Here are some places. I don't know if I'm abandoning livejournal; probably not. I've been here for what - seven, eight years? But I needed a change of pace.

And a parent/teacher-friendly travel log.

Everybody Wants to Go to Japan

The Dream Book

Can anyone recommend a free way to copy movie dvds on a mac? (Specifically, leopard?) Freeware, or crackedware, either is fine with me. (Yarrr.)

Thanks in advance.

( More so I don't lose them than you actually want to read them. )


That one about the prom queen is funnier if you know Incorvati. (Read: ADORABLE LITTLE GAY MAN.)

My day has just started with an amazing song choice, courtesy the shuffle on my mp3 player.

"All For Love" by Sting, Rod Stewart, and that other guy.

LONG LIVE THE 90s BALLAD.

XD







For those who care, this amazingly epic song was immediately followed by "The Cemetery Gates" by The Smiths. I feel this must be some kind of good sign...yeah, Morrissey?

Or so says Katiekay.

Yesterday was fucking ridiculous, in all the best of ways. For those who don't know, it was both A) EAS major senior presentations, and B) WITTFEST!!! Rawr.

( The theses. )

Finally it was all over (Juli was literally the last person in the last panel), so me, her, Kay, and Fig went to Applebees for dinner. We ate too much, sat around in Rivendarth digesting and watching a movie about snowdogs, acquired Kai and Aryn, and wandered over to the Wittfest concert at nineish.

( College kids getting into trouble. (Read at your own risk.) )

WHAT A DAY! :D




In other news, four papers and two exams stand between me and graduation. We are now officially past the two-week mark. aldaskdfjas;lkjfa!

INSANITY INDEX 6.58 Thank you for taking the SaniTest(TM). Your score suggests that you are completely unbalanced. This is not a terribly serious condition, and can even be rather charming if not mixed with a violent temper or serious subtance abuse problem. Others who scored at this level include publisher Larry Flynt and famed explorer Ferdinand Magellan.

Quiz.

As a celebration for my JET acceptance, me, Krista, Juli, and Josh went to Wal-Mart to buy Sweeney Todd. One movie. That was all.

We came out with fourteen movies, two television seasons, and a cd.

Anna
Sweeney Todd
Milo and Otis
Major League
first season of 1960s Robin Hood tv show

Juli
Tremors 1, 2, and 3
the first season of Stargate
a Fall Out Boy cd

Krista
Ghostbusters 1 and 2
Road Trip
Euro Trip
Benny and Joon
Edward Scissorshands
From Hell

Josh
nothing, because as an economist he was too busy making fun of us for going on a capitalist rampage







Moral of this story: we shouldn't be allowed outside of the house.

I am going to fucking

JAPAN!!!

YESSSS. That's right, children, my evil plan has come to fruition; the JET Program has let me in, to go terrorize Japan's impressionable youth.

Only one thing can accurately express my emotions at this moment.





We don't find out where in Japan we're going until May...but who the hell cares? I'M IN. :D

But now that it's done, I'll go work on my thesis. I promise.

( Music thing (that I've probably done before), as stolen from the indomitable Jen Roust. )

Find Out Which Disney Girl You Are! created with QuizFarm.com

You scored as Alice Have you fallen down the rabbit hole lately? Or played croquet with a deck of cards? Either way, you're so very much like Alice! Her wild imagination and constant ability to daydream got her in so much trouble - you've probably heard your mother or teacher lecture you about having your head in the clouds! Remember to stay grounded most of the time, however, because life can get away from you when you're always dreaming about someplace else! Alice 75% Belle 71% Pocahontas 71% Aurora (Sleeping Beauty) 67% Ariel 63% Jane 63% Cinderella 63% Snow White 63% Megara 58% Tinkerbell 54% Jasmine 50% Esmerelda 50% Violet 50% Mulan 46%

Yeah, I could see that.

Also, "Alice in Wonderland" is rad.

or, "How I Probably Messed Up My Sleep Cycle."

