RANT ~ Tuesday, August 14, 2001 ~ 7:35 PM

Quote of the Day: "And so they narrowly escape, with those neat little flames chasing along right behind them. But they survive of course, because they are the protagonists, who, as any high school English teacher can tell you, only die in books required for high school English." - The Empire Blows Its Chance to Strike Back

Birth control in the water. It is my master plan. I intend to one day "spice up" the world's water supplies with massive amounts of contraceptives. Then I will force those wishing to have children to go through an extensive application process. This process will examine the individual's mental health, physical health, monetary situation, marital situation, and INTELLIGENCE. I have determined that the majority of the world's population is too lacking in common sense to be allowed to reproduce. It is now apparent that common sense is no longer common. Take a moment to mourn.

In addition to this contraceptive policy, I will also insitute a strict tattoo policy. I will employ elite troops to patrol the streets, armed only with tattoo guns, handcuffs, and common sense. When they see someone do something stupid, they will immediately restrain that person and tattoo a letter on their forehead. First offense, S. Second offense, T. Third, U, and so on until that person has the entire word STUPID permanently marked on their body, for all the world to see. Then that person will be sterilized and given over for public stoning.

Examples of stupid people:

1) People who attempt to make it from the fast-moving left-hand lane of traffic, across all other lanes, and onto the off-ramp in one single move. They will be destroyed. I list this first because today on the interstate, I watched a man almost run a young girl off the road because he absolutely had to pass her and then get over.
2) Teenagers who play their music loud enough to make MY car shake and drown out MY music. That's not exactly stupid, but it IS inconsiderate. After all, if I wanted to hear their music it would be on MY radio. They will be locked in a room with gospel/country music and given only asparagus to eat. All cries for mercy will ignored. Go on, cry, you bastards. I want tears! *evil grin*
3) People who oppose other people's beliefs based on nothing more than a spinal reflex installed during their upbringing. If you can't think for yourself, you too shall be destroyed. Period. End of story. Die screaming.
4) People who call their doctors then proceed not to listen to that doctor's advice because they don't think that the doctor is doing the right thing. *sneer* If you're not going to listen to the person who busted their ass for seven years for the medical degree (and again every seven years for boards), then WHY did you call them? Go home and treat yourself with rat poison.

There are many more examples. These four simply happen to be fresh in my mind from today's many experiences. I don't understand why people cannot act towards each other with respect and forethought. Apparently it simply takes too much time. *disgusted sigh*

On the other hand, all rants aside, today was a very good day. *grin* I got to see Kimberly and Morley and we all had a great time. But E wants her computer (yes, the god computer) back, so I have to run. :-)

Current Music: 'Dream a Little Dream' - Mamas & Papas

Lazy Day ~ Monday, August 13, 2001 ~ 3:48 PM

Today has been a pretty good day so far! I was lazy all morning, sitting around reading books and watching movies. Kimberly called me back this afternoon so she and her friend Katie, Elizabeth, and I are all going to try to head out to see The Others tonight. Unfortunately, it's not playing in any good theaters - it's way out at Rivergate 8, a POS theater if ever there was. Still, I've been wanting to see it for so long, I don't think I'll mind too much. I hope everyone can make it. If not, I'll wait and see it with Jeff in Huntsville. Tomorrow, if I don't have to be in Nashville in the afternoon, we'll all head out to Happy China. Yum!! That's some of the best Chinese food on the planet and hardly anyone knows about them. Hahaha, it's all MINE!!!!

I'm having a pretty good time at home. My parents haven't been around enough for us to get on each other's nerves. We're all heading to TN Tech Wednesday morning. Apparently there will be "family" activites all day Wednesday, then E will move in Thursday morning. Of course, this means I have to spend the night in a hotel room with my family (and my parents' chainsaw snores), but it won't be so bad. My sis kind of has the jitters at the prospect of being dumped at school, but I have the feeling she'll be just as impatient to get rid of her family as I was, once she settles in and can start getting to know people. E, don't worry, I had a blast my first two days at UAH. I'm sure you'll love your school too!

