Thursday, September 30, 2004

Music: Starsailor - Four to the Floor
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Worst. Lecture. Ever.

Holy Crap...I had to go to this guest lecturer for IR Theory...I want that hour of my life back.

I was kinda looking forward to hearing this guy give his talk, because it was billed as a talk on political economy. From the neo-Marxist perspective the speaker had, it sounded like he would have some really interesting things to say. You don't get to hear this point of view very often straight from the horse's mouth, so I looked forward to absorbing what he had to say and comparing it with my own thoughts.

The man was a total clownshoe. I'll bet he's a better professor, but this speech was embarrassing.

He acted like the stereotypical alarmist Marxist with only criticisms and no ideas for how to make things better. And his arguments were full of contradictions. He followed up his point that the United States needs to stop getting involved in the domestic affairs of other nations by saying that the US has not gotten involved enough in the situation between India and Pakistan...GRAH! I'm 20 years old and still in college! I shouldn't be finding holes in your argument!

And then I come home to the "debates." Psh...yeah right. "Debates." It's a 90 minute speech-athon. If they can't address eachother, *then they're not debating one another!* ARH!

Hate...life...

::transmission ended::

This transmission logged byErisSaid on 10:38 PM

Saturday, September 25, 2004

Music: Further Seems Forever - Bye Bye Bye
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Man. That Thursdayweek was just packed full of stress. So here. Have a belated diary of the most hectic Thursday ever.

My International Relations class was pretty normal, but right after that I went to my first bit of participation in the Alpha Phi Omega service fraternety that I just pledged to. I worked at the blood drive for three hours, escorting people to the snack room after donating and showing them where to sit to donate. It was probably the most rewarding three hours of my life so far. I just wish that I could get this warning off of my blood so I could donate again. Unfortunately, I signed for the 11-2 shift without remembering that I have Italian Recitation at 11 on Thursdays...damn.

After that, it was on to my first test in International Law. There were 8 case studies in the text book that we had to know for the test. I spent four hours studying and memorized the 8 case studies. About an hour before the test, one of them slipped my mind, but I figured that it was all good. There were still 7 other cases that I knew front and back. Why on earth would she ask for that one that I couldn't remember anything about?

That was a dumb thing to think.

We get the test and question three asks about Broadbent vs. OAS. Ahhh, I thought, so that's the one I forgot. Of course. This case was the only on asked for specifically on the test, and there were no clues as to which it was in the wording of the question. Just "What precedent was set in Braodbent vs. OAS?" Perfect.

I got so flustered after this that I started forgetting the names of the other case studies. So the whole test saw me citing "The case between the United Nations and Israel." It totally blew. I'm not looking forward to that one coming back to me.

Then it was on to the Calvin and Hobbes meeting where I did my first co-hosting of our little "Week in Review" bit (Think "Weekend Update" from SNL with a quarter of the talent [non of it coming from me] and no budget). I was so nervous that my hands were visibly shaking , but everyone said that I did okay. Oh well. Hopefully I'll do better tomorrow.

And then it was over. No big lumps of work. No more stress. So now I'm just coasting. My mom, Pop-Pop and his girlfriend came up for a visist last night and this afternoon, but they're on their way back home now. And I've got a concert to go to! I'm going to go see Rufus Wainwright at Lehigh tonight! I've never driven to Lehigh, so I'm leaving about two hours before the concert and meeting V and Ree-e-e at a Bethlehem Perkins. After the concert, I'm going to head back in to Jersey. It's closer to home than Bucknell, and it's apparantly harder to get to Bucknell from there, especially at night. Considering how easily I get lost in broad daylight, it's probably best that I just follow Ree-e-e home. Besides. I'll get to sleep in my nice, comfy bed then :)

::transmission ended::

This transmission logged byErisSaid on 3:44 PM

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Monday, September 20, 2004

Music: Aerosmith - I don't want to miss a thing
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



I swear. I leave for one weekend and the whole place falls apart.

Apparantly, while I was having an absolute blast at Sara's wedding, Ivan decided to slap Bucknell in the face. It's always nice to go in chronological order, so I'll start with Friday.

I hadn't gotten home until late on Thursday night, so that day hardly even counts. I Friday, however, I got up way too freakin' early for an 8:30 hair appointment that came out really well. I even got to have a cup of coffee while I was there. Thanks DePasquale! I also managed to squeeze in a nail appointment. At Aunt Jill's, there was a professional make-up artist did the make-up for most of the bridesmaids, the mother of the bride, and the bride. My mom got hers done too, but she took it off because it came out orange. The thing about the makeup was that everyone else got very bright golds and beiges on their eyes and overall looked very bright and pretty and happy. I got the "smokey eye" treatment. It looked nice, but standing with the others I looked like the token Goth.

