Heigh-ho!
So, I'm sitting here at the computer with the last piece of graduation cake and a glass of water and asking myself what the hell I'm thinking moving away for three and a half months!!! I mean, seriously, I did this before I was banging my head against the wall (not literally) over sem, or over my recital, or over my classes, etc. What the fuck????
I'm really not very excited about this. It's going to be good to see people again, like Kelly C, Sarah Jo, Kelly L, Jamie, Themis, whoever else is going to be back (Heather S? Brandon? Kevin? Winter? others??)...but I'm going to miss people at home; Andy, Emily, Joe, Adam, Steph, Chris...especially those I didn't get to see much this year, if at all.
Well, I'm sure I'll be fine once I get there and get settled anyway. I've got a leadership role this year, which is nice (a resume builder! woohoo!), and the way that the schedule was done last year I think I'm not going to have to work laaaaaaaaate nights every single night. Not that the morning shift is my cup of tea, but still. It will be nice to be done by 4pm instead of like, midnight or later...
Hopefully before the night is over I'll have sent out an email with my contact info, but if you didn't get my contact info and want it, as well as getting periodic emails from me, leave me a comment with your email address, or email me! (just so you know, it might take a while, I only checked email weekly or biweekly, but I don't know if a periodic email update will go out more than every three-four weeks).
Anyway, I'll be back to Wisconsin for sure sometime in September (sometime between the 11th and 13th), and possibly around my birthday in July (sometime between the 10-14ish). And ideally I should have my cell phone in Ohio (but let's not hope for too much - this is Cingular we're talking about!!), so if you have my cell, call me sometime! I'll probably be more than happy to talk to you (but apologies in advance for delays in returning phone messages. If my schedule is like it was last year, oy!) :)
Oh, and for those of you who are thinking "I'm looking at the archives from 2004, and there were no posts from when you left until when you got back," never fear - audio blog is here! (that was laaaaaaaaaaaaaame). :) I'll hopefully be doing audio blog posts - all you need is some sort of media player (windows, real player, music match jukebox, maybe iTunes), and you'll be able to hear my audio blog! So, turn your speakers up and leave comments! :)
Well, I should get back to packing! So, have a good summer! Email me, call me, snail mail me if you have the address (and I'll send you a postcard!), visit me if you're in the area, etc. Just don't expect frequent audio blogs - I'm sure they won't happen more than (at max twice a week), but hey, enjoy 'em when they're there! :)
So long, kiddies!
- posted by L. @ 1:11 AM

 
New pictures!
I finally added the graduation and senior recital pictures to my yahoo photos, in case anyone is interested. :)
Other than that, nothing very interesting today. But there are new pictures! Let me know what you think if you want!! :)
- posted by L. @ 5:35 PM

 
Yay NewsRadio!
So, yay! NewsRadio came out today! It just randomly appeared in with my stuff, no idea where it came from. But that's okay. :) It's the thought that counts from the random person. Hehe!
The Brewers game last night was actually really boring. Not because the company was boring (it wasn't! yay for hanging out with Dana!), but the game itself was a yawn. Nobody hit four home runs, or any home runs for that matter, so Dana didn't get to see Bernie Brewer slide down the slide. It's kind of depressing that Bernie Brewer doesn't slide into a beer pitcher anymore, though. Bah!
Anyway, I'm really boring tonight. Any thoughts on the college CD, feel free to let me know!! Wheeeeeeeeee!
- posted by L. @ 12:54 AM

 
Merf!
So, I was actually somewhat productive today. I went to the bank, and the post-office, and didn't get lost at the Brewers game because my parents nagged at me enough about meeting Dana and Kate somewhere not at Miller Park, which was good. City traffic was waaaaaaaaaaay worse than freeway traffic, which means there is too much construction on I-43.
On Sunday, Kevin mentioned a brilliant name for the new Marquette mascot, one that really strikes fear into the heart. The Marquette Interchange. Definitely a scary mascot, unfortunately, only really very terrifying to Wisconsin and some Chicago residents. Heh, it already has a terrifying ring to it. ;)
I'm still all for the Jumping Jesuits, and their mascot should be a priest on a pogo stick. w00t!
I'm making mp3 montages of my mp3 files on this beast. Yay! It only took two discs.
NewsRadio comes out today (Tuesdays). I am ecstatic!!!!
Anyway, I'm trying to come up with a mix-CD to listen to this summer that will remind me of college and/or my college friends/memories. If you have any ideas, please leave me a comment!!!
Well, my ear hurts and my head hurts, so I'm going to go to bed and try the "take 4 ibuprofen to get rid of an ear infection" method. Blah!!
- posted by L. @ 1:08 AM

 
Dear Wisconsin, don't even think about passing this or I am moving to Canada! (or Kazakhstan, as the case may be)
So. Every now and then I step on my soapbox and get on a rant, whether it be about breast implants or mascots for colleges I've never attended, whether or not I have any articles or sources to back me up or not. Yes, loyal readers, that time has come once again.
Now that I'm at home, I'm much more inclined to watch the news. Not regularly, I admit, but periodically. There was a news story last week that made me sit up and say "what the fuck." Despite my intial reaction of shock and anger, I neglected to do any further research (whoops), but when reading the lovely Journal Sentinel (online, of course), I remembered said story and looked it up.
And now for your enjoyment!
(and by enjoyment, I mean, this sarcastically. It pisses me off.)

Dear religious and/or conservative type people, it may be in your best interest to stop reading here.
Oh, and by the way, if you know details about this particular issue or just want to get my ridiculous liberal opinions, scroll down. :)

Summary of the Wisconsin debate
(paraphrased from articles in links)
The Journal Sentinel starts coverage of this issue back in October 2004, when Neil Noeson, a pharmacist in Menomonie, WI, refused to fill a girl's prescription for birth control pills. His reasoning? That he is a "devout Roman Catholic and had told his placement agency he wouldn't help anyone get contraceptives because he didn't want to commit a sin."
A brief summary of the article says that the girl went to the K-mart pharmacy to fill the prescription, Noeson asked her what the purpose of the pills was and upon her reply that they were in fact for contraceptive use, he didn't give them to her. So, she went to a nearby Wal-Mart , but when the other pharmacy called the K-mart for the prescription, Noeson wouldn't give it to them.
A followup article in February 2005 states that the pharmacist in question was given a reprimand and had his license limited.
Wisconsin is one of 47 states that has a 'conscience clause,' in place since 1970, which allows doctors and hospital workers to deny patients abortions and sterilization procedures based on religious and/or moral obligations. But now the state is proposing that this same clause extend to pharmacists, on the grounds that birth control pills and morning-after pills are like abortions. As of March 2005, the Wisconsin State Legislature was up in arms debating this so-called moral debate. A bill introduced by Republican Jean Hundertmark in 2004 which continued to protect physicians, as well as medical students and other health care workers, from "being asked to participate in certain procedures that are against their convictions" (3/5/2005). This bill was passed in both houses of the Wisconsin Legislature, but was vetoed by Governor Jim Doyle, who declared that even if the bill is reintroduced (as Hundertmark plans), he would be unlikely to sign such a bill.
In a final decision in April 2005, Neil Noeson was reprimanded and his license was limited. Based on this decision, women's reproductive rights supporters are elated, while abortion opponents are even more pressed to get a 'conscience clause' passed for pharmacists.
In May 2005, it was brought to the media's attention that a Walgreen's pharmacist not only refused to fill a Milwaukee woman's prescription for an emergency contraceptive, but went so far as to call her a murderer and a baby-killer (5/10/2005). The manager on duty refused to intervene. The woman left the pharmacy, too traumatized to seek out another pharmacy and later had an abortion. Walgreen's policy allows pharmacists to deny prescriptions on moral grounds, however, they are required to seek out a manager, refrain from discussion their reasoning with the customer, and will have to make arrangements to seek another place to fill the prescription.
This brings us to the original posted article (here again for your convenience), where graduates spoke out to a legislative commitee on a proposed bill in Wisconsin that protects the rights of pharmacists on dispensing medications including birth control pills and other hormonal medicines. This bill would also protect pharmacists who did not want to send the prescription to another pharmacy to be filled. Opponents of the bill say that it is a hinderance to women's reproductive freedoms, and that overall, the principal decision maker is the woman.