Jeff has been gone to an RA retreat. I'm not sure, but I think it's one of those weird teamwork things. You know, where they make you fall over backwards into each other's arms and stuff. I always hated that sort of thing - everyone always dropped me.... Hopefully he had fun, especially since Oedipus has now joined the RA staff.

I finally got my grades for the summer semester. I got my A in NatProp! *does a victory dance* That evil class did NOT get the best of me!!!! Unfortuantly, I was only able to pull a B in StatProb. I'm hoping that won't drop me down too much because I want to stick with the dean's list thing. But it's better than a C which, after the final, was what I felt sure I had. So I'm happy about that too. I haven't gotten my lab grade for NatProp yet, which has me worried. The instructor has only had FOUR WEEKS to compile our grades. *grumble* I don't know what is taking him so long, but I hope it's because he's in for surgery having the stick removed from his ass. Not that I can really care at the moment....I did well in the class section! *cheers* That kind of made my day. ;-)

Current Music: 'Strong' - Velvet Chain

Weddings Are Weird ~ Sunday, August 12, 2001 ~ 5:45 PM

Well, today I had the honor of being asked to my nextdoor neighbor's daughter-in-law-to-be's wedding shower. *blink* Okay, that was an odd sentence. Anyways, it was nice, although I only barely knew the girl getting married. I've only been to two wedding showers before this (one of which I organized and held at my house) so it was interesting. Very girly, but interesting.

Still, now I see why people elope. This whole wedding thing seems like way too much trouble. Sure, someday I'll get married and I want to have a wedding, but it seems to me that weddings these days have gotten so out of hand. These lavish ceremonies, horrific fees, and unbelievably expensive dresses are just insane. The hassel of flowers and photographers and food....I'll be nervous enough about MARRIAGE without having to worry about the wedding! I've always though weddings should be small, quiet ceremonies, with a few friends and family. The idea of paying tens of thousands of dollars for a wedding is ludicrous! I guess it's all right for some people, but I intend to hold that sort of thing to a minimum as far as I'm concerned. ;-)

I'm using my sister's god computer. *drool* However, she wants it back. ;-) I keep telling her I'm going to swap hers out for mine...after all she certainly doesn't need it. But she promises much harm if so much as her mouse goes missing. *grin*

Exit this way, please ~ Saturday, August 11, 2001 ~ 9:20 PM

Quote of the Day: "Don't eat the snow! It tastes EVIL!"

My sister is watching Trading Spaces. I didn't realize such retarded people existed, much less made it onto TV. The end result is that my brain is trying to find a way to crawl out of my skull. I'm BORED and I can't even watch something good on TV. *grumble* I think I'll go read more of my Honor Harrington book. It's the sixth time I've read Honor Among Enemies but it never gets old. :-) That's because David Weber is a god.

I am so at a loss. I have no projects, no homework, no deadlines, NOTHING that needs to be done. I've been in such a high stress state for the last three months with something constantly hanging over my head. Now that I have a break, I realize I've forgotten what to do with free time! I'm certain I'll figure it out in the next few days, though. *grin*

Weird Day ~ Friday, August 10, 2001 ~ 1:09 PM

Just got back from eating lunch with Jeff and the RA staff. It was nice to see Jeff, but I felt really out of place the entire time. They're a pretty close-knit bunch and I only know two of them well. I hate being stuck in a bunch of people I don't know, particuarly for meals. Talk about being totally off balance. *grumble*

It's been raining all day. Normally I'd love day like this - in fact, I've been hoping for one for a long time now and it's perfect timing with no classes. Today, though, it's just making me go nuts. Maybe it's just the residual stress from exams and my nervous breakdown was overdue, but I should be outside enjoying the storms instead of sitting in here whining.

