College Might Kill You

The Internet (not the World Wide Web as we think of it now, but the exchange ability between computers) is turning 40!

(http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/10/091029-internet-40th-anniversary-birthday.html).

Ah, the intarwebs. I totally remember my 6th grade multimedia teacher (multimedia!) telling us that this new Web thing was being opened to people, and that we shouldn't worry about it because it would never really catch on with anyone below the government and corporation level.

Fail, Mr. Patterson, wherever you are.

Have an apropos quiz:

You Are 27% Addicted to the Internet

Internet? Please. You're definitely not geeky enough to be that addicted. You have a full life off your computer - and the internet is just a small pastime.

So, at my secretary job, this email was sent to the church inbox. I'm totally not kidding, and I haven't altered this in any way, shape, or form. It would spoil the beauty of how utterly ridiculous it is.

( Environmentalists are only right if they want vegan T. Rexes back. )

Really, I like my job enough that I don't need to be on here updating (fail at updating in any decent interval on my part, yes I know) while at work, but I got an email from LJ Techie Folk, and it told me to come check out my recent entries, and I always do what I'm told, of course, so here I am....

It has been a while since my last post; sorry, three loyal readers. Putting a new stage of life together is mentally consuming, more so than one might think.

Since last post, to let you know about the more death, I lost another grandmother. That one was much more unexpected, but she was also ready to go and, by all medical terms, should have gone a while ago. Now her husband (my favorite grandfather) is biding his time poorly. Most of the family don't bank on him making it to Christmas.
It's been a great year for grandparents, it seems.

Haven't been writing so much lately, although I did write half of a story that would most likely end in epistolary form as a gal writing letters she'll never send to a friend of hers who doesn't realize how important he is to her. Very sappy, really, in a friends-for-life kind of way. Will probably end up being full of angst, if I ever finish it.
Also thought of a funny sci-fi plot, but I don't know if I have the mindset to write sci-fi just yet. Am anxiously awaiting NaNoWriMo, even though I don't have anything for it. I just want a prod to write more; it's so easy to leave it alone while everything else piles up.

Work, yes, work. I have two and a half jobs right now, and am working on the other half plus one. Yay part-time death! Basically, I'm a secretary, a researcher, half of a sub (no, I am not $2.99, punsters), and I'm working on being a dramaturge. Not bad, not bad. It all pays the rent, which is what I'm looking for.

I'm also still working on grad school. I am in Searching Phase Two now, with about 30 schools on the list. I'm pretty proud of myself, as I'm pretty much light years ahead of where I was this time last year in the search and I'm better informed about it. I really hope it works out this time.

So........I should go do work. There's really nothing interesting enough in my life right now to keep typing. Here, have a quiz instead:

Your Personality at 35,000 Feet Is Thoughtful and Contemplative

Deep down, you prefer spending time alone to spending time with others. You enjoy thinking more than talking. You are not too sure what your place in the world is yet. You often feel invisible in a crowd. Your gift is having a good eye. You take amazing picture and have the natural talent for most visual arts. You are inspired by what is possible. Real life is often too ordinary for you. You are happy as long as you are given some personal space. It's important for you to have your own private life.

Not bad, off-the-cuff quiz, pretty true. (herpdaddy, I'd love to see your result from this.)

Also, just so you know, it's been raining for a week here, and I am SO FREAKING HAPPY ABOUT IT.

Briefly dropping in to say hello, LiveJournal, in a rare moment of internet access.  I hope all of you are doing well.  I'm doing slighly less well, as I spent the beginnings of this weekend with family at my grandmother's funeral.  It wasn't as sad as it could have been, as she's been ready to go for years and thank God she's in a place where she's not in so much pain and grouchiness anymore.  I wasn't that terribly close to her, either, as she was really cranky when I was younger.  But watching my sisters weep was...well, it broke me.  I guess I was crying for them, and finally crying for my grandfather who died this past winter, and another grandfather who died a few years ago, and a great-aunt who died this past May.  It's been a really hard year for my family; my mom, for one, is not handling it well.  But I liked that there was a sense of joy in the family that this grandmother was finally at peace and with her husband.  Also, it was good to see one sister of mine who I very rarely see because she lives several states away.

