Tour de France Drama

Otherwise known as: sports blogging about a sport you don't care about.

So I'm a Tour fangirl. My dad's a cyclist, and so we've watched the most highly publicized race in professional cycling since I was a young girl. The Tour de France takes place every year during the month of July and isn't strictly located in France, though much of the action does take place there. This week, there's been some flatter stages as we move out of the Alps and into the Pyrinees.

It's been a few good years for American cycling. This year, there are four American-run teams in the race. Team BMC is the one that George Hincapie, Marcus Burghardt, and Cadel Evans (who already spent a day in the maillot jaune - as race leader - during this tour) race for. Team Radio Shack is Lance Armstrong's team, and he's joined there by Chris Horner, Levi Leipheimer, Sergio Paulinho, and Yaroslav Popovych.

But those aren't the two teams I'm going to be talking about today. There's Team HTC Columbia, whose members include Mark Cavendish, Adam Hansen, Tony Martin (who spent some time in the white jersey, signaling he's one of the best U25 riders), Mark Renshaw, and Michael Rogers. And then there's Team Garmin Transitions, and they have Julian Dean, Tyler Farrar, Robbie Hunter, and Christian Vande Velde. (The color coding is to help you when I start telling the story.)

So HTC Columbia and Garmin Transitions have not always been the best of friends. In fact, they're the closest thing the Tour has to rival teams. Last year, when George Hincapie was on HTC Columbia, the chase action by Garmin Transitions is what cost him a shot at the maillot jaune - by five seconds on the day. So there's some bad blood there. Basically, each team races first so that they'll win, and then when that doesn't happen, they'll race so that the other loses. And that's not good sportsmanship, especially for the Tour de France.

Of course, there was drama today - sprint finish, both teams have good sprinters. Julian Dean is the leadout man for Tyler Farrar, so Tyler will launch from Julian's back wheel as the line approaches in the hopes of winning the stage. Mark Renshaw is the leadout man for Mark Cavendish. They obviously both wanted to win the stage today, so it got a little heated out there. Julian Dean went from the center of the road and started drifting left, into Mark Renshaw's line. So what did Mark Renshaw do to keep his place intact? Headbutted him. He headbutted the guy five times. I mean, rule is, you can't take your hand from the handlebars within so many km of the finish, but still. Five times. (If you're not hearing that in Principal Rooney's voice, I didn't do my job right.)

So Mark Renshaw keeps his line, and he launches Mark Cavendish just like he's supposed to. Except after he launched his man, Mark Renshaw didn't keep his line. And I don't just mean that he drifted a little bit. You can clearly see on the tape that he looked behind him, saw the orange and blue jersey of Garmin Transitions on the shoulders of their sprinter Tyler Farrar, and aimed right for the guy. It looks like Renshaw was about to slam Tyler into the boards before Tyler put a hand out on his hip to tell him he was there.

For his actions today, Mark Renshaw was disqualified from this year's Tour de France.

This normally wouldn't be such a big deal, except for the fact that HTC Columbia and Garmin Transitions are huge rivals. The thinking is that the race officials wanted to cool down the rivalry and thoroughly punish one of the teams, because to tell the truth, there were other ways to penalize Mark Renshaw for what he did. Normal protocol would be that he'd lose his place in the sprint, get relegated to last place/last time, and his team would be fined. But to be DQed? This is also the first non-drug DQ. Ever. Ever. It just drives home that this was a Very Bad Thing.

Especially since this might be an issue that divides the whole peloton. Nobody's going to want to help HTC Columbia with anything now - they deserve no respect. But some riders may feel that the officials were too hard on Mark Renshaw, and that may turn the whole group into a grudgematch between HTC Columbia and Garmin Transitions - which is exactly what I think the officials may have been trying to avoid.

I'm thinking George Hincapie was right to jump ship and move teams before this got so heated...

Gettin' nostalgic

So this morning, I had my last tutorial in the Oxford system. I'm done with philosophy forever. I leave on Thursday for a family trip to Ireland, so this is my last few days in the country.

It's unbelievable. I can't believe I'm not coming back next year. This has only been a year-long study-abroad program, but somehow I feel like I belong here and that I ought to be coming back. I've done pretty well here academically - it fits my style of learning.

And this country has been good to me. I love England. I love walking around in the city here and taking in the sights. I've grown to love the food here. Everything here in Oxford is so charming - pubbing, ice cream, all the things I've been able to do here. It's unbelievable. I just can't believe I won't be back.

It's been charming living in The Future, but it'll all be over soon.

STICK A FORK IN ME, I'M DONE!

- Jen -

Dear Internet,

Last night I had the most awesome dream.

It was about Twilight, but it made Twilight seem about one hundred times cooler than it really is. I was Bella Swan, but I was actually kicking some major tail instead of relying on boys to do it for me. Also, somehow, this was supposed to be in the continuity of Eclipse but Bella-me was pregnant with a normal human baby... so apparently Edward was human? And they had sex before marriage? I don't know, I didn't ask many questions. All I know is, there was this awesome romantic walk around a lake that looked like the lake at the Columbus Zoo, and there were some cuddly lovey moments, and then we got to this lake house and there was a big vampire fight where I hurt people and delivered great justice, Black Widow-style, even though Bella-me was, like, two months pregnant.

Then I did some hanging out with Jacob? I think. It was snowing out but it didn't seem cold, because he had massive body heat that was creating some kind of bubble shield around us that melted the snow. I think. I don't remember. Then we went to some kind of picnic with other supernatural creatures and he left for a while.

I do remember this part, though: I met Nathan Fillion in my dream. I don't know what part he was supposed to be playing, but I remember asking him how old he was, and he said "Five thousand, three hundred and sixty-two." And I was pretty amazed by that. He wasn't a vampire, either. Might've been some kind of angel or demon. And then I asked him what ancient Egypt was like, and we had a few laughs over it, and then I was told that it was creepy that I was talking to him, because Bella-me was seventeen and this guy looked like he was in his forties.

Then I was hanging out with Alice, Rosalie, and Esme. We were sitting at some kind of special booth for the taping of a late-night show? Or something. Rihanna was featured because she was in a new superhero movie coming out and her costume was creating a bit of controversy (basically, the bottom of it was like a souped-up thong). But I got to watch Rihanna kick some tail Black Widow-style again. It was funny, too, because at every time where you'd think the mooks she was beating up would bleed, they'd just show this strip of hot pink fabric. I pointed it out to Alice and we just laughed our heads off.

Then I woke up and realized the whole thing was kind of creepy. Okay, a guy that looks forty-three hitting on a girl that is mortal and only seventeen is creepy enough. But in my dream, Nathan Fillion was over five thousand years old. That goes way beyond pedophilia/ephebophilia in my book. And it made me think twice about Edward, too. He's 109 years old in the books. And he's hitting on a seventeen-year-old that he wants to eat. How come this never set off red flags for people?

... I just wanted to brag that Nathan Fillion was in my dream last night. Carry on.

- Jen -

Sick.

So I've been really sick since Tuesday. I'm finally starting to feel better, thankfully, although 100% might not happen until tomorrow... but tomorrow the dining hall is serving spicy Indian food so we'll see how long that lasts. (I might just get some kind of takeout tomorrow. Why do they insist on serving food that makes me sick and giving me no other non-spicy option?)

I just realized today: my last tutorial is four weeks from tomorrow. I'm done with my final Third Week here as of tonight. I can't believe how fast the time has flown but at the same time it feels like I've been doing this forever. (Especially since I've been really sick twice now. Time goes by much more slowly when you're sick. I hate that.)

Kate was hosting a friend of ours, Ryan, this weekend. Last night we went to the Eagle and Child for dinner. For those of you who don't know, the Eagle and Child was where Tolkien hung out all the time, and one of the creative writing groups here, the Inklings, still meets there. It's kind of cool. I obviously didn't get to try any of their 'real' food since I just stuck to the vegetable soup, but it seemed like a nice enough place. At least I can say that I've been there.

That's all for me right now. I have to get back to work or I'm really going to regret having been ill.

- Jen -

Mother's Day

Today is US Mother's Day. (The one in the UK was back in March; I celebrated with Mom when I was last home.) So remember to call home, get in touch with the ladies in your lives that are mothers, and let them know how much they're appreciated.

I'm also remembering my grandmother today. It's our first Mother's Day without her, so it's going to be a little rough, but we'll make it.

On another note, I'm sad that I won't be home today. If I were at ND, today I would have been home by now. Actually, I would have been home whenever my finals got out. As it is, I have my last tutorial five weeks from tomorrow. Five weeks. It feels like it's going to be a long time, but five and a half weeks from now, my mom, dad, and brother are going to be visiting me and I'll get to show them Oxford for a few days before we go to Ireland. And that's going to be exciting.

So yeah. This is a blog entry to tell my mom that I'm thinking about her, and also to whine that I'm still in school right now. Oh, and that I keep breaking my right thumbnail (the one that hits the spacebar) because I'm internetting/creative writing way too hard. I swear, sometimes I'm the nerdiest nerd to have ever nerded.

If you're traveling home today from college, safe travels. If you're still in school with me, good luck.

- Jen -

Quickest post ever.

There are only two things I want right now, and I just may buy them for myself instead of waiting because my birthday is in, like, five months and I'm impatient.

This and this.

If you don't feel like clicking on the links, this is what they look like:





HINT HINT WINK WINK

- Jen -

ETA: Add in the Questionable Content "white text on a black shirt" shirt and I've got a Yahtzee.

