Monthly Archives: January 2008

Here Today, Gone Tomorrow

12 Saturday Jan 2008

Posted by in Indiana, La Familia, Moobies

≈ 2 Comments

I spent the past week (read: last week of my break) working & relaxing with very little computer time. I’ve been working on my personal statement & my thesis proposal for my grad school application due Tuesday (eek!) and hanging out with family. My sister had never seen Gilmore Girls which has resulted in many sleepless nights for me, so I finally decided to rectify the situation. I got her to begin watching the show under the false pretense that there was a midget in it. She has since finished up the first season and become addicted, and I have never been more proud to admit that we share genes.

Oh, and for all those wondering, my father’s surgery went splendidly. He’s been off his feet for the most part since it happened (because it was a foot surgery), but he’s ever so slowly starting to walk around a little bit. It will supposedly take about eight to ten weeks for him to heal fully, and probably about the same amount of time before he is able to go back to work. In the meantime, he will get to rest a lot and watch a lot of jewelry shopping channels on TV.

Yesterday evening I got home from spending three days with my brother & sister-in-law at their house. It was a very fun three days. I got to spend time with my brother, my sister-in-law and their puppy Gryffin (who happens to be a very large puppy!). My brother & I watched some movies together, as per usual. The first evening we all watched Return of the King. My sister-in-law hadn’t seen the third movie and hadn’t seen the other two in so long that I spent most of the movie explaining everything. “That one’s Pippin; the other one’s Merry. Strider & Aragorn are the same person. Yes, Aragorn is the king of Gondor, the other guy is just a steward. That other place is Rohan. Eowyn is Theoden’s niece. Theoden is the king of Rohan. Eowyn is in love with Aragorn, but Aragorn is in love with Arwen. Arwen is that elf — the daughter of Elrond. …Liv Tyler. Those things are the Nazgûl; they’re the nine kings of men who were greedy and now serve Sauron. Sméagol & Gollum are the same, kind of. Sméagol is the good one, who he used to be; Gollum is the bad one, the name he went by after the whole ring thing.” Let me just tell you, I have never been more aware of my nerdiness. I told my dad about it and he laughed. My brother & I watched War together, and we both happened to think it was a pretty fun movie (minus the fact that it is very not family-friendly). He wanted to watch it for Jason Statham; I wanted to watch it for Jet Li. It all worked out. Thursday night the three of us went out bowling with two of Ben’s friends. I hadn’t been bowling in forever, so I had a lot of fun. However, I should note that I am a horrendous bowler. Really, awful. If I score above a 40, I think I’ve done smashingly. The first game I got a 62 and I was ridiculously proud of myself. The second game? I got a 93. It was my highest score ever and I was about ready to start my own parade. I called my dad to tell him the good news and he laughed for about three minutes straight. I am not talking a chuckle or a giggle here — I am talking full-on knee-slapping, I’m-about-to-pee-myself, ache-in-your-belly kind of laugh. I wanted to know what was so funny and he responded, “A 62, huh? I’ve known little kids who could bowl higher than that!” and continued to laugh. Then he added, “A 92, though, that’s a pretty respectable score. If you only have one eye and one leg.” Phooey on him, I’m proud of myself. I suppose this is evidence that I am definitely more of an intellectual than a jock. I don’t think anyone needed proof, though.

Yesterday I spent the day with my sister-in-law since she didn’t have to work. I set up a website and a gallery for her & my brother since she wanted someplace she could write and share pictures to keep their family & friends up to date with their lives. We played with the puppy some and she took me out to lunch where I had the best sandwich of my life. We also went to PetSmart to return a polka dotted collar that was deemed “too gay” for Gryffin. While there I saw a cat in the adoption centre that looked an awful lot like my LilyCat and I cried a little. After that we went to Michaels and I found a calligraphy pen that I actually liked with a set of nibs. I purchased that, an ink well, a beginner’s book on calligraphy and parchment paper to practise on. I’m very excited. I only hope that I have the time this semester to learn, then I will handwrite beautiful letters (ha!) to any and everyone who wants one. However, since my sister-in-law helped me with my decision (because I am slightly picky — who’da thought? — and indecisive), she gets the first letter.

