happy news

first of all, i want to wish gabby (my cousin) a happy 19th birthday! dude, goobs, we are getting so OLD. last year in the teens...greater responsibility is fast approaching.

other happy news includes jon and marla (quite possibly some of my favoritist people in the world!) expecting another baby in august! i am so very excited for them.

my english paper was pushed back to monday! the only problem is that i'm leaving friday afternoon for the ruf retreat and won't get back until just in time for the superbowl...which will last late into the night. in other words, i still have to finish my paper thursday night. but hey, my professor did cancel class on friday, so i can't really complain.

so thats about all the personal happy news for today. sorry if you can't relate to any of those...but hey, birthdays and babies are always something to be excited about.

the last patches of ice are dwindling away...thats prolly the only winterish weather we'll get this season. its supposed to be up to 60 again by the end of the week. once again, i'm procrastinating, so i'd best get back to my paper.

happy and crappy XI

this week's happy...yay for:

• jon and marla having another baby!!!
• awesome frisbee games
• passing quizzes
• oldies music
• relax time
• sleeping in on weekends
• almost snow
• drama on alias
• being able to talk to family without using my minutes

this week's crappy...nay for:

• arms that feel like they're broken
• cold winter weather
• procrastination
• spending an unreasonable amount of time filling out applications
• having english papers to write
• church being cancelled
• getting behind on reading
• rides forgetting to pick you up

snow day!

well, not so much. it is saturday, so its not like we get the day off from school for weather reasons. and it isn't really snow...more like ice. but hey, can't complain. if you look out the window and everything is white, thats snow down south. even if it is only an inch thick...if even. when you mix ice with southern college students, beware. the entire day was full of slush fights, football in the cold on the quad, slippery walks to eat, and people sledding down brumby beach on cafeteria trays. people are wild, running down the halls and making lots of noise. sadly, i didn't really get to participate in all the day's festivities. megan and i stayed quite cozy here in room 221. too busy spending about 30 minutes researching for a paper i haven't started and spending the remainder of the day doing, what else, applications for summer jobs. nice. we're planning on just popping some pop corn, making hot chocolate, and watching a movie tonight.

come to think of it, at dinner i did notice that there were no more trays in the cafeteria...must have gotten tired of losing their precious trays. everything is closed for the weekend...including church tomorrow morning. and to think that last week we were basking in 65 degree weather...

speak up please

that awkward silence that follows almost every teacher's question is really really annoying. i hate being one of the multitude that reply with black stares on their helplessly bored faces. the problem with discussion based classes is that if the group of students that are in there are not willing to contribute their thoughts, everyone ends up sitting through a painful 50 minutes of a professor performing a monologue of q&a. what’s even worse is when you have one student playing trivia with the professor by answering and arguing every single thing the professor asks and says. now, i admit, its not their fault they are the only ones willing to speak up, but it hardly compels other students to join in. at least that’s my view of things.

so why, you ask, am i complaining about how people don't speak up and then criticize someone that finally does? well, its a complicated situation. i just can't make myself happy. i'm willing to break the silence a few times to respond to something, but only one or two times a class. after that, silence...silence...silence. (that scene in ferris bueler's day off captures the essence of the classroom perfectly: "anyone...anyone...anyone?") i hold my tongue, no matter how compelled i am to say the answer. why? because i don't want to look like miss smarty pants because i myself find such people annoying. so there i sit, holding myself to a double standard, trying to pretend like i don't know as much as i do. hmmmmm. something seems wrong with my philosophy on things. but hey, for those who are in my classes, here is what that post-question silence is pleading: if you know the answer, speak up please and save us all from our misery!

hire me...

poor college student seeking summer employment. preferably good pay. good grades in high school, accomplished lots in sports, hard worker. likes to have fun, loves ice cream and sleeping. all for alias on wednesday nights and cheering on the dawgs...

oh wait. you mean employers are looking for what kind of jobs you've held? they don't want to know what you like and things you've done? okay okay...i can do that. heres my resume:

ages 6-10: offered pristine, cavity-free teeth to the tooth fairy
age 7: picked up icky bombs (gum balls, spikey balls, whatever the crap people call them) from the neighbor's yard for 1 cent each (lets just say we found enough to keep us occupied for an entire afternoon...for which the labor wasn't fully paid)
ages 8-12: worked in my cul-de-sac selling homemade lemonade and hand crafted bracelets (designed by yours truly)
ages 9-12: co-babysat for nextdoor neighbor's 3 children for cheap pay (and i mean cheap)
ages 13-18: the dry spell of employment...job considered to be school and sports; parental allowance
age 18: proof reading bibles...under the table

okay, so i'll admit it. i have no true working experience. why? because i can't put any of those down on my application.

i'm sure that confession can convince a potential employer to put me to work for an entire summer. i'm trying to fill out about a gazillion different camp staff applications and the page that is reserved for employment history, i have to leave empty. white space. looks great, especially since i'm 18 years old and i've never officially held a job. sure, i've earned a little money here and there at make shift jobs (i.e. babysitting, proofreading bibles, picking up icky bombs in the neighbor's yard for 1 cent a pop, etc.), but nothing on the record that requires all that tax crap. so i'm hoping that they'll be understanding and overlook this minor detail. again, i said hope...