Ben Folds and volcanoes

They really don't have anything to do with one another, but that's what I'm going to be talking about in this blog entry, so here goes.

Yesterday marked the day that Justin and I have been together for three and a half years. Isn't that nuts? I mean, we're only twenty and we've spent nearly twenty percent of our lives together. Math is awesome. I guess the concert yesterday was an indirect celebration of that, but we didn't really plan it that way.

I got my tax returns postmarked on my way up and saw some cops in some weird places (come on, it's totally not fair to jam your car up behind a bridge shoulder and then gun over said bridge shoulder, I can't even see your car), but nothing out of the ordinary. Justin and I grabbed some dinner, then it was onto the Healthline (the main bus line that runs up and down Euclid Avenue) to get to the House of Blues for the Ben Folds concert. It was me, Justin, another couple, and two of his other brothers (ugh I am so bad with names, hopefully post will be edited later to say who we actually went with).

We got there in time to get some pretty good spaces (not seats - this was standing room only) in the pit in front of the stage. Before the opening act went on, the other girl and I went up to get our merch. We ended up getting the same concert tee. It's pretty cool looking and I'm sure I'll be wearing it a lot. I wore it at the concert, which means it's filthy right now.

The opening act was really weird and kind of lame (as all opening acts are). Name was Matt Pool or something like that, but he couldn't play the guitar, so his friend was up there playing the guitar with him. His songs were good and I might have liked them if they had had a full band and slightly less cliche lyrics, but because it was just the two guys and they were an opening act, I was not impressed. Justin joked that he would have fallen asleep if we weren't standing up, but I did actually fall asleep on him at one point. (He was also referencing another concert we went to, where Grizzly Bear was opening for Radiohead and we actually did fall asleep in our chairs.)

Ben Fold was FANTASTIC. I can't even use enough sparkletext. We had singalongs to his songs, we clapped at all the right points, we danced and laughed. Ben even played the drums while he played Rock This Bitch, and he did some 'minimalist' renditions with a maraca against the mic in one hand and his other hand on the piano. I just - it was fantastic. And then for an encore he finished with 'Song for the Dumped Minor', which I didn't think he would play because that was a full-band arrangement. God, it was fantastic.

We didn't get back to campus until midnight, and boy are we ever glad that we got our swag before the concert instead of after. Justin and I were up kind of late talking and got to sleep in a little this morning, so that was nice. I still don't know when I'm going to see him again but I'm glad I got in a few hugs and kisses before I left again.

But speaking of leaving, this is where the volcano comes in. I'm pretty sure everyone knows by now that a volcano went off in Iceland and is spewing ash everywhere, but now I don't know if I can get back to school for the next term. My flight is on Tuesday, so hopefully the ash clears a little and the blockade of UK airspace ends, but if it doesn't I really don't know what I'm going to do...

Ah well. I have grandparents over after tonight's performance of Oklahoma!, so more on the musical after both of the performances tomorrow.

- Jen -

My blag got lonely!

I haven't been updating it much since I got home, but this was kind of a big deal that has an impact on my future and stuff.

I registered for my first semester of my classes for senior year.

I mean, it doesn't seem like that big of a deal, but with a few numbers and a few clicks of the mouse I am now one step closer to actually graduating, and it's kind of scary. I did get most of what I wanted, though, so that's good. Fiction writing for majors was blocked to me for some reason (I have the sneaking suspicion that they require 'pre-registering', which I feel to be unfair to those who aren't studying on main campus and thus can't have meetings with their advisers like everyone else on main campus do). I did manage to get a pretty good second theo though (War, Peace, and Conscience - pretty awesome, if you ask me). So, here's how my schedule stands right now for Fall 2010:

Monday-Wednesday (no classes on Friday woohoo):
Narrative and Sexuality with Susan Cannon Harris (I heart her, this will be awesome)
3:00-4:15

Tuesday-Thursday (bad, bad days for me):
2nd Theo: War, Peace, and Conscience with Michael Baxter
9:30-10:45
Virtue, Sex [as in 'or gender', has little to do with fornication] and the Good Life with Margaret Doody
12:30-1:45
Contemporary British and Irish Fiction with Mary Smyth
2:00-3:15
Visits to Bedlam with Christopher Fox
3:30-4:45

So that's that, I suppose.

Oh, and over break I not only got my hair redone while I was home, but I also got new glasses! Pictures forthcoming, maybe. I haven't taken a lot of pictures recently.

I've now gone up twice to Cleveland and Case Western Reserve University to visit Justin, and I went up to Notre Dame once to visit all my friends there. All of these visits were really, really fun, but I have to say, some of the highlights were:

-Seeing Zombieland at Case and formulating zombie apocalypse plans with Justin afterward
-Going shooting with Greg and getting to shoot a P90 (check Facebook pics and vid for confirmation of this - it was completely and totally awesome)
-Going out to Olive Garden with, like, 12 of my new best friends (and riding along people's laps to get back to campus, woo was that an adventure)
-The Beta formal that just took place this weekend (I will have a new profile picture soon and it will be very pretty!)

That's pretty much all the time I have for right now, and that's the highlights from the last few weeks. I'm only in town for another week or so, and there's not much going on in that next week besides writing, the Ben Folds concert on Thursday night, and Oklahoma! this weekend... well, I guess there is a lot going on. I'll try to be better about my blogging, and I know it will be better once I get back to school. (Crap, I still have a term left of school!)

- Jen -

Best dinner ever.

So tonight, there was just going to be my mom and I for dinner, and we decided to clean out the fridge. It ended up that we created a bowl of the best pasta I've ever had.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cup rotini (the corkscrew pasta noodles)
1/2 jar queso sauce (we used Taco Bell brand)
1/4 serving sloppy joe meat
1 tomato, diced

Boil pasta, warm queso, dice tomatoes, reheat leftover sloppy joes, mix together, eat and enjoy.

I also got new glasses ordered today. They have metal frames around the eyes and plastic frames back towards the ears, and best of all - they have magnetic sunglasses clips! I don't get them for another week but I'm quite excited.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm watching Oklahoma! and this is very important.

- Jen -

Wow it's been a little while.

I got kind of busy. Sorry, everyone, my life has been weird.

Today I had an eye exam! How exciting. I hadn't had an eye exam since, like, December 2007 (I remember getting my current glasses, the red frames, before Spring 2008 semester). And you know how they say with exams like that, you can never fail? Well, I did.

My exam took twice as long as expected, because I have apparently developed astigmatism in my left eye (non-dominant eye) since my last exam (which, yeah, 2+ years ago, but still). Since we didn't know about the astigmatism, we had to check my left eye with three different contacts, and three times with the lenses. I think we have the prescription down by now, but it's still weird that it took so long to determine what was wrong with my eye.

Then, of course, he had to measure the curvature of my eyes, and do the juvenile glaucoma test, which... blah, my least favorite. I do not like having air puffed onto my eye. But it's important, that I won't deny. Our high school principal's son has juvenile glaucoma so I try to raise my own awareness about it through word of mouth.

The rest of my day was taken up by buying bridal shower gifts, going to Taco Bell, doing knitting, looking for frames that I might like (need new glasses now if not sooner), doing a transposition of Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'" for my brother, and watching Oklahoma! since my brother is Curly (the male lead) in the musical my high school is putting on this year. It's been a busy day, and I would go to sleep, but I'm still vaguely upset about things elsewhere on the Internet, so we'll see.

- Jen -

This post is a list because I said so.

1. I just got out of my Philosophy of Mind tutorial. This means that I only have three papers to write and three more tutorials for this term, woohoo! And I got out twenty minutes early. And I didn't metaphorically faceplant. This is a good day, folks.

2. It is also a good day because Kate and I went to the new candy shop that's around the corner from here, and I got red Italian liquorice. It was delicious. And the last few bites were the perfect after-tutorial treat.

3. I get to write an essay about Death of the Author tonight. I feel like I should get this particular credit-hour counted towards my English major back home, but enh, probably not gonna happen.

4. Apparently Jeph from Questionable Content has met the Rooster Teeth guys... apparently their booths were next to each other at ComicCon 2008. This is like dividing by zero, only successful. And more awesomer. Also, this only ups my desire for the 'Yaoi Zone' shirt from the QC store, should I go to ComicCon some year and see both the RT guys and Jeph. This is relevant to my interests, folks.

5. I will make it to London on Saturday. I will, I will. Because I deserve it, and also because I will go crazy with wanting to see the Tate Modern if I don't. Besides, I'm feeling much better and willing to take my academic work a little less seriously this next week. Because, hey, it's Eighth Week, and also because I said so. And because my life is better with less stress and less migraines.

6. YELLING BIRD IS IN MY HEAD. YOU HEAR THAT, YELLING BIRD? I WOULD APPRECIATE IT IF YOU AND YOUR [redacted] ALLCAPS WOULD JUST GET OUT OF MY [redacted] HEAD, YOU [redacted] [double redacted].

7. I knew I forgot something! So I went to the computer lab to print today, and... it appears that they've installed either Windows Vista or Windows 7 into their machines... barring that, they've actually installed Office 2007. Whatever they did, they had like, 6 of their 20 computers in the lab working (a new record!), and they booted quickly. Like, super-quickly. And I was pleased.

- Jen -

This deserved its own post.

I have written almost 45k of fiction between when NaNo ended and now. I'm very proud of myself, because this time last year, the count was 0.

Back to your regularly scheduled content when I actually have some, uh, content.

- Jen -

This is my 100th post!

And I'm using it to complain about malware. Typical me.

