:: 21 january 2002
Best ::
All day: "I should get to class soon... no! Wait! There IS no class!" I'm far too pleased with my schedule, really.
Easy errands. The lack of bureaucracy is amazing.
Mitten ball!
First Earthlust meeting of the semester -- I'm on the food team! There was a group hug. Sometimes we're just too much. (Even for me. Oh well.)Worst ::
Finding those 118 pages of old ranting.
Inadequately trashy choreography.
[Hm. I know there was another week in here somewhere, but Swarthmore happened. And I'm feeling particularly un-journally, especially after finding 118 pages of old journal. ]
:: 14 january 2002
Best ::
Going to class with Matt and Sarah. A big lecture class, though, so no one would notice me.
Watching a little bit of Daria... I'd forgotten how religiously I used to watch that. It was on at 3 p.m.; I'd come back from school and make a snack and run down into the basement room to watch Daria in privacy. Hm.Worst ::
Having to get up Early to go to class.
Garlic.
Looking at our graduating class website -- all the news is about engagements, marriages, or new babies. That's just not okay, I'm sorry.
Taking the bus home. : ( Good-bye!
:: 13 january 2002
Best ::
Sleeping in past noon and then eating rice with soy sauce and drinking hard lemonade for breakfast. Lunch? Whatever meal it is when it's afternoon but you're still in your pajamas.
Out to Buca di Beppo with Sarah and Matt -- lots of food. Eek! Also cute pictures, which may appear later. Or not.
Seeing Amelie, finally! I hereby add it my list of Things You Should Go See Right Now If You Haven't Yet. Go, go!Worst ::
Failed ear piercing expedition -- well, Sarah pierced hers, but I couldn't do mine because I didn't have my license. I'm twenty years old! Just pierce my stupid ears! For heaven's sake! Gr.
:: 12 january 2002
Best ::
To North Market for lunch with Sarah. (Cute! Lots of little individual vendors. Like the market in Philadelphia whose name we couldn't remember.)
Back to the house, for the surprise Blue's Clues birthday party! (The hard lemonade didn't seem quite appropriate, so we waited on that. Even though it was legal. But Blue is cute! There was a Blue iced cake, and plates and napkins and decorations and everything. My favorite has to be the Blue stuffed toy with the ears that stand up when you squeeze its middle. Aww.)
And then we declared it all holidays and opened old Christmas presents and birthday presents and such.
Going with almost everyone to go see Lord of the Rings again. Mmm. I want the next two movies! Now that I've reread the second two books, I'm very curious.Worst ::
Oh, apparently Sarah and I look cannibalistic. When we were leaving North Market, there was a man in front of us trying to get his two- or three-year-old son to go down the stairs faster. He said "Hurry up, Timmy! See those girls behind you? They're going to EAT you if you don't hurry!" What??? Do we look that evil? Admittedly, I did start stomping loudly down the stairs after him. }: )
:: 11 january 2002
Best ::
To OSU! Saw Sarah's house, walked around campus, bought CDs I didn't need.
To the Polaris mall-type thing with Sarah and housemates. Bought a t-shirt. Heh.
Dinner, at long last. Cap City Diner. Yum! (there may be pictures later)
Finally seeing Shrek in English.Worst ::
They moved the bus station on me! Not fair. I finally decided it was bad that the old gas station was being sold and seemed completely deserted save the guy inside who told me that the Greyhound station had moved long ago... for once I was glad the buses always arrive late.
:: 10 january 2002
Best ::
Making a replacement necklace, and then another necklace for me... excess.
Finding my floor, boxing up stuff, even vacuuming. Clean!
Dinner at Abracadabra for my grandfather's birthday -- we even sang the traditional birthday song. That always gets odd looks when we're in public. And rabbits multiplied in my hand, just like last year.Worst ::
Restaurant all changed -- actually it didn't really bother me. I don't like to complain. Ever.
:: 9 january 2002
Best ::
I'm readjusting to my school schedule, I think. Reassuring to know I can still sleep until noon... not that there was really any doubt.
Out with Michelle and Joey (realized I haven't seen them since my first summer home from Swarthmore. eep!) -- ate at Olive Garden, made scenes in public, visited his dog, visited her dog(s). : )
Now I'm re-reading the Lord of the Rings trilogy after seeing the movie. Skipped the first book, though, which sort of makes it pointless to compare the movie. Oh well -- not one of my favoritest books, but they're up there, and good for getting lost in other places.Worst ::
Room still a huge mess. Have to move boxes off of bed to sleep, and then put them back in the morning to get out the door.
So much stuff to do so suddenly and I'm going back to school in a week and ack ack aaaaack! Ahem. Something like that.
:: 8 january 2002
Best ::
Lunch at Panera with grandma and grandpa.
