decisions, decisions

I called my parents to ask them to vote for Barack Obama yesterday. It turns out that they already planned on it. Hurray! That makes me feel a lot better about the state of things. I know that the whole world wants Barack Obama to win and so do I. I get so sick of listening to the one-issue voters and closet (or, not closeted in some cases sadly) racists. The fact is that he is ready to lead our country. This country shouldn't worry about whether or not gays can marry but that we make sure America isn't going to go down the crapper.

There are some big decisions being made over here. I won't say too much but I'm really excited for this next year to get under way. I think it will change things for the better. Part of me can't believe it's so close. But I can almost get a grasp on my whole life for the first time. Which takes a lot of pressure off these shoulders. I'm also down almost ten pounds due to my lifestyle nutrition changes. I have a lot to go but it's getting easier as the days go by.

Here's to this next week!

Let the games begin!

Ok, so this is my first post of the month. It's officially November and I'm participating in NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month in case your mind was in the gutter). I have to make one post a day for a whole month. I'm hoping that this will force me to blog more often. On to panda pictures!


This is my face makeup. The regular receptionist said that I looked "scary". Some other people didn't know what I was. I tried to make my hair into two little buns to appear as ears but I didn't get them up high enough. And I usually wear glasses but I had to wear contacts which made my eyes tired. I think next year I will go as Babraham Lincoln, a sexy version of Abe Lincoln.

I wanted to upload a full picture of my costume but for some reason, it wouldn't show up as vertical, only horizontal. Does anyone know some HTML code or something to rotate a picture? It's rotated in my iPhoto but not when I go to the "upload picture" button. I would appreciate the help.

Here's to a month of blogging!

funny story...

ok, so this girl is driving home from class around 8:30 in detroit when she realizes that she's out of gas. the nearest gas station is a couple blocks south of campus, closer to the center of detroit. she pulls in and starts pumping gas.

it's kind of windy so the long purple flower skirt she's wearing is blowing around slightly. she's very careful to look around her to see what's happening and accidentally makes eye contact with a white male only a few years older than her. there aren't that many other people around at the pumps. a woman in a security uniform gets into her red car and starts to drive off.

the girl has locked the car and is only holding onto keys while she waits for the gas to finish pumping when the young white male approaches. "hey," he says,"my van just ran out of gas and i have no cash and no card, can you help me out at all?" the girl replies, "oh, i'm sorry, i don't have any cash on me." the guy moves a little closer and says, "i just need some change or a couple bucks." she says firmly, "no, i really don't have cash. sorry." he mumbles, "thanks anyway" and walks back to his van.

as she's pumping gas, she glances back and sees the guy talking to customers walking in and out of the store. well, i *do* have a couple bucks i could spare, she thinks. she's been trying to figure out who she is lately, since moving to this big city, and wants to be a good person so she figures that if she gives the guy two bucks, it'll be just a little under a gallon so he could at least get home maybe. she finishes pumping gas and locks her car after getting two bucks out of her wallet. she walks toward the guy, skirt billowing behind her, and says, "hey, i found a couple of bucks you can have." his eyes get big and he starts to smile, "hey, thanks a lot! that's awesome... are you a hippy?" the girl thinks, where the hell is this going?! before replying "well, i wouldn't describe myself as that..." as he's putting the money in his pocket, the guy says "because my fiance and i just moved to town and if you're interested in psychedelics, we have a bunch of acid and mushrooms i could hook you up with." the girl looks around to see if this is some elaborate joke or skit or something. "no," she says, "that's ok."

second coming?

ok, if this is the second coming of the messiah, this is totally something i can get behind. how cool would this be? although, the fact that this is the second time this has happened in captivity means it might not be. and maybe people would be afraid of a messiah that could eat people. but! maybe this would make more people aware of sharks and then they would love them. wow...

haircut?

ok, so i think i'm going to cut my hair. not short or anything. maybe just a little shorter. and i think i want bangs! i'll post a picture of how i look before and after.

i just want to mention that i think, for the first time in my life, i'm happy. i still have tiny moments of sadness but i really like where i am in my life. i have a best friend who is my boyfriend. i have great friends i can turn to and i don't have anyone poisoning my thinking. so... i feel pretty good!

hey... remember when i said i'd update more... oops!

there's been something on my mind to write about. basically how i've been feeling about a certain situation that happened before i moved out of kalamazoo. the reason i haven't updated this is because i've been wrestling with myself "should i, shouldn't i" and all that bullshit. i think that it will be cathartic and it will help me finally move on. this is not that post. but i have been meaning to update and i still will keep up with it. so... keep watching. also, there's an adorable cat picture up there for those of you who have been wondering where i've been. you're welcome. i'm also going to try to figure out how to add my twitter feed into this blog. anyway, that's what i came to say. enjoy the cat pic!

my wrist hurts...