It's also just been a weird summer in general, what with trying to find my place in things and moving around a lot, kind of living out of a suitcase.  And I've had a lot of time for introspection, which is rarely good, as well as looking at a friendship of mine that has had some serious falls in the last year.  I wonder lately if I'm not making some of the same mistakes with this friend that I made with a really close friend of mine in high school.  I no longer talk to the high school friend because, at one crucial moment when I really, truly needed her, she was focused on her own problems, and I finally realized that she had always been focused on her own problems, using me as a therapist or rock to stand on or what-have-you.  I don't mind this, but I realized I want my friendships to be honest; if she wanted me to be there for her all the time with nothing in return in terms of support, she needed to say so.  What was killing me was that I kept expecting her to be there for me and she wasn't and didn't understand why I felt the expectation was unfulfilled.
I'm beginning to feel that this friend is doing the same.  The latest is just petty, but really; my grandmother just died, and she sent me a message continuing a conversation complaining about her boyfriend.  Again, it doesn't bother me that much, but not even a line of condolence?  I hope your family is okay?  I know she would say that since I never ask for such "aids", how can she know now that I'd like her to say something, but really.  To me, this is less a matter of making me feel better and more about simple social constructions; at least make the effort.
Most of this also probably comes from a conversation I had with another friend of mine in which she asked me about the types of friendships that I have that I couldn't, and to a certain extent still can't, answer, and that sort of bothers me.

But anyway, that's neither here nor there.  Sorry about the tangent.  I intended to ask the small audience of this if you had book recommendations.  You see, I'm working on a story in which a 10-year-old girl is trying to break a fear of, basically, monsters in the closet, and I was wondering if you had suggestions as to children's books that deal with being afraid and getting over it, stuff that that type of character could read to make her braver.  I have a bit of a list already, but I wanted to see what you thought.

Oh, and I just wanted to note that the word "tycoon" is actually a pretty odd word, and not terribly often used these days.  The era of tycoons has gone out, I suppose.

Right.  Apologies for the melodrama.  Have a less melodramatic quiz.

Your Ideal Pet is a Cat

You're both aloof, introverted, and moody. And your friends secretly wish that you were declawed!

Truth.  Fish are pretty but dull, birds are nuts, and I like dogs but I've had enough of them.  Also, I'm allergic to guinea pigs, so they're out.

This is for all of my friends who get cranky with me because I correct their spelling sometimes. A project that I'm working on right now is transcribing a sixteenth-century play from the facsimiles to modern spelling and typeface. I'm doing it in two stages; first, get it into modern typeface, then go back and figure out the modern word equivalents. Here is part of the Prologue in stage two:

Nowe forasmuche as in these latter dayes,
Throughout the whole world in every lande
Vice doth encrease, and Vertue decayes
Iniquittie havinge the upper hande.
We therefore intende, good gentle Audience,
A pretie short Interlude, to playe at this present
Desyrynge your leave and quiet scilence
To shewe the same, as is mete and expedient.
The sume wherof, matter and argument,
In two or thre verses, briefely to declare,
Synce that it is for an honest intent,
I wyll somewhat bestowe my care.
In the Citie of London, there was a ryche man
Who lovynge his sonne moste tenderlye,
Moved hym earnestly now and than,
That he woulde gyve his mynde to studye.
Sayinge that by knowledge, science, and learnynge
Is at the last gotten a pleasaunt lyfe:
But throughe the want, and lacke of this thynge
Is purchased povertie, sorowe, and stryfe.

Kind of hard to read, isn't it? There are so many instances where a word is spelled three different ways within two or so lines in this play, because standardized spelling didn't show up for another two or three hundred years. LEARN CORRECT SPELLING. IT MAKES LIFE EASIER.

That's my soapbox observations for the day. Oh, and by the way? After getting about halfway through the play, a dialogue box popped up on my screen that said, "There are too many spelling errors for Microsoft Word to continue. If you would like to check the spelling, click on..."
I broke SpellCheck! That made my day.

Other than that, not much is going on with me. I have a new niece, which is cool. Her mom has a rarely-used LJ that I don't remember the name of, otherwise I'd link to it. Dog-sitting continues, and I am so very much a cat person. I love dogs, but dang, they are so high maintenance! I'm editing a friend's old manuscripts just for fun (yeah, I'm that kind of dork; I actually really wanted to be a copy editor until I figured out that technology is forcing that field out in a lot of ways). I'm loving the tons of rain that we've been getting lately.

