Meh

So yea for this semester not being quite as bad as last semester (knock on wood). Nothing extraordinary, just life. :) It's kind of nice, actually. Although we did get our heating bill yesterday, and for the month of December, when two of the three housemates were gone for 2 weeks (yea Christmas break!), our heating bill was triple! Aaack! Apparently the third roommate just didn't realize how the house isn't really insulated that well, and was just cold, and didn't realize how expensive it would be to turn the heat up to 73 degrees for two weeks. But still--our heating bill is usually about $25, and this time it's nearly $60 a person. I nearly had a heart attack. But oh well--nothing we can do about it now, so I'll just be grateful that my scholarship check is coming through. :)

And then, guess what happened to me the other night: I got asked out on a blind date. :) The son of some friends of my parents found out that I go to BYU as well, and thought it might be fun to get to get together. So last night he called me up and now we have a double blind date on Saturday for a "game night." Apparently he's setting his best friend up with a girl he (my "date") knows, so the other couple is on a blind date as well. Which is always a bit more comfortable. :) Anyways, I'm looking forward to it, although I'm a bit nervous.... Hopefully it won't be too awkward.

Apparently the films "Young Frankenstein," "Frankenweenie," and "Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein" are worthy of critical study. Man, I love my major. :D

And BYU's "Letters to the Editor" just keep getting better and better. Amy and I had a conversation a couple Sundays ago as we were walking back from church about how everybody parked illegally and how they were getting tickets. And by parking illegally, I mean parking in service spots and by red curbs, not just fudging the whole A lot/Y lot/whatever lot thing that BYU does that no one can figure out. I think I mentioned something about how the parking people shouldn't have to work on Sundays, but if we have people who insist upon breaking the law by parking illegally, then aren't they forcing (or creating a need) for the parking people to work on Sundays. I have no idea if they already work on Sundays for a different reason or whatever, I was just kind of musing out loud. Anyways, Amy mentioned that we ought to write a Letter to the Editor to complain that we force the parking police to work on Sundays, and guess what was in the paper on Wednesday: a letter complaining about how someone got a parking ticket on Sunday. :D Check out this link, and scroll down to "Sabbath Discount." I'm assuming a certain amount of tongue-in-cheek ("the Church is true, but BYU isn't"), but I love the fact that he justifies parking because he and his "lady friend" were late. So because he and his girlfriend were, for whatever reason, not concerned enough with getting to church on time, they shouldn't be penalized for parking illegally in a service spot. So it's ok to break laws on Sunday. *eye roll* Yea for personal responsibility. :) I don't think the parking police ought to work on Sunday if their sole responsibility is to write tickets, but then I don't think we ought to be parking illegally, for whatever reason. I guess I'm a bit ambivalent about this. But man I was amused to see Amy's subject for a joke Letter to the Editor in print! I love my fellow students. :)

Everyone Needs to Be Recognized

Ok, so today was not going to be very good. I had to do some pretty intensive editing on an article for one of my classes, and I really didn't wanna do that, and it was pretty much gonna take me all day. But I came downstairs at about noon for sustenance (ok, ice cream), and checked the mail, and I got a letter from the Humanities department, telling me that I made the Dean's List! Yea!!!! Yes, I'm pretty much excited beyond all reason. I like gold stars and pointless validation, and this had kind of been an unofficial goal of mine even before I got to college. So to finally make it made me really happy. Besides, I'd forgotten how good it feels to get the elementary school-type recognition that you don't get in college. :) And I get to go to a free breakfast in a couple weeks--8am to 10am. Of course I have class at 9, so I either get up an hour earlier for free food, or ditch class and get free food. Hmmm....decisions decisions

And not only did I manage to finish doing the editing (although a six-page scholarly article took me 6 hours to edit...argh), but I also read Moliere's Tartuffe and C.S. Lewis's An Experiment in Criticism. Lewis blew my mind; Narnia is good and accessible, Screwtape Letters is the same, Great Divorce is harder to understand but still pretty accessible, but Experiment in Criticism? Holy cow, my brain hurts! The things I understood rang true--I could tell he was writing pretty insightful things. But it's like I was looking through a pinhole into a room so brightly lit that I couldn't make anything out. And then as I started to get into the writing and how Lewis was thinking, I started to see shapes and outlines, but nothing defined. But then at the end, he seemed to say that one of the points or reasons that good literature is good, or literature that forces people to read in good ways, is simply because it allows us to see the world in different ways--to become more ourselves by seeing and experiencing how other people feel and see. A bit of a letdown after the rest of the book, but then, considering it was published in 1961, maybe I've just been immersed in that "expand your horizons" cliche. I think I'll need to re-read it, 'cause it hurt my brain.

