last post of '05

And what a lame post its going to be, as its nearing midnight, and I need to go to bed soon as I'm getting picked up for my trek up north tomorrow morning. (my very spur of the moment, slightly unplanned, but will hopefully provide many good memories trip up north) I have of course packed too much, and I won't use half of the stuff I brought, and will be mad at myself for forgetting something else. But so it goes, right?

What am ambivalous way to end the year.

I have to admit, I'm a total sucker for that train of thought; this is the last time I did this this year, that's the last time I did that. I actually noted to myself that yesterday was the last time that I would take out the trash in 2005. Like I said, I'm a sucker. Admission is the first step... I think.

I think I'll be postmodernly ironic and comment on the year that was when I get back in 2006. Time is, after arbitrary. Baudrillard would be so proud.

Happy New Year my friends!

Increase da peace

Finished!
Finito!
Terminado!
Acabado!
Fini!
Beendet!
Avsluttet!
законченный!














This picture has nothing to do with me finishing papers... I just came across it during the countless hours spent with my laptop lately and thought it was funny. Bceause its the perfect picture- two lovely ladies sharing my (roommate's bed), a beer, and brownie mix. Heaven. Honestly, what else do you need in life?

my favorite chords

my mommy just called to say she knew how hard this week was going to be and that she loved me.

aaawwwwwwwwwww....

i love it when parents surprise you by treating you like you're still their baby, but its on one of the rare occasions that you were actually loooking for that kind of support.

this week is going to be hell, but my mother cares

"I like your nose."

Okay, seriously. Where did the weekend go? Wasn't it just Friday, oh I don't know, twenty minutes ago? My Mondays are really poor (although this will be the last bad one, because its the last week of classes, woo hoo!), so my Sunday nights are always a little depressing, because I know that I have them directly ahead of me. Ugh. Next semester will be better, I think.

Wow, getting a little ahead of myself now.

Backing up (a wee bit): So Friday I went to a goth club. Oh, and that's not even the weirdest bit. My friend Paul is a DJ, and sometimes DJs at goth clubs (as well as at our campus events, he's really good!), so a couple friends and I got gussied up in our finest black apparel (sadly, I didn't take pictures, so I'll try to paint one with words... I was rocking the tall boots, some sparkly tights, a black lacy skirt and an extremely tight-so tight I know now the pain that Victorian women had to go through with their corsets- strappy velvet top... my hair was up in messy buns and dark eyeshadow was upon my eyelids...) and supported his mad skills at a club in Pomona (in the Arts Colony, which unlike the rest of Pomona, is not super sketchy). The goth club is in the back part of this restaurant/bar?/club? called Yesteryears, which as the name implies, was a stomping ground for those friendly with the AARP. It was super fun walking past the stage, in front of all the tables in our black apparel. It was even more fun to walk out later, when the band was playing and the one lone elderly couple was dancing. I love freaking people out sometimes :) Anyway, I was telling (er, typing) about the weirdest part of the night, which occurred when a couple friends of my friends showed up. The girl was complimenting my friend Tara on her hair, Tara traded a compliment back towards her bag, when the guy busted out to me, "I like your nose." I don't think anyone has ever said that too me, but hey a compliment is a compliment, right? I'll take what I can get.

After that exchange, friends and I danced to Paul's music, and generally had a good time, despite the potentially creepy bartender. Tara, Terence and I ended the night at the quality Denny's where much fried goodness was consumed. mmm, fried goodness-so bad, and yet soooo good!

Saturday and Sunday were paper writing days, always a good time... or not. Although I did have an entertaining Saturday night (an Sunday night too, for that matter). I decided to get my Betty Crocker on and make some cookies. Tara helped me decorate... and I must say, we did an excellent job!

So here are Tara and I candidly frosting cookies:


This was an homage to my confusion regarding the holidays:


Pirates love decorating cookies too!


Bunny attacks Candycornhenge. Yes I made a cookie version of Stonehenge. Yes I am that large of a nerd. Deal with it.


After the cookie extravaganza, I brought some awesomely decorated cookies to Chris' where we played Trivial Pursuit (the 80s edition, yes!) and watched Saturday Night Live, which normally would not be a monumental activity worth mentioning, except that the musical guest was James Blunt, and he was quite possibly the creepiest singer ever! It was awesomly strange, but very memorable.

Okay, I've written way too much, time for bed and the hell that is the week ahead.. and on that rhyming note, I'll bid you adieu.

losing my mind, slowly but surely....

Well now that is December, I'm thinking of writing about November. If you're surprised at all by this, you probably haven't met me. So its the Friday of an incredibly long week/month. During this week, I read When Ladies Go A-Theivin' (historical work on Victorian middle class women shoplifters), Regeneration (novel about Siegfried Sassoon, the British anti-war poet from WWI), Gender Trouble (everyone's favorite "sex is determined" text), The Female Cyborg, and some articles. I also quasi- finished a paper and started another one. And that was this week alone! So you can see why my posts have been spare/slightly incoherent/just not there.

However.

Its 5:30 on Friday night, and I don't feel like writing any more on Kant, or Schiller, or aesthetics in general. Okay, I've on written an intro paragraph and one sentence beyond that, but I am no mood to deal with semantics, okay? So instead, I'm thinking of writing some random stuff (hah! I never do that!) about this past month. Because lots of things happened, although to be fairly honest, I'm not too certain where to begin. And my mind is so tired/frazzled, that I'm not if I even remember half the madness.

Another thing I can't seem to remember? Where I put my wrist pad for my laptop (my wrists are weak, and I like to rest them, but alas, it is nowhere in sight). This is not the first time that I've lost something this week. A few days ago, I lost the book that I was supposed to read for class. It was in my backpack. In a folder. I looked all day for that book, and the fucker was on my back the entire day. *sigh* I'd like to think I'm going for that absent-minded genius look, but I think I'm a little too thick on the former, and pretty light on the latter.

I can't believe how dark it is outside. Seriously, its really really dark. Which always makes me think of snuggling up with a sweetheart near a fire. But while I'm lacking the sweetheart (blah, blech, bleg is how I feel about that), I have a fireplace... however, my roommate and I are unsure if the flue (is that even the correct term?) is open, and its a weird gas fire, and we have fears of asphyxiating ourselves... so I think I'm 0 for 2 on that front.

Oh! I was writing about Thanksgiving, et al, right? It was a really good day. I drove to Moorpark, where my parents and I then drove to my grandmothers. Not ten minutes into said drive did I realize why my parents drive me insane and was instilled with an even greater desire to secure a means of employment after graduation. But it was a good (and filling!) meal or tryptophan laced goodness. After this first meal, I went back to my hometown and hung our with Michele for a bit. Had the normal girl talk, etc. etc. good times. On my way back to Claremont, I stopped in at a family friend's house, who I hadn't seen in years. And I ended up eating another full meal and spending numerous hours with said family. All in all, it was quite a good day. The rest of the weekend was, well, not so much fun. As I wrote a paper, and tried to get some prepatory research done for other papers. Oh baby, do I know how to celebrate the holidays!

So yeah, that was this past week or so. I know I said I was going to write about the rest of the month too... but instead I'm going to make myself dinner. Sorry. But I'm hungry, and we all know how I love food. Okay, I can't really end on this note, because that's slightly pathetic. So instead I will end with a quote:

"The bottom line is that (a) people are never perfect, but love can be, (b) that is the one and only way that the mediocre and vile can be transformed, and (c) doing that makes it that. We waste time looking for the perfect lover, instead of creating"


The quote is from Tom Robbins. If you don't know who he is, do yourself a favor and go find out! And the picture I think I found on NPR. Happy Friday my friends.
love alexandra :)

I lost my head in the sun

I have come to the realization that reading Judith Butler's Gender Trouble in a day and a half was probably not my best idea. But its done now. And that's all I can focus on at the moment. I promise to write a more coherent, decent post soon. Just as soon as I wrest my life back from the abyss that is the end of the semester in grad school.

Oh, and I'm in love with tomato soup. The one from Trader Joes? Delicious. And I should know, as I seem to have it at least once a day, everyday.

You know its sad when the flower delivery man pities you.

So I was walking home after registering for my classes (awesome because a) I live around the corner from campus and can walk there anytime in a minute- a fact that I love! and b) I signed up for classes that I really want to take! "Nineteenth century Social and Cultural European History" and the "Cultural Turn of interwar Fascism") and I espied (love that word too) a flower delivery man leaving a bouquet on my doorstep.

"Are you Sarah?" he asked.

"No, thats my roommate" I replied (ohmygosh, I should totally become a fiction writer, what do you think Vanessa? Do I have it?)

And that's when I saw look of pity on his face.

*sigh*

what's up, matador?

I'm getting a zit on my nose.

So I made a cake.

If that doesn't sound logical to you, you're either not female or you have no soul.

Last night, I went to "coffee talk with the Jewish Student Union" at Pitzer College. A mass email had been sent, there was the offering of coffee and Tara wanted to go. Seemed like a no brainer, right? A nice easy study break.

