yay!

I leave for my first tournament (in three years!) in a few hours!!!

Can we say excited?

Oregonian Al

What happened to the last few weeks?

Well, I finished (short of a language test) my master's degree. Best sentence ever: "Your thesis was a joy to read and I am fully approving it." Woo hoo! Makes the 88 pages (112 if you include bibliography and pictures) worth it. And yes, I'm bagging about its length, because let's face it. That was one long thesis!

I then returned all my (102) library books, packed up my house, sent all my (other) books and assorted furniture to live at my parents, packed up my car and headed up to La Grande, OR where I now live (for now).

I've already played some polo and while my swing is nowhere where it should be, and I'm massively out of shape, I've been having one kick ass time!

I'm not sure how often I'll be able to update, still working out the internet situation, etc etc., but I wanted to check in with my new status: Almost a master, according to the government unemployed, playing polo, and generally relaxing before I have to return to the real world (where I will hopefully have acquired a job). So that's the buzz from Oregon (yay!)

surprise?

I'm going to my surprise going away party tonight. Wanna come?

My wonderful wonderful friends in Claremont are throwing me one. I don't know any of the details, and I wouldn't even know about it, except I recieved a mass email mentioning it.

No one has ever thrown me a surprise party before. I'm very excited :)

I'm not talking about ethics, I'm talking about morals

Yesterday, in the middle of the my three hour work shift, I visited my friend Brad (who also works on campus) who made me breakfast. I told my coworkers, " I have to go to campus" and then came back an hour later with absolutely no explanation of where I was. No one asked.

Oh, and here's some words that I love:

acquiesce

collude/collusion

obfuscate

ameliorate

aforementioned

plethora

et al.

abstruse

aesthetic

logos

There's a lot more, these are just the ones that I can think of right now.

I was supposed to post this on Friday

So the past few weeks have been pretty insane. I finished up with classes, finished my thesis, took a language exam, went to Coachella, went to a Renaissance Faire, slept very little, spent many hours in the library, more at coffee shops and even more at my computer.

Whew.

So technically, I'm not really done, as I have revisions to make on a seminar paper, possible revisions on the thesis, and I'm waiting to hear back from my language exam.

But I don't care!

As soon as I get off work today (in an hour) I'm going to a pool party at my friend Chris' house. I'm going to lie in the sun (wearing sunblock of course) and read something mindless.

And it was good.

So anyway, enough about grad school. I'm going to write about my time at Coachella, which pretty much kicked ass.

I went the week before my final week of classes, which probably wasn't the best idea as I had papers and a presentation that following week, but it was still worth it.

We got to Palm Springs in the early evening on Saturday, where I promptly dropped off some people and Tara and I went to the polo club. I stick and balled one of Sue Sal's ponies (one who I helped break years ago!) and even got Tara on the horse hitting a ball! It was soooo nice and got me really excited for the summer.

Its always a little sad when I go down there, because I remember Sal and my childhood, but mostly I feel really honored to have had those memories. I hope I can continue to make Sal proud.

After I finished riding, Tara and I met up our friends, had some good Mexican food, and then hung out at Shana's totally sweet condo. Seriously, it was way nice, and all we had to pay was the cleaning service fee. Major score. We had a good time hanging out, playing card games in the condo, and then I had to crash so I would have energy for the day ahead.

*actually had to do work, and then had more crazy days, so now its Tuesday night and I'm finally finishing this post*

Sunday I attempted (and failed) to study before we headed out to Coachella. After a pit stop at Big Lots (for sun glasses) and Denny's (for fatty yet filling food) and an hour long slow procession into parking we were there!

And ohmygosh, was it hot! Seriously. I forget how hot it can get in the desert. And insane! There were people everywhere, music playing, smoke billowing.

