Happy summer vacation!

So it's been a week now.

heehee

To celebrate my freedom from classes I have...

• read a good stack of books--fun books, not school books, just to clarify ;)
  
• watched a few movies
• stayed up WAY too late too many nights
• submitted a research proposal that got turned down :(
• found out about 2 As in classes from last semester :)

... and decided to maybe move to CA for the summer???

How's your summer going so far?

I just...

...turned in my last paper of the semester. It was the right length, and I had a topic. And sources. And on the way to print it out and turn it in it occurred to me that I might not have actually SAID anything in it.

Oh well.

And I called several members of my family to celebrate and none of them answered.

I feel like spending a lot of money.

Those two facts are not related.

I think.

Check these out!

Something to inspire you:

http://www.hopefullymormon.blogspot.com/

Something to cheer you up, and other people, too:

http://operationbeautiful.com/

A way to make a difference:

http://tippingbucket.org/

Current status--updated:
--> Arabic final--over. Ugly, but over. I only left 2 blanks. :)
--> 4 pg essay--done. Ugly, and I'm kind of embarrassed that I turned it in like that, but done.
--> 10 pg paper--done. I think it was actually pretty ok. :)
--> 7 pg paper due in 20 hrs--have some sources. Topic? not so sure.
--> Blog--updated. Sigh. :P

Happy finals to you, too.

It just got louder in the library (people JUST getting out of bed, or lunch time??) so I turned up the volume on my Pandora. Think it'll help?

Ugh ugh ugh ugh

Current status:
--> Arabic final in 23 hrs--not ready
--> 4 pg essay due in 27 hrs--at 3 pgs, but too many more sections to write, will need to trim a lot
--> 10 pg paper due in 27 hrs--umm...have sources, and outline...
--> 7 pg paper due in 3 days--eep. Maybe have topic? maybe a few sources?
--> Blog--updated. At least I have my priorities in the right place. :P

send help

P.S. One possible reason that my status is as stated above.
P.P.S. The aforementioned reason has to do with the CONTENT of the comic, not the fact that I am reading the archives of an online comic while my finals are in such a sorry state...
P.P.P.S. send help

He's right.

My brother-in-law, that is.

See, his wife, my sister, likes to share with the family the cute things her kids say.

She wrote:

"[Four-year-old daughter] just asked me, 'Mom, have you ever noticed some babies just have one hair?'

We were reading Horton the Elephant (one of [four-year-old daughter]'s favorites). On the last page she piped up, 'We don't have elephant birds around here.'"

And because I am always interested in both sharing my knowledge of flora and fauna and gaining new knowledge, I responded:

"No, I believe they are native to Argentina, and are a close relative of the feral chicken. Right, Dad?"

And my esteemed father, also always oh-so-willing to share his, ahem, extensive knowledge, wrote back:

"Margaret, of course, is right.

It´s that old saw about opposites attracting.

Moonlit nights - soft background music - and chickens and elephants just find each other irresistible.
Generally, it is culinarily irresistible - feral chickens have a tremendous, gigantic, enormous weakness for elephant steaks.

But sometimes, in the springtime, the hens fall for the big guys in a serious way."

And then my bro-in-law:

"You people are all totally, irrevocably, certifiably insane.

It's so good to fit in."

And he's right. :)

Don't hide your light...

So I have a paper due in 4 hrs and 49 minutes, and oh, it'll be done by then. :)

But I just saw a guy from the class for which that paper is due, and we were talking about the presentation of our papers, which will be in class tonight, and how we have a very limited amount of time to present, and I made a crack about how "I talk so fast that I can fit 20 minutes of content into 1o minutes" and he agreed, and then he said the following (he's a native speaker of English, btw):

You know, you should take pride in the fact that you are one of very few native English speakers that I have a hard time understanding...not all the time, just sometimes.

Um, really? I should take pride in that?! I'll have to think about that...

But under the circumstances, with only 10 minutes to present some pretty interesting material, I'll just be grateful for this "talent" and move on with life. :)

The end of a streak

Today is the first time in one month that I have worn a hoodie in public. And yes, it has a little something to do with this item of clothing that I got for my birthday one month ago. But I still felt it was worth noting. :)

And also - remember this presentation? Well it was today, and we got a few laughs. :) And then leaving class, a classmate not in my group muttered to me, "Congratulations. Yours is DEFINITELY going to be the best one." And another student, who is in that guy's group, said, "I resent that lack of confidence in our abilities!" And the first guy said, "it's not going to be better than THAT!" :) heehee

Pondering on my fingernails (don't you?!)

So at the potluck last night my friend H complimented me on my brown (freshly-applied) nail polish, and while I thanked her and told her how much I, also, enjoy my chocolate-colored fingernails, I also pointed out the spot that had gotten chipped-already, gol-dern-it!, and her sweet, spontaneous response was:

"You don't need to show me your imperfections. I like you anyway."

