Twee Pop and Other Things

Okay, I owe you some songs, but more than that I owe you some actual entries. Problem with that is that there's not a whole lot going on right now.

Mostly it's just work, school, work, school, bike ride home, homework, sleep.
Day in and day out.
Not that there's anything wrong with that, I'm a big fan of tightly packed schedules myself, but it doesn't make for very interesting entries.
Though, I don't really suppose you're reading this because it's terribly interesting, are you? *laughs*

Well, the weather here is still miserable. It's consistently 110+, it's humid like swamp-country, and at the peak of allergy season. There's so much pollen in the air that between it and the humidity breathing becomes a challenge.

As a result I've taking to wearing leggings instead of pants full time. I know, I know, I hate it too. But at least I don't want to kill myself, or worse yet, feel compelled to strip down for the long bike ride home. To my credit though, I do wear either shirts that come to mid thigh, or dresses over my leggings, so the world is not forced to stare at my butt in what, in all actuality, are probably little more than opaque tights.

I also feel like I NEED to start taking a camera to school with me. You would not believe what kids are wearing these days. (Is my age showing? Eeep!) But seriously, I think I can top the walking blueberry scandal of 2010 in a couple of days. People are so weird! And amazing! The things I've seen Dear Friend, you wouldn't even believe me if I told you.

My online calculus class is shaping up to be a bit more of a pain in the butt than I had anticipated, but that may just be because I haven't started working on anything in there yet. Currently I'm staring at a checklist of assignments a mile long asking myself where exactly I thought I was going to find the time to do all of them. We both know though that I will. . . or I won't I guess, either way. But only time will tell!

Well Sweet Emmy has been prancing about the apartment complex with her pretty teal toenails, and keeps loitering outside her boyfriend's house (he's this sweet little white pitbull with a patch over his eye), hoping he'll come out and tell her she's pretty. But it seems he's been busy lately and is almost never outside when we are. So we slink back home and sprawl out on the couch. Poor heartbroken puppy.

We haven't had any time to go fossiling, in fact the last time we went was a couple of days after you left. Since then the weather's been uncooperative and we've been busy. God I hate saying that. UGH! Oh well. The archaeology season starts up soon so before long here we'll be slinging mud on Saturdays, working to repair/maintain archaeological sites around the state...which will be ALMOST as cool as fossil hunting. Almost.

Well that's all I know lovely, for now anyway. I'm surprised I managed to type all of that since I haven't even had my morning coffee yet! *laughs* Anyway, here are two songs, one for today and one for yesterday.

It's a Twee Pop kind of morning so come sing some light little happy songs with me. :) Lots of love.



"This is the last time that I'll wish you dead
I think I've decided to like you instead
I'll throw away the letters that I never meant to send
'cause now I've got more love to give than to end
therefore this time I mean it
this time will stick
you're easy to like when you're not making me sick..."


And one for yesterday!




"Let's get out of this country
I'll admit I am bored with me
I drowned my sorrows and slept around
When not in body at least in mind
We'll find a cathedral city
You can convince me I am pretty

We’ll pick berries and recline
Let’s hit the road dear friend of mine
Wave goodbye to our thankless jobs
We’ll drive for miles maybe never turn off
We’ll find a cathedral city
You can be handsome I’ll be pretty"

Song of the Day!

It's a Dar Williams two for one today! Hooray!

Song for today:




And one for yesterday:




As for news in our world, Gooses' back is in terrible shape today, and I (while riding my own bicycle) almost got t-boned by a smug hipster on a fixie bike.

In case you're in need of some hipster photos to brighten your day here's a link that always makes me smile:

http://www.latfh.com/

Sadly, it hasn't been updated in a million years, but that's okay. I'll take what I can get. :) Hope you're Monday was blissful. Miss you tons.

Around Here.....

...things have been pretty uneventful.

The semester has been fantastic so far but also really, really time consuming. I have two five week courses, both of which are lab classes so as you can imagine my free time is...gone. But that's okay. You know me, I'd much rather be busy than bored.

Last night She-She came over for her birthday and ended up hanging out with us all night. It was really fun, (I actually stayed up past midnight without dying!) but have spent most of today drifting in and out of naps in between drawing diagrams for my geoarch class.

Sweet Emmy has been equally exhausted/lazy which has left her more compliant than usual. The result? TEAL TOENAILS!! HA! She's so cute. A little nonplussed at the sight of her newly improved toes, but cute none the less.

Here are some pictures of us on this laziest of lazy days.

I hope things there are getting better, that Quick Draw has settled down, that the great internet debacle gets solved soon, and that the job hunt is going well. Goose wonders if you like it there more than here, and if you're going to come back home again. She also wants you to know she can't open any of the text messages you send her because her phone is too old. :( We miss you lots. Be good. Lots of love.

Song of the Day!

Now Dear Friend, as you watch this please know that you're expected to sing this song at my funeral. With all your broken heart. Along with Goose. Preferably over my open grave. I also expect simultaneous tears and smiles. You know, high expectations and all that.

Not that I'm planning on dying any time time soon, but you know how it goes. Always gotta have a plan. :)

So better getchyo' practicin' in now.

Song of the Day!

The Hushed Sound makes me happy.

Once upon a time I went to a Murder by Death concert that The Hushed Sound was also playing at. I decided to skip The Hushed Sound's set since I wasn't familiar with them...poor decision.

Hindsight again.
Always biting me right in the butt.
Lesson learned.

:P

Song of the Day! (x2)

Sheesh! Week 2 already blowing by! This semester is really kicking the crap out of my free time, lol. I suppose that was to be expected though, no?






