I started a post here sometime ago that said this: “I wish I were better at life.” I will spare myself the indulgence of self-criticism and instead stick with something more uplifting. After all, I can attribute this Funk to a variety of things, none of which will not get better, and none of which are insurmountable. We all know those times, when suddenly, for no good reason at all, you feel some unseen weight pushing you down into the depths of sadness. Patiently waiting for the passing of this burden is the best thing to do, but hard sometimes. Not to say I encourage pacifism when it comes to self-help, but I do condone an acknowledgement of an ultimate limit of what we can do to make things go how we wish. I would much rather spend energy on trying to be who I want to be: an ounce of prevention.
I took a picture of this sunset today, Minneapolis is on the far horizon. It made me smile to look out my window and see the sky painted again - these months have too many cloudy sunsets, fading without spectacle into another night. I would like to see more sunrises - those summer morning sunrises during which the birds sing early, and the dew on the grass takes its time to burn off. One of my favorite pictures I have ever taken is dew-tipped grass in my yard, the sun skimming over their tops. Thinking like this makes me want to stop writing and start pulling together, stop thinking and start doing, stop rushing and start slowing down. If you find out, do not tell me how, but if you could lend me a sage hint or two, that would be fantastic.
If you will indulge my stream of consciouness for one more paragraph, I feel a great sense in this past year of trying to figure out what my life is going to be. I know what I want to do, I know the people I wish to be with, I know where I want to go … but I want to enjoy every minute, every second. There is this song by the Corrs that goes “We are so young …”:
We are chasing the moon
Just running wild and free
We are following through
Every dream, and every need
And it really doesn’t matter that we don’t eat
And it really doesn’t matter that we don’t sleep
It really doesn’t matter, it really doesn’t matter at all
‘Cause we were so young then
We are so young, so young now
And when tomorrow comes
We’ll just do it all again
We are caught in a haze
On these lazy summer days
We’re spending all of our nights just
A-laughing and kissing, yeah
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t really like the song: the tune is really quite annoying. But, the message, oh the message: that’s what I am searching for. I pray I can embrace that; stop planning and start living.
Yes, Food at the Binz has taken a very very long hiatus from regularly scheduled viewing, I hope to bring it back with this special edition. In fact, this edition is so special that we feature food not from the Binz Refectory, but from the North Campus Cafeteria. Anyhow, I learned it was theme night for eating there, and that the theme was “Cabin Fever Reliever.” Markoe speculated that we would eat bamboo shoots, which we all concluded would be high in fiber and good overall.
Obviously, “Cabin Fever Beater” as I mistakenly called it, did not involve bamboo shoots. Indeed, it was quite tasty, and smoothies were offered, too. I thought they would just offer a lot of alcohol to relieve the fever, which was wrong and was not even funny when I suggested it. In fact, the number of people who were even mildly amused by that comment was probably -1 (a negative score meaning the opposite of amused), so I am unsure why I rehash the event here. Regardless, this was my first time consuming deep-fried macaroni and cheese, and it was good, even with ketchup. The rest of the food was good, no strange spices to give weird aftertastes, too. The best part of the meal was our carpeted floor, the first time I have eaten in that wild carpeted region of the North cafeteria.
Unfortunately, I do not think I will be I will be consuming deep fried mac and cheese anytime soon, due to my raging stomach illness that ensued almost immediately after the dinner. Nobody is sure where it came from, though Mykala and I have a rather good hypothesis (from which I will spare you). Would I recommend this dinner? Yes. However, I would stick with the french toast sticks (not pictured) in place of the deep-friend cheesiness. Additionally, I would have some ice cold water on hand to offset the grease (and possible grease fires if your friend has a lighter and brushes it too close to your fried’ness … an even which, alas, did not happen to me). Food at the Binz may upgrade to Food at St. Thomas. Be well, and eat better than well.
Yesterday, I saw a cross dresser at Whole Foods. This is the first time in my life I have witnessed such an event/person in person. I hope this does not mean I have led too sheltered of a life. Anyhow, he had shoulder length permed hair, and a goatee. Looking south of there, I noticed what had first caught my unsuspecting eye: a black skirt barely longer than one foot, and varicose-vein legs that had been cleanly shaven. This look was completed with 3 inch (possibly higher?) heels. I wondered how I should react. Ignore? Forget? Open my mind to? My visceral reaction was apprehension. Either way, it was a good experience to have - it helped to cement the fact that they are certainly people with peoplish needs, wants, and dreams (and who need to grocery shop just like we all do) … but I am simply not used to interacting with cross dressers. It was confusing to; would I address them as who they appear to be or who they want to be? What if who they appeared to want to be was not who they wanted to be at all? Confusing, and worth a consideraion, for people in occupations like cashier. All that, and I could smell women’s perfume all the way down the frozen food isle. Let us see what other horizon expanding experiences this coming semester brings. Good luck to all of you.
