and so it goes

it's all over now

2006-12-08T13:51:00.000-08:00

Today was our last day in Oxford. It's so surreal. Walking into town for the last time tonight, I just couldn't believe that it actually was the last time. Erin and I are coming back to Oxford and staying in the backpackers' hostel the day before we go home, so I'm not leaving Oxford forever, but it's not the same.

Yesterday after we turned in our last papers (woot!), I did Christmas shopping and acted like a complete Oxford tourist, which was pretty entertaining. Except that tourists don't have Bodleian cards and can't go into the Duke Humphrey library and the Upper Reading Room without supervision. Yes, it is true; after we finished our work for the semester, my roommate and I went to a museum and the library. We are special. I also got some awesome pictures from the top of the University Church tower (like the one above).

Since our tutorials ended last week (for most of us anyway), we had two more papers to write: our long essay, on a topic of our choice that we had to plan out earlier this term, and a take home exam essay, on a question related to our field of study. We decided the take home was stupid (for lack of a more intelligent word), and I wasn't terribly fond of the long essay either. Several long days in the library recently, that's for sure. The English Faculty Library and I got to be very good friends. But one by one, we got finished with everything on Wednesday night, and much screaming of joy ensued. It is very strange not to have any work to do.

Now I'm attempting to pack. I need to wait till my laundry's done to pack my stuff for our trip, and I am not terribly motivated to pack everything else. I have so much stuff. It's actually rather obnoxious. But I donated some superfluous things to the next generation of SCIO "scholars," including the main parts of my pirate costume from Halloween. I'm sure that lovely green vest will go quickly.

I'm going to miss Oxford. And all the people... especially the lovely Lodgers. Nobody's living in our little cottage next term because they don't have as many people coming. So that's too bad for them, because it's awesome out here... except one of the lightbulbs in our bedroom went out last weekend, so it's been rather dark in here recently. But I really can't believe this is over and that I'll be home in a ten-ish days.

Well, I have three epsiodes of Grey's Anatomy left to watch, and then I'll be all caught up to the present... except for the new episode that was probably on in the States last night. So Erin and I are going to have popcorn and hot chocolate and watch Grey's and definitely not finish packing yet. I don't think I'll be sleeping much tonight.

By the way, one of the weirdest things going home will be the whole driving-on-the-right-side-of-the-road thing. We're so used to the left side now that when my roomie and I were in Berlin, we definitely looked the wrong way several times, and luckily we weren't hit by any cars. Just being in a car will be weird (haven't done that since leaving home)... and driving, don't know about that.

Anyway, better get going. Pray for us... we're off to travel eastern Europe starting tomorrow, and it's gonna be crazy. :)

over my head...

2006-11-13T02:58:00.000-08:00

I figured I should probably update this thing.

Is it possible that we only have three more weeks of term left? That our programme ends in less than a month? Nope, I didn't think so.

Good times were had in London and Madrid. Now I'm home and trying to get myself motivated to do work. Another crazy three days before hopping on a plane to Berlin.

Time for preregistration again. It's going to be quite sad to have my days full of classes again. It looks like I'll have four classes on MWF and one on TTh. Meh.

My aesthetics tutor is pretty much obsessed with Oscar Wilde. It's quite entertaining.

I've had the songs "Over my Head" and "How to Save a Life" by The Fray in my head all the time for about a week now. It's all Lauren's fault. She started it.

Off to read The Picture of Dorian Gray. And then to translate some more Beowulf. And then maybe to eat some galletas from the nuns in Madrid. Or... maybe I'll make tea and have a penguin. That would be good too.

Have a wonderful week.

traveling muffin?

2006-10-29T15:53:00.000-08:00

It's the start of fourth week. Somehow.

Erin and I had a successful trip-planning, money-spending afternoon. We are traveling to four countries in ten days at the end of term. Well, five, if you count the U.K.... and six if you count the U.S. Here 'tis: London to Salzburg to Prague to Warsaw to Bratislava to London to HOME.

We are going to be exhausted. But it will be awesome.

I'm going to London to see Char and Jocelene this weekend...

And I might go to Madrid next weekend...

And Lauren and I are probably going to Berlin the weekend after that.

I have a ton of work to do in the meantime.

Keep breathing.

rain rain go away

2006-10-11T11:40:00.000-07:00

Ok, real update this time. You know, one that actually has to do with my life and not just baseball...

