Talk, Talking A Lot, But It's Still Talk

I wish the 15th would hurry up and get here - I want to watch Juno like twenty times in a row.

(Oh.  Hey, everybody.  What's up?)

I'm still as busy as hell, but it's easier to handle now that I'm feeling more upbeat.  And this weekend is actually going to be relatively leisurely, since my Evolution & History of Life midterm isn't hanging over my head anymore.  I hate that class.  I get up every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday already bored in anticipation of the lecture.  And the lab.  Dear God, the lab - easily the most aggravating two hours of my week.  Like last Tuesday?  We're still studying ancient sea organisms (even though you'd think we'd have progressed to land-dwelling creatures by now), and our lab assignment was to separate a bunch of fossils of the same phyla into species.  The only catch was that some of the fossils were in pieces, sometimes very small pieces, and we still had to try to classify as many of those as we could.  Even so, it should have taken all of fifteen minutes, but since the girl I usually partner with wasn't there I got stuck with the most anal-retentive guy in the room.  Apparently he missed the part of the instructions that allowed us to disregard the pieces that were too small or warped to identify, because he was determined to classify every frigging granule.


And so on.  For almost an hour.  We were the last ones in there by far, and the TA kept coming over and saying stuff like, "You guys don't have to be super-specific - some of the pieces aren't identifiable.  Really."

You don't say.  Needless to say, it was kind of a pain, and pretty typical of that lab, sadly.

But yeah, it's been kind of a weird week overall.  My social life suddenly picked up, although I don't think I did anything to instigate that.  And I had this weird prophetic dream on Monday: I dreamed that the fire alarm went off while I was in the shower, and when I woke up I was like, "Ha, that would be a pain in the ass" and went to take a shower.  And I kid you not, just as I was turning the water off the alarm started shrieking. 

I did not go running outside in my towel, however.  Maybe if there was smoke in the hallway I would have, but come on.  Everyone was just kind of ambling outside, so I took the opportunity to get dressed first.

And on Tuesday I was a lab rat in one of the sociology department's experiments.  I won't go into a ton of detail because it really wasn't that interesting, but basically I was paid $20 to spend an hour filling out questionaires and spitting in a test tube at certain intervals.  I also had to write a speech at one point, but that part was designed to stress me out.  The thing is, I figured out what was going on pretty early in the game, so it really wasn't that painful.

I don't know if any of that makes sense.  It was kind of a weird experiment, though - I can't really think of a way to describe it that wouldn't take ages, and it's really not worth the effort of writing it all out.

There were other incidents as well, but I'm going on forever here so I think I'll just disregard them.  Actually, I think I'll stop now and go outside - it's ridiculously nice out today.  And later on I'll probably go see 21 - it feels like I haven't been to a movie in months (although truthfully I saw Vantage Point while I was on break).  Anyway, I'm off.

...So.  It's been a while.  Hi?


If you don't want to read all that, here's a summary: I had some issues, but now they're about gone; I pulled my first (and kind of unnecessary) all-nighter; I got a piercing my parents would disapprove of; and I've been a vegetarian since February.  Actually, that last one didn't make it in there, but that happened too.  Can't even say why.  Oh, and I'm experiencing one of those "What the hell do I want to do with my life?" things, but I'll save that for another day.

Anyway, now I'm taking a break from studying for my Roman Civ midterm, but it's 4:00 now so I should probably get back to that.  I think this has been sufficiently long and "TMI" worthy.  Bye, internet.

I saw Juno last night and loved it.  That's the first time I've actually been enthusiastic about a movie since I came home for break - I wasn't crazy about I Am Legend for whatever reason, and Atonement nearly put me to sleep (although I read an excerpt of the book and liked it...maybe I should have read it first.)  And I did like Sweeney Todd, but the music was stuck in my head for two weeks and that started getting a little old.

I think I'm one of maybe four people who didn't like Atonement.  Maybe it's just me, but the "staggeringly lovely" cinematography didn't make up for the fact that there was this huge section in the middle of the movie in which nothing happened.  I can only watch characters walk around looking depressed and pensive for so long before I start going a little nuts.

Juno, though, was excellent.  And hilarious - I'll try to remember to shout "Thundercats are GOOOOO!!!" if/when I go into labor.

