as� te amo porque no s� amar de otra manera

2006-01-19 / 11:48 p.m.

Okay, okay. Due to overwhelming demand for me to publish more frequently, I�m going to update. That was a lie. Could you tell that was a lie? The truth is that I�m still getting used to my schedule this semester, and every time I�m mildly in the mood to slop some entry down, it�s time to do something else. I�ve got class Monday and Wednesday evenings and Monday and Tuesday afternoons (3:30-9:50 on Monday�yikes!). My boss has been taking advantage of some of that free time, and has me transcribing some interviews he�s done. On the one hand, it�s cool because it doesn�t involve any library drudgery, I can do it from home, and I get a better sense of where he�s going with everything. On the other hand, the tapes are hard to hear and I can�t really do much of a good job. Tomorrow I try some new headphones and a fresh ear, but I might have to try another set of tapes if that doesn�t work out.

On the fun side, I�ve decided to try out tae kwon do�or however you spell it�here at TheUniversity. Tonight was pretty bad, so I don�t think I�ve got the right attitude now to say how it�s going overall. It was really really fun the other day, but the jury is still out on whether it�s worth the two nights I still have free. It�s something I�d really like to be good at, but might be a little too spastic to ever get the hang of it. Tonight�s battle was largely discerning my right arm from my left, if that tells you anything about my skill level. I�ve also got a terrible and irrational hang-up about doing it in front of Roger, which is retarded because he could help me be better than all the other n00bs in my cohort. I also find that the workouts can be a bit strenuous for me; I left class tonight aching, exhausted, and hungry for Dinner II. This coming week, I�m going to start trying to work out a good bit harder if I can make the time. I�ve been a total glutton the last two weeks, and my behavior has manifested itself in my thighs and waist. Perhaps with more rigorous regular exercise, I�ll fail less at ninja class. We�ll see.

�Speed Graphic� and �Super D� �2 of the 3 Ben Folds EPs from a couple of years ago finally got here�my mom got them for me for Christmas, but they were on backorder, so I�m just now rocking those. I�m not crazy about SuperD, but I am enjoying Speed Graphic quite a bit. There�s a cover of The Cure�s �In Between Days� that I particularly like, an earlier draft of �Give Judy My Notice� that I like better than the one that appeared on Silverman, and a catchy tune called �Dog.� I wish I would have bought this one earlier, and it�s making me want to go and buy the EP I�m missing right now. In a fit of ebay bargains, I also bought The Bens, a collaborative EP between Ben Folds, Ben Kweller, and Ben Lee. It�s a mixed bag so far, but we haven�t gotten to know each other that well yet. I think this disc might be a tragic victim of expectations so high that it could never really live up to what I was hoping for.

In conclusion, I give you five random things that I felt like mentioning, but not really expounding upon:
• Leo, my favorite of the two kitten brothers my mom adopted, is probably going to die. This makes me sad, and I wonder if I shouldn�t go home and see him before he gets sick. I�ve been fighting with my mother on a regular basis, and I�m not crazy about the prospect of being in the beast�s lair.
• Rock on, Google..
• I am so excited about the upcoming release of �Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess,� it�s hard for me to believe that I�m a 23 year-old girl, er, woman.
• Santino, you�re interesting enough, but get over yourself. If you don�t, you�re going to be eliminated next, and you�re going to deserve it. Nick is really better than you anyway, and I can�t fathom why his last outfit wasn�t one of the strongest contenders to win. Daniel F, I miss you so much.
• Taken from �Dear Susie��the advice column from Brio Magazine, which is owned by Focus on the family

  Dear Susie:
  My boyfriend and I have been going out for several months, and before we started dating we were best friends for more than a year. We�re both Christians and because of school-related functions, we�re often together on a bus late at night. Sometimes I fall asleep with my head on his shoulder or his arms around me. When one of my friends found out about this, she told me I had sinned by �sleeping with a man.� Did I really do something wrong?
  Confused
  From our e-mail bag
  
  
  Dear Confused:
  Sinning is deliberately going against the known will of God. Though God is clear on premarital sex being a sin, the Bible doesn�t specifically say anything about �not falling asleep with your head on your boyfriend�s shoulder while on a bus ride home.� But the Bible does warn us against yielding to temptation. While you didn�t do anything wrong by falling asleep with your head on his shoulder, you are allowing yourself to be extremely comfortable with him. Is that wrong? Yes and no. One sign of a healthy relationship is being comfortable with each other. Yet, I hope you won�t become so comfortable in this position that it�ll also become easy to fall asleep with him if the two of you are alone. I do believe that lying next to the opposite sex (in the same bed, camping or on the couch) and going to sleep is an act of intimacy that should be saved for marriage.

Okay folks, bedtime for Bonzo. Goodnight.

had we but world enough, and time

2006-01-08 / 3:56 p.m.

Possibly the best school break ever; though the Christmas vacations when I was in high school run together now. When I was at TheCollege, break was torture�they were long, and being forced to live at home drove me insane. This year though, I�ve spent the perfect amount of time at home, spent time with old friends, spent time with Roger, and spent some decent time alone. Good length too�the free time has been lovely, and I�m just now ready to have stuff to do again.

In the past week, I've made totally awesome chili and totally awesome cake. The chili was Betty Crocker's recipe for "family favorite chili" with the extemporaneous addition of about 1 and 1/4 tablespoon of unsweetened cocoa powder. The cake was the one here, though it came out just a liiittle dry because I could only find reduced fat buttermilk rather than whole.

I just finished The Time Traveler�s Wife by Audrey Niffeneger, and it was quite charming. As I have my own apartment to myself, and plenty of free time before school starts tomorrow, I unabashedly cried through the last half hour of reading the end. It was entertaining, and well written.