So. Right now we're in the middle of the first week of the eight-week Michaelmas term at Oxford. My term will consist of weekly meetings for my primary tutorial, Old English Literature; biweekly meetings for my secondary tutorial, Aesthetics; a lecture series to correspond with each of my tutorials; two lecture series to correspond to my English seminar; weekly meetings with the rest of the SCIO students; and many many hours in the library reading and writing papers. But my first meetings with my tutors are both tomorrow morning, so I haven't had any work to do for a week now. It's rather a strange feeling, just sitting around killing time and going to the occasional lecture.

We had our mid-term break a week-ish ago, so my parents and my lil sis came to visit. I showed them around Oxford, and we went to Blenheim Palace (where Winston Churchill was born), Stonehenge, Salisbury, the Cotswolds, and Windsor Castle (the royal residence). It was a good time... Rachel got to miss school to come, but then she really really didn't want to go back. Ah, high school. Don't really miss it that much.

What else... I'm trying to plan various excursions for the semester, because I want to go to Spain to see Charlene, and Ireland and Scotland and Wales, and Paris... sadly, there aren't all that many weekends in the term, plus there's probably gonna be a lot of homework to do in there somewhere. Oh, and I'm delaying my homecoming from December 9 to December 19, because Erin and I are going to go to Bratislava, Vienna, Salzburg, and Prague. It's gonna be awesome... Austria at Christmas? Yay.

Requisite A's update: I stayed up till 3 a.m. last night trying to listen to Game 1 of the ALCS, but went to bed when the A's were down 5-0. That was a crappy game. But they play again tonight, which means less sleep for me, but hopefully a win for them.

Well. I should go wash my dishes from dinner. I don't know what else to write about on here, so if you have any questions, leave me a comment. :P

in case you were wondering...

2006-10-09T06:06:00.000-07:00

The A's swept the Twins in the ALDS (the first round of the playoffs). So now they're finally going to the ALCS!!! :D (And the Tigers eliminated the Yankees. Ha!)

A's vs. Tigers. Game 1, Tuesday, 5 p.m. Pacific... which is 1 a.m. here. Dilemma: sleep or baseball. Whatever shall I do? ;)

They were a little excited. Hee hee. :)

insert random title here

2006-09-23T14:00:00.000-07:00

First things first: if the A's win today's game against the Angels, they will officially have clinched the division. Yes, they are that awesome. (And yes, I have a one-track mind.)

I had an amazing ice cream sundae tonight. Well, honestly, I sort of had two, because I wanted another brownie and all the ice cream and stuff was just there, waiting to be eaten...

Anyway. This post is a product of me not wanting to work on my paper. Due to some technical difficulties, our timetable for the last few weeks got squished down into basically having to research and write two ten-page papers in two weeks. At this point, I'm mostly done with the first one and starting up on the research for the second one. It's great fun. The Radcliffe Camera Lower Reading Room is my friend.

Benjamin Britten, however, is kind of a creepy guy. Well, I guess I should say "was," since he's not exactly alive anymore, but whatev(er). I think I shall have to skip over the slightly disturbing parts of his biography and go to the parts that will be relevant for my paper. The hard part is deciding the direction of my paper. Boo.

It's quite entertaining to attempt to have a conversation with my mom through skype. From my experience, moms and technology aren't the best of friends, and it can be a little difficult to reconcile them... but it sure is fun to watch.

I feel like I should have more to say, but my one-track mind keeps being annoyed at me trying to multitask and wants to return to the A's game, so I think I shall have to end this... end it with that picture of Dayna I mentioned last time that she has no recollection of (which doesn't surprise me) and that still makes me laugh...

Yay Dayna! :)

well.

2006-09-02T14:03:00.000-07:00

This post is dedicated to Smooth Joe. For more info, read on. :)

I'm here, after a 10-hour plane flight, one-hour bus ride, and a 10-minute walk (while lugging two 50-pound suitcases). And it's actually going fairly well. Phew.

Today, after sleeping in, we did a little bit of exploring of Oxford-- found the supermarket, bought a hairdryer and a planner (which is called a "mid year diary") and laundry detergent... it costs something like 1.40 (in pounds, of course, but I don't know how to put the symbol in) to do a load of laundry here, so 75 cents at Dordt doesn't seem so bad.

And tonight, eleven of us went to a nearby pub for dinner. Apparently it was karaoke night, and this cute little old man sitting near us got up there and dedicated his song to "the girls in the corner." It was awesome-- he sang "I just can't help falling in love with you." Sooo cute.

Picture!

