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[tuesday sep 28th 2004|6:18p] I think my suspicions about my paper were correct. my American lit professor sent back the draft I asked her to check and she didn't make any major comments. most of them were like word choices and stuff. and she said "looks good," which is probably a good sign. so hooray, I'm just about done with that paper. and I think I got a new thesis approved for my women in lit paper. she wrote me a long paragraph of things I would "have trouble proving" after I sent her the first one. bah. this class is going to kill me. I got a 90 on the stupid creative post. probably because it was too short. how obnoxious. I'm so not going to get an A at this rate. my neck and shoulders are killing me. yesterday I took out the garbage, which is a much ickier and heavier job than it should be, and I think I pulled some muscles or something. it sucked to lug my backpack around all day with this problem. in other news, I can't figure out how to change my email address for BN.com. I didn't look very hard though. Gilmore Girls tonight! yay!! what do you think?

there's no need to hurry [monday sep 27th 2004|9:29p] I'm reading Angela's Ashes at work right now. it kind of reminds me of a tree grows in Brooklyn. I'm only on disc 2 of 13. so we'll see. not bad right now. I started The Bluest Eye on Friday, but it really was pretty boring. I didn't want to read more. sorry, Oprah. I read a crapload more of book 4 during the power outage. I'm getting to the point where I'm noticably near the end. I'm very sad about this and I won't let myself read more for a while. heh. at least I have reality tv and Gilmore Girls to distract me. not to mention a bunch of schoolwork. Doublemelt pizza looks super good. I want it. "can we slow down a little?" "I can't hear you, somebody keeps screaming like a little girl." what do you think?

[monday sep 27th 2004|8:39p] we're alive, blah blah. I'm not sure if I'm getting jaded (or "hurricane fatigue" as the news has said fifty billion times since Jeanne turned west), but hurricanes don't seem that terrible to me anymore. compare it to living in Israel, or having the entire city and thousands of people destroyed in an earthquake, or any number of much more terrifying natural disasters, and hurricanes look pretty good. in America, what, like 10 people died? I'm not saying it's not terrible for those people's families, but as far as disasters go, it's a pretty freaking low death toll. the most widespread badness that happens is people sustain damage to or completely lose their houses or vehicles, and while that's not cake either, those people are way better off than Turkey was after those earthquakes. but don't get me wrong. I still hate hurricanes. I'm just tired of the newspeople blathering on about what a terrible situation people are in, and letting them call in to whine that their roofs are leaking or there's a tree in their yard. suck it up and be glad you're not in Africa starving to death. anyway. we lost power for 26 hours, I read tons of Harry Potter. it wasn't such a bad time. except the food always sucks when the power's out. beef jerky and peanut butter and potato chips. bleh. and good news, we have school tomorrow! wahoo. I doubt they'll have us make up days, which suits me just fine. as long as we avoid further hurricanes. I was supposed to read more tonight because I have papers to write and whatnot. but I'm tired and distracted by pleasanter things. oh and I went to work today. it was just noon to 4:30, but while I was there Alex told me to add the half hour I worked extra on Friday to my time today. then after a minute she said, "actually, just add an hour because I really appreciate you coming in today." it was nice. five bucks. heh. but hey, that's one lunch at school. I'll take it. FIN ("don't cry for me. I'm already dead." ten points to whoever knows what that's from.) 3 opinions:what do you think?

[saturday sep 25th 2004|9:41p] this is the easiest academic paper I've ever written, I think. once I got started, at least. I always have trouble with the intro paragraph, but it's been pretty easy after that. so hopefully that means it's also good. heh. what do you think?

[saturday sep 25th 2004|7:57p] reason number 8,473 that I love my DVR: I had no idea Top Model started last week, but my DVR knew and recorded it for me. so I didn't miss anything. aww, what a good DVR. no news on the hurricane. we clearly still have power, but the weather people are predicting more power outages than Frances. which is not good news. we kept our power more or less for Frances. it shouldn't be hitting until after midnight though, so we'll probably lose power in the night if we do at all. anyway, I'm trying to get my paper done before bed. pray for me. heh. mood  =  I hate paper writing what do you think?

