. A cop turned on his lights to pull over a speeding car that passed it, and the car sped up. The driver was obviously drunk, the car sideswiped another during the course of the 8 mile chase, and it was going around 100 mph. It finally flipped, allowing the cops to close in. Know who they found at the wheel? An 11 year old girl. Who was over the .02 legal limit for minors. (I didn't know there was a legal limit for minors.) 11 years old. Driving 100 mph. She said she was going to pick up her sister from a concert or something. And she was drunk. And she's 11. She only had minor injuries from her car flipping, but dang. It's just so bizarre to me that an 11 year old girl did all that stuff. I mean, I don't think I'd ever even have thoughts of doing any of that when I was 11. I can't even imagine what kind of home environment this girl lives in that would allow her to do all that stuff. There are some crazy people in this world.

I did it. I stooped to applying at fast food today. But it's Chick-fil-A, about which I've heard rather good things from employees. Sooooooooo................whatever. I'm also going to start looking into doing some online surveys that you get paid for taking. Not exactly a real income, but it would be something. More than what I'm getting now anyway. And I'm also going to call the local crisis pregnancy center to see about volunteering. That way, if I end up not getting a job at all this summer, at least I'll be doing something semi-worthwhile with my time. Can't believe it took me this long to consider doing that. Better late than never I guess, though.

Man I'm not feeling well. I need to go to bed soon. I think I probably didn't drink enough water today. What else is new, though. Haha. Oh well. I might go up to Denver tomorrow with my mom, so that's kinda exciting. You know, getting out of the house and whatnot. Man I'm pathetic. Oh well. This summer won't last forever.

Oh computer, how you hurt me.

I'm getting ready to throw my stupid computer at the wall. Argh. I did call Dell, and they're going to send someone out here to replace my motherboard (which, interestingly, is something they did when I first got back to school back in January, but for a separate problem). However, the person who is going to come has to call me to set up a time for him to come, and that has not happened yet. And this thing is just getting worse. I'm constantly having to readjust and jiggle the power cord so that I can find a position where it registers on the computer as being plugged in, which usually lasts for about five minutes before I have to do the whole thing over again. And when I'm sitting here with it in my lap, I'm afraid to get up to get something especially if I have found a position in which the computer seems to be happy for the time being. But man oh man is it irritating. Lately now, if I go away and set my computer down but leave it on and plugged in, more times than not I'll come back to find it out of battery and hibernating. Even though it's just been sitting there the whole time I was gone. So very frustrating. So I'm just hoping that the mother board thing fixes it. I mean, back in January when they replaced it for a more serious problem (remember, when it just wouldn't turn on and it was all "Here, look at this Blue Screen of Death!") I didn't notice the power cord not working. Didn't have the problem at all at school, really, oddly. So it did seem that the motherboard fixed it, at least temporarily. Why, then, is it doing it again? Am I going to have to get my motherboard replaced every six months? That'd be quite a pain. At least this thing is under a full warranty until next summer. At which point...we'll see.

Too much reading

So I was just looking at the syllabus for the philo class I'm taking starting Monday. It seems like it won't be too bad, considering it's really only two weeks of classes, eight days in all. But, and this is the thing I hadn't noticed previously when perusing the syllabus, most days we're supposed to have read two chapters in our book. These are not short chapters. They're close to 100 pages each, give or take. So that's a lot of reading to do every single day. On top of whatever stuff I have to read for my history class (although, I get by with just skimming most of that, and he even has told us that's what we should do for the most part). Sigh. Oh well. It's all good. The thing that might be problematic, aside from the fact that we have to write a 2 page thing, then a 4 page take home essay thing, is the 5-6 page final paper we have to write. I mean, 5-6 pages isn't terrible, but it's not terribly fun either (I really like 3-4 page papers), but the thing that might make it annoying is that we have to write it on a topic not covered in our book. And our book covers a lot of controversial topics. So. I was thinking about doing contraception, as I tend to find it easy to write a lot about that, but it is mentioned, albeit slightly, in one of the chapters in the book. So I guess I should wait until we learn more about the paper itself and such before I start worrying about it, but it'd really be nice if I could write on that. Anyway. Sigh. It'll be nice when August gets here, and with it, a break from schoolwork for a few weeks.