Here's who I saw:
Ted Leo and the Pharmacists. very fun indie rock band. The drummer was insane, and all were impressed with how much the band rocked out inspite of the heat.
Minus the Bear. sooo good! They played all my favorite songs and everyone got to rock out.
Wolf Parade. had a lot of technical difficulties, so I only got to see four songs, but it was nice to get into the tent for a bit and have a repsite from the ungodly heat.
Bloc Party. freakin' awesome! Everyone was dancing, and totally enjoying themselves. They sound really good live. I was impressed :)
Yeah Yeah Yeahs. quite possibly my favorite group of the night. I had heard some of their music, but wasn't too into them, but man did they give a good show. Karen O is my new hero as she kicked some major musical ass. Soooo good!
Madonna. that's right, freakin' Madonna! Tara and I ended up sneaking behind a couple who consisted of a small woman and a very large man who cut a path through the thousands deep crowd outside of the tent and got us into the tent. They were so nice, and after they noticed what we were doing, would grab us to keep up with them. I told them if I hadn't had been so gross, I totally would have hugged them. I think they appreciated the sentiment. Once we got into the tent, we lost our friends, but the madness of the tent pushed us forward into the front third of the tent. I have never had so many gay men press against me in my life (and I lived in DC!). Worth every sweaty push. Because I freakin' saw Madonna in concert. And say what you will about her, she totally brought it. The woman is amazing.
Mogwai. caught the end, lots of lights, good music. Its Mogawi, how could it not be awesome. Tara and I laid in the grass and chilled.
The Go Team! another kick ass band with a frontwoman. Sooo much fun, I danced non-stop. Totally spastic uncaring free dancing. If you've never listened to their music, do yourself a favor- totally unique and awesome band.
Tool. Maynard came out and called us all hippies who he was going to "paper, scissor, rock and roll." And yeah, he pretty much did. Didn't get nearly close enough as I would have liked, but it was unbelievable. Definitly a kick ass show.
I also caught a bit of Digible Planets, Massive Attack, Coheed and Cambria, Los Amigos Invisibles, and while I did not personally see him, James Blunt and his creepy creepy eyes was felt. That dude is weird.

It took us almost two hours to get out of Indio and onto the freeway, and then just as long to get back to Claremont, but fortunately Michael drove. I was hot, smelly and gross. I probably inhaled more than oxygen. I saw some amazing bands, and a whole bunch of crazy people. All in all, a good time.

need a book?

So I literally have a small walkway carved out in my room which leads from my bed to the door. The rest of my floor space is covered with books, papers, more books, sometimes my computer, oh yeah, and some books.

Apparently in the madness that was writing a thesis, I forgot that I also had two seminar papers due. Oh yay.

Sadly, I have very little in the way of exciting things to report from my life. I've seen more of my friends in the library than out of it. Its like the new social scene in Claremont. All the cool kids are there. Seriously, though. I actually had to leave the other day because I was running into too many friends and wasn't getting any work done. Who ever said grad school isn't cool?

Oh, but this afternoon, I'm going to Indio (the poor man's Palm Springs) to go riding.. and then tomorrow the Coachella music festival! Which, yes, is exciting!

So that's about it for the day. Back to writing about fascism.

"I'm not dead yet! I'm feeling much better!"

Yes, I know, I've been excessivly lame about writing lately. My theory is that my thesis took all my words- I literally used them all up. But its coming to a close- think good thoughts that I'll finish my revisions this week and it will be accepted and I'll turn it in and turn in my books and not think about women and art and the fin-de-siecle, except to reminisce about those crazy months where I went a little insane writing and editing and writitng, oh my.

As you can tell, I'm still a little loopy. I have about three weeks left of grad school, which is swiftly becoming a mightily fearful entity in my mind. But also an exciting one. This summer should be interesting (although also sad, as I'll be leaving my Claremont friends and life behind). Of course first I have to finish my course work (yes, I still have two more papers to write, ugh!), so we'll see how that goes.

But I promise I'm going to be better about writing, because lord knows, my life is still full of randomness and strange occurances. :)

walden: claremont style

So I just had a random adventure in Claremont, which resulted in discovering that one of my friends is currently living on campus in a tent on four twin mattresses.

Not quite what I was expecting from my Wednesday night.

Initially the night was to contain some coffee and female bonding/bitching about roommates, boys, life in general. But then the Starbucks* closed early, so we decided to relocate to the humanities house. After a discussion of on campus housing, we decided to investigate. Which brought us to the aforementioned tent dweller.

Oh grad school-these are the memories I'll cherish.

*I know, I know. But I had no choice. I didn't order anything, and the only other coffee shop that's open at night in Claremont is where male escorts** apparently hang out.

