let's stumble towards success and pack some snacks for little breaks

Yesterday, I spent the entire afternoon and evening working on an editorial about HB 213, a ridiculous bill about "intellectual diversity" that does not bode well for college professors and academic freedom. Sharai was sitting next to me, writing her editorial about Virginia Tech and the Target shooting and how America loves to lap up violence. One of the examples she used was a halter top with a picture of Charles Manson printed on it.

She finished her editorial first. I didn't get mine done until about 7:30 PM. Before I left, I proofread hers and, on a whim, added the headline, "They're Dead. They're All Dead. Wanna Buy A Halter Top?" I figured it was too crass and Craig would probably change it, but eh, why not leave it for now?

Today, Craig told me that it's one of the best headlines he's ever seen. Man, that made me feel good.

Incidentally, Craig and I agree that this is going to be the best issue we've had since the spring of 2006. I'm especially glad about this issue being a good one because it'll be my last. It'll be available here on Friday.

EDIT: Also, I'm getting an award for "excellence in journalism" and another for my participation in the Student Ambassadors at honors convocation. It's tomorrow, Thursday, at 6pm in the gym at Penn Valley. If anybody wants to come, there'll be free food. You need to let me know, though, so I can get you an invitation.

1. Last night, Sifu taught us a new knife drill. Usually, when we learn a new move, we all start off muddling through it and he comes through and tells each of us what we're doing wrong. This time, though, I did it once, and he said, "You know, Julia, I gotta come up with a nickname for you. Blade II, maybe, or Razor."

2. Mom got me this at the Asian market. Check out the first ingredient. (It took me forever to get a non-blurry photo, by the way.) The stuff doesn't taste half bad, either.

3. School is closed today due to snow. I kind of wish it wasn't, because I missed so much last week due to sickness, but hey- extra time to work on applications and stuff.

4. And, speaking of which: my Common Application and the Harvard supplement are in! Man, that short answer took forever to get right. The Sarah Lawrence and Reed applications are due on March 1, Bard is March 15, and Brandeis is April 1. Oh, and my FAFSA is in, too. Go, me.

5. Lincoln's CD, "For The Kids," is really good. It includes covers of "Mahna Mahna" by Cake, "La La La La Lemon" by Barenaked Ladies, and "The Rainbow Connection" by Sarah McLachlan.

Honors seminar this semester is going to be amazing.

We met for the first time today. It's just me, two other women, and the teacher (who is a dean and an excellent person to know, and seemed to like me a lot). Both of the other two students are absolutely fascinating, and we all connected really well.

And part of the course is shadowing health care professionals, and I talked to this guy after class who knows the ER manager at Truman West, and it sounds like I'm going to be able to go to the ER and maybe even on ambulance trips, and I'm really really really excited.

And now I'm going to be late for karate, but I just wanted to share.

It's my last day of work, I brought holiday cards with me to work on, I got to spend lots of time with awesome people yesterday, I've done the majority of my Christmas shopping, I'm fairly certain that the three grades that have not yet been entered are As, and I have mango-Malibu-flavored chapstick.

For the moment, life is pretty close to perfect.

(The chapstick really doesn't work very well as chapstick, though, because I keep licking it off.)

Look what arrived in the mail yesterday!

lizzip and gerald_duck are made of pure awesome. Thank you! I haven't played it yet, but Thanksgiving break starts on Wednesday, and I'm sure my stepdad (who was tickled pink when I opened the box) will want to play it with me. Ah, family games during the holidays :P

It even comes with an evil balaclava. Muahahahaha!

Mom & Co. are back home from their travels, and the utter emptiness our refrigerator and pantry have suffered of late has been repaired with Mom's spicy coconut curry and Bill's fabulous bagels. Huzzah!

Also, I wrote a ton in my "Shit Nobody But Me Will Ever See" journal, hashing out my thoughts and feelings about current/past/future relationships, the differences between how I related to past friends and how I relate to new ones, my own morals and how much to compromise them for the sake of others, and the control dynamics of a weird situation I'm in. I think writing about all that was helpful, and I'm very proud of my little homemade therapy session. I should do it more often.

There's going to be a No On 2 protest outside Stowers tomorrow from 1-2pm, if anyone wants to join my family (minus Bill, who has been given strict instructions not to engage with the protesters) in telling these ignorant shitheads what stem cell research is.

I'm feeling rather good right about now :)

Yesterday (that is, Tuesday):
-Sharai and I met with Zola about the banned books club (now dubbed "Novel Challenge"), and we've got a good plan.
-We went to Costco with Mom, and Sharai finally bought me my birthday foamy soap. Yay, foamy soap!
-Mom and I went to Korma Sutra, a great Indian restaurant, to celebrate my grant. It was delicious, though my leftovers seem to have mysteriously disappeared. I'm kind of sad. I wanted those.
-We went to an empty parking lot down by Target, and I learned how to drive. It was a little scary and very fun. Mom didn't freak out quite as much as I expected her to, except when I hit the brake too hard. And we only had one run-in with a police officer. Now I need to get my permit at some point.
-I discovered that none of the schools I want to visit in Boston offer tours or information sessions on Saturdays or Sundays. Which kind of sucks, as I was planning to spend this weekend there. I guess I should have planned further ahead. Anyone have any ideas as to what I should do? I'll call Aunt Amanda about it tomorrow.