I took a video of Gryffin while I was taking care of him during the day (along with a lot of pictures, but they will be posted at a later date) and I managed to get him to fetch. The video is a few minutes long and it is rather hectic and nauseating at the beginning. In fact, it might give you vertigo. It does get better, though. I think. I haven’t actually watched it myself because I can’t stand hearing my own voice. I sound like a 12-year-old. Oh, and stupid. I sound very stupid. (This is why I don’t do phones, but as dumb as I sound in this video? Multiply that by ten and you’ll know what it’s like to talk to me on the phone.) Hopefully you’ll be so kind as to ignore my voice entirely and to just watch the cute puppy. Really, if you’d rather watch it on mute that’d be entirely ok as well. Go here to view the video.

Fare Thee Well, Cruel, Cruel Hell

05 Saturday Jan 2008

Posted by in Year Wrap-Up

≈ 2 Comments

2007 turned out to be a pretty rough year for and decided to go out with a big huge terrorist-style bang that has left my head spinning in the worst way.  Calvin’s dad would tell me that this past year and its events helped me build character.  However, I’m going to have to run with Calvin on this one and say that I don’t care to build character and that this character thing stinks.  Having gone through everything, though, allows me to continue into the next year of this tumultuous journey of life.  Hopefully 2008 will prove to be a much more joyous year all around.

The Good
The year kicked off with my second March for Life experience in D.C. followed soon after with Steven getting a job at a start-up software company.  This year the Colts ended up winning the Super Bowl and thus making all Hoosiers exuberantly happy.  2007 also marked my one-year anniversary of entering the Catholic Church.  It was a joyful milestone and one which I hope to celebrate every year.  My brother Ben got married to his girlfriend of seven years in May, and this past November they celebrated a very furry addition to their family — their Goldendoodle puppy Gryffin.  Also in the anniversary department, Steven & I celebrated our 2-year anniversary in September.   November brought with it both Steven’s and my birthday, bringing him to 27 years old and me to 21 years old, thus widening our options of date venues slightly since I am now old enough to drink.  The very end of 2007, December 31st, marked our second year of blogging.
The Bad
I watched MTV for the first time ever in 2007.  That same fateful day in 2007 also marks the last time I ever watch MTV.  On a more serious note, the past year witnessed my being assaulted at school in Boston and the resulting rib fractures.  The year also was one of loss, both for Steven & myself.  Steven lost his grandfather near the end of October and I lost my grandmother on Christmas Day.  Around Christmas I also found out that my beloved LilyCat, too, is gone.  All are greatly missed.

And The Academic
This year I came to the decision to attend grad school, a decision with which I am happy now but will probably be regretting once it begins.  I took two graduate courses this past fall semester in the programme I wish to do for grad school and loved every minute of it.  This past semester also marks the highest GPA I’ve had throughout my college career, no doubt in part due to the graduate courses I took.  I took a GRE course to prepare me for the GRE in order to force myself to study somewhat for the test.  I was sick with the stomach flu the first time I took the GRE and did not perform well enough, forcing me to take the test again in December.  The second time I ended up forgetting everything I had learned and did not study for the test which resulted in a pretty good score.  I took a more active role in helping out with the RCIA class at the Catholic Centre this past fall as a small group leader and as a Confirmation sponsor for a dear friend of mine.  I will continue helping out with RCIA in the spring and I am very much looking forward to it.

This upcoming spring semester will be my last of my undergraduate education and I am both excited and very scared about it!  I hope to spend a little more time out of my room and outside enjoying the many sites and entertainment Boston has to offer.  Although the prospect of cramming 4-years of fun into one semester is daunting, I am sure that I will be up to the task with a little help from others.  I will be graduating in May, and not a minute too soon for my poor debt that’s been piling up and multiplying.  Hopefully this next year will come with an acceptance letter and another two semesters of school.

Showing an Age I Haven’t Yet Reached

03 Thursday Jan 2008

Posted by in Life As We Know It, Moobies

≈ 6 Comments

I am about to go take a shower (Given that this is my break, I feel entitled to staying in my pyjamas until 6 in the evening.  This is the stuff dreams are made of.) and then cook supper for my pappy & myself, but I said that I’d write about my New Year’s Eve.

