Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Me Time! :)

I am sitting with my back on the foot board, facing out towards I-94 and the parking lot tree.

I am in a good mood.

However, I leave for work at 2:00pm to embark on a 3 day streak, which I hope will be my last. Hooray! This means it is 9 days until the UpTown, and 12 days until I go home... but who's counting?

So, I haven't worked since last Wednesday, and the interim week has been one filled with glorious solitude. I've been playing my lovely, lovely, guitar, and have kind of learned "Both Hands" by Ani Di Franco, and I've worked through a few exercises in my Christopher Parkening Guitar Method book. Guitar- Check.

I've also been drawing pictures. Art-Check
Writing Letters. Writing- Check
Reading Tom Robbins and "Virginity Lost." Educational Reading- Check.
Watching That 70s Show. Mindless Self-Indulgence- Check.

Solitude wonderful solitude.

There has been a peppering of Social Interaction as well, added to taste. Yesterday, Colin, Paul and I did a double feature at the Edina Cinema. First we saw "Moon" by Duncan Jones, and then (after getting Sushi at Lunds) Saw "Tetro" by Francis Ford Coppola. Both amazed me, but I thought Tetro was magnificent.

*Shudder of delight*

I really don't know what else I can say beyond that I LOVE good films. GOOD you know? !!!! I love having Film Major friends...

Later that evening Colin and I planned out our next week, and filled it up with marvelous activities Ranging from New Brunswick Day to Harold and Maude at Midnight. Yes Sir.

Today is the last Soar Session. I administered Surveys like before, only this time with Ali. I loved it. I love seeing the new faces, and meeting new people, who will soon be my friends. I also love knowing that I might help someone's first year experience be at least a little more bearable. Corny, yes... but... I like helping. It feels good.

SO.
Right now is a happy time.
Still dreading work.

Friday, July 24, 2009

Soar and rampant optimism

I can't tell if I am comforted or frightened by the eagerness of my Type-A personality to kick in to school mode. It started yesterday when I was getting ready to go the the Auggie Town Play, and Ali sent me on a mission to print off some questionaires.

I ran to Foss, hurried down the steps, and signed into a computer. Then I rushed to find the right printer and set up, and printed off "60" (I think tons more actually printed) pages, and ran to Sateren for the play. The thrill that I got from doing a task within a time slot, and being rewarded with the smell of printer fresh paper was extraordinary! On top of that, I went to the play, and watched skits about studying, time management, relationships, and parents. It brought me right back, and I loved it.

Loved it loved it loved it.

But that's not all!

This morning I woke up early to fill in the questionaires at SOAR registration. I put my hair in a pony-tail, donned Auggie gear and bought myself a tasty coffee. Then for two hours, I put on a suit of caffeinated extroversion, and met a ton of brand new Auggies!

This is what reminds me what I am doing here. I love this. I love people, I love learning, so yeah, summer might be sucking, but it's all right, because in a few weeks, it will be academia again.

Also, it concerned me that all the new Auggies would replace me. The fear of an older sister expecting a new baby sibling... knowing that they won't be getting as much attention anymore with a new baby in the house... but I am even ok with that now after seeing the happy new Auggie faces that will soon become such a prominent visage (is that right?) of Augsburg.

And I'll still be the big sister.

Then... I showered, cleaned, AND VACUUMED, started laundry and ate a breakfast of my new favorite snack: Plain yogurt (the cow on the carton's name is Lily) Cherry Vanilla granola, and honey. I even took my vitamins.

I actually feel nourished and ready for the rest of the day... but I might take a nap. Fred and I are going to Como Zoo later.

Hooray!

Saturday, July 18, 2009

Sweater Weather

It's Chilly.
Throwing me off into thinking that it's Autumn. That soon, every day will be a sweater day, and we will be eating our breakfasts over the morning newspaper before our morning classes.

I didn't get the BEST of this cold day because I didn't wear a heavy enough sweater, or shoes with socks. I feel like I let some of this rare chill go to waste.

The day itself was magnificent though. Mom called at around three twenty am, and told me that Dad was on his way and aiming for four. I got to the smoking bench at three fifty, and hopped in the white van when my dad got here at four fifteen. We then drove the hour and a half to Stockholm, Wisconsin to the Stockholm Arts Festival. It has been months, and I dare say even years since I have actually gone to an Art show. I miss it. I miss it very much. I think that some of this might just be nursing my nostalgia, but I do think that some of it might be genuine.

The Art world is a great one. To set up your booth, with your hand crafted wares for people from all over to buy is a great experience. The most rewarding. I think that if we were able to hit more art shows, we would be successful. I don't know why my parents don't do that anymore...