I think that's about it, really. Summer is always slow, but summer after graduating and having a hodgepodge of part-time jobs is really uninteresting to other people. Waiting to hear whether or not I picked up a library position--doubt it, as they haven't called or contacted me. Will start looking for something else; I love having three or four jobs at a time, why not?
Should probably go scrounge up some lunch. Just wanted to say hey to the blog-o-sphere world. Here, blog-o-sphere. Have a quiz.

You Were Born into the Fire Element

You are an innovative person who values adventure. You believe life is magical. You are brilliant and expressive. You are naturally creative and artistic. You have to watch out for your self destructive streak. You can get depressed and moody. You are honest to a fault, but people find it to be part of your charm. You are entertaining and charismatic.

Huh, that actually describes me fairly well, but I've always aligned more with water, myself. The power of fire freaks me out a little bit (not to mention the fact that I don't like heat).

There's something about the sound of a cello that is just mesmerizing. And something about dogs that just takes so much energy.

Greetings! I am alive; made it back safely from my travels. loved it dearly. Once I figure out how these digital camera things work and I get my own computer online (on my boss's right now) I'll try to post some pictures. I miss Europe very much now that I'm back. Absolutely moving there someday.

In the meantime, I am whittling away the summer hopping from one house-sitting job to another. Not a bad way to live; interesting, certainly. It's nice to be around animals, again, too; the job I'm working right now has a dog, a fairly well-tempered little Bijou thing. I remember why I like cats, though; dogs are just so dang needy. This one is, of course, peeved that her rightful owners are gone, but it's also that she doesn't understand I'm not the constantly-loving type. I am, in a way, a cat myself; if I don't have the energy for you, I don't have the energy for you. Simple. And at a quarter after six in the morning, I don't have the energy for you. My day refuses to start before seven.

But, it's nice to have her around. And it's kind of nice to have such free time, although the lack of structure makes me slightly uncomfortable. Still, it gives me plenty of room to start working on other things, like re-starting the grad school search. I feel that will take up a considerable amount of time, especially because this time I'm going to do it right.

I can't say that there's anything else terribly interesting going on in my life. My apartment is delightful, though it kind of sucks that I don't have a bed; all in good time, I know. I'm trying to get back into the ability to read for hours on end; it's amazing how hard it has become to skim just for enjoyment, or actually read rather than skim, as my mind has become so trained to pull out important details and wonder how they fit into the "bigger picture."

But I'm getting there. The fall will be hard, as I think by then I'll be ready to begin classes again but won't have any to begin. The summer, though, I admit I need. I pushed way too hard this past year; I could feel it when I was abroad, cut off from my life here and loving it. I was so delighted to be away from the constant needs and demands of the life I'd made, it was a bit saddening. So I need the summer to rebuild, I think. Also to watch things without agenda; to celebrate the new lives of zaapiel's son and my soon-to-be niece, to watch the sun rise through the fog in the morning, to appreciate the 200 years my current town has been quietly moving forward, to finish a cross-stitch project I've been working on for more than a year.
I think this will be good. If I let it.

On that artistic note (it's the music, I swear), have a quiz and a wonderful day, friends. Weather's not too bad this weekend for some of us.

You Are Snow

You are peaceful and calm. You are able to enjoy each moment. You have a pure, gentle spirit. People automatically trust you. You have a playful, adventurous spirit. You still feel like a kid. You are able to find the joy in any situation. You are blissful.

Although kids are better at it, people in general say the darndest things. In continuing honor of lily_handmaiden, I present here the memorable quotes of winter term 2009. Celtic Ink will resume its usual programming...later. Soon I'll be going abroad and then I'll figure the rest of my life out, so it may be a bit before I get on any sort of track that I may or may not have occupied at a former time of my life.

( Holy cow, they've invented the novel! (British Literature 1700-1900) )

( There were important things before the Renaissance, you know! (High Middle Ages) )

( Don't worry, y'all, I got this (Chaucer) )

( Dicet QUOD?! (Medieval Latin) )

Life just seems to be determined to crush me of late. I had a concert this morning at a church downtown (it went half-well; some of the singers butchered a couple of the songs and it took a lot, lot, lot of self-restraint and prayer and encouraging looks from a friend of mine in the audience for me not to turn around and thwap them with my music) and came out to find that somebody had run into my car and driven away. Fun! Snapped my driver's side rearview mirror off--it hangs now by the cord that connects it to the electronics in the dashboard. So that's cool.

