Escape Velocity

Tour de France Drama

2010-07-15T23:37:00.001-04:00

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

2010-06-14T08:47:00.000-04:00

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,

2010-05-19T06:24:00.003-04:00

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.

2010-05-16T11:00:00.002-04:00

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

2010-05-09T05:42:00.002-04:00

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.

2010-04-27T08:17:00.003-04:00

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

2010-04-16T23:29:00.002-04:00

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!

2010-04-12T09:23:00.002-04:00

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.

2010-03-16T18:35:00.002-04:00

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.

2010-03-15T23:13:00.002-04:00

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.

2010-03-04T13:26:00.004-05:00

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.

2010-03-03T19:48:00.002-05:00

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!

2010-03-01T15:00:00.002-05:00

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?

2010-02-28T09:40:00.004-05:00

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

2010-02-24T06:55:00.003-05:00

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

2010-02-22T14:54:00.002-05:00

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.

2010-02-20T15:15:00.002-05:00

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!

2010-02-19T15:41:00.003-05:00

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.

2010-02-18T10:28:00.001-05:00

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...

2010-02-16T12:01:00.005-05:00

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

2010-02-15T11:51:00.003-05:00

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.

2010-02-14T06:14:00.002-05:00

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

2010-02-13T07:21:00.002-05:00

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

2010-02-08T05:58:00.004-05:00

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!

2010-02-06T07:18:00.004-05:00

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

2010-01-31T07:48:00.002-05:00

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...

2010-01-29T16:34:00.002-05:00

...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.

2010-01-26T08:44:00.008-05:00

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

2010-01-24T14:59:00.003-05:00

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,

2010-01-21T19:10:00.002-05:00

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...

2010-01-20T09:38:00.002-05:00

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!

2010-01-19T11:36:00.004-05:00

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!

2010-01-17T09:13:00.002-05:00

[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

2010-01-17T08:56:00.002-05:00

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 -

Multiple Post Day! #1: Traveling

2010-01-17T07:54:00.002-05:00

So this is that thing, you know, where I catch up on all the blog posts I should have been making for, I don't know, the past week or so.

So on Tuesday the 12th I had my flight back to the UK. It either a) went better than I could have ever expected or b) failed on an epic scale. I'm still undecided, and you might be too after you finish this entry.

I departed Columbus on a short regional flight to Chicago around 6 or 7 in the evening. This flight wasn't so bad, and in fact I got a little sleep, which is unusual for me. So I was pretty grateful for that. The plane itself was a little rickety and some of the seats were broken, but I don't expect a lot out of regional jets.

Then I had a three-hour layover in Chicago. I hate layovers. This one in particular consisted of me failing to connect to the terminal's wireless network, doing Sudoku until I thought my eyes would fall out, and following news of the Haiti earthquake as it was presented on Larry King Live. I was approached during this layover by a man who was apparently doing some sort of survey for international travelers to rank their favorite flight service, or something like that...? I wasn't exactly sure why he picked me, of all people, but I went along with it. To spite him, I might not send back the second half of my form.

The first indication I should have had that things were about to go Very Wrong was the way the flight crew decided to board this jet. Usually, when people board a plane, there's a little Group number on their boarding pass that determines when you're supposed to board the plane. I don't know if they do it in reverse order or not, but usually the first group to board the plane (after the usual Platinum, Sapphire, 4chan Gold Account, and Business Class members) goes in the back, and people file in after them to fill in the seats further to the front, and it's all very orderly. On this flight, we all boarded at once. It was stupidity in motion, especially since the flight crew were on the terse end of professional (instead of the kind end). Also, this jet was filled. Filled. Every seat was filled. Every single one.

So of course we had to have a problem, because that's the way Murphy's Law works. I fell asleep practically after take-off and was disappointed to wake up for dinner around 11 PM EST, but once I fell asleep after dinner, apparently the pilot made an announcement nobody heard and we continued going about our business. But then the cabin kept getting louder and louder as people were gossiping about something, and a flight attendant came over the PA to tell us that the de-icing belt on the plane wasn't functioning properly and so the authorities in Heathrow weren't going to let us land in the UK like that.

Now, you have to understand something to see why I found that so absurd: The airport was frozen in Chicago and they let us take off. I understand that London was freaking out because it was snowing there for about a week and a half straight, and that never happens, but really? If O'Hare could let us take off, I think Heathrow should have let us touch down.

As it was, we stopped at JFK in order to see what could be done about it. We did not de-board the plane, but we were grounded for three hours while a maintenance crew did... something to make everything work. At least I got a good amount of sleep; I woke briefly on take-off and I woke up finally around breakfast.

So, by the time we landed in Heathrow, I was already around three hours behind schedule. When we touched down, there seemed to be some kind of problem with attaching the corridor leading to the terminal to the plane... so we were delayed about another hour. Besides this, the plane we were using was also the most run-down trans-Atlantic service I've ever used. Seats were broken, utilities were not well-maintained... but at least they had a touch-to-use television screen that could TURN OFF.

Once I de-boarded, it still took me 45 minutes to get through my passport/visa screening. Oh, joy of joys. I suspect some of the problem was caused by people who were underprepared. At least I know what papers I need for things like that.

The one good thing was that I was able to grab my checked luggage quickly and board a bus to Oxford with all speed, but I was still around 5 hours late for when my best estimate was for getting into Oxford. I got in at 6 o'clock and, as happens in England, everywhere I could have gone for food was already closed. I was not pleased. In addition to this, England has not heard of snow shovels, so all of the sidewalks were still filled with slush. I didn't have far to go to reach my flat, but still, it was annoying.

At least when I got in, I was told that all the other Americans got back safely, and AJ even let me have a can of soup instead of letting me go out and spend money on Hassan's. And at least I felt much, much better than the last time I took a trans-Atlantic flight in this direction. I'm still mildly jet-lagged, but I'm nowhere near as sick or homesick as I was last time. So, all in all... with everything that happened, I'm still more than pleased that things worked out as well as they did.

- Jen -

New year, new resolutions.

2010-01-05T11:53:00.002-05:00

So, I made a BFS list for the end of NaNo, and I wanted to update everyone on how things are going so far.

1. Edit my main novel for this year with the help of my beta reader/technical editor.
- I'm still waiting on my beta to send me the edited copy. I'm also planning on taking the Easter break from New College to come home and knock out a few edits. The plan is to get the first round (rough cut, like moving chapters etc.) done in time to get the CreateSpace copy.
2. Shop for publishing houses/agents and send out cover letters/summaries/first chapters. [Big.]
- This, also, will be done during my six-week summer break and my four to five-week Easter break.
3. Characterize, plan, and write my massive fanfiction novel at the pace of about a chapter a week. [Big, fun.]
- I've already acquired a beta reader and am working on characterization. I have a title and some scenes planned out but I will start to notecard once I get back to school.
4. Do NaNoWriMo 2010. [Big, fun.]
- Not the right time to think about this yet, but I do have a few 'reserve' novels that I haven't written yet, so no panicking if I don't have a plot by Halloween 2010.
5. Take creative writing classes once I get back to main campus. [Fun, scary.]
- Again, can't think about this yet, but I should start looking once class lists get posted in, what, April?
---
6. Travel alone, including Europe and my college friends' hometowns. [Fun, scary.]
- I traveled London alone, will probably go to Dublin and/or Paris around the Easter break, and over the summer I plan on visiting Lauren and Rachel at least.
7. Get a summer job that I'm happy with, or at least make a little money this summer. [Big.]
- Oops, this one might get a big fat strikethru. I don't know how I'll have time to get a job.
8. Start knitting/sewing again for something to do for a few hours every day. [Fun.]
- I already did this over break.
9. Actually learn how to knit correctly. I've been teaching myself on and off but I keep dropping it. [Fun.]
- Did this too, I now know how to knit on circular needles and how to cable stitch.
10. Actually go out to a club. Can you believe I've been at Oxford for two months and I haven't yet made it out to a club? [Fun.]
- Can't really do this yet.
11. Make it onto the ballroom competitive team once I get back to main campus. [Big, fun, scary.]
- This either.
12. Along that line, start exercising, even if it is just walking the treadmill for a half-hour every day. [Big, fun.]
- BWAHAHAHA. Yup, close.
13. Learn how to cook, for real, and cook something every day. [Scary. If you don't think it's scary then you don't really know how awkward I am as a cook.]
- I made hella good mac and cheese the other night.
14. Learn French.
- I have a DS 'Learn French' game in the mail to me right now.
15. Stop being such a b*tch.
- Yes, the one that's always on my list every year. This one kinda failed a little bit, but being called out on my faults will make me better.

So... watching audio commentary from RvB DVDs makes me happy. Catch ya later...

- Jen -

Merry Christmas, everyone :)

2009-12-25T13:51:00.002-05:00

So I'm typing this using the new keyboard I got... only a true typing novelist would be geeking out over something like this. I'm enjoying it so much, though, that I figured I'd share it with all of you.

Currently it's sparking in a rainbow mode, and that makes me ridiculously happy. So, anyways, I'm probably going to update with real entries sometime later this weekend, after I've determined what I'm going to spend my Christmas mad money on and after I've given Justin his gifts. I already have some good ideas about what to spend my money on, but currently I have things to do... like eat Christmas cookies, play with my new keyboard (which will make editing my novel a much, much happier process), visit with my family, and finish a Christmas fanfic. (Also, apparently I have to babysit my dad while he plays his new Wii game and teach my mom how to use her DS. My parents are adorable sometimes.)

Hope your Christmas is as merry as mine appears to be going :)

- Jen -

Avatar

2009-12-19T00:13:00.003-05:00

Yes, an entire blog entry. It was that cool. You see, I went to go see Avatar tonight. In IMAX 3D, no less. And it was amazing. Really.

First of all, the scenery was amazing. Second of all, it was nice to see someone who is differently abled as a hero, not just politically correctly speaking. It's never explained how Sully lost the use of his legs, but it's shown that he's just as capable with them as without them. Not only does he not ask for any help, but he refuses it when it's offered. And he doesn't need it. Third of all, the motion capture work showed, it really did. Facial expressions looked real, movements for all the animals were realistic (though I'm not quite sure how feasible it is for horse-like and wolf-like creatures to have six legs), and the crowds weren't just copy-pasted. Fourth of all, it was set up like a true epic. The plot was conventional (easily accessible) but still left room for variance.

I would say one of the few complaints I had about the movie was the excessive scenery porn. I mean, I appreciate that there was some detail put into the environments, but really, I don't think plants bioluminesce in anger when they're stepped on IRL. I also don't think some of those scenes needed to take as long as they did. We get it. They're doing whatever. Also, I found some of the characterization (well, most of it) to be subpar. There was no depth to the villains, and that disappointed me. I mean, it's an epic, so I understand that for the viewer to empathize with the heroes, the villains need to be hated and not understood, but for me, I appreciate a villain who's as sympathetic as the hero. YMMV, however.

Probably going to see it again this weekend in regular 2D just to compare. I don't mind throwing my money at this; it deserves it. Most fun I've had at a movie in a very long time. PSA to everyone: You will enjoy this movie.

- Jen -

Wild blagoposts ahoy!

2009-12-12T11:20:00.004-05:00

[This entry is kind of dedicated to Greg, who always gets frustrated when I update my blog since he gets behind. Also, check the next paragraph, IT'S YOUR FAULT.]

So, I haven't really been doing much, but in passing talking to a friend of mine yesterday, he mentioned QC and I couldn't resist looking it up. For those of you that don't know, it's a webcomic called Questionable Content. I'm deep in the archives now or I would link you all to the main page, but it's quickly become a favorite of mine and I'm only halfway 'up to date'. A perfect mix of sarcasm/irony, relationship issues, hipster/indie cred, and nerdiness... perfectly complements my already profound love for xkcd.

I finished packing for the most part today, bought my last real Christmas present from the UK, and have been reading QC since I woke up (and also munching on chocolate as I have done so). As a result, this entry is pretty boring, but I have a plan for what I'm going to post tomorrow. I might actually start planning out topics for blog posts now that NaNo is over... my life feels somewhat empty without so much writing in it.

- Jen -

ETA (which stands for Edited To Add, by the way, for those acronym challenged people like me):

I love Questionable Content. SO MUCH. Especially Marigold. It's kind of creepy how much I identify with her. Sleep!snuggling with her flatmate (I am a self-admitted snuggleslut, I create people-piles wherever I sit), the whole nerd look (hello, Hermione Granger hair and red plastic glasses), the weird RPG she's into (she's got WOW, I'll keep my Pokemon), the problem she has with being a shut-in (welcome to my entire November... in fact, most of the time I've been here)... I even just joined a fandom which kind of wears slash goggles all the time, which most of you would call YAOI. I mean, I have legitimate reasons for being on my computer all of the time (most of my dear friends and family are in the States, and I can contact them through e-mail and Skype), but even Hanners would admit that I'm being a little ridiculous and should get out more. [Also, that was a hella lot of parentheses for one paragraph. My bad.]

... and that's enough self-reflection for me. Seriously, I mix Dora's insecurities with most of Marigold's personality, it's kind of weird and awful when you think about it actually. And why am I trying to empathize with a webcomic so much? This is even worse than when I read overtones of my own life into New Moon. WHY. WHY DO I DO THIS TO MYSELF. (It's not even a question at this point.)

Yeah, I did just spend the last... I don't know, about 13 hours straight today, plus 2 hours yesterday, catching up on the backlog. And I laughed out loud several times. Is funny.

London, Day 6 (Friday 11 December)

2009-12-11T15:05:00.002-05:00

Highlights: Not many.
1. Bus back to Oxford
2. The rest of my day

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1. Bus back to Oxford

Pretty self-explanatory. After breakfast, I checked out and shipped out. Made my way to Victoria station and got on the bus to come home and I was back by noon. Spent a little while running errands (to make sure I could eat for the next few days) and grabbing lunch.

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2. The rest of my day

Has been spent blogging and on the Internet. I got to Skype with Justin just now, which was good. I get to see him in five days, which is exciting.

Right now, I have a few things to work on. I got an idea for a Christmas range of ficlets, so I need to start on those and appease the people at Shotgun's Lap. I also need to upload my pictures to Shutterfly (including the ones from before I went to London). I'm kicking myself about forgetting my battery charger!!!

Tomorrow: much the same, except I'm going to repack my suitcase, probably, and might visit either the Ashmolean or the Natural History Museum. Then again, probably not.

Sunday: my last full day in England of 2009. Much the same, really.

Monday: leaving early for Heathrow and getting into Columbus around 8 PM EST.

Catch y'all on the flip side. Might do another cute post in the next few days that's more Christmas related. I haven't been much in the Christmas spirit this year... I don't know if it's the foreign country bit or the family crisis bit. We'll see.

- Jen -

London, Day 5 (Thursday 10 December)

2009-12-11T13:32:00.002-05:00

Highlights of my last full day in London:
1. Coffee with Georgie
2. Tate Modern
3. Globe Theatre performance
4. ND after-performance party
5. Last night in the hostel

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1. Coffee with Georgie

So, for once, I didn't head straight to the British Museum, but instead made my way to the Russell Square tube station to meet up with one of my British friends. I met Georgie Peters on Facebook about a year ago, and we got to be good friends. I promised her that when I came to England, I'd see her at least once.

She's studying at UCL, so we met at a Starbucks close to there and chatted for at least an hour. It was nice to meet up with a friend for once, instead of just standing silently in museums all day like I had been doing. Also, I love Starbucks, so it was nice to get a latte for once and just sit and stay off my feet.

Before I left to start my day for real, Georgie took me on a brief tour of the UCL campus that she's on, and she even showed me the nearest tube station before she went back to work in the library. Oh, those silly universities that are on the semester system while I'm on the funkiest trimesters ever.

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2. Tate Modern

I spent five hours at the Tate Modern getting very confused by modern art. Seriously, that's about the sum total of my experience in there.

Although, I must say, they had a copy of my favorite statue in there, and I squee'd like a fangirl when I saw it in person. So that was exciting. I also was able to do a little shopping for myself, so good on me.

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3. Globe Theatre performance

So, I had heard from my friend at ND, Mary Kearns, that she was going to be in a play at the Globe theatre. Naturally, I was eager to see her. (Somehow, I got lost on my way there, even though it's, like, RIGHT NEXT TO the Tate. This just goes to show you how helpless I am with compass-point directions.)

It was a brief performance of Othello, just basically the highlights, done in a very modern style. The staging was excellent, and there was even singing. But the best part was that it was in the Globe freaking theatre. The open air theater, preserved as it would have been in Shakespeare's time, with all of us ND people standing on the open floor where the rabble would have stood. It was kind of brilliant, actually, and I enjoyed it very much. Mary did her reading very well and it was nice to see her. I also ran into two of my roommates from freshman year, Danielle and Katherine, and managed to make a new 'friend' along the way.

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4. ND after-performance party

So, after the brief (30-minute, maybe) performance, there was a reception held in the first floor of the Globe for all of the ND people who had attended. I had to pay 5 pounds for a ticket but it was worth it for snacks and the opportunity to talk and visit with my friends. Ben LaPres managed to find me in a room full of people and waved me over to talk about NaNo, studying abroad, and whatnot for a while.

Then, abruptly, most people seemed to leave the party, and I met up with Mary today. She kind of made my day, actually. She walked me across the Millenium Bridge and we walked past St. Paul's Cathedral, which was lit up beautifully at night. We could see it across the river... just gorgeous. She walked me to the St. Paul's tube station and then she said goodbye... I hope exams go well for her.

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5. Last night in the hostel

So, during my last night, I actually got to know one of my new roommates. Most of my roommates, besides the guy in the bunk above me, changed in the five nights I was there. By the time of the last night, I was with two British (Australian? couldn't tell with the accent, but British is more likely) girls, the guy above me's friend, a few Asian guys, and then Scott. Scott's an American, in his 40s-ish, originally from Raleigh area, NC, but now working out of Birmingham by way of Washington DC. It was interesting talking to him, because he got his PhD from a British university so he knows how the system works a little bit.

I also needed to call home. For those of you who don't know, my grandmother passed away last Friday, and her funeral was yesterday, so I called home and offered what little condolences I could. I feel terrible about not being there, but there's literally nothing I could have done.

More journal-writing, and that was the end of my night.

- Jen -

London, Day 4 (Wednesday 9 December)

2009-12-11T12:27:00.002-05:00

Highlights of my third full day in London:
1. British Museum, take two
2. Chelsea
3. Victoria and Albert Museum
4. Trafalgar Square

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1. British Museum, take two

So, since I had only visited the upper floor the last time I went to the British Museum, I decided to come back and tackle the ground floor for real. And I'm really glad I did. Their special exhibits were kind of jaw dropping.

In their Egypt room, not only did they have gigantic parts of statues and representations of kings, but they also had the Rosetta Stone. I learned later that some other museum is trying to get it away from the British Museum, but I'm not surprised. Wherever it was originally found probably wants it back. Still, I saw the actual Rosetta Stone. It's really not that interesting; it's more of a symbol of the power of language than anything awesome in itself.

The thing that I saw which was vastly more impressive was the series of Greek and Roman statues illustrating myths. Also, they had about half of the ruins of the Parthenon in the British Museum. It was exciting getting to see them, but it also made me sad, because that's probably the closest I'm ever going to get to Athens, ever. The other thing that was cool about those ruins in particular was the myths that were depicted between the ancient humanoid giant race and the centaurs. That's one of the ones you don't hear while you're at school, and seeing all of the panels was interesting. The capture of movement... the Greeks were geniuses at figuring out the ideal form and realizing it in marble. Just fantastic.

Grabbed lunch at the museum again and went back to the hostel to drop off a souvenir before I moved on with my day.

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2. Chelsea

So, I was on my way to the three-museum complex in a southern part of London. I took the Underground to the right stop and everything, but then I took a complete wrong turn once I got to ground level and got lost.

I didn't mind so much, really, because I got lost in Chelsea. So there I am, walking leisurely along the King's Road, looking into the windows of little local shops, and it reminded me of home yet again. There's a little suburb off of Columbus that has a main street just like the King's Road through Chelsea, and I got homesick again, because I used to go to choir rehearsal in that little town. It's really the little things that get to me.

Anyhow, I did eventually find my way back to the museums, after about a half-hour of being delightfully lost.

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3. Victoria and Albert Museum

Also just called the V&A. I was kind of ancient-ed out from so much time at the British Museum, so instead I headed to the medieval and Renaissance Europe rooms. I spent more than three hours wandering around there, taking in gilt iconography, altarpieces, diptychs, triptychs, bishops' vestments, restored stained glass windows... and that was just in the medieval section. You can really tell, by what has been preserved, what people were most interested in preserving at that time, and it was their Christian beliefs. Although now I'm attempting a blog post to be published around Christmas about the intersection of feminist beliefs with Christian ones... you'll see, hopefully, if I manage to write it well enough.

Then I went into the Renaissance section, and I was enraptured again by the Elizabethan section of the museum. They had preserved clothing. Clothing! From 400 years ago! It was amazing to see. Also of note was some of the armor I was able to see, as well as the decorative and also useful rifles, crossbows, and pistols. Certain of my gun-loving friends would have loved to see how well they were enameled. Also, seeing restorations of furniture, coats of arms, etc... just wow. I would have liked to explore more, but the museum closed and I was hungry, so I grabbed my dinner on the way down to the tube station.

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4. Trafalgar Square

Once I was on the tube, I headed to Trafalgar Square, because Kate had told me on Tuesday that there was usually caroling there. And I wasn't disappointed. They had a gigantic tree erected there, and groups were singing on a dais with microphones in the front. I sat through three different groups; one was, I think, for an environmental charity, one was from a school in the area singing to raise money to buy new instruments, and the last was the carolers from the Royal London Society for the Blind or something like that. I felt bad, but I really couldn't spare any change, or I would have run out of money much faster that I did otherwise.

It's so easy to overspend in England. Sometimes, I catch myself thinking that the pound is the same as the dollar, and it's definitely not. Ah well. I was frugal with food and I was buying Christmas presents, so it was kind of a one time thing.

After Trafalgar, I just made it back to the hostel and wrote again, blah blah blah, business as usual.

- Jen -

London, Day 3 (Tuesday 8 December)

2009-12-11T11:53:00.002-05:00

Highlights of my second full day in London:
1. Charles Dickens Museum
2. British Museum
3. Hyde Park, take two
4. Embassy Row
5. Harrod's

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1. Charles Dickens Museum

So, the hostel I was staying at was close to other places besides just King's Cross. It was only about a fifteen-minute walk away from the British Museum, and on the way was supposed to be the Charles Dickens Museum. I think it was supposed to be at the home of one of the places where he might have lived in London, because it was on a residential street. Anyways, I actually showed up a few minutes too early, and once again it charged for admissions, so I passed it by in favor of getting to the British Museum early. I did get a picture, though, and that has to count for something.