It sucks. I've had about eleventy panic attacks this afternoon because a malware program called Antimalware Doctor has decided to rove my computer rong time. At least I have internet back now after a System Restore that shouldn't have happened, and now I know to thoroughly Google the problem before I decide I can tackle it myself.

Major props to AJ and Kate, and especially Justin, for being dearhearts and helping me out today. Especially Kate, who lent me her computer. I owe you chocolate. <3 So, for the rest of the night, I'ma try not to panic and also get some work done. That sounds good. Yup.

- Jen -

PS. If anyone *coughcoughGREGcough* has any tips about how to get rid of this... I would gladly accept them. :)

ETA: At 9:55 GMT, our beloved Antimalware Doctor breathed its last as first its registry keys were deleted, then the .exe itself was deleted after a reboot to save mode. A moment of silence for our fallen friend malware.

*silence*

Now that that's over, WOOHOO! I learned that with a little Google-Fu and a lot of handholding, I can get through pretty much anything computer related. Maybe I'm not too dumb to use a Mac after all... And I did get a pretty awesome antispyware program out of the deal.

Wait, what?

So apparently it's the last day of February. What?

The last part of my week last week did not go so well. Fail ranged from completely bombing my tutorial, having no self-esteem to continue my essay, not falling asleep until 3:30 (and learning that, apparently, I should be able to control all sources of bad stress in my life), getting the "You all right?" "Yeah." "No, really, are you okay?" conversation four times on Friday (tutor, till worker at sandwich shop, and librarians at both the Philosophy library and the New College library), being so tired at Guest Dinner that I'm sure everyone was convinced I was drunk, wanting to sleep on Friday night yet having the world conspire against me OMG, etc.

Yesterday was a bit of a turn-around for my luck, though. Kate and I went to the International Festival at the exam schools across the street for lunch, which was fun. We got coupons for a fiver and I spent mine on a huge plate of fried rice and a cup of chai. Kate also tried Turkish Delight for the first time and is probably now convinced that England is Narnia. Kate also showed me to a new library, the Radcliffe Science Library. I like it in there, and even though I'm no scientist, I may go study in the room she showed me, because I think it is awesome.

Also, apparently gypped is a racist term. I feel bad for not knowing that before (and also not knowing that that's how you spell it, thus my complete ignorance). Sorry, world :(

Today I'm trying to get my reading done pretty quickly, as the Failed Novelists (my writing group here) are going out on another pubbing adventure across Port Meadow tonight. I'm not sure where we're eating dinner but I can guarantee that wherever it is, it'll look like Middle Earth, and for that I am excited. To celebrate, I am wearing my "I'm an English major: you do the math" shirt, which also makes me excited. I'm also doing relatively well on my reading for this week, all things considered, and today I slept in, so that was also good.

Tomorrow I may or may not be going to London; it all depends on how I feel. If I don't get enough done today, I may pass London off until next week (I keep putting it off but I just want a few hours at the Tate Modern so badly...). Anyways, must get back to work, this Internet break has lasted about 15 minutes too long.

- Jen -

ETA: Also, I only have about 550 pages of reading this week. Which doesn't sound all that good until you realize that probably 150 pages of it is re-reading from last week because, durr, I had no comprehension skills, and the other 400 pages is all English-type reading about literary criticism that reminds me of my most favorite poem ever, T. S. Eliot's 'The Waste Land'. So, I think this is a win-win.

Also, I saw snowdrops when I was at Balliol for my tute on Thursday. Apparently in this country that means it's spring already. I love it here! Especially since, for the past two days, it's been mostly sunny (only occasionally rainy) and I haven't had to wear a coat as much. I'm going to hate going back home to Ohio where there's apparently 3 feet of snow on the ground.

Best Week Ever

is such a funny show, am I right?

Well, as it turns out, I got 700+ pages of reading finished in four days (Saturday-Tuesday), and I got all of my Aesthetics reading done in one day (Tuesday). Even with the Migraine from Hell. So, I'm kind of proud of myself.

This also means that it's noon on Wednesday and I'm already 20% done with my Philosophy of Mind paper, which isn't due for another 20 hours. This is truly a joyous day. I don't think I've ever started a paper this early since I came to Oxford - this is going to be hard to top. Too bad it took me until Sixth Week to learn how to balance my schedule... oops.

I'm also making plans for when I go home over break! I was invited to a bridal shower, which is yay. I'm trying to make plans to celebrate [UK] Mother's Day with my mom. I'm figuring out when I can and can't go to Cleveland, and I'm setting up what might be the best ND weekend I've had in a long time (Thursday-Sunday: this'll be fun!).

So, basically, today is a day to kick back and relax about not having to write a paper in four hours. This is... wow. This is relaxing and, dare I say it, fun?

I also found a band that's like a cross between Franz Ferdinand (in the general feel sense) and Spinal Tap (in the way they are a parody of pretty much every kind of rock out there, and in how their lyrics are completely hysterical). It greatly amuses me when I write papers on Aesthetics to music that most people would not find aesthetically pleasing.

- Jen -

Sixth Week Blues

That should totally be a song title.

- Migraine. 'Nuff said. I'm looking at my monitor on the dimmest setting, the only light in my room from behind me, and it's still too bright and my keys sound too loud. Also my head hurts. /redundant
- Too much reading... Though I finally finished my Philosophy of Mind reading today, it didn't come without some pain and/or suffering. I nearly threw a book out the window. Yeah, that bad.
- Completely derailed from doing anything productive in order to respond to an e-mail from a friend. This kid knows I'm pro-our current gun laws, I know he's pro-ban guns forever, and he decided to e-mail me this morning and basically start a fight instigate a reasonable and well thought out discussion. I'm going to go ahead and postulate that it was this that pushed my headache over the edge into becoming a migraine.
- Miss home, ready to go back now.
- Practically incapacitated for the night due to pounding head.
- This is actually a better day than the last two days, if that says anything.

I have no idea what I'm going to do for the next three hours besides read things on the Internet - I can't do any reading for class like this. Today sucks.

- Jen -

Just a few little things.

I'm doing all right on my reading - my goal is 140 pages on the day so that I'm 20% done with my reading, and I'm almost there.

I had Oreos and Diet Cherry Coke for lunch. Best lunch ever.

I'm missing out on Junior Parents' Weekend! I think we get to hang out with next year's juniors if we want our parents to do it, but really... I'm kind of jealous that I'm missing out on all the fun activities. And I didn't even realize/recognize it was this weekend until last night, so... um... yeah.

But the main reason for the blog post is this bit of news:

NEW SEASON OF RED VS BLUE AIRS 1 APRIL! Excuse me while I go glee some more.

- Jen -

MST3K trivia!

Did you know that... there are 88 'Cabot's said by the cast of the movie "Outlaw"? (That are able to be heard through the riffing, anyhow, and I'm not including the several 'Cabot's by Mike and the 'bots. Be very careful if you do a drinking game to this word.) Yes, I just went through and counted them all. Next time I'll be counting references to buffalo shots.

It's been a good week, and this next week looks to be just as great... if only I can get some work done tonight. D'oh! Keep getting distracted by the Internet...

- Jen -

ETA: You probably actually want to know something about my life, right? Well, get this - more statistics for you. I have at least 436 pages of reading to do... and that's just for Philosophy of Mind. And currently I have 55 pages' worth of PDFs for Aesthetics, and that's just the non-required reading for this week. All the books I need for my required reading are either stolen or otherwise missing from the philosophy library, which means a trip to the Bodleian later this week... If I were to give a guesstimate, I probably have 700 pages of reading to do. Oh, joy of joys...

It's always something different.

I'm talking, of course, about the one thing that academically grates on my nerves every week. Last week, it was references to Duchamp's 'Fountain'. (I still swear that if I see another reference to it in my reading for Aesthetics, the shotgun's coming out.)

This week, it's two things.
1. Journals and anthologies published with two columns of text on the page. What do you think you are, the Bible? It just makes things so much harder for me to read, especially if I'm reading the article electronically and I can't remember if I need to scroll up or scroll down once I hit the bottom of the page. This should be simple, folks.
2. 'Phlogiston' and 'caloric'. If I see another reference to either of those in Philosophy of Mind, once again, shotgun.

This is a short post because I still have reading to do to prep for my tutorial tomorrow morning, so ta for now and expect better entries this weekend.

- Jen -

Please pass the Brain Bleach...

You know, today was going to be a good day, until two things happened.

1) I saw a story I liked by someone in my fandom. So I followed this person to their personal journal, hoping that they would have back-posted some of their other stories so I could enjoy them. Instead, I found a bunch of random memes (which is fine, that's what personal journals are for). What's not fine is that this person uses one of these memes for the sole purpose of bashing people who came into the fandom after a certain date (2008, in case you're wondering), saying they 'can't stand their writing' and that, in fact, the only people they can stand are the ones they were already friends with.

Um, no. Way to not give me a chance. I consider myself to be an okay writer - certainly worse than some of the Big Name Fans in our fandom (of which this person is not one), but I try, and people seem to genuinely enjoy the things I write. And you know, really I write for me, and I just lap up the comments I get - that's the only reason why I publicly post, really. But to say that I'm automatically not any good at canon or style because I joined this fandom two years after you think I should have? Nuh-uh, logic fail. Besides, I'm one of the few people I know that actually a) was around/watched during the first season and b) came back later just to get into the fandom specifically.