[saturday sep 25th 2004|3:28p] boo American lit paper! someone should invent a paper-writing word processing program. I'll just give it my key points and it will generate a paper of the proper length. maybe that's what robots will do in the future. what do you think?

[saturday sep 25th 2004|12:12a] also, I had a dream that I went to Walmart to buy batteries and I couldn't find them anywhere. then I ran into my cousin and my sister. it was weird. they knew where the batteries were, though, somehow. what do you think?

[saturday sep 25th 2004|12:04a] goddammit. I was in denial for a while that Jeanne would hit us. she toyed with us for a while, but it looks like she's really coming. they canceled school on Monday and we had to cover shit up at work again. need I say that I hate hurricanes? didn't think so. mood  =  grrr music  =  stormtrackers on news 13. it's a hurricane tradition. what do you think?

hurricane preparedness, or, WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE! [friday sep 24th 2004|11:27p] I've been emailing this to everyone I know because it just cracks me up. and what better place than my journal to advertise the hilarity! most of this stuff isn't even exaggerated very much. says a lot about our society, perhaps. heh. ---- You all should be aware of hurricane preparations, but in case you need a refresher course: We're about to enter the peak of the hurricane season. Any minute now, you're going to turn on the TV and see a weather person pointing to some radar blob out in the Atlantic Oceanand making two basic meteorological points. (1) There is no need to panic. (2) We could all be killed. Yes, hurricane season is an exciting time to be in Florida. If you're new to the area, you're probably wondering what you need to do to prepare for the possibility that we'll get hit by "the big one." Based on our insurance industry experiences, we recommend that you follow this simple three-step hurricane preparedness plan: STEP 1: Buy enough food and bottled water to last your family for at least three days. STEP 2: Put these supplies into your car. STEP 3: Drive to Nebraska and remain there until Halloween. Unfortunately, statistics show that most people will not follow this sensible plan. Most people will foolishly stay here in Florida. We'll start with one of the most important hurricane preparedness items: HOMEOWNERS' INSURANCE: If you own a home, you must have hurricane insurance. Fortunately, this insurance is cheap and easy to get, as long as your home meets two basic requirements: (1) It is reasonably well-built, and (2) It is located in Wisconsin Unfortunately, if your home is located in Florida, or any other area that might actually be hit by a hurricane, most insurance companies would prefer not to sell you hurricane insurance, because then they might be required to pay YOU money, and that is certainly not why they got into the insurance business in the first place. So you'll have to scrounge around for an insurance company, which will charge you an annual premium roughly equal to the replacement value of your house. At any moment, this company can drop you like used dental floss. SHUTTERS: Your house should have hurricane shutters on all the windows, all the doors. There are several types of shutters, with advantages and disadvantages: Plywood shutters: The advantage is that, because you make them yourself, they're cheap. Sheet-metal shutters: The advantage is that these work well, once you get them all up. The disadvantage is that once you get them all up, your hands will be useless bleeding stumps, and it will be December. Roll-down shutters: The advantages are that they're very easy to use, and will definitely protect your house. The disadvantage is that you will have to sell your house to pay for them. Hurricane-proof windows: These are the newest wrinkle in hurricane protection: They look like ordinary windows, but they can withstand hurricane winds! You can be sure of this, because the salesman says so. He lives in Nebraska. Hurricane Proofing your property: As the hurricane approaches, check your yard for movable objects like barbecue grills, planters, patio furniture, visiting relatives, etc... you should, as a precaution, throw these items into your swimming pool (if you don't have a swimming pool, you should have one built immediately). Otherwise, the hurricane winds will turn these objects into deadly missiles. EVACUATION ROUTE: If you live in a low-lying area, you should have an evacuation route planned out. (To determine whether you live in a low-lying area, look at your driver's license; if it says Florida," you live in a low-lying area.) The purpose of having an evacuation route is to avoid being trapped in your home when a major storm hits. Instead, you will be trapped in a gigantic traffic jam several miles from your home, along with two hundred thousand other evacuees. So, as a bonus, you will not be lonely. HURRICANE SUPPLIES: If you don't evacuate, you will need a mess of supplies. Do not buy them now! Floridatradition requires that you wait until the last possible minute, then go to the supermarket and get into vicious fights with strangers over who gets the last can of cat food. In addition to food and water, you will need the following supplies: 23 flashlights. At least $167 worth of batteries that turn out, when the power goes off, to be the wrong size for the flashlights Bleach. (No, I don't know what the bleach is for. NOBODY knows what the bleach is for, but it's traditional, so GET some!) A big knife that you can strap to your leg. (This will be useless in a hurricane, but it looks cool.) A large quantity of raw chicken, to placate the alligators. (Ask anybody who went through Andrew; after the hurricane, there WILL be irate alligators.) $35,000 in cash or diamonds so that, after the hurricane passes, you can buy a generator from a man with no discernible teeth. Of course these are just basic precautions. As the hurricane draws near, it is vitally important that you keep abreast of the situation by turning on your television if you have a generator that's working to keep the tv going and watching TV reporters in rain slickers stand right next to the ocean and tell you over and over how vitally important it is for everybody to stay away from the ocean. Good luck and remember: It's great living in Paradise! mood  =  however, traffic wouldn't be so horrifying if this were paradise. what do you think?