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2. The British Museum

It's a fantastic museum. They have two whole wings for Ancient Rome and Greece, two for Egypt, special exhibits... I could go on and on and on. On this day in particular, I stayed on the first floor (that's the second floor to you Americans) and wandered around what seemed to be their 'lifestyle' displays for the Romans, Greeks, Etruscans, and Egyptians. I got to see the Sutton Hoo horde, which was COMPLETELY AWESOME. As a Beowulf fan, I couldn't pass it up. For those of you who don't know, the Sutton Hoo burial is supposed to be the closest replica to the Beowulf-style burial anyone has ever found. There was an entire ship buried with a horde of treasure that must have belonged to a great king. It was so cool being able to see it. (Can you tell I'm enough of a nerd?)

I kind of freaked myself out when I was in the Egypt rooms. There were mummies out on display, as well as a burial site from before mummification became common. That was cool enough, but then my brain just started thinking, what was in those mummies (and what had been the bones in that burial site) was once a living, breathing person. When you start to think about that for too long, it starts to freak you out and make you a little upset. Especially since there were various groups of schoolchildren (about elementary school age) wandering around and exploring. At that age, I was all, MUMMIES ARE COOL, but then I realized that they were Soylent Green (you know, they're people and all that) and my thinking changed drastically.

I remember being more caught up in the jewelry than anything else. Not only am I attracted to shiny things, but it was also interesting seeing the shapes of various things. If I'd see an earring, I'd wonder "how were ears pierced back then?" If I saw a bracelet, I would wonder "were wrists really that small back then?" You get the idea. I'm just fascinated by that. Any culture that's rich enough to have those sorts of artisans... it's just really cool to me. Maybe it's also that I'm a detail oriented person but I can't even understand how people put together jewelry in the ancient times. So delicate... so awesome to see. (Kind of makes you wonder what archaeologists 2000 years from now are going to think about our habits if all they find is our jewelry.)

I had a quick lunch at the museum and then went back to the hostel for a little while to take a short nap before I embarked on the next part of my day.

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3. Hyde Park, take two

Remember I said on Sunday that I had seen what looked like a fair from the entrance I had been at in Hyde Park? Well, on Tuesday, I actually got to visit it. I met up with Kate, the other girl at the Oxford program this year, at the entrance to what they called their Winter Wonderland, and we went ice skating.

It was an outdoor pond, which was kind of disconcerting seeing as it wasn't cold enough to freeze anything in the park, but it was neat. We got tickets for just as the sun was setting, so we watched the lights of the carnival rides get brighter and brighter against the sky. I remember we talked about tutorials, going home for Christmas, and Disney movies. I missed ice skating. It's not Christmas until there's some sort of skating. Maybe I'll go again with Justin once I get home... that would be nice.

So we spent an hour ice-skating before we were ushered off the rink, and then we wandered the wonderland. To give you an idea of what it was like, imagine Epcot Germany, and then add all of the quirkiness of the theme park from the movie Adventureland. It was wonderful. All of the food stalls were German themed, and so for dinner Kate and I got cinnamon-suger pretzels. Delicious and so totally worth it. I also looked for those stupid rassafrassing sour watermelon gummies that they have at the Huddle back at ND, but I haven't been able to find them anywhere since I had them back in April-May-ish. Makes me sad... I have some good memories with those candies.

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4. Embassy Row

So, Kate and I got a little lost between heading from Hyde Park to Harrods. As it turned out, we went in the complete wrong direction, but we actually got lost in a very charming area of town: where all of the foreign embassies are. We must have seen at least fifty different kinds of flags waving from the columned porches. Especially after the very international Winter Wonderland we had just been at, it was really cool. Unfortunately, my camera batteries died just before I got into Hyde Park, so I don't have any pictures of ANYTHING after that. (Though I did find my charger, which I thought I had lost, but it makes everything MORE ANNOYING because I could have taken more pictures!!!!!)

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5. Harrods

It's big. It has everything. Everything luxury, that is.

Kate and I just kind of gaped our way through. I swear our eyes were bugging out of our skulls. I could give you a floor by floor account, but it's really something you have to be there for. I did see a pair of gloves for 295 pounds, a champagne bar, a chocolate bar, a Lebanese restaurant (yes, these things were INSIDE the store), a Tiffany and Co counter (yes, INSIDE the store), dolls made in Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart's images for Twilight/New Moon (gross), and a lot more that I had written down. I was kind of afraid to even breathe the wrong way, because everything in that store was so expensive. I did manage to get a souvenir, though. Kind of a creepy place to be, though, if you're not super rich.

That took me until about 9 at night, at which point I packed up and made my way back to the hostel to journal about it all and call home. Much like any other night in London, really.

- Jen -

London, Day 2 (Monday 7 December)

2009-12-11T10:31:00.002-05:00

Highlights of my first full day in London:
1. King's Cross Station
2. Madame Tussauds
3. Sherlock Holmes Museum
4. Regent's Park
5. London Zoo
6. British Library
7. The Blue Lion

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1. King's Cross Station

My first order of business after I had the hostel-sponsored breakfast was to visit King's Cross Station, because I heard from other friends that they had a fake brick barrier set up between platforms 9 and 10 that acted as a photography point for Platform 9 3/4 from the Harry Potter books. Unfortunately, there's been construction at King's Cross, and I couldn't reach platforms 9-11, so that photo opportunity was lost. On a side note, though, I no longer wonder where Peter Jackson got the idea for what the nazgul's cry from Lord of the Rings should sound like. Just listen to the whistling of the brakes and gears of electric trains and you'll get the idea. The high-pitched electric squealing sounded so much like that special effect that I actually got a chill down my spine. (Who knows? That might have actually been what they used.)

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2. Madame Tussauds

So, I did kind of a dumb thing and again walked everywhere. It wasn't such a big deal as Sunday, because I wasn't wearing my backpack any more, but it was still quite a lot of walking. I walked about three tube stops before I reached my first touristy place of the day, Madame Tussauds. The line wasn't that long to get in when I was there, because I got there about when it opened, but it was very expensive to get in. To anyone traveling there in the future, I really wouldn't recommend it unless (1) you're a fan of celebrities or (2) you have children that would really like to take pictures with the wax models. Sure, I was fascinated by everything, and I even have a rather dashing photograph of the Daniel Craig picture, but there was still something missing from the experience because I didn't get to photograph anyone I was with along with the models (or, you know, have pictures of myself with them).

A few strange things before I leave off with here. Their sports room in the UK was filled with rugby, football (read: soccer), and cricket models and only a few other sports figures that I recognized. I got pretty exciting when I saw a cycling plaque on the wall and thought I might see a figure of Lance Armstrong or something, but of course not.

Also, they had a wax figure of Shrek. Not quite sure how that one's supposed to work, since he's not real. I walked around the figure to see the back of the vest, which supposedly was supposed to have been stamped with the imprint of ND's golden dome (since the creators were from ND), but the done wasn't there, so I was disappointed. Not sure whether that's an error on the part of the modelers or wishful thinking on the part of Shrek fans.

The third really strange thing was that they had a short ride at the end of it that reminded me of the inside of the Epcot ball at Disney. It was a ride that supposedly took a visitor through a brief history of London, but it was just freaky. Kind of like a mixture of "It's a Small World" (which even I think is creepy) and the weirdest parts of London's history, like fires and the surrealism of Beatles songs. I really don't know how else to describe it. It kind of really unsettled me, a little, the way the cars would jerk around on the track and force you to stare at whatever.

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3. Sherlock Holmes Museum

So, as you nerds may or may not know, the address of the fictional detective Sherlock Holmes (a creation of Arthur Conan Doyle) is at 221a Baker Street. It wasn't too far from Madame Tussauds so I figured I'd make a visit. I didn't count on there being a price for admission to the house, so I actually skipped it, but the gift shop in and of itself was worth a few minutes. The staff were dressed in period clothes and actually used the handpiece of an old-fashioned telephone to make their calls.

After I visited the museum, I went back and caught some of the souvenir shops on the main street outside before I headed north.

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4. Regent's Park

I don't think I originally planned to spend as much time as I did at Regent's Park, but it was a fine day and I still had plenty of spring in my step. It was right in the same area of town anyways, so I figured while I was out there I might as well pay it a visit. I got many, many pictures, most of which will be on Shutterfly shortly, but for those who can't see the pictures right now, a brief run-through will suffice.

There's an Inner Circle and a Broadwalk that make up most of the walking areas in the park, but I spent most of my time at Inner Circle. It was some kind of garden that was maintained for Queen Anne, I think, and it showed. Around the perimeter, there were at least seventy kinds of roses, and a few were still clinging to life even in December. I also got some wonderful photographs of willow trees and ducks which were not mallards. I also saw a pair of black swans!

I also walked up the main broadwalk and saw a bandstand there, but that's of almost no consequence. What is, though, was the cute sausage stand I found to eat lunch at. It was like a hot dog stand, but inside this cute cottage in the middle of the park. So it made a good lunch, and I enjoyed the few minutes of sitting time while I had it.

While I was walking, I noticed on the map of Regent's Park that the London Zoo was actually embedded in the park, so I figured, why not go to the zoo since I'm here anyways?

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5. London Zoo

So I went to the zoo. Another exorbitant fee for admission, but I spent a few good hours there, so it was worth it to me. Their aquarium was impressive. They had one tank devoted to fish they had saved from negligent owners. Apparently, when those types of fish were young, they were smaller and more attractive, so people wanted to keep them as pets. Now, they're about the size of my torso and probably just as heavy, and they need a huge tank to survive. It was sad to think that those fishes had been taken care of by idiots, but at least they were rescued now. I also saw quite a few tanks of amusing tropical fish and even a tank of fish that are either near extinction or actually extinct in Madagascar, so that was cool.

After the aquarium, I hit the reptile house. For once in my life, I actually saw the reptiles moving when I was in there! One of the basilisks was so dumb he tried to climb the glass wall separating me from him, as if he were showing off for me. I watched snakes climb up trees and turtles scurry and swim. I got freaked out at one point because they had put projections onto the floor of reptiles crawling around, but once I realized it wasn't real I remembered how to breathe again. Interestingly, inside the reptile house, they actually have a plaque commemorating the fact that Harry Potter was fictionally there. (And I think they also wanted to remind visitors that the only way a snake can get loose is by an act of magic.) Side note: How was that python supposed to have gotten to Burma anyways? Wouldn't it, like, have to cross an ocean and stuff? Just wondering.

I also got to pet a snake! I don't remember what kind it was, but it felt smooth, like plastic almost, not rough like other reptiles I've touched. Kind of cool.

They had most of the other normal kinds of animals, like zebras, giraffes, warthogs (CHUPATHINGY!), tigers, gorillas, white-faced monkeys, boars, camels, llamas, etc., but the next thing that really stuck out to me was that they had a human-sized model of a termite colony constructed by artists who were trying to study the industrious habits of termites. Needless to say, this confused me. I was also amused endlessly by the family of otters that the zoo had. I spent about 45 minutes just letting them lead me back and forth across their cage, listening to their cries (somewhere between birds and cats, like squeaky babies or something), and watching them play with pebbles. I have a 40-second video of one particular otter batting a pebble against the glass as if that would impress me, it has to be seen to be believed.

Overall... I hate to say this, but I was kind of disappointed. I mean, I've also got ridiculously high expectations, because Columbus Zoo is ranked #1 in the country right now, but still, I was disappointed. It also made me rather homesick. At this time of year, the zoo at home has ZooLights, where they put up about six hundred thousand (LED) Christmas lights all around the place. It's very romantic and Justin and I usually go on the Friday after Thanksgiving. Well, obviously we didn't get to go yet this year. Hopefully we can go once I get home, but... zoos remind me of Christmas at home, that's all.

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6. British Library

The zoo closed around sunset, which in London right now is around 4 PM. Once I got shooed out, it started to rain a little, and I was generally grumpy, cold, and wet until I saw the British Library on my way back to the hostel. I stopped in, even though I'd only have about an hour and a half until the exhibits close (everything in the world closes at 6, I swear!), but it was worth it. Free admission, and I saw two of the coolest exhibits ever.

The first exhibit was any photography nerd's dream. It was about the early history of photography and how it was used in sociological contexts (like ethnography and in cases of class division, composition, etc.). I learned about calotypes, daguerrotypes, and silver nitrate (more than I expected) and some of the photographs on display were almost haunting. Thankfully I picked up a brochure, because I obviously wasn't allowed to take photos of the exhibition.

Then upstairs was the British Library's main collection. They split off from the British Museum as the Museum got to be too full, or something like that, I don't exactly remember the story, but anyways, the Library got to keep all of the rare manuscripts and everything like that. So, the main collection was a series of really rare and valuable pieces of literature. I saw pages of the Gospels with gold leaf on them, but they didn't just have Christian religious texts, they had rare items from other religions too. They had an original copy of the Magna Carta enshrined in its own room. (It's a big deal for Brits, just like the Declaration of Independence is important to us.)

Some of the other neat things that they had included some of the drafts and work done while Samuel Johnson was compiling his dictionary, a case devoted to the Bard (I saw a folio that might contain one of his very early 'lost' plays, even something that's been generally decided to be in his handwriting), manuscripts written by a Bronte, the original edition of Alice in Wonderland with illustrations by Lewis Carroll, part of a handwritten lecture made by Freud, a letter detailing how computer programming might be useful in the future... what was probably the coolest, to me, though, was Ravel's first manuscript copy of his Bolero. It was SO COOL to stand there and hum along to the main melody as I read along to something that was in his handwriting... but I might just be a nerd like that.

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7. The Blue Lion

So I left the British Library around six, but I didn't want to go back to the hostel just yet, so instead, I dropped off my souvenirs, grabbed my journal, and headed to a pub for dinner and a warm place to sit and write. I went to a pub called The Blue Lion, which had a great atmosphere and background music. I ordered the closest thing they had to fish and chips, which was salmon and haddock breaded cake things with chips and salad, and washed it down with a pint of Amstel while I wrote about my day. I must have stayed there for at least three hours, just sipping at my pint and scribbling away. One of the gentlemen there even asked me "How's the novel going?" I had to admit that it wasn't my novel... but I had that small, secret smile, because I knew, even though he didn't, that I had in fact just written a novel.

That's pretty much my whole day again.

- Jen -

London, Day 1 (Sunday 6 December)

2009-12-11T10:15:00.003-05:00

Highlights:
1. Bus journey
2. Hyde Park
3. Oxford Street
4. Hostel

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1. Bus journey

So, I took the Oxford Tube from Gloucester in Oxford to Marble Arch in London. For those of you who don't immediately know what I'm talking about, it was from one bus station to one of the corners of Hyde Park. It was an interesting journey because it was my first time on a bus since I had actually come to Oxford. It was also a double-decker, which was interesting and gave some nice views of the street. The journey itself only took about an hour, but while I was riding I was listening to Christmas music and getting ideas for Red vs. Blue ficlets, so we'll see how those materialize.

I ran errands until noon, caught the bus around 12:30, and made it to London with some daylight left, which allowed me to do a few nice things.

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2. Hyde Park

Just like I planned, I got to London with an hour or so of daylight left. I got off a few stops early so I could walk through Hyde Park for a while, and I got some nice pictures of sunset on the water. While I was at the park, I saw a group of mounted police or rangers or something, and I also saw what looked like a fair from far off (a Ferris wheel, scream tower, carnie rides, stuff like that). I also saw some kind of roller blading competition or get-together where skaters were trying to impress one another by skating through a series of cones... yeah, I don't really know how to describe it.

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3. Oxford Street

So, to get to my hostel from Hyde Park, I elected to walk. It was actually a very long walk, more than an hour, and I had a heavy backpack on my back, so it didn't make for a very happy me. But I walked through Oxford Street, which is one of the largest retailer streets in London. There are multiple H&Ms, River Islands, and other stores like that along the length. I got some entertaining pictures of some of the window displays, because they were set up like panto scenes (but garishly freaky ones). I'll put those up on Shutterfly soon, once I get the battery charged on my camera.

So anyways, I actually passed up multiple Tube stations because I figured it wouldn't be that long of a walk, but it was. By the time I got to the hostel, my shoulders and back were killing me.

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4. Hostel

I stayed at a hostel called Ashlee House, on Grays Inn Road. It wasn't more than five minutes from King's Cross (you know, the huge railway station that goes out of London to everywhere else ever). So, for traveling to other places in London, it was a good place to stay, because there was a Tube station there that connected to about five different lines.

Other than that... it was kind of crappy. I was in a room on the top floor with eight beds, but thankfully I got a bottom bunk, so I was happy with that. The walls of our room were painted lime green and the stairwell was a bright lavender color... not the best color scheme, but it was kind of cute and good for the crowd they're going for, I think. The whole place kind of smelled like band camp to me and so didn't exactly evoke the best memories, but I made do. It had a kitchen and a common space in the basement, but most of the time, the mostly German kids in the hotel would be drinking and listening to music down there, so most of the time I just hung out in my room.

The first night I was there, there were six other girls and one kind of creepy guy in the bunk above mine. Two of the girls were some kind of French or Swedish or something, two of the girls were German, and two were Americans. I got to know them all right. They were studying abroad in Turin and were taking the weekend off to go to Dublin and London. Like everyone else on the semester system, they still had class. It was interesting chatting to them, because they didn't exactly understand England. Like, at all. I had to explain to them that Oxford is both a town and a university, and that England, Great Britain, and the UK are not synonymous. I mean, I'm no rocket scientist and I understand it, but for them not to know... enh. I expect too much out of people.

Anyways, since I was pretty disoriented from everything, I pretty much spent the rest of the night writing in my journal. It's got all sorts of pretty colors in it now, I like the way I've been keeping it during my trip. It's also acting as a nice refresher, so I hope that years from now I can read my handwriting and see what I remembered and what I was thinking and feeling.

That's about all for Sunday. I really had a boring day that day and didn't do much besides Hyde Park and Oxford Street that anyone's going to care about.

- Jen -

End of term goodness

2009-12-03T15:23:00.002-05:00

So, I just finished my last essay for Michaelmas term, and I feel... strange. Liberated, I guess. I downloaded the Fight Club soundtrack, and that doesn't really have anything to do with the above sentences except that I'm listening to it right now. So, so, so good.

So, I'm booking a trip to London right now. Complicated, especially since I don't have a printer. I want to print maps! I guess I'll just be hanging out in the computer lab all day tomorrow until my last tutorial at 2 PM, printing off of Google Maps and creating a last-minute itinerary of things I want to do here in Oxford and in London while I'm there.

I'm excited, but also kind of scared. I've never travelled (ha, British spelling) alone before, but I think I'll live. I'm capable of doing this, it just freaks me out because I've never done it before. It'll be nice to have a little freedom for once, just doing what I want to do. And of course I'll take a billionty-two pictures while I'm in London and put them up on Shutterfly, so check that out.

I made the conscious decision to come back and stay in Oxford before leaving again, just so I would be able to pack my suitcase and all that great stuff. Maybe I'll also sneak in a Harry Potter tour, a main-colleges tour, a visit to the Ashmolean, and a visit to the Natural History Museum (and who knows, maybe even the Bod!), but I won't push myself or anything. It's break, after all, and I'll have half a week before next term to pretty much do what I want around here or London, whichever.

Too busy with everything at the moment to give a good recap of how this term has gone so far, but I think about half of it was spent doing NaNo, if that gives everyone an idea of how stressful, yet fun, my time here has been. Also, Luke (another ND student here) circulated an e-mail of a comment from the Warden about how the ND students consistently perform well. I got my records today and they... weren't that bad, actually. I might have been able to do a little better but I'm still adjusting and I was doing some tutorials that were a little out of my comfort zone. Next two terms should be better. (Probably need to e-mail the philosophy faculty at some point to let them know how I'm doing... or something...)

Blah. Just trying to get a few things done between now and tomorrow afternoon, as past two I basically have my whole evening planned out. So, I may update between now and London but don't count on it!

- Jen -

Big, Fun, Scary List

2009-12-02T11:18:00.004-05:00

So, after NaNo every year, a lot of participants get together and make goals for themselves for the upcoming year. It's kind of like a pre-emptive New Year's resolution set, except you actually do a little planning to make the goals you put in place come true. So, I just wanted to share my BFS list with all of you, and I hope you come up with your own.

My big, fun, scary list, with annotations.

1. Edit my main novel for this year with the help of my beta reader/technical editor. [Big.]
2. Shop for publishing houses/agents and send out cover letters/summaries/first chapters. [Big.]
3. Characterize, plan, and write my massive fanfiction novel at the pace of about a chapter a week. [Big, fun.]
4. Do NaNoWriMo 2010. [Big, fun.]
5. Take creative writing classes once I get back to main campus. [Fun, scary.]
---
6. Travel alone, including Europe and my college friends' hometowns. [Fun, scary.]
7. Get a summer job that I'm happy with, or at least make a little money this summer. [Big.]
8. Start knitting/sewing again for something to do for a few hours every day. [Fun.]
9. Actually learn how to knit correctly. I've been teaching myself on and off but I keep dropping it. [Fun.]
10. Actually go out to a club. Can you believe I've been at Oxford for two months and I haven't yet made it out to a club? [Fun.]
11. Make it onto the ballroom competitive team once I get back to main campus. [Big, fun, scary.]
12. Along that line, start exercising, even if it is just walking the treadmill for a half-hour every day. [Big, fun.]
13. Learn how to cook, for real, and cook something every day. [Scary. If you don't think it's scary then you don't really know how awkward I am as a cook.]

I think thirteen things is a good goal for now.

[ETA: LEARN FRENCH. It's been on my BFS for years now.]

It's... over.

2009-12-01T07:58:00.002-05:00

Not much has happened since my last update. There was a failed Failed Novelists outing on Saturday (failed because it rained too much for us to head out to the nunnery we were going to go to, we couldn't find space in the first two pubs we tried and had to settle for an ice cream shop, and I was too worn out from noveling all day to be much fun), but I had a wonderful milkshake so that makes everything so, so much better. There was more noveling and more tutorializing and so on and so forth. I picked out my tutorials for the next two terms (I think) and confirmed that I don't need to take collections (I think), but otherwise school is winding down and it's a lot more calm now that it's 8th Week.

---

Yesterday, I had a small crisis. It was the 30th of November, and I still needed at least 5,000 words in order to get to my amended goal. Now, usually I bribe myself with chocolate every few thousand words/chapter so that I can keep on track and get going. It's a delicious system.

So, I showed up to eat chocolate and finish novels, and I was all outta chocolate. No, seriously. I was all outta chocolate. This necessitated a last-minute Sainsbury's trip after dinner last night to get the emergency rations. Never fear, though: I did make it through November with my sanity intact (mostly, though the Failed Novelists still seem to know me as 'that one girl with the unholy word count). I finished at 11:00PM GMT, and after a small panic with the validator on the NaNo site, settled in with my wonderful purple bar of awesome. Congrats, me.

I feel very strange now that November is over. The end of term is this Friday so it's a little weird to be finally caught up only to realize that there is no more catching up to do. I'm glad it's done, though, so I can enjoy the rest of this week:
- Last L+L lecture
- Last Ethics tutorial
- Formal Christmas dinner
- Last Ethics lecture
- Last L+L tutorial
- Failed Novelists Thank God It's Over get-together
- Formal guest dinner
- Christmas bop

Lots of stuff going on and I'm excited to be a part of it.