My flash didn't reach to the front of the pub, so you can't see him very well, but he's up there with his mic. They called him Smooth Joe. We laughed sooo hard when he got up there.

And it turns out, that instead of being in the 40+ person house, I'm in a little cottage (the Lodge) with three other girls. We're right next to the big house (called the Vines) but we have our own kitchen and bathroom and two bedrooms. It's pretty awesome.

More pictures!

My roommate Lauren at her desk.

My side of the room... the desk chairs don't rock back like the ones at Dordt (although they do have more cushion), so hopefully I don't fall over backwards too many times this semester.

So I tried to upload more pictures, but it's deciding not to work. And I don't really have the patience for that, so no more pictures for the moment. (A minor complaint: the wireless internet here is actually pretty slow. But I guess that will curtail the aimless web surfing, although it may make it harder to watch future A's playoff games on mlb.tv if the streaming video doesn't work very well. And yes, I am (pretty) confident the A's will be going to the playoffs, with an 8.5 game lead over the Angels right now. Good times.)

Oh, and Dayna, if you're reading this-- I have that picture of you and Karyn from James's barbeque on my wall-- the one from the swing and you're making this crazy awesome face. It makes me smile every time I look at it. :)

Ok, that's all for now. I should probably get some sleep. This time difference thing is weird, man.

...

2006-08-18T22:14:00.000-07:00

Two weeks.

Eek.

frying eggs on the sidewalk (no, seriously)

2006-07-23T22:31:00.000-07:00

I'm a bad blogger. I apologize to my sparsely populated readership, if anybody is actually out there in cyberspace.

So, quick life update: I'm working full-time, which leaves me much less time to do nothing but puts much more money in my bank account... I've seen a lot of my relatives on both sides of the family, which is strange for one summer... It has been entirely too hot here the past couple weeks, especially this weekend... There's only about a month left of summer... And I don't have much else to say.

Oxford calls in a few short weeks. When I think about it, it makes me quite nervous, so I don't think about it that much.

Oh! And Rachel is coming on Wednesday, and we're going to Root Beer Float Day at the A's-Red Sox game, and we're going to have an awesome time.

That is all. Hope summer is treating everybody well.

one fish two fish red fish blue fish

2006-06-12T00:16:00.000-07:00

So I definitely can't sleep right now. This is strange for me, since I'm used to conking out right when I hit the pillow. Plus it's only shortly after midnight, and if I was still at school, I wouldn't have even tried to go to sleep by now. But things seem to quiet down quite a bit earlier around here...

So, I think I have a job. They tell me I do, but the manager hasn't called to tell me when I'm starting. So I'm sort of on hold with that, I suppose.

I much prefer watching the A's in June. They're something like 9-2 since my last post. They swept the Yankees on the road. And Jason Kendall hit a home run. Yes, that is news.

We successfully threw a surprise bridal shower-type gathering this week. It was quite exciting, and quite last-minute, seeing as we planned it all (via the internet) about four days before it happened. And we made an amazing faux wedding cake. Yep, 'twas awesome.

I am considering my next waiting-for-Godot-or-sleep (whichever comes first) action... mayhap I will read more of Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment. Nothing like Russian literature to bring sleep, right?

Viszontlatasra!

(472 points to anyone who knows what that means who didn't go on the tour...)

of europe, baseball, and summer (but mostly europe)

2006-05-30T23:10:00.000-07:00

I'm back at home, sitting in the midst of the mess I like to call my room. Unpacking has been a slow and somewhat painful process so far. Hopefully I'll finish sometime before I have to leave again in a few months. {Side note: Watching the A's in May sucks. Plain and simple.}

So anyway, tour was pretty much awesome. Our 42-piece concert band hit Hungary, Romania, and Austria for two weeks, and we got back to the States a week ago today. We had six concerts, all in Hungarian Reformed churches, and spent the last three days relaxing in Vienna. I now know about ten words/phrases in Hungarian. Some highlights of the trip, in no coherent order:

The concerts. When the audience really liked a piece, they'd start clapping in rhythm so we would keep going, and at one of the churches the pastor said they just wanted us to start from the beginning again once we had finished. We didn't, but it was a nice sentiment. ;)
Seeing their reactions to hearing the Hungarian national anthem played. It was hard to keep playing sometimes, listening to them sing along and seeing the tears that came to their eyes.
The old ladies in Romania who waited up till midnight for us, with the stuffed cabbage and palinka. They were adorable.
Marta (our tour guide) and her stories and jokes. She put up with so much.
Bus fun! and the rock-paper-scissors tournament. I did surprisingly well, until we hit the semifinals. (But I still beat Claire-- heheh.)
Late-night conversations/rants with my tour buddy. ;)
Attempted communication with host families. "Perfect English!" ... "Moooo." ... "She wants you to dry your hair, otherwise you'll catch cold."
The psychotic cat at the home of our first host family.
The water slides at the thermal baths... and being able to avoid the overweight old people in Speedos.
The mini-water park in Vienna, with the awesome water slide and wave pool.
Spitting my gum into the Danube, and off the giant ferris wheel in Vienna.
Watching people's reactions to the palinka. That's some strong stuff.
Playing cards, especially Scum when everyone was exhausted and/or slightly tipsy. Heh.
"Hiking" in the Romanian hills... more like wandering around dark alleys and residential streets, trying to reach a high-ish point.
Attempting to shower without a shower curtain and keep the bathroom from flooding. That was fun.
Oversleeping, forming a game plan, and executing said game plan with amazing accuracy. (Go Leah!) ;)
Going to mass at St. Stephen's in Vienna twice, even though I didn't understand a word of what they said.
Riding Vienna's ferris wheel and dancing the entire way back to the hotel.
Running up the steps to the top of the clock tower in Sighisoara to see the awesome view of the town.
Walking through a gypsy town and seeing the two types of gypsies and how they live (and how they react to strangers).
Good times in the back of the bus... trying to claim the seats with more leg room... that didn't always work out for us.
Attempting to type on Hungarian keyboards, with the y and z switched, the @ sign and the apostrophe hidden, and everything super confusing...
Taking zillions of pictures. I love pictures.
Eating much ice cream. But I'm still not sure that any of it was truly gelato...
Learning some of the history of Hungary and Romania... could've learned a lot more, if only my listening comprehension was higher.
Hanging out with some awesome people that I didn't really know before this trip. Yay for people.

I know I'm missing about a million things, but it's late and this list wasn't going to be exhaustive anyway. Suffice it to say that we had a great time and that I'm already missing the awesome people I won't be seeing for several more months. :( Sigh. I hate going through friend-withdrawal.

And if you want to see the majority of my pictures, go here: http://s62.photobucket.com/albums/h111/jess986/Dordt%20Band%20Eurotour%202006/ (There are some on facebook, but this is a more complete collection.) Enjoy. :)

random rainy ruminations

2006-04-30T17:39:00.000-07:00

Done with classes. Rather weird.

Lots to do this week, take-homes and packing and cleaning and such. Somewhat stressful.

It's been raining all weekend. Slightly depressing.

Seeing the family in four-ish weeks. Pretty exciting.

Five days left with Dordt people. Sad.

...the shadow proves the sunshine...

2006-04-23T14:31:00.000-07:00

It's gorgeous outside today. I've been in my room all afternoon, but I'm sitting by my open window in the sun sort of doing homework-like things, so it's pretty close to being outside. The bad part is it makes me extremely unmotivated to write the paper I've been putting off for a very long time.

One week of classes left. Then exams (of which I only have one that's not a take-home, and that one barely even counts). And two weeks from tomorrow we leave for Eurotour. A month from today, we'll be flying back into Minneapolis after the tour. And after that, I'll be home.

And 3+ months later, I'll be leaving for England. Life is crazy.

it might as well be spring

2006-04-16T22:54:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter!

I guess it's actually not Easter anymore where I am... but it still is in California, so that works.

Today was a rather good day. Good food, good nap, good book to read (Peace Like a River-- and it was even for homework), good thinking at Wellspring, good talk with the parents, good housekeeping-type things done. Now I am going to do some good journaling and have a good night's sleep. (And no, I don't know any other adjectives besides "good.")

Matthew 28:1-10

After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.

There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.

The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples: 'He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.' Now I have told you."

So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them. "Greetings," he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me."

second longest week ever (last week wins)

2006-04-11T21:28:00.000-07:00

How in the world is it only Tuesday? It feels like it should be at least Thursday. Bleck. So I've pretty much been entirely too busy for the last couple weeks. I finally have somewhat of a break tonight, but only because I couldn't get the movie I needed to watch for class tomorrow. So I'm just not watching it. I'm actually gonna get some sleep tonight. Rather excited about that. It's weird though, because I feel like I should be doing something. Not exactly motivated.