This is a pretty decent shot of what my hair and makeup ended up looking like.

The ceremony was perfect. Sara and Brian were just so happy to be getting married that it gave it a cheerfulness lacking in most weddings. How often does the bride go "Yay! We're married!" after the ceremony? :)Of course, I totally lost my shit during the ceremony. Laura (one of the bride's sisters) was crying, and that made the girl in front of me cry, and that made me cry. What can I say? I'm a total wuss.

The reception was even better. I must have eaten about a quarter pound of prosciutto on my own. All ofthe food was great, especially the desserts. I was so full at that point, but the white chocolate bread pudding and wedding cake with cannoli filling made me change my mind about that. Somehow, someway, the stays in the top of the dress managed not to pop. One complaint though:

Did the bartender HAVE to make the drinks so strong!? I mean, geez! A Malibu Bay Breezer is only supposed to have to coconut rum in it for flavor, not to get you smashed! I ordered the girly drink for a reason! Man! She filled the glass halfway with the Malibu, and the pineapple and cranberry juice just got lost. Oh well.

Oh! One more great thing! I finally got my dad to dance. He *hates* dancing, but he finally agreed to join me for an easy song in the middle of the reception and the last dance. And he didn't even step on my toes!

Anyway, we'll fast forward to Saturday, when I went on the best mall trip ever. Ree-e-e, V, A and I went to Bridgewater. Not only did I get a couple of bubble bath gels and some awesome make-up, but I also went in the Sharper Image. I shit you not, I was sitting in that massage chair for at least half an hour. Good times.

I have to cut some stuff at this point, because I want to get in to Ivan.

So I drove home pretty late last night and as I got in to Lewisburg I saw that 6th Street, the street where I usually park, was blocked off by saw-horses. Upon further inspection, I caught the reflections of the streetlights in the ground. The whole damned thing was flooded. Branches were down all over the place, and when I got closer to my house I was able to turn on to 6th Street. I pull up next to my house I see the Armageddon sign posted above and Joe coming out. I asked him what happened and he told me that Ivan had kicked the town's ass. I went off to go park after that and dragged my shit in to the house.

When I got in, I saw that just about everything was off the floor and on the pool table. "What the fuck happened!?" I exclaimed. Just then, our RA, Nathaniel, came in and told me that I was just in time for the Talk Like a Pirate Day party. "Okay," I said, "Let me rephrase that: 'Yaaar, what the fuck happened!?"

Turns out little Galloway got evacuated at 4 in the morning after two flood sirens and were only recently allowed back in the house. On top of that, there was a dawn to dusk curfew in effect. Lewisburg was in an official State of Emergency. Holy Crap.

I saw pictures from the flood and my jaw dropped. You'd think we lived on the Mississippi River flood plain!

I seriously should have stayed home yesterday.

::transmission ended::

This transmission logged byErisSaid on 3:05 PM

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Thursday, September 16, 2004

Your Superhero Persona by couplandesque
Your Name
Superhero Name	The Scotsman
Super Power	Ability To Breathe Underwater
Enemy	J-Lo
Mode Of Transportation	Cadillac With Rims
Weapon	Vinyl Records
Quiz created with MemeGen!

This transmission logged byErisSaid on 1:26 PM

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Wednesday, September 15, 2004

Music: Dropkick Murphys - Time to Go
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Since this is the 150th post, I guess I'll act like a normal blogger and talk about friggin' politics.

Don't expect to get mad. I'm not going to argue any kind of case for anyone involved in the upcoming election. Just about everyone's made up their minds based on their set of life circumstances and personal experiences that I can never understand. In my mind, that's that. You're all figuring things out based on your own perceptions of right or wrong. Go for it. As a unique person who has led a unique life, I can't think the same way you do.I may have come to the same conclusion, but I guarentee that it didn't come from the exact same place yours did. We all have a lense of experience that colors our decisions, and I won't insult these experiences by trying to "convert" anyone. Run with what you know and feel confident.

I just have an observation. I did my daily swing by the Electoral Vote Predictor (it's over in the sidebar) and noticed something rather odd. Take a look at it. Check out that swath of red going across the country. Looks like Bush has it locked, doesn't it? Not really. We're still operating in the post-convention bounce period. Give it time to settle out and for the absentee ballots to come in and things will look much more evenly matched. But even in the current situation, take a look at the electoral vote numbers. Kerry's got 19 states as opposed to Bush's 31, and yet he's only, like, 50 electoral votes behind Bush.