I'm also kind of into Heroes now - I got the first season for Christmas and thought it was pretty cool, but I hear the subsequent seasons weren't all that amazing.  What I really want are some new episodes of House, but there's that whole strike thing.  *grumble*

Strange to think that I still have a week of break left.  *ducks random projectiles*  I guess I'm starting to get ready to go back - it'll be good to have some sense of purpose again.  So far over break I've 1) read sixteen books, 2) been to a few movies, as stated above, 3) watched the first season of Heroes, also as stated above, 4) gained four pounds back (ag!) but I'll lose them again once I get back to school, 5) started re-teaching myself how to play the piano with some degree of finesse, 6) finished a short story, and 7) lost a game of Monopoly...to my rabbit.  And so on.  Nothing terribly productive.

Anyway.  I'm going to my brother's hockey game in a few minutes, so I'll just cut this terribly fascinating update short.

I always forget how far superior my shower at home is to the ones at school.  It was tempting to stay in there for as long as the hot water lasted, but of course I have more important things to do now that I'm home for break.

Big, important things.  Like...uh...work out.  And play Pokemon: Mystery Dungeon while watching some of the first season of House (seriously I'm going through withdrawal - I need some new episodes!)  And play with my rabbit, who wouldn't let me take him out of his cage last night but apparently has now forgiven me for being away.

And he'll get sick of me eventually, since I don't have to go back to school until January 20th.  College wins!

Speaking of college, my exams went pretty well, which is surprising given that I put off studying a tad too long.  The Stats exam could have gone better, but I wound up with an A in the class so the test itself has been rendered insignificant.  Somehow managed to pull off an A on my Biology exam, which was over 26 chapters of crap I didn't care about.  I've already forgotten almost all of it - it's a beautiful thing.  Philosophy went really smoothly, but that probably isn't a good thing.  Every time I think I do well on something in that class I'm unpleasantly surprised later.  So we'll see.  Mythology, though, was a breeze.  I actually liked that class, so studying for it was almost leisurely in a way.  I finished in fifteen minutes and got a perfect score on the thing.  Which I'm not smug about at all.  *lies*

Not that it was that big of an accomplishment: it was only over four chapters.  *ego deflates*

Right, I'll shut up about all that.  Actually, I'll shut up entirely - I'm hungry.  Hope everyone has a good Christmas, if you celebrate it, and if not, then at least a good break.

Dude, Kal Penn (you know, Kutner from House?) was at my campus today.  Saw him in the dining hall and definitely did a double-take.  He was kind of being mobbed and I had a class to get to, so I didn't get an autograph or anything.  Still, I think this is my first celebrity sighting, concerts excluded.  It's not exactly one of the defining moments of my life, but it was pretty cool nonetheless.

So yeah.  Just thought I'd share.  But I'm actually shutting up now because finals are in - dear God - three days and I haven't started studying anything in-depth just yet.  So I need to go do that.

So I saw The Golden Compass today.


Anyway, I guess I should study some more now since I have to work on my part of the group speech tomorrow, plus putting together the formal outline, writing the conclusion, and organizing the works cited page (I always wind up taking on extra work in group projects - it's a control thing), but honestly, I'll probably just go to bed.  If I can get any sleep, that is - my body must be used to four- or five-hour spurts now, because even when I have the option of sleeping in, I can't anymore.  Yes, it sucks.

And I'm rambling.  I'll stop.  Night, all.

*plops down*  Whew!  I just spent about an hour dancing around my dorm room like crazy to this song.  Go listen to it (or at least part of it) and you'll understand why I'm worn out now - it's pretty fast, and I guess I was closer to flailing than dancing per se.

(Just a warning - it's almost a guarantee that it'll get stuck in your head if you listen to it, so follow the link with caution.)

I also did a good portion of this so-called "dancing" in front of my mirror and thus was able to confirm that, yes, I am an energetic but terrible dancer.  Like, if someone was trying to dance with me I'd probably smack them in the face by accident.  Repeatedly.  So often that it would cease to look like an accident and I'd probably be arrested.

Anyway, if any of you actually checked the song out, you probably have some serious doubts as to my taste in music right now (and are probably also cursing me because now it won't get out of your head.  Ha!)  I don't know why I like it, either, but I'm feeling pretty manic at the moment, so maybe it's just a mood thing.

Wow, this post is really pointless.  Like, beyond my usual.  Whoops.

I need to turn off the music and finish my homework anyway.  I have finals in a week and I haven't really studied all that much yet.  And I'm nursing a serious grudge against my Biology professor for testing us over the whole semester's worth of material.  (I know that's the point of a final, but none of my other professors are doing it and it's at least twenty chapters of crap.  NOT ON.)