I don't have anything to say, really. Mmmm, song lyrics. "Hallelujah."

I've heard there was a secret chord
That David played, and it pleased the Lord
But you don't really care for music, do you?
It goes like this
The fourth, the fifth
The minor fall, the major lift
The baffled king composing hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Your faith was strong but you needed proof
You saw her bathing on the roof
Her beauty in the moonlight overthrew you
She tied you to a kitchen chair
She broke your throne, she cut your hair
And from your lips she drew the hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Maybe I've been here before
I know this room, I've walked this floor
I used to live alone before I knew you
I've seen your flag on the marble arch
Love is not a victory march
It's a cold and it's a broken hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

There was a time you'd let me know
What's real and going on below
But now you never show it to me do you?
Remember when I moved in you?
The holy dark was moving too
And every breath we drew was hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Maybe there's a God above
And all I ever learned from love
Was how to shoot at someone who outdrew you
It's not a cry you can hear at night
It's not somebody who's seen the light
It's a cold and it's a broken hallelujah

Hallelujah, Hallelujah...

...running in circles...

2006-04-04T16:57:00.000-07:00

So that whole Opening Night thing didn't work out exactly like I had imagined it. Oh well. Just the first loss of approximately 60... par for the course. :)

Have a gazillion things to do. Should probably start doing them soon. Yep.

stressed spelled backwards is desserts

2006-03-28T20:59:00.000-08:00

Four weeks of classes left in the semester, followed by exams and a trip to Europe. Everything I have to do in the next month has hit me in the last couple of days, so I've been making lists on my bright yellow post-it notes, but I feel like each day goes by without me getting much of anything done. So I stress some more. Not a very good cycle.

Speaking of stress, qualifying juries are tomorrow. I have to play ten minutes of music (on the piano) for all the music dept. profs and whichever other teachers in the department happen to come. Yeah, just a tad freaked out about that.

And I pretty much forgot about the Minneapolis trip this weekend until tonight, which means I won't really have time to get ahead on homework or anything. Bleh.

On the bright side, baseball starts on Monday-- the A's open the season at home against the Yankees, Barry Zito vs. Randy Johnson, and it's supposed to be on ESPN2. So that's exciting... except it gives me another distraction. Oh well. :)

...ding ding...

2006-03-20T13:35:00.000-08:00

So, PLIA was pretty much amazing. We had quite the interesting trip... too bad it had to end. A few of the high points:

Breaking down in Missouri when one of the guys had to use the bathroom-- the van died on the side of the road, then when we were across the entire road turning around, and then again on the other side of the road.
Breaking down in Missouri again, this time at a stoplight, and being towed back to the gas station by Tim #1, who (supposedly) fixed the problem.
Taking a one-hour detour into Oklahoma in the wee hours of the morning.
Breaking down (again) in Arkansas, at a stoplight in a busier intersection, where Tim #2 helped us out and really did fix the van's problem.
Playing "Crazy Frog" and finger-dancing every time we got the van started again.
Dodging zillions of anthills inhabited by fire ants.
Wearing flip-flops and getting sunburned.
Playing volleyball and swinging with the local kids.
Painting (both the house and ourselves).
Going to a black gospel church and hearing an amazing gospel choir.
Playing Speed and ping-pong and doing puzzles and trying to play poker.
Roofing a house and picking up all the old shingles.
Hanging out with Robert, Robert Jr., and Robert the 3rd.
Cooking wonderful meals for ourselves and eating the leftover streusel dough out of the bowl.
Working at Treasure Chest, the thrift store, and enjoying every minute of it. *snicker*
Cleaning and painting a disgusting old trailer home, and singing while we worked.
37 hours in a van with ten awesome people. Good times. :)

oh mister sun, sun, mister golden sun, please shine down on me

2006-03-08T21:23:00.000-08:00

Yay for spring break. This is very exciting. All I have to do before we leave tomorrow is pack and clean. I've been done with class since today at 2, and I've been rubbing it in to everybody who still has stuff to do. Mwahaha.

It's supposed to be in the 70's and 80's in Mississippi. I'm rather excited about that. Flip-flops, hooray! :)

revive me...

2006-03-05T21:46:00.000-08:00

I'm kind of missing home right now. It's weird to have everyone else at home with me being the only one gone, since Bryan's still living at home. I feel somewhat out of the loop. And I don't get to go home or see my family until the end of May. It's kind of sad.