Today:
-I got a bass amp. We were going to get a used one, but this one was less than a hundred dollars new, and I like it a lot. I can actually hear Milo clearly without plucking the strings really hard, which makes me very happy.
-I watched the rest of "About A Boy." It was kind of ehh. Not bad, but I wouldn't watch it again. I thought the kid was a pretty crappy actor, Hugh Grant wasn't at his best either, and there was some really morally misleading stuff about conformity that I didn't like. But it was cute.
-Sharai came over, then Ethan and Laura came over, then we all took the bus to an Italian restaurant to meet Jonhenry for dinner, then Josie picked us up and took everyone home. I fell over rough-housing with Ethan on the bus and now I have a mondo-bruise at the top of my right thigh. Owch.
-I talked to Jasmine on the phone. Sounds like we definitely need to put together an Anytown field trip to Passages: me, her, Rain, Calvin, Colin, and Terrance. And now I have the Anytown song in my head again.
-Laura called me in tears, saying that she'd broken up with her boyfriend. It wasn't exactly a surprise (it had been coming for a long time), but it still sucked for her, and I stayed on the phone with her until she'd calmed down a little.

Tomorrow I have a tutor training thing at UMKC (50 bucks for 4.5 hours, which is a hell of a lot more than they pay me for actual work). Friday morning is a Student Activities meeting. I'm going straight from the meeting to the airport- Clay is coming back about three hours before I leave.

"Anything," in this case, includes writing articles (sorry, Craig) and beta-reading fics (sorry, Hannah). This is the first time since Monday that I've had access to a computer for a long enough period to do anything besides check my e-mail. It's now 5:45 AM on Sunday, and I'm on the computer in my hotel lobby.

This week has been awesome. I met a ton of people, saw a ton of people I already knew, tried a ton of new things, stayed up very late, got up very late, ate a lot of Subway sandwiches, watched the baby, watched a bunch of shows, deep-throated a banana onstage, and generally had a blast. We're in Portland until Tuesday morning, pretty much chilling. Mom and Bill are utterly burned out. I don't know whether it was a successful festival financially, but I don't remember anyone saying they weren't having a good time, and poor Bennett sounded like Calvin at the end of Anytown: "I don't want to go home, I want to stay here!"

One more day, and not even a full one. It'll be over at three this afternoon.

Lemony Snicket, author of A Series Of Unfortunate Events, had a book signing at Reading Reptile this evening. I got tickets a while back and almost forgot about it until this afternoon. A friend of Mom's was going too, so I got a lift with her. We waited in line for an hour, inching oh-so-slowly through the store, admiring the decorations (Reading Reptile has some fabulous things to look at) and chatting a bit.

I was going to tell him what a unique and brilliant writing style he has, but when I got to the table up front, it just didn't seem adequate, so I asked if I could see his ankle. (People who have read the books will understand this reference.) His response: "No, I don't show strange women my body parts. Well, who am I kidding? Of course I do. But no." I got a picture with him, though I don't think it turned out all that well.

Behind me was Julian, one of the two sons of the lady who gave me a lift. Snicket (or Handler, as he signed the books, but I prefer his pen name) wrote "THE END" on the second page of Julian's book and told him, "There, now you don't have to read the whole thing."

Next was Gabrial's turn. To him, Snicket said, "Gabrial with an A, huh? You have to say that a lot, don't you? Gabrial with an A. Gabrial with an A. Gabrial with an A. And who do you have to blame for that, huh? Your parents? How many parents do you have?" Gabrial responded meekly, "Two." To which Snicket shook his head despairingly and said, "Sorry, kid, they've got you outnumbered all the way. Got any windows in your bedroom you can climb out of?"

I heard him screech, "WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOUR LEG???" to the kid behind us, whose legs, as far as I could see, were perfectly normal.

My overall impression of the guy was Jim Carrey. The mannerisms, voice, face, movements, everything looked just like the actor. No wonder Carrey got cast as Olaf. I liked Snicket's sense of humor better, though.

Augh, you know what I should have done? I should have tried to get an interview with him for the Spectrum the second I found out he was doing a book signing here. Gah! *headdesk* It's too late now.

Reasons why:

-Two people said really nice things to me today.
-I feel like I'm not sucking at tutoring English.
-Six weeks into the semester, I have a reputation in the Spectrum office for being a good proofreader, and Craig is adding me to the editing process of the articles.
-I think I did well on my French test today.
-I may be going to St. Louis and meeting crazybutsound (who lives in France) in May.
-I may have a ride to St. Louis, so I'd only have to pay train fare one direction.
-Ann's birthday is on Thursday, so she's getting her driver's license, and no one who has heard her talk about it can possibly keep the happiness from rubbing off.
-I have permission forms for the lockin.
-Emily, the librarian that everybody loved but who left the Plaza library, is going to be at the lockin, and according to Lis, she's pregnant.
-I had good bus fu today.
-That pasta salad I made yesterday is damn tasty.
-Mirrormask was a fairly enjoyable movie. Does anyone else who knows vito_excalibur think the main character looks like a younger version of her?
-I just bleached my little brother's hair, and we'll probably be dying it green tomorrow.
-I am wearing the most comfortable clothes I own. I also think I look good in them. I'm tempted to buy a bunch of these pants and shirts and wear them all the time. (The shirt was even free.)

( Thoughts on homophobia )