Friday, April 30, 2004

And, today is my birthday. (I would just like to thank the people who made this possible...yes, that would be my parents.) It is also Diane's birthday. Happy birthday Diane! And, it is also Kirsten Dunst's birthday, but we don't care about that because she stole our birthday. Today is also last day of classes. Yayness. I only have one more class to go, then I'm done. (Finals are next week.) And, in my personal essay class people liked the thingie that I wrote (about why I don't believe in love). So that was a happy thing. And my creative writing class is over. YAY! And, Logic is going to be over at 4:00 today. Yay. and..only 34 more days left...

Wednesday, April 28, 2004

This was interesting I thought. http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/science/04/28/neanderthal.ap/index.html.

"'Our current understanding of Neanderthals is that they're brutish and stupid, even though it turns out they have larger brains on average than ourselves.'"
Okay, so this line makes me think of all those future movies and things in which humans have grown such large brains that our heads become abnormally large or our brains are encompased in some sort of shell on our head. But, if what Harvati says is true, then it would mean the exact opposite. Our brains are shrinking. Hmmm...interesting...

You may draw your own conclusions...

Wednesday, April 21, 2004

I can't stand my creative writing teacher! So, I get my story back today (and yeah, I admit that it is crap. I won't deny it.) and she has written all over it (which was expected). But she writes some of the....garg! Okay, so she harps on us to make our dialogue sound "real, like people would normally speak". So, I do that. (I think I do do a damn decent job at dialogue, thank you very much.) Then she writes all over it telling me to change it. Like she wants me to take out all the fragments of dialogue...honestly, who always speaks in complete sentences? Because I sure as hell don't, and no one that I know always does either. Then she wants me to change all the "it's" to "it is". People do say "it's". It's a fucking fact of life! And it's pissing me off! And, she yells at me for starting sentences with "and" and "but". But, if used correctly, a sentence can start with one of those words. (And this is how people talk! What world is this woman living in? Honestly...) Oh, and then she yells at me for stupid stuff. "Amanda, clear this up. I didn't get this until later, when the character said it." That's the fucking point you old hag! Sorry if I don't want to spell everything out for the readers. I don't think people are as stupid as she seems to think. It's just, sometimes you write something and want the reader to get a specific image in their head, then you go and blow that image later. Which is completely intended. That was the whole point you bitter old miserable wretch. GAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yes, I do plan on discussing this with her. I meet with her one on one on Monday. That should be interesting...

(Yes, some of her comments were helpful, but that was not the point of this rant.)

Saturday, April 17, 2004

So, as (Crew) Kate pointed out, after my last entry ("For one week only happy posts") I have not posted in a week. Is that suggesting something? The answer: NO! Sorry, I've been either busy, or just too damn lazy to update. But, I'm doing it now. So, yay!

Okay, well, I can't really remember anything too big happening...um, well, I registered for classes for next fall. Didn't get into two of the classes I wanted. (There is a shortage of philosophy and religion teachers, so the classes are getting extremely full extremely fast.) But I did get my writing classes, and my art history class (I took someone else's spot. oops. But the teacher signed the form, so therefore he is to blame, not me). So, wanna see my schedule? Sure ya do.

MWF
9:00am-9:50am--Intro to gerontology (it is for my 1B credit)
10:00am-10:50am--Architecture: Catacombs and Cathedrals (yay art history!)
11:00am-11:50am--Intro to the essay (stupid class required for my writing major)
12:00pm-12:50pm--Hebrew Scripture (for my philosophy/religion major)
2:00pm-2:50pm--Fiction Writing 1 (yay for writing!)

TR
10:50am-12:05pm--Intro Philosophy: Greek Foundations (again, for my philosophy/religion major)

So, yeah, MWF are going to kill me, but whatever. It is just for one semester. It's not my fault I had to register second to last so there were no spots open in the times I wanted my classes. (My perfect schedule had four on MWF, and two on TR. Spaced out and nice.) Oh well, it's character building, right? Right. (Besides, I'm excited for my Fiction and Art History classes! ^_^ I'm such a dork.) And, only 10 more days of classes left. yayness!

