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:: 2006 5 March :: 1.17 am
:: Mood: enthralled

Sinner, A Self-Destructive Solo for Two Men
I went tonight with Hilary and Dan to see this show called Sinner, by Stan Won't Dance. It was by these two british guys, each of whom played a different side of the personality of the Soho Bomber from London. It started off with them lying on the ground amidst wreckage - literally chairs hanging from the ceiling. It was in the black box theater, so there were probably about 30-40 people in the room, and the stage is not elevated, it's just a reflective dance floor. So the guys got up eventually and did this show where they seamlessly integrated (did I steal that phrase from a review?) spoken dialogue and dance. Not normal dance, mind you, but VERY physical dance, where they literally threw each other around. So the guys walked into this gay bar, and immediately posed the question "do you know who the person beside you is?" It started out with the tall guy being rico suave in the gay bar, who sleeps around and does drugs, basically, and the short guy was really nervous, it was his first time in a gay bar, etc. So they were flirting kind of. Meanwhile, the text is very repetitive, which was cool. I mean like they say the same lines over and over, and do the same movements. It was kind of cyclical in a way? But it just kind of added to the confusion, because the whole point of the play is what was going on inside this guy's mind on the night he exploded a nail bomb in a gay bar. It's all his mental struggle. So as the show progresses, the tall guy eventually gets the short guy to take some drugs, and they start talking more philosophically. They had a really interesting bit about hate as an emotion, that feeling hate towards other people is feeling something, and other people hating you was feeling something. The tall guy also posed theoretically (kinda) blowing up something to gain celebrity status, while accomplishing something. Because after they talked about hate as an emotion, they started talking about who they hate. It started off as people with big glasses, and people with acne, then progressed to losers and assholes, and finally niggers, pakis, and queers (sorry, I wouldn't use that language, but it's in the show). It was just this progression inside the guy's mind of how he got to the point of hating people so much he would explode a nail bomb. Two times during the show the tall guy got phone calls from his conscience, while the short guy writhed on the ground, literally being beaten by some invisible force. Eventually both times he got beaten to the point that he was sprawled out on the ground in a crucifix position. The third phone call went to the short guy, and he repeated word for word what the tall guy had said to the conscience in the first phone call. Ah wait, before the third phone call there was a point where the short guy put on the tall guy's jacket. Also, each guy had a duffle bag...the short guy said his was filled with clothes, and we assume the tall guy's is filled with explosives. After the short guy gets off the phone, he asks the tall guy again if he has the right bag, and they go through a little thing with that. The tall guy asks when they would have gotten switched, the short guy says "I dunno, when I was on the phone" (both other times he had said "when you were on the phone"), and the tall guy answers "you were never on the phone." Short guy patted his pockets and realized there was no phone in there. Right after that they switch roles in repeating the dialogue. Each line was probably repeated at least 3-4 times throughout the show. Now they switched physical positions on stage and in the dance, and they switched lines...just completely swapped characters. Very shortly after that, the short guy repeated something he had said several times at the beginning about why he had come into the gay bar in the first place, but changed the demeanor and added a few "fucking queers." Other than that, it was the same. So basically they illustrated how this man (the Soho Bomber) went from just being a guy who walked into a gay bar with a duffle bag to blowing the place up. It was just really well done. At the end of the play, the short man just snapped, and he nailed the tall man to a table, then put the duffle bag down where it had been sitting at the beginning of the show, and all the lights turned off but the lights on the duffle bag.

After the show there was a Q&A...most of the questions were stupid ("Who was on the other end of the phone calls?"), but some of them elicited very good answers. The two guys who put on the show were very knowledgable. Hilary asked what they had changed, if anything, between performing the show in the UK and in America. They said they had to change a few words. One of the funny examples was there's a line near the beginning of the play saying that when he was walking into the gay bar he avoided the man next to the cigarette machine, which they had to change from "fag machine" in England. Apparently not everyone is familiar with British slang for cigarettes. They also said they had contemplated changing the word Paki, but there was no American equivalent. I'm not sure why people wouldn't get who they were referring to anyway. They also spoke a little bit about the background of the story. Apparently this man was a serial bomber in 1999, and he used nail bombs to blow up a black neighborhood, an Indian neighborhood, and this gay bar. They read a lot of police reports from the time and did a ton of research, and found out that this guy was most likely a closeted gay man struggling to accept his own sexuality. That was the theory behind a lot of the play being a flirtation between these two men. It went from him being a normal gay man walking into a gay bar to a man blowing up a gay bar, and everything in between. It really emphasized the choice this guy made between being those two people, either a normal gay man walking into a gay bar, or a serial bomber. My favorite thing that they talked about, and I can't remember the question now, delved into the religious imagery in the show. Hilary told me after the show, though I hadn't noticed it during, that there was a part when a cross was projected onto the stage, and it slowly morphed into a swastika. The guy, Liam, who...choreographed? the show and also starred as the short guy, talked about how this man had become his own martyr, and he explained that that was behind the ending of each phone call with him lying in a crucifix position. I really appreciated that he said this, because the play moved so quickly that it was hard to catch a lot of the deeper meaning imagery stuff. I had wondered about the picture on the cover of the program, which shows a man (Liam) with two nails in his head. I mean, this obviously has a lot of conotations with Jesus...they are the same kind of crucifiction nails, crown of thorns, etc. But the nails are placed in such a manner that they jut out like devil horns. The man in the story made himself out to be Christ, but in doing so, became a Sinner.



(The program picture is different, but it's the same basic principle.)

I found this article/review on the UFPA webpage, so I thought I'd share it.

UFPA presents
Stan Won't Dance
Sinner
Tuesday, February 28 - Saturday, March 4, 2006, 7:30 p.m.
Phillips Center Black Box Theatre

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

British physical theater company Stan Won't Dance brings its groundbreaking performance Sinner to the Phillips Center Black Box Theatre for a five-night run on Tuesday, February 28 through Saturday, March 4, 2006. Show times are at 7:30 p.m. There will not be performance discussions.

Stan Won't Dance is comprised of Liam Steel and Rob Tannion, who met as performers with DV8 Physical Theatre. Wanting to perform issue-based works that fully integrate text and movement, the duo, along with executive director Ellie Beedham, formed Stan Won't Dance in 2004. Steel initially trained as an actor and moved into dance, while Tannion did the opposite, forming a complementary relationship that works during performances and during the creative process.

Their inaugural work is Sinner. Based on the events surrounding David Copeland-the "Soho bomber" who attacked London's black, Asian and gay communities with nail bombs in April 1999, killing three and injuring dozens-Tannion and Steel, along with writer Ben Payne, prepared for the production by reading every news article and police report on the case that they could find, and explored related issues and similar events. Sinner moves from a nervous pub flirtation between two gay men to a chilling psychological thriller, exploring prejudice, sexuality and the blurred boundaries between good and evil.

"You soon realize that good and evil just depends on your viewpoint, your social and cultural position and what your reference points are," Steel and Tannion explained to RainbowNetwork.com. "Icons of evil are easier and more preferable to distance ourselves from, and we can therefore take little responsibility for their actions-they are not like us. Or are they?"

Sinner seamlessly combines movement and spoken word, and an eerie set and lighting design reflect the show's intensity.

"Put all of these layers of spoken and physical text/choreography together, counted out and timed precisely to each track of music, then place it on a stage that is a sloping smashed mirrored floor with holes in it and furniture embedded in it and you start to build up a picture," said Tannion and Steel. "It's challenging, but ultimately very rewarding to both watch and perform."

Critics agree-Sinner has been met with resounding acclaim. The Daily Telegraph called the production "one of the most theatrically thrilling productions I've seen... period."

Ben Wright will replace Rob Tannion during Sinner's North American tour.

Sinner contains profanity and other material of an adult nature, video light effects, loud music and smoke.

One Fell Off and Bumped His Head


:: 2006 7 February :: 12.39 am

Fiction writing ain't your living room.

One Fell Off and Bumped His Head


:: 2006 30 January :: 4.26 pm
:: Mood: optimistic
:: Music: "Dancing Through Life" -Wicked

New favorite class is Writing and Love. Today we watched a movie about Gandhi's Salt March, and then talked about nonviolence for a while. Vikram asked us all how nonviolence could work against terrorism. I was really hesitant to answer, as was, apparently, my entire side of the circle. Well, it wasn't really a circle or it wouldn't have had sides, now would it? It's a rectangle. But anyway, Vikram kinda turned to us and asked if we just didn't care. Then he said well, maybe I'm asking the question wrong; maybe it should be can nonviolence work against terrorism. I didn't want to talk, pretty much cause I thought my opinion on the matter was invalid...most of the class is some kind of other culture, and that got me in a bit of a pickle this morning in Social Problems, but that is a story for another day. So I raised my hand after a few seconds of hesitation, and he called on me. I said that I think there's an important distinction between oppression and terrorism. Nonviolence has proven very effective against oppression, for example the British in India in the 30's, and Martin Luther King's approach during the Civil Rights Movement. I said that all of the nonviolent protests I had heard of/studied are, at their core, a series of marches, boycotts, sit ins, etc. What exactly are we going to do, boycott al quaida? The actual individuals are dead...they crashed planes into the sides of buildings. So who are we to take a stand against? I said I think America took the most effective form of nonviolent response to terrorism that we could, we internalized it and united ourselves rather than externalizing it. At least for a time. I think if we would have continued that kind of action, or inaction, it could have been a successful nonviolent protest of terrorism, because we would have rendered the terrorism ineffective. At this point in time, I think that's the best we can hope for. I said I think that nonviolence is not an option against terrorism, but would be extremely effective instead of terrorism. Vikram took a second, then kinda said yeah, that's really good. He said "You articulated a popular argument. I mean, people have written whole books about this subject, and I don't think any of them have stated it as clearly as that." ^.^ This class is proving to be an enormous boost to my confidence. We've only had three freaking classes. I keep coming back to the point that somewhere along the line I've lost confidence in myself, and didn't even realize it. I think since going to college I've just grown incredibly unsure of myself. I'm more indecisive, if that's possible, I have more problems with public speaking, or, more specifically, articulating my ideas in front of groups/classes. I'm thinking maybe going from top dog in a lot of situations (senior, officer in everything under the sun) to being a freshman again contributed a lot to it. I'm really glad though that this class has begun to put my feet back under me.

