Thursday, May 26

Thursday things

I was fully intending to show off some very dorky pictures of graduation, but Y!'s not letting me upload them. I didn't realize it then, but I looked rather like a chipmunk. It's strange.

Anyway, I've done my first few days of work for mi padre – 28 pages of graduation stuff from local schools. That's longer than two weeks of Chips. It was nuts. But it went to print, and I think it looks pretty good. Oh, and did I mention that it's all color? Yeah. Even more excitement. To even out the pages, there are fun graduation quotes sprinkled throughout. That was kind of fun to work on, once I figured out how to work the program. (Quark's a little different from the InDesign I'm used to at Chips, but I think I can manage.)

I ought to go shower, now that I've figured out how to get web pages to connect on this computer. (Apparently, my brother's Warcraft III CD can't be in the drive for it to work properly. I think it changes some of the settings when he plays online.)

I'm sure I'll be back later.

Sunday, May 22

Commencement has commenced

I'm wandering aimlessly around my house, deconstructing what's left of my college life and scattering it throughout various rooms. Doing so makes it feel more like ... home? Funny how you can become so used to things after they've changed for the first time, and then you have to come back to the former life after you've changed. It's awkward being here. My parents are off visiting a friend whose wife died this morning -- cancer. I'm debating whether or not to quit for the night. I'm tired in more ways than one.

You know, I didn't cry today. I got very close when we processed after the ceremony through a column formed of profs. I saw MJD and gave her a big hug, and teared up (which I'm managing to do as I write this, incidentally). She's great, and I'll miss her. A lot. I'm glad she's going to NJ; she's got an amazing job ahead of her.

My bed is finally back at my house, after its absence of nearly a year. But I'm sleeping on the couch tonight. My brother wakes up early for school, and I don't want to hear the alarm.

Oh, and my email told me this: On May 22, 1947, the Truman Doctrine was enacted as Congress appropriated military and economic aid for Greece and Turkey.

Goodnight, all. Happy graduation.

Friday, May 20

2 days ...

Right, so I'm a slacker and skipped three. It was a great picture, too.

So yesterday I went to Gunder, thanks to the drunken plans of some of my voice studio. There were eight people total, and six Gunderburgers ordered. [For those of you not in the know, a Gunderburger is a pound of hamburger, a popular item at The Shanti in Gunder, IA.] I split one with Stinky Faust, and JoFo split one with her roommate. Everyone else had their own. It was good times, without the addition of alcohol (for once this week).

Then last night Shoe Diva and I watched Christmas Vacation and got good and sloshed, thanks to Thadd's game of Drink Every Time Someone In The Movie Says "Christmas". We were well on our way to tipsy just from the opening credits. Both of us drank four wine coolers in those 97 minutes. Good times.

After dinner tonight Jon and I decorated our graduation hats: we both put the number "42" on it in stickers. (And a peace sign in the middle on the button thing that holds the tassel.) Also good times.

Oh, and I think there's gonna be some "unclothed futbol" tonight, if you know what I mean.

There are two days left, and I'm not drunk enough for that.

Wednesday, May 18

4 days ...

If you take 1 1/2 bottles of Cuervo (as in, "Jose is my lovah"), mix with 6 limes, two oranges, one voice instructor and 10 or so of his of-age students, you get a damn good time.

First, of course, was the chatting: "So what are you going to do this summer / in Eau Claire / next year / in England / for the rest of your life?"

Then came a couple of shots, courtesy of Mr Cuervo, followed by drrrty jokes:

* A man walks into his house with a duck under his arm. He finds his wife, and says, "This is the pig I've been fucking." His wife looks at him and says, "That's not a pig -- that's a duck!" The man says, "I wasn't talking to you."

* A man goes to a diner. The sign behind the counter reads, 'Grilled cheese: $2 Hand jobs: $10'. The man signals a waitress over, leans close to her, and asks, "Are you the one that gives the hand jobs?" She replies, "Yes, I am." He then says to her, "Then wash your hands and make me a grilled cheese sandwich."


There are four days left, and I'm gonna do some drinkin'.

Tuesday, May 17

5 days ...

I thought I'd try to do something a little more original with the last five days, so I took pictures. After all, "I never think of the future - it comes soon enough," said Albert Einstein.