While I'm still trying to fall into the pace of the new work/school relationship, I have grown rather fond of my bike rides in the blistering heat. :) Nothing like a ten mile ride under the summer sun to put life in perspective eh? But I suspect YOU'VE known that all along haven't you? We should have taken up biking while you were here. My knees are too weak for running, but apparently I can bike forever. Wish I would have known that sooner.

Hindsight. What a pain in the butt! :P

Here's a tune for yesterday:




Miss you terribly dear friend. Lots of love.

Song of the Day!

Hedwig (and the Angry Inch) is in my all time top 5 favorite movies. No matter how many times I watch it I'm never bored. My heart always aches. And I always find myself singing along.

I can't remember if I ever made you watch this movie, and if I haven't then clearly I've failed you, and I'm sorry. Please watch it now. Actually watch it twice.

In the mean time, pretend you love it and sing along with me, won't you?
(lyrics below the video!)






"Forgive me,
For I did not know.
'Cause I was just a boy
And you were so much more

Than any god could ever plan,
More than a woman or a man.
And now I understand how much I took from you:
That, when everything starts breaking down,
You take the pieces off the ground
And show this wicked town
something beautiful and new.

You think that Luck
Has left you there.
But maybe there's nothing
up in the sky but air.

And there's no mystical design,
No cosmic lover preassigned.
There's nothing you can find
that can not be found.
'Cause with all the changes
you've been through
It seems the stranger's always you.
Alone again in some new
Wicked little town.

So when you've got no other choice
You know you can follow my voice
Through the dark turns and noise
Of this wicked little town.
Oh it's a wicked, little town."


(p.s. - Goose emailed her paper this afternoon for you. :) Good luck!!)

Oh Yesterday -

What a funny day you were.


I rode my bike home yesterday for the first time ever, eschewing the comfort of my air conditioned car. It was an almost 10 mile ride in 112 degree heat but I didn't die, and when I finally made it home -sweaty, exhausted- I was proud of myself.

I did however, manage to lose my phone somewhere between the bike rack at school and my front door. So that's probably gone forever and it's hard to say how long it might take me to get a new one. (Finding time to go to the phone store is not high on my priority list). *le sigh* You'll be the first to know though, for sure.

I hope your day (life?) got better. I sent out your stuff for you early this morning...well my two anyway. Goose is still working on hers, but she promised to have it done by the time I get home today. Other than that, not much is new.

My brain is still asleep. :)

Song of the Day for Yesterday is :

]

I survived....

So have you ever watched that 'I Survived' show?

Yeah, me neither.

I totally did not spend the whole of this weekend obsessively tracking down every episode ever aired. Nope. Not at all.

(more on this in a minute)

So this week is incredibly exciting for me, because it's the first time Goose and I will be on even ground. We'll both be working and going to school now, which means (drum-roll please!) Goose is no longer responsible for all the housework!! Hooray!

This is a big hooray for both of us...mostly on account of the laundry. Goose is a very good housekeeper, but hates doing the laundry, well, really Goose just hates putting the laundry away.

The closet is divided up into two sections, hers and mine. Not so bad right? Each section is then divided up further based on what's in it. So Goose has coats, sweatshirts, sweaters, long sleeve shirts, long sleeve dress shirts, sort sleeve dress shirts, t-shirts, tank tops, undershirts, and slacks. I have the same plus long skirts, knee length skirts, above the knee skirts, day dresses, night dresses, and miscellaneous. Each sub section is also in color order.

And that's just the closet.

There are 22 additional drawers as well.

Now, I admit that all that is a bit intimidating. I have a lot of clothes. A LOT. I have no idea where they all came from since I loathe shopping, but somehow I have way more stuff than even our reasonably large walk in closet can accommodate. Organization is critical.

So the great laundry debacle has gone like this:

Me: I complain that I have no clean (insert item of clothing here).
Goose: I just did the laundry so (said item of clothing) must be in there somewhere.
Me: In where?
Goose: In the clean laundry basket.
Me: What clean laundry basket?
Goose: You know, the one the laundry goes in when it's clean, it's on top of the dryer.

I open up the door to the laundry room and see piles and piles of laundry.

Me: Goose, what's clean and what's dirty?
Goose: It's all clean, I told you I did the laundry.

I look at the wrinkly piles of laundry, now covered in cat hair from where Beast 1 and Beast 2 have been nesting in it and sigh. It all needs to be rewashed. The item I'm looking for is buried somewhere in this landslide of laundry and even if I could find it, it's doubtful it would be in wearable condition.

The next day Goose will do some of the laundry and put it away. I will look at the dent made in the laundry disaster and thank her for working on it. And the cycle will start over.

Well as of today, I have relieved Goose of her laundry duties!! We both did a big happy dance, Goose headed off to work and I started on the laundry, and boy was there a lot of it.

8 loads later and I could see the washer and dryer again. Victory! I get the bulk of the laundry washed and put away, and I have literally an entire laundry basket full of unmatched socks. No wonder my socks never match! I thought she just hated matching them! Turns out, there are no socks to match!

Well I'm not having that so I go on a sock hunt. I move all the furniture, under the couch, the recliners, under and around the bed, and source about another full load of laundry. I go to wash it and realize the area around/between/under the washer and dryer is PACKED full of clothes. UGH. So I start pulling stuff out. I find 18 hangers, two comforters, a pair of sheets, three sweatshirts, and another basket full of random shirts/socks/unds.

