29.9.08

Funny Ad

I saw this put up on someone's facebook and it's just so creative. It doesn't matter whether you're Democrat or Republican (if you are Republican, just pretend it says "Obama" instead), but it was just too funny. And creative.

Register to Vote Youtube Video

Nuts, I couldn't embed the file. You'll just have to follow the link...

28.9.08

Relaxing Weekend

Oh man, this weekend was absolutely amazing. I don't think I've ever been so relaxed. Well...at least in my adult life. Denise, Melissa, Eric, Jordan, and I went up to Jordan's family's cabin. Melissa went on the art trip on Friday, so we weren't actually expecting her until midnight. She actually got back at 11pm, so we got to leave by midnight! Yay! We went up in Jordan's little Jeep Wrangler. We got there not long after midnight, I don't think. It was about 30 minutes to get up there. First thing we did was walk around in the drizzle to see what it was like in the dark. Jordan started up the gas generator so we could get some lights on and set things up. We got some foods for the weekend earlier on Friday and brought it all in and put things away. Jordan gave us a little tour (it's so nice) and we all picked out our beds. Melissa and I slept up in the loft.

We stayed up a little bit playing Scattegories. haha. The only way to get electricity was to turn on the gas generator, but we didn't want to waste the gas. So we lit oil lamps all over instead. It was so coolThen we went to bed and everyone slept super well. We got up around 10:30 or 11am and Jordan made us a hearty breakfast of eggs, sausage, and potatoes with English muffins. mmmmmm. Then we set out on a little hike to see Jordan's uncle's cabin. There was a light rain, but it was still really nice, especially because Fall had really hit up there, and it was so colorful and pretty.

When we got back we set up to play Risk and Jordan cooked up the cheddar sausages we bought for lunch. Man, that game of Risk was intense, especially when Densie came out of nowhere and wiped Eric out of the Americas. hahahaha. He was so angry, it was so funny. Then I read my book for my class that I'm supposed to have finished for Monday for like two hours and I'm halfway through it. ha. A bit behind on that. Glad I brought it up with me. It was nice not to have any electricity because that meant no TV and no computer. We had a radio on batteries, so we listened to some jazz CDs. But at one point all of us were just sitting around reading, and that was so cool. He also has this little game where there's a 1.5in gold ring hanging from a string and you have to try to hook it on a hook on the wall about 9ft away. It's amazing how one can amuse onesself without electricity. haha. Seriously, it was fun. I think I might start banning myself from TV and computers on the weekends when I'm able (meaning no papers due on Monday).

Then Jordan started up the charcoal grill for some tasty marinade chicken grillin'. While waiting for that to heat up, we went out and collected birch tree bark for kindling for a fire for later, and some wet branches and logs. haha. We were all a little skeptical, but Jordan said that birch tree bark will light no matter how wet because it has so much oils in it. And you know what, he was right. It lit. And for a long time, so it even had time to dry out the wet branches and logs! We roasted marshmellows and made s'mores! But his parents didn't leave enough Hershey's chocolate, though we found Reese's cups. Let me tell you, Reese's cups make MUCH more delicious s'mores!!! Because there's also peanut butter!!! Mmmmm. But then we started to hear the cyotes who were starting to come in from the smell of the chicken we grilled. So we decided it best to go ahead inside. We played Balderdash (that was amusing) and then we all sat around and read some more. We went to bed pretty early, too. Like 12:30! haha.

We left around 1:30 today to come back. There wasn't any running water at the cabin, so the first thing we all did when we got back was shower. haha. And now I really need to start on my homework. I have a 5 page paper to write on my opinions of a movie I watched in Anthropology, then do my Hebrew homework (which is easy...), then maybe go to the writing center for my paper. I've never been my entire time here, but from the grade I got on my first paper from Gaber, I think I'm going to start going for all my papers. I'm going to try to get a head start on my readings for Tuesday and my other two papers due later this week, both of them 5 pages each. Stuart's making tasty blue cheese and mushroom burgers for dinner tonight. I can't wait! mmmm.