Um, no. Such was not the case. Tara (who I should mention is about the furthest thing from being a Jew, what with the blue eyes and Irish heritage) and showed up to a rabbi lecturing to a dozen students about why the Jews have been kept down. There was also great mentioning of how we were all Jewish, and could tell each other's inherent Jewishness, just by looking across the room. of course everytime he said this, I would look at Tara and start laughing. I don't think the rabbi appreciated the humour. Oh, the best part, though, was the one other male who showed up, who felt the need to challenge the rabbi on everything. It was seriously beyond awkward. So awkward it was awesome. Needless to say, Tara and I couldn't get out of there fast enough. It was a pretty good study break though.

Other random stories and adventures? I played beruit the other night (beer pong for you non Eastern folk) and totally kicked ass. Yes, the girl who lacks the hand-eye-coordination of a toddler totally won. My teammate Michael is a mathematician (Seriously. Ask him about water volume sometime) and he was nothing without me.

Okay, enough bragging. But can you tell that I'm excited? Its so rare that I actually excel in things not related to reading massive amounts of books or falling down in public places, that I just have to get what gloating in that I can.

"guitars and rockets have surprising similarities"

If anyone asks, I'm in the library. Thats where I told everyone (including myself) that I was going after work. But, ah those best laid plans, right? Instead I'm sitting on my bed, wearing a plaid skirt, not reading about the Irish. But hey, what else is new? I really was going to go to the library, I walked my poor feet and ankles all the way down, got near the doors and realized that I couldn't do it. I've already been up since the 7 o'clock hour, finishing and preparing for a class. After said class I went to work, where I was until about half an hour ago. And I really was going to the library. But like I said, my feet hurt. And my phone battery is nearly dead. How pathetic is that? I can't be somewhere because my phone abttery is dying, and I need to have my phone with me, fully charged at all times. Although in my defense, I do need it, because I'm supposed to meet up with people later at an English department party that I'm crashing. See? These are all viable reasons as to why I coudn't be in the library tonight. Right?

But I promise- I'm going to do my reading, I swear. Any minute now.

Let the Sunshine In

Here's some random thoughts from the past week:

My itunes just finished playing Rancid's "Ivory Coast" in which the refrain is "who is the killer?" The next song that played? Thursday's "I am the Killer." This is why I think that a) my computer is alive and b) its totally trying to mess with me.

I was reading the back of my toothpaste the other day (what, like you don't do weird stuff too?) and apparently for best results, one should "use with a soft bristle brush." Are there hard bristle toothbrushes available to the general public? That makes me think of hard wire brushes, like the ones used to clean barbeques. I don't imagine that would be a pleasant sensation for one's teeth.

I have a large bruise on my inner thigh. Why? I rode a mechanical bull last night. If I hadn't been wearing a skirt (albeit a longer one, so I was not in any way indecent) and patterned stockings (so cute! but not ideal for bull riding), I definitely would have stayed on longer (although I think I had the longest run of anyone there).

The other night when I was preparing for bed, I found in my bed: a book, a pen, some tissues (unused of course), two scarves and a notebook admist my pillows.

A few nights ago, I was riding my bike and almost fell over on a street in front of a car full of people. They had stopped to let me cross the street on said bike, and as I biked past them I tried to me nice and thank them by waving. This apparently got me so off balance that I nearly fell over and had brace myself with my foot on the ground to avoid completely eating it.

Sunday, sleepy Sunday...

So I just fell asleep. Yes, me. The girl who cannot nap to save her own life was pleasantly unconscious in the middle of the day. Granted, it was only for ten minutes, but still, the point is I was asleep. Personally I blame Charles Dickens. I'm currently reading Hard Times (which despite the observations of half of my oh-so-mature friends who know who they are) is not an exciting porn. Instead its a novel about the effects of modernity on the individual in 19th century England. Its actually pretty good- the bad thing is that I need to have it read by tomorrow, along with all my other reading for other classes (which include no less than a 400 page book about the Civil War and my favorite philosopher Walter Benjamin's writings), etc etc. On the plus side, I managed to get my papers done (and by done, I mean I met the page requirements, if not the academic ones) and turned in on time. So that's out of my hair for a bit-until I get them back and have to rewrite them into a state of coherency. Can you write things into states of coherency? I have no idea. I think I'll ponder that and post some pictures of the Halloween adventures of this weekend:

So here's me and Tina, I think I thought this would be funny picture.

This is my favorite picture, ever!

This is the pumpkin I carved! How much ass does it kick? Its the CGU Flame, because we're flamers at this school.

That's my bathrobe Chris is wearing.

Oh, and here's me, Michael and a dinosaur.

I'm so over this paper.

fun with sleep deprivation

During the course of yesterday I had:
a cup of tea (English Breakfast, with some honey, yum!),
a Vanilla Latte,
two (yes, two!) cups of coffee, excessively sweetened with creamer and sugar.

Remember when I used to shun coffee and caffeine related items? Yeah, me neither.

This is the effects of having too many papers to write/books to read and too little motivation to get any of it done in a reasonable amount of time. I've known about all these projects for some time now, but did I prepare, like a good student? No, of course not. I procrastinated and procrastinated until I literally couldn't procrastinate any longer. It doesn't help that I currently loathe my topics (the dreaded Matthew Arnold is rearing his ugly head yet again) and therefore find just about anything more exciting and fun. I mean anything. On Friday night, for example, I went to Borders to study (quite the happening place, by the by- the entire store was crammed with people reading and studying), but was way more entertained by Tara's dancing feet and forcing Brett to climb the ladders expressly forbidden to non-store employees. Very little reading was done.
Saturday was spent trying to force myself to read, but instead cleaning my room, planning Halloween costumes, and going to a club in LA. (yes that's right, I willingly went to a Hollywood club freely of my own choice- along with the massive consumption of caffeine, I also apparently now like to dance) Which actually turned out to be quite fun. The sleep deprivation part really helped when we all ended up at IHOP at four in the morning, completely and obnoxiously amusing ourselves. I'm not exactly certain if it was the lack of sleep, or just to absurdity of it all, but I don't remember being that amused for some time... Of course the two hours of sleep that I ended up getting that night really didn't help matters in the academic fields- a fact I sadly became aware of in the library the next morning.
So now its Tuesday morning, I'm vaguely seeing the light at the end of the tunnel- the very long tunnel- of my paper writing, and have actually finished the book that one could beat a man to death with, so things are looking up. Well, until next week, that is.
Ah, graduate school- I never knew how much I appreciated sleep before you.

Stay Classy Inland Empire

Liz tagged me, so here you go:

List five things people may not know about you and tag five other people to do the same.

1. Sometimes I still eat ice cream for breakfast.
2. Everytime my roommate isn't home, I turn up music really loud and dance around like a spaz
3. I've read entire books at Borders (once in one sitting)
4. I watch really bad tv sometimes- like MTV bad.
5. The other night I drank beer and played darts.

Beer. Copious amounts of beer was had. Okay, so for me pretty much any amount of beer seems copious, so it wasn't really that much, but still- I was slightly shocked with myself. I rarely drink beer (usually beer consumption occurs in other states or countries- a true fact) In my continuing quest to find the classiest spots of the 909 I and some friends have found some interesting locales. Last night we ended up at Don Jose's (my favorite of the Dons- Francisco is a bastard, and nobody likes to talk about Rodrigo's drinking problems) for some quality karaoke. Don't worry, I didn't sing. But I did dance. Horribly. As I'm want to do. A few of my friends are all about the karaoke, so being the responsible grad students that we are, we had to go out and find a place to sing the night away. And that place was Don Jose's- Mexican restaurant by day, hopping bar scene by night. Or not so much. There was one other large group of people, and then just some couples etc. My friends and I were by far the largest and loudest people there. (I mean largest in number, not in size, by the way) I'm sure we were quite entertaining for the other patrons as we danced, sang, and generally made merry. Oh, and we drew on yours truly. Again. The night before, we also decided to make ourselves the leading entertainment at yet another excessively classy place- the Blackwatch Pub. I'm not sure why, but there's a boatload of "British Pubs" in the Inland Empire. It really makes very little sense- as far as I know, there's never been any sort of British historical significance in the area "My peeps" (as Lawrence would say) never got around the conquering, etc. this part of the continent. And yet, there's an ubiquitous amount of pub-like establishments. And they're not even that accurate. But I digress... well, not so much, as there really isn't any sense of narrative or direction to this post (honestly, is there ever?) But I think I was going to talk, er, write about our new favorite past-time, which is tattooing me. This morning, I woke up with Tina's name on my chest. Yesterday, I woke up with a dinosaur on my arm. I'm not sure why anybody thought that this was a good idea in any shape or form, but there you have it. And I meanwhile have ink remnants up and down my arms. I think we're regressing back to childlike states. Being an adult is just too much work and trouble. Being silly and immature is way more fun. Unfortunately, this strategy is not going to get me my degree. But how awesome would it be if I could?

I totally forgot the best part of the AIDS Walk experience.

David Hasselhoff, yes the David Hasselhoff of NightRider, Baywatch, and beloved by Germans everywhere was one of the celebrity well wishers. It was awesome!

