Where's my week gone?

I have had many thoughts about what to blog about this week... however, I've had quite a list of things to complete:

On Monday, I had to study for a politics test and edit articles for the Paisano (the second bit was more voluntary than necessary)

On Tuesday, I had to draft an essay for English. (I ended up reading the entirety of Paper Towns in one magnificent spectacle of procrastination. And then I drafted my essay.)

On Wednesday, I went to an art exhibit for an article for the Paisano. And then I worked on article. (And then watched the new Mythbusters episode on Discovery Channel.)

Today, I had to finish that article and edit the draft of that paper I wrote on Tuesday. (Both of them took longer than I anticipated...)

And even with all of this writing of essays and articles getting done... for some reason none of it made it onto the blog. I had a blog planned for Tuesday night about Paper Towns, telling you all exactly how wonderful the book is and how excited I was about meeting the author this weekend... but then I realized that I will tell you guys all about that on the weekend, anyway.

Tomorrow, my agenda get even more complicated than any other day this week.

Morning: Class
Late morning: Drive to Austin
Early afternoon: Eye doctor appointment
Later: Vote (!!!) (try not to look too high while attempting to read ballots with dilated eyes.)
Late afternoon: Neighborhood Halloween party
Later that night: Carrie Underwood concert downtown (Brandlyn got us tickets!)

We shall see how that goes...

I'm going to take fantastic pictures this weekend. I'm bringing the fancy camera with me...

A brief debate

I warn you - I'm going to briefly delve into the realm of the controversial tonight. I've chosen an issue well worth it's salt, for it is an issue that everyone takes a side on. Not many people know where or when they took their side, but it is an everlasting battle that goes on between people of all ages, and once the debate starts it is often never resolved. Because of this controversy, it needs to be blogged about!

So...

How do you say the word 'Crayon'?

There are, it seems, 3 pronunciations: 'Cray-on', 'Crown', and 'Cran'.

I belong wholly to the 'Cran' camp. It's the way I heard it when I was little and it's the way I'll say it forever.

So what about y'all?

Defrost me and hand me a latte please?

This morning I was up before the sun was.

Betcha didn't think that I could do it, eh? When has a teenager willfully set her alarm for 4:30 AM?

I... um... can't exactly figure it out either.

For the entire semester, my astronomy professor has been threatening to hold a constellation session at 4am. Yesterday, he announced that there would be one at 5 ("To give you all an extra hour of sleep"). I loved the constellation session that I went to a few weeks ago and kind of wanted to see what the sky was like when it was truly at its darkest (in a strange and "I know I'll hate myself in the morning, but it'll probably be worth it" kind of way.) So I went.

It was even more fun than last time. We had less than half as many people as we did the first time - only 17. Because of the small group (and the fact that it was 5am. If you were there, you wanted to be there.) we were able to move through more constellations and have a sort of mini-lecture. We all huddled together and shivered in our boots and identified Orion, Taurus, Canis major and minor, and found Polaris again. (Needless to say, it was in the same spot as last time). We looked at the Orion nebula (a cluster of some 200 "new" stars... but you can only see 4 or so through the cloud) the Andromeda galaxy (which kind of looks like a bit of fuzz on the lens) and Saturn (you can see its rings!)

The only downside to the whole experience is that Texas is attempting to overturn summer and make it colder for a bit. Pre-sunrise, it was about 40 or 45 degrees and it was freezing without any kind of sunlight to warm you up. After the constellation session ended at 6:30, I hopped on my bike and dashed home to crawl back into bed to attempt to defrost. It reminded me of the aftereffects Chuy's christmas parade that Mom, Duncan, and I walked in... because no amount of blanket cover could make me warm. All I could think of was a down comforter and how wonderful it would be to own one. I think I shall invest.

Someone hand me a latte? I think I need something warm and caffeinated.

Oh, Mr. Darcy

In High School, there was a senior English teacher that I never got to have. She was the most fantastic woman who always knew who I was (Ironically, she was the one who interviewed me when I was in eighth grade when I applied to St Mike's.) She was an English dork through and through who always told me I was her favorite student that she never got to teach. I think she will be teaching forever, just because she loves her students... but I think she likes reading Chaucer, Shakespeare, and Austen every year!