At six p.m. I fell asleep two pages into "The Great Gatsby." At two-thirty a.m. (aka just now) I woke up, just as my roommates were going to bed. That's eight and a half hours of sleep, children.

Yep, my sleep cycle is probably doomed...at least until this weekend.

XD

My mom is trying to buy me a new laptop for graduation in May, but I have no idea what's good. She seems interested in the MacBook Air, or something HP, but the specs are pretty much Greek to me.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

Somehow I not only made it to, but through spring break. Goodness, what a ride it was.

Pre-break Friday, Katiekay and I stopped by the bookstore and ordered class rings from the Herff Jones guy. Then we wandered back to her place, ate some food, drank some tea, and chattered happily away. When I returned home, I joined Krista and Matt mid-viewing of "Stranger Than Fiction," after which we played one or two rousing games of Sorry.

Next, went out and got Chinese foods with a sort of eclectic group of people. (Fig, Katiekay, Kantaro, Isaac, Dan, Craig, and somehow, creepy Will Newlin.) Then joined Katiekay, Dan, and Jill "The Jillianaire" Hutson for a run to Yellow Springs, where Katie got her ears pierced, and I convinced the piercing guy and his tattoo artist wife that I was from Manchester. (Now if I go back, I'm gonna have to remember to put on the accent. Whoops.)

Returned to Sprecher, did some laundry, confronted an awkward situation, and headed over to Dan's, where all the Chinese food kids (minus Newlin) had gathered to drink in his kitchen. Fun was had there and at Station.

The next day, Fig and I drove up to Cleveland. We went with her parents and some family friends to a really yummy Lebanese restaurant, further cementing my conclusion that I really like Lebanese food. (I'm hitting up Metza as soon as I return to the ATL.)

Then we got up early on Sunday and shipped off to the airport, flying from Cleveland to Houston, and from Houston to Tucson. The first thing we did when we landed was take pictures next to cacti. See: facebook profile. From Tucson, it was an hour, hour and a half drive to Patagonia, Arizona, home of the Circle Z Ranch.

Circle Z was sweet. Fig and I shared a nice little room over looking the office/dining room building, and were the youngest guests by at least fifteen years. (Huzzah, lack of noisy childrens.) Our activities on site largely consisted of:

* riding horses up, across, and down mountains
* riding horses up, across, and along streams
* playing infinite games of pool, most of which Fig won
* falling asleep before any homework was accomplished

My horse's name was Chico, and we are BFF. He was almost the color of my hair, but maybe more auburn, and this one old lady called us "the redheads." I hadn't ridden a horse since Girl Scout Camp twelve or so years ago, but Chico was super responsive and easygoing. I even rode him around while he was running, and did not fall off and die. I liked to call him "my fine fellow."

The wranglers were also nice. My favorite was a guy named Randy, who looked sort of like a blonde Martin Short. Or maybe if Martin Short and Owen Wilson had a baby. Fig and I thought he was maybe mid- to late-thirties, until he talked about trying to go fight in Vietnam but instead getting stationed in Germany. Hunh. This girl Hillary was also nice, and oddly enough recently married to another wrangler named Raoul, with whom she made a very strange couple.

The landscape was all very scenic...well, no, scenic isn't the right word for it. The only word I can come up with is "vistas." Arizona is pretty in its own way, and certainly breathtaking from some views, but I don't know if I could ever live there. Not enough green.

On Tuesday we went into Tucson proper, where we visited the Desert Museum (which was cool...THE OCELOT WAS SO SO CUTE), a gem shop where I bought my mom a neat dish for mother's day, a bunch of interesting art galleries, and saw the movie "Penelope." (I want to marry James McAvoy.) I, Fig, and Fig's grandpa stole oranges off of a tree. Sneaky sneaky, sir.

On Thursday we went to Tumacacori Mission, at which Fig and I took many photos, and ate fresh homemade tortillas, and learned to play a game with sticks. After lunch at a Mexican restaurant named Wisdom's, which sported two giant chickens out front, we went to a little artsy craft community called Tubac. I bought an iron kitty with wings and a string of tiny pots for myself, and a metal UFO ornament for my mum. We did not, after lengthy consideration, buy cowboy hats.