Created by OnePlusYou

And there you have it. I'm really good a being caffeineated. Today after work I'm going to my first ever chiropractic appointment. I've been having problems with my right shoulder all week and my lower back has been hurting. Along with the jaw pain that it brough on by stress and the immense work out I got with softball this week, I'd say it's pretty deserved. I might try to get a massage next week as a birthday present to myself. What I really need is a very extended vacation. Like, for the rest of my life maybe? Although in certain ways, grad school will be like that. I'll be getting away from the things that are causing me the most pain. And heading straight for something that might cause me an equal amount of anguish. Awesome.

this makes too much sense.

Take this quiz at QuizGalaxy.com

technology and me

so i took this MASH quiz (you know, the quiz where you pick some dudes you want to marry and kids and cars and stuff and see who you end up with randomly?) and wanted to post it to my blog. the formatting was all off so i tried to fix it and then i ruined it. so i deleted it. but i will tell you what the game told me.

i will marry eric arnsman.
we will have one kid.
we will live in a mansion in australia.
we will drive a purple VW.
i will work as a truck driver and we will live happily ever after.

not a bad life, eh?

all hail the killer of plants!

There's a plant that sits behind me at work and it's dying. I like to think that it was dying before I worked here. Truthfully, it's probably my fault. Because it sits behind me, I never see it. I feel a little bit guilty that I don't take care of it, but mostly I'm waiting for it to die so I can find a replacement plant. At this point, I'm more interested to see if I can find an exact replica and replace it in the same pot without anyone finding out. I tried to complete Operation Plant Replacement while my boss was out of town, as she is the only one that mentions the state of the plant to me. Unfortunately, my local Meijer store didn't have these plants in stock then. This weekend is a holiday weekend so perhaps I can get one then.

I tried to save the plant before. It was wilting and getting brown around the edges and stems so I thought, "hey, I should water this sucker every day!" Did you know that plants can have too much water? And when they get too much water, they start turning brown at the bottom of the leaves? Combined with the lack of water for so long, the once green plant is green, then brown, then green, then brown again. I like to think of it as a zebra plant. The weird thing is that so far, NO ONE HAS REALLY NOTICED. I consider this a minor victory.

kangaroo dream

i know this probably isn't the most interesting of posts, but i had the strangest dream about a kangaroo last night. there was a kangaroo loose in downtown kalamazoo and the police were considering shooting it. eric and i found the kangaroo and tried to capture it so we could hide it. at first, the kangaroo was resisting and bounded away. eventually, we caught up with him by car where he hopped into the car and tried to bite me. somehow, i was able to calm him down and we all sat by the side of the road talking and laughing. i remember i was telling the kangaroo about a movie i saw and that i thought he would like. then the kangaroo wanted to play peek-a-boo so we did that for a while. for some reason, eric had a radio that was tuned into the police channel. we heard the police talking about how they had located the kangaroo on davis street and needed back up because it looked dangerous. i started screaming "we have to hide you!" and trying to push the kangaroo into the car. i saw the laser sights of one of the SWAT team members' rifle and told eric and the kangaroo to duck. i kept yelling "can't you just use a tranquilizer?!" and the SWAT team said that the kangaroo was too dangerous. i remember making eric and i both hug the kangaroo so they couldn't shoot it without shooting us. eventually, i think they killed the kangaroo or maybe i took it home. i can't remember the end of it. man, it was weird, though.

Way to go Michigan, way to go.

Yesterday it was raining a lot. Then, on my way to the gym, it started to look like snow. "Surely it's not snow," I said. "That would be ridiculous." Then it really starts to snow. Great. Awesome. My friend Christy and I are driving to Wayne State University tomorrow and hopefully it won't keep snowing. She's driving though, so it shouldn't be that bad.

About the gym: my legs are weaker than I thought. Everytime I have gone to the gym, I usually use the elliptical machine or the bike for at least 15 minutes. The leg exercises on the weight circuit have always been easier for me. So when I started this personal training stuff, I said I just wanted to work upper body. Then she asked me the other day if I wanted to add legs. I said, "sure," thinking it wouldn't be a problem. Whoa was I wrong! Those weights are H-E-A-V-Y. It didn't help that I had the foot strap on wrong. I'll have to keep doing the exercises a few times before it stops making my legs quiver. I felt like such a baby. Plus, I was wearing these ridiculously tight pants because I was sick of doing leg lifts and having my pants unravel to show everyone my white, white legs. Needless to say, I felt ridiculous. But there are other people there that wear more ridiculous things. So I'm ok.

bad girl... baaad girl

Today has been a good day. I had a freak out moment earlier in the work day because people kept coming up to me and saying "Here's this thing to do... I need it now." Normally, this would be fine but when there are three or four people asking this question it kind of makes me nervous.