wishing, and hoping, and thinking, and praying...

decisions, decisions, decisions

wow. there’s a lot going on right now. i won't bore you with all the gory details, since i'm sure they won't interest you.

in short (hoping to keep my previous promise), i need to get things straight about housing for next year. when plans seem finalized, its obvious that they aren't. i feel somewhat obligated to sacrifice my plans of living with new friends i've made here at school and invite an old friend who is having a hard time finding a roommate for next year. the thing is, i'm with her all the time anyway and she hasn't made much of an attempt to reach out to new people....mostly because she’s never around on weekends to make new friends. its quite a dilemma, if you know what i mean. arg.

the other decision i have to make is what to do with my time this semester. should i rush (i'm thinking about looking into the christian sorority here)? should i play club frisbee? should i get more involved in some kind of club? i'm afraid that i might not commit to anything so i could have time to do things that never happen.

the final big decision i have to make is what i'm doing this summer. becca and i are still looking into camp counselor jobs (our earlier plan kinda fell through). i spent all my homework time yesterday researching for it. first of all, being a counselor has nothing to do with my majors and it will take up the whole summer. i know it would be an amazing and fun job...but is that what i should do? decisions, decisions, decisions.

my tooties. its a simple drawing i had to do for my class...but i figured i'd post it anyway for fun.

rooming solution?

i think we've got the rooming thing finally worked out. me and five other girls on the hall are looking at just moving to another building that has larger rooms rather than just trying to stay here. turns out that the rooms there are twice the size of the rooms here...which is saying something. hopefully the rooming situation works out...its looking good now.

tomorrow is informal spring rush. hmmmm. i'm thinking about maybe rushing for the christian sorority here on campus. no money, not a big time commitment, laid back...whats to lose? still debating.

happy and crappy X

the big one-zero. seems like i started this more than ten weeks ago.

this week's happy...yay for:

• blind contour drawing
• random warm weeks in the middle of winter
• mlk holidays
• short weeks
• afternoon naps
• scarfs and hot chocolate
• downloading new music
• jimmy eat world and graham colton band
• cute australian basketball players
• the incredibles

this week's crappy...nay for:

• cold cold cold weather
• early morning wakeups
• rooming drama
• procrastination
• upcoming quizzes
• extra large t-shirts
• gossip
• decisions

extra large in size

what else is there thats better to do on a saturday afternoon than laundry? well, obviously i couldn't come up with anything today...so thats what i filled my time with. no doubt, it had to get done...but why couldn't i have done it when i had to sit around doing homework or something. what a sick and twisted way to chain me to my dorm room all day. at least i didn't waste all day sitting around. i managed to pirate a few more songs (sad to say) and get my music organized.

amy, lola, kristen, and i (and their friend matt) all went to see the dawgs play some basketball in the late afternoon. of course, we won. well, i shouldn't say "of course" because, need i say it, we aren't known for basketball 'round here. anyway, thats beside the point. sat in the student section waving our white pom poms that flash red...quite cool. even got another extra large t-shirt.

thats the third "free" t-shirt from georgia i've gotten that will never fit me (Lord willing). orientation, first friday, basketball...all way too big. i have a bone to pick here. why do they always have to order a million extra large shirts? come on people! what about us girls who would like to sport our school spirit? sure, we can put them on like potato sacks...but you can't honestly claim that we are "able to wear it". crap on that. theres always that happy medium...medium as in the size that is a compromise between the american epidemic of obesity and the smaller folk. it might still be a little baggy on some, and maybe others will have to squeeze into them, but at least it will make more people happier.

this always bugged me in high school. i swear, at all the cross country meets they would be out of smalls and mediums 30 minutes into the 6 hour meet. now am i wrong in saying that these meet shirts are made for the athletes? these athletes are all runners who run a lot. they exercise a lot. we all know that the best way to stay in shape and not have a lot of extra weight is to exercise. they are most likely going to wear a small or medium. so if they're trying to make a profit from these shirts, why order so many larges and extra larges? sure, go ahead and order extra larges for the parents who haven't seen the treadmill in awhile, but change at least half of that order to the smaller sizes. well, until they take my advice, i'll be stuck here doing laundry and trying to shrink my extra large t-shirts.

what to hear some juicy gossip?

theres a lot of gossip flying around right now. and i mean about everything. everything having to do with relationships, that is. well, i don't really know what all the gossip is about...so don't be expecting to get anything juicy...or anything for that matter. i'm not writing about gossip so i can gossip. its just been something that i've been thinking about lately.

the thing is, i kinda enjoy gossip. who doesn't? well, i'm sure theres a select few people out there don't struggle with the desire to be "in the know". but adolescence is the time where rumors fly and your ears are itching to catch them. alright. so that statement falls short of maturity in adulthood...where of course, rumors continue to fester. you want to be the first to inform your closest friends (or even at times not so close friends). why is that? why are people (including myself) so up in everyone else's business? its not like i want to use something i hear against a person or theres any practical reason to pass along the info. only to just know and have a conversation of "no ways!" and "they didn't!" and "you're kidding!"s. the problem with gossip is that you don't just sit and listen and then thats the end of it. no. for some reason it pops out in the next conversation, and the demeaning cycle continues.