One Fell Off and Bumped His Head


:: 2006 23 January :: 12.31 am
:: Mood: calm
:: Music: "Gravedigger" -Dave Matthews

Writing & Love Paper
First day of classes and I got an assignment for a 6,000 word paper. We had to write any 6,000 words, they didn't even have to be in English, and he's not collecting it. About half of it ended up being a huge journal entry, so I figured I might as well post it in the journal. So here's the first 3,500 words, written last night and today.


In my infinite ability to procrastinate, I have left this 6,000 word assignment go until less than 48 hours before it is due. Frankly, I’m surprised I’m starting it this early. To be fair, I am writing while watching Cruel Intentions. Who names a kid Sebastian anyway?

Classes have started, and they seem to be going well enough. Writing and Love, well, we’ve only had one class, yet I have more homework for that class than any of the others put together. It’s not the kind of homework that I mind though. I kind of enjoy an excuse to write every day, even if it’s about matters as trivial as I know this paper is going to include. I’m really not much of a writer at all, but maybe I will be at the end of the semester. Even as I write that sentence I doubt it. I think my mind is more geared towards science and math than towards more creative things like writing, art, etc. I have just kind of been using writing as a means by which to vent frustrations and organize thoughts. The more I write in my journal (my “nonline” journal, which isn’t published for most of my friends to see), the more depressed and angry I think it is. I don’t consider myself a very angry person at all, but I keep bitching about stuff in my journal. I think these past two weeks have just included more small frustrations than usual. I haven’t been writing about crises like last year, rather more minor conflicts that aren’t important enough to bring to the person’s/people’s attention(s). As far as other classes go, Social Problems is exceedingly boring. The teacher is very young and has a thick accent; he spends most of his time reading verbatim from his notes, which I assume come straight from the book. I assume because I haven’t cracked open the book yet. Actually, I haven’t cracked open any books yet. I think that may catch up to me in the form of a chem quiz Tuesday and a bio test February 3rd. However, Rohald, the Social Problems professor, has admitted that chapter one is boring, and he has promised that the class gets much more interesting after most of the definitions are out of the way. I haven’t decided yet if I believe him or not. Bonus points for the class because Joakim Noah is in it. Though I try to avoid it, I too fall victim to the celebrity syndrome. I don’t know that his presence will make me go to the class though. It seems pretty easy, and it is at 8:30 in the morning, three times a week. That’s probably just not worth going to. I think it’s going to turn out a lot like wildlife issues last semester, which turned out to be one of the best classes I’ve taken, if only because I ended up with a 102% without showing up. Hopefully Social Problems goes the same way.

Chem is pretty much what I expected. My professor is like a cartoon character. He sounds a lot like Wallace Shawn (the voice of Rex from Toy Story), and he constantly makes over-the-top bad jokes. For example, when we were learning about ICE tables, he said, “This subject’s cool, man. …Get it, cool?” Crickets. A cartoon character is the only way that I can think to describe him. He’s just so exaggerated and over the top with everything he does. As far as Bio goes, I wish my bio teacher were as entertaining as my chem teacher. He gives us all the notes in advance, so as to lower motivation to go to class, not to mention actually listening as he drones on. In addition, he uses PowerPoint, so he keeps the lights down. It’s one of the hardest classes to stay awake in. There are little to no consequences for not paying attention, and my lack of motivation is really coming through. That’s bad, though, because I need good grades in sciences. This is the first professor that I’ve had that is remotely like the professors I had envisioned before taking any college courses. He seems moderately uninterested in actually teaching, I think he just took the job for the research opportunities. He was going on the other day about this theory he and his wife have about mutations in mitochondria causing aging. I don’t know, I wasn’t really listening. Bio lab doesn’t start until next week, so I haven’t gotten a taste of that yet, but I got a full dose of chem lab. The actual lab was alright, it wasn’t too bad. The bad part came in the fact that I had to work with Navela. I don’t really mind her all that much, but we weren’t exactly friends in high school, and we haven’t spoken since May, so it was a little awkward. To make it worse, she didn’t bring her lab manual, because she didn’t read the syllabus, so she spent the entire time just copying out of mine. I don’t usually mind all that much when people copy my stuff, or at least that’s what I tell other people, I guess, because this certainly rubbed me the wrong way. I think it was just the fact that she did it constantly for three straight hours.

Well, I’ve just written almost a thousand words, and have yet to say anything interesting.

I haven’t felt very interesting lately, just kind of there. I haven’t been doing much but going to classes and reading. I can’t get my nose out of those damn Harry Potter books, so I spent about three hours today writing a fan fiction. I don’t even write fan fiction. But I guess I have now, as it’s currently about 4,000 words. But it should help me with this assignment, as I plan on tacking on the end of 2,000 words of rambling. I wish I could write more creative stuff. I enjoy fiction writing; I just get frustrated at the fact that I have so much trouble coming up with interesting stories. I have no problem writing things that I think are masterpieces, until I have trouble staying awake to reread them. Tonight Liz was very interested in my fanfic, but I think maybe that gives me false hope. It’s not even like I want to become a published author or anything, I just want to come up with a story that I really enjoy writing. Not a fanfic, something that I have come up with. Maybe if I think about it more actively, now that I know it’s something I want to do, something that I enjoy doing. The problem that I keep running into though is that I just suck at creative writing. I’m decent at writing essays, but anything that’s not guided to some extent just becomes incredibly dull and boring. Then I wonder if it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy. I think if I can just come up with one character and his/her situation, I’ll be able to go from there.

My biggest stressor the past few weeks has been my lack of roommate for the fall. I had a great plan, until Kim got rejected from UF. It’s getting very difficult to find someone that I want to live with, who wants to live with me, and likes large, hyper dogs. I’ve gotten plenty of offers to live with people, but all of them on campus. Hopefully I’ll be able to put an ad up on the prevet club web page or something. Otherwise I’m not really sure where to go from here. I definitely do not want to live on campus again, because I need to bring Sasha with me. Every time I go to the prevet club meetings, I am a little jealous of the people who bring their dogs with them. I want to bring Sasha with me. I love going places with her, and she loves getting out. If I can find a roommate for next year I know I’ll have so much fun with her in Gainesville. Sometimes I think of how I lived for 14 years before I got a dog, since I’m having such difficulty doing it now. Then I remember the countless conversations I had with my parents over those years. I don’t know that you could call them conversations, actually. I was desperate. I just have to have a dog. That’s it. Fish are nice, but GusGus doesn’t hold a candle to Sasha, obviously. I’ve thought about getting something with fur, but Hilary is allergic to pretty much everything, and most furry things that I could keep in the dorm are nocturnal. It wouldn’t be fair.

I’m quickly running out of things to write about. I am just that boring.

In March I am hopefully traveling to Michigan State to go to the prevet symposium. It sounds really amazing. It’s pretty much a convention of about 600 prevet students from around the country. “Attendees will experience dynamic laboratories and lectures, interactions with other pre-vet students, and a chance to further their understanding of the role of veterinarians across the globe.” Saturday is filled with two labs and four lectures, and I’ve looked through the programs and chosen some I’d like to check out. Here’s the short list:
Dealing with Parvovirus in Dogs - Overview of the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of parvovirus.
Intestinal Foreign Bodies in Cats and Dogs - Intestinal obstruction due to the ingestion of various objects can cause life-threatening issues in dogs and cats. The diagnosis, and surgical cure will be presented.
Zoo and Wildlife Medicine and Management - The veterinarian's role in zoo and wildlife related careers, with focus on required training, responsibilities, and job opportunities.
Ethics and Veterinary Medicine - Ethical issues you will face as a student, a practicing clinician, and a member of an important public profession. Issues range from docking tails to cloning racehorses.
Animal Welfare Assessment - Discussion of different animal welfare indicators, and the impact to animals.
The Business of Being a Veterinarian - Exploration of what you need to know about business to be successful in a veterinary practice.
Out of those lectures I’d have to choose four, assuming that it will line up right in the schedule. I’ll have to check on that. The labs I have figured out, and I hope that I can do both of them.
Zoo Tour and Darting - A tour of a local zoo and the opportunity to practice darting.
Basics of Suture Tying - Come learn the basic suture patterns and act like a doctor.
I’m really excited about these programs, so I’m really hoping I can go. I brought it up to the parents this weekend, and they seem to be in favor of my attendance. The problem is going to be in the fact that it costs about $450 to go because of the plane fare. I think I can cover most of it with my earnings from winter break substituting, and maybe the rest can come from my National Merit stipend. Hopefully my parents will pay for at least some, but I can’t realistically expect them to do that. I’m just glad that I worked a bit during winter break, rather than sitting at home doing nothing.