This particular teacher told her students (and whoever else would listen) that whenever she felt sick or just off-center, she would turn on Pride and Prejudice (The one with Colin Firth) and watch it the whole way through and that she would feel a lot better at the end of it.

The first time I watched Pride and Prejudice was when I was in Poland staying with Niki. We watched the whole thing in one night, and I absolutely fell in love with it. The story has always interested me, and I loved the new version of it with Keira Knightly, but this was in a whole different league. Plus, Colin Firth is... well. Colin Firth. ;)

I have been feeling off center for most of the day, kind of like my stomach was about five feet in front of me all day and my brain on slow motion all day. I know why, but I'm not really going to blog about it yet, so that's all you get. I figured that, if I can't concentrate and I don't feel well, I should go to my classes, do as much homework as I can stand and then give Pride and Prejudice a whirl. What could it hurt? If anything it'll just give me some time to lie down and relax.

I just finished watching it... and it actually worked. I was swept along in the story of Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth and even though I know exactly how the story ends, somehow I doubt that they'll end up falling in love every time. I completely forgot everything for a good five hours and it felt fantastic. I feel a lot more calm and in control of things after it. The off-centerness is still here... it's just a little closer than it was before. We shall see how tomorrow goes.

Of hair dye, piercings, birthdays, and newspapers

I would have to say that this week has been a very college-life kind of week. Tomorrow is Friday, and it will be awesome in every way. (I know this. ;) )

But let's recap, shall we?

Monday night (after the blog! Can you believe I have a life that happens AFTER I blog for the day, too!?) Abby got a call from her boyfriend around 11:30 saying "I want pie. So do Dustin and Walker. We're going to get pie." And Abby said "Well, we're coming too!" so we both threw on shoes, grabbed a few bucks and went to WalMart to get pie. And then we went back to Nathan's apartment and played Rock Band until 2 in the morning. (For the record, I rocked the drums.)

Tuesday (Abby's birthday!!) started off as more than awesome, despite the fact that BOTH my an Abby's alarms did not go off. When we woke up with just enough time to run to class, but decided that it was a sign that we should sleep in and watch the lecture on the internet later. (All of our politics lectures are recorded audio AND video... otherwise I wouldn't have skipped. That class is too note-intensive to skip.) So we slept until 11, at which point we decided that it was time for coffee and tv, while we lounged around the apartment in our pajamas. We both went to our afternoon classes, and then got ready to go shopping! We went to Michael's (where we got yarn for me to make her a hat) and then went to Target to get hair dye. And then we went to La Cantera (which is an outdoor mall kind of situation) so Nathan could buy Abby a birthday present. Abby decided on a little Coach purse.


And we went to Claire's where Abby got her cartilage pierced, too!

And then we went to eat and then home to eat the MOST MAGNIFICENT CAKE that I have ever baked. (We couldn't decide on chocolate or cream cheese icing, so we got both. And then I did a whole 'half and half' thing, where the inside of the cake was the opposite frosting. It was a strawberry cake.




Last night while we were watching the presidential debates, instead of taking notes like I did last time, I dyed Abby's hair for her. It turned out really good!


So Abby's all changed up and is 19 now! (Next month, let's see what I do, eh?)

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Today, I went to a weekly meeting for The Paisano, which is UTSA's newspaper. There is a new issue released every Tuesday and they welcomed me and the two other new people with open arms. I am so excited about the possibility of being involved. No article for me yet, but the editor promised to email me. More on that will be sure to come!

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Oh... and the other day, it was drizzling very English-ly. So the Weather Frog was confused.

WHUH.

Oh my gosh. Yesterday and today were a complete rollercoaster of emotions. I didn't even know that I could feel so many emotions. Ever.

This weekend, Abby and I went to Austin to do a bit of dog/house sitting... which to me, means a fancy new stove to cook on and a jacuzzie!!

So we had a good weekend... and then last night we drove back to Austin, threw on our costumes, and went to a costume/birthday party for one of Abby's friends who is turning 18. We had a good time. We busted a pinata, played fun games, and then, when all of the birthday girl's younger cousins went home, played 'spin the gun'... which is the same idea as spin the bottle... except that somebody had a gun with their costume, and it sounded like a lot of fun. The best part about it was that there were 6 girls, 2 gay guys, and 1 straight guy. Abby kept on trying to take pictures, but her camera timer was off... so she kept on pressing the button, missing the kodak moment, and then yelling "DARN IT!!" That was almost funnier than kissing a gay guy.