And now for my personal opinions...
Okay, so I'm guessing there's like, nobody reading anymore, but I've given as unbiased of the presenting of the facts as I could (and links to articles). Now, for my opinions on the matter (which is precisely why I'm not a reporter or a professional writer - I'm far too biased in my opinions).
The thought that a pharmacist can deny anyone the right to having birth control pills is outrageous. In the Noeson case, for example, I think the fact that the pharmacist asked the girl what her pills are for is equally outrageous. I've been on the pill for three years now, and I've never been asked what the function of my pills were for (even in rural Ripon!)...incidentally, they're for moderation of my periods, as well as prevention of cramps that have knocked me out of school on numerous occasions from about eighth grade until sophomore year of college (even after I had taken the pill, it took some getting used to, which I will get to later). Moral obligations aside, I don't think I should have to explain that to a pharmacist. I should be able to go in, get my prescription filled, pay for it, and leave, no questions asked. The only thing the pharmacist has ever said to me, aside from small talk (and only in Ripon, I might add!), is asking if I had any questions about the particular pill. My reasons for being on the pill are my reasons (and well, now you know, but I volunteered this information, but I really don't think I would if I thought a pharmacist was going to prevent me from getting the pills).
And if a pharmacist has moral obligations that prevent them from dispensing birth control pills, fine. But don't withhold a prescription when a person is trying to fill it elsewhere for God's sake! If I had run into trouble at Walgreen's in Ripon (which I never did!), then at least let me try at Ripon Drug, or somewhere in Oshkosh or Fondy, or something. Even though I'm not on the pill for contraceptive reasons, it took me a while to get used to some of the side effects. Missing doses was not a good idea, and for the love of all that is holy (ironic choice of words, I might add), if you can't bring yourself to dispense the pill, don't, but let them find someone else who will dispense the pill.
The debate on the proposed bill in Wisconsin has the bill supported by opponents of abortion and opposed by many pro-choice groups. So, if you're against abortion, by all means, go ahead and make sure they can't prevent pregnancy. It will definitely lower the abortion rate. Morons. The credibility of the Walgreen's incident is still being investigated, and while that incident was in the extreme, there could be many more cases of women getting abortions because they were denied birth control or morning after pills (not the abortion pill!). Seriously. You'd think pro-life people would be all about birth control to prevent (key word there!) unwanted pregnancies (and, consequently, abortions), but, apparently not.
Even with policies such as Walgreen's, the mere layout of Wisconsin makes this problematic. In rural Wisconsin, there may only be one pharmacy in many of the smaller cities, and driving all over rural Wisconsin to find a non-morally obligated pharmacist is probably not the best option for people seeking out emergency contraception, where time makes all of the difference in whether or not a pill is effective. And think of the stress! The condom breaks, and you have to run all over the fucking state just to get a prescription filled for a pill? Ridiculous.
My biggest problem with the proposed bill is that despite what seems to be overwhelming negative response throughout the state public, it would not be unrealistic to think that this could be passed. With a Republican dominated legislature in the state, this bill has scary potential to become not just a bill but a Wisconsin state law.
While I'm not going to say whether I agree or disagree with the idea of the 1970 law that allows doctors to deny procedures, a pharmacist is completely different. There is no way that a pharmacist should deny me, or any other woman, the right to birth control based on their own morals. Give it up.
If this bill becomes a Wisconsin law, damn it all, I'm moving to Canada.
And no, I'm probably not done with this issue, either.
(the sad thing is, I've written papers that were researched more poorly than this, and this is based on solely my own personal opinions. yikes.)
- posted by L. @ 12:02 PM

 
Really sporatic...
Did I even spell that right?? Okay, it's been like three days. I don't even have anything exciting to write about. I think I have to get my ass out of bed early because my parents are making me go to church. Thrilling, I know. So, I really should be in bed, because sleeping in pews is not fun (or comfortable - and yes, I've slept many a Sunday away...). And this dratted ear pain is not going away, so, fuck! Doctor again. I get to go to the dermatologist on Monday (ooh!), and then a Brewers game with Dana (w00t!), and possibly up to Appleton on Monday night (so I can sleep in on Tuesday, and not waste the day away - NewsRadio comes out!). Oh, and Kevin's grad party is tomorrow. Yay! Monkeys. I need to call Adam.
So, I'm apparently supposed to be at work on Friday at 3pm. Yep, that's right. No, I didn't get a real job, I'm talking about CP. And I'm not in Surf Shop! I'm the last goddamn person to know that! I'm amused. No way I'm going to be at work by 3pm, EST on Friday though. Luckily Kelly and I are going to switch, so I get to close on Saturday (wheeeeee) and probably work all friggin' day on Sunday. :) Yay!
Oh yeah, and I totally turned the computer on to burn all my mp3s to a cd to transfer to my ipod (in a very roundabout way). I can't just download iTunes to this computer, no, because iTunes for windows isn't for windows ME, which is, of course, what we have. Monkeys. Oh, and it would take about five years because this computer is ridiculously slow. Horsefeathers (and I actually said that...yikes)!!!
I also have graduation pictures to post (yay!) but that will wait until Tuesday when I'm at Andy's because he actually has fast internet and it won't take a million years, and he has to work from 4-9 or something. Hey! Maybe I can go hang out with Ambre that night too!! After I post pictures (most will be on my yahoo pics, not on here, but there will be a couple on here). If anyone has any cool digital pics that you think I should have, feel free to send 'em my way!
Emily, Joe, Tara, Christine: My dad took digital pics of you guys shaking hands with President Joyce and getting your diplomas - let me know if you want it and I can email it to you (or you can steal it when I post them).
And now for the random thought of the night: Rufus Wainwright has one hell of a sexy voice. :)
- posted by L. @ 12:40 AM

 
Huh?
So, I was really bored today (biiiiiiig surprise!), and I started reading the graduation program (again, like I said I was bored). Did you know that I'm a member of the history honor society?? Yeah, I didn't. Surprise!!! I'm kind of amused by that, only in the sense that I had no idea. Well, whatever! Yay being a member of, um, hang on, Phi Alpha Theta.
I am soooooooooooo bored. Tomorrow's Friday. Adam and Kevin graduate on Saturday! Yay them! And I think a few other people graduate this weekend - Leah Ann on Sunday, and I'm sure there's some others. And for all my ranting about how I miss Kevin, I get to see him on Sunday (*squeee*) for his graduation party. Hmm, maybe if I rant enough about missing someone, I'll get to see them. Oh, if only that worked with other people as well. ;)
- posted by L. @ 6:31 PM