**how do I know this? I was studying there over the weekend, and heard quite an interesting discussion about the plights and perils of such a lifestyle from an actual male escort. I only wish I made that up.

boys and turtles and other things I don't understand

I just unexpectedly spent the past 2.5 hours in the library. I was going to get some more (more?! am I serious?! sadly, yes) books for my thesis (almost done with the rough draft! I'm needing the free printing that I can only get from the CMC-undergrad campus where I illegally print from- computer lab, which sadly is closed until Monday... of course if I was a CMC student, I would be able to use my id card, but alas, I'm a poor cheating grad student, who has to wait until the doors are open to everyone... wow, can we say off topic?)

So anyway, I was getting books for my thesis, when the urge to read came over me, and that's what I've been doing for the past few hours. Hence the spasticness, and the lack of academic productivity at the moment.

This weekend, I'm taking care of my friend Chris' turtle. The same turtle that I took home with me for Christmas, and the same turtle that my mother continues to ask about. However, for this weekend, Chris gave me a key to his house, so I head over twice a day for turtle ministrations. Last night, I went over around 11:30 (after having delicious home-made chocolate mousse with raspberries at Emily's house, so good!) expecting to find a house empty of people (his roommates were to be out of town/living at his girlfriend's respectively). I was slightly confused when I saw all the lights on, but the door as locked, so I made my way in thinking that boys have no conception of energy conservation.

No, actually the roommate who is never there (I've seen him once in the entire I've known Chris/hung out at his house) was in the backroom. Which isn't that weird, no. What was weird was that he didn't even bat an eye or ask what I was doing in his house, or how I got in (remember the locked door?). I hastily explained that I was there to take care of the turtle, his response? "Oh, is Chris gone?" Now I know guys as a rule are not so big on the telling roommates spatial information, but on top of the non-plussed attitude to my appearing in his house, the entire exchange was a little strange.

I mean, if someone who I didn't know showed up inside my locked house in the middle of the night, I would at least wonder how they got in.

Earlier that day, I went to Jiffy Lube to get my car's oil changed, etc etc. As I was standing up at the counter, I left my bookbag in my chair. When I turned around to sit back down, I found a young man sitting in my chair, smooshed up against my bag. Oh, and yes, there were other empty (completely without bags or other assorted items in them) chairs in the room. Again, that's a little strange.

spring break part 1

So maybe its the fact that it's technically Spring Break and I have yet to leave Claremont.

Maybe its this thesis that is slowly draining me of my sanity (but I'm over half way done with the rough draft, so that's something, right?!).

Maybe I'm just tired of life as the status quo.

-wow, could I be more dramatic right now?-

Anyhow, I apparently decided to chop off my hair. Again. It's not Natalie Portman short, but its short enough that I can't pull it into a ponytail. This, for me, is a very big deal. My roommate says it makes me look sophisticated. I'm not sure I'm sophisticated enough to look sophisticated. *sigh* I'm thinking that this is just some weird type of buyer's remorse* coupled with sleep deprivation which leads to extreme tiredness, and soon I'll grow to love this look. It is really cute. I'm just not sure it's me. But that's partly what life is about, right?

But really, that's not even what I intended to write about tonight. I was going to write about the random (mis)adventures I've been having as of late. As I said, Spring Break officially began last Thursday (with my last day of class, woo hoo!) and while I still technically had work and thesis writing, and presentation preparing, I was ready to celebrate. It just so happened to be Tara's birthday that night (well, okay, it was her birthday that entire day, if you want to get technical), so we planned a girl's night accordingly. And yes, there are pictures.

The seven of us foxy ladies got gussied up (seriously, how hot are these women?) and started the nigh off right: with cake at Tina's.

First we went to a tapa's bar in Pasadena. It was a pretty chill place, with good 80s songs being played. The bar also played really random Latin-esque music videos (that were in no way related to the music being played) on large screens in the main room. This provided a great amount of entertainment, as we watched women clad in thigh-high white boots (and other assorted, yet equally disturbing outfits) and matching shorts dance across the desert and other exact locales. Briita also really liked rocking out. We all also liked the Sangria.



Apparently everytime we go to Pasadena we have to go to bar where there's a mechanical bull. And apparently everytime we go, I have to ride it. I'm thinking here "please god, don't look like a fool, stay on." Unbeknownst to me, Kari had pointed out me, Tara and Elaine to the bull controller guy (there has got to be a term for that, any suggestions?) as exeperienced riders and that he shouldn't go easy on us. Which he didn't. But we still prevailed. Why? Because we're awesome. (I even got strangers clapping for me when I was done with my second ride, heh)









We are totally sober here. Shut up.