Now, the washer and dryer are set back into an alcove in the wall. So it's not like I can just reach behind them and pull stuff out. I have to move them away from the wall just enough so I can dangle over the back of it with a hanger and fish stuff out from behind/around them.

So here I am, home alone for at least another two hours, dangling behind the dryer, hanger in my hand frantically fishing out loose socks from the abyss. I manage to wedge myself totally upside down, feet straight up in the air behind the dang thing before I realize I'm home alone and (surprise of surprises) stuck. It was somewhere around this point where I realized I was STARVING. I woke up at about 9 this morning and had a cup of coffee, and had been running around like a crazy woman ever since. I hadn't eaten a dang thing all day!

Well I started to get light headed. Was it because of the lack of food? Was it because I was upside down? Well I don't know.

Then I Survived came to mind, and I just started laughing. I remembered that guy who got his arm stuck in the radiator because of an overzealous cleaning spree and then had to cut his own arm off. Bwahahahaha! I could totally relate.

I spent several minutes thrashing about (upside down) in the space between the wall and the dryer, Beast 1 and Beast 2 now sitting on the washer, laughing at me with their squinty little cat eyes, before I managed to get my arm up and hook the hanger over the edge of the dryer. I broke the hanger, but managed to pull myself up just enough to be able to grab the top of the dryer with my little claws and drag myself back up.

I started the washer, made my way to the kitchen and ate everything insight.

The moral of the story; if your partner hates doing the laundry, don't make them responsible for it. You will probably end up stuck behind the dryer, upside down, during some sort of manic cleaning spree, with no one around to help you. Also, you should remember to eat before cleaning. Just in case you get stuck somewhere.

On the bright side, all the laundry is now clean, most of the socks are matched, and life is good. The laundry is now my responsibility and I know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that (baring some cataclysmic act of God) the laundry room will never look like that again.

:D

*happy dance*

Song of the Day!

Oh Ani, you always have a song to suit my mood. :)




i know that there's no grand plan here
this is just the way it goes
and when everything else seems unclear
i guess at least i know

i do it for the joy it brings...

Song of the Day!

I love this song. I LOVE Kate Bush. But more than all of that, I love interpretive dance.

Really, if I could go through my whole life, communicating only through interpretive dance I would.

But I can't...

....Mostly because I refuse to dance. At. All.

But one of these days, rest assured, I'm going to get over that. Then, you can bet your bungalow I'll show up at your door in some wacky costume doing this dance. Oh yeah.


(Goose would like to state for the record that she does not like interpretive dance, Kate Bush, or this video, but she does approve of Placebo's cover of this song, which she thinks I should have posted instead.)

First Day of School! Continued...

Sorry guys, it's been an eventful week which in turn has made my evenings very, very sleepy. Anyway, I'll pick up where I left off to the best of my abilities.

So apparently it was Thursday. This was a fact that I found baffling. God only knows why. Throughout the remainder of the day I kept making references to the fact that I clearly had no idea what day of the week it was.

Why does everybody have to put in orders on FRIDAYS? I know they know how swamped we get on FRIDAYS. Why are FRIDAYS always so dang busy. Why does the system have to break on a FRIDAY? FRIDAYFRIDAYFRIDAY.

Nobody corrects me.

They all just stand around listening me to me babble on about how it was Friday and not even one person asked me what the heck I was talking about.

*le sigh*

So by the time the work day ends I am thoroughly beat. Having to process an entire hospital worth of orders manually is beyond tedious, and tends to make even the happiest LittleFoot slightly disgruntled.

I got dressed, clocked out, retrieved my trusty bicycle and walked to the back door.

My coworker asked me, as I was leaving, where I was going.

SCHOOL!! I responded triumphantly, my excitement for the new semester returning.

He says, you have school today? Again?

Uh, duh! R can't keep track of my school schedule even when it's written down in plain sight, there's NO WAY he has any idea what I should and should not be doing. So I throw open the back doors and step out.

into.
the.
worst.
summer.
day.
ever.

Now, I'm sure you're looking at this and thinking, you live in Arizona love. It's miserable all summer. And to a degree you're right. But this particular day really heaped the gross factor onto an already icky summer day.

I always despise people who complain about how gross the summers are where ever it is that they're from, and then remind me that at least here it's a dry heat.

DRY HEAT? Who the heck cares if it's a dry heat when it's 120+ degrees outside? You know why it's a dry heat? Because it's too dang hot for any moisture to survive here! It's like living on the surface of the sun!

And then days like Thursday show up. It's bright, and it's sunny. It's only 106 but it feels like 130. There's a storm somewhere, way out of view at this point, but the air is heavy, and the humidity continues to climb, and you can feel it coming.

I would say, if I had to guess, that it was about six million percent humidity at this point. I would be willing to argue that there wasn't even any air left, that it was all just water vapor in the place where the air should have been, filling my lungs. Mocking my desert existence.

I should mention that in my haste to leave the house that day I had not planned my wardrobe appropriately. I was wearing possibly the worst pair of jeans imaginable (given the weather). They are super thick. They have absolutely no give to them. And they are tight. They're pseudo-skinny jeans...that's the best way I know to describe them. They're super slim, but they flare back out at the bottom just enough to fit over a bulky pair of boots and you know, actually look nice...like you're wearing real jeans and not body paint or some bastardized leggings with denim painted on them.

It felt like I was wrapped in a sleeping bag. And covered in duct tape. Pedaling my bike through some water-air hybrid. Somehow I was both soaking wet and bone dry.