My owl by the name of Genevieve was once very white, but the fire sprinklers turned her a rather black/gray color. We have been cleaning her for the past couple of days but ran into problems. You see, we cleaned her tail on the surface, and then hung her upside down to dry. Unfortunately, spots appeared on her head which were a rather odd color of rust. She’s a snowy white owl, and since we figured she would like to stay that way, we cleaned a bit more, soaking her this time. She is now a vibrant shade of white, but looks as if she has just been born. I am sure once she is dry she will be as downy and soft as ever. You’re a trooper, Genevieve.
Speaking of which, my room gets mold abatement and new carpet this coming Thursday, the 27th of January. This means I can move in on time for the new semester. It will be nice to get my school room back in one piece finally, it has been deserted while drying for the past month. The window won’t leak cold air anymore, either. (Woo!)
That said, St. Thomas might give us around $300 dollars for the hours and money spent on this entire situation. Let us see what kind of institution they are.
In my dry room, I will be using the X-Micro USB to Bluetooth Dongle I bought. This tiny device lets me use my wonderful cellulartellephonetalkiething to send pictures and receive ringtones - all for free. Well, for the cost of the dongle. Pictures on my phone will be trapped there no longer. (!)
Continuing with my college theme (can you tell I am gearing up to return?) - this is the question for my scholarship essay: “What is the value of credit union membership?” I think the devil himself wrote that. How can you say anything meaningful about that? In 500 words, no more, too. I can just see the beginning, “William Meyers was a homeless man, looking for an end to his tough life on the street. In an event that he would later describe as ‘life-changing,’ he sought refuge in the credit union lobby one cold January night …”
Our papers for Theology are supposed to be between 500 and 700 words, so I did a word check when I thought I was done with my paper. Finding my word-count at 666, I took a little time to write a touch more.
My cover letter for dental internship applications turned out pretty well (this is a specific version of a general form):
At my recent checkup, I spoke with my hygienist Kirsten Ross about a possible summer filing position at your office. She recommended I get in touch with you for further details about this position.
I would appreciate the opportunity this summer to work on your team doing any secretarial duties you may need assistance with. As a pre-dental student, I would find such a position an invaluable opportunity to contribute to and learn from a dental office like yours. I am a hard-working, proactive, and responsible student who is excellent at communicating ideas effectively and executing tasks efficiently. Furthermore, I possess extensive experience in maintaining and using computers and software.
My enclosed resume outlines my current educational background and details my other accomplishments. My dorm phone number and email as listed on my resume are the best methods by which to contact me; I always respond within one business day.
I look forward to hearing from you soon. Thank you for your time.
I do not have very much experience tooting my own horn, so strong verbs touting my abilities are foreign to me. Hopefully, I will get an offer from this first batch of mailings.
I think a fantastic idea for radio station format variety would be to have a day where the station takes the songs they normally play, but instead plays the song that comes after the normal one on the album. I know I would listen with interest, though I think everyone would find some real jems. Of course, one would not be able to tell the difference with top-40 stations. This idea is undeniably elegant, though.
Speaking of undeniably lovely women (oh I wasn’t before? … oops), Mykala continues her vacation in Cozumel this week. While it was 43 degrees here today, I doubt that compares to her 80s weather with near-equatorial sun. Yum, sun. She does, however, have internet in her hotel room, so I have been able to talk to her via a special Mexican connection. While occasionally unrealiable, this data port is wonderful, and gives the illusion I am on a brown sandy beach next to her. That’s actually not true, it’s a white sandy beach. I miss you, Mykala Shai’ann, and I can’t wait to see you when you return later this month. Fair winds and warm nights to you.
When I quickly stop by the library computer lab, I usually do so in the same area. So, I would say I have been coming in here to the same spot for about 3 months. In some ways, it is getting a little … too familiar. On the public table for stapling, paperclipping, rubberbanding, and other fun paper-arranging tasks there sat a tray from the cafeteria. In early December, while waiting for some sheets to print for Biology, I noticed that the tray was not entirely devoid of food. In fact, it had a single fry: Ore-Ida wavy Russet potato style. A deep golden color, it shone as a testament to mold and rancid-ness.
Today, while in the library waiting for something to print again, my eye wandered over to the corner in which I had witnessed this decomposition over a month ago. Everything is the same. The tray, the fry, it is all still there.
Baby Signs - A first-hand account of the effectiveness of baby sign language. Furthermore, my psychology professor told our class that these signs do not delay baby’s verbal language acquisition speed at all (she used them as well). Definitely something to file away in “being a good parent.”
Sometimes things come along that would make great “visits” links, but grow to be something more. They transcend the boundary between single isolated link and lasting impression, good or bad. The following is one such link.
Me: scary picture
Dan: dude, what is that?
Dan: lol
Me: that’s bill gates
Me: posing for the magazine teen beat
Me: in the 1980s
Me: words fail me
Dan: hahaha, yeah, i dont know how i feel about that
Me: i’m scared
Dan: i feel dirty
