Busy Bee

A lot's been going on since the last time I posted something other than photos. Friday I spent about 45 minutes crying in Dr. Scott's office. I actually did a lot better on my International Econ test than I thought, but I had a lot of emotions that had been bubbling just under the surface for a few days prior. Anyway, Dr. Scott made me feel a whole lot better, and actually sort of encouraged me not to be an accountant, if it's something that makes me so unhappy.

Friday night was Ghost Roast. I don't have a lot to say about that.

Saturday night we went out to dinner to celebrate Ryan's birthday. Later, we went to Kroger, where I found...packaged alfredo sauce mix! I know that doesn't sound so exciting, but it's something I used to love when I was a kid, but Dillons stopped carrying it a long time ago. I made it for dinner tonight, and hoooooooooooooly crap, I'd forgotten how good it was!!

Last week at Wal-Mart, I bought a couple of little counted cross stitch kits. One of them has a little crown on it, and it was supposed to say "Little Princess," but I stitched on "Killer Queen" instead. The other one has Eeyore lying on the ground, looking up at a butterfly. It doesn't say anything on it. Anyway, they're both sooooo cute, and I really want to get some more, like the Tinkerbell one.

Okay, other than that, not much has been going on. I've got a Spanish test Wednesday, an Art History paper due next Monday, and an International Econ test probably next Thursday (yuck). Busy, busy, busy!!

Love Among the Leaves

Hello, Figure Drawing!!

Today we started figure drawing in my art class. I'm so freaking happy!! I'm about 10x better at this than I was at still life, plus it's 1000x more interesting. And luckily our model turned out NOT to be the person I thought it might be. Actually, our model is a very pretty girl whom I don't know at all (she's probably a UCA student), so that's nice. I'm pretty proud of my drawing, especially since it's just the first one.

After class, I walked (in the rain) over to Mills to get my econ test from Dr. Scott (yesterday he said we could pick them up in his office this afternoon). Well...he wasn't there. And I'm not walking back over there later. So I guess I'm just not getting my test back until tomorrow...which is fine with me, because I don't really want it back.

Today seems like the perfect day to snuggle up in bed and read a book.

Every Little Thing She Does is Magic!

Alright, so I've finally decided what to be for Halloween. I was planning to be a black cat, but I couldn't find any ears that I liked. So I'm going to be a witch instead. I found a super cheapo black & purple striped hat at Wal-Mart tonight, and I bought some black nail polish (I'm going to do black nails with purple tips!) and some red lipstick. I'm going to be a good witch with a little bit of an evil streak. Ariane's gonna tryyyy to curl my hair. Anyway, I'm pretty pumped.

I drank a huuuuge pumpkin spice latte tonight. And four cappuccino truffles. Yeah, I'm on a little bit of a buzz right now...

Dear Recently Distressed

I haven't listened to Phantom Planet in over a year. I'd forgotten how wonderful they are. Well, how wonderful they were. Their most recent stuff is not so good.

Today I'm getting back a test that I know I failed. And even though I know I didn't do well on it, I still know that I'm going to be really upset when I actually see my grade written on the paper. I act like I don't care about my grades, and for the most part I really don't, but there's still a shadow of my high school self inside me, and she's still obsessed with making everybody but herself happy.

Anyway, to cheer myself up today, I'm wearing obnoxious colors and socks with squiggles on them. And if you see me, you should give me a hug!

edit:
Oh Dr. Scott, how I love thee! We didn't get our tests back afterall. Yesssss.

Goodbye, Still Life!!

Today in Freehand Drawing, we completed our final still life project. FINALLY!! I'm actually pretty happy with this one. I got to spend two class periods on it (a total of about 4 hours). There was some more detailing I could've (should've) done on the mask, but I just didn't have time. I spent a lot of time on the shading of the mask, to get the contours right. And I also spent quite a bit of time doing those dents on that kettle. I redrew them a couple of times. Anyway, like I said, I'm pretty happy with it. And we start drawing our first model on Wednesday!! Color me happy.

