9 posts tagged “friends”
My weekend was full of revelry, as befits a carousing classicist. I will post two photos, one of which has, like, totes gone up for my facebook photo omg!:
Nick, who was a pretty pretty princess for part of the night, but then he stole someone's sunglasses and ended up as a 1970s woman? I don't know. I like the glasses though.
Do you keep a journal or diary? How often do you write in it?
Submitted by Kim.
This is a pretty appropriate question, since I was just thinking about my journaling habits of late. They've been spotty. This isn't like me; normally, I keep both my blog and a journal and write in both nearly every day. Somehow, over the past few months, my journaling has tapered off. Maybe it's because my life is mostly focused around things that don't involve inter-personal interaction. Maybe it's because I just don't have anything to say. I don't know, but it makes me a little uncomfortable.
So here goes: I'm going to do NaBloPoMo, except starting -- well -- from now to forever, I guess. Blogging is easier than journaling, anyway.
Yesterday, I ended up wandering around Hawthorne instead of doing my qual. It's going to be okay; I mean, I didn't need to do it that desperately anyway. Instead, I went over to the Chance of Rain café and wrote Christmas cards. I wish I lived in the area; it seems like it would be a great neighborhood coffee house with a little younger and more hipster clientele, but as it is, I feel like an outsider there. I really like the Funky Door, anyway. Oh well; maybe someday I'll move closer to Hawthorne.
Eventually Matthew called, and I went over to his & Jesse's place to play Risk. The game petered out (I came in second, though I ended up surrendering; I could have kept fighting it out, but I had lost interest) and Jesse & I rented "Trapped in the Closet," I.E. the first and greatest hip-hopera of all time! Any movie which features a midget stripper who hides from a policeman under a sink has to be, well, amazing. And it was: so very unintentionally hilarious! I kind of want to make this a Thanksgiving tradition now. You know, some people watch "It's a Wonderful Life," some people watch "Trapped in the Closet"...
Anyhow, it was a good day, and I did get some important things done. Most importantly, I got out of the house. Since I've been trying to save money and pay off my computer, I hadn't done so much as go out to coffee in a really long time. It was a good thing for me to get out of the bubble a little bit.
In other news, I am an enormous geek who cried at the last episode of "Buffy The Vampire Slayer," which I saw for the first time this weekend. Please mock me, because I might start taking myself seriously sometime and then where would we be?
So, not all of you may know this, but I used to play piano.
No, I mean, I used to Play Piano, with capital P's.
And I ended up on YouTube, searching for video of the concerts I was in. I couldn't find any that were of me, but I did find one of a concert I was in that has my ex-boyfriend Brandon in it (before we dated; I was twelve at the time!) If you've never seen a ten-piano concert, I suggest you watch this one. Imagine hearing it -- ten pianos, playing in unison, acoustic, in a huge concert hall in Japan. My trip to Japan, which culminated in this concert, was a seriously life-changing experience for me, and I'm so happy to find the video on YouTube and connect with some of my old piano friends again.
Who knows -- maybe I'll start playing more seriously now. I miss being able to make sounds like these.
Last night, after House ended, Randall, Tim and I decided we needed an Adventure.
After sitting around on the sofa and discussing (among other things) the actual physical ramifications of the universe orbiting around Randall, and the two of them confusing me by talking about singularities (which I really, really Don't Get, and which I think I should probably study, because this is one of the first times that I've been interested in something but known nothing about it), we put on our fabulous costumes and went to Safeway for no reason whatsoever. Randall and I were sort of the 1980's lictors for Tim's incredibly billowy Lawrence of Arabia. We tried to find the combination of three things that one could buy at Safeway that would be the sketchiest.
I'll let you imagine what that was.
Also, Randall contact juggled the produce, but we didn't get kicked out.
Anyhow, this was meant to be a post about my real Halloween costume, but I haven't gotten the pictures of it (since my camera decided to die immediately after I took those pictures and now won't let me retrieve them). I just have shit for technology luck these days.
Today, just about the coolest thing happened to me: an old friend contacted me to say that she'd been following my blog for ages.
You've gotta realize that I grew up with a certain group of kids. We went to elementary school together, then middle school, then high school; this was because only a few schools in the district had real Gifted & Talented programs, and so especially in elementary school there were only a couple of options available for our parents.