I hadn't noticed how poorly I'd chosen my wardrobe on the way to class in the morning. This may have been due to the nearly euphoric state of excitement I was in, or the fact that it was only 8 am, it's hard to say. But now at 3:30 pm, under the late summer sun, it was awful. My class was also ridiculously far away.

I pedaled like my life depended on it. Permanent sweat mustache perched on my lip. My elbow pits dripping with sweat. I hadn't even been aware that my elbow pits could sweat before this day. Apparently they can. A LOT.

At some point I made a mental note to call Goose and tell her to make sure she came to pick me up extra early just in case we didn't have a full day of class today. If I had to stand for even one minute in that heat at the end of the day I was pretty sure I was going to die. Or cry. One of the two. Possibly both.

Well I made it to class 40 minutes early and sat down in the hallway. This is an evolutionary primatology class and I thought it was a little odd that it was in the Family Resources building so I pulled out my computer to verify that I was in the right place. Do not want a repeat of the earlier wrong class fiasco.

Well my computer, for whatever reason refused to link up to the internet in that building so I trudged back out into the heat to try to get a better connection. Nothing. I wandered back inside and sat down.

THE MAP! I knew I had made that map for a reason! I began frantically digging though my bag trying to find it. Then, there it was, neatly folded in the front pocket, with all the answers I needed.

I unfolded it and there, in large pink highlighter letters were the words 'Map for first day of school, THURSDAY August 18.

Thursday.

Damnit.

I don't have class on Thurday evenings! Well, I mean I do, but not until much later, and not this week because they're labs. Why on earth was I sitting outside my Friday class, totally, utterly convinced that it was Friday? Lord only knows.

Defeated I called Goose and in a whisper (still inside the building) told her to come get me now, not to ask any questions, and to run over anyone who would slow her down. I walked back out into the heat and unlocked my bike.

I rode for about, oh, maybe 20 feet before I couldn't take the heat anymore. I rode back to the bike rack, relocked my bike, found a bathroom and began the process of extricating my self from those terrible jeans. Thank God I wear scrubs at work. Beautiful, baggy, light weight scrubs. There they were, shining out from inside my backpack, totally self illuminating, glowing bright white with the knowledge that they had saved me from a fate worse than death - having to spend even one more second in the pants-o-doom.

You're probably wondering why I didn't just wear my scrubs in the first place. Well for starters, I'd worn them all over the hospital all day, but really, they're just so thin I would have been totally soaked with sweat by the time I got there. Gross. Real clothes afford me the small dignity of at least masking whatever sweaty marks are left by my backpack, my bike seat, and whatever other part of me decides to start producing sweat. Totally gross, I know.

Anyway, I stuffed my clothes back into my bag and marched triumphantly back to my bike, rode back to the pick up spot, and waited for Goose.

I cannot describe to you in words how glad I was to be inside the air conditioned car, safe with the knowledge that I was headed home. Back to my comfy couch. And food. And water. Sweet, sweet, perfect water.

It was blissful. Totally, completely blissful...


(Part III later)

Song of the Day!

Courtesy of the one and only Goose.
Enjoy.

Song of Day! (For Yesterday!!)

Okay, so I fell asleep yesterday while chatting with you. (Ooops!) Deal with it. :)

(Thanks Goose for making sure it got posted for me!)

I'll finish filling you in on the first day of school madness once I get home today. In the mean time here's some Le Tigre!






(Please know that I'm doing this dance. Right. Now. Just for you. Also, can this be our new secret handshake/happy to see you dance? Because that would be awesome....


:D

First Day of School! First Day of School!

Ah, yes, here I am, awash in the glow of a new semester...

...sort of.


So for all my neurotic anticipatory behavior over the past week the first day of school did not go down as planned. Not at all.

I woke up, as per the usual, a good 15 minutes later than I should have and about 4 minutes before I had to be out the door. (This is a ritual of mine.) I threw on my scrubs, brushed my teeth, straightened my bangs (put on a head-rag!) and ran out the door.

Clothes! I almost forgot clothes for school, so back to the house I go. Can't. Find. Pants! Dani locates some (we'll come back to her laundry skills in a bit), I grab a shirt and we're off.

I get to work approximately 30 seconds before I would have been officially late.

Well the computer system is down, and all my work has to be done manually, but it's the first day of school!! Who cares?! Life is Grand!! I am damn near skipping with joy. Then I realize my thermos is full of Orange Juice and not coffee. Boo!!

Dear sweet Goose picks up some Starbucks for me and I head off to school, so drenched in happiness, I don't even notice how miserable the weather is. Now, in all my planning, I did print out my schedule and a map - which I proceeded to highlight with the various paths I could take, the best places to park my bike without 1. it getting stolen or 2. having to battle for space on the rack. (Yes, yes, I know. I have issues.)

Well I get there and my schedule and map are back at work, but that's okay. I've looked at that schedule so many times, mapped out everything, planned the minutia of my day so completely that it doesn't even matter. I get to class early, find a seat front row, just left of center and settle in.

I am THRILLED by the way, to find that this particular classroom has been remodeled since last semester. I have had at least one class in this room for the past 4 consecutive semesters. It holds just under 400 students and the chairs are so close together that no matter how you sit, you're still always touching the people on either side as well as in front of you.

Gross.

Well not this time. Now the chairs are actually people sized and spaced decently and I am SO HAPPY. So happy indeed that I start chatting with the girl next to me. (I know, me talking to anybody? Ever? I don't get it either.) So students file in and the instructor starts talking. And this is where it gets kind of dicy.