I got my hair cut yesterday, which I think I forgot to mention. Had the overgrown forest that was my brows waxed, too. (She said I had great shape.) I made Damara get a ticket for me for the Star Wars midnight showing. My mom told me last night that they're going, too, and that I had to take my phone along so that she could call me afterward. Little does she know that I plan on being a little bit drunk. Heh heh heh.

Tonight's the good-bye Mark party that JoFo organized at her house. I'm going to try to find a veggie tray. Healthy things are good.

That's all I've got, folks. After all, there are five days left.

Monday, May 16

6 days ...

Posting is another way to procrastinate right now, while I write my last take-home essay for my anthro test. And I had to continue the countdown theme.

Today is Megan's birthday, so we went to Cho Sun's, where she could get a free birthday buffet. Little did we know, Ilana's craving for sushi was so ill-timed that people had to leave before she even got her food. Damara had gone through two plates from the buffet before Ilana got the MENU. That's how bad our server was. Good thing it wasn't the one who always signs the check, "Thanks, Dustin", leaving us to wonder for a split second if he is flirting or not. Definitely not. Other than that, dinner was good.

Today also marked the last day of Greek for me. The final was easy, as it was passages from Revelation. I've noticed that New Testament Κοινη is grammatically easier to understand, and that certainly helped me finish in only 45 of the alloted 120 minutes. I'll miss Greek. That class was entertaining, to say the least.

Okay. Less distraction, more paper action.

There are six days left.

Sunday, May 15

7 days ...



Yet another party, this time after the senior dinner. The dinner itself was pretty good, aside from having to try to cut sides of beef with butter knives. They really should have told us that it was a BYOSK (Bring Your Own Steak Knife) sort of deal. After eating the delectable cheesecake (read: dipped in chocolate and sprinkled with sifted cocoa powder, accented with a dollop of whipped cream and a yellow flower), which I de-flowered, there was a "program". That's Luther's way of saying, "After we feed you, we will make you bored with many speeches and hint at asking you for money, although we are too sly to blatantly say, 'We want even more than the $100,000 we've already cost you, and we will ask you before most of you have even gotten a job. A HA ha ha.'" But toward the closing, Bill Craft said, "I brought a book in case I was boring," which made it all worthwhile. That and getting the giggles because we were too far away to see and thus making our own fun.

We left the fancified Caf around 8, went to Evil Wal-Mart just after 9 (after all, every fun night begins with a trip to Wal-Mart), and commenced drinking at almost 10. As you can probably tell from the photos, it was fantasticly fun and hilariously funny. 'Wine drunk' is still a very good drunk, even though it leaves you famished in the morning.

There are seven days left.

Saturday, May 14

8 days ...

Last night we had a fabulous knitting extravaganza, during which we watched The Full Monty, which I had never seen and ended up enjoying immensely. Really, it consisted of about six people sitting on very large and very beige couches knitting while watching the movie. It was still good times, though. Jenna brought Hip Knits -- she was working on a really funk bag that was all stripey ... it's going to be great.

After the extravaganza, I got hijacked by the usual suspects, went to Evil Wal-Mart, and ended up drinking lots of vino over in Dustro's apartment. I exploded in a fit of giggles at one point, and didn't think I'd ever stop laughing. We decided that 'wine drunk' is the best drunk.

The senior dinner is tonight. B is coming back for it. I'm pumped. And hungry.

There are eight days left.

Friday, May 13

9 days ...



These are a few of my favorite friends. We took these photos, along with countless more, in Marty's yesterday. We were sitting at the stats table, or at least in it's vicinity, and we were being kinda dorky. It was just fun.

Last night, Shoe Diva and I decided that it was high time for the verysmallRA to be inducted into the Wondrous World of Blogging, so you can go visit her at her new home: in a plastic cup.

There are nine days left.

Thursday, May 12

Poetic moment

Here is my attempt at some dorky poetry. The last bit I made up, because I needed a rhyme.

The ebb and flow of life
"The time has come," the senior said,
"To talk of many things:
Of caps and gowns and tassels turned,
Of Dents and small-ish dings.
And why the May wind blows a lot,
And wishing I had wings."
based on a bit of The Walrus and
the Carpenter
by Lewis Carroll

Wednesday, May 11

Rain!

