Friggin' A

93% on my first Calculus test, and I am pleased. I have more to say, naturally, but I am currently allllmost late for class. I shall return, with a decisively loquacious agenda.

The Height of Luxury

Listening to Loui in the shower. Zaba zoo zub zubeee abub ohhhh yeah.

Half Hearted

The past weekend was a great amount of fun; Danika and Yui traveled up to Portland to see their beaus while Iliana and I stayed in, hit some of the bars, and had an all-around incredible time. We baked all weekend to keep the apartment warm, and reached the point of inventing a new kind of cookie/biscuit/thing. They are called Monster Cookies and look like tumors - but they taste wonderful. A combination of honey, strawberrys, bananas and oatmeal. Go figure. On MLK day, Monday, we each donated $30 to the relief efforts in Haiti, via our cellphones - For people in the US, text the word HAITI to 90999. Automatically $10 will be donated to the American Red Cross.

Has anyone heard of Project H Design? It's a non-profit organization attempting to better the lives of the less fortunate through efficient and intelligent design. I let Colbert explain better than I can, my favorite are the glasses, what a brilliant concept!

In other news, I am enjoying my calculus class to what might be construed to be an indecent extreme. I have now become one of the people in the classroom who helps the other students while the instructor is busy with someone else. I hope I'm not jumping the gun too soon, since my first test is tomorrow, but so far all my homework and take home projects have received perfect scores. I despise my graphing calculator, admittedly, but the instructor has given me permission to solve what equations I can algebraically, or by graphing. Calculus is rather awesome, so much fun compared to Algebra, blech. Functions make me happy.

I have sadly dropped my Ice Skating Class, due to Dworsknees, but I and another girl who dropped the class on account of her ankles, have decided to take occassinal private lessons.

My voice lessons have apparently taken a turn for the serious - Here I was thinking I'd do some silly excersizes and sing a jazz standard or two, by my instructor, Siri Vik, will have none of that. I am, apparently, a coloratura, and expected to learn such pieces as Caro Mio Ben by Giuseppe Giordani, Bellini's Vaga Luna, and a spiritual I'm admittedly more comfortable with, called City of Heaven. Oh Boy.

Right now I am almost late for something silly; Yui and Danika, my roommates, have together formed a Women's Group called Confused; R.A. (Relationships Anonymous) in which a bunch of us young yet apparently jaded women gather together to bitch about men. The first meeting is today at the Starbucks on UO Campus, I am bringing some Monster Cookies, because why not? I helped with naming the club and adding to the manifesto, and am apparently expected to design us a poster as well. I will get right on that. Here is the manifesto, see if you can guess which were my suggestions?

1. Admit that we have problems.
2. Admit all problems are men’s fault.
3. All women are beautiful.
4. All men are wrong.
5. We are too hot handle.
6. We are beyond the help.
7. We are too cool for school.

It's all for fun, and if anyone dare get offended, they will be forced to watch a series of College Movies, read all works by Hemingway, and why not? Wax their legs.

I am getting later, so goodbye all and LOVE!

Okay Now...

I'm sorry it's taken me so long to update, life has been a bit hectic but oh so very fun. Last night was my roommate Iliana's 21'st birthday and we tore up the town as was and thankfully still is age-appropriate.



While the dancing was fun and the liquor was good, I have to say my favorite part of the night, as are most of my favorite parts of night-outs, was the parts where we were simply wandering the midnight streets laughing too loudly and offending the local architecture.




This is one of my favorite little places in downtown Eugene - a statue memorializing Ken Kesey there is another wonderful one of Rosa Parks at the bus station.

We started our night in a Sushi bar, club hopped until roughly 2am - my ankles are actually bruised from dancing - then ended the night at Rennie's, the bar that is right across from our bus stop. As opposed to the one that is actually in our parking lot... Rennie's is much, much nicer, and they have specialty shot called Duck Farts.


I voted today in the internal elections, yes on measures 66 and 67 that will raise the income taxes of families making more than 250,000 to 11% as well as raising the minimum tax on corporations. I was intending to join some people I met last week in going door to door with fliers, today.... but I find myself somewhat unable to tear myself away from my bed's convenient proximity to the bathroom.

I am meeting a UO counselor tomorrow afternoon, so that will be interesting.

My roommate Danika (the adorable little redhead to my right) has been causing me immeasurable pain lately, a pain that I will now share with you. Prepare to cringe, these are all real.

Myself: It's easy to forgive Shakespeare and Oscar Wilde, Mel Gibson is not on the same level, remotely.
Danika: But you said you liked the Lethal Weapon movies!
Myself: Yeah, but it's no "The Importance Of Being Earnest"!
Danika: Well he's not Shakespeare, y'know!