After that, we invited people to come and hang out at our apartment. So Abby's friends Josh and Tara came over, and we made coffee and hung out until around 1am... at which point Abby and I were like "SHOO. WE HAVE SCHOOL TOMORROW." and kicked them out the door. But we had had a lot of fun. It made me feel like my social circle was expanding - always a good thing.

And today? Today was just one of those days... (Hey! I know that phrase...)

It started off pretty bad, and it seemed to be an omen that it would get worse... (but never fear - there is light at the end of the tunnel.)

This morning was one of those odd and unpredictable mornings that my phone does not seem to remember that it is supposed to wake me up. (Usually it is once a month... which leads me to believe that my phone has a menstrual cycle. Which I wouldn't doubt, seeing as how it has misbehaved all weekend.) I did wake up at 8:20, which wasn't so bad, because I usually leave at 8:40 to make it to my 9am class. It just meant that I didn't get to drink coffee.

I got to my class with 5 minutes to spare, and Brandlyn called me and I gushed to her about how much fun I had last night. Here's where things go a little iffy. I had been listening to my iPod, and I remember taking it out of my ear and wrapping it up... but beyond that, I don't know what I did with it. I assumed I had dropped it in my bag, because that's what I always do. I enjoyed my English class, because they were talking about the paper that I had already wrote, (STILL.) and so I wrote a little of this new story floating around in my brain for the class. And then I went to my French class, spoke a little French (I think I'm actually getting the hang of it! I was praised by the teacher today.) and then went home for lunch. I checked the mail, and voila! (<- See? French.) the keyboard that I had ordered had come! (You might remember that I have had no y key for more than a year. Actually, probably a good year and a half now.) (Wow, as an aside, I am officially a blogger that can make cool link references!) Last week I decided that I have had enough of this, and ordered a new keyboard to replace my stupid one.

I played with my new keyboard, ate lunch, called Duncan, and then went to my math class, where I realized that... oh, my God. Where is my iPod. I nearly stood up and left class, but I held out, getting more and more nervous. As soon as the lesson was over, I walked right over to my morning classes and peeked into the rooms and looked for the iPod and could not find it. I walked over to the university police station, where the lost and found is, and they did not have it. I broke down.

I cried the whole way home. I frantically searched the apartment and cried some more. I called mom and cried to her. She made me feel a little better, but it did not make me feel like any less of a loser for being careless and probably missing my bag when I went to put my $500 iPod into it. I felt dumb, I felt expensive, and I felt like today was the worst day ever. Nobody was going to turn in my iPod and I was going to have to deal without music for who knows how long, and I don't know what to do because everything is crashing down around my head.

...I decided to do some homework and distract myself... and eventually I calmed down. Even forgot about it a little. Abby and I went to chat with the RA for a bit (we might have been complaining about our lousy neighbors downstairs who can't seem to understand that walking on hardwood floors makes noise. And we can't help it. They do this stupid thing where the hit the ceiling when we are apparently too loud.) and then went to HEB and bought cake mix (Tomorrow is Abby's 19th birthday!) and sodas and then we came home and made pizza... and then I got the email.

"Your iPod has been found and can be picked up at the lost and found."

And suddenly, there it was. Everything became wonderful again. I do have good iPod karma, as I have done my part in returning other peoples' ipods before.

I set up these adorable little monsters that Abby and I bought at Target in the window. (I love the bats with their little teeth! Soooo adorable.)


I decided that I would be brave and tackle changing my keyboards and if I really couldn't make it work, there has got to be someone on campus that could.

Look? Stupid y key. It types... but I had to really push into the bed of the keyboard. I would have done something long before this if the y key had not typed...


I took apart the computer (Inn'it cool?!)



I fitted the new keyboard in, I screwed everything back in, reassembled everything together and VOILA.


It's like having a new computer. Seriously. I have created the habit of really reaching in to type the 'y'... I will probably do it for a while. And it's kind of been my point of reference, because I can touch-type. Instead of the F and the J keys... I had my Y key. I don't miss it... but it'll take a while to remember that I have a normal computer now.