Isn't my instructor female? I know I googled her at least a dozen times...Who's this guy? Why does he have a intro to genetics book? Haven't I already taken this class?

Yes Dear, yes you have.

Well I sat through about 25 minutes of the lecture before I finally decided that like it or not, I was going to have to get up, walk out of here, and get to my real class. Ugh.

Apparently today is not Friday. Did you know that? Because I didn't. And no matter how many times the universe tried to show me otherwise, I was not about to believe it.

Well anyway, I made it to my actual (Thursday) class and all was well. I headed back to work in the worst heat I had ever experienced (more on that later too), and tried to finish up my work.

At this point, I was still pretty chipper. The wrong class incident was behind me, and life was good. Several times during the day I had to stop and figure out what day it was. (Thursday, really?)


(And she fell asleep, sorry folks. To be continued.. Yours truly Goose.)

Song of the Day!

In case you don't know, this is Gooses' number one favorite song of all time.

Bet you didn't see that one coming eh?

Counting down the days

Oh Summer, you and I, we are finished

...and I'm ready for you to leave now.


Every August I reach a point where the start of the semester dangles, almost tangibly in front of me. It begins to consume my thoughts. I spend my free time immersed in endless unnecessary preparations. Reading my text books, taking notes, organizing and reorganizing my backpack, compulsively checking the air in my bike tires. The list goes on.

It's not a voluntary switch. It's just something that happens. Once I can see it I am unable to focus on anything else. The last precious days of summer can't seem to slip away fast enough. I grow restless. I struggle to cope with the very thought of free time. I look endlessly for things to do, but am unable to find anything that will appease me.

That's where I'm at right now. Sitting here with 33 entire hours before the start of the semester, totally and completely unable to stand the wait.

You know how terrible road trips are when you're little?
When you're driving long distances without much scenery and your parents refuse to stop so you can walk off the restless?

That's how I feel. Like I'm trapped in a tiny hot car with nothing to do, listening to Neil Diamond/Alvin and the Chipmunks go Country/the church chior's latest cassette tape on repeat, with nothing to look at, no good food to eat, and about a million miles between me and the next time I get to stand up, let alone pee.

These are the days the dog and I spend lying on the couch
whining at each other that we're bored.
Surrounded by the million things we started to do
and then lost interest in.
Stuck in between wanting to get up
and being overwhelmed at how unsavory
everything
and everyone else looks...


Lucky for us
it only lasts
a couple of days a year
and we're so very, very pathetic
and terribly cute
or Goose would smother both of us
to death
in our sleep.

:P


Song of the Day is






Couldn't help but smile when I saw the video for this one. ;) Missing you.

Song of the Day!

This song will always, ALWAYS remind me of you and your awesomeness.

Also, seriously, for the love of GOD you need to call me. I'm literally bursting with ridiculous news. BURSTING. You have no idea. *love*

Song of the Day!

Okay, I don't know what the correlation is exactly, between A Static Lullaby and Harry Potter, but there were an awful lot of music videos (and I use that term very loosely here) of cobbled together Harry Potter clips for this song. (This is not one of them, obviously.)

Why you ask? Well I don't know. But if YOU do, and you could shed some light on it for me, well, that would be greatly appreciated.

(Wild conspiracy theories are always welcome.)

So Many Things To Say.

Oh Dear Friend. It has been a crazy week.

After hours and hours of hard work, seemingly endless phone calls, trudging around campus in 110+ degree weather, I did NOT get into the class that I needed. But I did come to a solution I am happy with. (Also, I did get back into my osteology class, hooray!)

The issue with the class at hand is that it has reserved seats. These seats are split about 60-40 between sustainability majors and my major. So if a seat opens, and it had previously belonged to someone with my major, no problem. I can totally have that seat. But if the seat belongs to a sustainability student, well then I'm SOL. So I decided waiting around, praying that a seat opens up that I can actually fill is a waste of time and set about formulating a new plan.

So I registered for my other applied math courses at the community college (online). It was an equally grueling process, there were many points where I asked myself if it was REALLY worth all this work, but of course it is, so I kept at it.

Moral of the story is, that now that all is said and done I have 26 credit hours this semester. 18 at University and 8 at community college. (That damn APPLIED calculus class is 5 credit hours! But because I already finished my whole theoretical calculus pathway it really shouldn't be a problem) I know you're reading this and thinking that I've gone nuts. And perhaps I have. Perhaps indeed. But there's a chance, no matter how small, that I'm going to kick ass this semester. Totally and completely annihilate them all. And that will be glorious.

How does that Ani song go?

"'i just need a little vaccination for my far-away vacation
i'm going to go ahead boldly because a little bird told me
that jumping is easy, that falling is fun
up until you hit the sidewalk, shivering, stunned

cuz they can call me crazy if i fail
all the chance that i need
is one-in-a-million
and they can call me brilliant
if i succeed
gravity is nothing to me, moving at the speed of sound
i'm just going to get my feet wet
until i drown"

Yeah. It's going to be an epic semester, either way. 26 credit hours and a more than full time job? You know how it is though, since you're the only other person I know who could pull something like this off. Who would dive into it like I am, convinced that for the most part, it's a brilliant idea.

I really really miss you. Terribly.
More that I think I am even capable of understanding.
Not just because of all the crap we went through, but because you're the only other person I've ever found who attacks life with the same kind of intensity that I do. It's a freaking battle, and we know it. We're going to have incredible losses, but also, earth shattering victories. That that always makes it worth the risk (Do I sound manic to you? I feel a bit manic.)