[friday sep 24th 2004|9:56p] had an ungood day. ended up staying late at work because Alex is dumb, then I had to walk to my car in the rain, traffic sucked like always, had to stop by the bank and the store, so it was almost 6:30 when I got home. plus I was worried most of the day about the power bill. but that turned out well enough. I hate being wet though. especially when my jeans and shoes are wet. plus I was wearing my expensive shoes that could be damaged by water. luckily they weren't. then I went to KFC for dinner because it was too late to wait for anything to cook (I ate lunch at noon after all). and that was a whole production. bad service. but whatever. they were busy. but my food was cold, and I don't really forgive that. I had to eat it after all. anyway, gmail has cheered me up. I love my new email address. and the format is totally awesome. I very much enjoy the labeling aspect. I just switched all my mailing lists over. now I'm going to eat ice cream in complete defiance of my no-food-after-9 rule. so there! 2 opinions:what do you think?

[friday sep 24th 2004|8:07p] so I haven't gotten my power bill this month, and I was getting concerned so I called them to ask about it. they were closed by now, so I checked the balance instead... and it turns out I don't owe them any money this month. this is raising the same dilemma as getting holiday pay at work even though I'm not supposed to. I don't understand it. but I won't question it. heh. in other news. I'm getting myself a gmail account, thanks to limenal. so I decided to be awesome-o about it and go with a Harry Potter theme. so. my new email, sort of, is constant.vigilance@gmail.com. wahoo. Gary just punched me. he is so mean. mood  =  yes you did punch me. what do you think?

[wednesday sep 22nd 2004|6:42p] I read Island of the Blue Dolphins today at work. I picked it up while looking for Harry Potter at the library last week, and all I remembered was that it was my favorite book for a while when I was a kid. I read it like 8 times back then. but I didn't remember anything except she gets left behind on the island. even the back cover surprised me because I didn't remember the battle. heh, so it was like new. and it's still good. though it's not much like a story, more like a creative essay. but I guess since it's fiction, it's automatically a story. anyhow, it was good. blah blah. I'd much rather be reading Harry Potter than this workshop story, but. alas. there is no Harry Potter class. man, that would be such a blast. what do you think?