This afternoon I went to Target with Laura. They were having a sale on knee socks!! I bought 5 pairs. I also got some food that doesn't take more than 5 minutes to make (like cookies and Spaghetti-O's). Because I haven't been eating. I actually lost 5 lbs. this weekend. Because I haven't been eating. I mean, I'm not complaining about losing weight...but I know I haven't lost it in a healthy way. I just haven't been hungry lately. Or, I have, but nothing ever sounds good, so I just don't eat.

After Target, Laura & I went to Something Brewing and got coffee. When she gets out of band, we're going to Taco Bell to grab dinner. Then I guess I'm going over to Cook to watch football with her and some other people (i.e. they're going to watch football, and I'm going to work on Ryan's socks).

Killer Queen

Open Up Your Heart and Let This Fool Rush In

I just got back from seeing Marie Antoinette. It was fabulous!! Really, absolutely fantastic. Funny and sad and so beautiful. I wanna see it again!

Before the movie, we (Ryan, Ariane, and I) went to Barnes & Noble. A while back, I "won" a $10 B&N gift card, so I figured this was the perfect opportunity to use it. I thought about buying the new Lemony Snicket book (I have all of the others), but since I haven't gotten past the 8th or 9th book, I figured that one could wait. So I ended up getting Banishing Verona, by Margot Livesey. She wrote one of my favorite books, Eva Moves the Furniture, which was very quiet and slow and sad. I like things like that sometimes. I also bought a sparkly birthday card for Rachel and a really pretty mug with a picture of the Colosseum and a bunch of Roman-y stuff on it. They had a London one too, with a picture of Big Ben, but the Rome one was so much prettier.

Today I started knitting a pair of socks for Ryan for his birthday. I know I'm gonna need to spend pretty much all of my spare time on them in order to finish them in time (his birthday is November 4th), but I'm so tempted to read my new book instead! But I guess that can wait...it'll be nice to have that to read during the long ride home at Thanksgiving.

Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered

Fall Break is coming to an end. It's been relaxing, if nothing else. I've watched a lot of movies, most of them about witches (Hocus Pocus, Bell, Book and Candle, Rosemary's Baby, and Bewitched). I love witches!

Tonight I was talking to my dad on the phone, and we were talking about the store. Somehow, we got on the subject of shrink (the difference between what the store buys and what the store sells...i.e. stuff that gets stolen or damaged). As employees, it's drilled into our heads that our job is to prevent/reduce shrink. Well, my dad's department (produce) has really low shrink numbers...often the lowest in the store. He does this by ordering the right amounts of products and by selling damaged produce at reduced prices. This last part is especially important at our store, which is located in an economically-depressed neighborhood. Many of our customers are on food stamps, and they do what they can with the benefits they receive. I don't know how many of you buy groceries, but next time you're in a supermarket, check out the prices of fresh produce...it's expensive!! Because of this, poorer people usually don't buy much fresh produce, which means that they miss out on a lot of important nutrients.

Well, The Powers That Be have decided that my father's shrink numbers are too low. They think this means that he's missing out on potential sales by not ordering enough product. They're implementing a new policy, so instead of selling damaged products at reduced prices, he's supposed to just throw it away. Yes, throw it away! I can't express how angry this makes me. TPTB believe that this will force customers to buy the products at full price. What they don't seem to understand is that people living on a fixed income often can't afford to pay those higher prices for fresh produce. They're either going to buy less of it, or possibly stop buying it altogether. Either way, these people are going to be missing out on an important source of nutrition.

The only thing that might anger me more than this is the fact that, under the new policy, my dad is required to literally throw away the damaged produce. What a waste! You know that phrase, "There are starving kids in China!"? Well, what about the starving people in Kansas? This food could be given to soup kitchens or homeless shelters or battered women's shelters or SOMEWHERE. It's not like this food is rotten or anything...it's just bruised or needs to be used within a day or two. There are people who really need this stuff, and for the company to just throw it away...it makes me angry. Really, really angry.

