2003-02-28
I say post, you say office
I've had "Soak Up the Sun" stuck in my head for about three days, which is incredibly annoying since I've never actually heard the song. I only know one line of it from the "Kidz Bop" commercials.
Yesterday my mom and I went to see the Dead Sea Scrolls at the museum.After we saw the exhibit, we went to look at the rest of the museum. It closed at 5, which we didn't know, and until about 5:20 we wandered around wondering why none of the exhibits were working.
Today I am only leaving my house to go to the post office, which is a shame since my hair looks really really good.
2003-02-26
Good times
I am so bored it's not even funny. Last night I had a dream that I was really excited because it was Sunday and that meant that the Sunday crossword puzzle was in the newspaper.
I am going to go do a jigsaw puzzle now.
2003-02-23
Back (not the kind that baby got)
I realized the other day that I don't write about people here. I mean, I write about 'a friend' now and then, or a 'housemate' or a 'coworker,' or a 'classmate,' but none of them are really fully-formed characters. This is partly because I suspect that some people might not like it if they knew that I was writing about them on the internet. It is also because I like to perpetuate the idea that I live in a black and white world where I am the sole color character. This afternoon, I realized that that might be a bad thing.
2003-02-20
Thanks, but
I stayed up until almost 4 last night doing laundry and watching tv. I got a phone call at 9:45 this morning (when I was still in bed), which wouldn't've bothered me so much if it had been from a real person. But really, I don't need a visa card. Thank you for thinking of me, though. Oh, and I've decided to give the livejournal thing a try, which means I either won't be updating this as much, might stop altogether, or might be back here when I decide that livejournal sucks. For anyone who might be interested, I will be over here.
2003-02-19
It's scary to move to a new place where you don't know anyone
So, some anonymous person sent me a livejournal code today (almost got deleted too, as my 'delete-the-spam' finger was working splendidly). And I'm interested in checking it out for a number of reasons, most importantly for the fact that when I am in class, I sit and think about usernames that I like more than "the-ordinary." However, it always just seemed silly to set up another diaryland.
However, I'm pretty sure I don't have the energy to update two of these things (do you think this stuff comes easy?) and since diaryland has never done anything horrible to me, I feel bad about suddenly switching sides in the free online journal world. (This is just one of many ridiculous things I feel bad about, but I'm not really sure that it's something I want to go into right now).
Like Natalie Imbruglia (remember her? no, not really) I am torn, I guess. And I am certainly glad that I am thinking about this rather either of the exams that I have tomorrow.
2003-02-19
The day I got a circus peanut in the mail was the best day of my life
What is better than returning home at 12am to find a brand new package delivered by an absurdly late mailman?
Finding that the said package contains circus peanuts! Or rather, one circus peanut that I ate while it was partially frozen and that crackled alarmingly between my teeth.
The package also contained a shirt which means I will have something clean to wear to work tomorrow. Which makes me glad I didn't do laundry earlier, because then I would have felt like a chump. I see the arrival of this package as a personal triumph rather than as a happy coincidence.
Oh right. The package was a valentine. In fact, it was my only valentine. And it was from (drumroll). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . my mom!
2003-02-18
Coming soon to a milk carton near you
But now I am sad because I think I left my disk in Angell Hall on Sunday. I have other disks, but that had a lot of stuff on it. Potentially embarassing stuff, if you know what I'm saying. Like badly written essays about Icelandic sagas.
2003-02-18
woo hoo
Hey!
I am done with my paper! And with two hours to spare! And no, it's not a great paper, but it's not a terrible paper either, and that's what really matters.
I am going to go shower now, even though it is just sort of a formality since I don't have any clean clothes to wear.
2003-02-18
I go to sleep but think that you're next to me
Melancholy should come from within; it should not be thrust upon you by others.
2003-02-17
Voting against myself
Today we did mock trials in language and discrimination. Our spokesperson wasn't really all that convincing. I'm pretty sure that, if I had been allowed to vote, I would've voted against us.