---

To reward myself for the end of NaNo, I went out shopping this morning. I bought myself a surprise that I'll show everyone over Christmas, as well as put a sweaterdress on hold. But I'm more excited for the things I bought online:
- Circular 16" and double-pointed size 10.5 bamboo needles (yeah, I'm a knitting nerd too)
- Lion brand Jiffy yarn, 2 skeins each of 3 colors (can't tell you what colors, they're needed for Christmas presents for my friends!)
- This (trust me, it will help my poor hands)
- This shirt (because if it's good enough for Jayne Cobb it's good enough for you)

I'm so excited to get home and see all the things I've ordered waiting for me! And trust me, I deserve them all.

---

Just to give you all an idea of how NaNoWriMo went for me this year, I'm going to put up some statistics that I think illustrate my point pretty well. (I came up with a little worksheet last night, but apparently Blogger doesn't support tables.)

Goal Word Count: 100,000 (set in October) / 175,000 (set in Week 2 of November)
(2007: 60,000 | 2008: 75,000)
Actual Word Count: 176,756 (in two novels, ten drabbles, and two short stories; that is, not including schoolwork like essays, forum posts, blog posts, etc.)
(2007: 61,761 in one novel | 2008: 88,306 in one novel)
[In case you're still keeping track, this means that I actually more than DOUBLED last year's total word count.]

Total Hours Writing: 78:03
(2007: n/a | 2008: 40:26)
Average Hours Per Day: 2:36
(2007: n/a | 2008: 1:21)

Average Words Per Hour: 2,206
(2007: n/a | 2008: 2,181)
Fastest Words Per Hour: 3,387 on November 30
(2007: n/a | 2008: 3,993 on November 17)

Average Words Per Day: 5,892
(2007: calculating | 2008: 2,944)
Most Words Per Day: 12,378 on November 13
(2007: 5,719 on November 1 | 2008: 10,016 on November 1)
Number of Five Digit Days (days with 10,000+ words): 3
(2007: 0 | 2008: 1)

Number of days not making personal daily goal: 3
(2007: 15 | 2008: 7)
Number of days not making NaNo daily goal: 0
(2007: 11 | 2008: 7)
Number of days with no writing: 0
(2007: 6 | 2008: 3)

Day passed NaNo overall goal: November 9
(2007: November 19 | 2008: November 14)
Day passed personal overall goal: November 18
(2007: November 26 | 2008: November 23)

As you can see, every year I've improved. I think part of that is discipline and part of that is circumstances. I'm at a place in my life where I easily structure my own days, without much that I have to do in the 'outside world.' At ND I would easily be in lecture until 4 in the afternoon and still have to do work that might take until 10 at night. Here, I got up early and instead of going to lecture (or on top of going to lecture), I would read for my tutorials and write my essays before dinner. Then I would go out and eat in hall and come back, sit down in front of the keyboard and either take a 1-2 hour break or finish my essays, then get cracking on writing around 8 PM. Of course, there are days where I wrote more or less, but I think these statistics say a lot. And I'm quite proud of how much I've improved this year.

I also appear to have picked up a technical editor as a matter of course. It's nice to have found a beta reader who really is my ideal reader (my AI novel was definitely targeted to the geeky audience and was meant to have a near-future scientific appeal, so good job on me for writing for my audience). I'm actually not embarrassed of Lucid Proxy and that's a change for me: I haven't liked any of my other NaNo novels I've produced so far.

NaNo does an offer for winners that they can create a free CreateSpace proof copy for their manuscripts, redeemable by 30 May. So, if I can get my novel cleaned up and into second draft mode, I'll definitely send it through and possibly put it up for order through Amazon.com (CreateSpace assigns ISBNs to all proof copies, apparently, and I can vanity-press it and get a portion of the proceeds from each copy sold). However, I don't think I'll put it up on Amazon if I do, because if I can clean it up enough and target a few publishing houses, I could really get this thing out there.

Also speaking of NaNo, it was interesting being on the forums last night. There have been two writers whose progress I've been following, Kateness and CrimsonBlood, who both made it to a million words during the month. Yes, it's possible. These two girls have ungodly typing speed and outlines ahoy, and they know how they work and they structure their days so that they can get their work done on their time. I know for sure that Kateness has been unemployed this month (not by her own volition) and so she had the time and energy to reach the 1mil, but I think Crim might still be in some kind of school; she talks about homework on the forums a lot. Anyways, if you think MY accomplishment was a big deal, check these people out. (Yes, they have actually validated, but the validator on the NaNo site only goes up to 999,999 in order not to collapse the universe.)

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So... I do still have an Ethics tutorial tomorrow, and I haven't started the essay yet. However, I have the whole rest of the day (like, 10 hours, guys!) to finish two final chapters of reading and pound out 2,500 words on the concept of free will. This looks easy as pie compared to what I've been doing this month. It also helps that I love reading about things like this, and that I've been gobbling up the literature over the past two days.

Also, I have a 230g half-finished bar of Cadbury Dairy Milk (most delicious chocolate ever) on my desk (and "Super Freak" just started playing in iTunes). Life is good.

- Jen -

I don't own enough pun-filled tee-shirts.

2009-11-24T14:31:00.005-05:00

So, I donated to NaNo today, but I didn't know that I would also get a discount to ThinkGeek on top of it! It's $5 off an order of $25 or more, $10 off an order of $40 or more. So, I could get two tee shirts and something else and still get $10 off! Whee!

The thing is, I don't know what I want yet. And they have too many black shirts. So, if anyone was looking for any more things to get me for Christmas, here's a little list.

The "Games" shirt from Adventureland. I loved Kristen Stewart in that movie.
Because Venn diagrams and letters are both awesome.
I'm a word nerd, that's my only excuse for this one.
Truth in television.
Like the slogan, love the concept.
The logician in me can't resist.
This exactly describes NaNo.
Also describes NaNo.
Highly related to my love of terrible puns and of my future field.
With how many shirts are on this list and how little money I have, you do the math.

Seriously, so many things I do not own but should.

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So, I'm 20k into my second novel. Happy fun times. Also found time today to not only write more fanfiction but to also write a somewhat coherent essay. I'm so tired right now. I don't even think tired begins to describe it. Also, I miss everyone in the states. It's hard to be away during Thanksgiving time.

We had lunch with the Warden today, and though I think we were all expecting it to be very fancy, it was not. We went in regular clothes and just chatted with the Warden for a while about how awesome Oxford and New College are. And about the States. Our warden is from Missouri by way of Illinois, or something, but he's a full British citizen. Really awesome guy, really down to earth but still seems like he knows what he's doing. It was also nice to get together with the few other visiting students we have here and enjoy some new British food (today's item: Cumberland sauce).

Okay, so my eyes are drooping from tired and my fingers feel like they might fall off (they are burning, I cannot make this sensation up), so I think this needs to be the end of my typing today.

- Jen -

This Beautiful Tuesday

2009-11-23T05:16:00.003-05:00

[Cross-posted to Blogspot, Facebook, and LiveJournal.]

So, I have a request for all of the people that read this blog, and it comes from the bottom of my heart.

You know that thing I do every November where I basically ignore you for a month, talk and mumble to myself a whole lot, and never seem to be on time to anything? It's called National Novel Writing Month, and it's hosted through the lovely people at nanowrimo.org. The site was founded by Chris Baty back in 1999 in order to give those people who thought "one day, I'll write a novel" a chance to make it into a reality.

The site is free to use, the forums are loaded with information and yet still load really quickly (thanks to new cloud computing servers), and many many users (around 150,000 participants in total) have a place to come and hang out during November where they can get support in reaching a magnificent goal.

You guys have seen my success in the past three years with this. In 2007 I wrote a 61k novel, last year I wrote an 88k novel, and this year I've already completed a 113k novel, ten short stories, and working towards another completed 50k novel by the end of the month. The thing is, I would not have been able to do it had it not been for the amount of support I've had from other users on the forums. They also understand that it feels like the end of the world when your plot won't budge, and they also understand the joy of finally breaking through the writer's block and pulling out a piece of prose that might not even be so bad for a first draft.

The thing is, NaNoWriMo is built off of donations. These are donations from companies, from users, or from users that have been sponsored by their friends. Also, I believe a portion from the merchandising also goes towards fundraising. There's a problem with this: novelists aren't always able to give as much as they'd like. This year, NaNoWriMo has raised only 4.5% of their operating costs. This doesn't cover even just the NaNoWriMo side, let alone the Young Writer's Program, which helps kids in elementary and middle school to write, and Script Frenzy, which encourages participants to write a 100-page script during the month of... March? April? (Yeah, I don't do Screnzy, but it's important to mention it, since it's another invention of the Office of Letters and Light.)

So, in order to counter this, NaNoWriMo is having its largest fund drive ever this Tuesday. November 24, from 12:01 AM Pacific time to 11:59 PM Pacific time. (For you English types, that's 8:01 AM on November 24 to 7:59 AM on November 25; for you ND types, that's 3:01 AM on November 24 to 2:59 AM on November 25. Fun with time zones ahoy!) Their goal is to raise $100,000 in 24 hours. It's totally doable as long as people like me reach out to help. But to put this in perspective, the largest fundraising day NaNoWriMo has ever had landed in at $30,000.

So, I'm going to be doing my part. Since I've been using the forums for the past three years and $10 is the minimum donation that will get you a donor halo on your profile, I will be donating $30 to the cause. You can donate as much as you'd like, just please, please donate. I'm looking at you, you folks who forgot my birthday this year. You know what, I'd rather have a sizable donation going to NaNoWriMo this year from me anyways, since I'm doing my best ever and probably won't have the time to be this prolific ever again. So, whatever you'd normally spend on a friend's birthday ($20-$50, let's say), please, donate it to the site instead, it would mean much more to me.

Because the fact is, if we don't raise enough money... NaNoWriMo isn't coming back next year. There will be no forums for me to enjoy while I flesh out my novels, and without those forums I may not have the energy to do it alone. So, please. If you care about me, if you care about what I like, if you care that I've been pouring out my heart and soul this month into these novels of mine... please. Please donate. Or grab some merchandise from the store. (They have some pretty awesome posters, even for the non-novelists, and on my Blogspot blog I've even listed bits of merch I'd want for Christmas.)

There's an incentive for reaching the goal on Tuesday: Chris Baty, the founder of NaNoWriMo, has promised to pen a song entitled "This Beautiful Tuesday" and perform it on video (with his other volunteers doing interpretive dance alongside him). It's enough of a reward that I definitely want to see it. So please, everyone. (Notice how many times I've said 'please' in this post? I really mean it.) Please donate. Please help me keep alive one of the things that I feel makes me who I am.

- Jen -

More adventures in muddy fields.

2009-11-22T08:01:00.002-05:00

So, for the second weekend in a row, my weekend was mostly awesome. We're not going to talk about ND's loss yesterday in favor of OSU handing Michigan their own head on a platter.

On Friday night, I actually got a ticket into guest dinner! That was really nice, because all of the ND people ended up getting a ticket, and we were all able to talk together and everything. AJ brought a friend, Katie, from Wooster, and it was nice to talk with another humanities person for a while. The dinner itself was all right, too, but it probably wasn't as much fun sober as it would have been tipsy. I should have hung out in the bar with Katie and AJ, but I realized while they were getting their drinks that I needed to finish my novel.

So, I went back to write. I got to talk to Greg for a while, and I got to see some of the pictures he had taken for his project. And he ended up bribing me to finish my chapters with parts of his project, most specifically pictures of Rory. Oh, stupid sexy Rory. But I did eventually finish my novel (at four minutes to midnight!), and it clocks in at 113,359 words... but I forgot to write "THE END" on it, so I actually get two more words out of it. This is also using Word 2007's word counter, which apparently uses a different algorithm from the one on the NaNo site. I really hope I don't lose too many words to the NaNo one... in fact I hope I gain some. :3

Also, on Thursday I joined a fandom. Yes, I joined a fandom, for real and all. I figured if I was going to make a novel-length fanfiction about Freelancers, then people might as well read it and appreciate it. And if it's good enough, maybe I can get it published with the blessings of Rooster Teeth and Bungie. This is a bad thing; I still need many many words during November on top of other reading and essay writing.

Yes, you read that right. Even though I finished my first novel this month, I'm going for a second. I'm on track, actually; I only need 5k a day through the 30th to make this one hit 50k, which is NaNo's requirement for the length of a novel. So, yeah. By the end of the month I will be the proud owner of two novels. My problem right now is, the novel I just started writing is ridiculous. It's abusing way too many tropes. Way too many. Seriously, I added zombies and a random werecat into what was supposed to be a deconstruction of high fantasy MMORPGs. Oops... at least I'll be having fun.

So last night there was another write-in with the Failed Novelists, this one at Wolfson College (which, I may note, is VERY FAR AWAY from New College). It's an all-grad-student hall, and it's so new that it still smells like IKEA (if that gives you any idea of how modern it looks). We wrote in their very comfortable MCR room (Middle Common Room - like a common space for the graduate-level students to hang out) before dropping our stuff off in Selena's room and tramping through muddy paths next to strawberry fields and the river to make it to yet another far-off pub.

This one was called The Victoria Arms, and I had my first glass of mulled British cider there. Absolutely delicious. And for some reason, the conversation revolved around organs you can possibly live without, suicide snuff films, and the possibility that the soul continues on after death as the literal 'ghost in the machine' in a parallel series of tubes. (We are a strange group.)

It rained as we were walking back to Wolfson, and of course I was not only wearing my glasses but had left my umbrella. Didn't matter; was still fun getting soaked because heck, I'm in Middle Earth/Harry Potter land, and that's what you do, right? I've never been more thankful for a good pair of rain boots and a nice trenchcoat. Anyways, we made it back mostly intact and hung out in the kitchen near Jed's room for a while, enjoying white wine, coffee, and talk about Firefly and vegetables. Then we got to see some of Jed's paintings, and geez. Lots of thought in their composition, I really liked them.

Jed and Selena tried to persuade the other five of us (hold on, I totally remember names: Vicky, Alex, Tom, and Joe) to stay and chat in the Wolfson bar (which is open until 2:30, ridiculously late compared to other places), but it was half-twelve and I was so ready to go home. So that was the second day that I crawled into bed around 2 in the morning and still couldn't sleep because I was so excited.

Yeah, so I totally love it here, just in case you haven't been able to tell by my blog entries. Perhaps later I can blog about what we discussed at hall last night (which included something like athletes, scholarships, and the growing burden of debt on the middle class). In the meantime, though, I need to do a lot of reading for Ethics still, and I need to finish by dinner ish so that I'll still have time to write my 5k today!!! So busy, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

- Jen -

Countryside adventures

2009-11-15T08:30:00.004-05:00

Last night I had the opportunity to go to a write-in at an abandoned church in the English countryside, and... yeah, it was an adventure. It was a thirty-minute walk through a muddy cow field, and I was one of the few people to actually be wearing wellies (the British word for rain boots). Once we actually got to the church, Jed had brought candles, so we looked around, poked in all the nooks and crannies, recited some poetry, and finally noveled a little. I finished a chapter in the church in about 50 minutes, though my hands were freezing (I don't have my fingerless gloves here) and I could see my breath every time I breathed out. Really cool... wish I had been writing gothic fiction or fantasy, it would have made the atmosphere so much better.

So, after we all got a little writing done, we headed to the nearby pub, the Perch. It's so far away from town but I really recommend it. We went in the back entrance, which had a series of arches lit by Christmas lights, then went into a garden of gigantic weeping willow trees before we got to the pub itself. It was gorgeous; I thought I was on Middle-Earth or something. Inside the pub I got my first experience with mead, which is... honeyed wine, I think, I don't know really. But it was warm, and it was the perfect drink after spending so much time in the cold. Spent a lot of time talking about Men Who Stare At Goats, drowning babies and how babies cry in their native language, synaesthesia, and shooting guns. (It was a G36, by the way, check my blog entries from September.)

After some other excellent conversation we headed back to Jericho (the town next to Oxford), still chatting and looking at the stars (which surprisingly look the same as the US, but brighter since there was so little light pollution in that cow field). We were on the way back when we found a bar called Freud (I can't make this stuff up) and I ended up staying until 2 in the morning. Excellent rum in the rum and coke apparently. Ended up doing some dancing in the middle of the bar (try waltzing in rain boots, it's difficult, but I managed to do it), and got Tom to demonstrate the White Man Shuffle for the British people.

It's so much fun talking with Americans among British people. We'll start talking about things, then have to explain something like, why guns are so popular in the States. Apparently you're not allowed to own guns in Britain so gangsters own dogs and knives instead. What a strange concept for an American! I also got asked if I was engaged because of the promise ring Justin got me. Only one other American understood the phrase 'He went to Jared' but it came across. They were somewhat confused that a promise ring was different from an engagement ring; I explained that for us, engagement means he actually asked me to marry him and we've set a date and all that, but promised means that someday he will ask me to marry him and I'm very definitively taken. They all thought my ring was pretty, too, which was a huge ego boost for me because I love it and wear it every day. I'm so glad other people notice these things!

More later if I can remember. I have to do work but I keep getting distracted by RiffTrax...

- Jen -

Personal accomplishments.

2009-11-14T11:28:00.002-05:00

Yesterday I wrote the most I have ever written in one 24-hour period. I wrote 12,378 words that took probably 5 hours to write, not counting times that I went to dinner and took breaks to stretch my hands. And I don't think that means a lot to anyone, but think of this: It was six chapters. Six chapters! Six really fun chapters, where things actually began happening. And I passed 4 days' worth of my daily goal this year in one day. Not even one day, because I didn't devote my whole day to it, just from 4 PM-11PM. Disregarding the hour I spent at dinner, five out of those six hours were spent frantically typing.

My hands are sore, and my head hurt so badly that I slept two extra hours today, but it was so, so worth it. The sad part is, to me, that no one will really understand how much of an accomplishment it really is. This isn't quite the longest work of fiction I've ever written (last year's novel at 88.5k takes the prize for now), but it will be by the time I'm done; rough estimates at this point put it at 110k at least. And with the pace I'm moving at, I will probably finish sometime during the early 20s, so maybe in as early as ten days. After the novel is done, I have another novel without an outline and I really want to see what I can do with it - usually, no plotting means that I get completely lost, but this idea might hold up on its own. I'd like to squeeze another 50k out of it just so I can say that I wrote two novels in a month, but then again, there's a delicious Firefly fanfic that I want to write by the end of the month. Probably won't clock in at more than 7k, but still, that would take most of a day to do.

Long story short, I've pretty much amended my goal for this month from 100k to... let's say, 115k for the first novel, 50k for the second, 7k for the Firefly fanfic... yeah. Somewhere around 175k. I want to point out at this point that my entire goal for last year's NaNo was 75k. Then again, I drastically overshoot everything I do by a large margin, so this doesn't exactly surprise me.

I'm excited because the Failed Novelists (the writing club I've started attending here) are having a NaNo write-in tonight at an abandoned church. Hopefully my laptop can stand up to not being plugged in, because I'd like to write on it for at least a few hours. I type so much faster than I handwrite, and it's so helpful with fiction because I see what I'm writing like a movie (when I do point of view, I think of it as cameras behind that character's head, if that gives you any indication). When things are going so fast visually, my hands need to be able to keep up. Thus why they hurt so badly today - I think I was going so fast yesterday that I set my fingers on fire!

---

I'm kind of offended right now because one of my friends decided to call me 'unwilling to go for glory' in his blag. Normally this wouldn't be a big deal, but as you see by the above, it's totally not true. I don't know of anyone else here who is trying to write so much in so little time with so much else on her plate. To write that I'm not gutsy and won't go for anything is just libel, and I won't stand for it.

The comment was given in the context of not being in the 'backroom,' being the grunt or mook who just sits there and gets all the work done without getting any of the praise. My friend has decided (and good for him, if he can live with the implications) that he will be the one to lead such grunts and take the 'glory' for their accomplishments. Now, it's true that people who go into 'grunt' fields or do 'grunt' work usually don't get any acknowledgement, but they're usually content with that or they wouldn't have chosen that job in the first place.

What the argument assumes is that there are leader jobs and there are follower jobs. Perhaps this works in a large corporate environment, where there is a definitive tier structure. However, it disregards the fact that there are opportunities to move upwards, and my friend's argument assumes that there is not. For example, one of the fields I researched going into while I was a freshman was the field of book publishing. It's a rather thankless job for the first five to ten years that someone enters the field. It starts out with a series of coffee internships (you know, the internships that don't really mean anything, but have you job shadowing while you make the coffee for your boss) in, preferably, the summer after your sophomore year, then another internship summer after your junior year. By the time you graduate, you've accumulated enough respect at your internship company that they hire you... as the lowest-level grunt. There's really no opportunity to move upward until you put in your time, and meanwhile, the books you're publishing become more famous for their authors. But when you get to the top, you suddenly find yourself in a leadership position. It may take years and years of unacknowledged hard work, but suddenly you're top dog taking credit for what everyone else is doing.

So, not even all tier companies work the way my friend suggests in his argument. In fact, I think it's plausible to argue that most companies intend for younger employees to 'pay their dues' before they have the opportunity to go into leadership; personally, I think it's the best way for companies to divine who really belongs where. But let's introduce a new element: freelancers. I'm talking about people in the field I want to go into at this point, property law and corporate law. These people are usually consultants, on the periphery of any type of tier structure. They interact with the top dogs but do all of their own work. Instead of a tier, they're more self-sufficient, not only doing the work that deserves the praise but getting acknowledged for it.

So, to say that I'm unwilling to 'go for glory,' instead preferring to work in the 'backroom,' is a completely faulty assumption and I won't stand for such slander against my personal character. In corporate law, there is no backroom, and there is no public recognition of one's work (unless you're the representative of some hugely famous name... I remember reading an article in the WSJ at one point about the lawyers of Mac and Windows trying to reach settlements, and their names were mentioned in the article proper). There's just work. A lot of post-graduate education, then a lot of work.

---

Also, at this point I feel like I need to go into a defense of why it's not necessarily such a bad thing to be an introvert after all.

I think being an introvert might be necessary to being a writer. With only the plots and characters from my own head, I'm able to create fantasy worlds that I can dwell in for hours. Now tell me that doesn't sound like the stereotypical qualities of an antisocial young child. I'm self-satisfied by my work; I don't need anyone's approval for it to please me. It's nice when people do read it, but that's not necessary for the creative process.

I'm just fine being an introvert. I can deal with having relatively few people in my life that I know very well, I can deal with not being as social as other extroverts might want me to be. I've just never been the type of person to want superficial friendships or to attempt to be friendly with someone I genuinely can't stand or don't want to be closer to. It's just a difference in perspective, really, and I'm slightly tired of being perceived as being a bad person when my priorities are just different. I enjoy keeping my sense of shame, thank you very much, and I don't think anything's likely to change my mind any time soon.