 
Whoops
So, for all my ranting and raving about how great it is that Keane is going to be at The Rave when I'm actually at home - and I forget about it. Completely, absolutely, 100% forget about it. Damnit! And I was so excited. I think the thought left my head when all of those cold meds did. And I even went so far as to pick up Hopes and Fears to glance at the track list earlier today, and it totally did not even occur to me. FUCK FUCK FUCK! Well, it occured to me around 9:30...sigh.
I unpacked a bit today - I dug out my TV, my dvd player, movies, vcr, and a few other odds and ends that were in the way. I started a pile of clothes that I don't want anymore (like, stuff from high school, early college, and days when I wasn't quite so thin...), moved around some stuff in my room (but only to make room for more stuff- sigh), etc. I've got a great setup in my room right now, so I'm pretty excited. I'm sure I'm going to get crap for reception on the tv stations, but who cares since we don't have any good ones anyway? I'm not a very big fan of soap operas, and I don't like getting up early to watch Garfield & Friends at 7:30am on channel 24. Anyway, I do have a little tv stand and my tv, and my dvd player is hooked up. I started my way through Friends tonight, which was pretty exciting. The sad part is, that really was exciting. I got to episode six before I called it quits.
I got my report card today. I got a 3.33 for second semester, and a 3.28 cumulative gpa for all of college. I know, I should be much more happy, except that this semester totally just confirmed my theory of college: Don't bother trying.
Yes, that's right. Don't bother trying. Seriously. It's not worth the effort. If you try, you'll just end up disappointed. My entire college career has been a series of A's and B's where I was expecting B's and C's. And another series of B's and C's where I was expecting A's and B's. I wrote a long tangent about how to get a good grade in history by not doing anything, and yes, folks, I managed it again. Professor X gave me a B. For skipping out of at least five classes, not turning in daily work, not doing the reading, and writing shit for papers, and I get a B. That is the kind of B to be excited about. Then there is woodwind tech, where I somehow fanagled an A. I'm not sure how, but I got an A. I don't even understand how I kept getting good grades on my written tests (well, except the last one, but, uh, that was understandable...mistake number one was not bringing the bassoon into the test with me). I didn't study, and I didn't really listen in class either. I practiced clarinet, but the other four instruments I didn't practice at all. And I think the lowest percentage on the playing exam was a 96%...and that was on bassoon, which I didn't look at at all prior to the exam. Sigh. And I end up with an A. By doing no work at all. Then my juries. I debated not even going to them because I had felt like shit the night before cause of bad food somewhere, so instead of practicing, or even working, for that matter, I was sleeping. And puking. A pleasant night. Yet, I opted to go to my juries the next morning, played like shit, got bad grades, and then got bad overall grades. I personally still think my professor should have gone easy on me, because hot damn! It's hard to have three lessons going at once, but I didn't neglect any too much, and got a pretty nice handle on a really hard instrument in one semester, but, B's I get. Again. Okay, piano I probably deserved a B. But organ!?!?! Come on! It's hard to play a keyboard with my feet! Oh well, whatever. And my senior sem grade was kind of a joke, since I didn't even have my two main sources a week before the paper was due. I skipped out of sleeping for a few days to get the paper done. And I end up with an A-.
Now, my senior recital, on the other hand, really had me upset. I had just about everyone in the world tell me my reed sounded like shit. And, I'm not even talking about like, a few mentions here or there, I'm talking about constantly. Like, "oh, that reed sounded like shit, but it was a good recital," or "that was a pretty bad reed!" or "having some reed troubles, huh?" Yeah. Fuck you! I had a beautiful reed, made with some of my favorite string (varigated pastel, mostly purple and pink!) and it was fine on Thursday. My recital was Saturday. Not to end up in a position of having no reeds, I still headed to Milwaukee on Thursday night to make reeds, and ended up with five new, pretty reeds. On Friday, I was trying out some other reeds, none of them were quite doing it, so I decided to go back to pretty, varigated pastel reed. Saturday. Varigated pastel reed won't make any sounds. At all. Yeah. W-T-FUCK! I didn't do anything to it between Thursday and Saturday, it just decided it didn't feel like playing anymore (it hasn't played since that Friday, incidentally). So what the fuck am I supposed to do?? Play on a reed that won't make sound?? Yeah, I didn't think so. So I pick the pretty turquoise reed which was responding well, and playing well, and I warmed up with it, and I played through a few things with it, and I even play the first fucking piece on the program and it's fine. And I don't do anything different, just re-soak it, and go back out, and suddenly, it's sounding like shit, and I'm struggling, and my mouth is drying out, and nobody can seem to remember later on that the first piece was fine. I worked my ass off for that recital, and I get rewarded with a shitty reed. And then, in the days following my recital, it's just a stream of criticism from just about everyone about how bad my reed sounded, or that I had reed troubles. And for the one semester that I actually worked hard, the one semester that I actually practiced, and was on top of things, that's the one fucking semester of my entire fucking college career that I get a B. The one semester when I actually try.
I know it's kind of a moot point, being that I have my diploma and I've walked across the stage and I'm DONE, but I think I have every right to be bitter. Last semester I was ready to fucking quit oboe! I didn't even try for the majority of the semester, and I end up with an A! And every other fucking semester before that too! I end up with A's every semester where I don't try, and the one semester I do try, I end up getting screwed. Even after I graduate, Ripon never fails to make me very bitter, especially towards the music department! I guess Jenny and I do have a syndrome: The Ripon College Oboists' I hate Orchestra and I'm getting screwed by the department" syndrome. Well, at least I'm not alone!
Fuck, this makes me even happier to get out of Ripon for good!! Now if only a few other things would just, well, disappear. And when I say disappear, you could be going far away, but I somehow don't think that's going to make me forget any faster. Hell, it took me forever just to get over it, but now, not so much. Damnit!
- posted by L. @ 1:44 AM

 
This being at home thing kinda blows...
Yeah, I'm bored already. I don't know what I want to do for the summer. I'm supposed to leave here in a little over a week, but frankly, I don't really want to. Rargh!! Why must things be complicated? Why can't things that may or may not have bothered me once upon a time just, well, go away?? Yeah. Curses.
I've been catching up on sleep for the most part. Today, Katie and I went to Target. I hoped to find some summer clothes, but all I came up with was a tshirt with the Sesame Street gang on it (very cute, but not what I was looking for). Katie and I are watching Saved right now, but she's on the phone with one of her friends, so I put the movie on pause.
My grad party is on Saturday, and I actually get to meet Katie's boyfriend. It's about damn time. I confess to already having a negative opinion of him, but hopefully he isn't as bad as I'm anticipating!
Well, Katie's off the phone, so maybe I'll write more later, but maybe not. I'm so bored even the things I write are boring. I'm going to have to get around to forwarding out all of the mail accumulated in my Ripon account eventually, but the computer is so damn slow!! My parents need to get out of the stone ages and get high speed internet. I'm sure there's a way my mom could write that off as business...hmmm...
- posted by L. @ 6:26 PM