So what did I do afterwards? Watched the version of "Air Force One" that I taped off TV, 'cause it has less gore. Yea for Harrison Ford awesomeness! :) I shouldn't like that movie--I don't like violence, I can't stand gore--but for some reason, it's one of my favorite movies. I think it's the awesome president Harrison Ford plays, and the unashamedly "yea for the US" message, and the (admittedly bombastic) score. *happy sigh* I only wish it was a better copy. :)

Jumble

Ok, 'cause I'm sure you were all worried, my sore throat has gotten somewhat better, but the cold/runny nose thing has gotten immeasurably worse. I'm thinking this is not fun. And it's cold! Like, insane freeze your face off type cold. I was walking home on Tuesday from work (at 10:00 pm--seriously not fun...), and I tried to furrow my brow ('cause I do that periodically, just to make sure I can), and I couldn't! My forehead had frozen. *was annoyed, but not so much now* Oh well--at least I'm only sick enough to be unhappy, and not sick enough to be horribly miserable and not go to school. Missing school would be bad.

And I'm really getting annoyed at the disorganized nature of my Adolescent Lit class, along with the total pointlessness of the lectures. I have to give a group presentation (well, supposedly group, but we'll see...) about the value of "series" books like Babysitters Club, Nancy Drew, etc. Good topic. Problem? We've already beaten the subject to death in class discussion. So not really to excited about that project. And as much as I like reading the books for the class, I don't like doing write-ups and being told that "I've already read the book" or other passive agressive comments. Grrrr....

As for the inauguration, I was at work all day and didn't get to watch it, although I was fairly diligent about keeping up with the NYT's live blog. Too bad they weren't quite as diligent. :) What struck me most was the crassness of those who, while legitimately ticked off at Bush, express their displeasure by booing at him (at least according to the article I read, some people boo-ed him when he came to the inauguration platform), or throwing shoes at his effigy in front of the White House. Really? Come on. And these are the same people who, if you express any sort of reservations about Obama, jump down your throat and tell you to stop being bitter and just be "unified." Now, Bush made a lot of mistakes--I realize that. I think Obama seems like a good, moral man--a strong family man--with policies that he believes will be best for the country. I respect that, and like that. I'm very glad that we have a leader that the rest of the world likes, if only for the improved international relations (and because, let's face it, it's nice to be popular). But the treatment towards Bush really makes me sad. If only because he's a fellow human being, there is no need to be cruel and crass towards him. He's not the devil and he's not a blithering idiot any more than Obama is the messiah. Also, while I like Obama himself (although again, don't agree with all of his policies or proposed policies), some of his supporters (those who latch on to the buzzwords and the bandwagon and haven't really thought it out) scare me. Like, a lot. I have a lot of good friends who've researched him, and who have done their homework, and support him 100%. And that's awesome. But those who didn't do their homework, who went with the popular choice with the (brilliant!) buzzwords, who don't tolerate anyone who doesn't support Obama, who don't realize that change for the sake of change isn't always a good thing and have just latched onto the "change" part of Obama's campaign, scare the heck out of me. And I don't know if I can deal with 4 or 8 years of that. But I am curious to see what Obama is gonna do, and anyone who can get so many people so enthused about the political process again deserves a lot of credit. And really, his daughters are adorable. :)

I don't like taxes. I like tax refunds though. And I need to start looking for a summer job... (Yes Mom & Dad, I'm gonna email him!)

And Jared said my name!!! Well, sort of. He said "Ti-ti" which I think clearly means "Tiffany." And it only took him 26 months! :)

Reckless Self-Indulgence with a Bit of a Sore Throat

So I woke up yesterday morning with a sore throat. Not a bad one, but enough to make me sound funny when I talk. But despite that, it even wormed its way into my dreams! In my dream my throat hurt and I asked the airport cafe/bar thing for a drink of water and it never came! *sigh* Dad, you ought to be glad to know that I gargled with salt water... :)

I've also come to the conclusion that Hamlet and Victor Frankenstein are the greatest pansies in the whole canon of English literature. Which, while annoying to read them, is actually going to give me two fairly good papers. :) One, for my freshman English class, will compare the characters of Hamlet and Victor--namely their distinct wimpiness. Then, for my senior course on Frankenstein, I've decided that Victor fits the stereotype/archetype of the gothic heroine: protected, weak, whiny, and passive. Even more intriguingly, the monster fits the mold of the tyrannical gothic father figure. So the creator becomes subjugated by his creation; toss in the fact that Mary Shelley was pregnant while writing the novel.... Actually, I have no idea what that means, but at least I'm thinking about the paper, right? I've got some interesting ideas and now I just need to figure out the "so what?" part. :)