Sadly, he did not sing.

the weekend, part deux

Okay, so the last time I posted, I was all about learning and getting my studying on. Um, that didn't happen. (seriously, though, are you surprised?) That night, I hung out at a friend's house and watched a documentary called "Inside Deep Throat." No, not the Watergate Deep Throat, the other one. It was pretty funny to watch people's reactions as they realized just what they were watching. Actually the documentary was pretty good; an interesting take on the seventies culture. After that cinematic experience, we headed down to the Press; everyone's (okay, no one's) favorite bar in Claremont. For those of you who don't know- Claremont has one bar. Its called the Press (it used to be a printing press- and that's how it got it's creative name... go Claremont!), and usually I try to stay as far away from it as possible. But Saturday night was pretty cool- they had an Irish band playing. The band was called Craic Haus, pronounced (yes, you guessed it) "crack house," and they did a lot of covers, especially of Flogging Molly. So a good time was had by all. The only downside was the fact that I stayed out til past 1 am, and had to get up at 6:30 the next morning, because I went to the AIDS Walk in LA. So much fun! My friends and I dressed up as pirates (we put the arrrr! in finding a cure). Want to see some pictures?

Okay, so here's me, Chris, Tara and Seth. We are so pirated out.


At the end of the walk, the Sister of Perpetual Indulgence greeted and cheered people. They were awesome, and they were also majorly loving on Chris.


This is me and Chris, rocking the fake tooth and pirate tat. We're so hardcore.


Tara's pirate flag ROCKED!


This was just a weird picture. It totally looks like that dude was dragging a wagon full of legs. Sadly, we saw even weirder things in West Hollywood.


Like this sign.


Final picture of our team. Seriously, how cute are we?


Okay, and this picture had nothing to do with AIDS Walk, but I told Vanessa that I'd put it up.

So there you have it. My weekend in its entirety. It was full of adventures, random experiences, and pictures! Now its back to the drudgery and reality of reading, writing, and learning. I liked being a pirate better.

Where in the world was Al?

Its been one hell of a week. Here's what happened. I went swimming, had a presentation, read a lot, hung out with friends, worked, saw my parents, went to an extremely ghetto nightclub, went to a wine tasting, went to a pilates class, carved a pumpkin, drank a lot of coffee, and did I mention that I did some reading? Hence my lack of posting.

Somehow on Saturday night, I wore a rubber ducky floaty-both in and out of a pool and did the running man. I didn't even know that I knew how to do the running man, but apparently its a hidden talent. Oh, and I might have consumed some wine. Just a smidge. You know how some things you find really funny one day, and the next you have no idea why? Yeah, that was all of Saturday night. Suffice to say, at one point, I thought it would be a good idea to trade pants with my friend Brad. No, actually, it wasn't the best idea, as Brad is like 6'5" and my pants aren't. But hey, I'm in school. I'm supposed to be learning. I learned that Brad and I shouldn't trade clothes. My hard earned (via loan applications) dollars at work.

The rest of the weekend was spent trying to finish the 400 page book I had to read for Tuesday's class (as well my other reading for other classes) as well as prepare for my presentation in the same class. Lots of stress was accrued. I'm not sure if you can accrue stress, but that's probably the least of my worries. Stress was had, and plenty of it. After class on Tuesday, I had a bit of a breather, as my Thursday class was cancelled (thank you Yom Kippur) and this upcoming Monday and Tuesday classes are also cancelled (because the undergrads get a fall break, and they had the balls to complain that it was only two days. Whatev! At Davis we got no such thing! Little bastards, don't know how good they have it. But I'm not bitter...) Of course I still have my CGU class, and research and writing to do, so its not like I'm going on vacation or anything. But still, I'll take whatever break I can get. Okay, so where was I? So Tuesday, and the day of extreme stress was over, which meant I could start de-stressifying.

I destressed at Tina's where I had an excellent dinner with a really good group of friends. So many random conversations were had- Lawrence asking about my "peeps" in England and arguments about what makes a city a city. I also tried my hand at some boy talk, ie. talked about sports. If there's one thing I take from my last relationship, its definitely a good appreciation for sports talk. Just not about baseball, which still sucks (and I'm still bitter I had to sit through 5 hours and 2 minutes of that damn Red Sox game last year).

The next night was infamous Twin's Nightclub experience. One I don't really recommend. On Friday, I was super tired, but went to John's for some wine tasting. The highlight of the evening would definitely have to be the wine I bought: Ted the Mule wine. Come on, how can you not buy wine called that? It kind of wasn't very good though. So I probably don't recommend it after all. Maybe there's something to be said for not buying wine based solely on its label after all.

Um, now its Saturday evening. I've been carving pumpkins for the past number of hours- I made a non-threatening cat. Later I plan on carving the CGU flame. Yes, that's right, at CGU we're the flamers. We have a flame of knowledge. They sent me a shirt once that said that. I didn't make it up.

This post has lost all sense of direction or motivation. I'm going to post some pictures now. Ready? Okay.


This is what happens when you leave your house unlocked on your birthday.


And this.


This is me and Tara at Seth's birthday dinner (the one he didn't attend) How cute are we? I'm wearing my mother's dress. Very low cut, but I like it :)


Tina really got into the tp action.


This was after we went swimming at Jon's house. Wine + pool = not my smartest idea. But look how happy I am.

There are more pictures from that night, but you're just going to have to visit me to see them. Or offer me some awesome presents. This week has been a total bust as studying is concerned, and its probably not going to get any better any time soon. But I'm operating in a state of disbelief about my studies. Its getting me through the day. Is that so bad?

a cautionary tale of muffins and the ghetto...

Okay, so I actually have a post that's in the middle of being written, all about why I haven't written in a week, etc etc... but as I'm at work, and sometimes work gets in the way of things, I had it saved while I went to lunch and attempted to be a productive employee actually earning my paycheck. But now I have to write about my lunch experiences as a moral cautionary tale. Because you guys need to learn (from my mistakes apparently). Oh, and I'll post that earlier post later- its my attempt at postmodern posting.

So anyway, I walked (illegally because there is no convenient crosswalk anywhere near my campus nor my place of employment, a constant frustration in the town of Claremont) across the street to Wolfe's- the local, fancy grocery store to get my usual Friday meal- a salad, some sort of desert and sometimes a drink. I picked out my purchases (and discovered the joy that is the lemon poppyseed muffin. Lemon poppyseed muffins mere yards away?! This has dangerous consequences), and made my way to counter to pay (as I'm a responsible person). Or attempt to pay, I should say. My credit card was declined. And (this is where the cautionary morals start to appear) I didn't have my debit card, nor any cash, because I had left them in the jeans I was wearing when I went out to Twins- a nightclub in Rancho Cucamonga. The jeans were not work appropriate (recall if you will, the Ed Norton and my ass story), so I'm obviously not wearing them at the moment. And as it was after 2 am (yes, 2 am!) when I got home last night, I wasn't thinking too straight about preparing for work later that morning. So my card was declined, and I had no other recourse to pay for my lunch items. I looked like a complete fool in front of the respectably citizens of Claremont, and a moron to the workers at Wolfe's. All because I went to a ghetto nightclub in the IE.

Oh, I did get my lunch though- I have to go back later to pay. And that's why its wonderful to live in a small town, where things like that can happen. And my card wasn't declined, just expired. I rarely use the card, so I hadn't noticed that it hasn't been good for over a month now. But I still felt very silly.

Let this be a warning...

If it's your birthday, and I am in the area, I am going to want to celebrate. Even if I don't specifically state my plans, something is probably going to happen. Sooo, you most likely don't want to leave your house unlocked, with all means of communication in said house, while you go to a lecture (who goes to a lecture on their birthday?!), because I will exact retribution. In the form of toilet paper.


Last night was my friend Seth's birthday (and my friend Paige, and 800 other people as well apparently... but I digress), so we concocted a plan to kidnap him and surprise him with dinner at a local restaurant with a bunch of our friends. We also wanted to confuse/scare him, so the plan included Tara and armed with "weapons" -my pirate sword, eye patch and a whip (why a whip? I dunno, but it seemed to work), and Tara had her lightsaber (which kicks ass!). So we walk up to Seth's place- he lives by himself behind a family in a converted garage (this is important information for later in the story), all prepared to accost him with said weapons, blindfold him, and surprise him. We knock on his door. Nothing. The lights are off, but the computer is on. We open the door (because, yes, its unlocked), and wander inside. Still no sign of Seth. We write notes to him. We call our friend Tina, who has put this evening together. She hasn't seen/heard from Seth. Seth has left his cell phone at his place, so there's no way of contacting him. Where could he be? Tara and I search the library for him (not, mind dressed in any fashion for the library, as we were heading to a fancy place, and therefore had on our fancy clothes). Finally, we decide to just meet our friends at the restaurant to curse Seth collectively for foiling our plans so thoroughly. We figure that someone got to him first to surprise him or something, hence the leaving of the phone, the unlocked door, the computer on... Dinner was nice and silliness abounded (as usual with these people).