I will post pictures later. I promise. My oldest cat, Merlin, has to go to the vet on Monday to get some tests done because he has been throwing up and I think he's lost a lot of weight. But he seems to be eating well and drinking. I'm really nervous about that. Especially because he will apparently become a "Senior cat" when he turns seven in August. Seven! I've had him for so long. I don't know what I'd do if something bad happened to him. Here's hoping it will go well.

oh, the things i can do!

This writing every day isn't working out like I had hoped. Mostly, I blame the sadness. And the sleeping. I should learn how to write while asleep. It would maximize my potential.

Over the weekend, I gave a waiter $3. Because he was complaining to the bartender about how another table, with a bill of $45, tipped him only four bucks. I felt bad and gave him the cash in my wallet. I was also drunk.

I should post pictures of cats and things. But I'm also thinking that my audience (this is you, boyfriend) sees enough of the cats that maybe I won't post that many pictures. But I think my blog looks boring so I'll add some kind of pictures.

I've been accepted to library science school but REALLY REALLY want to know about poetry school. Right now. This minute. My parents are going to Africa next week and I hope they don't get eaten by lions. Or African buffaloes.

weird habits i apparently have

Something I noticed last week about myself: when there's a pile of out-going mail here at the office, I have to arrange it by shape or it bugs the crap out of me. What I mean is that the biggest envelopes are on the bottom continuing until the smallest on top. I try to do this secretly and casually so no one thinks I'm going through their mail. Because the mail slot is right on my desk, I can't help but see it.

I also have a morning web-surfing routine that is really hard to get out of. I've tried. I always check my e-mail, LiveJournal, and Gaiaonline. In that order. If I have time, I'll check out Facebook. I've tried to change the order, or go to another site entirely and I can't do it. What a weird form of OCD.

The sizing thing also happens when I organize my books in a pile or papers or anything that are similar but different shapes. I can't help it. Piles get so awkward if you just mash things together.

wednesday bloody wednesday

I almost got into an accident on my way to work today because a stupid car decided it would be fun to spped up and try to merge in front of me instead of getting behind me. I was too busy playing with my iPod (whose battery is dead) to be as defensive as I usually am at this particular intersection, so I didn't hurry fast enough. So he got in. And I honked my horn and gave him the finger. I hate driving sometimes.

THE MAIL STILL HAS NOT BROUGHT ANY SCHOOL NEWS YET! I'm getting really, really, anxious about it. I just want to KNOW! Maybe I'm whining too much. There's also this stupid stuff going on with the Kalamazoo Film Society that is frustrating me a lot. I just wish they would leave us alone and not treat the Western Film Society like babies. I'm getting more and more disheartened with how the WFS is being treated in the community. I know it's out of my hands what happens next year but I still care.

I also added a link to Neil Gaiman's journal. He's talking about a new book of his that I must get. I'm trying not to buy too many books now. I really am getting rid of more this weekend so I shouldn't just replace the ones I get rid of. If I can whittle my collection down to fitting all in the one tall bookcase with some room left over, I'll be happy. Let's see how that goes.

anybody want my crap?

So I joined this website, freecycle.org, because you can create posts about things you have that you want to get rid of and people will hopefully respond and want to take your stuff. Holy cow, does this work. I was skeptical at first because I just thought "How many people will truly respond and take stuff?" The answer is "A lot." I packed up a box of books I no longer needed (read: I have too many and don't want to pack them all up and move them ever, ever again) and posted it on the site. Within a half an hour, someone responded and said that they wanted them. A couple of hours later, the books were gone. The same thing happened to a lamp, too. I'm waiting to see if someone will respond to the printer I left there but so far the woman hasn't written me back. The good news is, there are tons of others who want this printer. I should mention that I do not have the installation disk for the printer or a USB cord to hook the printer up. This doesn't seem to be a problem at all. How strange. I do have to resist responding to the messages people post on there about pets that need homes. Otherwise, I'd have five dogs and three more cats right now.

I listened to the newest "Learn German" podcast this morning. The guy talked about Guatemala! Apparently, he's taking a trip there and thought it would be a good idea to rattle off information about the country in German. It was... educational? Kind of interesting. It just reminded me of a text book I used in a class a while ago. I guess I learned something, though. And it's letting me hear German more often. That's good.

I was having problems with this iTrip thing for my iPod. I figured it out though. I found the manual as I was cleaning and read it for a minute. Apparently, you're only supposed to have the volume at a maximum of 70% on the iPod. I'd been turning it up all the way, so I wouldn't have to monkey around with the volume on my car stereo too much. Now that I've done the opposite, it works way better.

Later tonight, possibly tomorrow, I'll post pictures of funny things I found in thrift stores this weekend.

book hiding and pod listening.