---

As some final and mostly unrelated notes, toasters and I really don't get along - I burnt my lunch bagel for the second time today. Kind of depressing, because they were delicious :(

There are so many things here that British people take for granted. One of them is really low tuition fees. I got to watch the shock on my tutorial partner's face when I explained to him that I pay $65,000 a year to go to a university that is only barely in the top 25 in the country. Apparently, when he studied in Germany, he paid a 300-euro fee per term and that was it. People here are lobbying for change when they have to pay more than 7000 pounds a year for university. When I told him that I pay about $300 every semester just for books, I swore his jaw dropped off. Being here really puts some things into perspective... like how awesome libraries are, and how much I'm really overpaying to be here for just a year. Because on top of normal ND tuition, I now have to pay airfare to and from, I had to buy several things to make my life easier over here (like luggage and voltage converters), and I only get one meal a day.

Also, British people take good weather for granted. While I've been here, it's been nice enough that I can usually get away with wearing just two layers outside when it's sunny. When it's rainy, I just pull on my trenchcoat. People were complaining yesterday about rain, and I just wanted to laugh. Rain? Sheesh, you should see three feet of snow. Apparently, when there's so much as a half-inch here, people just don't know what to do. I'd hate to see it if they had an ice storm here; everyone would probably lose their heads. And explaining to them that we once had a day so cold on campus that it was down to -40 degrees (convergence in both Celsius and Fahrenheit!) was loads of fun too.

Also also, British girls my age don't seem to believe in pants. They quite often wear tunics and leggings (or just tunics and tights!) outside. No pants. I feel so American walking around in my trousers sometimes. It doesn't help that I'm definitely not of the build to pull off any of those fashions, so it just makes me feel kind of ridiculous when I walk down the street here.

I'm going to stop here, but I just want to point out that this blog entry is about 1850 words long (so says Microsoft Word), if that gives you any indication of how much I've been writing this month. So, cheers, everyone.

- Jen -

Wait, why are there double digits?

2009-11-10T09:34:00.003-05:00

I forgot how fast November can go by sometimes. I swear, yesterday was Tuesday too.

I had so many edits in my last post, but I suppose it doesn't matter. To quote my FMC (female main character, for those who don't speak in NaNo acronyms), "please, I'm just so tired..." I'm mentally exhausted. I can't read an ethics essay without wanting to sleep, every consecutive chapter is taking longer and longer to write, and it always rains on Tuesdays... conveniently the day of the week I always choose to run to the grocery. And I haven't heard from my family in over a week. I really hope everything is okay.

Just a half-hour ago, I realized what the loneliest place in the world is: it's right in front of your monitor, with only four words of a title on a Word document which you have to turn into a 2500-word essay by midnight or else YOU turn into a pumpkin. Or something like that. As you, the reader, can probably tell, the ease of metaphors has gone right out the window. But yeah, I have an essay due at midnight over a topic I don't really understand, but I have to get into the details anyways.

I'm just... tired. I'm so tired. November is my least favorite. There are so many things I want, I don't have the money or the inclination to buy them right now, and the one place I want to be is the place I can't go for another month.

Hopefully tonight I will at least book my hostel for my week in London for the week before I go home. I'm at least a little excited about it; I plan on doing a lot of shopping and museum hopping, picture taking and people visiting. I'm going to get marvelously lost and not worry about finding my way home just yet. I'm just worried about logistics... like which bus to take to London, which bus to take in London to get to the airport... blah.

I will worry later. Now is for work.

- Jen -

November sucks.

2009-11-09T08:53:00.004-05:00

It's been a rough month for me so far, but I'm making it. Don't know how, but I'm making it.

More things I've realized I want for myself, but don't have the money to get right now:
- LoZ: Twilight Princess soundtrack. Oh, it is so good. I have the others from the N64 generation of games, but they're just not as rich, though the themes themselves are good. ETA: Possibly Wind Waker as well. I am such a sucker for good video game soundtracks.
- FFVII. Which would also mean that I would need a PS2 to play it on. Seriously, I keep hearing so many good things about the storyline, the characters... I need to experience it for myself. And no, I've never played any Final Fantasy games before.
- This pendant. I realize it's incredibly pretentious to want jewelry from Tiffany's, but if anyone can find a knockoff that looks similar I'd be glad to see it.
- ETA: Holy crap I did not realize a new Legend of Zelda DS game was coming out in December. New number one item on the List Of Things I Want.

The novel is coming along well. Since I took a time-out this morning from everything to do my laundry and get stuck on TVTropes.org, I might take the day off from writing and instead focus more on my essay due Wednesday. Yes, focusing on schoolwork.

Otherwise, life is pretty boring. Remember to check out my Shutterfly site for pictures of my adventures. ETA: link is on the right side of the blag.

- Jen -

Guy Fawkes Day

2009-11-05T10:47:00.002-05:00

I just want to point something out to my American friends.

No one in Britain is running around today in Guy Fawkes masks and quoting lines from V for Vendetta (either the graphic novel or the film adaptation). Halloween was over the weekend; today is Guy Fawkes' Day. I don't know if you realize this, but British people treat it as somewhat of a big deal.

Guy Fawkes legitimately attempted to blow up Parliament. I don't know if you people think that's funny or not, but I think the British people consider it to be a terrorist action and consider it to be a good thing that Guy Fawkes was caught and executed for his crime. These people don't go around triumphantly extolling the virtues of Guy Fawkes; they burn his effigy instead.

I also don't think you people realize that V for Vendetta is a fictional story. The only relation that it has to the Guy Fawkes story is the masks that everyone uses and the quotation/three minute scene at the beginning of the movie. The entire thing is composed of a totalitarian government, which Britain currently does not have, and a terrorist cell attempting to take it down, something that we consider to be evil when a Middle Eastern group does it to their own government but something we appear to approve of in Western culture. It's a political fable, in short, it is FICTIONAL. V never existed. Acting as if he did, and as if V is all this holiday is about, is sadly misguided.

So for all of my friends who posted Facebook statuses quoting V, I'm ashamed of you. You're making a mockery of the British 4th of July. It's as if Britain were to announce that they still ruled over us while we were celebrating our independence. It's rude, it's ill-founded, and it distorts the sense of the holiday.

In conclusion, you just keep being 'funny.' I don't think the British populace is amused.

- Jen -

November has been a rollercoaster.

2009-11-04T06:36:00.002-05:00

Two nosebleeds in the past two days? No thank you.

More things I want for Christmas:
-Halo ODST soundtrack (what? it sounds pretty)
-latest Guitar Hero game for DS
-possibly some of the later series of Red vs. Blue on DVD? maybe?
-that being said, Dr. Horrible on DVD?

I've also decided that as soon as possible, I need to start watching Buffy. I kind of missed out on the whole phenomenon and that might need to be rectified.

Also, in the interest of things everyone already knows, TVTropes is a huge timesink.

I'm doing well on my novel. My characters are behaving well and I even laughed in a good way at something I'd written. I'm also doing well with the balance between wordcount goal and chapter goal.

I have a tutorial to be at in a half-hour, so I'm going to finish my tea and print my paper. Ciao, everybody.

- Jen -

Assorted thoughts before November starts.

2009-10-27T09:29:00.003-04:00

I know some of the things I want for Christmas!

Firefly DVD
Serenity DVD
This shirt
This poster

You know, the more I think about it, the more I realize that every girl has a little River Tam in her. Every girl, growing up, is slightly confused, a confused mind in a body that doesn't know what it's capable of. And sometimes we do things that scare ourselves, and sometimes we need a lot of help from friends and family. But really, all we want is to feel like we really belong somewhere, to find the people we belong with. (And to marry Simon Tam. I mean, hot damn. "I'll take care of you. I'll knit!")

I've got my novel almost plotted. I have an essay due tomorrow but I have until dinner to finish it. There's a pub crawl tonight for international students, and if I get my essay done in time I can go without feeling guilty.

The weather has been brilliant here. It's been sixty degrees fahrenheit pretty much every day, with a breeze and some sun. Not much rain. It's really been quite nice, to walk to my errands and go out and get lunch.

Have a good day, everyone :)

- Jen -

Work hard, play hard.

2009-10-19T18:05:00.002-04:00

That's basically the slogan of the University of Oxford as a whole. Your tutorials, lectures, and problem sets will probably kill you, so you need to have killer fun to make up for it.

Tonight I had a family dinner at the Big Bang. I realize that sentence needs a lot of explaining... there are things called 'families' here at New College. You have two parents; one of them is your JCR (junior common room, like the executive body) parent, and one is your subject parent. I have a subject mom, but I only met her in passing, so my dinner tonight was with James, my JCR dad (who is head of the LGBTQA association). And the Big Bang is a place which specializes in bangers and mash... again, bangers is a British term for sausages, and mash is just short for mashed potatoes.

And let me tell you, the food was divine. Our table of nine ordered the Whole Hog, which was a sampler of each of their 18 varieties of sausage, one generous scoop of six varieties of mash, and enough peas and cabbage to go around. I don't know exactly what varieties of sausage I got, but they were delicious, as were my (I think they were?) garlic and rosemary mashed potatoes.

It was also BYOB tonight since we were dining in the basement, which led to some interesting drinking games. The first one I learned about was pennies. Everyone has a one-pence coin that they are allowed to slip into someone else's already-sipped-from drink while the other person is holding it. The person who then has the penny in their drink has to finish their drink to 'save the queen' and retrieve the penny, at which point the game starts all over. Oh, and apparently, if someone double-pennies someone else, that original someone has to finish their drink out of a shoe. (Tonight my right heel was one of the unfortunate shoes!) That way, everyone gets drunk rather fast.

Another drinking game is sconces. It's like 'never have I ever,' except it begins with someone saying "I sconce anyone who has/has never X" and whoever fits that category has to stand up and take a sip from their drink. It gets rather embarrassing rather fast, and again, if you've done enough things everyone gets drunk really fast. Some other games we were exposed to were Shark Attack/Nuclear Bomb (get on top of your chairs, get under the table), X Masters (somewhat like Nose Goes, except you announce it and the last person to touch their whatever to whatever, like Girl Masters you have to touch a girl, loses), and Good Pants Bad Pants (not gonna go there). Thank God I didn't drink tonight.

Also, thankfully I finished my essay due Wednesday on Sunday, so for the rest of this week I only really have to worry about my Logic and Language tutorial. Tomorrow I'm making a trip to Sainsbury's, Blackwell, and possibly the University of Oxford Shop before returning my books to the New College library and making a trip to the Philosophy Library on Merton Street. Busy busy busy... like I was explaining to someone tonight, there's always something to do here. Much different from home.

- Jen -

Pubbing and birthdays.

2009-10-17T05:33:00.003-04:00

Last night I kind of took the night off from doing anything productive in favor of sitting in pubs and just... hanging out. There were discussions about... hm, let's see... systems of ethics (specifically moral relativism), the word 'khaki' and how it is to be pronounced here, twelve-year-old boys, physics tutorials, and awkward animals. Pretty much a great night.

I also indirectly had my first experience with Hassan's! For anyone who's not actually here, Hassan's is basically like a van that makes food (something like you'd see at a state fair, only a little bit higher class). They make very good chips ('fries') and coat them with all kinds of stuff, like chilli (yes, that's how they spell chili) and cheese, hummus and falafel... anything really. They also make good gyros, burgers, and onion rings (which I can personally attest to). I think sometimes I might have to take a night off from the dining hall in order to really appreciate some of that food.

Among my many revelations last night was that though I have a personal moral system, it is not coherent by any means... I don't even want to go through that brain-bender of a conversation last night again (though it was excellent while it happened). I also got called an aberration because I don't think babies are cute and I have no maternal instinct. Who needs enemies when you have friends like these? haha.

Usually I've been hanging out with the physics kids here... they live right next door (well, the girls do anyways), they're funny, they throw awesome parties, and everyone gets along. Sometimes, though, it's odd just sitting there in the pub while the conversation about tutorials and professors kind of flies over my head. Yes, I got your Taylor expansion joke, though I don't know what it is. Stuff like that.

Last but not least, it's Dakota's birthday today and we need to figure out something special to do. We also as a group need to figure out how to watch the ND vs. USC game today (interestingly, Firefox says USC is a typo but not ND, so we must be better). The physics girls are also throwing a house party, and I also personally have about seven books to read on utilitarianism by Tuesday night (and that's not even my entire reading list for this week). So, I have a lot to do and not a lot of time to do it in... I think this is gonna be all for today.

- Jen -

Spending too much time on forums!

2009-10-13T17:38:00.002-04:00

I've been spending way too much time on forums lately (specifically, the forums for NaNoWriMo and TVTropes). While fun and enlightening, it's now reached the point where I need to do actual work, so Something's Gotta Give.

For those of you who don't know, TVTropes is a wiki for obvious cliches in any type of media, though they specialize, strangely, in anime/manga examples for their tropes. It makes for an entertaining read, and also a culture immersion for someone like me who actually has to learn how to avoid or adapt these cliches for their own work.

And for anyone who doesn't know what NaNoWriMo is, it stands for National Novel Writing Month, which takes place every November. A good explanation of what I'll be doing is here, but instead of the basic requirement, I believe that the novel I'm plotting will require 100,000 (that's one hundred thousand, folks) words at least. My novel synopsis and author info can be found here, if you'd like to read it.

And before anyone says "OH THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE," I would like you to revisit my author profile and note that I have winning stamps from the last two years, and to view my signature on forum posts which states that 2007's novel was 61k words and that last year's novel was 88k words. The last two winning years have been won while I was a) in college (with sometimes ridiculous amounts of coursework), b) preparing to go abroad (which required additional writing samples, applications, and interviews), and c) never lowering my academic expectations for myself (ie. I still earned top marks while completing this side project).

So far this academic year, I've seen myself have much more free time than I normally do, though this may be a side effect of They Are Just Freshers (can you tell I've been on TVTropes much too much?). In the past, I've often found that squeezing this one extra thing into my schedule has made a positive difference in the way that I schedule my life, in that I think more creatively when I am not actually writing creatively (which helps when writing papers), I schedule my time more effectively, and I just generally am a happier person when I have more things to do than less.

I am still working on regular coursework (in fact, I have my first lecture and my first tutorial both tomorrow, so we'll see what happens). I've just made word requirement on both of my page-long essays for this week, one of which is due tomorrow at noon, so the rest of the night will probably be spent... on the Internet, as per usual, while patching up the rest. I'm also working on plotting my novel and adding characters (which is necessary; I have a terrible habit of working with a character base of about 4 people during NaNo, which needs to stop).

So, wish me luck tomorrow and I think I can handle the rest. Good luck to all of my friends back home who are dealing with midterms week.

- Jen -

Why I'm here.

2009-10-09T04:01:00.003-04:00

So, as many of you know, I'm actually here to study stuff and not just here to muck about Europe for nine months. What you may not know is what I'm actually studying and why it makes me the anomaly of all of New College.

Here at Oxford, there is no such thing as a degree in philosophy. All the philosophy is taught as a part of a group of degrees. There are several ways one can do this, but the most popular way seems to be PPE. It's a common phrase around here and it stands for Philosophy, Politics and Economics. The focus on the degree seems to be on the 'E' part of it, but for the time being I've grouped myself with the PPE students in order to go to my library orientations, group meetings, etc. Other degrees that include this are Philosophy and Physics, Philosophy and Mathematics, and Philosophy and Psychology.

So, to New College it's strange enough that I'm doing what I call 'straight philosophy' without doing anything else. But when I tell my classmates, either ND or New College, what I'm studying, I'm met with universal derision. "Philosophy? Always hated that subject. Never saw the point."

To make matters even worse, I love the logic aspect of philosophy, so much so that I specified on my application to study here that I would study basically nothing but aspects of logic while I was here. If I thought just being a philosopher was unpopular, I was totally unprepared for the hatred people here have for logic. "Oh, yeah, I hated those classes, that's why I dropped the P in PPE." "You really want to study that? It's so awful."

Yes, I really do want to study it, and I quite enjoy it, thank you very much. I intend on taking full advantage of Dr. Halbach's resources and branching out as far as I can in this substudy.

---

As a sidenote to all of this, New College/Oxford's IT departments leave much to be desired. I have no wireless internet in my room, I had to retrieve all of my passwords, and our e-mail has not yet been moved from the old host to the new host (creating a slew of problems when we tried to sign on to Nexus and found out we were still on Herald). Most of the ND people are now known by sight to the IT office, and I have learned how to decipher some pretty strange handwriting to discover my pre-set passwords for some of these things.

Also, I need to remember to bring my camera to more things, because it is absolutely beautiful outside right now (slanted morning sunlight) and I haven't taken pictures of the college or the city as a whole yet.

I'm off to the New College fresher's fair in a few minutes, and I probably have another busy day ahead of me. Still don't have school supplies like notebooks, folders, pens, or pencils... I've had my head on completely backwards for about a week now. At least at this point I'm relatively settled in and have a fair grasp of the major streets of Oxford. Pip pip for now (or however these people say it.)

- Jen -

Hurm.

2009-10-08T12:57:00.002-04:00

Basically a straight Rorschach quote. I've had "Sound of Silence" (Simon and Garfunkel, from the film) playing in my head because of the line "in the halo of a streetlamp, I turned my collar to the cold and damp." It's not always cold and damp here but it likes to rain at least once a day. Today has been remarkably clear and almost warm (I was pushing up the sleeves of my sweater at one point).

I've eaten today! Small victories, people. I finally have an adapter now, and consistent internet. I might even have my New College email account set up to reliably work. Probably not linking it to my Thunderbird accounts but it's still a matter of pride that I have a New College email address. They're very exclusive after all, and I plan on taking advantage of that to spam everyone I know. ;)

I got my information about my tutorials just now in my e-mail. I'm taking one on Logic and Language and another on Ethics. I'm planning on stopping in on more lectures than that but I have a few days to sort things out before things begin in earnest. I already have a reading list/questions topic for my one class. Doesn't seem too hard really. I was told we'd be writing 8-10 page papers but apparently they only need 4-5 from me, and I'm only taking two tutorials as of right now.

Right now I'm trying to read lecture offerings, figure out what's going on with clubbing tonight and the bop (college dance) on Saturday, and email my profs, so something has to give and that's this blog entry. I'm just going to end with this thought: Why is every g-d bagel in the entire UK covered with sesame seeds?

- Jen -

I'm here... ish.

2009-10-07T13:07:00.002-04:00

Pretty much been a miserable few days. Freshers Week here is just as exhausting as Frosh-O was at home. I've been ill ever since we arrived so it's been even harder for me (manufacturing fake cheer when it feels like there are knives in your abdomen is not the easiest thing I have ever done). I finally have a mobile number and internet, but unfortunately it is becoming hard to keep track of my phone balance and I have about another hour until my computer dies (I don't yet have an adapter that will allow me to plug it into the wall).

It's around 6:10 PM here and I've had one meal today (lunch was skipped over since I had a library orientation that wasn't even meant for me that left me 20 minutes between presentations and the dining hall was not open). Next meal prospect is around 7:30 and is mandated as formal dress, which means that now I have to look presentable at 6:45 for drinks with my tutor. Crap. Don't have much time or much energy at this point.

Hope everyone at home is doing well, or at least better than me, and that your diet consists of more than Sprite, cherry-flavored Lucozade (look it up and try it sometime, it's delicious) [ETA: the original flavor is some kind of orange citrus and is not my favorite! make sure you get the cherry!], and Dioralyte.

- Jen -

Last post before I leave.

2009-10-02T22:36:00.003-04:00

In case my plane mysteriously disappears over the Atlantic... don't stop looking for me, although I probably will have been the first person throttled by the Smoke Monster.

- Jen -

This is actually happening, isn't it?

2009-10-02T09:28:00.003-04:00

There's a poll on Facebook today regarding the new live-action film adaptation of Where the Wild Things Are, asking: What is inside of you? Hope? Fear? Adventure?

To be completely honest, I have absolutely no idea.

I'm incredibly hopeful for this whole process I'm about to go through. I seem to be doing all right so far with keeping my head. I'm nearly packed (except for my carry-on) and my papers are all well-organized. I'm looking forward to flying again, seeing cities from the sky, watching clouds dissipate over the wings of the plane. I'm looking forward to seeing where I'll live, to running errands when I get there, to being completely exhausted and loving every minute of it.

I'm also completely terrified. At least I'm admitting to myself that I feel like that. It helps more if you, the reader, imagines Jon Osterman's final moments in Watchmen. Trapped in a study chamber, a lab rat as it were, with forces much more powerful than he is. He's completely, 100% terrified. However, his narration over the scene, right before his disintegration, says "I feel fear for the last time." I'm hoping to have such a destructive/rebuilding experience once I leave, but in order to change you have to feel fear for what you're about to lose.

There's also this part of me that's looking forward to complete newness. The part that's inexplicably looking forward to getting lost in strange cities, eating entrees whose names I can't even pronounce, embarrassing myself without fear of repercussion. There is an adventurous side of myself, one that I've never really let shine before.

So what the hell. I really don't have any choice at this point but to go for it, but I do have a choice in how much I really commit to this. I'm thinking 150% might suffice.

---

In other news, I haven't seen my family much lately. There is always a Crisis Du Jour where my dad works, which can't really be helped. My brother is busy with marching band practice and senior-year-of-high-school drama, and when he's not on Facebook or out with his friends or at a music lesson or at young men's Bible study or at Scouts, he's doing homework or sleeping. Boy just doesn't quit.

My poor mother has been back and forth to the East Side (for reference, we live in the northwest corner of Columbus) every workday for the past three weeks taking care of my ailing grandparents. Every day it's something. My grandmother's doctor's appointment to check for platelet levels. My grandfather's doctor's appointment to help discover the state of his memory and if it can even be improved at all at this point. My grandmother's hospital observation. My grandmother's blood transfusion. And since they can't drive, it falls upon my mom to do everything. Today it's a brief doctor's appointment before they start going into finances, closing bank accounts and paid-off credit cards.

It's really not fair on my mom that she has to run two households at once, cook two sets of meals every day, put those miles on her car, but there is no one else we can turn to that can do these things for us. My mom can't just say 'no, I can't take my mother into the hospital.' Things just don't work like that. The worst part is, there's only one doctor's appointment so far next week... why couldn't 'next week' have been this week? I kind of needed her home for guidance and for a car so I could run last-minute errands...

Speaking of last-minute, I have about eleventythousand things I need to do before I can consider myself prepared for departure, so I guess that means putting in yet another movie (I've watched probably 20 movies in the last week and a half) and organizing my backpack. I'm going to what might be my last high school football game tonight, so there will probably be no update later. See you on the other side.

- Jen -

Cleveland.

2009-09-27T20:26:00.003-04:00

So I went up to Cleveland this weekend. Justin goes to school at Case Western Reserve University and since he is in session and I am not, I figured this weekend would be the perfect time to get together and celebrate our third anniversary (the actual date of which is not until October).

On the way up I was nearly busted by a cop for speeding, but he actually nabbed the person right in front of me. Talk about scary! The rest of the driving went without incident, except for the few times this afternoon that I shut my eyes for a liiiiiiiiiiiiitle too long and started drifting out of my lane. It's a boring drive except for the actual campus area in Cleveland, since it's basically one single freeway for two hours.