We ended to night at Denny's (because that's where classy girls like us go), where after nearly getting into a fight with a fascist and telling the infamous panther knock knock joke, we decided to call the evening quits. All in a all, a sucessful birthday.

So that was Tara's birthday. As you can tell, we had a pretty good time. Friday was spent chilling out, something I definitely recommend! Tara and I studied at Borders (read gossip magazines) for a bit and then decided to rent a movie. Which was an adventure, as I'm sure the guys who worked there must have thought we were drunk or stoned, or some combination of the two. Then again, we giggled throughout the store, and could barely contain ourselves as we paid. In our defense, if someone told you that you had a remaining balance of $1.33, you would think you has $1.33 left too, right?

Friday night was spent consuming an obscene amount of meat, as my work had a Texan bbq- which thanks to JR's kick ass smoking skills was awesome! After learning about the wonders of fish eye soup, meteor hunting and why you can't buy bear on ebay (I am not making this up, I work with people who have extremely strange interests), I headed out to everyone's favorite bar (okay, the only bar in Claremont) for Emily's "Emily Quit Her Job Party." Lots of random people, lots of silliness ensued. Sadly no hardcore reggae covers, but there was a pretty decent Irish band playing, so that was fun.

The weekend madness continued with a bbq (yes, more food!) at Elaine's on Saturday. The best part was when Elaine called me and asked if I would break into her house to let people in, as she wasn't going to be back in time for her own bbq! Being the good person, I am, I obliged. Good times spent in her backyard with a flashlight. I'm still somewhat surprised her neighbors didn't call the cops on me. And after a while, she finally showed up. Texan dancing (yeah, I have no idea why my weekend was so Texan-tastic either) in the living room fought against gangsta rap in the kitchen. Nothing says graduate school like Dr. Dre's The Chronic. I mean really.

So that's been my Spring so far: food, thesis writing, Texan related activities, hair cutting, bull riding, and now blogging. It's definitely had its moments.

*which is weird, because I didn't even buy anything- Elaine cut my hair for free, and despite my sleep-deprevived weirdness, I can honestly say she did a kick ass job, and I got salad to boot!

...

I hate this thesis.

that's all.

the greatest sentence ever written

And here's some proof that my insanity is not entirely my fault.

This is my new favorite sentence (its from Fasisct Modernism by Andrew Hewitt; a book I'm reading for class this week):

"It is only a decadent decadence that could possibly realize itself in practice--and yet, as a decadent decadence within the very category of the decadent itself, such a decadent decadence might indeed be the purest form of decadence."

good night!

It's raining

And that's all I will say about that.

My time in Claremont is swiftly coming to a close. Its infiltrating daily thoughts, conversations, dreams. That and my thesis are pretty much all I can think about. And they are inextricably linked, as once I finish one, I must immediately start on the other.

The restless traveler in me wants to run away to Europe, with my savings* cashed out, and all my possessions on my back, as I pick up odd jobs and bum around.

The polo-player in me wants to get a job as a groom and ride and travel on the circuit and be with the horses.

The responsible, extremely freaked out, soon-to-be-graduate with many debts and bills in me knows I should get a job- one which will lead to a career (of some sort) so I can payback said debts and be an active member of society.

Its the rain. It makes me maudlin and think too much.


*savings, hah! don't tell my parents, but I already cashed out this account during last year's holiday season.

don't try to hide your jealousy

So technically I should be studying/preparing for my class in 40 minutes. But as I have no idea whats expected of me in this class and no desire to read anymore, I'm going to instead write about how I fell out of my chair today.

Yes, you read that correctly. Today, at work I fell out of my chair. I've reached new levels of gracelessness.

So this is what happened. I was sitting in a rather large desk chair (massive, like a throne on wheels), which was so huge it prevented me from being able sit fully back into the seat. Instead I had to perch on the edge in order to reach the desk. Below the chair was carpet with one of those plastic mat things, so as to enable rolling of the chair. At one point, I attempted to roll the chair closer to my desk, and that's when it happened.

The roller of the chair got caught at the edge of the platic mat thing, and as I was sitting on the edge of the seat, my forward momentum caused the chair not to move, but instead to tip. And out I spilled onto the floor, with the chair falling over me.

And that is why I am officially the coolest person I know.

Don't wake me, I plan on sleeping

I am never donating blood on a college campus again.