Out with Chris again... this time to Steak 'n' Shake, one of the other four after-9 options in the area. There was a table of corporate pirates (Arrr! Only the captain wears two ceremonial eyepatches at once!) and our waiter (after saying something about giving me rum and Coke) showed us a medallion in his pocket that said he hadn't drunk alcohol for 11 years. Then to Biggs and Meijer to play with noisy toys very late at night. In Meijer they played "Designs on You!" We were truly shocked. Happily shocked. And I found some things I needed. }: )Worst ::
To the dentist. I didn't have any cavities! But I did get yelled at for not flossing enough, and the hygienist did offer me cookie dough toothpaste, and I wasn't in Chicago. And I have to get my wisdom teeth out sometime.
Failed necklace. (It was little bitty silver beads in three scalloped strands, for Sarah, but the strands wouldn't scallop. Had to give up and unstring it.)
:: 7 january 2002
Best ::
Starting a billion different little projects all at once. I amuse myself easily. Shiny beads, bits of paper, all that.
My grandparents starting to voluntarily play Chinese checkers together after dinner. It's cute, and I think people should play games. It's friendly.Worst ::
All the projects made my room a huge mess, and I'm trying to pack at the same time. Actually, packing is kind of the problem. Every other thing I find in my room either needs to be put in a different room, or thrown away, or turned into a project.
:: 6 january 2002
Best ::
Receiving a nice piece of paper from Swarthmore telling me my room number, roommate, phone number, all sorts of amazing things! I'm going back! You don't understand how strange that is sometimes. Anyway, I stuck it up on my bedroom wall.
Scrapbooking with Cathy. Only got through the Galapagos pictures, but I like it. And she even braved the snow to come see me. : )
Then feeling inspired and finishing up my other album.
Seeing Chris -- first we looked at his portfolio (he's leaving Xavier to go to the Art Academy, which seems like a very good choice) which I liked a lot -- multimedia pieces, prints that got even cooler when held up to light. Also a cow. Then to Perkin's, because your options are really limited in Fairfield after 9 p.m. There we ran into Jon and Josh: quesadilla weaponry, table junk sculpture, Jon putting slices of my chocolate orange over his eyes (I can't describe how he looked when he took them off... it was hilarious, but doesn't sound funny when I explain it), and finally seeing the back of Jon's car, where he keeps a ball pit. Yeah, that kind of ball pit, like in indoor playgrounds. Sadly, I didn't get to ride in it.Worst ::
Snow! Thwarting my plans, but it didn't in the end.
To bed at 6, because I felt all creative when I got home at 1 or so and figured I should take advantage of it while it lasted.
:: 5 january 2002
Best ::
To the Original Pancake House with Bob and Vicki... fortunate we only go there about once a year because otherwise... so. much. food. And so good, that's the other problem.
Susi was on TV! See for yourself. I was there once, but it was a few years ago and the garden has expanded and may still be expanding, hard as that is to believe.
A phone call from Eileen--real live voices! Astounding, I tell you. Slightly less than modern technology.
Out to see The Royal Tenenbaums with Mutti. We liked it. A lot... at least, I did. Excellent, go see it Right Now, and... that's all I have to say about that. The subject has been covered better by other people already.
To Jungle Jim's with Mutti. I looked for weird Ecuador fruits but couldn't find any save papaya, which I loathe anyhow.Worst ::
People keep dying. I know this is normal, but. Thor the nice Canadian man from our church who owned the dog we baby-sat for. One of the priests from my elementary school, my favorite one--once he played his electric upright bass and sang "It Ain't Necessarily So" during chapel. Tell me that isn't a great elementary school priest?
:: 4 january 2002
Best ::
Getting an old freshman year picture from Sean! I was going to upload it so I could show you, but I forgot. It's pretty representative of freshman year... Sean looking like an enthusiastic small dog, and me looking nonresponsive and sullen.
More pictures! From mutti -- old apartment pictures from last summer (Sarah and I are cute! I will destroy all evidence to the contrary!) and airport pictures of the return from Ecuador (I am grinning but sort of bewildered looking. And one of my mother looking threateningly possessive.)
Beating mutti at Scrabble. I can still manage English, a little bit! Sort of...Worst ::
Dentist's office CLOSED. Nooo! Can't change appointment! Can't go to Chicago... although I probably couldn't anyway. Sad, sad, SAD.
Another one of those evenings where I should really go running... only now it's too cold. (Not in the usual make-me-stop-thinking way, more in the oh-my-GOD-make-me-stop-ricocheting-off-the-furniture sort of way.)
:: 3 january 2002
Best ::
Going with Susie to the scrapbook store to buy all kinds of ridiculous bits of paper and stickers and cut-outs for my soon-to-exist Ecuador scrapbook.
And then continued shopping and out to eat with Susie. (We had to return things. We always have to return things, because one of her mother's favorite hobbies is buying clothes for Susie without consulting Susie. Her other favorite hobbies are feeding people, buying clothes for herself, and writing lists for her husband. It seems to work, though.)Worst ::
There was a reason the sparkly iceberg nail polish was so cheap. Because it was cheap. In terms of quality, I mean. At least I leave a pretty trail of sparkly flakes behind me. (On second thought, maybe I am just a sparkly flake. Wearing cheap nail polish.)