i've been trying lately to refrain from participating in gossip...but in doing so, i'm having problems knowing what conversations i'm refraining from. we've been told that it is best to just stop it when it starts...but what exactly are we supposed to be stopping? what exactly makes gossip gossip. is it listening or divulging personal information about others that is none of your business? dishing out dirt? updating a friend about another friends happenings? is it simply talking about someone without them being there? if this last one is, then i'm guilty all the time. what else do you have to talk about besides the people and events in your life and your feelings about it...and of course the weather. when does a conversation cross that line into the realm of gossip? i guess we'll just all have to keep using our judgment...which, of course, will most likely not encompass the juicy stuff we want to pass along. why? because we want something to talk about.

well, meanwhile, i'm going to keep trying my best to discover what gossip is. and when i realize that a conversation is gossip, hopefully i'll be able to walk away rather than sweep it up and dump the dirt on someone else.

brainstorming for summer jobs

so becca had this idea that we'd work together at this christian sports camp over the summer and stuff. well, it just so happens that in order to get this job, you must attend one of the movie sessions they have scheduled. furthermore, the last session that is any remote proximity to me is the one at georgia tech tomorrow at 7 pm. i think my plans for this weekend might be catching a ride to tech in order to have this job as an option. too bad becca won't call me back so i can figure out if me going down there is even a possiblilty. i guess if this doesn't work out, theres always other summer camps we could do. or maybe it would be good for me to get some kind of internship that has at least something to do with my intended majors. who knows. everything is still in the works and i'm simply brainstorming for a summer job. does it seem to early to be doing this??

au natural for the week

i'm pretty much going au natural for the week...and not voluntarily either. definitely forgot all my makeup at megan's house last weekend. i say pretty much because i do have a few scraps of makeup in my desk drawer, but nothing worthy of playing substitute for my good crap. having no mascara on gives it away...blonde eyelashes tend to do that for ya. who knows, maybe it will be a rejuvenating experience...most likely not. crappit. well, i'm off to dinner with the girls before ruf. then a wonderful hour filled of ALIAS. gotta love it.

buggy ride to canton

it was a quick excursion to canton, georgia. we were barely gone for 24 hours. my aim thingie had me idle for 24 hours and 37 minutes (but then again, it did say i was logged in for 49,710 days....which, if you do the math, would make about 136 years...which of course isn't possible. God help me if i live that long. what was it thinking??).

i was at fault for our 5 o'clock start because i was trying to finish my shoe drawing before we left. well, 30 minutes' time only allowed me to get as far as drawing the outline once, erasing it and starting over, and then complete the basic outline of a second (which i ended up keeping). amy, megan, and i hopped in megan's blue buggy and headed to her crib (sorry, i couldn't resist the cheesiness). over the mountains (a few bridges as well) and through the woods we went, arriving in canton around 7. it was poker night for the boys, (megan's high school freshman brother and his gang) so after a nice dinner of lasagna we went out on the town for a tour of megan's childhood setting. a quick stop at starbucks for hot chocolate and apple cider helped us thaw out from the ten second run into the store. it has become bitterly cold in georgia. northerners may ridicule us for claiming 22 degrees to be extremely cold, but hey, lay off when we were spoiled with a month's worth of daily highs ranging from the 60s-70s and clear blue skies. wait, i was trying to evoke sympathy...

plans to watch dodgeball were tossed when it came to be 1 am. we had spent the latter evening chatting with megan's family, watching a little tv, eating yummy ice cream soppapilla dessert thingies, and setting up the sleeping situation. speaking of which, the three of us ended up sleeping across her queen size bed. at least it was queen size bed...our feet dangled off the side but we managed to not knock each other out while sleeping. megan's mom got us doughnuts for breakfast...yay for cream-filled doughnuts! we headed for the north georgia outlets around noon, did a little bit of shopping (i bought a $3 shirt from charlotte russe) and freezing...the wind just cuts through you.

i enjoyed my day off from the books. its good for us to recognize dr. mlk for all the things he did and changes he helped this country make. and on the subject of birthdays, it is my mom's birthday today...so happy birthday to you, mom!

happy and crappy IX

this week's happy...yay for:

• finding where class is ontime
• being able to find people to eat lunch with
• having friends in all my classes
• afternoon naps
• getting back in shape
• netflicks
• movie nights
• good rommates
• procrastination
• ultimate frisbee

this week's crappy...nay for:

• the high cost of books and supplies
• bitterly cold weather
• credit cards not working properly
• the game of drop/add
• having a sore neck
• 8 am classes
• weird men at cvs

war eagles dare

a nice game of ultimate frisbee in bare feet in the cold mud kicked off the extra long weekend, thanks to dr. mlk and his birthday. my team got stomped...and i mean stomped. i think the point ratio had to me something like 4:1, it was that bad. but hey, there were some pretty nasty collisions and catches...i made a few myself that i was quite proud of. i even got down and dirty trying to dive for a catch, but with no avail. afterwards i ate at ecv where the conversation mainly consisted of whether strawberry landslide or light and luscious smoothies were better.