Friday was our movie day. I got to Cleveland by about 3:30, and Justin and I decided to exchange anniversary presents. I gave him a digital picture frame (great for keeping photos and memories close by!) and he gave me Adventureland on DVD, a strange-looking Care Bear-knockoff statuette thing (which is kind of adorable actually), and a gift certificate to a spa redeemable for a full-body massage. Definitely going to be using that this week, as I will probably be a bundle of nervous energy by this upcoming weekend.

We were able to get most of our meals on campus at the dining hall closest to his fraternity house. It's just so strange to visit campus friends and see how they eat and live and stuff like that. I don't even think about these kinds of things when I'm home. We caught a movie playing on campus (The Bourne Ultimatum, very good action flick), watched the beginning of my favorite Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode (The Final Sacrifice [part 1 of 9], definitely worth watching), and were able to watch Adventureland before we called it a night.

Woke up in time on Saturday to catch brunch before the football games started up. We were able to watch Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog for a little bit and we played through a few levels of Halo 3 before the real games started up. It was really rainy in the entire Midwest, I think, because the Ohio State game looked miserable and it was coming down hard outside while we were watching. We weren't able to finish that game, though, because we had dinner reservations at this really great place.

Yeah. Everyone, next time you're in Cleveland, check out L'Albatros. It's actually kind of in the middle of Case's campus, but I've never really eaten at a better restaurant. Seriously, check out their website, because they have pictures of their interior and of some of the dishes on their menu.

Just to start off with, their service was excellent. Bartenders coming in and out with unspoken refills for drinks, water out of a glass bottle, very knowledgeable and courteous waitstaff. One guy even took Justin's umbrella as we were entering, no questions asked. They serve slices of French loaf while you wait, with olive oil, coarse salt, and some kind of seeds-in-oil mixture to spread on it. I want to know what was in that mixture, because it was tangy and absolutely delicious on the bread.

As our appetizer, we ordered their goat cheese tart with sun-dried tomatoes and olives. It was really a small slice of this cheese mixture on top of a really flaky crust, served with a tomato pesto on the side and covered with just a few slim salad greens. It was delicious; the cheese was so flavorful, and so were the sun-dried tomatoes, plus the saltiness of the olives and the texture of the crust made it excellent.

Justin got the simple mixed-greens salad, but somehow this place was able to take a simple salad and make it something extraordinary. Some of their greens came fresh-picked from their back garden. Every one of the varieties had some different flavor to it, and the best part was, instead of covering it up with some sort of heavy and over-marinated vinaigrette, they just tossed it with a little light something. Very good.

For our entrees, Justin ordered the almond-crusted trout while I ordered the seared sea scallops. Everything was delicious. Justin couldn't stop praising the taste of his fish. His two filets of trout came covered with haricots verts, and the presentation looked wonderful. For my part, the scallops were seared perfectly. They cut very well and melted in my mouth, almost tasting like a finer version of lobster. The sear was perfect, with a slight peppery taste. The three scallops were served over egg noodles and some sort of green in a very rich white cream sauce. I later realized the greens were brussels sprouts; they were just so well-prepared that I didn't want to give them any credit!

By the time the dessert menu came around, the restaurant was emptying fast. As it turns out the symphony was playing Beethoven's Ninth that night. Oh well. We'll catch the symphony next time I'm in town, I'm sure. But that meant the restaurant quieted down a little, so we were able to enjoy our dessert in a little more peace once the worried symphony-goers had departed. We ordered their chocolate napoleon, which was this elegant stack of wafers sandwiching dollops of chocolate mousse and raspberries, garnished with tart raspberry sauce. Absolutely delicious.

Too bad they didn't serve hot chocolate on their dessert menu, only coffee, tea, and cappuccinos, or we would have lingered over 'drinks.' As it was, we were missing the ND game (which I had completely forgotten about, the food was so good, and that's saying something from an Irish student), so we quickly hit up the nearest Starbucks and went back to the house to change and watch the games.

I say 'games' because in their common room, they had two TVs, so we were actually able to dual-screen the Penn State and ND games both at the same time. They were both interesting games, but we got interrupted in the middle of the third quarter by the announcement that some of the guys were going to be watching Fight Club. I couldn't pass that up, so all of a sudden I'm in a very small room with one futon and one desk chair, eight people in this room, watching the movie. What a guy thing to do on a Saturday night.

After the movie was finished, we (I use the term liberally; it was really one of Justin's friends who extended the invitation to both of us) were invited to another fraternity's house for a 'challenge.' Turns out they were testing new beer pong rules. It was kind of entertaining, watching my first game of beer pong (didn't participate). After hanging out with a room full of guys for a while, Justin decided that while we were on that part of campus, we should visit some of his old friends that lived in his dorm last year. It was actually kind of interesting seeing those old faces again.

It's easy, re-reading that, to see how college nights get to be so late. I don't think that I've ever gone to sleep before 1:30 on a 'real' college weekend before, and this weekend was no exception.

This morning we were awake in time to catch brunch. The original plan was for me to leave after I ate, but it was such a nice day out after it had rained all day Saturday that I wanted to take a walk around campus. The air was breezy yet crisp. The leaves aren't quite changing color here, which actually made things seem more summer-like and less like autumn. Justin took me to a park just on the edge of campus where there was a man-made 'lake' (really a pond) sunk into a little dip in the hills, with lots of trees, Greek-like sculptures, and fountains. (And most people say Cleveland has no redeeming qualities!) Turns out that the park actually faced the Cleveland Museum of Art. Too bad it was a Sunday or we would have had a blast.

We ended up back in an area of campus I was more familiar with from my previous visits: the library and humanities quad. In the quad there was a structural fountain, basically a stack of rectangles with shallow water flowing down two sides of the sculpture. We took our shoes off and splashed around in the cool water for a while, just acting like little kids. But the general tour ended after that.

And I think it took two (maybe three) hours to say goodbye. It always hurts. This time it just hurts really, really badly, because I don't know for sure when I'll see him again. Three months from now is a good guess. It'll be the longest time we haven't seen each other, and we'll also be the furthest away (actual time zones and countries!). Don't get me wrong, I'm sure we'll be fine, it's just not going to be the most fun thing we've ever done. (Truth be told, I still feel like crying.)

... And that was my last weekend of the 'summer,' my last weekend completely within the United States for a long time. This upcoming week is going to be difficult, what with the stress of caring for my grandparents, the last-minute errands I'm going to have to run, the packing lists that will need to be made and re-made, the list of errands that need run once I actually get to school...

It's all a little overwhelming. All of it. So I think I'll take a break for now and come back to my blog around Friday night. The screen's a little blurry right now anyways.

- Jen -

Last day of work.

2009-09-23T23:03:00.002-04:00

Yeah. Today was my last day of work this summer. It feels weird to say this, but I'm leaving in ten days. I still feel like it hasn't sunk in yet, and if I think about it too much I get a little queasy. My big joke now is 'hey, don't remind me.' It just kinda feels like I dropped out. Or dropped off the face of the earth. Or something like that.

Although I am getting ready for stuff, a little. The past few 'trial runs' of my weekend suitcase have gone really well (several outfits, minus extra shoes). I got a flu shot tonight and now my arm is kind of stiff. I'm watching all of my Friends DVDs. I'm buying the last of my new clothes. ... so I'm not doing anything to get ready. I'm in huge denial. Can you blame me?

My grandfather's open-heart surgery was originally supposed to be on Tuesday. It didn't happen, because I worked yesterday. Then it was supposed to be rescheduled for Friday. Then, as it turns out, his diabetes is back, the surgery would have caused depression, and he's having problems with his memory. Decisions are still being made, but probably won't get decided until after I leave.

Cleveland this weekend :)

- Jen -

Happy birthday to me?

2009-09-21T15:24:00.000-04:00

I am twenty today, so here are twenty things about me. Some of them you might know, some of them you might not, but hopefully you learn something and you laugh a little too.

1. I believe success is the best revenge, and so far in my life I’ve been proved right. It lets you put effort that you could have put into hating other people into yourself and into making yourself into the person you’ve always wanted to be.

2. One of the first major purchases I intend to make is a treadmill. This sounds really stupid until you think about the fact that it’s an investment into a healthy lifestyle. Even if I just walk on it for fifteen minutes a day, I will hopefully avoid becoming one of those desk vegetables.

3. I don’t want kids. I’d rather spend every $200,000 (that’s 200 grand) that I would save from NOT having a kid and spend it on Mediterranean cruises. That’s almost half a million dollars if I were to substitute for the two kids I will never have.

4. I’ve written two novels so far. Neither of them will see the light of day (or publishing).

5. There are a few things that will always remind me of college. Some of these things include Starbucks, Domino’s pizza, the Blind Melon song “No Rain,” the Journey song “Don’t Stop Believin’”, and the Neil Diamond song “Sweet Caroline.”

6. I love to bake, but I hate to cook. My favorite things to bake are cupcakes and brownies. One of these days, I will learn how to boil pasta and my culinary skills will be complete.

7. I own an acoustic guitar, but I’ve never really learned how to play it. Currently, my brother needs to replace two of its strings.

8. I have preferred study music. For philosophy, it’s the Dark Knight soundtrack. For writing English papers, it’s Daft Punk’s “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger.”

9. I don’t really understand the current pop-culture fascination with vampires. We get it – it’s a gigantic allegory for the allures of sex. Now get over yourselves (and the strange tingling in your panties when you watched the meadow scene in Twilight).

10. I used to want John Williams’/Hans Zimmer’s/Danny Elfman’s job, but as creative as I am, I’ve never really been able to write my own music.

11. This is my favorite number.

12. While I’m still in college, I would like to, at some point, a) take a ride on a Ninja/other crothrockity type motorcycle, b) shoot a shotgun, c) shoot a bolt-action rifle, d) shoot a revolver, and e) skydive. As far as I know, (e) is happening while I’m abroad, at an indoor facility.

13. I know I’m not unique. None of us are. But it’s different than the “Fight Club” no one is a beautiful snowflake picture. Because I know, even though I share elements with other people, mine are mixed in a totally different way. Sure, I may be the culmination of everything that’s ever happened to me, and sure, most things that happen to other people happen to me, but it’s the way they happened that makes me special. Not unique, but different enough.

14. I haven’t played piano (read: practiced every day for an hour and a half) for so long that I thought I had forgotten how to read music. I now know that is a lie, but it’s still a lot more difficult for me than it used to be, and my fingers get tongue-tied. (I also know that most of you reading this blog have not heard me play. I might like to show off for you sometime in the future, if I can find my Debussy “Deux Arabesques #1” sheet music.)

15. For the first time in my life, I have decent-looking fingernails, skin, and hair. I’m finally growing into physical self-confidence and it feels great.

16. I don’t think I’ve ever had a year straight in my life where my handwriting hasn’t changed. And most people I know haven’t seen my real handwriting. I think it’s a shame that we don’t read each other’s handwriting any longer, in this day and age. I’d much rather garner information about your personality from your scrawl than from your favorite font, although I am somewhat of a font nerd.

17. College, to me, seems to be one of the few socially acceptable means of running away that I’ve ever seen. You choose to run away for four years to this place that you hope will shape you into the human being you’ve always wanted to be, hoping at the same time to meet people who want to undergo the same process of transformation in the same way as you do. I know that for me and at least a few of my friends, college has figuratively meant ‘running away’ from personal problems and hoping that somehow, the presence of a university and other like-minded people will help us overcome the people we don’t want to be.

18. Whenever I see ambulances or fire trucks, I try to cross myself, and I at least say a quick prayer. I just think it’s respectful to do that, even though I’m not particularly religious.

19. Yes, it is entirely possible to watch an entire season of Friends in one day. I’ve done it before.

20. I always love my birthday. This may be since I’m younger than most people in my school year and so do not face the same sort of “holy crap I’m old” feeling that they do every year. I kind of make the date into a huge deal. So far in my life, I’ve never had the kind of serendipitous birthday that I’ve always wanted, a day where I can kind of have the best day ever. I had a two-months late sweet-sixteen surprise party and I met Justin on my seventeenth birthday, but so far none of my birthdays have really blown me out of the water in the kinds of ways I’d want. Plus, I don’t get the right to complain about feeling old, because ‘you’re younger than everyone else’. I think this might make me an incredibly selfish person.

So, there you have it.

- Jen -

The first of a few birthday meals this year.

2009-09-20T22:01:00.003-04:00

Today I had what was probably one of my worst days at work. Thankfully, at least by now I know that a) I can keep my sense of humor, and b) it was my second-to-last day of 2009 today. I'm just so, so glad that homecomings for high school started this weekend. See, I've been working in the dresses department, and I can't tell you how many $150 dresses I've picked up from floors of fitting rooms, completely discarded, all frumpled, not even on hangers. I can't tell you how many $150 dresses I've had to chargeback to the company because of girls creating defects (like broken zippers, broken straps, busted seams, makeup stains... I've seen pretty much everything at this point). We've been having customers come in and steal/ransack each other's held merchandise just because they can't wait and have to have THIS DRESS RIGHT NOW.

I put a call in to another local store for a customer and was put on hold for 25 minutes while the associates from that store were 'locating' the one piece of merchandise I had requested. I assumed they had forgotten, hung up, and called back, only to receive a snooty "yes, we know" from the other end. Three hours later, the customer came back, and the associates at the other store STILL hadn't been able to take 45 seconds out of their schedule to find a dress. And to set the record straight, it was a mother-of-the-bride dress, not a homecoming dress, so I still can't figure out what the problem was. We also had terrible customers today, just really rude people.

But enough about my terrible day at work; I got to go out to dinner tonight for my birthday! I wore my favorite dress (zebra print!) and tights and my silky black trenchcoat and felt very British walking in the rain with my umbrella. I asked for my immediate family and my dad's parents to take me to dinner at Bon Vie, and that's just what we did.

It was delicious. The service was wonderful, on top of everything. The French loaf to gnaw on came to the table warm and crisp, but fluffy on the inside. We ordered the flatbread appetizer, which is actually a very, very crispy thin-crust pizza with fresh mozzarella, tomatoes and basil. Absolutely delicious and more Italian than Italy. For my entree, I ordered a four-ounce filet mignon and a crab cake... which way exceeded expectations. The Yukon Gold potatoes that came with it were somehow sauteed until crispy and then baked the rest of the way, so they had the same outside texture and crunch as frittes (that's French fries to the rest of you). The haricots verts (French for 'green beans') were marinated and might have been grilled, or that might have been the steak juice that got all over them.

I ordered my steak medium for the first time in my life and absolutely was not disappointed; a four-ounce steak is probably all I could have handled anyways, so the portioning was perfect. Every single bite was heaven. Didn't exactly cut like butter, but melted like it in my mouth, and there was a slight crust on the bottom like it was seared. My crab cake had a lot of dill in it and was resting on top of a yellowish remoulade. I can't figure out what they made it with, but it was tangy and went with pretty much everything on my plate. (I also got a few bites of a fantastic chicken and mushroom crepe. Wow.)

Since it was my birthday, the waiter brought me a little bit of dessert: a warm nut-filled brownie with ice cream, whipped cream, and chocolate sauce, served in a martini glass. It was really cute and delicious to boot. I'm very full right now, and very happy. My grandparents have found another of their favorite restaurants (my grandfather's portion of fish and chips was so huge we could have probably fed a family of four with it.)

I got to leaf through pics of last weekend's shooting outing, I got to watch two videos of my brother (one of him trying to eat a gigantic gumball, one of his piano recital today), and now I'm rooting for the Giants against the Cowboys in Dallas' new football stadium. Just one more reason to move to Texas I suppose... It's been a good day, after all.

Perhaps my birthday won't suck this year.

- Jen -

PS. Transcription of a conversation with my mother.
me: Aw, Eli Manning. He's so dreamy...
Mom: You do know that you're lusting for a married man, right?
me: Yeah, and I want to have Neil Patrick Harris' babies, too, and we all know that's never going to happen. [NPH is gay.]
Mom: This is why you should have three boys.
me: But you know I don't want kids!
Mom: But then you can call them Neil, and Patrick, and Harrison!
me: *facepalm*

Google Maps is made of fail.

2009-09-18T21:52:00.003-04:00

Today my mom and I went on a little adventure. The original intent was to go apple picking, but even though we've been to this farm at least once a year since we've lived in Ohio, we got lost on the way there. Why? FREAKIN' GOOGLE MAPS. This is the second time in a week that I've been sidetracked or greatly delayed by their silly directions. Thankfully I now know what kinds of general directions to head in, so I got us to the farm in time... except the breed of apples we wanted to pick, Honeycrisp, had already been picked last week, all of them within a day. So instead of actually picking any Jonathans for ourselves, we just headed down to the farmer's market to pick up a bushel of Honeycrisps and some cider.

I was so tired when I got home that I fell asleep for two more hours, trying very, very hard to remember whose face was in the dream I had last night (and why I woke up with a gigantic smile on my face and the feeling I had in early October 2006).

Today was also one of my last days of work. Work was made of fail, too, because we had a customer come in the store ten minutes after it closed and who still wanted service/to be rung out at a register. As a rule, we're not really allowed to turn anyone away, and we don't close our registers until all customers are out of the store, but still.

I figured out what I'm going to name my cats! The first one will be called K. C., which is actually short for Kitty Cat (lord knows I'll just be randomly shouting "KITTY!" at enough opportunities, might as well just call the cat Kitty). The next one will be called Pyro and the third (if I ever get more than two) will be called Gangle, because that's just too good of a name to pass up (sorry Greg, except not sorry!).

I'm trying very, very hard to ignore the fact that I have to leave two weeks from tomorrow and will not see my friends at school again for another year, so please don't remind me.

- Jen -

This one's for you, Greg.

2009-09-17T22:19:00.003-04:00

I'm going apple picking tomorrow for the first time in years. I'm really excited. I miss the feeling of climbing the trees, actually eating apples that you yourself just freshly picked off a tree, the smell of ripe apples, the crisp feeling of the early morning air. Too bad I work tomorrow evening so I can't just stay out picking apples all day.

Barnes & Noble will eventually be the financial ruin of me. I went tonight and came home with the five-hour BBC version of Pride & Prejudice (a must-see, in my opinion, though I like both versions pretty equally), the third season of Friends on DVD (what? I need something to watch while I work on Projects), Naked by David Sedaris, and Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut. I think I may have read Naked before, and I've read Sirens of Titan and heard that Cat's Cradle, along with Slaughterhouse Five, were very good, but I could only pick one. Now I just need to make it to the library to check out Pride and Prejudice and Zombies...

Also, this may be a terrible reflection on me, but I cry every. single. time. I listen to Imogen Heap's "Hide and Seek."

- Jen -

Even shorter post.

2009-09-17T15:26:00.002-04:00

I have run out of Friends seasons to watch. That's not saying a whole lot, since I only have 1 and 2, but still, I thought I had more movies to watch than just that.

My mom is going completely nuts. Today, my grandparents called her and casually mentioned that they have doctors' appointments this afternoon. The bad thing is, neither of them can drive (one physically can't, the other can't by doctor's orders). So, the peaceful and work-on-her-own-house day my mom had planned went completely out of the window and so did my hopes of making it to the library this afternoon, because she's the only one available who can drive them right now.

Really, this wouldn't be so bad if my aunt weren't teaching right now. If it were still summer, my aunt would be able to help with everything and at least take her fair share of the work. I understand that she has to teach, but I thought she might want to take the day off on Tuesday to just be with my mom while she waits for my grandfather in surgery. But oh, no. (I don't know about any of you, but I think I would feel justified in taking the day off of work to support my dad during his open-heart triple-bypass surgery.)

And I'm at least twenty pages behind on my Secret Project, which kind of has to be finished by January and I kind of can't take it with me abroad, so most if not all of it kind of has to be finished by October 2. At least I finally have the pages organized, so really I should be able to put it all together in time, but... as any reader can see, Sometimes Things Just Come Up and I can't always work on it the way I think.

I will be calm from here on out, just thinking of this video (and the follow-up video) and daydreaming about the cat Justin said I could get once we have our own place. (What's a good name for a cat?)

- Jen -

Short post.

2009-09-16T18:56:00.002-04:00

Not intentionally for someone (cough) to get even more behind, but I know everyone's usually busy during the week. Catch up on the weekend.

When I woke up from my dream this morning, all I could remember was that armageddon had been happening, all the opposites (which looked like Gundam fighters with allegories like "WAR" and "PEACE" and "LOVE" and "HATRED" spray-painted on) destroyed one another, and I was picking out long splinters of glass from my fingers with a pair of tweezers. And Greg was in my dream. Weird. And I haven't watched anything Gundam related since I was in middle school.

Every intention I ever had of just having a two-hour visit with my grandparents always, always turns into five hours and counting. They're just a little bit more labor-intensive than they used to be. I was introduced to the place where I will be taking my grandmother to her chemotherapy next Tuesday (really nice place, open, nice people, etc.). Sat around visiting for a while, including repeating stories twice and three times for my grandfather, which is kind of upsetting. Took my grandmother grocery shopping, then spent an hour rooting through her freezer and refrigerator trying to throw out food that they had stored improperly or had passed its expiration date. At least my grandmother got her lift chair today, and she might be getting a power chair soon.

It's just sad. Five years ago, my grandparents were truly healthy and happy people. Now they just look... kind of lost. I can understand why my mom gets so frustrated when she has to go out every day and help them with basics, but really, they can't take care of themselves. At this point, I'm just scared that something terrible is going to happen while I'm abroad, and this fear seems to be getting more and more justified as time goes on.

Took a nap this afternoon, which was more like falling back into the strange waking nightmare I had last night. The glass splinters came out of my hand completely clear, but they hurt like razor blades under my skin. Very strange, very realistic sensation. I haven't had dreams this vivid since March.

I have many, many pictures to sort through tonight, hopefully after I run a few errands this evening. See you in another life, brothers.

- Jen -

Assorted breaking news.

2009-09-15T12:34:00.003-04:00

And some of this post even includes Oxfordish things!

Yesterday was a hectic day for my family. My mother was with her parents all day, and we learned that my grandfather needs to have triple-bypass open-heart surgery as soon as possible if not sooner. They scheduled the surgery for next Tuesday, one of the same days when my grandmother needs to be getting her chemotherapy. Unfortunately, they won't be going to the same place (my grandmother is at a treatment center and my grandfather will be going to the hospital) so we need to figure out who will be driving everyone. My mom wants her sister, my aunt, to take a day off of work and take 'her turn', which I think is fair. My mom is seriously frazzled at this point and needs all the help she can get.

My birthday this year has turned out to be incredibly anticlimactic. I had a birthday with Justin before he left, but I felt so much like crap that day that I was too much of a mess to really enjoy it properly. This past weekend, I was expecting at least a little birthday fun for yours truly, but still genuinely had a good time celebrating Marita and Greg's accomplishments. As it turns out, we can't have our 'normal' family get-together for my birthday this year ('normal' in quotes meaning that my extended family of six people comes up for dinner and dessert). Really, all I want is to go out to a nice dinner, preferably at Bon Vie (really nice mid-priced French cuisine at a nearby shopping center) with my dad's dad and his wife, but it would have been nice to have at least a little hoopla. However, I need to remember that my birthday is still a few days away and maybe people were planning something for me. I need to learn patience...

