Wow, almost February...
Where did the time go??? It seriously seems like it was just New Year's Day! Yikes!
I'm totally in the mood for pizza tonight, and I'm just thinking that maybe there is a pepperoni and mushroom pizza out there for me - somewhere. The girls went to Pizza Hut tonight, but I couldn't go...damn senior sem! Oh well.
I think I'm going to start incorporating a 'Famous Last Words' segment for my blog. Look for it later on. These famous last words are going to be from me, hehe, because I'm so good at uttering famous last words. Not last in the sense of last words ever, just to let everyone know!
Hang on, I'm going to go order pizza now....
Okay, so I ordered my pizza and in the meantime checked my phone messages. Bad idea! Bad idea! So this whole recital crap is starting to seriously piss me off. It's my friggin' recital. I cannot move it to the 17th. I just can't. It's not possible. There's a number of reasons for this. First, I have already moved the date THREE times. I don't want to move it again. Second, like I mentioned earlier at some point, Liz's recital is on Saturday, and I don't think either one of us wants to share the hall. Third, the fucking department calendar has ALREADY been released, and my date was the 24th. Fourth, I have people coming in from Milwaukee and Stevens Point to play in my recital. Fifth, if I do move it to the 17th, the latest my dress rehearsal could be would be the 14th...which might be kind of hard to get everyone together for!! And sixth, I don't care if it's okay with everyone else. It's NOT okay with me!!! But who cares if it's not okay with me?? It's not like it's MY recital or anything. I'm not moving it to the 17th. I flat-out refuse. I will drop the major and not do a recital before I will move it again. That is, until tomorrow, when they will give me lots of shit and I will inevitably give in. But by giving in, it means no Fanfare (dress rehearsal that isn't the day before the concert means no 2nd oboe or english horn, and my 1st bassoonist isn't available on friday or saturday night, so hence, no Fanfare). So then I will have a less than stellar recital, because the only reason I haven't dropped the major is because I wanted to play Fanfare and Poulenc on my recital. One out of two isn't worth getting stressed over, so don't bother coming because my recital is going to suck. Score. Fuckers.
Sorry, just a little pissed-off-ness for a minute.
Anyway.
Introducing Famous Last Words!
Let's talk about evil things like the Pill. As you may know, the Pill makes small-chested girls happy, because most likely, they grow an entire bra size. Hooray for them. I would prefer that my boobs DON'T grow, thank you, so that already limits the pill options. Low-estrogen pills aren't as effective either (wasn't there a big stink about how the Ortho-TriCyclen LOW was considerably less foolproof that the regular dosage? Yeah. That sucks. I'm not on that pill, and I never was, just for the record). But seriously, if I relied on the Pill, I most likely would have been in big trouble, oh, a long time ago, since what I AM on IS low-dosage Pills. I might add that it hasn't kept 'em any smaller either...or even really at the normal size. It just doesn't make them grow AS MUCH.
(reference: Thursday, Jan. 6, 2005 - I hate shallow people)
**Famous last words in bold. I just got a new 'scrip for the Pill. Guess which one it was???? RATS!!!
Just for the record, girls and shoes is something that no guy should really ever try to understand...I can't exactly explain it myself, but hey, I'll try. Later. When I start writing my understanding women postings.
Right now, however, I'm going to eat pizza. :)
Oh yeah, one more rant...Ripon College webemail! Been down since this afternoon. *insert expletives* Seriously. I think the network and the email has been down more this year than it was ever down in the past three years combined. And the kicker? They got a new mail server and migrated over to that over winter break...and it STILL hasn't solved anything. Brilliant.

- posted by L. @ 10:00 PM

 
Room cleaning...
....usually takes upwards of three whole days. Bah! I'm not quite done yet either, which is kind of sad, but eh, it happens.
So, this weekend was very boring, but slightly productive. As I mentioned before, I spent this afternoon fighting with a virus on my computer that infected 309 files! I'm not even sure where the stupid thing came from, and goodness knows it infected enough of my computer, and will hopefully be gone!
I have also spent far too much time watching TV, watching moooooooooooooovies, and listening to music (yea Rufus Wainwright!). I have decided that I absolutely MUST have the Notting Hill soundtrack...so if anyone has the connection, I would be forever indebted to you. I already have blank CDs, so you need only lend me the actual CD for me to 'borrow.' :) Otherwise I might have to break down and buy it...at some point, anyway....
And for those of you who don't believe I actually cleaned my room, that's why I have a digital camera and posted pictures for you! So there! And I even figured out to post the pictures first, and then write the posting second, so that the posting comes up before the pictures and it doesn't ruin the surprise.
Welcome to my room (this clean room is rare! so that's why it's documented on camera and y'all can see it here...)!!!
- posted by L. @ 1:01 AM

 

there we go, my room is clean! woohoo!!! too bad it only took allllllllllllllllllllllll weekend... 
- posted by L. @ 12:58 AM

 

see? the floor is clean...just needs to be vacuumed and i'm allllllllllll set! 
- posted by L. @ 12:57 AM

 

look! i made my bed! woohoo!!! 
- posted by L. @ 12:56 AM

 

i told you i had lots of stuffed animals...and this isn't even CLOSE to all of them! this is why i can't ever sit in my papasan chair... 
- posted by L. @ 12:55 AM

 

too many flip-flops, don't you think??? hmmm... 
- posted by L. @ 12:54 AM

 
Couscous spill at 211...
So Mommy and Daddy sent me back to school (two weeks ago) with two boxes of couscous. The fact that I don't know where to MAKE said couscous is irrelevent, in the fact that I just now took them out of the bag, and uhbaaaaaaaaaa....shit! couscous all over the floor. Luckily I managed to curb the flow of couscous to a trickle and have scotch-taped the hell out of the bottom of the box. Of course with this weekend's cleaning binge, it seems somewhat regressive to spill couscous all over the carpet. Blagh! :)
Anyway, I will write more later. And post pictures of my room because it will be clean. Juuuuuuuuust give me a couple more hours...
I spent about three hours this afternoon purging my computer of a virus. A virus that created and spread THREE HUNDRED AND NINE FILES throughout my system. God damn virus!!! Yeah. That was fun. It took friggin two hours to run Norton...and then downloading the anti-Beagle virus patch, and blah blah blah. It was a fun afternoon.
And then after cleaning, the homework must begin. Damnit! :)
- posted by L. @ 9:01 PM

 
Saturday night...just like Friday night, except with laundry!
Sigh, once again, I have the most boring life EVER. Well, maybe not ever. I think even my life this summer was more exciting than it is now. Ya never know what happens when you go to work! Today was sooooooooooo boring, I accomplished absolutely nothing, but oh well. How often does this happen, really?
Let's see...what did Lauren do today???
**Fell asleep waaaaaaaaaaaaaay too late, after watching endless hours of TV: Garfield & Friends, MASH, Happy Days, America's Sweethearts...
**Woke up at 10 to my alarm going off (who else in the world gets woken up by renaissance religious music besides me???), turned it off, and went back to sleep till 12:30 (wheeeeeeeeeeeeee!)
**Watched TV and movies for the rest of the day (yea!): Garden State, MASH, saw the Birdcage was on, um, I dunno, some channel, so I popped in the dvd instead, watched part of Jesus Christ Superstar, and parts of Newlyweds.
**Did laundry! Yea!
**Talked on the phone for maybe 15 minutes...
**Dove into my stash of swiss cake rolls (that horrible, awful, pathetic addiction I have...) and Coke (what would I do without it???)

And now I'm cleaning while watching Notting Hill...what an exciting life I lead!!!
Gotta love Saturday nights in Ripon, aka the most boring place known to man.
Well at least next Friday night is the Artaria String Quartet concert (which I have to work at...poop) and the 100 days party (which better start after 10pm, damnit!)
Tomorrow, I'm probably going to do homework...woohoo, the excitement mounts! Yeah!
Can't wait for Alf to get here...but then again, that will probably mean even more pathetic evenings spent watching TV! :) I probably should stay away from TV shows on DVD...
But NewsRadio comes out in (thankfully) MAY! I canNOT wait! NewsRadio is one of my favoritest shows EVER!!!!!!!! I think I will die of happiness. And Garfield Volume 3 comes out in April...I'm not sure when in comparison to my recital, since I don't know when my recital is as of now...(fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck), and MASH Season 8 comes out in June (but I should probably get 2-7 first...). Oh goodness, I really need to get some new hobbies. Maybe I should take up cross-stitching again, since knitting and crocheting is not quite my cup o'tea. :)
I reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeally need to stop watching romantic comedies like Notting Hill. They're depressing. It never happens that way. Ever. Back to TV shows, I guess!!!
- posted by L. @ 11:09 PM

 
Friday night...
Yeah! I am so boring these days. My life revolves around nothing. Oh well! I spent a looooooooong time in Rodman tonight (woohoo! friday night in rodman! score!). It was fun practicing the organ when nobody was around though. And it was early enough that it wasn't creepy in Demmer, 'cause usually it's creepy in Demmer. But not tonight.
I have spent a better part of the last few days watching MASH, Season one. But now I want Season Two! Arguh!! Or season anything else as well, though I'd like to watch them all. Talk about an expensive habit! That's why I'm not going to fund that habit right now...and watch ebay like a hawk for a decent price. When I'm not broke, that is, so that rules out now! Sigh. I love how I want the seasons on DVD when it's playing like, 12 out of the 24 hours in every day somewhere on TV. I guess I just hate commercials that much! :)
It's shaping up to be a quiet weekend around here, which is good. Maybe I'll make some progress on this room-cleaning business...but not tonight. I want to just go to bed early tonight. Well, by early I mean probably sometime after Garfield & Friends, which is on at 1:30am.
Hmph.
Frustrated and confused by things, but that's not unusual. I'm pretty boring tonight, so I think I'll pop in a movie and lounge around. Yea Fridays!
- posted by L. @ 9:09 PM

 
Understanding Women, well, not right now anyway...
I'm still soliciting ideas for my 'understanding women' collection! Yay for that!
In related topics, I've gotten up to 8 comments on two separate incidents - and I'm now making it my goal to beat that! :)
So everyone, give me suggestions! Give me ideas! Give me feedback on what I write! Or just give me random thoughts/ideas/confessions..etc! :)
I think part two will have to do with 'what women say vs. what they mean...'
Hehe, that could be long-winded.
- posted by L. @ 1:10 AM

 
Understanding Women, Part One
The first trick to understanding women is don't even bother trying.
I'm sure members of both sexes would definitely agree with that one!!!
As for the rest of the tricks, I'm still thinking about them, so stay tuned.
If you've got any ideas, however, please let me know!
- posted by L. @ 5:04 PM

 
Poll Results! :)
As I mentioned earlier, the polls would be closing on February 1, but due to overwhelming responses, I closed the polls tonight...

