2.28.2005

During the past few weeks, I've had 3 things (test, 2 papers) that I put almost no effort into, yet still got awesome grades (95.7%, 100%, 100%). It's ...weird. I'm doing really well this semester, despite not putting in any extra effort. I'm not complaining. I just wish someone would explain why I'm getting really good grades when I deserve mediocre (or worse). Yay for me, though. Maybe I've just honed my skills to the point where I can just crap out a really good paper without thinking about it. Wouldn't that be awesome?

2.24.2005

The dorms had a "Black History Month" commemorative dinner tonight. They served collard greens, cornbread, mac & cheese, and grape Kool-Aid. I ate a salad. Andy called me a racist because I didn't eat the black people food.

I have a 5-page poli sci paper due today at 11 am. So when did I think would be the best time to find out about this paper? 9:50 pm the night before. I didn't even know it existed as a concept until then. So I stayed up til 1:45 crapping something out and hoping that I'll get a non-failing grade. Hooray.

2.22.2005

me: Question...if you had a kid right now, what would you name it?
Talia: Jesus I-Don't-Know
me: Good answer. I would name mine...KETURA BIXBY.
Talia: [laughs] My ass hurts.

Dream:
Steve and I ran in a race together. I was keeping up with him througout most of it, which made me happy. He had thick legs that were muscular but weren't defined. And he was wearing white socks (a cardinal sin to him). Anyway, we overheard while we were running that the first 45 runners got medals, so we started going faster. And then for the last 400m he took off and I tried to go with him but I couldn't keep up. And I came in 52nd, and he had gotten a medal (like 37th) and I didn't. So my eyes started to water a little bit, and he asked what was wrong. I didn't want him to think that I was being dumb, so I lied that someone had been mean to me. We went out afterwards and ate a big chocolate chip cookie.

2.21.2005

So there's nothing like being in class, realizing your bra has come unhooked, and knowing that you can't do a damn thing about it for another 35 minutes.

2.20.2005

I finished The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things today. It started off really good, but then I really had to struggle to finish the last couple chapters. They seemed really boring... I dunno.

Steve bought an Augusten Burroughs book today. My taste in books is rubbing off on people.

2.19.2005

Books I bought today:
Choke by Chuck Palahniuk
Reinventing Comics by Scott McCloud (which I presume is the sequel to his Understanding Comics, which I read for cinema studies last year)
American Splendor by Harvey Pekar (I guess it's an anthology)
Best New American Voices 2004
The Best American Non-Required Reading 2003

Excitement: I was able to buy a ticket for a bus back to school for tomorrow. So I get to spend one more night at home.

Not so much excitement: I got my hair cut today, and I got it cut too short. It was entirely my fault. So it looks kind of crummy but in a week or so it'll look better.

Just plain weird: Yesterday, Steve and I heard on the radio that Jon Heder (of Napoleon Dynamite) had died. We googled it, and apparently it's this whole new thing to come up with different ways that he died and then spread those rumors. Kind of like a modern day Paul McCartney. Strange. I was definitely bummed for a little bit, though.

I'm 3/4 of the way through The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things. It's kind of depressing, but at least I can take comfort in the fact that it's fiction, unlike the depressing books by Augusten Burroughs that recount stuff that actually happened to him. I hope to finish this book tomorrow. I bought Naked by David Sedaris, so I'll either start that, Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides, Sellevision by Augusten Burroughs, or The Mismeasure of Man by Steven Jay Gould.

I came home today to go to the otolaryngologist. It looks like the tonsil on the back of my tongue is still inflamed, despite the strong antibiotic treatment. He's giving me more antibiotics and upping my antacid mediciation. There's a possibility that I would need a somewhat risky surgery come May.

I got to see Steve tonight, which was great. But I have to go back to school tomorrow, because the weather's going to be really crummy on Sunday and my dad doesn't want to drive in it. It'll be another couple of weeks before I can see Steve again. I was hoping to be able to spend time with him tomorrow, but it looks like that's not in the cards. I wonder if I sacrifice a virgin to Tom Skilling if the weather will change dramatically overnight. Or maybe Steve really was just kidding about all that cyclogenesis. One can only hope.

2.17.2005

Last night I finished Dry by Augusten Burroughs. What a depressing book. I didn't get much sleep. Today I hope to start The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things by JT Leroy.

2.16.2005

This has been a pretty shitty week, to tell you the truth.

Here is part of an e-mail correspondence I had with my poli sci TA over the grades entered in the website:

[TA],
What does the "exam 1" score mean? Where does it come from(and don't say "when free response and multiple choice love each other very much...")?


Kerry,
Well, right off the bat you've taken away a perfectly good
joke. In fact, I might steal that and use it in the other
sections.


Yeah, we're dorks.
P.S. It wasn't immediately obvious what the "exam 1" score meant, since there were three other scores entered. I'm not as dumb as I seem.

2.15.2005

New format.

2.14.2005

Things that happened today:
-I was wearing a Purdue softball t-shirt, and Megan was wearing an Iowa sweatshirt, and some guy gave us flak for not being loyal to our school.
-A group of five singers in tuxes/nice dresse gathered all of a sudden and serenaded this middle-aged lady. In the dorm dining hall. I lost my appetite.
-I was lazy.
-I ate a really good eclair from the dining hall. Normally I don't like eclair filling, but I took a chance on this one, and I am so glad I did.
-I got rid of a lot of music that I don't listen to anymore. I am free from such sins as Dashboard Confessional.

2.13.2005

Anti-Valentine's Day Manifesto

Boycott Valentine's Day. Boycott the idea behind it. Boycott everything it stands for. Boycott the consumerism. A holiday that only serves to give people grief. If you're not in a relationship, Valentine's Day makes you wish you were in one so someone could shower you with presents on this one special day. And you also wish you were in a relationship because seeing all of those couples cooing at each other makes you sick to your stomach. If you are in a relationship, you feel pressured to spend money on the other person, and you know that you're going to have to spend a lot and be damn creative. (This usually applies to the man in a heterosexual relationship.) If you are the woman in a heterosexual relationship, you will be depressed because your partner didn't spend enough money on you, and your friends' partners all spent more on them. And if your partner did spend more money on your than your friends' partners spent on them, you feel smug. Fuck that. Money != love. And there shouldn't be just one day where you tell people and show them that you love them. That should be a constant thing, something that you do every day of your life. If you are relying on Valentine's day and money and all of that red and pink crap at the Hallmark store, or all of that sparkly crap at the jewelry store, then you're not doing it right. You should spend every day of your life making at least one person feel special. Do that with your words and actions, and not with your wallet. Don't give in. Don't celebrate Valentine's Day.

Some images from last weekend:


Creepshow.


I'm on the left.


Being emo hurts, but we persist with broken hearts. AKA: emo kids are fun to make fun of.

2.06.2005

I finished Epileptic last night. It's an autobiographical graphic novel about this boy whose brother suffers from epilepsy, and all the different cures they try, and whatnot. It was good.

2.04.2005

The high today is 48, and it will be even warmer tomorrow.
My hair is starting to curl again, especially around my face.
I only have one hour of class today.
Talia and I are going out for Chinese food tonight.
...Today should be pretty good.

2.02.2005

The Ecstasy!

My computer was fixed today. I missed you, lil buddy.

Here, enjoy some pictures of Steve. This selection is titled "Images of a Warrior".