Oh well. At this point I'm looking forward to 2010, when my friends apparently plan to spoil me rotten. Such is the fate of being the last of my friends to turn 21 (I'm definitely the 'baby'/'fetus' of the group). Not so bad, really, even though it will be a Tuesday.

This is only half-way related, but I gave myself a happy-early-birthday present last night by getting my hair permed. Once I script something out, I'm going to make a weblog about it. My goal for the rest of the day is to figure out what molecules were actually going into my hair and how they work like they do. Cosmetology is secretly chemistry, y'all. Also, more volumized hair makes

And, for the Oxford note, I think I've finally found a phone option that will work the way I want it to! I found it through telestial.com, and it's a cell phone that apparently comes with dual SIM cards and the phone price's worth of airtime already on it. Calls and texts to the US are relatively cheap. The best feature is, since I have two SIM cards, I actually get both a US and a UK number on the same phone! I don't even care that it's not 'cool looking' and that I could possibly pocket-dial people, it's neat that I'll still have a US number.

I took the day off yesterday (and by 'day off' I mean 'laid in bed feeling sorry for myself and watching Friends'), which means that today is the day that the suitcase gets unpacked, the Secret Project is resumed, and the phone is being ordered. So much to do in so little time!

- Jen -

ETA: That phone thing turned out to be a complete lie, as I found one from TMobile that is actually much better looking and a little less expensive for many more features, minutes, texts, etc. This whole communication thing is turning out to be a thorn in my side.

ND Weekend, part 3: Sunday, September 13, 2009

2009-09-14T00:01:00.001-04:00

Woke up in time to make it to brunch again (chocolate chip muffins!) and ran into Rachel on the way out. Which turned out to be a good thing, since I had missed giving her her extremely belated birthday presents (cupcake-themed) from her birthday back in mid-May. And I finally got my shirt back that I had loaned her so long ago!

I got gas before I left campus and left around 12:15 PM. I arrived home at 4:15. I made much better time on the way back than I did on the way there, probably because there were fewer truckers on the road and I felt freer to speed. Not necessarily a good thing. And I only came home with eight cupcakes by the end of the weekend, which wasn’t so bad, considering.

I got a text from AJ when I stopped at McDonald’s – apparently he was shooting shotguns at pigeons and felt the need to brag to me. When I shot back (pun!) about what I did, he was, to put it mildly, very impressed, so I promised to blog about it. (I hope you’re happy – there are three entries!)

Had dinner with my family, had enough time to read through a magazine, and then my dad invited me out to see District 9. What a powerful movie. I’m not intent on spoiling it for anyone, but I’ll leave it at this: highly allegorical (which I enjoyed), very powerful messages, and an all-around great film, though I may be too drained right now to appreciate it fully. If you want to discuss it, comment and I can email you or something.

There are very cute British PhD’s on my Science channel show right now. Where can I get one?!? (Duh, I’m just kidding, but I’m reminded of the sidekick in 27 Dresses.)

As I was trying to post these entries onto Blogger, I realized that it won’t take the formatting straight out of Microsoft Office 2007; you actually have to put it through Notepad first. That’s slightly annoying, but not completely out of the question. I’m writing these over a couple of hours anyways.

I am ridiculously tired and I haven’t even eaten one of my own cupcakes yet, so I think now is the perfect time to set aside the laptop and actually get a little sleep, since I didn’t get any this weekend.

- Jen -

ND Weekend, part 2: Saturday, September 12, 2009

2009-09-13T23:42:00.007-04:00

Woke up in time to make it to brunch and take a shower before I drove my car to Main Circle. At 1 PM, I met up with Greg, which was awesome. It was his 21st birthday, and he had decided to take us out to Midwest Gun and Range to rent some guns, buy some ammo, and go shooting, his treat. So, we both wore our ‘matching’ Tex/Church Red vs. Blue shirts (I think this only makes sense to the two of us) and waited for everyone else. Greg’s going to have to remind me of names later, but I know Bohnert (his roommate) and Ashley were also in the car with us on the way there.

And we got lost. Horrendously lost. I have developed an intense dislike for how South Bend does its signage, because we spent about ten minutes trying to figure out what name one street had. At least everyone else in the car had Google Maps, cached info on their iPod Touches, and an intrinsic knowledge of what direction is north (since we mostly had to go east-west). We also hit detours, maneuvered through strip mall parking lots, and generally got discombobulated before we finally got our bearings. (We did have a sing-along to a song from Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, “My Eyes”, so that at least was good.)

We were waiting on two girls to get there from Michigan, and during the entire trip Greg was worrying that they wouldn’t have the address or that we’d have to wait on them. As it turned out, even though we had a head start on them, they arrived about 45 seconds after I put my car in park.

I was okay about the whole unfamiliar situation until we got inside. Then, my brain started freaking out. Holy bleep, I’m about to shoot a bleeping gun. I tried not to look like I was swallowing my tongue as we tried to pick out a beginner’s pistol. We had to hand over our IDs to go through a brief background check (apparently you can’t shoot if you’ve had felony convictions or something, not like any of us were worried). You have to have protective gear, too, just basic earplugs and eye protection, although apparently prescription glasses are enough.

So finally we had picked out a Sig Sauer 226 9mm pistol for the ‘girls’ (all four of us hadn’t shot before, and Greg said that 9mm had the least kick), and Greg had spotted a G36 rifle for himself as his ‘birthday present’ – but apparently this was no ordinary rifle. It was fully automatic. Apparently the full-auto really isn't commercially available. (As a sidenote, whatever the guy next to us was shooting had huge casings and was also ridiculously loud. We never figured out what it was, though.)

I waited for a while to watch how everyone else was handling things before I stepped up. I did things in the ‘right’ order and tried shooting the pistol before the rifle, but we had to load our own clips, which was mildly annoying to say the least. At first we couldn’t load the clip correctly and we had to send the gun back to get cleaned, but then we figured it out. My fingers weren’t quite strong enough, and I think Greg was laughing at me on the inside for fumbling around while I loaded the clip. And I never did figure out the sight on the pistol, so my target looked abysmal, but… hey, I actually shot a gun for the first time.

Then I got to shoot the rifle. Whoo boy. It really should not have been as fun as it was. Just holding it was a pretty powerful feeling. The scope was really intuitive, and my shots got progressively further center the longer I was shooting at semi-auto. Then I flipped the switch down and went to town. The way the full-auto works with the G36 is, you just hold down the trigger for however many rounds you want to come out. I wanted to do all threes but I messed up and got four in there somehow, and one of the casings fell out and kind of burned me on the arm, but these things happen. Shooting that, especially seeing how accurate I was able to get, made me feel… kind of powerful. Not that I would like to have that feeling all the time, but I felt completely capable for once that day (rather than feeling terrified).

Moral of the story, for me anyways, was: If you feel absolutely terrified going into it, there’s a good chance that if you try it, you might learn something as you go and you might even like it by the end. So, while I’m abroad, it’s not going to matter how much something scares me. If it’s within the limits of common sense and I have a few people to watch my back, of course I’ll go for it. Second moral: No matter how old guys get, for their birthday they really just want to play with some interesting toys. Not that guns are toys, but Greg was having a lot of fun.

On the ride back, we took the toll road instead of the back roads and had a sing-along to Blind Melon’s “No Rain,” which was funny. It’s stuck in my head right now, actually. Now that song will forever remind me of weekend road trips at ND, which isn’t such a bad thing really. And Greg got to open his birthday present from me: the XKCD Linux cheat sheet shirt. I'm the best best friend there ever was.

We got back on campus just in time to catch the second half of the Notre Dame-Michigan football game. I’m not going to dwell on it except to mention that the officiating was worse than terrible. The thing is, the only thing that could possibly be done about it is an inquiry and a fine for the Big Ten to pay. But if it’s the Big Ten paying the fine, then that’s going to make Ohio State look bad even though it’s the Michigan game where the officiating went wrong in the first place! Ooh, it just makes me so mad. And then we almost didn’t make it to the dining halls before they closed for the night.

I called Rachel during dinner to see what the plans for last night were. I almost made it to an off-campus party but decided against it at the last minute, so surprisingly and against my best intentions, the weekend was actually completely alcohol-free. As it was, I wanted to hang out with Greg for a while longer. He took a few happy-birthday calls from his family and we chatted in the lobby of the Knights of Columbus building about guns for a while. Greg's brother was able to figure out that, with licensing, a G36 full-auto would probably cost around $21,000 to own. No wonder the dude from the range insisted on being with the gun at all times - it was really expensive!

I managed to pick up my targets from his room and meet up with some of Greg’s friends in the student union. Between all of us, we decided that it was nice enough of a night to go star-gazing, so a few girls grabbed picnic blankets and we headed out to one of our rugby fields (less light pollution further away from the dorms, although visibility still wasn’t top-notch). Greg was our ‘guide’ since he’s worked at two planetariums (planetaria?). Eventually, though, the sprinklers turned on by us, so we scooped up the blankets and ran for our lives.

Greg and I ended up hanging out talking until midnight, when Rachel joined up with us. I met her boyfriend briefly and we chatted about the zombieclypse and video games based on ND before I finally noticed that, hey, parietals would be ending soon and so I needed to get back in time for Greg to swipe me back in. I hugged everyone goodbye, called Justin, and managed to fall asleep by around three (now there’s a more typical college weekend). And somehow, I still missed giving Rachel her very belated birthday presents and getting my shirt back from when I loaned it to her in April.

ND Weekend, part 1: Friday, September 11, 2009

2009-09-13T23:31:00.007-04:00

Drove up to ND. Left my subdivision at 10:09 AM and arrived at ND at 2:39 PM. I think that pretty accurately shows that it takes four and a half hours to drive one way at a leisurely pace. I’ve been on the route so many times but had never driven the whole thing by myself… I think the best part was when I first got on the freeway and my iPod Shuffle was playing Neil Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline.” It was a sign of a good weekend to come.

There was only one problem with the whole drive: At one point, I’m just driving along, going a steady 8 miles over the speed limit, but I’m passing a line of truckers so I figure that’s okay. All of a sudden I look in my rear view mirror and there was a sheriff waiting right on my bumper. Of course I freaked out; everyone freaks out when the fuzz is practically rear-ending you. So I pull over as soon as I can… and the sheriff shoots right past me. As it turns out, there was an F-150 pulled over about a mile up the road and the sheriff was going up to help this guy out.

So of course I got to ND safely. I stayed with my old roommate from last year; she’s rooming with one of our close friends, and some other friends live right across the hall in Pasquerilla East. It was actually the room right next to our room from last year (I kept overshooting it all weekend—oops!). So, my three dozen cupcakes were safely in the room. We had a few hours to kill before we needed to go out to dinner, so we began to watch the extended director’s cut of Watchmen. Lauren was entranced by the number of scenes that were added and we didn’t even get to watch the whole thing.

It took us an hour to get ready for dinner. It’s understandable once you realize that it takes for. ever. to get my hair to do what I want it to do – ie. it actually took me forty minutes to make all my hair curly. More about that later. So anyways, once we were done getting ready, Allison drove us all to dinner. We were going out to celebrate a friend of ours, Marita, getting engaged a few weeks ago. As it turns out, Lauren had made our reservations at Tippecanoe, which is a restaurant located in the old Studebaker mansion in downtown South Bend.

It was a blast. As we were pulling in, Marita was convinced that we were taking her to dinner in a castle. We got our own semi-private table in the solarium, which had bay windows and the most amazing crown moldings; the paint on the walls was a truly exquisite shade of pink. Everything on the menu looked delicious, and between the four of us we tried the steak, a shrimp penne dish, tilapia, and the shrimp stirfry (mine). Their sweet whole grain bread came to the table warm and fluffy; their salad was spinach leaves, dried cranberries, walnuts, and small slices of apple in a honey mustard dressing; and our entrees were delicious.

I kind of have to take a time out and dedicate an entire paragraph to the harpist. We were thrilled to have live music during our dinner, and the restaurant was so quiet at first that we could hear everything. So, we heard excerpts from Coldplay’s “Clocks” and the theme to “Puff the Magic Dragon,” among other things. We tried hard to keep from giggling too loud (this was a high-class establishment after all), but we made sure to give her a tip for keeping us amused all throughout dinner.

The conversation was mostly focused around Marita and the fact that we all enjoy some really good friendships with one another. But then, eventually, as happens when the first of your friends becomes engaged, we realized: holy bleep, we’re getting old. We have to start thinking about grad school, law school, where we’re going for school, preparing for GREs and LSATs, and generally figuring out what we want to do with our lives. Sure, it’s nice to talk about weddings and bridal registries and celebrations, but… sometimes, you have to talk about the serious stuff.

But we didn’t let that get us down; we still have a year and a half with which to avoid the dreaded ‘real world’. Our conversation got derailed from becoming positively negative by the announcement that we could have a carriage ride complimentary on the house! Marita was thrilled with this; I think we all were. It allowed us to feel like pretty princesses. It also gave us a really great view of the entire Studebaker mansion and some of the surrounding area. We were able to get some pictures both inside the carriage and with the carriage in the background.

Once we got back to campus, it was kind of too warm for us to just sit around in our pretty clothes, and we were waiting on Allison’s friends Eric and Ryan to get back to us on plans for later in the night, so we changed and watched the first half of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. Marita and her roommate hadn’t seen it before, and I think they were amused.

Eventually, around 10, Allison, Marita, and I headed to Eric and Ryan’s room in Keenan to watch a few episodes of 30 Rock. I thought it was pretty funny, but I liked Tina Fey to begin with. I think it would be better watching it weekly than watching it all at once. Eric also showed me the mock Cleveland tourism commercials, and I have to admit, even though Justin goes to school in Cleveland, I thought they were pretty funny. Hey, at least it’s not Detroit!

I finally got a chance to call Greg, who was the entire reason I picked this weekend to begin with. He was at Fiddler’s, a local pub, listening to an Irish band as he overnighted into his 21st birthday. It sounded like fun, but it would have been too late of a night for me anyways; I was exhausted from driving all day and turned in ‘early’ (which, on a college weekend, means 12:30 AM).

Odds and ends.

2009-09-11T00:21:00.002-04:00

Three dozen Rorschach cupcakes are now iced to perfection. The baking took me around three hours all told, the first icing took about 40 minutes plus 'setting time', and the final icing took about an hour. I hope they turned out as delicious as they look - I haven't even had a chance to eat one of the un-iced ones I left for my family!

Nails are freshly painted for tomorrow night's dinner. Camera battery is charging although I can't find the cord that links it to my computer. Nearly packed, too, using my new suitcases. I have more to bring with me than I thought I would have... I will take many, many pictures of this weekend, hopefully. My cupcake pictures are all on the memory card that I will be leaving at home.

Watched the Clemson - GA Tech game while I was painting my nails. Didn't see the end, but it looked like it was an interesting game all-around. Also, my knee had an unfortunate encounter with the coffee table; it's already turning purple. Ouch. I am such a klutz sometimes.

I'm so excited to see my friends tomorrow, and it's only two weeks until I get to see Justin again. I've been in such a good mood all day.

- Jen -

In an attempt to ponder gopherdownunder's femininity posts.

2009-09-08T22:20:00.003-04:00

I don't really consider myself to be much of a feminine person. This may be more of a cultural perception than anything, however, because I do not consider myself to be what cultural standards have deemed a girl should be.

Pink is not my favorite color; in fact, I rather hate pastels. I would rather talk about cel-shading than celebrities. I prefer watching football (Giants, Irish, Buckeyes, what have you) to Grey's Anatomy and in fact have never watched an episode of the aforementioned. (Side note: I impressed the dudes today at work when SportsCenter was playing in our athletic apparel section, and I turned away and said "I've already seen all those clips.") I don't consider make-up or cosmetics to be a prerequisite before leaving my place of residence. Any conversation I make with boys is genuine conversation, usually misinterpreted as an attempt at flirtation.

I have assembled, re-assembled, and de-assembled more home-made, non-modular lofts than any boy I know; I am unafraid of wrenches and hammers and in fact quite enjoy the physical labor involved in these college construction projects. I've changed a tire with two other girls (and, as they will also recall, the help that we got from a man totally messed up our smooth operations). I know more about cars than my boyfriend does (and I know I've been to more car shows than he's been to).

As my roommate will recall, I am completely unable to understand the way that 'girls' communicate with one another (anyone who has seen the Friends Season 1 "The One With George Stephanopoulos" episode knows that I will invariably quote "OH MY GOD I HAVE ELBOWS!" whenever girls start squealing to each other about something inconsequential). The way they shun one another over the least important things, the way they only remain in contact with one another in order to gossip about one another behind each other's backs. At least, that's been my concept of female friendship as presented to me by the media, Hollywood, and girls that live down the hall from me.

The girls that I'm friends with aren't traditionally girly either. I tend to develop deeper and faster friendships with guys anyways. For me, people who aren't overly feminine (or even masculine) are easier for me to relate to... people who are more like people than stereotypes, if you will.

Which brings up gopherdownunder's post from a few days ago, in which she related that buying dresses or overly feminine clothes make her feel guilty for being less of a person. Despite my long justifications above, I quite enjoy stereotypically feminine clothes like dresses, skirts, tight shirts, and skinny jeans. I've even recently developed a love for lipstick of the vampy red variety.

Do I feel guilty about my fashion choices and how they define my gender perception? I've never really thought about it before. As much as, mentally, I'm not very feminine and in fact pride myself on not taking part in gender stereotypes, physically I quite enjoy having a woman's figure. And I don't know if this is just from growing into an older woman's physique, or because I'm working in retail and get a great discount on my store's clothes and I'm changing out my wardrobe, but... I do really enjoy dressing like a woman and putting on makeup like a woman. I enjoy doing my hair (I even dyed it this summer and watch out for more changes!).

Does this make me any more gendered than people who are feminine in more stereotypical ways? I don't know. It's a question for the ages. Because no matter how I dress, how I do my makeup or hair, or what my body looks like, it's how I think that's distinctly more important to me. Yet the way I dress makes it seem like, at first appearance, I am ready and willing to fall into cultural stereotypes for how women should think and behave.

I refuse to fall into a gender stereotype with my actions and beliefs, yet my very first impression to people is that 'yes, I am willing to be what you think a girl/woman should be'. So, I'm right where gopherdownunder was at the end of her post. Do I stop wearing the dresses, skirts, etc that I love so much because they fall into a gender norm I don't want to perpetuate? It seems impossible that I could ever conform to the complicated and contradictory stereotype that is 'woman.'

So, where do I go from here? I don't know, but I'm still ogling a dress from work and I 'like'd my friend's Facebook status that commented on how mean and exclusive some girls can be with one another, commenting "girls suck," so I call a draw for now and I'll come back to this later.

In other news, I'm making four dozen Rorschach-themed cupcakes for my visit to ND this weekend. Another feminine thing that I enjoy doing just for its therapeutic and yummy benefits, something that I, again, feel slightly guilty (and girly) for until I actually eat a confection. And, again, that's another thing that I'm not very girly for. I own at least five superhero movies, and my roommate's birthday last year was a very merry superhero birthday. I really don't enjoy most romantic comedies, or most male-related comedies. And you know what? Whatever. I enjoy what I like, without restricting myself to whatever stereotypes say I should like.

So, enough pondering. I'm just a person. No more labels.

- Jen -

You only WISH high school ended with graduation.

2009-09-04T22:52:00.002-04:00

The truth is, the real world is still very much like high school. There are beautiful people that everyone gossips about, or maybe people that are very popular because their parents are rich. There are cliques and groups, some exclusive, some not. There are some people who 'fit in' or 'get it' and there are some people that just don't. And that's the end of where I'm going with that.

I went to my high school's first home football game tonight. We played a team from Ontario, Canada (oh how I wish I was making that up). Thankfully, we trounced them 56-13. Most interesting is that Brady Quinn (you know, ND football superstar, maybe-starting-QB for the Cleveland Browns), who graduated from my high school, was back tonight for our Alumni Night. I got to gaze at him first through binoculars, then from about 20 yards away. No way was security letting anyone unauthorized get to him. I did get pictures, though, because pics or it didn't happen, right? Not on my camera, but expect them in the next few days.

The unfortunate fact of a holiday weekend means that I work, since my job is in retail and people actually (gasp shock!) shop on holiday weekends. This is not true, however, for OSU home game weekends, so my shift tomorrow will probably be absolutely dead. I work every day until Thursday.

Let me know if there are definite plans in the air for when I come to ND.

- Jen -

Sorry for two posts in one day.

2009-09-02T19:25:00.002-04:00

It's just that there's one thing I forgot to mention in all this mess.

My grandmother has had non-Hodgkins lymphoma since I was a junior in high school. She's gone into brief periods of remission, so brief that I hesitate to call them 'remission.' Originally, it was discovered around (not inside) her brain; when it came back last year, there was an orange-sized mass in her spleen. My junior year, my grandmother was hospitalized for a sepsis infection (for my Catholic readers, that's the thing that supposedly killed JPII); she nearly died, but she's pulled through since then.

Usually, my grandmother goes through weeks of treatment (usually eight weeks of treatment, chemo twice a week). She's already lost her hair and wears a wig. She's always had trouble walking, but her back especially (and hips and knees) are now so bad that she rarely leaves the house. She's never had the best diet to begin with.

In the middle of August, we were notified that her lymphoma has returned, this time as a mass around and possibly inside her colon. The mass is around the size of a small cantaloupe (yes, it's bigger than a grapefruit, which is the largest fruit-termed measure I've ever heard used for a cancer mass). Originally, it was thought that she would need to be hospitalized for treatment, but after a long debate over a treatment from Europe that has now received FDA approval, it was decided that she could go through her 'normal' chemo treatments and not have to be hospitalized.

During the course of her treatment, she has been getting weaker and weaker, and my mother had told me that one of her legs looked drastically more swollen than the other. As it turns out, my grandmother has a blood clot in that leg, and she's been hospitalized after all.

I wish I could say that her husband, my grandfather, has been a reliable source of strength through these hard times, but it's not true. He's been gradually getting more 'forgetful' throughout the last several weeks. We can't figure out any possible causes, but he's lost his way to the hospital from their house (it's right down the street, but he took a wrong turn and became so lost he had to ask for directions) and also become disoriented on the way to the bank (even closer than the hospital), so disoriented that he had to return home (and couldn't find his way) to ask for directions. He's also had fainting spells. We really can't figure out what's causing it, but we have it narrowed down to mini-strokes, mild dementia/the beginning of Alzheimer's, and an overdose or wrong mix of the medications he's taking. Whatever the case, it's not going well.