Also, I got my last rejection letter of graduate schools yesterday. It is now official; I will not be attending grad school in the fall, but I will try again for next year. I'm not giving up at all. And I can see all of the positive things that will come of this plan, I really can, but that doesn't mean I like it. For one thing, no school=paying off things, except for the part where I am SO DAMN BROKE. And another is that asking me to not do school is sort of like asking me not to breathe; school is and has been my life, my heartbeat, my rhythm. And I want it that way--I'm one of those freaks that actually likes school.

But if God can provide for the lilies of the field, He can provide for me. I'm holding on to that every day; at least He's given me some amazing friends. Several of my friends who are in the choir with me were just amazing help today when I was dealing with calling in that mirror to the police. My love and appreciation for them, should they ever come across this journal.

So, that's what's going on here. Sorry there aren't a whole lot of cheery things coming from me lately. I just trust from one day that there will be a next.

In that spirit, I will give you a cheery quiz because life can't completely suck or it wouldn't be worth it, right? Here. (herpdaddy, this is especially for you.)

You Are a Red Pen

You have an eagle eye for detail, and this often means you end up finding mistakes in people's work. You may seem quick to criticize or correct, but you think accuracy and truth is important. You like to be involved in every project. You feel like you put the polishing touch on things. You would make a good editor, detective, or accountant. When facts matter, you're the person to call on.

Truth. I actually wanted to be a copy editor for a while. Still sort of do.

Greetings, all! As I get stuff ready for a choir concert later today, I thought I'd drop by and say hello as it's been about a month.

I can't really say life has been good--what with a death in the family, a collapse of my grad school aspirations, a nearly final feud with a really good friend of mine, having to deal with my family, and a myriad of other things, "good" is not really the adjective I'd use.
But there are good moments, and I cling to those with everything I have.

Like Thursday night, I got to see Aaron Shust in concert. Fantastic guy, great singer, incredibly moving Christian artist; check him out at www.aaronshust.com if you like. I also got to talk to him afterwards, and he's a really nice and grounded guy, which was cool.

And last night, I went to a poetry reading at a local bookstore and read some of my stuff. Got some majorly complimentary feedback; one person even suggested I think about going for an MFA in creative writing, because I "have the poetry chops to do it." Eeee how exciting! I'm not going to lie, I would love to be able to get my writing out there. Hopefully this summer I'm going to start working on getting a story of mine to publishers and see what they think. I've submitted poetry to magazines before and it flopped, but I've not given up at all. From what I know, this "business" is all about perseverance.

I still have one graduate school left to hear from, but if that tanks I think I have a job or two here at my college that I could do until I try again next year. I'm not as disheartened about it as I was when the rejections first started rolling in, so that's good. Lots and lots and lots of trust and faith in what God wants me to do, as I'm fairly sure now that He actually wants me here for whatever reason. He can see the future, I can't, so I'm just going to try and stop grumbling that my plans are not going as I wanted.

I hope all of you are doing well. In honor of the fact that I was super super sick last week, here's a quiz about juice:

You Are Orange Juice

You are an energetic, driven, motivated person. You are always eager to get started, and you face each day with optimism. You are bright and hopeful. You tend to see what's right as opposed to what's wrong. You are generous and caring. You're always happy to give someone else a little energy boost!

Actually, I don't consider myself an optimist at all, but driven I can definitely get behind.

Finally, FINALLY I'm taking a small vacation for myself. Instead of doing the homework that I know I need to do, I've been working on a story (still an assignment, but it feels less like it) and reading. So very, very much. Yesterday I tore through about 350 or 400 pages between On Writing by Stephen King, Lean Mean Thirteen by Janet Evanovich, and Seeing Me Naked by Liza Palmer. The King book has been recommended to me a bunch of times as a growing writer, and going through it I see why. It's a curious blend of autobiography, memoir, and writing how-to with a lot of humor and a great accessibility. I have so many little red tabs stuck in it for the paper I'm going to write! The other two are just cotton candy, sugary treats for my poor brain that has been overloaded for so long. It's so nice to be able to read something that makes me laugh without having to remember how it fits into some grander scheme or what it connects or what time period it represents and how, et cetera, et cetera...

I hate knowing that soon I'll have to get back in gear again. In a couple of weeks I have a comprehensive exam for one of my majors that I don't even know where to begin studying for, and I just got exam questions from one of my professors that I don't even want to think about right now. This week will do me a lot of good, I know, and I think I'll be ready to head back out there and conquer the world and whatnot, but for right now I just love being cocooned in a world of hilarious pitfalls for other people.