 
Saying goodbye kinda sucks...
Well. I've now officially graduated from college. How scary is that, really?? Yes, it's kind of scary. I have no idea what I'm going to do now.
So, four years later, I've finally got a degree (yay!). I'm not all that terribly sad about being done with college, and I really doubt that I will miss it. I can't believe I'm done! It hasn't really sunk in yet.
I have to say, however, that our graduation ceremony was definitely, by far, the shortest I've been to in all four years of being at Ripon graduations. But, it was also the coldest!!! I was frozen for the entire ceremony, because I was silly enough to change into a skirt before I left to line up. This will be henceforth referred to as mistake number one! Then again, the cold did make the speech a lot shorter (at least I think it did!), which was nice. I didn't particularly like the speaker, and I was kinda disappointed that the General didn't say anything. Serves me right for skipping out on Convocation in fall, I guess! :)
The weekend was fun, albeit the receptions and stuff were pretty boring. The fun part was at baccalaureate, which was surprisingly empty!! I remember going with Beth last year and having to squish into a pew just to find a seat, and this year there were empty pews, and we didn't all have to sit on top of each other. I did the prelude to the service on oboe. I had a bunch of people afterwards telling me how beautiful it was - weird was when it was these people I didn't know. But, oh well.
After baccalaureate was Roadwhore with my parents, Andy, Joe and his mom. It was fun! I love Roadhouse. I'm going to miss that, that's for sure! Well, if (i mean when) I go visit Steph and Joe, I'll have to go to Roadhouse. Then we went out to Millers to meet up with Beth, Dana, Matt and a few others. Joe & I got shots for our parents, I did another shot with Beth and Dana, and spent the rest of the night drinking Smirnoff Ice. Seemed fitting, since that's pretty much all I ever drank as a freshman too. Anyway, the night was full of drinking, talking, laughing, playing darts (I'm much better when I'm drunk...I got 5 bullseyes! but we were playing 301. boo). It was good to see all of them, and I'm totally going to miss them. We stayed until bar time around 2:30. I'm sure I said some things I regret (actually, I know that for a fact - damnit! I need to stop talking when I'm drunk), but overall, the night was good. I was sad when it was time to go home, 'cause that's probably the last time we'll all hang out there, if not the last time we'll all hang out again, and that makes me very sad and melancholy. :-( I'm going to miss them all a lot. And who knows when (or if!) I'll see some of them again.
Anyway, so like I said, graduation was really cold. I couldn't complain too much though, because the weather reports the whole week said that it was supposed to be raining, and I was afraid it would be in the gym. That would have sucked hardcore! So I was quite happy when I woke up (albeit I woke up at 6:50am and thought I was going to have a hangover the whole day) and saw that the sun was out. So that was happiness. And I was able to go back to sleep for another two hours and didn't have a hangover when I woke up either, 'cause graduation could have reallllllllllllly sucked if that had been the case. :)
The graduation brunch was hardcore boring. We were able to get some things packed up and stuff afterwards though, so that was good. After the ceremony, and standing around outside taking pictures for only a little bit afterwards, I was out of Ripon by 5pm. That was uber exciting. I made a quick stop at Beth & Dana's, but they weren't there, which was sad.
I think the saddest part of graduation was saying good bye to my friends. I hated saying good bye to Motz, and Christine and Beth and Dana and Matt and Maureen. And the "goodbye, I don't think I'll see you again" really hurt. I know (at least I hope) that it wasn't because said person didn't want to see me, but because our paths are going in drastically different directions. And given the past year, I really wish that wasn't true. And damnit, I should keep my mouth shut when I'm drunk. I missed saying bye to Joe, but hopefully that is because I'll be seeing him soon. I'll be seeing Emily soon, I hope, too! And it was great to see Meredith this weekend.
Sigh. Graduation wasn't nearly as sad as I thought it might be. But then again, I won't be looking back at Ripon with longing any time soon. :) Now, getting out of my house, shit goddamn. That can't happen fast enough!!
- posted by L. @ 11:32 PM

 
Oy vey!
So, my parents took me out to dinner tonight, and we got on the aforementioned (dead horse! dead horse!) topic of Marquette (i know i said dead horse just now, twice, but this is funny, at least to me. and probably emily. who has already heard this story. but i'm sure there's got to be someone else who finds it funny). Anyway, so when the whole hoopla was actually going down in Milwaukee, my parents were in the kitchen (or something) and the tv in the den was on, and there were reporters reporting about students protesting, blah blah blah. And who should come on the screen as a student protester?? Oh yes. My dear, darling 'god-brother' Kevin (who, incidentally, i haven't talked to in over a year! hey! kevin! wtf!! i hear you're engaged! and i think you graduated already! and you never returned my phone calls on july 10 at 11:30ish pm! which means i haven't talked to you since may! i suppose i could email you, but if you graduated, do you check your marquette mail anymore...hmmm. damnit! call me! - if you read this which i doubt. anywho...). Which doesn't surprise me, but damn I wish I could have seen that! I could have made fun of him for more things (i mean, than i already do- not like it's hard, what with breaking both your kneecaps after over shooting the gym mat in 5th grade causing you to not be a shepherd in the nativity play that year, and running up the stairs after my dad with a pool cue in your hand intending to do damage to him, but instead nearly impaling yourself 'cause you tripped on the top step...ahahahaha! oh, and who could forget how i dressed him up like a girl??? lol!!!) Okay, I'm done about Marquette unless they pick another shitty mascot.
Anyway, my parents just called and they were planning on staying in Redgranite all weekend ('cause it's only half hour away from Ripon, so it will work out very nicely for traveling back and forth), but the water didn't get turned on. So, the house has no water, and no heat. So they had to call me to get hotel numbers (no phone book, either). Go figure. Heh, they'll either end up staying in Redgranite again, or Wautoma, which is even further. But my aunt thinks the water should be turned on by tomorrow morning. At least now it's the age of cell phones, otherwise it would have been calling hotels from a pay phone. Ha, and we actually used to have to do stuff like that too.
Haha, at this time last year I was sneaking into bars. I wouldn't have to sneak into bars this time, but I have to pack. I'd rather be at the bars. Damn!
Okay, okay, I'm really going to go pack now. Damnit! That time has come. But at least Emily lent me Saved to watch tonight.
- posted by L. @ 8:23 PM

 
Gold no more...
Hooray! The Marquette Gold was even more short-lived than the Ripon Red, as Marquette bigshots (ie, trustees, president of the college, etc) realized that yea, they fucked up.

No More Gold!

Now, what, pray tell, are they going to pick? Emily said something about the Jumping Jesuits, the War Eagles, or (dating themselves futher), the Hilltoppers. I'm all for the Jumping Jesuits. And make sure the mascot is a priest on a pogo stick. That would just rule.

Oy. Back to packing. Mother of god, I'm going to be up all night. :)
- posted by L. @ 3:23 PM

 
Well kiddies, it's almost that time...
The time has come, the Walrus said, to talk of many things...
Like what you're doing after graduation, and wow this poem really sucks.
*smacks forehead*
That was really lame...but then again, today has been really lame.
I have soooooooooooooo much to do. My room looks like it's blown up. I found a fly crawling into my Krispy Kreme doughnut today (luckily, before I had taken a bite). It's motherfucking cold out in Ripon (and raining). I'm wearing a sweater and, when running errands on campus, I had to wear my windbreaker and it was still freezing. HELLO! MOTHER NATURE! IT'S MAY! Not November. MAY! Got that? Okay. Start acting like it's May. I have an outside graduation ceremony on SUNDAY, ok??
Nevertheless I have been the opposite of productive today. I got up late. I didn't do anything all afternoon, save listening to music. I have to run PodUtil on my computer again so I can get my songs transferred before I go back to *cringe* dialup till god knows when. I've decided that if I end up moving back home, I will make my monthly contribution to my house by paying a cable bill for both Internet AND TV. I won't make it without cable anymore. I went to the library and turned in my sem books, I went to the bookstore and sold my woodwind tech book and got my cap & gown (damnit. that means I really have to walk don't I?). I had intentions of mailing some stuff at the post office, but it was raining and dreary and I was cold, so I decided to wait out the rain, but in the meantime, 5:00 rolled around and the post office closed. I walked to Seasons then with a book, had a turkey sandwich, an orange and cream soda & cheesecake. Mmm. Cheesecake.
Yeah, but I have to like, move home in a few days and uhh, well...
But I'm totally wrapped up in my book now, and I have to read it to the end. Oh well. I'm more of a night person anyway. I'll be up late, burning the midnight oil. But at least I bought packing tape on my way home from Seasons, so I can (ideally) pack all those damn boxes that are flattened and above my closets. Sigh. I hate packing.
And what in God's name am I going to do with my fridge????????????
- posted by L. @ 8:56 PM