During my phone conversation yesterday, my mom also mentioned that Gayle contacted her about my plans for the summer; “recruiting” I believe were her words. I had to tell her to let them know I’m not really sure about the summer. I feel like I should, but, I mean, honestly, it’s January. It’s not even the end of January, it’s the middle of January. I still haven’t made a decision about taking Organic Chemistry over the summer. I know it’s probably in my best interest to take it then, but I frankly just don’t want to stay in Gainesville all summer. The grass is always greener, I suppose. For some reason, there are more stresses living alone that replace the stress of parents. Plus, a lot of my friends will be home this summer, and I didn’t get to spend a lot of time with them over winter break. I really would like to work camp again this summer, not to mention the fact that I’d be making $2/hour more than I did last summer. I do, however, need to get a job with a vet, preferably Boca Greens. I’m going to go over spring break and see if they’ll hire me for May. I was thinking perhaps I can work part time at camp, and then can fill in the time with Boca Greens. It will all depend on what they’re willing to hire me for. I don’t necessarily like the idea of working two jobs over the summer, but I’d enjoy both jobs, and I wouldn’t complain about having the extra cash, especially since it’s not cheap to get an apartment. The rent shouldn’t be too bad, but I’d also have to furnish it, and take care of Sasha.

I was thinking yesterday about when I was substituting during winter break, and the kids seemed to be so confused as to whether I was a kid or an adult. They must have asked me twenty times if I was married or if I had children. I think in kid-world there are kids and there are parents. I was their teacher, so I couldn’t be a kid, but I had told them I wasn’t a parent. It took me a while to understand why they had such a hard time grasping the fact that I was 19, it was as if they had never heard of college. Now that I realize where they were coming from, though, it makes me see more clearly the position that we’re all in. It’s kind of this transition state, sometimes I feel in limbo. I’ve spent my whole life preparing for something, but I feel like I’ve never actually gotten anywhere. You spend the years before school preparing for life, you spend elementary school preparing for middle school, middle school preparing for high school, high school preparing for college, now I’m preparing for vet school. In eight months I’ll be twenty. I never thought I’d be twenty. Even though that feels really old to me, I still have another seven years of preparation ahead of me. Schooling, I should say. Seven years ago, I was in sixth grade. And after I’m finished with school, I’m still not sure I’ll be done preparing. Will I always be preparing for my next patient? For a better job? For my own practice? Is the point of life to constantly prepare for whatever is just out of your reach? Even if you do reach the place you’re shooting for, that’s usually about the time you start a family. Then you spend all your time preparing your children for the life you just had. On the other hand, maybe it’s not preparation; maybe it’s just constantly bettering yourself and trying to reach that next level, never growing complacent. I keep thinking of the Dave Matthews song, “Gravedigger.” I think the online journal community has conditioned me to think of songs for all of my moods and thoughts, not that this is necessarily a bad thing. “Sirus Jones, 1810 to 1913, made his great grandchildren believe you could live to a hundred and three. A hundred and three is forever when you’re just a little kid, so Sirus Jones lived forever.” I think this line goes back to the little kid aspect I mentioned before. I mean, obviously Sirus Jones didn’t live forever, because he died in 1913. His great grandchildren know he didn’t live forever, because they were there when he died in 1913. Still, Sirus Jones lived forever.

This is an excerpt from one of my favorite stories ever. I guess it’s fan fiction in a way, based loosely off of The Phantom of the Opera.
“But Angel,” she said, “how can there be beauty in something so horrible?”
“Was it the horror that created the music?”
“The swans were in pain. They were dying. And so they sang.”
“Everything you say is true, and yet you’ve missed the point,” he said. “The good, as they die sometimes catch a glimpse of the paradise to come. The swans who are mute all their lives, find their voice only at that final moment, for the greater glory of God.”
That passage really speaks to me, I love it. The fact that something can make a noise so beautiful as it literally faces its peril is a very powerful image. I really want to get my hands on The Phantom of the Opera novel. It’s not like it’s difficult to find, I just haven’t bought it. Sometimes I put off reading new things, and I have recently discovered (yesterday) that I just don’t want to finish them. For example, I have this new book called Marley & Me that just looks outstanding. It was an impulse buy at Barnes and Noble. I haven’t even picked it up yet though; I’ve been rereading Harry Potter books. I think the fact that I’ve already finished all those books is why I’ve been gravitating towards them. I’m not afraid of being disappointed with the book, I just don’t want to be finished with it. Rereading something is just not the same. I have glorified the novels to the point that I don’t want to even start them, they will be over in a single afternoon. This totally defeats the purpose though, because I end up not reading. I have to just find more books when I’m done. When I bought Marley & Me, I realized that I could not even remember the last time I had found something in a bookstore and bought it when it was not the exact item I had gone in to purchase. I’ve stopped buying books on impulse. I think this lost a lot of the fun of reading for me. Part of the enjoyment that comes from reading is the discovery of a really good book. That has been lost for some time now. I need to make sure that I remember it. I often blame IB for having crushed my love of reading, but I think I’m slowly regaining it. Call me a nerd, but I enjoy spending an entire afternoon reading in bed. I put as my away message the other day “Never underestimate the power of a cup of hot chocolate and a good book.” That was a great day too. I just read forever, until I fell asleep. Sometimes I find that I am happier with less social situations. It makes me think that maybe I should give up the search for a roommate and live alone with Sasha and Kitty. It would be more expensive, but I think I might like that idea. Maybe I’ll run it past the parents and see what they think. I’m just a very independent person; I like my space. Also, that would ease a bit of stress about me worrying whether my roommate was annoyed with Sasha, and would just leave me in complete control of where I lived. The more I think about it, the more I like the idea. I remain undecided, however; I will see how my options play out.

So, in a crazy twist of events, I started reading Marley & Me while I was cooking dinner. It is amazing, and I’m only 20 pages in. I don’t think it’s a book that I can read over and over again, but I’ll enjoy it while I’m reading it. Reading the preface, I came as close as I’ve ever come to crying in a book. Seriously, dogs are a soft spot. It just reminded me so much of Sasha since I’ve had her since I was 14. Hopefully I can get 14 years with Sasha like Grogan got 14 years with his Shaun. Here’s the part I’m referring to though, purely for posterity:
The love affair lasted fourteen years, and by the time he died I was no longer the little boy who had brought him home on that summer day. I was a man, out of college and working across the state in my first real job. Saint Shaun had stayed behind when I moved on. It was where he belonged. My parents, by then retired, called to break the news to me. My mother would later tell me, “In fifty years of marriage, I’ve only seen your father cry twice. The first time was when we lost Mary Ann” – my sister, who was stillborn. “The second time was the day Shaun died.”
That part really made me miss Sasha, and with Trixie and Hershey both having their health problems, I really get concerned for her. I was so relieved and excited when the vet went on and on about what great shape she is in. I take such pride in the condition and health of my dog, it’s like she’s my child. Whenever anyone pays her a compliment, it’s like I’ve received three.

Alright, well, I seem to have reached the word count minus the fanfic, so I’ll stop for now, and will maybe write more later. We’ll see how it goes. So, without further ado, I present my meager attempt at fanfic writing.



Um, yeah, I'm not going to post the fanfic here. *hides*

One Fell Off and Bumped His Head


:: 2005 18 December :: 2.06 pm
:: Music: "Seek Up" -Dave Matthews Band

Every day things change, but basically they stay the same
Sometimes I feel like I'm falling
Fall back again, fall back again,
Fall back again, fall back again

Oh, life it seems a struggle between
What we see and what we do
I'm not going to change my ways
Just to please you or appease you
Inside a crowd, five billion proud
Willing to punch it out
Right, wrong, weak, strong
Ashes to ashes all fall down
Look around about this round
About this merry-go-round around
If at all God's gaze upon us falls
It's with a mischievous grin, look at him

Forget about the reasons and
The treasons we are seeking
Forget about the notion that
Our emotions can be kept at bay
Forget about being guilty,
We are innocent instead
For soon we will all find our lives swept away

You seek up an emotion
And your cup is overflowing
You seek up an emotion,
Sometimes your well is dry
You seek up a big monster
For him to fight your wars for you
But when he finds his way to you, the devil's not
Going ha, ha

Say, say

Everyday things change, but basically they stay the same

Forget about the reasons and
The treasons we are seeking
Forget about the notion that
Your emotions can be swept away
Intentions are not wicked,
Don't be tricked into thinking so
Soon we will all find our lives swept away

You seek up an emotion
And your cup is overflowing
You seek up an emotion,
Sometimes your well is dry
You seek up a big monster
For him to fight your wars for you
But when he finds his way to you,
The devil's not going - ha, ha
Fall back again, fall back again, fall back again


So I realized today that it's been a while since I've written a real update. That's bad.

