My life right now --I'm dating a terrific guy named Tyler, who is unbelieveably supportive of everything I do, and whatever comes of this law school process, we're doing it together. By that I mean he's going to move away with me if I get accepted at a non-IU school. I find this very exciting and not really that scary, which is surprising.
--Law School. Oy. The LSAT is October 6th and I feel woefully unprepared. On the bright side, I have all my recommendations lined up, my personal statement drafted, and my resume built. Once the LSAT is over the next step should be easier. Famous last words, eh?
--My last day at Target is October 3rd. This is the best news I've delivered on here since I got accepted to Cairo.
--I've just been appointed the secretary of the newly-formed Arabic Language Drama Club at IU. Membership is currently me, the president, the treasurer, and our faculty advisor. A few weeks ago I sent my former professor an email asking if I could still help out the club even though I'm an alum, and now I'm a full-time founding member. We're going around to Arabic classes all day on Wednesday (my day off) to recruit actors/actresses/stage hands/etc.
--They moved the damn zombie butler from the Fixture Room to the darkened doorway of my boss's office. It's right next to the time clock. I almost had to go home for a clean pair of khakis this morning.
--I've been lusting after an astronomically-priced chair at work for about four months. Last week, they finally marked it 50% off. At $30 I was still a bit hesitant, so I decided to wait until all the boxed chairs sold so that I could buy the floor model for an additional 30% off. With my %10 discount, this would have put the price at just over $20. Then, I sold three Target credit cards in 45 minutes, so one of my bosses rewarded me with a $5 gift card. I was so excited to buy the chair for $15, and I told EVERYONE. Five minutes before my break, someone bought it. I hid behind the jewelry counter and wept. Not really, but I did put my head on it and pout for a while. Life. Don't talk to me about life.
Sometimes I'm a scaredy-cat klutz Yesterday, I could not walk down an aisle without tripping over something (or nothing) and knocking merchandise to the ground. At about 11:00am, I dropped a shelf on my head, and wound up with a dime-sized lump on my head. I've never actually had my head swell up before, so I was completely fascinated. "Look, look! I dropped a shelf on my head and now there's a bump! Isn't it cool?!" About twenty minutes later, I was helping my boss put fixtures back in the Fixture Room (where else would you put them?), and we not only managed to drop a four-foot metal bar from the top of a fifteen-foot ladder, it also hit two other four-foot bars on the way, and brought them down with it. In all, I think it took about three minutes for them to stop falling. Think Pippin and the skeleton in the mines of Moria. Then, when I went over to hand them back up to her, I turned and suddenly found myself face-to-face with a six-foot tall zombie butler* and shrieked like I was in a horror movie. By the time my boss stopped laughing she had tears running down her face and had been forced to sit on the top step of the ladder to keep from falling off. Later, I stabbed myself in the hand with an ink pen. Of course, this all happened in the context of the golf-ball sized spider bite on my right arm that was both hard as rock and itchy as all get out. It was especially helpful when my coworker said, "if you start to see venom lines, make sure you go to Prompt Care right away."** In total I did maybe three hours of actual work during an eight and a half hour shift. It was quite a day.
*These are part of our Halloween display in the seasonal department, and apparently there was an extra one that some overnight clown decided to hide in the Fixture Room to scare the pants off unsuspecting dayside team members. Overnight 1; Dayside 9,999.
Location, location, location I don't think I've mentioned yet that I moved into a new apartment in July. By a strange chance, I now find myself living in the backyard of my next-door neighbor. That is, my apartment looks directly into the back deck of the house next door to my mom's (and thus the one I lived in for six years). I didn't plan this, and didn't initially like the idea, but by the time I realized I was going to be in Bloomington for another year, almost all the places in my price range were either rented out or cardboard boxes near the stadium. This place, a one bedroom, is only ~$1.25/sq ft, has five closets and a hallway, and is only lacking central air and a dishwasher. The upshot of this is that I don't have to close the bathroom door to pee and I can keep my clothes in the living room, which I do. If you saw it, you would understand. On the other hand, although I don't look into my own backyard, I can see it from one end of the living room. I'm writing all this to tell you that it is very odd to turn around at your computer and see your mother's quilt drying on the back deck. She doesn't actually live there right now (she rents it, furnished, to a grad student and his daughter), but it's very weird all the same. Here's to having a better view this time next year!