And a fun trivia fact: of the things that I listed under the heading "Things I have to do. . ." yesterday I did only one of them (make dinner). Relatedly, I am wearing mostly dirty clothes today.
2003-02-16
Get your Bill Haverchuck on
Freaks and Geeks on DVD would be fabulous. You know you agree, so go here and sign. Even if you don't agree, go and sign because I have spent the last half hour trying to figure out what the people in the apartment building across the street are watching on tv, and it would be much nicer if I had something I wanted to watch in my own house. Like, say, a Freaks and Geeks DVD.
2003-02-16
To-do list
Things I have to do today:
(1) about 4 loads of laundry
(2) write a five page paper about Chaucer's and the Gawain poet's views on chivalry
(3) make dinner (rice w/blackeye peas and peppers, balsamic roasted potatoes, salad of some kind, and chocolate revel bars)
(4) read about 50 more pages of Gulliver's Travels
Things I have already done today:
(1) slept until 12:05pm
(2) showered
(3) played a Pringles canister like a drum
Things I probably will do today even though they will take up time that I don't really have:
(1) go to the record store to buy the new Ted Leo album
(2) buy tofu at the Asian market (and while I'm there I might as well buy Pocky too)
(3) watch the 300th Simpsons episode special
(4) sit and stare blankly out of the window
(5) get upset and frustrated while trying to do the crossword puzzle in the New York Times
(6) eat lots of Valentine's Day candy that I bought last night for half price
(7) be horribly disgusted by the dinner, because everything I make tastes bad to me
(8) make a really pointless entry
2003-02-14
Jimmy Stewart and Barbara Bel Geddes
There is a scene in Vertigo where Jimmy Stewart says, "How's your love life, Midge?" or something similar. Barbara Bel Geddes responds, "None of your business."
Whenever I am faced with a question that starts, "How's your. . ." I am tempted to respond the same way, even if the question is something like "How's your spelling?"
2003-02-12
Can I just go to bed now, please?
You know, the truly great thing about working in a job that amounts to public service is that you can be bitched at by trashy, moronic people but do not have the rights to bitch back at them. I've got a bottle of Rolling Rock chlling in the window, but first I give you:
A bad night everywhere.
Exhibit A: A high school age girl came in about 10 minutes before closing time, needing to find an article in a periodical about the culture of Uganda. She didn't want politics or anything, just culture or language or society (until at the very last minute she said, "how about economics?" which I might have been able to find something for). Her report was undoubtedly due tomorrow (let's just assume the worst about these people, okay?), and her dad stood around looking annoyed that library service was taking so long (like, dad, can you send your kid to the library a little before closing time?), and then made sure to point out that she wanted a newsy periodical, as if otherwise directed her to an article about Uganda in Spin or something.
Exhibit B: While I was trying to help the highschoolgirl, a man came up (interrupted the girl midsentence, if I remember correctly (ok, which I probably don't)), and said, "My computer just shut down." This was untrue. What had happened was that the email he had been working on had went away. I glanced over at his computer and asked him if he was using AOL, which I know shuts down mid-email rather often causing many people to yell at me. He said, "I don't know," and then went back to his computer. He came back a few seconds later (i was trying to describe some articles that I was coming up with to the girl, which were then rejected), and said, "Well, is there anyway I can get it back?" I asked him if he had had to swipe his card again. He didn't, which meant that the problem was with his email and not with the computer, and since I don't really know how every free email service on the planet works, I said, "I don't know. I think the problem is with your email." Then the library closed. I sent the girl away, telling her to check the New York Times online, and as the man was leaving he said, "I don't know what happened. I do think you could have better service, though." He went out, closing the door while I was explaining that I had been helping the person that had gotten there before him. And that the problem wasn't the library's fault. What I should have said, though, is, "YOU PROBABLY HIT CANCEL INSTEAD OF SEND, BECAUSE THAT IS WHAT ALL OF YOU PEOPLE DO ALL OF THE TIME. THEN YOU BLAME ME WHEN YOU LOSE ALL OF YOUR 'VERY IMPORTANT' MESSAGES." Instead, after the door was closed, I offered a few choice words in his direction. I must have looked more than a little rattled by then, since when a librarian came in she told me not to worry about reshelving the magazines that were left. Or perhaps she heard me muttering after the patron. In any case, "Just go home," she said.