Semester ended...yay. I was one question away from an A in chem, and that really pisses me off. Other exams seem to have gone well though, so I think I ended up with three A's, one B, and one B+. Not too shabby for my first semester.

Tons of drama going on though. It just really makes me angry more than anything else. Are we 12? The whole situation just makes me frustrated and upset. It sucks.

I had lunch with Krystle today. It was really good to see her. We talked for a while about what's going on. It was really refreshing to talk to someone else. I need to remember to call people more often.

A few things are really upsetting me with my family. My brother and my dad are in Vegas right now. I wasn't invited. My mom and Will are going to Europe this summer. I wasn't invited there either. I think my dad and I are going to New York as a consolation vacation. I've said since thanksgiving that I wanted to go buy a christmas tree the day after we got home for break. We still don't have one, and I can't get one till Will gets home from vegas since I can't handle the tree by myself. I just kind of feel like I'm being pushed to the side.

I was working all week pretty much. Tuesday I worked all day at the car dealership, then went to the hockey game with my mom and Will. After the game Will and I ran into David Myers, Trevor Luna, Logan Poirer, and Mike Friend. Talk about awkward. Haven't seen them since 8th grade. Wednesday afternoon I subbed in preschool. Kids were cute, and it was fun to see some of the kids from summer. A little surreal to have Caroline Cleveland in my class though. I worked after care for a bit too. Thursday I was in Mrs. Vanderkooy's class. First grade was a bit harder than preschool. The kids just refused to listen. There were a few kids in there I knew...Kate Callahan, Angela Menkhaus...others. They had a lot of sugar because it was jordan's special week, and his mom brought in...marshmallow sticks. A few really cute little kid stories though. One of the funniest was when a girl was showing me a scratch she had on her stomach. It was this weird like three inch scratch. She said to me, "Do you know where this booboo is from?" And Angela Menkhaus said, "Voldemort??" It was the funniest thing ever. But a little scary that kids at that age really can't distinguish between fantasy and reality. Still funny. Friday I worked in the morning with another preschool class while Sandra Cahill went to see her daughter in the Christmas program. Those kids too were hyper, I don't know what was up with that. I guess they just go nuts with a substitute. I was expecting it to be more like summer, but during the summer I was their teacher rather than a substitute. I guess for this week I'll have to remember that it's different cause I'm a sub. Hopefully I'll get some work this week.

Well, I think that's it...later kids.

One Fell Off and Bumped His Head


:: 2005 12 December :: 11.47 pm

You took your coat off and stood in the rain,
You're always crazy like that.
And I watched from my window,
Always felt I was outside looking in on you.
You're always the mysterious one with
Dark eyes and careless hair,
You were fashionably sensitive
But too cool to care.
You stood in my doorway, with nothing to say
Besides some comment on the weather.

Well in case you failed to notice,
In case you failed to see,
This is my heart bleeding before you,
This is me down on my knees, and...

These foolish games are tearing me apart,
And your thoughtless words are breaking my heart.
You're breaking my heart.

You're always brilliant in the morning,
Smoking your cigarettes and talking over coffee.
Your philosophies on art, Baroque moved you.
You loved Mozart and you'd speak of your loved ones
As I clumsily strummed my guitar.

You'd teach me of honest things,
Things that were daring, things that were clean.
Things that knew what an honest dollar did mean.
I hid my soiled hands behind my back.
Somewhere along the line, I must've gone
Off track with you.

Excuse me, think I've mistaken you for somebody else,
Somebody who gave a damn,
Somebody more like myself.

These foolish games are tearing me apart,
And your thoughtless words are breaking my heart.
You're breaking my heart.

You took your coat off,
Stood in the rain,
You're always crazy like that.

One Fell Off and Bumped His Head


:: 2005 8 December :: 9.45 pm

Fa la la la la...






etc.

3 Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed | One Fell Off and Bumped His Head


:: 2005 29 November :: 10.50 am

What is a horse shoe? What does a horse shoe do? Are there any horse socks? Is anybody listening to me?

One Fell Off and Bumped His Head


:: 2005 26 November :: 12.00 pm
:: Mood: tired
:: Music: "We Are the Boys from Old Florida"

Alright, let's see how much of the past week I can get down before I have to head out.

Pick a day....any day. Let's start with Friday. Friday Hilary flew up to DC to visit a friend at GW, starting my weekend of having my own room. I went over to Lakeside and Leah cooked dinner (mmm) and then we watched a few movies. We decided somewhere in there that we should have thanksgiving dinner before we all headed down south and we wrote an email and left a few drunk messages on people's phones. Stupid SNAP stopped taking calls at 1:30, so Ryan said he would take me home. We watched the rest of Robin Hood Men In Tights and then he drove me back to my place. It was sooo nice to have a room to myself, and I got to fall asleep with my TV on. Saturday I woke up at 2:30, and proceeded to do absolutely NOTHING all day. I stayed in my PJs until about 7:30 when I went to the grocery store to pick up a few things I needed as well as the stuff I was responsible for bringing to Thanksgiving Dinner. When I got back from the store...I did more nothing. It was great. Sunday I did some work, I think, and then started with the preparations for Thanksgiving. I made stuffing and gravy, Tom made chicken (and bitched about it all night :oP), Leah made two pies and yams, gabe brought drinks, and Anghela brought cranberries and corn. It was really fun to all sit together and have a big family dinner. We ended up with lots of leftovers, so I went around to the boys in my hall and told them to come eat some food. They were a little confused, but we managed to give away most of it. After dinner we watched Desperate Housewives and Grey's Anatomy, then I kinda chillaxed and looked around on this Harry Potter site I stumbled across, and Hilary and I were up till 5 debating fun little HP things. Oh yeah..I think I started a day too late. Thursday I went with Hilary and a few of her friends to see the midnight release of HP, which was amazing. Best movie yet.

Monday I was SUPPOSED to go to RTV, but...things didn't really work out that way. I slept through my alarm, and Hilary's alarm, and Hilary getting ready/leaving for class. I only woke up around 11:30 when Allison called me about football tickets. It was good that she called; I had planned to call her on the way back from class, but, well, you know. So I told her we were meeting at 12:30 at the stadium, and then...we did. I called Will when I was leaving, and woke him up, so Allison, Mike and I were waiting for a bit for Rip to show up. He did though, and was only about 15 minutes late, so we got our tickets and left. Our seats are friggin awesome, it rocks. After that I came home and had to be productive. I did chem hw, packed, etc. Went to chem class at 6...big waste of time, then came home to finish preparations for the trip southward. Will and I decided that since neither of us really had food, that we should go out, so we went to Moe's (Welcome to Moe's!!) and left Gainesville around 9. It was an interesting car trip with a fishbowl on my lap, but Bacchus travels well. We got home at about 2 AM, and I got to bed about 4. My mom woke me up at about 7:30 when she was leaving for work, and I regrettably didn't get a nap. Kinda hung out at the house Tuesday, then my mom, my brother and I went to see Harry Potter at 10 something. Like I figured, I noticed a lot more the second time. My dad was a little pissed that we went to see HP, since he's the only one who hasn't read the books, so he didn't go see the movie. Wednesday I kinda waited around all day for a few of my friends to call me, and when they didn't I just kinda said screw that and went out with the ATL crew. Apparently the tri-rail station moved, which made picking Krystle up an interesting adventure, but it all worked out and Krystle, me and Amanda made it to roadhouse to meet up with Amalia, THomas, and Adam. It was nice to see everyone again. I couldn't really go out afterwards though, since I had told my dad I would go with him to see derailed, and cancelling at 9:00 wouldn't have been cool. So I took Amanda home and raced back to pick him up so we could see the movie at 9:50. We were like 5 minutes late, but it didn't matter, since they decided not to show the movie. I was kinda pissed cause I had missed out hanging with friends more to go see a nonexistent movie. But c'est la vie, and I called Sarah to see if she wanted to hang out. We tried to go to dairy queen, but as per boca's custom, it closed at 10, so instead we got frostys at wendy's. Still good though, and then we hung out a bit at their house and watched sex and the city and everybody loves raymond.

Thursday was off limits to anything not family related. I wanted to sit at home, watch the parade, smell the turkey smell. I ended up going back out with my dad to try to see derailed, and this time they were showing it. But we were even more late, and missed the first few minutes. It didn't appear that we had missed much.. The movie was ok, but not the kind of movie I wanted to see on Thanksgiving day. So whatever, it made my dad happy because he wanted to see it. We came home and watched a little football, then I started doing my part of thanksgiving dinner stuff. Yay turkey smell! Will played Madden for most of the afternoon, which led to a great quote that some of you will now find on my away message. Will: There's one minute left in the half! Mom: Honey, it's Thanksgiving dinner! Haha, maybe something you'd have to be there for, but it was hilarious. After dinner I convinced the others to let me watch Charlie Brown, and then we watched more football. We all signed up for our Target wake up calls and tuck in calls, except that will and I were the only ones who subscribed to the earliest possible wake up time: 4 AM. I got to bed shortly after the end of the Tonight Show, so call it 12:45. Kermit the Frog woke me up at 3:50. Let the Black Friday shopping begin!!

