Ramblings of the Unglued

I am redirecting you to chi_dorme87 (I've already friended some of you).

If you're interested in keeping in touch, great. If not, it's been fun. <3

This journal will be primarily inactive from now on. :D

HAPPY BIRTHDAY lneef!!!

And Happy Fourth to the rest of you American folks.

And...I love the rest of you, too.

Am home. Am alive. Am missing Europe already (although not the tiny showers and price conversions).

Sister is engaged. (wtf, mate, right?)

Uhhh...many emails to write, lots of laundry to do, and many presents to distribute.

Oh, and lots of lj entries to compose!

For now we'll just say that study abroad is a life-altering experience. ;D

Hit me up, tell me how you all are. Please?

1. Happy mom's day, all! In some way, I know you're all nurturers even if you haven't popped out any offspring yet. ;D

2. See you on the 30th! I'm off for Greece and Turkey!!!

And that?

That is the sound of a million fangirls' hearts breaking. As Inigo Montoya would say, "That is the sound of ultimate suffering."

XD

We had a "Vegas" room (poker, blackjack, roulette, craps, and slots) and a "Hawaii" room (surf simulator, green screen for pictures, lays, sand art) and a live band.

For the gambling, you got $50,000 at the door and could win more money to purchase raffle tickets for prizes. Then the raffle prizes were chosen at the end of the evening. I won The Godfather trilogy and Jess won an iPod shuffle. We had a bunch of tickets after we kicked ass at roulette (I did pretty well at texas hold 'em, too).

The music kind of sucked, though everything just kind of stopped when "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" came on and everybody started dancing. The surf simulator was kind of fun and we (me, Rachel, Jenny, and Sarah) took a pretty goofy picture.

You had to buy drinks and none of us had any money. Laaame. XD But it was fun otherwise.

Love and prayers to our fellow institution Vtech. <3

Study abroad is not going to be something I regret. So I'm going for the best program that I feel most comfortable with. Which is the Siena School for Liberal Arts. It's from August 29-December 21.

It's 12,000 Euros for the whole package, minus airfare and my personal entertainment expenses. All meals, program fees, and materials are covered. They even buy our bus passes for us.

I will have to get a loan for senior year, but it will be a baby loan, even less than my sister (and she's spent 4 years at state school).

I did get an Honors Scholarship for spring semester here, so yay!

So I requested a transcript for them, sent in my application, app fee, and housing questionnaire, gave my professor the recommendation form (which she's filling out as we speak), and made an appointment with the study abroad director so that she can fill out her form.

The only difficulty is the medical history form, which the Health Center refuses to fill out (even though they have all of my medical records, the bitches. I honestly don't know what they're good for). So I'll either have to wait to send that in until I get home or see if my home physician is willing to fill out it without seeing me (a little tricky, esp since my weight has changed a bit from last summer...).

But the US liason essentially said that he's willing to hold me a spot until I can get my application in, so I feel okay if the process takes a little longer.

So, yeah! I signed up for their History and Art History program, and might audit their creative writing class.

If accepted, of course. ;D *crosses fingers and toes*

We'll go for the movie version -- more variety!

~ Go to IMDb.com and look up 10 of your favorite movies.
~ Post three official IMDB "Plot Keywords" for these 10 picks.
~ Have your friends guess the titles.

1. Wheelchair / French / Car Crash
2. London / Fireworks / Secret Police Good call, pussreboots! V: For Vendetta it is!
3. Ambulance / Road Rage / Mental Hospital
4. Battle / Soldier / Pulitzer Prize Source
5. Incest / Punk / Twins
6. Pregnancy / Brother Brother Relationship / Church
7. Cocaine / Roadtrip / Father Son Relationship. lneef guessed it: Transamerica!
8. Famous Opening Theme / License Plate / Dog
9. Disturbing / Based on Comic / Serial Killer
10. Spinster / Poisoning / Theodore Roosevelt As pussreboots says, this is Arsenic and Old Lace. And if you haven't seen it, you should!