Is it 'duck duck goose!' or 'duck duck grey duck!'????

Goose: 23 (states represented? WI, IL, MN, IN, WV, OH, Uzbekistan(or WI/WY/MI))
Grey Duck: 4 (states represented? MN, IL)

So! There you have it...GOOSE WINS! :)
And in the words of John Bremer: "That grey duck nonsense comes from southern Canada (Minnesota)."

Any suggestions for the next poll?? Please submit in writing to my email (or just leave a comment - hehehe).

Oh, and per the suggestion of Mr. B.M. Wilburmeister, I am contemplating writing a manuel for women...but I'm not sure if there is enough blog room in all of cyberspace! Stay tuned! (p.s. Mr. B.M. Wilburmeister, would you like to help me?? or anyone else??)
- posted by L. @ 12:00 PM

 
Haha, so true...
Understanding Men
The nice men are ugly.
The handsome men are not nice.
The handsome and nice men are gay.
The handsome, nice, and heterosexual men are married.
The men who are not so handsome but are nice men have no money.
The men who are not so handsome but are nice men with money
think we are only after their money.
The handsome men without money are after our money.
The handsome men, who are not so nice and somewhat heterosexual,
don't think we are beautiful enough.
The men who think we are beautiful, that are heterosexual,
somewhat nice, and have money are cowards.
The men who are somewhat handsome, somewhat nice, and
have some money and, thank God, are heterosexual are shy and
NEVER MAKE THE FIRST MOVE!!!!!
The men who never make the first move automatically lose
interest in us when we take the initiative.
NOW... WHO IN THE HELL UNDERSTANDS MEN?

Men-bashing - mwa! Sorry to any nice guys out there. ;)
I'm getting addicted to Sobe Green Tea again...and I've got to get to work.
- posted by L. @ 10:45 AM

 
Too much organ music causes headaches...
Which should prove interesting for tomorrow's ORGAN lesson! :) Well I don't have my shoes anyway, not yet. I might have to either borrow some, or just wear socks tomorrow. It's not like I can use the pedals anyway. It's hard enough coordinating two hands, and like, four keyboards, AND the pedals?? you've got to be kidding me...
I spent an enjoyable night at work today reading about the Salem Witch Trials (and Jen ROCKS for lending me her book while mine is somewhere in the hands of the post office), and listening to a plethora of music...PDQ Bach's Chorale Preludes (let's see if I can remember the title of this one...Chorale for the Last Sunday before the Fourth day of the Seventh Month...figure that one out!! hehehehe), PDQ Bach's opera, Hansel and Gretel and Ted and Alice (an opera in one unnatural act), Schickele's Unbegun Symphony, PDQ Bach's Pervtimento for Bagpipes, Balloons, and Bicycle, the Calliope Sonata, and then some normal stuff: The Splendor of Baroque Brass, Vaughan Williams' Sea Songs, Grainger's Colonial Song, Bugler's Holiday, and waaaaaaaaaaaay too much J.S. Bach organ music (hence, the headache...). I know we have a record somewhere of the Eastman Wind Ensemble doing Fantasia in G Minor, I think, gotta find that.
I went on a quest to find the entire chorale for Wachet Auf today, but was highly unsuccessful (no CD??? bah to records!), but in the meantime, I found Schubert's Die Forelle on a CD of random soprano music that was catalogued under Bach. There were like, three Schubert pieces on there, some Schumann, and other composers and junk, but it was catalogued under Bach, for which there was only one Bach piece. Go figure. And yesterday, one of the philosophy professors (that guy who has a beard and plays the cello...right) was in the resource center looking for Die Forelle on CD. But of course I couldn't find it (because I didn't think to look under Bach...). Well, eventually I figured out who the professor was, and sent him an email and put it on reserve for him, but I'm guessing the class he wanted the music for was probably today, so I think I might be too late. So looking for a Bach chorale leading to finding Schubert songs about fish. Okay.
Back to my organ shoes, yay! I can't wait till my parents send them. I love my pretty silver organ shoes, it's like the Wizard of Oz (and yes, I know that in the MOVIE, she wears ruby slippers, but go read the BOOK, and you will see that she wears silver shoes, you uncultured types). I was going to read some more of the Oz Chronicles today at work, but the history reading took slightly longer than I intended...oh well.
I got another prescription today, which was fairly easy. I think they prescribe it for a year too, so we'll see if I get 12 months worth or 3 months or whatever...12 months would be great, because I think I'm only covered on the insurance for a lil' while longer...:) So hopefully this pill change won't be as terrible as the last pill changes were. But on the plus side, there are benefits to having a pill for a year! Yay sex! (agh, I sound like Ambre). ;) Now if only I could find someone...hey, let me know! No! Just kidding! please don't let me know. I mean, unless I know already. I mean, I really don't want to know if anyone out there wants to screw me (though after that posting about boobs...). That and it might be hard to explain. Um.
I'm going to go now, because where do I go from here???
Oh shit, I hope my parents don't read this!!! :)
- posted by L. @ 10:41 PM

 
Bah! Lack of movies! Bah!
I think I'm getting over my movie addiction, but sadly I have moved the addiction from movies to boxed sets of TV shows! Bah! A much more expensive habit that I can't really fund...ah well.
I need to stop watching sappy chick flick romantic comedies! They're depressing. No reflection on anyone in particular, but...'Romance, true love, soul mates, it's all bullshit. None of it exists." (Someone Like You). Woooooooooooooo, what a great perspective on that whole love crap. :)
Anyway, despite the expensiveness of the habit, I found Alf, Season One on DVD for an extremely reasonable price! Woohoo! So hopefully that will be here soon, so I don't have to watch many more crappy romantic comedies! :)
- posted by L. @ 1:08 AM

 
I'm starting to think that I must have the most boring existance known to man...
Well, maybe not, but it sure seems like it these days! Eh! School is sooooooooo boring. I always get fed up with school at least once a semester and declare that I have the worst case of senioritis I've ever seen (if I can really be called an expert on senioritis!)...and then another semester hits. :) However, of the *counts* seven school years that I've declared that I have senioritis, only two of those times have I actually been a senior (you know it's bad when you're a freshman in college...)! But now I can say I think I have the worst case of senioritis ever! BAH!
I can't really complain too much about my course load, since it's pretty much non-existant. But I don't like school. I guess I just never have. It's not that I hate it, it's not that anything bad has happened to make me curse at institutions in general, or anything like that...I just don't like school. Yet I'm planning to get a master's degree...um, why? I'm not sure. Ask me in a few years when I've started applying to grad schools. Grad school is definitely not in my near future. At least I don't think so. More undergrad maybe, but definitely not grad, for a while anyway. And the only way I'd go back to undergrad is to get my teaching certification. And surprise! it wouldn't be at Ripon, that's for damn sure! :) Maybe Alverno, or Carroll, or *grumbles* UW-M...or maybe I'll go somewhere out of Milwaukee *gasp*, like Madison or Whitewater or something...but probably not Madison for education, since they have to have like a cumulative 3.8 to get into the school of ed or something ridiculous like that (and I've only had a 3.8 twice - and once it was a mistake! *shakes fist at registrar's office).
The good news about being a senior is that there's some champagne toast or something on Saturday with the President of the college or something blah blah blah - I don't even like champagne, I think it tastes funny and the bubbles make me cough, but hey, it's a senior monument..or something. And the hundred days party is in less than two weeks! Huzzah!!!
Uff. Anyway, so I had to spend the entire day in Rodman. Thaaaaaaaaaaat was fun. I didn't get up in time (big surprise!) because I made the stupid mistake of deciding to watch America's Sweethearts before bed (bad idea...i always get sucked into the plot!) and consequently didn't fall asleep till waaaaaaaaaay later than I thought. That and maybe sleeping my hangover off all day probably threw my sleep schedule a bit out of whack too. Hmm?
Ooh! I did my reading for sem this afternoon, and I was greatly amused by three sentences in the reading:

"There is no reason to anticipate that the presidency is going to diminish significantly in the twenty-first century..."
--from an essay written sometime between 1996-2000...HA! Oh dear Mr Leuchtenburg, if only you know...made me laugh, anyway.

"The party of Lincoln, now captured by souther and western interests, would in the decades to follow become the party of evangelical Christians and cowboy capitalists."
--also from an essay written before 2000...um...yeah. Evangelical Christian and cowboy capitalists...sounds vaguely familiar. But I haven't the slightest idea why...;)

And my favorite:
"In at least one respect, liberalism resembles pornography...we can't define it but we know it when we see it."
--Um. What? Definitely caught my attention (first sentence of the essay) but it kinda failed to ever really get explained, or tied up in the end. But, nevertheless funny.


Changing the subject...
I think I'm going to close the polls earlier, because quite frankly, goose is blowing grey duck out of the water. Teehee. So cast your vote no later than Wednesday, January 26, at 11:59 CST, please! :)
And damn, forgot to practice the saxophone this week. Oh well. I never practiced the flute when I was learning it either. Besides, I already play flute and oboe, so saxophone fingerings don't seem to be much different, so hopefully I can retain that! Hehehe.
Steph is tempting me with the idea of re-joining orchestra again to make the director's life miserable, and Jenny tempted me with the idea of just coming and going as I please (I'm sorry Professor Graham, I won't be there till 7:30 because Joey is on TV at 7:00...). Then again, I could just combine both and see where that leads me!! Oh the evilness...
Anyway, off to go do some history reading for class tomorrow...we'll see if I can focus long enough (ooh shiny things! and ladybugs!)!!
- posted by L. @ 8:15 PM

 
Hangovers are no fun at all....
But the events leading up to hangovers can make them (almost) worthwhile!!!
Last night was sooooooooooooooooo much fun (this morning not so much fun)!!! It was so good to see everyone and go hang out (even though I almost had to acid wash my clothes to get the smoke smell out of them, and what am i going to do with my coat?!?!?!?!) and get way too drunk for my own good (buuuuuuuuut it only happens every now and then, and I haven't had a hangover in two years!). Mwa! I went out with Motz, Andy, Jenny, Shannon, Becky, Buddy, and Beth, and then there were about a gazillion other alums and such; Tyler, Michael, Matt B, Lau, Ruth, Brodie, etc etc out as well. I forgot how bid weekend tends to attract alums! I also got to catch up with a few people I hadn't seen in a while either, like Tara, Jess, and Betsy. It was a very fun night!!!
Happy belated Birthday to Justine!! Agh! I can't believe she's 21! :)
My mother picked the most opportune time to call this morning - 11:50! Hello! Had a hangover, needed the last 25 minutes of sleep before rolling out of bed, putting on my black pants & a sweatshirt, brushing my hair, brushing my teeth, locating my flip flops and going down to the main lounge for Choraliers practice (yea for me deciding that I didn't want to haul ass down to rodman this morning! teehee). Needless to say, I hit the 'silent' button on my phone and went back to sleep until the voice mail beep went off thirty seconds later. I hate my phone. :)
So, I should probably have started my homework, but I don't want to. Maybe I'll go to bed in an hour and wake up early to do it. I'm still tired...blah! I love not having anything to do before 11:00 four days a week, and not having to do anything at all on Fridays! :) My schedule rules!
I have to submit (in a paragraph) my senior sem topic by tomorrow at 3pm. Considering I haven't given it, well, any thought since, like, uh, October...I should maybe get cracking on that. But why do today what you can put off till tomorrow???
Take the poll! :)
- posted by L. @ 9:54 PM

 
It's that time again...
POLL TIME!
I figure I haven't run a poll in about a year (yea for my 'who went on a field trip to a farm in elementary school?' poll last December)...so it's gettin' to be about time (i should run these once a month).
I know I have had this discussion with friends before, but it didn't not occur to me to run a poll until tonight.