Will woke up around 4:15, and we left the house around 4:40. Our first mission: Walmart. Last year we hit up Sports Authority first, but this year we went straight to the front lines. Basically, we sit at home going through the circulars Thursday, and then decide if there's anything in there that we want. The only really big item that we wanted was this table at walmart. It's a 3 in 1 pool, ping pong, and poker table. I mean, come on. We had to buy it. It was only $98!! So we got to Walmart at about 4:55, and the line to get into the store went from the door all the way to the side of the parking lot, then down almost to 441. Hundreds of people. Many people who had gotten there when we did (right as the store was opening) elected to stand outside the doors and wait for the line to get in, but I said screw that, we're getting in line! I saw Vanessa on our way back to the end of the line, and talked to her for a second, but it wasn't very social...everyone there was on a mission. I remembered that the only thing that I found intriguing from the Best Buy circular was the bargain DVDs, and I knew it would be a while before we made our way over to Best Buy, so I gave Leah a call and asked her to grab me a copy of Billy Madison for $4. She told me there were a million copies of the DVDs, and she scored me a Billy Madison. We got physically into Walmart at around 5:07, and there was a swarm of people after these 23" TVs for $88. That seemed to be the big walmart deal of the day. We decided to avoid that in our quest for the table, and walked down along the registers. There was this one guy walking the other direction, shouting "Forget it, the computers are gone. You can just leave." We went down through sporting goods and found other tables, but not the one we were looking for. I found an employee, and he showed me where they were. They were in the exact spot where the trampolines were last year. We knew what this meant. We tried to get a table down, but they were in boxes about 6 1/2' long, and weighed about 100 lbs. We debated for a bit how we were going to get the table home, not to mention to Gainesville. Finally some walmart people realized how poorly planned the location of the tables was, and they sent for a dolly. Two of them got some tables down and laid them on their sides, then took names of the surrounding people to be sure that the ones who had gotten there first (ie Will and I) got the tables. By that time, there were about 6 people clamoring for what I think was probably 10-12 tables. They cut off the UPCs and gave them to the people who were there in line, and told us to go check out. I had also grabbed a vacuum for $10 and a razor that my dad had mentioned he wanted. We checked out, and then began the epic journey of getting the table home. My Name Is Earl helped us out of the store, then (Thank God) had some string and he tied the table to the roof of the car. We went home then and managed somehow to get the table off of the car and into the garage. We've decided that what we're going to do is go home during the reading days before exams and trade the corolla for the van and bring the table up in that. We couldn't have driven 300 miles with a table on the roof. So after unloading (and taking a donut rest) we headed back out for Sports Authority. Will made out like a bandit there, again, and got two boxes of Nike golf balls for $20, gloves buy one get one, and golf shoes 50% off. After SA we went to Linens and Things to see if Will's chair was on sale. Unfortunately, it seems as though those chairs were just part of the going to college thing, and weren't there anymore. We did, however, get the best board game ever: Shots & Ladders. Comes with a board and 6 shot glasses. We went halvsies on it, so it only cost $5 each. We then went to Target, where I ran into Leah. Her mom was pissed off. They lined up outside of Best Buy at 3:30 in the morning, and the computers were sold out by the time they got to them. Again, not a social situation, so we split ways so I could go find my dog toy thing and my photo thing. I found the photo things, which are really cool, but the dog thing was sold out. :( It was this toy, a plastic dog, and you plug it into your CD player or MP3 player and it dances and plays a light show. Oh well, it probably would have been one of those things I would be mad I spent $20 on later. Or I'll make my parents buy it for me for christmas. o.~ Will also bought the Family Guy movie at Target for $8. Let's see....after Target we went to the mall. We parked at Sears, but went straight through to Old Navy. I was really hoping they would have another sale where one item was a dollar with any purchase. Last year it was blankets, and the year before it was scarves, and I took advantage of that both times, but this year they didn't have it. Instead they had a scratch and win game, which proved useful, as we got $10 off a purchase of $50, and Will and I together spent exactly $50. He got two sweater-type shirt things, and a fleece pullover for $10 each, which is a good deal, since those fleece jackets are not that cheap usually, and I got two blankets (they were 2 for 10) and a sweater that's really fuzzy and nice. I only really wanted one blanket, but it was either 2 for $10 or 1 for $10. It ended up working out though, because when we got home my mom said that she would have bought two more because she likes those blankets, so I told her I'd sell her my second one for $5, and I did. So anyway, good deals to be had at old navy, because between the $10 off and the selling the blanket to my mom, I got a blanket and a sweater for $10. After that we went into Sears, and I looked for jeans, because I need them desperately, and I got two pairs for $45. Again, pretty good deal, since they're supposed to be $35 each. While I was shopping there Will went over to FYE and bought a Scene It game for himself for my parents to give him for christmas. At FYE we saw the family guy movie that will had bought at target for $8 on sale for $24. We're awesome shoppers. After the mall we went to Best Buy, and I thought about buying an MP3 player for $40, cause it was a really good deal, but I don't think that I'll be happy with 512 mb, so I passed. We did buy a cordless phone for my parents though, because that was the one thing that they had mentioned they wanted us to grab. And it was $8. I found the bargain DVD bin, just because I was curious, and I was SO glad I had Leah buy me Billy Madison. All that was left in the whole bin was 8 copies of Road to Perdition. We went home after Best Buy, exhausted, and with a lot of stuff, and thus ended the Black Friday shopping extravaganza.


~~~Have to go to see the Gators play!! I'll finish this tonight (if I'm sober)~~~

[laterrr]

Man, that game was friggin awesome, but more about that later. Where was I? Ah, yes. Home. We got home around 10 AM, watched Ellen, and I saw the first game of the Price is Right before falling asleep. I told my mom to wake me up at 12, but I didn't actually get up until around 12:45, and we were supposed to leave at 2. No matter, my laundry was all done, thanks to my mom, and I had most of my things together. I packed for a bit, sorted through some of the purchases of the morning, grabbed my harry potter books, and was just about ready to leave. At 1:35 my dad came out into the kitchen and said that he wanted to talk with us before we left. Mind you he had FOUR DAYS to have a conversation with us, and he knew all week that we wanted to leave no later than 2, yet he still started this conversation at 1:35. It drives me insane. Seriously. Apparently my parents are/were thinking about buying the house two doors down the street and moving there. It's the exact same house we have, but with a pool and screened in porch. Honestly, it doesn't really affect Will and I that much, so our opinions on the matter were pretty much indifferent. Anyway, we rolled out of boca at about 2:30.

We got to Gainesville shortly before 7, took Bacchus up to my room, and headed out for the basketball game. My ID wouldn't scan, so I have to get a new one, but I did get one of the shaker things. XD I sat next to the cutest little boy too. He kept talking to me about the basketball game and stuff, he was just adorable. The game was a little intense. It started off with us losing 8-0, then 24-3. At one point we had 5 fouls and 3 points. But, God smiled upon the gators and we won 73-66. After the game...I don't remember what I did. I think maybe I just came home. I guess. I don't really know. Oh wait, no. No I didn't. I got the rest of my stuff out of my car and went out to dinner at Moe's with Will. Then I came home. This morning I woke up around 11:30, umm..started writing this, then went tailgating with Hilary and Dan. We grabbed lunch at the reitz union, and brought it over behind the music building where we tailgate. We went over to the stadium and I met up with Will and Mike...and Mr Will and his sons. Mr. Will bought Kurosh's ticket from Will for his son, so Brian used my friend Dan's student ID to get in. It was pretty weird to see Mr. Will, and I'm pretty sure he was drunk. His sons were rooting for FSU, and I told Brian that if I would have known that I wouldn't have gotten him the ID. But they got in fine, and all was well. Will, Mike and I found our seats, which were AMAZING. We laid the smackdown on FSU. F-L-O-R-I-D-A S-T-A-T-E SUCKS! It was just so intense. What a fun game. Afterwards we went to Chipotle to grab some dinner, which is always good. Burke wanted me to go out to Abbey Road with them, and Allison really wanted me to go to a house party with her, but I am sooo tired I kinda just want a quiet evening here. Even though it is FSU weekend. So here I am having a quiet evening. A little sore, but not unhappy. I have pretty bad visor hair, if that's possible, and my feet are really gross and dirty. That's what I get for wearing flip flops to the Swamp. I think I'm just gonna take a shower and do some wildlife issues hw while I watch TV. I have a chem test monday night, and a wildlife test tuesday morning, with a term paper due thursday in my honors class. Wake me up when this week is over.

Hope this entry was long enough for you, kids. Over and out.

So give a cheer for the orange and blue, waving forever
Forever pride of old florida, may she droop never
We'll sing a song for the flag today
Cheer for the team at play
On to the goal, we'll fight our way for Florida!

One Fell Off and Bumped His Head


:: 2005 14 November :: 12.31 pm
:: Mood: tired
:: Music: Elizabethtown Soundtrack

On the road again...