Tomorrow I'm going to talk with Dr. Johnson about grad school stuff. Oh poo, I really need to sign up for the GRE! ugh. Next weekend I need to get a start on my research paper for Archaeology colloquium. Next Saturday LEAF is going out on the Storm Drain Stencil Project, so that should be fun. I get to spray paint! For an environmental cause! Yay!!!!!! haha.

Ok, that's all. I'll put up pictures later in the week from the cabin, when I'm done all my crazy school stuff for the week. haha.

22.9.08

Sorry, there's more...

I forgot to talk about my weekend and my plans for the upcoming weekend!

This past weekend was Stuart and my 3-year anniversary! I was super excited about it all week because we were going to eat at Red Lobster and then see Burn After Reading, but something put me in a bad mood right after classes. Poor Stuart, I had to have a mini sob-fest as we were waiting for our table at Red Lobster to put me back in a good mood. I have no idea what caused it...maybe just stress, who knows? But I enjoyed myself after that...except for the brief bout with diarrhea half-way through the movie. Stupid sea food. I didn't mind too much because the movie was actually pretty awful, which made me sad. There were some funny parts but for the most part everyone's reaction was just, "*blink* What?" Oh wells.

Saturday I was feeling much better from stupid illness and just sat around all day with Denise, Melissa, Heather, and Stuart. It felt great. Watched some TV, went to church with Heather. That was nice. Yesterday I slept in late again, had some tasty eggs and potatoes for breakfast with Stuart, and played Tekkin with Denise for the first half of the afternoon. Then I realized I should have been doing homework and left to get showered and do my assignments. Which were interrupted by "homemade" pizzas with Denise and Melissa. And watching Men In Black and Men In Black II on TV...followed by the second half of the Emmy's. Yep...not very much was accomplished last night.

This weekend Denise, Melissa, Eric, Jordan, and I are going to Jordan's cabin! Yay! Friday Melissa's going on the art trip to NYC, so she won't be back until about midnight. We're waiting for her to get back and then going up so we can sleep in on Saturday. Yay! We'll be back late on Saturday, I think? I dunno, but it's going to be so much fun!!!! Yay!!! I love outdoorsy stuff.

Oh poo! I have to go meet people for lunch and tutoring now! I'm late!!! I gotta get outta ma PJ's!!! AAAAHHHH! hahahaah.

Thoughts about the future...

Another week has passed; a week much less stressful than the past four, thank God. Things are finally falling into place and calming down. *phew* I am thoroughly enjoying my archaeology class with Dr. Gaber and the colloquium. It's exciting to see different archaeological thoughts, theories, and methodologies; and they're all changing at this point in time, and it's so nice to have two prominent archaeologists (Pamela Gaber and William Dever) on cusp of all of it to present it all to us.

I'm in love with my German poetry class too, though I think I'm losing a bit of my German. Oh wells. I'm loving Hebrew but the structure of the text book and Dr. Knauth's excitedly sporadic teaching style are making it difficult to grasp everything. You can tell she knows a lot about the language and its grammatical structure, but she's so excited about teaching it that everything just comes out unorginized and confusing. And the text book just does not help. Oh wells, I'm slowly getting there. I feel like I knew more Greek at this point than I do with Hebrew. And to make it worse, I keep forgetting to go to the study groups. grrrr!

And then anthropology is my whatever class. It's writing intensive, but the papers I have to write for it are such jokes. It's all just whatever we feel about different movies or books he makes us watch and read. LEAF is starting to slow down with all its excitement, thank God. I can focus on my classes a bit more. Though Homecoming isn't that far away, which means it's going to pick back up again. And we have a lot of things planned for weekends in October.