Life is so unexpected. I cannot believe how many emotions have gone rolling through my brain and my body over the last few days... it kind of feels unreal.

Just walkin' along Avenue Q

Tonight was SO. MUCH. FUN.

Abby is turning 19 next week, and I bought us tickets to go and see the tour of Avenue Q... which I saw before with Siobhan in London. I was so thrilled to be able to see it again, and think that the show is just as good over here... if not a little better. The actors were all extremely talented, and the audience, Abby, and I laughed ourselves hoarse by the end of the night.


(Happy birthday, Abby!!)

But let me tell you about before the show...

We went into San Antonio for and walked along the riverwalk (because I insisted)...


And then we went shopping and ate crummy mall food.

And then we went to Starbucks, because we had a while before the show started and, what is better than sitting along the riverwalk sipping coffee?! We went in, and were greeted by people who thought we were famous! We convinced them that we were just lowly college students. ;)

They told us that the information that the registers were down, but they would take our orders anyway. Abby and I chatted with Ruben and he convinced her to get an iced pumpkin spice latte. And then they started telling us about all of these great new things that we should sample... so we did! We sampled a lot. (The best was the salted hazelnut caramel hot chocolate thing.) And then after all the samples... they said that the coffee was on them! (Aren't they nice? Look at Abby all happy with her samples and iced latte!)


Look at all of our samples! (There was more, but I drank it.)


And look at the awesome barristas that work there!

(There's Star, Sarah, and Ruben... or just Rube. Hi guys! Hope you like the blog.)

Rube told us about open mic night music and possible poetry nights... and Abby and I are totally thinking of going.

We had a great night and were giggly about the fact that most college students go out and party at night... while we dork all over musical theater. Go us!

Some pictures

I went to a constellation session last night for my Astronomy class, where we identified different constellations and found Polaris and saw Jupiter through a telescope! When you focus on Jupiter, you can see 4 of it's moons and some of the stripes! It is actually one of the brightest objects in the sky. We identified Scorpio (Yeahhhh!) and Sagittarius (which is part of a set of stars that looks kind of like a teapot) and the big dipper, a constellation that looks like a swan, and another that looks like a W... and in between the W and the Big Dipper, that is where you can find Polaris, the north star... which is actually not the brightest star in the sky.

Anyway, so last night I got a fantastic shot of the moon with my uber spiffy camera. (That's a 1st quarter moon. Which I didn't even have to consult a calendar about. :D)


And while I was walking over to the science building, I got a shot of twilight.


And on campus, a pretty cool picture.


Just thought I'd share. :D The campus is beautiful at night, too.

Guess what I am doing tonight??

I'M GOING TO SEE AVENUE Q!!!

Will blog about that later.

In which I probably make a few people angry

So who watched the debate tonight?

I did. I even took notes, knowing that I would blog about it. Personally, I am a supporter of Obama and I did approach the debate with this bias, and what I will comment on are most definitely biased. (Such as the fact that I think McCain kind of sounds like a turtle. You know it'st true. ;) )

But seriously, I got the sense that McCain's approach to tonight's debate was mostly to attack. He spent a lot of time reiterating the fact that he is Old and Wise and has spent his life serving our country, be it in war or in government.

He frequently brought up voting history and the fact that "I Voted This Way" and "Obama Voted That Way". I believe that he spent the debate pandering to the voters that he already has, instead of trying to reach out to voters that were on the fence.

I also believe that his answer to the answer to "Is Russia Evil" was a cop out. Maybe? Seriously!?

And as far as the health priorities goes, McCain believes that he will be able to balance energy, health care, and education all at once. Somehow, I find that hard to believe. The nation is now ten trillion dollars in debt... that's a lot of zeros. How could we give the appropriate funding and attentions to all three causes at once?

McCain spent a lot of time reiterating the fact that "We can ___." Fill in the blank. 'Fix the economy', 'bring our troops home in glory', 'win this war'. McCain has experience on his side, but, as a girl so bluntly pointed out in my politics class "He's old." My experience is that when you've been around for a while, you tend to get stuck in your ways because they're easy.

And now for Obama. Epitome of change...