On Sunday we left Circle Z at two in the morning to catch our five a.m. flight back. (Fig and I had been secretly hoping it'd been canceled, since Ohio had supposedly just experienced its "worst snowstorm in ten years," and we didn't want to do our homework for Bin Yu. Alas, no such luck.) Upon arriving in Cleveland, we drove to pick up Aryn at the Columbus airport, and arrived back on campus two a.m. Monday. Twenty-four hours after departing Circle Z.

We were all slap-happy yesterday, I must say.

In fact, most of campus was slap-happy, probably from a combination of daylight savings time, cross-country travel, and an assortment of flights which had in fact been delayed or canceled by the snow. Only five (out of maybe twelve) students showed up to Japanese. In Senior Seminar (for which I wrote my thesis proposal in a mere two-hour lunch break), Bin Yu was even wackier than usual, and got into a two-minute argument that mostly consisted of him telling Camilo to shut up. Pretty much literally.

What probably amused me the most was after class. Bin Yu was trying to make everyone come to class on Wednesday, so my book group could do our presentation. (For those who luckily don't know, Senior Sem doesn't usually meet on Wednesdays.) But out of the four of us, only Juli could actually come to class, and she's supposed to present last. So, Bin Yu starts trying to convince Camilo to skip his other class to come, and they get into an argument about academics and bowling (yeah, I know). Meanwhile, Kantaro and Old Ken Wells keep making hilarious faces at me. Discovery: no one makes faces like Old Ken Wells.

Eventually, Bin Yu tires of Camilo and turns to me. (Bear in mind that I've been to Bin Yu's office a bunch of times, both last semester and this semester, and I'm co-editor of the EAS Journal, of which he is the advisor.)

Bin Yu: You can't come, either?
me: No.
Bin Yu: Why not?
me: I have a class.
Bin Yu: You have a class?
me: ...Yes. My class with Dr. Davis. The one I go to on Wednesdays and Fridays.
Bin Yu: Fridays?
me: ...Yes. I only come to this class on Mondays.
Bin Yu: What?
me: I'm not here on Fridays.
Bin Yu: YOU'RE NOT HERE ON FRIDAYS?!
me: (growing increasingly concerned) No, I only come on Mondays. See? (points to the roster in Bin Yu's hands, which shows asterisks for the Friday classes, from which I am excused)
Bin Yu: ...You're Anna?
me: ...Yes.
Bin Yu: (turns to Juli) I thought you were Anna!
me: No, that's Juli.
Bin Yu: !!!

HAHAHA.

After that, me and Juli skipped our dance class (by happenstance), ate Chipotle, at sat around for awhile. Miss Megzatron had sent us each lovely presents from Japan! I received a sushi keychain, a flag with a picture of some sort of possessed towel or toilet paper or something that says 「明日は明日の風が吹く」(Tomorrow, tomorrow's wind will blow), and a little cloth phone charm of a necktie that Krista suggests I attach to a choker. (Ridiculous, but cute!) Krista also gifted unto me a late birthday present -- a Dexter poster. It says, "America's Favorite Serial Killer," and has a RIDICULOUSLY HUGE picture of Dexter's awkwardly smiling face. It sorta cracks me up.

Fig came over while Krista was at work, and we gossiped until she came home, at which time we were joined by Josh and instituted our Awesome Project of the Day.

Said awesome project was a snow fort. A SWEET snow fort. The five of us, soon joined by Trevathan, undertook a two-hour construction project, and built three tightly-packed ice walls about four feet tall around the railings of our patio. The result is a sizeable (and remarkably well fortified) enclosure that has already produced numerous compliments and outright screams of delight from our neighbors. (Tyler has kindly agreed to be queen of the fort.)