Here's my point. I think that, on election day, the United States of America will be lost in a black hole of irony.

After the bouce has worn off, Kerry will probably re-take some more states with big cities. Let's say he takes the electoral college. But wait! Bush could still win the popular vote! The Republicans will begin to argue that the popular vote is what actually matters! The Kerry camp will counter with the supremecy of the Electoral College. Each side will call out the other, thus forcing themselves on the reversed sides of the Goddamned 2000 election. The sheer irony and patheticness of this situation will cause a black hole to open up above North America and suck the US in. Mexico and Canada will be spared. It wasn't their fault hypocracy is such a driving force in the universe.

That is my prediction for the 2004 election. Even if we are all destoryed in a vortex of contradiction, at least the fuckin' election will be over. Maybe in whatever is on the other side of a black hole we'll start treating eachother like human beings again.

::transmission ended::

This transmission logged byErisSaid on 2:51 PM

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Monday, September 13, 2004

Music: The Stereophonics - You Stole My Money Honey
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I feel so much better now.

I had been worrying that I was behind on the process for getting in to Law school, so I made an appointment to meet with the pre-Law advisor in the Career Development Center. For having had a cousin go through Law School, I know very little about the process.

Apparantly I'm good to go as far as a time line. When I went to the appointment, she gave me a practice LSAT and answer sheet thing. I also got a little timeline checklist. Turns out I can't even register for the LSATS until May, and the test isn't until June. My GPA is also on a first teir level, so I'm rockin' as far as that goes. All and all, I'm pretty set. That's good news.

Oh! And even better news! There's no math part on the LSATS! They have Logical Reasoning, Analytical, and Reading Comprehension! I actually did a little happy dance in my chair at the thought of that. You really *can* get through life without Algebra III!

On a not school related tanget, our local Wal-Mart sucks. I went looking for Jersey Girl and they didn't have it! The bastards! They had like, Starsky and Hutch and the Splash 20th Anniversary Edition. But on the plus side, I did get Pikmin 2. So cute!

::transmission ended::

This transmission logged byErisSaid on 2:18 PM

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Wednesday, September 08, 2004

Music: Flogging Molly - Rebels of the Sacred Heart
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now, I've got a lot to go through today, so everyone bear with me and it will all be over soon.

You'd think I'd be in a worse mood today. Not only did I get a parking ticket, but I walked back from my Italian class (where I got a 78 on my quiz) in the rain. But I payed the parking ticket right away, and since I took that quiz I've been working much harder on the Italian stuff. And I'm finally starting to dry out. I guess it's a good feeling of having all of my work for today done, and that my Spanish class is going to go a lot better.

For one thing, I went to talk to Prof. Fischer yesterday. Turns out she's actually really nice. I was in there for an hour going over my paper. I didn't want to leave until I was sure I figured out everything. Once she told me what some of the markings meant, the corrections made a bunch more sense. I learned some new frases too. I figured out that I have this tendency to write my essays very tentatively. I don't like to say anything is deffinite since most of the papers I write are on theoretical issues. I'll have to break out of that habit for this class, but I did pick up some good frases to use when writing that way.

I'll also be able to kick some ass during the class because of today's topic. We're going to be talking about King Juan Carlos I and Francisco Franco. Oh wait...who did a report on Franco in Fascism Class last semester?...oh right...It was ME! Hahahahahahahaha!

And one last thing....now don't laugh.....but I think I may want to get a Mac..........

DON'T JUDGE ME!!

Seriously, though. I've been having so many problems with this laptop lately. It's been crashing non-stop. Macs, I know for a fact, hardly ever crash. And I need to be honest with myself: What do I use my computer for? Word processing and the internet. I'm a console gamer, so it's not like I'd need to play any games on the computer. Hell. I can't even play anything on this piece of crap. The graphics card may have come out of a cereal box. I know my printer works with a Mac. And my iPod...well...Duh. I hated the old iMacs in the computer labs here, but those things were so fried from students messing with them that they weren't a good litmus test. I spent a grand total of 30 seconds on on of the brand new flat-screen iMacs with OS X and I figured out how to use it pretty well during that time. I also used Bree's new iMac to email my father about my hatered of this laptop. The keyboard wasn't very good, but I think I'd get used to it, like I got used to the laptop keyboard. So yeah. This is deffinitely something to ponder...

::transmission ended::

This transmission logged byErisSaid on 2:22 PM

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Monday, September 06, 2004

Music: Bis - We're Complicated
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I'm having a bit of an existential crisis right now.