took a quick shower and met back up with them to stand in line for the gym dogs. megan also came along and we stood...and stood...in the cold, no doubt, for about 30 minutes. guess the georgia gym dogs were the thing to see for the night. the coliseum was packed and that was the first gymnastics meet i've seen live. go dawgs! megan and i then followed people to the yellow house, running three red lights in the process. maggie just didn't seem to want to stop when it turned yellow. made it there safely, luckily, and were there til about 1:30 am watching war eagle's dare. i have to say that i was having problems following it in the first place. first of all, all these british military agents went to germany for their mission (this is wwII here people), supposedly speaking perfect german. however, when they got there, everyone spoke english. they could have at least changed their british accents to german ones if they really didn't want to deal with the subtitles. but the monkey wrench was when everybody's allegiance got blurred and left me dazed and confused on what the heck was going on. a little too confusing for me.

got a late start on the day on saturday, which mainly consisted of homework and going to work out at ramsey. we had a bunch of people over to watch troy, courtesy of netflicks. it was fun...had a little bit of internal drama afterwards, but hopefully things will get straightened out and actually become confrontational with a certain issue. i'm too busy trying to be the laid back friend i think she wants rather than being the sister in christ i know she needs. and thats what i'll say about that here.

today megan, colette, and i met at ecv for breakfast before church. its been a pretty relaxed day. i have to get my drawing done before i head out of town this evening with megan and amy...we're going to megan's house to spend the night and get a day of shopping in on our day off! i'm doing my first official drawing (i guess you could call it) for my art class. i'm drawing my old, worn out running shoes. oooo exciting, i know. hopefully it turns out well. back to the drawing board.

books books books

its really amazing how much books add up to. especially when the classes require multiple books that are about $75 a pop. sometimes i wonder if the price is even worth it...last semester i had to buy a brand new stat book and cracked it open about 3 times for special hw questions. therefore, each use cost about $20. thats quite pricey. anyways, i've gotten all the books i need and now just need to pick up a few more supplies for drawing...hope my parents don't want to scream when they see the bill.

sign-ups for housing are starting up already. everyone is trying to figure out where they're gonna live next year. i really want to live in the same building with a bunch of girls from my hall. the problem is that its extremely difficult to get the suites because theres so much competition for them. darn it. so theres a little bit of drama developing over rooming, i can already feel it growing. who needs to stress about this first thing in the semester??

the game of drop/add

so here we are, three days into classes and i've been playing the game of drop/add since monday morning. i don't have too many options with this poli sci class...most of them are in the mornings, which i already have booked with classes that aren't offered any other time. the prof i want popped up a few times, but my delay of hesitation cost me the class. i had it in pending, but never affirmed it...now thats the class i really want. shoot. i spent last night and this afternoon clicking the "go" and "return" buttons on the class scheduling page to refresh it asap to grab the class i want before anyone else does. this may only make sense in if you're a georgia student. hours and hours of wasted time, thats what this is.

my second class of drawing is tomorrow. i'm pretty excited about it...even though the class is ALL girls. kinda odd. well, supplies for that class are a must on the to do list for the afternoon. an hour and a half nap killed some of my time to do some material searching. ruf is tonight, which always makes the day better. then afterwards, ALIAS! oh i am looking forward to seeing it on tape...because ruf and alias overlap. megan is nice enough to record it for me so i can watch it after ruf. oh joy!

the second semester journey begins...

so i've been to all the classes i have and it seems like my schedule is pretty much set in stone. i still have to buy those wonderful books that i get to lug around all semester and all the art supplies i need. i'm supposed to have a quiz in english tomorrow...who knows what its over. well, okay, its supposed to be over some literary terms, but which ones, i do not know. i also have to learn all the terms for my history of environmental design class because i wasn't in it last semester. oh, how fun the second semester is going to be. hey, at least i don't have chemistry!

every one of us is a star child

and by star, i mean as in the celestial bodies above. okay, to get things straight, this was only one of the wacky things my geology teacher taught us today. first day of classes and we're already off with a bang...the big bang theory, that is. apparantly, each and every one of us has star particles inside of us. when the earth banged into existance 15 billion years ago out of some random mass somewhere out there (which just so happened to go bang...for unknown reasons) it sent particles flying off into the great expanses of the universe. these particles just so happened to form masses (which originally was simply made of hydrogen...no other atoms. okay, so a semester of chemistry with matter not being created or destroyed, where does this make sense???) which became stars. these stars spewed hydrogen and helium particles, which bunched into planets, which eventually formed water and life and all of us. so, there you have it, according to my geology professor and the big bang theory, we are made of stars. doesn't that just make you feel so good?