In my adolescent lit class, after we read a book we have to do a page write up on it. The professor had mentioned that the majority of the books we read should be ones that we hadn't read before. So I get my first two writeups back--on books that I hadn't read before--and on both she's written (multiple times) that "am I sure that I hadn't read them before?" because the write-ups make it seem like I had. Which doesn't make any sense--I never mention reading them when I was little, or anything like that... I'm rather annoyed, especially since this is the professor who, when I told her about how my 4th grade teacher had accused me of lying because I'd read a chapter in a book impossibly quickly, said that it's horrible to accuse a student of lying and to never ever do that. So despite mentioning to the professor that I'd never read the books before when I asked if they would count, she still thought I'd read them before and asked me multiple times to be sure. Can you tell I don't like people questioning my honesty?

So last night, on the pretense of resting so I don't get sicker, last night I watched The Scarlet Pimpernel. There was much squeeing and love for Anthony Andrews (especially at the rescue of the Dauphin, where he's all scruffy and awesome and just... *swoons*), and an extreme amount of Armand-bashing. Seriously, the dude's got nothing between his ears--the Pimpernel promises to rescue your girl and what do you do? Not believe him, 'cause you're sure you can do better. Yea, 'cause the Pimpernel's got such a horrible track record... *eye roll* And then you've got Chauvelin, who has serious anger management issues--he keeps hitting things! But he does it in a pretty awesome way--the slapping of the desk when he finds out the De Tourneys have been rescued, or the hitting of the window sill at the Grenville's ball when he finds Percy sleeping on the couch. And seriously--the prison scene? Best scene ever.... *swoons again* Anyways, just thought I'd share that with you. :)

I even wen to the library today and got Hitchcock's The Man Who Knew Too Much and Van Dyke's The Thin Man. Classic movie marathon, here I come!

The Hidden Pro-Environmentalist Message in Disney's Sleeping Beauty

So, I was watching some old tv show episodes on hulu.com, and when one of the commercials began with a clip from Sleeping Beauty, I got really excited. I assumed they were either a). still promoting the release of the Platinum Edition from last October, which is very shiny and pretty so I didn't mind, or b). something new that was Sleeping Beauty related. I was wrong.

Apparently, Smokey the Bear has recognized in Sleeping Beauty an ally in his desperate fight against the dangers of wildfires. (Not forest fires anymore, but wildfires). Some clever editing, and voila! One of the most aesthetically masterful animated movies has been reduced to a clever bit of propoganda. Fairly clever, actually--apparently Malificent's demonic green and yellow bonfire is wildfire, as is Stephen's burning of all the spinning wheels. Thus, they are even more correct when they say that "Only YOU can prevent wildfires!" After all, we must protect our "little forest friends..."

Can you tell I'm a bit ambivalent about this? I don't know why...this should be just amusing... Somehow, I'm annoyed that they've prostituted my favorite Disney movie into something it was never meant to be. But then, I find all sorts of meanings the authors didn't intend in the books I read for class--hmmm.... :)

I

So I've decided that this working until 6 on Fridays is not quite as fun--it throws off my whole schedule from last semester. Makes me think Fridays are Wednesdays, and then I have to devote a good portion of the night to homework. Blergh. :)

On the bright side, I escaped working on Saturdays yet again. :D So I slept in late this morning, and then headed off to DI to try and find organ shoes. Which I did, sort of. They're half a size too small, and a very bright fuschia. But they will work, for now, and they were only four bucks. :) But my awesomest find of the day was the original Trivial Pursuit, with the 1000 original cards. Apparently each new edition of Trivial Pursuit has less and less cards, so I really wanted to get a bunch of cards--which they don't sell on their own anymore. So to find the original game for $2 made me really happy. :D

I also got the original Broadway Cast Recording of Evita (with Mandy Patinkin! and Patti Lupone) for $4 and the soundtrack to West Side Story for $2. It was rather a good CD day at DI, even if the book section was not so hot. :(

Anyways, I'm finally reading Watership Down for my adolescent literature class--kind of violent for a bunny book, at least so far. And I went back and read a Boxcar Children's book, something I haven't done in years! I didn't realize how didactic they were, or how awesome Mr. Alden is. And the fact that in the book I picked up (#10, I believe--The Schoolhouse Mystery), Henry is in college--that makes me feel better about the lingering crush I had on him when I first read the books. :) While this whole adolescent lit class is going to be a joke (especially since the professor is focusing on how you might teach these books, or recommend them to children), I'll at least get a lot of reading done. I've got about 5 YA books that I've wanted to read for a while, but haven't had time, so that part of the class will at least be fun. :) We had to write a fable for Monday and I have realized (yet again) that I am not a creative writer. I had a kestrel breaking a rabbit's neck in my fable...which is about as feasible as rabbits and kestrels conversing in archaic language.