Two hours later, Seth calls. He had been at a lecture this evening. Of course, a lecture! (I ask, is this how you would choose to spend your birthday? Okay, so maybe) So we hang out for a bit longer, merriment is made, etc etc. Good times people. Tina, Tara and I still want to do something to Seth, so we decide to tp his place. Like I said, Seth lives in a converted garage, so the exposed beams are just crying out for some sweet toilet paper action. One would think that after leaving Seth notes about how we obviously walked into his house, he might lock it the second time he goes out? No, of course not. Madness ensues as toilet paper is flung in every direction. We also moved things out of place and put random items all throughout his house. It looked amazing. Needless to say, we were incredibly proud and pleased with ourselves.


So, the moral of the story? If its your birthday, somethings going to happen. Whether you want it to or not :)

(and, yes, I will be posting pictures as soon as I upload them to my computer!)

I have no will power

Its 11:18, am I studying? No, of course not. I've talked to friends, written emails, messed around on the computer, but nowhere do I state that I've studied. Is it too early in the semester to be burnt out?
Okay, really, I'm going to read now.

Word diarrhea

There's so much to say, and so little ability to get it all out in any sort of cohesive/readable fashion. Bear with me. Please?
So let me start off by saying that I'm currently listening to Kid A (if you don't know by who (whom?), I'm not telling, go look it up, or better yet, just buy the album and listen to its goodness), and I've completely forgotten just how excellent it is. Of course its also making me think about when I got the album and remember all sorts of things. Interesting. Some songs can just put you back in an exact place and time.
But I was talking about the present place and time (wasn't I? Lately I haven't been too sure of my dates and times, or where I am). Currently, I should be finishing up typing my notes for the research project I've been working off and on for, but there's only so much one can type about the flood of 1862 and the drought of 1865. Yes, it truly is thrilling work. But hey, I'm getting paid for it, so I really can't complain. The other job however (working at the School of Theology, a place rife with hooligans and crime), has been interesting as of late. Last week, we held our annual Science and Theology conference; this year's topic was "Quantum Physics, Process Philosophy and Matter's of Religion." I couldn't even begin to explain the connections, but it was really interesting (the parts-and they were few- that I understood). The best of the entire conference came from one of the panelists, who when he wasn't quantifying physics or something, moonlighted as He-Man. In hot pants. Just imagine He-Man, with gray hair and short shorts. That's what I got to see all weekend. Yes, I know, my mind has problems sometimes, but still it was pretty awesome. It was also a good thing I was in the back. Oh, and another panelist gave me some helpful hints on how to get ahead within my field (I don't want to give anything away, but if you hear that I "discovered" some new, yet shocking historical documents questioning the heterosexuality of Benjamin Franklin, forget you ever read this post, okay?)...
So that was my weekend. Other exciting events? I joined a gym. Yes, that's right, a gym. Its a first for me, as I'm usually pretty against all things corporate. But I've been wanting to take some yoga classes (another first for me, I am now a yoga person), and this gym offers some good ones. So yes, I am now one of "those people." So far, its been really good for my back, so I'm happy.
This weekend, I also saw a play on campus, "The Waltz of the Toreadors," (which was really fun. It was an absurd farce- personally my favorite kind of farce) and visited the classier hotspots of Pomona; the (ironically named) HighBrow, which is anything but, and everyone's favorite Friar Tucks (the place of knivery and good times). While I realized that once again, I completely suck at pool, it was a pretty fun time. I got to hang out with some good friends, meet some new interesting people, and have some questionable discusions. Let just say, grad students + beer = conversations one would never hear in a classroom. Of course, I also stayed out way too late, which made my productivity level, er, not so good. But what can you do?
I think there were other random thoughts buzzing around in my head, but that's all I can type for now. Sorry for the lack of structure/coherence, I'll be better next time, okay?

TGIT (thank goodness its Thursday!)

Yesterday I woke up and thought it was Saturday and I was happy. But then I realized that no, it wad actualy Wednesday, and I had to study for a quiz and go to class. And I was no longer happy. This has been one long week, and athough its technically Thursday, I'm done with classes for the week, so I can breathe a slight sigh of relief. It wasn't a bad week, just an incredibly busy week-mostly because I was hugely unproductive on the weekend, so there was a lot of ctach up involved. Tara and I went looking for culture in Los Angeles, and lo and behold, actually managed to stumble upon some! (of course, I also stumbled upon some sketchy streets populated with even sketchier people in downtown LA, but I figure you win some, you lose some, right?) We went to see the Basquiat retrospective at the MOCA, which was AWESOME! Seriously, if you’re in the LA area in the next few weeks, go! Excellent art, excellent show. The best part was that the museum was staying open late that night, and had a bunch of activities going on, including a “make you own Basqiat inspired artwork.” So of course I did. And as you can see, it truly is a masterpiece.















Tara made some prety awesome art as well:

After the art extravanaganza we walked over to see "Stew Rice" a play about three fri
ends in Hawaii in 1958. It was an interesting walk to the theatre, as we had to traverse the streets of downtown Los Angeles-which is not something I reccommend as a nightime activity. But all was well, and the play was tons of fun.
Unfortuanetly, the good times put me in a severe deficit as far as my studies were concerned, so this has been a long week of late nights and early mornings. But somehow I managed to get everything done, and now its the weekend again! Hopefully, I'll be a better student (and actually be productive)... I suppose only time will tell :)

you be the judge

Saturday: woke up at 7:45 am -no alarm.

Sunday: woke up at 7:15 am -no alarm.

Monday: woke up at 8:55 am- alarm went off at 8:00 am; either I turned it off in my sleep, or woke up, turned it off and went back to sleep with no memory of such actions.

Now, on only one of those days did I have to be at work at 9:00 am, can you guess which one?

Things I would rather do than read Matthew Arnold

Okay, so for the past week, I've been trying to read Matthew Arnold's Culture and Anarchy for my class this Tuesday. For those of you unfamiliar- Matthew Arnold was a cultural critic who wrote in the 19th century about things like "sweetness and light." I do not like Matthew Arnold. Reading his work is not fun. It is infact, the antithesis of fun. It is pain. And so, with this attitude, you can imagine all the things I've managed to do rather than my reading this week. I've:
1. cleaned my room (multiple times in fact, there has been a lot of tidying going on lately- my parents would be so proud)
2. done my laundry (which is not to say that when my reading is not painful, I don't do my laundry, but probably with less enthusiasm)
3. done the dishes (see number 2)
4. cleaned the kitchen floor
5. gone grocery shopping
6. shopped for things on ebay
7. done my other reading (of which there was plenty, believe me)
8. gone to coffee shops (technically to read, but I ended up mostly people watching and looking for light switches in dark restrooms)
9. gone to work (okay, so that wasn't really instead of doing my reading and I kind of have to go to work on a regular basis, but still, work with me here)
10. plucked my eyebrows (the pain of the is nothing compared to the pain of reading Arnold)
11. gone to multiple free food events on campus (okay, so the second one I had to go to for work, because my work was hosting it, so its not like I'm canvasing campus looking for free food...)
12. posted on this blog (which you would think in light of things, I would have done more often this week, but I really didn't have anything to say, and I was sort of busy with all the other non-Matthew Arnold related activities)

Now don't let my witty and wry writing (try saying that three times fast) fool you, I did do some of my reading; it was just painful and very unpleasent. And there's still more to do, *sigh*.

(and Vanessa, I know you laid down the law as far as lists were concerned, but I couldn't remember what the correct rules were, so do what I do and blame Bush- it's probably his fault somewhere down the line)

'tis a strange day when ye talk like a pirate...

Me mateys, this be one strange day. I'm wearing an eye patch, I saw a weird snake like lizard, and its raining as I type. Perhaps some explanations are needed?
Today, I got home after work only to find a pirate set on my bed- complete with cutlass, knife, hook and eye patch! Tara snuck into my house and left it for me in honor of the (aforementioned)International Talk Like a Pirate Day. Awesome! I've been wearing the eye patch on and off throughout the day.
Later, Tara discovered a snake with legs outside of her house. It was the weirdest thing! It looked like a snake, moved like a snake, had a tongue like a snake... but it also had little lizard like feet. So we stared at it for a while and took pictures. Totally the normal and mature grad student reaction, right?
I tried to get some studying done at Borders after the snake-lizard extravaganza, but failed pretty miserably, so instead I drove home. And that's when I saw lightening and it started to rain. Mind you, it was 80 plus degrees today, with no cause for rain. So of course there would be thunder and lightening and rainfall! That makes sense.
I really don't know why these strange things continue to occur. Maybe its me?


Rocking the eye patch and my knife


weird reptile sighting in Claremont

Yarr!