Also, the lab sucks.  We keep dissecting things, and even though it doesn't particularly gross me out, it is getting tedious (and the smell isn't exactly a plus, either.)  As if that's not annoying enough, today we were talking about the reproductive system.  And if for some reason you're laboring under the delusion that college students can be mature about this sort of thing, allow me to correct you: they can't.  Didn't help that the TA was talking about it all in his incomprehensible accent, and he's also the last person I want to hear talking about anything even remotely related to sex.

"I wonder," I mused to myself as the TA rambled on about VAA-gin-uhs (to a chorus of undignified giggles and snorts), "if I could beat my head against the table hard enough to knock myself unconscious."

And, once again, I was the sucker who had to do all the actual dissecting.

"I could be doing anything else right now," I hissed to the guy sitting across from me.  "I could be reading The Iliad, finishing my Philosophy essay, studying for my Stats final-"

"Or sleeping," he supplied helpfully, slurping his coffee.

"-Or sleeping," I agreed, slicing through the lifeless (and curiously flattened) animal on my tray recklessly.  "And it would be infinitely preferable to molesting a dead rat before ten a.m.."

(We were dissecting them so we could examine their reproductive organs, so as to illustrate the material we're covering this chapter.)

"I'll give either one of you twenty bucks if you lick the rat," another guy said, leering as he leaned over the table to check out either the organs spilling out of the dead rodent or my breasts - it was hard to tell.  I opened and closed the dissecting scissors threateningly and he leaned back in his chair, falling asleep in about five seconds.

As you can see, only geniuses are accepted here.  And I really am going now.

So I was catching up on the House 4 episodes I missed these past couple of weeks, and naturally started wondering what was going on in the fandom.  After scanning the first couple of pages of House fics, I really had to ask myself, "Do people not realize that there are new characters this season?"

Seriously.  Is it because the season's still in progress?  I'm a little taken aback here.  Maybe I need to dig a little deeper, but I've kind of lost the urge now.

*shrugs*  At least the episodes were good - the Thong Challenge in "You Don't Want To Know" was pretty entertaining.  Immature, but entertaining.  And does anyone else wonder what Thirteen's real name is? 

In other news, yesterday was kind of hectic.  Here's the list of events:

1) Woke up to screeching fire alarms at seven - the bastards were running a drill.  Was pissed off because Tuesday is the only day of classes that I get to sleep in, plus it was freezing outside.
2) Procrastinated until I had to go to my Stats section, then had a quiz sprung on me.  But it was open-notes, so no big deal there.
3) Was mildly baffled when my Mythology professor stood me up - we'd scheduled a meeting to talk about this essay she'd assigned, but I guess she forgot.  Or something.
4) Managed to score a last-minute appointment with my adviser so she could clear me to register for classes - that was lucky.
5) Discovered that Student Health was preventing me from registering for some reason.
6) Trekked across the river to tell them that yes, actually, you do have the forms you need, so please stop sabotaging my registration attempts.
7) Biology.  Ick.
8) Registered for classes - all the ones I wanted were open, so yay for that.  And next semester I never have to get up before 10 if I don't want to, so that rocks.
9) Developed a migraine around 7:30 that didn't ease up enough for me to get to sleep until about one in the morning.  So basically I was in bed for twelve hours but only got six hours of sleep.  That just seems stupid.

Now that I look back on it, that should have been a bad day.  But I was in a fairly good mood until the migraine came on, and even then I wasn't annoyed so much as in serious pain.

So...that's about it.  Still haven't posted about NaNoWriMo like I was planning to, but eh.  I need to go to Mythology soon anyway and possibly arrange another meeting, although now that I think of it I can probably work it out on my own.

This post is just too fascinating.  I'm going to have to cut it off before one of us goes into a coma. 

Happy Thanksgiving, homies.  Well, what's left of it, anyway.  I indulged in the typical Turkey Day gluttony, felt slightly ill, walked/ran seven miles on the treadmill, felt better, and then had a two-hour discussion about my schedule for next semester (among other things) with my dad.  So, as you might imagine, I'm pretty tired now, and I have this song stuck in my head even though I didn't really like the movie version of Beowulf. 

...So I had it in my head that I was going to talk about NaNoWriMo, but it's bound to be long, and like I said, I'm pretty tired, so I'll save that epic entry for tomorrow.

I know.  You're on the edge of your seats.

Anyway, I hope no one ate their way into a stupor, regardless of how fun that sounds.  Later, guys.