And I have to read Hamlet....again. I haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaate Hamlet. I told the professor today (she's the same professor that I had for my Gothic Lit class) that I'd like Hamlet a lot better if he wasn't so whiny. She just kind of looked at me, and I replied that yes, I know that would kind of defeat the whole point of the play, but still, I'd like the character (and the play) better. And really, that ought to be the point of literature: to amuse and entertain me. :D

Curses...foiled again

Curses. So after the email to the professor and the frantic stalking, I finally caught up with him, only to be told that the class is "really full," despite the open spot on AIM that has been there for a while. I'm awfully disappointed--this is the first time I've ever not gotten into a class that I wanted, and I'm a senior! *sigh* Oh well. On the bright side, I get to write yet another feminist gothic research paper.

And then yesterday, in which I spent all day at work except for a couple hours for class, wasn't too hot either. I did get an hour of organ practice in--I feel very much like I did when I started piano lessons. All nervous to pass things off and so on. But I passed something off today! :) But I forgot to pack a lunch or a dinner, and I was working from 9am to 10pm, with a 3 hour break for class. So I bought a chocolate muffin out of the vending machines, and those are stickier than any muffins have a right to be. I inadvertently dropped some on my shirt, and by the time I realized it, it had been rubbed in, to about the size of a quarter. And it was hot in the library, and I still had to work for another 4 hours! So, not wanting to wear my coat all day, and not having time to run home and back, I went and had to buy another shirt. I didn't think it'd be as hard as it was. All the shirts that they sell for girls are very stretchy, with very thin fabric, and very tight. Right on the edge of modesty there, even if you aren't pudgy. :) I finally had to buy a BYU t-shirt, for a crazy price. I think I should write a letter to the Editor, and see what flurry I can spark. :)

And my ELang class is another one (like the organ class) where the teacher has actually read and believed that stupid thing from the University Catalog: for every one hour in class, you should spend 3 hours outside of class to earn a C average. Now that's an ideal. So, if we're dealing with ideals, let's take this seriously.
168 hours in a week
-24 hours (Sunday--we'll just take it out of the equation, since you don't do schoolwork then)
---------------------------------------------------
144 hours in a week.
-48 hours (sleeping--8 hours a night is the ideal times 6, since we already took out Sunday)
---------------------------------
96 hours in a week
-20 hours (part-time job)
----------------------------------------------------------
76 hours in a week
-64 hours (16 credit load average, plus 3 hours for each credit) to earn a C in the class
------------------------------------
12 hours in a week.

So if you want to earn an A, you're into negative numbers. Any transportation time, running errands (grocery shopping, laundry, etc). You have no time, no balance! but I don't want to be an editor, so watch me not put in that much time. :)

And the first time I did that math (admittedly in my head, but it was with both Amy and me), I swear we got into the negative numbers once we subtracted the class hours....oh well. I'm an English major--you do the math. :) (Thank you mentalfloss.com--I want that tshirt :D)

School woes

So I was in my English 202 class today, talking with the few other seniors who have also put this GE off, and basically whining about the lack of interesting senior courses. Another girl was in my Frankenstein class, and she pointed out that as she was buying her books, she saw that one of the other senior courses was reading Sherlock Holmes, and Poe, and Wilkie Collins. And I nearly flipped out. That's right up my alley! That class must not have been offered when I registered because I so would have signed up for it. But I tried to pull up the class time and syllabus online, and the stupid internet wouldn't work for me. So 3 hours later, after my Frankenstein class, I ran over to the professor's office only to find he wasn't there. So I've sent him a pleading email, and am waiting to hear back. I'm so excited--I really want to be in that class. Although I have already started coming up with ideas for the research paper in the Frankenstein class--can we say excessive?