If you are not already sitting down, I suggest you do so because my New Year’s Eve is going to rock your world.  And, if you actually read the title of this post and then believed the previous sentence after reading it then you might just be in for a disappointment, in which case I still suggest you sit down.  Sitting down is great for gathering your bearings, I’ve found.

The afternoon of the 31st my father & I went to go see I am Legend (which IMDB writes as I Am Legend, but which I refuse to accept as the proper writing of the title).  I enjoyed it, but thought it was a bit too heavy for everything going on in my life.  In retrospect, I kind of wish we had seen something a little lighter and less despondent.  It had Will Smith, though, and I love Will Smith.  Afterwards we went out to supper at a restaurant where my father encouraged me to get a drink.  I ordered a Lemon Drop Martini since I love all things lemony.  I figured, I love lemon drops and I love lemonade and it said it has lemonade in it, it’s gotta be great.  People, I couldn’t taste any lemonade.  I’m pretty sure the whole thing was vodka & Cointreau.  Speaking of which, what is Cointreau?  I haven’t a clue.  It was still pretty decent, but it had far more alcohol in it than I had been hoping to imbibe on New Year’s.  I sipped on the drink throughout the entire meal.  I kept getting frustrated because it didn’t look like the level had changed.  I’m pretty sure the glass kept magically refilling itself.  It drove me crazy.  Dad laughed.  Anyway, I didn’t finish it and even though it took the entire meal to drink what I did drink, I still got tipsy.  Dad wanted to have sparkling wine when we got back home but I quickly knocked that plan down.  The martini was quite enough, thank you.

I was not invited to any New Year’s parties or anything, so I ended up staying at home all evening with Dad.

Suddenly regretting ever buying my daughter a computer.  And a digital camera.  Word.  (Says the man with a dress behind his right shoulder and a pink wall to his left.  That definitely gains him street cred.)

This is ok, though.  I haven’t been too terribly big on New Year’s since I was old enough to actually stay up to midnight and realised that staying up to midnight is entirely overrated.  Granted, part of that may be due to the fact that I’m usually studying or writing a paper whenever I do, but still, I think the holiday is kind of pointless.  Staying up all night just to commemorate that one year has passed and a new one is beginning?  Boring.  Now, staying up all night for a movie marathon, that’s something I can support.

Dad & I just stayed home watching movies.  We watched Happy Feet and Sin City because they go together so well.

On New Year’s Day I went shopping at Target with a friend.  I had only intended on buying some cute socks and some new black pantyhose because I ended up putting a run in the others because my nail broke.  Somehow more stuff ended up in my cart and I ended up coming home with $65 worth of stuff.  How that happened, I do not know.  I wound up with a new pair of sunglasses, a very cute sunglasses case and a dress!  Apparently I gave in and went back to go get the $8 sunglasses case which I said I was not going to get because it was a waste of money, but who cares if it is a waste of money because it is cute and I must have it, and apparently on the way to get it I saw a dress which I fell in love with and could not stop myself from grabbing it and trying it on.  Apparently.  I do not remember any of this, though.  I think the items just jumped in the cart because they really wanted to come home with me.  I have decided that it would be mean of me to abandon them in their hour of need and have decided to open up my doors to them and give them the love they obviously so desperately need.  I am expecting my Good Samaritan Award any day now.

Alas, I must go shower so that I can cook supper.  Cross your fingers that no one will get sick, and if anyone does, hope it’s not me.  (I’m just kidding.  Though, it would be more ideal for my dad to get ill than I — if, of course, someone has to get sick — since he’s already heading to the hospital in the morning for surgery.  Oh, which reminds me, cross your fingers that his surgery goes well!)

Christmas Conviviality & Oodles of Clicky Inconvenience

03 Thursday Jan 2008

Posted by in Elatedness Abounds

≈ 2 Comments

I figured that since I was rather heavy on the sorrow during the onset of Christmas (which I’m not completely done talking about yet, but I thought we all could use a break from the serious for a bit), I would try to end it with the fun part of Christmas.  That, of course, means presents.

I only opened a few of my presents on Christmas Day, opting to open many of them a couple of days later due in part to wanting to preserve the Christmas feeling and in part wanting it to not feel like Christmas given what happened.  My sister gave me my birthday present (from over a month earlier!) on Christmas morning.  I ended up getting the new Stephen Colbert book.  For Christmas she got me the book of Mother Teresa’s writings.  I am thoroughly excited to read both. Sarah also got me a pair of pyjamas and a pair of adorable pink slippers that are both comfortable and warm.