Another amazing quote from "Overheard at IU..." A Bus Girl 1: Are those hamburgers really only a quarter? Girl 2: I guess...I don't know, why else would they call it a quarterpounder? Girl 1: Maybe those are the ones that fell on the floor or something and that's why they're so cheap. Girl 2: Yeah you're probably right.
Maybe taking a 100-level class as a senior isn't so bad after all. Random beauty tip I overheard from two girls in my Freshman Topics Seminar*: A coffee filter works as a perfect substitute for those expensive Clean-and-Clear Oil Absorbing Sheets. I tried it this afternoon--it really works! So, you know, not a complete waste of time after all. Maybe on Thursday I can learn how to make a face mask from the ingredients in my refrigerator. I hope not, because all I have in there is some Chicken Tandoori and a really old egg. That's bound to sting. And probably smell too.
Also, I reallly, really hope that if they do decide to share beauty secrets on Thursday, they don't do it in lecture when some people are trying to LEARN!!! Grr.
In other news, I love my classes. I really do. I had forgotten how much I like school. This semester makes me realize that grad school is something I'd really like to pursue. After a year or two off, of course.
*I'm a transfer student, and somehow I never got around to taking this class. Mostly, because I thought it was a useless waste of time. It still is, but now it's to the point that I can't graduate without it. Stupid COAS.
12 pages down, 12(ish) to go. Seriously, can I just go to his office and talk the rest of my paper? Because I'm so very sick of writing it. I can't even look at it anymore.
And this year's award goes to: The Toilet Monster! Read the Product Description and reviews. They're amazing, even if they are all fabricated.
Not to be outdone, the runner up is: JL421 Badonkadonk Land Cruiser/Tank. Is it just me, or does this look like the Jawa-mobile from Star Wars: Episode I?
The Game! I can't believe I almost forgot Ye Olde Finals Week Tradition--The Music Game!
My life is way too crazy right now. I have a massive paper due on Monday and it's killing me. Actually, I was on track until last night when Tyler brought over his brand new copy of Superbad. Fun, but not terribly productive, and now I'm behind schedule. Blast!
Anyway, thanks for the reminder Jen!! :-D
Step 1: Put your MP3 player or whatever on random. Step 2: Post the first line (or two) from the first 15 songs that play, no matter how embarassing the song. (If the title is involved, use an ellipsis.) Step 3: Post and let everyone you know guess what song and artist the lines come from. Step 4: Cross out the songs when someone guesses correctly. Step 5: Looking them up on Google or any other search engine is CHEATING!
2pts for each correct answer...provided you get there first of course.
Thanksgiving A year ago today I was flying out of Cairo International to go on a three day cruise down the Nile from Aswan to Luxor. On the cruise we played MASH and watched an odd Finnish version of musical chairs involving blindfolds and spoons. The Egyptian employees played some sort of reverse Orientalism game by forcing the Finns to crawl around on the floor while the Egyptians kicked the spoons just out of their reach. And a mad Frenchman in a red dressing gown stood on the sidelines roaring about cheaters and beautiful women while he sloshed his wine glass about in the air.
Feels like yesterday. :)
Have a great Thanksgiving everyone! Travel safely!!
Professor Sinno showed this video to my Muslims in Western Politics class, and it's incredible.
Je viens de loin (I come from far away--the ghettos are populated with second and third generation Arab immigrants)
Et vu mon teint (And look at my color--French political rhetoric is one racist accusation on top of another)
Je dois faire les choses bien (I must do the right things--Arabs are suspect in France and have to watch their every move)
Mais qui peut me stopper? (But who can stop me?)
Renier mon identite (Break my identity--France wants its immigrant population to assimilate so they strip "others" of their traditional identities)
Je pas peux essayer (I can't try--However, they won't give foreigners a French identity to replace the old one, so immigrants remain second class citizens. They can't get ahead even when they try)
Mais qui peut me stopper? (But who can stop me?)
In some cases, the only identity these immigrants (and their children) have left is Islam, creating a perfect climate for radical Islamists to enter, exploit the disadvantaged Muslim youth, distort the Qur'an, and create a whole new terrorist breeding ground. It's a mess.
I just got back from The Darjeeling Limited. It is amazing. You must go.
Also, this was one of the previews and as silly as it looks, I'm definitely going to go see it.
P.S. One of my professors (Sinno) is going to take our entire class to see Rendition on Tuesday. His treat. I'm driving though, so it could be scary. Let's hope not. Ba'adishaar (God forbid/knock on wood).