I'm planning to bring this to the attention of some advocacy groups or something. I'm not sure exactly where to start, but I think I'm going to email Joe Stumpe, the food editor at the Wichita Eagle. I know you're probably thinking that emailing a food editor is the weirdest way to start, but Stumpe recently participated in a challange during which he lived on the amount someone would receive from the food stamp program for a week. I think he can probably help me get in contact with people from different advocacy groups. I'd really like to see some pressure put on the company to rethink this new policy (which is apparently the policy at Wal-Mart as well, and probably several other places).

Happy Friday the 13th!!

Yesterday I took some pictures of Laura and Elyse around campus. I also bought a pumpkin yesterday, which they posed with in most of the pictures. Today I'm going to try roasting pumpkin seeds!

Sometimes Life is Worth Living

I haven't had that abdominal pain again, which is good. I'm trying not to worry about it too much.

Yesterday was an upsetting day. I'm pretty sure I failed (or maybe got a D) on my International Economics test. On the upside, however, I talked to my professor, and he said that this grade doesn't really matter. But, of course, I was still upset...so I went to Kroger. Ariane had a bad day yesterday as well, and we were both in serious need of some mashed potatoes & gravy. I spent almost $83 at the store, but I'm okay with that. I was getting so sick of eating pasta all of the time. I bought vegetables, cheese, bread, peanut butter, ice cream, and a bunch of other stuff. Real food.

I skipped my drawing class today. I don't actually like that class as much as I thought I would. In Spanish, we got back our tests...I got 100%, and I spent maybe 2 minutes studying for it. And this stuff wasn't even review...there was a lot of grammar that I had never learned in high school. Methinks I just ROCK at Spanish. Hmm...did I pick the wrong major??

I'm trying to decide what to do for dinner tonight. I think it's just as hard when you've got lots of choices as it is when you don't have anything to eat. I feel the same way about my clothes...right after I do laundry, and everything's clean, I waste like 20 minutes in the morning trying to decide what to wear. And when nothing's clean, of course, it takes forever to find something that I like.

I'm Pretty Sure I'm Dying...

About six weeks ago, I woke up in a world of pain. My ribcage felt like it had contracted, and my organs felt like they were expanding. My lungs couldn't expand to take in air, and I felt like I couldn't breathe. And there was this incredibly sharp pain in my upper abdomen. I couldn't lie down, and I couldn't stand up. The only position that was comfortable was sitting with my knees pulled close to my chest. I took some Motrin, and a few minutes later the pain went away. I had no idea what had caused the pain, but I thought maybe it was because of my period, even though it was in such a weird spot.

Four weeks later, the next time I was on my period, I had the pain again. I don't remember it being quite as intense as the first time I'd had it, but I also wasn't quite so surprised by it. Again, I took some Motrin, and the pain went away.

Last night, around 9:15, it happened again. I'm not on my period this time. After taking Motrin last night, the pain mostly went away, but I still felt nauseous and had a bit of a dull ache when I stood up for more than a few minutes.

So now I don't know what to think. It's obviously not being caused by my period. Even though it's in the right spot, I don't think it's my appendix, because I don't think the pain would be so spread out (timewise). If it happens again, I'm going to go see a doctor. I hope nothing is seriously wrong with me...

My Life as a Magpie

I know that the magpie is a symbol of bad luck. One legend even suggests that they carry a drop of the devil's blood under their tongues (to which I say...birds have tongues?). But there's one more thing for which magpies are famous, and that's their attraction to shiny things. Coins. Jewelry. Gum wrappers. Believe me, I love dead presidents and things that smell like Doublemint as much as the next girl...but lately, I've fallen especially in love with jewelry. Fine jewelry. The good stuff. It started when I bought my pearl ring last December. Followed by the acquisition of my mother's sapphire ring. The latest has been the beautiful mystic fire topaz necklace I got for my birthday. Now I'm keeping my eye out for my next piece, and I've got several in mind. My absolute favorite has to be this opal ring from Helzberg. I found it last winter, when I bought my pearl ring, but it was (and still is) way too expensive. I would ask for it for Christmas, but I think it's still too expensive, even for that.