For the past day and a half, I've felt like I've had a permanent hangover, minus the fun drinking before. And all I have to show for it are track-like marks on my arm.

No officer, I swear, I don't even know where to get smack.

Okay, enough drug talk. This weekened, I did not go to the beach, lay out in the park, or do much in the way of excitement. Unless you count reading hundreds of pages (yes, thats right, hundreds) about fascism, feminism and the like. Which, in a very sad way, I kind of do.

It actually rained in Claremont over the weekend, complete with cold cold temperatures and the need for fires in fireplaces and scarves on necks. It almost felt like a real winter. Almost. On Sunday, the rain cleared, and the sky and mountains were unbelievable. I attempted to get in touch with my artistic side:

The mountains with clouds


The sky was so beautiful as the sun was setting, so here's a blurry shot.


Sky with trees and power lines. Its so postmodern.


I couldn't do justice to how amazing the mountains looked.


This was taken in my backyard.

So that was probably the most exciting part of my weekend. I also saw an reggae band that covered "I just died in tyour arms tonight" and Pearl Jam's "Daughter." Yeah, I didn't know those songs could be done as reggae either. But the dancing frat guys and their assorted lady friends definitly enjoyed the versions being put out. If nothing else, the night provided much entertainment in the area of people watching. Oh, I was also told that I have a crew. I'm not sure how, or why, but there you have it. I imagine us as a gang, only instead of carrying guns and knives we pack highlighters and pens, and instead of rumbles, we have book clubs. Applications are now being accepted.

Okay, enough silliness. I need to go read and sleep. Hopefully in that order.

tagging on a monday

Four jobs I've had:
1. after-school tutor
2. pizza maker
3. office assistant
4. barn manager

Four movies I can watch over and over:
1. American Beauty
2. Lord of the Rings
3. Napoleon Dynamite
4. Shakespeare in Love

Four places I've lived:
1. Moorpark, CA
2. Davis, CA
3. Washington, D.C.
4. Perugia, Italy

Four TV shows I love:
1. Jeopardy
2. the Daily Show
3. Colbert Report
4. Project Runway

Four places I've vacationed:
1. Madrid
2. Chicago
3. Lichenstein (not so much a vacation as a night spent sleeping in the bus station)
4. NYC

Four sites I visit daily:
1. yahoo
2. myspace (i'm totally addicted, I admit it)
3. cgumail
4. museum websites (looking for jobs)

Four places I would rather be right now:
1. the beach
2. London
3. Florence
4. The Met (yeah, that sounds good Liz, lets go!)

Four bloggers I am tagging:
1. Nous Sommes Foutus
2. Michele, the godless Degenerate
all my other blogger friends have been tagged

tan lines!

Yes, its February.

But its February in Southern California. So that means I went to the beach yesterday and laid out in the sunshine. And got some color! Of course as I'm paler than the moon, so it would be more correct to say that I got less pale than that I actually got color. But hey, you work with what you have, right? The point is, that despite the utter unnaturalness of this warm weather (and to my friends in much colder climes, don't hate me! I actually think its wrong for it to be this warm, and it probably says bad things about the state of our environment, and in all honesty I would not mind some actual winter-eqsue weather, as I have some very cute scarves and jackets...) I went to the beach! And got some color!

On a completely different note, our vice-president shot a man on Saturday just to watch him die. (and now the CIA is probably going to be after me, so if you here any clicking noises when you talk to me on the phone, you now know why) Okay, so actually it was while he was quail-hunting, and *technically* an accident, but I'm just sayin'. Coincidence? You make the call.*

*please, if there are any government employees, etc reading this**, please don't send the vice-president to my house with a shotgun.

**why there would be government employees reading this blog, I have no idea.

I lied

I'm writing a letter to our members asking for more money. In one sentence I used contributions twice, and contribute once.

I need new words.

*sigh*

Have you ever had one of those days when you're looking really cute, and your hair is actually behaving yourself, but you don't see anyone? And it's all wasted.

That's been my day.

My hair right now? It's awesome. Doing everything its supposed to. Unbelievably cute. And I never say that.

(and I know, I know that it shouldn't matter, and what's really important is that I noticed... but I notice myself all the time, isn't it someone else's turn?)

hence the *sigh*

(I promise that my next self-deprecating post will be funnier)

Shoot the Piano Player

Last night I had a dream about Kevin Bacon's brother. He was wearing a Member's Only jacket.

It's been a weird week.