Oh, and I did end up watching the Oscars the other night and have added Hugh Jackman to my list of pretend boyfriends. I don't care how many people were honked off about Beyonce or about the amount of singing or whatever else, Hugh Jackman was smoking hot and so very, very talented. Melt.

Girl moment over. Sorry, couldn't quite control that one. So...I'm going to go read some more. And possibly see if there's some NCIS on anywhere by lunchtime. Or maybe just read more. I have this ridiculous stack of books next to my bed because the only place I'm ADD is around lots of books and I can't seem to read only one at a time. Right now I also have 1,001 Arabian Nights, The Mysteries of Father Brown, Star Wars and Philosophy, and several others.

On that note, I'm off. Have a quiz and a marvelous day, my friends.

You Are "delete"

Some people might try to say you're standoffish and aloof. You prefer to think of yourself as a person of few words. You like to live simply, speak simply, and act simply. It's all about editing. No wonder you're the first person your friends call when they need a mess cleaned up!

1. Leave me a comment saying, "Interview me!"
2. I will respond by asking you five questions. I get to pick the questions.
3. You will post the answers to the questions (and the questions themselves) on your blog or journal.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.
5.When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

Questions by anghara:

1. What makes a book into a "good book" for you?

If I stop caring about anything else around me, if I have it on my mind when I'm doing other things and can't wait to get back to it, if I read it over and over and still like it, and if it makes me laugh out loud or cry or just really feel, I have found a good book.

2. If you could ask two questions, and only two questions, from an entity that knows everything - what would you ask?

Is one particular religion truly right?
What will be remembered of me 150 years from now?

3. Which season makes you feel the most content?

Winter. It doesn't get more beautiful than this.

4. Somebody hands you a folder containing an all-expenses-paid trip. What is the first wish-destination that pops into your mind?

England. I miss it terribly and find it to be one of the coolest places on the planet. Call me unadventurous, but I feel like I'm home there.

5. Favourite pet: cat, dog, fish, bird, or something exotic? Why?

Cat; they're fairly travel-sized, they have moods just like me, they're independent but still loving, and there are few better gratifications than getting a cat to purr.


P.S. School was cancelled yesterday for the second time EVER and it was awesome, Fox has picked up the Narnia film series, and I can't believe I just spent an hour on LJ when I have a heart-palpitation-inducing amount of work I need to get done. Dang.

Hey LJ-ers! Thought I'd drop in and say hello. This semester is going remarkably better than last semester did, so I may have time to post every now and then. Right now I'm sort of preoccupied with worrying about comps for my English major, which are sort of a final for all four years of my major, but I think as soon as I stop freaking out and start actually concentrating, I'll be fine. And overloading classes isn't too bad (yet) as long as I pay attention; I think it really helps that I've cut back on so much else in the way of extra-curriculars. Also, severely reducing my role in theatre has opened up a lot of time that immediately got swallowed by Greedy Greedy Homework. It's true, I can spend three or so hours a night on my reading--at this rate, I feel I'll be plenty prepared for grad school. (That's what I keep telling myself, anyway.)

On the grad front...there's nothing, really. I've sent out my application and am in the wait-and-hope stage. Much prayer has gotten me to a place where I'm pretty excited no matter the outcome, as the change is going to be the important/scary/awesome thing.

On the writing front: Actually, I finished the story that I've been working on for about a year and a half is now finished and I'm entertaining ideas of getting it published! So exciting! I'm also working on a couple of other stories for the culmination assignment for my English major. (If you know of any reputable publishing houses for children's literature that you'd like to steer me to, feel free!)

On the miscellaneous front: I volunteered to help with sermon transcriptions at my church today and am super excited about it, actually. What with the economic downturn and the shifts in our congregational size, the church has really had to downsize a lot, which included cutting its secretaries. I really feel like God is getting me moving to help the church that has helped me so much, and it fits really well with the verse from Isaiah that's been popping up a lot for me lately: "Here am I; send me." (6:8) I think this is a really good opportunity for me to keep growing. Huzzah!

Other news...not much else. A lot of my life is schoolwork right now, and starting to detach little by little from my place in campus life. Very strange feeling, but one I'm making my peace with.