So. Went to South Carolina this weekend, as all devoted Gator fans should. We left Friday morning from my dorm and headed over to the Reitz Union so we could buy visors. I also bought a Gators sweatshirt, because...you know, gotta have a Gators sweatshirt to go to South Carolina. Plus, I had two 25% off coupons, so the sweatshirt was only $39. So then we were on the road. (We being Me, Will, Emil, Pete, and Burke). We stopped somewhere in Georgia at Wendy's for lunch, and then got to our hotel in South Carolina around 6ish. We checked in, then asked the people at the front desk where there was a place with bars and stuff near campus and/or the stadium so we could have a plan if we didn't get tickets for the game. They gave us directions to a place called 5 Points, and we went there. We parked and decided to walk around a bit. We walked around USC campus, and they have this crazy awesome residence hall thing. Then we went back to 5 Points and went to this Irish Pub called Delaney's that was playing football and basketball, so we figured they would be playing the game Saturday. We had some food and whatnot, everyone got beers, but I figured we wouldn't be there long so I had water so I could drive. There was this crazy Irish singer at the pub, and Burke knew all the words (I knew only some) to all the songs, and all the motions and clapping and stuff, so it was really fun. Also I taught Will and Emil the cup game, and they enjoyed that. After Delaney's we kinda just went back to the hotel and crashed. Peter and Emil continuously spilled candy in the car, and it was beginning to get excessive. Hehe, so we fit 5 people in one hotel room (barely) and got some sleep.

Woke up around 9 the next morning with the plan to drive to the stadium, drop will and burke off so they could find tickets, then me, peter, and emil drive to 5 points and try to find a table in a sports bar. However, about 2 miles outside of the stadium, there were many people with signs requesting tickets, and zero people selling them. We decided to scrap the plan of trying to go to the game, seeing as how there would be no way to get 5 tickets, not to mention getting all 5 under $100 each. So we didn't split up, and all headed over to 5 points. We had to buy something at OOPS Co. to be able to park for more than 90 minutes, and then we grabbed something to eat at Groucho's, since nothing opened until 11. A random USC guy came up and started talking to us. We asked him where he was going to watch the game, and after a few minutes of indecision, he came back and recommended a place called Damon's, though he couldn't give us directions. We asked the Groucho's waiters, and they gave us pretty accurate southern directions, with landmarks like "Longhorns" and no street names. But we got there, and we got an awesome table. Damon's had TVs everywhere, including the bathrooms, with 5 huge screens in the room we were in, 3 of which played the UF-USC game, and 2 played the FSU-Clemson game. Apparently South Carolina dominated the state of Florida that day, and I don't really want to talk about it. But it was nice because our waitress didn't card (nor, it seems, did anyone in South Carolina), and I got a Yoengling, which was ok.. We all ordered ice cream sundaes at different intervals throughout the game, which was pretty funny, and then we hung our heads in shame as we left Damon's (playing a game of Pacman on the way out) and headed back to the hotel. We asked the desk guy where a good place for steak and pasta was, and he gave us directions to an Outback Steakhouse, which had an hour and twenty minutes wait, so we went to Chili's. Stupid Chili's messed up my order and put pickles in the sandwich, but whatever, I took them out. We went back to the hotel after dinner, and attempted to watch the Georgia-Auburn game, but lost interest since it had no bearing on our status anymore, and watched Mean Girls instead. After Mean Girls ended we walked over to the gas station to buy candy. Then we watched the end of the game and kinda chilled before going to bed.

Sunday we got up around 9, got breakfast, packed, and headed out. We made a stop at a Piggly Wiggly on Strom Thurmond Blvd because Pete had made all these claims about how shitty they were and how they had checkout ailes specifically for people paying with food stamps. Apparently, though, Pete was WAY off, as this was one of the classiest grocery stores any of us had ever been to. They did sell Steve Spurrier wine though. We made another stop in Walterboro, SC to go to Hobo Joe's to get fireworks. I was really pissed though, because Hobo Joe's closed on Sundays. So we had to go across the street to the Fireworks Superstore to get our fix. I bought things that don't blow up, but are still awesome. They're these little pellets, and you light them on fire, and then they turn into this little ash snake. I used to love them when I was little. Yes, I recognize that they are pussy fireworks, but I am not ashamed to admit that I am afraid of blowing things up. We got back on the road for a while, then stopped around 2:00 somewhere in Georgia....on Business 95 (I don't know either) to get some lunch. We ate at Ruby Tuesday, and Will made me get a Bison Burger. It was good, but again they screwed it up and put pickles on it. It was fine though, whatever. That was the last stop of the trip, and we made it back to Gainesville around 6:00. Really South Carolina is not that far away. When we used to drive to North Carolina and stay in Walterboro on the way up it seemed like forever, but that's because Florida is so damn long. We cut 4 1/2 hours off by leaving from Gainesville, and it only took about 7 hours, with a stop, to get to Columbia. Nice city too, with nice people. I wouldn't mind going back.


Here are some of the quotes that merited getting written down on the way up mostly, with some from the hotel room and the ride back.

"This candy's really good for you...well, except for the sugar." -Emil

Emil: Did you know body lice is worse than head lice?
Pete: Did you know I had chiggers? Yeah, when I was in Guatemala. It sucked ass.

"Do you think they use 'carpetbaggers' as an offensive term here?" -Emil

"Did you guys see the bungee jumping video? I don't want to give away the ending but...it's really funny." -Pete

"Did you guys know it's a crime to pee on the Alamo?" -Emil

"I don't like sleeping in a car because the one time I did I thought I went blind." -Emil

"I want to see people who wear nothing but overalls. I've seen them. They have them in Alabama." -Emil

P: Did you guys used to play hide and seek when you were little?
E: Nah. We used to play "throw the wet sponge."

"I want to find a Piggly Wiggly with a whole checkout aisle just for food stamps." -Pete

P: (ours) Must be a really fat poltergeist.
E: Yeah, he bought us Swiss Cake Rolls once.

"That's why I sleep with my door locked and a freakin' dart." -Pete

Now, this one is interesting and is even funnier in context. We were talking about the cape that Mike wore to the Tennessee game, and Pete asked if Mike was a super hero. When we all gave him quizzical looks, he followed up with "I hope he's lightning man." Out of that conversation came the following quote:
"When you were kids did you ever want to get struck by lightning so that you could control lightning? What, am I the only one?" -Pete

Pete, to Emil: G'night, John-John.
Emil, to Pete: G'night, Yoha. Let's go dream of apples. Golden apples.

"We all know karma has a playful side." -Emil

"Is that how you spell failure, Pete? C-A-T-C-A....H?" -Will

One Fell Off and Bumped His Head


:: 2005 8 November :: 10.22 am
:: Mood: sleepy
:: Music: "Story of a Girl"

Ok, boys and girls, how about an update? Now that I've had a chance to take a breath, I can finally break down the last month for your viewing pleasure.

Let's start around October twenty-something-st. I went to Halloween Horror Nights with Gabe, his parents, Joe, Cesar, their aunt and uncle, and Gabe's friend Mike. It was a little crazy, but really fun. Halloween Horror Nights is scary! There were guys with chain saws everywhere, and people that jump out from the bushes, and really scary haunted houses. I spent half my time with Cesar guarding me from chain saw men, and the other half attached to Gabe's arm. I was the only girl there too, not counting adult-ish people. But it was still really fun!

So let's see, what else...I think it was that next week that I had a GAZILLION TESTS, and that sucked. Way to drain my social life there. I had no classes that friday, so Will and I drove to O-Town to pick up my prize from ORock. Long trip, but winning a prize and not picking it up is really bad Karma. We stopped at the Golf Channel on the way back to see all of will's old coworkers.. We ended up on an officially unofficial tour of the golf channel that lasted about an hour. Then we hit gridlock traffic in Ocala on the way back. So, long story short, Will missed an extra credit focus group for his RTV class. I felt really bad, even though it wasn't my fault, because we had gone down there to pick up my game, so I did the alternative extra credit assignment for him. So now I know about technodistortions in political advertising.

The next weekend was Florida Georgia, affectionately known as the largest outdoor coctail party. I hitched a ride with some girls on my floor, and they dropped me off at the landing. After about an hour of wandering the landing by myself, I caught up with Will, and we grabbed something to eat and then headed over to the stadium. We met up with Mike and Burke outside the stadium and wandered around to see everything there. Lots of tailgating activities. We spent a fair bit of time trash-talking, and then went inside. Our section was awesome. We were literally directly in the middle of the endzone. Our section was the division between the two sides, which meant that it was half Florida and half Georgia. Ohhh man, crazy antics. The game was amazing (though really really cold) and we won 14-10. Go gators! After the game Will and I headed back to the landing, and hing out there for a bit. Then we went to the beach house with Andy, Jason, Angel, and Amy. Lots of people, small car. I had to sit on Will. We stopped at Wendys, and then managed to actually get to the beach house. At that point, Will-Kyle had gotten out of jail, and was looking to go out on the town. Ok, fine. I'll tell you why Will-Kyle was in jail. Apparently, the night before (Friday) there was a large party at Will-Kyle and Jason's house. This is not surprising. So one of their bitchy neighbors called the cops about the noise at about midnight. The cops showed up and issued a warning or whatever the hell cops do. No problem. Apparently they came back at about 4 AM and went into a room with Will-Kyle and Jason (and Andy snuck in to take pictures) and it ended with Jason running out of the room going Holy shit guys! Will just got arrested! And yes, in fact, there was Will-Kyle, in handcuffs, getting shoved into a police car. So he spent the night in jail. From what I've been told, he refused to sign whatever citation they were issuing him. More likely, he lipped off to the cop. So, back to Saturday night. Will-Kyle left with a couple of people, and the rest of us just kind of hung out at the house. It was still pretty early, so nothing really was going on. They still had a keg from last night, and we watched some of the other football games on TV. Then Emily and Katey came and picked me up, and we drove home.