Okay, and I was going to go to NYC with Kate and Shira this weekend, but I didn't have the money. I am incredibly bummed, but what are you gonna do? But, I did go see Big Fish last night!! (Yay Tim Burton!) We're showing it this weekend. I plan on going to see it at least two more times. (Yes, I am an obsessed fan of Tim Burton. The first step is admitting you have a problem.) And I bought My Girl on DVD on Thursday. I love that movie. It is such a good one. *tear* But Kristi hasn't seen it! I know, I was shocked too. So I told her we're watching it this weekend. yay!

And it is so nice outside today. It is 72 degrees right now. So I think I'm going to go hang out outside all day. It is such a perfect day for water (Or A Perfect Day for Banana Fish...). Hmm, maybe I'll go hang out by the lake. Yes, that sounds like a plan. YAY!

Monday, April 12, 2004

So, I've realized that I am a huge downer. I really don't mean to be. Really. So I've decided that for one whole week I am not posting anything that is depressing or irritating...well, maybe irritating, but the general gist of my posts for one week shall be happy (or at least not depressing bitch-rants). We shall start now.

So, Kristi's boyfriend left yesterday. And Shira and I had a good weekend. We wondered around Ithaca on...Saturday night? Yeah, Saturday night. It was fun. We started in Collegetown (for sushi) and ended up wondering around Cornell, then walked around, found a cemetery, then walked down to the commons, then to the river, then to Wegman's, then back to the commons to catch the bus. It was a lot of fun. Cornell's library is amazing! It is so beautiful. I want to live there. So nice. And the cemetery...cemeteries are pretty things, not scary. Shira was a little freaked that I was dragging her around a cemetary in the middle of the night. I find them calming and beautiful things...guess that is not shared by many...But I hang out in cemetaries. I always have...so I guess I just don't look at them the same...
And, we watched IT, which was hilarious, as always. We dyed eggs, and...watched Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and...yeah...And I watched The Birdcage twice. I love that movie! It is so funny! It's a good one. If you haven't seen it, watch it. (The original french movie is good, but if you don't feel like reading subtitles (or don't know french) get the English version with Robin Williams and Gene Hackman.)

And I handed in my ASL project today. It was good to get that finally done and over with.

And....yes, that is all. So, I shall leave you all...now!

Friday, April 9, 2004

So why do i even bother calling my mother anymore? yeah, i love her and junk, but she is just kinda ticking me off lately. She hardly ever calls me back, and when i talk to her, it just seems like she couldn't care less. So, i was really in a horribly depressing mood for just about ever, and she talked to me a few times and didn't seem to notice. So then last night she calls and i sound happy, so she says, "well you sound a lot happier than the last few times i've talked to you." My reply: "you know little manic depressive me. I was going through the depressing stage, but i think I'm back to manic now." Her: "well that's good. Manic is good." maybe it is just me, but i figured my mother would at least sound concerned that her child has been so depressed that she couldn't even pretend to be happy talking to her. Whatever. And then i was venting to her today, and she's like, "well, venting is good. but i have to go now, have fun." Have fun? (Okay, i could be reading far too much into all this, but still.) That kinda pissed me off. Whatever I guess.

Gods, i think I'm just going stir crazy or something. So yesterday, Shira and I went to the mall, and it felt so good to get away from campus (even if it was just the mall). But, I was seriously going insane being around here...(obvious reasons stated earlier). I was really tempted to just go down to the bus station and getting a ticket to go somewhere, anywhere, as long as it wasn't here. But then the sensible side of me kicked in: "Amanda, you really don't have the money to be going anywhere. And where are you going to sleep? Like hell I'm going to let you sleep under a bridge in a place you don't know." Damn sensibleness. :( So, anyway, we went to the mall. We ate junk food. I got sick. (Yeah, I think it was the junk food that got me sick. I can't handle my junk food.) And have been up since three in the morning. And even though I'm not that tired right now, I am really hoping to get a "good" night's sleep tonight...will it happen? probably not.

And I've got to do my damned ASL project still...grrrr.