 
Uh, back up just one second...
Yes, you saw that right, I fixed up my template just now! I'm probably going to hate it in the morning, but oh well, it seemed like a good idea now! Well, I've actually wanted to do that for a while, but now seemed like the opportune time to play around with my template....
I'm sure you're all thinking that I'm drunk or something, right? After all, it was Senior Pub Crawl 2005!!
Sorry.
I am not even tipsy.
Yeah.
How much does that suck?? :)
I actually have to confess to two things:
1- Pub Crawl 2004 was way better than 2005...maybe it was the thrill of being underage. :) (me? underage in a bar? never. i'm an angel. insert barfing here)
2- I am somewhat disappointed at not getting drunk. I tried to get tipsy, but I couldn't, short of slamming down drinks I didn't find appealing, and every time I got even a minute buzz going, we left the bar. And it's like, fucking freezing outside. So, you step outside, you freeze your ass off, and you lose your buzz. It sucked. But as for my drinks, I had a grand total of (drumroll) four drinks: a black cherry sour (i think?), a strawberry margarita, an amaretto & orange juice (seriously, they had no sour. it was a bar, and they had no sour for amaretto sour. what is that?), and an amaretto sour. That was it. I know, pathetic. And I'm a lightweight! I seriously haven't been drunk since January. I was absolutely hammered out of my mind the first weekend back for 2nd semester, I was hungover beyond belief the next day (and my mother called at 11-fucking-50-am the next morning - yeah I didn't answer), but since then? I have not been even remotely close to drunk, and I can probably count my nights out on one hand. This is ridiculous. My senior pub crawl cost me a whopping $6.50. Yes, I live dangerously. Seriously people, what is this "driving down to Ripon on Saturday" shit? Who am I going to drink with on Friday night? My last chance to get drunk in Ripon!
Maybe I'm not so much a light-weight afterall.
So, the pub crawl was not much to get excited about...more to yawn about. Last year was way better. The company this year was great too though - yay for hanging out with Amber K2, Emily, Lindsay S, Christine (periodically, loser!), Schoofs (for a little while), Joe (periodically), Brandon (Mummford!), Gwen, and later, Liz & Jeff. And all the countless others! Yay for fun people to hang out with, at least!! :)
Anyway, I am very tired, so I am going to go to bed. My bed itself is a mess, so I have to sleep in my loft again. Blahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Damn my laziness sometimes! And tomorrow is *groan* packing....grumble, grumble.
Oh, and let me know what you think of the new color scheme! I have another set of colors I'm going to try out if this one is hated (by either myself, or others)!!!
- posted by L. @ 2:15 AM

 
Pub Crawl!
Yes, it's the night of the illustrious Senior Class Pub Crawl! This marks year #2 for yours truly...hooray!!! I have to admit I'm pretty excited, but at the same time less than enthralled. Nevertheless the idea of cheap drinks and more cheap drinks is definitely appealing, and here's hoping I keep track of my cup this year!
If there should end up a less than intelligible post written at some ungodly hour of the morning, yeah, I was drunk and felt inspiration to write about the night's endeavors. However, because my room is a mess and my bed is covered in clothes, I have to make sure I don't get so drunk that I can't get into my loft tonight! Damn, why'd I have to be too lazy to clean today? Actually, it's not so much too lazy as just too busy - I was a busy girl today. Well, getting home at about 2:45am this morning automatically shot all chances of getting up at a decent hour this morning! So, up at 11, to Professor D's for the senior lunch at noon, Baccalaureate rehearsal at 2, yapping with Emily until 3:15 or so, Rodman at 3:30...dinner at 5:30, and getting ready for the pub crawl left no time for cleaning. Damn. So, loft, here I come...I don't even have room to sleep on the floor! Yikes. Well, at least that will hopefully keep me from being fall-down-drunk. ;)
Tomorrow's agenda: Cleaning and hopefully not nursing a hangover.
Cheers!
- posted by L. @ 6:20 PM

 
Mascot contest! (or something of the sort, ish)
Since the mascot commentary has proved to be at least amusing, I thought I'd start up a nomination contest for who thinks they have (or can name) the dumbest high school mascot...
Where I come from (in my country...lol), we have a lot of interesting mascots. Animals, random shit, and lots of Knights! Red Knights, Green Knights, Black Knights, Purple Knights (okay, I may have lied about the last two...)...my alma mater was the Greyhounds. Yes, the very threatening racing dogs...well, then again we were more noted for cross country and track than for any notable sport, ie, football (uh, eight-year losing streak, what? won two games during all four years that I was there?? yeah...), basketball...
However, despite the fact that I think the Greyhound is a silly mascot, I am not going to put it up for the silliest/dumbest high school mascot contest (and no, school pride has nothing to do with it)...
Instead, I nominate our neighboring high school (and rivallllllllllllllllllllll): Whitefish Bay. And their stupid Blue Duke. What is a Blue Duke???

Anyway. I have no homework anymore!!! I turned in the worst paper I've ever written today (I know, I know, I say that every time, but this time it's true! Seriously. There is no clarity. There is no point. It's kind of pointless. And no, Professor Blake, I don't want that paper back...)...and I had to put it in Courier New to make the 6-8 page mark (that's the first - and only - time I've ever done that).
And while I was turning in said terrible paper, I went to pick up my sem....
*taps fingers nervously*
She was nice enough to put them all in manila envelopes for us, but I was expecting a written out comment sheet so I completely overlooked the actual grade sheet (it was typed out and on top of everything else)...saw my critique of another paper (a thoughtful, clear critique - huh??? and I got an A on that...yeah, uh, right, I didn't even READ the other paper...sorry), and then the actual sem, which had no grade at all. So then, I finally think to look on the grade sheet and saw my grade...and then almost fell down the East Hall stairs in the process.
A-
A-fucking-minus! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?????
I was totally expecting a B, B+ at the best...
WOW!
Yay me!!
So now, speaking of silly mascots, I'm going to a TimberRattlers game now!!
- posted by L. @ 4:09 PM

 
And the saga continues...
I admit, it's been a while since I've had to bitch about Cingular, but never fear loyal Cingular haters, they have done it again!!
Okay, take two on this...somehow I deleted everything before. Rargh.
Anyway....so today I checked my online statements for Cingular to see how I was doing on anytime minutes since my billing period started on May 4 (Wednesday). I've already used up far too many minutes, rargh, but hopefully it won't come back to bite me in the ass later, but that bill won't be paid until sometime in the middle of June (because that's how Cingular works, whatever), when hopefully I won't be as broke, so if I go over a little bit, hopefully it won't matter too much.
My real bitch about Cingular has to do with my call statement of this month. Remember how I was ranting last month about how my last two (or three?) bills were coming up with a ridiculously low amount of minutes, because none of the phone calls that I made outside of my home area (Milwaukee, Appleton, Oshkosh, the Dells, etc) were registering on my phone bill? Yeah, who could forget! So, in checking my full statement from April 4 to May 3, I notice phone calls starting in March. Yes, March. Uhh...wtf??
So, I scrolled down the really long call list, and realized that Cingular was just now billing me for all of the calls that they didn't register from March!!! Umm...maybe it's just me, but doesn't that seem a bit, uh, wrong?? I mean, what if my anytime minute calls from March AND April had far exceeded 300 minutes?? I'm sure I would have been charged for those calls, and exceeding anytime minutes is something ridiculous like 45 cents a minute. I know I shouldn't complain about something that didn't happen, but it's the principle. Cingular is dumb. Very, very, very dumb. ARGHHH, I can't wait until the end of July!! No more Cingular! I think I'm going to go with Verizon. That way, I'm going to have a ton of people on the in-calling minutes, and I won't have to watch my anytime minutes hardly at all!! Ahh, August can't come fast enough....
Down with Cingular!!
- posted by L. @ 12:58 PM