Remember that Spanish paper I was bitching and moaning about? Well more shit happened with that due date of 10 pm on Friday than I can ever hope to make anyone understand, including myself. I worked for hours on that paper before finally turning it in at 6:00 pm. I didn't get around to checking my email until around 10, when I saw an email from the professor saying that the paper was due Saturday and we had to have a cover sheet. I had already turned it in, so I couldn't do anything about it. I was so busy making up work on Sunday that I again didn't check my email until late. *This one* said that our papers had sucked and we had to pick them up and correct them for Monday. That left me with no time to pick up my essay on that day, so I went after Italian today.

I get to it, and the whole fuckin' thing is covered in yellow high-lighter and pen. I can't even read some of her comments! I want to correct it and do well, but I don't know what the fuck to correct! And some of it is just stupid little stuff like using "reprecussions" instead of "consequences." And I'm so sorry I didn't make sure that the margins were 1" instead of the 1.25" that comes as a default on MS Word! She's insisting that she's not grading this essay, but what the hell am I going to do about the rest of them for the semester if my first one was such a waste of paper and ink!?

And then I get this patronizing little note in the top left corner: "Don't panic - Just look at the gramatical corrections!"

Well...I'm panicing. I'm the QUEEN of panicing.

I did everything she told us to do. I turned it in on Friday. I made it two pages. I read it aloud twice. I did two runs of corrections. And this is what happens. Since I didn't check my email because I was too busy working, I'm screwed. And now she hasn't even responded to my email asking her when they're due by today...

I should just transfer out....but...I'm just stubborn...plus the only other class that fits in my schedule is one that I heard was really boring and pointless. If I were to transfer, I'd have to find some way to do it by tomorrow, and that's just not happening. I'm stuck. But at least it's only once a week of torture as oppossed to the three times a week nightmare that Human Impact on the Environment was.

Alright...I still have IR Theory to read. At least that's an *interesting* class...

::transmission ended::

This transmission logged byErisSaid on 2:07 PM

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Sunday, September 05, 2004

Music: Mogwai - Stanley Kubrick
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Today's topic is Parking.

Within the last two or so weeks, I have become what the young people would refer to as "The Shit" when it comes to parallel parking. I typically make it in te appropriate number of wheel turns now. Of course, this is only when I am alone in the car. I'm sure that, as soon as I have a passenger, I'll go back to sucking and having to make about 740 wheel turns.

What I really want to bring up about parking is that the parking situation here on campus sucks. There just isn't enough room for all of these cars, especially when a street gets taken out of commission once a week for cleaning. And don't think I havn't been tempted to just park in the massive space people leave in front or befind their cars! I'm almost certain I could fit in there and still leave them room to get out!

Sleepy now.

::transmission ended::

This transmission logged byErisSaid on 11:36 PM

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Friday, September 03, 2004

Music: The Tragically Hip - Chagrin Fails
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Well....this is gonna be a GPA crasher of a semester.....

I got a check minus on one of my Italian homeworks, International Law's book is super dense, I'm starting to freak out about LSATS, and I hate my Spanish homework.

It's not like it's super hard either. I just hate it. I need to write two pages comparing two worthless Spanish kings. It ought to be easier. Carlos IV was a waste of life and Carlos III wasn't. But I just don't want to write it. I hate it. I want to just lie down on the futon and take a nap. I want to go play Mario Kart in the lounge. I'd even go to the *gym* right about now! Anything to not have to do this paper! And what's making my feel even worse about not doing it is the fact that it's not due until 10:00. I've got, like, six hours to get this done...and yet it's just not getting done!

Normally I get through these times by just taking a break...but I've done that already...and it hurt to get back to the desk. I need to just force it out. I'll get through the first draft. Hopefully there won't be too many mistakes, so I won't have to do too many corrections for the final draft.

And we have bowling tonight....Wanna know a secret? I hate bowling. Seriously loathe it. My weirdly shaped thumb doesn't fit in most bowling balls that I can lift, and I always end up hurting my wrist. My thumb either gets stuck in the ball and makes me look stupid or it falls out of my hands before I can guide the swing. It's embarrassing. My mother, a former bowling champion, tells me to use her old ball and get the thumb hole redrilled but she doesn't seem to realize that I don't care enough to do that. Why get a ball if I hate bowling? Woo hoo. Let's go knock down some pins. Yee haw. It's the pinnacle of fun. Please...

Wanna know why I'm going, then? That's not a secret. I want to hang out with my friends. They're all going on this trip so I am. Plus, I can help out by driving. Maybe I'll just bring my gameboy or something.

::re reads this entry:: Holy crap. I'm in a worse mood than I thought....

::transmission ended::

This transmission logged byErisSaid on 3:45 PM

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