well, i don't know about you, but this is total bs. i'm sorry, but if you look around at all there is in this world, what a sad belief it is that it all happened by chance. for no purpose, no reason, the universe just banged and here we be. thank God that isn't the true story. i guess this class will help me appreciate my faith. i just hope i don't get too annoyed throughout the semester. and nothing is wrong with loving the environment or anything and taking care of it, by my prof is gonna preach on the ending of the world by means of global warming. madness. she already gave us a huge lecture today. oh well.

so that was the first class of the semester. i know one person in that class, my good friend from ruf, katie. second was english...seems like it won't be too bad. tori and victoria from my high school are in there with me. imagine the chances of that. my final class of the day was the history of the built environment. apparantly, this is the second semester of the course and i'm like one of the four people in there who wasn't in it last semester. hope that won't hurt how i am able to do. seems like a zzzz class. hopefully it isn't. so i finished at 12:05...really glad to get all my classes done in the morning. off to buy some books now.

happy crappy VIII

this week's happy...yay for:

• making money
• having a week off longer than the high schoolers
• having no obligations
• ALIAS season 4!
• finishing my sewing project
• working out with ipods
• ultimate frisbee
• warm weather

this week's crappy...nay for:

• having to pack for school
• when sisters are mean
• fire alarms
• laundry
• being sore

my movie list

okay kait, i figured that i'd post the movies i've seen from this list of 200...i have never even heard of some of these. here goes:

1)Bold the movies you have seen
2)* the ones you liked
3) Italicize the ones you've partially seen

1. Trainspotting
2. Shrek*
3. Memento *
4. Dogma
5. Strictly Ballroom
6. The Princess Bride*
7. Love Actually
8. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings *
09. The Lord of the Rings : The Two Towers *
10. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King *
11. Resevoir Dogs
12. Desperado
13. Swordfish
14. Kill Bill, vol. 1
15. Donnie Darko
16. Spirited Away
17. Better Than Sex
18. Sleepy Hollow
19. Pirates of the Caribbean *
20. The Eye
21. Requiem for a Dream
22. Dawn of the Dead
23. The Pillow Book
24. The Italian Job*
25. Goonies
26. BASEketball
27. The Spice Girls Movie
28. Army of Darkness
29. The Color Purple
30. The Safety of Objects
31. Can't Hardly Wait
32. Mystic Pizza
33. Finding Nemo *
34. Monsters Inc. *
35. Circle of Friends
36. Mary Poppins
37. The Bourne Identity *
38. Forrest Gump *
39. A Clockwork Orange
40. Kindergarten Cop
41. On The Line
42. My Big Fat Greek Wedding *
43. Final Destination
44. Sorority Boys
45. Urban Legend
46. Cheaper by the Dozen
47. Fierce Creatures
48. Dude, Where's My Car
49. Lady Hawke
50. Ghostbusters
51. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade *
52. Back to the Future
53. A Very Long Engagement
54. Somewhere in Time (hated)
55. North by Northwest
56. Moulin Rouge *
57. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets *
58. The Wizard of Oz *
59. Zoolander
60. A Walk to Remember *
61. Chicago *
62. Vanilla Sky
63. The Sweetest Thing
64. Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead
65. The Nightmare Before Christmas
66. Taking Lives
67. Edward Scissorhands
67. Battle Royale
68. Kill Bill, Vol. 2
69. Fight Club
70. Clerks
71. The Crow
72. Get Real
73. Harry Potter and The Sorcerer's Stone *
74. Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban *
75. Wake
76. Silence of the Lambs
77. Pulp Fiction
78. The Crying Game
79. Amélie
80. Hedwig and the Angry Inch
81. Happy Campers
82. Velvet Goldmine
83. Elephant
84. Peter Pan
85. Camp
86. Particles of Truth
87. The Godfather
88. Big Fish *
89. The Passion of the Christ
90. Close Encounters of the Third Kind
91. The Neverending Story
92. The Breakfast Club
93. Newsies
94. Princess Mononoke
95. The Prince of Egypt *
96. Grease *
97. The Hidden Fortress
98. Troy
99. It Happened One Night
100. Hackers
101. Dead Poets Society
102. Ghost Ship
103. The Wedding Banquet
104. The Red Violin
105. The Beach
106. The Women
107. Run Lola Run
108. All About Eve
109. X-Men *
110. X2 *
111. Spiderman *
112. Punch Drunk Love
113. From Dusk Til Dawn
114. Joe vs. The Volcano
115. Meet Joe Black
116. Gregory's Girl
117. In the Time of the Butterflies
118. The Butterfly Effect
119. Dirty Dancing *
120. Final Destination 2
121. Rosemary's Baby
122. Spiderman 2 *
123. Practical Magic
124. A Shark Tale
125. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
126. Sweet Home Alabama *
127. American Beauty
128. Rocky Horror Picture Show
129. American Psycho
130. American History X
131. Ray
132. Waking Life
133. I Heart Huckabees
134. Garden State
135. What the Bleep Do We Know
136. Gone in 60 Seconds
137. 8 Mile
138. Blow
139. Wicker Park
140. Saving Private Ryan
141. Anna and the King *
142. The Polar Express
143. Black Hawk Down
144. Pearl Harbor
145. The Patriot *
146. Hidalgo *
147. Runaway Bride
148. We Were Soldiers
149. How the Grinch Stole Christmas
150. Club Dread
151. Super Troopers
152. S.W.A.T. *
153. Titanic
154. Romeo + Juliet
155. 10 Things I Hate About You *
156. Save The Last Dance
157. Saw
158. The Fast and the Furious
159. Too Fast and Too Furious
160. The Whole Nine Yards
161. Bruce Almighty *
161. Liar Liar
162. Green Mile *
163. Big Fat Liar
164. Dumb and Dumber
165. 40 Days and 40 Nights
166. The Grudge
167. The Blair Witch Project
168. House on Haunted Hill
169. When Harry Met Sally
170. An Officer and a Gentleman
171. Bad Santa
172. Napoleon Dynamite *
173. In The Line of Fire
174. The Last Samurai *
175. Shall We Dance
176. Romy & Michele’s High School Reunion
177. To Kill A Mockingbird
178. Finding Neverland
179. Mystic River
180. Meet the Parents
181. Meet the Fockers
182. Bourne Supremacy *
183. Sweet Hereafter
184. Breakfast at Tiffany’s
185. Roman Holiday
186. Elizabeth
187. Shakespeare in Love
188. Sliding Doors
189. Four Weddings & A Funeral
190. Breathless
191. Following
192. Love in the Afternoon
193. Treasure of the Sierra Madre
194. Johnny English
195. Gilda
196. Amadeus
197. Singin’ In the Rain
198. His Girl Friday
199. American Splendor
200. Luzhin Defense