Mateys, today be "International Talk Like a Pirate Day." So bust out yer cutlasses and eye-patches, grab some wenches and some grog, and enjoy the bleedin' day! Arr!
ps. check out the website, it be full of pirate fun! http://www.talklikeapirate.com/piratehome.html

don't wanna work

Its Friday, I'm at work. Despite my purported liking of this job, I don't really feel like working (let's be honest, when do I ever?). I feel like crawling back into bed, and finishing the book I was reading (okay, so to be honest, it was a comic book- but really good! Its called Runaways, and is about these six teenagers who find out their parents are super villians... and I'm very near the end, but I had to stop reading to come to work, argh). So anyway, I'm sitting here at my desk, trying to search for missing articles of one of our co-directors (apparently, its frowned upon when library that he runs is missing his work)... which would be great if I could find any of his articles in the various databaes that I'm using, but, unfortunately, I think I suck at searching because I can't find these damn things. *Sigh* But some good things have happened since I got to work this morning. For instance, I got my bike lock removed from my bike, so now I can ride it home. Why is this noteworthy? Well, lets just say a few days ago some kids thought it would be fun to change the combo on my bike lock and lock it to my front wheel. Not cool. So today, I had to get the maintnance guys to cut open my bike lock. On the upside, my bike is free, and can now be ridden. On the downside, I am once again bike-lock-less.

don't wanna study

Okay, so I still have another 30 pages of Schiller to read tonight, but no real desire to do it, so instead I'm going to post the lyrics of a song I heard today. Its by The Dead Kennedys, called "At My Job." And while for once I actually don't have a crappy mindless job to complain about, I've had enough in the past (just read some of my previous posts) for this song to relevance. So here's to lame jobs and procrastination!

If your machine might slip a gear
Push this button to help it clear
Your time card says your name's Joe
But we'll call you 6-3-0
[Chorus]
I'm working at my job
I'm so happy
More boring by the day
But they pay me
All that time spent going to school
Just to end up following-rules
[Chorus]
Now it's time to take a break
Don't stray too far or you'll be late
Thank you for your service and a long career
Glad you gave us your best years

sad but true

Today Tina asked me to save her a place in the library. Because she knew that "on Sundays, the tables tend to fill up."

I didn't think it was possible; but we've actually reached new lows of nerdiness.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Raccoons... heroes with a ring tail?

Okay, I know its technically Thursday (or no pants wonderday, if you really want to be specific), but in my mind, this has Friday written all over it. It might have something to do with the fact that my week of classes end on Thursday, a fact which I am infinitely excited about as this has been quite possibly a week from hell. After the glory that was Saturday, things were bound to go downhill... and they did. Well, not so much downhill as busy with readings and writings, etc. Pretty much everyday since Sunday has been spent trying to catch up for the next day's class- so you can see why I'm so excited to not have class tomorrow. There's actually an opportunity for me to get on track, and even *gasp* get ahead! Of course, am I taking advantage of such a momentous opportunity? Of course not. If I was, would I be writing in this fantastic blog? And you all would be deprived, and probably cry, so really I'm doing this for you. I'm so generous like that :)
Anyway.
I don't actually have anything exciting to post, as my life has been consumed by reading, I haven't had too many exciting adventures. I did envision my life being ended by rabid raccoons though. The other night, as I walking home from the library (because like I said, I've been living the exciting life lately), I came across three huge raccoons! I wanted to take a picture, but they started lumbering towards me and suddenly I realized that I know very little about raccoons, except I imagined them to have sharp teeth, and then I got mental image of them running me down, knocking me to the ground with their massive weight (seriously- these were GIANT raccoons) and tearing me apart with their sharp teeth! So instead, I hurriedly walked home.

And that has been the most exciting thing to happen to me this week. Envisioning my own death by raccoons.


This was not the raccoon that I saw that night, this was a raccoon that was hanging out outside of my house a couple of nights earlier (Imagine it bigger with sharp teeth and a maniacal gleam in it's eyes!)

It started out simply enough...

Last night, all I really had planned for myself was some dinner with friends and a movie. It was supposed to be a quietly mellow night, as the night before had been the inaugural meeting of the Unofficial CGU Wine Club of which I somehow acquired the somewhat dubious title of "El Vino de Presidente" (I think we got our languages slightly mixed). Our friend Jesse was having a party at his house, and we had decided to make only the minorist of appearances. So after spending the day with "Sugar Creek: Life on the Illinois Prairie (a book I do not recommend, as I believe it adversely affects one's sanity, as you will shortly see) I went to Elaine's for some bbq. Dinner was excellent, and we were all in quite the food coma when we decided to head over to Jesse's. So to bolster ourselves, we acquired some caffeine in the form of coffee beverages. This, as you will see was the first of a long line of questionable decisions. The next being opening random doors and cupboards at Jesse's house- where there is an abundance of seriously random stuff. In one cupboard I found some elderly person's glasses, vitamins, wine glasses and a metal sign saying "DO NOT ENTER TEST IN PROGRESS." Of course I couldn'tÂ’t just let that go unnoticed. The next half an hour or so was spent taking pictures with said sign in various rooms throughout JesseÂ’s house, and cracking ourselves up immensely. After that (and some brownies), we all returned to respective homes, thinking the night couldn'’t get any better.
We were so wrong.

Not thirty minutes later did I get a call from Tara, and not ten minutes later was I over at her house creating a true masterpiece, entitled Aicha. Have you seen the Aicha video on the internet? It's truly spectacular- this random dude singing about a woman who moves like the breeze http://www.ameryonline.com/aicha/ (click on "Aicha Original Video"”). Tara's brother had made his own version, and in a haze of coffee laced insanity, we decided to one up him. And how did we. Lets just say, light sabers, sparkly blue shorts, stick horses and really bad dancing was involved (Oh, and the sign). It was AWESOME!
So that was my Saturday night. I never got to see any movie, but the one we made was totally worth missing any other entertainment adventure. It was also super fun to just hang out with my friends, and be completely silly- its a rare group of people who you can have good intellectual conversations with, who also find the humor in random signs and bad dancing.


Fun with the TEST IN PROGRESS sign






The aftereffects of the awesome Aicha adventure (don't you really want to see the video now?)

Aaaarrrggghhhh!

So my first week of classes are officially over. It's been a good week, but I kept feeling like something was missing. I thought it might have been some of my classes, as they keep getting cancelled (seriously! there was the Monday excitement, and then today, my professor got caught in traffic and the class ended up not happening... so out of five possible sessions, I had three. One would think I would be excited about this prospect, but I'm actually kind of bummed- either the heat is getting to me, or I've officially reached new levels of nerdom), but it was something else entirely. I didn't even realize what I missing until it happened.

A Pirate sighting.

The Pirate of the history department is back and in classes, along with the other oddballs and eccentrics; life in Claremont is complete. And I couldn't be happier!

Class update

So I found my class. I got to my class. My friend Lawrence got to class. We sat in our class for while. Nobody showed up. So went and asked student support if perhaps the class had been cancelled... and apparently all the undergrad campuses don't start their classes until tomorrow. CGU meanwhile started today. Of course no one notified us poor grad students of this.
So the moral of the story is that I finally found my class, only to have it not be there. Would you have expected any less?

Oh, its the most wonderful time of the year!

Okay, so that song is really about Christmas, but for a nerd like me, it just might be Fall that ranks high in my mind. I don't know what it is, but I love the beginning of the school year- so much hope and anticipation, papers and presentations have yet to be assigned, I'm not buried under a endless pile of books to read, everything seems exciting and fresh. Of course, by the end of this week, I'm sure I'll be back to normal self- praying for it to end and counting down the days until winter break. But for now (i.e. this morning) I'm excited. And a little nervous- as I have class in an hour and absolutely no idea where said class might be. CGU finally got on the bandwagon with a webpage that one could log into and see all their class information, etc., so I thought I would be smart and check it out, and also find where my class is... which would be awesome if the webpage was up and running. But of course it isn't. Of course. But I'm still excited.

I'm just sitting here watching the wheels go round and round..

Okay, so that's a lie. I'm actually sitting here on my couch, looking at the clock, and wondering why I've already been up for over two hours. That's right- I woke up at seven this morning. Why? I only wish I knew. One of the great mysteries of life, I suppose.
So I was going to try and be all clever and have a neat segue into my next random topic, but I think I'm too tired to write one. Feel free to add your own. Ready? Go!

Let me say happy anniversary to myself. Apparently, its been a year since I started this life-altering, immensely important, mind-blowing blog, and nobody's life has been the same since. Well, okay, so that might be a bit of an embellishment- it was brought to my attention this past week that I have a slight problem with exagerrating (and also being generally spastic, but I'm not too concerned). But the point is, a year later and I'm still blogging strong... and I have to thank my unbelievably boring jobs for all the free time in front of the computer. Just think how many posts we all would have been deprived if I hasn't worked in these various offic settings over the past year. It almost makes the sometimes aggravation worth it. Um, wait. I think not. But at least I can say that something good (or at least entertaining) came out of the past year. Who knows where this one will lead?

questions

The "L" on my laptop is breaking. I don't think I ever noticed how many words have "l"s in them until this started happening. For instance- my name. I don't think Aexandra has the same resonance. I'm not quite certain what to do about this problem- is it possible to buy single letters (like on Wheel of Fortune)? If it were my desktop, I could buy a new keyboard, but I don't think that's possible for a laptop. Once again, my utter lack of technological skills are starting to show.
Random question- if the back door is open, is it still considered breaking an entering? Let's just say I had a friend, who had another friend, and their neighbors had moved out, and they wanted to see inside the house, and the back door was open... would that still be considered a crime? Technically, as there were no owners in residence (the house is currently on the market to be rented), it could be construed as a public place; and as a public place that was open, I think we, er, these people, were totally within their rights to enter said house.
Today is my father's birthday. (This has been the week of birthdays, with more to come). Being the good daughter that I am, I haven't gotten him a present yet. He and my mother are coming out to Claremont on Saturday for lunch, so I figure I have a little of time left to acquire something. And hopefully for inspiration to come, because he is one of the hardest people to shop for! He's the type that likes to go out and get things on his own- part of the joy is finding for him. Which makes it hard for one to shop for him. Any suggestions?
I guess I'll continue to cogitate (fun word!) on these questions as I sit here at work, pretending to be transfixed by the data entry before me- at least it'll give me something to think about.