Keep your eyes open for a forthcoming post featuring a neat meme from anghara. Other than that, have a quiz and a great evening, friends! I should go do my crusades reading now...

You Act Like You Are 31 Years Old

You are a thirtysomething at heart. You've had a taste of success and true love, but you want more! You're responsible, wise, and have enough experience to understand a lot of the world. You're at the point in your life where you understand yourself pretty well. You are figuring out what you want... and how to get it!

A very belated merry Christmas to my friends here in the LJ community, and an early happy new year! I hope your holidays have been treating you well, allowing you a bit of rest from the insanity of daily life. I know it's been an absolute blessing to me to have a little bit of time to withdraw from things and just read and watch movies.

Since she is no longer here to do it, this is me carrying on lily_handmaiden's tradition of compiling the ridiculous things people say in college classes and publishing them. I've discovered how to put them under a cut thing so as not to take up your entire page, but bear with me if it doesn't work--my l33t h4ck3r skillz leave a bit to be desired.
For Whit and lily_handmaiden (and whoever else likes funny and out-of-context ridiculousness!), then, I present the quotes of Fall 2008:

( What People Will Say )

I also wrote several snarky summaries of some of the books of the Metamorphoses, so let me know if you want me to type those up at some point. My class thought they were pretty funny, so I guess that's a recommendation.

And, because I can't not do it, have a quiz.

You Are Cider

Your holiday personality is cozy. The holidays are your favorite time to stay home, stay warm, and spend time with those you love. You don't need a lot to make you happy over the holidays. Seeing an old relative or favorite holiday film is enough to make your day.

It's just that the first semester of senior year has sort of run me over...several times...with a Hummer.
So this is me avoiding my independent study (sort of a mini-thesis) and three other large papers that I really should work on and finishing "Tale of Two Cities"--things haven't changed too terribly much here in college land.
I just wanted to briefly surface to say hello and I hope everyone else is doing well and over Christmas break I'll probably say a bit more. Maybe. Most of the break will be devoted to finishing grad school applications. Oh yay.
Happy Thanksgiving, all! I hope your holidays are lovely.



How delightful. I quite like pirates.

In one of the articles I found in my research (yes, I'm still researching for my summer job; I will be until the end of the month, and then I FINALLY get to work on other things...namely schoolwork). Anyway, there were some hilarious one-liners. Normally I absolutely abhor celebrity gossip (having met several rather famous people, I can tell you they are just people and putting them at such high esteem is pointless and ridiculous) but these were just too funny not to share:


Daily News (New York)

August 8, 2008 Friday
SPORTS FINAL EDITION
-Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams may be dating again, notes In Touch. Well, duh, because anyone who's seen "The Notebook" knows that they are destined to be together until they quietly, simultaneously, die.

-Rachael Ray's (r.) new line of dog food is called "Nutrish." Imagine her saying it - "Nutrish! Nutrish! It's NUTRISH!" - every time she sets out your stainless steel bowl. Now you know how her dog feels.

-Ellen Degeneres' upcoming wedding to Portia de Rossi is already a tabloid fascination. Now, says Star, she's kicking it up a notch: She wants Oprah to conduct the ceremony. If only we could get Anne Heche to object in Celestian from the back row, we'd be all set.

-So, want to know about the Jennifer Aniston wedding plans? She's keeping things in perspective, says OK! For instance, she thinks having her father give her away is "totally inappropriate for a second wedding." What is appropriate are a gospel choir, four bands, fireworks, 50,000 flowers, a strapless Vera Wang gown and a dance floor built over the pool.

-Finally, a Life & Style source explains why Miley Cyrus has been sexing up her image: "I mean, she's going to be 16 in November. Can you imagine how uncool it is to be 16 and doing 'Hannah Montana?'" Yes, uncool to the tune of $25 million a year.

Ran yesterday morning, about died from the humidity (good heavens I miss England), worked out at the gym yesterday afternoon, discovered my arm muscles are GONE. Guess that's what happens when you don't lift weights for about three years.
Yeah, lots of exercise yesterday, both to counteract the fact that I hadn't been to the gym in about a week and a half (WHICH SHOWED, sadly; I was panting like crazy just running up a hill, and only about half of it was due to the humidity), and because when I'm pretty stressed out I wear out my body so I can restart.