The worst part was, after the review I left (which was generally positive), this person decided to take an attitude with pretty much everyone, including taking shots at people's ships and demanding that they take shots at writing pairings they're not comfortable with. Also, in the reply to my review, this person insinuated that their character interpretation is the only right one, ever. I didn't want to cause wank because this is an insanely tiny fandom and, without the gender-neutral pronouns, it would be painfully obvious who this person was. But... really?

You're going to judge me because you think I write the 'wrong' pairings, have no justification for my pairings, and I came into the fandom after an arbitrary date that you set? You know, we all pretty much get along; don't like, don't read, and all that. That being said, the canon itself is pretty much crack - it's one of the few series I know where you can literally get away with things that don't seem physically possible, including gruesome deaths and male pregnancy. So the fact that I took the entire length of a 9500-word fic, actually using canon scenes, to justify my characterization instead of making it cracky should mean something to them, even though they don't like my conclusion. And since this person's being a wanker, I'm not even going to go into how I think they're wrong about their characterization. Yes, they wrote a pairing I enjoy, and the story was good, but it soured completely once I realized that they had a high and mighty attitude.

2) This video. I don't know what possessed Justin to share this with me, but oh my god I have been crying for the last twenty minutes.

So, thanks. Thanks, life, for giving me two DO NOT WANTs in one day. NEDM is going to save this. I'm just going to go, you know, cry in a corner for the next forty-five minutes.

- Jen -

ETA: Apparently this entry needs its own lexicon, so here we go.
wank: specifically in the context of fandom, an argument that gets completely out of control. See additional and more specific use in the term 'grudgewank'.
wanker: generally a British term, original use meaning someone who wanks; just replace 'wank' with the previous definition.
canon: original production of a work. For instance, all seven Harry Potter books are canon. All released Harry Potter movies are also canon - a different canon. This is as opposed to fanon, which is never explicitly stated in the original work but picked up by fans of the work and presented as factually present in canon. Note spelling: canon is not a cannon, though I do wish I could shoot people with it sometimes. Compare use in religious senses: canonical books of the Bible.
fic: short for fanfiction - a piece of derivative fiction based off of an original work.
fandom: the legion of fans collected together for a certain canon. These fans generally have interaction with one another at some level - after all, these people both produce and read derivative work. Some fandoms are small, some are large, and the proportion may have nothing to do with the critical acclaim of the show. If you are just a fan, you are not necessarily a part of the fandom; fandom members actually participate in derivative works, whether that's through searching them out/reading them or producing them themselves.
meme: in this context, any sort of post that is picked up from a friend, posted on one's own personal Internet space, and then passed on to other friends. Somewhat like a virus in that respect. Compare Facebook notes where the instructions include 'tag 10 friends lol'.
ship: short for relationship. In fandom, used as a verb indicating that the poster prefers to see works with the given relationship in them. Example usage: "I ship Ron/Hermione lol so canon guys." Also used as a noun, as in someone sails on the Good Ship Harmonian. [If anyone gets the joke in this definition, I will bake you a dozen cookies of your choice, reedemable within the next year.]
pairing: what you ship. Traditionally posted with a / or x between the names, though portmanteaus are not unheard of. See also OTP, short for One True Pairing, which is the preferred ship for a fandom member, and OT3, short for, well, One True Three.
cracky: anything that is crack. Crack is generally a label for pairings that seem impossible in canon for characterization reasons (note that spatiotemporal difficulties never seem to factor into this). The 'crack' label is not equivalent to the 'OOC' (out of character) label. Given a legitimate enough argument, though, pairings can move out of the crack category, though most fandoms agree that certain pairings will always be crack. An example of a crack pairing would be Hogwarts Castle/Giant Squid. [Yes, this actually exists. Oh, the horror of the Internet.]
You happy now, AJ?

MLIA stands for My Life Is Awesome

Because you totally know it's true.

Yesterday was Valentine's Day. I got to talk to Justin for a little bit, which was great! My blog entry, reposted as a note on Facebook, got about 25 comments from people who weren't me, so omg that was fantastic to have my inbox fill up with so much comment spam love. The LJ community I'm active in was having a time-limit fic challenge (only 5 days to work on whatever), and it was fun to write that and see everyone else's entries.

Most of all, though, it was Chinese New Year and all the shenanigans that took place then... including talk about orgies, saliva-rape, Moments, and drunk pictures. I don't even know, but I laughed and I laughed really hard. AJ, Dakota, and Kate, I heart you all so much and you made my day.

I mostly just wanted to post that I'm halfway done with my school year as of Saturday and I hardly even noticed. I've finished with Week 4 of eight of the second term out of three, so yeah, do the math and I'm just now halfway done with my school year.

As for slightly more happy math and statistics, only 25 more days until I get to see Justin! Slightly sad statistics, though, is that I still have five articles to read for the paper I need to write Wednesday night and I've only done about ten pages of reading today. Whoops!

- Jen -

Come on, have a seat.

We're all going to have a chat today, k?

First of all, it's Chinese New Year. Woo for awesome food and wine tonight with my friends!

Second of all, my desk calendar tells me that it's also Valentine's Day. And that's what I wanted to have a chat about. So, please, get comfortable, because we're going to air out a few grievances.

I understand that a lot of people who aren't in romantic/sexual relationships right now are angry and hurt, declaring today to be Singles Awareness Day. And as much as you feel hurt by the excessive shows of schmoopiness around you from established couples, I want to point out that the moniker 'Singles Awareness Day' is pejorative to couples - specifically, couples like the relationship I'm in right now. I don't have my schmoop to give out this year, because my boyfriend is far, far away; it hurts me just as much to see couples smiling and holding hands as they walk down the street (yes, hurts, my nails have left prints on my palms by now). So if we're going to have a bitter and cynical name for the rejection of romantic love, I'd like to nominate 'Loneliness Awareness Day,' because trust me, I'm feeling it too.

Frankly, calling it any kind of awareness day also calls attention to how bitter and cynical you are. And really, that's not going to get you anywhere. In fact, my very good friend Conan O'Brien would like to remind you all that you will never get anywhere in life by being a cynical and bitter person. Holding out hope and feeling love for yourself and others is a sure-fire way to help people get along; it's just on a day like today that cynical and bitter attitudes don't fit in.

I understand that a few of my male friends hate this day, and trust me, I truly understand why. I would like to remind the people whose birthdays are near today that you should be thanking your mothers for pushing you out of their uterus rather than cursing the world that you were born near a pretty much arbitrary holiday. For those people who have had romantic mishaps on this day, I want you to remember one thing: That was in the past. I understand that today is an emotionally charged day, really I do, but the past is really past. It's a part of who you are, and I understand that, but it hurts me to see my friends give up on romantic love just because they were burned. I'm sorry that it happened to you, and I know it hurts very much to remember that it happened. So if it hurts, I'd advise letting some of that hurt dissipate. Holding on to hate is just going to make you a bitter and cynical person, and really, would you want to fall in romantic love with yourself if you're just going to be bitter about the whole thing?

That's another thing I want to point out. It's a chronic problem across many Western societies, which is strange, because this concept was only invented about 500 years ago. See, the thing is, romantic love is not the only kind of love there is. I know that today being Valentine's Day and all, you might be tempted to think that romantic love is the only kind of love that is worth having, or the only kind of love that you can be proud of and nourish. And that's not true. You love your friends, your family, your dog, your computer, your online communities, your interests. So, please. Think about what you love, and do something you love today. [Fill in joke about something=someone here.]

So, if you have a group of friends who are all complaining, seriously, cut it out. Do something you all enjoy. Maybe that's going out to Chinese and getting drunk, since it's Chinese New Year as well. Maybe it's having a movie/video game marathon into the early hours of the morning. Maybe it's having a snowball fight and then sharing funny stories over hot cocoa. Maybe it's pranking someone, and seeing them laugh when they realize it was you who did it. Maybe it's finally getting up the courage to ask someone to not be so alone with you.

Notice how the only option I put up there that was even slightly romantic was the last one? Yeah. Because you can love all of these people that you do these things with; you can love them until your heart breaks, because they're all people you care about. But it isn't romantic love. And that's fine. (And asking someone to share their loneliness with you doesn't have to be romantic either - maybe you just want to have a two-person pity party and feel terrible about yourselves, and just not feel so alone while doing that. I find that perfectly acceptable and in fact therapeutic. And it doesn't have to be someone you're romantically interested in!)

My final point comes from Wikipedia (endless source of all truthful knowledge, etc. etc.). See, St. Valentine was canonized somewhere around the 4th or 5th century because of 'word of mouth' deeds that made him saintlike. We've discovered now that, back then, there was no individual St. Valentine to whom these deeds were ascribed. There's another St. Valentine from Spain who was martyred in the 8th century, but the 14th of February isn't his saint's day. It's believed that the celebratory part of this holiday evolved sometime in the 14th century, along with ideals of courtly love (which, I must point out, have fallen somewhat out of favor). So if you're Catholic and wondering why some young lovers had to choose to be martyred today, stop wondering! St. Valentine never existed as such, and so you can feel free to let go of all of the stigma of this day. (As a side note, Valentine is a name evolved from the Latin word for 'valor', which I find awe-worthy and motivating and also find amusing that it has nothing to do with love, except maybe love for the Church.)

To reiterate my points... please. I'm so tired of seeing hatred, bitterness, and cynicism when this could easily be a day just as fun and love-filled as any other. Make Valentine's Day your own day. If you like the Hallmark-card, chocolates-and-roses, buying-things-for-someone-you-love option, that's great! (I love all those things too.) If you like the spending time with one specific person you care deeply about, however it is that you care about them, that's great too! If you want to remind all your friends, family, online communities, and random strangers how much you love life, I heartily applaud this effort and hope that you make your day this fantastic. Mostly, though, I hope everyone takes advantage of this day to show everyone how much you love them. Because we all like to know that the love gets spread around, and we all like to be reminded that romantic relationships aren't the be-all end-all or, in fact, the only way you can love someone.