[wednesday sep 22nd 2004|9:58a] I donated blood yesterday. the entire thing was pretty painful. heh. especially the little prick of my finger. it still hurts if I press it. and my left arm is sore too. but I got a t-shirt. heh. and if you donate three times, you get a 15$ Darden restaurant gift certificate. so that's awesome. and the main reason I did it was to find out my blood type. I've donated blood before, but they never sent me the info card thing with that stuff on it. and apparently they check your cholesterol, too, which is always good I guess. not that I know what good cholesterol is. heh. maybe they'll include that information too. Gilmore Girls was so good. I'm excited about this season. yay Lorelai and Luke!!! and Big Brother ended better than I expected. the one I wanted to win won. although the one I really wanted to win wasn't in the final 2. anyway, I'm kind of relieved that Big Brother is over because it takes up a lot of time, and I need time now to do my work. especially since I'm working more. stupid job. 2 opinions:what do you think?

[wednesday sep 22nd 2004|9:45a] I've been wondering what to do about my mother. I know she's still holding a grudge for whatever she thinks I did, probably because I "talked mean" to her or whatever, but it's so damn stupid. she is such a child, and I don't feel like I owe her an apology because, after all, she hung up on me, rather than just changing the subject which is what I wanted to do. but she won't see it that way, I know, because of course everything happens to her and not to anyone else. once again, I am so flippin glad we're leaving this state full of morons who happen to be related to me. mood  =  annoyed what do you think?

[tuesday sep 21st 2004|10:28p] I'm getting a little stressed out about school, and having to work 4 more hours tomorrow is not helping. but I feel like if I say I need to not work a full day tomorrow, my job could be in jeopardy. we really need people, and I know that, and I don't think Alex would understand at all if I told her I have three papers due in the next two weeks and probably 200 pages of reading for Tuesday, and modules and stories to workshop. I feel like school is a smidge more important than this stupid temp job. but then I really need money, school or not. so I just hope they hire new people soon and get them trained. that means extra verifying for us, too. yay........ I had a dream last night that I was at a grocery store (which was actually someone's house) and someone tried to steal my cart or something, so I got into a fight with these three women, then I set the place on fire. heh. but then I stared at the fire and it went out. it was freaky. okay well. I have to do work before sleep. stupid stupid work. mood  =  sleeeeep what do you think?

[monday sep 20th 2004|9:49a] woooo tomorrow's Tuesday! the 21st! the start of the new season of Gilmore Girls and the season finale of BB5! wooooooo! too bad today's not Tuesday. but then I really need to do some homework before tomorrow. hum. mood  =  woooooo! what do you think?

[sunday sep 19th 2004|6:15p] I swear. this wedding is never going to happen because I will be in jail by March because I will have killed my mother. she calls me to talk about it, and she wants a list of people to invite to the shower. like I have any idea right now. I still have to find out if my grandma wants to come down, and if Sylvia wants to come with her, and whatnot. so then she's like "well, I guess I won't ask about the food or anything yet" and I told her to just pick all that on her own because I don't want to have to worry about it. then she's like "well, then I guess Tiffani and I will do everything, and you'll just send the invitations." ??? I swear to god. like I'm going to send invitations to my own bridal shower! this whole thing is Tiffani's job, anyway, so she needs to just shut up about it to me. so whatever, I told her to stop asking me these things when it's so far away still. then she hung up on me. she is really immature for someone her age. she hangs up on people all the time. if she wants an apology from me, I might have to laugh. I did a bunch of work today on my stories. finished the new one and added comments to my first one, which will help with revision. and I also read the rest of the Coquette for Tuesday. but I didn't try to figure out what I want to write my American lit paper on.. but I'm going to see the professor on Tuesday to get her help deciding a topic. I'm not really sure what the assignment is, for one thing. anyway, I did so much other work that I think I deserve a break. a Harry Potter break... mood  =  yay book 4! what do you think?

got this from an astrology site (don't ask) so who knows if it's true. [sunday sep 19th 2004|5:20p] A baby in Florida was named Truewilllaughinglifebuckyboomermanifestdestiny. His middle name is George James. what a cop-out middle name. what do you think?

