Happy Birthday to Me!

That's right, my 20th birthday is today. Well, at 8:36 tonight. Not doing much today, checking email, hanging out with my family. We went to MGM on Sunday though, so that counts as an activity. My mum has a thing about doing something special for birthdays. So, we'll have a nice family dinner, open my gifts, then play Munchkin. Great game. Funny. All my choice, of course. This has been a pretty good year, I think. This next one should be even better, what with all my study abroad plans.
I start my summer job tomorrow. I have enjoyed relaxing this past week though. Won't happen again until August, unfortunately. Well, so long for now.

Home Sweet Home

Yes, I am back home in sunny Florida. Well, perhaps too sunny due to the fires over in Brevard County. And hot. Ugh. I miss DC weather already. I'm slowly unpacking my stuff. We barely fit everything in the car. It's my own fault for having too many books...and clothes. But I needed stuff for about three different types of weather so it's really not my fault. And I'm a girl, so there you go. I don't start at the courthouse until the 31st, the day after my 20th birthday. Hooray! Almost out of the teens. I'm excited.
Oh, and if you should die today and God asks you why He should let you into heaven, like this rather...annoying evangelist asked my mum yesterday when she was going door to door, tell the person that you'll be praised for not pushing your faith on other people like I would tell Him. Or, my mum's "that's between me and Him". But my advice is to make it witty and pointed.

New 'Be' Slogans...

Ideas for the AU "Be" campaign:
'Be A Failure At Life'
Or, for the philosophy majors:
'Be A Logical Fallacy'
'Be Bright' in glow-in-the-dark letters

Chaos...not just a theory

Wow...today was one of the longest desk shifts of my life. Granted, the 8 hour stretch that one time was pretty bad but today's 6 hours, wow. I must have checked about 50 or so people out of their room. And most of them came all at once when I was trying to check out the vacuum and the carts. And usually I was the only one there. Because Housing and Dining decided, oh, after finals is a great time to put everyone on single staffing. Wrong! Luckily the RD and one of the RAs were around a lot to help, at least in the first couple hours. 
But I got to relax by going to dinner with a bunch of people on the floor, which was great. A nice end to a crazy day. And now, I'm already tired! Doesn't seem right. 

This is getting it's own post, because it's just that clever.
http://www.stuttsuniversity.com/index.html
Go to the website. Seriously. It will either cause jealousy that your school can't be as cool or make you more appreciative of your own school. 

Tuesday, Once a day of pain, now a day of joy

Right now I am incredibly happy that I am done with finals! Done, done, done!
And...*whispers* I'm actually feeling okay about them....I mean, I think I got the major points across well enough. Now, I just have to pack. But I'm not leaving until Sunday, so I've got lots of time, which is really kinda nice. I'll start on Friday, I think. Or at least, Thursday night.
Tomorrow, I'm treating myself to work for 6 hours. A special treat for finishing finals. Just for me. But, I'll just be watching movies, so all is well.
In honor of today:

Beautiful Day
U2
The heart is a bloom,
Shoots up through the stony ground.
There’s no room,
No space to rent in this town.
You’re out of luck,
And the reason that you had to care.
The traffic is stuck,
And you're not moving anywhere.
You thought you'd found a friend,
To take you out of this place.
Someone you could lend a hand in return for grace.

It's a beautiful day. (Day . . .)
The sky falls, and you feel like,
It's a beautiful day. (Day . . .)
Don't let it get away

You're on the road,
But you've got no destination
You’re in the mud,
In the maze of her imagination
You love this town,
Even if that doesn't ring true
You've been all over, and it's been all over you

It's a beautiful day (day . . .)
Don't let it get away
It's a beautiful day. (Day . . .)
hoo . . hoo . . . hoo

Touch me
Take me to that other place,
Teach me . . . oh,
I know I'm not a hopeless case.

See the world in green and blue,
see China right in front of you,
see the canyons broken by cloud,
see the tuna fleets clearing the sea out,
see the Bedouin fires at night,
see the oil fields at first light,
and see the bird with a leaf in her mouth,
After the flood all the colours came out.

(Day . . .)
It was a beautiful day (day . . .)
Don't let it get away,
Beautiful day (day . . .)

Touch me,
Take me to that other place.
Reach me,
I know I'm not a hopeless case.

What you don't have,
you don't need it now,
What you don't know,
you can feel it somehow,
What you don't have,
you don't need it now,
don't need it now . . .
[It] was a beautiful day...