I suppose I could add another semester to this, I could shell out another 6k, take the safe route. Keep my course load at a safe 12 credit hours...but that sounds terribly boring. And I hate being bored.

Mr. Archer and Hannah are my other two friends that moved away on the same day you did. (I know you asked a while back, and I never answered) They're back in town currently for a few days before the new semester starts, and I am so very glad. I didn't even get to say goodbye last time, which really intensified my feelings of loss. You never met Hannah, but Mr. Archer is the one that sang the 'glugs' song at our house warming party a couple years back. Like you, he holds a very very special place in my heart.

Right now, I'm in a difficult place, as so many people in my life are moving away for grad school or to advance their careers or for post doctorate research, simultaneously.

I'm not good at making new friends. You know this. I have very high standards of conduct, maybe impossibly high, but I don't feel that I have time/effort/energy to invest in a friendship that's not going to be a really really great fit. I'm not about to work on a relationship, of any kind, if I don't think it's going to stand the test of time, and simply put, 98% of them aren't. I find this frustrating.

I'm considering becoming a hermit. Again. You know, revisiting that old childhood dream of just spending all of my time in solitude (well, solitude with Goose), doing the things that I enjoy, that make me a better person. I think that's a reasonable plan.

I find the vast majority of people tiresome. I find that they always want more from me than is reasonable. I find that I don't like that. Perhaps I've been right all along, that I'm not really cut out for human interaction on the same scale that the rest of the world is. Maybe that's a result of my rather odd childhood, maybe that's a result of the crazy, I don't really know. But I do find that I'm becoming more and more comfortable with the idea as time goes on.

On that note, I would like to try and schedule a phone call with you at some point, when you're free and life has settled down. I'm anxious to hear all your stories of life in the wilderness. Of the pig and his exploits. Of Quickdraw and how he's adjusting. Of you know, life. In general. I hope the job search is going well, and that things are getting better. Miss you terribly, love you more than ever. Take care dear friend.

8 Years Ago Today...

...I met Goose.

I have been immeasurably blessed, in ways I could never have ever anticipated.

So today we celebrate.
In all sorts of beautiful and ridiculous ways.
Because life is blissful.
And we are blessed.
Love





Song of the Day is -

Song of the Day!

Oh My Gosh! So much to say! But no time, alas. So for now it's song of the day time! Hooray!




(love you guys)

Song of the Day!

In all its epic glory...





I really love that hot mess back there on the left, in the star wars print dress, rocking out on the accordion. Truly. Awesome.

One of these days I'm going to buy me a sweet old accordion, and learn to play it.

Better.

Than.

Anyone.

Else.


For sure.





(Also thanks to a dear sweet friend with an extra ticket, I will be going to their show tonight! Hooray!)

Registration Drama-ramma

Today ASU, I will beat you. I WILL get into the class that I want. I will get my transcripts fixed, and I will, I WILL be on track to graduate...at some point.

Drama.

So, as you may or may not know I've been avoiding this AML 100 class (which, for the record is only offered in the fall semester AND there is only one class) for, oh, I don't know, the past 8 years? Ugh. I LOATHE entry level classes. I continually fail classes that I am not challenged in. No matter how many times I try to explain this, the answer is always the same. Want to graduate? Great. Take the class. (Which for me, most likely means take it twice.)

*sigh*

So last week, while examining the impending doom of graduation, I realized that I'm going to have to back track. I'm going to have to go back and take lower level math classes because they're classed as 'applied math'. Never mind all the semesters I spent going through calculus, through diff eq, through whatever. Theoretical math does not equal applied math. No point in battling it out because in the end I'm just going to end up sitting, beaten, in an entry level applied math class. Great.

So last week I dropped my human osteology class in favor of AML 100.
Yuck.
Clicked the add button.
Closed my eyes.
Waited for the world to end.

When I opened them, something far, far worse had happened.
A processing error.

You have not met the pre-requisite requirements for this class.

W.H.A.T.

Back up. Pre-req is MAT 117. 117!! There is not enough bold ink in the world to express my shock.

Then the phone calls began.
Registrar.
Records and Transcripts.
At BOTH colleges.
No help.

I take a break. For a couple of days.

So today I call my primary adviser. This is where it gets tricky with the still-declared double-major. Primary adviser is not the adviser for the class in question. Forwarded to other adviser, and then back to the first one.

What followed was a long and tedious conversation regarding the state of my transcripts, what math classes I had and had not transferred in and what they transferred as since the numbers and courses are not the same. (This was really and truly a moot point, in the truest sense of the word, since no matter what the classes transferred as it was much MUCH higher than MAT 117.)

More unpleasantries followed. The inevitable perplexed tone in her voice that I had received 6 credits for one math class. Having to listen to her tell me I cannot receive credit for the same class twice. Me trying my best to explain that it was a compressed class. Calc I & II in one semester, hence the excess credits. Calls to verify my claims. UGH.

An hour or so later, after endless circling around the point, and a total failure on her part to be able to fix the problem she tells me....wait for it...to just go back and take the lower math class.

Nuh-uh. Never ever going to happen.

So I get on my bicycle and pedal on over there in the scalding August heat, head set on parking my butt in the advising office until someone fixes my transcript errors. Walk ins only. Office doesn't open until 1pm. Clock says 9:45am. Gross. Pedal back in the heat.