Mad Lucy clothes-foisting-upon-other-people! But I already mentioned that.
Watching a very peculiar movie called Conceiving Ada. (It wasn't that bad, really, just sort of an extended "What???")
:: 30 december 2001 -- 2 january 2002
Best ::
I sort of stopped writing things down for a few days, and I can't remember anything. Got a nice set of pictures back, ate pumpkin pie, watched a bad movie, ate good fondue, IMed with lots of people, ate sushi and saw the movie with Jesse, visited Con and Lucy on new year's day (which was more amusing than it ought to have been, for some reason), messed with the webpage (obviously), painted my nails a different color, made Sarah-visiting plans.Worst ::
Tired Susie, man sitting behind us and narrating the movie ("Look! There's the ring! ... They're all dead ... Now they're waking up ... Here come the goblins! ..."), too much food, ridiculously cold house (I keep having to get offline because my fingers are too numb to type properly), wanting to go to Chicago (I just may anyway. Take that!).
:: 29 december 2001
Best ::
Thrifting with mutti! At long last! (Sweater, sweatshirt, Ghost World t-shirt, jeans, skirt... excellent.)
Lunch at Coffee, Please. (I even paid, since I was feeling generous and full of Christmas money. There was a guy there playing Appalachian/Celtic music, but no one was paying much attention to him. He sang a lullaby and switched one of the lines just to see who was listening, I think: "And every time that baby cries / I stick my fingers in its eyes...")
Then to a used CD and book store, where I got in even more trouble.
And home to drink wine with cranberry juice. Yum.Worst ::
My August and September Postnet letters finally arriving. There should be some waiting for people when we get back to Swarthmore. Stupid stupid postal system! Rarrr!
:: 28 december 2001
Best ::
My inability to read makes life amusing sometimes -- misread the headline "Bush pours scorn on Bin Laden" as "Bush scours porn on Bin Laden."
Dinner with uncle Steve and Alan and mutti at the apartment.
To Border's, where CDs were bought for me. Always good.
Sleeping on my new air mattress. (My sleeping quarters have been steadily improving at the apartment. First a little mattress on the floor, then a folding screen to make it more room-like, then a futon under the mattress, now an air mattress and a wall of boxes in addition to the screen. Heh.)Worst ::
This country is freaking expensive! Luckily, I have Christmas money, but that will only last so long. Not very long, considering it's me.
:: 27 december 2001
Best ::
Grandma appearing in her tie-dyed long underwear. My uncle asked "Where's Jerry??" She looked sort of like a very brightly colored Easter egg using a walker... I LOVE my grandma. It was fabulous.
Making a skirt from my old army jacket. I'm very proud. I put in a zipper and fly and everything.Worst ::
Making skirt = demonstrating how much I actually suck. Made a huge mess, broke two sewing machine needles, bent two more sewing machine needles, sewed in pointy ass darts, ran out of material and had to make the front all patchy. Sigh.
:: 26 december 2001
Best ::
Christmas! Again! Good lord, it never ends. (At mutti's house this time.)
My duvet cover! Finally! I was truly astonished -- it's all made of my old t-shirts. Very cute, although it's still not quite finished.
Cooking, eating, more eating, and Alan coming over to eat with us. (Although he had to wear his dust mask thing. Sad.)
Mending things -- I tried to darn a hole in one of my sweaters, just to see if I could darn. Apparently I can, but now it looks like I've got lavender armpit ventilation. And I didn't have a darning egg, so I used my chocolate orange.Worst ::
Stepping on my clipboard makes a hole in my foot. Ouch.
:: 25 december 2001
Best ::
Opening my birthday presents! First time I'd ever done that while it was snowing. (Susie and dad were afraid to send them to me while I was in Ecuador. Probably wisely.)
Making (lots and lots) of cinnamon snowflake cookies. (Which did vaguely resemble, as Susie pointed out, "bird dropping cookies.")
Dad's family Christmas -- Susie's poem to accompany my grandmother's gift was definitely a hit.Worst ::
Have I mentioned how my family always forgets to tell me when important things are wrong? Yeah. *worry, worry*
The horribly wonderfully tacky ostentatious Christmas light house has been sold! No more lights! Very sad.
:: 24 december 2001
Best ::
Sleeeep... with all 20 pounds of Jack the Cat curled up behind my knees.
Nail polish! (Is it bad that the character I most identify with in LOTR is Gollum? Shiny, preciousssss...)
Ecuador MP3s! I found them on Morpheus with no trouble at all. *happy happy trashy music*
Christmas with Con and Lucy, followed by Christmas at dad's.Worst ::
I didn't write anything down, actually. Keep in mind this is two weeks later, almost, and I really don't remember. I probably ate too much food, had to deal with too many people. Nothing really bad.