The poll question:
Is it 'duck, duck, goose!' or 'duck, duck, grey duck!'???
So! Leave a comment with your answer, and what state you live in. This poll will also be run in two other locations, but no double entries! Polls close on Sunday, January 30, 2005 at 11:59PM, CST!
(to avoid double entries, anonymous answers will not be accepted!) :)
Up-to-date poll results will be found in my AIM profile!
- posted by L. @ 7:54 PM

 
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow....
Actually, the snow has stopped, as well it should have! Bah! Who wants this much snow?? It just gets annoying after a while...
I got an invitation to go sledding today! That would have been so much fun! I haven't gone sledding in, like, forever. However, my invitation to go sledding was from Lizzie. And she lives in Minnesota. So you can see where the problem may lie. And I'm sure if I ever do get to take a road trip to Minnesota, there probably won't be any snow. Boo.
Well, since I can't go sledding (I mean, I probably could, but it's Ripon, and sledding down Sadoff just isn't my cup of tea), back to cleaning. And if you don't believe that I'm cleaning, I really am! I'll even post pictures (but that might be another thing I'll have to do - loading the camera software and figuring out where the cords go and such - bah!) if I am successful.
Here's to a happy Saturday afternoon of cleaning and classical music! (and by classical, I mean all of the eras of music - well, except medieval and renaissance...oh, but since medieval and renaissance are the same as baroque and classical...um. yeah.) Yay for Bach and Vivaldi and Handel! (gooooooo music nerd)
- posted by L. @ 3:51 PM

 
Helen Keller!
Apples to Apples fun in the hallway tonight! The top two cards of the evening were Anne Frank (hopeless) and Helen Keller (won two out of the three she was nominated for). Other notable wins were Violins (useless), Hair Transplants (sexy...oh wait, that was last year), The JFK Assassination (colorful), and George W. Bush (pure! oh! irony!)...and a notable should-have won was Adolf Hitler for short-tempered. :)
Sick, twisted people we are! :)

Jason on Milwaukee:
"A suburb of Chicago..."

Sandy: You've got more Milwaukee people here than Chicago people.
Jason: Probably the only place in the world where that happens.
Sandy: Um, well, except Milwaukee!

And spent way too much time telling Helen Keller jokes.

How did Helen Keller burn her hands?
--She tried to read the waffle iron.
How did Helen Keller burn her ear?
--She tried to answer it.

And making up some of our own...

Me: Yes, because Helen Keller just screams 'luxurious' (after the Helen Keller card won luxurious)
Allison: No, I think she screams 'Aaaaaaaaaaggggggghhh.'
- posted by L. @ 2:09 AM

 
Mwa!
Okay. So a day later, while I'm still extremely pissed off about the whole orchestra situation and whatnot, I can look back at the whole situation and be proud of myself for basically standing up to a professor. Hooray for me!
One of my other dilemmas has been partially solved...though I'm not sure if there is one to begin with. I'm putting together a double reed quintet for my recital (don't run away! it will be fun - AND funny! i swear!), but my personnel has to come from elsewhere besides the College. So that's been somewhat of a headache, but I have things solved, or at least have a long list of Plans (A-D) before I'm in trouble. Plan A- Leahann, Plan B- Tim in Madison, C- JoAnna in Milwaukee, and D- beg Laura to come back from Chicago for the weekend. If I get to Plan E, I'm screwed. Or I must resort to asking someone I reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeally don't want to ask (but I know they would be a fine job). So if I get past that point, then I'm officially screwed. And once again, not in the fun way. :)
Bid weekend this weekend. Here's hoping for a decent turnout. Eh. Whatever. Curses to someone who has taken to being a total bitch to my face. If I had a voodoo doll...wait! If I knew where my voodoo doll was....I'm kidding (not about the voodoo doll, though...).
I think Beth & Dana are going to hang out with us, at least partially, this weekend. Hooray for that. But not hooray to going bowling. Need ice! And going out drinking tomorrow night, yea!!!
Hopefully it will be a good weekend, since this week has more or less sucked.
- posted by L. @ 7:24 PM

 
Getting fucked isn't nearly as much fun as it sounds...
Okay, that makes day 4 out of 5 that has royally sucked since getting back to Ripon. If it's not one thing, it's another. Sunday was the day I just didn't want to be here. Monday was the registration suckiness and still just not wanting to be here, Tuesday wasn't so bad, Wednesday sucked a lot, and today has royally sucked.
First, I'm ashamed to admit that an alumni of my high school swore in Bush for his second term (of DOOM). Le sigh. Stupid Rehnquist, why'd you have to go and become Chief Justice of the Supreme Court??? I'll count this as one of his darker moments.
But to cheer everyone up even though today we started the 2nd half of another yucky four years, go check out this site: http://www.bushandcheneysuck.com
(I know I had it posted earlier, but I deleted that post, in case people missed it).
Then my lesson ran late (but it wasn't so bad. We didn't play much.), and I got to lunch and found that someone I reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeally can't stand was in fact sitting at our lunch table. And when I say, I can't stand them, I mean, I cannot stand to sit at a lunch table with someone talking about their fucking dandruff problems while I'm trying to eat. And how they didn't want to go to lab that afternoon because they had to dissect the throat of a cat. Um, yeah. I was eating. And the Commons is bad enough, thank you.
History class wasn't too terrible today, but we spent the last 45 minutes of class listening to Professor Blake ramble on and on about the Reformation, the Puritans, Henry VIII, blah blah blah blah, and how that tied in Colonialism. I didn't listen to anything. Well, I listened, and filed it away under all the things I already knew. So I stared off into space (but it was one of those times where if he had called on me, I could have actually told him everything he had just said), but it was 45 minutes of drone, drone, drone. I'm not sure how any of that tied into Colonialism, but hopefully he's going to mention it next class period. Otherwise I missed it. Whoops.
Okay, but seriously my day didn't take the huge turn into DOOM until 6:00. Yeah. I went down to fucking Rodman to talk to the orchestra director. Yeah. That was fun. Okay, so I lied. I think I would have rather taken sharp sticks and poked my eyes out. I told her the honest truth (okay, minus the fact that I think she sucks, and I left out any phrase starting with 'well mr. alexander did it this way,' and 'mr. alexander was better...'). I told her that I think she completely fucked up with the Schubert symphony (in gentler words, of course). I told her that a lot of us made a lot of mistakes that we shouldn't have made because we weren't used to playing a piece that was a fucking HOUR long. And then she had the fucking audacity to tell me that if I want to hear a perfect performance, I should go see a professional symphony. I had to bite my tongue on MANY levels for that one (enter temptation to say 'well mr alexander...'). Am I just a perfectionist in thinking that maybe I should expect a good performance after working on a piece for, oh, THREE MONTHS???? Am I completely unrealistic? I don't think having a shitty performance is a GOOD LEARNING EXPERIENCE??? You know what it is?? It's a shitty learning experience! It's a learning experience I'd rather not experience! I don't spend three months working on a piece to play a performance worth crap. I'm sorry. And to be told that it's okay, and that it's a learning experience??? Are you out of your fucking mind??? Are you telling me that we have an orchestra conductor that doesn't expect a good performance??? Oh, the things I wanted to say...
So then she was like 'is that your only reason? i want you to be frank with me.' So I took a deep breath, and I was like okay fine. It was a huge slap in the face to not get a concerto since you're handing them out to people now. Explain to me why you gave a concerto to a VOICE student last semester??? What has a voice student ever done for the orchestra??? How does a VOICE STUDENT DESERVE ONE??? I'll answer it for you myself: SHE DOESN'T!!!!!!!!!!! There was NO REASON WHATSOEVER to play Mozart's Fucking Exultate Jubi-fucking-late! (I didn't say this to her in these exact words). So now two of my music major classmates got to perform as a soloist with the orchestra, while I have to fucking accompany them. Accompanying the Mozart was worse than my most horrible nightmare. Actually, I'd say playing in the Mozart WAS my worst nightmare, except it was reality. I mean, christ, we didn't ever practice it. We left it for a month without looking at it, and after we finally practiced it, she told us how much we sucked at it. Hmm. Well after a month of not playing at, what did you expect? This is actually irony right here anyway, since we shouldn't have a perfect performance, so what difference does it make if we sucked??? Hmmm.
So then she went on to tell me that she gave out the second concerto not because they were a senior (or, coincidentally, the concertmaster), but because she wants to try and use them as a tool to try and recruit more string players. LIKE THAT'S GOING TO WORK. BULLSHIT!
I might as well have just told her that since she fucked me over, I'm going to fuck her over right back. Who does she think is going to play principal oboe? I don't like to speak ill of my fellow oboist here, but let's be realistic. SHE CAN'T EVEN PLAY HER OWN PART! WITH ME THERE! How in blue fuck is she going to play principal oboe?
But I have helped out future music majors. I guess I can take pride in that. In the future, she might actually pause to figure out who is actually a senior and a music major, and maybe like, audition for the concertos. 'Cause that wouldn't have been a good idea to start with, being new and all that shit. So I get to help out all the people in the future, but in the meantime, there will be no changes in the program, I get shit for parts, and I get fucked over.
Well fuck that. I didn't spend the last 3.5 years playing principal oboe in the orchestra to get shit for parts with a director I hate in my last semester.
- posted by L. @ 7:01 PM