How's this for deep?

Extreme shallowness ahead:

I had a really great hair day today. I'm not really usually terribly concerned about my hair, as having bad hair days is more or less rare for me, but it's really nice those days when my hair just seems to look really really good. Especially when I don't really do anything terribly differently than normal. And also especially when I have things going on where I want to look as good as possible. Like, say...interviews, for example.

Anyway. End shallow post.

(Oh wait, unrelated though. My cat, who rarely uses product or even a straightener in her hair, has been getting into tussles with this other cat in the neighborhood lately. It's this cat that hangs around our house many nights (maybe all, but I don't see it every night). Dad said he saw it sitting in our eagle's nest this morning, or yesterday morning. (Eagle's nest = some little fort like thing attached to our swingset, by the way. In our backyard. Who does this cat think he is?) It's so weird. Anyway, Colt's been wanting to go outside more often now, even or especially at night, perhaps because she knows this cat is hanging around. Tonight they were going at it again, and I heard one of them making a fighting cat noise so I went to get Colt. See, she's clawless in the front. I don't know for sure, but I would doubt that this cat is. So I don't think it's a great thing for Colt to be picking fights with cats that could cause her injury when she can't reciprocate. Although, she could easily sit on this cat and suffocate it. Colt's a little fat. Anyhoo, she didn't seem to want to come in when I tried to get her in, but they kept making those weird cat noises at each other that sound like pathetic meows. And Colt kept charging this other cat, who didn't seem to care a great deal, but did back up at least a bit. Eventually I went around the porch to the side of the house where they had stopped momentarily, and I picked up Colt and brought her in. I was surprised she let me because she doesn't generally like to be picked up, especially if she's outside. It did kinda seem like she didn't want to concede to this other cat though. But anyway. This cat thing is weird. Why does he keep hanging around our house all the time? Blackie used to rule the neighborhood and the other cats knew to stay away. But now that she's gone I guess they figure it's a free-for-all. Or this one does at least. Even Kebbie chasing it away a number of times hasn't discouraged it. It's just so weird, the whole thing. And I'm done now.)

What's in a number?

Apparently this coming Saturday (7/7/07) is expected to have the greatest number of couples getting married ever for any one date. I suppose it is kinda cool. Especially considering seven is all lucky and whatnot. I'm not a huge fan of seven particularly though. Not quite sure why. Maybe I'll plan on getting married on 9/9/09. I like nines. Probably because September is my birthday. Even though September used to be the seventh month. (Hence the "septem," which is seven in Latin in case you didn't know. But apparently quite a few people are not aware that September through December used to be two months earlier than they currently are, since two months were added (July and August, for Julius and Augustus Caesar), even though septem is seven, octo is obviously eight, novem is nine, and decem is ten. I suppose that's not as common knowledge as I thought it was. Anyway. I think I got off track. Oh, right. End of parenthetical statement.) Ah, but it seems that 9.9.09 is a Wednesday. Too bad. Interesting side note: I don't get a birthday on a Saturday for another six years. 2013. My last one was...my 17th, 2002. My mom and I went for a hike, and then we went up to the top of Pikes Peak with my little brother and dad.. It was fun. But this time around, when I should have a Saturday birthday next year, it's a leap year, so it goes to Sunday. I was born on a Saturday so it's cool when my birthday falls on a Saturday. Actually I just decided that; I really don't care that much, except weekend birthdays are usually cooler than birthdays on which you have to go to work or take tests or do other unfun weekday-related things.

Ok this post has gotten horribly off-topic, and is about 300 words longer than I intended it to be. I think that means it's time to end it.