Long story short, eventually I showed up in the advising department for applied math and social sciences, the department the AML class is from. In my softest, kindest voice begged, pleaded, for some kind of resolution to this terrible misadventure. The class was already full, the last seats having been snatched up while I was clawing my way through all this red tape, but that wasn't the point. I wanted my transcript fixed. I wanted to be able to register for whatever classes I was qualified for. Whenever I pleased. Without all this hoopla.

Request granted.

...sort of.

The very sweet blonde girl at the desk, who was probably about my age, did her best. Whatever is wrong with my transcripts is really really wrong. She couldn't fix that. But she could override me so that I now have permission to register for the 3 applied math classes I am, for some ridiculous reason that I still don't understand, required to take. Good enough.

Now I'm sitting at home, checking the class page every five minutes. Waiting.

Waiting.

I know that if I check it often enough a seat will open. I know that if I devote enough time and effort and energy into this I WILL be able to jam myself into that class. Or the osteology class I dropped, which by the way is now full too.

The gauntlet has been laid down.

It's me vs. the My ASU registration system.

And.

I.

Will.

Win.

:)

Song of the Day!

Something light and hopeful to get me through the longest of Wednesday mornings. :)

...can it be Thursday already?




Mellow is the feeling that I get
when I see her, mmm-hmm
when I see her, mmm-hmm
That's the time, that's the time
I love the best...

Song of the Day.

I love how big her voice is, and how crisply it cuts through the still.

:)

Boring Gastropods.

Well, Goose went off to work today and I spent the afternoon chest deep in articles about boring gastropods.

Not boring, as in you know...boring...but boring as in gastropods that bore holes in other gastropods.

Now I know, you're shaking your head already at the strange things I do with my time, but it is FASCINATING.

Here's the short version. Some fossils show evidence of predation. I personally, find a lot of Composita subilita that have been chewed on by fish. Anyway, some brachiopod/gastropod fossils have nice, clean, round little bore holes in them and I wanted to know what was making the bore holes. Turns out it's probably a Buccinidae (true whelk) of some sort. I have my suspicions as to the likely culprit, but I'll keep my mouth closed for now.

And yes, I am pleased with myself.
Very pleased.

And while I'm in a pleased-with-myself kind of mood, here are some other fossil related things I'm also pleased with myself over...

I'm getting terribly crafty in my old age! :) Then again, maybe that has more to do with the piles and piles of time I seem to be stewing in then the rate at which time is passing.

One week and two days left until the semester starts. How many more hobbies do you think I'll pick up between now and then?

Love you dearly. Hope the day was lovely.

Song of the Day!

I know, I know, you're rolling your eyes at this one.

In response, I say shut yo' mouth!

The seventies had some damn good music. Damn good. I'm sure with time, and enough song of the day updates you'll come to see things my way. (Dare I say, the right way?...Yes, yes, the right way. bwahahaha. ha.)

That being said, look up the lyrics and sing along, YOU.

Muah.

Song of the Day!

All walls are great if the roof doesn't fall..

Time and distance.

Well The Jew is in town! (Hooray) We went out last night, myself, Goose, The Jew, her sister, and her sister's boyfriend.

I think it was the first time that I've really really been able to enjoy myself since you left...without sitting around all night dwelling on how much better it would be if you were there.

The Jew and I, we were thick as thieves when she moved away, just like you and I, and I was similarly distraught when she left. (Though I did have the benefit of knowing she was leaving) I wasn't really like my other friends at school at the time, even though we'd been friends for years and years. I just didn't fit in the group the same way I had when we were in grade school. (A lot of that I think was due to all of the stuff that had gone down in the 9th grade, and throughout Jr. High in general.) The Jew was that one piece that sort of held me in there.

After she left I migrated back to the old group from Jr. High, but it didn't last. There was no one particular reason, but it just didn't work. I'm sure you know what I mean when I say that. So for a while I just sort of ping-ponged back and forth between the two before I decided to just spend all of my free time working.

Anyway. What matters in all of this is that The Jew moved away more than 10 years ago, and still we manage to fall back into our old groove whenever she comes to town. We laugh and smile and goof around just like always with none of the awkwardness time and distance so often brings to relationships.

That was really really comforting.

It always is, every time she comes to town. But this time was of particular importance to me since I'm still kind of reeling from your move and how suddenly it happened.

I know that in the end everything will be okay. That you and I will always be you and I. Thick as thieves and crazy as the night is long. That we'll always fall back into the same old groove, just like we do every time and that time and distance, like all things is relative.

You know me, I'm picky. I don't keep a large pool of friends. I have two, maybe three really good friends and I keep them around. For ever and ever. Regardless.

I know that it's easy to say that. That it's easy to say I'll always be around. That I'm always here. But I am. Friendship is a decision you make. It's not something that happens to you. It's not something you just walk away from when things don't go as planned. And NOTHING in my life ever goes as planned, lol. But I feel, that now, after what? 15 years? After endless crazy, nay, insane happenings, that in the scope of crap we've made it through, this is nothing. And it will be totally, completely, okay.

I hope that things on your end are getting better, even just slightly. I hope that you're enjoying all the greeny-greenness that's so lacking here in desert land. I hope that one day you'll come home, or for some reason I'll end up there, or that we'll meet in the middle in some place lovely, even though I know that's probably wishful thinking. :)

I'm making you a new box, since the old one is mostly full at this point, and working on a care package for you and J. I don't know how long it will take me to send it out, but I will. For sure. :)

Tons of love to you both, from both of us.

Song of the Day!

Saturday's Song:





Jess is in town today!!! She called as I was posting this, and so I failed to hit 'publish post'. OOPS! Anywhoozer, this is Saturday's song. More tomorrow. Mostly right now, I'm very, very tired.