 
Mascots - oy
So, back to the Marquette Gold rant I had a couple days ago, and yeah, I'm definitely glad that Ripon decided not to stay with the Ripon Red because that just sounds L-A-M-E...in the meantime, I stumbled across a list of college nicknames.
Now, I don't know about you, but at 1:45am when I'm sick and have no competant medication, I have nothing better to do than read said lists and decide which mascots I would rather have been than a Redhawk (or a Greyhound...yawn), so here goes....

Mascots that are either cooler than a Redhawk or I just find amusing:

Armadillos - Our Lady of the Lake University (who WOULDN'T want to be an armadillo?)
Banana Slugs! - UC- Santa Cruz (that is a sweet mascot)
Diplomats - Franklin & Marshall College (somehow, I think that sounds like they negotiate scores to games...)
Dustdevils - Texas A&M (sounds more like a vacuum cleaner)
Evangels - Johnson Bible College (women's teams) (fitting)
Firebirds - University of D.C. (ah! Stravinsky! wait...)
Flying Dutchmen!! - Hofstra University, Hope College, and Lebanon Valley College (clearly I did not do my mascot research thoroughly enough...how could would it have been to be a Flying Dutchman!?!?!?!?!?!)
Gothic Knights - New Jersey City University (now that is a mascot name)
Greyhounds - Assumption College, Eastern New Mexico University, Loyola College, Moravian College, University of Indianapolis (okay, I really don't like the name Greyhound as a mascot, but it's nice to know that it belongs to other schools aside from good old Shorewood High)
Lumberjacks and Lumberjills - Ashland College (northern Wisconsin at it's finest...*smacks forehead*...are you kidding me???)
Muleriders - Southern Arkansas University (the location says most)
Preachers - Johnson Bible College (men's teams), Lincoln Christian College (unnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnreal)
Squirrels - Mary Baldwin College, Union Theological Seminary (would be better if they were flying squirrels, like the flying dutchmen that i am still amused by)
Super Bees - University of Baltimore (as opposed to regular bees)
Wasps - Emory and Henry College (White Anglo-Saxon Protestants?)
Wonder Boys - Arkansas Tech University, men's teams (ohhh...the jokes!)

And just for some useless trivia...

Dear Marquette,
There are currently 27 other colleges that appear to have no problem using "Warriors" as their mascot, including Wisconsin Lutheran which is also in Milwaukee. Re-think Marquette Gold. Please.

For the record, the Ripon Red Hawks share their mascot with LaRoche College of Pittsburgh, PA; and Montclair State University, Upper Montclair, NJ. The mascot Redhawk is, as well, used by another four schools: Indiana University-Northwest, Gary, IN; Miami University, Oxford, OH; Seattle University, Seattle, WA; and Southeast Missouri State University, Cape Girardeau, MO.
And you can still find Redmen at Carthage College in Kenosha, WI; Northeastern State University, Tahlequah, OK; and University of Rio Grande, Rio Grande, OH.

Yes, this will probably be very un-entertaining to you, and to me tomorrow, but for now, that's all I've got. Damn thee, spring cold!!
- posted by L. @ 1:42 AM

 
Tylenol Flu with a side of drunk!
Okay, I admit, I am the biggest whiner on the face of the planet when I get sick. And I think my mood starts deteriorating even before I get sick, like I know I'm going to get sick even when I haven't yet. Of course, there were so many people around me who were sick, that I can blame them (Motz, if you got me sick....lol).
But just to prove that I'm not totally a whiner beyond all belief, and to hopefully focus on something other than the fact that I'm going to die, or at least feel like I'm going to die...I'm going to make a cheesy list in the tradition of many other cheesy lists that name things that make me happy (even though I'm dying). :

*I am now officially one week away from graduating from college. Ah, I can almost taste the degree. I wonder what bachelor's degree tastes like? Hopefully it's sweet.
*I get to see a bunch of my friends that will be coming back to Ripon for graduation, and that makes me happy.
*Even though I'm going to leave them, the fact that I got a lot closer to the remaining Rodman rats makes me happy. They were fun, and I'm going to miss being called l'oboe.
*Garfield and Friends, Volumes 1-3. No, life doesn't get much better than that.
*My sem is long turned in, my recital is long over, and I only have one paper left to write.
*My aunt and uncle are throwing me a graduation party. How cool is that??
*The Monty Python song, Always Look on the Bright Side of Life, from Life of Brian...how can anyone not at least smile after hearing that?
*My boyfriend, who brought me Kleenex and food last night on his way home from work...yeah, but he probably knew I would whine incessantly if I didn't get my Kleenex....;) (just kidding)
*Keane's coming to Milwaukee again, and I will be in Milwaukee this time!
*Hopefully my computer will get fixed soon!
*My iPod, which has made the walk to Rodman not only bearable, but fun!!
*I get to see my cats soon!
*NewsRadio....yay!
*My stuffed Garfield
*Kleenex!
*The laptop computer that makes blogging in bed possible (if it weren't for this, there'd be no blogging, 'cause I have no voice, so no audioblogging).
*The pub crawl is on Wednesday (but since I went last year, if I'm still dying on Wednesday, I won't be too terribly crushed if I don't go on the whole pub crawl...I will go on some for sure though!), and they're giving us a barbecue to nurse our hangovers on Thursday (instead of graduation rehearsal...finally, someone got smart).
*Chamomile Tea (i think there is still some here)
*And finally (because I'm tired, and sick, and want to sleep), Tylenol Flu, because it makes me feel like I'm drunk. Well, and it makes me feel better too. ;)
I'm sure there are many more things, but like I said, I want to go to sleep. It's way too fucking early for me, and I am dying, after all. ;)
- posted by L. @ 8:03 AM

 
Okay, I'm really there this time...I hope....
May 18, 2005...a measly three days after graduation, and once again, Keane will be at the Rave in Milwaukee! OMG, so excited!! Yeah, have to find someone to go with though. Anyone, anyone?? Maybe my sister would want to go, after all she did (uh, once upon a time and I've slacked!!) ask me to make a CD for her including the Keane song Somewhere Only We Know (which I have yet to make, but that's 'cause I haven't found a couple of the other, non-Keane songs that she wanted yet, whoops).
Yay for Keane! Yay for the Rave having Keane for the 2nd time in like, four months! And yay for me actually (ideally) being home for this time! Woohoo! Now, to find someone to go with! If you're interested, let me know!!
And yes, I'm still bored out of my skull and sick right now. But at least I'm psyched about this potential Keane visit! :)
- posted by L. @ 9:34 PM