None of my grades have been posted. I figured I couldn't expect that StaProb one for a while, but I wish my NatProp prof would get on with it!!! Just because he decided to make a project due two days after our finals does not give him an excuse to violate the 48-hour rule! I went by the COE office to lodge a minor complaint, but I'll have to wait until the semester starts. Ah well.

My dad's getting here at 3:30!!! Home!!!!

Current Music: 'Sunny Came Home' - Shawn Colvin

Always Something Else ~ Friday, August 10, 2001 ~ 2:50 AM

I was all done worrying about classes. Now an old situation I'd thought long forgotten has resurfaced, with the circumstances exaggerated to paint me in the worst possible light. I have corrected the tale to the best of my memory, but the fact that it was an exaggeration and not an outright lie lends it the truth needed to keep people from rejecting it outright. Needless to say, I am not happy....with myself for allowing the original situation to occur, with the person who has exaggerated it, and with the perosn who brought it up. I'm afraid to get involved because I know things can only get uglier if I (or anyone else) go in with proverbial guns blazing, although I admit that was my first reaction. All in all, this is something I wish would just DIE quietly without any more repercussions. I've done nothing wrong except hesitate to act when I should have, and in the end I did the right thing. So leave me alone, world!!!!

*sigh* I'm going home tomorrow and getting out of this town. I'll miss Jeff horribly - after all, I just got him back! But he'll be here all school year. I figure he and I have got another good three or four weeks before we start to annoy each other again, so we'll have to make the best of them when I get back. *kiss* Love ya, Jeff! ;-) Kristina, my new roommate, moved in today. She's really great and we get along really well! I just hope my other rommate is as good - she moves in sometime next week while Kristina and I are out of town.

Anyway, I guess I had better go get some sleep and try to ignore the fact that I'm so pissed off. *shrug* Maybe it won't seem so important tomorrow.

Current Music: 'Famous Blue Raincoat' - covered by Tori Amos

I Win! ~ Thursday, August 9, 2001 ~ 8:15 AM

Quote of the Day: "Be nice to other people. They outnumber you 5.5 billion to one."

I finally managed to foil housing's evil plan to wake me up before 8:30 every single morning this week. I woke up at 7. :-P

I have my last final today at 3 PM. It's Statistics and Probability and consequentially considerably more evil than your average final exam. A couple of us are meeting at 12:30 to study for it, but I don't really feel all that confident. My Nature and Properties final was horrible, for many reasons, and I think I may have dropped my grade down to a B. Ah well. I take consolation from the fact that after 5:30 today, I have an entire 13 days off. No homework, no classes, no worries!!! I can't wait.

Uhm, I'm just gonna take a moment to plug Digital Tirade's new writer, KoRyo. If you haven't been reading DT, I say you should. The general insanity is just too amusing to pass up. ;-)

Really, besides my exams, there's not much going on in my life right now. Finals tend to do that to a person. They pretty much overwhelm anything else you might be trying to do and that whole threat of failing thing is pretty hefty weapon. Everyone is antisocial during finals week and since I'm antisocial normally, it just kind of doubles it. ;-) Drives Jeff crazy. *fiendish grin*

Current Music: 'Supernova' - Liz Phair

Why? ~ Wednesday, August 8, 2001 ~ 10:46 AM

University Housing has a vendetta against me. I don't know why. All I know is that they have made it their ultimate goal to never let me sleep past 8:30 AM during finals week. First, on Saturday, at 8:30, I was awakened by the sound of someone trying to break down my door. I fell out of bed and staggered my way down the hall to the door, only to find the housing director himself standing outside. Turns out he came to the wrong apartment - he was looking for someone else....or so he says. Then Monday, at 8, I hear knocking on my door. I go to answer it, and no one is there. Then my phone rings. Turns out it was my new roommate calling me at 8AM. She and I have a few things to work out before she moves in...like the rules on waking up Sarah. She wanted to know if I would let her in to move stuff since housing won't give her the keys until next week. See...once again, housing is involved. Then Tuesday at 8:30 AM, I am once AGAIN awakened by the sound of someone trying to kick my door in. Again I staggered bleary-eyed to the door, cursing anything and everything I could think of. This time it's Marie, a member of the cleaning staff, here to clean my old roommate's room. So she comes in, uses my phone, then sets about making a LOT of noise.