Peace, love, and chocolate,

- Jen -

V-day Weekend

This weekend has absolutely rocked so far (and yes, yesterday totally counts as part of it).

Yesterday morning I had probably my greatest tutorial here (about how I don't think 'art' can be essentially defined, or in fact have any kind of definition that doesn't have a courtesy meaning). This tutorial also ended with the best proclamation a student can hear: "We'll pick up on this again next week. I can't send you reading until Sunday, so it'll be a little lighter, and you won't have to write a full essay, just discussion points." *fistpumping forever*

Then there was the fact that I'm actually writing again. This makes me joyous. What makes me even more joyous is that people like what I write and really seem to appreciate it. I'm a member of a fanfiction community (for a really small/obscure/weird fandom) that is overflowing with so much love and support that... I don't even know. I heart everyone there, though.

And! I had a chat with Kate about her day yesterday, and I'm not only proud of her for not passing out/upchucking but also proud that she's not freaked out by Eye Scream as much as I am. She deserves a country's worth of chocolate.

Then! There was guest dinner with Dakota last night, which was full of music, terrible English dubs, gossip about AJ, and Pokemon as possibly the greatest game franchise of all time. Also, I think I used the word 'fantastic' about 100 times in two hours. After said dinner, I was also tipsy-posting on the aforementioned comm.

And then! I actually got to talk to Justin for, like, an hour! For the first time in a long time! And I ate those silly Necco hearts, and listened to the audio commentary for my RvB DVDs, and re-read what might be my favorite piece of fanfic of all time, and... I don't even know. To reuse a word, yesterday was fantastic.

And today's been even better, if possible. Had a lie-in until, like, 10:15, woke up to an inbox full of comment love, joined up for a V-day fic challenge, spent pretty much all my time awake on the Internet... and I'm only starting my work just now, even though it needs to be done. There is just so much glee in my life right now, I don't even know where to start.

So, I just hope the rest of this weekend goes this well. Not much going on tonight besides probably working on my reading for the week and writing up the other two fics I want to post to the comm this weekend, but then tomorrow we have Chinese New Year formal hall, which should also rock.

Look for a special entry tomorrow about how Valentine's Day doesn't suck, even if you're single.

- Jen -

Super Bowl Sunday

The title of this blog post is actually somewhat misleading, as I'm going to be covering the entire weekend instead of just yesterday.

So on Saturday night I went to see a performance of MacBeth at Keble College. Just in case I forgot why it was my favorite Shakespeare play, I was reminded again. At first I had trouble telling some of the actors apart (who really puts a long-haired blond Scotsman in the same type of role on both political sides? two different guys and I couldn't tell them apart). I feel like they might have been able to cast a different Lady MacBeth and had the play go over a little better, because I didn't find her very sympathetic. MacBeth himself was fantastic, though. And there was also a very good set of shrieks in the second half of the play that had AJ and I trying to replicate the noise as we were walking back to Bodicote.

So. Yesterday was, like, Honorary America Day or something like that. I went on a beer run as a study break and bought AJ and I some Budweiser for while we were watching the Super Bowl later, which turned out to be a good choice. I also painted my nails and accidentally did them in Saints colors when I was rooting for the Colts (geographically speaking):



Oops. My bad, guys. (If you want to know what I used, it was OPI Nail Lacquer 'Suzi Skis in the Pyrenees' for the black (2-3 coats), then leftover reward stickers from NaNo on all the nails that they would fit on, then 2 coats of the Sally Hansen 10-Day No-Chip Nail Color 'Clear'. Though the stickers aren't staying as well as I thought they would...)

So, then we had an all-'American' formal hall before the Super Bowl. I put American in quotes because sometimes it's plain that they don't understand how our country works (silly Commies). What really tipped me off that it wasn't as American as they said it would be is that there was no buffet. Ha, just kidding, but that would have made it much better. For our first course, we had some kind of... chowder... I don't even know. It wasn't American, I'll tell you that. (Neither were the raspberry milkshakes or the bagel slices with PICKLES on them. Pickles. Really?)

Things started changing when we got to the second course, though. Our table got kind of screwed to start off with, so at first I thought I was only going to be eating ribs, but at least they were good. Eventually I got fries, mac'n'cheese, a corn dog, and a 'buffalo' (read: plain) chicken wing. Yes, it was all American food, but it was just... enh. Fries were limp and not fry-like, and the corn dog was some kind of weak sausage-y thing which had actually been fried in fresh corn meal. Where's the processed food I asked for?

And for dessert, you'd think we'd have apple pie a la mode, because of the phrase 'American as apple pie,' but no, we had cherry pie instead. And the vanilla ice cream had brandy in it. Overall, the dinner left me very confused.

Then the Super Bowl... us Americans got there a little late, so we had to drag computer chairs to the back of the JCR so we could even sit. AJ, Matt, and I were all back there with Matt's Slingbox hooked up so we could at least see the American commercials (though we couldn't hear them). I thought the halftime show was pretty good, but I already liked the Who, and it was great seeing them on television when I was in Britain - something about that felt so right. Budweiser and crisps, too, and somehow I managed to get the last Oreo on the face of the earth... which reminds me, I need to make another Sainsbury's run today to get Oreos and breakfast food. Also probably caffeine.

I left when there were two minutes to go in the third quarter, when it was 17-16 Colts, but apparently the Saints won...? I have a hard time feeling vengeful, because New Orleans deserves it, but still, Peyton, ya let me down. And it was strange waking up this morning, because I thought I would get barraged with either angry or ecstatic status updates on my Facebook Live Feed, but instead everyone was all 'superbowl enh' and it was relatively spoiler-free until the last status on my page. Weird.

So, I have a ton of work to do today (hopefully want to finish my Mind paper, plus I just remembered I have to make it to the library sometime today), so that's all from me, and I'll try to blog more regularly from now on!

- Jen -

Whoa, it's February!

Totally missed it because I was so busy.

The last week has been a lot of reading, procrastinating, subsequent last-minute (or last-four-hour) essay writing, and procrastinating by wishing I wasn't procrastinating. My knee is feeling much better, thankfully (and it had better, because it's been a week by now) - though the kneecap is still a little unstable. It slides when I walk in a really weird way... but at least I can walk, so no complaints there. Another gripe about the last week is that I accidentally missed the airing of the season premiere of Lost last night! Oh well, I already got spoiled for it through my newsfeed. I'll probably just catch up with Justin when I go back to the States.

One thing I realized today is that Cherry Coke tastes more of cherries in the UK than it does in the States. This makes me glad to be here with delicious caffeine, but sad to go home to the insufficient Cherry Coke Zero that I adore/am addicted to while I'm at school. ETA: And one interesting thing I learned yesterday was that the old, not so politically correct name for the game we call 'Telephone' (you know, mutation of a phrase either deliberately or unintentionally as it's passed from person to person, comparing the mutated phrase with the original by the time it passes around a circle of several people) is actually 'Chinese whispers.' Either this is a British/Canadian thing (the tutor who mentioned this is British, his wife is Canadian) or I'm just too young to have known the name.

Tonight I'm probably going to a showing of MacBeth, which I'm really excited about because it's probably my favorite Shakespeare play. This'll be my second production of Shakespeare I'll have seen in the last year... I just hope it lives up to the Tempest production I saw with my dad in Chicago. Tomorrow there's a special American formal hall, which I hope to blog about after it happens because it should be hilarious, and then there's the Super Bowl, for which I need to find Bulmer's for myself and my friends. The rest of the week is work, work, and more work, which I hope to alleviate by doing most of it this weekend amongst fun activities.

This is kind of a piddly little blog entry, so I'll leave you with two quotations from my philosophy reading that I enjoyed. The first one is serious, the second is more for laughs (as it literally made me laugh out loud).

"It is certain, that a serious attention to the sciences and liberal arts softens and humanizes the temper, and cherishes those fine emotions, in which true virtue and honour consists. It rarely, very rarely happens, that a man of taste and learning is not, at least, a honest man, whatever frailties may attend him. The bent of his mind to speculative studies must mortify in him the passions of interest and ambition, and must, at the same time, give him a greater sensibility of all the decencies and duty of life." David Hume, 'The Sceptic', Essays Moral, Political, and Literary

"The [Greeks] approached [art] from a different point of view. What this was, we can perhaps discover by reading what people like Plato wrote about it; but not without great pains, because the first thing every modern reader does, when he reads what Plato has to say about poetry, is to assume that Plato is describing an aesthetic experience similar to our own. The second thing he does is to lose his temper because Plato describes it so badly. With most readers there is no third stage." R. G. Collingwood, 'Art as the Expression of Emotion', Aesthetics: A Critical Anthology (of course there's a third stage! you chuck the Republic out the window!)

Back to work for me, this book's on a short loan and I'm easily distracted.

- Jen -

London 2: Electric Boogaloo

I went to London on a day trip yesterday to meet up with six people I knew from Notre Dame's Dublin program: Allison, Marita, Kait, Ashley, Melissa, and Ryan. I had a complete blast with them and now I'ma blog about it all in between all of the reading I need to do for this week's round of papers.