 
Merf!!
Well, today was another lousy day. That makes 50% of my days since getting back to Ripon lousy. Blahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!
I'm still thinking of discontinuing the blog, at least for a while. I know, I said I wouldn't post much after April 8, 2004...which I didn't manage to do, but I did go on hiatus allllllllllll summer (but that wasn't my fault. those stupid computer kiosks in the gold dorm lounge wouldn't even load blogger). Anyway, lately, I've just had some serious, serious, serious, SERIOUS issues with some people. Okay, one person. And as much as I'd really like to go to that person and tell them to their face what a self-centered, conniving little bitch I think they are, I'm not going to. I'm sure you probably think I should. But a-I'm too nice, and b-I'm too chicken. Probably more b than a, because I don't have any sympathy for them at all anymore. And being that I am way too nice for my own good, I have to reaaaaaaaaaaallllllllllly hate a person to have absolutely no sympathy for them. Yikes. I hope they don't piss me off to my face again in the near future...
So I know that people like reading about my life. Right now, however, my life is extremely boring. I don't really have much interesting stuff to say, and I'm bored out of my skull with life. At least the way life is right now, anyway.
Uff. Anyway.
Today was more lousy than good, and I managed to get seriously pissed off at a few more people than normal. That's kinda weird. I usually try not to get pissed off at too many people in one day, but today was extra special in the pissed-off department, I guess.
But I did learn how to play Row, Row, Row Your Boat on the saxophone, and so did Krysta, and we learned to play it as a round. So that was fun.
And my cell phone works again (okay, so that happened yesterday but I'm still psyched about it). But I haven't gotten near my high score from my old phone in Snake II (the most addicting cell phone game known to man - I just dare you to find one that's more addicting), so I have something to work for. My sister left a nice little post-it not on the inside of her phone manuel, so I actually know the security code for the phone. And after band, my cell rang, and it was Ryan Hazelwood! So I actually got to talk to Ryan today! (Like I said...I totally suck at returning phone calls...). So that was pretty exciting.
And I found my giant Hershey bar (or the remains of it). Always cure a bad day with chocolate. I don't know if it works...
Tomorrow, I might try to convince myself not to discontinue the blog. But any other reasons (whether you left one or not) are still acceptable.
- posted by L. @ 1:57 AM

 
Yea!
My cell phone is fixed! Well, *my* cell phone isn't fixed, because it's beyond repair...but I have a functional cell phone (even though it's not the same, sniffle), with the same phone number. And my voice mail even got switched over! I'm going to have to re-record my voice message though. Today, before I called Cingular to activate my new (rather my new old phone) phone, I called my voice mailbox from my room phone (ha! i'm brilliant...it only took me a week to figure THAT one out...), and I sounded like I was going to burst into tears or something. Blah! What is it (I guess I should say was it) about my (old) cell that makes me sound like I'm crying?? LoL :)
Funny side story: This summer, when I was en route to Milwaukee from Sandusky, I missed my connecting train (not by my own fault) from Chicago to Milwaukee by seriously five minutes, and I got stuck in the Chicago train station with a shitload of stuff, and nothing to do for three hours, so I decided to catch up on my phone calls while I was eating Chinese food (which was possibly the worst Chinese food I've ever eaten), so I called Buddy back and left him a message, and then I called my aunt to see if she would be in town over my birthday weekend, and as soon as we finished the 'hi, how are you' routine, she was like, wow, are you okay? you sound like you're in tears? I was like, um, well, no...I'm sitting here eating Chinese. So then while I was on the phone with my aunt, Buddy called back but I didn't switch over when the call-waiting beeped, so then I listened to his voice message, and he was like "dude, are you okay? you sound like you're crying..." It was funny. Anyway...
So I'm going to have to re-record my voice message. Hopefully I won't sound so depressed.
So to add to yesterday's bad day (I forgot to mention this), I was walking from Rodman/Storzer to the mail room yesterday, and cut across the grass that used to be the Memorial gym or whatever, and wasn't paying attention, so I kicked a ROCK with my LEFT FOOT! Yeah. PAIN! Lots and lots of pain. I'm now on a quest for a lovely blue-purple nail polish...yick. I need to stop being such a friggin' klutz. All else fails, I'm going to have to paint my toe nails black. Maybe I'll add a sparkly nail polish over the black. Hmmm...Besides, if I paint them black (there's a rolling stones song in here somewhere), they'll most likely match whatever formal dress I wear, and my shoes. Which will probably be flip flops again. I even got a new pair of black flip flops over break! Yea!
I guess I'm going to have to call Adam soon! I'm such a sucky friend when it comes to returning phone calls. I mean, he only called me like, a week ago, um, Saturday. So a week and a half ago. I suck! He goes to school in Milwaukee too! Oh well. Hmph. During spring break if I'm not elsewhere on an exciting spring break trip (yeah, right) and I'm stuck in Milwaukee, I'm going to have to make one of my destinations Marquette.
Speaking of returning/making phone calls, I was supposed to call my mother on Sunday. Whoops. In my defense however, I didn't have a cell phone, and they still haven't figured out my room number. I don't know why it's so complicated, since it's been written on the side of the fridge for um, two years now. I guess I can understand the complication since I had this room number written down first semester last year, then I moved, and changed the last digit from 5 to 8, and then before leaving for school again in August, crossed off the 8 and wrote a 5 again...but still. I mean, it's not nearly as complicated as my number this summer in my room, which was one general housing number, and then having to know the extension of the room, which was 5 + the floor you were on (in my case 1 for 2nd floor, and 0 for first floor) + the room number (39 and 07)...which is why everyone called my cell in the first place.
I can't believe I lived almost a week without my cell. I hardly even noticed it was missing. I guess I'm not as dependent on it as I think. I'm sure that will change when I move into an apartment or something after college, because I doubt I'll have a landline, but hey, as for right now...
Ooh! Megan! I got my memory book! I know, a month later...but it's because I gave them my school address so that they would mail my last check and the bonus check to school rather than home. I didn't even think about the memory book. God, we look like such dweebs in the Snoopy Boutique pictures. Bah! I totally remember that day! That was one of the first days I spent talking (bonding!) with you!! Ahahahaha! That was before we spent all of our breaks together, and actually worked on the register rather than hiding out in the stockroom (dropping entire bags of jumpers ON MY HEAD! and hearing Jason talk about shooting a bums with a BB gun...yeah. we were SO productive) Ah well...
Anywho...I'm still thinking about discontinuing the blog, but I appreciate the feedback. My logic right now is that I should probably put forth my effort in writing my senior sem (which, incidentally, I need to have a topic by MONDAY! MONDAY! ARGHHHHHHHHH! I don't know! folk music? jazz? oh, i know. i'll go with my first roommate from this summer's idea...and i'll write a history of amusement parks or something. yeah. NO.), and the four or five papers for my History 346 class. And, oh yeah, practicing (buuuuuuuuuuuut my time has extended by two weeks! April 24! mark your calendars!). But we'll see.
Tomorrow I get to learn how to play the saxophone! Yippeeeeeeeeeeeee!
- posted by L. @ 1:29 AM

 
Recital solved - for now anyway...
Well, the recital issue has been solved. Mark your calendars for April 24, at 3:15pm. I'd love it if people came to this! It's on a Sunday this time, so it won't be in the middle of the week. Yippee...
The impossible has happened - Austin's hair got bigger! I know, crazy. I'm thinking of taking my camera down to Rodman just to get a picture of it. Hehehehe. I'm so evil. And Chris isn't here to see the fro...sucker.
In other news, I'm thinking of discontinuing the blog. Any suggestions?
- posted by L. @ 1:43 PM

 
It was only the first day back!
Monday, January 17...couldn't have gotten worse. Well, I suppose it could have, but I really don't want to guess how. I think my bad day actually started at midnight, so I hadn't even gone to bed and Monday was already terrible. I slept like shit last night...I doubt I got more than two consecutive hours of sleep the whole night between like, 3:30 when I finally fell asleep and 9:30 when I realized there was no point in staying in bed anymore.
Upon getting up, I realized that the temperature outside was roughly the same temperature as Antarctica, so the prospect of leaving my room was definitely NOT appealing. It took a good two hours or so to motivate myself to leave, in the meantime finding out that my recital date had to be changed (see previous entry), and now I have a tentative recital date that's way too late for my tastes (there was a reason I picked April 10 to begin with) or a recital date that means I have to share my recital weekend with someone else (they're on different days, but I don't want to have to worry about sharing the recital hall the week previous...). So either way, blah! I'll keep everyone posted though.
Then I went over to the business office to get my registration packet. I had to go alone, which sucked a lot, and sucked even more when I realized that the unpaid account line was about a mile long. I didn't think there was a chance in hell that my tuition had gotten paid because there wasn't mail today, so there I stood, waiting. I passed Joe at one point, but that only lasted like five minutes. Either way, it turned out that my account was paid anyway. DAMNIT!
So then Joe had some ghastly news to pass along. Some people just suck. A LOT. I'm not going to elaborate, but seriously, LET IT GO!
Registration packet in hand, I headed down the trail to Storzer, and was frozen by the time I got there. I handed in my schedule for lessons (and it's wrong. damnit!), got some classes shuffled around, and got all my classes added/dropped.
Then I had to get my advisor to sign it. In the traditional Professor Dietrich style, he sent me a, well, um, Professor D like glare (I don't know if it's really a glare, so much...), er, well, Professor D-like look of disapproval when he saw that I was dropping orchestra. He told me he was going to refrain from commenting but that 'he feels that I should play.' Whatever.
Spent the rest of the day in my room, moping, and had a bright few moments when I realized that I could possibly escape hell from Thursday night to Saturday morning, but now there's a student worker meeting on Friday at 3:00. It was planned by all the important type workers and stuff. I guess being co-head student worker means jack shit these days, huh.
Is it May 15 yet????
- posted by L. @ 1:32 AM

 
Arguhhhhhhhhhhh!
Ripon is possibly the most depressing place known to man. I think I'm going to start counting the days left right now! As of Saturday, it was four months exactly...and after a little math, there are 118 days left until graduation! And I have to figure in weekends and spring break too, not to mention exam week, or maybe the lack thereof. Hmmm...
And now I've run into a problem with scheduling for my stupid recital! Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid awards convocation!!! Originally, my recital was going to be April 9, at 4pm. But there were conflicts with my accompanist, so I moved it to Sunday, April 10, at 3:15pm. Now there are conflicts because the awards convocation is April 13, and the band concert is supposed to be the 17th, but the awards convocation is in Demmer, so we can't rehearse that night, but obviously we're going to need to rehearse, because hell, it's the rehearsal before the concert...so they want to move the band concert to the 10th...fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck. So now I have to find a new date for my recital, or go back to the old one. Personally, the old date could cause me a lot of stress, wondering if solo & ensemble is going to go long/etc and my accompanist is going to be delayed. I just really don't want to deal with those worries on my recital day. That and I'm bringing in musicians for an ensemble piece, and I had intended on us all being able to rehearse together on Saturday for the Sunday recital, rather than Saturday for the Saturday recital...so I may have to move it to April 24, but I really don't want to do that. I suppose I don't really have much of a choice...unless band is moved to April 24, but I kind of don't think that will happen. Then again, the 2nd weekend in April has been bad luck for the past three years, so maybe I shouldn't tempt Fate....maybe it is kind of a 'blessing in disguise'...
Anyway, off to go get my registration packet in the frozen tundra temperatures that is now Ripon, WI. I guess I can't really compare it to hell, can I?
- posted by L. @ 11:08 AM

 
Well, six years ahead of my time isn't too bad...I guess :)

You Are 27 Years Old

27 Under 12: You are a kid at heart. You still have an optimistic life view - and you look at the world with awe. 13-19: You are a teenager at heart. You question authority and are still trying to find your place in this world. 20-29: You are a twentysomething at heart. You feel excited about what's to come... love, work, and new experiences. 30-39: You are a thirtysomething at heart. You've had a taste of success and true love, but you want more! 40+: You are a mature adult. You've been through most of the ups and downs of life already. Now you get to sit back and relax.