So today I volunteered myself. I proclaimed that next summer I will come home and work on learning to throw on the wheel. If I start practicing now it's possible that I will be able to put out basic mugs, plates and bowls to be decorated. Maybe I can even start decorating. Then I will be the roadie for all the shows that my dad WILL apply for. If they trust me, I think that I could be sent on road trips to Wisconsin, Illinois, Ohio and Michigan to work at art shows. It will be like old times, but I will be older and in charge. I want to be connected to that world, but I don't know if it's because I really want to or because I just want to be a kid again.

But if I do just want to be a kid again, what's so bad about that? I'll be a kid who does a little work to make money to get by. Isn't that everyone's dream?

And I fantasize about calling one of my close friends one day, and saying, "Hey You, are you up to anything two weeks from now? I have to do a show in Ohio, would you like to come along and help?" They would. Someone would have to from time to time, I don't think I could do it by myself, if simply because I am too short. Whatever the case, to be travelling around to art shows with my good friends sounds like a wonderful use of my time and energy.

Boston Mills, Ann Arbor, East Lansing, The Uptown... I will be a part of them once again.

Plus, I won't have to pay rent or worry too much about food all summer.

Right now it sounds ideal... but of course so did running away to Seattle last week.

I am interested to see how things turn out.

Monday, July 13, 2009

Hangin Out, Down the Street

It's Four in the morning, and I simply don't want to sleep. I am a bit unnerved because there isn't even the voice in the back of my head saying, "You should go to sleep!" Or any of that rubbish. It's four am, and I've been up since 8, with only a small nap before a grueling stretch at the Mall.

I just spent the last three hours watching That 70s Show episodes on line. I would still be watching them had they not stopped loading fast enough. ... I probably gave my computer a virus. Anyway, It was nice. It brought me back to high school without that painful twinge of nostalgia. It was GOOD nostalgia. I remember Alix talking about it behind me in class. She would talk about Jackie, and Hyde, and just how she was going to watch That 70s Show tonight.

I remember once, probably in small band, Betty said how they decided she was Jackie. She totally is. And in all her bitchiness, Jackie STILL reminds me of her.

Then, I don't even know when, but for a while my parents were big into it. For some reason they found the show hilarious, even my dad, so I got to watch it every night on barely viewable channel 29 without having to hide... until my dad lost interest, and my mother and I had to sneak episodes on the sly.

I remember having a HUGE crush on Eric Foreman. To me, he was the perfect boy friend. His and Donna's was the perfect relationship. Now, many years, and 5 first season episodes later... I am again in love with him. So in love that I sit at four in the morning enjoying the sweet sentimentality, while not yearning for days past.

*sigh

This blog is embarrassing.

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Disney Lesbians

How come they don't have Soap Opera Resistence Education? "SORE." I am finding it to be just as harmful as drugs or alcohol... I mean really. My room mates have it worse than me. THEY are on the Fourth season, I am still on the second. They watch whole discs in one day... Seasons in weekends. It is NOT healthy.

I watch to keep up with my peers, but I only get angry.

The L Word Rant of the Day:

That artist girl sent Bette one of her blown glass mobiles. A blown glass mobile that took her a year to make. All right. Dramatic Scene: Bette opens up the box, and begins to slowly pull the BLOWN GLASS mobile out of the packing peanuts... one by one the orbs are exposed, and Bette looks on emotionally...

What's the big deal? You don't ship blown glass loosely in bloody packing peanuts! Each bauble would have to be wrapped in bubble wrap, placed in a box filled with peanuts and THEN placed in the big box full of packing peanuts. YOU DON'T NOT DOUBLE BOX FRAGILE ART! I even think that shipping companies require it! So there.

*deep breath

But what about the other things that The L Word portrays? VitaMN had an article about gay clubs in the Twin Cities, and had mentioned specifically cliques of "L word Lesbians." What is an L word Lesbian? They are upper class, successful, attractive, white, lesbians, and thusly not an accurate portrayal of lesbian culture.

Yes, they bring their lives into the forefront, making sexuality of all kinds comfortable and common place, but I am still reluctant to accept the show's view.

They do not have ANY straight friends. EVERYONE they run into is lesbigay. Everyone. It may be Los Angeles, but they are still a minority. For every gay friend they have, they should have 10 straight ones. Isn't that the statistic? Maybe they have just found their niche, their clique of friends, but there should be more straight people.

The only straight people that I have encountered now into the second season have been radical right wing extremists, closed minded straight moms, and Mark, Jenny and Shane's pervert room mate.

I don't agree with portraying homosexuality in a negative light, so it's good that the protagonists are strong, gay women. However, I also don't feel that means heterosexuals should be cast in a bad light either.

Also, I don't like the negative opinions of Jenny. Why do people hate her so much? Only being in the second season, I may not have had the most time to get to know her, but I remember hearing slighting comments mid way through the first season! She IS NOT a bad person. She makes tough decisions, and people get hurt... that HAPPENS. She's in her mid twenties, and going though a huge life transition. She can't be blamed for being confused! She's an artist, she's lost, she's "coming of age" and people hate her for it.

Not fair.