 
I am dying.
Well, not really. But I definitely feel like death. I haven't done much save lie around in bed and complain/whine about how much my throat hurts and my ears hurt and my stomach hurts (periodically, depending on what i've had to eat). Mainly my throat hurts and I have that impending feeling of doom based on the paper writing that needs to be done by noon on Tuesday. Why must I always come down with a case of death during finals week?? And I'm almost out of Kleenex, which is a huge enormous crisis! Gahhh!! If I'm out of Kleenex, it's entirely possible there will be a well-past-midnight Walmart run. Heh, why I'm glad I'm not in Ripon right now...though in Ripon I would at least have places to walk, that aren't like, a mile away, and yes, I realize that I went on a many-mile walk the other day, but I'm dying now, so it's different. I guess I have to be happy though, I made it through three semesters without getting too terribly sick (so, nothing like first semester sophomore year when I came down with just about every sickness that plagued campus within a matter of weeks...blah).
So Saturday night is continuing on with my boredom/death of the past few days...seriously, why did it all have to hit when I was just starting to relax?? I so wanted to have my paper done three, no, four days ago, and I was all psyched to get it done too - but no, death struck in the form of cream cheese.
Well, at least there is a Brewers game on to keep me entertained, but when it's over, who knows what I'll do...yeah, probably sleep. Or more Garfield and Friends. I wish my sore throat would go far, far away and never come back!
I miss my cat too. Yeah, I'm pathetic.
Graduation is a week from tomorrow! Hooray! I'm psyched. I can't wait!!!!!!!! Finally, finally, finally. After the end of last year, Ripon's excitement just never came back. I can't wait to get out of there...yay! No more undergraduate college. But better yet, no more Ripon! Hooray!
- posted by L. @ 7:01 PM

 
Marquette What??
So, I lived through the Warriors-Golden Eagles saga once upon a time (1993? 1994?), and while I was a bit young to be perturbed by the change away from Warriors, I do have to confess that Marquette's latest name change is nothing short of ridiculous.

Marquette What?

Yeah, Marquette, you suck. And it seems that the 31,000ish people who took the JSOnline poll (see side of the article) agree with me. Blah to Marquette and their stupid GOLD name. Bah!
Yeah, and I've been up since 6:30. I hate being sick.
- posted by L. @ 9:25 AM

 
Yay for computer access - at least for a few days, anyway...
I so just want to be done with my stupid history paper, but that totally doesn't seem to be in the cards for me. I had such high hopes and great intentions of finishing up my paper on Tuesday, but thanks to the cream cheese, those hopes were dashed when I went to be at 9pm (yes, 9pm, not am, pm...) and didn't do any practicing for those evil juries or writing of my history paper (last paper of college! score!)...bah!
And, in the tradition of the last three semesters, I'm sick! Sick! BAH! Boo! I woke up this morning and was unable to breathe. Ugh. I stayed in bed till noon, hopped in the shower, and then went to lunch. We were a subdued group today, since both Ben and I are sick, and Jay had just taken an exam, and Tom, well...he's not usually as talkative as the rest of us. Sigh. The last Thursday lunch...
Here's hoping tradition continues on and I will miraculously recover from this sickness on Tuesday because that's when I have to turn my paper in. I've usually managed to make a miraculous recovery on the last day of finals (or whenever my last day is)...which is somewhat ridiculous. I think I'm just allergic to finals week. Bah.
Anyway, I spent the afternoon in bed, again, because I didn't have the energy to get up. How pathetic is that??? Well, at least I spent quality time watching the Brewers play the Cubs (yay Brewers!)...oh, excuse me, watch the Brewers beat the Cubs again to take the series! And continue on their winning streak, which is up to seven, I might add. And they have a better record than the Yankees? Oh yeah, that's right, they do. Yay Brewers! I also watched (big surprise here) more Garfield and Friends, but while it kept me entertained all afternoon after the game was over, I now am finished with Volume Three and I'm going to have to wait until who knows when before Volume Four comes out. Sad.
Graduation is soon, and I have yet to get my cap and gown. I kept forgetting, so here's hoping they still have it. I have to go to the bookstore next week, so hopefully they will have my cap and gown there. Otherwise, uh, well, that could be problematic. I kind of want to walk, but kind of don't. I think it would almost be a fitting end to not walk, being that I hate Ripon with a passion. Then again, if I don't walk, then I could go home!! Wow, it's a rare day that I'm excited to go home...
I watched Mr. 3000 tonight, and I have to say that I thought it was terrible. It was seriously one of the worst movies I have ever seen, and I wouldn't recommend to get the DVD unless you like really expensive coasters. I can see why some people would like the movie, and the ending was only half cheesy, but I was so disappointed with the ending that it ruined the entire thing for me. There will some redeeming qualities in that it took place in Milwaukee and featured the Brewers, though. So it wasn't a total waste of my time.
Yeah, I'm going to take my sick self to bed soon...yeah, I'm just a whole bunch of excitement tonight. Or not.
- posted by L. @ 11:15 PM

 
Bah to Juries!
Okay, so I'm convinced that I do much better for juries when I haven't gotten any sleep. That said, however, I totally fuuuuuuucked up my juries this morning...which was half not my fault. I will take credit at sucking where it is due, because I didn't practice as much as I should of, but I think that the "you need to practice more" comment from a certain vocal professor (okay, Kirin) was uncalled for. Bite me, dear Kirin. Wait, please don't, but the general idea behind it is, well, yeah. I totally didn't practice last night - not because I was slacking but because I was throwing up. Yes, throwing up, and no, there was no drinking involved, just pub food (blast!)...don't eat the cream cheese, by the way...and when I am instructed to go to bed, I go to bed. I slept for about 13 hours. Maybe I bit much, and I still felt like poo in the morning. Blegh...
Anyway, I'm sure you all wanted to know that. Or not really.
I'm feeling much better now, though I foresee myself being very, very, very, very, very sore tomorrow. I just went on a loooooooooooong walk. It was wonderful. I walked down to Griswold street to Cty E, and then Skyline Road to Union street, then ended up at South Woods...walked through South Woods and back, and then down Union street to Rodman, where I am currently. I think I am going to stop at the Terrace now and get something to drink. Blahhhhh.
Even after four years living in Ripon, I am still amused by country things. Like deer. It's quite sad, actually. I saw six deer while I was in South Woods, and I was all giddy over it, like I'd never seen deer before. Hello, I grew up in a family who went on deer rides (how many deer can we count!?!?!?!?!) while spending weekends in Redgranite during the summer *facepalm* and I'm still amused by deer...
My iPod is now officially my new best friend!! I made about four CDs for Dana yesterday, and in the process, downloaded three of them into my iPod, which is good. Actually, I gave Dana my copy of two of them (i have the actual discs, but not here, and I had copied them to take to ohio), but I downloaded them into my iPod anyway...which is good, because I totally wanted to hear them again! Heehee.
Ah, only one paper left to write (and I have till May 10!) and then I'm pretty much done. Woohoo! I can't wait. Only one music geek lunc though (tomorrow), which is kind of sad. But maybe Professor D will be there. I think that would just be hilarious!! Woohoo!
Anyway, sorry I'm boring. Hey, you can still vote for me until midnight tonight so see my link in the sidebar (above the archives) to vote for my blog at Milwaukee Magazine online! WOOHOO! Go me!
To the Terrace...heigh ho.
- posted by L. @ 8:58 PM