fire escape

be proud because i worked out yesterday. its been awhile...three days of soreness after gator ball and ultimate frisbee proved that. the ipod was a definate plus to the whole workout environment yesterday. when i finally got back to my dorm after lunchtime, no sooner had i walked in then the fire alarm start going off. this was no drill fire alarm either. i can always remember walking through the hallways of school back in the day with by hands covering my ears...everyone does that. well, even the past fire drills we've had at school have the same annoying ear piercing wails. but no, these alarms are nothing compared to the real alarms. these alarms were so loud that they don't even allow you to think...too busy running in circles trying to get away from the noise. i don't think that even if i were ten feet under ground it would have done any good. i had enough sense to lock my door, just in case someone could withstand the sirens and sneak into my room to steal something. anyway, finally escaped to see smoke coming out of the building. so it was real. or so i thought. seemed pretty real, but turns out the steam room pipes or something of that sort had busted in the basement and set the alarms off. we didn't find this out until waiting outside for 45 minutes. they decided to let us quickly go back in to get something if we needed it and advised us to go hang out somewhere esle. i was still stinky, so i opted to take the fasted shower in my life. the alarms actually weren't as bad in the bathroom.

so that was pretty much the most eventful part of saturday. hung out in my room for the rest of the day and then headed over to ecv with amy to play a few games with colette's bf and his friends. quite an interesting crowd. well, i'm off to play ultimate frisbee in the beautiful sunshine...it was supposed to start at 2:30...but looks like me and my ride are going to be late.

back in town

its friday night...two days before second semester starts, and i'm back in athens. amazingly, i've already unpacked and put everything in its place...even done a bit of cleaning on top of it. seems like i've been out of classes for forever...although i'll be regretting having made that statement in the week to come. it was quite enjoyable, though. while at the home sweet home, there are the simple things that i realized i miss. things such as not having to wear flip flops in the shower, sleeping in my own bed, chopped carrots in my salad, not having to rely on other people for rides, and of course, home cooking. well, no more of that while i'm back at school. i'm hoping i'll be able to find people who are back to hang out with...if not, there will be a lot of working out at ramsey and listening to music...on the ipod, no doubt.

à la paris

becca and i set out on our journey on the 28th. we flew into cincinnati to meet up with dad, which is where his flight to paris was departing from. cots throughout the airport served as reminders that just days before, families were stranded at the airport over the christmas holiday. most of these weary travelers were conair passengers. rumor has it that conair had a computer glitch with the scheduling of all their flights or something or rather, and as a result they would have to pay for the food and lodging of all their customers. they found a loophole though, and claimed the cancellation of flights due to bad weather because of the blizzards. stinkers. oh well, cheap airlines do cheap business i suppose.

anyway, turns out that becca and i didn't have to take the role of stranded travelers (the flight was sold over by about 60 seats, so we were taking a gamble). rather, we flew across the atlantic and reached charles de gaulle airport in business class style. on the way, we watched shark tale (which i think was terrible) and the end of irobot, played a few video games, and even managed to get a few winks in. we arrived at 3 am by my bed at home's time...but since we only had two days to see the city of paris, we had to hit the ground running. becca and i couldn't ride on the crew bus with dad, so we had to navigate our way through the metros of paris to get to our hotel. with a few leaps of faith, we jumped on the metros and managed to make it to our stop with no problems. we met up with dad on the way to the hotel. he asked if we wanted to take a power nap before we got going...we opted to skip the nap and get started, since it was already 11:30 am there. i actually wasn't too tired...too bad becca's watch kept serving as a reminder to my body clock's true time...."its 5:30 in the morning!" sheer torture becca, thanks.