I made a Phantom of the Opera jack o'lantern this year. It's not the most beautiful pumpkin I've ever seen (the beaver is still #1), but it gets the point across. I'll post a picture soon.
Current Mood: Vlad-y Current Music:Mwah ha ha ha ha!
OMGZ!!!!!!!! I was wandering about on Facebook tonight and saw a group called "Marching Band Competition Dates for BHSN." So, I clicked on it, thinking that I might stop by if the season hadn't ended. (I know it's only been a few years, but I honestly don't remember if we marched through the end of October or not.)
Anyway, this is what I found in the Announcements section:
Annabelle Elizabeth Wilson Born: 10/24/07 At: 9:48am Weighs: 8lbs. 11oz. Is: 22" long
More fun than watching paint dry ...is watching the "1,000,000 Strong for Stephen T. Colbert" Facebook group grow. Seriously. Go to the group, wait two minutes, hit refresh, and it will have grown by about 300 members. It's amazing!
12:55 Edit: My favorite quote from the wall is, "Wait, I'm confused. Does that mean we can't vote for him outside of South Carolina?" We don't even pretend to teach civics in school anymore, do we?
Also, I have a new favorite Colbert quote: "There is social mobility at Dartmouth. You can go in as a plutocrat and leave as an oligarch." Oh, how I dislike what the Ivy Leagues do to our foreign policy.
C-SPAN gives me high blood pressure* I just spent an hour watching the Family Values 2008 debate in the House of Representatives. It wasn't a debate really, so much as three female Republican representatives talking about how much they loved each other's opinions**. I tried really, really hard to keep an open mind, and in fact the representative from Memphis (Marsha Blackburn) did make a good point about abstinence education. She said that promiscuity leads to greater long-term health risks, and that's true. No, it really is. Having multiple sex partners increases your odds of getting an STD just as eating a diet high in fat leads to heart disease. And it was nice to hear the right wing couch their argument in terms of public health instead of religious morality. However, while she does have a point (one that I agree with, I might add), it's not really the point. It is important to inform teens of the risks of being sexually active, but an abstinence-only education program does not work. "Just Say No" to sex isn't going to be any more effective than "Just Say No" to drugs. Public education systems do have a responsibility to give their students as much information as they can, even to the point of discouraging early sexual behaviors, but there comes a point at which the students have to choose how to lead their own lives. And if they haven't been given proper access to safe sex education then it becomes a given that their health risks will increase dramatically. Representative Blackburn kept saying that abstinence-only programs were part of a healthy lifestyle campaign, but the obesity epidemic in this country proves that, more often than not, instant gratification wins out over long-term health concerns. We can't protect Americans from McDonald's (despite the class action lawsuits) but we can give kids condoms.
While we're on the topic of morality, I have to ask a question: at what point did family values become about stem cells, abortion, and abstinence-only programs***? What happened to education reform, domestic violence prevention programs, and better health coverage? In other words, policies that would create safe, successful families. Why are we so bogged down in issues that, to me, have only a superficial relation to family values?
*My favorite part was when they called Hillary Clinton "that woman" and implied that because she was pro-choice she was also anti-elderly and anti-children's health care. It's funny, because I'm pretty sure it was President Bush who vetoed the State Children's Health Insurance Program. I guess I forgot that you can judge a person's entire value system based on one issue. **Which is, let's face it, probably going to happen in the "comments" part of this post. ***Those are essentially the only issues they addressed. Certainly the ones on which they placed the most emphasis.
Edit: I turned off the info bar on my TV and I found out that C-SPAN was covering the Family Research Council in preparation for the primaries. So, not a floor debate after all. That explains the odd visual aids. Anyway, it's going on all day. There's a racist British rabbi on there now, if you're interested in tuning in to that sort of thing.
"If this isn't nice, I don't know what is." It's a beautiful day, the tree outside my window is turning yellow, and I can hear my neighbor practicing his/her French horn. It even smells like Fall. And look! A blue jay!
It is a very nice day. I suggest that you all go outside for a bit.
4:44 Edit: My first issue of Vanity Fair just arrived along with my new Bare Escentuals shipment. Hooray! I think I'll go for a run now, then do some Pilates and start my next "Muslims in Western Politics" reading. It's The Autobigraphy of Malcolm X, so I'm pretty excited.
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brittlit's journal
Why am I still awake?!
amused
HOORAY FOR FEAST DAYS!!
Vlad-y