Late Night/Early Morning Ramble

I’d like to admit, here and now, that I am a bit of a prude.
I’m at work right now, sitting at the front desk of Letts Hall watching people come in and out. Mostly in right now, and about seven times out of ten, they’ve been drinking. I just don’t see the point. How is this fun? I can get clubbing, I guess, dancing can be fun… but drinking? Just doesn’t seem necessary. Perhaps it’s part of the stereotypical college experience, but why be a stereotype? Why fall into that trap? I guess you get a buzz or something…but I don’t see how that is worth it in the long run. There are so many other things that can touch your soul and give you that bit of euphoria. Cultural things, music, plays, movies, books.
Yes, I’m tired and have a headache but I still believe all this. Maybe I’m too self-conscious about giving up even a little control to be a stereotype. But why is that bad? Call me boring…I say my liver will hold up longer and I’ll be happier with myself in the long run.

Smoke On The Water
Deep Purple

We all came out to Montreux
On the Lake Geneva shoreline
To make records with a mobile
We didn't have much time

Frank Zappa and the Mothers
Were at the best place around
But some stupid with a flare gun
Burned the place to the ground

Smoke on the water, fire in the sky

They burned down the gambling house
It died with an awful sound
Funky Claude was running in and out
Pulling kids out the ground

When it all was over
We had to find another place
But Swiss time was running on
It seemed that we would lose the race

We ended up at the Grand Hotel
It was empty cold and bare
But with the Rolling truck Stones
thing just outside
Making our music there
With a few red lights and a few old beds
We made a place to sweat
No matter what we get out of this
I know we'll never forget.

Smoke on the water, fire in the sky

After this Semester is over...

After this semester is over I shall:
> Have a couple weeks off before having to start work.
> Have to work for the summer at the County Courthouse, Small Claims/County Civil division until August 11th. Thus having to be around the most bitter old woman I have ever had the displeasure to meet. She just sucks the...light out of anything and everything.
> Have to go back to filing my life away for the summer
> Have only a couple months to get things in order for the next year
> Have only a couple months until I go to Brussels, Belgium for the Fall semester!!

I got in! Brussels Enclave: European Union program, Fall 2006!!! I'm so excited. I get an internship (hopefully someplace cool), a homestay so I can experience the culture hands on, and many academic field trips. I can't wait. This'll be my primary medium for communication with everyone still in the US, so expect many updates. :) Now I just have to survive the rest of the year!

Spring Break 2006 in Boston with family
>Walked a lot, thus feet hurt most of the time.
>Heard Yo-Yo Ma play.
>Got up earlier most days than I do most days for college. Thus, life was sad. I think I slept better though. Most likely because it wasn't on my dorm room's mattress.
>Went to a lot of cool historical places. Like Salem. Lexington and Concord. Plymouth. A few graveyards. Old North Church. Boston Common. To some, Filene's Basement has historical significance.
>Heard Yo-Yo Ma play. With the Boston Symphony.
>Went with my schwester on a couple college tours: Boston College and Brown. Realized schwester could likely get into Brown with no problems based on grades. Very proud.
>Went to three new states in one trip.
>Spent time with the family.
>Went to a cool restaurant: Finagle A Bagel. Isn't that just a great name? I think so too.
>Had a snow flurry happen a couple times.
>Heard Yo-Yo Ma play. Hey, the guy's got talent.
Basically, very fun. I get fingerprinted for my FBI Identification record so I can go to Brussels next fall on Friday!

It's a bird...it's a plane...it's an update!

That's right, a new post. Amazing. In the time since I last wrote, several things have happened:
>my computer's hard drive failed on me thus losing, oh, about a year and a half of my life. But I'm not bitter anymore. Oh, no. Over it completely. (note sarcasm)
>the semester ended and a new one begun. Plenty of reading, a couple days of no class but work to make up for it.
>application to study abroad started. I'm slowly working through the process.
>lost a roommate, gained a new one. I actually talk to this one. It's amazing to have a roommate that you can talk to about stuff. It's new and different for me, a very welcome change, I assure you.
>Olympics started. The only sports I actually watch with any sort of enthusiasm. Well, lots of enthusiasm. Curling is really, kind of cool to watch. This rock thing, sliding across the ice, looking like a teapot, and people sweeping the ice to get it to move faster or in a certain way. Glorified shuffleboard. Awesome.

Other fun stuff happened too, but this was the big stuff. All is well with me, just keeping busy and having fun.

I'm the king of the castle...

Yeah, listening to Crash Into Me. An a cappella version though. Life is better than my last post. The hurricane caused some damage, but nothing near my friends and family so that's good. The situation with my friend is doing better and he's talking to someone, which is good. It's my sister's birthday today, she's 17. Her friends went all out and even covered the car with pink streamers. Funny because she's not a pink person. Not that I am either, but still, funny. My cell's not charging right though, which really annoys me. Why can't phone chargers work like they're supposed to? Murphy's law again, I guess. *shrug* Not much point to this post except that life is better and less sad than it was a week or so ago. I really want to get into this one class next semester though and its filling up too rapidly. But, I did have the professor last semester so maybe I can blue card in. We'll see, I suppose. Later days.