My next two days are going to be crazy. I love how the music department schedules all the concerts right before any breaks we have (i.e. Christmas break, spring break, summer break), which makes the already busy days even more insane. But I am looking forward to the concerts.

We're leaving for Mississippi on Thursday. Should be a good trip. I hope. But hey, it's a break from school, so that makes it good in and of itself. :)

Mmmm. Caramel-filled Hershey's kisses. Delicious.

early march blues

2006-03-02T22:19:00.000-08:00

I have done pretty much no homework tonight. Even though I do have plenty of stuff to do. I think I just won't study for my test or read the 40 pages that were assigned. Spring break, anyone?

I got accepted into the Oxford programme. So that's good.

I'm tired. Time for sleep.

look, a squirrel!

2006-02-26T21:13:00.000-08:00

Things I like:

Honey Nut Cheerios.
the Chicago soundtrack.
ballroom dancing.
playing piano.
winning card games.
naps.
sunny days.
talking to my family.
journalling.

Things I don't like:

homework.
misplaced apostrophes.
coldness.

motivation, where have you gone?

2006-02-19T16:41:00.000-08:00

I took a 2.5 hour nap this afternoon. It was great fun.

Yesterday I got up at 6:15 a.m. to work at the pancake breakfast, which was a fundraiser for our band tour. Came back to my room about 11 and slept till 4:30ish. That was also great fun.

Last night we made brownies and cookies and watched a movie and played ping-pong. Theresa said, "Maybe he did it on the roof," referring to the guy in the movie making the girl a garden on her roof, and it was just really funny. Everything was really funny. I think maybe I was really tired. We hid from Dayna and Karyn but they wouldn't come find us. It was sad.

We got good food after church today. It was exciting. I ate way too much. And we played ping-pong. The pastor there has some mad ping-pong skills, with different spins and everything. My strategy: see ball, hit ball.

I'm drinking a very large Coke right now. Maybe that'll get me to do my homework.

Mmmm, banana pancakes...

writer's block

2006-02-15T18:47:00.000-08:00

Man. Writing is hard work. On the plus side, I sort of have my story plotted out. On the down side, I have a long, long way to go before I even get to the middle of that plot outline in what I have actually written. Maybe I should take a break and study for my philosophy test before I am summoned to the Grille.

My head hurts.

chocolate is good for the soul

2006-02-08T20:23:00.000-08:00

So I pretty much have a ton of stuff to do, and here I sit posting on my blog. What can I say? I'm a procrastinator.

I hate how everything's due on the exact same date. It's pretty dang annoying. This time of February is not good for getting much sleep. But lucky for me, my classes this semester aren't very test-oriented, so while everyone else is getting slammed with 7269304 tests, I just have other work to do. Also helpful: I'm not taking just a regular literature class this semester, so that means a lot less reading and writing. But the amount of practicing I have to do makes up for that. I swear I live in the music building. Yesterday: 6+ hours. Today: 7 hours. I just should make myself a bedroom in one of the practice rooms or something. No one would notice.

My parents are in China right now. I'm somewhat jealous, although that's one heck of a long flight. And the jetlag... *shudder*

Off to work on my Oxford application... I really need to get that done tonight. Cross your fingers.

what happens when you cross a singer with a rocking chair?

2006-02-02T18:47:00.000-08:00

You rock to the beat. (cue forced laughter)

I have a serious lack of homework tonight. As in, I've been done for a couple hours now. It helps that my first class tomorrow is cancelled. So instead of working ahead, like I really need to be doing, I'm moving pictures and stuff around. It's fun. And relaxing. I could get used to this.

I'm seriously considering going to Oxford next semester. Thing is, the whole prospect of it kind of freaks me out. So, we'll see.

When I was applying to colleges, I applied to Seattle Pacific University, so of course I got oodles of mail from them. (I like the word "oodles.") This quote was all over their propaganda, and I remember it because I really just like it a lot: "The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet." (Frederick Buechner) I vaguely remember reading it in Gen 100 too. Funny how those things stick with you.

And another good quote: "Don't make me get the flying monkeys." Saw it on a piece of Wizard of Oz merchandise. It's my new favorite threat.

I suppose I should go read about different types of literary criticism. Somebody stop me before I explode from all the excitement.

greener pastures

2006-01-30T17:26:00.000-08:00

I have decided to switch over from xanga. Time for a change. So I suppose I will be posting here whenever I feel so led. Until then...

brave new world.

2006-01-21T15:19:00.000-08:00

Created an account to comment on other people's sites. Fun stuff.