Interesting...so instead of being 21...damn! I was hoping I'd be 21 forever...:) I guess 'age' of mine might explain why I hate college oh-so-much ;) But then again, who knows?
So 'how old' are you? :)
- posted by L. @ 1:10 AM

 
Back in Ripon...zip-pa-dee-doo-dah!
I'm really not all that terribly excited about being back in Ripon, but ugh! Another day at home....
I miss my cat already though! I'm going to have to watch movies on my bed without the cat sitting on my lap. Sad!!! :(
I'm going to have to figure out where in the world to even put all my freaking movies now. I thought I had it figured out, re-arranging my movie drawer, but no such luck, when I remembered I lent a whole buttload of movies to Beth & Dana for winter break. Back to the drawing board!!! I'm thinking of getting one of those big drawer thingys, that or just shuffling my VHS tapes to the desk drawer and putting the DVDs in the storage box. But based on the fact that I'm lazy...or my next plan is to reshuffle all the crap out of the chest of drawers under my desk and put the DVDs in there. Basically it boils down to my laziness in actually looking through my movies, that and I'm a complete spaz when it comes to movies and CDs - they must be alphabetized if they're on a shelf! Otherwise I find myself being too disorganized to find what I want. I still need Empire Records on DVD. Yes, I need that movie on DVD. It's only one of my all-time favorites, and I can't watch it on VHS anymore (that and the tape is probably going to wear itself out...I wonder if I had that yet when I had my wisdom teeth out - nope, don't think so, lucky for the tape! I must have watched the rented copy like, 20 times when I was sitting on the couch recuperating from wisdom teeth removal...).
Anyway, I did bring back Dinosaurs! It's that cool Claymation movie about, well, duh, dinosaurs. I used it in a project in 7th grade or something. Gooooooooo me. And it features the Milwaukee Public Museum (damnit! i forgot to go there on monday! damnit!), and that kid from The Wonder Years, um, what's his name...hang on, I'm going to look it up...*cues up internet movie database*...Fred Savage. There we go. Ah, the things we learn and don't need to know...
Anyway, so classes start on Tuesday. Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawn. But it's my last semester! Yay!!!!!! Ah, excitement. My room is some-what clean (somewhat.) but only because a lot of stuff was either thrown out or put away before break started...so we'll see how long this lasts. I really need to find a vacuum cleaner, but why do today what we can put off till tomorrow?
Ummm...so I'm going to go finish unpacking and stuff. Later!
(Hooray for high-speed internet. I'm even considering getting more memory for this beastly computer too because internet explorer has already frozen up/shut down on me twice, and I've only been back for a couple hours. Hmmm...)
- posted by L. @ 6:13 PM

 
Three days! Wheeeeeeee!
Finally! Only three days left in break. This has been one of the faster moving winter breaks in the history of my college career (so, the fastest of the four, but whatever), but nevertheless it was one of the more painful ones! I better not ever have to spend this much consecutive time in my parents house ever again! I better find a roommate and an apartment and whatnot (heh, maybe I'll live with one of the Adams) and it better be SOON after graduation! Like, no later than July! :)
My senior sem professor emailed us all today - we've already got a homework assignment! If I was a good student, I would have thought about starting it before the end of break, but since I'm not a good student (or at least I don't care...), I won't start it. Oh, and I don't have the textbook. But I did manage to open the attachment now, so hooray, I can read the assignment, and still put it off till next Sunday. Bah to homework! But at least right now I can blame it on the fact that I don't have the textbook yet!! Score.
I have to admit, I am going to miss being at home. I will miss my cats. That's about it. I won't miss my sister and her early morning phone calls to her boyfriend that make me want to hurl. I definitely won't miss my parents! It will be nice to spend lazy Fridays without having that feeling that I should be doing something productive. It will be nice to have people around that either care about my feelings or just don't associate with me. I am going to miss hanging out with Joe here in Milwaukee though. It's way more fun to hang out in Milwaukee than in Ripon, and usually means more adventures! Or just funny experiences. You know, the usual. Besides, there's considerably more time to kill in Milwaukee than in Ripon, what with that school thing.
Still nothing on cell phone, but I've found I've been able to live without it!
Tonight I totally vegged out on the couch and watched Thursday night TV. I haven't done that since high school! And even then it was only for a semester too! I always had to work on Thursday nights, and piano lessons, then once I got to college it was orchestra. So now, 2nd semester senior year, no orchestra means Thursday night TV! Yay! I actually like Joey, and Committed, and Will & Grace, and I've always liked ER (I usually got to watch parts of this in high school, 'cause I was done with stuff at 9, but never the whole thing, 'cause I had to get home after that, so I missed the first 1/4 of the show). Gee, I didn't realize quitting orchestra was going to provide me with so many perks! No evil orchestra director, no librarian bitch work, nothing to do on Thursday nights....and Thursday night TV! Yea!!!
So the first weekend back at school is going to be soooooooo much fun! Jenny, Buddy, Beth Huber, Shannon and Becky are coming back to visit! And now that I'm actually of age, we can all go out to the bars together! Buddy and I have meant to go to the bars together before, but it's never happened - once we never connected, and the 2nd time I went to the bars and he went to Seasons to catch the jazz group. So hooray! Jenny always used to talk about how much fun it was to go out drinking and how she wished I could have come along...and now both Motz AND I can go! Woohoo! That's going to make the first weekend back worthwhile!!! Yea!!!
So, I'm semi-sad about the whole break thing ending, but mostly, I can't wait. One more formal, one more bid weekend, one senior sem in history, one senior recital, one history class, one woodwind tech class, hopefully some grad school visits (but let's not cross our fingers), one variety show....and sixteen weeks left of college. Wow.

- posted by L. @ 1:07 AM

 
Mmmph....
Okay, so I think I have some problems solved. I just have to wait for my sister to tell me it's okay to re program her old phone (even though the screen is green rather than neon blue and doesn't have a caspar the friendly ghost faceplate *sob*), so *crosses fingers* I won't have to buy a new phone. Or migrate to GSM (because it doesn't work in ripon...blah!). So as of now, don't call my cell phone please (sorry Megs!), but hopefully at this time tomorrow I will have a functional one! Yeah!
So I was cleaning out my inbox today (lack of anything else to do!), and I stumbled across the link someone sent me of the Spring 2004 dean's list....it made me laugh. I suppose it shouldn't, but the fact that I was named to the Dean's List (YEAH!) even though they messed up my grades/credits/GPA and gave me a 3.88 (huh?) with one A (2 cr), one B+ (1 cr), 3 Bs (4cr ea), and one B- (3 cr). Yeah. Then they fixed it (damnit!). What a letter to get over the summer (Dear Lauren, we were wrong, and you didn't get a 3.88 or make the dean's list. sorry. sincerely, the ripon college registrar...).
Anyway, I'm exhausted. But hopefully yay for having a functional phone before going back to school on (yay!) Sunday.
Oh. The house was sold yesterday. *sniffle* Makes me sad :( It's not like I'd been there in a while (over a year!) and the last time I was there it was very sad...but I never thought it was actually going to be sold. I guess I always thought that Grandma would be making cookies in her kitchen or playing cards at the dining room table and Grandpa would be doing woodworking in his workshop, and kicking my ass in pool (he was gooooooooooood!) 'cause he had a pool table in the basement. *sniffle again*....well I'm sure I'll be reminiscing in the near future...but bedtime for now.

- posted by L. @ 1:22 AM

 
Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, FUCK.
So I don't have a cell phone. I'm in a relationship sort-of, but it doesn't really matter, because it sucks enough since I have no fucking clue what's going on. I reaaaaaaaaaaaaallllllllllllly wish I hadn't wasted my breath trying to apologize for everything because it just made things worse.
Yeah, and anyone who thinks that my parents like me...guess what. YOU'RE WRONG! My parents don't like me. My parents told my entire family that they like it better when I'm not around. My parents don't give a rat's ass that my heart is broken. I was talking to my mom earlier (like, 5 minutes ago) and she walked away before I was even done talking. I'M SORRY IF I HAVE PROBLEMS! I'm sorry if my boyfriend and I broke up. And I'm even more sorry that I have to rely on them for sympathy. If that's sympathy, count me out! I wish more than anything I didn't have to turn to them for sympathy. It's not like I get any anyway. I was upset about Andy this morning, so I called my dad. And he yelled at me. Then after my cell phone broke (I dropped the goddamn thing and the screen cracked...or shattered), I asked my sister if I could borrow hers for like, 2 minutes and she put up a fit about it (make sure you don't use up all my minutes! i know you're going to talk to andy forever! blah blah...no, actually, since he's not going to answer the goddamn phone, i'll probably use it for 2 minutes so i can leave him a message and tell him to call the house phone), which she finally tossed in my general direction. Then my mom's comment was "you've been fighting a lot lately" and when I started venting, she walked away. I'm sorry I'm such a fucking burden. I wish I wasn't a burden. I wish I had nothing to do with them!!! And I don't have a fucking cell phone - which is going to be the worst next few days EVER. I fucking hate Cingular and their GSM network. No, we don't make digital phones anymore. Oh, but we'll let you have the one you used to have as long as you extend your contract for two years. No thanks. Or I can get a GSM phone. Hello, it doesn't work in Ripon. Yeah, we've been over that. I could kill for having my phone break...just kill. Well, it's not like it matters. I could probably pay the bill on that thing for the next however many months because now that I'm not with Andy - it's not like I have anyone to call anymore. This sucks, this sucks, this sucks! And shit, if this breakup is 'different' (his words, not mine) than the last one, than I'd rather have the last one!!
I wish I wasn't at home...I wish there was at least someone around here that didn't think I was a pain in the ass. First my boyfriend (or ex boyfriend), and now my parents. I wish I was anywhere but here.