Somewhere along the way I lost my highschool class ring, which is no good, but I'm not too worried yet. If it's not in our apartment somewhere, then it's probably outside somewhere, and I'll keep an eye out as the snow disappears. (I'm kind of hoping it got built into the fort. How funny would that be?) And after the construction was completed, we absorbed Taylor, Greg, and Anya into our collective for a celebratory trip to Steak 'n Shake.

That about covers it. Today has been a lot of sitting around. And I watched "Sense and Sensibility" after all.

Which Jane Austen heroine are you? created with QuizFarm.com

You scored as Marianne Dashwood You're Marianne Dashwood of Sense & Sensibility! More dramatic and emotional than your sister Elinor, you have no trouble saying what you think and showing people how you feel about them. However, you usually know when to keep your mouth shut. Marianne Dashwood 70% Catherine Morland 65% Anne Elliot 65% Elizabeth Bennet 55% Elinor Dashwood 55% Fanny Price 50% Emma Woodhouse 50%

Guess that means I should watch "Sense and Sensibility" today. I am okay with that.

Which 1950's PIN-UP Girl are you?? created with QuizFarm.com

You scored as Betty Grable Betty Grable 56% Audrey Hepburn 50% Mae West 44% Betty Page 44% Jayne Mansfield 31% Mariyln Monroe 25%

For some reason, the week leading up to spring break this year is about on a level with any other semester's final week. WHY IS THIS HAPPENING. Oh, it's because I'm an overachiever. LAME.

But I keep telling myself that the worst is over, regardless of whether or not that's true. Things that I have done already, since Sunday:

EASJ meeting
three kanji sheets
two vocabulary quizzes
revised a sakubun
part one of this chapter's kanji exercises
Madness Lit. midterm
15-page draft of the Poe portion of my English thesis
5-page paper on Charlotte Perkins Gilman's short stories
American Survey midterm
a bunch of reading

Plus all my normal classes. GRARAR. On the upside, we've already learned the first 22 counts of sword-style in Chinese Dance. And it is really SWEET. Makes me feel wicked when we're doing it.

Things still left to do before I can evacuate to Arizona:

read and edit several EASJ submissions
really long-ass EASJ meeting to put together the first draft
kanji quiz
assorted other Japanese homework (probably)
post my Hiroshima group's pamphlet notes
5-page paper on something??? for Madness Lit.
meeting with my senior sem. group, to start our project on Unit 731
meeting with Bobby D about the Poe paper
revise my Gilman paper
a pain-in-the-ass thesis proposal for Bin Yu (gonna SUCK)
a bunch of reading

Sadface. But I will KEEP ON TRUCKIN', goshdarnit. Tonight I will watch America's Next Top Model and Project Runway and be reenergized.

Plus, Tribe Rivendarth just got a caffeine-laden espresso shot of Buckles Jones. Booyah!

...for a variety of reasons. But mostly because A) I couldn't get moodle to cooperate last night, and thus could not access the homework list, and thus did none of our Japanese homework, and B) I overslept, feeling absolutely CERTAIN that with an additional few inches of snow on the already thickly-covered ground, that classes would be canceled this time. (WRONG.) So now my head is too fuzzy to even contemplate going to class, especially if I'm going to spend it feeling like a moron and having Imai-sensei glare at me for not being prepared.

So, instead, I'ma do a survey while I wake up. (At least I'm not going back to sleep. That's a point in my favor, right? ...Of course, I fell asleep listening to the audiobook of "I Am America (And So Can You!)" at like ten or ten-thirty, so that's probably not a very notable achievement in this case.)

( Anyway, the survey. )

And also:

You are The Star

Hope, expectation, Bright promises.

The Star is one of the great cards of faith, dreams realised

The Star is a card that looks to the future. It does not predict any immediate or powerful change, but it does predict hope and healing. This card suggests clarity of vision, spiritual insight. And, most importantly, that unexpected help will be coming, with water to quench your thirst, with a guiding light to the future. They might say you're a dreamer, but you're not the only one.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

Glad that I could do something productive in my unexpected free time.