October is just going to be busy. I have to get on the ball for grad schools. This means the dreaded GRE. So far it looks like I only have to take the general exam and not the subject test. I don't think there even is a subject test for archaeology. Yale and Brown don't require a subject test, which leads me to believe it is entirely pointless to take it. Good. Because it's already $140 to take just the computerized general test. Poor Denise and Melissa, they also have to take the GMAT for business management studies, which is $250. That sucks. And we have to take these tests in October to make sure our scores come back in time for grad school deadlines, which seem to all be January 1st or 2nd. I have to get at least 3 recommendation letters, at least 2 of which have to be in my field of study. I have to write a few personal statements (because some schools require different things to be in the essays).

Here are the schools I'm looking at, in order of my most desired: University of Pennsylvania/Bryn Mawr, Yale University, Brown University - Joukowsky Institute, Boston University, Cornell University, and Columbia University. I could add University of Chicago, Johns Hopkins, University of Arizona, or Bucknell University, but they're just a bit far for me at this point. The only thing that sucks is that half these schools only have PhD programs and the Master's is included in the PhD, which means I will get a "Master's" but not really. blah. What I'm really hoping for is to get my Master's here in the States and then go to Israel (I really want to go to Hebrew Union College!) or Germany (Humboldt University?) for my PhD.

Here's what I want my degrees to look like at this point (yes, plural degreeS): Near Eastern Archaeology with a concentration in Assyriology/Mesopotamian (Syria, Iran, and Iraq) ancient civilizations up until the Persian period; something with textual studies (Epigraphy), specifically for Akkadian, Ugaritic (wait...is this a language?), Sumerian, Babylonian, and Persian; German, and also maybe French. As of now, this is what I want. Um, this could possibly change as I go through my studies, of course. I'd also like to learn modern Hebrew and Arabic since I'd be spending a significant amount of my time in the Middle East, though these don't have to be part of any degree. Just for my own benefit.

This is going to take...um...possibly forever. Luckily, there are tons and tons of moneys for doctoral students, including for travel, research, and summer language studies. Yale alone gives an average of $250,000 to any given student over their 5 to 7 years of study. *jaw drops* That's why it's in my top 2/3 choices. UPenn and Bryn Mawr are kind of listed as one school because if I get into Bryn Mawr but maybe not UPenn, Bryn Mawr has a thinger with UPenn where grad students can take classes at UPenn and have them count at Bryn Mawr. Then I could actually be in UPenn AND Bryn Mawr! ah. haha. I'm not necessarily looking at Harvard just because I feel like I wouldn't be able to "fit in". I dunno, it just has more of a "stigma" than Yale, I think. It seems more...erm...sexist and elitist? Though Knauth, Gaber, and Dever all received their PhD's from Harvard...and I'd have a big in. Maybe I'll just talk with Gaber and Knauth about it, but I'm kinda predisposed against it. *shrugs shoulders*

13.9.08

Finally...

Well, I think I'm finally all organized for the semester. I finally have my workload for classes figured out and my responsibilities for LEAF thoroughly distributed. I even have the time now for a dance class and a bit of involvement with Japanese Culture Club (JCC). Unfortunately I had to give up sitting in on the 229 German class to keep up with my German, but I'm still taking German Poetry and I just went to my first Stammtisch last night. I think a weekly Stammtisch will keep me up with my German just fine.

This is also my first weekend on campus since I've come back and my first weekend to sleep in. I'm helping out with our JCC "Welcome Back Party" tonight, but that's going to be fun. We're just doing a Ramen bar (prepared scrumptiously by our head chef and Eric's roommate Jordan) and a video game night. The only thing we have to "set up" is cooking the food and hooking up the video game systems. So I get all day to relax and maybe get some homework done. I have such a huge workload this semester that I think I'm going to attempt to get all of Monday AND Tuesday's work done over the weekend so that I can spend Monday and Tuesday nights doing homework for the rest of the week, since I have a lot to do for LEAF and tutoring and lab assistant work for those two days, also.