 
Withdrawl! Withdrawl!
Oh. My. God! I'm on day two without my computer - and I'm going to go insane! I hate spyware. I hate adware. I hate trojan horses! RARGH! What am I going to do until I can clean the hard drive (again) on Thursday?? ARGUH ARGUH ARGUH! Of course, on the plus side, I did completely update my iPod to get all of the songs on my iTunes that weren't yet added, so that was good. But having a useless computer is torture, I say! Torture!
Yeah, anyway, the commons is trying to kill me, so I'm leaving work early and going to bed. I will spare the details, because I'm sure you don't want to know anyway. Garfield and Friends and bed, here I come!
- posted by L. @ 7:10 PM

 
I hate computers!
Okay, I don't really hate computers so much as I hate my computer right now. After I'm done writing this I'm probably going to disconnect the damn thing from the Internet - again, 'cause I don't want all this shit spyware and adware infiltrating my system further, not to mention it's getting to be a pain in the ass with all these damn popups! All the adware and spyware that I keep deleting anyway, I might add. Fuckers. If I have to restore factory settings again, I might just take a trip to that minefield with my oboe, my recital recording, my computer, the two sets of speakers that made my life sucky while my other speakers sat under my bed at home, yeah, I'm sure there's more things. Now. Where does one find a minefield??? I mean, without leaving the country.
Kirin is dumb.
Wait, that's old news.
I'm cranky.
Still old news.
I hope I didn't offend anyone earlier...
But I'm still going to take my recital recording out to set on fire or blow up. Nobody should be subjected to such torture.
I'm going to go inflict more pain upon myself and go get food at the Terrace. It should take approximately an hour to get over there. Damnit! I need muscle relaxers! Or Vicotin...oooooooh, I've got that somewhere in my room...yea for having severe back pain once upon a time. Wait, shit, I don't like Vicotin, it makes me freak out. Literally, I'm not even kidding. I have like, panic attacks when I'm on heavy painkillers. Lovely.
And now, a number of hours later when I reinstated my internet for a few brief minutes to check email that I haven't checked in a couple days, now I feel like a bad friend. I feel kind of like a failure of a friend. I mean, granted, a lot of stuff may have happened when I was s-t-r-e-s-s-i-n-g about my recital (and, before that, my sem), but still. I still feel like a failure of a friend. I'm fairly certain that other people may not think the same thing, but I definitely feel like I let someone down. :(
If it hadn't started snowing in May, maybe this day wouldn't have been so bad. Well, except that the virus/trojan horse/spyware started taking over my computer yesterday. And I started to ache yesterday too. Damn snow in May nevertheless!
- posted by L. @ 9:41 PM

 
Yesterday...
Yeah, the mystery song was indeed Yesterday. Somehow, I think it would have been way funnier had they released those lyrics, but, eh, whatever gets a popular song I guess!
This week is already off to an awful start. The softball game yesterday absolutely kicked my ass, and I can't move without aching. Rargh. Ibuprofen will probably be my best friend this week...uff, it hurts to laugh.
And it was snowing this morning. SNOW! WHAT THE FUCK! It is MAY!! I guess all those sweaters I bought on clearance last week might actually have come in handy - had they arrived today, which they didn't, of course, not that huge of a deal, but still. The mere fact that a sweater is useful on May 2nd is somewhat unnerving about the temperatures for this month. Humph. Graduation better not be inside.
Ahhhh, graduation. Only 13 days! Hurray!! And then I will no longer have to be in college - at least not here anyway. I'm thinking of going back to school to get my teaching certification - not here, of course, but maybe somewhere else come January 2006. I'm thinking either Whitewater or Milwaukee...but Milwaukee would be way more convenient as opposed to Whitewater, even though I'd rather study oboe at Whitewater. Grad school is definitely not in my near future - not by a long shot. That's kind of depressing. Last year, Alexander told me that it doesn't matter where you get your bachelor's degree, just where you get your master's or doctorate, and it's all based on audition. Blegh. I have so much work to do before I can even think about grad school and getting a master's degree in oboe.
I listened to the recording of my recital the other day, and it will henceforth be buried somewhere in a minefield so that I never have to hear it again. I just have to find a minefield, which may prove to be somewhat difficult. And then I have to make sure that no recording gets in the hands of anyone else either. Ugh. How terrible was that??? I mean, seriously. What the hell happened between the first piece and the second? It sounded like absolute shit. I mean, people must have been sitting there going, 'yeah, she wanted to go to where? a conservatory? and how the fuck did she get into a conservatory?' Ugh. It was awful. It makes me want to bury the oboe in the same minefield. Yeah, I know it probably wasn't that bad to the audience, but still. And to all the lovely people who came up to me afterwards and said "wow, that was a bad reed, but the recital was good," thanks. It was oh so encouraging. So, like I said, I have a lot of work to do before I can even think about going to grad school. I doubt even Milwaukee would take me, and they're always desperate for oboes. Barf. But yea, I'm never going to listen to my recital recording again. I have a video recording of my high school recital, and I have yet to watch it, and that recital was in 2001! Maybe I'm on to something with not watching that one yet. Actually, I will probably never watch that one. It'll probably make me cry, either because I was so bad, or because I was better than I am now. Either one would make me cry.
I have to give my senior sem presentation tonight, as well as the critique for the other person (which I'm sure hers will be fine, I just have to read it). That'll be fun. Hopefully it won't be as loooooooooong as it was last week.
Either way, this year is almost over. And my delusional thoughts about a particular person are gone. Ha! Finally. The fact that I have no idea what the hell I'll be doing two weeks from now does not even really bother me. I will be done with college, I will have a degree in written in Latin (so I have no idea what it really says) and I will never have to be here again! Finally!
Oh yeah, and my stupid computer has a trojan horse and about a million pieces of Adware that won't go away no matter how many times I ran spysweeper and norton antivirus (which is useless, the 2002 version is too stupid to notify me accurately about a trojan horse on my computer), and I deactivated the feature of Windows that allows me to restore my system from a check point while I was trying to manually delete the trojan horse in safe mode just like the windows website told me to do, not that it helped, so I can't just restore the settings of, say, a week ago. ARGUH! So, tonight and tomorrow night will be filled with contiual updating of my iPod so that I can delete the hard drive (again), should this stupid Trojan horse not go away. Speaking of things I want to bury in minefields...add one desktop computer!
Happy Monday...or not.
- posted by L. @ 2:56 PM

 
Name that tune!
Scrambled eggs
Have an omelette with some Muenster cheese
Put your dishes in the washbin please
So I can clean the scrambled eggs

Join me, do
There's a lot of eggs for me and you,
I've got ham and cheese and bacon too,
So get two and join me do

Fried or sunny side
Just aren't right
The mix-bowl begs
Quick, go get a pan and we'll scramble up some eggs, eggs, eggs, eggs...

Scrambled eggs
Good for breakfast, dinner time or brunch
Don't buy six or twelve, buy a bunch
And we'll have lunch on scrambled eggs.

So...I probably should have better specified this...the aforementioned lyrics were the working lyrics to what popular song (by popular song, I don't necessarily mean from the last decade...oop, hint there!) :)
Yeah, Mr Wilburmeister, I think you're disqualified...;)

Oh oh oh! I finally got Garfield and Friends, Volume 3 today! Hurrah!
Today was Springfest...my activity participation was at an all time low...yawn, oh well. Not really interested. Don't really feel the whole Springfest excitement anymore...last year was more than enough fun for me! Well, that, and I had invited up Katie (my sister), but she couldn't make it, which was somewhat disappointing, because that would have been fun. Oh well.
Tomorrow is the History vs Pogo softball game...eep! Yay for history majors...i hope. ;)
- posted by L. @ 12:02 AM