I felt sure that this morning they'd leave me alone. I prayed for sleep and silence. But no. At exactly 8:26 AM this morning, my phone rings. Railing curses, I grab the thing off my desk and answer it. And the bastards hang up. Grumbling, I looked at my caller ID and who should it be but the front desk of the other dorm.

Housing is out to get me and I don't know WHY. All I know is that I have a dangerously high level of caffiene in my blood and it's not doing a damn thing to keep me awake. I need peaceful, uninterrupted sleep, and for some reason the housing gods have declared holy war against me. It's time to break out the weaponry....

Current Music: 'Instant Pleasure' - Rufus Wainwright

My two cents ~ Tuesday, August 7, 2001 ~ 10:27 AM

Quote of the Day: "We are dreamers, shapers, singers, and makers. We study the mysteries of laser and circuit, crystal and scanner, holographic demons and invocations of equations. These are the tools we employ and we know many things."

*sigh* Okay. I'm sure every other Star Wars fan in the world has already talked (and bitched) about the new Episode II title, Attack of the Clones. I just feel compelled to state that while I don't exactly like it because does sound a bit....cheesy, if the movie is good, then I suppose the title will grow on us all. I mean, think back to Return of the Jedi. that's a pretty cheesy title when you think about it. Same with The Empire Strikes Back. Both both of those movies are good, so no one even thinks twice about the titles. Perhaps the Flanneled One has not made a mistake after all?

Still, I understand that many of the die-hard SW fans (you know, the rabid ones) can only feel that their intelligence is being insulted. Particuarly after JarJar in E1. I for one didn't like TPM much, but I'm a huge fan of Timothy Zahn's SW books and the original SW trilogy. I await E2 with interest, regardless of the title. And who knows....in time, Attack of the Clones may even sound like it belongs in the series. We'll see. ;-)

My NatProp prof gave us a project. Yesterday was the last day of class and he gave us a project. Our final is Wednesday, the project is due Friday. I have another final on Thursday and I'm spending today studying for both of them. I have no clue when I'll be able to work on this thing. *sigh* I would be angry, but at the moment the situation appears so hopeless that really all I feel is complete exhaustion. I'll make it to Friday, but probably not with sanity intact.

Current Music: 'Don't Think of Me' - Dido

Yay! ~ Monday, August 6, 2001 ~ 3:18 PM

Quote of the Day: "Of course I'm just using you. But at least you know it."

Jeff's back!! He got in much later than he expected to (10PM from 6PM), but he's back in Huntsville. *GRIN* My week definitely just got a lot better! I have a Jeff again and that just makes everything wonderful. :-D

Unfortunately, he's no immunity against finals. This Wednesday and Thursday, both from 3-5:30, I have my NatPorp and StatProb finals. :-P I've been contemplating throwing myself into traffic, but that makes such a mess and all. I'm going home Friday to spend the off week there. That means I'm missing a friend's party and I'm also missing our next Changeling game, but I suppose it's worth it. I'll miss seeing all my UAH friends, but I need to go home for a while and get away from this campus.

I have to leave for class in just a few minutes. *sigh* I believe I'm going to get my test back then just go to sleep. I can barely keep my eyes open right now as it is. *yawn* After class, I'm taking Jeff over to see Deb's new house, then I'm gonna crash. Sleep!! :-) Jen, I hope you're still in town when I go home, but if not we'll see if we can't arrange a trip for winter break to visit you. I'll see you sometime soon!