Exhibit C: But I didn't go home. I went to a friend's house where a dog chewed on my brand new (and very beautiful) hat.
Exhibit D: When I finally did come home, someone had written onions on the food list, the food list which is posted right next to a produce bill that says we had onions delivered on Monday. I put the onions on the counter and threw that food list away.
Exhibit E: Our dear Diaryland lost my very long and angry first entry! In my own sick little way, I'm happy this happened because it's one more thing I can complain about.
Anyway, it is at times like this that one needs to get back to the basics.
A man.
A guitar.
A Welsh accent.
2003-02-12
This is my first and last experience with reality television
Well, I have just switched a shift next Monday and even though my reason was something like "It would just be advantageous for me to be able to leave a little earlier," we all know what the real reason is.
Yes.
It is so I can be home in time to watch the two hour series finale of Joe Millionaire.
I only wish I was kidding.
And let me tell you something, if we find out that he's gay or married or really a millionaire, I'm tearing up my Joe Millionaire fanclub membership card.
I didn't start watching this show for a happily ever after ending.
I started watching because I am a horrible person who wants to see a greedy woman do everything she can to seduce a dimwitted (and not that cute) guy and then dump him when she finds out he's not rich.
Joe had better deliver.
2003-02-12
The quest for utopia
My first class was cancelled. This was good news of course (would've been better if I hadn't actually gotten all the way to class before hearing it), but it is turned into phenomenal news by the fact that maybe, just maybe, this little delay will mean that our papers won't be due until after spring break! We should've gotten the topics today, but since the professor wasn't there and he has repeatedly stated that he doesn't really know how or like to use email, I don't know how we'd possibly get the topics in time to hand in a paper next Wednesday! Woooooo!
I have mixed feeling about the class, generally. The professor is a little on the dull side, but not really entirely boring, and he has the frightening habit of making loud, foghornesque noises midsentence: "So Gulliver's Travelsis a satire, but UUUUUHHHHHH for those of us not living in 18th century England does it still actually make sense?"
He also sometimes makes really random statements, I think just to make sure we are paying attention. Here are some, sans foghorn interludes:
On living simply:
"Did anyone really have an inherent need for striped toothpaste and vaginal deoderants?"
On Sir Thomas More's Utopia:
"So really, there was nowhere where you could sneak off and, say, make love to a chicken."
On ?:
"So he was one of the earliest casualties of refrigeration."
My classmates in this class are actually willing to discuss things, which seems to go against the norm for this semester. This class also contains several people who, in my eyes, actually stand out from the masses of college-aged people who swarm campus. I mean, people I could actually pick out from a lineup. Most notable among these people is the girl with the cool clothes. For example, one day she was wearing a white button shirt with a tube top over it. And although it sounds like a horrible idea, it actually looked really good. I find this terribly unfair because if I tried something like that, I'd look like a feral child who was never taught to dress herself properly.
Anyway (yes the paragraphs in this long and winding entry are pretty much only dictated by when I feel like hitting the enter key), her clothes were pretty tame this week. Next week, though, I'm sure she'll wear a shirt for pants of something. And I'm sure she'll look fine.
I'd say I'm not bitter but that would be a lie.
2003-02-12
Nothing really ends
Just now I came across something I wrote for a class that I took during the summer. Although the work as a whole wasn't anything spectacular, there were a few lines that were. Spectacular, I mean. They feel detached and personal at the same time. They evoke an atmosphere of their own, of a specific time and place that no longer exists.
And it's really made me think about endings.
My impending graduation from college (cross your fingers) has had me thinking about high school graduation. I was glad to be done, but I also was scared to continue. I went out with some friends after our commencement ceremony and although the general mood of the evening was celebratory, there was an air of solemnity the whole night. Things were already starting to change.