Thanks, H, I needed that right then. And not just about my nails. :)

And speaking of my nails, as I sit here considering the next step in the preparation of a paper that is due Wednesday and the presentation of said paper, for which I have to do a trial run in front of one of my classmates in 1 hr and 30 min (and the # of Powerpoint slides I have right now = 0), I find myself filing my nails as an aid to concentration. I was doing this in my lab several years ago, and a dear friend commented on it, and I said, "filing my nails helps me think," in response to which he simply looked again at my nails, which were fairly long at the time, implying, because I don't think he would have said it aloud, that there must not be much thinking going on, if they were that long. :) Well guess what, Jeff? They're short now!! :P

Do we think my prof would allow me to use that as evidence that I did put at least some thought into this paper?!

Sigh

Al-hijab

I just spent all day with a group from my Arabic class, filming our final presentation. We did a TV morning news show, and one of the parts I wrote and recorded was a (spoof) commercial for hijab. We thought we were very clever, even if we couldn't get all our jokes to go smoothly into Arabic. :)

So if you show up in our class on Tuesday, you might see a little of this...

Ask and ye shall...

...get a five-day extension on a paper!

YAYAY!!

And also -

phew

And now, back to work.

Retail therapy??

After discussing some other topics in a gChat convo with Jeremy:

me: have i mentioned that dan and i broke up?

a month ago

Jeremy: no way

do I need to get my gun?

5:09 PM me: and then we had the grad student symposium that I was co-in charge of. i've been so swamped but its catching up to me and I'm REALLY frightened for the THREE papers i have to do in the next 15 days.

no. it was mutual. we both got the same answer. but it still sucks.

we were best friends for more than a year and dated for 6 months of that.

5:10 PM Jeremy: ok, but I could still get my gun

plz?

me: so it's just weird.

Jeremy: what, my gun?

me: do you HAVE a gun?

lol

Jeremy: not yet, so I need an excuse to get one

me: oh

then by all means.

Jeremy: cool.

I can't wait to tell brooke

me: lol

Jeremy: about the gun, not your breakup

me: right :)

You've got the right idea, Jer. Shopping does make everything better. ;)

Today's status

Desperately trying to find sources for a paper that is due in one week. Yes, I'm THAT awesome.

And I wear my jean jacket every day. I am also THAT awesome.

pj pants (because I was cold) + t-shirt (because it was comfy) + skirt (because it was Sunday) =

"Margaret, Heavenly Father thinks you look ridiculous."

Thanks so much, Amber.

And no, I didn't leave my house like that.

Posted with permission :)

Barbi bought Jorden some new summer clothes and he was really upset.

Why was he so upset, you ask?

"Mom," he wailed, "why did you have to buy me new clothes??? Why couldn't you buy me beef jerky???"

I like that kid. :)

From anotha motha?

My new bff, A, said this yesterday, while talking about a faculty member with whom she works closely:

I love her like my mother. Well, I don't really love her like my mother, I love her like other people love their mothers. My mother is special.

Mine too. :)

Should I be concerned...

...that my usually extremely rational father is almost certainly going to buy a Jaguar?? From a Minnesotan hippie named Lyle?!?

So is it a bad sign...

...if my Chinese fortune cookie is EMPTY?!

I can hardly believe it.

I had the following conversation via gChat yesterday, with my symposium co-organizer...

me: we still need to figure out printing nametags, and get copies of the half sheet about the identity panel

Carolina: do you know how all these happened?

the symposium I mean

me: how all what happened?

Carolina: the event

me: do I know how the symposium happened?

Carolina: did we really do this?

me: lol

2:34 PM Carolina: anyway, we'll figure out the name tags

me: yeah I kinda can't believe its all come together :)

And seriously, I kinda can't believe it. All the panic, all the work, all the embarrassment for not having started working on it earlier, the grant proposals, the pleadings for help, the emails drafted a million times before sending, the coordination with committee chairs, the GRATITUDE when people took assignments and ran with them, going over the budget, going over the budget AGAIN, ordering supplies, publicity, registration, volunteers...it's all almost over. The symposium is tomorrow. Tomorrow and Saturday. We have a location, we have people coming to speak, we have people coming to listen, and we have food. Sounds like it's gonna be just fine. :)

Self-portrait

Here's hoping that getting a haircut can also ward off mental illness...

I ate breakfast.

I woke up in a panic this morning, after having nightmares about the symposium*. Such a panic that I couldn't get out of bed for a while, couldn't admit even to that extent, the getting-out-of-bed extent, that the week was starting because I couldn't bear the thought of what it might bring. And then I did get out of bed, said a desperate prayer for help, and got dressed. And texted my best friend to say, "will you please text me every night around 8 or 9 and make sure I've eaten?"

'Cause I just know I'm going to forget, and that's not going to help anything.

*I'm one of two co-chairs/organizers of a graduate student symposium that will take place on my campus this weekend. We've been planning it for about a year, and will have presenters and attendees from all over the country. It's been a TON of work, and the work's not over yet, and, apparently, I'm panicked.