Second hike today: Otter Creek along the Blue Ridge Parkway and the James River. Gorgeous!

Dinner: crab legs, vegetarian lasagna, steamed cauliflower...

Submitted "Goat Man Sighting" for the Boley Contest this year. Getting it once really takes the pressure off, I have to say. It's fine if I win and it's fine if someone else wins.

Going to see Babel in Tyson Auditorium. Yay Spring Film series!

Rented Rebel Without a Cause, Poltergeist, Junebug, Lost Boys, and Ed Wood from the library. Also bought Brothers of the Head recently so that deserves a rewatch.

At some point, going to start watching Carnivale. We saw some of it in Monsters. <3 Monsters... Best honors class ever!

The family is coming down for dinner tomorrow, since I won't be home for Easter. During the day tomorrow and Sunday, I'm going to start researching for my two big final papers and my last monsters paper. Topics: Stylistic Evolution from RW Emerson to HD Thoreau, Grave goods at Sutten Hoo, and Jaws.

Took my fourth Italian exam today. I feel ok about it (there was a lot of memorization) but I'll be glad to finish 202. At this point, I understand the grammar but I need to engage the language itself. I have my interview over the phone with Buffalo State on Tuesday. Wish me luck!

And I have one more story due for Fiction. I'm torn. I kind of want to do something for fun -- just straight horror genre (kind of a splatterpunk monster mash XD). On the other hand, if I submit a first chapter of a novel (one of the two big projects), it might be worthwhile to get feedback on that. I know I haven't mentioned it very much, but this has been an excellent workshop. 12 is a good number to work with and everyone is on par for the most part in terms of ability (writing and critiquing) and enthusiasm.

So the semester is wrapping up quite nicely (even though it's cold! XP) and I think the worst of the stress will be over if I stay on top of things. Have two more issues of The Noise and one more of The Voice, and Red Clay comes out at the end of April. And guess who's up for managing editor next year?

That is all. Now that I've caught up with myself, I would love to catch up with some of you. Just tell me one thing you're up to? Please? ;_;

Sterling silver with the raised signet and the antique finish.

Apparently with study abroad you have to do it early. XP The sales rep was very nice about it, though, and it wasn't too expensive. I find the SBC ring especially cool because it's so recognizable.

Of course, now I just have to hope for a benevolent senior for Junior Week...

(Jeez, I feel like such a sell-out. XD)

Monsters paper is halfway written (she gave me an extension, blessed woman). I'm going to finish it tonight at work, proof it tomorrow and turn it in tomorrow night.

I have forgotten to do my laundry so I'm on my last bit of clean clothes. Now I have had to work out some bizarre strategy for getting it done between work and class. o.O It's creative, trust me.

Once the paper's finished, I need to start studying for my Italian exam on Friday. Should be an OK exam, unlike the midterm.

I have decided not to go home for Easter. Instead, research for Romanticism and Archaeology final papers, catching up on the readings I didn't do the last two weeks because of the show, copyediting the Voice, and generally just enjoying the quiet (because everyone else is going home).

Of course, all of this sounds tremendously not fun, but I'm also determined to enjoy myself this week and not stress too much. :D

What are your goals and obstacles for April?

Poetry Slam = Success.

It's okay that the magazine runs over response time if they send you an email saying that you're story is under consideration for publication? Or is that just a nice way of saying they haven't gotten to it yet?

"Grace and Grace" for Lunch Hour Stories, btw.

I don't mean to drop off the face of the planet so often but it happens. This week has been mildly crazy between The Old Maid and the Thief and preparing for the Poetry Slam and getting my study abroad stuff done and then...well, actual homework and attending class and eating and sleeping and all that jazz.

When study abroad is in (at least one of them), I will feel so much better. I just want to get next year set up but the problem is that THIS year is still going on and that makes everything rather difficult at the moment.