- posted by L. @ 3:20 PM

 
Well...
I saw it coming, but it doesn't make life any easier.
Andy and I are over.
It was two years and x amount of months, but it's finished. I'm not sure how to feel yet. It breaks my heart, but at the same time I'm relieved. Sort-of. Okay, relieved is a bad word to use. I don't know if it was the right thing or not. I don't know if I'll ever know.
So what does this mean? It means I'm lonely. It means I miss him. It means that it's fucking pointless for me to even own a cell phone anymore because all of my fucking minutes have gone to talking to him. It means that I will probably be single for three years or something. It means that I did it, and I'm miserable. And it means I'm going to regret it, oh wait...already do.
Anyway, I don't really want to talk about it. If you want to talk to me about it, leave me a comment, or email me, or call my cell or something. Yeah. I don't know.

- posted by L. @ 1:06 AM

 
Inner emotional turmoil at its best!
Okay, so there probably isn't a best amount of inner emotional turmoil....but if there is...I'm at it right now! I don't think I've ever been this mixed up inside in my 21 and 1/2 years of existance (only 6 months till I'm 22...gah!). But ten bucks says I won't have what I need to do done by fucking February, because I'll keep making excuses. God damn, I'm tired of being nice.
So I just need to make it to May, and then utilize the time-honored solution to problems. What's that? Run away from them! Yay! Running away from problems makes you look at them objectively, not personally. If you're sitting many hours away from the roots of the problem, it causes you to look at them differently than if they were within a few minutes, or hell, an hour. Even two hours! It's much easier to look at problems when they're not right in your face.
I can't wait till college is over. I have no idea what I'm going to do, or what I want to do, but I want to get out of the rut that is college life in rural Wisconsin. I want to go back to the city (or suburb, whatever, as long as it's not like, 45 minutes to the nearest 'real' metropolitan area). I want to not live in dorms or my house. I want to not have to do friggin' homework but be DONE when I get home at night. Whether I get home at 4 in the afternoon or friggin 1 in the morning, to know that I don't HAVE to do ANYTHING until work the next day! How I am going to accomplish all of this, I have no idea, but I will do it. I will do anything to get out of the rut I'm in, even if it means starting all over with everything, and I mean EVERYTHING.
I don't believe in happily ever after. I don't know if I ever have. But despite this lack of belief in happily ever after, I'm determined to see if it happens later on in life.
New Years resolutions are a crock of shit. If I had to make some though, this is what they would be:
1. Mark time till May, do the best I can, and never look back.
2. Find a job that can at least help me accomplish what needs to get done (apartment, car, phone, food, other necessities, and find a roommate i won't kill).
3. Get rid of things that make me unhappy.
4. Stop doing things to please others if it's making me unhappy.
-and (this is probably a bad resolution) finally-
5. Stop sympathizing with people who fucked me over at one point. :)

So here's to hoping I can get at least some of this done by February. I know, I said the same about December 1, but I mean it this time. At least, I hope so. :)

- posted by L. @ 1:27 AM

 
Moving, er, stringing right along...
In the continuation of me ranting about things that piss me off, I'm going to start up on my latest...
Stringing people along.
It all started the other day when a friend was talking about their ex-boyfriend (or whatever he was?) and how out of the blue, they talked to them and were asking about how they were, and how they were concerned about them, blah blah blah. My friend pointed out that their ex hadn't been around for months, not since like, June or something, and now all of the sudden, he was worried about how my friend was doing, and telling them that they should talk to him about it? I don't get it. If you cared so much about someone, whether it be an ex or whatever, why wait till out of the blue? Why not just let them know all along?
Why is it that we have to string people along? Like, we lead them to believe something that's not true. And I know that sometimes we carry a blind spot for someone (newsflash, if the boy you like has a girlfriend, sleeping with him isn't the way to get him back or get him at all for that matter, he'll just go back to her), and harbor false hope. But sometimes, even the most level-headed person can fall prey to being strung along.
I am not very innocent about this at all. I will admit that right here and right now. I was 'seeing' a boy this summer that I had absolutely no interest in whatsoever. I found him rude, obnoxious, conceited, and waaaaaaaaaaaaay too pushy. Yet I humored him for about three weeks to a month (for much of June). I went out with him a few times, I held his hand, I even went so far to kiss him! Why? It was purely for a selfish reason...that I wanted to piss off my ex. Eventually, I realized I didn't have to piss off my ex any longer, but I was now faced with how to break it to Sam* that I wasn't interested in him. I went about it in the most subtle way possible - by managing to not be around EVER. I told my roommate to tell him I was gone if he called. I told him I was on a long-distance phone call on my cell if my roommate wasn't there (even if I wasn't). I told him I was busy if he cornered me at work. I bumped into him one day before work and when he followed me to my room, I told him I had to run to the mail center so that I could mail a graduation present to my ex-boyfriend. I did just about anything. Finally, I lucked out, and ran into him and his next girl-of-the-week outside of my dorm one night. I was ecstatic, because I knew eventually all of my lies would catch up to me. Now I didn't have to tackle the issue head-on, that I was just leading him on so that I could make my ex realize that he didn't want to be apart from me anymore. Because despite the fact that I was leading him on, I didn't want to admit it.
Why is it that we find ourselves constantly either leading someone on or falling prey to being led on ourselves? I mean, realistically, if there is someone out there who has made no real advances towards anything aside from physical attraction, seriously, just stop trying to think that maybe something will happen. Because realistically, it doesn't. I'm speaking as someone who has learned this lesson the hard way more than once, but it doesn't even make me learn my lesson enough to stay out of the situation! I rant and rave about finding things out the hard way, but I never really do take my own advice, so I probably shouldn't be giving any. Nevertheless, I find the opportunity far too there to pass up.
So why do we do it? Is it that our own egos are so fragile that we have to keep other people just wanting us? That's how it was with Sam. The fact that a guy LIKED me was enough to keep me stringing him along so that at least someone was, since the rejection of breaking up with my boyfriend made me think that guys weren't interested in me. So there I was, with someone interested in me, and no matter how hard I tried, I could not reciprocate. Oh, I tried. I told myself that here was a cute guy interested in me, and when was it ever going to happen again? Despite the fact that I rolled my eyes everytime he called, and I made excuses to not see him, and if he cornered me at work or in the caf or something, I would cut my break short just to get rid of him?
My theory is that we just like to know that someone is interested in us. Or two people. Or even more than two people. I mean, a lot of this is based on either my own experience, or from what I see and have seen going on around me. Call me a cynic, and you'd be right. I'm very sarcastic, and very cynical. I could easily say I don't believe in love and happily ever after. Most times, if I fall for someone, I tell them to get out of my life.
But at the same time, I'm human. And I do believe that love leads to happily ever after. Sometimes. I mean, I dated the same person for (give or take) over two years. This isn't to say I didn't buy into the whole 'old cow/new cow' theory (see the movie Someone Like You if you've got no idea what I'm talking about), because I did. And at times I went so far as to have feelings or at least 'what-ifs' for other people.
And despite my cynical ways, I do try to believe that deep-down, guys (in my case, only because I'm a straight female) really do care about me, or it's more than just physical attraction. I like to try and look at the positives in everyone. I don't hate my ex that dumped me because I wouldn't sleep with him. It took me a long time to realize the guy that I was interested in who had a girlfriend but still strung me along was, in fact, a total prick. And after my boyfriend and I broke up in April, I didn't think he was as terrible as everyone else did (he was being terrible, I will admit that now, so if you said that at the time, you were definitely right!). I really do try to believe that guys are generally decent. But overall, I really hate being strung along, because I'm way too naive sometimes.
Maybe this has to do with my latest disappointment, maybe not.
*Names have been changed to protect privacy

- posted by L. @ 11:57 AM

 
I think my life has hit a new low...
Yes, that's right. I'm addicted to Newlyweds! I seriously didn't think my life could go lower than my Rich Girls addiction last year (which was thankfully short-lived). Do they even air that show anymore? I don't tend to watch TV very much, I'm much more of a movies fan. Temporary pause on the MTV website reveals that they do still air that show. Ten bucks says I'll be watching it as soon as I get back to school (because along with dialup internet at home, we also don't have cable...sigh). 10:30 on Tuesday nights....AND another season of Newlyweds starts soon too! I'm doomed.

- posted by L. @ 9:37 PM

 
My day has been full of accomplishment!
Whether they are considered good accomplishments, or not, who cares?? I got up at 9, went to the doctor, came home, read, had lunch, read some more, talked to my parents for a while, read again, finished the book. Checked email, discovered the lovely string of comments pertaining to my infuriation at breast implants at a young age, replied to some of the comments, talked to Steph online, ate dinner, practiced the piano for a while, watched some TV, checked email again, wrote out some emails, talked on the phone, watched a movie. Yup. Very productive day, AND no naps! :)
I was somewhat disappointed in my book. I hadn't read it in a number of years (probably since sophomore or junior year of high school), and I thought it was better. Maybe I was more naive or something, or maybe I just didn't read carefully. Or maybe I just am more bored by it now. Either way, it was historical fiction, which I'm very fond of, and it was about cathedrals and medieval England, so I guess I shouldn't complain! Oh well. Oh, it was The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett. I'm now in serious need of some books to read. It's been so long since I went to the library or bookstore, I have no idea what's even out there. I can't even remember the last time I sat down to read a book since this summer. And even the last month of the summer I had run out of the novels I brought and was forced to read trashy romance novels! Arguh!!! So, anyone read any good books lately? :)
I practiced the piano today! It was weird. I haven't really touched the piano (save Choraliers accompaniments) since my recital. I don't even have anything to practice, so I just dug through my filing cabinet and pulled out a bunch of books and read through stuff. Heh, my interpretation of Gershwin's Prelude No. 2 "Blue Lullaby" was atrocious. Granted, I'm out of practice, but it's not like I was ever IN practice (even though I did technically have it ready for solo & ensemble my senior year of HS). Somewhere, Gershwin is rolling in his grave. Oh well, it was kind of an off-day. I did Beethoven & Beach less than justice too - and I was performing those just over a month ago! Agh. :)
Okay, so the speakers in the other room are REALLY loud, and it sounds like there are people walking all over the house. Kinda freaky when you're not expecting it!
Uff, well the movie's almost over, and I'm tired. Tchao! :)