It snowed a sudden five inches overnight, and I have spent most of the day firmly in the mindset of, "It's a snow day. I shouldn't have to do anything. So somebody cancel class already! I'm gonna sit around writing about magicians and pretending schoolwork doesn't exist."

Unfortunately, this is a very bad time for that sort of thinking. Technically, only one person canceled (Shih-ming, my dance teacher). And even that one success is mostly mitigated by the fact that my American Lit. class is meeting tonight to watch a movie (Jacob's Ladder), thus taking twice as long as our actual scheduled time.

But still, that wouldn't be so bad. Except that I have SO MUCH CRAP to do in the next two weeks, and several things specifically for tomorrow. I've already finished emailing people about EASJ, but I still have to: A) read several articles and prepare a presentation on them, with hand-outs and everything, B) write a five page essay on the ridiculously ambiguous topic of "truth in history", C) work on the Poe portion of my senior thesis so that Bobby D doesn't divorce me. :( There's also the matter of an exam in Russian tomorrow, but since I'm not taking the class for credit, I think I may just ask to sit it out. (Gotta go to the EAS colloquium, anyhow...stupid freakin' rule.)

The snowballing terrors of stuff-to-do continue through the weekend and on into next week, but I'm really not gonna think about it just now.

So, other news! Popped briefly into Atlanta with Fig, for our JET interviews. I think it went well, overall...we'll have to wait until April to know for sure, though. Gah. Many board games were played, and delicious foods eaten, and overall relaxing times. There were a few annoyances, and such, but it was nice to be in the DEC for awhile. My one large and looming complaint: apparently Paul was also in town, but didn't call anybody, and so we missed each other. I AM PROFOUNDLY DISAPPOINTED. Paul is one of my favorite people, and I never see enough of him. Stupidface.

I am knitting another scarf, with black and sort of raspberry or wine colored stripes. I do it in the evenings instead of anything academically productive.

While I was home, picked up two CDs: Radiohead's "In Rainbows" and Sea Wolf's "Leaves in the River." Radiohead is good, as one would expect, but actually Sea Wolf is dominating my life right now. I highly highly recommend the album...reminds me a bit of Elliot Smith.

Well, I gotta go watch this film or whatever, so I'll leave it at that. Blaaaaah.

Interesting things heard in class. Though I suspect a lot of these aren't nearly as interesting if you weren't there.

...Enh.


( Students )

The EAS Gang

( JOM )


( Bin Yu )



The English Boys (and Mimi)

( The Dixons )


( Bobby D )


( Incorvati )


( Fitz )

Bobby, Fitz, and Incorvati for the win. I love me some professor boys. :D

So, I'm gonna do that really annoying thing where you reference something but never come out and say exactly what you're talking about. The thing is, it's a sensitive topic, and I probably shouldn't be bringing it up in the first place, but for most of the day my brain has just been looping over it with an exclamation of "HUHWHAT?"

The overall summary: last night was weird. Like, very weird. Surreal weird. There were boys involved. That is all.

Only Krista and Juli (and Janbergs?) know what I'm talking about.

Jesus Christ.

In other news, my dance class is performing at the big annual Chinese New Years' celebration on Saturday. (It's a "Chinese Cultural Dance" class, you see.) But we've only had like eight classes, since we meet twice a week, and we only had the last two classes to practice in earnest for the event. So it will be a very silly moment in time, I think. Also: I am bad at Chinese cultural dance. XD

After that, there's a party at Dan's Saturday night. I already have suspicions that it's going to be a strange night for me.

I'm flying into Atlanta next week, along with my friend Fig, because we're doing JET interviews at the Japanese Consulate. (The midwest being often a ridiculous locale, there is no consulate closer than six hours away, so I might as well stay at home for free, right?) Our interviews are both Friday morning...wish us luck! I'm kind of nervous. :P

Now I must go. Juli made cinnamon rolls. Mmmm.

It's now approaching nine o'clock. The only useful thing that I've accomplished was to shower. The rest of that time was spent dicking around and making these:



I especially like the second one. Teehee, Kazu!