It's everywhere I want to be

Oh my lands do I miss Notre Dame. I desperately don't want this to be my last year there. How am I already going to be a senior in college? I mean, I was just a freshman literally two minutes ago. Someone's messed with the clocks on me, seriously. It's not cool either. I don't appreciate being forced earlier than I should out of a place I love almost more than anywhere else. So, whoever's playing this trick on me, quit it. I just want to be there now, and have the year go by sloooooooowwwwwwwwwly. Not zip by as I know it inevitably will do. Sigh. I just miss it. I don't know how I'm going to deal with this when I get homesick for it with no hope of a return any time soon. Because at least right now I know I'm going back. I know that I'll be walking those sidewalks, through those quads, sitting in those crucifix-adorned classrooms, the dorms, and most especially my beautiful Basilica (which I also miss a great great deal. Particularly on Sundays. Huh, no idea why that would be. [sarcasm, if you didn't catch it.]). Even the dining halls. Particularly the lovely and far superior South Dining Hall. (I guess its technical name is something like South Food Market, and North is really North Food Court. Or something like that.) (I would like to point out something right now -- I just realized that at first, that "its" at the beginning of the previous parenthetical statement had an apostrophe glaring at me from between the T and the S. Horror of horrors. What is wrong with me? haha. I'm just glad I realized it. Because man. Yeah. Oh, and I happen to think the word "parenthetical" kinda rocks.) So yeah. I miss being at school. I most definitely do not miss the schoolwork that mucks up the whole being at school thing, but you gotta take the good with the bad sometimes, and nothing can be perfect after all.

(Know what else diminishes it slightly in my eyes? Some of the administrative type stuff. And financial aid. I've had pretty good financial aid up to now, thanks to having Tom being in college at the same time as me for a couple years, but this year that didn't hold. And of course when they reduce aid, they don't reduce loans, they reduce university scholarship. Which is quite craptacular in my opinion. They spend money on things that sometimes seem frivolous or stupid or both, and force me to take thousands of dollars in loans each year. Like, the DPAC, I think they finished that right before my freshman year. I guess it's nice to have, but they spent all this money on it and there's still not even a big auditorium anywhere on campus. The theaters in the DPAC are relatively small. And, on top of that, it's an ugly building. Very much not symmetrical, and that makes me hate looking at it. Sigh. Oh well. I'm just slightly annoyed because I got my financial aid letter in June or something, and it was less scholarship, as I did expect, but then we got another updated one last week and they had taken another $1,600 for the year from the university scholarship, without any explanation. Dad called them to ask and apparently it's because on the FAFSA or something it said Peter's still living here, but then on this other thing we had to send them, which we sent after we got the first letter because we had forgotten to send it initially or something, it apparently showed that Peter doesn't live here. So that sucks. A lot. I am personally of the opinion that Peter should give me $1600. If he had just gone to school like he was going to, I'd still be getting fairly good aid. But no, he had to go and join the army. Psh. Like saving the world is more important than letting your sister get good financial aid.)

Oh, and also? Being back at school means it'll be football season. And by golly do I love football season. College and pro. Go Irish! Go Patriots! Woohoo!!! National and Superbowl champions this year, you heard it here first. Ok, I know, that may be a bit too optimistic with regard to Notre Dame. But what's life if you don't have a few unrealistic dreams here and there, even if you know they won't come true? (Not to say I don't think we'll get a national championship ever again. I surely do. But with my luck it'll be next year, the year after I'm gone. Ah well, at least I didn't have to sit through four years with Ty. Just one, lucky for me.)

Sigh. Is it September yet? Sigh.

Stay tuned

I've been meaning to put up another post with new Jimmy pictures. Well, most of them are a few days old. But you people haven't seen them! Oh, and there's one particularly cute one which involves two very cute boys.

So...be excited for that. Coming soon, I promise.

These things are so boring to read, aren't they?

MY CURRENT LIFE IN 85 QUESTIONS:

(except if you notice, there's a few numbers missing here and there. Susie dislikes this. Ah well.)

1. Did you just wake up?
No

2. Who's car were you in last?
My mom's Honda (but with my dad)

3. When is the next time you will kiss someone?
The first time. ;-)

4. What color shirt are you wearing?
Blue (navy)

5. How long is your hair?
Shortest layer is a bit below my chin, longest layer is a bit past shoulder length

8. Last movie you watched?
Miss Potter. An excellent film.

9. Last thing you ate?
Mmm cookies & cream ice cream.

10. Last thing you drank?
Vitamin water, energy (tropical citrus) flavored.

11. Where did you sleep last night?
My bed.

13. Are you happy right now?
Yes. Amazing what an uplifting movie can do. And sometimes talking.

14. What did you say last?
I think I said goodnight.

15. Where is your phone?
Um...my purse, I believe.

16. What was the last museum you went to?
Well, technically yesterday I went to the Fine Arts museum...but it was just to apply for a job, so I don't know if that counts.