- posted by L. @ 1:21 AM

 
Yay boobs!
Okay....
So my last little rant (or rather large rant) may have caused some misunderstandings. So I will do my best at the point to clear up some.
First, hooray! There are times when I love my boobs. What's not to love?? (I'm still not revealing my bra size!). Formal dresses, for example. Once said and done, after I've spent an entire night/afternoon/whatever searching for one, and find just the right one, damn! It looks hot. I looked good at prom, my senior recital in high school, and the three formal dresses I've bought since college have all looked good too. I mean, obviously, I can't say much myself without sounding conceited (just kidding), but I think I looked okay. And aside from having ice cubes dropped down my cleavage (BUDDY!), it's all been good. So formal dresses are all good, once you find the right one. And if you've got the right shopping partners, it can even be sort-of fun. It can be disheartening too, but sort-of fun.
I also don't mean to undermine ALL guys, just the shallow ones who are NOT subtle about looking at my boobs (or anyone elses), and who don't seem to care about anything else. I should probably specify that there are tons of guys out there who either a-don't notice right away, or b-notice, but still are interested in other aspects...WOOHOO! Those are the guys worth keeping around.
Incidentally, my comment about "it's a good thing men are simple creatures and can be perfectly happy without lingerie" wasn't an insult, but a good thing on the behalf of me, who can't usually find any. Besides, in Cosmo and Glamour, I already read about guys who think lingerie is too complicated. Of course, not really having any particular experience in that matter, I'm really not sure what to believe. :) And if I was making generalizations about shallow men, it was probably in reference to Pennsylvania boy who spent all his time staring at my chest, and my ex-boyfriend from high school that dumped me because I wouldn't sleep with him. Shallow boys means THOSE kinds, not most of the boys I know that read this! And I know that I have dated boys who didn't even notice my boobs (or so they claim) when they first met me.
So my general pissed-off-ness (wheeeeeeee, new word!) is at the stupid girls who think that they need breast implants at the age of 15. And the parents who are dumb enough to let their kids do that. I know absolutely nothing about parenting, I just know that you shouldn't let a teenager get breast implants.
Besides, having big boobs also tends to allow us big boob girls to band together in musical ensembles and make fun of those that aren't. Can't do that so much this year though....*sniff*
So yay for boobs! And yay for looking hot in formal dresses (once you find 'em)! And yay for guys who aren't shallow and like you for a hell of a lot more than just your boobs! And yay for banding together with the other girls who share your same plight!
So yes. There we have it....big is not necessarily better, but it can be good too. :)
(and I'm still not telling you my bra size).


- posted by L. @ 6:02 PM

 
I hate shallow people.
I was reading an article in Cosmo the other day that seriously pissed me off. It was talking about breast implants, and how friggin fourteen/fifteen/sixteen year old girls are getting them. FOURTEEN! Are you SERIOUS??? I stopped that whole developing thing at age NINETEEN! NINETEEN! Like as in, TWO YEARS AGO! Okay, so at FOURTEEN, the LAST thing on my mind was to get bigger boobs, thank you! I refuse to reveal my size at this point (though some of you more shrewd eyes probably can guess), but at age 14, I was perfectly happy with a B or something. Seven years later, I'd kill for a B. Right now, I am going to list off a number of ways why being smaller is, in fact, better:

*Have you ever tried bra shopping?? It's fucking impossible. Eight times out of ten, you can't just walk into some random department store and buy a bra without either a-hunting around for three hours, or b-not finding one period. I was in Kohls a couple months ago on the seemingly-simple quest of finding a white bra to wear that wasn't a million dollars. It took me a fucking hour. AN ENTIRE HOUR OF MY LIFE THAT I WASTED TRYING TO FIND A BRA TO WEAR! Whenever I found them, they were either a-ugly. b-ugly. c-had straps as wide as the Panama Canal. d-ugly. e-not sexy AT ALL. f-UGLY. I think you get my point. So, I finally find about four that aren't ugly, old-lady like, etc. Yeah, that's it. Only four. In the dressing room, the one I liked the best ended up NOT FITTING. DAMNIT!!!!!!! Another one was ruled out because it was ugly once worn. So, I ended up with only two choices an HOUR LATER. ARGUHHHHHHHHH!
*What's a tank top? I mean, can you wear them? NO! Built-in bras? YEAH RIGHT!!! HAHAHAHAHAHA! I laugh at the mere mention of those. So my shirt size is medium, and the built-in bra tank top has the built-in bra ending somewhere that's nowhere near useful for a bra. And good luck finding a bra with straps that don't look horrible. There is no such thing as an attractive, wide-strap tank top. And if there is, let me know, because I have yet to find one since like, 9th grade (someone please tell Old Navy to bring that style back!!!! whine, whine).
*Dress shopping! Im-fucking-possible. It's not so bad anymore now that floor-length isn't in style. But shit, when I was going to prom in 2000, it took me for-fucking-ever to find a prom dress! I'm only 5'1, so length was a factor. I don't have a small chest, so having a big enough chest was also a factor. However, they don't usually bank on having short, big-chested girls. *curses* So you need to make sure you're NOT falling out of a small or medium dress, but you're drowning in the large/extra large. In the end, I had to settle for a dress that was too long, but fit everywhere else (waist, chest)...and settle for three-inch heels.
*Then when you find the formal dress, you have to find a bra to go with it. Good-bye, backless. Good-bye strapless. Good-bye most. Hello evil corset bra of DOOM. Which you can't just buy anywhere either. You have to buy it at Fredrick's of Hollywood or something and have it come like, two days AFTER formal. And when it does get there and you do have it, you have to make sure you can spend an entire night without breathing. So much for dinner.
*Lingerie! That's another frustrating, sucky part about having big boobs! Most lingerie is bought by bra size. Strangely enough, the most common lingerie sizes are one-too-small for me. So you have to search EVERYWHERE and are extremely limited. Oooh, Victoria's Secret. Nope, not for me!!! DAMNIT! So you end up mail-ordering it, and praying that it fits when you get there, and also praying for a damn good return policy if not...it's a good thing men are simple creatures, and can be perfectly happy without lingerie.
*Let's talk about evil things like the Pill. As you may know, the Pill makes small-chested girls happy, because most likely, they grow an entire bra size. Hooray for them. I would prefer that my boobs DON'T grow, thank you, so that already limits the pill options. Low-estrogen pills aren't as effective either (wasn't there a big stink about how the Ortho-TriCyclen LOW was considerably less foolproof that the regular dosage? Yeah. That sucks. I'm not on that pill, and I never was, just for the record). But seriously, if I relied on the Pill, I most likely would have been in big trouble, oh, a long time ago, since what I AM on IS low-dosage Pills. I might add that it hasn't kept 'em any smaller either...or even really at the normal size. It just doesn't make them grow AS MUCH.
*Oh yeah, and simple-minded, shallow boys! I was sort-of seeing (for lack of any other way to put it) a guy this summer for a few weeks, and I think he spent more time staring at my chest than my face. He said I was cute...like he would know! I'm not saying all boys who stare at my boobs are bad, but be subtle about it, please.

Anyway, my point is that priorities change. If you get breast implants at the age of fifteen, what are you going to do when you're 25? When I was fifteen, I was much smaller. I thought I had finished growing at seventeen, but in reality, it wasn't till nineteen. So what if I had gotten implants at age fifteen? Huh? Do you really just want to take them out? I mean, if having big boobs is a big priority at age fifteen, wait even just four years, till age nineteen. You've grown up a hell of a lot, both physically, and mentally, and if you still want them four years later, you're probably done growing, and go for it. But in high school? Know that there are a million other things you could be worrying about.
I can only hope that this horrible stupidity will go away! Besides, who wants implants anyway? I hear they're kinda creepy, like they don't move AT ALL. Ewww! How is that attractive?? :) I know that they say the grass is always greener on the other side, but I can't really think of any reason why you shouldn't be happy with what you got (medical problems aside). I guess I could understand if you were like, 22 years old and flat as a pancake, or, on the other side, if you were huge, and wanted a reduction. Either way, be happy with what you've got. If you're small, and the guys don't pay attention to you because of that, realize they're probably shallow and only want girls with boobs. Do you want that kind of guy anyway? Or if you have big boobs and that's all that guys look at, you'll find someone who can look past it, or won't realize or something. Or he'll be happy with what he's got, and praise you all the time, which isn't so bad either. The moral of my story is that, big isn't necessarily better.

- posted by L. @ 1:59 AM

 
Indian food & hot chocolate & cream cheese brownies, oh my!
I'm not sure if that exactly has a ring to it like lions and tigers and bears (oh my!), but hey, it's pretty much what my day entailed. I was up 'early' today (at 11:30ish when Joe called me), and we hit Tandoor for lunch around 1:30 (drool, drool, drool). This is what we call 'sampling the local cuisine' because oh my lord, I love Indian food. I don't even know half the stuff I ate today, but it was so good, and I ate soooooooooo much that I didn't have dinner until like, 9:00 tonight. I now have found two awesome lunch places since coming home for break...Tandoor (Indian food) and Thai A Kitchen (yup, you guessed it, Thai food). And Cold Stone Creamery, which is, conveniently, right down the block from Thai A Kitchen...so I guess this is what Joe & I meant by 'sampling the local cuisine'....yay!
After a brief 'disagreement' (shall we say?) with my parents when I got home (ooh, they piss me off sometimes!!!!!), I bummed around the house until I decided that I was so bored and just needed to get OUT of the house that I headed off to Barnes & Noble at Bayshore (haha, BaySHOE according to the sign...mwa, the R is burned out), but instead of getting books, I got a calendar. I know, I know, the sister got me a calendar for Christmas, and while said calendar absolutely rules (Wizard of Oz! Yay!), it's not a desk calendar (or page-a-day), which I rely on frequently. So I bought another one today, and I'm definitely not revealing what comic strip is on the calendar, because otherwise you will make fun of me. :) Anyway, from the mall, I met Joe at Alterra, where we had dinner (hot chocolate & cream cheese brownies). Yep, that was dinner. I haven't been to Alterra since Easter weekend (when that damn brownie - not cream cheese - was the only thing I ate for like, a week, and I'm not exaggerating), and haven't had a cream cheese brownie since probably last winter break. While at Alterra, I saw a coffee cup with a camel on it, and decided I'm probably going to have to get that for Dana before I go back to Ripon, but opted to not buy it today, because I probably would lose it in between now & January whatever when I see Dana. Also, that gives me another excuse to go to Alterra again....
Anyway, it was good day. Finished watching Love Actually tonight, so didn't get to either of my other movies, and resisted the urge to get Troy while at Best Buy. Knowing me, I probably won't watch it very much, so maybe some other time. Like if I rent it at some point and realize that I actually do somewhat like the movie, that or hey previously viewed....:)
I came to the conclusion that Barnes & Noble at Bayshore sucks canal water (just like AT&T/Cingular), so I guess I might have to go out to Mayfair, because they actually have a music section, and I'm just dying to try and get my hands on the Chick Corea album with Eleanor Rigby on it. Then again, if all else fails, set aside at least an entire afternoon to go to Exclusive Company on Farwell & Brady (when I say an entire afternoon, I mean, like, a lot of hours! because they have the biggest classical music selection ever, and I could spent hours in there!!! and I left a lot of my classical music CDs at school...).
I know I complain about AT&T regularly, but now it's decided that my home area of my phone is now Madison. Sigh. Does it ever end? Is it almost August (when I can bid AT&T/Cingular a not-so-fond farewell)??? :) Luckily, people can still dial my phone without using all 10 digits if they're in the 414 area code, but still. Madison? Last I checked, Madison was 608. Whatever...
Anyway, off to bed. What the fuck did I do to my computer? I hate this machine. And dialup. I think my parents need to get out of the stone ages and get something that's not dialup....
More journal writing time! (What, you think this is the only place I write stuff down???? Ha! You are sorely mistaken!) :)