Honoring an amazing woman.

When I first met Sue Sally Hale, I don't really remember too much about her- I was six and her goose was chasing me down her driveway. But as I grew older and began to spend more time with her I learned just what an amazing woman she was. She's probably most well known for her accomplishments in the realm of polo (the real kind; equestrian, not water). Prior to 1972, women were not allowed in the United States Polo Association. They could play at clubs and in pick up games, but they couldn't play in tournaments or be members. Sue Sally, however, had different ideas. She had grown up with polo players, and at the age of 9 decided that that was what she was going to do with her life. So for twenty years she hid her sexuality, and played as the very quiet, but talented SS Hale. At the same time, Sue Sally was fighting for the admission of women into the USPA, fighting fires (as the first female firefighter in Moneterey) and raising her children. Pretty much every woman in the polo community owes something to Sue Sally for her efforts on the behalf of female polo players (without her, we might still not be allowed in the USPA), myself included. But I think my debt goes a lot deeper than that. I was so very incredibly fortunate to have her my life- she was such an inspiration on so many levels. Sue Sally taught me that no obstacle thats worth it is insurmountable. Today would have been her 68th birthday, but she passed away two years ago. In my mind, she's my hero. I just wanted to share that.

I officially have senioritus

So remember senior year of high school, when AP tests were done, and all major projects were turned in, and there really wasn't much to do except think about leaving for college and "our last summer!"? That pretty much sums up how I'm feeling at work these days- well except for the leaving for college part (because I already went) and the summer expectations (because summer will be over after next week). But the not having anything to do- yes that fits me to a tee. Or is it T? I've always wondered. (I'm kind of tired and therefore loopy; more on that later) Its a weird phrase regardless. So basically, I have little to nothing to do here at work- the job that I've been doing for the past number of months has become obsolete (one of the IT guys developed a program so the computer does my job in a mere matter of minutes). But as next week is my last, its kind of silly to give me a new project, or teach me something new, as I'd only be doing it for a week. So mostly I've been doing odd jobs and messing around on the internet for the past week. I can't really say I've been complaining.
However, I would like to complain about something else-the gardeners that come to my house in the wee hours of the morning. Is it that wrong to want to sleep past 7:30? Every other Thursday they come with their lawnmowers and weed wackers and go to town right outside of my house. I know there are vastly more important things to complain about, and this sounds like the pettiest of complaints. But have you ever been woken up by a weed wacker going full speed? Its not pleasant, I assure you.

okay, so I finally found a use for a microwave

For the past couple of months, I haven't had a microwave in my house, and for the most part it really hasn't bothered me. I never really used a microwave growing up (although that might have had something to do with my hippie parents), and I haven't had any need for one lately either. That is, until tonight. I wanted to make some chocolate chip cookies and needed to melt some butter for said cookies. Normally, one would pop the butter into a microwave for a couple of seconds, and viola! melted butter. Not so the case in my house. I thought I would use the oven as it was heating, and actually tried to concoct a holder of some sort out some aluminum foil... for about thirty seconds before I called Tara and asked to come over and borrow her microwave for a bit (Tara literally lives around the corer from me, in the time it takes to melt butter in a microwave, I can be at her house). And, that my friends, is why Claremont is such a great place to live- most of my friends live seconds away. Which comes in handy, because you never know when you might need to borrow a microwave. :)

warning: liberal post ahead

"Bush demonstrates the brightness of an Iraqi future."

Okay, so I actually found this on another website, but thought it was pretty funny.
(can you tell I figured out how to post pictures and am now drunk with power?)

I'm back, bitches: part 2

Yes that's right; not a week back in Claremont and I left again. But it was only for a night, and I actually got back last night. I came back just in time to celebrate Jesse's birthday with a visit Foxy's, a pool hall in Montclair where I learned that I still have no skills at pool. But it was a good, albeit late night. Today was spent on many random adventures, starting with the great fruit hunt in my backyard. Everytime I go back there I find another fruit bearing tree. Which would be awesome if I knew what fruits these trees were bearing. My friend Tara and I went out on a fact finding mission and decided that one tree was bearing yellow plums and the other unripe persimmons. I also learned that one should not lick the inside of an unripe persimmon as not only does it taste nasty, it also sort of makes your tongue numb for a bit. Oh, and apparently the skin is slightly poisonous, or so I read. After that, I smashed some plates- not because I have rage, but because I was doing a mosaic project. But regardless it was fun to break them, despite what the neighbors must have been thinking.
Tonight was my friend Melissa's going away party (I'm not sure what's going on, but a good number of my friends have been leaving for the Midwest, is there something I don't know?), so Tara and got her some awesome going away presents, like giant highlighters and a pink boa. I also bought for myself some new flip flops (as I managed to leave my other ones at home, sigh) and a Darth Vader folder, which is beyond awesome. Yeah, we were a little silly. No surprise there though.


My persimmons did not look like this.


I think this man might have licked the unripe persimmon.


My totally awesome Darth Vader folder.



Oh, and here I am in an elevator.

The books are overtaking this house

So its about 9:40 on Saturday morning, and I'm finding myself at my parents house, sitting at their computer, having my patience tried with the impossibly slow dial up modem. I've already been up for a couple of hours-between the dogs barking, the horses neighing, my mother's loudly dulcet (okay, so not the right word, but a fun one nonetheless) tones on the phone, and the neighbor's constructing; sleeping in never even had a chance. I got home late last night, after a day in LA, where I tried my hand at Jeopardy (and sadly did not pass the test, but I definitly plan to in the future, so close!), and had dinner with some old friends. It was a really good night; excellent food-possibly even yummy in my tummy-and great friends. Sad too though, as the reason for our get together was a goodbye dinner for Vanessa who is about to embark on MFA program at Indiana University (yay Vanessa!). But we made the most of the evening, entertaing ourselves over dinner and afterwards. Such topics were undertaken as the six degrees of my ass ("bringing people together") and why its a good thing theres only one me in the world (can you imagine the insanity if there were more? Bizarro!). Despite how this sounds, the conversations actually ranged in topics, and not all were Alcentric. Its kind of scary that my friends from high school would be considered old by present standards. But its true; Michele and I have known each other since, well, thats a good question, and one we've never been able to answer. But sometime in early highschool we think. I have been hearing about Vanessa since the first grade (being a year older than me, most of our classmates were convinced we were sisters and told us about their beliefs at every oppotunity), but would consider her a friend also since highschool. Anyway, not the point. Well, to be perfectly honest I'm not sure what my point is, mostly that I have very little to do while I wait to have lunch with my family in that lovely town of Oxnard. This morning, as I had some hours to kill, I discovered my cache (another fun word) of music videos from when I was young. I distinctly remember watching and rocking out to these videos; such as The Fine Young Cannibals and New Kids on the Block (okay, so my music tastes when I was young left somethings to be desired, I like to think I've imporved on them since then). I also discovered about 80 books that I wanted to steal. The best part about going home is finding new books scattered throughout my parents house. They are literally everywhere- walls and walls are covered, various surfaces, piles on the the floor. My parents are voracious readers-a fact that makes me jealous. I think I read a lot, but I have nothing on them. Someday when I live in my fabulous house (that I'll go home to from my wonderful job-which has nothing to do with data entry- and meet my devotedly caring husband, etc etc) I am going to fill it with books. And it will be awesome. But for now, I'll just be waiting for lunch.

my laundry is depressing me

I need to do laundry. No, really. I haven't done a load in over two weeks- since before I went up north. Not because I'm a slob (and before you get disturbed, the only good thing about the months I spent at the retail job whose name shall not be mentioned was an excessive increase in undergarments, so I'm still wearing clean things). I want to do my laundry. My clothing selections are getting fewer and fewer with each passing day. Yesterday I busted out my skirt from a halloween costume a few years back (I was pregnant cheerleader one year, so not only is this skirt totally not my style, but its also two sizes too large- so as to accomodate for my bastard underage love child). Thats how bad its getting. Why am I not doing said laundry, you might be wondering? Its been so damn hot here, and I've been trying to conserve energy, etc., so I haven't wanted to use the washing machine til later at night, when its (slightly) cooler. Everynight, I have these great aspirations to be productive, and then every night, my plans fall through. Last night, for example, I walked down to the local bomb shelter (otherwise known as the Claremont Public Library- I swear, this thing was built in the 1950s and looks like it could withstand a nuclear blast), and then was going to go home and and be productive with the cleaning of my house. Did that happen? No, of course not. I ended up wandering the streets of Claremont with Tara and then watching Cast Away. Which was a thoroughly depressing movie. I realized that if I was ever in Tom Hanks' position, I would totaly have died. My survival skills are completely lacking- it would not have been pretty. I also probably would have gone completely insane (because, who are we kidding, most of the time, I'm already half way there). Needless to say, Tara and I were utterly depressed by the end of the night. And I still didn't do any laundry! Perhaps tonight? Only time will tell.