And Kate and Ash have gone for the weekend. They went to Ash's house for easter. Yeah, the thought of Kate going to church was humorous to me too. :) But, that's okay. I've got my project to do, and Shira and I are going to do an Oriental weekend. (As in, order Chinese food one night, and go eat sushi the other night.) So, yeah...Okay. I'm done...for now...

Oh yeah, and today is my brother's 21st birthday. Happy birthday to him.

Monday, April 5, 2004

It snowed. As much as everyone says they don’t like it, I have to admit, I kind of did miss the snow. (The wind I did not miss.) And yeah, I do miss the fog and rain now, but I’m happy it snowed. It’s pretty. But yeah, the wind I could definitely live without. I went outside today with my hair wet, it was much better than using my blow-dryer. But, who knows, I may have given myself pneumonia or something. Oh well. You live, you learn, you die.

Wednesday, March 31, 2004

I think I'm beginning to agree with Ashley about this whole dating thing. I mean, screw it. She's right. It ultimately does cause more pain than it is worth. Perhaps arranged marriages are the way to go. Or random, meaningless hookups...but then again, there's really no such thing as a meaningless hookup...okay, there are, but for the sake of this, we're going to stick with there aren't. I mean, say you run into someone that you've been with and it's just painful. You don't want to look at them, but have to. There's some force inside of you that makes you seek out that pain that comes with their eyes. But you can't stand seeing them. Watching you, and you know they think the same. But somehow they can mask it better and you are the only one that can see through it. Why can't you be that good at it? And then you see them with someone else, and it's just a mix of anger, betrayal and pain and more anger. I mean, it's not fun seeing someone you were with with someone else...that same someone else that they said they didn't want because you were so much better for them. The same person that they cheated on with you. So you wonder how they could stand being with them? Why would you stay with something that makes you that unhappy? Then you realize that that is what you are doing. But you can't escape it because he seems to be everywhere and you just can't fucking get away from him. He always manages to pull you back in, digging the dagger deeper into the flesh and twisting the hell out of it. You don't know whether to cry or storm off or anything, so you end up scowling at the very idea of them. Only to become a bitter old hag at this young age. And you don't want to stop hearing about them, because the more you hear, the more pain it may cause, but you're stuck on this sick carousel of infatuation. And no matter how much you seem to dislike this person, when you do come face to face, you can't even bare to look at them, let alone give them that death glare you've been perfecting for all this time. And you try to avoid them as much as possible, but secretly you hope that you do run into them...I don't know. I guess I'm just rambling. But, did I post this before? I can't remember. But anyay, if you want to read it...go here.

Whoa...and in half an hour, it is going to be April...And you know what that means...Only 4 more weeks of school (we don't count finals)and, since my birthday is the last day of school...only 4 more weeks 'til my birthday. Whoo whoo!

Saturday, March 27, 2004

The movies that I have watched in the past week (in no particular order):
Taking Lives**
Back to the Future 3
The Princess Bride
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind**
The Triplets of Bellville**
Moulin Rouge
The Last Samurai**
Pirates of the Caribbean (yay for Johnny Depp!!^_^!!)
(the ** means new, or relatively new)
I like movies.

Okay, for a brief real update: Thursday night, Ash, Shira and I went and saw Eternal Sunshine and The Triplets back to back. It was fun. Loved them both. Eternal Sunshine was so friggin' good! I'm so glad I had no idea what it was about before I saw it though. I think it helped. And The Triplets was hilarious! Loved it!!!! Good movies. Then we went to The Mate Factor and got coffee and tea and gushed over the guys working. Good times. Then we rode the bus around until we couldn't ride it anymore. Then sleep. Then Friday, went to one of my classes. ("Slept" through my first one, oops. And was too tried to go to my third one, so I went and took a nap in the library instead.) then went and watched The Last Samurai. SAB is showing it this weekend. If I don't go see Clue tonight, I think I may go watch Samurai again. Today I went with Cassie, Danielle and Barbara and we went and saw "Jack and the Beanstalk". It was a play that was preformed in both English and ASL, so we went for our ASL class. I liked it. It was fun. Again got me on a post-signing high. Then got back around 3 ish and walked downtown with Kate. We went to the dollar store and I broke a cup and now we're back.