Danika: Thank yo'!
Myself: Thank yo'! ...I told you you'd like the Marx Bros!
Danika: Yes, Marko and Harpy were my favorites!

Danika: What are you doing?
Myself: Watching Stephen Colbert
Danika: The prime minister of France?

Danika: I've always wanted to play Jazz clarinet..!
Myself: Well you should probably start by listening to some Jazz music.
Danika: Yeah, who was that guy you were talking about? Charlie Coltrane?

I leave you with a wonderful insight into stupidity. I am going to go attempt to consume something now... hopefully it will remain inside of me for the appropriate time frame.

EDIT: Okay, for some reason the pictures I've posted here are disturbingly and inefficiently large, so in order to see them you'll have to click on them.

EDIT2: Iliana and I got tickets to Gabriel Iglesias!!!!!!!!

A+

Just thought I'd mention. Heh. Showed up for my Art final, and was told by the instructor, "I've been watching you all term and already know your grade, A+, you can go home." Didn't even take my portfolio or look at the extra credit stuff I did. He actually laughed at me for doing extra credit stuff. Aaaah. Ambivalence.

Them Pesky Centaurs

In case it hasn't been obvious, I've recently finished reading Ted Hughs' Tales From Ovid, and have been revisiting it chronically, even whilst getting a head start on Heinrich Heine's Journey To Italy. Over winter break I intend to finally make a trip to the library, seeing as my reading list at this point is only twice my height.

Today is the day of my final Final, Figure Drawing, I've posted here a pair of drawings I will not be handing in, so I spread them out on the carpet and took pictures of them with the digital camera - not the best quality bute eh.


























In other news, I'd like to draw your attention somewhat belatedly to the Pro-Test movement, headed by Laurie Pycroft, a young man who at the age of 16 had the cojones to take on some of the (in my opinion) scariest people on the planet - Extremist Animal Rights groups. I don't know about you, but this kid inspires the heck out of me.

Winter break is almost here, which means, more than anything, that I will have time to seriously, seriously clean the kitchen. It might seem strange that I am looking forward to that more than any other side effect of a month long vacation, but you haven't seen our kitchen.

I've signed up for next term's classes - Math 111, and a 1 credit PE class.... Ice Skating.

Why?

Because I can. ...And fencing was full.

Still pending on the 1 credit voice class, but for some strange reason I don't think the instructor's going to deny me.

Every morning the grass and roofs are white with frost, which I get to see only because I wake up early to go to the gym before the sun rises above the houses and thankfully melts it all. We've been promised snow several times this week, something I have, as you can imagine, been quite ambivalent about, but now I am glad to say it probably won't be happening till next week at least. Snow during break is fine with me, snow while still rushing to class and waiting at bus stops? NA ah. It's averaging at about 15 degrees outside, and all the we all get home with chapped hands and knocking knees - last night everyone but me arrived home after dark (I finished early on account of my math final) so I cooked up a huge warm pot of stew and baked whole wheat low-fat garlic bread. I am quite popular.

Yui finally got her driving permit so Danika and I are going to practice with her a little in the parking lot later today.

And now I must be off, glory awaites... or slidenotes do, anyway.

Nine Tenths of the Pleasure

GAH FINALS.

But other than that, joy.

Thanksgiving was incredible, music, food and family, what else could a person possibly need in life? Carried my textbooks all the way there, cracked 'em once, and just let things lie. The result was apparent in my grade on Tuesday's test - but I've since then been allowed to retake it, and managed to wrestle that 73% up to an 81... still not remotely the grade I was aiming for, but turkey will take it's due, and I've already started cramming for the final. Still managed to hold onto my perfect attendance record despite yesterday's game. Yui and I, as the 'foreigners who just don't get it' were forced to silence our anger and misgivings at the warped town. Yes, I suppose living across from the stadium is stupid, but what do I know? I'm still trying to figure out why they pick up the ball, why it isn't even really a ball since it ain't exactly round, and keep touching each others' butts.

We won, naturally, TAKE THAT BEAVERS!!.... Whoever... you are...?

And here I am, having done 4 practice finals this morning, and now procrastinating instead of doing another. I can almost smell winter break... my Figure Drawing Final, while an amusing concept at first, has turned out to be far from a joke; it is an hour and a half of slidenotes, that is, making rough but accurate copies of the work of the masters, then expressing in the margin our impressions of composition, figure-ground relationship, the use of negative space, the heirarchies of size and focus, and all in the type of language that appeals to this man, Adam Grosowsky, my brilliant instructor. It's going to be a blast. I also intend to represent this picture:

In charcoal for extra credit. Isn't Jessica beautiful?

I have a few rants planned, and more news to impart... but it's nearly noon and I have to do some more practice tests before I head out. Love to all and Happy Holidays whatever that means...!