I have been doing fairly well this semester. In fact, ironically enough, my worst grade so far has been in Italian (84 on the midterm). This is why I'm trying to get into programs that don't expect me to already know the language. :D

I have another short story due for Advanced Fiction next week and then another essay for Monsters due the following week, but I probably won't be working on the story until after the poetry slam and I definitely won't be working on the essay until after the show is over. I also have an Italian exam next Friday -- should start studying for that this weekend.

Supernatural is on tonight. They're doing werewolves. The roommates are going to tape it and I'm watching it, no matter what!

I will be so, so, so happy when it's April.

Heh. Was supposed to take my driver's test today.

Buuuut it's sleeting. XP

Saw The Host and Indigenes (Days of Glory). I recommend both. Will probably review all of the movies I saw over break this weekend. Of course, it's not over yet. Had lunch at this lovely Spanish restaurant that serves tapas and has the BEST chocolate mousse torte I've ever had. Positively orgasmic, honestly. Bought Weird Maryland which looks very promising and fun. Great way to justify my overabundance of state pride. ;D

I'm thinking of foregoing Otakon for HorrorFind this year. Should probably only shell out for one and I'm not as desperate for new anime as I once was. ;D Horror on the other hand...

Anyway, we shall see.

Thus far have read for ENGL 312. I have a few pages of vocabulary to memorize for ITAL 202. Should also finish Moby Dick for ENGL 329 and start reading Of Monsters and Marvels for HNRS 238. And begin researching for my second Monsters paper.

For once, it's not a particularly work-heavy break. I think it's because the work for my classes this semester is fairly spread out (aside from that one week of hell). Honestly, I don't have that much work to do. I'd say 4/5 of my classes are basically reading/discussion oriented.

Don't get me wrong. I still have plenty to do and I'm VERY glad I didn't overload like last semester (overload with three 300-level courses? I think not) but I think the worst part of the semester is over. I'll even be done with most of my big extracurriculars by the end of March. April is going to be a fun month. Tapping for PnP, elections for Inklings, hiking and aerobic walking in nice weather, free weekends, more activities (that I don't have to plan!) on campus...

And then Greece!

Obviously, there's still study abroad anxiety and scholarship anxiety and final paper anxiety (no exams!) to deal with but I think I can manage. :D

Rosencrantz crab returns!

That's 2/2 successful molts since purchase! Of course, I take none of the credit. My babies are pros at this stuff. ;D

Of course, the first thing he did is reclaim the coconut hut. XP Silly crab.

In other news, my Italian midterm is finished, I've written one essay for my scholarship, I sent in the first part of my Siena application, we distributed poetry slam flyers this morning, I'm skipping play practice tonight to study for Archeology AND I only have two more days of class!

Can I hear a hallelujah? An amen?

XD So tell me how you are!

Lit mag submissions, Italian midterm, opera practice (yay blocking!) and Melville. Ah, Melville.

Meeting with JGB about the story tomorrow. Need to send in my Siena application. And my Honors Scholarship application. Also flyers for poetry slam, sign-up sheets, and should start talking about prizes.

Archeology exam this Thursday. Then Spring Break.

Finally.

Plans: See The Host, The Queen, Indigenes, and The Last King of Scotland (at least). If E street is still playing the collection of Oscar-nominated shorts, see them, too. Hang out with sans_gloire, Chris, and Rabia. Accompany Taj to get her tattoo. See brother's play. Finish reading Moby Dick (the plan is to get through the first 100 pages this week). Research next HNRS 238 paper. Start work on next ENGL 312 story. Go to the dentist. Acquire driver's license. Watch Gettysburg and Moby Dick (the Patrick Stewart version). Bond with cat. Sleep.

Return to Sweet Briar happy and refreshed.

Not to say I'm unhappy, just very, very busy. And mildly homesick. But okay.