Hi, I'm Jen

I've been here & there for the past couple of weeks, but these bits of news are too good not to post:

- The polls are in: Democrats win control of the House
- South Dakota voters reject abortion ban
- A view of the Orion nebula, located 1500 light-years away from Earth

All is well on my end of things.  John and I have been watching BBC's "Blue Planet" documentary for the past couple of days.. if you haven't seen it and have any interest at all in the ocean, watch it.  It really makes me wish I had a head for biology.. sigh.  Political science is going well, though, and I'm nearly done with my double minors.   I am sensing more tensions between my roommate and I, but because I've recently become tired of dealing with people's shit, I'm not going to address it.

Current music: Iron & Wine, "Sodom, South Georgia"
Current mood: Mixed grill

After 2.5 days of ragged coughing, headaches, fevers, and light-headedness, I wake up this morning and feel [almost] functional.  The throat is still sore and my voice, at the moment, sounds particularly unfriendly, but I was able to get out of bed without hating every muscle in my body.

I decided to surprise John outside of the science/math building after his last class of the day (he's a Calc TA), but by the time I showered and dressed, I was about 30 minutes early.  I wandered down anyway and decided to take in all of the things I've missed since getting sick - the outdoors, mostly.  That's when I caught sight of a squirrel.  I decided to follow him around.

He began by digging a hole, in which he deposited a nut.

Then he ran up a tree.

Ate another nut (retrieved from a cheek pouch?)

Then ran down the tree.

Dug another hole.

Abandoned it to run up another tree.

Repeat (x3)

Best morning in a long, long time.

Current music: Birdchirps
Current mood: Cheerfulish

Actually sick (100degree fever, sore throat, stuffy nose, light-headedness, groggy) for the first time in two years.  Weird.

Current music: Matt Barber, "Soft One (acoustic)"
Current mood: Electrolytic

A number of things are troubling me:

• My roommate was left out of her friends' housing plans for next year, so she wants to room with me again.  I don't think I can do that for a number of reasons.
• Lindsay and Adam have both ended their relationships and I don't know what to say to either of them.  I know they must be hurting, but I don't feel like I have anything to say that wouldn't end up falling flat.
• I haven't talked to Alex in a while.
• My weeks are fleshing out, which will mean less sleep and more activity.  I'm no longer an alternate at the soup kitchen, so I'll start as a full volunteer on Thursday.  I was also thinking about getting into Habitat for Humanity.. which will be rewarding, but on top of Philosophy Club, the Campus Sustainability Committee, and whatever sub-groups I join as a result of CSC (recycling? academic service & learning?).. well, it'll be tough.
• all of the Funfetti cookies that my mom made have been consumed :(
• Speaking of my roommate situation for next year: I don't know who I'm going to apply for a suite with.  I'm studying abroad in the fall, so I was hoping that Andrew, John, BYann, and I could go for some sort of apartment.. but I don't feel comfortable asking them (since really, the only person I'm close to on campus is John) and John has yet to catch any of them at a good time..
• I think I'm coming down with something.. which is strange because I rarely get sick.  I mostly feel a cold coming on, but it never actually catches up with me.
• On my way back to the dorms from Philosophy Club tonight, I came across two soaking-wet dogs.  They appear to be lost.. I left a long-winded message at the local animal shelter, but who knows if/when they'll be picked up.
  
  

Yeah.  So.  At least there exists the worldly pleasures of Hot Library Smut,  Mmmm.

Current music: Dave Matthews, "Stay or Leave"
Current mood: Sleeeep-deprived.

Sundays and the late afternoon.

There was an earthquake (6.3) off the Big Island of Hawaii.  My sisters, all the way on Oahu, felt it and called immediately at around 7:30am PST.  Everyone's okay, it seems.

I just spent three days with Alex, my parents, Maile, and a brief (but ironically uneasy, for my own personal hitches) respite from school.  These people will always be home.

I finished The Pillars of the Earth and I'm now starting Atlas Shrugged.  I think Ayn Rand is interesting but, in a word, wrong.  Not a fan of objectivism, let's just put it that way.

Still need to: finish economics problem set and Kohler's packet; take a shower before the long drive; take Maile for a walk?; throw together some sort of analysis on a movie I haven't seen; and steel myself against the variety of things I hate about St. Mary's.

I do miss John and Andrew, though.  BYann's a good kid, even if I only really talk to him on Kohler's nights.

..and I look at you, I see something that I know and love. 

Current music: O.A.R. - I Feel Home
Current mood: A Sarah McLachlan mood.  You know how it is.