Last night there was a small monsoon. I was walking toward the apartments from Chips, and as I got near the pool parking lot, I saw a huge flash of light (sort of like, but not quite as dramatic as ball lightning). At that point, I thought, Either that was lightning, or I'm gonna die! So I kept walking to Dustro's apartment, hoping it didn't start pouring on me. When I got there, I found out that we'd be going to Larsen to watch Sex and the City with Shoe Diva. I told him that we ought to drive, because it was gonna pour. We got to Larsen without so much as a drop, but then a little while after, it started pouring. I went back to my room, after having watched three episodes (during which I fell in love with a Russian), and my stuff was wet. So, much to my chagrin, I closed the windows, mopped up my mess, and went outside to take a couple of pictures of the monsoon.

As you can see, I did. And then I went to bed.

Monday, May 9

Last Monday

Today was the last Monday of my undergrad life, as far as classes go. I'm finishing up my last Monday hours* at Chips right now. I washed what was probably my last load of laundry to be done on campus today, due to the fact that I need more underwear and don't have quite enough money to buy more today. I talked to the verysmallRA last night and convinced her that her hair makes her look much more mature when it's curly, and also told her that despite the fact that she didn't marry Ali when she was 18 and in Egypt, she will still have beautiful Egyptian babies. We also decided that we must get together this summer, since she's working in DSM at Caribou. And that we should see an I-Cubs game and perhaps go to Adventureland.


I have pretty much nothing to do, unless you count the presentation I have to throw together for Linguistics, which is to be presented next Wednesday during our final time. Or the take-home portions of my anthro and Greek tests.

So apart from knitting and putting out a few friendship-fires due to end-of-semester stress, I've got nothing. I don't mean to flaunt it at those who have that nasty Really Big Project Build-up that tends to happen at the end of the year, and I do wish you the best. And I'm free if you need some time away from the last bits of your undergrad schoolwork. Like perhaps a coffee break that involves no coffee whatsoever.

* Unless I decide to make up some stylesheets for InDesign. I don't want the next production manager to be completely lost.

Saturday, May 7

Opera and IMM

The opera rocked my face off last night. More correctly, Timmy rocked my face off. What a dirty character he got to play!

X-rated quickie: I also found out about an hour ago that May is International Masturbation Month, so go ahead and celebrate.

Friday, May 6

Friday things

I shall be seeing an opera* tonight with a dear knitting friend of mine. The show is Albert Herring, and it sounds rather random. Timmy's in it tonight, and he's playing Sid. I'm excited to see him perform. It's been a while, after all, since he was the Baker in "Into The Woods" in high school.

Also, apparently there's a dinosaur that was in the process of going veggie, much like I did last month. The illustration is smashing.

Anyhow, I'm out like bad fashion -- it's time for class.

* Opera is Latin for "works"; it is plural and neuter.

Thursday, May 5

Stuffy

I used to believe that I was special, especially during the spring months. While everyone else would be suffering with the sniffles, sinus headaches, sneezing and the like, I'd be out, blissfully frolicking through fields of wildflowers and nemora [small groves of trees].

Alas, I have become one of the unlucky. I think that I, too, have developed allergies. I feel like I'm trying to think through a fog (and that's after I've taken my sinus headache drug), like I could sneeze at any moment, and (as I told my voice prof. on Tuesday) "like small invisible creatures were crawling up my nose". I think the latter is the best description at this point, with the fog coming in a close second.

But why do I have allergies? I blame the roommate. Never any fresh air in the room -- it's always stale and nasty-smelling. Small piles of her stuff everywhere, including the very large accumulation in front of her desk, which is right where I would step to get out of bed, of course. That is if there wasn't so much damn stuff there.

I will be fine, though. I'll just keep telling myself that we will graduate in three Sundays, which leaves a lot less time with the roommate.

Incidentally, Feliz Cinco de Mayo.

Sunday, May 1

May day

Today is the first of May, and there were flurries. They look rather like Dippin' Dots, according to Chi.

And today marked the third time this semester that I have sent an email without the attachment that was supposed to be attached. It's all for the same class, of course. I also got to see Hitchhiker with T. BoJangles today, and I must say, it kind of rocked my face off.

A few notes:
Dustro, yes that was country music. It got louder after you left, as did the girl on the cell phone. Who talks on a cell phone in a computer lab?
Shoe Diva, thank you for worrying about my senior paper for me. You saved me a lot of trouble. :-)
TBoJ, thanks for accompanying me to the movie today. I had a fab time. [Psst! You owe me almost $20 now, but don't worry about it now. I know where you live.]

That's all, folks.