These are both my mom's parents, and between caring for both of them she and my aunt, her sister, are becoming rather frazzled. It used to be that they would go out once a week and help their parents, my grandparents, to clean their house minimally, but it's become so bad that they've hired a lady to come in once a week and do basic cleaning. Now, with my aunt back at work (she teaches fifth grade and so works constantly during the school year), the brunt of caretaking falls on my mom. She's so worn out by it that she's been drinking more than usual (my mom drinks four times a year, one drink, usually, and lately she's been having a stiff one once a week), crying more than usual, and falling behind on things that need done at our own house.

Really, it's just a mess, and I don't know what to do. I can't go out and help because of the amount of work I have (I couldn't even go out to visit my grandmother at the hospital tonight because of the work I've had pile up on me). Everyone, please pray for my family and their continuing good health or their swift recovery.

tl;dr prayers plox?

- Jen -

Fast times at Ridgemont High.

2009-09-02T16:40:00.004-04:00

Not really. Still going through a pretty quiet summer, like anyone else going to OSU. Oh wait...

This may seem very small to my female readers and nigh-inconsequential to my male readers, but I'm starting to wear lipstick. To me, that always meant that I was a 'grown-up', and so it used to be reserved for special occasions only. But I've realized, wearing it every day takes the emphasis away from the very bold statement of my glasses. So yeah. Watch out for me to 'drop the bombshell' (aka the Sangria) when you next see me in person.

My current ambition is to craft a playlist for my Shuffle so that I will truly never have to skip a song through a drive back and forth to ND. This is quite an ambition, because the drive for me is 4.5 hours one-way (overestimating on purpose), so I roughly need 9 hours' worth of songs that I will never want to skip over. I'm almost there, but still test-driving the playlist that I have right now. Version 1.0, what used to be on my Shuffle back in May, was good enough, but my Shuffle finally died and has been sitting in my purse unused since late July. Time for an upgrade. Version 2.0 is currently undergoing testing, and so far has been mostly successful. Version 2.1 is loaded in iTunes right now after this testing run is over, and currently has 142 songs ranging from Katy Perry and Lady Gaga to the Bee Gees and Liza Minelli. (What can I say, I have very eclectic taste in music.)

I introduced my mother to Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog this afternoon, mostly with "yeah, it has Neil Patrick Harris in it". Even moms love the NPH. And when she saw Felicia Day she said "Oh, it's the girl from the old UPS commercials!" Right. I forgot how much I loved that little musical; "My Eyes" is one of my favorite duets of all time.

Still working on Secret Projects, still watching way too much of Watchmen, still on the hunt for a new travel-size perfume. My to-do list gets longer as my time shrinks. As Mr. Wonka might say, "So much time and so little to do." Wait... strike that, reverse it.

- Jen -

I have a day off tomorrow!

2009-08-30T23:20:00.003-04:00

On my to-do list:

1. Go to the bank and deposit my larger-than-usual paycheck.
2. Get my bank account relatively balanced.
3. Paint my nails. (I know that sounds silly, but I've had very little personal time over the last few days.)
4. Organize my clothes. I keep buying clothes and I have two baskets just waiting to be put in their homes. I also need to start sorting as to what I want to take abroad with me.
5. Start making plans for the weekend I visit ND.
6. Start making plans for the weekend I visit Case.
7. SEKRIT PROGITS ERRYBODY.

Seven is a nice even number. Happy Monday, everyone.

- Jen -

I don't want one more month of summer!

2009-08-29T19:58:00.002-04:00

I know that sounds very strange to say, but I don't know what to do with myself now that it's nearly September and I'm not in class. I still have more than a month before I leave for school. This extra-long summer is wearing on me.

Even though I looked really cute at work yesterday, the three-inch heels were only three-hour heels, not six-hour heels, and so I may have suffered irreparable nerve damage in my toes. Updates to follow if I get feeling back.

Of the many things I would like to own in the near future:
1. Adventureland on DVD.
2. The new Guitar Hero game for Nintendo DS.
3. Can't think of anything else, but pretty soon people will be asking me what I want for my birthday. Can't I just say 'boyfriend to be home for a little while'?

I've been watching so many movies lately it's ridiculous. I never change them out until I finish them, so this is the third time now that I've watched the opening of The Blues Brothers in the last few days.

... Oh, I'm sorry, did you expect something exciting? Try again later.

- Jen -

No, I am NOT at ND right now.

2009-08-23T22:33:00.002-04:00

Kinda wish I was, though. My mind is so ready to go back to school, and my body is so ready to stop working these insane 24-hour weekends. It's so sad to see all my friends' statuses change on Facebook to "Going back to ND, woohoo" and not to be there to see them or to participate in the madness that is moving in. I'll see them soon enough, but it's just saddening.

Among the many things I am craving right now are the earrings from Watchmen. I can't find a screencap of them, which is pretty sad, but those of you who have seen the movie, it's the earrings that Doctor Manhattan (Jon Osterman) gives to his first girlfriend (Janey Slater) over Christmas. They are so pretty, so understated, and yet they go with pretty much everything. Yet somehow I can't find a screencap or even a question about who designed them over the Internet. (Also, I checked in the original comic, and it looks like similar earrings are actually spotted on Laurie aka Silk Specter II. What in the world...)

I'm selling about two laundry baskets' worth of clothes within the next two days. One of the perils of turning 20 is that I can't dress like I'm 13 any more. I still have jeans that I wore my freshman year of high school. And that's not necessarily fashion appropriate for a junior in college who is a) going abroad to a more fashion-forward country and b) is looking career-forward in her clothes. These are the perks of being in retail and getting a massive discount on quality, fashionable clothes. Unfortunately, I probably need hundreds of dollars in clothes. Boo.

At least I finally have two days off tomorrow and Tuesday... two days to work on Secret Projects. I am so tired.

- Jen -

Public Service Announcement: Safe driving.

2009-08-20T13:00:00.002-04:00

My neighbor's son (17 years old) totaled his car last night. He drove it into a tree while whipping around a corner too fast. Keep in mind, this is a very poorly engineered car for a teenager to be driving, since it only has rear-wheel drive, the tires were designed for dry weather, and it was raining tremendously last night.

The kid is okay, but it kind of struck something home to me. Teenagers, myself included, are not among the world's safest drivers. And I have an idea as to why they might be. Teenagers are so absorbed in the freedom that driving gives them to actually pay attention to the fact that they are piloting a two-ton missile.

Do you think about that every day while you're driving? You're probably too busy adjusting your radio, talking on your phone, searching your iPod, or programming your GPS... perhaps you're even texting. Maybe you're absorbed in how poorly the person in front of you is driving (in your opinion), or maybe you're angry at the driver who just pulled out in front of you. The fact is, it's so easy to get distracted while we are driving a car and so hard to remember that we actually have a responsibility when we enter these death machines.

I'm probably coming across as far too critical, but I try not to forget while I'm driving that I share the road with other things -- other drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians, not to mention small furry creatures. Sure, I enjoy listening to music, but I set my iPod before I get on the road, not after. I make a point of not taking phone calls or texting while I'm driving.

That doesn't stop people like me from getting into accidents, however. Two years ago, I was hit by a sixteen-year-old male who was on his way home from exams while I was on my way to graduation practice. There was heavy traffic, but that didn't stop this kid from using (or as he said in the police report, "reaching for") his cell phone while he turned into his subdivision. He was so distracted by everything going on around him that he didn't notice that he turned into my car. He actually drove home after the accident instead of stopping to see if I was all right and to complete accident report forms.

Even though I didn't cause the accident, it's enough to make me pause and think before I get into a car. And to this day, I still get angry at friends who call me while they're driving. Everyone who reads my blog, and everyone who drives a car, should be smart enough to realize that what you are piloting can easily kill someone, maybe even yourself, if even one small mistake is made. That's a pretty heavy level of responsibility. So please. Don't call or text me while you're driving. Keep a steady hand on the wheel, enjoy your favorite playlist, and be aware of everything going on around you.

(Also, how in the world is it possible to drive into a frickin' tree? Someone please explain this to me.)

- Jen -

Just a few little things.

2009-08-18T18:32:00.002-04:00

I'm trying to get into the habit of blogging every day, but I don't always have profound things to say. So, it's kind of difficult.

I'm learning how to live without my cell phone. I don't like the one I have, and being on a pay-as-I-go plan in the UK is going to be expensive, so I need to learn how to use one for only necessities. That being said, I seriously used Skype for the first time last night and I like it a lot. Might not replace Gmail Video Chat or AIM video chat, but it's a cool idea.

As of today, it's been 1038 days since Justin and I started dating. I just got curious and figured it out in a day calculator. Isn't that so weird to think? Three years in October. Three years is a long time. Yet we're still not at a point in our lives when we can think of anything other than what we're doing right now. Still going to be long-distance for a while, and I'm just turning 20 next month. I'm only thinking about this because I just recently saw The Hangover with Justin, and the groom's friend has decided to ask his girlfriend to marry him at the wedding. When asked why (because the girl is rude), the guy just says "We've been dating three years, and that's just what you do." Well, no. That's not 'just what you do'. Sometimes that just isn't possible.

I'm hoping that my plans work out to come see my friends on the weekend of Sept. 11-13. If not... I'm going to be kind of upset, but we'll learn how to video chat and things like that. I also hope my plans work out to see Justin the weekend of Sept. 25-27. If not... well.

It's just so weird to think that I'm not going back to school on Sunday. Normally I wouldn't be working because I'd be busy packing, and I'd be getting ready for the grind of school and the stress of having school plus a long-distance relationship to worry about. I can't fathom that my friends will have taken classes for a month before I leave. Oh well. I'm on one of those 'weird quarter systems' this year.

One of these days, I just want treated like I'm special. I think that's too much to ask, though.

- Jen -

Things I've learned since my last post.

2009-08-16T22:07:00.003-04:00

Last Wednesday, I learned that biometrics appointments are nowhere near as intimidating as they really sound. You take a number, wait in a short line, have them spray water on your hands, watch as they digitally capture palm and fingerprints, smile for them as they take your picture, and get a piece of paper stamped. I'm going to mail it in tomorrow and it should get back in time for me to leave... right?

On Friday, I learned that the LG enV 3 is an amazing phone. I went with Justin to his family's wireless carrier, which is also the one my family uses. He decided to get the blue enV 3 as his new phone, and I'm completely... well, envious. It's got an amazing camera and a QWERTY keyboard on the inside. I really want the red one, but I'm getting a new phone when I go abroad (I think) and so I won't really need a new mobile phone in the States until my senior year or so. Might not even need one then, because my phone now can download ringtones and send picture messages just fine, and that's the most advanced things I do on it, besides set a friggin' alarm.

(Coincidentally, I also learned that I'm really not cool enough to use any kind of Blackberry. At least, for right now. We'll see if I learn any more about good cell phone deals while abroad.)

At work, I finally learned how to iron. This was kind of a literal trial by fire, because these clothes were supposed to be nicely pressed for a mannequin/model setup, and it had to be perfect anyways, but my boss (head honcho lady who is an absolute perfectionist) was actually teaching me how and in the room right next door. And two days later, I had to do it again. Oh well. At least $22.50 of my paycheck (before the freakin' government gets its grubby hands all up in there) was spent doing a basic household chore.

Again at work, I learned that ladders are bleeping heavy. Seriously. I'm kind of a small person, and I was trying to move a ladder that was three times as tall as myself and probably three times as heavy... just so I could reach two pairs of boxers for a customer. And they weren't even the right size.

Yesterday, I learned a lot. One of the things I learned is that migraines are actually rather incapacitating. I woke up with one and just felt like crying. So I called in sick, but no one believed me. What the crap? I couldn't work eight hours during the back to school rush with a migraine.

Then, when I went to run errands, I learned the hard way that it's kind of a bad idea to go into work to pick up my paycheck and held clothes when I called in because of my migraine. In hindsight, it seemed like a 'well, duh' moment, but it was supposed to be my 'birthday' and those clothes were for my birthday.

Again yesterday, while going out to dinner for my birthday, I kind of wanted to go out to Chili's, because it's affordable and I haven't been there for a while. And I learned that there is not a Chili's probably within 50 miles of me. However, I also learned that TGI Friday's is definitely one of my favorite restaurants. There's so much variety and everything is delicious. You could just point to something and say "I'll have this" and you'd enjoy it.

Yesterday, I also learned that Pop Rocks are just as delicious when you're nineteen as when you're nine. There's a candy store in downtown Dublin called MJ's, and it was voted the Columbus Monthly Candy Shop of 2009 or something like that, so Justin and I decided to check it out. Not so big, but they had a few specialty things... like Pop Rocks. And they were just as good as I remembered. Still looking like the Shock Tarts I used to eat constantly in middle school, though; they might not make them any more.

Again yesterday, I was watching Watchmen, which Justin got me for my 'birthday', and I learned that Doctor Manhattan is kind of a dick. (Partly literally; my nickname for him is the Giant Blue Schlong.) But really, he's just... not that cool. Doesn't know how to relate to people, can't handle emotional pain at all, doing quantum mechanical calculations while he's trying to seduce his girlfriend. What a loser. I don't even care that he can teleport or prevent nuclear war or whatever. Kind of a dick.

The last thing I learned yesterday, more like realized, is that I put way too much effort into work. I could scale it down a little bit. Like, a lot. I stress myself way too much about whether I'm doing a good job, and I should actually probably bust my butt less. Other people are there to pick up any slack I leave, after all, and they can actually live without me for a little while.

And finally, this morning, I relearned a terrible fact: I hate, really hate, being in a long-distance relationship. I love the relationship I have with Justin, and being away from him? Really sucks. We get all crankypants and cynical without one another.

This is the last bona fide summer that I may get with Justin. Next summer, he'll probably have an internship in Cleveland and I'm shooting for one in London. The summer after that, I'll have graduated and by that time will probably have moved out because I'll have found a job. Maybe I'll be preparing for law school, but then that means that I'll still be in school for another three years. I really can't win, no matter how I slice it. It's not going to be over any time soon. I'm just surprised, every year, when I find that I have the emotional strength to do it.

Too much learning for summer, and I don't even get to go back to school yet. Something is wrong. Something is w-r-o-n-g wrong.

- Jen -

It's been a busy day.

2009-08-12T00:17:00.002-04:00

Between ten this morning and right now, Things Have Happened.

I realized that I'm going to miss some distinctly American food while I'm abroad. Case in point: Hot Pockets, specifically the ham and cheese variety. Be mad all you'd like, but I love the stupid little microwaveable 'sandwiches'. All the same, I'm really looking forward to new culinary experiences too.

I beat the first Halo game, normal difficulty, on co-op today! Yes, I really am that slow and that noobish. I love video games, but I'm just not very good at them. It's sad really.

I went out to dinner with Justin and his parents to a place called Chili Verde. They've been voted best Mexican food in Columbus for a few years now, and they did not disappoint. Their salsa and their queso are both very good. My seafood chimichanga was also absolutely delicious. Somewhat expensive, but authentic. A lot of fun, even if that dinner does mean that it's the end of the summer for me and Justin.

The biggest part of the day, though, was that I saw my first Indiana Jones movie. Pathetic, right? I don't know how I've managed to go so much of my life without seeing one, but I watched Raiders of the Lost Ark tonight. It did not disappoint. I don't know how it could, with Han Solo and Gimli as main players and Michael Moore as a second director (no, not that Michael Moore, we checked on imdb). Steven Spielberg as director, John Williams on the soundtrack, produced by LucasArts... I didn't really realize how epic this movie was. What a classic. I'm still dumbfounded that I wasn't exposed to this earlier. Although I'm surprised that this movie received a PG rating, seeing that most video games that would depict that level of violence these days would receive an 'M for mature' rating... I guess they rationalized it by saying that Nazis weren't real human beings.

And now, even though I'm so, so ready to sleep, I need to trudge through paperwork to make sure I have everything I need for my visa biometrics appointment tomorrow morning. I'm very confused by a certain point, but hopefully things will be clarified for me by the time I get there. Oh, and I need to find the place. And fill out the appendix (still). May I never have to do this again.

For now, I'm off to watch a meteor shower. The last time I tried to watch one, I didn't see anything...

- Jen -

UK Visa application.

2009-08-11T08:44:00.002-04:00

I realized that I kind of glossed over the whole visa application process in my last post, so I suppose I'll go over some of the details in this one.

So we got our visa letters at the very end of July. During the school year, our approximate date for receiving them was set at July 4. Needless to say, I was a little worried when they didn't show up on time. It takes what, four to six weeks to complete the visa application process, and I don't want to run any risks that I won't have the necessary documentation to enter the UK.

So we finally get the letters and I start the process pretty much immediately. The preliminary application is accessible online, but there's a lot of information that the UK requires from us; they're not going to let just anyone get into Harry-Potter-land, you know. There's your basic a/s/l that they ask for, of course, but then they ask funky things like your birthplace, and it gets complicated if you can't remember whether the hospital you were born in falls within a certain city's limits. Perhaps I was just overthinking.

Second trip-up was the city of issuance for my passport. Current passports (circa 2005 I think) do not actually include the city which processed your application on the passport itself. The issuing authority, which used to be the city of issuance, is now merely the US Dept. of State. This gets complicated when the UK asks for your passport's city of issuance. Shouldn't they know by now that US passports don't contain this information? I mean, it's been four years. And this question didn't fool just me; it also got a few others in my group as well. I just hope that the UK recognizes that the Dept. of State can totally be a city.

Another thing: Why do they need my mother's family name? It's complicated enough that they call it a patronymic, a word that even Little Miss Smarty-pants needed to look up on dictionary.com. But then to confuse me by asking, essentially, for my mother's name at birth? Why do they need that? That hasn't been her legal name for 21 years now.

Then, as my friend AJ so cleverly pointed out, they have a question and answer session trying to get you to prove that you're not a terrorist. I just kinda laughed my way through these, because honestly, do you think a terrorist wouldn't lie about his terrorist qualifications in order to get into a country like this? I mean, you're told to tell the truth and everything, but if you're really hell (or, I guess, heaven) bent on starting terrorist activity once you're in a country, why wouldn't you lie and just say, "no, I'm not a terrorist"?

Then, after going through this online preliminary process, you're told to schedule a biometrics appointment at a nearby consulate. Turns out that there's an office in Columbus, but we don't have a drop box here, so I have to ship it with my own money. I was confused, because I thought the nearest consulate was in Chicago, but apparently all they need are my fingerprints and a photo ID that looks like my passport photo. Again, I'm confused. Aren't everyone's fingerprints on file in the United States by now? Why can't they just dredge those up themselves without me having to actually come in for an appointment? And why can't I just send in a photo, while I'm 'on my honour' anyways, and just claim 'yeah, that's me'?

Then, at the actual biometrics appointment, they want all sorts of documents from you. Check out this list of several things you never thought you'd need but apparently won't be able to enter the country without:
-your old passport or a copy of it
-a recent color passport-style photograph
-'evidence of funds available to you'*
-a 'certificate' confirming you have continuing studies
*I have no idea what this really means for us. Sure, at one of our meetings we were told to have at least US$1000 in a steady bank account, but we were also given notice that we will be given US$1200 over the course of nine months as a stipend. So which proof do we actually need? More on that later; an email needs to be sent.

And in addition to all of this, for a student like me there's also an additional appendix to fill out. On actual paper, too. So that's my job for today. Fill out the six-page, extremely complicated appendix form, figure out how I prove that I have enough money to eat, and find my extra passport photos and my old child's passport.

*****

So, as some of you may notice, I changed the title of the blog. As Justin pointed out, having Google search eliminate two of your blog title's words makes it hard for it to show up on Google's front page. I chose the new title partly because I'm a huge nerd and love the concept of escape velocity (well, any kind of velocity really - terminal velocity is another of my favorites), but also because that's what my life looks like it will be doing in the next few years while I blog about it. I'm going to have so much momentum behind me that it will probably feel like I can just slingshot off the face of the earth. The two words separately also enthrall me. I'm 'escaping' to the UK to fulfill my dream of living there, and I'm going to have intense 'velocity' as I continue adding to my life experiences through travel, culinary adventure, and small moments every day.

Speaking of small moments, stitches are out and I don't have skin cancer. That's good news for me. However, Justin's summer is quickly winding down and we don't have a lot of time left before he leaves for college. Welcome back, long-distance relationship, my old friend.

Yesterday we spent a lot of time at COSI, which is like a science museum only cooler. There are exhibits like Gadgets (take apart computers in a cafe! learn how simple machines like levers, pulleys, and gear systems work! play with transistors, make the charge of a battery light an LED, and figure out why a stream of air will keep a ball buoyant!), Ocean (go inside a two-man submarine! suck up divers' helium and listen to your voice change! figure out wave physics! discover what makes a water vortex!), Progress (look at the same street from 1892 to 1962 and see what has changed! authentic artifacts from both time periods included! cheesy dialogue required!), Space (play with flight simulators! walk through a tunnel simulating the inside of a black hole! strap yourself into a space station toilet! practice grabbing rocks with robot arms!), Life (strange x-rays of pregnant dogs and abdominal shrapnel! pickled fetuses! diagrams of giving birth! shrunken heads from South America!), and the outdoor Science Park (lift a car using a long lever! go on a ride using centripetal force to drop the floor from under your feet! shout into an echoing well! whisper across the park using elliptical 'whisper catcher' dishes!).

Some more attractions included a high-wire unicycle (yes, this is possible; there is a weight on the bottom supposedly keeping you from ever losing your balance), a traveling exhibit using pictures from outer space telescopes to illustrate galaxies and nebulae in far-flung reaches of the universe, and a temporary exhibit on ancient Egypt that was fascinating. And the whole experience is totally interactive, so it's hands-on science. The center is mostly for younger kids, I'd say around middle school age. I remember going on field trips when I was younger to see some of the exhibits, and it's mostly like a huge playplace where one also learns about SCIENCE. It also makes for a great date experience, though, so I'm glad I was able to go before the summer ended.

Enough from me. I have visa papers to get together, shopping to do, and boyfriend-hanging-out to plan.

- Jen -

Just a collection of small moments.

2009-08-04T22:34:00.002-04:00

Applying for a visa is unnecessarily difficult. With the way passports are issued now, part of the information that these people need is actually not available to us. And how exactly am I supposed to show proof of some of the things they want? Thankfully, I don't have my biometrics appointment until next week. Biometrics sounds so intense, but I think all it is is a passport-sized photograph and fingerprints. And thank goodness I've never had any kind of traffic infraction; it's counted as a criminal offense. Crossing my fingers that I don't get one in the next month and a half.

Yesterday was fun. Justin and I went out bowling and had what I consider to be Columbus' best pizza on our way. Next time any one of you are in town, check out Massey's. It's delicious. Also on the way, Justin and I both had our first experience inside a Waterbeds 'n' Stuff. (I still have no idea why we went in there, except just to say that we did.) As far as bowling went, Justin is much better than I am; I suspect it's because he's been lifting this summer and could use a heavier ball. As it was, I still have stitches in my back and my arm was hurtin' somethin' fierce, so I scored a 77 while he scored a 140. Pretty impressive on his part.

I have many days of work in front of me. Switching from summer to fall is grueling, but it's nice to have a job. Not much else to say right now other than I'd like to rewatch LOST sometime soon.

- Jen -

Dublin Irish Festival experience.