[saturday sep 18th 2004|3:11p] urgh. I feel really dumb and really discouraged right now about this women in lit class. I forgot to post my module last night, and it was due at 11:55pm. I just posted it. the dumb part is I had it all written out and everything, I'd just completely forgotten to type it and post it. I don't know how that affects my grade. I just know late papers lose 1/3 credit for every day late, which is a lot. these modules are 30% of my freaking grade. I really hope she doesn't give me a zero. I don't think that would be fair at all, considering late papers get SOME credit. and on top of that, I didn't do very well on the first module and the second one hasn't been graded yet. I don't know how I'm doing in this class at all. I've heard nothing but good things about this professor, but I can't say I like her thus far. she's too scattered and she forgets to tell us important things and she rambles and she doesn't post our grades online (even though it's a partial-web course) because it builds expectations or something really dumb. so I don't know what's going on. it's early in the semester and all, but I feel like this class is designed to make us fail. or her scatteredness is conspiring to, or something. mood  =  frustrated what do you think?

[friday sep 17th 2004|11:54p] I have some good news! I just saved a bunch of money on my car insurance by turning 21. I think that's why, anyway. my premium went down like 300$, and that doesn't happen for no reason. it just occurred to me that everyone might not have seen those tremendously annoying Geico commercials. oh well. what do you think?

oh, Jo, how I love thee. [friday sep 17th 2004|10:25p] JEREMY PAXMAN: And you didn't have writers block on [book five]? JK ROWLING: No! I just produced a quarter of a million words. It's quite hard to do with writer's block. JEREMY PAXMAN: That's longer than the New Testament you know. JK ROWLING: Oh God, stop it. With all these new facts that I didn't know. Is it? JEREMY PAXMAN: Yeah. By about 70,000 words or something. JK ROWLING: Do you know the Christian fundamentalists will find a way to turn that into a reason to hate me as well. "She's more verbose than God." -- also, great news! the reason the break between books 4 and 5 was three years is because she took a break! hahaha. and she went on about how it refreshed her and everything, so that along with the it's-much-shorter notion should hopefully allow this book to come out next year. pleeeeeeeease. sorry I'm so Harry-Potter-y lately. I can't get it out of my head. probably once I finish the books again it'll fade away again. or maybe not, thanks to the community. and I friended a HP feed today. ah well. at least it's not vodka. what do you think?

JKR on writing Sirius's death. [friday sep 17th 2004|10:16p] I had re-written the death, re-written it and that was it. It was definitive. And the person was definitely dead. And I walked into the kitchen crying and Neil said to me, "What on earth is wrong?" and I said, "Well, I've just killed the person". Neil doesn't know who the person is. But I said, "I've just killed the person. And he said, "Well, don't do it then." I thought, a doctor you know....and I said "Well it just doesn't work like that. You are writing children's books, you need to be a ruthless killer." she is so cool. what do you think?

[friday sep 17th 2004|9:15a] I had a dream last night that HBP was coming out in December. what a horrible downer it is to realize that was a dream. mood  =  I WANT BOOK 6 2 opinions:what do you think?

[friday sep 17th 2004|8:20a] I'm so sad. there's only two discs of POA left and I still don't have GOF! stupid library. I think I will drive to the main branch tomorrow and fetch it because it seems they are not going to send it anytime soon. what do you think?

[thursday sep 16th 2004|6:43p] Getting to know your TV What is your favorite TV show? Gilmore Girls, Scrubs, Big Brother, Seinfeld, Malcolm in the Middle. What cancelled TV show would you bring back if given the chance? either Felicity or The Mole (best reality show EVER). Which reality TV show do you watch? Big Brother, Trading Spouses. I watched the first four Survivors too. What was your favorite children's show you watched as a kid? well, it's not necessarily a children's show, but I loved Full House. and Saved by the Bell. If you could CANCEL one TV show, which one would you dump? there are tons... probably King of Queens. it's taking over!! What television character would you gladly run away with and MARRY? uhhh. I dunno, I'd rather just keep them for pets or something. Which TV show character most resembles you in your life? heh.. um, Rory is in college..? none really. Which TV show character looks most like you? nobody, though three people have said that I look like Julia Stiles. Christian Troy or Sean McNamara? eh? Which Sex in the City character are you? don't watch it. Seth or Ryan? eh?? Who would you rather spend the day with: Will, Grace, Jack or Karen? oh man I hate that show. Seinfeld: Genius or Ridiculous BRILLIANCE What tv show do you think is/was most influential? the Simpsons. it will never die!!! Cable or Satellite? cable with some DVR action. Which TV character has your dream job? Rory has my dream life. I love love Lorelai. although I don't want to be a journalist, so I wouldn't really want to be her, I guess. Who's your favorite character on the Sopranos? don't watch it Which CSI do you prefer: Las Vegas or Miami? that is a really dumb show. Which Law and Order do you prefer? (I'd give you a list, but I don't know all of them SVU all the way. CREATE YOUR OWN! - or - GET PAID TO TAKE SURVEYS! 1 opinion:what do you think?