They have hardly left my feet.

My father got me a four-way cross that is identical to his own (I have loved his since I was a little girl), only he got mine in sterling silver since I am not a huge fan of gold.  He gave that to me the day we went to go see Grandma in the hospital, thinking that I would want it then.  I am glad that he did so.  Up to the day of her funeral I wore that cross in addition to mine for the extra comfort & protection.  It really has helped.  My father also bought me a set of pearls — a necklace and earrings.  They are more casual, and my sister and my sister-in-law got a pair as well because he believes that every girl needs a good set of pearls.  While I do not doubt that he believes this, I also think his addiction to the jewelry shopping channel on television might have had something to do with it.  You didn’t hear that from me, though.  He also got me a double-stranded pearl necklace that is fancier.  My sister got one as well, but she was a little slower to pick up the fact that it was double-stranded and instead thought initially that it was two separate necklaces, one to be worn by one person and one to be worn by another… connecting them together.  I still laugh when I think about that.  The cross and the pearls are all very lovely.

Then there were the presents from Steven & his family.  I didn’t stop to think to take pictures of the presents until after I had opened a couple, but I only took pictures of the presents wrapped, because I am in awe of Steven’s & his mother’s ability to wrap presents.  This could just be because whenever I wrap a present it is usually in whatever material I have handy (newspaper, paper towels, paper bags, aluminum foil… the list goes on) and it usually looks like a 5-year-old wrapped it.  Some might think this is sad, but I like to think it’s endearing.  Without further ado, the presents:

The fancy ribbon & bow designs?  They are not taped to the packages at all.  People are apparently talented enough to be able to do that and not have to tape ribbons onto packages.  I tried this once and ended up using 34 pieces of tape on a package smaller than a shoebox.

I kid you not when I say that I looked over every inch of these packages attempting to analyse how these people can wrap presents so beautifully without using a roll of tape.  It both amazes and frustrates me every single time.  Someone needs to teach me how to do this.  Sure, I get great grades and I did really well on the GRE, but those pale in comparison to this.  If I could learn to wrap presents well, I’ll have mastered everything I need to know in life and I’ll feel like a queen among men.

After carefully inspecting the craftsmanship, I ripped the heck out of those packages.  (I really enjoy ripping wrapping paper.  It’s half the fun of receiving a present.  My theory is even if you get a crummy present, you’ll still enjoy getting it if it’s wrapped up, because who doesn’t enjoy ripping wrapping paper?  I’m just kidding, I’m not really a snob.  A present is a present and I appreciate the thought & effort that went into it, especially since it’s something someone didn’t have to do.) To my surprise, the big box was full of yet more presents!  I just wrote that it was like Christmas, only to realise that it was Christmas and that the saying did not quite fit.  So, make of it what you will and insert your own appropriate equivalent.

Really, if I can just learn to do this I’m pretty sure I will have mastered the meaning of life.

I got several shirts and a cute sweatshirt, Happy Feet, a new belt, facial mask, a necklace, tea, chocolates, Christmas socks, Happy Bunny socks and probably a couple of things that I am forgetting.  It was pretty exciting.  (Side note:  Does anyone else love Happy Bunny?  Or know about Happy Bunny?)  Steven’s mom also ended up sending me a little package of stuff and in it put in a contact lens case that has a mirror.  I was far more stoked about that than I’d like to admit.  I love it.  I think the fact that I got so much joy from something so practical shows my age.  Yes, all twenty-one years of it.  I know, how sad.  I’m ok with that, though, because egad!  It has a mirror!

All in all, I made out pretty well in the present department this year, and on top of all the stuff I’ve bought over break thus far, I think I’ve sufficiently accumulated enough stuff to make packing for my return to Boston beyond difficult.  My goal is fulfilled.

Also, I got to spend Christmas Day with this cute little furball and that definitely bettered my mood a little:

I’m just a poodle-head!  And entirely too cute to be blamed for the fact that I just bit off half your hand and a toe or two.

Tomorrow:  New Year’s.  And by tomorrow, I mean when I wake up, which will really just be today, only later.

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