Other than that, I've been house-sitting this week and loving it--this is a great house. I've also been taking care of three cats, and I hadn't quite realized how much I missed pets. Even if they are all super-divas, there's only one that I really don't like. He's a real piece of work, though; demanding, persnickity, and short-tempered. He's almost scratched me two or three times, jerkface.
Speaking of cats, there's one right now that's winding herself around my feet and jumping on random surfaces to get my attention so I feed her, even though dinner isn't for another half hour.

Excuse me for a moment.

So, yes, the one cat is the cattiest of cats, and we sort of avoid each other like the plague. Oy, he annoys me. But the other two, for the most part, are cute and funny. Even when they headbutt me in the face at 7:30 in the morning just so I can pet them...

Other fun things: I was watching C-SPAN last night (yes, I do that sometimes, yes, I'm weird) and it was so ridiculous. I'm pretty sure it was just 6 Republicans standing in the giant House meeting room at 10 o'clock at night complaining about how dumb Nancy Pelosi is on energy bills and allowing the House to adjourn for 5 weeks (yep, everyone else is on vacation) and how dedicated they are, blah, blah, blah. And I think Pelosi was THERE, just sort of falling asleep at her dais. It was absurd And the energy policies they were oh-so-politely talking over (with no dissenters about) weren't that great, anyway; a lot of off-shore drilling here and in Australia (hi, ever met the Reef there?) and no real attack on what makes us so dependent on foreign oil, like the millions of plastic bottles America makes and throws away each year.

So yeah. Watch C-SPAN every once in a while, it will make you long for fictionalized accounts of our nation's government.

I'm going to go try and make myself do something productive, which probably won't happen. But I did get some books from the library today (because what I need is more books, you know) and I'll probably curl up with one of those until the next cat determines it's dinnertime.

Have a quiz, friends, and try to stay out of the heat!

Your Superpower Should Be Invisibility

You are stealth, complex, and creative. You never face problems head on. Instead, you rely on your craftiness to get your way. A mystery to others, you thrive on being a little misunderstood. You happily work behind the scenes... because there's nothing better than a sneak attack! Why you would be a good superhero: You're so sly, no one would notice... not even your best friends Your biggest problem as a superhero: Missing out on all of the glory that visible superheroes get

I FINISHED MY FIRST WHOLE ROUGH DRAFT OF THE KIDS' STORY I'VE BEEN WORKING ON SINCE OCTOBER LAST NIGHT. It is about 30 single spaced pages, and it needs a WHOOOOOOOLE lotta work, but I am pretty damn proud of myself.

Thought you should know.

Oh, and thanks to those of you who have responded to my grad schools post; if you haven't done so yet, please do! There will be a part two soon, which I may open to everyone...haven't decided yet.

One of the things I'm researching right now is who said what about sexism tanking the Hillary campaign, i.e. did Hillary herself say that, was it mainly her supporters, etc. Most people agree that she lost mostly due to poor campaign management (which is good, because that's true), but a lot of people are crying foul for the amount of sexist comments allowed to flow through the media and moronic fools speech bystanders along the campaign trail. Some women are even going so far, in their disappointment, to say that they'll let McCain take the White House just to make a point that the Democratic party "betrayed" them. So, I'm all about making points, but to the point where you'll allow a Republican, pro-Iraq government to continue to ram the economy and the reputation of the United States into the ground for at least another four years? Yep, people will really listen to you then.

Continuing on, whacking my head on the desk at how obsessed people get about this stuff, I came across this portion of an article that I found rather interesting.

The New York Times

June 12, 2008

Politics can make a difference for women. If Mr. Obama wants to show that gender issues are on his radar, he could embrace an issue that no president has ever shown interest in: maternal mortality, the orphan issue of global public health. It's a disgrace that a woman dies in childbirth once every minute somewhere in the world.

In some African countries, a woman has more than a 1-in-10 lifetime risk of dying in childbirth. If men were dying at such a rate for fathering children, the G-8 would be holding emergency summits.

Yet President Bush has actually proposed an 18 percent cut in 2009 in our aid agency's negligible spending for maternal and child care abroad. Family planning, which reduces pregnancies and thus also prevents both abortions and maternal deaths, is perennially starved for funds.

What better way to repair America's standing in the world than a major initiative on behalf of women hemorrhaging to death in remote villages -- paid for by, say, two weeks' spending in Iraq? Working with Britain and Norway, the two global leaders on this issue, we could together save 300,000 women's lives a year.