I'm home for Thanksgiving break and it's lovely, even though my sleeping schedule is no longer even remotely compatible with the rest of my family's.  It was so weird that everything got quiet around 11 - I wasn't even tired until about two in the morning. 

I'm so glad it's break, though! *stretches luxuriously*  Of course I've got stuff I need to work on, but it's much more palatable when I'm not stuck in my dorm room as usual.  And this is an odd thing to notice, but I forgot how much better the quality of light is in my room at home - in my dorm the light has this weird yellowish tinge all the time, because I don't get a lot of good natural lighting.  I expect that I will soon become yellowish as well if this keeps up.

Shut up, it's possible.

I'm having a little trouble concentrating at the moment because my rabbit keeps jumping over my feet and distracting me with his cuteness.

...And my brother totally just tried to tip me out of my chair (I'm in one of those curved gaming chairs).  He's reading The Odyssey right now, which is kind of funny because I'm reading The Iliad.  And at some point he developed these insanely awesome juggling skills that he demonstrated practically as soon as I walked in the door.  He probably spent weeks honing an completely impractical ability - we're alike that way.  I mean, I'm teaching myself how to write with my left hand.

Expect frequent updates as to how that's going, by the way.  (Kidding.)

But now that I think about it, it's more practical than juggling.  If I break my right hand I'll still be able to write.  I'm defying nature - it did not grant me ambidexterity, but I'll screw with the order of the universe anyway - total badassery.  My brother, meanwhile, will be entertaining screaming five-year-olds at a birthday party.  So tell me, which one of us is the cooler one?  Like I even need to ask.

Anyway, damn, I'm starving.  I'm gonna go grab some food now.

You know what would be nice?  Being able to watch the sixth episode of House 4, that's what.  Come on, Fox website, get with the freaking program already - that episode aired three days ago, and I can't get it to work for me anywhere else!  I've been forced to watch Grey's Anatomy, for God's sake!

(I will not become addicted to that show.  I just won't.  I saw the first season and wanted to beat my head against a wall...although it looks like the show's improved since then...gah!  No!)

I did, however, became addicted to chocolate-covered pretzels while watching the newest episode of that show today.  Can I afford to be consuming large amounts of chocolate-covered pretzels?  No.  It's a good thing I don't keep a lot of junk food in my dorm - I just stole them from my friend (who was the one to force me to watch the show anyway, so she deserved what she got.  Or rather, lost.)

Anyway.

You know what else what be nice?  Finding out how I did on my last Stats exam.  The scores were supposed to be posted by now, but are they up?  Nope.  I realize that the professor has a life, and that's wonderful and all, but I'm a selfish being and would like to stop wallowing in uncertainty.

Oh, but here's something positive to say: they finally turned the heat on in my building, so I'm no longer freezing as I attempt to do my homework.  That's always a plus.  Also, this song amuses me far more than it should.

So I guess it's obvious that nothing significant is going on, so I'll just stop talking now, okay?

You can stop applauding, though.  Real nice, that.

NaNoWriMo has been pretty interesting so far.  Initially I was working on an idea that's been floating around in my head for a while, but 2,000 words in I realized that I hated what I was doing to it, and that it really did need a lot more planning out before I attempted to write it.  That set me back quite a bit, because I spent another day wallowing in indecision about whether to continue with a different subject or just abandon the enterprise altogether.  I finally decided to start over, tackling a new, very vague idea in hopes that somewhere over the course of 50,000 words it might develop into something interesting.  So on Saturday I nearly strained something by writing over 5,100 words all in one sitting, catching myself up on the time I'd lost.  So now I'm a little over 8,500 words in and nothing too exciting has happened yet, but I'm kind of figuring it out as I go.  I don't know where some of these characters are coming from, but it's kind of cool to watch them and the beginnings of a plot emerge, like I'm driving a car and sitting in the passenger seat at the same time.

Of course I could never show this "novel" to anyone because it's utter crap.  Which is kind of the point, yes?  It feels good to force myself to write something, although now I probably won't update Accepting Irony until December unless I get some more free time.

I just want to finish that fic and be done with it, really, so I can start working on another WIP that's been nagging at me for a little while.  Well, actually there are two of them, one for Bartimaeus and one for the Twilight series.  I might write the Twilight one first for a change of pace, and although I'll probably break this resolution later, I thought I might try finishing it before posting.  Just to see what that's like.  (It is so not happening.  I can already tell.)

Kind of wondering when I'm ever going to get around to revising Terms of Endearment.  Maybe I should post the original somewhere just for politeness's sake, since I kind of whisked it away without warning?  I don't know.