Today is such a nice day. It is so foggy out I love it! You can't even see the towers. I love this weather. It's not that cold, and it's lightly misty, and you can't see anything. I love it I love it I love it!!!

And it is sibling weekend here at IC, so Kristi's little sister is here and is going to be staying the night with us. no comment about that...

And I think that is either all or I'm just lazy and don't feel like writing any more. So, done now!

Wednesday, March 24, 2004

YAY!!!!!!!!!!!! My computer is alive!!! Got a new hard drive today, installed everything (and I mean every little fucking thing), and yayness! But then an the issue was raised: The computer has a different brain, but the same body...so is it the same computer? Well, obviously no, right? I mean, take identical twins for example. Same body, different minds, different people. And if you are one who says, "but their bodies aren't exactly the same." then look at it this way, no one's body stays the same for long. You're always sloughing off dead skin cells and bugs are eating at you and cells are being replaced constantly. So you never have had the same body for too long. It is always different. So body has nothing to do with whether or not you are the same person. (oh yeah, that was my point.) In conclusion, let me introduce Quintin! My computer. Yay! (Quintin, as in, "I am Quintin. Bow down before me and fear me or I shall reign down evilness on you all! Doom doom dooooooom!")

The ketchup is flying north at the first sign of salt raining down on the fields, because pepper is afraid of the corn.

Okay, so anyway, last night...so much fun. Went and saw Taking Lives. I liked it. Went and saw that at...2ish. Well, it started at 3:30, but we had to take the bus, so we had to leave early. Then got home around 1:20am...ish. Good times. Good times full of evil bus driving nazi lady, drifting, sushi, mate, cults, porn shops, and bus rides. Lot's of bus rides. ^_^

Yeah..Okay, now I must do some homework that I was supposed to have done hours ago and run it to my teacher's office. (I couldn't have it done today, I had no working computer!)

Thursday, March 18, 2004

Tragic news everyone...Spencer died. Well, more like he's in a coma. It's very sad. Pray that he gets a new hard drive very quickly.
If you haven't figured it out yet, Spencer is my computer. Well apparently my hard drive crashed or something so Dell is going to send a new hard drive to the technician who is then going to call me and then going to come fix Spencer right up. They said hopefully by Saturday or Monday. I hope I hope I hope. But, I'm also going to lose a lot of stuff. Which completely sucks! And I am now resorting to using other peoples' computers. Again...why do my computers always decide to quit on me? At least I was psychic enough to print out all my stuff for tomorrow earlier tonight. But, yeah. Hopefully Spencer will be up and running again sometime in the near future. But until he is back to his old self, keep him in your thoughts. *tear*

Tuesday, March 16, 2004

My new obsession!! Potter Puppet Pals! So fun! Go, watch, bother!

Monday, March 15, 2004

So, here's a basic outline of amanda's spring break...

Well, I went home...and then went to Denver with my ma. We visited with my g'ma and g'pa and Nancy. That was fun. Then did a very little bit of shopping. (I got new cute shoes.) And then I went and saw "Hidalgo" with Roxy. It was a good movie. I liked it. Very cute. Then I hung around. And then I did stuff. And then I went back to Denver. (Oh, and stay tuned for what my mother thought the Lion King was really about...) And then I think I did more stuff. Then I hung out with Roxy on Friday. That was a lot of fun. It was such a nice day so we just laid out on her tramp and watched the planes fly by. And we blasted old crappy pop from our past and laughed at ourselves and reminisced about the good old days. It was fun. Then we went to Junction. Then went and saw "Secret Window" (which I will talk about in a little bit). Then I flew to Newark (which I will also talk about in a little bit.). Then I hung out with Kristy, Kim and Greg. We went out to this little Portuguese place, and it was good fun. We (mostly Greg and I) drank two pitchers of sanguine (I think that's what it's called. With wine, vodka and other random stuff.). It tastes like kool-aid. And then we slept. And then I rode the train, then the subway, then the bus, then the taxi, then walked my ass (and my suitcase) back to my dorm.

So is it wrong that I didn’t tell anyone that I was on spring break? I mean, the only person who knew besides my parents was Roxy. I’m a horrible person. I go home for a week and don’t even bother to tell some of my closest friends that I’ll be there. I’m a horrible person. A big sorry go out to everyone I didn’t tell.