The other pieces I'm currently in love with:
Octagonal Cut Aquamarine & Diamond Ring
Ecstasy Topaz & Diamond Pendant
Rose de France & Diamond Pendant

Things That Make Me Sad

Don't get me wrong...I've been pretty happy lately. I've completely rebounded from the recent boy drama, and am actually even more recovered from the old boy drama. Still...there are a few things that I've read about in the news recently that have made me really sad, if not a little angry.

• The shooting at the Amish school in Pennsylvania. I mean really...what was this man thinking? It just breaks my heart to think of those poor little girls and their families... The Colorado shooting makes me sad too, of course, but there's something about this one that really tugs at my heart. Maybe because the girls were so young, or because they were Amish, or because there were more of them...I don't know.
• The Congressman who sent sexually-explicit emails and IMs to the underage male pages. There are a lot of things about this whole mess that really bother me. Probably the biggest one is the coverup. The preservation of political power should never trump the preservation of the safety and innocence of children...never.
  
• The Code of Inclusiveness, part of the Visioneering Wichita project. I'm all for racial unity, believe me. Anyone who knows me knows that. However, asking Wichitans to sign a Code of Inclusiveness is just a waste of time and resources. Mostly a waste of paper. The people who would be willing to sign this pact and really uphold it are the people who already advocate racial unity. And the people we should really be reaching out to are the ones who wouldn't sign the Code of Inclusiveness anyway.
• Thursday's Hendrix Forum topic. I wish I could attend the Forum, but unfortunately it's at the same time as my Spanish class. The topic: "Is the Hendrix Community a 'Safe Space' for Political and Religious Conservatives?" To which I say NO. I think Hendrix is maybe more tolerant of religious conservatives than political conservatives, just because it's a religiously-affiliated school (although its affiliation is with Methodism, which is relatively liberal), so there are a lot of religious organizations on campus. But there's only one organization on campus for political conservatives, and it's not a very active group. People are really hostile to Republicans on this campus, and I don't just mean students...I can't count the number of times I've heard professors make derogatory comments about them. Personally, I don't like either party. I think they're more concerned with holding power than actually getting anything accomplished. I think politicians are under too much pressure to constantly vote along party lines (or risk losing support and funding when the next election comes along), so nothing constructive and truly beneficial is ever accomplished. However, I don't believe that all Republicans are as extreme as the people in office, nor do I believe that Democrats are as extreme as their leaders. But on this campus? When someone says "Republican," everyone assumes you're a greedy, cold-hearted, intolerant, backward-thinking hick. It's offensive.

Thank You

Yesterday I downloaded Leigh Nash's solo album, Blue on Blue, which came out about a month and a half ago. (She was the lead singer of Sixpence None the Richer before this.) Anyway, at first I wasn't sure that I liked the album much, but I've been listening to it pretty much non-stop since yesterday, and I've fallen in love with it. One of my favorite songs is the last one on the album, "Thank You." It's a good perspective on getting your heart broken:

Thank you for breaking my heart
Cause if you’d never left,
I’d never have met someone better
Aren’t you clever boy?
I really owe you one for what you’ve done
From the bottom of my heart,
Thank you, thank you

3 New Self-Portraits!

Me + my new sweater + my new necklace!


I know, I know...that's a whole lot of blue-green!

Post-Birthday

My birthday turned out pretty fantastic, I must say. Most of the people I invited came out to dinner last night, and we had a great time. I wish we could've been at a round table so I could've chatted with everyone more, instead of just the people who were sitting right next to me, but otherwise it was perfect. And the creme brulée was, of course, wonderful. Extremely wonderful.

When we got back to campus, I was kinda sad because everyone left and I thought my birthday was pretty much over. But then Ryan & Ariane showed up with the most beautiful, thoughtful present in the world...a mystic fire topaz necklace! I was speechless...I still am...there are no words to describe how absolutely lovely it is. Really. The picture doesn't do it justice, believe me. I'm only even posting it so you can see the style of the necklace. The stones are so sparkly and...I don't know...enchanting. When they catch the light, they change from green to purple. I probably spent a solid hour just staring at it last night. SO BEAUTIFUL.