finally got out of my non-rev clothes and my heels, which were killing me. we set out for our first stop, the sacre couer. its a relatively new cathedral (early 1900s) that is situated on a hill that overlooks the city of paris. it was quite a hike to get up to the base of the church. we toured the inside first, which was quite lovely. the stained glass and mosaics are amazing. candles were lit everywhere...supposedly lifting up prayers for people or something...i dunno, i'm not catholic. it really made me appreciate knowing that there's no need to pay 8 euros to light a candle so that God can hear my prayers. we exited the church and went around the side to climb into the towers. i love climbing cathedrals. all those secret passageways stir up my curiosity and make me want to explore beyond all the iron gates. even the path we had to take felt like we were just wandering in no particular direction. then we got to the stairs. i'm telling you, with america's reputation in this day and age, most of us wouldn't be able to fit in these stairwells. round and round and round in circles we went for a good seven minutes. we finally got to the top and had our first bird's eye view of the city. buildings and buildings went on in every direction. kinda crazy. we picked out all of the hot spots, such as the eiffel tower, the arcs de triomphe, and other sights on our agenda.

we were all starving, so we wandered around through the art gallery on the streets right below the church looking for a place to warm up and fill up. there had to be about 50 sketchers with their captive tourists standing completely still, an awkward look on their faces and only their eyeballs moving back and forth. i'm sure they weren't aware that they would be charged about 25 euros for their compliance, a price i wouldn't be willing to pay. took us a while to be waited on at the little restaurant we had chosen. when we finally got our chance to use our four years worth of french to order, the man replied to us in english. he had obviously understood us...just simply thought that he was better at english than we were at french. grrrrr. had some four dollar 12oz cokes (which would cover about 2 twelve packs back at home) and ham and cheese crepes...a combination we would become quite familiar with over the trip. the waiter/owner put up a hissy fit in front of all his customers when one customer said it took too long and she wanted to leave. while trying to get back to the metro, we stumbled upon the infamous moulin rouge. hey, good movie, so we posed for a shot in front of it.

next stop, the arcs de triomphe along the champs elysees. right as we got off the metro there were these little kids singing to their dad's video camera "aux champs elysees, dadadadada, aux champs elysees, dadadadada..." it was so cute. becca and i continued the rest of the song quietly with each other...we sang that all the time in mme. scott's french class. strolled down the champs elysees, which was all lit up for the christmas season. there was a ferris wheel lit up just at the other end, which was pretty neat looking. when we got tired of walking, we caught the metro to the other end of the champs elysees by the ferris wheel. didn't get a chance to ride it because it was about $12 us dollars...which was way too much. ate at a restaurant with a view of the eiffel tower. figured out that it sets off on the hour for ten minutes in its sparkly twinkly mode. suddenly, tiredness struck us and we headed back to the hotel for what turned out to be almost 12 hours of sleep.

since we hadn't actually been in the midst of the eiffel tower yet, it was the first thing to do on the second day's checklist. its really amazing how big it actually is...that may sound stupid, but you never really understand its ratio, no matter how many miniature replicas or pictures you've seen. those annoying guys trying to sell you those eiffel tower trinkets really got on my nerves...you had to shoo them away like flies. it was a long walk after that all the way to les invaldids...which is where napoleon's tomb is. its really amazing how full of himself this guy was. encircling his ginormous tomb are carvings depicting what all hes done for france and his head is way above everyone else's. hes not fooling everyone with that trick...i know he was really short. anyway, it was interesting, to say the least.

we then walked along the seine, debated about going on a river cruise, but then decided to visit the notre dame before the towers closed. well, they only let 20 people up the tower every 10 minutes...and the line looked as if it would be a four hours wait. we picked someone out of the line to see where they were when we got back from lunch. yet again, had a ham and cheese sandwich, as well as some chocolate crepes. we got back and the line was only about a fourth of its size before. what luck! dad hopped in line and becca and i went to take pictures. a few minutes later we found dad wandering around looking for us...turns out the line had closed for the day and they weren't letting any more people up that got there after a certain point. so no chance to see quazimodo or his gargoyle friends. we then walked to an "old time" paris square that was quite different from the rest of the city. it would have been nice to see all the trees in bloom and the fountains running...but i guess thats what happens when you visit in the middle of winter.

it started spitting harder, so we decided to take shelter in the musee d'orsay. we didn't go for the louvre because it didn't seem feasible in the amount of time we had left in the day. they had a lot of impressionists at the musee d'orsay, and it was strange becuase i had seen a lot of the paintings before at the high when we went with my french class. but there were a lot of interesting things and it was good to get indoors for awhile.