So, that was the basic overview...keep reading if you want more (only a bit more though...)

Okay, so we'll start off with stuff my parents never tell me...Well, we all know my parents neglect to tell me things most of the time ("we sold your car", "your brother is moving out", etc.) but they went too far this time. So, we were driving down the canyon on our way to Glenwood, and I look down at the road beneath us and see about six cars and a whole bunch of people and only one cop car. Naturally, I was puzzled and asked my mother what she thought. "I don't know." So then a few hundred yards further I see two more cop cars blocking traffic, so the road was closed. I began to worry that maybe someone went off the road and right into the river. This is when my mother remembers why this is all happening..."Oh, they're probably filming." "What?!" "Yeah, you know, that new Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt movie. They're doing some filming here." Yeah, I flipped. My mother swears up and down that she told me about all this. My argument to her: "If you had told me, I would have been driving up and down this damn canyon all week!" (It was Friday when she decided to tell me this.) I was not happy that I missed a whole week's worth of chance to interrupt a movie shoot. (Besides, Angelina Jolie is one of my favorite actresses! And Brad Pitt is just plain hot!) But that did explain why the bike path was closed, as was the Hanging Lake exit. But still...grrr to my parents...

Now we'll move to what my mother really thought about "The Lion King"...Well, most kiddies go watch the movie and come away with happy family pride and stuff. My mother watches it and comes away with “aww…that was nice to make a movie about impotence and why gay relationships work out.” So, what did my mother think was the plot of the movie: “It was all about Scar’s impotence, wasn’t it? He was jealous that Mufasa became king just because he had decent sperm. So Scar got banished to hang out with the gay hyenas. And Timon and Pumba are a true testament to gay marriage. I mean talk about your controversy; they’re not even the same species! But they’re happy together. Now I do not approve of Simba and Nala’s relationship. That’s a bit icky. I just do not support incest. I mean, they were brother and sister, right? Mufasa was the only male in the pack…well, the only one with sperm that could do the job. See, Disney teaches kids bad icky things. That’s why I’m boycotting the new one.” (The new one being “Lion King 1 ˝”)…Ah, parental values…

Then when I flew out....Oh how I love our little airport! ^_^ I love it how everyone knows me (and/or my parents). It just makes life so much better! Okay, so I check in for my flight and get my window seat and am very happy about it and chat with everyone working at the airport for a bit before going to sit down in the big comfy leather chairs to chat with my mom before I have to go through security. We sit down and one thing leads to another and we find out that the guy in the chair next to us is from New York and has a bunch of friends going to IC. Pretty cool coincidence. So then I go through security and Judy is working at the front of security so I chat with her until the next customer comes up. Then I proceed through security; talk with all the TSA people about school, life and my dad. Then I get back to the gate and my dad comes back with coffee. Then on his way to get me breakfast (water and a muffin) from the little food place (the girls who work there give all airport employees free stuff) he runs across Nancy and tells her I'm flying out today. So Nancy, being the saint she is, decides to bump me up to first class (free of charge! ^_^) Yay! So excited! So, my four hour flight is now four hours of first class treatment. And it was my first time in first class so I didn’t' know what to expect. Ah, so nice! Nice big comfy leather chairs with plenty of room between you and the next person, a continental breakfast (which consisted of a bowl of cereal, milk, yogurt, raisins, a bagel, orange juice and water and any other drink you wanted or already had.). And! Before that, they actually serve you a hot towel. I don't know why this seemed so humorous to me, but I couldn't help but laugh. Ah, so nice. But I am officially spoiled and have decided that when I become rich (and/or famous) I am always flying first class and am going to fly all my friends first class...whoa...maybe I could get a private jet. That would be awesome. And maybe John Travolta could fly it. Oh yeah...That' the life...

And for my view on Johnny Depp's new movie "Secret Window", simply go to my livejournal. But be warned, it does contain potential spoilers.

Oh! And today is Sean Bigergstaff's 21st birthday. Happy birthday!!!