After they gave me the necklace, Ryan, Ariane, and I played a game of Apples to Apples (a present from Rachel!), which was loads of fun. Then we went to see the 9:25 showing of The Black Dahlia at The Rave in Little Rock. Uh...if you haven't seen it yet...don't waste your money. The three of us agreed that if they cut a few things out (like the dead 3-year old or the lesbian porn), it could totally be marketed as a comedy. My favorite line from the movie: "Germans...good people. Hitler was a bit excessive, but I think we're going to regret not joining up with him against the Reds." Oh, and the movie pretty much had nothing to do with the Black Dahlia murder case. At least, not what actually happened. The man who actually killed her wasn't even in the movie. And the whole feel of the movie was very schmaltzy.

Okay, picture time!

Rachel, Ariane, Ryan, and Megan at Mike's Place:

Laura and Keisha at Mike's Place:

The most beautiful necklace in the world:

Happy Birthday to Me!!

Pre-Birthday was pretty good, and Birthday is turning out to be pretty swell too. I got a beautiful sweater from my mom (which I'm wearing today), and I got a check from my dad (which I'm cashing when the business office opens at 1)...so presents have been good. Great, really.

Yesterday I downloaded Madeleine Peyroux's new album, Half the Perfect World, and man...it's wonderful. Beautiful. I'm in love with it.

Life is good. Really, really good. Especially today...I'm not letting anything get me down today. Especially since tonight I'm planning to indulge in some creme brulée...and you just can't be down in the dumps if you're gonna eat something that fancy.

2 Days!!

The reservation has been made! I went ahead and made it for 13, even though only 10 people have said that they're definitely coming. And I shake my fist at those 3 who won't give me a solid answer. Grrr!! I mean, if you don't wanna come, that's fine...BUT LET ME KNOW!!

I made dinner last night, and it was wonderful. Now Laura and I have made plans for her to come over Thursday night, and we're going to make Mediterranean pizza. I feel so much happier since I've been cooking these past few days. Something about comfort food, I guess... I'd really like to try making lasagna one of these days.

Today I got my first birthday card. It was from my grandparents. And this morning my art history professor decided to push our test back to Monday, so now I don't have a test on my birthday! And in Spanish, she gave us a homework assignment for Friday that involves writing a paragraph about somebody's birthday. Haha!

Life's pretty good these days.

3 Days!!

So, mini-crisis averted. I was worried that Bell, Book, and Candle would forever elude me, but I managed to find a new copy on eBay. So I bought it before they could raise their price (since it's no longer in production). And really, I think I probably spent less than I would've if I'd bought it through Amazon. Well, happy birthday to me!

Dr. Scott is both wonderful and insane. Wonderful because he's pushing the first test back even further, so now it won't be until October 10th. Insane because he's making it a 2 and a half hour test! And today we were sort of reviewing what we'd learned so far (mostly he was just running through a list of the stuff we've gone over), and he gave us an "example test question." HOLY CRAP...all I've got to say is that if he puts that question on the test, it better be the ONLY question. It was like half a page long just writing it out, and that didn't even include everything he said because there was SO MUCH STUFF. It would definitely take two or three pages to answer it. Aaaaagh. But at least I'll get to enjoy my 22nd birthday before my head explodes.

I'm in a really good mood today. Probably the best mood I've been in for the past couple of weeks. And tonight I'm making stars & tomato juice for dinner. I guess I never realized how weird that sounds to people who haven't tried it, because it's something my mom's been making for as long as I can remember (although she usually uses shell pasta, but sometimes she uses fun shapes like stars or alphabet pasta). It's not really like mac & cheese because the tomato juice is thinner than cheese. And thinner than tomato sauce. But it's not really like soup, either, because it's mostly pasta, not mostly liquid. Just trust me...it's delicious!