it was getting late and we still wanted to go to the top of the eiffel tower. we had just arrived when the lights on the tower went off at 9 pm. the tower closes at 11 pm. waiting and waiting, the lights went off again at 10 pm. we finally got onto the elevator that went to the second stage, where we had to get off and wait again for the one that went to the third. it was in this line that i over heard an older british couple discussing when the eiffel tower came about. they had me in tears and almost rolling on the ground when they deduced it was from the french revolution. too funny. for those who are too shy to ask, it was built in the late 1890s for the 1900 world's fair. i think i held my composure pretty well...i had a hard time explaining to becca and dad what made me laugh so hard. i guess you had to be there...and really tired...perhaps even me. anyway, it tickled my funny bone. we finally made it to the top, which was really beautiful and really cold. the wind forced everyone to smoosh onto one side of the tower to stay warm. becca and i even witnessed a man proposing to his girlfriend. awwww. its not so much that it was on top of the eiffel tower...just that he proposed. we were on our way down when the 11 pm lights went off.

it was 11 pm and we hadn't even eaten dinner yet. most places closed at 10...so we ditched the eiffel tower mob when we got to the bottom and wandered the back streets in search of a restaurant. finally found one, with the stinkiest man i've ever smelled as the waiter. completly unappetizing...but at least we found somewhere to eat. had pasta with, what else, but a ham and cheese sauce on it? as we walked back, the 12 am lights went off. it had been a long day and we had to wake up early the next morning to get to the airport.

it was friday, new years eve, when we had to get up to make our way back to the airport. well, this time, the leaps of faith didn't work out for us too well and becca and i were stuck on a one way loop that would take us an extra 30 minutes just to get back to where we had got on. we were pushed for time, but somehow we managed to hop on the non-stop train to the airport. how we pulled that one off, i have no idea. God is good. we stood in line at the ticketing counter for about 40 mins only to be told we were in the wrong line. figures. we got to the right spot seven minutes before the flight closed. holy crap. again, we somehow managed to snag first class back to atlanta. strong headwinds delayed our flight about 30 minutes and we got off the plane with yet again, 7 minutes before the flight to chattanooga was departing (becca and i were flying there to be with some of my ruf friends for new year's). it was a record sprint from the e terminal to the d terminal...having to go through customs and security and take the train to the other terminal, we only missed our flight by two minutes. four hours until the next flight. wonderful. the ipod and dinner with dad in the airport helped it go by relatively quickly. what was strange is that on the tv in the terminal, we watched it turn new year's in paris...the eiffel tower was all lit up flashing 2005. we had been at its summit only 24 hours prior. well, it was six more hours til our new years, and we were still sitting in the airport.

paris pictures are posted

well, i'm sorry to say that i have not posted about the trip to paris yet. blame it on a computer malfunction...i typed for an hour and a half (which was quite lengthy...but it did take me a while to recollect everything) and just as i finished, the browser refreshed and erased all my precious work. when i get a chance to waste another hour and a half, i'll post about it. same for new years, which was awesome as well.

the sacre couer (sacred heart...for those who don't speak french)

mine and becca's first bird's eye view of the city of paris

on top of the sacre couer

glory rays

the city of paris from top of the sacre couer

the world famous moulin rouge. we stumbled upon it by accident, by the way.

me and dad under the arc

the arcs de triomphe...with scaffolding

"aux champs elysees, dadadadada..."

ooo la la!

the city of lights...

c'est chouette!

look out becca!

its too bad its such a cloudy day

didn't get a chance to meet quazimodo. darn.

daddy and me by the seine...notre dame is behind us

me and becca in "old time" paris, complete with a giant courtyard full of bare trees and fountains that aren't running because its winter...

quite a snazzy shopping center, eh?

on top of the world...well, the eiffel tower anyway.

happy and crappy VII

a christmas vacation happy and crappy? bound to be more happys than crappys...

this week's happy...yay for:

• alias, season three marathons
• working and making some moolah
• christmas (well, season) in PARIS
• getting first class there and back
• having an ipod to keep yourslef entertained while travelling
• being able to find our way to the hotel on the metro sans les parents
• the view of a city from hundreds of feet above
• not needing to light candles in cathedrals for God to hear my prayers
• finally seeing the eiffel tower with my own eyes
• gorgeous churches with stain glass windows and incredible mosaics
• nice parisians
• british people who think the eiffel tower was built for the french revolution (fyi, built for the 1900 world's fair)
• chocolat crêpes
• utiliser mon français un peu, mais les parisiens ne veulent pas me parler avec leur lange
• walking down the champs elysees and singing the song...
• seeing the eiffel tower go off every hour with those sparkling lights
• people who get proposed to on top of the eiffel tower...really just more of the "proposed to part"
• the random sights you wander into
• barely catching the flight home in time
• new year's in chattanooga
• seeing ruf buddies again
• really nice families
• the mountains
• 2004, and looking forward to 2005

this week's crappy...nay for:

• being really really cold
• rude french restraurant owners
• french waiters that reek of b.o. (no, for real)
• standing in lines
• being tired when trying to see the city of paris in two days
• being wet and cold
• getting on the wrong train and not being able to do a thing about it because its on a one way loop
• the confusing paris airport where all the employees are pointing you the wrong way
• missing the flight to chattanooga by 2 minutes
• having to sit in the airport for four more as a result
• not being able to play ultimate with the ruf crowd