High school graduation wasn't an ending, though. It wasn't a beginning either. It was transitory; I had plans for after high school. Things were going to be different in college. I was going to grow to be a fully functional adult. And I have changed since I started college, but I don't feel like an adult. I feel like a kid who has to worry about a job and bills and the government. And as far as graduation goes, I feel exactly the same. I'm glad to be done, but I'm scared. And this time, it really is an ending - I don't know what's happening afterwards. I have vague ideas about what I'd like to happen, but nothing very concrete.
I don't mean any of this in a melodramatic, "I will surely perish" kind of way. I'm sure I'll get by (holy optimism, batman!). I'd just like things to be a little more evident. That's all.
This introspection was brought to you by a bleak February night. Remember, nobody does bleak quite like the month of February!
2003-02-11
Simple pleasures
I enjoy adding sugar to tea when the water isn't hot enough to instantly dissolve it. I don't stir it up, either, because I enjoy the sugary sludge of goodness at the bottom.
2003-02-11
This is a nonentry
Tuesdays have been sort of a nonevent this semester.
Actually, that is kind of a lie. Most days are nonevents in my life.
2003-02-10
By the way
To May:
I know you don't read this, but if on the off-chance that you happen upon it for some unknown reason, yes, I got your two postcards and enjoyed them immensely, especially the one about the stockings. However, I am finding it difficult to write back to you since I DON'T HAVE YOUR ADDRESS! Yeesh. Please do send it around, though. I have a lot of free time.
2003-02-10
Monolinguals like me are lucky
We have to do mock trials next week in my language and discrimination class. The case that my group got is actually pretty interesting. However, one of the guys in my group decided that we got the side of the case that was 'obviously wrong' and sat in the corner and sulked the whole time we were supposed to be discussing our argument. We are on the side of an Asian restaurant which instituted an English-only rule in specifically designated situations, and the people that refused to sign were fired.
Now, I'm not defending an English-only movement, but the actions of the restaurant seem a lot more defendable than the manager who didn't hire a radio dj because he sounded "too gay," which was one of the other cases. BUT, we are on the side of the oppressor, and therefore, it is wrong. And he crossed his arms and said, "I just don't feel comfortable doing this."
I feel like people who take the "everybody should be able to speak whatever language they want to" view are just as bad as the "all English all the time" people. Can we get some middle ground here people? There are some situations where a default language is necessary. There are other situations where it doesn't really matter. The problems are (1) what is appropriate at what time and (2) who gets to decide these things?
Sometimes school just makes me angry.
2003-02-09
Eurofresh
Today I laughed out loud in the grocery store at the fact that the bread I was buying was described with the term "Eurofresh."
And on the drive home, I followed a very slow car that had a license plate frame that said, "Leif landed first: ask any Icelander." I had never seen a license plate frame like it before.
2003-02-09
Motown movie, here I come
Hey, I found my student ID in my backpack! Yeah, the backpack that I take to school and stuff! What a totally insane place to put a student ID!
2003-02-09
Here's to swimmin with bow-legged wimmen
My car is working again. . .it's sort of like a soap opera, where people die but they don't really. My dad said that if I start it about 10 minutes before I want to go somewhere (and it stays started the whole time) it should be fine. I drove it to the store last night and was a nervous wreck the whole time, expecting it to sputter to a stop at any moment. The trip was a success, though, and I bought a skirt and yogurt and a bag and toothpaste and cherry tomatoes for the house.
A while after that, I went to the midnight show of Jaws at the State Theater. I've lost my student ID, so I asked the man at the ticket window if I could get the student price even though I didn't have the card. He asked me what I studied, I said, "Linguistics," and he said, "$6.25," apparently assuming that if someone was going to feign student-hood, they wouldn't pick linguistics for a major. For some reason, I handed him a five dollar bill and three ones. He said, "You gave me an extra dollar," and then handed five one dollar bills and three quarters back to me. I stood there and looked confused for a few minutes, while the angel on my right shoulder said, "You should ask for clarification on just why you got so much change back," and the devil on the other said, "KIM! TAKE THE MONEY AND RUN!" The line and pressure were growing, so I obligingly stuffed the money into my wallet. I guess that I saw a movie for $2.25 but I'm still not really sure what happened, exactly.