Oh, I forgot, that Friday Adam came up! So I spent all day showing him around campus. We went out to lunch, went around campus a bit, watched the bats, and his parents took us out to dinner. Then we went to Gatornights, and I made Adam watch a rated R movie!! Gatornights was playing Wedding Crashers. XD He was mad at me, but it was totally worth it!

That sunday I spent all day working on stuff for Haunted Hume. It was so much work, between Sunday and Monday, but it really came together well. Our Harry Potter theme worked well, and although we didn't win, I think the kids really appreciated having a non-scary floor. The floors that won though, did a really good job. I have lots of pictures! XD

This past week was pretty uneventful, had a stats test, etc. Friday night my mom drove up. I drove down to Ocala and we went to dinner before driving to Orlando to pick Will up from the airport (he went to Chicago to interview with Sears). Note: Third trip to Orlando in three weekends. Got back to Gainesville around 3 AM-ish, and had to get up at 9 to return to Ocala for breakfast Saturday. We brought my mom up to Gainesville, and participated in some pre-game festivities. Kickoff was at 7:15, and it was an awesome game. We came sooo close to losing to Vanderbilt, which...come on, it's Vanderbilt, but we ended up winning 49-42 in double overtime. We left pretty much immediately after the game to take my mom back to Ocala, and then came right back to gainesville to party. I dropped Will, Mike, and Kurosh off at Courtyards for Liz's party, and then went over to Lakeside to hang out with Leah and Angie. At about quarter after three I went and picked up the guys at Courtyards. I dropped Mike off at North, then took Will and Kurosh to Pinetree. On my way back, I was driving north on Radio, and then turned east onto Museum, when I saw a cop turning south onto Radio. Then I saw him make a u-turn and then turn east onto Museum. I figured he was just waiting for me to speed, so I went 19 mph. Still, after following me for about 30 seconds, he flicked on the lights and pulled me over. I was kinda like wtf, but decided the best thing to do would be to be polite and whatnot. Keep in mind that it's about 4 AM on gameday, so I knew he was just waiting to bust me for a DUI. Lucky for me, all I had at lakeside was pizza. So the cop came over and asked for my license and whatnot, and of course I didn't have my insurance with me, but it was ok. I actually had to use the phrase "Is there a problem, officer?" He told me my headlight was out, which I knew, and I told him I was planning to get it fixed this week, which I am. I also told him that I didn't have my insurance cause it was in my other wallet because I really don't drive that much, and it's my brother's car. He kinda asked what I was doing in my brother's car, and I told him I was just coming back from dropping him off at his appartment. He asked if he had been out drinking and I said yes. He then said "You did a good thing," and I knew he was just gonna let me go then. He did ask if I had been drinking, but I told him no and he believed me. So he gave me back my license and let me on my merry way. I got to sleep finally around 4ish, only to wake up at 9 to go back to Ocala to see my mother off. We went out to breakfast again, and then she left back to boca, and Will and I went back to gainesville. I forget now why I didn't get a nap, but I didn't, so I took a 5 hour nap yesterday, and will probably take another, shorter nap today. Yay naps.

So, I think that's about it. I'll hopefully update sometime next week when I get back from South Carolina. Only two more weeks until Thanksgiving!! XD

One Fell Off and Bumped His Head


:: 2005 16 October :: 12.35 am
:: Mood: impressed

Elizabethtown: A Heck Of A Place To Find Yourself.
Today was really fun. Kim came into town on the GMG bus yesterday, and today we woke up at SEVEN AM to go with the prevet club to the horse retirement home. Angie came too to see the horsies. We ended up spending a few hours grooming and feeding horses. It was so fun. I even managed to clean the hooves! I thought it was going to be an impossibility, but I'm really proud to say that I cleaned like 4 horses' hooves today (that's 16 hooves)! Also, Angie tried to kill me with a golf cart, and we got some cool pictures with our favorite horse. All you non-high school kids check facebook for the pic! After the horseys we went over to check out Will's appartment, and then I switched out Emil's car (don't ask) for ours, and we went to lunch at McAlister's. Mmmm...chili in a bread bowl. We went from there to buy our movie tickets for tonight. Elizabethtown! We dropped Angie off and came back to hume to rest for a while, then kim and I went on a campus tour, but everything was closed. Apparently no one likes Saturday afternoons. But we got some freshens and headed over to watch the bats take off. Craziness and thousands of bats. We SNAPed over to hume and watched Care Bears until we left for the movie. We picked up Angie at lakeside and made a starbucks run. I think some guy got really confused, and he took my drink. So I waited there for like 10 minutes before actually saying anything. It ended up well though, because not only did I get my drink right then, but the girl gave me a free coupon for any size any drink! Sweet! I'm saving it for exam week. x_x Because of the starbucks snaffoo, we ended up getting to the movie only like 5 minutes in advance, so we had to sit in the fourth row, which was ok, because the screen wasn't very high. The movie (Elizabethtown...yay Orlando Bloom) was amazing. It was one of those make you think life changing movies. I recommend it for anyone willing to sit through 2 hours of wtf for 15 minutes of o.o ....whoa. That was awesome. It ranks very high up there on my list. But it's definitely a love it or hate it movie. Consider yourself warned.

Thought I'd post about my fun day. Regressing back to last night for a few minutes, we went over to gator nights after dinner at chipotle. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was playing. We aimed for the 9:00 show but couldn't get seats, so we left and went to walmart and came back for the 11:30 showing. When we came back the gator stress place had a booth set up. I am all about free stuff. We took pens and highlighters and I got a stress ball, and between us we took over 30 condoms. They told us to take as much as we wanted!! To be fair, Angie took 27. Some of them are flavored! The movie was good (again) and we kinda crashed afterwards. Waking up this morning was not fun. But it was worth it.

All right, kiddies, I have to go. I'll leave you with the wtf moment of the evening:
Will: would you, or any of your friends, be interested in playing co-ed 4-vs-4 flag football in the spring with me, Burke, Mike and maybe a couple other people? if so, let me know. ok bye.

One Fell Off and Bumped His Head


:: 2005 12 October :: 10.35 am
:: Mood: drained

Ok, so I'm starting to see the downsides of living in a dorm. Someone is in the shower, so I can't take one for like another hour and a half (if I take one after them I'll miss the Price is Right, so now I have to wait until 12), and my roommate is sleeping, so I can't make it light in the room. It's not light enough to read, and if she doesn't wake up in the next 20 minutes, I'm going to have to watch the Price is Right in the common area. That's not so bad, except now Bacchus won't be able to see it. I would bring him with me, but people will think I'm "crazy." Oh well...there are worse things, I suppose.

Like tests.

These tests are driving me crazy!!! I had two tests last Thursday, a test yesterday, and one about an hour ago. I have studied more in one week than I have ever before in my life. Even more than for IB exams. (Hmm..maybe I would have gotten higher scores if I had studied more.....oh well, can't ask for much better than 5's 6's and 7's). I went home last last weekend (will update below), then studied all day monday, all day tuesday, and all day wednesday for my Current Issues in Higher Education and Stats exams Thursday. Friday I stayed in my PJ's until 5 in the afternoon. :) Hey! I deserved a day off! Then Friday night I went to Gator Growl. Do you know why white people love Wayne Brady?? Yeah, neither do I. He sucked. Greg Giraldo, on the other hand, was hilarious. And Joe Goldberg is an elf. Not the good kind like Legolas, the creepy kind that live in trees like the keebler elves. Let's see... so yeah, Saturday I went to the game (freaking 12:30 kickoff) and Allison and I sat with Will and a few of his friends. It was exceedingly hot though and I got sunburned pretty badly. But we won, and that's all that matters. I hoofed it over to Lakeside after the game and went out to dinner at Chop Stix with Leah and Tom. We waited like 2 1/2 hours to actually get food, but it was really good. I ended up being stranded at Lakeside because SNAP doesn't run on gamedays, so I slept there and came home around 10 AM. I went to bed for a bit, then got up and studied the rest of the day. I studied all day Monday for Wildlife Issues test yesterday morning. Then yesterday I studied all day for the TV and American Society exam I had today. I also spent about an hour and a half this morning before the exam studying. All in all, I've spent 50-60+ hours studying in a week. I am so incredibly drained right now. And it's Wednesday.

I have 15 minutes before the Price is Right, I'll do a weekend update. This is last last weekend (Oct 1ish). Went to class Friday morning then headed out of G-Ville at about 1:30, which was a little later than we had wanted to leave. It was all good though, not too much traffic. Sometimes that drive seems like it takes forever. 4 1/2 hours doesn't seem that long, but it's a looong drive. So we got home and I was there for about an hour before I turned around and went to the football game. But it was sooo good to see Sasha! I missed her so much! The game was ok, ATL kicked Santaluces's ass. But I forgot that there's security (Sicard) at the hilltopper section, and we couldn't get over to see the band. Halftime came, and while the Eaglettes were performing (ironically to the song "Car Wash") the heavens opened up and it started pouring. We got absolutely soaked. I didn't care, except for the fact that my Gator Growl ticket was in my purse and subsequently got ruined. But it all worked out, I got into the show. We sat under the bleachers for about 10 minutes before deciding to head into the cafeteria. I found THomas in there and he snuck me into the band room. I got to see just about everyone, which was nice. Someone up here really reminds me of Dimitar-tar, but I can't put my finger on it.. I helped Liz and Cyndi (and others) in the uniform room as they attempted to hang out the plumes so they would dry. Crocco was a bitch about it (what else is new..) and I helped dry the pit instruments. The band is doing pretty well though. They have the whole show on the field, and seem to have their act together.