So yea, for LEAF, we finally got ALL the bins out (though we're already missing 4 from one of the freshmen dorms...freshmen?! Really!?), met up with the V.P and Treasurer of Lyco and the head of campus dining, along with Dr. Zimmerman (LEAF's advisor and head of the Bio department), and three students whose senior theses are on Sustainability to discuss ways to get Lyco more environmentally friendly and energy efficient. Man, there's a lot to do for that. We also had a few meetings with Buildings and Grounds on campus to get more recycling going on campus and Dr. Zim wants us to get involved with his Storm Drain Stenciling Project. *Phew* LEAF is gonna have a lot to do this year. But Stammtisch was a severely nice relief. I managed to find $4 in quarters so I could buy myself a Bullfrog Specialty Beer! Yay! The topic of the evening was politics, and it was severely hilarious...Dr. Larson is pretty hard core about the whole thing.

I also tutor about 4 hours a week, am lab assistant for 1 to 2 hours a week, grade for the labs. I'm going to group tutoring for Hebrew (because this book is set up in an impossible way and Dr. Knauth I feel is just not doing a good job teaching it, though she knows this stuff pretty well and is absolutely in love with it). I go to Belly Dancing on Thursday evenings after my Archaeology Colloquium. I have a senior project to do for colloquium on my dig experience, but I have to add research into it, while also writing a final paper for my Archaeology Theory and Methods class. My Cultural Anthropology class is writing intensive, so I'm going to have a lot to write, but it's all simple, thank God. German Poetry is proving a lot of work, also, because I have to read on average about 8 poems for each class and have to memorize and recite one each week. If poetry was difficult just in English, try doing it in another language. I had to give up fencing before even trying it because I knew that was going to be just too much. Oh wells.

So now this week I have to get together with Dr. Gaber and discuss what I'm going to do my senior on. I'm thinking of writing about problems of digging at a site that was already dug up and getting past the missing stratigraphy and jumbled artifacts, while also relating it to how Archeaological theories and methods evolved over time and how that affected the digging methods at Gezer and what we expect to find. There was another point I wanted to add to it...nuts, I can't remember. But it's supposed to end up being a 15 minute presentation. Not too bad at all.

One thing I've been happy about with all this running around is that all my friends are involved in the same things, so I get to see them all the time. The thing that makes me very very sad about all this is that it leaves me very little time for my Stuart, especially because his work schedule is the opposite of mine. This means even less time. He also is sick this week with a very bad cold or sinus infection. I gave him some Nyquill and put him to bed at 10:30 last night. lol. Denise and another girl we're friends with had the sickness last week. Yay! Not long before it gets to me! Grrr. But next week is our 3 year anniversary. We're planning on dinner and a movie. lol. We want to see Burn After Reading, which looks hysterical. I love George Clooney and Brad Pitt in the same film. They're always amazing together. AND it's a Coen Brothers film, which are also amazing. They just built a brand new movie theatre just a block away from the college, so we're super excited to go see it what it's like.

But I'm loving having an apartment! We have a kitchen and a living room with seperate bed rooms! Man, this makes living at college so much nicer. We've been cooking our own meals, which means tastier and sometimes healthier meals than what we would get in the caf. I'm so glad I switched my meal plan for the year, too. That means the money that would have been paying for cafeteria meals goes to money for JP's night grill and Jazzman's cafe! woot! This morning Heather made yummy mushroom and garlic omelettes! *drools*

Ok, I'm obviously still not awake yet because this post is awfully rambly and jumbly. haha. It was so nice to sleep in...until 11:30. I just got a shower 45 minutes ago. haha. Well, maybe I'll spend some Alli time before starting on the homework for a prep. haha. I need more coffee...

7.9.08

Stupid Hurricane Hanna...