Recent joys:

• Reading days, spent entirely with John
• Good food - Petruzzi's, Great Room, "horsebread," and the current Cup Noodles (<-- maybe not "good," per se..)
• John reading Alpha & Omega in bed atm :)
• Reading 100+ pages a day in The Pillars of the Earth
• Alex's "pokethulu" character (and our latest conversation in general)
• Triumphing over red wine stains!
• three days of Scrabble matches.  wo0t!
  

bed reading

• Alex is sick!
• Waking up at 4:30pm today.. ugh.  I did go to bed at ~6:45am, but still.
• Missing most of the beautiful weather outside
• Giving in and eating a Cup Noodles.. (should've gone with Easy Mac)
• Did little work, which will have to be caught up with when I wake up tomorrow
• Reading days are ending tomorrow :(
  

I made a mix cd for my trip to San Diego during the summer.  Whenever I hear the song "Mexico" by Jump, Little Children, I think of it.  Warm weather, textured trees (no bugs!), happy relatives, and shameful boredom.  I always leave California wishing that I had spent more time with my Grandma.  She's one of the kindest, most good-hearted people I've ever met and I don't acknowledge that enough.

Tonight: go to a party off-campus or stay in and read? John will likely want to stay in.  I've been to only one party this year.  I'll decide later.

Current music: Jump, Little Children (apparently, they're just called "Jump" now, but I don't like the shortening so I'm going to pretend that I haven't been made aware of this change)
Current mood: You're only king once..

My Skirt has Food all Over it because I dropped my Lunch Tray when I was going for Milk: a Haiku
Beef macaroni
smatterings of soup; aw, crap.
Oh, and rice pilaf.

These are just a few of the foods that I ended up dumping on myself today during lunch at the Great Room.  I was going for a bit of milk, but the tray counter in front of the milk station was blocked.  There's a solution to this, I conclude.  My next decision is to rest one edge of the tray on the lip of the counter while pushing against the other end with my stomach.  This is supposed to steady the tray while I lean over both tray and inaccessible counter as I dispense milk.

Yeah.

So I end up with a number of broken dishes (a shard knicks my toe in the process) and an entire tray of food, wasted.  I feel like a complete idiot.  My bright blue skirt is streaked with cream of potato soup.  Next to me, this guy is valiantly trying to use his napkins to help me clean up.  I am sheepish, but not feeling nearly as embarrassed as I should be.  I apologize to everyone around me.

One of the Great Room staff went to get a mop; John shows up with napkins and sympathy.  I spend a few minutes wiping most of the food off, but still manage to leave great splotchy patches of stains all down the front of my ankle-length skirt.  The time is 12:45pm and I have two options: eat, run back to my room, change, and run to my 1:20pm class on the other side of campus; or eat, check out the library book sale that's going on right outside the campus center, and then continue to the two classes of the day in a conspicuously soiled article of clothing.

Well, in order to convince myself that it was a simple mistake and required no runnings around (especially at that expense of a book sale; if you know me, then you know that I love a good book sale.  This one was to benefit my college's library! Who could resist? Not me).  So I marched around campus with a garment emblazoned with food, just so I could convince myself that what I did wasn't that dumb. 

Yeah.

I did get about six books for $1.50, including stuff by Wallace Stegner, Albert Einstein, David Hume, and Thomas Hobbes.  It was good.

Current music: "Lost" season premiere is starting must watch nowahhbye
Current mood: Yaay.

I have this terrible song stuck in my head (one of those horrible pop collaborations; this one's for "Snakes On a Plane") because my roommate has an obsession with it.  I need to find people more like me.

Thought I'd share a new aspiration: the Master's International degree program.  It combines graduate coursework with a Peace Corps tour.  I have a bunch of literature from the Peace Corps recruiter who was here on campus today.. it basically glamourizes the whole experience, but it's something I really want to consider.

So Gabi and I gave our presentation on coral reefs today in Environmental Perspectives.  I have one message: turn the water off when you're brushing your teeth.  Unnecessary, squared.

Since I haven't been getting much sleep lately, I should probably get off the computer and go to bed.  I skipped Philosophy Club today, but I'm going next week for sure.

John and I watched the last few episodes of "Arrested Development."  It's a travesty that a show like that gets canceled when crap like "Fear Factor" and "The O.C." are allowed to live.  I guess it tells you what sort of majority watches television. 

..before I start to get too bitter and put my foot in my mouth, I should say that John and I are probably going to watch "Lost" once it starts up tomorrow.  I don't really want to, because I realize that it's really just a soap opera on an island, but I guess I just have to admit it: I like the show.

Speaking of "Lost," Alex has been very busy lately.  I haven't talked to him in awhile.. him or Lindsay or Adam.  Honestly, I don't think Adam and I can be the same after that whole "incident" in the summer (which is my fault, I know) but it sort of makes me sad.  I don't feel connected to anyone here at St. Mary's except for John (maybe Andrew, but we are very different people) and now, I'm losing my ties with friends from home. 

And now I'm hungry.  Will I succumb and consume Easy Mac, which contains 29% of the recommended daily sodium intake? Ah, hell.

Current music: Tracy Chapman, "Fast Car (live acoustic)"
Current mood: Trying to resist Easy Mac at two in the morning..

My first "paper" of the year is finally complete (What is the relationship between morality and self-cultivation in Confucian terms?) To give you a taste of my neuroticism, though, I will tell you that it took me at least seven hours to write a 2.5 page paper.. double-spaced.

Well, at least my first class of the day begins at 1:20pm.

Current Music:  Silence; my roommate is trying to sleep and music (while writing papers) is distracting.
Current Mood:  Jittery but exhausted