In the Frankenstein class today, we watched the original 1931 movie with Boris Karloff. That movie is awesome. Not based on the book at all, but still awesome. Mary Shelley is credited as "Mrs. Percy B. Shelley" and the monster is played by "?" Can we say "loss of identity theme"? (Research paper spark!) And I finally got to see the iconic scene where the monster kills the little girl! She gives him daisies, shows him how the daisies float, and they each toss in their daisies, and then he looks down at his hands and realizes that he has no more daisies. So what does he do? Toss in the girl, of course! And then, when the villagers are all celebrating the marriage of Henry Frankenstein (in this movie, Henry is the doctor and Victor is the friend--for no good reason. And why Victor as the friend is there at all I have no idea. Elizabeth at least is a plot device; Victor just hangs out.), the little girl's dad walks through town, carrying her dead body. Kind of puts a damper on the party. Anyways, he goes to the magistrate, with a mob of angry villagers behind him, and the magistrate is all "sorry your girl's dead, but um, what do you want me to do?" The dad replies "she was murdered!" How the dad knows this, when the girl drowned and he was away at the time, and there are no bruises or anything, is beyond me. But as soon as he says it, the villagers all cheer (seriously, there was a loud "hurrah!"), and the magistrate immediately believes him, and all of a sudden there are pitchforks and torches, and it's night. Crazy! And the last piece of awesomeness? Henry Frankenstein is quicker to recognize the moans of the monster that the screams of his fiancee. :)

On the bright side, I asked another professor for a letter of recomendation, to be sent in two years. She said yes--and that's all done! :)

And the streak continues unbroken!

Well, I made it back to Provo...only 5 hours later than expected! :) My flights all went well (Lansing to Chicago, Chicago to Denver [Chicago wasn't delayed or anything--my first good experience there, although there is a distinct lack of outlets around. I couldn't find one to plug my computer in!]), up until Denver. In Denver, they delayed the flight an hour because 40 people who were supposed to be on our flight were on a connecting flight from New Orleans that was delayed. All those Utah fans coming back from the game--the plane was a sea of red! :). So I landed an hour later than expected--at 12:30 in the morning. And due to a miscommunication between my ride and me, she only knew the original time I was supposed to land. So I missed them by half an hour! And the shuttle people wanted $70 'cause it was "after hours." But after crying in the airport for a good hour, and looking pitiful for another hour, I asked a random stranger (wearing a sweatshirt with "BYU" on it) if he was going t Provo, and if he'd be willing to give me a ride. Luckily they did, and I was home by 4 in the morning, rather than waiting around until 7am when the shuttle price went back to $30. Ook, I've been told by rather a number of people that I need a cell phone, and people's numbers...they might be right. :)

School starts tomorrow--my last semester as an undergrad. Honestly, the class I'm most excited for is English 202, just cause I love the teacher so much and it's gonna be so easy. :) But I also have Adolescent Literature, Beginning Organ, and a class all on Frankenstein, which I'm only taking because my Poe professor is teaching it. It's the senior course and all the other senior courses were laaaaaaaame. :( Hopefully, this will be a less stressful semester than the last one. :) And I need to go grocery shopping--I have no milk. Only when one is without milk does one realize the great need for it! :) Wow, that's a lot of emoticons.... I'm supposed to be an English major with a firm command of the English language, and what do I use? :) and :(

On Friday, I got my hair cut really short. Much shorter than I'm used to, by about an inch and a half. I have no idea what to do with it--all my cowlicks are making themselves known. I didn't know I even had them! And that's a bizarre name for them anyways...

And I'll leave you with this: the icicle of doom! Does it remind anyone else of that whole sequence in "Peanuts" where Snoopy is trapped in his doghouse by a giant icicle? It's gone now--Amy and I had great fun knocking it down. :)

Happy New Year!

I have the urge to go watch "Bundle of Joy"--Debbie Reynolds celebrates New Year's Eve with Eddie Fisher and they have this fun scene in Times Square. :)

Anyways. Happy 2009! Aren't you excited? I'll be honest--2009 is awfully similar to 2008. I've never quite gotten into the whole New Year thing. I don't much care for making formal resolutions, and so it's just another year. Which is kind of exciting, but then January has never been my favorite month. We all stayed up 'til midnight last night, playing games and watching movies, and then right before we watched the ball drop, Dad found that one channel was broadcasting the BYU v. Utah game from this year, so we watched that for 20 minutes. Well, Dad tried to watch it and we all bugged him to change the channel. ;) It was nice. And then at midnight, we all wished each other a very quiet "Happy New Year" since Jared was in bed, and off we went. :) Mindy went to a party, and Michael had a couple friends over, but it was a pretty tame New Year's Eve. Which was good. :)

So yeah. I don't really have any set resolutions--I've never liked the whole "setting goals" and things. Dunno why--it just doesn't work for me. I have general ideas of things I'd like to get done in my head, and keep track of it that way. *shrugs* But 2009 should be exciting--I graduate from college! I'll be a B.A.! :) (Name the book...)

Anyways--Happy New Year to all!