17. What color are your eyes?
Boring brown. But it's ok; I like my eyes.

19. How was your weekend?
Pretty good. New baby and a visit from the older brother will do that.

20. When was the last time you had your heart broken?
Never. Jealous?

21. Who/what do you hate/dislike currently?
Well, I always dislike people who drive like idiots and people who walk slowly. Oh, and I also hate my computer. At least, the place into which the power cord plugs, because it irritates the sugar out of me. (I know, I know, I have to call Dell, argh.)

22. What are you listening to?
The TV

23. Are you excited?
Kinda.

24. What is your favorite store?
Well, I probably spend the most in general at amazon. I don't really like shopping though, in general. Spending money and all.

25. What day is it today?
Almost the 4th of July! I hope the rain doesn't ruin it. Me wants some symphony and fireworks!

26. What were you doing at midnight last night?
Uh..............doing something online, maybe? Either that or reading.

30. Are you left-handed?
To my mother's consternation, I am right-handed. (She's just sad that out of four kids, none of us turned out lefties like her. And none of us have dimples, either, which is the whole reason she married my dad. Haha. Just kidding.)

32. What's for dinner tonight?
We had leftover beef stew (my dad makes some killer beef stew). Tomorrow, probably something barbeque-related.

33. What is the last alcoholic beverage you had?
Hm...I guess I had a Smirnoff pomegranite something or other in the last few weeks.

34. When is your birthday?
September 14. 22 this year. Ca-razy.

35. How tall are you?
5'10. Or 5'11. Somewhere in there.

36. Who was the last person to send you a text mesage?
My friend Cathy.

37. When is the last time you were in a swimming pool?
Oh man, it's been a long long time.

39. Where was the last place you went shopping?
Well, I went to Safeway today with my dad...other than that...Oh, I bought a movie at Best Buy last week.

40. Who made you laugh today?
I'm sure my parents did at some point. Maybe even my prof (although that might have been more of a chuckle than a real laugh).

41. Do you have any expensive jewelery?
Well, expensive to me (the two rings I wear both cost a bit of a pretty penny. I mean, I'm sure there are pairs of jeans that celebrities buy that cost as much as one of my rings, but yeah).

42. AIM or MSN?
AIM. Oh yeah.

43. Where do your cousins live?
Um...off the top of my head, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Mississippi (?), DC, Texas...I'm sure there's more. I have quite a number of cousins.

47. Are you an only child or do you have siblings?
2 brothers, one sister, and a brother-in-law.

48. Would you consider yourself to be spoiled?
Probably. I try not to be, but I'm sure I am.

49. What was the first thing you thought when you woke up?
No clue.

50. Do you drink beer?
Not if I can help it.

52. Myspace or Facebook?
Facebook. I have a myspace, but never use it for anything.

53. Do you have T-Mobile?
nope

54. What is your favorite subject in school?
Well, in college I've been quite the fan of theology, and I also like history, and when I used to take it I was quite good at math as well.

55. Do you smile a lot?
Sometimes.

57. Do you have any talents?
None whatsoever.

58. Have you ever been IN a wedding?
One (my sister's).

59. Do you have any children?
I have a dog. haha. She's my baby.

60. Did you take a nap today?
Um...no.

61. Ever met someone famous?
I don't think I have face to face, but I've been very close to Jim Caviezel (and said a rosary with him!), and was at a talk which Scott Hahn gave, and...um...yeah.

63. Do you want to be famous one day?
Not particularly. I could be married to someone who's famous, maybe.

65. Are you multitasking right now?
If watching TV, doing this, reading a book, listening to music, and sleeping counts as multitasking, then yes. Ok, I'm really just doing the first two. So that doesn't count.

68. Whats one of your favorite things to do ?
Hm. I like reading. And hiking.

72. Ever been to Las Vegas?
No. No no no. Have absolutely no desire whatsoever to go there during my lifetime. Or even after it.

73. What are you doing today?
Today I went to class, went to Starbucks, and went semi-food shopping. And watched a fantabulous movie. Tomorrow I'm...I don't really know. Eating deviled eggs at some point, watching another fantabulous movie (1776, a family Fourth of July tradition), and hopefully going to Memorial Park to listen to the symphony (sorry, the philharmonic) and watch fireworks, provided the weather cooperates.