I've heard that the second week of NaNoWriMo is the hardest.  I can believe it - although I've been doing pretty well so far, I just have this sense that pretty soon this project's going to knock me on my ass.  But I want to finish.  Like, really badly - I've never actually completed an original story idea before, how sad is that?  Time to break the trend.

Anyway, in other news, it is freezing in my dorm room.  I could've sworn they turned the heat on today - guess they were just messing with my mind.  Nice.

(Oh, and I downloaded this song randomly and now find myself slightly obsessed with it.  I don't even know why.  Seems I'm developing this appreciation for electronic music or something, what with my love of Imogen Heap's second album, D.H.T., and now this.)

I wrote exactly four paragraphs for Accepting Irony last night - it's the most productive I've been in a while as far as that story's concerned.  I'm getting tired of all the interference with my attempts to write the chapter - I thought once midterms were over I'd have more time to work on it, but I've still been insanely busy.  Curse you, college! *shakes fist*

Still.  I'm glad I managed to write a little, though.  I'm chipping away at this bit by bit - I think I just need to make the time and finish already.

Hmm, I'm kind of having a hard time typing this because of a minor accident involving a razor.  Apparently I shouldn't be allowed to handle objects with sharp edges, because I somehow managed to fumble my razor and take a chunk out of one of the nails on my left hand while shaving my legs.  As you might imagine, it hurt . A lot.  But I handled it with my usual mature grace, if dropping the razor and screeching, "Oh, holy FUCK!" qualifies as mature and graceful.  Anyway, the Band-Aid keeps getting in the way and hitting the capslock key, so every time I try to type something it comes out looking liKE THis.   Nice.

But that's hardly relevant. 

Oh, and my mom's coming up for Parents' Weekend or whatever, so that's exciting.  I'll be glad to see her even though she tried to thwart my attempt to lose weight.  How?  Well, I'll tell you.


So, I'm sure that was scintillating.

Most notable of all, though, is that at long last I've caught up with Season 4 of House, because I finally found a site where I can watch the episodes online (for some reason Fox's website wasn't working.)  I have to say that I'm enjoying this season much more than the third one, probably because of the fresh faces.  I was getting tired of Cameron, Foreman, and Chase - the new blood is refreshing.  Although I am glad that they aren't entirely out of the picture. I'll admit.  Can't figure out why Cameron's blonde all of a sudden, though - personally I think she looked better as a brunette. 

Wilson is as terrific as ever, thank heaven.  God, I love that guy.  It takes balls to steal House's guitar.  Balls of steel.

Anyway, out of the new candidates, who do you guys think the new team's going to be?  Let's discuss.

*collapses*

Finally, midterms are over.  I've been working nonstop all week.  Everything except Philosophy went really well - Philosophy...well, I've basically resigned myself to the fact that my brain just doesn't work that way.  I don't know if I'm being closed-minded or just practical, but it seems pointless to me to consider questions that have no answers for extended periods of time.  Trust me, I don't feel enriched.  Just confused.  And I fail to see the use in questioning my reality, because regardless of whether I believe it's accurate or not, I'm still going to be experiencing it just the way I have been for my entire life.  So while these things are interesting to think about on occasion, studying it is pretty exhausting and kind of annoying.

...So, yeah, the basic point here was to convey that I'm not dead.  Just busy.  And now that I'm no longer busy, I'm going to take a much-needed nap. 

I've been in a really weird mood all day and I can't seem to shake it.  I've been trying all my usual tricks - reading a funny book, listening to upbeat music, and so on, but it's not working, maybe because I'm not exactly depressed.  I don't know what you'd call it, actually - I'm not sad, but I'm definitely not happy and I don't want to talk to anyone, and everything seems to be moving really slowly.  And when I tried reading and listening to music, something in my mind kept twisting the words so that they sounded, if not sinister, at least wrong in a way that's really hard to define.

Maybe it's because my sleep schedule's off or something, I don't know.  But I've been skulking around my dorm room all day, which is getting boring, but it's overcast and dreary, not to mention cold, outside, so I don't think going out will help much.

It's too bad, really, because I was planning to finish the next chapter of Accepting Irony today, but apparently I can't write when I'm in this mood - the tone's all wrong.  I'm going to keep trying, though - that chapter's way overdue.

Meh.  Kind of a pointless post (not a surprise), but I felt like venting a bit.  I guess the frenzy of posts in September got blogging out of my system for a while, since it's actually - *gasp* - been more than a few days since I've written.  It's a shock, I know.