So, like usual, I took the Oxford Tube from Gloucester Road to Victoria, but for some reason the bus yesterday morning was awfully full (every seat, seriously, was full) and awfully slow. It took me about two hours, counting all the stops, to get to where I needed to be. Then once I got in to London, I realized that they were doing Tube maintenance and thus a lot of the lines I needed that day were going to be closed. (Why would they close Jubilee? It's one of the few lines that services South Bank!)

Anyhow, after some creative subway managing and a lovely walk along the south bank of the Thames, I met up with everyone in the lobby of the Globe Theater. It was weird being back this time, because the last time I was there I was also hanging out with ND people. We hit up the gift shop, I found some Valentine's Day gifts for a certain special someone, I got erasers that say 'out, damned spot' on them (I have a soft spot for witty things), and of course needed more postcards to decorate my bulletin board here in my room.

We caught lunch at a Pret a Manger on the South Bank, hanging out and talking and sharing lots of stories, before taking another section of the South Bank Thames walk and hitting the bridges. In between all the bridges, there were also some pretty interesting things, like the ruins of an old castle's dining hall (complete with miniature neon green targets in the stone, and an empty rose window) and a steampunk-ed replica of a tea barge. We crossed London Bridge halfway and got pictures of Tower Bridge from there. For some reason, there was a giant destroyer ship ('I sank your battleship!') blocking the view, and once we got closer it was intimidating. There were a few posed shots of the six of us girls in front of Tower Bridge, and then we actually crossed it.

It was kind of cool to see that yes, they are actually towers, with windows and everything. I will say, though, that bridges are not my favorite things. They shake when there's too much pressure on them, you can see the seam where they release to let large boats pass through, and they're over water with only a waist-high barrier keeping you from Allison pushing you overboard. So yeah. Now you know another of my phobias.

We decided not to go into the Tower of London because some people in our group were running out of pounds; besides, we just wanted pictures of the grounds and of the posed archer leaning off one of the towers. There's a funny posed picture floating around that I will have to snatch because it's just too cute. I think it was around this time, too, that Marita and I started talking pretty extensively about marriage/wedding stuff, which was a nice conversation to have.

Then there was the adventure of trying to find a subway line that would take us close to the British Museum. It was really aggravating trying to figure out what lines were open where, especially since some of the Tube stations we saw were just very confusing. We ended up in the middle of the banking district, which I hadn't been to before. Thank goodness Ashley and I are pretty familiar with London and the Tube, so we didn't get anyone horrendously lost.

We spent about two good hours in the British Museum before they closed it. For it being my third time there in a month and a half, I still managed to see a lot of things that I hadn't seen before and get a lot of pictures that I had missed. This includes the Asia gallery and Americas gallery (they only had two rooms dedicated to the Americas... I guess because they can't steal our stuff). Then we were abruptly kicked out and had to decide something to do for dinner, because we were all pretty hungry.

We managed to find a Chinese place that served enough of a buffet for everyone to get something they liked. Since there were seven of us, the staff seated us in a back room where there was a karaoke station set up... with Chinese lyrics (except for that one strange American song). We also got to watch the music videos and determine exactly what was happening/dub over them ourselves, which was hysterical (though one of the videos was really sad). I mean, seriously, who drives a bus from Piccadilly to the south of France while singing in an American accent?

After dinner, it was pub time, and since we were in a neighborhood I knew relatively well, I said I'd take them to some of the pubs off of Grays Inn Road (where I stayed the last time I was in London). But alas, my favorite pub from last time was closed for the evening. They still had their menu up in the window, but we can't figure out why they would have been closed on a Saturday night. Thankfully, I still had part of my local map memorized, and so we ducked into a mew and managed to make it inside a pub called the Duke of York. Allison introduced me to a beer called Bulmer's which tasted like apples, so that was fun. I realized that Kait is dating someone I already knew (who apparently, oh my God, is a grad student and not the cynical freshman I totally thought he was when I first met him), Ryan is God's mistake (according to Allison), and that I should totally go visit Dublin whenever I get the chance (because I'll have a free place to stay and a few rounds of drinks for free).

Alas, after that we headed to King's Cross to say goodbye and catch the Tube lines we needed. We're vowing to keep tabs on each other with our blogging, and of course Marita and I will probably be exchanging e-mail like fiends as her wedding date gets nearer. I told them to make sure to be safe, but apparently couldn't keep my own advice: as I was ascending out of the underground to street level, I tripped up about three steps and mangled my left knee. Woo boy, was that fun to hobble to the bus on. At least I found the bus and it left for home soon after. The rest of the night was a bus ride while trying to finish a chapter of the story I have plotted out, and talking to Justin/wincing/eating chocolate once I got back into Oxford.

London was much more fun with friends. Much, much more fun. There was more talking, more laughter, more pictures, more drinks, more adventure in general. It just brought a different flavor to the city. Especially since the last time I went wasn't such a high point in my life, it was nice to go back and put a better spin on an excellent city.

This morning I woke up and my knee was still pretty banged up, so I'm resting it on a pillow as I try to get my reading done for Philosophy of Mind. At least I understand what I'm reading and the ibuprofen is working just a little. And I also have fond memories of yesterday buoying me and getting me through the day. I miss everyone already, but I think they'll be having a fun time in Dublin, so I don't envy them that they're leaving to go back there. Anyhow, speaking of back, since I'm here and I took a day off yesterday, I don't really have that much time to procrastinate, so back to work for me!

- Jen -

Leaping onto the bandwagon...

...and blogging about the iPad.

First of all, iPad. brb, loling forever.

Second of all, am I the only person who was tired of seeing news updates about it in every site she went to? I'm pretty sure I was. I'm still sick of all the news surrounding it (even if it did soften some of the Conan/Leno and SOTU drama).

As for the actual thing itself... guys. Seriously. It's just a gigantic iTouch. I'm living without an iTouch and plan to for forever. I'm not jumping on some technological bandwagon just because it has a little logo on it. As for the product it claims to be replacing, I have no use for a netbook when I already have a perfectly portable [for my needs] device that will check my e-mail given correct wi-fi. I'm one of those people who actually wants, I don't know, time to herself, and doesn't need to check a social networking site every five minutes [away from my computer] to feel loved.

Also, I'm going to reference a picture that Justin currently has on his Facebook wall to make a few points about why I'm going to be waiting for version 2.0 to see if I still want one or not. Steve Jobs, in a slide during his unveiling of the iPad (loling! loling forever!), made a comparison to netbooks. His three points against them were "Slow", "Low quality displays", and "PC Software".

Um, what? Steve Jobs, you are ridiculous in so many ways.

In my experience, what's slow about a netbook is how they load the Internet, which is what they're made for. (Hence the name 'netbook'.) That's not the computer's fault. That is, in fact, a network fault. As in, whatever network you're receiving your tubes from is clogged. Now, netbooks run on many different types of networks, including various cell phone carriers and personal wi-fi networks. The iPhone is currently officially married to the AT&T network, which has been notoriously disappointing its customers with its poor quality of service aimed at the iPhone users. Not only is the network overloaded during prime times (lunch hour, for example), but I've heard that it can be next to near impossible to actually, you know, use the iPhone as a phone. Because the network is crowded. Because, in effect, the device is 'slow.' Strike one, Steve Jobs. Strike one.

I'm unsure where he's coming from on the 'low quality displays'. As far as I know, things still run on itty bitty pixels. Including the iPad (lol). Yes, the graphics may be prettier, and you may be able to touch them, but there are still itty bitty pixels. And I also have trouble getting the icons on my dad's iTouch to work half the time when I touch them and he's only had the device for a year, so it's not solely an issue of graphics. Besides, this statement in itself is vague. Low in what quality?

Lastly, PC software. Is that supposed to be a recommendation for why I, as an avid PC user, should buy an iPad (lol, guys, lol)? It seems very exclusive of PC users, not trying to reach out to a new customer base, and instead drawing on Apple users who are already on board with "PCs suck". Justin made the point that he was probably reaching out to the people who prefer to have Apple applications on their devices, but I don't see how this is relevant, either. With Google's Droid and Droid Eros out now and the many, many applications for those devices, saying that apps are only applicable to Apple is just as redundant as the syllable 'app' has been in this sentence. Also, I want to point out that viruses are equal opportunity. There are just as many varieties that will eat an Apple OS as will eat a Windows OS. (Also, I don't believe there's been video game releases for Apple since the 1990s, though I may be mistaken.)

At this point, I want to mention a few of the things Steve Jobs should have mentioned in his 'cons' list for the iPad. (Loling forever, guys. Seriously.)

- It can't multitask. Yes, that's right. It can't multitask. Even a 'lowly' netbook can do that. In fact, I would require it out of a device like the iPad should I ever want to purchase one. It should work just like a computer, except as a tablet with a touch keyboard.

- It doesn't have support for Adobe Flash. You know, that browser plug-in that allows you to view embedded video and slideshows. The plug-in that drives shopping sites, news sites, and Hulu. Though Apple devices claim to put the entire Internet at your fingertips, there's a large chunk they're leaving out by not supporting this feature, and to tell you that you can still access everything out there is misleading advertising.

- If it was hoping to compete in the ebook business, it's out of luck there. Its apps for ebooks aren't supported in any country besides the US. As a current UK resident, where you can buy a Kindle and have it work in this silly country, I call massive fail. It is also significantly more expensive than most ereaders that are out there right now, and it's not like I want an ereader either.

- There's no camera. There's no camera on the front side and there's no camera on the back side. There is no way to video chat or take one's own pictures using this device. At least some netbooks have built-in webcams.

- Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't believe it currently has the port ability to connect to a television (or much of anything else). And why not? Their smaller devices can do that. Maybe this will be released on version 2.0, but if so, why didn't they just do it now?

- The device is actually a smidge more expensive than netbooks (though this would be par for the course with Apple products - since it costs more, it's better, right? Please hear my sarcasm through the internet). Paired with the network problems it's going to have, it doesn't seem like the data plan is going to be a great deal either.

Steve, Steve, Steve. Where did it all go so wrong? Maybe when you used three flimsy excuses to cover up the fact that your device will not live up to the hype you knew it would get.

I encourage debate over this, as my view is strongly colored by three facts: I am a PC user who considers herself 'too dumb' to use a Mac, I am unimpressed by Apple's brand-loyal fans, and I'm about 18 months behind technologically (seriously, my current saliva-inducing tech dream is a phone with a QWERTY keyboard).

- Jen -

All out of wit, please send chocolate.

Though I am out of wit, I promised a blog entry to a few friends yesterday. This one will focus on my awesome nails, haggis, and YouTube, and I promise they're all related by their temporal proximity.

---

So. My nails look pretty awesome right now. (Why hello there, little sapphire ring, how are you doing today?)

Yeah, my nails have freaking purple and pink racecar/go-faster stripes on them. And that makes them more awesome than yours.

These were my materials:

That's Sally Hansen Nail Growth Protein as a base coat (I promise it goes on clear, but matte; the bottle is slightly gross-looking), OPI Nail Lacquer in Sapphire in the Snow (though it's not a blue, it's an aubergine), Icing by Claire's Nail Polish in Pouty Pink (with some pearlescent lavender in there, too, it's quite pretty), and Sally Hansen No Chip 10 Day Nail Color in Clear as a top coat.

Instructions: Base coat with the Nail Growth Protein, two coats of the OPI, three coats of a stripe of the Icing in the middle, finish off with TWO (not one, as in the picture) coats of clear to make your nails shine like a freaking racecar. I didn't follow my own advice and also got a little impatient, so not only is my right hand somewhat mauled in comparison to the left hand, but my nails aren't as glossy as they could have been because I didn't use two coats of top coat. Then again, I was doing my nails as I was trying to read a 300-page book published 100 years ago for my Aesthetics paper this week, so forgive me if I was a little distracted.

---

So. Haggis.

Last night was Burns Night, a night where everyone celebrates this Scottish poet called (I think Richard?) Burns. With haggis, because haggis is appropriately Scottish. It was guest night, thus why I did my nails, and so we all got dressed with our little short robes to go to the later sitting. At the beginning of the meal, instead of our regular 'benedictus benedicat', we got about three blessings and odes to the haggis, along with a little ditty played on a bagpipe. Cool.

First course was the most delicious salmon I've ever had in my life with a prawn and creme sauce. It also came free with a discussion of bear moats. (I swear, we talk about the strangest things here.)

Second course was 'haggis, tatties and neeps.' Though those may all look like strange words, I promise you, these things actually exist. Tatties is just potatoes, neeps is just turnips, and haggis... Well. I'm not linking you to what haggis is, I trust you all have the Google-fu to do it for yourselves, but trust me when I say that it is very good. I'd eat it again. Not the vegetarian kind, though, it just tasted like ground nuts. And I don't know what had me laughing so hard at dinner, but we certainly had a fun enough time without any imbibing of alcoholic beverages.

Dessert had raisins in it. I'm not a fan of raisins. Still good, but RAISINS. Blech. Oh well. I ate haggis, and I thought it was good, and I was sufficiently full from a meal for once.

---

So, there are a few things on YouTube that I'd like to share with y'all. I've had this song stuck in my head for days, and good thing that the download is free. Also, I laughed and laughed when I watched this. (I'm aware that it's kind of old, but I just discovered it last night, and I have this thing about strings of profanity... they just make me giggle.)

Oh! I almost forgot. I'm going to London this weekend to meet up with friends of mine at the Dublin program (Marita, Allison, and Kait among them), so expect more pictures and blogging of that later. For now, though, I have lecture to go to in ten minutes, so I'll finish mocking this up and be on my way, then, shall I?

- Jen -

My weekend

Boring blog post title is boring.

Anyhow, I did a quick tally Friday after I finished my library trips, so get ready for another statistics post. (I rather like statistics posts, as you can probably tell.)

I have fourteen books out of the library right now. Of those, seven are for my Philosophy of Mind tutorial, six are for my Aesthetics tutorial, and one is background reading for Philosophy of Mind in general.

This week, I had roughly 200 pages of reading to do for my Philosophy of Mind tutorial and roughly 375 pages of reading to do for my Aesthetics tutorial.

I read for... let's say seven hours yesterday, and I know I did at least 132 pages of reading yesterday. I finished all of my Philosophy of Mind work by this morning, woohoo go me now I don't have to read any more!

As of right now, I still have 285 pages of reading to do, give or take. One of the books I'm reading has 300 pages. Really spacey font, so I only counted half for standardization issues, but still, major gulp there. Really, though, it only equates to five more things I need to cross off of my list, two of which are digital articles. Speaking of... now that I'm at my computer, I should totally do that.

My goal is to finish my reading by tomorrow night, or by Tuesday noon if I get terribly crunched. That'll give me a little more time to actually, I don't know, plan a decent essay instead of letting them write themselves. The latter tends to get me in a little hot water, especially when I relax my tone in my essays.

Anyhow, off to read 41 pages of Budd on Aristotle's meaning of katharsis. Ciao, all.

- Jen -

Dear Diary,

Today, I used 'effect' as a verb successfully in a paper about how Plato was a jerk. It was a good day.

Disregarding the facts that:
- I had to wake up early to cram in the rest of my Aesthetics reading,
- I was supposed to go to three lectures today,
- I only made it to two of them because I ran out of money and had to finish that stupid reading,
- I had a tutorial that lasted for an hour and forty-five minutes through dinner,
- I didn't eat my first real meal until 7:45 PM, and
- I left off writing a paper until the last minute,
today was still a good day. Because I used 'effect' as a verb.

Yes, that's right. Grammar nerdiness makes even the worst days bearable and even 'good.'

- Jen -

Because everyone wants to know...

Or, rather, because my sarcasm meter has been turned up to eleven for about a week and a half now.

See, the only time that I've ever wanted a Twitter is in telling people how many words I have written in a given document. This is true for both NaNo and for papers I write here at New College. I just like the satisfaction of taking little breaks to post that I'm such and such percent done, or I only have X number of words woe is me, or this paper is this ratio to that one in terms of length... you get the idea. I really like the way the numbers generally keep going up, too.

I really wish that I could do this all on Facebook, but I am loath to spam everyone's home page with my rambling banalities of X number of words on a paper due tomorrow morning at 10 AM. So, what I've done is posted my little status that says 'first paper of Hilary 2010 woo' and I'm going to comment underneath it with my progress throughout the day. Still kind of makes me look like a tool, but at least all the fail will be contained to one place when I do it that way.

As an alternative to the alternative, however, I could just blog about my progress. So, what I'm going to do is leave this tab open, and whenever I want to say something awesome about my progress or that I'm stuck, I'll write it here with a time addendum. This way, I can feel like I'm making progress. (And hey, I'm such a nerd that I might even go back and make graphs of it later.)

For people who might, I don't know, actually want to know what's going on in my academic life right now, I'm writing a 1500-word paper over behaviorism (or, as my tutor spelled it on everything, 'behaviourism') for my Philosophy of Mind tutorial. The prompt is two questions, one of which has two parts, so the 1500-word requirement can be subdivided into two 750-word requirements. (Sounds nearly manageable when I put it like that, doesn't it? Sort of vague and nonthreatening under-4-digits number.) The tutorial is at 5 PM tomorrow; the paper needs to be turned in beforehand, sometime before noon, but seeing as I have lectures scheduled every Thursday from 10 in the morning until 1 in the afternoon, I figured I'd get it to him either tonight or around 9 tomorrow morning.

So, we all got the rules and constraints here? 1500-word paper by 9 tomorrow morning. All right, here goes nothing.

2:15 - Open Word document. Mess around with fonts. Type questions. Create header. Got 34 words out of it. That's still good, at least.
2:34 -325 words. That means I'm 20% done. And I haven't even gotten to most of the content yet. I have a very, very good feeling about this tutorial and how these papers are going to go. Also, by my current work ethic, I should be able to write roughly 900 words in an hour, meaning I should be able to finish the paper in, holy crap, two hours, personal best evar.
2:47 - Still at 325 words. Distracted by Facebook and writing up this blog entry. Need to go back to paper and concentrate. Also, the soundtrack to Firefly is charming.
3:00 - 453 words. I also learned that my keyboard is made of awesome, though I wish I could set some of the custom colors as regular colors.
3:09 - Finally have all of the presets on my keyboard filled. Haven't written any more words.
3:17 - 529 words, which means I'm over 33% done. I could be going so much faster, but it's easy to get distracted. Whoa, hey there, Polkas y Huapangos!
3:26 - Just hit page two. You can't grep dead trees and you also, apparently, can't grep PDFs being displayed in Internet Explorer (or at least I can't).
3:43 - Halfway to wordcount. I have some rather overinflated footnotes, but I'll compensate for that later; I just want to finish this paper by dinner. Also, listening to video game soundtracks (I'm looking at you, Halo 3 ODST) while writing papers makes me feel like, with each word, I'm beating the final boss. :3
3:49 - I'm such a nerd, I love using ibid. and op. cit. in my footnotes. :3
4:35 - 916 words, which means I'm 60% done! And I've almost rounded out the first question's answer.
5:25 - Friends distracting me and Heidi Montag later, I'm at 1034 words, which is 2/3 of the way done, and am almost done with the last paragraph of my first question.
5:34 - 1156 words, done with the first section, and hell yes I get to use a block quote.
5:50 - 1280 words, only need about 350 more to round out the section I'm writing, giving up in the meantime so I can go to dinner.
6:45 - 350 WORDS. PLEASE.
7:02 - 100 more words. That's all I'm asking. Come on.
7:11 - 1622 words, and I think I'm done. Just minor proofreading and typesetting changes to make now.
7:25 - Another once-over before I send it tomorrow morning should be good, but other than that, I'm finished!