74. Have you ever been gambling?
Don't believe that I have. I've never even bought a lottery ticket.

75. When is the last time you updated your blog?
Tonight.

76. Have you been to New York City?
A couple of times.

77. Ever been to Disneyland/world?
Disneyworld when I was...8? Or almost 8 maybe. It's been awhile.

78. Do you have a favorite cartoon character?
Hmmmm...none really come to mind as a specific favorite. I did quite enjoy Maya the Bee when I was in preschool though. Haha.

79. Last thing you cooked?
Me myself? Uh...well, I heated up some soup in a pan the other day.

82. Last time you cried?
Yesterday. And kind of almost a little bit tonight watching that movie.

83. Last time you were sick?
I think I had something of a cold at some point this past semester. The last time I was really sick, something which happens rather rarely, was last October. I felt like I had something flu-like. And pink eye on top of it. Twas lovely.

84. Do you like anyone right now?
I like lots of people. :-)

85. Do you think anyone will repost this?
Sure.

Movie fiend

I know, I know, another movie post? Sorry, can't help it. We rented a movie tonight. We were deciding between Music and Lyrics and Miss Potter. Oh, and my dad reminded me, Saw III. Haha. Ok just kidding on that third one. Obviously. Anyway. We were gonna go with Music and Lyrics, but then Dad said we should get Miss Potter. I doubt many have heard of it, but it came out early this year I think, but probably didn't have a huge release. In any case, it was a quiet movie and probably didn't last long in theaters. Sadly, I think. It was a lovely, charming, and delightful movie. Even enchanting. It's about Beatrix Potter, the children's author (you know, stories like Peter Rabbit and Jemima Puddle-Duck). Anyway. I highly recommend this one as well. Know what else? It was only PG. I love movies that don't have lots of inappropriate or unnecessary or just plain annoying things mucking them up. Oh, and Ewan McGregor is in the movie as well, and he tends to be good in many of his movies, in my opinion. I quite enjoy him. I enjoy the whole thing. Movies like this prove that there doesn't have to be a lot of raunchy humor to be a comedy, and romances don't need lots of sex scenes (or close to sex scenes). And there don't have to be explosions every two minutes to be interesting. Too bad movies that realize these things are few and far between, and very under-patronized.

Oh, and it has a great soundtrack. (To which Mom replied, when I said that as the credits were rolling, "I don't think you've ever met a soundtrack you didn't like." Or something to that effect. That might be a slight exaggeration, but...I do likes me some soundtracks.)

Also, in the trailers before the movie, two looked rather appealing. One is called Penelope, the other The Nanny Diaries. I've heard of the second, as it's based off of a rather popular book, but this was the first trailer I've seen. Looks like it could be good. But who knows. And I hadn't heard of Penelope at all (and, oddly, my mom had heard of it before. I'm supposed to be the movie buff in the family. Or at least the one who knows movies coming out and such). But it looks good. And Catherine O'Hara is in it, and I really like her. (For a long time she was always just the mom from Home Alone in my mind, but now I see her more comedically from her roles in Best in Show, A Mighty Wind, etc.)

Man I've seen some great movies this past year. This one, two John Wayne movies (so far), two Astaire/Rogers movies (so far), Amazing Grace (I think that doesn't come out on DVD until like December, which is sad, because I want to see it again), On a Clear Day (I forget when exactly I saw that one), etc. And so many of them are probably movies that very few have heard of, let alone seen. So...go see them! I have great taste in movies. Haha. Well, I think I do anyway. And maybe my mom does. :-P

As Dad and I were walking through Blockbuster tonight trying to decide on a movie, and we were perusing the New Release wall(s), I just kept getting annoyed by even just the covers of probably more than half the movies on there. Really annoyed when it was a whole section for just one movie and that movie happened to have a cover that, some years ago, would probably have been appropriate only for an "adults" section or something. I hate it. I mean, it's not like there's real nudity or anything, but it's far too close for my liking. I am a prude, after all.