Because I haven't had a chance to keep up with my German (read: I'm lazy and feel weird talking to myself) since I'm living in the US again, I recently subscribed to a few German podcasts. One of the is called "German Grammar Pod" which I mainly chose because of the cute name. It's taught by a British lady who speaks very, very deliberately. It's nice to have a refresher course in the grammar and I know it will help if I keep listening to it. Right now it's kind of boring. So is the second one I've listened to. That one goes through scenarios one might encounter in Germany. The episode I just listened to was "How to reserve a hotel room." The good thing about this is the host is German and sometimes slips into German speaking when he is explaining the situations. I think it's just nice to listen to German often. I haven't listened to the third one yet but it's from Deutsche Welle and is mostly news. I think (hope) I'll like that one better because I will have to listen really closely to understand what they say. My biggest problem right now is my ipod. It doesn't seem to want to stay charged for very long. I'll listen to it for about two hours and then the battery is low. Is this normal? I want to get a new one anyway, but can't exactly justify buying a new one until the summer. I want to get a new computer, too. We'll see what happens with grad schools before that becomes a real idea.

I joined this website today calle BookCrossing.com. Basically, you register your books and hide them around your town, country, whatever so that others may find them and read them. I figure it's a creative way of getting rid of the books I don't want anymore. I'll have to find a way to print off labels. And where to hide the books. Although that can be almost anywhere.

let's see how this goes, shall we?

This is a new... "project" I've decided to take on. I used to post stuff about my happenings while I studied abroad. It's been almost two years and I'm not in Germany anymore. I wanted a place to write often (daily might be asking too much right now) so this is it. I can't promise there will be great literature on here but I may post poems on occasion. Hopefully this will entertain someone.

paris (finally!!!)--sacre coeur, arc de triomphe, and the louvre

this is a picture of the train on the ride to paris. it was a four hour train ride and the way there we got to be in first class! that was pretty exciting for me. they even served us a lunch. the train was a french train company so it was slightly different than the german ones. if i had thought about it, we could have taken a much, much cheaper flight. but i thought the train would be easiest because shilo doesn't like being on planes. but we could have saved money. oh well. next time, i'll remember that.

this is a shot of this really pretty cloud i saw shortly after we arrived. we were on our way to see sacre coeur and i looked up and here was this cloud. so this is what the sky of paris looks like. more or less.

this is only a part of the million of steps we had to climb up on our way to the basilica. sacre coeur is the second highest point in paris, next to the eiffel tower. there were so many steps and it was so hot. by the time we got to the top all we wanted to do was sleep and drink massive amounts of water.

this is staci and shilo in front of sacre coeur. i tried to get them to take my picture a few times but neither one of them is very good at using my camera. so you'll see very little pictures of me, if any.

this is a better picture of the basilica. it's very beautiful.

this is the moulin rouge. it's pretty touristy. shilo was super disappointed when we got there. the original building looked nothing like this. it's kind of sad how touristy some parts of europe are. especially paris.

the next day we went to see the arc de triomphe (here) and the louvre. we tried to go shopping but we weren't having any luck. there were a couple times in paris where we wanted to do something but things were either closed or it just didn't work out. i'll have to go back again and visit the things i missed this time around.

this is the bottom half of the famous pyramid by i.m.pei in the louvre. here's a tip: if you want to go into the louvre, use the underground entrance. we didn't have to wait at all. and you can always go out the big glass pyramid way. it's pretty impressive either way you enter it, though.

you can only really take pictures of the sculptures in the louvre. there are some places where you can take pictures of paintings but only one or two places. these are some statues i thought were really nice. i can't remember what they were called or much about them but i have a book that probably says something about them. i don't know what this one was called but i found it pretty impressive.

not sure what this one is called either but i think the guy in the back is apollo. but i could be wrong. all of the sculptures were pretty impressive.

this one is called milo of crotona. i know this because it's in my book. he's being eaten by lions but in the real story, they were wolves that ate him. just so you know.

i found this one to be very impressive and interesting. i think bronze sculptures are really interesting, especially when they oxidize like this one. yup, i'm a dork.

this is part of the ceiling in the sculpture room. in case you didn't know, the louvre was a palace and became a public museum in 1793.

this is the famous venus de milo. they say that if her arms were still intact, they'd be able to tell who she was supposed to be because the arms are what shows the characteristics of the person.


these are two pictures of my favorite thing in the whole museum. it's called "the winged victory over samothrace" and it stood on a cliff so that everyone sailing into port would see it. it was so amazing. you had to walk up these steps to get to it and it took my breath away. staci's, too. it's just so huge and impressive.

this statue is called "psyche revived by a kiss from cupid." i think it's so beautiful.

and this is the outside pyramid. it's in the courtyard of the louvre. there are some cool fountains (one that is pictured here) around it and way, way too many pigeons. although i miss pigeons now, kind of.

anyway, i'll update more later. but later this week or something. i promise.