I'm back, bitches

Yes, the truth can't be denied any longer- I'm back in Claremont and my vacation is over. While I'm definitely sad to have my vacation over (and what a vacation it was, more on that later I'm sure), its nice to be home. I know it probably sounds cheesy, but I really feel like Claremont is my home (for the next year, at least). My friends all live within a couple of blocks from me- its a real community, and one which I feel really lucky to be a part of.
Okay, enough sappiness; I think I'm still somewhat tired from the drive down/the past week. My vacation was full of unexpected things, and most of my plans went awry, but it was still a really really good week. Technically in my mind my vacation started on Thursday (because that was my last day of teaching, and while I went to my office job on Friday, we all know that that doesn't count for numerous reasons, the most prominent being the fact that this blog is so well stocked with posts). That night I saw Flogging Molly at the Orange County fair, which was such a good show! I also learned that supposedly this is the year of the Avocado- who knew? The weekend was spent exploring Mount Baldy's many critters and learning that trees can apparently "grow like a bat out of hell." The next few days were spent in the lovely town of Livermore, where I think I saw every site to see. Okay, so I only saw three things, but that pretty much was all of Livermore. What did I see, you wonder? Only the oldest burning lightbulb (since 1901, not kidding) and the totem pole, which at one point was the cause for a curse on the town. Don't believe me? Check out "Livermore: the Movie" for the complete story. I know, because I was forced to watch it not once, but twice- thanks Sean. Oh, and I got to spend an hour drifting out on Lake del Valle, when the boat we were on died unexpectedly. No matter what anyone says, I had nothing to do with it, nothing. One moment, I'm sitting there, the motor merrily going along. The next- silence. After spending some time, unsuccessfully trying to get it restarted and mooring ourselves on the shore, we had to be towed back. Another wonderful Livermore experience. After that pinnacle, I knew nothing else the city had could compare to the wonderful sites I had seen, so I left for the wonderful sights and sounds of Sacramento. Of which there were many, believe me. I acquired an awesome arrowhead from the State Indian Museum and I finally got to visit Sutter's Fort (hence the picture of me with the old west rifle on myspace). Lots of random adventures were had by all. I also got to see some of my good college friends, and almost eat it (ie: fall down) in multiple locations. I got to pull a "wait, you're not my friends" moment, and also learned the difference between men's and women's breasts. Oh, and somehow I acquired a salt and pepper shaker set (which now resides in my car, so if anyone ever needs to add some spices to their food, feel free to check out the hyundai). Sadly, my trip up north ended on Saturday, when I drove back down the ever-lovin' Interstate 5. Of course that was not before I got to wake up and help Paige and Norman move out of their house. Nothing gets me going for a six hour drive down the 5 like moving heavy furniture.
All in all, it was a totally great vacation, chock full of randomness and good memories. It was really nice to see friends up north, I always forget just how weird I can really be until I hang out with them. And now I'm back in Claremont, trying (and probably failing) to tamp down on the weirdness, and generally enjoying my last few weeks of freedom before classes begin. But I'm not going to think about that just yet.

the magical filing cabinet

So there's a secret filing cabinet in my office. It sits in the corner and is very hard to get into. But once you're in, its like magic! First of all this cabinet will grant you all of your hearts desires. Like the other day, I really wanted some Ritz crackers and a small lemur monkey. I went to the cabinet, and there was a small whitefaced simian, holding a box of crackers. I named the Lemur Sam, in honor of Sam Houston, Texas' famous statesman, and munched happily on the crackers.
How did I discover this cabinet, you might be wondering? Well, it was all a great accident. One day, I sitting at my desk, being unproductive as usual when I heard a small child's voice calling out "Eleanor! Eleanor!" Only knowing of one Eleanor in my life (Eleanor Roosevelt, the esteemed, yet sexually confusing wife of FDR), but also knowing that she was long dead, I thought very little of the strange sounds. Afterall, I hear much stranger things on a regular basis coming from my coworkers. The next day, again I heard the child's voice, this time calling out "Milicent!" And again, I ignored the voice. After a week or so of strange women's names being called out from the corner (seriously, I heard Joan, Roxanne, Stacey, and Earl?), finally I decided to investigate. As I approached the cabinet, the voice grew steadily louder and louder. The cabinet was vibrating in the corner, and an odd smell was emanating from it. Slowly, drawer by drawer, I opened the cabinet. The first two drawers yielded nothing but empty coke bottles and prison tags (obviously part of some failed pyramid scheme involving recycling and parolees)... but the bottom drawers, that's where the jackpot was! I opened them and was suddenly blinded by a bright green light. The next thing I knew, I was inside the cabinet, wandering through mazes of riches of every kind. Gold, silver, jewels, bunnies-they were all there. It was a magical Eden. Just then, a small fairy like creature appeared before me.
"Hello, my name is Rolanda (even though this was a magical land, it was still rooted in the Inland Empire, which as we know, is not known for its classiness), and I am the guardian of this land. You've been chosen to know about this magical land because of your pure heart and even purer nature... oh, and your super cute haircut! Whenever you are in need of a pick-me-up after a long day of data entry, you merely need to come to the cabinet and request your heart's desire. It shall be brought to you posthaste. You need only make a wish with your heart. Or you could write a check. We accept most major credit cards as well."
And that was all. I was back at my desk, as if it had never happened. Was it merely a dream? I wondered to myself. But just then a strange craving for an ice cream sandwich washed over me. I figured there was only one way to see if it really had been a dream. With slow steps I walked to the cabinet. "Ice cream sandwich" I thought over and over. I opened the bottom drawer, and there it was; the tastiest ice cream sandwich I had even seen! It was real!
And that's how I found out about the magical filing cabinet in my office. It's the best thing ever.

data entry or death?

Okay, so technically I've been at work for over an hour. Since I arrived, I've eaten Indian food, gone on a coffee run (unbeknownst to my bosses of course), and surfed the internet for a while. Oh, and I opened the file that I'm supposed to be working on. Notice how "open" has been the only verb in use, and not "typed" or various other work related verbs. I think I have senioritus, combined with a serious lack of desire to do my job. Now while I might complain about the general crappiness of my job in the land of data entry (apparently so much so that other people are using me for their own ends. Case in point, my friend Elaine used me to teach the vocab work "monotonous" to her students. "Alex's job doing data entry is so ____, she is very bored." Anyway.), but at least this job hasn't killed me (slowly sucking my soul, yes, but its not death inducing). Today I read about a Croatian farmer who was killed when the cow he was milking fell on him. How much would that suck? I guess data entry is better than death by cow. A little.

I know I've said this before...

but my life is the epitome of random. Case in point; this weekend.

As I was biking home yesterday, a branch fell off a tree (a huge branch! Like half of the tree, it made this huge crash and everything) for no reason. No one had cut it, there wasn't even any weather, just bam! tree branch down.

I went to the weirdest Aaron'd Brothers ever today! There were two people working, a tall crazy lady called Nebraska (thats what it said on her "hi, my name is... tag" no joke) and a very short (perhaps half her size) man named Jamey. As I stood there for about ten minutes waiting for some service I watched them sling verbal barbs to each other and act in very strange fashions towards the other customers. Needless to say, I do not recomend the Montclair Aaron's Brothers.

Today it rained in Claremont. But it was still hot the entire time.

I just found a crossowrd puzzle in my couch. Not only is that random, but it also speaks of just how cool I am. Most people find money that's fallen out of their pockets in their couch. Me? I find crossword puzzles...

I managed to drive past my exit today on the freeway. Not sure what I was thinking, but I drove completely past it, and didn't even realize until I almost passed the next one. Okay, so that's not so much random as it is just dumb, but whatever.

I was wearing my glasses not ten minutes ago, and now cannot find them to save my life. Seriosuly. I don't know what I did with them, I've looked all over the house, my glasses are totally missing.

So now its 10 on Sunday night, I'm listening to Gary Busey be crazy on the radio and am trying to prepare myself for the upcoming week. I'm almost certain that there will be much more randomness and weird things for me, only time will tell though...