Saturday I went with my mom to the Broward Center to see Phantom of the Opera. It was amazing. I so want to see it on Broadway. My mom ended up buying the extended CD version of Michael Crawford Phantom. XD I ripped it onto my laptop when we got home. Saturday night was kinda low key and I went to Kim's to help her a bit with her UF application. Sunday morning we went to church, and I got to see Kim at Sunday school, and a few others over there. Shortly after church I met Adam, Liz, and THomas at roadhouse for lunch. We had a good time throwing peanuts at each other and talking. Good to see them outside the band room chaos. Immediately after lunch I drove across the street to meet my family at the movies to see 40 Year Old Virgin. It was funny, but a bit overrated in my opinion. Sunday night I did laundry (for free!!) and got all the stuff I'd forgotten when I left and wanted to grab. We had a whole family dinner thing and then we left Monday morning around 11. Just enough time for me to make my chem class. Jon gave me the notes for Monday's TV class, so it was like I didn't miss anything, and got four days at home. I think I'm going back home next weekend. I have to stop in O-Town to pick up the video game I randomly one in an O-Rock radio contest on the way up monday. Yay for Threesome at Three!

Alright, kids, the Price is Right is on. Toodles.

One Fell Off and Bumped His Head


:: 2005 28 September :: 8.28 am

Vote Gator Impact Party!
So. Yeah, not much has been going on. I have just kind of been trying to get through this week so it would be this weekend. At the same time, I know that's bad to do, because the sooner this weekend comes, the sooner it is over. I just kind of want to get out of Gainesville for a few days. I think I will feel a lot better coming back. Either that or I will feel worse and will be in even more dog withdrawl. Don't get me wrong, I'm having a good time in college and it's better than high school and blah blah blah. But next year is going to be seriously awesome. Atleast I am through the awkward few weeks of getting acquainted. That was not fun. Now I pretty much have an (or a few) established group(s) of friends, and I have a schedule down for sleeping, working, socializing, etc. I really am a lot happier when I have a lot of structure, and college is the first time (although I didn't realize it until I got here) where a structure isn't assigned to you. There's no Ms. Kelly telling me what classes to take and no band practice telling me how to spend my afternoons. I just do what I want, when I want. Which has resulted in me sleeping a lot. I like sleeping. The thing is, I have no afternoon classes, with the exception of thursdays. Monday and tuesday I have class until 10:40 and then no class until 6:15. So I come home, I eat breakfast, I watch the price is right, and I sleep until four. Wednesday and friday I'm done with classes altogether at 10:40. So I come home, I eat breakfast, I watch the price is right, and I sleep until four. It's really a great system. Because I'm most productive later at night. This way I get about 8-9 hours of sleep each day, it's just in two installments. So I go to bed at 2 and wake up for class, then I get another 3-4 hours of sleep in the afternoon. It also prevents the days from really dragging on. Because in the early afternoon there really isn't anything to do. I don't feel like doing work, because again, I am much more productive between the hours of 12-3 AM, and it's not like I can go hang out somewhere with people, most are in classes during that time. It's just very nice.

In other news, I find myself too often living in the future. I already have a pretty good idea of the classes I want to take next semester, and I have tentative planned living arrangements for next year. Man, if my roommate doesn't get into UF, it's going to suck. We have such a good plan going. She likes Sasha and doesn't mind Trixie, and we both decided at the same time how awesome it would be to have a kitten. So a few weeks after school starts next year we're going to go down to Gainesville Pet Rescue and adopt a kitten. Our appartment will be a zoo. Craziness. But regardless of whether or not she gets in, I'm still going to live in an appartment with sasha, and hopefully kitty. I really think it's going to be awesome to be able to take her to prevet meetings, and go to the dog park, and everything there is to do up here. So many places to walk. And I think next year I will hardly be homesick at all. I do miss my parents, but not that much. I talk to them a few times a week. Right now I mostly miss my dog and my friends. And next year it won't matter if I go home, my friends won't be there. They'll mostly all be in college too. Crazy juniors, growing up. Anyway, where this started was, I am more nervous for my roomie getting into college than I was getting into college. I always knew I had UF to fall back on, but it's really borderline for her, so let's all pray that the UF gods smile on her and she can move to the bougan in the fall.

So, recent events. Today is student government voting, and the whole campus has gone insane. I have been attacked approached three times in Turlington plaza by representatives of the Gator and Impact parties. And once at the Reitz. I really don't think I'm going to vote though, only because I don't think I've made up my own mind. In the presidential election I had no problem voting, because the candidates' platforms were so well publicized. These people don't even have platforms, it's just the parties, and even those platforms are so similar that it wouldn't matter who won. I think also I've been really swayed by The Alligator, and I don't want them to have made my mind up for me either. The editorial section of that newspaper is so one-sided it's insane. So I really think I'm going to leave voting up to the more informed than I. I don't know, maybe when I'm over at the reitz after class I'll vote. If there's not a line. I'm going over to the Reitz today anyway because it's the study abroad fair. I really think I'm going to be spending some time over there. I want to go to Ireland or Australia. Somewhere where they speak english. What I really really want to do is get an internship with the Australia Zoo, but I doubt that will happen. I don't think I want to study abroad right now anyway. I think I'm going to try to get a job at Boca Greens vet this summer, and maybe also work at camp. That way I'll have a pretty good bank role coming into next year, when I have to buy furniture and pay electric bills and such. We'll see how it all works out. The prevet club is promoting a trip to Belize, to work in the rainforest and stuff. That sounds intriguing, and I may look into it. This prevet club is effing awesome, I love it. Last meeting Dr. Brendemuhl (sp?!?!) spoke. He's the Animal Sciences guy. He talked mostly about vet school applications, and I spoke to him afterwards to ask what kind of stuff I could get a head start on to give me an edge in getting in. Cross your fingers. First things first: get an A in 2045. That's not really going as planned. Boy am I glad I switched out of 2046. Man. Eh, it's not like I'm failing. I have a B. And we drop our lowest test. So it's not impossible, I really just have to start to work harder. We took a quiz today in discussion (quizzes at 7:25 AM are NOT cool.) and it was hella easy. So I'm pretty sure I got a 100 on it, which will definitely help my grade. Plus all the OWL and clicker points. Yeah. I also have to raise my grade in TV. That almost hurts to say. Stupid TV and American Society, who thought that would screw me over? Problem was I was expecting the test to be a piece of cake, but she put things on it like a quote and we had to say who said it. It was rediculous. But again, we drop a test in that class too, so as long as I do better on all the others, and keep doing all the extra credit, I should be able to squeak out a 4.0. God willing.

Alright, kiddies, speaking of TV and American Society, it's time for me to go learn about the portrayals of groups on television. Yay. Later.

One Fell Off and Bumped His Head


:: 2005 25 September :: 3.05 pm

Stolen From Amanda



ColorQuiz.com Lauren took the free ColorQuiz.com personality test!

"Wants to make a favorable impression and be recogn..."


Click here to read the rest of the results.





Lauren's Existing Situation
Active, outgoing, and restless. Feels frustrated by the slowness with which events develop along the desired lines. This leads to irritability, changeability, and lack of persistence when pursuing a given objective.


Lauren's Stress Sources
Resists any form of pressure from others and insists on her independence as an individual. Wants to make up her own mind without interference, to draw her own conclusions and arrive at her own decisions. Detests uniformity and mediocrity. As she wants to be regarded as one who gives authoritative opinions, she find it difficult to admit to being wrong, while at times she is reluctant to accept or understand another's point of view.


Lauren's Restrained Characteristics
Circumstances are such that she feels forced to compromise for the time being if she is to avoid being cut off from affection or from full participation.
Willing to become emotionally involved as she feels rater isolated and alone. Egocentric and therefore quick to take offense, though she tries to avoid open conflict.




Lauren's Desired Objective
Wants to make a favorable impression and be recognized. Needs to feel appreciated and admired. Sensitive and easily hurt if no notice is taken of her or if she is not given adequate acknowledgment.


Lauren's Actual Problem
Needs to be valued and respected as an exceptional individual, in order to increase her self-esteem and her feeling of personal worth. Resists mediocrity and sets herself high standards.


Lauren's Actual Problem #2
Strongly resists outside influence and any interference with her freedom to make her own decisions and plans. Works to establish and strengthen her own position.

One Fell Off and Bumped His Head

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