[wednesday sep 15th 2004|11:15p] if you really like comments, you should join a Harry Potter community and post a question or a theory. I always get over ten responses to my posts. heh. there's usually a few good ones, too. I saw Calendar Girls today (WOW, amazing movie), and I spoke to the woman at the restaurant about the reception, but I'm going to leave those for tomorrow because I need to sleep. oh, and I had a traumatizing experience with the weird alarm box in the breezeway of the apartment building. it was my own fault, of course, but it was traumatizing nonetheless. I have a test tomorrow. I'm not too worried, I've already been tested on this material like three times in elementary Italian. what do you think?

[tuesday sep 14th 2004|11:09p] this is nuts. it's really a brilliant theory, but I really really don't buy it. and I seriously hope it's not true because that would change a ton of things and it would piss me off and it would just be bad. also read the "Weasley is our king" essay/article thing. people are seriously thinking about these books! and it's really interesting. heh. Ivan is being a very good hurricane and leaving us alone. but then it's going to destroy New Orleans, so that's really not nice after all. ah well. maybe it'll suddenly turn west and go attack Texas or Mexico. hah. I'm sleepy. 2 opinions:what do you think?

[tuesday sep 14th 2004|6:42p] so today was like. the best day ever. well, maybe not ever, but at least among the top 20. I had my workshop, which I'd forgotten all about until this morning (which makes me feel very composed, normally I'd freak out for days before). almost everybody really liked the story, and they thought it was funny!, and they had really good suggestions. the professor (who is Susan Hubbard and just came out with a pretty successful book, which impresses me somehow) then caught up with me after class (which is very cool, heh) and told me that she really liked my story, that it's a very strong draft, and that I should get it published after revision! hah. then we walked to the student union together and I asked her my most burning questions about writing fiction, and she tried to answer them, and it was totally fab. oh, and she also said "you're a real writer." I think that had to do with my proposal wherein I explained that I'm not sure I'm in the right field. anyway. it was really cool. criticism is so much easier to take when it's prefaced by everyone exclaiming over how clever the story is. so now I have all this confidence and drive to finish my current story. which is good because I was waning quite a bit. also in my women in lit class, I spoke a lot and said some pretty good things (they sounded good at the time, anyway). and I read one of the stories for workshop Thursday, and it was really damn good. so. good. yay. mood  =  good what do you think?

[monday sep 13th 2004|11:14p] I'll take one, please. 1 opinion:what do you think?

that's the way things go [monday sep 13th 2004|11:01p] the Harry Potter community is really helpful in giving me information and other people's opinions about theories and whatnot... but it's also keeping me from forgetting about the books, a little, until I know more about book 6! I'm going to go insane this way. I NEED BOOK 6. and um. in other news, we're going to school tomorrow. wahoo. I wonder if we'll go Thursday, what with Ivan out there somewhere and some other (really weak) storm on its way. I hate hurricane season. I hate hurricanes, I hate rain, I hate wind. I hate power outages. I hate news preempting Big Brother. I hate hurricanes!! and Ivan has already killed like 60 people. that's insane. further proof that if god exists, he is either completely incompetent or really freaking mean. I had so much to say when I opened this window. music  =  The Offspring - Hit That what do you think?

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