Whew, that took a while. Now I gotta reqard myself with something. And since it appears as if I don't have any chocolate, I might instead watch a few episodes of TV/a DVD and do my nails. Also, write a few response e-mails, read one final thing for my paper due tomorrow night, and actually start outlining for said paper, as it appears I won't have much time to write it tomorrow.

To end on a happy note: I have my flights scheduled, and it looks like I might be home to go to Justin's fraternity's formal! Glee!

- Jen -

Ranty McRantface is back!

Yes, my last post was full of Americarage (thanks for that word, Justin, it completely encapsulated all of my feelings), but this post will be just... little things I notice, some of which coincidentally end in my rageface.

So, today I went to my first lecture for this term. And it was a nice lecture, really. Apart from a little stammering, the lecturer was mostly coherent and I did actually learn things and take notes. What bothered me was not the lecture itself but the gender ratio represented. The lecturer was female. The ratio of females to males in the audience was more like 20:80 (four girls out of about twenty people that I rounded to before I ran back here to blag about it). It just made me start thinking. At ND, I see this problem too, in philosophy moreso than English. I mean, I get it, our main texts are all written by either dead or decrepit white guys, but that doesn't mean that girls can't find philosophy enjoyable or pick it up as a major. So why, in every course that wasn't the mandated Philo 101 intro or a mandated seminar, has there been a distinct gender bias against women? What is it about philosophy and/or women that causes this? Or am I reading more into it than I should?

---

I'm currently procrastinating bigtime on some of my reading, but at least I finished the one book for my Aesthetics tutorial. Hoooooly crap I have not seen a herd of teal deer that large in the entirety of my life leading up to that time. Partly I was frustrated because probably 3/4 of the work didn't directly relate to the paper I need to write for Friday, but it was also partly due to the fact that I could have just grepped and scrolled had it been electronic and not gone through the dull (dull? completely lifeless) writing style of the (probably non-native English speaking) author.

---

Ever have that problem where you can't fall asleep even when you're a) laying down and b) tired? Yeah. If it took you two hours to fall asleep you'd be a little rageface too. On the upside, it has me still laughing at conversations I had a few days ago. (Oh, pants.)

Anyways, if I let this post get much longer, not only will it start breeding teal deer of its own, but I will also doom myself to complete and utter failure on my 1500 word essay due before 10 AM on Thursday. So, ciao y'all.

- Jen -

ETA: Two miniature notes of despair.

1. It looks as if Conan is taking a settlement from NBC in order to allow Leno back to the 11:35 Tonight Show spot. All I have to say on the matter is that I'm Team Conan and I wish NBC hadn't taken the matter quite so far as for viewers to go to 'teams' like this is Twilight's Team Edward/Jacob.

2. It also looks as though Kraft is looking into acquiring Cadbury for quite a sum of money. The general note of protest from people on this side of the pond is to 'keep Cadbury British.' And as much as, some days, it's one of the few things I like about this silly country, I'd have to agree. If I could just walk to the grocery store in America and pick up a Cadbury milk chocolate bar, it would take away the feeling I get that, hey, I can only eat this in Britain. (Also, American chocolate is terrible. Seriously. Have you ever had Alpen chocolate before? My first experience with European chocolate, and whoo boy, it's much better. And Cadbury is better than Alpen. Long story short, American chocolate is much too salty and brittle for my taste.)

... on a slightly less peeved note, I'm having a craving for ice cream.

Multiple Post Day! #3: You Americans get off my soil!

[I don't think it's just me, but I'll point out that YMMV anyways.]

Why is it that British people think mocking Americans for not being as 'good' as they are will be okay with said Americans that they do it in front of?

Yes, we understand. Yours is the land of Sheep Everywhere, of Earl Grey and teatime and biscuits and chips, of Eternal Fog and Seldom Sunshine. Yours is the accent we turn to in America to make our advertising sound more intelligent. Yours are the cities that shut down after six PM and aren't even open on Sundays. Yours is the culture that holds a certain amount of charm to everyone in the world.

But really. Belittling 'those Americans' who 'can't even speak the Queen's English', who don't run on your National Health System, who in short don't follow your customs? Is an exercise in futility.

You see, America is DIFFERENT from this country for a reason. A rather large reason, in fact, that ran from 1775 to 1783. We didn't like your monarchy, your silly teas, and your reality, and so we substituted our oligarchy, our silly coffee chains, and our own. We've had two hundred odd years to contemplate our differences and to separate ourselves even further.

It's not simply a case of 'our standards will never match up to one another's'. It's comparing a fruit with a vegetable. At this point, some of the few things we have in common is the same language, and sometimes we don't even have that. (Extra 'u's, calling 'zee' 'zed', substituting an 's' for said 'z', the difference between single and double quotes, and 'brackets' instead of 'parentheses' come to mind immediately.)

What makes me angry is when British people think they have the right to bring 'you Americans' 'round to their way of thinking. We're not British. We don't want to be British. (If we did want to be British, we'd move to Canada and still be part of the Commonwealth, but even the US hates Canada.) And frankly, we're insulted when you speak of yourselves as inherently better instead of taking into account that nouns (people, places, and things) from America or of American origin are just as legitimate as your culture.

A few examples of people who do this come immediately to mind. I actually read a passage in a book I'm quite enjoying right now, Bill Bryson's Notes from a Small Island, telling how the American-born, lived-in-England-for-a-while author was being benignly insulted by an elderly couple who just did this without thinking. (He pointed out that the word 'moron' was actually invented by Americans. Good day, sir, indeed!) This isn't something that just I have noticed.

And in fact, it's something that American students are even subjected to. It seems that our tutors tend to assume that we're not so bright until we prove otherwise. And when we do prove that not only are we competent, but we far exceed expectations, they seem flabbergasted. Although I never quite got what a friend of mine got from her tutor. He was talking about having an article published in an 'inferior' American chemistry quarterly publication, when in fact this is not an inferior group by any stretch of the imagination. (I applaud her response, which was somewhere along the line of 'frak you', only at eight in the morning and with significantly less tolerance.)

We're not going to take this laying down. (And I hate your food anyways.) So, you Brits get off MY lawn instead!

- Jen -

Multiple Post Day! #2: What I'm doing this semester

As many of you may or may not be aware, I'm actually in England to go to school. Novel, I know. Anyhow, that means that I need certain things set up before I can actually learn anything, and once I got in, that was pretty much what I spent my time doing.

First of all, I had only one tutorial set up for certain before I left. That was my Aesthetics tutorial, which I am taking with the same tutor who tutored me in Ethics last term. I'm excited about this, because I feel like we got on well together. He challenges me and makes me defend myself about pretty much every view I put forward, and he expects me to form my own opinions, which is somewhat novel for an undergraduate-level course of study, at least for me. I'm also excited to take the course as-is, because Aesthetics is almost like a meta-commentary on literary criticism, or at least that's what I'm getting out of it. So, it ties in with my English interests. To give everyone an idea of what I'll be doing, my first prompt is something to do with Plato and his inconsistencies in his judgments of poets and artists. I'm geeking out already.

So I arrived in Oxford without another class to take. Thankfully, this was fixed through a few e-mails between myself and the head Philosophy tutor here, who tutored me in Language and Logic last term. As it turns out, my other tutorial is going to be Philosophy of Mind.

I have a meeting with this tutor on Monday, but in the meantime, he asked me to read a textbook. I already knew most everything in the textbook, superficially speaking, but this is no indication about how this tutorial is going to go for me. This tutor also expects me to attend up to five hours of lecture a week for his tutorial, and so far, I don't have a syllabus from him. I assume I'll get it when I meet him for coffee tomorrow morning, but as of yet, I really don't know what to expect.

Any other things I'll be doing this semester will probably revolve around writing or criticism in some degree. I really enjoy going through the indexes on TVTropes, and I feel like they help my writing immensely (when you know the trope you're talking about, you know whether to play it straight, subvert it, or avoid it altogether). I also enjoy the communities I watch on LJ that have to deal with terrible writing. When I know what people hate, it's easier to... well, not do that. They're very critical, extremely snarky, occasionally sarcastic, and ultimately useful. So, that's my 'critical' lens, at least a few popular ones.

As far as my writing goes, I'm struggling with a multi-part epic I want to plot, but I have another few pieces of writing that might actually be coming along well, if I can find the time to dedicate to them instead of getting distracted by various other things. I also missed the meeting of my writing club today, but I don't feel bad as I had nothing to bring. Perhaps by next week I can edit part of a chapter from my NaNo and get some criticism of it. That would also be felicitous, because I believe next week they're doing a first-time-readers-of-the-club style of meeting for people who are shy or just haven't had time to present before will get the time and support to do so. Quite exciting.

Welp, I have another blog entry to write after this one, so I think I'll leave this off here.

- Jen -