Well, ladies and gentlemen, it's been a full two weeks since I've posted, and I don't feel nearly as bad about it as I probably ought to. To sum up: all finals, term papers, etc. are done. The last one I emailed to my prof five minutes before it was due. But somehow I managed to pull off decent, even good, grades: an A, an A-, and a B+. Woo hoo! I get to keep my scholarships!!!
Went to Kentucky and came back already. It was so much fun!! What did we do? Well, not much of anything. We watched movies (Italian Job, LOTR II, Ten Things I Hate About You, Moulin Rouge, various Muppet and VeggieTales) and a lot of TV (MacGyver!! and MASH, Iron Chef, and Star Trek: Next Generation). We went for long walks in the neighborhood and drank a lot of Ale-8, "Ketucky's soft drink". (It's like ginger ale, only better. And it comes in 12-oz (glass!!) bottles from the vending machine, for only 50 cents. Most excellent. I'm just waiting for it to go national.) The weather was alleged to be bad (it rained some) but was actually much more pleasant than it would have been had it been full summer weather. The humidity is really high in Kentucky, which is lovely when the temperature is in the 60's and 70's, but not so good when the temperature is in the upper 80's, but fortunately we didn't have that weather, just the cooler humidity with a breeze. And I got to see my Rachel, which was so great! It's not quite as if we'd never parted ways (we kept finding more things we hadn't caught up on in each others' lives), but it's far better than could be expected, and I'm so glad I could see her. Oh yeah, we had the board game Tournament of Champions, and after taking an early lead, I was sadly defeated. We must have played Monopoly a dozen times, and I lost all but one, though I maintain had we finished the last game I would have won that one. :)
Upon my return, I spent the weekend parking cars at Meeker Days (for those of you not familiar with Puyallup, it's a sad attempt to have a street fair in a very small city. It was rather dull except for the parts I spent practicing baton twirling or chatting with Jace. And oh yes, Karaoke should be banned. Or at least certain songs. Seriously, if I hear "Skater Boy" or "A Moment Like This" one more time, heads will roll.
Monday night I went to a gathering for Howard Dean. I'm not sure how vocal about him I've been in this blog, but Dean IS the man. He's the way we can beat Bush in 2004, primarily because he was the first and most steadfast candidate to outwardly challenge the actions of the Bush administration; he was speaking out when the other candidates, particuarly those in Congress, were waffling and ducking the issues. He's taking back the liberal side of the Democratic party, and lest folks call him another McGovern, I think it's about damn time. His liberal views aren't so outrageously liberal. But he is unafraid to say what the Dems are supposed to believe in; he's not concerned with polls as much as saying what he believes. And he can win too, if he's as successful as he hopes to be in galvanizing voters who have not been politically involved in the past due to being disgusted with politics recently. Hmmm....I'm not sure I'm making sense here, so I'm going to call it a day, at least for now. More later, when I will finish the saga of the past few weeks.
For the record, I apologize for the redundancy of the JCS paragraph. I was even worse right when I got back from it. My enthusiasm for things often makes me inarticulate when I try to talk about them. C'est la vie.
*sigh* In the last couple weeks I've hardly posted at all...and not much of anything with substance. Blame finals week and that damn research paper. At any rate, life is good now. Masumi moved out early this morning with little fanfare. In fact, the expectation was that I would sleep right through it--and I almost did, too, but her ride called at 7:30 just as she was leaving, and the phone is right next to the head of my bed. No way I could sleep through that. And now the crucial question: am I glad she's gone? So many times I've wished for my own room, but when she started packing up yesterday I kind of freaked out. Can't really say why. But now every time I walk into the room and see her side of the room empty, there's an odd sort of glee to it. And a tint of guilt. Last night she went to bed in her clothes (since she had to get up so early today) with no blankets or pillows (she'd already had to put those in storage). It was the saddest thing I'd ever seen. The worst part about it was that she and I had no relationship, so she couldn't ask me to borrow a blanket, and I couldn't offer. If this sounds dumb, well, it kind of is. But it was the reality of us.
Haven't even begun cleaning my room. Will do that after my last final, which is this afternoon. Though I must keep reminding myself that it's not actually the last final, because I still have to write a 6-8 page essay for philosophy.
Jesus Christ Superstar was AMAZING!! The man who played Judas was the same guy who played him in the 70's movie version. He was outstanding. I didn't love the actor playing Jesus at first, but I later fell in love with him. His voice started out loud and bold in the beginning and became small and afraid at the end, which seemed very fitting. Simon Zealotes had a great voice and was hot, too! Caiaphas, Annas and the priests were excellent. Pontias Pilate had an excellent voice but I didn't think he really got into the character. He seemed more concerned with just belting out his songs. The costuming was excellent, with the Pharisees looking like a cross between Morpheus from the Matrix and cops in riot gear. My dad was completely surprised and very grateful. He bought me a $3 soda at intermission. I can't believe people pay $3 for soda in a plastic cup, but we sure did.
Two days until Kentucky!! (Well, three days until I get there, but two days until I leave. It's a redeye flight.) It hasn't quite sunk in that I'll be seeing my Rachel in just a few short days!
No quiero estudiar. *pout* But hey, less than four hours to JCS! Very exciting. In other news, my quest to avoid doing any schoolwork is going rather well. I've watched two hours of SNL today, and while my attempts to coerce Sarah into a movie are not going so well, we know tonight will be fun and homework-free!
I'm embarrassed at myself...only one post in the last week. Can't say I'm sorry though, as the paper is now completed, and it definately needed all the time I spent on it (and quite a bit more that I didn't). I think it just might turn into my summer research project, that is, if I have any time at all for it. I really wish I could have done a better job with it. The assignment didn't require as much research as I did, and yet I felt like I barely scratched the surface. I sort of discovered this whole world of Joan (of Arc) and Christine (de Pizan, famous French medieval poet). It would make a fabulous period movie. Maybe only history nerds like me would watch it, but that doesn't make it wrong.
Countdown to Kentucky: 6 more days!!
Tomorrow night's the big surprise for Dad. He has no idea. I can't believe I've kept it from him. Will tell all tomorrow.
Oh look, once again I wrote nothing all weekend. For some reason I keep being surprised by it. Can't quite say why.
I went camping with my friends from "back home" last weekend. It was lots of fun. I got to demonstrate my skills with fire. Unfortunately, I didn't sleep well at all, and came off the weekend feeling truly drained. I slept through my morning class today, and I still don't feel refreshed. To make matters worse, I got called in to work today, so that was an additional several hours in which I was not studying or writing that research paper, which by the way I've made no progress on, which again should be no surprise.
Oh, and I learned this today: the best compliments aren't in the form of words.