Leaving aside the question of "are Gifted and Talented programs really the best way to educate extremely intelligent children" (I would say no, but they may be the best of bad options), I had a pretty idyllic experience in school. Sure, I didn't like middle school -- who did? -- and I never really realized how much everyone in our elementary school class actually got along, and I definitely could have made more of high school if I wasn't so focused on the Gay-Straight Alliance (and Harry Potter fanfiction, but that's a different matter). But overall? I wasn't bullied; I wasn't a bully; I had great teachers and great classmates.
The thing is, I pretty much left school (at mid-year, no less) and was out. Gone. Like a rocket. I didn't want to have anything to do with high school or anything in it, including a lot of my old friends. I pretty much even didn't keep in contact with Steph, who'd been my best friend since we were four years old. And now I'm kind of regretting it. My senior yearbook barely has any signatures in it -- sure, the ones it does have are really meaningful, but nonetheless. People talk about parties in Sacramento over breaks, but I don't go to any of them, and I certainly don't blame people for not inviting me; it's not like I've ever reached out.
And that all's a long-winded way of saying: It totally made my day when Deni messaged me, and I hope we keep in touch, and I'm being somewhat passive-aggressive but in a good way by posting this in my blog, but I think everyone will forgive me, won't you?
...on another note...
I've kind of stopped talking about my qual here. I should keep this somewhat up to date, anyway! So here's the thesis statement as it currently stands: In the first and second Catilinarian orations, Cicero uses language of illness and poisoning to describe both Catiline's followers and their effect on the state, thus casting himself as the healer who will cure Rome. What's really cool about this focus on illness is that the most important other source we have on the second conspiracy of Catiline also uses images of illness, probably at least somewhat lifted from Cicero's speech, but he focuses on how Catiline's group represents a cancer which has metastasized -- that the Roman Republic cannot be saved. It highlights the two different attitudes in Rome at the time perfectly: Cicero the Republican, Sallust the Julian.
Anyhow, I ought to work on my qual, not write blog posts about it. In our next installment: my new computer, and my Halloween costume, and why my digital camera is a piece of crap!
Edited to add: This day just keeps getting better! Kati discovered that one of my favorite places in Portland is actually where the Decemberists did their publicity photo shoot for Picaresque. So cool! It's this park on a hill which is basically a miniature open-air fortress, called Rocky Butte. There are pictures of me there on my flickr. OK, this is definitely geeky, but it's very exciting if you're... uh... me, Kati, or Stacia!
i hate that feeling that comes when you are sleeping, and you have a bad dream -- not a nightmare, but a bad dream, where it's as though you're really living one spectacularly awful day.
and then you wake up, and you're feeling fine, and you start walking to work. but you aren't really fine; there's still this negativity sitting there in the back of your brain; and even if it doesn't adversely affect your day too much, you still can't quite shake it. a niggling thought, you know? just... subconsciously there.
the worst part is that i don't know really what the bad dream was about. i have suspicions (aren't all my bad dreams about john?) but i don't really remember that. just a feeling of intense misery, and wanting to wake up, and not being able to.
i won't let it ruin my day, of course. but it's healthy to write it
down, i think. i'm half way to getting superstitious about these
things. i've been dreaming recently, just after allie renewed her wards
on our house (my roommate allie is pagan, for those of you not in the
loop, and does such things). when i told her i'd been dreaming a lot
lately, and that usually i don't dream at all, she mumbled something
about maybe the wards are too good, and about making dreamcatchers. i
don't think i believe in that stuff, but i'm pretty willing to try
anything at this point.
What are your top 25 most played songs?
Submitted by Cooxie.
my top 25 most played song list is actually mostly all the same two playlists, which i listen to while doing my homework and walking respectively. therefore it's not a very good reflection of anything. but i'll give it to you anyway:
just can't get enough -- depeche mode
dreaming of me -- depeche mode
catch my disease -- ben lee
blasphemous rumours -- depeche mode
master and servant -- depeche mode
you're so damn hot -- ok go
walk like an egyptian -- bangles
roads -- portishead
it's a fire -- portishead
mysterons -- portishead
big time sensuality -- bjork
sour times -- portishead
manic monday -- bangles
tubthumper -- portishead
here i dreamt i was an architect -- the decemberists
strangers -- portishead
wandering star -- portishead
numb -- portishead
i want you -- savage garden
respect -- aretha franklin
love you madly -- cake
zoot suit riot -- cherry poppin' daddies
i believe in a thing called love -- the darkness
july, july! -- the decemberists
it could be sweet -- portishead
as you can tell, i generally listen to a electronic chillout mix while i'm studying (the depeche mode & portishead) and a mix of everything i've ever liked that's mildly peppy (everything else) when i'm walking. on the other hand, the decemberists is genuinely there because i really like "castaways and cutouts." i need to get "the crane wife" but i keep putting it off. also, since i have no debit or credit card right now, since my wallet was stolen, i can't. boo.