Man, I would have gotten to see BarleyJuice and a bunch of other cool bands and walk around doing cool stuffs yesterday for the Irish Fest...if it hadn't rained!!! Darned hurricane... oh wells. I at least got to see my widdle bruvers play for the opening ceremony. It was actually a kind of audition for their band for next year, and I think they did super awesome, even in the rain. Actually, they later got a call from the guy in charge of the music and he's a bagpiper and now wants to join the band! haha! Awesome! Hamilton Celtic Pipes and Drums just may be in the line up for the Green Lane Irish Festival next year! haha.

Well, even though it rained, it was super nice to be home and spend time with the family. Now I'm super tired and still have to do all my homework. haha. Oy...

But I'll be going to see The Decemberists with Cassie and Melissa and Denise on December 7th!!! Yay!!!! woop woop! That's gonna be super awesome!!!!!!! I can't wait!!!!

Ok...erm...I may take a mini nap...or just make coffee. You know what, I'm just gonna make coffee.

5.9.08

YAY IRISH FESTIVAL!

CELTIC FESTIVAL CELTIC FESTIVAL CELTIC FESTIVAL CELTIC FESTIVAL!!!!!!

THIS WEEKEND!!!

WITH THE FAMILY!!!

AND LITTLE BROTHERS PLAYING BAGPIPES AND DRUM!!!!

AND CELTIC STUFF!!!!

That is all.

1.9.08

I have an idea...

I'm sad that everything on my computer turned back to American stuff. I liked seeing German and Hebrew at the top of my page and the ads on my facebook account. Oh wells. I've come up with a little idea. I like my blog and I don't want it to end. So I'm going to keep it going! Maybe only once a week or so, because I'm back at Lyco now. It's going to be hard to keep up too often. But if I limit it to once a week, I'll still have a million and one things to say because so much goes on in the course of week at Lyco.

For instance: my first weekend back. Denise, Melissa, Heather, Eric, Jordan, Lala, her Chinese friend Abby who also goes here, and I went to Knoebels! Yay! We spent the weekend at Denise's house because Knoebels is only like 15 minutes from her house. Good ol' coal country! haha. We left right after classes on Friday (so 6:30pm. haha) and went to the drive-ins! We saw the double feature "Wall-E" (yay! I finally saw it!!!!) and "Pineapple Express" (a big stupid stoner movie... but it was really funny). Oh man, I LOVE Wall-E!! Melissa, of course, had to put a downer on the mood and be like, "But I don't wanna see a stupid Disney Pixar movie! They suck! God, fine, I'm gonna go see a different movie on one of the other screens!" We probably would have let her, but it was raining a bit and we didn't have room to fit everyone in one car, so we made her stay and watch Wall-E. That goon, she actually sort of liked the movie, too! Just because it's just a darn cute movie! She said she liked "Mo", the little cleaning robot. I think that's just because it was so much like her: a spastic clean freak. haha. Pineapple Express was one of those just stupid-funny movies. Pretty much it involved the main characters getting high the whole time and doing really stupid things in a very serious context, therefore making everything really funny. It's definitely one of those movies you just take at face value. I only recommend it to people who just want to sit, not think, and just laugh. Much different from Wall-E, which had a lot of propaganda. haha.

Figuring out where everyone was going to sleep was a bit of an ordeal. haha. Denise's house is huge, but her sister and brother-in-law also live there with their newborn baby, and her brother-in-law's parents came up that weekend, too. So the house was packed. Aw, but little baby Grayson was so cute!!! I got to hold him! Yay! We all teased Melissa the whole time because she definitely NOT a baby person. It's hysterical. She was like, "Oh God, it won't stop crying. Oh my God, oh my God, it just threw up, it just threw up! Oh God, take it away! I'm getting out of here!" This is when someone else was holding him. And she kept referring to him as "it". I yelled at her. I was like, "HE has a NAME, Melissa! You're gonna offend the mother!" haha. They made Melissa hold him, too. It was so funny. We were like, "Melissa! You have to put your arms around him!" He was lying in her chest and then he coughed. Omg, if no one was around, I don't know what would have happened to that baby. haha. It was a very funny situation.