Thursday, March 11, 2004

Today is Ashley's 19th birthday. Happy birthday Ashley. You are older than me, and far cooler than I will ever hope to be. You rock. Keep kickin' for another 19 years. ^_^

Friday, March 5, 2004

I get the most inappropriate crushes. "Gee golly gosh, Batman!" "No need for foul language, Robin."

Well, I had a silent dinner tonight. It was so much fun! I loved it! Natalie and I basically sat around and chatted about the evening and made fun of all the ASL one students. And prayed that we didn't look that clueless last semester. It was a lot of fun. And I got people to sign my petition. Yay! And...I talked to people...and yelled at ASL one students for talking and not signing. That was fun. Oh! And one kid from ASL 1 thought I was deaf! I didn't have the heart to tell him that I wasn't...He was just so excited to have met a deaf person. Well, he'll figure it out.

And...I do believe that is that...wait!!!! How could I forget Dave Coulier was here! He came and did some comedy and it was so fantastic! That's right, Joey, right here. No Uncle Jesse, but still...jealous, aren't ya?

Okay, that (I think) is truly that.

And I go home tomorrow!!!! Yayness!

Tuesday, March 2, 2004

Grrr...I'm in such a lousy mood. (Yeah, it could be do to the fact that I've been listening to depressing music for the past week, but you wouldn't know that, would you?...Or it could be that with all the writing I've been doing, I can't seem to be happy with any of it? Maybe it's because people think they know the truth, but they don't and of course I can't tell them because I don't want to hurt anyone. Or the fact that as I am typing, I'm sipping luke-warm tomato soup (it's pretty disgusting). Or perhaps because people just naturally tend to avoid me and I get a bit sick of it after a while. Or could it be the fact that I always have to act/look happy, because I can't stand the look on your face when I'm not. But you wouldn't know any of that either, would you?)

Ten bonus points to anyone who can tell me what I did today and why I did it...without asking anyone else. (For example: "Today Amanda, you sold your left kidney on the black market because you felt like contributing to the downfalls of our society.") Good luck, you'll need it.

Monday, March 1, 2004

"Support your local revolution" -It's from my mother's bumber sticker.

HAHAHA! I started a mini revolution in my creative writing class. It was fun. :) See, I really don't like that class, and I really really don't like the teacher. She's a bitter old hack! She always gets on my case about wrenching syntax (which is fun, if you haven't done it lately, now is the time to experiment!!), which I only do on rare occasions in poems (which suck anyway). And then today we had poems due, and a few people read their poems to the class, and a couple of them did a bit of syntax playing. I loved it, as did the people surrounding me. But the teacher, of course, immediately got on their case and began to tell them that they should never do that, it wasn't right. So, I politely raised my hand and said, "Well I liked it. I think it sounded very good. I say keep it." She glared, and continued telling the girl to take it out. So, she ignores me, I ignore her. I continue to tell the girl to keep it in because it sounds good. Then the second person had a bit of "syntax sin", and the teacher told her to take it out and fix it. Again, I raised my hand and said, "Well now, I just don't get why wrenching the syntax is so bad. I think it can sound good a lot of times." her response was: "But it is awkward, because people don't use it these days." So, before I let her move on, I said, "Well that's the beauty of it. No one uses it, so it has again become unique and really makes the poem stand out and not just another poem." Then other people joined in. "Yeah, it does make it sound really good." and the teacher, "but it sounds like you did it to rhyme." random student: "but it works and makes the poem sound archaic, and much more poetic than many modern day poems." By this time I was receiving full on glares from the teacher. And so the students for "syntax sin" continued. And right as we were about to get into ee cummings, she said, well, poems are due today, goodbye. And ended class 5 minutes early. Bwahaha! My revolution has begun!

I still want to know why she is so bitter. We get it that Stephen King made it and she didn't. (She went to college with the guy, and is very bitter about it. I took notes on her rant about Mr. King, so I'll post it up here sometime.) Hmmm...well, that has now become my new mission: to find out everything I can about this "teacher" and bring her down! (well, maybe not bring her down, but at least have a little fun with it...) Oh, conflict insues..

Is it wrong I'm so addicted to conflict?

I miss my saxophone...and my stereo...