Anyway. I also put four movies on hold at the library tonight after we got home from Blockbuster. I don't think I've ever been this far back in a hold queue before. I mean, out of the four movies, the lowest number I am is like 100 something. And another is in the 200s, one's like 302, and another I'm number 398 or so in line. So...I doubt I'll be getting to see those before I leave for school again. Unless I go through other means, of course. (In case you're wondering, the one that has the most people is Music and Lyrics, understandably, since it's new and more famous. The others are...there's For Your Consideration, Flicka, and...um...I forget the fourth. Oh, it's The Holiday, which I have seen before, but I liked it so I want to watch it again. So I'm not too sad about that one. Although that's probably the one that only has like 100 people in front of me. Maybe not. I don't know, really. But who cares.)

If you like that sort of thing

I watched a fantastic movie tonight. (As well as a few nights ago, but I don't think I blogged about that one -- it was Swing Time, a Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers collaboration. Apparently it's considered one of their best together, and it was quite enjoyable, but then, I think I would find any of their movies together enjoyable. What's not to like? Old movies are awesome. And Swing Time has the song The Way You Look Tonight in it. A wonderful song. A lot of great songs came from Astaire/Rogers movies, and many don't realize it. Perhaps because they were then made quite popular by Frank Sinatra, some of them. Like Night and Day and The Way You Look Tonight. And then there were some Gershwin ones that debuted in Astaire movies. But I'm getting off topic here.) Anyway, the one tonight was a John Wayne movie that I had heard about somewhere on some blog sometime ago. It's called The Quiet Man, co-stars Maureen O'Hara (the mom from The Parent Trap, another lovely film, and the old Miracle on 34th Street) and a wonderful cast of Irish people. And it's set in Ireland. And the soundtrack includes renditions of a certain song I know as the Rakes of Mallow (aka the Irish Jig song at school, the one during which all the students put their arms around each other's shoulders and jig during the games), but which also apparently has a number of other names (including..."Three Young Ladies Drinking Whisky Before Breakfast"). And it also has throughout the song The Isle of Innisfree, which I knew from a version sung by Celtic Woman. So, needless to say, I enjoyed the score throughout almost as much as the film itself. But I did quite enjoy the movie too. It wasn't terribly exciting, but it was quite charming. And man, John Wayne is something. I love his voice. And I realized tonight that he quite reminds me of Conan O'Brien (who, oddly, was on Leno tonight as a guest. A rerun, but I had missed it when it was first on. It was funny to see him as the interviewee instead of the interviewer). I mean, both are/were tall, and something about John Wayne's face just has a Conan look to it. Or vice versa, if we're going by who existed first...Either way, I'm a big fan of John Wayne. What's not to like?

Oh, and if you've seen ET, you know that scene in the science class where Elliot lets out all the frogs and then he grabs that girl and kisses her, as ET is watching something on TV back home? Well, that something he's watching at that point is The Quiet Man, and Elliot's kiss is reminiscent of the scene ET's watching, where John Wayne grabs Maureen O'Hara all dramatic-like and kisses her. And then right after the kiss, John Williams incorporated some of the score from The Quiet Man into the ET score. (Oh, and unrelated to the movie but not to John Williams, he did something like that during the 3rd Harry Potter too -- there's a scene where the students are learning how to get rid of boggarts by using the Ridikulus spell thingy, and the boggart turns itself into the thing that each respective student fears most. Well, one girl fears snakes, and when it's her turn and the boggart turns into a snake, the score over the scene changes to the score from Indiana Jones that goes on during his snake scene. Because John Williams did that score too, of course. But I read somewhere he admired Victor Young, who did the score for The Quiet Man, and that this score kind of influenced his Jaws score. But I don't know if that's true.)

Anyway. I'd certainly recommend renting it. You could just get it from the library like I did, and then you don't even have to pay for it. And I wouldn't feel bad for recommending a movie that people end up disliking after having to pay for it. But anyway. Come on, what's not to like? John Wayne, Maureen O'Hara, Irish accents, Irish countryside shots, great music, and a nice story. Movies coming out today tend to be less and less good, but there's this whole treasure trove of wonderful old movies I hadn't even really heard of a year ago, and which I now know are amazing and so much better than 99% of movies today.

The deepest I am right now

I really really want some Chinese food. Mmmmmm. Some nice chicken lo mein, with wonton soup. Man. That is an awesome meal right there.

I've been waiting years for this!

Spice Girls are reuniting for a world tour!

My dream come true.