- posted by L. @ 11:18 AM

 
Wheeeeeeeee!
I think I've had just enough of a super boring day to be all giddy like and dorky at this hour of the day. I'm watching Love Actually right now (it's on in the other room)...I'm such a sucker for romantic comedies, especially with lots of hot British accents! Wheeeeeee! :) I think I missed the part where Colin goes to Wisconsin, though, so I'll have to back up the movie till I find it. Despite the two glaring errors (his plane lands at the Milwaukee Airport - no such thing! it's either Mitchell Internation or Timmons Field, and he goes to a bar and orders a BUDWEISER??? Hello! Milwaukee is home to Miller and Pabst and Schlitz, NOT Budweiser). Anyway, I'm over my Chess obsession, at least for today. I'm on some sort of loser-ish musicals kick, so we'll see what the next few days brings. It's not like I have anything better to do anyway!
Anyway, I'm in the process of uploading my recital pics onto my yahoo photos! There's only four pictures, but hey, no complaints here. Check 'em out! http://photos.yahoo.com/mslauren18
Ooh, Troy comes out tomorrow on DVD. I'm going to have to go rent it or something, but maybe I'll have to have Adam over so we can make scathing commentary together. For example, the Greeks have just left a big, wooden horse outside of Troy. The following conversation ensues:
King (Peter O'Toole): We should bring it inside the walls of Troy.
Me: Bad idea! Set it on fire!
Adam: Yeah, no kidding! Don't bring inside, burn it down!
Prince (Orlando Bloom): No Father, I think we should set it on fire.
Me & Adam: Duh! Didn't we just say that??
Girls sitting next to us at theater: *glares*
Ahh, I love going to movies with Adam...I should probably give him a call. I'm sure there's some movie out there that we can a-agree on and b-have a blast making fun of! Woohoo!! We should really be hired by the people of Mystery Science Theater! We're just as great at making snide commentary.
So my plans for the rest of the week include: Nothing! Yay!
The dentist was not so painful, though I'm sure I ruined any teeth-cleaning by driving from the dentist office right to Einstein's and getting a huge bagel sandwich, chips & a pickle. And eating chocolate. And drinking Coke. Oh well.
I decided today on my way to the dentist's that I hate driving in the city. Only for now, because there was lots of sleet or freezing rain or something, and while I had no problems with my car (and I even got it started! ha!!), nobody else seemed to know how to drive (yeah, it's probably not the best idea to drive fast down oakland, thank you). All in all, I seemed to fare better than my parents, because they had stories of people sliding everywhere and whatnot. I was driving behind a cop at one point, and all I could think of was last year when we were driving down Maryland during a snow storm, and the cop didn't know how to keep his car from fishtailing! And I'm not talking about like, a little bit, but for an entire friggin six blocks or something! I was dying laughing. Makes me feel safe if I ever get into an accident during a snow storm, nothing like being able to count on the cops to save the day!! We can only hope that said cop had moved to Milwaukee recently from like, the Bahamas or something...:)
Anyway, back to Love Actually. I think tomorrow I'm going to watch Amelie or Garden State. Haven't decided yet.
Oh, I might be going up to DePere sometime this week to finish cleaning out my grandparents' house *sniff, sniff* since it's getting sold soon *sniff, sniff*....guess that means it's really going to happen. :`(
On to happier things...movies! Yay! And calling Adam! Yay! Hey! Maybe Adam will want to go bowling! That would be fuuuuuuuun! Of course, I'll have to get out the ice for post-bowling because I'm SUCH a great bowler...:) Okay...I'm out.

- posted by L. @ 2:07 AM

 
Maybe it's best to love a stranger...
Agh, tomorrow is my least favorite day of the year. Yes, it's dentist appointment day. I LOATH going to the dentist. It always takes forever. And thank you, health care costs, when was the last time my dentist actually did the dental work? Yeah. Good question. Sometime in 2001, or maybe even 2000. I don't remember. I always hated the dentist, and now I hate it even more. I live in constant fear that they are going to once again discover that my filling is loose. That was painful. Very, very, very, VERY painful. Anyway, enough whining about the dentist. Seriously though, who doesn't hate the dentist? :)
So today, I was feeling especially dorky (i know, what's new??) and raided my CDs for all the musicals I've aquired over the years (no movies...just musicals! wheeeeeee). Stretching back to May 1995 (about a bazillion years ago, or so it seems), SHS Drama presents Chess. I absolutely love that musical! Despite it's extreme depressing themes, plots, filled with the undertones of politics as well as history, and a great musical score...does it get much better?? Ahh, inner history geek! I've never played chess, I must confess, but an entire musical...anyway it's more about the Cold War than the actual game of chess, and is loosely based on the American chess player Bobby Fischer, and the race between the Americans and the Soviets to be the winner in chess. Of course the story is romanticized, as Freddy (the American)'s second (Florence) falls in love with Anatoly (the Soviet), and consequently leaves the American side (even though she's Hungarian, and was driven out of Hungary and separated from her father by the Soviets at a young age, but, whatever). In the meantime, there is heavy involvement by the KGB and CIA, as well as Anatoly's somewhat-estranged wife, and an appearance by Florence's father (who was miraculously found by the CIA). In the end, Anatoly loses the final game, the Americans now dominate the chess world, Florence and Anatoly are separated because she cannot be with her father and Anatoly at the same time, so she picks her father, only to find out that it was all a CIA plot to destroy her relationship with Anatoly...so she not only lost the love of her life, but she was betrayed by the US. Happy, no? Actually, the musical was released in both the United States and Britain, and had different endings, with the British ending being much happier, as (if I remember right) Florence and Anatoly end up together, even though he loses the chess match. I would just like to say that Gensler (SHS drama director) thought the American ending to Chess was depressing, so she changed it to have Florence reunited with her father for real. Yay. Happiness. Anyway, I didn't understand like, any of the plot when I actually saw the musical....uh, 10 years ago, but at the age of eleven, I don't think it was really expected of me to understand the politics and history of the cold war...at least I hope not. :) It's one of those things that kind of dawns on you like, five years later, and you're like wow, that sucks.
Um...
Interesting mini-rant on one of my favorite musicals. I have no idea why Gensler ever picked that musical, it's not, um, very well-known, but whatever. I got to be in the kid's choir for that! We sang a song in Hungarian. Like I remember it now...:) Well, I do, but only because I know all the lyrics and such backwards nowadays....since I'm a huge geek! Yeah for being a music geek!
Anyway, I'm either going to go watch The Birdcage or go to bed, I haven't decided yet.
Incidentally, if anyone remembers the 80's....and knows 80's music...the song "One Night in Bangkok" is actually from the musical Chess. :)
P.S. the title quote is from Chess, amazingly enough! Heehee.

- posted by L. @ 11:54 PM

 
Ooh, 2005!
I am tampering with the time and date on this, but shhhhhhhh. Gotta write something on the first of the year!
Happy New Year to everyone! I hope you all had a fabulous evening and aren't feeling too shitty today. :) 2005 already? Meaning college graduation is in less than (eek!) five months! For as much complaining as I do about it...lol. Anyway, I'm still complaining about graduation, but I'm also complaining about school in general. I'm tired of it. But I think that this semester is going to go rather fast, due to the pile of work that is already glaring at me (senior sem! agh! senior recital! agh! history class! agh! woodwind techniques! agh! oh wait...that's going to be joke. never mind). As my sister so pointed out the other day "It's funny Lauren, because your last semester of college is going to be my first semester of college!" Um. Okay. Why is that funny?? Oh well, whatever. Gotta love my sister. Umm...100 days party is almost here. I hope. :) LoL. Priorities, priorities...I am amused because we move back to school on January 16, and graduate on May 15 (mark your calendars, folks!). Hooray for graduation (boo to impending real world doom. lol)...but Themis: Congrats, you'll be graduating at the same time as me! Hooray!
As for me, yay for Dazed and Confused and Empire Records: Special Fan Remix! That's how I spent my New Years. Better than last year, but High Fidelity with Paul last year wasn't too terrible. It was the other company that wasn't so great! Mwa! I'm still not sure if I like the Empire Records Special Fan Remix. They moved around some scenes and such, and it totally threw me. Like the scene with Dire Straits' Romeo & Juliet playing in the background, with AJ trying to muster up the courage to talk to Corey, Mark hitting on the ballerina, etc was moved, and it totally threw me off! They moved it to much earlier in the film...so being a die-hard fan of Empire, I was distracted. Anyway, there's my ranting on that. It was still fun to watch with all the extra scenes added in and whatnot (but still no Tobey Maguire that I saw).
Also fun with New Year's was driving around Appleton like a maniac last night to find out that pretty much every grocery store in town closed before 10:30. What??? So an hour later...but ended up with cookie dough ice cream so all was good. And yes, I mean a maniac. Don't challenge a Milwaukee driver, yo! I may be a terrible driver in freezing rain, but it was not freezing rain last night, thank you. *evil grin*
Changing topics rather abruptly, there is a totally sweet version of Eleanor Rigby by Chick Corea. I highly recommend it. Jazz meets the Beatles? Awesome. Speaking of Beatles arrangements, a few years back (or maybe many years back?) Sonja mentioned at one point of having a recording of an arrangement of Beatles music with an oboe??? I must locate said recording. Beatles meets the oboe? Nothing better (unless it's cheesy. in which case DIE).
There are some things in life that make me smile, and giggle, and blush. Certain things *cough - emails - cough* make me do that.
Alas, it's not really 11:48...it's almost 4am. Don't ask what I'm still doing up. But I'm going to bed now. Happy 2005!!!

- posted by L. @ 11:48 AM