Knoebels was totally awesome the next day. They called for thunderstorms at noon. The park opens at 11. We went anyway. No rain. No lines. BOOYAH! It was so awesome. If it weren't for the expensive food, I would have barely spent any money at all. I bought a $10 ticket book and didn't even use all the tickets. I gave them to Melissa and Eric, who wanted to go on all the rides over and over again. haha. It was so funny. Interestingly enough, though, Jordan didn't cook all weekend. That was kind of sad because he's an amazing cook. Maybe I'll make him cook this week or something. But Hazel (Denise's sister) made up PANCAKES Saturday morning!!!!! I was soooo excited because that's the only thing I haven't eaten since I've been home and that's really the one food I missed terribly. Jordan and Melissa didn't even eat it, Lala and Abby ate only a little, everyone else had two. I went back for forths. Hazel was like, "Why is the skinniest person eating the most pancakes?" Because I freakin' love pancakes!!!!!!!!!!!! <-----This is the best YouTube video I have ever seen. The only thing missing from the trip was the brief stop to see Ben. He died this past winter, and that was really hard on Denise, especially because she wasn't even in the country when it happened. He was such an interesting old man. He was only too eager to share the stories of his life, and my God did this man do a lot! He was even in a movie as an extra while he was stationed in California in the Navy. Or was it the Army? He wanted one of them but they messed up and put him the other, he was so angry. That's a funny story. So that was missing from our little excursion. Sunday was the campus carnival. Oh man. That was insane. We set up at 11:30 and it went until 6. Denise, Melissa, and I were the only ones who worked for LEAF because we're pretty much the only remaining senior officers, and by "senior" I mean "not new"...not our grade level. Man, that was tough. We had a kiddie game, so we didn't get many people to come to our table...except that I, Madame Presidente, came up with the awesome idea of putting out our potted planted for people to plant and decorate! We got 113 tickets, and then the school gives every organization 25 cents for each ticket. That's almost $30 for LEAF! woop woop! We ran out of potted plants, actually. So we're gonna use that money to buy more flower pots. haha. LEAF is going to keep me super busy this year. Man... I'm up to 4 hours a week working! woop! I have three jobs on campus now...well, technically 2. I'm a tutor (1) and a lab assistant for the Biblical Archaeology class (2). BUT I tutor for German (1) and Greek again (2)! So...yea. I'm also sort of taking a fifth class...without signing up for it or paying for it. mwahahaha. That would be Advanced German Grammar and Conversation, which I am technically ahead of from my study at the Goethe Institut. But I love that class and the people in it, and Dr. Cagle invited me to come to the class, so I'm taking it again. I just don't take the tests and I don't have to do the homework...but I've been doing the homework because I'm a nerd, a dork, and an overachiever. That last part I got my parents and grandmother. :D Speaking of, I am also SUPER excited to come home this weekend for the Celtic Festival!!! And see my brothers play in their BAGPIPE BAND again!!! Ooooh, I was never so proud as when I saw them play!!! And I can nerd it up some more by showing everyone who to write their name in Hebrew!!!!!! haha. But I can't wait to see the family! yay! And I'm requesting corn on the cob, because that is the absolute last food that I'm dying to have and have not yet eaten. Yea, the gross (yes, already gross...) cafe has corn on the cob, but it's yellow corn and it's not fresh but frozen and then reheated. blech. I want some tasty sweet white corn fresh from the farmer down the street. mmmmm. This really shows what a country bumpkin I am. WHOA! "bumpkin" is actually a word...I thought it was slang or something. I'm prepping for the festival by only playing celtic music. Oh yea! And I want yummy Irish/Scottish/English foods...like...POTATOES. haha. As if I haven't had enough of that all summer. And I'm super excited that BARLEYJUICE will be back!!!! yay!!!!

Ok, now I gotta get moving for class and getting working papers in so I can actually get paid. See some of you sooooon!!!!