Now I am going to go look for my ID card because I want to go see Standing in the Shadows of Motown tonight. Finally.
2003-02-07
Please celebrate responsibly
Today is Ashton Kutcher's birthday, and since he is the running gag of the month, I bid you all to get out there and rent 'Dude, Where's My Car?' a movie which, in these car-trouble laden times, means even more.
2003-02-07
Bill and ted
I've been using the word 'excellent' a lot lately:
Today at Blimpie's:
"Actually, you get a cookie with that too."
"Excellent!"
Last night when we ordered pizza:
"OK, it should be there in about 1/2 an hour."
"Excellent!"
Today at the library:
"Do you know where the tax forms are?"
"They're on the second floor."
"They're not there anymore."
"Excellent!"
"Do you have the bathroom key?"
"No, I think it's out right now. You can just wait over there by the door, it might be easier."
"Excellent!"
2003-02-07
The triple A saloon
Really, the car troubles are getting to be a bit much. Last night I started my car and it sputtered a little so I sat in my spot and waited to see if it was going to start sounding better. It did and I left. I stopped at the first stop sign and that was the end. We tried jumpstarting it, that was no help so I called a tow truck, thinking maybe they had secret jumpstarting abilities.
I never know how to handle car trouble. Take, for instance, the (in)famous trip to Cleveland. Take the (numerous) times I left my lights on during high school. I didn't want to call the towtruck because I had no idea what to tell them: "Well, see I got in my car and then I drove about a block and it died, and it's just sitting down there in the street now. Please help me?" the man on the phone sounded like Ira Glass and that made me feel better. He told me that he would call me back when the truck got closer to my house so I wouldn't even have to wait outside in the cold. While I waited, I ate pineapple upside down cake that was left over from dinner and tried to think up an interesting narrative regarding the evening, just on the offchance that the man on the phone really was Ira Glass.
While I was thinking about this, a tow truck drove by. My tow truck! No callback! I ran down the icy sidewalk in my maryjanes and my skirt and my tights, expecting to fall and break my neck (i fell down the other day just walking on the sidewalk in shoes that are supposedly made for winter). I gestured to the towtruckmaan that it was my car and he asked me what was wrong and I said, "Um, I don't know I thought it might be the battery. . ." He listened to it and said, "Nope that's not your battery." I was sad and said that I guessed, then, that I wanted him to just tow it back to my house. I showed him where it was and he said (and, truly, these were the words of the evening. without them i would've just been sad and depressed. but these words changed everything.), "You'll have to ride with me."
And I was like, "OH!MY!GOSH! YOU ARE KIDDING ME! I GET TO RIDE IN THE TRUCK?!"
Of course, we were only about a block from my house*; three right turns and we were there. It was like a crummy carnival ride. But I did spend the rest of the night telling everyone about how I got to ride in a tow truck.
*now that I think about it, yes, it probably would have made more sense just to push that sucker home. but the tow truck was already there. And for those of you that will cite the cost of an around-the-block towing as a problem, I have three letters for you. And theY're all A.
2003-02-07
Tow me home
Tonight I got to ride in a tow truck.
2003-02-05
Forget it
So, I take back that last dramatic entry. My watch was safely recovered from the lost and found (well, it wasn't in the lost and found, exactly, but it was very close to it, and therefore findable). Thank you , mysterious and honest library patron/employee. Your kindness will not be forgotten.
2003-02-05
My Swiss watch from Switzerland (1998-2003)
When I was in high school, my parents went to Europe. It was adults only (no, it wasn't that kind of trip, they went with a choir that my mom is in), so I held down the fort at home (actually, I stayed at my grandma's house, but that's not really the point).