this break has so far been good. on friday, hailey and her friend katie (for those following along at home, not the katie who went to my high school) came into town. of course it was wonderful to see hailey -- the last time i saw her was at new year's, which was a great party but kind of long ago -- and katie turned out to be an awesome girl. they both really want to move up to portland, which would be very fun. in any case, we wandered around hawthorne and belmont and met one of katie's friends, who works in the hostel on hawthorne. he was a neat guy and tempts me to blow off the harvest ball at school in favor of no fish go fish, which is apparently throwing a strip jeopardy competition in which he is participating as spider jerusalem in order to get onto warren ellis' blog. i approve of this sort of person.
in any case the next day i woke up with a miserable sore throat, ensconced myself in the couch, bade hailey and katie farewell, and played video games all day. i have a chronic problem where i turn of the system, forgetting to save. oops. i did beat "bark at the moon" on hard in guitar hero, though, which means that i only have one more difficulty level to beat before i am officially a guitar god. i bet that i've got it by new year's, despite all my work. guitar hero is one thing that you make time for. well, not really. anyhow, by the end of the day i was jonesing for human contact so i called matthew and he came over. we caught up & watched "house" and we're gonna hang out and maybe play "munchkin" sometime this week. i haven't seen matthew in ages since he used to live way over practically in the west hills, but now he's moved to an apartment off of hawthorne & 28th, so it works out pretty well. walking distance even.
today i need to at least make vague motions towards doing work on my qual (imagine caveman-like grunting and gesturing) and futz around in the music building and the pottery studio. i wonder if the art building will be unlocked for me, or if i'll have to call a cso ("sorry, sir, i've been too lazy to go down to physical plant and get my key -- i know, i know it's halfway through the semester -- yes! sorry.") maybe i'll truck my qual books back home so i can work in the peace and comfort of our giant sectional couch. kind of defeats the purpose of having a library desk, but then, i can claim i'm getting over a cold, right?
leigh's birthday party (aka "anno papae xxi," aka "a papal natal celebration"): delish. he had his macbook out as jukebox/photobooth. i think this picture says it all. yes, the big white and gold thing in the background is leigh's pope hat. he invited about a hundred people, and i'm not sure how many showed over the course of the night, but it was very fun, particularly the part where he jumped up on a table in full regalia and started doing a dance to Billy Idol. because, you know, that's leigh in a nutshell.
1) it makes me excruciatingly happy that stephanie (my best friend from, uh, the age of four on up) got back in contact with me! we completely lost contact over college but hoorah, it seems like we still have a ton in common, and were basically being nerfherders about the whole thing. anyway, when i woke up this morning and saw her email, i just about jumped out of my skin in a good way!
2) i have gotten addicted to crossword puzzles. allie had this problem because the l.a. times has a daily crossword that is relatively easy and awesome. what really got me is when i learned a new word ("ort") for the first time in about two years. now i've got two crosswords that are half-finished at my library desk and two at my desk at home and the l.a. times one every day and it's really bad. i need to go buy me a "1001 new york times crosswords" book or something, so i can stop photocopying allie's.
3) i'm qualling on cicero! cicero, cicero, cicero. i'm so excited and mom and dad must be sick of hearing me babble. but i'm thinking the his orations against catiline. i mean, come on:
We must war with luxury, with madness, with wickedness. For this war, O citizens, I offer myself as the general. I take on myself the enmity of profligate men. What can be cured, I will cure, by whatever means it may be possible. What must be cut away, I will not suffer to spread, to the ruin of the republic.
he is so very, very, very, very much an asshole! and he goes on (and on, and on) like that, but with all these fantastic anecdotes about people vomiting and having sex (and sometimes both, in drunken orgies) and then he extends it to the entirety of rome. oh, i'm in love with his bizarre morality of the body.