It is very easy to write about what I disagree with McCain over... it's a little more difficult to write about what issues I agree with Obama on, for in my opinion there is little point in just saying "I agree." However, I will. I agree with Obama that health care should be a right. If we implemented a system that was similar to those that exist in Europe, it would be necessary to keep in mind what the strongest issues are over there: the waiting lists, the competency of the doctors, and the quality of the service provided, to name a few.

I believe that Obama's response to the question "Is Russia Evil?" was an excellent one. To paraphrase, 'They are not evil, their actions are.'

Obama made the point a few times that change in Washington DC is imminent and necessary, and I completely agree. If the entire nation is looking toward DC to set the standard, DC needs to step up to the plate.

Unlike McCain, Obama has priority list in regards to heath: 1) Energy, 2) Health Care, 3) Education. I think he's got it right. I don't enjoy dumping upward of $50 (and I am one of the lucky ones) on a tank of gas. It is most important to create, within the next ten years (which Obama thinks is possible) to create alternate energy sources. As far as health care, I will not pretend to know enough about the system to have an opinion (I am, after all, only eighteen) and then to Education... I am in the midst of it right now, and I want the security to know that when I grow up and start a family, that I will be able to send my children to good schools. It seems pretty far in the future, but in reality, it is likely within the next ten years, if not a little longer, that that would occur for me, and I want that security in knowing that Obama will implement something that will create a solution to those problems.

I think that both of the candidates were pandering to the voters they already had. I went in being biased toward Obama, and I believe that I heard what I wanted to hear from him. As for McCain, I could barely get over the fact that he says "My friends" all the time. It was alright in the beginning, but by the end it was downright distracting. I have every faith in Obama to lead our nation into change. People argue that McCain knows what he is doing, whereas Obama is too new to know, and would require on-the-job training... but think about it. If change is what we're after, McCain knowing how to play the Politics Game won't bring about change. Isn't this nation unhappy with what is happening right now?

This election will go down in the history books, no matter what the outcome in a month's time, and I am proud to say that I will have participated.

When I was in Germany this last summer, several of us were sitting around a campfire, and I was teaching them how to toast marshmallows (because apparently they don't do that! What about s'mores?!). I explained the politics behind those who believe that the perfect marshmallow was perfectly golden brown, and those who believe that the perfect marshmallow is burned to a crisp. (Personally, I prefer the burnt marshmallow.) I made a burnt one for one of the guys sitting around the fire and he took it saying 'It's an Obama marshmallow!', because it was black. I laughed and replied 'Does it make you believe in America again?'

It's kind of true though. Obama inspires people to act, in a way that I've never seen people react, whether they support him or not. I remember the 2004 election... In school, we talked about it, but it was no big deal. I overheard seniors talking in the halls, asking each other if they would vote, and most of them didn't seem to care. It could be that my ears are more 'open' this time around, but I have heard more people debate and talk about the election than I would have ever expected within my age group. Abby and I talk about it every day. I hope that people of every age take it upon themselves to vote this year, because it is so important. This is likely the most important decision that you will be able to influence for a long time, so take the opportunity.

She Who Used To Be Preggers Cat

Remember Inspection Cat? Well... we have another cat that hangs around our general area, and we call it Preggers Cat.

Well... we used to call it Preggers Cat...


Somewhere in amongst all of that gray fur are little gray kittens. Preggers Cat ("She Who Used To Be Called Preggers Cat"?) has sat herself under that car for a few days and had her little kittens there this morning. Abby heard one of them peeping this morning and looked under the car to see Preggers Cat with her kittens. Not sure how many there are, but welcome to the world Little Preggers Cat's Babies!

There was one pretty cloud in the sky, too... so I took a picture of that.


Far off in the distance, but not so far with my EIGHTEEN TIMES ZOOM! (KAZAM!!)

And... this evening I remembered a dress that I had fallen in love with while working at Macy's a few months ago. I looked all over the internet and couldn't find it... BUT I DID FIND THIS ONE! It's nearly the same, and I loved the other dress. It was little (le petite robe noire!), it fit my chest, AND it did fantastic things to my hips. What's not to love?

I do have a birthday coming up soon...ish. (Wink wink nudge nudge knowwhatImean knowwhatImean saynomore?)