Thoughts Dump

I hate not being able to help my friends. Currently a very good friend of mine, one of the first I made in college, seems to be going through a rough spot, as described to me by my other first friends in college. Let's call him...Stan. I personally have not witnessed any alterations in behavior, but they are there, according to these friends. I'm not questioning their accounts but it all seems so...odd because it goes against everything I ever thought his character was. Frankly, they are scared of Stan. I don't know how to help. I don't want to say anything about it to Stan because he'd just deny it, most likely, or even exhibit the same behavior that was described to me...and frankly, I'd rather not know the extent of the change. But how can I help if I don't say anything? Do I just act like I always do? Stan apparently has refused to meet with anyone who'd be able to help. This is why I'm not a psych major.
And ever since this transformation was described to me, I can't stop thinking about it. I don't know if it's worry or what, but I can't keep myself busy enough to not think about it. I'm too far ahead in my reading for classes...no hard reading or projects to keep me occupied. And it's hard, it's really hard. And I'm getting tired of it. I don't envy my other friends at all, for they've known about it, obviously, a lot longer than I have. I'm not in the habit of exhibiting to the world my private thoughts, but maybe if I put them down in this context they will go away. And I can't talk about it with anyone. I don't want to break their trust, I don't want to burden them any further, and I sure as heck can't talk about it to Stan. And frankly, they're the friends who are the great listeners.
The whole situation completely bites, if you'll forgive the lack of swearing. I hate not knowing what to do. And I really wish something else was going on. I suppose I could always start worrying about the wretched storm going by the name of Wilma that's headed for Florida, and thus my family and friends back home. It would of course be that the worst storm of the year, worse than Katrina and Rita, is heading for Florida. And we thought we'd scrape by without one this year after being stuck with four of the bloody things last year. C'est la vie, I suppose. Murphy's Law. Fate. Wrath from the whatever high atop the thing.

Flying Spaghetti Monster

That's right. Flying Spaghett Monster. As a response to this whole silly intelligent design issue, a genius has created a site, www.venganza.org, dedicated to the FSM. Because, as he points out, who says the intelligent creator has to be a being in a human form? Why can't it be the FSM? And if ID is going to be taught in schools next to REAL science, then the FSM should get a mention as well. I first saw an article in the New York Times about the FSM and couldn't stop laughing. It's on my wall right now, next to my desk, ready to give me a laugh when I need it in the middle of Behavior Principles reading or equally dull pursuits. Yeah, I'm Catholic and all, but I believe in evolution, if anyone can believe in the truth. Maybe intelligent design just explains that a supreme being got the whole shebang started, but that doesn't mean it has a place in a science classroom where cold, hard, facts are taught. Religion has no place in a science classroom nor a science textbook. True, the two can be reconciled, I do it all the time, but I place science above religion in terms of truth about the world. ID is sort of referring back to deism, the whole "Clockmaker" thing where a being got the universe going according to some rules and let it run itself. Sometimes I think deists have it right with everything going on in the world sometimes. Besides, if the argument is that evolution doesn't jive with the whole seven days thing, well, how long is a day to God?

Quadrants

So, as I was sitting in Civil Rights and Liberties today, Professor Ivers brought up an interesting point. When you ask someone where they're from, they often mention a geographic quadrant of a state. He used Pennsylvania as an example, but since I'm from Florida, my thoughts turned to my state. Beyond all the stuff it's known for, Mickey, oranges, depressing election problems, I was thinking about how I define where I'm from. First, Florida. Then perhaps Central Florida, then perhaps "near Orlando" then, 45 minutes northeast from Disney World (more if there's traffic). Then, maybe, dear old Oviedo, the actual town name. So, I got to thinking and determined Florida, beyond having just the quadrants, Panhandle, North, Central, and South, also uses the coasts, so you've still got the Panhandle, or West or East Coast. So, I'm on the East Coast side of Orlando in Central Florida. At any rate, just a thought.

jennifer

jennifer
Originally uploaded by gcsilmoldor.

Here's me with John Glenn last year when he spoke for a KPU event!

Post Number 1

Yep, creative title. At any rate, here it is, post number 1. I don't know how many of these will pop into existence. Likely when I have the time or inclination, hopefully both at once. But this may be a good venue for some public airings of thoughts somebody else must be thinking out there.