However, just because I wasn't going on the trip didn't mean that I didn't want stuff. Neato stuff from Europe that I couldn't get here. Since my brother wouldn't be asking for anything, that would mean that I could get twice as much! Right? Right! Of course, when it got right down to it, I didn't really know what I wanted from Europe, and when my parents asked me straight up, I said something like this: 'Uhhhh. . . candy. . . . and . . .um, a Swiss watch."
And what did my parents bring back for me? I mean besides hours and hours of video tape featuring my dad complaining about every aspect of Europe and vowing to never leave the U S of A again? They brought me candy and a Swiss watch! And after finishing the three thousand packages of wafers that they brought back, all I was left with was the watch.
It was a very large men's watch, and everytime that I wore it I felt like Esm�. It had a clear glass face that allowed you to see all of its inner workings and it had to be wound every 12 hours or so. It was a nice watch.
I can't say, with any degree of truthfulness, that I've been using the watch for the past few years. No, my parents bought me a Beatles watch on another trip, and I gradually used MSWFS less and less. It was becoming tempramental, and stopped keeping time even though it was being wound properly, the watch bands kept breaking, and it had somehow gotten a rather nasty scratch across part of the metal frame. But, even though I was wearing the more reliable (battery-operated) Beatles watch, putting up with dopey men in record stores saying things like, "You can say that it's half-past Ringo!", I kept my Swiss Watch from Switzerland.
I finally got it out again this week, as the Beatles have gone AWOL and I needed a timepiece to look at every five minutes while I'm in class. However, sometime between the time I got to work and now, my watch has disappeared, probably because of it's faulty band. I've retraced my steps, looking under desks and magazine racks and couches. It is gone. I will check with lost and found as soon as I can leave my desk, but, it was a nice watch, and I'd have to assume that your average pubic library patron would choose to keep it rather than turn it in. Perhaps this is bad karma for Monday, when I left a wallet on the sidewalk, rather than picking it up and trying to figure out who it belonged to and how to get it back to them. Maybe my watch just wanted to go live with someone who wasn't going to keep it in a dark little box 24 hours a day. Whatever the case, please do observe a moment of silence for My Swiss Watch from Switzerland. (cue Amy Grant's "I Will Remember You" and a photo montage of the good times that I had with MSWFS.)
2003-02-05
It's all about context
Sometimes, even though it is cold and wintry, I enjoy wearing skirts. However, sometimes it is too cold and wintry to walk twelve blocks to work, even with sweatery argyle tights. So I wear jeans and change when I get here, which gives me the glorious opportunity to say, "Well, the first thing I do when I get to work is take my pants off."
2003-02-05
I'll see you in my dreams
Today while I was in my English class, I saw that someone from a previous class had written 'Leadbelly' on the chalkboard and all during class all I could think was "Irene goodniiiiiight, Irene goodniiiiiight." Which made it very difficult to learn anything about Sir Francis Bacon's New Atlantis, but I don't really think that I really missed anything.
2003-02-03
Mellow drama
A little while ago I was sprawled out on the couch watching Cheers. A housemate came in and said that, while she was upstairs, she had thought that she'd heard me sobbing in my room. My door was ajar, she knocked on it and I wasn't there.
This leads to one very obvious conclusion and one very surprising one:
(a) My room is haunted! This idea is furthered by the fact that all of the lights in here just blinked, while the rest of the electricity-dependent objects were unaffected.
(b) If I was crying my eyes out in my room, someone might actually check on me.
2003-02-03
Revenge of the 12-year old Honda
My parents came and took me out for dinner yesterday. I called the night before because my car didn't start again and I wondered if there was something specific that I should do with it. My dad said he would just come and look at it, but I felt bad because he had to work until 3 on Saturday and then drive 2 hours to get here, and then when he got here the car started right up (of course!), so it just looked like I was trying to scam a free dinner out of them. And for once that wasn't even what I was trying to do.
2003-02-01
Happy Chinese New Year
The Google homepage is too cute for words.
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