2009-08-02T23:15:00.003-04:00

My friend decided to come down from Cleveland to see me this weekend. That's because my city, as I think I mentioned in my first post, has the world's largest Irish festival (that's not actually in Ireland). I think our goal this year was 100k visitors, and I think we might have made it; record-breaking turnout on Friday night seems to lean in that direction.

Anyways, AJ came in late-ish on Friday night after dropping off a girl he knew on Ohio State's campus. We decided that it was worth our entry fee for the day to go to the Festival for about an hour to see Gaelic Storm perform. Honestly, I didn't like them as well as some of the other bands I saw, but that's just me; they were okay. It gave AJ a little bit of time to see what he was really getting himself into with this whole stay-with-Jen-for-a-weekend shenanigans.

My brother left for band camp on Saturday morning, so it was just us four in the house for the rest of the weekend. AJ and I didn't really get moving to go to the festival until about 1:30, but by the time we got there, we still had plenty of things to see and do. Lots of vendors come in every year, and in particular AJ was entranced by some of the photography and paintings. There was one vendor who actually did cast paper. Think about it: you make a relief from wax, make a rubber molding of your wax relief, then press paper pulp into the rubberized mold. Voila! Cast paper. Then, of course, they were elaborately painted. Amazing stuff.

We got to learn about physics all day. One of the first events AJ wanted to see was some of the highlander sports that were available. The event was sheaf-tossing. (Sidebar: NOT SHEEP TOSSING. We have been trying to explain this to people over the phone for a long time, and everyone seemed to think that the bales of wheat would bleat as they were being thrown. NOT THE CASE. No animals were harmed during this Festival.) So we got to see these burly men trying different techniques, like where their pitchfork would grab the bag, where they would stand to hurl this (20-pound) weight over what looked like a pole-vaulting setup, etc. Too bad we got there too late for the caber toss. There was also some free-stone throwing going on (like less-glorified shotput, if there is such a thing.)

Then we headed to learn how to Irish dance, but it was mainly an elaborate square-dance and not the step-dancing (kicks, etc.) I was hoping for. We saw that there were dart lessons taking place in the 'pub', so we stopped in. More physics! A professional dart player (didn't know there was such a thing) stopped by and gave us a few pointers as to basic form, then set us loose knowing the rules of Cricket. (Yes, it is a dart game.) Basic rules: Get three each of 20 through 15 and three bulls-eyes. Whoever gets there first is the winner.

While we were throwing darts, AJ's brother Alex came up from Oxford. Diversion: What is it with Ohio and its international city names? There's Lima, London, Oxford, Dublin... Newark, although that's technically in Jersey so not too international. There's even a Hicksville (literally, that's what the town is named). So no, this isn't Oxford, UK, where I will be studying, although there is a university in Oxford, OH: Miami University. Which is NOT the same as the University of Miami, which is in Florida. OHIO IS CONFUSING. Anyhow. Alex met up with us while we were in the pub and joined in on our game of Cricket. After a while, my stitches started acting up, so I had to quit, but it was interesting to see how close the game was (with two amateurs, there wasn't much 'competition' per se).

Then we met up with my parents for dinner. They had been waiting at the rock pavilion, which is one of our five (yes) stages that we have set up for various performing guests to come in. I had fish and chips for dinner and one of those shake-up lemonades that you'll always find at the fair. Major carnie food available. Alex got some kind of stew in a bread bowl, and AJ got food from our local German restaurant (although, it must be said, they make good bangers). We met up with my parents and watched a band called the Young Dubliners. I thoroughly enjoyed them, to the point where I bought their most recent CD, Saints and Sinners. One of the guys in their band was playing some kind of bladder instrument that I couldn't quite make out, but it was the same guy who recorded some of the music for Braveheart. (Requisite cry of FREEDOM! included.)

Then AJ, Alex, and I realized that there was an entire half of the festival we hadn't even been to yet. (One of these days, I will find a map of how big this festival has become over the past decade, since I've lived here. It's HUGE now. Used to just be in the part we hadn't even gotten to yet.) On our way, in one of the artisan workshops, we saw a little girl who couldn't have been more than seven, pounding a chisel in order to create a wood relief. AJ and Alex, with their impeccable baby radar, were enthralled by this strange phenomenon.

Anyhow. In order to get to the other half of the festival, we had to walk by these period reenactors, and... you guessed it, MORE PHYSICS! We learned how to hand-make rope (this very interesting contraption that uses torque in order to force the strings to bind together in a twisting fashion). We also learned what is most effective in terms of the design of chain mail. Yes, there are different designs, and some help keep the blade from sticking in your mail and ripping off your shoulder. Also, helmets are cone-shaped because it helped the sword blows to the head from denting your helmet and instead forced the blow to glance off towards the shoulders, again a reason why your mail should always be facing in the right direction. More information about how heavy this stuff actually is (30 lbs. for a shield, 38 lbs. of full chain mail, 7 lbs. for a helmet, 5 lbs. for the chain mail that goes under the helmet, a 20 lb. pack on your back, plus weaponry) made me wonder why these people ever went to war in the first place.

While it was finally getting dark, we cruised around the vendors and food available in this all-new area, until we heard clacking. That's the mating call of the Irish step dancer, people. So we go to this stage, and it's the Richens Timm Academy of Irish Dance. And these people are not messing around. During the competitions that took place at my high school Friday and Saturday, these people had managed to train seven world qualifying dancers. Some had placed second or third in North American competitions.

Here's a story that you probably couldn't find anywhere else: At one point during this dancing, with mostly people my age performing, a little boy is sent out on stage. I look at him, thinking it's a gimmick, until he actually starts dancing. This kid is a progete. He's a miracle. He's dancing like I've never seen an adult dance before. And when he bows and leaves the stage, we learn that little Colin is six years old and that he's currently in third place in the world overall. Not just in his age group. Thus why I've created a new slogan for my city: Only in Dublin. Only in Dublin would you see this kind of horrifying yet gorgeous showmanship.

After watching more of their fabulous dancers, we headed back to the rock stage for the third time that night to watch Prodigal. Again, I didn't like them as much as I liked the Young Dubliners, but they were okay. More of notice during this performance was the amount of alcohol that had been flowing throughout the day was actually starting to catch up with these people. Stumbling, slurring, obnoxious behavior, you got it all. By this time Alex had managed to catch up with one of his friends from Powell, a small town about five to ten minutes away from where I live in Dublin. So the four of us are just trying to listen to this band relatively peacefully, but of course we can't, because we're sober and everyone else is not.

I don't understand how this phenomenon takes place at our Festival. We have a system by which you have to buy 'tokens' which are then exchanged at selected beverage stations for beer, wine, mixed drinks, soda, or water. Tokens are $2. Once you get to the beverage station, soda or water is one token, and alcoholic drinks are three. This means that each alcoholic drink costs six dollars. Yet before my eyes I'm seeing people who are definitely in the process of getting smashed. This means that these people have probably spent thirty dollars at least on just alcohol, let alone food and entry fees. I don't understand this, I really don't. It's not THAT much more fun drunk.

So, after getting hit on a few more times than necessary, I decided it was time to run back to my car, parked at the Mormon church, and call it a night.

This morning AJ and I headed out early so that he and I could get to our church services. AJ decided to meet up with his brother so that they could go to the Catholic mass spoken in Gaelic ("if it looks unpronounceable, it is"). I decided to go to the interfaith service with Justin (whatever, that's my boyfriend's name, no one else is anonymous here). His church sponsors the only service at the Festival that isn't Catholic, and I enjoy the one time a year that I go to hear his pastor. After the service, I bought funnel cake for breakfast. You can laugh or jeer if you want, but I had been craving one since last Thursday and I finally had what I wanted. Since it was Justin's first day at the festival, I mapped out where we should go. We went to see the Young Dubliners again once we had eaten breakfast. Their setlist was the same, but I didn't mind. After a little more wandering and a little more darts, Alex left us to go back home to Carmel (right outside Indianapolis, Indiana).

Around 2:30 we decided to start wrapping things up. At a certain point, even I get all Irish'd out. So we bought some candy from the import shop (and let me tell you, I can't wait to have all the UK candy available, though it isn't as good as Japanese candy for sure). We were almost home until AJ reminded me that he wanted to go see our quaint, historical downtown area for some local ice cream. Jeni's is fantastic. They have a lot of gourmet flavors. Black coffee actually tastes like coffee smells. I had a 'kona stout' taste today, and it did taste like stout, and then mild coffee. Delicious. AJ got this mixture of 'backyard mint', 'goat cheese with roasted red cherries' (like cheesecake ice cream), and some sort of cherries jubilee. He tried the chocolate cayenne, which is my brother's new favorite, but he didn't care for it.

After Jeni's, it was time for AJ to pack up, get his friend from OSU, and head back to Cleveland. He's texted me that all is well, and hopefully I'll have time to read his blog entry. (This one is almost as long as the ones he writes!) I'm exhausted. It was fun being a host, especially since I was used to having another boy in the house, but AJ is very high energy, and I can only keep up with so much at once. I'm exhausted right now, and I should probably sleep, but I needed time to document what turned out to be a very nice weekend.

This upcoming week looks like Secret Projects, plus a lot of work, plus perhaps going to COSI tomorrow with Justin. Ohhhh I'm so tired.

- Jen -

VISA LETTERS.

2009-07-27T17:22:00.001-04:00

I received them. Expect me to blog about the proceedings. In the meantime, too busy dancing around my house to apply.

- Jen -

Supernerd time.

2009-07-25T15:47:00.003-04:00

I'm in the middle of a self-imposed Lord of the Rings marathon (because please, what else do you watch when you're home sick from work?) and was suddenly struck by how much of a nerd I really am. Examples:

A line from Arwen to Aragorn, "I would rather share a lifetime with you than face all the ages of this world alone", is currently my ultraromantic Facebook status.
I'm still craving Eowyn's white dress as something to get married in. (Crappy picture but you get the idea.)
I'm quietly amused at seeing Charlie from LOST and Rudy in these movies. And since I go to ND, I'm contractually obligated to chant "RUDY, RUDY, RUDY" at every Samwise Gamgee opportunity.

Enjoy your health, everyone, while I enjoy my marathon.

- Jen -

Are they called sutures or stitches?

2009-07-23T23:13:00.002-04:00

Irrelevant of the above question, two of the aforementioned are currently in my upper back, holding together a place where there used to be a mole. I got one removed today during a full skin exam. My family is at a high risk for skin cancer (if you've ever seen me in person, you'll understand -- I really am the 'fairest of them all'). The mole I had removed has a 25% chance of containing malignant growth (big, fat, scary CANCER to the rest of you).

How am I doing? Emotionally, I'm proud of myself: I didn't freak out when the procedure was being done. That's a giant leap for me. I joked with some people that I'd need a couple Xanax before I was ok with what they'd need to do, but apparently if you give me a TIME magazine feature about Twitter, I get so enraged about the Internet that I forget my back is being cut open.

Physically, I suppose I'm all right. I've been taking Tylenol all day for the pain, which isn't too excessive but keeping the swelling down is probably a smart decision. My back feels like it itches/burns. I hope this isn't an allergic reaction to the tape (which, yes, I am allergic to medical tape) but rather my stitches (or sutures?) pulling at the skin; at least that would mean it's healing.

I won't know whether it was actually cancerous for another week or so. My stitches (0r sutures?) don't come out until two days before J goes back to school. (Waste, right?) So, basically, pray for me, everyone, and hopefully I get some normal results back.

That's one way too personal blog entry over with. I need to sleep; I have four straight days of work coming up, combined with a family reunion in Tennessee (which I spelled correctly without Firefox's spell check, I'm so proud of myself). It might be three straight days of work if I'm not able to lift at least five hangers' worth of clothes on my right arm by tomorrow at 4 PM, which is looking more and more probable by the minute. So, I must rest.

- Jen -

Girls who like sports? Unthinkable!

2009-07-21T23:10:00.003-04:00

It's been a good past two days, I suppose. Yesterday J and I were originally planning on going to see a baseball game, but we weren't able to get tickets. He found he had a discount for a round of miniature golf (does anyone else call it 'putt-putt'?) and thus a plan was born.

Seven good things:

He got me flowers! And he even knows lilies are my favorites, and he got Oriental lilies for me. THey'll last for a while too. They're so pretty and fragrant :)
It was raining on our way out there, and he pointed out a rainbow as we drove past the zoo.
And we saw another rainbow while we were driving through the next city!
Best combination of marketable goods in one location: Gas station/car wash/convenience store/post office/Tim Horton's, all in one. Both WTF and OMG.
Putt-putt is actually much more fun when there are unintentional water hazards (aka puddles) on the course.
I got a hole in one on the third hole! I have eight weeks of mandatory phys. ed. golf lessons to thank for that.
J got a hole in one on the last hole!! You know, the insane one that always takes forever because after that, your ball gets swallowed. Yeah, that one.

Thank goodness we decided to do putt-putt instead of the game, because it would have been rained out. Instead, we went to the game tonight. It was actually more fun than I thought it would be. I'm one of those people who don't really enjoy watching baseball on television, but I think it's much more fun to watch it live. It's a slow sport, so you can afford not to pay attention for a while and still not miss a thing. (Can you tell I'm just not a baseball kind of person?)

Seven more good things:

The Columbus Clippers (that's our minor league team) are apparently affiliated with the Cleveland Indians.
Any seat in the new Huntington Park is a good seat. We didn't even need the binoculars I brought.
I believe there was at least one homer tonight.
A fly ball went right over our heads. Not like we would have caught it but it was exciting anyways.
The food at baseball stadiums always feels so traditional, almost ceremonial. As in, you know you always have to get peanuts at a baseball stadium. And nachos. And soft pretzels. And Dippin' Dots. (If anyone asks me what Dippin' Dots is, I will be severely disappointed.)
It was really a lovely night to go. We weren't stuck with any super-annoying kids near us or anything, it was a relaxed game, and the traffic wasn't too bad getting out of it. Besides, now the stadium is in a much nicer neighborhood of Columbus, so the surroundings were nicer.
Cheers are much more fun to do once all the adults in your section become inebriated. Having been to an OSU football game where this is, once again, definitely the modus operandi, I strongly recommend that ND start allowing alcohol in the stadium by the time I'll legally be allowed to drink it (ie. my senior year).

I think the only bad things were: The freeway we were going to use to get home was closed (big deal, we took a detour) and we lost the game (who cares, we were there for fun).

In other sports news, Tour de France was EPIC today. Check out this footage in English or this footage for better detail, but that is Jens Voight, one of the most loyal teammates (on, I believe, the American team Garmin-Slipstream) in the entire peloton, crashing out in a moment of pure agony. The latest word that I've heard is that he actually lost consciousness for a few moments. Apparently he couldn't move from the spot, because the medical helicopters had to be called in order to get him to the hospital. From the footage, it appears that his head was hurt the worst. It's too bad that you can't see when the cameras cut back to him, because the poor man is just laying on the road, can't hardly move, and knows his dreams of Paris are completely shattered (probably like his knees). I just hope he doesn't have any kind of lasting brain injury -- even though they wear helmets to prevent something like that from happening, bad crashes happen.

Speaking of bad crashes, check out this footage of Frank Schleck of Team SaxoBank getting completely owned by a crash barrier in the 2008 Tour du Suisse. They replayed it during today's stage to explain why he's such a tentative descenter. It's really a miracle that he wasn't harmed except for a few scratches. But this, ladies and gentlemen, is why the same network that hosts PBR (professional bull riding) and extreme cagefighting hosts the Tour de France. They don't call it the Gore de France as a nickname for nothing.

Why does summer only start getting awesome once you realize that you're running out of time?

- Jen -

Culinary adventures, part 2.

2009-07-16T22:32:00.002-04:00

So tonight I cooked my first dinner all by myself. I know that doesn't mean a lot, but for me, it's kinda a big deal. No help from anyone usually means Jen ends up flustered and dinner ends up in a huge mess.

But not tonight.

Tonight's meal was crab-stuffed pasta shells in a Parmesan-cream sauce, with chocolate mousse as dessert. By now, y'all are probably like "Crab what? How'd she do that?" With a few tricks up my sleeve, of course. I picked this recipe myself, knowing that I know what a stuffed pasta shell is supposed to look and taste like. I knew what the ingredients cooked like. It was actually a blast to cook, besides all the dishes I ended up messing up in the process that I then, inevitably, had to wash.

PROPS:

Ricotta and Parmesan, for being practically my two favorite cheeses in the world.
Crab meat, for being a very delicate but not overpowering fishy flavor. I love seafood, and that was just the right amount of seafoodiness.
I finally learned how to boil water! (Yes, that is how terrible I was at cooking anything.)
Going off the board for 1000 and making the dish that I really wanted to make without being intimidated by a 15-ingredient list, 3 steps of preparation, and 45 minutes of prep time.
Realizing that this recipe is actually incredibly easy to make ahead of time, if the pasta and filling are made a day or so ahead.
Timing everything right so that I could make the dessert while the shells were baking in the oven.

SLOPS:

Not knowing what crab cartilage looks like.
PASTA SHELLS ARE REALLY HOT WHEN THEY GET OUT OF BOILING WATER. I swear I steam-burned myself about 20 times while I was stuffing those shells.
That little dried-glue layer that cream sauces get when they're not being babysat.
Not knowing that refrigerated evaporated milk probably needs shaken before using it in a recipe.
Still (!) managing to fling little bits of chocolate-fudge pudding all over the place while I whipped up the mousse.

REVIEWS:

My brother stayed home instead of going to his Ultimate Frisbee pick-up game to try this recipe. I got him excited about cooking something later this summer and I got an actual "thank you for making dinner" out of him. He also mentioned that he was full from just 4 stuffed shells -- which is impressive when you consider that this kid is 17 and thus has four meals a day and is never full. ****1/2 out of 5.
My dad got home from work just in time to sit down at the table and have dinner. "This is really good. Very rich." Only ate four shells, but trust me, that's enough for anyone. **** out of 5.
My mom was super-impressed by my ability to refrain from asking her any questions during the cooking process. She wasn't even on the same floor of the house while I was cooking. "The filling is set just right. Overstuffing the shells was the right thing to do. I'm surprised you were able to make such a complicated recipe on your own." ***** out of 5.
J ate dinner with us, since the recipe said it would serve 6 (it would probably serve even more, it's very rich and filling). He's one of the most finicky eaters I know, but he gladly ate my off-the-board concoction as his first experience having crab in anything. He was surprised by the amount of cooking I had to do... probably comes from not being in a kitchen longer than a microwave time, haha. He loved dessert and thought that the meal was very rich and filling. ***** out of 5.

OVERALL: I will definitely make this again. Not so much a fan of the 1:15 that it takes to make it, but with the time it was in the oven I was able to make dessert. Makes leftovers not just in the pan but also with leftover shells that couldn't make it in the pan with everybody else. One of the best culinary decisions I've made in a while. Definitely boosted my cooking ego.

Want the recipe? I'll post it in the comments. For now, I'm raiding a cookbook that I got earlier this week for more recipes that I can try out next week.

-----

In other news, I didn't realize that season 4 of LOST would be so short - only about 14 episodes! Apparently it got hit pretty badly by the writer's strike in Hollywood a few years ago. But props to Faraday for being science-fictiony and awesome, and tears of joy at Desmond/Penelope. (If you spoil any of it for me, more than I've spoiled for myself by watching episodes here and there, I will find you. And you won't like it.)

Le Tour de France has been pretty quiet lately. Still makes me want to go to France. Am expecting a huge charge from Astana any day now. (My dad didn't know until a few days ago that Astana is the capital of Kazakhstan, and he follows the Tour religiously. Wow.)

Anyhow, I'm busy for the rest of the summer with personal Super-Secret Projects. Don't expect many, if any, updates about them, because the Internet is an increasingly not-private space and I wouldn't want anyone's surprises to be ruined. So, as Desmond might say, see you in another life, brother.

- Jen -

Previously on LOST:

2009-07-15T18:53:00.002-04:00

Just something I've been hearing a lot more of lately. J and I are only done with three seasons out of five so far. Season 3 finale was underwhelming to say the least. I became very confused and thought that the season 3 and 4 finales actually happened within the same episode. I'm never that lucky.

In official study-abroad reason-I-made-this-blog news, I was supposed to have my student visa letter by July 4. It's 11 days later, and still haven't seen it. I'm wondering if it's trouble on my end (for filling out a form wrong), trouble on their end (not getting their letters sent in time), or our mail carrier's fault. (If you don't believe me that she's terrible, listen to this story: She actually never delivered one of my college acceptance letters. I have no idea why she still has a job.) Also, I figured out today that even though I RSS-feed this blog into Facebook, I believe that only one person consistently reads this blog. My parents didn't even know it existed, even though I had let them know what the URL is. Remind me why I do this again?

My summer is officially halfway over today. If you count from May 1 to September 30 that is... so it's approximate but accurate. J only has one more month of summer. Because of fraternity things (he's Recruitment Chair, to the best of my knowledge, and his chapter needs to keep up their reputation of having the best chapter in the nation) and his college's week-long welcome-back party for all students (no idea why they do this), he needs to arrive on campus about a week and a half before classes start. Boooooooooo. My time with him has been short enough as it is.

I'm proud of my brother for getting close to being an 'official' Eagle Scout and all that, but seriously, the fights about it need to stop. As much as I'd like to have his Eagle Court of Honor to happen before I go abroad in the fall, it's just not going to end up happening like we think it will. Add to that that I need to make sure that I schedule off for at least two weekends during the back-to-school rush, and I have no idea what I'm going to do.

That's assuming that I can actually go anywhere once my brother has started school. I'm interested in going back to Notre Dame for a weekend in the fall to see my friends and celebrate September birthdays, among them mine, but it all depends on if I can get the weekend off of work and if I have a car and if there's not a band competition and if I'll have somewhere to stay and park the car and other shenanigans. I'd like to see J at school before I leave in the fall, preferably the last full weekend I'm home so we can celebrate my 20th birthday and our 3-year anniversary, but apparently I have no place to stay and no place to park on top of the possibility of not getting off of work, not having a car, and a possible band competition on top of that.

tl;dr it's never really mattered what I want this summer.

- Jen -

A few things that might actually be going right this summer.

2009-07-07T12:06:00.002-04:00

1. I'm going to the pool today with J. Just as soon as I find a cover-up and SPF 100+ sunscreen...

2. As most of you don't know, my family are avid watchers of the Tour de France. Epic finish today. Check out extended coverage on Versus HD tonight starting at 8 PM.

3. While cleaning our basement yesterday, my mom and I stumbled upon "Modern Bride" magazines from when she got married, back from 1986/1987. Number one reason why I never want to go back to '80s fashion: PUFF SLEEVES. Second reason: an obsession with velvet and lame.

4. My drive to work yesterday was heavenly. All the windows rolled down (and I mean literally; I don't have power windows) and Maximo Park as loud as it would play.

5. A surprise that I can't tell you yet, but there will be pictures to document it.

Hope your summer is going as 'swimmingly' (PUNS!) as mine.

- Jen -