I'm glad bunbun made it home, and I miss you terribly.



OH! And I started reading your book. (Catch 22). I fell asleep half way through chapter two, but that was mostly on account of exhaustion, not so much the book itself.

Song of the Day!

There's something kooky and ethereal about the music pouring out of Nordic countries...
independent of time
or genera.

Deep Cuts is a magical album.
Love The Knife.

Oh, sweet 13. How well I remember you.

Remember, just a few posts ago when I was trying to capture the strange awkwardness that seemed to emanate from the depths of my pre-teen soul? Well, just in case I didn't quite capture the spirit of the 7th grade, here are the glamor shots my sister and I did in the summer of '98. (At my Aunt's insistence...for my mother's 40th birthday.)

See my sister over there on the right, smiling like a normal person? Yeah. Then see me on the left? Apparently the lower half of my face and the upper half of my face were not communicating properly.

Is that a smile? Is that a grimace? Did my teeth hurt? Was the twenty pounds of makeup I was wearing somehow weighing my mouth down?

It's hard to say. But the one thing we can take away from this is when your kids tell you glamor shots are a bad idea, that they don't like makeup, that sequins and giant costume jewelry are not really their scene, maybe, just maybe, you should consider listening. Lest you get a picture of your kid with some weird smile-grimace hybrid plastered on their face.

*Laughs* It's just...terribly me. Love it.

Enjoy.

Song of the Day!

Oh Nightwish (with Tarja, NOT Annette), one of my favorite guilty pleasures.


There's something about metal...and opera...and flutes....
Something that screams, yes! yes clearly this is my theme song!
It should (obviously) be playing every time I enter a room.
Probably when I exit too.
You know,
Just for good measure.
:p



(Tarja, by the way, has a vocal range of THREE octaves. If that's not impressive, well, then I don't know what is.)

Pain in the Heart.

The Heart Attack Grill is CLOSED.
CLOSED.
Not altogether closed, but closed in Arizona which makes it practically non-existent in my mind.

And I fear that I will never find a burger as tasty as that one was.

You remember right? How the heavens parted when that sexy nurse handed me my burger... How looking at it was like staring into the face of God...

And now, mere months later, I sit here in burger purgatory. Unable to find a comparable meal. Unable to drive to Texas to get another one. Unable to recreate it (in all it's lard soaked fabulous-ness) in my own tiny kitchen.

*le sigh*

What's a girl to do? And before you say it, I know, I know, there are lots of other burger joints around. I'm sure a handful of them probably do stand out from the crowd. And yet, I don't believe I could handle the disappointment that I know would wash over me with the first bite. Then not only would I have to set it back down on the plate, scowling at the abomination set before me, but I would have to pay for it too. And really really, I just couldn't handle that.

So Heart Attack Grill, I will miss you. I will miss your sexy nurses. The inappropriately angled mirrors on the back of the bars. The hilarious mix of music videos always playing. The homemade pickles. (because really really, nobody makes their own pickles anymore.) I will miss the unlimited french fry bar. I will miss the sweet, sweet smell of meat and lard intermingling. I will miss hanging out with YOU and Goose in hospital gowns. I will miss our inappropriate conversations with our waitresses. I will miss all that talk about Ri-Ri's puffy vagina and the illuminati. I will miss whole fat butter-cream shakes, Mexican cane-sugar Coke, and PBR.

But mostly...mostly I will miss the most delicious burger I have ever ever tasted.
So long good friend.
May we meet again.
Soon.

Song of the Day!

And I owe you one for yesterday:

What happened to social skills?

Do you know what really really REALLY irritates me?

(I know you're mentally going through the list right now; tomatoes, white walls, using the wrong homonym, the list goes on...)

Well today, what really bothers me is when people ask me 'how do you feel about (insert personal issue here)'.

First of all, let me be clear, there is no reason, no logical reason to call me and say, 'Hi, so I heard (whatever), how do you feel about that'.

(Well YOU probably could, but you know, the populous in general cannot.)

My life is not some reality TV show confessional booth. You cannot just call/text/email with that line and expect an answer. I don't work like that. (And frankly, chances are good that I don't really care) Furthermore, the answer is almost always that it's none of your damn business.

Which brings me to another point. One about personal questions.

You know me. I have no secrets. No part of my life that is too personal for discussion, but that doesn't mean someone can just waltz in and start asking me personal questions.

There's a method to it - it's a dance we do together. One in which personal information is offered up, mutually for discussion, which then evolves into a conversation. We catch our own rhythm, like good friends do. We move through topics together. Pausing to display our trophies or our wounds. Then moving swiftly on.

You can't just show up with your hands out, spouting phrases gleaned from Therapy for Dummies and expect me to spill my guts. It doesn't work that way. My life is mine, and I'll only discuss it on my own terms.

I'm like that bitchy cat (*gestures at Mittens*). I'll let you scratch my head, but only when I feel like being scratched...and just because I'm sitting in your lap doesn't mean you're not going to get bitten. Hard.



It's been one of those days. You know the kind...when everyone comes out of the woodwork and tries to start conversations with me in ways that are counter intuitive, and down right annoying. It's hot, and it's humid, and really, I don't want to have a conversation with anyone, except YOU or Goose about anything other than the weather, or what I would be willing to do for a glass of lemonade. Enough said.

Song of the Day!

Pink martini makes my heart swell.

Also,
If you've never seen Mary and Max...well, you should probably go watch it now. It's watch instantly on netflix, so no excuses...YOU.

Much love.