Current Music: 'The New Zero' - Rasputina

Yipskipperoo! ~ Thursday, August 2, 2001 ~ 5:52 PM

Quote of the Day: "If you woke up breathing, congratulations! You have another chance!"

This hell week is over!! *cheers* I turned in my project today and left class. It's all over! Whee!!! BTW, don't ask about the title. It's a manifestation of my hyperactivity and really can't be explained. *shrug*

I was considering going to Gulf Shores with ASCE this weekend. I was asked to do the presentation with the group, but another member was able to do it instead. Then I was just going to go for fun, but with finals next week and Jeff coming home Sunday, I just couldn't. Ah well. Probably wouldn't have been much fun anyways.

I didn't realize until today how little I've actually done that's FUN lately. I've been so busy with classes and labs and WORK that I haven't left campus hardly at all. Last night was the first time I'd actually managed to be social in a while. Clint got a bunch of people together and we all watched The Cell. The movie wasn't very good (although it was pretty to watch), but we had a lot of fun, and I realized how much I miss that. But I have a ten-day break coming up between semesters, so maybe I can get out with some friends in TN and relax for a while.

And my free time begins now. I'm headed out to our weekly Camarilla meeting. A bunch of the chapter went to SERE this past weekend, so I imagine I'll get to hear all about it. Toodles!

Current Music: 'The Drinking Song' - Moxy Fruvuous

Average Day ~ Monday, July 30, 2001 ~ 6:32 PM

Quote of the Day: "Vegetarians eat vegetables. Beware of humanitarians."

Overworked, sleep deprived, and on the edge of sanity. Yep, that's me! :-) This week is going to be bad. I have a project due Tuesday, a test Wednesday, and a project due Thursday. Then I have another lab report due Monday and finals all next week. Oh yeah, time to break out the valium. Well okay, no valium, but it's definitely time for chocolate!

My sister spent most of last week here. I didn't get to see her much because of classes and projects and stuff, but we had fun when I was actually around! :-)

Jeff's coming home this Sunday! Yay!! Just in time to keep me sane for finals week, poor boy. *grin* He's been in Mobile all summer, but has to come back early for RA training, whee.

Anyways, that's all that's going on. I only posted because my sis wanted me to. :-P Love ya, E!

Current Music: 'It Doesn't Matter' - Allison Krauss

Babble ~ Monday, July 23, 2001 ~ 11:27 PM

Quote of the Day: "I am the Cat who walks by himself, and all places are alike to me."

Tomorrow my sister is coming to visit for a few days. My parents are dropping her off on their way to my godfather's retirement party. She's visiting because this is the last time we'll see each other for a while, since she's headed off to college August 15th. Yep, my "little" sis is headed to college. :-)

Her visit, among other things, got me thinking, though. E's leaving high school, I'm a junior in college, I talked to an old friend today and realized I hadn't seen her in almost a year, my friend Jo is married and pregnant with her first child (she's only a year older than me). Quite naturally, I'm drifting steadily towards that once distant goal of being "grown up." But the weird thing of it all is that I don't feel any different than I did when I walked into high school.

It seems almost impossible that in two short years I'll be out of college. It's utterly inconceivable that I, like Jo, could possibly be married with a child of my own. I don't feel old enough for these things to happen. My freshman year feels like it was just a few months ago. So much has changed in that amount of time, but I think somewhere along the way my brain got caught in a time warp because I sure as hell don't feel any different. People tell me I've changed and I'm sure I have, but I really can't see any difference. It's just weird to feel so young. *grin* I wonder if this feeling ever goes away. Will I be 80 years old and think of myself as 18? ;-)

Uh....and blah. Yeah. Uhm, I didn't really mean to ramble like that. *shrug* I'm just a tad bit sleep deprived and I think that has something to do with it. A condition I feel it best to rectify ASAP. I bid you goodnight. :-)

Current Music: "Now We Are Free" remix - Gladiator Soundtrack