I�m curious as how this semester will go, I�ve had few hints so far. Aside from class, I�ll learn where Roger is going to go to graduate school, apply for internships, I might start going to Tae Kwon Do class at the ramsey center, I�ll win the gold cup at the Mario Kart all-cup tournament, and I�ll follow the saga of the remaining weeks of Project Runway. exciting, Lori Davis style, yo.

I love NYE

2006-01-01 / 6:12 p.m.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I made some resolutions because I think it�s fun, but I wont bore you with details. I assure you that they are all very mundane and include the usual eat better, drop a pants size, win the lottery type aspirations.

NYE was pretty durn fun, despite me being a �grumpy bunny� (Roger�s phrasing). I was convinced that going to a party where neither of us really knew anyone would be awkward and/or boring. Plus, every time I get dressed to go out, I end up super disappointed in how I look and inevitably feel a strong urge to crawl under a rock. Wearing a muumuu. And a bag on my head. On this particular evening of primping, I planned to wear a new pair of jeans I bought, as none of the ones I have now fit quite right. I�m between sizes, and everything I own either looks like it was painted on or it sags in the waist as to expose my unmentionables. Anyway, I liked these jeans well enough in the store, but once I put them on at home, I was horrified�the wash of the jeans was lighter down the front of the thighs, which results in a completely unnecessary highlighting of the width of my hips and legs. Ouch. I�m convinced that the Lerner NY at Town Center (which sucks) has skinny mirrors. Determined to take the new pair back, I was left with the option of either wearing the sinful Express jeans that are way way way too low in both the front and the back, or a pair that was too loose to stay up, and smelled like cats. I was pretty close to just mellowing at home in A-town, but didn�t want to make the drive or spend the holiday away from my luvah. So I decided to go, and experienced an inordinate amount of anxiety from the time I made the decision until I had been at the party about five minutes.

But hey emily, how�s that crow? The party ended up being really fun, and everyone was super friendly and inclusive. I met people who knew the people I was friends with in middle school, and was recipient of gossip about said folk. I reunited Michelle and her elementary school crush. I laughed loudly and frequently. Also, I drank a lot. I may or may not have aggressively yanked on the hair of a guy who said something offensive; it�s possible that my drunken mind fabricated this memory though. I fell asleep on the floor under Roger�s coat around when most everyone else was crashing at about 4:30 or 5:00, and woke up super ready to go home at 8:00 this morning. Miraculously, I have not slept at all today, and I�m more or less okay. Also fortuitous: only suffered very minor hangover symptoms and easily defeated them with my foolproof recovery meal�cool water and a bagel. So yay party! Thanks, EK�s posse! Also thanks to Roger, who is a saint to put up with me.

Night before last, I ended playing with Roger & Brother and some of their friends�we ran around his yard and shot airsoft guns at one another. It was surprisingly fun; I did not anticipate such joy in shooting plastic pellets at Roger. I kind of sucked really hard at it, but whatever. I could kick myself for not remembering my new camera, as everyone looked funny, myself included in Roger�s giant red beanie hat and his father�s retro safety glasses.

Oh! Oh! Oh! And I met the intriguing Mariana (am I spelling that right?), Brazilian girlfriend of Brian. She was lovely and charming and seemed to have a very sunny disposition, though the three of us didn�t have a ton of things we could all talk about together. We had a nice time though, and it was funny to see Brian being affectionate to a girl.

Everyone have a great year! I have new stationery, so if anyone wants to start exchanging letters, we can update one another on our lives via USPS. Andrea and I do it, and it rocks pretty hard.

Bah weep granah weep ninni bong

2005-12-29 / 8:55 p.m.

There are not many channels to surf here in no cable town, so I tend to stop on some pretty unworthy things. Anyway, some newsmagazine show that Geraldo does is running an expose on kids that get a high off of choking themselves with ropes and belts and shit, and all of the subsequent brain damage and death. Oh my god, how retarded do you have to be to get high on attempted suicide? Someone get these children some pot.

Did you know that on Christmas Eve, �E!� entertainment television broadcasts stock footage of celebrities set to Christmas music? The screen is bordered with festive holly and stars. It�s the yule log of the 21st century, and it fills me with holiday cheer.

I think figure skating is nifty, I enjoy watching it from time to time. But celebrity skating might be one of the worst ideas to hit television in the last ten years. Let�s be serious, even the website touts it as �a train wreck on ice.� High five, Fox.

I hate all the weight I�ve gained from los festividades. I was about to remark that that was a stupid thing to say, since I can�t imagine anyone who loves gaining weight at Christmastime�but then I remembered this pain in the ass that was in my program for study abroad, I could imagine her liking that. Skinny little Asian chick who very vocally decided to try and gain as much weight as she could while in Argentina. Bitch still looked super cute afterwards too, 30 some-odd pounds and all. Anyway, that�s really been the only thing that�s sucked about the holidays this year. Not having to go home for several weeks is pure magic. Mom and I get along very well when we don�t have to be around each other for more than a couple of days. I got some very nice gifts, including a superawesome camera from mom, and a very pretty necklace from Roger. The cats, as usual, got mouse toys and scratch off lottery tickets, though no one won any big money.

The bad news is that Roger and I still don�t have any solid plans for New Year�s Eve. As you may remember, a well celebrated New Year�s Eve is my most favorite of holidays. We�ve got some invitations from my friends, and some from his, but they�re all parties mostly thrown and celebrated by friends of our friends. They�d all be fun parties, but it�s always a little awkward when you only know a handful of people. Regardless, it will be a good holiday. At the risk of sounding sickeningly sentimental and gooey, I know that no matter where I celebrate, I�ll be getting drunk with my favorite man on earth. Roger and Alcohol are about my two most favorite things in the universe.