It's true that you never really hear about this stuff, but it's so important. For some reason, I can hear the Ghost of Christmas Present admonishing Scrooge in Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" with his own words, "If they were to die, they had better do it and decrease the surplus population."

Also, since there are more fools than just the misogynists in this campaign, link over to mrdixon's entry of today about what the backwoods folk think about Obama. Oh, God bless America--she needs it.

To lighten things, have a quiz! Heck, have two, because both of them make me laugh hysterically!

Your 80s Hunk Is

Bill Gates

You Are Most Like Richard Nixon

Oh sure, you give people plenty of reasons to call you "Tricky Dick." But you're actually quite diplomatic, even though you secretly hate your enemies.

Finally deleted my Xanga account. hazeleyed_wish, luckey_steve, and leosklein, I think you're the only ones on here who will appreciate what that means and why it's important. Oh, and [Bad username: his_silent_kitten], but I don't know if she's on LJ anymore.

Freedom from teenage-dom! Freedom from really stupid and cruel people! Freedom from stale relationships that exist perfuntorily, falsely, and out of lies built on an absurd ideal of everlasting friendship!

In other news that everybody else can connect with:
Internship goes well. I will never, ever research this particular genre of my own volition, but I am learning and my boss for the main internship said I'm keeping her six weeks ahead of schedule. *brush ya' shoulders off*
Am spending a lot of time with a friend here who is showing me the ropes of living in town, for which I couldn't be more grateful. We went to community volleyball last night, which was a blast. He played, I didn't--are you kidding? However, I have been arduously climbing into a workout routine of sorts. I don't know if I'll be able to get back in to running, what with how very badly I screwed up my ankle in the fall, but speed walking I can do, and the treadmill and I are courting each other. Have yet to screw up my courage to do weight lifting (it's been three years!) but I did "play" raquetball the other day. Wow, that was hilarious. Reason #642 why my sport of choice is color guard.

What else...oh, this same friend is pushing me to write more, which is good. Hopefully I'll actually finish this story that I've been working on since about October, and see where it goes. I've been told by a bunch of people that it has promise...I'm not sure whether or not to believe them, but it would be interesting!

A few other tidbits going on, but that's the boring gist of it. I just wanted to announce to cyberspace my glee in deleting that Xanga account; awomanenlightened is now truly so.

Here, join in my fun, have a quiz and a lovely day! Hope your weather is as awesome as mine; it hasn't been above 80 in three or so days.

Your Mind is Purple

Of all the mind types, yours is the most idealistic. You tend to think wild, amazing thoughts. Your dreams and fantasies are intense. Your thoughts are creative, inventive, and without boundaries. You tend to spend a lot of time thinking of fictional people and places - or a very different life for yourself.

Hello, LJers!

I have now been in my internship for one week and am still alive, which is encouraging. Part of my job is to keep an eye on the trail blazed by good ol' gal Hillary Clinton, who has now conceeded to Barack Obama:

Birmingham Post

June 7, 2008, Saturday
1ST Edition

INTERNATIONAL: Hillary Clinton finally ready to throw in the towel

SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 7

LENGTH: 362 words


The presidential hopes of Hillary Clinton will be officially over today but her future remains unclear.

The wife of the former President will formally endorse Democratic rival Barack Obama in a speech to supporters in Washington.

It will come four days after Obama clinched the nomination - a hard-fought battle that created rifts party leaders hope Clinton's public show of support will heal.

The two US senators met privately on Thursday night to discuss the campaign. Neither has given any details of their talk.

Obama is under pressure from Clinton's supporters to offer her the vice presidency.

Clinton distanced herself from efforts by supporters pushing for Obama to choose her, but has told politicians she would be interested in the vice presidential nomination.

Crazy, huh? So now America has our first ever black presidential nominee of a major party, and the world is taking notice. I've found articles written about this decision in papers from Britain, France, Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, even Singapore, Malaysia, China, Korea--it's interesting to see how much the rest of the world keeps an eye on the U.S. political forecast.

Are you voting in November? I am. Be sure to at least know who your candidates are.

Also, try to stay dry if you're in the midwest. South of Indianapolis got about 10 inches of rain on Saturday alone. It's nuts out there, especially considering that region is now about 15 inches over what they need in terms of rainfall and North Carolina is in a severe drought.

Must get back to work. Just found that information interesting. Have a quiz and a great rest of the day, friends.