This is how I always look hiking 

Night of the Living Al

So I've come to a conclusion. Well, actually two conclusions: I'm either pregnant or a zombie. These are the only conclusions that I've been able to come up with while sitting at my desk, feeling like crap. Either Yahweh (or whoever) wants me to carry the new Messiah (because that would be the only current explanation for a pregnant Al) or one of the walking dead bit me in my sleep. Of course, both theories have holes. While I do have some morning sickness symptons (nausea, tiredness, etc), I'm still a little too skeptical of that first immaculate conception to believe in a second one. Which brings me to conclusion #2. My coworkers might agree that I'm walking around the office barely alive, but I have no super powerful strength or the desire to gnaw on human flesh. Which, whenever I've imagined zombie life, I always thought would be part of it. Maybe it is just a headache afterall. Either way, its still Friday, and if there's anything to make me feel better, its the knowledge that this week is over. It hasn't been a bad a week, no real complaints, but this week has been a long one. And a hot one. So I'm definitly ready for some relaxation time this weekend. Maybe I'll even figure out this pregnant/zombie issue too...

I just took a cold shower, but not in a sexy way

You know that feeling of being warmed by the sun, perfectly content? Multiply that by 800,000 and would it still be happy feeling? No. It would not. How do I know? Because its July, and I'm living in Claremont. I'm aware that there are places that are hotter, or places that have worse climates (yes, I'm in Southern California, a state renowned for its great weather), but I don't care. Its 9:45 and its 85 degrees outside. I am not approving. Hopefully, I'll get to leave this literal hell on earth for a wee bit soon. Of course, I'll probably just go someplace thats just as hot, because thats how cool I am. I think the heat is frying my brain, so I'm going to go curl up in front of my fan and dream of the artic tundra. *Sigh*

The restrooms of my discontent

My restroom experiences of late I think sum up how my life is going. No, this is not going to be a gross post, describing bathroom activities; instead its about all the randomly strange things that keep happening in that sector. Last Thursday, I managed to leave my sunglasses in the teacher's restroom at Rialto Middle School, where I'm teaching this summer. I remembered where they were after our last session got out, and scampered back to said restroom only to find them missing. Now what's so upsetting about this? I left the glasses in the TEACHER'S restroom, where you need a key to get in. Only TEACHERS go in there (oh, and me, who is not a teacher technically, but for all intents and purposes, I am one this summer, so there). Therefore, it is logical to assume that a TEACHER took my glasses. I tried to give benefit of the doubt, etc., and think maybe whoever took them would bring them back today, but no. Such was not the case. The best part, though, is that these glasses are prescription, so they're only going benefit someone who is slightly far sighted in one eye, and nearsighted in the other. Oh, irony, you sassy lady. Anyway, I get to my other lovely job, only to spill my water bottle all over my lap, so it looks like I couldn't quite contain the thrill I get at the prospect of data entry. I attempted to rectify the situation in the WOMEN'S restroom, only to find no paper towels, but one of the seats up. Um, is someone not telling me something? Needless to say, restrooms and I are not on the best of terms at the moment. On the plus side, I managed to hack into one of the dudes upstairs music library, and now have lots of fun music to listen to as my lap dries, so that's something!

I obviously had too much guacamole today

I was going to write all about how I've been listening to 90s songs, and how I've been feeling all nostalgic for high school and middle school, what with certain songs giving me crazy memories and reminiscences--ohmygod, that Cardigan's song from Romeo + Juliet just came on, hi sophomore year math (see what I mean?)... but then I just felt lame. So instead I'm going to write about my trip to the fabulous Montclair Plaza, which once again reinforced my belief that a) malls are evil places and b) I am not a mall person. I had to go to the mall to return a gift and see about some frames for some of my posters, it was a choice made out of necessity, not desire. First of all, I was traveling by myself, which is apparently not proper mall etiquette. And then I wanted to get from one store to the other in a reasonable amount of time; strike two. But the nail in my mall going coffin had to be when I spied the GIANT Thomas Kincade display in one of the store windows. I can handle the wannabe punk kids roving around in acid washed packs from one hip store to another. I can make my peace with the conspicuous consumption that seems to be the standard for our fine country. Okay, wait, both of those statements are lies, but they don't compare to the pure evil that can be found in one of Kincade's canvases. That man has no soul. And it makes me sad.
The weekend is also over, another thing which makes me sad, because that means another week of hell is about to begin. I had three opportunities to go LA this weekend, and bailed on all of them. Yet, the weekend was surprisingly good. There was much silliness, complete with the utterances of "Self love is not always safe love" and "my Jesus is your jesus, you Catholic fuck." Neither of these statements were said by me, which just makes me appreciate my friends down in Claremont all the more. Good times, indeed. :)

this is probably a bad idea...

... because i'm in a totally shit mood. I'm hungry, I have a headache, and I am thoroughly disgusted with my current working situation. After being lulled into the belief that I could actually get away with doing next to nothing at this office, I'm finding myself having real work to do. Well, not so much real, as I am literally taking horizontal excel files and making them into vertical new ones. Or maybe that's the other way around. I don't know. I was told that I had until Friday to finish this lamest of lame tasks (just call me Sisyphus), but just now some random guy, who didn't even bother to introduce himself- hello? social graces? anyone? Could it be possible to treat me like a person? Yes, I'd say a nerve was touched... anyway. So yes, apparently I'm supposed to have the file-thingy done by today. Thanks. On top of that, I have other time-consuming-yet-not-bettering-the-world-in-any-fashion-whatsoever-work to do. So now I'm stressed out by the amount of work that I need to complete in a few hours. Of course the point could be made that my time might be better served actually doing said work. But like I said, I'm in a pissy mood, so therefore I don't want to. What I do want to do is eat something, because, sweet moses, but I am hungry! My stomach is literally eating itself. After I eat something, I would like to take a nap. For 12 hours. And then maybe I could read a book. Ahh, that would be nice.
Sorry this is such a lame entry, but as I'm convinced that I'm the only one who actually looks at this thing anway, I guess I only have to apologize to myself. And maybe this company, as I've taken things to a new level of being a bad employee. But I probably won't. Because like I said, I'm in a bad mood. So there.

Don't bother me, I'm looking important

Um, so yeah. The computer system is going wonky and I can't do my job, which directly involves the system that's not working. I suppose I could take the iniative and actually find something productive to do, but that would totally go against my principles so instead I plan on sitting here at me desk, giving off the vibe that I'm doing something so vitally important that the fate of the entire company rests on my activities. Which would be bad for this place if that were the truth. Its kind of weird to be here, although I was only gone for the weekend, it seems like forever ago that I was in my normal life, etc. I think that might have something to do with how packed this weekend was. I put over 1500 miles on my car in four days. I also saw one of my good friends get married, another of my friends get his ass grabbed at a gay bar, lots of stars and a talking lettuce.

Perhaps some explanations are needed. Liz's wedding was on Saturday- it was soo wonderful. She was the epitome of the glowing bride, the ceremony was lovely, reception was fun- all in all a pefect event. It was also super fun, because a couple of my UCDC friends were in town for said wedding, so we got to hang out and go out later in the evening as well. As it was a DC-esque reunion of sorts, the Depot (fun gay bar in Sac) was the place to go after the reception. The best part of the evening, by far, though was my old roommate Norman coming with us. Norman does not go to gay bars. Ever. But for some reason (I think he's getting really bored this summer), he decided to come out with us. So right after we got done telling him how gays bars really aren't this den of debauchery (for the most part) and that he totally would be left alone, Norman goes up to the bar to get a drink and this older man walks by and grabs his ass like no tomorrow! Hilarious. Norman to his credit took it all with aplomb, and I think had a pretty good time. It was great to hang out Christina and Joe, and catch up. The next day was full of adventure as well. After sleeping in til almost 8 am, I was having a nice time doing the Sunday crossowrd puzzle (my cool points are shooting through the roof) in the living room of the house that Paige was houseitting, when from out of nowhere (or I guess, technically outside) this bird starts flying spastically around above my head. I scream and duck, frozen with fear as the bird tries to escape both the house and the house- kitty-turned-feral-attack-cat. Finally, Josh came to rescue and got the bird out of the house (at this point, I was hiding in the bedroom, no joke). So scary! After that calming waffles were needed to restore balance to our systems. The rest of Sunday was spent experiencing the lovely town of Livermore and all its glories. :) Sleep, however was not one of them. Finally, on Monday I drove down to Salinas to pick up Lawrence and visit the awesome Steinbeck Musuem. Which was awesome. If you're 12. The best part, hands down though was the talking lettuce. There was an exhibit about Salinas: Valley to the World, which had an interactive activity for kids to vote on their favorite vegetable. So all these vegetable puppets gave campaign speeches on why they were the best vegetable. The lettuce was the "heart of the letuuce for the heart of America." Awesome is the only way to describe it. Its tied with Liz's wedding for the best moment of the weekend.

So now here I am, back at work, back in the real world, with mixed feelings. I'm happy to be back to normal life (although I could do without the mind-numbing data entry aspects), but there were some definite good things about being up North as well, which I'm sad to miss. The computer system is still down, but I think this post is beyond long, so I guess I'm going to have to find something else to look productive with. Is there anyway I can justfy sleeping in my car as necessary for the company?